The Plate Decorator

The Plate Decorator Has Moved!

2009-10-06T21:25:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone,
I have moved to www.startingoffhungry.wordpress.com
Please check it out!
Love y'all
Cassandra

I know my goodness it has been a while!!

2009-03-30T23:16:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone, if anyone is still out there???
I am so sorry for my absence, but I am going to explain. I am still reading your blogs and enjoying all of you journey's, mine has just taken a turn.

I am in school now and working at a tea and sandwich shop, so my days are full everyday! I found the blog to be more of a chore for me and that is not at all what I think it should be! I always enjoy taking pictures of my food, trying new creative healthy meals, reading your comments and posting. But the stress of posting is sadly too much for me to handle at this juncture in my life. I plan to blog again when I am more settled in my new routine. I am still eating as balanced and healthy as I can and making my trips to the gym. But for me the most important thing is my relationships and the blog was keeping me from precious free time to spend with my bf, friends and family.

I will for sure get this all balanced as well as my eating and get back in the blogging saddle again!!!!! Because I miss YOU all so much!!!! Most of all I miss the readers, you all hold a dear place in my heart and there is a hole there now! So my vaycay (if you will) from this blog is temporary.

I hope you will understand and support my decision. I miss you and will never forget my first blog!!!!!
Love and hugs
Cassandra

The wonders of the world

2009-02-19T20:45:00.000-08:00

Hello Bloggers!!!
The wonders of the world I would love to see are the Pyramids, but the wonders of the world I am facing every day are not as extravagant. Like school and food service and relationships. I think that I am in a very fragile state with changing careers and so don't mind me if I talk about my struggles with leaving the Film Industry to become a college student. It is not all set in stone yet but my mind is pretty made up.

I am in a mood I can not quite describe, I had a headache most of the afternoon and was not feeling tip top so I lied down with Bravo and caught up on some silly TV shows. Once Sean got home I was in a much better mood and am now feeling well enough to look at the computer screen. I think it was all the reading I did for my Psych class. I am not used to looking at a text book and never really read much of them in my high school days ( I was too interested in boys, art and parties). But now in my young adulthood I am finding it still just as challenging so I am a bit upset. I have no prob doing homework or listening to lectures but I know the reading will kill me. Any tips? Anybody more left brained with some study tips??? My sister gave me great advice (very left brained) and told me to type my notes and go to the library after class to do the reading when I am in study mode and I think I will try that!

Anyways... my mind is a bit mushy now so I will move on to my eats!
Bfast; Small orange, cereal with Almond Milk and raisins:
Delish! And in case you were wondering I am still lightening my grain load in the morning. This mornings bowl was 1.5 cups total and 1.25 cups milk.
I was just amazed at how beautifully my V-Day flowers have bloomed!

for my mid morn snack I had a Larabar in Gingersnap (no pic) and this snack I had mid afternoon:

For lunch I packed a very "kid" like meal in my eyes; WW English muffin, 2 tbsp of Almond and PB which I made into a sammie and grilled at work. I also packed 2 carrots and an apple sauce with blueberries!!

After work I went to school and bought my textbook for way more than I planned and then went to Trader Joes to do some very needed groecery shopping. As I said I was battling a headache so I ate a very early dinner, I always think I need food if I have a headache, which was leftovers:

This meal was even better today! For dessert I had some dried mango and some fat free Caramel Popcorn form TJ's!

And I had Tofuti Cutie!!! I love these if you have not tried them I suggest doing so! They are vegan ice cream sandwiches!!!! This pic does no justice, so I will have to have one tomorrow to try to get a better pic!

Ok I am off to watch Dexter with my honey and get some rest. I sadly got no exercise in today unless you count walking in TJ's or serving coffee for 6 hours?!?

Love

Psych Here I come!

2009-02-18T20:39:00.000-08:00

Well yes I am officially a college student! I am so excited about my class!! My proff is awesome and very kind. I was worried cause I have a wedding to go to on June 12th, our finals are June 10th and Sean might have to leave before then cause he is in the wedding (the best man to be exact, it's his cousins wedding). So after class I introduced myself to my new proff (very Rory Gilmore of me) and told him of the possible dilemma. He was shockingly understanding and told me to have no fear I can just take it early if need be. So with that all assured and my first day out of the way I was flying!

I started my school day (I just love saying that) with a smaller than usual bowl of cereal. I am out of bananas shock I know and so I opted for a small orange and raisins and felt like going a bit light on the grains too. I had 1/2 cup twigs and flakes and 1/2 cup Kashi Sunshine and 1 cup skim.

After my lovely class with lecture included I was hungry hungry! I was able to come home before work so I whipped up a bowl of Fage 0% with an Apricot Cliff bar and also had a small apple:
For lunch I packed this veggiefilled meal; salad with Cuban black beans from TJ's, fire roasted salsa, 2 carrots, and pureed Butternut squash!

It was delish but didn't hold me long at work I was starved when I got home and a bit overwhelmed by the TO DO list so I poured a celebratory first day of school glass of Vino:

And quickly put together a meal of Soba noodles, kale, stir fried tofu and ate it with Seasoned Nori:

The most delish combo!! I will prob eat the left overs tomorrow night!

Well I am off to buy my text book holy geeze those things are expensive! And watch the tube and go to bed!

Good night ya'll!

Well call me baby tomato...'cause I gotta Ketchup!

2009-02-17T21:09:00.000-08:00

Ok Ok I know this must seem like I am purposefully avoiding ya'll, but I am NOT I swear! I am not planning on taking the weekends off of blogging, I have just had a rough time with my computer due to the Internet/ cable problem. I have got it kinda fixed, we need a new splitter and that has not been purchased yet. So until it is I have to have Sean connect or disconnect the Internet or cable to go on the net. AHHHH!

So I am finally posting due to all the technical difficulties and not to mention I was SICK all weekend! I am pretty sure I caught the bug going round at my work, but on top of the flue like symptoms I was feeling I also get "sick" when I am super stressed out. So my weekend was pretty uneventful even though I had the glorious Monday off, I spent it on the couch and under a converter (rock) if you will. So let me rewind to Saturday (Valentine's Day) Lunch: Leftover Pasta with kale and a side salad

For Valentine's Dinner we had a whole special night planned.....but due to my sickness and "sickness" I was not really feeling up to having a 5 course meal and spending over $100 on dinner. So we cancelled our reservations and went to Whole Foods to do a more low key and less expensive dinner. We started with Vino: For this we kinda splurged; we never buy wine over $5.00 so for this special occasion we spent twice that!

the wine was VERY good and I love a Petite Sirah! I am now going to show you some pictures of my buys: Tomatoes:

Gouda!!!! I love Gouda I think it is the quintessential cheese to eat with wine. I had a lil piece.

Some mixed olives from the olive bar, I had 2:

The lovely Zucchini chopped them steam fried with S&P:

A lovely Quinoa Tabuoli Salad:

A pre made Tofu Salad:

And Sean made steak!!! Fillet Mignon cooked to perfection!!! I was not in the mood for meat so I made us two salads. Mine with Tofu, Tabouli, tomatoes and Zucchini, and Sean's with the same sans the tofu. I also made a Yam in the microwave but had no room for my half. I topped Sean's with cheese and zucchini:

the lovely steak:

Well that's it for V-Day wrap up. Now on to Sunday: bfast; cereal with banana, raisins and grapes with a spoon of PB:

I had a PB sandwich for lunch no pic, and for dinner we went out to eat at a cozy Mexican Restaurant and split the combo plate of rice, beans, a Chile Relleno, Cheese Enchilada a side soup and a beer. It was delicious!!

Monday's Eats:

bfast: Cereal with the usual and a small orange and a spoon of PB:

I had an apple whilst watching TV and being a total blob! I snacked a lot Monday so be prepared, I am pretty sure I did not take pictures of all my snacks too

Lunch was fab, leftover salad fixings from Sat, plus kale, and yam:

Some Annie's Cheddar Bunnie's

Some Annie's Gram Bunnie's with PB and raisins. I basically had this again for dinner I snacked so much all day I was not really hungry for a real dinner:

Finally to today!!! Tues bfast: Cereal

Mid morning snack; Annie's Gram Bunnie's raisins, almonds and a small apple:

Lunch was simple and filling; 2 carrots sliced and an AB sandwich with a heel and the last piece! Time to go shopping!

For dinner tonight Sean took me out again because I was too beet to cook and he had worked a long day. I start school tomorrow so after dinner we went to my campus to check out where my classroom is. I love the campus at night it is so pretty! I am so excited for school!

Ok onto this scrumptious drink!!! We went to urthcaffe.com/. Definitely one of my fave places to eat. Sean ordered the Spanish Latte blended! It is like a Coffee Ice Cream Shake!!! So good, I had to have a few sips!

I ordered the Half combo soup and salad. It was a Vegan Potato Leek Soup (my fave soup ever) and the Urth Salad with mixed greens, garbanzo beans, pine nuts, feta, tomato, heats of palm, and olives with the dressing on the side of course. I always ask for dressing on the side, I know some restaurants tip their noses to me for requesting this but hey it's my body and my calorie intake man, so lay off!!! The soup came with a nice hunk of crusty white bread, but I steered clear and had but a nibble.

well I am sorry for the delay in my posts and will try to make one in a day like before! I hope everyone had a wonderful V-day and I will be catching up on ya'lls blogs tomorrow after my first day of school!!!!!

Love

Valentine's Day!

2009-02-14T16:21:00.001-08:00

Happy V-Day everybody!!! I am doing a recap of yesterday because my new TV was being funky so we had the cable shut down for while to get it fixed and I could not get on the Internet. So yesterday's eats started with a Japanese Bfast of Miso soup and Brown rice:
I loved it! It is fun and very healthful and filling! A way to switch up my oatmeal routine and try something new.

I found that it didn't hold me that long. I think it was more mental than a physical hunger. Eating rice for bfast just didn't feel like bfast so I snacked around 9:30 on a balance bar (no pic)

For lunch I brought my new fave thing to grill; an Almond butter sandwich!!! I put pumpkin butter instead of jelly and added a banana because I didn't have one with bfast:

When I got home from work I had this lil guy:

For dinner I had left over WW pasta with kale and marinara sauce with water chestnuts and beets on the side:

Quite a weird combo I must say but good! For dessert I had this rice pudding:

And some raisins and an apple:

Today I had a more traditional bfast; Cereal with a sliced banana and raisins with a small orange:

For lunch I had no time to prepare anything to bring to work, yes I worked on a Saturday! So I made a "through it together" lunch of a rice pudding, apple and a Larabar. A new flavor for me and I really liked it! Not too chocolaty and not too coconuty...just right!

I also had this new drink:

It was good, not the best texture, a bit grainy, but nice and really good for you!

I came home from work to this:

I LOVE my BF he is just the sweetest! We are going to dinner and maybe a movie depending on the time. I love going out to dinner on this holiday. Even though it is always over priced and crowded and sappy, I just love the idea of it!

Well I am off to get ready for this evening of romance (wink wink) Hope you all have a wonderful loving day!

xoxo

The HDMI scam

2009-02-12T19:34:00.001-08:00

Well I am very angry at Time Warner Cable!! They have finagled me into getting an HD box with no HDMI input!!! I don't really get the whole dilemma all I know is with my new HD TV I needed a new HD box, so I drove to TWC to get the new box and when I set it up at home it was not working! So Sean called TWC and they said that the HDMI cable did not come with the box so we need to BUY one and then it should work. So Sean brought the cable home tonight and the when we looked at the box I picked up doesn't have a hook up for an HDMI cable~ ANYWAYS~ besides the point sorry to vent I am just livid. GRRRR.... but lets move on to the good stuff!

Bfast: Cereal with a small sliced banana and a shot of Craisins with a small orange on the side and hot water: Lunch today was simple; an Almond Butter and jelly sandwich on WW (I pressed it at work, I am obsessed) with a small apple and sugar free 90 calorie rice pudding:
When I got home from work I saw Sean left his dinner leftovers out....at first I was mad cause I hate when he doesn't clean up after himself. But then I decided he left me my afternoon snack! 2 lil slices of TJ's Margarita Pizza!

It was delicious! I haven't had pizza for a while and boy oh boy it was good!

For dinner I was not sure what I wanted to make. I have a lot of choices in the cupboards and fridge, but I ended up making the thing I was most craving....PASTA! I made some WW Angel Hair and then Steam fried some kale with garlic and topped it with Marinara sauce and sauteed onions. For an extra veggie I added a sliced beet! On top is a sprinkle of Parmesan!

It was also delicious and very filling. I love WW pasta! I love how much it sticks to my ribs and how much more texture and flavor it has!

I finished my laundry from yesterday and now Sean is home so I will prepare his plate of Pasta sans the onions, he dislikes them very much unless he can't tell they are there :)

For dessert I made a lil plate of raisins, Craisins and raw Almonds:

Well that's it for me today, no Shred, my cramps are killing me so I think I will cozy up with a tea and my heating pad and call it a night! I will do double Shred to make up for today on Friday. Tomorrow is Friday!!! Anybody have V-Day plans for Saturday? Sean and I are going to a Double Feature of "From Here To Eternity" and Casablanca" YEA! I love old flicks! Then we are going to dinner at a romantic restaurant! More on V-Day plans later. Good night!

Hello To Do list

2009-02-11T19:50:00.001-08:00

Well another day another dollar I say! I am exhausted!!! Today I conquered my To Do list of cleaning, phone calls, emails, and bills! Not to mention work and a work out! Fewww! I want to start with a recap of last nights eats!

It was Sean and my 1 year anniversary (since we got back together, we broke up for a 6 month period but total it's been 4 years, I will not bore you with details of relationship drama. I'll just say this, no one cheated and no one moved we just had some figuring out to do and we are happy as clams now:) So we celebrated with going to Sushi! We tried a new place in our neighborhood; Beacon. It was a wonderful place! I love when an Asian fusion place serves up good sushi! We started with Edemame, of course! Sorry for some blurry pics the mood lighting doesn't help with my blog pictures:
The plates were so cute!

We shared the Spicy Tuna, no mayo thank goodness, and I had 2 pieces:

I had a Miso soup:

And the Chinese Broccoli with Tofu and Garlic:

I also had the Yellowtail roll with Scallions:

It was so refreshing! Sean had the "Fish and Chips" The fish was a Tempura batter with a side of Yam fries!!! I had one lil guy:

Moving on to bfast this morning I had Blueberry oats with a shot of cereal, a spoon of Fage 0%, a shot of raisins, a small banana and a shot of Bear Naked Granola:

For my mid morning snack I had half this bag of Cheddar Bunnies and Gram Bunnies and 11 Almonds:

I had the other half throughout the day. For lunchies I had half this Almond Butter and Jelly WW sandwich and the orange. I grilled the sandwich again and oh my lordy it was even better this time!!!

When I got home I wasn't too hungry but wanted to have a snack so I wouldn't make a poor choice for dinner. So I had this Blueberry Crisp Cliff bar:

And later this lil apple:

For dinner I wasn't sure what I was in the mood for so I heated up some TJ's Roasted Red Pepper and Tomato Soup and had a 1/2 turkey sandwich and a small salad with beets and red onion. It was quite filling and I am happy it was so colorful!

For dessert I had a lil Marzipan but no pic cause the thought to take the pic happened after it entered my mouth! I am off to finish the laundry and watch BIG LOVE on Netflix with the boy!

Love and sweet dreams

Mel's interview

2009-02-11T17:47:00.000-08:00

I got this lovely email from Mel at http://bitesoflife.wordpress.com. Here it goes:

1.As a set decorator, which shoot was the most fun to work on?

I would have to say they are all fun. The most known movie I worked on was Zombie Strippers. Yes you read right! I know it is not the most intelligent nor appropriate movie but it is always fun to do horror films and this one was one of my first gigs as a Set Dresser so I was in the mix a ton! Check it out if you have a strong stomach and are ok with nudity-hehe.

2. What is your favorite drink to make at the coffee shop you work at?

I will answer this two ways. My favorite drink to drink myself is a small nonfat sugar free vanilla latte!!! But the most fun to make are the caramel vanilla frappe; which is milk, ice, a vanilla Caramel powder and Caramel all blended up topped with whipped cream and Caramel! Or the Boba drinks are fun too!

3. If you could travel anywhere in the world, where would you go?

I would go to Japan first because I am half Japanese and am not very familiar with my own culture. Then Ireland, Sean's homeland and then the Greek Isles!!!

4.If you had unlimited cash, which store would you be most likely to blow the most money?

Barney's, then Whole Foods then Ace 16 a camping and sports store!

5. What has been your biggest accomplishment in the last year?

Recovery, and the decision to go back to school!

Thanks Mel for the fun questionnaire! I will pass this along!
C

When my computer gets the flu...

2009-02-10T18:29:00.001-08:00

Well yes sadly my computer obtained some viruses this weekend and I had to send it to my "geek squad" if you will to fix her up and get back to my blogging friends!! I was planning on doing a post via Sean's computer but it never panned out. So I am here and sorry to have left ya'll hanging for 3 days! I am going to do a recap of Saturday's dinner, Sunday and Monday's highlights and today's eats in this post so bear with me!

For lunch today I had a HUGE salad with chicken, tofu, beets, spinach, mixed greens, Annie's Woodstock, and a WW English muffin:

For my snack today I had this bar:

For bfast this morning I had a bowl of blueberry oats with all the fixings!

For dinner Monday I had this lovely new product; microwaved brown rice with seaweed and toasted sesame seeds: Yummy stuff, perfectly fluffy and the seasoning is divine! It is similar to a Japanese seasoning you can buy in the spice section of the supermarket's Asian foods section. I used to dowse my rice an tofu with this stuff as a kid!

This is the package:

Along with the rice I had this lovely salad with water chestnuts!

Monday's lunch I had this lovely Almond butter and jelly sandwich on WW bread with grapes and Annie's Cheddar bunnies! At work we have an industrial Panini Press so I pressed my sandwich and let me just say YUMMMMMM! The bread got all toasty and the Almond butter was melty and the jelly soaked thru one side and was caramelized...heaven you will see this again for sure!

For dessert Saturday I had this bowl:

At some point this weekend I also had this:

Sunday night dinner with the Rents we went to an all time old family fave Il Foraio!! We used to come here when me and my sis were kids and we called it the PINK Italian because in the '80's and early '90's it had florescent pink lights inside! I had the appetizer plate of White Beans, Shrimp, Scallops with parsley olive oil!

For lunch on Sunday Sean and I went to Grub and I had the Veggalicious and a side salad:

I had a lovely bowl of cereal Saturday and repeated Sunday:

For dinner at Hugo's Saturday night I had a Turkey Burger a la carte, duh it's my fave, and a side of Broccolini and garlic!

I also had this lovely cocktail with my dinner; a white wine Spritzer which had white wine, Campari, and club soda! Well that's my eats for ya! I hope you all love them as much as I did! On my exercise routine: I have been doing the Shred for 4 days now and plan to keep it up! More results on that next time!

Love and sweet dreams

Not Much

2009-02-07T16:19:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone!
Saturday's are usually my down day, but today I had some more returns to do. Sean was a good bf and came along with me to carry the heavy stuff!! I woke around 8am craving this breakfast: WW English muffin with reduced fat PB, a banana, a dash of cinnamon, a small apple and a small orange:
It was heavenly! I puttered around until Sean woke and then before we left I had a lil snack:

These grapes were on sale at Whole Foods so I couldn't resist! And they were delish! Super crunchy and sweet!

For lunch we were mostly doing returns in Burbank so we stopped at Sharkey's Mexican Grill for a yummy lunch. I love Sharkey's because they have a healthy version of most dishes and the food is organic and has no lard, no hormones and all natural ingredients! Here is their mado; "Our mission comes down to three things: eating great healthy food; using fresh, natural and organic ingredients; …and having fun doing it!"

I had the Tostada Salad- Grilled veggies, romaine lettuce, organic rice and beans, tomatoes, guacamole, pico de gallo and tofu. I had it “naked” which means its lower fat and calories, non-fat sour cream, non-fat cheese; it comes with a low fat whole wheat tortilla and brown rice!!

I ate about half and nibbled on the edge of the tortilla. It was super filling and super tasty!

When we got home I was tired and the rain came back but instead of being a couch potato I decided to do DAY 2 of the Shred!!! I did level 1 again, I have a pilates class tomorrow at 9am and don't want to be too sore to get my monies worth! I love this DVD! I wore my HR monitor and I burned 150 calories in 20 min! I love it, and next time will try to do 2 in a row! After my workout I made a smoothie with 1/2 cup skim, ice, 2 leaves of Kale, a small banana, 1/3 scoop of Whey protein, a handful of frozen blueberries, 3 chunks of frozen mango and zapped it in my Magic Bullet. This poor old guy was struggling to get the kale all mixed up and I had to stop it every few seconds to clean the blades, kind of a pain! But the end result was great!

Ok it's officially shower time! Sean and I are going to one of our fave restaurants for dinner tonight Hugo's! http://www.hugosrestaurant.com/ They have the most amazing brunch and breakfast! They have a huge vegan selection and great teas and cocktails too! After din din I am dragging Sean to see the latest rom-com He's Just Not That into You!! I can't wait!

See you later tonight or tomorrow! Enjoy your weekend!

Rainy Friday

2009-02-06T18:52:00.000-08:00

Yes it is raining cats and dogs here in LaLa Land. I am loving it up too! I love curling up by the TV and watching Gilmore Girl re-runs with Ella and my slippers!!! But before I could do all that I had a full day to fulfill!
This morning I had a wonderful bfast that held me for ever it felt like! I had a WW Light Thomas English Muffin with a spoon of Almond Butter and a small banana sliced on top. On the side I had a small orange and a small apple:
Yummy yummy! For my mid morning snack I had 2 servings of Annie's Honey Bunnies and 14 raw almonds. This snack was a great change from my usual bar or similar type "fast" snack. I counted and bagged my little treats the night before and to my surprise they held me better than a bar ever does!

For lunch I brought tofu, veggies and a beet:

I was satisfied all day long! When I got home from job #1 I wanted a lil something to keep me going for job #2 (today I did returns for both gigs I've been working) so I grabbed this new product:

Hello this stuff is sooooo good! Not too sweet and very good texture! I love Rice Pudding and Tapioca and this lil container has only 90 calories! I paired it with about 15 almonds and it made for a wonderful compliment!

Even Ella wanted to get in on the action:

She followed me the whole time I was eating this so I let her lick the container:

I know it's not good for her but I NEVER give her human food, except the occasional bite of salmon, so I thought she should get a treat too!

I did as I said and got down to business with my work out!!!!! I did the Level 1 of Jillian's 30 day shred. This was great, I probably could have done a higher level or done it twice but I am taking it slow so I don't get too sore to do round 2 on day 2 tomorrow! I love work out DVD's, especially on a rainy day like this! My living room is my own personal gym with Jillian as my own personal trainer! Man Anita on the DVD has some killer Abs!!!

For dinner I made just what I was craving; a turkey sandwich on WW double fiber bread. I put inside; spinach, red cabbage, turkey, red onion and spicy Dijon mustard. On the side I had some broccoli with Woodstock dressing, baby carrots, grape tomatoes and cucumber:

I loved the sandwich, but it was a bit dry. Any tips on condiments for sandwiches???? I sometimes use hummus and love that but I am looking for a Mayo replacement!!! Please let me know what you like!

For dessert I had a 1/3serving of Honey Bunnies and a few dried apricots. I also had a couple pieces of chocolate but gulped those down too fast to snap a pic.

I later went back for more sweets; a Coconut date roll!!!!

Ok I am now going back to the couch with my Ella and some rainy day movie. Maybe Singing in the Rain, or Breakfast at Tiffany's or Knocked Up, can't decide yet:)

Happy Friday and see you tomorrow or Sunday!!

Monkey Business

2009-02-05T19:38:00.000-08:00

Hello Bloggers!
I am sorry for no post last night but man was I beat! I will start by saying I LOVE CHIMPS!!!! I had so much fun! We worked with a 3 year old girl chimp named Suzie and an 8 year old boy named Jake. Suzie was the most adorable and I only have pics of her to show you for now. The trainers were a "bit off", as animal wranglers usually are to us who do not spend their whole lives around animals, but very sweet to the animals. They were more strict with us humans, in ways to behave around the chimps. So I do not have a ton to photos, just a few.

Second-Let's catch up with my eats from yesterday:
Breakies- Cereal and green tea

The usual cereal mix of 1.5 grains, 1.5 skim, shot of almonds, blueberries and a dash of cinnamon. I also tried a sprinkle of Cayenne, which was a nice kick.

DRUM ROLL PLEASE.....Suzie:

Yes Su Su is sporting a very chic diaper courtesy Sesame Street! Here we are just having a cuddle:

Here she is swinging on her trainer:

And again:

For lunch we had catering and I chose the Smoked Chipotle Tofu with an assortment of veggies and salad:

It was very tasty! And for dessert I split a brownie with my co-worker Mark

When I got home and told my BF all about my day by the time we looked at the clock it was 8:30pm! Way later than I would usually eat dinner but we were hungry and my afternoon snacks of nuts and fruit (no pic) was long worn off so we went to Thai BBQ and had soup and Chicken Satay (no pic). When I got home I wanted to try a new treat I bought; Skinny Cow Ice cream Sandwiches!!!!!! Omg these are the best!!! Only 140 Calories and 1.5 grams of fat! They are not the healthiest ingredients and not natural but very tasty for not a lot of guilt! And one every once and a while is not bad. http://www.skinnycow.com/myproducts/sandwiches.php?myflavor=vanilla_chocolate
My review: Sweet taste, soft texture, creamy, so much like the Ice Cream Truck type sandwich I would never know it was low fat!

Okay, enough monkey-ing around, lol. Let's move onto today's eats!!! For breakies I had a bowl of cereal with dried apricots and a small banana:

For my mid morning snack I had this lovely bar, excuse the hair on the place mat I didn't notice it on my camera:)

For lunch I brought Sean's left over Pad Thai with shrimp, brussels, and a piece of satay chicken:

When I got home today I had a killer headache! My goodness was it BAD! So I thought :0 I must not have had enough to eat!!! My first thought if I have a headache is always that I must be hungry. So I made myself a snack; honey roasted peanuts, dried tamarind, prunes, dried apricot, chocolate yummmm:

Not satisfied and still with a headache I had the last of my Fage and some more dried fruit and nuts:

Hello???? Not satisfied and spoiling my dinner I had some more....

I had to go to Target to do some returns for the shoot and I picked up a few things after roaming the aisles for 2 hours!!!! Love the Target!

My most exciting purchase: Jillians 30 Day Shed!!! I have heard blog buzz on this DVD and finally bought it! I will start tomorrow! For dinner I made myself a plate of assorted veggies and tofu with a beer. Why? Cause why not! (in the back you see a new tea container I got on sale, I also got a flour container but sadly I dropped the bag in my driveway in the rain:(

The beer was fabulous and thick and sweet! A nice contrast to my light and fresh meal!

Ok folks I am off to take a bath, hopefully my headache will be long gone after that! And then watch Top Chef!

Goodnight!

Chic Chimps!

2009-02-03T18:46:00.001-08:00

Yes you read right! Tomorrow I am working with Chimpanzees! I am doing a shoot with the cute lil guys for a magazine (that I will tell you the name of when it comes out) piece!!! A fashion magazine using Chimps how cool?? I am so excited! I love animals especially monkeys and apes!!!! So in tribute to my day tomorrow I started with a lovely small yellow banana, I hear Chimps love these! HeHe! I was also in a huge hurry with waking up way late, ya sadly no morning work out, so I only had time to grab one of these bars:
I think I liked the Brownie flavor better, to tell you the truth I am not happy with them in hindsight. Besides holding me for a whooping 4 hours, they are not too tasty nor too much fun to eat. IE; dense, dry and heavy. Not a great texture and not a great flavor in my foods= not worth eating! Even if it lasts me for a long time, I am not going to be satisfied in the end. I need a complete emotional, sensual and visual eating experience!
Moving on... I had this thick and creamy experience around 10am along with a coffee with skim (not pictured)I packed a boring lunch like yesterdays; beets, brussels, carrots, tomatoes, chicken and potatoes, this time with a dash of Goddess dressing:

I like a meal like this for work because it is so colorful and it makes me feel really full with out being really full!

When I got home I was wired from my coffee, I have not been making coffee a daily thing so my buzz is extra strong! I needed a lil something so I had this lil apple with some dried fruit and sliced almonds:

I did some exercise!!! Yes finally I got my priorities straight and rolled out my yoga mat turned on the Exercise TV On Demand and did 16 min abs, 10 min booty liciouse (I did not make that name up) and then 30 extra Sweet Squats on my own and one set of 15 arms. My wrist is mostly better but I am afraid to hurt it or strain it so I stopped when it began to feel pain.

* * *

Feeling like a million bucks, amazing the littlest amount of exercise can do wonders for your state of mind! I settled down and drew a bath and treated my self to an early dessert!

After my bath and a long read!! I made a dinner that will not excite but did the trick:

Look familiar??? Well it should it is very close to my lunch. sorry not too creative tonight! But I did change a few items; I added cucumber, red pepper and replaced chicken and potatoes with tofu.

I am happy to be going to bed soon, I am like Ella lately all I want to do is eat and sleep!!! I do have an early call and so I am listening to my body and getting rest.

I hope everyone is having a good week thus far.

P.S. I just want to thank you for being active on my blog and being so supportive! I really love you all and will try to keep up with my comments on your blogs. I am always reading and do not always have time to comment but you are the reason for my sanity and I am so inspired by you!

Cool Night

2009-02-02T19:26:00.000-08:00

Wow it really cooled off, I am always jaded by the heat of the afternoon to the breeze of the evenings here on the Westside. I lived in the Valley for the last 7 years and this is a nice adjustment but my wardrobe does not agree:)

Sean got home in time for dinner! We went to M Cafe de Chaya, my fave Macrobiotic Vegan restaurant.

Here is what Sean got:

California Club Sandwich ~ a triple-decker of savory tempeh “bacon”, lettuce, tomato, avocado, carrots, sprouts & soy-mayo on your choice of house-baked toasted sourdough or multi-grain & seed bread with a side of Squash and raisin mash!!

I ate most of his mash because it was SOOOO GOOOD! Sweet and chunky!

The fries at M Cafe are by far the best ever so we had to get a small order with the Macro- Ketchup:

I only had a few fries because I wanted to save plenty of room for my meal!

Bi-Bim Bop ~ marinated pan-fried tofu, Korean-style vegetables, spicy miso sauce & house-made kim chee:

I loved it! The sauce on the side was a peanuty/ plum sauce!

Wow what a big meal! I only ate 1/2 the rice but still I am stuffed! I plan to wake early tomorrow to do yoga or cardio, I know I should make the plan more firm now so I don't back out but I am not sure what I will be in the mood for tomorrow. So I am just making a plan to wake early and do something! Back to the laundry pile- who knew I was so cool? haha!

See you wonderful ladies tomorrow!

Hot Day

2009-02-02T15:22:00.001-08:00

Good afternoon ya'll!

Today was super hot! I am so confused is it summer> or Spring or isn't it still Winter???? LA is not very clear today :) It has been a while since I have had the chance to post mid day! I love it! For my Monday Bfast I had a Breakfast Cookie! I put in 1 small banana, 1/2 scoop Vanilla Whey, 1 shot Sunflower seeds, 1 shot mix of raisins and Craisins, tbsp of Almond butter, and a dash of Cinnamon:
I love these guys! The cookie makes for a delish bfast! I also had this CREAMY yogurt! It is sooooo good! Very lemony and very smooth and thick! Kinda high in calories (over 200) but I think it's worth it!

Here is the yummy yogurt's close up, you can kind of see the bites of Lemon zest!

For lunch I brought 1 sliced beet, 1 cup microwaved brussel sprouts with a dash of Annie's Woodstock dressing and a dollop of Spicy Dijon and a small amount of mashed potatoes from a while ago-yikkes hope they weren't too old! And a bit of roasted chicken shredded with more Woodstock:
I made a smoothie after work to satisfy my mid afternoon hunger. In it I put; 1/2 cup skim, 1 orange, 1/4 cup frozen blueberries, 2 frozen mango chunks, 1/4 scoop Whey protein and filled the rest of the cup with ice. I used my dinky Magic Bullet, I don't have a real blender :( But I like this machine for one reason; it makes a perfect portion!

This smoothie as pretty and refreshing as it was, it didn't leave me feeling like I had ANYTHING! Maybe next time I will add more Protein Powder or a spoon of nut butter. So I had 1 Mu's Munchies!!!

A handful of Dried Apricots:

I had this lovely treat! Guilt free non the less!

Ok peoples I am off to do some laundry and run some errands. See ya for dinner!

Saturday and Sunday full of Yogurt

2009-02-01T19:19:00.001-08:00

So Saturday's lunch was Whole wheat roll with Red Pepper Hummus! I heated the roll and it dipped it in the hummus!!!

Later I had another wonderful Rachel's! These are so tasty and filling!

You all saw my dinner at Akasha on my last post so here is my dessert....more yogurt! This time it was a lovely small cup from Red Mango Fro Yo does a body good!

Onto today, the Sunday from my couch as I like to call today, all day I have been bummed! I missed a Pilates class this morning and the rest of the day went to, well you know. So I rested some more and gathered myself a bit and had a mental health day.

This morning I had a lovely bowl of Egg White Oats with all the fixings! Sliced small banana, Craisins, raisins, raw sunflower seeds, a small handful of TFC (twigs flakes and clusters in case ya'll are confused) and a splash of Almond Milk.

Plus a cup of Genmaicha Green Tea-by far my fave green tea out there, the roasted rice gives it a huge flavor boost!

Being home all by my lonesome really makes me snack!!! I was way hungrier than normal today and so here the snacks begin: A new bar, very good and crunchy!

I later had more Rachel's!!! This flavor is super! But I think my fave is the Vanilla Chai! I also had some dried apricots!

For lunch I made a super salad and had a slice of heated Olive bread with it!

On my salad- shredded Chicken Mixed Spring mix, cucumber, raw broccoli, red pepper, grape tomatoes, red cabbage and a drizzle of Annie's Woodstock dressing!

Now I could have done with out this delite but I did not resist my urge! I had a Carob Brownie! It was ok not great, but for sure fixed my sweet tooth!!!!

For dinner I had a simple Turkey Wrap with red cabbage and mustard. Along side some grape tomatoes and baby carrots. Nothing too exciting but I sure got my calories worth of snacks today!

So my friends that is it for my weekend eats. I was not watching my eats this weekend but I am glad I indulged in healthy snacks, rather than the usual super Bowl Pig Out! Sean will hopefully be home on Monday night or Tuesday so I plan to CLEAN CLEAN CLEAN the apt while he is "out of my hair".

Hope everybody had a wonderful weekend!! And have a good Monday!

Catch Up!

2009-01-31T14:42:00.000-08:00

Hello my fellow Bloggers!!!
I am sorry for my absence the past few days, I have been super busy and was not meaning to neglect but had no spare time to post. The main reason I was so occupied is because Sean left this morning :( He is on location on a movie and I was trying to soak him up before he left. I also have been working a lot and needed my rest. But I am back to catch you all up on my weekend. I will be posting today's eats later but for now I have lots to share so get ready foodie brains!!!

I will start with last night, Sean and I went out to dinner and a movie. I was not feeling well early Saturday and we were supposed to go to a Persian Feast with family friends, but I backed out due to my not feeling well. Later we realized we needed a date night before he left and I had a nap so felt better. We decided to try a new restaurant called .akasharestaurant.com/. I would say it is a fusion type restaurant. A mix between American, Indian and Asian I guess?? We started with the Seeded Bread and butter, I had a nibble not much:

These pics are not great because I forgot my camera and used my Blackberry :) I had a glass of Merlot and Sean had a beer:

The menu was a very wide range of prices and tastes! I was torn between the Red Quinoa with Smoked Tofu and Market Vegetables, Mung Beans with Vegetables, or the Organic Turkey Burger. I chose the Red Quinoa and boy was I happy!!!!! It was super tasty!!!

The veggies were steamed spinach, curried cauliflower, white roasted carrots, and green beans!!! So good, the Tofu was perfectly seasoned and cooked, nice an soft like I like it!

Sean had the Lamb Sliders and the Organic Mac and cheese!!!

I had a bite of his Mac and cheese of course! So creamy!!!

Ok no onto Friday: I had Blueberry Oats with Vanilla Whey protein powder, raisins, Craisins, and peanuts:

For my mid morning snack I had this bar:

Before lunch I had this apple and the same on Saturday:

For lunch I made a Turkey Red Pepper Hummus Wrap with Sugar snap peas and Baby Carrots:

When I got home I had a Fage 0% bowl with some T,F,C, peanuts and Dried Tamarind with Agave:

I took off to Whole Foods for some relaxing shopping, food shopping is like retail therapy for me!

Here are the stars!

More yummy treats:

I have never seen these brownie bars and I can't wait to try them!

This is the back on one:

At Whole Foods there was a Larabar rep!! I talked her up and got some free stickers!

I HAD to try this new yogurt!!! It is AMAZING! There is a yummy texture like Brown Cow yogurt but with out the fat and it has added Probiotics! .rachelsdairy.com/

Spoon savor stretch sigh- a sang on the package!

Later for dinner I dove into the kitchen to get cookin' on dinner!! I have not yet made this dish on the blog so I am giving ya'll the recipe and steps to complete this meal, even though it is turning out to be the longest blog ever!

Baked Tempeh and Kale

1 package of 8 oz Tempeh ( mine was flax), sliced thinly into desired widths
2 tbsp ginger, finely chopped
3 tbsp toasted sesame oil
2 tbsp tamari
1 tbsp rice vinegar
1 tsp fresh lemon or lime juice
1 clove garlic minced
1/2 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp dried basil
pinch of cayenne
1/4 cup water
black pepper to taste

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Slice tempeh as desired (for baking, try first slicing across the depth of the tempeh cake once or twice, to yield two or three thin full sized rectangles that can be cut into smaller pieces. Thinner sliced absorb more sauce. Place sliced tempeh on rimmed baking sheet or 9"x11" pyrex pan. Spread chopped ginger over top. Mix remaining ingredients together and pour over the tempeh, or use a spray bottle to apply. Bake uncovered for 30-40 minuets, turning once to allow for browning on both sides. Delicious!

Makes 3-4 servings

For the Kale:

I strip the kale stems of their leafs and then chop both separately:

chop garlic and put in hot pan with 1 tbsp olive oil:

Add stems first and quick fry for 2 min:

Add chopped leaves and cover with 1/4 cup water and 2 tbsp soy sauce:

Cover and steam for 5 min, add more water if needed:

I ate my Tempeh and Kale with Buckwheat Soba noodles:

Now for dessert!!!!! I bought this new product:

I followed the instructions on the package:

Mochi is puffed rice and the added chocolate is so interesting!!!

This is my plate!! I had these yummy squares with a spoon of Almond Butter:

They were great! Not too sweet and very low in calories and fat! The almond butter was a nice touch like frosting on my little cakes!

This went perfectly with a small glass of skim:

Saturday Bfast; I had cereal with a banana and my usual dried fruit and nuts:

I am not done with the Saturday eats and will post the rest with my Sunday eats!

Sorry for the delayed post and hope you enjoy the recipe!!

Another One Bites the Dust

2009-01-29T20:24:00.000-08:00

Yes indeed this day has come to an end with no exercise and I am not in the best mood. So I will try to be brief. Bfast: Bowl of cereal with 1 cup Twigs, Flakes and Clusters, 3/4 cup Kashi Sunshine, 1.5 cup skim with 1/2 scoop protein powder in Vanilla, 1 shot blueberries, 1 small sliced banana, 1/2 shot sunflower seeds, 1/2 shot raisins and a smile on my face (this morning):

I had this bar (very tasty, but wolfed it down before really getting to enjoy it) for my mid morning snack:

This was my lunch I packed for work; 1 serving of TJ's Rice Mac and Cheese with a dash of cayenne, chili powder and pepper with a salad on the side of spring mix with raw broccoli, red bell, Persian cucumber and a dash of Goddess dressing:

At work I had another Green Tea Frappe (obsessed) and when I got home I had this Itty Bitty Apple:

Later when I found out Sean would be home in time for a late-ish dinner I had this Soy Joy bar in mango, my consensus: bad, like a stale cookie and the flavor was weak and almost rancid -ewwww!

Plus it didn't hold me at all, so I went to the fridge to have the rest if the Mac and Cheese. I felt better and full so I was not tempted to eat as I cooked and not tempted to eat all the Mashed potatoes I was making for Sean! No picture of the rice and cheese but it was just like lunches sans salad.

For dinner I wanted to make a nice meal with my tip money! So I bought some New York Strip Steaks, potatoes to mash (Sean's fave) and artichokes!

Here are the green flowers of the earth! I steamed them:

The meal turned out just ok. I was unhappy with how the steaks turned out. I am really no expert on cooking steak, I have only ever cooked them ONCE! Sean usually BBQ's or broils them. I tried to Pan Fry them. They were over cooked and tough and too much like the steak in Napoleon Dynamite- HAHA~!

We had a a glass of wine with dinner from our case of Mystery wine and some Red pepper hummus and Goddess for dipping (but neither of us ended up dipping). I ate all of my artichoke but only had a spoon cleaning's worth of mashed taters.

Here is my steak- boo not so pretty I know:

I ate 1/4 of it and then said "the heck with this" Sean ate all of his (good sport) I must be spoiled because I don't really like steak to begin with unless it is very good quality and perfectly cooked!

Oh well! The best part of dinner was the artichoke heart~!!!!!!!! I love these guys, difficult to get to but so worth it!

Well now I am still not in the best of moods. I am always better after a post! I will catch up with you all tomorrow for FRIDAY! Have a good night!

Shout out to Cardio and Dried Fruit

2009-01-28T19:32:00.000-08:00

Good Evening (afternoon or morning) Bloginns'

I am in such a better mood thanks to all your comments to cheer me up!!! I am so grateful! I did as I promised and woke super early to do a Cardio Butt Kicking Calorie Burn OnDemand 30 min session and burned a nice 211 calories! My body was feelin' the burn and I LOVED it! I was sweating and huffing, man I love endorphins!!!!
After my work out and a big glass of ice water I showered and made myself a bowl of blueberry oats with 1/2 cup oats, water, 2 shots frozen blueberries, a splash of Almond Milk, a shot of raisins, a shot of Craisins, a shot of sliced raw almonds, 1 tbsp of almond butter, one date and a small sliced banana:

Along with my oats I had a small glass of Skim:

At work I had a funny run in with an old friend's mother! She was so happy to see me and it was crazy that the last time she saw me I was eating her homemade blueberry muffins (best I've ever had) in my pj's watching cartoons with her daughter!

For my mid morning snack I had this bar with another Green Tea Frappe(no pic):

Work was slow today due to a HUGE car wreck on the 10 East bound, 2 fatalities from a car driving the wrong way on the freeway! So sad, and last night I saw a huge car wreck with the white sheet covering the passenger side of one of the 3 cars! This is such a crazy week with the news flashing FEAR all over! I hate it! I also heard a sad story about a family of 7 all found dead due to a murder suicide by the father who killed his wife and 5 kids due to getting fired and not being able to handle life with the economic crisis. I hate the news and normally don't watch but for some reason this morning I flipped it on for one second and this is what I got-my heart and prayers go out to the families of those who are no longer with us!

Sorry for the heavy load but these stories have been weighing on me today.

On to lunch :) I had a leftover lunch to clean the fridge and save some moola. A Shrimp wrap with Muenster and cabbage on a Sun dried Tomato Jalapeno tortilla:

and some red bell pepper spears:

I also packed a little dessert for lunch; Fage 0% with Agave and some Bare Naked Granola! This was so good!!! I have not ventured into sweetening my greek yogurts yet and might I say YUMMMOOO!

When I arrived at home I was a bit peckish (my moms favorite descriptive word) so I had a small bowl of 1/4 cup Twigs Flakes, and Clusters, 1 shot Kashi sunshine, and a spoon of reduced fat PB with Skim:

For dinner I was hungry very early so I settled for more leftovers (Sean was not coming home for a while after my dinner time and when that happens we usually eat totally different things). I heated a Brown Rice tortilla with a slice of muenster and the last of the shrimp in the microwave:

Then topped it with butter lettuce, cabbage, red onion, Fage 0% and fire roasted salsa, with a crank of pepper:

It was my version of a Shrimp Tostada! I later settled in with some Vanilla Tea and some dried fruit:

I had 2 more serving like this of dried fruit, not sure what it is about the Tropical Mix from TJ's but it is addictive!!! All the Mango, Ginger, Hibiscus and Palmelo-mmmmmm! I also had the last of my beloved Dragon Fruit!

When Sean cam home I baked him a Margarita Pizza (easy way out) and I had a nibble of crust as you will see in exhibit A:

I felt more alert and more energized all day! I know it was the exercise this morning so I plan to do another round tomorrow! Ya'll mean soooo much to me and I love the comments from every one of you!!!!

Be safe and count your blessings!

<3>

Too many raw veggies!

2009-01-27T21:03:00.000-08:00

I had way too many for dinner and my stomach hurts from too much fiber! As I sit in pain I now remember how this happens to me so I will be more careful to have balanced meals.

HMMMM I am really letting my health come last these days and I feel it! I know it is no excuse but my work is so consuming right now (doing the two jobs) and it is taking me over completely! I know I am taking it out on my boyfriend and my parents so I hate to vent here too, but it is helping:P

Moving on to my more positive side...my eats! I had a chai tea this morning:
And Egg White Oatmeal with 1/2 cup oats, water, a sprinkle of Cinnamon, 1/2 shot raisins, 1/2 shot Craisins, 1 shot raw sunflower seeds, a small sliced banana and a 1/2 shot of Bare Naked Granola:

I put about a tbsp of Agave on the oats because they had a strange "eggy" taste that was turning me off, and this helped!

I brought this bar to work and ate it around 10am and I made myself a non fat latte at work( no pic)

For lunch I had left over Shrimp tacos in a wrap with the same veggies as yesterday and sorry no pic:( I am really on a wrap kick, it's just so easy to prepare the night before for lunch! I will try to change it up for sake of the blog!

For my walk home I made my self a Green Tea Frappe; which is blended skim milk, ice, and green tea Matcha powder with no sugar!!! Yummy and refreshing with a bit of a caffeine kick!

I also had this little bit of brown rice and fat free baked beans to hold me over while I went on the continuous hunt for furniture for the Fashion Island shoot, this job is stressing me out big time!

When I finally got home from the shopping I had this mini apple and behind it are my new curtains, courtesy World Market! Great store!

For dinner I made a HUGE salad like last nights + raw broccoli, brown rice and baked beans!!!!!

My tummy was fine for a half hour or so after I ate but then... the bloat came full fledged and I can only blame the raw broccoli and overloaded veggies on my salad for this tummy ache!

Needless to say I ate some dried fruit and a few peanuts?!?!?!

I hope you all understand my bad behavior of late and stick with me as I get through this job and the beginning of school! Once stress hits me I really need to exercise it off, but I have yet to get that going! Tomorrow morning I am waking up 1.5 hours early to do some living room cardio!

Good night ya'll!

Ok I need a NEW camera!

2009-01-26T20:52:00.000-08:00

I am so deeply disappointed by my Casio Exilim "Crappio" is more like it! It was fine for my quick On Set pics or continuity pics on set, but this whole photographing my food thing has brought my standards to a whole new level! I am open to suggestions! So many of you lovely bloggers have wonderful looking pictures and I am officially jealous! I am not looking for anything too fancy or anything too expensive but just a GOOD camera that will take a clear picture and has a decent flash. I know my best pics are done in natural light with no flash, but I am often taking pictures at night, in my car, early morning or on the go....So I need a better camera to equipped myself with!

Well I guess I will show you what I mean; bfast pick:
Kashi WW Waffle with 1/2 tbsp of Almond butter, 1 small mashed REALLY over ripe banana, 2 shots of TJ's Twigs and Flakes, a spoon of Fage 0%, an orange, and some dried tropical fruit for fun :)

I thought the Waffle/ over ripe banana would be better, it was a bit soggy and too sweet but oh well.
I ate this bar at work around 10am, but took this pic at home before:

These Z bars, even though for kids, are very tasty and satisfying when I need a lil something but not a whole protein bar.

For lunch I packed a Sun Dried Tomato Jalapeno Tortilla with turkey, roast red pepper hummus and muenster (I have not been spelling it with an "e" so my appologise, my strong suit is obviously not my spelling:) This wrap was by FAR my fave so far! The salty cheese and tangy spicy tortilla went so well with the turkey and hummus!!!! Yummm! I need to buy more turkey now!

I also packed some baby carrots and sugar snap peas- I love these!

When I got off work I was in a hurry to run to the prop houses to snap a few pics for the Fashion Island add so I grabbed this Black Cherry Almond Cliff:

I made it home in the WORST traffic, but early enough to muster up the energy to make dinner. I made my BBQ Chicken moourl.com/bbqchick atop a mixed salad with Herb Spring mix, Butter Lettuce, Persian cucumber, red pepper, red cabbage, red onion, a dash of Goddess dressing ( yummm I haven't this stuff for YEARS and I have missed it, I cut it out due to the fat content, but now I figure a tad will not hurt me + the flavor it so jam packed you only need a tinsy bit).

This salad was just what the DR. ordered! I know I have not been posting any exercise lately....that's because I really haven't done any :( I try to squeeze in yoga, but my mind is a million places and my body is so tired! I will not let this stop me, and I plan to pick back up soon! I am on my feet all day at work and am hoping that the amount of calories I am burning will not allow me to GAIN any weight, but I sure know I am not LOSING any. I feel healthy and that is most important, but I would like to exercise because when I do I feel 10 times better! My will power is not keeping up right now and I need a bit of a push! The first step is getting my gym membership! So we will make that priority #1!

Good night everybody! I plan to have a few pieces of dried fruit for my dessert so I might show you the goods tomorrow, but to be honest it is just like the last few days dessert so I will probably spare you the lame pictures.

P.S. Monday is over and we are going on to Tuesday so if you guys are counting down the days til this weekend is here~ 4 more days baby!!

Feast of Feasts!

2009-01-25T20:44:00.000-08:00

Hello Bloggers!

My day today was full of food and shopping! I love shopping!!! What girl doesn't really? I want to share the late night dinner Sean had with you all because I had a slice! Very tasty TJ's Margarita Pizza- thin and perfect:

Man I hadn't had pizza in so long it was a real treat in my mouth! But lets move to my bfast!

I had a bowl of cereal ( I was too lazy to cook up anything and was feeling like something cold, I planned on making a smoothie but went for the quicker eats) I had 1/2 cup Kashi Sunshine, 1/2 cup Heritage flakes, 1.5 cups Skim with 1/2 scoop of Whey Protein Powder in Vanilla, 1 small sliced banana, 1/2 shot of almonds, 1/2 shot of raisins and 1.5 shots of frozen Wild Organic Blueberries:

Sean and I wrote a list for the things to do today, he sadly only had today off work so it was all business! Before we headed out the door I had a Coconut Date roll!!!

After a long 3 hours of trying on clothes and doing some window shopping we left the mall, shopping bags in hand, to head to get some lunch. We decided on the gyu-kaku.com/ Japanese BBQ, which we both have never tried!

It was fabulous! Here is our table with the grill in the middle to cook our order! I had Iced Green tea and Sean had Happy Hour 99 Cent Kirin Beer:

The combo we ordered the Premium Set- a lunch Special- Included: Kobe Kalbi Short Rib, Miso-Bistro Harami Steak, Chicken Basil, Ahi Tuna Shio, a Miso soup, Kim-Chee, edemame, and a salad:

See the food comes raw and you cook it at your table!

This is the taste of the steak and my 1st share of rice:

The Ahi that we flash fried to sear the outside!!!

My bit of chicken, it had a pesto sauce:

We also ordered 2 sides of veggies, Spinach with Garlic:

And Sweet Potato, but it had butter on it GRRRR:

My taste of ribs-my fave: ( you see the rice portion dwindling with each pic)

I also had the miso soup, the salad, a few pieces of edemame and almost a whole bowl of white rice-yikes! I left very full!

We ended up going to World Market and got new curtains! I love them and will show you soon! We stopped at Home Depot, Trader Joes and the Beauty Supply store and then we were done for!

By the time we returned home it was 5:30pm! And needless to say I had built up an appetite so I busted out my dried fruit purchased from TJ's:

I love Trader Joes but HATE the lines on Sunday! We shopped and were ready to pay in 5 min and we didn't leave for 40min-AHHHH!

As I prepared dinner I had a glass of 1/2 wine and 1/2 sparkling water! A new mix I enjoy!! I had one with dinner as well:

We picked up these new tortillas to try with the Shrimp Tacos I was making:

I loved these so much I snacked on one as I cooked! They remind me more of Naan than a tortilla! I am very into my carbs today!
We bought these to go with some salsa but never busted into them:

Sean had one of these and I had a sip:

Here is my plate:

Yummy! But way to much bready type food for me! I am sooo full and I regret eating the second tortilla let alone the third!!!! But I will make up for it tomorrow by being carb conscious, if I can:)

I am off to wash up and watch the new TV and hit the hay! I have the opening shift tomorrow so I had better get my beauty rest!

Hope you all had a great weekend!

Sushi Time

2009-01-24T21:29:00.000-08:00

I am back from my dinner and don't have any pics to show for it, first time hanging out with my friend in years so I strayed from taking a pic of my food. But it was very tasty! I had an Eel Roll with cucumber and sweet sauce, and Yellowtail sushi with lots of ginger and wasabi!!! It was a nice meal, not too filling but satisfied me so I feel good!

It was sooooo awesome to see this girl, it was like we had spent NO time apart. There was a lot of catching up to do and a lot of similar stories shared! I love connecting with people from my past, I feel it has been really hard for me to find decent girl friends as I get older, and this friendship feels real and right! Yeah! I told her about my blog and in her words "what do you do on a blog?" WOW there was a lot of explaining to do! I forget that not everyone blogs and it might seem odd to people who don't :) I guess I am a nerd, but it's cool cause so are all you guys! Just Kidding!

After my bfast and some laundry I did a 20 min yoga download for free! It was Gentle Hatha Yoga #1- I thought it was nice to listen to and easy to follow but WAY to easy. So my next download will be either intermediate or power or something much longer!!!! But it was still nice to stretch and warm up the body!
This afternoon I had some lil snacks- snack #1 chocolate
I know this pic is blurry!!!
Snack #2- 2 hours before I left for dinner I had this new flavor Cliff and a spoon of Fage 0%:

I love this flavor, I find Cliff bars can all kinda taste the same or be very close with the nuts and stuff, so I really like this fruit flavor! No nuts, just fruit and grains. The apricot flavor is there but subtle and not fake tasting which I love, a bit tart and a bit sweet (like me)!

I am now going to catch up on your blogs and try to not get into my pj's ( I was in them most of the day!) until Sean gets home from work! I hate it when he sees me in the morning in bed then when he gets home I'm in pj's! So I will try to stick out my cute outfit until he at least walks in the door!

Goodnight everybody! Love!

Getting Organized

2009-01-24T12:41:00.000-08:00

Hello Saturday!
Today my goal is to get a bit organized, for this week was really jam packed and I had no time to clean or organize my life! So I am doing laundry, dusting, dishes, and most excitingly I am seeing a friend for dinner from when I was in Elementary school! Gotta love Facebook! We used to be really close and when we went to different Middle schools, like people often do, we drifted apart and lost touch. We are having dinner together tonight because Sean is working- boo for working on the weekend- I am so excited! Funny I read my horoscope today and it was quite fitting:
Libra (9/23-10/22)
You're stuck in the past a bit today, but it's not such a bad thing, really. In fact, you may find that people are more willing than usual to reminisce with you and recall the good times.

Last night Sean brought home a wonderful gift: WINE! A friend of his made this himself with left over grapes from the harvest at a winery he works at! How cool right? We had to taste it last night and I must say it is very home made :)
It has the color of a Rose, the nose of a Chardonnay and the taste of a Syrah blend-hmmmmmm?
This is the case we received, sans one bottle he gave to a co-worker:
I have never filled up my wine rack before!

I am sure you will see this wine in future posts~

Today I had a big bfast bowl of cereal! 1 cup Kashi sunshine, 1 cup Heritage flakes, 1.5 cups skim milk with 1/2 scoop Vanilla Whey Protein powder mixed in, 1/2 shot of raisins, 1/2 shot of Bare Naked Granola, a few roasted peanuts, and 1 small banana sliced:

It was wonderfully filling with the protein powder! And it gave it a nice taste too!

It is raining outside and to me that equates the perfect recipe for staying inside and doing laundry, lounging and organizing my stuff for school-just 3 more weeks until my first class!!!!

For lunch I had meal made for comfort! I microwaved a 2 red potatoes topped with 2 big spoons of a mix of leftover Tortilla soup (from work) and a can of TJ's Refried Black Beans with Jalapeno ( a fat free product). On the plate with it I had some Romain lettuce, Cilantro ( I am a sucker for fresh Cilantro), baby carrots, a tomato, a sprinkle of Mexican blend cheese, Tapatio and Fage 0%:

MMMMM!!! So good, I am stuffed!

Back to cleaning- See ya for a dinner post! Hope you all are having a good weekend!

Rainy Day Eats!

2009-01-23T20:00:00.001-08:00

Happy Friday everyone! I want start this post with my boyfriends beautiful work. I am so proud of him! He works for a production company ( I am not naming it to protect the rights to this picture). He is the Lead man and Construction Coordinator for this show, his job is HARD work and he built this amazing set for a movie coming out soon and I wanted to share it with you:
OK enough bragging :) This morning I was missing my hot stove top oats and since I didn't have to go in to work until 1pm I made some!

Blueberry oats with Fage 0%, a 2 part shot of Craisins and raisins and a 1/2 shot of roasted peanuts! So delish!

This morning I received my very first BIG TV, a flat screen too! It's kind of a long story but to make it brief Sean's mom's boyfriend had a flat screen but bought a new one and liked it better so he gave Sean's mom his old one, but she already had one so we got her older 42" Samsung flat screen!!!!! Um ya for FREE! I feel like the luckiest girl in the world! Here it is with my BIG glass of skim milk this morning watching the Today Show with Joy Bauer, a wonderful nutritionist discussing better food choices while eating out:

Before I left to run some errands I had one of my home made larabars:

When I returned home I had a lovely lunch! A brown rice tortilla with turkey, lettuce, lite Munster, and red pepper hummus! On the side some baby carrots and sugar snap peas!

For dessert (yes I had dessert with lunch) I had the amazing Dragon Fruit crisps with some dried fruit and Roasted peanuts-can't get enough of these!Later in the day I wanted something sweet so I went for my stash of chocolate and had 2 squares of Ritter Sport with marzipan!

I had this for my afternoon snack- hmmmm I am now realizing how much I ate today....

For dinner I went nice and healthy with leftover Tofu, stir fried bok choy and brown rice:

And once again I had a little dessert of dried fruit and nuts!

Maybe it's the cold weather (by cold I mean 61 degrees) and the rain (much needed I might add) that makes me so munchie! But tomorrow is another day so I will try to eat more intuitively and less "grab it if it's there" type eating.

My 42" is calling my name so off I go to start my weekend with a nice movie in the comfort of my own theater- my living room!!

Goon night ya'll!

Big Spain Post Numero Dos

2009-01-22T14:51:00.000-08:00

Well it's about time I posted my 2nd Spain post huh? Thanks to K at ksgoodeats.wordpress.com/ for asking me to post Spain pics I am finally posting some Euro eats and sites! Instead of a regular post of my daily eats and meanderings I am giving you MADRID!

But first and foremost my dried Dragon fruit review:
It's really interesting! I have never tired Dragon fruit raw or fresh so I don't have much to compare it to. You see I am a dried food nut and almost always if I like the fruit raw I like it dried, even freeze dried! This particular fruit dried is very nice texture! It reminds me of a chip, or rice cracker. It's thin shape and crispy bubbles makes for a fun treat in your mouth! Now the flavor: a bit sweet, a bit bitter. I don't know if I have ever tasted anything quite like them! If you like to try new things I recommend these!

Here we go with Spain, they are out of order but I will try to explain them.
This is my mama, Sean and me in front of the train station.

Here my dad, Sean and I are at the gates of the Gardens:

We ate at the oldest restaurant in the world according to The Guinness Book of World Records:

The crazy crowded streets of Gran Vía and around the Plaza Mayor and Puerta del Sol:

The local beer, a lot like Corona or Budweiser, not too impressive.

Giggling it up in the Metro

A tapas, pub like stop: gotta love the Bulls:

There was Christmas decorations on every street!

The beautiful architecture:

In the Atocha train station there was a funny baby's face sculpture by Antonio López García

Holy Toledo! Yes we visited this ancient city and saw beautiful culture and religion!

Here is a sculpture made of MARZIPAN- yummmm! This dessert is made of Almond and honey and sometimes egg yolk. In Spain it is most popular during Christmas as it is a religious treat made by Nuns and Spaniards claim it's origin to be in Toledo.

The Santo Tome church:

Fat Santa in the street market-haha:

Eating underground!

The Castle in Toledo:

The Train station in Toledo:

Chips and Guacamole at a Mexican Restaurant!!!! So good, the guac had curry and tumeric in it- yummmmmmm!

My Pork with rice and veggies!

The best steak I ever had! With potatoes and brussel sprouts!

At the Mexican restaurant Surpriso Y Surpriso!

My staple bfast- I bought some Activia yogurt in new flavors and ate it with All Bran, a banana, and dried Cranberries, Peach juice and Coffee!

The hallway of our Piso!

Atoche train station:

TAPAS!!!!!! This is Roasted Red Peppers stuffed with ground pork and covered in a creamy tomato sauce! Tasted like meatloaf!

This is also pork, skewered with a tasty rub of spices!

This was one of my favorite meals from Museo De Prado!!!! Garbanzo bean soup in yummy broth with a side fruit salad with kiwi, orange, melon, pom. A WW slice and a little bite of another bread and salad with black olives, beets, mix greens, and cucumber!!!!! Yummmmm! With a glass of white wine:

Roaming the streets near our Piso:

Inside a church:

The bread at tapas:

Us at listening to Flamenco:

Well there are more pictures on my computer but this otta be enough for one night! But if not you can go here http://moourl.com/spain1, http://moourl.com/spain2, http://moourl.com/spain3 to see my older Spain posts. Hope you all enjoy my trip pics and hope you get to visit Spain if you haven't already! Good night all!

What's your favorite city abroad?

A Lot Going On

2009-01-21T18:58:00.000-08:00

Lately I feel swamped! I am working 2 jobs and balancing my home life with my work schedule and Sean's work schedule and let me just say it is exhausting!
Of Course I started my day with the new fave; Breakfast Cookie!!!! Today's cookie is exactly like yesterdays except I flattened it more trying to make it become harder over night. It didn't really work but it is still yummy! I had to eat it at lightning speed because my alarm didn't go off (or I hit the "off" button without knowing:) and I had only 30 min to eat, wash up, pick out an outfit, feed Ella, and run out the door!!

For lunch I had leftover Mac and Cheese with Tuna. My boss bought us all a little treat from the Japanese Market: Mini Gyuudon (beef bowl) with beni shoga (pickled ginger)!!! It was soo tasty, sweet beef over rice! I don't have a picture but you can see what the dish looks like here: justbento.com/files/bento/images/bento_11_640.jpg This is the coolest site! I has Japanese recipes and lists the calories, it is awesome!

I came home WAY later than expected and was sooooo hungry! I went straight to the Bar Basket and grabbed this All Bran bar from Spain!

I bought these for my "go to" snack in Spain! I miss them a lot. I also broke out an Oatmeal Raisins Cookie I brought home from work.

I love comments from you to give the leftover food to a nearby shelter! We talked about it at work today and one of the guys was supposed to look into a place a while ago and has been slackin' so I think I might take over the job and hunt down a shelter! Sometimes we give the goods to the cooking school or art school for kids next door, but only sometimes.

Here is the portion of the cookie I didn't eat : ) I should have microwaved it and put it on a plate but I was rushing to fill my tummy!

They are BIG cookies, but I was still not satisfied. I must have gone too long before eating and nothing was satiating me! So I had some Mrs. May's almond clusters! I love these guys!

An hour or so later I was ready to just have my dinner already!!!! I had another round of Butternut Squash soup and a WW bun! Sorry for the repeats, but I need to go shopping so badly!

So after I ate this meal I left the house and headed to TJ's ASAP! Here are my goods:

I am psyched to try the Dragon Fruit! And for fun I bought 3 single beers to try with my honey!

See ya'll tomorrow for another day of eatz! I have not done a whole lot of exercise of late, I have been so whooped from the job at the cafe and the prepping/shopping for the photo shoot!

Good night to all in blog land!

The Best Things in Life Are Free!

2009-01-20T18:36:00.000-08:00

This morning was amazing! Thanks to Gina! Her blogfamous Breakfast Cookie was outta this world! I have been meaning to try it but didn't have the protein powder to make it with, well I bought it a couple of days ago and voila! You can find how to make it here: http://www.fitnessista.com/2008/11/something-worth-waking-up-for.html
For mine I used: 1/3 cup oats, 1/2 scoop Whey Protein powder in vanilla, 1 over ripe banana mashed, 1 shot raisins, 1 tbsp almond butter, 1/2 tbsp Pumpkin Butter, and a dash of Cinnamon. It was stupendous!!!!! Mine was a bit soft, maybe because I used a whole banana instead of half or maybe because I didn't let it sit in the fridge long enough, but either way it is good eats! I was full for 3.5 hours! I also had this apple:

I was lucky to catch a bit of the Inauguration on the TV at a prop house and got the chills it is so exciting!!!!! YEA for our new President Obama!

I came home for and early lunch before going into work and had some Annie's WW shells with white chunk tuna and frozen peas and a side salad with a tomato and balsamic dressing:

For my break I was looking forward to this treat all day! And it is so good! My fave Larabar by far! I can't wait to try to recreate this one Home Made Style!

Along with the bar I had a small orange, very refreshing!

I later snacked on these little tasty morsels: Mrs. May's Almond clusters:

I love free food! I think it is the fat girl inside me wanting to eat everything in sight and not waste anything! My mom was the "human garbage disposal" when I was a kid and all the left over bits on our plate would make up her plate and she lived on our discards, hehe! This must have rubbed off on me because I find myself saving everything for the off chance I can eat or use it later. Working at the Cafe is hard because everyday there is food we throw away if nobody wants to take it home! It is torture for me to see perfectly good sandwiches, muffins, pastries and soup go to the garbage can.

Today I got to take home Butternut Squash soup! It is vegan; dairy free, fat free and full of flavor! I love butternut squash soup so much especially when (like this one) has a hint of spice and a hint of curry! I had one container for dinner, along with a WW bun I took home earlier this month and froze. I just heated it in the microwave and boom free, fast and delicious. I had a small salad like lunch's on the side to make it more well rounded!

Yumm what a huge meal! I love when dinner comes together so nicely! I am off to cook, I know, I know, but I am in the mood so I think I will steam some Bok Choy and Red Potatoes for tomorrow and of course I can't resist to make another Bfast Cookie!!! Thanks again Gina!

Also, if you haven’t already check it out, Angela at ohsheglows.com/ is hosting another amazing contest! An Honest Foods prize! Check out the contest , http://ohsheglows.com/2009/01/17/the-results-of-the-honest-foods-contest-giveaway-contest-2/ you have until this Thursday, January 22!

Good night and "yes we can"

Whole Foods!

2009-01-19T18:50:00.000-08:00

I love Whole Foods!!! I wish it weren't so dang expensive! I even love just walking around and seeing all the good healthy and new products!!! I will show you my loot later in the post. I broke my bank a bit but I find I can get most my needed groceries at TJ's and be done with it!

For bfast this morning I had a late start and was planning on making a smoothie with some Whey Protein powder I bought at 24 Hour but didn't have the time (are smoothies even time consuming prob not:) so I fixed myself a bowl of cereal with 1 cup Kashi Sunshine, my last cup of Quaker Oatmeal Squares, 1/2 cup Heritage flakes, 1 over ripe banana ( I need to make some of Veggiegirl's banana fig muffins!!!) 1/2 shot raisins, 1/2 shot Craisins and 1.5 cups of skim milk.

My bowl was FULL:

At work today it was a co-worker's birthday! So there was cake!! Not just any birthday cake but a Double Chocolate cake, dense and rich!!! I wish I had a pic, but I am not doing the "taking pics of what I eat" yet at work. So I had 1/2ish a piece and a nonfat Cappuccino to go with my yummmy treat!!!! For lunch I had no room and no time for a real meal so I ran home to grab a Peppermint Stick Luna Bar. You see Ella checking out the goods!

When I got home I had to run back out to shop for the Fashion Island photo shoot so I sliced and apple and had the last of my Fage 0% with 2 chopped Figs and a shot of almonds-Yummm!

So Whole Foods!!!! I was way to tired to cook tonight, having done a double work day, so Sean and I ventured out to the Whole Foods near our house and got the hot food bar for dinner. Mine included: BBQ Tofu, Wheat berry curry, cauliflower, rice with cilantro and pine nuts, Chinese broccoli with garlic, a beet, and my fave dish there; Lima Beans with green olives and garlic-soooooo tasty, they were a bit dry tonight but still good as ever!

I also got the Brown rice veggie sushi! I started with half and finished the rest as we browsed. I love ginger on my sushi!

I was not planning on getting all my weeks worth of groceries and ended up just getting some randoms. The main event: Larabars!!!! Ok Ok I know I just made some hand made ones at home to save moola and all but I have never tired these flavors and the walnuts in my version tend to give me an itchy throat if I eat too many ( I have a slight allergy). So I invested in all these new flavors!!!! And 2 new Cliff bars! I was looking for the White Chocolate Macadamia nut but they don't have them yet:(

I also bought the ingredients I needed to make the Banana Fig Muffins found here: http://veggiegirlvegan.blogspot.com/2009/01/no-more-delays-heres-recipe.html

Fewww what a day! The rest of my night includes: TV (Inside the Actor's Studio with Ricky Gervais-love him and The White House: Closed Doors), make lunch for tomorrow, shower, SLEEP!!!

Hope you all have a great night!

Upset Tummy!

2009-01-18T18:59:00.001-08:00

After bfast I finally went to the gym to try out the 24 Hour near to my house ( I want to get the deal they are selling at Costco for $12.95 a month for two years!!) I loved the view in the "penthouse" where the treadmills and other cardio machines are! I ran for 20 min and did some Elliptical and some stairs. Equaling to 38 min and 373 calories burned!! It felt soooooo nice to get to a gym, oh I have missed it so! I returned home HUNGRY so I busted out whatever was there! This Edemame went off in the fridge and I ate it unknowingly!!! Sean threw up! (It was gross; one minuet he was minding his own business on the couch playing the guitar and the next he was spewing on the floor all the way to the bathroom!!!) I myself have just been battling the urge and have a super upset stomach! But here are the little devils:

Besides from the ad edemame I had a lovely lunch! A huge yam with Fage 0%, a Garden Burger microwaved with Spicy Dijon and Organic Ketchup! And a Roma tomato:

Due to the wobbly tum tums Sean and I stayed home and didn't travel to see my folks :( I missed out on a yummy dinner of home made meatballs and spaghetti with good wine. I am spoiled form my dad's wine selection! For dinner we ended up at Mitsuwa, a Japanese Grocery Store, and I had my usual there: Soba noodles (buckwheat) in hot broth with Sansai Don (veggies) and this time I had some chicken in there too, but the chicken was a bit fatty so I picked it out.

Nothing like a big bowl of hot chicken noodle soup to cure my stomach ache! I also had a cup of green tea:

We picked these up from the store:

They are a childhood fave! Basically they are cookies with fudge inside!

I had one pack:

Yummy!!!! So much fun to eat stuff from when I was a kid! To bad they aren't good for you. We also picked up some movies at the video store and are settling down to watch them now. Being John Malkovich and a Japanese Western. I may have a glass of Vino Tinto to go with my movie but haven't decided yet. I have a very full day tomorrow so I will not be posting til I get home prob for dinner. I am working at the cafe in the morning (at 7am!!) and shopping in the afternoon for a Production Designer in New York who needs some modern furniture and outdoor accessories for a photo shoot here in LA.

Goondinnaught everybody, hope you all have a wonderful Martin Luther King Monday!

Saturday Oopps!

2009-01-18T09:38:00.001-08:00

I am sorry for not posting yesterday! My head is in the clouds these days and I am stressing a bit about starting school and not Set Decorating as much anymore :( I thought my Friday night was to consist of a friends Birthday Party but Sean didn't get off work until 10:30pm so we called it a night and I stayed in with Ella and had a glass of wine to myself.

Saturday's Eats:

Oatmeal with cinnamon, 1 cup water, 1/2 cup oats, 3 part shot of raisins, Craisins, and Bare Naked granola with a big scoop of Fage 0%! It was spectacular!

An Apple a bit later

At work I had 2 nonfat Chai tea Lattes made by yours truly! And finally tried one of the sandwiches we make at the cafe! I tried the Veggie on Olive Bread with hummus, goat cheese, sun dried tomatoes, cucumber and sprouts! For me it could use double sprouts, less sun dried tomatoes (too salty for me) and some other form of greens; spinach or lettuce.

When I got home I had this wonderful bar: A few hours later I snacked on these with Sean:

For dinner Sean and I had Mexican from my fave Paco's where else??? We got it to go because the wait was 50 min!!!! I had the Albondigas Soup with Corn tortillas!!!!! This soup was so fresh and delicious! It has beef meatballs made with rice and onions and spices, zucchini, carrots, turnips, potatoes, celery, and green beans!

Sunday's Breakfast:

This morning I decided to try the new blogger's oatmeal: Egg White Oatmeal!!!!!

I had no idea how to do this exactly but I improved! I boiled a cup of water with one overripe banana sliced, added my 1/2 cup oats and waited until they boiled. Close to the time I would take them off the stove I poured the Egg Whites once around the pot and stirred constantly until thick and one consistency.

Here they are in my bowl:

I added one part shot of raisins and Craisins. I added 1/2 shot Bare Naked granola, and 1/2 shot roasted peanuts!

This is my new fave bfast for sure!!!!! The aroma when you are cooking these oats is like Crepes! The egg makes the oats so fluffy and creamy!!! I want this meal again for lunch!!!
I had a cup of Yerba Matte Chai with skim-still no French press :(

I am off to clean the apt and have a bit of a Sunday home with my honey! Later this afternoon we are going to my parent's house for dinner with some family friends! I will see ya'll later! Have a productive and relaxing Sunday afternoon!

It's Friday I'm in Love!

2009-01-16T19:13:00.000-08:00

Yes indeed I feel a lot better and my boyfriend had once again proven to be the best ever! He came home last night after a long hard day of working a 15 hour shift! He saw me curled up on the couch with heating pad and ice pack on my wounds and made me tea and tended to my every need! He is the breast!!! So today went much better. I worked at the cafe from 10am to 6:30pm and was standing and serving all day long! I started my day with my blueberry oats topped with a 3 part shot of Craisins, raisins, and almonds. Also atop my oats was a big scoop of Fage 0% and 1/4 a blueberry Z Bar.
I have a sad story about my French Press; I broke it while emptying out the grinds in the trash :( It cracked and so I tossed it along with my morning coffee's. But I had the next best thing; Chai Tea with Splenda and skim!

Before work I had the rest of my Z Bar and this glorious Apple:

At work I made 2 nonfat sugar free vanilla lattes...yummmmm! I was WIRED! I got to come home for lunch so I made some Whole Wheat Pasta with tomato sauce, Tofurkey and Parmesan cheese! It was nice and filling!

I also had 1/2 a cucumber for some crispy greenness:

For my dessert I had Mrs. May's in Cashew:

For dinner I brought home (for free) a bowl of vegetarian Tortilla Soup, which is nonfat, dairy free, and yummy spicy blend of tomato and tortillas!!! I heated up along with it the last WW tortilla with a slice of low fat Munster cheese!

This meal was soooooo good! I love the soup and will definitely get this again. I dipped my quesadilla in it for a fun "throw back to elementary school days" meal.

For dessert I had 2 figs!

Well Ladies and Gents I am off to get ready for my friend Ben's B-day Party! He lives near my old apt in Hancock Park and I love getting to go into that "Old Hollywood" neighborhood! There will most likely be some wine or beer consumed but I am allowing myself to have a night of freedom! I had a rough week! I will let you all in on the sinning tomorrow with a full recap!

Have a wonderful Friday and yea for the weekend!

Boo to Traffic School

2009-01-15T19:09:00.000-08:00

I am hurting real bad, and I am in a pretty fowl mood, can we say Aunt Flo! My wrist is killing me so I can't type really so this will be short.

As I said I would I wore my HMR at boring, terrible, "I vow to abide all speed limits" traffic school and as I sat on my butt for 8 hours I burned....1148 calories?????? huh? I did walk to my car 4 times to feed the meter but other than that and the occasional trip to the restroom I didn't move much. So why so many calories??? I can only assume ( I have no medical proof) that you burn so many calories a day just by living! and for me I thought that it would be much less! So in these 8 hours to burn almost my daily intake is not so bad! Maybe my metabolism is not as bad as I though!

When I got home I ran around the block a few times to try to shake this buggering down in the dumps mood and burned another 84 calories! But it didn't help the headache, back ache and bloatingggggg.

Here is a recap of me eats from today but due to my wrist I am not going to caption every pic. I packed my lunch to bring to traffic school; a wrap with Tofurkey, munster cheese, lettuce, cucumber, broccoli, mustard it was ok, not anything mindblowing, and an apple. The rest of the pics are pretty self explanatory. I have been a creature of habit of late. I will get to your blogs tomorrow! I love all your complements on my Hand Made Larabars! You guys are the best! Really worth a try!

Goodnight everyone, I am off to soak in the tub with a glass of wine to erase this day! The pictures start with my bfast:

Larabars and Scrambles and Work... OH MY!

2009-01-14T20:59:00.000-08:00

Hello Everyone!
This morning I had cereal to switch it up with 1 cup Kashi Sunshine, 1 cup Heritage flakes, 1 shot almonds, 1 shot raisins, 1 shot Crasins, 1/2 banana and 1 cup skim milk. It was filling for the moment but I really find that oatmeal sticks with me MUCH longer! And the rest of the day I feel fuller.
So having said that I had Mrs. May's Cashew clusters and an apple 2 hours later:

I had some motivation to DO something before my shift at 1pm but I was not sure what! I wanted to run by the 24 Hour to get my pass but felt the need to do some cleaning around the house instead. That didn't last long so I went online to check Self's wed fitness tips. The routine:

-50 reps calf raises (releves)

-50 crunches on the balance ball

-50 crunches on the ball with leg lifts

-40 reps butt leg lifts each side

-40 laying down leg lifts each side

-40 reverse leg lifts

-2 sets 1 min plank

-35 reps seated attitude lift each side

-3 sets of 10 pelvic lifts each side

This type of strength training doesn't feel like much to me and didn't get me sweating or "feeling the burn" but it was something and I feel good about doing it.

Any tips on at home strength training with actual results????

Back to my "filling the time" activities- I then remembered how I have been wanting to make my own Larabars with the dates I bought at Costco- One huge tub!! I also keep raw nuts in the freezer so I pulled out the last of the Walnuts and grabbed the dated and started chopping!

Home Made Larabars:

1 cup raw walnuts or any nut of preference
1.5 cups dates

Chop dates and set aside, chop nuts and mix with dates on a flat surface. Kneed together until it forms a ball or chunk. Roll out with hands to a flat even square shape about 1 inch thick. Cut into desired shape and package separately in zip-lock bags or Saran wrap. Place bars in Tupperware and into the fridge to harden. Remove and enjoy your very own home made Larabar!!!

I made about 6 with this amount of ingredients! They are so easy and yummy! You could probably do this in a food processor but it might get all sticky so I say use your hands! This is a fresher, cheaper, and more fun way to enjoy this blogtastic treat!!! Here are the steps:

They are a tad smaller than your average pen!

Neat! I also tried a new gum, I don't know if ya'll know this about me yet but I am an avid gum chewer!!! Any one else crazy for gum?

My verdict; nice chew factor, good flavor! Very mangolicious! But the flavor faded way too fast:(

Lunch today was a bit of an experiment. I purchased QucikWhites in the carton from TJ's and have been a bit scared to try them. I am glad I did because they are perfect in every way! I made an egg white scramble pita pocket with

-3 tbsp egg whites

-6 cloves garlic sliced- I love garlic!

-1/4 chopped onion

-1 small green bell pepper chopped

-S&P

-sprinkle of Emeril seasoning

-dab of butter

Saute in pan until lightly brown and peppers are soft:

Pour in egg whites:

Scramble veggies and eggs until done:

I put mine in a WW pita topped with a tbsp of Fage 0% and a side of tomato and broccoli!!

This meal was super tasty and full of nutrients!!! I had a small glass of Peppermint Chocolate Soymilk! I love how thick and creamy it is! Next time I will try microwaving a cup for a hot chocolate!

I left for my shift after lunch and returned home 3.5 hours later for my snack! I live across the way from the Cafe I work at- convenient huh? I of course had to try my Larabars and they were much better than the store bought ones in my opinion! You gotta try this!

After work I came home to eat a few veggies to tied me over until Sean came home.

Sorry for the bad lighting! For dinner I had the leftover Kale and Tofu!!! With lots of microwaved brown rice:

Well I am off to snuggle on the couch with Ella and Sean and watch the new Top Chef! Man I gotta stop typing- my wrist is killing me! I hope it goes away so I can keep up with comments for ya'll!

Gnight!

When cookies come to work.....

2009-01-13T19:30:00.000-08:00

Hello Bloggeristas!!!!

I will start with what snacks I had last night after I blogged, here are the goods:

Yogi Licorice tea, again!

The wise mantra:

I totally agree! Moving right along to this morning. I had a cup of coffee accompanied by the one and only straptastic Strap Perfect! My dad of all people saw this on tv and bought it for me, my sis and mama- hehe! I also had a bowl of oatmeal, with 1/2 cup oats, 1 cup water, 1/2 shot Craisins, 1/2 shot raisins, 1/2 shot Bare Naked Granola, sprinkle of Cinnamon, 1 med banana with 1/2 smashed in and 1/2 on top:

Thanks to everyone who checked out my blog for the first time!!! I love ya'll for taking a liken to the Kale and Tofu and my handy dandy shot glass measuring tool! It really works! And a special shout out to my girl Meghann at graduatemeghann.com/. Her blog is great for recipes and tips on staying fit! She is a marathon runner and is such an inspiration to me!!!

Continuing right along. On my way to work I had a few of Mrs. May's almond clusters:

They are super good! Toasted nuts are so yummy and crunchy! As I said I would I wore my HRM for test #2- a day on set.

The totals:

Time- 5:40

Calories- 1058!!!!! Heck yea!
As I assumed I burned more calories on set versus at the coffee shop due to the vigorous work. Today was an unusually short day so I am sure with a regular 14 hour day the numbers would be outrageous!

For my mid morning snack I had a Luna Bar in yummy Lemon Zest- an old time fave, this was the first Luna bar I ever tired oh so long ago! It is sitting foggy on a pile of MDF that we broke down today.

MDF is very expensive and so is the Chroma paint. We usually have no use for it when the show is done and it usually gets trashed :( This show we aimed to be more GREEN (no pun intended) and put an add up on a free recycler website! We got a ton of replies to pick it up! We gave it to a girl doing a low-budget music video who offered to bake us cookies!! They were Sea Salt Oatmeal!!! Strange, good and crispy! I had a few bites of this cookie:

I prefer chewy cookies to crunchy so it was not my fave, but free cookies hey why not! For lunch today we went back to Grub! This was the lunch menu only so the table goodies were not sugar cereal but VEGGIES, pretzels and ranch dressing! I had a few cucumber spears, carrot sticks and cherry tomatoes-yumm.

For my meal I had the Mediterranean w-RAP! Here is the description: No, this ain’t a Greek Fisherman singing about his woes…It’s a yummy combo of Couscous, Spicy Lemon Hummus, Kalamata Olives, marinated Artichoke Hearts, French Feta, Tomatoes, chopped Romaine & Basil in a Spinach Wrap…”My baby left me for the sea, she, she, she…

I ate half at lunch and rest for my afternoon snack! It was sooooooo good a tad bit too salty for me (I rarely use salt in my cooking) with the feta and the kalamata olives, but very filling! The best part......Betty was there today and when she served us she called me pumpkin!!! I was star struck for sure. That woman can cook!

I had a minor disaster tonight! My wrist has been super sore from Saturday's painting and lifting and it has only gotten worse since-yikes! So tonight after work I decided to go check it out. I went to Kaiser and waited for a good 2 hours before I was diagnosed "a strained wrist to be medicated with ibuprofen and try to not use it for a few days" Hello! I could have told you that! GRRRRRR! A waist of time and moola, but at least I know it's nothing serious.

For dinner I planned on eating my left over Kale and Tofu but wanted to change it up so I could have it tomorrow! I microwaved a huge Yam cut it in half and topped it with a dab of butter and pepper. On the side I had Romain, cucumber, a Roma tomato, broccoli and a heaping spoon of Eggplant Hummus! It was satiated!

For dessert I snacked on some more of my popular dried fruit medley:

I am going to get to all your blogs tomorrow because I am a dork and want to watch the premier of American Idol!

In honor of my fellow blogger's in colder climates I am leaving you with some pics from my Spain trip:

"ooo la la whole wheat pasta!"

Good night everybody! And have a great hump day tomorrow!

Calorie Burning Monday

2009-01-12T18:13:00.000-08:00

This day has been very productive for me! I slept in a bit -8:30- but it felt so nice and I am not ashamed :) When I got out of bed I had a stretch and went straight to the kitchen to make a bit pot of oats! I made 1/2 cup oats, 1 cup water, dash of Cinnamon, 1 shot Craisins, 1 shot raisins, 1/2 handful of Quaker Oatmeal Squares and 1/2 shot sliced almonds:
I also had a cup-o-coffee not pictured. I showered, cleaned up bfast dishes and got dressed for work. I am having a hard time adjusting my lunch meal around my 11PM shift. I don't know whether to eat before I leave or at my 3PM break or what! So even though I was still quite satisfied from bfast I forced down a snack to hold me or possibly replace my lunch. I had a big red delicious some Mrs. May's and a Cliff bar:

At work I was glad I had a snack because I didn't end up taking my break until 4:30PM! I had a couple cups of Mogicha Tea and I made the Perfect Non-fat Vanilla Latte! My first officially "good foam" added to 2 shots Espresso and a shot of sugar free vanilla-yummmm! Sorry no pic, I can't even bust out my phone at work so a camera as of now if off limits.

I wore my HRM during my shift today to see how it compares with a day of sitting on my butt and working on set. This is the first test and here are the results:

Time: 5 hours

Calories: 900-whoop whoop!

I then walked to Albertson's to get ingredients for dinner. That burned 40 more calories! Can you believe 940 calories with no intended work out! I am curious to see what the totals are tomorrow where I will be wrapping the set I built on Saturday, and on Thursday where I will be in Traffic School-bummer I know. I think this is the ultimate experiment- variables included!

When I returned home I was pretty tired and needed some fuel for cooking so I snacked on this and read my new magazines. Eggplant Hummus with carrots and edemame:

So lately I have been craving an old time favorite of mine that I am surprised I haven't made sooner; Kale and Tofu with brown rice!!!!

Kale and Tofu Recipe

It all starts with this:

I have not tried this pre-cut and pre-washed package of kale before but it is a huge time saver and I love the no clean up!

Ingredients:

1 package Kale or 1-2 bunches chopped
1 package Tofu
3/4 cup water
3 tbsp Soy Sauce
1/2 tbsp Hot Sesame Oil or not hot
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp Pepper
4-6 cloves garlic minced

The brands I use:

This is how I cut my tofu- 12 pieces 1 inch thick. The thinner you slice the tofu the quicker they will brown and they absorb more flavor. Because I use med-firm tofu it falls apart a bit and you can mix it like a hash, but you can use firm tofu and the kale and tofu will stay separated. It is your choice.
Add oils to pan and saute garlic

Add tofu in one layer and add 1 tbsp of soy sauce

Brown Tofu on both sides over Med High heat Mix water, pepper and 2 remaining tbsp of soy sauce. Add whole package of kale to pan on top of tofu. Pour water mix on top and quickly cover pan. Steam fry for 3-5 min until kale stems are soft. I like my kale like I like my broccoli- aldante!

Remove lid and toss gentlyServe with brown rice!

Tonight I am trying a new product from Costco; pre-cooked brown rice! All you do is microwave it!

Here is my plate! I had 2 servings like this!!!! I could really eat the whole pot, but I will savor it and have some tomorrow too! I like to make a lot of this at once and heat it up or eat it cold!

Hope you enjoy my favorite meal! I am off to watch some tube and get a good night's rest- tomorrow I will be doing some serious manual labor!

Ok I am a DUFUS!

2009-01-11T21:17:00.001-08:00

So as you may have seen on my recent posts I have been enjoying FIGS. I have been calling them "Mission Figs" I am so mistaken! They are called Calimyrna figs.
Also a California native but not "black" like mission figs, these Calimyrna figs are light golden brown and very tasty. My thoughts on calling them Mission figs were just my memory of the figs I ate as a kid. So my apologies and please understand my stupidity!!!!
Embarrassed,
C

Love/ Hate

2009-01-11T19:05:00.001-08:00

This morning I had a nice sleep-in and so a late-ish bfast. It started with the last of my kefir:
Yummm! Then I had some very missed Blueberry Oatmeal mix with 1/2 a mashed banana and coffee. It is funny how much I miss oatmeal when I don't have it for a couple of days! This bowl was a bit over 1/2 cup of oats and it was so much more filling than dry cereal!

Topped with 1 shot raisins, 1/2 shot sliced almonds, 1/2 shot Kashi Sunshine....mmmmm!

I drove to Calabasas to see my parents this afternoon. My mom had a gift card to California Pizza Kitchen!! So we had a little feast! I split my meal with my mom so ordered the Split Pea and Barley Soup:

For the table we ordered the White Bean Hummus with Pita Bread. I had 2 Pieces of Pita dipped in the tasty hummus.

For the entree my mom and I split the BBQ Chicken Chopped Salad right down the middle. We always order the salad with no chips and dressing on the side. They bring a small bowl of Ranch dressing and BBQ sauce. I dipped my chicken in the BBQ sauce and had a little fork taste of the ranch. The ranch + BBQ sauce = divine!

Then we took a family trip to Costco. This type of Sunday adventure is always fun with my parents and usually ends in a big bill! We ate at 12:30 PM and got to Costco around 1:30ish. There were samples galore! Hence my love/ hate; I LOVE good deals and monster amounts of toilette paper, but HATE the temptations and the way Costco makes you buy way too much of something you may never use! I tried to be good but had a few tastes as we braved the crowd. My first taste was this new tasty nutty cluster Mrs. May's naturals Dry Roasted Snacks! I had three (all flavors). I even bought the package they were so good!I had a sip of orange-pineapple juice! Pardon the foggy pic:

I saw the tray for Laughing Cow Light cheese with apple and had to try it! I have never tried this cheese. It was good, very creamy and mild but not my fave.

I had one little bite of the Mulitgrain cracker with Sun Dried Tomato Hummus but was not really feeling it so tossed it.

We left minimal damage and went home to sort out the goods. I nabbed this from their fridge:

I also sliced into one of my new apples:

And my new little clusters of joy!

This is what's inside:

The perfect little snack to switch up my bar habit. On my way home I snapped a pic through my sun/moon roof of the sunset! The sky is rarely this clear, usually smog ridden! The wind had been crazy here lately, how about in your neck of the woods? I love how in LA at this time of year the only weather there is to talk about is the wind lol!At home my new Roma tomatoes sitting pretty:

And the Red Deliciousness:

For dinner I put together a Mixed Bean and Broccoli Salad with Eggplant Hummus, edemame, black beans, tomato, steamed broccoli and a tbsp of Sesame Ginger dressing. It was so perfectly balanced I will for sure make this again!!!

For dessert I had a HEAPING spoon of Fage 0% with 2 mission figs and 2 tamarind pods. A very good mix!

And a cup-o-tea:

Goodnight everyone, tomorrow is Monday so I hope everyone enjoys their last hours of the weekend! I know I will be watching the Golden Globes, How about you?

I will leave you with this Yogi Tea mantra:

Green Screen

2009-01-10T20:07:00.001-08:00

Today I worked on (as I mentioned earlier in the week) a job for "Rescue Me" the TV promo. The day was long! I started my day off with a bowl of cereal, just like yesterdays, and a cup of coffee (since I was not going to make a free cup at the cafe). I ate bfast at 4:30AM, then left the house and went to a studio in Hollywood where we worked on sound stages.
When I arrived my boss gave me a belated Birthday gift:

It is an inside joke, and we giggled about it all day! In front of the pony is my second cup of coffee delivered via Starbucks. I also had a Cliff bar in Blueberry Crisp. Omg this flavor is so good! I first saw it in Tj's and then on fitnessista.com/. I like Cliff bars more and more everyday! This bar was harder than some and had little crispies in it with a very natural and not overpowering blueberry taste. I much prefer this blueberry bar to the Z Bar's blueberry flavor.

The mostly day consisted of painting lots of MDF wood Chroma Green (green screen green). It was tons of manual labor and I feel like I got a good workout from it! Here are some pics of the "buildings" and the stage we put together, built and painted:

Not that exciting but it was nice to get back on a set and do what I am trained to do!

Lunch was at 12pm and it was a real treat. Usually when shooting in a studio lunch can be hard to make healthy. But today we were within walking distance of Grub. An amazing award winning breakfast/lunch place that is part owned and ran by a Top Chef contestant from Season 2 Betty Fraser. "Ba-Da-Bing Betty!" .grub-la.com/index.html The food was great and the place is so cute! I had the Turkey-A-licious sammie with a side salad. It had Oven roasted Turkey Breast, French Brie, Fresh Basil, thick cut Tomatoes, Alfalfa Sprouts, refreshing cucumbers, creamy Dijon and house made zesty Pickled Onions on Cheddar Onion Kaiser. I substituted the bread to WW and the cheese to Cheddar and asked for no creamy Dijon. It was healthful, filling and fun. The menu is full if wise titles and witty descriptions. If you are in Los Angeles you should check it out! When you sit down to eat instead of bread they serve each table a bowl of mixed sugar breakfast cereals like CoCo Puffs and Luckycharms, fun huh? Here is the best pic I could get of my sandwich:

I got off work at 6:30PM and home at 7:20PM. I was officially exhausted and starved!!! I usually don't go that long without a snack, so I made a huge plate of leftover King Ranch Chicken with 1/4 cup of black beans for dinner:In honor of Saturday and pay off for a hard days work; I had 2 of these low cal beers:

Fun fact: 1 Amstel Light has 93 calories!
For dessert I had Yogi Ginger tea:

On the labels of Yogi tea bags they put instpirational words of wisdom. Tonight my tea bag read:Pretty good stuff huh? Along with my tea I had an assortment of dried fruit:

I am now watching "Jon and Kate plus 8", my secret obsession! (Well not anymore:) And later I plan to watch "Stardust". A fantasy adventure movie starring Charlie Cox, Claire Danes, Sienna Miller, Michelle Pfeiffer, Ricky Gervais. Awesome cast and perfect way to end this long day! Tomorrows plans: clean the house, yoga, grocery shop and relax! Hope you all had a wonderful Saturday!

What's With Wanting.....

2009-01-09T19:55:00.000-08:00

to SNACK!!!! I got home from my shift at 1PM was procrastinating the things I had to do. Just didn't want to commit yet- does this happen to you? So my belly was full yet I was still snacky! I hate this feeling, a bottomless pit if you will.

I started my day off great with a bowl of cereal like the past few days- I can't get enough! I had: 1 cup Kashi Sunshine, 1 cup Organic Heritage Flakes, 1 cup unsweetened Almond Milk, 1 shot Bare Naked Granola, 1 Mission Fig chopped and 1/2 a banana.

I woke super early. Sean had to wake up at 4:45am and once the alarm went off, and my eyes opened I was immediately hungry! So sleeping was no longer an option:) After my bfast and before I left for work I had this yummy Larabar in Peanut Butter Cookie.
At work I had some iced Mugicha (Japanese Barley tea). It is decaffeinated-good thing cause too much makes me so wired! Sorry no pic I was afraid to bust out the camera and explain my blog on day 2. For lunch I ate the wrap I made last night with Tofurky, light Munster and Eggplant hummus with baby carrots. I was very satisfied for a good couple of hours! By the time I got home I wasn't really hungry, but as I said earlier I was distracted and procrastinating... so I ate. Bad I know. It allnstarted with a small innocent orange~

Then I had 4 prunes and a dried tamarind pod~

Then went back for more prunes, tamarind and added a shy spoon of Almond Butter for protein~

Literally 2 hours later I wanted more-hmmmm... I figured I needed some carbs so I had 2 shots of kefir, 1/4 cup of Organic Heritage Flakes, 1/2 shot of raisins, 1/2 shot of sliced almonds. This time I sat down to really enjoy it. The earlier snacks were eaten standing up in the kitchen and thinking of my to do list. I knew this time I needed to process what was going into my mouth!

For dinner I had planned to make King Ranch Chicken (low fat version) so as I prepped I made myself a Faux-tini! What a treat! These are not only fun to make and fun to drink but oh so pretty too!

BlueLime Faux-tini:

3-5 limes freshly squeezed = 2 tbsp of lime juice

1 shot frozen wild blueberries

1/2 cup sparkling lime water

1 Splenda pack or 1/2 tbsp of Agave

1 cup ice

Add all ingredients except water to a shaker (or a glass will do) and "muttle" (which is to mush or bash) with spoon until blueberries release their color and the lime is mixed up. Add the sparkling water and mix again. Strain into Martini glass and garnish by spooning in bits of blueberries. Drink and enjoy the guilt free delite! This drink is very refreshing, sour and sweet at the same time!

Here is my finished dish of King Ranch Chicken. The left side is my even lighter version with brown rice instead of chips and light Munster instead of Cheddar. The right side is for the boyfriend; full fat and twice the amount, you can see he already dug in before I could snap my pic :)

My plate: this is one large serving, it has a little less than half of the above pictured healthy side. With the last of the bag of baby carrots.

I had some of this as well! My favorite light beer.

I don't foresee any dessert on tonight's menu so I guess that's all for today! I think it's plenty!

Have a happy Friday night ya'll!

My First Day of Pastry Heaven

2009-01-08T22:38:00.000-08:00

Well yes my first day down! I really like working in a coffee shop, I don't know why exactly? Maybe because of "Friends" or the fact that I love tea and coffee?? The atmosphere is very fun and the people that work there and the customers are super friendly! The customers are mostly regulars and I will have to memorize their names and orders but other than that it is pretty darn stress free compared to my days of Set Decorating. I am bitter sweet about leaving the industry (well I shouldn't say leaving cause I have a job this weekend doing a TV Promo for "Rescue Me"). Funny how I put the Set Dec job in parentheses, shows how high it is on my scale I guess. Today overall was a good day of eats, lets start with bfast:
1 cup Kashi Sunshine, 1 cup Kashi Go Lean, 1 cup unsweetened Almond Milk, 1/2 banana, 1/3 Blueberry Z Bar ( these are very good but a bit too artificially blueberry if you know what I mean) and coffee with skim. I will probably not be making coffee at home any longer since I get FREE coffee and tea at work.
Before I showered and got ready for work I found my self finishing the Z Bar.

I knew I would not be having lunch at a normal time because my training started at 11AM, so I did what knew best and ate lunch at 10:45AM-hehe! I had the last of the roasted veggie lasagna and 1/2 cup of baby carrots. I ate it cold and it was really quite nice, kinda reminded me of a pasta salad! Here is my "graphic" picture-the newest swag talk for photographers doing editorial.

At work I had to make a variety of sandwiches (13 to be exact) and learn to make the coffee and tea drinks. I tasted a few, my fave so far: Boba (bubble tea) nonfat Green tea latte_yummmm but I found out that one boba ball is 5 calories-yikesss! Another super tasty drink: Mixed Berry Tea smoothie_this is all natural and simply refreshing! I was sad to find out that the cafe is not all organic :( but still fresh and pretty healthy!

At the end of my shift my boss announced that the left over pastries were "up for grabs" hello!!!???!!! My heart skipped a beat-probably not healthy to get to excited over deserts but oh well- I took one of EVERYTHING for Sean to try and me too of course! I thought it better to try the sweets in my own home where I can control the portion and fully savor my indulgences. Here are the pastries and muffins I brought home: banana nut muffin, blueberry muffin, strudel muffin, Cinnamon sugar muffin

Lemon bar (my fave), candied orange zest and almond hot bun, almond torte (fave #2), raspberry scone thing, banana nut bread, and a peach danish!!!!!! yes can I hear a HECK YES!

Since I ate lunch at 10:30 AM I was to no surprise STARVING when I got home at 6:30PM. I brought a Lara bar with me to work but never ate it. So the second I walked in the door I grabbed the spanakopita out of the fridge and ate the last 4 cold-new way to eat them and very good!

I also pulled out the leftover sweet potato and added some Eggplant Hummus- I love this stuff it is lighter than regular hummus and has a Babaganush taste to it! Very Greek and went so well with the potato.

For dinner I made a salad with red leaf, vine ripened tomato, carrot, red onion, black beans and a sprinkle of Parmesan. Dressed with S&P and O&V (new abbreviation for Balsamic and olive oil)

I then made a lunch for tomorrow. A wrap with Tofurky (new product), Eggplant hummus, and light Munster cheese with carrots and more hummus on the side.
Finally settling down to enjoy my sampler plate of pastries!!! This picture is a desert plate and yes I ate it all!

Well I am super ty ty and ready for bed so Good night everyone and I will report tomorrow with more good treats from work and hopefully a work out!

Shrimp for Two

2009-01-07T21:04:00.000-08:00

I thought I was to be on my own tonight for dinner but...lucky me "working late" for Sean was just 8pm. I did yoga for 25 min and burned 57 cal, then 12 min Abs burning 35 a total today of 336! After yoga I ran a lovely bath with an oatmeal bath ball and read my Cooking Light by candle light-how romantic! I did a face mask when Sean arrived and by the time he was showered and ready I was able to have a nice dinner whipped up in no time.

On the menu: Shrimp Scampi with whole wheat Parpadella pasta- this is my healthy version

Shrimp Scampi Recipe

bag of raw frozen shrimp thawed under cold water
4-6 cloves of garlic minced-the more the better I think!
2 tbsp of olive oil
dab of Low fat butter added toward end
1/4 tsp of dried Parsley or 1 tbsp fresh chopped

Cook pasta of choice and drain, I used Whole Wheat Parpadella from TJ's. Thaw shrimp under cold running water while heating oil in nonstick skillet. When oil is hot add garlic and parsley until garlic is just turning golden brown. Add shrimp to skillet and toss in oil and garlic. Cook shrimp for about 4 minutes turning to cook both sides. Add butter and cook another 2 or so minutes. When shrimp is done add pasta to skillet and toss gently. Add more parsley or a squeeze of lemon if desired. Fresh ground pepper over top and enjoy!

I also made a salad-of course some greens! This is the simple table setting- I really need some new place mats!

In the salad: Red Leaf lettuce, green beans-pre steamed and refrigerated, vine ripened tomato, drizzle of olive oil-probably less than 1/2 tbsp, 2 glugs around the bowl of Balsamic Vinegar and S&P. Top it off with a sprinkle of Parmesan cheese-freshly grated or shavings would be much better!

My plate with red onions on my salad-Sean does not care for these yummies.

I ate half the pasta you see and 2 serving of salad. It was delish and filling but not overfilling.

After I was in the mood for a sweet and remembered all my dried treats I picked up today so I made a little taster plate:

-1 Mission Fig

-3 Prunes-I adore prunes!

-2 dried tamarind pods

and a little bubbly if you will:

Now I am off to enjoy my dessert plate and watch a little TV, I am going into work tomorrow instead of Friday for my training so I should get a good nights rest! I am nervous, silly I know because I will be in my element; food, coffee, tea and people! Have a good night everyone!

How I love to sleep!

2009-01-07T13:11:00.000-08:00

So I slept in 'til 10am this morning! I planned to blog before lunch but my computer was acting up and I didn't want to get all huffy so I walked away and just came back to it now at 5:30pm!

Today was a pretty stressful day unfortunately. Sean's father is in the hospital in Houston, Texas and we are very worried and so far away it's been a hard couple of days to tell you the truth. But there is no sense in stressing over things you cannot control so I am trying to focus on the positive. It's time like these when I (even though I am not religious) look to a higher power to get me through the hard times. I even pray, which seems a bit weird to me but feels right.
Fewww! Glad I got that off my chest!

On a brighter side...my eats! For breakfast I wasn't in the mood for hot oats so I busted out a new product I bought at Costco last night:
These little guys are full of whole grains! They are a bit sweet so I paired 1 cup with 1 cup of Kashi Go Lean, 1 cup Kefir ( I realized I have been misspelling this:) 1/2 shot raisins and 1 med banana. On the side is my coffee with skim and these really CUTE coasters Sean's mom made us!

Close up!

This combo was interesting, the sweet cereal and sour kefir was a nice contrast, but the cereal was very puffy and light and got a bit soggy :(

I then drove to the 24 Hour Fitness near by to check it out and use my free pass. On the way I realized that the pass had expired!!! And I realized that the "near by" was really too far to go just for a gym. I hate driving to the gym at all but especially because the rout there was straight through congested streets full of traffic...no good. So I didn't even go in. I came home to have lunch which consisted of leftover Mexican! I added a 1/2 cup brown rice to make it more substantial and it turned out to be sooo much food!!!A while after lunch I drove to TJ's to pick up some things had this 1/2 of my Cliff bar from yesterday.

Here are my goodies!

I love these Tamarind pods!! They are not only super cheap $1.99 a bag, but also so much fun to eat! Sweet, spicy, and chewy! If you like Chile Mango you will love these!

I also bought these; I am on a dried fruit kick!A new coffee: Cute name huh?

Here is the other bag of goodies:

As you can see I bought no veggies because I have a fridge full! I forgot to get Yams though so I will have to go back to the store tomorrow sometime.

Here is my taste to show you the dried tamarind:

After putting everything away I walked to the post office to drop off my Netflix and ended up walking for 51 min burning 152 calories. I returned to snack on these bites: 1 small orangeAnd 2 spoonfuls of Fage 0% 1 small red delicious, and 1/4 cup Organic Heritage. This cereal is perfect for mixing with yogurt, it holds up nice because the flakes are thick, it was quite satisfying! Almost so much I don't know when I will be hungry for dinner :)

I think I will try to squeeze in some OnDemand yoga and a bath (to read my new Cooking Light mag) before dinner. That is if I can pull myself off the couch and away from "RAH! Paul Abdul Cheerleading" on MTV, sad but I love it. I was a Varsity Cheer Captain in High School so watching brings back memories! I am on my own for dinner tonight, Sean is working late, so I am not sure what I will eat. I am still nice and full!

I did it and I changed my mind

2009-01-06T19:21:00.001-08:00

So what did I do may you wonder???
The first accomplishment of the day is that I went to see my counselor (finally) and figured everything out to start school Feb. 17 -yay! I also (drum roll) got a JOB! I will be working at a local organic Cafe/coffee/tea house! I am not sure if it all set in stone but I am going in for training on Friday and I hope it all goes well. I am very excited that I will not be jobless when I start school.

Now moving on to my eats! For breakfast I had a big bowl of cold cereal: 1 cup Kashi Go Lean, 1 cup Quaker Oatmeal Squares, 1 cup Peppermint Chocolate soy milk, 1/2 cup unsweetened Almond milk, 1/2 shot raisins, 1/2 shot Bare Naked Granola, 1 med banana chopped on top. This combo is so good, the mint-chocolate flavored soy made it very rich, thick and creamy, just what I wanted. I also had a cup of joe (not pictured).
After bfast I felt in need of some exercise!!! Not having signed up for yoga classes or a gym membership yet, I did the next best thing. I turned on my TV and flipped through OnDemand's fitness TV. If any of you have not discovered the beauty of free exercise TV, I highly recommend it! There are boat loads of programs, some better than others, and it's FREE! You can choose to pay to rent some versions but why? Today I chose a 26 min (odd number eh?) Yoga Cardio, and a 12 min Yoga Abs. I was sweating for sure! I forgot to put on my HRM so I am not sure of the calories I burned, but it sure felt good :)

I showered and then started on lunchies: WW wrap with light Havarti, leftover Lime Chicken, 1 tbsp of Dijon mustard, green beans and lettuce. Sorry for the repeat wraps these days but I am really enjoying the simplicity and filling qualities.

On the side I had two Spanakopita's cold (really good cold I must say!) and 1 orange.

The "I changed my mind" bit in today's title is about the Lime Chicken. Last night it was just ok, almost not good. BUT today it was soooo tasty! I am not sure if flavors needed to settle or if the mustard was the perfect compliment but I really liked it in the wrap. Sean agreed so I am posting my recipe. It is adapted from Cooking Light.

Lime Chicken- serves 4

4 boneless skinless chicken breasts cut into tenders or 1 pound tenders
1/2 cup low sodium soy sauce
1/4 cup fresh lime juice
2 teaspoons lime zest
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce (but I think it would taste better omitted)
3-4 large cloves garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon cumin powder
1/2 teaspoon dry mustard
1/2 teaspoon fresh course ground pepper

Mix all ingredients in large zip lock bag, add chicken. Close bag and toss to coat. Marinate for 3 hours minimum (remember I marinated over night) Drain and throw away marinade. Broil, grill or pan fry chicken until done.

I will for sure give this chicken a second chance and so should you!

To drink with my lunch I had made some Lemon Ginger tea and Calm tea (which is a mix of Chamomile, Rose petal and other herbs) for Sean and me last night and never got around to drinking them. So combined the 2 into a container and popped it in the fridge so I could enjoy a cold tea great for digestion! The color is a bit off putting but I assure you the flavor was delish!

After lunch I went to school and my job interview and somewhere in between I had 1/2 of this lovely bar:

For dinner Sean and I felt like celebrating the new job, so we went to our fave Mexican Restaurant in Los Angeles:

I have been going here since I was a little girl and the same waiters, owners and tortilla makers are there to great us everytime! Yes you heard right TORTILLA MAKERS! They make them fresh to order, homemade right infront of your eyes! I really should have snapped a pic for you, I'll try to get one next time.

Fun fact: This restaurant is featured in the movie Jerry Maguire "Show me the money!!!" LOL.

Here are the addictive chips: I had 4 with lots of hot and spicy salsa, I counted:)

I also love their pickled carrot, onion, garlic mix! I can polish off a whole bowl myself, but tonight I had maybe 1/2.

And to celebrate I had to have a Margarita!!!! On the rocks, no salt. I usually don't order this type of drink due to the calories and sugar, but tonight I felt needed a splurge! (oops on the "no alcohol" for 2 weeks :)

My favorite thing to get is quite simple really: side of flour tortillas (they are to die for) and a side of rice and beans. But since I hit puberty my health conscious side won't allow me to eat a whole plate of lard ridden re fried beans, rice and buttery tortillas.....SO now I order a little lighter. I get the Chicken Tostada salad on a corn tortilla-not fried, with no beans and extra lettuce. You could do even better and say no cheese, but I was in the mood for some cheese so I kept it on. This is a huge salad and the chicken is whole chunks of white meat, very tender and tasty but I could only eat 1/2.I was quite full when we left and we needed a few things from Costco so we walked the aisles and digested before heading home. Once I got home I had a hankering for something sweet so I dug into the Christmas stash and pulled out this little morsel: White Chocolate Truffle!

Now that I have officially broken my 2 week detox plan, I am heading to bed to dream of a healthy tomorrow and probably more sweet treats! I am not handling this detox plan very well.

Do you think it is better to cut out the "bad" food completely to detox if you have binged over holiday's or still enjoy the treats you crave????? Let me know your thoughts!

Gnight ya'll

Monday Blues

2009-01-05T17:23:00.000-08:00

Yes I have had the Monday blues all day :( Mostly because I started my day by sleeping in and not going for my run. What can I say I was tired.

Next was breakfast, that is always a good part of the day! I had coffee and 1/2 cup oatmeal, 1 cup water, 1/2 mashed banana, 1 shot of blueberries, 1/2 shot of Bare Naked granola, 1 shot Keifer, 1/2 shot raisins and a few Quaker oatmeal squares on top. With it I had a big glass of water.

I then headed out to school to see whats what with my classes and payments. I arrived at a parking lot that I thought was for students, but was staff only. Then directed to a street with metered parking that was OVER full, only to circle the block 3 times and then head home. I was not only discouraged and intimidated but very frustrated. GRRRRRR! On my way home I decided that now was as good a time as any to hit the pavement and look for a job. I basically picked up applications from every restaurant and coffee shop in my city. Some seemed promising, like the macrobiotic cafe mcafedechaya.com/- mmmmmmm my favorite place ever! (I will have to eat there soon to show you how amazing the food is) I also got good feedback from a Japanese fusion restaurant for a hostess position, and an organic coffee shop that said they were hiring. It's hard because I have never worked in food service before and everyone seems a bit skeptical. But I did my best so fingers crossed! I also applied at an AWESOME sporting goods store just for women!!! While I was there I picked up a sample of the mini Luna bars, and a flyer for their second annual 5k run/walk!!!!!!! So I am signing up for sure!

Here is my little treat- the flavor was new to me and I must say a new fave.

After a long day out I was HUNGRY! It was already 2pm when I got home so I did what I know best and made a wrap. In my WW tortilla was: 3 spoonfuls of hummus, green beans, red leaf lettuce, 1/2 tomato, slice of sweet potato, red onion and a splash of Tapatio.

I had my quick wrap with 3/4 cup baby carrots and 1 tbsp of Dijon mustard. Funny thing about carrots; when my sister was in town she asked me if I had been "molding clay", and I said "no why?" She asked to see my palms and said they were "orange". I had to laugh because I had done this once before in high school....eaten too many carrots and my skin actually turned ORANGE! Well this time it was odd because I really didn't think I was eating that many, but there was the proof I "was caught orange handed" LOL. Have you ever had this happen?

After lunch I wanted something sweet, and sticking to my no refined sugars I pulled out this guy outta the fridge- Coconut Date Roll- yumm quite a bit of heaven! I had a cup of Vanilla tea with skim to complete it.

Then I buckled down to filling out my apps and a couple of hours later I had this big glass of ice cold skim milk. I used to be Lactose Intolerant so now any chance I get I enjoy a cup like this. And since drinking milk I have noticed my nails are much stronger, coincidence....I think not!

I dropped off my apps and came home a while later to start dinner. I started with leftover veggies and made what my boyfriend is calling a "Persian Christmas Salad".. ok.

In it is:

-6 Persian cucumbers peeled and chopped

-2 vine ripened tomatoes chopped

-1/2 a green bell pepper

-1 red pear chopped

- 1/2 cup rice wine vinegar

- 1/2 tbsp olive oil

-1/2 tsp sesame oil

S&P to taste. Mix gently and store in fridge for 30 min until crisp and cool. Serve over lettuce, in a wrap, over rice, or by itself!

I also made stove top Brown rice, frozen Spanakopita ( I love these and they are not crazy bad for you...but very addictive so I had 2...then 2 more:) And I finally made my Lime Chicken!!! It was sadly disappointing. I marinated it overnight, probably close to 24 hours. I wonder can you over marinate something??? Well either way the flavors melded in a bland way and made it all one note. Hmmmm must re-try and see. All together my plate looked like this:

Now off to do something fun so tomorrow I can focus on getting to school and actually walking in! Hope you all have a fun evening too!

Budokon Baby!

2009-01-04T19:17:00.000-08:00

I was having a nice day of lounging and decided to do some yoga from a DVD I have had for years. It is Budokon yoga which is a mix of yoga, martial arts and meditation. Perfect for a Sunday afternoon :) I did the 20 min yoga part twice and skipped the martial arts bit. It contains kicking and punching and I was in a more peaceful state. Before my practice I had this little Gala, Ella kept trying to nibble it hehe.

After yoga I snacked on this 1/2 of a Cliff left over from yesterday. I've felt weird about eating day old/left out bars in the past and was surprised to find it was still fresh and delicious. I guess my glutinous side wanted to finish a whole bar. But this little bite was fine.

For dinner the menu changed last minute when I saw the directions for the Lime Chicken said to "marinate for 3-4 hours at least!" I was too hungry and could not wait the 4 hours so I popped this frozen lasagna in the oven, lucky me Sean picked this one up at the store.

It turned out lovely and only took 60 min! I had 1 serving which was about 265 calories, I wish it had more veggies in it, inspiration to make my own version. On the side I steamed some green beans sprinkled with garlic powder and S&P and the rest of lunches broccoli.

Tomorrow the agenda is to stop by my counselor at school and get all my stuff straight. I am a bit nervous just to step onto campus, it has been so long-eeeek! I am also applying for jobs tomorrow -another eeeek-I hope to get a part time job at a Health Food Restaurant. But we will see. I have been told from my Designer boss that there is talk of commercial and photo jobs coming up but nothing is booked so....I got to make ends meet some how especially if I will be shelling out monies for school.

Well I am off to watch the show on the Mayan prophecies about end of the world in 2012, how optimistic of me! Better to be prepared I always say-hehe.

Gnight everyone

Relaxin', Rechargin' and Readin'

2009-01-04T12:50:00.000-08:00

Today is my day to recharge, relax and get caught up on my book. I have realized that reading is truly a luxury and I haven't had the time lately. I am also doing a much needed batch of laundry.

For bfast I had my staple of 1/2 cup Oatmeal, 1 cup water, 1/2 banana chopped and put in the pot while water was boiling, 1 shot frozen blueberries, 1/2 shot Bare Naked granola, a sprinkle of raisins, 1 shot Keifer on top ( a new variation) and coffee with skim.
I love blueberry oatmeal! The Keifer added right on top cooled down my super hot oatmeal and also gave it a tangy twist, very good.

After bfast I finally uploaded Spain pics on Facebook, I know I still owe you my second post of Spain- there are just sooooo many pics. I put a load in and bummed around a bit. Then I started on my lunch: 1 cup Steamed Broccoli with garlic powder, Texas Seasoning and pepper. 2 WW light Havarti cheese toasts. A bowl of cubed tofu with 1/2 cup diced tomatoes and Tapatio microwaved for about 1 min. The balance was perfect and it was almost too much food! I love broccoli and the cheese toast with tomato tofu was almost like a grilled cheese and tomato soup combo.

Back to my book! See ya'll for dinner. Tonight I am making Lime Chicken!

First day of eating a bit lighter...

2009-01-03T23:04:00.000-08:00

ACCOMPLISHED! I am posting my pics in reverse tonight, sorry, but the main point is I stuck to the deal with myself to cut my portions in half and eat lighter.
Sean and I went for a run/ bike ( I ran, he rode his bike) up Temescal Canyon this afternoon. Before we left I had tea and an orange, fruit serving #2 of the day. The run was about 1 mile total. We parked at the top and ran/biked down hill to the beach and then turned around and ran/biked back up hill to the car. I have never ran uphill before so this was quite challenging. It was great for me but not so much for Sean, he needs new gears and breaks- yikes! I burned 160 calories in 20 min, not bad but I would have loved to do it more than once, oh well next time Sean will just have to run with me :) Before the run I needed a snack so I had 1/4 of a Carrot Cake Cliff Bar. I really wanted 1/2 of it but Sean said he would eat 1/4 if I ate 1/4 just to see if that would do the trick....and it did!

Later in the day I didn't do too much, I applied for Financial Aid, registered for my first class ( I chose Phsyc 1) and caught up on some blogs. Sounds like everyone had a great NYE. Lunch today was simple and delicious: leftover Pork and beans with a sprinkle of 2% cheese and Red Leaf Lettuce all wrapped up in a WW tortilla with more red leaf on the side, a 1/2 a tomato, and a few rounds of Sweet Potato. Very tasty!

For dinner it was between 2 leftovers- Roasted Pork with Grapes or Pork and Beans. I opted for the Roasted Pork. I heated 3 medallions on the stove with the grapes and some Sesame Ginger Sauce I had in the fridge to change it up a bit. It was very tasty but I couldn't finish it all. On the side I had the last of the leftover brown rice and green beans, a few rounds of Sweet Potato and a Persian cucumber.

Since tonight is Saturday and Sean and I have not had a "date" night in a while, we thought it would be fun to walk to the movies near our house- probably about a 2 miles there and back. We saw The Spirit. It was OK, I liked 300 better. It was a bit too similar to Sin City for my liking, but fun anyways. I packed some homemade popcorn so I could control the amount and calories I snacked on. I ate both these sandwich bags- 120 calories.
Here I am before we left- sorry for the fogginess- I am documenting my size so I can look back in 2 weeks to see the improvements!!

My dinner:

My afternoon snack:

Very yummy tea!

Mid morning snack:

Lunchies:

I am excited to see how tomorrow goes. I have to admit I am VERY hungry right now but I am going to try to not have a snack seeing that I am watching my intake. I will fill up on some more tea and then go straight to bed so I can wake to a BIG -well not really- breakfast!!!!!!

Goodnight blog land

Half the breakfast for half the intake

2009-01-03T09:58:00.000-08:00

So I am so sad to say I have gained 5 pounds . . . . I am not sure if this weight gain started in Spain or if the Holidays have put me over the edge or if the stress of starting school is making me eat more. All I know is this has got to STOP! My sister has recently lost 45 lbs ( she just had a baby) and I asked her how she managed that in just 3 months. She told me she just eats half of what she really wants, "hmmmm" I thought to myself. I guess I was justifying eating such large portions because they are so healthy. But since my way of eating is clearly not working, I have decided to eat smaller portions. This will be hard for me to do because I am a 3 meal a day girl. I have noticed that lately I have been snacking too and probably too much.

So here is my plan:

Eat a smaller Breakfast -I don't need more than 1 serving of fruit here like lately

Eat 1/2 the snack I would usually have- ie half a bar

Eat 1/2 the lunch

Eat 1/2 the afternoon snack

Eat 1/2 the dinner portion

No alcohol- for 2 weeks

No refined sugar

No white wheat- only whole wheat -I usually only have whole wheat but this will be a test.

I am excited to try this and hope it doesn't make me crazy! It seems pretty doable.

Today I started with:

1/2 Oatmeal, 1 cup water (no milk added at all), 1 shot of frozen blueberries, 1/2 banana mashed, 1/2 shot Bare naked Fruit and Nut granola, ( Sean bought this for me, it's not my fave but this morning I really enjoyed it) 1/2 Mixed berry non fat yogurt and 2 cups of coffee with a splash of skim milk. along side I gulped a full glass of water to fill me up. So far my plan worked out and I feel very satisfied and hope to loose this extra weight that has snuck on.

Today I am applying for financial aid and studying for my test. I want to go to the beach for a run but we will see, I might end up doing yoga at home instead or maybe both! See ya'll for lunch!

Dinner with babies

2009-01-02T22:40:00.000-08:00

Tonight was so much fun! I really enjoy my little dinner parties we've been hosting lately. On the tonight's Menu:
Sean's Slow Roasted Pork and Beans with lots of garlic and lots of spice atop Frito's, with lettuce and cheese. Biscuits on the side with Beer.
I only had one glass. Beer usually goes hard with a hearty meal like tonight!

For my plate is made a healthier substitute; instead of Frito's is used left over brown rice and twice as much lettuce with only a couple of chips and 2% cheese.I couldn't resist a taste of a Biscuit- oops! I have a no oil recipe for biscuits that I am dying to try, but tonight was full fat and delicious!

The entertainment of the evening....introducing...Naomi!!!

I'm sad they are returning to Sonoma tomorrow, but they will be back in April so I have something to look forward to :)

Now I am off to do dishes and watch Walk the Line. Sean and I love this movie, but fell asleep watching it last night so the second half is our bedtime story.

Indian food goes great with a mani pedi

2009-01-02T18:31:00.001-08:00

This morning I was planning on running 'round the neighborhood but Sean was a bit worried about me running by myself- understandably. My sister called earlier to invite me to yoga at my moms gym in Calabasas so I decided to go ahead and take full advantage of the free day pass at the gym and go an 2 hours early to get a REAL workout. It has been so long since I have seen the inside of a gym, I had to cancel my membership when Sean and I moved in together because it was too far to go to West Hollywood for a workout. To bad too because I loved loved loved my old gym; Crunch Fitness. I will have to find a new gym soon. The yoga at my moms gym is so-so compared to Crunch classes. Much slower pace and much less intense. I do like going for the stretching and core strengthening so I was looking forward to it anyways. Before I left I had a 2-part breakfast:
small Red Delicious apple with tbsp of Almond Butter

And this weeks usual: 1 cup Kashi Go Lean, 1 cup Quaker Squares, sliced banana, 1/2 shot raisins, 1 cup skim milk, 1/2 cup unsweetened almond milk-yummy combo!

Then I hit the gym pretty hard with 15 min Elliptical, 15 min running on treadmill, 15 walking on treadmill at incline of 3, cool down 5 min. I burned 400 cal! I did arms too. 3 sets of seated row machine, 3 sets of lat pull downs, 3 sets of a chest push machine ( I don't know what it's proper name is sorry) and 3 sets of a chest pull machine. I was happily surprised to see a very full gym, every machine was being put to good "new years resolution to loose weight" use :) Then I did the hour and a half yoga practice which was better than I remember. It was still slow but I wore my Polar F6 and calculated my calories burned in the session and I was surprised to see I burned 150 calories. Not bad for a non-power yoga class. I felt great and I hope to keep it up!

For lunch my family all went out to Indian buffet lunch!!! I had my usual little bowl of Daal - it looks much bigger in this pic.

Here is my plate: Potato and cauliflower curry with peas, 2 pieces of Tandoori Chicken, and salad with a dollop of Rita, Mango Chutney, and Green Chutney. I couldn't finish my potatoes but I went back for seconds on the salad and Daal.

After lunchies my sister took me to get a mani/pedi!! Lucky little sister huh? I love enjoying my manicures now because when I am working it won't last a day. On my way home I developed a hunger headache so I grabbed my emergency Cliff bar in my purse and stopped at Starbucks for a treat!
I ordered a Venti -ya you heard me- Skinny Vanilla Latte. And man did I enjoy it!

We are having my sister, her hubby and my niece over for dinner tonight so I'll be posting our eats and drinks later!

I am so STUFFED...

2009-01-01T20:39:00.001-08:00

After my Chinese food lunch I was full, then later at home was still fine, a bit hungover but fine. A couple hours later I felt a bit of a headache and could not tell if it was from caffeine withdrawal, (no coffee today), my hangover, or hunger so I drank a Diet Coke and had a small snack a bit later.
I had 3 or 4 tbsp of hummus, a WW Pita, 2 Persian cucumbers, 1 cup baby carrots, and good handful of raw french green beans, -I love raw green beans I always eat a few raw if I'm cooking with them but I was too lazy to dirty any more dishes so I just ate them raw. Good and crunchy! This was more like a meal but I have been craving veggies so it really hit the spot!

Sean and I did as planned we lounged around most of the day. It was rather cold in the house so I made my favorite non caffeinated tea:

Then later we snuggled up to watch our Netflix of Annie Hall-so cute I highly recommend this movie to those that have not seen it. We popped some organic pop corn with no butter and 120 cal per serving. I had about 1/3 of the bowl (less than 1 serving). Love pop corn it's a guilt free snack!

I was craving something sweet, probably because I have indulged so much lately, so I had a piece of marzipan form Spain's stash.

After the movie I had some more tea and a chocolate- ahhh what's up with my sweet tooth?????

For dinner I wanted to do something simple because we didn't feel up to much so I made 2 of these: WW tortilla with a tbsp of skim cheese, lettuce, Persian cucumber, tomato, raw tofu, a tbsp of hummus and a splash of Tapatio hot sauce.

This is my plate of 2 wraps, I am not sure why I made 2 but I was oddly needing bulk and then I was super stuffed.

It was all very healthful and low caloric but I am very full. I do feel a bit soft and heavy these days so if anyone has some advice on an extra boost to burn more calories-my running does not seem to be doing enough, I would greatly appreciate it. I was watching the "Half Ton Man" and felt the sudden urge to exercise so Sean did a mini boot camp in our living room for me and I did 3 sets of arm weights, lunges accross the house 5 times, knee thrusts in a push up position and leg lifts. I am pooped but feel better. Tomorrow I am doing a morning run and then yoga with mom and sis!! I haven't practiced in so long I desperately need to find a studio near me! Hope you all have a good night and had a good first day of 2009!