Love/ Hate

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:

C

What's With Wanting.....

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!

C

How I love to sleep!

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!

C

Monday Blues

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!

C