When cookies come to work.....

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!

C

Calorie Burning Monday

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!

C

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