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

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

C

The HDMI scam

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!

C

Not Much

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!

C

Rainy Day Eats!

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!

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