Catch Up!

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!!

C

A Lot Going On

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!

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