Disney Flashback

TGIFF (Thank God it’s Flashback Friday).

My eats today are a little short of exciting, so bear with me.

To-go breakfast of:

• Strained homemade greek yogurt
• Crumbled banana bomb muffin
• Kashi golean (for crunch)
• Sunbutter
• 1/2 banana

My knee has been bothering me since Sunday’s hike (seriously, even hiking really flares my knee pain). After the 30 minutes stairmaster (level 10), I did an easy 1 mile walk on the treadmill. I wanted to go 2 miles, but knew I shouldn’t push through the knee pain. Followed by 6 minutes of whittling my middle.

Post-gym, I was hangry, and came home to the last of my pumpkin soup (besides what I froze), and the other half of my butternut squash.

I still wanted a little something sweet, so I went to have a couple bites of this mini-apple pie I couldn’t turn down last night at the store.

Soon, almost the whole middle was hollowed out. Then I came up with the genius idea to warm it in the microwave and top it off with a little pumpkin ice cream.

It all went downhill from there.

And then it was gone.

I know these are “individual” sized, but it was still at least 2, probably 3 servings worth of apple pie. I’m all for desserts and treats in moderation. And Thanksgiving is definitely a time to splurge and enjoy your pies Key word: Thanksgiving. Not the whole week before, or the whole week after. Oh well, what’s done is done. I just know I can’t continue my multiple servings of ice cream and apple pie eating on a regular day-to-day basis over here, like I have been doing!

The roommates and I hit up Forever 21 for a bit of girl time shopping around 6:00. So I didn’t get home to eat dinner until 8:00…starving!! And you all know how it goes when you’re that hungry. Everything in sight gets devoured…unpictured

First, I grabbed a banana bomb muffin + sunbutter. Next I heated up my remaining 2 buffalo chicken meatballs. Then came an egg + 2 egg white scramble. And finally greek yogurt & pumpkin mixture topped with a bit of cereal to finish off my meal. If you can call that a meal? haha. I just kept eating bits of random food until I felt satisfied.

Oh – and can’t forget the brownie batter as my roommate prepared some birthday brownies

But I was super excited to receive a package from this special lady.

Yay for giveaways I’m excited to try the Green bars and banana carrier! And the steamer container. Thanks Paigie – you’re awesome

To make up for my lack of photography, how about some Flashback action? For as long as I can remember, Thanksgiving break has been the time for my family to take our Disneyland trips. We don’t go every year (usually every 2-3 years), but we always went during this time of the year. Less crowded, but you could still enjoy the holiday decorations!

I don’t have pictures on this computer prior to 2004, so here we are at our last November Disneyland trip – 2005 (which also happened to be the 50th Anniversary year)!

I took the bus down from school to meet them in LA. I was so excited to see my family during my first quarter away at school

I don’t think I’ve ever gotten this wet on Splash Mountain -

I love my dad in the background waving over my head

First time in California Adventures!

This is one of my favorite pictures of my parents. They look so happy

I’m so used to Disneyland at Christmas time, I couldn’t even imagine it without all the beautiful decorations.

And “snow” (soap bubbles)…

The shooting gallery is definitely one of my favorite attractions. It’s a tradition for my brother and I to take turns shooting a target and trying to get the other person to shoot the same thing.

Disneyland trips hold a very special place in my heart, with lots of family time and special memories. Whenver we manage to make a trip there, a certain familiar feeling overwhelms me. My family is always in a good mood, and gets along – which is very rare! It was extremely hard for me to take my first non-family Disneyland trip this summer since I’m so used to it being a family tradition!

What family vacations do you hold dear? Any vacation traditions you guys have?

Veganized

How was everyone’s Thursday?

My vegan morning started out with my usual oats with a few substitutions and additions.

I omitted the egg, but added a scoop of flaxseed and chia seeds. Both can be used as egg replacers if prepared correctly, but I just added them right into the cooking oats on the stove. I always use almond milk in my oats and coffee anyways, so that was simple enough!

Topped with sunbutter, granola, crumbled vegan muffin I had in the freezer, and Quaker oatmeal squares.

Then my larabar tricked me again! I thought I grabbed a PB&J this morning, but it turned out to be cherry pie. I ate 1/2 pre-gym and 1/2 post-gym.

Run total: 3.5 miles TM

10 minutes whittle my middle. I completed a 3 minute plank today (on my elbows – I find elbow planks harder than staright arms). That’s the longest I’ve ever gone I’ve been doing 90 second planks, but today decided to go for 2 minutes. By the time I looked at my timer it was 2:20, so I thought “go for it!”

Decaf Americano + 1 pump peppermint syrup with soymilk while waiting for a meeting on campus. (I almost put half & half in, but caught myself just in time!)

Vegan lunch was kind of random. Unfortunately, I didn’t have too much to work with today since I’m trying to dwindle my food stash down in preparation of leaving town next week.

Cocoa chia pudding topped with agave, sunbutter & bananas.

And french fries (just sliced potato tossed with olive oil, garlic salt & pepper then baked at 400 degrees for 20 minutes).

However it didn’t hold me long at all, and I was starving for dinner around 5:00. I had an apple to hold me over while I ran to the store to pick up a butternut squash (on sale this week!!). And I couldn’t resist the day-old Vegan berry strusel muffin. It was a sign! Although delicious sounding, it was actually very dry and bland tasting.

(I guess my camera liked the muffin because she ate the pictures)

Dinner was another stuffed butternut squash. This time stuffed with a quinoa mix of:

• Quinoa
• Sauteed cinnamon apples & onions with brown sugar
• Applesauce
• Cinnamon

I also topped it off more sunbutter (I think I’ve had 5 servings of sunbutter today).

All followed up by a mug of hot cocoa. Made with almond milk, real cocoa powder(vegan!), and stevia.

I also had random handfuls of these chips all day.

I’ve been crazy munchy lately.

Thoughts on Vegan for a Day:

While I completely understand and respect everyone who follows a vegan lifestyle, I highly doubt I will ever decide to follow one myself. I’m sure it would be much easier if I actually converted to the lifestyle, and it was my permanent diet everyday, rather than trying to pay attention to it just for one day. Since I’m not used to eating this way, I had to check every label, and even thought of the fact that my gum might not be vegan!

Anyone else who particiated have any thoughts or opinions?

Dairy Loading

Are you participating in Vegan for a Week or Vegan for a Day?

In preparation of tomorrow’s Vegan for a Day, I made sure to incorporate dairy into all my meals today!

Yogurt in my overnight oats.

Also topped with Quaker oatmeal squares & Udi’s granola.

Milk in my post-gym cafe soy misto with 2 pumps pumpkin spice (which I was disappointed didn’t have foam. Soy mistos are just coffee and milk?)

Unpictured cocoa almonds & Element bar mid-class (but that’s okay, since no dairy was involved).

Oikos yogurt + blueberry preserves (delicious combo) and Kashi Heart 2 Heart.

And a small bit of chinese chicken salad (okay no dairy in this one).

Milk chocolate in 1/2 of this cookie

Garlic cream cheese in my grilled avocado, cream cheese, & pear sandwich.

Along with a side of green beans (yes – I love ketchup on my veggies).

Ice cream in my 2 bowls worth of pumpkin ice cream (as I went through almost 1/2 the carton. Pumpkin ice cream is not safe around me! My sister said I’m going to cause a world shortage of pumpkin.)

Few! Talk about carbo dairy loading

I also thoroughly enjoyed my night of laughing and Glee watching. My roommate is dying to somehow tell Finn there’s no way he got Quinn pregnant. Hilarious.  Love that show.

See you mañana :-)

Be you. Be happy.

Sorry for no post last night. Life gets busy, but I need to find someway to keep my blog friends in my life

I receive a weekly email from a speaker who once spoke at my school with a weekly quote or life lesson. This week’s quote stuck with me.

“Think of what you are and
all the fantastic potential of you.”

Next time you have “fat talk” or think down upon yourself, think of your positives. Think of those in your life that appreciate you for who you are on the inside. Think of all the good that you do on a daily basis, and the amount of lives that you touch.

Along those same lines, Amanda Beard, the U.S. Olympian swimmer, came to speak at my school tonight. Having been a big swimmer in the past, I was extremely excited to hear her speak. Especially since she was speaking on the issue of eating disorders. It was extremely moving and insightful. A couple points she made that really stuck out to me included:

• “I’m 20 pounds more than I was at my competitive weight. And that’s okay with me. That’s what’s great – is that I’m happy how I am now. I may have a little tummy, or a bigger butt, but I hold my son and none of that matters. I say ‘Look at my son! Look at what I made!’”
• She also mentioned how she looks back on her eating disorder days with such regret – that she spent so much time worrying about how skinny she was and how focused she was with her appearance, that she let her competitive swimming slip to the side. She didn’t enjoy her life. And what’s the point of life, if not to be enjoyed?

I’m glad I got the opportunity to see her speak

Instead of boring you to tears with a play-by-play of my Monday and Tuesday, I’ll just leave you with a photos of the meals.

Breakfasts have consisted of

Pumpkin oats

and Banana bomb muffin with sunbutter, along side yogurt with pomegranates and banana slices.

I made Angela’s banana bomb muffins the other night again. They are truly one of my favorites. My roommates seem to love them also since 3 were missing in the morning!

Both lunches have been delicious pumpkin soup found at Cost Plus. It made a huge batch on Sunday night, so I’ve enjoyed it 3 days in a row now

Topped with avocado slices, parmesan cheese, & Mary’s Crackers.

The original recipe called for heavy whipping cream but I subbed in plain yogurt. I also added a can of pumpkin for good measure And it came out delicious.

To go alongside my soup, I made something that Meghann seemed to popularize around blogworld.

Pumpkin cornbread!

They turned out a little to dry for my taste, but I might have over cooked them since I made individual sized ones in a muffin tin. Either way, my roommates also enjoyed these as well

For today’s lunch, I enjoyed the other half to my butternut squash as a side to my soup.

Mmmmm so so so good.

Dinners have been -

BBQ sunshine burger + carmelized onions + avocado + pear salad (crappy phone picture)

And a quinoa dish with a mix of nuts & craisins. Topped with a pumpkin sauce I whipped up the other night. Sidenote: I originally cooked up 2 servings of quinoa, thinking I could save some for later. But quinoa portions are teensy! I can’t believe the small amount that is 2 servings! Needless to say, I ate it all tonight

I originally made the sauce to go along with pumpkin pasta  this weekend.  I started to follow a recipe, and then kind of just winged it. I combined on the stove:

• ~1/2 cup FF sour cream
• ~1/2 cup pumpkin
• Cinnamon, nutmeg, & salt
• Chicken broth
• Garlic

Actually pretty tasty!

In exercise news, I gave my knee a rest yesterday (after the hike) to do 30 minutes upper body strength + 10 minutes of whittle my middle challenge.
Today, I got in a 4 mile TM run + 5 minute whittle my middle moves consiting of:

• 1 minute scissors
• 2 x 1 minute side planks with under body arm twist (1 on each side)
• 2 minute front plank

Well it’s late, I’m tired, and I have to be up in a little over 6 hours. So good night all!

Blog-irthday

Happy blog-irthday to “??” Happy Blog-irthday to “??” Happy Blog-irthday to “????????” (long and drawled out). Happy Blog-irthday to “??”!!!!!

It’s a certain special somone’s 6-month Bl ogiversary Blog-irthday (I like birthdays better than anniversaries) today….

Ok…That would be me.

It defiitely snuck up on me, but 6 months ago today is when I wrote my first post! I didn’t even have one picture up! My blog sure has come far, but I want to improve it even more in the near future.

To celebrate, I enjoyed something I discovered on one of my earlier posts – French toast sprinkled with Banana Nut Cheerios.

Sorry for the blur. Need. New. Camera.

With cream cheese, Sunbutter, and carmelized bananas.

It’s been too long. I go through food phases, and there was a phase my sophomore year where I would live off this French toast for dinner almost every night. So good.

It was such a beautiful day today, and I could hardly stand the thought of being stuck in the gym on a boring old machine again. I did something I haven’t done it a while – hike!

I’m seriously so lucky to live in the foothills of this:

I can just walk out my door and less than 50 minutes later I can enjoy this beautiful view:

Last time I hiked this, I left one of my favorite Operation Beautiful notes.

Total: 4-4.5 miles; ~ 1 1/2 hours

But man does it make you filthy!

I was starving the whole way back down, and made the quicket lunch ever.

A nice big bowl of Kashi golean & Heart 2 Heart with a glob of sunbutter (for protein – duh )

Once I cleaned up a bit, I headed out for groceries (and yes, I have definitely gone over the $100 goal this month. I thought it would be easy, but…something happened).

Dinner was something inspired by Miss Cookin’ Fanatic and something seen recently on Meghann’s blog. Unfortunately my camera died right before dinner (charged that dude ASAP) so you’ll have to wait until later this week for leftover pics .

Snacks later in the night (once camera had charged a bit) included

My nightly ritual

And a delicious combo dessert of:

• 1 whole apple & pear microwaved with cinnamon
• Cream cheese
• Sunbutter
• Crumbled cereal & granola

Perfect.

In other news, I got the laundry room all cleaned up, and we got a new washing machine up there as well (our old one was leaking). Well this new one is still leaking. Which means we’re out of laundry commission until our landlord can make it down here on Wednesday. Guess I’ll be re-wearing my workout clothes 2 3 times! Stand back!

Lucky Friday

HappyFriday Saturday the 13th 14th. I definitely planned to post yesterday, but then came home to a roommate pizza movie night straight from work. And then our internet was down later that night.

Yesterday started out as Friday the 13th would – running late.

Late for the bus breakfast – whole wheat english muffin with sunbutter & jam:

Almost even forgot to snag a picture.

Gym sesh:

• 20 minutes stairmaster level 10
• 10 minutes stairmill level 12 fat burner

It’s been sooooo long since I did the stairmill (the revolving staircase one) since I was scared it would hurt my knee. It was crazy how much more my butt muscles worked on that thing compared to the stairmaster. But I’ve missed it. Of course Friday the 13th luck caught up to me high up on that stairmill and my water bottle topped down the stairs and rolled across the gym. Minutes later, my ipod/iphone fell through the crack of it’s little resting space and tugged majorly at my earphones (luckily the earphone string caught the fall).

My rushed breakfast was so miniscule that I was starving 1 1/2 hours later for a snack in class:

While it was a day of luck…it was also a day of celebrations.

I celebrated “the last day of salad bar cheapness” day with a grand old salad.

From what I can recall it consisted of:

• Tofu
• Olives
• Beets
• Kidney beans
• Walnuts
• Slivered almodns
• Onions
• TJ’s parmesan ranch
• Pear slices (which I added myself)

You shall be missed beloved salad bar. I’m sorry I won’t spend $10 on you in the future.

And celebrating TWLOHA day.

I actually had never heard of this group before, so when my roommate was writing Love on her arm yesterday, I of course wanted to join in It almost made me want a tattoo right there on my arm

Afternoon snack consisted of a new Greek yogurt try.

Voskos honey yogurt.

We all know I love my Greek and strained yogurt! I actually really liked this yogurt, but was surprised by how much less thick it was than other Greek yogurt brands. The consistency almost reminded me of normal yogurt. But I loved the honey taste of Voskos. I’m not a huge fan of honey flavored yogurts, but I liked this honey flavor better than Oikos or Chobani. A little high in sugars – I like the plain types – but still very tasty! I’ve had a hard time finding these yogurts in my area, but can’t wait for break when I can head to Whole Foods where I know they have a larger selection.

Topped with some Kashi Heart2Heart (much more cereal than what is shown).

And then I finally made it home for pizza & movie night here at the 109!

I know this is very un-American (or un-human) of me, but I’m honestly not the biggest fan of pizza. Of course pizza is tasty and delicious, but I can easily pass up your average joe-schmo pizza place anyday. However my roommates were completely insistent on ordering from this one location, and they ordered 2 pizzas without even asking – White sauce chicken & Pepperoni. A little bummed (since I don’t eat pepperoni, and I honestly don’t really like white sauce), but I still tried the white sauce since people have raved about this place’s “amazing white sauce chicken”.

x 2:

+ a couple slivers of un pepperoni touched cheese

Bleh. I ate the first piece right away since I was starving, and then half of another, plus random pickings through the night. Dry crust, not much sauce, fake chicken…just blech. Okay sorry – don’t mean to complain. I was just kind of disappointed they ordered without asking my opinion, and then I was stuck…especially when I didn’t want pizza to begin with. Rant over!

It was still a fun night of watching The Ugly Truth The Proposal, and catching up with an old friend who stopped by.

So far this morning, I’ve gotten nothing done besides make pumpkin oats for breakkie:

The usual topped with mini chocolate Mini-Wheats, Banana nut Cheerios, & crumbled pumpkin scone.

But I’m now off to conquer my day! On this list:

• Gym sesh
• Laundry room sesh (our washer machine leaked and we’ve had major clean-up to do. More on this later)
• Homework sesh
• Work sesh

Woop woop. Let’s get these sesh’s started!

Whittle while you work

So I got a couple interesting responses to my yogurt converation the other day. A reader Kristen commented that:

Hey, just read the thing about straining out the whey…whey is actually straight protein pretty much, it’s what they use to make protein powders. I’m a nutrition major too and we’re studying cheese making in my micro class right now and just went over what to do with the whey they strain out

Very interesting!

Jenn also commented that she found this on another site:

“I called Dannon company and got the following information on the nutritional properties of the whey from yogurt: In 4 oz, the whey contains: approximately 30 cal., no fat, 1 gram protein 7 grams carbohydrates, 130 mg calcium”

When I looked up the information on whey, it showed pretty much the same nutritional components as above. And also, my clinical nutrition professor also reinfored the information today in our diabetes carbohydrate lecture – that the whey is mostly carbohydrates.

Thanks for all your input and opinions on the topic!

Speaking of yogurt…

Breakfast to go!

Kashi Golean, Heart 2 Heart, Quaker oatmeal squares, Sunbutter & yogurt.

And pomegranate seeds buried in there!

However once I got to school, I met my friend at the hot oatmeal bar (aka the salad bar at lunch time), where the oatmeal was also super cheap this week. I couldn’t reisist.

My bowl consisted of:

• Oats
• Raisins
• Sliced bananas
• Walnuts
• Almonds

Delicious.

I saved my yogurt mess for lunch post-gym, where I did

• 2.5 miles on the treadmill (3.15 total with walking segments)
• 15 minutes upper body dumbells
• 15 minute of whittle my middle ab work!

I know many bloggies are joining in on the Whittle my Middle challenge that Angela started. Who’s with it? I definitely am! I try and always incorporate at least 5 minutes of ab work every gym sesh, but hopefully with this challenge I’ll fit in 6-10 minutes of ab work even on days I don’t make it to the gym. You can do it any time. Right when you wake up, during commercials, or even when dinner is cooking! Let’s do it! Today’s Whittle my Middle ab work included:

• Front plank (90 seconds)
• Side plank (60 seconds on each side)
• 60 bicycle crunches
• Flutter kicks (30 seconds)
• Stability ball roll out (12 reps)
• Stability ball plank (20 seconds)
• Cross over crunches on stability ball (2 sets of 20 reps)
• Sitting Russian twist (2 sets 20 reps with 25 lb weight)
• Crunches with 20 lb weight held overhead (15 reps)
• Standing russian twist (2 sets 30 reps with 25 lb weight)
• Dumbell side bends (2 sets 20 with 20 lb weight)
• Crossover arm swing (2 sets 15 reps with 20 lb weight)

Phew! I was definitely hungry for my yogurt mess And an unpictured small bowl of soup – sorry I slurped that baby right up!

Afternoon snack wasn’t big at all so I was hangry tonight!

Whipped up my dinner in less than 10 minutes and wolfed it down even quicker.

Stir-fry veggies, Buffalo chicken meaballs & one chicken potsticker over leftover Maple Pumpkin Seed quinoa.

Mmm obsessed with these meatballs. I’m so glad I “splurged”. Although I have so many to use up now. You know Costco and their double packs.

However I was never fully satisfied, and waited a bit for the hunger in my brain to catch up with my stomach. But it never really did. So not long after I had a Vitalicious brownie, a small bit of strained yogurt, and sunbutter.

Unfortunately no picture, but looked identical to this previous picture of mine:

Followed by some banana whip while studying clinical nutrition terms laughing with my roommate. With a crumbed Nutridel flaxseed cookie on top.

(sorry for the poor lighting)

Really wasn’t such a fan of the flaxseed flavor. It honestly didn’t have much flavor at all. I definitely loved the pecan flavor much more.

And hot chocolate…doh

**cough cough** I thought my sore throat/cough was a 1-2 day dealio and wasn’t getting any worse.  But the tickle cough as definitely returned full force today!  I’m off to get my beauty sleep.  :-) Night y’all!

Peep peep!

I feel like it’s Sunday. But that’s probably because the roommates and I partied it up last night at Tuesday’s Pint Night, and lounged around the house today. Thank you Veterans But seriously, thank you to all of you out there that do what you do. And to their families, loved ones, and friends. Much appreciated.

Yay for the CMAs!! Anyone else enjoying it?

Crunchy yogurt.

Combo of cereals (Kashi Golean, Heart2Heart, Quaker Oatmeal squares), banana, and crumbed pumpkin scone.

Light lunch/heavy snack. Whatever you prefer.

Mmmmm. Veggies Ketchup.

I then proceeded to the blood bank to…well…give blood obviously. Where I snacked on some unpictured chex mix.

I then rushed home, wolfed down an english muffin pizza, and got ready for the roommates first time out all together!

Awesome night out.

4/5 of us

All together now

Uh oh…bad sign? It was 2 for 1 night!

It was a good and fun night Except for the fact that the cranberry drink ended up all down my shirt. Fail. It’s soaking right now. Anyone have good stain removing tips from a white shirt?

I really didn’t feel too hot today, and therefore didn’t eat much. I sure made up for it at night though.

Dinner of leftover maple quinoa with chicken meatballs.

Served over lettuce.

Immediately after dinner I went straight for the ice cream. I normally don’t eat dessert at 6:00 pm, but whatever. It works!

And then immediately headed back to polish off the container.

Along with a couple of these lovelies.

And now I am enjoying a date night with my country music awards show. We’re pretty exclusive

Oh and a nice big bowl of air-popped popcorn + olive oil + garlic salt.

How did this little guy sneak in there? x2

But honestly the combo was killer.

Wow, I’ve had quite the sweets tonight. Mehh. Oh well.

Okay, back to oogling over Keith blasting his vocals

Pie for breakfast?

Want to know what goes down during a night of tossing and turning? I finally got out of bed at 3:30 am with a raw sore throat and no voice. Obviously something delicious, creamy, and cold would make it feel so much better.

And a mug of cereal (chocolate mini wheats + PB granola to be exact) x2.

As much as I love my pumpkin ice cream, I’ve gone through half a carton in the past few days. I think I need to cut back.

After chatting with my sister on facebook (apparently our family has sleep issues), I finally got to sleep at 4:15 and slept until 6:30. Yay for 2 hours of sleep! Luckily I prepared my breakfast the night before in a to-go Oikos container.

Apple Pie overnight oats!

Night before combined:

• 1/4 c. muesli + 1/2 cup soymilk
• 1 scoop yogurt
• 1/2 mashed banana, cinnamon, maple syrup
• 1 T chia seeds

This morning topped with:

• 1 microwaved cinnamon apple
• Granola + Quaker maple oatmeal squares
• Cream cheese

Mmmm look at those ooey gooey apples.

I amazingly had enough energy for a quick gym sesh in between classes to fit in 30 minutes stairmaster level 10. Then I hurried to pick up lunch. Does this look familiar?

That might be because that’s the same picture as last time. But the salad today was the exact same. Okay, that’s a lie. There were no bell peppers or corn this time. Mushrooms + beets + olives + turkey + tofu + kidney beans + feta cheese + craisins + slivered almonds + jicama. Wow.

My energy slump hit at noon and I could barely make it through my 12-2:00 class. Torture. Pure torture. A delicious snackie helped.

Strained yogurt with a Deep Chocolate vitamuffin & sunbutter.

Decadent. I actually liked this flavor a lot. Very rich.

I’ve been straining a lot of my own yogurt lately, this time using Mountain High yogurt.

Out of the three brands I’ve strained so far, I’ve found this brand and Trader Joe’s organic to be the best. They strain out the most liquid.

And make the creamiest yogurts.

Emily from The Experimentarian recently asked me about the concetration of the yogurt in regards to protein, calorie & carbohydrate amounts. After doing a bit of research, I’m pretty sure that when you strain the yogurt, you’re straining the whey out of the yogurt. The whey is also what contains most of the carbohydrates in yogurt. Therefore, after straining, you end up with a more concentrated amount of yogurt with less whey (carbohydrates), but more protein. So in essence 1 cup unstrained yogurt has the same amount of calories as strained yogurt, but unstrained has more carbohydrates while the strained has more protein.

Does that make sense? If anyone has any other answer, please…let me know!

Needless to say, I was kind of upset glad when my boss emailed me saying the little girl I nanny on Mondays was sick today. So I thoroughly enjoyed a complete lazy afternoon with Ellen, Oprah & more Ellen, and hanging out with muh peeps (aka Friends).

An unpictured mini crunch bar was sitting on the couch staring me down and I couldn’t resist.

Dinner incorporated my new Buffalo style chicken meatballs.

• Tons of veggies (literally almost a whole bag of frozen)
• 5 meatballs
• Carmelized onion & garlic tomato pasta sauce
• Plethora of cheeses – feta, cheddar & parmesan

These meatballs are delicious! I love them.

With Mary’s crackers (x2)

And a handful of these to satistfy my post-dinner sweet tooth.

Wow – I love these chips. However, they really just taste like the Sweet Potato flavor with the tiniest ittiest bit of chocolate taste at the end.  I would never guess “Chocolate” if I didn’t know they came out of this bag.

6 servings in this bag? Are you kidding me? The bag was only 1/4 full!

May I also just comment that my roommate and I had the pure genius idea to put peeps on her baked sweet potato? Umm…yes please!!

In my nightly hot chocolate tonight, I used a new packet of NuNaturals stevia rather than my usual splenda or agave syrup. One thing was for certain – it was waaaay sweeter.

And just to rub it in everyone’s face – tonight is kind of a “Friday” for me. I have no classes Tuesday, and my work was canceled (bummed because I need money). And we have Wednesday off for Veteran’s Day. Sorry to brag But I hope everyone else had a great Monday evening!

#notinSF Baking

First off, I recently won both Danica and Paige’s awesome giveaways! I must have been wearing my luck underwear socks (??) those days. Dang – should’ve been paying closer attention. Thanks ladies

In other news, since I was #notinSF on Twitter all day yesterday, I decided to take advantage and use the kitchen! Lately, I’ve felt that all my meals have consisted of easy-peasy boring schmorning throw-it-together from the freezer ingredients.

First, baking is expensive! I was trying to follow the November Challenge of $100 spent on food this month – but just yesterday alone, I spent over $50!! That is beyond a lot for me (my weekly grocery bills are usually $15-$25). I’m a huge frugal & sales shopper and usually only buy what I need or what’s on sale that week. However, it must have been luck that I ran out of tons of staples this month (flour, cocoa, cornstarch, oil…and needed to purchase molasses).

Dang baking goods!

And I couldn’t turn down these roadshow meatballs from Costco. “Limited time” really sucks me in.

So for dinner, I combined my new meatballs with my new butternut squash for a Maple Quinoa Stuffed Butternut Squash.

First, roasted both halves (one with salt/pepper & one with cinnamon – for later). Next, I stuffed the salt/pepper side with a quinoa mxture:

The stuffed segment consisted of:

• Quinoa
• Buffalo meatballs
• Onions
• Pistachios
• Pumpkin seeds
• Light rice vinegar
• Lemon juice
• Salt, pepper, garlic salt
• Maple syrup

The maple syrup was a completely last mintue addition to make it a sweet & savory concept. It worked quite nicely!

My tummy hated me after this.

I forgot how much I miss & love butternut squash! And how easy it is to make. Definitely need to take advantage of the season.

I’ve also been wanting to bake recently, so I decided to try out an adapted recipe of the vegan pumpkin scones Megan recently cooked up. I halved the recipe, and did a few substiutions (such as oil instead of margarine – I had none), then popped them in the oven this morning.

I know oil and margarine are completely different, and my scones probably turned out much more “doughy” because of it, but they were still delicious!

My roommates loved them and said they were more “cakey” than “crumby”.  I never eat scones (see T-vlog below), so I have nothing to compare, but I loved them! I helped myself to half of one straight from the oven.

Eventually I got hungry for an actual breakfast.

• Kashi Go-lean
• Nature’s Path maple pecan crunch
• 1/2 sliced banana
• Other half of my WW pumpkin scone
• Strained yogurt

Fueled my gym sesh quite nicely where I did another 4.5 mile dreadmill interval workout. I’m obsessed with the intervals lately. But man, I notice how much more intervals rev the metab – I’m way more starving doing intervals than I was just going slow and steady.

Sorry for no more pics throughout the day but unpictured highlight eats include:

• Other half of my butternut squash (Holy moly I need to go buy another A-stat. Forgot how much I love them!!)
• Chocolate Heart Thrive warmed up with chocolate almond butter (mmmm yes please. Loved the gooey chocolate chips in the bar)
• Banana whip with 1 scoop pumpkin ice cream & sunbutter.

Hey hey hey…check it out! Another V-log? Or T-Vlog? Enjoy And sorry I seem super spacey in it – when I go back and watch it now, I seem to “umm” and stumble quite a bit…

Edited to add: I looked up types of pastries, and wowzers – I had no idea it included so much!  I definitely love cinnamon buns, baklava, and PIES.  I love pies.  Especially dutch apple (with the crumbly top), pumpkin & pecan.  Okay – so I definitely do like pastries!!

Pssst…and how was everyone’s weekend?!