Blogging has Gone to the Bernese Mountain Dogs

Yesterday I was having major problems trying to read and comment other blogs because of this guy:

Duke, the Bernese Mountain Dog of the family I nanny for wouldn’t let me type! Duke put his face over the keyboard…

Nudged my arm away from the keyboard…

Trapped my hand under the keyboard…

And is just too cute to resist!

I tried commenting…

But it didn’t really work.

You won this time, Duke!

Then today, while I am sitting outside in the sun, my Bernese Mountain Dog, Grant decides he is hungry.

Sniffing the tomato plant

then going for the kill

After eating a green tomato…

Sorry Grant, I forgot that dogs are colorblind. Should have warned you about those green ones.

What a total distraction from blogging.

And to make this post at least some what about food I will show you my loot from my grocery shopping trip earlier today.

I hit up the Produce Stand, QFC (our regular supermarket) and Great Harvest

Great Harvest Dakota bread, lemons, carrots (for juicing), celery, coconut milk (two different brands! I’m testing each one out), sugar snap peas, Sabra Roasted Red Pepper Hummus and baby carrots (for snacking).

Yeah. I buy two different kinds of carrots. The boy I nanny for didn’t really care when I ate huge carrot sticks, but when he saw that I eat baby carrots like him, he started eating more of them. Thus I buy baby carrots.

$1 bag of apples for juicing, cherries, bananas, basil, peaches, cucumber, whole wheat spaghetti, raspberries, strawberries.

Do your pets ever bother you and make it almost impossible to do a task? Grant always needs to lay right in front of the refrigerator when I’m cooking dinner.

and

Are you a full carrot or baby carrot person?

Snack Attack

Thank you all for your comments on my cookie situation.

Thanks to your responses, and my inital thought, these are now sitting on the kitchen countertop and became the victims of my snack attack that happened later in the day.

More on the snack attack later though.

Breakfast

I started off this day wanting to be productive. Over the weekend I read Gracie’s post on 10 Ways: Be Productive and instantly got the craving to finish my unpacking and do a lot of the tasks I had been dreading.

I limited my morning blog reading to 20 minutes so that I wouldn’t get sucked into blog world and more efficient unpacking could commence. After reading Gracie’s post one more time for inspiration I got rid of all the boxes, clear plastic containers and bins that were sitting in my room waiting to be stored or unpacked.

Afterwards, I treated myself to a fabulous breakfast.

Sarena’s PB cereal

I used 1/2 millet cereal and 1/2 Kashi Honey Puffs cereal. Mixed with Justin’s Organic Peanut Butter, 1/3 of an apple and (I hate to say this) Mrs. Butterworth’s maple syrup. I thought that I had brought my real maple syrup with me from college, but apparently I threw it out. I bought some real stuff today at TJ’s though so I won’t be caught with out my real stuff again.

The cereal was delicious! It tasted like granola, but creamier! Definitely making this again.

Thanks for the great recipe Sarena!

Snack

We’re not to my snack attack yet. My mid-morning snack was supposed to be a wonderful green monster creation.

I threw in some frozen cranberries, Vega Infusion, matcha green tea and spinach. I took two sips of it and couldn’t bare the taste. It ended up being thrown out.

Sad day. Instead I munched on some unpictured grapes and crackers dipped into hummus.

Grocery Shopping

For my next task at my productive day, I got to go grocery shopping.

I was supposed to go to three different grocery store, but after going to Walgreen, Michael’s and Barnes ‘n Nobel first I was pretty tired by the end and ended up going to our local healthy grocery store and Trader Joes and just bought the produce at TJ’s.

Some of my more interesting grocery store finds were:

Quinoa Macaroon Cookies, Snapea Crisps, Coconut butter and three bars I’m excited to try

A Lemon Larabar, Chocolate Peppermint Luna Bar and a Go Free Carrot Cake Bar.

I have tried both luna and larabar’s before just not these flavors, and I’m excited to see what these Go Free bars are all about.

I also picked up a huge bag of Chia seeds

Chia seeds are always in such small containers. Definitely not meant for Michelle-buying purposes. I almost emptied the entire jar of chia seeds.

Lunch

Right after grocery shopping I was ravenous. Okay, so I was ravenous while grocery shopping. Obviously my snack didn’t quite hold me.

I made another Veggie Volcano

However this was a controlled veggie volcano. Last time I cut up wayy too many vegetables, made a heaping amount of quinoa and laid on the peanut sauce like it was nobody’s business.

This time I cut the veggies in half, I gave a nice, light base of quinoa and (more or less) portioned out only 2 T of the peanut sauce.

I had enough room in my tummy to try out one of my new grocery store finds, the quinoa macaroon cookie

If you ever have coconut cravings, this baby will fill them and then some. It was delicious and  a possible contender for an oatmeal topper in the future

The Big Snack Attack

This snack attack was so quick that the entire thing went without photos. I first scooped some organic chocolate cake into some Fage greek yogurt and a couple of strawberries. I was satisfied with the snack however the Mexican Wedding Cookies were looming on the kitchen counter. Somehow I ended up with two in my stomach. Don’t know how that happened. One second I was looking at them, the next second I had powdered sugar all over my mouth.

But such is life.

Dinner

The Snack Attack messed up my dinner schedule. I’m usually hungry at 5:30 or 6, however I was still full when my mom said that we should start serving ourselves left overs for dinner. We weren’t eating together tonight, so I passed until I finally gave in at 7:30 when I figured that I should probably eat sometime.

Leftover madness

Sundried tomato pasta (all the sundried tomatoes are hiding)

Baked Beans held in by mashed potatoes

My classic Summer salad–strawberries, blueberries and walnuts on herbed spring mix

I wasn’t very hungry, but it sure tasted good

Whew! It was quite a day. My room is almost completely clean, my bathroom is organized, the Best Guy Friend’s belated birthday present is wrapped and ready (all parts besides the cookies of course) and my my shelf of the pantry is stocked.

No really, it’s overflowing.

Maybe I should go organize that!

Erm, or maybe I’ll leave that for tomorrow…or the next day

Do you love or hate leftovers? I’m a lover <3

Shopping and Saving Part II: The List

Good Evening bloggies! I had so much fun reading all of your classic breakfast foods from your childhood. Looks like we were mighty cereal and pop-tart eaters. Our diets may have grown up…well, just a little bit. I’m still a cereal monster

Dinner

I was so excited to use my grass-fed beef I got from the Farmer’s Market last weekend for this dinner.

I have no idea why my food is awkwardly spread apart

In the Cajun Burger

• 1/2 lb. grass-fed beef
• chopped onion
• chopped red and green bell pepper
• cajun seasoning
• sea salt
• pepper
• hot sauce

Placed on a toasted sandwich thin with dijon mustard, ketchup and spring greens on top

Yummy. (Sorry vegetarians)

I also made a zucchini oreganata. Well, it went alright. Not good enough to safe for leftovers though.

And a side of peas. For no other reason that I was craving peas today.

I also had a  Skinny Cow Carmel Truffle Popsicle for dessert

Grocery Shopping

I woke up this morning not really excited about grocery shopping this morning, but the fact that I didn’t have any bananas really pushed me to go. As I developed my list I got very excited to go. Since I’m trying to use up all of the food I have because I’m moving back home for the summer in less than a month, my hauls are starting to be very slim. I can actually go through the express line now. Anyways, this all ended up to be less than $30.

Carrots, oregano, almond milk, millet puffs, sunflower millet bread from Great Harvest, naners, frozen strawberries, kidney beans, diced tomatoes, tomato paste, orange, apples, red and orange bell pepper.

I am so excited to devour my bread from Great Harvest. The loaf seems to be the right amount of squishy and solid. Is that weird?

This brings me to the next part of my series

Shopping and Saving Part II: The List

If you missed part I, setting your budget you may find it here.

I really encourage all to make a list. I can’t imagine going grocery shopping with out it. I feel like I’d miss a lot of the foods that need to be in my recipes that I have planned out for the week.

I organize my lists on Evernote.

1. I first organize a few meals that I want to make during the week:

For blogging purposes, I find it SO much easier to link the recipe. It also helps when I need to recipe on the day I’m making the meal.

2. I write down all the ingredients I will need and sort it into the stores that I need to go to.

There are a few of my staples that I get every week that transfer over such as bananas and apples so I just copy and paste those every weeks.

3. Once it’s time to go shopping I write all the foods down on a sheet of paper and organize it the best I can as far as the location in the store. I generally do the bakery items, dairy, meats, inner grocery aisle items and then onto the produce. Since 90% of my buys are from the produce section, I divide that up by how the produce section is organized. That may just be the type-A personality really coming out of me.

4. I take a look at my list and think about how much this will probably cost. If it looks like it is going to be a low-cost week I acknowledge that I may splurge on one or two items that are not on the list. By setting myself a limit to how many non-list items I may buy before going, I really cut down on those extra buys that can rack up anywhere from $10-40 extra on your shopping trip.

How do you organize your shopping lists? And how do you deal with those grocery shopping “extras?”

Shopping and Saving Part 1: Setting Your Budget

So I decided to make the way I shop for groceries a series!

Shopping and Saving Part 1:

Identify & Setting Your Budget

Before we dive right in, if all you get out of this series is this: if you don’t make a list, I highly suggest starting now my Type-A personality will be very happy. The entire way I shop is based off of the list, and I can’t imagine life with out it.

Look at Your Last Grocery Receipt

(source)

For those who don’t pay attention to how much you are spending at the store and want to start, find a few of your last receipts.

A lot of grocery stores now-a-days sort your products on your receipt for you into categories such as ‘produce,’ ‘home,’ ‘bakery,’ and a general ‘grocery.’ Look at it closely.

1. Circle the items in the dishes you cooked.

These are great buys and are definitely labeled as a “need”

2. Now look at the items that you snack on.

For me, these are so-so buys if it is chips, popcorn or something other than a fruit or veggie. If it’s a fruit or veggie, I usually consider this a good buy, unless I’m splurging on a certain item like a starfruit or horned melon, then they stay in this category.  So-so items definitely don’t have to get taken off of the list, but notice how much you spend on these particular items.

3. What you are probably left with is items that you may have splurged a little on.

Was it the kombucha, the ice cream, awesome nut butter that might be fun to try, maybe a couple of chocolate bars thrown in? Ask yourself if you really need these items for now. They’re great to buy every once in a while ,but if you really want to start cutting down your budget these are the items that you need to watch. They can rack up your grocery bill fast than you can say “almond butter”

Set a Goal

If you want to really crunch the numbers add up the total cost for the items you need, about 50% of the so-so items and about 25% of the splurge/want items. This could help you decide on a goal.

Or, what I did was look at my current bill (it was $120/wk) and find a budget that would push myself to not buy the splurge items as much, but still allow me wiggle room to try a new product or two. In my Limit the Bill goal, I set an amount of $75 and eventually I wanted to step down to $50/wk. These were just my preliminary goals. I ended up spending around $60-65/wk and recently I spent less than $40. I found it very comfortable to spend about $60-65/wk and I adjusted my goals to hit around that target in the end.

These tips are just guidelines. This is just what worked well for me.

Next part of the Shopping and Saving series will be formulating the List.

…back to your regularly scheduled program.

Snack

Guys, I had a seriously one awesome snack. It was inspired by Melinh‘s fake apple pie

I chopped up an apple and sprinkled it with cinnamon, like my norm.

popped it into the microwave for a minute, like my norm

OOO! OOO! This is the fun part! Crumble up some graham crackers, I used graham thins, and place them at the bottom of a bowl. Dump the gooey apples on top and gobble up!

There was a little bit too much apple-per-graham cracker ratio, but I’ll fix that next time

Seriously a divine snack. Thank you so much for the inspiration Melinh!

Time to work on some homework and do some reading. Chelsea Handler’s My Horizontal Life is honestly amazing. It’s the absolute PERFECT summer beach read!

What are your grocery shopping saving tips?

BooYAH!

This is going to be a short post. I need to sleep. I’ve been having a hard time sleeping this last weekend with last night was the worst of them all. I have been groggy and fighting a headache all day.

Grocery Shopping

I switched things up this week and went grocery shopping today.

(This is definitely the 2nd time I wrote it, the first time was more like chicken scratch.)

I made the shortest shopping list my eyes have ever seen. Considering I’m moving out in a little less than a month, I’m trying to consume all of my food instead of buying more.

Stops were made to Market of Choice and Safeway, though I was super tempted to hit up TJ’s after seeing the edamame crackers from Tyler’s blogger food exchange

Bananas, coconut water, recharge sports drink, pirates booty, pulled bbq pork, pickles, ginger thins, sour cream, shiritaki noodles, greek yogurt, strawberries, tomatos, oranges, avocado, and three organic pink lady apples

I spent $20 at Market of Choice and $19 at Safeway for a grand total of $39!

BooYAH!

How’s that for sticking under my budget of $75?!

I have the entire week planned as far as meals go. I’m just so excited for all the great eats this week.

Time to hit the sack. Need. To. Get. Sleep. Catch you all tomorrow

Miscellaneous Business

Good Evening everyone! I have a lot of miscellaneous business with lots on the to-do list, a shopping trip, a major assignment due Thursday, and the parents coming in town in just a little bit.

Breakfast

After debating between PB&J oats and toast, I went for the bit more original one of toast. Okay, it’s not really that original. But I did add some strawberries and greek yogurt parfait to it.

One piece of toast covered with Crofter’s Rapsberry Fruit Spread, and the other covered with maca, cinnamon and mesquite.

It was alright, but I missed my PB&J oats. I was also hungry about 10 minutes later and ate an unpictured kiwi.

Lunch

Lunch was eaten during class so I packed it this morning.

A cranberry, arugula (I didn’t have any spinach), turkey and apple sandwich.

Meh, it was alright. The bread was getting a little stale, the arugula wasn’t quite right in the sandwich, and my genius idea of adding apple slices didn’t really work.

I also enjoyed some apple slices.

Shopping

Right after class I ran to go shopping.

I first picked up these!

yes those would be absolutely b-e-a-utiful rock climbing shoes and a really cute chalk bag. I guess I was liking the purple and khaki thing today?

Next I went to the biggest Market of Choice I have ever seen!

omg.omg.omg.

It definitely took longer to navigate a whole new store, but I absolutely LOVED it! I kept seeing all different foods I have seen on the blogworld including VitaTops and a huge stash of Pirate’s Booty. It also had the largest cheese section ever.

I some how made it out alive, barely deviating from my list.

My haul from both Market of Choice and Safeway.

Naan, (a free with coupon) almond milk, organic spring mix, goat cheese, mushrooms, Annie’s Woodstock Dressing, Worcestershire sauce, raisins, a lonely cantaloupe, frozen peaches, brown rice and poppy seeds.

Celery, carrots, bananas, spinach, tempeh, grapefruit, avocado, lemon, apples, red & green bell pepper, papaya spears, orange

The only item that wasn’t on the list was the frozen peaches. I’m excited to make some green monsters with it though!

Oh and you know how frugal I am with my grocery bill with my goal Limit the Bill, so what was my total?

Drumroll please,

Market of Choice       $19.84

Safeway                   $41.22 (almost completely spent on fruits and veggies)

Total $61.06

My totals have been really hovering around the $60 range.

Week 1 $63

Week 2 $64

Week 3 $68

I feel very comfortable at that price point. I think I am going to stick to keeping around that magical number

Snack

I couldn’t wait to dig into Annie’s Woodstock Dressing which is a blend of tomato and tahini, so I cut up a celery stick and dipped.

It was absolutely spectacular. It didn’t go with the celery quite right, but I could see it as the perfect summer dressing.

How often do you go off your grocery list? Week-by-week I’m finding I stay on mine more and have less impulse buys.

Yoga and I are Just Not Meant to be

It’s official. Yoga and I are not suitable for each other, or at least not this yoga class that I’ve attended for the second time. Some factors that contributed to this decision are:

• 90% of the class is conducted from downward dog and only downward dog. The instructor is obsessed with downward dog. My wrists were in screaming pain 15 minutes into the class, so I ended up in child’s pose with the obese person next to me a lot of the time.
• We only did one balance pose. One.
• I’m a freak about hygiene and the instructor hasn’t showered in days. Maybe weeks.
• And the last call was when my favorite yoga pants are falling off and they’re spandex.

We’re done.

Prior to this decision I was caught in a torrential downpour.

And I had an umbrella with me.

I peeled off my jeans, put rain boots on and headed outside to go grocery shopping.

Grocery Shopping

Here’s my loot from Market of Choice and Safeway

Tortillas, strawberries, apples, bananas, pecans, kiwi, orange, grapefruit and an avocado

Corn puffs, fish oil, coconut milk, blueberry kefir, yellow onion, tomatoes, coconut milk creamer, hemp hummus, chia seeds, another orange, wild oats & honey bread, cantalope spears, Chobani greek yogurt, parsnips.

What wasn’t on the grocery list: coconut milk creamer (I’m not out of my current stuff but it was majorly on sale!) and cantalope spears

I’d say I did keep a good job sticking to the list!

As apart of my Limit the Bill budget of $75 dollars I did fairly well for the 3rd week straight!

Market of Choice…… $29.98  <–I got realll nervous about the fact it encroached $30!

Safeway……………..$37.92 <– my lowest bill ever from Safeway!

———————————–

Total……………… $67.90

Woot! Woot!

I’m actually surprised that I was still under the budget considering I bought fish oil which is pretty expensive!

I tried out my first supplement of fish oil…

and it’s a horse pill. Oh well, I think I can take it if it’s helping my heart and my brain

Dinner

After having a disastrous yoga session (but a great session of intervals before hand!) I treated myself to some Indian!

I made Gina’s Vegan Gajar Halwa again as well with some TJ’s Pav Bhaji over leftover brown rice

Yummmmm. I was really pleased that the Gajar Halwa came out at the right consistency this time

Time to work on some homework and get ready for bed.

What is your relationship with yoga and/or yoga classes? I definitely like practicing in my own room better. I’ve had a lot of bad experiences in a yoga class

Some Mac & Cheese Loving

Good Evening bloggies!

Today is Tuesday which means grocery shopping day! Yayyy! I look forward to this day all too much

Limit the Bill

First I’d like to catch up on the first of two goals: Eat It, Not Buy It, which is essentially trying to eat more food in my pantry space instead of buying lots of similar food, thus eating up more space

What I did well on:

Went through both my instant and old fashioned oats

Exhausted my fruit and veggie selection (except the carrots)

Ate my many types of crackers for snacks

Started using all of my different types of cheeses in my cooking (provolone, swiss, cheddar, parmesan, goat cheese, feta and ricotta…do I have enough types?!)

Starting eating my Costco-sized box of Kashi bars again

What didn’t go so well

I gave in and bought a larabar today, but kind of for good reason as explained later in the post

I haven’t really used up any of the food in the two bins in my bookshelf

My bread supply is still fairly large

So I would so say I’m doing fairly well on my goal. I’m really proud of myself! When I have time I’m going to go through my boxes and find something to make out of them. I do have plans to use my box with a ton of baking supplies later in the week though

Lunch

For my grocery shopping I need some serious fuel. In comes the smoothie and Kashi bar

The smoothie was one of the best I’ve ever made! I was inspired by the Chocolate Peanut Butter smoothie by Heather

It contained:

1 c. 1% milk (once again, I was out of almond milk)

1 scoop Chocolate Whey Protein Powder (as subsitute for cocoa powder)

1 1/2 T Sunflower Seed Butter

1/2 cup ice

1/2 packet Truvia

and 2-3 handfuls of spinach

I had to omit the bananas cause I didn’t have any

Grocery shopping also requires a cute outfit (so that the guy in the bakery will give you fresh, right out of the oven bread )

I promise I did put on some boots before I headed out of the apartment

Grocery Shopping

I was soon off to the grocery store and realized that I didn’t even need to go to Market of Choice today, so I only went to Safeway.

Here’s the math for my $75 goal in Limit the Bill. I met my goal last week with a bill of $63. This week I was also going to try to keep myself under $75

My bill from Sunday’s Trader Joe’s run was $16.63 to be exact. This meant I could spend $58.37 today.

I shopped quite efficiently, looking at the higher and lower shelves for the best prices and deals. Here is what I came home with:

Eggs, Safeway brand quick oats, spring mix, almond milk, popcorn and blue corn tortilla chips

2 pears, orange and red bell pepper, 2 Red Delicious apples, Shirataki noodles, a grapefruit, avacado, 8 bananas, strawberries, and organic pastry flour

Also unpictured was a gallon of 1% milk cause my roomies were almost out of it and I felt guilty for using theirs this morning and some floss

Oh, and what was the price of all of this yummy food?

$46.69

add in the $16.63 from TJ’s and you get a grand total of $63.62. Almost spot on from last week! I’m really patting myself on the back for this one Two weeks in a row baby!

Okay, okay and little while later I stopped at our bookstore to pick up some Endangered species chocolate, when I saw a Lemon Lunabar! I had been absolutely dying to try this flavor, so I bought it. Add about $4 onto my grocery bill.

I also bought this book that I’m super duper excited to read!

Change Your Brain, Change Your Body by Daniel G. Amen, MD

It’s about how to improve your health in specific ways like maintaing your ideal weight, sharpening your memory and reducing stress by changing the way you think. I’m excited

A review is to come when I finish the thing

Snack

Whew, grocery shopping really takes a toll, so naturally I had to have a snack:

Jasmin-Oolong tea and left over brown rice with low-sodium soy sauce

‘Twas the perfect snack for a cold, rainy day

Dinner

After getting some much-needed help on a project I made some veggie-filled mac and cheese with a apple and pear salad for dinner!

Veggie-Filled Mac & Cheese makes 2 servings

1 box Annie’s Organic Mac & Cheese

1/4 c. milk of your choice

4-5 c. spinach

~1/4 c. water

1/2 c. frozen peas

1/2. cup onion

1/4 c. red bell pepper

Cook your favorite kind of Annie’s Organic Macaroni and Cheese (mine is Real-Aged Cheddar Shells) according to directions

Meanwhile, wilt about 4-5 cups of spinach in a saucepan in water (or olive oil)

add frozen peas, red bell pepper and onion when spinach is almost all wilted.

Once both are cooked, dump the veggie mixture into the mac & cheese and stir well.

Enjoy

I also made the an apple and pear salad that competes with my BBQ chicken salad

But I’m going to save this recipe for later. I bet you can’t tell what the two main ingredients are

Question of the Day: What book are you currently reading? Or what book inspired you in some way?

My Dear Millet

Good news bloggies, I MADE IT on my goal of Limit the Bill.

I got some great stuff from Market of Choice and Safeway.

Sandwich thins, flatbread, coconut milk creamer, millet, parsnip, red bell pepper, 2 tomatoes, 2 oranges, caesar salad, spinach, pesto, sharp cheddar cheese, bananas

European blend greens, cajun seasoning, WW macaroni elbows, WW hamburger buns, black beans, ground turkey

Now the bill………….

Drumroll please……..

Trader Joe’s (from Saturday)       $12

Market of Choice                              $6 (!!!!!)

Safeway                                              $45

Grand total for the week               $63

I made it $12 under budget! I’m so happy

I’m hoping I can keep it up! I actually was a lot less stressed this week only allowing myself to buy what is on the list. There wasn’t any “well I really want it, but I don’t exactly need it, so is it worth the price” buys.

I was super duper excited to have this guy back in my life

PUFFED MILLET!

I quickly celebrated by eating a bowl of Annie’s Fruity Bunnies, Life and Millet cereal.

Oh baby.

This is my most favorite cereal mix. I’m so glad it back

Looks like I need to pull some blog-action magic and rewind a bit to this morning.

Breakfast was another 2 egg white sandwich on 1/2 a sandwich thin (it was all I had left), with laughing cow cheese and hot sauce

But I ate it before I remembered to photograph it. *Lowers my head in food-blogger shame*

Here is what was left of it though!

Nothing.

I also made my friend and I a smoothie later in the morning. She has been super sick lately, so I promised her a spinach smoothie. Turns out I don’t have any spinach left, but I still made her a smoothie.

Into the mix for 2 smoothies

1 1/2 c. frozen strawberries

2 bananas

2 T flax seed meal

3/4 c. Almond milk

3/4 c. water

4 ice cubes

Look at that color!

Hers went into my travel smoothie mug. Note I got green so I wouldn’t freak people out with my green smoothies. Makes non-green smoothies look icky

I added a spoonful of chocolate protein powder to mine

Voila! Magnifico!

I had to eat lunch in class while watching a movie, but I remember to take a picture of it when I was creating it

I was trying to recreate the stellar sandwich from yesterday.

4 slices deli turkey (one serving was 6 slices)

onion

tomato

red bell pepper

1 tsp dijon mustard

2/3 laughing cow cheese

It was really good! Not quite as fantastic as yesterday’s sandwich, but I think food is always better when prepared by someone else!

I also snacked on a pear

Eh, it was ok. It was an Albertson’s pear though so I really shouldn’t have been expecting anything good.

Off to a yoga and body sculpting class in a little while

Then going for my second goal of Eat It, Not Buy It with what’s hopefully a great dinner.

Question of the day: what do you do when you feel sick?

I try to get as many fruits and veggies in me as possible and rest as often as possible. Ideally my day would be: breakfast- oatmeal with flax, chia seeds & goji berries, lunch- a smoothie, and dinner- a salad.

Double trouble

I hope everyone is having a great Sunday evening. My day was spent running errands and studying.

First we have to back track to yesterday.

I snacked on the blueberry goat cheese that I got yesterday at the farmer’s market on top of some Mary’s Crackers.

Dinner was eaten shoveled in my mouth at 4:00 due to having to be at my sorority at 5

A goat-cheese & guava quesadilla (recipe from Barefoot Contessa), with Baja-style corn leftovers and a baby salad beast filled with avocado, red bell pepper and tomato with pear dressing from Trader Joe’s.

The quesadilla was the real star here. It tasted sweet and decedent like a crepe! Absolute LOOOOOOVE.

After the sorority function, we went back to the sorority house and chilled for a while. The sorority house isn’t filled with very healthy eats, lets just say. However apples and oranges are always available so I cut an apple (with a plastic fork), sprinkled some cinnamon and tossed it into the microwave for 45 seconds. I actually had two guys stand behind me and say how hot I was for “cooking” and not just top ramen. Wow. Anyways, everyone wanted a taste of it and loved it! I’m so sad I don’t have a picture of it, but just imagine apple slices with cinnamon on it. If I’m making this again I’m demanding at least a metal butter knife.

This morning’s omelette was posted earlier, so it’s time now for some lunch-action!

No, ladies and gentlemen you are not seeing double. I had another guava jelly & goat cheese quesadilla and a baby salad beast. I can’t get over how much the quesadilla tastes like a crepe!!! It’s so fantastic

I ran off to do some errands. Stopped at Target to pick up a few things but at the check-out line realized that I had forgotten my wallet. I had to run back to the apartment then run back again to Target to actually buy them. I swear my shopping trips can’t ever go right.

I also stopped at Trader Joe’s where I kept in mind the two parts of my grocery shopping goals. My first goal discussed earlier today was to Limit the Bill, by only spending $75 a week on groceries. The second part of my goal, Eat It, Not Buy It, is making me eat the food I already have stocked up instead of buying a lot more.

I have a very limited food storage space that includes half a cabinet for foods I use most often and two small boxes in my bookshelf for foods I don’t use as much.

Yeah, that’s all the room I have. Oh, well and some floor space for cereal boxes.

I apologize profusely for the horrendous camera pics, but I guess it’s better than nothing.

Anyways, so in order to make room and not have food shoved in every nook and cranny I’m going to try to eat what I have, and limit what I buy.

In that case, my haul wasn’t very big from Trader Joe’s

Turkey breast, Oatmeal bread, and Indian Fare’s Jaipur Vegetable and a reusable bag.

I’m very, very, very excited to try the Jaipur Vegetables

I had to rush off to a meeting, which wasn’t bad for once. Hoorah! It tends to help when I’m active in the conversation.

But after I was starving for some stir fry.

I grilled a turkey cutlet season with salt and pepper, and put it off to the side. Then sauteed frozen stir fry vegetables while washing the noodles.

And finally I combined the turkey, stir fry, noodles, 1 T of olive oil and 1 1/2 T of Stir fry sauce over low heat to come up with this beautiful sight.

It was all pretty good except for the turkey which was really tasteless.

I used these noodles

I didn’t even realize the calories on this guy until after cooking them! 20 calories per serving, so 40 total. Holy cow!

I just calculated up the calories on my meal and I’m honestly astounded. I’m not a usual calorie counter, but here’s the stats:

Noodles: 40 cals

Veggies: 45 cals

Turkey: 70 cals

Olive Oil: 20 cals

Stir Fry sauce: 30 cals

Total: 205 calories

Holy smokes! That is nothing for how big and satisfying it was! It’s been 3 hours and I’m still full.

Wow. Well it’s off to bed for me soon. I hope you all get some rest for the week ahead

Are you a calorie counter? Do you just watch them a bit, or not at all?

I tend to as what I call it, “know what I’m eating.” I look for what a serving size is and the sodium and sugar levels as well, plus scanning through the ingredients quickly.