Guilty

I am so guilty of so many guilty pleasures in the past 15 or so hours.

Dinner

My family and I enjoyed the last bits of the summer heat with a light, summer dinner outside

Insalata Caprese

Grilled Chicken Tender marinated in a soy-sauce mixture.

Fitnessista’s Chopped Greek Salad

Peas and Thank You’s Creamy Lemon Pasta, again

With beautiful Mount Rainier in the background and a deer that shared a bit of dinner with us.

I am so guilty of enjoying every minute of this.

Dessert

I’m not usually a huge dessert person, a piece of dark chocolate usually will do, but I just couldn’t resist the Fitnessista’s Easy Chocolate Mug Cake

It got a bit stuck on the bottom, so it’s a little rough, but it was absolutely divine.

Topped with some honey for extra moisture and sweetness. I have been craving this ever since!

Oh. so. guilty.

Breakfast

Guilty of topping overnight oats with a big blob of peanut butter, but leaving half of the peanut butter blob in the bowl cause I just wasn’t feeling it.

Also guilty of sneaking in some chocolate chips! 70% dark cocoa.

Chocolate for breakfast? Don’t mind if I do!

I’m nannying today, tomorrow then I’m done with getting up before the sun rises until school starts!!

How are you enjoying the guilty pleasures in life?

Summer Dinner

Mama Pea is a genius. Her Creamy Lemon Pasta is exquisite.

It’s the perfect summer pasta. It’s creamy, yet so light and refreshing. There’s nothing heavy in it! Just hummus, soy sauce and lemon.

Paired with a Caesar Salad with tomatoes from the plant that Grant eats. I washed them very well

And some juice. 2 1/2 carrots, 1/3 of a cucumber, 3 stalks celery and an apple

I’ve been juicing almost every day. I’m going to do a review on the juicer soon!

And Grant checking out my dinner. Better that than the tomatoes!

Silly puppy.

Under The Weather

Good Afternoon bloggies! I wanted to put this post up earlier, but I have been feeling a bit under the weather recently. I woke up feeling ok, but as the day has progressed I’ve gotten waves of nausesousness and lightheadedness. Apparently my mom had this bug last week. I just woke up from a 20 minute nap and already feel quite a bit better.

Breakfast

Since I had 1/2 of a papaya left in the fridge a Chia Pudding in Papaya breakfast was due, even though it has been a very chilly day.

Brrrrr.

I forgot to add in the vanilla and coconut milk creamer last night, so I added them in this morning. I loved the taste even more. By adding these in as a last minute mix-in, the flavor is quite a bit stronger.

Workout

My skin is still bothering me from my sunburn last weekend, so still no cardio because the sweat would irritate the skin Hopefully by tomorrow I can get in a good interval session.

Instead I played Wii Fit for a half hour, as well as I have been doing planks quite a bit randomly through the day. It’s a funny way to exercise, by just randomly dropping on the ground and doing an exercise when you feel like it, but it has been working for me.

Lunch

Lunch was inspired by the fact our fridge is overflowing with leftovers. I went with leftover Sundried Tomato Pasta with a salad topped with leftover tempeh, snappea crips and raisins.

Afterwards I was craving a coconut quinoa macaroon cookie.

Can’t say no to that craving, obviously

Later

I’m fixing dinner for my family for the next few days. My mom is prepping for convention, and well, things would just be much healthier if I cooked rather than my dad I still have to run to the grocery store today to pick up all of the fixings for dinner! Yikes! Hopefully my nap cured my sickness so I can make it a smooth trip to the grocery store.

Do you have any weird workout habits? I’m notorious for working out at random points of the day. I’ll do a little ab workout while I’m watching a movie, some lunges while I’m brushing my teeth and even zumba if I know a dance to the song playing on the radio!

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

Naked

Happy Humpday bloggies! I have to admit it doesn’t even feel like Wednesday since I took an extended weekend. My summer job doesn’t start until the 30th though, so I’m soaking up all of the time off that I have. On Monday and Tuesday I was able to capture a few of my eats.

A light summer salad with strawberries, blueberries and toasted walnuts on a bed of herbed spring greens. I unfortunately mixed it up before I thought to take a picture of it.

Whole wheat penne with Trader Joes sundried pesto with parmesan on top. I was originally going to make Oh She Glow’s pesto recipe with garlic scapes but we couldn’t find any. It was still yummy though. Also a bottle of Chateau Ste. Michelle’s in the background. I was too excited that it had my name in it

Naked Mexican Wedding Cookies made for the Best Guy Friend (BGF). These definitely aren’t healthy, but they sure are yummy!

Don’t worry, I wouldn’t actually give these to him naked.

Mexican Wedding Cookie porn.

My family has a habit of eating whatever is left on the table, so I had to make sure that no one would eat these

The sign was a success. However, after talking to BGF, I realized that I won’t be able to see him for at least 2 days. So the cookies would be at least 3 days old, if not older. Though these cookies do get better with time, I don’t know if I should just make these when I know I’m going to see him.

Does anyone have any suggestions as to what I should do? I’m leaning towards just making these again and let my family eat this batch. But they are better after a few days!  Arg.

Chrohn’s

P.S. Check out what Whit is doing! She is hosting a Blogger Bake Sale that goes toward the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation

Check Out My Tupperware

Hey! I hope everyone is having a glorious Thursday!

Snack

I was planning on having this green monster for a snack today as apart of my goals for the week. However the GM was an epic fail.

I took a couple of sips and it tasted like dirt! It was an odd combo of:

• frozen peaches
• frozen banana
• grapefruit
• orange
• spinach
• flaxseed

DO NOT try this combo.

I quickly decided to grab a Kashi GoLean bar was a lot more appealing.

Much better.

Lunch

I packed up lunch last night of BBQ Turkey Salad in my sweet tupperware.

I filled the salad container portion with spring mix, tomato, red and green bell pepper, mushrooms and goat cheese

I then filled the top portion with Annie’s Woodstock Salad Dressing (and missed a little bit).

Then I plugged it up so that I could just press the button on the top and shake tomorrow and my salad wont get soggy

I placed the BBQ chicken in another container and I was good to go!

It was a great lunch. I needed this to get back on track after my many food outings.

Workout

I headed to the gym to go to a spin class, inspired by Tyler, however I mixed up the times and accidently missed the class! I jumped on the track and ran some intervals for a little bit, but my headphones couldn’t stay in. Frustrated, I got off the track and went to get on the ellipticals, but they were suddenly all taken! I got on a stationary bike and cycled for about 30 minutes before entirely bored. Not the best luck with my work out today I guess

Dinner

I surprisingly wasn’t hungry at all when I got back to the gym which is a first for me! I’m usually ravishing and craving some serious carbs. What is up with my appetite lately?!

Finally after a couple hours I was ready for my own creation of this:

Tofu Shirataki noodles with red and green bell pepper, mushrooms and spinach covered in olive oil and pesto. The sauce wasn’t really that great. I probably shouldn’t have added the olive oil so I added some marinara to make it a bit more flavorful.

Eh, doesn’t look quite as appetizing, and it didn’t make it that much better. Definitely a cooking fail but I just need to work on the sauce and it could be much better.

Dessert

A few days ago I was contacted by Attune to sample their products. And as I was cooking, I conveniently had a box of sample Attune bars delivered to my door.

Attune bars are meant to satisfy your sweet tooth while supplying your body with probiotics. They are gluten-free with fiber, less sugar than most yogurts, and 6.1 billion probiotic CFU’s of three of the most clinically tested strains.

I was really feeling the almond and milk chocolate tonight

It tasted just like a really good chocolate bar! I can’t wait to try the other two bars in the next couple of days.

Do you have any cool Tupperware that you use? My friends always laugh at mine, but I love how handy they are!

Great Gnocci

Hey bloggies!

So after looking at the pictures of the hike I went on last weekend I realized that I desperately needed a haircut

Look at how dry my hair is!!! Yipes!

So I went to a fancy-smancy salon all of the girls in my sorority recommended and asked for it to be chopped off.

And I got this. It’s pretty short, but I love how easy it is to pull back. It will be perfect for summer when I’m outside hiking and on the water a lot. I’m happy about it, I just have to get used it it.

Dinner

After my haircut it was time for roomie dinner. Richard cooked this week, so that meant pasta

Gnocci with broccoli, snow peas and green peans with pesto on top and I made myself a side salad. I may have had seconds on the gnocci, it was just so delicious.

Afterwards I went to a quick rock climbing session that just failed miserably, so I went for a short 15 minute run, with a couple of sprints thrown in there to get out my frustrations. It definitely cleared my head a bit about this week.

When I got back, Richard wanted to get some ice cream on the wayyyy other side of campus. So I went with him and gobbled up some unpictured peach frozen yogurt. It wasn’t as delicious as Thursday’s fro yo, but it was still pretty yummy.

Question of the Day: what is your favorite kind of pasta? I’ve never had gnocci before tonight, but it may have won me over

Late-Night Banana Bread Making

Good Evening bloggies! I hope everyone’s Monday went well

Dinner

I had a quick, early dinner at my sorority tonight.

In the bowl, a whole-grain and white mixed penne with white sauce over it. Corn, broccoli and mushrooms was added over top of the pasta.

Mixed salad greens with cherry tomatoes, mozzarella balls (my absolute weakness) and kidney beans with Italian dressing.

Some cottage cheese with a pineapple ring on top is hiding in the top left corner, too.

One of my sisters told me that when she saw the whole-grain pasta she thought of me Too bad it was mixed in with the white! Grawr.

Baking

I had a baking date planned with a good friend, but her computer was giving her troubles for an assignment due tomorrow, so she couldn’t make it. I had three perfectly overripe bananas sitting on top of the fridge though… so I went ahead and made some Mama Peas’ Toasted Almond Flax Banana Bread. Mama Pea is a genius and her daughters will be baking masters by the time they’re eight!

I only changed the recipe a bit by using Canola Oil Margarine instead of vegan margarine and regular brown sugar instead of organic, just because that is what I had on hand.

Mixing all the ingredients together:

Pop it in the oven looking like this:

Clean up this mess and do a quickie ab workout

45 minutes later you get this

and this

and naturally have to test for quality-control purposes

this. times two.

Thank you Mama Pea for a fool-proof recipe for the worst baker in America

Sneak Peak

Here’s a sneak peak of tomorrow’s breakfast

I wonder what it could be? It is not like I didn’t have it this morning

Are you a good baker? My mom is absolutely fabulous at it, but usually my baked goods always come out a bit funky.

Sorority Eats

Good evening bloggies! I hope everyone’s dinners was filled with delicious food.

Mine was for sure. It was filled with Italian!

I’m sooo incredibly sorry for the blurry pic. I didn’t realize how hard it would be to be sneaky and photograph my food in a room full of 70+ girls.

Dinner tonight was Cheesy Ravoli (they didn’t have a non-cheesy option) mixed with buttered noodles (didn’t have a non-buttered option) topped with pesto, a roll and a salad on the side with random toppings (who even knows what they are).

Usually there is a choice of cheesy or spinach ravioli and better options for the salad. I was at the very end of the line so most of the stuff like carrots, celery and basically any other yummy toppings for the salad was gone.

This meal is why I’m nervous for living in the house next year. Every. Single. Meal. will be like this. Lots of butter, cheese and white pasta. The only place we have  to cook for ourselves is our “toast bar.” This just means there’s ample amounts of toast to top with sugary peanut butter, cinnamon and sugar, butter and jelly. You can also cook yourself some top raamen. There are only plastic utensils, so it will be difficult to cut up food. I’m planning on keeping my own mini fridge somewhere in the house, but we will see if I can request some meals made with no butter and whole wheat bread & pasta options.

Another thing I’m kind of weird about is the statistics. Yesterday I had over 100 views of my blog (wahoo!), but today it’s less than half that. Is there just some certain days people check blogs more often than others, or what is going on?

Friday Indulgences

Hey bloggies! I hope everyone is having a really great Friday night!

This weekend I plan to change the layout and the header a bit, so for those who don’t like changes, be prepared

Today’s lunch was some leftovers from last night

INDIAN!!! And to make the mush more appetizing the Punjab Eggplant decided to seep into the brown rice and gajar halwa.

I loved the way I dished this up. It allowed for perfect mixing of all three food with each other. There will certainly be more Indian in the future

I later had the last half of my Chobani pineapple greek yogurt with 1/2 of an apple.

I can’t believe I used to not be able to stomach yogurt but now I’m in love with it!

All day I was craving a run, but I was a bit hesitant and nervous about it. I have problems with my knee, a chronic injury that started when I was training for a half marathon last year. I started to have what started as a dull pain in my knee after running a mile, but after two turned into a very sharp pain. When I would run the two miles back I was in unbelievable stabbing knife pain. I had to give up on training for the marathon and I’m generally restricted to indoor rubber tracks.

I wanted to make sure my endurance was still there so I set a goal of running for 30 minutes on the indoor rubber track at the gym and I DID IT! My knee didn’t give me any problems during the run! I’m so relieved that I can make it that far again especially since it has been acting up again walking around school.

It’s Friday which means Roomie Dinner!!!

I was a good blogger and went into sneaky blogger mode

Pasta made with angel hair spaghetti, chicken, cream cheese, spinach and red bell pepper with steamed carrots.

The pasta was most definitely not light or clean, but this is my one night that I indulge a little since my roommate’s took so much time to make it.

Soon a friend took me out frozen yogurt to catch up on life. We talked for two hours over peanut butter frozen yogurt with Reese’s on top. Once again, definitely not light or clean!

I returned and got to opening a package I received earlier in the day

Hmmm I wonder where this beautiful S come from?

Only Sephora!!!!!

I got a Shu Eumura eyelash curler!

and a ridiculous amount of samples.

I’m so excited to try them out tomorrow

What is your favorite store to shop from?

Mine are Sephora, Victoria’s Secret, Nordstroms, Cost Plus World Market and the Container Store