Seriously?!

Grrrr....
Yeah if I could somehow put my annoyance into words it would come out like a pathetic attempt to growl... IT IS COLD OUTSIDE!!!!

And, in all honesty, I love cold weather!! I love the fall.  I love the winter (....and it's not a coincidence that both seasons are home to the best all-you-can-eat holidays of the year!  )

BUT, it's been so hot recently, that my fall mojo has been thrown off.  I've been in tank tops and shorts, downing froyo like it's going out of business because it's been summer weather for the past week.

So, this morning -- I thought I was prepared. I woke up and said "hot weather, bring it on!"

I grabbed a handful of almonds, some strong as all-get-out coffee, and headed out for a 6.5 mile run before class :) Thursdays are super busy for me, so I try to get my workout in early.

My entire run, I was contemplating what summery breakfast I was going to whip up, since I couldn't possibly have oatmeal or pumpkin pancakes on another hot day.

Creamy strawberry protein smoothie with candied walnuts. 
 

See how gigantic that is!?? I didn't even get to eat it before class, so I packed it up and ate it in my lecture hall -- eliciting weird glances from people who have obviously never seen a smoothie in a bowl in the middle of class.

I also packed up my typical lunch!
However, it was too cold to eat outside!!

FALL WEATHER, you're killing me.

Honey wheat bread, french onion laughing cow cheese, guacamole, slice roma tomatoes, and romaine lettuce.

Unfortunately, I was a cold, frozen zombie for the rest of my morning.
It was cold.
I was ready for my hot weather: tank top, sandals, and shorts.
I was a little tired from my early morning run.

So, when the time came for a warm blanket and a quick nap, I was more than ready :)
Rachel Ray kept me company as I snoozed!

I woke up to make a snack before class (I have two back-to-backs... meaning, I get extremely hungry and angry by the time I finally get back home!).

Multigrain english muffin with honey and half a Granny Smith apple -- and some nuts!

Okay.... I'm going to go change into boots and pants and my NorthFace
Cold weather, bring it on!

See you all for dinnnnaa :)

Those Wednesday Mornings...

I love it when you wake up and it feels like a lazy Sunday morning!

I was seriously in the "weekender" mood when I went to the gym... I told everyone I was working tonight -- and they informed me it's not Friday yet, it's only Wednesday.

Happy Hump Day everybody!

So, I walked out of my room at 7:30, smelling some heavenly quiche that Jenny (my roommate) decided to make for her breakfast.  I immediately abandoned any plans for oatmeal in favor of some more savory breakfast items:

Cinnamon & Raisin bagel thin slathered with some buttter! And scrambled egg beaters topped with salt, pepper, and Parmesan cheese.

This may seem like a small feat, but I finally perfected the use of the convection oven!! I toasted my bagel without burning it (for once) and the inside was still all doughy.... Score.

I headed out for a run before hitting up my favorite abs and back class (my usual Mon/Wed routine) however, about 3.5 miles in, I still wasn't feelin' my running mojo.  Even with my kicked up Disney play list, which included some classics like Hakuna Matata and Circle of Life... Simba, you are my inspiration to run faster.

I decided to take my own advice and walk to the gym.  I never want to feel like running is a chore, so if I don't want to do it & my BODY doesn't want to do it, then I won't.

I biked for 10 minutes, went to abs and back, and headed home for some lunch action.

I'm obsessed with guacamole. My apologies.

Corn tortillas toasted with american cheese and topped with tomatoes, lettuce, and guacamole!
 

Ummmm, check out that melty cheese! It was kind of perfect.
Plus, cold guacamole mixed with fresh veggies rolled up in a carb?? That's right up my alley.

Since I wasn't feelin' a hot bowl of oatmeal... I made a GINORMOUS smoothie bowl!
I used strawberry creme protein powder, frozen berries, and almond milk --

Strawberry creme protein smoothie in a bowl!
 

It was overflowing... I had to lick the bowl a few time to prevent any spillage.
It's like eating frozen yogurt - that never ends. what?! That's like my fantasy.

I quickly packed up and headed to...
Arabic. 

Excuse me, but can anyone else understand those squiggly-looking things that are supposedly "words"???


Arabic, I will master you.  It's only a matter of time before your squiggles make perfect sense. 

Okay, friends -- HAVE A HAPPY HUMP DAY (Wednesday)
anddd I'll catch yaaa later for Italian night with my girlies!

ma'a salaama!

 

DETOX TIME

STOP: IF YOU'RE ONE OF THOSE READERS WHO SKIP OVER THE WORDS & RIGHT TO THE PICTURES, I DEMAND YOU SCROLL TO THE BOTTOM AND READ MY EPIPHANY-CONTAINING STATEMENT.  IF YOU DO, I GUARANTEE IT WILL BE EYE OPENING.

Detox Diet!
Alright, before you go freaking out about anything drastic I may be attempting... let me preface this post by answering your inevitable questions: No, this doesn't involve any combination of lemon or cayenne pepper (gross).  Yes, I'll be getting all the calories and nutrients my body needs.  No, this isn't some crazy restrictive form of self-deprivation.

Basically, I just need to get my body off of the sugar-high-roller-coster it's been on the past weekend few weeks.  So, here's the plan:
- No added sugars (yes, that means you, deep fried snickers)
- No refined grains or "bad carbs"
- No meat, just seafood
- Extra veggies & fruit - minus the starchies (sorry taters, you'll be missed)
- Exercise 45-60 minutes a day (with a rest day, duh)
- Water Water Water, we honestly don't drink enough!

See?  It's basically a healthy diet.  Low fat, balanced protein & good card, no sugar! 

So how did this change my menu for the day:

Breakfast was my go-to - blueberry pie never-ending oatmeal!  Oh, how I've missed you.
After breakfast I raided my fridge to try to come up with a meal, of any sort.  I realized that since I got back last night, there was absolutely nothing in my fridge.  We're talking barren here.

I ended up making a Tuna salad salad :)  also known as tuna salad on top of romaine lettuce:

Ingredients: 1 can of white albacore tuna (drained), 1 tbsp of miracle whip, romaine lettuce, lemon juice, garlic salt and pepper.

It was actually delicious.  And on the side I had some Yogi Blueberry Crisp Granola and a ripe mango! yummmers? yes, I think so.

I got hungry about 3 hours later and gobbled up a fuji apple and one of my mom's medifast meals: chocolate brownie! I love the idea of medifast (low-cal, high protein, 100 calorie meals every 3 hours) but what I really love about this diet plan... is the food.  It's actually really delicious.  Their bars, shakes, brownies and pancakes are YUM x 10.  Just ask the bean lady - she's a believer.

After hitting the gym right after m 9-5 job, I stopped by our local grocer to get some fresh produce and brown rice to mix up a quick dinner before heading back to the gym for work.

Taco Beans, Brown Rice, and Lemon & Garlic Salt Veggie Stir Fry
Ingredients: 1/2 cup of pinto beans (washed and drained), instant brown rice (1/2 cup), 1/2 a huge green pepper, tons of button mushrooms, broccoli. Add ins: salsa for some spicy flavor!

It was super filling and pretty damn delicious for a 5 minute meal :)  Um, can I just point out the crazy amount of fiber that I've been consuming today?  That topic shall be revisited in a bit... be prepared.

For a quick no-sugar-added dessert: green monster smoothie in a bowl

Ingredients:
- 1 scoop of chocolate protein powder (I used medifast dutch chocolate)
- optional: unsweetened cocoa powder
- huge handful of washed spinach
- about 6 ice cubes

- a pinch of xanthan gum for thickness

I topped mine off with granola :)
I was definitely satisfied as I headed back to work for a few hours...
Until I got hungry again and made some oatmeal!

I luuuuhhh me some detox diet food.  I'm starting to feel like a semi-normal human being.

Back to my fiber comment:
I've gone and had myself an epiphany.
You know when toddlers can't communicate, so they just cry and you have to guess what they want?  Our bodies are like toddlers!  When they're confused, they like to toot it out.  It's like a body's way of saying, "dude, I don't know what's going on here, but this ain't what I'm used to so I will toot to get your attention."  It could be good, it could be bad (like my body after ice cream), but it's definitely out of the ordinary.  Anyone agree?

Alright guys, I'm off to prepare a bit for tomorrow then... SLEEP!!
good thing I ended on the lovely note.  fiber. it does the body good.


Questions of the day:
- Any good recipe ideas for no-sugar-added, no bad carb snacks & desserts?  My mom sent me a list of her favorite 100 calorie snack ideas, but I'm still in need of some desserts!
- Do you believe in cleansing or detoxing after a crazy binge?

PADDLE BOARD YOGA!

Dutch Chocolate Shake

I know, I recovered from the fair and you guys are still in shock... In an effort to be a little be more behaved (only in the food department) today, I started off my morning without my usual bowl of oatmeal & opted for a protein shake and some whole wheat toast.  I feel like my body is in need of a detox or cleanse... which of course meant a chocolate shake and peanut butter toast.

Ingredients: 1 scoop of chocolate protein powder (I used Medifast's dutch chocolate protein shake mix), a heaping handful of washed spinach, 8 ice cubes, a little almond milk and a little water (I like my shakes to be eaten with a spoon... it's like froyo for breakfast!)

We were up and out of the door before 7 am because we were headed to our morning adventure: PADDLE BOARD YOGA!

If you're still a little confused, don't worry, I was still trying to wrap my head around the concept an hour into the lesson (they assured me it's normal... hmm)

Basically, this group of young yoga gals decided to combine their love of power yoga, water sports, and fitness - sounds like a death wish, I know - and created paddle into fitness.  At first I was skeptical, but it turned out to be one of the coolest things I've tried in awhile.

After grabbing our gear, we warmed up with some sun salutations and a few other yoga variations on the shores to wake up our muscles and get our hearts beating a little faster.  In case you can't tell OR you are blind, that is my sister and I struggling a little with the whole flexibility thing.  Thanks to genetics and a lack of practice, our standing head to toe pose is a little less than perfect. 

A few more rounds of never-ending downward dog... and then we hit the water with our boards!  I was amazed at how fast everyone got up on their feet - I was the slacker in the back.  We started off, testing the stability of the board, on our bums and then off we went.  It ended up being a lot easier than expected and we were having a blast just paddling around the bay and enjoying the sun

We all stopped when we got to "the third buoy" and our instructor led us through a series of yoga poses - don't worry we stopped short of standing bow pose and basically anything else that would result in my ass in the water. WAIT she actually tried to get us to do a tripod (balancing on your head...) on top of a board in the middle of the ocean.  f that. yeah right.   That's about the time when I looked at my sister and started paddling back towards the shore.... crazy woman.

My cousin - who's from Minnesota and therefore a lover of all things SoCal related - was the first one to topple off her board and into the water.  But she didn't mind at all, she was enjoying the water and sunshine.

We were starving after this 8 am adventure so we scrambled home and whipped up some tofu, egg, spinach and mushroom scramble! & some left over pizza :) duh.  And of course I munched on some of those blondie and brownie treats too!

My nights have been filled with delicious food (french silk pie and s'mores, anyone?) and amazing people - this is why I love coming home :)

I'll update you guys later on my shopping trip to the outlets & my mom's pizza on the grill!!

& This Little Foodie Went to the Market...

Happy Hump Day!! [It's Wednesday]

I know I'm all about finding the balance in life, but today the scales were definitely tipped in favor of my food side :) and there are absolutely no complaints here!  I started off my morning with a bowl of blueberry muffin over-sized oats (I promise I'll post the recipe asap) and then prepared some delicious leftovers (some of my I can't believe it's Vegan Shepherds' Pie!... recipe will be up shortly) and headed to work.  After food gawking/answering phone calls/placing the calls on hold so they would stop interrupting my food porn session [only kidding, I'm not that obsessed] ... it was time for lunch!  Today, my coworker and I headed to the Farmers' Market near our office and I went to town on all that fresh produce.  My coworker actually had to help me carry some bags - don't judge, pounds of squash and cherries can add up!

Happy Casey & her Swiss Chard

How gorgeous are all of these colors?  I ended up with some kale, baby bak choy, kabocha squash, ranier and red cherries, onions, mushrooms, and I scored some free radishes for being so friendly with the produce guy :) you gotta do what you gotta do, right?

Then we headed to our favorite hole-in-the-wall Vietnamese place and grabbed my favorite dessert: red bean tapioca with sweet coconut milk!  I need to find a recipe for that because the Vietnamese restaurant owners have started to recognize me and can match my order to my face.. oops.

Work work work.. then I headed home to go for a 5 mile run/walk/hike before getting started on dinner.  I used last night's Lavash technique to make a delicious tofu and bean barbeque calzone and some sugar-coated eggplant as a lovely side dish.  Guys, if you're not a fan of eggplant, that is about to change!!  I needed to use up some leftover eggplant and for some reason my sweet tooth has been out of control sooo that combination led to my newest love: Grilled Maple Syrup Eggplant.  Don't cringe, it was like eating dessert for dinner (which I know every adult secretly wishes they could do).


Candied Eggplant
Ingredients:
- Eggplant (I used half of one)
- 1/4 cup of No Sugar Added Maple Syrup (35 calories)
- Non-stick Cooking Spray

Instructions:
- Slice your eggplant into round patties, about 1/2 inch thick and coat with maple syrup.  Let that soak for about 5 minutes and then place on the grill OR - if you're using a George Foreman grill - coat the grill with non-stick spray and place the eggplant onto the griddle.  Cook for about 10-15 minutes and then enjoyyy.  It's like veggies and maple syrup pancakes had a love child.


After enjoying that hugeeely satisfying meal, my sweet tooth demanded something, um, sweet so I made a Nanner Smoothie with a fresh banana, tapioca pudding cup, almond milk, and ice cubes.  Check me out ! Including a post with the words oat AND nanner... maybe now it's a little obvious how I came up with my creative blog title.

Anyways, my tummy is full so that means I'm off to plan my next meal/snack on unnecessary assorted food items... I'll see you all manana !