Shake What Ya Momma Gave Ya…

Summer is winding down. It’s quickly becoming Fall. There are many great things about the Fall that I love. For example, I love going apple picking, Halloween, layering clothes, and pumpkin everything! I will be sad to see Summer fade away though. It seems like it went by super quickly this year. I hardly got to go outside and enjoy it.

This weekend I had the chance to go to the beach with a bunch of friends. It was a great time. The boys surfed and played volleyball all day. It wasn’t too hot, so I barely went into the water. I got to take one of the greatest naps on the beach. I had my towel covering me and I zonked out!

Along with the beach came not so great food. We left the house at 6 am, so we stopped to get coffee and bagels on the way. Than when lunch time came a few people went to pick up food and bring it back. Our options were chicken gyro, chicken fingers, philly cheese steak, or sausage and peppers. I wasn’t there when they decided, so the boyfriend got a gyro and chicken fingers for us to split. I have never had a gyro before. It was just okay. I ate about 1/3 of it and than had a chicken finger and some fries. For dinner, we went to a restaurant called Minnesotas. I’ve been there before and wasn’t impressed the first time… this time was the same. I ordered basically eggplant parm on naan. The sauce tasted funny and they used provolone cheese so i barely ate it. I dug right into my garlic smashed potatoes though.

I find it so difficult to eat healthy when out. I def need to pre-plan as much as possible. I had brought some healthy snacks, but never ended up eating them. Go figure.

After a weekend of junk food, I woke up this morning craving healthy foods. I decided to go buy the Vega Shake & Go Choc-a-Lot smoothie mix. I have been reading about it and wanted to try it. It was 24 dollars, so it was a little expensive, but I am trying to have the mentality that my health is worth the price tag. I also decided to finally buy guar gum and xantham gum to thicken my smoothies.

When I got home I was so excited to try the vega smoothie that I brought out my food processor (I don’t have a blender and my magic bullet just doesn’t work right). I put the powder in, than some water, a few pieces of frozen banana, ice, xantham gum, guar gum… and gave it a whirl in the processor. I def must have over did it because it came out like slime. It was gooey and gross! I realized the vega already has xantham gum, so I must have used too much and let it go too long in the food processor. I had to throw it out. Fail!

I decided to just mix the vega powder with water like the instructions said. I added some ice cubes and slurped away! It was a little gritty, but I didn’t mind. The taste was pretty good. It didn’t take fake at all. I have read reviews and people say the Vega products taste “earthy”, but I didn’t find that at all. I have tried the Amazing Grass products and found they taste more “earthy.” I think it is a mental thing for me though. I feel that I am feeding my body nutrients and I thrive off of that.

As far as it being filling, I immediately felt satisfied and full, but that was about an hour ago and I am starting to want something else. For 120 calories, it obviously isn’t a meal replacement. I would love to use it mixed with spinach and banana for a more filling snack.

Overall, I am happy with the product. I have also heard a lot about the other vega products. I really want to try the health optimizer. That will be my next stop at the store I suppose.

Today it is raining and gross out. I am going to get some house work done. I am already thinking about lunch.. Doesn’t everyone start thinking about their next meal as soon as they eat their current meal? I am leaning towards Amy’s Organic soup. I have the vegetable barley one and today seems like the perfect day for it. Add a side salad made of lettuce and cucumbers and I will be all set!

Have you tried the Vega products? What do you think of them? Which is your favorite?

Flexitarian? Vegetarian?

I have issues with meat.

Yep… I’ve always been super picky about my meat. If I even saw a vein or anything resembling blood I couldn’t eat it. If I bit down and it crunched when it wasn’t supposed to I couldn’t eat it. If it’s slightly pink (as in red meat), I couldn’t eat it. One time I actually was visiting a friends house and her grandparents made me a burger. I bit into it and proclaimed “It’s BLEEDING!” I know.. it was not the politest thing for me to say, but I couldn’t help it.

As a result, I never eat red meat at restaurants, I stopped eating steak a few years ago (I’ve probably had a few bites here and there, but never liked it).  I always say I like hamburgers, but when it comes time to eat them I take a few bites, throw out the meat, and eat the bread.   The same goes for hot dogs.  I recently bought The Great Organic Uncured Hot Dog. It tasted pretty good and I felt better knowing it didn’t have any bad parts of the animal in it. Am I weird?

In all reality, the only meat I actually have liked is chicken, cold cut turkey breast, turkey on Thanksgiving, ham on Christmas (you know..the spiral kind), and I think that might be it. BUT, lately I have had issues with chicken and cold cut turkey breast. Let’s start out with the chicken. I watched Food Inc. Is that enough said? No? Okay.. so it grosses me out that the animals live in such bad conditions. It grosses me out even more when I heard out beef is cleaned with ammonia. It makes me think, what is the chicken cleaned with? I feel like there is so much that I don’t know about this topic. Secondly, cold cut turkey breast. When it is cut thin it looks harmless. But I have been told it’s a processed meat product and it makes me wonder what else is in there. The idea all started when my friend found out she could not have gluten. She said even cold cut have gluten in them. I had no idea! I didn’t realize gluten is like a glu… used to hold things together. (Also pardon me if I am wrong with any of this information..this is what I have been told and it might not all be accurate).

I do feel better when I get free range, vegetarian fed chicken. Is that what it is? I’m still learning. In my words, I like when the chickens are allowed to roam free and are given the proper food and care. I just feel like it is so easy to stick a sticker saying something on a package of chicken and we are forced to believe it because we can’t control it.

So all of this leads me to ask myself what do I consider myself? I eat yogurt and cheese. I have been grossed out by eggs, but am still making myself eat them from time to time.

I am just confused. I wish I could just give up meat products, but I do realize they are everywhere. If you are vegan or vegetarian how do you do it?

I realize I have been slowly cutting meat out without doing it intentionally. Maybe that’s why it’s working for me. I’m not putting pressure on myself to cut it out, but I am more grossed out by it and just can’t stomach it.

Let me know what you think about all of this and your views on meat. I’d love to hear from you guys!

Wowzaaa

Hi there!  Well I recently realized I had too many Glo-bars on hand and decided to pass some along. I contacted Kristin at Iowa Girl Eats to see if she’d be interested in trying some. I was more than happy to share. The funny thing is by doing something nice for someone else I have been in the best mood since I found out she received the package.

Sometimes all it takes is a small gesture to make someone’s day. Even if you are just walking outside and say hello to someone, it might mean a lot to them. I always try to be cheerful to other people and most importantly be patient (that’s a whole other story… I dislike when people are impatient).

The title of my post is wowzaa because I noticed that Kristin linked to my site and I have had a lot of views from that. Not only was I already in a great mood, but I also got super excited that people were reading my blog.

I have had a lot of trouble starting this blog up. I decided that I can’t put pressure on myself to immediately post three times a day. I have to ease into it and get used to it first.

So I’ve realized a few things:
1. Don’t force yourself into something.. it’s okay to ease into it and see if you like doing it.
2. Doing something nice for others brings a smile to your face and theirs.
3. The blog community is pretty awesome. I love how supportive everyone is.

Alrighty, I am off. Have a fantastic night!!!!

Sore legs, but feeling good

Good morning!  Yesterday I was so figgity that I decided to run/walk to my boyfriend’s mom’s house.  I figured he would meet me there in a little while.  I ran a little more than half way (1.2 miles) and than walked directly uphill for almost the rest of the way (.8 mile).   Man, was I sweating!  The air was so thick.   I was suprised I even made it as far as I did running.   It took me 25 minutes to complete.   Once I got to her house I realized no one was home!  So I had a few options.  I could sit on the couch and watch tv, I could take a car back home, or I could take the dog for a walk back to my house.   I chose to take the dog.

Let me explain.. this dog is lazy!  His name is shaggy and he is very cute, but he doesn’t go far distances.  He used to be more active when we had another dog there, but we no longer have that dog.   At first he was so excited to go for a walk that he was pulling me, but I kindly told him to save his energy for later in the walk.  What?  You don’t talk to your dog in public?  =)

The beginning part was now down hill and he did alright.  But once we got to the uphill part.. the poor little guy was breathing so hard!  I decided to carry him a little.  Wow! What an arm workout! He was so heavy that I had to put him back down.  He made it a little farther and than gave up!  He just found a piece of grass and laid down.  I knew he had enough, so I carried him the rest of the way home.  The poor guy was panting for hours! I was proud of him though for making it so far.  His mommy told me that he went to sleep VERY early last night!

For me, I woke up sore!  My legs are aching!   I know I should do some sort of activity to get my legs stretched out, but I’m worried about becoming sore tonight.  I have to go to a wedding and am wearing heels.  Hmm… what should I do?  Even though I am sore, I feel great! I am so happy that I did 4 miles and really sweat! It feels so good.  I really need to invest in a gym membership.  I loved going to the gym, but it got expensive.

I have another question for you guys..  how come when you start working out the scale goes up?  It ALWAYS does for me.  This morning it went up a pound and I know it’s not because of food.  Is my body retaining water?  Are my muscles tight?  I’m not stressed out about it, but I am wondering why this happens.  It usually goes right back down within a few day.

On the agenda for today:

• Get a manicure
• Do some sort of activity
• Pick up deodorant for the boy (he nicely asked me to at 5 am)
• Get ready for the wedding
• Have fun!

Pretty exciting stuff eh?

Oh I got an order of Western Alternative bagels yesterday and picked up my favorite fat free vegetable cream cheese.  I bet you can guess what I’m having for breakfast.

Have a great Saturday!

Don’t rain..don’t rain

Good morning!   Today I have special event to attend! My boyfriend’s cousin is getting married!  I am so excited!  I love weddings!  Good food, good friends, good times!  I am mostly excited about all of the good food.   For some reason,  I love the cocktail hour more than the meal itself.  I guess that just shows you a little bit about myself.   I am much more of a small meal/snacker type of gal rather than a big meal gal.   I get full very quickly, but an hour later want to eat again.  I also love tasting many different foods during my meal. You will probably never see me order a pasta dish at a restaurant.  It’s not because I don’t like pasta.  You see it is because I don’t like the idea of all of my food having one similiar taste.

This is why the cocktail hour is so amazing.  I get to sample many different foods and enjoy them!  In the past I try to not fill up during the cocktail hour, but I realized that I often don’t much of my dinner.  This leaves me hungry by the end of the night!  Ah!!  That reminds me, must pack snacks for after the wedding.  I will probably pack a Glo-bar.

It looks very gloomy outside. I am hoping it doesn’t rain at least not too much.  I would much prefer for them to have a sunny day!   Luckily the wedding is inside, but I know the cocktail hour is supposed to be outside.  What do you think of planning a wedding outside?  I think they always look so pretty, but the weather is just so unpredictable.  Especially since weddings are planned so far in advance.  The only way I would ever agree to plan any part of my wedding outside is if they had a back up for in case it rains (like we could move it inside with no problemo!)

I haven’t had any meals yet, but I will post them all tomorrow after the wedding!  Expect to see some pictures of some amazing food!

Enjoy your day!

Addicting Oats

Yes, I am still talking about the overnight oats.   I even got one of my friends to try them.. she hasn’t gotten back to me with what she thinks yet, but I am sure she will love them.  I think what makes me REALLY love them is the banana soft serve. I feel like I am having a treat for breakfast and I know I will be kept full for hours. Love love love it!

Breakfast

Let’s get right to the good stuff, shall we?

Vegan Overnight Oats & Banana Soft Serve

This is my attempt at food photography.

Sprinkled with granola and coconut

I tried two different sizes for the pictures.  I think I prefer the medium sized ones (the second picture.    Anywhos- this breafkast was delicious..

In the mix:

• 1/3 cup of oats
• 1/2 cup of unsweetened almond milk
• 1/2 teaspoon of chia seeds
• dash of vanilla extract

In the morning:

Put the following into a food processor:

• 1 frozen banana
• 1/8 cup of almond milk

Than add your favorite toppings

• granola & coconut

Enjoy!

Yesterday

For Father’s Day I spent it at my boyfriend’s parents house.  We lounged around and watched the soccer game (okay well maybe I slept while they watched the soccer game..hehe).    Later in the evening I was so restless.. I didn’t have a sports bra with me so I couldn’t run, but my boyfriends brother mentioned I could do the p90x yoga cd.  He has it all set up in the garage.  I decided I’d go for it.

First of all, it was so muggy out, I was sweating like a beast.   The yoga cd is an hour and a half long.  I knew I wouldn’t have time to do the whole thing, so I just played it by ear for how long I would do it.  It was no relaxing yoga session.  It was definitely a work out for me.  I felt great though and loved it.  I did 45 minutes of it.  I want to try to do the other 45 minutes one night this week.

I’m off to get some things done on this beautiful day!

Oatmeal Champ

I just have to report that my oats this morning kept me full for over 5 hours!  This never happens! I am always hungry every 2 hours.  I’ll admit it, when I ate my oats I was thinking”there is no way this is going to keep me full.”  But I went out to the farmers market with a friend and than to the pool and at about 2:45 one of my friends couldn’t handle it anymore and was starving for lunch.  We went to a local pizza place and I split a personal salad pizza with a friend.  I only ate 2 of my 3 slices.  (they were literally smaller than dominos slices, had no cheese, and barely any veggies… very disappointing).   I also munched on a few pieces of pineapple, but that’s it.

I’ve been drinking a lot of water and honestly between the water and the oats I feel great! I can easily see how eating oats in the morning will prevent me from over eating the rest of the day.  That reminds me.. I should make overnight oats now as I will be out for the rest of the night.  There will be plenty of food tonight and drinks galore.  Have a great Satruday night!

Am I glowing?

Glo-bars

I have been eyeing those Glo-bars for quite some time now.  Angela, from Oh She Glows , creates these yummy granola bars in her bakery and sells them. I have wanted to order them for a while, but frankly I am sort of cheap and didn’t want to spend the money. After months of looking at other bars in the grocery store and being so disappointed with all of the processed junk, I decided my health is worth the money. I mean c’mon really! I keep thinking back to the fall when I wasn’t worried so much about calories and more worried about feeding my body for energy and I actually lose a few pounds and maintained it. I never felt deprived, but when I try to “diet” I ALWAYS feel deprived and revolt.

So, I patiently waited for the bars to come in the mail. Yes, I tracked them on fedex multiple times. I was excited, what can I say! So far I have tried the Adore bar, which is a s’more like bar. It has homemade marshmallows and tastes pretty delicious. I have also tried the Classic bar, which is a peanut butter flavored bar. The third bar I have tried is the Awake bar, which is organic dark roast coffee flavored. I don’t have a favorite yet, but I like them all. I am excited to try the other flavors that I have.

I love how I can pronounce all of the ingredients in these bars. It makes me feel like I am putting fuel into my body and not junk. My only con is that I am used to REALLY sweet foods. I am used to the full sugared granola bars from the grocery store that have a looooong list of ingredients that I cannot pronounce. At first bite I thought the bars would be sweeter, but then I remembered that I don’t want all of that sugar in my bars. I like them as they are because all of the ingredients will benefit my body.

I am also used to 90-100 calorie bars (hence weight watchers mentality less calories is better). I’ll admit the amount of calories is a little scary for me. I’m not sure why, but a 200-250 calorie bar seems like a bit much to me. I decided I can eat half or just eat the whole thing as a filling snack that will hold me over longer than a 90 calorie bar that has no nutritional value.

Breakfast

Breakfast was inspired by the maker of the Glo-bars, Angela.  I’ve noticed she’s been making these Vegan Overnight Oats and mixes it with banana soft serve.  How delicious does that sound?  Head over to her website to see the pictures! I was literally drooling everytime I saw them.  I finally remembered to make the overnight oats last night and put them in the fridge for this morning.

In the oats:

• 1/3 cup of oats
• 1/2 cup of almond milk
• 1 tsp of chia seeds

Mix it all up and put in the fridge overnight.  In the morning, take a frozen banana and put it in a food processor.  I had to add some almond milk to it in order to get it a little liquidy.  I layered the oats and the soft serve in a glass.  I than added a dash of galaxy granola for crunch.  It was pretty good.  As I have already mentioned, I am used to really sweet foods, and expected this to magically taste like ice cream, but obviously it didn’t.  It tasted wholesome and delicious.  I would like to try to add fruit to my soft serve the next time for more flavor.

Today’s plan

Today I might be going to the pool with a friend and than we are heading to the Portuguese festival in town.  We are going to be eating dinner and hanging out there for most of the night.  I hope it’s a good time!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Do you have any plans for today?

Have you ever tried overnight oats?  If so, what do you put in them?

Mixed feelings

In the last few weeks I’ve ganied a few pounds.  They are bothering me a lot.   I don’t know why they are upsetting me so much, but I really need to lose them.  All week I’ve been trying to eat well, but night time occurs and I eat extra that I don’t need.  It’s really hard to wake up and not feel discouraged when you are constantly hungry and never really satsified.  The only new additions to my diet that I eat almost everday are coconut butter (which I take a teaspoon or two and melt, and mix in with my cereal)  and chia seeds (which I used about  a teaspoon) in my cereal also.  Let me show you what I ate yesterday:

Breakfast:

Smoothie

• 1/2 mushy banana
• 1/8 cup of almond milk
• 1/4 cup of pineapple
• 2 handfuls of frozen spinach
• 3 blackberries (the rest were old)
• 1 teaspoon of almond butter

Lunch:

Left over grilled chicken salad fromthe night before.

• Grilled chiken (3 oz or so)
• Lettuce
• Tomatoes
• Onions
• 1/3 of avocado
• Some leftover balsamic (barely any though)

Also had a cracker and some watermelon

Dinner:

• 96% lean ground burger with half of slice of cheese on a sandwich thin
• 3 or 4 french fries
• broccoli

Snack:

• 100 calorie protein bar
• 2 dates
• Clif Z bar
• 2 bowls of cereal: 1 teaspoon coconut butter, 3/4 cup of puffins, 1 cup almond milk, 4 chocolate chips
• 2 babyruths minis
• bite of  chocolate bar
• 1 chocolate chip cookie
• Peanut butter filled pretzels

So as you can see my meals are fine.. it’s just my snacks.   The cookie and pretzels I had during the middle of the night!  It’s a bad habit I have when I’m not sleeping well and I stopped for a long time, but recently started to grab a snack again.  Thanks to my boyfriend for purchasing  a bag of candy.  He bought a ton of chocolate and my dad brought over the cookies.  Neither do I want in the house because than it’s easier to eat.   Hopefully the boyfriend will eat the chocolate very fast.. haha.

I think I need to make my meals more filling, but I’d prefer to eat like 6 mini meals throughout the day.  I get hungry very fast.

I also started running this week.   The running mixed with the “special gift” women get once a month is just adding to the water weight and being so hungry.  I hope it passes soon.

Does anyone have any suggestions for me?

Spoons

Yesterday afternoon I noticed on facebook that Chobani was going to be playing SPOONS.    On their website there is a section for the game spoons, when they open it up you can grab a spoon and you will receive a case of chobani yogurt.  A few months ago I tried to play. I waited…and waited…and waited for the game to start, and of course when I wasn’t paying attention it started.  The gamwas over in a few minutes and I missed it.

This time around I wasn’t going to miss it.  I kept reloading their twitter page that’s where they notify you when the game is going to begin).     I’ll admit it.. I kept reloading from about 3 p.m. until the game began which I believe was somewhere in the 7 pm hour (I forget).  My boyfriend was laughing at me because I kept reloading the page.   All of a sudden, it was on!   I sat up so fast and tried to grab a spoon.  The first one I tried to grab someone else already got.  Than I quickly tried to grab another.  Isn’t it funny how you t th emouse to go where you want when you are in a time crunch?

Well, guess what?  I got a spoon!  I won a case of chobani yogurt! I am so excited! I love it so much.  I really never feel that way about a food product.  I usually go through stages of liking something a lot an dthan that’s it.  But no, not with my chobani!

Love Affair Began

Let me tell you how my love affair with Chobani began.   Last summer, summer 2009, I was trying to begin to eat healthier.  I had heard people talking about greek yogurt, but I just wasn’t sure about it.  I bought a few different kinds to try.   I’ve tried the Oikos, Brown Cow, Fage, and Yoplait greek yogurts.  They were all just alright, except the Yoplait was flat out gross.  I had a tough time with the tartness  of the greek yogurts.  I added maple syrup to sweeten it the first few times I had it.  Now the though of adding anything to sweeten it ruins the yogurt for me.

Nothing compared to the Chobani though.  All of the flavors are pretty good.  I prefer the plain or vanilla and adding my own in, but I’ll eat any of the flavors if they are handed to me.   Come  September I began babysitting Mon-Fri.   I had to bring a lunch and quickly got sick of sandwiches.   I wanted something delicious! I began to bring Chobani yogurt, some granola (Mix my granola is still one of my favorites.. I need to order some soon.  I highly recommend it to anyone.  You can make your own mix or buy a pre made mix.)   I got so addicted to eating it everyday.  I really think it is good for your stomach too.  Helps keep everything functioning the way it’s supposed to.

As you can see, I’ve been eating Chobani consistenly since September.   I must always have a few in my fridge otherwise I get nervous that I am going to run out.   (By the way,I do not get any compensation or anything from Chobani.. I truly really enjoy their yogurt and wanted to share).

What’s your favorite kind of yogurt?