Counting Down the Days…

Happy Humpday!  I, for one, can’t wait for this week to be over. 

During a much needed mental break today from work, I figured out that I have just 6 more working days until I have a long weekend.  I took next Friday off to go on our last camping trip of the year. 

After I return from that trip there’s only 33 working days until Thanksgiving, and then after that just 19 working days until my Christmas week off!  This year has definitely flown right by, tomorrow is the first day of October already!.  And although I’m not a fan of cold weather I love this time of year.  It’s going to be a busy 3 months for me, but I’m excited and can’t wait to share some of our fun weekends with you guys.

Let’s get to the food though! 

My breakfast juice was pretty much the same as yesterday, just as delicious!

And I enjoyed this out on the deck.  It was a little chilly this morning but we know there’s not going to be many more mornings we can spend outside on the deck so we’re taking advantage of it while we can.

See that mum in the background?  That bloomed way back in August, I’m surprised it’s still so pretty looking. 

My juice once again held me over until lunch time.  I had another big salad but added avocado to it today, and some carrot strings.

I gave it another try but I still just don’t like avocado.  It’s in the back corner to the right I mixed it up in the salad but just didn’t like it.  I ate the whole bowl but just couldn’t really enjoy it because of the avocado.  Oh well, I guess it’s just not for me.

Once again I snacked on a HoneyCrisp apple for a snack in the afternoon. 

Once I got home Andrew got busy making some soup for his dinner, while I tried to decide what I was going to have.  I had a million leftovers from last night’s dinner so I did a little leftover spin on it.  I had lots of brown rice (and still do) I added a little water to it and then some taco seasoning and microwaved it for 45 seconds.  The result was tacos, using the rice as the filler and lettuce leaves as the shell.

I put a little taco sauce on each one (all natural ingredients) and then used a little salsa as well.  This salsa is awesome, it doesn’t taste like any jarred salsa I’ve ever had, it tastes so fresh!

While I was eating this I roasted up some more potatoes like last night and had those as well.

Minus a couple that Andrew popped into his mouth while I was taking pictures:

That plate is a dessert sized plate by the way, I don’t think anyone could eat a whole dinner sized plate of those things, no matter how good they are.

Morning Routine Makeover

I don’t know if I’ve talked about this on the blog before but I’m not an early morning person.  It just seems like my body hates getting up before 7:30.  I shower at night just so that I’m more likely to get to work on time.  I’m a big time snooze abuser.  I typically get up 20 minutes before I need to leave, get ready and run out the door.  I hate always being in a rush in the mornings, so I decided I need to change my habits.

Tuesday morning I set an alarm I have to get out of bed to turn off, (instead of the alarm on my cellphone which is right on my night stand) 15 minutes earlier, and then today another 15 minutes earlier then that.  It gives me time to prepare my juice and clean the juicer, and have a little bit more time to get ready and make sure I’m ready for the day.  In turn my drive to work is more pleasant, and I’m having a much easier time in the morning.  Tomorrow I’m going to go another 15 minutes early and then Friday 15  more, that will ensure I have plenty of time in the mornings. 

Let’s just hope this works next week as well.

Are you a morning person?  Any other tips on how to stop hitting the snooze each morning?

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Feels Like Home

It feels so nice to spend my evening blogging!  I can’t tell you how at home I feel sitting in front of my computer recapping my day.  I’ve definitely missed this.   In my large recap I forgot to mention something I bought last week.

Anybody love a good bargain story?  I went to an outlet with my family and Andrew last week.  It was mostly Waterford Crystal but they also had a huge selection of Dr. Weil kitchen products.  I bought this brand new juice extractor and am so happy with my purchase.  The exact one I got is The Dr. Weil 9806 The Healthy Kitchen Stainless-Steel 2-Speed Pro Juice Extractor.   If you look on Amazon the MSRP is $375 and they have it on sale for $243.   I did even better then that, much better!  I got this juicer for only 70 bucks!  And so far it has worked perfectly.  I’ve never had another juicer to compare it to, and I’m not sure if it’s better then some of the top brands, but it is good.  The pulp seems really very dry and I’ve had no issues with it. Of course it’s only been a week but so far so good.

My kitchen essentials!

I’ve loved experimenting with the juicer, and of course I went right to the blogger who I felt could help me the most with my new juicer and help me come up with a plan for a “mini cleanse”.  I sent Gena of Choosing Raw an email and she got back to me immediately with some great tips.  Thanks so much for all your help Gena.

I started today with my favorite juice so far.  It has all my favorite flavors and I really enjoy the fresh taste, I looked at many recipes and came up with one that tastes great.

• 1 carrot ( I will increase this I think tomorrow to 2 or 3)
• 2 apples
• 1 lemon
• 1 inch piece of ginger
• 1 romaine heart
• Large handful of spinach

The flavor is out of this world! 

I wasn’t sure if I could handle just juice until lunch time, but this combo kept me satisfied until lunch time.  It’s not the same as being full after a bowl of oatmeal, but the hunger stayed away until about 11:30 and I broke for lunch at noon.

My lunch today was a big salad, the pictures don’t really do it justice it really is very big.

Very green!  I had another whole head of lettuce, a cucumber, and 3 stalks of celery, with balsamic vinaigrette.  Gena suggested having an avocado with my salad but there not something I ever have on hand, I’m not sure I like them to be honest, but I’m definitely going to buy one tomorrow and mix it in with my salads soon.

Around 4 I got hungry and I snacked on my first honeycrisp apple of the year!  I was so excited to see these at the store, but why do they have to be so expensive!?

And yeah I wore jeans to work on a Tuesday, I’m a rebel.  This apple was just a delicious as I remembered.

For dinner it was kind of a “whatever sounded good to me at the time meal”

I had brown rice:

Roasted potatoes with a small amount of EVOO (using the Misto) and sea salt:

Greenbeans and broccoli steamed:

All together:

 

 

Although these pictures are outside, it was gray and cold, so I took this plate back inside and happily gobbled down every last bite.

Now I’m just waiting for Andrew to come home so I can spend some much needed quality time with him.  I also have a little bit of kitchen cleanup to take care of from dinner. 

Thanks for the warm welcome back, I’ve missed chatting with you girls!

89 Degrees

Not outside, the outside temperature at 3PM today was 97 degrees.  The 89 degrees refers to the temperature it was in my apartment when I got home.  Luckily it’s a small apartment and cools down really quickly.  But it’s definitely not fun to come home to.  This humidity is making me feel sluggish and making my sinuses hurt horribly.  I’m waiting to take some medicine until just before bed time because it’s a night time/sleep aide/decongestant, and I want to make sure I’m able to take it and sleep through the night.  Otherwise the second it wears off I’m wide awake.

The weather seemed perfect when I left for work this morning, no humidity, a nice breeze, probably only 78 or 80, it was a pleasent ride in to work with the windows down.  I can’t tell you how excited I was for today’s breakfast.  Look what I was finally able to fine in a local store!

Pomegranate Chobani! I knew I was a dork when I was food shopping yesterday and announced to Andrew it was the best day in my life while loading up the cart with the new flavored Chobani. 

You can’t see any in this shot but there were quite a few pom seeds floating around in that yogurt.

I mixed it with some Kashi Island Vanilla.

.

I have to say this might be my new favorite flavor!

Lunch today was a delicious pb & j on a whole wheat wrap.

Love!

On the side I had a new kind of organic applesauce I found at the store yesterday.

Can you see the ingredients?

Just organic apples and I guess some added vitamin C.  Unsweetened applesauce is so delicious!  Definitely a delicious side.

I also brought a plum but wound up not eating that until around 3:30 when I got snacky.

Beautiful and juicy.

So once I got home I let the house cool down while I made a refreshing salad.  With only the BIGGEST cucumber I’ve ever seen!

Bigger then my cutting board!

When standing on the counter it rested a good 4 inches above the bottom of my cabinets.  I got this cuc from a co-worker, fresh from her garden.  Expect to see a lot of cucumber in the coming days!

I barely made a dent in it and had some over romaine lettuce.

Perfect for a hot muggy day.

While perusing blogs today I saw some cheesy garlic bread (I forget on which blog) but it looked amazing and I decided to recreate some at home.

I used a hot dog roll, a small amount of (REAL) butter, garlic powder, and a 2% milk string cheese, with some cheddar also sprinkled on.  It was absolutely perfect, and tasted a lot like cheesey bread you’d get at a restaurant, and it was definitely healthier because it wasn’t greasy at all.

I’m really bad at blogging over the weekends, but I can’t wait to share some pictures with you all of a baseball game I went to on Friday, unfortunately I forgot my camera so I have to get them from my friend Jess tomorrow or hopefully soon.

Well I don’t have the A/C on in the office so I’m getting really hot sitting here, hope you all have a great night and stay cool!

By The Sea

This feels so comfortable, sitting at my desk, blogging about my day’s food.  I didn’t realize how much I missed this! 

I have to say today was an excellent day, work just flew right by with no stress or anything.  After I got out Andrew and I went out to dinner, and then we spent some time with his family.  Can’t get a much better Thursday then that!

Since I wasn’t able to blog last week, I didn’t get to tell you I’m back to working Fridays now.  Last week was my first full week back since March! The weeks definitely feel a whole lot longer, but I’m happy my paychecks are back to normal. 

Breakfast today was a blueberry Chobani.  I meant to bring some things to mix-in but forgot.  I decided to check out the vending machines for some options.  I found a granola bar I used to eat when I was younger and decided to crush that up and mix it in.

And a much needed close up.

This was such a fun combination, it really reminded me of when I was younger.

Lunch was simple.  I was going to have a pb & j sandwich but decided to just have pb open faced on a sandwich thin.

So yummy!

Surprisingly I didn’t even have to dip into any snacks later on.  I had a nice normal appetite today, not a bottomless pit, or a lack of appetite.  Just Right.

For dinner Andrew and I had plans to cook but we had some errands to run, and want to spend some time with his family before they leave for vacation this weekend so we decided to just hit up the small restaurant on the bay by our apartment.  The weather was absolutely perfect for eating out on the patio.  It’s been so humid here, but the rain this morning balanced everything out.

You can’t beat a view like this while eating dinner.

 

Here are a couple of the fishing boats that run each day.

Such a fun night out!

I got a water to drink.

And for dinner I can’t stay away from breakfast at this place.  They do such a great job!  I got a  pepper, onion, and egg sandwich on whole wheat toast.

With a small side of home fries.

I wasn’t planning on eating all the home fries, but they are so darn good I definitely did.

Now I’m off to play some Wii Sports Resort with Andrew,  has anyone else played this new game yet?  It’s so much fun!

Oh before I go, did anyone else see Nigella Lawson’s new fridge?  I usually don’t swoon after an appliance but it’s actually really beautiful.  I found this on This Kitchn.

And here’s a shot of it open.

This fridge looks bigger then my entire kitchen, but I would love to have something like this one day.  I can dream can’t I?

 

Well I better go before Andrew beats all my high scores!

A Rushed Post

Good Morning!  Sorry I didn’t post last night I had a terrible sinus head ache and went right to sleep as soon as I got home from work!  I have to run out so this post is going to be a quick one.

For breakfast yesterday I had another Peach Chobani but remembered some Kashi Island Vanilla cereal to mix in.

I love the vanilla cereal in the peach yogurt, so good!

Between breakfast and lunch I snacked on some Cherry Semolina Dr. Krackers.  10 of them to be exact.

Lunch was Harborside leftovers.

And I even snuck a roll out from the restaurant in my to go bag.

So like I said I came home yesterday with a horrible sinus headache, it’s been so long since I’ve had one it hit me out of nowhere!  I came home got right into bed, and slept until 8, when I woke up my headache was still there so I jumped in a hot shower hoping the steam would help.  No such luck.  Finally I took some nighttime cold and cough medicine and that knocked the headache out and I was finally feeling well enough to eat at around 10.  I just had a sandwich thin with pb.

Well I have to run now, I’ll be back tonight!

An Al Fresco Dinner

What a day!  I woke up thinking it was Thursday and thought that until I was on my way to work.  Since we don’t work Fridays anymore Thursday is our dress down day so I went to work wearing jeans and everything.  It was obvious to everyone at work I had mixed up what day I thought it was.  Ugh.  But oh well I was comfortable all day at least.

I started out the day with something I haven’t had in so long, unfortunately in my hurry this morning I forgot my camera but I do have some pretty bad blackberry photos to share.

Peach Chobani!  In addition to forgetting my camera I also forgot some cereal for mixing into the yogurt.  But it was still amazingly delicious, it’s been to long Peach Chobani!

Without the cereal though this didn’t do a great job of holding me over for lunch.  I wound up getting hungry around 10 and snacked on some Dr. Kracker’s Cherry Semolina crisps.  These are absolutely delicious!

The serving size is 8 but I probably had about 12, they are so delicious.

Lunch today was an old favorite, rice pilaf, green beans, and broccoli all mixed together.

What a horrible picture of one of my favorite flavor combos.  I can’t get enough of it I crave this at least once a week. 

After work Andrew and I decided to go out to eat.  It’s been a while since we went out just the 2 of us for dinner so we went to our favorite local restaurant, Harborside Bar and Grill.  It was a beautiful day so we got to enjoy being outside on the patio.  To start I had a house salad with balsamic dressing on the side.

I used about a 1/4 of the dressing with my fork dips before almost every bite.  It’s amazing but before I would have easily used 1/2 of it or more, dipping the fork in is just as flavorful and definitely a calorie saver.

Then our waitress brought out some fabulous rolls.  I of course had one.

Warm and doughy, it was perfect.

For dinner I had the Rigatoni Pomadora, a fresh tomato basil sauce, with rigatoni and fresh mozzarella balls throughout.

This sauce is the freshest tasting sauce ever, I don’t think I could make it even 1/2 as good as they do.  I would love to be able to buy a jar of this sauce.  I have about 1/2 of this left for tomorrows lunch.

After dinner we stopped by to visit my sister and parents since she’s been bugging me for the past 3 days to come over.  It was a nice night hanging out on their patio enjoying the weather.  After it rained for almost all of May and June, it’s definitely made me appreciate the past 2 weeks, we’ve had the most beautiful sunny, warm days lately, and I’m definitely grateful for them!

Sweet Summer Cravings

I am feeling so much better today!  It’s amazing what a difference 24 hours can make.  I ate all my meals today and felt more like myself again.  I’m a pretty easy person to get along with but I can get pretty ugly when I’m mad.  I’m just happy that it’s all over and we’ll see what happens from here on out.  Once again I got some great advice and support from you gals!  You are the best!

I can’t tell you how happy I am that tomorrow is Thursday!  As usual I have off on Friday and then have the next week off!  After all the stress from yesterday I’m ready to have some relaxing fun times with my 2 best girlfriends and their boyfriends on the camping trip this weekend.  I just hope tomorrow goes by quickly, it kinda feels like the last day of school or something which is stupid because it’s only 10 days off not a whole summer.

So we need to do some serious food shopping, we don’t even have the staples of milk, bread, or eggs, but it seems stupid to do it before the we go away for the weekend.  So I was kind of scrounging in the kitchen for meals.  Once again I totally forgot my camera, I used my Blackberry though while I was at work, not the best pictures, sorry!

For breakfast I had a chocolate chip clif z bar with pb and then an orange on the side.

 

Oranges are so good right now, I can’t get over how juicy and delicious the last few I ate have been.

Lunch was exactly what I said it would be last night.  Leftover Chicken parm.  I meant to bring a side salad but forgot this morning.  So I guess the tomato sauce is going to have to count as my vegetable for lunch.

I definitely made up for my lack of veggies with dinner though, ever since I mixed the rice pilaf with broccoli and green beans last week I’ve been wanting it again.  It’s just way too good.

Just to prove there is rice under there, here’s a shot with some peaking out.

I definitely went back for the last spoonful of rice with another piece of broccoli and a whole mess of green beans.  Such a simple meal but it’s so darn good,  I can not get enough.

After dinner Andrew and I decided we wanted dessert.  So unlike us!  We decided to go to a local Italian Ice place which also serves Ice Cream and Cream Ices.  I got a small pb cookie dough cream ice.

So delicious, I’m going to pretend it’s summer even if it doesn’t feel like it at all!

Well I’m off to start packing things up for the weekend.  Tomorrow night Michelle, Jessica, and I are going shopping for the camping food, anyone have any suggestions of healthy foods to eat while out in the woods? 

Stress Non-Eater

<rant>I know there are people out there who eat when they are stressed.  I am the exact opposite.  When something is really bothering me I let it manifest itself in ways that prevent me from wanting to eat.  It’s probably just as unhealthy as someone who binges on a stressful occasion.  I will admit that sometimes when I’m just a little bit stressed and eat I make poor choices, I don’t overeat though.  I might just say screw it I’m eating that cookie(s).  But when I let myself get so worked up eating is the last thing I want to do.  Today was one of those days.  For the past year Andrew’s twin brother’s girlfriend and I haven’t gotten along.  Today I finally let everything build up and when I got angry with something she did today,  I let it eat me from the inside out.  We sent some not-so-nice emails back and forth, and finally spoke on the phone a little while ago.  I’m a people pleaser, I get upset when people don’t like me, it bothers me so much, that this really stung.  I should have just went about my day but unfortunately I wound up leaving work early, and stewing in my anger.  Nothing has been completely resolved she apologized for somethings and I accepted her apology and for Andrew and his brother’s sake we have decided to start over.  Is it the best option?  Probably not.  Will it make Andrew happy?  Absolutely.  Besides that his brother is now going to be my brother-in-law in a couple years, and who knows one day she might be my sister-in-law so I have to bite the bullet and work on this relationship no matter how badly I just want to hide my head in the sand.  I’m more of an “ignore it and it will go away” type of person, not a strong characteristic.  Maybe it’s time I grew up and just worked on things. </rant>

Wow okay sorry for all that, it feels good to vent though.  And I’m sure at least one of you will have a similar story, or be able to share advice.

Enough about that, this is a food blog after all.  For breakfast I once again had a sandwich thin with pb.  I actually have pictures though!  And Homegirl, the key to the perfect pb spreading is to spread it on thick in the middle and then work it towards the outside.  No I’m kidding, there is no secret,.  I do admit I have a little more then a serving perhaps 2.5-3 tablespoons I’m willing to get the extra calories though.  I’m still losing weight so perhaps I’m doing something right. 

Then the trouble began.  Andrew came to take me out to lunch since I was so upset.  We wound up going to my favorite salad bar.

I ate some but not all of this salad.  If i had to guess I would say between 1/3 and a 1/2. It was:

• mixed greens
• carrots
• onions
• chicken
• cucumbers
• and light balsamic vinaigrette.

And this is where my pictures from the day end.  I came home early and began screaming about the whole thing to poor Andrew.  I was so worked up!  I give myself this nauseous feeling when I get upset, and eating seems impossible.  I feel better now but not well enough to eat something, I did stop by my mom’s house though and picked up her left over chicken parm, so get ready to see it for lunch tomorrow!

I’m off to watch the New Jersey Housewives reunion, and then get some much needed rest. 

Italian Food Overload

Monday is over! Thank goodness!  I have a lot to look forward to so it’s making this week drag.  I’m just ready for it to be over already!  Starting Thursday at 5 I’m on vacation for 10 days!  Unfortunately it’s a mandatory furlough where I won’t be getting paid for the 4 working days but hopefully I’ll be able to claim unemployment.  As luck would have it Andrew has all those days off except 2 with me.  He’s on vacation from school for 2 weeks and the summer program starts next Wednesday so he’ll work Wednesday and Thursday and then have off for one of my favorite holidays, the 4th of July.  Let’s just hope it feels like summer!  This weekend I also have a very exciting camping trip planned with my 2 girlfriends and their boyfriends.  It should be a great time!

This weekend flew by, and I had a lot of family things to do for Father’s Day, plus looking at more wedding locations.  I think we found one that we both absolutely love and we’re taking our moms there on Friday for their opinion.  I have a feeling they are going to love it, once we make our final decision I’ll be sure to share it with you.

So if you’ve been reading my blog for a while you’ll know I’m not a fan of sweets, you’ll hardly see chocolate or cake, but I’m a big fan of Italian food.  It’s my weakness, a nice big dish of pasta, or a slice of pizza are my weaknesses.  And in today’s post your going to see a lot of Italian food.

First off let me start with last night’s fabulous Father’s Day dinner that my dad selected and my mother cooked.  She was a little upset I hadn’t posted it last night so here you go Mom.  Happy now?

My mother makes THE best chicken parm.  It was so tender you didn’t even need a knife and it was overall perfect. 

With Andrew’s favorite pasta on the side.

Wagon Wheels!

This was absolutely perfect, thank God it’s not Father’s Day everyday though because I would seriously gain all the weight I’ve lost this year plus some, if this was an everyday option.

Now on to today.  My breakfast of choice lately has been pb on a sandwich thin.  I have no idea why, I’ve just been craving that peanut butter a lot lately.  It seems to be the only thing I want in the morning.  Unfortunately I didn’t take have my camera today, but here’s the same picture from last week. 

For lunch today I leftovers from the weekend.  I had gotten an eggplant, fresh mozzarella, and roasted red pepper sandwich.  I had a 1/4 left and brought that in for lunch today.  These pictures are from the first time I ate it over the weekend.

So delicious.  A perfect combination of flavors.

Later on I snacked on an orange.

So juicy!

Dinner tonight carried on my theme of Italian food.  I had made a very lean meat sauce over the weekend and had some leftovers for dinner.  I’ll be posting the recipe for the sauce this weekend, so stay tuned, it’s really very good and actually super simple.

I actually had dessert tonight as well.  I had a container of Fro Yo in the freezer that was about to expire.  Never one to waste food I happily ate  a small serving with some chocolate syrup.

It’s hard to tell the size but that’s just a small ramekin. 

Well I’m off to get ready for bed.  Good night everyone, hope you are having a great night!

Random Foods

Hi Friends!  How was your Monday?   Mine went by super fast I can’t believe it’s almost over already.  I’m hoping the rest of the week goes quickly as well.  I had project management training all day which took me away from my desk, it made the day fly by, and I’m hoping I’ll be so busy tomorrow catching up on things that I should have been doing today that tomorrow is going to be another fast one.

I started off the day with Vanilla Chobani and another Luna bar mixed in, just like last week.  This time however it was the chocolate peppermint stick bar.  What a great combo of flavors.

My camera was acting kind of funny today as you can see, it’s like in soft focus or something.

Lunch was something I’ve been craving for a while.  Every time I open my freezer it was staring me in the face.

So delicious!  Amy’s burritos are awesome and this one was fantastic!

Definitely not an attractive lunch but delicious none the less.  I also had a peach on the side.

I think I have one more peach left, I’m definitely going to have to stock up they are so delicious!

Later I had a Granny Smith Apple for a snack.

Once I got home from work I snacked on a pickle while trying to decide what to make for dinner.

It was actually sunny out!  I’m almost out of pickles too, seems like I need to go shopping again.

For dinner I didn’t really have a clear idea of what I wanted, I knew I wanted broccoli, and definitely green beans, but couldn’t decide what else to have.  So I decided to make a quick box of rice pilaf and just mix the veggies in.

Kind of random but it’s just what I wanted.  And of course all that fiber filled me right up. 

I was still in a snacky mood so I decided to break out the watermelon!  Oh I was so excited to have my first piece of the season!

It was so juicy and delicious, it made me want the hot weather even more.  I hear this weird weather might only last 7-10 more days and then we might actually have  summer weather soon.   On the news they were talking about this June vs. June 2008.  The average temp last year for the first half of June was 85, this year it’s 72!  In 2008 we had 4 days that were over 90, and this year we had 4 days UNDER 60!  Does not sound like summer weather to me!  I’m hoping these weathermen are right, I need to get some beach days in!

I hope you are all having a great night!