* Want a great way to feel like you're having a lot of ice cream, but be healthy instead? Instead of topping your ice cream (do froyo!) with fruit, layer the fruit on the bottom of the bowl then top it with ice cream. It will allow the ice cream to drip onto the fruit to give it a yummy creaminess, but it will look like you have a lot of ice cream. Thanks Meghann!
* Do you want to discover some more foodie blogs? Then check out this great compilation pulled together by Google Reader of what blogs some power bloggers read
* Get a free sample of yummy Kashi cereals: http://www.kashi.com/surprise
Got a great tidbit you want to share? Leave me a comment below.
Monday, August 31, 2009
Lazy lunch
Last night I didn't really do very much planning ahead.. so today I had to buy lunch at work. I wasn't particularly hungry, so I decided to just grab something light from Pret a Manger. I love the Pret philosophy, that everything is fresh and made that day.
Today I decided to go for a cup of gazpacho and a half sandwich of apples, chicken and cranberries.
Today I decided to go for a cup of gazpacho and a half sandwich of apples, chicken and cranberries.
The gazpacho was pretty good (once I added s&p). The sandwhich, while not completely great, totally worked for today. It actually had some seasoning in it which is always a welcome surprise from a chain. All in all a pretty decent, healthful lunch.
I haven't worked out since that run on Friday, so I'm hoping to get to the gym tonight. We shall see!
Sunday, August 30, 2009
Barley and me
Growing up, my grains consisted of only 2 things -- pasta (usually whole wheat) and rice. My family rarely made ventures into anything else. I wasn't totally oblivious to other things, and we occasionally had things like couscous, but all in all.. that was it.
So today I decided to broaden my horizons, and bought my first ever bag of barley. When it comes to cooking grains I'm usually fine with it, but barley scared me a bit because of its similarity (physically, anyway) to rice. I have had AWFUL experiences making rice. I don't think I've ever once made it without their either being too much or too little water. It always comes out somewhat burned, somewhat undercooked, or both. And the worst part is I always follow the directions to a T! I guess it's just not meant to be..
So when I read the cooking instructions for barley and they seemed eerily similar, you can see how I would be worried. Luckily.. this worry was unnecessary. I followed the directions on the package, and just halved the entire thing. I would have thought that it would take only a few minutes less than cooking the full serving.. but (to my astonishment) it took a full 20 minutes less. I'm glad I checked on it when I did!
The barley came out great, not overdone but certainly not underdone. Al dente; just right. I then made a sort of salad with it from a recently purchased cookbook, Favorite Brand Name Vegetarian Cooking.
So today I decided to broaden my horizons, and bought my first ever bag of barley. When it comes to cooking grains I'm usually fine with it, but barley scared me a bit because of its similarity (physically, anyway) to rice. I have had AWFUL experiences making rice. I don't think I've ever once made it without their either being too much or too little water. It always comes out somewhat burned, somewhat undercooked, or both. And the worst part is I always follow the directions to a T! I guess it's just not meant to be..
So when I read the cooking instructions for barley and they seemed eerily similar, you can see how I would be worried. Luckily.. this worry was unnecessary. I followed the directions on the package, and just halved the entire thing. I would have thought that it would take only a few minutes less than cooking the full serving.. but (to my astonishment) it took a full 20 minutes less. I'm glad I checked on it when I did!
The barley came out great, not overdone but certainly not underdone. Al dente; just right. I then made a sort of salad with it from a recently purchased cookbook, Favorite Brand Name Vegetarian Cooking.
I would usually never consider getting a cookbook that endorses certain brands in its recipes but hey.. I got it on sale for $6.99 so I figured what the hell?
The book is actually pretty dense, with everything from appetizers to casseroles. I'm not vegetarian, but I do lean towards it, and often cook with tofu as a welcome meat replacement.
The dish I made today was a barley salad, with a mustard/vinegar/orange/cilantro dressing (which was actually quite yummy) and diced bell peppers and black olives. I only had a small serving of this today as a snack, but tomorrow it is going to be a main part of my dinner so hopefully I will get a picture of it then.
Off to bed! I have a 4 day week because of the holiday.. which should be good, but really means I need to cram 5 days of work into 4...oh well, it will work out it always does.
Night!
Not scared of needles
In a totally unrelated post.. I got my first 'real' piercing today! I have 2 holes in my earlobes, nothing crazy, done at the mall. However I had decided that I wanted one more -- something bad-ass, but that wasn't permanent or too noticeable. I am by no means punk or anything like that, this was just something I always wanted to do. You only live once!
I really like it!
Saturday, August 29, 2009
Exotic fruit
Whenever I'm at the grocery store, I'm always drawn to the food that I've never seen (or eaten) before. The ugli fruit, the cactus pears, the lychees. Today was one of those days. I bought 5 lychees and decided to eat them with my usual breakfast. Today's version of that was fat free yogurt, Kashi Go-Lean Crunch, and All Bran Buds. It had all the crunch I craved, although since I was out of fruit to top it with (I usually go with strawberries and blueberries) it was missing that extra sweetness and color. Still yummy though!
The lychees were a different experience for me. I had never eaten them before so I looked up online just to make sure.
1. Peel the skin off with your nail (or a knife) but be careful not to pierce the fruit.
2. Eat the fruit off the pit, but not the pit since it is slightly poisonous.
Seemed simple enough. The fruit tasted interesting. I've had lychee infused desserts before, but never something that was solely lychee. Maybe I didn't pick these at the prime of freshness, but they tasted somewhat sour to me. The texture was also interesting; similar to a grape but more stringy (not in a bad way).
I don't know if I'll ever buy them again, but I'm glad I tried them!
Viva Mexico!
Yesterday was my kind of day. Despite the dreary rain, I made it to the gym and had a dinner party with friends!
Thanks to my mid-morning snacks yesterday, when I got home from work at 2:30pm, I wasn't hungry. So off to the gym I went! And I got in a pretty decent workout, at least for me.
Treadmill: walk 4 minutes, run 9 minutes, walk 3 minutes, run 7 minutes, walk 7 minutes at an incline. I don't usually run very often at the gym - I'm an elliptical girl - so this for me was plenty of cardio.
I did some weight-training too though; a good 25 minutes of it. Lots of different crunches, inner- and outer-thighs, assisted pull-ups and dips, hamstrings, quads, etc. I usually do all of my weight training on machines (ie not free weights) and yesterday was no exception.
I'm a bit sore from this workout today, but not so bad to prevent me from going to the gym again, so we will see what the day holds!
Our dinner party last night was really fun too. A few girlfriends and I decided to do Mexican night (which isn't exactly my favorite) but it turned out really well! My friend J made guacamole and salsa for the appetizers. Then it was onto the main course where my friend V made (from scratch!) beef taquitos and a bean and cheese casserole.
These dishes were super yummy and since nothing was fried.. well they could have been healthier, but they weren't awful.
We rounded off the meal with the dessert I made (tortillas stuffed with banana bread filling and chocolate chips) which was only Mexican because I made it in the shape of a burrito :). In my attempts for healthy.. I used whole wheat tortillas and served it with light ice cream.
We had the whole meal with Mojitos, which are one of my all-time favorite cocktails and are really easy to make! See below for a recipe similar to what we did, although I eyeballed all the amounts and it came out great!
Vodka Mojito
Ingredients:
2 oz Smirnoff 21 Vodka
3 Fresh Mint Sprigs
2 tbsp Sugar
3 tbsp Fresh Lime Juice
Soda water
How to prepare it: Muddle the mint, sugar and lime juice in a collins glass. Fill it with ice, add vodka and top it with soda. Shake or mix the drink; garnish it with a lime wedge.
Do you have good healthy Mexican recipes you want to share? Leave a comment below!
Thanks to my mid-morning snacks yesterday, when I got home from work at 2:30pm, I wasn't hungry. So off to the gym I went! And I got in a pretty decent workout, at least for me.
Treadmill: walk 4 minutes, run 9 minutes, walk 3 minutes, run 7 minutes, walk 7 minutes at an incline. I don't usually run very often at the gym - I'm an elliptical girl - so this for me was plenty of cardio.
I did some weight-training too though; a good 25 minutes of it. Lots of different crunches, inner- and outer-thighs, assisted pull-ups and dips, hamstrings, quads, etc. I usually do all of my weight training on machines (ie not free weights) and yesterday was no exception.
I'm a bit sore from this workout today, but not so bad to prevent me from going to the gym again, so we will see what the day holds!
Our dinner party last night was really fun too. A few girlfriends and I decided to do Mexican night (which isn't exactly my favorite) but it turned out really well! My friend J made guacamole and salsa for the appetizers. Then it was onto the main course where my friend V made (from scratch!) beef taquitos and a bean and cheese casserole.
These dishes were super yummy and since nothing was fried.. well they could have been healthier, but they weren't awful.
We rounded off the meal with the dessert I made (tortillas stuffed with banana bread filling and chocolate chips) which was only Mexican because I made it in the shape of a burrito :). In my attempts for healthy.. I used whole wheat tortillas and served it with light ice cream.
We had the whole meal with Mojitos, which are one of my all-time favorite cocktails and are really easy to make! See below for a recipe similar to what we did, although I eyeballed all the amounts and it came out great!
Vodka Mojito
Ingredients:
2 oz Smirnoff 21 Vodka
3 Fresh Mint Sprigs
2 tbsp Sugar
3 tbsp Fresh Lime Juice
Soda water
How to prepare it: Muddle the mint, sugar and lime juice in a collins glass. Fill it with ice, add vodka and top it with soda. Shake or mix the drink; garnish it with a lime wedge.
Do you have good healthy Mexican recipes you want to share? Leave a comment below!
Friday, August 28, 2009
My thoughts on snacks
I am a fan of snacking. If I could, I would do it all the time. That said..I don't. But I do plan in 2-3 snacks per day so that I'm never ravenous at meals. Usually I have one mid-morning, and then 1-2 between lunch and dinner.
Today is a half day at work, so I won't be getting lunch til 3 or so. Because of that, I had 2 mid-morning snacks. Dried mango from Trader Joe's (always a favorite).
Today is a half day at work, so I won't be getting lunch til 3 or so. Because of that, I had 2 mid-morning snacks. Dried mango from Trader Joe's (always a favorite).
And Snapea crisps (which I portion out into baggies so I can't wolf down the whole delicious bag)
OK, back to work. Gotta get out of here on time!
The good, the bad and the ugly
So last night I fell into a bit of a trap... Thai is by far my favorite food 'genre', but it generally isn't good for you. And when I actually go for my favorite dishes, well.. it's never good for me. Last night I had pad see ew with fresh tofu. I guess I should know better than to go out to dinner write after deciding to eat healthy but hey you do what you have to when it comes to friends.
The dish was great (and I felt good about getting my tofu not fried) but while it's not awful in terms of calories for a large dinner (600) it doesn't fit into my needs.
Here's a general guide of what I usually eat and why:
1. I try (though not always successfully) to top load my calories. That means taking in more in the morning and less in the afternoon. This allows my body to burn off more of it since (theoretically) I will be active later in the day.
2. Breakfast is almost invariably fat free plain yogurt with some some of fruit and fiber-rich cereal. This always makes me feel like I am starting my day right, even if I ruin it later on..
3. Lunch tends to be leftovers from dinner, or a salad. I'll get more into these in the coming posts.
4. Since trying the South Beach diet about 6 months ago I try to avoid all bad-for-you carbs.. this includes pasta, white rice, instant oatmeal, etc. This is tough though since two of my favorite meals are macaroni and cheese and pad thai. I try though.
From now on, I am going to try to be even more adamant about the above. I may even go back to South Beach since I have gained back all of the weight I lost on it and then some. (Note: this is because I didn't do the second half of the diet properly, not because it doesn't work. It did for me until I fell out of it.)
Last thing. I also feel compelled to show you guys one of the many fitness/calorie aids I've come across as I start this journey. I already knew SELF had one online, but it turns out livestrong.com does too. Random I know. I'm going to sign up for it and check it out. I'll let you know what I find!
The dish was great (and I felt good about getting my tofu not fried) but while it's not awful in terms of calories for a large dinner (600) it doesn't fit into my needs.
Here's a general guide of what I usually eat and why:
1. I try (though not always successfully) to top load my calories. That means taking in more in the morning and less in the afternoon. This allows my body to burn off more of it since (theoretically) I will be active later in the day.
2. Breakfast is almost invariably fat free plain yogurt with some some of fruit and fiber-rich cereal. This always makes me feel like I am starting my day right, even if I ruin it later on..
3. Lunch tends to be leftovers from dinner, or a salad. I'll get more into these in the coming posts.
4. Since trying the South Beach diet about 6 months ago I try to avoid all bad-for-you carbs.. this includes pasta, white rice, instant oatmeal, etc. This is tough though since two of my favorite meals are macaroni and cheese and pad thai. I try though.
From now on, I am going to try to be even more adamant about the above. I may even go back to South Beach since I have gained back all of the weight I lost on it and then some. (Note: this is because I didn't do the second half of the diet properly, not because it doesn't work. It did for me until I fell out of it.)
Last thing. I also feel compelled to show you guys one of the many fitness/calorie aids I've come across as I start this journey. I already knew SELF had one online, but it turns out livestrong.com does too. Random I know. I'm going to sign up for it and check it out. I'll let you know what I find!
Thursday, August 27, 2009
Hello!
Today is my very first blog post! I can't wait to start posting, and hopefully get some advice and camaraderie along the way.
I had the idea yesterday to start a blog (I know, fast turn around) while I was at the gym. I hadn't gone in almost 2 weeks which for me is incredibly not OK. I realized that I needed something that would motivate me to really get back into things and 'travel on that journey' as it were. When I went home and cooked a (mostly) healthy dinner, I sat down to catch up on my blogs for that day. I subscribe to a few blogs that do more or less what I'm planning on doing. To be honest, reading about other peoples daily lives, especially in regards to their eating and fitness habits, feels mildly voyeuristic to me. But.. I still do it. So now I'm letting you do it back to me.
Please always feel free to shoot me comments and input!
I had the idea yesterday to start a blog (I know, fast turn around) while I was at the gym. I hadn't gone in almost 2 weeks which for me is incredibly not OK. I realized that I needed something that would motivate me to really get back into things and 'travel on that journey' as it were. When I went home and cooked a (mostly) healthy dinner, I sat down to catch up on my blogs for that day. I subscribe to a few blogs that do more or less what I'm planning on doing. To be honest, reading about other peoples daily lives, especially in regards to their eating and fitness habits, feels mildly voyeuristic to me. But.. I still do it. So now I'm letting you do it back to me.
Please always feel free to shoot me comments and input!
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