Foodbuzz Health Section

Check out the heavenly Mango Avocado salad I ate for lunch yesterday:

I saw this on the back of a sausage label and we had everything on the list so I gave it a whirl.  Remember the jambalaya?  The sausage we used was this kind. The leftovers were chopped up and thrown in with:

• Spinach
• Diced mango
• Diced avocado
• Honey Mustard
• GOAT CHEESE (this was my own addition…)

Dinner was at our Student Dietetics “banquet” which was potluck style and insanely good.  No pictures, but just think about the types of things a room full of future Dietitians would bring to a potluck… So good!

ALSO, has anyone heard of the new Foodbuzz Health Section?  I’ve been chosen as a Contributing Editor which means I’ll be doing some more detailed and structured posts relating to a different topic each month.  Thanks Foodbuzz, should be interesting!

My breakfast was supposed to be oatmeal until I realized we were fresh out of milk of all kinds… GAH! So I settled for this instead:

Ezekial cinn. raisin with white chocolate wonderful pb/banana and simply orange.  Lot’s of name-dropping in that one little sentence…

I’m so happy it’s already Thursday!  This is my last week of school before finals and I have another fun weekend coming up here.  The only thing that’s dampening my mood is the apparent allergies that I’ve acquired since moving to Colorado.  Not for sure that this is what’s going on, but my head feels like it’s going to explode at any moment and I can’t breathe through my nose or TASTE FOOD!  I know, right?  Tragic…

Does anyone know of a hollistic/natural way to relieve allergy symptoms?  I’m not into taking over-the-counter meds but I really would like some air here.  Let me know guys!

Prenatal class tonight, I’ll be sure to do a recap later on!  Have a great day.

Southwestern breakfast wrap, healthified

• Ezekial tortilla, spread with veggie cream cheese
• 2 scrambled eggs
• Avocado slices
• Red and Green bell pepper strips
• Pineapple/peach salsa (my newest obsession)
• Shredded cheddar

Heat it up before you add the salsa, then roll up tight and cut it in half to make eating it without total disaster a possibility.  Enjoy!

I’m in an extremely good mood today!  Must be the spring-like weather, Becky coming into town, and the strong coffee I’m currently drinking.  Weeee!

Queen of the house!

Did you all survive the week?? I think I just made it… Friday couldn’t come at a better time though because I was seriously not movtivated for school today.  I usually don’t have a problem getting to class, but for some reason I did NOT want to go to chemistry today.  I decided to just stick it out though and I’m really glad I did because it was a good lecture.

My day started bright and early with chocolate-covered strawberries/bananas… in the the form of oats!

I used the same method as I did a couple of weeks ago… mocha hot cocoa powder, flax, soy milk, water oats, deliciousness.

Lunch was a really tasty veggie and hummus wrap.  I have finally figured out the secret of these Ezekial tortillas! I let it thaw by just leaving it out for a few minutes while I got ready for school INSTEAD of microwaving it.  The microwave makes it rubbery and hard to wrap up, but I just set this on a clean dish towel on the stove top and it was perfect!

Finished off my hummus:-(

I also had an apple with lunch and snacked on a cheerio/raisin/walnut mix mid-morning during class.

After surviving the chem lecture I mentioned earlier, I headed to the video store to rent Marley and Me (!!!), the mall for some freebies from Bath and Body Works, and Target where I ended up buying a Peanut Butter Pretzal MOJO. I’ve come to the realization that I’ve been eating way too many bars lately!  I need to start being more prepared when it comes to snacks so I don’t have to resort to whatever is near by.  No more bars for awhile!! Hold me to this!

When I finally started to get hungry for dinner I decided on a salmon patty, baked sweet potato chunks and an arugula salad. Really hit the spot!

For the potatoes I used cinnamon and cayenne pepper.  The  patty was just 1 packet of flaked salmon, egg white, bread crumbs, dill weed, and dijon mustard.  I topped both the patty and the salad with goddess and it tasted really good all together!

So I’m excited to have a relaxing weekend because I have the apartment all to myself!! I love you roomies, but it’s nice to just sprawl out and do my own thing for a couple of days. My weekend plans include some of my favorite things… Running, baking, cleaning, reading, movies plus whatever else I can come up with.  Most of my friends are home for Easter weekend but my rents are in FLORIDA livin’ it up for spring break! LOL… So yeah, I won’t be going home.  I plan on doing my own take on Easter brunch Sunday morning:-)

Hopefully I’ll have a baked good to share with you tomorrow. Enjoy your Friday!

Plate presentation is everything!

So one of my favorite things about blogging is that I have started to make a special effort to make my meals look better on the plate.  This really makes a huge difference as to how satisfying your food is.  Unfortunately, tonight when I was making dinner I had a major flop in presentation and there was no saving it!!

This, my friends, was supposed to be a Mexican-inspired frittata.  I was so excited about it too!  I sauteed onion, garlic and red bell pepper in a skillet with EVOO, threw in some leftover broccoli and black beans then added a whipped egg.  I seasoned it up with cumin, chili powder, extra hot sauce and topped with pepperjack before covering to let the top cook.

I could NOT get this thing out of the pan for the life of me.  It’s funny because as soon as it just kind of broke apart and fell on my plate, the first thing I thought was “my picture is ruined!” LOL Oh well, I’m OVER it!

Still tasted wonderful, by the way!  I had some avocado on top and it just put the dish on a whole new level.

Taking things back to the early morning, I started my day with a refreshing bowl of cheerios.

Sometimes I’m so intrigued by new and exciting cereals, I forget about the classics!  Cheerios are so good… I can definitely put them in my top 5 at least.  This is probably about 2 servings with strawberries and vanilla soy milk and it held me over to lunch just fine.

I also had some of my new Twig Tea and it was really good!  I don’t have a picture and my camera is charging, but click here for the website if you’re interested.  The taste is hard to explain, but I liked it a lot.

Lunch was packed, and included a PB and J on Oatmeal bread + fuji apple and a few cut up carrots.

I didn’t end up eating the banana because the sandwich was SO filling!  I swear it took me 20 minutes to eat because the bread is so dense and chewy. I did, however, end up eating banana in the form of a Clif bar later in the afternoon after my workout.

I liked this flavor a lot!  I could really taste the chunks of banana and nuts and was surprised to bite into some chocolate as well.  I’m now out of the Clif’s I bought with my coupons and I can officially say that Maple Nut reigns supreme!  I havne’t tasted all of the flavors, but here’s my ranking of the ones I have:

1. Maple Nut
2. Chocolate Chip Peanut Crunch
3. Banana Nut Bread
4. Oatmeal Raisin Walnut
5. Blueberry Crisp
6. Black Cherry Almond

I didn’t really not like any of them.  Can’t wait to try some more!

I just finished off some chocolate, and I think it’s time for me to start getting ready because I’m meeting a friend for a drink tonight.  Thirsty Thursday anyone??? See you tomorrow!

The best french toast ever.

Hey everyone! I’m in a great mood tonight because I got a ton of stuff accomplished today, had a great workout and some great food.  I think I finally have my class schedule figured out for Fall semester.  What are all of you students taking next year?

My day started nice and early with this fantastic breakfast of french toast with fruit on the side.

I know this looks like pancakes, but the homemade oatmeal bread is a round loaf… This bread definitely contributed to the BEST french toast I’ve ever made.  I think it’s because of the dense texture.  Not sure, but I used 1 egg, vanilla soymilk and cinnamon for the batter and it turned out perfect!

Mid-morning study fuel was an apple with PB.

And lunch was this mix of flavors that I have seen in blog land before many times… Black beans + sweet potato! I tried the combo in quesadilla form (Ezekial tortilla), and added my own twist with arugula and avocado. I just read that Miss Tyler from Raspberry Runner had a similar lunch today… we didn’t plan it, I swear!

BEFORE:

AFTER:

Yum! This was super good! The sweet potato adds just a hint of sweetness. I had a banana on the side, but I’m sure you all know what that looks like:-)

Between lunch and dinner I attended a “Skill Builder” on sushi rolling because the woman I intern for was giving the presentation.  Very interesting! I learned some new things and got some free twig tea that I’ll be testing out tomorrow.  I’ll definitely do a review because it’s a pretty unique flavor!

Three pieces of sushi ended up being my pre-workout snack… I did a 3-miler as fast as I could and I finished in right around 26 minutes. After doing some back, shoulder, and abs which included:

• Bent over rows
• Boat shoulder presses
• Back hyperextension w/hand weights
• Stability ball push-ups
• Crunches, ceiling pulses, bicycles

I came home and made this quick dinner:

Tuna + pepperjack (toasted) on more oatmeal bread, steamed brocc w/oregano, strawberries! I think I’m fiber’d out for the day…

Chemistry time. Have a great night!

My favorite day:-)

Mornin’ everyone! I’ve got lot’s of pictures since I never got around to posting last night.  As promised, I made Sarah‘s asparagus guacamole (which turned out great!) and some homemade pesto yesterday afternoon.  I found some great-looking fresh basil at the food co-op and just couldn’t get the idea out of my head! Here’s the 2 final products:

I incorporated the pesto into dinner last night because I had this quesadilla idea stuck in my head… This was seriously the best-tasting meal I’ve made in a long time! And so simple…

I scrambled up some eggs, and sandwiched them in an Ezekial tortilla with pesto, cheese, tomatoes, spinach and red onion.  The george foreman makes a mean quasadilla!

YUM! Ruby red grapefruit was on sale this week so I had some of that on the side.  Great Saturday night dinner!

A few hours prior to this I needed some study fuel so I cracked open the plain flavor of the Oikos stash and topped it with some new cereal I bought (some kind of Optimum Power??) and the last of my frozen strawberries…

The plain flavor rocked! This is for sure my favorite of the 3 I have tried so far… No added sugar, SO thick and creamy, and you get the biggest bang for your buck!  I couldn’t believe how much yogurt was in this bowl after I dumped it in… When I dish out yogurt from a big tub, I never have close to this much so I was pleasantly surprised.  I ate this at about 3:30 and it kept me going until dinner at 7:00.  2 Thumbs up for the PLAIN!

I almost wanted to have the same thing for breakfast this morning but in order to mix things up  I had this instead:

…which will probably sit better in my stomach during my run anyway.  Time to get cracking on my to-do list.

Have a nice day!

I love Sundays.

It’s true!!!! I know, most people hate that the weekend is over, but I think Sunday is the most relaxing day of the whole week.  I wake up without an alarm (like 7:30) and I throw together some coffee (mmmm….) and usually make a more time-consuming breakfast.

Today’s menu: Whole Wheat Yogurt Pancakes that I found on KERF yesterday.  As soon as I saw the recipe, I knew I had to use it because I’m trying to get rid of some full fat yogurt that my mom bought me.

The texture of these was phenomenal! Kath is a genius in the recipe creation deparartment.

I topped these with a smidge of AB and microwaved frozen strawberries (maple syrup is expensive, and the fake stuff grosses me out). Although you can’t see them, mini choco chips are hiding inside as well!

As far as yesterday goes, here are my eats that I forgot to blog while I was being lazy on the couch all night!

Breakfast was a boring bowl of oats (banana, walnuts, flax, AB) I need some new and interesting toppings!

Lunch was a fabulous sandwich since I went to the store and bought my favorite local hummus!! I was craving this today!  It was very green… Toppings were spinach, cuke, and avocado. I had a Pink Lady too.

Dinner was Tofu with some charred veggies:

Tofu (with olive oil, honey, cinnamon, chili powder, salt)

Veggies: there’s a special place in my heart for caramelized onions:-)

Voila!

This tofu was probably the best I have ever made because it was frozen and I thawed and pressed out the liquid for the second time.  I reccommend doing this with tofu, the texture was perfect!

I also had 2 small bowls of great grains today because the stuff is so darn good! One for a midday snack, and they other while I was watching TV at night because my tummy was growling!

Lastly, I had a great slow but tough workout yesterday.  Sometimes I feel like getting a good burn in, but I want to focus on form which is SO important! I’m telling you guys, it’s better to do less reps with perfect form than the other way around.  Take your time! I did:

• 30 minute walk on inclines 1-10
• Hammer curls, overhead tricep presses
• Lot’s of push ups! (I’m working on upper body strength)
• Overhead shoulder presses on a bosu
• Lat raises
• Planks
• Ab twists

I finished with slow stretching because I’ve been sore all week from hip/hop.  I may take today off, I may not… We’ll see?

Enjoy the last bit of your weekend, I’m off to finish a paper!

aHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

So I totally had my entire post almost finished and out of nowhere, my computer got all crazy on me and went BLACK!  So here’s the short version of my day because I’ve got studyin’ to do! ha ha

Fitnessista B-Fast Cookie… DELICIOUS today! This one had a little bit of everything thrown in.

Which turned into this:

Plus I threw on some spinach and spicy mustard as well, because for the most part both of those things make any sandwich better (I know, I know, unless we’re talking AB and J…). I also had the crispiest apple in the world!! I felt like everyone in class could hear me crunch away.

I did a super fast 3-miler on the treadmill instead of weights since we had a Boot Camp style workout in one of my classes this morning.  Afterward, I was hungry all afternoon so I had these:

And an early dinner which was random but PERFECT in every way:

A huge bowl of roasted veggies.  I wasn’t really craving any “main dish” type of food and since I had all of this freshness sitting in my kitchen I roasted up a huge batch and made THAT my main dish.  Side of a cheesy pita and the last of my raisins (nooooooooooo! ha ha).

I have a long day ahead, but it’s FRIDAY so who cares, right?

Go Greeeeeeeeen

I’m so excited that I got home early from lab!  I can post, get some hw done and get to SLEEP early! ha ha… yup, still tired!  I was really excited to post tonight though because I think I perfected the green smoothie for lunch and I made something different for dinner and it turned out great!  Here is my artistic display lol…

For some reason I was just craving toast this morning.  It was Sara Lee 100% whole wheat with honey bread that my mom bought for me.  I have to say it was really good!  I’m pretty picky about bread, but as far as I can remember this didn’t have funky ingredients in it and the taste was nice and hearty.  Topped with AB and J… just what I needed.

I snacked on an apple and string cheese to get me through my last class until I could make it home for…

Yes,  I tried the green smoothie again to see if I could do a better job and I think I hit a winner with this one.  I used LOTS of spinach, 1/2 an avocado, an overripe banana, milk, flax, honey + ice for extra coldness and volume.  It was soooooooo creamy and delicious.  Filling too! I’ll be having this again sometime soon.

Dinner was a spur of the moment creation:

Stuffed peppers!  I stuffed each half with brown rice, black beans, diced grape tomatoes, onion and garlic (all were sauteed in a skillet with EVOO and seasoned with chili powder, cumin and spiced paprika).

I boiled the peppers for a few minutes to soften them up, and added cheese on the top before popping the whole thing in the oven for about 10 minutes. I’m pretty proud of myself! ha ha

Thanks for all of the bean suggestions today, I still have a tiny bit left! I guess instead of 3.5 servings, I get just over 2 out of a can.

No workout today, I was too exhausted!  I know, I know, lame excuse… Tomorrow for sure.  Night!