“Real life is so lame”

And I’m back!

Don’t worry (I know you’re all so worried), I’ve been taking pictures even though I haven’t been around the past couple of days.  Let’s just say getting back on real life time is slightly difficult, and every opportunity that I would normally spend blogging, has been spent napping.  So lame, right? I’ve never been much of a napper because it seems like I either feel worse when I wake up, or I’m just plain crabby that I can’t sleep longer once I’ve fallen asleep in the first place.  This week has been a total exception.

That being said, eating habits have normalized for the most part.  We went to the organic food store that I mentioned the other day (SPROUTS) and stocked up on tons of healthy food to get back on track.

Day 1:

Cinnamon Raisin Ezekial + PB and cinnamon.  This bread is the shiz.

My beloved veggie wrap.  I picked up some house-made artichoke hummus from the store and it was really great… kinda made this wrap.  It’s also nice to have lot’s of different veggies on hand—FYI, avocado=creamy perfection.

Pita pizzas! I love making these because everyone can put whatever they want on top and it’s the perfect amount for one.  I loaded mine with:

• Garlicky red sauce
• Mushrooms (fave pizza topping EVER)
• Marinated kalamata olives
• Red onion
• Spinach
• Lemon Basil (grown by yours truly… thanks, Jessie!)
• Garden veggie cream cheese, mozz & parm

You’ll be seeing these again tomorrow when our friend Becky comes to town!  Wine and pita pizzas are the best for a solid ladies night

Day 2:

Optimum buckwheat waffles in a berry infused flavor of some sort.  These were good!  Waffles aren’t the most filling breakfast for me, but it’s fun to switch things up once in awhile.  Loaded them up with PB and fruit of course for extra staying power.  And real maple syrup for… deliciousness.

Staff appreciation lunch. Free Subway? Yes please.  And I’ve been craving sun chips lately so I was more than happy to see these.  I think the sub had turkey and ham?  It was one of those huge things that you just cut a piece off of.  Very generous of the Rec Center to treat us!

A salad with EVERYTHING but the kitchen sink, topped with Goddess and baked salmon.  Does it get any better than this?  Don’t think so.

Oats in the White Chocolate Wonderful jar + banana & granola. Not only really good, but also portable for mornings like today when I need to be at the gym by 6:30am and I don’t feel like making time to sit down and eat before I leave.  Which blogger actually came up with this idea? Genius.

Mid-day snacks don’t get any better than the green smoothie.  This one had vanilla soy, 1/2 banana, tropical frozen fruit mix, spinach and flax.

Perfect amount to hold me over until I did work on the un-pictured veggie burrito I ate for lunch.  It was a work fundraiser deal and I was sitting with a table of boys that I didn’t feel like explaining my food blogger skillz to.  I’ll photograph the leftover half I eat tomorrow—this thing was HUGE!  So huge, in fact, that I didn’t even need a real dinner, just veggies and hummus for a snack.

So THAT has been my week in food since getting back from vacation.  It’s amazing how wonderful real food tastes after not eating it for a week.  Still working on getting back into the exercise routine, but it’s coming.

SOOOOOOO excited for our  BFF Becky to land in Colorado tomorrow.  She’s visiting us until Tuesday so it will for sure be a great weekend!

There’s a nail-biting basketball game on right now that I need to watch.  K State vs. Xavier, SUPER intense!

Have a great evening and see you in the AM!

Catch-up

Good morning!

Here’s a little catch-up on what I’ve been chowing.  I’ve been sticking to the basics, but jazzing things up in my own way…

Monday night dinner:

Doesn’t get much more basic than that! Whole wheat angel hair with red sauce.  I wasn’t feelin’ any sides.

Tuesday breakfast:

Finished off the Golden Grahams, Sue!!! haha

These were left over from the Copper trip a couple weekends back and for some reason they sounded perfect on Tuesday.  I know this cereal doesn’t offer much nutritionally, but gosh I forgot how good they tasted…

Tuesday lunch:

Tuna, colby jack and spinach wrap—heated up so the cheese was all gooey.  This was fabulous!  I had chips and salsa (my addiction) and  a pickle on the side and it reminded me of a lunch my mom would make for me.  Hi mom!

Tuesday dinner (we had a guest!):

My favorite salmon recipe with some roasted veggies and couscous.  If yo haven’t tried this recipe before—TRY IT!  I swear you guys, this is my go-to salmon recipe and it turns out great every time.  Also it’s incredibly simple and you probably have all of the ingredients for the marinade on hand.

For the veggies, I chopped them up ahead of time and soacked them in  balsamic/olive oil/dried oregano.

Then let them cook for about an hour at 400.  These turned out really good!

We also had some wine…

Highly recommmend this one!  It had a strong almost chocolatey taste that was really delicious.  I think it was a zinfandel, merlot, syrah blend.  I’ll definitely be looking for this in the future!

Last but not least, this morning’s breakfast:

Oats in the TJ’s Almond butter jar.  Need I say more?

I’m off for another day of madness.  I can’t believe I only have 2 more days of school before spring break starts.  The week pretty much flew by! Yesterday I went for a pain-free 3-miler that felt really good so I’m super excited for my race.  I think I’ll do another short run today and my friend Jon told me I should at least do a mile on Saturday to keep the legs fresh.  I guess I’ll just play it by ear…

Happy Thursday!

How to Jazz-up a boring meal.

Best canned soup ever:

I love everything Amy’s, but this is by far my favorite item she makes.  Buy it now!!!! I lugged my can opener from home so I could make this for lunch in between clients at work.  YES, I definitely will carry a can opener in my backpack all day if need-be.

Had this on the side…

And a slice of Ezekial w/laughing cow too (no picture because it was grabbed on impulse when I was on my way out the door).

Mid-morning library snack:

Dinner was salmon, sweet potato fries, and broccoli–all jazzed up of course.

We’ve been on a serious roll in the kitchen lately because this was another great meal.  Here’s how to make a boring meal flavorful without adding tons of junk…

Salmon—Marinate it in something before baking.  I used a mixture of balsamic vinegar, dijon mustard, and maple syrup tonight.  It was the perfect mix of sweet and savory and the fish was really moist.  Bake at 400 degrees for 12-15 minutes and broil for a few more minutes at the very end to get a nice crust.

Broccoli—Ahhh yes, broccoli.  That vegetable that everyone loves to hate.  That’s because usually when it’s served, it’s an overcooked and mushy mess of a side dish with no seasoning.  Try adding lemon juice and cream cheese for an extra kick.  We used spinach and artichoke flavored cream cheese because we had it on hand and it was pretty amazing.

Sweet potatoes—I’ll admit that we cheated a little bit on this one because we used store-bought Alexia brand fries.  BUT, it’s really easy to create these on  your own for way less $$$.  Slice potatoes into fries, microwave for 5-6 minutes and coat with oil, salt and pepper, and chili powder.  Stick them under the broiler for about 5 minutes on each side and you’ve got fries in 15 minutes.  Not so hard, hm?

Coffee is brewing and I’m getting ready to do some major studying for the rest of the evening.  I was at work for 7 hours straight today!!! And even after being in a gym for that long, my only “formal exercise” was an abs class led by my friend Jon.  It was TOUGH.  And I’m actually beat just from being on my feet all day.

Gah! I wish I could just lay on the couch all night but I need to finish some stats homework instead.  Yay.  I’m ready for a hardcore nutrition schedule…  I’m so over lib eds.

Wish me luck on staying productive.  I’ll need it!

Playing catch-up.

It sure is tough to get back into the swing of things after taking a long weekend and missing 2 days of school… I think I’m finally almost there.  I’m taking a short break from the books to recap some things from the last couple of days.  First off, check out the new kicks! Saucony Pro-Grid Triumph 7.

Yeahhhhhh boy.

These are ones I’ve been wearing for the last 2 or so years, but the newer model and a flashy new color scheme.  I’m in love.

I got in a decent 5-miler today but for some reason my achille’s has been bugging me lately so I didn’t take it very fast and I definitely took a couple of walk/stretch breaks because I didn’t want to push it.  Blah.  I’ll admit, I feel really slackerish on days like these but I know it’s the safe thing to do.  Slow and steady, right?  I can’t believe I just said that….

Anyways, here’s what I had for food yesterday and today:

Tuesday

Cinnamon puffins, pumpkin granola, vanilla soy, a banana and the star of the show, this new find from TJ’s.

Yum.

Lunch was a veg sandwich stand-by.  I rarely go home for lunch, so when I actually have the time, I make sure to utilize the toaster oven (melted cheese makes everything better!).

Sabra roasted garlic hummus (the best), muenster cheese, spinach, sun-dried tomato, bell peppers, and cholula on ezekial bread.

And this salmon that I threw together for Tuesday’s dinner may just have to end up on the recipe page because it turned out pretty amazing…

I used my new peanut butter from Hell’s Kitchen.  So moist and flavorful!

Wednesday

I don’t know what it is about greek yogurt, but when I have it for breakfast it seriously holds me over better than anything else–even oatmeal I think.  This morning was no different… I ate at 6:00am and didn’t even thinking about lunch until 12:30ish when I had my first break.  That’s some serious staying power.  Check it out:

Fage is the best greek yogurt there is.  I’m not sure why they haven’t jumped on the organic train yet, but it’s as creamy as frosting and has 20 g of protein and 25% of your daily value of calcium in just one serving.  I would imagine that this is a weight-loss patient’s dream food.

I like it with granola, fruit, melted peanut butter and some agave nectar for just a little bit of added sweetness.  Yogurt and granola may possibly be the best food combination there is.  Onward!

Lunch was a veggie wrap, and some dried mango but my picture is nowhere to be found.  I know I took one!!!!! Strange…

And last but not least, this homemade Chicken Fiesta Soup.

Jessica’s mom made this for us when her family came to Colorado for Thanksgiving and we raved about it so she gave us the recipe (simplest soup recipe ever!).  We finally decided this was the week we were going to make it.  Ingredients?

• can of black beans
• can of refried beans
• jar of salsa
• frozen corn
• whatever broth you have on hand
• shredded cooked chicken breast
• 1/2 box spanish rice + seasoning packet

That’s all!  Love this recipe.

Time for me to get ready for a phone interview that I have tomorrow afternoon.  Hmmmm should be interesting.  Night!

Fish from Whole Foods: 3 Ways

FISH #1

Sushi is probably my favorite food there is. Something about it is just so perfect and fresh.  We picked up these rolls while at the WF in Fort Collins last weekend and boy were they fabulous.  Avocado just makes a roll great.  So rich and creamy!

FISH #2

This would be pecan-crusted tilapia from the seafood case.  I pan-fried it in a decent amount of canola oil and the crust was perfectly crispy and delicious.  Of all the ways I’ve tasted fish, pan-frying is definitely my preferred method.  it always turns out perfect and is SO quick.  On the side you will see kale chips (so good) and corn (nothing special here).  Great meal.

FISH #3

Red curry salmon burgers.  I put this on on a toasted sourdough english muffin with spinach, garlic laughing cow, hummus, and cholula.  Pretty much restaurant worthy I think.

Random thoughts:

• 1st biochem lab today, not that bad
• I’m eating delicious homemade pizza for lunch
• training for a 1/2 marathon is hard
• heading to the mile high city this weekend!!
• SO glad it’s Thursday!

Have a wonderful weekend!

Easy & Delicious Salmon

This is my go-to recipe for salmon!  I think I originally found it on cooking light a few years ago, but I just eyeball the measurements and it tastes great everytime.  For one large filet, I used:

• 1 T of dijon mustard
• 1 T maple syrup
• splash of balsamic vinegar
• salt and pepper to taste

Marinate in the fridge while you get salad/sides together.  Broil about 5 minutes per side.  That’s all!

Have a wonderful Monday evening!

Walnut and Flax encrusted French Toast: Edited

Easter breakfast!!! I had so much fun making this… A great way to start my Sunday morning.  It was really simple too.  Here’s what I did:

1.) Dip a slice of whole wheat bread into batter (vanilla soy milk, 1 egg, cinnamon).

2.) Press the bread into a mix of crushed walnuts and flax (some falls off, but do the best you can!).

3.) Butter a pan, and “fry” each side until crispy.

4.) Carmelize berries/bananas by adding them to a separate pan with some brown sugar and cinnamon.  Keep the heat on medium or lower to avoid scorching.  Slow and low on these!

5.) Plate the french toast and layer the fruit mixture on top.  Enjoy!

ANNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNND…. Yesterday I had the sudden urge to stop at the food co-op after my workout and looky what I found:

You have no idea how excited I was… I’m such a geek, I know! LOL Although I said no more bars for awhile, I think this qualifies as an exception since I haven’t been able to find this guy anywhere.  Come on, you know you would do the same!  I’ll eat it this week sometime before a workout.  Hope it lives up to all the hype!

Sorry this posted funny this morning, I tried using a gallery for the first time and it messed everything up. Is there a way to post a gallery without using all of the pictures you downloaded for your post?  I can’t figure it out so there’s no recap of yesterday’s food… Help me out people!!

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!

A cereal kinda day

I’m back!

Thanks for all of the lovely comments on my new page… I’ve been meaning to jazz up the whole blog for awhile now, but by the time I post and catch up on my Reader, I feel like I’m on the computer too long and need a break!  Eventually I’ll have more recipes, workouts and pictures up, just not yet! On to breakfast…

This is the new Nature’s Path Optimum Power cereal I was talking about the other day… It’s the Blueberry Cinnamon flavor and I LOVE it! There are actually freeze-dried blueberries in it.  Here’s the ingredients:

Organic wheat bran, organic evaporated cane juice, organic whole wheat meal, organic soy flour, organic flax, organic puffed Kamut®*, organic flaxseeds, organic barley malt extract, organic soy fiber, organic oat bran, organic rice bran extract, organic freeze-dried blueberries, sea salt, organic cinnamon, calcium carbonate, folic acid, cyanocobalamin (vitamin B-12), tocopherols (natural vitamin E) added to enhance freshness.

Not too shabby, and it kept me full all morning.  I loved how there were so many different textures and shapes.  I would buy this stuff again for sure!
It was just a cereal kinda day.

After my internship I had this packed lunch in a cubicle in the library.  I never seem to learn that these wraps don’t hold filling well!  Regardless, it was still yummy, just a little messy.  Good thing I brought a fork!
Inside of this mess of a wrap:

• Black beans
• Mango
• Spinach
• Red onion
• Goddess dressing and Parm. cheese

Delish!

The honey Oikos was delicious as well, but had more honey than I needed.  Way too much in fact.  This is what was left at the bottom of the container after I finished it:

Yikes! No wonder why there’s 17 grams of sugar in this bad boy… However, I didn’t really mind because it was on the bottom so you could control how much you added.  I really loved the Greek yogurt/honey combo too so I would buy this one again!  Another Oikos winner!

After a fantastic workout (thank you, BodyStep!) I came home and showered, then made this early dinner because I was starving!

That’s right, more pesto!  This was a grilled sandwich with a packet of salmon, pesto, tomato, and pepper jack cheese. I wish it was bigger because I was sad when it was gone.  I absolutely love pepper jack  and I think that it was the best part! I’m telling you, pesto goes good on SO many things. I still have a little bit more left…

I snacked on a mix of raisins, walnuts and chocolate chips before step and I’ll probably be having another snack sometime soon because I’m still a little bit hungry.

This is random, but what are your thoughts on the Biggest Loser?  We’re having a debate in one of my classes, so I would like to hear your opinions!

Unexpectadly good sweat.

Hey friends!

Hope everyone’s start to the week was lovely as was mine… Nothing super spectacular happened, it just didn’t drag like most Mondays do.  Anyways, I had a yummy day of food as well so I’ll take it from the wee hours of the morning!

I don’t know what’s with these cereal cravings lately!  Usually I want something more substantial in the morning, but I have been LOVING these two guys lately:

Sorry for the blurriness… the bright stove light doesn’t make for good early morning pictures:-) In conclusion, Puffins and Great Grains mixed together makes one perfect bowl of cereal!

My lunch was Mexican-themed… kinda:

This is cheeeeeesy brown rice with kidney beans.  I had some citrus on the side which I like MUCH better when I can use my fork to eat.  I hate hate hate when my hands get all sticky while I’m eating… I have to get up and wash them mid-meal because I can’t take it! LOL

I also had to break into my new stash and have a LARABAR this afternoon:

It was GREAT!  For some reason I remember disliking this flavor the last time I tried it, but I must have gotten a bland one or something because I LOVED it this time!  The ingredients are dates, almonds, pecans, ginger, cinnamon and cloves.  These are my favorite types of spices!

The bar carried me well through class and a workout just fine! Yum!

As the title of the post suggests, I wasn’t planning on having a super tough workout today because hip/hop has was cancled.  I putzed around in the weight room with a couple of class mates and tried some new exercises I read about in fitness magazine.

Then I ran into a friend who was on the elliptical and ended up talking to him while working away for 35 minutes!!  The time went by so fast, I never stay on the elliptical this long.  Usually I get SO bored! I was seriously sweating buckets afterwards…

I came home and refueled with this:

Smoked salmon, asparagus, and blue cheese omelet w/Ezekial cinn. raisin english muffin + jam.  I finished this in about 5 minutes!! My hunger pangs were kicking in strong by the time I showered!  It really hit the spot though… This blue cheese has been great because you only need a tiny bit and it adds SO much flavor.

Well, I’m off to do some studyin’ for Human Disease.  Have a wonderful night and I’ll see you tomorrow!  I’m trying something new for dinner so hopefully it turns out okay:-)