Extreme link love

Fantastic dinner tonight!  More on that near the bottom…

I love days when I eat lot’s of small meals as opposed to 3 bigger ones because I hate the feeling of being stuffed.  Usually it’s not that convenient for me though because I’m always on-the-go.  Today was a different story and here’s what I snacked on:

A whole bunch of my faves!  Oh and by the way, I think you know you and your roommate have a hummus problem when you finish 2 containers of Sabra in less than a week.  Yikes!

Did everyone get their Starbucks today??  They did some kind of environmental promotion so that if you brought in a reusable mug, you could get a free coffee—very cool in my opinion.  I definitely cashed in and it was extra delicious because the weather was gorgeous today!  Those kind people even gave me free soy because they’re classy like that.  Yes, I did indeed have the bux twice today.  So sue me!

Dinner

We had originally planned on grilling out, but it seemed a little silly to fire up the grill for two sausages so we cooked inside instead.

These were fantastic!  They were Saag’s brand and you can find the flavor I had here.  I could really taste the maple flavor and it was a nice switch from the traditional style.  Ingredients list is acceptable as well:

Chicken, Apple Juice From Concentrate, Dried Apple, Parsley, Sea Salt, Lemon Concentrate, Lemon Juice Concentrate, Vinegar, Spices, Brown Sugar In Natural Pork Casing

I like to see all whole foods.  Those sweet potato fries are Alexia Organic. They’re a new chipotle seasoned kind and have the perfect amount of heat. Holy linkage in this post!

I think I might try to take it easy tonight and get some studying done so I can workout in the wee hours of tomorrow morning.  Another fun and busy weekend ahead.  I’m volunteering at a 5K race on Saturday morning for Student Dietetics Association and playing intramural softball and dodgeball on Sunday.  Plus I have a ridiculous amount of school work to get going on because finals are creeping up quick.  Oh school.

Let’s hope the weather is warm so I can get some vitamin D this weekend too.  See you in the morning…breakfast will be something fun!

You know summer is coming when

…I start craving cereal for breakfast everyday.  Quaker oat squares with strawberries and bananas is the ultimate summer breakfast.  For some reason the combo of coldness with my piping hot coffee is really appealing to me.  Weird!  Currently drinking from my Bora Bora cup too–those people sure the know the way to a food bloggers heart!

Gotta run because I have a busy day ahead.  Which may or may not end with a a gourmet cook-out… Happy Monday!

“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!

EARLY rising.

5:30am comes quick when your on the up-and-up from caffeine-induced studying and can’t fall asleep!!!! Oh well… I’m here right!

I had Fage with strawberries + pumpkin spice granola and agave for breakfast.

And this lovely Green Ginger Tea.

I’ve got a jam packed 5 hours this morning, but then I get a nice long break in the afternoon.  Hopefully I can get a good amount of work done so I don’t have to stay up late tonight.  HOPEFULLY.

4 more days!

My fave.

I. heart. sushi night.

We always pick some up when we grocery shop for the week because we never go to that side town otherwise.  Plus it’s quick and easy–perfect for nights like tonight when I really don’t feel like cooking.  Also had some grapes, just because.  Quite possibly one of the greatest fruits there is!

So I was incredibly sore from my sports extravaganza yesterday.  When I woke up this morning I felt like I had gone on a long run yesterday! Guess that means  it was a good workout at least… Needless to say, I kept today’s workout pretty easy.

I’m thinking that for the rest of this week I’ll do a few 2-3 milers to keep my legs fresh, but that’s about it.  Race day=6 days away.

Oh and lunch wasn’t too bad today either:

Turkey wrap + pineapple/strawberry mix

Summer fruit is on it’s way back!!!! Love it.

My dessert tonight will be in the form of espresso at my second home.

Goodnight!

Active Sunday anyone?

I had a HUGE bowl of oats for breakfast this morning.  Went a little overboard with the mix-ins.  I actually almost didn’t finish it–may not be eating lunch for awhile!

Chocolate covered strawberry/banana oats:

Into the pot:

• 1/2 cup oats, vanilla soy, water
• 1/2 banana
• cinnamon
• spoonful of cottage cheese stirred in at the end of cooking

On top:

• dark chocolate covered pom seeds
• pumpkin spice granola
• chopped up strawberries
• almond butter

Kind of a weird mix of flavors now that I look back at it, but good nonetheless. I’ll need the fuel because I have 3 intramural games today (ultimate frisbee, softball, dodgeball) and I’m playing racquetball too.  Sports addict! LOL kidding…  It looks like I’ll be at the gym for awhile.  Fine by me, I’d rather be there then on my couch doing homework.

Time to get my game on!

Back to the Midwest

Peanut Butter and homemade Strawberry Jam on Ezekial cinn. raisin.

+ Fruit

+ Awake Tea Latte (I guess you could call it this)

= filling and delicious breakfast.

I have AFAA Group Fitness Instructor training all day today and then I’m headed on a plane back to the Midwest until Monday and I’m SOOOO excited to see my Mom, Auntie Judy, and cousin Sue. I’ll have plenty of pictures of good food when I return!

Hoping to get at least one run in, but I’m not going to force it so we’ll see.  Either way, I have an 8.0 miler planned for the day I get back.

Have a great weekend!

Best bowl of oats, ever.

1/3 cup oats, 1/3 cup soy milk, 1/3 cup water. Combine and microwave for 2 minutes on high.

Top with:

• grape nuts
• flax meal
• coconut
• pom
• 1 scoop of White Chocolate Wonderful PB (SOOOO good!)

Delicious and kept me full all morning…

Lunch

Quick, easy, healthy, tasty.  Tuna melt with produce. YUM.

Gotta go train, workout, and get ready for a night on the town.  The weekend is fast approaching, folks!

I heart Friday.

So I definitely slept in this morning and had about 10 minutes to get ready for class/eat breakfast… It may or may not have had something to do with being up until 4:00am.  Thirsty Thursday anyone? No? I know, I know beer isn’t the healthiest thing in the world, but I had great time hanging out with some new friends at Old Chicago.  Totally worth it.  Anyways…

I threw a smoothie together so I could take it with me to class #1 and it was really delicious!  No picture, but it had frozen strawberries, 1 overripe banana, sweetened coconut, almond butter, & organic skim.  I was double-fisting it with an iced coffee that tasted heavenly today.

Lunch-

I was craving a huge sandwich for lunch and that’s exactly what I created…  This is tuna, lettuce, cuke, sundried tomato, and LC cheese.  Pretty much demolished this.  In a few more hours, I’ll be done with class for the week and ready for some fun!

Back home… ready to make some moo-lah

Hellooooooo peeps!

So it was pretty sad to come back home after such a wonderful vacation, but I’m more motivated than ever to work hard this summer so I can afford to take advantage of all of the amazing things in Colorado when I move.

I’m not quite sure when I start work yet, but I’m waitressing at a really nice restaurant about 30 minutes from my parents house and I love waitressing so I’m excited!

Other things I’m looking forward to right now:

• I’m going to be “Auntie Leanne” ANY DAY now.  The due date is May 14th!
• My BFF/future roomie’s graduation on Memorial Day weekend
• The 4th of July (and K‘s birthday of course!)
• Camping for 2 weeks with the family at the end of July.  I’ve never missed a summer since I was born!
• Hopefully the Chicago 1/2 marathon on August 2.  I haven’t signed up yet, but I started my official training yesterday!
• My brother’s wedding is August 15
• Moving day is August 17!

Some food pics from the last few days (I’m in the process of converting my parent’s food stash hahaha…)

PB oats w/fresh strawberries

Tuna on an Arnold’s sandwich thin + fruit salad

Salad w/Annie‘s Woodstock (Amazing!), roast, corn on the cob

Lemon LARABAR… one of my new favorites!

Chicken, brown rice, fresh green beans seasoned with dill.  Can you tell the difference between my college student dinners and my parent’s? LOL

Vanilla ice cream w/fresh strawberries and dark choco chips!

There’s ALWAYS ice cream in this house, so it could get dangerous! I’m livin’ large! LOL

I’m hoping to get my training plan up soon, so stay tuned for that.  Since the internet at my house is incredibly slow, I’m blogging from a coffee shop in town and I think I’ll try to do this every couple days or so.  It’s way to hard to upload pics otherwise.

Hope you all have a wonderful week!

What things are YOU looking forward to this summer?