…Can you say FIBER?

Good evening:) I hope everyone had a wonderful Sunday! I changed the layout/picture on my blog, I’m not sure if I like it yet, but I’m testing things out!

Let me explain my title first and then I will go into my post. First of all today was full of fiber-packed fun! hehe… You will see from my eats, that I definitely wasn’t lacking in that department. And according to our one of the RULES (we have a long list of crazy rules) from our suite(shout out to Dana!) back at school, “There is no such thing as too much fiber”… But is there? I went to a nutritionist during the school year, and she told me I was consuming 237% of my daily nutritional needs of Fiber. Now thats A LOT of extra nutrients. And after doing my research, there could in fact be a problem with eating wayyy over the daily recommended amount. I’ve try to cut down a bit by substituting some things, or not putting pumpkin in my oats every day, and making sure I drink enough water, but lately it hasn’t been a problem so I decided I’m living it up in the fruits&veggies world for the day:)
…sooo, after that little tidbit of information, Here is what has been consumed today–>

I started the day off with a a Thomas’ (fiber packed) Whole Wheat Bagel & a delicious shake (umm…fiber) with:
1 cup frozen mixed berries
milk, yogurt, flaxseed, wheatgerm
1/2 banana
little less than 1 scoop of vanilla protein powder
~1 tbsp PB

Nice way to kick off a Sunday Mornin'

Later on, I clearly had to finish the 2nd half of the banana w/ Smucker’s Natural (it’s my fav) Crunchy Peanut Butter (which i also enjoyed with a cup of un-pictured decaf green tea)

1/2 banana with 1/2 a jar of PB...perfectly fine.

By that time, I had already gone to church, experienced the bitter cold snowy-ish weather, and cozied up inside enjoying the last Sunday at home for the next few months:/(wow that sounds depressing, sorry hehe)
And then I decided to make a lovely salad for me and mama

Why hello there, Bowl-O-Fiber!

This salad was hugeeee:
Lots of mixed greens (even those annoying tree thingys that I hate and make my mom eat:))
1/2 Cucumber
3 Mushrooms
Tomato
Red Onion
Olive Oil and Trader Joe’s White Balsamic Vinegar
I ate about 2/3 of this… (::cough:: fiber ::cough::)

Followed by a little bit of leftover salmon and a piece of Arnold’s Oat Nut Bread

Snack included almonds, then a Granny smith about an hour later

My mom had also bought Pinto Beans today (perfect for making refried beans!), soo I decided I would try cooking them for the first time (I’m working on my skillz* so I can be an expert chef by the time we have a house next year;))
***Note: This is the Quick Version- The long way requires over-night Soakage, and Slow Cooker 6-hour Heatage***… I simply don’t have time for that.
So This is how I did it:

Closeup right outta the package

STEP 1: Look through the beans very carefully... I found 3 little pebbles! (They tell you to do this, it's actually a normal thing that lil' rocks show up!)

STEP 2: Put the beans in 8 cups of water until they boil for 2 minutes, then let them sit there for an hour

STEP 3: Drain the water from the beans, and refill the pot with 6 cups of water to cook 'em

STEP 4: Cook over low heat for 2 hours in a slightly covered pot

STEP 5: (Note my Dad's gloves hehe) Drain out some of the water and Mush 'em up!

My dad then used the Infuser to Mush the beans up a little better- It worked quickly & wonderfully

STEP 6: Add Stuff to them!!

We ended up adding Sautéed Onions (above), Salsa, Salt, Pepper, Fresh Pressed Garlic, Cumin, Chili Powder, and a couple other spices to make this super flavorful:)
AND Voilà! The Finished Product:

My absolutely Delish Burrito

This is a Whole Wheat tortilla, Salsa, Cheese, Plain non-fat yogurt (instead of sour cream, it tastes the same to me!), and Lettuce
I Wrapped this baby up and it was fiberous perfection 🙂
My mom also made stuff for Chicken Fajitas:

My Chicken Fajita Creation

All of this was accompanied with another serving of beans because they were so gosh darn yummy (and lets not forget fiber-packed) hehe.

My tummy was full, but Oh So Happy:)
Our dessert was a bunch of fiberous fruit my mom cut up, with almonds

Family Fruit Fest!

With a side of Family-Game- Nite (we’re such cornballs)

Rumikub: Exercising our brains

My dad won, no surprise there, the man’s a genius… My brother was upset we didn’t play Wii bowling (…or because he didn’t win), But we are all pretty competitive, hense my inner-athlete ;).

And the night was ended with a peice of no-fiber added chocolate fudge that my aunt had made and my 4th cup of un-pictured decaf green tea

'Gasm.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Sunday!
Goodnite, bloggies:)
Michelle

Happy New Year!!

Happy 2010 Everybody! I feel like it was Y2K like a week ago, this is ridiculous; I’m getting old. The following is a picture play-by-play of my New Years Eve:)

Waking up, I decided to be creative and try something new that I haven’t ever made before:
Banana-Almond Butter-Yogurt-Tortillas (I have yet to come up with a better name)
I took pictures of every step so I don’t forget how to make ’em 😉

Step 1: Cut up 1/2 a banana into really thin slices on top of one 1/2 of a whole wheat tortilla

I put this in the microwave for 30 seconds for carmelization purposes:) and then sprinkled them with some cinnamon…

Step 2: Slather the other 1/2 with almond butter, and then folditupppp.

Then throw them in the toaster oven for about 10 minutes or so:

Step 3: Toastyy Perfection

Stick some plain chobani in the middlee

drizzle some more almond butter on top (for effect)

i love me some closeups:)

This was really good… I had 2 and enjoyed them with some Gingerbread Tea:)

Later on, I rode the exercise bike and did ABs and Stretched for a while because my hamstrings were really sore from the lift yesterday. The mini kind-of-not-really-a-workout was clearly followed by foooood:

plain whole wheat bagely goodness

veggies for omlet preparation filling

All Cut up and Sauteed in Olive Oil

and then I created a MONSTER…

... A VEGGIE MONSTER!

Ain't he cute? hehe

Confession: One of those peppers was already there, and I added the other one;I couldn’t resist.
That was 2 eggs, a litttttleee bit of whites + some salt n’ pepaa
Followed by:

Grapefruits also look so much better closer up...

I then showered, and got all my stuff together and went to my friend Mary’s house to set up for NYE Shenanigans:)
(sorry, no pics of the snack table, but I had Triscuts, 492 carrots, cucumbers, trail mix, fruit, and numerous other things that really aren’t important)
NEW YEARS 2010>>>>

Oh look, I'm eating a Triscut:)

Me and my some of my besties- Mary&Kristina


I didn’t get to take to many pictures because we made a rule that cameras were confiscated after 10:00 so people wouldn’t look dumb on Facebook=p hehe.

I hope everyone has a very Happy and Healthy New Year!!!!
Michelle

I Made Hummus!

Hello! I have exciting news… I made hummus today! woo!! (Great accomplishment, but back to that later)

I woke up this morning and lately I haven’t really been the mood for a large bowl of oatmeal (weird.) Soo I made myself an omelet, but while making it, my mom and aunt said they wanted some, so I added more eggs and whites to it, and there just weren’t enough potatoes and onions anymore to call it a meal

mmm real-life eggs!

and by then I was in the mood for a decent size bowl of oats, and had this:

notso bad

1/2 Cup Oats, 1 cup milk, and 1/2 a banana, with the leftover PB in the jar(like 1/2 Tbsp)… Suprisingly really good, I’m used to adding 10000 things in my oats,but keeping it simple was nice and the banana taste was very good

After this, me and the fam went to church, and the priest talked about the importance of TIME and Family, all very true, it made me think about how important it is to spend time with my parents while I’m home… So I’ve decided not to go back to school AS early as I was going to for Track, and I figured I can improvise with my workouts here:) woo!

It was a BEAUTIFUL day out, like amazingly gorgeous and warm(ish), and I needed to take advantage… So after church, I went to a nearby park lake and went for a nice relaxing 3 mile run (woo! another accomplishment for me because as a jumper, we barely run and i truly enjoy a nice run every once in a while). My iPod died 1 1/2 songs in, but it was alllll gooood (besides the fact I had to run carrying it), because I was able to enjoy the sun on the water and all the people walking/biking/jogging around the lake and it really made me happy :).

On the way back, I stopped at the produce market and got the following:

Lotsa Cheap Produce= GREATNESS.

I GOT:
3 Cucumbers
3 Grapefruits
2 Apples
2 Peppers
Brussel Sprouts (Shout out to Dana!) hehe
1 lb. bag of Carrots
Pack of Mushrooms
Lettuce

Success!

All Less than $7… I’d say that was pretty successful, at least I was excited:)

So After this, I went home and had the other 1/2 of my banana mushed up in my plain Chobani Greek Yogurt :), followed by a Whole Wheat English Muffin(I’m clearly obsessed) with a little almond butterrr.

Delish Combo

yumyumyum

I showered, and was gonna go to the store to pick up some hummus, and then my mom was like “HEY, I have Chickpeas, why dontcha just make it?!” BRILLIANT idea. Really. Especially because I have my brand new Magic-Bullet Impersonator to make it with sooo thats obv what I did:)

Before... Garbanzo-y amazingness

INCLUDED:
(I used the recipe here)
1 Can Chickpeas
1/4 Cup Olive Oil
1/2 A lemon of Juice
1 tsp. Cumin
a little garlic powder, salt, and pepper

After. Hummus-y Goodness

Ta-daaaaa! Granted, we didn’t have Tahini in the house, but it still tasted so so so good:)… and The Cumin reminded me of the Indian Chickpea Dish from Wegman’s… Next time I’m adding a little more of this stuff:)

I dipped many, many carrots, a whole cucumber, and some pretzels to enjoy this great concoction.

cucumberrrrrrrrrs

Carrots not pictured (I just eat them, I can’t control myself… seriously a carrot-addiction.)

I ended up going to the store later on anyways, picking up a few things (Thomas’s whole wheat bagels, Peanut Butter, and flat pretzel chips (will be featured later))

And then since i ate SO MUCH hummus, I was only kinda hungry so I had this for din-din:

Sushi and Edamame

Wow,I’m just realizing the large quantity of beans I’ve consumed today…dang.
After, this I had an apple, but again, ate it and couldn’t take a pic (…But use your imagination)

I then went out with my bff since 3rd grade Kristina:), and we drove around everywhere and talked for about 2 hours and ended up at Friendly’s where we got hit on by the creepy waiter (Get us some!…NOT.) He legit sat down next to me for 5 minutes and had a conversation, but anyways I got this…

Doesn't this look so pretty!?

2 scoops of Fat-Free Raspberry Frozen Yogurt with Oreo pieces (I ended up taking off the whipped cream and cherry… I’m a party pooper, I know.) But it was Raspgasmic<– wow. i love making up my own words. The best part about this was that a 2 scoop, 1 topping is called a "happy ending" so I couldn't help but giggle when I ordered it. I'm so mature.

When I got home, I was hungry…again. I didn't really have a huge meal today, so I guess it makes sense. SOo, I whipped out the Pretzel Flat things I got earlier and dipped 'em in hummus

and then 1/2 a grapefruit

Just 'cuz

…So i literally ate over 1/2 the Hummus I made tonight. No Bigs. 🙂
But if anyone has suggestions for making hummus, pleaseee let me know, I have a feeling this is going to be a more regular occurrence:)

Goodnite!
Michelle

Merry Christmas!! &First FOOD Post

Merry Christmas!!!
Ahh first post with food (from the 23rd) woo! Let’s see… I started off the day with Berry Oats with Trader Joe’s Almond Butter and some yummy Gingerbread tea🙂

Berry Oats with Almond Butter

3/4 cup oats, 1 1/2 cups milk, 3/4 cup frozen berries, ~1tsp. honey, a little plain yogurt, vanilla, and ~2 Tbsp. almond butter, ~1 Tbsp. each of Flaxseed and Wheat Germ

Thennn I cleaned my room and did a few other things around the house and had this about 2 hours later:

Small Plate with a Granny Smith apple, Baby Carrots, and Almonds

(…about triple the amount of shown almonds) This apple was weird, it was supposed to be a granny smith but tasted NOTHING like one, not bad, but not what I was expecting.

Immediately followed by this:

AMAZING.

It’s a Thomas’s Whole Wheat TOASTED Bagel with a plain yogurt(just a little!) and cinnamon sugar. Probably one of my favorite things ever:)

Attempting to be artistic while zooming in on a bagel:)

After this, I went to go do my workout at the local community college

& I packed these with me:

Banana and Cool Mint Chocolate Clif Bar

Workout>>>
6 min. jog/skip
~20 min. warmup
2(3x200m) @ 34sec, 1.15′ rest (between each) /3′ rest (in between sets)
5 min. jog/skip cooldown
*I miss running with the team though, it’s so much easier to pace myself

THEN, I drove over to my high school (I ate a banana on the way) to go lift weights for about an hour, then did ABs and stretched, and Afterward, I had the Clif Bar

I came home, showered, snacked on a sliced up cucumber

Not a great pic, but I'm still learning (I figure you all know what a cucumber looks like:) hehe)

While smelled the wonderful aroma of one of my most beloved home cooked meals that my dad makes: Pea Soup:) sooo delicious, I had a nice big bowl…

Okay, it doesn't LOOK that amazing, but believe me, it is:)

Besides peas, he infuses potatoes into it, and chops up carrots, and little bits of ham (sorry vegans!:/)
Followed by this…

Covered in pepper... totally fine.

Salad with a gorgeous Roma Tomato and Red onion (Olive Oil/TJ’s White Balsamic Vinegar) for Dressing
And A Thomas’ Whole Wheat English Muffin

Close-Up Artsyness;)

Which I dipped into the salad… very yummy!

THEN… My friend Erin and my cousin(one of my best friends), Catie came over and we made a Gingerbread House:) Well, we didn’t exactly make it, my dad set it up with this really easy instructional kit, and we just decorated, but whatev, ’tis the season!

Erin and I sipped on some Celestial Gingerbread tea (sensing a theme here?)… I lovee the seasonal teas (the Candy Cane Lane is my fav- I’ve been drinking it since October:))

Our cute matching Santa and Reindeer mugs:)

PS- Please ignore my “Sweatpants, Hair tie,Chillin’ with no makeup on” Look I have going here while my friends look cute, I was in a sweatshirty mood(as always…), btw i love that quote for some reason so if I use it again, please don’t hold it against me.

While I had the tea, I also enjoyed some pumpkin yogurt:

My Little Concoction

~1 cup plain yogurt
1/2 cup pumpkin
TJ’s Pumpkin Butter
Cinnamon
Topped with Oats

We then continued in the Gingerbread Spirit creating Gingerbread Men based off characters from The Jersey Shore (incorporating pop culture into our everyday lives!)

Catie and J-Wow...She worked hard on the POOF

Erin and The SITUATION: Note the spikes

Me and Snookie...I got the little one (granted not that Snookie-ish but there wasn't enough cookie to work with)

Pauly D- (highlights necessary, oh and hes holding weights in his hands)

Clearly, we are easily amused:)… We then went to the mall for some last minute Christmas shopping, because It was open until 12 and we of course needed to embrace the opportunity:)… I came home and got ready for bed and was of course hungry again (no surprise) so i grabbed one of these…

Clementine: Ain't he a cute little sucker?

+A Handful of pretzels

Okay, I think that’s all. Woo! First food post done (It was Christmas Eve when i started it earlier today, but now its Christmas yayyayay!)

While visions of sugarplums dance in my head, I’ll be awaiting Santa’s Arrival Tonight 🙂 I hope everyone has a wonderful day tomorrow and enjoys whatever goodies lie ahead:)

Merry Christmas to all and to all a Good Night!
Michelle