Weekend Report: Petites

Happy Weekend!  I say that every Friday evening because each weekend is a holiday except without Santa Clause or presents, unless I buy them for myself on my Target expeditions.  I started off my weekend on Thursday by buying one of their new Starbucks Petites. 
TSA disclaimer: I paid for this myself and this review is based on my own opinions.

I got the peanut butter and chocolate cupcake because they were out of all their other flavors and I needed sugar.

My first impression is that they needed a better packaging plan.  The asshat who took it out of the case for me put it into a pastry bag...upside.down....hello?!  I fished it out before the frosting was ruined and took it back to my desk.

Overall, it was a good little treat for under 180 calories- as all of the petites are.  However, I found it too sweet.  This is a very rare term in my vocabulary and it right up there with 'too rich', 'too fluffy', or 'too much sleep' and I was shocked at how it actually exploded in a sugar bomb.  I still ate it though because I don't waste chocolate, coffee or liquor.

I am looking forward to trying some of their other treats when the mood strikes since I don't usually carry delicious mini desserts with me.

I'm off to enjoy what I can of this rainy, stormy weekend.  I've got a yoga class and a UFC event on the books for tonight.

Enjoy your weekend!

Impressive Lunch for Cheap

Happy Tuesday or Wednesday, depending on where you are reading!  This week has been absolutely insane.  I know school ended and everything, but my day job keeps me incredibly busy so here I am at 9:30 just settling in for the evening.  I took a flow yoga class tonight that had me silently screaming from all the sun salutations but LOVING every minute of it.  I'm sick like that.

I'll keep this brief, but I wanted to share my latest lunch obsession- wraps.  Wraps are so easy and cheap to make at home but have a great presentation.

I simply used a sprouted wheat wrap from Trader Joes, chipotle peppers (just a couple for extra zing), laughing cow cheese, lettuce, avocado, and herb roasted turkey.  I paired it with my garden carrots and had my coworkers asking me where I got it.  My house, yo!  The key is to use foil to keep the whole thing together. Once you have that, you are golden.

I have also been enjoying a hybrid blogworld snack: My beloved Pink Lady Apples (hello- a shout to my blog name.  I really did used to eat 3 apples a day) with Greek yogurt, peanut flour, cocoa powder, and almond butter.

Mix up the yogurt with all the powdery goodness and the almond butter and it tastes like the creamiest mousse ever!

Welp, I'm off to finish off my glass of wine and get settled in for the night for real :)

Let's get through the rest of the week and bring on the weekend!

It Takes a Lot to Fuel Me

One of the things I have noticed about eating healthy is that it takes a lot of planning, preparation, and grub.  I'm not talking about carrying a dainty little brown bag to the office.  I haul a truckload of food to keep myself satisfied and properly fueled to handle any water cooler talk and my post-work workouts.  Below are my snacks and the lunch I brought in for Monday:

• Brown rice puffs, whole wheat crackers, 2 apples (gotta meet my apple quota somehow), laughing cow cheese, Greek yogurt, and my salad

Of course I didn't eat all of the food yet but once I set everything out it was kinda funny how much food I carry around!  What can I say- I'm a volume eater and when I don't plan, I get in trouble.
Today's lunch was also massive- this bowl is maybe 2-3 cups worth of my random veggie soup.  I don't have a recipe because I call veggie stock+random veggies simmered for 15 minutes soup:

In other greedy, massive food supply news, I made out like a bandit at our year round farmer's market.  I feel like a goofball when I don't go for weeks of months because of all the gorgeous produce they have.  Here is my share:

It's Wednesday and the food is almost gone.  Most of it went in my tummy, but I shared because I do that sometimes. 
I better go pack my lunch and I need to take our large suitcase out of storage to accommodate it.  This girl is hungry. Don't judge.

Rounding Up

Hey Guys!  Thanks for the cleaning tips.  It has given my hubby hope that our house won't look like a frat house from time to time.  No promises.

I'm home after work and a great workout.  Today I forgot my beloved iPod and instead of singing to myself (believe me, there are enough freaks in my gym between the plastic surgery display and the woman who walks around with a portable DVD player), I decided to just keep moving so I wouldn't get bored!

• 12 minute stairmill intervals
• 10 minute elliptical intervals
• 11 minute treadmill run
• Back
• Lat pulls
• Seated Rows
• Compound Rows
• Some machine I can't describe

• Biceps
• 2 kinds of curls and cables

I realize that's 33 minutes of cardio and not a magic number like 30 or 35, but I did it to rattle some nerves along with my own.  Do you have to round up your minutes to get to some round number?

Food
I've been fueling myself all day long and feel pretty good about my lunch and snack today. 
Lunch:

We've got half of a Trader Joe's Lavash wrap filled with mixed greens, tempeh, marinara sauce and some fat free feta.  It was gooood!  I chickened out on the clementine but killed the plum.  Though it doesn't look like it, the wrap was small (I eat on a salad plate unless I note otherwise) and I ended up eating the other half of the wrap in about 2 hours because I was huuuuungry!  Sometimes mini meals work and sometimes they don't!  I kinda feel like if I ate mini meals, I would have to eat about 8 times a day, no joke!

Snack:

 I had a 1 cup serving of Trader Joe's 0% Greek Yogurt with 1/3 cup Kashi Go Lean Crunch and a little peanut butter.  It was goooood!
Questions for you: What's your eating style?  Do you graze?  Do you have 3 square meals and call it a day? I eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner and usually have an afternoon snack at 4 since I don't eat dinner until at least 8.
I've got a fun lunch post in my head for you tomorrow, so come back and say hi!

B is for Bronchitis and Other Random Thoughts

Bronchitis!
I'm a bit of a complainer and a hypochondriac...probably due to my childhood of being the younger, spoiled child and many winters of colds. I thought that the last month of 'cold' was just that- a cold. Apparently I was wrong and have been walking around with bronchitis- how dumb is that?

In addition, I have been working very long hours and have not taken a day off to get better- also dumb! When I finally cracked and felt like crap yesterday, I went to the doctor. I came home with antibiotics to take for five days, along with 2 inhalers to help open my airways. I have never had asthma and have had a little bit of a hard time with breathing, but I am weary of the inhalers. I have decided to give them a try for a couple of days as I am getting bizarre side effects from them. I get a little shaky and antsy- not a good combination for a spazoid to begin with. I did get some eats in yesterday before the drugs kicked in:

Ginormous Whole Wheat Bagel with teaspoon almond butter:



Whole Wheat Tortilla Pizza with Roasted Eggplant, Tomato sauce, and a Sprinkle of cheese:



Snack Plate of Orange, Almond Butter, a few chocolate chips, and 2 mini meringues:



Random Thoughts

• Today I stayed home to rest up and my co-worker has managed to torture me while sick...what do people not get about a SICK day? I got a million e-mails and requests for things that could have waited until tomorrow. This overwhelms me and is counter-productive. I dread going back in tomorrow, but I'm glad I got the rest.
• I can't exercise for about a week while I get over this and take my antibiotics. It's not like I have been overly excited to exercise and know that I will get back into it...but when someone tells me I can't do something, I want to!
• I can't stand when people comment on my weight- in one way or another. Do you experience any of this? Some of my parents' friends were talking about how I lost weight but it is really triggering and I wish people kept their thoughts to themselves.

Well...that's it. I'm off to take my pill, inhale some medicine, and eat some dinner.
Have a great night!

The Randomness Continues

It's another day down and I have had another day of random meals fueled by my lack of or bursts of appetite. I started off my morning with 2 vices. I used to be very much into energy drinks. Now I know there is nothing healthy about them, but I was falling asleep and grabbed my drink on the way out of the door. We actually have a free stash of these since our friend is a sales person for Rockstar and gave us some samples. I also had a pre-breakfast of a chocolate chip cookie. Most important meal of the day right? This fueled me through my commute to work.





When I got to work I had my real breakfast about an hour later of Kashi Go Lean Crunch, Cheerios, and heated light soy milk.






At 11:45 I wasn't hungry enough for lunch but decided to grab something to hold myself over for another few hours since my schedule was packed. I had a very green snack of 1/2 apple, sliced kiwi, and green tea. A few minutes later I also ate another Dark Chocolate Coconut Kashi bar.






I waited to get hungry for lunch but wasn't feeling it so I grabbed 3 sliced carrots with my favorite hummus:







I remembered that we had a birthday party at work (ahem, after it happened and I was one of the February birthdays) and walked into the kitchen to see this:





This is about 1.5" x 1.5" x 2" of pure chocolate decadence. It was the most flavorful thing I have had in a few days!


I came home to prep a few more meals for the week and ended up making some whole wheat pasta. I'm embarrassed to admit that I don't know what a real serving of pasta is. I cooked up one cup of penne and added some sauce that I bought earlier this week with a sprinkle of parmesan cheese.





I also had the other half of my flat out wrap with a turkey slice for protein but forgot to take a picture...and also didn't take a picture of the chocolate chip cookie I just ate.


Balance

My meals haven't been the most balanced today. I got in my fruits and veggies (ok, 3 carrots count) but there is an overall lack of balance and I'm starting to feel it in my tummy. I know I can't be back to normal until I recover from this cold, but I am becoming frustrated with myself. I am trying to eat at least something so that I keep my energy up, but wholesome foods (not chocolate) are probably a little better for me. I'm also a horrible patient and don't like to eat soup so I just fall back on whatever is around.

I have got to start taking better care of myself since somebody has a birthday this weekend. We are having a party at our house on Saturday night so I've got to get it together.

Does anybody have any surefire cold remedies?

Don't Judge Me

Hello World! I hope you made it through another Monday. I hate to be one of those people, but Monday's really are no fun. Today I made a few strange meal choices. I am kinda doing this high carb thing- or at least that's what it feels like since they taste best and feel best on my finicky tummy and lazy taste buds. On with today's meals:

I forgot to take a picture of breakfast (ironically, it was a sandwich made of whole wheat toast, 1 slice turkey, and 1 slice cheese heated in the micro) but here is my LUNCH:

1 cup Kashi Go Lean Crunch, 1/2 cup Cheerios, 3/4 cup Silk Light Soy Milk and my apple:





Don't judge me, cereal can be eaten round the clock.





My work also has the most humongous bowls known to mankind so they make it hard to eyeball portions, but I'm pretty sure I got this right. I think filling it up all the way would be about 3 or 4 cups worth.


At 4:30 it still wasn't close to quitting time so I went down to get a snack. I got an Organic Oatmeal Cookie from Starbucks. Now I have to explain one thing- there is a Starbucks INSIDE my building. Do you know what this means? It means that I smell Mocha-Latte-Machiattos-Wonderful-Deliciousness every time I enter my building. I have been at this location for less than one week and I already cracked. In my defense, I said I wouldn't buy any drinks from the 'Bucks, but if you are keeping score, the damage is done.

This 350-calorie sucker kept me full until I got home at 7:30. I also enjoyed it with one of my many cups of herbal tea:





I thought that since I filled up on my breakfast foods for the day, I would just have a snack for dinner. This guy had arguably more breakfast food, but it's all I could think of. Here is 1/2 cup fat free vanilla yogurt with 1/2 of a green apple, a sliced kiwi, and a Kashi Dark Chocolate Coconut bar crumbled on top. This was very yummy and I can't wait to try it when my appetite is kickin':





My wonderful fiance is moving furniture and I'm helping him every once in a while, but waiting patiently for my bed to be assembled so I can go to sleep. Tomorrow is another early day. Have a great night!

Glorious Monday

What a great way to spend a Monday- off work! Today we had a great time and filled the day doing my favorite things. We went shopping, worked out, grocery shopping, and I cooked. We started out with a late breakfast. My oatmeal and piece of homemade honey bread kept me full for 6 hours and through a workout! It was awesome.

My shopping trip was devoted to getting some new work clothes and other fun things. I haven't shopped in forever since we have been saving for the wedding so this was a really fun treat. I must admit that I am not the hugest shopping fan- it takes me a long time to find what I like. I ended up walking away with a black dress, dress pants, and 2 tops- all for around $50- the sales were insane today!

My workout consisted of a 40-minute run. Since I am working up to running, I set time limits for myself and I have to complete the run over the course of the limit. I try to keep a good pace but allow myself to slow down just so I can keep running. I don't think this rationale comes from any legitimate training schedule but it works in my own world. I ran 3.56 miles and stretched right after.

After our shopping and gym trip, I came home to have a late lunch (around 3:30). I cut up 2 humongous carrots and made an egg sandwich since the hardboiled eggs had survived the fridge for several days and needed to be eaten. My sandwich was made from the following:

• 2 slices Milton's whole grain bread
• 1 egg
• Spicy southwestern mustard (our store brand)
• Sprinkle of Parmesan cheese

I also dipped my carrots in some TJ's sundried tomato and basil hummus. Somebody watched me plate my food and stared like a puppy until I offered half of the sandwich- I just can't say no to that cute face!

The carrots did their job and filled me up and the other half of the sandwich was great.





We are both settled down on the couch doing my homework (I swear I'll start after I finish this) and I just finished my snack. I had half of a sliced granny smith apple with 1/4 cup vanilla yogurt mixed with 1/2 cup nonfat cottage cheese and 1 Tbsp of my new syrup (only $.30 on clearance). I also had a camera-shy cookie.







Off to study and get ready for my day. Have a great evening!

Snack Pack

Well, I made my best attempt at eating dinner at 5:00, but I wasn't hungry (probably because I had another trailmix pack (THANKS MARI!)

I stopped at my parents' house to print out my paper and ran into my mom's daycare to make a snack pack. This baggie contains goldfish, animal crackers, natural fruity cereal, walnuts, and a cookie. I'm not planning on enjoying all of this...but you never know how long class goes...

Have a great night and see you tomorrow!

Three Snacks do Not Equal Dinner

This afternoon I promised I would post my snacks- well that didn't happen. I often have a hard time deciding on how much food to bring and when to eat it since I spend traditional dinner time in school twice a week. Afternoon snacks included the following:

• 4:00 p.m. - A serving of baked tofu, a serving of peanuts (I know strange combo)
• 6:30 p.m. - A Granny Smith Apple, a low glycemic cookie (from my mom), and a handful of goldfish
• 9:00 p.m. - 1/2 cup of cottage cheese with a homemade mini muffing

What I learned is that I should just bite the bullet and pack dinner for each of these days. I can either eat at 5:00 p.m. on my commute, or at 6:30 right before class. I guess I will have to see what works as we go along.


In an effort to plan, I decided to make lunch/dinner for tomorrow. We had a bunch of food that is on its last legs, so I made a super salad. Please disregard the lovely tupperware.










Here are the ingredients- again, I was cleaning the fridge/using what I cooked for Mike's dinner, so no recipe here, obviously!

• ~2 cups Broccoli slaw (it's in there)
• Roasted brussel sprouts
• 2 tbsp corn
• 1 serving of baked tofu
• 2 baby mandarins almost ready to be chucked
• 1/4 cup Cous Cous
  

I think I got everything here. I plan on adding in some celery waiting for me in my work fridge and bringing some more baked tofu to add so that I can split this into two meals. I'm not much of a dressing person, but I'll let you know what I use.

Well, I'm off to catch some sleep (watch TV till I pass out).

Busy Bee

Today was a crazy busy day. There were definitely moments when I would look up and realize that I had lost a couple of hours in thin air. Meals were not very structured today, so I kept my energy up with large snacks.

Featured here is some vanilla yogurt with 2 tbsp trailmix and 2 lovely clementines:



As it often happens, I stayed late at work and had no energy to make anything fancy so I had a little buffet for myself- chopped granny smith apple, half banana, and 2 light flat out wraps with 1 tbsp chocolate pb in each- I told you I was going to eat this stuff every day until it's gone.



This meal was still around 500 cals. What do you think of unstructured meals? I know it was carb heavy, but since I already ate my veggies as another snack today, I was perfectly comfortable having this.

I have spent this evening doing some research and exploring my future options. I hope to have some news soon!

I don't feel so bad not posting since I often talk to myself, so prove me wrong!

Question: What are your favorite snacks when you just can't eat?

Veggies are Awesome

Hey Kids!

Well, it was a fabulously awesome and amazing day. I didn't do too much today but it was great to have the day off. I went to my parents house to spend some time with my mom, did laundry at home, spent some time with my best friend, cooked, and baked. Here are my meals:

Stuffed Zucchini (from my mom)


Fresh blackberries and strawberries



Frozen yogurt (tart original, tart pomegranate, mini chocolate chips, mini pb chips, 1 tbsp granola)



When I came home I continued to prep for the week. I like to make meals ahead of time for my guy as he is on his own for at least 2 nights a week and I also like to grab and go during the week.

I made lean beef with soba noodles and grilled onions and peppers in a sesame oil (for boy only- I don't eat red meat):


Sweet Potato Au Gratin (my healthy version of it):


Egg Salad:




For my own dinner, the star of the show was this new purchase- Archer Farms Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter spread. I honestly don't know where this has been my whole life, but I am in big, big trouble with this guy. Archer Farms is the Target brand and this stuff was amazing. I made sure to eat my veggies and then moved on to my main course- a granny smith apple and a flat out wrap with 1 tbsp of the spread (x2)!

This stuff has a very short ingredient list of peanuts, cocoa, and 2 or 3 other ingredients. I highly, highly recommend it and fear this may be the end of my blog!









I am ending my evening with some veggies- on my foot. Unfortunately the foot pain I had this morning did not go away. I thought it would be fine to do stationary bike at the gym but the outside of my foot was still in pain so I did 3 strength exercises and called it a day. I have had times in the past when I have not listened to my body and delayed my healing, but today I just let myself rest. I stopped by Fleet Feet on my way home and they told me that this was common and likely a sign of poor padding and overuse- I guess my distance increase was too much for my footsie. So here I am icing it with some veggies. I told you they were awesome!

French cut green beans:


See you tomorrow!

Busy and Full or Hungry and Bored?

Have you ever noticed that busy days are often the days you hardly think of food while on boring days, thoughts of food seem to consume you as there is not much else to do? This is a common theme in my life.

Like many others, I have a job with long, stressful hours and we rarely have a slow season. Those days are filled with meetings, deadlines, and constant tasks nipping at the heels. Due to the logistics of those days, I am satiated from the combination of meals I have had to scarf down at my desk and the adrenaline my body produces going from one task to the other. I find that on those days, I will often ‘forget to eat’. Now this is coming from someone who can forget her car keys, her gym shoes, her wallet, her cell phone (and all necessary components), but almost NEVER forgets to eat! Food is often an afterthought and just pops in when I feel the hunger pangs.

The opposite happens on sluggish days when I am in between tasks or just enjoying a leisurely evening at home. My body starts messing with me and sending me boredom signals often in the form of hunger. Now I must explain that when I am in fact hungry, I find myself something to eat and enjoy it. The hunger I am talking about is what forms from a lack of things to do. When we turn on the TV, we get food commercials, magazines are filled with food, and an extra hour of reading blogs results in a plethora of food pictures that help us ‘work up an appetite’. Many of these things are usually hard to avoid, so it's best to arm ourselves with some activities. There are lots of tips that address boredom eating. What works for you?

However, today was definitely a busy day and here is what I had for my snack- a bunch of blurry strawberries (sorry!)

Gotta get ready to call it a day and have a great workout at the gym tonight!

Technical Difficulties

I think technical difficulties will be the theme of my day.
I got in my car this morning and realized that I needed to get gas and some tickets for my train at the grocery store- no problem as it was only 6:30 and I was running early. I stopped in to get some things for my two long days with work and school and promptly figured out that I had left my camera at home.

Here is what I picked up at the store to keep myself fueled:

• Turkey slices
• Mushrooms (random, but only $1 for the package)
• Vanilla Chai tea
• Chocolate Southbeach Diet bars (not my thing, but they had 10 grams of protein for only 140 cals so thought they were a good back-up)
• A box of beautiful strawberries on sale

I also got a grande nonfat latte for my ride on the train, but of course no picture!

At about 11:00, the lights in our office began to flicker and we lost all power yet again! How frustrating! I worked off my laptop battery for an hour and then had to walk to catch my train home to get internet access. It's crazy how dependent we have become on the Internet- but I seriously could not do a single thing without access!

New Dishes

My brother's friend was kind enough to give me some new dishes. He's one of those random guys who knows a lot of people and gave me some dishes from a sushi restaurant that was closing! I couldn't resist and had to share:

Aren't they cute? I decided that I would use one of the bowls I got for my afternoon snack- Chocolate Cranberry Citrus Yogurt!















This yogurt is nothing special, but tasted really good. Here is how I made my snack:

• 6 oz fat free vanilla yogurt
• 1 tbsp Nestle hot chocolate mix (the chocolate component)
• 1 tbsp dried Orange Cranberries
• ~1/4 cup TJ's high fiber cereal

Here is is pre-mixing:

And a lot less pretty afterwards!

I have my very first class of the quarter tonight from 7-10. I am going to see how long these technical difficulties last as it is very hard to do anything without proper access to our server- an impromptu workout may be in store with my newly acquired free time!

Though it is sunny now, I am off to make some tea or hot chocolate.

Have a great afternoon!