The Good, The Strange, and the Chocolate

Well here I am back at you at only 10:30 PM.  I've been going, going, and going all day long and it's almost time to have a date with my hubby since we haven't seen each other since 7:00 AM this morning!  Let's rewind to some of my eats:

The Good:

The return of the snack platter!  Pink Lady apple, organic red bell pepper, organic sliced carrots, and natural PB.

Different sources of protein- Trader Joe's organic cottage cheese with cinnamon and almonds (love, love, love and had seconds!)

The Strange:

Trader Joe's Natural Jalapeno Chicken Sausage on Sprouted Wheat bread and sugar snap pea fries.  No idea why I ate this, but it was strangely good. 

The Chocolate
Easily filling in for the snack of the day, I had chocolate- um, twice.  First I had these two bite size pieces with a side of calculator:

Then I had another couple of pieces at home with a side of swiffer sweeper in my kitchen:

I can't help it, I'm female and chocolate rules my life sometimes.  I needed the fuel to cook up some meals for the week:

Roasted sweet potatoes with orange chicken stirfry

Roasted Asparagus

My beloved Brussels and more sweet potatoes

Don't forget to enter my contest HERE !

Got a question?  Ask me anything here!

Finally, Starbucks will be sampling free Peeled Snacks this Friday, February 26th.  I'm gonna hit up the 'bucks in my building at work for some!

See you kids soon!

Black Bears

Hi Guys!  I've had a quick, busy and fun weekend!  I'm gonna hit you with another quick one, highlighting the eats as per usual!

On Saturday my hubby and I went to the cutest diner for lunch called Black Bear Diner.  I am such a sucker for cute sayings and there were a ton of 'beary good eats' and the owners signed the menu with Sugar Bear and Papa Bear as their names.  I had to say 'bears eat beats' and other corny sayings as we were browsing the menu and I was positive everyone around us was aware of my excitement.  Their menu was a newspaper with local news and history trivia:

As this establishment is targeted towards the diner crowd, they didn't emphasize health food and I was fine with it.  I went with one of their 'A Little Less Lunch' items and had a bowl of chicken tortilla soup and a fruit cup while hubby enjoyed a reuben and a side salad!  Go healthy hubby, go!

The soup was nice and spicy and the fruit was just aight but I still really enjoyed it and the company since my hubby and I were parting ways so I could go to a bachelorette party. 

It was a lot of fun and I'll share two things with you.  I've got a strict policy to not post pictures of people unless I get their permission and I also like to keep things PG on my web scene!

The menu was awesome:

 

Clearly it's not legible, but it was fantastic- ahi tuna tacos, delicious shrimp, gruyere fondue, mini sliders- everything was fantastic!  If you are ever in the Mission District of San Francisco, go to Andalu and you will not be disappointed!

The second thing I can share is the outfit I wore that night:

 

I was actually home by midnight and only had one drink, so I was a good girl! 

Just because I know ya'll care, here are this weekend's snacks:

Weekend Snacks: 2 mini homemade brownies post evening out on Saturday, fro yo and 2 mini brownies on Sunday

Worth It Factor: 5- I clearly bent my rules on both days but this is not a form of restriction, just a way to be more aware of my sweet treats.  Monday will fix everything!

Annoucements:
Don't forget to enter Diva Katie's Giveaway!

If you want some chia in your life, enter my giveaway here!

Got some burning questions for me?  Ask me anything here!

I'll be back with regular nonsense on Monday :)

Give it Away Give it Away Give it Away Now!

(Sing to the tune of Red Hot Chili Peppers and perhaps start a mosh pit in your living room)

Before I get to the contest, I want to share my treat of the day.  Before I do, I have to clarify that it's one sweet treat since I'm trying to reel in my sugar monster- savory treats (bleh!) and fruit don't count- only dessert!

Today's Snack: 1/2 cup frozen blueberries topped with plain yogurt icing and a homemade brownie on top; my own sundae!
Worth It Factor: 10!  This was a perfect portion and I knew exactly what was in it because I made it!

Giveaway Time!!

When I tried chia seeds for the first time earlier this week, I instantly fell in love.  I was excited when Don from chiaseedsdirect.com offered to give one of my fabulous readers a 2 pound bag of chia seeds!  You guys are the best and I appreciate your comments and every time you stop by.  Also, I wanted to give you a present to celebrate my birfday!

If you haven't been to the website you can see that they offer very low prices, free shipping on all US orders, and all orders are shipped within 24 hours via USPS Priority Mail.

Also, chia seeds have a great nutritional profile according to the information posted on the Chia Seeds Direct site:

Nutrition Facts
Serving Size: 1 ounce (28g)
Amount Per Serving
Calories 138    Calories from Fat 73
Total Fat    9g
Saturated Fat    1g
Trans Fat    0g
Cholesterol    0mg
Sodium    5mg
Total Carbohydrate    12g
Dietary Fiber    11g
Sugars
Protein    4g
Vitamin A    0% DV
Vitamin C    0% DV
Calcium    18% DV
Iron    28% DV

So are you ready to enter?  Each item below is one entry.  Please leave me a comment by 9:00 PM Eastern Time on February 27 so that I can add to your chia chances!

Here's what you do:
1. Leave me a comment telling me your favorite early 1990s song!
2. Add me to your blogroll and leave me a comment telling me you did so
3. Tweet this giveaway and tell me you did so
4. Link my giveaway on your blog and send me the link

Good luck!  The winner will be announced on February 28th :)!!!

Snacks, Worth It Factor

Hey hey hey!  I hope everyone is winding down for a week and getting ready for one last push on Friday before the weekend!  This post will be light on pictures, so you'll have to read!

Evening Snack
I'm enjoying my evening snack as I type and attempting to get to some homework- let's see how that goes!
I got so excited when I made this and thought the blueberries were so cute:

• Brown Cow Blueberry Greek Yogurt
• Trader Joe's wild frozen blueberries

I loved this combo.  It tasted like ice cream, but obviously isn't!  I also paired it with the almonds I roasted  last night.

Mission: One Snack Per Day

I've decided to share my daily treat or snack with you to keep me accountable and to share the deliciousness I find!  I'll also rate  the taste and the 'worth it' factor on a scale of 1 to 10.  Here we go!
Today's Snack: I shared a small sesame ball with a coworker and had a bite of a mini tart.  I still counted it as one since I didn't finish either of them (sorry, no picture)
Worth it Factor: -10.  Both were gross and not worth it at all!

Eating in Groups
Today was a really interesting experience in group dynamics when my office went to lunch at a dim sum restaurant.  It's really interesting to see how people discuss foods and their eating habits when they are together.  One of my coworkers happened to be a vegetarian and each person eating meat or fish made sure to go out of his or her way to ask if there was enough food, if the vegetarian gentleman was hungry, and what he eats on a normal basis.  I found it really interesting because this man seemed to be enjoying himself and eating lots of vegetables, some kind of sticky buns, tofu, and even dessert, yet the people around us could not fathom how he was enjoying a meal without meat. 
I narrowly escaped the scrutiny because I ate the items with shrimp in them while avoiding the pork and other mystery meats, but there were still comments made about my portions and choices because they know I am 'healthy'.  I know a lot of eating judgment comes from people's curiosity or perhaps discomfort in their own diets.  I don't really take it personally and I'm glad to share my philosophy if they ask, but I did find it interesting that one's food choices took over the conversation and he had to justify his lifestyle.


What do you think?  Do you have to justify how you eat? I am not scrutinized too badly, but I do have to explain to people that I like healthy food and don't force myself to eat it when they ask! 

Announcements!!
Ask Me Anything
I've jumped on the Awesome Wagon and got an account.  You can ask me anything HERE.  I'm open to answer anything within reason!!! I can't wait to get some questions to answer!


Giveaway Alert
I was contacted by a fabulous company that's been all over the blogosphere to do a giveaway soon!  I'm going to post the contest tomorrow and give ya'll a little health for coming here and supporting me.  I'm soooo excited and the winner will be announced on MY birthday!  Stay tuned.  It's a good one!


Have a great Friday!!

Mid-Week Roasting

Hi Beautiful Bloggie Amigas!

I'm about to hit you with another quickie!  It's been another long day, including some mid-week food prep and kitchen scrubbing.  As I mentioned before, I like to cook on Sundays and then do very minimal work throughout the week because of school and work for both of us.  Since we've been extra hungry, all of the food somehow disappeared by Wednesday.  It was time for reinforcements:

First, these smelly treats:

I also tried the fabulous recipe of kale chips with nooch!!! I think lots of my favorite bloggers have made them and I know why!

They were amazing.  Like Doritos, but better!
I also roasted up some almonds from my giant 3 pound bag of raw almonds:

I love throwing almonds into snacks or eating them plain as I wander aimlessly through the kitchen.  My husband has been adding them to his breakfast of yogurt and brownies :)

I used my new ingredients to make a giant salad for my lunch tomorrow:

• Spinach, kale chips, red bell pepper slices, peanut sauce dressing

I know it's a bizarre combo, but it sounded good at the time and I'm sure I'll gobble it up.

One thing I gobbled up today was my lunch- at 10:30 AM.  I tried to wait, but 10:31 was the latest I could wait and I was truly hungry:

I had the Starbucks Tarragon Chicken sandwich with a serving of Sun Chips.  It was good, until I was ready for dinner at 3:30.  You win some, you lose some, right?  Sometimes there are dumb rules like eating appropriate foods at appropriate times.  I've tried to follow them, but sometimes I want cake for dinner and a sandwich for breakfast.

I am trying to honor my hunger cues, but think it's wise to quiet down my sugar monster cues.  I'm not a fan of deprivation because it makes something in my brain go nuts, but I would like to set a goal of only one treat per day.  Fruit doesn't count, but chocolate does!  I'll let ya'll know how I do!

Some questions for you:

Do you categorize certain foods for certain meals only?  
Do you eat by a clock, by your growling stomach, or by the crazy voices in your head? 
Do you have a sweet tooth?

Make It Snappy

Hi Guys!  Hope you survived your Tuesday!  Only 3 more days this week!  I am going to make this snappy since it's 10:30 and I just ate dinner.  I had my rockstar lifestyle today with grad school after work and I'm one tired girl!

One thing I'm not tired about was the February Birthday Cake celebration at my work:

Isn't this cake beautiful?  I was pretty upset that 3 more people were sharing with me, but I was OK with it in the end.  My name is decorated the prettiest anyways, and the biggest one on the bottom left.  It's Yelena (pronounced ye-lain-ah)!  This Opera Cake was delicious and I fully enjoyed a piece!

My second afternoon snack was this Brown Cow Strawberry Greek Yogurt and some Zen tea:

I added some Kashi Go Lean Crunch and boogied on to my 7-10 class where I learned a lot of stuff!  I came home and it was time to feed the monster again.

I was craving eggs and spinach so I made this monster:

I also used half a can of spicy stewed tomatoes, 2 eggs, and probably 3 cups of spinach and sprinkled the top with Nutritional Yeast.  It was De-licious!  I think I will eat this every day for the rest of my life.  As far as I'm concerned, it can do no wrong!

What's your favorite breakfast food?  Mine is anything- breakfast is my favorite, minus the breakfast meats.  I just don't understand them!

Have a great Wednesday!

Vitamin D

I'm usually glad when Mondays are over, but I've got a few tears about today being over!  It's been such a great day.  East Coast Divas, please cover your eyes- it was 72 degrees here today.  I think all the Vitamin D made me happy!

Family Food Bloggers
I started off by meeting with my mom and shopping my little heart out.  I hit up Macy's and Forever 21.  I'm no longer 21, but I refuse to shop in the adult stores.  Not yet...besides, since my birthday is coming up, I'm trying to embrace my youth!  We also hit up Sam's Club and Trader Joe's.  My mom is turning into a blogger in training- we got her some almond butter and I shared my goji berries and chia seeds with her.  If I catch her taking pictures of her food, I'm in trouble.  On my other side of the family, I'm already getting emails about what kinds of fish to eat and have fully converted them into my almond butter cult :)


My dad, however has always been a blogger, minus the photography.  My dad has been drinking Noni juice for the last 5 years or so.  He's also a machine and runs 3 miles almost daily, lifts weights, and swims...all on top of his physically demanding job.  I sampled some of his superfood juice today:

The juice was on the right- I poured it in the shot glass so I could get a good measurement.  Plus, it was the middle of the day, and I have standards people!

I came home to unload my loot:

• Organic apples, organic spinach, cage free organic eggs, raw almonds, laughing cow cheese, brown cow greek yogurt, and bananas

Sam's Club has come a long way.  I think that as long as the company is making organic, healthy foods available for a good price to the public, it's enough for me to put my occasional cash money there.

I cooked up a good meal for my working hubby and after that I went to the gym to do apparently nothing:

I guess I did about 2 miles in 23 minutes- a quick, easy run to get my legs loose after yesterday!

When I came home it was still sunny and beautiful (I'll stop bragging soon) so we took dinner outside.

We had roasted veggies:

Some organic chicken and broccoli for the Mister:

The star of the show was the Peanut Sauce- heavily adapted from Miss Avery:
1/4 cup PB
Juice of 1/2 lime
3 Tbsp Maple/Agave Blend Syrup (from TJ's)
Glug of soy sauce
Tabasco, black pepper, chili powder
1 Tbsp water to thin it out
~1 clove crushed garlic

Thank you Avery- you are a genius!

My husband, who loves veggies as it is, was finding excuses to dip stuff in the peanut sauce and cleaned out the rest of it- definite success! I made more right after dinner too!


My plate:

• Roasted veggies, GIANT beans from TJ's, brown rice, and broccoli wth peanut sauce

We didn't forget about dessert.  My compulsive baking forced me to make Espresso Brownies:

Here is my super easy recipe:
Hubby's Espresso Brownies:

• 1/2 package of brownie mix of choice (I used Ghirardelli because they are from San Francisco and AWESOME)
• 1 egg
• 1/2 - 3/4 cup pumpkin puree
• 1/2 cup strongly brewed coffee or 2-3 shots of espresso
• Top with almonds or pecans
• Bake at 350 for 30-35 minutes (or while eating peanut sauce with a spoon)

I like to serve my chocolate with more chocolate:

Here is my date digging into his stash:

And this is what I do when people try to take my picture:

No idea either, but it adds to my character and it's good to put embarassing pictures of myself on the internets.

Something to do...
I'm so glad, excited, overwhelmed, and pleased that now more than my hubby and mom read my blog!  I am, however, trying to update my blogroll and want to capture all of your blog updates.  Can you please leave your url for me so that I can add you all and properly stalk you?  Thanks in advance!

How are you doing in introducing people to your food and fitness lifestyle?