When Life Hands You Lemons- Make a Hummus Bowl

Hey Kids!  I hope you have had a great week!  I'm ready for it to be the freakin' weekend already!  That will also mean that my final paper has been AHEM submitted and that I have finished my quarter at school.  It took enrolling in grad school to really appreciate my free time and I will definitely appreciate it this winter break!

My New Eating Strategy
Foods have been less than stellar.  I've been following a strategy called "what amount of vegetables can I shove in my face to be able to eat dessert"  Exhibit A:

Big ole plate of veggies with a juevo.  Followed immediately by this:

Stupid, evil carrot cake.  Please go away!  Sometimes I get bored of eating healthy all the time.  I do prefer wholesome foods, but sometimes my body wants to rebel, so I just listen.  I'll get over this hump, I just know it!
I also had this fabulous persimmon:

Do you like my calculator in the background?  Math nerds are sexy and I've been all over the math, submitting end-of-month reports and end-of-year reports, leading to the end of my sanity.  I'll do a report on that too.

Hummus Bowl
Today's dinner was inspired by a nearly empty hummus container:

It's not like I'm some kind of an Oats In The Jar inventor, but I have to say this was quite innovative given the limited resources I had.  I knew I wanted roasted veggies and had to finish my hummus.  Licking the container was out of the question.  I present to you- the Hummus Bowl(TM)!

You just heat up your roasted veggies (carrot fries, butternut squash, broccoli, and brussels sprouts) and then transfer them to your nearly empty hummus container.

I am a very full girl because I hoovered about 3 cups of roasted veggies so that I could get to my real dinner:

It's good to have priorities.
It's also good to get awards!  Awards make me smile like crazy!  Miss Mari gave me this HAPPY 101 AWARD!  This girl is awesome and always makes me smile!

Here are the rules:

1. List 10 things that make you Happy
2. Tag 10 Bloggers that Brighten your day



10 Things That Make Me Happy
1. Sleeping in on Saturday mornings (even if it's only till 8:30)
2. Chocolate and almond butter- together or in that order.
3. Lots of fiber-filled fruits and veggies
4. Long bike rides with my hubby
5. Getting my hair done- especially when I don't have to flat iron it myself!
6. Sparkly things, especially sparkly presents
7. Achievements- I love doing well in school and work and getting that pat on the back
8. My nephew- his face makes me smile.

9. My supportive and loving family (especially hubby)
10. All things health- treadmill running, weights, healthy foods, and learning from the blogging community


10 Bloggers Who Make Me Smile!
1. Everyday Foodie
2. Abby's Vegan Eats
3. Healthy Diva Eats
4. The Candid RD
5. New Weigh of Life
6. Healthy and Sane
7. Missy Maintains
8. Simply Fabulous
9. Eat Move Love
10. Dining & Dishing

Phew!  That took a while.  Now I have to crank out some productivity and finish this paper so I can get  on with life!  See you soon!

Buttah

Hope ya'll had a great Tuesday!  Mine was filled with lots of good eats!  It started off well with my big salad:

• Organic mixed greens
• Lots of steamed broc
• Hardboiled egg
• Carrot fries
• Spicy sesame dressing

Then I remembered we had carrot cake left, most importantly FROSTING from the carrot cake.  I helped myself to some buttah:

There was an inch of butter with a sliver of cake under.  Woah baby!
After work I met my hubby for some sushi.  Have I mentioned how much I love sushi?  I may even love it more than chocolate.  Maybe.  I've been dreaming of it and was supposed to have some this weekend but had to flake because of homework (sorry bro).  It was dreamy:

• Caterpillar roll
• Rainbow roll
• Poki Maki roll

It was basically amazing.  I am off to bed because I hear rumors that our technically challenged DVR may have recorded an episode of How I Met Your Mother.  My bed, space heater, and my funny bone are all waiting for me.
Ciao bellas!

Busted!

This evening was one of my last two classes for this quarter.  I don't know why, but this quarter has been more difficult than the last 4 quarters when I was planning my wedding.  Maybe I didn't have enough to keep me busy?  No se.

Tonight was a typical night of not being prepared to get through class.  I ate my protein cookie in class tonight:

This is not like Gina's creations, but it did the trick for the time being.  I also enjoyed a persimmon and a hard boiled egg earlier.  Three hours later, I was ready to chew my arm off.  I hovered in front of the microwave while my broccoli steamed up and took this dainty little picture of it:

Hubby decided to catch my true essense in my demolition of the innocent veggies on the plate:

Noticed the stuffed chipmunk cheeks full of cruciferous veggies.  He also captured what my plate really looks like when I'm going through battle:

I was lucky enough to be left in peace to eat my forth meal dessert:

There was a spoon, 6 dates, and almond butter involved.  Use your imagination
Are you a neat eater?  Or do you make a mess like I do?  I obviously like making a mess- it's way more fun!

All Business

It's Sunday night and I actually have something to show for it!  I started out with 4 papers, 2 PowerPoint Presentations, and a partridge in a pear tree on my To Do list for my MBA program.  I'm down to only one of each left on my list, so I'm feeling surprisingly productive and accomplished.  I was all academic all weekend long, so I'm all about synergy, workplace diversity, and the four frames of management.  Do you follow me? 

Now let's get down to bus-nast:

There were more Espresso Brownies made from my last post and they were quickly consumed.  I went from no interest to having full shareholder investment in them.  They served as the perfect breakfast dessert, plus they were mini, so the calories didn't count.
Real breakfast included my apple crisp adapted from Mama Pea but highly de-veganized with the addition of plain yogurt:

While I sat on my arse and synergized with the couch while writing about global workforce diversity, I sent hubby on a shopping trip.  He came back with the essentials:

• Trader Joe's Whole Grain English Muffins
• Pound Plus of dark chocolate 
• Milton's multi-grain bread
• Dry roasted unsalted almonds

He also went to Costco and came back with one of his essentials:

It's crab season and this little friend with his irresistible price tag begged to come home.  (Sorry vegans and vegetarians if you are reading).  I have no interest in crab, so it's all for him to enjoy!
Other essentials included more fruit and veggies:

The pineapple and a couple of the apples have already been pulverized into juice form, but the rest of the apples and persimmons have been monopolized by me!
I was also able to make some panko breaded chicken and roasted up a bunch of veggies.  Can you guess what they were?  Hint: the house smells like sweat socks and I'm deliriously happy!

In other news, I have gotten 2 workouts this weekend, serving as perfect study breaks.  I got in some runs and I'm still sticking with the leg workouts even though I have been extremely sore for the last week.  Diminishing returns, people.  I am hoping that I get more used to it as I stick with it.  I faced my nemesis today:

Last week I waddled like a duck because of it.   Let's hope it's better this week! 
I'm home now and getting ready for bed.  I evaluated my resources and I already have my breakfast cookie a la Fitnessista ready for manana:

Everything tastes better in star form!
Hope you had a great weekend and are ready for another week of excitement!  This is my last week of the quarter until Winter vacation!  Woot woot!

Free Food Always Tastes Better

Happy Friday ya'll!  We made it.  Why do I say that every single week?  I think the weeks feel like a journey to the weekend- a long, twisted journey in fact!

I came in to an email that said we had leftovers from a client meeting- majuh score!  I love food, and I love free food even more!  I ran to the kitchen when it was time for lunch and fixed this beast of a lunch:

Chicken and veggie kabob with mixed greens.  It was really good, especially the grilled tomatoes and portabello mushrooms.  I would have normally gone with the veggie kabob, but I was craving meat and went with it!
My afternoon snack consisted of Stoneyfield lowfat blueberry yogurt with a sprinkle of my trailmix for crunch:

I also had to have some dry trailmix for crunching and staying power:

I inherited all of this yogurt from hubby.  When I tried to brainwash him by showing him Food Inc. we decided to purchase this yogurt.  Big mistake- the texture and taste is much different than his old fave, Yoplait, so we compromised.  We will continue to buy organic milk, eggs, and meat, and he gets his hormone-filled yogurt.  There can be worse things!  I found the yogurt just OK.  Luckily there are only 6 or 7 containers left and I'll find plenty of ways to wolf them down!
When I got home, I had one thing on my mind:

I baked it, then reconsidered it since it was almost time for the gym.  Gym time included 2.8 miles on the 'mill, pushups, dips, lunges, back-kick things, and stretching with lots of balance yoga poses and downward dogs.


Before the gym, I also baked Espresso Pecan Brownies:

There is no recipe to this, but I made the following modifications to a standard brownie box mix:

• Brew a strong 1/4 cup of coffee or use instant coffee grounds
• Use 1/3 of the package and bake in a small pan
  
• Sub in 1 eggwhite for a whole egg
• Use applesauce as the oil substitiute
• Pile on the pecans while it's baking

I made just enough for hubby to have a few servings.  I lose interest in anything I bake, but I did love the coffee smell and I'm sure I'll have some to celebrate the start of the weekend!  Also, Friday night is the first night of Chanukah!

In honor of the holiday, my company has an electric menorah lit right next to the Christmas tree.  We are very PC, no?  I appreciate the sentiment, although it has been lit for the last two weeks and the holiday starts on Friday.  It's the effort that counts!
What do you have going on this weekend?

Where Did the Week Go?

This week started out like any week with my Monday morning whining and profanities.  It got a little better and a little worse as the week moved on- it was an emotional roller coaster really.  But now I'm back and kicking!  Plus it's Second-Best-Day of the week!  I've been chasing my tail this week, so please try to sit through my very random post.

Did I mention that we started out our week with weather reports of SNOW?  This may not sound like a big deal to you but here in the SF Bay Area we do not do snow.  More importantly, I do not do snow.  Yes, I am from the land formerly known as the Soviet Union, where it snows like crazy, but this chickie does not condone any snow activity or precipitation in general- both make me melt.

Please note the snow-covered Prius in front of our car on our commute.  Insanity!

In my uber-busy week, there have been very little food highlights, but I did try a new snack at work:

This is a whole wheat waffle with goat cheese and strawberry jam.  Believe it or not, this was all free food from my work fridge and freezer.  Not bad, right?

I did supply some of my own food this week- most notably ketchup with a side of butternut squash and brussels sprouts:

I have no idea what that white light is in the center, but I'm convinced it's a ghost.  Other eats this week have included dates, almond butter, chocolate (which lost its healing powers) and lots of coffee!
Hubby, my esteemed co-blogging colleague wanted me to show you his lunch and dinner from Tuesday:

Both included organic chicken roasted in maple BBQ sauce- a big hit!  He also gets bonus lunchroom smelly points for the sprouts- a prize that I now share with him.  It's like being the kid with the smelly lunch in school- any good cafeteria stories for me?

I remember bringing my lunch when I was in Kindergarten and first grade and my mom used to make me a sandwich with this Russian chicken patty with lots of garlic.  It tasted fabulous, but when we went to our cubbies to take our food out, the aroma of garlic came from my ethnic little lunchbox.  It was still awesome and I didn't care what people thought!  I still don't care when people think my food is strange!

Hope you are having a great day and a great week!

Borderline Productive

Thank you all for your kind comments about Post 150!  It was so much fun to have a guest post and I would love to include more guest posts.  If any of you are interested, please let me know!

Today's been a nice day- borderline productive for me, so that's a plus in my book!  I woke up and slowly got out of bed since I had the genius idea to agree to do legs with hubby last night.  I must explain that while I carry 90% of my weight in my butt lower body, I have absolutely no lower body strength- none at all.  I warmed up with a mile on the dreadmill, did lower body exercises alternating with upper body and then cooled down with 10 minutes on the elliptical.  I already wanted to die last night and today I've been aching all day long.  Lesson learned- don't skip a whole body group when working out!

I started by making a smoothie in a bowl!  I'm the last blogger to make it, but here it is:

• Mixed berries
• Frozen banana
• Mixed frozen tropical fruit mix
• Scoop of ground flax
• Scoop of Cyto Slim protein powder
• Topped with Trader Joe's blueberry granola

Though I was instantly called a food deviant for eating this, I pressed on but could only handle scooping out the granola before I froze and had to stop!  I traded this for a banana with peanut butter and was very satisfied! 
We went to Costco and I stocked up on the essentials:

• Sugar snap peas
• Organic mixed greens
• Goat cheese
• Hummus
• Butternut squash
• Granny Smith apples
• Pitted dates
• Brussels sprouts
• Wild smoked salmon
• Yoplait yogurt for Mr. Apple
• Jarlsberg lite cheese
  

As I looked around I smugly commented that our cart had the healthiest combination of food in it.  I'm not sure how much of this was NOT for me, but I share.  I'm pretty excited for all of our food and now that I've roasted the brussles sprouts our house smells like sweat socks- back to normal!
We also went to Whole Foods and I walked around with my eyes glazed over but only stuck to the basics.  I do a lot better when shopping while not hungry.
I'm still working on my never-ending pile of homework and making very slow progress.  There are apple slices involved to help motivate me

There is also Ultimate Fighter to help cheer me on.  Kimbo Slice will be fighting tonight.  I don't care if you aren't into fighting- this guy is cool to watch if only for his hair.  Google him- you'll thank me later!
Oh- and look at the wheat grass I saw sold in the organic section of my grocery store. I was tempted to buy it, but held back.  Maybe next time!

I'm clearly rambling, so I'll stop here!  I hope you have a great weekend!  See you tomorrow for a bike ride recap and probably some food!