Berry Berry Exciting

I woke up this morning feeling great and wanting a treat.  Last night I whipped up a smoothie.  I have reason to celebrate: I was officially accepted into my Masters of Human Nutrition program last night.  Yes!

I made two servings for Kendall and I to split.  It was about 2 cups of strawberries and blackberries.  I added about 3/4 C plain yogurt and added enough juice (cranberry strawberry banana) to get it thin enough.

It was great!  My first sip wasn't good because I had recently brushed my teeth.

I had two slices of whole wheat toast with some peanut butter and strawberry preserves.  It was a filling and good breakfast.

Lunch today was a real treat.  The office bought us lunch at Chipotle!

I knew we were getting lunch, but wasn't sure what they'd order, so I brought some veggies and ranch just in case.

These things are huge.  I had a burrito with rice, black beans, veggies, cheese, a bit of lettuce and medium-heat salsa.

While delicious, it was really heavy on the rice.  The black beans were yummy and I felt that they had added just enough of them.  I couldn't see the cheese, but I could taste it, so I think it was white and in a corner of a tortilla fold.  The salsa was awesome.  The veggies... not enough and were just green bell peppers and red onions.  I love that combo!  But maybe add some red bell peppers and squash.  I think my ideal burrito would be 1/3 rice, 1/3 beans and 1/3 veggies with some cheese and salsa on top.  But it was FREE, yummy and I ate the whole thing because I was hungry.  I ate all my veggies too.  Now I think I might have some hot decaf green tea to settle my tummy.

Now the week is on the downhill slide, because my test is over, and work is quiet, I got into grad school, and I am going to a wedding this weekend with lots of family, so it will be fun to catch up and hopefully dance with my handsome husband.

Yay Grad School!  Go Bobcats!

App Happy

If you are into apps, I have sampled a-many and found some to be great and really useful and others to be... boring.

Epi- This app is from Epicurious and I love love love it.  It has plenty of food and beverage recipes, and lets you search through their database by keyword, main ingredient, meal, dish type, cuisine, dietary consideration or season/occassion.  You can then save to your favorites within the app.  I have used this numerous times, especially in the grocery store if something unexpected is on sale and I have no recipes in my arsenal.  Like, halibut, for instance!

AllRecipes- The DinnerSpinner is similar to the Epi app, but is more fun to use because you flick the phone to make the wheels spin like a slot machine.  You can narrow by dish type, ingredients, and ready in/cooking method.  You can also search by keyword.  Not as extensive as Epi, but if you want a solid go-to recipe that might not be as gourmet, this is a great app.

SparkRecipes- Healthy recipes that are submitted by all sorts of folks.  You can search by keyword, or browse by category, course, cuisine, dietary consideration or occassion.  What's nice is that there are lots of variaions on recipes for one dish.  For instance, tuna salad will bring up lots of health-inspired recipes from all over.

UrbanSpoon- So fun for restaurant lovers!  It detects your area, and you select the cuisine type and price.  You can also change location, so it works whether you are spontaneously looking for a place where you are, or if you are planning ahead.

Restaurants- Nutritional information on practically every national chain restaurant I can think of.  You will never be stuck in a line guessing which dish has the most fat, calories or sodium.  After sifting through, I was really surprised about what I found to look like a good choice but wasn't, or seemed like a bad choice but wasn't really that bad. 

NutritionTips- Nothing fancy, but is loaded with fun little things you can do to improve overall health.

NutritioniQ- Select a category, like fiber, calcium, protein, or whole grains, and flip through foods, learning about their health benefits as you go.  Then you can add the items you like to a mobile grocery list.

Vitamins- Again, nothing fancy, but houses lots of information about what each vitamin or mineral does and where you can find it.  I guess this is good if you are curious...

DietFoods- Another unfancy app, but loaded with lots of healthy foods and their benefits.  For instance, find out what broccoli can do for you, then tap to read on about carrots.

NCalculator-  By entering your stats, you can calculate your BMI, BMR, Body Fat and about how many calories you burned.  It also lets you know how your number falls within different ranges of health.

There are a few others that I'm tinkering with.  I'll let you know if I find any good ones!

A Lady who Lunches

Yesterday, I packed a delicious little lunch of leftovers.

Leftover white chili, a mix of celery sticks and snow peas and a banana.  It was very filling!

After work, I headed to campus and had a peanut butter and jelly on whole-wheat sandwich with an apple before my big test.  I don't know how I did on the test, but I sure tried hard!  After the test, I went to lab, which luckiy, was short.  Once home, I combined the last of the black beans with some squash casserole and had a few chips on the side.  I also had a dark beer, and then some decaf.

This morning, I kick-started the day with some of my new cereal with milk and a banana.

I'm hoping today isn't too hectic and that my class lets out on time tonight so I can squeeze in a walk.

For lunch today, I have packed:

I have leftover squash casserole, a few leftover wheat crackers, some edamame, shredded wheat cereal for a snack and some big fat strawberries!  It should be really filling.

I've been reading up on eating for heart health, since my family has various heart problems.  It's not one reoccuring problem throughout our family, but things like high cholesterol, high blood pressure, heart disease, etc here and there.  One of the top recommedations is a Mediterranean-inspired diet.  We don't eat any red meat in our diet and have been trying to scale back on chicken (portions and frequency).  We've been eating more meatless meals.  One thing we've been missing lately is some of those delicious fatty fish like salmon!  So we need to incorporate that back into our diet.  Other trademarks of a Mediterranean diet are lots of fruits, veggies and whole grains, and healthy fats like olive oil, nuts, or avocados.  Luckily, I love all of those things; I just need to plan our meals around it!

Interestingly enough, Kendall asked about foods that help boost brain function, and as I tooled around online, I found that many recommend the Mediterranean diet for brain health as well.  It's said that by ensuring a healthy bloodflow through cardiovascular health, you help boost brain function and stave off brain-degenerative diseases like Alzeheimers.

I'm out, but will return with a new recommendation.

I can has a new cereal

Yes, it is frighteningly true: Texas is approaching summer temps which means, among other things, that I wake up craving something cool, rather than hot.

This weekend I went hunting through my store shelves for something fiber-filled and cheap with an only slightly insulting ingredients list.




Mom's Best Sweetened Wheatfuls. Yes. Six grams of whole grain fiber. Three ingredients. Two dollars! Did I mention that it's tasty?

Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Weekend!

After a crazy week, we kicked off the weekend with some yummy dinner out at our fave Mexican place.
I ordered a burrito, which was HUGE and a real deal for only $3.50.

Kendall ordered our usual, a chicken tostada...

Saturday, I had cereal for breakfast and we headed out to the farmer's market!  We picked up some lettuce and spinach.  Then we went toy shopping for Maple.  For lunch, we had nachos and deviled eggs, fresh veggies and fruit.  Then we took Maple to the Animal Trustees for her heartworm medication.  After that, Kendall ran to the store while I studied.  Then we made yummy chicken florentine alfredo pasta with asparagus and hollandaise sauce and garlic bread.  It was awesome!  I have a photo on my other camera.

Sunday, I woke up early, had a bowl of raisin bran, and headed to the store.  It's great to get the shopping done early!  When I got home, Kendall had cleaned downstairs.  It looked great.  I studied for a short bit, and then we rearranged furniture.  For lunch, we had a slimmed-down version of chicken salad.  I used equal parts no-fat yogurt and mayo with celery and poached chicken.  I added salt, pepper and celery seed for flavor.  Delish!  I had some tomato juice on the side.

For dinner, I made white chili and squash casserole.  Kendall said about the casserole, "There's no way this is healthy.  It has flavor and cheese!" 

Oh but it is!  Check it out here.

For dessert, we tried a new frozen treat.

Fake "soft serve."  Healthy ice cream.  And by that I mean, AMAZING!  That, my friends, is half a batch of 2 frozen bananas and 1 tsp vanilla extract that were put in the food processor for 4 minutes.  Totally fat free.  No sugar added.  Totally amazing.  Kendall and I agreed that it could use another flavor, like blueberry or strawberry.  I found this through KathEats.com and she found it through a raw foods blog.  I will be trying this again and I HIGHLY recommend this as a great way to get your cold, sweet fix as summer comes around.  Of course, the sweetness depends on the ripeness of the fruit.  This is also fluffier than soft-serve, so it won't be dense like ice cream.  But give this a whirl!

Yep, it's been busy...

Let's recap, again, shall we?  Wednesday, I had some oatmeal with peanut butter and strawberries.

I decided to pack a salad for lunch, because we had been lacking on veggies.  I made a Southwestern cobb with half a hard-boiled eggs, cheese, black beans, green bell peppers and tomatoes on top of lettuce.  So yummy!  Too bad I took both dressing containers, sending Kendall to work without his. 

Crackers on the side and strawberries.  It was very yummy!

I had an apple on campus as a snack.  We were let out 10 minutes early, which was awesome.  Once home, I whipped up some black bean and spinach quesadillas!

Today, I had more oatmeal with PB & J and some juice on the side.

For lunch, Italian tuna salad in a whole wheat pita with lettuce and a kiwi and 4 strawberries on the side.

For dinner, nachos with black beans.

And a beer.

Quick Recap and Another Fun Article

Hey y'all!  Lab took FOREVER last night, so when I got home, I was happy to find some mac 'n' cheese in the fridge and fresh blackberries.  It made for a yummy late night snack.  The macaroni probably wasn't the healthiest snack/late dinner, but it hit the spot.

For breakfast, I switched back to good old oatmeal after my lackluster cereal left me hungry by 10 am yesterday.  Oatmeal really fills me up, and I find I don't feel famished mid-morning.  I made it with 1/2 C skim milk, 1 tsp brown sugar and vanilla each, and mixed in a little cereal, 1/2 Tbsp peanut butter and 1 tsp raspberry jam.

I found this great article yesterday at Self.com on foods that can help reduce the risk of some illnesses, and also help with some short-term problems, like fatigue or PMS.  I was happy to see that carbs and even beans can make you feel happier, so I am making a bit pot of black beans today!  I'm interested to try some of their suggestions for life's little ailments.  It will be hard to tell if the food really helps with things like the blues, stress or fatigue, or if it creates a placebo effect.  And while eating certain foods is no guarantee that you won't get heart disease, high blood pressure, or types of cancer, it's an interesting read.

Bunch of Lunch

For lunch, I took some whole-wheat pasta with veggies and lots of strawberries.





Except I accidentally dumped a ton of salt on my pasta! So I sat at my desk and tried to get some out by picking it out by hand. Yes, there was that much salt! I managed to get most out and stirred it a LOT, and it was edible.

For dinner, I had a turkey and Colby Jack cheese on whole-wheat sandwich with an apple. It's almost time for class!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Back in the Saddle

It's Monday, and while I'm at work, my hubby is at home.  I hope he has a fun day.

After a weekend of indulging, we both decided to get back in the saddle with healthy eating and more excercise.  It's been hard for me to do anything physical with class at night and the winter sky getting dark at 5:30 pm or 6 pm, but now that it's spring and the sun doesn't set until 8 pm or so, I hope to squeeze in a few evening walks. 

And wouldn't you know it?  No sooner had we talked about needing to clean up our diets a bit, I saw this timely article on Cooking Light!  It's a great reminder that eating seasonally is nature's way of offering fun and different ways to get in your nutrients.  We've been enjoying strawberries and asparagus, and a few peas at our house recently, but I never thought of radishes as a nutrition-powerhouse veggie.  I usually use them to add to salads or cut roses for veggie trays!  I'm going to try to work a few more in my diet, as well as some yummy cherries and apricots. 

Kendall is from Ohio originally, and his family has great stories about rhubarb, but say that you really can't get good rhubarb in Texas... it doesn't ship well!  Perhaps I will swap that one out for more artichokes.  I do love them, but the one time I cooked them fresh, it was a lot of work for not a lot of food.  Maybe I did it wrong?

This morning, I tried a new cereal, Special K Fruit and Yogurt.  It was very yummy, but as I read the labels, I was sad to see that it was low in fiber and high in sugar!

Upon further inspection, I also found that it didn't contain any real dried fruit, but rather, "fruit flavored clusters" of grains.  Um, gross!  Perhaps this will be a good yogurt topping to use sparingly...

It was also full of corn syrups.  I think this should be treated more like a dessert than a breakfast staple...

Have a great day, everyone!

Weekend!

It's been three glorious days off!  I kicked off the weekend off right by picking up my husband from the airport!  He made a quick work trip and Maple and I were so happy to have him home.

After a stressful few weeks for both of us, we decided that Friday called for playtime!  We drove out to Marble Falls and had to go to Bluebonnet Cafe for lunch.  They have the best Texas home-cooking food around.  I had the teriyaki chicken breast with spinach, mashed potatoes with gravy and fried okra.  They also serve amazing yeast rolls and corn bread.  It was so good and really hit the spot!  It was the perfect way to start a relaxed weekend.  If you are ever in the neighborhood, you've got to stop by.

We then went for a little walk by the water while in town and then headed back home.  We went to the grocery store and then the comfort food continued!  I made up some BBQ chicken pizza.

Saturday, we cleaned this house from top to bottom!  We divide and conquer and usually, I take the upstairs floors and bathrooms, but I was bored with that.  I chose the downstairs floors, bathroom and kitchen.  I also dusted the blinds because the oak pollen has been awful!

After cleaning, Kendall whipped up some lunch... a veggie-loaded pasta salad!

So so good.  We had mangoes and blackberries for dessert. 

We then went for a walk, and had to run a few more errands.  Then it was time to get cookin'!  More delicious comfort food!  A beer-roasted turkey breast, mac and cheese from scratch, and a three bean salad!  For dessert, we had fresh fruit and a few ginger snaps that we got for free, but did not like.

My parents joined us for dinner, and we went for a little walk after dinner.

Sunday, we kicked off Easter morning with some crepes!  After I did some homework, we showered and headed to my aunt's house for lunch.

Oh yes.  Turkey, green beans with toasted almonds, scalloped potatoes, rolls, salad, fruit salad, and ice cream for dessert!  Yum!  We had a great time visiting, taking photos, playing with the dogs, and hiding Easter eggs.

Then we headed home for dinner.  I fixed some pasta with veggies and had leftovers.

Now we are hanging out, and I am crying and typing while I watch "Extreme Home Makeover."