Monday, February 28, 2011

Seriously Manic Monday

Things are so super hectic at work just a quickie food post..

Coffee (It has gotten to the point that I seriously do not function without my coffee in the morning)

At 11 am I grabbed a handful of the Kettle Brand Sweet Onion chips to finish off the bag..

Lunch was 2 leftover small slices of pizza with fresh mozarella, tomatoes, and basil :)

My office party tonight included a huge buffet dinner.. I tried:
Appetizers:
Stuffed mushrooms
Beef Skewer
Chicken Skewer
Fried black bean tortilla
smoked salmon on cracker
and Chicken thing on endive leaf

Dinner:
I only ate from the Asian table: Lo Mein, sweet and sour chicken, and steamed dumplings!

Small little apple puff for dessert..

Now that I list it I see it wasn't that little.. fail.

Good Night All

Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Broc and Cheese Macaroni

We were away for the holiday weekend in Memphis, TN! It was wonderful and warm and hopefully I will get around to making a food post documenting all the yummy and fatning things I ate!

But anyways Tuesday was my first day back and I was super tired after getting home at 12:30 am the night before but I powered through ( I almost didn't make it to yoga but I did it!)

Breakfast:
Coffee
Nature Valley Bar

Lunch:
1/2 personal eggplant pizza ( I really wish I took a picture of this as it was glorious)
1 tuna avocado roll

Snack
3 Musketeers (to boost my energy before yoga.. I know must keep some healthier options on hand!)

Vinyasa Yoga for 1 hour.. I am getting a bit better at this.. I almost got to Crow pose for more than a second!

Dinner:
Broccoli Mac and Cheese!
I haven't gone grocery shopping yet so the only veggie in my house last night happened to be broccoli and I knew I had to make this recipe that my sister in law sent me last week. Below is her recipe with my adaptations in parenthesis:


Baked Macaroni and Cheese with Broccoli
Pasta
10 oz broccoli, either chopped or small florets (or more if you like a lot)
1 tsp butter or margarine 
1/3 c. fresh breadcrumbs (store-bought is also ok, but combo of plain and seasoned so it’s not too seasoned)
3 T grated parmesan cheese, divided
2 ½ c. skim milk
1/3 c. flour
1 medium onion, diced
1 c. low-fat shredded cheddar cheese
1 tsp Dijon mustard
1 ½ tsp. salt
½ tsp. pepper

·         Preheat oven to 350.
·         Cook pasta according to directions on box, adding some salt to the cooking water.  About 4 minutes before the cooking time is up, add the broccoli to the pasta pot.  Drain.
·         In skillet, melt margarine and add the breadcrumbs until lightly browned.  Take off the heat, transfer to a small bowl and stir in 1 T. parmesan cheese. (I didn't do this.. I don't need anymore margarine in my life. I just threw some Parmesan cheese and breadcrumbs on at the end)
·         In medium saucepan over medium-high heat, stir together milk, flour, and chopped onion. Bring to a boil, whisking frequently.  Once mixture boils, simmer the mixture for 2 minutes on low heat until thickened.  Take off of heat.
·         To the milk flour mixture: add shredded cheese, 2 T parmesan cheese, salt, pepper, and Dijon mustard.  Pour over pasta and broccoli and mix to incorporate.
·         Pour pasta into casserole dish, sprinkle breadcrumbs on top, and bake uncovered until it’s bubbly around the edges, ~ 25 minutes


YUM

My only issue was that the onions weren't cooked through.. next time maybe I will either saute them first or cook the milk mixture for longer.

Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Pandora Love Affair

I name this post the Pandora Love Affair because I have finally found a station I like.. I am not always the best or most interested when it comes to music, i.e. my Ipod is not always organized and I don't listen to it on an everyday basis.. nor do I listen to music at work (not bc. I wouldn't but mostly because my coworkers blast 106.7 lite fm ALL DAY)

Anwaysss since the Grammys I have decided I love Mumford and Sons and that their genre is something I should be listening to always.. so I wander over to Pandora and make my station. It is amazing!! In three days I have only skipped like 4 songs! Amazing!

Anyways yesterday was

Smoothie  (banana, vanilla yogurt, frozen blueberries, blackberries, strawberries, rasberries)
Coffee
Granola Bar
Lunch:
Chicken (leftover Shabbat chicken w/ caramelized onions =Amazing!)
Lemon Butter Green Beans  (made w/Margarine to make non dairy)
Dinner
Fantastic Cauliflower (if I do say so myself)-
            Roasted w/garlic salt, black pepper, paprika, safflower oil
            Parmesan Cheese (this made it delicious)
Penne w/ sauteed onions, eggplant, broccoli, tomatoes, yellow pepper w/ tomato sauce can

I loved the cauliflower so much I took a picture:

( I aspire to take better pictures this is from my BBerry)


Exercise:
Vinyasa Yoga class at Kipps Bay location Crunch - this pretty much kicked my Butt... I hope to go every week to get in better shape!!

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Back to the Gym for Valentines Day

I am not a huge fan of Valentines Day.. dont particularly care for it so yesterday was my first real day monitoring anything and going back to the gym.

I went on the elliptical for a 30 minute weight loss and then a 5 minute cool down. Again I could probably step it up to 45 minutes but the setting is automatically 30 min and then I am too lazy to change it... sad really.

Yesterday I ate a ton as my office handed out chocolate bags in the morning. After I gobbled up the mini snickers, 3 musketeers, and twix I ate my chili burrito from Carlos and Gabbys (my fave Kosher Mexican).
Then my office had a Valentines dessert party at 3.. where they even got parve snacks for me! I filled my plate then only ate a hamentashen (i know random) and the white half of a black and white cookie.. I dumped the rest of the so-so cookies on the other kosher guy.

The hubs brought me home this for Valentines Day:

We dont relly ever eat doughnuts as they are most probably the worst thing in the world for oneself so this was a special treat! ( I have been seeing the commercials for Dunkin Doughnuts and told him that I would accept a heart shaped one for myself)

Dinner was leftover brisket and potatoes (so Jewish) from Shabbat and then I may have finished a bag of Darrel Lea's Australian licorice in strawberry flavor while watching Gossip Girl.

Yoga tonight!

Tuesday, February 8, 2011

FLU

I seem to have the flu :(

I have bucked up and gotten back to work today but basically this means that everything has been blahhhh for days now.

I missed the superbowl for gosh sakes!

Thursday, February 3, 2011

Who needs Jamba Juice?

Another smoothie for mehubs this morning!

some frozen:
rasberries
blueberries
strawberries
blackberries
Trader Joes Organic Vanilla yogurt
Orange juice as a liquid base

It was really good but I think it is still too icy! Must figure out the best button to push on the kitchenaid blender... Anyone out there who knows? (I am pretty sure nobody actually reads this but who knows!)

Also I went to the gym for the first time in over a week last night.. I got sooo winded after 25 minutes on the cross training elliptical! I kept coughing and gulping for air :( and now I seem to have an actual cough.. so apparently working out got me sick. Go figure.

And it has been 1 month since my shopping ban has been in place.. I have only failed 2 x in my opinion because the beautiful boots were on the list that were allowed.. So here is to another shop free month!!

Tuesday, February 1, 2011

Smoothies!

After seeing food/health bloggers make smoothies forever and lusting after them.. I finally gave in! (By giving in I mean took out my trusty Kitchen Aid blender that I got for my wedding 3 years ago and barely used once!)

I have made smoothies 3x this week!
Sunday:
2 bananas
handful of blackberries
5 frozen strawberries
1 strawberry yogurt container
ice

Monday:
1 banana
5 frozen strawberries
handful blackberries -finishing the carton :(
1 Greek peach yogurt container
ice
- I didn't crush the ice enough on this one so it was a bit icy.. I knew for the next one

Tuesday
2 bananas
9 frozen strawberries
a couple spoonfuls of organic vanilla yogurt (Trader Joes)
ice
- this was delicious! I just need a bit more yogurt next time.

this is a work in progress but I am really excited to be up and at em in the morning blending my healthy-fruity- wake up metabolism breakfast!