Sunday is for SNACKING!

Whenever Sunday rolls around all I want to do is EAT! If I'm not snacking on something, I'm not happy. I'm posting now in the hopes that listing everything I've already eaten will make me stop!!!

I tried out peanut butter and apple butter oats again.
This time I used a teaspoon of pb and a little more than a tablespoon of apple butter. Perfection!

Lunch was my leftover veggie patch pizza.
I am definitely making my own, healthier version of this. It was soo yummy, even cold!

Thus began the snacking.
Popcorn, popped the old fashioned way. I had a bowl topped with asiago and cracked pepper seasoning and a bowl topped with sweet and salty kettle corn seasoning. SO GOOD!

I also snacked on frozen grapes, crackers, and dark chocolate.

And...
A thin with turkey and hummus.

And...
A delectable Double Chocolate Dream Vitatop.

And I still want more food! Blah, I'm a bottomless pit.

In fitness news, I did AbJam and Cardio Party yesterday. I'm taking it easy today because I'm very sore (especially my calves) but I did a 10 minute yoga workout this morning and am gonna do something light later on.

Enjoy the rest of your weekends and please enter the Newman's Own Organics giveaway! I need ten people for it to be fair! Who doesn't want FREE stuff??!

Comforts.

Earlier today I received the devastating news that an old friend from home had died from an overdose. His death shocked me to my core but what is most difficult for me to grasp is the pain his family is feeling. No parent should have to bury their child. I ask for all your prayers and support.

I was glad I had reserved today to splurge because sometimes eating can be really comforting. Now of course I know the dangers of emotional eating and but I think it's okay to turn to pizza and wings after a rough day every once in a while. And so, I did.

I had gotten an Applebee's gift card from my dad for Valentine's day (thanks daddy) so Bryan and I ordered a little feast.

Boneless wings...
Buffalo, Honey BBQ, and Sweet and Spicy.
Veggie Patch Pizza.
(Just for me of course, Bryan doesn't eat cheese!) This pizza doesn't look too great but, trust me, it was fantastic. It was made with a super thin crust and topped with creamy spinach, bruschetta, mushrooms, and lots of cheese. I ate about half! The health-nut in me kept thinking about how it could have been just as tasty with whole-wheat crust, reduced fat cheese, etc.
Bryan ordered pulled pork sliders,
Which of course I tried. They were delish!

After comfort eating I moved onto comfort shopping. Online shopping, that is. I think this may be even less healthy then comfort eating! But it sure does help to relieve some stress. Sometimes I online shop for hours, but I usually stop myself before I buy. Tonight I did make one purchase...a taupe tunic from New York & Company. I don't always have the best luck with online purchases so I'm crossing my fingers that this one will work out.

To back track a little...

My lunch:
A whole-wheat wrap with spinach and artichoke cream cheese topped with sauteed spinach. Geez...think I ate enough spinach today? Holy nutrients!

Don't forget to enter my Newman's Own Organics Giveaway!

Puddin for bfast, and a GIVEAWAY!

Before I move on to bigger and better things, here's breakfast...
Sugar free vanilla pudding with Newman's Own Organics grahams all mixed up. Yummy yum!

Ok, and now for the GIVEAWAY!!!

One lucky reader will win this awesome selection of Newman's Own Organics goodies!
I'm giving away Original Newman-O's, Hint O'Mint Newman-O's, cinnamon, ginger, and peppermint mints, Cinnamon Hermits, and some good old fashioned chocolate chip cookies.

The deal is...I need at least TEN people to enter. Here's how:

1) Visit the Newman's Own Organics site and leave a comment telling me which snack you'd like to try.

2) Tweet about the giveaway and leave a comment telling me you did.

3) Put a link to the giveaway in your blg and leave a comment telling me you did.

4) Follow me or add me to your google reader!

Don't forget to leave a comment for each thing you do so they count as separate entries!

Be sure to spread the word so there are enough entries!

The contest will end at 7pm Eastern time on Monday, March 1st. GOOD LUCK!

More eats.

Some more of Friday's eats...

Dinner was a quesadilla.
Made with hummus and sriracha, baby spinach, red onion, and swiss cheese.
Mmmm, there is something just so good about gooey, melty cheese. YUM!

After dinner I did another 10 cals in 10 minute workout and modified it a little bit again. My plan is to do TurboSculpt tonight so I wanted to get my cardio in!

For dessert I made something I had been craving ever since my magical pb&j experience.
Peanut butter (Naturally More) and apple butter oats!
All mixed up together. This was delicious, but the pb flavor was a tad overwhelming. Not complaining, because Naturally More is amazing, but next time I'll use a little more apple butter to make sure I get the perfect combo.

Doesn't being snowed in...

Make you want to eat? Man, I wish I had stocked up on some snow day favorites. Right now I'd like to be eating tomato soup and grilled cheese. And maybe sipping some hot chocolate!

Last night I managed to work up the energy to do Cardio Party and also a 10 minute ab workout from OnDemand called Bridal "Ab"session...(cute, right?) I had done this one with Bryan before and it was so funny because the instructor kept saying things like stop stressing about your future in-laws! and I hope you're not thinking about flowers right now! Very corny. But definitely a good workout for my abs! And also a reminder that I am very blessed that my future in-laws are awesome :)

This morning's breakfast was
A RaisinBran Vitatop with a little smear of jam. The jam made it so much better...the bran ones are my least favorite.

Lunch was a Morningstar Farms Chik'n patty with roasted red pepper bruschetta.
On the side I had some broccoli and cauliflower dipped in spicy mustard, and Dr. Kracker's fire roasted crisps. I LOVED the delicious blend of flavors like sun-dried tomatoes, sweet potatoes, black sesame seeds, chili peppers, and cheddar. They are also loaded with whole grains! 8/10! I cut my chik'n patty up and made little cracker sandwiches! So satisfied :)

After lunch I felt the urge to exercise but wasn't in the mood for a long workout so I compromised with a Ten Minute Cardio Blast (Burn 100 calories in 10 minutes)

• 1 minute - Brisk walk or march in place
• 1 minute - Light jog outside, around the house or in place
• 1 minute - Jumping jacks
• 1 minute - Long jumps - jump forward, landing with both feet
• 1 minute - Light jog
• 1 minute - Jumping jacks
• 1 minute - Squat and kick, alternating legs
• 1 minute - Light jog
• 1 minute - Long jumps
• 1 minute - Brisk walk to cool down

I tweaked this a little bit because the long jumps were bothering my legs, so the second time around I did 50 jumping jacks instead. I felt great after!

Plans for this snowy day? Homework and more homework. Who's jealous?!

Hello there weekend :)

Well, looks like I've escaped working on Friday for another week at least. AND this lovely little winter storm got my class canceled! So helloooo weekend! I have plans to go to Albany to visit some friends, but the weather may get in the way of that as well. We shall see.

I started my morning with the usual...
Ovaltine oats. Chocolately goodness!

I had another great lunch!
Turkey and hummus/sriracha on a thin. Doesn't sound too interesting, but trust me--this makes my taste buds go wild. I give most of the credit to the sriracha :) I also had Food Should Taste Good sweet potato chips dipped in Naturally More almond butter. SO GOOD! The FSTG chips have a very subtle flavor and I wish it was stronger but the combination of the two was out of this world. So happy I discovered this snack!

Dinner was tuna (loaded with onion powder...why have I not been doing this forever, it makes it taste SO MUCH BETTER)
on a whole-wheat wrap with some spinach. I had barbecue popchips on the side. I wasn't totally satisfied, but luckily I had some other goodies to snack on!

I got an awesome package from Dr. Kracker!
Lots of crackers! All different kinds! Cherry Semolina, Hummus Maximus, Apple Crisp, Fire Roasted, Seeded Spelt, Seedlander, Sunflowwr Cheddar, Pumpkin Cheddar and Klassic Seed. I joked to Bryan that was gonna open them all and try one of everything. Turns out I was only half joking..oops! I tried a couple different flavors and was impressed with everything. I'll review them in detail when I eat some more!

Gotta get myself up for Cardio Party but all this girl wants right now is a nap!

Crazy for PB and J?

Sorta. But more on that later.

Today was a LONG day. My Wednesday class is early because it is an after school reading clinic but it is always super stressful because I have to plan lessons and work with a student. On top of that, after clinic I had to tutor a different student for another class. Longgg long long. Phew. Glad it's almost over!

Today's breakfast was kinda lame, kinda last minute, and kinda good!
Fresh green grapes and a vanilla Speciak K bar.

Lunch. was. amazing.
There was broccoli and dip, and pretzels, and then...there was...the sandwich. Now, I'm a turkey and cheese kinda girl. I love my salts. Peanut butter and jelly has always seemed like dessert to me, but for some odd reason I've been craving it for lunch lately. So, I decided to take a big risk and have myself a pb&j sandwich . Now, there was a twist. I used Naturally More peanut butter and apple butter (which is apple jelly) instead of jelly or jam. And the outcome? Magical. I want to eat this over and over and over again! The grittiness of the peanut butter and the cinnamonyness of the apple butter totally put it over the top. Oh sweet pb&j goodnessssss!

Dinner didn't hold a candle to my lunch but for a frozen meal it was still good.
I had a Lean Cuisine...bowtie pasta in a fire-roasted tomato sauce. Not great, but not bad. I'd probably have this again. I also had some veggies and sweet roasted pepper hummus on the side. I topped my meal off with some frozen green grapes.

Getting ready to do AbJam...don't have a lot of time but wanted to get in some kind of exercise.

Anyone else freakin out about this storm headed our way?

Tuesday with a suprise ending.

Today started out pretty normally.

I had some vanilla pudding mixed with blueberries.
So fresh and so sweet (sweet!) Outkast? Memba them?

Anyways, I had my favorite sandwich combo for lunch...
Turkey and spinach and artichoke cream cheese. Yummm as always. Seriously how have I lived this long without this cream cheese? It's heavenly. I also had some bbq popchips and cucs and yogurt ranch on the side.

My plan for after work was to go to a painfully long class (eat dinner there), stock up on some necessities at Wegman's, work out, blog, and do homework. Then came the surprise ending....class was cancelled! Woo! So I got to do everything on my list about 2 hours earlier :)

Here's a little peek into my dinner salad:
I had a baby spinach mix with a black bean burger, shredded cheddar, and red onions. I topped it with a dressing made of yogurt ranch and taco sauce. Delish! But..didn't keep me full for too long.

Then I snacked on an apple, almonds, raisins, and dark chocolate (all unpictured, oops!) and then finished off my eats with a Cranbran Vitatop.
I wasn't thrilled with my choice at first but pretty soon it was like a party in my mouth.

On the schedule for tonight: Cardio party, homewoooork, bed!

Mondays.

Mondays. Not a fan. Who's with me?

I'll skip the complaining and go right to the eats...

Breakfast was a delicious bowl of Ovaltine oats.
It still amazes me how a tablespoon of powder can transform this bowl into something sooo good. YUM.

For lunch I had
turkey (this kind was mesquite flavor and I wasn't too impressed) with swiss on a whole-wheat thin with blueberries and potato and chive chips on the side. I added the chips to my sandwich for some crunch. Sandwiches taste so much better with chips, no?

I brought dinner to class...
This is pic was taken pre packing it up...no, I did not eat a meal laid out like this in class :) Isn't this a pretty picture though? Even the popchips look great...I'm craving them as I type. This was my standard spinach, onion, bruschetta, and feta wrap which was delicious as always.

After class I did a quick 20 minute cardio workout because it was already after 8. Having such little time during the week really bums me out! Dumb class gets in the way of my fitness plan!! If only there were more hours in a day.

Ended my night with a lovely little bag of 100 calorie chocolate pretzels. Mmmm good.

Night!

Snacks and Studies

Today was one of those frustrating bottomless pit days where I never felt full. Instead of ignoring my hunger I decided to let myself snack (mostly healthy foods) all day long. I was also fairly productive and got most of my school work done by early afternoon. So, my morning was stressful, but my afternoon was much lazier and fillllllled with eats.

Breakfast was a honey wheat Arnold thin with apple butter.
The apple butter was a new purchase and I was pretty excited about it. To me it tasted like cinnamony applesauce, which wasn't exactly a letdown but it also wasn't what I expected. Still a yummy breakfast though!

For lunch I had some fresh mozzarella and tomato on a wrap...
with N.O.O pretzels and leftover Asian medley veggies on the side. Kinda boring, but pretty satisfying.

Then began the snacking.

I had some almonds that my mom brought up.
I ate way way way more than just these!

Then blueberries.


And then my favorite snack of the day:
An arnold thin dipped in Naturally More peanut butter. Oh man, who knew pb could be so satisfying!

I put together something that kinda resembled a meal for dinner.
I had a couple slices of turkey tenderloin (marinated in some yummy goodness) that Bryan had cooked up earlier with cucs and veggie dip on the side.

Still hungry of course...
So I had some 100 calorie chocolate pretzels. I haven't had these in a while and they were SO GOOD!

After this...(yes, still going) I had some N.O.O. super dark chocolate and a handful of raisins...and then...I was FINALLY FULL!

Thank goodness, because it would have been hard to turn away what is pictured below.

And without further ado, a brief guest post from Bryan.

After seeing some deviled eggs on Food Network's "Best Thing I Ever Ate" and being completely stumped on what to eat for dinner (food block?), I decided to make some deviled eggs of my own. I've made them before, using a recipe I may or may not have found on the back of my ground mustard, and they've turned out okay but not spectacular. Fortunately, the head chef of the restaurant I work at had told me a story of accidentally upstaging someone's deviled eggs at a Super Bowl part by bringing some of his own. His secret: Bearnaise sauce, which is primarily butter and egg. So I decided to add some melted butter to my mix, along with some sriracha, awesomeness. The butter gives them a creamier texture and a fuller taste...love them!





Don't they look good!? Only a very small glimpse into some of the culinary masterpieces my boy cooks up :)

Fitness recap...Finally found my Exercise OnDemand channel...Woo! Bryan and I did a 10 minute ab workout this morning. We tried out a few yoga routines but they were either too tough or too...creepy. Probably going to do Turbo Sculpt later tonight but will definitely be trying out some more OnDemand workouts in the future!

And finally, before I go, some artsy pics of Ellie, courtesy of Bryan.




ps. Check out this awesome giveaway!

Saturday SPLURGE!

Day two of no exercising plus overeating? Not so good. But oh well. Life's too short..right? Tomorrow will be better.

I started my day off with some healthy eats.

First I had a strawberry Special K bar to hold me over while I took my car in for an oil change.


When I got home I made myself a hearty bowl of oats with dark chocolate dreams and dried cranberries.
Simply delicious. On the side I had a tangerine. As I started peeling it I googled the difference between clementines and tangerines. Google wasn't very helpful but after my first bite I remembered: tangerines have seeds! Ugh!!! The worst. I couldn't deal with them and wound up tossing it.

After breakfast Bryan and I headed to Bed Bath & Beyond with my mom to add some things to our wedding registry. It was a little stressful but very fun. I am super excited about our dinnerware!

While I was shopping I really worked up an appetite so when I got home I snacked on some leftover shrimp cocktail and fresh mozzarella. (Didn't take pictures)

Then around 4:45 we headed out for a family dinner (my family and Bryan's fam...love when we all get together!) at Black & Blue Steak and Crab. What a fabulous place to splurge!

It was dark so the picture quality isn't great, and it was all so delicious that I kept forgetting to take pictures until half way through, so these photos do Not do the food justice!

We started off with some amazing apps...
Fried calamari salad with sun-dried tomatoes and bell peppers.
Kobe meatballs in a roasted garlic cream sauce.
A little of everything, including a crab cake. We also had potato croquettes which were stuffed with chorizo, piquillo peppers, and pepper jack cheese with a tamarind bbq sauce. SO GOOD!

I knew this might be a little rough on my tummy but there was no way I wasn't getting steak at Black & Blue! I had the 8 oz filet mignon...
Cooked medium rare with horseradish cream on the side. Couldn't even wait to take a picture before I cut into to this beautiful piece of meat. Melt in your mouth GOOD.

I had cream spinach on the side
and shared some of my mom's garlic mashed potatoes.
The spinach and potatoes mixed together were a delicious combination. I also tried some of my brother's Vidalia onion rings which were as big as they were tasty.

Of course there was room for dessert!
Bryan and I split chocolate creme brulee. DE-LISH.

As if I wasn't already stuffed to capacity I may or may not have helped myself to a serving of that wonderful chocolate cake that was featured in Friday's post. I didn't take a picture because I think I was in denial that I was STILL eating!

Overall a great meal with great company. Sad that my family is leaving today!

Now on to a very stressful Sunday of schoolwork! BUMMER!