Tag: Fun!

The King of Muffins

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I have the baking bug.  I used to bake all the time!  But recently, I’ve cut back for health reasons.  No matter how hard I try, I undoubtedly have to try one of whatever I make.

Today, I was presented with the perfect opportunity.  Some friends in my program are working on a plan to submit for a competition.  Tonight they’re pulling an all nighter and are in desperate need of a pick me up!  What’s better than a delicious baked treat for a chilly day?

Enter my dear friend, Ina Garten…

Barefoot Contessa’s Banana Crunch Muffins

No substitutions.  Made exactly as is.

I’ll let the pictures do the talking.

Warning:  Extreme salivation may occur.

Divine.

Channeling “The Dude”

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Big Lebowski, anyone?

Today was freezing!  I think the daytime high was 14F!  Right now it’s about 7F!

To beat the cold, a bunch of Cornell planner headed to the bowling alley! Cornell actually has its own bowling alley on campus (in the basement of one of the gyms!)

Little known fact about me: I was once in a bowling league!  <– Nerdy! I know!

I’m glad I got out, because today was one of those days were I had to remind myself to smile.  It worked though!  I got myself out the door, unburied my car, picked up a friend and headed to the lanes.

There was pizza

Friends

Confusion

Have you ever been to a place where you have to keep your own bowling score on paper!?!?!

But overall… a ton of fun!

Honestly, today has not been fun.  I have been a bottomless pit all day.

Today was the first day in the past two weeks that I actually felt like I had to stop myself from eating when I wanted to and all I could think about was food.  All day my stomach felt empty no matter how much I ate/drank.  I tried everything… wait ten minutes before eating something to see if you really want it… I did.  Drink water… still wanted food.  Drink hot tea… still wanted food, had about 5 cups of tea today.  By the time I went bowling, I had already eaten 1,500 calories (which I realize isn’t that much but this is the amount that I’ve been eating most day the past two weeks without feeling hungry).  At the bowling alley I had 2 pieces of pizza and about probably 5 cookies and many chips.

The thing is, even after that, I wasn’t full.  I wasn’t hungry, but I wasn’t full.  Do you ever have those days where you just can’t seem to eat enough?

I’m not sure what it is.

I’m trying not to feel guilty because what’s done is done.  One evening is not going to derail my efforts at a healthy lifestyle; however, I can’t help but feel a little disappointed that I couldn’t stop after 1 piece of pizza and 1 cookie.  Oh well!  What’s a girl to do?

Tomorrow will be a better day, full of smiles!

Now, I might need to re-watch The Big Lebowski (Yay for Netflix watch instantly!), because I flew through those two discs of Mad Men I have!

Have a great night!

Nice Buns!

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Ideally, I’d have these buns…

Guess who!

But last night, I had these..

.

To curb my insatiable appetite, sweet tooth and desire to bake yesterday, I made Angela‘s Skinny Mini Glo Buns!

As usual, I made changes using the ingredients I had at home:  Real butta instead of margarine or Earth Balance.  I found some frozen lactaid in my freezer (apparently it was too precious to throw out before break) so I used that instead of almond milk since I ran out yesterday (see another reason why I go to the store 74992984 million times per week).  Also, I didn’t have whole wheat pastry flour so I used whole wheat bread flour.  And last but not least I didn’t have nutmeg or ginger so I just used cinnamon and allspice 🙂

O-M-G!

Make these!  You won’t regret it.

They aren’t Cinnabons, but they’re perfect for a sweet craving!

Soooo good!

Nice buns, Angela! 🙂

If you’re interesting in reading something a little thought provoking, my friend Lauren wrote a GREAT post on how we view the world and health.  Head over to her blog Sailing Training Wheels and read it!

Hope you have a fantastic days!  Tomorrow’s Friday which means it’s almost the weekend!  Woo!

Happy Monday!

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Yesterday, I was down right restless.  Today, I’m excited to have started!  I woke up dark bright and early to find it pouring out.  It was looking like it was going to be a dreary day.  I checked the weather at it was 50 Degrees Fahrenheit!!  Right now it’s 51F!  Crazy!  Two days ago we had a high of 30F!

This morning for some reason I was super nervous about classes.  I’m not entirely sure why but I think it had to do with the fact that the lecture class I’m TAing for is at the same time as one of my core classes.  Luckily, it’s okay.  I talked to the professor of the class I’m TAing for and he said it’s not a problem if I don’t go to his lectures.  I’m leading a conversational Spanish language discussion section so people can talk about the subject in Spanish, so not really that big a deal.  So I went there to make a quick announcement about my section.

Then I headed to my first class, Introduction to Method of Planning Analysis.  Sound fun right?  Eh it might be.  It’s required.  I’ll suck it up and who knows I may love it!  I sure do love me a good economic forecast!

After that I dodged umbrellas and puddles all the way home.  It was 11:30 and I was starving!  I tried hard to hold on til at least 12pm by putting in some laundry but I couldn’t wait til 12:00pm. I decided to counteract that gross weather with a fun, fresh meal.

Wet and Puddly all around!

I made a FANTASTIC sandwich!  Hummus. Cheese.  Cucumbers. Tomatoes.  Need I say more?

So fresh tasting!

Finish that off with some kiwi, skin and all.

Eat Kiwi, It’s good for you!  1 fruit provides 95% of your daily Vitamin C! Do you eat the skin on kiwi fruit?

Heaven in a lunch!  (For nutrition info on lunch, see my sparkpage)

Lunch was sealed with a kiss cup of tea!  I’ve realized that ending a meal with a cup of tea helps keep my sweet tooth at bay and I guess helps my brain signal that it’s done eating.

I found this tea on sale at Wegman’s last week and since I love peppermint tea I had to try it.

I had never heard of Gypsy Tea but I loooved this one!  The peppermint flavor is very mild but there’s something else in there that is simply fantastic!  I can’t put my finger on what it is, but it’s oh so good!

I’m going to go get my laundry, start reading for class, then go to my next class!  Hope you’re having a wonderful Monday!!

January Recipe Challenge: South America

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I go through travel bug stages.  Last year, I was itching to go to India, then I went.  This year I’m itching to go to China and Peru, I’ve yet to go.  Not entirely sure why I want to go to those places but they seem awesome!  I really would love to do the Inca trail.

So tonight for the January recipe challenge, I made Peruvian Chickpea Stew.  Sorry for all the soups/stews, I’m a huge fan of soup/stew, and when I look for recipes I look for things that I would like.   Peruvian cuisine is such an interesting mix of many different cultures.  I find it really intriguing.

I first tried Peruvian Chickpeas at Super Pollo.  If you live in the Washington DC metropolitan area, please please please go to Super Pollo in Arlington, VA for some wonderful pollo a la brasa (yes I’m promoting meat eating because this stuff is amazing).

Tonight I put my chef planning kit to work!  I decided I needed some company for dinner, so I had a mini dinner party.  I only invited a few people so we could all fit at my tiny table (plus sadly I can’t afford to feed the 20 people I wanted to invite).

Peruvian Chickpea Stew

inspired by Recipezaar’s Peruvian Chickpea Stew

1lb dry garbanzo beans/chickpeas
2 tbsp olive oil
2 large onions or 3 small onions, diced
3 garlic gloves, minced
1 can whole canned tomatoes, roughly chopped
3 tsp coriander powder
3 tsp cumin powder
3 tsp allspice
2 small yellow squashes
8oz (approx) of vegetable broth
salt and pepper to taste

First,  cook your chickpeas until tender, a little under cooked is fine as they will simmer for a while later. You can probably use canned garbanzo beans too, but honestly I don’t think those taste as good.  You’d be amazed at how much better cooked dried beans taste over canned beans.

Then sautee the onions and garlic in the olive oil on pretty high heat until slightly browned and translucent.

Then add the chickpeas, tomatoes, spices, squash, and broth.  Stir and simmer on low heat for 30 minutes.

Serve with quinoa for a high protein very healthy meal!

I really liked this recipe.  It’s very healthy but hearty and tasty!  The spices are an interesting flavor combination.  I definitely recommend this! It wasn’t the same as the ones I had at Super Pollo but still delicious and probably a million times healthier!

To round out my mini dinner party, I made an Arugula and Pear salad using this recipe from Eating Well.  Honestly this salad was ridiculously good.  I tweeked the dressing a bit adding a bit more dijon mustard and a little less olive oil.  I also only used arugula, no other lettuce.  It was delicious!  I highly recommend this salad if you’re looking for a wonderful side dish!

For dessert, I made Fitnessista‘s Almond Butter Chocolate Chip cookies!  They were a hit!  No one knew they were vegan!    I made a few tweeks as well.  Instead of maple syrup, I used agave nectar and omitted the molasses since I didn’t have any and didn’t want to spend all that money for a teaspoon of molasses.

I just realized, actually this whole meal was vegan!  Very tasty and very balanced. Here’s my plate:

Salad side above and chickpea/quinoa side below.

A note about calories:

I decided to not count my calories for this meal.  I enjoyed it and made sure not to over eat too much, I filled half my plate with salad, 1/4 with chickpea stew and the other 1/4 with quinoa.  I also had 2 cookies, no big deal.  I splurged a bit, but I’m okay with that.  By the end of the meal, I wasn’t stuffed I was good and satisfied.  Yes, I probably could have eaten more but I didn’t feel the need to.  Life is about balance.  I want my weight loss to be manageable and sustainable, not painful.  One meal is not going to derail my efforts, I tracked the rest of the day (see my sparkpage) and tomorrow will be a normal day again and all will be well in the world.

I like to live by the 80/20 rule: Eat well 80 percent of the time and indulge 20 percent of the time.  Good rule in my opinion. What do you think?

Anyway, I’m off to watch more Mad Men!  Have a great night!

Barney Butter

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Do you ever see things on blogs then really want to try them?

I’m a huge fan of nut butters, okay I’m slightly obsessed even though I’ve only tried Peanut Butter, Almond Butter and Soy Nut Butter.  They’re delicious and keep you full for a long time!

Seeing nut butters of all sorts on random blogs got me perusing websites one day to see what products I could buy around here.  I wandered to the Barney Butter website to find they are giving free samples!  Check it out!

Barney Butter is Almond Butter.  Recently I’ve been enjoying consuming Trader Joe’s Raw Almond Butter, which while good is not nearly as good as the roasted almond kind.  But mostly I’ve been avoiding almond butter and sticking to PB.  I’m a firm believer in the idea that if you don’t love it, don’t eat it, especially when it comes to calorie dense foods.

This morning, I decided to put my PB to rest and squeeze my Barney Butter sample onto my oatmeal.

They came in convenient little 90 calorie packages, which would be perfect for travel.  Apparently it also comes in large jars, but I’ve yet to see it in stores.

This stuff is nothing short of fantastic.  Of course, this makes sense as almond butter is delicious, and this one has added sugar (evaporated cane juice), which makes everything even more tasty.  I would choose it over the raw Almond Butter any day.

But don’t take my word for it!  Order your free sample on their website!

In other news, while thrifting with the roommate yesterday she came across a fabulous vintage coat that sadly didn’t fit her but fit me perfect!  These are the perks of being short I guess!

Locally made too!

I found a salad spinner!  Only $2!

And a cheap copy of The Poisonwood Bible which I’ve heard is really good.

Now I’m off to the gym for what I hope will be a great workout!  Have a great day!  Don’t forget to smile!

Knock Knock

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Today as I was unpacking my suitcase (yes it’s taken me this long and still not done), piled among my clothes was a prize I won from Carrots N Cake‘s 12 day of giveaways!  Pretty exciting!  I had never won a giveaway!

My prize was to choose anything I wanted from Knock Knock.  Naturally, I chose the most food related thing on there… The Chef Planning Kit!

I can’t wait to put it to use for a gathering! I especially love the pin:

They have a bunch of my funny things.  I’ve seen Knock Knock products in gift shops and card stores a lot.  They’re always entertaining.  Some of my favorites: the Shit List and the Fashion Citation Nifty Note.

In other news, I’ve been a bit of a Debbie Downer the past few days.  However, I’m changing that now!  Today, I’ve been trying to smile more.

When you smile, you feel better!  Smile! Click Here for some reasons to smile!

But really there’s no reason not to smile!

Reaching My Goals

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I made it back to LA tonight.  I spent the evening watching the news with the madre.  She then informed me that she had something for me.  This is quite strange in my family… not the buying things but the surprise aspect…

Example: The past few Christmases/Birthdays I’ve been buying my presents and wrapping them myself then signing the card “Mami y Papi” or “Santa”… get the idea?

What was this surprise?

A fantastic sparkly, leopard print sweater that I saw at Macy’s last week when we went shopping.  This will come in handy as one of my goals for 2010 is to dress better (or really just get dressed everyday…).  I love sweaters!  Thanks, Madre!

The next exciting thing is this: the Madre’s make up drawer (my mom is a sassy one in case you haven’t noticed)

Eye shadow and lip gloss.

I’ve decided to start wearing lip gloss.  How does this fit into my goals for 2010?

One of my goals was to stop talking about the things I don’t like about myself and accept myself the way I am (if not fix it).

Well, I’m going to do that.  I never wear lip gloss or lipstick (with the exception of Halloween or themed parties) because I don’t like my lips.  Certain things can’t be changed.  I can’t make my lips smaller.  So instead I’m learning to accept myself.  My brother can tease me all he wants but I’m embracing the bigness/fullness/voluptuousness of my lips and rocking some pink lip gloss from now on!

Is there anything you have learned to embrace about yourself?  Any works in progress?

P.S. Another step toward reaching my 2010 goals will be revealed as I get back to Ithaca on Saturday!  Stay Tuned!

Napa: Wine, Wine and More Wine

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Yesterday we left about mid-day and headed up to Napa!  It’s only about an hour and a half drive from the lovely fella’s place in Mountain View.  We found a deal on Travel Zoo for a hotel plus wine tastings at 3 vineyards and 3 half bottles of wine!

The first stop was Peju.  This was one of our free wine tastings.  The vineyard and tasting room was very lovely!

They had some interesting trees in the entrance…

We tasted 5 wines: 1 white, 1 red/white blend, 2 Cabs and a Port.  My favorite was the 2005 Cabernet Sauvignon.

This also happened to be the half bottle that they gave us!  So that was convenient.  I liked this place but sadly there was another couple tasting next to us so I felt really rushed.  They flew through it and it felt like we needed to go at their pace.  Oh well.  It was still fun and tasty!

The next stop was: Castello di Amorosa.

It was a lovely location with a great view, not to mention the winery was in the shape of a castle! This wasn’t included in our three free tastings but the lovely fella heard it was good so we went.  I’m glad we did! This was my favorite of the three we went to!

We tried some wonderful wines here too!  I don’t usually like sweet wines but the ones here were particularly delicious!

The final winery we went to Madonna Estate for a free tasting.  It was very small but nice.  We were the only ones in the tasting room.  They didn’t have half bottles so we got a free full sized bottle of Riesling.

The man in the tasting room suggested a restaurant for dinner.  He was Italian so naturally  he suggested an Italian restaurant (Zagat also said it was delicious).  So for dinner we went to Bistro Don Giovanni.

We were wined-out so we stuck to water.  First, we were served some rosemary focaccia.  It was extremely oily, but naturally very delicious!

The lovely fella and I shared a beet and haricot verts salad with avocado, fennel and roquefort vinaigrette.  This was very good.  Light and flavorful!

As an entree, I got the Ricotta and Pesto Ravioli with a lemon cream sauce.  This was OOH SO GOOD!  I can’t even tell you how delicious it was!  I love lemony things but this was literally out of this world!

The lovely fella got an (unphotographed) Rigatoni with lamb meatballs.  He enjoyed his as well!  I definitely recommend Bistro Don Giovanni for anyone going to Napa.  It was delicious and reasonably priced!

We decided to skip dessert there since nothing looked too good.  Instead, we stopped by Whole Foods for a bakery treat!  I got a cupcake (which took me hours to eat since it was so sweet):

The lovely fella got an almond cannoli.  I’m not a huge fan of cannolis but he really enjoyed it…

Warning: Hipster Hating Ranting to Come!

The next day we left and stopped in San Francisco for breakfast/lunch.  We went to Tartine Bakery.  This hipster watering hole was delicious!  I got a 3 Cheese Pressed Sandwich and the lovely fella got a ham croque monsieur.  Mine was simply to die for!  It was also HUGE!  I ate 2/3 of it and thought I was going to explode!

The food was fantastic (I seriously can’t get over how good this place was); however, I didn’t like the cafe itself.  It was ridiculously crowded with hipsters talking about Europe and art.  I didn’t feel like I could really enjoy my meal to the full extent.   I also felt silly pulling out my camera, maybe I would have if I had been sitting outside with a little more arm room.  I literally felt like I was living in the this blog.  I’m not sure why I was so irked by the patrons of this place.  I think it just felt a little pretentious to me.  Strangely enough, the place was kind of dirty too.  You bus your own tables (which isn’t a problem at all) but that means all the tables were really dirty.  The occasional wipe down would have been appreciated.

I would love to go back!  It was seriously amazingly good!  But next time, I’ll get it to go and enjoy my sandwich or pastry elsewhere 🙂

Now we’re back in Mountain View trying to figure out what to do the rest of the day!  Maybe we’ll have some more wine… because obviously we haven’t had enough…  On that note, this blog is supposed to be about healthy eating… don’t worry that will resume soon!  When I’m back at home (aka Ithaca) I rarely eat out plus I have a healthy plan for the next few months, more on that later!

What’s your favorite type of wine?

Balance Out the Sweet

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I woke up this morning to find a package had been delivered for me!

My friend Sara sent me biscotti she made!  It’s absolutely delicious!  Chocolate cherry with nutty goodness!  I had to have a piece with my coffee!  Soo good!  Thanks, mam!

I can never get my biscotti to taste that good.  Must be her Italian-ness that makes it so good!

My banana bread was also ready so I had to try a piece of that too to make sure it was edible.

Not bad. I’ve made better.  (I’m kind of a tough judge when it comes to my own baking/cooking)

To balance out all that sugar, I had a green monster for breakfast (or really kind of second breakfast since I ate so many things this morning haha). I enjoyed this while watching Beyonce Revealed on E!  Thank you E! for feeding by obsession!

I’m going to the Bay Area tonight!  Woo!  I can’t wait!