Beautiful Saturday :)

I finally made it back to Body Step this morning for the first time in a couple weeks (since I've been house sitting and super busy thus doing my own cardio workouts aka jogging, eliptical, etc).  I absolutely LOVE body step even though I feel I should be wearing sparkly spandex and leg warmers. Body Step is a Les Mills workout class that incorporates cardio, target training, and dance with a step for a full body workout.  For me, Body Step is an hour long party that gives me tons of endorphins and a fantastic booty :)

After Body Step, I went to Toscana Grill to meet a bunch of other DC bloggers for lunch coordinated by the lovely Anne P.  After boring my friends and families with my incessant food talk, I loved being with a bunch of other foodies who love food as much as me!  Toscana Grill joined with Compassion Over Killing (an animal rights group not PETA) to make April a vegan month so their menu for the entire weekend is completely vegan!

Check out this swag:

The tryveg.com is a sticker which I want to put in my car's back window :)

The menu looked fantastic but since I had massive amounts of hunger after Body Step and had a piece of toast with peanut butter I decided to stick with the Minestrone Soup.  However, I thought it left much to be desired.  For a restaurant that tries to encourage a healthy organic lifestyle, the soup mainly included broth, maybe 8 red beans, a green bean or two, and WHITE pasta.  I spent more money of a bowl of soup than the ingredients I could have bought to make a healthier and more tastier soup which is another reason I semi dislike eating out.  I always think I can make something healthier and maybe tastier.  However I loved meeting all the lovely bloggers and we had fantastic conversations about good food and exercise (my favorite topics). And provided me with lots of inspiration for a talk that I'm giving tomorrow to a bunch of college seniors.

I'm an advisor for my sorority at a college in Maryland and tomorrow I'm giving a talk about cooking/eating healthy on a budget without dining halls and Mommy making us dinner every night.  My first year after college I lived paycheck to paycheck but still managed to lose twenty pounds (not because I starved myself with lack of funds for food) while eating organic food, tons of fresh produce, and even shopping at Whole Foods.  So I'm going to be sharing the tips/tricks that I learned with these college seniors who (like me) might struggle with that first difficult year after graduation.

I'll (hopefully) be back tomorrow with a recap of my talk and the recipe I made as example of a quick, cheap, healthy breakfast for busy career girl who doesn't have time for making a pot of steel cut oats. Here's a teaser:

 

And no it's not oatmeal!!

Cake Taste Update

My entire family (myself included) LOVED the cake.  My youngest brother (14 and therefore a sugar expert) said "It's the best cake I've eaten in a long time".  Even I indulged in a piece (a rather large one) trying to forgot the millions of chemicals in the frosting and cake mix and focus on the egg whites and applesauce. Hey, everything in moderation, right?  

Don't you love the yellow and blue layers?? Because I do :)

Here are some more peepshi pictures to brighten up your Monday!

Happy Easter

What do you get when you combine chemicals, sugar, peeps, and a mother/daughter duo looking for a cute easter treat for the church brunch?

Peepshi!!

Thank you to the genius minds of Serious Eats, my mother and I created the perfect Easter coffee hour treat.  

Happy Easter!!

Baking Like Sandra Lee

I absolutely love watching the Food Network!  I spend most of my free time reading cookbooks, food blogs while watching FN...okay maybe I'm just a little obsessive.  But for some reason...

drives me crazy.  Now I'm blonde and peppy but even I have my perky limits and somehow in less than thirty minutes Ms. Sandra Lee can push me to the edge.  Maybe it's the crazy tablescapes????

BUT I will admit that she has some good ideas and excellent tips/tricks for the busy family.  Her 70/30 rule is not for your snobbish foodie yet ideal for the busy mother trying to make a good meal for her family.  Today in the spirit of Sandra Lee I created a "semi homemade" Easter cake for my family dinner tomorrow evening.

Basically I took these: 

and made this:

It's my "semi homemade" Easter cake :) Now it looks pretty (not quite Ace of Cakes but pretty close) though I haven't tasted it yet.  But personally aesthetic appeal is much more important to taste.  It took me less than an hour to bake and decorate my cake thanks to the wise inspiration of Sandra Lee.

Spring (Easter) Cake

Cake Ingredients

• One cake mix box (I used Pillsbury Classic White)
• 4 egg whites
• 1/3 cup unsweetened applesauce
• 1.25 cups water

Frosting Ingredients

• 8oz tub of Sugar Free Cool Whip
• 1 oz package of Fat Free Cream Cheese
• 1/2 cup sugar (I used Splenda...don't judge)
• 1 tsp sugar

Cake Decor:

• Food coloring
• Jellybeans
• Sprinkles

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 F
2. Combine all cake ingredients in electric mixer and mix until smooth
3. Distribute batter evenly into 2 9 inch greased cake pans (I used cooking spray)
4. Use food color to dye cake batter (I did blue and yellow)
5. Cook for 30 minutes then use a toothpick to check if cakes are done baking
6. When done, remove from oven and let cool for ten minutes.  Then use dinner knife to loosen cake from pan and place cake on cooling rack.  Allow cake to cool to room temperature before frosting.
7. Combine all ingredients for frosting in electric mixer while cake is cooking and mix until smooth.  Add food coloring (I used red and blue to make pink).
8. When cakes are room temperature, frost cake.
9. Decorate cake with frosting, sprinkles, and jelly beans (or whatever you feel like)

Voila!  You've made a fabulous spring (easter) cake in less than thirty minutes.  And if you're feeling all fancy you can make more layers or even cupcakes.  I'd like to thank Sandra Lee again for making me feel okay for using pre-made almost everything (except those egg whites which are a pain...any tips???).  

I also took inspiration from this outfit to do my kitchen work 

Or not...I wore my ratty old PJs.  Why risk ruining such a wonderful outfit??

More Oats

Oh oatmeal how I love and adore thee!  And I've discovered the new love of my oatmeal life...

Oats In A Jar!!

Now I've seen oats in a jar over all the blogs however I've never experienced the joy.  I eat breakfast at work and lots of time I sleep through breakfast on the weekends (eek I know I should eat breakfast).  But this lovely (aka cold and gray) Sunday morning, I had to take the family to the airport and I needed some fuel if I wanted to drive to the airport and then do some kickboxing and weight lifting.  I also had a nearly empty jar of Peanut Butter & Co Dark Chocolate Dreams from baking on Friday.  I made peanut butter banana cookies ala Fat Free Vegan, I used all whole wheat pastry flour, Dark Chocolate Dreams PB, and no chocolate chips.  Sorry no pictures but the cookies turned out yummy and very banana in flavor (which I love...makes me feel healthier for eating cookies).

Anyways, so I saved my nearly empty jar of Dark Chocolate Dreams (which I plan on buying more of immediately) and whipped up 1/2 cup of oats with a medium/large banana to toss inside my jar.  After cooling for a few minutes, I risked burning my mouth and dove into my oats.  YUM!  Why had I waited so long to do this???  If you have a nearly empty jar of PB, save it for your oats :)  I'm so tempted to buy PB and empty the jar into Tupperware so I can have oats in a jar again tomorrow.  Or maybe this is just an incentive to eat more peanut butter...

Have you tried oats in  a jar?  And what's your favorite nut butter?  I think I finally found mine :)

Single eating: the leftovers dilema

As a single girl I often struggle NOT to get bored with my meals.  It becomes routine to make the same salad beast every day and eat the same oatmeal everyday.  So I decided to purchase one of my favorites: spaghetti squash and attempt to create several different meals out of one squash.  I purchased my squash at Whole Foods aka Whole Paycheck and returned to my apartment to analyze my pantry and fridge to create a scrumptious meal.  Of course you probably think I should have gone to Whole Foods with a meal plan but I'm trying to be spontaneous (or just too lazy to figure out some recipes).


I discovered a zucchini, salsa, and leftover black bean dip I had made sometime last week.  So I decided to create a Mexican spaghetti squash extravaganza.  I mixed lots of salsa with the black bean dip (basically I had pureed black beans with cilantro and garlic), shredded the zucchini, and tossed them all on top of some spaghetti squash "noodles".

It was absolutely delicious!  I'm saddened that I don't have any more zucchini, salsa, and black bean dip.  But I have leftover spaghetti squash noodles. So for tomorrow, I'm thinking a Mac and "Cheese" dish ala HEAB...

For lunch the next day,  I whipped out some leftover spaghetti squash and used nutritional yeast for the first time EVER.  And created a wonderful sauce using a 1/4 block lite silken tofu pureed with 1 T nutritional yeast and 4 cups spinach I'd sautéed on the stove with some garlic.  Mix the "cheese" sauce with the spaghetti squash and some broccoli, season with some S&P (I used garlic salt because I'm obsessed with garlic), and try not to devour in three seconds.  It looks slightly disgusting but it's wonderful!!  What will I create with my spaghetti squash tomorrow?

Today I needed a quick lunch since I worked up quite an appetite reading Vogue on the elliptical.  The night before I decided I wanted to make some hummus ala a Hungry Girl that used artichokes and Greek yogurt instead of oil and tahini (which actually defines hummus but I wanted to give it a try from her book 200 under 200-1/4 cup hummus for 50 calories...sign me up).  So for lunch I decided to sauté the rest of my spaghetti squash with 3-4 cups spinach, 1/2 cup mushroom pieces, 1 small tomato, 1/2 mini cucumber in balsamic vinegar on the stove.  I topped my stir fry with a generous 1/4 cup of Hungry Girl hummus (which turned out delicious with my addition of extra garlic, I didn't even miss the tahini).  Mix all together and enjoy :)


With one smallish spaghetti squash I managed to create three different meals (don't worry I had other food as well with these meals lots of fruits and whole wheat carbs).  If you're willing to mix random ingredients or combine different recipes or use blogs for food inspiration you can eat yummy home cooked meals designed for one.


Do you have any suggestions on using leftovers?  Or do you get bored eating the same food?  Obviously I don't!!

Mini RANT then Traveling Tips

Warning mini rant (so skip this paragraph if you don't want to read my complaint):
Has anyone seen the show on Style Network called What I Hate About Me?  While flipping through the channels I stumbled upon this show with the premise that the host helps a woman change the top ten things that she hates about her (her looks, life, clothing, job, etc).  For example this woman hated that she and her family ate unhealthy, processed food so she had a private cooking class with a personal chef.  And then she hated her yellow teeth so a cosmetic dentist gave her veneers.  I sat in amazement as the host and the woman changing herself used the words "hate" and "me" in almost every sentence.  After ten minutes I had to turn the television off and reflect on the insanity that I just witnessed.  The title of the show, What I Hate About Me, sends a HORRIBLE message to anyone watching the show.  Everyone has little aspects of his/her life that drives them crazy or invokes desires of change or unhappiness.  However, hate is such a strong word and I don't think that a television show should be asking a woman what she hates about herself.  Maybe she is unhappy with the fact that she has yellow teeth but the fact that she associates hate and herself because of her teeth is horribly unhealthy.  As women now-a-days we are held to insanely high standards to be super mothers while maintaining an active social life, fantastic careers, keeping our "men" happy, maintain a strict workout routine, perfect figure, and never eating anything but carrots and apples.  So now, we have to find the ten little things that aren't perfect and we have to fix them.  Of course eating healthy is a fantastic goal for everyone but because you eat a cookie every once in a while doesn't mean you should hate yourself.  The word "hate" especially in regards to yourself is horrible, would you tell your best friend ten things you hate about her and how she should fix them?  I think that we should embrace the all parts of ourselves and our lives.  And maybe those little parts that don't completely satisfy us, can either be our little quirks that we grow to love or as motivation to make little changes as in eating more fruits and vegetables rather than a candy bar. Anyways, rant over (has anyone seen this show??)

Traveling tips time :) I'm leaving for Denver tomorrow for a work related conference.  In November, I went on my first "business" trip to San Antonio, Texas when I learned many lessons about traveling for work.  San Antonio is not the most vegetarian friendly city and I ended up losing four pounds in the couple days I stayed there.  So this time, I decided to go to Denver more prepared with food in case I have difficultly finding healthy food (though according to my vegan co-worker who lived in Denver, there are numerous vegetarian/vegan restaurants and cafes...yay).  First, the breakfast menu at my hotel includes bacon, sugar laden cereal, waffles, bagels, and sausage...not my ideal breakfast.  So I'm coming prepared with:

Instant Oatmeal-just add boiling water which you can get by running water through a coffee maker without any coffee grinds (yes it's Wal-mart brand-DC living is expensive)

Squeezable Applesauce to put in my oatmeal plus I plan on purchasing bananas at the Starbucks near my hotel to round out my breakfast.

Now at these conferences there aren't too many healthy snack options.  I'm not a huge sweets person and I don't want to eat cookies and pastries if I need a snack so I'm coming prepared with:

Apple Cinnamon Clif Z Bars which is the best flavor ever!!

Whole unflavored almonds and cocoa roasted almonds both of which I can also add to my oatmeal 

(yummmm healthy fat)

Meat free jerky in case I have difficulty finding non animal protein in restaurants (major problem in San Antonio because I could never find beans or lentils or tofu and CVS acted as the only "grocery" store)

Travelling as a healthy eater (or vegetarian or vegan) can be incredibly difficult.  So I've begun packing food help me survive time away from kitchen and fridge.  Just by finding some little snacks and very expensive squeezable applesauce (ah, Whole "Paycheck"), you can survive.  Plus I've found that smiling and asking very nicely will typically let you customize your food choices at restaurants.  Goal for Denver: do not lose weight (oh and do the networking/learning for my job...).

Do you have any tips for travel?  Business or pleasure?  Or any restaurant recommendations for Denver?

And in the spirit of my mini rant, tell the ten thing you LOVE about yourself and your life.  I'll start:

1. My strong body 

2. My wonderful family and friends

3. The fact that I have a good job, car, and apartment in this economy

4. My bright blue eyes 

5. My blistered, dry feet (my trophy of all my athleticism)

6. My active and curious mind

7. Cooking fun and whole foods that make me feel good inside and out

8. My book collection

9. All the museums, buildings, restaurants, activities, etc I have access to in DC

10. My journal to record all my hopes and aspirations and feelings