Food Lover On-the-Go

Hiya Pals! The past few weeks have been extremely slow, save for my hoppin’ holidays.

Tuesday, however, was cray (zay). I had several to-do’s planned for the day, so I woke up bright and early at 7 am.  I headed straight for the kitch (I am feeling the abbrevs). It made me realize how unfit for diets I am…

Egg on toast. Yog with pap (Let me clarify for my South African family..."papaya")

Best egg seasoning ever.

 I had my coffee and breakfast and cleaned a little. I realize I say I clean a lot. If you must know, “clean” means tidy, wipe, down, and otherwise “nicer” up the house. When I say, “I spent 2 hours cleaning,” or “I spent a large portion of my day scrubbing,” you know I mean business.

After my food digested, Lucy was literally nudging me toward the door and showcasing her extraordinary ability of whining in the most annoying possible way while managing to still be cute. I decided to bring Max-er with is. What a sucker I am.

I opted for an early lunch. On Monday, I received a package from Gillian's GF foods. 

Gillian's Food

 I tried out the Penne pasta for lunch. Gluten-free pasta is often fragile and doesn't cook very evenly. This pasta, on the other hand, cooked perfectly. It had a great taste, unlike some GF pastas. The only problem I found with this penne was a starchy coating after it was cooked making it stick together. But, it was easy to break the noodles apart and they did not tear or crumble. Super. I give them a 6 out of 10.

Brown Rice Penne

Chicken salad, carrots, and chilled penne with Italian dressing.

Berry tea and vanilla tea. Perfect combo.

 Then I packed some snackies since I knew I would be on the go all day.

Snackies.

Dogs in the background.

Broken New Year's Resolution. Fashion Faux Pas in action. Tea in hand. Hot. 

After lunch, I headed out to college-ville to see one of my besties.

This is Flo-Rida. She is my 83-yr-old bestie/adopted grandmother.

 My other poopers were super excited to see me, since I haven’t been to Journey’s End Animal Sanctuary in about a week (I usually go 2-3 times a week).  Flo-Rida told me I would be accompanying her on some errands. I love hangin’ with her, so I was totally ok with it. We spent the next few hours out on the town, looking for some home-improvement stuffs. Afterward, she bought me some coffee and coffee ice cream. Did I mention how much I love her? I tried to pay for my own treat but harsh words were exchanged. Who knew an 83-yr-old woman could say such things…  

I went to the bank, made some clothing exchanges for Flo-Rida, and headed back to home base. As soon as I got back, I went straight for the Wii Zumba for some supplemental workout. Fast. Fun. Fantastic.

Feeling the need for something fresh, I made myself a hearty salad.

Lettuce, carrots, quinoa, cucumbers, tomatoes, banana peppers, a spritz of Italian dressing, and apple cider vinegar.

 I caught up on my favorite blogs and a sudden urge for croissants. Croissants are possibly one of my favorite foods, but I haven’t had one in over 3 years. I discovered a recipe using rice flour, which is super convenient, considering I just got some from Ener-G. Then I read this post “How to Eat Like a French Woman” from I Made Dinner.  It’s fate! I am beyond excited. Wednesday’s post will tell the tale!

I plan on spending the rest of my night watching Clinton Kelly and Stacey London bash the wardrobes of innocent people. It’s fantastic. Then I will go to bed dreaming of croissants.

 2 days 'til Giveaway!

Christmas Cheer Brings… Dance Revolution??

Happy New Year Everyone! Here's my first post of the 2011:

For the past two years, I have been in South Africa for Christmas, so I figured it would be a good idea to spend my last Christmas before I move with my family. Nothing beats an American Christmas. However, my family’s holiday gatherings are not what you would call the typical or traditional in any sense of the words.

This year, the most festive day of the year started out normal- tranquil and cozy- with baking, a toasty fire, and a beautiful tree.

Mons making deviled eggs.

Jelly-filled cookies

 Then the family began arriving… I had the brilliant idea of having all finger foods instead of a big sit-down dinner (we usually make a gigantic pot of paella). We grazed at the table the whole day, probably consuming way more calories than we would have otherwise. But who cares?

Finger food-ville

 We worked off some of those spinach dip and little sausage calories with a Spanish dance contest that my grandfather concocted.

The day turned into evening, and I decided it was time to speak to my Hot Soccer Player. I emerged from my room I stumbled upon this:

Since an alien abduction is highly unlikely, I’m satisfied with conclusion that there had been a Bollywood invasion. All we needed was a villain emerging from a tree somewhere…

This scene was a result of courtesy Wii Let’s Dance 2. It’s a blast. We danced for 2 more hours after that.

I suppose you could call Thursday night our pre-New Year’s Eve parteezy. Three of my cousins spent the night, and guess what they happened to bring along with them- Let’s Dance 2. We couldn’t help ourselves.

Loving the face on my cuz.

On New Year’s Eve, mom, stepdad, cousins, and I went to the mall, shopped around a little and bought Wii Zumba!

Buy Zumba on Amazon!

 A few of our relations joined us for dinner, and we had some delicious Mexican eats.

Picked over food

Mexican Bean Soup

 Immediately after we ate, we ran straight for the Wii remotes. It was a horrible idea since I felt sick afterward. But it was a total blast. Great way to spend New Year’s Eve. 

Wishing this cookie was my honey.

Obsessing over peanut butter chocolate chip cookies in between songs.

I think this could be a new way of life for the New Year. I am obsessed. A dance revolution has begun.

Annual Resolution Failure

The New Year is almost upon us! Every year, after the holiday season comes to a close, people’s minds jump straight to losing the few pounds they put on. The most common New Year’s resolution is to lose weight. This sounds wonderfully fantastic on New Year’s Eve when you are sipping champagne with friends and family.

But how much weight are you trying to lose? By when? How do you plan on doing it? Those little details are what make us quit our diet and exercise plan by January 15^th. No one wants to have another resolution implementation failure.

What if we tried to not make different resolutions this year? What if we resolved to be healthier instead of thinner? That’s still a pretty broad resolution. My suggestion is to make a bunch of small resolutions for ourselves.

Here is a little list of ideas that I have come up with:

• Start taking a daily multi-vitamin
• Walk 3 times a week for 30 minutes
• Cut down your soft drinks (or cut them out all together!). 
• Get a nice, bright water bottle and make sure you are drinking ½ your body weight in ounces of water every day- having a bright and interesting bottle with make you more aware of the need to drink your H2O!
• Drink a glass of water before each meal- We all know this, but really. Do it.
• Buy an easy healthy cook book- Finding a book with both easy and healthy recipes, will make you more likely to want to cook  

• OOOR, go to FoodNetwork.com- they have tons of options for healthy and quick cooking
• Take 5 minutes a day to relax- Find a quiet place to close your eyes and clear your head.
• Cut down your sugar intake- If you take two sugars in your coffee, try to but it down to one. 

You only live once, and for me, life on a diet is no life at all. Why not eat sensible, and think about being healthy, not being skinny.

By being healthier, you will be happier, look great, and feel better about yourself. Take the next week to come up with a few of your own little resolutions! Leave a comment! Maybe you can inspire someone else.