dinner

These are some of my favorite "sauced" frozen vegetables ever! Now if you don't mind a huge circle of frozen butter before heating these are perfect! I always heat them by the box directions and then add more vegetables because meals like this always have wayyy to much sauce. the whole thing has 2.5 servings @70 cal= 175 calories and ofcourse I paired it with none other than a masala patty. Then I had a cup of pudding that I made yesterday, then I ate 4 cinnamon graham crackers. I hope thats it for the night and Im moving the graham crackers away from my bed because 1. I have to eat anything arms length away from me 2. there are crumbs everywhere! goodnight!

G'day

Today is just a lazy summer day. I woke up at 11:30, ate some of my quiche and a big cup of coffee. Threw some clothes in the wash, it really has been too long when all I have for underwear is a pair of silk boyshorts which I'm pretty sure are just really small pj bottoms. So I'm throwing that in while I blog a little then take a shower. I have a economics experiment at 4, then I'm heading over to Target to get some spanx for the wedding and then I'll probably wander around aimlessly for the next hour or so. I actually have the workers come up to me and ask if they can help me find things, that's how long I stay in Target, so embarrassing! Oh and today is my last day of tanning so I'll probably go! I know this is so bad and after today I am going to try to find a really good self tanner and never fake bake again! I've used Body Shop tanner which was AMAZING but it would be nice to find something a bit cheaper and something I'm sure wont clog my pores. So if anyone has recommendations I'm willing to try anything!

dinner time

tonight I had a Trader joes masala burger, some rice leftover from lasts nights dinner with veggies underneath. I just made some chocolate pudding for dessert and I'm chilling it in red solo cups, I know Im so classy

1st recipe posting!

Crust-less quiche!

recipe

1 1/2 cups egg beaters

2 cups cottage cheese

1 cup sour cream

1 cup frozen spinach- drain thoroughly by pressing with paper and draining into sink several times

1 cup green beans

1/4 cup onions

spoonful of minced garlic

salt and pepper to taste

Cook at 425 for 40-60 minutes ~ makes 4 servings

I usually make this with broccoli and spinach but I decided to try french cut green beans and spinach this time. This is my go to breakfast! it heats up in two minutes in the microwave and is really filling! I need my PROTEIN in the morning!

Cheers!

I've been published!

I absolutely LOVE heateatreview and I finally got my piece published that I wrote awhile ago. Check it out!

http://heateatreview.com/2009/06/27/banquet-select-recipes-herb-grilled-chicken-breast/

hey everyone! Today I've been running around all over the place! I ate a chicken, cheese and spinach wrap on a wheat tortilla and then went to starbucks and got a skinny caramel macchiato and went to bank, then Bed,Bath and Beyond and searched a few other places to get the rest of Allies wedding gift and finally put this crazy wedding spend to an end :) I complain but I love it! I got her a gorgeous Luigi Bormioli decanter and wine glass set! It is soo pretty I wanted to keep it for myself or buy another but it was the last one. I love getting the "last" of an item! So that with the wine and maybe a frame will be the gift. I should have waited until the last minute to buy this because I always keep buying and buying its like a disease! I got home and wrapped it. I've seen very pretty BB&B boxes but they certainly did not give me one! I wrapped it up because the best part of a gift is ripping up some paper.

I ate a can of progresso spicy chicken gumbo with less sodium and it was really good! Soup is one of my favorite foods when trying to cut calories, its warm filled with lots of different things and is so filling.

Now I am going to do one of my "recession proof your grocery shopping" tips, write down everything I have, I really need to stop shopping or going out to eat because I'm moving out and I'm not about to take all this food with me!

Alright I'm going to do that and then later tonight I will be showcasing a recipe that always makes my roomates jealous!

A Generic Story

Notice how some brands like Kelloggs have been getting cheaper? Since the recession people have started eating more and more store brand items because they are cheaper and usually pretty much the same product. Since living on my own I have started buying some generic products, I almost felt rebellious at first because I grew up in a household where all we had were national brand products and my dad was convinced that store brand products were not worth buying. I think most of the time store brands put out a comparable product especially when buying the basics-oats, sugar, milk-hard to mess those up. I have noticed that sometimes its best to trust national brands-fiber one bars and dressings I can personally attest for.

Now I may be telling you stuff you already know but I have some recession proof ideas to save you money at the grocery store.

1. Look through the store ads. I don't get them in the mail so I always make sure to look through the two grocery stores weekly ads online to check if they have sales on the things I need.

2. Don't be afraid of coupons. Think of a $1 off coupon as a $1 in your pocket. If you get the Sunday paper theres a big packet in there, look on a national brands website they will have some especially if theres a new product. Look through the store! look at the coupon dispensers attached to the shelves and sometimes there will be coupons taped on the products, rip them off and put them near your credit card so you dont forget them at checkout!

3. Look at the unit price! Items will have a price per ounce next to the item price. This is the easiest way to see if that HUGE can of salsa is really worth taking up half your fridge for the next two weeks.

4. 10 for $10 does not mean you have to buy ten. I always thought this was common knowledge until I started grocery shopping with my roomates. So before you buy ten cans of chickpeas when you only wanted two know that you can buy as little as one or as many as 10 (or whatever the stores limit is). Buy one, get one - you do have to buy two items though.

5. Not satisfied with a product? Call the comment/ questions line. One time I bought a box of fiber one bars and one was open and hard as a rock! I called up and got a free box and a $1 off for my next purchase of them! One of the guys I used to work with called Frito-Lay just to say he liked the product and they sent him a coupon for a free bag of chips. These companies want to hear customer feedback and its a lot cheaper to send a person a coupon than to create survey and send it out. So hate a product? call! Love a product? call!

6. Write down all the food in your house. Do you really to go grocery shopping? Chances are no. This is the hardest one to follow for me since the grocery store=adult disney world. When I write down everything I have in the fridge it is a lot easier for me to think of recipe ideas and makes getting rid of forgotten food more exciting!

7. Check your receipts. I can't tell you how many times I've been doubled charged for an item because the cashier was scanning my things in a zombie-like state. It can be a pain to get the money back but depending on the item it could be worth it.

I didnt take a picture of lunch today but I ate one of these burgers over a spring mix salad with fries on the side. I havent had indian food that much but leave it to trader joes to make a delicious portion controlled version of it. At 120 calories they can be a snack, put over a salad or on a bun it was so good I was thinking of just mashing two patties together for a bowl of it for a meal sometime.

dinner X2

so I got called into work today which I gladly went since all that was waiting for me at my house was a bunch of packing and cleaning. At my work there is always a ton of food, it is a catering company after all. I let myself eat with little reguard for calories because I am running around and lifting soo much but I always come home hungry! Kind of like when you eat after a workout and the food doesnt even register so I decided I would eat A LOT less then I usually do at work because I always go raiding through the fridge when I get home anyways. So at work I ate chicken piccata, some roasted potatoes and broccoli and then a few hours later came home to eat another piece of chicken and a salad. I think this is a much better idea it is more food then I would usually eat but I just spent 5 hours on my feet so I deserve it. Unfortunately my work is no longer letting us bring home food because some of the servers were abusing the priviledge. I can see where they are coming from because people were taking things that could have been re-used but this sucks for me and my new plan!

leftover SUSH lunch

Just another lazy day in C-bus, Ohio. I woke up at noon. I'd like to state I'm not a complete bum. I work as a server at a catering company so I do work and I actually signed up with another company to work today but they gave me the wrong address yesterday (or I may have written it down wrong) so I wasnt able to go fill out my tax papers. sooo anyways I'm sitting at home. I ate the rest of my sushi it was the halibut rolls, so good! I wasnt sure whether I'd like it or not but the whole platter was fully cooked so I'm not really a badass. I waited until after the sushi to drink my coffee because I wasnt sure how coffee and sushi would mix. Today I'm planning on packing up a lot of my stuff to move back to NY! I feel like I havent fully explained why I'm selling off my furniture, well its because my lease is up 8/22 and I am not sure how much stuff my dads car will be able to fit on the way back home. I'm staying in Columbus for the wedding but hope to be home by late-mid August.

Drog Alert!

Ahh I'm drogging=drunk blogging, I got that little gem from www.healthytippingpoint.com but I thought I should note that I had 2 mixed drinks, a beer and a lot of pizza. This was definitely a backtrack. Whenever I'm dieting I always seem to want to eat when I'm drunk when I'm not dieting I never drunk eat wierd... I guess the drunk heart knows what it wants

GIFT TIME

I love giving gifts! Almost as much as I like receiving them! I'm the type of person that would never give a giftcard because I like to give something that makes the gift receiver know I thought about something to get specifically for them! Now this gift is part of my wedding gift to my BFF Allie. As you may have read I am her Maid of Honor! Now I kind of got the idea from a website but I put my own twist on it. This bottle is a 10th anniversary bottle of wine for them so obviously I had to put a "do not open until 7/11/2019 on it as well as a future congrats for their ten year anniversary (creepy or creepy awesome?) and then I also put a Anniversary calendar on it so they can rip off each year and think about how much they want this bottle of wine! So the reason why I love this idea so much is because 1. they get to think of the awesome person who gave it to them on the special day and 2. it can be as expensive or cheap as you want it to be. I honestly thought this label was really pretty and would get a little ripped up over time so it looked like they had been married for a wicked long time before they got to open it but to each his own! Thought I had to include a fun post since I had to rant to you all about CL.

mission impossible- the desk that wouldnt leave

Craigslist, we used to be friends. When I wanted a job you delivered. When I wanted another job you yet again delivered. When I needed a DVD player you were there. So why are all the craiglisters buying my desk so imcompetent? I have a black and silver desk with a matching bookshelf described as such with photos. I had a graduate student couple come to my house and look at the desk and ask if I had a light wood desk with white legs....What? I mean its craiglist, you are buying used furniture for cheap, you have a right to choose but you can't come to someones house and request something they dont own. Then they proceeded to try to buy my sofa which wasnt for sale. I have someone who wants to buy my desk but their transportation cant pick it up for an unknown amount of time. So I'm thinking maybe me and my desk werent meant to part so soon, we only have had two years together and we've only just gotten to know each other, running up and down the staircase together, getting uncomfortably close when I squeeze out my room because its blocking it, yes its been quite a bonding time for us and like the rejected runt of the litter it is, a.k.a. not a light wooden table with white legs I'm feeling sorry for it and its growing into a love.

Sushi!

I've been craving sushi for weeks and finally decided to go out and get some! Awesome idea I dont know why I didnt go sooner. I got this at Trader Joes, it was the party platter and I went to the party quite literally. I thought I'd get a before and after shot. I was full but still considering eating the whole thing but as a goal to be healthier I am going to start listening to hunger cues and fullness cues because that sushi will now make great lunch or atleast a snack later tonight.

Snack and a drink

at 1:30 I realized I was thirsty and hungry, time for some lemon-lime water and a chocolate peanut CLIF mojo bar. After drinking some water I realized I was just thirsty but after you pick out a CLIF bar you cant put it back so I ate half of it and am saving the other half for after I help move out my desk! Yes, it sold almost instantly and I have a back up person who wants it just incase these people back out! This more than makes up for yesterdays lady who had her 8 year old son call me to tell me she wasnt going to buy it anymore! what the heck, who uses their kids to call people to tell them that? When I was telling my mom and friend they both almost instantly said "Wrong person!" Its not that I dont like kids but I'm not the type of person that would find a child calling me cute which I think is what this lady was hoping for. Well I'll stop before I sound like a complete monster!

Caffeine Addiction?!?!

It only takes 48 to overcome caffeine withdrawl! Since graduating I havent had to wake early as much so I've only been drinking coffee every once and a while and by the way I think coffee is AMAZING and gets an undeserved bad rap but it has fiber, antioxidants, helps with increasing endurance in workouts and keeps me pretty full in the morning. I used to be the type of person who could drink soda after soda and fall asleep an hour later and I credit this to my rigid schedule of two cups of strong coffee a day but last night I drank a 12oz can of diet pepsi while watching The Real Housewives of NJ renunion part 2 and couldnt get to sleep until 4 am! How crazy is that? I mean 2 weeks ( I went to a school on the quarter system and graduated ridicously late 6/14!) after stopping the daily coffee and the caffeine in soda is keeping me up for hours! anyways I found it interesting and a little frustrating last night!

I woke up at 9 today and made myself a huge cup of coffee, next thing I know its 11:30 and I havent eaten. I made a cajun chicken wrap with oscar mayer deli meat with some lettuce,cheese and yellow mustard with some veggies on the side

Dinner was quite the collaboration! broc, spinach, corn, onions and peppers and a 1/2 serving of morning star chik'n strips. I used salsa, 1/4 cup FF cheddar, and 1/4 FF cottage for the "sauce" and about a serving and a half of whole grain pasta.

Pasta is one of my "trigger" foods. I have learned that for me I have to make what I'm going to eat and no extras for leftovers because I will eat it all that night no matter what. I also try to either put a lot of veggies in (as shown) or eat it with a big salad.

New Obsession!

I've have been whole heartedly trying to stop drinking as much diet pepsi and more water while trying to save the environment. I now carry this water bottle around with me EVERYWHERE and add a few drops of lemon and lime juice in. Its such a cheap alternative to real lemons and limes not to mention soda or bottled water; each $2.50 bottle boasts 88 servings and it makes me drink more water!

Websites to derail you from job searching

I was just thinking of all the websites I like to look at instead of finding jobs. Feel free to add some of your favorites.

www.postsecret.blogspot.com
www.fmylife.com
www.textsfromlastnight.com
www.awkwardfamilyphotos.com

Wow there are just so much more fun things to do than look for a job

Lunch and Craigslist

Lunch was so good yesterday I decided to have it again. I'm such a creature of habit about food I can eat the same thing for weeks if I like it enough. I'm sure this would make me the world's most boring blogger though so I will try to refrain.

I am a little annoyed this afternoon after cleaning off and moving my bookshelf and desk to the living room from my bedroom only to find the buyer that only one hour ago had wanted my desk no longer was interested. Ughh! There should be some craigslist buyer jail! Anyways I seem to be doing pretty good with my other stuff so I hope my desk and bookshelf sells sometime in the next few weeks and all will be fine.

Maid of Honor

I'm the Maid of Honor for my friends wedding and am having a bit of trouble getting started on the speech! Does anyone have some tips on this? What parts of the MOH's speech did you find memorable at the weddings you attended?

MISSION TORTILLAS

My first food review! I got these mission tortillas-Life Balance Whole Grain the other day and just tried them for lunch. I toasted one on a skillet with a 1/4 cup of taco cheese and some tri-color peppers stirfry from Birdseye and made myself a mexican pizza( drained the peppers after microwaving and then cooked them in the skillet for a few minutes to get more water out of them). I usually get white tortillas because the if the whole grain doesnt have much of a difference in calories or fiber I'm not going to sacrifice the wonderful taste of bleached flour goodness. But these had 4 grams of fiber and 110 calories and with my $1 coupon in hand I found on the opposite side of the store (you are a tricky minx Kroger) I was intrigued and ready to buy. I give them an A, they cooked up very nicely which I usually don't find with whole grain tortillas and didnt take away from the cheese and peppers.

First Post

Hey Everyone! My first post (kind of)! I originally had to create a blog for a class but have always wanted to go back a make one for myself. I'd like to tell you exactly what this blog is about but I am random and I think my blog will follow suit. I love frozen dinners, nutrition bars, food in general so I will be doing reviews and also just life as a non-student and non-worker (I hope that doesnt last too long!) So I hope you enjoy and feel free to comment on things you'd like me to write about!