November 30, 2011

| happy healthy tasty lunch |

I love a simple healthy lunch like this!
For fast healthy and easy protein I go to canned, or bagged tuna in water.  This was Bumble Bee's Prime Fillet Albacore with Cracked Black Pepper & Lemon.  Hello.... YUM!!!  Plus it packs a lot of nutrition... no carbs and 28 grams of protein with little fat.

Lemon and Cracked Pepper - Product Size: 4 oz (113g)
Nutrition Facts Text
Serv Size 4 oz/113g
Servings: 1
Calories 170
   Fat Cal. 45
* Percent Daily Values
(DV) are based on a 2,000 calorie diet.
Amount/Serving%DV*Amount/Serving%DV*
Total Fat 5g8%Total Carb. g
   Sat. Fat 1g5%   Fiber g
   Trans Fat 0g   Sugars g
   Polyunsat. Fat 2.5g   Protein 28g50%
   Mono. Fat 1g
Cholest. 40mg13%
Potassium 390mg11%
Sodium 370mg15%
  • Vitamin A 2% •
  • Vitamin C 0% •
  • Calcium 0% •
  • Iron 2% 
INGREDIENTS: WHITE TUNA, MARINADE (WATER, SOYBEAN OIL, SALT, LEMON FLAVOR, SUGAR, CITRIC ACID),BLACK PEPPER.


Along side that... cute baby patty pan squash (and when I say baby, they were about the size of a quarter.) and baby zucchini.  Then or course Falls favorite apple, the Honey Crisp.  Just took minutes to prepare and nearly no mess!  YES!


Have I mentioned how much I love this guy?  My Mister!
We took this at the airport when he was leaving for work.  :'(
He makes my  happy!  Can't wait until he gets home.... TWO MORE WEEKS!  

November 28, 2011

|lasagna rolls with tofu ricotta|

These are amazingly delicious and you'd NEVER know it was tofu instead of ricotta cheese!
Massive amounts of protein!!!


November 26, 2011

|project life|

Y'all know I've been wanting to get back into scrapping.  Mostly to document life.  BUT I've not been making time for it and I find that those big ole 12x12 pages to be a bit daunting now.  Yeah, I know... I "used" to be a big ole scrapping "suppa stah", bwahahahaha... Kidding!  But seriously, I do want to document things.  So I ordered the Project Life kit in hopes of gettin' busy with it.

I see Ali Edwards Project Life creation and seriously love it!  So I will make it a goal to work on it a little each week and see how that goes.  :)

Here's some images of Ali's Project Life album.  I hope it's ok that I snagged them.  Eak!!!  They're on Pinterest so I think it's ok.  All credit is to Ali Edwards!  :)



Ps...  I'm totally envious of her gorgeous handwriting!

November 25, 2011

|favorite vegetarian/vegan cookbooks & blogs|

I've had people ask me for advice on my favorite cookbooks and blogs for healthy eating.
So here goes...
My FIRST veggie cookbook!  I found it by doing a search online and came across her blog and videos.  I'll put the link to it later in my post.  It has your basic vegan recipes that you'd probably want to start out with if you're thinking of going veggie or just choosing to eat better a couple days a week.
Brandon and Shon got me this a couple Christmas' ago.  It literally has EVERYTHING in it!  In there is my prized all time favorite soup which has never failed me with friends who came by, including my Mom.  It's a winner!  I think it's called "Harvest Vegetable & Barley Soup"!  It's amazing!

This is a recently purchased cookbook and the recipes are fantastic in it!  Especially the oatmeal cookies (I did modify them a tad so there'd be less fat).  I haven't made anything I didn't like yet, including...  chickpea tacos!  Which were divine and seriously tasted just like a taco!

This is my newest cookbook.  I had to take a picture of mine so you could see how many recipes I have tagged to try!  LOL  I love cookbooks where you don't need a million ingredients to make something and this one is far from that.  It's fantastic!  Recipes from Thai Veggie Burgers to Chipotle Lime Tempeh Tacos to Tofu Ricotta Gnocchi.  Lots of desserts in there too.  I typically modify recipes a tad to my own liking and I like to adjust them so the carb to protein ratio is a little less carb and more protein, but all in all it looks great.  I'm making my grocery list in a few minutes and I plan on trying a few recipes.

Now on to the blogs.  This first one is seriously AMAZING!  She has so many recipes and the majority of them have to pass her kids taste to make it on there...
Fat Free Vegan

Chef Chloe

Peas and Thank You (Author of the Peas and Thank You book)

Post Punk Kitchen (Author of Vegan with a Vengeance)

Choosing Raw

I don't ever try to sway anyone to be vegetarian/vegan because it is a choice.  So please don't tease, make fun of, bash, or try to pressure a vegetarian/vegan to eat meat.  It's just plain rude!!!  Yes, it happens to me all the time.  It's a personal choice and I made that choice over 4 years ago and I'm very proud of myself!
Do I urge you to try some recipes and cut out a little meat for health reasons... yes!

November 23, 2011

|hawai'i, love, health & holidays|

Seriously had an amazing vacation to Oahu with Brandon!  The weather was perfect, the ocean was beautiful and my company was loving.  :)  All of our photos are on Facebook (here's the link: Hawai'i Album) , so I'm sure you've seen them, but here's a few of my favorites!
Hanauma Bay (AWESOME snorkeling if you can handle feeling suffocated, lol.)Pin It
Cute shot at North Shore!
The view outside our hotel room.  Seriously beautiful!
Well, what can we say... Everyone was doing it!
Another shot at North Shore.
Cute little Makapu'u Lighthouse!

LOVE is a great thing and continuing to grow and understand your loved one is a wonderful feeling!  I recently came across this book called "The 5 Love Languages".
I wish everyone would read this book.  It's so fantastic!  Even couples that think they couldn't be any better, think again.  This book will seriously change your marriage for the better.  It's been a NY Times best seller and between his old version and his new version has over 1,000 reviews from some happy book readin' people!  You can take the quiz for free *here* and find out what YOUR "love language" is.  :)

Planning on HEALTHING up after the Holidays?  I highly suggest this program:  LiveFit Trainer  Great workouts and great results.  Check it out!  Also, here's a recipe that I am LOVING!  It's a Pumpkin Protein Bar.  Tastes like a pumpkin cake but good for you!!!  I usually add a little extra protein powder and pumpkin OR applesauce for more protein and moisture.

Pumpkin Protein Bars

A couple things to note:
  • I don't add the Xylitol or any sweetener.
  • I typically double all the spice amounts because I like it spicy!  :)
  • You can use coconut milk, cows milk, hemp milk instead of Almond milk if you want.
  • If you can't find oat flour at your store you can make your own by just grinding up oats (not the quick cooking kind) into a powder.  It won't be as fine, but works just as well!  The kind at the store is Bob's Red Mill brand.
I'll be doing a blog post tomorrow on some of my favorite vegetarian/vegan cookbooks and websites for recipes!  In case you wanted to venture into Meatless Mondays or a night or two where you feed the fam a delicious health conscious meal.  :)

The HOLIDAYS are here and it's my favorite time of year!  I haven't gotten much into the decorating the last couple years because Shon isn't living with us and Brandon is gone most the time.  It's kind of lame for me to "try" and enjoy it by myself.  We had out Thanksgiving Day dinner a few days early because Brandon had to head back to work today.  (Day before Thanksgiving)  It was nice though!  

Then we decided to put our lights up, well... I asked Brandon if he would do it for me (I had to hang them myself last year, that was a sight I'm sure!).  They looked fabulous and then.... we hit up Lowes and found these really cool icicle lights shaped like actual icicles.  They are 5" and 7" long.  (You can't tell on the video, but you can in person that they look like real hanging icicles.)  So we got up on the roof, Brandon hung them and I held the ladder.  :)  I didn't want him to fall, but I got to stare at his cute butt the whole time.  :)  Then he added the twinkle netting on a couple of the shrubs and a huge snowflake up on the front of the house.  We need to add another 4 twinkle net lights (gotta get them before they don't sell those ones anymore and we can't match the color.)  But here's a video of it.  It's not very good quality, but you get the idea.  :)

I'm thankful that Brandon will only be gone to work this time for 3 weeks and then home for 3 weeks!  I can't wait.  Christmas together again this year, I love it!  And I love him!


Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours!

But before I go, here's a few things I'm thankful for:
- A husband that loves me and is willing to try and figure me out the rest of our lives!  :)  And who is a VERY hard worker to give us what we have.  <3
-  Family that wants to talk to you.  LOL
-  Not living somewhere that has a minus sign in front of the degrees in the winter time.
-  Great friends you can count on and talk to even though those are far and few between.  Makes me REALLY love THOSE ones that I do have!
- A fantastic Son!  Whom I'm thankful all the time that that he turned into such a funny, smart & responsible young man!
-  And let's not forget our two lithe boys... Bonloe and Boaz who make me laugh all the time and keep me company when Brandon is at work.
-  To top off the list again, I want to say I sure love my Husband!

November 9, 2011

|what to eat before/what to eat after workouts|

I had a request for some ideas of what to eat before a workout so I'm going to give those along with what to eat after a workout which generally is THE most important part. :)  

What do I have before I workout?  
  • Vega Pre-Workout Drink along with a little protein.  Maybe a couple tablespoons of an organic peanut butter or a small handful of nuts.  (This is my preference!)
  • You can also have half a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.  Of course use organic no sugar added jelly.
  • Healthy granola bar with a little smear of organic no sugar added peanut butter.
Your goal is carbs for pre-workout!  Don't go crazy though.  LOL   :)  Of course there are many pre-workout drinks out there, this one is just my preference.  That will give your muscles the energy for your workout and to keep them from getting completely depleted.  You should feel GREAT after a workout and energized!


What do I have after I workout?
  • Vega Post-Workout Protein along with a piece of fruit.  Like an apple or a banana.  (I ALWAYS have a protein drink after workout.  You only have 30 minutes post-workout to get protein and carbs back into your system for them to do your muscles any good.)  I love the chocolate flavor and this one is my preference because it has your full Branch Chain Amino Acids and there is no soy in it.  :)  A protein drink is the fastest absorbing way to get that protein in and the fruit is perfect for your carbs!
  • I don't really consider anything else a great option because when you eat something like tuna or peanut butter for your protein it isn't going to absorb as quickly and remember, you have that short window of time.
Happy workouts and nutrition to all of you!

November 7, 2011

|been a while|

I haven't been on this thing in a while!  Winter is here, cold as heck in Henderson.  Time to bust out the scarves and winter jacket.  YES!  I've been hitting' the qym and login' the results.  This pic was taken after about 3 months of my new workout routine...
Yeah!  Also been back at my books studying and thanks to my genius Husband I have a tutor.  YES!  Just what I needed.  I so easily get off track and overwhelmed with how much of this info they want you to cover.  Not that you need to know it all or even know it for the test, but still have to read it and I hate reading.  LOL  Oh and we meet at Starbucks which means I get a yummy coffee.  What I'm drinking from there now...  Triple Grande Latte (Going to start with the decaf now though.  I LOVE the flavor of coffee... I mean, LOVE IT, but I don't need the caffeine so I'm going to ditch that.)

I know we just got back from NYC, but we're heading to Hawaii this Saturday!  I'm excited for what I hope to be some nice relaxing, deep thought, fun, moments with my Hubby that we're in much need of.  Plus the weather won't hurt either!  ;)

Who doesn't need a new lipgloss for vacation?  LOL  This one is the perfect barely sparkly pink.  Hubby likes pink, he says it's girly.  I'm not a huge pink fan of anything.  But hey, that pink looks damn good on my lips!  :D

While we're gone I'm gonna miss these two.  :(  But we have a babysitter for them coming to stay at our house thanks to my Mom!!!  Very relieved, it's like leaving your kids, except maybe worse.  LOL  That's all I've got for now, not exciting, but it's something.  :)