Food.Fun.Fabulous.

Did you know supermarkets have dietitians?

2012-01-08T19:32:00.001-05:00

It’s been a while. I wanted to write up about my week long rotation before but once I was home I really didn’t have much time.

The last week of my internship during 2011 I got to spend some time working with Shari Steinbach, the lead dietitian for Meijer (a supermarket chain based out of Michigan but is also present in Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Kentucky). One of the very first experiences: a TV spot for a local news program! Now I didn’t get to actually go on TV but that would have been cool. I did however get to be behind the scenes and watch them film it. It was quite a lot of work for 4 minutes of air time! Shari was doing a segment on quick and healthy holiday meal ideas. For the appetizer, I actually made a cheese and cracker wreath

cute right? Shari had made salmon with broccoli and wild/brown rice the night before to showcase. She also did some on-air prep of the salmon. For dessert she made a healthier apple strudel. Everything was delicious! Yes we ate the strudel at 10 AM hehehe

And here’s Shari with the host 30 seconds before air time. Oh and it was LIVE!

The dietitians who work for Meijer do a lot of TV time. Between the 5 of them, they do about 110 TV spots per quarter! The job also involves a lot of writing, specifically for the consumer so it is both factual but also creative so that it is not a bore to read. Shari and I also made a healthy dinner for a local Gilda’s Club. If you don’t know what Gilda’s Club is, it’s an organization that provides support for those dealing with cancer.

I had an amazing week at Meijer and absolutely loved the job. I’m really hoping that I can find a job in DC like that. *fingers crossed* I’m also hoping to be able to spend another week with them towards the end of my rotation since it was so fun.

After that rotation I actually got to go home! I flew home Christmas Eve morning and boy was the airport busy. My week went by super fast but I loved it. I spent time with family, had a great Christmas, worked a little bit, and flew back to Michigan New Year’s morning. So yeah New Years Eve wasn’t too crazy for me LOL.

My week was filled with Christmas cookies and other goodies but the only pictures I have are a couple from Christmas brunch. My handy dandy work from Pinterest – the Christmas Fruit Tree

My nephew Charlie really enjoyed the fruit tree. He kept popping off the fruit before I could even take a picture! On my tree was cantaloupe, kiwi, blueberries, strawberries, green grapes, and dried cranberries.

I also made an absolutely delicious frittata. I got the recipe from Eating Well: Baked Asparagus and Cheese Frittata. Except I added a little bit of sausage. I was planning on using turkey sausage but forgot to buy it so I used regular pork sausage instead. Not too much, just enough for a little bit of extra flavor. The boys in the family were being a bit pessimistic about my frittata but afterwards I got the seal of approval from my Dad. That’s good enough for me I also forgot to get a picture before it got dug into….. But you get the idea.

Now I’m back in MI and I started my clinical rotation last week. More on that later since this is long enough!

5 Weeks in School Food Service: A Wrap-Up

2011-12-19T20:06:00.001-05:00

Those 5 weeks sure flew by, partially I believe because of Thanksgiving break and then there was also a snow day. Add in 3 “class days” and I really only got to spend 19 days instead of 25! But I still managed to complete all my necessary competencies and have a lot of fun at the same time.

One of the first things I had to learn was what is considered a “reimbursable meal” by the government. Of course there are a lot of changes that will be taking place in the next couple of years but as of now they can offer 5 items (meat/meat alternate, grains, vegetable, fruit, milk) and if the student takes 3 out of 5 items, the meal is reimbursable. The biggest qualm I had with the video I watched was that 1 egg counted as 2 meat servings. What is that all about? For breakfast, 4 items must be offered and 3 chosen for a reimbursable meal. In this instance, a student could choose 1 hardboiled egg and a milk carton and it would be counted because according to the national school breakfast program that is equivalents to 2 meats and 1 milk (3 items). However, if the student chooses a bagel and a milk, it only counts as 2 items because a whole bagel is considered 1 grain serving. Alright now, bagels these days are twice the size they used to be, about 6 inches in diameter and the equivalent of 3-4 slices of bread. How can that count as 1 grain serving, yet 1 egg is going to be counted as 2 meat servings? I’m so glad these rules are getting revamped.

Done venting. Kind of

Don’t get me wrong, I really enjoyed my rotation. But I think there is a lot that needs to be changed. The menu rotated the same items monthly so there was a lot of variation from week to week but the options weren’t the greatest. Chicken Nuggets, Popcorn Chicken, Mini Corn Dogs, Pizza Sticks, Nachos, Hamburgers. And that’s just the elementary school! The middle and high schools have those items on the main menu as well but they also have “specialty bar” daily consisting of a rotating schedule of taco bar, country chicken bar, burger bar, deli bar……. And EVERY DAY if the kids don’t like the main entrée or the specialty bar they have the options of cheeseburger, chicken sandwich, and pizza. Now they do have salads, yogurt, string cheese, fruit, and vegetables to offer but I did not witness many students taking these options. The vegetables were typically frozen which nutritionally is great but they looked unappealing. Overcooked broccoli stems and asparagus bits. Even I didn’t want to eat it just by looking at it. And the fruit was often hard to see amidst the rest of the options. Oh but don’t worry there are cookies right before the end of the line. And they put out more chocolate milk than anything else. Heck they didn’t even have skim milk at all because the kids wouldn’t take it!

Oh the work that needs to be done in getting kids to like healthier foods……

I did have some breakthroughs. I held a taste test for maple roasted sweet potatoes which were a hit (among the kids brave enough to actually try it). The food service director was so pleased that he added it to the menu the next week.

I also had to do a theme meal while I was there so I took over the specialty bar and had a Mediterranean meal.

I prepared Chicken with Tzatziki

Pitas with Hummus, Tomato, & Lettuce

Cucumber-Tomato Salad

Greek Pasta Salad

and even had small servings of Baklava. We also set out grapes because I noticed that is the one fruit the kids go crazy for. The meal went pretty well. The kids were interested in trying something new and some were even glad to see fresh vegetables.

Besides spending time in the kitchen and serving the kiddos, I also had to do some education components. My first week I actually had to give a presentation to the high school wrestling team! It was my first time teaching older kids and I thought it went well. You just gotta take what they throw at you and throw it back to them. Don’t let them walk all over you, otherwise you’ll get nowhere in presenting the information. Later in my rotation I also gave a lesson on MyPlate to a 3rd grade class. That was a lot of fun – they were so smart! We made lists of foods to go in each group and they came up with some amazing ones like artichoke and pomegranate. I had no idea 3rd graders knew what those were! I also brought some food for them to make their own trail mix with chex, sunflower seeds, and raisins.

So of course there was more but those were the major projects. When I was learning about food service in school, I was so bored and it was my least favorite. When applying for internships, I thought that food service would be the worst out of the the three areas (food service, community, and clinical). However, now that I’ve finished both food service rotations (hospital and school) and ABSOLUTELY LOVED both of them, I know that it’s not as bad as I once thought it was. In fact, I could totally see myself as a school food service director one day! Of course I’ll be that kick-butt one that strives to give the students healthier options.

I’ve got a pretty special rotation going on this week too which I’ll fill you in on later. Then it’s back home for a week, first time since I started my internship in August!

Run Like the Dickens – Round Two

2011-12-14T22:16:00.001-05:00

Last year around this time I made my way to Michigan for my internship interview and it happened to be the weekend of the Run Like the Dickens 5k in Holly. Shortly before (less than a month I’d say) I begun “training”, really getting into running for the first time. My first 5k was more walk than run and I finished in 41:14, a 13:17 pace.

This past Saturday I decided to go for it again. Now this will have been my 4th race (Run Like the Dickens 2010, Warrior Dash 2011, Great Turtle Run 2011, Run Like the Dickens 2011).

I awoke bright and early on Saturday, ate a slight of toast with p.b. and a banana, drank a cup of coffee and checked the temperature. It was an extremely chilly 12 degrees. I ended up wearing two pairs of yoga pants because I don’t own any running tights, a running turtleneck, and an active wear coat. Many many layers, but after freezing my butt off last year and it was even warmer then, I figured I would need it. Turns out I was right.

Don’t I look cold? That’s me with my Uncle Steve by the way. He wasn’t as cold as me

It was so cold in fact that at the start of the race, they announced that we needed to be careful because the salt wasn’t melting the ice. Oh joy.

It turned out to be a great run though. At the beginning my feet were numb and I was a little worried. But by the time I got to the first mile I could feel my feet and by the time I reached a mile and a half, my whole body was feeling good. Even my breathing was fine which is unusual for me when running in cold water. I was warmed up and feeling great. Until I hit mile 2 when my left knee started to hurt. That darn knee always screws me up. So I did some speed walking and tried to run some more but I didn’t do much until the last 0.1 where I sprinted.

I came in at 35:54, a 11:34 pace. That’s 5 minutes and 20 seconds taken off my time from last year! I was so excited! But I could only imagine what my time would have been if I didn’t have to stop for my knee.

So I’m pretty darn proud of myself for that one. I bought a knee brace the other day to see if that will help me from now on. I’m not signed up for any more races at the moment but I hope to be soon And who knows, maybe I’ll have to make it an annual trip to MI to relive my inaugural race.

So Far So Good…..Except For One Little Thing

2011-12-04T15:51:00.001-05:00

It’s been two days since I set new goals for myself and so far I’ve been pretty good, though since I’ve been home all weekend that has made it easier to eat better. Meaning I’ve had lots of time to spend in the kitchen (my favorite room of the house)!

Yesterday for breakfast I enjoyed what I consider my trademark eggs – Spinach & Feta. There’s even a diner down the street that has a spinach and feta omelet and guess what it’s called???? The NEW YORK omelet! How appropriate

MIne is less omelet, more scramble due to the fact that I always seem to get the stuff to the bottom of the pan. I can only work with non-stick. Stainless steel hates me.

+ 2 clementines since they’re in season!

And this morning I enjoyed a couple more clementines along with another delicious item

Last night I made PreventionRD’s Vegan Pumpkin Gingerbread! I made a lot of good things this weekend but this is the only snapshot so far. Whenever I try to take “the process” photos they just look awful. I’ll have to work on that.

I also made tzatziki and roasted garlic hummus last night, all while listening (and slightly watching) Christmas movies. I know I said I was limiting tv time to less than 2 hours but since I was really in the kitchen with the tv on in the background I didn’t think it counted LOL. I listened to Babes in Toyland while cooking, actually sat down and watched It’s A Wonderful Life (my first time seeing the whole thing at once), and then listened to A Christmas Carol (the Jim Carrey version) while cleaning the house. I didn’t pay full attention to A Christmas Carol obviously, plus the vacuum was loud, but I didn’t really like it.

My kitchen adventures continued today (even overnight actually) with my black bean soup. I had to soak the beans overnight, cook them this morning, and then finally make the soup. What a long process! This time I just turned on the Christmas radio station . So I’ve got a lot of healthy, homemade options to eat this week after all the kitchen love.

I did get my booty to exercise today despite the gloomy weather. I took advantage of Netflix and did Crunch: Bootcamp.

…………..Now for the bad news. Awful news. For me at least. I let the direct domain that I bought for my blog expire back in September and I just never renewed it. It’s only $10 for the year but I’m unbelievably broke and just didn’t do it. I honestly didn’t think anyone else would buy. But when I looked yesterday, someone did. I’m mad, disappointed, frustrated. I came up with the name and someone basically just stole it. It doesn’t even seem like a legit site either. So from now on DO NOT go directly to foodfunfabulous.com . To get to my blog you have to go to foodfunfabulous.blogspot.com

It won’t be bad forever anyway because I was considering starting a new blog next year once I get my RD licensure. When that time comes, I’ll let ya know.

Alright, tomorrow is Monday again. Only 2 more weeks left of my school food service rotation and lots to do! Full re-cap will follow completion of the rotation.

Why Wait Until January 1st?

2011-12-02T14:25:00.001-05:00

So it’s been a while, almost a month, since my last post. Honestly I’ve been lacking inspiration about what I wanted to write that wasn’t going to be just “this is what I ate today” or something to that effect. I still don’t take as many pictures as I used to (I swear my camera battery dies in 2 seconds) and I just want to write more meaningful posts. With that said, although today is the second day of December, this morning I came up with what I wanted to do and what I wanted to write.

I’m going to give myself some goals for December. Why wait until January 1st? If it’s something I really want to focus on, I’m not going to wait until the new year to make a resolution that is just going to discarded like it was never even thought about. I honestly believe that since I’ve started my internship I’ve eaten more fast food and pizza (out of convenience) than ever before. How is that going to work if I’m telling other people not to do that? I’ve been seriously slacking and need to take responsibility.

Goal #1: Re-focus on whole, unprocessed foods.

I’ve already begun this by loading up on my fruits and veggies the past few days. But I tell ya, a big ol’ bowl of cold salad greens is not exactly what I crave in the winter. So this weekend, it’s soup making time! As for this snowy morning? Well I had a delicious bowl of pumpkin oats.

In the mix:

Steel cut oats
Skim Milk
Pumpkin
Cinnamon, Ginger, Cloves, & Nutmeg
Walnuts
Secret Ingredient

What’s my secret ingredient? CHOBANI! I was fortunate to get 2 large containers, a 0% Plain and a 2% Plain, a little while ago and have been incorporating it into my meals. Using it in my smoothies was another thing I did last week. It’s also great in mashed potatoes instead of using sour cream! And my next plan? Making Tzatziki! I’m setting up a Mediterranean themed meal at the high school (I’m in my school food service rotation) and one of the items I will be making Chicken Kabobs with my Chobani Tzatziki sauce.

Now back to my goals. The other thing I have to be honest about is my lack of exercise. In the spring, I was doing P90X and feeling great. Now I just haven’t been fitting it in. I make excuses. I drive 2-3 hours a day for my commute (round trip) depending on which location I’m working at. It’s a lot of driving. I get tired. I’m just plain lazy about it. While I did do the Great Turtle Run in October and am going to be doing a 5k next weekend, I really haven’t been going out running much. There’s lots that need to be adjusted here.

Goal #2: Re-focus on exercise. Work-out at least 3 days per week.

My next goal ties in with the last one. I’ve been watching way too much tv lately. I come home and plop down on the couch, basically staying there until I go to bed, even eating dinner in front of the tv. I must be there for 3-4 hours at least. Usually I’m multi-tasking by working/playing on my computer too.

Goal #3: Limit tv time to less than 2 hours per day.

I was going to say less than 1 hour but come on let’s be serious. Especially if I want to watch a movie

So those are my goals for this month. It’s always nice to feel a little recommitment and drive to do something. Here’s to starting off with a re-focused, re-energized, re-evaluated, really great weekend! TGIF!

Breastfeeding is definitely not basic!

2011-11-09T21:36:00.001-05:00

The past two days my fellow MSU dietetic interns and I were required to attend a “Breastfeeding Basics” class held by WIC. Honestly, I thought it was extremely interesting but I think I might be more overwhelmed now than before! We started out discussing the attitudes about breastfeeding. While I was not breastfed (and I do rag on my mother for not doing so), many in my family have breastfed so it is not a new concept to me. In fact both of my nephews and my niece were breastfed for some time. I also hope that when it’s my turn to start having children, that I am blessed enough to be able to breastfeed too. But not everyone has the same belief and attitude about breastfeeding as I do. I know that there are people who are very uncomfortable with it, especially about the whole “breastfeeding in public” thing. I mean seriously, if the woman is doing it discreetly then don’t have a hissy fit about it. Just my opinion. So no one better give me trouble when it’s me . Newsflash – my breast is not some sexual object when I’m feeding my child. Grow up.

Our second topic of discussion was the consequences of NOT breastfeeding. This one is huge. Breast milk and formula are not equal. Not even close. Here’s a quote from the Surgeon General’s Call to Action to Support Breastfeeding 2011: “There are health risks associated with formula feeding and early weaning from breastfeeding.” You read that right – “RISKS.” In fact, infants who are NOT BREASTFED are at INCREASED risk for:

Otitis Media (Ear Infections)
Gastroenteritis (Diarrhea)
Severe lower respiratory infections
Atopic dermatitis (Eczema)
Asthma
Allergies
Childhood obesity
Type 2 diabetes
Childhood Leukemia
SIDS
Necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC)

But it’s not just baby who gets the short end of the stick. Mothers who do NOT BREASTFEED are at INCREASED risk for:

Breast cancer
Ovarian cancer
Postpartum depression

There are also non-health related consequences. Formula feeding means more laundry stains, more bottles and nipples to wash, and more prep time. There’s increased environmental waste (formula canisters end up in landfills + transportation costs). The big hitter is the economic impact. Formula costs about $1200-$1500 per year not including more doctor’s visits, prescriptions, hospitalizations, and wages lost due to staying home with a sick baby. You know how much you hear how obesity costs our health care system? It’s not alone. “If 90% of US families could breastfeed exclusively for 6 months, the US would save $13 billion per year.

We also learned about the anatomy and physiology surrounding breastfeeding. I won’t go into too much detail about this one but basically a huge hormone party going on. And we learned the importance of the first milk produced, Colostrum. It’s low in volume but has high levels of antibodies for the baby, more protein and vitamins and less fat and carbohydrates than mature milk, and it coats the baby’s gut to keep out proteins that are too large and may cause allergies. After the baby is born, the hormones prolactin and oxytocin help to produce mature milk by day 3 to 5. I guess a lot of mother’s get nervous when they are not producing a high volume of milk as soon as the baby is born. This is actually not a big deal, the colostrum is enough for baby in the very beginning. On Day 1, the baby’s stomach can only hold 5-7ml (size of a shooter marble). By Day 3 it increases to 22-27ml (size of a ping pong ball) and by Day 10 it increases to 60-81ml (size of a large chicken egg). We got these things called belly balls for examples.

If you’re worried about milk production, frequent feedings in the first few days helps milk production increase. Some risk factors that may delay production include:

Cesarean delivery
Obesity
Type 1 diabetes
Hypothyroidism
Mothers in their 40s
Retained placental fragments

Using a breast pump might be a good idea to keep the milk flowing as well.

Another part of the class was about mother and baby together. Here we talked about the importance of skin-to-skin. I had no idea about this prior to taking this class. Apparently if the mother holds her baby skin-to-skin after giving birth it

Warms baby
Decreases pain and stress
Helps immune system
Reduces infant crying
Improves attachment and breastfeeding

Baby has been attached to Mommy for 9 months, they don’t want to be abruptly taken away and passed around with all sorts of weird smells and sounds and scary surroundings. This is something I plan on demanding when I have children. Nurse you are not taking my baby away to complete your little checklist of to-do’s. I’m going to hold my baby close to me, no ifs, ands, or buts.

Another one of the big things that I got from this training was that baby knows what its doing. They have an inborn ability to know how to breastfeed. It’s pretty amazing if you think about it. However, a good latch is the key to success here and mommy can help baby with that. There are different positions and techniques so you just have to figure out what works best for you and baby together.

The last thing I’ll discuss is our review of nutrition. Our breast milk is unique and the composition is constantly changing. If you compare breast milk with formula the differences are pretty vast.

*Breast Milk*	*Formula*
Water	Water
Protein	Protein
Carbohydrates	Carbohydrates
DHA/ARA	DHA/ARA
Fat	Fat
Vitamins	Vitamins
Minerals	Minerals
Enzymes
Growth Factors
Anti-Parasites
Anti-Allergies
Anti-Viruses
Hormones
Antibodies

For optimal nutrition, mommy should take prenatal vitamins. However those who are very restrictive vegetarians, have Crohn’s disease or other malabsorption disorders, or have a history of gastric bypass/bariatric surgery, should see a dietitian. Baby is going to need some supplemental nutrition as well. When they are first born they will get a shot of vitamin K. Those babies who are exclusively breastfed should also be given 400 IU of vitamin D per day because it is highly likely that mommy is deficient and already has a low supply. Fluoride may need to be supplemented in babies older than 6 months if it is not in the water supply and Iron will be in solid foods starting at 6 months of age.

There is a lot more information but I think this post is long enough and you get the picture.

While I am neither pregnant nor breastfeeding, I’d say my nutrition was pretty good the past two days. The Kellogg Center in East Lansing has some really good food! For breakfasts I had oatmeal with berries, extra fruit on the side (pineapple and grapes), a couple eggs, and coffee. I was too hungry for pictures at that point in the morning! Lunches were very colorful and delicious as well.

DAY 1 – Caeser Salad, White Bean Salad, & Sundried Tomato, Zucchini, & Goat Cheese Pizza. (Dessert unpictured: a mini éclair!)

DAY 2 – Caprese Salad, Caeser Salad, Veggie Mix (mostly zucchini), Penne w/ spinach, & Garlic bread (Dessert unpictured: tiramisu!)

It’s okay that I had dessert at lunch two days in a row. Not only did I go to the gym, I also danced my booty off with the other interns on Tuesday night. Oh the memories!!! I’m sure those pictures will be up on Facebook later hahaha

Hope you found some of the information today to be as interesting as I thought it was. *Fingers crossed* that I have no problems breastfeeding when I have children!

The Great Turtle Run on Mackinac Island

2011-10-23T17:27:00.001-04:00

On Saturday I ran the furthest I’ve ever done at one time. It was a huge accomplishment for me. It wasn’t quite a 10k but almost. My aunt had invited my to join her on the Great Turtle Run up on Mackinac Island (in Michigan by the upper peninsula). She did it last year and wanted to show me the island anyway. So even though I had previously only done two 5ks (Run Like Dickens in December 2010 and the Warrior Dash in August 2011) I wanted to see if I could make it. We stayed overnight on the mainland and took the ferry over in the morning since it is such a quick ride. We knew it was going to be a beautiful day when we woke up to this:

At first I was really cold but we waited inside until it was about to start. I was extremely nervous because I really hadn’t been training. Either I said I didn’t have time or the weather was bad. I think I ran maybe 3 times in the past two weeks. Either way, I was going for it now. Someone else was going for it too I guess. Let’s play a little game of I spy in the photo below hehe.

The course was 5.7 miles with the first half weaving up and down and around the trails of the interior of the island and the second half running along the coast of the island. I was unprepared in that I did not double check my gear before we left. Both my Garmin and my MP3 player had low batteries! The Garmin died first, about 1/2 mile into the run and then my MP3 player died shortly thereafter. It was my own fault but still disappointing. I had to find something else to pass the time and make it not seem like I was going to die just as my electronics did. About halfway through I remembered the saying “You are stronger than you think” from a running video I had watched on youtube the previous day. I kept repeating this in my head, and you know what? It made me feel so much better. I powered through those woods with the most positive attitude I’ve ever had while running. Usually I’m pretty much a Debby Downer because I think I’m too slow and not a good runner and I know that is not the attitude to have. I ended up keeping pace with this girl named Sarah and we pushed each other to the very end. My knees were a disaster and her feet was aching but we supported each other the whole way. Once we finished, I was elated. My time was 1 hour and 11 minutes, far better than what I was expecting. I really thought it was going to take me almost an hour and a half.

My aunt finished a few minutes before me so she was there at the end to cheer me on. As you can see, everybody got a medal (YAY!). As for my knees, well they were completely busted after that and still hurt today. But it was completely worth it.

Afterwards, we spent the rest of the day exploring the island. We rented bikes and biked the whole perimeter which is about 8 miles. We also stopped at Arch Rock which was very cool but the 200 steps to get up were painful.

The view down from the rock was yet another beautiful sight.

Oh I should also tell you that cars are not allowed on the island. You can travel by horse and carriage, bikes, or walking. I love that!

You can kind of see the Mackinac Bridge in the background there. That connects the UP with the Mitten.

That’s Fort Mackinac. We didn’t have time to go up to it but I don’t think I would have made it up the steps at that time anyway LOL.

It was an absolutely amazing day and I’m so proud of myself! Next up…..Run Like the Dickens 5k in December

Hey Look I Found a Trader Joe’s!

2011-10-20T20:06:00.001-04:00

It turns out that there is a Trader Joe’s and a Whole Foods right next to each other. They are about a half hour away from me which means it won’t be a frequent stop but it’s nice to know they are there if I feel like the trip. I went to the Whole Foods with my aunt last week so this week I decided to check out Trader Joe’s on my own.

And of course I got myself some goodies!

In my trip, I came out with Ezekiel bread, a pack of organic bell peppers, organic eggs, organic gala apples, bananas, tofu, brown rice sushi, light string cheese (rBST free), light cream cheese, a yellow onion and a red onion. All for $29!! I thought that was a pretty good deal.

Speaking of prices, I’m under the opinion that Trader Joe’s has better prices but less selection while Whole Foods has worse prices but more selection. Does anyone else think TJ’s prices are better than WF? I don’t go to either very frequently so I’m not sure if that is an accurate assumption.

I used the tofu tonight to make stir fry. I cooked it up with some broccoli and orange bell pepper, coated it with a little teriyaki sauce and put it over brown rice. Yummy in my tummy.

Now it’s time to pack for this weekend. Tomorrow night my aunt and I are heading up to Mackinaw Island for a 10k on Saturday morning. It’s going to be so rough because I either haven’t had time to run or the weather has been crappy or I just couldn’t get my lazy butt out there for a run. Plus the weather is going to be pretty cold! Oh well, I’m sure it will still be fun

What it’s like to work at a small community hospital

2011-10-14T20:34:00.001-04:00

First, thanks for the birthday wishes I can’t believe it’s been 3 years since my 21st birthday. How depressing LOL. Though I may be getting older, there is an upside: The other day someone asked me if I was in high school. Haha still young lookin’ I guess!

So right now my rotation is in a small community hospital (I’ve only got a week left there). They only have one dietitian for the whole place and she does both the clinical side as well as managing the food service. Lots of responsibilities and no time to do them is what I’ve discovered with her job. Typically they only have an average of 8 in-patients on the Med/Surg floor but there is plenty of other components to the hospital. They do a lot of outpatient services where people are in and out of the hospital in the same day so that keeps the in-patient population low.

I’m enjoying the small town atmosphere, probably because it reminds me of home (even though this hospital is smaller than the one I was born in! Well I’m pretty sure there is no maternity floor at this hospital LOL). I’ve gotten to assess several patients on my own by now. Basically before I even go in their room I get background information from their chart: height, weight, diagnosis, current diet order, past medical history, tobacco/alcohol/drug use, medications, labs, etc…..anything else that’s important. Then when I go in to talk to the patient I find out their usual weight, any recent weight changes, how’s their appetite, how much of their trays have they eaten since being admitted, n/v/d/c (that means nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, constipation. yeah I have to be a little personal with them), any chewing or swallowing problems, food allergies/intolerances, and diet history. After all that I can write up my own assessment in their chart and determine their Calorie, protein, and fluid needs as well as determine if they are on the proper diet order. Like today I had to switch someone from a regular diet to a cardiac diet because they had a history of hypertension. I also have to see if the patients need a nutritional supplement if they aren’t eating well or have a poor appetite – proper nutrition is important for healing! That’s the basics of my assessments at least. It is a little more complicated but you get the picture.

Today I was also lucky enough to do my first outpatient nutrition counseling. The outpatient counseling is much different because the people come in either because they want to or their doctor referred them in and you spend an hour going in depth into counseling them on whatever they are there for. Last week I observed one person that came in because their doctor wanted them to learn about a heart healthy diet but they were also interested in losing weight. Another person I saw came in because of bulimia, among other health conditions. The person I got to work with today was a diabetic so I talked to them about carb counting, blood sugar goals, symptoms of hypo- and hyperglycemia, and laid out a meal plan with them determining how many carb servings they should aim for at each meal in order to be consistent throughout the day. It went really well and I thoroughly enjoyed the experience!

I’m excited for next week because I’ll be spending a morning at their wellness center and I’m also making a presentation for a diabetes support group. Loving life right now!

And just so I can include a picture with this post (I’ve been really bad about taking pictures lately), I’ll show you the awesome dinner I had the other night.

I got this stuffed sandwich from an client of the MSU Product Center. Lauren runs Ope’s where she makes organic vegan stuffed sandwiches and veggie burgers as well as cookies! The cookies are totally awesome and I wish I had more! She was so kind to give me samples of two sandwiches (pizza and veggie) and 3 cookies (chocolate chip, cranberry chip, and oatmeal raisin). This was my last of it all and now I’m sad LOL. She sells her products mainly around Michigan to hospitals and some schools. Basically you wouldn’t be able to get them but you CAN get the cookies! They just started selling them online so you can order them through www.opescookies.com. I highly recommend them .

A Very Merry UnBirthday

2011-10-11T22:49:00.001-04:00

Well real birthday actually. I’m 24 today. Getting old

Made my mini bruschetta pizzas with a side salad for dinner. yum yum!

Now it’s off to bed and ready for another work day.

Spontaneity is not a word I know well

2011-10-09T17:01:00.001-04:00

I’m a planner. I admit that freely. So while I think being spontaneous can be a good thing, it’s usually not something I consider doing. I plan, I make lists, I like routine. When things don’t go according to my plan, I usually freak out.

So last Friday (September 30th) I ended up having the day off because I finished my rotation a day early. I started my day with one of my favorite things – sleeping in! I’ve had to get up usually between 5-6 lately since my commute is over an hour so sleeping in is even more awesome now. Anyway, I just planned to use the day to relax, maybe start my 4 page paper on obesity in the long term care setting. At lunch time, I talked to my boyfriend who is now down in D.C. working on his PhD. He left in the beginning of August so it had been 2 months since we’d seen each other. Somehow amidst our discussion, he ended up buying me a plane ticket for that afternoon! I was freaking out. Could I seriously just pack a bag and go to D.C. on a whim? Well that’s what I ended up doing. And I survived. Luckily I had about 2.5 hours to prepare myself before heading to the airport, which on a side note I don’t really like the Detroit Airport (this was my first time there). The flight was short, just over an hour, and then I landed at BWI where Raf was waiting for me! I was so happy to be there with him.

By next summer, I will be living right around the corner from this:

I can’t wait!!!!!!!!

PS – decorating and furnishing is a lot harder than I thought! The condo is a work in progress LOL

A little look inside my internship

2011-10-03T20:16:00.001-04:00

So I wish I had starting blogging again earlier because it’s much easier to write as you go than to try to re-cap what I’ve done. But I’ll try.

I’ve actually already completed one rotation! I spent 5 weeks at Sparrow Hospital in Lansing working in their food service department. Like many interns, I was not thrilled at first. Food service (especially hospital food service) is one of those rotations that the interns are usually least interested in. However, I really lucked out and had an amazing preceptor. She actually made it fun!

In the food service rotation, you are required to conduct a “theme meal” which ties in many of the competencies learned in the rotation, like purchasing, pricing, and prep. For my meal I chose to focus on local foods. The recipes I chose were Mini Bruschetta Pizzas and Greek Salad so the ingredients I chose to get locally were Basil, Chives, Parsley, Tomatoes, Garlic, Onions, and Feta cheese. I even was able to make a video demo, kind of like my own 7 minute cooking show! My preceptor’s husband makes commercials so he filmed and edited the footage for me. After 3 weeks of planning, I successfully served my theme meal! It was a hit and I got a ton of compliments – the supervisor even wanted me to have another one before I left! Unfortunately I wasn’t able to serve the second “local meal” but it is planned for mid-October and the recipes I chose are Turkey, Apple, and Cheddar Paninis with Roasted Butternut Squash and Apple Soup.

So this week I started my second rotation – Community Hospital. I’ll be spending 3 weeks with inpatients and outpatients.

I’ll leave you with my Mini Bruschetta Pizza recipe. Serves 4.

Ingredients

3 large tomatoes, seeded and chopped

2 tbsp chopped fresh parsley

2 tbsp chopped fresh chives

4 tbsp minced fresh basil

2 cloves garlic, minced

1/3 cup olive oil

Salt and pepper to taste

½ cup feta cheese

4 pita flatbreads

Directions

In a medium bowl combine tomatoes, parsley, chives, garlic, basil, olive oil, salt and pepper. Set bruschetta aside while preparing the pizza base. Brush pitas with olive oil and broil for 1-2 minutes, approximately 4 inches from the heat source. Remove pitas from oven and top with bruschetta and feta cheese. Broil for 2-3 more minutes.

And a little sneak peak at the setup I had for my theme meal. Nutrition Facts, copies of the recipes, and information about the farmer’s I got my ingredients from.

Where Oh Where Have I Been?!

2011-09-26T20:31:00.001-04:00

I have no idea if anybody has even stuck around. I know I’ve been gone since May. At first I was just going to take a little break and then I had all these plans to come back with a bang. Re-organize and Re-format the page. Well as you can see that didn’t happen. And every once and a while I would think “I should write a post” but I never did. Until now. After a little convincing by my brother, I decided to start writing again. Now that I’m in my dietetic internship (!!!!!!) I swear my life is more exciting.

I’ll just take a minute to re-cap my summer. I worked with my brother at his photography studio as an assistant. I did everything from marketing to videography to editing. It was so much fun and I got to spend a lot of time with family which was great. Speaking of family, my niece was born in May . Her name is Danielle Layla and she’s a cutie! And I’m so blessed to be Godmother to both my niece and my nephew Bradley.

Danielle

Charlie & Bradley

This summer I also took my nephew Charlie to his first movie at the theater. We saw Cars 2 and he was great! I was super excited to take him to experience that for the first time.

I took a couple vacations this summer that included Nantucket, Newport RI, and Myrtle Beach.

I’m such a kid still.

And lastly, I participated in the Warrior Dash! I had a blast and definitely want to do it again.

I am a Warrior!

Later I’ll explain more about what I’ve been up to since I moved to Michigan a month ago.

Glad to be back. Ta ta for now!

1 More Day of School!

2011-05-09T16:18:00.001-04:00

I present my thesis tomorrow afternoon and then I’m done! I’ve got mixed emotions of here. 1) Excited (obviously) 2) Scared, Nervous, etc

I know I haven’t been present online very much lately but once I’m done I’ll catch up with everyone, I promise :)

L8er G8ters!

Sleep Record

2011-05-06T10:36:00.001-04:00

Wednesday night I couldn’t sleep at all and last night I went for the record. Not on purpose either time! I think my lack of sleep just caught up with me and I passed out in the middle of watching Dr. Oz. I woke up around 11:30 all disoriented thinking it was morning but it wasn’t of course. So I just went back to sleep. In total I think I slept about 14 hours last night (compared to 3 the night before!). Whew. I didn’t even finish editing my final project that’s due today but it’s a good thing I started it a little early.

Since I fell asleep before dinner yesterday I only ended up with 2 meals. I feel like I ate nothing!

Breakfast was a giant bowl of fruit – banana, strawberries, blackberries, and blueberries.

Followed by a big ol’ spinach omelet. Just an egg + 2 egg white and spinach. Nothing fancy. It came out looking a little weird though!

Then for lunch I had baked a batch of sweet potato fries and made a homemade granola bar.

I cut that into 4 bars by the way. It’s just oats, dates, and walnuts with a little bit of water to stick it together. And drizzled dark chocolate on the top :) They are still a bit crumbly so I’m going to work on the recipe a bit.

Waking up this morning, I’m now in full force, ready for the day! I whipped up a banana mango smoothie and had a piece of the homemade granola bar for breakfast.

Goals for today: Finish the project for my last class and finish my thesis presentation!

TGIF!

A Shower for Baby

2011-05-03T16:10:00.001-04:00

As I had said in my last post, I went home for my sister-in-law’s baby shower on Saturday! My niece is due in a month and I’m so excited! After a long afternoon of food and gifts, I snapped a quick shot of Nicole and I. I should have gotten a full length one because her dress was so cute! My beautiful SIL :)

I also spent some QT with the Bradster hehe

And because I have to go take my Nutritional Epidemiology final NOW I’m just going to throw in a few other pictures and make it a mostly wordless post!

I won those.

And made this with it.

Wish me luck! Only 1 week left :)

On the Road Again

2011-04-28T21:57:00.001-04:00

Home again this weekend! Back and forth a lot lately it seems. I really don’t think I can handle anything more than the 3 hours it takes to drive! Whew. But I’m super excited because tomorrow is the baby shower for my sis-in-law! Great excuse to be home right before finals :)

I started out the morning in Boston with a pretty substantial breakfast. Spinach and mushroom omelet, berries, and a muffin.

I had already decided to make the move back home easier that I was going to back some stuff up and bring it on the trip this weekend. And man do I have a lot of crap LOL. I hauled out a bag of winter clothes, shoes, tons of textbooks, and a bunch of little odds n’ ends. I was starving by the time I got home and made a HUGE salad.

It ended up being a very veggie day (after all that talk about being more of a fruit girl haha) because at dinner we had both asparagus and sweet potato too. Plus salmon and wild rice.

After all that rain, it ended up being a beautiful evening so my mom and I took Lena and went out for a walk.

Tomorrow I’ll show you what other exciting thing I accomplished today ;)

And a side note – my prayers are with everyone who has been affected by the tornadoes. I’ve only seems glimpses on the news and it is truly devastating.

Starting the Day Right

2011-04-27T11:44:00.001-04:00

After all that Easter candy, it’s only appropriate that I hope back into my go-to breakfast. Even though it is hot today (for once!), I whipped up a batch of oatmeal, and had some extra fruit on the side since the Peapod order just came.

As you can see, I iced my coffee. It was very necessary today.

As I was eating all my fruit for breakfast, I kept thinking how it is so much easier for me to eat fruit than to eat veggies. I even wrote about it last month. I am a fruit girl above all else. It really is nature’s candy!

I’m very excited for the berries of summer :)

But before I get there, I’ve got to finish this semester. Less than 2 weeks left!!!!!! OMG I’m so excited.

For today, head on over to read my guest post on Carrie’s blog Moves n’ Munchies!

Until later blends! Happy Wednesday :)

Chocolate OD

2011-04-25T14:56:00.001-04:00

ooohhhhh my.

Just Breathe

2011-04-21T21:19:00.001-04:00

Today was a day where I could breathe just a little. I didn’t have to go to campus today for this first time in long time and it felt nice. Sometimes that’s the advantage of taking a few online classes – I stayed in my PJ’s until noon!

So after a few days in a row of having a breakfast like this:

I switched it up. Or I should say I switched back. To oatmeal of course.

Hello gorgeous! Bob’s Red Mill Steel Cut Oats (yes because I had time!) with a diced apple, cinnamon, and walnuts. Oooh baby.

And since I was feeling frisky, I busted out the ol’ baking supplies. An orange was screaming “zest me!” from it’s lonely spot in the almost empty fruit bowl and I happily obliged. Then sliced it up and put it in a jug of iced green tea. But anyway back to the baking……

I present to you: Christina’s Blueberry (& Orange) Muffins!

Makes 12 servings.

1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup oats (ground up, or you could use plain oat flour I suppose)
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup Splenda (it’s got to be used up. But feel free to use a sugar of your choice)
2 tbsp canola oil
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
2 egg whites
1/2 cup 0% plain greek yogurt
1/2 cup water
zest of 1 orange
1-1.5 cups (frozen) blueberries

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Mix dry ingredients (first 5) in a bowl. In a separate bowl, mix canola oil, applesauce, egg whites, yogurt, water and zest. Slowly add and mix dry ingredients to wet. Fold in blueberries. Spoon into greased or lined muffin tin. Baked for 20 minutes or until center isn’t gooey. Enjoy :)

The nutrition stats are pretty good too! I’ve developed a new love for Spark Recipes Recipe Calculator.

I also happened to make that crusted chicken again for dinner with some onion, leeks, and broccoli. It was a good day in the kitchen!

One more day til the weekend :) And just two days til I get to eat chocolate! Can you tell I’ve been counting down? ;)

del.icio.us Tags: blueberry muffin,baking

This Close

2011-04-19T23:30:00.001-04:00

Counting down…..3 weeks until I am done with school for good! (Yes I will be doing the internship next year but that is not the same) A month from tomorrow I will be handed my diploma granting me a Master’s in Nutrition and Health Promotion. Now that I think about it, that’s a pretty big accomplishment!

But I’m not there yet. I’ve still got A LOT of stuff to ~~cram~~ complete in the next few weeks. *Fingers crossed* that I survive :)

In the meantime, I went to take pictures of my breakfast and was surprised to find a dead battery. Since I had to rush off to campus, I ended up with no pictures all day.

So instead, here’s what I watched to ~~waste time~~ take a personal break today.

I love funny cat videos :)

Men of my dreams

2011-04-18T13:21:00.001-04:00

Part of the reason I haven’t been blogging is because I went home and was spending some time with 2 of the loves of my lives.

They are growing like weeds!

I swear sometimes I forget that Charlie is only 3 because he’s so articulate! Smart kid and such a whippersnapper LOL

1 more month until I can see them whenever I want and less than 2 months until my niece is born! It’s going to be an exciting summer :)

Forgotten Blogiversary

2011-04-12T00:43:00.001-04:00

I’m such a knucklehead. My mind is all over the place lately and I forgot my 1 year blogging anniversary! It was on April 6th (last Wednesday) and it just completely slipped my mind.

Besides that nonsense, I had a pretty special day on Friday as well. But first, I had to fuel myself for the exciting evening ahead. First, oats for breakfast (a classic) and then re-introducing salads for lunch! Yay for warmer weather :) I even made homemade croutons but just toasting a piece of Ezekiel bread and tearing it into pieces. So good.

That afternoon, I went back to WPI to visit my Alpha Xi Delta sisters and give them a little nutrition talk! I mainly talked about brain-boosting foods and stress-busting foods per someone’s advice. It seemed appropriate for the given population anyway. It was so nice to see some of the girls again, especially my little! And I even met my grandlittle and great-grandlittle. Yes I’ve been negligent and hadn’t been back to visit them. But we went out to eat for a family dinner later and it was so much fun. I was stupid and didn’t grab a picture but I will have to make another visit to make sure I get one!

For dinner, we went to 1 of the most visited restaurants by WPI’ers. A place I’ve greatly missed. Yes – The Sole Proprietor. Or just “the sole” as we call us. Seafood restaurant extraordinaire. I of course ordered some sushi since I hadn’t eaten it in ages. Say goodbye to the Rainbow Maki because I INHALED it.

My little (Colleen) and I also did a quick wine tasting at The Wine Vine across the street while we waited for our table. The owners are the nicest people I swear! The guy remembered me from 2.5 years ago when I made a birthday basket for my big! I was amazed.

But now of course it’s Monday and back to work. Well school. But you know what I mean. I mostly worked from home so I didn’t have to lug a bunch of food onto campus which was nice. I don’t buy food there usually unless it’s the occasional Chobani or Larabar from the cafe. I’m proud to say I’ve never eaten from Simmons cafeteria.

I screwed myself up by not eating breakfast right away but instead waiting a couple hours and had a late brunch. Spinach, Mushroom & Mozzarella Omelet, toast, and berries. And coffee of course.

Dinner was happy and sad at the same time. Happy because I made a yummy salmon recipe but sad because we had run out of vegetables. I suppose somebody should have run to the store but we didn’t. So I was stuck with just honey-soy salmon, brown rice & beans. Like I said, happy and sad.

Oh and guess who took advantage of the extremely gorgeous weather we had today? This girl did! I got my butt out for a quick run after dinner but before it got dark. I was able to get in 30 minutes and almost 3 miles. Surprisingly I felt really good too, no injuries to report! Woohoo!

Now it’s past my bedtime, Goodnight!

What did you do on this fine day?

Feeling Oh So Productive

2011-04-07T21:25:00.001-04:00

This week I’m on a roll with school. I feel like I’m getting so much done! We’ve made amazing progress on our thesis, our first draft is due in a week and I’m very excited. I even spent some extra time making up a presentation for a nutrition talk I’m giving to my sorority from undergrad. I’m not sure how many girls are going to come but I’m still happy to do it! Plus it’ll be nice to see them, I don’t really get back to visit even though it’s only an hour away.

I’m not sure if my positive mood has to do with my internship or not. To tell you the truth I cried at first. I was fully expecting to get into Simmons and stay where I am, because ya know I’ve gotten comfortable being here in Boston. But now that has worn off and I’m thoroughly ecstatic about my future 10 month stay in Michigan. My amazing relatives (Hi Aunt Lisa and Uncle Steve!) are letting me move in with them and I’ll be commuting to each of my rotations. I even already know where my clinical placement is – Sparrow Hospital! I looked it up and it’s huge – almost 700 beds! My cousin Michelle is also moving back home and will be commuting to her grad school so we’re going to have the best time :) So I’m set and ready for this next chapter: Michigan here I come!

I also feel the strong urge to show you this meal from Sunday. It’s actually what I ate after I found out about my internship! I dipped chicken breasts in a greek yogurt/mustard mixture and coated them with Uncle Sam cereal and some parmesan cheese. It came out great! I also made some non-mayo based potato salad which was good except for the radishes (yuck!)

But that was so long ago now. Today was a pretty successful day on the food front too I think.

Steel cut oats made with too much almond milk and heated up frozen blueberries and cherries

Tomato soup and a half quesadilla (whole grain TJ’s tortilla + mozzarella cheese). Oh and an unpictured grapefruit afterwards!

Whole grain spaghetti with fennel, peas, and walnuts.

Carby day wasn’t it? I love me some good ol’ carbohydrates! :) Powers up the brain for all the nutritional epidemiology homework I was working on hehe

Let’s have a brag time just like #fitblog. Leave this week’s accomplishment as a comment! Mine is of course my internship :)

Results are in

2011-04-04T14:57:00.002-04:00

Sorry to keep you all in suspense. I’ve been matched to the dietetic internship at Michigan State University.

Do I have to start saying “pop” now instead of soda? LOL

Waiting for Tomorrow

2011-04-02T15:03:00.001-04:00

One more day until the rest of my life. Well maybe I’m being dramatic but still, tomorrow is Match Day in the dietetic world. It’s when all the students who applied for dietetic internships finds out if they have been matched. Sadly, the match rate is only about 50% so there are going to be a lot of sad people at 6:01 (central time) tomorrow night. For those that don’t know, a dietetic internship is required before taking the national exam to become a Registered Dietitian. It’s a big deal. I feel like Match Day came fast and slow at the same time, isn’t that weird? So if I disappear from the world for a while, you know what happened :/

Anyway……My jar of Teddie p.b. is getting to the end (which mean OIAJ time!) but also means its to the point where its not exactly creamy anymore lol.

Example A: Oats with banana, strawberries, and p.b.

Example B: Oats with strawberries, blackberries, and p.b.

See how chunky it looks? But it’s okay, I don’t mind.

I also experimented with making tofu for the first time last night! I marinated it in soy sauce, vinegar, honey, and ginger but I think I added a little too much soy sauce considering how thin I sliced it because it was a bit too salty. I was still pleasantly surprised with how well it turned out!

It paired perfectly with the brown rice and steamed broc. Yum Yum! And today I used the leftovers with my salad.

Oh and I made beets with cabbage the other day using what I had gotten in my Boston Organics delivery last week. The cabbage soaked up all the red from the beets of course. Huge salad = perfect lunch!

Question: What’s your opinion on tofu? Love it/Hate it/Just okay?

Have a great weekend! Wish me luck for tomorrow :)

Fresh

2011-03-30T22:13:00.001-04:00

I’ve really got to start taking more/better pictures.

This week has been crazy, absolutely nuts. I can’t even explain. I’ve been eating a lot of meals out of my lunchbox is all I’ve got to say. Well not really. But the main staple of my diet this week: peanut butter and banana sandwiches of various degrees

Well the last one was actually made into french toast, yeah I’m fancy. It happened to have been Saturday (I think) so I had extra time.

So no I did not start the FODMAPS experiment yet, that will have to wait. I’ll be feeling really sick which I think is due to my stress but a certain RD friend of mine suggested maybe I didn’t get enough protein last week during my Vegan week. Who knows, it’s quite possible. Either way I’ve been plagued by headaches and nausea for about a week now on and off. Not fun stuff when I’m trying to cram work.

I did take time for one very special thing that I had been working on since before National Nutrition Month even started (I’m so sad it’s ending!). Simmons Nutrition Department will often show food-related movies but we’ve all seen Food, Inc and King Corn more than enough times. I wanted something fresh! And so I found Fresh. It’s like a continuation from Food, Inc. showing what you can do AFTER you realize how bad industrialized farming is. It featured many great and interesting people including an urban farmer, a sustainable farmer, and a local supermarket owner. I highly recommend visiting the website and finding a screening of it (it’s still new so it’s not freely available on DVD yet).

Watch the trailer here:

Question: Have you seen Food Inc, King Corn, or Fresh? Any thoughts about what you’ve seen/heard?

Vegan week ends with a trip to ANCE

2011-03-25T17:59:00.001-04:00

Vegan week was mighty successful I think. Most of the time it wasn’t difficult, though the other day I really wanted an omelet. But since I couldn’t, I switched it up from hot cereal to toast. Covered 2 slices of Ezekiel 4:9 with some Teddie and a sliced banana. Another good choice.

Perhaps more amazing however was my form of a Mango Lassi. I had some leftover mango from a failed fruit tasting table (for NNM at Simmons) so I threw about 1/2 cup in the blender with 3/4 cup vanilla almond milk and voila.

Utterly delicious. Well not exactly “utterly” since it wasn’t cows’ milk but you get the picture. Man I am just throwing out all kinds of bad jokes lately ;)

I’ve come to the conclusion though that often I will eat vegan without even realizing it. I was just conscious of the effort this week. But in all reality if I were to give myself a label, it would be flexitarian. Most of the time I’m an ovo-lacto-pesca-vegetarian. Yeah that’s almost everything. But I do eat meat on occasion (more often when I’m at my parents house than in Boston but no big deal).

Next week I’m thinking of trying the FODMAPS approach. It’s a diet that I’ve been seeing around the online community lately. I’ll go into more explanation when I start it.

In other news, my first delivery from Boston Organics came yesterday!

In my parcel came apples, black radishes, beets, sunchokes, purple potatoes, onions, cabbage, celeriac, and parsnips! With all those roots vegetables and the crazy sometimes snow/really cold weather we had yesterday, I decided the first order of business was soup.

So I made (vegan) root veggie soup. Mostly organic. Mostly local. A few extra things from the fridge thrown in there. It wasn’t that great though so I’m not including the recipe. I’ve also got like 3 containers of it in the fridge/freezer to use up. Oh boy.

And lastly, today was the Massachusetts Dietetic Association Annual Nutrition Conference and Expo – that’s ANCE! I only slept about 4 hours last night after finally deciding what to wear so I’m running on coffee and fumes right now. I went to lectures on nutrition games, school and community based intervention programs, entrepreneurship, and social media. All were fantastic! The food wasn’t that great though. I ended up with a stomach ache after lunch :(

Maybe it’s because I ended vegan week with fish and sparse vegetables coated in butter. ick.

But look how awesome we look anyway (besides the fact that it’s a blurry picture).

TGIF!

Question:

What’s your favorite vegan dish? I absolutely loved the couscous I made the other day and will be making that over and over from now on!

Starting “Vegan Week”

2011-03-22T15:52:00.001-04:00

Well like I said, come Monday I was beginning my week as a vegan. So far it’s really been a ~~almond~~ breeze. I crack myself up! But really I’ve just been subbing Almond Breeze (vanilla not original) for milk. Though I do miss my CHO it’s not like I eat that every day anyway so I can give it up for a few.

I went to the St. Patty’s Day parade in Southie on Sunday and took a million bad pictures. I’ll just show you one for your sake.

It wasn’t as nice out as I was hoping so I was a little cold but overall it was a fun day. I nice step back from the hours of work I had to do yesterday. Luckily I got into a groove and busted out a lot of what I needed to do. The weeks are just counting down it seems.

To fuel myself for all that brain busting activity I had some great, vegan eats.

Looks like my typical oatmeal. Just using the Almond milk instead of cow’s milk. Tasted “muy delicioso” as my bro and SIL would say. They love to throw in random tidbits of Spanish. Funny thing is they don’t even realize they are doing it haha. Too many trips to Cancun I say ;)

Black bean/Quinoa burger with ketchup and mustard (they seemed vegan) plus sauteed asparagus

And that my friends is a Papaya Coconut Muffin. Head on over to Nicole for this tropical delight! I only altered it by leaving out the egg and butter and subbing some canola oil to make it vegan. I also heeded her suggestion and added extra papaya so they came out super moist! I’ve had my fair share of run-ins with a dry muffin so this was a definite success.

Today has been just as delicioso.

Ran out of oatmeal so used my mighty tasty hot cereal instead. I love hot cereal for breakfast. I really do.

For lunch I really wanted to use some of this whole wheat couscous that I had for a while. So I did a little search and found a recipe for Lemon Pearl Couscous with Tomato and White Beans. I modified it with what I had.

Ingredients

    1 1/2 cups pearl couscous (I used my whole wheat box)
    1 - 1 to 16 ounce can Navy or White Beans (All I had were Pinto)
    7.5 ounces canned diced tomatoes (I put in a whole 14.5 oz can of unsalted diced)
    1/2 large onion, chopped in to small pieces
    2 cloves garlic
    1 to 3 tablespoons lemon juice, depending on your taste
    Salt, to taste
    Pepper, to taste
    1 teaspoon Italian Seasoning (or plain basil, rosemary, or oregano)
    1 teaspoon garlic powder (didn’t have this. who cares)
    1 to 1 1/2 cubes vegetarian bouillon
    3 cups water
    1 to 2 tablespoons olive oil

Directions:

1) In a small pot boil water with vegetarian bouillon. When the water is boiling, add pearl couscous. Cover with lid and lower heat.

2) In a separate pan, heat olive oil and begin sauteing onion and garlic. When onion is translucent and browning, add beans and tomatoes. While mixing, add salt, pepper, garlic powder, and Italian seasoning. Also add about half of lemon juice. Mix until everything is cooked evenly.

3) Once the pearl couscous has cooked (no water is left in pot) mix the contents of the pan in. Add the remaining lemon juice and add more if you like the flavor.

I really enjoyed this! And even though it says that it makes 3-4 servings, I think its way more than that. I have 2 huge containers of leftovers :)

And because I wanted more veggies, I roasted up some red potatoes and carrots again. I’m digging the roasted veg lately.

And for my most exciting news to share! I couldn’t resist signing up when I stumbled upon Boston Organics. While they aren’t technically a CSA because they will deliver produce from outside of the New England area, they do have a specific box you can sign up for that IS local, called the Dogma box. I signed up for the biweekly delivery and am super giddy about getting my first delivery on Thursday. Local and Organic. Yup :)

Back to work now, folks. Happy Tuesday!

Gluten Free Week – In Review

2011-03-19T19:58:00.001-04:00

My first week of experimentation was actually pretty hard! I just ate what I had on hand so I didn’t go out an buy any special gluten-free items. But anyway, basically every morning I had Bob’s Red Mill Mighty Tasty Hot Cereal which just happens to be gluten free and I had it on hand. It’s ingredients are just whole grain brown rice, corn, sorghum, and buckwheat. So I would have that with some fruit and almond butter. A little something like this:

Those were actually frozen blueberries so I heated them up in a saucepan and they got a little syrupy.

Lunches were typically just an assortment of vegetables and fruit. I did have a little something special one day though :)

Black bean quinoa burger! I’m not 100% sure that the ketchup is gluten free but my quick review of the ingredients seemed okay.

Dinner was more vegetables and I had fish most of the nights. Like this:

But then I caved by last night. First I made popcorn which is fine but it didn’t last very long with all the people in the living room (watched Morning Glory…it was just alright) so then I was still hungry and went for the wheat thins. Gluten free week lasted 4 days…..well I was only planning on this being a Monday through Friday thing anyway so I pretty much made it! And I celebrated this morning with a whole wheat pancake teehee

Coming up next week: Vegan! I actually got some almond milk in preparation because I really don’t like to drink my coffee black or with just sugar/Truvia. I need my milk!

Oh and I took advantage of the beautiful weather at the end of this week by going out for a run. Confession – I haven’t worked out legitimately in about 2 weeks. End result? Awful run. I felt great in the beginning but around mile 3 my left knee gave out. By mile 4 my left hip started hurting and my legs felt like lead. I legit leisurely walked back the last 2 miles. Luckily it was sunny and warm out.

What bad timing. Even Misty thinks so.

G’night folks!

A Diet Experiment

2011-03-16T12:31:00.001-04:00

The other night I decided that I was going to do a little experiment. I “diet experiment” if you will. I was thinking, how am I supposed to council people on their diet if I don’t know much about it specifically. So for the next couple of weeks I’m going to experience some different diets myself in order to better understand what certain people have to go through.

This week: I’m going Gluten-Free.

Normally people who have Celiac disease or who have gluten intolerance should go on a gluten-free diet. Recently however it’s become a fad diet. I’m not too happy about that but that’s another story.

Let’s get into a little background first. Gluten is a protein found in wheat, rye, and barley. Oats, while typically gluten-free, can sometimes have cross-contamination as well from the factories. For people with celiac disease, gluten causes damage to the lining of the small intestine leading to malabsorption of nutrients, abdominal pain, bloating, gas, constipation, diarrhea, nausea, and vomiting (among other symptoms). Those with gluten intolerance usually don’t have the damage to their intestinal wall but do still experience some of these symptoms. While there is no cure for celiac disease, it can be treated by a gluten-free diet. (Source)

So if in the future I work with someone with Celiac disease, I will know a little bit more about what they have to go through after this week!

WebMD offers a great list of have and have nots for those on a gluten-free diet.

Don't eat:
Wheat and all its forms, including semolina, spelt, kamut, einkorn, and farro
Rye
Barley
Triticale
Oat bran
Wheat germ
Bran
Graham, gluten, or durum flour
Farina

Do eat:
Amaranth
Quinoa
Buckwheat
Popcorn
Cornmeal (polenta and tortillas)
Millet
Breads, cereals, crackers, and pasta made of corn, rice, potato, soy, arrowroot, tapioca, sago, flax, and hominy.

So I started yesterday and let me say –it was pretty tough! We have bread, english muffins, Vitamuffins, granola bars, etc all in the house and all contain gluten! But I managed.

Bob’s Red Mill Gluten Free Mighty Hot Cereal made with skim milk. Almond butter. Cantaloupe (I ended up only eating 1/2 of all this since it filled me up quickly!)

Stir fried veggies (red bell pepper, onion, asparagus, tomato, garlic) on top of spinach

Honey Chobani

Leftover stir fried veggies with brown rice and egg (it was supposed to be like a faux fried rice dish but it ended being more like a frittata i guess?)

On to day 2!

Naked Pizza

2011-03-15T12:24:00.001-04:00

Yesterday I wasn’t hungry when I woke up (snacking at the movie theater late the night before) but by lunch time I was craving fresh produce. I had a heap of it! I made a huge spinach salad with strawberries and feta, though I was wishing we had goat cheese :( and on the side a whole yellow bell pepper, sliced. Hello nutrients! Didn’t I tell you the theme of the month is Eat With Color?

Afterwards I decided to have a slice of toast with almond butter and cinnamon for “dessert”. Man I do miss chocolate though LOL.

That evening, I was fortunate enough to be invited to a blogger tasting and tour over at Naked Pizza in Brighton. I was super excited because I’ve only ever been to one other blogger meet up, but never one in Boston! We started off with a little chat about the company – they started in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina to get more jobs for those who were rebuilding their lives there. Naked pizza really wants the best for the employees and their customers!

Then we were off to tour the kitchen. They start with a 10 grain crust, using oats, brown rice, buckwheat, quinoa, amaranth, teff, spelt, tapioca, and two kinds of wheat, plus they add prebiotics and probiotics. Talk about good for you! No refined grain crusts here :)

After working the dough, they add their tomato sauce which only has 4 ingredients: tomatoes, water, fresh basil, and a dried herb packet. The cheese they use is also part-skim.

They’ve got all kinds of toppings. From freshly cut veggies to hormone and antibiotic free meats. Their pepperoni is even nitrite free – so they add extra paprika to give it more red color!

Into their oven it goes. Wham bam, from working the dough until it’s put in the box takes only 7 minutes!

We enjoyed so many different varieties of pizza. Regular and thin crust. Meat and veggies.

Thank you so much Naked Pizza!

I am definitely going back here next time I want pizza :)

*Disclaimer – I was not paid for this review. I just gladly accepted the free tour and food :) *

Now I’ve got to get back to studying for my Nutritional Epidemiology midterm. EEK!

Hiking at North Lake

2011-03-13T18:58:00.001-04:00

I’m a genius. Just saying. But really, who decides that it’s okay to go hiking up in the mountains when the snow hasn’t melted and there’s been a torrential downpour all week…….this girl right here. Like I said. I’m a genius.

To fuel up I had a great big bowl of oats for brunch.

In the mix:

1/2 cup oats
1 cup skim milk
1 scoop vanilla protein powder
cinnamon
blueberries
strawberries
spoonful of almond butter

So somehow I coerced my bestie Kelly in to going on the trip to North Lake with me (it’s in the Catskill Mountains). She had actually never been hiking before and this was definitely not the best time to bring her for her first experience. Don’t we just look thrilled to be there though?

Those were fake smiles. Well kinda. She was miserable and I was laughing hysterically the whole time because we kept falling into the snow every time we took a step. This little girl has a blast though.

Chewing sticks.

and digging.

We ended up going about a mile and a half in before calling it quits and venturing back out. If you look close you can see the lake covered with ice still here:

I refueled in the car with a Lemon Larabar and then had a Pomegranate Chobani when I got home. Long afternoon and I was a hungry girl!

I also found a lovely box waiting for me when I walked in the door. I won a package from The Green Nut (pistachio association) and they sent me

a bag, a couple samples of pistachios, and a cute shirt! Too bad the shirt is an XL though, it’ll have to worn for PJ’s. Thanks to the Green Nut for my goodies!

So that was yesterday, now I’m back in Boston. That’s basically all I accomplished so far today – driving 3 hours. Whoop-de-doo. Spring break is over. *tear*

A Week Into My New Job & A New Restaurant

2011-03-11T22:04:00.001-05:00

It’s Friday, which means I’ve officially been working for my brother’s business for a week. Best week ever! :) Didn’t realize I got a new job? Just check it out here: http://www.photographicssolution.com. Yup I’m working on marketing hehe. I’m actually really sad to be going back to school because I’ve been enjoying myself so much. I guess I’m just lucky to be working side by side with my big bro (and sis-in-law and her brother! FAMILY BUSINESS!) Thanks, Mike :)

While I do have several weeks of school left, I will be back to the studio this summer and I can’t wait. But until then………I head back to Boston on Sunday. Not quite ready for the second half of spring semester. 8 weeks…..2 months………Let me just wipe the perspiration off my forehead right now! It is amazing how fast 2 years went in all honesty. I mean I’m going to have a Master’s degree in 2 months. That’s just insane. Ya know what else is going by fast? Waiting to hear about dietetic internships. There’s only about 3 weeks left until judgment day! Eek!

Now instead of looking forward, let’s look back for a second. Today I made my way across the street to Park Falafel and Pizza for lunch. If you are thinking that is such a strange name for a restaurant, I agree. Well I get the Park part because I actually didn’t cross a street, I crossed a small park (really small park) to get to it. My brother’s studio is actually on Park Place (hello Monopoly!). But I just don’t get the combination of Falafel and Pizza. Anyway, this restaurant is fairly new in Hudson. It is completely vegetarian and kosher, as well as following Halal standards (Muslim dietary code). Good thing I picked this place considering it’s Friday in Lent = no meat! I went with the Salad Tasting Plate which lets you pick 3 salads. I chose Tabbouleh, Beet Root Salad, and Israeli Cucumber Salad. It also comes with falafel, pita, and pickles & olives.

I didn’t catch the pita in the picture but this was a lot of food! I ended up not being able to finish it all and was still full for over 5 hours! Let me just say that I WILL be going back to this place. I loved it! I’m glad I got the taster plate because all the salads were so good it would have been hard to choose just one. This restaurant really is perfect - It’s so close to the studio and right next to the park. Maybe in the summer I’ll even eat out on one of the park benches, soaking up the sun :)

Off to dreamland now, Goodnight!

Unanticipated Blogging Hiatus

2011-03-09T22:22:00.001-05:00

Well I just done disappeared didn’t I? Whoopsie! I’ve been home on spring break since the weekend and just haven’t really felt like blogging. I started working for my brother at his photography studio and am loving it. I’ve also been visiting with family which is always great. My nephew Bradley is getting so big already! And it seems like Charlie really likes being a big brother. They are so adorable to watch :)

Today was actually National Registered Dietitian Day. I didn’t do anything to celebrate though – bad me! How is National Nutrition Month going for you? Here is today tip from the ADA (I hope you went to their website and read their daily tips while I was gone!)

“Today is Registered Dietitian Day, when the American Dietetic Association reminds everyone the expert for practical, affordable and accurate nutrition information is a registered dietitian.

Should you see an RD? Here are ten reasons why consulting with a registered dietitian could benefit you if:

You have diabetes, cardiovascular problems or high blood pressure.
You are thinking of having or have had gastric bypass surgery.
You have digestive problems.
You're pregnant or trying to get pregnant.
You need guidance and confidence for breastfeeding your baby.
Your teenager has issues with food and eating healthfully.
You need to gain or lose weight.
You're caring for an aging parent.
You want to eat smarter.
You want to improve your performance in sports.

Learn more about registered dietitians at www.eatright.org and find one in your area. For more information about Registered Dietitian Day and National Nutrition Month, visit www.eatright.org/nnm.

Produced by ADA's Strategic Communications Team”

My week has looked a little something like this:

I also have to admit something. Today is Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent. I had already decided a while ago that I was going to give up chocolate again this year. But because I knew I wasn’t going to have it soon, I went extremely overboard lately. Every night I was having a chocolate ice cream bar plus I polished off a 13 oz jar of Nutella in 3 days. I haven’t even eaten Nutella in years and and all of a sudden this. This honestly hasn’t been my best week and it’s been a horrible start to National Nutrition Month. But I felt it was important to admit my faults rather than try to hide it. I don’t want anyone to think my eating is “perfect” or to expect that you have to eat “perfect.” It’s just not realistic. But here I am today, hopefully now that Lent has started I won’t be dealing with these behaviors anymore.

I feel so off my routine this week. You would think it would be a good thing but it just makes me uncomfortable. I better relish my last few days of spring break though because the last half of the semester I doubt I will see any sunlight. My head will be in the books and computer the whole time……

Just Call Me Fruity Monster

2011-03-03T20:16:00.001-05:00

ADA’s Tip of the Day:

Treat Yourself and Your Health with Fruit

Fruit not only makes for a great snack, but it can also satisfy a sweet tooth. Try these tips to add the recommended 2 cups of fruit daily to your eating plan.

Start your day by topping your cereal or whole-grain waffles or pancakes with sliced fruit or berries.
Add fruit to salads to boost nutrition and add texture and taste. Add orange slices or strawberries to spinach salads or toss grapes into a mixed green salad.
For dessert, add sliced bananas, berries or peaches to non-fat yogurt or as a topper on angel food cake.
Dried fruit makes a handy snack and can be equally as nutritious as fresh. However, be mindful of serving sizes.
Get saucy with fruit: Puree berries, apples, peaches or pears to serve as a thick, sweet sauce on grilled or broiled seafood or poultry, or drizzle over pancakes, French toast or waffles.

Juices also can count toward your recommended daily amount of fruits, but check the package label to be sure it says 100-percent fruit juice. Also, remember that fresh fruit provides fiber, which will make you feel fuller for longer.

For videos, tips, games and other resources to help you "Eat Right with Color," visit www.eatright.org/nnm.

Produced by ADA's Strategic Communications Team

Just wanted to make sure you realized I was getting these tips directly from the ADA website – I’m not taking credit for writing these excellent tips!

Yesterday I definitely hit the mark with all the fruit I had. Lets count:

1 – Banana

2 – Strawberries

3 – Blueberries

4 – Plum

5 – Apple

I ate 5 different fruits yesterday! Just call me Fruity Monster :) Color of the day appears to be red though.

Today I didn’t quite hit the mark for fruit but I do have to say that green was my color for the day. Spinach, Cucumber, Broccoli. Throw in an Orange bell pepper for good measure!

And in other news, I’m back in NY for “spring break.” I’ve still got some assignment to complete which I’m going to do right now……

Eat Right With Color

2011-03-02T10:39:00.001-05:00

So I forgot to mention this is yesterday’s post but the theme of National Nutrition Month this year is “Eat Right with Color.” In essence, it means load your plate up with lots of colorful fruits and vegetables!

The ADA has provided some great information to start out theme for this month:

“Research is uncovering the benefits of pigment-related phytonutrients — and the colorful fruits and vegetables that supply them. Different foods add a variety of color, texture, shape and flavor to meals and snacks, as well as different nutrients and phytonutrients. Vary the color on your plate to provide a festive and nutritious meal.

Green: avocados, apples, grapes, honeydew, melons, kiwi, limes, artichokes, asparagus, broccoli, green beans, green peppers and leafy greens such as spinach
Orange and deep yellow: apricots, cantaloupe, grapefruits, mangos, papayas, peaches, pineapples, carrots, yellow peppers, yellow corn and sweet potatoes
Purple and blue: blackberries, blueberries, plums, raisins, eggplant, purple cabbage and purple-fleshed potatoes
Red: cherries, cranberries, pomegranate, red/pink grape fruit, red grapes, watermelon, beets, red onions, red peppers, rhubarb and tomatoes
White, tan and brown: bananas, brown pears, dates, white peaches, cauliflower, mushrooms, onions, parsnips, turnips, white-fleshed potatoes and white corn.

For videos, tips, games and other resources to help you eat healthfully this National Nutrition Month, visit www.eatright.org/nnm.”

How have I eaten with color?

Another Chipotle Veggie Bowl

Salad at La Hacienda (I didn’t eat the fried tortilla bowl)

OIAJ with grapefruit

School snacks – Banana, Apple, Vitatop, String cheese, Almonds

Oatmeal with Banana (mashed in so you can’t see it), Strawberries, Blueberries, and Almonds

How are you eating with color?

And because I somehow got a day behind already, here is the tip the website provides today:

“This March, celebrate National Nutrition Month by brightening up your salad with colorful additions. Here are ideas for creating a flavorful and nutritious salad:

Leafy Greens such as arugula, green or red leaf lettuce, mixed greens, romaine or spinach provide a healthy base for salads.
Vegetables add texture, color and nutrients. Try artichoke hearts, bean sprouts, beets, bell peppers, carrots, radishes, tomatoes or water chestnuts.
Fruits such as dried cranberries or apricots, apple, blueberries, mandarin oranges, raisins and strawberries add flavor and liven up any salad.
Beans such as black beans, chickpeas, edamame, kidney beans, or navy or white beans add nutrients such as protein.
Extras can also be sprinkled onto the salad, including cheese (blue cheese, cheddar, feta, mozzarella) and nuts (almonds, cashews, peanuts, pecans, walnuts).”

On the fitness front, I’ve decided I don’t like running around Boston. I brought all my running gear to campus with me yesterday to go between tutoring and class but I just did not enjoy running on the streets with all those people. At least I gave it a shot though and squeezed a quick 2 miles.

Have a happy Wednesday!

It’s finally here – National Nutrition Month!

2011-03-01T01:12:00.001-05:00

March is here which means it is now officially National Nutrition Month. I’ll probably be blogging more frequently this month, as well as providing a lot of information from the ADA (that’s the American Dietetic Association). Like right about now.

The ADA website has a ton of information, they even have a tip of the day which I think is great. Today’s tip of the day:

Flavor Your Meals without Salt

Eating too much salt is linked to high blood pressure and many Americans eat more than the recommended amount of salt. If you're having trouble shaking the salt habit, here are a few ideas to give your food a flavor lift without adding salt:

Adding chili peppers or hot pepper sauces can spice up any meal.
Add a spark of flavor to sauces, soups and salads with vinegar, such as herbed, balsamic, wine or rice vinegars.
Add a salt-free herbal blend.

And for added benefit, an ADA video “Cutting Back on Salt in Your Diet”

Visit www.eatright.org for more!

It’s a busy week for me too. Last week before “spring break” if you want to call it that. The next 10 or so weeks of the semester are going to be complete insanity between getting work done for school and extra-curricular activities and life in general. Stay tuned for a wild ride!

Hello World, It’s Marina Del Ray

2011-02-26T11:03:00.001-05:00

I have no explanation for that title. It’s just stuck in my head and I love the Little Mermaid (it’s from the prequel: Ariel’s Beginning). Just that sort of day I guess :)

The other day I was in the mood for cookies but couldn’t decide on what I wanted to make. I ended up throwing many many things together ending up with Whole Wheat, Banana, Almond Butter, Oatmeal, Chocolate Chip cookies. They were good (gone in about 2 days!) but not quite cookie-like enough to share the recipe. Just a pic.

I’ve enjoyed a wide range of breakfast over the past few days. Trying to switch it up a little as well as have fun with the various type of fruit we got this week.

Banana Apple Oats with Almond Butter

Egg in a Basket and Grapefruit

Cocoa Banana Oats topped with Strawberries and Almonds

Spinach and Feta Omelet, Whole Wheat Toast, Banana and Strawberry Fruit Salad, Coffee (!)

And just for kicks, a closer look.

Something about my omelet was just perfect today and I inhaled it. Maybe it was the addition of feta (which I haven’t done in a while) or maybe it’s because I bought organic eggs for the first time. Either way, I think it was gone in a minute flat. hehehe.

Lunches have been pretty soupy again lately. I just love soup! Current favorites:

Lentil

Tomato

Oh and that little pear and tortilla combo I’ve got going on the side there? That is amazing.

TJ’s whole grain tortilla filled with a few slices of pear and 4 Italian Cheese mix. Drool.

So FYI, the weather in New England sucks again. I tried going out for a run the other day when there was no precipitation but it was so cold that my nose was running the whole time and I got a major headache (the cold does that to me for some reason). I only did 2.25 miles and walked a lot. The good news though is that I may be signing up for another 5k! Right now I’m registered for one on May 15th back home but there is 1 near Raf’s grandparent’s house on May 1 that I’m considering. Simmons Nutrition Liaison is also sponsoring an “Almost 5k” on April 30th which I might as well do to but registration isn’t open yet. So that will be 3 in just about 2 weeks time. Go me :)

Heading out to Worcester this afternoon for more thesis research. Yay for working on the weekend LOL.

Questions: Who immediately knew what movie I was quoting in my title? Or who else is just a big fan of The Little Mermaid? Have a different favorite Disney movie?

A, B, C, Easy as 1, 2, 3

2011-02-23T12:05:00.001-05:00

I’m jumping on the bandwagon since I thought this was a pretty good way to get to know some fun things about people.

A. Age: 23

B. Bed size: Queen at both houses

C. Chore you hate: I used to hate chores a lot more than I do now. In fact I don’t mind doing the laundry or dishes anymore. Hello Susie Homemaker!

D. Dogs: I’ve grown up with dogs my whole life. Currently, I just have one – Lena, a soon to be 3 year old black lab.

E. Essential start to your day: Sadly, checking my email :(

F. Favorite color: Pink, both hot and light

G. Gold or silver: Usually silver, or white gold

H. Height: 5’ 3.5”

I. Instruments you play: I played the trumpet from 5th-12th grade. Sometimes I miss it…

J. Job title: Student

K. Kids: Planning on a brood :)

L. Live: Grew up in upstate NY, lived in Worcester MA for undergrad, and have now been in Boston for about 2 years for grad school. Most likely moving to D.C. in the future as well!

M. Mom’s name: Tammy

N. Nicknames: Chrissy

O. Overnight hospital stays: Well I broke my leg when I was 2. Don’t remember it though but I’m guessing I was there overnight

P. Pet peeve: When someone stops the microwave before it’s done and you seeing the blinking “9” seconds forever. Just press CLEAR!

Q. Quote from a movie: And Shepherds we shall be, For thee, my Lord, for thee. Power hath descended forth from Thy hand, Our feet may swiftly carry out Thy commands. So we shall flow a river forth to Thee, And teeming with souls shall it ever be. In Nomeni Patri Et Fili Spiritus Sancti.

R. Righty or Lefty: Righty.

S. Siblings: Two older brothers: Brian (30) and Mike (27)

T. Time you wake up: That’s extremely variable but I set the alarm between 8:30-9:30 during the week.

U. Underwear: Vicky’s Secret.

V. Vegetables you dislike: Peas, Kale (*gasp* hehe)

W. What makes you run late: Sleeping

X. X-rays you’ve had: Leg when I was 2. Like I said, it was broken. And dental ones of course.

Y. Yummy food you make: That’s debatable, depends on who you ask :) I’m a big fan of breakfasts though.

Z. Zoo animal favorite: Leopard, or Tiger. I’m a big fan of wild cats!

Hope you enjoyed getting to know a little bit about me :)

3 C’s – Cereal, Chipotle, & Crockpot Chili

2011-02-21T18:54:00.001-05:00

During this low-key weekend I discovered a fabulous food combination.

Multigrain Cheerios
Uncle Sam Original Cereal
Berries of some variety

Example 1:

Example 2:

Simple but delicious.

Yesterday I also got Chipotle which I haven’t had in a very long time. I love how fresh everything is there. You can’t tell by the mound but I got a monstrous salad with -

Lettuce
“Fajita Veggies” = onions and peppers
Black Beans
Fresh Salsa
Guacamole
Cheese

Unfortunately my sweet tooth hit hard last night and I devoured a bunch of valentine’s hershey kisses. I’m giving up chocolate again for lent this year and that starts soon so I’m just getting my fill now :)

I ended up having to bring Raf to the airport early this morning and couldn’t go back to sleep by the time I got back at like 7:30AM. That resulted in me falling asleep on the couch this afternoon for a couple hours though. I really dislike when that happens. Feels like a waste of time…

Now I bring to you the delicious vegetarian chili I decided to make today. When I was driving back from the airport in the snow, I thought it would be the perfect day for a crockpot meal. It was so cold out! So I chop chop chopped away this morning - a couple onions, a couple green peppers, a red pepper, some garlic, couple cans of kidney beans, a can of black beans, a couple cans of diced tomatoes, and some seasoning packets.

Over some brown rice and add a dollap of plain Chobani.

I’m contemplating watching the Amanda Knox movie on Lifetime tonight. Anyone else planning on watching it?

Beautiful Days (cue U2)

2011-02-18T22:39:00.001-05:00

The weather was just B-E-A-U-TIFUL yesterday and today. Loved it. So excited for Spring. Ya know what else I’ve been loving again? Oatmeal. I rocked it the past two days plus I’m thinking more to come tomorrow.

1/3 cup oats, 2/3 cup skim milk, 1/2 chopped apple, cinnamon, 1 scoop protein powder, 1/2 cup blueberries, 1 tbsp almond butter

I enjoyed it with much needed coffee as well. :) And before I let homework ruin the rest of the day, I went out for a glorious run. A wonderful, amazing, can’t believe how much I missed it, it’s been 2 months (!) run. I’m still slow but guess how much I care. Plus I’m sure all the ice jumping, climbing, sliding, and skating I did affected my time ;)

Yeah and bump that distance up to 4.75 miles roughly. Somehow it was calculating time but not distance for a while until I looked down and noticed. I think it’s because I turned it on while inside? Should probably read the manual instead of the quick guide for this thing. I also assure you that my face was as pink as the hot pink running shirt I was wearing. I put too many layers on :(

Lunch was another meal that I’ve been having kind of frequently. The new egg sandwich:

Sandwich thin – hummus on one side, laughing cow wedge on the other, spinach, and an egg sprinkled with basil. Red pepper strips on the side.

One of my homework assignments yesterday involved discussion about stages of change (a frequent topic in my classes) and what we think would be the most frustrating (for you, the dietitian) stage a client/patient could be in. I chose precontemplation because the person might be really sick and not even realize how bad it is and isn’t ready to make a change in their diet. It was frustrating just thinking about it, let alone actually being in the situation!

Dinner was also delicious might I add.

Cumin-rubbed salmon, asparagus, brown rice and beans

I had a really high protein intake yesterday compared to a lot of days recently! Just noticing………

Raf and I (and some friends) ended up going out to see Paul Van Dyke at Club Royale. It was a long night since I’m not really into trance/techno/house etc. and was followed up by Mcdonalds at 1:30AM. Yeah I went there. Deal with it ;)

It was rough getting up after only about 5.5 hours of sleep but I managed with 2 cups of coffee. My super long day involved sitting at the nutrition table at Simmons Heart Healthy Fair followed by surveying customers at the Big Y in Walpole. By the time I got home I just wanted to relax and got carried away reading the latest issue of Today’s Dietitian. I felt like such a dork when I got excited about a big article on fiber. Yup, I’m in the right profession! :)

Since I really only snacked on fruit and a larabar for “lunch” and was starving when I got back tonight, I threw together the quickest supper – pasta.

Penne (Barilla PLUS) with spinach, pinto beans, tomato sauce (no salt added!), and a sprinkle of mozzarella since we are out of parmesan. mix it up.

Last thing – a bunch of you have asked how P90X is going and how I’m liking it. It’s going pretty well. I’ve gotten used to most of the routines by now. I’m doing the “Lean” version but I don’t really notice myself getting leaner. I do notice an increase in flexibility which is really one of my main goals so I’m very happy with that. I like that having the schedule keeps me pretty accountable for getting in some sort of workout each day. I can be pretty lazy ;) so it’s a nice push. Are you other P90Xers liking it as well?

Did you have beautiful days to enjoy? Do anything fun? Share anything! Hope you have a great weekend!

Neverending Days

2011-02-16T22:51:00.001-05:00

Can I just say that these past two days have felt like an eternity? I feel completely wiped out and it’s on Wednesday night :(

Let’s rewind.

It was cold yesterday so I felt tomato soup and grilled cheese was an appropriate lunch. I even took the easy way out with my grilled cheese and just toasted the sandwich thin first then put it in the microwave with a slice of cheese haha.

Later I had class for Nutritional Epidemiology. It’s probably the hardest class in all of grad school but at least it brings up interesting articles to read. Our current discussions revolve around sensitivity, specificity, and positive predictor values. Basically, how often is a screening tool giving true positive and true negative results and what’s the likelihood a result being positive. In one of the articles for class, BMI was tested on adolescent boys and girls. Turns out that it’s a pretty accurate measure for boys but not for girls. Overweight (higher body fat) girls were being misclassified as normal weight.

Snackage during class went unphotographed but consisted of a Chobani Champions Verry Berry, some multigrain cheerios, a clementine, and red bell pepper strips. Weird mixture?

When I got home later that night I gobbled down a black bean/quinoa burger with guac and a bowl of butternut squash soup. Must have been a soupy day I guess!

Today was another long day that started out with a tasty breakfast. Did you know it’s National Almond Day? I celebrated with some almond butter on a sandwich thin with a banana. On the side I had a honey-nana Chobani Champion.

After Peapod was delivered, I couldn’t resist making a green monster with my last banana. Guess I’ll have to go to TJ’s again for those 19 cent darlings!

In the mix:

1 banana
4 large strawberries
2 handfuls spinach
1 scoop protein powder
1 cup skim milk

This afternoon I worked on a super secret mission with my thesis partner, Debi. I’ll give you two hints: it doesn’t involve thesis but it does involve youtube ;) I’ll keep you posted on what’s to come of it!

Afternoon snackage: BlueBran Vitatop, clementine, red bell pepper, Carrot Cake Larabar. I enjoyed this flavor of Larabar but wouldn’t consider it one of my favorites. The Blueberry Muffin was definitely better. Still 3 more to try though!

Tonight I had my Health Care class. I almost fell asleep that’s how stimulating the lecture is hehe.

Not that I’m counting but only 11 more weeks of school. Uh yeah.

And yes I’m still doing the P90X program. In the middle of week 4 right now!

Goodnight. Sleep tight. Don’t let the bed bugs bite.

Valentine’s Weekend 2011

2011-02-14T15:45:00.001-05:00

Happy Valentine’s Day! I know a lot of people are cynical about this day but I love love so it makes me a happy girl :)

I won’t recap everything because I haven’t posted since Thursday and that is a lot of food to cover! But I will show you this delicious, albeit not pretty looking, quesadilla I made on Friday. I took some leftover chicken, broccoli, black beans and mixed it with diced tomato, onion and garlic. Put it in one of my Trader Joe’s whole grain tortillas with some cheese and slapped it into the George Foreman. I forgot to spray the grill though so it got stuck – hence the ugliness. On the side – some fresh guac. OH YEAH!

And for dessert, a much more visually appealing dish of grapes and clementine in natural light.

So for Valentine’s, Raf and I celebrated early by going to the Cheesecake Factory on Saturday night. We hadn’t been there in at least 2 years and I just really wanted to go! Lucky for me, they now have “small plates” selections so I was able to save room for dessert by picking lighter choices for my meal :) But really there is always room for dessert! Sorry for the horrible quality of photos!

Yes I dug into the bread right away. We had a 45 minute wait (they don’t take reservations!) so I was starving by the time we got in. The 45 minutes was fun though since we perused Barnes and Noble during that time.

My “small plates” of Beets and Arugula salad and a Margherita Pizzette. I finished almost everything but a couple bites of the pizzette.

Chocolate Coconut Cream Cheesecake. It has a chocolate macaroon crust with coconut cheesecake and coconut custard on top. It was super rich so I ate half at the restaurant and the other half later that night ;)

We also went to see “Just Go With It” last night which was much better than I thought! It got bad reviews (which I don’t usually pay attention to) but I laughed a lot and was pleased with the ending. Plus I just love that girl, Bailee Madison. She did an amazing job in the movie “Brothers” and is just a great beginning actress!

Now it’s back to school stuff. We are out of milk (!) so I resorted to throwing together a different kind of breakfast before heading to campus.

Banana w/ almond butter, Chobani Champion Verry Berry, and a BlueBran Vitatop!

I attended a lecture at Harvard School of Public Health this afternoon discussing the reversal of atherosclerosis with dietary intervention. Very interesting talk! Some of their research alluded to the benefits regardless of weight which I thought was great. They discovered some beneficial effects on certain biomarkers, like HDL and adiponectin, that continued to improve even if the person regained some of the weight that was previously loss. Hopefully more research will be done to improve upon these results.

Then it was off to Boston Latin School to hand out healthy afternoon snacks. We made trail mix to hand out to kids on their way out :)

Lots of dried fruit and grains. We even got fresh blueberries! Most of what we handed out were bags we put together ourselves but we set up the table for kids to make their own if they wanted. It was a whirlwind but lots of fun as usual.

Time to hit the books now! Hope you are enjoying your day <3

Spontaneous Baking!

2011-02-10T20:55:00.001-05:00

I woke up this morning with one thing in mind – Green Monster. Even Misty wanted one!

In the mix:

1 banana
2 large handfuls spinach
6 strawberries
1 scoop protein powder
1 tbsp almond butter
1 cup skim milk

So while sipping away, I was perusing blogs and saw that Holly posted a Double Strawberry Muffin recipe which sounded delicious! Lucky for me, we just got strawberries yesterday which were on sale. I immediately had to make them. And so I did. Who cares about putting off homework when there is baking to do! teehee.

The batter was a little thick so I ended up putting a bit of water in when it was time to mix in the strawberries. Turned out beautifully though.

I also had errands to run (read – had to go to CVS and the post office) so I bundled up for the walk. It’s just under a mile to get there but boy was it cold and windy! I wasn’t expecting it really. But I survived and returned with new face wash and moisturizer :)

I was starving upon my return which lead to a bowl of butternut squash soup (I used a lot of my TJ’s stuff today!) and a heated up black bean burger with some avocado and ketchup. I ended up obliterating my burger so it would heat up faster!

My CSN order also came in today! I was the lucky winner of $35 from Anna’s giveaway. I had been wanting to get a mandolin for months now but I fell in love with this apron as soon as I saw it. Isn’t it cute!

And my last magnificent eat of the day: Walnut crusted chicken, baked potato with black beans and CHO, and broccoli. Awesome dinner! Super easy to make and delicious. Can’t get any better than that.

Now Misty is being super snuggly and trying to get on my lap/push the laptop away from me. Persistent much? Goodnight all!

First time at Trader Joes

2011-02-09T21:17:00.001-05:00

Well I did it folks, I finally made my way over to Trader Joes today. I figured out that the closest one is 1.2 miles away from campus so I decided to walk over between meetings and class. It was sad that I could only buy what I could carry back :( Plus I didn’t want to spend that much money either. I walked out $30 poorer with these items in hand -

The bananas were 19 cents each! I haven’t had any in a couple weeks and was craving them so I got the biggest yellowest bunch I could. I also snagged some almond butter, butternut squash soup, tomato soup, some protein powder, and unpictured container of Laughing Cow garlic and herb cheese wedges. Oh yeah I almost forgot the whole grain tortillas too. I put those items in the fridge already. I could probably go nuts in that store if I had an unlimited supply of money and people to carry my bags :)

Besides that I was also excited to start using my Chobani Champions lunchbox. I’m such a little kid sometimes.

Yesterday’s at school snacks: Multigrain Cheerios, Verry Berry CHOB, and grapes in the grape container. duh.

Now this was hard to stuff everything in. We’ve got tuna salad in the top middle with Wasa rye crackers next to it. Then the other little container is hummus for the veggies hiding in the red container underneath the strawberries and the Verry Berry.

And for breakfast I had my long lost love – oatmeal!

We had no fresh fruit at that time though so I succumbed to raisins. A girls gotta do what a girls gotta do.

Oh and remember those Larabars I was so excited to receive? Well I tried the blueberry muffin today! It seemed a lot softer and squishier (bad choice of word?) than the other ones but the taste was delightful. Definitely a keeper in my books.

Looking back now at this post, I’m just like “Wow I’m all of the place” but hey maybe at least it’s a little interesting.

I’ll leave you with the best news ever. I’m finished with my internship applications! I just have to submit them now! I’m so so so happy but anxious now for the decision date – April 3rd. It’s going to be a long couple of weeks!

More Goodies – This Time Larabar!

2011-02-07T17:45:00.001-05:00

I received another batch of goodies for review over the weekend. The folks at Larabar kindly sent me a package for review.

Blueberry Muffin, Cherry Pie, Chocolate Coconut Chew, Carrot Cake, and Key Lime Pie!

And they came in this cute little bag :)

I’m super excited to try these because the only flavor I’ve had out of these 5 is the Cherry Pie. I don’t go through bars very fast though so you’ll see them sporadically appear when I try them.

As for the rest of the weekend, the only thing I really have to say is that I wish I played pool more! Billiards is so much fun! We went out Saturday night for a friend’s birthday and even though I’m not very good, it’s always a good time.

Today was back to the grind but I did oversleep. That tends to happen on Mondays when I have to adjust from my weekend to week schedule. I threw back a bowl of multigrain cheerios before getting to work. No pic though – I was a girl on a mission!

This is not my favorite book.

Lunch: Black Bean burger on toast with spinach and a laughing cow cheese wedge. Cantaloupe for dessert.

I ended up cutting out the second piece of toast because I wasn’t really feeling it.

I also had a fun snack plate a couple hours later – Chobani Champions, grapes, and half a pumpkin chia muffin with Teddie unsalted peanut butter

Over the weekend I wanted to use my last can of pumpkin I had left and I’ve got a bunch of chia seeds so I made heart shaped Pumpkin Chia Muffins

The heart shapes didn’t turn out that great though :(

Question of the day:

Any favorite Larabar flavor? Or what is your favorite bar of any kind?!

I’m a Snow Bunny?

2011-02-04T14:31:00.001-05:00

Thank you all so much for you well wishes while I was sick! I’m feeling 100% better! Unfortunately, I hear that many of my family members who also got sick are STILL sick! So hopefully they all get better soon too.

Yesterday I actually had to venture out of the house for the first time this week so it felt appropriate to dress shall I say like a “snow bunny” or an “eskimo”. Either way I felt like I matched well with the outside weather.

I also started off with a fantastic breakfast that I don’t usual have – cold cereal! I decided to bust into my new package of multigrain cheerios and added some strawberries since they were almost bad and actually the last fruit left in the house.

Our lack of food since Peapod didn’t deliver is really getting annoying. Luckily I had some things to make black bean burgers. Really just mashed up black beans with some quinoa and spices. But there was no bread or anything so I did what the best of us would do – ate it with some condiments.

Ketchup and Mustard to be exact.

Did I mention that I’m going to be tutoring for a class this semester? Well if anybody signs up, I’m the tutor for Management of Food Service Systems. I only bring it up because I had a meeting to finalize things yesterday. We also had a Nutrition Liaison meeting and I have some great updates! We’ve got some fun things planned including a panel of current dietetic interns, having some RD’s come and speak, and a 5k run/walk! And that’s not even including our ideas for National Nutrition Month. REMINDER!- NATIONAL NUTRITION MONTH IS MARCH! It’s coming up fast and we’ve got to finalize some things. The liaison will be bringing to the Simmons campus information about sports nutrition, portion control, fiber, salt, and sugar, quick and easy foods for college students, and more! Stay tuned ;)

Now I know you all want to see the loot I got from Chobani, right? Yeah it’s awesome. They sent me 2 of their new flavors to try: 0% Lemon and 2% Mango, along with a couple packages of their Chobani Champions: Honey-nana and Verry-Berry flavors.

And look what else?! Chobani Champions lunchboxes! I got two and plan on giving one to my 3 year old nephew.

So far I tried the Lemon, which actually wasn’t as great as I was expecting. It looked like the lemon curdled the milk. Sorry Chobani, not my fave. But today I tried the Honey-nana and LOVED it! They’re not just for kiddos ya know, hehe :) I’ll let you know when I try the other flavors.

Dinner was from the freezer. Seriously we have no food left. Ravioli and meatballs. Sorry for the horrible quality pics!

Alright this post is getting long. I’ve been eating the same things so far today as yesterday because Peapod didn’t deliver this morning like they said they were going to! We have to yell at them again now. Oh and I finally returned to my P90X routine since being sick. YEAH KENPO X!

Happy Friday!

Who will you be cheering for at the Superbowl on Sunday? I don’t even know if I’ll watch since neither the Jets (my team) nor the Patriots (Raf’s team) are playing……..

Snow Days and Sickness

2011-02-02T17:33:00.001-05:00

Just wanted to post quick and let you all know that I’m still alive…..sorta.

As many of you know, there was a ridiculous snow storm blowing through the midwest region to the northeast so I ended up have a snow day both yesterday and today. I’m still not sure how I’m going to get my car out for tomorrow, and we are supposed to get more snow on Saturday. ENOUGH ALREADY!

I haven’t even gotten to enjoy my snow days though because yesterday I spent 2 hours shoveling (it didn’t help, more snow came) and then later that evening I came down with a bug. You know eggplant parm tastes a whole lot better going down than coming back up, that’s all I gotta say. Apparently about half the people who were at my great-grandmother’s birthday party are now sick. No bueno.

So I have no exciting pictures but I did receive a lovely package from Chobani today (review later this week) and the multigrain cheerios I won from Jamie. That’s about all that has made my day really.

Hope ya’ll are having better days than me! Here’s to a better end to the week :)

Welcome to the World!

2011-01-30T13:48:00.001-05:00

I have the most exciting news! My sister-in-law gave birth to my newest nephew on Friday morning! I made it back to NY about 2.5 hours after he was born. I really wanted to be there and I was so close! Welcome to the world Bradley James :)

He was blocking out the light with his hands hehe

Charlie seems happy to be a big brother too. Congrats to my brother and SIL!

I spent a good chunk of Saturday working on my internship applications. My work station looked like this

Coffee and Green Monster to get me through the day :)

Soup and a sandwich for din din

Actually had a girls night too last night. My mom, aunt, and I went to see No Strings Attached which ended up being cuter and funnier than I thought it was going to be.

Today is another full day. Church, Homework/Internship stuff, and then off for my Nannie’s (that’s my great-grandma) 96th birthday party! She took a tumble this morning but is okay and the party is still on.

Hope everyone had as great a weekend as I did! :)

Oh the Weather Outside is Frightful

2011-01-27T12:34:00.001-05:00

I am so sick of this snow! Last night we got about another foot in Boston. Parking is horrendous and people are getting nasty about it (ie: our neighbors. Get over it, the street is public parking)

Okay enough complaining because I do have some fantastic news – my thesis has been approved by the IRB and my partner and I can now move forward with it! I’m elated :) We’ve got a logistics meeting tomorrow but hopefully we will be going in full force by the beginning of next week. Heck yes!

Amidst all this snow and thesis work my eats have been pretty uneventful. Looking over my pictures now I see mostly toast with peanut butter and cinnamon, eggs, fruit, and yogurt. And that’s not even counting the pictures I didn’t take of the same exact things! I’m so boring haha. I’m thinking of making black bean burgers for lunch though so that will be a bit different. I haven’t had them in months!

Spinach & Herb omelet, Toast w/ p.b. & cinnamon

Amy’s Lentil Vegetable (OMG THIS WAS FANTASTIC! DEFINITELY GETTING THIS AGAIN!)

Grapes, Kiwi, Pom CHOB, and Bob’s Red Mill Muesli

Sandwich thin w/ p.b. & cinnamon, Blueberry & Strawberry Smoothie

See what I mean? Well the soup was different and delicious but overall I just haven’t had anything exciting lately. Gotta do something about that now.

I can say however that I’ve officially finished day 5 of the P90X Lean program. This thing is intense. I can’t even do all the moves like they do or for as long but I figure I will get there eventually. I’ve got 90 days right? My body is sore but it’s a good sore. It’s an “I’m working my body hard” kind of sore. Maybe I should start looking at Victoria’s Secret bikinis? hehehe

Now I’ve got to wrap this up because I have a ton of homework to get started on. Besides working on my thesis, I’m also taking 4 classes (2 of which are online which has both pros & cons). I’ve got Nutritional Epidemiology, The Health Care System: Interdisciplinary Perspectives, Sports Psychology, and Sports Nutrition Practice. Both the sports ones are online and the health care one, well even though it says interdisciplinary I’m pretty sure it’s going to be mostly focused towards the nursing students since there are so many of them. My school combines nursing, nutrition, and physical therapy into the “school of health studies”. I’d say the ratio is probably 8:1:1, but I really don’t know many people in PT. Either way, there are way more nursing students than anyone else.

How much snow did you get in this last storm, if you got any?

It’s almost Friday!!! :) I’ll be heading back home to NY already after my meeting tomorrow. My sis-in-law is due any day now and I hope she has the baby while I’m home!

What are your plans for this weekend?

Hot Topic: Normal Weight Obesity

2011-01-24T20:51:00.001-05:00

First I want to say “HI!” to some of my new readers! Second, the whole homemade facial thing definitely doesn’t compare to one at a spa but it’s still nice :)

And as for the whole dietetic internship application process? It’s coming to a close. Applications are due February 15th so that’s mega-stressful. I’m hoping to stay at Simmons but am applying to a few other schools as well – all community focused.

Hope that wraps up some questions ya’ll may have had!

So after a pretty indulgent weekend…………

(PS- that’s a Carrot Cake martini!)

Oh and there was definitely some Oreo ice cream cake, Chinese food, and pizza. Yeah INDULGENT! What can I say, it was an extended birthday celebration for the boy :)

I compensated with some delicious oats with a diced pear and walnuts and a not so exciting rushed bowl of “mighty tasty hot cereal” with coffee and OJ.

I’ve really got to start taking pictures of things other than breakfast haha.

In other news, I OFFICIALLY started P90X yesterday. The other times I was just randomly throwing in one of those workouts but I decided to actually start the program this time. It’s just far to cold out to go running. I mean hello it was like 7 degrees out today! Yeah my abs totally hurt right now, but it’s a good hurt ;)

I also wanted to bring to attention the topic of a recent article in Today’s Dietitian. The article “When Thin is Fat” discusses a condition called Normal Weight Obesity (NWO). Basically it means that a person may be at a normal weight, and therefore may appear to have a normal BMI but in reality they have increased body fat percentage causing weight-related health issues. People with NWO typically have decreased muscle mass and decreased bone density and elderly are at an increased risk for this condition. So if your BMI is at the higher end of normal, you may want to get your body fat percentage checked to rule out NWO. Try bioelectric impedance or the Bod Pod which may be available at major hospitals.

Feel free to share some opinions!

Preparing for the Final Return

2011-01-19T19:37:00.001-05:00

It’s actually pretty late in January and many students have already returned to college. I will finally be on my way at the end of this week. It’s a bittersweet moment really. Spring semester, my last semester at Simmons as a Masters student. It’s scary that almost 2 years has gone by already. I feel like I just started there. I’m not really sure what to think but I know I’m not ready for the semester to begin. It’s just going to be all over before I know it. *sigh*

Some of my eats over this past few days:

Salad (spinach, cuc, pepper, hummus), Sandwich thin w/ p.b. & cinnamon, Fruit

Sweet & Sour Chicken Stir Fry w/ brown rice

Some sort of beef, Mashed Potato/Cauliflower, Corn, Asparagus

I must also give myself some props. Yesterday I had 5 servings of fruit and 5 servings of veggies! I’ve been having Green Monsters for breakfast basically every day (but really how many times do you need to see a picture of that?), so that certainly has helped.

And for fun I gave myself a homemade facial!

I ended up using ground oats, yogurt, lemon juice, olive oil, and a drop of honey. My face felt great after!

Oh and can I just say that the new “This is Tae Bo” dvd totally whooped my butt yesterday. My glutes were really sore all day today! I’m such a wimp. I only made it 30 minutes in P90X Yoga too. Stick a fork in me, I’m done.

Have you started your spring semester (if you’re a student)?

Have you ever done a homemade facial or spa treatment?

Have you tried Tae Bo or P90X? Thoughts?

Tomorrow is Raf’s birthday so I’ll be gone for a few days. Have a great rest of the week!

Excuse My Lisp

2011-01-17T21:46:00.001-05:00

So I finally got it. After OIAJ for breakfast, I headed to the dentist for my Invisalign!

They don’t feel too bad. Really it’s only painful taking them out and putting them in (they have to be taken out for meals/drinks). It’s just a little pressure but it’s definitely going to take some getting used to. I think I’m going to have them for 9 months….. I think the worst part is that I can only drink water with them in so when I want to have a cup of coffee or tea (which is frequent) I would have to take them out. I have a feeling I’m going to be drinking a lot more water in the next few months………

Afterwards I headed to work and put off lunch for as long as possible as to not have to remove my liners. When I finally gave in I ate the leftover acorn squash. Lucky for me it was soft because they suggested no hard foods.

I was in the mood for pasta for dinner so my mom made penne with salmon and veggies. So good. I topped mine with a little feta.

I also squeezed in a cup of tea before I had to put my liners back in. I want a snack now so bad! But I don’t feel like taking them out again. Who knew Invisalign was also tool to stop snacking.

Instead, here are two recipes I’ve promised. Pumpkin Turkey Chili and Blueberry Pecan Scones. Enjoy!

Pumpkin Turkey Chili (from allrecipes)

Ingredients

1 tbsp vegetable oil
1 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup chopped green bell pepper
1/2 cup chopped yellow bell pepper
1 clove garlic, minced
1 lb ground turkey
1 (14.5 oz) can diced tomatoes
2 cups pumpkin puree
1 1/2 tbsp chili powder
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
1 dash salt
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1/2 cup sour cream

Directions
Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat, and sauté the onion, green bell pepper, yellow bell pepper, and garlic until tender. Stir in the turkey, and cook until evenly brown. Drain, and mix in tomatoes and pumpkin. Season with chili powder, pepper, and salt. Reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer 20 minutes. Serve topped with Cheddar cheese and sour cream.

This was the original recipe but my sis-in-law added beans to it (why a chili recipe wouldn’t have beans in the first place is beyond me!).

Blueberry-Pecan Scones (from the NY Daily News)

Ingredients

1/2 cup 2% reduced fat milk (I used skim)
1/4 cup sugar
2 tsp grated lemon rind (I used orange)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 large egg
2 cups all-purpose flour (I used whole wheat)
1 tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
3 tbsp chilled butter, cut into small pieces
1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries
1/4 cup finely chopped pecans
1 large egg white, lightly beaten
1 tbsp sugar

Directions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Combine first 5 ingredients in a medium bowl, stirring with a whisk. Combine flour, baking powder and salt in a large bowl. Cut in butter with pastry blender or 2 knives until mixture resembles course meal. Gently fold in blueberries and pecans. Add milk mixture, stirring just until moist (dough will be sticky). Turn dough out onto floured surface and pat into a 8 inch circle. Cut dough into 10 wedges and place them on a baking sheet coated with cooking spray. Brush egg white over dough wedges and sprinkle evenly with sugar. Bake scones for 18 minutes or until golden.

What a Weekend!

2011-01-16T21:16:00.001-05:00

I can’t believe it’s Sunday night already. The weekend always flies by.

Saturday

Woke up. Worked out. Went to Work. THE USUAL.

But let me tell you breakfast and lunch were both absolutely delicious.

The scones turned so good. I’ll type out the recipe when I have more energy since you probably couldn’t read the picture from the paper. And lunch was a tuna/bean mixture with celery and orange bell pepper on top of spinach (and unpictured grapefruit).

My family from West Virginia also came up for a quick visit so we went to Coyote Flaco for dinner. I got exactly the same thing as I did last time because it was so good.

A crazy strong margarita, chips and salsa

Enchiladas Oaxaca (I ate 1 of the 2 plus half the rice and the guac)

I must have been so excited for the black bean soup that I forgot to take a picture of that too. Oh well. If you really want to see it, refer back to this post. I was stuffed and glad to have half leftover :)

Sunday

Repeat breakfast. Yum Yum Yum! Then church. Then lunch at my grandparents. I had no idea we were going there for lunch though so I didn’t have my camera. Why do my parents always surprise me that way? Anyway I had a small bowl of elbow macaroni w/ tomato sauce and a side salad.

Can I just say that this afternoon the weather was phenomenal? It was not too cold (30 F), sunny, and not very windy. My mom and I took advantage and went snowshoeing again. This time we were able to make it through the fields over to my brother’s house and back – an hour and a half round trip! We hauled butt back in order to get home in time for the Jets game. HECK YES JETS! WOOHOO! It was just an awesome day :)

All eats were leftovers except for this beauty

apple, plain chobani mixed with cinnamon

Tomorrow’s the day I go in to get my Invisalign. I can’t wait!

Let me have it. Are you glad the Jets won? Or were you rooting for the Patriots?

Do you have the day off tomorrow? Any fun plans? I’m actually going to work after I get my braces.

Apples are Red, Blueberries are Blue, Sugar is Sweet, and So are These Scones!

2011-01-14T21:03:00.001-05:00

Instead of working at the animal hospital today, I rescheduled my nutrition lessons from the day we had the snowstorm (my typical day off). I gathered my stuff together while eating breakfast.

Cute coloring pages right? Perfect for preschoolers. I spent the morning at one pre-school and the afternoon at another (hitting the gym quick in between!). I even brought fruit (apples, strawberries, grapes) and yogurt for the kids to snack on. Unfortunately I forgot all about food for myself! Good thing there was a little leftovers for me :)

Everyone’s got to know the whole “Eat the Rainbow” lesson, right? Well that’s what I taught today. 8 kids in the first class, 13 in the second. That’s 21 little people that will hopefully remember what I told them and try all sorts of new fruits and veggies! I even got a book as a present for helping out.

Cutest little book! When I got home I finally made lunch even though it was closer to dinner time.

Roast beef, spinach, and Laughing Cow wedge on a sandwich thin + half a orange bell pepper

I don’t know about you but I just can’t get enough of bell peppers (except the green ones – yuck!).

Dinner was a toughie though. My grandparents invited my parents and I out to the diner down the road. There was very few things on the menu to choose from that were healthy. With my mom making some lifestyle changes, I try to help her and encourage her especially when going out to eat. We both ended up getting the same thing – grilled chicken on a salad, dressing on the side. We also got a side of sweet potato fries to share between the two of us and my grandma.

It ended up being a delicious meal. I wasn’t expecting such a yummy salad from a diner but the chicken was juicy and the greens were fresh!

When I got home I was in such a mood to bake. And then I saw this:

Blueberry-Pecan Scones. I used whole wheat flour though but that was the only substitution I made. Breakfast is all set for tomorrow!

Frolicking in the Snow

2011-01-12T20:21:00.001-05:00

What a snow day for the Northeast, huh? I was supposed to teach the pre-schoolers again today (two sets actually) but because of the snow everything was closed. Instead I slept in then had a big warm bowl of oats (with a banana and Teddie unsalted p.b.) while watching the snow fall. It’s beautiful but I’m still not a fan of the cold, or the bad driving conditions.

The rest of the morning I did some cleaning for mi madre. Aren’t I nice? :)

I was in the mood for pizza for lunch. Twice in one week – I’m on a roll! This time I made a white pizza using part-skim ricotta, mozzarella, and broccoli.

I picked the piece that bubbled. hehehe. Also had some extra veggies on the side w/ hummus.

I think I need to make pizza more often :)

I also coerced my mom to go snowshoeing with me this afternoon when there was a break in the snowfall. However by the time we got ready to go and put our snowshoes on, the wind and snow started up again. Come on, seriously! We headed out anyway for about 40 minutes. Lena came with us of course.

She’s focused on the tennis ball at my feet. Totally OBSESSED.

Trekking through the fields

Heading back up the driveway. Yup – that’s just the beginning of my driveway (~1/3 of it I guess).

Dinner later was also totally awesome. Cilantro-Lime Shrimp Fajitas circa Fitness magazine 2008.

Cilantro-Lime Shrimp Fajitas (makes 1 serving? 500 calories)

1/2 cup sliced onions
1 cup sliced multicolor bell peppers
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 garlic clove, minced
1 teaspoon ground cumin
4 ounces precooked frozen shrimp, thawed
3 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
1 lime, juiced
2 whole grain tortillas

Sauté onions and peppers in oil with garlic and cumin for 6-8 minutes, until tender. Toss thawed shrimp, cilantro, and lime juice with hot vegetables. Fill tortillas with mixture.

I also put avocado on mine. Side of black beans and zucchini.

Breaking News!

I’ve just been informed that Chobani is introducing Chobani Champions, their greek yogurt especially for kids!

As you can see, they have two flavors Verry Berry and Honey-nana. The Honey-nana sounds so delicious to me! Each cup is 3.5 oz, 100 calories, and has 20% DV Vitamin D and 10% DV Calcium. I also think it’s important to note that they are free of preservatives, artificial flavors, and milk treated with synthetic growth hormones.

And for the grown-ups – 3 new flavors will be coming out! 2% Mango, 0% Black Cherry, and 0% Lemon. I’m really excited to try the lemon!

(Disclaimer – I was not paid to advertise these products)

Did you have a snow day today? Did you do anything you don’t typically get to do?

Fitting in some last minute quality time

2011-01-10T21:49:00.001-05:00

Saturday

Even though I worked all day Saturday, having game night made up for it. It may also have a little something to do with the Pumpkin Turkey Chili my sis-in-law made :)

You actually don’t taste the pumpkin but it was so good! I’ll try to get the recipe from her ;) You may also see I crumbled some of the cheddar Food Should Taste Good chips on top. Perfect addition.

Game night included Apples to Apples (which I’m usually very good at) and Uno. I didn’t win any games! So sad. I think I won the game for who ate the most cookies though hehehe

Cookies and Tea

Sunday

First of all I actually got my butt out of bed on time for church. Quite the accomplishment considering Sunday is usually my “sleep in” day. We went to Dad’s Diner in Copake after but I didn’t know and so I didn’t have my camera. I found it very annoying that I had to pay more to substitute fruit for the homefries, especially when all they gave me was a small cup of frozen blueberries and strawberries.WTF. As for quality? What can I say – a diner is a diner to me. They’re all the same.

Then I spent the rest of the day with my bestie Kelly who I haven’t seen in forever! Let me tell you that the movie Alpha and Omega is so not kid appropriate LOL.

Monday

Finally got my car back from the shop this morning! Didn’t get it in time to go to the gym and I was actually late for work anyway by the time they were done. Seriously they’ve had it since Wednesday morning and it was supposed to be done Friday but you can’t have it ready by 7:30 this morning? No apparently 9:30 was a better time for them. Oh well. It is running much better though. Good as new!

While I waited I had a Green Monster for breakfast.

1/3 cup skim milk
2/3 cup water
1 banana
1/2 cup pumpkin
~2 cups spinach
1 tbsp peanut butter
dash cinnamon

Work was easy peasy today. The boss went to Florida for a conference so I spent most of the day finishing up end of the year inventory. Doing inventory actually sucks but at least I had time to eat my lunchtoday (that didn’t happen on Saturday!). Leftover Bean and Barley soup of course.

I managed to hit the gym after work for a 45 minute elliptical workout. I covered almost 5.5 miles :) Sweaty mess.

Came home to steak w/ onions, green beans, and sweet potato for dinner.

And strawberries w/ HOMEMADE HOT FUDGE SAUCE for dessert. Ooooh baby! I just couldn’t help myself.

1 week from today I’ll be back in Boston. I just have to get through one last semester but it’s going to be really tough. 4 classes + thesis + finishing up applying to internships. I’ll be welcoming summer with open arms.

Anyone else want to skip right to summer? ;)

Friday is Pizza Day!

2011-01-07T20:47:00.001-05:00

Growing up, my mom would always make homemade pizza on Friday nights. And even though I would fuss when it would be burned or thought it tasted bad compared to take-out pizza, I still have fond memories of those nights. Tonight was the first time in years that we’ve made homemade pizza at my parents house. My mom picked up some whole wheat dough earlier and we were set to make a veggie pizza!

Spinach and Peppers

Cucumber on the side

Otherwise, not a very exciting day.

Banana Oatmeal w/ Teddie unsalted p.b. for breakfast

Then work.

Bean and Barley Soup for lunch

I left early because of the snow storm and barely made it home. I’m borrowing my grandma’s car while mine is in the shop and her car is horrible in bad weather. SCARY!

Grapes for a snack

Also look at the new flavor of Laughing Cow -

I had a wedge on a couple Low Sodium Triscuits to go with snack

I can’t tell if it’s still snowing but after work tomorrow I hope it’s still light enough to go snowshoeing!

Now onto something a little different………

A couple weeks ago my brother went to McDonald’s and ordered this

He called it “Old McDonald’s Farm Sandwich” because it contained a rib, chicken patty, and beef patty all in one bun. Now why do I say he made up his own name? Well because apparently he made up the sandwich! It was news to me that at some fast food places you can order whatever you want even if it’s not on the menu and they will make it for you. This conjures up some scary thoughts in my head – imagine what else people could be ordering. How much worse can these fast food places really get?! But on the other hand this could also be a good thing because maybe in some way you could order an item “healthified.” Who knows really but if you are interested in more of these so called “hidden menu” items, I found this link that contains a whole bunch of things. Some make me cringe, others aren’t so bad (hello Naked sandwiches at Popeye’s means they don’t add the breading to the meat!).

TGIF!

An Afternoon with 4 year olds

2011-01-05T20:16:00.001-05:00

I’ve had such a wonderful Wednesday! But first just a couple things from yesterday:

I tried to get my coworker to try hummus. She ran away ;)

I walked by Miss Mae West hiding amongst the canned food. Still makes me giggle.

Delicious dinner – chicken, spaghetti w/ parmesan, and broccoli & carrots

I also watched Biggest Loser Season 11 Premiere last night. I wasn’t too thrilled with it but maybe it will get better.

Now for today! This morning after my cup of coffee I headed to the gym for a great full body strength training workout. Too bad my Zen (not an Ipod!) had a dead battery. Gotta charge it tonight so it’s ready for tomorrow morning. Anyway I didn’t give myself enough time to fit in a cardio workout too before heading home to eat and get ready to go to pre-school. Yum that’s right, I went to pre-school this afternoon. I had asked last month if I could come in and do some lessons with the kids at the pre-school I used to go to (and where my nephew currently goes!) Today I did a lesson on physical activity which isn’t really a problem for these youngin’s although at one point they diverged onto how they loved to play video games (!). Next Wednesday I’ll be heading back to do a nutrition lesson! Can I just say that I LOVE LOVE LOVE spending my time with pre-schoolers. I really want to work with kids when I’m an RD :)

I also got my scraggly hair cut this afternoon. Probably about 4 inches off. I love long hair it just gets so tangly and messy that I had to get rid of some. And then I came home to my mom’s awesome homemade mac n’ cheese. I’ve convinced her to switch to whole wheat pasta now too :)

A great day off indeed :) Happy Hump Day!

Hello 2011 – Looking Forward to a Great Year!

2011-01-02T19:52:00.001-05:00

I didn’t exactly have the most exciting new years eve. Originally I had planned on hanging out with Eva but we were both exhausted from working so we cancelled. Both Thursday and Friday were extremely long days for me. In fact I didn’t get home from work on NYE until 9pm! That’s about 3 hours later than I was expecting. I scarfed down some Chinese food that my family had bought and went to bed right after the ball dropped. Like I said, not very exciting. And Saturday? I spent most of the day sleeping and watching the Twilight Zone marathon. It was a completely lazy day after two ~12 hour work days.

Today was a little more productive. I slept in again instead of going to church (bad me) but I just couldn’t pry myself out of bed still. When I did finally get up I made myself a nice healthy brunch. It’s time to start fresh and stay away from the holiday goodies!

Omelet (1 egg + 2 whites, spinach, basil, & oregano), Sandwich thin w/ Teddie unsalted p.b. & banana

Then I finally sat down and thought about my goals for 2011. Goals, Resolutions, Tomayto, Tomahto. You know. I finally settled on these:

Finish paying at least half of what I owe for my Invisalign (I get them in about 2 weeks!)
Don’t spend more than $50 per month on non-essentials (Essentials are things like gas, medicine, school books, etc)
Read the Bible for 10 minutes every morning (It’s always been a goal of mine to read the entire thing and I figure this way I can do it)
Meditate for 10 minutes every night
Do 1 hour of yoga at least once a week
Continue running! (at least 3 days per week)

I’ve picked 4 races that I want to do so far:

2011 Margaritas 5k in Exeter, NH on May 1
2nd Annual Spring May-Hem 5k in Hudson, NY on May 15
Dirty Dog Dash in Boyne, MI on June 11
Warrior Dash in Windham, NY on August 13

We’ll see how well each of these go hehe.

Today I also tried out my Garmin!!!! I love it :) And having the heart rate monitor with it is even better. I ran/walked 3.13 miles but got hit really hard with my exercise-induced asthma today. It sucked big time and it took me forever to be able to breathe normally. I hate that I just developed this within the past year!

When I got back I refueled with a Green Monster – 1 banana, 2 handfuls spinach, 1/3 cup pumpkin, 1 cup skim milk.

That’s my daddy’s Nascar cup haha.

I also got a lot of new year cleaning done today and donated 2 bags of clothes and another bag full of shoes, hats, and purses.

Dinner: 93% lean burger w/ onion and tomato on a sandwich thin, sweet potato fries w/ ketchup, and fresh string beans

And now finally – my review of the Food Should Taste Good Chips I received!

The only flavor of the 5 that I had before was the Multigrain and it is one of my favorites! I could eat an entire bag in one sitting. Seriously. My boyfriend and I did that once so I guess I ate about half the bag ;)

The next flavor I tried was Olive. Now I’m not a fan of real olives anyway so it was no surprise that I wasn’t really a fan of this chip either. But my mom likes olives and she liked the chips, so I guess it just goes hand in hand.

Then I tried both the Blue Corn and Yellow Corn on the same night (you may remember from Enchilada night). I LOVED the Blue Corn. It’s in the same arena as the Multigrain for me. The Yellow Corn was just okay for me. Much more bland than the Blue but if you compare the ingredients you will see why. Yellow corn is just made with yellow corn while the Blue corn is multigrain (as I mentioned in taste).

The last one to try was the Cheddar. This was also like the Multigrain but with a hint of cheese. Absolutely delicious! I’m a big fan of all things cheese anyway hehe

So final results: LOVED Multigrain, Blue Corn, and Cheddar. NEUTRAL about Yellow Corn. DISLIKED Olive.

Just wanted to say thank you to Food Should Taste Good for sending me these samples!

Counting down to the end of 2010

2010-12-29T20:31:00.001-05:00

I can’t believe 2010 is almost over. It wasn’t exactly a big year for me but I’ll recap some significant happenings:

Went to my first baseball game
Went to the 2010 Massachusetts Dietetics Association conference
Went to the Food For Your Whole Life Symposium in NYC and saw Dr. Oz!
Went to Lake George for my grandparents 50th anniversary
Peach picking for the first time
Worked at NuVal over the summer
Did my first “modeling” shoot
Went to Saratoga Raceway for the first time
Started my thesis this fall
Got my lipid panel checked for the first time
Saw Jason Michael Carroll in concert
Got CPR certified
Went to my first live comedy show
Went to ADA’s FNCE
Got my first massage
Road tripped to Michigan
Ran/Mostly walked my first 5k!

So that is kind of a lot I guess :)

For my last Wednesday of 2010 (and my parent’s anniversary!), I had a pretty leisurely day. I woke up early but hung around watching the Today show for a little while with a cup of coffee and a green monster.

Wednesday’s are my days off from work which is nice. I made it to the bank today finally. Then I headed off to the gym for a 45 minute total body strength workout followed by 45 minutes on the elliptical. Great workout today! I was starving by the time I got home though.

Tuna melt on a sandwich thin (topped with goat cheese), carrots and celery with hummus

I had some bananas that needed to be baked with so I made Banana Pumpkin muffins this afternoon as well.

My brother thought they had no flavor but I thought they were good. Very moist!

I was hoping to go snowshoeing with my mom again today but she didn’t get home until it was near dark so that didn’t happen. :( Oh well. It’s my parent’s anniversary though so my mom decided we would have a nice meal of filet mignon, mashed potatoes, and green beans with almonds. I chipped in and made the garlic mashed potatoes.

It was quite the delicious meal!

I’ve got to be at work early tomorrow and Friday since my coworker is taking her vacation days. Two long last days of 2010 ahead of me!

Are you ready for 2011? I’ve still got to come up with a list of goals for the year!

A Blogger’s First Christmas

2010-12-27T11:41:00.001-05:00

I’ve been away from blogging and my computer in general for many days now. I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas!

Tuesday

Last Tuesday was my grandpa’s birthday so after work I went to Red Lobster with my family. I had only been there once a couple years ago! Happy Birthday Grandpa!

1/2 Cheddar biscuit

Tossed salad with Oil & Vinegar

Garlic Shrimp with Rice Pilaf and Asparagus (I finished half and took the rest home)

Wednesday

Wednesday was yet another busy day. In the morning, my mom and I headed down to the spa for pedicure’s and facial’s! Remember we went for massages a few weeks ago? Well we had to finish up the rest of our gift certificates before they expired so we squeezed it into our schedule hehe. Then in the afternoon we finished up some very last minute christmas shopping. All that running around required re-fueling with an applie pie larabar :)

My mom had also planned to have our annual “kids dinner” that night so there was no rest for the weary! She likes to have a dinner with all of us a couple days before christmas so we have time together that isn’t hectic. My brothers requested enchiladas so I helped my mom make them plus I made guacamole which as usual turned out delicious! I love love love guac. I broke out 2 bags of Food Should Taste Good chips to try out (full review of the flavors I received coming soon).

That’s not sour cream! It’s plain greek yogurt! (Perfect sour cream substitute)

Thursday

Back to work. Oh I also forgot to mention that Monday-Thursday last week I made sure to go to the gym every morning! Making use of that 1 month membership :)

OIAJ for breakfast

Spinach and Bell Pepper salad for lunch

Pineapple with Yogurt for lunch (Chobani hidden underneath!)

Leftover shrimp, cauliflower & carrots, + a huge pile of sweet potato mashed with cinnamon

Raf came around dinner time so afterwards we headed to the movies to see Black Swan. It looked so good in the preview and had a great rating on IMDB. However, I found it to be too predictable and Raf hated it. Oh well………

Friday

Christmas Eve! I had to start the day off right :)

I was making homemade presents this year and finally got all my pieces together to start making them. Lavender bath salts for the girls and a spice rub + homemade thin mints for the guys. (Whoever brought the homemade thin mint recipe to the blogger cookie swap – thank you! they turned out great!)

I was busy busy all day! And the best part?

Lena in her Christmas outfit!

The sweater was a little tight but that’s because she’s gained 5 lbs this fall. eek!

We had dinner at my grandparents like we do every year. It was so sad to be just us though. We used to have such huge family celebrations on Christmas eve. Now it’s just my parents and myself (plus Raf this year).

Grandma’s meat pie (It’s a french thing)

Bowl of fruit

There was also a deli platter so I had some meat and cheese (no bread).

Mass was at 10pm and not many people came. What do they expect from older people? They don’t want to come out that late. My church is mostly elderly which shouldn’t be a surprise. There really is no one my age and only a handful of younger people. I sang “Oh Holy Night” and even with the few people there I could feel heat radiating from my face because I was so nervous. I love to sing but get nervous every time! I just can’t help it. After all was said and done though, I was fine.

Saturday

Merry Christmas! We opened presents at my house and then headed over to my brother’s for our family gathering.

Breakfast smorgasboard! French toast strata, Egg strata, homemade hash, etc.

I got some really awesome gifts this year including:

Did everybody get what the wanted for Christmas? I sure did!

Sunday

Most of my day was spent babysitting my nephew. No pictures snapped! Also the blizzard in the northeast started!

Monday

Snowed in! I was supposed to go to work today but there is so much snow blowing around. The wind is a big issue today causing all kinds of drifts. I’m now home and haven’t quite decided what to do with my day. Work in internship applications perhaps?

Banana oatmeal with almonds for breakfast

Maybe I’ll even pull out the snowshoes for this afternoon!

Never a minute spent at home

2010-12-20T22:16:00.001-05:00

I’m so ready for Christmas right now.

Saturday

Saturday morning I headed to the gym before work where I did 45 minutes on the elliptical. I haven’t used an elliptical in a while so it was nice. I love them! I never snapped a pic of breakfast but I ate it in the car between the gym and work. Larabar + string cheese. I worked from 9-3 and don’t even remember what I had for lunch! The exciting part happens after work though. I headed up to my first blogger meet-up!!! Heather invited me to the CDNY Eat Drink Blog Cookie Swap. Except that it was kind of last minute and I didn’t have time to make cookies or a dish to bring up for dinner. I felt bad for not bringing any cookies so I didn’t take any home but I took a bunch of pictures of all the goods!

Heather was such a great hostess and I has so much fun meeting other bloggers! Hopefully there will be another meet-up while I’m home for winter break. :)

Sunday

Back to the good old usual breakfast:

Then church. When I got home I started making some Bean and Barley soup to have for the rest of the week. It wasn’t ready for lunch though, sadly. Instead:

Chia bread w/ Teddie unsalted p.b. and cinnamon

Plain 0% Chobani w/ ground flaxseed, blueberries, and strawberries

I wasn’t home for long before I was once again out the door. I swear lately all I do at home is sleep! I headed down to my friend Eva’s to spend the afternoon with her since I hadn’t seen her in forever. We watched Rudolph and Santa Claus is Coming to Town and drank tea. Her parent’s also made a delicious dinner: Roast chicken, sweet potato, acorn squash, zucchini, and her dad’s creation: greek enchilada (= awesome!)

Monday

Oh how the weekend passes so quickly. Well obviously when you work on Saturdays, then the weekend isn’t really a weekend. I was so tired from all this driving around (both the blogger meet-up and Eva’s house are over an hour drive for me). So this morning I forced myself out of bed (slowly) and headed to the gym. I ended up getting there a half hour after I planned to and thus was a half hour “late” for work. I say late in quotations because I don’t really have to be there at 9 but I like to be. My schedule is pretty flexible which is great!

I did 45 minutes on the elliptical again. And forgot to take a picture of breakfast, again. This time it was a banana and a slice of chia bread. Lunch also went unpictured but was a bowl of Bean and Barley soup, a string cheese, and a bunch of strawberries. Today was a pretty good day, uneventful, which at this point I was glad for.

I had to inhale dinner in about 10 minutes when I got home. Egglplant parm and salad.

Then once again I was out! This time for a couple hours of church choir practice. It was long. Too long. I basically can’t function at this point I’m so tired. To make matters worse tomorrow is the long day at work. We are open until 7 instead of 5:30 so I will be working a 10 hour day. I think I need some gel insoles for my shoes because standing all day is killer on my feet!

Alright I’m done whining. Goodnight!

A Busy Week & Sad Day

2010-12-17T21:47:00.001-05:00

Wednesday

Wednesday was my first full day home and even though I didn’t have to work I still found myself quite busy. First of all, I am now personal trainer, nutritionist, and personal chef for my mom for the next month so that alone is already taking up quite some time! She needs some assistance and motivation with her diet so I’m here to provide it! I’ve decided that I’m basically going to just make double of what I eat for breakfast and then give her a meal plan for lunch and dinner. Of course with the holidays there are going to be adjustments as needed but we’ll deal on an individual day basis.

I got up early to make sure my mom did 30 minutes of strength training followed by 30 minutes of cardio, which I of course did alongside her.

Breakfast on Wednesday: 1/2 cup oats, 1 cup skim milk, 1/2 banana, 1 tbsp Teddie unsalted peanut butter

No pic of lunch. Just fruit anyway :/

I had tons of errands to do with #1 on the list being washing my car! It was disgusting after that road trip. I got back at just the right time to start making dinner since my mom was working late anyway. On the menu – Honey-Soy Broiled Salmon (one of my fave recipes from EatingWell), Broccoli, and Quinoa.

I also got in the mood to bake that night so I made some Chia Quick Bread. It turned out a bit dry though so I think next time I may add something to moisten it more.

Thursday

Back to work at the animal hospital. I put my mom on the treadmill while I got ready for work. I know I’m bad ;)

Breakfast: 1/2 cup Vanilla 0% Chobani, 1/4 cup Muesli, 1/2 cup pineapple

Per usual, work was crazy busy. We ended up having an extra spay and neuter to do so we never got to eat the christmas meal a client bought us (pork, green beans, and mashed sweet potatoes). I was able to grab a scoop of sweet potatoes and green beans for “lunch”.

And a while later I grabbed a clementine and ounce of almonds I had brought.

Luckily we got out on time and I was able to head over to my grandparents for dinner. They were having pork too but I don’t really like pork so I tried a small piece to make them happy and then my grandma made me some shrimp special for me. Love my grandma!

Also had mashed potatoes, cauliflower & broccoli, and applesauce.

By the time I got home at 8 I was exhausted. What a long day. And that wasn’t even the end of it – I had serious thesis drama yesterday. I can’t go into details but let’s just say that a big change has happened in the past 24 hours that I did not see coming. I’m hoping it’s for the better.

Friday

Today started off fine. Put my mom on the treadmill, got ready for work, and made breakfast. Bob’s Red Mill Mighty Tasty Hot Cereal made with water, 1/2 banana, cinnamon, and 1 tbsp Teddie unsalted peanut butter.

Then it was off to work and my day became unbelievably awful. A 9 month old kitten died and I cried. I felt so crappy that I was utterly useless for about an hour and even contemplated going home. That’s one of the reasons I changed my mind about going to vet school. I just can’t handle it.

The kitten died right before lunch time and thus I lost my appetite. I made it through the rest of the day at least. It’s so depressing though.

On the way home I stopped by the local gym because they are having a deal for students to sign up for the 1 month of winter break. My co-worker gave me money for it for my Christmas present. (Thanks Wendy!) I’m going to try to go in before work tomorrow if I can get myself up that early……

Dinner was a recipe from Women’s Health November 2010 issue - “Healthy Chicken Parmigiana with Penne”. We also had some whole wheat garlic bread on the side.

Another long, exhausting day – mostly mentally. I’ve got higher hopes for tomorrow though because it’s my first blogger meet-up :) Going to Heather’s apartment with about 18 other girls I think! I didn’t have time to make cookies for the cookie exchange or a dish for dinner either. I’ve got work until 3 tomorrow and then am heading straight to the meet-up.

Time to meal plan for tomorrow and then go to bed. Goodnight folks.

First 5k Recap & Cookie Baking Bonanza

2010-12-14T19:33:00.001-05:00

Rewind to

Saturday

My first 5k. What an accomplishment! We woke up around 7 to get ready and fuel up. I had a whole wheat english muffin with peanut butter and a half a banana as well as a cup of coffee. Ready,set, go!

Of course I then forgot to bring my camera but my Aunt Lisa was able to get a few photos. Run Like The Dickens 2010 – Holly, MI.

Me, Aunt Lisa, Uncle Steve, and Kayla before the race

Picking it up for the finish line. No I definitely did not run the whole thing. I actually walked a lot. My time was 41.14 but ya know what, I wasn’t trying to get a fast time. I just wanted to have fun my first time. It was fun – except that I was sick and coughing/my throat was swollen and I was freezing. But hey, I finished and that’s what matters to me.

We made it!

Next year we decided that we definitely want to do the Dirty Dog Dash in MI and the Warrior Dash in NY, both obstacle course 5k’s. They sound very cool! Both are in the summer so hopefully I’ll actually be good at running by then ;)

When we got home I immediately had a cup of tea as well as some Emergen-C. I hate being sick.

And an apple….

After we cleaned up we went out to lunch at a place called Bullfrogs. I got a cup of venison chili and a large greek salad that I couldn’t even finish.

The afternoon was relaxing. There was some nap action. Everyone was just worn out hehe. Eventually we got going again and went to visit the “Always Christmas” store. More ornaments than you can imagine. 3 huge floors!

We made a simple dinner when we got back.

Sunday

16 hours of driving. First through a snowstorm then a rainstorm. That’s all I have to say about that.

Monday

I was supposed to get up a go to an open house at UNH on Monday but I had to finish up things for both a final presentation that night and thesis work. Honestly I just couldn’t drive anymore either. When I woke up I knew right away what I wanted to make up for my snacking and lack of good food the day before – Green Monster.

Later on I ate a million popchips so that didn’t exactly go along with my need to eat good whole food. But I also had 2 clementines! Love love love them.

That night I had my last class for Programming, Planning, and Evaluation. Our final presentation went okay I think even though it was a bit longer than it was supposed to be. I’m so glad that class is over though. UGH.

Tacos when I got home!

Tuesday

I was a bad girl and didn’t eat breakfast this morning. I was in too much of a hurry to get home. I spent a bunch of time packing last night so this morning I just put the stuff in my car and left. I booked it and made it home in 2 hours and 40 minutes instead of 3 hours :) hehehe

Lunch was some chicken noodle soup. I still hate how salty canned soup is!

Then my mom and I headed over to my Aunt Cathy’s for our annual cookie baking event! We made sugar cookies and gingerbread. Something happened with the gingerbread dough and our men ended up being fatties. Oh well, they’re still cute!

I ate my fair share of cookie dough :) I just couldn’t help myself! After several hours we headed home, tired. We decided on having breakfast for dinner since it’s simple. Spinach and feta omelet, bagel-thin with Teddie unsalted peanut butter + cinnamon, and fresh pineapple. I also had an unpictured glass of skim milk.

Now I have to unpack everything I brought. I’m sure it will take awhile! Then it’s the Biggest Loser finale! I want Ada to win so bad!!!!

Almost race day!

2010-12-10T20:48:00.001-05:00

Wednesday

First day of travel! Started off with a good breakfast:

After several hours of checking and rechecking things (and finishing up school work) I finally packed up the car and started out on my road trip :) It took me just over 4 hours to get to my cousin’s in Vermont (north of Burlington so it was far!). The ride was beautiful through the mountains and luckily the weather wasn’t bad. We spent the evening relaxing and making sure we had everything we needed for the even longer leg of the trip. We also made dinner easy by making breakfast!

Thursday

Up bright and early at 6:30! We headed out to the bakery my cousin works at to grab a cup of joe and breakfast.

Pumpkin bread and a cappuccino

By 7:30 we were on the road with 12 long hours ahead of us. We drove through the top of NY, hitting the 100,000 mile mark somewhere in there.

Don’t mind all the dust ;)

Then, without any issues, we made our way into Canada. I think we were driving through there for about 6 hours total. We even saw Toronto!

And ate snacks along the way

We also got into Michigan no problem (thank goodness for an easy day at the borders!). So after 12 hours (my cousin Kayla and I split driving 6 and 6) and 3 pit stops later, we finally made it to MSU at our cousin Michelle’s apartment. We were tired and starving. Michelle took us to a local pizza place where none of us proceeded to order a pizza. I got the honey chipotle chicken salad which was spicy and so filling I couldn’t eat it all. And yes I picked out the green peppers.

Followed by a stop at Insomnia Cookies where I got a Snickerdoodle. Apparently the place is open late, hence the title.

We ended our night with a drink and bananagrams. What a long, long day!

Friday

Now for the main purpose of my visit – visiting with the dietetic internship director at MSU! She was wonderful and I’m so glad that I had the chance to meet with her before applying. Once I got back to the apartment I made a big bowl of whipped banana oats but added a bit too much milk. Still good though :)

I tried to get a picture of the little bit of snow but the deck was cleaned off. It was also pretty much melted by the afternoon!

By late afternoon we had traveled back to my aunt and uncle’s house (Michelle has finals so we didn’t want to disturb her too much right now). We carbo-loaded for dinner because tomorrow is our 5k! A first for myself, my uncle, and Kayla. I’m very excited! We picked up our shirts and numbers tonight too.

Catching up with the family tonight and nursing my sore throat which developed last night. Wish me luck tomorrow!

*Sorry I’ve been so busy I haven’t been able to read blogs but I will catch up early next week when I’m back home!*

Preparing for travel & Praying there’s no snow

2010-12-08T00:11:00.001-05:00

Monday

So I ended up coming back to Boston in the morning (instead of Sunday night). It was nice to actually get to spend some time with Raf since I actually hadn’t seen him much over the weekend. Most of the time he was out hunting with my dad and brother so they got to see him more than I did!

As soon as I got back I tried one of the new yogurts that was on sale on Peapod – Wallaby Down Under Organic

Chocolate flavored!

I’ll stick with Chob from now on thanks ;)

I spent much of the day finishing up school work (1 week!) Nothing too exciting.

Cambell’s Chicken & Brown Rice Soup

Brussel sprouts and ravioli with sauce

Look at those beauties!

Tuesday

Today was a lot of preparation for my upcoming trip. First I overslept because I forgot to turn my alarm on. Oh well – I needed the sleep anyway! Then I had a nice bowl of apple oatmeal.

With a scoop of Teddie p.b. of course!

Only half the apple made it into the oatmeal since I inhaled the first half right away :)

Then it was time for school. I have a final presentation Monday night and my group and I our trying to finish up our paper as well as the presentation. The project? A nutrition/physical activity program for an elementary school in Chelsea. A major part of our project is actually implementing the ReCharge! program that’s part of NFL Play 60. It seems really great and we are hoping the school goes for it.

Then it was lunch before errands. I was in the mood for the incredible edible egg.

Egg on sandwich thin with spinach and hummus.

Oh look, some papaya as well!

The major part of my errands was stopping at AAA. Raf told me I should get some real maps from them of every state I’m traveling through. MA. Check. VT. Check. NY. Check. Canada!? Check. MI. Check. That’s a whole lotta maps. I’m pretty nervous about all the snow hullaballoo going on but I won’t be traveling alone so hopefully everything goes well. Pray that it’s clear weather for me!

Then I tried to go out for a run (my first 5k is on Saturday!). It was so cold and I just felt awful. My calves hurt tremendously because I was stupid enough to do a bunch of plyometrics Monday and not stretch them out. I only made it 2 miles. Not sure if I’m going to get another run in before Saturday with all my driving around. Oh and the 2nd 5k that I was supposed to do next weekend in Albany? Yeah it sold out and I didn’t pre-register. I was really looking forward to running with my brother and cousin too! This whole running thing is not working out too well for me. Maybe there was a reason I quit track after 8th grade? Hmmmm……

Some avocados had to be used up so I made guac. Yes those are my Food Should Taste Good Chips but I don’t want to review until I’ve tried all the flavors. These multigrain ones I’ve had before!

Dinner was an odd combination of sauteed mushrooms, green beans, and tuna.

Delicious clementines for dessert. I could eat a million!

Anybody else surprised by Ada on Biggest Loser tonight? I love that she was so determined in the marathon but couldn’t believe she didn’t make top 2! I voted for her (as you should too!) because I really want to see her in the top 3 for the finale next week.

I’ve got my bags packed and maps ready. Vermont, I’ll see you tomorrow. Michigan, I’ll see you Thursday :)

Weekend in Pictures

2010-12-06T12:58:00.001-05:00

Food Should Taste Good giveaway winner!

2010-12-03T14:07:00.001-05:00

Congratulations to………Brittany @ A Healthy Slice of Life!

Please email me your top 5 flavors and your mailing address (no P.O. boxes please) to molinski@simmons.edu.

All stress goes out the window once I’m in the kitchen

2010-12-02T19:05:00.001-05:00

Wednesday

I’ve been keeping food on the simple side the past couple days since my stomach has been feeling, well, gnarly comes to mind and I’m not sure why but it sounds funny so I’ll use it. Anyway, I skipped breakfast yesterday (!) and made soup for lunch. I started off with a can of Cambell’s Healthy Harvest Tomato and decided to vamp it up. I threw in some onion, celery, and carrot (which I pre-cooked until soft) and some black beans.

And look what came to make me oh so happy!

I will be reviewing these soon. But if you would like to win a box of your own – enter my giveaway! You have until Friday December 3rd at noon to enter. Also, you will get to pick out the 5 flavors you want – it doesn’t have to be the exact 5 I got.

Even though it was rainy and I wasn’t feeling 100% I went out for a run anyway. It was almost 60 degrees out and I just had to take advantage of that! Another 3 done this week. I’m soooo slow though, it’s pretty depressing. But I’m not going to let that get me down. I’ve only fully invested myself into running for about the past 3 weeks so of course I won’t be that good. Or at least that is what I’m telling myself. As Dory would say “just keep swimming” er running, well you know what I mean.

For dinner I tried out Gina’s sweet potato gnocchi except that I used whole wheat flour instead of brown rice flour. It came out way too wheaty/grainy so I’m going to have to get some brown rice flour to try out. It was edible (for me) but really no one enjoyed it. I’m not saying it’s bad though! I’m just saying I need to NOT use whole wheat flour.

Green beans and mushrooms on the side

Later on I had a plain 0% Chobani with a heap of blueberries. I hate when Peapod comes at 9:30 at night though, making me wait so long for my goodies.

Also can I get some opinions on the ANTM finale last night? I was thoroughly disappointed with their decision. My favorite rarely wins though. I don’t know what keeps bringing me back to watch it LOL

Thursday

Today I didn’t choose a very good breakfast. Considering I was freezing why would I ever want to make a green monster?! Well it’s been a little while so that’s why. It looks horrible in the picture as usual. How am I supposed to make it look pretty?

In the mix:

2 handfuls spinach
~1/2 cup blueberries
1/2 banana
1 cup skim milk

I ended up having tea on the side to warm me up :)

I then spent several hours baking away for the Nutrition Liaison bake sale tomorrow. I only signed up to make 1 loaf of cranberry apple bread but after seeing how few people signed up to make things I decided to make a loaf of pumpkin bread and some carrot cake cookies as well. No pictures though so I will take them when we set up the table tomorrow!

Lunch was a repeat of soup but I added a couple gnocchi hoping they would absorb the liquid. It worked pretty well. Amazingly I still have soup and gnocchi left so that may be lunch again tomorrow.

I made a quick stop to school for an internship meeting followed by a snack of crudites. I wanted to use up the celery and carrots so I dipped them into a huge pile of hummus. Getting my veggies for the day :)

Not sure about dinner but I’ve got homework to do after spending all the time baking today! We’re *this close* to the weekend! :)