guest post! marisa b.

I have been asked to be a guest blogger by Janetha.  I guess I should introduce myself.  I am her oldest sister, Marisa.  I live in the Bay Area and luckily Janetha has the foodbuzz thing this weekend, so she added a couple of days to visit me.  I think she really just wanted a taxi to H&M and Trader Joe’s, but I pretend she likes me.  I could tell you lots of stories but I won’t.  I will tell you that she likes to discuss weird things with me…like, “Is my blue your red?”  Wrap your head around that one.  We also love numbers and word games.  Maybe it is because we didn’t have a TV until I was 12 and so for entertainment we’d sit around and make lists of homonyms.  We are word and number geeks.

Anyway, I am mommy to three girls:

Kaylee is 8

Lucy just turned 6

Sofi is 3.5

I am also wife to Eric for 11 years now.  He is working long hours (5 am- 10:30 pm) for the next couple of weeks as they complete the hospital in San Quentin Prison.  I manage to keep the fort down and running the girls to school, soccer, the park and barely keep our own blog:  www.ermakaluso.blogspot.com It is not nearly as exciting as “meals & moves” but there are cute girls and our adventures on there.

So, as you can tell, I am pretty busy.   Janetha wanted me to share my experiences being a busy mom and doing Body for Life (BFL).  Here is my story…

Keeping in line with flashback friday.. here is a flashback photo of my family in June of 2006.

About 3 years ago, Eric decided he wanted to start an exercise program.  And he wanted me to do it with him.  Sofi was only 6 months old at the time and I still had some extra padding from the pregnancy.  I told him the only way I’d do anything is if we had a set plan.  I didn’t want to aimlessly go to the gym and try to eat healthy because I knew that would last 3 days.  We decided to do Body for Life starting on January 1, 2007.  Back then, Eric’s schedule was a little easier so we made a plan to do BFL together. We did cardio on MWF EARLY mornings and then he went to work and I went back to bed and rested until the girls were up.  T Th & S was weights.  We did all the work outs in our own home and did not have any fancy gym equipment.. jogging in place, jump roping without the jumprope, and just a few hand weights.  We had that figured out.  Except for the food.  Breakfast and snacks were easy.  We’d do protein shakes for breakfast, cottage cheese and apples and stuff like that for lunch.  It was dinner that I struggled with.  Keeping to the BFL guidelines, we basically ate a lot of chicken, salmon, spaghetti, rice, potatoes and salad the first week.  It got old fast.

Finally, I ordered the Eating for Life Cookbook and had my eyes opened to eating food we liked BFL style.  We started eating enchiladas, Asian noodles and protein pudding.  Stir fry, sloppy joes, chicken kabobs.  Taco pasta salad, shrimp scampi, meatloaf.  As the weight started dropping off and our bodies were feeling better,  we knew it was something we should always do.  I know the Eating for Life cookbook isn’t pure by the book Body for Life style, but it taught me how to balance things and make them better.  It taught me to make healthy food that tasted good and then the free days were really special.  Free days were full of Dr. Pepper, eating out and random cravings.  The 12 weeks flew by.  In the end, I lost about 12 pounds (I am only 5′1″) and Eric lost 30 pounds.  We were converted.  This is last month:

Now that time has passed, we have slacked off with a strict BFL style of life, but I pretty much still cook BFL dinners.   I use whole wheat noodles and ground turkey.  I find healthy ways to make the food we like.  My kids know they have to eat a few bites of whatever I make and have actually started requesting meals that they used to ward off like poison.  Sometimes they drench things in ranch dressing, but hey, they’re kids…and they still eat it.

Eric has taken up triathlons and eats small meals throughout the day.   It really makes life easier knowing that I need to have a protein, a carb and a veggie.  If anything I’ve learned, it is two things: eat more protein (since carbs are all around us and so easy to get) and watch portions.  Even being a BFL slacker, I’ve managed to maintain my weight.  I have to try my best and that is a lot better than it used to be.

It can be especially hard when you make chocolate chip cookies that put Mrs. Fields to shame.  Try these!

Marisa’s Cookies
3/4 cup butter, melted (use unsalted for semi-sweet and normal for milk chocolate)
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
Cream together.  Add:
1 egg yolk
1 egg
1 TB vanilla.
Mix and add:
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 cups flour
2 cups chocolate chips.
Scoop by 1/4 cup scoop and bake at 325 for about 13-15 minutes or until edges are golden brown.  This makes about 12-15 large cookies.  You could always make smaller cookies or double the recipe to get more…which is very dangerous!

They are amazingly delicious and if you are trying your best to do BFL, they are definitely free day food!

In closing…I find that life gets busy, but you still have to eat…so make good choices. I am by no means perfect (even though my mom thinks I am) and I need to head back to the gym between all of my mom responsibilities, but I figure being mommy to my girls is really important to me right now and I am trying to be the best me for them.  I love reading meals & moves because Janetha keeps me inspired to do better and when she loses weight she passes her clothes on to me.   Bonus!  I love reading everybody’s comments and the nice things they say about my baby sister.  Isn’t she the best?  You should meet her in person…then you’d really like her and love her like I do!

guest post! deb h.

Hello Meals & Moves readers!  My name is Deb and I hang out in a chilly, frothy part of the blogosphere at a place called Smoothie Girl Eats Too.  Janetha was one of my very first bleeps (blog peeps) as she befriended me when I started my blog about 3 months ago.  For this I will always be grateful!

If you are reading these words, you already know that Janetha rocks the house. When she asked me to be a Guestie while on vacation, it made me think about exactly why I like her so much, and why I learn so much from her blog. That got me thinking: what a good idea for a guest post on Meals & Moves.  Sure she may blush a little, but what the heck!

So here in no particular order are some of the reasons why I love Janetha’s blog:

• Perseverance: I remember when I did a post about obsessing over blog statistics, Janetha sent me an email about how she had a previous blog that went months without a single comment- MONTHS! She did not let it get her down. She just kept on going.  That’s cool.

• Personal touch: I know that there are a lot of great blogs out there and we all want to leave meaningful comments on them. But sometimes there just aren’t enough hours in the day. Janetha reads a ridiculous number of blogs,  yet always manages to leave insightful, sweet and clever messages.

• Community: I loved her "This girl" post (and not just because I was mentioned!). I thought it was really clever, and was a window into the world of her varied friendships that she has formed in her short 6 months as a blogger.

• Close Connections: Often, people with close relationships have a lot to offer the world. She has a loving relationship with her man and her mom, and I’m sure countless other people. I love seeing glimpses of these relationships.

Super Mom!

SuperMom reduced to a heap in fits of laughter

Awww!  Such a cute couple!

• Recipes. Wow, the girl can cook… check out this spread. (Obv on her "free day" from BFL). Plus check out this recipe she left on my blog when she Guestied for me. Drool over those brownies, people!

• Sharing struggles. I remember the first time that I read about her weight frustration. It was here. She was having an open, honest rant. Sometimes that is refreshing because it makes you feel much more normal for having your own meltdowns if your fave jeans are a tad snug. We’ve all been there. And sometimes it feels good to share.

• Fur Fest: As an animal lover, I get that there is a special inter-species connection that is hard to describe if you haven’t already experienced it. I remember thinking that this post was so sweet- about Blue, her beloved furbaby. There are musings and pics on her bloggie daily about her sweet animals, now, and I find myself squealing with delight. And lets face it, we all like to squeal with delight from time to time, right?

• Fun Personality: The fact that she finds it completely optional, or perhaps even a waste of time to capitalize letters is something I find really cool. I could be wrong, but it just conveys the impression that this is a girl that saves her energy for the things that really matter in life. Easy, breezy and fun- that is what I sense about her.
• Determination: It takes a lot of freakin’ work to maintain the healthy lifestyle that she does. For most of us, there is no free lunch (sorry) and it is not easy to maintain any weight lost or a reasonable level of fitness. I considered attempting a week of BFL just so that I could write about it as a Guestie, but when I saw how darned hard it looks, I chucked that idea! Check out this hot babe and tell me she isn’t an inspiration to the rest of us.

• Humor. I love to laugh. It’s what I live for. Whether it’s a pee-in-your-pants belly-buster, or an coffee-up-the-nose snarf, or even just an under-the-breath giggle, I believe that humor is good for the soul. This is one particular post that made me realize that Janetha’s funny bone is alive and well. Plus I was impressed with her computer skills!

She posted this after a long weekend away- cracked me UP!!

So, I’m sure I left out a ton of other attributes about this ab-fab gal, and so I’ll turn this post over to you, her loyal M&M readers…tell me more of her wonderful traits or at least confirm that I’m totally correct in my belief that we are very lucky to have Janetha in our blogosphere!

i fail.

holler! i am in california enjoying some time with my MOM, my sister and her husband and my three cute nieces.

so guess what? HUGE fail on my part. i forgot my camera. umm.. ok, janetha, you are going to a FOOD BLOGGER FESTIVAL and you forget your camera? you are crazy!  granted, it was 5 in the morning when i left and i was working off less than four hours of sleep.. but COME ON.

lucky for me.. my mom brought along a point & shoot camera AND an SLR camera!! yeeeeeah. so she is a big lifesaver and is letting me borrow her point & shoot :) thanks mom!

so i hope you all enjoyed miss averie’s guest post! she is the bomb dot com and you should all check out her blog. now.

i don’t have a lot of time for posting but i wanted to give you a briefing of my first day here in cali because there were some yumtastic meals.. and not a lot of moves.. ha. vacation mode ;)

i had some starbucks oatmeal on the airplane.. eh, oats are no bueno without protein powder i decided. but i did stir in some justin’s maple almond butter.

i also had an americano on the shuttle to the BART..good thing i had it in an approved beverage container!!

oh, funny story. our flight came in early so we decided to save my sister a trip to the airport and ride the BART (bay area rapid transit) to her house. welllll you see, we ended up getting on the wrong line, since we weren’t paying attention, missed our transfer stop.. long story short we ended up in dublin TWO HOURS after our flight landed. umm.. that is longer than the flight from SLC to oakland! ha. glad we made it finally.

before we did anything.. we went straight to trader joe’s.. did not pass go, did not collect $200, but we did collect a lot of good groceries!

daaaang girl look at all that hummus! heaven in the refrigerated section.

i loved the fact that i got to stock up on perishables which i usually never get to do since i can’t take all that on the plane home.

here is the haul!!

wheat & flax crackers, honey crunch cereal, gorgonzola crackers (my new addiction!), UVAB, beefless strips (thanks to anne), greek yogurt (plain & pom), raw almond butter, sprouts, 3 layer hummus

baby spinach, mushrooms, chicken, broccoli & cauliflower, hummus quartet, cinnamon swirl bread, coffee, whole wheat pitas, avocado, turkey bacon, chicken sausage, some gnar peppers my sister picked up

and my mom got advent calendars for the grandkids, dark chocolate sea salt & turbanido sugar almonds, abc crackers, dried blueberries & lunas

yes!

got right to work and made everyone lunch with the whole wheat pitas, two types of hummus, spinach, sprouts, mushrooms, avocado and chicken. glorious! susan, you would be proud. although my pita wrapping skills are sub par and they were a bit crumbly!

we shopped the day away and had some fun hang time and eventually i started making dinner.  well, i had 3 little helpers!

 

 

i made rachael ray’s sloppy buffalo joes which had copious amounts of frank’s red hot and served as a vehicle for mounds of blue cheese. divine recipe! you can check it out here. 

added some spinach and sprouts to the sloppiness of it all and served it up with some green beans.  dinner was incredible!

after dinner my mom and sister whipped up some of my mom’s granola.  she claims she used to make it all the time when we were kids but i don’t recall ever eating it.. hmm.. although it DOES have raisins.. so maybe i just never tried it. or i just have a horrible memory!

i read them the recipe and they threw it all together. aside from the raisins, this granola was dank. and i know a lot of you adore those wrinkly old things so you would probably enjoy this.

the recipe:

• 7 c old fashioned oats
• 2.5 c whole wheat flour
• 1 c sunflower seeds
• 1/2 c sesame seeds
• 1 c raisins
• 1 c coconut
• 1 c chopped nuts (we used almonds)
• 1 c nonfat dry milk

mix above ingredients. then blend these ones in a blender:

• 1 c oil
• 1 TB salt
• 1 c brown sugar
• 1/2 c honey
• 1/2 c water
• 1.5 tsp vanilla extract
• 1.5 tsp maple flavoring

pour the wet ingredients into the dry and mix real well. pour granola into two 13×9 baking pans. bake at 250 degrees [f] for 45 minutes, stirring every 15.

voila! makes 5 quarts. and home made is always better than store bought, no?

so as you can see i had a lot to talk about so i thought i better throw a little something together and say hello to you all :)

on the agenda for thursday? well i made breakfast this morning (french toast!), H&M (looove and we don’t have them in SLC), pedicures with the la la ladies, greek restaurant for dinner! yes. and lots of family fun. love.

foodbuzz fest tomorrow!

stay tuned for more guest post love later tonight :)

happy doughnut appreciation day!

Qs~

1. favorite kind of doughnut? i don’t really even like donuts that much. but if i had to pick.. plain glazed twists.

2. in honor of thirsty thursday.. what is your favorite beverage ever?? it is a tie between water and coffee!!

xo. janetha b.

guest post! averie s.

Hi Meals & Moves Readers!  When Janetha asked me to do a guest post on her lovely blog, I was flattered, but also had no idea what would be interesting or informative for you to read. Since Janetha left things wide open, I thought I would do a little Q & A session about things I am frequently asked about my approach to diet, health, and exercise.

Some of you may know me or read my blog already.  I am Averie from Love Veggies and Yoga.  I am a high raw, all vegan, yogi who adores making raw foods, especially raw desserts, while taking care of my husband, Scott, and my almost 3 year old daughter, Skylar.  The following are common questions I am asked about my life and my approach.

Why are you raw?

In order to answer this question, I need to give you a little of my history.  After a life of suspected food allergies, when I was in my mid 20s I realized that the GI disturbances, aching joints, headaches, bloating, moodiness, fatigue and sense of overall imbalance I had were not normal. After consulting with a naturopath, acupuncturist, Traditional Chinese Medicine doctor, and massive amounts of trial and error old-school detective work by doing food eliminations & trialing the suspected food allergens back into my diet, I realized that I am allergic to or intolerant to many foods. 

My body cannot handle gluten (wheat, barley, spelt, kamut, etc.), dairy (cow, sheep, goat), or soy.  Once I eliminated these foods from my diet, my health and wellness improved dramatically!! I saw the biggest benefit by eliminating gluten grains & products but was still feeling a little "off" and that’s when the dairy & soy elimination took place.

So that still brings us to the question of why raw? 

Well, after I eliminated gluten, dairy, & soy, I feel that raw chose me, I did not choose it.  Meaning, for me, it’s just easier and simpler to eat raw foods, less minimally processed foods and in as close to their natural state as possible.

Do you ever eat cooked foods?

Yes, of course!  I am not a raw purist, nor do I aspire to be. I like baked squashes, roasted root veggies, I like my veggie soups warm, and I drink coffee.  I go with the spirit of respecting what my body is asking for, and if it’s asking for warm or cooked food, then I cook it. Not rocket science.  I just go with the flow.  Check out My Squash Fries

Why are you a Vegan?

Most of my life, since childhood, I have been a vegetarian, or a pescatarian where I ate a few bites of fish a few times a year.  Other foods I cannot process or tolerate well are animal products and animal proteins.  This includes dairy and eggs, but also animal flesh like beef, chicken, pork. I also have analphalatic reactions to shellfish, meaning I break out in hives and my airway swells shut.  So again, as I said with raw foods; the vegan lifestyle chose me, I did not necessarily set out to choose it. 

How Do You Get Your Protein?

I eat dark leafy greens, sprouts, fruits, vegetables, and supplement a few times a week with brown rice protein powders (Sun Warrior is my favorite followed by Jay Robb).  For me, this works and I feel great. If you research vegan protein sources, you’ll find that darky leafies are nutritional powerhouses but everyone has to do what works best for her body to feel optimally!  I completely respect anyone’s diet & exercise choices, as long as they are well-researched and the person feels great with those choices!

And I’ll leave you with some raw recipes I have created on my own and that I am especially proud of! They all take 15 minutes or less to make and require no special kitchen equipment other than a food processor.

Raw Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Balls

Raw Vegan Chocolate Donut Holes

Raw Vegan Apple Crumble

Raw Thai "Pasta" Noodles with Homemade Vegan Peanut Sauce (for this one you will need a good knife or a $29.99 spiralizer)

Aparagus, tomatoes, greens, carrots, red & yellow peppers, cukes, dressed with OJ, agave, and cracky blacky.

And a Couple Yoga Shots…. 

For those of you who read my blog, you know I am passionate about yoga!  In an effort not to write a book here Miss Janetha’s blog, I just invite you stop by my blog where I do a new yoga pose daily. 

Here are a few recent shots:

Tittibhasana (Firefly Pose).  Core strength first, arm strength second.  Bandhas, lock them first.  Then load. And up you go.

Yoga Today is an Astavakrasana Variation

Yoga Today is Eka Pada Urdhva Dhanurasana (One-Legged Upward Facing Bow or Wheel Pose)

Camel (Ustrasana). Open your heart chakra, let the love in.  Let the Universe send love right into you and relish in how good it feels to offer yourself up to the blessings of the Universe and all the infinite love and wisdom that is around us.

If any of you have questions, feel free to stop by my blog and ask!  Thanks, Janetha for having me and thanks everyone for reading!!!!

peace out SLC.

11:07 PM and i decided i better post.. maybe not my brightest idea but we will see how this one pans out.

i drooled over all your favorite sandwich concoctions!  some of the most mouth water worthy ones included (but were definitely not limited to!):

caroline’s: My fave sandwich combo is probably a whole wheat bread, a thick cut of tofu, spicy hummus, and a big blob of guac & a slice of tomato. OR, I like a good double decker hummus sandwich with roasted red pepper and original hummus. My kind of Big Mac.

lauren’s: My favorite sammie is Almond Butter, Pumpkin Butter, Pear, Goat Cheese and Spinach on Cinnamon Raisin. okay.. minus the raisins ;)

angharad’s: My favourite ever is probably: wholewheat bread from england (i know, that sounds weird, but bread is majorly sweet here compared to at home. strange but i say true), leftover turkey (from christmas), stuffing, cranberry sauce orrrrrrrrrrr (I’m having two, you can’t stop me)
- crusty white baguette, butter, thick slices of aged matuuure (you love it) cheddar and crunchy lettuce and tomatoes. LOVE.

lindsay’s: My favorite sandwich is sourdough bread with cheddar cheese and smoke turkey. Grilled and then topped with spinach. Yum!

great ideas!!

well my day was jam packed. i went into work early and left late.. but i did have a hair appointment in between so it was all good in the hood.

meal 1: oikos 0%+shredded spoonfuls+maranatha no stir PB @ 8:30 AM

mm. an organic trifecta! i can never get my PB to drizzle like some girls i know.. what is your secret?

shredded spoonfuls still hold #1 for favorite cereal at the moment!

i worked my morning away and at 10:00 i went and got my hair did. lovely. blondie. fresh cut. the end.

on my way back to the office i realized i simply had to celebrate national sandwich day!

i hit up a super delicious little spot near my work called town & country market and picked up a sandwich before heading back to the office.

meal 2: turkey sandwich on wheat @ 12:45 PM

as you can see.. i ate this at the finest dining location around.. my desk. sometimes ya gotta!

this sandwich had almost everything.. they were out of avocado! for shame. but it did include:

• whole grain bread
• mustard
• cheddar cheese
• turkey
• onions
• olives
• pickles
• tomatoes
• sprouts
• lettuce
• salt & pepper

i managed to sneak bites in as i replied to an angry customer and did a lot of accounting work. oh yes.. i sure love being the customer relations manager AND the accountant. among other things. oh well, job security, right? ;)

after a loooong work day.. longer than randy the basset hound and yulek the dachshund combined.. i ran a plethora of errands and finally made it home around seven thirty.

i immediately made a latte~ my roomie wanted me to show her how to use my espresso machine and i was more than happy to demonstrate a how-to. i had a triple shot latte with unsweetened vanilla almond breeze. i don’t know how i ever drank cow’s milk. blech. almond milk is where it’s at!

my new roommate is amazing and he cooked dinner! i was going to make goat cheese and garlic stuffed chicken with sweet potato rounds (cheeeeetahs) but when he offered to cook dinner i accepted his offer and packed for california while he slaved away!

meal 3: cheese tortellini+ground turkey+marinara @ 8:30 PM

nothing short of amazing. i am super glad he likes to cook! i am sure we will have some fun dinner parties in the future.

it took awhile to pack for my trip.. mainly because of this distraction:

side note.. there are a bunch of dog toys in my suitcase because i used it during the move.. no, i am not taking the dog toys to cali!

i die. she is so dang cute! too bad i can’t take her along. allison and i have been plotting a way to smuggle our pups into the foodbuzz festival.. but i am just not sure we are going to pull it off!!

i finally got everything packed (i am fairly certain i totally overpacked!) and then headed up to marshall’s house.  after some slacking and food network watching i decided to pull out the laptop and type this here post.  and there you have it.

well tomorrow is national candy day and i cannot celebrate. my new years resolution (as well as marshall’s) was no more candy.  i am happy to say neither he or i have had one single piece of candy in 2009!

i will leave you with a couple new websites that made me laugh today.. totally non-food related!

• http://antiduckface.com/
• http://www.lamebook.com/
• and the same one that i have mentioned before.. http://iamneurotic.com/

SO.. i am up at 5 AM tomorrow and off to the airport at 6! which means i have to wake up in about five hours and twenty minutes. oy vey. my agenda is jam packed for the next five days!

• fly to cali
• hang time with sister & her fam wednesday, thursday & friday morning
• lunch with deb in san fran friday afternoon (i hope!?)
• check into the foodbuzz fest & meet up with a bunch of cool ladies i am staying with!
• foodbuzz shenanigans friday night through sunday morning!
• lunch with sister & her fam sunday afternoon
• back to the SLC sunday night

i am going to miss these sweeties..

randy is somewhere being antisocial.. i will miss him too!

i will try to post a few things here and there and i also have some stellar guest posts lined up.. so stay tuned!

ok, time for me to bail.  can’t wait to see some of you this weekend and i hope the rest of you have a fabulous rest of your week & fun weekend!!

Qs~

1. what kind of milk do you prefer? almond milk for janetha b.

2. are you going to celebrate national candy day? what is your favorite candy? i can’t celebrate but i love toblerone!

xo. janetha b.

the craving to cook.

oh haaaay! how was your monday?? mine was surprisingly painless considering how busy i was.

thanks for all the condolences on my bite wound! it is still bruised and still hurts, in case you wondered.. and also for those of you who asked what i did after i was bit.. well, yes, i threw a punch or two.  nobody bites me and gets away with it.. well, wait. randy did. he bit my ear once.. but it was only because i was biting his lips.  long story, i won’t bore you with it!

like i said, today was insanely busy! i am only working two days this week before i jet off to california to visit my sister & her fam and then attend the foodbuzz fest!

i will get right to it..

meal 1: buckwheat pancakes & 2 eggs over medium & coffee @ 8:00 AM

random random random. i could not bear the thought of my usual egg white scramble since i had that both saturday AND sunday morning. i was all scrambled out! all i really wanted was the pancakes but i added the eggs for some protein.

and yes, i photographed my coffee today. and i drank almost 4 cups full.  as i was taking the photo of my coffee my boss proceeded to give me mass amounts of crap for photographing my coffee: “taking a photo of your coffee?! like your readers don’t know what coffee looks like! i am sure they will sleep better tonight knowing what your morning coffee looked like!”

thanks boss. i am still taking the photo. the end.

my other boss wanted me to show you all his blueberry pancakes. he even “poured the syrup on perfectly for the photo”… closet food blogger wannabe much???

 

for the next eight hours i worked my tail off. and did not eat a thing. what? crazy girl.

meal 2: garbz+cottage cheese+ranch seasoning @ 4:00 PM

i inhaled this as i was leaving work.. an hour later than i was supposed to.

after work i made one last trip to the old house and picked up the bits and pieces i had left behind. finally all moved out of casa del verde!  we called it that because it was located on del verde avenue.  i guess the new house needs a nickname!

by the time i was done with all the old house riff raff it was already DARK OUTSIDE. okay, i know you all loooove daylight savings time and getting an extra hour and all that. but come on, you can’t all possibly love the fact that it gets dark before six at night. i hate it.

since my agenda is incredibly full and i had an incredible craving for a home cooked meal, i swapped out the gym for cooking dinner. sometimes ya gotta. i just really, really, REALLY wanted to cook!

meal 3: panko crusted chicken with blue cheese+onion balsamic glaze & garlic + green onion red mashed potatoes & broccoli with garlic @ 7:00 PM

whew that is a mouthful! (TWSS)  this was just made up in my little head.. and IT. WAS. SO. GOOD.

toot toot. yes, that is me.. tooting my own horn ;)

first i dredged the chicken breast cutlets in egg whites and then coated them with italian seasoned panko bread crumbs.  i love the texture of panko breadcrumbs so much more than your standard breadcrumbs.

next i baked the chicken at 450 degrees [f] for about 20-25 minutes.

meanwhile i chopped 5 red potatoes into 1” chunks and put them on the stove to boil.

even meanwhiler i diced the onion and put it in a saute pan with a nice sized glug of olive oil.  once the onions were all soft i poured a hefty amount of balsamic into the pan and turned it to low and let the sauce reduce.

once the potatoes were tender i mashed them together with green onion, minced garlic and black pepper.  i didn’t have any milk so i added a little olive oil for moisture.

i steamed some broccoli just with a few cloves of minced garlic, i put the garlic both in the water and a bit on top of the broccoli.  this gives the veggies a nice flavor but it is not overpowering.

once the chicken was cooked through, i took it out of the oven and topped each piece with blue cheese and then put it back in the oven on broil for about 3 minutes.

and then i topped the chicken with the reduction glaze!

all together~

and each part of the meal on it’s own…

this meal was delicious! but very, very pungent.. i must warn you.. if you make it you can plan on your kitchen smelling like balsamic vinegar for the rest of the night. but i don’t mind.. i like it!

unfortunately my new kitchen lighting is something i need to play around with because i could not get a good photo of any of this! i will work on it.

speaking of new kitchens~here is what i am working with:

SO SO SO much better than my old kitchen! i love it. and all the utensils, dishes and appliances are baller. yes.

oh, and while we are on the topic of new things.. meet my new roomie, yulek!

he is a 9 month old long haired dauschund and he is so sweet that he just might give you a cavity. marshall ranked him #1 on the list of roommate dogs that he loves the most. and he gets along great with my two pups! yay!

after dinner i had to swoop over to tar-jhay for a few things.. essential items for the trip and also a drying rack because my old one broke during the move.. and i absolutely positively cannot dry about 68% of my clothes. won’t do it.

two things i saw while at the big red dot:

umm.. no, can’t we start with happy thanksgiving first?! please??

and this:

yes! i love the travel sized aisle! i love mini things and even if i am not in the market for buying travel items i go to the aisle just to look and see if they have come out with any new mini items.  well i was in luck tonight! i was giddy in the aisles (all by myself) over the adorableness of this mini febreeze can. so cute. i did not buy it but i did love it a lot.. enough to take a photo. ok, moving on!

i got back to the casa and started to pack, pack, pack for cali and unpack all my belongings in my new room at the same time. it is a process!

sorry to be so brief tonight! i have a ton to do before i leave town wednesday morning.

oh and thanks for understanding that i have been so busy and MIA from commenting/responding. i had to click the dreaded mark all as read button on my reader. please don’t hate! i love all y’alllll.

i am not sure that i will get time to post tomorrow (tuesday_), but i hope i do. if not, please go ahead and celebrate national sandwich day without me!!

Qs~

1. in honor of national sandwich day (november 3rd)… tell me what your absolute favorite sandwich is! i want details.. all the way from the filling right down to the bread and condiments :) i love fresh carved turkey, avocado, sprouts, dijon, sharp white cheddar or haavarti and ripe garden tomatoes all on a fresh baked croissant or some quality multigrain bread.. the kind with the seeds on the top. mmm.

2. what is the last thing you cooked? i missed cooking so much.. i really hate eating out, it was SO nice to cook!

insert huge sigh here.

hello, hello! how are you all? how was your weekend.. and how was your halloween?! 

let me start out by saying this weekend could possibly be the worst weekend of the year thus far.  at the same time, it could possibly be the best!  so.. some good, some bad.

i have a lot to accomplish before i leave town wednesday morning, so i am going to make this weekend recap a tad on the snappy side ;)

friday

i did not take a one food photo.. wait, i lied, i did show you guys my breakfast in my last post.  but the rest of the day.. nope. nadda. nil. sorry.

friday after work i went to the gym and pumped out 20 minutes of HIIT, hurried and got ready and met up with some of my ladies.

we hit up california pizza kitchen and shared the avocado eggrolls & a tostada pizza before the concert.. no photos, i didn’t take my camera with me.

then it was off to the sounds concert and that was incredibly fantastic! except.. guess what? some chick bit me. um yeah.. i was trying to squeeze into a spot on the balcony.. this girl ripped my $75 watch from my wrist, it went flying.. no, never found it.. and she also bit. my. arm.  who does that? it was crazy.

a couple photos from the concert~

saturday

happy halloween! marshall came over to my house and penelope and randy met my new roommate’s dog, yulek (a longhaired dachshund), for the first time. they all love each other.. so that rules.

marshall & i went to blue plate diner again..

spinach+mushroom+avocado omelette with dry wheat toast & hashbrowns

 

no, i did not eat this entire humungo plate of food. but i put a good dent in it!

it was such a nice day saturday! we sat outside :)

and then we proceeded to look for our halloween costume. and i got real frustrated and almost cried because i couldn’t find any of the components i needed for the costume i was plotting!

we were going to be peanut butter & jelly! but it didn’t work out. not at all.

so we were a plug and socket instead.

yeah. so nerdy. it was cheap and last minute and it worked :)

we went to my friend’s house and she fed us chili & cornbread.. which is one of her family traditions and she is carrying it on. love that.

photo time!

a lot of my friends were flappers/gangsters! and marshall and i were a plug and socket. ha.

freddy krueger

wrestler, gum ball machine

vampire, gumball machine (she is pregnant, such a cute idea!)

umm.. not sure, me, cat woman, super woman

  

so yeah.. my costume didn’t pan out the way i wanted to.. but it was still a really good time!

sunday

today was the day from hell.  moving, cleaning.. ugh. first i fueled myself with some citrus grill for brunch..

coffee

eggs+ham+mushrooms+cheddar scramble with potatoes, tortillas & pico

once again.. didn’t eat all this. maybe half. i wish restaurant portion sizes were not so big!

and i spent the whole day cleaning my old house. i smell like bleach. it is gross.

when i got to my new house i had my last flavor of chobani to try out!

mmmmm.. saved this one for last but now i think i should have tried it first! it was so good!

usually i shy away from greek yogurt that is not fat free.. but the stats on this little guy aren’t too bad~

creamy & thick.. just the way greek yogurt should be!

i definitely give this flavor an A!

bah.. a LOT of eating out over the weekend. i feel puffy from all the sodium! it will be nice to get back to cooking soon.

since it is now november i thought i would let you all know some of the holidays for this month!

• national peanut butter lover’s month (!!!!)
• national vegan month
• national georgia pecan month
• national raisin bread month (blech!)
• national good nutrition month
• national pepper month
• 1st week= national fig week
• 2nd week= national split pea soup week

now you know!

and now i have boxes.. and bags.. and bins.. and millions of things to unpack. only to pack up again for san francisco. i have my work cut out for me!

i am really sorry that i have been MIA lately. google reader it up past 500 now and i still have no time to read blogs. i feel really bad about it guys!! i am so sorry <3

monday morning is going to come too soon.. and since it is a 2 day work week for me i am going to be slammmmmed.

sigh.

Qs~

1. what was the highlight of your weekend? the sounds concert as mine.. even though i got bit!

2. from the list above.. which national food holiday are you most excited for this month? duhh.. peanut butter lover’s! yeeee.

xo. janetha b.

flashback friday round eleven.

can i just start out by posting this incredibly awesome “unofficial trader joe’s commercial”.. i think this is my new favorite song. for reals.

 

if you haven’t noticed, i have been getting into the habit of taking thursday nights off and then posting flashback friday earlier in the day rather than at the end of the day.  this has not been on purpose, i have just been turbo busy.  but in all honesty, i kind of like the way it jives.. the whole posting sunday night through wednesday night, taking thursday off, posting friday afternoon and then maybe once on saturday if i have time. it works wonderfully for me, sooo yep. end of story.

yesterday was sooo so so incredibly jam packed busy! and unfortunately blogging has taken the back burner once again in my life. google reader is up in the 300 range again so i am sorry to be absent from reading and commenting. i know that life will be back to normal soon.. after the move and after san francisco and after i unpack.. ok so maybe not as soon as i would like.. but soon enough, eh?

how about a little recap of thursday?

the moment i got to work i was busy, busy, busy.  one of those days where i should have eaten at home because there was absolutely no chance i was making anything for breakfast. sigh. i was bummed because yesterday was national oatmeal day and i wanted to celebrate!

it wasn’t until 10:47 AM that i finally managed to grab something quick.. this was cutting it real close to lunch time but i had to get something in my belly. i was ornery to the max times infinity plus nine.

shredded spoonfuls + unsweetened vanilla almond breeze

i think shredded spoonfuls just might be my fave cereal at the moment! i love the way each piece captures the milk in between the layers.. like a cage.  yeah, i never said i was normal.

before i could even wash my cereal bowl i was out the door, my boss and i had to run to costco & to pick up the food for our halloween luncheon. on the menu? sugarhouse bbq.

vegetarians and vegans beware. our luncheon had a lot of meat.  i only ate the turkey but there was smoked turkey, ribs, brisket and pulled pork.

i made a salad with spinach+feta+slivered almonds+craisins+poppyseed dressing.. always a hit. my go-to salad, if you will.

i also made funeral potatoes.. i think they are only called this in utah.. and they are for any and every occasion, not just funerals.  basically it is the most fattening dish ever.. you take boiled & grated potatoes, monterey jack cheese, sharp cheddar cheese, cream of chicken soup, green onions and seven million pounds of sour cream.  mix it all together and bake for an hour. trust me, they are amazing.

some of the other gals in the office brought items.. greek pasta salad, pumpkin loaf, apple strudel and sugar cookies.

here is my plate~

not too bad considering all those treats i passed up. and i ate until i was satisfied, not until i was stuffed. yesss.. good thing i had that bowl of cereal or i think i may have eaten too much at lunch. never go to a work luncheon ready to eat your arm off. the end results will not be pretty.

i was glad that marshall’s job was a small one yesterday and he was able to make it to the lunch!

 

after the luncheon i played hookie.. ok not really since i told my bosses where i was going.. but marshall & i went to my new house & reassembled my ikea bed (i heart the malm series) and then to my old house and loaded up marshall’s truck with my full size freezer, a leather chair and penny’s crate. ay ay ay.. one thing after another. i have too much crap. i look forward to the day i have a house of my own and can just stop living from house to house and box to box. it gets old.

back to work for approximately 3 hours. busy busy busy. no time to read a one blog yesterday :(

i did eat this in the car. new flavor alert! berry almond luna~

i would buy this again based on the color alone. look how rad!

i really liked this flavor. the stats.. meh, a little high in carbs and not high enough in protein, but what can you do?

after work i had all sorts of errands to run.. i ended up snagging some super cute wesc clothes! why is that brand so dang expensive? even with my friend of an employee discount at dogfunk.com it was still all so expensive! but so cute. i bought 2 dresses and 1 shirt, all of which you will see me wear at the foodbuzz fest. yeeee.

by the time i was done with my errands it was 8:45 PM.. ummm.. working out was out of the question. damn. there goes that goal right out the window. instead of working out i stuffed my face with the most glorious salad known to man.

cafe rio salad

in my defense.. i did order it sans cheese, sans rice and with a wheat tortilla.

after chowing down on that i packed up my subi with even MORE stuff.. laundry basket, full length mirror, drawer, lamp.. it never ends.  hung out with my old roomies for a bit. i miss them <3 and then went home to my new abode and did some unpacking and then decided to give up! i hung out with the new roomies for awhile and we ended up talking until one in the morning.. awesome that we have so much to talk about.. not awesome that i got hardly any sleep!

friday!

not to worry (in case you were worried) i ended up celebrating national oatmeal day a day late.. i had some mighty maple protein oats for breakfast this morning!

and i have been working my tail off ever since. i am so excited to get out of town next week!

**************************************************************

time for flashback friday round ELEVEN! whew! love it. can you guess what this week’s installment is???

halloween!

yes, typical.

2004~pirate

2005~army girl

 

2006~viking (we made our costumes!)

 

2007~greek goddess (made these costumes too!)

i love that marshall dressed up with me, he made such a cute greek god!

2008~pin up girl

 

marshall was the shake from aqua teen hunger force.. yeah, i didn’t know who that was either.. don’t worry. he hates dressing up so getting him to throw that costume on was the most i could get him to do :)

and there you have it! so far this year i have been a mouse and marshall was cheese as you saw in my post from last weekend.. and tomorrow night we are going to be another fun foodie costume.. you will just have to wait and see what it is! definitely something everyone loves!!

did you participate in flashback friday? let me know and i will link back in my next post!!

and on the agenda for tonight? the sounds! yes yes yes.. one of the best bands ever. can’t wait!

hope you all enjoy your weekend and HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

Qs~

1. what are you being for halloweeeeeen?! you will see my costume in my next post :)

2. in honor of yesterday’s national oatmeal day.. what is your favorite way to enjoy oats? including favorite way to cook them AND favorite add ins! i like to cook them on the stovetop and mighty maple peanut butter is my most recent favorite add in.. but i do love pb&j oats a lot!!

xo. janetha b.

weird wednesday.

today was a weird day.

first off i woke up in a new house and had no idea where i was.

then i showered in a brand new shower.. lucky for me it has amazing water pressure and a good head. twss?

then i drove a totally new way to work.. from my new house.. and had no idea how long it would take.

18 minutes, FYI.

i hope my autopilot realizes that i moved and i don’t try to drive to my old house at the end of the day.

then i put my oats on the stove. i usually put them on and leave the kitchen, go about my morning routine.. lalala.

and then for some reason i totally forgot i was making oats. and the water was all used up in the pot. and the oats were burning and sticking to the bottom of the pot. woops.

so that was weird.

i was too hungry to wait any longer for another batch of oats to cook.. luckily i had backup.

oikos+PB2+shredded spoonfuls

my boss came in my office while i was eating this and told me it “smelled horrible” in my office. and “what on earth” was i eating? um.. weird.

“it is YOGURT and CEREAL!!” that is exactly what i said. like 5 times in a row. i also gave my breakfast a sniff. it smelled like yogurt. and cereal. he is a weirdo.

i got a page in the afternoon. my boss (a different one) told me to get downstairs to the showroom immediately. um, ok, that is weird.

don’t worry.. it got weirder.

for the past week there have been roosters and chickens in our parking lot. not sure why.. the guy next door to our building has all sorts of random wildlife. i guess they wanted to come say hello.

so today, my boss beckoned a rooster and a chicken in with crackers.

totally normal.. right?

why did the chicken cross the road?

to get to our showroom to buy windows, of course.

don’t worry.. the rooster flew up onto the window sill.

and my boss had a feathery photo shoot.

this is all in a day’s work, right?

hmmm.

when we tried to shoo them out, they repeatedly ran face (beak?) first into the glass. it was hilarious. look, i took a video of the whole shenanigans:

youtube videos take forever to upload. get with it youtube.

and it is not showing up. hmm. so if it didn’t work for you, i highly suggest you click here.

so then i decided to eat..

savory oats

1/3 cup oats, 3 egg whites+1 whole egg, TJ’s peach salsa, TJ’s corn salsa, frank’s, LCL wedge..

okay, let’s be honest. this looks like a bowl of disgusting.

not appetizing at all.

so a lady i work with is heating her lunch up as i am putting the finishing touches (aka dousing the bowl in hot sauce) on my lunch.

“that looks SO GOOD!” she says.

liar. it looks like vomit.

i then had to explain to her the concept of savory oats.

so that was weird.

i won’t bore you with any more details of my weird day at work.. just know that it involved long phone calls and trying to figure out a bunch of weird problems in quickbooks.

want to know what was not weird? my new scarf. love.

    

yeah, we have a weight room at work. and i don’t think it has been used once.

weird.

even weirder? my boss has not one, but TWO different gym memberships.. in addition to this office gym. a bit much, no?

after work i drove home. had to remind myself where home was.

that felt weird.

went to my mom’s house and whipped up like.. 18 pounds of funeral potatoes.

we have a work luncheon tomorrow.

the potatoes will make their debut in the next post. promise.

then i did a new HIIT on her treadmill! not weird at all.

incline 10.0 the whole time. two minutes at 3.5 mph.. and then 4 sets of this: 1 minute at 4.0 mph, 1 minute at 4.3 mph, 1 minute at 4.6 mph, 1 minute at 4.9 mph. and then one minute at 5.5 mph. at an incline of 10.. and DOMS in my legs.. that was a challenge.

then i went to marshall’s.

made dinner.

chicken picatta with mushrooms + green beans + caeser salad

i took some play by play photos. not weird.

thinking about the chicken in my showroom earlier today as i was making this?

way weird. and not in a good way. sigh.

dredged the chicken breasts in whole wheat flour & italian seasonings.. then cooked them in extra virgin olive oil..

flipped them over..

dumped a plethora of sliced mushrooms over top..

and this stuff..

 

served on a bed of whole wheat thin spaghetti..

marshall didn’t complain about the mushrooms.

EXTREMELY WEIRD.

good dinner!

the only bad thing was a moth landed smack dab in the middle of my pasta as i was eating it.

way weird.

and way gross!

and then i decided to type this.

i will probably have a greek yogurt mess before i call it a night.

weird? i think not.

Qs~

1. where does  your autopilot take you? i am always accidentally driving to this freeway entrance that has been closed for MONTHS. but i always drive to it.. and then remember it is still closed. and yell profanities in my car to myself.

2. why did the chicken cross the road? to buy windows.. obvi.

xo. janetha b.

p.s. i am a horrible person/aunt.. yesterday was my niece lucy’s 6th birthday and i forgot to give her a holler on last night’s post. we call each other twin and i love her. she got her ears pierced yesterday! love you lulu.

i love technology.

hola bloggettes!  it is safe to assume i have no man readers and if i do they have never made themselves known.. so i figure i can open with a greeting that pertains strictly to the ladies.. right, ok. glad we got that established!

it has been another long day today.. but not nearly as bad as yesterday.  a few reasons why today was better than yesterday:

• i got 9 solid hours of sleep last night
• i actually had time to eat a decent breakfast AND lunch
• IT WAS SNOWING ALL DAY! YAY!

i love winter. a lot of you hate it though, according to the answers from my last post. i vote you send all of your snow to salt lake city.. although emily might protest to this request ;)

let’s talk meals & moves!

sooo.. breakfast came later than expected because a) i was 20 minutes late for work and b) i was pulled into two different meetings AND had to help my boss figure out his facebook page all before i had a chance to get into the kitchen to cook my oats. sheesh!

meal 1: mighty maple protein oats @ 10:30 AM

my camera was dying so i didn’t really have a chance to get any artsy fancy photos in. but i did get a little swirled goodness caught on film.

hmmm i guess in this digital world we live in it wouldn’t really be called “film” now would it? ah.. remember back in the day before digital cameras?! i would take months to finally get around to developing a roll of film.. and i would always forget what exactly was on each roll.  developing the photos was always such a treat!  can you believe we used to have to wait a few DAYS to actually see what our photos turned out like? i mean, when they came out with one hour photo that was the bee’s knees.  we were all stoked that technology was so brilliant that we could have our film developed in AN HOUR. 

think about now days.  instead of taking only one photo of something we take three, four.. maybe even more!  just to get the perfect shot.. someone takes our photo, we look at it immediately.. don’t like the way that one turned out? a bad smile? blinking? no biggie, take ten more!

technology blows me away sometimes when i just stop and think about how things were just over a decade ago.

sorry to go off there. i am in a ramble mood i guess!

meal 2: mega large whole foods salad!! @ 1:30 PM

 

mmmm. there was no way in hell i was going to eat another luna bar for lunch. i bolted out of the office and went straight to the promised land.. er, um, whole foods.

in the mix:

• spinach
• arugula
• corn
• peas
• garbanzos
• mushrooms
• cauliflower
• broccoli
• cucumber
• baby corn
• sweet chile tofu
• chicken
• sunflower seeds
• feta
• topped with balsamic vinegar

i think my body really NEEDED those veggies. this whole no groceries business is wearing on me.. it was so nice to eat such a veggie packed fresh lunch!

so i ate this bad boy at whole foods, no i could not wait and take it back to the office, and i just sat at the table by myself (taking photos of my salad.. people probably thought i belonged in the loony bin no doubt) and just enjoyed the people watching as i ate my salad.

i am not one of those people who like to go to restaurants alone, order something, sit down by myself and eat. i never do that. i always, always, always get the food to go.  but this time, i couldn’t wait. and i had errands to run after lunch. and i didn’t want to eat in my car. so i ate at a table. alone. and i enjoyed it. weird, maybe i am getting old.

anyway, back to work i went! i got a new printer/scanner/copier today. solid. you can bet your sweet ass i will be scanning in some of those old film steeze photos i was talking about earlier for some flashback friday action!

at five i was hungry but had nothing on hand and too much to do, so i fell back on a luna bar. again. the stash is slowly depleting! at least this one was the flavor i like, unlike yesterday’s peanut butter cookie fail.

meal 3: nuts & cranberry luna @ 5:00 PM

 

it is probably not safe to eat and drive.

it is probably even worse to eat, drive AND take a photo of the whole process.

what can i say, i live on the edge.

soooo the next few hours were spent packing up odds and ends at the old house and stuffing them into my subaru and unpacking them at the new house. sigh, one more load down.. probably 2 or 3 to go. i moved all my major stuff sunday but i realized i have a whole bunch of crap left at the old house.. bah. i hate moving with a passion.

so by the time i got done with that whole process.. it was 8:30. i was literally craving a workout!

lower body workout!

• barbell deadlifts
• 12 @ 25#
• 50 ball crunches
• 10 @ 30#
• 50 ball crunches
• 8 @ 40#
• 50 ball crunches
• 6 @ 50#
• 50 ball crunches
• 12 @ 40#
• stability ball hamstring curls
• 12 reps
• bulgarian split squats
• 12 @ 16#
• 20 bench tuck crunches
• 10 @ 20#
• 20 bench tuck crunches
• 8 @ 25#
• 20 bench tuck crunches
• 6 @ 30#
• 20 bench tuck crunches
• 12 @ 16#
• ball-against-wall squats
• 12 @ 16#
• 50 lower ab crunches on decline bench
• 50 oblique twists w/ 10# weight on decline bench
• weighted calf raises
• 12 @ 20#
• 20 walking lunges w/ 10# & leg raise
• 10 @ 40#
• 20 walking lunges w/ 10# & leg raise
• 8 @ 60#
• 20 walking lunges w/ 10# & leg raise
• 6 @ 80#
• 20 walking lunges w/ 10# & leg raise
• 12 @ 20#
• single leg calf raises
• 12 each leg @ body weight

the end. sooo.. i have misplaced my HRM watch. eep. and i have things at the old house, the new house, my car, marshall’s house, at work.. it could be anywhere. say a little prayer so i will find it! ack!

after my workout i realized i was going to my new house.. and have not one morsel of food there.. and i also have no idea what that whole kitchen situation is yet, as i have moved in with two people i really don’t know.. so i decided to stop by the store and grab something.. i wandered around for a bit and knew i wanted protein and fresh fruit.

i finally decided on an apple and some cheese. can’t go wrong with cheese. right?

right.

meal 4: string cheese & cheddar cheese & a braeburn apple @ 9:30 PM

so my camera died right after this blurry photo. and i didn’t get a photo of the apple. but i am fairly certain you all know what an apple looks like. and if you don’t, take a look at susan. last i heard she was turning into one!

i ate my cheese and apple in my car. and emailed deb from my phone. i love deb.

i came home and rearranged the heaps of boxes, bags, etc that are taking over my room.. put the sheets on my mattress and opened up my laptop in hopes the wireless connection was quality here at the new house. success!! so i decided to blog instead of unpack. sometimes ya gotta.

i sure have my work cut out for me.. lots of unpacking, a few more things to move.. cleaning.. blah blah blah. i think i will leave the majority of it for after my trip to san fran for the foodbuzz festival!

well it is past 11 and i have to get up early.. first night sleeping at the new house! kinda wish marshall & the dogs were here but they are all up at his place. i am a lonely janetha b! i am curious to see how much longer it will take me to get to work in the morning. i live a tad further from my office than i used to. but not much. we shall see!

ok, ok.. enough rambling. google reader is up past 100 again but i have got to get some shut eye. and figure out where i packed my toothbrush!

Qs~

1. how do you feel about sitting down and eating alone in restaurants? i used to never, ever do it.. but after today i realized that it is not all that bad! i just may do it more often.

2. why was your tuesday better than your monday? my reasons are listed at the beginning of this post!

xo. janetha b.