WIAW: Trying Some New Stuff

Wednesday! Yay!

Oh man I love Wednesday, it's so close to the weekend, Michael loves this commercial when it comes on

Has anyone else seen this commercial? It cracks Michael up every time it comes on

And of course it's What I Ate Wednesday with the lovely Jenn

Breakfast:

 Eggs in a basket made with olive oil and spinach.

Michael makes the best, it's amazing

After breakfast Michael and I passed out until lunch since he is working nights and I slept too much over the night and was tired so I slept even more and somehow it helped? I have no clue how my body works lol

Lunch:

 -Annie's mac and cheese

-The best lemonade I've ever had--Santa Cruz Organic Peach Lemonade

Post-workout Snack:

-Banana

let me just say I have a love/hate relationship with bananas. I love them because they're delicious but man do they hate my stomach. I've been working on getting my stomach used to eating them again and we're having a bit of a power struggle over here

-And some delicious water

It's been humid and muggy around here so I've been sucking water down like a fish

 

Afternoon Snack:

Garlic hummus and pita crackers from TJ's

 Strawberry mochi ice cream from TJ's....sooooooo delicious!

 Grande berry hibiscus refresher from Starbucks

 And Cheez-Its

Now I didn't actually eat these at home like this picture indicates, Michael was in his truck next to me at a stop light and was throwing Cheez-Its at me from across the way...it must have been entertaining for people to see Cheez-It's randomly fly out of a passenger window and my hands wildly grab at them out of my window  

Dinner:

A new recipe to come!

Mini Mexican pizzas made with beef-less beef crumbles and beans

A side of Mexican rice pilaf and refried beans 

Dessert:

Milk & white chocolate drizzled caramel popcorn

AKA: crack

Hope everyone has an awesome week

And that you'll be back for my recipe!

WIAW: I'm back!

Holy moly it's been a long time since I've done a What I Ate Wednesday post.

I'm talking like 5 months....5!!!!

I was MIA from blogging for a few months and then everytime I would take a picture of my food I would forget to take pictures of the rest of my day or forget to post altogether

But I actually remembered (minus 1 picture but that was because we were out at dinner)

So without further adieu, my WIAW post

Since I've been out of school I've been soaking up as much gym time as possible before I go back in a little less than 2 months. Mondays around here consist of an hour of cardio kickboxing circuit and then an hour of Zumba so I have to fuel up accordingly.

Breakfast:

Steel cut oats with brown sugar, cinnamon, and raisins

Blueberry Greek yogurt

I've discovered the only way I make it through kickboxing is with this combination so I'm sticking to my tried and true method

Between kickboxing and Zumba I munch on some yummy gummies I discovered at Whole Foods

Between-Workout Snack:

I didn't have the pomegranate kind (it's a recycled pic) but they have these cherry flavored kind that are just awesome

  And then after Zumba I changed into my new bathing suit to swim for the first time in a few years. If you look at the end of the pool there are arm chairs and a fireplace, my gym is so swanky haha

Once I got home and showered I needed some fuel from 2 1/2 hours of cardio so I tested out this new sandwich recipe Michael and I found   

Lunch:

Multigrain bread with goat cheese, sliced green apples, and a mixed "Superfood" greens mix

And lots and lots of water

Michael's parents took us out to dinner at this awesome Japanese restaurant where unfortunately I didn't get a picture of my dinner so just use your imagination

Dinner:

Tempura vegetables (green beans, pumpkin, sweet potato, summer squash, and eggplant) and brown rice.

And even more water

Dessert on the other hand I definitely got a picture of

  Dessert:

Tempura bananas with vegan coconut ice cream

Drool

Ha! I actually did an entire post for once! So proud.

Any once else a sucker for tempura fried dessert?   

Christmas in July

Happy Monday everyone!

It's definitely a happy one over here because I finally get to swim since I got a swimsuit!

I was a competitive swimmer when I was younger

Aww lol

I swear I was born a fish and I was so bummed when I didn't end up with a swimsuit to swim in at the gym...bikinis just don't cut it. 

So this past weekend Michael and I went to Sports Authority to get me a new swimsuit because apparently where I live people only wear one-pieces with frilly skirts or bikinis. 

The minute we walked in Sports Authority I actually got choked up and giddy. I've never been more excited in my life to be in a store. I kept walking around saying, "This is awesome. I love it here. I'm never leaving." 

I've found my own heaven haha.

I even found the exact bathing suit I was looking at online which made me squeal and jump around.

For me, a new bathing suit in a sports store is like Christmas.

We walked out with a swimsuit each (I'm even dating a former competitive swimmer, it's destiny lol), goggles, and I got 2 Nike Dri-fit tanktops.

It was by far the best day ever. I can't wait to try out my new swimsuit and get back in my natural habitat.

What have you bought lately that makes you happy?

Any other former competitive swimmers?

Favorite swim stroke?

Fourth of July '13

A few days late, but it's here!

Fourth of July here in Santa Cruz was absolutely gorgeous...it was actually sunny!

Practically every year since I moved here it's been cold and foggy so I wasn't expecting nice weather this year. 

In not expecting sun, I didn't put sunscreen on and now my nose is at least 3 or 4 shades darker than the rest of my face, it's embarrassing.

Anywho, you're not here to listen to me ramble about my burned nose so on to the pictures!

I started out making whole wheat pancakes for Michael, my mom, and me

 They had to be festive!

After breakfast Michael and I headed out to see our town's parade

I didn't get any pictures of the parade except a picture of goats before the parade even started, whoops!

The Boy Scouts made a float that looked like a tank which blew fire out of the front cannon! They make such awesome floats every year. I got to see my old high school cheerleading team which is always enjoyable.

After the parade we headed back to my house to walk down to the beach (oh the perks of living next to the ocean) to get some lunch. It was crazy crowded with people so it was nice to just walk rather than fight the tourists for parking.

The view from my chair.

See what I mean about the weather? The fog burned off quickly rather than blanketing us all day like usual

 My delicious Malibu Lava Flow. Pina colada mixed with strawberry daiquiri, and they even added some blue curacao to make it red white and blue!

Calamari and fries, hey it's Fourth of July!

Once we headed back home we just relaxed until dinner 

Grilled grass-fed local beef, corn, and garlic bread

Oh holy yum. I haven't had steak in so long, but I was craving it so I gave in.

We also cracked open my favorite Pinot Grigio

The rest of the evening was spent was Les Miserables and eating shortcake

Michael went a little overboard haha

Unfortunately people decided to set fireworks off until 2 AM and I had to deal with a scared-out-of-his-wits cat and a protective dog all night.

Hope everyone had a wonderful and safe Fourth of July!

Vegetarian Red Pasta Sauce

My stepdad makes the best red pasta sauce I've ever had in my life which probably comes from being raised by an Italian mother.

I had a craving for some pasta and didn't feel like buying a crappy jarred sauce so I figured I'd attempt to recreate my stepdad's sauce and share it with you guys.

Vegetarian Red Pasta Sauce

1 teaspoon olive oil

2 green bell peppers, diced

2 red bell peppers, diced

1 medium yellow onion, diced

2 garlic cloves, minced

1-28 oz and 1-14.5 oz can of crushed tomatoes

1/4 cup tomato paste

1 1/2 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 tablespoon Italian seasoning

1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes

2 bay leaves

1/2 teaspoon thyme

1/4 cup chopped or sliced black olives

Heat olive oil on medium to medium-high heat and add the onions and peppers. Saute until softened, about 5 to 7 minutes. Add the minced garlic and saute for 30 seconds.

Add the crushed tomatoes, tomato paste, and salt & herbs. Stir and simmer for 15 to 20 minutes. Be careful to lower the heat until it just simmers or you'll get tomato splattering everwhere.

Remove the bay leaves and add the olives. Serve over any kind of pasta you'd like!

How was it?

Just as good as my stepdad's if I do say so myself. It was still thick from the peppers and onion and had just enough of a spiciness from the red pepper flakes. Michael practically inhaled his whole plate of spaghetti and I got approval from his mom and stepdad. It makes a bunch so you can put some in a bag and freeze it for the next time you want some pasta.

Also make sure you wear an apron if you somehow splatter tomato on  yourself when you're stirring it...not like I did that or anything.

 Michael's awesome Darth Vader apron

I'm Alive!

Oh man, hello blogworld!

Very long time, no see. It's been crazy hectic over here with finals and then getting sick and summer.

Rather than bore you with long stories of what I've been up to I'll try and go through this as quickly as possible.

I finished this semester feeling like my brain was going to blow up. I surprisingly got an A in anatomy which I wasn't expecting. In the end I passed all my classes with flying colors and I look forward to this last year of college and then I can graduate and be free!

I went to Magic Mountain chaperoning for Grad Night for my old high school with Michael. I was absolutely miserable and ended up with a flu...just my luck. Michael and I spent the majority of the night in the chaperone lodge sleeping on a table.

I celebrated my birthday with homemade scones and cupcakes with Michael. He made the best homemade funfetti cupcakes with vanilla frosting ever. The sweetheart even brought me my favorite flowers.

I've been enjoying sleeping and working out whenever I feel like it. My parents got me some rocking new shoes for my birthday and I'm loving them....minus the blisters that come with breaking them in

I had to say goodbye to one of my best friends who moved to Southern California to work for Disneyland, so jealous!

And finally I got to watch Michael compete at the Scottish Festival, oh boy is he handsome in a kilt ;)

Phew, I think that's enough for now. It's good to be back, have a great week!

Spring Break '13

Thankfully I'm not too far behind since spring break wasn't that long ago for me, but I wanted to give a recap of the random things I did over break.

I've never been one of those people to actually go anywhere for spring break. I usually spend it at home by myself watching movies and sleeping. This year Michael and I planned a trip up north to Santa Rosa to visit his old neighborhood and go hiking.

But first we had a Sharks game

The next day we headed up north

...and tried out these delicious chips

These things are like crack

...we saw Google's self-driving car

...and the Golden Gate in fog (what a surprise)

Once we got up to Windsor we stopped at Johnny Garlic's for lunch

 Rosemary foccacia with onions

 Flash-fried spinach...so bad but so good

My veggie burger w/ garlic potato chips

Michael's pesto pasta w/ Caeser salad

After lunch we went to Powell's Candy Store for candy (duh) and gelato

White chocolate & raspberry gelato, my first one ever!

Our haul from Powell's

Enjoying the sunshine

Once we ate our gelato and mapped out where we were going, we headed out to a winery for wine tasting

It was so good and so much fun!

We headed to our hotel to check-in before heading out to dinner. I don't usually post pictures of my hotel room, but this room was just gorgeous

 The bathtub even had jets, I just wanted to live there

And we even had a little balcony overlooking the courtyard.

It was by far the most gorgeous room I've ever stayed in. If you're ever in Santa Rosa, stay at Hotel La Rose

The next day we had planned on going for this awesome sounding hike, but Michael hurt his foot so hiking was out of the question. Instead we decided to head into San Francisco to go to the zoo.

Plus it was just gorgeous!

The animals were so cute, but a lot of them weren't out. We were there in the middle of the week so that's probably why. It was nice to just relax and enjoy some free time, unfortunately the clouds started rolling in and it dropped a good 10 degrees quickly. We both headed back to the car and made our way home along the gorgeous Highway 1

After we made it home we turned around the head right back out to one of the best hockey games I've ever been too. There were some good fights and lots of tension which was pretty entertaining.

In the end I had a pretty awesome spring break and by far one of the best ones yet.