Long Time No Blog!

Hi everyone! I know I haven't blogged in what seems like forever--almost 2 and a half months! I hate to have left you guys hanging with such a downer of a post, so I decided to come back.


I just got 2 very sweet comments on my last post that really made me realize that I miss this blogging community. I actually haven't completely left blogging really--I'm just doing more of it over at almostveggirlie, since I discovered that Wordpress is a lot easier to use. And I also wanted to try to focus less on my eating disorder and more about the rest of my life. 


I am definitely doing a lot better since I posted last. Yes, I am still struggling with feeling okay with eating a good amount, but my body image is much stronger now. I don't hate what I see in the mirror every day, and that is amazing. I am somewhat alright with eating 'indulgences' like froyo and falafel. I don't want to starve my body and mind of what it needs. Sure, I sometimes don't eat enough but I am definitely working on fueling myself the right way. And I think if I do that, my body image will improve even more. There are hard days for sure, but I have to say most days are great.


I had a wonderful Thanksgiving break last week with my family, and I'm so ready to be done with this semester. It's definitely getting stressful with all the finals and projects, but I know that I'll enjoy Christmas break even more if I just push through all this hard stuff. And it's a month off from school, who wouldn't want that?!


So I hope you guys will all come back and read over here (if I decide to keep posting on this blog) or read my Wordpress blog if you want a lot of random posts about food, fashion and my life in general. Hope you all have been doing well and I'll definitely try to catch up on commenting on all your blogs.


Ash :)

Back-to-School Blues & Hunger Cues

So my sophomore year starts tomorrow, and I can't believe where the summer's gone. I'm kind of sad it's almost over, but also excited to start the new school year fresh. I'm really hoping it'll be a lot better than last year. I liked last year, but I wasn't on the best of terms with my freshman year roommate and it kind of soured my experience. This year, I'm still in the dorms, but in a much nicer and newer building (with air conditioning!) and I have a room to myself. I do have to share a bathroom with 2 other girls, so I'm really hoping we hit it off or at least have a better relationship than my ex-roomie and I had. So far, they and a lot of other people (including guys!) on my floor seem really nice so I'm hoping everything goes well.

Move-in weekend was a lot smoother than last year for sure. My dad and I drove up Friday morning, grabbed lunch at Qdoba and then got to unloading the car. We took several trips up and down three flights of stairs and the elevator, but we got all of it in. My mom and sister drove up later and we unloaded the rest of the stuff and then headed over to the hotel we were staying at over the weekend. Then we got some dinner at one of my favorite places, Mad Greens. I've gotta admit, I've been kind of restricting a lot this weekend, not necessarily on purpose but my hunger has been out of whack since Saturday and it's freaking me out. Now I think it's back, but I still feel that pull towards continuing restricting so I'm not sure how that's going to go down this week, especially with all the stressage from new classes. I ended up getting a salad with baby greens, artichoke hearts, roasted red peppers, cannellini beans and tofu and I really just did not like the taste of it, so I barely ate any of it. But I did steal some bites of pita from my dad's panini so at least I did eat something.



Qdoba Naked Fajita Burrito with lime rice, black beans, pico de gallo and grilled veggies


Saturday we woke up bright and early at a quarter to 9. I had a small breakfast of Bear Naked granola and green grapes, since I still wasn't hungry, but I had a little breakdown when my mom insisted that I eat the Light 'n Fit yogurt she brought up from the breakfast buffet in the lobby. I was mostly upset because it wasn't my usual organic Greek yogurt with tons of protein (this yogurt only had 3 grams!) and natural ingredients. I ate a tiny bit and then threw out the rest when she wasn't looking. I really felt sneaky, like I did back in my ED days when I'd throw my food in the trash and never got caught. But honestly, the yogurt tasted way too sweet and chemical-y for me so I couldn't eat any more of it.

After getting some things at the store (including another mini fridge so I could turn it into a makeshift freezer), we headed back to the hotel for a quick lunch. My hunger was still mostly MIA, so I just ended up having most of a 200-calorie vegan tortilla soup (delish, BTW) and some grapes. The sad thing was, I actually felt guilty for eating that much because my mom only had some crackers and hummus because she wasn't hungry, either.

The parentals left for the rest of the afternoon to go on brewery tours so my sis and I just chilled at the hotel. We went to the pool for a little bit, played around with the radio in the room and people-watched from our third-story window. Some time during the afternoon, I finally felt a little hunger pang so I had some multigrain chips that I brought along. At this point, the hunger wouldn't go away, so I had some more grapes and a little granola. Of course, I felt incredibly guilty for eating this much, even though I was hungry.

We went out to dinner at a new-to-us place called Beach House Grill. At first, I didn't think I was going to like it, but I ended up getting something I really loved. For the first time all weekend, I feel like I actually ate a decent amount, even though it was pretty low-cal: a few small pieces of grilled mahi mahi in lettuce wraps, with fruit salsa and black beans and rice on the side. I also tried some of the green salsa and it was really spicy, so I had to drink a lot of water. I ended up feeling uncomfortably full after dinner (because of all the water), so again I felt guilty. I did end up feeling hungry again later so I had a small snack of Whole Foods sandwich cookies and raisins.



Some gorgeous flowers at the CSU gardens


Today has been rough eating-wise, too. I had an okay breakfast, a salad of just greens and grapes at lunch, some delicious birthday cake and soy chocolate gelato (best thing I've had all weekend!) for a snack and then my floor went to the dining hall for dinner together and I ended up just getting a salad with carrots and a few sunflower seeds with grapes on the side. Definitely not enough fuel, considering I've been running around campus and town most of the day. I tried to make up for it by having some multigrain chips and pineapple earlier, but I know I didn't eat enough.



I think I could just live on gelato...


Right now, I'm just incredibly exhausted from the weekend and stressed out about school. The last thing I need to think about now is food...which is exactly why I'm slipping. And now that I've had this slip-up last all weekend, it's so much easier to keep giving in and eat less and less. I haven't felt the urge to restrict in a long time, but it's back again. And I don't know what to do...


What do you do to get back on track after days of eating less?

Spring Break Part 2

Thank you all so so so SO much for your encouraging words on my anniversary post! It’s so great to have such a supportive community as we all deal with daily struggles and triumphs.

My spring break so far has been…eh. Since my mom and sister have their spring break next week, I’ve pretty much just been chilling at home by myself for a few hours until my mom gets home from work and then every day we’ve been going out and getting job applications. I seriously have almost a dozen already, and I only started looking on Sunday! My parents are basically making me get a job this summer, and I’m really nervous that I won’t get accepted at any of them and then I don’t know what my parents will do. I’ve been kind of struggling with my relationship with them these past few days. All they’re focused on is me getting a job, and they pretty much don’t want to spend any time with me, unless it’s to help me fill out an online application. I would like to get a job, so I have more money to buy clothes and such, but I feel so much pressure right now. On top of that, it seems like they pretty much don’t want me around this summer at all, because they said I either get a job or take summer classes at my university. Well, you have to pay for summer classes, and it’s kind of a lot of money. I thought they wanted me to get a job just so I could pay for my own stuff and not be a financial strain on them, but it seems like they just don’t want me around. So that’s been really tough to deal with.


My outfit today--I LOVE it!

 It hasn’t been that warm or sunny here lately. I’ve been wanting to lay out on my deck and tan in the mornings, but the sun only comes out around 2 or 3! And it’s been super-windy, but today it’s supposed to be 70 degrees!

My foot is still in pain every time I walk, but I’m getting used to it. I think I sprained it or something, so I’m still not doing any running. It’s been hard not to, because of all the stress I’ve been dealing with. My ED voice is coming back stronger, and I’ve been slightly restricting since I first got home. I am doing yoga, which is a great stress-reliever for me, so that helps. I got a new iPod app that has more intense yoga flows and I gotta tell you, they actually make me work up a sweat and my arms and legs are burning afterwards! Never thought yoga could be so intense ;)


Delicious cheese-less pizza I had last night

 One upside to being home is that I have access to more food, so I’ve been experimenting and trying new recipes. On Monday, I made quinoa turkey patties for dinner and they were delish! They were kind of like falafel, so I served them in pita bread with cucumbers and homemade tzatziki sauce. Yum! I had leftover quinoa that I already cooked so I put it in the fridge and used it yesterday and today for breakfast. Yep, you heard right, I made myself a bowl of quinoa for breakfast and I loved it! Today’s combo was orange fudgie paste mixed with cold quinoa and 2 teaspoons of almond butter. It was so good! I never thought I’d be eating quinoa at breakfast, but it makes a good alternative to oats and it has a lot of protein, too.


Dinner on Monday



Yummy cukes



Chocolate-covered quinoa=love



I’m supposed to go somewhere on Friday with my family, so I hope that still happens. We were planning on going to the aquarium, possibly clothes shopping and then getting a nice dinner up there so I’m looking forward to that. And hopefully the sun comes out soon!

Q’s: What is your favorite way to eat quinoa? How do you deal with stress so that it doesn’t end up making you fall back into ED habits?

Spring Break Part 1

Hola chicas! I hope your weekend went well and your Monday won’t be too rough on you.

Tomorrow through Thursday, I have the house to myself from 8 am til 2 pm so I’m not sure what’s gonna go down then. It’ll be nice to just relax and chill. My spring break so far has been pretty busy, and it’s only the second day!

Yesterday, I went to Whole Foods and Super Target with my dad to get groceries that I needed for the week and for a few recipes. I got a bunch of stuff, but I was disappointed to find out that WF does NOT sell peanut flour! Since there is no Trader Joe’s in the state, I guess I will have to go without (or maybe order online…) There were a few free samples as usual but I only tried some salsa and a little oatmeal pancake from a mix. It was really tasty so I think I’ll have to buy some of that mix.

Last night, I made pineapple cinnamon rolls from scratch. Everything was going smoothly until I plopped the dough onto a cutting board and realized it was wayyyyy too sticky for me to flatten and roll up! I added some more flour, and it worked a little better, but the dough was really thick and impossible for me to roll out, so I did the best I could with my hands and then let them rise. They were either supposed to rise at room temperature for 40 minutes or in the fridge overnight—I did both, which did not work. They rose when I had them out but then I put them in the fridge and this morning, they were almost as flat as pancakes! Luckily, they were a little less sticky, so I tried to roll them into cinnamon roll shapes and popped them in the oven. They spread out but stayed pretty flat and when I tasted them, they were kinda bland. My dad had one and he agreed, but he said the pineapple part was good. So that was a disappointment.



Lunch, part 1--ice water, pineapple, chocolate brownie Pure bar



After lunch, my dad, sister and I headed out to go play tennis. But my dad really wanted to take me to pick up job applications for the summer so we stopped at a few places and most of them told us to just apply online. I was kinda mad, because he was trying to convince me to work at fast-food type places, which are out of the question for me. So we kind of got into a fight but it was definitely better once we actually started playing tennis. We played for an hour, even though it was really cold and windy (at one point, it snowed a little bit!) and my sister and I were wearing shorts. Even though my foot still hurt, I still had a lot of fun and improved a little bit at my backhand.

Lunch, part 2--romaine and mixed green salad topped with Soysation cheddar, chipotle hummus and maple apple chicken sausage

Back at home, I had dinner planned: Philly cheesesteaks. Well, I was making a vegan version for myself and a regular version for my parents, since they’re not really into vegetarian or vegan things. Mine was made from Gardein beefless tips, orange and yellow bell peppers, white onion and a little slice of vegan pepper jack cheese on Whole Foods ciabatta. Seriously, it was really good. I hate red meat of any kind, so this was a great alternative for me. Unfortunately, I had to touch some deli roast beef and actual cheese and I was so grossed out but my parents ended up loving their sandwiches. My dad even tried a little of the beefless tips and he liked them.



Vegan Philly, carrots, spicy pepper mustard and baked Alexia waffle fries=YUM!

I also tried making a fudgie again, this time using maple syrup and orange extract. OMG, so rich and fudge-like! I refrigerated it and I’m planning on having it with my snack tonight. I can’t wait!



All it takes to make a fudgie is 3 ingredients (plus water)



Thanks for the questions so far on my last post! I can’t wait to answer them tomorrow but I’d love more questions, so keep ‘em coming if you haven’t already! And get ready for tomorrow’s post!

Just a Quickie ;)

Hi, ladies! Thanks for the good wishes for my exams. I’ve got one down—the advertising midterm—and one to go tomorrow. I’m so ready for spring break!

I just wanted to give y’all a quick update on what’s happening in my life (besides studying, duh!) Today, I wore a skirt with no tights for the first time in probably 5 months! Yes, it was warm enough for my legs to go naked (lol) and I really enjoyed it. I’m usually more self-conscious in shorts than miniskirts for some reason, but I’m planning on wearing my favorite pair tomorrow—we’ll see how that goes!

I’ve been dealing with a sore foot for the past week. I’m pretty sure it was because I was running in shoes that didn’t fit well, and I was overexerting myself when I first noticed the foot pain. It’s in the top of my left foot, but today it’s started to feel a little better. I decided to not run or do any cardio (besides walking to class) for a while. I felt a little guilty about that decision at first, but I don’t want to risk permanently injuring myself because I over-exercised. And it wasn’t worth the pain I was experiencing every time I walked—and I walk a lot!

I haven’t had too many exciting eats lately, besides the last of my Pure bars which I’m loving more and more! Definitely gonna have to get more of those when I get home for spring break. Oh, and I had one of my favorite things at dinner tonight—this vegan black bean lime soup. It’s not really soup, it’s super-thick and basically just beans, but it’s really yummy and it’s got 10 grams of protein and 14 grams of fiber in 1/2 a serving! Even though I am definitely no vegan (still love my seafood and Greek yogurt), I do enjoy sometimes eating vegan meals or snacks. They can be really delicious!

Oh the things you can buy at Whole Foods!

Spring break is just around the corner! I’m loving the warm weather and I’m hoping it lasts so I can play tennis with my dad, go bike riding, tan on my deck and enjoy family dinners outside.

Q’s: What’s your favorite warm weather outfit? Do you like to eat vegan things even if you aren’t vegan?

An (Almost) Good Day

Happy Thursday, girlies! Hope you’ve had a great day and are looking forward to the weekend. I’m just looking forward to next weekend, which is the start of my spring break!

So today’s post will be kinda short, just an update on the things from yesterday’s post and a little rant at the end which hopefully won’t be too negative.

I had a really nice time tonight with my friend. We just went out to eat, at the salad place I mentioned recently called Mad Greens. It was her first time there, and she loved her salad. I liked mine a lot, too. I got a Greek kind of salad, with Kalamata olives, citrus grilled chicken, onions, lettuce (of course!), tomatoes, cucumber yogurt dressing and edamame. Yeah, that’s kinda random, but I asked for no feta and the woman serving me asked if I wanted to substitute something, so I said edamame ‘cause I love it! Plus it’s a healthy fat (just like the olives), and I know I could use a little more of those, plus the dressing was fat-free, so I did need more fats.

I also had the strawberry banana overnight oats and the chocolate yogurt mess and they didn’t disappoint! I added an actual banana to the oats in the morning and that made them even better. And of course, the chocolate yogurt mess was amazing! Chocolate Greek yogurt with Bear Naked granola and half a banana—yum!



Yep, those are flax seeds (and a banana chunk)





Chocolate+granola+banana=pure yum



Other than that, the rest of my day wasn’t too great. My neck is feeling a little bit better but not much L And I’m really just getting annoyed with my roommate. We never really hit it off, and she barely talks to me, unless I ask her something first. And she just sits at her computer every time she’s in the room, which is the majority of the time. That’s what really annoys me. I’m out for like 7 straight hours three times a week and I get like a one hour break to myself for dinner! Tuesdays and Thursdays are usually better, but for the next few weeks she doesn’t have her first class, so she just sits at her computer until her next class starts. It bugs me because I do workouts in my room when I’m alone, like yoga and cardio, and I feel really weird doing it when she’s in there so I have to cram it all in later. And I feel awkward eating around her, but I don’t know if I can just like tell her to leave when I have breakfast. I feel like I’m always compromising, and I barely get the room to myself. Okay, rant over!

Q’s: Have you ever been to a salad restaurant? Any suggestions for what to do about my roommate?

A Pain in the Neck

Literally. I woke up this morning, and the left side of my neck hurt when I turned it in that direction. Ouch!!! So my range of neck motion has been pretty limited today and I’ve been popping the ibuprofen like crazy…jk, I’ve only taken 5 and they don’t seem to be helping a lot. I think hope I slept on it wrong, so it will hopefully feel better tomorrow.

On a happy note, it is finally in the upper 50s/lower 60s here on the Front Range. Woohoo!!! It seriously feels like spring, so I’ve been bustin’ out some of my spring clothes—including flip-flops!!! I’ve missed mine so much so it’s great to reintroduce them to my other shoes (lol). Even if it’s supposed to snow on Friday, it’s finally March and almost spring break. So I’m in a good mood.



My feet are always red, no worries!


I’m thinking of making strawberry banana overnight oats for tomorrow with that Mix1 so I’ll let you know how that turns out. I also had a yummy yogurt mess for lunch yesterday with Oikos vanilla, Bear Naked vanilla almond granola and blueberries—yum!!! Up for tomorrow is a chocolate version which will be even better. And I’m planning on going out for dinner with a friend so I’ll tell you how that goes. Enjoy the rest of your evening, ladies!!!


I'm becoming obsessed with yogurt messes

Q’s: Don’t you just hate it when you wake up with a sore neck? Is it getting warmer where you live?

Bad Raw-mance

Heya bloggies! Hope you all had a fab weekend—you can read about mine in this post.

Today is going to be all about my new food finds. I got a lot of things at Whole Foods (favorite grocery store ever!) that are brand new to me and I wanted to share in case you’d like to try them (if you haven’t already).

First up is related to the title—did you catch my Lady Gaga reference?—I had my first ever raw bar. It’s called Pure Bar and boy is it yummy! There are 6 flavors but I was only able to find 4 and I’ve only tried 2: Wild Blueberry and Chocolate Brownie.



Who knew raw food could be so yummy?



If you’ve never had raw food, don’t be intimidated because these are really good bars. They’re similar to Larabars in texture, but much better in my opinion. They’re basically just eight or nine ingredients (nuts, fruit and dates pretty much) and have a good amount of protein and healthy fats. And they’re organic, gluten-free and vegan. Oh, did I mention they are super-yummy?! The brownie one tasted just like a fudgy walnut brownie, but much healthier. The blueberry one was like a healthy pastry. Definitely check these out!



A brownie with omega 3s? Yes, please :)

I also tried blood oranges for the first time. Can I just say…why didn’t I try these earlier? Seriously, better than a plain old orange and so pretty on the inside.

And I thought I hated blood ;)

Cascadian Farm came out with a new cereal called Chocolate O’s. It looks like Chocolate Cheerios but I’m sure it’s way yummier. It’s organic and pretty low in sugar and has some fiber. It doesn’t have a strong chocolate taste, but I like it a lot. It’s great if you want a kids cereal without all the weird ingredients.


Organic and chocolate? Yummy!

For dinner, I had an Amy’s veggie burger, the Texas variety. I wanted to try this one because it has 12 grams of protein and the barbecue flavor sounded intriguing. It didn’t disappoint! Next time, I would put it on some kind of bun with mustard and veggies.

This seriously looks like a cow pie but trust me, it isn't!

And for dessert, I’m planning on having an apple cinnamon breakfast pita with almond butter. I really liked the cranberry-orange flavor, so hopefully I’ll like this one too.

Q’s: Have you ever eaten any raw food? Do you love cereal (like I do)?

Dance the Night Away

Hey ladies! Sorry I’ve been MIA for the past few days. I got to enjoy a nice, but busy, weekend at home that started earlier than I expected. My college town got quite a bit of snow unexpectedly on Friday and since they didn’t plow the roads, my mom headed up early to pick me up and I got to miss my afternoon classes. And I enjoyed a nice lunch with my mommy at Noodles—I tried the Veggie Med flatbread sandwich and it was good, but I think I’ll stick with my usual Pad Thai.

It was great to come home to no snow! And to get home in time to have dinner as a family since I really miss that being away at school. The rest of the night was pretty low-key but I needed that.

Saturday was super-busy. It started out normally, but by the afternoon, I was just going going going! My dad, little sister and I were going to a father-daughter dance that night (we’ve gone to one for the past 6 years) and it took me and my sister several hours to get ready. Painting our nails to match our dresses took forever, since they wouldn’t dry. And then we had to do our hair and makeup. I curled mine and put it half up. I thought it looked really pretty. Then of course, it was time to get in our dresses and take pictures! This year, my dress wasn’t brand new, but it was new to me since my sister wore it the past 2 years. We’re similar in size (she’s a few inches taller than me and a couple clothing sizes bigger than me) so it’s great because some things we can share. My dress was turquoise underneath with a black lacy panel over it and spaghetti straps and I wore black strappy heels with it. I really liked how I looked for the most part, which is great because I’m usually very self-conscious.



That's my daddy in the background :)



Once we got to the dance, I did become a little more uncomfortable because I was looking around at all the other girls there, and quite a few of them were skinnier than me. I knew rationally that they were mostly a few years younger than me, but my ED thoughts never completely shut up. It definitely didn’t ruin my night, but I wish I could have enjoyed it a little more.

The dinner was okay. I’m not really big on banquet-type meals, so I knew I wasn’t going to love it. I got the vegetarian option, but I didn’t eat much of it, pretty much just the roasted potato wedges and the marinara sauce with mixed veggies. My dad actually really liked my meal, so I didn’t feel bad about me not eating much. Dessert was cheesecake, which is a huge fear food/off-limits for me. I basically just ate the crust on it, which was yummy. I felt like all the other girls at the table were staring at me, though, because I made a huge mess on my plate scraping off all the cream cheese and basically eating none of it.

The dancing was by far the best part of the night. The band was really super upbeat and played a mix of oldies, like from the 70s and 80s, and new stuff, like “Forget You” by Cee Lo Green. I loved making a fool of myself and jumping up and down and making up crazy moves with my daddy and sister. It was soooooo much fun, but I wish it had gone longer. The dancing only lasted about 2 and a half hours L But it was very fun.

My sis and I also had fun taking pictures of ourselves and each other—and we got a professional one done so hopefully it turns out nice.



Yes, we are dorks!

Overall, it was a really good night, even though I was cold the entire time and by the end, I was starving. I ended up eating a bowl of Kashi Honey Sunshine cereal when we got home after 11, and I usually wouldn’t eat so late, but I hadn’t eaten much at the dance.

Today was really laid-back but unfortunately, my mom and I had to head back up to school early this afternoon. We grabbed an early dinner at this really good salad place called Mad Greens. I got a spinach salad with grilled chicken, mandarin oranges, onions, almonds and spicy nonfat yogurt dressing. It was so yum! Then my mom treated me to some froyo at this place near my dorm. I got cookies ‘n cream yogurt with raspberries!

It was such a great weekend, but I miss my family already. I wish I had gotten to spend more time with my mom other than just on the car ride there and back, but I really appreciate the time I got to spend with my dad and sister. And even though I had some ED-related thoughts, I tried my best to just have a good time. And I did!

Q’s: Do you like going to events where you have to get dressed up? Do you like to dance goofy? What is your favorite flavor of froyo?

Flavor of the Day

Do you ever have those days where one thing just really appeals to you for some reason? Yesterday was one of those days for me—I have a very mint-chocolate kind of day!

It started out with my second (good) batch of chocolate mint overnight oats. They were seriously creamy and simple—I just took one packet of Kashi GoLean vanilla oatmeal and mixed it with 1/4 cup of chocolate peppermint soymilk, put it in the fridge in my nifty blender bottle overnight and enjoyed it for breakfast. I also had a Morningstar Farms hot & spicy veggie sausage pattie that I somehow managed to burn a little in the microwave. I thought I was gonna set the smoke alarm off but luckily I didn’t and it was still (mostly) edible.



Apparently, this is available year-round!



My dessert at lunch was half of a Cool Mint Chocolate Clif bar…can I just say yum?! It is probably my favorite Clif bar flavor and surprisingly it is the lowest in sugar out of the original kinds—but it sure tastes like a mint brownie!



Prob the best Clif bar ever, just sayin'

Along with my Pad Thai noodles, protein “hot chocolate” and fruit salad at dinner, I also had a handful of Blue Diamond mint chocolate almonds. These are so good and I love that they’re roasted in cocoa powder instead of dipped in chocolate because it gives them a darker roasty flavor. Plain almonds are great, but these are perfect for mixing things up!

Mint, chocolate and almonds...best combo ever!

A few other random foodie thoughts: I am slowly but surely trying to increase my fat intake by focusing on healthy fats. Today I had, for the first time ever, an entire TABLESPOON of almond butter. Yes, in the past I would have a teaspoon here or there, but over the course of today, I’ve consumed an entire tablespoon. Baby steps, but I’m working on it.

I’m about to have dinner, and part of tonight’s meal is these spicy falafel balls that you just pop in the micro for a few secs.
I love anything Middle Eastern! But what I thought was funny was that I was looking at the package last night and the sell by date said 02/31…as in, February 31^st! Which of course doesn’t exist! Someone must have been a little confused about their months ;)

Didn't they learn the "30 days hath September" song in kindergarten?

And finally, I found a new flavor of Mix1, which is a type of fruit-based protein drink made in a town not too far from where I’m living. I really like them, and my favorite flavors were previously lime and mix berry, but now I’ve found strawberry-banana! Hopefully I will love this one even more…and I’ve heard there’s a new peach flavor as well!

Part of a future overnight oats experiment!

Q’s: What is your favorite flavor combination (such as chocolate and mint)? Have you ever tried Mix1?

Food FAIL!

Happy Sunday, ladies! Hope your weekend so far has been fantastic.

I got all excited last night because I was going to make my second-ever batch of overnight oats. They were going to be chocolate mint oats, since I had some shelf-stable chocolate peppermint soy milk on hand and I thought it would be interesting. I mixed up half a packet of Kashi GoLean truly vanilla oatmeal and 1/4 cup of the soy milk, thinking it would turn out nice and thick just like my last batch, even though I wasn’t using yogurt this time.

Well…not quite. It was very very yummy, but it was basically like a thin chocolate mint smoothie with some oats thrown in. Not bad, but not the creamy consistency I was going for. Oh, well. I’m going to try again tonight, using an entire packet of Kashi GoLean and 1/4 cup of the soy milk. Hopefully it’ll turn out better.

I also was inspired last night by Carrie’s (from Moves ‘N Munchies) fudgies. They looked so good, but I didn’t have any agave nectar or vanilla extract (oh, the joys of living in a dorm!) So I just nixed the vanilla and substituted a packet of Truvia for the agave. They didn’t look at all like them—they were too watery for some reason, so I added a teaspoon of crunchy AB. I poured the mix into a Ziploc bag and popped it in the freezer overnight. When I tried it in the morning, it was decent—a little too bitter and icy, though. Hopefully I can try again next weekend when I’m at home and have more supplies on hand.

And for my final (hopefully) food fail of the day, I was ready to make a yogurt mess for my lunch. It was going to be strawberry Oikos, 1 cup of Whole Foods Peanut Butter Pows cereal (if you like peanut butter at all, please please please try this cereal, it’s amazing) and a banana. I wasn’t expecting my Greek yogurt to be FROZEN, however. Yep, just gotta love my tiny fridge that freezes things not in the freezer and lets frozen things get thawed. So I tried to stir up the yogurt to mix up the strawberry, which was hard. I ended up eating all the parts separately. Not bad, but I was looking forward to another yogurt mess!

Oh, well. I still liked my food for the most part. And there’s always next time, right?

Q’s: Do you experience food fails a lot? Are they epic (inedible, burnt, etc.) or just less than you expected?

Thankfully, I've never burnt anything this bad...yet!

Overnight Oats in a...Blender Bottle!

I’ve decided to jump in on this OOIAJ (overnight oats in a jar) trend. I didn’t have a jar on hand, but I got creative and decided to use my blender bottle, sans the weird metal springy thing.

I also got creative and created my own easy-peasy recipe which I called Caramel Cappuccino Protein Oats (okay, not so creative name). It’s got 21 grams of protein—not too shabby!

Take 1/2 packet of Kashi GoLean truly vanilla oatmeal, 1/2 scoop Soytein cappuccino protein powder (Soytein’s got all kinds of crazy flavors, but just use whatever protein powder you like), 1 container Oikos caramel Greek yogurt and a little water and stir together. It ended up pretty thick, but boy, was it yummy! I especially loved the little flax seeds from the oatmeal sprinkled throughout. I didn’t notice the oats too much, though, which was disappointing.

Looks yucky, tastes yummy!

I also had a delicious yogurt mess for lunch today! It was my first time making one, and it was super-simple and good. I sliced up a banana, mixed it with 1 container Oikos chocolate Greek yogurt (yes, I’m a little obsessed), a teaspoon of crunchy almond butter and 1/4 cup Bear Naked Fit vanilla almond granola. OMG, this was like a dessert so I couldn’t believe it had 14 grams of protein in it! Next time, I would add a little more AB because I didn’t really taste it!



Greek yogurt+chocolate+banana+AB+granola? Count me in!

On another note, I think I’m starting to make peace with my body. Like last night, I was brushing my teeth in my floor’s common bathroom, which has a full-length mirror in it. Sometimes, I hate what I see in it, but I think I saw the real me last night. I was wearing these brown striped leggings that usually make me so self-conscious, but I actually admired how my legs looked in them. They looked muscular and fit, not huge and fat like I usually think. I realized that I’ll never look like those lanky tall girls…and that’s okay! I’m more on the petite yet muscular side and I should embrace that. Yes, I am smaller-framed than a lot of people, but that’s how I’m supposed to be. People might think I’m weak based on my size, but I’m actually pretty decent at arm-wrestling ;) I don’t know why, but my body puts on muscle from the simplest things—I’m no body-builder, but yoga’s helping me get toned and fit. And I like that!

Q’s of the Day: Have you ever made overnight oats? Or a yogurt mess? How are you making peace with your body?

Early Valentine's Day Surprises

Note: This post is gonna be really long, and have a lot of pictures, so read on if you dare ;)

Let me just say that I hate rush hour traffic. To get from my school to my house took 3 1/2 hours last night—and usually it only takes 2 hours and 15 minutes! There are always problems a few miles out of the city I go to school in, but yesterday, they were just horrendous. We didn’t get to Denver, which is about 60 miles away, until an hour and fifteen minutes after we left (around 6). But that wasn’t the half of it! It took us until a quarter after 8 to get to our house from that point. But I’m glad to be with my family again after not seeing them for 12 days.

Today has been a pretty typical day…except for a few surprises. One was that my dad bought me, my mom and sister each a little pot of red roses. It’s an early Valentine’s Day present, since I’ll be back at school on Monday, but I thought it was really sweet of him. Definitely bringing it back to my dorm to brighten it up!



My lovely roses

 

Mmmm...salad!



I also had an unusual lunch—well, unusual for me. I like salads a lot, but I don’t really ever make them for myself, especially as an entrée. Today, I decided to whip one up and see what I thought. Verdict: I’m definitely going to be making more salads in the future! My salad was made up of fresh romaine lettuce, shredded carrots, a bit of cilantro, a Gardenburger Garden Vegan veggie burger cut up on top, some fat free feta (actually really good) and very-oniony pico de gallo salsa. For the finishing touch, I crumbled a few Archer Farms multigrain pita chips on top. It was d-e-l-i-c-i-o-u-s! I was going for a kind of Southwestern salad, so I was disappointed to find that my soy cheddar shreds were missing, but it was still really good. Oh, and on the side I had a juicy Satsuma tangerine and a Kashi Dark Mocha Almond bar. If you love coffee and chocolate, you MUST try this bar!

Perfect ending to a yummy lunch



After an afternoon of shopping and Starbucks with my sister (I got a mocha light Frappuccino with raspberry syrup…yum!), I came home and tried to show her some yoga poses. It was really fun, because she kept cracking up and wasn’t able to do them at all since she was laughing so much. Then I had a delicious dinner: apple chicken sausage on a bun, chipotle sweet potato fries and baby broccoli. I went for a dip in the hot tub afterwards, and then started preparing a special dessert—raspberry shortcakes!

I adapted the recipe from the Whole Foods website (found here). I thought it would be a yummy dessert for Valentine’s Day; since it combines raspberries with chocolate sorbet…raspberry and dark chocolate is one of my favorite combinations ever! It was actually really simple to make and I was so pleased with the results. The shortcakes turned out like little biscuits, but they were yummy and vanilla-y (is that a word?!) It was a delicious ending to the day J

The batter--not so pretty, but very very good once baked



This stuff is really good but really expensive




The shortcakes, made from scratch!




The heart bowl makes a reappearance!





I love raspberries :)



Questions: Do you like to make entrée salads? Have you ever had chocolate sorbet?

Yoga & Yogurt

My Saturday so far has been pretty laidback. It usually is that way when I stay on campus for the weekend—on my weekends home, I’m usually running around like  a crazy woman trying to do everything at once so I don’t waste the time I have with my family. But it gave me a chance to do laundry and even some yoga time!

I have to say, I really love yoga. It was my first time doing it in almost 2 years and I missed it. I used to do it in my junior year PE class but I haven’t done it since. Then I got a free yoga app on my iPod touch and I thought it would be cool to try again. It’s great because you don’t need any special equipment or anything and it’s easy to do almost anywhere.

The app itself is really cool because you can either do the pose base they created or you can make up your own. I picked from all the poses and chose ten to do for a minute each, plus child’s pose at the end.

I’ve gotta admit that it was painful, but in a good way. I’m sure that when I’ve done the poses for longer, my body will be more stretched out and I’ll be used to them. Then I can do more advanced poses. I’m really excited to start doing yoga now! I’m gonna try to fit in 10 minutes a day and eventually work my way up from there. It’s an awesome workout, because it stretches you out and actually helps you relax. I think it’s gonna be a great tool on my recovery journey, because it’s not super-intense exercise that I could overdo.



Mmmm, Greek yogurt :)



On another note, I enjoyed some yummy Greek yogurt today! Greek yogurt is one of my favorite things to eat, since it’s so high in protein and it’s super-creamy, even though it’s fat free. I know I should focus on incorporating more fats into my diet…but that’s where almond butter comes in ;) Today, I had strawberry Oikos, which is my favorite brand. You have to stir up the yogurt so the real strawberry on the bottom gets mixed in, but it’s definitely worth it. My other favorite flavors are blueberry, caramel and chocolate! Yes, there is such a thing as chocolate Greek yogurt and yes, it’s amazing! My favorite ways to eat it is either frozen (homemade frozen yogurt), with Bear Naked granola or Kashi crackers or all by itself. If you’ve never tried Greek yogurt, you are definitely missing out! Oh, and the plain kind is great as “sour cream” on tacos and fajitas!

So my boring day has actually turned out to be pretty good! Hopefully you’ve had a great weekend so far. Now it’s back to the homework…

Recipe Day: Mahi Banh Mi Sandwich

Hey everyone! I hope you’ve all had a very wonderful weekend. I know I did—that’s why I haven’t posted in a few days.

I’m back with a recipe I made for my family over the weekend when I went home. I really love cooking, but I don’t get to do it much when I’m at school, so I enjoy any opportunity I get to whip up something yummy in the kitchen! On Saturday, I made Asian fish sandwiches, called Mahi Mahi Banh Mi. They’re a type of Vietnamese sandwich and they’re super-delicious, not to mention very healthy. It’s got a lot of fresh veggies, which I love, and grilled white fish which is high in protein. I admit that I do tend to stick with recipes that are lower in fat and include whole grains and such, which may be part of my ED-thinking, but it is much healthier to eat lean meats and veggies and fruit, which are all things I love.

Start out by preheating the grill to medium. If you don’t have a grill, this can work on a skillet, but it might make your house smell like fish J

Make sure your mahi mahi filets (2 for this recipe, but add in as many as you need and adjust the other ingredients) are thawed completely (if you bought them frozen), and spray a grill basket or pan with nonstick cooking spray. Set the fish aside.

Meanwhile, chop up some green onions and cilantro. Wash and thinly slice a carrot and a cucumber, so they end up in thin ribbons. Mix all the veggies together, or separate into different bowls and set aside.

Now put the fish in the grill basket or directly on the grill and cook for 10-20 minutes, flipping halfway through. The fish should get some grill marks and end up firm and opaque.

Inside, preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Cut small ciabatta rolls in half lengthwise or cut a baguette down the middle and lengthwise and place bread pieces facing upwards on a baking sheet. Toast in the oven for 2-6 minutes, until fragrant and slightly browned.

Meanwhile, mix peanut sauce (I used Archer Farms Thai Peanut Sauce from Target) and spicy red sriracha sauce in a small bowl; make sure not to use too much of the spicy stuff, or omit it altogether if you don’t like spicy things.

Once the fish is done cooking, let it cool slightly, then place it on one half of the bread and cover it with the veggies and the sauce. Enjoy with a fresh fruit salad, a nice green salad or baked oven fries.

I got this recipe from the Food Network and adapted it a little bit. My family really loved this sandwich! If you’re not such a big fan of fish, you can definitely substitute grilled chicken. And feel free to add in any other veggies you’d like!

Photo courtesy of Food Network.com