Some Yum Yums & A Date With The Girls

I am lovin me some food here lately. I have been trying to eat a variety of things and keep my life spicy!! Lots of different breakfast, lunches, snacks and din dins. I have also found that my tummy does OK with one serving of dairy a day in the form of either Greek yogurt or my beloved cottage cheese. Here is one of the breakfasts I have been enjoying as of late...

• 2 slices of Ezek bread (one with pb, cinnamon, and bananas, the other with TJ's low sugar jelly)
• Greek yogurt with strawberries, cinnamon and NuNaturals stevia

So I usually don't like to buy individually packaged products because its not good for the environment but I couldn't resist when I saw these 100 calorie packs of hummus..
Can you say portion control!! Which I totally need with hummus. This brings me to my snack..

• Original Marys Gone Crackers
• Tribe Roasted Garlic Hummus (I could only eat half the 100 cal pack)
• Few slices of Boars Head chicken lunch meat
  

For dinner I made pizza with my fav pizza dough, Trader Joe's whole wheat...
I learned from reading forums that you shouldn't roll this dough (which never worked for me) but instead use gravity to stretch it out by holding it up and rotating it with your hands. It worked perfect and I think this is my first ever round crust :).

• The big part with cheese was for the man
• The little part with cheese and veggies was for the little one (she loves mushrooms)
• The part with veggies, no cheese and hummus instead of tomato sauce was for me

Being the good girl that I am and practicing portion control I only had one slice atop a salad...
with turkey pepperoni.

So last night we had a little blogger/reader meet up at a local Nashville restaurant called Calypso Cafe. I ordered the tuna salad with two sides which included spiced sweet potatoes with coconut on top and the Martinique Callaloo greens...
To be honest it wasn't that great. I ate one scoop of tuna all the greens and about half the sweet potatoes. It didn't matter about the food though because I had a great time with the girls!! Here is the line up...
From left to right: My sweet friend Kim, adorable blogger Heather, some crazy awesome chick in the middle, another adorable blogger Amanda, and yet another adorable blogger with perfect hair, Mandy.

After dinner we all split. Kim and I headed off to Trader Joe's to fulfill my Puffins craving and the rest of the chicks hit up a frozen yogurt place. I got my Puffs and a Bag of Trader Joe's Dark Chocolate Covered Pretzel Slims....

(I had to steal this pic from some blog because I ate 3/4 the bag in the car and the man and the little one ate the rest when I got home)

Talk about evil!!! Don't buy these unless you plan on surrendering all self control and polishing off the bag!!!

CONFESSION OF THE DAY: There is this really lean lady that takes all the same classes as I do at the Y. I found myself tempted to ask her what she eats to stay so lean. I had to stop myself and remember that the same thing doesn't work for everyone and that I am happy with the way I am eating now and I don't need to worry about other peoples eats in that way!! Do you ever find yourself envying someone else's bod and wondering what they eat??

Is That It? Hardly

(Before I go on I just wanted to say I really enjoyed reading all your confessions about reusing the bath towels! I was cracking up and love knowing that I am not the only one!)

I was just thinking about when I post my meals how I hope you all don't think this is all I eat in a day. Most of the time I don't even post a whole a day I just post some "blog worthy" meals from a few days period. For instance, if I show you this breakfast...

Banana Soft Serve with fresh mango

..just know that I also had an apple and half, lots and lots of cantaloupe and grapes :). I eat tons of fruit throughout the morning but for your sake I am not going to photograph every grape or piece of cantaloupe I eat straight out the fridge.

For lunch yesterday I made the Raw Sloppy Joe's featured on the Fitnessista's site...
Had to use blender instead of processor so they were a little less chunkier then I would have liked. I also subbed tomato for the red pepper along with a few other small alterations.

But anyway what you don't see is the several carrot sticks I snacked on while making this, along with the celery I ate dipped in salsa and a few walnuts I had straight from the bag :). My verdict on the Raw Sloppy Joe's? Well they didn't really taste like sloppy joes, but they were good and they were sloppy...
Maybe my snacking between meals or while making meals isn't good. I am not really sure. Either way I don't want you all to get the impression that the pictures you see are the only things hitting my mouth (and hips). Do you all snack while cooking your meals?

After making my Sloppy Joe's that day I had an after noon snack of hummus, salsa and these new yummy crackers...
For dinner later on I made more Pork Lettuce Wraps...
Along with some sauteed eggplant, mushrooms and zucchini. I am sure there was dark chocolate involved somewhere in there.

Today I ended up eating way to much directly after lunch so I haven't been hungry but I did manage to make up some dinner for the man and the little one this time...
Salad along with mini pizzas made from a loaf of fresh bread that I sliced, sprayed with evoo and then baked. Took out, topped with tomato sauce, fresh tomatoes, some left over meats in the fridge, mozzarella and then baked until cheese was melted.

Do any of you have a problem with overeating from time to time? If not how do you control the urge if there is one? If you do is there anything that has helped you?

Cant wait for the weekend. Hope you all have a lovely Friday! Thanks for reading. I appreciate each and every one of you :)

CONFESSION OF THE DAY: I totally did a google search for the Eric Dane, Rebecca Gayheart, and Kari Ann sex tape. To bad the only ones I found were censored :( ha!!

P.S. Please dont forget to enter Holly's spectacular giveaway!!!

Go Titans!!

I had another crazy busy weekend, minus Friday and Saturday :). Thanks to my lovely parents, the man and I came upon some tickets to the first Tennessee Titans preseason home game. We started of with dinner with my parents at this new pizza joint in town called Brixx. I ordered the hummus app. and instead if the white pita I requested the ww pizza dough for dipping (warning most of these pics were taken with a cell phone)...
I believe it was black bean hummus, red pepper hummus and regular. Yum, the four of us ate it up!! My mom and I also split the veggie pizza. Her side was vegan cheese and my side had no cheese. I ate 2 slices and boxed the rest for later...
I also had a glass of Riesling.

Next we headed of down town for some pregame drinking. We meet up with my brother and sister in law a bar next to the stadium...

Bacardi and water in hand

We also meet up with some more peeps outside the stadium. Here's the view from the top or our section...

We stayed until the end of the 3rd quarter and then headed on the long walk down town to our car (where I finished my pizza) and then to the world famous TOOTSIES. We meet with lots of friends...
and then headed to my favorite bar ever, PARADISE PARK. From there we headed to another bar called TIN ROOF were we happened to run into non other than Blake Shelton. He is way hotter in person and he got on stage and sang a song...
Some songs you may know him from are Some Beach, Ol' Red, and She Wouldn't Be Gone. Here's him and girlfriend Miranda Lambert. After that a group of us headed to Waffle House were I am proud to say I passed out slept in the car and did not eat :).

I don't think I need to say that I spent Sunday recovering. I have had a crazy last 3 weekends and I am hoping to calm it down some for the next few but we will how that goes.

Hope everyone is having a lovely Monday mine has been busy and I still have to take the little one to karate at 4:30 and then her first softball practice this season at 6:00 and somehow fit dinner in there. Wish me luck!

CONFESSION OF THE DAY: I "borrowed" a magazine from the Y. I totally plan on returning it when I am done!! Have you guys ever jacked a magazine from anywhere like the doctors office or a waiting area somewhere? Its a nasty habit!!

Super Sloppy Joes and Some Sludge

Thought I would drop in and show off a few of my eats/cooks from the last few days. Here's my fruit cereal from this morning...

• half a mango
• whole kiwi
• giant banana
• cinnamon
• NuNaturals Stevia (packet)
• almond butter
  

I have been sticking with tons of fruit every morning since trying the raw/combining detox. That was just one of my many morning bowls :).

I picked this fresh from my garden the other day...
Which in turn produced these...
Yumma delicious and crispy...
I ate that along with a salad for lunch yesterday and my new favorite hummus dressing...

Its Trader Joe's Tahini Free and properly combined :)

For dinner I made pizza for the man and the little one using Trader Joe's ww crust, chicken, leftover roasted potatoes, pizza seasoning and lots of mozzarella....
I ate some AMAZING leftover Tex Mex Turkey Sloppy Joe over a bed of zucchini "noodles" with fresh steamed green beans and brussel sprouts...
Lunch today was a huge ass, juicy portabella sandwich on Ezek...

This x2

Snack...
Another snack...
The sludge above is Averie's Raw Vegan Brownie Recipe. I didn't measure but threw in about 8 dates, 1/4 cup walnuts, dark chocolate cocoa powder a few squeezes of agave, and NuNaturals Vanilla Stevia (good stuff by the way). This was supposed to last a few days. But by accident the little one and I finished it off on one sitting. Man Averie, I don't if I can make this stuff anymore. It is that good!! Averie has a Vitamix so hers looks a bit different. My measly blender didn't make it as pretty but I can assure you it didn't effect the taste!!

TEX MEX TURKEY SLOPPY JOES with Corn & Peppers
Serves 6

• 1 ear fresh corn
• 8oz. extra lean ground turkey breast
• 1 red bell pepper, diced
• 1 yellow bell pepper, diced
• 1 large red onion, diced
• 4 tsp chili powder
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1/4 tsp sea salt
• 2 medium tomatoes, diced
• 1 cup low sodium chicken broth
• 1 tbsp. no salt added tomato paste
• 2 tsp. low sodium soy sauce
• ww buns/bread
• 1 tbsp arrowroot powder dissolved in 2 tbsp cold water (I omitted)
• 1/2 cup low fat jack cheese, shredded

1. Cut kernels off cob and set aside
2. In a large skillet, cook turkey. Add peppers and cook about 2 min. Add onion and cook about 4 min. Add chile powder, garlic powder, and salt, cook 1 min. Stir in tomatoes, corn, broth, tomato paste and soy sauce, increase heat and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and cook for 20 min.
   
3. Add arrowroot mixture to sloppy joe mixture and stir until sauce thickens.
   
4. Serve on buns and top with cheese.

Here's the mans...
Extra sloppy because I didn't have arrowroot. But it was also extra delicious!! There are so many things you can do with this. I think adding beans would make an awesome chili and it worked great over my zucchini noodles!! I know it was a lot of ingredients but it was super simple to throw together. Thank you CLEAN EATING MAG!!!

CONFESSION OF THE DAY: I feel bad for my fam. on days I feel like I have over eaten because I never end up making dinner on those days for some reason and they are left to fend for themselves. Today for example, too much raw brownie sludge = no dinner for fam.

Guest Post: Peanut Butter Lovin Mama

Hey guys, I am probably swimming with the dolphins right now but that's irrelevant :). I just wanted to introduce you all to my last guest post, Mandy. She has a great story and is such a sweet girl. She is an inspiration to all!! Enjoy.

~Justine


Hello blog world!

First of all, I have to say a HUGE thank you to Justine for asking me to do a guest post! I have been a follower of many of your blogs for the past year and excited to have the chance to do something of my own :)

A few facts about me:

I am 29 years old and live in Nashville, TN

10 years ago, I looked like this


I was overweight my whole life until I was 19 years old. I was tired of being the "fat friend" and even though my friends and family always made me feel loved... I felt like the outsider. After many failed attempts on different diets throughout the years, yo-yo dieting and a binge eating disorder - I finally learned the secret to healthy weight loss - there is no secret!! It's all about eating well and working out!

I have been married for 7 1/2 years to this stud



3 1/2 years ago, we were blessed with this little angel



Still nine months after having Maddie I looked like this
(I gained 60 pounds during my pregnancy! Eek!)

Balancing a newborn, working full time and being a wife was much harder than I expected! It was far too easy to give in to the convenience of fast food and working out was the last thing on our minds...especially when we were running on two hours of sleep every night!

We did eventually get back on track...We work out at home in the mornings using The Firm's workout videos. I have used them for over five years and though have tried a couple of other programs, I always go back to my Firm videos! My husband, JR and I were actually in their latest infomercial for losing "baby weight" with their videos. We are featured in various parts throughout the infomercial. Here are the links if you'd like to check it out!

Firm Wave Part 1 Firm Wave Part 2 Firm Wave Part 3

And now I look like this
(Give or take about seven pounds more than I normally have! Too many vacations lately ;) )

I have lost somewhere over 1oo lbs over the past ten years. This has definitely been a long learning process of how to treat my body physically and emotionally. I've learned that denying myself of my favorite foods only leads to feeling deprived and binging. I've learned that carbs are NOT the devil and definitely have a place in my daily life! Balance is still something I am working on...I have SUCH a sweet tooth - but when I want a cookie, I have it! Life's too short to not indulge every now and then! At the same time though, we have learned that we can make healthier versions of our favorite foods and still enjoy them just as much and sometimes more!

My absolute favorite food is pizza. We used to order Papa Johns every weekend...but knowing we could do this ourselves, we started making Saturday night in the Arostegui household homemade pizza night! Okay, so we cheat a little...We are not patient enough to make our own dough, so we buy pre-made whole wheat dough from Whole Foods :) We do actually make the sauce... we found a great quick and easy recipe from Cooking Light's website... to try it click here

This has been MUCH cheaper than $80-$90 a month on pizza... and better on the waistline!

This weeks creation included: grilled chicken, roma tomatoes, mushrooms, spinach and part-skim mozzarella cheese

Before going in the oven:



and after:

Oh yeah!!! That's the good stuff right there :)'

Thanks again Justine for giving me the chance to get my story out there! I'd love to hear from any of you... feel free to email me at mandyarostegui@yahoo.com.

That's it! For smiles, I leave you with some pictures of the little one showing off her "muscles"...


Confession of the Day: I am a total make up addict... I can never have enough eye shadows or lip gloss! I am obsessed with MAC and Urban Decay products. I'd love to be a Make Up Artist... but never had the nerve to fully pursue it! Maybe someday...

A Not So Good Day In The Life Of Me

*Be Prepared For Sarcasm*

Today was my day off from the gym so I got to sleep in till 7:30am. Whoop de f*in do!!! My morning started off wonderful with a bowl of Dark Chocolate Exploding Protein Oats.....
Right then I knew it was destine to be "Grrreeeaatt" day!! I topped it with a spoonful of homemade almond butter that was a gift from my wonderful friend Heather. Slowly working my way through this jar...

I did a bloggie check and then made a Pumpkin Ginger Shake to take with me to grocery stores (yes plural)...
My mix contained

• unmeasured amount of canned pumpkin
• 1 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk
• small nob of fresh ginger
• cinnamon
  
• ice
• blueberries
• stevia
  

it hit the spot and I loved the kick the ginger gave it. I hit up Kroger first and I picked up this to eat in the car on the way to my next destination...

Which was Wally World (Wal-Mart). After I faught my way through that store I then hit up Publix because it was the only place that carries my Lactose Free Cottage Cheese and medjool dates to make the "Raw Snickers" I saw on Abbies blog. I love having to go to three grocery stores to get all my things because one cant carry all the shi* I need!! :)

Here's just some of the goods I picked up...
After putting everything away I started on my "Raw Snickers". I basically used the same recipe as Abbie. For the chocolate sauce

• 2 tbsp coconut oil
• 2 tbsp dark chocolate cocoa powder
• 2 tbsp agave nectar
• splash of vanilla
• few dashes of salt
• half a red onion (edited because I left this out before)
  

I used peanuts in the inside, Abbie used macadamia nuts. Here they are dipped in the chocolate sauce once....
I had extra chocolate left so I set them in the fridge and then took them out for a second chocolate sauce bath. My husband sampled one when he got home. He said he liked them but they tasted just like an Almond Joy. So I shall rename them "Raw Almond Joys". I then proceed to make a random lunch because I didn't feel like actually cooking anything...
Small side salad, left over chicken sausage pizza spread with roasted red pepper hummus, and a bowl of cottage cheese sweented with stevia and cinnamon. I then tried to clean but wasnt very successful. I was to busy getting hickeys...
and they weren't from my husband!!! They were from this little fellow. Who still remains nameless. Apparently she/he thinks if she sucks hard enough my neck will spontaneously start producing milk. The damn thing is 4 weeks old and still refuses to eat anything except for the milk from the glove. Its really starting to get annoying and at one point in the day during its monotonous meows and continuous attempts to suckle from my neck I contemplated feeding it to my neighbors Great Dane. Don't judge, everyone has bad days!! I also went on a walk with the little one and for a split second wondered if the Great Dane would still be hungry after the eating kitten??? hehehe

For dinner I cooked up some random Black Bean Turkey Burgers. In the food processor went (if a can remember)

• 3/4 can of black beans, rinsed and drained
• fresh parsley
• fresh garlic
• garlic powder
• 1/2 an onion or less depending on taste
  
• salt
• pepper

I then mixed the black bean mixture with 1lb of extra lean ground turkey...
Then proceeded to cook on the stove the same way I cooked these Pan "Fried" Chicken Burgers. They turned out great. Here's the mans plate....
Inside view...
I didn't eat dinner because I was still full from my eating adventure I had after lunch. I simply wandered aimlessly around the kitchen eating whatever I could get my hands on. I love days like that, you know, like when I totally have no self control. BLAHHH!!!

Ok I better get off before I really start dropping some F bombs!! Hope I am more cheerful tomorrow.

CONFESSION OF THE DAY: I don't know if it is my hormones or what (currently taking bioidenticals) but I often have days like this when I am just angry at the world and any little thing can set off an array of emotions.