Trying New Foods

Yesterday I tried two new food products! I am always interested in trying new food products, especially if they are unique or are somehow healthier or more nutritious than their counterpart. 

My best friend told me about this site Bzz Agent, and how you sign up to be an agent and take surveys and they will invite you to be a part of campaigns for new products. I think it sounds really cool so I went and signed up. I filled out some short and easy surveys, linked up some of my social media accounts and within a couple days I was invited to be a part of a campaign...where they send you FREE THINGS. Then you try the things and give honest feedback about them. I haven't received my free things yet but I will let you know when I do and give some sort of review on here.

My friend however received a free thing and came over to my house to share it with me.  She got samples of Green Giant's new veggie chips, two large bags and then some smaller snack size bags for sharing with she gave to me. I was really excited to try these because I LOVE salty crunchy snacks and let's be honest, regular chips aren't really great for you.

Obviously these are still chips, so it's not like eating vegetables, but it is somewhat better for you than your average chip and I loved the way they tasted. The ones she had in small bags were Sea Salt Sweet Potato chips. She also had a big bag of their Veggie Tortilla chips which were like a healthy version of Doritos!

My friend said these weren't her favorite chips because she felt they were sort of plain, but they were right up my alley!

Here is the nutrition, (it is 110 calories in case you can't see), and the whole bag is 3 Weight Watchers Points Plus, which is my general limit for a snack type food so that is good.

I busted these open in the afternoon when I usually crave a salty snack at work, just to get my through the last couple hours. They smelled good AND they tasted good. They had  a solid crunch, not the flakey weird texture of a lot of "healthy" chips like Baked Lays- I'm not a fan of those. These however reminded me of thinner, lighter Frito chips! With less corn flavor and more sweet/salty sweet potato flavor. I enjoyed that they were more on the salty side, but my tastes might be more sensitive now because I don't add a lot of salt to my food anymore. I also liked that the chips were small pieces...maybe they were just all broken lol but I liked that, I'd rather feel like I'm getting a lot of small chips and not 5 large chips in my serving. 

Overall, I would definitely buy these on my own, not sure if they sell these snack size bags or if they were just the sample but I like individually wrapped things so I hope they sell them or will sell them. 

The other new food I tried was with dinner, it was something I bought during my Trader Joe's Extravaganza and have been looking forward to trying. 

Beef-less strips!

I paired them with some sauteed bell peppers and mashed sweet potatoes and had a yummy, garlicy dinner!

The texture was nice, obviously not just like steak strips would be, but pretty similar and not weird at all. They just heat up quick in a pan sprayed with cooking spray or a little olive oil and voila! Dinner for one friend plus leftovers for lunch tomorrow :)

Do you like to try new products? 

Did you have a nice Tuesday?

Subway vs. Panera

So yesterday I went home and told the bf about how some of you mentioned the men in your life won't eat at Panera either, and he said "SEE  no one likes it, that's because we like SUBWAY"....and I about threw up in my mouth. 

Over the years I have tolerated Subway, when I was younger I may have even enjoyed it, before I knew what good food was, because I considered it "healthy" fast food. But I have since learned the error of my ways and just cannot understand what is so good about Subway. Besides that it might be slightly better than eating at McDonalds. 

The bf challenged me to ask ya'll what you thought was better, Subway or Panera. I thought he was being silly, but then I decided what the heck, let's see what people think out there. 

I will eat at pretty much any sandwich shop, Panera and Potbelly being some of my favorites, but I dread when the bf asks to eat at Subway, there is just nothing redeeming about it to me. Their bread is weird, not like real food, and everything is so processed to me. They do have a decent selection of veggies, I'll give 'em that, but that is about it.   

So which is it for you? Panera OR Subway?

 or

                                    Image retrieved from Source                                   Image retrieved from Source     

Also I cut up some of my tofu from Trader Joe's yesterday, tossed it with some fresh veggies, soy sauce, garlic and this new minute rice medley (it has brown rice, quinoa, barley and oats) 

and made a super yummy, easy work lunch stir fry that cooks in the microwave! All for 10 Points Plus.

I Love Leftovers!

Yesterday was a decent day, for a Monday. 

But this morning was my weigh in day...now I have some other complicating factors to why my weight loss has been so terribly difficult, but this morning I finally had a loss! For the last month since I started running I literally have not gained or lost anything, it's been SO frustrating that I'm working hard running 3-4 times a week for at least 45 minutes and counting my points and not seeing a change. But this morning (even after eating 6 points over last night) I lost a whole pound since last week. I know that doesn't seem like much but for me who has been stuck at the same weight for four weeks it is huge. I just needed that little bit of motivation to say "keep going and don't give up". Because let me tell you there have been plenty of times I have wanted to give up because nothing was changing. 

Yesterday I had a pre-made salad for lunch from Trader Joe's...if I could eat their food all the time I'd probably just be a happy girl.

 It was really good actually but it was very very hard to mix up and stir the dressing all around because it was all packed so tightly in the container. But it was still really good.

Now, I love leftovers...hence the title of this post. But I'm not talking about "oh here's some food I made yesterday I will just reheat it and eat it", not that kind of leftovers. And there are some foods that just shouldn't be eaten the next day at all. But what I do love, is taking leftovers from a meal and re-inventing them. Giving them a whole new life in a new way. One example is how I love taking taco leftovers and creating a yummy taco salad. Well last night I re-invented some kabob leftovers. I cut up the potatoes and browned them in a pan, then I added some broccoli and garlic and herbs, finally adding the rest of the kabob leftovers and heating them all up. 

The best part about kabob veggies is that they don't get mushy, they were still crisp even after this second reheat. I topped it with a tiny bit of parmesan cheese and it was seriously the most filling delicous plate of yummy ever. ALMOST as good as when they were just kabobs. 

Oh, and I played outside with the brown dogs, Bella girl loves frisbee she is such a great little frisbee dog.  You can see Mason in the back he just runs around with his ball in his mouth.

And since the bf is out of town I decided that Bella and I should take a selfie to send to him, becuase naturally that's what you do when you are alone with your dogs and need some entertainment.

Hope you had a great Monday!

Top Eight From My Weekend

The top things from my weekend that make my Monday Marvelous! 

1.) On Friday morning I went with my best friend down to the studio of the top 20 radio station in Minneapolis, KDWB. My friend had won into a giveaway special where the DJ was celebrating her birthday by giving us all her "favorite things". Similar to Oprah's favorite things show. It was so cool that my friend picked me to come down with her and we got all sorts of gift cards and tickets to things. Happy Friday! Oh and we got our picture with Dave Ryan who has been the main DJ on the morning show there since as long as I can remember.

2.) The bf got back into town on Friday after work (he was supposed to come home Thursday but they needed him one more day) so we went out on our Friday date night to Applebees. What I love about the 'bees is that they are a dependable friend, they will always have something I like and want to eat and I especially enjoy their WW menu letting me know exactly what to expect with their food. 

3.) On Saturday I decided I needed to go shopping..yes needed :) So I went to a bunch of stores, Maurices, Old Navy and Walmart, I got myself some new clothes, here are a few of my finds.

4.) I also stopped at Trader Joe's while I was out and picked up some more reduced guilt chunky guacamole ...and used it on egg whites for breakfast!

5.) Number 5 & 6 go together, because for the second time in my life, I grilled! I still won't turn the girll on myself (I'm a big baby) but I used the brill and cooked yummy food!!

6.)And for supper Sunday night I made kabobs! I love kabobs because it is all sorts of yummy fresh veggies all grilled and crisped on the grill. So good.

7.) The weather is finally starting to cooperate A LITTLE here in MN, although there was snow on Friday...but Sunday was nicer and I took my brown dogs out for a little walk, afterwards I google mapped my walk and realized I went almost 3 miles! Yay

8.) On Saturday morning I woke up and wanted to just lay around and do nothing...BUUUUT I didn't! I got my booty downstairs to the treadmill and did Day 3 of Week 4 of my C25K. It helped that I had a new episode of Grey's Anatomy to watch while I did it :)

Did you have a good weekend? 

What would be your top 8?

Smoothie, Salad and Retirement Party

So that is the most creative title I could come up with to describe my day yesterday :)
I'm linking up for Fresh Friday with Katherine - Real Food Runner- my three things happened all yesterday!
1.)Fresh Smoothie
2.)Yummy Salad
3.) Dad's Retirement Party! 

I was working from home on Thursday so that allowed me to make really yummy food for myself instead of whatever I could pack together quickly for work. 

In the morning I made myself a smoothie, but not just any smoothie, the most delicious 5 Points Plus smoothie I have EVER had. Now I know that probably sounds like a lot of points for a smoothie, but let me tell you. It was so filling, so rich and creamy and so worth all my breakfast points.

First I gathered all my ingredients. I have been following a blog called Healthy Diva Eats and I just love her, she puts oats in her smoothies and I always wondered what that would be like. So I did it! 

First I blended my Aria vanilla protein powder, half a banana, 1/4 cup oats, a bunch of baby spinach and some water together and blended it together until it was a nice green slime.

Then I added 2 TBS of PB2 and filled the rest of the cup with frozen strawberries and blueberries. Look at my purple slime blending with my green slime. YUM how good smoothies look right?

Finally it was done and I got to enjoy it, it was so so good, I can't stress that enough. And look there is still a weird layer of green slime around the rim of the glass, that's a win!

Protein Berry Smoothie

• 2 TBS vanilla protein powder- I use ARIA
• cup of baby spinach
• 1/4 cup uncooked oats
• 1/4 cup water or any liquid such as almond, soy, rice or dairy milk
• 1/2 a ripe banana
• 2 TBS PB2 or peanut flour (or peanut butter if you are up for that)
• 1 cup of frozen strawberries and blueberries or any other frozen berry you love

1. Blend the protein powder, spinach, oats, liquid of choice and banana together until smooth and bright green
2. add PB2 and frozen fruit and blend again until all chunks are gone
3. ENJOY with the cutest straw you can find :)

5 Points Plus for my version but will vary with your choices of protein powder and liquid.

For lunch I was craving a salad with chicken and apples, so that is what I did for myself! I used my other chicken burger form my Trader Joe's Extravaganza and cooked that up. I prepared my salad with romaine lettuce, a few fat free croutons, toasted slivered almonds, green peppers, diced up Jazz apple, 1 TBS feta cheese and then cut up the chicken on top. I used my favorite dressing, champagne vinaigrette from Trader Joe's, it was the best salad EVER.

Later in the day my dad was having a retirement party! So I went, lucky I had left a lot of points for myself because this was my plate of food..Eek, chips and salsa, carrots, fried green beans (so good and so bad) and two wings and a meatball. Obviously not the best food choices ever, but sometimes you roll with the punches and eat just a little of what is offered. It was a good time.

Here is the card I made for my dad (because I hate buying cards they are so expensive, unless they are the perfect card- I can just make my own)

TGIF everyone! Have a great weekend!!!

I'm a Train and I'm Back on Track

Oh holidays, how I love thee and also despise thee...

Easter was not so bad for me, I got in two workouts over the weekend and other than my two Easter meals, didn't do any snacking or anything. But because I gave my leash some slack, it was harder than I thought to reign myself back in. Monday there were treats at work and also Easter basket candy that I let myself have. Tuesday was similar, it wasn't until yesterday that I was able to 100% pull myself back in and eat completely within my points. That kind of annoys me but I'm also glad that it was only two days of silliness. Yesterday I was really good with fruit and yogurt breakfast, veggies and leftover Easter ham for lunch

 I had a banana for afternoon snack and then this amazing dinner I made. Ya'll know I'm a sucker for things in tortillas, especially my high fiber tortillas. I wanted to try these new chicken burgers I got from Trader Joe's. 

But I didn't want to just put it in a bun and call it a day, plus I didn't even have any buns! So I decided to use it for chicken tacos. I heated it up in a pan then sliced it for three tacos in my favorite shells that I warmed up in the microwave.

I cut up some green peppers and lettuce, with a little bit of feta tossed on and my delicious Trader Joe's spicy BBQ sauce 

I had a wonderful 10 Points Plus dinner. (sorry for the blurry picture- I forgot to turn my flash on!)

Did you loosen your reigns over Easter? Did you have any trouble pulling yourself back in? After I give myself a little permission to eat out of my norm I'm like a naughty toddler who doesn't want to get back into my routine. But now I am back on track, like a train ready to move full speed ahead.

I Cried About Guacamole

I have a confession to make.
I am a freak about food.
Yesterday morning as I was packing my lunch I noticed something was missing...I had put all the ingredients for my taco salad down on the bottom shelf of the fridge (hidden from bf's view) in order to make sure he didn't take them easily grab them. I could have sworn I put the guacamole down here with everything, I scanned the fridge and didn't see the little tub of green amazingness anywhere...then it dawned on me...I slowly turned around and walked over to the trash. There, empty and sad was the container that held the last serving of guacamole that was intended for MY TACO SALAD. Then, tears welled in my eyes. He ate MY guacamole!!! My delicious new Greek yogurt Guacamole from Trader Joe's.  I have to give the bf a little leeway because I didn't tell him I was planning to eat it the next day, and I didn't ask him NOT to eat it. But I went to bed at 10 pm thinking it was late enough that my last little bits of chunky guacamole would be safe until morning. Why am I nearly crying over guacamole?!!?! Why did it upset me so much?? I mean I had already had some, it's not like I didn't get to try it, and it's not like I can't go get more. I should be happy I found a healthy snack that the bf likes....BUT I WASN'T. I took my time to go to Trader Joe's, I lovingly picked out the new dip, and I had imagined how creamy and delicious it would be on top of my taco salad at lunch.
I. Am. A. Freak.....it's just food, but it really upset me.

I'm over it now, I'm not mad the bf or anything, but this salad sure was missing something.

In other news, in order to quell my sadness from the guacamole incident of '13, I made some chocolate chip cookies last night after dinner. 

OH wait, here was dinner:

I saw a recipe on Pinterest for cookies that didn't use any flour, sugar or eggs and I wanted to try them. 

I adapted This Recipe from "Watching What I Eat" and made these cookies

Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies

• 2 ripe bananas, mashed until smooth & creamy
• 1/3 cup chocolate PB2(or regular PB2)
• individual cup of unsweetened applesauce
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cups oats 
• 1/4 cup mini semi-sweet chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. In a large bowl, mix 1/3 cup dry chocolate PB2 with 3 TBS of water
3. Mash in bananas until completely combined
4. Add in the applesauce and vanilla extract mix again until all are completely combined
5. Add in the oats and chocolate chips and combine well
6. Chill dough in fridge for 10 minutes
7. Drop dough by spoonfuls onto a cookie sheet
8. Bake for 25-30 minutes depending on how you prefer your cookies, a little softer or a little chewier
9. Enjoy!

I calculated this entire recipe to be 15 Points Plus. It will obviously depend on what kind of applesauce, oats or chocolate chips you use and any other modifications or substitutions you might make. I wanted to make 15 cookies so they would be 1 PP each...but I fail at portioning the dough and ended up with 13 cookies, I rounded up and say two cookies for 3PP just to be safe. They are SO GOOD, so good in fact the bf ate one, then went back for another- I know I did something right if he goes back for more, especially when I thought he would say they were weird.

Also, I completed Day 2 of Week 3 of my C25K, feeling better every single run I do, the longer running sections- up to 3 minutes at a time now, aren't even that hard. It's probably time to start upping my speed :)

Why Doing Stuff All Day is Hard

And by stuff, I mean house projects- specifically PAINTING.
Yes, the saga continues, weekend three of painting. I was so tempted to take a weekend off, my body takes all five weekdays to stop being sore and then BAM I make all the muscles hurt again. I wanted to just take it easy, but the bf decided to let me know that his friend whom he hasn't seen in a while wanted to come over and see our place for the first time next week...UM I guess that means my break will have to wait because I don't want people seeing a half painted house! So here's why doing stuff all day is hard- specifically when it comes to healthy eating. Here is how the day breaks down:

• 9:00am wake up and have coffee, banana and protein muffin
• Start taping and prepping
• 11:30am I am kinda hungry already, must be all the moving around so I grab a Luna bar because it's quick and I don't time to stop
• Start painting
• 2:00pm I'm hungry!! but I 'm in the middle of painting and need to do something quick- ok well trying this new guacamole will be quick and at least give me some energy- now BACK TO PAINTING
• then I finish painting the house, I must put my kitchen back together, I am moving my stove across my living room and kitchen back to its place, I'm moving my fridge back into it's place, I'm up and down ladders, sweeping, cleaning, scrubbing, I'm a crazy woman because all I want is to be DONE painting and have  my house back together and OMG now it's 8:00pm!!!
• 8:30pm I am so so so way too hungry, I've had a total of 11 of my 34 points and usually at this time I'm about done eating for the day...So I quick throw together some tacos because heck they are easy and filling and I don't have time to think
• 9:00pm I'm eating my tacos, sitting down for the first time in 12 hours

Do you see how doing stuff all day is hard? Well for me it is because I get so involved in my project that I don't want to stop and eat a real meal, I don't stop to cut up fruit and veggies or drink a lot of water I just kind of go. I didn't go over my points, and I did a lot of physical activity, but for sure not great to eat most of your points at 9pm at night. EEK
Here is the finished product- the left is before we moved into the house, the right is now.

Also, here is the guacamole I tried from my Trader Joe's Extravaganza, and it is AMAZING! Especially with their baked Blue Chips.

Here are my quick tacos:

I also tried this Cowboy Caviar from Trader Joe's,  it's corn, black bean and pepper salsa. REALLY GOOD, not as good as the guacamole, because hey, guacamole is awesome, but this stuff is spicy and fresh tasting.

In other weekend news, I ran Saturday morning, day 1 of  week 3 of my C25K and my puppy layed so nicely waiting for me to finish

Saturday night, the bf, got tickets to go see a comedian named Bill Burr downtown, we went with his brother and his girlfriend.

We were going to eat at a restaurant next to the theater called Rock Bottom Brewery- I knew in advance I wanted to eat something yummy so I saved up my points AND I looked at their menu, planning out three different options in case my tastes changed, I ended up getting their homemade veggie burger plain with a side of onion rings, for 24 points. It was the majority of my daily points but it was very good and worth it.

How was your weekend? 

Did you do stuff?