I recently went to visit my Grandma and celebrate her 80th Birthday! What a special day! Love you Gram! Visiting with family is always so dear to me!

I discussed with my Mom how my eating habits have changed.  She was completely supportive and has been very influenced by The Kind Diet as well! I managed to eat better than I expected.  Road trips usually crush my diet. However, dairy is hidden in more foods than we realize! Plus, how could I not celebrate with Birthday cake!?

When I came home I was happily greeted with a package! I won my first blog contest!! Who knows how many I have entered.   Brandi from Bran Appetit has an exciting blog.  Do check her out!

What a fun package! I am really looking forward to checking out this book!

What is your favorite dinner? Without a doubt, mine would be tacos or any kind of Mexican food for that matter.  I was visiting with my Mom last night and she was making tacos.  Well, what was I wanting tonight?  Oh, yes, TACOS!  Actually, I made fajitas.  I think fajitas are forgotten to often.  

I cooked onion, garlic, red bell pepper, seitan and tomato with taco seasoning. Topped with avocado and hummus, wheat berries on the side.

Oh, I almost forgot to snap a photo of my proud little pepper.  This is the last one from my garden.  I only got three from my plant this summer.  It really took them a long time to turn red but I will say it was worth it.  They were much sweeter and crispier.  I will definitely grow them again next year.

I just have to share this photo.  I was trying to take  a few photos of the garden a while ago and Yoshi was in almost every photo, or he wanted to be anyways.  He is always my yard work companion and follows me all around the yard.  So, I switched focus to him for this one.  I think he was pleased.

I haven’t met a hummus I didn’t love. Last weekend I made avocado-hummus.

Those were baby avocados that I got at the local produce store near my house.  They were 4/$1, how cute is that!

I let the hummus blend in the food processor for longer than usual.  It resulted in creamier hummus.  Or maybe that was due to the avocados. Either way, I recommend blending for about 3-5 minutes.

I am a huge fan of making random salads  with all different kinds of combinations and making enough to last a few meals.  I think I started this when I read Tosca Reno’s, Eat-Clean Diet Cook Book.  Which by the way, it is my favorite cook book!  I have picked up a lot of my ideas from this book.  I have made many of the recipes as they are written and changed them as well.  Mostly, I go by the guidelines but then use what I have at the time.  For example, I made her tofu salad Monday night.  Only it was completely different than the one shown.

This salad had brown rice, grilled tofu, kidney beans, corn, red onion, red bell pepper, and steamed brussel sprouts.  For the dressing, I mixed lime juice, dijon mustard, honey, olive oil and non-fat yogurt.  It was tasty! Plus it made enough for dinner and lunch twice.  The second day having it for lunch, I had it in a whole wheat tortilla with the last of the avocado hummus.  Left overs are wonderful, I tell you!

I have a confession to make.  I have been reading the Twilight series.  Normally, I would not be interested.  In fact, I have thought it all seemed silly and could not grasp why so many of you bloggers wouldn’t stop talking about it!  Well, my best friend told me I was crazy for not giving the books a try and that they were amazing stories.  So, I finally gave in.  I am half way through New Moon and ………………………….I LOVE IT!  I think I will sit out back and read for a bit. It is June and still rainy, cloudy and dark in Portland!! only up side to that, is it makes for the perfect surrounding to read the books, if ya know what I mean.

The $50 Safeway giftcard winner is Karla! I will submit your info and BlogSpark will get that out to you! To be honest I was pretty shy about how to pick a winner.  I put names in a bowl and stressed all day.  I waited till Jason came home and had him handle it.  He wrote all your names down in order and added the bonus entries then entered the data into the true random number generator.  Thank You for handling that for me Jason! Seriously, I stress out about the smallest things sometimes!!

Moving on!

I started the day with a power smoothie.  I had some maradol papaya left over from the other day.  I am the only one that eats them and it was a good sized one.  I used about 1/2 the papaya, 1/2 banana, 2 T flax oil, cinnamon, 1/2 scoop protein powder and almond milk.

This turned out even better than I thought! Can’t wait to get another one!

I went to get a few things for the Valentine’s dinner that I will be making tomorrow. Unfortunately, Jason works all day but at least he gets home at 7:30.  Just in time for dinner! I told him it was his choice for dinner, aka, my present to him, is the dinner…He picked carne asada.  Next to fish tacos, this would be his favorite. So, I prepped that “stuff” for the dinner tomorrow.
Lunch was well deserved.  I still had some of the black rice left over from the Thai food. So I warmed it up and topped my salad with it.  The perfect salad has something warm on it! (according to me) HAHA! I used some of the avocado/lemon oil and fresh lemon juice for a dressing.  Again, this was better than I was expecting

Since, I am not into the carne asada for dinner tomorrow, I wanted to make something for me.  Hmmm….hummus, of course.  For the sake of the holiday, how about red pepper hummus.  Yes, please!

Oh, yes, that is NICE!!  Even thought it takes a little more time, I prefer to roast the pepper myself, than buy them in a jar.  Last jar I got, smelled and tasted a little off.

Last night, I was reading my February edition of Body + Soul. I really enjoyed an article that talked about guilty pleasures that are good for us.  They spoke of why napping, cheese omelets, gossiping, beer and playing with your iphone are good for us! SWEET! So, while my back is still really tight and inflamed, I have not been getting any workouts in, aside from stretching.  So, I have been trying to eat really strict.  Well, the other night, I was craving a beer and chips and salsa and I DID NOT have it. Well, let’s just say that the article last night may or may not have convinced me to make salsa and enjoy a beer tonight. Just in case you are curious, beer seems to be just as good for you as wine! While it does not have resveratrol in it, it does have more calcium and magnesium, plus 5x the level of free-radical-fighting polyphenols. A 12-ounce bottle of beer may up “good” HDL cholesterol, decrease the risk of blood clots and reduce coronary heart disease rates by 30-40%! All, things within balance, of course.  As, long as it averages out to 1 beer a day.  Whoot, Whoot! Check it!

Guess what’s funny about this picture?? The blade is missing! If you have a food processor, you have probably done this a time or two. Sheesh!

This was a “cheater salsa.” I don’t think the fresh tomatoes are all that good right now for making salsa.  So my take on tonight’s salsa was 1 can, sliced tomatoes, 2 cans, chopped tomatoes with green chile, 1 jalapeno, 1/2 sweet onion, 1 clove garlic, 1 juiced lime, 1/4 t cumin, a bunch of cilantro, salt and 5 NuNaturals stevia drops. who cares if I used canned tomatoes, this salsa was EPIC!!!

So, there you have it, foods for my soul! And I didn’t even feel guilty about it!

Yes, Happy.  I hope you are all happy.  I can complain and find negative in the everyday…whatever, whoever.  Gal, why do we do that! Lets just all be happy.

We have so much to be happy about.  I will not bore you with all that I am happy for.  I did get this sweet thank you card from my brother though, and came home to home-made salsa and “dinner in progress.”  Jason is making tacos for dinner. <3

Prost to my brother!  I love him so much! eddddddddddddddsw (cat walking across keyboard-appologies) I miss my brother like crazy.  This past summer we went to Seattle with him and his girlfriend for a vacation and had the best IPA at Pike brewing Company. Gal, it was a hot, muggy August day and we had the best tasting, fresh IPA. I picked this one up at Cost Plus while Christmas shopping. I only had one and I dedicate it to my brother.  Sorry, Paula, beer is not on the meal plan.

Moving along.  I had a green smoothie and Dave’s Killer bread toast with Sunbutter for breakfast.

green smoothie: last of the Silk Nog, 1/2 banana, 1/2 scoop of Jay Robb chocolate protein powder, cinnamon, 2 huge handfuls of spinach

I had veggies and the white bean hummus for lunch.  Dessert was the squash.  
To be honest, I only ate half of the squash and half of the veggies and dip.  It is more filling than it looks.  I don’t mind leftovers, so no loss.

Back to the coming home to home-made salsa.  Jason LOVES to make salsa and loves it more if friends and family enjoy it.

Vaaay Nice Gypsy, vaaaaay Nice!

Tacos to be continued….

I leave with sloppy iphone photos that I took while driving to work.. No joke.  Hey the sunrise was breathtaking! Imagine my sloppy photos x 10!

It was sunny and dry today, so the sunrise rocked!! Made my day, made me HAPPY!

Oh hell Ya! Look what greeted me when I walked into Trader Joe’s last night.  I can’t even describe how it make me feel to see tulips in January! Soon the crocus will be popping out of the ground.  
I just love bulbs!! All of them! Maybe tulips and gladiolas would be my favorite.

I really need to start a food journal.  I have heard a lot of people say this helps them stay accountable with their eats. For the most part I think I am doing well.  I know I need to watch the nuts and nut butters though.  Just because I love them and they are good for me does not mean the calories don’t count.  At least for now, while I am trying to lose weight anyways.

I am starting to read a little bit about Body for Life. I have known than eating 5-6 meals is the way to go for a while now.I am working harder at it now. Today went like this:

-juice:beet and greens, 1/2 lime, kale, granny smith and celery

-2 tangerines and green grapes

-oats with oat bran with cinnamon, stevia and a few grape nuts

-leftover tuna, grains and raw spinach

-Fage 0% with Bear Naked protein granola and pumpkin pie spice.

-leftover stir fry

I tried a new workout tonight. One On One with Jackie. I liked it!  I don’t think my heart beat gets up as high as it does with Jillian though.  I really enjoyed the lower body part. I feel it already. I am curious how many calories I burn in a day and how different workouts that I do, effect the burn.  I want to look into getting a calorie counter.  Maybe a Garmin or a Body Bug.  Anyone have any input on these or others?

Oh bummus!! I was going to make hummus tonight.  Without paying attention, I opened a can of white beans instead of garbanzo beans.  Well, I made it anyways.  Hummus Bummus~

: can of white beans, garlic, tahini, and juice of one lemon (more lemon, the better). Because white beans are so soft, I didn’t need any olive oil. *Bonus

I almost think it was better than garbanzo bean hummus! It was even better with a mini pita chip cracker! I am stoked to say, I only had 2. I prepared this for lunch tomorrow, stir-fry was my last meal of the day.

Now, how can you pass up a winter squash when its name is Sweet Dumpling? …Not sure, cause I didn’t. It is too cute, right? I sliced it up and baked half with olive oil spray and a bit of sea salt and the other half with spray and a mixture of salt, stevia and cinnamon.  The whole house smelled like a cinnamon roll! I remember when my Mom would make a pie and have leftover crust.  She would roll out the dough and put butter, cinnamon and sugar on it, cut it into little pieces and bake.  That is what it made the house smelled like.  I swear, I think I would burn my mouth trying to eat those little things.  I couldn’t wait another second! LOVE YOU MOM!

Sorry, not a fun photo.  I am just waiting for it to cool.  It is also for lunch tomorrow.

Happy Wednesday! Goodnight~

I slack again! Ask my brother, one of my nicknames is, Slacker. HA! Today, I am a slacker because I DID NOT make it to the gym.  Instead, i did this:

Oops!

I was going to do a Jillian Michaels workout when I got home.  I have excuses, I swear.  Bottom line; tomorrow it’s going to happen, I swear.

Last night I made ciabatta bread. What-Ev! Really it was just a yummy white flour blob.  It’s that bread machine that makes shitty bread, I think.  Well, it’s not like I would have made it otherwise.  So, I guess the machine comes in handy from time to time.

This was an allrecipes.com knock off. No biggie!

It did have fresh garlic and rosemary though….nope, still just a processed, white flour blob! The part that did have me groovin though, was this:

YES!  The bread was just a reason to sop up as much vinegar as possible.  Possibly even enough to choke a little.

Tonight, my eats were simple.  I got off track, talked on the phone for too long and sipped a bit of grape juice was only cooking for one. Twas a simple grilled sandwich thingy.  Is it called a wrap or a sangwich??

Flatout,  kale, tomato, veggie burger, sabra hummus, and yellow mustard, of course.  It was pretty good. Heh!

Time to catch up a few of my favorite bloggies.  I might just make nog ice cream.  What is that you say?  Well, you will just have to wait and see.

Wowsa!  I did some maja squats and lunges with weights on Saturday.  I was so out of shape sore that it even hurt to move in bed.  Sitting and standing were a chore! I think I was even more sore this morning!  So, as the day passed I was thinking of using this little excuse to pass up my workout after work….Well, I didn’t and I am so glad!  I put in 35 minutes on the elliptical and did arms and stomach.  I love how good it feels post workout!

Last night I cut up the last pumpkin from Halloween.  All others were carved.  I made sure to save one for decoration and cooking.  I like to cook it and then freeze it 1 cup and half cup measurement for later use.

I made some pumpkin soup.  It wasn’t to shabby.  Although, I think I am a pumpkin/sweet, more than a pumpkin/savory kind of gal. Into the food processor went: cooked pumpkin, roasted onion, garlic and red bell pepper, vegetable broth, salt/peppa, chile and cayenne, and 1 bay leaf.

It also doubled as leftover lunch.

QUESTION: Is it ok to drop globs of hummus into your soup?

ANSWER: Hell fricken ya!

The hummus kinda melted into the soup when I stirred it.  Cool deal!

After the gym I rushed home to make a salad.  I was crazy hungry!

green leaf lettuce, spinich, yellow pepper, mushrooms, tomato, sweet potato, hummus and baked tofu. Dressing was a combo of some teriyaki sauce and the hummus.  Good times!

I could really go for a hot fudge Sunday right now.  I was hoping the tea would curb that though.  It did.  Phew!

Do be warned, this stuff is tart. Oh well, it helped me stop wanting sweets.

My goal is to try and wake up @ 5:30 tomorrow and get to the gym before work.  Wish me luck

Oh my!  So, the Trader Joe’s eggplant hummus inspired me to make my own.  I am so glad I did.  Roasted 1 whole eggplant and cooked some chick peas.  Into the food processor went: chick peas, 1 1/2 juiced lemons, 2 cloves of garlic, 1 1/2 tbsp. tahini, salt and pepper.  Didn’t seem to need any olive oil because of the moisture from the eggplant.

I have some Ezekial wraps which actually seem to hard and dry to “wrap.”  This has been my second package like that.  Not sure if that is normal or if they are old when I buy them.  Baked in the oven with olive oil, salt and pepper makes perfect chips though.

Sometimes snacking plates make the best dinners!

I also made a rhubarb, strawberry and raspberry pie for my husband.  We had a garden this summer and grew rhubarb.  He loves the stuff!  Can’t say I do.  We cleaned and cut a bunch of it and froze it.  He has been asking, so I finally gave in.

Onto some exciting giveaway info!!

Katie is giving away a motherlode of Artisana goods!! Check it out for yourself. If you love chocolate, you need to bookmark her site!  She has an amazing wealth of recipes. This morning I took my hand with her brownie batter oats. How have I gone this long and never learned her trick of the melted banana, is beyond me.

WOW!  Thank you Katie for the recipe!!

Do not ask me how those chips found there way into the bowl… I have no idea!

Also, the very lovely Janetha, is doing a great giveaway for Chobani yogurt. I have only tried the plain, I’m  curious about the honey flavor.

We we picked up a Christmas tree this morning.  Time to get out the decorations and get bizzy!  Need to clean and vacuum first.

HAPPY SUNDAY!!

Glorious, was the veggie pizza from Pizza Hut last night! Yikes, what was I thinking I was not feeling so glorious afterwards when I was thinking of all the calories I had consumed.

This morning was for making up. I ate great all day: light and clean. I made it to the gym for 40 minutes on the elliptical and 30 minutes of arms and abs. I actually wasn’t very hungry after, so I used that time to hit up Trader Joe’s (GLORIOUS). Well, budget made me stick to the must have(s) only.

Oh My!!!!!!!!! Eggplant hummus! Are you kidding me right now? I am going to make my own this weekend. Not that this one isn’t perfect or anything. I just have a feeling that it will not last very long.
I have found an even better way to enjoy the awesome superfood….

I mixed 8 ounces of almond milk with one scoop of superfood and 2 oz of cold coffee. Vaaay Niiice Gypsy! Vaaay Niiice!

I want to share this glorious idea that Nicole @ HealthyChow came up with! It’s about meeting 5 new bloggers every week in December, leaving a comment and sharing about it on your site. It is fun and it touched me today when she gave me a lil shout out. Sometimes it is just as nice to make someone else’s day as it is when your day is made. Did that come out right? Well, I think you get what I am trying to say. So, why not give it a try? Thanks Nicole! Oh, and do be sure to check out her amazing potato and sun dried tomato au gratin with spinich and cannellini beans!

In case anyone was curious about the wheat berry/wild rice salad, here is the recipe.

Red Wheat Berry Salad

Ingredients:

1 cup hard red winter wheat berries, soaked overnight
1/2 cup raw wild rice
2/3 cup toasted chopped pecans
1 cup dried cranberries
1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley
1/2 cup chopped green onions
3 tbs fresh lemon or lime juice
1 tbs honey
1 tbs dijon mustard
1 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
Preparation:

Soak the wheat berries overnight in cold water, covering them 3
inches. Drain the water in the morning.
Boil the wheat berries in 6 cups of water for about 50 to 60 minutes,
or until tender. Add more water as necessary to keep wheat berries
covered during cooking. Drain excess water from the wheat berries when
done.
In another small pot, boil 2 cups of water. Add the wild rice and
simmer for about 45 minutes, or until the rice begins to split. I
prefer to undercook the wild rice slightly so that it retains some
structure. Drain excess water.
Combine the cooked wheat berries and wild rice in a large bowl.
Whisk the lime juice, honey, mustard, salt, and pepper to make the
dressing. Add the dressing to the wheat berries and wild rice, mix
thoroughly.
Now add the cranberries, pecans, parsley, and green onions and combine
well.
(I cut the whole recipe in half)

**Alright, now go check out 5 new bloggers!