Hey guys!  Today was the first day of a new schedule that I’m taking on, so the blog might look a little different as I make this transition.  It’s convenient on busy days to stick with a food-journal format for posting, so that’s what I am going to do today. 

I needed a satiating breakfast this morning, and yoats did just the trick!

Lately I’ve been making my oats on the stovetop with a combination of almond milk, water, cinnamon and an egg white stirred in at the end.  A smaller portion of oats is so delicious with greek yogurt, banana, and pecan butter.  It must have been the protein + fat + fiber combination, because I was full for hours.

Today I put on my City Girl hat and hopped the train to San Francisco! 

Details are forthcoming, but I am excited to say that this is going to be a regular commute!

What better lunch to have on a windy day in the city than a big bowl of soup?

San Francisco Soup Company is a great little chain in the city that specializes in…you guessed it…soup.  They use whole, local ingredients (some organic options available) and have a huge selection of fresh soups on any given day.

Today I chose the special black bean chili (Key ingredients: Black Beans, Tomatoes, Green Bell Peppers, Onions, Roasted Corn, Pasilla Peppers, Garlic, Ancho Chiles, Toasted Cumin, Cayenne, Oregano), which was marked as vegetarian, lowfat, and dairy-free.  

It was so nice to be able to come home tonight and find nutritional information posted on the SF Soup Co’s website!  I am back on the calorie-counting train, so this makes it so easy.  The soup came with a roll and I also got a hard-boiled egg for extra protein.

By the time I caught the train back home, it was 6pm and I needed a snack.  Luckily I had this mini bar stashed in my purse for emergencies, because we didn’t eat dinner until 8pm!

Matthew deserves full credit for making dinner happen tonight.  Well, 90% of the credit.  I had planned the meal beforehand and made sure we had all of the ingredients, and was then able to bark orders at guide him while I showered and checked my email

Being British, I knew he’d do a great job with our baked “jacket” potatoes with baked beans!

We had this meal so often when we were living in the UK but I’d forgotten all about it these past few months for some reason.  It will definitely be back in our dinner rotation.  It’s cheap, vegetarian, healthy, and easy….what’s not to like?  I found the baked beans from Trader Joe’s.  Though they are different from the Heinz brand we bought in the UK, these are actually more delicious because they are sweeter with a strong hickory flavor. 

Now I’m munching on a couple Girl Scout cookies and contemplating bed.  Tomorrow morning I have to get a cavity filled, and then I’m off to the city again!

I do have one last giveaway to celebrate my birthday, but that will have to wait for later in the week   Stay tuned…

Question:  Are you a city slicker or a small-town girl/guy?  I grew up in a small town but increasingly seem to find myself in big cities as I grow older!

As I sit here and watch the Oscars, it only seems appropriate to announce a winner myself!

And the winner of the food scale is….

That would be Abby (Nibble, Nourish, Run)!

It was Abby’s tweet that was chosen as the winner, but here is what she said about what she would weigh:

Oh yay! I’ve wanted a food scale forever! Number one thing I would use it to measure would be proteins! I can never tell how big a piece of meat is…!

Abby, please email me with your address so I can get your new food scale to you! 

I’ve enjoyed some great food this weekend, indulging a bit but not going too overboard.  I’m posting my eats from Saturday because it’s a good snapshot of how I ate all weekend.

After seeing Caitlin’s pancakes on Saturday morning, I had to make some for myself!  I used Quaker Oatmeal Pancake Mix, mixed with egg whites and almond milk. 

Wholegrain oatmeal pancakes with sugar-free syrup, fried egg, and a clementine

I think the Quaker mix is great.  Whole grain, fast, and tasty.  The pancakes are almost sweet. 

My favorite thing to eat with pancakes is fried eggs, and my favorite thing to eat with eggs is citrus, and thus this breakfast was created!

For lunch I stumbled upon a new creation that is absolutely delicious.  You must try it.

Take half of a low carb tortilla and spread with hummus.  Wrap around a Morningstar Garden Vegetable Patty and top with lowfat swiss cheese.  260 calories.  21g of protein.  Goes great with vegetables (how about some stir-fried brussel sprouts in coconut oil?) and fruit:

Soy yogurt wrapped it all up for a great lunch-dessert!

It must have been the sunshine because Matthew and I both got a craving for Jamba Juice while we were out on Saturday.  I hadn’t had a Jamba Juice in two years, so this was sort of random!  I ordered from their “light” menu, and got the “Berry Fulfilling.”  

Let’s just say I do not think it’s aptly named.  I don’t think I will order this flavor again.  I like the idea of a 150-calorie smoothie, but this had an odd aftertaste and was very tart.

Dinner was an experiment in “breading” fish with almond meal.  I have tried this a few times before and have decided it is impossible to do without using some sort of bread or flour.  This was the closest I have come to success: 

     

Almond-crusted tilapia with brown rice and steamed vegetables

Almond-crusted Tilapia

• 3 tilapia fillets
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1/4 cup almond meal
• 2 T grated parmesan cheese
• 1 slice of wholewheat bread, ground (I used the coffee grinder)
• Dried herb mix
• 1 T coconut oil  (I use Tropical Traditions)

Mix almond meal, parmesan, bread crumbs, and herbs together.  Set aside.  Dip tilapia fillets in egg, then into the almond mixture.  Fry in hot coconut oil until fish is flaky and cooked through.

I think to make a proper “breading” you would need to use flour, and a lot of it, but the homemade bread crumbs did the trick just fine.

I have a busy week ahead so I will sign off here and see you tomorrow for another giveaway announcement!  This will be the last one to celebrate my birthday and blog anniversary at the end of the week!

Question:  Do you find it easier to eat healthy on the weekends or during the week?

Sorry produce, Happy Hour prevailed.

After a glass of wine and a handful of delicious garlic fries, I am proud to say that we called it a night and came home to eat responsibly:

Morningstar veggie burger with swiss & avocado, zucchini and steamed broccoli

Usually for me, it’s a tough road once I get started on eating junk.  Making a U-turn somehow seems impossible once anything “bad” touches my mouth.  I am glad to report that that wasn’t the case last night!

Question:  Do you have to avoid junk food altogether to maintain a healthy diet, or are you able to indulge and then easily resume better habits?

Giveaway Reminder

Today is the last day to enter my food scale giveaway!  Winner to be announced on Sunday!

I woke up this morning to the realization that we have almost no produce in this place.

Exhibit A:

"Yoats" = creamy oats mixed with Greek yogurt and nut butter

Craving oats for breakfast but knowing that my sore arms needed protein, I decided to try Janetha’s famous yoats.  That’s yogurt + oats, and in case you haven’t tried this yet, it’s a delicious combination.  I made mine this morning with almond milk and water mixed with 1/3 cup of oats.  Then I added an egg white toward the end to fluff it up.  The warm oats are such a nice contrast to the cold side of yogurt (I use Trader Joe’s 0% Greek).  Oh, and I topped the whole thing with a glob of Deb’s homemade pecan butter, which is so good that I have to ration it to make it last as long as possible.

Exhibit B:

This measly little 1/2 apple came from the back of my refrigerator drawer.  Desperate times call for desperate measures.  

Low carb tortilla with hummus and chicken + apple and peanut butter

I had that combination plus a defrosted bowl of The Best Chili.

Hey, defrosted, reheated, but formerly canned tomatoes can still count as produce, right?

Exhibit C:

Well, I’m not going to complain about having no choice but to snack on half of a Cookie Dough Balance Bar

Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to go decide between Happy Hour or the grocery store.  Any guesses on what the verdict will be?

Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!

For those of you who may have missed Mr.Thinspired’s older guest posts, you should know that he is, without a doubt, a true carnivore.  He grew up eating meat and potatoes every night, didn’t try tofu until he was nearly 30, and even then questionable persuasion tactics were involved.

Which is why I consider it a victory that I completely fooled him into thinking we were having real chicken nuggets tonight.

Just look at his sweet innocent face, enjoying his “chicken” and wondering why I was photographing him instead of my food.

Afterward I asked, “So how did you like this brand of nuggets compared to the last brand we had?”  He replied that he liked them better.  When I was too shocked to respond with anything but “REALLY?!”  he caught on and asked if they were “fake.”  Busted. 

As I type this, he is claiming that he knew all along.  I assure you that is not true, because in England, there is no Morningstar Farms.  He claims the tip-off was the green box:  “Green means vegetables, not chicken.”

At any rate, victory is mine!  I am certainly not a vegetarian, but I think we need to go meat-free at dinner more often around here.

I don’t have much other news tonight because I have been really horrible about photographing my food!  I did have a great day yesterday, though.  I got to meet up with my lovely friend Michelle for some frozen yogurt and coffee.

Michelle is currently training for her first figure competition!  She is inspiring to me in so many ways.  On a separate note, I am burning that sweater.

Later in the afternoon, I met up with Andrea for a workout at her fancy gym! 

Andrea is so slender, but boy is she STRONG!  She lifts heavy, and it was great for me to workout with her and push myself harder with weights.  We did a full upper body weight workout, followed by 15 minutes on the stepper to finish.  I am so sore today!

I got some crazy looks for asking someone to take our picture in the locker room.  It also got the attention of a fellow blogger who I didn’t know was in the room…Linda!

On the way home last night, I got pulled over.  For the record, I have now been pulled over twice in my entire life, and both times happened in the last two months since moving to The Bay Area!  Oh, and both times I have talked my way out of the ticket

By popular request on Twitter, here are my newly acquired tips for getting out of a ticket: 

1)  First and foremost, always feign ignorance about why you are being pulled over.  Never, under any circumstances, presume to know what this craziness is all about. 

2) Be insanely kind and innocent.  Being new to the area helps, as does being able to claim that you just moved from another country.  It should also be noted that batting eyelashes and the flipping of wedding bands to the other hand is not above me.

3)  When all else fails, beg.

In summary, you can get away with more than you think.  Just pull out your chick’n nuggets

You still have two more days to enter my food scale giveaway!  Thank you to all who have entered so far!