SIZZLIN' SISTAS

Welcome to Atlanta...

2010-02-27T11:32:00.001-05:00

...Where the playas play! How crazy is it that Anna and I just realized yesterday that we are both in Atlanta this weekend!! I am currently in da ATL visiting two of my good friends from high school that are now at school here. I drove the 5.5 hour trip to get here, and it really wasn't bad at all! My car handles like a champ on the windy mountain roads coming down, but the traffic was pretty bad at some points. Unfortunately, Anna and I can't meet up because of her strict J-rope schedule. Would have been neat!

It was a sweet reunion yesterday when I met up with Christen, the friend I'm staying with- I missed her so much!
(I'm trying to post a pic of her and I, but I can't get it work! I will have to get some up later...)

She goes to an all-girls school and everybody here is really, really nice. We went out last night and I got to meet all her friends and lots of new people, too! We didn't get back until pretty dang late (2:30am) but that's what weekends are for, right? Not worrying about everything you have to do and just having fun! I have a weird habit of waking up early (maybe not mentally waking up, but not sleeping, at least) on the weekends, so I got up at about 9 this morning. Why does this not happen on school days instead?? I think it also helps that there is sun here, something I haven't seen in fo'eva!

One innerestin' thing we did was go to her on-campus cafeteria (called "Molly's", I think). I haven't been to a cafeteria in a long time only because I buy my own food and there usually aren't a lot of gluten-free options for celiac folks like me. I settled on a lettuce wrap sort of thing (the woman who made it for me was pretty baffled by my request). I had two pieces of lettuce with loads of veggies on it, lots of hummus and some cheeeeez! It was pretty good! Again, sorry no pic. Anywaizzzz, we are off to brunch now and I get to see my other friend, Evan, later tonight- I'm siked!! I hope everybody is having a great weekend so far and I will post some fun pics soon! -Claire

Chapel Hill and Co.

2010-02-26T23:04:00.002-05:00

Welcome to the weekend, friends! I've already had a great start! I'm gonna recap yesterday super snappy so I can hit the hay ASAP because I have to leave with some of my jump rope team members for Atlanta, GA at 4 am (!!!) for a quick overnight trip to teach a workshop...yikes. Let's hit it!

Guess what yesterday morning's breakfast was? ....if you guessed oatmeal, you've won a high five! (even though your guessing right isn't that impressive...I eat it every morning. Come on. Get over yourself)

Got dat pumpkin oatmeal with slivered almonds...you know how we DO

Ooh yeah baby.

So good.

Lunch was made up of two bananies blended with a few scoops of PB and some pecans thrown in the mix for a tasty pudding of sorts and another repeat of my Mexi-mush bowl from Wednesday (workin' on finishing that stuff off!)

Banana pudding (or as they say it here in the south, "Puddn")

Delicioso y fácil

After a quickie workout at the gym of some medicine ball exercises (in my personal training class), 20 minutes on the bicykle and 10 minutes on the elliptical, I had to run (well, not literally run...because it's like 30 miles away...but maybe someday I'll be able to...) to Chapel Hill to meet my jump rope team for a Duke men's bball half time show. Not many people on our team could go this time, so the few of us that could really had to step it up and jump in a lot of the routines to make sure the show was long enough. Man, THAT gave me a good little workout :)

Dinner was an anomaly (<--- whoah, how weird does that word look?) because on the way back from the show, our coach wanted to stop at a fast-food drive-thru for dinner (I hardly ever eat fast food). The group decided on Chick-fil-A:

Am I the only person that thinks Chick-fil-A's advertisements are hilarious? I freakin' love those cows

Look how few fries they gave me! What a rip off!

(alright...I ate most of them before I took the pic)

I also ~~inhaled~~ enjoyed one of their chicken sandwiches with only half the bun. Man, even though I don't ever eat fast food, I realllly like it sometimes!

What I had really been looking forward to all day, though, was what was to happen AFTER dinner - spending time with some of my best friends Bri and Aileen in Chapel Hill!

Chick-fil-A and red wine...what a classy dinner combination

Bri and I sipped on some Trader Joe's Coastal Zinfandel while we waited for Aileen to come pick us up to head out for a few drinks. Obviously we're seasoned pros at opening wine bottles manually:

Check out mah skillz

And then Aileen showed up and we were ready to get the party started!

Sweet reunion

The cool group out on the town

After hittin' a few bars, we were all pretty pooped and Aileen dropped us back at Bri-Bear's awesome apartment (which I was seeing for the very first time - love it! It's super cozy) for some rest before catching breakfast together in the morning...which was breakky-tastic, and will be recapped as soon as possible.

But I'm tired, and I have to get up in like 5 hours! YIPES! So I'm hittin' the sack, mack. Have a great, sunny Saturday and hopefully I'll be able to post tomorrow, but I may be too busy in ATL. So you might just have to wait on the edge of your seat for a weekend catch-up post on Sunday.

Sweet dreams bloggies! -Anna

Go Away, Winter

2010-02-25T15:12:00.002-05:00

Hey stalkers! :) (It's ok...I do it too)

This morning was so strange. After putting up my morning post and getting ready to ~~drag my feet to class~~ seize the day, I walked outside to head to class and

BAM

It's SNOWING?!?! A LOT! Where did that come from?? I was so surprised by this unexpected winter wonderland that I actually had to run back inside to change for the cold temperature!

My house this morning

It snowed for about 3 hours good and heavy, and now it's 43 degrees and sunny. Good one, Mother Nature. You go tme. And now I'm sweating in my boots, sweater, and scarf. Great.

Anywhoozy, yesterday was kind of all over the place (in a good way this time!) Breakfast was about the only part of my day-to-day routine that was normal. And MAN I love my breakfast routine!

...unfortunately it disappeared somehow before I got a picture of it. Dang! I gotta get better at that...well, here are some pictures of Fonz eating his breakfast in place of me eating mine:

Really gettin' into that bouquet

Why he likes flowers so much, I don't know. Maybe he's going to be a florist when he grows up!

...or not

My breakfast was actually peanut butter apple oatmeal, and gosh do I love all three of those things. I think I don't add apples to my oatmeal very often because I'm too ~~lazy~~ hungry to take the time to cut up the apples. Maybe I'll start buying apples that people have already cut up and put in bags for me! (that doesn't make me sound lame, does it?...)

I also ADORE my new make-oatmeal-with-almond-milk-instead-of-water discovery! It makes it so sweet, creamy, and thick. Mmmmmmmmm hmmm.

Lunch was some leftovers from Monday's Mexican mania, sans the tortilla:

Mexi-mush

Gotta get that close-up

Brown rice
Buttah beans
Diced canned tomatoes
Shredded cheese
Dollop of plain greek yogey

YUM! I didn't even heat this mush-pile up and it was still awesome possum!

This, on the other hand, is NOT an awesome possum

I also downed a giant (and I mean GI-YANT, as in a double-hander) bananie on the walk to class.

Since I hadn't taken off Monday for my "rest" day, I decided that I'd skip my cross-training gym visit since I had to attend a jump rope practice later that evening.

Joseph and I popper over to my parents' house in Chapel Hill a little before practice (which is only about 8 minutes away from their house) for a little visit and din din! My step-mom was still at work (she's a pediatric anesthesiologist at a local hospital...long hours), so my dad was in charge of preparing the food for our arrival.

Chef Steve

Fortunately my dad is a great cook! The meal consisted of:

Red cabbage with bacon and brown sugar
Carroway chicken
Salad
Fresh bread

Oh yeah baby! I especially loved the red cabbage! I can't even remember the last time I had it, and the combination of sweet and savory bacon and brown sugar really made an awesome dish. Good job, Diddy!

Showing off Dad's creation

My delicious plate!

He doesn't mess around when it comes to eating

So good to see the house and my daddy-o (wish you were there, Ann!) - I haven't been able to get home much lately because I've been so dang busy! Really needs to happen more.

YAHOOOOOO! Almost all caught up for tha posts! Crankin' 'em out baby.

On the schedule for the rest of the day:

Personal training class
Gym (if I have time...yarg I hate when I don't have a 100% chance of getting my workout in for a day!)
Duke bball half-time jump rope show
Hang out with Bri in Chapel Hill for the night!

Me and Bri-Bear a while back!

Friday's only a few hours away! Yippeee!! -Anna

Ode to Oatmeal

2010-02-25T14:09:00.001-05:00

Hey pretty people! I swear, I haven't forgotten you all; I have just been outrageously busy, mixed with terrible weather that I'm pretty confident will never end. Anywhoozy, I have still been eating (and breathing, too! Like I said, very busy) and workin it out in da gym, so it's about time to get updated. But before you get a whole update, I would like to spend a post dedicated to my (an Anna's) favorite breakfast: oatmeal! especially BAKED oatmeal!! Here are some facts, first:

everybody loves oatmeal
oatmeal is da bomb
Oatmeal is good for your heart (full of vitamin B calcium, iron, and so much more!)
Oatmeal is good for weight loss, and is packed with fiber
It can help lower bad cholesterol
it is DELISH

Okay, so maybe only a few of those are factual, but all of them are true in my book. I don't understand how people can NOT love it, though!

Jezzy wants everybody to know her love of oatmeal...and everything....

So, without further adu, many of the oatmeals I enjoyed this week:

Cinnamon Bun-inspired Oatmeal:

cinnamon bun in a bowl!

This seemed like a natural flavor combination to me. I mean, cinnamon bun=good, oatmeal=good, cinnamon bun + oatmeal=great. See, everybody, I can do math!

I used a cinnabun flavored yogurt and egg added to steal cut oats with extra cinnamon. I also threw in brown sugar and other cinnabun things that came to mind at the time (nuts!). I topped it with a mix of plain greek yogurt mixed with sugar-free syrup and cinnamon. This was delicious, but I would like to take some time one morning and make this into a baked oatmeal recipe, which will probably be even more awesome and easy!

Baked Pumpky Oatmeal:

Pump(kin)alicious

This was a pretty traditional baked oatmeal, but instead of using just pumpkin pie filling or plain pumpkin, i used a bit of pumpkin mixed with pumpkin pie yogurt I found!! This made it super yummay and I threw cinnamon, flax, walnuts, and cranberries in for a fall throwback breakky. Topped with some PB makes it a perfect breakfast for cold days (AKA everyday in Boone!)

Cinnamon-Apple Oats:

Da Classic

When I'm feeling uninspired, I often fall back on this always superb oat combo: cinnamon, oats, apples, walnuts, and cranberries. YUM! I often microwave the apple before adding it so it has a 'baked apple' texture and flavor.

Berry Baked Oatmeal:

Just Could be like a berry muffin! (but healthier and cheaper)

This was good, and I felt good after I ate it because it was full of berries and fiber, but it needs some work. It could be like a berry muffin, but it wasn't very sweet and the texture is a tiddly-bit weird. I'm not sure if it needs some different liquids used (I used yogurt as usual, but I think applesauce could be better) or if there is another solution. Either way, I'm not ready to give up on it yet, because this has major potential!!

PB&J Baked Oatmeal:

A guaranteed crab-free start to every morning!

Oh yeah, baby!

This is my favorite baked oatmeal, and it is basically fool-proof. I make this rezzy at least a few days a week. I throw in half a container of yogurt (any kind is okay, but for this I like vanilla), an egg (or egg white), loads of cinnamon, about 2/3 cup of oatmeal, walnuts, ground flax, cranberries and 1/4 tsp baking powder. Microwave for ~4 minutes (my microwave is s-l-o-w though). top with peanut butter and jelly and DEVOUR!!! Sometimes I mix it all up, too and it is even more fun to eat!

This one is topped with "Better 'n Peanut Butter" and pomegranate jelly!

I had this one today for breakfast (which was at about 12 for me since classes before that were cancelled...again! this is starting to get out of control) and it was yumalicious. I will be posting again soon, because I feel good and accomplished after I do, and it keeps me accountable for what I'm doing and eating. I have just been so busy, and during my down time I just want to sit and do nothing...not really productive, but sometimes necessary. Anywho, I'm off to class and then to the gym. Tonight, my step-sister, Kristen, and her roommate are coming over for a potluck dinner and chill session!! I'm very excited to hang out with them and eat up some yummy, gluten-free, and vegetarian eats (Erica, her roomie, is a veg). Hope everybody is having a great week so far; it's almost done, so don't let it go to waste!! -Claire

Toozday

2010-02-25T07:47:00.001-05:00

Phew! I'm finally catchin' up on my posting. Not that they were all that exciting. But I guess everything here is more exciting than YOUR life since you're reading about mine, right?? HA just joshin'. I'm sure you have an awesome life. Anyways, here's what happened on Toozday:

Breakfast was a bomb-diggity bowl of pumpkin oats with roasted slivered almonds. I def think a new favorite! The almonds really add a sweet texture to it:

Pumpkin-mania

Details, details...

Then lunch included a trusty PBJ (though there is no evidence because it had to be wolfed on the run! ...after eating this next item...) and a mediocre attempt at flavoring my own plain greek yogurt:

Cherry pie filling mixed in...not bad, but really not as great as I was expecting

Looks like soft serve with cherry topping mixed in! But didn't taste as good :(

Tuesday was busy, but I made time for the gym for my 4.5 mile scheduled run for my half marathon trainin' and some awesome lifting that I hadn't done before! Lat pull-downs are definitely going to be added into my new strength routine.

Pretty sure my back doesn't look like this though (yet!)

BEFORE my run and iron-pumping, I had my personal training class (have I told you I'm taking a class to become a certified personal trainer? Cool, eh??) and we participated in a hard-core yoga class taught by one of the other already-certified trainers. PHEW! This was waaay tougher than I thought it would be...I've done some yoga before, and it always amazes me how different of a workout it is than what I'm used to. Definitely felt warm and stretched and kind of tired afterwards, but not in the high-intensity kind of was I usually like. Sometimes it's interesting to mix it up!

Dinner, unfortunately, was not documented. But it was yumalicious!! I met up with one of my best friends Laurie, her boyfriend Billy, and another friend Sara, at a local Mexican restaraunt, Cueva de Lobos for dollar taco night! My meal included a beef soft taco and a hard chicken taco. And a junkkkk load of chips and queso dip. That stuff is so dang addicting!!

Sloooooowly catchin' up on my posting. Hopefully today I'll be able to squeeze in another post for yesterday's happenings!

It's almost the weekend! Just think about that all day :) -Anna

Sunday Runday

2010-02-24T22:45:00.001-05:00

Happy Humpity Hump Day!

This is a ridiculous picture, but it had to be shared

An accomplishment that I've somehow forgot to mention in my post on Monday - on Sunday I ran 7 miles! My longest run evah! MAN I'm good. Somehow I continue to be able to finish the long runs of my half marathon training without stopping hardly at all (seriously...I don't know how I haven't had to be carried home by somebody yet).

And though last week's 6 mile run was completed in a speedy gonzalez 47 minutes, this week's change of scenery (I ran outside at Lake Johnson park close by - very hilly and tons of people in mah way!) really impacted my time. 1:10 is a little bit longer than I'd hoped for! But I'm still proud of my endurance :D

Also, I have consumed some food and done other stuff in the past few days, in case you were wondering. Let's get to it!

Breakfast Monday was ~~awesome~~ actually really horrible.

Such a deceptive picture...

...this could have been awesome! I mean look how succulent those razzies look! Alas, it tasted like crap. The failure of an attempt at being creative:

1/3 cup steel cut oats
1 cup vanilla almond milk
1 egg white
1 tbs (maybe? more like 2 "shakes") baking powder
2 large blobs of cherry pie fillin' from the can
Slivered roasted almonds
Raspberries on top

I don't know exactly what happened between tasting all of the delicious ingredients separately before putting it in the microwave for 3 minutes and putting the final product in my mouth, but it was something bad enough to actually prompt me to make another breakfast of Maple and Brown Sugar instant oatmeal. WOW! Major fail.

I love cheese and cats, so actually I would consider this picture a major WIN

Monday was also a busy bee day, so after my breakfast mishap and other dilly-dally morning activities, there was no time to plan for a homemade lunch. So I had a cat for lunch.

Fonzarelli Fotoshoot

What a natural in front of the camera.

Ok...maybe this is a little awkward

Alright, so I didn't eat Fonz, but look how sweet these pics are. He's such a model. Anyways...I actually had to scope out the campus convenience store for a few goodies:

Similar to the tuna salad croissant I recently had from the same place

Mustard overload

BANGIN' croissant

This was realllllly good. The buttery, soft, and flaky croissant was amazing. I do think I like the tuna salad better, but the chicky was still tasty too. I also decided to try this baby:

Again with the "style" tips? Why??

Pretty dang good, actually

So the granola bar was ~~a little~~ super hard and chewy, but everything else was actually quite good. A decent side dish for apparently very few calories in the whole thing. If one of the sections was filled with PB I think it would be better, though...

After a loooong day of sitting on my butt in front of a computer for one of my computer-intensive classes, I decided that even though it was supposed to be my "take it easy" day for half marathon training, I needed some activity. So I hopped on over to the gym for about 20 minutes of incline speed-walking and 25 minutes of ellipticizing and broke a nice little shweat!

Dinner was quick, easy, and suprisingly dee-lightful! A creative quesadilla of sorts...

The ingredients:

Brown rice
Plain greek yogurt
Shredded cheese
Butter beans
Canned diced tomatoes (probably the FIRST time I've ever put tomatoes in anything I've cooked. In my life. Seriously! I'm really trying to make myself like some stuff I've always avoided - and they were really good in this!)
Feta cheese
Flour tortilla

I think I filled my tortilla with a leeeettle too much stuff because it was runnin' ALL over my arms, but it ain't good if it ain't messy, right? (Did I just make that up? Let's just pretend like people say that...)

Yum! Tuesday and today's updates to come in the morning (I've been a little behind on tha blogging, but I'm determined to catch up!)

Have a great Turrzday morning folks! -Anna

Saturday Camp Trip

2010-02-22T21:47:00.001-05:00

YAY the weather was actually nice this past weekend!! Because of this combined with the fact that Joe and I finally had a little bit of free time for the first time in a while, we decided that Saturday was the day to go on a one-night camping trip!

After a filling and festive Mexican dinner the night before, Saturday morning started out with some basic oatmeal: Quaker Oats Quick Oats, PB, honey, and a sliced up 'naner before we headed to Joe's parents' house for a quick pre-camping visit:

I am such a good photographer. Look at that honey just drizzlin' everywhere.

After a bit of hangin' out with Bev and John (Joseph's mom and step-dad) at their krib (which was only about 10 minutes away from our future camp site), we decided to raid their fridge/cabynetts for some luncharoo. The result was homemade garlic toast with Trader Joe's Organic Tomato & Roasted Red Peppah Soup with some cheez shprinkled on the top and tortilla chips dipped in John's fan-TABulous homemade hummus for me...

No pickies available of the hummus since I scarfed that junk before anyone else saw it...

...and the rest of the bunch enjoyed some brown rice noodles with tomato sauce and garlic toast fuh dippin' (by the way, the brown rice noodles were so tasty! I forget the brand, but I think Bev mentioned picking them up at Trader Joe's...Claire, they're GF - have you tried them??)

After lunch and laying around in the back yard for a tid bit (again, the weather was pHeNoMeNaL! <--- does that kind of writing annoy anyone else as much as it does me? nEwAyZ...) we headed out to the woods behind Joe's grandma's house, where, coincidentally, our camp site was located (actually it wasn't coincidence at all...we've camped behind her house before...)!

We set up camp on some prime real estate, basked in the sun on a sheet while listening to the NC State vs. Wake Forest bball game out of Joe's car (HALLELUJAH, we won!!!), and embarked on a little hike around the woods. A ~~few~~ junk load of pictures from the whole afternoon:

Our campsite next to a big field and under a grape-growing structure of some sort...

The road leading to our heavenly one-night home

Checkin' out tha digs

My handsome camper

Setting up the house

Preparing our key-hole fire for cookin' din din - I'll have you know I carried ALL those rocks over AND the stumps in the next picture!! I'm awesome.

The dining room and fire fuel

Home sweet home!

Happy hiking campers :)

I found this branch that had been completely stripped of its bark and you could clearly see the beaver bite marks - so cool!

Beaver treat

Attempt at an artsy nature photo

Speaking of beavers, we found some sort of rodent jaw bonez on the ground with some chompers still attached!

Arriving back to our site after a sweet hike

The adjacent field - just imagine if those silos were all overflowing with PEANUT BUTTER...I'd wanna go swimming in them

I'm so artsy

PHEW! Get enough photos? Unfortunately I didn't document the very delishus dinner we prepared because I was too busy enjoying the good company and mulled wine that accompanied the food, but it included:

Chopped potatoes
Onions
Cream of chicken soup
Quartered brussel sprouts
Baked beans
Corn
Kippers for Joseph's snik snak

These were all easy to heat/roast ova the blazin' fire and great and hearty when combined, too (we didn't combine the baked beans, but everything else was pretty much thrown in a stew of sorts).

I LOVE mulled wine!! Here's the recipe that I first learned to make it from (and now tweak to my taste whenever I throw it together).

Anyways, super long post again. Today was busy and full of food, so look out for that on the morrow.

Have a groovy Tuesday!

Weekend Ketchup

2010-02-21T21:11:00.004-05:00

Ketchup = catch up. Sorry I've been on a mini hiatus, friends! This weekend has been great and I couldn't possibly spare any time sitting in front of a computer away from the awesome jawsome people I got to spend time with.

So time to ketchup!

Breakfast Thursday morning was a creamy PB-y batch of Quaker Oats Quick Oats with some cinnamon, raisins, and a dollop of ~~Daisy~~ PB wif some UT (unidentifiable tea since I can't remember the flavah).

Delightful dish

Lunch was an interesting invention due to the fact that I was TOTALLY out of food other than PB, craisins/raisins, jelly, whole wheat bagel thins, and part of a leftover sweet potato. It was pretty gud, though:

...so I combined them! How smart am I??

Cinnamon + craisins + PB + jelly = cinnacraybelly sandwich.

Smiley sandwich

Kinda strange combo with tha interesting sandwich, but yummy all the same

My sweet potato-and-a-half with some cinnamon and a packet of Splenda to sweeten it (even further than it's natural sweet-potato-ness) was tossed in the campus convenient store microwave for a bit before I wolfed it down before a test ~~I didn't study enough for~~.

I headed to the gymnaziyum after my test to work off all the stress from a busy week! I've recently been inspired to regain some muscle I've lost in my behind area (I like havin' some junk in mah trunk!) due to running a lot (for my upcoming half marathon), so I decided to try 20 minutes of the stair masta! It was tough, and you can rest assured (not that you would be actively worrying, but) that I sweated my little tush off (wait, isn't that what I DIDN'T wanna do?? Hmmmmm...).

Someone took a picture of my (in the '80s, obviously) at the gym during my workout...

After the stair masta, I ellipticized for 25 minutes and did a back and abs workout. My back is STILL sore from Thursday!

Dinner was superb! Kenzie and I enjoyed some rooommate time and delicious sushi at our favorite place Sushi Sha Nay-Nay (alright, it's not really called that...it's Sushi Tsune, but that's what we refer to it as). To document the event:

What did you get again, Kenz? The Alaskan roll and some sort of tuna roll?

...oops. Dug in before I remembered to take pics!

Crunchy spicy tuna roll and a bowl of steamed rice! Sooooo goody goody gum drops

I was really looking forward to Thursday night because I was planning on hanging out with my roommate from freshman year, Jordan, and her boyfriend, Jordan (funny, huh?)! Two of my favorite people ever! :)

Bein' goofalicious (per usual, with these two)

Me and mah boo!

After meeting them at Girl Jordan's apartment (to differentiate between the two of them, they are often referred to as "Girl Jordan" and "Boy Jordan" by their family and close friends), we headed to East Village (a local bar) to hang out with some other friends and throw back a few beers. A totally awesome night!

Saturday morning included fiber-full waffles and some scrambled eggs made by Girl Jordan and Tiger Woods' apology speech. An interesting combination...

To tell the truth or not to tell the truth...that is the question

Friday really needed to have some homework happen, buuuuuuut...I had a tuna salad sandwich for lunch instead. Let's just leave it at that.

From the campus convenience store

Tuna, green peas, "herbed" mayonnaise, mustard, delicious croissant

...all consumed in front of a computer while procrastinating on doing an assignment due Monday morning. Not the smartest homework decision, but a good lunch decision. The sandwich was actually incredible. I need to make this at home! Some cheez would probably make it that much better, too...

By the way, this post is getting entirely too long, so I'm finishing with Friday's dinner, then will give Saturday its own blurb.

So on to dinnah: a giant success!! Joseph and I decided we were too tired after working on his Spanish homework to cook dinner, but equally inspired to eat Mexican food. The result: trying out the newest local Mexican place up the street, El Cerro!

Tha feast

Assortment of meat and vegetables

OH. MAH. GAH. This was SO delicioso!!! We got a meal that was "for two" which included flour tortillas to fill with ground chorizo, shrimp, chicken, steak, rice, refried beans, guac, sour cream, lettuce, grilled vegetables, and tomato. There was waaaay too much food on the table at once (especially because we both downed a ~~basket~~ fair amount of chips and salsa before the meal was even brought out...), but it was incredible! The metal "podium" it was served on had a little heater in the middle to keep the fillings hot the whole time. Que chevre! :D

My own plate of fillin's

Joseph also sipped a mojito throughout the meal. Needless to say, we left the place extremely satisfied and very full (and with three days' worth of leftovers!!)

Anyhoozy, like I said earlier, this post way too long...but I just had such an eventful weekend! So Saturday and Sunday will surely be documented - just in the next post. Soon.

Have a great night, babies! Hope your weekend was fantabulous and you have a superb Monday awakening :D -Anna

Oatmeal and Crack

2010-02-19T18:54:00.000-05:00

Halloo my pretties! I'm currently just a'munchin on an apple after my workout, and chillin wit da roomie and kittay! I have been lazy lazy lazy busy busy busy lately and keep meaning to post.

This morning I made baked oatmeal for the 3rd time this week...this stuff is like crack! I mean, you eat it and all you want is more! ...like crack, right? Speaking of addictions I have (I'm addicted to OATMEAL, not CRACK, in case I confused anybody...), I also felt terrible this week on the days I couldn't workout because of the snow. It makes you feel so much better! And congrats to ANNA who ran 6 miles!!!! I AM SO PROUD! I didn't mean for that to be in caps, but it happened and I'm not changing it because it is THAT EXCITING! I liked your pic of you crossing the "finish line" (weren't you on a treadmill??), but this is more how I imagined it:

More accurate pic of Anna crossing the finish line! I call it ANNECHORN

My photoshop skillz need some work but I will be as good as Anna soon enough. We finally got our internet fixed today, so we don't have to steal borrow our neighbors' anymore, which means, hopefully, that I will be blogging a bit more since I don't have to stay in certain places in our house to get internet (thankfully, the one place I got it was in my bed!)!

Unfortunately, however, that time to get a long blog in is not right now. I need to get my stanky self to the shower and prepare for the night. BUT, tomorrow I will be back on track and will make time to give you all a food/life rundown! Have a good night er'ybody and TGIF!!-Claire

Leprecorn

2010-02-18T09:51:00.004-05:00

Actual picture.

I. Am. A. Beast.

2010-02-18T07:51:00.007-05:00

No seriously. I'm really a beast. I did it.

I RAN 6 MILES.

...not that it's a big deal or anything, just wanted to let you know.

Alright, who am I kidding? (by the way, to keep with Claire and my recent trend of revealing our mispellings, I'll have you know that I just wrote, "Alright, ho am I kidding?" I seriously considered keeping it because that would totally make me sound like a pimp daddy)

I'm SO proud of myself! That's the longest I've ever run consecutively ~~except for maybe that time I was being chased by the cops~~! Not only did I run each and every one of those suckers, I did it in the best average mile time I think I've ever recorded for myself - 47 minutes flat!! :D In fact, I ran the whole thing like this:

An action shot of me crossing the finish line

WHEW, I can finally cross that one off the list for my half-marathon training schedule (I missed it last weekend due to a hectic schedule). 7 miles is on the plate for this Sunday! Hopefully it'll go just as well...

Something else I accomplished yesterday: not biting my nails! Quitting the habit one of my New Years' Resolutions this year, but unfortunately (like the thousand other times I've tried to stop) that one flew out the window after the first two weeks. So I've made a new effort to make this the REAL time I stop for good! I think I'll try to update you and make sure to let you know that I didn't bite to help me stay accountable...help me out! :)

Anyways, something I did bite yesterday was foooooooooood! (that wasn't a lame segue or anything...by the way, why is segue spelled like that?!) Here's b-fast:

Baked pumpkin and raisin oatmeal

I hadn't made baked pumpkin oatmeal in quite a while, and it was SO good. But I ran out of pumpkin on the last scoop! Hopefully I have an extra can sittin' in the back of the cubby, though....tea was pumpkin oatmeal's friend, too:

PG Tips black tea

BFFAEAE

So I've recently gotten pretty into black tea - my friend Ted has this tea at his house and I got hooked on our snowed-in weekend. Whereas he taught me to make it with some honey and milk, I got some for myself and decided that I would try getting some almond milk!

Since it says it's PURE almond it makes me imagine men sitting in a factory squeezing almonds really hard to get a drop of milk out...sounds plausible. Will someone fact-check that for me?

I am totally an almond milk convert now. This vanilla flavor is supah sweet and delicious! Puurrrrfect for my tea - it almost makes it taste like hot chocolate! I will be using this a lot more the future.

Since I am really runnin' low on the grub right now (gonna have to make a grocery triparoo this weekend) lunch was pretty boring, but still good, because it was one of mah fav on-the-go mealios:

Pee Beej (we're on a nickname basis)

Lunch also included a ~~rotten~~ pleasantly browned banana sliced up into vanilla greek yogurt and some carrot chips and roasted garlic hummus:

This wasn't actually very good...at all

I like eating carrot "chips" and hummus because it makes me feel like I'm eating REAL chips and dip!

After helping Joseph with his dreaded Spanish homework for this week (he initially addressed the assignment he had to email to his teacher to "el teachero"...) I was ready for a mid-afternoon snik-snak of one of my favvvvvorite snacks!

Cheez + crackz

Cheez and crackz make me hap!

A couple hours of procrastinating homework later, I had worked (or not worked, rather) up an appetite for some tuna helper with peas that Joe was making:

Last fud of the dai

Yum! I finished off the meal with half of a mini Hershey's almond chocolate dipped in some PB, but I don't have a picture because it jumped into my mouth before I could snap one. Those pesky chocolates!

(Insert highly impressive 6 mile run + some heavy duty weight lifting here)

I'm awesome! You're awesome!

Have a grrrreat Thursdai! Weekend's almost here! :D -Anna

Good Tuesday? Check!

2010-02-17T08:42:00.006-05:00

Lots to do today again? Check! Where did this week go?? It's already Hump Day?! (which, by the way, I think is one of the strangest and most awkward phrases the English language contains...couldn't we call it "hill" day? Or "bump" day?) A hilarious Wednesday cartoon (sorry for the bad quality - I've written what the texts says below):

"Guess what girls? It's Hump Day! All down hill from here.

...Oh crap."

Anyways, yesterday I did GREAT with my renewed goal of getting back on the healthy-eating train! Plus I did a pretty good job taking a picture of everything I ate, which I'm proud of. Brekky was a baked batch o' oatmeal and a cup 'o tea:

Craisins, raisins, and oats, OH MY!

I think I am seriously getting to point of being obsessed with oatmeal. It feels kind of like an addiction...any time I'm hungry, I just want to eat oatmeal! There's so much you can do with it AND it's super quick! And the texture is soooo yummy. So expect to continue seeing many of these breakfasts :)

Because I was busy supah busy yesterday and don't really have a good lunch break on Tuesdays and Thursdays, lunch was kind of grazing from 11:30am-2:30pm. It included a greek yogurt fruit medley that I threw together before leaving the house:

Craisins, raisins, and a sliced up bananie

I also chomped on a sweet juicy apple:

That's me, I swear!

...alright, so that's not me. I didn't get a picture of the apple. But I ate one!

I also got one of these bad boyz from the campus convenience store because I was quite hungry and hadn't brought enough food in my bag. It was actually really good!

Whole wheat pita bread, red pepper hummus, cheddar cheese, and carrot sticks

A salty-ish and creamy afternoon assortment

The only strange thing about this box, if you'll notice on the label, is that it offers "style/exercise/nutrition tips" inside. While I appreciate the little health hints (especially because it's a pretty healthy snik-snak), here's a tip coming from a fashion major: don't take style tips from a snack box. That's just weird.

Moving onto dinner...

Mashed potatoes, sauteed onions and mushrooms (I'm really trying to make myself like them...) and mini turkey sausage links

An artistic-angle attempt

Joe threw this batch of goodies together at his house before we had to head to Chapel Hill (our hometown 30 minutes away) for jump rope practice - which happened to be a good way to fit in my activity for the day since I was too busy earlier to fit in a gym run!

So today I'm gonna be just as good about keeping up with mah food pics and am definitely making it to the gym to try to finally run my 6 mile run that I need to accomplish as part of my half-marathon training.

Have a great HILL DAY folks! -Anna

uniHORN

2010-02-16T19:33:00.005-05:00

Just so you know: here is why it's called a uniCORN and not a uniHORN :D
oh, and while I'm posting cool links, PLEASE watch this and tell me if you think it's as funny as I do: Raptor eats cheerleader!

Trek and Brekky!

2010-02-16T12:34:00.002-05:00

Hola! Today I walked in the coldest conditions I have ever experienced, but now that I'm back in my cozy, warm apartment with my cuddly, warm kitkat I'm feeling much better. The wind chill here was -4 degrees when I walked to class with wind of just over 30 mph...yeah, crazy. They cancelled 8am classes but forgot about us 9:30's who had to make a terrible trek, too! Anywho, I'm home now and I just enjoyed a HUGE, fabulous breakfast that has brought me back to life! A mexican, mostly eggwhite omelette with hashies! I was craving something salty, and I had leftover mexican veggies that I threw in with salsa and cheez!

Salty, cheesy goodness

I also discovered something that could potentially be lethal. Since my electric wok was sitting out (because we used it to make stir-fry...more on that later!) I decided to throw my hashbrowns in there. It's amazing! Because the wok gets screaming hot super quickly, it browned the potatoes ppuurrrfectly! They were crunchy and taste-a-licious! I plopped it all onto my finest china and washed it down with hazelnut coffee in my favorite coffee mug!

Ready to be scarfed

My mug I purchased in Hawaii over Christmas break! This tiki man means "luck"

Hopefully, this little tiki man is going to bring me the luck I need in about 1.5 hours, when I get to my Historical Geology exam. I have another exam tomorrow and 2 papers due then, too, so I'm gonna need as much as I can get! Maybe if I eat an Irish-inspired brekky (...breakfast...) tomorrow it will bring me even MORE! And if I find a leprechaun and stuff it in my backpack I'll be green golden. Anna and I have both been humorously misspelling things lately, so I would just like to let you know I wrote "leprecorn" at first-- as in, a mix between unicorn and leprechaun!! Wouldn't that be the most epic, luck-giving character on the planet?! That's what I want in my backpack! (Why are they called unicorns, by the way? shouldn't it at least be unihorn?)

Well, I must get back to start studying and stop pondering the origins of mythical characters that can't actually help me on my exam at all. Ta ta for now! Wish me leprecorns luck! Oh, and Anna, good luck to you, too! Maybe you can do an artist's rendition of a lerprecorn using your sick nasty photoshop skillzzz? -Claire

Breakfast = The Bomb

2010-02-16T07:29:00.005-05:00

So lately I haven't really been interested in eating as healthily as usual.

Why is this?? Hormones? Am I bored with what I'm eating lately? Not working out hard enough? Brownies and chocolate being EVER PRESENT in my kitchen?? (Kenzie and Kate are always making fresh, gooey brownie batches ~~which they FORCE ME to eat~~...I never bake sweet goodies, yet somehow it always happens that I eat them as if I had contributed to the preparation process...)

They only LOOK sweet and innocent! (well, they are sweet if we're talking about brownies...)

I really can't figure out why I'm super motivated for a few weeks and then hit a rough week where I just can't seem to lay off the bad foodz.

But I'm determined to stop this madness!! Here's truly enlightening passage that I came across in one of my new favorite blog's recent posts (thanks, http://msbitchcakes.blogspot.com/!! By the way, you should definitely read through some of her posts. I discovered her blog a few days ago and LOVE her stuff - so inspirational!)

"You can probably think of a few circumstances off the top of your head that trigger you to eat - certain emotions (happiness? anger? sadness? stress? boredom?) or situations (certain people/places/events) that cause you to self medicate with comfort foods. But as you think about all those times you've turned to food to comfort you, I want you to ask yourself: Did the food help? If you're honest with yourself, you'll acknowledge that no, the food did not help.

The food did NOT cheer you up.

The food did NOT solve a problem at work.

The food did NOT bring back a lost love.

The food did NOT make your kids behave any better.

If anything, the food introduced a whole new problem. And it surely did nothing to solve the original problem.

Turning to food in situations and for reasons other than hunger are merely habits we've picked up over the course of our lives. They are only habits. We have control over habits. We have the power to change them. We just need to be aware of them and be willing to make an effort to do so."

This is SO true for me. Now that I think about it, I probably eat things for reasons other than being just hungry like...60% of the time. So I'm gonna come up with some sort of strategy for stepping back before I eat something and determining why I'm eating it. Any ideas??

Aaaanywho, hopefully you'll see posts a little more frequently in the near future of my meals to help me stay accountable. Blogging once a day this week (even if it's short) is one of my goals!

Breakfast was the trend for yesterday's meal plan! My actual breakfast-time breakfast: baked LOVE oatmeal! :D

I devour ~~hearts~~ baked oatmeal

In the mix:

2 packets of Maple and Brown Sugar Low Sugar instant oaties
Handful raisins
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1 egg (tried to make it an egg white, but that yolk just JUMPED out of the shell! Rats...)
Cinnamon
Better'n Peanut Buttah heart of lovvveee

YUM! Sooo filling.

Lunch was a quick and easy breakfast meal, too...I was really craving some cheezalicious saltiness and didn't have a lot of time, so I employed a trick from my childhood:

Behold...the MICROWAVED EGG!

Hey!! Get outta there...

Eggsactly what I was craving

Microwaving an egg is SO easy! I'll admit, it doesn't come out with the same texture I like from the pan (usually it's a little rubber-ier because I want to make sure it's all the way cooked), but if you don't wanna dirty any dishes and have like, 3 minutes, to come up with a meal, here's your trick. The after pic:

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmicrowave.

I also threw some Guy's Seasoning on there to spice it up and try something new...it was interesting, alright, but I think I just like mah salt 'n peppah on there.

The finished product:

Mah 'wich

Toasted whole wheat bagel thin with one egg and a slice of lite provolone cheese.

Oh hello there, Mr. 'Wich!

Dinner was not, however, breakfast - leftover crabcakes and hushpups! (though I suppose some people may have seafood for breakfast...) No pictures of that meal since I wolfed it down too quick. Ooopsiessssss.

Speaking of wolfing down stuff, here are some pictures of Fonz wolfing down Kenzie's lovely bouquet from a few days ago that I've been meaning to share with you:

The initial contact

The sniff-before-I-take-a-bite phase

The taste

Chewing...and possibly decision that eating flowers isn't the best idea. But who knows? Fonz may have a sophisticated palatte.

Well I'm out! I'm going to try to take a picture of every meal I eat today and track my workout stats to share with you!

Have a turrrrrrific Toozday! -Anna

Love Day Scavenger Hunt!

2010-02-15T19:50:00.003-05:00

Happy Monday friends! A food-relevant comic to start your week:

I hope everyone had a lovable Valentine's Day! Thanks for the luuuv back, Claire! So yesterday I told you that I had been planning a special homemade V-Day treat for Joe - a Valentine's Day Scavenger Hunt! Unfortunately I didn't take any pictures during the actually running around, but I have the clues and pictures to describe to you how it was all set up.

The idea was to take him to the most common places we go and enjoy together around the area, and then give him a small goody appropriate for that location. The places and goodies for each were:

Target (a bag of Almond Hershey mini chocolates)
Our gym (a bottle of his favorite red wine...you have to read the clue to understand it! We don't ~~usually~~ drink at the gym...)
The local dollar theater (a coupon book for the theater)
Lake Johnson park (an assortment of his favorite snik-snaks...kippered herring mmmm fishyyy)
North Carolina Seafood Restaurant (our favorite meals packed and ready to be taken home to eat!)
Home! (a final poem and fire in their fire pit waiting in their backyard thanks to Ted for getting it going before we got there!!)

For the actual clues, I printed out each short poem and pasted it on the back of some of my favorite pickies of us. Here are a few of the pictures with the corresponding clues:

Clue #1:

Clue #2

Clue #5:

So there's a little taste of what we did yesterday evening! It was perfect ending with a casual dinnah in at home with just the two of us and our favorite food (crab cakes for me, YUM!). Hangin' out, drinking wine, and sitting 'round a fire are some of the things we most enjoy doing together, so why not treat ourselves to that on V-Day? :D

Joseph's gift for me was a really sweet Marni journal that he got because he decided we should have an "imagination book." The idea is for it to be a little journal that we trade back and forth after each of us enters anything we want into it (doodles, notes, ideas, etc.) that we can look back on a long time from now and enjoy.

I LOVE his idea and can't wait to see what pops up (there have already been some creative entries on my part today in class while I was ~~daydreaming~~ taking a mental break from the lecture...)

What did YOU do for V-Day?

More to come later after I hit the gym on what I actually ate the past couple of days! (aside from chocolate...dipped in peanut butter...washed down with wine...)

-Anna

Day of Lovin'!

2010-02-14T15:44:00.002-05:00

Today is indeed Valentines day! I'm no V-day hater, but I have only been awake for 2.5 hours and I'm not really feelin' the love from the world. My car died, and now that it's alive the stereo died and the "code" I was given to use to fix it is wrong. Our laundry door broke off, the kitchen sink got clogged and I can't seem to fix it, I have three exams this week, snow is messing everybody's schedules up, and not to mention our place is a dump. I definitely haven't earned the cake Anna promised! Okay, okay I'm done. I did have a good weekend, but sometimes things just seem to build up and happen all at once, am I right or am I right? Thankfully, Linds and I made a trip to da grocery and I found the remedy for ALL my problems:

Oh yeah, baby!

I have had this before, and if you need to be reassured- this stuff is AMAZING! It's so good. I love putting it in oatmeal and on bananas/apples. It's a bit pricy ($5 for a smallish jar) , but c'mon I shouldn't put a price on happiness, yeah? Lindsey also bought some ingredients with the intention of "being the chef this week," so hopefully you will be seeing (and I will be eating) some delish foods made by her!

I don't have big Valentines day plans other than making myself feel good by being productive and relaxing tonight. Not to mention spending the day with the love of my life!

Jezzy!

I'm not ashamed that I'm a crazy cat lady in the making. I llurrhhvv my kitty! My perfect Valentines day would look similar to this:

But with about twenty ten more kitties

It IS a good day to take a look at everything you love and make an effort to let them know, though. So, everybody listen up: I love you! From my fabulous family to my hilarious, crazy cat friends, I am so thankful for everyone! And Naners (Anna), the sentiments are mutual because you are the best sissie eva and I'm glad to have you in my life.

So, here are some things I hope to get done today:

hit the gym and get a good, hard workout
do more laundry
clean my landfill room
get rid of some clothes (I can't even FIT all mine in my room anymore!)
STUDY
fix the sink, if possible
eat cinnamon PB on a banana
go to bed early!! Or at least get in bed early
read the new cosmo :D

Okay, that's it. Not so bad, right? I can do it. If I get those first 5 done I will feel so much better! Anywho, my friend just came in with some exciting food for our dindin tonight (coconut milk - can't wait to use it!), and I got to get to the gym soon. Have a fabulous Valentines day! -Claire

Happy Luuurrrv Day!

2010-02-14T11:32:00.002-05:00

Today is the day to celebrate ~~chocolate~~ LOVE!

It doesn't have to be with a significant other - it can be with anyone in your life you care about! In fact, you can even just love and pamper yourself for the day :) I'm going to do both!

For me, I'm going to make sure I get to the gym today (on my half-marathon training schedule, I'm supposed to be running a 5-K race, but I'm going to run 6 miles at the gym instead since I'm not signed up for a race...also, I'll have you know that when I just wrote "half-marathon" I first wrote it as "half-maraTHONG" ha! Love slip-ups like that!)

"Marathong" according to Google images. Wowzahs!

I'm also going to really try to make good choices about what I put in my body, hydrating and eating healthily, because in the past week or so (with being super busy), it's kind of taken a place on the back burner (really more in the microwave, if we're being literal).

I'm definitely going to show my appreciation for otha loves in my life, too! There will be hugs a-plenty and love notes a-many. If you're in desperate need of some love, tell me! I have plenty to spare! :)

For the love in my life, though, I've put together something homemade and special for him that I hope he's going to really enjoy...but I can't tell you what it is yet! Hopefully tomorrow if all goes well I'll be able to share it with you...

I always got your back, boo (even if it's sometimes more like an unexpected pounce)

Finally, happy V-Day to my favorite partner-in-blogging and best sissy ever Claire!! I love you so much and am so happy to have you in my life! I appreciate your humor (most of the time) and how full of love you are all the time (except maybe when you're hangry, but we're getting better at that...)

SiSsIeS 4 LyFe!

Well I've got a lot to do today, including catching up quite a bit on some bloggin'! We've received another yum-tastic looking recipe from a devoted reader that we'll share, and have some LOVE we're going to share with our readers, too!...

Have a great lurrrrv day, everyone! :)

Why, Phil, Why?!

2010-02-12T10:50:00.002-05:00

HOLY COW! Wow, so when they said there was a blizzard comin' through, they weren't kidding! It seems like all of Phil's six more weeks of predicted winter came all at once here! Wednesday, the snow started around 5pm and didn't stop until yesterday morning! These were not just delicate snow flakes softly falling, either. These were violent, evil snow chunks pounding on my window and our porch!

We couldn't even open our door!!

We had several friends over stranded inside our place, too, and had no choice but to watch movies and stuff our faces make a bit of food. Actually, we really did eat a TON of food. Well, I ate a ton of food, anyways. I did my best to not get over-stuffed, but when I realized we were going to be up late, somehow this rationalized eating a lot more to me. Thankfully, I had done a bit of a workout which included supermans and crunches, as well as squats. Eventually, we realized we had to get out yesterday morning, so we hounded our friends to come over and dig us out. Thanks, Chloe and Merritt!

Chloe saving us!

That's a lot of white...took me fo'eva to shovel!

Annierae and I forced ourselves to the gym after b-fast. I had a hard, productive workout and spent 45 min on the elliptical before doing some weights and getting all buff. It felt good to finally get outside of our place and get my booty movin'!

Yesterday, we also had an opportunity to make a meal at the Hospitality House, a place for people in poverty where they can get food and shelter. I did this last week and Lindsey asked me to stop by this week since she was there. Here is a pic from our meal last week:

Mah girls doin their thang!

Da Spread

This home is right near our place, so we get out there twice a month with a club called People Fighting Poverty. It's nice to share the lovin' when it comes to good nutrition and health!

Today, I have another packed day (how did I feel like yesterday was packed? It felt like it.) that involves class in ten minutes and going straight to my internship after. Then I gotta hit the gym! I hope everybody is being productive and staying warm! -Claire

p.s. sorry I'm in a hurry and can't be funny, soooo.....

..."have a good day" says Jezebel!

Easy Cheezy Leftovers

2010-02-10T22:11:00.003-05:00

I've just been craving cheeeeeez lately! It's a good thing I went to Trader Joe's over the weekend and stocked up on two different kinds to keep me satisfied (for now...unlike how I will not be satisfied when I have any bread cravings in the next few days, since I recently ran out and forgot to get that at the grocery...awesome.)

Anyhoozy, lunch yesterday was a simple and salty "quesadilla" of sorts.

Cheese and tea, please!

It had to be a quickie lunch, so I pulled out two slices of "lite" provolone cheese and slapped 'em on a flour tortilla with some smoky salsa. I heated that up in the microwave until the cheez was nice and gooey, folded it up, ~~swallowed it whole~~ and enjoyed that with a cup of apple cinnamon tea (I'm still on my "drink 3 cups of tea and 3 cups of water a day" kick...hopefully it'll become a habit!)

Breakfast today was SO good!

I was so HAPPLY to be eating this! (get it?....happy + apple...alright nevermind)

This mixture included:

Quick cook steel-cut oats
Two dashes of cinnamon
About half of an apple cut up into chunks
A handful of raisins

The combination of cinnamon raisins and apple was delightful! The apples not only added bursts of sweetness (explosions of sugary goodness!) throughout, but an an interesting texture, too. How apple-licious! (am I going to far with the apple comments?...too late)

My oatmeal breakfast was super filling, too, so I wasn't hungry until around 1 pm, right before class (and I mean I forgot to eat until, like, 4 minutes before class, so you can imagine that there was some frantic scarfing happening!) when I had to eat my quickie (again) lunch of a banana and flour-tortilla PBJ with raisins (since there was major scarfage, you can understand that I didn't have time for any pictures).

Dinnah was an interesting combination, too! Leftovers galore:

I ate in a garden, obviously...

Asparagus is one of my favorite veggies, so why does it always seem to happen that I find some in the back of my fridge that is threatening to go bad in like, 2 hours?? Anyways, this batch was still fine (although I don't think it would've been in another day...), so I sauteed it up in some olive oil, salt 'n peppah, and minced garlic. Then I heated up some leftover pesto tortellini (this stuff is the bomb.com - Trader Joe's baby), melted a piece of my provolone cheez on top, and (this is the interesting part...) smeared a generous amount of roasted garlic hummus on the top. It was GREAT! Super salty, cheesy, and easy (oh yeah, I'm a poet).

Raspberry Zinger tea on the side added a nice sweet treat to the meal :)

So that was today and yesterday's eats...but we still have some good news on the way for you! Look out for it hopefully in the next two or three posts.

Have a great night friends! -Anna

Jenny Sauce!

2010-02-09T22:31:00.007-05:00

So we already knew we had fantabulous friends and readers, but getting awesome recipes sent to us from devoted fans only reinforces that! Here's a easy and taste-a-licious-sounding salad dressing/marinade our great friend and fellow food luvah Jenny sent to us for sharing.

Introducing Jenny Sauce:

2 tbs balsamic vinegar
5 tbs olive oil
Squirt of mustard (my kinda measurement right there...)
Crushed garlic
Salt and pepper

Jenn-ay also says in her message:

"And it makes a good amount so I just put it in an old mustard bottle and threw it (like Anna suggests) in the fridge. But if you have a sweet salad or something, you could use different flavors of balsamic vinegar, but overall it just works on everything. My mom puts in on salads with strawberries and cranberries and says it's lovely (I prefer no fruit in my salad, thanks)."

What an awesome idea! So many store-bought dressings have tons o' random calories in them, so it's super handy to know how to make it yourself. Anywho, I have yet to try it, but I think I have all of the ingredients laying around in my cupboards (those lazy things...they just lie around all day and don't do anything), so hopefully I'll get the chance to throw it together and maybe put it on some veggies to let you know how it goes tomorrow! :D

The inventor herself!

Thanks Jenny!! Keep 'em coming! -Anna

I've Only Got (Crazy) Eyes for You!

2010-02-09T13:25:00.151-05:00

Hallloooo!! So gettin' back into the swing of things has definitely been easier than it has been this week. After spreading my weekend between Boone, Raleigh, and Chapel Hill. I didn't get all the appointments I hoped for, but I did jam in quite a few in while I could get around. One of these involved having my eyes dilated:

AAHHH!! Not a flattering pic, but neither is having pupils the size of quarters.

See a resemblance?? Other than the poofy fur and whiskers...oh wait.

It was nice to catch up wit da famfam and my friend Jenny, and I wish I could have stayed longer to see some UNC folk. My parents tried to spoil me the day I was home (Rachel, I hope you liked that they did all of your laundry- they thought it was mine!), and they made me some yummy GF soup to finish eat a bit of.

Now, however, it's back to good ol' Boone: snow, oatmeal, and Jezzy breaking attacking my fishtank. I was late for my 9:30am class this morning because I was waiting for my roomie Lindsey to come in and tell me we had a snow day! Well, it didn't work out that way, and I had to truck it to my class. Apparently, there is a big blizzard comin' our way, though! Tomorrow is probably going to be the worst of it and they are predicting wind up to 75mph!!! Ridonkulous if you ask me (this could work out, though, because if they don't cancel classes, then I can just FLY to class!). In the morning you can definitely expect me to be waiting for Linds again...

Since I was running so late I didn't get a chance to eat b-fast until I was home, and I was craving something delish and nutrish: baked oatmeal! I wasn't in the mood for a cinnamon and apple one, so I opted for a fruitier berry/yogurt one. Mine didn't turn out as good as when Anna did it for me, but I think this is because I tried to use Anna's lack of measuring technique ("pinch" and "blob"). If my ratios had been more on it would have been perfect!

I topped mine with yoggie and more berries! and the bowl helped me be less...you know! :D

p.s. Anybody spot a certain someone top left? What a mooch.

I used frozen berries, walnuts, and yogurt as well as the obvious baking powder and egg whites. I picked steel-cut oats because I like the texture and nutty taste. Yum!

For lunch I just scarfed some Cinnamon Chex cereal between classes because I had a packed day. Dinner was a sibbies night for me and my step-sista Kristen. We went to one of our favorite restaurants here in Boone called Black Cat Burrito. OMAHGAH! So good. I LOVE Black Cat! I used to eat their burritos back in the day before I was GF, and they are bangin'. They do have options for me, too. I got the Jumping Juan, which is beans + rice + sour cream + salsa + queso plus whatever you want, basically. I nixed the sour cream and got chickie and lettuce on mine.

Jumpin' in mah BELLY!

It was to die for! Kristen can attest to the fact that I had to quickly shove mine in the box and close it tight before I finished it all (speaking of tight, I also had to loosen my belt after dinner. Awesome.). I might have to get just a lil' niblet later to make sure it's still good, though...

Kristen got a "build your own burrito" and had a spinach tortilla with loads of stuff including rice + beans + mango salsa! If you can't tell, I genuinely get excited thinking about their food. Their salsa is so fresh, too.

YUM!

Currently, I am chillin' out before I have to hit da gym and work off that Jumping Juan with some jumping jacks (HA! crackin' myself up over here)! Not to mention I have a Psych exam tomorrow to study for (sweet mercy please let school be cancelled!). I do have some updates from last week I never got to bloggin' about (I spelled it "bloogin'" at first...I really am cracking myself up). Hopefully, I can get to that after I get my other junk important things done. Happy Tuesday! -Claire

SUPAHBOWL Food Hangover

2010-02-09T12:25:00.002-05:00

WOWWWzahhs, who's thinkin' about investing in a Hoveround since I can't move after this weekend?? Sheeeesh, they don't warn you strictly enough about the kinds of foodz you'll ~~be forced to~~ consume at SuperBowl parties.

Alright, I'll settle for one of these bad boys instead of a Hoveround...look how much fun this lady's having! (....)

Needless to say, I woke up feeling a ~~little wack-o~~ absolutely HORRIBLE today. Yuck!! Too much wine, greasy finger foods, and rich, gooey desserts made their way into my mouth over the course of the weekend (not that I didn't enjoy every last morsel, but the end feeling isn't as satisfying). So in the spirit of "forgiving and forgetting," I'm not going to even delve into the list of junk I consumed. So THERE! Let's move on and have a healthy, detoxifying week and get back on track so I don't explode from a sugar overdose any time soon.

There were some great moments in the weekend that are definitely worth recapping, though. For example, Claire came to visit!!!!

Sistas from different misters (oh yeah, Claire...you're adopted.)

She was in town for the weekend because she had a doctor's appointment Monday. Sooooo she came to Raleigh to hang out with me when she arrived on Saturday! After picking up our bruther Alex from a late-night flight arrival (he interviewed in Massachusetts this weekend for grad school! Fingers crossed!) and dropping him and his buddies off at the bars, Claire and I decided to hit the sack early so we could get up and enjoy THIS:

Drum roll please.....craisin raisin baked oatmeal!!

YUM! This might be even better than the baked pumpkin oatmeal! Claire and I thoroughly enjoyed it, plus it's uber filling!

The ingredients include:

1/4 cup quick-cook steel-cut oats
1 egg white
1/4 cup baking soda
Desired amount of craisins
Desired amount of raisins
Cinnamon to taste
1/2 cup applesauce

Mash up all the mixins and microwave them for about 3-4 minutes until it comes out like a little cake.

All mashified

Another thing that Claire decided to add to the top of hers (which I bought this week and LOVE): Better'n Peanut Butter spread!

Peanut buttery icing

Like a peanut buttah muffin cake!

Oh baby, this stuff totally impressed me! As a huge peanut butter fanatic my whole life (it runs in the family - Claire can't be trusted around a jar of peanut butter and our Dad has had PBJs for almost ever single breakfast...ever) this stuff isn't exactly a substitute, but it's delicious! It's a little bit sweeter than regular PB and has an icing-like texture. Compared to regulah PB, it states that it has "100 calories per serving (regular PB has 190) and 2 grams of fat per serving (regular PB has 16 grams)." WOW! So that means I can eat, like, 4 times as much as I normally would, right? .......

Claire, making sure that no smear of peanut butter icing goes unnoticed

Anyways, it was a good, warm, muffin-y meal to start the day off right (even though it didn't quite end well with the SuperBowl madness...but let's not talk about it).

Last night, after feeling my horrible food hangover, I had a super-vitamin-full dinner - steamed artichoke, roasted brussel sprouts, and baked chicken. Super delicioso!

Finally, I'm gonna get up with you again later today to share a recipe for an awesome salad dressing we received from one of our most valued and loyal readers!! :D Also, look out for some good and exciting news in the next few posts...

Have a terrrrrrific Toozday! -Anna

CAKES and Online Food-Journaling

2010-02-05T14:26:00.001-05:00

Alrighty, so I promised some cool info I had gathered this week and have been looking forward to sharing witchu. So here's the first fun tidbit that I found while perusing cnnhealth.com earlier this week: 31 Unique Birthday Cake Ideas! How FUN and YUM do these look?!?!

How much more could I LOVE cats after seeing this sweet treat?! (answer....none)

Ok, now this is just freakin' adorable. I'm considering having a baby girl right now JUST so I can make this for her

I'm actually thinking about making this for the SuperBowl party I'm going to on Sunday! What do you think? And what flavor??

Instead of making this cake for a specific party, I think I'm going to make this cake and then throw a shark party for how awesome it is

I'm going to make this cake (gluten-free, of course) for Claire when she finally learns how to keep her room clean!

So there's a bunch more on the website that you should waste some time browsing. Just seeing these neat-o ideas got my creative juices flowin' thinking of unique ones I could come up with! (how great would a flower-pot cake filled with "dirt" cake and gummy worms be?! Definitely gonna have to find time to try that one out...)

On a HEALTHIER note, here's another really interesting and useful link I've been kind of addicted to for the past 3 days. It's called "The Daily Plate", and it's a free website where you can track all of the food and drinks you consume and all of the nutritional information. It's supah detailed, with a huge list of packaged foods (it has in its database the nutritional information for Quaker Oats Maple and Brown Sugar Low Sugar oatmeal, for example) and plain ol' fruits and veggies (like a medium banana's stats).

I'm curious about what I eat, but I don't really wanna know how many calories is in peanut butter...ignorance is bliss in this case. Thanks.

You can even put in how much you weigh and your fitness goals ("I want to lose 1 pound per week" for instance) and it tells you how many calories you can consume in a day!

Anyways, I'm tryin' it for a week because I'm interested in seeing how I eat overall - I've never really kept a food diary or anything, so I just gotta know! :)

So check out these little sites while you're whiling away your time at work or in class waiting for the weekend to officially begin! -Anna

Saltare! ...And a Cupboard Hodgepodge

2010-02-05T12:21:00.002-05:00

Happy Friday, friends!!

I hear ya', pup!

Man, this week, Friday couldn't have come any sooner! It's been one heck of a jam-packed week. I haven't had the chance to get the grocery ONCE! It's kind of good though, because I had some gems in the back of the pantry that I had forgotten about and needed to crack open (today, however, I'm definitely going to Trader Joe's to restock on fresh goodies and new stuff that I've wanted to add to my stash after reading about and imagining up some new combinations this week!).

So sorry I wasn't able to post again yesterday! Even though I didn't have a lot of class, I ended up not having a lot of time somehow...

ANYWHO yesterday I had another batch of my beloved baked pumpkin oatmeal for breakfast accompanied by a hot cup of green tea (check one off my goal for three teas for the day!).

Pumpkin ~~pie~~ ~~cake~~ ~~muffin?!~~ oatmeal! Could've fooled me with how bomb.com this is!

Greeeeen teeeeeea

This is seriously such an awesome and easy recipizzle. I've already decided that I'm gonna try making it a cinnamon apple oatmeal goody by substituting applesauce for the pumpkin, apples and spice instant oatmeal for the maple and brown sugah flava, and maybe even add some apple chunks and cinnamon on top!! It SOUNDS incredible, but I'm hoping the texture comes out just like the pumpkin one....maybe it'll happen today for a snack! I'll keep you updated... :)

So since I couldn't even squeeze a second out to get the food sto' this week, my lunch yesterday was an interesting combination...in a suprisingly good way!

It consisted of a toasted Arnold Whole Wheat Sandwich Thin, leftover food-processed avocado and chile sauce, chili beans, and cheddah cheez on top:

I dunno who took that bite before I could take the picture...but it was me

"Gimme the food and nobody gets a claw to the eye."

"Fine, forget about the food...just give me the strap of that thing you're holding and we got a deal."

I also had another cup 'o green tea! It's not so bad keeping up with this goal, which is great, because I feel good about accomplishing something good for mah bod!

Unfortunately, I don't have any pics of dinnah because I was on the run (see below), but it was yumalicious. It included a strawberry Chobani greek yogurt mixed with a packet of maple and brown sugar instant oatmeal and a Subway Spicy Italian 6 inch on Honey 9-Grain bread. It was quite deeeelishuss.

So last night I was out and about helping my jump rope team with a half-time show for the Duke vs. Georgia Tech men's bball game at Duke University!

Cameron Indoor Stadium with the Cameron Crazies

We've done lots of Duke half-time performances before, and they're always the psycho-est, rowdiest, and most fun crowd we ever perform for. It was great to go back and be a part of it, especially because it was my best friend Rae's last half-time show to participate in while she still attends Duke!

Rae the Dukie (front right), a few of the group that did the show, and some gangstas on the right

Finally, I have some big, AWESOME news to share with you guys!! Some of very good friends from the jump rope world are on America's Next Best Dance Crew on MTV! Their first "elimination round" was last night and Saltare (the name of their group) was the FIRST group to be selected to go on to the next round!!

Saltare consists of (from top left, clockwise) Chaz Robinson, Lee Reisig, Billy Jackson, Brittany Fortier, Tyler Perez, and Lisa Brown. Woop woop!!

Their performance was freakin' amazing, and Joe, Tim, Ted and I were cheering and jumping around in Ted and Joe's living room after watching them perform because of how excited and proud we were! PLEASE check them out on MTV's ABDC website and watch them perform Thursdays at 10pm on MTV.

Here's the full episode, too!

They need all the support they can get! Way to spread the word about the sport and make us proud, Saltare!! :D

Have a great Friday! I'm hoping to squeeze out another post of some interesting stuff that I found this week I've been meaning to share with you, so hopefully you'll hear from me lata on! Go enjoy your Fri-dizzle!!

-Anna

A New Favorite Breakfast

2010-02-03T23:12:00.004-05:00

Alright, so this is getting ridonkulous. So you know how we had that snow storm over the weekend here in my part of NC and it threw off my class schedule for the beginning of the week? Out of my three classes tomorrow, I only have ONE! (NOT that I'm complaining...believe me, I'm more than happy to not have to go to my 8 am class...) But there's barely any snow left on the streets here! I could hardly believe my little eyes when I read the cancellation email for tomorrow. It's already a good start to tomorrow's day!

But let's back up for a hot sec - what about today? And yesterday?? Well yesterday I was so busy it was like a step up from a busy bee. Like...a busy hornet.

Alright, so I was busy, but I really hope I didn't look like this yesterday to other people...

I just had a ton to do! So SORRY I didn't have time to throw up a post. I did have time to snap a few pics yesterday and today, though!

Soooo rewinding ONE more time to the title of this post...I think I've found a new favorite breakfast! Hooooly guacamole, it's so spankin' good. I finally tried my long-awaited "baked" pumpkin oatmeal!!

Mmm looks like cake!

The best thing about it (other than it only takes THREE minutes to make) is that it totally makes me feel like I'm eating a really filling mini cake or something for breakfast, but am still getting a really nutritious oatey feast.

Side note: I tried that yesterday for the first time and adhered to the recipe, and I wanted it today again since it was so good (obviously). This time, however, I accidentally put a whole egg in instead of just the egg white. I decided to just try it before I ditched it, and it really didn't make that much of a difference! Just made it a little more savory, maybe.

Double side note: Kenzie (my roomie) sampled my first one and totally loved it, too, so she decided to make it yesterday. Since she didn't check the recipe again before making it, though, she forgot to put an egg white in and just put a little water instead. It worked out fine, though! So don't fear if you're outta the eggies.

For a snik-snak yesterday, I remembered I had some frozen rasperries that had been chillin' (literally) for a little while and one brown-alicious banana that needed some love - so I introduced them to each other and then chopped them to pieces! ...in the food processor, that is:

A tart and tasty low-cal sweet-toof satisfier. Yum!

Another low-cal and tasty sweet-toof snackaroo that I snarfed as a dessert today is super simple. I had a can of halved pears sittin' in my cupboard and slipped 'em into a bowl, nuked them in the microwave for about 2 minutes, sprinkled cinnamon on them, and voilà! Almost like hot fruit pie filling!

Cinna, man!

Finally, I thought I'd share with you that I've made it a goal to drink at least 3 cups of tea (decaf, since caffeine makes me feel like I'm on speed...not that I've ever done speed, although I did get my first speeding ticket the other day...alright, back to the post) and 3 cups of water every day this week.

I know you're supposed to drink at least "8 glasses of water a day," but honestly, I just don't ever end up hydrating myself enough. And I've been reading a lot lately about the benefits green tea can provide, so I'm gonna integrate that into mah goal! Plus making half of my hydration for the day something that has a little flavor makes it easier to down that much fluid.

Well I'm guessing that since I don't have much class to get to tomorrow I'll definitely be able to put up a post-izzle!

Have a grrrreat night kiddos! -Anna

Mexi Micro Meal!

2010-02-03T14:48:00.005-05:00

Here's the rezzy I promised!

This is the delicious one-serving recipe that I had the other day! It tastes just like an enchilada and can be healthy! (mine wasn't super healthy...but whatevs, it was delish). It was really nice to have a full meal without the clean-up of baking dishes, etc. just like a microwave meal you might buy (for way more $$).

You'll need:

Tortilla chips (I used baked)
Salsa
Taco sauce
Black beans
Corn
Sour cream (I used greek yogurt, but whatever works)
CHEEZ

Gosh it's so easy! Alright, first, crank some jams! I totally can't cook without music, it makes it a bajillion times more fun! Next, crunch the chips up a bit and put it in the bottom of a microwavable bowl.

See, look! We're already being healthy

Aight, done with that? Pour on salsa (don't be stingy!) and some taco sauce. This tastes just like a good enchilada sauce!

Taco Sauce + Salsa

Pretty easy so far, no? Layer some greek yogurt onto this! Or sour cream -whatever works (the other day I used ranch! Mostly because I was out of everything else, but also because ranch is awesome...)

In the next pic I accidently put corn and beans down first, but I found it's better if the sour cream/greek yogurt goes next.

Pretend the corn/beans aren't there...my B

Noooooow add the beans/corn!

Mmmm

Lastly, add lots 'o cheezzz! Okay not tooooo much, I actually did add too much cheese (who knew this was possible!?) but it was still yummy. Now all that's left to do is microwave it!! I put it in for liiiike 5 minutes. Okay, BUT as a side note: the best one I have had of these is one that I left in the fridge overnight. I made it and decided not to eat it one night, so I left it in there and had it for lunch the next day. They are good no matter what, but if you want to prepare it ahead it is fabulous (and a super quick cheap microwave meal!)

ENJOY!! With a trashy mag, of course :D

But seriously, I put a lot of cheese on mine...

As a totally unrelated addition, I would just like to say that :D is definitely my favorite smiley. I decided this today and I'm very satisfied with this decision. Have a good day! -Claire

Ice Cream and Icy Roads

2010-02-02T15:14:00.001-05:00

I'm alive!! Where have I been, you say? Bumming around from house to house getting stuck in snow all over the place is where! Not to mention running out of food and making it to the gym 0 times this weekend! I, like Anna, had an "off-weekend", AKA my breakfast, lunch, and dinner on Sunday consisted of this:

Heaven in a box

This is the best, most addicting, least nutritious thing I could have chosen, probably, but I don't regret any bite of it (except maybe the last ones...)! That being said, I definitely had to make some healthier choices today and yesterday. I got to the gym yesterday and worked it out pretty hard since I was feeling like I needed to be rid of some major toxins.

Today, though, there was a miracle. Our classes before 11 am got cancelled!! While Anna has been frolicking around in her "bad weather" without class, we have been tramping and driving through snow to get to our classes here in the mountains (just kidding, I'm glad you're being safe! But it sounds more likely for you to die of over-indulgence than icy weather...though who am I to talk?). Anyways, like I said, last night a miracle occurred and the roads iced over like nobody's business. This meant I could sleep until 1 pm, and sleep until 1 pm I did.

I do, however, have errands and work galore which must be completed, unfortunately. And I did have a chance to make a fabulous, healthy, homemade, mexican microwave bowl (I swear that won't be the recipe name...) which was JUST what I needed today to ween myself off of the junk food and get back on track again. The recipe will be posted later, but for now you can drool over this:

Wow, sorry, that is one sucky pic, but there's no turning back the clock because I already ate it...

I also had some other successful creations (cinnabon-inspired oatmeal!!) and cooking experiences that I will update you all with soon! Tonight, in fact, if I can. Hope everybody is staying warm!!! Sorry for being a blogging-slacker! -Claire

Garlicky Cheesy Cauliflower Concoction

2010-02-01T22:05:00.007-05:00

Oi! Today was a good day! I didn't have my morning classes due to the snow storm this past weekend, and I was finally able to get a good workout in at the gym! After having hung inside all weekend with Joe, Ted, and Tim (spending my time with 3 guys who can eat whatever they want + not being able to get to the gym + lots of wine = not the healthiest weekend I've ever had...) it felt really good being able to sweat a lot. I feel like if I had tasted my sweat it would've tasted like pizza and wine (is it gross that that makes me hungry right now?...don't tell anyone I said that).

Had a little too much of this recently...but holy junk, it was good.

Anyways, even though today was supposed to be a stretch and strengthen day according to my half-marathon training schedule (I'm on my fourth week! 7 more weeks to go...), I decided to run 4 miles and do some good weight lifting since I had had a break all weekend. Definitely not gonna beat myself up over my lack of less-than-perfect healthy habits over the past 3 days, but I will try to be consistent in my eating and working out this week to offset them!

So for breakfast, I had a hot bowl of cinnamon raisin Quaker Oats Quick Oats. Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm creamy.

After helping Joseph conquer some of his arch-enemy Spanish homework for the morning, I went home to try my first Chobani Greek Yogurt! I threw an Apple Cinnamon flavored instant oatmeal, stirred it up, and it was SO. GOOD.

My big fat greek yogurt

All da mixins

I had a banana and a cup of Celestial Seasonings Honey Vanilla Chamomile tea with a squirt of blue agave nectar to sweeten it, too. YUM. What a fruity tooty lunch.

Hot tea on a snowy day makes me wanna sleep the whole day!

After an afternoon of going to my one class that I had today (why can't they just cancel the whole day if they're gonna cancel some of it?!) and my trip to the gym, I was famished! I knew I had some veggies in the fridge that had been neglected all weekend, so I needed to eat those suckers before they went bad on me. So I made this concoction to include all of them: Garlicky Cheesy Cauliflower Concoction (nice name, eh?) It was a giant win!

First, I shredded the whole head of cauliflower I had using a hand held shredder (an extra arm workout for the day, I can assure you! PHEW) and put it all in a microwave-safe bowl.

Grati-flower

After covering it with plastic wrap and nukin' it for 6 minutes, I threw 3/4 of it into the food processor with an egg and about 1.5 cups of assorted shredded cheeses I found in my fridge. I spun that mixture around in the processor for a bit and came up with a "doughy" texture.

Then I took the "dough" and spread it in a greased cake pan.

It's a cauliflower cake!

My other neglected veggies - asparagus and a squash - were crying for attention at this point, so I chopped 'em up to silence them (makes me sound like a member of the vegetable mafia, right?) and threw them on top of the dough. I drizzled a generous amount of olive oil all over everything, added salt, pepper, and minced garlic to the mix, and chucked it in the oven on 450 degrees for about 25 minutes.

"Don't cut us, Anna! HELPPP!!!"

Swimmin' in some oil and ready to go in the oven-ator

It came out with an interesting texture...kind of like the veggies were on top of cous cous. Since I like cous cous and all the flavors in this particular mix, it was AWESOME!

Crispy cous cous-like concoction

YUM! And so veggielicious!! Even better, I have a ton of leftovers! (even though I ate a junk load good amount...) I will definitely be making this again.

Tomorrow I will FINALLY be trying the "baked" pumpkin oatmeal recipe for breakfast, and I can't wait! I'll be sure to fill you in :)

Sweet dreams, friends! -Anna

Ice Ice Baby

2010-02-01T00:03:00.001-05:00

Hello there! I hope everyone is having a wonderful and rest-before-the-crazy-week-starts Sunday. Fortunately for me, the crazy week this week doesn't start 'til Tuesday, because of the big snow storm we got Friday night! The roads are really messy, and it's gonna be even colder tonight, so it'll turn to ice! Not great conditions for driving = NO CLASS TOMORROW!! Woooo hooooo!

So due to the snow, this weekend has been a super lazy, stay-in-and-chill kinda weekend. Friday night I was hanging out over at Joseph's house, and by the time I was ready to leave, it was too slippery to drive! So I've been stranded here the entire weekend with my favorite guys: Joe, Ted, and Tim.

Ted, Tim, and Joe headin' for the hills!

These guys are some of my best friends - I grew up with Ted (who lives with Joe) and Tim because they've been on my jump rope team for even longer than I have. We've known each other forever (13 years now maybe? GAH that makes me feel old...) and I love 'em to death! So it was pretty much an awesome group to be stuck with all weekend :)

We ended up bummin', playing games (Apples to Apples anyone? SO fun!), watching a ton of TV and movies (have you seen "Disturbia" with Shia LaBeouf? ~~I crapped my pants~~ love it), and sledding (childhood memories!) yesterday and today.

Also, since the last time we were able to really get to the grocery store (and it was a short trip at that...people around here go crazy and stock up like they're getting ready to go into hiding for a month when there's even a forecast for snow) was Friday night, I've had some interesting and new food experiences while cleaning out their cupboards.

Both were a huge success!

The first: microwave-baked cinnamon raisin apples. The PERFECT snow-day snack!

These should be called "sin"-amon raisin apples because of how good they taste...clever, eh? Eh?

These are SO easy-peasy! Check it out:

1 apple
1 tsp. butter or margarine
2 tsp. brown sugar (OR regular sugar - this is what I did since I didn't have brown sugah)
0.5 tsp. cinnamon
Handful raisins
3 tbsp. water
1 tbsp. honey

Directions:

Quarter the apple, making sure to cut out the core. Place apple in microwave dish. Melt butter in small bowl on maximum power for 12 seconds. Stir in sugar, cinnamon and raisins. Pour mixture over apple and add water to dish. Cook, covered with plastic wrap on high for 4 to 6 minutes. Drizzle honey over the top and enjoy!

You really can't mess 'em up. Seriously, I found this recipe online and totally guesstimated the measurements (you know how I do), and they were still apple-licious! YUM. And even pretty healthy! I bet you could even substitute a low- or no-calorie sweetener for the sugah and cut the butter/margarine in half and still get a tasty result. Might try it next time!

CAUTION: The next food experiment may not be for everyone.

(...that makes it sounds really cool and intense, right?)

Ted and I actually tried kippered herring for the first time! Joe eats kippers and sardines ALL the time as a snack, and even though we always tell him they STANK up the room, they're jam-packed with vitamins and crazy amounts of concentrated fish-oil-goodness.

Ted, ~~freakin' out~~ really excited to try kippers!

Don't I look pumped to try these things??

Alright, so Ted and I were a little skeptical. But they were actually pretty good! They kind of had a tuna-like texture. Mine were in mustard while Ted's were in hot sauce, so that helped ease us into the super-fishy taste (while Joe, on the other hand, had his in oil, which wasn't all that bad, either...just a little fishier).

Just another experience that teaches me to keep an open mind!

Anywho, I'm headed to bed to get some rest before my big day tomorrow (of probably sledding some more, watchin' a little TV, maybe reading another magazine, etc...you know how stressful these things can be). Have a superb start to your week! -Anna

SNOW DAY!

2010-01-30T16:58:00.001-05:00

Hey folks! So there had been a lot of talk this week about a giant snow storm coming through our area, but it's been a pretty mild winter here so far, so my hopes weren't too high. The thing is, this time, IT HAPPENED! And it's realllly chilly! (think 20 degrees F...that's pretty dang cold in my book!)

Ok, so I didn't make this, I found it online. But I really wish I had thought of it!

But seriously, there's at least 3-4 inches on the ground from last night, and it's been sleeting/freezing rain-ing on and off all day, so the roads are supa slick. YIKES! So I think I'll just use today to lounge around and catch up on some trashy reality TV good quality reading and posting!

So obviously with the nippy weather and cozy snow-day mood, I woke up really looking forward to a hot bowl o' oatmeal to hit the spot! As I was eating my cinnamon raisin Quaker Oats Quick Oats and catching up on some of my favorite health blogs, I found this recipe that I am DEFINITELY trying tomorrow! Remember how I tried to make a good pumpkin-flavored oatmeal and it didn't come out as well as I had hoped? Well ooooh mah gah, look how pump-tastic THIS looks (from carrotsncake.com):

DROOOOOOOOL

"Baked" Pumpkin Oatmeal

1 packet of Maple Brown Sugar instant oatmeal

1/4 cup canned pumpkin

1/4 cup liquid egg whites

1/2 tsp baking powder

Directions:

Combine all ingredients in a microwave-safe bowl; mix well

Cook in microwave for 2 minutes

Allow to cool before enjoying

How easy is that?! And GOOD-SOUNDING?! I was definitely meant to make this, because I just happened to pick up a can of organic pumpkin at the grocery last night! (which was an absolute zoo because of the impending snow storm...sheesh) I might even have to make it for a snack instead of waiting for tomorrow's breakfast...I'll let you know how it goes!

Another one of my experiments that happened yesterday (inspired by your AMAZING-looking banana filled with peanut butter and walnuts creation, Claire!) was a PBJ banana that actually turned out delishuss!
Peanut buttah and jelly bananie

And Claire, you're totally right - it is SO much funner (funner = a step up from "more fun") eating the banana like a sandwich! I really don't know why, but I don't care, I'm doin' it all the time now.

The only problem with this snik-snak is that it is insanely messy...like, the messiest food I've ever had. I literally had peanut butter and jelly dripping down my forearms (but don't worry, I didn't let it go to waste). I suppose that's because I jam-packed it full. But maybe scooping out the insides of the banana to make a little ditch for the filling would help, or even freezing the whole thing for a while to help it harden could be kewl (remember what I said about bringing that word back? Have you started using it yet??)!

Another issue that I ran into is that because the banana is slippery when you cut it open, it's really hard to spread the PB and have it stay in place. To help this, I just melted the peanut butter to make it softer and easier to lather on that sucker.

Yuhhh-mee!

In a totally unrelated subject, I just had to share this picture with you.

Old Man Fonzie knows where you LIVE!

How creep-tastic is this picture?? I mean seriously, why the heck is he sitting like that?! Kenzie, Kate, and I really couldn't figure it out. Either way, I'm really glad I got a picture of it, because it is really freakin' weird and hilarious. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do!

Anywho, I'm out for now to read and hang in with Joseph for a cozy snow-day :) Have a sweet Saturday! -Anna

Brussel Shprouts at the Roomie Dinnah

2010-01-30T16:00:00.002-05:00

Two nights ago was our roommate dinner night, so Kate, Kenzie and I (and Fonz, of course) decided to make Kenzie's famous sweet potato quesadillas again (for the second time in a week...ohhhh they're so good!) and roasted brussel sprouts on the side.

Kate, choppin' the onions and SMILING! Isn't she supposed to be crying??

YYYUUUUMMM. That's the word I would use to describe the meal. We definitely all left the table full and feelin' good!

Ok, so I know when people hear "brussel sprouts" they immediately think they won't like them (at least that's what I first thought, and that's the reaction I've gotten from every single person I've talked to about them). But give THESE ones a chance! You will be sooo pleasantly surprised! If you like hash browns or french fries, you'll like these, because that's exactly what they taste like!

This is a super duper easy recipizzle that Claire shared with me a few weeks ago and I TOTALLY love:

1.5 pounds brussel sprouts, ends trimmed, yellow leaves removed, and quartered
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon kosher salt
0.5 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Don't they look like little teeny heads of lettuce?

The best part about this recipe is that you don't really have to measure anything. I measured stuff the first time, and it came out great. The second time, however, I just pretty much guesstimated (which is why you often hear me say things like "add a scoop" or "a dash" to my homemade recipes...if you don't know already, Claire and I weren't really blessed in the math department...), and it came out just as tasty. Here's whatcha do:

Kenzie diligently quartering away

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
Place trimmed and quartered brussel sprouts, olive oil, kosher salt, and pepper in a large resealable plastic bag. Seal tightly, and shake to coat. Pour onto a baking sheet, and place on center oven rack.
Roast in the preheated oven for 20 to 35 minutes, shaking pan every 5 to 7 minutes for even browning. Reduce heat when necessary to prevent burning. Brussel sprouts should be darkest brown, almost black, when done. Adjust seasoning with kosher salt, if necessary. Serve immediately.

Prepared and ready to rock 'n' roast!

Roasted, seasoned, and delectable hash browns BRUSSEL SHPROUTS!

Fortunately, we had pretty much cleaned all our dishes and cooking battlefield while we prepared the meal, so there was no washing after all our hard work! A giant pile of dirty dishes after slaving over and enjoying a sweet meal can totally mess up the after-eating euphoria.

This guy, on the other hand, did not contribute a whole lot to the process. Workin' hard or hardly workin' there, Fonz?

Overall, it was a bangin' roommate dinner. There will definitely be more from where that came from!

Have a great weekend, friends! :) -Anna

Double the Busy Bees!

2010-01-29T13:33:00.004-05:00

Okay, so maybe it's a coffee week for me. I, too, have been a super busy bee!

One of these suckers...

I have been trying to blog everyday, but this week has been so super-packed for me I couldn't do it quite that much. Fail!

Uh oh...

Even though it's kind of mean to laugh at....it's pretty funny. And if you imagine the dog is just yelling at her it's even more awesome!

Though being this busy can be stressful, it has also been productive for me, so it's okay. I just got back from my internship interview to work at a school, and I will be working there next friday! School work has been flooding into my life now that we are a few weeks in and I have been trying my best to keep my head above water. I have also made it a priority to fit in my workouts and healthy meals, which can take up big chunks of time. There have been some good meals though! I have been enjoying many a smoothie this week, MANY a coffee, and lots of salads. Anything quick will do! My friend came over the other night and we made my FAVE meal eva: B4D (breakfast for dinner). I made some yum-tasmic homefries that I forgot to take a pic of but trust me, they were good.

Aw yeah, baby. B4D FO' LYFE!

That also included a pice of cinnamon raisin toast from a rice loaf I bought and it definitely was a reminder as to why I make my own GF bread. I gotta get some more bread mix though, because I used the last of what I had gotten (thanks parents!)! Oh, also I gotta get eggs, milk, oil and everything else necessary because I haven't had time (or $$) for the grocery...which is why I just had Kix cereal (who knew this was GF?? I had no idea) with honey on it for lunch...

I also made some banana-strawberry soft-serve for a little snik-snak the other day:

'naner soft serve!

This week has also been full of birthdays!! Today, it's my friend Sarah's birthday and we are having a Mustache Party for her!! Don't worry, there will be pics. Wednesday was also my friend's birthday and we celebrated his on Wednesday. (same as B4D night...it was the best night ever)

Jezzy Update: It finally happened yesterday...Jezebel broke my fishtank. I knew it was just a matter of time for her to smack the filter off or something, and that's just what happened. I will give you the low-down on how it happened later because I have to pick up my friend (and her vacuum...ours broke and our place it a D-U-M-P!) to get mustaches! Farewell! -Claire

Pumpkin Oaties

2010-01-28T10:26:00.003-05:00

Good morning, friends! We've made it past hump day! That means we're that much closer to the weekend. YAHOOOO.

Well I didn't get a chance to post a recap of my day yesterday (I was a super busy bee), but Claire's post was awesome and long, so I figured that was a good amount of reading for you guys.

Me, being a busy bee just eatin' a flower...oh, bees don't eat flowers? Alright, maybe I'm just smelling it...either way, I was busy.

Since I was buzzin' all over the place, I opted for easy, take-along foodz, including an avocado, carrots and red pepper hummus, and a fruit medley with cottage cheese on top for lunch.

Breakfast was some instant butter-flavored grits (I DIDN'T cheat on my butter-abstinence pledge! I just needed a little taste...), and because I got home late, was hungry, and didn't feel like preparing something that would take a long time, dinner ended up being an over-easy egg on some whole wheat toast with some cheddah cheese. Breakfast for dinner is ALWAYS good in my book! What's your favorite meal of the day?

Wait, don't tell me...psychic kitty already knows your favorite meal of the day!

After dinnah I went to get mah fitness on (I didn't even have time before dinner! Yuck, I hate going to the gym late...oh well). Yesterday was my cross-training day for my half-marathon training schedule. I did 45 minutes on the elliptical and a short abs workout, and man did I sweat a lot. It was awesome. I love sweating - it makes me feel like I actually worked hard ~~since sometimes I just read trashy gossip magazines at the gym~~ like I do all the time!

Anyways, that was yesterday. It's a new day today! And I'm gonna take the time to post and take good pictures.

So breakfast was a new experiment that was kind of interesting - pumpkin oatmeal. I've read on a few other health-nuts' blogs that pumpkin is a kewl (remember when people used to spell "cool" like that? I'm gonna bring it back) food that's health-tastic. So I got a can of pumpkin pie filling at the grocery, mixed two scoops with one packet of plain instant oatmeal, and nuked that baby.

Pumpk-oats

I tasted the pumpkin filling and really liked it by itself, but mixed with the oatmeal, it was kinda mediocre. It wasn't bad...it was just missing something. So I'll be messing around with this again sometime soon to perfect it.

After my breakfast, I headed back upstairs to get ready for class...and look who I found waiting for me!

"I'm takin' a bath...gimme some privacy!!"

What a ~~psycho~~ silly kit kat! Fonz is too cute. Anyways, off to class for yet another busy day, but I'll let you know lata about my roommate din din tonight.

Have a superb Thursday, pals!

Recipes

2010-01-27T21:40:00.016-05:00

Wanna make somethin' yummy? AND healthy?! You're asking waaaay too much. Come on, get real.

SIKE!! We got what you want right here! Check out all of our recipes, both Sizzlin' Sistas originals and borrowed. Do you have a great food idea? Tell us! We love trying new foodz. Now get cookin'!

Caffeine Fiend

2010-01-27T16:29:00.005-05:00

Holla! Today is a coffee day. I like my tea, but on the occasion that I need a lot of caffeine, tea just won't cut it. Nothing wakes you up like a steaming cup of joe (or three...)! My coffee binge left me not super-hungry thus far, but I did start the day with overnight oatmeal...in a jar! I saw so many bloggers doing this that I was waaay too happy when my jar of better n' peanut butter ran out. In the past this would have ended in tears. Anyhoo, I tried it out and it really didn't work out that well because I put way too much vanilla soymilk in it, but I corrected that this morning.

Overnight Oatmeal

It turned out yummy but for some reason I thought it was going to be a magical experience that would fully initiate me into the blogging world or something...so, I'm in, right? Perhaps part of oatmeal-in-a-jar's fabulous-ness is in eating it from the jar, but I opted to put mine in a mug.

And I topped with the always sweet-tastic combo of walnuts, dried cranberries and apples!

Today might be full of leftovers, however, yesterday was chock-full of good eats!! I started off with cereal and bleewburries; not really special but still delish. I worked out hard after class and have been enjoying changing my workouts up still. Yesterday was 'leg day' and today my buns are so sore I can't even squat to sit down without a couple tears. I never think to do things like lunges unless I'm in a exercise class, but yesterday I was advised by my so-called friend (who is a college athlete...why did I listen?!) that if I want a really good workout I should incorporate squats and lunges....ouch. Leg day might be happening less frequently.

I had a smoothie after my workout, which was exciting because I bought a frozen fruit smoothie mix the other day, which I have wanted to try.

Smoothilicious

It was good but took a while to blend since everything was frozen so hard. The pre-mixed bag had mangos, pineapples (isn't this a weird word? I've always thought so), and strawberries, and then I put in a frozen 'naner and blueberries.

This was supposed to tide me over for a while but I was ready for lunch as soon as I chugged it, so I threw together a chickie salie:

I guess yesterday was a coffee day, too...

I spy with my little eye...a SALAD THIEF

and then I ended my meal with a banana filled with PB and walnuts...omahgah it was GOOD!

Mmmmmm

Seriously, go make this now. I don't know why it's so much better than just eating it on top, but making it a sandwich was so much tastier and more fun to eat!

I 'm pretty sure I just bummed around after this and watched lots of America's Next Top Model did some work. I don't even remember what I did, so it couldn't have been very important. I DO remember my dinner though, because it was faaaaab!

I joined a free website called Sparkpeople, which send emails with tips, recipes, and general weight-loss information. It's got good advice and provides a whole network where you can track yourself and see other people's goals and pointers. I don't do a lot of tracking, but I like to get their healthy recipes. Last week I received this recipe that involves skillet white beans, and I planned on making it for din since I had all the ingredients. And it was a success! Super easy, too.

I put mine on cauliflower instead of the linguine they suggest

I also added brussels sprouts because they rock.

Dang I ate a lot...oh, but I'm not done yet! I was STILL hungry and needed wanted a Reese's cup, but tried my best to pretend to resist the urge! I knew it was a fruitless fight, so I decided it was experimentation time. This resulted in me blending bananas with soy milk, ice cubes, and...a hot chocolate packet. Seriously, I don't even like chocolate, but I needed this Reese's-flavored concoction! Anyways, it turned out pretty tasty but pretty much fully liquid, so I threw it (but remember Anna's advice about "throwing" food) in da freeza.

Pre-frozen

Sorry, but I couldn't get pics from after it froze, because it all fell into my mouth before I could stop it. It only had time to dunk itself in loads of PB and finish the jar first. It was so good though!! I'm gonna have to do it again to perfect the recipe, but it totally satisfied my shweet toof and let me pretend like I was eating a Reese's. And it was healthier AND more filling! Win-win-win situation. In hindsight, I might make it on a day where I didn't already eat 2 bananas, though...

My share of pump-it-up tunes will be coming soon to complete the list! You really should check out the songs you haven't heard of, because when I YouTubed some of Anna's selections I def found some songs I'll be crankin' in the gym.

Alright, I'm off! Have a fun-filled, ferociously-fierce day, folks. -Claire

Pump Up Music List

2010-01-26T12:37:00.036-05:00

We've all been there (especially Claire) - you just don't feel like moving today. But you MUST be active! It's what helps us thrive as living beings! (at least that's what they say...I, on the other hand, usually feel really good when I'm spreading a jar of butter on a hot blueberry muffin, but we'll just agree to disagree)

Don't be lazy like this guy.

So how do you motivate yourself to exercise when you're in a funk? Aside from flicking my stomach and watching the jelly roll for motivation, I can usually blast some bumpin' jams to get myself more in the mood. So we've compiled a list of awesome, upbeat, sass-tastic and attitude-a-licious songs to sweat to.

Be active like this crazy kit-ay! And if you need to get a catnip-filled mouse, by golly, DO IT!

Do you have more tunes you love to move to? Share them with us! We need to expand our playlist.

Enjoy, and get goin'!

Sass-Tastic Sweatin' Songs

Upgrade U - Beyonce

Mo' Money, Mo' Problems - Notorious B.I.G, Puff Daddy, and Mase

Ghetto Superstar - Pras Michael, Ol' Dirty Bastard and Mýa

ABC - Jackson 5

Ring the Alarm - Beyonce

Disturbia - Rihanna

Party in the USA - Miley Cyrus

Three - Britney Spears

Evacuate the Dance Floor - Cascada

Tik Tok - Ke$ha

Poker Face - Lady Gaga

Bills, Bills, Bills - Destiny's Child

Sweet Home Alabama - Lynyrd Skynyrd

Smack Dat - Akon and Eminem

Let's Get Loud - Jennifer Lopez

Girlfriend - Avril Lavigne

Sk8er Boi - Avril Lavigne

No Escapin' This - Beatnuts

Deja Vu - Beyonce

I Love Rock 'n' Roll - Britney Spears

All the Small Things - Blink 182

Right Here (Departed) - Brandy

Womanizer - Britney Spears

Deliverance - Bubba Sparxx

Long Way 2 Go - Cassie
Run This Town - Jay-Z feat. Kanye and Rihanna
Obsessed - Mariah Carey
Drop It Low - Ester Dean Ft. Chris Brown
Heard 'Em All - Amerie
Hard - Rihanna
Boom Boom Pow - Black Eyed Peas
It Takes Two - Rob Base and DJ Easy Rock
Get Low - Lil' John and the Eastside Boyz
Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now) - C & C Music Factory Freedom Williams
We Will Rock You - Queen
Eye of the Tiger - Survivor
Bombs Over Baghdad - Outkast
The Way I Are - Timbaland feat. Keri Hilson
She Wants It - 50 Cent feat. Justin Timberlake
Bye Bye Bye - *Nsync
Love Me - Justin Bieber
Down - J Sean
Electric Feel - MGMT
Nasty Girl - Destiny's Child
Tangled - Maroon 5
Untouched - The Veronicas
Whatcha Say - Jason Derulo
Blah Blah Blah - Ke$ha
Here to Stay - Christina Aguilera
Blame It - Jamie Foxx
Transform Ya - Chris Brown, Lil' Wayne, Swizz Beatz
Let Me - Rihanna

Sweet Mercy, I Can Eat Gluten Again!

2010-01-26T10:26:00.005-05:00

Holy junk, having to eat gluten-free for a week was rough. Really rough. Especially for someone who grew up thinking that "bread" was the main food group. But I stuck it out as best I could for the past week in order to try to understand what kind of decisions and sacrifices Claire has to make on a daily basis.

My idea of a balanced diet ~~up until I was 20~~ in my childhood.

Let me tell you, it takes a special kind of person to really be able to stick with that kind of diet (and I don't mean special in that kind of way, though Claire coincidentally happens to fall in that category as well). So yesterday I made a point to include gluten in all of my meals (seriously, I missed it that much).

Breakfast was my typical bowl of oatmeal; however, during my gluten-free days I stuck with Quaker Oats Quick Oats because they were "plain" flavored, and oftentimes the instant packs of oatmeal contain gluten in the flavorings. So I would add some cinnamon or raisins to spice it up. But yesterday morning, I was allowed to have Maple and Brown Sugar Food Lion brand oatmeal!! What a treat! :) (Two packs, of course, since one pack never seems to fill me up enough).

Oatey McOatster

After a busy morning (of sitting on my butt in class...how exhilarating), I had worked up an appetite for something that had been sitting in my fridge ALL week since I had bought it before my gluten-free week and couldn't eat it the entire time: pesto tortellini from Trader Joe's. And MAN was it ~~worth the wait~~ good!

Tortellini, asparagus and cheeeeeez

I heated up the last of some wilting asparagus in the fridge (which I had made earlier in the week), tossed some mozzarella cheez on the top, and it was deee-lightful!

Around dinner, I was in a hurry to get to a group meeting, so it had to be quick. Even though it wasn't anything fancy, it was just as exciting as lunch, since I was able to have my Hotocado filling open-face on two (count 'em, TWO!) whole wheat pieces of toast. MMMMMMMMMMMMMMM BREEAADDD.

All in all, I'd say I am much more appreciative of being able to eat gluten-full foods after having forgone them for a week. So Claire, I'd like to commend you for being able to adhere to such a ~~horrible~~ strict diet (even if you have to for your health)! It really is difficult.

Finally, yesterday was my stretch and strengthen day, and it was absolutely beautimus here outside (60 degrees and sunny! In January?! Whatever, I'll definitely take it...) so I opted for a nice 4 mile walk around the lake near my house. It was very relaxing, and nice to get some low-impact activity in, too.

How's the weather where you are? I hope it's nice for the rest of the week. Maybe I'll be able to do one of my runs around the lake! :) I'm really excited for tonight's dinner, so I'll let you know how it goes a little later...have a glute-tastic day! (I know I will). -Anna

Let There Be Light!

2010-01-25T17:18:00.006-05:00

Hallelujah! Finally, some sun! Today, I woke up to the sun shinin' through my window! Okay, actually I have curtains, but it was brighter than yesterday so I knew it was sunny. This is good news, because now I don't have any excuse to sit and do nothing. Well, at least not until I start to catch up on Project Runway...but that's kind of productive, right?? RIGHT?!

ANYWHO, even with a nice day ahead, I barely got out of bed in time for class. I was already running late but I can't sacrifice breakfast. I was going to Health and Nutrition first, so I'm suuure she understood why I was 10 2 minutes late. I scarfed down a bizarre smoothie consisting of an apple, banana, and a clementine with vanilla soy milk. Whatever, it worked. I'm kind of a smoothie fiend, in case you couldn't tell. They are so yummy and easy.

Oh yeah baby

After mah class I got mah workout done. I realized that I have waaay more fun at the gym if I make a conscious effort to have fun! Instead of "This sucks, when can I stop," I started to think, "Okay, this still sucks isn't as fun, what can I do next that is fun?" This way I could start with something and change when I wanted! Once I got sick of the elliptical, I didn't keep going just for the sake of doing 30 minutes, I instead moved to the treadmill and messed around on there for a while. Switching it up helped me be less bored AND provided added benefits (keeps your muscles guessing!). I did a lot of weights too, which I always love. Do you like cardio or weights more (or neither both)?

I was super-energized after working out and went to my favorite coffee shop afterwards to meet some friends. This place has the best coffee and coolest atmosphere. I have been trying to stay away from coffee, but I'm still a tiddly bit of an addict. I figure I earned my fix. While everybody chatted I dreamt up my lunch and decided to stop at Earthfare before I went home. It's right across the street from me, so this was a no-brainer since there is no food at my house. Here's what I got:

Da spread

I got some brussels sprouts, too, but those were already a'roastin'.

And here is the end result:

Gosh, this was so good

Scallion hummus and herbed turkey on seaweed rice cakes, wif roasted brussels sprouts. Oh mah gah.

Brussels sprouts taste like homefries to me, thus the ketchup

For me, mom?! Oh, you shouldn't have...

Don't worry, Jezzy, I didn't. And to prove this to you I shall eat every last morsel!

On a side note, I feel like I need to add that I took about an hour break while writing this post, and it is now 30 degrees, windy, and snowing. Just when I thought there was hope...

Anna, that is a very interesting article! I love finding things like that. Informative, yet inspirational! I found an article in a magazine I read in the gym today that had some really awesome resolutions. Here are a few:

I won't dress schlubby on Sunday (all I wore this Sunday was two separate pajama outfits...I think this is a good resolution for me)
I'll look pulled together for work (or school and tutoring, in my case)
I'll resist wearing a t-shirt and boxers to bed every night
I'll look hot at the gym (the few times I have worn something other than a ginormous t-shirt, I worked so much harder! Being in something tight makes you want to look good - and quick!)

This magazine featured Pink on the cover, who is so ridonkulously in shape that it was definitely a motivator in the gym.

Sweet mercy, look at that bod!

I suppose I should shower or something now, since I haven't since I worked out...sweet sick! Have a gud dai, folks! -Claire

Inspiration with Some Peanut Butter on the Side

2010-01-24T23:37:00.023-05:00

Hola amigos! (I'm helping Joseph work on his Spanish right now...it's one of the last credits he needs to graduate and he HATES it, but I love Spanish!)

This morning I was eating my Quaker Oats Quick Oats with raisins and cinnamon (mmm...sooo creamy and yum-o) while reading up on the news on CNN online and came across some really cool articles that helped renew my motivation to be awesome (well, more awesome, I guess) this year. I thought if I shared some of them, it may help you accomplish something awesome, too! One of them is "10 ways to get motivated for change in 2010." Check it out:

http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/12/29/motivation.new.years.resolutions/index.html

I love reading stuff like this. A lot of the steps are things that I already know to do, but being reminded to do them is helpful because it's easy for me to lose steam if it's a long-term goal (like how I gave up butter for one of my New Years Resolutions this year...it's still not any easier...). One of the tips in this article that really resonates with me is to know thyself, and I especially like this part:

"Real change happens because you yourself want it, not because others want it for you."

This is definitely true for me. They say that "knowing thyself" is accomplished by stepping back and figuring out how you truly want your life to be, and I made a point at the beginning of this year to make it the best year EVER for me. Here's the preliminary list of goals I have for this year:

Do a half-marathon

Me, on just a typical training day.

Eat healthier and more balanced
Take classes/do activities that really interest me or that I enjoy
Give up butter

I love you, butter. Why are you so bad for me?!

Stop biting my nails

I'm really proud of my progress with these goals so far - I'm training for my half-marathon; have been doing really great eating healthily (and having a lot of fun being innovative with recipes); am taking a Hip Hop and Street Jazz dance class and courses to become a certified personal trainer; and have nixed butter from my diet. I relapsed on biting my nails after two weeks, though...it's tough! I wish they had rehab for this or something. I still haven't figured out a way to make myself really stop. Does anyone have any tips for me?? After 22 years of gnawin' 'em to nubs (...ew, did I really just say that? That's gross...) it's pretty hard to break the habit.

What are some of your goals? I'm really excited expand on this list and continue to better myself and my life. Any cool suggestions for me?

Well all this talk about doin' stuff made me feel like I HAD actually done stuff, so I got really hungry and decided to whip up some peanut butter banana soft serve. What is peanut butter banana soft serve, you say? Only the BEST SNACK/DESSERT EVER, that's what! Seriously, it is pretty flippin' incredible. Here are the ingredients:

Peanut butter
Banana

...that's it. Seriously! Stick a banana or two in the blender, toss in a generous scoop of peanut butter (well, maybe don't actually toss it in...that could get messy) and mush up that sucker 'til it looks like baby food. Only in this instance, there will be hungry babies, because no baby is taking my peanut butter banana soft serve.

Peanut buttah ~~jelly~~ banana time, peanut buttah ~~jelly~~ banana time!

Baby ~~poop~~ food

Then put it in a bowl and throw it in the freezer for an hour or so (again, if you really want to attempt the throw, at least start at a short distance) and there you have it! Soooo delicious.

Finally, I accomplished my first 5 mile run today for training for my half-marathon! I got a pretty hardcore blister on one of my feet and was sweatin' like a seal (do seals sweat? Ok, maybe they don't sweat, but they're wet a lot, right?) by the end of it. But I did it! And it felt really good. Tomorrow's my stretch and strengthen day, so I'll give you a run down (pun intended, duh) of what I do then.

Have a great Monday morning! -Anna

Sweet Potato Quesadillas

2010-01-24T18:27:00.002-05:00

Howdy doody friends! (Side note: Claire and I have tried to decide how to appropriately answer this question..."doody goody"?? "HowDEE doody?"?? Let us know if you figure it out...)

So last night while I was scrummaging in the fridge (definitely past time for groceries...not a whole lot happenin' in there) for something for dinner, one of my partners in crime/exercise/healthy eating and roommate, Kenzie, had just returned from the grocery with a load of awesome-looking ingredients to make her tasty sweet potato quesadillas. If I hadn't already made some almost rotten pleasantly ripe asparagus and two goopy eggs for my lack-luster dinner, I would have totally partaken in her feast. Either way, I had to document the process of making them so I could steal her recipe and share it! :)

Here are the yum-a-licious ingredients to include:

1.5 cups finely chopped onion
2 garlic cloves, minced or pressed
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
4 cups grated and peeled sweet potatoes (approximately 3 sweet potatoes)
0.5 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon chili powder
2 teaspoons ground cumin
Generous "pinch" of cayenne pepper (this is how I usually measure all of my recipes...although with peanut butter or butter it generally turns into more of a generous "scoop of the hand")
Salt and pepper
1 cup grated sharp cheddar
Tortillas (makes about 8 of 8-10 inch tortillas)
Salsa (optional, for the side or dipping)

PHEW! That's a lot of ingredients. A lot are spices you may have laying around the house already, though (hopefully). If not, it's totally worth it to splurge so you can use some of the ingredients for other sweet creations. Anyways, here are the steps:

1. Sauté onions and garlic in vegetable oil.

Work dem onions!

2. Add sweet potatoes, oregano, chili, cumin, and cayenne, and cook covered about 10 minutes, stirring.

Grate that sucker! Show 'em who's boss! (Unfortunately, Kenzie grated her finger pretty badly immediately following this picture...pretty gruesome.)

3. When potato is tender, add salt and pepper and remove from heat.

This stuff is smelling incredible right about now...and do you like her new Grandma cape?

4. Spread desired amount of filling and 2 tablespoons of cheese on tortilla.

5. Fold tortilla and toast in pan til browned on the outside.

The final product:

Oooooh yeah baby.

WOW, how much does your mouth water looking at that?? She also had some low-fat refried beans on the side, a perfect compliment to the main course. And there's no worrying later about this meal since it's surprisingly healthy (although you may need to worry about the beans taking effect later...).

Like I said earlier, unfortunately I had already eaten my meal for the night, but they turned out so well that we've already decided to have a roomie din din this week (with our other roommate, too) with this on the menu, so I'll give you my own personal review. Can't wait! :D -Anna

Good Food, Bad Weather

2010-01-24T15:21:00.008-05:00

Alright, so the weather has NOT gotten better! I was hoping to lose this nasty, wet weather by now, but so far I've just been cooped up and losing my mind instead. Thankfully, I have equally lazy awesome friends who have been keeping me entertained here. Last night, we had homemade meatballs (made by my roommate and friends) as well as Mexican...weird combo, but everything was eaten so it worked out. Both meals were delish! I just wasn't feeling pasta/meatball (but they were good. REALLY good!) so I made a healthy Mexican stir-fry type thing. It was delish!! and so easy. Seriously, it took maybe ten minutes.

YUM! I really don't think I could get sick of Mexican

Here's what I used:

1/2 can black beans
1/2 can corn
1/2 an onion
1/2 red pepper
1/2 yellow pepper
1/3 packet of taco seasoning (you can use any spice blend you have, I just happened to have this one)
1 can crushed tomatoes (I actually didn't use the whole can because I'm not a huge tomato fan, but mine also had adobe seasonings in it-yum!)
2-3 cups fresh spinach
1/2 head cauliflower- made into "rice" (I opted to put the concoction on this instead of rice because it's quicker and fewer calories. And I just like cauliflower!)

In a pan, cook onion and peppers until soft. Put a small layer of water at the bottom of the pan, creating a "steaming" affect. Now this is where it gets SUPER complicated: throw the rest in (minus the cauliflower). :D

Then just let it do its thing! To make the "rice" while the rest is bubblin', blend (use a food processor, blender, or even a handheld grater if you want) the cauliflower into rice-size pieces, put it in a microwave-safe bowl, cover and microwave. This usually takes ~5 minutes. You don't need to put water in with it, just cover it and it will steam itself!

I topped mine off with a junkload of little cheese and greek yogurt in lieu of sour cream. Easy, healthy, and delicious! My kinda recipe right there.

Look at those colors!

This could have been good on chips too! I did forget to put salsa on it though, which I had bought just for this meal!

Now I'm just enjoying a cup of tea and getting ready to make myself be productive. Not too sure what my dinner plan is, but I might just make this again - ha! ...but seriously.

How do you guys motivate yourselves on days with nasty weather?

On nice days, it's so easy to get up and going, but on days like today I don't want to make the effort! Despite the weather, though, it has been a fun, fabulous weekend and I have gotten some schoolwork done, so at least I've been semi-productive. Today's next goal: the gym! I am STILL feeling my workout from Friday- how sad! I did a lot of back work which is a spot I don't do a lot, so that definitely left some lingering soreness. Anywho, I hope you all are having more luck getting yourselves outside!
-Claire

Hotocado Tortilla Lunch

2010-01-23T18:21:00.007-05:00

Avocado + chili pepper sauce + corn tortilla = hotocado tortilla. Sometimes I'm so clever I don't know what to do with myself. Anyways, that's what I had for lunch today! It's a creation that was born about two weeks ago when I got my first mini food processor and wanted to put EVERYTHING (and I really mean everything...I've made some other great discoveries that I'll share with you later on) I ate into the food processor. So I had an avocado sitting around and was trying to think of what would be a good/interesting combination, and this happened...and it's totally awesome! It's the perfect combination of mushy-salty-spice-ness there ever was. Here's what it looked like:

Spice-alicious

Then I blended it together and threw it on a corn tortilla, sprinkled some shredded cheddah cheese on top, and nuked it in the microwave for 30 seconds. Here's the end product:

Delish and healthy!

Wow, that looks totally unappetizing. But it's delicious! Kinda like guacamole, only spicier. Also, the original creation went between two pieces of whole wheat toast, but this week I've been trying a gluten-free diet for fun (let me tell you...it's not actually fun at all) to understand what kind of choices Claire has to make on a daily basis for her Celiac diet. So I stuck it on a corn tortilla instead.

I also had a giant banana and a couple slices of granny smith apple dipped in some PB on the side to end the meal with some sweetness. Plus I had some company for lunch:

"Whatcha eatin' up here??"

This is Alfonzo (affectionately known as "Fonz" around the house)! He's my roommate's crazy kitty, and I love him to death. I think he loves me, too, but his nails aren't ever clipped, so when we hug he rips me apart. It's ok...he has good intentions (I think).

Also, this morning I went to the gym and did 45 minutes of sweaty elliptical cardio, an abs/back workout, and a few exercises to work my shoulders. Saturdays are my "cross training" days (according to Hal Higdon's training schedule that I'm following) since I'm training for my very first half-marathon! Tomorrow my first five mile run is on the schedule...I'll let you know how that goes.

I'm out for now...Fonz is crying for some attention! Have a sizzlin' Saturday! -Anna

Good and Green

2010-01-22T13:39:00.011-05:00

I'm surprisingly awake and energized today, considering I had to wake up at 7:15 today! This might seem wimpy to anybody with a normal sleep schedule or a real job, but I can gladly and easily sleep through entire days at a time- no joke. I had to sign up online for a time to tutor kids this semester for a class, and apparently we had to do it super early! It kept telling me there were errors, and finally I just gave up and went to my Health and Nutrition class. I just got an email saying nobody was able to make it work and they re-opened the site, just in time for me to miss all the spots I needed! Dang.
Otherwise, the day has been good, and I had an awesome, hard workout at the gym after class. The treadmill is usually just too hard for me to do for long periods of time, but using Beyonce's music interval training really helped. I did a junkload of weights too, which I know I will be feeling tomorrow.
I'm not usually super hungry after rough workouts, so I made a smoothie to enjoy before I had an actual lunch.

Greeny goodness

Yeah, it's not an optical illusion, it really is green. I threw in some spinach at the end because it doesn't taste like anything and I have to get rid of it before it goes bad...

Jezzy offered company yesterday, but she's giving me entertainment today!

Caught in the act - and look at that tail!

I dunno what to say about this other than I hope it doesn't give you nightmares!

Hope everybody is having a good day and staying active even with this nasty mcnast weather these days. -Claire

It's a Loungin' Day

2010-01-21T15:06:00.006-05:00

Good Afternoon! The weather here is barfadelic, and I barely made it out of bed today. The sound of rain can be so great to fall asleep to, but in the mornings it has the same affect- puts me straight to sleep! I did make it to my 9:30 class and we ended up watching a movie- woop woop! I was soaked by the time I got back home and finally got a chance to check out my new cookbook, Cook Yourself Thin Faster! It's the first one I've ever had, and since we aren't famous bloggers who get free stuff (...yet), I bought it pretty cheap off Amazon. For lunch I decided to try their creamy spinach, but I turned it into a sauce to eat with my red quinoa. If you aren't familiar with quinoa, I highly suggest checking this grain out (actually, it's technically a seed). I use it in place of pasta all the time. It's got tons of nutritional benefits including loads of fiber and protein, and it's gluten-free.

Kinda looks like Christmas-themed barf...sorry, but it tasted fantastic!

I had some company too!

Jezzy the meowster being thankful she's inside

The spinach was yummy and now I'm almost out of my gino-sized container! Lately, I have been using any excuse to use my blender, and turning this dip into a sauce gave me just that! I ended the meal with some yogurt covered almonds and my third (yes...third, not including the one I just made!) cup of tea.

Now, my roomie, Lindsey, and I are just loungin' on the couch daydreaming about what we would do if it didn't rain/snow here half of the school year. Not watch Bravo TV marathons probably...

Later, I'm gonna hit the gym and check out the swimming pool the school has. It's been a while since I have swam, but I figure it is good cardio that's easy on the joints. Leftover cauliflower soup for dinner, probably! Have a fabulous day and stay warm!
-Claire

Anna's Introduction

2010-01-21T13:02:00.160-05:00

Hi there! I'm super pumped about trying this blogging thing. Claire and I have both made a lot of resolutions to be awesome in various ways for 2010, so we figured a blog would be an interesting way for us to share our progress with each other (since we live a couple hours apart) and a great way to hold us accountable since you all will be on the edges of your seats dying to know if we can keep up with our goals! (Ok, maybe you won't be that attached...but you never know) Anyways, first I want to give you a few tiddly bits about myself so we can get to know each other a little better:

I am on a competitive jump rope team. That's right. Jump rope. I've been a part of the team, called the Bouncing Bulldogs, since I was 9, too, so it's a big part of my life and who I am. In fact, I've traveled all over the world with my team performing for various events, competing (I'm a two-time world champ and my team is currently the six-time national champ team, woop woop!), and teaching workshops to all types of people of all ages. Being so involved and active at such a high level growing up really instilled in me how important it is (and how fun it can be!) to be physically fit. So go jump rope!

Me (on the right) and 4 of my best friends and teammates practicing a routine to perform at the Apollo Theater in NYC.

I am in the longest relationship ever. Ok...not ever. But for how young I am, I'd say that having a relationship that's going on six years is a doozy. My crazy and awesome boyfriend, Joseph, is also a jump roper, and we grew up jumping together on the same team (which means we've known each other for a loooong time). We've been through a ton and grown a lot together, and he puts up with my psycho cat obsession and giant, crazy family, so I guess I'll keep him around for a while longer ;)

Me and mah boo in Hawaiiiii!

Food is the bomb.com. Seriously, I love it (who doesn't??). And I am on a total health kick right now, too, which has been great because I don't feel bad about what I'm eating! I'm also really into trying new recipes and creating cool concoctions (how's that for alliteration?), which has been fun. My favorite foods are peanut butter, roasted brussel sprouts (I know, who likes brussel sprouts?! But you are seriously going to have to try them the way Claire and I make them) and more peanut butter. All together. Alright, maybe not all together, but it could be interesting...
I am definitely a neat freak, possibly on the verge of OCD-ness (quite the opposite of Claire, I might point out...) I like everything in its place and never lose anything (except my regard for socially acceptable behavior when I am around cats).
Finally, I love constantly trying new things. It's so addicting! New foods, ways of exercising, traveling to new places and cultures - I get such a thrill from it all. Wouldn't life be boring if everything was the same and predictable?? I want to jump out of planes (skydiving is amazing!) and swim with sharks dolphins and go EVERYWHERE! (donations to Anna's Traveling Fund are greatly appreciated and accepted at any time)

Kayaking on a weekend camping trip = awesome

So there you have it. A little peek into the exhilarating life of Anna! Now I want you to share with us things about you! What kinds of food do you like? Send us recipes! What cool things have you tried that totally changed your life? I wanna do it too! Do you have a cat? Send it to me Awesome! Let's be friends!

I'm totally stoked to get this going. After all, it's something new to try!
-Anna

Alfonzo (my roommate's kit kat trying to escape...but he loves me) and me!

Claire's Introduction

2010-01-20T21:13:00.010-05:00

Aloha! I have been wanting an outlet to talk about fun things and find great ways to stay motivated, so I (and Anna, too) am so excited to blog with you all! First, I want to let you know a little about me, so here are some highlights:

I love to cook (and eat!). I always have, but only really began experimenting this year, since I moved into my first apartment. I will eat any vegetable or fruit you give me, but have never liked chocolate.
I HATE don't love to workout! ...sorry, but it's true! I DO, however, enjoy finding interesting ways to stay active and in shape (hiking, swimming, kayaking- fun!). Though I find the gym dull, it's important to me to keep my body healthy, so you gotta do what ya gotta do, right?
I have Celiac disease, which cuts wheat, barley, and rye out from my diet (that means no pasta, bread, and cake...I'm not lyin'!). I take this responsibility to my health and well-being very seriously. Once I was diagnosed in 2008, I immediately eliminated these and now love to find alternatives and try new things I might have overlooked otherwise.
I'm a student at Appalachian State University in Boone, NC. I love it here, but the weather can be frigid and I'm not so sure I will ever get used to it! It's in the mountains which means we have fabulous hiking and b-e-a-u-tiful scenery. My major is Elementary Education, a choice I am so happy to have settled on.
I'm outrageously in love with my cat, Jezebel. In turn, Jezzy is totally crazy about my fish, Sushi. Kind of a love triangle thing going on since I bet Sushi likes me because I feed him...
I'm a tea, peanut butter, and oatmeal addict (oh no, now I'm hungry...), and there's nothing anybody can do about it!
I'm a goal oriented person that loves to dream big and thrive off the satisfaction I get when I'm successful. I always have a bagillion (buh-jill-yon) goals about getting more in shape, getting average awesome grades, and even getting more sleep.
My friends and (big) family mean the world to me, and I would be lost without them! They always support me and I'm eternally grateful to every last one of them. Music and singing have also played a big part in my life.

I really look forward to posting recipes, motivating ideas, exercising tips, everything Jezebel does, and my everyday life in general! -Claire

Me!

It's a Pleasure to Meet You

2010-01-19T20:08:00.012-05:00

Hey all! Welcome to our blog - our online exchanges about food, exercise, humor, and pretty much our life as sisters. We decided to jump on the blog-bandwagon when we realized we emailed each other stuff almost every day that other people might appreciate, too...like yum-tastic new recipes, tips for keeping each other motivated to be active, jokes, and hilarious pictures (mostly of cats...tons of cats). We're pumped to share our lives with you, and would love to hear about yours as well, so please email us at sizzlinsistas@gmail.com with questions, comments, or anything awesome you'd like to share! -Claire & Anna