Oats | Healthy and Sane

Choosing tiles may cause an overconsumption of green beans

January 28th, 2010

Mothers everywhere, send your kids to the tile store and make them pick their favorite! (I’m referring to the title of my post).

So here is the deal – I’m stress eating veggies right now. I guess it could be worse!

Adam and I just got back from a really awesome dinner (guess what kind? haha) and a few moments after plopping myself on the couch, I went back for the leftovers. So good! I’ll post about dinner separately. The pictures came out too good to be buried in this monster of a post you’re about to read (hopefully, lol).

So let’s go back to my reason for stress eating… prior to dinner we went to a tile store to pick out the back splash for our kitchen. We actually knew exactly what we wanted to see (saw pictures online, fell in love with them, basically planned the rest of our kitchen around them) and wanted to see the tiles in real life before forking over the big bucks. Here is what we came to see (the tile on the left)…

The 3 little squares on the wood (which is a model cabinet door of our kitchen) are the countertop colors we were trying to pick out. We loved the different colors all combined together in a tile mosaic, but I thought the brown in the tiles looked too cold compared to the warm cherry wood cabinets. Starting over…

Tiles, tiles, everywhere!

Which one would you choose?

We finally picked the tile in the middle (the monochromatic look actually looked super sleek!) but it looked light blue in the store and looks lifeless in my pics! What we actually thought we picked out looked more like this (but a little lighter)…

Blue-ish gray, right? Well in real life it looked super blue (too blue!!). I’m freaked out. Did my camera capture the wrong light or is the lighting in that store completely distorted? The tile we picked out was called “gray” but it looked blue-ish in the showroom. Will it actually look like boring gray in our house? Ok so basically that’s why I’m freaking out and eating veggies. Yeah, you don’t want to be in my head sometimes!

KITCHEN REMODEL UPDATE PICS

There was more improvement on the kitchen than just me confusing the hell of myself and Adam trying not to get too frustrated with my indecisiveness. We now have recessed lights!!

And the light switches have been relocated. Awesomeness!

We also have our electricity back! Oh the simple things in life…

FOOD

Aside from reading a little more about dSLRs…

Yes, I am a digital SLR dummy! … I’ve also been eating. I’ve been eating some handmade chocolate truffles…

Chocolate coconut macaroons (ok, actually one macarooN)..

… and (whoa) real food too! Note: this is food from the last 2 days.

BREAKFAST

Yesterday: yogurt with oats, banana slices, pomegranate seeds and pecans + coffee

This morning: Au Bon Pain whole grain bagel with sundried tomato cream cheese and tomato + coffee

I haven’t had a bagel in ages. This tasted like heaven!

LUNCH

Yesterday: Niman Ranch ham, cucumbers and hummus on TJ’s whole wheat Tuscan Pane + baby carrots

This sandwich was the bomb! Cucumbers and hummus are amazing together. I can picture little tea sandwiches on soft bread with just cucs and hummus. Mmm…

Today’s lunch:

I put this together with food that was rescued from our backyard after our fridge was working again (Adam took all the food outside in the cold last night since it was colder there than in our apt). Not sure if I was brave or stupid to do this. Still tasted great!

brown rice + pinto beans + Niman Ranch ham

and grape tomatoes + cucumbers in nonfat yogurt, S&P (this is a Russian classic, typically made with sour cream. The yogurt works great too!)

SNACKS

Can you say food porn? 1/2 banana with Barney Butter

Clif zbar chocolate brownie

It was actually REALLY good! A little small though, so I’m calling it a snack instead of dinner.

DINNER

Horrible pictures – delicious food! This is a few bites I got at Samurai last night.

Ika sansai: squid salad with mango, mountain string beans and vinegar

This was so incredibly flavorful! The squid was marinated with lots of ginger and lemon. I actually couldn’t taste the mango but seriously – the squid was the best!

Sunomono – seaweed and cucumbers served in lightly seasoned rice vinegar

As you can see, I ordered it with seafood, which was very lightly grilled (basically raw). This was NOT seaweed and I did not enjoy whatever veggie it was because of the weird rice vinegar but the fish was great. I love sushi!!

So that’s my past 2 days in a nutshell (except for tonight’s dinner which you’ll see tomorrow). I was working until nearly midnight last night (with that short break for dinner) so I am definitely ready for bed tonight.

Sorry for the information overload here. What can I say, I like to “talk.” Who’s ready for the weekend?!!!

Healthy meals, naughty snacks

January 26th, 2010

I was looking at pictures of my day’s worth of food just now and realizes that breakfast, lunch and dinner were model meals – healthy + balanced, and then each of my snacks was a little treat that I got to sneak in between. I’m tracking my calories and macro-nutrient intake on Sparkpeople.com and that’s why I can say that at the end it really does all balance out. I was in the range of every single category I track. Sweet!

BREAKFAST

I tried to start the morning with some overnight oats, except later in the day I realized that what I prepared last night was just yogurt with oats… you need milk for overnight oats. Hey, it still tasted pretty yummy!

In the mix – 1/3 c rolled oats, 1/2 cup nonfat yogurt, Zoe’s granola, fresh mango, 1 medjool date and walnut pieces. Sweet and tart – delicious.

[422 calories with coffee]

MID-MORNING SNACK

Fresh banana bread (from the office)

[~200 calories?]

LUNCH

Mixed greens, grape tomatoes, 1/4 avocado, pinto beans + meat from 1.5 chicken drumsticks, dressed in 1T of Annie’s balsamic vinaigrette

So much delicious healthy fat – the avocado + pinto beans were super creamy and the chicken tasted extra buttery (no butter there, just dark meat which I rarely eat).

[306 calories]

WORKOUT

I ran outside today!! I received an email from my sister today telling me she ran outside at 6 am this morning. I was so impressed that I decided to go for a run outside myself… and I even found a buddy to go with me. A girl that works at my gym is training for a half marathon right now. We snuck out of work mid-day for a 40 minute run. I didn’t start my garmin right away, but I think we held an 8:30 minute pace (it was hard!!!) and ran for about 4.5 miles. The cooldown walk never felt so good (even though it was freezing and windy out)!!

MID-AFTERNOON SNACK

Blueberry mango cranberry bran muffin

[220 calories]

DINNER

Late night at work calls for super easy dinners – this is V8 tomato soup + a toast with organic cheddar

The soup was a little sweet on its own, but the cheddar toasts balanced it out really well.

Mmm, who doesn’t love grilled cheese dipped in tomato soup? This soup even had other hidden veggies (like zucchini). Love that!

[349 calories]

[100 calories] – This cookie is nothing special.

POST-WORK SNACK

A few spoonfuls of pomegranate seeds… I love how they burst in your mouth!

Total calories consumed: 1622 + pomegranate seeds (can’t find their nutritionals right now)

How do you balance out your meals + snacks? Do you include dessert with a meal or eat it as a snack (if at all)? I usually prefer sweeter snacks over savory ones, but once in a while I crave pickles or hummus.

There is a standup comedian in my house!

January 14th, 2010

- Why does everybody want to hang out with a mushroom?

- Because he’s a fun guy! (funghi – get it?)

This joke is brought to you by my husband. He came up with this brilliancy while I was cooking up mushrooms/funghi for dinner and saying how much I love them. He plans on going on tour with this one as his opening joke. I was laughing hysterically, mostly at how silly my husband is. lol

So now that we got some silliness out of the way, I need to share with you that over the last few days, I’ve gotten back to some bad old habits. After dinner I’ve been craving cookies, but since we don’t have any, I’ve been trying to fill the void with just random stuff in the house – even though this was putting me above my calorie allowance. What’s the point of carefully counting all day if at the end I just blow it for no reason?! The magic of calorie counting seized to work and I need to do something about it. It’s time to bring back a daily treat! This will screw up my pretty numbers, but I don’t care. It’s about finding the right balance, and I’m determined to get there. Let’s see if it helps. Of course I’ll keep you guys posted!

[Still laughing about the joke above...]

BREAKFAST

Banana oats (1/2 cup dry) topped with Barney Butter, banana slices (the other half of the banana) and dried cherries

Man, I hate the lighting in my house!! This picture looks so sad. Do you think a fancy SLR would help the situation??

LUNCH

UFood UBistro salad with chicken – organic mixed greens, tomatoes, feta, walnuts, cranberries, chicken + blueberry-pomegranate vinaigrette

Not bad for a healthy lunch on the go. I was actually going to get their falafel wrap that sounded amazing (and I’ve been on a falafel kick since trying Oleana’s spinach falafel) but at 730 calories, I said no thanks!

SNACKS

Plain oikos, grapes + Nature’s Path pumpkin flax plus granola

So delicious, healthy + filling!

A little wrinkly apple in the work library…

DINNER

The kitchen remodel is officially starting on Monday, so last night I made Adam one of his “man meals” before he takes matters into his own hands and goes out to buy something like that. I made his absolute favorite – a steak and cheese sub, but on my own terms – healthy and natural.

We used a lean cut of grass fed beef, mushrooms, organic baguette (unfortunately getting whole wheat was a definitely no-go with Adam) + American cheese. Everything was bought at WF – nice and fresh!

The baguette was actually warm when we picked it up. Just look at this gorgeous crust!! This dinner was amazing – super flavorful without the grease you get at sub shops. (I cooked the meat and the mushrooms on the skillet with a non-stick spray, then added them to a baguette, topped with cheese and broiled the open-faced sandwich in the toaster oven).

After dinner I ate 2 clementines, some pecans from their bag, a spoonful of Barney Butter (straight from the container) and then decided to stop the madness and made a few cookies (from this cookie dough).

x 2

I was definitely boredom eating and even gave myself a bit of a stomachache. Let’s hope a yummy cookie earlier in the day will make for a more satisfying evening – sans random snacking!