Driving to Tucson

Today I drove to Tucson for my cousin's bridal shower. Before I left I made a green monster for the road!
It contained:

3 cups of baby spinach
1 cup of blueberries
1 cup almond milk
2 Tbsp ground flax seed
1 small packet of chocolate rice protein powder


Rice protein powder is not my favorite, but it tasted pretty good.

It was super rainy, but I was careful.

The shower was really nice, the bridal shower that is. The rain was refreshing too.

Healthy Snacks!

This I ate a very healthy snack... more like breakfast was a Dr. Pepper and Gluten-Free Brownies. Since making brownies with gluten... for the <3 for Valentine's Day I had been craving them! So last night I made some and today I ate some!

For dinner I used the other half of my delicious spaghetti squash. I topped it with Classico Tomato Basil and grated parmesan.


I had a small caesar to go along with my spaghetti, which consisted of romaine lettuce, Newmans Caesar dressing, bacon bits, shredded parmesan, and fresh squeezed lemons. Yummy! I could eat this everyday!

Spaghetti Squash

Tonight for dinner I made spaghetti squash with mixed veggies. I learned how to make spaghetti squash on my own. There is a sticker on the squash when you buy it, I tried to follow them, but they were difficult and the squash was too hard to cut prior to cooking. So here are my directions.

1.) Wash squash
2.) Wrap in cling wrap
3.) Stab a few holes in the squash.
4.) Stick in the mic for 12 minutes. (add or minus one or two depending on size.)
5.) Be careful when taking it out of the mic is will be very hot.
6.) Cut it in half length wise.
7.) Scoop out the middle part with the seeds.
8.) Use a fork to scrap out the inside.


Simple, right? :)

I added some frozen mixed veggies, which I cooked in the mic. I flavored with butter, pepper, and a little bit of salt.

Yams, Yams, Yams

Yams have become one of my favorite vegetables, its only about 20% starch, so its a veggie in my book. I have not been impressed by the selection of "fresh" yams at my local grocery store, but I found these little guys. Micro-bakers! Best invention ever! Quick and easy! Just pop it in the mic for 7 minutes and you have yourself a perfectly baked yam.


Dinner was packed with a lot of veggies. I popped some frozen mixed veggies on the mic, which consisted of broccoli, carrots, and yellow carrots, which for the longest time I thought was yellow squash! Either way they are pretty tasty.


I also had a side of broccoli slaw, which consists of red cabbage, carrots, and raw broccoli. I added red vinegar and gluten-free ranch to the slaw. I love red vinegar and ranch together. It is the best combination. To drink I had a nice refreshing glass of water.

Day THREE

February 18, 2010

Today is a new day. After not completing any of my happiness projects yesterday, I have decided to do them this weekend in addition to the ones I have yet to plan. I have a few ideas in the works, just nothing decided.

I woke up early at 5am. Since I did not have to actually get ready for work until 6, I had plans of blogging, reading or exercising. I just went back to bed. I don’t know why I can’t get motivated lately.

My new ‘happiness project’ is to lose 10 pounds. For some reason I get to a weight and I tell myself this is as low as I can go, my body won’t let me lose the weight, so why bother. The last ‘lowest’ weight my body would let me go was 10 pounds ago. So I have decided to challenge myself and lose another 10 pounds. After that is accomplished, I will really be as low as I can go for my body type. I am a tall girl, 5’9 and there is a point of being too skinny. I am very healthy by the way, just had my physical last week.

I know that losing weight isn’t something that a lot of people will agree will bring me happiness. I know that losing weight alone won’t make you happier, you need to make other changes. It is not about the losing weight for me, yes I want to get rid of this last 10 pounds, but MY Happiness Project is about doing things that I put off or make excuses for not doing or competing. If I have an hour to drive to the mall, shop and spend money, I have time to workout, clean-out my junk drawer, closet ect.

What MY Happiness Project is all about is: Things that do not cost money, but will bring me lasting happiness.

Tonight is girl’s night. Every Thursday we make a conscious effort to have girl’s night. This can be expensive, usually a $20 night at least. I allow myself to attend this outing every week because even though it is expensive, almost half of what I spend on groceries a week. I know that it is good for me mentally, to be with girl friends and talk about problems, concerns, or just laugh hysterically. I told my BFF that this week I was feeling selfish, so it will be just her and I going to dinner, usually we invite a lot of girls and 6 or more usually show up. We are going to Sweet Tomatoes. Which is difficult for me to eat there because of the gluten, sometimes I get sick (which consists of a headache and sometimes stomach issues) and sometimes I am totally fine. So today I am feeling brave.

My Happiness Project for today I completed was putting the money I had left in my bank account as of last night right before I got paid towards my credit card. I don’t have a lot of debt; just a little bit of nagging that I allow myself to keep. I will do this every other paycheck in addition to my monthly payments until the balance is $0.00 read that $0.00!

Foods for the day:

Gluten free Chex and Glutino Pretzel stick (which are amazing)

Celestial Acai Mango Zinger Caffeine free tea

Salad which consisted of romaine lettuce, feta, cranberries, cucumbers, carrots, and walnuts from Pie Zanos.

Glutino Sans Gluten Free Wild berry Baies savages

Dinner will be lots of delicious goodness at Sweet Tomatoes

Frozen Yogurt

Day TWO: Happiness Project

February 17, 2010

Day 2 of my happiness project. I have so many ideas of what I want to do that I have to write them all down. I really need to take it a little at a time because I am a perfectionist. This means I will want to do them all in one day, not be able to and give up.

Today I will go to home depot after work. I am going to have them re-key the lock on my garage door to fit the rest of the locks and buy filters. I don’t know why I always put off going to home depot. I think because it is on the right side of the freeway, in the middle of the shopping center and just not really convenient.

I did my blood work this morning; it was the fasting kind so I was there by 7am. I put it off for a couple of days. I am glad that I finally did it. Now the wait to make sure I am healthy.

Foods for the day:
Venti Chai from Starbucks with n/f milk
2 Steak Taco plate from Rubio’s, with Black beans instead of pinto
Celestial Chai Tea Honey Vanilla

Left over steak, black bean, Colby Jack and brown rice tortilla burro

I did no exercise and I did not complete my happiness project for the day. I was disappointed in myself. I didn’t read any of the book either.

Tomorrow is a new day.

Day One My Happiness Project

Today was my first day of my happiness project. I had to order the book because both of the Barnes and Nobles near me were sold out; it came in today (only took a day!) so I went and picked it up. My first project was to put the leopard dishes in the yard sale pile and pull the good China out of the China cabinet and put them in the cabinet for everyday use.

I bought new silverware about a year ago and instead of getting rid of the old silverware I kept it. Last night the old silverware went in the yard sale pile too.

I felt better, a little excited, a little anxious. I worry about breaking one of the good China or running out of silverware. What good is the China if we don’t enjoy it? How long does it really take to clean a piece of silverware if we run out?

I finally wrote thank you cards from my birthday, 3 weeks later! I also cleaned the house. Not a deep cleaning, but dusted and vacuumed and washed the pet bedding. I was very productive.

Foods for the day:

Glutino Sans Gluten Free Wild berry Baies savages

Green Tea, Stash Pomegranate and raspberry (2 bags)

Sweet and Savory Trail mix from TJ’s

Carrots

Dried Green beans from TJ’s

Egg Burro with 1 egg, 1 egg white, Colby Jack cheese, and a gluten/wheat free brown rice tortilla.

Ginger Tea, Yogi

Today I donated blood. 2 hours before I went I made a egg, steak, and cheese burro with Trader Joe's Wheat free, Gluten Free Brown Rice Tortillas and had a glass of milk. Before
you donate blood, it is important to drink lots of water, get a good nights rest and eat a good meal. My donation was quick, took 11 minutes, I have been as quick as 8 minutes before.

I donate blood because it doesn't cost me anything and it is a way to give back. I potentially saved 4 lives today. Since I am a gold donor they really want me to donate platelets.

In this process they take the blood out, separate the platelets and put back in what is left over, you can donate 2x as much. It take a bit longer as regular whole blood donation. They keep calling to see if I will donate platelets. I would love to, but I can't. The thought of them taking it out and putting it back in grosses me out like no other! Before I started donating blood, my doctors office would take blood with a baby needle when they needed samples. So I feel like I have come a looong way and don't plan on donating platelets. I finally explained this to them and they have now made a note in my records to show I was not comfortable with this.

My parents are coming to spend the weekend with me next weekend. My mom and I are going to have a garage sale while my dad fixes a few things around the house. Today, before I go donate blood I am going to work on going through everything I have then this afternoon my plan is to price! This is going to be quite a task.

Gluten-Free Steak Caesar Salad

I am going to donate blood today and need all the iron I can muster. Last night I decided to make a gluten-free steak caesar salad with lemons. I am addicted to Newman's Own creamy caesar salad dressing. I love Newman's Own products because they have a very helpful allergen information on there website. I went to the grocery store after work to discover that steak was on sale! I prepared my steak for grilling, this consisted stabbing, peppering heavily, and a pinch of salt. I grilled on medium for 12 minutes, then flipped and grilled for 7 minutes, for a gorgeous medium- well steak. I had the steak on top of chopped romaine lettuce which I squeezed lemon on, drizzled the dressing over, added grated and shredded parmesan cheese and pepper. The salad was delightful.