LEO the lion says GER!

Movin on up!

2010-07-29T10:34:00.002-04:00

Hey all! Thanks so much for reading, but I've now moved my blog to:

Healthy Closet

Hope you'll follow me there too!

Review: Face Down, Ass Up

2010-05-15T05:47:00.001-04:00

Holy crap I've been so lacking in posts it's not even funny. School has started for summer (booooo). It's pretty funny because I used to look forward to the first week of school SO much back in the day (by "back in the day" I mean until two years ago). I'd get all my clothes ready (because you gotta look fly for that first day, yanno?) and I'd double, triple, eight million times check my backpack to make sure everything on my supply list was in there. (What's up box of Kleenex and bottle of hand soap?!)

Now, the beginning of school just brings on debt and a shit ton of homework that I don't want. I have to say, growing up really sucks. Also, my summer schedule is basically science and math classes so all the awkward Asian boys remind me of my little brother and makes me homesick.

Before I say what I want to say, I have to tell you the funniest thing that happened yesterday in my physics lab, which is half Asian and has a TA who looks like Screech. We'd make an amazing stereotypical sitcom.

Anyway, so we were all diligently working aka working as fast as possible and making stuff up to get the f*ck out of there because it's a 3 hour 8 AM lab. This girl's backpack falls to the ground and some guy from the back of the lab immediately starts going, "OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOH!" like we're in fifth grade again. Then, because we're such mature college students, we all join in.

I love those moments. Especially the ones where everyone in the class bonds for a moment, then we go back to hating each other for being med school competition.

Now that I've bored you with my life, I want to talk about what really got me over the hump of not posting.

The other day, Rachel from Shedding It & Getting It launched Face Down, Ass Up. It's basically a podcast where you take a spin class with virtual Rachel.

I know what you're thinking. "omg, genius."

In a moment of epic karma, Rachel sent me the 30 minute workout. Thanks for making my week!

Now, I don't spin. The first (and only) time I tried it, I fell off of the spin bike with my feet still strapped to the pedals. Traumatizing? Oh yeah.

Luckily, there are adaptations for Face Down, Ass Up on the elliptical or treadmill. So yesterday, I uploaded FDAU on my iPod and read through the treadmill instructions. It's all pretty intuitive, but I decided to write myself a little reminder.

I'm a dork. I know.

I got on the treadmill with my bum headphones and pressed play.

It was my best treadmill run ever. EVER. Rachel picks songs that keep you going and have great beats. Her instructions are clear and all of the jumps/hills/sprints/death obstacles are timed fantastically -- far enough to let you catch your breath and recover, and close enough to kick your ass.

The best thing about FDAU though, is that it really does feel like you're working out with your BFF Rachel. She keeps up a hilarious one-sided conversation that makes you love her and then hate her for making you laugh because you're already puffing and red in the face. She's kind of like your own personal trainer -- you really want to impress her with how well you can spin that shit. Then you feel silly because you're trying to impress someone who's not even there, but you do it anyway. Just when you're flagging and wanting to just scream at the machine, she'll pop in and tell you to watch your form. I don't know how she does it, but her reminders were just perfect timing. Seriously, I was kind of freaked.

The workout is challenging and makes you feel like a badass afterwards. I love that you can make it easier or harder on yourself by changing the resistance, but you can still follow along with the workout so you don't feel like Captain Fail.

I loved Face Down, Ass Up! It pushes you to do better than you would on your own, so you get a more effective workout in the same amount of time. More effective = less muffin top. Plus, it makes you feel like you're BFF with the popular girl in school.

The only issue I had with FDAU was that I couldn't hear the music that well because its volume seemed low compared to Rachel's voice. I'm not sure if that wasn't just a result of my ghettofabulous headphones, though.

Once my bank account isn't in danger of being overdrawn, I'm ponying up the money to buy the 45 minute version of Face Down, Ass Up and Gymnertainment. (Click on the links to hear samples!)

So if you do decide to get FDAU, let me know! We can work out "together." In other words, you do the work out, I do the work out, and then we both complain about our glutes together.

Push It Real Good

2010-05-07T16:20:00.003-04:00

This morning, I booted up my laptop, got on Twitter and saw this:

I won a Le Creuset tart dish from Haley from The Zen of Making! After winning Lacey's giveaway, I thought, "Karma doesn't like me that much, but I'll try this anyway." Hell yeah.

I'm so excited about winning! I keep thinking of things to make into tarts and Googling like crazy. I can't wait to get it. I had it shipped to my parents because I don't want it to get left on my doorstep at my apartment or left with the office people. If you guys can think of any delicious tart recipes, let me know!

Once again, thanks SO much Haley!

Two days ago, I finished the Core Fusion Body Sculpt DVD. Yeah, I'm still feeling it.

Since I'm not quite ~~superwoman~~ Elisabeth Halfpapp yet, I definitely had to pause and regroup several times. When I wasn't regrouping, I was hissing out phrases like, "Holy f*cking shit!" and "You have got to be f*cking kidding me!" So ladylike, I know.

I pussed out a few times, more in the abs section than any other. I could have done better, held the poses longer, did a more intense version. I was capable of more, but didn't do it. My arms and glutes still hurt like hell but my abs... nothing. I just couldn't push myself to do it.

So much of exercise is mental, sometimes more than physical. You never really know how physically capable you are until you're tested. Last year, I never knew how fast I could run until I got chased by two dobermans that some asshole didn't leash / keep in his yard. (Trust me, I really thought of calling animal control on those monsters.)

But how do you push yourself when you don't have the threat of beasts nipping at your heels? I think there's something different for everyone. Maybe it's looking at bikini catalogs or fit celebs because you want to get into that two-piece. Maybe it's reading blogs to know that you're not the only one in pain. You just have to go all Jillian Michaels on yourself and find out why you're not giving it 100%. You know, where you scream at yourself about some kind of hidden psychological issue, preferably while doing a really difficult workout.

For me, it's telling myself that I'm not going to die and that it doesn't hurt THAT bad. And then when I'm done, I collapse in pain. And pride.

But mostly pain.

Foodgasm Fajitas

2010-05-06T22:05:00.000-04:00

LTLSG got a makeover! Kind of. I'm still in the works of making it look prettier, but I'm fairly happy with it. I just got so tired of it looking like a thousand other blogs, so here I am in the process of making it unique.

A lot of wheels are turning in my head for LTLSG and the direction I want it to go in. This is the kind of thing I have to ruminate over for a while. Hopefully I'll have a thought of what I want to do soon.

So! I've been pretty bad about taking pictures of food. I keep thinking, "This really just isn't very exciting... why would I take a picture of it?" Like I said, I'm still ruminating so bear with me.

I'm an indecisive person. No, really. I can't even order my own food. When I'm out to a restaurant, I tell the waiter to come back at least twice because I still haven't made up my mind by the time the bread basket is gone and I'm on my second refill. Then, I narrow my choices down to two or three options and have someone else pick for me.

It's seriously tragic.

So, imagine how disgruntled I was when Matt DEMANDED that I choose our lunch location.

M: Where do you want to eat?
K: I don't know, you choose.
M: I'm going to keep driving around until you pick.
K: But, but, but...??!?
M: PICK.
K: Can't I look at your phone or something for a place to eat?
M: We're in the middle of town, we can go anywhere.
K: *explosion*

So I shouted that I wanted Mexican food and if he was happy now.

He was.

We went to Old Mexico, a tiny Mexican restaurant on the edge of a dilapidated shopping plaza. It's chintzy as hell. The wait staff speaks Spanglish on purpose and well... you see the tablecloth.

However, this place is a complete foodgasm, to say the least.

By the time I had narrowed my choices to either the Enchiladas Deluxe or the Fajitas, my side of the chip basket was somehow empty. I totally blame Matt.

Matt voted for the fajitas and I deliberated this like I was Tyra Banks on ANTM.

"Oh those sound good, but these are so cheesey! I do love cheese. But these have veggies. Goddamnit."

At the very last second, I triumphantly told the waiter that I wanted fajitas. Then he hit me with, "Steak, chicken, or mixed?"

Oh shit.

To make life easier, I just chose mixed so that I wouldn't have to decide between two delicious sounding proteins.

And I'm sooooooo glad I did. Don't you just love it when someone orders fajitas and the delicious smell and sizzling sound of the skillet makes everyone turn their heads?

I just realized that my fajita skillet has more sex appeal than I do.

Crap.

My fajitas came with a plate of rice, beans, lettuce, pico de gallo, and sour cream.

To be honest, I could have just eaten this plate alone and been completely happy. They must put crack in their beans or something.

Next time, I'm definitely ordering just chicken. The steak was good, but the chicken was just SO amazing. Spicy, juicy, sizzling, ugh. Just plain sexy.

Matt ordered a fajita burrito, just like last time. I didn't get a taste of it this time either but that's okay, because I was completely happy with mine.

I had three of these babies.

I only wish that they had had more vegetables, or that Matt would have let me have some of his guacamole. Still incredibly delicious, nonetheless.

I hope you're drooling right now, because I am.

Matt woke up SO chipper this morning. Me, not so much. You wouldn't be chipper either if someone had stolen all the blanket in the middle of the night.

He was in fact, SO chipper that I told him he was making breakfast and rolled back over. I was only joking, but he decided to take me up on that. He made a salsa breakfast scramble while I toasted bread. I'm spoiled, I know.

We haven't eaten since this morning (ugh, terrible), and Matt cooked AGAIN. Amazing. Time to EAT.

Makin' It Monday: Chocolate Chip-less Chocolate Chip Cookies

2010-05-04T13:26:00.002-04:00

So Makin' It Monday got postponed to Makin' It Tuesday because I fell asleep.

The central air conditioning is currently broken here so we've been sweating it out in the heat and awful Florida humidity. Luckily, mom borrowed a window unit from her friend yesterday and we've cranked it up in hopes of circulating the air around the house... or at least to our rooms with the aid of fans.

It's been bearable since we got it, and I plunked my laptop down right in front of the unit so I feel great!

Apparently Matt and I are going to a water park on Sunday (which is also Mother's day, don't forget!) for his friend's birthday so you know what that means...

Bikini 6-day challenge!

Since it's such a short time, here are my main two weapons: low salt to reduce bloating, and strength training to tone up.

For strength training, I'm going to use Core Fusion Body Sculpt and Pilates Plus to hopefully produce results. Speaking of Core Fusion, Rachel's having a YogaVibes giveaway! Enter for a chance to win free access to a month of YogaVibes!

It seems pretty awesome -- streaming videos of some great classes that would be expensive IRL. Sounds good to me.

So hopefully with the help of Core Fusion and a better eye on my diet, I'll be set to get wet on Sunday. God that sounded dirty.

Now that I've talked about slimming down, I'll hit you with a 100-calorie Makin' It Monday recipe that will test your will power.

Chocolate Chip-less Chocolate Chip Cookies
No, not sugar cookies -- try adding chocolate chips to sugar cookies and see what happens. No bueno.

These are FANTASTIC cookies that I've been making since high school and they're ALWAYS a hit.

You'll need:
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 stick unsalted butter* (omg I know.)
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt*
12 oz semi-sweet chocolate chips (optional)

0. Preheat the oven to 375F.
1. Melt the butter in the microwave.
2. Add the sugars and vanilla extract and stir.
3. In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, and salt*.
4. Add the eggs to the butter/sugar mixture and stir thoroughly.
5. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and combine to make dough. (Add chocolate chips if you want traditional cookies.)
6. Let the dough sit for about 10 minutes to set up.
7. Use a tablespoon to make balls and place on a cookie sheet 2 inches apart.
8. Bake for 9-11 minutes, watching VERY carefully.

*If you only have salted butter, use that and omit the salt.

Butter, granulated sugar, vanilla extract, baking soda, brown sugar, flour, and eggs.

Melt the butter.

Add the brown sugar, granulated sugar, and vanilla extract to the melted butter and mix.

Mix the flour, baking soda, and salt together in a separate bowl.

Add the eggs to the sugar and butter mixture.

You'll know it's the right consistency when it kind of looks like goo.

Mix the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. Let rest for 10 minutes. This is really important because the flour needs to absorb all the moisture to give you perfect cookies.

Seriously, perfect.

Also, if you wanted to be traditional and make chocolate chip cookies, now would be the time to add 12 oz of semi-sweet chocolate chips.

The dough is ready when you can scoop away part of it and it retains its shape.

Use a tablespoon to scoop out balls of dough and place them on a cookie sheet.

Bake at 375F for 9-11 minutes, depending on how crunchy you like your cookies. I like mine basically still raw.

Makes 35 cookies.

1 cookie: 91 calories, 3g fat, 16.7g carbs, 1.2g protein

Tell those 100-calorie packs to suck it and eat real food.

Catchin' up! Plus, a lot of giveaways.

2010-05-03T21:43:00.000-04:00

Hey all! Finals are OVER.

Thank god.

I'm at Matt's and it's been so so nice to just let my brain shut down. It's like finals were the Boston Marathon and my brain only trained for a 5k.

Hmm, reading that makes me think I should let my brain stay shut down for just a while longer.

I have a week until summer session starts, and I'll be enjoying every single day of it. Here's some of what I've been eating since last Makin' It Monday!

Home-made crab rangoon.

Made with 1/3 reduced fat cream cheese so I could eat more of them!

My go-to salad.

Chicken, brown rice, almonds, feta cheese, spring mix, and Greek dressing.

Pesto egg sandwich - bagel thin, egg, and pesto!

Per Matt's request (not that I had any problem with it) -- spam, eggs, and rice.

YES I LOVE SPAM. I was raised in Hawaii -- you can't fault me for my Spam love.

Egg white omelet and breakfast potatoes.

Bacon, cheese, spinach, onions, more cheese. Yum.

The best Clif bar flavor ever.

As you can see in the above picture, I got my Core Fusion collection DVDs!

I've tried Pure Abs and Arms and Body Sculpt so far, and I LOVE them. You put it in, and you're like, "Pfff, 10 minute arms work out? What can you possibly get done in 10 minutes?"

About 8 minutes later, you're cursing up a storm and about to cry.

Yeah it's THAT good.

Now, if you want to try it for yourself, you can enter Dori's Core Fusion Lean and Toned giveaway, just like I am! I'm going to order it if I don't win. I can't wait!

Along the tune of giveaways, I'm also entering The Zen of Making: Le Creuset Tart Dish Giveaway. I'm a sucker for new kitchen gadgets and I'm starting to dream up things to make with the tart dish... which is bad, because if I don't win, I'm going to pine for one.

To wrap up the giveaway thing, my roommate texted me to tell me my New Moon package from Lacey arrived! Ahhh I'm SO excited.

I'll be back with a Makin' It Monday recipe very soon!

Finals!

2010-04-30T17:47:00.000-04:00

Hey all! Sorry I haven't been updating. It's been crazy and finals have seriously consumed my life.

I drank an entire half gallon of coffee.

Yes, it's that bad.

Back soon though!

Makin' It Monday: Banana Stuffed French Toast

2010-04-26T23:39:00.002-04:00

Happy Makin' It Monday everyone!

It was also National Pretzel day, but that's completely unrelated.

My plans for Makin' It Monday were big, and great, and then I realied I didn't have time to make my original idea... so I made something else instead!

Presenting...

Stuffed Banana French Toast

2 slices whole wheat bread
1 egg
1 tbsp milk (cow's milk, soy milk, rice milk, whatever works!)
1 tbsp cream cheese
1 small banana
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 1/2 tsp brown sugar, divided
cinnamon

1. Mix the egg, milk, vanilla extract, 1 tsp of brown sugar, and a dash of cinnamon in one bowl.
2. Dip one slice of bread in the mixture and coat.
3. Cook on medium heat in a pan coated with cooking spray (or buttered down, if that's your thing).
4. Meanwhile, cut up the banana.
5. Remember to flip the piece of toast!
6. Microwave the cream cheese, 1 tsp of brown sugar, and another dash of cinnamon for about 10 seconds. Mix well.
7. Take the piece of french toast off the pan and repeat the coating and cooking process with the other piece of bread.
8. Spread the cream cheese mixture on the first piece of french toast.
9. After the second piece of french toast is done, turn the heat off, but leave the pan on the burner.
10. Add your bananas and the remaining 1/2 tsp of brown sugar, and stir until slightly mushy and coated.
11. Put the bananas on top of the cream cheese, top with the second piece of french toast, and enjoy!

My ingredients: innamon, vanilla extract, light vanilla soy milk, eggs, light wheat bread, banana, reduced fat cream cheese, and brown sugar.

Can I just say that I am totally against using fat free dairy product? They taste more like plastic to me than cheese. They also have ingredients quite similar to plastic, in my opinion.

Banana cutting isn't exciting at all, so I have no idea why I took a picture of it.

1 egg + 1 tsp brown sugar + 1 tsp vanilla extract + 1 tbsp soy milk + cinnamon.

Did you know that cinnamon makes sweet things taste sweeter?

Once you've dipped one piece of toast in the mixture and gotten it cooking, put together the filling.

Microwave 1 tbsp cream cheese + 1 tsp brown sugar + cinnamon for about 10 seconds. Be wary of it splattering everywhere!

Mix it together thoroughly and get your second piece of french toast in the pan.

Spread the sweet deliciousness all over that first piece of french toast.

When you get your second piece of french toast off the pan, turn off the heat and add your bananas and the 1/2 tsp of brown sugar that's left.

Cook just until it's nice and soft and the brown sugar melts. Then spread it on top of the cream cheese.

Top with the second piece of french toast, and there you go!

Sweet and gooey stuffed banana french toast.

No need for syrup, I promise!

This was seriously SO quick and soooo good. If Matt liked french toast, I'd make it for him. But he doesn't, so it's all mine!

I usually hate sweets for breakfast, but I'd eat this in a heartbeat. Try it!

Multitasking is bad. Seriously.

2010-04-26T21:07:00.001-04:00

Be proud of me, everyone! I woke up at 7 AM this morning.

What was the grand occasion?

Having breakfast with Seeta before she went back home after her exam today! I most likely won't see her again until some distant break in the future or until fall, so we nommed it up at the dining hall.

I had two plates! The first one was a sausage patty, hash browns, and fruit. The pineapple this morning was quite honestly the best pineapple I've ever had.

The potatoes were very eh today. I mush prefer regular hash browns.

I also had an omelet with ham, spinach, mushrooms, tomatoes, onions, and cheese. I picked up a biscuit but after one nibble, I put it to the side, because it was AWFUL. Canned biscuits were better than that.

Usually the person making omelets is super nice and animated, but the older gentleman making them this morning had a very no-nonsense look on his face.

Seeta left to take her exam and I hope she did really well. I still have to study for it, oops!

I got home at 9:30 and promptly fell back into bed to nap.

For the rest of the day, I've been studying for my music exam. Oh good god.

At some point, I got up to get blood flowing and regain feeling in my butt.

I made myself a mash-up plate. I seriously love lunches like these. Just bits of food that you can eat together or separately. It consisted of...

A grilled chicken sausage and an everything bagel thin.

Roasted veggies (carrots, onions, and mushrooms) and marinara sauce.

And spring mix with my favorite Greek dressing.

I was told that the new recipe of Farmer Boy Greek dressing would be out at the end of April, so I'm waiting, and waiting. I hope it will be comparable to the old recipe because my bottle is going to go bad very soon.

I've been studying non-stop, which makes me proud, but distressed at the same time.

I have learned though, that multi-tasking is just not the way to go about things.

You're probably thinking, "No shit Sherlock." But I honestly always thought I could do it all at the same time. Facebook, AIM, Vent, playing Counter-Strike, and studying simultaneously.

But actually, what got me to stop multitasking (besides the fact that it didn't work at all), was a presentation another girl in my public speaking class did.

Try it out.

Count from 1-10 in your head.

Now think the first 10 letters of the alphabet.

Damn easy right?

Now alternate numbers and letters (1A, 2B, etc.)

MUCH harder, isn't it? Your brain is only capable of doing so much at one time. You may think you're able to do it all, but you can't.

Focus on one thing at a time. Not only will you get to cross one more thing off your to-do list much sooner, you'll do a better job of it.

See you soon with my Makin' It Monday post!

Rainy day, boo.

2010-04-25T22:18:00.001-04:00

It's Sunday night, which means tomorrow is going to be Makin' It Monday!

Yay for recipes, boo for Monday.

Don't worry, tomorrow can NOT be a failure. I've got something great for you.

I'm feeling so good and relaxed right now. I think after this post, I'm going to chill in bed with the new Women's Health magazine. Have you SEEN Jillian's abs? Ridiculous!

This morning's lunch / breakfast was the good old standby - salmon and brown rice on salad.

Spring mix, salmon, brown + wild rice, feta, almonds, and Greek dressing.

And for some reason, I felt like eating it in a mixing bowl. Don't judge.

It was MISERABLE today. I ran it out on the treadmill, but ugh. Not the same.

Dinner tonight was 2 ounces of whole wheat pasta + 1 tbsp pesto + 1/4 oz asiago cheese, and salad with roast chicken.

Simple and incredibly delicious.

I'm not used to having my pasta coated with such little sauce, but I had a hankering for it after watching Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution.

All in all, yum.

Time for me to hit the hay now everyone!

Night!

Crispy Wontons

2010-04-25T11:37:00.001-04:00

Helloooo everyone!

I want to start off this post by saying happy birthday Niel! All of you should go on over to his blog and wish him a happy birthday. His posts are great and have in depth thoughts about strength training and life in general.

Back to my life! I feel SO... exhausted, I guess. I had my first final last night. Physics, of all things! Who the hell schedules an exam on a Saturday night?

Let me tell you, things were not going my way.

I left my apartment at 7:22, fully enough time to get to campus. I got there at oh, 7:30. I was so happy that I had so much time to sit and study, since my exam started at 8.

Um, yeah.

I drove to the area where the test was taking place, no parking. Drove a block over, no parking. Drove across campus, no parking -- OH WAIT, saw a parking spot, threw that shit in reverse, and fired in there.

I may have gotten a few dirty looks.

So by the time I'd found parking (by the way, I hate you little cars that look like parking spaces but aren't!), it was 7:50. Oh shit.

So I checked and double checked to make sure I had all my stuff, because honestly, the rate my night was going, I would have forgotten my ID or something. I hoofed the 0.41 miles in 5 minutes. Totally not in my pace range. Especially carrying a purse in flip flops.

But I made it there in time! I was dripping sweat and panting like crazy, but I made it.

So, now that I have that out there, let's back track!

Yesterday morning, in a measure to procrastinate, I decided to make crispy wontons.

They rock. No, seriously, I'm making these for my next party. They're amazing.

Crispy Wontons

1 cup frozen spinach, drained, and patted dry
6 oz shrimp
1/2 medium sweet onion
Wonton skins
1 egg, beaten
Garlic powder
Ground black pepper

Oyster sauce or feta cheese

1. Chop the spinach and shrimp, place into a bowl.
2. Chop the sweet onion and sautee until translucent.
3. Mix the spinach, shrimp, and onions together. Season with garlic powder and black pepper.
4. Now you can either mix it with 3 oz of feta cheese or 3 tsp of oyster sauce.
5. Place about a tablespooon of filling on the wonton wrapper.
6. Dip your finger in egg and spread it around the edges.
7. Seal the wonton by folding it in half.
8. Spread out on a greased baking pan.
9. Spray the wontons with cooking spray.
10. Bake at 375 for 15 - 20 minutes, turning over once.

Chop up one cup of frozen spinach. I just used half the box, which is what was leftover from the pizza.

Chop up half a sweet onion. Sautee until translucent. If you aren't using a sweet onion, just sautee until the onion gets carmelized.

Chop your shrimp up into bite sized pieces, about 3 - 4 pieces per shrimp will be fine.

Combine the shrimp, onions, and spinach in a bowl. Season with a few shakes of garlic powder and black pepper.

Now you can either decide to make these Asian style with oyster sauce, or Greek style with feta cheese.

I decided to do both.

For Asian style, the whole batch: Add 3 tsp of oyster sauce.

For Greek style, the whole batch: Add 3 oz crumbled feta cheese.

Lay out your wonton skin and place a tablespoon of filling in the middle.

Spread eggwash over the sides, and fold over to seal.

Place in a greased baking pan and spray with canola oil.

Bake at 375F for 15 - 20 minutes, turning over once.

And now you have wontons that are just as crispy and satisfying as if you had fried them!

Seriously, this was delicious. You really really need to make them.

They were so crispy, I couldn't believe that they weren't fried!

I loved that they weren't greasy at all and ugh, seriously, too awesome.

MAKE THESE!

Since I kind of snacked through them during the whole day, I didn't eat dinner before I went to my exam. After such a failure of a night, I was seriously contemplating what I could eat to comfort myself.

Luckily, the Chinese place was still open and I got my fix of more dumplings.

I showered, ate these, and then just tried to relax. A good night's sleep really did me a world of good.

Now I'm deciding what to eat for lunch, as it's past breakfast time now.

Talk to you guys soon!

Spinach and chicken sausage pizza

2010-04-23T21:57:00.004-04:00

For lunch today, I pulled out a serving of frozen homemade whole wheat pizza dough. Seriously, this was such a good idea. I love being able to take it out half an hour before I want food and then making a pizza from scratch.

I always have an open jar of marinara sauce in the fridge just for that, and it's fantastic.

Today, I made spinach and chicken sausage pizza.

I used chicken sausage that I bought from Sam's Club a loooong time ago, some defrosted spinach, and half an ounce of reduced fat mozzarella cheese.

The chicken sausage already had mozzarella in it, so I figured I'd save myself some calories and halve the amount of mozzarella going on top.

This chicken sausage is so good!

The pizza made a perfect break from the physics studying.

It was actually so filling that I haven't eaten dinner yet. I figure I'll be up for quite a while though, so we'll see if I get hungry before bed.

Back to collisions!

Freezer burnt scramble

2010-04-23T12:48:00.001-04:00

You guys ever get sloshy belly?

Like, when you drink a lot of liquid and you can feel it slosh around?

I'm so full of iced coffee right now, it's ridiculous. At least I'm awake though!

I'll admit it -- my breakfast this morning wasn't very attractive. I made a Morningstar black bean patty scramble, a bagel with with Cabot 75% reduced fat cheddar, and cantaloupe.

These Everything Bagel Thins are seriously awesome. They've got the full flavor of an Everthing bagel without all the doughy-ness.

It turns out that my black bean patty was freezer burnt, therefore my scramble tasted like freezer. I tried to save it with salsa verde, but that didn't work out too well.

I've been downing coffee with soy milk all morning and now I'm going back for more while I study.

I'm thinking of taking a walk or going for a run later, which sounds great. Studying for exams has me sitting on my ass all day, and that's definitely not helping my blogger's butt.

Back to work!

Talk to ya'll later.

Nong shimming it

2010-04-22T23:32:00.000-04:00

Hope everyone's having a fabulous evening! I'm... stuck studying. So, eh.

I guess since I've been sitting around all day, I haven't been so hungry.

After my post this morning, I was seriously dragging. I made myself a cup of coffee and then realized I was somewhat hungry.

I made myself a serving of Nong Shim, which is basically RIDICULOUSLY SPICY ramen.

I also added a few lumps of fake crab meat. Mmmmm. Don't you worry guys, I've got a plan for that "crab" meat.

I'm sure you can figure it out for next Makin' It Monday.

I've actually had a pretty productive day. I cleaned (in order to procrastinate), I prepped fruit for the week, I made 2 quarts of coffee to have iced coffee for my study breaks. I really prefer iced coffee over hot coffee, as does my dad. My mom loves hot coffee though.

Guess I'm a daddy's girl!

Although, he likes his iced coffee black, and I can't drink it without having it at least 50% milk. My mom likes her hot coffee that way though.

Hooray for shared parental traits. =)

Is anyone else out there preparing for finals?

I'm studying for physics currently and I'm going to need that iced coffee veeeeery soon.

Have a great night all!

Midnight Fun Run recap!

2010-04-22T16:36:00.001-04:00

Happy Earth Day!

Hope you're all carpooling, using re-usable bags, and what not today. =)

A tip for those who do use plastic bags: save them and use them as garbage bags! It's cheaper than buying the big ones, and since they're smaller, you won't have trash sitting in your house for such a long time.

I'm so tired right now and I have no idea why. I'm really hankering for an iced coffee right now... or a nap. More likely though, I'd rather have the iced coffee.

So after this post, I'm either going to be down for the count, or wrestling with my coffee maker. We'll see what happens.

Last night, I decided to have a very light dinner because of the Midnight Fun Run.

I roasted some broccoli using Tina's recipe.

This was so freaking addictive, you won't even believe it. I think next time though, I'll use half the sugar because it turned out a bit too candy-like for me.

I threw it on top of a Flat Out pizza.

Yum!

Then I headed off to campus to meet up with Gretchen and Seeta for the race. Packet pick-up was seamless and then we headed up to Gretchen's room to hang out before the starting line and have some pre-race fuel.

Mmm!

Just kidding, Cinderella loves me.

I discovered this in my race bag.

Okay, so, I have to tell you. I find mint chocolate to be the most disgusting combination ever. But I ate this anyway just to get the glucose going for the race... and our photoshoot!

Yes, I'm very cool.

Seeta and Cinderella.

Gretchen, whom Cinderella belongs to.

I wear my sunglasses at night.

I also run with the intensity of a lion chasing down a gazelle.

My running skirt had an upside down pocket! And then it was pointed out to me that this was probably a tennis skirt. Oh well. It was comfy!

Seeta really liked this picture so I decided to put it up.

The race was a pretty good one, but veeerrry hilly and frustrating. Oh, I was fine with the hills, it was the other people in the race that made me want to punch someone. I was behind a group of girls, gaining on them. I was happily running behind them and they were walking. They heard me behind them, and sprinted off. Okay, whatever, that's their thing. I caught up with them about 10 yards later because they had winded themselves. I passed them, and a few minutes later, they sprinted around me, came in front of me, and then stopped and started walking.

I was annoyed by this, but whatever, it happens, and they probably didn't realize that they were being bitches.

Oh no.

This happpened about 4 more times.

At this point, I was like, "ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?" And steadily ran past them thinking, "Bitches, you're mine. You are MINE."

I beat them, but I was still pissed.

Luckily, we got a free breakfast! I had left my camera in Gretchen's dorm, so no picture, but I enjoyed the hell out of half a bagel, scrambled eggs, bacon, and tater tots. I also loved Gretchen and Seeta's company and we had a great time talking and standing and eating.

I actually heard someone ask how long a 5k is and I was like, "You're not serious, are you?" Sometimes, I just want to shake my head at people. After breakfast, we hung out in Gretchen's room, stretching, talking as girls do. It was fun and relaxing and I'm so glad we did it.

I got home at around 2, showered, and passed out.

This morning, I woke up very late and happy. I grocery shopped for about an hour (Publix has great sales this week!), and came home STARVING. I broke into a bag of Babybels right away. FYI, if you're shopping at Publix, they're on sale and there's a coupon dispenser right next to them.

I was still delirious with hunger though, so I made an open faced pulled pork sandwich and leftover broccoli.

I used a Thomas Everything Bagel Thin, an ounce of Cabot 75% reduced fat cheddar, and frozen pulled pork that I made a verrry long time ago.

I seriously love these Bagel Thins! They're perfect and crispy and not doughy at all. Also, they're 2/$5. I walked away with a TON of groceries today and I'm hoping they'll last me quite a while.

Now it's time for me to pass out. I'll use my physics book to faciliate the process.

Makin' It Monday: Failure.

2010-04-21T17:14:00.001-04:00

So Makin' It Monday's recipe turned into a complete failure. It looked really good though!

I tried a chicken casserole.

As soon as Matt tried a bite, he said "I don't like it." And that's when I knew it was failure. I have no idea what went wrong!

I was actually like, super disappointed by this. I don't know why I got so down about it, but I did. It might have had something to do with the fact that I worked up until the very last minute to turn my project in at 11:59.

After my disappointment of a dinner and so much stress, I caved and had a piece of brownie.

My project ended up freaking me the hell out. It was an 87 MB file, which I guess Blackboard didn't like. I compressed it and hoped that my professor knew what to do with it. It still took about 15 minutes to upload, and since I was cutting it so close to the deadline, I was stressing like crazy. It all worked out, and I ended up turning it in at exactly 11:59.

Phew.

The next morning, Matt requested spam and eggs for breakfast. Who am I to deny him?

Spam, eggs, and rice is a traditional breakfast food for my family that goes back for as long as I can remember. We lived in Hawaii until I was 7, where Spam is a HUGE thing.

No, seriously, there's Spam everywhere. I loved Spam Musubi (rice, Spam, and seaweed all wrapped up), and Spam fried rice was very common. McDonald's even had Spam, eggs, and rice on their breakfast menu.

I'm all for eating real food now, but Spam is one of the few guilty things that I won't give up. When I'm with my parents and we're feeling lazy, it's very common to have a Spam omelet with rice or Spam, eggs, and rice separately.

It's just tradition. =)

After breakfast, I went back to Gainesville for my Public Speaking exam. I honestly think I did really really well, and I'm proud!

Since my exam ended at about 5, I went home and made dinner.

A flat out pizza with mozzarella, feta, and a crumbled Morningstar sausage.

Simple and great!

Afterwards, I anxiously waited for Glee, and I was not disappointed. All of the Madonna songs were FANTASTIC. I'm always left wanting when the show ends, and I can't wait for next Tuesday's episode.

My lunch today was actually the same exact thing, but I didn't think you guys would be impressed at seeing the same picture twice.

Tonight is the Midnight Fun Run! It's a 5k at midnight to celebrate the last day of class... which means exams are looming very soon, starting with physics on Saturday night. Gross.

The Midnight Fun Run is a recreational run, no chips, bibs, or anything fancy. We Do get free breakfast at the dining hall though, so dinner's going to be pretty light. I'm doing some housework to make myself feel productive, so I'm going to get back to it.

Almond butter is so good!

2010-04-19T16:00:00.000-04:00

Helloooo all!

I'm waiting for Matt to get hungry so we can eat lunch, but he's super engrossed in writing a program right now so I'm going to wait a bit longer.

This morning, I had two slices of Friendship bread. I slathered one with almond butter just to see how it was.

Crike, this was SO good. I'm really loving almond butter lately. I think I might actually like it better than peanut butter!

Tonight's Makin' It Monday recipe is going to be some awesome comfort food. It's really crappy out, and with how stress Matt and I are, I think we need something hearty and satisfying tonight.

I finished my public speaking study guide last night (FINALLY), and now I'm working on a project due tonight. Nothing like procrastinating to give you a swift kick in the ass.

Speaking of procrastinating, it figures that I'd wait until the very last minute to enter Anne's Oikos giveaway! This seems like an awesome giveaway and I hope I win.

I can always use more Greek yogurt in my life.

Tequila - Lime Salad

2010-04-18T16:02:00.002-04:00

Lunch was amazing. No lie, just super amazing. I've been thinking about this salad since yesterday morning and I was so excited when Matt said he was hungry.

I'd like to tell you how reluctant I was to stop studying, but I wasn't. The study guide given to us doesn't match up with the notes so I'm frustrated.

Anyway, you know food is going to be good when the kitchen turns into a mess.

Be prepared for Tequila-Lime Salad.

Tequila-Lime Salad

1/2 lb shrimp
2 tilapia fillets
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 can corn, drained and rinsed
Diced tomatoes
Diced avocado
Spinach
Lime for garnish

Marinade:
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tbsp tequila (maybe a splash or two or three more if you're feelin raunchy)
Juice of one lime
1/4 cup olive oil
1 tsp honey
pinch of salt
ground black pepper
very light shakes of cumin and cayenne (optional)

1. Thaw your shrimp and tilapia and put in a zip bag.
2. Make your marinade by mixing together all of the marinade ingredients.
3. Pour the marinade into the bag with the seafood and push all of the air out and zip.
4. Marinate for 1 - 2 hours.
5. Before you cook the seafood, heat the black beans and corn and set aside.
6. Heat the grill or frying pan on medium and spray with cooking spray lightly.
7. Pour off excess marinade and grill / fry the seafood. This won't take very long at all, about 2-3 minutes per side, possibly longer for the tilapia.
8. Assemble your salad any way you like! I like to flake the tilapia, but you can leave it whole.

Your marinade ingredients... except that I forgot to put honey in the picture. Don't forget the honey!

Mix all of the marinade ingredients together and taste! It is very important that you taste this. Too acidic? Add more honey. Too bland? Add more salt.

You need to taste this because this is what your seafood will taste like. Seafood is expensive and you don't want to find that you've wasted it because you didn't like the marinade. Adjust it to your liking.

If your seafood is frozen, just throw it in the same bag you're going to marinate in to defrost.

Once you've tasted your marinade, pour it into the bag o' seafood, and get out as much air as possible.

Marinate for 1 - 2 hours max. Preheat your grill or frying pan to medium and spray lighty with cooking spray.

When you're ready to cook, pour off the excess marinade.

2-3 minutes on each side should do you okay on the shrimp, but make sure you watch them. Rubbery shrimp is awful. Mine cooked for about 2 minutes on each side.

Your tilapia might take a little bit longer, maybe 3-4 minutes on each side if it's thin. Make sure it has this lovely crust on it and that it's cooked all the way.

I heated up my black beans with diced onion and green peppers from this morning's breakfast.

I heated the corn in the pan that the shrimp cooked in to try to grab the carmelized marinade.

Assemble your salad by flaking the tilapia over the spinach, spooning the black beans and corn on top, throwing the tomatoes and avocado on there, and laying the shrimp down very prettily. Garnish with lime wedges and enjoy.

This salad is SO pretty and delicious. The only dressing it needs is a squeeze of lime on top. Seriously, this is so good and filling.

It was so good that Matt went 0 - 5 in his video game because he was busy eating instead of playing. A salad that gets your man away from his video game? Helllll yeah.

It's also super photogenic and I couldn't decide which picture to post, so I posted them all!

The marinade was delicious! The different flavors meshed together soooo well. I loved the garlickyness of it too.

Nom.

I urge you all to make this salad! Seriously, make it. It's so worth it.

Get your MUFAs and tequila all in one dish. =D

Dinner for breakfast

2010-04-18T10:52:00.000-04:00

So after last night's double down smack down, Matt and I were full. We were originally supposed to have sausage, onion, and green pepper rolls for dinner but we decided that we were good on food for the night.

Obviously, we woke up starving.

So we had an unorthodox breakfast of sausage, onion, and green pepper rolls.

I know, we're weird people. In my defense, I had huge plans for baked french toast and bacon, but Matt responded to that with, "Gross."

He hates pancakes, french toast, waffles, etc. I'm a big french toast fan. Oh well, there's got to be compromise somewhere.

I overloaded mine with veggies.

You can't see it, but I actually hollowed out the roll and filled it with more veggies.

Nom nom nom.

I wish I could be outside today! Spring is gorgeous, and the flowers blooming everywhere are proof of it.

But for now I'll have to settle with opening the window and sighing longingly while I study. Have a great Sunday everyone!

Double Down Smack Down

2010-04-17T21:22:00.000-04:00

If you haven't heard about the KFC Double Down, you're about to.

Who the hell makes a sandwich with fried chicken as buns?

I do. ;)

Matt has been wanting to try the double down since he first heard of it and this horrifies me. So what's the best way for me to keep him from drowning in all the crap that's in that sandwich?

To make it for him myself, of course! Obviously, with a twist.

LTLSG Double Down Minis

1 HUGE boneless, skinless chicken breast
4 slices bacon
Reduced fat shredded cheddar cheese (or asiago, like I used for mine!)
1/2 cup flour
Seasonings (I used salt, pepper, Greek seasoning, garlic powder, onion powder, and cayenne)
Olive oil for frying

1. Slice bacon into quarters and fry.
2. Slice chicken crosswise into thin medallions.
3. Dredge chicken pieces in flour + seasonings.
4. Coat bottom of a skillet with olive oil and fry chicken pieces until crisp and golden.
5. Layer the chicken pieces, cheese, and bacon to make mini double downs.

Cut your bacon into quarters and get those frying in a pan.

In a bowl, mix together your flour and seasonings. Make sure you put a lot of seasoning in! Remember, you're competing with the Colonel.

If you're like me, you buy split chicken breasts ($2.99 / lb, BOGO = $1.50 / lb) because they're a lot cheaper than boneless skinless chicken breasts ($3.99 / lb). Simply rip the skin off and cut the meat from the bone. Save the bones to make stock! Seriously, just stick the remains into a bag and freeze them until you have enough to make your own stock.

Slice crosswise into thin medallions.

At this point, your bacon is probably done, so rescue them from the pan before they get too crispy. One or two may disappear into your mouth, and that's okay.

Matt: "This one's ugly, guess that means I have to eat it!"
Me: "-_-"

Hmm, this logic sounds familiar...

Coat your chicken pieces in the flour and shake off the excess.

You might be thinking, "OMG Kim, fried chicken has eggs and batter and blahblahblah!"

Welllllll this isn't your traditional fried chicken honey, and your hips will thank you later. ;) Love ya!

Coat the bottom of a frying pan with olive oil and fry the chicken on medium-high until golden brown.

Assemble your mini double downs by layering chicken, cheese, bacon, cheese, and chicken. Seriously, this is SO easy.

Throw it on top of a salad to make yourself feel better.

I'm hoping that this satisfied Matt's craving for the double down, but knowing him, the minute I leave, he'll head over to KFC just to "compare."

I made mine with asiago instead of cheddar because I just wasn't feeling the cheddar today.

Also, where Matt's minis had two slices of bacon, mine only had one.

I dressed mine with straight balsamic vinegar.

YUM.

And here's what it looks like when the cat comes up to you meowing pathetically because he got in a fight and you cave in and give him the top half of a mini.

So there you have it kids. Hopefully a better-for-you version of the Double Down to satisfy your tastes and curiosity about that monstrosity of a sandwich.

Back to the grind that is public speaking.

Big juicy monstrous burgers

2010-04-17T17:29:00.001-04:00

Matt got me up at 4:30 this morning. I was not a happy camper.

He's been going to sleep really early whereas I haven't, so we've gotten stuck in this kind of crappy schedule.

But, being a fantastic girlfriend, I got up with him and we ran errands... at 4:30 in the fucking morning.

We went to WalMart (obviously, I mean where else is friggin open at that time of day?), and then went to his dad's house to pick up some of his stuff.

We got done at around 10, and by that time, I was tired and hungry.

I DEMANDED food. Good food. Food that would really satisfy me and would let me tear into it like a vicious caveman.

I'm pretty sure this fit the bill. A cheeseburger with sweet potato fries.

I tore into this with the ferocity of a lion going apeshit on a gazelle. Nom nom nom. It's about 5 hours later and I'm still full.

=)

Matt got some monstrous concoction that had some beef on beef action. I think he liked it.

I just got into the groove of studying right now. You know how when you all of a sudden get really into studying and you feel so productive and such?

Well that's me, so I'm going to take advantage of that before it slips away.

Hope ya'll are having a great Saturday!

Chik fil a will be the death of me

2010-04-16T18:08:00.002-04:00

It's FRIDAY.

How I've been waiting.

So you gotta start Friday off right, right?

Fruit cups are great!

Especially when paired with a slab of fried chicken sandwiched inside a biscuit, drizzled with honey.

Much to my horror (and delight), we stopped at Chik-Fil-A on the way to Matt's physics test.

The fruit cup totally makes up for this, right?!

Sure.

Actually, in my curiosity about my delicious biscuit, I discovered that the chicken biscuit has less fat and calories than the bacon, egg, and cheese biscuit. I mean I suppose it was a tough decision, bacon + cheese vs deep fried, but still.

If you're curious, the bacon, egg, and cheese biscuit has 520 calories and 29g fat, while the chicken biscuit has 450 calories and 20g fat.

The 3 count chicken minis beat both with 260 calories and 10g fat.

I've had more Chik-Fil-A in the past two days than I have in the past year, I'd say.

Lunch was a salad because I'm seriously missing vegetables right now. This was lettuce topped with cherry tomatoes, last night's rice + balsamic glazed chicken, crushed almonds, Makin' It Monday's whole wheat roasted garlic turned into croutons, and parmesan cheese, all drizzled over with balsamic vinegar.

Nom nom nom! Seriously almonds + rice is such an amazing combination. Try it!

I hope you all have amazing and wonderful plans tonight. I'm about to head into the kitchen and whip up a special treat to accompany the studying tonight.

Oh! Look what I bought at Sports Authority yesterday. ISN'T IT SO CUTE?!

/asian

Okay, now seriously, I'm off.

Balsamic glazed chicken

2010-04-15T23:33:00.001-04:00

It's almost Friday! Phew. If you're curious, studying is going along okay. I'm not going to lie, the public speaking textbook is SO ridiculously boring, I fall asleep every couple of pages.

I took a much needed break from studying to make dinner. I was hungry and my brain just wouldn't work anymore so I thought it was a good time as any to stop.

I had visions of a huge salad in my head so I cubed up some Makin It Monday Roasted Garlic Focaccia and tossed the cubes with 1/2 a tablespoon of olive oil to make croutons. I baked these at 375 for 10 - 15 minutes to get them crunchy and delicious.

I took out some chicken breasts that had been marinating in this balsamic vinegar marinade. I changed it by adding one tsp of garlic, a squirt of mustard to emulsify, and a big squeeze of honey. A trick I use to make marinades more effective is by marinating in plastic zip bags instead of bowls. This makes sure that the meat is always in contact with the marinade.

While I seared the chicken breasts, I also started a pot of yellow rice. In the rice, I added a chopped onion and a drained can of corn. Like my salads, I like my rice to have a lot of stuff in it! It gives it flavor and more nutrition.

When the croutons were done, I slid the chicken into the oven for a few minutes.

At this point, I realized that I didn't want a salad after all and just set the croutons on a plate to be nibbled.

The rice got finished about 10 minutes after the chicken went into the oven, which was perfect timing to pull them out.

Make sure you keep checking on the chicken because it won't take long at all to go from juicy -> super dry.

Instead of a salad, I decided to add more veggies to the rice. I tossed in half a bag of spinach, some cherry tomatoes, and a handful of Asiago cheese. I'm thinking parmesan might have worked better, but we really needed to use the Asiago.

All in all, dinner was delicious and beautiful.

The marinade was so good! I think next time I would add more brown sugar though.

The veggies and cheese mixed into the seasoned rice was awesome. I could easily eat this by itself.

So that was dinner! I'm full and happy. As soon as I shower, I'm probably going to be out like a light.

I hope you guys had the chance to read Why almond butter? earlier, because I'm super proud for finally having the word out there.

Now it's back to persuading people via speech so I can take over the world.

Why almond butter?

2010-04-15T18:39:00.001-04:00

Happy Thursday all! I hope everyone's doing well. I'm all in the midst of studying for exams but I'm feeling pretty okay so far. Though, I haven't gotten much done today.

Matt and I got up really early this morning for some reason. I offered to cook breakfast because I'm starting to get really uncomfortable with eating out. It seems like I'm doing it so often lately. He dismissed it and we headed out to locations unknown.

To my suprise, we pulled up at Chik-Fil-A! After last time's visit at Chik-Fil-A, I knew I didn't want a biscuit. I settled on an old favorite from the +40 lb days; the chicken minis.

I had two, leaving Matt the last one and sharing a box of hash browns. I was feeling SO bloated and gross this morning that I couldn't bear to eat more. I felt puffy and I was muffin topping like crazy. Seriously, it was not a fun feeling.

After running a ton of errands (library, Sports Authority, market, etc.) we went to GameStop to pick up a new charger for the XBOX 360 controllers. The rechargable batteries have apparently died and it's just an unhappy situation.

I knew it would take Matt a while to pick out what he wanted so I got us iced caramel macchiatos from the Starbucks next door. I love iced coffee wayyyyy more than hot coffee. It was refreshing and yummy.

Even though I would have preferred to go home and eat, Matt insisted on lunch. We went to Golden Corral, which was a terrible idea. I started off by creating a salad of spring mix, broccoli, chick peas, mushrooms, spinach, tomatoes, chicken, steak, parmesan, bacon bits, and just a bit of ranch. I love salads with lots of things going on in them! I wish I had made a regular meal sized salad instead of this itty bitty bowl because the food at GC was not fantastic.

After circling the buffet, I just couldn't find anything that looked appetizing. I grabbed a homemade roll, which was delicious, and a rotisserie chicken breast. I ate half of the meat but then decided it just wasn't worth it.

I decided to cut my losses and have a small slice of carrot cake. Not bad, but not the greatest I've ever had.

All in all, a flop, but at least we got something to eat.

Last night, instead of dinner, I ate a slice of fresh baked Amish Friendship bread smeared with almond butter.

Helloooooooooo delicious.

I love almond butter. It can surprise you at first if you're expecting it to taste like peanut butter, but it has a great flavor of it's own.

I'm not only a blogger, but an avid blog reader. SO many of the great blogs I read talk about almond butter. So if you're naturally curious like me, you're probably wondering, "Why almond butter? Why not peanut butter?"

If you're thinking of converting, here's why you should: almond butter is naturally higher in MUFAs (monounsaturated fatty acids, meaning a single double bond in a hydrocarbon chain) and lower in PUFAs (polyunsaturated fat, meaning more than one double bond in a hydrocarbon chain) than peanut butter. According to the University of Nebraska, almonds have 9g mufas and 3g pufas per ounce, and peanuts have 7g mufas and 4g pufas per ounce.

Now, why does that matter? MUFAs raise HDL (the "good" cholesterol), while PUFAs raise both HDL and LDL (the "bad cholesterol). Don't get me wrong, MUFAs and PUFAs are still both great for you, but in my opinion, having more MUFAs is better than having more PUFAs.

So folks, if you were ever wondering why almond butter, that's why! And it's really yummy.

Back to studying!

Super quick post!

2010-04-14T22:27:00.001-04:00

Hey all! Sorry for such a late update. I just wasn't in the blogging mood yesterday.

I'm at Matt's since I've got no more quizzes and school is winding down. It's almost finals and that means life is going to suck, pretty much. So this update is going to be short and sweet because I'm going to start studying for my Public Speaking exam, bleh!

Dinner last night was a salad and dirty rice mixture. I've never had dirty rice before and it was interesting.

Matt and I got up at 5:30 this morning to get some studying done before his physics class. Instead of my usual heavenly hash, I ordered hash browns, bacon, eggs, and they gave me toast even though I didn't ask for it. Simple diner food = great.

After school, we were going to grocery shop, but you know you can't grocery shop when you're hungry so we ducked into Beef O' Brady's, which turned out to be an absolutely horrible idea. The fried mushrooms were great as usual. I ate 4.

I got caught up in the lunch specials and ordered boneless wings and fries. THIS WAS AN ABSOLUTELY HORRIBLE IDEA. I ate 4 wings and felt sick because of all the grease.

Matt's reuben looked muuuuuch more appealing.

So! That's all folks. OH! Pictures from Iron Girl are up on the ASI website. I'd put them on here, but apparently you can't.