A Boozy Monopoly Night

Happy Saturday!

Look who we’re babysitting for the weekend:

Adam’s friend recently got this 10-week old Bulldog and had to go out of town this weekend, so we are watching him for a few days. I can’t even deal with the way Hogan wiggles his cute little body around!

Hanging in his little bed

We were interested to see how Harley would act with Hogan here. She’s gotten a little territorial with him, but last night they were rough housing with each other like old buddies. Harley is typically really submissive and kept rolling over and letting him get on top of her to play. He is just this little goofball who was flopping around and doing his miniature bark and it was pretty entertaining!

Moving onto food, check out what I baked this morning:

Banana cinnamon muffins from the Skinny Bitch cookbook. One of my first blog posts talked about this recipe (here) – they are SO yummy!

Now for this week’s edition of “What this Vegetarian Eats in a Day,” here is a rundown of my Friday eats –

Breakfast was a cinnamon apple sandwich: a Granny Smith apple cut into thick chunks with cinnamon peanut butter, Kashi Go Lean Crisp Cinnamon Crumble cereal, and sprinkled cinnamon in the middle.

When my stomach started growling for lunch, I whipped up some homemade hummus…

…and spread some on whole wheat toast with sliced avocado, lettuce, tomato, and a slice of cheddar cheese, along with some strawberries:

I liked this lunch so much I just might repeat the same exact combo this afternoon.

Later on in the day, I snacked on a Chobani apple cinnamon yogurt. I’m kind of obsessed with Greek yogurt. It’s high in protein, low in fat and calories and delicious. I think this may be my new favorite flavor!

For dinner last night, Adam and I used a Groupon we had for a restaurant in Hillcrest called Fig Tree Cafe. First we share an appetizer of roasted tomato, onion, basil, and goat cheese bruschetta:

And then my entree was a mixed greens salad with goat cheese, walnuts, dried cranberries and lemon-poppyseed dressing:

[Easy healthy living tip: always order your dressing on the side. I usually don’t wind up using all the dressing and save myself some unwanted calories by doing this!]

San Diego has so many great areas and things to do and see, and I love getting deals for places I’ve never been to and trying them out. Sure, some deals wind up working out better than others (I got a pretty weird massage recently with one), but I adore exploring our city. And who doesn’t like to save some bucks?!

After dinner, for a reason I’m not sure of, Adam decided that he really wanted to play Monopoly. Once we picked up the game at the store and returned home to hang with the dogs, it turned into a boozy game night at our place.

It became my “cheat” night and I enjoyed a bottle couple glasses of Gewurztraminer wine and some pretzel crisps while Adam and I got into our game of Monopoly. Hey, we all deserve to indulge sometimes right? 😉

We were laughing at how we used to play this game as kids, but probably had little concept of what it was all about. Mortgages? Rent? Utility bills? I’m pretty sure as a 10-year old I wasn’t too in the know on these things, but I distinctly remember having drawn-out games of Monopoly with my older brother. They lasted for days, and we would take our money and pieces to our rooms when we were done playing for the night, in fear that the other person would cheat and steal some of the other’s assets.

It was also pretty comical because at the start of the game I said, “One of the biggest things I remember about Monopoly is that whoever lands on (and buys) Park Park and the Boardwalk first always wins in the end.” I was right, and unfortunately, that person was Adam! No worries though, I have plans to coax him into playing cards sometime in the near future and redeeming myself (…but we aren’t competitive with each other!).

Question: What were your favorite games to play growing up? 

Besides Monopoly, I also remember loving Life, Uno, Candy Land and Sorry.

Apple Pie Oatmeal Bowl

Random tidbit of the day: According to a study in the journal Mental Health and Physical Activity, exercising for at least 2 hours a week makes you 70-85% less likely to be depressed, anxious, or experience burn out. Add that to the laundry list of reasons to workout! That’s just a minimum of about 17 minutes a day, so what’s your excuse?

Speaking of exercise, when I was talking about mountain biking in yesterday’s post, I neglected to mention the fact that I always have some sort of injury after biking. This time it’s a nice ugly bruise on my calf:

Nice right? Totally worth it though!

Moving onto eats, my day was full of getting work done and being busy with the usual shenanigans, and I didn’t devote a lot of time to prepping my meals. But contrary to what some may think, eating healthy doesn’t equate to slaving away in the kitchen for hours on end. While my dinner was a little boring — a veggie burger with tomato and avocado, with edamame on the side — my lunch was a new combo that I loved:

An apple pie oatmeal bowl!

I haven’t eaten oatmeal in awhile, but I brought it back today after smelling the sweet apple scent of it last night when my hubby snacked on a bowl of oats. So when lunchtime hit this afternoon, oatmeal was on my brain.

Here’s what I used:

• 1 packet of Quaker Oats apples & cinnamon oatmeal
• 1/2 chopped apple
• 2 TBSP slivered toasted almonds
• 1 mini box of raisins
• 1/4 c Kashi Go Lean Cinnamon Crunch cereal
• Sprinkled cinnamon

I microwaved the apple in with the oats to make them hot and soft, apple pie style. The other ingredients were added in after the oats cooked. Yum!

I’ll leave you with some food for thought: “The reason people find it so hard to be happy is that they always see the past better than it was, the present worse than it is, and the future less resolved than it will be.” – Marcel Pagnol

Broccoli Red Pepper Quiche

Adam running down a bike trail hill

Yesterday marked my first mountain biking excursion of the year.

Biking on a rocky, mountainous trail is both exhilarating and scary. One of the things I love about San Diego is that we have access to so many things in such a short distance — from the beach and wineries, to mountains and countryside. The place where Adam and I went biking yesterday is just a couple minutes away, yet it felt like we were in the middle of nowhere. It was a lot of fun and a nice workout.

Speaking of bikes, this weekend my hubby got another kind of bike:

That’s right, I suppose I’m going to be a biker babe now! Adam has been wanting a motorcycle, and what better time than soon after he returned home from a deployment, right?! He’s in the process of getting his motorcycle license, and soon we’ll be cruising around town together.

Moving onto food, today’s recipe is a tasty dish that can be eaten for breakfast, lunch or dinner…

Broccoli & Red Pepper Quiche

Makes 8 Servings

Ingredients:

• 1 deep dish frozen pie crust (Pillsbury)
• 2 c chopped broccoli
• 3 large eggs
• 1.5 c (almond) milk
• 1.5 c shredded mozzarella, cheddar, or other cheese of choice
• 1/4 onion, chopped
• 1 red bell pepper, sliced
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 2 TBSP (light) butter
• salt & pepper

Preheat oven to 350. Melt the butter in a large saucepan over medium-low heat.

Add onions, garlic, broccoli and bell pepper. Cook until veggies are soft, stirring occasionally.

Place your pie crust on a baking sheet. Spoon veggies into the crust, then spread the cheese on top.

In a bowl, combine the eggs and milk, whisking to combine. Season with a sprinkle of salt and pepper.

Pour the egg mixture over the veggies and cheese. Bake for around 35 minutes, until quiche is lightly browned.

Nutrition stats per slice: 190 calories, 11 g fat, 8 g protein, 15 g carbs

Baked Acorn Squash & Apple Chips

Happy Friday!

I’ve skipped a few weekly “what this vegetarian ate today” postings, but I’m bringing it back to answer the all too familiar question, “So exactly what do you eat?”.

My breakfast was cottage cheese + cantaloupe + almonds:

For lunch, I ate whole wheat toast + sliced banana + cinnamon peanut butter + sprinkled cinnamon:

Speaking of peanut butter, I have a very important question (I’m being only partly sarcastic). Does anyone else think that peanut butter tastes very different from brand to brand? This is the kind of thing I say that makes my hubby think I’m crazy (his taste buds are DULL, while mine are the opposite), but while I was at my parents’ house last week, I ate banana with Jiffy peanut butter and wasn’t a fan. I can even tell a difference between my store brand of choice’s regular version and reduced fat. The latter tastes better to me. Peter Pan reduced fat all the way baby!

Moving on, my mid-afternoon snack was a strawberry banana Chobani:

Right before I went to the gym, I felt a bit hungry and decided to have another snack – a peanut pretzel granola bar:

Dinner tonight was packed with produce, just how I like it. I tried out making acorn squash and apple chips:

It’s super easy! Here’s all you need:

Serves 2

• 1 acorn squash
• 2 apples
• 2 TSP brown sugar
• cinnamon

After preheating the oven to 375, I sliced the apples and squash widthwise. I placed the slices on 2 baking sheets coated with cooking spray, and sprinkled cinnamon and sugar evenly over top of them…

…and baked them for about 20 minutes.

I ate my veggie & fruit chips with 1/2 an ear of corn and a Mexican cheese + cherry tomato + whole grain wrap quesadilla:

Lastly, my nighttime snack was some Special K cracker chips:

Off to relax for the rest of the night!

Eating Pizza Before Noon

Today I ate breakfast early due to a conference call first thing this AM. Because of this, I found my stomach growling around 11 AM for lunch. I had pizza on my brain… and not just any pizza, leftovers from a new pizza recipe I came up with last weekend!

Instead of using tomato sauce as I usually do, I came up with a healthy pesto to spread onto the dough. Though I’m a big cheese lover, I let veggies take the center stage with this tasty pizza.

Veggie, Goat Cheese & Arugula Pesto Pizza

Makes 8 slices

Ingredients:

• 1 ready to bake whole wheat pizza dough (I use Trader Joe’s)
• 2 c arugula
• 1/4 c fresh basil
• juice from 1/2 lemon
• 2 TBSP olive oil
• 3 oz goat cheese
• 1 c zucchini, sliced
• 1/2 c cherry tomatoes, sliced
• 1/2 c purple cabbage, shredded
• 2 garlic cloves
• 2 TBSP water
• salt & pepper

Preheat oven to 400. Roll out your dough on a flour-dusted surface with a rolling pan. Place on a pizza pan (I lightly spray mine with cooking spray beforehand).

In a food processor, combine arugula, basil, garlic cloves, lemon juice, oil, the water, and a pinch of salt & pepper. Pulse until a thin paste forms, then spread onto the pizza crust using a butter knife or spoon.

Evenly place zucchini, tomatoes, and cabbage onto the pizza. If you’re using creamy goat cheese as I did, spoon bite-sized chunks onto the pizza. If you’re using crumbles, simply sprinkle them evenly on top.

Lightly season salt & pepper on top, then pop into the oven until lightly browned, around 15 minutes.

Per slice: 190 calories, 8 g fat, 7 g protein, 27 g carbs

Where I was on this day… 

Sometimes when I realize the date, I start thinking about what I was doing on that day in past years. Today is the wedding anniversary of my brother and sister-in-law. Here are a few pictures from 3 years ago today:

with the lovely bride

Adam (my then boyfriend) and me

with my family

with my mama

The biggest changes since then: Adam and I were just dating. I obviously didn’t know it at the time, but he had already bought a ring and was just waiting for the right time to pop the question. 🙂 I had just finished my degree, and was still living in Jersey. I’m now a military wife, public relations professional, and mother to a very spoiled dog living in California. Plus we welcomed a new addition to my family last year, and I now have a little munchkin of a nephew. So much can happen in 3 years!!

Question: Do you ever think of what you were doing on that date in past years? 

Off to volunteer at the Humane Society!

Chickpea & Sweet Potato Burgers

Tonight I decided to ditch my typical weeknight routine and head to the dog beach with Harley. She obviously had a blast and is now passed out laying on my leg. Oh, it’s a rough life for my spoiled puppy!

Harley will run up and try to say hi to almost anybody, but at the beach, her favorite people are surfers. I think she has a special affinity for them because Adam’s a surfer. I swear, every time she runs up to one, she’s looking at the guy like, “Is that you dad?!”

my surfing hubby

Onto this week’s edition of “what this vegetarian ate today”…

Breakfast: cottage cheese, blueberries, &  Cascadian Farm dark chocolate almond granola

Lunch: a chickpea & sweet potato burger with dilly cucumbers

I spotted this recipe in Self magazine’s April issue and decided to give it a try.  I halved this super healthy burger recipe of theirs and made minimal changes to the original.

Chickpea & Sweet Potato Burgers with Dilly Cucumbers

Makes 2 burgers

What you need:

• 1/2 c dried chickpeas
• 2 TSP olive oil
• Cooking spray
• 1.5 TBSP tahini
• A dash of black pepper
• 1/8 TSP baking powder
• 1/2 TSP salt
• 1/2 cucumber, peeled and thinly sliced
• 1/2 sweet potato, peeled and grated
• A slice of red onion, cut into thin slices
• 2 TBSP chopped fresh dill
• 1 TBSP rice vinegar

Soak chickpeas in a bowl of water for 12-24 hours. Drain well.

Heat oven to 375. Coat a baking sheet with cooking spray.

In a food processor, pulse chickpeas, tahini, pepper, baking powder, and 1/4 TSP salt. Scrap down sides as necessary and pulse until mixture holds together.

Transfer to a bowl, then stir in sweet potato and combine well.

Form 2 burgers and place on baking sheet. Cover tightly with foil and bake for 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, combine cucumber, onion, dill, vinegar, and remaining 1/4 TSP salt in a bowl. Set aside.

Remove foil and brush top sides of burgers with 1 TSP olive oil. Throw back in the oven until crisp and golden underneath, 15-20 minutes.

Flip burgers, then coat other side of burgers with remaining 1 TSP olive oil. Bake until crisp, about 10 minutes. Serve with dilly cucumbers. I enjoyed mine with ketchup, and think that next time I’ll eat it on a whole grain bun.

Stats per burger with 1/2 of cucumbers: 270 calories, 13 g fat, 11 g protein, 41 g carbs

Pre-Workout Snack: a chocolate strawberry protein shake, which included 1/2 scoop Designer Whey chocolate protein powder, a cup of chocolate soy milk, 1 cup of frozen strawberries, & 1 TBSP of cocoa powder

Dinner: Japanese noodles with peanut butter sauce & broccoli . I love this recipe!

Nighttime Snack: sesame pretzel crisps with avocado hummus

I’m exhausted, good night!

Creamy Rotini with Zucchini & Cherry Tomatoes

This afternoon I was already in the mood for pasta when I stepped outside and got a whiff from my basil plant. And then, I wanted pasta with fresh basil, so that’s exactly what I whipped up. This dish is easy, fresh and delicious.

[Side note: This was my first time eating basil from my plant, yea! I haven’t killed it yet!]

Goat Cheese Rotini with Zucchini & Cherry Tomatoes 

Ingredients:

• 2 oz Rotini or other pasta
• 1/2 c zucchini, diced
• 1/2 c cherry tomatoes, diced
• 1 oz Chevrion goat cheese
• 1 TSP olive oil
• around 3 sprigs of fresh basil, plus more for garnish
• a few TBSPs of water or cooking wine for sautéing
• salt & pepper

Cook pasta according to directions. Meanwhile, heat cooking wine (or water) in a medium saucepan over medium heat.

Add zucchini, tomatoes, and basil, and cook for around 5 minutes until they start to soften. Season with salt and pepper.

Once pasta is done, drain and return back to pot. Add in zucchini mix, and drizzle olive oil on top. Add the cheese in in several chunks, and then mix well. Garnish with basil.

Nutrition stats: 350 calories, 11 g fat, 14 g protein, 50 g carbs

Military Spouse Appreciation Day

I just found out that today was (technically still is for a little while) Military Spouse Appreciation Day. I want to take a second to recognize all of the military spouses out there. It can certainly be a tough job being a military spouse (and obviously a member of the armed forces, which goes without saying). I joke around with my Marine that I’m a member of the “silent ranks” as us spouses are sometimes referred to as, because when your husband or wife is in the military, you have a job as their partner to be supportive, strong, and flexible with this crazy lifestyle you are living. I think it’s the only way that you’ll be able to thrive and live life to its fullest as a military spouse. There are so many wives & hubbies out there who are holding down the fort, handling things on their own, and raising families without their spouses. I would say that I’m not sure how the mothers and expectant mothers I know seem to handle their situations so well, but I already know how they do it, because it’s the only answer I have for people when they wonder the same thing of me: they simply just keep living and trucking along as best they can, because what else can they do? Military spouses are strong for themselves, their partners, their families, and their country. Today is a day to recognize those people and show appreciation. BLESS OUR TROOPS!

What I ate this Wednesday

Recently I was talking to someone who thought it’d be interesting for me to blog about what I eat throughout the day. Her take on it was that she knows there are so many kinds of recipes out there, but what she finds most intimidating about a different diet is wondering what would be eaten from meal to meal.

She’s got a point. The first question I get when people find out I’m a vegetarian is, “So just what do you eat?”

I think that people find it hard to picture what my meals typically look like because meat is such a big part of most Americans’ diets, so it’s what we’re used to often seeing. While I don’t have a desire to post everything I eat everyday, I think I’m going to post all of my eats for the day on a weekly basis. After all, if it gives someone a better idea of what being a vegetarian could be like, provides a reader with a healthy meal idea, or even inspires someone to eat meat-free for just one day a week, I’d be happy with that!

Today’s Eats

Breakfast: a plain Chobani yogurt with 2 TSP of honey and a cup of fresh cantaloupe

Lunch: chocolate peanut butter protein shake (still my favorite smoothie after having it about 227 times!)

Dinner:

• Portobello mushroom sandwich – mushroom topped with sliced tomato, balsamic vinegar, olive oil, and shredded cheese, baked in the oven for about 20 minutes, with whole wheat toast

• A kiwi

• One date truffle 

Snack: Trader Joe’s Stilton cheese with apricots, multigrain crackers, and a chopped apple with sprinkled cinnamon

With the exception of my smoothie combos and eating yogurt a lot, I’m not a person who eats the same thing day in and day out. I like to switch it up to keep things interesting!

In a Funk

Today I was just feeling blah and couldn’t seem to snap into high gear. After an early morning conference call, I spent the rest of my morning attempting to get work done and stay focused, but I found myself zoning out, thinking about taking a nap and getting a massage for my super sore muscles. All of a sudden, I had a moment where I thought I need to pull myself out of this! and decided to go for a lunchtime hike with Harley. It looked like it could rain outside, but I risked being caught in a downpour to get some fresh air, exercise, endorphins and newfound energy.

Within minutes of starting our hike, I already felt better. We all have things that uplift our spirits, and for me that includes being outdoors, exercising, and seeing my spastic happy dog in her element, running around outside and trying to eat any & everything we pass (Yes, I might have caught her putting a piece of dried poop in her mouth today! Nastiness.) My heart was pumping, the cool breeze felt great, and it was certainly time well spent. I still might not have had crazy high energy levels the rest of the day, but hiking definitely helped me not feel quite so blah and more like my usual self.

I also like to read inspirational quotes I have stuck around my place to give me some oomph when I need it. I’ll leave you with my favorite new quote that I keep reading in the morning to start my day off in a motivated mindset:

Be amazing. 

Ballet Boot Camp + Strawberry Arugula Salad

Happy Hump Day!

This evening I volunteered at the Humane Society and got to play with puppies like this cutie:

Because I had a full day of work to do and knew I wanted to make it to volunteering, I squeezed in a workout at home today. I’ve been wanting to try a barre workout, and I keep seeing The Barre Method studios popping up around here, but I just haven’t made it to a class yet. Today I tried a Ballet Boot Camp Challenge workout I found in Prevention magazine. The article claims the workout is so effective because: “It strengthens your deepest belly muscles, pulling in your waist like a corset, while lifting your butt, trimming your thighs, and toning your arms. It also whips into shape your perfect-posture muscles, so you’ll strand straighter after a single session.” Sounds good to me!

If you’re interested in trying it out, you can find the workout I did here. I warmed up with 5 minutes of cardio, where I did jumping jacks, skaters, mountain climbers, and jogged in place. Next I did all the exercises in the workout, followed by a few sets of pushups, and finishing up with a few minutes of stretching. This workout took about half an hour, and although it wasn’t a heart pounding type of sweat sess, I definitely felt like it was a good toning routine. Plus, I felt sort of graceful and ballerina-ish doing it! 😉

Someone obviously took out a bunch of her toys and was in the middle of my exercising. As soon as I put my dumbbells down, she laid her tennis ball on top of them, naturally…

Good Eats of the Day 

I always love me a big, flavorful salad. Today I threw together one, and chomped on it while I worked for at least a good half an hour:

Strawberry Arugula Salad

• A couple large handfuls of arugula
• 1 oz crumbled feta cheese
• 1 cup sliced strawberries
• 2 TBSP of slivered almonds, toasted
• 1/2 TBSP olive oil
• 1/2 TBSP [blackberry] balsamic vinegar
• Sea salt

Nutrition stats: 290 calories, 21 g fat, 11 g protein, 20 g carbs

Off to relax a bit, good night!

Peanut and Broccoli Pasta & A Pizza Combo for One

Today’s Fitness Highlight

A lot of the time for the cardio portion of my workout at the gym, I cycle on a spin bike. My gym just got new spinners that are more high tech than the old ones, telling you how far you’ve cycled, how many calories you’ve burned, etc. I took advantage of this new training tool and instead of biking for a specific amount of time today, I set a distance goal… and I spinned 15 miles with the resistance set at a decently high gear. Go me!

Food

In case you don’t know, I’m crazy about fruit. My usual fruit staples include berries, bananas, apples, mangoes, and kiwis (and I suppose avocado is technically a fruit, and one that I eat often!), along with others that I will randomly buy in season.

I’m also a veggie fan (It only makes sense, as I am a vegetarian!), but I don’t eat them as often as fruits. I gravitate towards combining fruits with so many of the foods I tend to eat all the time – yogurt, cereal, smoothies, with peanut butter, you name it. In fact, sometimes the only time I eat vegetables is at dinner. In an effort to up my veggie intake when I feel like it’s lacking, I make sure to include some in my breakfast or lunch. When I realized that yesterday the only veggie I ate was corn in a tofu wrap (Unless salsa counts? Anyone?), I wanted to amp up my veggie count today. This afternoon for lunch, I did just that with some fresh broccoli. I had leftover Japanese noodles from my creation a few days ago, and came up with a super yummy combo. Luckily I have one more serving of noodles left, so I have a feeling that I will soon repeat this exact meal:

Peanut Pasta with Broccoli 

• 1 cup of Japanese noodles (or 2 oz angel hair pasta will work), cooked
• 1 cup of fresh broccoli, chopped
• 1 TSP roasted sesame seeds
• 1 TBSP seasoned rice vinegar
• 1 TSP soy sauce
• 1 TBSP peanut butter

Steam broccoli in a small pot (with a few inches of water at the bottom) and let it cook for a few minutes under tender. Meanwhile, combine peanut butter, rice vinegar, and soy sauce in a small bowl.

Once broccoli is done cooking, take the veggies and strainer out of the pot. Scoop out 2-4 TBSP of the water used to steam the broccoli (depending on how saucy you want your pasta to be), and pour it into the bowl with the peanut butter mix. Whisk until everything is combined.

Combine broccoli with noodles, add sesame seeds, and pour sauce on top.

Nutrition Facts: 390 calories, 11 g fat, 16 g protein, 62 g carbs

To continue my goal of eating a good amount of veggies today, my (so delicious!) dinner also included some greens:

Arugula, Feta, & Cherry Tomato Mini Pizza

• 1 whole wheat pocket bread (The brand I use is Goglanian’s. I also know that Whole Foods has em.)
• 1 large handful of wild arugula
• 1.5 oz crumbled feta cheese
• 1/2 cup cherry tomatoes
• 1 TSP avocado oil
• 1 TSP [blackberry] balsamic vinegar
• Mixed up salt & pepper

First, I threw the pocket bread in the toaster to make it nice and crispy. Meanwhile, I sliced my tomatoes.

Once your “dough” is done toasting, top with arugula, cheese, and tomatoes. Sprinkle with salt and pepper, and drizzle oil and vinegar on top.

Nutrition Stats: 330 calories, 14 g fat, 17 g protein, 41 g carbs

I’ll leave you with a picture of probably the best part of Harley’s day – getting to lick the bottom of the peanut butter jar! I’m such a nice mom.