Today’s my Friday! I’m leaving Thursday for a super long 6-day “weekend.” We’re going to DC for a wedding and then up to New Jersey. I’m excited- I went to college in DC and it still feels like my second home, even though I haven’t been back for a while. Only problem– forecast calls for Thunderstorms every single day. Fingers crossed it changes.

Happy for another What I Ate Wednesday too! Visit Jenn’s page for more fun posts.

Here are my eats from Tuesday:

Morning exercise: The day started off with a mile long swim! I usually don’t count my laps and just swim for a specific amount of time (usually 30 mins, sometimes 45), but today I counted so I could make sure to go a whole mile. It felt great!

Breakfast was post-swim, eaten at Starbucks. Coffee with soy, an enormous banana, and a greek cobani yogurt with a spoonful of jam.

Lunch was raw swiss chard for a salad, topped with half of a leftover stuffed pepper that I was too full to eat at dinner the night before. Hit the spot. I heart leftovers.

Snacks: Juicy watermelon.

And my favorite snack lately– a version of chocolate milk: unsweetened cocoa powder, unsweetened almond milk and a spoonful of sugar, all whipped up in a blender. It’s not as chocolatey as the real thing, but does the trick when I am craving chocolate or sweets.

And dinner was a veggie plate with Swiss Chard, zucchini, and a carrot. Plus an egg topped with nutritional yeast on the side.

Hope your day is going well!

–What’s your favorite summertime food?
–What’s your favorite snack lately? I need new ideas to bring to work!

Ahhh, end of the week….almost.

My day started with early morning baking while sipping coffee.
Ghiradelli Brownies…..from a box, not scratch. Hope this doesn’t make me a bad blogger

The usual breakfast

FINALLY unpacking my suitcase

What a mess

Commute to work- blah

Work Work Work

Lunch and snacks.

This is my typical lunch and snacks this week- sweet potato, 2 hard boiled eggs for lunch, almonds and an apple for my snack....packed into a random shopping bag

More work.

Afternoon walk break to get some fresh air.

Hour+ commute home. I’ll spare you a photo of this “worst” part of every day.

Quick gym workout

Quick dinner. Shrimp+veggies.

And then BOOK CLUB. With wine. This is where I brought the brownies. Sadly, no pics…totally forgot.

So that’s how I spent my day.

You? What’s the best part of your day today?

Hey! Another Wednesday. This month, Jenn is asking for everyone to add an extra cup of veggies to their day. Sounds good to me! Except one thing…that did not happen on Monday, which was when I took pics for this post. It was moving day at my office at 8am….and I just flew in from Florida at 1am the night before. So, needless to say, I was a little scatter brained and ended up eating up a bit. Oh well.

But here ya go:

Breakfast: 6:30am. After a weekend vacation in Florida without many veggies, I was craving something green….I was also craving plenty of caffeine. Breakfast was a frozen peach, banana, and spinach Green Smoothie. And 3 cups of coffee.

Hits the spot every time

I spent the morning “helping” the movers pack up. Best part about office moving day is wearing yoga pants and sneakers to work, by the way.

Lunch: 12:30pm: Stopped at the local market on my way to the new office and got the Quinoa “Wellness” Salad. I thought extra “wellness” to this busy day could only be a good thing.

Tasted really good. Was a mix of red quinoa, lemon juice, currants, and red pepper. Plus a scoop of the chickpea quinoa (the yellow one). Sprinkled a few almonds on top. Very filling lunch.

Break: 3pm. We walked over to the new Starbucks to take a sunshine break. I got an unsweetened iced green tea. Sprinkled cinnamon on top. Was just what I needed (and the extra caffeine helped a ton).

Sipped in the midst of unpacking

Dinner: 6:30pm. I’m sad to say that I totally broke the “Don’t Eat Out” challenge today and we ate dinner out too.

Here’s my cute dinner date looking very serious while he sent a work email before our food came.

Went to a crepe/salad/sandwich place (that truthfully is probably better for brunch or lunch than dinner). I got the bbq chicken salad– a huge pile of cabbage, corn, peppers, avocado and bbq chicken. I LOVE bbq sauce, so this was really good and I ate a ton of it and was so full afterwards.

After doing a few other errands, went grocery shopping and then pretty much face planted into bed. Moving is exhausting….even WITH movers and even when it’s just at your office (not your home). Glad that day is ov-ah!

Question:
– What’s your latest favorite Starbucks/Other-Coffee-Place drink order?
– Good lunch out places near your office? There are some yummy looking ones near the new office.
– Any good eats today? Do you love BBQ sauce as much as me?

After our Tahoe/snow/trip debacle, when we finally got home on Saturday, we were both hungy, but wanted something easy to make. Normally, I would have ordered Chinese take-out or a pizza, but with the “no eating out (while in SF) all this month” rule….we had to cook.

Sooo…..BBQ Chicken Pizza it was!

My cooking had been less than stellar lately (as you can probably tell from the lack of recipes I’ve been posting), but we finally had a winner!

Since I’m guessing all of you have “those” nights too– the ones when you don’t want to think about cooking too much, but want something tasty– I thought I’d share the recipe.  And frankly….it was really good and I’m pretty sure I’ll make this on a non-lazy “I want something really good for dinner” night too!

BBQ Chicken Pizza

• Pizza dough (I went the lazy route and got the whole wheat dough at Traders, but Katie makes a good one and I just use ww flour instead)
• Pizza sauce (Store bought or try this one (can keep it in the freezer if you want)
• 2 cups low-fat mozzarella cheese
• 1/2 cup bbq sauce
• 1 cooked chicken breast
• 1/2 red bell pepper
• 1 small tomato
• 1 handful fresh spinach
•  1 (smaller) handful fresh basil
• Cooking spray

1.  Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. Flour cutting board or work space and let dough sit there for 20 minutes.
3.  Shred chicken and place in small bowl with bbq sauce.  Stir to coat chicken evenly in sauce.
4.  Chop up bell pepper.  Cut stems off basil and spinach.  Slice tomatoes.

5.  Knead and then roll out pizza dough until it’s 12 inches in diameter.  I did this by hand, which took a little while ’cause my bf doesn’t seem to own a rolling pin…(not that surprised)
6.  Spray a baking sheet and put the rolled out dough on top
7.  Spread pizza sauce on top
8.  Sprinkle veggies evenly across dough
9.  Add chicken
10.  Sprinkle generously with cheese!

11. Cook in oven for 9-11 minutes….or until cheese starts to bubble.

And, enjoy!

This was seriously better than any take-out pizza.

Ok, enough of my pizza talk.  Your turn!

How often do you eat pizza?
Do you own a rolling pin?  Do the guys you know own a rolling pin?   Just curious……

Happy Wednesday! Blogging from an overcast and pouring rain day in SF. We need the rain like no one’s business, but it’s like Mother Nature stored up everything all season until this week and just let it all out finally! But rain= cheaper tastier produce, so no real complaints from me.

And now, time for What I Ate Wednesday, Thanks Jenn!

These are my eats from Monday. It was a weird all-over-the-place kind of day. I was getting over being sick and I had jury duty, which made my schedule far from usual. But some days are like that, so here ya go:

My morning started at 7am with a great swim in the pool. I got my own lane (everyone must have slept in because of the time change). Sweet!

8am- Breakfast. Random breakfast: Coffee with soy milk, a banana, and a handful of walnuts. Omega-3s and potassium to start the day? yes, please.

Check out the sticker, "I'm chiquita banana....." Love it!

I was on “call-back status” for jury duty, so I spent the morning working from home (in yoga pants sprawled out on the couch). I was totally expecting not to have to go in, so when the 11:30am recorded message told me that I had to “report” by 12:30 to the courthouse FORTY FIVE minutes from my house, I was way unprepared. Poor Charlie was woken up from a nap and dragged out of the house to “daycare” with me, lol. Aww, the life of a dog.

11:30am- Lunch. This was pretty early for lunch, but I wanted to eat before leaving for jury duty, so I just threw leftovers together. It sorta looked more like dinner (?). 2 chicken legs (with liquid aminos), kale (from the farmer’s market), and leftover roasted eggplant. I ate the kale in the car. Messy.

3pm- After serving my patriotic duty as a juror (thank goodness I didn’t get chosen), I went outside for a snack. Almonds (more nuts? yes of course), an apple, and an honest tea. It was my first time with the tea. It’s ok. Anyone love it?

Isn’t the courthouse pretty? Jury duty was actually not so bad– the whole process is really interesting and like one big history lesson (i’m a nerd, i love u.s. history stuff).

I did a few errands after leaving the courthouse before going home to get some more work done.

6pm- Dinner. Even with the daylight savings change, I’m still hungry early. By 6, I was more than ready to eat. Brussel sprouts and quinoa mixed with pinto beans and nutritional yeast. I got more than my fair share of nutritional yeast that day.

Snack: Later that night, I ate (unpictured) 2 pieces of toast and 2 handfuls of raisins. Raisins do not stand a chance against me. I can’t get enough. Too bad cause they are full of cals.
I got plenty of fats and protein, but I was still pretty hungry in the end of the day. Need to work on better balance, I suppose.

Have you ever been selected to be on a jury?
How often can you work from home?
Do you eat meals in the car ever?

Janetha at Meals and Moves did a great a to z this week and thought I’d play too.   It’s a rainy, rainy Tuesday morning here so posting some fun me facts was just what I felt like.

So here goes……

A is for age:  Wouldn’t it be great to be 5 again and spend all day singing songs, doing art projects, and playing on the swings.   That’s not the age I am, but the one I’d like to be today

B is for breakfast today: Cereal!  This is a rarity, I don’t usually have cereal for breakfast but it hit the spot this morning.  Special K with a banana and almond milk.

C is for currently craving:  This.  Will you make it for me, please?

D is for dinner tonight: Not sure yet, but it will def involve a sweet potato cause that’s my other “currently craving.”  I’m getting a glass of wine with a friend tonight, but will have to wait to eat dinner until I’m home since we’re not eating out this month.

E is for favorite type of exercise: Swimming.  Love.  It clears my head and my whole body feels great afterwards.  Not to mention, swimming means a post-workout dip in the hot tub, which is soo nice.

F is for an irrational fear: The bridge collapsing while I’m driving over it.  Ever since that bridge collapsed in Minnesota a few years ago, I hold my breath when we drive over one here, convinced it might collapse.  Totally irrational.

G is for gross food: Blue cheese.  Disgusting. I can’t even eat anything that has touched blue cheese.  So gross.

H is for hometown: A subburb near San Francisco.

I is for something important: Family.  Puppy.  Spending time outside.  Appreciating the simple things in life.

J is for current favorite jam:  “Stronger (what doesn’t kill you)” by Kelly Clarkson.  I can’t help but feel more positive when I hear it.

K is for kids: Yes, eventually.  But just one for now, my loveable pup, Charlie.  He has a blog too…

L is for current location: I’m at work, sitting at my desk.  Hate admitting that, as I should probs be doing something other than blogging…..

M is for the most recent way you spent money:  A tall coffee from Starbucks, sipped on my commute to work.

N is for something you need:  A haircut.  Hello split ends.

O is for occupation:  Manage a nonprofit program that helps homeless kids.  On weekends, I’m a juggler (aka, juggle doggie, friends, family, exercise, etc).  I’ve had a few other professions (politics, teaching, etc) so we’ll see what other occupations I’ll eventually add to my list.

P is for pet peeve:  This is really random, but lately it’s my pet peeve when I see people feeding stale bread to the ducks.  I know you MEAN well, but come on people, it makes then sick! And then they poop all over and it’s just disgusting.

Q is for a quote: I’m obsessed with quotes, so there’s no way I can pick a favorite.  My mom sent me this one recently:  “Friends are like bras.  Close to your heart and there for support.”  Lol

R is for random fact about you: I wear flip flops just about all the time (unless I’m at work….but even then I sometimes keep them on).  It’s not that I mind other shoes, it’s just that I like the feeling of my toes being free and they are so comfy.  I’ll probably regret this later in life, but until then, flip flops are my shoe of choice.  It’s rainy today and I still haven’t put my other “work” shoes on yet….

S is for favorite healthy snack: Almonds and raisins.  Though I usually eat too many, so they probably can’t be considered healthy anymore.

T is for favorite treat: Chocolate ice cream.  In a cone, of course.

U is for something that makes you unique:  Freckles!  Maybe you can’t tell from my pics, but I have a lot of “angel kisses” as my mom used to call them.

V is for favorite vegetable: Broccoli.  Roasted, steamed, stirfryed, anyway you cook it up, just give it to me!

W is for today’s workout: 30 minutes on the treadmill this morning….while watching a Bethenny Ever After rerun (she’s getting to be a bit of a diva, don’t you think?).

X is for X-rays you’ve had: None, no broken bones (knock on wood).  I did get a cat scan once….I’m a little bit of a hypochondriac and was convinced my headache was a brain tumor.  I’m fine, of course, lol.

Y is for yesterday’s highlight:  I went shopping and found some cute shirts on sale.  Morning swim.  Cuddle on the couch with J.

Z is for your time zone: Pacific.  We’re just waking up when you guys are well on your day.

Ok, your turn!  Pick a letter and tell me something about YOU

Happy Wednesday!  Weeks after a long weekends are always so great- love that it’s already the middle of the week.

And can you believe it’s the end of Feb already?  Still trying to get my veggies in for Jenn’s Feb challenge.

These are my eats from yesterday (Tuesday).  It was kinda a crazy day and I ate out a bit, which was nice (on my tummy, not my wallet).

7:45AM- Breakfast.  After a light 30 minute workout, I came home to a Green Smoothie.  I eat way too many of these lately (or is that possible?).  Can’t help it, still obsessed.  It was the usual spinach, banana, blueberries, water, almond milk, and a tiny bit of pb (new addition).  It made a massive amount, a cup and a half.  Yum!

10am- Mid-morning snack.  An orange. Plus a cup of tea.  (Notice the no-coffee in the morning? was trying for less caffeine, but as you’ll see in the afternoon that didn’t work so well…..)

Sweet and delish

12- Lunch.  Whole foods salad bar, lucky me.  Tofu and Kale & Seaweed salad.  Have you had that salad yet, it’s amazing.

Scenes from the salad bar.....and my shoe peeking out in the background

2pm- Snack.  Almonds, 2 dates, and a Guava Kombucha (that I picked up at Whole Foods too).  Around 3, I had an (unpictured) cup of coffee too.  I tried to go without it today, but no such luck.

And good zen advice from the kombucha

7:30 pm- Dinner!  I was Hungry with a capital H by then.  Jared and I went across the Bay to meet a friend of his for dinner, which meant a long commute night.

We went to a little Peruvian place that had JUST opened that night at 5pm.  So fun to be with them on their first night!

We split a bunch of dishes– Roasted chicken, Hanger Steak over Rice, Sweet Potato Fries, and a really yummy veggie salad with beets, carrots, avocado and who knows what else.

I also tried a sip of a purple corn drink– it tasted like cinnamon applesauce.  But it’s a special Peruvian fermented soft drink.  Yum.

NOW– Things I want to know from YOU:

How many times/month do you eat at the Whole Foods Salad Bar?  I’m prob twice per month.
Have you been to Peru?
I’ve spent a lot of time in the Peruvian airport on my way other places, but never been outside of it.  Machu Piccu would be amazing to see.
Tried any other cuisines lately? I haven’t, but I’ve been wanting to try Ethiopian food for a while now, need to schedule that

Good morning!

It’s ”What I ate Wednesday” and today, I felt like I had some things to confess, so here ya go:

WIAW, Confessions Edition

BREAKFAST: 7am.  A big, delicious bowl filled with bright red strawberries, blueberries, and banana slices.  And one two cups of coffee.

Confession #1:  I’ve been putting half & half in my coffee instead of almond milk this week.  And guess what– I don’t like it!  They were out of almond milk (seriously, how could they?) and I thought I’d change it up and see what all the half & half fuss was about.  Not a fan.  Good to know, I guess?

Next, time for LUNCH.  Rainbow Chard with sliced steak (leftover from dinner last night), carrots, red bell pepper, and avocado.   Flipped through old magazines while eating.

Confession # 2:  I ate this at 11am.  I was too hungry to wait until Noon!  When I taught kindergarten, I loved how our lunchtime was at 11:15.  I still get hungry early!
Confession # 3:  I subscribe to 6 magazines……I get sucked in when they have their “$5.99 for a year!” type deals…..but because I get so many, I am ALWAYS months behind!  The ones I read today were from Dec and Jan!

SNACK at 1:30.  I got hungry again a few hours later, but wasn’t sure what I wanted so I took a work break and strolled through the grocery store for a few minutes until I figured it out.  Museli/Granola thing from the bulk bin (oats, raisins, a couple almonds, and who knows what else) and a Bragg’s Ginger Spice Apple Cider Vinegar Drink.

Confession #4: The museli was really messy to eat.   I used my fingers instead of a spoon.  It spilled all over.
Confession #5:  I was pretty unsure about the Bragg’s drink before I got it.  I knew I would either love it or really hate it.  Verdict?  Loved it!  If it wasn’t $2.29 a bottle, I would get it more often.  Zero calories and just made from water, apple cider viengar, ginger, and stevia.

Stopped at Trader Joes on the way home to get a free cup of coffee pick up a few things.  I also had some of their free coffee.
Confession # 6:  Their free coffee is one of the big reasons I shop there!  Not sure I would shop there as often if they didn’t have it.

DINNER:  6:45pm.   Chicken grilled with red peppers and onion, spaghetti squash sprinkled with sea salt, and steamed kale.  I wanted to make a 7:30 gym class, so this was super quick.  But it was delish!

Confesson #7:  I cooked and ate this in 25 minutes.  Rush!
Confession #8:  I ate twice as much spagetthi squash!  The other half was while I was cooking, way too hungry last night!

Home from the gym!  Pear for DESSERT.

Eaten still in my sneakers and gym clothes

And then I pretty much layed on the couch for an hour or so and then passed out asleep.

Questions:

What’s your normal lunchtime?   Anyone sometimes eat so early like me? 
If you have a 7pm gym class, do you eat dinner before or after?
How many magazines do you subscribe to?

Hey all you 9-5ers!  (Ok, no one really works only 9-5….let’s say 8-6…or later…)  It’s Monday again.  Boo.

What’s the lunch situation like near your office?  Do you buy every day or bring your lunch?

Bringing lunch to work can sometimes be a pain or get really boring.  Salads can lose their crunch and sandwiches can get smushed.  Yuck.  And who has time to put together something gourmet that early in the morning?

Who’s with me?

In the last couple years, I had to start bringing my lunch daily– part of it was because it was my only option (now that I’m working outside the City, literally the ONLY place for me to buy lunch without driving ten minutes is a small cafe that serves the exact same things every single day….i got sick of it pretty quick) and I also started being more conscious about saving money (lunch out=$10/day…..that was $50/week, $200/month that I would MUCH rather spend on something more “fun”– you too, I’m guessing).

So, I started getting creative and have a bunch of great weekday brown bag lunch recipes that wouldn’t leave me feeling like I was still in elementary school (hello, pb&j) or with a smushed, smelly, gross lunch that would leave my stomach growling.

I thought I’d share some of them with you.

Here’s my favorite workday lunch as of late.

Chicken Collard Wrap
Take less than 2 minutes to make in the morning, only uses 3 ingredients, stays together and crunchy until lunchtime, and is very filling. 

It’s so simple that I’m not sure you even need a step-by-step, but here ya go anyways.

First Step:  Take a Collard Leaf.

Collards are in the brussel sprouts and cabbage family and have huge amounts of Vitamin C.

Step two: Cut a chicken breast and avocado into slices and place it into the middle of the leaf.  Sprinkle a dash of salt and pepper on top.

If you’re like me and have a big appetite in the afternoons, make two.

Wrap ‘em up like burritos.

Get your other lunchy stuff together.  I brought an apple and some brown rice crackers.

And you’re good to go! 

The Collards are amazing that they stay well-wrapped and don’t come apart very easily, so it will actually look the same hours later.  Sometimes my traditional wheat or corn wraps come “unwrapped” in the bag, but this hasn’t happened to me with collards yet.

Eat happily at lunchtime!

This is a great, nutritious lunch.  It’s technically paleo-friendly and gluten-free, for those who are following those diets.  It’s also really, really simple, so simple that I’m not sure it can count as an actual recipe.  I’m highly recommending it!

Do you work in an office?  Eat out or bring your lunch usually?