Playing catch up

Hey!

WOW I've been lagging. Between Thanksgiving, my birthday, finals, traveling and all the other usual holiday madness I've fallen behind on my blogging already.

On top of all the chaos, I realized I misplaced my camera's USB cord sometime after I returned from Italy. I've been searching for it and I will be breaking down soon, and buying a new one. Insert picture of beautiful Siena, Italy here...

I've decided to just use crap-o iPhone pictures (yuck) until I have a USB cord in my possession again and stop using crappy photos as an excuse. It's time to catch up.

Since my last post, I experimented twice with Vegan energy granola bars. Experiment 1 was tasty, but a little too high in calories (about 350-400 PER BAR, yikes!). Experiment 2 was a disaster. Hopefully the third time will be a charm, and will result in yummy, lower-calorie (aiming for 180-230) goodness.

And enjoyed yummy green tea cupcakes from the last post with my family tehe

I also enjoyed a healthy vegetarian (definitely not vegan, I allowed myself pumpkin pie and cheese) Thanksgiving dinner. I stuck to the veggies, cheeses, fruits, grains... yummy! The best part of the meal, besides the obvious - being with my loving family, was that I didn't overeat or feel stuffed. Yahoo! That's key to enjoying holidays or just eating out with loved ones. I remember stuffing myself in the past and by the end of the night I would feeling so gross and stuffed... I wish I would have stayed home. Because of that, a lot of the time I would stay home. How horrible is that! I'm so grateful I've learned to eat healthier portions and how to order healthier options so I can go out and live a normal life.

My favorite side were the caramelized green beans. I make this recipe a lot, easy and delish! Saute green beans in pan with olive oil 25 minutes. Add pine nuts and crushed fresh garlic and continue cooking for 5 more minutes (I've even made it with chopped onion as well). Voila!

During finals, I was not sleeping nearly enough. Some nights I was not sleeping at all... I felt unbelievably crappy. It took days to feel remotely better. However, I am a perfectionist, stress freak when it comes to school and I waited a bit too long to start studying. That does not make for a healthy combo. But on the bright side, I did have the healthiest finals week ever for food. In the past I would barely eat, not wanting to take time from studying. This time I made lots of quick snack meals and ate every few hours. They made have been visually boring but they did the job!

Ezekial tortilla, hummus, roasted veggies, and lotsa spinach.

Time to hit the gym. Planning on 45 min on the treadmill :) Then cleaning up and driving to Huntington Beach to visit my best friend and her husband. She said to bring my swimsuit... So I'm assuming we'll be visiting the hot tub. Yippee!

Next post: birthday fun, my family's peacock visitor (haha!) and a AMAZING, DELICIOUS, YUMMY vegan risotto recipe

xoxo