My Allegiance

Posted in Clean Eating, Food by

I think my allegiance has officially shifted from Whole Foods to Trader Joe’s.

traderjoesA year and a half ago, I used to do my weekly grocery shopping at Giant. I would get golfish and diet coke and call it a day.

When I started eating clean in January 2012, I started shopping at Whole Foods – meaning I was spoiled with ridiculously nice looking produce while simultaneously spending a small fortune.

Talking with friends last week brought me back down to Earth that people my age should be shopping a little more $$ conscious wise, and Trader Joe’s is the perfect compromise. Foodie and organic, but waaay more affordable.

I’m glad I used Whole Foods during the time that I was really figuring out how to eat healthily, and now that I know what shit like agave nectar is I’m more comfortable with choosing what to buy in a jumbled assortment of food.

traderjoes1With everything costing about half of what it would cost at Whole Foods, I am able to simply buy more at Trader Joe’s. I have enough room in my budget to try new flavors that I may not like or buy fruit that I normally wouldn’t buy, like tomato and basil hummus.

traderjoeshummus2And there are awesome Trader Joe’s brand items that are not only cheap, but utterly delicious. This pecan praline granola is seriously the best granola I’ve ever had.

pecangranolaChia seeds at Whole Foods = $9.99. Chia seeds at Trader Joe’s = $4.99.

traderjoeshaulWanna know why I never went to the Trader Joe’s near me and opted for the more expensive Whole Foods? I thought you had to pay for parking in the nearby garage to park at the Trader Joe’s.

Turns out parking is free.

Where do you grocery shop?

Are you on team Whole Foods or team Trader Joe’s?

Back to the Grind

Posted in Clean Eating, Food, Health, Products by

Now that my summer vacations are over, my body will surely be thanking me. This is because when I was on my multiple getaways this summer I cared to shovel my face with delicious food.

Don’t get me wrong, that’s fine on occasion and in moderation, but unfortunately – I go big or go home.

So as I return home, I am refocusing and getting serious about eating clean again and working out on the reg. I’m sick of feeling shitty when I eat like shit or bad about myself when I skip my run with the  excuse that it’s miserably hot out. I’m promising myself that I’ll try my best to get back on the healthy train. All you can do is try your best, right?

For me, the healthy train means eating clean 95% of the time with one big free meal a week and a few chocolate and/or alcohol dalliances here and there.

A friend asked me recently if I count my macros.

I had no idea what macros were! luckily she explained it to me – and little did I know I had all the info in my Eat-Clean Diet book.

east-clean diet macros1

The Eat-Clean Diet Recharged, page 28.

eatcleandiet3She also told me about My Fitness Pal, an iPhone app that I had heard about but never tried. She said she used it to count her daily macros and it’s helped her a lot.

myfitnesspalI’ll do a full review of the app once I’ve used it for awhile and can really tell you about it. But it is already proving helpful with portion sizes – one of the main issues I need to work on! I am floored at some of the actual serving sizes it’s showing me in comparison to what I previously assumed appropriate serving sizes were.

Here’s to saying goodbye to an indulgent, relaxing summer and kickin’ my ass into gear for the end of the year. Who’s with me?

Easy Stir Fry Sauce

Posted in Clean Eating, Food, WIAW by

Last week I was really missin’ the stir fry station we had at the cafeteria near my first year (freshman) dorm room.

You could personalize your stir fry by choosing whatever you wanted and the cooks would make it up right there in front of you. Sigh.

Nowadays I have to resort to googling: “how to make a stir fry sauce,” in order to eat. 😉

Obviously I would never imagine making something with ginger, like a lot of stir fry recipes have, so Tuna and I settled on a soy-sesame sauce. It was so good I’m going to use as it as my go to stir fry sauce from now on!

easystirfrysaucemain

Google led us to THIS article that we based our stir fry sauce on.

INGREDIENTS:

1/4 cup vegetable broth
1/4 cup soy sauce
2 tsp red vinegar
1 tsp sesame oil
1 tsp hot red pepper flakes
1 tsp sugar

DIRECTIONS:

Combine all ingredients in a bowl.

Dump on protein and veggies of choice and cook in a skillet for 10-15 minutes while stirring.

Serve over brown rice.

easystirfrysauce1Thanks as always to Jenn @ Peas and Crayons for hosting What I Ate Wednesday!

Broccoli and Cheddar Quinoa Bake

Posted in Clean Eating, Food, Recipes, WIAW by

I was nervous about this one.

Why? Because it was an experiment.

I need to keep experimenting with food….because this recipe is AWESOME – if I do say so myself.

broccolicheddarquinoabakemain

Looking at Pinterest gave me the usual inspiration that it does with recipes like this one and this one.

I subbed out some of the ingredients that I don’t like (parm, cream of mushroom soup), with some like cheddar and vegetable stock.

When it went in the oven, I wasn’t so sure.

broccoliquinoabake3But I’m starting to think that anything with cheese on it is going to be good. So it turned out alright.

broccoliquinoabake5Actually, it turned out like I’m going to be baking it and devouring it quite often.

This dish screams coming back for thirds seconds.

broccolicheddarquinoabake2Ingredients:

  • 1 cup uncooked quinoa
  • 2 cups cooked broccoli
  • 1 3/4 cups reduced fat shredded cheese (cheddar, monterey jack)
  • 10 oz vegetable stock
  • 1/3 cup reduced fat chipotle mayonnaise
  • 2 tbsp skim milk
  • 1/2 tsp Splenda
  • 1/4 tsp black pepper
  • 2 tbsp wheat bread crumbs

Directions:

Cook quinoa.

Preheat oven to 350ºF.

Spray a shallow 9×13 glass Pyrex casserole dish (that’s just what I used, you could probably use any pan) with cooking spray.

In a large bowl, combine the vegetable broth, mayonnaise, milk, 1 1/4 cup shredded cheese, Splenda, and pepper until mixed. Stir in the quinoa and broccoli.

Pour mixture into casserole dish. Sprinkle 1/8 cup cheese on the top and bake for 30 minutes.

Take out the dish, sprinkle 1/8 cup cheese and bread crumbs on top for some crunch. Put back in the oven and take for 10 more minutes (40 minutes total).

broccolicheddarquinoabake4Thanks as always to Jenn @ Peas and Crayons for hosting What I Ate Wednesday!

1 Minute Repeats Circuit Workout

Posted in Workouts by

Can you tell I’m having fun making circuit workouts?

I don’t know what the best part is:

– Working out in a sports bra as a top and not caring
– Not driving to the gym
– Being entertained by trashy reality TV during a workout

I like all of those things.

Last week I went to a group class at Crunch with my friend Mal and it was lots of fun to learn some new toning moves. Too bad I have yet to buy a kettlebell or dumbells, since a lot of the exercises that the instructor showed us in the class used them. But for now, I don’t mind improvising without equipment!

I worked good sweat from this circuit – and let myself rest for a few minutes in between each set.

1 Minute Repeat Circuit Workoutmain1

What are jump ups? I made them up. I see people at the gym doing crossfit workouts jumping up on stool-things, so my plastic stool from my bunk bed dorm room days got its own workout.

To do this move, jump up on a stool – or anything, really! Then jump back down. I do about thirty reps in one minute.

stepupsI’m pretty sure my booty will be sore tomorrow! 😉

Dark Chocolate Raspberry Bites

Posted in Clean Eating, Food, Recipes, WIAW by

So in true CNG style, this is basically the easiest “recipe” ever.

Step 1: Take a dark chocolate chip.

Step 2: Shove it inside of a raspberry.

And you’re done!

I used big ol’ chips that broke apart the raspberries a bit, so next time I shall use the mini kind.

darkchocolateraspberrybitesmain1
darkchocolatechips These yummy bites aren’t even a guilty pleasure because dark chocolate is good for you.

darkchocolateraspberrybites2They were the perf little snack to bring to book club last week and disappeared shortly after my arrival. 🙂

choclateraspberrybitesThanks as always to Jenn @ Peas and Crayons for hosting What I Ate Wednesday!