Glory Glory

It is SO muggy here in Chi!  I'm looking forward to the hot weekend ahead however it may be a little sweaty moving in the 90 degree heat.  Oh well, I will not be cleaning about the heat!  :)

Well my food supply is still shrinking and I'm not replenishing until I move on Sunday so until then, I'll just have to be creative.

Last night I threw together stir fry with broccoli, frozen peas and asparagus, garlic, chicken and onions.  It was pretty good for being thrown together with stuff around the house.

After I snacked on some strawberry yogurt with cinnamon Puffins.  The cinnamon puffins definitely go better with vanilla yogurt.

This morning I had an interview (which was successful!) so I was up early to make some cream of wheat, blueberries, flax and agave.  It was good but I was very hungry (and in need of some coffee) when I got home from the interview.  I grabbed a Bagel Thin with some cream cheese.  I am SO in love with the Bagel Thins.  It's the perfect amount of bagel for 110 calories.  I loved the everything bagels but the whole wheat ones were too.

I'm so excited I finally found a job!  I'm not sure how much I'll be paid yet but it involves nutrition assessments for meal plans, recipe development and human resources.  I'm excited and I think it will be a great experience.  Not to mention I'm so glad the job search is over...until next year when I'm looking for a full time career, eeek!

The gym at my school only has summer hours Mon-Fri, 10am-3pm so my job will keep me from making it during these times.  I'm not sure what I'm going to do yet.  That gym is SO hot so I wouldn't mind finding a new one with AC for the summer that isn't too expensive.  Today I was completely dripping after my run!

When I got home I made a grilled cheese and tomato soup.  I missed having tomatoes on it but it was good nonetheless.

Tonight I made a hamburger with ketchup, mustard and onion.  I missed lettuce and tomato but yep, all out of those.  I also had some glorified beans.  I just put two cans of french style green beans and a can of cream of mushroom soup topped with bread crumbs at 350 degrees for 45 minutes.  They are good leftover too!

I'm off to attempt to start packing (we'll see how that goes.)

Happy Friday!

Tara (:

Studying? No thank you.

Afternoon everyone!

I'm seriously avoiding studying as much as possible.  I just cannot get in the mood for some reason.  (I guess I'm never really in the mood to study.)  I did crank out a paper that I had to get done yesterday though while Keith was in class.  Maybe we'll venture to the library tonight.

Keith and I made awesome stir fry the other night.  It really hit the spot.  We added edamame which was good however a bit annoying trying to take it out of the shell.  We also had bamboo shoots, broccoli, mushrooms, onion, okra and chicken.  Best stir fry I've had in a while, I actually finished the rest off for lunch yesterday!

Keith has been busy working and going to class while I've been attempting to study and snacking...I love his Kashi Go Lean Crunch Cereal.  It was so tasty!

Today he was already at work when I made it out of bed for breakfast so I made myself the usual eggs and grabbed a banana too.

Still trying to avoid my studies I decided to go for a run today.  It was so warm outside!  Not quite as high as yesterday's 81 degrees but it sure felt like it on my run.  When I got back I snuck into Keith's care package that he got from his family and tried a TLC dark chocolate coconut bar.  I felt bad eating the whole thing so I left half for Keefer.  (:  I did however steal his whole apple and took it down with some cinnamon.

The tentative menu for tonight is veggie lasagna and I can't wait!  

Mayyyyybe I better go crack those books, maybe.  (;

Tara (:

Oh the Weather Outside...

...is delightful!  I love sunny days.  The forecast shows that it is only suppose to get nicer too, yes!  I'm waking up to head back to Michigan tomorrow so I'm glad the weather will be nice for the drive.  

I couldn't fall asleep until 4:30am last night, ugh!  I hate nights like that.  Needless to say I'm pretty tired.

Last night I made some stir fry.  It turned out pretty good but it was very green.  I needed some other colors too.  I also had intentions of putting chicken in there but when I peeked in my freezer I was out!  Oh no!  It was good nonetheless.

I had just enough to bring the leftovers for lunch today.  The okra in this was definitely my fav!

I also made some of CNC's sweet potato oatmeal raisin cookies.  They are so delicious.  I was going to bring them to Keefer so I tried not to sneak too many.   ;)

For breakfast this morning I made some old fashioned oats with dried cranberries, agave and flaxseed.  I think the flaxseed really helped to hold me over until lunch.

I didn't have time to hit the gym when I got home from the hospital but it was too early for dinner so I heated up some broccoli with mozzarella and made a smoothie with raspberries, blueberries, oj and spinach!

The smoothie was good but I love bananas in mine.

Dinner was a salad and chicken noodle soup.  I'm trying to use up what I have before I go home for the weekend.

This soup does not look very good.  It actually is tasty but very salty too.

Michigan, here I come!

Tara (:

Good Til the Last Drop

And another week begins...

Last night I had....yep you guessed it, more stir fry!  It's nice making large portions especially if they heat up well because they are easy to zap but I don't like eating the same thing over and over.

After dinner I snacked on a handful of chocolate chips and some homemade granola from Marie while watching the Grammy's.  (I love Pink and Lady Gaga!)  I have to try her granola recipe because it was so good!

This morning I made an omelette with spinach, mushrooms, onions, tomatoes and cheese.  I also had a whole wheat english muffin.  I planned on eating a grapefruit with it but got too full.

For a pre-gym snack I had two small apples with peanut butter.  Such a good, classic snack.

And finallllly, I finished off the last bit of my stir fry for dinner.

I also made some roasted potatoes.  I just chopped up red skin potatoes and topped with olive oil, salt, pepper, garlic and dill, stuck them in the oven at 350 degrees for a half hour.  So easy.

Now it's time to pack my lunch for the hospital tomorrow.  See ya later!

Tara (:

Surprise Flowers

Today was one of our occasional Chicago area intern meetings.  We learned all about resume writing, interviewing and dealing with the media.  It was fun and informative for the most part.  The resume writing was especially helpful I thought.

Before I headed out for the day I made some cream of wheat with banana and agave.  Really hoping I don't get sick of this anytime soon because it is soo good!

At the conference I was starving by the time lunch hit and I think I overate.  None of the foods I chose from the cafeteria were too exceptional either.  Bummer.  I chose half a grilled cheese and tomato sandwich (def not as good as mine haha), chicken soup and taco salad.

I snacked on a Fiber One bar towards the end of day so I wouldn't over-indulge in the next meal too.  By the time I got home it felt so good to get into my comfys.  The VERY BEST part of the day was what I came home to find at my apartment.

Keith sent me sunflowers (my fav) in a cute purple bucket (my fav color) with a wonderful note.  What can I say, I'm a lucky girl (:

I was SO tempted to order a pizza for dinner because I was craving it but I told myself I had to have some self control so I decided to make stir fry and roasted yellow squash.  Both turned out great!  Look how steamy...

For the roasted squash I:

• Preheat oven to 450 degrees
• Cut into thin slices
• Brush with olive oil
• Add chopped garlic to the top
• Season with pepper and Mrs. Dash

Delicious!  Can't wait to try with my zucchini tomorrow.

For the stir fry I was trying to be economical but creative so here's what I added:

• Frozen broccoli
• Frozen zucchini
• Frozen peas
• Frozen cut okra (first time using and loved it!)
• Frozen asparagus
• Fresh tomato
• Fresh mushrooms
• Grilled chicken breast
• Olive oil
• Soy sauce

I love using frozen vegetables because they are often packed with the same nutrients as fresh veggies without the price.  They also don't have the sodium of canned veggies.  I didn't measure anything which is sometimes the best way to cook I think.  (Just being careful with the oil and soy sauce.)  I wish I would have added a million more mushrooms but overall it was a great meal.  I have enough left over for an army so hopefully I don't get sick of eating it this weekend.  I paired my dinner with a glass of white wine and skim milk of course!

For dessert I had a piece of Grandma's oatmeal bread.  Hit the spot.

Now it's time to catch up on my sleep.  I don't have an alarm set for tomorrow...what a wonderful feeling!

Nighty night

Tara (: