Cinco De Mayo!

It's Cinco De Mayo and instead of drinking margs and eating chalupas I'm studying...well not yet but I will be after this post.  I have an overstock of pics so I suppose I'll just post them all so I can get to my studying.  I am jobless for the summer as of now so I'll have more time to post after tomorrow night when my finals are DONE!  (Anyone have any job ideas?)

My fav, grilled with olive oil and parmesan

Homemade pizza with Keefer.  Pesto, tomatoes, olives, mozzarella, mushroom, onion, YUM

First experience with overnight oats.  Verdict?  Not so good.  There was pb in here and as always, I just can't get into pb in my oatmeal.  The strawberries and bananas were the best!

Best part of the salads was the avocado.  I cannot get enough of it lately!

Keefer and I made veggie lasagna but it didn't cut it for me.  I didn't like the cream sauce and I missed the tomatoness, if that's a word.

One of my new fav desserts...banana with choco syrup.  Simple and delishh.

My first LUNA bar experience and I loved it!  So good!  Can't wait to try the other flavors.

More asparagus!

Spinach, cheese, mushroom and onion omelette.  This grapefruit was SO delicious too.  Best part of breakfast!

Sushi craving at the grocery store = mistake.  I really should know better

Before I came back to Chi my parents took me on a big grocery shopping trip and I got a ton of yummy food.  I love having a stocked fridge!

Grilled cheese with tomato and MORE asparagus.  I really think I could eat asparagus at every meal.  Kinda looks like a face doesn't it??

I've been waiting to try this ice cream and luckily it was on sale.  This is 150 calories of delicious goodness.  I'm an ice cream LOVVVVER and now a Skinny Cow Ice Cream lover.  I cannot get enough!  It took all my power not to eat it all and save some.

Kinda looks like yesterday's bfast but with avocado, avocado and more avocado.  I promise there is an omelette under there somewhere!

Off to study for my LAST accounting exam.  YAHOO!

OLE!

Tara (:

Bittersweet Weekends

The weekends before finals are always so bittersweet.  Obviously they are wonderful because they are the weekends but there is a huge cloud hanging over my head knowing that I have to study, study and study some more.  I hadn't seen Keefer in almost a month so I decided to make my weekend a little better by studying in The Mitten with him!  It was also nice because we were done with classes and interning yesterday so I arrived last night.

On Tuesday morning I made some eggs and toast per usual however I needed a fruit too so I cut up a grapefruit.  It was SO delicious and juicy!  

After my work out I was in the mood for some fruits and veggies because my grapefruit was so good!  I munched on some carrots with roasted garlic hummus and another smoothie.  I can't get enough of those tropical fruit smoothies!

I was still a little hungry so I decided to make some roasted sweet potato wedges but unfortunately they didn't turn out as planned.  ):  I think I needed to bake them a tad longer.  I had them at 350 degrees for 20 minutes but I think 30 would have done the trick.  I hate wasting food but I hate wasting calories too so I didn't end up eating more than one :/

I was craving pasta and luckily I had some of my mom's spaghetti sauce stored in the freezer so it was a quick heat up.  Spaghetti is definitely one of those things that tastes different depending on who makes it, and I think everyone likes their moms the most.  At least I do!

After class I had a major sweet tooth so I grabbed the last skinny cow in my freezer.  Unfortunately it was a little stale so once again, I had to throw it away.  I opted for a yogurt with some cereal.

Yesterday before our final presentations I made some oatmeal.  I added flax seed, coconut, pumpkin, blueberries and whole grain drink.  It was still pretty tasty but not as filling as I'd like.  I may need to add the egg white again.  I really wish I liked pb in my oatmeal!

Last night I left right after my presentations to come here so I was pretty hungry when I arrived.  We were meeting up with some friends so we decided to make a quick meal of a tuna melt and asparagus.

I'm off to hit the books!

Tara (:

Sign

Made it through hump day!  

This morning I was excited because Marie and Gaby had to come to my hospital for a fair on National Nutrition Month which meant I didn't have to ride the train alone.  I don't usually mind because I read a book but it is always so much more fun to talk to people.

I started with some cream of wheat with agave but knew I needed some protein so I scrambled up an egg too.

Doesn't this almost look like a scoop of vanilla ice cream?

At the hospital we did a healthy snack demo and made fruit and yogurt parfaits.  Unfortunately they ran out so I didn't get to eat one but I snacked on some of the popcorn, my carrots, PBJ and a fiber bar.  We got out a bit early so I headed to the gym.  When I got out it was 4:15 but I was SO hungry so I decided to just eat dinner.  I had leftover pasta dish from the other night with asparagus that I topped with olive oil and parmasean cheese and grilled (my fav) and some cottage cheese.

I know I would be hungry later in the night but I suppose I just couldn't wait for dinner.  

I signed the lease for my new house tonight!!  I'm moving in the end of May and can't wait!!  It will be so great not to live in a studio anymore and to have roooomies!  I'll be counting down the days til I'm out of this apt!

I finished up some homework tonight and then my tummy started grumbling.  I made a salad topped with sprouts, avocado, onion, tomato, sugar snap peas, pepper and balsamic vinaigrette and it was yummy.  Then to cure my sweet tooth I finished off the pudding I made the other night.

I can't believe a week from today I'll be going home for Easter! Time is flying by!

Tara (:

U-S-A, U-S-A!!

Just watched Team USA beat Canada in hockey.  Great game!!  My brother played hockey so I remember spending a lot of time in ice rinks growing up.  It's always fun to watch a good hockey game.  (Too bad I can't play, or skate for that matter.)

After a fabulous food filling weekend I thought I should try and cram in some veggies for dinner.  I made spaghetti squash for the first time ever!  I didn't end up cooking it as long as I should have but I like to call it al dente squash.  I cut it in half, scraped out the weeds and baked it upside down in a bit of water.  (Just like I do acorn squash.)  I baked at 350 degrees for 1 hour.  Once I was done I scraped it out, added some spaghetti sauce and mushrooms and ate up!  I also made kale chips which I originally saw on CNC.  They were amazing!  I can't believe a dark green leafy vegetable can taste like a potato chip!  I will definitely be making these again.

Kale may be one of my new fav veggies.  (Not more than asparagus though...which I made the other night and forgot to post!)

Almost every time I make asparagus I brush it with olive oil, sprinkle with parmesan and grill on the George Foreman.  It is SO good and has to be my fav food.  MMMMMMMMMM.

For dessert I snacked on the rest of my dark chocolate pretzel thins.  (Good thing there weren't too many left.)

Now I'm trying to make sure I feel all better by the time I have to go to the hospital on Tuesday so I'm drinking green tea and taking Echinacea.  I don't always believe in supplements but Echinacea does seem to shorten the length of my illnesses when I take it as soon as I feel something coming on.  Whether it be the placebo effect or not, I'll take it.  haha.

Now I'm off to relax and get ready for the week.  Goodnight!

Tara (:

Super Shoppers!

Greetings from MSU!  I am back on campus to celebrate Keefer's 22nd Bday.  Last night I arrived a little before 8pm, Mitten time and Keefer wanted Mexican so we headed to El Azteco.  MMM.  We started off with chips and super spicy salsa.  YOWZA!  I like the taste of spicy stuff but I really can't handle it.  The chips were delcious though!

We split a Topopo Salad and nachos.  MMM.  They were so big so the salad was also our lunch today!

Even though we were so stuffed, we weren't too full for birthday dessert so we headed to a new fro-yo place called Swirlberry (aka Swirlbirl as Keith calls it.)  We could choose our flavor and add whatever toppings we liked.  They charged $.65/oz. and Keith really loaded up the fruit.  haha (;  I chose cookies and cream and topped with some chocolate chips.

We ended the night with some friends at a local bar where I tried some delicious beer.  They were all VERY good but my favorite was Founder's Red's Rye IPA.  It was so good.  Def may be my new fav beer.  And it's made in The Mitten!!!

This morning I had a hair appt. so I grabbed a bagel on the go and split the rest of the salad with Keefer for lunch.  We ran some errands and stopped and Meijer (fav grocery store) to get our dinner fixins.  I was so pumped to see NuVal on all the labels.  I was running around looking at all of them and having so much fun!  I  did a project on NuVal before I started food blogging so I'm so excited to see it finally hit the shelves.  I think it is such an awesome project and company.  I snapped a pic of my FAV food and the new label.  Luckily it was given a score of 100!  WOOHOO!

We of course had to buy the asparagus to go with dinner along with our roasted potatoes and swiss mushroom burgers.  (Keith snapped these pics on his phone so they aren't too clear.)

We'll see if we make a dessert tonight...

Tara (: