Sitting in traffic on a Saturday morning

Well, it's Saturday morning and I canceled two students after sitting in traffic for an hour due to a freeway closure. Oh joy...don't you wish you lived such an exciting life as mine? You were probably doing something like sleeping in and then eating homemade pancakes, or running, or shopping, or well...I guess it wouldn't have been hard to have a better Saturday morning than mine.

But, on the plus side...now I have time to blog! :)

I am the most excited about the same breakfast that I've been eating every morning for a few weeks now! It's an egg sandwich with melted cheese (your choice--I've been eating a lot of cheddar but also mixing it up!), avocado (super important!), spinach and ketchup.

I've been trying lots of cheeses for fun. I love them all! If you really want to send me cheese, I won't turn it down. :)


And with coffee, of course. Yeah, I totally took a bit before I took the picture. Oops. And yes, that is a monster coffee cup! Kind of perfect for me. :)


As Fall approaches is here and it's getting to be ridiculously cold for this California girl, I've been eating lots of soup. This is Amy's lentil, and it's basically the least photogenic food there it. Sorry.

There's an amazing cupcake shop in town that just came out with their new Fall flavors menu. So when I saw Pumpkin Maple, it took a lot of begging and pleading from them to get me to try one I just had to try one.


It didn't disappoint. The frosting is all buttery and rich and delicious.

Lastly, I have a visitor who lives under my house!

OK, well I'm off to study Algebra and Nutrition and make some banana bread and some lemonade. But not the kind you can drink. I hope you're having a lovelier Saturday than me!

Donut deliciousness!

Good morning! I had a great weekend and I want to catch up with a food post before going for a run and then teaching 4-8:30pm. I am getting even busier with new students starting; I'm up to over 25 students right now, although I generally (have time to) see 20 per week. It's insane though, and I'm honestly trying to stay calm and keep myself positive. It's hard though, when one student misses a lesson and you realize that you have zero after school hours in which to schedule a make up lesson (especially since they're usually on a tight schedule too!)

Anyway, I had this for breakfast:

-banana bread with PB
-cottage cheese
-plum

Yesterday I made a lovely dinner of more sauteed veggies with hummus, scrambled eggs, and toast:


This was an amazing combination, and I have some leftover veggies so I might have to have this again today! :) I love dry (unbuttered) toast that's salted! Am I weird?

And I was a bottomless pit yesterday so I cut up a Fuji apple with PB.

Then I broke into the donuts that my bf and I bought from a NEW Dunkin' Donuts that opened a 15 minute walk from my house!!! People, this will be dangerous! Now, obviously I don't eat donuts every day. I remember that the last time I had donuts was when I was in Los Angeles last November. So eating something (anything) once a year is not a big deal at all. And the fact is, I have been enjoying my 6 donuts (over the course of a week and I still have 2 left in the fridge--so no binging!) soooo much! I think it's unreal for any food to be that delicious! It still doesn't mean I'm going to become a donut addict, but I *may* have to include one here or there!

What is your FAVORITE totally non-nutritious food? Obviously donuts are right up there for me! Also, almost anything chocolate is great. And chocolately pastries. And once in a while, if I'm in the mood, french fries with ketchup. And don't forget really good beer (lighter lagers are the best.) I'm a foodie and I'm not ashamed to admit it!

Anyway, back to donuts. :) I still have a maple glazed one and a Boston cream pie one, but I had most of a chocolate glazed one yesterday (and a part of a chocolate filled one, but there's no pictures of that one.)



Finally I snacked on this free sample I got. (I don't normally buy these, but one was OK.)

And my totally random breakfast from Saturday:

OK, that's all folks! I'm off to run, then teach. I hope everyone is having a good Monday so far!

New and different food, finally.

Thanks for your comments on yesterday's post about my running frustrations. As soon as I finish this post, I'm heading out again to run. I'll monitor my heart rate again, to see if it's still just as high as it has been. I'm doing the 3rd week of the "Couch Potato to 5K" running plan which means that each workout is a 5 minute warm up, followed by a 90 second running interval, then a 90 second walking interval and then a 3 minute running interval and a 3 minute walking interval. You repeat this one time for a total of about 18 minutes and then finish with a 5 minute cool down walk, although mine is always a lot longer, because I find myself far from home and I have to get back. :) Plus, I plan to do upper body strength training at my gym today, so I'll end the walk/run at my gym (which is about 15 minutes away from home).

Anyway, on to my food and as promised in the title of this post, it's actually new and exciting! :)

On Wednesday afternoons I now teach violin from 2pm to 8pm with an hour break from 3-4, so I will probably routinely treat myself to Whole Foods, since I teach about a 5 minute walk from there! :)

This included:

-spinach
-dandelion
-Asian tofu (upper left)
-chicken salad (upper middle)
-sweet potatoes (upper right)
-two kinds of quinoa salad (middle-ish)
-antipasto salad (lower middle)
-balsamic marinated mushrooms (lower left)
-Parmesan cheese sprinkled all over!

Then one of my students brought me this:

This particular family is very close to my heart. Their child, who I teach, is a very bright little girl who is also a perfectionist, and very hard on herself, just like I was at her age! I think the ABSOLUTE best part of my job is having a lot of young girls look up to me! I have had MANY parents tell me that their child loves having me as their violin teacher! I want to be the best possible example to them that I can be and I want them to know that I care about them as wonderful individuals, not just as my violin students! I want to give them the tools through music, to succeed in life, using skills that I can teach them such as mental toughness, persistence, patience, self-forgiveness, work ethic, and determination. I care about my students so much that I send many hours during the week thinking about them, their needs, their personalities, and how I can best help them. And the return of knowing that I have and am continuing to inspire them is the best pay off ever!

What about you? What is the BEST part of your job?

Ok, back to food stuff now. Sorry, in case you couldn't tell, I have a passion for teaching! :)

On Wednesday night I made myself a bunch of leftovers.


This was the other Indian-spiced sausage from Whole Foods (needed to be eaten!), leftover butternut squash (that was also about to go bad!) and some more sauteed cabbage/tofu/red pepper. With a glass of white wine. I've really been going through a wine phase recently. Oh well, there are many worse things I could be consuming, right? ;-)


Then yesterday morning I woke up thinking about an omelet so that's exactly what I made. And what an omelet it was!!

This included:

-1 egg, 1 egg white
-sauteed mushrooms and spinach (with garlic)
-avocado
-cheddar cheese!

with salsa on the side!

Along with coffee and a banana!

Then I caught up on blogs and for the first time in a long time my Google reader was empty!


For a late lunch (after I ran!) yesterday I made this creative concoction!


Layered:

-brown rice (can't really see it)
-sauteed cabbage
-one can of tuna
-melted Cheddar cheese
-avocado
-salsa all around

This was honestly SOOO good! I'm going to do something similar to it today later on! (Brown rice needs to be used up before it goes bad!)

I definitely had TWO Luna bars while out teaching yesterday. I'm addicted to the chocolate raspberry kind! They're like a decadent brownie!

And I came home to this sugar free fudgesicle:

(While reading blogs.)

Finally, last but not least, my most scrumptious breakfast this morning was this bowl of oatmeal:


-cottage cheese
-almond butter (finished the jar! Not even close to the 11 servings it said was in there! *smirks*)
-a few remaining raspberries
-leftover nut mix with a little sugar that was in the bottom of the bag sprinkled on
-freeze-dried banana and pineapple Gerber baby mini-fruits! These:



Don't judge. I found them at Big Lots yesterday and they were $1.00! I figured that they'd be good on oatmeal (I was right!) and the don't have any added sugars!

Don't forget to enter my Nut Clusters giveaway! If nothing else, the name of them is so dirty that you just HAVE to want to try them, right? *Thanks to Michelle for pointing out the innuendo here! Hah!*

Finally, congratulations to Caitlin for all of her successes and life changes. This woman inspires me so much! I totally believe in her Operation Beautiful campaign and her attitude through all of her hard work is so positive! I admire everything about her!

Alrighty, I'm off to workout then I'm teaching just two students later on, so I have a pretty light day today.

Happy Friday everyone!

Recital success!

I know I haven't posted for a few days, but they've been a good few days. I've definitely kept busy! The most exciting thing that happened was my first ever studio recital on Sunday! Fourteen of my students performed a solo piece and I also played at the end. We had a very full house, with about 75 parents, relatives and friends in attendance! I had typed up and printed programs on fancy paper, but we quickly ran out of the 35 I had made. We even had to borrow chairs from the Subway sandwich shop next door! And my boyfriend recorded the whole recital on his laptop so I can even send a CD to my own parents, who live 2,400 miles away. Woohoo! I heard only positive feedback from the parents; they all thought it was a lovely event and thanked me for working hard to organize it! It was incredibly exciting! I can't share pictures due to privacy, but I did get several very cute pictures with my students and two of them gave me these beautiful bouquets.



Then on Tuesday I had a concert, for which the dress rehearsal was on Monday night. I was only playing one short piece, but it was still a lot of time of getting to the rehearsal and sitting around. The annoying part of it is that I had to reschedule my normal Tuesday night students, but most of the families are very understanding.

Anyway, here are some of my eats. I've really been trying to cut back on most sugars and I really feel much better. I've found that I'm really not wanting a lot of sugar anyway. I've even lost a couple of pounds, but that's not my primary focus.

Breakfast today:

2 Boca sausage links w. organic ketchup
sweet potatoes with PB
organic broccoli with hummus (you'll probably see this again!)
1/2 slice healthy homemade nanner bread w. PB
{there was coffee too, of course}

~~~~~~~~~~~~

A random snack yesterday (and eaten again today, but would be exactly the same picture) is pepper jack cheese on Kashi crackers. One of the most delicious things! {And I have a HUGE bag of leftover cheese from the recital! I got to take home sooooo much free food!}


And yes--you guessed it. The carrots and dip are also from the recital! :) I've been eating tons of carrots with three different kinds of hummus, in addition to that dip you see. I sill have lots of hummus and I am not complaining.

And how's this for a low-sugar breakfast?

2 Boca links
sweet potatoes
broccoli with PB {yes, I know I'm weird. PB goes on everything. Don't knock it 'til you try it!}

And wow, it's been a long time since I've blogged. I have so many breakfasts on my camera! Breakfast is always my biggest meal and then I pretty much graze throughout the day. And breakfast is always the easiest to take a picture of. So here's two more for you:


2 eggs, zucchini sauteed in EVOO, 1 slice nanner bread with PB.

As above, except with a peach instead of the banana bread. YUM! Note to self--buy more zucchini! Zucchini ranks up there with my favorite veggies, along with broccoli, snap peas, red bell peppers and carrots! What are your favorite veggies? What are your favorite raw ones versus cooked?


That loaf of banana bread fed me well all week! This was just another random snack...

...so was this! (The ever self-explanatory carrots and PB, my go-to snack!)


And a quick WF stop. (OK, there might have been a couple of these! GAH--I need to stop doing this! But I usually keep it to about $7 and that's really no more than I'd spend at Quizno's and less than for Chinese takeout. I'd prefer this healthy AMAZING stuff, any day! And sometimes, you're just hungry while you're out and about!) Anyway, this was garlicky greens, sweet potatoes, and a couple different kinds of tofu! Delicious!


Here's my last of those chocolate covered cherries my BF got me. Yes, they're pretty much just the best thing I've ever tasted!

Last, but certainly not least, I've been enjoying this delicious snack mix that I bought while I was at Target anyway. It's honestly not THAT unhealthy, and I've been preferring that it's higher in fat, lower in sugar and still very chocolatey! Of course, it's still more of a moderation food, but I've been pretty good about sticking to one serving at a time. {Because fat fills me up and keeps me full --and not wanting food-- for a long time!}


Well, I'm off to read in bed. I'll definitely comment in the morning. I have a lot of blog reading to catch up on!

It's 09/09/09

Woohoo! We only have three more times like this (10/10/10 next year, 11 and 12) before such dates are gone for a very long time. I'm such a nerd--why do I find this cool? ;-)

My days have been busy getting for my first ever studio recital which is coming up this Sunday! I'm so excited to have 15 of my own students performing and we're having a reception afterward that many of the parents were eager to help out with. It should be a great event!

I know it's been a few days since I've posted, but I've had some lovely eats recently.

Two of my very similar breakfasts. I eat a lot of cereal in the summer months. I usually mix high fiber cereal with a little granola, fruit and milk. Plus coffee. :) And yes, the meals are eaten in front of my computer with messy papers all around. Sorry! I get so jealous of all the bloggers that have such amazing clean and beautiful houses and computer desks!


This salad was a highlight! (I had another one just like it the next day!)

This had:

-spinach
-tomato
-avocado
-sauteed cabbage/onion
-tofu
-turkey lunch meat
-a little dressing


A random snack. I've been figuring out that --for me--eating a higher fat and lower sugar diet is really working! I've even been cutting way back on fresh fruit, in addition to most processed stuff. (For meals at least. Chocolate is the exception to this rule.) I feel so much better ordering sandwiches with cheese and sauces with fat in them (think like Subway with Chipotle dressing, rather than their fat free honey mustard--which I also like, but I'm just thinking in terms of how it makes me feel). I really relate to a lot of what Heather says and I love the way she eats. In fact, I kind of admire her and I would love to adopt more of her nutritional habits!

And for an amazing superfood-filled breakfast I present to you:

-2 eggs, scrambled with broccoli
-sweet potatoes
-frozen strawberries

And for the highlight of my week, my boyfriend bought me dark chocolate covered cherries "just because." Yeah, that's right--be jealous. ;-)


I might or might not have consumed more than a single two-piece serving size! They are seriously one of the best things I've ever tasted. I believe the term "Mouthgasm" is VERY appropriate to use here! :)

*drools*

*contented sigh*

OK, I'm off to do some errands:

-Bank
-Grocery store
-Gym (?!)
-Post my first ever Operation Beautiful notes

Then teaching for an hour and playing a church service tonight.

Hope everyone's having an awesome 09/09/09!

It all evens out!

After yesterday's (perfectly OK) sugar-fest, my body KNEW it needed protein, veggies and healthy fats and it let me know about it, loud and clear. I am really proud of myself for having gotten to the point where I honestly don't freak out over certain days being more nutritiously dense than others. Today was an excellently healthy day. Yay for nutrients!

I woke up craving veggies, so I made an omelet with zucchini and part of a purple onion which I sauteed in olive oil.

Topped with full fat cheddar cheese:

With coffee.

Slathered in organic salsa for some extra veggies. (Lycopene, anyone?)


After teaching a lesson, I got a massage! Then I came home to teach another lesson, after which I grabbed this very quickly. It's from the salad bar at Whole Foods:

Chick peas with feta, red peppers, onion, and parsley. So good!

And I grabbed a peach for the car:

Then I taught again, this time at a student's house, and stopped by the pharmacy on my way home to try and get the antibiotic, but it turns out my doctor's office never called them, even though *I* called this morning to make sure they were going to do that. Argh.

Oh well; at least I came home to a delectable dinner! I made a huge salad!


This included:

-spinach
-tomato
-sauteed cabbage/onions
-avocado
-last of the turkey lunch meat
-tofu soaked in Ken's Asian dressing

And for "dessert" I had these sweet potato fries with organic ketchup:

Now I'm full and my boyfriend is coming over to hang out on a rare free Thursday evening!