Why, Phil, Why?!

HOLY COW! Wow, so when they said there was a blizzard comin' through, they weren't kidding! It seems like all of Phil's six more weeks of predicted winter came all at once here! Wednesday, the snow started around 5pm and didn't stop until yesterday morning! These were not just delicate snow flakes softly falling, either. These were violent, evil snow chunks pounding on my window and our porch! 

We couldn't even open our door!!

We had several friends over stranded inside our place, too, and had no choice but to watch movies and stuff our faces make a bit of food. Actually, we really did eat a TON of food. Well, I ate a ton of food, anyways. I did my best to not get over-stuffed, but when I realized we were going to be up late, somehow this rationalized eating a lot more to me. Thankfully, I had done a bit of a workout which included supermans and crunches, as well as squats. Eventually, we realized we had to get out yesterday morning, so we hounded our friends to come over and dig us out. Thanks, Chloe and Merritt!

Chloe saving us!

That's a lot of white...took me fo'eva to shovel!

Annierae and I forced ourselves to the gym after b-fast. I had a hard, productive workout and spent 45 min on the elliptical before doing some weights and getting all buff. It felt good to finally get outside of our place and get my booty movin'! 

Yesterday, we also had an opportunity to make a meal at the Hospitality House, a place for people in poverty where they can get food and shelter. I did this last week and Lindsey asked me to stop by this week since she was there. Here is a pic from our meal last week:

Mah girls doin their thang!

Da Spread

This home is right near our place, so we get out there twice a month with a club called People Fighting Poverty. It's nice to share the lovin' when it comes to good nutrition and health!

Today, I have another packed day (how did I feel like yesterday was packed? It felt like it.) that involves class in ten minutes and going straight to my internship after. Then I gotta hit the gym! I hope everybody is being productive and staying warm! -Claire

p.s. sorry I'm in a hurry and can't be funny, soooo.....

..."have a good day" says Jezebel!

Easy Cheezy Leftovers

I've just been craving cheeeeeez lately!  It's a good thing I went to Trader Joe's over the weekend and stocked up on two different kinds to keep me satisfied (for now...unlike how I will not be satisfied when I have any bread cravings in the next few days, since I recently ran out and forgot to get that at the grocery...awesome.)

Anyhoozy, lunch yesterday was a simple and salty "quesadilla" of sorts.

Cheese and tea, please!

It had to be a quickie lunch, so I pulled out two slices of "lite" provolone cheese and slapped 'em on a flour tortilla with some smoky salsa.  I heated that up in the microwave until the cheez was nice and gooey, folded it up, swallowed it whole and enjoyed that with a cup of apple cinnamon tea (I'm still on my "drink 3 cups of tea and 3 cups of water a day" kick...hopefully it'll become a habit!)

Breakfast today was SO good!

I was so HAPPLY to be eating this! (get it?....happy + apple...alright nevermind)

This mixture included:

• Quick cook steel-cut oats
• Two dashes of cinnamon
• About half of an apple cut up into chunks
• A handful of raisins

The combination of cinnamon raisins and apple was delightful! The apples not only added bursts of sweetness (explosions of sugary goodness!) throughout, but an an interesting texture, too. How apple-licious! (am I going to far with the apple comments?...too late)

My oatmeal breakfast was super filling, too, so I wasn't hungry until around 1 pm, right before class (and I mean I forgot to eat until, like, 4 minutes before class, so you can imagine that there was some frantic scarfing happening!) when I had to eat my quickie (again) lunch of a banana and flour-tortilla PBJ with raisins (since there was major scarfage, you can understand that I didn't have time for any pictures).

Dinnah was an interesting combination, too! Leftovers galore:

I ate in a garden, obviously...

Asparagus is one of my favorite veggies, so why does it always seem to happen that I find some in the back of my fridge that is threatening to go bad in like, 2 hours?? Anyways, this batch was still fine (although I don't think it would've been in another day...), so I sauteed it up in some olive oil, salt 'n peppah, and minced garlic. Then I heated up some leftover pesto tortellini (this stuff is the bomb.com - Trader Joe's baby), melted a piece of my provolone cheez on top, and (this is the interesting part...) smeared a generous amount of roasted garlic hummus on the top. It was GREAT! Super salty, cheesy, and easy (oh yeah, I'm a poet).

Raspberry Zinger tea on the side added a nice sweet treat to the meal :)

So that was today and yesterday's eats...but we still have some good news on the way for you! Look out for it hopefully in the next two or three posts.

Have a great night friends! -Anna

Jenny Sauce!

So we already knew we had fantabulous friends and readers, but getting awesome recipes sent to us from devoted fans only reinforces that! Here's a easy and taste-a-licious-sounding salad dressing/marinade our great friend and fellow food luvah Jenny sent to us for sharing.


Introducing Jenny Sauce:

• 2 tbs balsamic vinegar
• 5 tbs olive oil
• Squirt of mustard (my kinda measurement right there...)
• Crushed garlic
• Salt and pepper

Jenn-ay also says in her message: 

"And it makes a good amount so I just put it in an old mustard bottle and threw it (like Anna suggests) in the fridge. But if you have a sweet salad or something, you could use different flavors of balsamic vinegar, but overall it just works on everything. My mom puts in on salads with strawberries and cranberries and says it's lovely (I prefer no fruit in my salad, thanks)."

What an awesome idea! So many store-bought dressings have tons o' random calories in them, so it's super handy to know how to make it yourself. Anywho, I have yet to try it, but I think I have all of the ingredients laying around in my cupboards (those lazy things...they just lie around all day and don't do anything), so hopefully I'll get the chance to throw it together and maybe put it on some veggies to let you know how it goes tomorrow! :D

The inventor herself!

Thanks Jenny!! Keep 'em coming! -Anna

I've Only Got (Crazy) Eyes for You!

Hallloooo!! So gettin' back into the swing of things has definitely been easier than it has been this week. After spreading my weekend between Boone, Raleigh, and Chapel Hill. I didn't get all the appointments I hoped for, but I did jam in quite a few in while I could get around. One of these involved having my eyes dilated:

AAHHH!! Not a flattering pic, but neither is having pupils the size of quarters.

See a resemblance?? Other than the poofy fur and whiskers...oh wait.

It was nice to catch up wit da famfam and my friend Jenny, and I wish I could have stayed longer to see some UNC folk. My parents tried to spoil me the day I was home (Rachel, I hope you liked that they did all of your laundry- they thought it was mine!), and they made me some yummy GF soup to finish eat a bit of. 

Now, however, it's back to good ol' Boone: snow, oatmeal, and Jezzy breaking attacking my fishtank. I was late for my 9:30am class this morning because I was waiting for my roomie Lindsey to come in and tell me we had a snow day! Well, it didn't work out that way, and I had to truck it to my class. Apparently, there is a big blizzard comin' our way, though! Tomorrow is probably going to be the worst of it and they are predicting wind up to 75mph!!! Ridonkulous if you ask me (this could work out, though, because if they don't cancel classes, then I can just FLY to class!). In the morning you can definitely expect me to be waiting for Linds again...

Since I was running so late I didn't get a chance to eat b-fast until I was home, and I was craving something delish and nutrish: baked oatmeal! I wasn't in the mood for a cinnamon and apple one, so I opted for a fruitier berry/yogurt one. Mine didn't turn out as good as when Anna did it for me, but I think this is because I tried to use Anna's lack of measuring technique ("pinch" and "blob"). If my ratios had been more on it would have been perfect!

I topped mine with yoggie and more berries! and the bowl helped me be less...you know! :D

p.s. Anybody spot a certain someone top left? What a mooch.

I used frozen berries, walnuts, and yogurt as well as the obvious baking powder and egg whites. I picked steel-cut oats because I like the texture and nutty taste. Yum!

For lunch I just scarfed some Cinnamon Chex cereal between classes because I had a packed day. Dinner was a sibbies night for me and my step-sista Kristen. We went to one of our favorite restaurants here in Boone called Black Cat Burrito. OMAHGAH! So good. I LOVE Black Cat! I used to eat their burritos back in the day before I was GF, and they are bangin'. They do have options for me, too. I got the Jumping Juan, which is beans + rice + sour cream + salsa + queso plus whatever you want, basically. I nixed the sour cream and got chickie and lettuce on mine.

Jumpin' in mah BELLY!

It was to die for! Kristen can attest to the fact that I had to quickly shove mine in the box and close it tight before I finished it all (speaking of tight, I also had to loosen my belt after dinner. Awesome.). I might have to get just a lil' niblet later to make sure it's still good, though...

Kristen got a "build your own burrito" and had a spinach tortilla with loads of stuff including rice + beans + mango salsa! If you can't tell, I genuinely get excited thinking about their food. Their salsa is so fresh, too.

YUM!

Currently, I am chillin' out before I have to hit da gym and work off that Jumping Juan with some jumping jacks (HA! crackin' myself up over here)! Not to mention I have a Psych exam tomorrow to study for (sweet mercy please let school be cancelled!). I do have some updates from last week I never got to bloggin' about (I spelled it "bloogin'" at first...I really am cracking myself up). Hopefully, I can get to that after I get my other junk important things done. Happy Tuesday! -Claire

SUPAHBOWL Food Hangover

WOWWWzahhs, who's thinkin' about investing in a Hoveround since I can't move after this weekend?? Sheeeesh, they don't warn you strictly enough about the kinds of foodz you'll be forced to consume at SuperBowl parties.

Alright, I'll settle for one of these bad boys instead of a Hoveround...look how much fun this lady's having! (....)

Needless to say, I woke up feeling a little wack-o absolutely HORRIBLE today. Yuck!! Too much wine, greasy finger foods, and rich, gooey desserts made their way into my mouth over the course of the weekend (not that I didn't enjoy every last morsel, but the end feeling isn't as satisfying). So in the spirit of "forgiving and forgetting," I'm not going to even delve into the list of junk I consumed. So THERE! Let's move on and have a healthy, detoxifying week and get back on track so I don't explode from a sugar overdose any time soon.

There were some great moments in the weekend that are definitely worth recapping, though. For example, Claire came to visit!!!!

Sistas from different misters (oh yeah, Claire...you're adopted.)

She was in town for the weekend because she had a doctor's appointment Monday. Sooooo she came to Raleigh to hang out with me when she arrived on Saturday! After picking up our bruther Alex from a late-night flight arrival (he interviewed in Massachusetts this weekend for grad school! Fingers crossed!) and dropping him and his buddies off at the bars, Claire and I decided to hit the sack early so we could get up and enjoy THIS:

 Drum roll please.....craisin raisin baked oatmeal!!

YUM! This might be even better than the baked pumpkin oatmeal! Claire and I thoroughly enjoyed it, plus it's uber filling!

The ingredients include:

1/4 cup quick-cook steel-cut oats
1 egg white
1/4 cup baking soda
Desired amount of craisins
Desired amount of raisins
Cinnamon to taste
1/2 cup applesauce

Mash up all the mixins and microwave them for about 3-4 minutes until it comes out like a little cake.

All mashified

Another thing that Claire decided to add to the top of hers (which I bought this week and LOVE): Better'n Peanut Butter spread!

Peanut buttery icing

Like a peanut buttah muffin cake!

Oh baby, this stuff totally impressed me! As a huge peanut butter fanatic my whole life (it runs in the family - Claire can't be trusted around a jar of peanut butter and our Dad has had PBJs for almost ever single breakfast...ever) this stuff isn't exactly a substitute, but it's delicious! It's a little bit sweeter than regular PB and has an icing-like texture. Compared to regulah PB, it states that it has "100 calories per serving (regular PB has 190) and 2 grams of fat per serving (regular PB has 16 grams)." WOW! So that means I can eat, like, 4 times as much as I normally would, right? .......
 

Claire, making sure that no smear of peanut butter icing goes unnoticed

 Anyways, it was a good, warm, muffin-y meal to start the day off right (even though it didn't quite end well with the SuperBowl madness...but let's not talk about it).

Last night, after feeling my horrible food hangover, I had a super-vitamin-full dinner - steamed artichoke, roasted brussel sprouts, and baked chicken. Super delicioso!

Finally, I'm gonna get up with you again later today to share a recipe for an awesome salad dressing we received from one of our most valued and loyal readers!! :D Also, look out for some good and exciting news in the next few posts...

Have a terrrrrrific Toozday! -Anna