Why veggie, why?

I've wanted to talk for a while now about why I chose to go vegetarian, or "flexitarian."  Since I'm in the middle of a Whole 30, I'm constantly reminded of how Paleo enthusiasts advocate for meat eating.  Why do I continue to remain a {mostly} herbivore?

Disclaimer :: This post is in no way meant to put down those who eat meat (D still does!) nor convince others not to eat meat (although I'd love you forever if you said I convinced you!).  These words are meant to merely explain why I chose this lifestyle.

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Back when D and I lived in Athens, I began getting interested in vegetarianism.  I have some friends who are vegetarian, and the idea interested me.  My first order of business was read and research.  In 2009 (!!), I read The Ethics of What We Eat: Why Our Food Choices Matter.  The authors, Peter Singer and Jim Mason, do a wonderful job of breaking things down.  It's evident that they did their research.  The descriptions and imagery of slaughter houses and living conditions of animals was appalling.  That stuck with me.  While this book changed my perspective and outlook on eating meat, I still wasn't ready give up sausage bacon meat.  D and I did start doing an annual "No Meat January," but it was more of a health initiative.  Nonetheless, those words always hung in the back of my mind whenever I would eat meat.

After moving to Raleigh in 2011, I was continually aware of what I was eating.  I stopped eating most chicken (unless I bought it from Whole Foods) but couldn't deny my love for bacon and sausage.  The guilt, those slaughterhouses and killing of animals that never got to live a real life, always lingered in my mind.  I kept reading and doing research until I finally made my decision.

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In January 2012, I decided to take on a flexitarian lifestyle.  I've heard this term thrown around before.  I don't follow a strict no-meat or fish-only diet.  My vegetarian rule is to "not eat any animal raised for slaughter."  More specifically, I eat fish and venison (hunted in the wild by D's dad).  After my research, this was what worked for me.  This was the choice I could live with and not feel guilty.    

Personally, I couldn't come to terms with pigs, cows, and chickens being killed for me.  These animals are all smarter than most people think.  They have a sense of family (I use that term loosely) and definitely have feelings (just in a different way than humans do).  Morally, eating animals feels wrong to me.  To be honest, I still struggle with buying dairy products as most are made from cows living in the same terrible conditions I read about (the research regarding baby calves to maintain mother cow's milk production is heart wrenching).

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Since I love food and travel, my only "free-for-all" times are beer dinners and traveling.  Why beer dinners?  Chefs take special time in preparing dishes that pair perfectly with specific beers.  I want to have that full experience (not to mention most vegetarian substitutions are not paired appropriately or consist of my nemesis, bell peppers).  Why traveling?  I still deserve to be able to try traditional, well-known, or renowned dishes within the areas I travel to.  To never be able to try a Philly cheesesteak?  An NYC hotdog (although I haven't!)?  In-N-Out burgers?  Blasphemy.  Do I go on a crazy meat binge when I travel?  Nope, but I don't deny myself or feel guilty if meat creeps into the mix.

No matter what the benefits of the Paleo diet, I don't think that guilt would leave me (at least not for longer than a brief trip).

So tell me, are you vegetarian?  Pescatarian?  Flexitarian?
Why or why not?  

And while I don't think I can express as wonderfully as Katie and Meghan did about being a runner and the tragedy in Boston yesterday, I'm so grateful that Alex and her family are ok.  Christin couldn't have said it better, and I'm even more motivated to run a marathon because of Alex.

Veggie living :: Overnight Oats

Back in January I threw around the idea of trying Overnight Oats.  D and I finally hit up Trader Joe's and I stocked up on ingredients.  I looked at a couple different recipes and think I've settled on my own recipe.  I used Something to Chew Over's and Kath Eats Real Food's as basic starting points.

[This is what I started with on my first go-round]

The very best thing about overnight oats is the flexibility you have with them.   I rarely use PB jars for my oats.  I typically just throw everything into a mason jar and add a dollop of PB in the morning if I feel like it.  Here's what usually goes into my jar:

• 1/3 cup rolled oats
• 1/2 cup vanilla almond milk (only 45 calories!)
• 2 tablespoons greek yogurt
• 1 tablespoon flax seed
• 1/2 tablespoon honey
• Shake of cinnamon

In the morning:

• 1/2 cup blueberries
• 1/4 cup granola

[Sure doesn't look as good as it actually is]

On my first try, I didn't have greek yogurt and used less almond milk.  I found the mixture to be way too dry.  It was perfect once I added the yogurt and additional almond milk.  I also didn't feel the vanilla was necessary.  I'm not the biggest fan of bananas, but D loves to put in a mashed banana in his.  I didn't think D would be an overnight oats lover, but I've converted him.  He will often ask me to make them for him.

If we're running low on fruit, I'll throw in the dried cranberries as well as any fresh fruit we have.  Sometimes I feel as though the dried fruit adds a bit too much sweetness to my oats.  I usually don't add PB due to the fact that this ends up being a higher calorie meal for me (about 360 calories).  If you opt for peanut or almond butter, I would suggest a quick heating in the microwave and mixing everything.

My advice?  Mix up these oats however you like and grab them on the go in the morning!

Veggie living :: Tomato soup and grilled cheese.

I posted a picture to Instagram recently of one of my favorite meals, tomato soup and grilled cheese.

Claire requested the recipe so I figured I’d make a post out of it.  I’ve found that homemade tomato soup is one of the easiest things ever to make!  My recipe is basically inspired by this soup which I initially found from Cup of Jo and pinned to Pinterest but the original recipe is from Smitten Kitchen.

Here are the basics for the easiest tomato soup ever.

Source: joannagoddard.blogspot.com via Kristin on Pinterest

Roasted Tomato Soup (recipe cut to serve two):

Ingredients –

1 ½ pounds plum tomatoes

1 tablespoon olive oil

2 large unpeeled garlic cloves (kept the same as I love garlic)

½ teaspoon of finely chopped or ¼ teaspoon dried thyme 

¼ teaspoon dried crushed red pepper (also remained the same and adds a nice spiciness)

2 cups vegetable stock

Steps:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  

Wrap garlic cloves in a tight foil packet

Cut tomatoes length-wise and place half-side up on a foil-wrapped cookie sheet

Sprinkle generously with approximately ½ tablespoon of salt and any pepper to taste

Drizzle tomatoes with olive oil

Place garlic packet in the middle of the pan

Roast until tomatoes are brown and tender, about an hour.  Cool slightly.

Unwrap garlic packet and peel garlic.

Transfer garlic cloves, tomatoes, and any juices to food processor.

Pulse until tomatoes are a chunky puree (I pulse mine until pretty smooth because I don’t like tomato “chunks”).

Transfer mixture to a medium pot; add thyme, red pepper, and vegetable stock

Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer.

Cook uncovered for about 25 minutes until thickened.

I don’t find that I have to make any adjustments to spices when it’s done, but taste and make to your liking.  I do find it to be pretty spicy which D and I enjoy.  Cut back on the red pepper if you don’t like spiciness.  

Finish off the meal with a couple grilled cheeses and you’re golden!

Love lately.

Seriously guys, it's been boring around here.  I've been going to work and the gym and crashing (add a little drinking in there too).  School has been bombarding me with meetings and new students amongst everything else.  I've been obsessing about next month's budget (which is depressingly slim with my new loan payments kicking in).  This is all boring though.  To bring my spirits up, here are a few things I've been loving lately.

Source: maintain-internal-heights.tumblr.com via Sarah on Pinterest

Yoga - My goal was to go to the 7:30 beginner yoga class at the gym every Monday.  Since I had MLK day off, I switched to the daytime gentle yoga class.  I'm loving going to yoga regularly.  I tried out a "regular" yoga class on Saturday, and it was crazy tough for me.  I'm going to stick to beginner and gentle yogas for a bit until I increase my skills.  It has been really relaxing, and I love that I feel sore the next day!

Lipstick - I mentioned earlier this month that I was interested in trying lipstick.  You all gave me some great recommendations and encouragement, so I decided to go for it.  I ultimately got an orangey-coral color (which I think will be more suited for spring or summer when I am not quite so pale) and took Stephanie's recommendation for Covergirl's Spellbound (which is a fushia).  I was pretty nervous about it, but lipstick definitely makes me feel more grown up and pretty.

Source: theveganstoner.blogspot.com via Kristin on Pinterest

Vegetarianism + other related ventures - While I still don't love cooking (nor have I been doing a great deal of it), I love finding new and awesome vegetarian recipes.  I've discovered the awesomeness of overnight oats and plan to post on that soon.  My Pinterest boards are bombarded with vegetarian/pescatarian recipes that I'm vying to use.  D has me trying a juice cleanse this week, so I'll let you know how that goes (or doesn't go...I'm scared to death of three days without coffee + tackling a new student and meeting at school).  Overall, I feel much better with myself when I'm not eating meat.

Oh January, the healthiest month for us all.

I've been all kinds of crazy pinning away on Pinterest (ok, I admit I got a little bored during my three week vacay...doesn't mean I was anywhere near ready to start back to school this week).  Why?  Because like the rest of America, I'm on a healthy kick.  We're doing No-Meat January, and I mentioned I am going pescatarian starting in February.  D and I started off the first week all healthy!

 [Mid-day gym time.  I'm going to miss it being deserted]

 [Wtf Garmin footpod?!  First time trying it on the treadmill.  I swear it told me I was doing 11min/miles!]

[Making veggie curry in the crockpot]

That was a final glorious week.  I'm going to miss that week.  Nonetheless, I took time to make myself a new training schedule since I've found I do better when I have some tangible to mark off and see my progress.

[On my fridge, mirror, and by my desk at work.]

No excuses friends (until the work stress catches up with me).  I started off this week right by getting my head in the game with yoga.  

Back to Pinterest!  I've been scouring for all types of vegetarian recipes to try (in an effort to cook more in January this year).  One thing I'm really not good at is eating processed foods.  I'm typically in a hurry and pretty lazy in the mornings (that's what a 6am wake-up call will do to you).  I pick up the easiest breakfast I can throw in the toaster/microwave and the same goes for my lunches.  While I'm not the best at planning ahead, I am dying to try overnight oats in a jar!

Source: katheats.com via Kristin on Pinterest

There is obviously tons of ways you can do them.  I pinned a few different recipes to try, but they all use variations on oats, milk, yogurt, flax or chia, and a nut butter.  I'm planning to pick up the ingredients on our next grocery store run.  I'm thinking almond milk, peanut butter (we do have a used container here, but I'll rotate some leftover empty jars I have too), and dried cranberries.  Yay vegan!?

Have you ever tried OOIAJ?  What are your healthy fads resolutions for the year?

Bring it 2012.

Happy 2012 friends!

D and I celebrated with a delicious dinner, drinks, and rang in the new year in our PJs with BFW in our hearts.

Now to think about goals and resolutions for the new year.  Over the holidays, I guest posted on Claire's blog about my hopes for 2012.  My only real goal last year was to run more.  I feel pretty confident in saying that I succeeded at that.  I still have my 101 in 1001 list that needs to have a bit more attention paid to it.  I plan to take some time to review that bad boy this week.  I have just a few things I want to try and do this year.

Run another big race.  

I'm not sure if I want it to be another half marathon.  I'm still not ready to take on a full marathon.  I would love to beat my previous half time though.  Mainly I want to have another goal race to work towards.  I'll be researching this soon.  Ideally, it would be awesome to plan a big vacation around a race, so we'll see.

Start eating vegetarian.


I've mentioned a few times about my thoughts on going semi-vegetarian.  I'm still going to eat fish, but my plan is to not eat anything that is specifically raised for slaughter.  I'll still eat venison, eggs, milk, etc.  I'm still on the line about beer dinners and traveling.  This is a decision I feel morally ok with though.  After D and I complete our traditional No-Meat January, I'll keep on eating mostly vegetarian.

Keep crocheting.

At the beginning of 2011, I was re-learning how to crochet.  Then I just stopped.  I restarted and made scarves for my sisters for Christmas and have almost finished a Georgia-inspired (red+black) scarf for D.  I really want to maintain this skill/hobby and improve.  I'd love to get involved in a club here in Raleigh.

And there ya have it!  Three simple "goals" to keep me going through the year.  Now to get cracking on completing my 101 in 1001!

The dilemma.

So I've been seriously contemplating going vegetarian.  I've talked a lot about vegetarianism and how D and I have done "No-Meat January" for the past two years.  Last year I finished reading The Ethics of What We Eat by Peter Singer and Jim Mason.  I was really impacted by the book and for a point didn't eat any meat unless I purchased it from Whole Foods.  For whatever reason, I was most impacted by the treatment of chickens and almost never order/purchase chicken.  D rags on me a bit about this because I did start giving back into eating bacon and sausage (not always purchased from Whole Foods).  Why?  Because pigs are so much smarter than chickens, so inhumane treatment towards them is tougher.  For a bit I have been thinking more about how I don't want to waiver between sometimes thinking about inhumane treatment of animals and sometimes not.  I really want to dedicate to going one way or the other.  I am definitely seriously considering going vegetarian, or pescatarian (only eating fish as a meat). 

Why pescatarian?  Well aside from the fact that I am obsessed with sushi, I am a runner (that's right, I'm claiming the title).  I really feel like I need that additional protein in my diet as a runner.  To be honest, I'm still pretty lazy and want to have fish as an option for grilling, eating out, etc.  I may want to phase out seafood eventually, but I figure a gradual phase out of other meats will suffice for now.

I need your help!  What books can you recommend on vegetarianism?  I'm trying to do my research and fully educate myself before I make the switch.  I want to have all the information.  I'm planning to re-read The Ethics of What We Eat.  Currently I'm browsing through:

I'm not loving this book so far.  The defense is basically that eating meat will kill you.  Cox provides lots of research and studies on how people that ate meat died at an earlier age.  Right now I am reading about the history of Mad Cow Disease.  It's semi-interesting, but mainly not convincing me.  I suppose I want to know more about the treatment of animals, which is why my moral cords are telling me it's not right.  I'm just not super worried about my health from eating meat.

I haven't started this one, but I think it might be more of what I am looking for.  I've got a lot more on my Amazon wishlist that I couldn't find at my library.  What books do you recommend?!  Cookbooks?  I've got the Vegetarian Bible Cookbook on my Amazon wishlist as well.  I need recipes that are easy and don't take lots of prep (because remember, I'm lazy!).  Send your recs my way!!

Calling all vegetarians!

I haven't done many any food posts from this year's No-Meat January.  Mainly because I'm so stressed out that 1) D cooks a meal for us and I typically don't photo-document that; 2) I pick up a $5 cheese pizza from down the street; or 3) I just forget.  Stress will do it to you.  Last year, we made lots of delicious new meals.  This year we have mostly been re-doing those recipes.  One area that we have scoured a bit more this year is the vegetarian sections at our grocery stores. 

One of our fav finds is Quorn.

Quorn has been around in the UK since 1985 (yeah, who knew there were vegetarians then?!  I kid, I kid).  Quorn is made from a protein from the fungi family and is binded together with egg and some other stuff.  It's supposed to be, obviously, high in protein and low in fat.  D and I are skeptical when it comes to fake meats.  I mean have you ever tried the fake bacon?!  There is no substitute for that fatty, delicious meat.  Quorn is actually pretty good though!  We've only tried the Chik'n Tenders, which are like chunked chicken.  I'm trying them again tonight in my Chicken Salsa Verde Bake.  Quorn has lots of other items I want to try though.

D just learned how to make some delicious (yet fattening) tofu, and we found some decent fake sausage.  Oh and these...

...have made way into my life.  There is an American version, and they are delish!  I've never been a hot dog fan, so this is the best of both worlds!  What I don't like is the fact that fake meats are more expensive than real meats.  Grrr! 

We also tried the mostly vegetarian restaurant here in Raleigh, Remedy Diner.  It was delicious.  It does not have the variety that The Grit in Athens has, but it left me wanting to go back for more.  They have an awesome 24/7 breakfast menu that I have to try!  I can't wait to try a couple of the middle eastern restaurants here that have some great veggie options.

So far this has been a successful No-Meat January.  I'm pretty happy that I have found more meat alternatives, since I lean more towards vegetarian than not.  Don't get me wrong...I'm totally looking forward to a heaping pile of bacon sooner than later :)

What are your favorite vegetarian recipes?

Salad with salsa??

In an effort to eat better and shed some pounds, I've been trying to eat more salads.  I'm not the biggest fan of salads.  Today for lunch, I got a little light bulb!  I am obsessed with salsa.  I thought why don't I top my salad with salsa instead of my balsamic vinegrette, which is getting pretty boring. 

[here]

It was delicious!  I made a pretty simple salad.  I threw in some mixed greens, fresh cucumbers from the farmers market (which last so much longer than store bought!), goat cheese crumbles, half an avocado (yum!), and salsa!  It was so yummy and filling.  I'll definitely be having that for another meal.  We're running low on veggies here, so I had to make do with a mostly green salad.  I'd like to find some other salsas with more veggies and beans in them like this one...

[recipe for this corn, bean, and avocado salsa]

Trying to be an omnivore (is that right? omnivore??).

So WAY back in January, D and I did No-Meat January.  Since then, I have continually tried to cut back on my meat intake.  Back when I started this blog last September (whoa! I'm getting close to my one year blog birthday!), I also wrote about reading The Ethics of What We Eat.

I finally finished that book at the end of the school year.  It is a really wonderful book that I would recommend.  It doesn't blatantly recommend that people become vegetarians.  It just sort of weighs all of your options about being humane towards animals.

Anyhow...after reading that, I really felt stronger towards not eating meat unless it was from a Whole Foods type grocery store (although you really have to research even the organic meats and how the animals are treated) or if it was from a reputable restaurant.  I've held pretty strong on the meat buying.  I won't eat sandwich meat unless it's from Whole Foods (and typically only buy ham to throw on my egg McMuffin).  My exception is venison which we always get a large supply of from D's dad.  Deer are probably the most humanely killed animals as they still live in their natural habitats.  I've gotten D to switch over to cage-free, organic eggs and local milk.  I have definitely been slacking in the vegetarian eating at restaurants.  I am not much into salads and don't enjoy ordering a salad from a restaurant.  So I'm making the commitment to eat more vegetarian meals at home and restaurants.  Once D and I are both bringing in salaries again, I hope to be cooking more real meals and eating out less (doesn't seem to make sense how we eat out more when we have less money...).

As for weight, I'm weighing in on Wednesday.  I've been cheating.  I was down one pound yesterday but back up 1+ pound today....grr.  I figure I need a bathroom break and am just crossing my fingers until Wed.


Any favorite vegetarian meals?  Oh and I'm also looking for any vegetarian restaurants in Raleigh (we miss the Grit in Athens!)...

Stewwwwww.

Tonight I made some African sweet potato stew (recipe found from Spark
Recipes). I've had the ingredients for weeks now, but since it is
best made in the crockpot...it's more of a weekend dish. It's super
simple...spices that we had around the house, sweet potato, onion (I
subbed shallot), jalepeno, chick peas, canned tomatoes, and peanut butter. We added some more
stuff to make it spicier and also added some Terrapin Hop Karma Brown
IPA. We ate it over some cous cous. Yum :). Super filling and a nice
vegetarian dish switch up. Currently watching Step Brothers with D to
round out our weekend.

Information Overload.

I've got a lot going on in this blog.  I haven't had much free time to update with included pictures and links.  I'll try to be as organized as possible with my thoughts.

VEGETARIANISM:

I knew the weekend would be the toughest part.  Breakfast (especially out) just isn't as delicious or fun without bacon.  Again, I've enjoyed the way it makes me feel getting in more fruits and veggies.  I won't lie though...veggies go bad so quickly!  We went shopping last Saturday and had some sweet potatoes (shocking because starches usually last) and avocados go bad as of Thursday!  But here are some pics and updates as to meals we've been making...

Spaghetti Casserole (recipe can be found at this link from Spark Recipes)

This would be the dish in the oven.  I forgot to take a pic of the cooked dish.  This one was a HUGE hit with D.  I made a few tweeks to the recipe.   I ended up using some Morningstar Grillers, but they were meant to be a substitute for Italian Sausage.  You could definitely taste that.  I don't like bell pepper, so I substituted zucchini.  D said he thought the zucchini was better than bell peppers would be.  That's it.  I cut the recipe in half for D and I, but we're still eating on it.  Definitely a hit.  We'll continue with this one even after our vegetarian days are over.

Crustless Broccoli and Cheese Quiche

 

Obviously from the picture, the one we did was not crustless.  We had some extra pie crusts in the fridge from the holidays.  D wasn't feeling a crustless quiche, and we needed to use up our broccoli.  The only tweek I made in this one was adding the crust and switching out one egg white for a whole egg.  It was ok...I wasn't super impressed.  Maybe it didn't blend well?  I love a good quiche though.  I'm sure we'll experiment with quiches again.

We went to North Carolina for Friday night.  That was tough.  We ended up eating only fried foods.  It is definitely a challenge to eat out on a vegetarian diet...especially if you are at a beer pub of sorts.  Neither of us were wildly impressed with our meatless breakfast meals either.  We stopped at Cracker Barrel on the way home and both had "veggie" platters, which of course consist mostly of starches.  Even the green beans are probably made with some sort of meat based broth.  That's the good thing about vegetarianism though...we end up eating better and cooking more.  I enjoy cooking with D. 

WEDDING STUFF:

I'm starting to get mildly overwhelmed with elopement/party planning stuff.  I keep making a mental to do list, but barely checking anything off of it.  We did finally send off our down payment to our photographer in Aruba.  We are still trying to get the money together to send out the down payment for the actual ceremony in Aruba.  Once we get that taken care of, I feel like I'll be able to focus more on the actual party.  I mentioned before that I took my dress to be hemmed on Tuesday.  They were super quick.  I got a call on Friday that they were done, and it's going to cost $40.  I am a little worried that they finished so quickly.  I shouldn't be though!  It was only hemmed.  I'm supposed to be getting our save the dates on Sunday.  I can't wait to see them!  I keep having to get on D's case about getting me addresses and such.  That's been frustrating.  One thing I was thinking about this weekend...hair styles.  Since my dress is one shouldered, I was envisioning a side bun or pony tail.  Here are a couple ideas I've found so far:

 

 (Pictures via Project Wedding)

I love the dishevled but polished look.  I certainly don't want anything too slicked back and fancy looking.  I like a little bit of wave since my hair is so thin and flat.  I envision something probably more like the first, Michelle Williams, look since my hair fits that more.  It is not likely to hold the waves of the second photo for very long.  And I don't want a limp looking pony tail.  I'm going to keep searching.

Happy Weekend!  

Success!

(Image via Google image search)

I weighed myself this morning.  I have kind of a ritual about weighing myself typically.  When I'm working on losing weight, I try to only weigh once per week.  I can't deal with the daily fluctuation.  I try to do it every Monday or every Friday.  Typically Mondays don't work for me because I tend to lay off my diligent healthy eating plan over the weekends (and don't work out).  Anyway, off on a tangent.  My weigh in routine goes as so:  prior to shower and before any eating or drinking is done...I strip down before I get in the shower (hey, I can't have even one ounce of clothing putting me off!)...and it can't be done on a day that I work out (because I would have drank water).  Anyhow, point being that I lost 1 pound!  Yay!  Success!  After I realized (sometime last week) that I was up about 4 pounds, I weighed again and had lost like .6.  From that weight, I'm down 1 whole pound within like 3 or 4 days!  I figure it can be attributed to incorporating a healthier diet (eating more fruits and veggies as a result of the vegetarianism), keeping up with my intake and calories, and the whole finally working out again thing.  I feel really proud and motivated.  I don't really want to put a number on things, but I would like to average 2 pound per week.  I've been using my Lose It iPhone app and I adore it.  I'll admit, it can be time consuming to enter foods.  I tend to eat the same foods over and over though, so once they're in the app I can easily find them.  Plus it's super handy since I always have my phone with me.  Don't let me get all preemptively excited though!  I haven't even gotten through one whole week of working out, one whole week of vegetarianism, or the weekend!  But one pound (for someone who is not overweight) is a lot to lose in that small span of time...water weight??  There's my motivation.  If I keep it up, I'll be much closer to my goal weight by our elopement/honeymoon at the beginning of March.  Let's do this body!

In other news, I finally took my elopement dress to be hemmed yesterday.  I wasn't super happy when trying it on.  It doesn't help that I have been looking a mess lately...pale, desperately needing a hair cut, and my makeup just will not work with me lately.  I need some fine tuning before March!

A good start to a new year.  I'm looking forward to the coming weeks.  Hopefully, there are some big changes coming!

That boy is a monster.

I was going to post about our vegetarian meal yesterday.  Since I want to document our month of vegetarianism, I figured it may just easier to post by the week.  Although as I am writing that, I am remember how long it takes to upload pictures on here.  So I'll just play it by ear.  During the week, I typically don't have time to post (with pictures daily), so I'll go ahead and show you what we did last night.  In preparation, we hit up Kroger (unfortunately not Earthfare to save on some funds).  We stocked up on strawberries, blueberries, a fresh pineapple, and apples.  We purchased spinach, sweet potatoes, lots of cheese, and pasta.  We were out of a lot of spices we use regularly, so we had to replinish those as well.  Our tab came out to $140, which I was happy to come in under $150.  Yesterday morning we had basic poached eggs and toast.  That was pre-grocery; we didn't have any fresh fruit or anything to supplement the meal.  Suprisingly, it kept me feeling full for most of the morning.  This morning we had french toast with fresh fruit.  I've been obsessing over my iPhone apps: SparkRecipes and Whole Foods Recipes.  They are really convenient to have on my iPhone because I can just look in my favorites for ingredients when at the grocery store.  The Whole Foods app is nice because it gives the option to add the ingredients on a specific recipe to your "shopping list" within the app.  And as I mentioned yesterday, all the recipes have calorie counts.  Anyway, last night we tried:

Whole Foods' Vegetable Lo Mein

This is what the website showed it to look like:

And this is what we got:

 

We couldn't find  lo mein noodles at Kroger, so we opted for Thai rice noodles instead.  I think they worked, but they probably aren't meant for sauteing either.  We also added some different veggies and left out the onions and celery (forgot the celery and I don't like onions).  Overall a delicious dish.  The portions are doubled on our plates, so I didn't finish mine.  It'll probably make for a delicious lunch on Monday.  And here's a pic of the work in progress.

 

I really love cooking with Dustin.  It's nice to have a partner and someone to help everything come together.  I'm so terrible at multitasking when cooking.  I'll keep posted on dishes to follow!

I also wanted to update that KD and I went to the Lady Gaga concert last Tuesday.  Amazing and wonderful.  She is such an amazing performer.  I don't really have GOOD pictures to post.  Our seats were so far away.  But I adore Lady Gaga.  We would totally be friends in real life.  I think we have the same morals and values.  I love how she is utilizing her fame to do great things for the LGBT community.  Ok...off to do the laundry that has been piling up in our room for months!

No-Meat January.

Happy 2010!  I was lucky enough to be able to spend Wendesday and Thursday night hanging out with some friends who moved away to Florida last year.  In my opinion, I would much rather spend New Years Eve staying in somewhere and drinking as opposed to bar hopping.  Here are some pics of our weekend:

Every chilling out at the cabin watching football

 

Rousing game of spades which D and I lost miserably in...we're down for a rematch

 

Snow!  Or...a "wintry mix"

 

Wine tasting at Tiger Mountain Winery

 

B&BWatts after lots of wine

I didn't really get any good pictures of us ringing in the new year (plus it takes blogger forever to upload pics).  But all in all a good weekend with friends we don't get to see enough.  Plus, it was nice to get back on Friday and still have Saturday and Sunday to relax.  

On to New Years resolutions...I know.  I hear more and more that people don't believe in resolutions.  I can't say that I haven't had success with my resolutions.  I lost a lot of weight last year from resolving to eat better and work out.  Unfortunately, our Europe trip threw us all off track.  I want to write down my resolutions so that I can hold myself accountable and don't lose track of them in time.

1. No meat January/eat healthier:  Combo goal with D.  We're actively going vegetarian for January for a couple of reasons.  First, we want to experiment and see if we lose more weight by not eating meat.  Second, we want to kickstart healthy eating (by hopefully incorporating more fruits and veggies into our diet and eliminating meat) to get in better shape/health for our wedding.  I do agree that this plan could totally back fire...ie. eating way more bread and cheese and not incorporating the veggies.  I'm also going to try tracking my calories again to go along with the healthy eating plan.  We've looked up vegetarian recipes on SparkPeople and Whole Foods which handily have calories.  I think we're going to go all or nothing with NO MEAT in January and possibly incorporate fish in February.  Oh, the exceptions for meat are beer dinners.  
2. Work out 5 days/week:  I may have mentioned this in another post.  I'm going balls to the wall and saying 5 days a week.  I don't want to say 3 because I don't want to be content with just 3 days.  I'm going to try and follow a six week work out plan in my Women's Health mag.  It's as simple as 30 minutes for 5 days/week.  Totally do-able.  I hope to be able to do a longer amount of time or add in a class here and there.  I don't have a lot of time to get in shape for our elopement and trip to the beach.  I want to make the most of the 2 months I have.
3. Censored:  This is censored resolution.  It's regarding D and I.  I figure some relationship stuff I should just leave to myself :)
4. Take better care of our pets:  We got ourselves into the situation of 4 pets.  Unfortunately, we don't take the best care of them.  It can be pricey to get the regular vet check-ups.  I mean I feel like I can barely afford to go to the doctor and dentist myself!  The pets deserve it though.  We feed them the highest quality foods, but that's not enough.  We need to take the dogs for more walks, get them all to regular vet check-ups, and treat them regularly for fleas.  I'm resolving to at least take one pet to the vet per month and then after we have more money (post elopement/wedding party) to resume flea treatment (which is so expensive for 4 pets).

We all know we could go on all day with resolutions.  I had some others in mind, but I don't want to overwhelm myself.  4 is good.  Although there are some definitely things that must/have to/better happen in 2010 that I have to look forward to:  getting married, moving, finding a new job (which hopefully I'm happier at).  I won't go overboard on that list either.  I hope this year is a stepping stone to the beginning of what we want our lives to be.  Once we can get settled in a more permanent place, we can hopefully have more stable incomes.  Hopefully more stable incomes leads to more big ticket items we want/need: a car, a home, more travelling.  But I won't get carried away with those things.  2010 should just be the start of our adult lives together :)