In Florida!

Mikey and I left for Florida this morning at around 10am for our 12pm flight. Once we got through security we decided to grab a bite to eat before heading to our gate. I got a WONDERFUL salad from a place called Dish D'lish. It was seriously one of the best salads I've had and it was from an airport!

• Orange Fennel Chicken Salad: baby arugula, fennel, mandarin oranges, chicken, pistachios, and a pomegranate vinaigrette

Even though the flight was 5 hours, it was pretty painless since we both had our laptops (with free wifi on the plane!), iPods, DSi's, and there was also the in-flight personal TV's- plenty to keep us occupied! Our layover was in Atlanta and by the time we got there, we were both pretty hungry so we got a pita bread, veggies, and hummus tray from Starbuck's. It was quite small, and we split it, but it was enough to fill us up for the short flight from Atlanta to Tampa and the hour drive to Sarasota until we could eat at home.

When we did get home at around midnight, my awesome mother cooked us up some killer quesadillas! Mine was chicken, cheese, and random roasted veggies (asparagus, onions, zucchini, mushrooms, etc.) with sour cream and black bean and corn salsa on the side. It was seriously soo good!

I'm super tired after our long looong day of traveling and I know that I am going to have zero problem adjusting to the 3 hour time difference. So, I'm off to bed now. I hope that I will be able to keep the updates coming but I'm not making any promises for this week.

Happy St. Patty's!

It didn't really feel at all like St. Patrick's Day to me today as I first had my last final early this morning, and then spent most of the day cleaning and packing because Mikey and I are leaving for Florida at noon tomorrow. I'm sooo glad I'm done with that quarter of school. I feel like I can finally relax and enjoy myself for Spring Break and not be completely stressed.


After I got home from my test (around 10am), I was pretty hungry and decided to have a small bowl of sweet Life cereal with skim milk. Cured my hunger pangs completely!

I got hungry for lunch around 3ish and had some leftover Zeek's "Tree Hugger" pizza from last night (3 small-ish pieces), a Cara Cara orange that Mikey and I split (I only had 2 small wedges), and a glass of homemade Sangria loaded with fruit! It was a tasty, tasty meal :)

Dinner was leftover homemade guac with multigrain chips, and leftover Whole Grain Linguine with Kale, Dried Cranberries, and Pistachio Sauce (which the recipe for will be up on Spache the Spatula tomorrow!). It was still just as good as when I made it (though the pistachios weren't as crunchy).

Can you tell I was trying to clean out the fridge before we left? This caused me to eat too much though, blegh.

So close I can taste it!

I'm taking a quick break from studying for my last test of the quarter to post this, so it will be brief :)


For lunch today, Mikey and I went to Panera where I got my usual You-Pick-2 combo of a 1/2 Greek salad and Chicken Noodle soup with a whole grain baguette. It was delicious as usual, BUT the baguette was right out of the oven. Oh man it was HEAVENLY! Nothing beats freshly baked bread!


For dinner Mikey and I decided to order some pizza, which we haven't done in a while. We recently read that Zeek's beat out Pagliacci's for best delivery pizza in Seattle. We always get Pagliacci's and had never tried Zeek's, so we decided tonight was a prime opportunity. I got a medium "Tree Hugger" pizza along with a side chopped salad (sans the salami).

• Tree Hugger: Fresh tomato sauce, mozzarella, sun-dried tomato, spinach, mushroom, artichoke hearts, broccoli, roma tomato, garlic & olives
• 1/2 Chop Salad: Romaine lettuce, mozzarella chopped salami, garbanzo beans, roma tomato, red onion, chicken, roasted red pepper, croutons, tossed in a zingy balsamic vinaigrette 

It was all incredibly delicious. I gobbled up my whole salad, along with 2 slices of pizza. I was excited to see that they don't skimp on their veggies AT ALL. This baby was LOADED with toppings!

So what's the consensus, Pagliacci's or Zeek's? We can't pick a winner. We love them both equally. I think it just comes down to what you're craving (though I do like the salad choices from Zeek's MUCH more than those from Pagliacci's).

Now I have to go back to studying (I can't promise I won't sneak another slice of pizza before I head to bed though, hah!).

What a beautiful day!

Today was absolutely gorgeous in Seattle. It made me positively giddy. I CANNOT wait for summer. I know, I know, it's a bit far off. But, days like these remind me it's closer than you may think.
Tonight my very last paper of the quarter was due! I also found out that I received a 4.0 on my essay test that I had on Friday, as well as a 4.0 on my previous short paper!! One test left. Spring Break is just inches out of my grasp!


Ah, well, onto the eats!


While Mikey worked on his final research paper, I made us a tasty snack!

It included 1 delicious Cara Cara orange (if you haven't had one of these guys, they are exceptionally sweet with a bit of a cranberry-like tartness), some roasted cashews, and some cute mini hot dog weenies cooked in BBQ sauce. I would say I ate 1/2 the orange, 1/3 of the cashews, and 1/4 of the weenies.


At around 5 I decided I was hungry again and made some tasty pasta- Whole Grain Linguine with Kale, Dried Cranberries, and Pistachio Sauce. It was so amazing- recipe to come over on Spache the Spatula!

I had around 1/4 of the recipe, maybe a bit less.


Dinner wasn't until LATE (after I finished my paper). I had the most unbelievable sandwich- a Peanut Butter, Apple Butter, and apple Panini. I L-O-V-E melty peanut butter! This combo was over-the-top good; I highly recommend it :) 

I used:

• 2 slices Orowheat Master's Best Winter Wheat, toasted (180cal)
• 1 apple, sliced (I probably only used about 1/4 of the apple on my sandwich, but while it was in the panini maker I ate the leftovers with some peanut butter)
• 1 tbsp apple butter
• 1 1/2 tbsp creamy penut butter
• 1 1/2 tsp butter, for spreading on the outside of the bread

Small Change

I apologize for not posting for a couple of days. I've been deliberating about whether to go through with something I've been playing with. I've decided that for the next two weeks (my spring break), I will not be counting my calories, but I will still be blogging my eats. My reasoning for this is two-fold: 1) I know that it will be impossible to count my calories while I am Florida, eating my mom's cooking and going out, and 2) I want to see if I am still able to lose weight without tallying up my counts for each day. Many times, I find myself finishing a plate of food when I'm already full, just because I wouldn't know how many calories to write down if I left a few bites. I think this will be a fun experiment :)!


Anyways, let's rewind to the food I ate the past couple of days:
On Friday (at around 3ish), we went to an AWESOME Vietnamese place called Long. The food was absolutely amazing. We shared and appetizer of pork rolls to start:

• Skewered grilled pork rolls: Salad roll with fresh herbs and skewered grilled pork slices served with peanut sauce.

Four came in the order and I had one :). For my entree, I ordered a Vietnamese crepe:

• Long Provincial crepe: Scallops, prawns, pork slices, shiitake mushroom, bean sprouts, and mung beans in fried rice batter topped with coconut milk served with green vegetable platter.

It was, honest-to-god, one of the best things I have ever eaten- and definitely one of the most unique. The "vegetable platter" was actually just a plate of lettuce and tons of fresh herbs to make the crepe into lettuce wraps. The crepe itself was STUFFED with bean sprouts. The texture of the actual crepe was so incredible- crispy on the outside, soft and fluffy in the center, and delectable pieces of meat and seafood throughout. It was a party in my mouth!

I was INCREDIBLY full for the remainder of the day. I had a midnight snack of cereal later that night, though: a small bowl of Kashi GOLEAN Crunch! Honey Almond Flax with skim milk- yum!

Yesterday (Saturday) for lunch I had a delicious variation on my Moroccan Carrot Sandwich, and replaced the goat cheese with hummus! I enjoyed it with a glass of homemade Sangria (recipe to come on my other blog!), loaded with fruit!

I munched on some roasted cashews a bit later, and then for dinner I decided I really wanted some guacamole, and whipped some up using:

• 1 small avocado
• juice of 1/2 a lemon
• 1 clove of garlic
• 2 small Campari tomatoes, diced and de-seeded

I ate 1/2 of the above recipe with some tasty Food Should Taste Good Multigrain Chips. It was actually really good for a recipe I just threw together!

I grabbed a small handful of dark chocolate M&Ms out of the freezer for dessert- sooo good!

Today's food will be up tonight!

A day of utter failure- delicious, delicious failure

I failed in pretty much everything today- missed class, ate terribly, and didn't work out. I know I should feel bad, but I just... don't ha ha.
Like an idiot, I managed to miss my very last lecture for my archaeology class due to my cat-like reflexes in  turning off the alarm before I, myself, am even aware that it went off. It really makes no sense. I've developed a way to do it in my sleep. -Sigh- but it's okay. I had time for breakfast this morning, lol. I had a small bowl of Life cereal- so sweet and delicious.

• 1 1/2 cups Life cereal (240cal)
• 2/3 cup fat free milk (60cal)

=300 calories

I also had my last English class today and I got my last big paper turned in! I'm definitely in the home stretch of finishing up this quarter.
When we got home I had a delicious apple to tide me over:

• 130g apple (68cal)

For lunch Mikey and I went to a place we've been wanting to try for a while: Peak's Frozen Custard. They have delicious paninis and heavenly custard. I LOVE custard! My very first job was actually at a custard place back in Florida so I know good custard :P
We each got a panini for lunch. I got the Greek which was so tasty! It reminded me of a sandwich I've had before and I racked my brain trying to think of where but just couldn't place it.

• Greek Panini: Roasted Garlic Hummus, Feta, Olive Tapenade, Roma Tomatoes, Cucumber, Lettuce, Red Onion, Balsamic Vinegar, and Olive Oil (maybe 750cal?)

Naturally, we had to get custard for dessert and we went ALL OUT! We ordered the "Mt. Rainier" which was just about the biggest thing I've ever seen. It included SIX scoops of custard! It took them like 15 minutes to make it (seriously, what the hell... I know it doesn't take that long, I've had the job before), but it was worth the wait:

• "Mt. Rainier": THE Mountain. Six scoops of frozen custard, 3 chocolate and 3 vanilla atop a fresh house-made brownie, sprinkled with fresh roasted cashews and finally drizzled with house-made hot fudge and caramel. This mountain of a sundae gets topped off with whipped cream and a cherry! (500cal for my portion?)

Oh man, the 1926389236597657 calories I probably ingested eating that thing were so worth it. Between the two of us we actually almost finished it off (we had about 2 scoops of chocolate remaining and NO toppings)!

=1250 calories (LOL how completely disgusting!)

I stayed full the entire rest of the day, no joke!

Annnd we didn't go to the gym, because we suck and honestly forgot. -sigh- Tomorrow is a new day :)

=1618 calories for the day

even though that number looks like a lot, it really is still below my maintenance

Peanut Butter, Banana, and Bacon on a burger= Mmmmm!

I studied all morning for my test and before heading out the door to take it, I made a quick snack of 1/2 a sandwich to tide me over:

• 1 slice Orowheat Master's Best Winter Wheat (90cal)
• 1/2 tbsp natural, creamy peanut butter (48cal)
• 1/2 tbsp Smucker's apple butter (23cal)

=161 calories

I'm so happy to be done with that! It was actually not so bad and I was the first person finished, hah!

I came home and took a nap since I was up 'til 4am last night studying (and then back up again at 9!). When I got up, I was fairly hungry. MIkey and I decided to go out to celebrate me finishing my final, and him finishing his public speaking class (his last speech was today!)

We went to The Ram. They are having this weird thing right now called "BurgerRama." It is all the most ridiculous burgers that I have ever seen! When we were there yesterday for lunch, I eyed the "Elvis Burger," but knew I would need a real good reason to eat something so bad for me, hah. Finishing my essay test was a great excuse! The "Elvis Burger" is a burger topped with peanut butter, bacon, and banana! How crazy is that?! I wasn't sure it would be good but our server assured me it was excellent so it was settled. It was seriously so amazing! Hah. I have no idea how many calories were in this meal but I would guess a bajillion easily. I was only able to eat half of the mondo-sized burger, but all of my delicious sweet potato fries. These are just my guesses for calories based on calorie counts of their other burgers:

• 1/2 "Elvis Burger" (600cal)
• Side of sweet potato fries (300cal)

=900 calories (these are iPhone photos, so sorry about the quality)

When we got home, unfortunately it was back to school stuff :(. My last huge paper is due tomorrow so I had to finish that up (but it was generally painless). I was sad that there was no time for the gym today, and I can't wait to go tomorrow.

=1061 calories for the day

Night Owl

Ah school is so crazy at the moment! As the quarter comes to a close, I am getting more and more stressed about my finals, final papers, etc. Tomorrow is my English final which is an essay test, and I'm freaking out about it because I feel like I can't answer the questions we were given to study :(! -Sigh-


But stepping away from that for a second, here are my eats:


For lunch today, Mikey and I decided to go to The Ram. I normally don't like to go here since everything is so high in calories, but today I just said screw it. I got the Club sandwich sans ham (I hate ham), switched out the white bread for wheat, and asked for the mayo on the side (which I may have ended up using 1/2 teaspoon of, I didn't miss it at all). I also added avocado, yum! I got sweet potato fries for my side.

• Clubhouse: Bacon, ham, turkey, lettuce, tomato, Swiss & Cheddar cheese on toasted white bread

(Terrible photo courtesy of Mikey's iPhone, lol) I ate half of the sandwich, minus a lot of the bread which I tossed to the side. There was just too much. It was one of those sandwiches that had the extra piece in the middle and this one didn't have enough going on to warrant it. I also ate about half of my sweet potato fries.

I'm not sure on the calorie count because the nutritional menu says it is 1300 calories normally! I just don't believe that the sandwich I got was quite that high (especially with all of my substitutions). Also, this is NOT COUNTING the fries!!! Seriously? Ridiculous. I would guess that for what I ate (1/2 the meal), it was around 600 calories. 450 for half the sandwich minus some bread, and 150 for the fries I ate. I could be completely wrong, but I'd like to think that this is a pretty good educated guess.

=600 calories

Anyways, after lunch I printed out a bunch of study material for my test, and then took a nap to energize myself for the ridiculous amount of studying that was to follow.

After waking up and studying for a couple of hours, I decided it was time for a break. I quickly ate a juicy red plum, and then Mikey and I headed to the gym. 

• 158g red plum (87cal)

Another great workout! 60 minutes + 5 minute cool-down for a total of 6.83 (6.43 miles in 60 minutes) miles and 713 calories burned! My average heart rate was 173 BPM.

When we got home, I was super hungry, and quickly ate the rest of my sandwich from lunch (minus some of the bread again and no mayo this time). I decided to just toss the sweet potato fries because they are never as good as they are fresh out of the fryer. I also made some Greek-style nachos! It was just pita wedges topped with hummus, olive tapenade, and feta cheese and then heated in the microwave for a minute or two- YUM:

• 1/2 Clubhouse sandwich (450cal)
• 1 whole wheat pita (150cal)
• 2 tbsp hummus (100cal)
• 1 tbsp olive tapenade (55cal)
• 1 oz. feta cheese (75cal)

=830 calories- I was HUNGRY!

Then it was back to studying! My 3am study snack was natural, tart-style frozen yogurt (tastes like Red Mango!) with homemade cajeta! SOOOO GOOD!

• 1/2 cup Haagen-Dazs low fat tart natural frozen yogurt (180cal)
• 2 tbsp homemade cajeta (150cal)

=330 calories

=1847 calories - 713 burned

=1134 net calories for the day!

Long and Slow

Last night I whipped up some overnight oats for breakfast this morning. 

The night-before mix was:

• 1/3 cup raw rolled oats (113cal)
• 1/3 cup 0% Greek Gods Yogurt (49cal)
• 1/3 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk (I use Almond Breeze) (13cal)

And this morning I added:

• 1 tbsp melted creamy peanut butter (95cal)
• 1 tbsp warm Smucker's Red Raspberry Preserves (40cal)
• 1/4 cup Back to Nature Classic Granola (100cal)

=410 calories

It was so creamy and delicious! I love overnight oats (plus they ensure that I will eat breakfast in the morning) :).

I didn't feel like going to my lecture class this morning; it was just one of those days. Unfortunately, I still had to go to campus to turn in an extra credit assignment and figure out some reimbursement stuff. But that was painless :). We also stopped by the bank and then headed back home.

I didn't eat again until 7PM- mostly because I took a nice long nap today and kind of forgot about food for a while, hah oops. Well, when I finally remembered, I decided to on a tasty sandwich with chips on the side (though I can't promise I didn't stuff some of the chips onto my sandwich as I was munching away):

• 2 toasted slices Orowheat Master's Best Winter Wheat, toasted (180cal)
• 1 slice Tillamook Sharp Cheddar Cheese (90cal)
• Claussen pickle slices (5cal)
• 1 tbsp Balsamic Fig and Date Dijon Mustard (10cal)
• 57g deli chicken breast slices (50cal)
• a few leaves of spring mix (negligible)
• 1 oz. Original Popchips (120cal)

=455 calories

At around 8PM we headed to they gym. I decided to try the "long and slow" workout thing that I did yesterday since it was so easy! I did 60 minutes + 5 minute cool-down on the elliptical resulting in 6.73 (6.3 miles in 60min) miles and 674 calories! GREAT workout! I was able to keep my heart rate at an average of 173 BPM! I'm so proud of myself. I really have to make an effort to keep it lower, but it makes the workout incredibly easy.

When we got home, I had a couple of tablespoons of roasted cashews to refuel:

• 2 tbsp salted, roasted cashews (113cal)

Just a bit later it was dinner time! I needed a lot of calories after my long workout, so I decided on a GIGANTIC bowl of cereal. I was out of skim milk so I had to use Mikey's 2%, but that turned out to be good considering I was trying to make this as calorie-dense as possible. 

The bowl consisted of:

• 155g All-Bran Bran Buds (362cal)
• 130g banana (116cal)
• 2 tbsp creamy, natural peanut butter (190cal)
• 1 cup 2% milk (130cal)

=798 calories (super calorie-dense and too filling but I needed it)

=1776 calories - 674 burned

=1102 net calories for the day

Is working out easy?

I cannot believe this is my last week of the quarter before finals! School has whizzed by this grading period (due to the constant heavy workload no doubt). All I have left is a big paper due Friday, an essay test on Thursday, a small paper at the beginning of next week, and a final next Wednesday- Hooray! Then Mikey and I are off to (hopefully) sunny and warm Florida to visit my family/friends. I. Can. Not. Wait!!!
Anyways, after class today Mikey and I went to the UVillage to grab some grub before I had to go back to campus for a conference with one of my professors (regarding my paper due on Friday). We first went to Starbucks to get some warm drinks because, get this, it freakin' snowed today! It didn't really snow all winter and then OUT OF NOWHERE it snowed today, really, really bizarre. I got my fave coffee drink ever:

• Tall nonfat Caramel Machiato (140cal)

Then we headed over to Specialty's Cafe for lunch where I ordered a sandwich I have been eying for forever, but have always been afraid of the calorie count:

• Peanut Butter & Stuff Sandwich: whole wheat bread (I got mine toasted) with crunchy peanut butter, cranberry sauce, banana, and granny smith apple (854cal)

I only ate half of it as it was super dense, but my god was it amazing! Peanut butter is quite possibly my all-time favorite food, and this sandwich let it shine! I could honestly eat one every single day for the rest of my life and die happy.

=567 calories

A bit later I had the rest of my sandwich, which I warmed in the oven for a few minutes to get the peanut butter all gooey, from lunch to amp my energy (don't want a repeat of yesterday), then we headed to the gym! By the way, I am convinced this is one of the best sandwiches ever created and I wish I could eat it all over again.

• 1/2 Peanut Butter & Stuff Sandwich (427cal)

I did 51 minutes on the elliptical (my machine of choice), resulting in 5 miles and 571 calories burned :). 

One concern I have is my heart rate. I'm beginning to think I should see a doctor because when I work out, my heart rate is normally in the 190s, sometimes going up to 202 or so. I work REALLY hard when I work out (tend to feel like I'm going to die afterwards) because I feel I get the most out of the workout that way. I know that keeping it between 140 and 160 BPM is optimal, and that working out at such a high heart rate burns less fat, but I don't feel like I'm trying at all if I keep my heart rate there. 

I tried really hard to keep my heart rate down this time but could only keep it below 180 (a big deal for me). I honestly felt like I could keep going for at least another hour. It seemed too easy. Is it supposed to feel like I'm not working hard at all?

After we got home, it was time to make dinner!

While I was thinking about what to have, I munched on a juicy, sweet Pink Lady apple and a small handful of cashews:

• 178g Pink Lady apple (92cal)
• 3 tbsp salted, roasted cashews (170cal)

=262 calories

I finally decided on tomato soup topped with cheese and saltines with a side of applesauce:

• 2 cups Pacific Natural Foods Creamy Tomato Soup (200cal)
• 28g reduced fat Mexican cheese (80cal)
• 5 multigrain saltines (60cal)
• GoGo squeeZ applesauce in "appleapple" (60cal)

=400 calories

=1656 calories - 571 burned

=1085 net calories for the day