Raging and Man Friends (WIAW)

Hey ya’ll! Wow, I haven’t blogged in a week. Shocker, but not really. I’ve been busy with school and MAN FRIENDS. Yes you heard it right here. I finally have a man friend (after being a jealous person over Kara and Britt’s man friends), but technically I’ve sort of had him for a while. Details don’t really matter. Anyways, he came over for dinner on Saturday night because he didn’t believe that healthy food can be delicious. Totally proved him wrong. Winning. Then we went to this insane concert. I fell in love…not with him, but with electro house music. Oh no she didn’t. Oh yeah, sadly after teasing it for so long, I finally have understood the magic behind it. Plus who doesn’t like sick lights to a dope beat? A crazy person probably. Plus you get to dance dance dance. Literally I couldn’t walk the next day. My body hurt so bad. Lets get to the good stuff: The fooooood.

Oh yeah, can’t believe I forgot to say thanks to Jenn for hosting my favorite day of the week. It is probably one of the main reasons I always remember to blog at least once a week. I need to get better about that.

This is the concert I was at in Austin. Wolfgang Gartner. Check it out.

Back to the food.
Lemon and Strawberry Heaven Pie Oats:
1 1/2 c. water
1/2 c. oats
1/8 tsp vanilla extract
1 packet truvia
1/4 c. cottage cheese
1 banana
1 tsp of Lemon pudding powder
slices of strawberries

1. Prepare oats with water in microwave for about 2:55 minutes.
2. Slice up banana into small slices then add to oat mixture and microwave for 1:15 minutes.
3. Add in vanilla, truvia, and cottage cheese.
4. Add lemon pudding powder and mix thoroughly.
5. Slice strawberries and throw into bowl.

Oh lord, this combination is so delicious. Who knew that adding a little pudding powder to your oatmeal would take it over the edge? Thank god for that discovery. The oatmeal is not overly sweet or sour, it just has a nice hint of lemon and when mixed with the strawberries it is like the perfect pairing ever. Not only is this tasty, but it is also really cheap. Pudding is like .40 cents a box. I’m going to run to the store now and load up for a lifetime. Not even kidding. I just bought butterscotch, pistachio, and chocolate. Yummmmmmy.

Speaking of pudding powder, I have discovered another lovely creation from the blog world:
Pudding in greek yogurt. Just go out, buy a huge thing of plain chobani or whatever brand you like, and add in pudding powder. This bowl here is chocolate pudding with strawberries. Can you see a trend here? Yes, I love strawberries. No, they are actually on sale right now, so the Jew in me is like MUST BUY every week until not on sale. Good deals get the best of me usually all the time. Anyways, this is such a tasty snack to have every day. I can’t wait to try out my other pudding flavors on this bad boy. Also I should probably invest in some other types of fruit. I think I’m going to go the frozen route that way I can get a variety of fruit for a cheap price. I really need to stop Jewing everything.

Mmmm my version of a burger salad. Chopped up extra lean turkey burger, sliced up pickles, onions, lots of lettuce, and top it all off with dijon mustard. So good. I love salads that are jam packed with a bunch of stuff. Especially pickles. I’m a freak about pickles. My roommate eats my pickles sometimes, and I literally want to kill her. Yes, I’m crazy. I pay for my own food, so please don’t eat it or I will turn into a bank and ask for money. Sorry. Too much drama. Can’t you tell that I’m excited to find a new apartment and live with my future roommate?

J-E-L-L-O. Jelloooooo. Totally not kosher, but when you want a low calorie snack that in my opinion tastes really good (especially with whipcream) then Jello is going to be your best friend. Make sure it is the sugar free version because I think it is actually 0 calories or something close to that. Jello should be weightlosses best friend. Beat those cravings with Jello. I should advertise for them or they should at least give me free jello packs.

Now to the dinner that shut the guy up. I used this amazing recipe from my new favorite website: Skinny Taste. Not only are all of Gina’s recipes super beautiful to look at, but they are tasty and really low calorie (also random plug, if you are doing weight watchers, she has all the points on the website for each recipe). I made the Chicken Rollatini with spinach. It turned out so amazing. I wish I would have remembered to take a picture of the dish that had all the chicken in it because it looked sooo beautiful. Anyways, I served it up with a side of spaghetti squash and gluten free rolls. Man friend was like wow this is actually good. Well obviously it is good, I made it. Also eating healthy is actually tasty, you just have to know what you are doing.

Remember how I told you I was sewing an apron? Well I actually finished it a while ago, I just forgot to post a picture of it. I made man-friend dinner in this cute little thing. I’m actually thinking about opening an Etsy account with a friend and selling them on there along with artwork and other things made by us. What do you think? Do you think people would buy these aprons? I would also do custom ones too. Let me know. I want the money, honey.

Other good news: My $200 Lulu Lemon giftcard has finally arrived (helloooo shopping), I’m going to Houston this weekend with my mom to relax from the stress of school (lezz be honest, I’m going to shop till I drop), and I have a job interview tomorrow (with a nutrition company). I’m so excited. I hope everyone is having a great week!

What are your plans for the weekend?
Have you ever been to an electro house concert?

Photoshop and Trippy Light Shows

Hey ya’ll! I hope everyone had a fantastic New Years Eve and is now having a great New Years Day. Most people talk about resolutions and what not, but I don’t really believe in them. Just do it for you, and not because it is a New Year and you feel guilty about certain things. Yesterday was sort of a rough day for me. I really don’t want to get into it right now, so I’m going to talk about my wonderful trip to Israel in order to distract myself. Day 2 and 3 here we go.

The second day everyone woke up refreshed since we all passed out around 8 pm and got about 10 hours of sleep. One person passed out in the bar which I find quite hilarious. We are college students after all. Haha. What did they have up their sleeves for us to do today? Well, luckily it was a pretty amazing day. First off we were headed towards a site for a jeep ride. At first, I was like oh a jeep ride this will be a pretty casual way to start off the morning, but oh my god this was the most exhilarating moment EVER.
We drove through hills until we got to the part where we had to off rode. We drove through old minefields that still had active mines. Gideon told us hilarious stories about how the every once and a while a cow would step on a mine, blow up, and the town would have a huge feast, sort of like a BBQ. We died of laughter. He then told us of a Muslim joke about how one day a man was walking behind his wife through the minefield, his friend came up to him and asked why he was not following Muhammad’s law of always being in front of the wife, and he responded Muhammad made the law before there were minefields. Ha ha ha. But not really because that is so uncool that you would let your wife blow up before you. Anyways, we eventually reached an area where we got to get out of the car and walk around.
We stopped at an old battle site that over looked a part of northern Israel. There were old trenches that we all got in to take photos. Once we were there, we listened to a poem about the battles that occurred there and then the main tour guide gave a brief history lesson about the land. PHOTOS. Seriously, people were taking photos every five seconds of the trip. The tour guides gave us a couple of more photo opportunities and then made us pile back into the jeeps. I was happy getting back into the jeep because that meant more time with Gideon. Sweeeeet. On the next part of the drive, we got to learn some life lessons by Gideon. Winning. He asked us if we knew of the photoshop. Well yes Gideon, we do. He responded that he took a class on it and now he can take a photo of an ugly woman and make her into a star. OH MY GOD. Did he really just say that? Yes, he did. Then he serenaded us with a song called bumpy road. Definitely song of the year material. It went bumpy road, bumpy road, bumpy road.
This is our jeep group with good old Gideon. The best part of the entire ride was probably when he told the annoying girl (the one in white within the headlock) to SHUT UP. We all cheered and laughed. We were really sad to leave the jeeps, mainly because of Gideon, but also because it was just one of the best activities we had done so far. The entire group of 40 students and 2 chaperones piled back into the bus, and we were on our way to the next site. We were going to the Golan Heights. This is such an important place in Israel history because it is where we fought back the Syrians in the Six Day War.

The Golan Heights was a really interesting place not just because of the history. For one, there were these weird statues all up the pathway to the top of the mountain. I guess modern art has reached the more rural regions of Israel. I have some great photos with the artwork, but they are on my friends camera and she hasn’t uploaded them. Lame. Another thing on top of the mountain was a coffee shop called Coffee Anan. This is really funny because it is a play on words. Not only is it a name for a diplomat, but Anan also means cloud in Hebrew and the mountains are sort of in the clouds. I enjoyed it. We were given a brief history lesson over the Israeli’s triumph over the Syrians and relations today. To me, it was really crazy how you could see the actual border between Syria and Israel.
There was this really cool sign at the top of the mountain. It pointed to all different places and it even had Washington DC on one of the sides. After more photo ops and a bathroom break for everyone (did I mention that public bathrooms in foreign places are super sketch – this one was missing a toilet seat), we all got back on the bus. On to our last place of the day. We were running sort of late, so we had to rush, but we were going to an olive oil factory. I was so excited. I like olives, I like oil, so what a great way to end the day.

This is the inside of the factory, isn’t it beautiful? We then got to listen to probably the best speaker I have ever heard. He sort of reminded me of my dad’s father. He probably taught us the best lesson in regards to the Israel-Palestine conflict. He told us that you can’t get arguing about the past because that will get you nowhere, it is only about the future and what we can do about it. We must start from no history in order to build a future of peace. I really like that because currently it is just a battle of who was in Israel first or who shot who first. The situation is way out of hand, and there needs to be peace. After his lecture, we got a tour of the factory, and then got to sample olive oil and beauty products. EVERYONE was so moved by this man that we all bought some sort of product. I ended up getting a magic cream made of three ingredients (all-natural) that would help my psoriasis. Success. The tour guide was rushing us because we had to eat lunch, buy snacks, and go back to the hotel for Shabbat services. One of the craziest things about Israel is that on Friday everything closes down in the cities for Shabbat. Literally everyone follows this, not just the Orthodox. We ended up rushing through everything to make it back in time for services. That night we had Shabbat dinner, went to services led by one of our group members, and had an oneg (which is a gathering where we sampled some local Israeli desserts). Since it was Shabbat, and we are typical college students, we partied on the terrace that night.

The next day was Shabbat still. Unfortunately because of the day the entire city was closed down, so we had no activities planned for Saturday. Pretty much we had free time to just chill in the hotel, so I took advantage of this and slept till about 1045. We had been getting up at 6 am, so this was a nice break. When I finally woke up, showered, I went to lunch with a bunch of my friends, and then we had a mandatory walk with just our group.
We ended up going to a nice spot in Tiberias that overlooked the Knesset. After taking a million and one photos, we had small group discussions on what it meant to be a Jew and how we felt a connection to other Jews. It was a really intimate moment, but of course some people ruined it when we had the general discussion by going on and on about the most irrelevant information ever. People in Israel are so nice though because the man who lived in the house whose property we were on offered to invite all 40 of us in his house, but our tour guide declined the invitation because lets face it we were a crazy group. We had to rush back to the hotel because it was time for Havdallah services. Once we got through another set of services, we all got to go on the bus because Shabbat was over and we were going out! Finally, our first time to eat on our own.
Before we ate dinner, we got to watch a really cool light show on the Knesset or Sea of Galilee. It was really beautiful, and I have a video of it, but it won’t let me upload it. How lame. After the show, a couple friends, my brother, and I walked along the boardwalk in Tiberias looking at restaurant menus. Finally we eventually decided on the first place we saw. Best choice ever. It was the cheapest place on the boardwalk, and after pulling reviews from everyone it was the best food too.
Lets talk about how mindblowing this dish was. Apparently it was scalloped potatoes or at least that is what it translated to in English, but it was far better than scalloped potatoes. It was large chunks of a potato, covered in cheese, mushrooms, and this delicious Alfredo-like sauce. So good. The cheese just melted in your mouth and made a great combination with the Alfredo sauce. Everyone agreed that my dish was superb. Everyone else that was with me got pizza, and one girl got a pasta dish. Gluten free dish for the win!

We then walked along the boardwalk looking at little shops until we decided that dessert was a must. Nothing much was open, but we remembered back where our restaurant was that there was a gelato shop. Ice cream it is. They had tons of flavors, so it was really hard to pick, but I ended up choosing pistachio. For some odd reason, I have been craving that flavor lately.
It is sort of hard to see, but it was really delicious. It had a nutty flavor with a sweet overtone. I would definitely have gotten it again. My brother got kinder bueno flavored, which is a chocolate candy. He actually ate his in about 5 seconds, so I was unable to document it. That tended to be a problem on the trip because we shared food a lot, so he would gobble it up and I would pull out my camera and be like whaaaaat. He would just smile and be like oops. After meeting by a shop, listening to a tale about how these three girls spent 40 shekels on ONE shot (that is about a 11 dollar shot), we all got back on the bus and headed to the hotel for the night. Once again we partied on the terrace and passed out for the evening. The next day we had an exciting day planned because we were getting our 8 Israeli soldiers that would travel with us for five days.

Hope everyone is having an amazing day and nice break from school and work!

Have you ever been to the border of a country or state?
What is your favorite flavor of gelato?

A Much Needed Holiday

Hey ya’ll! Sorry I’ve been MIA. I had no internet during thanksgiving break plus I wanted a break from the world. These last weeks of school are exhausting with tons of exams and papers due. I really have no idea how I’m alive. My break wasn’t even that great. I didn’t get to veg out like I wanted in front of the tv (I don’t have tv at my apartment, so when I go home I just sit and watch shows I have recorded). Anyways it was a crazy week. I did eat some good food though. Unfortunately I was so hungry during my turkey day meal that I forgot to record it all, but I have random eats that I consumed throughout the week.
German Chocolate Oatmeal (Gluten Free)
1/3 c Gluten Free Oats
1 1/3 c. Water
1 banana
1 package of 20 calorie hot cocoa
coconut, chocolate chips, pecans
2 tbsp PB2

1. Make the oatmeal the night before using the normal method of oats and water in microwave for about 2:50, then let sit in microwave for 5 minutes.
2. Next morning, microwave with sliced up banana for 2 minutes.
3. Stir up until all mixed perfectly.
4. Add cocoa, coconut, chocolate chips, and pecans (as much or as little as you would like)
5. Top with PB2 and enjoy

Mine came out a little soupy, but it was actually really delicious. I added too much water, so the oats did not absorb it all, but if you like oatmeal like that then go ahead and add more water than required on the recipe. I love german chocolate cake, so this was pretty good. The only thing missing was the icing, but my backside does not need that sort of fat.

Right now I am currently obsessed with spaghetti squash. I have been looking all over the internet and books for delicious recipes, but alas I found nothing. I had to come up with something on my own. Hmm. What are some of my favorite things? Cheese. Cheese. Oh and cheese. In case you did not know, cheese is one of my favorite food groups. Yes, it has its own category, screw the general dairy one. What did I come up with?
Easy Spaghetti Squash Cheese, Chicken, and Broccoli (Gluten Free)
1 cup or more of spaghetti squash “noodles”
2 light laughing cow cheese wedges (I used swiss cheese)
3 oz of cooked chicken
1 cup of frozen broccoli

1. The night before I had cooked chicken with garlic powder, salt, pepper in the oven for about 20 minutes at 350.
2. Next day I cooked my spaghetti squash whole and pulled out all the “noodles”
3. Cook broccoli according to the package
4. Mix in broccoli, cut up chicken, and cheese with “noodles” in a bowl
5. Then place in microwave for about 2 minutes or long enough until the cheese begins to melt.
6. Then mix up until “noodles” become cheesy goodness

While I did not record what I ate on actual thanksgiving, I did record a fun little family outing that occurred during break. Where did we go? Oh to my favorite gluten filled place…Gordoughs. How can I say no to the most delicious donuts on planet earth? I can’t, although my stomach and the bathroom probably wished I had. It was so worth it though. Unfortunately my family consumed most of the donuts in about 3 minutes or less, so I only managed to snag a photo of what my brother and I split, and what he was eating the next morning for breakfast.
Meet the Puddin. My new best and worst friend. How can that be? It is so delicious and beautiful, but my body does not need to consume that much gluten in one sitting or that much fat. Lets just pretend that it is zero calories. I’ll tell my self that next time, so I don’t feel guilty later on in the night. Not only is the donut creme-filled, but it is also topped with cream cheese icing. Yes, the moment it enters your mouth your life will be changed forever. It had a sweet creamy goodness mixed with a small crunch from the vanilla wafers. Also there besides the overkill of sugar sweet, there was a natural sweetness added by the bananas. Overall this donut has definitely become my favorite or at least it holds a soft spot in my heart until I try something else on the menu.

Oh hello there Granny’s Pie. Yes, the donut actually does taste like your grandma made it. So much love went into this donut creation. While there is no filling for this one, it is topped with pecans, bananas, graham crackers, caramel, and some unknown icing. While I was hoping for an apple pie from granny, she didn’t let me down with this sweet treat. The salty flavor added by the pecans provided a nice twist to a super sugary donut. The donut itself was fried to perfection. Not too soft, but not too crisp either. The combination of the caramel and bananas was reminiscent of an awesome treat you would find at Dairy Queen or Sonic. I’m in love, but I still won’t cheat on my Puddin.

My older brother ended up having blue balls. No. Get your mind out of the gutter. Not that, but these donut holes that have blueberry filling and are covered with blueberries on the outside. These definitely dyed your mouth a dark blue, but they were actually pretty good. Not my favorite, but heck it is gordoughs and they do not make anything bad. My mom ended up with Son of Peach, which we had sampled at the Trailer Park Festival. She is a sucker for anything with peaches and icing that resembles a cinnabon.

I stalk pinterest about 50 times a day. You think I’m overexaggerating? No, I actually have it on my iPhone all day during class and when I get back to my apartment I will check it periodically to find new things to make or eat or just drool at. Anyways I have seen this pumpkin smoothie pop up A MILLION times. Not only have I found it, but my brother and friends have also pinned it. It looked so good that I had to try it. I think pinterest was just trying to tell me that I had to make it. Best choice ever. It tasted like pumpkin pie in liquid form. The extra cinnamon I added gave it a little kick it needed, but it was creamy and all of the ingredients did not erase the distinct flavor of pumpkin. Also the spices gave it a sensational aroma that wafted throughout my kitchen at the apartment. I will be loading up on pumpkin and greek yogurt in order to make this again and again.

Hope everyone had an amazing holiday break. Definitely not looking forward to all my final exams. Boooo.

How was your break? What was the most memorable thing that you ate?

I Like A Good Party (WIAW #3)

Hey ya’ll! I know I have been missing from the amazing action that is What I Ate Wednesday. Usually I’m too lazy to record all of my eats in a day/I am forgetful. My camera tends to die when I’m about to take a picture of food. What is up with that? Anyways thanks to the lovely Jenn for hosting this drool worthy party. I think my Wednesdays would be boring if I did not have a long list of blogs to stalk for inspiration.

Meet Elvis, he is a great breakfast companion, and will keep you satisfied all day long. At least until you are ready for your next meal date.
Elvis Pancakes (Gluten Free)
1/3 c. Gluten Free All-Purpose Flour
1/3 c. Non-dairy milk (almond milk)
1 package 20 calorie hot cocoa
1/2 sliced banana
pinch of chocolate chips
1 tsp baking powder
2 Tbsp Gluten Free Oats
1 tsp vanilla extract

1. Mix all of the the ingredients in a mixing bowl
2. Make 1/4 cup scoops and pour onto pan over medium-high heat. Makes 5 pancakes
3. Then top pancakes with PB (I used PB2), the second half of the banana (slices), and a little bit of syrup of your choice (I used sugar free)

Of course Elvis did not come alone on this wonderful morning date. He brought a long a sexy friend. Dark, but warm. Oh my. I like the way this day is going.
Oh yes! I got myself a fixing of hot, steamy chocolate in the morning. Just the way I like to start off my day. Thank god when I woke up it was 45 outside. I seriously ran around my apartment doing a happy dance at like 6:40 am. I am so sick of this random hot Texas weather. I want winter. NOW.

Lunch was feeling pretty plain today. I was in need of some omega 3′s, so I decided to have some tuna. Mix in a little hard boiled egg, onion, mayonnaise , and dijon mustard. You have yourself an easy masterpiece and filling meal in about 5 minutes. I used celery as a spoon to eat it. Oh yeah I’m creative. Celery actually has some benefits for you too. Not only is it filled with water, but it is rich in flavanoids and contains Vitamin K, which plays a role in Alzheimer’s Disease. Oh Functional Foods class, you are actually coming in handy, even though you will be the death of me.

I have finally discovered the amazingness of freezing bananas. Oh homemade froyo, where have I been without you for these last few months? My concoction consists of half a frozen banana and a handful of frozen cherries. Then to make it even better (although it was already really tasty) I topped it with a sprinkle of Gluten Free Chocolate chips. I’m seriously going to raid HEB for all types of frozen unsweetened fruit just so I can make all different kinds of froyo. I have found a new life passion. My mom will be so proud this is what I’m spending my time doing…maybe not.

My other new favorite snack. Gluten Free Rice Cake topped with organic raspberry jam and PB&Co Cinnamon Raisin Swirl. Yes. I have turned over to the dark side. I have realized the amazingness that is PB&Co peanut butter. If it wasn’t so dang expensive I would go out and buy every single flavor. Right now. Alas I am poor, but I am going to NYC once I return from Israel, so I will beg my dad to let me stop at the store for a picture and a bunch of peanut butter. My dad loves me.

What is this? Breakfast for Dinner? Brinner. Please tell me that some of you watch Scrubs. My brother was addicted to the show when he was younger, so I’ve seen pretty much every episode in existence. Why not have breakfast for dinner? I’m too lazy to actually cook gourmet, so I’m just going to make scrambled eggs. Egg whites, Ranch style beans, ham, onions, and mexican cheese. Such a satisfying meal.

Just to make things even weirder, I had sauteed zucchini on the side. Right now I’m addicted to zucchini, so no day is without it, except when I run out and do not have time to go to the store. Seriously, this is one of the best vegetables I have ever had. When you saute it, the vegetable gets this buttery taste and you didn’t even use butter. Mmmm. So freaking good. AND it is healthy for you. Win, win. Oh and did I mention my great Jew reason: it is really cheap. Jump on it.

I am working a bake sale tomorrow, so today I had to make something for it. I decided on something easy and cute. Chocolate dipped pretzel rods. I even made some gluten free ones, but I forgot to take a picture of them. Plus I had to hide them from myself because I kept nomming on all of them, which made me have to make even more. I’m super pumped for the bake sale, so hopefully people come to buy things, and hopefully cute boys come by too.

Hope everyone had a fab WIAW! I must be leaving because I have an Anatomy Lab Practical in an hour and a half, and before I have to go drop off all my pretzels at the president’s apartment. I’ll leave with you my fabulosity aka my amazing outfit that I wore today. Most of the people here should hire me to dress them, they need it.

Lace top/Black skinny cords: Anthropologie, Black Boots: DSW, Scarf/Blazer: F21

Do ya’ll participate in WIAW?
What was your favorite thing you ate this week?