Natural Cafe...my love.

Natural Café is my favorite quick place to eat. Andy and I went on Monday before facing the outlets. It was delish as usual!



I had a turkey burger with avocado. It came with red onions, tomato, lettuce, sprouts and blue corn chips!



Here’s another shot of it just in case you didn’t get enough the first time.



Andy got a baked potato with guacamole, sour cream and shredded chicken that was simmered in some sort of tasty sauce. I was really jealous of his food. That salad had way too much jicama for me though. I hate jicama!

If you live in Ventura or Santa Barbara county, I suggest you check a Natural Café out!

Nonfat frozen yogurt

I made chocolate peanut butter banana frozen yogurt the other night in my new ice cream maker.

It was simple. I mixed 2 oz melted chocolate, 1 big old scoop of chunky peanut butter, non fat milk, a mashed banana, some low fat evaporated milk and some chopped up reese's pieces. mixed it up with a hand held mixer and threw it in the ice cream maker for 20 minutes. The banana flavor is incredibly strong. I didn't like it at first but it grew on me.

I love knowing what is going into my food. It's fantastic! I could just kiss the ice cream maker.

Christmas!

Christmas has been fantastic so far.
Last night we came home from my parents and checked the mail. Look at how many cards we have! Most of them are from Andy’s students.
Andy and I opened our stockings first thing this morning.
Andy got me some of this Italian red wine, I’ve never tried this kind. I’m pretty excited about sampling it.
I put it in the wine cabinet with the rest of the liquor.
My parents got us a blender! I was so thrilled to open this gift. It comes with a food processor attachment!!! I will be making smoothies and salsa! Woo!
I almost don’t want to show you breakfast because it was so so fatty.

Bacon, sausage, a cinnamon roll, sourdough toast with butter, potato pancakes and scrambled eggs. And I had a mimosa. I am pounding down ice water as I write this entry. Tis the season!
The big family gift was a Wii. Now we’ll have to visit my parents more.
My little brother and sister pose with the wii.

I love how ridiculous the living room gets during the holidays. So much fun!



More to come later! Enjoy your day!

Dear Santa

I need a few things to make my kitchen complete. Of course I understand if I don't get these things until we fill out our wedding registry.

My Top Ten Kitchen Desires

1.

A copper wine fridge. I love it.

2.

Kate Spade Dinnerware.

3.

Just look at that ramekin. CUTE!

4.

Copper pans

5.

Sweet ice cream bowls

6.

Pastry Scraper.

7.

MMM.

8.

An ice cream maker! To go with the sweet ice cream bowls of course ;)

9.

Candy Thermometer. I always need this for things but I've never managed to pick one up.

10.

I want one. I have no reason for needing a stand mixer but I want it.

Thanks Santa!

Have a great Christmas to those of you who celebrate!

Best Christmas Gift Ever!

For Christmas my in-laws got me a Salter Food Scale! I'm so excited.

It will be a great help with my weight loss endeavors. I want to lose about 30lbs before our wedding in July.

http://www.bedbathandbeyond.com/product.asp?order_num=-1&SKU=13824630

Here is a link of all the wonderful things it does. :) I'm stoked!

Pasta YUM

Today’s blog post will be about one of the easiest meals I’ve ever made. Whole-wheat pasta with veggies and turkey meatballs. I made this one night right before my fiancé and I went Christmas shopping, we were pressed for time so we needed something quick.

Here is our inspiration for the pasta sauce. Some spices my friend Ashley brought us from Italy. I am not sure what spices are in the packet but it was spicy! The label said, “Mother-in-law’s killer”

I took some Italian-style diced tomatoes and mixed them with a can of organic tomato sauce.

While I boiled the pasta, I heated up the sauce and added some of these veggies. Normally, I prefer to chop my own fresh vegetables but these worked great in a pinch.

I heated up these frozen turkey meatballs. (I apologize for the messy counter! Ha.) They were pretty lean and tasty.

Mixed all of the sauce, veggies, meatballs and seasoning in a pot.

Topped with a little low-fat feta and served! It was incredibly tasty and only took me 15 minutes to make.

Cookie Disaster

I made oatmeal cookies tonight. I wanted them to turn out like the cookies in the picture above...



They burnt to a crisp! I totally forgot about 'em :(


I wanted to make a few different kinds to package up and give as gifts. Unfortunately they turned out.... blackened. Yuck. Nothing gets me down like burnt cookies. Oh well.

Time for bed! It's 12:40 over here!

Chicken fajita yum!

Fajitas are one of my favorite things to make. I slice up one whole onion, one red bell pepper (green are too bitter. Red taste sort of sweet.) and one green pasilla chile.


Throw in some olive oil, red pepper flakes and pollo asado from Trader Joe's and heat it up.


How cute are these plates? They are definitely for kids but I love them anyway!


I like my fajitas burrito-style in a whole wheat low-carb wrap with some non-fat sour cream and pepper jack cheese. If only I could find good avocados...some guacamole would set this off!

Coming soon: Our adventures in peppermint bark making.

Christmas Time is hereeeeeee

I learned how to make fudge at my friend's house tonight!

First you boil sugar, butter and evaporated milk. Bring to a rolling boil.


Something like this. Be careful! There's a good chance that some of the hot mixture will jump out at you. I learned this the hard way, learn from my mistakes.



Next swirl in Baker's semi-sweet chocolate squares and marshmellow creme. (Yes this is super high in calories and sugar. Share with friends!)

Pour the fudge into a foil-lined pan for easy clean-up.

Smooth out with a spoon and place in the fridge overnight. I will sample some tomorrow. Not too much though. I'm actually not a big fan of fudge.

Next we made sugar cookies. (And ate some amazing pizza. Such a good eating day! lol)

Iced them with homemade icing (butter, powdered sugar and nonfat milk whipped with food coloring.)

My favorite shapes are the stars. I don't want to eat them! What's your favorite kind of cookie?

Next holiday treat: Homemade popcorn balls. (I've never made these, have any of you?)

Pork- The other white meat

Well here it goes my first time cooking (or eating) pork loin.

I purchased an already marinaded pork loin from Trader Joe's and seared it in a pan with a little balsamic vinegar and olive oil.


After awhile it began to develop a caramelized crust. So I knew I was ready.



I popped it in the oven for 25 minutes and then sliced it. Here's my portion with some stuffing.




I cannot even begin to explain how tasty this was!






MMM. Never knew that I'd like pork...I'm not a huge meat-eater but this was pretty lean and flavorful so I liked it.