Gnu Bar Goodness

Hello! This is Andy. I never post, as I cannot wrestle this away from Amanda, but I am today. We recently received some samples from the good people at Gnu Foods.We got to samples each of the bars shown above. Peanut Butter, Chocolate Brownie, Orange Cranberry, Banana Nut and Cinnamon Raisin.

Gnu Bars are loaded with fiber and 100% natural. So, no high fructose corn syrup and good for you! I have been eating them for a mid morning snack and they keep me going...and pretty tasty! And only about 130 calories! YUM!

So Amanda and I each got to try one. I will break them down one by one I suppose. The Peanut Butter was probably my least favorite of the bunch. It was certainly good but I thought had the least amount of flavor of all of them. It was good, but the thing with these high fiber bars is that they taste like high fiber bars. That isn't a bad thing, but you can tell. You know what you are getting into. But it was still very good. I guess I just wanted a more intense peanut buttery goodness flavor.



The Chocolate Brownie was very good. Tastes sort of like if an oatmeal cookies met a brownie. I enjoyed it a lot, mostly because I love love love me some chocolate. You can see what the brownie flavored bar looks like above. Delicious!



The Cranberry Orange was very aromatic. It made my classroom(I am a teacher) smell amazing! It was good but to be hones the smell was much more awesome than the bar itself. Bottle that stuff and sell it! Smells great, tastes good, good for you!

My two favorite were the cinnamon raisin and the banana nut. The cinnamon raisin tasted amazing. Cinnamon and raisin are just two flavors that go so well together, you can't go wrong. The banana nut bar, I will admit it, I was skeptical. Usually banana flavored products are gross. This, however, was amazing. Tastes exactly like banana bread. It reminded me of this little shack that Amanda and I bought Banana Bread from in Maui. Although something tells me that bread wasn't so healthy!

I am hooked and bought more at trader joes. Except TJ's didn't have my two favorite varieties so I had to settle with chocolate brownie and peanut butter. Like I said, they weren't my favorite but they were really good and keep me away from snacking on things like candy. I can handle that.

Panini Night!

Andy's mom got us a panini press for Christmas two years ago and we love it. We've been wanting to try out new panini recipes for a while now so when we got the 5 loaves of bread from Pepperidge Farms we knew that paninis and sandwiches would be on the menu.

The bread is great! It has about 3-4 grams of fiber per slice (depending on the variety) and it tastes like a nice hearty wheat bread should taste. A lot of the time "healthier" breads taste too dry or too light. This bread was filling!





The sandwich fillings. I had colby jack slices, buffalo sauce, miracle whip, honey mustard, garlic mustard aioli (only 25 cals per serving!) and sliced apples.



Lean ham & turkey



A variety of hummus and guacasalsa.



Have you tried this? It tastes JUST like guacamole with WAY WAY less calories and fat. I love it!



My panini with ham, 1/2 slice colby jack, a shake of feta cheese, slided apples and garlic mustard aioli. It was divine!



And jellybeans! A customer bought a huge pack of these for one of my co-workers. We have been munching on them like crazy. I bought some for me and Andy and have been limiting myself to 10 jelly beans per day. (I'm crazy I know! but they last longer that way!)


And since we made paninis again tonight:



That is tonight's meal. Eaten on the couch while blogging! I have no school tomorrow since it's a holiday (Cesar Chavez Day) I am so excited. I still have to work but NO SCHOOL. It's been insane juggling school and work lately. Do any of you work while going to school full-time? How do you like it? Personally, I cannot imagine not working! I like being busy.

Also OMG!!!!

How great is Grey's Anatomy lately? Does anyone else like it?

Catching up

I made this amazing pasta sauce the other night using whatever I could find in our fridge and/or pantry. We've been trying to avoid the grocery store by using what we have on hand until it runs out. This definitely makes dinner interesting!

For this pasta I took a bag of frozen spinich and cheese ravioli, grape tomatoes, 1/4 jar pesto sauce. half an onion, garlic, olive oil, and 1/4 bag of frozen turkey meatballs.



The sauce was so so good. 2 spoonfuls of pesto goes a long way. I love pesto but I'm always hesitant to use it since it's full of fat! But combine a little pesto with tomatoes, onions and minced garlic and you've got a very flavorful sauce. I was really worried about how it would turn out!



And since Pepperridge Farms sent us bread samples, I figured I might as well break into the Raisin Cinnamon bread. (Check back for a full review of Pepperidge Farms Healthy Bread line)



Yes that a is a paper plate and yes I topped my raisin cinnamon bread with almond butter.



Barney Butter! It was $9 for a jar but really good. It's so creamy. Every other brand of almond butter pales in comparison. Barney Butter reminds me of JIF or Skippy but with almonds instead of peanuts. I highly recommend!

http://www.barneybutter.com/ Check out the Barney Butter website and sign up for a free sample!

100th blog post, 100 days till our wedding!

How funny is it that my 100th blog post just happens to occur today? It's officially 100 days until our wedding! I can't believe it.

Of course, now that we are 100 days in I feel the crunch more than ever before. I plan on doing the Shred this morning after Andy leaves for work, running with Ashley on Saturday and running on Sunday. My goal for the next few weeks is to run two-three miles. I'm not a particularily strong runner so that is a pretty lofty goal for me.

So I have two questions for you guys today;

1. What is your opinion on "cheat meals?" I typically let myself have a cheat meal once a week. I think it shakes up my metobolism and helps me get through the week easier since I'm not completely restricting myself. At the same time, I am wondering if it is hindering my weight loss. Do you let yourself have "cheat meals?" What do you consider a cheat?

2. I read about the benefits of juice fasts earlier this week and wondered if it would be a good way for me to "jumpstart" my slow and annoying metobolism. But is it really worth it? I don't want to do anything that might potentially hurt my body.

So I turn to you, what do you think?

OMG 100 days till I marry the love of my life! CRAZY!!!!

For fun here's a picture from our engagement session!

Granville Cafe- Burbank, Ca

Andy and I went to Granville Cafe after a trip to Ikea. We went to Ikea to look at their prices for candles and vases. I need to make a non-floral centerpiece for our wedding reception.



The menu was full of yummy stuff. I got the grilled cheese dipper. It was not *healthy but it was tasty!



I paired it with a Fat Tire. This was a huge bottle of beer. I barely got through half of it!



Mmm frothy bubbles. I really enjoyed this beer!



My grilled cheese dippers. They were full of grilled onions, cheese and dijon mustard. I LOVE grilled, raw or caramelized onions so I was thrilled. It came with a shallow bowl of tomato soup for dipping. !!!



Sweet potato fries. We split an order of these and loved them! It was my first time ordering them. We only got through about half the bag. I'm definitely going to try to recreate these but without frying them.



Andy got 3 tacos. Steak, Chicken and shrimp. Here are his thoughts on the tacos:

"So looking left to right we have the steak taco, the shrimp taco and the chicken taco. they were all outstanding. The steak taco was pretty straight forward. Carne asada, caramelized onions and cilantro. Tender and delicious and there was no need for any heavy sauce or cheese or anything like that. Simple and flavorful. The shrimp tacos were probably the best of the bunch. They were cooked in some sort of tomato based salsa with cabbage and pico de gallo. It was a giant taco, but so amazing. The chicken taco was very interesting. It had avocado and mango with chicken beast. It was a fairly light meal because the tacos were all small. No chips, no cheese, no fatty sauce. Corn tortillas. Perfection! I highly recommend them if you ever go there. Either as an appetizer or as a meal. AMAZING!

Guest Post @ Carrots N Cake!

I did a guest post for Tina @ Carrots N Cake. Check it out!

Guest Post for CNC!

I love guest posting for other bloggers! I posted a typical day for me when I'm trying to lose some weight. (Which is always people! ha!)

Hawaii, I miss you.

Andy and I went to Hawaii the past two summers with our friends Tiffany and Gary. Tiffany and I have been best friends since we were twelve! We all went out for Korean BBQ (Post about that later) and reminisced about how much we missed Oahu and Maui. So in honor of that, I've decided to post a few pictures of Hawaii. Truth be told, I would love nothing more than to move there.


The view from the top of Diamondhead in Oahu. So worth the climb!


Andy at the luau looking adorable. The luau was fun but I wouldn't do it again.


The four of us in swam to a waterfall in Oahu!


Riding horses at the Turtle Bay Resort.


I want to swim right now!


Andy and I at the top of Haleakala.


Sunset in Kaanapali


Andy and I looking nuts in the rainforesty area on the Road to Hana.

Have you ever fallen in love with a place while on vacation? Do you plan on going back?

Pasta

YUM. I needed some carbs today so I decided to make a huge pot of pasta. I can't wait for leftovers tomorrow.


Here are all of my ingredients. Feta cheese, broccoli, a can of diced tomatoes, some grape tomatoes that are on their last legs, olive oil, sea salt, italian pasta and seasonings (from my friend Ashley! She brought it from Italy!) and some red potatoes.



First I caramelized onions with a little butter. I realize butter is terrible for you but OH WELL. It tastes fantastic in the pasta sauce.


The colorful italian pasta.


The seasonings. I love how it's labeled "Mother-in-law's Killer." It is SPICY!


The pasta dyed the water pink while boiling.



While the pasta boiled, I added some grape tomatoes to the caramelizing onions. These tomatoes were almost ready to be thrown out. Roasting them was a great way to avoid waste.


Added a can of diced tomatoes (no salt added to reduce my sodium intake) and a heaping scoop of diced garlic. I bought a jar of diced garlic at Costco. Fresh garlic would be much better, I'm sure!


I tossed the pasta in the sauce and topped it with feta cheese and turkey bacon. YUM! This bowl was about 375 calories. I made 8 servings of pasta. It was so good!

Thanks for giving us this pasta Ashley!

5 things on my bucket list.

1. I would love to own an Eames Lounge Chair.



2. I'd love to go to Ireland to see the Ring of Kerry



3. I want to spend a weekend in Napa with Andy.

4. I want to live in Hawaii.

5. I'd love to reach my goal weight and have a shopping spree.

What are 5 things on your bucket list? You know, things you'd like to do before you 'kick the bucket?'

Middle School is Evil

Today was a strange eating day because of my middle school observations. Middle school kids and teachers only get a 30 minute lunch! Crazy!

I didn't eat a breakfast today since I had to leave the house at 7am. I'm not used to being out of the house that early.



I enjoyed a cranberry almond KIND bar during "Nutrition" which is a 16 minute break for kids to eat a snack. I ate it in my car because I wanted to avoid all the ruckus! lol.

Unfortunately the avoiding plan didn't go so well. I went to the vending machine to get a bottle of water and a kid spit chewed up chips in my hair! I scowled at him and he eventually apologized. How rude! I was sort of appalled...



Anyway the Kind bar was pretty good. I should try to make something like this on my own. Seems like it would be easy enough.



I had a 100 calorie bag of PopChips for lunch! Popchips sent me about 12 individual sized bags so you'll be seeing more of these soon, I promise. They are absolutely amazing and don't taste like they only have 100 calories. I wouldn't suggest copying me and eating it for lunch though.



My real lunch was a splurge after the end of my observations and before my night class. I went to Gelson's and made a salad with garbanzo beans, edamame, 2 kinds of lettuce, bleu cheese, cheddar cheese, turkey, tofu cubes, green onions, couscous, noodles and baby tomatoes. It was $8.60! This was for the "small" salad. Now you see why I consider it a splurge, huh? CRAZY!

Now I'm sitting in my class waiting to start. I'm exhausted!

Yesterday I made another Pom Smoothie but used frozen pineapples and strawberries. I let 'em thaw while I attempted to do a shred video and some cleaning. I hurt my ankle doing jumping jacks and it's been KILLING me!



I used the last of our crunchy pb too. Sad!





Not to worry, I have 2 jars of the stuff in the pantry!

We went to lunch with Andy's parents at Camille's and I forgot to take pictures. Blah.

Lunch was at Jersey Mike's Subs. I liked it but all of their wraps have over 600 calories. I'd rather make my own! I had a buffalo chicken wrap.





Like I said, it was good but not worth all of the calories and fat! I need to start looking at nutritional facts before eating! DUDE! I'm sure I could have saved a bunch by asking for no blue cheese dressing. I didn't realize dressing came on the wrap. Lesson learned!

I have a CRAZY day planned for tomorrow so I'm going to finish my homework and relax a bit. I'm going to observe a middle school class for six hours. Blah.