Santa Barbara Afternoon Date

Andy and I live about 45 minutes (without traffic) away from Santa Barbara. I love visiting Santa Barbara due to the beach, shopping on State Street and the people watching. We've gone several times throughout our relationship and have always enjoyed making a day of it. Our only gripe has been the food. Since we usually only stay on State Street, we usually end up feeling disappointed with the restaurant choices.

But not with Blush.



We happened upon Blush while shopping on State Street. I was hungry but heading towards Lululemon to check out their sale racks.



We ordered the poppers as an appetizer to share. Chorizo and Queso Fresco Stuffed Piquillo peppers with chipotle aioli.



As you can see, they were fried but not super greasy. Not greasy at all!



And one and half poppers was more than enough. The pepper was mild and slightly sweet and the creamy cheese was everything I ever could have wished for.



For our entree, we shared a Short Rib grilled cheese sandwich with truffle french fries. It was the perfect portion for sharing.



After a few hours of shopping and people watching, we drove to McConnell's ice cream. I read about it on All Things Yummy and wanted to try it!



I got a scoop of Cookies and Cream.



Andy ordered the Brazillian coffee nut. He loves coffee ice cream and this was a hit. I highly reccommend!

Locals: Do you visit Santa Barbara often? What do you like to do when you are there? I need ideas!

Eggo: Real Fruit Pizza.

Thank you for all the well wishes on Andy's surgery. The patient is healing just fine.



See what I mean? Not only did he post a blog but he watched a few movies, went with me to Trader Joe's and made coffee this morning!

Color me impressed. The whining has been minimal. I think I've been whinier.

As part of the Foodbuzz Tastemaker program, I received some free samples of Eggo Real Fruit Pizzas.



They microwave on a "grill" tray for only a minute so it was a nice quick breakfast.



Here's what it looked like frozen. I expected the crust part to be a waffle since I naturally associate Eggos with waffles but it was more pita like.



Here it is cooked. Doesn't look that different does it?

Here's the thing...yes this makes for a quick and easy breakfast but it wasn't show stopping or nearly as crispy as an Eggo Waffle. I enjoyed the smell and the taste but the nutritionals did not impress me. These pizzas are about 300-400 calories which is fairly calorie dense for what it was. I think I'd rather take a note from Em and make my own fruit pizza. Still, I can see buying these for kids every now and again if you were in a rush.

Have you tried any new products lately?

Breakfast on the patio

This morning I slept in (yay for my first night with no coughing!) and decided to have breakfast on the patio.



I bought this little coffee table months ago on sale at Target but we never seem to eat outside. It's a nice patio and the table is nicer than our dining table (which we never use BTW!)



I want to love Kashi Go Lean crunch but it hurts my teeth. I usually pair it with creamy yogurt to soften it up a bit. It's much more enjoyable this way. I measured out my serving and it's a little less than 1/2 cup. I can't each more than that. This is the only cereal I don't binge on.



Fresh raspberries. There is nothing better. I remember growing up and playing in my Nana's backyard with my cousins. We discovered a raspberry and blackberry bush and ate them until our faces were covered in juice. Then we played vampires. This is another story entirely.



I found a $2 off coupon for this new flavor of Naked Juice and decided to drink half of it with breakfast this morning. I figured I could use all the superfood I could get with this illness lingering.



I won't lie to you...the addition of chickpeas and 91! corn kernals kind of bugged me out. I smelled it first. Kind of smelled like beets.



Then I poured myself a glass. (1/4 of the bottle)



It looks like beets. It tasted like chalky tomatoes and sweet berries. I couldn't stomach it. It wasn't necessarily bad but the texture got me. I'm going to add this to my next smoothie and see if that goes over well. I'm too chicken to drink it straight up.



With the raspberries and kashi, I had this amazing vanilla bean greek yogurt. It's expensive at $1.69 a cup but so worth it. 12 grams of protein too! It's funny because normally I don't love vanilla flavored yogurts but this one I love. The little specks of vanilla bean make it.

Eating breakfast outside was such a nice change of pace for me. I actually managed to score a sub job tomorrow (the last day of school) so I figured I might as well take some time for myself. I'm taking it easy with the workouts, sleeping in and lazing around. I don't want to be sick tomorrow! Hopefully the 2 a day antibiotic/inhaler plan works out for me.

I finally got my eyebrows done and I can't wait to show you. I went to the spa at Coldwater Creek and can not gush enough about the experience. My eyebrows are a mess ever since I tweezed the hell out of them in high school and I'm slowly trying to get them to a more natural shape. Drives me nuts.

2 questions for today.

1. Do you fill your eyebrows in with a shadow or pencil? I might need to start. Fill me in!

2. Do you like fruit/veggie juices. Normally I do but today's juice was blech.

Taking a serious look at my life

I lost a pound this week. Not terrible but not exactly what I wanted. That means I have three weeks to lose seven pounds. It can be done...but the holidays are RIGHT around the corner. How am I going to tackle this?

My plans are to track what I eat down to every bite, lick and taste. I am going to run today immediately after I hit publish on this post for about 45 minutes. After my run, I'll try some of the weight machines at our apartment gym out. Question: Do you weight train before or after cardio?

As for the eats, I could always do better!



The people over at Vitalicious sent me and Andy some vitamuffins and brownies to sample. (For free, I was not paid to write about their product.)



As soon as the box arrived on my doorstep, I froze the muffins and brownies. When I was ready to eat one, I plopped it in the mircowave for 30 seconds.



Then I topped it with light whipped cream, vanilla ice cream (I actually measured out a proper serving size of 1/2 cup) and some caramel. Including the muffin, this dessert ended up at about 300 calories. I think next time, I'll put only half a muffin with my dessert. I was super full afterwards.



I also received these noodles from the folks at Al Dente Pasta. While Andy cooked the turkey italian sausage, I started boiling the water for the noodles. Once the water is boiling, you throw in the noodles for a mere 4 minutes. Our noodles weren't done until about 6 minutes.



Look, there's no way to make a sausage look attractive. (TWSS!) But I digress, I served up the pasta with some tomato sauce, a turkey italian sausage for protein and some roasted asparagus. The flavor of the pasta was great. I love whole wheat pasta but this didn't even taste like whole wheat. My only gripe about these noodles is that they stick together easily. (Maybe operator error?) Anyway the stats for this meal aren't terrible...about 400 total with tons of fiber from the pasta and the sauce.

I am going to a Weight Watcher's meeting tomorrow so I'll post my weigh in stats from that and let you know how it goes. I think it will be good for me to sit through a meeting right before the holidays start. I'm hoping that increasing my workouts and decreasing my caloric intake works for me. Otherwise I'll be one disappointed girl come January 5th.

So tell me, any tips for me? Remember I'm trying to lose the healthy way. No cabbage soup diet, slim fast or mystery maple syrup drinks for me. Less ice cream might help though!

On the road again

"Just can't wait to get on the road again..." Tonight Andy and I are driving to see his parents out in San Diego. We live in Ventura County so we are about 2.5 hours away. Of course I am seeing New Moon with some of my favorite girls so we aren't going to leave for San Diego until about 11 or 12 pm! CRAZY!!! It'll be totally worth it to see Andy's parents. I love spending time with them. I have to say I am very thankful for my in-laws.

My parents on the other hand...well they have 5 children. They have an excuse to be a little crazy. Obviously I like them! Andy and I are road tripping with my fam to Bend, Oregon for Thanksgiving! This is something I never would have been able to do in the past. So I seized the opportunity to see my family and coerced my dad into taking the family to Oregon. (I have 3 aunts and a handful of cousins and a shiny new 2nd cousin who all live there.) I am so thrilled!!! Family has always been so important to me and I really miss when all of my relatives lived closer. My wedding was perfect because almost all of aunts and uncles came. It's a little scary seeing them all grown up with kids now! So we are driving for 14 hours to see them. SCARY!

On that note, HAPPY 1st BIRTHDAY BENJAMIN RILEY!!! See you soon! (I have baby fever. I might try to hold Ben waaaay too much.)

Yesterday I was going to try to do Vegan 4 A Day and completely forgot. This proves that I can never be a vegan. Instead I went out to breakfast with my friend Sam from See Sami Eat.



Started out with a delicious crepe.



Huevos rancheros. I am officially obsessed.



There was avocado hidden under there.



Delicious flavored coffee.

And good conversation. Sam and I met when she was a customer at my old work. Later we worked at the same place. Now we're good friends. We have tons in common so it's easy to talk. We are going on a run today...needless to say I am a little freaked. I haven't run since I majorily messed up my knee. My knee feels great now so I think I'll be okay...still nervous!



The folks over at Al Dente Pasta were kind enough to send me some samples of their pasta. I was intrigued by the colors, the flavors and the quick cooking (boil water and leave pasta in for 3! minutes) method. I had some veggies on hand and knew I had to try this out!



I tossed in everything that was in the fridge. Chicken apple sausages, roasted eggplant, roasted tomato, pesto, asiago cheese, roasted zucchini and feta cheese. It was so quick and easy to make! Love this pasta. The noodles come out perfect in just 3 minutes like they said!



Alright I'm off to read some emails, take a big test (!!!), run with Sam and drink loads of coffee. Catch ya'll later.

Pomx Iced Coffee Review & Breakfast

This morning I took a chance to actually make myself breakfast. I pulled my two favorite cereals
out of the pantry and one of my beloved Trader Joe's Organic non fat vanilla greek yogurts. These yogurts are out of this world good.


I tried another without flash. Can you see a difference?



The most exciting part of breakfast was this iced coffee from the folks at PomWonderful!

Here are my thoughts on the chocolate flavor....
1. it has 30 grams of sugar! Not entirely a fan of sugar as you know.
2. it has 10 grams of protein, which is awesome. I need protein in the mornings to stave of insane hunger!
3. the chocolate flavor itself is phenomenal. It's rich and tasty! I would definitely drink these again. Maybe make it a friday thing?

From the folks at PomX
"POMx Iced Coffee is a delicious blend of antioxidants, caffeine and rich coffee. Have a taste and enjoy your Healthy Buzz!"

I can definitely appreciate a healthy buzz. Thanks for sending me this sample Molly! I'll have my husband review as well!


my precious yogurt. I wish you were not 1.99 a pop. You are so decadent and only 3 measly points. BOO!



Mixed together now. YUM! Today's breakfast was 6.5 points. Not too shabby! I hate having to measure out of 1/4 cup of cereal but it's worth it!

Stress snacks!

Being stressed out has really made me a fun girl.



This snack helped. Cinnamon PB and Chocolate chips. YUM. The Chocolate flavor reminded me of a sweet tortilla chip with just a tiny hint of chocolately goodness. I love the combination of sweet and salty so I was pretty jazzed about dipping the chips in my cinnamon PB.

Thanks http://www.foodshouldtastegood.com

Have any of you sampled chips from Food Should Taste Good? What flavor did you like best?

I loved Buffalo!

Observation Day

I observed a couple high school classes today. This morning I left the house super early. I thought I'd have time to stop by Starbucks to grab a coffee or something but I was wrong. There was a terrible car accident on the freeway and traffic took FOREVER! I barely made it there on time.

Luckily I found this Odwalla bar in my glove compartment!

After the observations were over, I stopped by Gelson's for a salad before going to class.

That's my visitor's pass on top. :)

This salad was just like heaven. I used garbanzo beans, blue cheese, croutons, spinach, tons of zucchini, grape tomatoes, red onion, noodles, chicken and shredded carrots. There is lettuce tucked under there too, I promise. ;)

Honest Tea sent me this Moroccan Mint Green Tea to sample! I'm skeptical because I'm not a big fan of mint but I'll try it!

And Annie Chun's sent us these soup and noodles. I called dibs on Peanut Sesame so Andy will be taking the Udon soup bowl with him to lunch tomorrow.

I'm off to watch Grey's! It looks like a tearjerker for sure.

Sweet Potato Fries

MMM I had been craving sweet potato fries like crazy all week. So last night I threw together some sweet potato fries that tasted like heaven! I wanted something that was salty, crunchy and a little bit sweet!

I chopped up 2 sweet potatoes while Andy prepared the marinade to coat them in. It smelled fantastic! Also...DUDE SWEET POTATOES are tough to cut through! omg! I had no idea.



We used sea salt, olive oil, brown sugar, cinnamon, pepper, chili powder and Trader Joe's version of Mrs. Dash. The chili powder gave the fries a delicious kick!



The fries bathe in their marinade while we preheat the oven.



I paired my fries with a spinach and feta burger on a slice of Pepperidge Farm's Oat & Barley Bread. Here is some info from their press release.."The Barley & Oats bread is a heart healthy solution. Oats, together with barley, a versatile grain with a rich, nutlike flavor, makes for a nutritious combination that will tantalize your taste buds."

I am addicted to this bread. It's so so tasty! 120 calories a slice though...ugh! I hate bread calories because I can eat like 10000 slices.

Do you have a favorite kind of bread? I always seem to love breads with honey or oats in them. I can't get enough!

Kim & Scott's Pretzels

I had a coupon for Kim & Scott's Pretzels so I decided to test them out.



I got the grilled cheese pretzel. I chose to cook it using the oven method and I'm glad I did. The cheese was melty but the pretzel was crispy. Perfection?


The only problem with these pretzels is how TASTY they are. I ate one for dinner since it was slightly high in calories (350 cals) It was great with a small salad. I'd definitely buy these again. They come in pizza flavor and spinach.

Eggs and Things!

This morning Andy and I went on a quick breakfast date before going our separate ways. Eggs and Things is definitely our favorite local breakfast place. I love going out to breakfast on Sunday, it’s so relaxing. Plus I never eat lunch after a big breakfast. It fills me up for hours!

I started my breakfast off with a Hawaiian Hazelnut coffee. Andy copied me :p

Before our meal came they gave us a paper thin Swedish pancake with boysenberry jam and some powdered sugar. Mine wasn’t that pretty so I took a picture of Andy’s too.

I ordered a greek omelet with feta cheese, tomatoes, spinach and bacon. It was loaded with fresh spinach! It was almost too much for me. This was my first time ordering this particular omelet. (Or do you spell it omelette?)

I got bananas on the side rather than hash browns.

Look at all the spinach. Dude. Fully loaded with iron and blech. I took some of the spinach out and it helped me enjoy it so much more. Of course, you know I ate the entire thing!
Now I will let Andy write about his meal…

Andy again…Glad to be back. As Amanda mentioned we love Eggs and Things. It is always packed and it is worth it. The best breakfast establishment in the world….or close. I had an omelet, the Eggs and Things Omelet to be exact. The omelet on the menu is a 3 egg omelet with bacon, green chiles, cheese, and sour cream. I ordered it sans cheese (they use way too much cheese and I am not a HUGE cheese fan) and I ordered it was salsa instead of sour cream for no real reason.
You can get either hash browns, O’brien potatoes, or fruit with the omelet and I went with fruit which was extremely tasty. Also ordered dry sourdough toast. It was a fantastic. Best breakfast ever. If you are every at Eggs and Things they also have an amazing tasty breakfast burrito.
Lastly, the coffee and Eggs and Things is great. They have flavored coffee and it is usually either Vanilla Nut or Hawaiian Hazelnut. Both are delicious but the Hawaiian Hazelnut is some of the best coffee I have ever had for a breakfast place. There is nothing bad about this place. Ever. EVER.
***/Amanda’s side note: Except the one time we were given some brown water…luckily it was only once. Otherwise he’s right. Nothing bad about it. Check it out!