saag paneer is my lover

Yesterday I walked 2 miles and ran for 5 minutes. It's not much but after my knee injury, it felt awesome. I didn't experience any pain! I'm going to try walk/running every other day. I'm slowly building up to running another 5k.

I am a little nervous about my plantar fasciitis especially since I start teaching 7th grade tomorrow! I haven't been on my feet all day in awhile. My orthotics come in soon so hopefully that will help. (yeah I'm only 26 years old. What gives?)



Andy and I were in the mood for Indian the other night so we went on Yelp and looked for reviews. To our surprise there was a place relatively close to our apartment. As per usual, we started off with samosas.

Samosas are fried but usually not super greasy. We each had one.



With chutneys for dipping.



Saag paneer (spinach with paneer cheese) and chicken tikka masala. Oh lord. I am officially obsessed with saag paneer. Especially when I mix it with the tikka masala sauce. Oh man.



And garlic naan. So good!

We always order the same thing when we get Indian though. Saag paneer, chicken biryani (rice), chicken tikka masala, samosas and garlic naan. I think I need to branch out. Any suggestions? (We'll pretty much eat anything!)

Don't forget you have until Friday (tomorrow!) to enter our Maranatha giveaway. YUM!

350th post!

On Sunday, Andy and I decided to drive to Santa Barbara so I could check out the Lululemon store. I loved it! I ended up buying a running tank that was on sale for $39. I couldn't believe the quality of their running and yoga gear. If I had more money, I would have gone all out.

I'm trying to find a picture of the running tank but it must be discontinued.



Then we went to an Indian lunch buffet. The chicken wasn't great so I picked at it and tried all of the veggie dishes. The saag and tofu was AMAZING! I love spinach.



But it wasn't my favorite. Andy and I have a few favorite Indian restaurants that we enjoy. I think next time I have a saag craving, I'll go there.



Can't hate huge, fluffy pieces of naan though.

So now that I've been to Lululemon, I can't seem to get it out of my head. MUST BUY MORE STUFF. I'm wondering if buying lightly used stuff off ebay would be a terrible idea. As much as I'd love $90 running pants...I really can't justify it. I rarely spend $90 on work pants or jeans!

Do you own anything from Lululemon? Or have a suggestion for cheaper running/yoga clothes for me?

I can smell freedom!

Oh blogging, I've missed you! Don't worry 3 more days of school and I'll be done! I can't wait to have my life back!



I've been trying to cut back on my carb-intake but it's been difficult. Pictured is a 6oz piece of lean carne asada with asparagus and yellow squash. (I buy the meat pre-marinated from Trader Joe's and weigh it on a food scale.)

Roasted veggies= delicious!



Last night's dinner included more Trader Joe love. 2 veggie samosas (in the freezer section. They are incredibly tasty for not being fried and low in calories/fat!) and skinless, boneless chicken breast in a jarred tikka masala sauce with yellow squash and 4 cups of spinach. I loved adding spinach to this! Spinach and curry are meant to be.

Tikka Masala is my favorite curry but is usually filled with cream. The jarred version at Trader Joe's has 5 grams of fat per serving which is the best I've found. The jar suggests watering it down but I don't. The cooked veggies add enough water.



Next time, I might try a veggie version of this with chickpeas, even more spinach and bell peppers. YUM!

Have you ever made curry? How do you get the smell out of your house??? Keep in mind, Andy and I live in a small apartment.

Also Trader Joe's carries garlic naan, vegetable biryani and boxed indian side dishes. The closest Indian food restaurant to us is 10-15 miles away so this is great when we have a craving and don't want to go out! Plus I have control over the fat in my food. Love that!

p.s. adding spinach to everything is my newest obsession.

I'll be back soon with a life update!

Emotional Eating

Ugh. Remember yesterday when I told you I was craving junk food? Well, I succumbed and managed to eat a bunch of "junk" for lunch yesterday. I didn't even think to take any pictures.

I felt like crap immediately after eating it and asked myself why I even ate it in the first place. If you want to read a GREAT post on emotional eating check out Caitlin's post over at Healthy Tipping Point

It's funny that I read Caitlin's post about emotional eating (which has great insight) and then I managed to emotionally eat shortly afterwards.

It's one of those things; I was lonely, feeling stressed about my new classes and schedule, thinking about money, worrying about broken relationships with friends, wanting my body to be different, thinking about my knee and heel pain and I WAS BORED!

Usually when I'm bored like this, I call a friend or write about it in my livejournal. (Do any of you have a livejournal?)

Anyway I can't beat myself up over it because today is a new day. I didn't do any major damage calorie-wise and I know that my body will bounce back. I woke up craving healthy food! Instead of feeling guilty and getting even more emotional, I choose to thank my body for bouncing back.



Last night Andy and I went on a date. We went to one of our favorite indian restaurants for dinner. We started off with samosas.



And shared some saag paneer (spinach and farmer's cheese), some chicken biryani (rice with chicken, golden raisins, cashews and curry) and chicken tikka masala (words can't even describe) and garlic naan.

It was GREAT! Chicken tikka masala is a heavy dish that we try not to eat too often but when we do...oh man! I love it.

I would have loved to try some channa masala (Chickpeas!) or some beigun bhartha (eggplant!) but since it was just the two of us we decided not to go too crazy.

And talking during our date made me feel 100% better. Love that!

So tell me, how do you combat emotional eating? Is it a struggle for you?

India's Tandoori

This is a re-creation post since my pictures turned out so horrible! The restaurant is so dark inside, it's hard to photograph anything. But I couldn't just ignore this post. Indian Food is my favorite thing. I would love to serve Indian food at my wedding but it isn't very pretty...take a look.

I love how indian food can be shared. I went to dinner with 8 people and we split 5 dishes so everyone was able to eat a little bit of everything.


Karhai Chicken- tomato-based curry. I enjoy it but it's not my fave.


Saag Paneer. Spinach and blocks of goat cheese. WAY better than it looks dude. India's Tandoori used to make the best saag but unfornately it sucks lately. I don't get it. I pour tikka masala sauce over it to make it better. :)



Garlic naan. Better than garlic bread. Trust me.

Murg/Chicken Biryani. It's with golden raisins, chicken and cashews. Everyone liked this. It was the one thing we all agreed on!

My personal favorite Chicken Tikka Masala. I would eat this everyday if I could. The sauce is so flavorful and spectacular!!

So what do you think? Would you serve this at your wedding?