New product finds!

I shop at multiple grocery stores. Trader Joe's is local, Whole Foods is 10-15 miles away, Gelson's is 9 miles away and Fresh and Easy is close but rarely shopped at anymore.

I'd rather be at the grocery store than most places. I consider this a problem. I wandered around Gelson's for an hour the other day while talking to Mari on the phone.

But let's backtrack.

Have any of you tried Peeled Snacks? They are pouches of dried fruit. You can find them at Starbucks. The company sent me some to sample. I have been slowly enjoying them because they are so good!



I ate some dried cherries on my lunch break the other day. Yes, I take my lunch breaks in my car. I'm anti-social remember?



Salad bars are the best. This salad was $9 at Gelson's. I know that's ridiculous but I only get it once in a blue moon. It was filled with lettuce, spinach, croutons, cheddar cheese, bacon, chickpeas, edamame, zucchini, corn, bell peppers and my favorite dressing cilantro pepita. Honestly I'd eat almost anything dipped in cilantro pepita dressing.



Body for Life sugggests eating cottage cheese for a quick protein boost. It's an easy snack but I hate watery cottage cheese. This whipped version is almost like ricotta cheese. Love it! Mari suggested it and I'm so glad she did. 16 grams of protein in half a cup!



I also bought these. I will be trying them and reviewing them soon.



And I finally tried this video. I only had 30 minutes to workout before going to work at the middle school so I made it snappy. 15 minutes total body workout and 15 minutes upper body workout. I burned 300 calories!

I love that the workouts in this dvd are customizable. I will be trying it out more often. I plan on doing lots more weight training. I will have to pick up some 8lb dumbbells at Tarjey.



My Body for Life book came so I browsed through it while eating chobani and granola. I'll try to do a book review soon. I'll admit...the book is kind of outdated and cheesy...



I also tried this new Luna bar! Chocolate cherry almond. I think it tastes like a candy bar. The cherry flavor is pretty strong as well.



YUM! I bought 2 other flavors to test out. Eating six meals a day is going to be a challenge for me so I need to find some snacks that clock in at under 200 calories with more than 10 grams of protein. Any suggestions?

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.

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!