I'm Still Here!

I haven't forgotten about you, blog! I'm sorry I've been neglecting you lately...

So let's seeee, where did I leave off? I talked about changing my diet a bit in my last blog. That has been going pretty well!! I've really been working on cutting out meat, dairy and processed foods. There's a few things here and there that I eat, just because I still have them in my fridge! I'm not one to waste:-)

Pictured on the left is dinner from like two weeks ago maybe? Mahi mahi, scallops, steamed squash and zucchini, and jasmine rice. Along with my favorite wine, Riesling! Yumm-o!

Fish is one thing that I feel I might keep in my diet! It doesn't seem as bad as red meat or chicken. Especially if I get it organic from Trader Joe's!:-)

Since changing up our diet, we have been cooking a lot more! It's great. We're really having fun trying new recipes and an added bonus is that we're finally using some of our wedding gifts! Food processor, cheese grater, serving platters, etc. It's been really fun!

I find that with vegetables, you can kind of get away with just throwing a bunch of stuff together in a pan, cooking it, and it turns out good either way! I try not to add too much stuff to it, since butter and olive oil are just unnecessary fats! Although I still use them sometimes, because I'm not sure what else I can use as a substitute!

Sometime last week we tried a recipe for Creamy Avocado Pasta. The ingredients were pretty simple.
Avocado
Lemon
Garlic
Olive Oil
Basil
Salt & Pepper
Spaghetti Noodles

It definitely had potential, but it just didn't hit the spot. I liked the fact that the sauce was made from avocado, instead of cheese, milk, butter, etc. And I've never had Spelt Pasta before, but it was actually really good! I chose those noodles because they had the same amount of calories as regular spaghetti noodles, but they had way more fiber and protein! The consistency was the same as regular noodles, to me at least!:-)

I finally got to use the food processor! Yay! So fun:-) It works really well, and it's pretty quiet too. It blended up the ingredients nicely, creating a smooth, creamy avocado sauce! The sauce was good. Pretty thick, and a little too basil-y for my taste. If I were to make it again, I would probably use less basil, or none at all.

The recipe was for two servings. It said to cover the noodles with the sauce and "fluff" it all together. Well... I think there was too much sauce to really be "fluffy." It was really thick and creamy and there was definitely more sauce than there was noodles!

I could tell Charlie definitely wasn't fond of it! lol... but we did finish it! It wasn't *terrible* lol:-)

As you can see, the noodles are totally coated in the sauce! It looks much better than it tastes!

Anyways, I would maybe attempt it again, but do things a little differently next time!

If anybody has Netflix, I highly encourage you to watch "Forks Over Knives!" It's seriously really good! Very informative and makes you realize how much crap we really eat! And yes, I am very guilty of that! But I'm trying to change my ways, at least as much as I can. I don't think I could ever fully cut out meat, dairy and processed foods completely. But I can definitely try my hardest to not eat those types of things when I can. But if it's like a birthday or something special, then ok, I can splurge a little!:-)

Mango/blueberry mix + salad

So along with my change in diet, I've also been wanting to change up my workouts a bit. Typically, I do cardio. Lots and lots of cardio! Because it's kind of been forced into my head that cardio is the best way to lose weight and burn fat!

BUT, strength training, weight lifting, etc. builds muscle, which also burns fat! So, that is my goal... to work on strength training! I realized that I have barely been doing any type of strength training! Which I really need to work on because if I do get into an academy, I'm gonna have to be strong!

Last night I did "Jillian Michael's: No More Trouble Zones" and WOW! I forgot how hard it is! I think she recommends using 3 pound weights, but I only have 5. By the middle of the video, my muscles were burning! And for the first time in forever, I woke up sore today! I guess I had really been slacking in that department! So now, my goal is to do that video every other day! I obviously need to let my muscles rest, so I will do strength/cardio, every other day! If I don't have time to do that whole video, I'll probably do Ripped in 30, since she does strength training and cardio in the same video.

So we went shopping at MOM's the other day and wow! I was so excited! I guess the last time I went there, I wasn't on much of a health food kick, so I didn't really care about much of the stuff there. But now, I love everything! They have so many options for gluten free, dairy free, vegan, etc. It's awesome!

I picked up a few things. Some bread, soy yogurt, coconut milk yogurt, almond yogurt, vegan cream cheese, organic soups, TIGER BALM! and my favorite purchase of all... Coconut Milk Cookie Dough ice cream!! Mmmmm

Speaking of my family, Monday night I had my parents and Rayna over for dinner! It was really fun and delicious! The main point of having them over was to watch "Forks Over Knives." This is because my dad recently got news that his heart is in jeopardy. He had a stress test done, which showed an area of his heart was not perfusing as well as it should. So Thursday he's going in for an angiogram. I really wanted him to watch the documentary so that maybe he could get some ideas on how to change his diet and how it would greatly improve his cardiovascular system!

Since we wanted to set a good example, I tried to make a healthy dinner for them! We did Mahi Mahi, Asparagus, Mashed Cauliflower and Baby Arugula salad with tomatoes, cucumbers, walnuts and goat cheese! I also made my very first batch of Guacamole!! They loved it!! Everything turned out great and I was pretty impressed with Charlie and I's cooking skills! lol:-)

I think that my Dad liked the video and definitely listened to what they had to say! I hope that everything goes will with his angiogram tomorrow, and hopefully it's not as bad as they think!

Tonight I'm at work. Boo. But it's only one of two in a row. Then I'm off for 5 days! Yes!!:-)

Before I came into work I was pretty productive. Did my laundry, emptied the dish washer, ran 5 miles and then made whole grain quinoa with squash, zucchini and plum tomatoes, sauteed in a little bit of olive oil! Mmm!

Thanks to one of my BFF's, Caitlin, for giving me some quinoa to try! I'd never had it before and was wanting to try it for awhile:-) I liked it! I'm going to try it again sometime, maybe with a sauce or something.

The scale has not moved down at all lately. But that could be due partly to my crazy weekends of drinking. That is one thing I do that is NOT healthy! But, I'm enjoying my life and having a blast so that's something I just can't part with right now!! I could probably cut back on going to McDonald's afterwards though! lol:-)

I hope next time I update I have a loss to report!! But we shall see. Even if I can just tone up some, I'd be happy:-)

Sorry for the long update... hopefully it won't be so long before the next one!!

<3<3<3<3

Anna