The Time is Now

Hey guys!

Yesterday I was so busy with work, that I was shocked when my parents surprised me with tickets to this:

The Dallas Mavs vs. Miami Heat game!!!

And it was such an amazing game!  Of course, we killed Miami, which made it all that much better!

Needless to say, I was so excited that meals for yesterday went unphotographed, but I can give you a few more shots of the game!

They give you this shirt to put on as soon as you sit down!

Breakfast

Un-photogenic, but delicious!

• 2 organic brown rice cakes  (4 PP)
• Cottage cheese  (1 PP)
• Microwaved apple  (0 PP)
• Cinnamon  (0 PP) 

I'm off from work today, so I may go spend some of that hard earned money!  

Back to Work

Hey everyone!

Sorry I've been MIA for the past two days!

Yesterday was the LSAT, so I didn't have much time to post in between leaving 2 hours early (yes, I'm a little paranoid) and taking the 5 hour test!

But, good news is that I'm back for good!!

Checking the LSAT off my list is a huge relief, so now it's time to make some money!!

Today was my first day at work:

Yes, I work at Sonic and yes I bring my lunch :)

I am from a really small town, so I've actually worked at Sonic for the past 4 summers!  I've done internships and other jobs along with Sonic, but my friends always make me come back :)

And, I'm sure you're curious about whether I'm tempted by the food...

DEFINITELY NOT!!  Just work there for a few hours and you will know why :)

Being a carhop is actually a really great workout too, because I'm lifting trays and literally running around for 6 hours a day!  I love it!!

So, because I've been a little scattered lately, my eats reflect it...

Lunch  (in my hot pink lunchbox):

The usual combination:

• Turkey (2 PP)
• Cheese stick  (3 PP)
• Salsa and carrots  (0 PP) 

I just got home, so figuring I burned 5830183 calories, I munched on a few of these:

Coke Zero has finally arrived at our Sonic!!  

I will be back for dinner!  (I just need to rest my feet...and legs....ouch)  

Popsicle Weather

Lunch

• Morningstar black bean burger  (3 PP)
• One Mrs. Bairds Sandwich Thin  (3 PP)
• Salad with veggies and balsamic vinegar  (0 PP) 

Lunch today was consumed while watching Thursday's Real Housewives of New York City.  

They are currently in Morocco and at their peak of over-dramatic PMS personalities.

Of course, I love every minute of it :)

These burgers are my FAVORITE frozen burger, because they take one minute to make and are really flavorful!  

Summer Lovin' 

So if any of you have ever lived in Texas before, you know that our summer starts mid-March...

But, true Summer heat doesn't begin until May, so by now it is in FULL FORCE!

That means only one thing can solve this problem:

Popsicles and Pool Time :)   

I may be in this position for the rest of the day, so if you don't hear from me, send help.

Or you can just send more popsicles.  

Sweet Temptation

So, where did I leave off this morning?

Something about cupcakes?!?

Oh, that's right...

This recipe calls for one unusual ingredient that you don't normally expect to be in your baked goods:

Can you spot it?  :)

If you chose strawberries, then you are my soulmate, because who really wants to cook with fruit?

I'd rather have sugar, and lot's of it :)

But, if you chose Diet Cherry 7-Up, then you are correct!  The best part about these cupcakes is they are only 3 PP!

Like most of my recipes, these cupcakes use only a few simple ingredients:

• One box of cake mix  (Can use chocolate, vanilla, strawberry, etc)
• 12 oz of Diet Soda  (For chocolate, use Diet Coke, for strawberry, I used Diet Cherry 7-Up)
• 1 tub of cool whip to use as icing
• Strawberries for garnish! 

You don't need to include the eggs or oil in the cake mix because the diet soda takes over!!

Diet Soda Cupcakes or Cake  (3 PP)  
1.  Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

2.  Pour the cake mix into a large bowl.

3.  Pour 12 oz of preferred diet soda into the cake mix.

4.  Mix the two ingredients with an electric mixer.

4.  Grease a cake dish or fill a 12 count muffin with cupcake liners.

(AKA - Don't be like me and forget the liners at first)

Much better :) 

5.  Pour the batter into a baking dish or 12 count muffin tin.  (The cupcakes will be overflowing a little in the oven, so don't worry!  It's just more to enjoy!)  

6.  Cook in the oven for 35 minutes.

7.  Once they cool, you can add cool whip to each and garnish with a strawberry.  If you want to be extra fancy, you can use a little red food coloring to dye the cool whip pink :)

I know this looks miniature, but I can assure you they are full size / full flavor :) 

Lunch

Lunch this morning wasn't nearly as fun as those cupcakes, but I can fill you in anyway! 

• Turkey burger  (3 PP)
• Homemade broccoli slaw  (2 PP)
• Salad with veggies  (0 PP)

Both the turkey burger and broccoli slaw are homemade and extremely easy to make, so just let me know if you want me to feature the recipes on here!

Or we can just keep having fun and bake more cupcakes :)

Dinner


Dinner was spent here:

Source

And I didn't do much of this:

Source

But, I split a Weight Management Asian Chicken Salad with my friend, so I couldn't have done too much damage!

Of course, there was that darn bread basket....  I suppose that's what weekly points are for!!

Hopefully everyone else had a great Friday night as well to kick-off the weekend!

The Breakfast Cookie

Good Morning!

In my opinion, you can never eat enough sweets.  That is why I had to recreate a recipe for y'all based on the Fitnessista   


Her breakfast cookie recipe is full of wholesome ingredients and can be tailored to whatever flavors/toppings you want!  I have been making it for two years now, and I decided it to share it all of you because it's low in PP and de-licious!!


This morning, I topped mine with 0% fat Stoneyfield Yogurt and 2 tsp honey:

Breakfast Cookie

• 1/3 cup old-fashioned oats  (2 PP)
• 2/3 banana  (0 PP)
• 1 Tbsp cinnamon
• 1 Tbsp walnuts  (1 PP)  (You can substitute; ex. almonds, cashews, peanut butter, raisins)

Directions:

1.  Pour 1/3 cup oats into a bowl, and place 2/3 banana on a separate plate.

2.  Using the back of a large spoon, mash the banana until it is really mushy.

3.  Add the mashed banana and cinnamon to the oats.

4.  Mix it all together, flatten it out onto a plate and refrigerate overnight! 

Your cookie will be waiting for you in the morning!  

The great thing about this recipe is that you can substitute everything for your taste!  

You can choose nutmeg or protein powder instead of cinnamon, and put raisins and coconut instead of nuts!  

You can also refrigerate it in a container and top it with yogurt to bring to work or school!  

It's so filling too that I haven't even broken into the granola stash yet!  :)  

It is such a beautiful day in Texas today that I really want to take advantage of it and go for a run!  Hopefully I can study enough before the afternoon to fit in some pool time as well!!  

It's officially summertime, but my skin still looks like it's winter!  This needs to be changed ASAP!  

See you this afternoon for another recipe!

Hint...it involves this:

The Great Plate Debate

I can't believe I finished the last day of my LSAT prep class!  The test is on Monday, and it will be such a relief when it is O-V-E-R!!

No LSAT class will also mean I can photograph my lunches!  Which also means they will no longer consist of turkey and cheese wraps shoved into plastic baggies which I'm forced to consume during our 30 second break during class!

It's the little things that make me smile :)

Dinner
For dinner, we made a very simple and healthy meal:

• 1/2 piece of Alaskan salmon  (It came frozen in a box from Sam's Club...delish!)  (7 PP for a whole, so 4 PP for half)
• Salad with mixed greens, carrots, tomatoes, and cucumbers  (0 PP)
• Balsamic Vinegar dressing  (0 PP)
• Sweet potato with extra cinnamon!  (4 PP)

Tonight, I also wanted to talk about the idea behind (what I like to call) "The Great Plate Debate":

Source

A few months ago, I read Naturally Thin by Bethenny Frankel.  

Besides the fact that I love her savvy business sense and sarcastic wit, I also found her book to be very informational!

In Naturally Thin, she encourages people to downsize their plates.  

Because we prepare our meals and usually end up eating whatever is on the plate (whether recognizing we're full or not), our plate size makes a huge difference in how much food we consume!  

If we use a smaller plate, the plate is full so we automatically think we're eating more than we are.

However, if you put the same amount of food on a bigger plate, you will feel that you're getting ripped off.  This can be especially prevalent in dieters, because we sometimes already feel deprived!!  

Tonight I decided to test out this theory:

After I put my salmon on a large, typical dinner plate, I remember thinking, "Hmm...that's all I get?!?"

Then, I put the same food on a smaller (appetizer) plate to see the difference and it really turned my thinking around:

All of a sudden, I thought, "Okay, that's definitely enough!"  

This is great to use when you're trying to get used to smaller portions because many of us perceive how satisfying/filling something will be even before we eat it!  

It definitely worked for me :)  Let me know if you try it!!

Playing Catchup

Good morning!

Sorry I went MIA yesterday, I had another round of practice LSAT's that took the life out of me!  I couldn't even see straight, let alone find the ability to make complete sentences on this thing!

But alas, I did have time for PIZZA!!

I'm not sure about y'all, but once I began eating pizza loaded with toppings (veggies, of course!), plain ole' regular pepperoni pizza just doesn't cut it!  I need bulk and flavor and lots of onions, please!

So, we actually ordered this pizza from a nearby place and my mom and I sauteed spinach, mushrooms, onions, and green peppers in a tiny bit of olive oil.

We then just dumped the toppings onto the pizza and enjoyed our newest creation together :)

I estimated the pizza to be 9 points, because it was a pretty generous slice!  Just my kind :)

Breakfast
I decided to take my brother to high school today so it would force me to get my butt to the gym!

I definitely love going on walks with my mom, but nothing does it for me quite like busting it out on the treadmill and weights machines!  While there, I did a mish-mosh of activities:

• 20 min elliptical
• 25 run on the treadmill (While watching the French Open...any other tennis fans out there?!?)
• 20 mins of arm/leg weights

After scaring the other gym-goers with my sweaty face, I came home and whipped up my favorite pastime: 

SMOOTHIES!  

• One packet of Vanilla WW smoothie mix (2 PP)
• Tiny splash of Orange Juice (not enough to be a PP)
• 2 cups of Frozen Fruit

This baby was so thick I ate it with a spoon!!  

And after showering, my hunger came back and I snacked on some homemade granola:

This stuff is so addicting that I have to practically put a chain around the refrigerator to keep myself out of it!

I wanted to go back for seconds, but I need SOME PP left for the rest of the day, so I'm currently sippin' on this to quench my thirst for sweetness:

Please excuse my half-wet/half-dry hair and no makeup look :) 

Just a little time left before my LAST LSAT class ever!