Last Saturday (I know that technically counts as last week but since I have not updated since then, it will be included) was my sister Sarah's BBQ -- so much fun! We had a nice little dance party at the end of the night that ended in us jumping in the pool:) The next morning Sarah and I got up and went on a 4 mile run at Zilker park followed by us making the Banana Espresso Muffins I have the recipe to on here in a previous post...And also getting breakfast tacos:) Mmmm mmmm. Her oven kept turning off though so we had to use the 'stick a stick in it' test to see if they were done. Then I went to Whole Foods (my mecca) and I got a couple of things there but I mostly went for the organic cotton tee's. I got a couple for my sister and then a few more for me. I just can't get over how cheap they are while looking so cute and being sustainable for the environment!:) I love love love them. I now own 6 or 7 I believe? Then I also picked up some Purely Decadent coconut milk ice cream for my sister in Almond Brownie Fudge...D'lish. Seriously, one of the best "ice creams" I've ever had. Then I got some steamed beets just to try and some more raw almond butter as well as some fruits and veggies:) But I didn't get anything out of the ordinary until I went to Central Market later in the week.
Monday I ran 5 miles. Even though I had just ran the day before, I was grumpy enough that it felt like I hadn't run in a week. Then Tuesday was swimming in the morning, then boot camp, followed by a bike ride up to my old middle school (only about 4 miles round trip) and a half mile run on their track in my Vibram shoes. The swim ended up being only about 9 or 10 laps because as it got lighter, more crickets were getting in the pool which I thought was odd. Me and bugs -- we'll we don't exactly see eye to eye;) Wednesday, I took off to run in the morning but only got about a mile out before turning back. I had the intention of running later in the day but I rested instead. Wednesday was supposed to be an off day (following Tuesday which was also an off day--two in a row never happens?!), but Chef asked me if I could come in and start saute so I did.:) Thursday, I had a really really good gym workout. I did the stairclimber and full body with weights and machines and a lot of abs. Friday was another boot camp and another off day! So I spent some time at La Cantera shopping around a little bit before going off to my swim lesson at 5. He taught me to be better at freestyle, and then the breath (breast?) stroke on my stomach and back, and then we worked on my back stroke and finally he taught me how to flip turn! I'm pretty excited--that's something I never saw myself doing because I've always had to hold my nose -- but as it turns out it's not that hard as long as you stick your landing on the wall and turn over quickly so you don't push off into the ground;) Then in the evening, Katy and I went to eat at Green -- the vegetarian restaurant again and because it's downtown-ish we decided to go to the Alamo. First, we stopped at the Menger hotel and had a drink in their bar (it's haunted supposedly) :) Then we went to Pat O'briens for a bit. This was the third time I've been actually out since being in San Antonio, and only the 4th time to have had any alcohol which is such a change from Lubbock:) It's nice though because there, pretty much all you can do is go out and while I've been known to say no to many drinks before or drinking at all--it's definitely harder to do there than it is here.
So like I said, I went to Central Market:) Here is some of the stuff I got while on my little trip there -- And some comparisons in products:)
The one on the left is called golden zucchini and the one on the right is zephyr squash. I prepared both together, sliced on the stove with a little olive oil spray, salt and pepper as well as doing the same thing in the oven only with olive oil non-spray:). They're really good -- similar to summer squash but not quite as sweet.
These are Baked Lentil Chips. The ones on the left are sea salt and on the right are cucumber dill (love the dill!). I eat them with the mozzarella almond cheese (below), or just by themselves. They have about 110 calories for 30 chips!
Oh my goodness -- heaven in my mouth. Savoy Sorbet is a local brand that I got at Central Market. You can look them up at savoysorbet.com. You can also find retail locations on the website. I have tried Chamomille Orange and Lavender. They're perfectly refreshing and even though the ones on the right are delicious as well, I would still pick these sorbets over the more decadent desserts any day! Lavender has 25 calories per ounce and 7g of sugar. Chamomille orange has 34 calories per ounce and 9g of sugar. They are made with purified water, cane sugar, organic or wild crafted herbs and other natural flavors. The Purely Decadent desserts on the right are cookie dough and chocolate peanutbutter swirl. Mmmm mmm:). 1/2 a cup of the cookie dough is 190 calories, 80 from fat, and 15g of sugar. 1/2 a cup of the peanut butter swirl is 210 calories, 120 from fat, and 12g of sugar.
These are three granolas I've compared: on the left we have Oat and Honey from the Central Market Organics brand (USDA Organic), followed by Cascadian Farms Maple granola which is also USDA Organic, and then we have Dylan's Chia granola with dried cherries. Oats and Honey has 210 calories for 1/2 cup, 60 calories from fat, 0 sodium, 33 carbs, and 9g of sugar. Cascadian Farms Maple granola has 220 calories for 2/3 cup, 40 from fat, 160g of sodium, 42 carbs and 14g of sugar. Dylan's Chia granola with dried cherries has 160 for 1/2 cup, 45 from fat, sodium 0, 25g carbs and 8g sugar. At first glance, Dylan's might look like the winner--however you must double the numbers to come up with a more accurate comparison. I love them all. Dylan's has a lot of flavor and is very chewy, but it's also not necessarily worth the 320 calories per 1/2 cup (100 calories roughly more than the other two brands and you're even getting more with the Cascadian Farms than you are with Dylan's!). I love the maple taste in the Cascadian Farms and it is the healthiest choice. However, I found I like the Oat and Honey granola from Central Market Organics to be the best fruit and milk (coconut milk that is) topper:)
I thought maybe I'd like plain oatmeal? I thought wrong. Not that it's awful--I just end up having to add some agave or honey to it to sweeten it up a bit which really defeats the whole purpose. I tried adding just fruit with it because I always put fruit in my oatmeal anyway and it was like I had a bite of this delicious sweet fruit, and then it was covered in all this mush...good brand, different flavor next time:).
Not very crazy about this. I thought this would be like the soy vanilla milk where you can just drink it when you want something sweet but no. This has 10 calories and 1g of sugar more than regular coconut milk and it really doesn't taste much different at all. I think it's acutally not even as good as the regular. Better save yourself the 10 calories and 1g of sugar for something more worth it:).
Love this stuff! From Central Market also--when you put the light agave (I'm not sure why it's light anyway, it has the same amount of sugar and same calories as regular agave--I just found that it's more runny. However it's still delicious.) on these Magic Pops (15 calories per round and made with whole wheat flour that has been puffed in the store and into these fresh little snack cakes -- perfect sub for toast), it tastes like a roasted marshmallow! So yummy:) I also like to dip the Magic Pop's in cashew butter or put apricot jam on them:) Mmm mmm.
The greatest find I've had in a long time!! ALMOND CHEESE!! I love love the mozzarella -- you can find them at central market (and they're soy free!) 50 calories per serving (1/8 of the block).
Golden raspberries -- YUMMY! Not quite as tart as regular rasperries and so yummy! I put them on toast yesterday with my cashew butter on half and the other half I had my chocolate peanutbutter. It was a different combo but it was really good:)
These are mango nectarines. They don't taste too terribly different from a regular nectarine, or at least I didn't think so but they're really good! And fun because they're different:) Maybe you'll taste a bigger difference than me if you try them!
I. Love. Tomatoes. On the left we have the Nature Sweet cherry tomatoes that I can eat like candy. In the middle we have a gourmet selection of a bunch of different kinds that I can also eat like candy. And on the right we have organic, local, sunburst tomatoes that I can also eat like candy. I do have to say though, the Nature Sweet have been my favorite for a long time and they may not be local, organic, or gourmet -- but they're still my favorite whether it be snacking, making pasta sauce with infused olive oil, salads, on eggs, roasting, whatever. They're my number one:)
So the other day I was eating some garbanzos because frankly I just love them. And I'd also read that if you eat some garbanzos, you're less likely to eat excess food throughout the rest of the day. The brand I had eaten was Progresso. The one above is the type I normally get but that was not what was available this particular day in the pantry. Immediately I tasted a very salty difference. A couple days later, I came home with these bad boys. I looked at the sodium difference -- Progresso = 470mg sodium where as these abbove had 110mg sodium. And they're organic. Looks like we have a winner:)
"Love is to the heart what the summer is to the farmer's year -- it brings to harvest all the loveliest flowers of the soul." - Author unknown
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