Rain Rain Go Away

This morning I woke up around 7 and caught some of the today show before getting ready. Then I made my Shakeology and ran out the door. In my handy Magic Bullet, I blended together 1 scoop with almond milk, ice, and instant coffee. I thought accidentally added a little too much coffee, but it tasted great! I liked the stronger coffee taste. Of course...it was rain as usual! Booooo


My morning snack was a Oikos & Granola. During lunch I had to run to the car dealership so they could do an estimate. I got rear ended on Sunday...but it wasn't too bad. At least the insurance claim process went smoothly and my car should be good as new!


When I got back I ate my lunch...a La Tortilla ham wrap with a Laughing Cow. I also had my green peppers and hummus. I got Tribe hummus instead of the usual Sabra because it has almost half the calories per serving. But it's not as creamy.


I was pretty busy in the afternoon and grabbed a quick banana and string cheese. I came home about 6:30 and got to catch a webinar with Shaun T (of Hip Hob Abs fame). He talked all about Insanity, which is coming out by July 13th! It sounds like an awesome fat loss program. I will post all about it on Thursday. For dinner I made a yummy Tuna Melt! Stay tuned for the recipe tomorrow. Now it's off to watch True Blood!

NOLA Part 2

Our next stop in New Orleans was Creole Creamery. They feature homemade ice cream with very unique flavors. They had everything from Fresh Mint Chip to Sweet Corn with Black Pepper and Raspberry. I picked out 2 great flavors for my small cup.....Malt Chocolate Chip and Red Velvet Cake (it's peekin in from underneath).


When we were walking around the French Quarter, there was a store called "Natalie". Of course I had to take a picture under it.


That night for dinner...we made the trek on the St. Charles Streetcar to Jacques-Imo's. This place got rave reviews so I definitely wanted to try it out. After waiting almost 2 hours we were finally seated (The place gets packed!)! They brought out fresh cornbread with garlic butter and a spinach salad with a fried oyster. The oyster was the best fried oyster I think I have ever had. It was tender yet super crispy on the outside.


For dinner I wanted to try something different.. I had the Paneed Duck. It is basically a duck breast pounded super thin and breaded. It was served with a shrimp and sweet potato sauce that complemented it perfectly! On the side was some more sweet potatoes and red beans and rice. It was a great dinner.


On Sunday it was time for a delicious brunch. We drove over to Elizabeth's, a great eatery in a residential neighborhood. They are famous for their Praline Bacon and we knew we wanted it! It was amazing. The salty bacon with the candied topping is heaven. It hits all the taste buds in your mouth.


Next up was some Boudin Balls. These are made with sausage and rice. They were served with a mustard sauce that was delectable. Why do deep fried things have to taste SO good?!


My entree was Shrimp & Grits. The older I get, the more I love grits. When they are made right, they are exquisite. These were great. The whole dish had tons of flavor.


My sister got the French Toast stuffed with Strawberry Cream Cheese. I had a couple of bites and it was tasty too. It was creamy and crunchy all at the same time. It was another great day of food in the crescent city.

NOLA Part 1

First I want to say SORRY for being so late on my New Orleans posting! Last week was super duper hectic for me, and I barely had a chance to even unpack for my trip. Everything was pushed to the side (including working out), but I’m all settled now!

We started off our morning with some fresh beignets at Café Du Monde. This place is super busy! The servers go through an assembly line of beignets and coffee. They are really quick here. It's gotta be the busiest place in the French Quarter.

Here is the Café Au Lait. They mix the coffee with chicory (which was used a long time ago to help preserve freshness). It has a great flavor your can’t find anywhere else.

Here are the delicious beignets! Doused with powdered sugar…it’s the only way to eat them!

Our next stop was the Abita Brewery Tour. We made the 1 hour drive to Covington, LA to check it out. This was definitely one of the trip highlights. Not only is the tour free, but you can drink as much beer as you want. PLUS…you can pour your own samples! This was pretty much heaven for me…haha.

I tried almost every beer. I didn’t try the ones I’ve already had, like Abita Amber (one of my favorites and their original brew). My favorite was the Abita Turbodog, a very smooth, dark beer. My least favorite was Satsuma, a seasonal brew that had a very odd orange flavor.

After tasting came the quick tour, which led us around their small brewery. They are a staple in Louisiana, but not so much in other states. If you see it in the store near you, give it a try! It’s worth the couple extra bucks.

After the tour we went to Buster’s Place in downtown Covington. They had a great menu with lots of Louisiana favorites. We ordered some Chargrilled Oysters to start. They were delicious! Plump oysters covered in cheese with butter to dip them in…you can’t get oysters any better than that.

I ordered the shrimp po boy and splits some red beans and rice with my sister. The shrimp was perfectly cooked and the bread nice and soft. The red beans and rice were the best ones we had of the whole trip. They were creamy with bits of andouille sausage. They tasted like they were cooked all day!

Stay tuned for NOLA Part 2! Monday night I’m gonna post all about the best creation ever…Praline Bacon!

Food Fact Friday: Bananas Foster

Today I'm flying out to New Orleans! It's our Dad's favorite place. So we're going out there for Father's Day weekend. I'll be back home on Tuesday to tell you all about it. There are gonna be lots of good eats!

There are so many delicious recipes that originated in New Orleans. One of the best desserts is Bananas Foster (It's my sister's all time favorite). I knew it was invented at Brennan's Restaurant, but I wanted to find out some more details...

Most of the bananas from Central and South America were shipped through New Orleans in the 1950's. Paul Blangé, the chef at Brennan's, was challenged by Owen Edward Brennan to include bananas in a brand new recipe to promote this abundant fruit.



Chef Paul created the recipe in 1951. The dessert was named for Richard Foster, who served with Mr. Brennan on the New Orleans Crime Commission. Foster was also a very good friend of Brennan's and a frequent customer. Even to this day, Bananas Foster is the most popular item on the menu at Brennan's Restaurant. Click here for the famous recipe.

Going Bananas for Bananas: 35,000 pounds of bananas are flambéd each year at Brennan's for this world-famous dessert.

Palm Trees in My Shake

I felt super refreshed today so I woke up at 6:30 and was on to ChaLEAN Extreme Push Circuit 2. It was my first time doing this workout and I was definitely exerting my full force. Some Monica Seles type grunts were coming out of my mouth…thankfully I live by myself! Haha. Push Circuit 2 focuses on your upper back and shoulders, alternating with lunges and other lower body work. After my workout I got ready for work and made my Shakeology. Today it was 1 scoop Shakeology, 1 cup skim milk, 1 tbsp instant coffee, and 4 ice cubes. This pic looks like I have some palm trees added too.

My morning snack was Wallaby Strawberry Guava Yogurt. I mixed it with some Ezekiel Flax cereal (similar to Grape Nuts) and some trail mix. It was a great mix! I couldn’t taste the guava in the yogurt but it was still good.

For lunch I had a La Tortilla wrap, laughing cow light, and deli chicken. Yummy! I always look forward to my lunch wraps. On the side I had my usual peppers with Sabra Hummus. During my lunch hour I ran to the mall (I’m lucky it’s only 2 mins from work) and bought this concealer at Sephora. It’s called Erase Paste, made by Benefit. It’s the best concealer I have used! It’s slightly pricey, but a little goes a long way.

My 3:00 tummy growl was getting to me, so it was time for a snack. I had a Peanut Butter Cookie Luna Bar. I love these! They are definitely in my top 3 flavors of Luna. The sweet peanut butter and crunch of the bar is perfect.

I had one piece of grilled chicken left and decided to make a parmesan style sandwich. I placed 2 tbsp marinara and 1 piece of string cheese scattered on top of the chicken and microwaved it for 1 minute. I ate it on a Pepperidge Farm 100% Whole Wheat Bun. I also had a spinach salad with feta, grape tomatoes, and olives. Then I settled into my sofa and watched the season premiere of True Blood. It’s SO good! The Mary Ann thing is weird though…what exactly is she??

Firefox is Failing Me

Sorry for the uber-delayed post! I was having major issues with Firefox last night, then Internet Explorer was giving me issues. But here was my Tuesday…

I woke up around 7:30 and made my Shakeology. Today’s mix was 1 scoop shakeology, ½ cup water, ½ cup milk, ¼ pkg sugar free Pistachio pudding mix, and 3 ice cubes. I love this one! It’s a very mild pistachio flavor but so tasty.

My morning snack was a Wallaby Black Cherry Yogurt and a peach. The peach was nice and ripe. The yogurt had good flavor, but it was a little too runny for me. I like my yogurts a little thicker. I think Greek yogurt has really spoiled me.


Lunch was just a quick wrap with a Cluckphrey patty with laughing cow. It was so tasty! I forgot my veggies at home, so this was pretty much it for my lunch today.

My afternoon snack was a Nutri-Grain from the trusty vending machine and some string cheese. I haven’t had a Nutri-Grain in forever! I still remember when they first came out on the market…everyone was going crazy for them. It was a good amount of food to tide me over for dinner.

When I got home from work I did ChaLEAN Extreme Burn Intervals & Ab Burner. It was tough at the beginning! For some reason…I was SO tired when I got home from work. But after the first 10 minutes, my energy returned. I’m really glad I didn’t skip my workout. For dinner I made a quick salad with tuna, grape tomatoes, feta dressing, and some balsamic vinegar. It was a tasty salad that actually did a good job in filling me up. I was very surprised. Then after watching some Jon & Kate plus 8, I grabbed my new book, I Know this Much is True, and hit the hay.

Havana Hideout

A couple months ago, I saw Havana Hideout on Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives. I had no clue this little eatery even existed! It's a very cool dive located on Lake Ave. I was so excited that I finally got to try it out. It was worth the little trek to Lake Worth. (Here is my sister, ready to eat!)


We sat down on one of the tables and the server brought us the menus. We were all famished so we decided to order some ceviche. There were huge chunks of fish and avocado. It was served with fresh tortilla chips. The ceviche was great. It was nice and tangy, with the avocado really rounding out the flavors nicely.


My sis and I split the Pionono and a Cuban Sandwich. I know what your thinking...WTF is Pionono? I didn't know either until I saw it on TV. They describe it as a "tropical shepherd's pie". It's made with picadillo (a well spiced ground beef mixture with raisins and olives), and mashed ripe plantains. The taste was great! The spiciness of the picadillo was complemented perfectly by the plantains. My only problem was that there was a lot of grease in the dish! I'm not a huge fan of seeing oil pool up. But I tried to keep the oil away the best i could.

The Cuban sandwich was also really good! They roast their own pork. But...they do use a non-traditional ingredient...Mozzarella cheese (I remember Guy Fieri kinda squirming on this one). I actually really liked the Mozzarella. It has that creamy stringiness that Swiss cheese doesn't really give it.


When we saw what was on the dessert menu, we were tempted. It had one of my favorites, Tres Leches, plus something I've never tried, Chocolate Chili ice cream. The ice cream was so good! My first bite of the ice cream was perfect...it had a sweet, creamy milk chocolate taste. Then about 10 seconds later, the back of my throat was en fuego! The ice cream had a massive kick. But I love spicy foods...so I couldn't stop. It tricked me every time I took a bite.


I finished off with the Tres Leches. It's a cake soaked in "3 Milks", and topped with whipped cream. I thought the flavors were very well put together, but I didn't feel it was milked up enough, haha. Maybe a 1/4 cup more of the milk mixture would have served it well.


The food here was delectable and affordable. Pretty much everything is from $4 - $8. The service was a tad off in moments...but the relaxed atmosphere makes you think you're on vacation. I will definitely be coming back to Havana Hideout.

Food Fact Friday: Cheddar is Better

June is National Dairy Month. I was thinking all morning about my favorite types of dairy. Thoughts of cheese were dancing in my head. One of the most popular types of cheeses is Cheddar. Cheddar has been around for almost 1,000 years! Here is an abridged version of it’s history…

Cheddar cheese is a hard, pale yellow cheese originating in the English village of Cheddar. Note that I said pale yellow…apparently adding color (like us Americans do) is a no-no. Cheddar cheese has been widely imitated, both in the United Kingdom and in other countries. By European trading standards, however, only cheese produced and sourced in four of the counties of Southwest England may be branded 'West Country Farmhouse Cheddar'.

Cheddar cheese has been produced since at least 1170. A pipe roll of King Henry II from that year recorded the purchase of 10,420 lb at about the price of $5 a ton.

Central to the modernization of Cheddar cheese was the nineteenth century Somerset dairyman Joseph Harding. Harding introduced new equipment into the process of cheese making, including his "revolving breaker" for curd cutting, saving much manual effort. He and his wife were behind the introduction of the cheese into Scotland and North America.


Cheddaring refers to an additional step in the production of Cheddar-style cheese where, after heating, the curd is kneaded with salt, then is cut into cubes to drain the whey, then stacked and turned. Strong, extra-mature Cheddar, sometimes called vintage, needs to be matured for up to 15 months. The cheese is kept at a constant temperature often requiring special facilities.

In parts of the United States and Canada, annatto, extracted from the tropical achiote tree, is used to give some Cheddar cheeses a deep orange color. Cheddar is often colored and even as early as 1860. Many food historians state that cheddar is often colored because the consumers prefer it that way.

In the United States, Cheddar cheese comes in several varieties, including mild, medium, sharp, extra sharp, New York Style, Colby/Longhorn, white, and Vermont. New York style Cheddar cheese is a particularly sharp Cheddar cheese, sometimes with a hint of smoke. Colby/Longhorn Cheddar cheese has a mild to medium flavor. Cheddar that has not been coloured is frequently labelled as "white Cheddar" or "Vermont Cheddar" (though it does not have to be produced there to be labeled “Vermont”). Vermont Cheddar is the nearest of any North American cheese to authentic English Cheddar.

The Big Cheese: The largest Wisconsin Cheddar cheese, weighing in at 34,951 lb, was produced for the 1964 New York World's Fair. It required the equivalent of the daily milk production of 16,000 cows.

Click here for a great chicken recipe using Cheddar!

Day 30 ChaLEAN Check-In

I’m officially done with the 1st 30 days of ChaLEAN Extreme! Even though I did miss a day or two…I eventually did every workout. I could have eaten slightly better I admit, but I think I did pretty well. I will definitely post my final measurements and pictures after phase 3. Here is a summary of my Burn Phase Results!

Chalean Extreme Burn Circuit Results (Days 1 – 30):
Inches Lost: 3.5
Pounds Lost: 1.5
Fat Lost: .8%

I know it doesn’t seem like that much, but I am very happy with the results. I don’t want to weigh less than 130…and I’m about 5 lbs away from that goal. I lost inches all around, which I’m very happy with! I feel tighter and more in shape. I also have so much more energy (must be from the Shakeology too)! The Burn Circuit was great! I did moves I wasn’t used to doing…plus the commitment is about 45 minutes 5 days a week. It doesn’t get much better than that! I’m really excited for the next 60 days! My goal for day 90 is to weigh 130 lbs, get to 22% Body Fat, and lose a total of 12”. I can do it!

Buy ChaLEAN Here!

Apples & No Padma

Sorry about the super late post! I was tired last night and I ran around a lot today.
On Wednesday I woke up early to do Burn It Off and Recharge. I was actually surprised with all the energy I had! Maybe I was excited since it was my last day of the Burn Phase. After getting ready for work…I made my shake. I used one scoop of Shakeology, ½ cup skim milk, ½ cup water, and ¼ packet sugar free Jello pistachio pudding mix. It was SO yummy! You could taste a hint of pistachio in the shake. The shake was so rich and creamy, I can’t believe it’s so healthy. It’s even healthier than those green monsters everyone is drinking.

My AM snack was my fav White Chocolate Macadamia Cilf Bar. It was tasty as usual.

After I did some browsing at the Mall during lunch, I came back to my wonderful (feel the sarcasm) cubicle to eat my lunch. It was a La Tortilla with the usual fixins.

My PM snack was a Cameo Apple. It was organic grown in Washington state. I even looked for the “9” on the sticker! Haha! It was a little on the sweet side for me. I guess I just really like my Granny Smiths the best.

For dinner…I went with my friend to Outback. I tried to stay healthy so I just had an Iced Tea and the Outback Grillers. For $14.95 you pick two between filet mignon, shrimp, and chicken. I chose the chicken and filet. It also comes with rice, grilled veggies, and grilled pineapple. The only good parts were the steak & pineapple! The chicken and rice was way over-seasoned, the veggies under-seasoned. It was in the bottom tier of Outback meals I have eaten for sure.

Also, last night I watched the premier episode of Top Chef Masters. What did you guys think?? I wasn’t a huge fan. First of all… where’s Padma & Tom?! I miss them! I also don’t like the 4 at a time competition thing…but I guess they all have super important restaurants to run…