Thursday Treat: U

Every Thursday my co-workers and I take treats that start with a different letter of the alphabet. This week was the letter U. One of my co-wokers called pineapple upside down cake, but then decided she didn't have time so she said I could make it. I couldn't think of anything else that started with U so I agreed. 

Last night I was feeling lazy and more interested in sewing than baking, so I did some early morning baking. Thanks to my mom for bringing me eggs and the recipe. 

Stemmed maraschino cherries cost more than ones with the stemmed removed.
?

Early Morning Baking

I Hope It's All In My Head

I was surprised by how many different prints and scraps I had.

I found a cute sewing project on Pinterest that uses fabric scraps. It's a surprise so I can't show you until  September 19th.

The tutorial gave the option of using glue so the fabric won't fray. I bought some and the instructions say to pierce the tip with a fine pin. I was struggling to get the pin all the way through the tip. I used my teeth to pull off the tip so I could stab from the bottom up. Glue squirted out onto my lips. I freaked out because instantly they felt numb. I read the bottle to see if it was toxic. Sure enough it says if it's swallowed you should induce vomiting and call poison control. I made sure to spit and rinse my lips, but can't be 100% sure that some didn't get ingested. I resumed sewing but I swear I started feeling sick to my stomach and dizzy. I can't decide if it was all in my head or the glue. I felt nauseous and kind of wanted to make myself throw up, but I didn't.

Shredded Chicken Tostadas

I'm pretty sure I was okay and well enough to make dinner. I finally made rice that was edible. Probably because I skipped the brown rice and used white.

-Priscilla

No Plans=A Productive Day

I had no plans at all today. Last night I did the two chores on my to do list so I felt at ease. I woke up fairly early for a Saturday, especially because I didn't have to wake up at 8:30 am. Since it was early I decided to get a bike ride in before the day got hot. I rode down to 25th street to see if they had started doing the farmer's market. Nope, so I just rode around aimlessly. Which was fine. I wanted to eat brunch at Slackwater Pub and Pizzeria, but they didn't open until 11 am. Which is probably a good thing, I have plenty of food at home and shouldn't be out wasting $12 on brunch.

After my bike ride I made ceviche de jaiba. It was really good. I could have kept eating, but I had to stop after 5. I also had a cup cake. My favorite cake is yellow with chocolate frosting. 

I started working on planning our  free  cruise. Please don't ever believe that shit. NOTHING, NOTHING is free.

Then I wandered around by car this time. I went to deposit a check at Kent's Market and bought some pop because now is the time to stock up while it's on sale for the holiday. After that I drove to my mom's house. Lately I've been looking for houses out in the country and ended up driving around the parking lot of my old elementary.

My mom was sweet, she loves by feeding so she made me food. Then I visited with my grandparents which included giving my grandpa a lesson on how to use is iPad and cutting my grandma's toenails.

shrimp scampi, bread, salad

I cleaned my carpets and now here I am messing around online. What a nice day, no plans, but fairly productive.

LiveFit

I started the LiveFit Trainer by Jamie Eason on Tuesday. It's a 12 week program broken up into 3 phases that focus on 3 components; training, to build muscle tissue; nutrition, to boost metabolism; and supplementation. The thing I like the most is the day by day guide which includes a nutrition guide, because I never know what to believe when it comes to eating healthy. The meal plan is geared towards increasing your protein intake to promote healthy tissue growth. The diet is tough because I'm not used to eating such large portions so frequently. You must eat one hour after waking, which I'm never hungry that early, then you continue to eat every three hours throughout the day. It focuses on clean eating, meaning nothing processed, mostly meats, veggies, and a shit load of eggs.

Here's a look at some of my meals. One added benefit is I have to wake up early enough to be able to get my first meal in by 7:00AM so I've been on time to work.

Day1 

Egg White Omelet & 3 Corn Tortillas for Breakfast

Chicken Muffins & Veggies for Mid-Morning Meal

6 oz. of chicken is way more than I expected, brown rice & cucumber with lime

Mid-Afternoon Meal 

Tostadas de Jaiba, again 6 oz. of meat is a lot to fit on 3 tostadas

 Day2

Pork Chop, brown rice, peas for dinner

The second thing I like about the program is it provides instructional videos of how to do each exercise. Besides getting fit I've also had to step out of my comfort zone and ask people for help at the gym. The first day was triceps and chest. I left struggling to use fine motor skills, hold my steering wheel and open doors, because my muscles were going crazy. I've loved the workouts so far, probably because it's all weight lifting and no cardio until Phase 2.

It's not my favorite thing to hear people who go on and on about how they can't eat this or that because they're on a diet or they'll get fat, it always sounds like low self-esteem to me. I don't want to be one of them so maybe the next time you hear about this will be when I get to Phase 2.

Reasons Why
This is the first time I've ever attempted to do a comprehensive fitness program. If you're wondering why I've decided to get fit, it's silly. I used to think people were full of crap when they would blame their weight gain on birth control. I stopped taking mine last July and lost 10 lbs, so okay, maybe it's a little true. I recently decided to start taking it again, and don't want to gain those pounds back. Also, I'm really big on preparation and planning so when we decide to have a children I want a healthy body to sustain the little souls. I'm really intrigued in manipulating my body and seeing what it's capable of. I had my body composition assessed and my body fat is 39.8%(danger zone) and I weigh 145 tons. I am interested in finding out what it is after the 12 weeks.

If you're curious to know more about the program go here.

Last of Daily Photos

I'm so behind on my March pics. I've been enjoying the nice weather by doing a lot of bike riding, projects around my house and I have a vacation coming up,  so this will be my last post relating to photo-a-day for awhile.

#16

Sunglasses

Jose gave me these as a just because. We looked at them several times together, but I was just too cheap to buy them. I love them because they are red

#17

Green

Another recipe inspired by Pinterest, The Green Monster Shake. I throw in whatever fruit I have on hand.

#18

A Corner of Your Home

My cute little Mooch having a sip of water on the corner of the house where a majority of water drains off the roof. Definitely need to get those gutters soon.

#20

Before/After

I found these curtains at Walmart for $3.00. I have been meaning to redo my living room with a Japanese theme and this teal color. Since I needed a before and after I finally made the time to mend these curtains. Thanks to my mom for teaching how to sew and thanks to her friend, Ester, for giving me a sewing machine. 

#21

Delicious

I highly recommend you try key lime greek yogurt. It is so good! You already know I love almonds. Actually the banana and almonds were supposed to be made into a breakfast shake, but I didn't have enough time so I just brought them along as snacks. I rarely eat bananas unless they are sliced into my ice cream. 

The End!

Takes Some Self-Control

 

Remembering back when we only had one income it was so easy to have self control and not eat out or buy useless shit. Now that we’re back to two incomes I am struggling. I’ve often mentioned how cheap and tight I am with money. Tight meaning I prefer saving money for a rainy day. Cheap in that it’s not my instinct to buy unnecessary, overpriced items because the media tells me to.  I’ve become more lax on my spending habits because Jose and I have to cooperate on how we spend our money. I have learned that paying more for quality is a lot better than paying less for quantity.

Back to my struggle. This is week two of me attempting to  not eat out.

First, it gets expensive spending $10 per meal. Lunch is my favorite meal of the day because I get to go out and try something different every day. I’ve come to the realization that this has got to stop.

Second, eating out is not the healthiest choice. Fast, processed food, although delicious, is not very nutritious. Don’t be deceived that if you are at a sit down restaurant, rather than fast food, it’s better for you. All that deliciousness is very high in calories and fat.

Third, there is joy in cooking. I love the feeling of focusing and creating that comes from preparing a meal.

To keep myself going I just keep thinking of how much money I’m going to have to spend on something cool and how much happier my body will be because I’m not putting as much junk in it.

Here are a few pictures of some of the things I’ve eaten and some stories behind the pics. 

 

Jose wasn't here tonight so I got to have ground beef and corn. This is one of my favorite things(not his) that I crave. I like the taste, but it also reminds me so much of my Grama Lola. She used to make this.  

 

Not nutritious, but my grandpo brought me a box so I stored a few in my desk drawer. Now I can't go out and eat with the excuse of I didn't having anything for lunch. 

 

Chicken Souvlaki

I am not a hamburger person, don't ever get crave them. The only ones I really like are home made burgers.

 Spinach Shake

 Baked Chicken Flautas

 Key Lime Greek Yogurt

 

Left over flautas

 Turkey Sandwich

 Sandwich and strawberries

Thanks again to my grandpo for bringing me a box of cereal.

 

 This lunch item here is toast with avocado. I got the idea from an old co-worker's blog. 

Pin in Action

It's so easy to get carried away pinning tons of amazing looking recipes on Pinterest. Tonight I finally had the chance to try something I pinned.

Baked Chicken & Spinach Flautas

The recipe comes from the Healthy.Delicious. blog. They're a lot healthier than the greasy, frozen taquitos you can buy at gas stations or the store.

Of course I have pictures. 

Tortillas

Salsa

Shredded Chicken

Serrano Peppers

Spinach/Onions/Peppers

They tasted so good I wanted to keep eating, but that would have defeated the whole purpose of making a healthy meal. I'm working on PORTION CONTROL. The thing I'm most proud of is I cleaned up my mess. I hardly ever feel guilty leaving dirty dishes for another time, but it's nice to know they won't be there tomorrow. 

March #11-14

Hey ya'll it's been awhile. This is a catch up on my March photos. Somedays I didn't stick to the topic, so I'll show what I've got from that day.

#11

Someone You Talked To Today

My grandparents usually invite me to breakfast on Saturday. This Saturday I said no, because I was feeling lazy. I called them right back and said yes, because I never know how many more breakfasts I'll get to have with them. I don't want to miss out. 

#12

Fork

So there is no fork in this pic, but this story is more meaningful than a fork. My bro and I did a 9 mile bike ride today. Mondays we have dinner together so here's what we made, chicken souvlaki, greek brown rice, and pita bread. 

#13

A Sign

I got a book in the mail today and found this inside the front cover. It made me laugh and then think about the books I've lent out that never found their way back. 

#14

Clouds

Again, nothing to do with the topic, unless you get creative and think that his shirt could relate to clouds, blah, blah, blah.  I had to take a pic of Jose because he looks so good. We went to visit his brother David at Millcreek Youth Detention Center. I finally got approval to visit so I have been going to see David weekly for the past 5 weeks. Jose has been able to go twice. He should be getting out in May. He's been there for about 20 months. It frustrates me that no one goes to visit him regularly. It breaks my heart at the end of each session they way he asks if I can come back next week. "I'll be here bro." I think he really needs a strong support system in and out of these programs he's been in for the past 3 years. I hope that when he gets out Jose and I can continue to be positive role models. 

Breakfast for One

I woke up hungry and have been wanting to try the Carbon's Golden Malted Waffle Flour I got for Christmas. It's not very fun making a big mess cooking just for myself, but I enjoyed creating some amazing blackberry waffles this morning. I didn't have cool whip so I had to make my own whipped cream too.  I got to enjoy two hobbies at once, cooking and photography.