Monday Meals…a photo montage

Just cause I got my act together….here’s a photo montage of my first day on the TIU plan.  It’s food…healthy style.  🙂

Breakfast pancake

Blueberry & tea Snack

Lunch wrap

Its juice…but chunky!

Dinner wraps & roasted veggies

And that was Monday….what’ll today bring…hmmmm   🙂

See ya later

Cathy

Review: NatureBox = Tasty!

NatureBox revealed

So a bit ago I got an email from Molly at NatureBox asking if I’d like to try out their mail order snack boxes.  To which I said “really?  me?  of course? but do you have some gluten free items for HunBun”.  Yes, it was like that – all in one sentence.  Although they didn’t have GF certified items, they did send a variety that did not include GF ingredients but were made in facilities that processed wheat, nuts, etc….   Since HunBun and I got together I have spent more time reading labels on food than at any other point in my life….even when I’m buying “normal” food I’m still reading those labels.  Good habits are hard to break! 😉

Back to the box (hey, my yellow polish matched the packing material – HA!)…  So inside the box was 5 packaged snacking delights and a super cute explainer card.

What’s in the box?

PIstachio Power Clusters

Dried Pears

Lemon Pucker Pistachios

Wild Blueberry Flax Granola

Masa Chips

I LOVED the masa chips!  I love salty & crunchy snacks and these were fantastic.  The little bags are super convenient to travel with too.  I took the masa chips with me on a 2 day business trip and finished the bag up while waiting at the Burbank airport for my flight back to Oakland.  It was so nice not to spend $12 for a darn snack at the aiport – RIDICULOUS!

10yo is eating up the Lemon Pucker Pistachios.  That Pucker is no joke…the lemon flavor is right up in your face and brings a sense of springtime to the pistachio.  It’s a really great flavor combination.  Pistachios are nature’s way of portion control…because you get so tired of opening up those shells that you only take a handful.  Thanks Nature!

Dried fruit is always a winner and these dried pears were no different.  They were nice a chewy and just a tiny bit sweet.  We ate them straight out of the bag, but you could totally use them to top off a nice mixed green salad or on some steaming hot oatmeal.

If you want to try out a NatureBox of your own, lovely Molly and the folks there are offering you sweet readers a promo code that will get you 25% off  your first month’s subscription.  The 25% discount is if you do a month-to-month box order…but if you do a 6 month subscription you’ll get your first month FREE and if you do a 12 month subscription you’ll get three months FREE!

The boxes are seasonal and are a great way to try some new snacks that you may not find at your local grocery or specialty market.  The bags are substantial and offer a lot of snacking opportunity. 🙂  As a bonus, on the back of the snack card is a recipe that uses one of the ingredients.  My card had a recipe for Slow Cooker Tortilla Soup that used the masa crisps as a garnish.

Thanks Molly with NatureBox!

See ya later

Cathy

 

This is a really great idea for people

 

 

 

 

 

What would you do?

Would you rather exercise more or eat less?

So I’ve been doing this Green Smoothie challenge that I found on vedgedout’s blog.  Now I’m only on Day 2 so it’s likely this whole idea is coming from a state of confusion brought about by my lack of salt or sugar or chips or bread or eating whatever I feel like putting in my piehole…anyhoo.

A little eating background.  I don’t eat terribly every day.  I usually eat a protein pancake and fruit for breakfast and get a Starbucks Soy Misto if HunBun’s home.  I’ll have a honeycrisp apple with some nut butter for a morning snack with or without a Starbucks Soy Misto.  (If I don’t go to Starbucks I’ll make a homemade matcha green tea latte or a homemade mocha or hot tea or just some hot water with lemon (like my grandma used to – which as a kid I thought was very weird…oh no, I’m an old lady 🙂  )  Back to my eating habits.

For lunch I’ll do a couple different things like saute a bunch of veggies with Bragg’s Amino’s or make a wrap with roastbeef and stuffed with veggies and goat cheese or a nostalgic PB&J.  Depending on how full I am I’ll add a piece of fruit to round it out.  Afternoon snack (if I remember to fit this in before dinner) usually consists of a protein shake or some veggies and hummus or another piece of fruit.  Dinner is chicken and veggies or sometimes I eat what I cook for the family.  HunBun gets annoyed when I cook their food first then cook mine while they start eating – so I try to make stuff for me that’s super quick so everyone’s not done just when I put my plate down to eat.

So really I eat pretty well – normally.  Now when we go out to eat or go on vacation I do splurge a bit more.  I love mexican food and adore the chips and salsa that our local joint (La Pinata) puts on the table before our food comes.  OM-super slurptastic!  I could eat chips and salsa all day long…if it didn’t kill my healthy living goals.  I also LOVE LOVE LOVE a good dessert.  In fact I tend to look at the dessert menu BEFORE I order my meal just so I know if I should order something smaller so I can save room at the end.

Now that I’m getting older (WAH!) I do feel like I need to do more exercising or eat less calories in order to maintain the fit of my clothes and not have to buy new ones.  I did say fit of my clothes as I don’t really let the number on a scale annoy me as much as it used to (I just let it annoy me a teeny bit).  So long as my pants fit well and I don’t shriek in horror everytime I take my clothes off..I figure I’m doing OK.  Hahahaha!

So my question to HunBun this morning was “would you rather exercise more or eat less?”  His immediate answer?  “Eat Less”.  Wha?!?!

I think I’d prefer to exercise more so I can eat what I want to (in moderation of course) and enjoy being alive and being able to taste some of the wonderous Eats out there.

So I guess I answered my own question – “Exercise More“.  Which means no more hitting the snooze or “forgetting to set the alarm”.  No more weekend chill outs because the work week was “so exhausting”.  No more excusing out the need to drive to yoga.  No more taking the easy route on circuits, speed work and hill repeats.  No more thinking about what my body can do but rather letting my body DO.

So that’s me…2 months early for resolutioning.  I will be Exercising More so I can put a little more in my piehole and not angst about it.  Hahahahaha!

See ya later!

Cathy