My adventures in the Kitchen

As I am approaching the end of my college career, I am becoming more aware that I should learn how to cook. I have developed an arrangement with my family in which I can cook, unhindered a couple nights a week. My first recipe that I will try out is from the eating healthy section of foodnetwork.com. I will be making Tuscan Vegetable Soup which serves 6 people. I selected this recipe because it seems simple enough and I want to start with foods that I'm familiar with.
Earlier this week I made guacamole with all fresh ingredients from Grocery Outlet, which just opened close to my house. I spent some time this week browsing Grocery Outlet's blog and saw that they have all sorts of tips for saving money on food. For a while, all employees of Grocery Outlet took on a challenge to only spend $4 a day on food, and they came up with clever solutions to saving money. Some of the most helpful tips include stocking up on food when the price is low and freezing some for later, buying fruit that is in season, and making food from scratch.
I also want to learn how to cook foods for a healthy, low fat diet. I joined Self's Diet Club, not so much because I want to stick to their plan, but more for the recipes and suggestions for healthy snacks. I will be trying to save money this year on food, so I will bring lunch to school on my full days. Instead of peanut butter and jelly everyday, I'm hoping to find some yummy, low fat, lunch-on-the-go recipes.

Shutterfly Photo Book

Using a summer promotion code, I got this book for free.
I would use Shutterfly again.

Click here to view this photo book larger

Create a gorgeous, high quality wedding photo album at Shutterfly.com.

Superfoods

The word "superfood" has been banned in my house because my hubby is sick of hearing about all the AMAZING health benefits of a certain collection of foods outlined in my new favorite book, "The Drop 10 Diet." 

To say the book and the nutrition principles in it have changed my life may be a slight exaggeration, but in a lot of ways it really has!  I typically spend a couple hours every weekend pouring over the list of superfoods and the recipes the book provides and I plan out my week's menu.  The result is that (combined with the suggested workouts) I really have lost 10 pounds AND I feel healthy, energized, and strong. 

I think the biggest lesson I've taken away from my new diet is the importance of protein.  The superfoods are loaded with protein far higher than I've ever included in my diet before.  It's basically eliminated what I call "hunger bitch" - defined as that time when your blood sugar drops abruptly and you suddenly realize you need food NOW and everything in your way is a mortal enemy.  Because of the whole grains and protein I find that hunger comes on slowly.  Sometimes I even need to remind myself when it's time to eat lunch. 

There are a ton of other benefits that I've noticed but by now you're probably bored of reading about them just like the hubs is sick of hearing about them.  :-)  But if you're interested you should buy the book.  (Sorry, you can't borrow mine- I still use it as my recipe book.) 

Let me know your own diet/nutrition success story if you have one or other books I should check out! 

Mission Peak

This first weekend of June, the Sister Pants ventured out to hike Mission Peak in Fremont. We left early in the morning to avoid the heat of June. This was my first excursion to the top, which has been long rumored as an intense hike. It is very smart to bring a large water bottle with you and snacks to eat at the top. I carried my water bottle in my hand for a good portion of the hike which was probably a mistake since my arm is now sore the day after. Frequent trips to the gym this week paid off when we completed the entire hike in about 3 hours. While we were climbing, we saw all sorts of critters like lizards, giant beetles, cows, a rabbit, and a ground squirrel. It is important to be cautious and not pet the cows as they have been known to charge at hikers. Reaching the top was such a great feeling, and we captured the moment with the famous picture beside the pole at the top of the mountain. The best part of the hike was having so much time just to talk about life with my best sister.

Las Vegas with Sister Pants

In honor of my 21st, the sister pants packed up our bags with our good friend Michelle, and headed to Las Vegas. Plans for this trip had been in the works for several years and finally came to life. We stayed at the Flamingo complete with fabulous live flamingos outside. Exploring as much as we could of the city was a fun adventure. Upon arriving Friday night, we hit up the Paris's night Club, Le Chateau which had an awesome view of the Eiffel Tower. Saturday morning, breakfast was complete with mimosas at Serendipity right in front of Ceasars.  Next order of business was to get our hands on a yard long margarita from Fat Tuesday which was perfect for sipping on the go.Riding the gondolas in the Venetian and gambling at the penny slots in Ceasars were just the beginning.  Exploring as many casinos as possible was a delight. Lunch at Margaritaville wouldn't have been complete without margaritas all around.
Later that night we hit up Tao, after carefully getting our names on the exclusive guest list. Tao was offering open bar for the first hour that we were there. Rum and Coke? Yes please. Dance floor was crowded so women created an impromptu dance floor in the lounge area. Awesome guy running around with giant glowing boom box. Since our names were also on the list for Lavo, we decided to jump ship after a couple hours and check out the Venetian's other awesome club. Here we found the world's coolest female DJ who had gem stone headphones, ripped arms, sexy low cut top and awesome dance moves. Here the Go-go dancers were the best. After dancing our feet numb at Lavo, I still wanted to hit up XS at the Wynn. Unfortunately, the line was super long and we didn't feel like waiting. So instead we skipped over to Surrender which was a unique inside/outside mix. The sister pants furry coats grabbed a lot of attention at this club as it was very cold outside. The dance floor was inside a tent and packed with people. In the back of the club was a tent set up for the bar and gambling area. Though prices for a rum and coke were steep, it was worth it. The outside areas had beautiful pools with walkways through the middle.
Sunday morning we headed over to the Wynn's buffet which was overwhelming the number of choices available. We happened to be there when they were switching from breakfast to lunch to we got to try our favorites from both spreads. More casino exploring and penny gambling concluded the day before we had to get back on that plane back to reality.

It was an incredible trip and I am so glad that my sister promised me years ago that she'd take me to Vegas when I turned 21. It was a trip I'll remember forever.