MIMM: Staying In.

Good morning and happy Monday! Hope yours has started out marvelously

Thanks to the Diva herself for her fabulous weekly linkup!

So, I had a quiet weekend. Lots of relaxing and hanging around with Eric – exactly what I was hoping for! Last weekend was busy and we’re back in London next weekend, so I was all too happy to keep this one quiet and (mostly) confined to our apartment.

Friday night started off with a tasty dinner of homemade “fried” chicken (skinless chicken drumsticks breaded in cornflake crumbs), sweet potato fries, and salad.

I found myself with a froyo craving and it was pretty nice out, so we took a walk down to Yogurty’s (A few days ago, Amanda was talking about those sorts of cravings where you’d run someone over that got between you and the desired food. Yea, it was one of THOSE cravings).

In the mix:

• a combo of cookies and cream, snickers, and birthday cake froyo
• frosted animal crackers
• yogurt covered pretzels
• s’mores topping (!!!!) – definitely a new one, and of course I went a tad nuts with it.
• caramel truffles

And then we managed to stumble across a random fair. Kind of surprising – I thought fairs were a fall thing?

It made for a nice walk, anyways.
Side note: how awkward is it to be a couple walking past all the carnival games when there isn’t a lot of people around? I’m pretty sure every single one of them tried to play off the “win the lady a prize!” thing. I’m pretty sure I could never do that job. That’s some intense sales pitches right there.

Saturday was shopping…so much shopping. April-June is pretty crazy around here, birthday/holiday wise. In a time period of about 7 weeks, I have 4 birthdays to buy for, plus Mothers Day and Fathers Day. Insane.

I usually don’t cook Saturday nights, so when Eric requested Harvey’s for dinner, I went with it.

That would be a veggie burger with everything, onion rings and a diet Coke. Yup, I eat fast food sometimes. It’s obviously not something I would eat all the time (or even more than once every couple of months) but once in a while, it’s fine. And Harvey’s actually does a pretty decent veggie burger, whole wheat bun and all. It used to be something I was absolutely terrified of and would not touch, but now I’m fine with it.

It’s interesting how healthy living bloggers are fine with decadent desserts and sweet potato fries once in a while, but fast food seems to be completely demonized. Just something I’ve noticed!

Sunday

Sunday involved so tasty snacking:

So I was powering through those all afternoon. They are awesome – definitely reminded me of Nacho Cheese Doritos. Right down to the orange powder that gets everywhere afterwards.

And some homemade applesauce. I swear, I will never buy commercial applesauce again. Just does.not.compare.

And I spent some time doing a bit of blog work behind the scenes. I’ve got some exciting changes and announcements for Better With Sprinkles coming up soon – so keep an eye out

And I put that applesauce to good use for dinner – pork chops with applesauce, quinoa, and green beans.

Yes, that pork chop is massive. And yes, I dominated it.

So the weekend for me was basically: relaxing, reading, eating, shopping, and couple time. Absolutely what I needed – an easy weekend smushed in between two busy ones. Now I’m feeling charged and ready to go for the week ahead. Sometimes, you just really need a simple weekend at home!

Hope your day is fabulous!

<— Do you have a certain couple of months that are just full of celebrations? Everyone in my family is born between April-June, and I’m over in October. Awkward.

<— Fast food: once a week, once in a while, only in emergencies? 

<— What did you do this weekend? Best thing you ate? I’d say the froyo, of course.

Five Things Friday 4/26/13.

Woot Friday!

Confession: With classes being over, I tend to lose track of days of the week. Oops. But, I can still be excited for the weekend!

Which of course, I will celebrate with my usual Friday lists.

5 Things I’ve Eaten This Week:

1. The return of the giant salad.

Apparently, my body was missing out on some veggies because I put together some ginormous salads this week. This is basically the only way I can eat a meal time salad and be satisfied: It has to be absolutely loaded. This was romaine, baby carrots, bell pepper, sweet potato, chicken and almonds, all topped with a pineapple curry salad dressing. Delicious.

2. The best thing about taco night:

The taco salad that occurs the next day, of course. I could easily eat these multiple times a week. The absolutely best way to eat salad, in my opinion.

3. Salmon and bacon-wrapped asparagus.

The ultimate solution to get someone to eat vegetables: wrap them in bacon. It works, I promise – Eric ate three of those bundles. I follow Jessica’s recipe, and it is absolutely amazing.

4. I’m pretty sure this qualifies under Laura’s Strange but Good category.

That would be two buttered popcorn flavoured rice cakes with guacamole and imitation crab meat. I made it again for lunch two days later, so apparently I liked it

5. Homemade gnocchi.

My first time making them, and I have to say – I’m pretty proud of myself. They turned out awesome! I made a really basic recipe (potatoes, flour, an egg and salt) and tossed them in marinara sauce and topped with a bit of parmesan – plus a bit of greens on the bottom. Although they definitely look a little haphazard, I don’t quite have the “rolling them over the fork” thing down yet.

5 Things I’m Loving this Week:

1. One of the best things about Nature’s Path Maple Cinnamon waffles is the smell that wafts out of the kitchen when you toast them.

That smell needs to be bottled and sold as a candle at Bath and Body Works, because it is incredible. Think I can sell them the idea?

2. Apparently, today is National Pretzel Day. I’m not much of a salty snack person, but I absolutely adore pretzels. I’m pretty sure they’re the most versatile snack ever: They’re good with chocolate, dipped in peanut butter, hummus, honey mustard, regular mustard, mixed in trail mix, eaten on their own…and of course, Sally had to post this yesterday, and now I want to make ALL OF THEM. After reading that, I threw this together for lunch part 2/lunch dessert/snack that happened 10 minutes after lunch:

Pretzels, almonds, and chocolate chips. I kind of wish I had peanut butter chips to throw in there too, that would have been fabulous.

3. This guy wins for most inventive marriage proposal I’ve ever seen:

Wow. How freakin’ awesome is that?!

4. This salad dressing.

When I mentioned salad dressing earlier in the week, almost everyone said that they make their own. I usually do too, but I’m really happy I bought this one – I credit it for maximizing my salad love this week. It’s sweet but with a bit of kick to it, which is fabulous.

5. Real maple syrup.

(source)

I convinced myself for so long that sugar free syrup was amazing and just as good as the real thing. Umm, no. 100% real maple syrup is unbeatable. In fact, I don’t think I could even do table syrup nowadays.

5 Awkward Google Searches that Brought Someone Here:

1. “Royalty free images of deep dish pizza”

I don’t know how I would feel about Kate Middleton all up in my deep dish pizza, either.

 

2. “where can I dispose my rainbow trout’”

Not here. Why would you want to dispose of it, anyways? Trout is delicious.

 

3. ‘”monkey attack trainer high def pic”

I don’t even know.

 

4. “leapin’ lemurs cereal sprouts”

Now all I can picture is yesterday’s green smoothie breakfast growing little sprouts. Creepy.

 

5. “barbie sandals for 10 to 11 year old”

Well, my feet are fairly massive, so any sandals of mine probably won’t fit a ten year old. Nor does barbie adorn any of my feet, except these barbie shoes:

But your ten year old probably can’t walk in those.

Hope you have a fabulous Friday!

<— What’s your favourite thing to do with leftover taco filling? Making burritos is pretty high up there too.

<— If you could create your own candle scent, what would it be?

<— Salty, crunchy snacks: pretzels, chips, nuts, other?

I Have Problems With You, Bob.

Good morning! I hope your Thursday is treating you well. Is anyone else finding that this week is going by particularly fast for them? I don’t really have any exciting plans this weekend, but I’m looking forward to a relaxing couple of days.

So for today’s post, I wanted to talk about Bob Harper’s the “skinny rules” that have been floating around Pinterest lately. I remember hearing a lot about the book when it first came out, and then Sara mentioned that it had been popping up again. Which of course, reinvigorated my anger and frustration on the topic.

So Mr. Bob Harper, I have problems with you right now.

I don’t believe in an all-encompassing set of food rules. Every body is individual, so the idea that one set of rules works for every body is ridiculous.

(source)

Your only saving grace right now is the adorableness of your dog.

 

In real life, food rules don’t work. I spent years following a prescribed set of diet rules for myself, and then wallowing in fear and anxiety if for whatever reason, I didn’t follow them. That was not an enjoyable way to live, so I have no intention of doing so again.

 

So…I’m going to show you exactly how I DON’T follow Bob’s ‘Skinny Rules’ I won’t go through all 20 because then we would all be here forever, but these are (what I feel) are the worst offenders.

 

 

2. Don’t drink your calories.

Once in a while, you need sangria.

Because sangria is delicious. And no one can drink water all the time.

4. Slash your intake of refined flours and grains.

Yes, whole grains are better for you than refined grains. But you know what’s good for your soul?

Refined flour-filled cupcakes.

if there is one thing I won’t turn down, it is a chocolatey cupcake such as this (note to self: go back to that shop and buy another cupcake).

6. Eat apples and berries every single day.

I remember when the book first came out and Harper was doing a lot of publicity, he was on some sort of celebrity show (I’m pretty sure it was Access Hollywood) and he explained that berries and apples should be eaten every day. Only these fruits. The host asked him about bananas, saying something along the lines of “bananas are healthy, right?” and Bob’s response was something along the lines of “I’d much rather you eat the apple!”

First off: berries in the middle of winter are expensive as hell and taste like water. No thanks.

Second: Sooo…no other fruit besides apples and berries. Not happening.

Yesterday’s OIAJ breakfast included a sliced banana. Because bananas are awesome. Bob, you cannot take those away from me.

7. No carbs after lunch.

I HATE THIS RULE SO MUCH. Out of every diet rule out there, this one makes me rage the most. I like carbs. I don’t discriminate between breakfast carbs and dinner carbs. They are all delicious. And I refuse to go the rest of life not eating a proper sandwich or bowl of pasta for dinner.

Last night’s dinner. French toast with berries, real maple syrup and a slice of bacon.

Pure. Carb. Deliciousness.

9. Stop guessing about portion size and get it right.

Nope. I don’t even want to think about how many minutes I’ve spent carefully measuring out my food before consuming. In the end, is an extra 20 calories really going to matter because you didn’t measure out your portion of chicken exactly? Absolutely not!

10. No more added sweeteners, including artificial ones.

So..no more sugar, stevia, honey, maple syrup, xyla…not happening.

And just wait until I find these again. The variety store that used to have them stopped carrying them. But, oh…I will hunt them down. And I will drink them, for no other reason than I think they’re wonderful.

11. Get rid of those white potatoes.

So…white potatoes are high in vitamin c, vitamin b, fibre, potassium, magnesium and iron. Research has indicated that they can be beneficial in lowering blood pressure, protecting cardiovascular health, and regulating stress. (source)

And Bob doesn’t want you to eat them.

So silly.

So homemade baked potato wedges (with tons of ketchup) will remain a diet staple for me, thank you very much.

17. Eat your vegetables. Just do it.

What I’ve learned lately, is that I have two options when it comes to vegetables.

I can force myself to eat veggies, all the time when I don’t really want to and leave the meal feeling unsatisfied. Or, I can eat less vegetables, but eat them when I want them and truly enjoy the experience.

Option b sounds more pleasurable, doesn’t it?

18. Go to bed hungry.

No. No no no. My second most-hated rule.

Going to bed hungry is just so, so unpleasant to me. Because inevitably, I will wake up in the middle of the night with hunger pains, which is terrible. 98% of the time, I eat a dessert or snack an hour or two before bed. This has not caused me to gain weight or have anything terrible happen…and I get to sleep well.

20. Plan one splurge meal a week.

This is one of those rules that I really don’t think applies to a lot of people. Myself, I need something sweet each day. Like real, can’t-be-satisfied-with-fruit need for sugar. If I tried to limit myself to one ‘splurge meal’ a week, I would go absolutely nuts and likely stuff myself to the point where I feel ill. So…yes. I’d much rather stick with my daily chocolate habit…and have a ‘splurge meal’ whenever I damn well want one.

having four chocolate bunnies in the house definitely kept the sweet tooth happy for a while.

 

So really, what I’m getting at is this:

Don’t follow ‘rules’ when it comes to how you eat. Eat when you’re hungry, eat what you’re hungry for, and stop when you’re full (most of the time – sometimes, food is so damn delicious that you keep eating. And there’s nothing wrong with that).

Following someone else’s rules when it comes to eating is just going to lead to guilt and anxiety, and that’s not a fun way to live. Everyone’s bodies are so different, so there’s no guarantee that those rules are going to work for you anyways.

Just eat. Simple enough?

And Bob…I always liked Jillian better.

 

Have a good one!

<— What well known ‘food rule’ pisses you off the most? The no carb after dinner, or anything that deals with restricting carbs. Your body neeeeeds carbs!

<— Bob or Jillian? I did like Bob until he started putting books out. Not so much these days.