Awesome Dinner and Should I do a Vlog?

Heeey everyone!! How was your day yesterday???? I'm so glad that ya'll liked my new favorite sandwich idea! Sadly enough, I did not get to recreate it yesterday because our bananas are still green, but I did have just a warm honey-cinnamon sammie this morning for breakfast! :D

I didn't do a whole lot yesterday.....after I took my sister to school, I went and bought myself some sweet potatoes, and then came home and finished up any schoolwork that I had left. So, all in all, it was a pretty uneventful Wednesday.

We did have an amazing, simple dinner last night. There was a ton of stuff that needed to be used up, so we threw it all together and came up with something different than our usual rice, beans, pasta, chicken dinners. Mom and I grilled up some fish and chicken in blackened seasoning (in separate skillets :P), toasted some hamburger buns with cheese, and made some awesome baked french fries. We ended up with blackened fish or chicken sandwiches, baked fries and grilled onions and coleslaw on the side! Simple, but soo tasty! I've made baked fries several times, but this time, I left the potato skins on and also sliced them thinner than usual, which resulted in a perfectly cooked, flavorful "french fry". My mom even told me that they were her favorite batch so far! hahaha

So I've been thinking about doing a vlog, because I looove watching other people's. The thing is, I have no idea what I'd talk about, or even if anyone would want to see a vlog on here. Soooo, I've got two questions for ya:

1. Would you be interested in a vlog sometime?

2. If so, what are some things that you would like to hear about?

Basically, I need some ideas of things to talk about, and figured that since ya'll are actually reading my blog, you would be the perfect people to ask! :D

Stress-wise, yesterday was another awesome day! I'm hoping that today will be a good day as well!!!!

Happy Thursday! :D

New Favorite Sandwich

Hi ya'll! =D

Yesterday was a pretty good day for me! For starters, I got an awesome kickboxing workout in! I'm pretty sure that it was my pre-workout fuel of PB Capn' Crunch (a gift from the second group) that did it. After all, when isn't a good time to eat sugary breakfast cereal? Actually, I'm not much of a cereal person, and I usually don't like the over sweetened ones (aka Fruit Loops, Cocoa Puffs, Lucky Charms, Frosted Mini Wheats, etc). Growing up, my favorite cereal was always Cheerios. Besides that, the only other cereal I ever really liked was Honey Nut Chex. Which is why I'm suprised at how much I love the pb Capn' Crunch! :D I usually eat cereal as a snack anyway, because its not filling enough for me to make a meal of it. What are your favorite breakfast cereals?

Anyway, I also tried a brand-new sandwich for lunch. First, I thinly sliced up half a large banana, then I drizzled some honey on it, and topped it all off with cinnamon. That alone would have been yummy, but then I got the idea to heat up my sammie on the skillet so that the banana would melt and the honey would go all gooey! Best. Decision. Ever. :D And super easy too! I already love pb+banana sandwiches, and I wanted to try something different, and it definitely payed off!

[caption id="attachment_447" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="YUM!"][/caption]

Oh and by the way, my bread is whole wheat with grated carrots! You don't really taste the carrot flavor, but they give the bread an awesome texture and nutritional profile! Its my all time favorite sandwich bread! :D

A couple of days ago, when I talked with my doctor, she suggested that I start journaling whenever I feel super stressed out. I have been doing that, and I really do think that it helps. Sometimes I feel that I can write out stuff that I can't talk about as well. I haven't even had a meltdown in the past couple of days, which means that I'm still on track! I've definitely been feeling less stressed, both as a result of journaling and of our life getting back to its normal craziness as opposed to the group craziness. Not that I minded the groups being here....we had lots of fun! :D

Well, that's about it for today...hope you  all have a wonderful Wednesday!

I Hate Waiting

Hey everyone!

Thanks for all of your super sweet comments and ideas on yesterday's post! I did call my doctor, and she said that as long as I don't lose any more weight, and stay on the right track, she has no problem with me going to the NSLC! Sooo, I applied yesterday, and sent in my scholarship application....now all I have to do is wait until April 11th to see if I did get the scholarship. If not, then I guess that the NSLC wasn't in God's plan for me this year....we've done everything that we could do. I honestly have NO idea how I'm going to be able to wait 2 weeks until the scholarship results come in...hahahaha. It'll be a good practice in patience I suppose....

Anyway, yesterday I had my new favorite sweet 'tater combo once again! This time, I made it more dessert-like by using dark chocolate dreams. Also, I figured that I like honey on my pb sandwiches, so I drizzled some on the sweet potato as well. It was awesome!!! :D This was at lunch, so I had a side salad with some sauteed kale, assorted veggies and some turkey. All in all, it was a fun, different lunch! I definitely needed a change! I'm really bad about finding something I like to eat, and then proceeding to eat it every day until I never want to see it again....then I switch, do the same thing, and so on and so forth. I usually have to make myself eat different foods, but I'm always glad that I did! I sometimes tell myself that if I like something enough to eat it every day, I don't want to ever get sick of it, so I should switch up my meals!

What are some of your favorite lunches? Do you ever get stuck in a food rut? How do you get out of them?

Anyway, because no random HC post is complete without a picture of my cat, here ya go:

[caption id="attachment_443" align="alignnone" width="502" caption="Cardboard boxes are FUN! "][/caption]

Hope you have a great day! :D

 

National Student Leadership Conference

Hey everyone!!! I hope you all had a wonderful weekend! I sure did! We stayed in pretty much all day yesterday....which was great. We watched You Again (this time with the whole family), I made a chicken soup (really simple: chicken broth, diced chicken, carrots, onions sauteed in garlic, bell pepper, penne pasta, red pepper, salt, black pepper, garlic powder, and a dash of chili powder), we ordered acai and fruit salad to eat with the movie, and just relaxed! How was your weekend?

One serious thing that we talked about was the NSLC. A couple of weeks ago, the first group that was here brought some mail for me. I've been invited to attend a summer program at Stanford, and also the NSLC. I've decided that if I go to one, it'll be the NSLC. Basically, the National Student Leadership Conference is held at several different colleges across the country (in San Francisco, Washington, Chicago, and St. Louis). There are lots of different topics to choose from (I'm thinking about either culinary arts or business and entrepreneurship). Each session lasts from 6 to 13 days. I'd really love to go this summer, but my parents are worried about my stress levels, and consequently my eating disorder, if I'm basically on my own for a week and a half. So today, I'm going to call a doctor that I saw while we were in the States to get her opinion. The only thing is, in order to go, I'd need a scholarship, and the deadline for scholarship applications is tomorrow! So I really hope that my doctor can talk today! Have you ever done a college summer program? If so, would you say it was a positive experience?

Oh! On a completely random side note, I found this great total body strength routine the other day:

http://www.exercisetv.tv/workout-videos/bridal-body-burn-4020

Aaand, I've been lovin' on some tabata intervals for warm-ups!!! Here is my fav:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AimPOSXe7n4

Gotta love a workout that calls itself "The World's Fastest"!! hahaha

Hope you have a great day! :D

Rest

So Thursday and yesterday were the second group's "fun days". We went to the beach on Thursday, and they left yesterday at about 5. It was so awesome to have a gro

Rest

The second group left yesterday! We had such a great time with this group as well!!!!! We're all tired, so we slept in today, but it was definitely worth it!!!! :D

I think that pretty much all we have on the agenda today is to rest, hang out and just relax, which is fiiine by me!!!!!

Last night, I had the remainder of my giant sweet potato topped with some honey, cinnamon and pb!!!! It was soooo awesome! That's my new favorite way to eat sweet 'taters!!!I still want to try that savory version though......guess its a good thing that I happen to have another more normal-sized sweet potato in the fridge right now!!! Whoo! :D

Anyway, I managed to get most of my school work done, so I can really just relax today, and finish up anything I have left tomorrow!!

So I walked into my room the other day, and look what sight greeted me:

[caption id="attachment_434" align="alignnone" width="225" caption="There's the cat"][/caption]

Anyone have any ideas on how he managed to get up on the top bunk? There's no real ladder or anything, and he always jumps up there when no one else is in the room!!!!

What are your weekend plans????

 

Healing

First of all, I want to wish my lovely sister a HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!! She's 13 today, and yes, taller than me. Actually, when we found out that she was taller last week, she jumped up and down and shouted: "YES! I've been waiting 13 years for this!". I, on the other hand, was not so enthusiastic. :P

This morning, I made Katie's Single Lady Carrot Cake Cupcake for her, and she LOVED it!! Tonight, we're taking the group out to her favorite restaurant, and then we're all coming back to the apartment for a dessert time!!!!!

Now, I'd like to share the recipe that I promised. You've probably all seen a variation of it before, but its a family fav, so here ya go:

Brown Sugar Cinnamon Oatmeal Bake

3 C oatmeal

2 t baking powder

1 t salt

1 t cinnamon

1 C brown sugar

1/2 C oil

2 eggs

1 C milk

Mix dry ingredients and wet ingredients in separate bowls. Combine all ingredients and bake in lightly greased 9X9 baking dish at 350 F for 45 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. On and I usually sprinkle some more cinnamon on top! That's all there is to it! :D

Yumminess! :D

The past couple of days have been sort of an emotional roller coaster, but I feel that once things settle down a little bit, I'll definitely stabilize. Thank you all for your sweet words of encouragement!This is a great part of blogging!

Oh, and before I forget, last night, I had half of a MONSTER of a sweet 'tater! I weighed it and it came in at about 14 ounces!!!!!!! Here's what it looked like:



Wrapped in plastic, so you can't really see how huge it was, but believe me, it tasted sooo good! Now, I'm trying to think of a way to use up the other half...any ideas? I usually just eat it baked with cinnamon, but I've been looking for something a little different to do, and figured that this was the perfect opportunity! :D

I had better get going....bout to do some strength training!!!!!!

Group Number Two :D

Well, good morning to everyone!!!!!!

The second group arrived on Saturday and we've already had a great time! Yesterday there was an activity time for the children of the community, and about 100 kids showed up! It was awesome!!!!! In this group, there are 5 graduating seniors and 5 adults. Its been really nice to be able to hang out with some people who are closer to my age!!!!

Personally, I've been on a major emotional roller coaster the past week, mostly because of stress, I think. My hope is that I'll stabilize a little bit more this week because I won't be going out early in the morning to work with the group as much....we'll mostly see each other at dinner. The on;y downside to this is that I actually have to do my schoolwork! :P Its been really nice to be able to take a week off! hahahaha

Sorry for the absence of pictures...I haven't been taking any because I keep on leaving my SD card in my laptop, and forgetting to put it back in my camera....oh well! I promise there will be pics (and a recipe) tomorrow!

For now, though, I want to touch on a subject that is very important to me. Last week, Janae wrote an amazing guest post about the difference between running (or exercising) to lose weight and running because its what you enjoy doing. I want to talk briefly about how too much of a good thing (exercise) can actually have negative effects. Personally, I LOOOVE to do challenging workouts, such as running or even kickboxing. About a year and a half ago, I began participating in these types of workouts. I loved them, felt stronger and even noticed that I stressed out less. Then, it became something that I had to do every day, and if I missed a workout, it felt like the end of the world. I wouldn't just get sad about missing the workout, I'd get depressed. Instead of working out when I felt like it, for the positive effects, I was working out to prove to everyone else that I could and lost the ability to be flexible in my schedule. There's no telling what I missed out on while I was busy being upset at not getting to work out on a given day. Exercise shouldn't control your attitude so completely, and that's another area that I've been trying to work on!

Sorry for the super long rambling.....its just a topic that I wanted to mention at least once....:P

What do you think about exercise? Can it be excessive or am I overreacting? I really want to know what you think! :D

Hope you all have a wonderful day!

Beach Day

Well, today's the beach day for this group, and we're trying to get out the door even earlier, so here are some pictures of what we've been doing this past week:

Cement Mixing

Painting a window

Some more painting

Throwing stucco

Activities with children

Laying bricks

 

Busy, busy, busy!!! :D Everyone has had an awesome time!!!!! This has definitely been a great group!

How has your week gone? Hope you have an awesome weekend!

Last Work Day for Group 1

Heeey! How did ya'll like the surprise???? I, for one, LOVED Janae's guest post!!!!!!!! Thanks so much, Janae! :D

As you could probably tell from the title of this post, today is the last work day for the first group. Tomorrow is beach day, and they leave Saturday afternoon, which just so happens to be the day that our second group arrives! I've had an AWESOME time with this group!!!! We've worked hard, and had a great time! I even threw some stucco!!!! Hard stuff! You take a trowel, scoop some cement on it and flick it onto the wall and hope that it sticks!!!!! hahahahahaha

God has really used this group in the community where we work and I'm so glad that they all got to come!!!!!

When we're not working, we're usually eating! :D There are some pretty awesome restaurants here, and if any of you ever want to visit, I'll take you to all of them!! Last night's place was especially fun! Its a pizza place, but they bring pizza to you and you decide what slices you want. There are soooo many different types of pizza, from four cheese, to salami, to pepperoni, to chicken......aaand there aer dessert pizzas such as chocolate with strawberries, pineapple with caramel, banana with cinnamon, and so much more!!!!! There's also a salad bar with yummy salads (obviously) and different pastas!!!!! Amazing!

Well, I really have to run.....hope you all have an amazing day!

What type of pizza do you like the best??

 

Surprise! :D

Thank you guys so much for the thoughts and prayers yesterday!!!!! I'm going through a little bit of a rough patch right now, but hopefully means that I'll start heading uphill soon! :D

My sister and I just hung out at home yesterday, and went to dinner with the group, but today, we're heading out to work! So excited!!!!!!

Now, here's the surprise that I hinted at yesterday:

A little while ago I asked Janae to write a guest post for the blog. A couple of days ago, she sent it! I absolutely LOVE her blog and think that she's an awesome person so I'm really excited that she wrote this post!!!!!!

Here ya go:

I am SO excited to be on Healthy Chocoholic's blog!! I LOVE Gennifer's blog and was honored when she asked me on over:)

Today I wanted to talk about the difference between running to lose weight and running because you love it!!

I started running to loose weight.  That is all I thought about and the only reason I did it.

Did I enjoy it? Nope!

Did I look forward to it?  NEVER.

It was miserable.  I was running for all the wrong reasons.  I have never met anyone that truly loves running when they are just doing it to burn calories and get skinny.  When we run for those things our brains view it as a negative thing and therefore dread doing it!!

So, what changed?

How did I change from the girl that looked for every excuse to get out of a run to a girl that CRAVES running and lives for a good run??

1-I signed up for a race because a friend talked me into it.  I realized that I really wanted to do my best (it was a marathon) and that I was really going to have to train HARD to finish the race.  I kind of forgot about 'calories' because I was so interested in learning how to train my best.

2-I began fueling my body TO run rather than trying to under-fuel it and run to loose weight. Once I started thinking about the foods that would make me stronger and faster I no longer thought about how many calories I was burning.

3-I started LOVING running because I was seeing results.  Not in regards to weight but because with a lot of hard work I could run longer and faster.  We all love to see ourselves evolve and become better and our brain starts to view running as a POSITIVE thing.

4-Fake it to make it.  If you hate running and you want to LOVE it, CHANGE your perspective.  Tell yourself over and over again that you love the way it makes you feel, that you love hearing your footsteps on the pavement and you love feeling sweat drip into your eyeballs during a hard workout and before you know it it will become habit to think those things about running!!! After a little while you will trick yourself into loving it:)  Our thoughts control EVERYTHING!!!

I hope that you are able to fall in love with ANY form of exercise and reap the mental, physical, social and spiritual benefits of getting a good workout!!!





Thanks Janae for the incredible guest post!!!!

What are your reasons for exercising? What's your favorite form of exercise?

See ya tomorrow!

Trouble

Hey folks!!!

Tomorrow I've got a super special surprise for ya'll!!!! I'm really excited about it! =D

Today, however, is going to be super quick because I don't really have a whole lot to say.

Anyway, today has been tough and its not even noon. I'm having major mood swings and still am not gaining any weight. I would like to ask ya'll for your thoughts and prayers right now! I could really use them!

Check back tomorrow for some fun stuff!!!!

 

Sewage

First off, I apologize for the lack of posts over the weekend and for the fact that this post will probably be a quick one. We're getting up at 6, leaving at 7:30 and don't get home until 10 or 11 PM. No complaints here, it just doesn't leave a whole lot of spare time. =D Hey, at least I get off of school while the group is here!!! hahahaha

On Friday the group arrived (2 hrs late) and we just went to the hotel,ate, and organized some stuff. Saturday, we did a project for the women in the community. Its called Ben's Bells in the states and everyone had a great time! Those ladies felt so special to have a day just for them!!!!! Then, yesterday, we did some morning shopping and sightseeing in the area where the hotel is. Here's the view from where we were:



Gorgeous, no? =D

Then, in the afternoon, we visited some families that work with us in the ministry. That's where sewage comes in. I'm a klutz and slipped and fell into the sewer thing. Amazingly, not one drop of dirt or anything hit my white shirt. I think its probably because I knew the sewer was there, so I could catch myself. Anyway, my jeans stank so bad that my cat wouldn't come near me! haha! Just another day in the life! =D

Anyway, today we're starting on construction work, and as we're about to head out the door, I really need to go!

How was your weekend?

Pre-Birthday Bash

Ok, so it wasn't really a "birthday bash" per se, but my sister and I had a super fun time last night having a little mini birthday celebration because a group will be here on her birthday, and her party with friends will be afterward.

There were two parts to the surprise:

Part 1- Baking

I told you all that I was going to bake a little somethin' simple for my sister. Sooo I made sugar cookies based on this recipe from cooking light. I just omitted the icing. Of course, the cookies were lightened which gave me the perfect excuse to whip up some ganache and make sandwich cookies!!! =D Here are both of the recipes:

Sugar Cookies

• 2 1/2  cups  all-purpose flour (about 11 1/4 ounces)


• 1/2  teaspoon  baking powder


• 1/4  teaspoon  salt


• 1  cup  granulated sugar


• 10  tablespoon  butter, softened


• 1 1/2  teaspoons  vanilla extract


• 2  large egg whites

Preparation

To prepare cookies, lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flour, baking powder, and salt, stirring well with a whisk. Place granulated sugar and butter in a large bowl; beat with a mixer at medium speed until light and fluffy. Beat in 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla and egg whites. Gradually add flour mixture to butter mixture, beating at low speed just until combined. Divide dough in half. Shape each dough half into a ball; wrap each dough half in plastic wrap. Chill 1 hour.

Unwrap 1 dough ball. Press dough into a 4-inch circle on heavy-duty plastic wrap. Cover with additional plastic wrap. Roll dough, still covered, to a 1/4-inch thickness. Repeat procedure with remaining dough ball. Chill dough 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 375°.

Remove one dough portion from refrigerator. Remove top sheet of plastic wrap; turn dough over. Remove remaining plastic wrap. Using a 2 1/2-inch cutter, cut dough into 18 cookies. Place cookies 2 inches apart on baking sheets lined with parchment paper. Bake at 375° for 10 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool on pans 5 minutes. Remove cookies from pans; cool completely on wire racks. Repeat procedure with remaining dough half.

The only thing about these cookies is that I definitely baked them longer than 10 minutes, but that may just have been our oven.  They tasted wonderful!!!!!

Ganache-ish (I used a couple of different recipes and made up my own...its not true ganache, but it tasted good)

About 1 cup heavy cream

9 T cocoa powder

2 T oil

1/4 C brown sugar

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

So basically, I combined the heavy cream and sugar and heated until simmering. Then, I stirred in the cocoa powder, oil and extract. And let thicken. It was pretty tasty. I was originally going to make a whipped icing (hence the brown sugar), that required no heating, but when it did not "whip", I researched some ganache recipes, and because I didn't have any actual baking chocolate, just sort of made up the recipe as I went along. This filling was pretty dark and bitter, but it went perfectly with the sweet cookies!

And now, for the pics:

[caption id="attachment_396" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="Yes, I drizzled caramel on one of them. Yes, I have issues."][/caption]



Yum!

Part 2- Movie and Popcorn

I let my sister pick out a movie (Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants) to watch and made us some popcorn! Salty for me, spicy for her!

All in all, we had a bunch of fun last night and I really think that she was surprised!

As ya'll know, we have a group getting here later on today. We're basically running around like crazy trying to get everything ready, and we're all super excited!

I had better go....this was an uber long post!

Hope ya'll have a great Friday!

What are your weekend plans?

Finished.

We finished all of Lost!!!!! Finally! What an ending! =D

We think that maybe everything that happened on the island actually happened, and the "alternate reality" thing where they didn't know each other at first was after what had happened on the island, when they were actually dead. I've heard people say that they died in the plane crash though and the island never happened. What do you  think?

We've got a ton of stuff going on right now.....a group from our home church in the States arrives tomorrow, and another, from a different church, arrives on the 19th, which just so happens to be the day that the first group leaves. Basically, we won't sleep for two weeks. But it'll be fun!!!

Since one of the groups will be here on my sister's birthday (the 23rd), we're doing a little something before and after. Her party will be after her birthday, but today I'm gonna bake up a little somethin' somethin' for her. For her party, I have another, bigger somethin' somethin' planned. Her favorite cake is red velvet, and I'm going to attempt one for her!! =D What's your favorite cake?

As for my weight gain plan, it's still going pretty slow....haven't weighed myself yet, but if I gained anything, it wasn't much. I'm starting to get really upset, which makes it even harder to stay on track. Any motivational quotes or mantras?

I've noticed that a lot of ya'll are giving something up for Lent. I've decided that since the point of the Lent season is to grow closer to God and to better understand Jesus' sacrifice, then I'm going to set aside some time each and every day to thoroughly study the Bible and pray. I mean, I read the Bible and pray, but I want to do more!

I've got an awesome workout planned for today! Kickboxing and random cardio vid , here I come! I had better be off....hope ya'll have a great day!

Muffins

Guess what I made for breakfast? Muffins. Shocker, I know. Sadly enough, I didn't have the ingredients for a lot of the recipes, and others I only saw this morning. Which just means that I now have a huge list of things to bake for breakfast =D. Not a bad thing. Plus, I slept in a little, so I woke up and whipped up a batch of my banana muffins because I knew we all liked them. I did stir in some chocolate chips, and crumbled up some of my flourless chocolate cookie crumble into the batter. They came out so, so good! =D

Yesterday, I went into my sister's room and guess who was on my bed (we have a bunk bed...I sleep on top because her room has air conditioning and mine does not)? My crazy cat! Here he is:



Yeah, he's got it hard.

Anyway, yesterday was pretty quiet. We now only have two more Lost episodes until we finish the season!!! Whoo! =D I'm actually pretty upset by the fact that in one episode, Jin and Sun are reunited and in the next, they drown. Grrrr. I might have cried....just a little bit though.  =P

I got in a good cardio workout, can't remember the video that I used exactly except for the fact that its definitely on my workout page. hahaha. The most important part of the workout however, was what I refueled with after it. I didn't have any kale, but I made a banana/honey/coffee smoothie that was pretty stinkin' fabulous. Simple, but yummy is how I roll. =D I actually forgot to take a pic.....I froze the milk while I was working out and my smoothie was sooo thick n' creamy that I ate some of it with a spoon!!!

Well, I had better go....time to study for finals!

 

 

Certifiable

Good morning! Hope ya'll are all doing great! =D

I'm officially crazy. This morning, I opened the microwave so I could heat up some stuff for breakfast, and I found a bowl of grits sitting there. I have absolutely no idea when they were made other than it would have to have been after dinner last night because we used the micro. So guess what I had for breakfast? hahaha They were tasty, though..... =P

Yesterday was a lot of fun! After school in the morning, we watched some more Lost (only 6 episodes to go!!!!) and then Dad treated us to a trip to the acai place close by! I got my ginormous fruit salad (sans guava....blech) and proceeded to eat the entire bowl in about 2 minutes flat. Then, while we were shopping to pick up some snacks, we found french onion dip for the first time ever in this country! Mom and my sister were super-duper excited!!!! And, because my dad informed us that dip can only be eaten while watching sporting events, we watched Remember the Titans! I had never seen it before, but I definitely loved it!!! =D All in all, it was a pretty fun day!

I would like to ask for your prayers today, though. A man who lives in the community where we work was shot in the head the other day and died last night. My dad is about to go to the funeral, and everyone is pretty upset. This man's sons were involved in some bad stuff, and he was targeted as well. I believe that he was shot twice, the first grazed his head and the other hit his throat, and underwent surgery. He had been in the hospital for a few days, but was severely injured. I ask for prayers for his family during this time.

Now, I have a lighter question for you all. I want to surprise my family with a healthy, but decadent-tasting breakfast tomorrow, but have absolutely no idea what to make.....any ideas?

Well, I had better get going....happy Tuesday!

Ghost Town

After a weekend filled with movies and season 6 of Lost, I'm back to homeschool as usual. Carnaval has really only just begun, though, so my sister doesn't have her school and my dad is at home. So, we're going to study this morning, and do something more fun this afternoon!

The good thing is that none of the main Carnaval parties are around our house, so its pretty much like a ghost town around here.....eerily quiet, which definitely beats noisy and crazy.

Sorry I didn't post yesterday....there's really not much going on........I could give you a detailed account of everything that happened in the first 8 episodes of Lost Season 6, but that's a little weird, even for me. =P

So here's some random thoughts and info about me! Hope you enjoy!

 

1. I've never actually been a huge fan of cake....I like brownies and I'll eat cake if its there, but I was always the kid with the giant chocolate chip cookie on my birthday. I also don't like pie crust, just the filling......I go for the good stuff. hahaha So anyway, on my sweet 16th, last December, I chose fondue instead of a birthday cake so that I could dunk ridiculous amounts of random stuff (marshmallows, anyone?) into dreamy, melty chocolate.



Yes, the candle was stuck in a piece of fruit......=D

2. I hate odd numbers. Call me OCD, but odd numbers really bother me. Except for 5, and anything that ends in 5....they're ok.

3.I'm a stress eater in reverse.....the more stressed out I get, the less I eat. Which is really bad for me right now, seeing as I'm actually trying to gain weight........and I get stressed out easily.

4. One of my favorite things to do is to cook with my mom. We can be making a super simple meal of even just blending up some juice for breakfast, but its sort of our mother-daughter time.

So there ya' have it....some completely and totally random facts about moi.

How about you? Any randomness that you want to share??? =D

Hope you all have a great Monday!

Craziness

So Carnaval is coming up here and the city is pretty crazy. Like the other day, when I met up with my friend, my mom and I were going to take the bus back home, which was supposed to take about an hour. Well, there was craaaazy traffic and we ended up spending 2 hours on a single bus, and my dad picked us up after we got off of it, so that we wouldn't have to take yet another bus.

Anyway, we ended up getting home at about 8:15 that night, and eating dinner at about 9. So, sadly enough, no creative tilapia recipes to share......we were all too hungry, so mom just blackened the fish. Not complaining though, it was pretty tasty! =D

Yesterday, I attempted to make flourless chocolate cookies, because they looked like those cookies that are crunchy on the outside but ooey and brownie-like on the inside. For some reason, though, the dough spread out way too much and I ended up with cookie crumble. It does taste like brownies though. Any tips for fixing this problem? The cookies had sugar, vanilla, cocoa, 1 egg and 1 egg white. The batter was actually pretty thick, but as soon as it hit the cookie sheet, it spread out like crazy.I'm thinking that next time I'll just make chocolate cobbler and call it a day. =D

We're hanging out at home today......about to go rent a massive amount of movies to watch over our long weekend (my sister doesn't have school until Thursday or Friday, I think).

Hope you all have a great weekend! =D

Out of the House

Ya'll are awesome! Thanks for the great comments on yesterday's FAQ post! I really enjoyed writing it, and am glad ya'll enjoyed it too! =D

I'm suuuuper excited for this afternoon. An old friend of mine, who now lives in Rio, is in town and we're getting together for a couple of hours after lunch. I'm a little nervous too, though, because I haven't seen her in forever......but I'm sure it'll be fun!!

I've been trying to cram all of my school into this morning so that I'll be able to truly enjoy my afternoon, so this post won't be extremely long.

I am going to try out a new cardio workout this morning, here's the link:

http://www.exercisetv.tv/workout-videos/cardio/kickbox-5774

It looked like a pretty fun, basic kickboxing workout, and I plan to follow it up with my old standby= the good ol' 10 minute jump rope workout. =P I actually haven't done it at all the past couple of cardio workout days, because I've been trying new, different workouts.

Another thing I'm excited about: dinner! =D Mom got some tilapia filets yesterday, and we plan to cook 'em up tonight. I loooove seafood!!!!! My mom doesn't, so for her to buy some is a super-special treat!! Any good, easy tilapia recipes to share? I don't really have any idea how we'll prepare the fish, so I was wondering what you're favorite ways of eating it are.

Well, I've got to run.....I'll definitely have a less-rushed post up tomorrow! =D

Answering Questions

So yesterday, the lovely Kat asked me a few questions over in the comment section. I decided that today would be the day to answer all of them, so here ya' go:

What are some of your staples in your diet?

For breakfast, I eat a lot of oatmeal or grits.



[caption id="attachment_374" align="alignnone" width="216" caption="Our grits! "][/caption]

Lunch is pretty basic: sandwiches, sweet potatoes, soup, etc.

 

A Brasilian diet will always consist of lots of rice and beans, so its a good thing that I love them both! =D We usually will have rice, beans and some meat for dinner.

Some of my favorite things to snack on are granola bars, yogurt, chocolate, raisins and popcorn!


What are some of your favorite recipes?

Well, first of all, I looove homemade bread! =D My aunt makes these crescent rolls that are to die for! I also love healthified recipes, like the banana muffins (I'll usually sub the oil/butter for more mashed banana) or a cinnamon breakfast cake that calls for plain yogurt instead of a lot of butter. I also love anything with chocolate, like my homemade thin mints or chocolate cobbler.
What are your views on counting calories, fat, carbs, protein?

I believe that everyone is different, and therefore requires different nutrition. Sure, we all have to stay within a healthy range of caloric intake and such, but I don't think we should obsess over that. Right now, I am keeping track of my calories just because I'm trying to gain weight. Usually, though, I try not to and just go by what makes me feel my best when I eat it. Personally, I tend to do better on a diet that has plenty of complex carbs and protein. Fat is something that I definitely need, but I feel sluggish if I eat a lot of it in one sitting. All in all, I think its important to know what makes us feel best, but that counting calories isn't always the best thing to do.

What’s your favorite workout?

I love circuit workouts, like what I've featured on my workout page. My absolute favorite though, would probably be kickboxing or running.

 

Hope you all enjoyed my answers to the questions!!!!!!

Now, I have some for you:

What's you faaavorite food?

What type of workout do you prefer?

Finally, what do you think about counting calories?

Hope you have an awesome Wednesday!

http://katshealthcorner.wordpress.com/