WIAW: Don’t Eat Oats in a Rush & Ribs. Mhm.

 Happy Wednesday, all! I’d like to say I’m happy the week is moving by so quickly, but the prospect of having to take my physics midterm next week is putting a damper on my excitement for the weekend. On the bright side, Kyle and I are celebrating our 3 1/2 year anniversary the night after my exam, and he’s planning out a special date night for the two of us! I know, I know. Three and half years doesn’t seem like a long time for a lot of people, but we’re young’ins so it’s a milestone for us! 

Anyways, I’m sure you didn’t come here to hear me complain. Let’s get to the food. Onwards! 

Breakfast:

I had planned to go to the gym before my 9am class, but caught up reading blogs so I ended up being in a time-crunch. Breakfast was a hot bowl of brown sugar banana oats while I rushed madly around my apartment getting my things ready to go. I’m sorry, but trying to stuff super hot oatmeal down your throat really takes away from their enjoyment level.

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At the gym, I did a quick 20 minute warmup on the elliptical before doing an ab routine. I’m really lazy about training my tum, so any day where I focus solely on them is unusual for me. Also, I’ve realized that I don’t ever refer to my midsection as my “stomach”. It’s always tum. In our apartment, my best friends and I have developed a habit of shortening words. For example: my roommate Lakshmi asked me today if I had any chocolate. I ask her if she wants a “bun”. She immediately knows what I mean and I hand her a leftover chocolate bunny from Easter. 

Coffee Break:

After my gym session and first class of the day, I had an hour break before I had to run over to my physics lecture. I took the time to go grab a coffee cake and cup of jo to snack on as I read my stats textbook outside. Today was an absolutely gorgeous day and it got to the point where it was almost too hot. I’m typing up this post on my bed and am hoping I’ll be able to sleep comfortably when it’s so warm! 

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Lunch:

After my physics class finished at 12:15, I was starving. I headed over to grab an enormous salad and homemade whole wheat bread stick from our college’s main eating area. The salad was only so-so, but the bread was to die for! I’m constantly on the lookout for healthy alternatives that actually taste good, so I’m hoping to recreate a similar bread recipe at home!

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After lunch, I had a 2 o’ clock stats section that went by quickly. Then, it was back home to throw some ribs in the crockpot, inhale an orange, and drive to my bio lab. Luckily, it was a super short and easy one that just focused on the lifecycle of various plants and identifying different plant parts under a microscope. Usually they’re much more intensive, so it was a nice little break from the norm. 

Dinner:

Once I got back, I took the ribs out of the slow cooker, reduced the sauce they cooked in, and dinner was served! They turned out fantastically and Kyle could not get over the sweet and salty flavors. I grew up eating asian-style ribs (soy sauce+brown sugar lovin’), so that’s how I usually make them if I get the chance! Look at all that sticky-sweet goodness! 

Pre-smothering by the reduced sauce

Pre-smothering by the reduced sauce

Asian Style Ribs Crockpot

The rest of the night was spent reading various textbooks and watching the newest episode of The Following with Kyle over some S’mores ice cream. It was a busy, but productive day!

Question of the Day: What is the best thing you’ve eaten today?  


WIAW: A Dream Day of Eats

Looking back on my eats of the day, I can’t say I’m too excited to share my meals. Breakfast was cereal and milk, lunch was a mess of half a bagel and part of a hash Kyle made, and dinner involved a massive plate of nachos that I shared with the boy. Oh, and lots of coffee. So yeah. The eats today were definitely snoozeville worthy. 

Instead of posting all those crappy iPhone pictures, I thought I’d do a mini roundup of some recipes that would make the top of the list if I were planning out my ideal What I Ate Wednesday. I promise they’re much tastier and pretty to look at :)!

Breakfast: 

OATMEAL! My ideal way to incorporate a healthy habit into the morning. For me, oatmeal is delicious and just plain comforting. My two favorite recipes include Brown Sugar Banana Oats and my Blueberry Pie Oatmeal. They make my heart happy in more ways than just lowering my cholesterol. 

Brown Sugar Banana Oats

 Healthy Blueberry Pie Oatmeal! Done in just 10 minutes and so delicious!

Lunch:

I’m usually pretty lazy about lunch and find it the hardest meal to get excited about. While I usually stick to grazing, I love it when Kyle and I treat ourselves to Vietnamese food! A thai iced tea and combo fried rice (chicken, beef, shrimp) with pineapple is my go-to order.

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Dinner:

Dinner has always been my favorite meal of the day. You get a big ol’ meal packed with different flavors and textures and I find it wonderful spending a solid amount of time eating and relaxing. When I think of dinner, I think comfort food. And when I think comfort food, my mind goes to the dinners I ate growing up. Throw back to an old favorite with this Brown Sugar Asian Glazed Beef that my mom makes!

 The BEST Brown Sugar Asian Glazed Meat. A family favorite that is mouthwateringly delicious!

Dessert: 

Easily my favorite part of the day by far. My motto usually is EAT ALL OF THE DESSERT, but if I were forced to narrow it down to a few treats, I would choose my homemade caramel apple pie. I would kill someone for a piece right now. Second place? A big FAT gooey brownie. Hey, why don’t we throw some of the best-ever peanut butter frosting on it? Sounds good to me! 

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The most delicious and fudgy brownies you'll ever put in your mouth! Dark Chocolate with Peanut Butter Frosting!Are you hungry yet? All of this round-uping (it’s a verb, trust me) is making my tum rumble. 

Question of the Day: What is your favorite breakfast/lunch/dinner/or dessert?

 

WIAW: Noms and a New Workout!

Happy Wednesday, all! 

Since I started blogging a little under a year or so, I’ve noticed that every Wednesday, I’m hungrier than most days. Today I realized that I can directly blame What I Ate Wednesday for keeping me fixated on all the delicious eats everyone shares! I honestly don’t think I can read any other WIAW posts without something to munch on without my inner hangry coming out. 

So anyways, on to the food!

Breakfast:

After sleeping like a dream, I woke up and parked myself in front of my laptop with a latte (x2) and a piece of homemade dark chocolate bark.

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When my stomach had some time to wake up, I toasted up a whole wheat english muffin topped with fig jam (on one side) and a combination of the jam and Norwegian goat cheese on the other. Don’t judge it till you try it! The sweet and salty duo makes my heart sing :).

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I spent the rest of the morning taking care of some blog-related things and replying to emails. I’m trying to update my “Contact Me” page and was able to get some social media sharing buttons to go at the top of my posts! I know they seem like small things, but making small progressive changes to Apple of My Eye always gets me excited! I also worked on creating a new pasta dish, which ended up being a delicious lunch!

I’ll be putting up the recipe soon, but I roasted the asparagus separately with garlic, which gave the recipe a special twist.

Healthy Roasted Asparagus and Chicken Parmesan Spaghetti Around 5, I drove over to the gym with Kyle to get in a workout. After barely exercising for the last two weeks, it felt so great to be able to move! Before leaving my house, Kyle snapped a few pics of the new workout top I got for a steal ($14 including shipping!!!). I’m completely enamored by it and love the back! I might try sewing on some padding to the bust since it doesn’t offer too much support, but I don’t think it looks too off when I wear a bright colored sports bra underneath. The more obnoxious the colors for me, the better!

New Workout Top!

Since one of my readers (hi, Autumn!) requested I share some of my workouts, here’s my strength training routine for the day. Remember, I fine-tune my workouts for what works for my body and you should always be cleared by a doctor before starting up a new fitness routine! I’m not a licensed personal trainer and am just sharing what a typical day at the gym looks like for me.

I started off with 30 minutes of interval training on the elliptical and 10 minutes of biking before completing the following workout!

A simple and effective back and bicep workout!After finishing our sweat-sesh, Kyle and I headed to his house for a home-cooked meal of meatloaf, rice, bread, and salad. It was the perfect meal after a hard workout and I had this plate x2.

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Dessert was leftover apple pie. Drool. I would honestly eat pie for every meal if I could!

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So that pretty much sums up my day of eats! Lots of tasty food to help fuel my body and keep me going strong :).

Question of the Day: What’s the best thing you ate today?

WIAW: Catching Up and Noms of Late

Hi there, friends! I hope life has been treating you well. I feel a bit like a bad blogger for being so inconsistent with my posts, but sometimes life gets in the way! My classes haven’t started yet, so I’ve been soaking up the last week or so of summer with all my friends here in Santa Barbara- it’s been marvelous! Here’s where I am at things:

Fitness: My fitness lately has been awesome! I’ve started to get back into running since I’m away from my hometown and the ridiculous (and I mean ridiculous) amounts of hills we have. I’ve gone running for around 3 miles a couple of times this week and have been happy to find that my average pace is around a 9:20/mile. While that may not be fast to some, it’s a starting point, and I’m really enjoying cooler morning runs right next to the beach!

IMG_3256 IMG_3258Other than running, Kyle and I have been having plenty of gym dates. Having two gyms available to us, both within walking distance, is incredibly convenient. 

IMG_3270Food: I’ve been pretty good about doing a good amount of home cookin’ while moved in to my new apartment. It’s beyond tempting to just reach for some of my roommates’ chips ahoy cookies 24/7, but I’ve used fresh ingredients and baked/cooked almost every day so far! 

Healthy and low calorie sausage and parmesan pasta! Takes less than 30 minutes and only one pot!Also, my new Kitchenaid mixer came just in time before I moved in… all I can say is that I’m OBSESSED. 

IMG_3280On the topic of food, let’s jump right into my WIAW post!

Breakfast: Today’s breakfast was quick and easy. My mandatory coffee, an apple, and the last slice of healthier banana bread. I consider myself lucky to have gotten any at all- it was gone in a day! 

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Lunch: Lunch consisted of leftover Garlic Lemon Shrimp Orzo and roasted kabocha. Man, that stuff is like CRACK. If you haven’t tried it yet, you definitely need to jump on the bandwagon. I basically forced everyone within a 100 foot vicinity of me to try a piece, and all of them were surprised at how tasty it was! 

IMG_3294Snack: freshly cut pineapple with a side of “I’m sorry you’re on your period” flowers from Kyle. That boy knows how to play his cards right, I tell you. 

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Dinner was just a repeat of leftover kabocha and orzo and some nibbling on the huge steak Kyle and our friend Ryan cooked up. They’re both big guys over six feet tall and all muscle and managed to eat a full 1lb steak, rice, and veggies. Anyone else jealous on how much food guys can eat? So not fair!

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I’m going to do my best to get back to posting daily! I always miss you guys when I take a brief hiatus! Can’t wait to read about your eats!

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WIAW & Thing I’m Loving on Pinterest

Hey ya’ll! This week is flying by. I’m moving back to my college in a new apartment come Saturday and have a ton of things on my mind in terms of packing, getting last minute things done, and being obnoxiously excited to see my best friends after our long hiatus. 

Today’s plans include some freelance work, a great gym workout and my favorite “Vicious Abs” class, some recipe experimenting, packing, and Netflix. I’m looking for a good new show, so if anyone has any recommendations, I’m all ears!

I was lazy with my eats and only have a few to highlight (I promise, they were good, though!), so I’m also sharing some of my favorite finds via Pinterest today!

Onwards!

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Chipotle and froyo in the same day. YES. Also amazing? The spaghetti and meatball dinner Kyle and I made! The garlic pull-apart bread was to die for!

Also, THESE no bake protein bars. All gone.

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If you follow me on Pinterest (ahem, if you enjoy daily awesomeness you should ;)), you would know that I’m a little bit obsessed. Here are my latest and greatest finds!

9703b148cbbfcbc8ee304e400e595e73 3fdf2ca130759900b61cf97c783572c9 6aef34297d2861412501c4c1a76dcb3b cbe0301c82d16c3d963ec24c327b506b b50da990c449eb9e3621a8f147269e41 87e4fc3f0d1191ecfb8c1344303044f5 IMG_3190 848443397d447c5893b4816499d0ee43 IMG_3189fb5f4fb3d94f5e1f506cf7bab76d2615 f857b11d44412bd78214379800d95a0dAnddd.. that’s all folks!

Have a great wednesday and I’ll be catching up with your eats… NOW. 

xo Christine