More oatmeals

After my workout I made another big bow of oatmeal. This time I used soymilk instead of water. Turned out so good! Topped with some Kashi® GoLean® Crunch Cereal and some PB…yummy, savory and sweet together! Perfect after workout breakfast.

still too watery but it's still good

I brought the last piece of whole wheat toast from yesterday, thinking I’d have it for my late morning snacks, but the oatmeal kept me full until lunch time. Perfect! Lunch was just simple. More lentils and 2 baked red potatoes and some baby carrots and apples. I didn’t finish the carrots because my canker sore was very painful this afternoon. This is what I got when I had a bit too much nuts. And usually if I get canker sore, it won’t heal until 2-3 weeks later. OUCH!

And more fruits at late afternoon. I swear it took a lot of efforts to chew these fruits, except for the papaya. My canker sore was hurting really badly today

Dinner was just whatever left in the fridge. I need to do more groceries tomorrow to stack up. Usually Friday is my day looking around different supermarket ads, see what’s on sale and comparing prices around and make a list. That way I won’t overbuy anything that I don’t need. Majority of the time I stick to my shopping list, but once in a while I do slip away from it. For sure I won’t shop around if I’m hungry.

edamame, boiled bok choy, raw celery, baked carrots, 2 hard boiled egg in soy sauce and left over baby carrots from lunch

I finished the edamame, baked carrots and the eggs (minus the yolks). But guess my that wasn’t quite enough so I had a bowl of low fat cottage cheese topped with papaya and a handful of Kashi® GoLean® Crunch cereal. Enjoying this while watching Desperate Housewives Season Finale on abc.com.

Now I’m thinking if I should catch up watching FlashForward as well, but it’s already around 9:17 pm now. Need to get up early for the morning jog tomorrow. Guess FlashForward could wait until tomorrow?

Anyway, happy weekend everyone!

 

Random foods

Not quite a good title but I don’t really know what to put. Anyway today is my day off from workout so I tried to keep my food light, but don’t think it turned out that way. Just take a look. In the morning before went to work, I had plain soymilk with 1 scoop of Chocolate Protein Powder because I was too starving and couldn’t wait until I got to the office to have breakfast.

The papaya I got on Saturday finally ripen so I cut that and brought some to work.

black seeds usually mean the papaya is ripen!

After I got to the office I had my second breakfast, cottage cheese with Kashi® GoLean® Crunch Almond Honey Flax Cereal.

Gosh I love Kashi cereal, but it’s a bit pricier compare to the other brands. But who cares? They are healthier than those sugary cereals. I never really like Kellog’s Corn Flakes and any other colorful fruity cereals. They’re waaaaaaaaaay too sweet to me.
I brought my last 2 whole wheat bread slices, but only ate 1 slice topped with PB. Those hold me up until lunch time.

there are 2 pieces in here actually, hard to see. But I only had 1 piece w/ PB

Pretty much my lunch was whatever I had from last night, the mixed veggies with lentils plus 1 whole wheat pita bread.

I didn't take picture of the lentils, you got the idea from yesterday's post

dessert on the left, late afternoon snack on the right.

When I got home, I got super duper hungry. My husband told me to have whatever we had in the fridge first, no need to cook anything. He also had his dinner a bit later because he wanted to do P90X Yoga first. So my dinner was left over from last night and the night before.

my dinner, lentils, veggies (underneath) and a chicken wing - minus the skins

After dinner I still felt I wasn’t filled up yet, so I finished this non fat plain yogurt, topped with papaya.

The papaya was ok actually. Despite its ripeness look, it wasn’t as sweet as I expected. It was more on the bland side. A little disappointed but I still finished it.

Omg, tomorrow is already Friday! This week went by so fast! Probably because I got busier at work now.

 

Totally Proteined

After my morning workout today, I made another old fashioned oats again. This time it turned out to be a bit watery…darn it! Regardless, it was still good! Topped with one banana and a bit of PB as I’ve seen so many other bloggers put PB in their oatmeal. It was actually pretty good.

The oatmeal kept me full until around lunch time. However, I was having my wheat bread slice during late morning, just because I had it in my lunchbag. I wasn’t really hungry or anything, but oh well.

I had lunch around 1 pm and I wasn’t that hungry either. For me, even though I don’t feel quite hungry, I keep telling myself to eat as usual time. It helps me to keep my eating schedule on check.

baked chicken breast with lots of veggies underneath

Believe me, this lunch kept me full all afternoon and even until dinner time! I actually didn’t have the whole 1/2 chicken breast, but still my stomach was really full and I couldn’t even have my fruit dessert and late afternoon fruit munchies.

So those ended up as my dinner instead.

But I still made the actual dinner for my husband. Lentils and vegetables. Simple as that.

lentils, tofu, celery, carrots, banana squash, red onions and tomato sauce

Also I finally received free samples from Bragg!

The only thing that really interest me to try is the Nutritional Yeast seasoning. I’ve heard so much about nutritional yeast being cheese substitute for vegans but I’ve never tried it before. If it turns out good, I might want to add this into my kitchen pantry.
Btw, you can get free samples from them too.

 

Painful canker sore

I hate hate hate canker sore!!!! I have one on my right side tongue towards back, ugh so freaking annoying It was hurting pretty bad in the afternoon, couldn’t talk straight.

Anyway, this morning after P90X Yoga X, I made a bowl of old fashioned oatmeal and turned out not bad. I might leave it a bit too long because I had to shower first. The oatmeal absorbed most of the water by the time I was about to have it. No worries, I just pour a bit of soymilk and added a banana. It was so good!

I didn’t even have a second breakfast at work like I usually do. This oatmeal kept me full until lunch time!

Lunch was mainly whatever left over from last night. Of course fruits as dessert and another fruits for my late afternoon munchies.

after lunch dessert

late afternoon munchies

On the way home, I was lucky enough to pass the railroad before the train passed by. However, I was stuck there at the red light until the train was gone. Grrr.

I was the only person waiting at the light in this direction. The red light didn't change at all until the train was gone!

Dinner was more veggies and 1/2 baked chicken. I had to bake the other half for tomorrow’s lunch.

green beans, bell peppers, celery and 2 small eggs. Delicious!

Alright, it’s “LOST” last episode today and it’ll be FINAL EPISODE!!!

 

Less is always better!

Today was such a gloomy day. It was drizzling in the morning. Just look at this view from my home.

Perfect weather to sleep in huh? But nope! I still got up at 4:30 am to crank out my P90X Chest & Back, Ab ripper X, and Pilate Abs. It was quite rough for me, maybe just one of those days. Anyway I refueled with plain soymilk with chocolate protein powder and a banana.

This time I bought another brand soymilk instead of some generic Asian one. It said plain soymilk but it’s still with sugar in it? Just look at the ingredients!

why so many ingredients? can't they keep it simple?

My husband bought the usual soymilk at an Asian supermarket because the one I got yesterday was too sweet for me. The bummer part was I couldn’t find a single soymilk brand WITHOUT added sugar! Seriously, why can’t those commercial brand make soymilk with just basic ingredients: soybeans and filtered water, THAT’S IT! Just like this one:

soybeans and filtered water! Nothing else! Why can't they do this?

Of course if you compare the American one and the Asian one, the American one did a great job with their packaging. But, we’re not consuming the package, but the content! Who cares how pretty is the package?

Anyway I’ll still finish the American brand one, hate to waste it.

After I got to work, I had my second breakfast: low fat cottage cheese with Kashi® Go Lean Crunch Honey Almond Flax Cereal and a piece of my whole wheat bread with some Natural Chunky peanut butter.


This is my second time having cottage cheese and I’d say I am still acquiring to the taste. I have no problem having it as long I have some other stuff together with it, whether it’s cereal, crackers or fruits.

Lunch was good. Just left over whatever I had for lunch yesterday and of course some fruits.

Came back home, I found this package from Larabar®! Finally my samples arrive. Can’t wait to review these! I heard lots of good things about them and the best thing is, their ingredients are super simple! No chemical names, no hard to pronounce ingredients name and no added sugar!

Dinner was just simple stuff, lots of veggies and tofu and some eggs. Hubby prepared all of these!

After dinner, I felt I didn’t get enough protein intake so another round of cottage cheese with Kashi® GoLean Crunch Cereal!
Not sure if I’m starting to like cottage cheese or maybe it’s because of Kashi® Cereal

crunch crunch!

 

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TriColorVeg

My hubby and I went to the beach again for our jogging. It was overcast like yesterday but this time it was actually drizzling!

Anyway, I’m loving my new pair of running shoes I got yesterday! My knees weren’t stiff at all even after jogging nonstop for about 3 miles! We just walked on the way back so total 6 miles, just like yesterday. I don’t wanna push my feet a bit too much yet but I have a feeling that these shoes will be good for me. As usual after cardio workout, I was super starving on the way home so I munched on some snack bar. No pic, sorry, I was super duper hungry that I couldn’t wait to finish the whole thing.

After I showered and cleaned up, I grabbed one of the milk custard filled bread that my in law gave yesterday. Usually I’d stay away from this white bread type, but I was super hungry, who cares! Especially paired up with a nice hot tea and in this gloomy Sunday morning, couldn’t resist that!

soft and toasted bread

hot tea in morning anyone?

That bread wasn’t enough, I was having 1 whole wheat Arabic bread w/ crunchy PB, just like yesterday! This time it was a bit on the crunchy side, because my hubby left it in the toaster a bit too long. Still good, though!

I haven’t jog for a while so after the good breakfast and 3 cups of tea, I still fell asleep on the dining table. Just a quick 5 minute nap did the trick! Not sure if my legs and butt will be sore tomorrow, but this morning workout made me feel good!

Remember the bell peppers I got from yesterday? This time I made a vegetarian style! Turned out as yummy as the fish dish one!

red, green, yellow - traffic light colors? haha

In the mix are: red bell peppers, yellow bell peppers, green bell peppers, some banana squash, carrots, green beans, red onions, garlic, seasoned with salt, pepper, brown sugar, Italian herb and cooking wine.
Also MORE SPINACH!

Mother-in-law gave us a box of braised soy sauce hard boiled eggs. We cut some of them. NO need to reheat them. They taste good even as cold dish. I didn’t eat the yolks tho.

lunch! Also I baked some carrots. Yummy!

Ok, now thinking what should I do for dinner. Finally as I’m writing this post, the sun came out. No more gloomy weather, in fact it’s pretty nice right now! But before thinking about dinner I have to start my usual weekend duties: CLEANING. Ugh, not quite my favorite chores, but if I don’t do it, it’ll get worse, so might as well do it! I might not have the will to do the whole house, but weekly kitchen cleaning is mandatory for me.

UPDATE:
So I cleaned the kitchen but that was it. I wasn’t even bother to wipe the window shutters and furniture like the usual weekend routine. Today I just didn’t feel like to do it. So, I was a bit hungry then I fixed some low fat plain yogurt topped with dried cranberries, golden raisins and cheerios. What’s better enjoying this delicious healthy snack other than catching up FlashForward on ABC.com.

But before that, I made this amazing whole wheat dairy free bread and turned out super amazing! Might be better than last time I did.

nice and fluffy whole wheat bread

Dinner just made simple, more veggies and some edamame. Not much, like I said, today I just didn’t want to do a lot of stuff.

And fruits for dessert!

Gosh can’t believe weekend is almost over. Back to work tomorrow. Good nite!

 

Catching up

I’ll post up today’s stuff tomorrow…sorry..it has been a busy day today. In the meantime you can read my workout entry for today.

EDITED 5/16/2010

Ok I got a really good cardio workout in the morning, but my knees were all acting up thanks to my terrible shoes. I planned to go to Road Runner Sports Shop later to get a new set of running shoes. I’ve heard lots of good stuff about this place, so I decided to give it a try and I did. More on that here.

Anyway, even though I wasn’t at my most intense jog, I felt super hungry afterward. It took us about 30 minutes to drive home, not to mention we had to stop by at a market to get some groceries. So I munched on Clif® Bar Oatmeal Raisin Walnut Energy Bar.

240 calories, good enough to replenish my energy after 6 miles jog/walk

The taste reminds me a lot of the usual Oatmeal Raisin cookies. It has a slight cinnamon taste in it, which is not quite my favorite and it’s pretty sweet too. But after 6 miles jog/walk, my blood sugar was pretty low, so I devoured the whole thing in a second. I always feel a lot hungrier after I did cardio workouts.

Back from the market, I reheated plain soymilk, mixed some cocoa powder and a bit of sugar as part of my breakfast. It was ok, but cocoa powder might not be that good companion with plain soymilk. It tasted a bit bitter, might need to add some vanilla extract to balance it out.

And I had this Whole Wheat Arabic bread, pair up with Crunchy Peanut Butter! It wasn’t the best combo, but I had no cheese or hummus around. I ran out of my whole wheat bread and craved for peanut butter so this whole wheat Arabic bread satisfied my crave.

only a bit fo PB per bite. I couldn't eat PB too much at once, make me feel sick

And as usual my dear hubby made me a cup of hot tea. I usually always have a cup of tea t work too, but it’s usually a green tea bag instead of loose leaf tea.

I bought lots of bell peppers at Superking Markets because they were on sale this week! I love to bell peppers, especially the colorful ones because they make even a simple dish look very appetizing. Like this Stir Fry Fish Fillet Medley!

So colorful! Love it!

I came up with that dish name. In the mix was very simple stuff: Fish fillets, green bell peppers, red bell peppers, yellow bell peppers, carrots, red onions, and garlic, seasoned with salt, black pepper and some light soy sauce. Yummy!
And I need the fiber fix so boiled a big bunch of spinach!

A lunch won’t be complete without fruity desserts! So I cut up an orange, an apple and washed some red globe grapes.

We didn’t finish the fruits because we had to go to the store and then headed up straight to my in law’s place for dinner. I forgot to bring my camera so no food pic for the dinner. :[ But majority of the food are meat based dishes, including the vegetable dishes. All vegetable dishes cooked with some meat in it. And they also had fried egg rolls. I only had 1/2 of it just for a taste. Believe me I do have weakness in deep fried and crunchy stuff. Potato chips, french fries, deep fried egg rolls, fried chicken, you name it! As I try to cut down on those, the less temptation I have towards those foods. But I still try not to start munching on french fries..ugh…those stuff so addicting. Once I start I can’t stop so better not start at all!
After the dinner, we had some green tea mousse cake. The cake was pretty light but I didn’t eat the mousse part..was too sweet.

 

Simple yet healthy

Morning workout was P90X Cardio and it was quite a blast. Even though I wasn’t at my most intense point, I was still drenched in sweat. I always love it when I am drenched in sweat because it means I had a good workout. So to refuel, I had a glass of plain soymilk with Clif® Bar Crunchy Peanut Butter.

250 calories, not bad for after workout meal

nutty!

The bar was chewy and had a lot of nut pieces in there, but in my opinion it doesn’t taste as peanut butter as much. It’s still good though and as usual I wish it could be less sweet, but I still finished it Also just to keep in mind, after consuming any kinds of energy bars or protein bars you have to drink lots of water, otherwise you’ll feel dehydrated. At least that’s from my experience.

But that bar isn’t going to be enough to sustain me until lunch time so I packed this plain yogurt, topped with dried apricots and dried cranberries. It was so yummy! I had this in the office for my breakfast.

I was hoping that yogurt could let my belly full until lunch time, but unfortunately I felt a bit hungry around 11 am. Good thing I packed this whole wheat toast and a piece of sponge cake.

ate the bread plain, untoasted

Lunch time as usual around 1 something. Boy, isn’t my stomach amazing? It knows the timing of the meal. Hehe. And I had this super juicy and sweet oranges as my afternoon snack. Yummy! This time no bitter oranges.

Went home and my hubby already started dinner. Nothing fancy, just some leftover soup from yesterday, vegetarian chow mein and a bit of lemon chicken I made the other day. He saute some mixed frozen veggies and lightly pan fried frozen Korean vermicelli dumplings.

my bowl, tofu, mixed veggies, a bit of chicken meat

And I couldn’t resist to have another oranges so I peeled 2 of them to have it later as my snacks! Yumm!

Happy Weekend!

 

Vegetarian Chow Mein

Morning workout was ok, but my knees are a bit tight now. Not sure what cardio I’d do tomorrow. We’ll see.

Anyway I refueled with this yummy plain non fat yogurt with the super ripe bananas. I prepared this before I started my workout so by the time I finished, it would be at the nice room temperature. I don’t want to eat anything too cold in early morning, especially in empty stomach. Yes, I always exercise in empty stomach because I don’t want to have stomach cramps.

I packed another super ripe banana for my mid morning snack and 1 empanada I got yesterday. The empanada was good, a bit sweet but didn’t hold my hunger until lunch time. Good thing I packed that banana

Lunch was super filling! I wasn’t even hungry until I got home, even skipped my oranges! What can I say, it was a protein packed lunch!

I kept dinner really light, nothing fancy though. Just left over soup from last night, added more tofu and carrots and boiled last batch of the veggies. Btw, my brother prepared all of those. No pic for dinner cause it was same thing from last night.
But I made Vegetarian Chow Mein for lunch tomorrow! I got these noodles from my auntie. She made it from SCRATCH! Amazing! The ingredients are very simple: flour, eggs, water and some salt! No preservatives, no artificial flavoring, nada nothing! I have to keep the noodles in the freezer, otherwise they’ll go bad very quickly.
So just like typical Asian noodles, I had to boil them first before stir frying it.
In the mix are:
1 big carrots (julienne)
a couple of dried fungus, soaked until soft
7 oz firm House tofu, cut into strips
2 small eggs, scrambled
Soy sauce
a bit of salt
minced garlic

It's very yummy and vegetarian!

It completes my lunch for tomorrow!

I had the oranges for my dessert after dinner. It looks red and juicy but unfortunately I had to throw away half of them. I think one of the orange wasn’t that great. It tasted so bitter! YUCK!

some are juicy and sweet, some are bitter

Oh my, finally tomorrow is Friday! Weekend is almost here again. I was quite busy at work today so after I got home, I felt a bit tired. Work was not that demanding but what was tiring me were the people you work with. If you have to deal with someone who doesn’t know what the heck he/she is doing and yet bossing you around, it’s very frustrating. Even more frustrating when YOU KNOW MORE than he/she! But too bad, he/she is your supervisor/manager, and you can say no….*sigh*
I hate office politics. Sorry a bit rant about my work when this supposedly food journal.