When my husband and I got engaged, I was showing off my ring to a relative and she said, “Don’t worry; you’ll get an upgrade.”  Hmph.  Not exactly the words a newly engaged girl likes to hear.  However, it did get the idea of “upgrades” in my mind.  Lately I have learned that, although we are just starting out in our young married life, there is always time and space for upgrades if you are patient.  Allow me to walk you through some highlights of my weekend.

Friday:

This is the TV we have been using since we moved from the UK.  It is my little brother’s old bedroom TV, which definitely dates back to the ‘90s.  Personally, I have no problems with this TV.  I am not one for needing to see the blades of grass on a football field while watching a game (who am I kidding?  I don’t watch games.  You know what I mean.).  Really, I just need Oprah, and I don’t care what size she comes in.  Pun intended.

Alas, that poor thing wouldn’t fly for very long with Matthew.  I knew it was coming, and on Friday afternoon, he got an upgrade:

He got another one for dinner, too.  This was requested:

This was served:

Ellie Krieger’s Macaroni and Four Cheeses?  I’d call that an upgrade.

I “upgraded” further by using wholewheat noodles, lowfat cheese, and almond meal instead of breadcrumbs.

Saturday:

On Saturday I got to take my new and improved gym towel to the gym for a morning body sculpting class!  This was a gift from my lovely friend Michelle, and it is definitely an upgrade.

I’m pretty sure my old gym towel was uh, borrowed from the Hyatt Honolulu.  And it wasn’t pretty.

I played a game with myself at lunch and tried to cram in as many vegetables as possible.    

Between my tofu stir fry and leftover Tuscan Vegetable Soup, I counted TEN different kinds of vegetables.  I was so proud!  

Yup, all for me!

We went out to dinner on Saturday with Matthew’s boss and colleagues.  This event definitely called for upgrading my sweats and ponytail.

I believe this is a look that Tyra might call “fierce!”  When Matthew saw me ratting my hair, he grabbed the camera and proclaimed, “You’re starting to turn into your mother!”

Hey, I consider that an upgrade

Sunday:

After we enjoyed lunch with Linda, we went shopping at new (to us) mall and picked up a few much-needed goodies.  Remember my broken scale?  For a while I thought it was fixed, but after waking up and seeing that both Matthew and I “gained” ten pounds overnight, I had to accept it was toast.

I also got a yoga mat (in case you couldn’t tell, I’ve added “try new exercise classes” to my list of resolutions!), and A BLENDER!

I have been without a blender since we moved at the end of November.  I have been desperate for one but haven’t been sure how much we could afford to spend.  After much deliberation and research, we decided on a Breville Ikon.  Let’s hope it stands the test of time or I’ll be upgrading to something bigger and better.

We came home tired, out of money, and hungry.  Enter:  Cheap, easy dinner:

Who knew Boboli made wholewheat pizza crusts?!  Awesome.  We topped ours with tomato sauce, lowfat cheese, spinach, onions, peppers, and ham on Matthew’s sections.

I had two slices with my leftover seafood cobb salad from lunch.

A pizza dinner, just in time for Superbowl Sunday!

Do you sometimes buy things with the intention of upgrading later?  Right now, for us there are certain things that are worth “investing” in and certain things that are not.  We splurged on a TV and cookware, for example, because we figure we will have those for many years.  Whereas we have bought much of our furniture (dining table, sofa, coffee table) from Craigslist, because we know we will want to “upgrade” when we eventually buy a house.

We enjoyed a lovely lunch out today with Linda and her husband BJ.  Linda has a yummy blog called One Scoop At A Time.  If you are not yet a reader, you should be, but I must warn you:  it will make you hungry

Together we visited Gordon Biersch Brewery for some burgers and salads, and then headed next door for the best frozen yogurt of all time.

I forgot my camera’s SD card, but luckily Linda and BJ snapped some photos and were kind enough to share them. 

Linda and I both ordered the Seafood Cobb Salad…which looked something like this:

I ordered a lemon-olive vinaigrette on the side, which I thought was a very original salad dressing.  I may try to re-create it at home.  The salad was delicious but quite large, even for me!  I took half of it home and had the rest at dinner tonight.

The boys ordered burgers…here is a shot of Matthew digging into his BBQ Bacon Cheeseburger (with delicious garlic fries).

After lunch we walked next door to Fraiche, a local, organic frozen yogurt joint.  Linda raved about this place, and I was not disappointed.  I ordered a soy frozen yogurt, which I thought was delicious because I love the taste of soy, and you could really taste it in this.  Topped with strawberries and blueberries, it was the perfect lunch dessert!  

Fraiche uses local milk and produce, all organically produced.  Their frozen yogurts are made with REAL milk and yogurt, not powder like nearly all of the other popular frozen yogurt chains.  Linda, thank you for educating me on these matters and for bringing Fraiche into my life!  Frozen yogurt will never be the same again.

Inspired by Heather, yesterday I went for a veggie-full lunch:

• 2 medium carrots
• 1 small zucchini
• A bunch of spinach
• ~4 ounces tofu
• 2T canned corn (I love canned corn.  There, I said it!)
• Red onion and fresh garlic
• A little Veri Veri Teriyaki sauce

Note to self:  Eat meals like this more often.

It was delicious, but a little light on the calories for me.  A couple hours later, I broke into this baby:

Ever since getting a sample at The Fancy Food Show, I am totally hooked on these things.  It really does taste like cookie dough!

After lunch I went to my little gym and walked a 5K.  I wasn’t feeling up for running, because I am still recovering from a body sculpting class I took on Wednesday night.  I decided to take this class because I haven’t used the “big gym,” since I got my trial guest pass, so I forced myself to go.  I am glad I went, but it totally kicked my ass.  Even today, two days later, I am not sure if I should go back to the class, or do more walking or yoga to loosen things up.  I am not used to being sore for more than a day! 

For dinner, we had Ellie Krieger’s Tuscan Vegetable Soup. 

According to my meal plan, this was supposed to be Wednesday’s dinner, but Matthew worked late and ate at the office, so instead I had frozen sweet potato fries and fish sticks with a salad.  What can I say, sometimes things don’t go according to plan.  Luckily, according to Janetha, Thursday was actually National Homemade Soup Day, so it all worked out perfectly! 

The soup was very tasty.  This was the second time I have tried making homemade chicken stock, and it turned out much better than the first time.  To round out the meal I had a sandwich thin spread with Laughing Cow and a big green salad. 

Oh, and thanks to Elina, I discovered that all of Ellie’s recipes are online.  So, for those of you who liked the look of the fried rice and do not own her cookbook, here is the recipe for her Fried Rice with Scallions, Edamame, and Tofu.

Pantry Storage Space – “Before”

One of the downsides of our new little apartment is a glaring lack of storage space.  This is also true in the kitchen.  In our UK flat, we had tons of cupboard space.  This place, not so much.

There is not a formal “pantry,” so I have had to make one, using two different cupboards for room-temperature food.

This has been a huge exercise is minimalism!  The content of our pantry now have to be very simple.  I’m already running out of space and I haven’t even stocked up on baking supplies yet!

Shelf 1:  Cereal, oats, nut butters (I keep nuts in the freezer), dried fruit

I spy some of Deb’s homemade nut butters on that shelf! 

Shelf 2:  This one is tiny!  I can only fit my teas and our many “bars”: granola, protein, etc.

Shelf 3:  AKA Matthew’s shelf.  He likes chips and snacky things for work.  Note the British biscuits that he is rationing, which were also a gift from Deb!

The second cabinet needs some organizational help!  I am waiting for my kitchen storage containers being shipped from the UK, so until then it’s random and slightly barren. 

The top shelf will be baking supplies, and the rest is grains (hidden in the back I have rice, quinoa, couscous, and pasta), dried beans, canned and jarred goods, and bottles (oils, sauces, etc). 

Stay tuned for the “After” of my pantry space!  It takes a while to stock a kitchen when you are starting from Square One after moving.  I can’t wait for our stuff from our old place to arrive at the end of the month!  It’s on a slow-boat right now, somewhere across the Atlantic.

One last thing that I am unsure about where to store…

Thanks to Mara’s giveaway, I won a pound of organic flax seeds from Tropical Traditions!  Thank you, Mara! 

Question:  Where should I store the flax?  In the past I have had ground flax, which I stored in the fridge.  These are the whole seeds, and it doesn’t say anything about storage on the container.

What are your pantry essentials?  Mine have to be whole grains and pastas, canned beans, canned tomatoes, nut butters, and tea!

For a chance to stock your pantry, enter Michelle’s giveaway for a $50 Safeway gift card!

My meal planning resolution is going well so far!  On Monday night, I picked up a rotisserie chicken for dinner.  I had plenty leftover and put some on a salad the next day for lunch, made Matthew a chicken sandwich for work, and made a large batch of homemade chicken stock for soup later in the week.  I still have chicken leftover, which I hadn’t planned on!  I am not sure what to do with it, but I’ll have to use it up soon.

On Tuesday night, I tried a recipe from my new Ellie Krieger cookbook, which was a gift from my lovely friend Michelle.

The recipe can be found on page 176: Fried Rice with Scallions, Edamame, and Tofu.

I was drawn to this recipe for several reasons:  it is vegetarian; I had all of the ingredients on hand; and it seemed much healthier than my Family Fried Rice.

It was a great decision!  It helped me turn this…

…Into a real meal:

Fried (Brown) Rice with Scallions, Edamame, and Tofu

Served with baby bok choy stir-fried in garlic, salt, and cooking spray

I don’t think I can share the exact recipe on the blog since it is from a cookbook, however, I hope the photo quality is good enough that perhaps you can try to emulate it at home   However, I really do recommend buying the book.  I chose two other recipes from it to try this week!

Wednesday

Tuscan Vegetable Soup (page 85)

I am serving this with some wholegrain bread and a salad for me, and maybe bread and the leftover chicken for Matthew?

Thursday

Macaroni and Four Cheeses ( page 168)

Again, I’ll serve with salad or steamed vegetables to round it out.  I am excited about a couple modifications I am making to this recipe to lighten it up a little more.

Friday

I haven’t planned Friday’s dinner yet.  I think Matthew has a work dinner so I may go out with a friend. 

Clearly I am still working on my technique with meal planning, but already this week I am trying new recipes and shaking things up a little!  Eventually I’d love to have it down to an art like so many other bloggers do (like this lady, she is a pro!).  For example, right now I am mainly planning dinners, but it would be neat to be able to sit down on Sunday and map out an entire week of meals!

Do you plan your meals in advance?  Do you have any tips for effective meal planning?  One thing that really got me excited to plan meals this week was my new cookbook!  Also, I love making lists, so it was fun for me to make a massive grocery list at the beginning of the week.

Hello and Happy Monday!  We spent this past weekend in my hometown with my family.  It was a very special occasion:  my adorable little niece was turning two! 

She’s cute and she knows it!

Since it was my family, there was plenty of food at this gathering.  However it was mostly a kids party, so the primary nosh was sandwiches.  I was the Official Birthday Sandwich Maker.

It’s a real job.  I swear.

The key component to doing the job right is bread.  Lots of carby, delicious, fresh bread.

I assembled three giant sandwiches before delegating the rest of my duties to my mom.  I guess I demoted myself to Junior Sandwich Maker.

The first was a roast beef sandwich with horseradish cheese, red onion, and home-grown arugula.

The second was my favorite of the selection: a vegetarian roast vegetable (eggplant and zucchini) sandwich on multi-grain bread with roasted red peppers, fresh basil, and goat cheese.

Or perhaps I should just take the title of Sandwich Eater?

The third was a classic turkey cranberry mix.

I think there were one or two other kinds of sandwiches.  There were also veggies, fruit, and plenty of other nibbles, too!  And of course, CAKE!  I had a veggie sandwich and a little of everything else, here and there throughout the afternoon.  It was a good exercise in moderate grazing!

But the best part was the company.

Hanging out with my mom and sister.

The Birthday Girl and Uncle Matthew

…Remember my nephew’s Christmas love affair?  Well, it would appear that the little guy has moved on to other fish in the sea.

Five years old and he’s already giving George Clooney a run for his money.

Fresh Start February

I never quite got around to making any resolutions at the beginning of 2010.  With the start of a new month, and a new week, I’d like to set a few goals for the months ahead.

The biggest thing I want to work on this year it to truly stop worrying about judgment and criticism from other people.  This is a constant chore for me, but I really believe that my incessant worry about what other people think actually deters from my productivity and happiness.  My mother recently said to me, “What other people think of you is really none of your business.”  I think this is immensely wise and I will try to remember that, starting today!

On a less serious note, I want to start planning the week’s meals (or at least the week’s dinners).  I know it saves money, time, and makes it easier for me to eat healthier.  Why don’t I do this every week again? 

As far as specific food/weight goals, I don’t think I want to set any right now.  I am trying to settle into this moderation thing without meticulously counting calories, emotional eating, or any other extreme behavior.  I will, however,  make a more conscious effort to stick to what I know works for me, i.e. three to four substantial meals a day, as much produce as possible, and a balance of the three macronutrients.  I should probably start weighing myself more regularly again, but probably not daily.  That lends itself to the extreme behavior tendencies.  

Of course, my most immediate goal is gainful employment, as well as the purchase of a car.  I don’t really consider those “goals” though, because they are non-negotiable! 

Did you set any New Year Resolutions?  How are you doing with them?  It’s never too late for a fresh start!