Is it a coincidence that some Amazing Grass samples arrived on the morning I was planning to try out my new blender? I think not!

The folks at Amazing Grass were kind enough to send me some samples of their products.  I have been wanting to try their bars and powders for a long time after seeing their stuff featured on so many blogs!

If you are new to Amazing Grass, they make “organic green superfoods,” mainly in the form of powders and energy bars, to supplement a healthy diet.  They are based out of San Francisco (hey, that makes them local for me!), and all of their products are certified organic.

To test out my new blender yesterday morning, I decided to try a sample of their Amazing Meal “Chocolate Infusion”:

Here is the low-down from the company’s website:

“Amazing Meal Chocolate Infusion is a naturally balanced source of protein, antioxidant & phytonutrient rich superfoods, cleansing fiber, digestive enzymes and probiotics. Infused with chocolate to give this drink powder one powerful chocolate punch.”

Some of the ingredients in this product (all organic):

• Hemp Protein Powder
• Rice Protein
• Wheat Grass
• Kale
• Barley Grass
• Alfalfa
• Acai
• Carrot Powder
• Blueberries
• Goji Berries
• Maca
• Rose Hips
• Banana
• Flax Seed Powder
• DIgestive Enzyme and Active Culture Probiotic blend

If that ingredient list doesn’t make you want to make a smoothie, I don’t know what does.

Actually, if I’m being honest, just this blender is enough to make me want a smoothie.

In my smoothie mix:

• 1 pack Amazing Meal Chocolate Infusion
• 2 cups Unsweetened Vanilla Almond Breeze
• 1/2 frozen banana
• 1/2 cup frozen wild blueberries
• Ice (about 5 cubes)

My thoughts:

For being so darn packed full of greens, I think the taste is actually very good.  The texture is a little grainy, but I can live with that so long as the flavor is there.  For me, things start to taste better when I know they are good for me.  I think that is how I feel about Amazing Meal:  I probably wouldn’t eat it if it weren’t so healthy, but knowing how great it is for my body, it suddenly tastes nice.  Plus, anything chocolate-flavored automatically makes greens easier to swallow, right?

Really, what I like most about this product is the ingredient list and the convenience.  It really did feel good to start the day knowing I had so many nutrients in my breakfast.  I am looking forward to trying the other flavors and products, and will let you guys know if I have a favorite!

Want to try some for yourself?  To receive 15% off any order, just visit the company’s website and use the coupon code ‘healthy123.’

Thank you, Amazing Grass, for the opportunity to try your products!

Big Gym Challenge

I still can’t decide if I want to join the “big gym” or stick it out with my little gym.

To help facilitate a decision, I have resolved to visit a group fitness class every day this week!  On Monday, I took the Turbo Kick class.  Tonight I will get my yoga on.  My trial membership expires soon, so I’m fitting in as much as I can before then.

Meals This Week

Monday:  Almond-crusted tilapia with steamed broccoli, green salad and carrot fries

Tuesday:  Chicken sausage stir-fry

Wednesday:  Salmon with vegetables and brown rice medley

Thursday:  Undecided, perhaps a homemade Hawaiian pizza?

Friday:  Apple bacon frittata with carrot fries and brussel sprouts

Blog Happenings

**The newly-engaged Janetha is hosting an organic milk giveaway here!**

**Smoothie Girl Deb is having a fun Good, Bad, Ugly photo contest to win some of her fabulous homemade nut butters.  Trust me, you WANT to win these!**

**Zesty Cook is asking readers to vote to help him donate $1,000 to the food charity Heifer International.  Check out the details here.**

What is your “go-to” breakfast to get the day started right?

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.