Happy World Water Day!

• The average American uses 150 gallons of water every day.
• 1 in 6 people on Earth do not have access to safe drinking water.

How can you help?

• Drink tap water instead of bottled water. It helps our planet and gives you a really great excuse to buy a cute, reusable bottle. WIN-WIN in my book!
• Be conscious of the water you use and try to reduce your consumption.
• Share information about water conservation with your friend.

In honor of this special day, Nubius Organics (LOVE ‘em) is offering 20% off all reusable bottles, including those that are already on sale. Just enter promo code WWD20 at checkout. The offer is good through March 23rd, so hurry!

Here’s a recap of my eats from the past two days:

Friday

I woke up STARVING because I didn’t eat much of a dinner last night. Two Kashi waffles with a little butter and lite maple syrup filled me right up. I’d really like to start posting pictures of my first-thing-in-the-morning meals. It’s still dark when I leave the house so I can just never get the lighting right.

I ate the last bit of my strawberries after getting settled in at my desk.

I ate what was supposed to be my lunch about an hour and a half before workout time. Morningstar Farms Spicy Black Bean Burger, a wedge of Laughing Cow Light Swiss cheese and lettuce all on a La Tortilla Factor EVOO Tomato & Basil Softwrap. Here it is pre-rollup.

I was trying to decide what to do about being lunchless when my coworkersaid she was calling in an order to the fancy hotel bistro across the street and would pick it up after our workout. Clearly, it was meant to be.

Our workout at work today had tougher cardio stations than normal and I could feel the burn. My favorite exercise today was the BOSU trainer plank. I was grateful to have food on the way when I returned because I was hungry.

I had the spicy vegetarian rice rolls. All I can say is HOLY WASABI! They came with a veggie blend (tossed in balsamic vinegar) and their homemade chips. I ate everything except the onions from the veggie salad and about 1/2 of the chips. I’m a little worried that these will become an addiction. They were sooooo good.

I had an afternoon craving for something sweet, but the only thing available in the office was candy. I ran over to the cafe across the street for a chocolate chip oatmeal cookie and ended up with a cup of unsweetened raspberry iced tea, too.

It always feels so good to leave work on a Friday evening. There’s just something so exciting and freeing about knowing you have those 2 days ahead of you for fun. I called a few close friends and family members during my commute to share our baby news. Everyone was thrilled and offered lots of encouragement.

I wasn’t even a little bit hungry for supper. I had toast with butter and jam at some point, but no photo because I was really into the Ohio State vs. Siena basketball game. The outcome didn’t help my bracket any, but man that was a good game! I’m not usually a big fan of basketball on TV, but that’s changed a bit since I’m in the office pool this year.

Saturday

I slept in a little and was worried that the grocery would be crazy busy since I was going a couple hours later than normal. I ate some Kashi waffles and was out the door.

The grocery was actually quite peaceful. I had freedom to browse without being crowded or pushed along by the flow of cart traffic. This resulted in some new products which I’ll be reviewing here soon.

After the grocery, I stopped at the bank and then the local coffee shop for a light iced java chip frappe. It’s one of my favorites.

By the time I’d put groceries away, I was hungry for lunch. I tried something new and made my organic whole wheat couscous in the microwave per the directions from the box. It worked perfectly! Actually, I think it turned out even better than on the stovetop. I added some black beans and Tastefully Simple Mild Red Pepper Salsa.

I also had VeggiePatch Veggie Nuggets with mustard for dipping.

After lunch, I headed outside to do some reading for my Nutrition & Wellness Consultant at-home study. That’s where I spent most of the afternoon into early evening. The sunshine felt great! We didn’t have an “official” dinner. I just did a repeat of lunch because it was so yummy and then hung out with my husband until time for bed.

Just FYI, this is where I’m blogging and blog reading today:

I have some water (in my reusable bottle of course) and fresh iced sun tea for refreshment. Those are clothes drying on the line in the background. That’s one of my favorite parts of warm weather. I love the way they feel and smell. The real perk is that it’s more eco-friendly than the dryer. Plus, it cuts down a LOT on our electric bill.

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A Clever Kitchen Tip

I got an e-mail yesterday that I have to share. I get so frustrated when I’m trying to tear off a sheet of aluminum foil or plastic wrap because the roll always seems to fall out. Apparently, there’s a really easy fix for this. I was skeptical after reading it because the solution seemed so obvious. I checked as soon as I got home to see if it was true. Sure enough, ….

Yes. There are “push here” tabs on either end of the boxes. When you press them in, little tabs are inserted into the hollow part of the roll so it can’t escape from the box.

I checked every box I had that contained a roll. My aluminum foil, plastic wrap and and Press ‘n’ Seal boxes also had the tabs. The parchment paper and wax paper boxes did not.

Please tell me I’m not the last one to figure this out. I’m guessing not since my friend past the e-mail along, but it could just be because she knows I’m slow sometimes. lol

On to yesterday’s eats!

I had a disagreeable stomach most of the morning so I pieced on some of my pre-prepped strawberries when I got to work, then stuck with just water and hot Lipton Red Rose tea for the rest of the morning.

Around 10, I had a Babybel Light cheese wheel and some Gliding Calm tofu dipped in yellow mustard.

That kept me full for quite a while. I was working away when I felt my tummy growl and decided to feed it with some sliced peaches.

I had to run to the Green Machine at lunch to get “allowance” money for my husband and I. The bank branch closest to my work is conveniently located inside a grocery store so I hit up the salad bar for lunch. My container looked like this:

The largest compartment was the salad made up of:

• spinach
• yellow, red & orange peppers
• cucumbers
• diced tomatoes
• bacon crumbles
• chopped hard boiled egg
• black olives
• mozzarella cheese
• chickpeas
• a few jalapeno pepper slices

I really need to start being more strategic when I build my salads for photographic purposes. The healthiest stuff is always on the bottom and it looks like I only have “extras.”

One small compartment held summer coleslaw. I find this ironic because it’s not summer. From what I could tell, it was cabbage, red onion, diced tomatoes and diced cucumbers in a typical slaw dressing. Pardon the runaway chickpea.

The other small compartment was broccoli & cheddar pasta salad.

I ate the whole salad and about two bites each of the pasta salad and coleslaw. They were disgusting! The coleslaw was mostly onion (which I don’t like) and the pasta was still a little crunchy. Not sure what I was thinking when I got those two. I typically don’t even like creamy salads. Oh, well. I’ll know next time.

***Product Review***

I was really thirsty after making my salad and decided to grab something refreshing. I was thinking POM Wonderful because I’m addicted since receiving my samples, but I found something on the shelf below that looked interesting: POM Light Tea Pomegranate and Hibiscus Flower Green Tea.

It was excellent! I had hibiscus flower tea for the first time when I visited San Francisco in December and have been on the lookout for similar products closer to home. This was the perfect blend of pomegranate and hibiscus flower flavors. It wasn’t overly sweet, but it wasn’t bitter either. I will certainly be buying more of these. It’s a perfect warm-weather beverage. I’m eager to try the other flavors, too.

This is from the back of the bottle:

“Paradise found. Flavor breezes through our all-natural Pomegranate Hibiscus Light POM Tea. It’s a lightly floral green tea made from the finest Far East tea leaves. Our tea is gently brewed, and brims with powerful pomegranate antioxidants and the tropical nuances of sweet hibiscus.“

There are two 8oz. servings per bottle. The nutrition information per serving is as follows:

Calories: 35
Total Fat: 0g
Sodium: 0g
Total Carb: 16g
Sugars: 8g
Erythritol: 6g
Protein: 0g
Caffeine: less than 2mg

On to dinner! This was a special one. Why? Because I didn’t cook it. My husband planned the menu and volunteered to do the work. I eagerly accepted the offer and sat at the table to chat while he prepared everything. I enjoy cooking and it helps me relax after a day of work. It’s still nice to have that break every now and then.

He pounded out some chicken breasts, dipped them in egg whites, breaded them, cooked them on the grill pan and then tossed them in some homemade buffalo wing sauce. These were served on Arnold’s Whole Wheat Sandwhich Thins with lettuce and light ranch dressing.

with steamed asparagus on the side, drizzled with EVOO.

Ta da!

I cleaned up the kitchen and then we settled in to watch The Big Bang Theory. We both think this is by far the funniest show on TV right now. I was in bed and asleep shortly after it ended.

Eating Bender is giving away not one, but TWO fabulous prizes to celebrate her 1st Blogiversary. Fabulousness!

In honor of National Nutrition Month, the health nut is giving away a reusable “Eat Right” tote from the American Dietetic Association. So cool!

I’m in the market for another BPA-free water bottle.I have one SIGG bottle which I love, but it seems to have disappeared *cough*myhusbandtookittoworknevertobeseenagain*cough*. I’d like it to be at least 32oz, easy to clean and nonbreakable. Anyone have brand suggestions?

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One Year Ago…

Today is our first anniversary! To celebrate, we stayed last night at the state park lodge where both our ceremony and reception were held. We did a lot of reminiscing about that special day, what’s happened since then and what lies ahead. I love this man more and more every single day. In case you hadn’t guessed, the picture above is of our ceremony taken from the mezzanine level where our reception was held. It still touches my heart that so many friends and family were there to share in our special day.

I’m SO UPSET that I forgot my camera. Dinner on Saturday was amazing! We ate in the restaurant at the lodge where most of the food is local, organic and sustainable. To start, I had a house salad which was romaine, chopped hard boiled egg, bacon crumbles and their fabulous Creole dressing. Deciding on an entree was tough. I finally settled on the herb-rubbed grilled free range chicken served with sausage fennel stuffing and rosemary jus. There aren’t words to describe the flavors. My mouth was watering out of control and it tasted so good I’m afraid I nearly inhaled the entire dish in under 30 second. My husband had an open-face pulled pork sandwich with Yukon Gold mashed potatoes. After a little digestion walk, we headed to the bar to hang out for a bit. The bartender was so sweet. I was craving a fruity umbrella drink, but that clearly wasn’t going to happen. She offered to make me a blend of pineapple, cranberry & orange juices which I happily accepted. It was exactly what I was after and I didn’t feel one little bit deprived as my husband sipped his whisky sours.

We took along the top tier of our cake (well, cupcake tower) to enjoy for dessert. While it wasn’t nearly as bad as I’d expected, it certainly wasn’t as good as it was on the big day. It was tradition for tradition sake though and we made the best of it.

This morning we got up and had breakfast in the lodge. It was your typical hotel breakfast buffet spread. My parents kept the pooch overnight and her back to meet us around noon. The weather was too gorgeous to waste so we took her for a walk on one the 1.5 mile loop hiking trail before heading home.

I started watching Jon+Kate plus 8 as soon as I got home. Watching Kate and her stellar organization skills put me in the mood to do some housekeeping. I turned on the TV in the kitchen and set to work. First, I cleaned out the refrigerator. Then, I started some food prepping for the week ahead.

I baked up a batch of Gliding Calm tofu.

While that was in the oven, I cut some celery into sticks and portioned them out into baggies for quick lunch packing. I also sliced some strawberries

and chopped some romaine and green leaf lettuces so we’d have salad for the week.

Oh, and I have to brag a little on my husband. His anniversary gift to me was a sweet card and a beautiful necklace. I LOVE pearls and have been wanting a new everyday necklace. I didn’t get him anything special other than a card. His birthday was last weekend so I pooled the money I’d budgeted for both occasions and bought him the semi-pricey tool he really wanted for his birthday which he appreciated more (I think) than two smaller gifts.

I hate this part of Sunday when I stop enjoying the weekend and start dreading work tomorrow. I’m going to go pick my clothes out for the week and then sit down to read and relax for a bit until The Amazing Race.

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