I Have a [Green] Monster Under my Bed

I mentioned in an earlier post that I was officially a member of the Green Monster Movement!! For those of you unfamiliar with Green Monsters, I first heard of them from Oh She Glows! It's essentially a Spinach Smoothie which your choice of add-ins. The benefits include decreased appetite for sweats, increase in energy, and a natural glow-yness for your skin! 

My Green Monster:

2 cups of Spinach

1 cup of Organic Milk

1 banana

1 scoop of Soy Chocolate Protein Powder

Okay I'm not lying, it was really good. So good that I took it down in like 2 minutes. Straws are no longer allowed because I just chug. It's absurd. 

I'm excited to continue making these in the morning -- I even have a Costco sized container of spinach to make sure I do :)

Make a Green Monster and then post your own recipe! 

"Food" for All

I haven't decided whether or not I'm going to make this primarily a food blog... I'm thinking no because there are alot of other things that I want to bring to light/focus on such as just general healthy living and enjoying/surviving in New York. With that said, I do seriously enjoy seeing what other food bloggers are eating and learning about their healthy habits. So I promise to try, as a newbie to the blog seen, to document my meals / snacks / slip-ups as they occur! 

I did my final bootcamp class this morning (which was seriously a killer)! I am proud to say that before 7:30 am I had done 250 pushups, 200 crunches, and more butt exercises than I ever thought physically possible. It was a rocking good time! Anyways, due to being at the gym and then going straight to work, I needed a portable breakfast.  See exhibit 1:

Some instant oatmeal with 1/2 banana, a handful of blackberries and 1/2 scoop of Soy Chocolate protein powder. 

When my mom came in on Sunday she brought me ... drum roll please... 

a CROCK POT! This thing rocks. No seriously.  Here is the recipe for the stew I made on Sunday night.

Veggie & Steak Stew

Ingredients:

~ 30 Carrots

1 chopped onion

1 can of tomatoes

1 clove of garlic

spices to tastes

3/4 lb of Stew meat (I chose steak)

1 cup of water or broth

Directions:

Throw everything into the crock pot! Let it cook on high for 5-6 hours or low for 8-9.

This was the final product and it was a perfect lunch all week. You can put whatever ingredients in that you want and I'm sure anything would taste good :) Tip of the day: INVEST in a crock pot if you lead a hectic life. It can save you hours on food prep time. 

Mid Afternoon Snack consisted of a LARABAR.

If you haven't tried a Larabar before I seriously recommend it. I've heard of alot of people who try not to eat things that have ingredients that they cannot pronounce (which unfortunately is the case with most food that we all typically eat!). The ingredients in a Larabar, depending on the flavor, are Almonds, Dates and then usually just whatever flavor it is. Trust me, you can pronounce everything in it ;)  and they're tasty to boot.

Last but not least, I just munched on a dinner of greeeeeens ...

I steamed some broccoli and spinach, sauteed some tofu, and threw in some garbanzo beans. Pretty random but I have all this produce and I'm afraid it's going to go bad! It was good and did the trick none the less. It was a little lighter than some dinners that I have but I didn't get home from work until 8 and for some reason I really don't like eating post-8 pm. I think it's some sort of phobia that I have developed from hearing all these celebrity trainers saying they lock up the kitchen at 8 ?? 

Do you think there is any validity to this? What are your food faux-pas? 

Looking forward to a great night of Top Chef Finale!! Gooooo Kevin :)

Simply Having A Wonderful Christmas Time

I finally put up my Christmas Tree! It looks a little Charlie Brown-esque but adorable none the less.  Now I just need to put some gifts under it... :) 

PS Christmas lights seriously get me in the holiday spirit, pretty much all year long. 

What gets you in the holiday spirit? 

Rainy Day [Saturday]

It was pouring today but I went for a walk anyways...and I came across the cutest apartment! On the east side, right across from this fabulous Vegan restaurant Angelica's Kitchen. I want to live hereee

It has a white picket fence! haha

I kept walking and when I got to Union Square I found...

It is awesome! I'm taking my mom here tomorrow...

When I got home I was in a seriously festive mood, so I decided to bake a pumpkin pie! Because I have what I like to call a sweet tooth, but what some others might call overindulgence, I tried to make this a "healthier" version of pumpkin pie.  

Pumpkin Pie

Spelt Crust

1 1/2 cups Spelt Flour

1/2 tbs kosher salt

1/2 cup oil

1/2 cup organic milk

Pumpkin Filling

1 can of pumpkin

2 eggs

8 packets of splenda

1/2 tbs ginger

1/2 tbs kosher salt

1 tbs cinnamon

3/4 cup organic milk

For the crust: mix all ingredients together and put into a pie tin and bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes

For the filling: Mix together sugar, ginger, salt, and cinnamon in small bowl. Beat together two eggs in a large bowl and then add in the pumpkin and sugar mixture. Gradually add in milk. Fill the crust and bake at 450 degrees for 15 minutes and then turn the oven down to 350 for 40 minutes (or until fork comes out clean)

Enjoy!!

Heading out for the night for my friends birthday on the upper east side -- I think the rain turned to snow! 

It's that time of year...Office Holiday Parties!

Yesterday was my office holiday party! While I was a little bummed because it was right after work and we had to wear business casual, it was still pretty fun.  Normally I look forward to these things because I LOVE to dress up! Now that I'm not in college anymore there are no more formals or socials to wear dresses to so if I get an excuse to play dress up then I'm all in :) 

On our way to the venue we passed the Rockefeller Xmas Tree so I had to take a picture. It looks awesome this year!
This shot didn't work, but I thought it came out kind of cool anyways...
I think that this year has been really hard on alot of people and a lot of companies, so it's nice to have events like this to keep people happy and to just relax and celebrate!

Back on the Band Wagon

Since coming back from Thanksgiving I have been so slothlike (as my friend erica would say).  Perhaps the five days at home were just too relaxing and enjoyable for me to jump right back into my working gal routine. On Monday, I seriously crashed at 8 pm. No joke! Perhaps I'm fighting off some sort of cold? 

No excuses, tomorrow I am getting Back on the Band Wagon with healthier food (now that all my leftovers are gone) and a daily gym visit :)

But for now, I'm going to sit here in my pajamas and watch the tree lighting and then Gleeee!!

Fun fact about the town where I'm from: the tree was from Ridgefield in 2006 -- cool huh?

and the holiday season has officially begun!

Psycho 'Nilla

Okay and here comes the holiday sugar coma in full force.  I definitely had my fair share of pumpkin pie over the weekend, and I don't intend on stopping (look out for a pumpkin pie which I plan on making this weekend).  And then, foolishly, I decided to make a batch of cupcakes to take back to New York with me.  Knowing all well my tendency to indulge in sweets when I get home from work, for no reason except that they are there, I made these cupcakes (above) based on a recipe from Hungry Girl. Hungry Girl is a website that I subscribe to and a new entry is emailed to me every morning. This blog is from a girl who is just plain hungry! (like myself) and loves food but has tried tons of diets and fads and finally feels like she has it under control. Her website offers food tips and tricks for eating what you want but at a lower calorie cost. Some of the suggestions have been pretty cool! 

Recipe for Psycho 'Nilla cupcakes:

For Frosting
1 1/4 cups Cool Whip Free, thawed 
1 1/2 tbsp. Jell-O Sugar Free Fat Free Vanilla Instant Pudding Mix

For Cupcakes
Half of an 18.25-oz. box (about 1 1/2 cups) moist-style yellow cake mix
3/4 tsp. baking powder
1 cup Sprite Zero (or another diet lemon-lime soda), room temperature
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 cup liquid egg whites or (about 4) raw egg whites

For Topping
3 tbsp. rainbow sprinkles

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

To make the frosting, combine Cool Whip with pudding mix in a bowl, and mix until smooth. Cover and refrigerate until cupcakes are ready t o be frosted. 

In a large bowl, combine cake mix with baking powder and stir until free of lumps. Add soda and vanilla extract, and stir or whisk until batter is smooth. Set aside.

In a separate bowl, whip egg whites with a handheld electric mixer set to medium speed until fluffy, about 1 - 2 minutes. Gently mix egg whites into the cake batter until thoroughly combined. 

Line 9 cups of a 12-cup muffin pan with baking cups and/or spray with nonstick spray. Evenly distribute batter among the 9 cups. Cups will be VERY full -- this is okay!

Bake for 15 - 17 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center of a cupcake comes out fairly clean. Set aside and allow to cool completely. 

Once cupcakes have cooled, top each evenly with the frosting and 1 tsp. sprinkles. Chomp chomp!

Some cool stats about these cupcakes: Calories: 164 and if you are a fan of Weight Watchers :POINTS® value 4

While I like the fact that these sweet treats are available for me to munch on, I don't think I would serve them to guests....