Feel free to report me to the DBFS

The Department of Blog and Family Services… you know, the other branch of the DCFS. Yeah, I ‘m so far past slacking that I have no excuse. None. I’m busy. Really busy. I work full time and go to school full time. I was not prepared for how busy that would make me. But I’m here and I’m going to counseling so the DBFS will give me full custody of this blog back.

I’m not going to do a full recap of what has happened, because that’s boring and nobody wants to read that. But I will tell you that the more classes I take, the more I want to do sports nutrition. I’ve aced my first nutrition class, so I’m off to a great start. So what does that mean for you? It means, you should ask me what to eat. Or something like that… I would love to work at the Olympic Training Center or with an NFL team. Or even on the collegiate level. So, in a year or so, I will be able to tell you what to eat and will have a degree that tells me to do so!

Since moving out here I’ve dropped 2(!) sizes. Granted a big part of that is my schedule (on my  feet up to 12 hours a day), but a bigger part is making sure the athlete in me is happy! I’ve been hitting the ‘mill often (my knees can’t handle all the hills out here). Plus I’ve been trying to eat like an athlete, which makes a huge difference, apparently.

So that leads me to another big thing. I haven’t raced since August. And there’s a weird burning in my legs asking for a race, so I’m shopping around. I found a 5k series in March that I’m going to sign up for, but what about after that? This is where you guys will help me.

Do I continue training for shorter distances and get faster? I love doing speed work and those workouts leave me feeling amazing!

Or

Do I re-train for a longer distance? After August’s disaster of a half, I feel the need for a redemption race, but do I have the time for long runs?

I will be doing the 5ks (there’s 3 in the series) as fun runs, so I can start training hardcore after those. I am really up in the air on this one. I’m leaning towards the shorter distances (5ks and 10ks) and then come June, deciding on a half or not. And if I do a half, that will take me one step closer to running a full marathon, which is still one of my goals.

Finally, I’m going to try to update at least once a week, but if you really need more Alisa in your life, I do update my twits somewhat frequently.

 

What’s your favorite distance to run?

I’m a big fan of the 5k distance. I have yet to race a 10k, but I think I will fall in love once doing it.

If you could go back to college, would you study  the same thing? Or would you do something totally different?

Obviously, I would study something different, which is why I’m in school now! But I don’t regret my first time around in college. In fact, my poli sci degree could come in handy (seriously Congress? tomato sauce on pizza is a serving of vegetables?).

I ramble and then share an awesome video.

The title of this post is like an outline of what’s to come.

I have a great new idea for The Biggest Loser. Get rid of Anna and hire me as a trainer. And for every five pounds I lose, the team gets one bonus pound. I’m pretty sure I have all the same credentials Anna has, plus I can actually yell (years of being a lifeguard and a camp director have given me no sympathy for anyone’s ears). Plus motivation, what more motivation do you need then to beat your trainer in losing weight? Come on BL, call me up and we can work this deal out.

I love my Luna and Larry Coconut Bliss ice cream. Obsessed is actually a better term. If this stuff was a person, I would be a stalker outside the window. It’s only sold in the Whole Foods by me, which isn’t a problem, because, HELLO, I love Whole Foods AND I’m glad to have my Luna and Larry close by. But I’m not allowed to go to Whole Foods frequently. It’s my shopping weakness. Any other store (including Trader Joe’s), I can contain myself and at most will buy one thing not on my list. But I walk into Whole Foods and all bets are off. I will buy anything I see and think I need. Like cereal. I love cereal, but I don’t need five boxes. Yet, I step into WF and end up with five in my cart, whoops. So to fix this problem, I stocked up on my ice cream to avoid going to Whole Foods to frequently. I stocked up. And you know what, all five containers have lasted over a week so far!

Have you heard of My Drunk Kitchen? No? For shame. Go youtube that biz and report back afterwards. She’s drunk and makes a fool out of herself on the internet, what more do you need? The sad thing is, she will probably make more money off of this, then I will in my life. But either way, she’s good for many laughs.

Have you heard of Songs to Wear Pants To? This one I will forgive, but again, go look into it. You need a song written? Tell him about it, give it a genre, a rhythm, some lyrics perhaps, whatever you want, and ta-da, you have a song. You used to be able to download songs for free, but they are still amazing and worth your time.

So you know what’s really awesome, combine My Drunk Kitchen and Songs to Wear Pants to and you have this:

 

I hope you actually read my rambles before you got to the video. If not, I hope you at least joined the video.

 

Favorite ice cream flavor… and go…
Anything! But mainly stuff with chocolate or Irish cream flavor.

Thoughts on Anna? How about my plan to be a trainer?
Wouldn’t that be awesome if I got a job on Biggest Loser?

I’m not so good with technology

And I keep just saving my posts and not publishing them. Whoops. So instead of posting all my old posts at once, how about I summarize and combine into one amazing post?

Recipes: One of my coworkers keeps asking for recipes whenever I cook something, the problem is, cooking isn’t an exact science. I know the basics, but it’s all about how I feel that day or what I have on hand. So I made a vegetarian chili this weekend and it really was a combination of what I had on hand, what was on sale, and the few essentials. I can give you the run down, but there is no set in stone recipe. I get that many people do need recipes. Either they struggle with eye-balling amounts, or they just don’t trust their instincts yet. There are tons of books, shows, websites, apps, etc for these people. One of the best things about culinary school, is that they really do boil it down (really crappy pun intended) to the method, not the exact amounts.

Living Alone: Why does everyone assume that because I’m a single female, living alone, that I am worried about my life? I live in a decent area with a variety of neighbors. Plus a dog who would kill whatever person decides to attack me. Should we all live in fear? No. I had my apartment broken into years ago and I moved on. It does shake you up a bit and makes you rethink your living arrangements, but it gets better. The other thing I hear a lot is, are you sad you aren’t married yet? The answer is always no. If I got married before, I probably would not be following my dreams right now. Plus Guinness does not do well with sharing.

Running: I’ve been slacking a ton on working out at all. I finally dug deep and found my old exercise dvds and I’ve been doing some of the quick 15 minute segments. It’s nothing great, but it’s keeping the desert pounds off. I think I need to find a race to do so I have to train and keep focused. I found an awesome 6.66 miler (around Halloween, of course). I’m just not sure how quickly I can build up my base again, because I’ve gone out for a run twice since I moved here, TWICE. That’s 2 times, in 1 month. I feel like I’m starting at the old run 1 minute, walk 5. I know I have more in me than that, but this is a giant step forward for me. 1 month to 6.66 miles? I need some serious motivation.

Finally, some desert porn, don’t mind the crappy quality, they are from my phone (which I’m not supposed to have on me in the kitchen or dinning room, so shhhh)

More pics to come as I sneak more pictures! Those poached pears were life changing and I wish I could eat one a day for one of my servings of fruit.

And finally, the most important news in my life lately:

When I moved, I “lost” my blender, considering it wasn’t mine to begin with. I’ve been living without my smoothies for awhile and it’s been rough. Really rough. I feel in love with the Ninja blender and knew that I wanted one for myself. I’ve been creeping all the stores and found one on sale for $20 off! Amazing, right? Wrong! I also used my store card to get an additional 5% off. Now that’s amazing. Reunited and it feels so good! I’ve made sure to blend something every day since I picked up the new roomie.

 

Best new purchase you’ve made in awhile?

Totally my new blender. The Ninja is amazing because it was blades all the way up, plus a great motor, so nothing gets stuck and left as a giant chunk. And it’s affordable for the average guy, unlike the vitamix blenders.

Do you take food porn pictures?

I used to take a lot more, but now I’m more about the flavors and completely forget about the pictures until I’m half way through eating. But these deserts are amazing. I feel the need to bring in my DSLR and frame the pictures.

Wiping off the dust, adding in some randomness

Dear blog, I missed you. Love, Alisa

Yeah, it’s been a busy couple of weeks and it will just keep being busy. The way my school works out is that I have five labs that each meet for nine days. So we do one lab at a time for nine days then move on to the next. I’m in class for at least 6 hours a day. Plus I work full time-ish. So you can imagine how crazy things are. If I’m not in class or at work, I’m studying and reminding Guinness that I do in fact live with her.

Harsh. I have to pay for your expensive ways some how, dog.

The good news is, they do feed us there and the meals are fancy shmancy. Meals that would cost in the triple digits before you even include booze. Everything is freshly made, bread, soups, salad, dinners, desserts, everything. I’m enjoying getting the chance to eat all this fresh seafood for free. Be jealous. Plus the desserts. OH the desserts. Orgasmic is the best term. Fancy plated, amazing spun sugar, desserts. Real chocolate, and fresh baked pastries, desserts. Need another napkin for drool, desserts.

And because I spend all day cooking, I just don’t cook at home. My fridge literally only has apples, spinach, a water pitcher, and dog food. And my freezer is full of meat from the awesome sales I hit up after I moved here and frozen berries for smoothies. But I’m making some amazing vegetarian chili this weekend, so I will share that with you guys once it’s made. And by share, I mean take a picture and pretend to care that you’re drooling. Get excited, because chili is always awesome.

Other things to know, my bestie moved out here around the same I did. She claims it’s for school, but I think she just knew she would miss me too much. She already has a masters and is going for at least one more, probably two. She’s weird like that. While I’m working towards another BA, she already has one masters. Gross, who does that? But she has a blog and all of you should go visit and make her feel welcome in the blog world.

This was back when we were young and in college the first time around.

One reason I’m so excited for the BFF to be out here is that I’m socially awkward and she puts up with that. My new friends are finally figuring out that I’m not that weird, I just don’t know how normal people act. The best case in point is that I don’t know how to flirt. I just can’t do it. And the other night I was out with some classmates and was “flirting” with a friend of a friend. My friends later told me that I looked as though I was a child molester and he was seven years old. Yikes. (maybe this is why I’m still single)

But in more important news, everyone is doing a giveaway, so here’s the roundup:

SUAR is giving away some jewels

Miss Zippy is giving away some clothing for your naked self

Gourmet Runner is giving away some wristbands to keep all your worldly possessions

SkinnyRunner is giving some awesome Mission products

HungryRunnerGirl is also giving some clothes because of the great blogger nudist scandal (totally made that up, but that would a great TMZ story)

And breathe. That’s a lot of giveaways. How much do you want to bet that I don’t win a single one? I don’t have the DNA for winning.

 

How close does your BFF live to you?

When we were in Illinois, it was just under an hour to drive to each other’s place. Now it’s almost 1.5 hours. But in New England, curvy unmarked road ways, that’s probably closer to 2 hours.

Any other giveaways I’m missing? Don’t hold back!

There is always at least one floating around. I’m still waiting for the lifetime supply of Larabars and brand new eco-friendly car giveaway. One of these days it will appear in my reader.

Are any of you socially awkward? Any reformed awkward kids? Tips please!

I just want to flirt normally! Or at least not look like a pervy old man.

Tastes like fall.

After some crappy cold, rainy days, the weather finally turned around. It’s crisp and warm out here. I woke up yesterday morning knowing that I had to get out and run, first, because it had been so long since I ran and two, because it was perfect running weather. I found a new running path that was pretty packed, but it’s a paved path along the river and right to the ocean. I didn’t go to the ocean, because that would have been about 10 miles further than I wanted to go, and also because then I would have to turn around and come back. 28 miles? Better believe I didn’t do that. But the 4 miles I did felt good. It was the most natural my running has ever felt. Hope I feel that way again soon. Some days the running gods just look down and smile on you, right?

It’s strange to see all those fall favorites at the market. I bought a bunch of squash and apples (locally grown, of course). So when I was considering what type of muffins to make for quick, go-to breakfasts, I knew pumpkin had to be included! So, I made some amazing banana-pumpkin muffins.

Banana-Pumpkin Muffins (I will add a picture later on, somebody let my camera battery die. I’m blaming G-dog.)

1 15-oz. can pumpkin (get the real stuff, not the filling)
4 large eggs
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup honey
3 medium mashed bananas
1/4 cup oil

3 cups flour (any combination)
1/2 cup quinoa flakes (if you can’t find these, try oats)
4 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/4 cup flaxseed
1 tbls cinnamon
1 tbls pumpkin pie spice
1/2 teaspoon salt

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease 2 muffin tins or use paper cups (I did 1 regular size and 1 mini-muffin).
2. Mix eggs, oil, honey, sugar, pumpkin and banana.
3. Mix in dry ingredients.
4. Pour into pans and bake 15 minutes for mini or 25 for full or until wooden pick inserted in the center comes out clean.

 

In case you guys were wondering, school is going great. I have my first battle scar too. I chopped a chunk of my thumb off this week. I won’t show pictures of this, but trust me, it’s disgusting, but healing. It’s funny because I have never cut myself on a knife in my life. Until I go to culinary school. The stuff I’m learning right now is pretty basic, stuff I basically know, but now have an actual term for it. I will wow you guys in couple of classes from now. My schedule between work and class sucks, so I don’t know how frequent blogging will be. I still read though!

 

Is it feeling like fall near you?

Even though temperature isn’t quiet fall like yet, the whole going back to school thing and squash around every corner is making it feel like fall. Plus, Starbucks has pumpkin spice out, which is a clear sign it’s fall. I love getting the syrup in my doppio espressos, It’s a nice change.

Favorite use of pumpkin:

Baked goods! Bread, muffins, cookies, etc. It makes my feel healthier for eating something indulgent.

The Tour, Part Dos

So last time I gave you a glimpse into the beauty I’m experiencing here. Now let’s take a glimpse into my apartment. (Dear creepers, don’t stalk me now.)

Please ignore the clutter, some things are still finding a home here and others have yet to be taken to the dumpster (I’m looking at you broken lamp and random boxes.) Also, I still have mismatched furniture (aside from the bedroom set) and I’m totally okay with that. There are some themes slowly forming here, so when the money appears, things will fall into place.

So onto the tour: When you first walk in my front door the bedroom is on the right:

(Don’t you love the wall of mirrors that is my closet? Amazing if you ask me. And totally unflattering.)

If you walk to the closet and turn left, there’s my bathroom:

And then the door leads you back out to the living room, while passing a coat/storage closet:

I know you are all jealous of my New York Times newspaper rack! Free! And the best part of the living room?

Squirrel O’Vision playing 24/7 out the window. I even moved that chair so G-Dog could get a better view. She will even lay down on the chair with her head propped up on arm rest.

So you keep walking and you hit the dinning room. Which I’m using as a workstation since I don’t really dine much (I just eat).

Can you spot Hoops and Yoyo? Do you even know who they are? The final spot to visit is the kitchen with the world’s smallest freezer! Seriously, what’s the point of meat going on sale super cheap if you can’t freeze all that bulk.

If you are wondering what’s all over the fridge, that would be my ridiculous magnetic poetry collection. It’s a bit out of hand. And took forever to put up. To the right of the fridge is my laundry room. Full size washer and dryer baby! There is also tons of storage and you can walk into it. They don’t just face out. Amazing.

So you’re sick of my tour? Sorry I didn’t feed you. Here’s the door, don’t let the dinosaur guarding my movie collection bite you on the way out!

 

In reality, I start classes tomorrow. I’m a tiny bit nervous, but mostly excited. I won’t be cooking dinner regularly, which stinks, because I have class until 8 at night, most nights of the week. And then, I work mornings. Eww.

Running has been interesting to say the least. I’m experiencing real hills for the first time ever. Not only have I been going a lot slower, but I can’t go as far without my ass giving out. Not pretty. I hurt the first time I did them and only did about 2.5 miles (was supposed to be 4 miles, but I kind of got really lost).

 

What’s new with you guys?

Give me something awesome, I know it’s in you!

Have you checked out Amanda’s awesome art contest?

I’m so excited that I don’t even know where to start!

Welcome to the Island

Rhode Island that is. I survived the hurricane and only had to last a little more than 48 hours without power. I feel horrible for those who still don’t have power or worse, don’t have water! If any bloggers in New England need a shower, come my way. G and I will help you out! So needless to say, I haven’t been working out or cooking much. So instead of that talk, how about a tour?

Let’s start with the beach! Who doesn’t want to look at water? The day after I arrived in Rhode Island (with the help of my brother) we did some touristy stuff.

This was a rocky beach, but everybody was chilling on it like it was a sandy beach.

I find beauty in little things, like green beaches…

and waves crashing on algae covered rocks.

So after a trip to the beach, we hit up an awesome burger bar. I highly recommend Luxe Burger Bar. Not only did they have a decent beer menu, but the “build your own burger” was fun. My suggestion, pick a theme and then build from there. My bro did a Greek inspired burger with Kobe beef and I did a spin off of the traditional with a turkey burger (garlic aioli? caramelized onions? YES PLEASE!). The best part? G-Dog was allowed with us on the patio.

After stuffing ourselves, we took a tour of downtown PVD. The Guin-pup and I tried to take a family picture on the steps of the State House. It didn’t work so well. The close ups are ridiculous. It’s not even like one of us was prepared. Humans AND dogs can suffer from ADD. So here are some further back pictures, in which you cannot tell that we’re both looking in complete opposite directions..

 

The next post will have an apartment tour. Including ghetto cabling throughout all the rooms (I can decorate, but cannot figure out electronics). Get excited!

 

What was the last great restaurant you went to?

What’s the most exciting thing that happened to you in the past 4 days?

Probably the hurricane, even though it was only a tropical storm by the time it got here. But after that, getting my electricity back!

Reasons why moving sucks.

1. Packing = Cleaning = Dust = Dust mite allergy overload. I’ve been sneezing so hard that I may have peed a little. Yeah, that happened.

2. Living in one place with other people for more than a year means you forget what’s yours and where everything is. I swear I had ice cube trays at one point…

3. Eventually you get to the point where you’re living out of boxes. This assumes that at one point you unpacked when you moved in.

4. You get to the point where you realize that you have too much crap and try to downsize, but honestly, I need the ENTIRE BOX of mugs. No really. What if I just stop doing dishes some day? Those 20 mugs will come in handy. And 2 china sets? What if entertain more than 12 people? It will happen. Everyone bring a chair and we’ll be good to go.

5. Once you “downsize” you realize that you want new stuff. New desk? New dinning room chairs? New shelving units? New jeans? New hair? I need it all. My credit card will understand.

6. Then you reach the point in which you need more boxes. Let’s not talk about that.

7. Then your eye starts twitching all the time from the stress of it all. Those cute little to-do lists now haunt you in your sleep.

8. You have a nightmare about driving the wrong direction across the USA! Granted I would love to visit Skinny Runner or Blonde Ponytail, but that’s not where my apartment is.

9. Your dog starts showing signs of stress. Pooping on the carpet is never okay! Seriously G? I’m going to have to charge you rent if this is how it’s going down.

10. Finally your friends all start calling because they finally realize that you are actually moving. Too bad numbers 1-9 are causing you to never leave the house. There’s just so much going on!

Moving is one thing, I’ve done it before and I’ll do it again. But moving across the country after putting roots down for 4 years? Never again. I’m going to start developing other nerves ticks. I’m about ready to hire a personal assistant. Anybody up for applying?

Angry IBS?

So we know I work strange hours and that my schedule changes day to day and week to week, but I’m so glad that I’m almost done. I worked late last night, but I love my Wednesday night crew and there was vodka involved after we left the building. But then at 3am I woke up, nothing too unusual, but still… RUDE… Well, the 3am wake up wasn’t on purpose and it wasn’t a confused body. I had the WORST stomach pains ever. It was like menstrual cramps, on crack, with a sledge hammer. Not okay. I couldn’t even get out of bed right away. I figured, angry IBS, maybe vodka doesn’t work for me. Who knows. But after rolling around for three hours, I finally pulled myself together and figured I should at least show my face at work (one week left… one more measly week). I showed up, got some crap done, left 5 hours later and crashed at home. Stress? Vodka? IBS? Food poisoning? Take your pick. So, moral of the story, I hate my body.

In other words, I didn’t wake up early to get in a run. I’m sucking it up at following my training plan. What training plan? Yeah, that’s not happening at all. My half is in less than two weeks. Like 10 days. YIKES! How in the world am I going to pull this off? Holy shiz-balls kids! This is really happening isn’t it?

Let’s not discuss how I desperately need new running shoes… or how I should man up and buy some technical fabric tanks… or how I still haven’t figured out fueling… or how I haven’t had a run in the double digits. This is now the blog of a freaked out runner. Nervous? No, I’m past that. I’m shitting myself over here (don’t worry, blaming it on the IBS totally works).

At least my life is more pulled together than the Jersey Shore kids’ lives! But I do steal their gym routine:

 

Any mysterious illnesses you feel like sharing?

I can’t be the only one waking up in the middle of the night in pain.

Share a story about being underprepared for a race. Please comfort me in this time of pain!

Any advice you care to share for the next ten days so I can freak out a little less? Tips? Calming mantras? (mine right now is “this is temporary” a little harsh, yeah probably)

A Weekend in Chicago

(edit: when using Live Writer, make sure to hit publish, not post draft to blog. whoops!)

My mom’s birthday is next weekend, but because my brother decided that he need to go to Lollapalooza, like he does every year, we celebrated this weekend. My mom loves doing touristy stuff in Chicago, which is great, because my dad grew up in the city and he knows what’s up. Plus my brother now lives in the city, which gives us a free bathroom and somewhere cheap to park. Both good things when it comes to Chicago.

So we took an architectural tour of the city, by boat! I highly recommend this as a fun summer activity. (if any of want to do one, I highly suggest the ones with Wendella or the Chicago Architectural Foundation.) It makes me sad that I will be leaving this beautiful city behind when I move. There is more than enough history here to keep me entertained for years.

My dad and I are nerds and have learned a lot about Chicago on our own. So we were those annoying people talking about the buildings before the tour guide even got a change to say something. At least the people around us found us hilarious, so we didn’t annoy them too much. (But seriously, why do boats have to move so fast? Every time I had my light meter lined up perfectly, the boat would move which would either expose or hide the sun. How rude!)

All you Chicago marathoners should consider doing a boat tour. You will get a good chunk of time sitting down, resting your legs, but you will still get to see lots of the city.

So after the tour, we started hunting for a restaurant. Thank you smart phones for helping make these decisions. We went with a local Brazilian steakhouse, Brazzaz. Twenty-four hours later, and I think my body is still digesting all the yumminess that was presented. I hadn’t eaten for almost 8 hours, so I just went face first and didn’t even think about taking a picture. Sorry guys. But let me tell you, it was amazing. A little pricey, but considering there were oyster on the half shell at the salad bar, it is totally worth it.

For those that don’t know, at a Brazillian steakhouse, gauchos (men serving food), walk around with varities of meat and serve you slices when you say yes. It’s pretty cool, everyone at the table has a chip that on one side says no and the other says yes. The gauchos only come to you if your chip says yes. It’s easy to overindulge in a place like this. I don’t eat red meat, but I was still over eating. For dessert, we all had coffee and I had an extra fried banana that are served as a side dish (seriously, I could eat this every day of my life). Again, this place would be great after a marathon. You know, you burn a few thousand calories and you just want food? All you can eat, baby.

So since there are no pictures of dinner, let’s look at Chicago some more.

 

 

Even though I’m ready for a change, I’m going to miss you a bit, Sweet Home Chicago!

Psst...

You should totally check out MissZippy's Larabar giveaway. If you haven't caught onto the trend Larabars are this amazing bites of healthy, deliciousness. They are made from fruit and nuts and contain 9 or less ingredients. The best part, even with about five million flavors, none are over 200 calories! My favs are all in the low 100s. They make for a great snack and I buy them by the semi-truck full.

Veg it up!

My last post discussed the spinach swap, which got me thinking, what are other great ways to sneak in some extra veggie servings? Because, well, can you ever get too many veggies in? (My IBS says yes… yes, you can get too many veggies, Alisa) So let’s discuss this matter…

Salads. Giant bowl. Enough produce to last a lifetime. End of story. (I totally want to end this post here, but then nobody would read my blog.)

Smoothies! Amanda at Run to the Finish brought up throwing spinach into your smoothie. I swear, I’m the creator of this idea, I don’t care what anybody says. But have you done other veggies? My mom swears by beets, I personally think they smell like garbage, so even if they taste amazing, I will never try them out. I love carrots. I chop them up and blend well (if you have a sucky blender, microwave your carrots with a bit of water, then blend). I also dig cucumbers! Not just in general, but in the smoothie form. You guys should try cucumbers + watermelon + ice for a refreshing summer bev!

Grated. Oh man, life would suck without my graters. Whenever I make anything with ground meat (generally turkey), I grate in a little something-something. (How sad is it that I tried to type somethin’, but I just physically do it? Nerd alert!) Carrots work the best for this. Burgers, tacos, meatloaf, whatever your heart desires! Try it in pancakes too, the carrots add an amazing sweetness! And just like the spinach swap, this is great, because you end up eating less of the caloric foods and more of the veg-tastic goodness.

So I’m going to go snack on some veggies and contemplate more ways to eat the good stuff, but I’ll watch Never Say Never first. I started the movie already and it’s pretty fantastical. Not gonna lie, I’m starting to get the fever. And I hope that I’m not the only one.

And because there’s a strange lack of pictures in my posts lately, here’s some Guinness lovin!

 

 

What’s the last movie you watched?

Currently learning about the Biebs, otherwise the last movie before this was Gulliver’s Travels and I adored that movie!

Any other veggie tricks you care to share?

I know I’m forgetting something good.

Have you done the spinach swap?

No, it’s no the latest dance crave… it’s the latest health craze! But I could create a dance to go with it if you would like!

It’s swapping in spinach for pasta in your favorite dish. So you get all the yumminess of the sauce, and less of the calories from the pasta. PLUS you’re adding in vital nutrients from the spinach and the dish tends to be more filling. I hear from some friends out in the LA area that restaurants are even adding this onto their menus (just like restaurants are filling giving the option to get a veggie or turkey burger, instead of the beef one).

I love my pasta (hello, my name is Alisa and I’m a carb-o-holic)! So I can’t do the full swap (no pasta, makes me an angry person), but I’ve been doing a variation of this for years! I can eat an entire box of pasta, if left alone, so here are some of my ways to trick myself into eating less.

• Sometimes I will put so chopped up spinach at the bottom of the bowl, so I add less noodely goodness.
• I like to chop some asparagus and throw it into the pot of pasta in the last few minutes, so when I fill up my bowl with the same amount, I get less pasta. (This works great for the penne shape, since they are similar in size and shape to asparagus)
• Veggie curls! Zucchini works wonderfully, but carrots work too (and there are probably other veggies that I haven’t tried). Again, throw them into the pot of pasta in the last few minutes so they cook up. This is fun with linguine OR even instead of linguine.
• Simple solution: spaghetti squash! Duh. And that’s a boatload of S’s! Sorry.
• And my final one: Cook up some squash (of any kind, I love acorn), mash it up with some milk (or white wine!) and mix with pasta! I love to make this, pour into a baking dish, top with some bread crumbs, and bake it up.
• For my mac and cheese lovers, stir some cheese in the squash and you get the same rich creaminess, with some of the flavor, and a lot less calories!

Now, I know that if you’re really craving pasta-heaven, not all of these ideas will suffice. But they are great ways to “sneak” in more veggies and cut out extra calories. My love handles thank me for this.

 

What are some of your favorite swaps?

I love making “milkshakes” by combining a bit of almond milk with frozen fruit and blend away. I also like putting berries into the bottom of my bowl before I scoop my coconut milk ice cream!

How much pasta can you eat in one sitting? Favorite way of consuming?

Maybe not a whole box, but probably half a box. I love pasta in any form, but for some reason, plain just sings the loudest to me. No sauce, just noodelicious-ness!

Five For Friday–Summer Edition

I fell asleep to thunderstorms last night, so you can only imagine how NOT surprised I was to wake up to thunderstorms this morning. Too bad, it was finally not so unbearable hot outside and the humidity was not horrible either. I waited it out hoping that I could get in a solid long run, because I haven’t done one since June. After an hour of sitting around waiting, I knew I had to work out, because I needed to get stuff done today! Thank goodness that I still have a stash of workout dvds floating around my house and there are lots of available choices on hulu.

Of course, it was beautiful out by the time I finished trying out a Bollywood workout on Hulu, but too bad. This was a fun workout, but I don’t think I got my usual “burn” that I get from running. But I looked like an idiot doing this, so Guinness was happy! All those years of dance class and I still have no coordination!

I know I’ve been a downer about summer lately, but I’m usually a positive person, so I’m a doing a FIVE THINGS I like about summer.

1. Grilling: Not only is it a healthier option, but everything tastes better on the grill. Right?

2. Margaritas on the deck at night: There is no other way to truly enjoy a margarita (well, in the dead of winter, with the heat turned up works too).

3. Dinning al fresco: This goes with numbers one and two! Listening to the birds chirp and feeling the breeze… it makes food taste better. Plus tons of restaurants and bars open up their patios and it just makes going out a little more exciting. Plus, some places allow dogs on their patios! Sunsets + food = Awesome!

4. Locally grown produce (and lettuce and herbs from MY pots!): If it’s not fresh, it just doesn’t taste the same. I could live at farmer’s markets and have become close with some of the farms. And I’m glad the bunny population does not come up on my deck to eat all my lettuce and herbs, I’m use them daily!

5. Extra sunlight: This is the only draw back to winter for me. I enjoy going to work at 5am and having the sun be out.

 

Now it’s off to buy some new towels and bathroom accessories! Highlight of my day!

 

What’s your favorite thing about summer?

It’s totally the produce for me.

Do you enjoy shopping for homey things? What are the colors in your bathroom(s)?

I’m beyond excited to get my own place to decorate! My shower curtain has tons of colors, but I picked out a sage green and chocolate brown that go with the curtain and using very natural accessories. Like a dark bamboo soap dispenser and shower hooks made with hemp. I’ll take pictures once I’m moved!