Healthy Food On Hand

Since Ryan and I didn’t arrive back in Orlando until around 8 p.m. last night, we didn’t have the chance to get to the grocery store to stock up on food for the week.

Fortunately I assembled a pretty decent lunch using food we had around the apartment.

Noodle Bowl!

Today’s meal featured Carba Nada egg fettuccine pasta with Barilla marinara sauce, steamed broccoli and Parmesan cheese.

Carba Nada

Barilla!

Bowl o' Goodness

For not having a lot of food on hand, this lunch was pretty great!

Healthy Food On Hand

I try to have the makings for a healthy meal on hand at all times, and find that keeping a pantry or freezer stocked with certain items makes this a lot easier. In our pantry you will almost always find:

• Pasta
• Oatmeal
• Barley
• Soup
• Peanut butter
• Protein powder

Our freezer will almost always be stocked with the following items:

• Veggies (edamame, corn, broccoli, etc.)
• Fruit (strawberries, bananas)
• Whole wheat bread (sandwich thins, Alternative Bagels) Note: I freeze bread all the time because it takes me a while to get through a whole loaf of bread or package of bagels.
• Shrimp
• Salmon burgers
• Veggie burgers

Even though I may complain about having no food sometimes, I always seem to have something I can conjure up into a healthy meal.

Question of the Afternoon

What healthy foods can almost always be found in your pantry or freezer?

Big Spaghetti Dinner

Big spaghetti dinners were one of my favorite meals growing up.

I would sit in my big, wooden chair at the dinner table as my mom placed a pot of steaming noodles on a hot plate in front of me. The steam from the noodles would moisten my face with a warm heat and my stomach would growl in anticipation. Next to me would be a bread basket filled with buttery garlic bread for easy access.

My mom would make this dinner for me the night before I had a cross country meet in junior high.

I would get so nervous before a meet even though I was not even kind of good and the team never really depended on me. I hated the competitive nature of meets and would nearly make myself sick with nerves. A big spaghetti dinner was one of the things that calmed me down and made me relax.

Though tonight’s dinner wasn’t quite as fantastic as the spaghetti dinners I  enjoyed growing up, it still was quite tasty.

I prepare our pasta feast using Barilla thin spaghetti.

 

While the noodles bubbled away in a big pot of boiling water, I chopped up steamed broccoli florets to toss on top of the cooked pasta.

I also popped open a can of clams to add a little protein and salty flavor to the mix.

Before digging in, I topped the spaghetti, broccoli and clams with marinara sauce.

Even though I’m not the teeniest bit Italian, I sure do like eating like I am! 😀

Question of the Evening

• What is a meal that always makes you feel relaxed and calm?

Savin’ Them ‘Gs

I’m sure you’ve heard people refer to money as “g’s” before, right?

If Only My Blog Paid Me Like This...

Apparently I’m not well-versed in pop-culture slang, because I never knew what exactly “g’s” stood for when referencing money. Just in case you’re a super-blonde like me and never knew, it stands for “grand” like $1 grand = $1,000. Somebody, somewhere just rolled their eyes into the back of their head (Likely Ryan 😉 ).

I hope you enjoyed today’s lesson… Or will forgive me for telling you something you already knew and thought was totally obvious.

Annnyway, I have always been a g-saver and constantly look for great deals and ways to save my money.

A couple of months ago my friend Merri sent me a text message that changed my life. (Okay, not really, but it was still a good little nugget of information that she shared with me.)

Did you know you can get a polish change instead of a pedicure for $10?

Nooo. Actually I didn’t know this.

Ever since I got that text, I haven’t splurged on a full-on pedicure. I’ve opted for a simple polish change on my toes, which still looks great, but costs less than half the price of a pedicure at most nail salons. Score!

Polish Change Lunch Break

Aside from the price, a wonderful thing about a polish change is that you can often get in and get out of the nail salon in 20 minutes. That means you may even be able to cram it into your lunch break.

That’s exactly what I did today. I managed to save even more time by bringing my own polish since I often take an inordinate amount of time selecting the perfect color.

Self-Timer at a Stop Light! What, What!?

O.P.I Shade: A True Aboriginal

I was in and out and on with my life in less than 20 minutes! Sch-weet!

Lunch

Since I have a long day ahead of me involving a flight to Chicago and our first night of bachelorette party fun, I wanted to be sure to enjoy a filling and nutritious lunch.

I opted for my favorite combination of noodles, Barilla mushroom and garlic marinara sauce, steamed broccoli and freshly chopping spinach.

Noodles + Sauce + Veggies

Apparently My Camera Focuses Only On the Most Nutritious Parts of My Bites...

Winner, winner, chicken dinner.

Noodle Boooowl

I also ate a Colby-Jack string cheese on the side that went undocumented.

Tonight

I am an antsy-pants  girl this afternoon! I just want my weekend of fun to start NOW!

Tonight I will be arriving in Chicago around 8 p.m. and we’ll be kicking off this wonderful bachelorette party weekend by doing Lord knows what. No one is telling me anything about the whole weekend, so I’m looking forward to having a good time at the hands of my wonderful friends. 🙂

I’ll try to keep the ol’ blog updated as much as possible while I’m in Chicago.

See ya from the Windy City! 😀

Gourmet Nutrition Giveaway

Don’t forget to head on over to Jessica’s blog to see who won the Gourmet Nutrition Giveaway!

Of Possible Interest

• Are You Addicted to Exercise? Signs of Exercise Addiction (FitSugar.com)
• Can Surfing the Internet Help You Lose Weight? (Time.com)
• Top 10 Healthiest Vegetables (MyHealthPassion.Wordpress.com)
• Fun Facts about Peanut Butter & a Recipe for PB&J French Toast (ImAnOkie.com)

Question of the Afternoon

What did you do for your bachelorette party? If you’re not married, what would you want to do for your bachelorette party?

If at First You Do Succeed, Don’t Try Again

Lesson learned: If at first you do succeed, don’t try again. (Can you guess the results of today’s race?) 😉

After last year’s Doggie Derby victory, we headed out to compete in today’s event with full faith in our little girl.

People and their dogs came out in droves!

Doggie Derby Crowd

We met up with some friends and cheered on adorable dogs of all different breeds.

Ryan & Sadie, Pat & Kaluha

Sadie competed in the 6th heat of the middleweight dogs.

Using our winning strategy from last year, Ryan held onto Sadie at the start line while I called to her from the finish line.

Our strategy backfired a bit because this year the guy at the starting line took a while to blow the horn to start the race. Sadie was freaking out and jumping back at Ryan to let her go when the horn finally went off. She was so concentrated on trying to make Ryan release her so she could run to me, that she wasn’t looking forward when the race started. Needless to say, our little Sadie got her little butt kicked in round one!

Don’t worry though, Sadie was still as happy as ever after her defeat. 😀

We hung out at the Doggie Derby for a bit longer before taking Sadie to the dog park to hang out with the other “non-winning” dogs. 

On Our Way to the Park

Walkin' the Trails

Still as Happy as Ever

It is h-o-t outside today!

Lunch

We were quite sweaty by the time we left and headed home to fill our bellies.

Pasta sounded like the perfect lunch!

Barilla Plus Pasta

Ryan and I both really liked the Barilla Plus thin spaghetti. (One serving has a whopping 10 grams of protein!)

We topped our pasta with steamed broccoli, cauliflower, marinara and Parmesan cheese.

Veggies + Pasta + Marinara + Parmesan

Saturday Afternoon Lunch

After lunch we busted out the lawn chairs and layed out in the sun while reading our respective books for 90 minutes or so. I was gettin’ HOT and had to come in to update the ol’ blog!

Tonight

I’m getting excited for tonight! We have plans to see Straight No Chaser, a fantastic a cappella group, in concert at the Hard Rock Live at  8 p.m. Should be a blast!

What was the first concert you went to?