Bursting of raw (raw day 4)

8:45 Raw Protein w/ water

10:30 3/4 Pure Bar Organics cherry cashew bar pretty good and sweet

12:30-1:30PM We ate at 118 Degrees and shared brunch. It was still a lot. I started with blood orange tea.

Grawnola with raspberries and nuts sopping with almond milk

California salad with tomatoes and sprouts and sweet pepper tomato soup - I gave the salad to mom and drank my soup
This was some sort of Mexican dish with avocado and corn, hot sauce, and sprouted tortilla

Caramel cheesecake, which I remembered of course. I ate the crust and half the "cheese."

I've been so full that I haven't eaten. Just some water.

This is Sunday.

I downloaded Kindle for Mac so I could get the book Crazy Sexy Diet. I'm reading it and listening to Coconut Records. This is Sunday.

Thumbs up: barre fusion

I bought a 10 class for $29 Groupon to Studio Fusion to try the barre method and all sorts of other fusion classes.

I went to my first one this morning and I shook. The movements are small and muscles are isolated. I was able to do some good shoulder work and bicep curls as I've been working on those. I could feel my inner thighs working in ballet-like positions. I enjoyed it - though small, I felt it! :)

This Week At Studio Fusion				Web	Cancel
Sun	2/27/2011 9:45 AM	Barre Fusion	Nicole De Anda	n
Mon	2/28/2011 8:30 AM	Barre Fusion	Melissa Leonard	y	[ Cancel ]
Tue	3/1/2011 9:00 AM	Cardio Sculpt Fusion	Molly Richards	y	[ Cancel ]
Tue	3/1/2011 7:30 PM	Hip Hop Cardio Fitness	Tim Stevenson	y	[ Cancel ]
Wed	3/2/2011 10:00 AM	Turbo Kick™	Molly Richards	y	[ Cancel ]
Thu	3/3/2011 9:00 AM	Skinny Girl Pilates	Melissa Leonard	y	[ Cancel ]
Thu	3/3/2011 6:30 PM	Barre Cardio Fusion	Nicole De Anda	y	[ Cancel ]
Fri	3/4/2011 8:30 AM	Barre Cardio Fusion	Melissa Leonard	y	[ Cancel ]
Sat	3/5/2011 8:00 AM	Fit Club	Molly Richards	y	[ Cancel ]

Going back home to the West Coast

My spin instructor Frank plays music I don't normally listen to. I love this song by Coconut Records, Jason Schwartman's band.

Crazy sexy questions day 1

I perused Crazy Sexy Diet at the bookstore today and I definitely want a copy. It's a recommended read by a friend. I love this list of diet tips and her whole blog. I'm reading and reading right now.

In her book, she has 20 questions for 21 days of raw adventure, here's how it's panning out. So I guess I'm going to work on 21 days... or longer... for however long I can! :)

1. Did I abstain from coffee? Yes! I had tea. I hope that's okay.
2. Did I abstain from alcohol? I haven't had any since New Year.
3. Did I abstain from gluten? Yes
4. Did I abstain from animal products?
5. Did I abstain from sugar and choose low glycemic fruits and better alternatives such as stevia or agave? Mostly, I had a Pure Organic Bar that includes some dates

Low glycemic fruits (55 or fewer points): cherries, grapefruit, dried apricots, blackberries, raspberries, strawberries, apple, pear, plums, blueberries, peaches, oranges, grapes, kiwi fruit, bananas
Medium glycemic fruits (56 - 69 points) seem to include: mangoes, apricots, raisins, pineapple High glycemic fruits (above 70 points) seem to include: watermelon, dried dates

6. Did I dry brush today? First time!
7. Did I clean my sinuses with a neti pot? I'm getting one when I go home, but I seriously need one!
8. Did I move my body for at least 35 minutes? Barre fusion for 1 hour
9. Did I meditate for 15 - 20 minutes? Tonight?
10. Did I chew my meals thoroughly and mindfully? I did this morning, but mom and I went to 118 Degrees and we devoured our brunch. I tried my best though.
11. Did I laugh out loud and tell someone I love them? Hmm...
12. Did I spend (at least 5 minutes) in nature? I'm in California so what nature we have...
13. Did I get 8 hours of uninterrupted sleep? Yes I did.
14. What did I eat today and did I juice? I'll post pictures later, but no, I didn't juice.
15. How much purified water did I drink? I drink a whole liter
16. What supplements did I take? Women's One-A-Day though it's not raw and Raw Protein from Garden of Life
17. How was my elimination? After my big meal
18. What time did I stop eating and was it 3 hours before bed? Not time for bed, but yes I will!
19. How do I feel physically? I think I need a neti pot. I was irritable in the afternoon cause my neck was in pain.
20. How do I feel emotionally? Not good. I'm working on self-love continuously.

Raw bar testing

I don't usually buy bars of food. They aren't quite voluminous, but I decided to go for it. Lots of benefits in little bars and maybe volume is why my belly is so huge.


Raw Revolution raisin & chocolate
Raw Organic Food Bar fiber chocolate delite
Larabar apple pie
Pure Organics cherry cashew

Raw from EST to PST

On the plane, at about 7AM EST or 4AM PST, I had the rest of my Living Foods cheesecake.

At 10:15AM PST, I had 1/2 apple.

At 1PM PST, mom and I went to Au Lac, a Humanese/Vietnamese restaurant. I chose the curried "rice" filled with brocolli, cauliflower, corn, peas, avocado, olives, and dehydrated onions. I ate 1/4 of it and another quarter of it throughout the day (6:15PM).

After my curried "rice," I had half of the Rainbow in the Sky. I think it has jackfruit in one of the layers. I had another 1/4 of it after hot yoga (6:15PM) while the rest melted away.

Yes, I went to hot yoga at Huntington Beach Hot Yoga. I can go back again since I bought the $20 for 20 days deal as it would've been $15 for a drop-in anyways. It wasn't as hot as Bikram and I was definitely more advanced than almost all of these fit people. Crazy right?

At 7:30PM, I had a Raw Protein smoothie with water.

Then I got a little hungry at 9PM and had 1/2 an apple with a tablespoon of peanut butter.

It's still easy being raw and pretty fun too!

Unfortunate reunion

I'm in California and will update you soon.

The weather here reminds me of summer so I chose to share this picture:

(from poppytalk)

Matcha matcha fun!

Marbled matcha chocolate cake ended up really pretty with matcha and cocoa powder.

The matcha cream cheese frosting from the cupcake recipe made the cake even better.

The green tea cupcakes lacked strong flavor, but it was still good.

Scandinavian cinnamon rolls

I don't quite know the story of cinnamon rolls, but they seem pretty American - fattening, super sweet. Though they sell cinnamon rolls at Ikea and they're Scandinavian. Anyways, this recipe comes from Lotta Jansdotter's Handmade Living: A Fresh Take on Scandanavian Style.



They took quite awhile. What I liked was that, though they don't quite fill out the pan like I like it, the outside of the buns were really good unlike the outside of other buns I've made.

They weren't bad but I'm still not sure how much time I want to spent on "not bad."

Raw day 2

9:20-2 Raw Meal is pretty gross. It took me a really long time to consume it all. It was lumpy - I put in a regular bottle instead of one with a grater. The kids thought it was gross.

3:30 Pineapples that I bought for the retirement shindig but forgot and bell peppers

5 Raw Protein was gross also. A little sugar helped

6:30 Cabbage rolls and 1/2 Living Foods vanilla cheesecake from Greenlife were exceptionally good. The cabbage rolls were really nothing but the cheesecake was decadent so I only had half. I get the other half for tomorrow!


11:30 Taste of matcha chocolate cake, which I baked. Oh, baking...

I feel pretty good until I had some of the non-raw food. Ick, I have a headache. I like raw foods cause it makes me feel better.

I know it must be terrible to say but I get to see my daddy tomorrow even though the only reason I even get to see him is because I'm going to a funeral. :(

Raw day 1

9:15AM V-Core scoop w/ water in the car on my way to work. I drank some water beforehand.

12:30PM I forgot my water bottle in my car! :( I was hungry by lunch, but I drank a mug of Yogi tea (Is this raw? Oh well.) and it filled me up so I didn't so much eat many of my bell peppers.

3:30PM Half an apple

5:00PM The rest of my apple

6:00PM Banana

7:00PM 1/2 apple w/ 1 tbsp PB, a few blueberries, some peanuts after cause I was still rather hungry


9:00PM A bite of the carrot cake cupcake I made that totally made me not hungry anymore

Carrots on sale!

I've gone raw, but I bought carrots the other day. I still have a bunch of them left cause Pionner Woman's Sigrid's Carrot Cake recipe only yielded 6.5 cupcakes. I tried a bite... just one. FAIL. Oh well, not bad.

Anyways, I've never done anything with carrots or any vegetable in a dessert. The consistency of the batter seemed to overflow with carrots and not much batter. They turned out quite fluffy. Cream cheese frosting is always my favorite by the way.

REAL cinnamon rolls

My first attempt at cinnamon rolls turned out fantastically. They were easy and vegan.

Typically, cinnamon rolls take a long time and lots of patience. Pioneer Woman's recipe requires 45 minutes of cooling oil, milk, and sugar then rising of the yeast for an hour and a half. Finally, once assembled, the rolls sat for another half an hour.

The frosting has an unexpected surprise of espresso and maple for the richer color.

Was it worth it? Not bad, but I could totally live with the vegan cinnamon rolls. I liked them better.

Peanut butter & chocolate

I'm always in search of peanut butter recipes especially those with chocolate. However, I can't make much or else, I'll eat it cause I can't bring it to work (no nuts allowed).

I chose the peanut butter blondies over peanut butter and chocolate cake from The Conscious Cook. I must've made the wrong decision - these came out too hard though.



The frosting was good though.

Half bag of coconut & passion fruit preserves

I found the perfect recipe - passion fruit and coconut slice - an Australian one! I love Aussie recipes. It's more foreign than Canada but more accessible than Europeans.

I started with a shortbread, baked for 15 minutes then a mix of coconut, zest of lemon and lemon juice, and passion fruit preserves since I can never find the pulp or the real thing. :(


It's quite sweet, but pretty good.

Salty stuff

I wanted to make something and I had corn, three bell peppers, some onions, and of course, water and milk. I added some chipotle peppers and made my first soup EVER. Yes, that's right. I've never made soup. It's a pretty healthy and spicy chipotle corn chowder I put in a jar for Ms. Karen.

Raw start-ups

I've been taking V-Core protein powder in the morning, but I'm not sure how RAW it is. I also don't know how I'll carry it to California. So I bought some Raw Protein. I tried it at Earthfare. It wasn't as good, but it's raw and this guy looks happy.

I suppose I can't drink protein powders all day so I bought one packet of Raw Meal for breakfast tomorrow. This guy is also happy but more geeky and cuter I think. :)

Simple design

(from Design Crush)

I can do this.

I can't believe I've let myself go so badly. I've gained TWENTY pounds since my new job. That just means I need to quit and find something less harmful to my health and sanity. But since I want my bonus first, I'll work until June.

In any case, I don't know why it's so hard for me to eat well and workout. Something must've clicked last summer and I could do it all. Since eating is such an important part of losing my muffin tops, tomorrow will be the first day of an experiment: THE RAW FOOD EXPERIMENT. I will be in California starting Saturday, but I will begin tomorrow and last until next Sunday.

The only problem is I don't really know how to go raw. I'm going to try my best to be adventurous.

Tomorrow, V-Core for breakfast, bell peppers for when I'm hungry, an apple, and a banana. I'll be documenting it on camera! :)

In search of: best cinnamon rolls

I've made a few cinnamon rolls/sticky buns including vegan blueberry rolls and sweet potato rolls. Both were pretty good, but I want to find the best almost traditional cinnamon roll. I started with a vegan cinnamon roll recipe, which has been the best cinnamon roll recipe yet.

Cinnamon rolls take quite awhile so I have yet to make any attempt at doing a week of cinnamon roll baking. It would also be dangerous since I LOVE cinnamon rolls.

These required only a few minutes for rising.

18 minutes of baking and they filled up the pan. I only filled up the pan 3/4 of the way originally, but they expanded in the oven.

Faux white chocolate becomes a brownie

I bought decorating chips from Amazing Savings; they're pretty much white colored chocolate chips made of just sugar and cocoa butter. Well, I decided to use them in white chocolate brownies since I found a recipe on Smitten Kitchen.

When I took these out of the oven, they had big bubbles that I poked and popped. They settled after cooling.

Do not eat them till they're cooled cause they taste kind of funky.

Thinking of Ms. Karen

When I saw the words key lime and coconut, I thought of Ms. Karen. She makes key lime pie for herself and she gave me a coconut cake recipe I have yet to get to. So I made these key lime coconut blondies.

I made 2 coconut cakes, both gluten-free, and terrible. I just don't really like coconut dried and shredded, but somehow this works. I think the sweetened version is a little more moist.

Anyways, I'm adding it to my list of favorites. It's good both when warm and cooled.

Aunt Christie isn't a contender.

I mentioned that my Secret Pal gave me a recipe for her Aunt Christie's banana bread. I halved the recipe and that may have been the problem, but this could not rival any of the banana breads I've made. It's a little dry. So... there's no point in sharing the recipe. Get my favorite banana bread recipe at Orangette.

Bring something.

For every potluck I've been to, or anytime I'm asked to make my friends something to eat, I choose mac and cheese. It's pretty cheap, it fills you up, and it's simple comfort food. Simple is not in my vocabulary sometimes and rarely is it even for mac and cheese. I like to find complicated recipes.

I had leftover bacon from the Elvis triple layer birthday cake so I looked for a bacon mac and cheese recipe. I decided on this recipe because the pictures were pretty and the original recipe comes from an Iron Chef Michael Symon. I have no clue who he is but I tried it out.


I found that I like recipes in which the mac and cheese starts in a skillet with cream, the cheese is melted in, and the pasta is added on top. In this way, the pasta soaks up all the goodness. When a recipe doesn't do this, I pass it by.

It's delicious. If not for that buffalo chicken mac and cheese I made once, this would've been my favorite mac and cheese recipe.

Best burgers ever

One of my favorite burgers in recent memory came from Boca. It was spicy and everything, the cheese and toppings melted on top of the burger. Before then, I liked the burgers from Fuddrucker's. They're pretty simple: big burger with melty jalapeno cheese that made the bun obsolete.

Clearly, I like a little spice and toppings like pineapples and guacamole/avocado. This Southwest burger has guac. It's spicy from a chipotle pepper and adobo sauce. And it's blended with onions in ground turkey.

The only thing that made me cringe was having to buy mayo - fat free mayo only comes in big jars. What am I ever going to do with the rest of it? The lime-cilantro mayo is a good little add-on though.

I chose to use my tortillas and split a big burger in half.

Yancey requested two regular sized burgers. I put his cheese on them and his buns cause I didn't buy any.

I added it to my list of favorites.

On the agenda today: spinning & baking

I got annoyed all night because well, random people were at the house. What's new? They woke me up again for the second night in a row and what's worse, they stayed up all night. Don't these people sleep? I don't get enough sleep on the weekends, I'm sick, and I had to wake up for spin.

Again, I tried to avoid spin. I thought about running which is good I didn't because it's kind of cold out actually. I can't find any place to run, but I think I've settled on my old college campus when I do start training for the April 5K.

I'm skipping Zumba. I've had too much Zumba lately and I don't want to get burned out. Instead, I want to bake. First, I'm making Aunt Christie's banana bread, a recipe given to me by my Secret Pal. Secondly, I want to make homemade samoas and if time, Tagalongs! I'll need some more chocolate for that... oh yes, and caramels for the samoas.

I've decided to devote myself to real foods also so I'm thinking spring rolls with avocado, kelp noodles, and veggies - bell peppers and sprouts. I made a peanut sauce and ate it with kelp noodles last night. Yancey said the noodles look inedible. I'm about to leave and buy some supplies.

Oh yes, Groupon had a fantastic deal today for 10 classes in my hometown for just $29. I'm excited! Though Gold's Gym and Equinox offered some freebies also. The classes at Studio Fusion though include barre, kickboxing, and such so that's super exciting. I can't wait to try barre!

Another installation in whoopie pies: MANGO!

I bought 2 mangoes yesterday and decided to try a mango whoopie pie. Sadly, they weren't very mango-y. I should have used more mango I guess. Also, I'm not a fan of these thin versions of whoopie pies though it's better than that thin and crunchy red velvet whoopie I made the other week.

Mango whoopie pie