Day 2: Drooling over food network

Okay, so I've made it through almost two full days without bread (I haven't had time to bake any and I don't trust all the preservatives in the store-bought sliced kind; but you can have whole wheat bread if you want or french baguettes since french bread usually has less preservatives than pre-sliced white bread) , sugar, or CHOCOLATE. Good lord. On the sugar front, I've got to say this is a landmark for me. Most of the time when I "swear off sugar forever," usually after consuming too much brownie batter, I cave in like six hours.
I almost couldn't resist temptation today when my sweet neighbor brought over some italian cookies in the afternoon which the rest of my family was relishing... I was literally sniffing the pastries and my tougue was half a millimeter away from dooming my integrity. However, summoning the willpower of Superwoman, (hey I bet she has to work out a LOT to keep in ass-kicking shape wearing that tiny bikini and defend wimpy chocolaholics like me) I managed to clutch at what was left of my dignity, grab a handful of almonds, and head to the treadmill to burn off all that energy while envisioning a giant creme crepe dangling in front of me.

Here's the (proudly sugar-free) intake of the day:

BREAKFAST: Oatmeal with an egg boiled into it. Some turkey and an apple. Snacked on another apple halfway through class.

LUNCH: A turkey salad (lettuce, carrots, celery, shredded leftover turkey) dressed with soy sauce and apple vinegar. Pear for dessert.

DINNER: Mom made turkey and carrot dumplings! (Like potstickers but boiled rather than fried) Such a pick-me-up after falling asleep twice in class. Had a few of those and three pears plus handfuls of almonds to pull me through my workout.

WORKOUT: 30 minutes strength-building yoga, 30 minutes intense cardio intervals on the treadmill- 6 sets of 4 minutes super intense running (about 7-8 on the intensity scale, 10 being you're running from me on a bad hair day) followed by 1 minute of brisk walking. 5 minute cooldown.

I'm watching a rerun of Top Chef: Just Desserts right now and I think mom is yelling at me for getting the couch wet with drool...
Only one more day left- hope y'all are doing well!
Here're some recipes I'm dying to try out after the sugar deprevation is over:

• Chocolate bark
• Almond praline
• Pear Cake
• Granola Bars

Holiday Detox Breakfast (a.k.a. the omelette that fell apart)

I have a feeling we're all going to be bloated and overstuffed by the end of the holidays.
It's inevitable- it takes superhuman control to resist another slice of your aunt's award-winning black forest cake or cream-stuffed strudel. As for me, I'll be gone on a cruise exploring the carribean during Christmas, where I shall regain my tan and my sanity after weeks of cramming for semester finals.
Anyways, it's always nice to start your Monday off right, so here's a super healthy omlette I made myself for breakfast while playing with my new camera. It always feels really nice to do something that you know is good and healthy for yourself, and it was a great start to my day even if it fell apart :(
Just looking at the un-greasy, brightly colored vegetables make me feel cleaner and less guilty for all the sugar and carbs I consumed during thanksgiving.

RECIPE: You can pretty much throw in whatever you've got at hand; cranberries, apples, tomatoes, onions, leftover turkey etc. I kept it simple and light and just used
*2 eggs, beaten
*1 teaspoon of vegetable oil
*1/2 a carrot, finely diced
*1/2 a stick of celery, finely diced
*A pinch or two of shredded low-fat skim mozzarella
*A pinch of oregano
*Pinch of salt and pepper

PREPERATION: (Come on guys, I'm sure you know how to make an omelette! But if you don't...)
1.) Beat eggs and fry in vegetable oil or use cooking spray
2.) Sprinkle in veggies and cheese on one side of omelette
3.) Sprinkle salt, pepper, and oregano
3.) Fold and flip.

QUICK NOTE:

I'm going to be honest with you guys- I've been shrinking the pictures I post due to the fact I had been using a really crappy camera which produced grainy shots. Now that I've got a new and much better camera, I can make all the pictures larger and let y'all get to enjoy seeing way better quality and bigger pictures! 

Photo of the day #8: Hot soup on a Chilly day

"The weather outside is frightful, but inside, it's so delightful..."

It snowed today! Just a few virgin flakes of melting, icy blankness, but I really am happy about this since it gives me an excuse to pull out all the cold-weather comfort foods that are such familiar old friends.

I came home shivering today to this delicious soup, actually just a really chunky vegetable broth, which satisfied both my immediate need for warmth and my craving for soup.

Even though I'm generally sick of winter after the first two weeks and the pretty frosted ground has turned into two feet of gray, slogging, frozen snow, there are definitely times I appreciate having a warm beverage and relaxing with my family in the warm kitchen while a blizzard is raging outside.
I also feel like I'm getting a bit ahead of myself right now, seeing that it's only November and there's not even any legitament snow on the ground yet, but the holiday season is really starting to get to me.
I predict plenty of pumpkin and Thanksgiving recipes to come!

Photo of the day #6: Cravings

I have a feeling this is because of my nostalgia for summer as much as my overall love for fresh produce, but lately all I've been craving is fruit! So please put up with all these random fruit photos.

Bananas:

Apples:

And one of my all-time favorites (though I'm pretty much in love with all fruit)

Asian pears! So crunchy and juicy.

Yup. Will try to post more regularly now that all the quarter testing craziness is over.





Photo of the day #4: doggone tired

I swear, my lazy dog Lulu personifies (or to be technical, "animalizes..." ; is that the right word?) everything I'm feeling right now, and here's the short list:

• Tired as hell
• Tired of being tired
• Any desire to get anything done absolutely lost
• Annoying cold and eternal stuffy nose, for which the infallible remedy is strong mint balm and lots of chicken soup with tons of garlic. Oh yeah, and while we're in a dream world whee I have the time or energy to make chicken soup or to sniff mint balm, I might as well add a good nap to the list as well

To quickly put a recap on the last two days, as I haven't been able to really post-

SUNDAY:As a method of procrastination from doing my homework, I decided to go with my parents to a dinner party at the house of a family from Bangledesh. After the typical "how tough immigrants have it" and "we do everything for our children" talk, we had a lovely feast of traditional Bangledeshian dishes. For dessert, there was homemade, freshly fermented sweet cheese, which was pretty much just thickened milk, water, and sugar. White cheese curds are my mom's favorite dessert, and she finally got ahold of the recipe that night. I have a feeling lots of milk and sugar shall be wasted in the near future! All in all, it was a lovely night and though I stayed up late finishing homework, the food was definitely worth it.

MONDAY: Had a tennis match. Too tired to exist.

Now more pics of the star!