April Foodie Pen Pal

I did another Foodie Pen Pal this month with Lindsay at the Lean Green Bean (www.theleangreenbean.com). You sign up at the beginning of the month, and Lindsay pairs you with someone else who signed up. You are responsible for emailing them, exchanging info, and shipping them a box with $15 worth of goodies. 

This month I was paired with Chrystina from L.A. She lives near Warner Brother studios, and send me an AWESOME box stuffed full of yummy snacks! She even included a nice reusable shopping bag, a keychain birth a "V" on it, and a few cookie recipies (she used to work for Mrs. Fields!) Now, let's get started with the list of goodies! 

See's Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips: a whole pound! The chips themselves are large, size of a nickle, and so far I just like to snack on them plain :-) I would like to try the recipe for See's origional chocolate chip cookies listed on the back of the package. 

Domino Bar: it is a candy bar with all different layers, Bourbon, Espresso, caramel, peanut butter, with. Short bread cookie at the bottom covered in chocolate.  I had a bite or two, but it was a flavor explosion! So much that I couldn't figure it out and gave it to my husband :-) of course he didn't like the peanut butter (how can you NOT like peanut butter!)

Lenny & Larry's Complete Breakfast Bar- cranberry almond: omg this was good! So moist, and kind of like a cookie.  I had it for a mid day snack and it filled me up until dinner time! I will say with almost 300 calories it better keep me full until dinner time :-) I don't know if I will be able to find any more of those in my area, but it will keep my eye out for them! 

Seapoint Farms Edamame: I have not had edamame, I usually stay away from it because of the soy/estrogen/cancer thing, but I gave these a try. Ehh...not my favorite. I had Spicy Wasabi and lightly salted- is it weird that I had a difficult time breathing while eating these? Like I had an allergy to them or something...

Kopali- organic dark chocolate covered espresso beans: I mean really, fair trade chocolate and healthy soil with my coffee beans! Sign me up! I can only handle a few at a time (5), but YUM! Great find!

Potter's Crackers- carrot ginger crisps: these were interesting. I didn't know whether they would be sweet, spicy, or salty when I tried them and that's exactly what they are. Haha! They were even a little chewy in certain spots. Very interesting cracker and a great change from an everyday Ritz ;-) The main ingredients were carrots and candied ginger. Very cool indeed. 

Bunches & Bunches- hand crafted Green Fire Roasted Chile Sauce: I have not tried this yet, but it looks yummy! I will be adding it to my Mexican dinner this week!

KIND- Protein Bar and a Fruit & Nut bar: I seriously can not say enough good things about these. KIND in General is an awesome brand of food that I found when I went gluten free. The Protein Bar really helped to fill me up, didn't contain any whey or soy proteins, and had a layer of chocolate on the bottom. The Peanut Butter & Strawberry bar was AMAZING! It tasted like a PB&J sandwich, and it is gluten free! I will be adding these to my weekly shopping list. 

What a great Foodie Pen Pal I had! I'll be sure to sign up to do another!

Shakeology Challenge Winner!!

Remember that month where I blew up your Facebook news feed everyday with pictures and recipies of my daily Vegan Chocolate Shakeology (http://www.shakeology.com/). It is seriously the best protein/superfood shake I have ever had. I've tried all the flavors, and nothing is as good at the Vegan Chocolate. I chose the Vegan Chocolate due to a diary intolerance.  

Well...the reason I posted a picture every day was because I was doing a 1 month challenge group to win some awesome prizes! So, sorry if you de-friended me, or chose to hide my posts, but I WON! 

First, let me say Jess at Operation Skinny Jeans is my Beach Body Coach. She has become one of my best online blogging friends over the past few months. I'm pretty sure I started following her blog on day 1, and her journey is inspiring for everyone! She is so real, and friendly, just an all around awesome person.  Check out her blog here: http://www.operationskinnyjeans.com/

I won a Ruffles With Love tank (http://ruffleswithlove.com/) that is so super cozy and fun! I love the little bow! I was able to pick out whichever one I wanted. I already own the "meet me at the bar" tank, so I chose the "I don't sweat, I sparkle" tank in pink! I bought the first tank when I lost my first 40 pounds, I highly recommend reinforcing your progress by upgrading your workout wardrobe if you are meeting your goals! Who doesn't love a cute workout tank? 

I also won a pair of Sol Repubilc Relay earbuds (http://www.solrepublic.com/relays) I chose blue (duh!) Seriously, I always just wore the earbuds that come with my iPhone, and never thought much about it. Until I tried these. They come with different sized earbud attachments, because not everyone had the same size ears. I fitted mine until they were comfortable, and they DO NOT SLIP OUT EVER! I mean EVER! They don't even think about slipping anywhere, they stay right in place during my workouts.  I wish I would have known how important a good pair of earbuds is when I started working out! So much wasted energy on adjusting my earbuds, when I could have been running faster! The sound quality is also very good, I'm no expert, but the bass sounds deeper than on my iPhone earbuds. I HIGHLY recommend checking them out and getting a pair for yourself (good motivation to loose that next 5# or get into the next size pants, right?) And the colors are fun! 

I worked hard, completed the Alpha level of T-25, drank Vegan Chocolate Shakeology everyday for 30 days, and  posted a picture of my shake as well as a new recipe each day for the entire 30 days.  Jess made me take before and after measurements and pictures. I personally didn't notice much of a difference after the month, but my before/after pics and measurements tell a different story.  I only lost 3 pounds, but 5.5 inches overall- one inch from my chest, and one from my thigh, and one from my hips! A 1/2 inch from my arm! I have before and after pics, but I'm not confident sharing them yet...maybe someday... (I even put them side by side like I was going to post them) well...if you really want to see you can follow me on Instagram (LeMoNBaBy777)- I've been known to post a few #selfies over there. 

Well that's it friends! I did it! I blew up your Facebook newsfeed for a month, but I WON the challenge! My body has become stronger and healthier because of it! And I have a few new workout accessories to use! 

Also- if your not following Jess at Operation Skinny Jeans, you should. http://www.operationskinnyjeans.com/

Thanks Jess! You're the best!!

Quick hi!

It's been a while, and I've been busy. Therefore I haven't been around a lot. I've been busy with catching up at work, working and playing outside quite a bit, and spending my online time ordering things; seriously we have like 30 packages coming to our house this week. Online shopping is awesome! 

We have so many fun events coming up and so many blogs I have planned to write! I'm hoping to do a few reviews, and updates to keep you all in the loop. I know you love to hear what is going on in my life ;-) 

The final count down for the school year has begun and we are T-25 days! Which reminds me, I've been doing T25 with a coworker after work on Tuesdays, it has been so much fun. We put it up on the smart board,  is a quick calorie burn, and my coworker has been a rockstar!  She is modifying when needed, but not too much, my heart rate monitor usually reads about 300 calories for 30 minutes (25 cardio and 2:30 stretch). We have been doing mostly the Beta cardio DVD. I'm looking forward to Jillian next week. I love my Shaun T, but I, looking forward to a slow burn with light weights for a change. 

We also took away Allie pacifier. Tonight is night 2, and she was more angry tonight. Yesterday I just told her the "binki fairy" took her binki for a new toy. She went down fine, and slept great! This morning when she got up there was a Littlest Pet Shop toy for her. However, as soon as we got in the car to go to school Allie found her binki in my purse. MOMMYFAIL!! Therefore she had this idea that she needed to make a binki bear at build a bear- we had been talking about it, but when she did so well without it, I thought we could avoid all that. So, I took her today after school to Build-a-Bear, I had never been before, and it was pretty cute. She picked a pink sparkly kitty cat and put her binki inside. Everything was good until she started to get tired right before bed. She was MAD! And wanted her binki out of the kitty. The only way I got out of her room was by telling her that I was going to go look for a "spare binki"... Guess we will see how day 3 goes tomorrow. Wish us luck! 

Well, that's all for now! I'm off to bed- yes it is only 10:00pm, but I have a big morning at the gym tomorrow! (Going for a 600 calorie burn in 60 minutes)

Skinnied Up Ham Sliders

A few months ago a co-worker recommended these ham and cheese sliders, ok- well I really don’t know if these are the EXACT ones, because she said the recipe was from Pinterest and we all know how big Pinterest is…so I did my best to find something I thought she was talking about.

(http://www.pipandebby.com/pip-ebby/2013/8/12/hawaiian-ham-and-cheese-sandwiches-tailgate-sandwiches.html)

I decided to make them one night when we had a friend come over and they were SUPER easy!  And mighty tasty! But REALLY!?  20 pieces of cheese, 8 oz. of cream cheese, AND a stick of butter.  Come on, I’m all about things tasting yummy, but not at that cost!

So, I skinnied them up a bit and I’ll have you know they are still really yummy.  Here is how I make them:

Ingredients:

20 Hawaiian rolls

1 pound of Ham (any kind is fine)

10 thin slices of Provolone cheese

Topping:

1/8th cup of light margarine spread- melted

1 TBSP yellow mustard

1 TBSP Worcestershire sauce

1/4th cup Parmesan cheese

2 TBSP dried onion flakes

INSTRUCTIONS:

1) Preheat oven to 350

2) Lightly spray 9x13 glass dish

3) Cut Hawaiian rolls in half and place the bottoms in the pan

4) Add 1 piece of ham to each bottom (It makes it A LOT easier to pull the sandwiches apart when they are put together nicely)

5) Add ½ piece of thin sliced provolone cheese (folded in half) to each sandwich

6) Place the tops on sandwiches

7) Mix together, butter, parmesan, Worcestershire, dried onion flakes, yellow mustard

8) Spread mixture on top of rolls

9) Cover with foil and bake for 25 minutes at 350 degrees

ENJOY!!!!

Friday Photo-dump

I should always begin with a quick pic of Allie ;-) this is yesterday in between storms, we went to the Clubhouse to run out some energy. 

Also, we did some of this on our way home... Puddle jumping 

I actually made dinner at dinner time! I tried a new recipe from Southern Living (http://www.myrecipes.com/m/recipe/baked-chicken-rice-with-black-beans-10000001873369/) even Allie ate it! The top pic is of a little meal prep- chopped veggies (red potatoes and butternut squash- tossed in sunflower oil and Trader Joes Everyday seasoning YUM)! The other dish is Italian chicken, chopped red potatoes, and green beans- throw a 1/2 packet of dry Italian mix on top and about 1/8 cup melted butter (I used Country Crock Light). 

This week I wore a Bic Band just about everyday... LOVE THEM!! I also wore my new workout tank from Ruffles With Love, and my cozy hoody from Old Navy. 

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend!