Let's Not talk About It

I know I've skipped a lot. My summer has been everywhere, literally. It's hard for me to remember to do this everyday...

So, today has been so far successful. I am going to go clean my room after making Roast Beef Hash and drinking a pot of coffee. Holy cow I feel energized!!

Day 9 & 10: Delayed, but here!

So, even though I'm writing this a day late I'm still good. Yesterday I was woken at 7:30am to men trying to open my window with a crowbar. Apparently, they were fixing the exterior masonry of my building aka bumping around everywhere and being loud.

So, B had an interview so I decided to get up with him to clean. Damn, I've been avoiding it for like a week. It's not even that bad...

Still magically delicious

Breakfast: Lucky Charms, 2 pieces of buttered toast with jelly and coffee. And yes, I am that person who picks out all of the marshmallows. When I was on Weight Watchers, I ate TONS of cereal because it was high in fiber and you could mix it with fiber cereals to make it more filling and less points. Good quick breakfast, lunch, snack, dinner or second dinner!



Lunch: Buffalo Chicken Quesdillas and Nachos. These are a great, quick snack. All you have to do is cook some chicken (or use precooked), mix it with buffalo wing sauce, add cheese and chicken to a tortilla and yum. We also made "Cheap Man Nachos" where you take tortilla chips and microwave shredded cheese-- serve with salsa on the side.

Dinner: I was stuffed before work, so I didn't have time to snack, shockingly. But, we prepared dinner for the night. B cooked it while I was at work. We made delicious, awesome, Greek-inspired meatballs called Keftedes. We made it with pork and beef, though traditionally they are lamb and beef. We served it with rice infused with tomato and lemon and baked potatoes. Holy cow--yum.

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Well, today I didn't do to horrible either-- even though I spent a ton of money. I must be on the routine of waking up to obnoxious sounds because the jets from the Air & Water show sure make a lot of racket! But, anyway I woke up with a huge migraine (which I still have, but has slimmed down slightly that I'm hoped on aspirin/caffeine pills) so I didn't want to cook.

Lunch: I had a meatball sandwich delivered, it was good with waffle fries. I ate it all-- I needed to.

Snack: We got cookie sundaes again, oops. I think I am going to find a good cinnamon cookie sundae and by a tub of apple pie ice cream and caramel topping. I also had two bottles of water when I went to work, and I'm still dehydrated. Yuck.

Dinner: I just ordered lasagna. I'm excited :]


Operation 20:  My budget is a little crushed, but I am feeling a little better lately-- more energetic to say the least. As I have gotten through "Summer goals" I feel as though this ups my attitude, too. Okay loves, peace out for tonight-- TOMORROW IS DAY 0: MY LAST DAY @ WORK!!

Just because. This is MY city. :]

Day 8: Grrr.

Well, I usually don't get up at 7:30am unless I have to pee, but this time it was because I was shaken from slumber by banging, thumping and clodding around. My property manager released a note in early July to prepare us for a exterior masonry project expected to happen late July. Well, buddy it's August and this has happened for the last two days during non-regular business hours. That is so rude. I consider myself to work a second shift job where I get home late, sleep in late.

That's my rant and rumble for today. I guess I'll get down to business
Breakfast: Lucky Charms, toast and coffee. I read somewhere that coffee is a metabolism booster, is this true?


After breakfast, I swear I'll clean the apartment, start getting lunch ready and preparing the Keftedes (Greek meatballs) for tonight. I'll post the recipe and a picture in a little bit.

Day 7: Oops

Okay, kids. It has been a busy week. Because it is my last week and B has been spending the week with me, I have been busy beyond belief. I have found myself being very lazy lately even though I feel like I have so much to do before summer is over (which for me is in 3 weeks).Still, I have great news: B has a job interview tomorrow; I hope that they can work with his availability :]

Tonight on the agenda, I plan on pretending to be a good little housewife and cleaning everything (hopefully burning a few calories). This place is a disaster. While I am not sure it will happen, it needs to before tomorrow!

Sorry for not keeping my food inspirations, interests, and journals posted-- I honestly thought about it each night, but I just didn't do it. I am going to try to get myself to do it better, really. I want to start sharing more recipes, tips and learning experiences.

So, today....
Breakfast: Are you kidding? I woke up at noon.

Lunch: I made Dinty Moore Beef Stew and rice. I love this stuff because it is cheap and keeps you full long.
When making soup or stew, make a serving bed of rice to stretch your dollar and keep you fuller longer. 

Snack: Well, I guess this was my breakfast. But, I went to Einstein Brothers' Bagels and got a chocolate chip bagel with strawberry cream cheese and a caramel blender (like a frap but more delicious). I was really impressed by the selection of items @ EBB-- especially for lunch

I really want to try this-- especially if you get it with a side like potato salad or soup!

Dinner: B and I prepared this dinner last night-- I like to call it Fake 'N Bake BBQ. We bought a rack of ribs at Aldi for $10, not kidding. Since we don't have a grill here at the apartment, we combined some recipes from Alton Brown and some standard recipes online. We went for the whole process- brine, dry rub, braise and glaze. Bill added extra cayenne by mistake which made them extra spicy, but I still really loved them. I saved the other half of the rack in the fridge. I'm going to pull it off the bone tomorrow so we can make sandwiches.
With the ribs, we decided to go big or go home-- we made baked potatoes, corn on the cob, baked beans and ate leftover corn muffins. When making baked beans, add 1/4 cup brown sugar for a little extra kick!!

Two corny tips (hardy, har):

1. When boiling corn on the cob, put in 1/4 cup sugar into the water with as much salt at you like. Boil the corn in this mizture for 8 minutes. 

2. When making corn bread or muffins, add a can of cream corn for some extra veggie servings and to make them sweet and moist. 

Snickerdoodle...mmm

Dessert: I know it's bad, but I ordered delicious cookie sundaes for Bill and I from D'Agostino's Pizza. These are so good, and I'm having "girl time".

Second Dinner: No existent,too much junk!!

Op 20: I stepped on the same scale today, and compared to last week I have lost 2lbs! That is awesome; I am super excited. It's a great start. I am going to start writing in here more to track my eating habits while spending less money and going more homemade. Here  we go!

Day 3: White Hot Night

I attempted to write this side bonfire, but my phone became as exhausted as I was.

Today was overall pretty good with a few drawbacks. I came home from \the city and went to the doctors. I, unfortunately, got some bad news about my orthodontia. I am not happy with being a mature, young adult with braces and now I feel like a junior high misfit with rubber bands. My "hotness" vanished just as quickly as my jaw started throbbing. Oh well, work it!

After that, I went shoe shopping and got these killer booties from Payless--love that store! Look at how cute they are!

But, I also got to go bowling, bonfire-ing and White Castle-ing. It was a fun, interesting night with great conversations and a little competition. B won at bowling, but I was not far behind! Going to white castle at midnight was "special" with many a drunk men and interesting comments. My friends were hilarious! But, I'm so tired and ready to go to bed.I really don't want to go to work tomorrow, I should've quit sooner. I want to stay home with my BFFs :(

Well, the specials today include...

Thursday night second dinner: Chicken nuggets and macaroni and cheese. B and I couldn't help ourselves. We stayed up too late and got the midnight munchies. It needed to happen!

Breakfast: Pumpkin Scone and Skinny Caramel Frap with Whip. These are a delicious, diet-friendly treat because of the skim milk and low fat!

Lunch: Quizno's Torpedo Beef&Cheddar Torpedo. I must be obsessed.

Snack: Small piece of Mom's homemade banana bread with chocolate chips. Banana bread is a great source of fiber, while adding chocolate chips may not be "healthy" it's still delicious. Go with dark chocolate for antioxidants and a stress reliever. 

Dinner: Portillo's Beef&Cheddar Croissant, fries and a tamale. Let's not talk about it. I didn't eat all my sandwich, but not an excuse for eating crap. While Portillo's used to be delicious, I changed my mind.

Second Dinner: After bowling, we decided that we were in desperate need for a bonfire and a reason to talk about the crazy man known as Mark Wahlberg. Here I learned that I love Bud Light with Lime and Sweet Tea Vodka. We made s'mores -- which is very dangerous when drinking. After a few drinks in the others, we decided to make a trip to the wonderful white fortress with little square burgers. We met a homeless, crazy man who said " I peed on my leg, but it felt good because it was warm". Needless to say, it was a fun, interesting night.

I wish I could do this... make a castle out of White Castles. Yum.

Day 2: Extra Schloppy Beachin'

Woke up this morning to walk a mile to the beach.

While walking with a HUGE bag isn't so beach glamorous, the view was totally worth getting sand in every crevice of my body. Sick. We decided to picnic on the beach after the long walk and after eating, got in the freezing cold Lake Michigan water to throw around a lacrosse ball. We like to improvise, obviously.

This wasn't from today, but it gives a great view of the beach I was laying out on.
Yes, even though it's August, the water is still cut glass. 

The "DePaul famous" Second Dinner (last night): Aldi's clancy pretzels. They are addictive, BEWARE. But, it did cure my salt craving. B and I made ice cream cones. Instead of gorging out of the container, ice cream cones are a sensible way to enjoy dessert and remain closer to the actual serving size.

Breakfast: One Reese's cup, not kidding. I'll work on it!!

Lunch: Since we woke up at noon to go directly to the beach, we brought along an insulated reusable tote filled with PB&J on hamburger buns; mozzarella string cheese; chips; Venom energy drinks (for our beach dranks) and another fan favorite, Skinny Taffy Apple Salad. This is really easy to do and a great snack when you need something sweet or crunchy!

Skinny Apple Taffy Salad
1 container of Cool Whip (I use free or light, tastes the same)
2 crunchy Granny Smith apples
1 can of pineapple tidbits, drained
1 package of low-fat Butterscotch pudding mix

Core and cut the apple into tiny pieces. Mix together the pudding mix and Cool Whip, add fruit and Viola!

Snack: Nothing really, I munched on a few more chips and had another string cheese. Because we didn't get our drank on at the beach, we decided to make margaritas. We used the Jose Cuervo prepared mix (with tequila). They are easy to make, and to make it look like you made effort fill a  blender full of ice, fill it with mix half way, add a handful of strawberries and garnish with a chunk of pineapple. This is a great idea when hosting and works really great with Taco Tuesday (Ole!)

Dinner: We were so close to getting BBQ, but we decided it would be silly to spend money especially with all of the food we bought yesterday. C, a BFF, who came to the beach with us stopped by for dinner too. We  decided to make Sloppy Joes and homemade baked french fries. These are both really easy things to make and at most takes 1 hour! The sloppy joes I make are sweet and without BBQ which went perfectly on toasted buns. I crunch a few potato chips on top of the sandwich, delish. To make french fries, cut up the potatoes in french fry shapes, soak in water for 15minutes and preheat the stove to 450. Pat dry and throw them in some oil and on an Al+ sheet pan with your favorite seasonings, we used salt and paprika. Bake for 45minutes flipping at the halfway point. Simple.

And just because I was too hungry to take a picture...

Have some more sloppy joes. I made 'em extra sloppy for yous. I know how yous kids like 'em sloppy.

Dessert: While we haven't had it yet, I'm considering a small bowl of cobbler accompanied with some ice cream. Yummy

Operation 20: :] Going well, still on track! Going for a long walk to the beach today carrying some extra weight helped a ton. Don't forget, even cleaning the house (which is going to be done today) is burning calories!!

Day 1:Jammin' out to Meat Loaf

Today was an adventure to say the least, I quit my job.  Not kidding. 

On the menu today, we have...

Breakfast: skipped (oops, I was too nervous)
 
Lunch: Quiznos $5 Large Bacon & Cheddar sub on Parmesan Italian bread with diet cranberry grapefruit juice

Add honey mustard and pickles, you'll think you died and went to heaven

Quizno's sandwiches are AWESOME. You should really try their torpedos and bullets.  When you first get it, you look down and say "Hey, where's the rest of my sandwich?" because the bread is skinny like a t-ball bat. But after you consider the price, it's totally worth and more than filling. I recommend smothering every sandwich they have in their honey mustard sauce (and don't forget the pickles!!). It is beyond my favorite; if I could drink it I would. Reader, if you ever come across a bulk size barrel... 

Snack: I got a meal deal or whatever so I decided to eat the cinnamon cookie I bought with some generic "N2" Aldi brand Gatorade. Hilariousness. Then, while waiting for dinner, I ate a string cheese stick. Great snack, especially for when you need something salty or on the go. 

Dinner: My boyfriend and I went to Aldi and bought tons of food, then hauled back .5miles to my apartment and up four flights of stairs carrying 4  20lb reusable totes. No joke, it all cost $60. I love Aldi, just don't forget your bags! Reader, if I come across something I DON'T like at Aldi, I'll let you know. Their 35 cent Mac & Cheese is my favorite, really. 

But anyway, instead of going out to get Greek, we decided to go old school...Diner style. 

Homemade meatloaf, loaded mashed potatoes and mixed veggies

It was delicious. B made the meatloaf by mixing together a pound of ground beef, Italian bread crumbs, 1 egg, seasoning salt, garlic salt, minced onions, shredded mozzarella cheese and Sweet Baby Ray's BBQ sauce. We made it easy by making two "patties" and baking them in the oven at 350 for 30minutes underneath an Al+ foil tent. When using a baking sheet, cover it with aluminum foil so you don't have to wash it-- easy clean up! After 30minutes, spread more BBQ on it and turn up the oven to 400 for 15minutes to get crusty. Viola, delicious and easy. B is a genius!

I was not so creative tonight. I made the typical mashed potatoes a la boiling skinned, quartered potatoes for 30minutes and then adding sour cream and milk. Believe it or not, I added more sour cream than usual-- it made it so rich we didn't need to add butter. While he was doing his thang, I chopped up some of our leftover bacon we fried up for breakfast a few days ago. If you have leftover bacon, simply store it in a plastic bag in the fridge, lasts for about a month. Heat it up in the mic for BLTs or add to salads. So, I added about 2.5 pieces of bacon and threw some shredded cheddar on top and let it melt. Heat up some frozzen veggies (I'd rather have fresh, but it worked!)

Dessert: Easy Peasy Mom's Cherry Cobbler.  To be honest, it was delicious with a dollop of Cool Whip, but we added too much butter.  

Operation 20: To be honest, I didn't do to bad on eating and I walked to Quizno's instead of taking the bus. Plus, I took the stairs. Let's keep going with the homemade food and saving that dough. God, the puns kill me.