Friday Five Foodie Finds #2

Happy Friday Everyone!  
Seriously can't believe it's Friday, this week seems to have gone by so fast!  Two tests, work, homework and a couple of lazy sicky days this week..

The BF brought me soup and sprite (which I mixed with orange juice and water)

AND Happy Birthday to my little bro!!

Lil bro!  We tried to do trick candles but they didn't work!!  I was so excited the let down LOL (how old am I?)

And here we are..back to Friday!  I've decided to keep doin this Friday Five Foodie Finds and I found some goodies this week! :-)

Courtney from Sweet Tooth Sweet Life:  
Sensational Stuffed Spaghetti Squash

 I have never tried spaghetti squash before, but it looked fun to make..and I like spaghetti so why not try??

 The amount of vegetables in this dish makes me so happy! :-)

College Students CAN be Healthy (Even with NO time!)

The first alarm goes off in the morning.
I set the first alarm to radio because I tend to not hate the world so much when I hear KLove early in the AM.  SNOOZE.
Nine minutes later it goes off again.  SNOOZE.
One minute after that my second alarm goes off.  The annoying beepbeepbeepBEEPBEEPBEEP (progressively louder) so now I know I need to be getting up.  SNOOZE.
The first alarm goes off again.  I finally decide to get up.

Bahaha

Familiar at all?  No of course not!  I'm sure you are able to get 8-10 hours of sleep every night and wake up at the same time every day feeling refreshed and rejuvenated right??  (Gimme a break)
We are all busy.
So busy that some things that are healthy for us, sit on the back burner while we get through our busy days.  But the thing is..those healthy things can help us get through the day!!  More sleep, excercise, healthier nutritious meals...but how can we fit it all in??
Planning is the biggest thing. 
I wrote a post this month on how I plan my schedule and prioritizing and I believe this is the biggest key to success in fitting your healthiness in!
Here are some key things that you need to plan for your health AND sanity. 

#WeightLoss Wednesday: "Keeping It Simple" by Mama Sue

Good Afternoon/Early Evening everyone!
The amazing Mama Sue has sent me her post so all I have to do is share it with you all!  This is quite a convenient thing since I've been a little under the weather and haven't even cooked..at all (no new recipes) or worked out (except for a lil walk with a friend today).

If you are new to the blog, my Mama Sue is working on losing 50 pounds in 50 days!  This is week 8 (according to Mama Sue...although I have it written based on the weeks she's written posts??  Will figure this out!!).

Catch up on her story on my Mama Sue 50/50 Weight Loss Tab.  Feel free to leave her a comment on that page or on here.  She loves your encouragement!! :-)

Mama Sue, Middle Sis, Me

So without further ado (sp??) and because I must shower after the walk I just took (pushed a stroller 2 miles LOL) here is the marvelous mother of four, talented writer, and weight loss champ: Mama Sue!

Small-town Wedding Fun + Exciting News

Oh school, how you get in the way of all my fun!!
This weekend we got to go hang out with the BF's family in smalltownville,US.  Okay that's not really a place but it's was a small town wedding and I honestly LOVED it.  We stayed at the BF's family farm again {check out my Labor Day Weekend Post} and possibly the only reason I agreed to go was because I could bring my HOMEWORK.  Not that I didn't want to go, but sheesh I seem to have lots these days!  I am going to blame the cold that's creepin up on my homework too!

BF somehow knew I was going to wear pink and wore his pink tie..he knows me a little TOO well ;-)

Soybean field behind us

Friday Five Foodie Finds: {Check out my sweet tooth this week...}

Hello friends!
I know Friday Finds or Friday Favorites or Friday Follows isn't new to the blogging world, but I am joining in the fun!

I am constantly checking out other talented bloggers pages to find inspiration and to find delicious food/desserts to make.  It's hard to limit it down to just five, but I don't have time to list all the incredible recipes I came across this week.  Now I just need to make some of the recipes...the only thing I've made is cookie dough

Another "Hodge-Podge" Cookie to add to the list: Oatmeal, Sunflower Nut, Dark Chocolate Chip

(that's chillin in my fridge) and leftovers.

It's not all my fault I haven't made anything....I had no one else to feed!  The Daddio and the BF were BOTH outa town this week.  Frowny face.  That has never happened before and now I am remembering what I did before I had peeps to share my dinner with...made one thing and lived off the leftovers for a week.  {Not that leftovers are bad...did a post Leftovers 101: Eat Them Already AND have been living off of the leftovers of Inside-out Pizza for quite some time.  Saves money!}

But  I am glad they are  both coming back today because apparently when left alone...the house starts to look a little messy...

Like my "workspace?"

Here's what made my Friday Five Foodie Finds TO TRY List:

Weight Loss Wednesday "{Food} Substitute Teaching" by Mama Sue

Hello friends!  Hope you are all having a good week...we are half-way to the weekend WOOT!

My mom sent this post in an e-mail today while I was in Algebra class and although I should have been paying attention to the teacher...I couldn't stop reading her post!  Such a talented writer.  :-)

My mom is on her way to losing 50 pounds!  Need to catch up on her story?  I created a tab devoted to this lovely lady:

Mama Sue 50/50 Weight Loss

Enjoy her post all!

Source

{"Substitute Teaching" by Mama Sue

I learned the benefits of substitutions when I was about twelve. I was staying at my grandmother's house in Waterloo, Iowa, with all my girl cousins (four of us total). My grandmother had Diet Pepsi at her house. My family drank the real deal, Pepsi from a bottle, way back then. But diet soft drinks were pretty new so I gave it a try.

It was not great. The formula had changed over the years and the resulting Diet Pepsi is a far cry from what we had back in the early 70s. But I realized at the time that is was possible to have my cake and eat it too: I could drink diet soft drinks and not worry about all the calories. Eureka! And thus my first "substitute teaching" began.

Turn that Frown Upside-Down! Positivity + DIY Blog Header for FREE

Dear Diary,

Little blue this morning. 
Not excited about the rain and 50 degree weather...especially when I was going to run a 10K today.  I was so excited!  No carbonation for FOUR DAYS, ate a bunch of food last night in preparation (hindsight: didn't really need to for only 6 miles), was excited to see if I actually COULD. 

So much fun at my first run

That's right, didn't do it.  I told a bajillion people I was running a 10K race today and I did not.  Did I let you down?  Do you even care?  I feel like I lied to everyone when I didn't even run!  Many many excuses...do you want to hear some of them?  Maybe not, but it will make me feel better that everyone know I didn't just wimp out.

1. My Dad and BF were gonna go but then my dad couldn't and then BF got sick.
2. Was going to have someone take pics of me and hold my purse, phone, etc.  but no one would be there to do that.
3. It was SO.  COLD.  outside when I worked the Farmer's Market the day before and it wore me out!  I was outside from 7:00am till about 1pm in windy, rainy, 50 degree weather.  Bleh.
4. Babysitting went a little later than expected so I would have only had 6 hours of sleep.
5. I had gone about 5 days with 6 or less hours of sleep so so so tired!
6. It was all rainy and cold this morning too!!

The bottom line is that it wasn't worth it to go all by myself and be thrown into a big crowd of people (so out of my comfort zone already!!) with no one even there to watch me and risk getting sick or falling on this rainy, gloomy, no-good-very-bad day.

Whenever I get down on myself about something, I try really hard to find the positive in the situation.  Even though I've been feeling gloomy all day, I've been working on my negativity and trying to turn it around.

I have come to the conclusion that it is okay I did not meet this goal today.  It will happen.  What do we do when we set goals and fail?  Try and try again.  Re-set the goal.  It is okay.  (Repeat: It is okay.)

Sure I have had a busy week with little sleep, but it has been a great week and I don't regret the busy-ness.

*Positivity of the week*: 

Inside-Out Pizza + Using the leftovers {The recipe you've been waiting for}

Good evening everyone,

Back to school and managing my time is still STILL a challenge.  (Even with my new organizational tool)  It's getting better but really all I wanna do is sleep in, go for a run, read blogs (and twitter and facebook) and watch my Gilmore Girls!  Go to class?  Do homework?  Pshh...

So before I get to my homework (haha you know what comes first), I decided I'd share a recipe I've been saying I would ALL WEEK.  Cause it's from Sunday.  But that's okay right?  I shouldn't be feeling guilty about posting it so late when I've been talking about it since Sunday?  Okay, thanks.

Inside-Out Pizza {Print Recipe}

This is a recipe that is simple, quick and easily modifiable, but here is how I personally chose to fill up my inside-out pizza.  :-)

This is actually a pic I took of eating as a leftover. 

Weight Loss Wednesday "Preparing for Battle" by Mama Sue

I am excited to share with you some tips and tricks my Mama Sue has learned over the past couple of weeks.

Mama Sue, sis, me

Need to catch up?  I have created a tab on my blog with all of Mama Sue's posts about her journey to losing 50 pounds!

 Mama Sue's 50/50 Weight Loss Page

I hope her story can encourage those who are trying to lose weight, and if anything, this woman is a great writer!  Here's this week's post from Mama Sue!  Enjoy!


{"Preparing for Battle" by Mama Sue (Week 4)

Yesterday I went to a meeting. I knew there were going to be cookies there, because it was stated on the invite.

Weekend Wedding Fun + Fancy Wedding Food

Still trying to get into the swing of my school schedule...
even though I have everything mapped out perfectly, life happens right?

The summer laziness has spoiled me!  All I want to do is lay out in the sun, go for long runs, and watch my Gilmore Girls.  And post all the time, read blogs all the time and tweet multiple times a day.  The reality: school is in session so there are classes to go to (and log into) and homework to be done!

Thus the reason why I made Inside-Out Pizza Sunday, already ate the leftovers, and am not even posting about it yet.  But you still want the recipe right?  And you are still getting the recipe...so why does it matter if I am posting it DAYS later, right?  Sharing fun stuff with my blog readers shouldn't be a burden, but sometimes I get caught up in the silliness of being super-woman-student-blogger-waitress-baker-photographer.

Post-run luncharoo

Anywhooo...

Trying to get into the swing of things was a challenge, so I didn't go a wedding I was planning on and am regretting it.  I had laundry piling up and homework to do (and a blog to post?) so I skipped the wedding and just went to the reception.  I kinda hate it when people do that so I'm not sure why I did it, I was just so overwhelmed at the time!  I also missed the bride's gown so all I get to see are pictures :-( Hindsight...

But the reception was saweeet!  It was at the bride's parent's house, backyard style and seriously one of the best I've ever been to.  The food was amazing, weather perfect, casual vibe, and good people to hang out with I might add.

The salad bar (photo courtesy of/stolen from Julie)

The *Art* of the Hodge-Podge Cookie... (which for today is: Butterscotch, Oatmeal, Almond, Protein Powder Cookie)

Sitting here doing my online Art homework
(that's right, an online Art class.  Okay it's an Art history class but that's still funny to think about) and thinking about how delish this cookie that I'm munching is and how I want to share the recipe with you while also trying to decide which painting of the "Sacrifice of Isaac" should have won the Bapistry Competition in the 15th century is...fun.  I chose which one I thought was the best, what do you think?

Lorenzo Ghiberti's "Sacrifice of Isaac"

Filippo Brunelleschi's "Sacrifice of Isaac"

As I finished my discussion essay and hit the submit button, I thought of how baking is such an art.  You have all these things that you work together to make delicious AND pleasing-to-the-eye goodies.  Does that make me an artist?  Well...yeesssh.  I think my hodge podge cookies are pure art and wonderfullness so I am an artist of baking.

Remember the cookie I ate for part of my post-midnight run snack?  That's what I was munching on working on Art homework.  :-)

First Race Ever! 5K Midnight Run

I did it!  My very first race ever!  And I think I am hooked!  

It was a midnight race for a very respectable local charity downtown.  It was very weird running that late as the sun is usually out when I am running, but I couldn't have asked for better weather!

To tell you the truth, last night I really was not in the mood to run.  A couple of friends that were going with me decided not to go (one had mono so that's a decent excuse) so I was a little bummed.  The BF was also running with me but I felt bad because he had no time to train and worked like 60 hours this week PLUS had to work at 6:30am...long day for the poor guy.  I really didn't want to be dragging him along so I was grumpy the whole 20 minute car-ride.

But then we got there.  So many people who were pumped to run for this good cause, people warming up, free samples of energy drinks, sweet wedding-like music...then it got a little better.

We also got sweet BRIGHT yellow shirts and glow sticks.  :-)

No make-up Amanda ;-)

Organize Your Life! {Back to School Chaos}

Yay for back to school!
I was in Chemistry class today, paying very close attention of course, and heard something that I decided to stick in my blog.

Entropy: the tendency toward disorder in the universe or any system (like my life)

Speaking of back to school...found this awesome pic in my Algebra book...math is fun?  (Dwight's calculator is in Jello.  Classic!)

My New Yorker Chemistry teacher (who talks really fast by the way) described to us the fact that in any system, disorder is natural and it takes work to create order in that given system.

Translate this into your everyday life.  You might have work, class, home to take care of, laundry, kiddos to feed, homework, baking for the upcoming get-together, dishes, blogging...and oh yea..working out!

I know that for me, it is a challenge to figure out when all of these things fit in!  So after I left my Algebra class yesterday, feeling the stress of homework assignments and quizzes, the lack of clean clothes to wear, the lack of fresh food to eat, needing to read for my upcoming bible study, AND the want to continue blogging even with my classes...I decided to get organized!

Weight Loss Wednesday "I meant to do it Sunday" by Mama Sue

Hello Blogaroos!  Today is the day that I share weight loss tips! 

And for the time being this is in the form of posts written by the talented Mama Sue.  She is on a tough journey to lose 50 pounds in 50 weeks.  This is week three and she has made progress!!

11-year old sis and Mama Sue

Mama Sue and I

To catch up on Mama Sue's struggles with weight read these:

Weighty Woes Part 1

Weighty Woes Part 2

I am adding in some pics she took of herself as well (all camera phone so bear with us!) so we can do before and after shots because I believe that she will succeed!  Love my Mama Sue!

Healthy living...even on Labor Day weekend

Saturday the BF and I were about to head out to his farm when I realized I was pretty hungry. 

I thought we were in a bit of a rush to see his family so I was thinking BK breakfast (yikes) and when I realized breakfast was over about 3 hours before that, the BF said Sonic had breakfast all day.  I was also a bit tired so I was envisioning a blended coffee drink from a local coffee joint...

Talk about reasons to be prepared with healthy food!  How many calories would I have consumed if I had eaten a sonic burrito and had a blended coffee drink??

So...the BF suggested we just make some omelets at his parent's house...with fresh vegetables!  He said he's trying to eat more veggies and more power to him!  (I'd like to think I inspired him ;-) )

Oatmeal Bread (Healthier and Sweeter versions!)

I got a request from the Daddio this week to make some kind of bread for his bible study this week...what to make what to make...

 I also was blog surfing and saw a fellow blogger  Lee make healthy chocolate chip cookie bites with homemade oatmeal flour and I thought, maybe I can translate that into bread somehow?  I do love oatmeal!  Don't you?? :-)

Some past oatmeal posts:

Healthy Fudgy Oatmeal Cookies

Applesauce Cookies are Possible

Delish Amish Cookies

Thoughtful BF

Voila:

Oatmeal Granola Bread {Print Recipe}

Recipe modified from allrecipes.com

Easy Breakfast + DIY Running Headband

Hello everyone,

I get into kicks where I eat the same breakfast every day for about two weeks and then have to change it up!

So here's my new favorite breakfast.

I like quick, simple morning meals because I like to eat within an hour of waking up.  I walked by the frozen food section in the health market at my grocery store and I couldn't pass up these yummy looking Kashi waffles! 

I am a huge fan of anything Kashi so I grabbed them with a huge smile on my face that probably scared the other shoppers...but what can I say I love my breakfast foods.  :-)

I toast the waffle (a little more than I do with my bread) and spread my creamy peanutbutter and top with my favorite Bear Naked granola.  Easy peasy lemon squeezy.  Quick nutrition was never so delish!

Leftovers 101: EAT THEM ALREADY!

Being in my current situation...no kiddos and no husband to feed, a Daddio who usually only eats popcorn, and the BF who I don't have to cook for every night...I usually have lots of leftovers!  
 I find myself eating leftover enchiladas (I always try to spell that with two 'l's) and pizza days in a row but I'm not complaining!

Tasty Enchiladas Post

Leftovers mean:

• Not having to cook again--less clean up
• Saving money
• Saving time--reheating vs prep time and cooking
• Not having to think about what's for dinner...it's leftover night!
• Using the resources we have instead of being wasteful!  Read this article on how much food Americans waste every year and this may make you think twice before tossing leftovers.