Perfect gifts

How perfect are these gifts for me?

I had been eyeing this Trader Joe's holiday gift set trio of roasted nut oils as soon as I saw it on the shelves. I really wanted it but wouldn't buy it. Good thing I didn't because my brother gave it to me for Christmas - along with a mandoline slicer that I also really wanted!!! Maybe I somehow subconsciously knew he was going to buy it for me, so I didn't already buy it for myself.

And I got this trio of champagne vinegars at a white elephant. At first, I felt kind of bad that I stole this gift from a toddler, but I think he was much happier with the transformer toy he ended up with instead.

Anyways, loving these holiday gifts! Perfect for all the salads I have been making!!!

Rommel is frustrated with me.... "Margo, do we really need to have 11 different kinds of oils and 8 different kinds of vinegars in our house???"  YES. :P

Today's lunch

Mostly leftovers from a Christmas party this weekend...

- a little bit of leftover tempeh that was marinated in soy sauce, rice vinegar, sesame oil, and lots of curry powder then grilled
- a GIANT tupperware full of raw veggies (jicama, cucumber, bell peppers, and celery) and a little bit of Trader Joe's Spinach Kale Greek Yogurt Dip
- part-skim mozzarella string cheese

Lunch: Salmon-Salad Sandwich

Here's a quick, simple lunch I put together early this morning before work:

I made a salmon-salad (like chicken-salad but salmon instead) by mixing canned salmon with a little bit of reduced-fat cream cheese, reduced-fat olive oil mayo, lemon juice, lemon zest, lemon pepper, and a little salt. I made an open-faced salmon-salad sandwich by topping one slice of Trader Joe's European Style Whole Grain Bread (the kind that's super thinly sliced and dense and all whole grains, seeds, and nuts that you can actually see... SUPER nutritious) with arugula, some avocado, and my salmon-salad! Yummy!!

Instagram: @margomangooo

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"Enjoying my lunch outside today and loving the weather! TJ's chili lime chicken burger (patty only) w avocado; arugula w lemon and evoo; TJ's spinach kale Greek yogurt dip w mini heirloom tomatoes and TJ's whole wheat lavash chips; and Yogi seven berry antioxidant herbal iced tea"

Workout at work!

I recently got the idea from my coworker to do quick work-time workouts! It's probably one of the best workout decisions I've ever made. I used to rarely ever take my two 15 min breaks the California law is required to give us - only when I was so tired and my brain couldn't function anymore I would step outside for 10 minutes and take a slow walk to clear my head.

My coworker brought up that he takes his 15 minute breaks even if he's not tired and just walks anyways. He sets his alarm for 7 minutes, starts walking, then when his alarm rings, he heads back to the office. If you take both of those breaks, that's already 30 minutes of walking! And even better if you speed walk! If you add in 30 minutes at lunch, that's a WHOLE HOUR! I didn't realize how much it adds up until I heard that! So I started doing it too and I feel awesome :) I'm much more energized, work more efficiently when I get back to the office, plus get a good amount of extra exercise for the day.

A lot of times I don't make it out to walk all three times every day, but I try. Most of the time I'll get only two walks in, but it still adds up!

Today I made the decision to add a few simple strength exercises in to my lunch time walk. So instead of setting my alarm for 15 minute to walk out during lunch, I only set it for 10 minutes then I stop to do some exercises before walking the 10 minutes back. I didn't want to get too crazy because I don't want to show up at work super sweaty, so today I did a 1 minute plank, 30 second side-planks on each side, and 10 push-ups. Then I speed-walked back to my office and ran up the three stories worth of stairs to my office two steps at a time, so that my heart rate was still up when I sat back at my desk. I only spent a little over 20 minutes out there, so I still have time to eat lunch at my desk and write a little post right now :P

I didn't want to do anything too crazy for strength today, but I think tomorrow I will have to add more. It was a little too easy. Maybe I'll repeat everything another time and add some tricep strengthening also - my triceps are WEEEAK.

On my way walking back to the office, I saw a food truck along the street called Epic Eatz. It's supposed to be San Diego Surf style foods. I saw they had halibut ceviche and ahi poki on their menu.... MMMMMM I think I need to try that when they are back next Tuesday.

http://epiceatz.com/

Also, I just ate a really yummy and simple salad that I brought from home! Mache lettuce with micro-basil, mini heirloom tomatoes, half of a part-skim mozzarella string cheese sliced thin, balsamic, olive oil, salt, and pepper. So yummy! That micro-basil really does it, I think.

For a mid-afternoon snack, I brought a plain brown rice cake (one of those crispy puffed rice cake things) with some of Trader Joe's flaxseed almond butter to spread on top

Yummmmm this stuff is AWESOME. http://www.traderjoes.com/fearless-flyer/article.asp?article_id=374

Trader Joe's trip!

Mostly all I've had in my fridge lately is lettuce, veggies that need to be cooked, and frozen chicken/fish that needs to be thawed then cooked, so I needed more foods that require quick prep and some healthy snacks. Of course, that means a Trader Joe's trip! Here's what I bought (and why):

- sugar snap peas: yummy, healthy snack with a satisfying crunch; probably one of my favorite veggies to dip into hummus
- hummus: for a snack with the sugar snap peas, of course =P ; also sometimes I will mix this with a little lemon juice and olive oil to thin it out and use as a protein-rich salad dressing
- kale: an awesome superfood!! for soups, sautees, massaged kale salads, and KALE CHIPS (my boyfriend's fav right now haha)! I like to buy it in the pre-chopped in the bag like this, so we can quickly toss it in olive oil and salt then throw it on a baking pan to quickly make some kale chips
- brussel sprouts: have lots of fiber and vitamins and taste AMAZING when roasted
- canned marinara sauce: just to have on hand to add to veggies, fish, or other meats I may be cooking
- sundried tomatoes: pretty much same as above... just to have on hand to add flavor to something I might be already cooking... it's important to me that my food still tastes really good or I wouldn't be able to keep this up!
- goat cheese with kalamata olives: definitely broke my rules on buying this.... because it's not reduced-fat.... but I LOVE goat cheese and I LOVE kalamata olives, so I thought I'd give it a try. I just need to make sure to eat very little at a time. I'll probably throw little chunks of this in to my salads.
- chicken sausages (I bought a pack each of spicy italian and andouille): this is just to add flavor and some lean protein to something I may already be cooking. I'm planning to stick to only using half a sausage chopped up per serving of whatever food I add it to
- steamed lentils: already cooked and ready to go! I love these lentils because of their texture - they stay more in whole pieces compared to when you cook them yourself. plus they are rich in protein, fiber, and vitamins. one of my favorite ways to eat this is to sautee it with garlic, onion, cumin, and cayenne then top with fresh cilantro - tastes kind of like ground taco meat!
- plain non-fat greek yogurt: I use this in place of mayo for tuna, egg, chicken salads, etc. or I just eat it plain (sometimes with a little splenda) for breakfast or a snack. I bought a few of the smaller sizes with added fiber, so I can take it to work and feel satisfied for longer.
- lemon pepper grinder: just because that stuff is awesome
- artichokes: one of my weaknesses... LOVE anything with artichokes.
- red wine vinegar: for salads
- peanut butter: all natural with no added sugar or weird ingredients... be careful when buying peanut butter!! most have a bunch of sugar in it!!! I honestly bought this JUST for making flourless peanut butter cookies... lol. I still need something to satisfy my sweet tooth! when I get to phase 2 and reintroduce fruits, I like to mix a little bit of peanut butter with some plain nonfat yogurt, vanilla extract, and a little splenda to make a peanut butter dipping sauce for apples. you still get lots of yummy peanut butter flavor, but not as much fat and calories compared to apples with straight peanut butter.
- pork florentine (frozen): bought this for nights when I don't feel like doing too much cooking. it's pork tenderloin stuffed with spinach, tomatoes, and a little cheese. it's not THE BEST thing to eat, but it's something that's still decent that I can leave in my freezer until I have a night where I want a meal with little effort. you pretty much just throw it in the oven - I think I remember it takes about 45 minutes to cook.
- canned salmon: bought this so I have some protein that I can easily just open up and throw on salads. I was also thinking of making a salmon salad type of thing (by adding plain greek yogurt, lemon zest, capers, and dill) then using that in lettuce wraps.
- low carb dark chocolate with almonds: to satisfy my serious chocolate cravings! this is still probably not the best thing to buy, but I know myself... and if I can't have at least a little bit of chocolate when I have a craving, I'm doomed... instead of sugar, it's sweetened with sugar alcohols - which are OK for South Beach Diet as long as you limit yourself to 75-100 calories per day. the biggest problem I have with these is limiting myself to just 2 little squares of chocolate (there's 12 squares per bar).
2 squares have 73 calories, 6 g of fat, and less than 2 g of net impact carbs.
- seaweed snacks!!!: in wasabi and plain flavor. LOVE these for when I just crave something salty with a satisfying crunch. there are 2 servings per pack and each serving is only 30 calories.

So that's it!! I usually go to Trader Joe's for more snacks or food that's fast to prepare. I get most of my produce from Sprout's and most of my fish and meat from Costco. I pretty much do all of my grocery shopping at these three places - I LOVE all three of them and luckily they are all close to or on my way home from work. Anyways, I just thought I'd post some yummy and South-Beach-Diet-phase-1-friendly foods that are good ideas to buy. Thanks for reading! :D