Guess who's back? Back again. Kristen's back. Tell a friend.

In trying to get back on track with healthy eating, working out, and life in general really, I have realized one very important thing.  When my apartment is clean, I'm a much  happier person.  I have more energy and most importantly I am willing to cook and would go so far as to say I look forward to cooking.  When my apartment is so messy that someone breaking in and ransacking the place would actually be an improvement, I don't want to do squat!  I don't want to work out.  I don't want to cook because it's one more effing dish in the already full sink of dishes that have been sitting there longer than they should.  (Not stinky long, but long enough).  I don't want to do anything, but veg and eat like it's the end of the world or that I'm preparing for hibernation. I know my problem is three part: I'm so mentally exhausted from grad school that now I'm finished, I just want to veg and do activities that require little to no thinking.  I'm also frustrated with the knee pain that has screwed up my running to the point where my distance is severely limited.  Lastly, I've gained back some weight that I worked hard to lose. 

So, after giving myself/my appetite a swift kick in the hindquarters, I've resolved to getting back to 5 day a week workouts and taking the time to prepare dinner rather than rely on unhealthy fast crap.  Now that my kitchen and living room are clean, I feel like a weight has been lifted.  Now if only actual weight was lifted, I would be ecstatic!  :)  The other rooms in my apartment will have to wait because as my sister can attest - I have a problem just cleaning without reorganizing.  I didn't do too much reorganizing, but once I get to the bedrooms it's a whole other story.

Last night, I made an egg sandwich.  It had been so long since I had one and let me tell you I did a yummy tummy dance with this meal.  I put 6 tablespoons of egg whites in my non-stick frying pan and that baby bubbled up wonderfully!  Then, it slid right out of the pan when I went to flip it.  BEEEE-AUT-IFUL!  I spread a bit of Miracle Whip Light and sprinkled a bit of cheese on the sandwich thin bread for a little somethin' somethin'.  Next time, I'll veggie-fy the sandwich for some extra fiber and flavor.  Then, I busted out the grapes and had a lovely meal.  (I also used the small plate trick.)

Adorning the table is a lovely orchid plant from my wonderful friend Sarah.  THANK YOU!  I'll make sure to do the plant justice and get the whole thing in next time.

While dinner was cooking, I was preparing breakfast for the next day (two days actually since I split it into two servings).  Here are what my overnight oats looked like this morning.  I'll admit.  I was a bit apprehensive about cold oats/oatmeal type breakfast, but I enjoyed it!

Here I added some of Trader Joe's Better 'n' Butter peanut butter and drizzled it with honey.  Tomorrow I think I'll just add the peanut butter and in the future, I'll experiment with different additions/toppings.  I think next time I won't use as much milk.  And for the record - it kept me full until lunch!  Heeeyyy fiber!

'Til next time!

Greenifying my apartment

Hello world!  (And by world, I mean the 2 people who actually read this thing.)  Grad school is done, which one would think gives me more time to blog when really it means I didn't have homework to procrastinate doing with blog writing.  ;)

Let's see...what's been happening?  Well, I have been working on jazzing up my palace with more eco-friendly products.  For a while now, I've been using more eco-friendly cleaning products such as Seventh Generation.  I really like their laundry detergent, but I have mixed emotions about their dish soap (and Nikki can attest to that).

Anyway, I thought I would write an homage to the green products I adore.  Enjoy!  Oh, and now that grad school is finished, not just for a semester, but for for-ev-er, I will get back to posting recipes a bit more regularly.  I needed to cook in order for that to happen and I haven't cooked in, well, longer than I'd like to admit.  Just ask my pants.  They'll testify to my bad eating habits.  Those bastards just don't know when to keep their mouths zipped and instead blurt all my business to anyone who will listen.

7.) Reusable shopping/produce bags - I have a bunch of cloth bags I use now instead of plastic.  The only downfall is that I unload my groceries and forget to put the bags back in my car and thus, negating the purpose of having them in the first place.  I also bought cloth produce bags so I'm not using the plastic bags at the grocery store.  (Thank you Etsy). 

6.) Microfiber mop head - This bad boy is awesome.  It's like the Biore nose strips of mops...you can see all the nasty stuff that used to be there and have satisfaction knowing it is no longer there.

5.) Bar soaps/shampoos - I proclaimed my love of these in my last post, but I love the idea of not having plastic bottles to recycle once I'm finished.  And let's admit it, I can never rinse all the soap out of those freakin' bottles anyway!

4.) Vinegar & water cleanser - I used this concoction to clean my floors and I must say I was pleasantly surprised!  I found some similar products on Pinterest (one where you soak citrus rinds to add a little olfactory happiness to your cleanser).  I'll be trying some of these out later.  I'll keep you updated because I know all two of you are just on the end of your seats in anticipation.

3.) Reusable water bottles - I like CamelBak, but will not discriminate against any reusable water bottle, in particular the aluminum water bottles, especially those with Sasquatch on them like this one we found at the Whole Foods in Seattle:

http://laurajvandenbosch.blogspot.com/2011/11/sasquatch-liberty-bottles-unite.html

2.) Unpaper towels - Just a fancy way of saying cloth.  However, if you call them "reusable paper towels," "unpaper towels," or "cloth paper towels," and dress them up with cute designs, people like me will pay more money for them.  Although, I will say I like some on Etsy in particular that snap together and can be rolled up and put on the paper towel roll.  Don't worry, I will not be going so far as to use unpaper toilet paper.  I draw the line there.

1.) Reusable sandwich/snack baggies - Thank you again Etsy for this one!  I am a fan of Lizzy who has her own Bag It label.  She's the one who made the bamboo utensil  holder (and also sold the utensils with the holder so I have reusable utensils for lunch.)  Sa-weet!

Even though I haven't been cooking much, there are a few things I've made recently that have my taste buds singing.  In the morning I've been making smoothies courtesy of the Magic Bullet (an unfortunate name for a blender.)  The one below has strawberries, blueberries, mango (frozen because I'm lazy and can't cut up a mango for the life of me), and some vanilla flavored Greek yogurt.  YUM!!!

 This is a Mexican Lasagna I made in my bean pot:

Ingredients:

- 1 can of Rotel

- 1 can of cream of celery

- 1 can of cream of mushroom

- 1 can of black beans (drained and rinsed)

- 1 pkg of Mission's Carb Balance Small Fajita shells

- 1 pkg of shredded cheese (I used the Mexican blend)

Mix the first 4 ingredients in a bowl and set aside.  Layer the shells, mixture, and a sprinkle of cheese and repeat until you used all the mixture.  (You may have to tear the shells to fit and layer properly.)  Then on top of the last bean mixture, put the last layer of shells and sprinkle with cheese.  Bake for 325 degrees for around 30 minutes.  Voila!  Dinner is served!