The Camper I am

Hey guys!

Long time no blog!!

I have to say, it was bittersweet not blogging for 5 days. I had a lot of fun at pre-camp, met a lot of new people, and didn't have a single minute to blog- so it would have been stressful trying to!! But I did miss it a lot!

Pre-Camp was fun; I met all of the new counselors, already made a few new friends, my camp name is Leo  for all of you who wanted to know, and we've been doing a lot of rules talk, paperwork and plenty of teambuilding games throughout the week. 

I have been staying active, even though the weather hasn't been the greatest. I've been  playing lots of games, doing LOTS of walking, some swimming, I ran once in the morning (we did "Road Runner", it's a one mile loop the girls do first thing in the morning to earn a pin) andof course toting my HUGE trunk from one end of camp to the other!! 

I didn't take any pics of my food; a few people know I have a food website but I didn't go into many details yet. So no pictures as of now! I do have a mini recap of the foods I ate while I was at camp so you all can see my attempts at trying to be healthy while in the middle of the wilderness of West Kingston, RI! 

Note: I brought NONE of my own food, I found out I CAN bring some healthy snacks to have while I'm there (!!) so I will surely be doing that soon! 

Saturday 6/20/09 

Snack:  Before leaving I grabbed a nectarine and on the way to camp my dad treated me to a Coffee Light Frappucino from Starbucks! My fave! 

Lunch: After filling out some paperwork, we headed to the dining hall for lunch. 

We had chicken tacos, filled with chicken, sauteed veggies, tomatoes, and cheese on a HUGE tortilla as well as some fruit salad. 

Dessert: 1/2 a home made cupcake 

Dinner: Stuffed pepper with sausage, veggies and couscous 

Mac n'cheese 

Cauliflower 

Salad 

Dessert: Ice Cream sandwich 

At the campfire: 1 S'more 

Sunday 6/21/09 

Breakfast: Cheerios and skim milk 

Apple 

Coffee

Lunch: Turkey and ham sandwich on bun 

A few doritos 

Salad

1 orange 

Snacks: 2 pieces turkey meat (leftover from lunch) 

3 starbursts 

Dinner: BBQ chicken 

Spicy baked beans 

2 bites potato salad 

Salad with french dressing 

Dessert: 2 m&m cookies 

Monday 6/22/09 

Breakfast: 1 piece french toast with maple syrup

3 small pieces of bacon

fruit salad 

Coffee with skim milk 

Snack: Small piece cake 

Lunch: Cookout; Tin-Foil meal 

Chicken with zucchini, squash, potato and onion

2 helpings salad with Italian Dressing 

4 tiny GS cookies

Snack: Ice cream bar 

Dinner: Pasta with meat sauce 

Green beans 

Garlic Bread 

Salad with french dressing 

Dessert: Rainbow pudding

(Too many desserts today! I know, I know...)

Tuesday 6/23/09 

Breakfast: Cookout 

Bun with Gardenburger, Cheese & Ketchup (wasn't feeling the sausage/cheese/bacon sandwiches... veggie was so much better, tasty and heart healthy!)

Apple

Coffee Milk 

Lunch: Turkey with gravy 

1 pc bread

Salad with French dressing 

Grapes 

Watermelon 

Snack: Ice Cream sandwich 

Dinner: Chicken 

Rosemary potatoes 

Carrots 

Salad

2 macadamia cookies 

Wednesday 6/24/09 

Breakfast: Oatmeal with raisins 

Cinnamon bun 

Fruit salad 

Snack: 1 pc deli ham, 3 ritz crackers 

Lunch: Beef fajita with onions and peppers, sour cream and salsa

Mexican rice 

salad 

1 pc cake 

Dinner: Grilled cheese

Tomato soup 

Salad 

Banana boat (banana cooked in fire with marshmallows and chocolate chips!)

At campfire: 1 S'more 

Thursday 6/25/09- Day off!

Early morning: 1 slice bread with peanut butter 

Breakfast on the way home: Dunkin' Donuts 

1 veggie egg white flatbread sandwich 

medium iced coffee with skim milk 

Snacks at home:

grapes

laughing cow light cheese 

Lunch: Spinach salad with carrots, cucumber, yellow bell pepper, goat cheese, Annie's dressing

Rudi's whole wheat bagel with Sundried tomato hummus 

(feels good to be home!!)

I go back to camp at 9 a.m. tomorrow morning so I've got a lot to do today- shopping, laundry, packing etc so I need to get on that! I'll post again when I can! Hope you all are having a wonderful summer! 

Into the woods

Morning everyone!

I am off to camp very soon, but I couldn't leave without a recap of my day and AMAZING dinner last night!

Breakfast: 

Optimum Zen, banana, blueberries, nonfat soy milk 

Snack: Salt & Pepper kettle chips 

Lunch: 
1 egg & 2 egg whites scrambled in ezekiel wrap with light laughing cow, spinach and 365 organic ketchup; nectarine on the side

Snack: 
Crackers with herbed goat cheese (x3, and yes, I am in the car). Plus a few strawberries!

Dinner: 

One word: Amazing. 

We went to Kabuki, a new japanese restaurant in the area. It's expensive, so we deicided to order a bunch of appetizers and maki to share. 

We were not disappointed!

Appetizers: 

This one was good; mango, avocado, shrimp and greens in rice paper. 

Calamari with a sweet sauce and a spicy sauce: 
These were sooo good! I had three =) 

Tuna wasabi dumplings: 
I wasn't a huge fan. The tuna was fresh and flavorful, and the wasabi sauce was very spicy and creamy, but they were FILLED with avocado... and I love avocado, but this was overkill. 

Asian Crab Cake with sweet chili sauce: 
Second-to favorite appetizer! These were chock full of crab, and were a bit spicy, very tangy, and delicious! I ate one and half of the seaweed salad underneath! 

Mango Girl: 
Favorite appetizer, hands down. Lobster and asparagus wrapped in thinly sliced mango covered in sweet chili sauce. Perfection. 

Maki rolls!

Green Peace: 
A vegan roll with asparagus, avocado, mango and kiwi! The sauces were tropical blends, and they tasted like sherbert =) 

My favorite: The angry dragon
Shrimp tempura, spicy tuna, papaya,  topped with crab

Also delicious: 
Don't exactly remember what was in this one, but it was fab too! 

Desserts: 

Tempura cheesecake with signature ice cream
Fried cheesecake? Sounds better than it was. It pretty much just tasted like tempura. Ok, but nothing to write home about. The ice cream was delicious though! 

THIS dessert took the award for the evening... 

Tropical Bomba!
This was a white chocolate shell filled with mango, passionfruit and papaya sorbets. Ohmigosh, heaven in a shell =) 

After we were stuffed to the gills with delicious japanese food, we headed over to the Ryan Center at URI for my cousins' graduation. 
That's me and Sammie (I couldn't find Cate!)

We now have 7 Narragansett Alumni in the family! Congrats, Sam & Cate!

When I got home I wasn't hungry, but I definitely had a sweets craving, which was cured with this deliciousness: 
Then I talked to the boy on the phone for two hours before saying goodbye for a week and getting some sleep. 

This morning I woke up and had the one breakfast I LOVE and can not have for the next week!
Greek yogurt topped with Nature's Path granola, sliced banana, blueberries and strawberry. 

Now I'm sipping on a hot cup of Ice Wine tea, soon I am going to do some exercise, finish my packing and be off to camp! Yay! See you in a week! =)

Packing and prepping

Good Afternoon! 

I'm posting now because I probably won't have another chance until late or tomorrow... I still have a bunch to do before camp, and I have my cousins' graduation later this evening. 

So onto my food. 

Last night was a lot of this: 

and this: 

and yes, I will be the first to admit that I have not been eating 100% healthy lately. I mean, what happened to Green & Healthy, anyway? 

Well, to be honest, life happened. I had a great first week eating super clean, and then Nick came, and I splurged some, and then this entire week was so frenetic obsessing over eating healthy was the last thing I wanted to do. 

I've tried to keep a balanced diet, being at it has had a lot of sweets & treats, I've been making sure I at least get in some healthy lean protein, whole grains and lots of fruits & vegetables.

So at least I'm getting my nutrients in, and I feel that is the most important thing of all. 

As for Camp... well... 

I'm not exactly sure how my diet is going to be. And exercise will not be structured as I wish it could be. But I signed up for this! I knew this when I applied, and it's all a part of the experience for me.  

I do have some at-camp eating and exercise goals... 

• drink enough water 
• make sure i get my fruits & vegetables 
• keep portions in check 
• eat the healthiest way, whenever possible 
• try to get in whole grains
• stay ACTIVE whenever I can; playing games, swimming, etc 

And thats as far as I'll go. I think this way, I can stay as healthy and happy as possible without being obsessive about the food, seeing as I can not control what is served to me!

I will not be blogging or photographing my food while at camp. I'll be in the middle of the woods! But I WILL be blogging on the weekend, so I'll give you an update on how camp's going, how I am and of course, how the food is!

I'll post my eats for today later. Now I have to jet- lots of errands and exercise to do!

Last day at work and a sleepover!

Evening Guys!

I apologize in advance; this post is going to be brief because there are cookies in the oven and my cousin will be back soon with mocktail ingredients!

Can you tell we're having a sleepover this evening? Old-school style with a "big girl" twist =) 

We had a Starbucks date, just picked up dinner, baked cookies are making mocktails, and have an entire agenda of romance movies, horror flicks and girl talk planned for the evening =) 

Backtracking, I can't even talk about my last day anymore, it exhausts me just thinking about it. I thought yesterday was hard, well this day made yesterday seem like a breeze, no joke! 

I started the day with a few dried figs before hopping on the treadmill for a 3o minute speed walk. 

Then, I made myself a healthy breakfast to fuel my morning... 

My favorite yogurt bowl, which I am going to miss dearly  at camp!! 0% chobani, a banana, a handful of blueberries and slivered almonds. 

Silly me forgot my snack today... so I picked up a 2-serving bag of Rold Gold pretzels... surely not whole grain, but not a bag of potato chips either. I munched on that to hold me through the morning. 

Lunch was a Tuesday repeat... 

BEST sandwich combo, EVER! Natures Promise 12-grain + organic turkey + light laughing cow + TJ's red pepper eggplant spread =heaven in a sammie! The carrots added even more crunch & nutrients! 

For my afternoon snack, I had a small handful of my newest obession- cranberry raisinets... 

and for a second sweet treat-

A Grande Mocha Light Frappucino, at my Starbucks date with Sam! We had a whole lot of fun chatting and sipping our drinks!

We were going to make dinner, then we got talking about our favorite Middle Eastern food (we're both Syrian of course)... and decided Markos was in order!

I got the usual- healthy baked falafel wrap, along with half a piece of kibbeh with some plain yogurt. Yum!

Gotta run, the cookies are  beeping!

Unloading

Good evening bloggies! 

I had a nice second-to-last day at work; it wasn't easy- in fact, it was one of the hardest days at work I can remember in a long time! It was truck day, which means unloading ALL of the new stock that comes in... and today we had twice as much (if not more!) than we usually do! Talk about crazy! It took me three hours to get the skincare isle done. Three hours! And another three to do the stationary isle. So why was work so good? 

I was busy. 

I HATE standing around and doing nothing!!! I like to be productive with my time, so having something to do my entire shift was nice. 

Not to mention the fact that I started my day off in the best way possible- with a glorious 3-mile run... at 5:45 in the morning!  

I knew I was meeting Danielle after work, so I decided to get my exercise in early and avoid that afternoon slump where I was likely to skip exercising and opt for dinner and a book instead. 

Before I ran I had a few dried figs- I know, in theory eating figs before a run probably doesn't sound like the greatest idea, at least for my digestive system. But in reality, they were the perfect pre-run fuel. I don't normally like to have a lot of fiber before I run, but the fiber kept me full over fat that would have surely upset my stomach, and the carbo content was high. So it worked!

When I got back I showered and made myself the perfect breakfast- an (almost) Green Monster! 

I am still in awe of all of you fellow bloggers who actually make green smoothies... even my mom's come out green, and somehow mine always end up looking like sewage. Oh well, this one tasted great! 

It contained: 1 cup soy milk, 1 cup frozen berries, one banana, one kiwi and two huge handfuls of spinach. 

For lunch I packed MORE greens... a big salad with spring greens, tomatoes, red pepper and broccoli (I added after the pic!) and a big sunshine burger for protein and healthy fats. For dressing I used Annie's Gingerly Viniagrette. Yum! 

The salad was great, but I had my second snack soon after. For snacks I packed some mixed nuts I ate in the morning, and some grapes for the afternoon. 

I stopped at Starbucks after work and got Danielle and myself our favorite drink- iced soy caramel macchiatos! 

It was a wonderful treat =) 

So was visiting Danielle and Matt, who I hung out with for about an hour after work. 

Then I came home and made a delicious dinner, if I do say so myself!

I made fish "tacoritos"... basically a cross between a taco and a burrito! I used some left over frozen flounder I cooked in EVOO,  with fresh lime juice, salt and pepper, black beans, mango, TJ's lime habanero salsa (YUM but SPICY!) and some reduced fat mexican cheese. 

On the side I sauteed some zucchini and squash in a Chipotle Lime seasoning with EVOO and garlic. 

I also ate a few more pieces of zucchini raw and some more mango! Yum!

Dessert: 

Early to bed again, tomorrow is my last day at work, and a sleepover with my lovely cousin Sammie!

Back to reality

Now that Nick is on his way home, I have to get back to reality... today was a work day, and so are the next two days... then I only have one day off before I start my new job at camp!

My mom was nice enough to go out early this morning and bring back fresh bagels for the family and our "guest" (although he's hardly a stranger). I chose a honey wheat bagel that I smeared with TJ's PB, with a banana on the side. 

For a snack, I had a babybel light cheese, and for lunch I packed an AMAZING sammie. 

Seriously guys, this was probably one of the best sandwiches I have ever eaten. And the secret ingredient that made it so special? Trader Joe's Eggplant Red Pepper spread. Sooo good! I used two slices of Nature's Promise Organic 12 grain bread, a big tablespoon of the spread, a light laughing cow wedge and two slices of organic smoked turkey breast. On the side I had some carrots, and the grapes were my afternoon snack. 

I also had a couple small handfuls of trail mix throughout the day- love the Tropical mix! 

I had intended on going to the gym, but it was far too nice out! I was super exhausted though, so instead of wearing myself out on a run, I opted to go for a nice fast 45 minute walk around the neighborhood with my mom. 

When we came home, my mom put together my favorite dish of her's- Tuna Casserole! I had tuna along with a side salad with some leftover dressing from last night.

Plate 1: 

and Plate 2: 

Dessert- 

Newport Chocolate! (x2)

I am off to BED, I am one tired girl!

Nick's Visit- end of weekend recap

Ciao!

I am sooo sorry this post is super late! But I wanted as much time away from the computer, spending time with my boy as much as possible, so I'm sure you understand =)

I'll keep it semi brief for boredom's sake. 

Here's a recap of my eats Sunday-Monday... 

Did I eat healthy? Not entirely. But I tried to watch portions and choose my indulgences wisely. 

And the verdict... every indulgence was 100% worth it =)

Snack before we left Sunday morning: 

TJ's Salt-Free PB pretzels and dried figs =)

Lunch- We headed up to Pawtucket with a specific lunch planned. An RI classic, Hot Weiners from Kip's!

Ok, not the healthiest. I know. A weiner covered in seasoned ground beef, onions and mustard? But one of my alltime favorites growing up. The taste reminded me of my childhood, visits to my great grandma's house with my Grandpa and special lunchtime treats. Nick had never had one, so I had to bring him! 

His opinion? Not as good as his beloved chili cheese dogs, but damn good in their own right! He had two, I had one. 

On the side, we had the picture of health... 

Ho Jo potatoes. These are like fries, but seasoned and pan fried instead of deep fried. We shared this, and ate almost all of them. So. Good. 

After Kip's we headed to my favorite park in RI- Slater Park, to ride the Carousel. Another favorite memory from my childhood! Unfortunately, the carousel was under repair and we couldn't ride... but we had fun taking pictures and trying to win candy and stuffed animals anyway =) 

We went to Providence after Pawtucket, because Nick had never been to Thayer street... or had the little treat we stopped for as we walked... 
Bubble tea! I love love love bubble tea! It's iced tea with milk and "bubbles", which are really tapioca pearls! Nick liked them, they don't really have much taste they're kind of like little gummy balls that are really just a lot of fun to suck through the huge straw!

After a while browsing the shops and having fun on Thayer, we headed to meet both of our parents at Red Stripe for dinner.

I love Red Stripe! I had to order my favorite soup first... 
I recently discovered the amazing French Onion Soup, and I absolutely adore it. This bowl was divine! Nick liked it too... 
For my entree, I decided on a salad because I wasn't overly hungry. So I ordered an "everything but the kitchen sink" salad with grilled chicken. Well this, my friends, is what I got...
That is a serving bowl full of salad! It was incredible, packed with TONS of deliciousness, including but not only spring greens, green beans, olives of every sort, chickpeas, feta cheese, tomatoes, hearts of palm, roasted red peppers, cauliflower and hard boiled eggs. 

Amazing. I managed to down 3/4 of this and saved the rest for home. 

We were all so stuffed we passed on dessert, and Nick and I headed to Newport for the night.

He headed to meet a few friends for a while, while I waited for my friend Katrina. We hung out for a while, took a little trip to 7-eleven, which ended in some snack mix and oreos that were consumed throughout the night (whoops...)  We picked Nick up and we all had fun hanging out for the rest of the night. 

We stayed up LATE though, and Monday morning I was super tired! I would have liked to sleep in, but we had already made plans with Nick's parents and my mom to do breakfast at Crazy Burger! So we tiredly made our way back to Gansett for a delicious mid morning feast. 

I started out with fresh squeezed mango grapefruit juice... 
And 0ne of my favorite indulgences, Eggs Benedict with a side of fruit!
I ate both english muffins with egg and ham, and didn't eat too much of the holladaise it was doused in, as much as I like the taste I know how unhealthy it is! I had enough for flavor's sake, and I ate 3/4 of the fruit. 

Since we ate breakfast a little late, lunch was a bit off- I had some animal crackers while helping Nick pack up his room, and then when I got back to Narragansett I had some leftover salad... 
And then a while later I had some grapes (x3) while prepping dinner. 
I made Nick, his parents and my parents/sister dinner for his last night in town!

We started with a delicious salad that I also topped with "Honey" Mustard dressing I whipped up, recipe courtesy of Eat, Drink and Be Vegan. 
The salad had spring greens, red pepper, corn, blueberries and goat cheese!

Dinner was Nick's favorite- Garlic Parmesan Chicken, with some roasted rosemary chicken and blanced broccoli. 
Nick's parents brought over some delicious dark chocolate we shared over coffee after dinner... 
And then we had a special ride to go and get ice cream up the street!
That's my super cool limo driver dad, who drove my cousins to prom (in town) earlier that evening and snuck home for dinner... and to give us a classy ride to Brickley's!

I had my favorite- black raspberry chip with chocolate sprinkles =) 

What a great weekend!