Back in skinny jeans

Nosh bites: Ideas for non-dairy milks and sweet & fiberous snack: Figs & Filberts

Over at Noshtopia for your eating wellness pleasure:

• I have a mild Type II allergy to cow & goat milk so I've had to look for new milks to use in my cereal and to drink with warm cookies. Here's a list of some non-dairy milks to try out.

• Do you believe there is a worldwide rice shortage to warrant rice rationing here in the US? This is what I think.

• Looking for a snack that is sweet, full of fiber, and protein? My latest favorite is dried figs & filberts. Check out the health benefits of this yummy snack.

Nosh bites: Nutritional breakdown for Trader Joe's Meatballs and your organic personal care products may have contaminants

Over at Noshtopia, here are some dee-lish tidbits for your healthy noshing pleasure:

• Trader Joe's has 5 kinds of meatballs: Beef, Turkey, Italian, Party Size (Beef + Pork), and Meatless. I give you a chart with the nutritional breakdown for each of the meatballs.

• Your organic personal care products might have cancer causing contaminants. Here's how you can find out.

• Did you know that purple is one of the original colors of the carrot? If you've never seen a purple carrot, it's pretty interesting.

• 10 foods that will help you age healthily.

Valentines Dinner Ideas: Waist and heart friendly dishes for home cooked Valentine's Day din-din

Cooking dinner for your sweetie for Valentine's Day tomorrow, and still don't know what to cook? Here's some ideas for some waist and heart friendly dishes that are also easy to make. Thanks to The Muse for the post suggestion:

Appetizers

Indian-inspired chunky Guacamole with Garlic Naan: The Mayans and Aztecs back in the day used to eat avocados as a way to help out a man's libido. Avocados too are loaded with those health-friendly MUFAs. (mono unsaturated fatty acids) I like the twist Heidi used to make Guacamole something new and different. {via 101 Cookbooks}

Asian Lettuce Cups with Ground Turkey and Green Apple: Just look at that. Makes you salivate huh? Coolest thing is that this recipe includes a dipping sauce that contains no cornstarch. Sweet! You have to visit this site too just to drool over the food pics. Jaden is brilliant! {via Steamy Kitchen}

Kale chips: This chip is like a two-fer, you get crunchy and salty with the benefit of a green veggie that is packed with antioxidant power. In this recipe the Kale chips are made with evoo (as Rachel Ray would say) {via 28 cooks}

Veggies

Artichokes braised with garlic and lemon: Eating artichokes is a sensual experience from stripping to dipping. This recipe also incorporates olive oil which is a good source for healthy MUFAs (mono unsaturated fatty acid) {via CD Kitchen}

Roasted New Potatoes with Carmelized Onions and Truffle Oil: Have you cooked with truffle oil before or even just smelled the stuff? Oh it is so dee-lish, and might as well be an aphrodisiac because the smell is so come-hither. {via Simply Recipes}

Proteins with veggies

Pepper and Corriander Scallop Skewers with Tarragon Salad: Scallops are rich in selenium, a mineral that protects cells from disease-causing damage in the body. This dish is nice for something light and tasty. {via SELF on epicurious}

Mojito Chicken and Roasted Asparagus with Almonds: Mojitos are one of my favorite cocktails because I love the hint of mint. In 19th century France, asparagus was revered for its love powers. This name of this recipe just sounds like fun! {via Robin Miller on The Food Network}

Pan Seared Steak with Red Wine Reduction: According to Men's Health magazine ladies, all men really want to eat is steak on Valentine's Day because it's a building block for that libido boosting testosterone. Here's a simple and delicious steak recipe from a Natural Whole Gourmet. Tip: For the sugar 1 tsp part, you can also grab a couple packets of raw sugar at Starbucks and use that. Below is the video of Alison cooking the steak. {via Whole Gourmet Natural Cooking}

Martha Stewart Kirkland Costco brand Tomato soup is surprisingly tasty & kinda organic

At the gym the other day while I was sweating away on the Adaptive Movement Precor, I watched Martha Stewart on the TV. It was either Martha, ESPN, or death & destruction on CNN so the choice really was a no-brainer. Anyway,  Martha started going on about her new line of soups that she is selling through the Kirkland brand at Costco. I thought, "Gee, that Martha really is determined to find her way into to the stomachs of every American." And if you're going to sell in bulk, well, Costco is the way to do it.

So, I happened to be at Costco, and decided to try out Martha's Classic Tomato Soup. There is also a Minestrone and a Mushroom soup, but I'm more of a tomato fan, so I went with something I know I'd enjoy. The package comes with two tubs of soup which are 24 ounces each which converts to 3 cups. For a single person, 6 cups of Tomato soup is way more than I'd eat in probably 6 months, but hey, we can always freeze one of the tubs.

I've been kind of a label fanatic lately, so I was pleasantly surprised to see that the Soup is made from organic tomatoes, and that I recognized every ingredient on the list. The only chemical sounding ingredient was Calcium Chloride, but other than that, everything else was something Mother Nature made. Although the tomatoes are organic in the soup, they can't call it organic Tomato soup because every ingredient has to be organic, but hey, I'm not going to complain too much. I was happy that the ingredient list didn't sound like a chemistry experiment.

The next test was taste. Now, I like my Tomato soups on the zesty side. Martha's Tomato Soup is tasty but it is not zesty, at least to my taste buds. So, as you can see in my picture, I added some spices in to zest up the soup. I don't mind adding flavoring to a soup. I'd rather add flavor than get something that tastes like it needs to be hosed down.

On the flip side, the Tomato soup is a bit on the fatty side because it is made with butter but it's saturated fat and no trans fat. Calorie wise, it's not so bad. One cup is 160 calories with 12g of fat and 4g of Protein. If you like Tomato soup or need a Tomato soup for a recipe, than I would recommend trying out Martha's Kirkland soups. If you've tried the Minestrone or Mushroom, let me know what you thought of it.

Healthy food shopping tip: Stick to the perimeter of the store

The apartment manager of my complex, a new friend now, shared with me an awesome food shopping tip he got from a trainer he used to work with that also once used to work at a major retail grocery store chain.

The trainer's tip: The freshest and healthiest foods are all located on the perimeter of the store, so shop along the perimeter and avoid the aisles. The foods in the aisles besides things for cooking & baking like spices, flour, oils are typically:

• Junk foods like cookies, candies, chips, and sodas
• Canned, boxed, or frozen foods which contain preservatives & additives for packaging
• High-carb like pastas and cereals

After talking to my friend, I went to a Safeway and a Whole Foods, and sure enough, he was right. The stores have slightly different layouts, but the locations of the freshest and healthiest foods were indeed along the perimeter of the store. I could buy what I needed for dinner, and not walk into any of the aisles. I got even more curious and went to other chain grocery stores, and whadya know...

A cute ghost in my spicy Venezuelen cocoa

Checkout the cute ghost face the barrista drew for me in my Spicy Hot Cocoa. I took the pic with my cell phone camera so the colors are not as vibrant as the real thing. But man-o-man this cup of heaven is made with chocolate from Venezuela and it is really divine. It's my top splurge treat. I get my fix at one of my favorite cafes, Coupa Cafe in Palo Alto near Stanford University. As well, I have a tin of the cocoa mix at home.

You can buy cans of this hot chocolate at most gourmet stores and cafes, or directly from the maker Chuao Chocolatier on their website. The cocoa comes in 3 flavors Winter, Spicy Maya, and Abuela, and I am telling you it is THE BEST hot chocolate I have ever had. My world is blissful when I drink this cocoa. Truly!

One tip, if you buy the cocoa and make it at home you have to make it in a pot because there are chunks of chocolate in the mix, and the chunks do not melt well in the microwave. At home, I usually make my hot chocolate using rice milk, and it tastes just as good as a non-fat milk version.

I'm telling you. If you love chocolate, this cocoa is a must try.

A $2.49 Avocado testing my organic "threshold"

I've been craving Avocados like mad since I started the half marathon training. Avocados are a great source for healthy fats and "nearly 20 vitamins, minerals and beneficial plant compounds that can contribute to the nutrient quality of your diet." Because I've been on this whole anti-pesticide and anti-preservative "get clean" crusade, I can't have just any avocado, I got to have an organic one.

But at $2.49 for an organic avocado, this is where my wallet and desire for health start to clash. We all have an organic "threshold" meaning we get that you pay more for organic produce but there comes a limit to just how much you're willing to fork out especially when you live on a budget like myself.

When I bought this avocado, I debated going to another grocery store where I knew I could get an avocado for 99 cents, but it wasn't organic, and it was about half the size as this one. Plus, was it worth it to me to drive to another store just to buy one avocado. I decided my time and effort plus gas wasn't worth saving the $2, so I got this pricey puppy from Chile.

I do have to say though that this avocado was really delicious, and that it's vibrant flavor in my turkey and Colby Jack sandwich, and in my Arugula & Tomato salad the next day made me forget all about it's hefty price tag.

Yummy dinner: Wasabi potato salad and tasty rotisserie chicken

I just had to share this yummy dinner I had the other day. On the side is some Wasabi potato salad from Delica rf-1 at the SF Ferry Building that was made with slices of potato, garlic, wasabi mayonnaise, edamame, snap peas, and romaine hearts.

The piece of chicken comes from an organic 1/2 rotisserie chicken I got from the Ferry Building farmer's market from the Roli Roti stand on Saturday. My tummy was in heaven after this meal because it was a nice twist on plain potato salad and chicken.

Skinny indulgence: Dark chocolate ball of succulence from Ferrero

If you're looking for a small treat that will satisfy a sweet craving but not break your calorie bank, these new Ferrero Rondnoir dark chocolates will do the trick. Ferrero chocolates are one of my favorites and I was excited to hear about their very first dark chocolate creation. One ball is 53 calories, and OMGoodness! this chocolate is literally like biting into a piece of cocoa succulence. My favorite part is the crunchy wafer coating.

After taking my first bite, I savored the chocolate swirling in my mouth and let out a sigh of ecstasy. It wasn't orgasmic like the Herbal Essence commercials but close enough. The Rondnoir is a great chocolate to use in Maria's Chocolate Meditation where you can experience the bliss and joy of taste, texture, and smell of good chocolate. Definitely give these Rondnoir puppies a try.

Sweet distraction: Roasted Nut Crunch bars

Peanut Roasted Nut Crunch bars for "Free" day. Yummy!

For many people on a weight loss program, Friday is typically a "Free" day where you allow yourself to eat anything on or off your diet menu. It's beneficial to have the Free days so that your psyche feels like it can still have some tasty treats even though you're on the "be gone muffin top" program.

My latest sweet distraction for Free days are these Peanut Roasted Nut Crunch bars from Nature Valley. The bars come in an Almond Crunch flavor as well, but oh my frickin' goodness, these Peanut Crunch bars are just so yummy. It's like Peanut-topia in your mouth, not kidding.

Each bar is 200 calories with 7g of protein and 2g of fiber, and contains only 6 ingredients void of anything chem lab sounding which I really like. The bars are a bit high in fat 14g because of all the nuts, and contain corn syrup, but hey at least it isn't high fructose corn syrup, and even then, who's going to call the diet police because it's a Free day delight. Indulge!