Memorial Day Weekend Shopping

I tried to resist but I couldn't so I shopped during this weekend :(. There were very good deals that I just couldn't resist. I made myself believe that I needed the things I bought. However, in total I didn't spend more than $45, so yay for that! By the way I was at home and did all my shopping online :).

I try to find sites that offer free shipping then I feel comfortable about shopping online. I don't know why but if I pay for shipping I feel very bad. Especially if I want to buy something for $30 and the shipping cost is $10, I will either not buy it or buy more so the shipping cost doesn't seem that much to me :).

I posted pics of the items that I got this weekend. Hoping they will arrive next week, we'll see :).
(Note that the prices listed under the items do not include tax and I got the belted trouser in navy not khaki.)

By the way you can still buy the t-shirt and the pants online (at pacsun) and get free shipping. Unfortunately, white and red june bug's are sold out and they only have sizes 5 and 11 left for the stone/slate june bug.

Sanuk - White June Bug, $12.75

Courtship & Suitors
Needles & Pins Boxy Tee, $6.80

Sound & Matter
Belted Trouser, $22.95

Sanuk - June Bug's on Sale!

I just got a tip from my friend! She sent me a link. If you're looking for cheap Sanuk June Bug shoes you should definitely check the website out. They're on sale and also if you apply the code CPOLOGY15 you get an additional 15% off which makes the price for the shoes only $13.60!
My friend got a white one and I also just bought a white one. However, there is also a red and a stone/slate on sale. They're so comfortable and to find a website that sells them for only $13.60 is great! And before I forget they also ship for free if you choose standard shipping.
Thanks for the tip! You know who you are :).

Perfumania

A couple of months ago I came across one of Perfumania's stores in a mall. They sell discount beauty products. More specifically, the price they give you is at least $5-$10 (or much more depending on your choice) lower than the retail price you will find at department stores. They originally have two types of prices for each product, retail price and our price. Additionally if an item is on sale it has a sale price.

HOT for me

I was in need for a new perfume that I could use daily. I didn't want to buy an expensive one. I already have one that I use when I go out (not for school of course :) ). Therefore, I remembered Perfumania and checked out their website. They usually have many items on sale but if you're after an expensive brand such as Christian Dior, Chanel, Dolce & Gabbana etc. you only save about $5-$10 which isn't much but still a saving. I've been monitoring their prices for the past couple of weeks and expensive brands rarely go on sale. I remember some of them went on sale during Mother's Day. The sale was buy one get 50% off second. Anyway since I was after a cheaper retail priced perfume I went with HOT For Women and Men by BENETTON. I had previously used HOT and enjoyed it. The retail price is $35 and Perfumania's price is $24.99. However, there was a sale so I got it for $12.49. There is also COLD which we got for my husband. Although both of the fragrances are categorized as uni-sex I think HOT is more for women and COLD is more for men. We bought both of the fragrances online and the shipping was perfect :). I was afraid they might break during shipping but they were fine.

Perfumania also sent us 3 perfume samples and a coupon for an extra 15% off that we can use for our next online purchase.  

COLD for my husband

Protein Bars

I know I've been doing lots of food related posts lately but my diet has made me a food geek :). I have to know exactly how much calories I consume each day and how healthy these calories are. I will be doing a 1000 cal/day diet for a week and then I will increase it to 1200 cal/day because eating 1000 cal/day for longer is not healthy. It has been 5 days since I started my diet plan.

Pure Protein Bar

I decided to include more protein in my diet.  Today I ate 2 hard boiled eggs and a banana for breakfast then during the day I tried out a protein bar. It was very tasty just like a normal chocolate bar. However, it was also 200 calories. I thought 200 calories was a lot for a small piece of bar but I noticed that I barely started to get hungry even after 3 hours. I guess 20g of protein was enough to keep me satisfied for 3 hours so I will continue to eat these bars during the last weeks of school. I have lots of work to do and while running around the campus I'll just grab one of these protein bars.

I think overly processed foods such as protein bars are not healthy in general but I'm going to try them for a couple of days. They are very convenient when you're on a diet and have little time to eat due to a hectic schedule.

I ate pure protein's chocolate peanut butter flavored protein bar today. Here is a link. By the way while I was at the store there were many different brands of protein bars but pure protein had the highest amount of protein. This is what you should expect from a brand named "pure protein" I guess :).

Jalapeno Burn

Lately we've been doing some of our grocery shopping at North Market. They have a wide variety of merchants and farmers inside the market that offer delicious foods and drinks. You can check out all the unique contributors of the market at its website.

Jalapenos

We buy our fruits and vegetables at The Greener Grocer in the market. As a family we love hot and spicy foods so today we decided to try out raw jalapenos that we got from The Greener Grocer. We planned on adding the jalapenos to our gigantic salad that we almost always make for dinner. However, something went terribly wrong when my husband was preparing the salad. He accidentally touched his face after he had just cut some jalapenos and his face started to burn. I hadn't seen him like that before, he was all red so I went online and did some quick research and found out that jalapeno skin burn is a bigger deal than we may have thought.

Here is what you have to do if you get a jalapeno skin burn. (By the way, your hands can get jalapeno skin burn so before cutting any raw jalapenos I suggest you wear protective gloves).

1) Wash the burned area with soap and water. Rinse thoroughly.
2) Apply first aid ointment that is used for minor cuts, scrapes and burns

Additionally, I have read that dairy products also help decrease the burning feel. You can use milk or yogurt to relieve your burning by applying them to your skin.

I hope no one will need to use this information. Be careful while handling jalapenos and to be on the safe side always wear latex or protective gloves.

Blueberry Obsession

In the last couple of days I've been obsessed with blueberries. Actually I've been obsessed with food. I have been trying to make healthy and tasty recipes since I started my diet.

I've started making myself blueberry smoothies and today I made blueberry cake. I found a blueberry cake recipe online and changed it a bit so it would be lower in calories. I am not sure if everyone will enjoy it because it is certainly not a sweet cake. It is more like a dessert for people on a diet. However, I really enjoyed eating it especially with a glass of milk.

Here is the recipe.

Ingredients
1) 1/4 cup of sugar (you can certainly double this amount for a sweeter cake)
2) 1 egg
3) 1 cup of skim milk
4) 2 cups of all-purpose flour (I am going to get a healthier flour next time)
5) About 1/8 cups of baking powder
6) 1 teaspoon of vanilla sugar (You can skip this if you don't have any)
7) 3/2 cups of blueberry (I used frozen blueberries but fresh ones will be much better)
8) 3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Ingredients

First preheat the oven to 350 F and grease the container you will use for your cake.

Afterwards whisk the egg and the sugar together until the mixture becomes white. Then add in the milk, flour, vanilla sugar, baking powder and cinnamon. Beat until all the ingredients are well combined. Finally add the blueberries and stir gently (try not to break up the blueberries). Bake in the oven for 40 minutes.

Total calories in this recipe is 1400 and calories per serving is 200. (This is assuming there are 7 servings)

Ready to go in the oven

Out of the oven

A piece of blueberry cake. Yummy!

Zucchini in the oven

Lots of zucchinis

The summer is here! However there is no need to panic, we still have time to lose a couple of pounds before we show more skin with various shorts, dresses, tank tops and etc. :). I have just started watching what I eat. I am thinking that a one-month long diet will be great for me. Therefore, I started to cook much healthier meals. Yesterday I made lentil soup and today I made zucchini in the oven.

1 pound of zucchini has 73 calories so we can cook low calorie meals with it. Additionally, it is an excellent source of calcium. Zucchini baked in the oven can be a side to a main dish that includes meat or you can just serve it by itself. I prefer to eat it as the main dish with 1 cup of non-fat plain yogurt. By this way I eat less calories but also include protein in my meal with yogurt so I don't get hungry for another 2-3 hours.

I love the taste of zucchini when it is baked in the oven and the recipe is so easy.

Ingredients
1) 5 or 6 zucchinis that are 4-6 inches long
2) 2 tablespoons of olive oil (if you're not on a diet you can double the amount)
3) A pinch of salt (if you're on a diet I suggest you skip the salt)

First wash the zucchinis thoroughly. Then cut 1/2 inch off the bottom and 1/2 inch off the top of the zucchini with a sharp knife. Peel the length of the zucchini such that you peel 1/2 an inch and leave half an inch until you have gone around the zucchini. By this way you have a patterned zucchini :). You don't have to peel the skin if the zucchini is very fresh and has a very thin skin. Then slice the zucchini width-wise. The slices should be less than 1/2 inch. Turn the oven up to 450 F degrees. Put all the sliced zucchinis into a large enough pyrex container that has been sprayed with olive oil. Add the 2 tablespoons of olive oil and the salt, mix it with a spoon then place it in the preheated oven. Cook for 40-45 minutes. After 20-25 minutes mix the zucchini again with a spoon without taking it out of the oven. I have to do this because I usually make too much zucchinis for my pyrex container and some of the zucchinis will not bake properly if I don't change the places of the zucchinis :).  I posted a pic of my overstuffed container. I recommend you don't do this :).

Total calories in this recipe is only 350!

Zucchini raw

Zucchini cooked