Category Archives: Godiva

by Becki | October 26, 2010

I Eat REAL Food!

Exercise of the day: I woke up with a headache and sat around for a while sipping tea before I decided that if I was going to feel like crap anyway, I might as well feel like crap at the gym and get a workout out of the way and I’m really good at writing run-on sentences. I fueled up with some carbs:

1 slice of 9 Grain from Great Harvest with some peanut butter and mashed banana. I have no idea how those chocolate chunks found their way there!

I got onto the elliptical and did the random cycle at level 7 for 40 minutes, then did 30 assisted pullups and 30 tricep dips. I used the evil/wonderful foam roller and tried not to cry as I rolled out my IT bands, then went out and did a few “woodchopper” core weights. Halfway through the workout my headache was GONE!

I had an icy Monsta when I got back with 6 cups of spinach, 1/2 cup of soymilk, 1/2 a frozen banana, 1 lemon and 1/4 cup of frozen blueberries. Soymilk has protein in it… Probably not enough for a post-workout refuel though. I also had some reheated butternut squash apple soup with a dollop of goat cheese – yum!

I spent the day cleaning the house, doing laundry, CLEANING OUT MY CAR (something I haven’t done in over six months) and making hummus!

The can of garbanzo beans gave me some trouble, but I sorted it out.

And the hummus is chillin’ in the fridge, waiting to have fresh bell pepper slices dipped into it.

I made baked sweet potato fries for dinner.

Half of a huge sweet potato sliced, sprayed with olive oil and sprinkled with garlic salt, then roasted at 450 degrees for 15 minutes.

At work I got a lovely gift from a lovely friend.

Chocolate covered strawberries from Godiva! Thanks, Jose!

I also started this book: The French Don’t Diet Plan. I really, really, REALLY recommend reading this! I’m only a few chapters in, but this is so interesting! The author, Dr. Will Clower, talks about how the French can seemingly eat everything in sight: bread, cheese, wine, chocolates, and not gain weight, and how their diet differs from the typical American diet.

“They eat real foods, we eat food products.” – Dr. Will Clower.

If you read the ingredient lists on different foodstuffs, it’s shocking to see how many unpronounceable ingredients, chemicals, dyes and preservatives actually inhabit the products that we put into our body. For instance, let’s look at the ingredients on a simple loaf of Wonder Bread:

I don’t want to put exthoxylated mono and diglycerides in my body – I researched them and STILL don’t know what they are!

Lucky for me, I have a Great Harvest down the street. The ingredients in this loaf? Fresh-ground whole wheat flour, water, yeast, salt, honey and oatmeal. That’s more like it!

I’ll be going through this book and sharing on my blog as I go along! I’m making a conscious decision to only eat food with real, whole ingredients – starting with making my own ketchup tomorrey! Stay tuned!

How many things in your fridge contain crazy chemicals or dyes?

My count – seven out of twelve on the middle shelf alone. Yikes.

8 Comments

Filed under butternut squash apple soup, elliptical, Godiva, Great Harvest, gym, headache, hummus, sweet potato fries, The French Don't Diet

by Becki | September 27, 2010

A Peachy Day!

Happy National Pancake Day!!! Did you have any idea it was NPD? Lucky for me, the first thing I do in the morning is get my coffee, then read the blogs that I follow, and Heather had mentioned it and made her pancake breakfast. I looked around my kitchen and decided that I would make Peach Pie Oatmeal pancakes.

Peach Pie Oatmeal Pancakes

Ingredients:

1/2 of a cup of quick-cook rolled oats

1/2 of a cup of whole wheat flour

2 teaspoons of baking soda

A pinch of salt

2 teaspoons of cinnamon

1 1/3 cups of soymilk

1 large peach, diced

1 large peach, sliced, for garnish

Combine all the dry ingredients in a large bowl and mix well.
Add the soymilk and blend together (It will look watery, but the oats absorb the extra moisture).
Stir in the diced peaches.
While waiting for the batter to thicken, put the sliced peaches in a greased pan over medium heat to caramelize.

Caramelization!

5. After the pancake batter has thickened (about two minutes), set a greased frying pan over medium heat. (I grease mine with a canola oil spray)
6. Plop a heaping tablespoon of the batter into the pan and flip when the tops look semi-dry.

I love the caramelized edges of the peaches peeking through!

7. Flip the peaches that are caramelizing in the other pan, then top the finished pancakes with them.
8. Drizzle with honey and INHALE!

Inhalation is best done with a beautiful view.

My morning was pretty much completely amazing. Eating stacks of fluffy, fruity pancakes can do that to mornings, I’ve found. After breakfast, I headed off for a full shift at work. I arrived and opened the cabinet where I keep my purse, and found the most amazing surprise EVER!

My friend who works at Godiva gave me FOUR chocolate covered strawberries! Those things cost six million dollars apiece!!! I’m so spoiled!

I went out to Paciugo with my new coworker and tried out a new flavor, Vanilla Raspberry Swirl. Hi, my name is Becki, and I have an addiction. The last time I had gelato was at 12:13pm today.

Lunch was a mini spicy tuna roll with brown rice, followed by a trip to Williams Sonoma, and some light reading.

Yes, those are all of Williams Sonoma’s spices compiled into a pamphlet, which I read cover to cover. I’m weird.

Speaking of reading, yesterday I finally finished the latest book I’ve been going through.

“Never Let Me Go” by Kazuo Ishiguro. I had to read it before I see the movie. I’m not quite sure how I feel about this one…

Have you read it yet? What are your thoughts?

I got home after work to a home cooked meal! My roommates appreciated my pancake-mastering this morning that they made dinner!

They made peach-ginger baked chicken with grilled vegetables on the side. That black stuff on the left is onions, zucchini, eggplant and green beans that have been grilled in a mesh pan until DELICIOUS. Don’t let the lack of color freak you out!

I’m enjoying a glass of Hard Core red wine, a mix of 29% Mourvedere, 24% Grenache, 27% Syrah, and 20% Cabernet Sauvignon. It’s a random blend, but deliciously spicy and fruity at the same time! Tomorrey I have to head to work at 9am, then I get to bail out early to head to an audition for a web series, and continue on to Dan and Malachi’s for wine tasting and risotto making!

Did you celebrate National Pancake Day? What kind did you make?

4 Comments

Filed under Godiva, grilled vegetables, Hard Core, Paciugo, Pancake Sunday, Peach Pie Oatmeal Pancakes, red wine, work

by Becki | September 5, 2010

Guilty Pleasures

I hope everyone’s enjoying the beginning of their Labor Day weekend! I had to work all day today, and a few hours tomorrey, then I’m free to enjoy myself again!

I’ve been hitting the gym every day, utilizing every single second of my free trial week. Today I spent an hour on the elliptical, burned 502 calories and went 3.75 miles. Afterwards, I did a few rounds on the lat pulldown, then did a massive amount of crunches and stretching. All this was followed by a big Monsta at home – 3 cups of spinach, 1/4 of a cup of unsweetened soymilk, 1 lime, 1/2 of a banana, 1/3 of a cup of frozen blueberries, 1 carrot, and 4 sprigs of asparagus.

I had to work today, but I got to work with my lovely and ridiculously fun friend, Vicky, so it was more than bearable. Since nothing out of the ordinary happened today, I’m just going to put up a bunch of random pictures of some of my meals over the last few days.

After my intense workout yesterday, I decided that a trip to the indian buffet was in order.

As if the gigantic plate of food and garlic naan wasn’t enough, the chefs made my roommate and me this complimentary dessert that we’re obsessed with: Gajar Halwa – it’s basically grated carrots, sugar, butter, almonds and raisins. This is one of my all-time favorite desserts!

I had a late night craving for grilled cheese one night. I made this with Great Harvest’s Hi-5 Fiber bread, which is chock full with tons of seeds and nuts, then topped it with some real (NOT Kraft) cheddar cheese and fried it up in a teaspoon of butter. Sometimes, grilled cheese is a necessity.

Today’s lunch was a Subway 6-inch on wheat with turkey, roast beef, tons of spinach, cucumbers, tomatoes, green peppers, avocado, a little mayo and mustard.

PUMPKIN truffle from Godiva! I LOVE PUMPKIN!!!!

And a piece of the Hi-5 Fiber toast with some REAL chimichurri sauce on it. Real means delicious means not made by me.

Keep in mind that while some (most) of this isn’t the healthiest thing I could’ve chosen, I’ve completely balanced it all out with Monsters in the morning as well as lots of time at the gym. Plus, I wanted to eat it, so I did. Deal with it.

Tonight I’m headed out to a billiards club with some friends to play for a few hours, and hopefully drink a PUMPKIN ale? Ah geez, I really hope the bar carries pumpkin ale already! Enjoy your Saturdays!

What are some of your guilty eating pleasures?

2 Comments

Filed under chimichurri, elliptical, Gajar Halwa, Godiva, green monster, grilled cheese, gym, Indian Food, work

by Becki | July 2, 2010

Mediterranean Delicacies

GOOOOOD Thursday, all! I hope you got to start your day off as wonderfully as I did!

This Monsta was nothing but FRESH! 3 cups of fresh spinach, 3/4 a cup of soymilk, 1/2 a cup of fresh blueberries, fresh lemon juice, 1/2 a fresh banana and some fresh ice!

I had a full day at work, but the good news is that it’s now officially July, which could mean only one thing… FREE GODIVA (If you belong to the Godiva Rewards Club, you get a free piece every month). Yes, I track time through chocolate. What’s wrong with that?

Godiva is kind of a diva. It doesn’t like to be photographed and always comes out blurry – it’s a defense mechanism.

I didn’t make breakfast after the GM, so I had to snack on the Clif bar I had leftover from Tuesday.

I was planning on going to the farmers’ market for lunch and feasting on the samples, but when I stepped outside in my all-black ensemble (mandatory for work) I realized that it was about 90 degrees, and the parking lot where they hold the market would be quite painful. Instead I went to Lazy Dog for a farmers’ market-inspired meal.

This is the Mediterranean Veggie Foccacia Sandwich. Grilled eggplant, fresh tomatoes, lettuce, sliced onions, fresh goat cheese, and sun-dried tomato hummus on rosemary foccacia bread. Oh yeah, and french fries

I had half the sandwich and half the fries, as well as a few edamame on the side. I was so full, I didn’t even have the room to stop at Paciugo! After an hour back at work, I did need to have a little See’s, just to keep me awake!

Scotchmallow, apple pie truffle, dark peppermints and a tipperary bon-bon.

I got home around 6:30pm and it was still very warm out, so I sat out back with a glass of Magners and listened to Owl City’s new/old song “Brielle” while watching the sunset.

A nice, crisp cider for a warm night out – perfect! An Owl City soundtrack to accompany the view? Priceless!

Dinner was the remaining half of my sandwich, with a chocolate soy ice cream sandwich for dessert.

So. Full.

I’m going to be crashing super early tonight in preparation for tomorrey! There will be lots of pictures, lots of words, and lots of happiness!

Have an amazing Friday! I’ll see you here tomorrow night

(A compilation of artwork my coworkers and I made

We be creative.)

TV Stars and Chocolates

I loves me the hiking!!! If I don’t get on the trail in the morning, I really feel like something is missing from my day without that burst of endorphins. Yes, I realize I complain about the heat and the bugs, but I always end in a much better mood and have a MUCH better day than I would if I’d just sat on my butt and had a third (or fourth) cup of coffee. I begged my roommate to let me have the third cup of coffee: she told me to shut up and get my hiking gear on.

First things first: MONSTER!

Lots of pretty red cherry bits and purple raspberry seeds in this one!

We hopped on the trail around 10am and did our fastest pace ever for this year – 49 minutes. My roommate and I used to take a trail that took us two and a half hours, and as awesome and that was, time constraints from real life got in the way. We’ll take what we can get nowadays.

Marine layer (covering the ocean) views!

I’ve been to the top of that mountain three times, and plan on making a sunrise hike up before the end of summer. My Jet Boil and some instant coffee will be joining me on that trip.

We got back and I had just enough time to rinse off and make a quick omelette in a feeble attempt to keep me full throughout a long work day.

This has two eggs, a handful of wilted spinach, 1 tablespoon of chopped sundried tomatoes (the kind that are soaked in oil, then drained) and a tablespoon of goat cheese.

DROOL!

I got to work and was greeted by my lovely coworker, Briann, with this:

That would be a strawberry cheesecake truffle from Godiva. She is evil… and lovely…

Work was very dull. I know I keep saying this, but TODAY was the most dead I’ve ever seen the store! I read about fifty pages of my current book, Insatiable, by Meg Cabot (it’s about vampires, but it makes fun of the current media craze. I must admit, I do love her writing!) and went on lots of breaks.

I had big, bad cravings all day – I blame Briann for initiating it with the chocolate. There’s a sandwich I used to be obsessed with – the garlic basil chicken sandwich – that I was pining for today for some reason. I decided to give in to my desires, and have planned a long, hot bike ride tomorrow to pay for it.

This thing is HUGE! Fresh-baked bread with a garlic-basil mayonnaise, chicken, tomatoes, lettuce, swiss cheese (baaaad lactose), avocado, red onions and chilled pasta salad on the side.

Don’t freak out, I only ate half of the sandwich, had two bites of the pasta and was totally full, so I stored it in the employee fridge for my dinner. The rest of lunch was spent on my couch, which I feel I should name because I am so fond of it and basically own it. I walked back to work in a daze, as I always do after forty minutes of dozing in a food coma.

I decided that I needed to create another Paciugo addict to help keep the company alive, so I took Briann to get some gelato. She got a combo of Italian Trifle, Chocolate Chip and Tiramisu, and I got a child size of soy chocolate – dull, but delicious! And very blurry!

The rest of work dragged by. I read a lot, reheated my sandwich and devoured it, did some pushups against the counter, saw the kid who plays “Rico” on Hannah Montana, got checked out by the kid who plays “Rico” on Hannah Montana, visited with a friend who works at a very expensive store where the kid who plays “Rico” on Hannah Montana was shopping at, and read some more. It was quite a thrilling night.

I bolted from work as soon as I could, called KIIS 102.7 pretending to have “Bieber Fever (Beiber? Bieber?)” to try and get tickets for his show, just because I’d like to win tickets from the radio at some point in my life, then got home and had a chilly Fat Tire while watching the Food Network: A wonderful night to make up for a long, boring day.

Tomorrow I’ll be going on an intense bike ride in an attempt to burn off the huge sandwich and pasta salad I ate today, as well as a hike, and visiting the Farmers’ Market to pick up some more chimichurri sauce supplies.

What are your favorite things to get at the local Farmers’ Market?

2 Comments

Filed under gelato, Godiva, Hannah Montana, Insatiable, Justin Bieber, Meg Cabot, Paciugo, sandwich

by Becki | June 22, 2010

Chocolate Tortillas and Zucchini Mush

I’m currently sitting in a cloud of dust, staring far, far ahead at the wagon that I fell off of this weekend. It was a long, hard fall. Today I started to climb back on, but lost my footing and got some more gravel in my knees.

The day started off well enough.

I had a big Purple Monsta with 2 cups of spinach, 1/4 a cup of frozen cherries, 3/4 a cup of soymilk, 1/3 of a banana, a tablespoon of flaxmeal and some lemon juice.

I hopped back on the trails for a hot hike wearing my new WHITE Nike Dri-Fit shirt (my black one has been absorbing the sun and killing me in the summer heat). It was nice and quiet, with very few people, and no breeze at all! The air was completely still and quite torturous.

All I could think about on the hike was the coconut cream cake that I ate last night after we got back from Ventura, so I caved and had a teeny-tiny piece from the freezer.

No guilt. If you truly take the time to taste, enjoy and appreciate something and don’t just mindlessly stuff your face, then guilt should never factor in.

Those chocolate tortilla chips I got for my dad were crying out to be tried, so I took a nibble of one.

Yes, they’re tortilla chips, and yes, they’re chocolate. YES, they’re incredible! Sweet and salty is one of the best combinations ever.

Lunch was very simple – baked ziti.

This was 1/4 a cup of whole wheat pasta, turkey meatballs, diced orange and red bell peppers, onions, chopped tomatoes and a teaspoon of goat cheese.

I ran out to Costco to get some more spinach and came back to attempt making zucchini birdnests that caught my eye from my library book, Cooking from the Farmers’ Market. I started by shredding 4 green zucchini (zucchinis?) and 3 yellow squash (squashes?) – Let’s just call them by their New Zealand/British English name: Courgettes. After adding a pinch of salt and letting them sweat for five minutes, I wrung them out to get rid of all the liquid – courgettes have LOTS of water in them! Next, I shredded a small yellow onion, minced 2 cloves of garlic and broke an egg.

I’m not a fan of having a lot to clean, so I broke the egg in the center of my mixture, and then lightly beat it in the bowl so I wouldn’t have another dish to wash.

After mixing it all together and stirring in a tablespoon of whole wheat flour, I plopped them into a frying pan that was sprayed with a thin coat of canola oil and heated over medium-high.

Lookin’ good so far!

Hmmm, maybe not…

I think these still had too much moisture in them, even though I wrung them out over a strainer multiple times. They totally fell apart, then burned on one side and stayed raw in the middle, so I threw them in the oven with convection to try and dry them/cook them.

They do not look pretty

This is what they’re supposed to look like:

And here’s mine:

Yeah, so it completely fell apart and became a zucchini scramble. It was edible…ish. I tried to make the recipe healthier by using whole wheat flour instead of white flour, and using spray oil instead of the recommended 2 tablespoons to fry them in. Sometimes healthy just isn’t worth it!

…And sometimes it is. For dinner I had my good old standby – a wonderful KSS.

2 cups of chopped baby greens, 1/2 of a diced bell pepper, 1/2 a cup of warmed lentils, 1/2 a cup of egg white salad and dressing made with 1 teaspoon of balsamic vinegar, 1 teaspoon of whole grain mustard and 1 teaspoon of blood orange olive oil.

I had the closing shift at work so I headed off with my beer book to study… I mean work… yes, work.

I just got to the “Beer Appreciation” chapter – tasting! So cool!

Looking back over this post, I’m realizing I wasn’t THAT bad in the eating area. That all changes now. I went to Paciugo and got a child size of their soy chocolate. Hint: at most places you can request a child size and it will still fill you up! No more American-size portions!

So creamy and delicious! Can’t believe it’s soy – a lot of soy ice cream is grainy and gross, but this is heaven in a dainty cup!

One of my coworkers went to Godiva and decided to share – darn you, Kyle! I was very happy, but very upset at the same time. My happiness definitely overwhelmed the upset

That’s half of a chocolate-covered strawberry and banana stick, plus one of my dad’s chocolate tortilla chips. I shared the other half of the stick with my roommate. Everyone wins when you share!

Tomorrow will be a little difficult in the eating area again. I have my acting class in LA, followed by running a talent manager’s office completely by myself all afternoon into the evening, so I won’t be able to sit down and have a nice, well thought-out meal. Hopefully I’ll have time to grab a big salad to-go from Trader Joe’s or something.

I shall go sleep now and hope for an early waking to squeeze in a hike before I head to LALA Land. Ciao = CHOW!