I'm That Type Of Person...

If I were to ever loose my phone the person to find it might think that I'm obese. Seriously. I was looking through my photos and every fifth picture was of food. Yup I'm that girl that takes a picture of a hamburger and finds joy in it. The funny thing is I never do anything with the pictures. They just sit in my phone for my own personal enjoyment. Well until today. Ladies and gentlemen I give you my favorite food photos from my favorite places to eat in San Antonio & Austin.
Big'z cheddar avocado burger on a sweet sour dough bun with caramelized onion mayo. Oh sweet mercy that bun is heaven on earth. Oh and those onions rings? Best. Ever.

Texas Pride BBQ. Ok it's NOT our favorite BBQ place but it's still pretty darn good. BBQ is one of our favorite Texas traditions. Cooper's is my fave (didn't have a great pic). If you ask Denny he would say something different.

Hey Cupcake! black & white and very vanilla cupcakes. Delish & served out of the cutest airstream trailer I ever did see.

Torchy's Democrat taco, chips & salsa and a coke. Fiery perfection.

Frank Jackalope Hot Dog. Sausage made from Antelope, Rabbit & pork topped off with huckleberry compote and cheddar cheese. A. Maze. Ing. Truly. Oh and thank you Canada for the poutine waffle fries. Canada has the best junk food.

We go to this taco truck at least once a week. We love it so much. Carne Guisada taco, corn cup, mexican hot dogs. This place can not be beat. Too bad I don't even know it's name. However you can find it near Heubner and Vance Jackson in San Antonio every night.

Sushi Zushi Strawberry sushi roll. Yes you heard that right. Strawberry and sushi. Together. And it's actually pretty fantastic.

Just a warning. This probably won't be the last time I post pictures of food on this blog. I love to eat. And amazingly enough I'm not 300 pounds.

P.S. For the life of me I can not get the spacing of the pictures to look right. It's driving me crazy.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

September Salads: The Wrap Up

I've been stalling to write this post. I don't know why. It just seems like it's so over due and I got kinda bored with writing about salads. Honestly I thought I might just scrap this wrap up. However it's important that I do this post. I need to learn to follow through better. Plus I need to keep a record of what I learned through the whole process.

SO here I go...

I can't really remember what salads I ate the last few days or so of the challenge ( I know the picture above was from that time & it looks like the most unhealthy salad I ever made). I think there was a chinese chicken salad in there and a few that I whipped up from stuff I had on hand in the fridge or pantry. Anyway that is actually not the important part. What is important is that the day after my challenge was over I didn't eat a salad and I ate well over 2000 calories (I keep track with My Fitness Pal). I didn't think I had eaten that bad but I think the total was around 2250. I also went over on my sugar intake by about 120 grams. YIKES! That's bad. That week I was so sick of eating salads I didn't eat a single one. And... well... I gained two pounds.

*I want to say first and foremost that I did NOT do this to loose weight. I did this to add in more fruits and vegetables and to be all around a little more health conscience. So weight was not really an issue for me. I'm not bummed that I gained a couple pounds. It's just interesting to me.*

So this is what I learned. Of coarse results may not be the same for everyone but this is what happened with me. By replacing one meal a day with a healthy salad (I'll revisit this in a minute) I lost weight (unintentionally). I had way way more energy. I was motivated to exercise more. I did not exceed a 2000 calorie a day diet ever (the amount of calories I should have while breast feeding) and my GI track symptoms decreased.

So what did I do the week after the first week in October? The week I went anti-salad? I started eating salads again. Not every single day. About 3-5 days out of the week. I'm not going to be crazy about it. However the results are there and I know the benefits.

Now what do I mean by "Healthy Salad"? Well not all salads are created equal. I'm not talking a salad smothered in ranch dressing loaded with cheese and topped with bacon. No no no. That would be the wrong way to go. My advise? Stick to the serving sizes. I love poppy seed dressing. Is it the healthiest choice? Probably not. The serving size on the side of the bottle is 2 table spoons. That is a ton of dressing! So I use half that. I love croutons. The serving size I believe is 6 croutons.  That seems reasonable. I don't go over it. When making salads at home I use 1-2 cups of greens. Then I add as many plant based toppings that I want. All other add ins I go by serving size. I never go over. A lot of times I use less. When eating out I order the half size (if they offer it) dressing on the side (they always but way way too much) and if possible half cheese. So if you are thinking about doing a salad challenge yourself those are my tips for you.

Now I will never ever utter the word salad on this blog again. I give you my word. Unless you have any questions. Feel free to ask!

Bring On Halloween

Miss. S is obsessed with Halloween. She has been talking about it nonstop all year. I think it might easily be her favorite holiday. I love it too! When I pulled my Halloween box down from the closet I realized I really don't have that many fun things to decorate with. A couple weeks ago my sweet Mother-In-Law had Miss. S go to her house for a sleep over. They decorated and made cookies. It was all kinds of fun for her. She has TONS of decorations. And I have but one tiny box. So this year I'm fixing this problem. I few a few projects up my sleeve. All on a dime.

This first one is inspired by my previous faux zinc letter post. You could do any word you want. Boo. AHHH!!! Spooky! Anything! It was $10 and took about 45 minutes to complete. All you need is cheap cardboard letters, paint, plastic spiders, paint brushes & a glue gun. Oh how I love my glue gun! Follow the tutorial here & then glue on the spiders randomly. So simple and it has a great impact. These pictures do not do it justice. It really exceeded my expectations the way it turned out. I'm so happy with it!

Monthly Photo Project: 6 Months Old

I finally got my pictures to upload!!! It made my day! I can't even believe this little man is already six months old. We are half way to a year. Time sure does seem to fly by. This months photo is cute, but it isn't my favorite. I learned this month that lighter colored fabric is really best. And tiny polka dots might not have been the best choice (my eyes are going crazy). Oh well! I also learned that it is going to get tougher and tougher to get a good shot. All he wanted to do was roll over. I had less than a minute each time I turned him on his back to take a picture. Therefore I had less to choose from in the end. It still turned out cute though. I don't think the boy could take a bad picture.

It Happens Every Year

It seems to happen every year around this time. My friends back in Utah or Colorado or Virginia start posting pictures on their blogs or facebook of them in nice cozy sweaters with beautiful fall leaves in the back ground. It's when I start seeing these images that I start getting really really home sick. I love fall. I crave fall. Crisp cool breezes. The yellows, oranges and reds. The clothes. Oh how I long to layer again. I've lived in hot places for the last six and a half years. Places where fall is a little different. Don't get me wrong I have learned to love San Antonio's version of fall. It starts cooling off a little (is 90 degrees cool? Well to me it is.) we get a few trees that change colors and some years the butterflies arrive. It really is pretty nice. But it's nothing like Utah where the mountain side looks like it's on fire with red. Nothing like colorado with it's shimmering yellow aspens. So for those of you enjoying this changing of the season know that I am just a tiny bit envious. Enjoy an extra fall stroll through the leaves just for me! You are so lucky!

Surprisingly enough the above picture was taken last year here in Texas. If you live here in San Antonio and miss fall like me then take a drive out to The Lost Maples State park. It's beautiful and well worth the time getting out there!

Beyond Frustration

I actually had posts planned for this week. Shocking I know. Several of them actually. But for some reason my computer doesn't want to upload any of my pictures. I pretty much want to throw a shoe at it. This includes salad pictures (I'm all done with my challenge!), Mr. Z's 6 month photo and some cute Halloween stuff. I hate technical difficulties. I'm not very good at technology so I always have to wait for Denny to help. So until I can tie him down to take a look at the problem blogging might have to wait. So sorry!