Mindful eating

I find myself eating more and more now since I have been at home. I get bored easily. I snack even when I never really used to. Just the other day, I went through almost a whole bag of Trader Joe's Olive Oil Pop Corn (yum!) while watching TV and was still hungry after that.

When Sam was in Afghanistan, I began doing something I called "paying attention" when I ate. I would sit down for a meal and actually pay attention to what I was eating, how the food made me feel and when I satisfied and not full. Since Sam has returned, life has been one great big distraction (Sam has a way of doing that), and I have really been not paying attention to what I eat.

Example, Sam and I love movies! We love to Eat! We love to watch movies while we eat! Sam and I cook dinner on a somewhat regular basis. We have spent long periods of time preparing and cooking our food just to barely notice it as we watch Leo DiCaprio dodge bullets in Iraq (Body of Lies). Or we order food from our favorite restaurants in town and not savor any bite of it because Angelina Jolie lost her son (Changeling -both movies we saw this week).

When I "paid attention" to my meals and to myself, I was able to drop 50+ pounds without giving up food I loved. So now I am looking to do the same again. Today was my first day eating mindfully. I was getting ready to slip into my normal routine of coffee and toast or a sweet piece of bread in the morning. When I stopped and asked myself if I was even hungry? I wasn't!
Instead I headed to the workroom and began catching up on jewelry orders. I worked for an hour or two, made a few phone calls, and then felt a hunger pang.

It gets better, I decided to go for my Trail Mix Crunch cereal and poured myself a bowl. Just as I was going to bring it over to my laptop and have a surf-side breakfast (ha ha, I made it up!), I stopped again, put the laptop away and sat down to eat.

After being mindful for the first time in months (years), I realized that I was satisfied with my meal a lot sooner than I thought. I had only eaten about 1/3 of the portion I had served myself.
As I sat there staring into the (now seeming) huge bowl still full with cereal and soy milk. (sigh) I was thinking about how I was raised - as someone who does not waste food. I could not believe that I had to convince myself NOT to eat it! I could already hear my grandma's voice in my head going on about "serving yourself too much and being wasteful, just eat it!"

I could have, but decided to fight myself and put it in the sink. Gosh, I can't believe I am writing about this. But this is a perfect example of food conditioning.

It has been a while since I actually examined what I was eating. As I peered into the bowl, I saw dried cranberries, granola clumps, some kind of brand twig, almonds and a kind of puffed rice ball. It was all delicious, it smelled like apple pie, and it was crunchy, it had an interesting texture too.

Well, I don't think I will be posting mindful meal blogs too often. I don't think most folks have an interest in it or the same sort of food issues that I have.

Recipe for Pecan Blue Cheese Coleslaw

Sam and I were taking in a lazy Sunday for a change. We didn't want to go anywhere and really only wanted to do things around the house. Since we moved in, we have had this corner of our place stacked with boxes. This is of course what happens when you move from a much bigger place into a smaller one. So, we said we would go through some of the boxes and we of course had to make dinner...

I told Sam that I wanted baby back ribs and I told him that I would make some coleslaw. The dinner was delish! I even whipped up some jiffy corn muffins to boot!

Here is my super-easy recipe for Pecan and Blue Cheese Coleslaw

1 bag of coleslaw mix (I buy the one with white cabbage, red cabbage and carrots mixed)
1 cup of mayonnaise (best foods is what i used)
1 table spoon sugar
1 1/2 table spoons apple cider vinegar
2 teaspoons of celery seed
4 oz of good blue cheese (more on this later)
handful of chopped pecans (more if you like them)

Combine mayo, vinegar, sugar and celery seed, whisk until mixed.

In a large bowl, pour mixture over the coleslaw. Take the pecans and about 3/4 of the blue cheese and crumble it into the coleslaw mixture (reserve the rest of the blue cheese).
Refrigerate 2 hours or overnight (best flavor).

When you are bout to serve, mix the coleslaw once, add in the remaining blue cheese and mix once more.

Serve with your fav BBQ dish!

Making Lemon Cake

I am making lemon cake for mother's day. I am making it from scratch and wanted to try it out before I serve it to my family.

















It was delicious!

GMAT TIME! Here I go...

Tomorrow I am taking the GMAT exam. I am very nervous, and actually listening to a Data Sufficiency recording as I am writing this. Maybe, just maybe I might be able to cram another piece of information in there!

Sam is really sweet, he is not watching TV tonight since I am *studying*. He also took care of dinner and is being just super-supportive as always! He wants this MBA almost as much as me (if not more).

My sister was over this weekend. We had fun hanging out, shopping for shoes (Nine West) and playing Rock Band - she is now our official drummer! LOL I actually played both the guitar and drums, taking a break from being the lead singer. haha. I can't sing to save my life, but it is addicting! We stopped by the grocery store to pick up some snacks and outside those damn cookie vixens were selling their thin mints, tagalongs and samoas... My sister could not resist, they had a 5 for $20 deal, too easy! So, my sister picked up 5 boxes and then left three of them here!! OMG! I have been alone all day with thin mints!

It was great time - she took us to a new restaurant we had never been to - Rockin' Baja in Old Town SD. Very good food - even better margaritas! Lots of people, great location and vibe too.

It rained here on Sunday, so it was a little chilly, but we still had fun.

I am working on some new pendants, mainly square shaped. One vintage anatomy image, some old color illustrations, a new Marie Antoinette portrait and a very sweet bat girl vintage image.
I will make sure to post them soon!

Wish me luck on my exam tomorrow - I will be testing for 4 hours! :O(