Let's Talk About Breakfast Cereal

OK so my current collection isn't the healthiest but breakfast cereals are actually one of my favorite breakfast and snack foods.  It's convenient and delicious although I know all the sugar, carbohydrates, and I'm sure chemicals makes it pretty unhealthy.  I think it's important to change up breakfast foods so it doesn't get boring and ensures one to not miss it as I sincerely believe it is the most important meal of the day.

My favorite breakfast cereals are (but not limited to):

• Cheerios/Honey Nut/Frosted/Apple Cheerios
• Frosted Flakes/Corn Flakes
• LIFE Cinnamon
• Cocoa Pebbles
• Golden Grahams
• Honey Bunches of Oates
• Raising Bran
• Apple Jacks
• Lucky Charms
• Reeses Puffs

I don't think it's a good idea to exclusively eat cereal for breakfast every day but it's a good enough alternative than not. How do you feel about breakfast cereals? Do you have a favorite brand?  Let me know by commenting below!

May's Challenge: Daily Food Diary

In the month of April I successfully posted a single blog every day for the whole month! Yay!  Now I still plan on blogging once a day but on the side I've decided to take on a new challenge for the month of May.  Every day (all day) I will write down what I eat.

Why do I want to journal what I eat?  I want to do this because I know it will make me aware of what I am eating and how often I am eating.  It will make me consciously aware of what I'm consuming.  

I will not post it on this blog on the daily basis because I think the work would be redundant. Besides, why would anyone care what I ate every day?  However, I will include what I've eaten so far at the bottom of this post simply because I'm talking about it.  

Overall my aim is to eat healthier foods on the regular basis so I'm not going to drive myself crazy by counting my calories or anything like that.  I'm just going to watch my portions and opt out on high fat contents as much as possible. They say it's not healthy to lose more than 2-3 lbs a week so by March 31, hopefully I will lose 8-12 lbs.  Wish me luck! ;)

Friday, May 1, 2014 

7:32AM

1 cup of oatmeal (which is WAY too much I will cut it down to 1/2 half cup tomorrow)

8 pieces of pecan

2 tsp of brown sugar

2 tsp of peanut butter

1 cup of coffee

12:11PM

2 cups of mixed salad

1 tsp of feta cheese

2 pieces of artichoke

drizzle of fat free zesty italian dressing

1 glass of water

1:31PM

1 cup of brown rice

lentils

chicken

1 class of water

2:23PM

Snap peas

Mocha Hot Chocolate - Yummy!

The weather here in Monterey has been on the colder and gloomy side lately - perfect weather for hot chocolate!   You see this mug?  If you go to Starbucks or Target you will see this mug for sale for the price of $9.95.  I found it at the local Goodwill Store for $0.99.  What a steal right?!  I personally do not like drinking coffee from it because it's so big that before I can even get halfway my coffee is cold and I find myself having to top it off more often than my smaller mug.  However, it is PERFECT for hot chocolate.  Whenever I have left over coffee I save it.  That's right you DO NOT have to throw away your left over coffee if you decide not to drink it all.

5 Things You Can Do With Leftover Coffee

1. Put it in ice cube trays.  They are perfect for a homemade frappe or ice coffee (that's right no more watered down icy drinks)!
2. Use it in your next chocolate cake or brownies baking session (coffee flavor makes huge difference)!
3. Use it to make Mocha Hot Chocolate
4. Make Thai Iced Coffee
5. Use it in your oatmeal instead of milk. 

Delicious Mussels For Dinner!

I swear my blog is going to be more than about food and my pets.  Just bare with me please. lol  For now, I must talk about our amazing dinner tonight.  We went to Costco and bought 3 lbs of mussels for $12.71.  Gosh I remember when we used to go to Joe's Crab Shack and spent $9.99 on like 12 pieces of mussels!  It tasted so good!!! I will post my recipe below so you can try it if you like.  It is really simple to make seriously, the most time consuming part is cleaning it but it's not difficult at all.  You can serve this with bread on the side if you like.  We like to eat this with rice.  Brown rice is the healthier option of course but tonight our mussels were accompanied by white rice. 3lbs of mussels really is a lot for two people.  It should be shared with 3 people really in my opinion.  ...but Jared and I still killed it. lol

Ingredients:
3 lbs of Mussels
8 Cloves of Garlic (Pressed and Minced)
1 Cup - Italian Parsley (chopped)
2 tbsp of Butter
1 Medium Onion (Minced)
1 tsp of cumin
1 tsp of cayenne pepper
2 tsp of black pepper
2 cups - white wine
1/2 cup - all purpose flour

Instructions:

1. Put the mussels in a large pot, cover it with water, and mix in 1/2 cup of all purpose flour.  (I don't know the science behind this but it is supposed to help clean the mussels!)  
2. While it's soaking take this time to press your garlic and mince them (8 cloves is actually a lot you may consider putting less if you do not like your food too garlicky), chop your parsley, and mince the onion.  
3. So going back to the mussels: You can use a special brush  if you have it but I literally just used my fingernails to scrape off any dirt clinging on to the outer shell.  (You want to run cold water over each shell as you clean them.  Remove any beard like in the picture my pinching and pulling on it until it rips off.  Discard any broken mussels or any that are already opened (they should all be tightly shut at this point).
4. Rinse out your large pot and place it on your stove after turning your heat to medium-high melt your butter and saute your garlic and onion for about 1 minute then mix in your spices.
5. Pour your cups of wine and bring to a boil.
6. Mix in the mussels and cover with lid right away.
7. After about a minute, secure the lid and give the pot a good shake.
8. Cook for another three minutes.
9. After that open the lid and gently stir all shells should be open at this point. 
10. Serve this right away with rice or bread. Note: discard any mussels that are not open. Enjoy!

Homemade Mocha Frappe - Cost estimate: Less than $1

Every morning we make coffee and if I'm not really feeling like drinking the rest of the pot I like to put the remainder in ice cube trays.  This homemade mocha frappe may have cost me $1 but most likely even less than that.  If I were to go to a coffee shop and order this then it would cost me at least $3.75 I think, plus whatever surcharges they add for substituting in soy milk. If you haven't done this at home it's really not as much work as it may sound and it's delicious.  As for me, Jared no longer has to hear me gripe about how they made mine a little too sweet.  I will post my recipe at the bottom of this post but feel free to customize it for your liking. I do not add any sugar but you can add some if you like your frappes sweeter.  I haven't tried it but I'm sure one could also add in caramel or peppermint.  If you end up trying this let me know how it turned out and how you made yours, I would love to hear from you!

Sharon's Homemade Mocha Frappe Recipe

Ingredients:

8 Coffee Ice Cubes

1 Cup of Soy Milk

2 tablespoons of chocolate syrup

Whipped cream

Instructions:

In a blender mix the coffee ice cubes, soy milk, chocolate syrup.  Of course you can always change the measurements to your preference.  I like mine really pureed but that's up to  you if you like yours with larger chunks of ice. Pour into tall glass.  Add whipped cream and drizzle a little bit of chocolate syrup on top. Enjoy!

Pizza My Heart Supports Local Library

Pizza My Heart is my favorite pizza place here in Monterey, California.  Granted, I've only officially eaten at two different pizza places so far but yes I exaggerate not that this is my favorite pizza place here. :) The first time we ate here a few weeks ago we each got a slice and ate at the restaurant.  (It's a lot like Sbarro, but taste even better!) We chose to have pizza tonight specifically because they had this deal going on where if you eat there tonight they will donate 30% of what we spent to the Monterey Public Library which is pretty awesome in my opinion.  It's a great marketing strategy but it's also a very generous offer for a great cause as well. 

We ordered the Big Sur pizza which features: cloves of roasted garlic, organic tomato pizza sauce (bonus points for no GMO!), pepperoni, sausages, portobello mushrooms, and green onions.  We also got a nice Greek salad on the side.  Something else that I've discovered here in California...I love marinated artichokes in my salad!  I convinced Jared to order us a whole pizza so we can also bring it home.  This will allow me to have pizza for breakfast!  Is that weird? 

Ambrosia India Bistro

This is one of my favorite places to eat at here in Monterey, California.   I love the food here and I am never disappointed. Perhaps it's because I always catch the lunch buffet and am able to try EVERYTHING.  $14 for a buffet is pretty pricey but I think it's TOTALLY worth it. The naan is always fresh and I can always depend on the fact that they have tandoori chicken. I know, my plate looks like a mess but it's one DELICIOUS mess.  Butter chicken, chicken curry, tofu tikka...there are so many dishes available.  We eat at Ambrosia twice a month...it's just awesome every time.  Do you have a favorite restaurant that you regularly like to eat at?  Tell me about your experience by commenting below. I would love to hear from you!

French Afternoon Snack

I ordered two items from a local Monterey French bakery called Parker-Lusseau Pastries.  These two items I tried for the very first time: an Americano and a Pithivier.  An Americano from my understanding is a shot of espresso with hot water added to it.

We had a great time this weekend - we hung out with my brother David and sister-in-law Julie.  They introduced us to the French press which we will probably acquire some time soon because the coffee we had tasted really good.  It reminded me a lot of the Americano.

 Pithivier is pronounced (Pity-vee-eh) and it is a pastry with almond filling.  The shop attendant (maybe owner? I neglected to verify this) mentioned that rum was one of the ingredients as well. I could taste a hint of the rum but I imagine most of the alcohol evaporated during the baking process. The outside had a flakey consistency like a baklava but overall it wasn't as sweet as a baklava.  I enjoyed this afternoon dessert, will probably get it again some time.

Shelly Senbei - Japanese Style Rice Crackers

Have you guys ever tried these?  My curiosity got the best of me and I purchased these.  I was walking around Seaside, California and stumbled upon this Oriental Store.  I was hoping that I would find some Filipino products but it turned out to be mostly Chinese and Japanese products.  The store lady was nice enough. I was dressed down today - borderline hoodlum really with my baggy jeans and green hoodie. She probably thought I was a bit ghetto lol but she chatted with me when she realized that I was a buying customer.  So these crackers have a very subtle taste to them with a slight bit of sweetness.  I imagine this is what you would eat with tea or maybe coffee.  Definitely not the snack if you're looking for something to fill you up though.

Milk's Favorite Cookie

I have this memory with my brother Jason he would buy a pack of Oreos and a gallon of milk.  The day would be dedicated to watching movies and chowing down on some Oreos and we would finish them!  Not the healthiest snacking session I know. Fun times.

So after doing a quick research on Oreos I found out that they were produced by Nabisco.  Actually I knew that from the packaging but what I didn't know is that Nabisco is actually "National Biscuit Company" (I bet you didn't know that either!) lol

I heard that they came out with Oreo cereal once.  Unfortunately, I never got to try it. Is it as awesome as having a bowl of milk and dropping 5 Oreos in it and eat them with a spoon?

Right now the package says "Milk's Favorite Cookie" wasn't it "America's Favorite Cookie" at one point?  Did Chips Ahoy beat them? Who keeps track of these statistics? lol

What is your favorite cookie? Do you have a favorite kind of Oreo, double stuffed, peanut butter, etc?