恭喜发财！新年快乐！Happy Chinese New Year!

恭喜发财！新年快乐！

Happy Chinese New Year Everyone! It's the year of the Snake!

I wish you guys a prosperous and lucky New Year. I hope you guys  made the 发糕 Fa Gao. It will let you guys know how prosperous you guys will be! The more the "petals" bloom, the better.

Remember to make the 烤年糕 Nian Gao and the Buddha's Delight  (Jai) for the New Year. You're suppose to eat Vegetarian for your first meal of the New Year.

So, it has been 2 years since I first started my blog! Well, it's been 2 lunar years. Here's my first blog post on Chinese New Year of 2011. I can't believe it has been 2 lunar years. So much has happened since then. I can't believe it. I hope the best for the future.

Anyway, here's a Chinese New Year Song. Enjoy.

Yummy Foods I've Been Eating

The Mayan Mocha from EcoGrounds is AMAZING! 

I bought this yesterday and I'm so glad I chose this. It's basically Mexican Chocolate with coffee and nonfat milk. I savored every sip I took. It's so rich and creamy! 

Anyway, I just had to say that because I've been obsessed with coffee, if you haven't noticed. 

So, let me take you guys back to the weekend. We went to Costco and we bought some foods. 

Remember the Alpine Valley bread I tried before? Well, it's delicious and I finally found it at Costco! I was so happy. I've been eating it with SmartBalance Creamy Peanut Butter.  I also bought some multigrain rounds. 

We also bought European Cookies with Belgian Chocolate. 

They are so good! I love these cookies (and chocolate). 

We also bought these chocolate crepe crisps and the Kashi GoLean Crunch cereal. 

We haven't opened the crepes yet but I've been eating the Kashi GoLean Crunch with almond milk. I also added it to nonfat greek yogurt with a little bit of stevia. So good! 

We also bought Kirkland's brand of Gatorade, called VitaRain SPORT. 

I personally like these better than Gatorade. These taste closer to the actual flavor than Gatorade. They don't have an artificial taste.  

And, today, I ate Clif Builder's Chocolate Peanut Butter protein bar. 

It's so good. It tastes like snickers but without the crunch. It's one of my new favorites! 

I also received some samples from AboutTime. I received the samples because I was a winner of a giveaway from Erica's blog (Erica House). 

I received a T-shirt and 6 samples of protein powder. They are: 

• Chocolate
• Vanilla
• Chocolate Peanut Butter
• Mocha Mint (I can't wait to try this!)
• Banana
• Cinnamon Twist

I will tell you guys my thoughts about these once I try them! They'd be great to consume after my weight lifting sessions. I've been lifting weights for the past two weeks and I've gotten stronger! I'm so happy. 

Anyway, I guess that's it! 

What's your favorite food? 

Are you a coffee person?

Chinese New Year Recipes

大家好！

As you know, Chinese New Year (CNY) is coming up. It's on February 10th. 新年快乐！By the way, today is also my blog's birthday! Anyway...

Since the New Year is coming up soon, I thought I'd link up some of my recipes here so that you guys can make things for the CNY. It's also known as the Lunar New Year.

So, for the sweets, here are the recipes:

Traditional Fa Gao 发糕 Chinese Prosperity Cupcakes
发糕 Recipe
年糕 Steamed Chinese New Year Cake
Red Bean Mochi 糯米糍
煎堆 Red Bean Sesame Balls
烤年糕 Baked Nian Gao
Steamed Sweet Glutinous Rice Balls

There are also other things like peanut cookies, almond cookies, and some pastry cakes but what I have are the basics.

Here's some savory ones:

饺子 Potsticker/Dumpling Recipe

This recipe is from another website but it's a Chinese recipe. On Chinese New Year, the first meal eaten should be vegetarian. It's called Buddha's Delight, or Jai. Here's a link to a recipe. 

I hope you guys enjoy these recipes!

Do you celebrate the lunar New Year or CNY?
What's your favorite CNY treat?

Week Recap

This week has been a really busy week. Do you know why? It's because school started back up. With so many classes, I have to get back into the school mood. Good thing I get to buy the 50 cent coffee from the school bookstore again. 

This semester, so far, feels so different from last semester. The people seem to be nicer and I'm talking to my classmates more. Well, maybe it's because the classes I chose last semester were more online based but I'm having more fun so far. Another thing is that, I plan on double minoring (in psychology and biology) along with a degree in Dietetics. It's going to be a lot of classes but I know I can do it. It just may take longer (and taking summer classes) but I'm determined. 

Anyway, this week has been pretty much like every other first day of school. The professor's just introduced the course and went over the syllabus. Of course, by the 2nd class, they started teaching. I've already had to go through my textbooks a few times (or more..). Also, I successfully got into 2 courses that I was waitlisted in. I'm so happy. 

I treated myself to a nonfat blueberry cheesecake froyo from RiteAid. It was after class and I was craving froyo for some reason. It was so good! Creamy, blueberry flavored, sweet. I loved it. It tasted like regular ice cream but "healthier". 

Also this week, I've been going to the gym to work on gaining muscle! I'm starting to lift weights now and I hope to see some sort of change in my body. A good change. We'll see how that goes. I realized that I'm pretty weak, even though it looks and feels like I have a lot of upper back muscle (the traps and the shoulders). 

Here's something delicious I drank yesterday. I stopped by a local coffee shop before going to work and I ordered a mocha (with soy milk!)

It was so good! I'm going to stop by there more often now. =)  By the way, the 2 means 2 shots of expresso. 

That's pretty much my week except that I have some food reviews. 

The Kor's Sweet 'N Salty Mix was alright. I tasted like any other trail mix. The nuts surprisingly tasted fresh. The raisins were a bit dry though. 

RiseBar Crunchy Cashew Almond was a bit too sweet. The texture was fine though. I loved that there were whole almonds that were still crunchy and tasted good. They were very generous with the nuts. It was good except for the overly sweet part .

The Almond Breeze Unsweetened Vanilla Almond Milk is yummy! It's creamy and it's not too sweet or anything. Of course it's not oversweet because it's unsweetened It goes perfectly with cereal and smoothies. 

 Nature Valley Almond Crunch was alright. It's basically just nuts pasted together with a liquid sweetener. It was pretty good though. It was crunchy too. If you like nuts, you'll like this.

 ProMax Nutty Butter Crisp Bar was yummy! I liked its size and that it's chewy and delicious. It really tasted like a chewy butter finger (without the cookie part).

 Planter's Nut and Chocolate Trail Mix was pretty good. The peanuts seemed pretty fresh and crunchy. The raisins were big and still had some sort of moisture with it (as in, it wasn't dry). It was pretty good.

Special K Blueberry Pastry Crisps. My cousin gave me these to try. Personally, it's something that I wouldn't buy. It tastes alright. I don't like the cookie part and the inside tastes like a poptart filling.

 I love the Blue Diamond Jalapeño Smokehouse Almonds. They don't taste that spicy at first but then, the flavor gets to you. I love these (for a savory flavored snack).

 I have two powerbar reviews. The Chocolate Peanut Butter PowerBar and the Vanilla Crisp PowerBar.

Surprisingly enough, I liked the Vanilla Crisp PowerBar better. The bars were chewy and bendable. They were pretty sweet. I definitely tasted the vanilla flavor in the Vanilla Crisp, though it tasted artificial. I didn't really taste the chocolate in the Chocolate Peanut Butter flavor. 

The last review is: Crunchy Perfect Pumpkin Rise Bar. 

I like how they had a lot of pumpkin seeds spread throughout the bar. I liked the bits of craisins they added to it too. Other than that, this bar is nothing special. 

Well, I guess that's the end of this post. I'll keep you guys updated! 

What's your workout routine?

Do you like school?

Weekend Recap & Back to school

It's Monday today. Who loves Mondays?

I'm sure everyone loves Mondays. It's usually the day that most people go back to work or school after a great weekend. For me, it's the first day back to school. After a month and a half winter break, school finally started back up. I bet you guys are thinking, "Lucky! That's such a long break!"
In contrast, I'm thinking, "I'm bored. There's nothing to do. When is school going to start?"

Anyway, how I spent my weekend before the first day of school was fun! Here's what I did.

On Saturday, I went to my friend's birthday party. It was so much fun. Dancing, singing, walking/running with their dog, eating, it was so much fun. I made a fool of myself with dancing but at least I wasn't the only one. It was fun.
After the party, I went grocery shopping with the family.

The cereal tastes just like Honey Nut Cheerios. The almond milk is yummy and creamy. I have yet to try the ProMax Nutty Butter Crisp. It was on sale at the store, so I bought one to try. I'll have to buy more later on this week if I end up liking them.

On Sunday, I hung out with a few friends at Starbucks. It was nice to catch up. We talked for a few hours and walked and shopped at a nearby Target. I got the Skinny Vanilla Latte at Starbucks. And, at Target, I bought a can of black beans and a can of garbanzo beans.

So, school was alright. It's just like any other school day, basically. It was the same as last semester.  I only had one class today and it was my US History Class. My history professor seems pretty cool, even though we  have to read some of books he co-authored. He really knows his stuff and he's passionate about it.

And, now, I have to say some fitness stuff because I'm thinking about it right now. I've been doing HIIT on the treadmill for the past two weeks and guess what, I've gotten a lot faster! I'm so happy. It really does increase your speed. The HIIT was switching from the speed of 4 to 8. Before, I could barely continue running at a constant speed of 6. Now, I can do 7 (yea. I'm slow. Don't judge me).

Today, I went to my school's gym and I tried a new upper body arm workout. I want to gain some muscle (but not too much!). It was pretty intense and I can't believe your body can heat up from doing an upper body strength training workout. I also used the stair master for the first time. It gets sweaty! I mean, it reminded of China. It was humid in China and I stayed at my grandparents apartment while we were visiting my parents hometown. No elevators. We had to go up the stairs and I got really sweaty! That's why it reminded me of China.

Anyway, I guess that's it.

Do you guys like Mondays?
How was your weekend?

发糕 Fa Gao "Chinese Prosperity Cake"

Dajia hao! Hi everyone. Today's post is going to be more of a cultural one.
Chinese New Year is coming up pretty soon. It's coming in two weeks, February 10. It's on a Sunday. And, as you know, us Chinese make a lot of things to celebrate the New Year and do things to make sure that the New Year will be prosperous and good.
So, today's recipe is going to be the Chinese Prosperity Cake (Cupcakes), also known as Fa Gao (发糕). Fa go is a steamed cupcake. As you see, there are "petals". The more the petals have blossomed, the more prosperous you will be and the more wealth you will obtain in the New Year. I do have another recipe but this recipe is different from the other one. Here's the link to my other recipe. 
This recipe here is more traditional but if you are unfamiliar with the taste and texture of rice flour, then I suggest you use my other recipe. 

Servings: 6 cupcakes
Calories: ~ 140 calories

Recipe adapted from Random Cuisine.

Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup water
• 1/2 cup rice flour
• 1/2 cup cake flour
• 1 1/2 sticks brown candy sugar 
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp water 

Directions:

1. Boil 3/4 cup of water and then add in the candy sugar. Wait until it dissolves. 
2. In a bowl, mix together the flours. 
3. Pour the sugar mixture into the flours and mix as you are pouring it in. 
4. Combine the baking powder with water and then add it into the batter. 
5. Pour into cupcake pans and steam for 15 minutes. 
6. Enjoy!

The texture of these cupcakes are a bit dense but they would be denser if you used all rice flour (which I've tried before). I hope you guys enjoy these! Zaijian!

Do you guys like cupcakes?

Do you guys celebrate the Lunar New Year (aka CNY)?

Black Bean Salsa Quinoa and Super Healthy Banana Oat Cookies

Before I starting off this post, I want to say Happy National Peanut Butter Day! I love peanut butter. It's delicious, especially on sandwiches or with bananas. I even ate a peanut butter sandwich for breakfast today. It's full of protein and has heart healthy fats in it. Just make sure to choose the kind that have no trans fat!
Anyway, back to what I originally wanted to talk about. So, yesterday, I said that I'd be posting a quinoa recipe. Well, here it is (I'm also posting a super healthy cookie recipe). It's Mexican inspired because, of course, the salsa. I love salsa.  Just make sure that the salsa is lower in sodium than the other brands and that you can actually read and understand what ingredients are in it, meaning, make sure it's just plain regular ingredients you know. You can also make your own salsa instead of buying it from the store! Anyway, here's this delicious recipe.

Servings: 4
Calories: ~260 calories
Protein: ~ 11 grams of protein

Ingredients:

• 1 cup dry quinoa
• 2 cups water
• 1 cup salsa
• 1 can 15 oz black beans, drained 

Directions:

1. Cook the quinoa with the water. 
2. Once the quinoa is done cooking, mix in the salsa and black beans. Make sure the black beans have no salt added or low sodium. Even though draining and rinsing the beans removes some of the salt, it's better that it says low sodium or no salt added. 
3. Serve and enjoy. 

If you guys want to make it non-vegan, you can add 1 cup of shredded cheese and some cut up cooked chicken breast. It'll up the protein a lot. For vegans, you can add tofu or non-meat protein you want. 

Super Healthy Banana Oat Cookie Recipe

So, this recipe is from blogilates. Cassey, the creater of blogilates, created this recipe and it's alright. I have a similar recipe on my blog that I like better. Here's the link

These cookies were a bit dry but I guess it's because I used a smaller banana. Anyway, here's the recipe. 

Servings: 12

Calories: ~44

The entire recipe has 530 calories. 

Ingredients:

• 1 banana
• 1 cup oats
• 1/3 cup craisins

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 F. 
2. Mash the banana and the oats together. 
3. Mix in the craisins. 
4. Divide the dough into 12 pieces and place on a baking pan. 
5. Bake for 10 minutes. Enjoy. 

They are really healthy and filling. You guys might enjoy it (along with adding dark chocolate chips to it!). 

And, now I have one more food review. It's the LaraBar Chocolate Coconut Chew. 

Texture wise, it's like any other larabar. I like how it had real pieces of walnuts in it. The downside of this bar is that it barely had any sweetness to it. It was a bit bitter and I barely tasted any coconut. I did taste the walnuts though. Not my favorite. But, I would choose this over the chocolate chip cookie dough flavor. 

What types of food do you guys like? 

Have you tried quinoa before?