Happy Halloween!!!

Happy Halloween Everyone! It's  Candy chocolate time. I love chocolate.

Anyway, I hope you guys are having a great Halloween.I know I have been having a good one except for my math exam (well, it was actually easy). I am too old to go Trick-or-Treating but I like chocolate candy! I hope we have leftover chocolate candy. That's more that I can eat. =)

Well, the first thing I should do is tell about the foods I've eaten today. For breakfast, here's what I ate:

I ate Kashi Cinnamon Harvest Cereal with Unsweetend Vanilla Almond Milk. It was delicious!

Then, I ate a turkey sandwich with multigrain rounds from Costco and Laughing Cow Light Swiss after my workout.

 After that, I ate Clif Coconut Chocolate Chip Bar. It was delicious.

Then I ate half of a Chipotle Burrito for an early dinner. I got the burrito with brown rice, guacamole, black beans and salsa. It's healthier than the other things and it was pretty good. After all, it was only 2 bucks since I was wearing a costume. It was so funny because there was a guy that dressed as Elmo, full costume. People wanted to take pictures with him. The line was also really long.

Then, I ate Sweet Tarts because I wanted something sweet.

After that, I got hungry since I ate dinner early and I ate Rice Chex with some Peanut M&M's and drank a Diet Pepsi. The Chex was tasty. Cripsy and crunchy, just the way I like it. The M&M's, were good too. The salty crunchy peanuts with the contrasting sweet chocolate is so good.

I also ate a Twix. I love twix.

I guess that's all I'll post for now. I know I ate a lot. It's only so far 1400 calories, which I am kind of surprised about. I'm suppose to be eating 2000 calories. Well, everyone should be. I have 600 more calories I can consume.

So, how many calories do you consume?
Do you even count calories?
What's your favorite Halloween Candy?

Food shopping and reviews

Hey everyone. I just wanted to show you guys some things I bought from the store.

 I can't wait to try the almond milk with some cereal (which I still have to buy). It's low in calories and I hear that it's suppose to be good. I got these from Raley's. The ice cream was on sale too! 

 I found these Maria Berta Biscuits at the asian store. They're only 99 cents. I hope they taste good
As for the Nature Valley Dark Chocolate Granola Thins, I've only had them once when a friend gave one to me. They're really good but I ate it a long time ago. I can't wait to try this again. I got this at Costco.

 I love Almond Butter. I especially like this MaraNatha All Natural Roasted Almond Butter. It only has one ingredient: dry roasted almonds. It tastes delicious. I've tried samples at Costco before and I finally decided to get it.
As for the Kashi Trail Mix bar, they're delicious as well. It tastes like it's homemade. There's nothing artificial about it or anything. It's sweet but not too sweet, chewy (with a crunch from the nuts) and it has all real grains and real almonds and pieces of fruit. It's a really good bar. I bought it last year and I liked it. However, my family didn't. I ended up eating all of them, after a couple months.

So, I've reviewed this Adonia Vanilla Greek Frozen Yogurt before.  It's healthy, for one thing. Also, it's still creamy and tastes delicious. There is a bit of an aftertaste but it still tastes good.

As for the Shrimp Cheong Fun (肠粉),I bought it at the Asian store after shopping. I love shimp and this tasted really good! 

 As you see here, I have a lot of uses for MaraNatha Roasted Almond butter. 

 I can eat it with the multigrain rounds and I can eat it with the biscuits. I can even put some in ice cream.

 As you see, this has to be stirred first before eating. You have to refrigerate it after though but it still tastes good.

 I ate some with the 3 ingredient banana cookies I made. It was delicious. 


So, do you guys shop at Costco?
What's your favorite nutter butter?

Black Bean Burger and LUNA Blueberry Bliss Bar Review

Hey everyone. How's your weekend going? Well, mine has been fine. I went to a birthday party and I studied for my tests.
Anyway, I'm finally posting the Black Bean Burger recipe. It's a pretty basic recipe but it will give you the results you want. Plus, if you make your own black bean burgers instead of buying them, you know what is in them.
I also went to Gold Corral (a buffet)on Friday and the food has improved quite a bit since the last time I went....4 years ago. They even have a chocolate fountain, which is cool. I dipped strawberries and a rice krispie treat in it. I was also so happy that they had sweet potatoes too. But, I'm guessing people like regular ones instead of sweet potatoes since the regular ones ran out faster. What was bad is that I ate a lot! I always eat a TON at buffets. I was so full afterwords.
 Later that day, I also made TIU's Banana cookies. It has only 3 ingredients, but it's also delicious. I'll post that recipe later. 
Anyway, enough chit chat. Here's the Black Bean Burger recipe.

Ingredients:

• 1 can black beans (rinsed)
• 1/3 cup oats
• 2 tablespoon ketchup
• 2 tablespoon rice vinegar
• 1 tsp chili powder
• 1 tsp onion powdr
• 1 tsp paprika
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1 tsp white pepper powder

Directions:

1. Drain and rinse the can of beans. Put it in a bowl and mash with a fork. 
2. Mix in the oats, ketchup and rice vinegar. 
3. Add in the spices. 
4. Form 4 patties with the burger mixture. 
5. Preheat the oven to 400 F and then bake for 7 minutes on each side. 
6. It can be 5 minutes on each side too, depending on the strength of your oven. 
7. Take out and enjoy. 

And now, here's a review of the LUNA Blueberry Bliss Bar.

This LUNA bar was actually pretty good, considering it's not chocolate. Well, maybe it's because I love blueberries. Anyway, its texture was chewy like any other LUNA bar. There weren't any blueberries in the bar. All of it was on the topping. But, the topping was really good. It's like blueberry jam with frosting and almonds on it. It was pretty good.

I should stick to chocolate. It is nice to switch it up a bit though, especially if it's blueberry, raspberry or strawberry. I don't care for cherries, but that nature valley recharge bar with it was pretty good.


Anyway, do you like buffets? Do you overeat there whenever you go?
Do you like non-meat burgers?

Explosive Expresso Chip Cookie by Alternative Baking Company Review and Nature Valley Recharge Cherry Dark Chocolate With Almonds Review

Now, I promise you. My next post will be the black bean burger recipe. But, I just have to post reviews of foods the day I eat it.

So, today, I ate the Nature Valley Recharge Bar. I saw it at my school's store and I just had to buy it to try. After all, it looks huge and it's only 200 calories. Anyway, I needed to recharge because I had just finished working out.

As it turns out, these bars were yummy. They have the texture of chewy bars. Yes, they are chewy but they don't break as easily. You can taste the sweetness from the dried cherries. The bar itself is sweet too. It really goes along with the dark chocolate bits they have in it. I give it a thumbs up. Also, it's one of the cheaper bars they sell at the store.

They were also selling vegan cookies at the store. They're locally made in the city. I saw them and I just had to try it. I mean, Explosive Expresso Chip Cookies? The cookies are huge too. I'd figure that they're "healthier" than regular cookies too since there's almost no saturated fat in it. I saw almost none because almost EVERY FOOD has some saturated fat in it. Even almonds and peanuts have saturated fat.

Don't the cookies look delicious? They're also vegan too. And, guess what? So far, it's the best cookie I've eaten. The texture is just right. Soft and chewy but not too soft. It can hold its structure. There's just the right amount of sweetness and the expresso chips give it a great taste. It's just so tasty.


Anyway, have you tried vegan desserts?
What's your favorite dessert?

Power Bar Harvest Toffee Chocolate Chip Review

Aren't energy bars delicious? I love how some bars are actually "healthy" and taste just like dessert. That's how this PowerBar tastes. This Power Bar Harvest Toffee Chocolate Chip tastes delicious. I ate this after my workout along with a cup of coffee.
So, how does the bar taste? It's chewy and it's sweet. Of course. But, you can really taste the toffee. It's spread ALL throughout the bar, which I like. I also like how it's dense, unlike other bars. However, the chocolate taste was barely there. I was expecting to taste at least some chocolate in every bite. There were spots that I tasted chocolate but not as much as I wanted. Oh well. It's still really delicious and I like it better than my favorite LUNA White Chocolate Macadamia Bar. Now, that's really hard to beat. And, this did it.

Anyway, don't worry about the Black Bean Burger Recipe. I will get that posted soon. Maybe tomorrow, when I have more time. It takes a long time uploading pictures from my camera. The pictures I take of these foods I eat are from my phone, which uploads instantly. And, I'll have more reviews coming up and everything.As I've mentioned before, I've been eying McDonald's Holiday Pie. I'm still debating whether I should buy that. I've also been wondering whether I should try this Vegan cookie from this bakery. Well, I'll see.

As for workouts, here's some things I reccomend doing:

Blogilates
30-Day Shred
Running
Yoga
Pilates
Elliptical
Treadmill
body weight exercises using handweights
push-ups
jumping rope
hula hoop
burpees
Tone It Up Workouts

Anyway, what's your favorite energy bar?
What's your favorite workout?

Subway's Tuscan Chicken Melt Review

 Today for lunch, I decided to try Subway's Tuscan Chicken Melt Sandwich. I bought the whole foot long, just so that I can get more for my money. I only ate half though because the whole foot long is too big! I actually only ate 1/4 of the sandwich first and got full. Then, I ate the rest of the half since I didn't want to leave 1/2 of a half. My sister or someone in my family is going to eat the other half.
Anyway, I bought this after my workout and boy, is it a good choice. It's full of protein. And, it's delicious too. I ordered it with swiss cheese and wheat bread. My favorite. The chicken also had an amazing flavor. I like the herbs it has.It is healthier than other fast food places. I was debating whether to get the Veggie Delite, but I realized that it's not worth the money just to get veggies on bread.

 I also got their mints. I didn't know they had these until today. Maybe it's because I haven't been to Subway in such a long time. The mints tasted like normal mints.

 I also got a cup of coffee from the cafe. This time, I got it the way I usually do. It tasted really good,
 with nothing added to it.

Today, the blood source was on campus so I decided to try and donate blood. You never know how many lives donating blood can save. I went and got the paperwork, but then they asked how much I weigh. Apparently, there's a weight limit. I was apparently 2 lbs underweight for their low weight limit, so I was unable to donate. I was so sad. I really want to help. At least I got a free t-shirt.

Anyway, I've been tempted to buy the holiday pie from McDonald's and try it. After all, it is a seasonal flavor. I wanted to try it last year but I never got the chance too. So, I might buy it just once to try it. It wouldn't hurt, right?

As it turns out, there was a tornado in my area yesterday, very close to where I live. It was in the same city but only around 6 miles away. Scary! 

So, what's your opinion on Subway? Do you think it's "healthier" than other fast food places?
Do you like McDonald's (and their pies)?

Vegan Sesame Almond Cookie Review, Clif Peanut Toffee Buzz Review, Marathon Smart Stuff Snickers Crunch Chocolate Crisp Review, TrueBar Raspberry Chocolate Almond Review

It's raining, it's pouring, and it's cold. That pretty much describes today's weather. I don't like this kind of weather. It makes things feel gloomy. I also don't like cold weather. What's even scary is that there were tornado warnings up NorthEast of where I live. There were actually tornados. And to think they normally happen in the MidEast of the US.
Anyway, what to do when the weather is cold?

Get a cup of coffee and a sweet treat!

I got a cup of Italian coffee from my school's bookstore cafe and I got a Vegan Sesame Almond Cookie. I added some cinnamon to the coffee and splenda, which I didn't like. I just wanted to try it. I learned that drinking it black is the best way to go, just how I usually drink it. But, it was okay because the cookie was delicious. It was soft and chewy and had the perfect blend of almonds and sesame. There was just the right amount of sweetness too. Soft, chewy, sweet cookies are the best. My only complaint is that it was a bit greasy. I wonder what kind of fats vegans use in their baked goods. I hope it's healthy fats. I may ask the cafe people next time (aka, tomorrow).

Also at the cafe, I bought this Marathon Smart Stuff Snickers Crunch Chocolate Crisp bar. What caught my attention was that it said Snickers. I've never seen these kind of bars before. I just had to try it. So, I bought it and ate it as a pre-workout snack.

This bar was actually pretty good. It tasted like snickers. I like how the almonds added a crunch to the bars, which was really good. It's also "healthier" than regular snickers.

So, after my workout today, I decided to eat the Clif Peanut Toffee Buzz. I've been reading a lot of positive reviews about these. I was so eager to try it.

Well, I was a bit disappointed. I mean, yes, it was delicious, but it didn't live up to my expectations. There was a lot of peanut taste to it. But, the toffee part was hard to taste. You can see the toffee bits in the bar though. I think the peanuts overpowered it. It's still pretty good though and the icing added a bit of sweetness which made it taste better. By the way, my workout today was intervals on the elliptical.

I ironically ate the Clif bar right before my nutrition class. We learned about antioxidants, calcium,  and bone health today. It's scary how many people aren't meeting their calcium needs. It's important to get enough calcium before you turn a certain age (the average is age 30). I may talk more about that later. It's also important to do weight bearing exercises such as walking or running.

Anyway, the last review for this post is the TrueBar Raspberry Chocolate Almond Bar.

These bars are gluten free and all natural. And, guess what? They taste great. And, it's really healthy. It does have a healthy trail mix taste to it but it's delicious. It's chewy and gets its crunch fro the almonds. There is a raspberry taste in every bite too. I really recommend this bar.

So, do you think you're getting enough calcium in your diet?
Do you like cold weather?
Do you ever try vegan baked goods just to see how they taste (such as cookies)?