DIY (Do It Yourself) Shirts

Before I get to talking about how to make your own T-shirts, there is some things I have to say. For one thing, remember that you are in control of your own life. Make the best of it and make wise decisions. You don't want to do something you'll regret later on. Made a mistake? Admit it, get help, reflect and learn from it. That's how life is. Nobody's perfect. Not even celebrities and not even Asians.

Anyway, what I really wanted to say is how even though I appreciate the concern people have about me not eating meat (I'm forced to eat seafood though, after a month of not eating any meat), I do NOT want to eat meat. It's my body and I decided what I want to put in it. People (*coughs* family and friends) say that "oh, you won't get the nutrients you need from not eating meat. You'll have problems later on in life."

Here's one major fallacy with that: you CAN get all the nutrients you need while still eating a vegetarian diet. All you need to do is eat the right combinations of vegetables, grains, beans and that stuff and you're good to go. Eating dairy will help tremendously. All you have to do is talk to a dietitian and they can help you plan meals so that your body is getting what you need. That way, you won't have problems later on in life that is directly related to not eating meat.

I really, truly do appreciate the concern you guys have for me. But, it's my body and I get to choose what I want to eat. Maybe it's because it's not the traditional Chinese food diet, but, times are changing and we aren't living in China.

One tactic someone tried to used against me is this: my fear of my body image (of getting fat). Back when I was in middle school, I was overweight. I ate at fast food places a lot (the spicy chicken sandwich from Carl's Jr as an after school snack), I ate a lot and I did not exercise (my mom even tried to get me up early every morning to exercise), but I did not care. Then, finally, it hit me that I needed to become healthy and lose weight.

Finally, in 9th grade, I started to portion the foods I ate, chose healthier options (I even learned to read food labels...and whole wheat bread..but still white jasmine rice..get what I mean?) and I started working out. I still ate meat then, but I ate less of it and I ate healthier meats. I lost 30 lbs in just 4 months. I weighed less than when I was in 6th grade (I've basically stayed the same height since 6th grade too...). My weight has fluctuated about 10 lbs, but I still weigh less than when I was in middle school.

Anyway, about the scare tactic. They said that my body looked better when I was in 9th and 10th grade, when I still ate more normal, not caring as much as I do now about the health freak foods. That included eating white rice and some other things too (instead of what I eat now, brown rice). I admit that I agree but I can't change that fact that I'm still growing. My body has gained curves, more feminine, but my skin isn't as good as it was when I was in 9th and 10th grade. I do miss how I looked back then. I exercised less, freeing up some time and my body was basically perfect. Now, I have dry skin, acne, I weigh a bit more than when I was in 9th and 10th grade and I spend more time working out. But, I admit I do have more muscle now then back then. Anyway, I am now eating more like a "normal" person. The only thing is that I won't eat pork.

Anyway, back to the T-shirts. I made the T-shirt about a week ago. I was just trying it out. I got the idea from blogilates, Cassey Ho.  Here is the link.

Here is how my t-shirt turned out. Please do not laugh.

It didn't turn out too badly, right?

The shirt is actually very comfortable, but I don't know if I'll be wearing it out. I may wear it to work out though.

So, anyway, I went on a body fat scale after not going on one for such a long time. My body fat reading is of an athlete's. You can search online for that.

I also baked a Victorian Sponge Cake yesterday. I'll post the recipe in the next post. I baked it because I took the permit test yesterday and I passed on my first try! I finished the test under 10 minutes. I studied a lot before the test...I know. Stereotypical Asian since I studied a lot before it, but I didn't want to have to keep retesting. It's actually just common sense with some laws and rules you have to learn from the handbook.

So, sorry for this long post with very few pictures. My next post will have more pictures. :)

So, do you guys like making your own clothes?
What's your favorite kind of cake?

Vegan Brownies and a fun food shopping day

Dajia hao! How are you guys doing today? Well, I'm going very good, thank you very much. I've had a fun day. It was definitely more eventful than the rest of the summer days I've had since I came from China. I'll talk more about later in the post but for right now, I'll talk about my favorite thing: dessert.

Anyway, I made vegan brownies yesterday! Don't these look delicious? 

Well, they were! These brownies were very good. They are chewy but they are not dry, which surprised me. They have no fat in them. I ate them today and they still taste good and have the moisture. 

I've been looking for healthy versions of the foods I love, so I decided to try to make them. I love brownies, but I don't like how they have all the fat and sugar in them. Brownies have an unusually high amount of both. However, even though my vegan brownies have no fat, they are high in sugar. But, hey. Which sounds healthier to you? High fat and sugar or no fat and high sugar? You may say it depends on the kind of fat but oh well. At least these are healthier than the other brownies. 

And, guess what? They have applesauce and bananas in them. Now, aren't you guys surprised? It still tastes like a really good brownie too. So, now, here's the recipe. 

Ingredients:

• 1 1/3 cup whole wheat flour
• 1 cup cocoa powder
• 1 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 cup apple sauce
• 1 banana, mashed
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 tsp baking powder
• semi-sweet chocolate chips (optional)

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 F. 
2. In a bowl, mix together the apple sauce, banana and vanilla extract. 
3. In another bowl, sift together the dry ingredients. 
4. Slowly mix the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. The batter will be thick. Then, add the chocolate chips if desired. 
5. Pour into a greased pan and bake for 35 minutes. 
6. Use the toothpick test to see if the brownies are done baking. 
7. Let it cool and then cut into pieces. 
8. Enjoy. :) 

I also made a shirt yesterday. But, I will post that tomorrow. It's a cute racer back shirt that you can wear to workout in. But, for now, you can hear all about my day today. 

So, I went around my university campus today with my cousin, who showed me around. After that, we went out to eat at L&L Hawaiian BBQ. Before I really got into health foods, I would order the chicken katsu, macaroni salad, rice and that stuff. That's at least half a day's worth of calories! But, now, they added healthier options. They have the healthy plate options and I ordered the garlic shrimp one. It came with brown rice and a salad. It was actually pretty good. I added soy sauce to the rice though. Here's a pic:

Looks delicious, huh? I was so psyched that they actually had a healthy menu! This was only around 270 calories. 

After eating this for lunch, we went to Sunflower Farmer's Market. My cousin goes there a lot and I've never been there before. He bought these organic baked apple cinnamon chips that I tried and they were delicious. I just had to buy it from there and I did. 

They had such a huge selection of healthy things! I was in heaven. Vegan, gluten free, you name it. They had it. Their bulk selection is really nice too! I love their salad dressing assortments and their granola bar assortments. I also love their snacks, cereals and everything! I had such a hard time choosing what to buy! I mainly wanted to buy items so that I can snack on them while I'm at school. The university food is expensive and I don't want to waste money buying their food. That's why I want to buy lots of snacks from here. Healthy snacks. Here's what I ended up buying:

I jut had to buy the apple cinnamon smiles cereal. It was just too cute! It's a generic brand but the nutrition isn't bad either.  As for the Clif Crunch Bars, I've heard good things about them. I've tried other Clif brands, including the regular Clif, Luna Bars and Mojo Bars. It's about time I tried their Crunch ones. For the Larabar, it said that the Banana Bread is a discontinued flavor. I don't know if it's true or not, but I bought one just in case it was. And, I've just heard many things about the Shirataki noodles. And, I've already told you guys about the apple chips.

Now, here's the pictures of the salad dressings and some other things:

So, what's your guy's favorite dessert?

Where do you like to go grocery shopping?

What are your favorite healthy snacks?

Ice Cream in a Bag and my clothes shopping trip

I love ice cream. It's cold, creamy and sweet. It makes all my taste buds go wild. Ice cream makes my soul feel better. I love eating it on a hot summer day.

But...

It makes me feel fat for eating such a unhealthy thing. That's why I like non fat frozen yogurt or soy ice cream. Greek yogurt ice cream is also very good. I get to eat it without feeling too guilty! 

This is one of my favorites: 

I also love the frozen yogurt that they sell at the Costco food courts and I also love going to froyo places. 

Anyway, what I was getting to was that you can also make ice cream in a bag! It's really fun. Me and my sister play catch with the bag of ice with the ice cream mixture in it. You have to try it some time. 

By the way, since I didn't have all the ingredients on hand, I used all milk instead of half and half and cream. I'll write both versions. 

Here's the recipe: 

Ingredients: 

• 1 cup milk (or 1/2 cup milk and 1/2 cup half and half)
• 2-4  tablespoons sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tablespoon cocoa powder (if you want chocolate)
• chocolate chips (if you want them)
• 1 gallon ziploc bag
• 2 quart ziploc bags
• 3 cups ice
• 1/4 cup salt

Directions:

1. In a quart ziploc bag, mix the milk, sugar and vanilla extract together. You can add the cocoa powder and chocolate chips if you want. 
2. Seal the bag, making sure to not leave any air. Then, put that bag into the other quart ziploc bag. Seal it. Make sure to not leave any air. 
3. In the gallon bag, add in the ice and salt. Shake it up a bit. 
4. Put the quart bag into the gallon bag. 
5. Seal the gallon bag, making sure there's no air. Shake it for 10 minutes.
6. Your ice cream is done and you can now take it out of the bag. Pour the ice cream in a bowl or eat out of the quart bag. Enjoy. 

WARNING: THE ICE MIXTURE CAN GET PRETTY MESSY. I SUGGEST MAKING THIS OUTSIDE. 

Now, here are some pictures from my shopping trip I had during the weekend. I bought these too.

These two Hello Kitty shirts were both $14.99. And, guess what. The yoga shorts were only $4.99. I got them at Macy's. The yoga shorts were on sale.  Yoga shorts usually cost a lot, so I was surprised to be able to find them so cheap. They were on the sales rack. I looked thoroughly, which is how I found them.  I used a coupon and paid only around $28 for the 3 items. 

I'm kinda self-conscious to post these 3 pictures. >_<
So, I got the black top from Forever 21. It was around $8.50. I did't get the shorts though, which were around $10.50. The yoga pants were from Aeropostale. They were around $18 dollars, on sale. But, I also had a 30% off coupon. I know, coupons. So asian. The sports bra was from Victoria's Secret. That one costed a lot.

Do you guys like ice cream?

What's your favorite summer treat? 

Fun Fun Weekend

Hola everybody! How was your guy's weekend? Did you guys do anything interesting?

Well, I had so much fun. I actually did things instead of just stay home most of the time. So, what did Helen do this weekend? She went out to eat with her friends yesterday and she went shopping shopping today. 

Lol. Yes. I had so much fun, the most I've done since coming back from my trip to China (well, except for going to a swimming party). Funny thing is that, I went out to eat with the friends I made during my China trip. Do you guys remember me mentioning that we somehow came from around the same area? 

So, yesterday was when we went out to eat. We went to Hometown Buffet! I know, we are fatties. But, hey, we had so much fun. We ate tons of food too. We practically stayed there for 2 and half hours. And, yes, we did pig out. Hey. We hadn't eaten much that day. We were hungry. And, after all, we paid to eat a a buffet. We might as well have pigged out. My friend, Tina, saw someone she knew there. Well, she met him before, but she forgot his name. It was so funny because after he left, she was still trying to figure out what his name was. She finally did figure it out though. 

So, I had 2 main plates, a fruit plate, and dessert. My main plates weren't big though. I had vegetables, beans, shrimp and fish for both of my main plates. My dessert plate included cantaloupe, apples, peach, jello and a dinner roll. I had orange sherbet, nonfat vanilla yogurt, cookies'n'cream ice cream, and cheesecake for dessert. I didn't finish all of the cheesecake though. But the ice cream/froyo was delicious! I added M&M's, chocolate chips and sprinkles. So yummy. And, I know. I ate so much! But, I counted the calories I ate the entire day, including the meal, and it still didn't even go over 2000 calories! It's more like 1600. 

So, I also tried their white chocolate cappacino and the horchata. The cappacino was a bit sweet, but it was delicious. I also really enjoyed the horchata. It was creamy, sweet and had a hint of cinnamon. However, I did have better before. They also had other types of horchata, including a fruit type. Man. Hometown Buffet has changed a lot since I last went. It's been such a long time!

My friends, though, ate more than me at the buffet, but they are still thin. They are the typical skinny Asians. Well, near the end, we wanted to take a picture but we were scared to ask someone to take it for us. There was a huge Asian family next to us and my friend finally got the courage to ask one of them to take a picture. After that, my friend somehow spilled her drink. What a nice way to end the meal. lol. We went to Target after that and walked around. That was my day yesterday.  Oh yea. I also received my free Luna Fiber Bar in the mail. They decided to send me the chocolate raspberry. I'll post a review of it once I get the chance to try it. w

So, today, I went shopping basically the entire day with another friend! It was so much fun and I bought a ton of things. I bought 2 Hello Kitty shirts! They're so cute. I also bought yoga shorts. And, guess what. They were on sale! I got them for $4.99. I couldn't believe that it was that cheap! I just had to get it. I bought some other things too, but, I don't have to tell you guys everything. All I'll say is that we went to Macy's, Forever 21, Aeropostale, Victoria's Secret and a few other stores. My friend only bought one shirt though.

It was really hot today, around 105 degrees. So, not many people went out to shop. When it was lunch time, there were some places that didn't have much people going to it, including  an Asian food place. No one was there and I felt sorry for the people that worked there. They looked so bored. I originally planned to go to the Mediterranean place, but I decided to go to the Asian place because I felt sorry for them. I ended getting the teriyaki shrimp with brown rice and vegetables. It was actually pretty good. The people working there spoke Mandarin though. We also got some Jamba Juice after. Of course, I got the Berry Fulfilling, original size this time.


So, I'm pretty satisfied with my weekend. I had a pretty good time.

How was your guy's weekend?
Did you do anything interesting?

Delicious Frozen Greek Yogurt

Hola! Today was such a great day. I got some Jamba Juice, the Berry Fulfilling, with soy protein! It was delicious. By the way, Jamba Juice is having a one dollar sale on their 16 oz smoothies this week. However, it's only from 9 am to 11 am. Go there while you can. It ends this Friday! That's actually the only reason why I went to Jamba Juice today.

Anyway, let's get back to recipes. As you know, I'm trying to eat really healthy. So, I'm going to be trying to post healthy recipes that I've tried and I think are good to eat. Well, I love frozen desserts, especially ice cream and froyo. So, I decided to make a "healthier" version of it. It can be eaten as dessert or even a post workout snack.

The taste and texture is not exactly like froyo, but it's still equally delicious. It's thick and creamy. So, here's this simple recipe. You will only need  3 ingredients, at most. I've made it using different types of greek yogurt flavors.

Ingredients

• strawberry greek yogurt (I use oikos, but other brands work fine)
• extra dark chocolate chips (2-3 tablespoons)
• vanilla protein powder ( 1/2 scoop)

*the last two ingredients are optional

Directions:

1. Place the greek yogurt into a container in which you can put in a freezer. 
2. Mix in the optional ingredients. 
3. Leave it in the freezer for at least 1 hour. 
4. Take it out of the freezer. Scoop out the "ice cream" into a bowl. 
5. Enjoy. :)

                      

What's your favorite Jamba Juice menu item?

Do you like greek yogurt?

What's your favorite cold dessert?