Happy Spring!!

 Hello :), I've been very busy lately so I haven't had a time to update this blog with tips and recipes. I do want to do quick post wishing you all Happy Spring!!. Are you excited for the summer? :). Not me, but I guess I kinda excited, we want to teach our little one to swim this summer.

Isn't she lovely!

 

 She's my everything!

Oh also for quick healthy breakfast idea, puff wheat cereals everyone!. Yes, add some honey for sweetness or brown sugar. Very very low calories and fills you up!. Have a great evening everybody, I will sure be back with more recipes and tips for you!. 

Ps: Oh her name is Rayhana by the way :).

Getting ready for summer

Hello hello :), today I will talking about summer. Are you excited for summer?, summer in Vegas isn't nice and this year me and my family do not have any plan to go anywhere :(. Last year we went to San Diego, it was pretty!.

Anyway for those of you who have plans for this summer especially ladies, I got some tips. I will share you these informations that I learn, this is not originally from me but from the researches I did on the past. Guys are welcome too!. I will keep updating this page if I ever come cross good information.

Let's get started!

1. Sodium: Too much sodium makes our body retains a lot of water and bloated, and won't make our tummy pretty. Sodium is everywhere, to lower your sodium intake you have to be careful. Even when you cook you have to read the labels of the ingredient you use. Lower your sodium intake to 1,500 mg per day. Quick tips: when you using can foods get the one without salt added instead.

2. Water: Drink A LOTS of water everyday, up to 80 ounces a day. Not only it will aid your digestive system, but the more you drink water the less your body holds water. Means smaller you :). Sometimes when you feel hungry, it could be a sign that your body thristy, so before you grab a snack try drink some water and see how it feels.

3. Process foods: I admit this one is hard to do, nowadays it's difficult to avoid them. Do the best you coud, your body will thank you.

4. Healthier diets: No brainer, more veggies and fruits. Organics is much better obviously. When you hungry, grab a banana instead. Fruits and veggies filled with fiber, make you feel fuller longer. Means skinnier you!.

5. Active: Yes!, even when you cannot commit to exercise routines, there are a lots of options. Walk more everyday, you could bike on the weekend. Now the weather is warmer go ahead plan a date and hike with your love one :). When you active, you feel so much better and you have so much energy. I swear by these!. However if you DO have the time to do exercise routine, do it wholeheartedly..the best you could. The more active you are the better your motabolism get!. :)

I hope my tips help, I will keep sharing more and more as I learn more. I believe we have to take care this body that God gives it to us :). Good luck!.

BEST Brownie

Ah its monday again, what are you guys doing last weekend?. Me and family didn't do much, but I did make this fantastic brownie. I have to be honest that I am not good brownie maker, I make a mean flourless chocolate cake but brownie, not very much luck.

Everybody layer today go to the grocery store and MAKE this brownie, it's super good that I finished the whole pan in 2 days. The calories..I know >_<. Anyway, this brownie is easy to make, so delicious and will make everybody oooh and aah. Below is what you need:

See?, so easy so dangerous. Okay, make the brownie and chocolate chip cookie according directions on the boxes. Spread your chocolate chip cookie dough in brownie pan, I dont have one so I used springform pan. The original recipe asked you to lay oreos cookies on top of the cookie dough and you top it with brownie mix batter. However I am not a fan of Oreo ( don't call me crazy :) ), but I found a way to substitute it and make it better. Chocolate ganache!!. Bake it at 350 degree for 30 minutes (the brownie wil bee still very soft , if you don't like it, go ahead bake it for 6 minutes more).

Aaaaannnnnd dig in!!. Becareful not to eat too much, I like to eat warm with chocolate ganache and vanilla ice cream *gulp*.

Interesting fact: the original recipe named is Slutty Brownie, but I called it Best Brownie. I better off to do some work out :(. Have a nice Monday everyone!! :).

Vanilla Beans

Just a quick post about products I love.


These two I couldn't leave without, they make huge different on my dessert. More vanillayee (hahah what the heck!) and the seeds give gourmet impression. This vanilla bean paste saves me money instead of buying vanilla beans pod. Check them at Ross or Marshall, they have it for 50% off. The ground Vanilla Beans is from William Sonoma, I use it for the appearance. I like to make strawberry caramel pie and with some ground vanilla bean sure makes me feel fancy :D.

Its Thursday already, I'm so very excited for the weekend!. What plans do you guys have for the weekend?. Have a nice day everyone!.

My Quest Of Finding The Perfect Hot Chocolate

Hello Everyone, I hope you all have a nice day today. The weather is warming up here in Vegas, and I have a mixed feeling about it. Summer could get pretty rough here :(.

I am still doing my exercise routine, I'm on week four now. Today I won't talking about exercise though, today I will be talking a drink that makes me happy. Hot chocolate!. When I was pregnant me and My husband went to the Cheesecake Factory and I tried their hot chocolate. It was THE BEST hot chocolate I ever drink, sadly I never know what brand they used, is it mixed or real chocolate. Does any of you know?, anyway so I've been on quest to find that hot chocolate.

From left to right:

1. Ghirardelli: It's yummy, but a tad too sweet for my liking. It's premium hot cocoa and taste nothing like swiss mix, and also affordable too!. It isn't that perfect hot cocoa though *sigh*.

2. Godiva: Oh my ( I am actually smiling now), this is probably by far is my favorite. It's deep and rick and velvety. It's a bit expensive and the taste is close to that perfect hot chocolate :).

3. Starbucks: It's nice, dark chocolate and not so sweet. I got it cheap at Ross, nope not the perfect hot chocolate >_<.

4. Hot Chocklate on Stick: Okay, this one is belgian chocolate. I think it has the most calories per serving, it's not so sweet and a bit oily somehow. I'm not sure, and also it's the most expensive one. *shrugs*.

maybe next time I am going to Cheesecake Factory again I will ask the waiter what kind hot chocolate they use. I like to drink a cup of hot cocoa with fat free milk on the weekdays, it's coming handy when I have chocolate craving. The quest is nit over, I will keep looking for the best hot chocolate, but I have to finish them first though because I don't want to hoard Hot chocolateS hehehe. Have a nice day everyone!

Kale Chips!

Hello :), I hope everyone has nice weekend. We took our girl to the park today and she had a blast.

The other night I made this healthy yummy snack, it taste good and so good for you. I'm sorry I haven't update for a while, I have some more recipes and breakfast ideas to come. Anyway make this snack, it sure satisfy your salty craving without over doing it.

Kale Chips

1 Big Head Kale (washed and dry)
1 teaspoon of olive oil or cooking spray if you counting calories
Salt and black pepper to taste
1 teaspoon grated parmesan cheese

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Remove the leaves from the stems.
Line a foil to a baking sheet and lay the kale. Toss them with olive oil, salt and pepper.
Bake them until crisp, toss the leaves halfway through about 12 minutes. Sprinkle with parmesan cheese.
Time is crucial, please do check them every so often, you don't want it burn.

I love that my daughter likes this too, so it really a plus for me. Try it!, enjoy! :).

Healthy Breakfast Ideas

Hello everyone :). When I started working out I also started to change my diet to get results. When you start changing your diet, you also start counting calories. So the thing is I usually just ate cereals with soy milk or almond milk, but then I realised that 3/4 cup of cereal is not much. Especially when you exercising and nursing, I thought if I double the amount of cereal in the end it's just empty calories.

So I tried experimenting for breakfast ideas, And I hope this ideas will be useful for some of you :). I'm not an expert, I just sharing the things I learned and I tried. Feedbacks are always welcome. So back to the breakfast ideas, the very first thing I tried was instant unsweetened oatmeals. Here is the recipe:


1/2 cup instant unsweetened oatmeals
1 cup water or almond milk
1 tsp sweetener of your choice (I like to use stevia)

Directions:

Add oatmeals and stevia, give it a little whisk.
Add boiling water to your oatmeals, and enjoy.

Pro:

1. This recipe is fast if you have busy morning.
2. It's healthy obviously.
3. You can easily flavor it, for example by adding a handful of raisins. I love adding 1/4 tsp cinammon, or 1/2 tsp vanilla bean paste. And also using brown sugar sometimes, 1 tsp goes a long way. Heck you could even adding a tbsp vanilla protein powder.
4. My baby tolerate it, so I could share it with her.

Con:

1. It' only fils me up for short time, usually by 11 am I already hungry.

It's great breakfast for busy morning, they said when you start your breakfast healthy usually you will eat healthy until the end of your day. Not so much for me :D. But seriously, it is great, it is versatile and it is nutritious too.

Do you have a favorite healthy breakfast recipe?, please share :).

More Healthy breakfast ideas to come!, have a nice day everyone!.

Quickie Morning Workout

Hello everybody :), happy monday. I'm glad my little baby girl is doing well today, but she is still very attached and wanted to nurse all the time. Usually I woke up around 8.30 am, have a breakfast with my baby and then working out. Because lately she's been moody, her back tooth is coming so I didn't work out at all on the weekend.

So last night I promised myself to wake up earlier before my baby wake up, so I could work out. The plan is failed :(, we didn't get a good sleep last night ( yeah she sleeps with me and the hubs). Long story short, at 10.30 I went downstairs to workout before she woke up.

This is why I love Jillian Michaels: Six Week Six Pack workout dvd, because when I am short on time I could just do the level 2 workout for 15 minutes and I'm all done. The dvd has 2 levels, you should do level 1 for 3 weeks and then move on to level 2 for 3 weeks. I cheated today :), the level 2 is hard, even though I only did 15 minutes, it made me sweat and i feel energized after the workout. Hopefully tomorrow I could continue level 1. When we determined to do something, no matter how little time we have we still have to do it anyway :). Have a nice day everyone! :)

Satisfy Your Chocolate Craving With No Guilt

Hello everybody :), I hope you guys have a nice weekend. So on Friday night I went to grocery store and saw this Fiber One Brownie on sale, so I picked them to try. I saw their commercial on tv, and I remember thinking : "Yeah the actual brownie won't look good as that".

Anyway I was super excited to try these brownies. Back home I opened the package and pleasantly surprised that the size of the brownie is just perfect. Not too big or too small, and it does look just like in the package picture. I took a bite and happy, it's good!. It's fudgy and chocolatey, has some chocolate chips. It's honest!.

One brownie has 90 calories, sure we could make diet brownies with pretty much same calories per serving. In the past I tried those diet brownies, I used stevia instead of sugar but they didn't satisfied my sweet tooth. These Brownies are made with wheat flour, not long ago I made Belgian brownies with wheat flour. It was good but it wasn't fudgy, so I'm pretty happy with this brownies. I like to pop them in the microwave for 10 sec so they are warm and the chocolate chips are soft.

I'm not sure about the price, they are probably a little bit pricey compare to grocery store brownies. I'm not sure though. Will I buy these brownies regularly?, why not? :D. These babies sure come in handy when I really want something sweets on the weeknight. Have a nice Sunday everyone!.

Guittards The Original Chocolate Chip Cookie

I love this recipe!. First time I read it from the blog I love ,Lick The Bowl Good . I love Guittards, but they are a bit pricey for me (mama on a budget) so I found awesome substitute :). I got Private Selection Belgian semi sweet chocolate chips, you could find it at Smith's grocery store. They are part of Kroger's brand. I love that it made from Belgian chocolate liquor, it makes me feel fancy :D. You could also use Guittard ofcourse, they are so delicious!.

Yield: 7 dozen 2- inch cookies

21/4 cups unsifted all purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1cup butter, softened

3/4 cup granulated sugar

3/4 cup packed brown sugar

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste

2 cups semi sweet chocolate chip

Direction:

Preheat oven to 370 degree F.

In a small bowl, combine flour, baking soda, and salt; set aside.

In large bowl, cream butter, sugar and brown sugar

until ligh. Beat in eggs and vanilla until smooth. Gradually add flour mixture until combined. Stir in chips.

Drop by well rounded teaspoonfull onto ungreased cookie sheets. Bake 8-10 minutes or until golden brown.

The changes I made:

1. I always use Smart Balance instead butter. Gotta save a bit calories :).

2. I only use brown sugar, but add little bit more.

3. I use vanilla bean paste instead of vanilla extract. For me it taste stronger, I got Nielsen-Massey vanilla bean paste for cheap at Ross. Love it!

4. Sometimes I substitute the chocolate chips with white chocolate chips and add strawberries, yum ^_^.

Try it, and let me know :). Here is the picture of the cookies, I used ice cream scoop so the cookies are bigger. I apologize for the bad picture quality, because I use Ipad :(.

Fat Burner

This is it!, yes today I'll be talking about the exercise video that burned my belly fat. Jillian Michaels 6 weeks 6 pack!, I loove this dvd, I am on my second week and I already lost 1 inch off my waist.

They said when you leaner it's hard for you to loose fat, it's so true. Good diets and calories counting are also important obviously, and did I say it's so so hard to stick with it? :). I consumed about 1400-1500 calories a day, I am also still nursing my baby so I make sure to eat right and drink a lots of water. I found for me that it's important to allow myself to have my favorites sweets. In the beggining of the diet I only had dessert once a week, but that's caused me to over indulged. It made me think: "I only have one day so I better eat as much as I could, so I won't craving sweets on the weekdays". Wrong!, the results, I still craving it and I ate way too much. So I tweaked my diet, on the weekend I could have desserts but careful with the portion.

Back to the dvd, I highly recommend this dvd. It has a time frame which is really helping me to stick with it. Jillian is fantastic , like always she keeps you motivated all the way. The length is just right, around 40 minutes including warm up and cool down, I did it 5 days a week. My husband said she talks too much, but I don't mind it because it really does help me. Of course you could always mute and use your favorite musics, anything that works :). I'm on week two, and I already see the results, it really strengthen my core. I will try to take a picture when I complete the whole 6 weeks.

Do you have favourite exercise dvd, or you just go to the gym?. Tomorrow is Friday so I'll post my favorite chocolate chips cookies :). Have a nice day everyone!.