Lazy Sunday

The drive-in was a good time last night, but with getting home at 3am, it is making for a very lazy Sunday. Which, there are no complaints here with that.

The hubs even made me breakfast in bed (hash), while I snuggled with the kitten and read my Kindle. Who would have it any other way?

Looking forward, my workout plan for the week is, hopefully, this:

Monday - 6 miles
Tuesday - speed, weights
Wednesday - 7 miles
Thursday - speed, weights
Friday - 8 miles
Saturday - 3 miles
Sunday - rest

Now, get back to bed!

Speaking of goals...

The other day I wrote about some of my fitness/nutrition goals (scroll down to the end of this post), but today I hit a different goal. Today was the first time I went to a Weight Watchers meeting since March (see any of my Hawaii posts to know why) and **drum roll** I made my goal weight!

I love Weight Watchers because everyone is always so proud of you when you make a milestone. They clap and say 'good job' and bring you up front, give you a hug, let you have your moment in the spotlight. It's very motivating. So, that was pretty exciting. Now I have to maintain for the next six weeks, then I become a lifetime member. Woot!

Besides that, I also ran 7 miles today and have kept up the water intake that I said I would when I stated my goals. I'm kind of floating on a cloud right now :)

Me and the hubs were also able to get some yard work done today.  A couple months ago, while my husband was away at training, me, my mom and a friend of mine cut down these hideous, overgrown bushes that were at the end of our driveway. They would scrape our cars as we were pulling out and I just couldn't stand them anymore. Hubs wasn't impressed, but what was worse was the stumps that were left behind. So, we finally got around to renting a stump grinder and got rid of those eye sores.

We also had a pretty tasty lunch, which of course makes me happy because, hello! I live for food. Why else would I need to be on Weight Watchers?

I used the Lightlife Veggie Sausages, Italian style, cut them up and put it over some sauerkraut with sauteed onions and garlic. The hubs had his sausages in a bun and kind made it like a bratwurst type deal. Either way, tasty.

Now we're going to go reward ourselves with a movie at the drive-in. My hubs has never been to a drive-in (talk about a deprived childhood!) and the snack bar website says they have a veggie wrap with my name on it.

Have a great weekend!

**Update ** here's a picture of my husband wiping off spider webs. My hero!

Eating in Real Life

I did both of the things I said I would yesterday, even though I really didn't feel like doing either. So I think I deserve a pat on the back, maybe? (procrastination nation)

The real test came last night when my husband was making Oreo Balls for a work picnic today. I love oreos. Like LOVE oreos. So I watched as he crumbled up an entire bag of them, mixed it with cream cheese, froze them in balls, then dipped them in melted Ghirardelli chocolate. Take a moment to reread that. Yea, I had to leave the room so that I wouldn't lick the blender clean from the Oreo and cream cheese mixture. Talk about willpower! Here's the recipe, if you dare! I caved a little by sprinkling a couple of the Ghirardelli chocolate chips over my cut up fruit. Compromise! 

The next test was at the picnic today. It was a traditional BBQ - hamburgers, hot dogs and lunch meat wraps. So, not much that I could eat, being on Weight Watchers and a (near) vegetarian. Luckily, I brought a Special K protein bar and someone had brought some fresh fruit that I could nibble on. It pays to always have one of those bars on hand just in case, so if you do find yourself somewhere that you don't have many options, you can pull it out and nom on that, at least until you can get some real food.

For dinner, I made shrimp po' boys and they were yummy!

Shrimp Po' Boy

(8 Weight Watchers points. This can vary depending on what you add and what kind of hoagie bun you use)

-Greek Yogurt

-Shrimp

-Garlic

-Mayo

-Hoagie Buns

-Whatever extra toppings you want to load it up with (see below)

1. Cook up the shrimp then toss them in a strainer with a handful of ice to let them cool down

2. Cut the shrimp and garlic up and mix it with a dollop of Greek yogurt

3. Add just a touch of mayo, just enough to give it that tangy taste, but not too much so that you don't add all those calories. I also gave mine a shake of garlic salt, along with the cut up garlic

4. I let this mixture set in the fridge for about an hour to cool down and to let all the flavors blend

5. Then, I toasted a couple hoagie buns (for me and the hubs)

6. I bulked mine up with lettuce, tomatoes and banana peppers and then a heaping serving of the shrimp mixture. Delish!

Procrastination Nation

There are two things I need to be doing right now: 1. A presentation for work and 2. Run 6 miles. So, instead I'm writing this blog. (I'll get to both today, don't worry!)

First off, the fish and chips that me and the hubby made last night were superb (check it out) and second, frozen cherries turned out pretty good when blended. Still not quite banana level, but one step up from mango.

Another procrastination tool I use is food. Because I love to eat. So, here's what I made for lunch today:

Corn, chickpea and tomato egg rolls

If you have never used these egg roll wraps before, you should. They are awesome. You can put whatever you want in them, roll them up, bake them and voila! You could even put a banana and nutella in it and make dessert (check out that magic here)

I haven't gone grocery shopping yet since I've been home, so I'm kind of just eating whatever I can find, or must-go's, if you will. So, I looked around my freezer, fridge and pantry and this is what I came up with.

-Egg roll wraps (3 for 4 weight watchers points)

-Frozen corn (3 points for 2/3 cup)

-Chickpeas (2 points for 1/3 cup)

-Tomato (0 points!)

1. I cut up the tomato and mixed it with the chickpeas and corn then sprinkled a little garlic salt over the top. 

2. Next, I laid out the wraps and got a little container of water to use to help seal the wraps

3. I put the mixings on the center of the wrap, folded in the short ends, put a little water on each of those folded ends, added a little smear of water to the other flap, then rolled it over and placed the flap on the bottom so it would stay closed (I later looked on the package of the egg rolls and it shows you how to roll them, much better than me)

4. Then I popped them in the oven at 400 degrees for 10ish minutes and voila!

Again, these wraps are great because you can put whatever inside of them. Hungry Girl has a FANTASTIC recipe swap for California Pizza Kitchen's Avocado Club Egg Rolls (my favorite thing on their menu when I ate meat, now I just make the swap using meatless chicken or go without) and once I get to the grocery store to get some fixin's my plan is to make these Southwestern Egg Rolls. So, fill them up till your heart's content!

I do what I wanna do

I went and bought the free weights so that I could do my weight lifting routine at home and not have to deal with people at the gym (check out the workout routine here, and why I don't want to deal with people here). Of course, then I got distracted for about 6 hours before getting back to the workout, BUT I did do it. And I also ran my 5 miles last night and I have been drinking water like I said I would. Slowly but surely!

So, if you haven't checked out banana ice cream, you should. (recipe post) It's pretty amazing. I tried a couple of experiments the last couple nights because I was out of bananas (blasphemy!) and here's what I came up with:

Frozen Strawberries - no
Frozen Mango - kinda

The strawberries turned into the grainy ice pellets like the bananas, but then they never smoothed out afterward. Of course, I still ate it and it was still good, but it was more of a italian ice or sorbet consistency instead of ice cream like the bananas.

The mango was kind of a mix between the two - not quite as creamy as the banana, but less grainy than the strawberries. I'm going to try cherries next. Wish me luck.

So, I've been a bit scatter brained since I've been home (all of 4 days) and can't get on a schedule. Every time I try to do something, I get distracted.

Here are just a couple examples:

I took my cat outside to play in the sunshine

I lounged on my hammock and read a book on my Kindle

I asked kitten to workout for me, but she wouldn't.

I found some pretty lipstick and proceeded to play dress-up

Eventually, I did get my act together enough to workout and make some dinner. Tonight, we're having fish and chips! 

For the 'chips' I cut up two potatoes into little wedges and sprinkled a bunch of spices on them. Whatever you like is what you should coat them with:

I went with rosemary, basil, oregeno, chives, italian seasoning and garlic salt

Next, lay them on a baking pan, give them a spritz of oil and put them in the oven at 350 for about 40 minutes. They may take longer, so just keep checking them about every 5 minutes after the 40 minute mark:

My hubby made the fish, but that just consisted of coating some cod in bread crumbs and baking it in the oven for about 30 minutes, then turning on the broiler to crisp it up a bit:

Gym rant and new goals

So, I know one of the reasons why I don't like lifting weights, weight rooms are ridiculous. I went there today hoping to do my little weight routine (check it out here), but it ended up getting cut short because there was a lot of judgement going on, from both sides. First, I cannot stand the guys who are all pumped up and high fiving each other after every rep. Really? Second, don't watch me workout! I do not want your 'advice' on how I could do it better or that my workout has no focus. How about you FOCUS on your own workout. Third, I don't know where to stand. I always feel like I'm in someone's way. So, I left. I did most of the workout (just not bench press, modified pull up and then I did the negative resistance when I got home), but I was very uncomfortable there. I'm seriously tempted to go buy my own free weights...hm, food for thought.

Speaking of food! I have to tell you what I had for lunch - a vegetarian Reuben! *swoon*

My mom taught me this substitution on one of my favorite sandwiches from those days when I ate meat (has it really almost been 4 months?!). Now mine had some modifications today because I used what I had, but I'm going to teach you how to make it the right way.

Vegetarian Reuben
(10 weight watchers points)

You'll need:
-Meatless lunch meat. Any kind is fine, my favorite is Lightlife turkey or bologna, but I used hickory smoked tofurky today and it was just as tasty
-sauerkraut
-laughing cow light swiss wedge. I only had the queso fresco & chipotle kind, but you want to use swiss if you want it more authentic
-Bolthouse Thousand Island Yogurt dressing. I didn't have any today because I just got home and haven't been to the grocery store, so I did without, but I recommend using it to get the true taste of a reuben
-Bread

1.  Gather all your supplies and pop your bread in the toaster
2. Smear the laughing cow on one side of the bread
3. Top with sauerkraut
4. Top with thousand island dressing
5. Top with lunch meat
6. Dig in!

I like to add some tomatoes and lettuce to mine just to boost up the veggie intake, feel free to make any modifications based on what you have available.

**Instead of toasting the bread, you could assemble the sandwich first then give it a press on a panini press, but I made it the lazy/quicker/cleaner way.

I had my sandwich with some Special K Sweet & Salty Popcorn Chips. Delish! It's kind of like a mix between a tortilla chip and popcorn and you get 28 of them for 3 weight watcher points! I thought they were going to taste like those bland rice cake things, but these are really good.

So, the whole reason I started this blog was because I read an article in Runner's World that talked about how it can keep you motivated if you express your goals. I figured that if I write them out instead of just keeping them in my head, that I will be more likely to work toward them, even if no one reads it. Here goes:

-Short term goal - Drink more water. I don't think I'm ready to cut back on coffee and diet soda, but I'm going to try to drink at least one of my camelbak water bottles a day for the next week, then reassess from there.
-Middle goal - 7:00 min mile. I did my last graded 2 mile run for the Army in 15:29, so about 7:45 miles. I'd like to get the 1 mile down to 7 minutes and see how it helps my graded 2 miles
-Long term goal - Sub 2 hour half marathon. The last half marathon I did was in October 2011 and it was 2:07. I've still been doing races since then - 5k's, 10k's, marathons - but I haven't done a competitive half since then (Disney Princess Half Marathon doesn't count!). I'd like to be below 2 hours by the end of June. I'm going to try to sign up for one next month to see where I'm at and then train accordingly.

They are out in the world now, even if just for me to come back and check on.

Hopefully, my workout schedule for this week will play out like this:
Tuesday - 5 mile run
Wednesday - Weight lift, speed
Thursday - 6 mile run
Friday - Weight lift, speed
Saturday - 7 mile run
Sunday - rest

Now, I need to go buy those free weights so I make sure my weight lifting gets done this week!

Home sweet home

I was going to stop at a friend's place for the night yesterday, but I was terribly homesick, so I took a nap at a rest stop and 16 hours later, I was home!

So, today (my first day home in about 3 and a half months) me and the hubby went to Sunday brunch. This is my favorite part of the entire week and the thing I have missed the most about being away. It gives us a chance to hang out, relax and have really good food! Do you understand why it's so hard for me to lose/maintain my weight? My entire family loves food and a lot of our plans center around it, for example, Sunday brunch.

This brunch venue was a bit different than any others we've been to. There have been little cafes in Old Town Alexandria that we walk to, bar-type places that we stop at after a run, but this one came with a show - a burlesque show. The restaurant is called Sax and it's in DC and it was a blast! The whole place is dimly lit, there's super comfy couches to sit on and all the waitresses wear corsets. Then, about every 10 minutes, some of the girls will put on a dance up in this glass case. Nothing like half-naked women to make your Sunday.

Oh, and the food! It was soooo good. I had smoked salmon (my favorite) on pumpernickel bread that was very crispy, then topped with capers and a dill cream sauce. You can't go wrong with dill. Me and the hubs also shared a little pot of blue crab and gruyere fondue with bread as the dippers. (I calculated this to be about an 18 weight watcher point meal, but it took up breakfast and lunch). Everything was delish and the show was spectacular! Definitely recommend this place if you're ever in the area and looking for an exciting Sunday brunch.

Again, it was dimly lit so you can't really see the food and I didn't want to be that weirdo that had their flash going off, but this is the smoked salmon and pumpernickel bread.

They had really great coffee, too, and I loved the glass! They had great service and the coffee just kept on coming. They also offer bottomless mimosas/bloody mary's.

For dinner, I made due with what we had at the house (not much) and made some red wine and tomato shrimp over spaghetti that I just kind of threw together based on what we had available. I thought it was tasty, but the hubs didn't finish his (he doesn't finish a lot of things though).

Red wine and tomato shrimp 

(Makes 2 servings at 9 weight watchers points each)

-Heat up a tablespoon of butter and a tablespoon of chopped garlic in a pan

-Add half a cup of red wine and let it simmer for about 2 minutes

-Add about a half cup of diced tomatoes and about 2 cups of deveined/shelled shrimp and let it cook till the shrimp are done (try not to overcook so they don't get tough)

-Split in two servings and pour over the top of 1 cup spaghetti and give it a stir. Enjoy!

After dinner, it was time for dessert! Now I don't have a terrible sweet tooth, but sometimes I like to end my evenings with a bit of fruit and my mom introduced me to this homemade banana ice cream that is to die for.

Banana Ice Cream

(0 points if you don't add toppings with points)

If you're like me and you always have cut up bananas in your freezer from when they started to brown and you always tell yourself that you'll make banana bread, but never do, then you're in luck! Take those bananas and make ice cream.

Whenever you freeze them, make sure you cut them up first so that they look like this:

It makes them easier to blend.

-Put the frozen bananas into a food processor or blender and give it a whirl. 

-Stop it frequently and scrape the bananas off the sides and push the big pieces back into the path of the blades

-Keep doing this. It may get tedious and seem like nothing is happening, but sometimes mine only goes about 5 seconds before I see that nothing is moving so I have to scrape the sides again

-The bananas are going to start looking kind of grainy and you're going to think it's not working, keep scraping and spinning

-Eventually, the bananas turn into this creamy, amazing consistency that totally will fulfill your ice cream craving. 

Just keep blending until it looks like this.

Now, you can add whatever toppings you want either directly into the blender or after it's in the bowl. My mom will add some PB2 directly into the blender for peanut-banana ice cream, my husband will add some chocolate syrup on top once it's in the bowl, and I poured some strawberries over the top of mine. Seriously, amazing!

I finally got a run in, too! Nothing great, but 2 miles was better than nothing. It felt good just to move after being in the car for 16 hours yesterday! Tomorrow I'm going to try to start getting on some kind of actual workout schedule again. 

Until tomorrow :)

On the road again

I definitely did not workout yesterday. I was so tired, it was like I was going in slow motion. Shouldn't I be over this jet lag by now?

Well it doesn't help that I'm on the road again, either. I do try to fit in some exercising at each gas stop by traveling with a jump rope, and you wouldn't believe the looks you get when you pull out a jump rope while pumping gas. My husband hates it, but I figure I'll never see those people again. You gotta do something to get your heart pumping when you're sitting in a car for 9 hours!

I also bring food with me so that I don't have to eat fast food and end up feeling even more sluggish. I had a Special K protein meal bar and a banana for breakfast, those bars really stick with me and I'll usually have one before a morning run because it's not too heavy, but still has some substance. For lunch, I had a tuna lunch-to-go kit with cut up cucumber, broccoli and cauliflower dipped in Bolthouse Blue Cheese Yogurt Dressing, which is only 2 weight watchers points for 2 tablespoons and you won't get much better than that for blue cheese (they also make a thousand island yogurt dressing that is tasty). I keep away the boredom munchies by drinking A LOT of coffee and diet soda, and I sneak in a little water every now and then. Of course, this makes me have to stop about every hour and a half or so for the bathroom, but that just gives me a chance to stretch a bit and jump a little rope.

Even though I didn't workout yesterday, I did have a really good home-cooked meal for dinner. Have I mentioned how amazing a home-cooked meal is when you just ate out for an entire week? It's the best. Me and my sister-in-law made dill-lime salmon, acorn squash with brown sugar and sautéed mixed veggies. Heather made the salmon on a George Foreman grill and grilled fresh dill directly on it then we spritzed it with fresh lime when it was done. Delish! The veggies were broccoli, green peppers, red onions, green onions and garlic, with an extra dose of garlic and the acorn squash does really good for substituting a sweet potato, but is 0 weight watchers points (just count whatever you top it with).

If you've never had the acorn squash, it's too easy:

1. Preheat the oven to 400 and cut the squash in half, length wise (this is easier said than done. It's a bit tough, so use a sharp knife and don't let your sister-in-law watch you cut it if you're not trustworthy with a knife)
2. Scoop out all the seeds and stringy stuff from the center
3. Place it facing up on a cookie sheet lined with aluminum foil and spritz the inside of the squash with some spray butter
4. Cook for half an hour, then pull it out, score the inside with a knife, sprinkle with brown sugar (if you use Splenda brand it's still 0 points), spritz with  some more butter and bake for another half hour, or until very tender
5. Let cool for a couple min, then scoop out of the skin. Enjoy!

Working on my fitness

We're still fighting the jet lag and it's making us feel a little hungover, but we did drag ourselves to the gym and felt so much better afterwards.

We're not quite due to start training for the Air Force Marathon, so we did some speed and weight training today. 

We started with one mile as fast as we could, which wasn't my fastest because it's been about a week and a half since we ran. My fastest is about 7.30, and I logged a 7.55 today. Afterward, we did this weight routine that a personal trainer friend taught me. I'm really bad about only running as my workouts, so he taught me this little routine that takes about 15-20 min and I can knock it out and build on the weight as I go. I'm still doing the original prescribed weight that he gave me because I haven't been able to do it consistently, but I plan to start doing it now.

I don't know the names for everything, but here's the gist of it:

- If you don't do your speed work first, do a 5 min jog to warmup

-20 lunges (10 for each leg)

-10 pushups

-2 sets of 10 squats

- modified pullup on weight bar (picture below)

-3 sets of 10 bench press (I use 10lb free weights, but you can use the bar if you're more comfortable/have a spotter)

-3 sets of 10 bent rower (10lb free weights again)

-2 sets of 8 dead lift squat (35lb free weight)

-3 negative resistance with 7 second lowers (this is because I can't do pullups. Eventually!)

-2 sets of 8 military press (5lb free weights. I have a shoulder injury from the military, so you can easily do more than 5lb)

-3 more 7 second negative resistances

-5 min cool down jog

See, really easy, but it's still building some strength. I'm going to try to do it 3x a week and up the weights as I go, hopefully, it will even help my running!

 Here's the modified pullup. You slant your body and pull yourself up. The bar should be at about nipple level (trainer's words, not mine)

Here's the bench press with the free weights

 Bent rower

 Dead lift squat

Negative resistance: jump up

Negative resistance: slowly lower for 7 seconds

Nothing better than an after workout coffee!

Getting back on track

I didn't want to step on the scale after a week in Hawaii this morning, but I knew it had to be done to know how much damage needed to be repaired. **Drum roll** One pound! After all that decadent food, I had only gained one pound! That made me so happy. I thought I had ruined 10 weeks of work on Weight Watchers for one week in paradise, but no real damage was done. And now it is time to get back on track!

However, jet lag was kicking my butt. I had a hard time getting to sleep last night, and an even harder time staying awake today. We wanted to get a workout in, without killing ourselves in our semi-conscience state, so we went to water aerobics at the YMCA. It was perfect. It kept me moving, but I could also zone out and just move through the water. It was a nice transition to being back in Kansas where it's only 40 degrees. That may not sound bad, but it is when you just spent a week in the 80's.

While I could have easily stayed in Hawaii another week, it was so great to have home-cooked meals and have some control over the calorie count. We had unsweetened oatmeal with a cut-up apple for breakfast (4 points), that stuck with us during our swim session, veggie fajitas for lunch (6 points) and eggplant parmesan for dinner (10 points per serving). I'm hoping I have a bit more energy tomorrow because I still don't feel like doing anything right now, even with an afternoon nap! I guess I have to stop signing off with 'Aloha!' now that I'm back on the mainland :/ meh.

Home-cooked veggie fajita! Beautiful after a week of eating out.

My iced coffee isn't as glamorous in sweats in Kansas.

Even the dog knew it was nap time.  She was too tired to chew, she just laid there with the rope in her mouth.

Tasting Hawaii

I have only been doing the vegetarian thing for a couple months now, but I have never had an issue finding plenty of things I want to eat on a menu. I have been asked a few times, "so, what do you eat?" As if they couldn't imagine a meal being complete without a serving of meat (my husband included). So, here are a few of my finds from around Hawaii:

-Spicy Tofu Stir Fry - the very first night here we ate at a cafe in the hotel called Koko Cafe. They had a couple vegetarian options so my momma went for the veggie burger with a garlic sauce, and I did the spicy tofu stir fry. It was amazing, especially if you like your food with a kick. There were all kinds of veggies mixed with soba noodles and tofu. Extremely filling, too.

 - Fish Quesadillas - I will admit that I do have more choices because I do eat seafood still, but I am not willing to give it up and things like fish quesadillas are my favorite. I got these from Schooners Restaurant, outside of the Pearl Harbor memorial. They were so tasty! The wraps were crispy, the fish was tender and the salsa was loaded with all kinds of tomatoes and peppers. They do have a bean and cheese version if you don't eat fish.

 -Ahi Tartare with Risotto Cake; Mango, Avocado, Pecan Salad; and Salted Chocolate Pretzel Tarte - This was from a restaurant called Town that was a recommendation from a friend of my husband's. The menu changes daily and most choices do have meat in them, but I love their slogan, "Local first, organic whenever possible, Aloha always." The food was absolutely amazing! However, the portions were pretty tiny, and the wait was long, but the tastes made up for it. The salad had a 'green goddess' dressing on it that was kinda tangy and delish, and the tartare was on point, but i wish I would have ordered what my momma got! I had dinner envy just staring at her plate and dug in shortly after finishing mine. She had this vegetarian assortment plate (not on the menu) that had all kinds of veggies I had never heard of, but they were all amazing. I don't even know the names of most of the things, but there was grilled squash, polenta, kale with pine nuts, and so much more. I wanted to order a plate of my own even after my tartare! Now the dessert, oh. my. It was so good. The chocolate was incredibly rich and the pretzels added just enough savory to balance it out. We spilt it between the three of us and it was perfect.

 - Mediterranean Tofu Pizza - We were so exhausted one night that we just ate at the restaurant at the hotel, Biba's. The pizza was good, crispy crust, tomatoes, mozzarella, lots of herbs and tofu, but was definitely not weight watchers friendly because it was also covered in oil.

 - Macadamia Nut Pancakes and Veggie Omelet - These were the best pancakes I've ever had and that is saying something because I just spent 3 months in Columbia, SC eating at The Original Pancake House. They came from Eggs N Things and they had macadamia nuts cooked inside them, as well as on top, along with powdered sugar. I don't typically use syrup (too many WW points) but their coconut syrup was delish. The omelet was just as good. It was packed with zucchini, spinach and mushrooms, and it usually comes with cheese, but we skipped it. Me and the momma split both and it was the perfect amount of food.

 - Peanut Butter Shaved Ice - This was not what I expected. I expected something like a snow cone, but it was actually very soft, creamy, melt in your mouth flakes and covered in these sweet syrups. Super tasty and something Hawaii is known for so I couldn't leave without trying it. 

-Pesto Salmon and Fries - I really wanted French fries and sometimes you just have to give in to that craving. This meal was back at Koko Cafe in the hotel and it was just as tasty as the first. The pesto was kind of salty, but it was laying on top of a sweet tomato sauce that balanced it out nicely. The fries definitely hit the spot.

 - Pumpkin Soup, Tempura Veggies, Mediterranean Vegan 'Chickun' pasta, Avocado Smoothie - It sounds like a lot, but it was all split with the momma. Now before I describe the food, I have to give a disclaimer that this restaurant, Simple Joy Vegetarian, is not in the best area. I recommend coming during the day, with a group and driving there. They have free parking. Now, the food. It was amazing! The pumpkin soup had chunks of roasted pumpkin in it, the pasta had olives, onions, roasted red peppers, artichoke hearts and herbs, and the tempura veggies held up even after a half hour walk before we ate. The only thing I wasnt impressed with was the avocado smoothie and that may just be an acquired taste. It tasted like it sounds, a blended avocado. We had a couple sips each and then tossed it. Overall though, the food was so good, but check out my post 'Hawaii - Day 4' for the whole experience of getting the food.

 - Fish Burrito - This was at a hole in the wall Mexican place called Serg's Mexican Kitchen. Like most holes in the wall, the food was excellent. I ate till I was stuffed (not weight watchers friendly). The burrito was filled with grilled mahi mahi and Mexican slaw (which looked like lettuce and guacamole) and came with beans and rice. Commence food coma. This was our favorite meal of the trip. We were talking about it for days after eating it.

 -Tuna and Avocado Salad - This was from a little ocean side place called Crouching Lion. This was my kind of salad, all kinds of goodies on it. There was tuna, avocado (obviously), pineapple, carrots, tomatoes, cabbage, cucumbers, onions, croutons and papaya poppyseed dressing. Delish!

 - Parmesan Crusted Grilled Cheese - The last night here the rain wouldn't stop so we ate at Biba's again. This was like a grown up version of the grilled cheese. It had mozzarella, provolone, tomato, basil, covered in Parmesan and grilled. Cheese overload! Again, not weight watchers friendly, but boy, what a sandwich. The basil really gave it a kick. At the same time, the momma was having an ahi tuna sandwich with wasabi aoli. The Aoli was everything I hoped it would be - amazing.

 - Rare Ahi Tuna Salad - We ventured to the Hilton next-door to our hotel and ate at the Tropics Bar & Grill. The tuna was pepper-seared and had a wasabi dressing. I love wasabi, so that is what drew me in. It also had edamame, seaweed, pickled ginger and carrots. It was okay and the wasabi gave my sinuses a good clean out, but it was probably my least favorite meal for the whole trip. We had a tropical fruit crepe a couple hours later that totally made up for it, though.

 - Chocolate Covered Macadamia Nuts - I had to have some of these since we're in Hawaii and I was instantly hooked. I think they may have added crack to them. Luckily, we left them in a hot car and they turned into an unappealing, chocolate goo.

 -And i LOVE me some iced coffee with coconut creamer/syrup. It's like a special treat, without the insane calorie count that comes with a blended drink.

 Now, like I mentioned, a lot of this food was not weight watchers friendly, but we really wanted to enjoy ourselves while on vacation. Time to get strict again!