Category Archives: Food

Having an Attitude of Gratitude (or What I’m Thankful For)

Posted on November 8, 2012 | Comments Off on Having an Attitude of Gratitude (or What I’m Thankful For)

On Facebook and twitter this month, people are posting one thing every day that they are grateful or thankful for. As much as I would love to put something online every day for 30 days, it’s already the 8th and I’ve never remembered to do it until after the day was over.

So instead, here’s a bunch of things that I’m grateful/thankful for in one lump post.

I’m grateful to have such an amazing family. We have 4 generations on my mom’s side and I’ll get to see almost everyone at Thanksgiving this year (this picture is from last year).

I’m grateful for having such amazing friends who love me no matter what size I am. And they are all so supportive of me in all of my endeavors.

I’m thankful that I’m able to do these things.

I’m thankful that my meals don’t look like this anymore.

I’m super thankful that I can find shoes that don’t hurt my body (these are from Easy Spirit).

I’m thankful that I’ve been able to share a passion project of mine with the world.

I’m so grateful that I have amazing agents who literally have stuck with me thick and thin and get me fun auditions and jobs (this was a PSA I did last year).

And I’m unbelievably grateful and thankful that I live somewhere so beautiful and can enjoy moments in life like this.

What are you thankful and grateful for?

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Posted in Acting, Celebrations, Food, Fun Stuff, Shopping

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Dirty Shirley (or My Signature Drink)

Posted on November 6, 2012 | 3 comments

I’m not a big drinker. I used to be, but the first time I went on the RFO diet I wasn’t able to drink anything with calories, and my tolerance for alcohol went down. Now, I never have more than 2 drinks, but more often, I only will have 1 when I go out.

I’ve never been a beer drinker. The only time I tolerated beer was when my family was in Africa and the beer was safer to drink than water (I’m sure I spent a lot of that trip dehydrated). I’m not a wine lover. If I drink wine, it tends to be a sweeter one like a Riesling.

My go to drink is any type of sparkling wine. Champagne, Cava, Prosecco, I love them all. And at most bars or restaurants, that’s what I’ll order.

But there are plenty of bars or restaurants where they don’t have a sparkling wine (or you don’t want to drink a weird cheap one), so I’ve been working on finding a signature mixed drink. I really like martinis, but I only like them with blue cheese filled olives so I won’t get them most places. I do enjoy a vodka cranberry, but that seemed to cliché and typically girly for me.

I was googling signature drinks a while back and found a recipe for a Dirty Shirley. It’s pretty much a Shirley Temple with vodka. I loved Shirley Temples as a kid (and now) so I figured that this would be the perfect drink for me.

When I order it most of the time, they have no idea what a Dirty Shirley is, so I have to order a Shirley Temple with vodka. But it is yummy, and it looks pretty.

 

And if you need the recipe, here it is:

  • 4-6 ounces carbonated lemon-lime soda (I like Diet 7-Up)
  • 2 ounces of vodka
  • 1 ounce grenadine
  • 1-2 maraschino cherry (for the garnish)

 

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Readjusting (or Leaving Vacation Mode)

Posted on October 23, 2012 | Comments Off on Readjusting (or Leaving Vacation Mode)

Even though I was only in Texas for 2 half days and 1 full day, it felt like a vacation. I got away from any stress I have at home and could pretend that I didn’t have to worry about work.

I wasn’t thinking about what food I was eating. My dinner on Friday and Saturday were part of the wedding festivities. I had brunch at my hotel on Saturday, and on  Sunday I had breakfast at the airport. I wanted to enjoy the wedding meals, so I wasn’t thinking calories.

I also got kind of jet-lagged. Even though it’s only a 2 hour time difference, I got affected.

But now I’m back to real life. I had an early day at work yesterday, and I’ve got 3 more 8 hour days in a row ahead (I’m taking Friday off to take new headshots). I live-tweeted the debates again. And I need to go back to monitoring my food.

I gained 3 pounds on my trip. Yes, some of that is due to the food I ate, but I think at least part of it is from the stress of travel. When I weighed myself this morning, I’ve lost 2 of those pounds. I want to be at least at the weight I was last week before my photo shoot.

My next trip is going to be Thanksgiving. I’ve got plenty of time to get back to my old self (or even be better than my old self) by then. This week, I’m just focused on my food and detoxing from all the yummy BBQ I ate this weekend.

I don’t detox with anything weird, I just record everything that I eat and try to eat as few processed foods as possible. And hopefully I’ll be back to me quickly.

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Posted in Food, Weight Loss

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What I’ve Been Eating (or Does It Really Matter If I’m Still Under My Calories?)

Posted on October 8, 2012 | 7 comments

If I’m being honest with you all (and myself), my food has not been too great lately. With my work schedule, there are only certain days that I can go to the grocery store. And when I did go this past week, I didn’t really feel like getting enough to last all the days it needed to.

I’ve had some fast food this week. When I don’t bring a lunch with me to work, that’s almost the only option. We only have 30 minutes and most of the restaurants near my work would take much longer than that.

Even though I’ve been eating some foods that I probably shouldn’t, I’m still tracking my calories in My Fitness Pal. And shockingly, I’m staying under my calorie goal most days. These calories are not the best to have, but I’m wondering if that matters.

I’m maintaining the weight loss that I had from both not being able to eat food and being sick. Sometimes, it will go up a pound or two, but I think that’s more from sodium than anything.

I don’t want to be stuck in this routine. It’s not good. But it’s tough to get out. I should have gone to the grocery store yesterday, but I didn’t. And tonight, I’m working until 9pm and I really hate going to the grocery store that late. Honestly, I probably won’t make it to the store until Wednesday.

So I have to figure out what I’ll do for lunch today, tomorrow, and Wednesday. Dinner for tonight and tomorrow most likely will be Subway. Subway is my go-to place and since I get a veggie sandwich, I know I’ll get my vegetable servings in for the day. But lunch is the tricky meal. Since I eat lunch at 4:30, my body isn’t always hungry. But if I don’t eat then, I’ll feel faint by 9pm.

I wish I could write that I have a great plan figured out for this week, but I don’t. I’m probably going to have fast food again. But all I can do is track the calories and work as hard as possible to stay under my numbers for the day.

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Posted in Food, Tough Stuff, Weight Loss

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Yogurt Banana Blueberry Bread (or Another Yummy Easy Recipe)

Posted on October 5, 2012 | Comments Off on Yogurt Banana Blueberry Bread (or Another Yummy Easy Recipe)

I’m not the biggest baker. I feel like people are bakers or cooks. I’m totally more of a cook. But there are some things that I bake well (like my brownies).

I found this recipe on Daily Garnish and only changed some minor things.

Here is the recipe for Yogurt Banana Blueberry Bread

What You’ll Need:

1 1/2 Cups All Purpose Flour

2 Tsp Baking Powder

1/2 Tsp Kosher Salt

1/2 Cup Brown Sugar

1/4 Cup Cane Sugar

2 Ripe Bananas

1 Tsp Vanilla

2 Eggs

1/2 Cup Greek Yogurt (I like non-fat)

1 Cup Blueberries (frozen not recommended)

What To Do:

Preheat the oven to 350

Combine flour, baking powder, and salt in a mixing bowl.

In another bowl, mash up the bananas until they are gooey and liquid-like.

Add the sugar, eggs, and vanilla to the mashed up bananas.

Add the greek yogurt to the liquid mix and whisk until everything is combined and there are no lumps left.

Add the wet mixture to the dry mixture and mix until just combined.

Fold in the blueberries. I found that the frozen ones end up adding too much extra liquid, so if you go that way, make sure to defrost and drain the frozen blueberries before mixing them in.

Pour the batter into a greased pan. I’ve made this both in a loaf pan and an 8×8 square pan. I now prefer the square pan. You can also cut the bread into cute little squares that way.

Bake in the oven for about 45 minutes to an hour. This depends on what you bake it in and how accurate your oven is. You will know it’s done when the top is golden brown and a toothpick comes out clean.

When it’s done baking, let it cool for at least 15 minutes before trying to cut it.

This bread is so yummy and you don’t even taste the greek yogurt in it. But what I like about adding it in is it does add a little protein. It also helps keep it super moist.

And a tip if you freeze bananas when they are beyond ripe. Peel the bananas before you freeze them. It will make your life so much easier. It is almost impossible to peel a frozen banana.

Hope you all enjoy this bread and thanks to Daily Garnish for creating the recipe!

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Nerves vs. Excitement (or How to Think Positively)

Posted on October 4, 2012 | Comments Off on Nerves vs. Excitement (or How to Think Positively)

In my acting class on Tuesday night, I heard some advice that I’ve heard previously. But for some reason this was the time that the advice really stuck with me.

Nerves are just excitement that is labeled negatively.

This advice come from Jack Plotnick (you can read the whole story that goes along with that advice here).

This advice is perfect for my acting career. I don’t always get nervous for auditions. When the part seems so far away from who I am or what I look like, I don’t worry at all. But when the part I’m reading for sounds just like me and I fit the physical description perfectly, I’m usually a bundle of nerves.

But this advice also works out perfectly for the weight loss journey that I’m on right now. I’m so nervous if this will work this time. Ever other time I’ve lost 100 pounds (and there have been a few times), I’ve done it on some crazy diet plan like the Zone food delivery or on the RFO plan. But this time, I’m doing it the right way. I’m exercising more and being careful what I eat.

One thing that I’ve kept with me from my RFO days is how to figure out how many calories you need to be at any weight. The standard is 10 calories for every pound. So if you want to weigh 130 pounds, you have to have an average of 1300 calories a day. You can eat more if you burn calories exercising, but your daily average is 10 calories per pound.  But within the RFO program, there was a way to figure out our exact numbers. And I only get to have 9.3 calories per pound.

I’m not at the calories right now that I would have to be at to maintain the weight that I hope to be at. That seems a bit too low for me now. So I’m slowly working my way down to that. Once the number of calories I eat every day seems to be ok, I’ll drop my number by 50 calories.

I’m incredibly nervous that I’m never going to like this again:

But now I am going to think how excited I’m going to be when I get closer to my goal. I’m going to be excited to put on clothes that used to fit that now live in a storage bag under my bed. I’m excited to see what the future has in store for me.

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Posted in Acting, Food, Tough Stuff, Weight Loss

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The Best Brownies Ever (or How to Impress with an Easy Recipe)

Posted on September 18, 2012 | 1 comment

As I promised yesterday, I’m sharing my mom’s recipe for the most delicious brownies.

I’m not exactly sure where the recipe comes from originally, so I’m sorry I can’t properly credit whoever created them. All I know them as are Extra Rich (and Gluten-Free) Brownies.

Here’s what you’ll need:

 

1/2 cup butter (I use unsalted)

1/4 cup cocoa powder

1 cup brown sugar

1 tsp vanilla

2 large eggs

1/4 cup cornstarch

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup chocolate chips (or change it up to peanut butter chips like I did)

And here’s what you do:

Preheat your oven to 350

Lightly grease an 8×8 baking pan (or be lazy like me, line the baking pan with foil and then grease the foil. It’s easy cleanup that way).

Melt the butter in the microwave and then add cocoa powder. Whisk.

Mix in the brown sugar, eggs, and vanilla.

Add the cornstarch and salt. Mix well.

Stir in the chocolate chips (or whatever type of chips you are using).

Pour mixture into the pan and bake for about 35 minutes. You want a toothpick to come out clean.

Let the brownies cool completely (I waited overnight) before cutting.

These brownies are awesome and seem to always impress the people I serve them too. And if you want extra easy cleanup, do what I did. Melt the butter in a Ziploc container and mix everything in there. One bowl to clean, and then I ended up using the same bowl to bring them to the picnic.

I hope you all enjoy this recipe. I know that these aren’t healthy, but they are a treat. They are pretty inexpensive to make though.

And let me know in the comments if you’d like me to blog some more of my recipes!

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It’s a Blognic! (or My First Blogger Event)

Posted on September 17, 2012 | 6 comments

Yesterday, I was invited to a Blognic (or blogger picnic). The invite came from the fabulous Lynn of The Actor’s Diet, who I finally got to meet in real life.

The girls who organized the event  (Kelly, Amanda, and Sarah) were super crafty and the picnic area was super cute.

 

 

It was a potluck so I brought my mom’s super rich gluten-free brownies (I’ll share the recipe in tomorrow’s post). I made both double chocolate and peanut butter chocolate brownies. But, since I’m still waiting to have my permanent crown put on, I didn’t get to eat anything. But all the girls loved the brownies, so I’m happy.

We enjoyed the shade at Griffith Park and chatting about life and blogging.

 

And there was a girl there who was also named Jennie (which if you didn’t know, that’s my full legal first name), so she and I talked about how frustrating it is for people to think our names are Jennifer or Jenny. And how much trouble we have with government things that want our full legal names and don’t believe that it’s Jennie (even when it’s on our drivers license).

All in all, it was an awesome event and I feel so grateful to have been invited. I was definitely the newbie blogger there, and it was great to hear the advice that the other ladies had for me.

I was only able to stay for about 2 hours since it was my day off of work and I had lots of laundry and cleaning to do. I’m getting my house ready for this weekend when my dad flies down to stay with me so we can go to a concert at my work together.

I’ve got a busy busy week coming up, but I’m so excited about everything! Even going back to the dentist tomorrow to finally finish up my dental work!

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Posted in Celebrations, Food, Fun Stuff

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My Current Diet (or I Miss Food)

Posted on September 14, 2012 | 11 comments

I’ve been on a weird diet lately. And I don’t mean that I’m on Atkins, the Zone, Paleo, or the HCG diet. I mean the food I’m eating is weird.

I had the start of my dental adventure, and next week, it finally ends. I’ve had one permanent crown repaired and I’ll have my temporary crown replaced with a permanent one next Tuesday. For a while, I could not have any food that needed to be chewed. My meals pretty much all looked like this:

 

Not too exciting. I can now  have “regular” food, but I can only chew on one side of my mouth until next week. So I’m being safe and only having soft foods. So a lot of overcooked pasta and soup everyday.

This makes me miss food.

It also brings back memories of the times I was on the UCLA RFO Diet. Basically, it’s an all liquid diet. Everyday, I had 6 shakes that were each 100 calories. I was constantly monitored by doctors (appointments every week, blood draws and EKGs twice a month). I also went to therapy classes there. The first time I did the diet, I did it for 9 months without cheating. The second time, 10 months without cheating. I lost 100 pounds both times.

I missed food so much when I was on the RFO program. All the shakes where so sweet and I craved salt. Eventually, I just got a spoonful of Kosher salt once a week and ate it.

The diet worked while I was on it, but obviously, I wasn’t able to maintain the loss. That’s one reason why I’m trying to do it this time in a “normal” way. I can’t keep bouncing back and forth.

Right now, while I’m not really eating, I keep having dreams (or nightmares) that I’m back on the RFO program. I wake up panicked about it.

I’m so glad that by Wednesday next week, I won’t have to miss food anymore.

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Learning From My Dental Situation (or How Getting A Crown is Educating Me on My Weight Loss)

Posted on September 4, 2012 | 1 comment

I’m writing Tuesday’s post on Monday night because tomorrow morning is part one of my crown procedure at the dentist. I’m horribly nervous and can’t wait for this whole thing to be done.

The only positive that I can see out of having this done is getting an extra day off of work (but that also means less money in my next paycheck). Also, if this wasn’t being done now, it could end up being a root canal (which I’ve never had and never want).

Sometimes, you just have to suck it up and do something because in the long run, it will be a good thing, even if in the short term you are extremely unhappy or stressed.

This crown is costing a ton of money (and my insurance isn’t very good so at most, half of it is covered), but a cracked tooth or a root canal would be way more money.

Yes I’m missing out on another day of work, but my supervisor knows and if any of my customers call in, he’ll take the order for me and I’ll get my commission.

Yes, I hate that I have a ton of weight to lose now and a bunch of debt to pay off, but if I don’t do it now, how much worse will it get?

I’ve talked about the “what ifs” before, and I don’t want this time in my life to be a  “what if” in a year or two. If I don’t take action now, I’m going to regret it later in life. This I know for sure.

I’m going into tomorrow expecting a bad day. It will go one of two ways. Either my mouth will be so sore and so numb that I won’t eat anything all day and that will be that. Or I’ll be in a ton of pain until right before dinner and then I’ll be starving. I’m hoping it will be the first, but I’m trying to prepare my house with foods that are safe both for my crown and my waistline.

Soups, whole fruit popsicles, yogurt, and jello all seem like they are safe in both ways. I’ll have to be careful eating with the temporary crown, but maybe that will help kickstart this attempt at weight loss.

I’m hoping to not get too out of control tomorrow. But I’m also allowing myself to do so and not go into a downward spiral. If tomorrow is a bad day, why does the next day, or week, or month have to be bad too.

This is the lesson I’m hoping to learn from this really sucky dental situation.

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