lean like a cholula

Eating gluten free has been pretty easy so far. The only downside is that I have to check labels just to make sure there isn't any hidden gluten..it's so much easier when things are clearly labeled such as the Naked Cashew Cookie I ate after subbing Zumba this afternoon.

I ate it on my walk back home or else I would have taken a picture of the actual bar. It was surprisingly pretty good for not containing any of the three ingredients. The texture sort of felt like eating a really chewy granola bar. I could definitely taste both the dates and cashews. Yum!

My class was amazing this afternoon!! Perks:

• big smiles
• huge gym
• no problems with locked doors or showing up early and having to wait outside
• being able to rehearse for 30 minutes prior to start
• small, intimate class
• speakers that allow for loud music

love love love!!!!

Back to yesterday's GF meals..

Lunch was very strange but somehow it worked for me. I had leftover chicken breast with brown rice, refried beans and asparagus wrapped in thinly sliced prosciutto.

I don't know what possessed me to do this...but it was tasty!

some yummy GF chips to snack on prior to teaching Zumba

I love veggie chips and salsa! I couldn't even tell the chips were GF, thats how good they were!

Dinner last night

beef with salad, spinach, brown rice, beets, and lots of siracha

I swear if I didn't already crave lots of hot sauce I would think something very suspicious was going on! But trust, its just my love for siracha!! :-P

I came home to this lovely pizza for lunch. I was lazy and SUPER tired from all that moving and shuffling going on this week. Rehearsing Zumba routines AND maintaining my own workout is hard work dude!

back to pizza..

As you can tell, I like my pizza slightly overdone. I took off the pepperoni slices because the fat grams (5.9g saturated fat per 1/2 pizza!!) on this me no likey!

tried to balance the unhealthy with some slices of raw peppers ;)

I took a few bites prior to dousing it in Cholula hot sauce and it was super tasty.. I mean for a GF pizza and the crust actually tasting like a normal pizza, I was extremely pleased! The hot sauce definitely gave it that kick it was missing though since I had taken the salty pepperoni off.

For more sources of GF products, check out this website!
http://www.coeliac.org.uk/gluten-free-diet-lifestyle/products-and-services

We're going out to eat later tonight and I'm a bit nervous about trying to keeping GF.. I mean its easy enough doing it when you're out with your significant other but when other people are involved, its a whole other ballgame! We shall see!!

Brown gluten free bread

gluten free lunch:

• brown rice
• kale and spinach sauteed in siracha (btw-I looked up siracha and apparently its GF!) and soya sauce
• oven roasted chicken w. herbs and butter

Thank heavens for veggies and BROWN rice! I think if rice had gluten in it, I woudn't be able to go GF..Gasp!!! I'm Asian and I can't live without my rice!!

After Zumba, I came home to dinner.. oh dinner where are you underneath all that red sauce?

I had a little bit of this and a little bit of that

• veggies
• chicken
• beef
• brown rice

Yes, I had two meats but I made sure they were both the size of my palm!!

smothered in sirachaaaaa

After dinner, I watched the Zin 34 cd. As Zumba instructors, we get new dvds/cds every other month with new songs and choreography (for the dance routine challenged like ME!!). This month's dvd featured the live class from London that I just happened to MISS because I went back to the states---sad face :(. Beto made a surprise appearance too! I was a bit surprised I liked the music because it didn't seem like many people were fond of it. Maybe its just the American in me but I love, Love LOVE the hip hop and reggaeton tracks! Oh and the Latin tracks are amazing as always! Can't wait to start memorizing the steps...

I woke up this morning ready to tackle the day with my Gluten-Free bread I ordered from Ocado yesterday. Sweetness!! I love trying new products. Lots of love today..

I had the standard eggs, hummus, and bread for breakfast.

 

hey! the bread is pretty pleasant tasting. I definitely noticed a different texture but it still felt like I was eating regular bread. I think its meant to be dipped in something like hummus ;) or maybe spread with jam. This GF experiment for a month just might not be that bad!!

Song of the day:
Trey Songz feat Drake- Unusual

The Skin I Live In

evoo, salt, pepper, minced fresh garlic

after a successful PUNCH class, I was craving a salad for lunch. I peered into Pret a Manger for a split second but wasn't really feeling anything in there so I came home to find a sirloin steak in the fridge just waiting to be used!

a bed of herb salad with rocket leaves

portobellini mushrooms

these mushrooms have so much more flavor and are meatier than just plain button mushrooms.

I spread some goat cheese on top of the steak a few minutes prior to taking it out of the oven. Goat cheese + steak= brilliant!!

it was missing a little something something...

a HA! A squeeze of siracha and honey balsamic dressing did the trick!

I couldn't resist an afternoon shortbread, caramel, and chocolate bar. yummy!!

The movie last night was awesome! I really enjoyed seeing it at the Somerset House. If you aren't aware, Somerset house has an outdoor area that turns into a movie theater during the summertime. Its usually a place where people can chill out in the sun during the day. When the weather is actually nice, I've seen kids play in the water that shoots up from the ground . We saw "The Skin I live in" last night and it was the strangest plotline I had ever seen but it was a really great movie. I highly recommend watching it! Bonus, we also got to see Pedro Almodovar and one of his movies stars Elena Anaya (beautiful!!) in the flesh! I won't lie, he was a bit hard to understand with his thick accent but it was really cool all the same.

Note to self: Bring blanket next time!

We unfortunately forgot to bring blankets so we sat on the cold hard ground!

Breakfast this morning: I decided to forgo the carbs and have scrambled eggs w. sauteed mushrooms. I might have had some McDonalds healthy fruits and veggies last night. ;-)

snack prior to hitting the gym later in the morning/afternoon

Workout: 8-10 reps

• Incline bench press
• Lateral raise
• Rest 2 minutes and repeat 2x
• Incline lat pulldown
• Cable reverse flye
• Rest 2 minutes and repeat 2x
• Gym ball jackknife
• Gym ball alternating superman
• Rest 1 minute and repeat 2x

mmmm.. I was craving Chilangos!

its somewhat healthy! I got the grilled chicken salad with pinto & black beans, chix, tomatoes, medium salsa, and lettuce

I also added an additional topping of cottage cheese at the last minute. It was really delicious on top!

Agenda: research, study, teach zumba, relax!

Holy crapballs! This season looks insane and I love it!! :-D muhahahaha

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=75jnazn_JpY

Charlie Bigham

Recent eats!

I added some additional spinach for more veggies!

gee.. I can't even be bothered to cook my own rice. This is great for quick and easy microwavable brown rice.

 

Breton chix w. a glass of red :)

Keepin it hot!

There was a time I thought I didn't know how to make fluffy eggs. Seriously! It was hard.. but all it takes is a bit of practice and viola! Fluffy egg heaven :)

bananers and peanut butta

Bigham's mac and cheese w. some bok choy sauteed in soy sauce and siracha

http://www.bighams.com/

I'm loving on Charlie Bigham right now..It's perfect for the lazy chef in me.:-)