crunchy ginger rotisseri chicken wrap + stay fuller longer

having the same thing i had for breakfast yesterday while there are a few La Tortilla Factory Tortillas left in this house. they go so fast cause we all like them! Chiso eats them as pb & j rollups, Sonny makes tacos, and quesadillas are my fave. the exact kind i get are only at the Sprouts Farmers Market closest to where i live.

 since i always make them for lunch or dinner,  i tried a breakfast quesadilla this time with egg whites, red bell pepper, green onion, low fat turkey sausage, and 2% pepper jack cheese.  i cooked it on the griddle for 4-5 min on each side and threw in some tomatoes, bluebs, and homemade guacamole. excellent!

 my day gets going after some good fuel, and this thing makes it so much easier to get stuff done around the house when baby boy is fussy or i just don't want to put him down.  i received this Baby Bjorn as a gift while preggo with Chiso and i love it for home use and outings.  Dego is a thumb sucker and puts his whole hand over his face while he does it! so funny.

so with breastfeeding and getting back to my random, sweaty workouts as of this week, i am double HOONGRY. this is ridiculous.  i just want to eat the entire fridge and pantry when i get home.  coincidently i got an email from Spark People titled 'Tips to Stay Full Longer' and i could not click the link fast enough.  these are some awesome tips to follow and i've already been doing some of them such as:

• eat protein and fiber rich foods every 3-4 hours with healthy snacks in between (like fresh fruit and mixed nuts)
• fill up on the non-starchy veggies and fibrous foods (leafy greens, cucumbers, red bell peppers, spinach, zucchini, sugar snap peas) with every meal
• reach for natural fruit first to lessen/knock out those sugar cravings. remember, white sugar only makes you crave it MORE! it's a dangerous cycle.
• drink a full glass or bottle of water before every meal
• take your time and eat!!! when i'm super hungry i rush and stuff myself (which is why eating every couple of hours is still the best option for me). it takes about 20 minutes for your tummy to tell your brain you are even full, but by that time it's too late and you're on your way to a food coma. take your time to chew and swallow every bite.

today was my first day back on the stair master since i was like 6 or 7 months preggo!  my heart rate always shot up and being up so high with my belly made Sonny uncomfy so i just stopped using it. i didn't miss it. lol. hurts so good though!  i did some intervals for about 30 minutes for my cardio and headed to a core class.  how about i modified everythang. my postpartum core is way stronger now than in my first pregnancy, but i still have a crap ton of work to do. but first..... :D

afterwards, i picked up some of nature's candy from Sprouts.  i love their 3 for 5 bucks sale! i got 2 strawberries and one pint of bluebs. and those sweet, crunchy nectaries of course.

i also picked up another one of Annie's all natural dressings-- Gingerly.  winner!

i wanted to use it right away, so for dinner, i threw some shredded rotisserie chicken, raw red bell pepper, bagged cabbage mix, cilantro, green onion, and crushed almonds into a bowl, poured in the dressing, and coated the chicken mixture in it.

i grabbed a La Tortilla Factory tortilla, rolled the chicken mixture up really tight and made a Crunchy Ginger Rotisserie Chicken Wrap that had so much flavor!  please try this, guys!

 for dessert i skipped the fruit and had some Arctic Zero with mini chocolate chips, fat-free Redi Whip, and sprinkles lol. have a fun friday night and a great weekend!

le

Q: what are your thoughts on Artic Zero? yay? nay? 

 i add a tbsp of Hershey's sugar-free chocolate syrup to mine, stir until creamy, and add a few toppings first. hits the sweet spot.

m<3m's day '14

one of my most cherished moments in time. i didn't even know this pic of me and Chiso's first  face to face interaction was captured until later;  i was so wrapped up in his little presence.  simply honored God saw fit to make me his mommy.

 almost 3 years later i'm still getting all the kisses i can before he starts wiping them off! i woke up to the sweetest mothers' day card from Sonny & Chi along with this little lifesaver right here:

 my Samsung s4 is so full of pics and vids that i haven't been able to download any new apps for weeks.  i mean really. and i've backed up everything in my phone onto my mac but because i never know when i'll need to upload or get access to a particular pic, i can't bring myself to wipe my phone totally clean. i know. all kinds of crazy over here. but now i have even more space to fill with food and workout pics :P

i got on up and made breakfast for the fam and had one of my usual combos: mushroom egg omelette with whole wheat toast, natural pb, and sprinkles for fun ( i used a cupcake cookie cutter btw) and some wild blueberries.

then i threw on my Mothers' Day best and snapped a few 35 week pics before we hit the road to go celebrate with our moms!

Sonny's mom and sis couldn't make it,  but he and his brother, Brian, treated my mom, his fiance, and his future MIL to a feast of a lunch at Las Ventanas.  May 17th, 2014 is the BIG day for those two!!! i am so happy to be gaining another sister as awesome as Kara.  my dad is a homebody and told us all to have a great lunch lol.

so this is what i ordered... shrimp & mushroom topped brown butter snapper with steamed veggies.  it originally came with mashed potatoes but i switched them out. i normally ask for any sauce/dressing to be put on the side.....but i didn't want to this time to be honest!  Sonny ordered a side of rice and i took a few scoops.

 and here's what everybody else ordered!   good stuff. this is actually one of the restaurants that will be catering Brian and Kara's wedding. definitely looking forward to the reception, hahaha!

 we skipped dessert at the restaurant and headed to get some all natural fro-yo from Tasti D-lite, our first time there. i heard about them via Instagram and was stoked to find out Houston had one too.  my mom and i both got their bananas foster fro-yo...heaven.

   heath bar and sprinkles for me.

*****

my love and respect for my own mom grows exponentially each day. especially the older Chiso gets lol. seriously!!!  never knew motherhood would be so challenging yet rewarding all in the same breath.  God bless all mothers, those who play the mother role, and moms-to-be. you are needed and you are appreciated.

*****

i love you mom!!!!

le

friday fun - what NOT to say to a preggo woman

it's fridaaaaaaay!

 i subbed a 10am Total Conditioning class (it's now called Total Conditioning Extreme or TCX)  for a Lifetime Fitness instructor friend this morning and it was AWESOME teaching my fave class ever in the real day time, lol!  it's still dark when my tuesday and thursday classes are over at 6:30am. i had so much more energy too since i'm unable to drink coffee in the early mornings anymore :lol:

a 6 month sweaty mess.

soooo since my little man and i were in the area, we hit up Ruggles Green for lunch and ordered what we always order:

the Atlantic Salmon Salad for me, a fire-grilled cheese pizza for him (he couldn't wait for the pic but at least he prayed first) and some organic roasted butternut squash that i'm hoping Chiso will eat a spoonful of ONE day!! until then i'll gladly continue to kill it myself. i'm enjoying this solo time with Chi as much as possible before baby #2 arrives in less than 4 months. 4 months. whoa.

for kicks:

stuff not to say to or ask a preggo woman!

1. wow, you sure were hungry! translation: you just ate enough to feed a small city. of Jabba the Hutts.
2. omg are there twins in there?! translation: you're huge.  however far along you are.
3. sleep all you can -- NOW. well thanks for the reminder!
4. do twins run in your family? translation: did you use fertility drugs? does it matter?
5. how much have you gained so far? i personally don't mind this one and will share that unknown number just before i deliver.
6. if cavewomen gave birth without drugs so can you. it's a personal choice.
7. can i rub your belly? some people don't even ask! another one that doesn't bother me one bit. #imatroll #rubmybelly #itsalllove
8. i was ripped from end to end. omg! i had an episiotomy too but i would never be that graphic and scare another mom-to-be, ROTFL
9. are you still with the father? really, REALLY personal... like best friend personal. however if they're your BFF then they should already know that answer :shock:
10. Moooooooo. 

comment below and add to the list!

le

Chiso is ONE!

who's Chiso? our son! his full name is Munachiso which means 'God and I are accompanying each other'.

however he's not getting another party until he's 5.  joking:)  i really did have fun and tried to be as creative as possible. i had no idea how i was going to pull this off 'alone', and i was completely intimidated from the jump.  all i knew was that i wanted it to look and be amazing...  just had no clue how to do that and it literally haunted me.  yes. a party for a 1 yr old sometimes kept me up at night.

first things first- a gigantic THANK YOU to my vendors: God, my mom and aunt Hazel, Parchment by Dami,   jvincentphotography,  Yongs Bakery, Etsy.com,  Oriental Trading, Hobby Lobby, Walmart, Party City, Pinterest, and good ol' Google.  a heartfelt thank you to all who joined us on Chiso's big day. read on!

*invitations*

let's give it up for Dami!! *whistles* all bias aside, these 3-D invitations are incredibly cool and original.  after filling her in on my theme, i sat back and let her do her thing like i knew she would.  i was uber pleased and got so much great, positive feedback on these puppies.  look!

she used 3 different safari animals for the front cover.

inside the invite:

she then wrapped each one in giraffe printed ribbon paper and tied it with raffia.

she is simply excellent at what she does.  Parchment by Dami - you NEED her.

*decor*

my etsy.com and oriental trading stuff  (water labels, cupcake wrappers, cupcake toppers, banners, etc.) arrived two weeks before party time and guess what- i started setting up two weeks before party time. yes, i did.  Sonny hit me with the 'are you really about to have the house lookin' crazy for the next two weeks' face when he got home from work that day.

*themed table*

here is a really, really rough draft shot of the table.  ground zero.  rock bottom.  no direction whatsoever.  i.e. 'now what?'

this was a true PROCESS!  trial and error at it's finest.  however, i was pretty satisfied with the end result.

proud moment: putting on the finishing touches about 30 min. before go time.  Sonny told me i could do it myself and i gave him so much crap about purposely not helping me.  darn you Sonny and your reverse psychology!!!! seriously though, thank you.  we're still not friends.

the french fries were in the oven at this point- that's the only thing missing (see the empty shot glasses on the right).  here are a few close-ups though:

jungle animal plates. apparently these have been at Walmart for forever.  never knew!  they were perfect though.

party agua.

mothers cookies. i happened to walk right by them in Walmart and the word safari caught my eye. or was it jungle? idk,  but they were shaped like wild animals. delicious, sweet, crispy wild animals.

fast food fries. kids love fries.

i made sure to have something for everybody. the little bitty babies and the toddlers munched on Gerber Graduate snacks and goldfish.

skewered rainbow fruit.

cupcakes from Yong's Bakery.  some were buttercream cake/icing and some were chocolate by special request;)  my zebra cakes would NOT stay put...they kept sliding down the skewers cause they were too heavy.  the show must go on!

 i saw 50 bajillion cupcake toppers on etsy.com and went with these.

remember these from our super bowl party?  buffalo chicken bites (or poppers) were in the house and back by popular demand.  i only used Captain Crunch cereal this time though, no Corn Flakes.  the sweetness just works better.

mini pizzas- kids love pizza.

veggie shots! i hope people had as much fun eating these as i did making them.  i did half humus and half ranch for dipping and used a combo of sugar snap peas, carrots, and red/yellow bell pepper.  ignore that 'happy easter' egg plate back there, hahahahaha

side shot.

there was more stuff in the kitchen- the adult food, (shrimp fried rice and grilled chicken wings courtesy of my dear mother-in-law:), drinks and snacks.

'diabetes in a cup', smh. also known as, Jungle Juice.  no idea where my tent card went though, oh well.

kettle corn! i made the holders from zebra and giraffe printed scrap-book paper from hobby lobby.  i then wrapped this big styrofoam box that our sprinklers came in with dressing paper and poked holes in it so they would stand on their own.

thanks for the idea, Dami- she is overflowing with them!!

who knows or cares where this recipe originated, but kudos to Pinterest for these cake batter rice krispy treats. too sweet for anybody's good but you just can't stop eating them, grrrrrrrrrr

'thanks for going wild with me!'

-Chiso

jungle sucker favors.almost cut up my debit card after visiting etsy.com.  yes, everything MUST  match!!! try not to get crazy though.  promise me.

activities for the kids... blank jungle animal masks to color and wear,  bubble sticks,  and frisbees.

we also had a 'spiderman' *side-eye* moonwalk outside.

 'what...is...this...place.....'

 (i had to change Chiso's clothes cause things got a little crazy after the smash cake part)

speaking of smash cake- that's the moment  i we were all waiting for!!!!

i'll say it again- this is the BEST buttercream cake/icing combo on this earth.  waiting for someone to prove me wrong!  unfortunately i accept all challenges.

Chiso loved the cake and threw a small fit once we took it away.

one last family shot and this is the best we could do! you parents know how it can be...they never smile or look right when ya need them too;)

remember we headed out to Austin the next day, so i packed up the last of his cake so we he could enjoy some on his actual bday!

can we count this as a 'preggo' post? i haven't done one in a while LOL.

hope you enjoyed reading as much as i enjoyed sharing.

le