JULie eats TABOULie

Today I saw Jordan’s Queen Rania being interviewed about her new children’s book “The Sandwich Swap”.  She has always intrigued me mainly because of her beauty but I must say I’m interested in her country’s culture as well as what role she plays….. especially as it relates to the education of women and their rights within their culture.

 The book is about two friends at lunch - - one eating a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, and the other,  pita bread and hummus.  It serves as a metaphor for the differences between the two friends.  The illustrations look really cute and it seems like a great gift for my little niece who is turning four next month.

I would choose pita and hummus on most days over peanut butter and jelly.  Today for lunch, I loaded half a pita pocket with a tablespoon of spicy hummus and three heaping tablespoons of Taboule.  Come to think of it, I had this last night for dinner as well!.....along with a side salad. I was introduced to real Mediterranean food about 20 years ago by a vegan friend/co-worker.  This past weekend I took a chick-pea Lebanese salad to Steeplechase to share with friends.  I did not make it myself, it came from Whole Foods and was scrumptious! It was simply chick-peas, sun-dried tomatoes and scallions tossed lightly in olive oil with some exotic spices and lots of cumin.

I just finished a small container of a new greek yogurt that I also found at Whole Foods.  It’s called Atlanta Fresh and the flavor was Tropical Sweet Heat.  The ingredients were mango, pineapple and get this….HABANERO!  It was MUY CALIENTE!  I was a little miffed as the grams of sugar were not listed and the data was also not available on their website.  It was a little pricey….I think around $2.50 a cup.

CLICK ON THIS LINK FOR MORE INFO: http://atlantafresh.com/YogurtProducts.html

Hope it revs up my metabolism and fuels my run!

Have you joined the REVOLUTION??

Have you caught Jamie Oliver’s new show Food Revolution?  I happened upon it a few weeks ago while home on a Friday evening.  It was mesmerizing and sad all at the same time.  I was riveted as I hit the rewind button to show the episode to my husband and youngest son.

Jamie was with a classroom of kids who could not name certain vegetables when he held them up…..and I’m talking a POTATO…..but they knew what a French fry was.  Most shocking was a concoction of grossness that they watched him make in a food processor.  Raw chicken skin, and what he called nasty bits of carcass mixed with salt, oil, fillers etc.  You see,  he thought he was totally grossing these kids out but when he went to fry up the nasty in the pan, the children were like “ooohhh, chicken nuggets, yum!”  I think Jamie started crying he was so shocked and saddened.

What ensued for the rest of the episode was Jamie totally taking over a school lunch program in Virginia and trying to educate the kids and their parents as well as the school board on what changes need to be made in America’s school cafeterias.  He was given the chance on a very tight budget to cook up and offer the kids healthy lunches. 

One family that they interviewed had children that were close to being diabetic as they were all obese and the show was seeking treatment for the kids and education for the parents.  What are we feeding our children?  What has our society become? 

Check out Jamie Oliver’s FOOD REVOLUTION on Friday night at 9PM on ABC.  You can also go to ABC.com and watch past episodes.

DON’T FORGET TO SIGN JAMIE’S PETITION which he will present to President OBAMA!

http://www.jamieoliver.com/campaigns/jamies-food-revolution

Trader Joes's, Oh how I LOVE thee!

Yesterday while out running errands I made it over to the other side of town where my Trader Joe's is located. I don't get there every week but when I do, I stock up on my favorites. Every member of my family has items from TJ's that they love.

I absolutely love that everything in the store is virtually preservative free, tastes fabulous and the best part....cheap!! I can't think of anything I have ever bought from there that I was dissatisfied with except maybe fruit or veggies that maybe were not sweet/in their prime or something.

I only had 15 minutes so I dashed in to pick up these staples:

Peanut Butter filled pretzels
Olive Oil popped Popcorn
Chocolate covered Edemame
Greek Yogurt
Frozen Organic Brown Rice (cooked)
Frozen Pasta (cooked)
Frozen Steel Cut Oatmeal
Frozen Orange Chicken
Frozen Baked Ravioli
Frozen Turkey Spaghetti Sauce
Choc Chip Cookies
Joe Joe's Choc Sand Cookies
Organic Peanut Butter
Organic Raw Almond Butter
Canned Chili
Luna Bars
English Breakfast Tea Bags
Irish Morning Tea bags
Pommegranite
Dog Treats
Bagged Salad
Wine
Frozen Mac & Cheese (very famous and yummy!)

The precooked frozen food is delicious as well as their pizzas. Before you say "This is diet food?", remember, I don't deprive myself.......everything in moderation! I also feed three other mouths, all guys, two of them growing boys! :)

Tj's helps me put a healthy, no preservative food on the table fast. Most of the frozen selections are gourmet and precooked. The frozen veggies are just as good as fresh.

If you have not discovered your local Trader Joe's, I highly recommend it! 

STEP AWAY FROM THE SCALES!!

So, a few weeks ago I was getting so annoyed. Maybe the better word would be MAD, at the scales. Mr. Scales and I have this love/hate.....well mostly hate relationship.

You see, I had been stepping on the scales every other day or so and my weight would go up two pounds, down a pound, up three pounds and stay stuck.....no matter how much I exercised or how little I ate, that darn needle was not moving......down. 

That's when I decided to take Mr. Scales and hurl him into the vast abyss that I call my walk-in closet. Jeff and I share said closet but it is so cluttered with old clothes ranging anywhere from a size 14/16 all the way down to a 6 that you can't budge in there. "Walk-in" is a strong word!

Anyhoo, as you may remember, I swore off the scales and decided not to weigh myself at home anymore. I get weighed and measured about once a month at my local CURVES. The obsession was driving me insane. I have also stopped counting/writing down everything that I eat. It was making me crazy, even more hungry I think.

I have been REALLY good the last two weeks.......NO, I MEAN REEEAAALLLY GOOD!!! Especially in the exercise department. So today as I pondered my naked body before getting dressed, I thought to myself: "I wonder what Mr. Scales would say"? I started digging (really) around for Mr. Scales. Under dirty clothes, under clean clothes, behind walls of hanging clothes. Where the hell is that demon? Okay, now I am going crazy and I'm still naked and the dog is staring at me. Hmmmm, stumped. 

But while I was swimming around in there I started looking through a row of pants I had hanging. You know what I'm talking about......the ones that when you take them off the hanger they have a giant dust line mark from hanging untouched forevvvvva! " Awww, I remember these....cute fitted GAP khakis......SIZE 8." Well I decided to try these babies on for motivation since Mr. Scales was nowhere "in the house" for encouragement.

WHHHAAAAAATTTTTTTT??????? They are sliding past my knees, WAIT......I can pull them up on my hips????? SHHHUUUTTTT UPPP!!! I AM BUTTONING THESE WITHOUT GASPING FOR AIR AND SUCKING IN?????

I CAN NOW FIT IN TO A SIZE 8!!!!!!!!!HA HA HA HA (...happy dance...Pippa barking) 

So TAKE THAT,  Mr. Scales. I still don't know where you are but I really don't care. 


What have you been working on this new year?  Have you had weight loss success or an Ahh Hahh moment?  How do you feel about the scales?  Please "weigh in" on this subject in the comment section :)

Ready-to-Wear

I am looking forward to Spring not only because of the promise of warmer weather but for a new assortment of workout clothes to choose from.  My old faithfuls, (think uniform) consists of several variations of black yoga style, long, cotton/spandex workout pants and a few favorite under armour and Nike tops.  And because I exercise most days of the week, well, you get the picture....uniform!!

In a related story, I was at Sally's house for dinner recently when her 16yo son Paul walked in to the kitchen and exclaimed: "Mom, why do you have to wear those booty pants everyday?"  While whacking him we had a good laugh over our glasses of wine.  It's true, workout wear, aka our daily pajamas have unfortunately become our signature style.

I don't know about you but I feel more impowered to conquer my workout routine for the day if I am channeling say.... Sporty Spice.....really?.......okay, how about just a fit 40 something mom ready to kick some elliptical booty.  Even in these cooler, okay frigid last months I like to still go sleeveless while at the gym.  It makes me more aware of my body and I get full range of motion while on the circuit machines.
What are your favorite workout items/brands?  Where do like shop for workout wear?

Just What I Needed

To many cold, wet and dreary days makes for a grumpy Jules.........until I stepped in to my local Target for the first time in weeks.  Of course I was just popping in to pick up a few things that I needed but got totally side-tracked by all the fun SPRING LOOT that was on display!


Here are a couple of cute basics that I left with:

Cute flip flops = Happy Feet.....I'm pretending the snow was sand!

I got this blouse to wear with jeans and khakis......it's a funky shade of purple.

http://www.target.com/Mossimo-Black-Classic-Shirt-Pink/dp/B002Q77QHU/ref=br_1_5?ie=UTF8&frombrowse=1&searchView=grid5&searchNodeID=343755011&node=343755011&searchRank=salesrank&searchPage=2&searchSize=30&id=Mossimo%20Black%20C

I also picked up some basic tees for layering.  They were only $8!

http://www.target.com/Merona-Ultimate-V-Neck-Tee-Plumbago/dp/B0031S7GOQ/ref=pd_ecc_rvi_1

A little retail therapy is good for the soul.  How do you beat the winter blues?

What's Love got to do with it?

 My boys, hubby and I had a lazy Valentine's Day of napping and watching the Olympics.  We could not get our bums up to go to the gym but we did manage to burn calories lifting Whoppers and Sweet Tarts in to our mouths (;

Friday and Saturday was a winter wonderland in Atlanta and we are expecting a few more inches by morning.

Here are some pics from the weekend:

Pippa is a Pembroke Welsh Corgi and this was her first real snow to play in and she absolutely LOVED it.

We have not had powdery snow like this for several years!

John Marc, Pippa and I had a blast sledding

The white stuff didn't stick around long once the sun came out but it was beautiful while it lasted. :)

<3  Jules <3