The moment you've all been waiting for.

Ok so maybe not but I've looked forward to it since Friday.
I picked up my food today. And it all looks and smells so good.
A very yummy breakfast quiche.
Lunch-Pasta salad. Look at all those veggies!And a tasty dinner of pork chops, mash potatoes and green beans.

I just keeping getting the feeling that it is to good to be true. Although so far nothing has disappointed me! I'll let you know how it tastes soon.

The next plan.

So I have a new plan for my crazy summer dieting. I'm so excited for this. This is better then Nutri-system or other similar programs. This is like having an extremely cheap personal chef. So what is it?

Chandra's Healthy Eating.

This is a local company. You get 21 meals a week. They are all made fresh, never frozen, dehydrated, or other wise preserved. You can have them delivered (for $25) or pick them up twice a week so you never have old stuff. And the price? So reasonable. They have 3 calorie choices. 1200 only $85 bucks a week, 1500 is $95 or 2000 for $110. And another great thing is that even though Josh and I will be on different calorie intakes we will be eating the same things. (Unlike other programs.)

So it this lazy or what? Well it might be. But it's also time and believe it or not money. We have been so crazy lately that we haven't done laundry in 2 weeks. If we haven't even had time for that we certainly haven't been taking the time for things like 3 hour shopping trips, hours of meal plans and cooking and packing lunch at home. So needless to say we have been eating convenience and fast food to much this summer. And with the price of groceries lately I have been spending 300 dollars a week on groceries when I do make meal plans and go shopping. This saves us 100 a week and we have no reason not to stick with it no matter how busy we are.

So I hope I'm not so excited for this and it ends up being nasty. I'll let you know next week! We pick it up on Tuesday and start on Weds.

Date Night.

For our anniversary we had plans to go see Joslyn. But we really didn't know what we were going to do for dinner. Josh had to work until 4:30 so knew we didn't have to much time. I had heard about this new revolving sushi bar, Wasabi. So we thought we'd check it out.

So revolving sushi basically fast food sushi. You can either sit at the bar or at a table. A conveyor in front of you has sushi on different color plates. The plates represent the price. So you grab up what you want and grab the ginger as it goes by. You can even grab funky drinks off it. We tried some interesting stuff off that thing. I would not recommend the baby octopus. Nasty. So I'd rather go to a regular sushi bar but it was a fun experience.

So then we went to the concert. Joslyn was great. It was awesome to hear the new stuff. Can't wait for her new album. She also played a acostic version of Kaskade's Everything! I can't believe how much I love that girls music. That band is made up of some of the most talented people in SLC. That guy on Sax, amazing. Joslyn's hubby and guitarist, amazing. Joslyn, beautiful and amazing. Back up singer, not my favorite, but not bad. Drummer, amazing. Bass, amazing.


So then since we were downtown and parked by W Lounge we walked over there and got a bit of dancing in as well. To the funky electro house sounds of Jesse Walker.

So our day was filled with a few of our favorite things!

Valentine Dinner for Two Please.

So we weren't really sure what we were going to do for dinner on Thursday. Josh was off so we set out on some errands. You know the kind that you put off because you have a million places to go to get a little something. Those darn things you can't get at Smiths, Costco and Walmart. So we got them done and started thinking about dinner. We were downtown and wanted to go for Thai food. We were going to go to Lemongrass but they were out of business. So we decided to check out a place we had never been.
Monsoon Thai Bistro was an interesting little place on Foothill Blvd. It looked more like an apartment complex then a restaurant at first glance. But the inside is beautiful. I'm still sure it was an apartment complex or home before it was a restaurant. They were doing a special for Valentines Day. A six course dinner (with an optional wine paring).

1.Lobster & Mango Spring Roll Light and Delicate Spring Roll with Lobster Meat, Thai Basil and Nam Pla Fish sauce.


This was SO Fresh tasting. Tasted like spring!

2.Tom Kha Gai (Coconut Chicken Soup) A Creamy Soup with Chicken, Coconut Milk, Kaffir Lime Leaf, Lemon Grass, Galangal, Mushrooms, and Green Onion.

Our FAVORITE thing about Thai food. I was SO excited that this was on the menu. I don't know what I would have done without it.

3.Goong Pla (Grilled Prawn Salad) Seasoned with Lime Juice, Sweet Chili Paste, Lemon Grass, Onions, Tomatoes and Mint Leaves.

I love shrimp lately so of course I loved this. Very yummy salad.

4. Pad Ga Prow Noodles, Fresh Chili, Bell Peppers, Onions, Assorted Vegetables and Thai Basil.

I love Thai noodles, so this was just up my ally. Quite good. Nice change from my usual Pad Thai.

5.Panang Curry Homemade Medium Panang Curry with Coconut Milk, Thai Basil, Kaffir Lime Leaf and Assorted Vegetables

Really good curry.

And (we split halfsies.)

Pad Khing Ginger Stir Fry Hottest FOOD I've ever eaten!

6. Sticky Rice with fresh fruit (Josh) and I got some Molten Chocolate Cake with homemade coconut ice cream and fresh fruit.My yummy dessert!Josh getting the bill.

So it's a good thing Josh and I didn't get anything for each other because it wasn't the cheapest meal we've had. But it was worth every bite. It was a fun change from our usual order when we go out for Thai.

Tools of the trade.

There are certain things that you just must have to make this lifestyle possible (or at least easier). I was just remembering last time that I was on a new diet kick (South Beach) I had no dishwasher. I dishwasher is a must I'd say. As it is I have to do 2 loads of dishes in the dish washer and some hand wash dishes. So we'll call that Number 1. (If that was a cat that would be Tiger. My very unwanted helper.)

The next thing is cutting tools. I have 8 cutting boards. Probably excessive but I'd say you'd need at least 4. And a good chiefs knife. A few good paring knives. A chopper (ok a few kinds of choppers). I love Pampered Chief stuff. Here's some of my favorites.


And you have to have measuring tools. Cups, spoons and a food scale. I have to measure everything. I have 2 sets of spoons and cups and sometime that is not even enough.

I also LOVE my garlic stuff. A peeler and press. Yes I know the garlic press says that you can do it without peeling but I hate doing that. And the peeler is so fun to use.And of course I couldn't live without my steamer (thanks Jason and Camille!). I use it to make my brown rice and veggies. And you can even do both at the same time.
I also LOVE my Bosch Compact (thanks mom!). If anyone has ever dreamed of a Kitchen Aid Mixer, I would suggest looking at this. I use it to make whole wheat bread, mix anything, and it has a slicer/shredder attachment for veggies and cheeses and a powerful blender for smoothies.

There are so many other things too. Josh and I are kitchen tool junkies. We love kitchen stuff. I could go on and on. I love my BBQ, lime/lemon juicer, good pots and pans, spice rubs, pepper and salt grinders (one handed use ones!), popcorn popper, and so much other stuff. But I'll just stop there.

Day One: Cook, Eat, Do dishes, Repeat every 2-3 hours all day long.

So we started our diet on Sunday. Not the best day to start anything as our schedule is all screwed up. (Yay for church at 1!) We slept in and missed breakfast and a snack. We we had to play catchup all day. I forgot how much food you have to eat when you are eating low calorie foods. Just think of that all the foods you have to have each day. 3-4 veggies, 3-4 fruits, 2 dairy, 6-8 grains, 2 meats/proteins. Adds up to a lot of food. And a lot of dishes. And a lot of cooking, chopping, prepping, etc. You literally get obsessed with food. I don't dare leave the house for more then 2 hours. Not that I'm complaining. I just forgot how much work this is. I guess that's why it's easier to grab Del-Taco and I remain fat. I can't believe how much better I feel after just one and a half days of this. I know my body is appreciating being treated better. And Josh is just as excited as I am I think. We are off to the gym tonight after dinner!

Time to clean out the fridge.

I just got done cleaning out the fridge. It's all clean and full of condiments and not much food. I think we are all ready to go grocery shopping sat in preparation for starting the biggest loser diet plan. I think by then we should be done with all the goodies we have had around from the holidays. Of course we will also be sugar addicts. I swear I'm banning junk food as a present with our families. The day after Christmas I had this HUGE pile of food that was gifted to us. Stuff that we very rarely have in our house. And instead of getting rid of it at our party we acquired more high calorie low nutrient value food! So we had the folks over for dessert and tried to send some home with them. We just junked some, and of course we ate more then our fair share. So now we will be eating ham and turkey sandwiches until Sunday and whatever else we have around. My theory is that we get so sick of eating junk that healthy stuff we be a much welcomed change!