Killer Tofu!!

Ahhhh eee oooooooo, KILLER TOFUUUUUUU!!!! If you never watched Doug on Nickelodeon as a child, you missed out big time. Not to worry, though, you have a chance to get on the wagon now by listening to this clip!

About 30 days ago, I joined MyFitnessPal, aka MFP (see Make Like a Tree & Branch Out!!), and it has helped me make a major turnaround in my life. I'm trying not to be all weirdo health nut psychopath, but as much as eating junkfood is super addicting, so is eating healthy! I'm loving the challenge of getting as much protein, fiber, and body-boosting goodness out of a meal as possible, while also making it delicious and not missing any of the crap that likes to stick to my no-no places. Experimenting with new veggies (red swiss chard, turnips, fennel) and grains (quinoa, farro) and different ingredients all together (almond milk, TOFU) is becoming a passion... I freakin daydream about it, I swear! There's something kind of sick about that, isn't there?

Anywho, that brings us to today's topic... TOFU!! Yes, it must be in all caps. It doesn't have the same effect otherwise.

I'll admit, I really don't know much about the stuff. Ok, it's made from soy beans, and according to The Beets' song, it's curd (not sure exactly what that means). It comes in a block packed in water, has several firmness options, looks pretty weird, and MUST be approached with an open mind. Other than that, I'm pretty clueless. Enter the internet and MFP.

I've seen some posts on MFP about tofu, and that it can be used in smoothies. THAT'S GREAT NEWS... I LOVE SMOOTHIES!! That's it, this morning I went into the kitchen, whipped out the blender, and started throwing shit in there. The result is completely delicious!!! Yes, a little high in sugar, but whatever, it's a freaking smoothie and it's SO good!!

Banana Chocolate Almond Smoothie

• 4 oz Silk Almond Milk - Dark Chocolate
• 20 g (abt 1 heaping tbsp) Trader Joe's Creamy Almond Butter with Sea Salt
• 1/3 c silken tofu
• 1 medium banana
• 1 to 1 1/2 c ice

Put it all in the blender and GOOOOO!!! It makes a meal-sized 16 oz smoothie. I prefer not to share, but to each his own.

Nutrition Facts Banana Chocolate Almond Smoothie
1 Serving
Amount Per Serving
Calories		309.7
Total Fat		12.9 g
	Saturated Fat	1.1 g
	Polyunsaturated Fat	3.2 g
	Monounsaturated Fat	6.8 g
Cholesterol		0.0 mg
Sodium		130.4 mg
Potassium		679.5 mg
Total Carbohydrate		44.7 g
	Dietary Fiber	4.9 g
	Sugars	27.7 g
Protein		9.7 g

Here's some nutrition info, cuz that's how I roll :)  This also gives ya 35% of your daily Vitamin C, 28% of your Vitamin E, and 30% of your Calcium!

On tonight's meal docket is some extra firm tofu I've had marinating in a Jamaican Jerk type concoction since last night. Pretty excited to see how it goes! Big TOFU day... BIG TOFU DAY!!

In case you're interested, here's the link to that super easy (and super cheap) marinade... Jamaican Jerk Tofu.  I'm planning to serve with broccoli and carrots over brown rice. Hooray!!

25 Things... A Recap

When I started this blog, one of my first entries was a list of 25 things I wanted to accomplish while 25. Some easy, some tougher, but all things new to me. Well, I'm officially one year older, one birthday more experienced, and I have the hangover to prove it. That means it's time for a recap of that old list, and to start thinking about the next list... 26 things (see what happened? I added one, cuz I'm a year older now). Ok, so I've only done 7 of the 25, but to be fair, I wrote this first list about halfway thru the year. So I mean, if you extrapolate that, I would have barely broken 50% completion! Still not great, I suppose. Most of the undone ones will make it onto the 26 things list, but that's a top secret draft at the moment ;)

1. Stay in a unique hotel room - yeah, budget wasn't having it...

2. Try a new cuisine - picked out the place tho! Ethiopean is going down asap!

3. Do 10 (consecutive) pushups - not even close... can't even do 10 on my knees :/

4. Take someone on their first vacation

5. Dye my eyelashes

6. Go to the Grand Canyon

7. Go skinny-dipping in the ocean

8. Sleep under the stars

9. Go 3 days without a phone… by choice - ... harder than I thought!

10. Make 5 free-throws in a row - yeah, haven't gotten lucky yet

11. Watch Casablanca

12. Try out for a game show

13. Take a trapeze lesson

14. Run a half marathon - yeah, didn't even try

15. Visit 3 new states - got 1, need 2 more!

16. Go to a pro sports game at a stadium I’ve never been to

17. Parasail

18. Get paid to do something I love

19. Make a lamp

20. Grow and maintain an herb garden

21. Golf 18 holes in a row

22. Go camping… like for real camping

23. Spend 50 hours volunteering - this is important and I suck for not doing it... this will stay on the list and go up

24. Take a road trip to Canada

25. Get a stranger to follow my blog - I guess I'm gonna have to get LOTS better at it first...

Make Like a Tree & Branch Out!!

I am SO not a new year's resolution person. It's kind of annoying, actually, when I feel like making changes around January, but I've spent so much time in San Diego recently, and have never run out of things to do! I love the people I know, and the things there are to do. I hear that Phoenix is an active city with a lot going on, but I don't see that by sitting here in the Gilbert bubble, so out I go!

I'll go ahead and say it... Facebook is kind of boring. I think it's a great hub for everyone's basic social network, and it is great having everyone in one place to share what's going on. I've really started digging some sites that fill other social and needs, especially those sites that use the internet to help people get out and DO STUFF.

LivingSocial / Groupon
Ok, I'm sure I'm missing something because people seem to love both of these sites, but I haven't seen many great things come across in the health/fitness area, which is really the only place I'm interested in spending $$ right now. So far, I've only gotten a yoga package (5 classes for $19) for a studio in San Diego. My gym membership is officially cancelled, so I'm hoping to use LivingSocial and Groupon to find some great deals on bootcamps and other workouts in both PHX and SD. (See also - Meetup)

MyFitnessPal
This place is awesome! You enter your current weight and goals, inspirations, etc., then track your food, exercise, and water consumption. You can add friends, develop a network, and updates show up on a news feed similar to Facebook (don't worry, nobody sees your actual or goal weight unless you show them... they see pounds lost, when you complete your food diary under your calorie target, when you exercise... just the good stuff!). There's also an app for pretty much any phone, and their food database is one of the more complete ones available on a free site. If you're on it, add me! User name is cryptic, so you might want to copy/paste... katyconser

Meetup
I went to my first meetup in a LONG time yesterday, and it was great! I am a member of a few groups:

• The San Diego Corgi Meetup Group
• East Valley Italian Food & Wine
• Young and Fun Travelers (20s & 30s)
• Phoenix Hash House Harriers
• Arizona Young Professionals Social Group (20s & 30s)

The Corgi meetup in SD originally got me into the site a few years back. Last night's meetup was with the Young Professionals group, and it was a really good time. About 20 of us got together at Rainforest Cafe (despite my strong dislike for this place... it's almost as strong as my hatred for Hard Rock Cafe). MAN, getting in the car and driving up to Tempe Marketplace was almost as hard as getting out of the car and walking into the restaurant! For some reason, it felt kind of like walking into an awkward blind date,* and I totally wanted to chicken out. I'm so glad I went in, though. If I hadn't, I would have missed an opportunity to meet some super cool people! I'm also super excited for the Travelers group and the Hashers!

Yelp
This is my go-to site for customer ratings on pretty much everything! With traveling so much for work (and still being relatively untraveled in the Phoenix area), it's great to have one place to double check to make sure my expectations for a place aren't way off-base. I'm probably not diligent enough in writing reviews, but I'll work on that.

* Not confirmed. I've never been on a blind date