My PB + J

Trop50® introduces a new flavor {giveaway}

Tropicana® Trop50®  is back at it again with another great reduced-sugar juice beverage! they have welcomed Trop50® red orange into their family. i was so happy when they contacted me again about trying the newest member, not only because i truly love Trop50®, but because i love lush blood oranges. the juice curbed my sweet tooth, no joke. i haven’t been drinking juice since being on my diet but the other afternoon i was itching for something sweet. we have been experiencing gorgeous sunny san diego weather so after my walk with the kids i popped open the bottle and poured a nice chilled glass of yummy red goodness. at first i felt guilty but then i had to remind myself that Tropicana® Trop50® red orange delivers the goodness of orange juice with 50 percent less sugar and calories, and no artificial sweeteners. way better than the thin mints i splurged on the day before.  


want to try Trop50® red orange? here’s how:

  • head to your nearest grocery retailer. check their store locator to make sure it has landed in your area already! you can find it in the chilled aisle. 

  • one lucky reader will win a coupon for their chance to try red orange for themselves. just leave a comment below telling me your fav flavor or what flavor you would like to try.  that’s it. a simple, easy-peasy giveaway! 

giveaway will end at midnight pst on friday, march 16th. winner will be announced that morning.

I received the product mentioned above free of charge for editorial consideration, and I’m also eligible for additional incentives. However, all opinions expressed are 100% my own.

monday phone dump

i cannot even begin to tell y’all how exhausted i am today. i’m not blamming our time change or the ten hours of uninterrupted sleep we all got last night. we had a busy weekend. actually since thursday i just feel like i have gone and gone and gone. so today, i plan on doing absolutely nothing. yep, sorry hubby. this mama is tirrrrred. i will have dinner ready and i plan on getting out of my juicy sweats by the time you come home this afternoon. egh. who am i kidding?
i am linking up with what makes savanah smile
starting from top left. 
* thursday was amanda’s 28th birthday. i made five dozen cupcakes for her party at oggis. amanda is fighting liver cancer, her support network is one great group of people. we thoroughly enjoyed our time with all of them. 
* brayden finally had his appointment with his plastic surgeon. said he looks amazing, not to mention both had matching faux hawks that day. super cute. 
* i had a 2nd birthday cupcake/cake order (see pic below) in orange county. i decided while i was in the area i would surprise my aunt with a visit in irvine and then i stopped by my very first home in laguna hills. the mom and her daughters were out front playing, i stopped to say hello, introduced myself and said my parents were the original owners. i was totally shaking. her daughters were the ages my sister and i were when we moved. i cried when i left, i don’t really know why. maybe because that’s where my life started and now i have kids of my own. thinking about our current house and the fact that this year it will be rented out to future tenants makes me emotional since it’s my babies first home (not to mention our first home as a couple). i am one big mess. we have an offer in on a house, can we say stress-case?! praying for the next month that the first buyer drops out and we get our dream home. 
* my brakes went out on my car after returning home from a quick mall trip with my girlfriends. jim changed the pads in an hour, his first time doing them. so proud of him. look at the metal…eeek! my dad is shaking his head in disappointment i just know it. they told me last june they needed to be replaced. i got my 56k miles out of those suckers!  
* during the mall trip i did something trendy, which i never do. i picked up a pair of green skinny jeans and a navy sweater from gap. way out of my comfort zone and super self-conscience. are you a lover or hater of colored denim? my hubby said i looked like a crazy emo hippy 80’s kid or something to that effect. what do you think? 
* lastly, the 2nd birthday hello kitty / leopard themed party i had yesterday. i love the way everything came out. i think it’s the purrrtiest cake/cupakes i have done yet! payton says she wants a princess tangled themed party. oy vey. done the frog princess but tangled? better keep working on my skills. 

how was your weekend? how are you handling the time change? kids gone crazy?

go link up with savanah smiles

baked chile rellenos & crockpot refried beans {recipe}

since being on this diet i have been craving authentic, fried and super unhealthy mexican food. during cycle one i was visiting my sister and had a bite of her chile relleno burrito, i died and went to heaven. i have been craving a chile relleno for over two months so i set out to make authentic rellenos for sunday dinner. in the heat of the moment and a day later, i was contemplating what pan to fry them in and made a decision to do baked vs. fried…i just couldn’t bring myself to eat the fried version. i did a quick internet search and found a recipe that looked good. earlier that morning i prepped the kitchen and got the beans in the crockpot, this was also another first. our little california girl loves her some bean-beans, rice and avocado so mama wanted to make her homemade beans. at the end of the day the meal was so rewarding, i haven’t made a meal where it took this much prep in a while. if you’re ready to sit and stay for a bit i will show you what i did! here we go…

baked chile rellenos
3-5 poblano peppers 
6-8 oz chihuahua cheese (i used a blend of mexican cheeses from sprouts, pepper jack would be amaze too!)
4 eggs (next time i make this i will only use egg whites)
1/2 flour
1/2 tsp baking powder 
1/2 tsp salt 
Raise the top rack of your oven and turn the broiler on. Lightly coat the poblano peppers in oil and place on a baking sheet. Broil for about 5 minutes a side, flipping 3 times to char each side of the triangular shaped peppers. Remove from the oven and place in a ziploc bag. Let sit for about 15 minutes to steam the skin and become cool to the touch.

Lower the oven rack and turn the temperature to 350°. While waiting for the peppers to cool prepare the batter by whisking together the eggs, milk, flour, baking powder, and salt until smooth.



Once the peppers have cooled, hold them by their stems and gently peel off their waxy skin. Pull off the stem and gently cut a slit through one side of the pepper, taking care not to cut all the way through. Using a spoon, gently scrape the membrane and seeds from the poblano.


Lay the peppers flat and place the cheese in the center. Wrap the roasted pepper around the cheese and place seam side down in a small to medium sized greased casserole dish.


Pour the batter over the peppers.

at this point you could top with some additional cheese but we’re watching our waistlines over here so we skipped this step. place in a 350º oven and bake for 30 minutes or until golden brown.

while the chiles are baking you can make some sauce or you can just use canned red sauce. i took a tablespoon of butter and melted it added in 2 tablespoons of flour and let it cook for a few minutes. i then added in a 8 oz can of red enchilada sauce and a squeeze of agave. i simmered this until we were ready to serve. 
take the chiles out of the oven and let cool a few minutes. take a knife and cut the chiles out, mine made perfect rectangles. serve with sauce or without and a side of beans. 

hubby was on his second helping and since this one got to sit a few minutes you can see how the batter encompasses the chile, it tastes just like the fattening original version but way healthier and honestly, a lot easier!

crockpot refried beans
3 cups dried pinto beans
9 cups water
1 onion, diced 
5 tsp salt 
2 TB garlic, minced
1/2 tsp cumin
3 bay leaves
1 ham hock or chorizo (my sis uses chorizo i like both)
rinse your beans and pick out any stones or unsightly beans. 
dice your onion, mince your garlic and measure out your spices. i line my crock pot because i dislike the cleanup. place the beans, water, onion, garlic and spices into the crock pot, oh! and the ham hock!

set your crockpot on the low setting for eight hours. make sure to leave yourself enough time to make the beans. you could put them on high but i don’t know how long they will take to cook. mine came out perfect at eight hours without soaking. the other thing is, i don’t put in all the salt at first. i only used 2 TB initially and then the rest after because it supposedly makes for tough skin and i didn’t want to over season the beans for my sweet girl. 

after the eight hours are up, discard the ham hock and bay leaves. drain the beans. reserve the liquid in a bowl. with a potato masher, mash the beans. add in liquid to your desired consistency. season with additional salt and add pepper if you wish. i skipped the pepper. 
 and that’s all! make a bean burrito, some nachos with the leftover relleno sauce or just a nice big bowl ‘o beans! they were damn tasty. 

housewives recap – let’s get physical {rhoc}

 
heather:  i am so with heather on the fact that the other women must have lived under a rock to not know who robert palmer was. i mean, hell, i was born in ’82 and i knew right away when they showed her assistant laying her clothes out what she was going as. proving yet again, these women are idiots..but i still love them. she’s still my fav! 
gretchen: she totally had her lips filled. i would have kicked slade for what he did, he is such a loser and if they don’t break-up after the shenanigans he pulls then she is just looking for a charity case and drama. she looked cute as madonna, i cannot wait to see how the drama unfolds next week! oh, and when did she become a singer? did i miss something? going to look on itunes now. 
tamra: i have to agree with vicki, who’s side is tamra really on? i was really uncomfortable watching as she tried to play it cool when the dude brought up the improv nonsense. you know what vicki is going through, you cannot be friends with everyone but vicki has been by your side and you’re failing as a friend. you embraced your inner olivia newton-john. no way would i wear spandex and a leotard out in public. looking good tamra, keep it up with the trainer of yours. 
vicki: ugh. i just want to hug vicki. i know she created all her issues but having to go through brianna’s illness is never easy. i do believe that vicki needs to make it more about brianna and not her feelings. every clip they show with brianna frustrates me because she is the mom and should be supportive and caring vs. this stuff freaks me out, it’s not about me crap. like the preview shows for next week as they are driving. be a loving, caring mom. ditch brooks. 
alexis: jesus. seriously crying at a consultation for a nose job? 99.4% of your body is fake and your worried about going under to fix your beak? oy vey. she kills me. i am glad the doctor called her out on it and where was jim? he’s such an ass. i have to add since i forgot to post last week that while at the improv she KILLS me. she has to be a moron for laughing and not understanding the most menial shit. “i just don’t get it”, yeah because you’re a dumb ass. just keep smiling and praying to God. 

it’s a weekly thang {weigh-in wednesday}

wow. what a freakin’ week. i was so stoked after my weigh-in last week and with dealing with the hubby traveling that i managed to eat pretty well. i weigh myself every morning at the same time so last friday i did my routine and was shocked when the scale said 151.4, i seriously alerted the presses, texting the friends and even giving myself a shout out on facebook for losing 19 pounds. well, that scale ‘o mine must have wanted a good laugh because the next day she went back up to 154 and then after running the 5k it stayed at 155 until this morning. what the freaking hell? for one, i learned a lesson, i should not weigh myself everyday but i love seeing the number jump all around. i am a little peeved that i cannot report being at 151, i was so ecstatic for my weigh-in today to sound the alarm of finally breaking the one pound per week nonsense, but nope! it’s a pound, again.


my starting weight: 170 
today’s weight: 153
total weight loss for week one: 6 pounds
total weight loss for week two: 3 pounds
total weight loss for week three: 1 pound
total weight loss for week four: 1 pound
total weight loss for week five: 3 pounds 
total weight loss for week six: 0 pounds 
total weight loss for week seven: 2 pounds
total weight loss for week eight: 1 pound

total weight loss: 17 pounds 
pounds away from goal #1: 12
pounds away from goal #2: 22

i tell myself not to get depressed about only being a pound lighter because honestly, it’s still a pound. it wasn’t until i saw my friend cb pin this image:
and then you realize, damn! a pound is still okay. at least it wasn’t a gain. slow and steady wins the race and i am still on track to getting there by my birthday. and by the way, you need to head over to cb’s blog, see cupcake run, to see her amazing transformation as she’s lost 50+ pounds over the past year. she’s my inspiration.