Book of Randomness

If you are looking for a relatively easy meal that won’t pack on the pounds, then this one is for you. And trust me, they can taste great!!

Hot Pockets/Lean Pockets are easy to make and pretty tastey, but the ingredients and OMG the sodium levels are enough to turn you off. Luckily, there is an alternative.

Last year we started making our own pizzas with whole wheat dough and turkey toppings, still delicious and sooo much better for you. Unfortunately, after purchasing all of the ingredients for our have pepperoni, half sausage pizza, we realized we had come home without the dough!! Of course we were hungry and no one wanted to go back to the store, so we decided to improvise.

One thing we ALWAYS have in our house is pita bread, and there ya go, Pizza Pockets!

Here is how, and why!

The making of a BBQ Chicken Pizza Pocket!

1. Grab all of your ingredients!

• Pita Bread (whole wheat)
• Cheese – Pick your favorite, mozzarella is the basic for most recipes
• Sauce – Typically you will want pizza sauce, BBQ Sauce or some kind of white sauce
• Meats – If you want! To make it healthier, choose turkey pepperoni, turkey Italian sausage or chicken
• Veggies – These will be entirely dependant on the type of pizza you want. Some options are basil, tomatoes, onions, cilantro or peppers

  2. Slice your pita bread in half and separate the sides so that it creates a “pocket.” You may need a knife to do this, just remember to be gentle!
  

  
  
  

  3. Cook and meat that you will be including!

  4. Stuff the pockets with WHATEVER you want. It is probably the easiest to put everything in a bowl and mix it up. Place on rack as you go (we use a cookie drying rack on top of a cookie sheet so that they cook all the way around and any droppings fall onto the sheet).

  5. At a low to mid temperature (one you feel comfortable with), usually around 350-375, put the pockets in the oven for about 10 minutes. Watch them because this hasn’t exactly been an exact science, and different ingredients cook differently.
  

  
  
  

  And then enjoy!

  Keep in mind you can turn pretty much any pizza or even sandwich into a pocket. My favorites so far have been pepperoni and sausage pizza pocket and a BBQ chicken pizza pocket.

  The keys to making these healthy are using white meats like chicken breast and turkey (the pepperoni and sausages are GREAT substitutions), whole wheat pita or dough, and if you choose to, low fat toppings. Also make sure to watch the sodium and sugar levels in the sauces.

  You can also throw in an extra health kick by adding carrots, broccoli, spinach or any other veggies that have been food processed, to the sauce!

Second Fave Find Friday!! YAY!

Have you ever struggled with diets? Tried everyone in the book and yet somehow you are still yo-yoing? Well, here is your life saver!!!

I have mentioned it in the past, but Hungry Girl has been my lifesaver for about a year now. When my family started on our fitness kick last year, our trainer told us we weren’t allowed to eat: dairy, grains, sugary fruits, etc. Now those things right there, are my life!! Needless to say, I was a little bummed. We tried it for a couple months, but no one can eat like that forever. ( I literally craved McDonald’s for a month after, weird right?)

Sooo…. HUNGRY GIRL!!! The greatest way to continue eating the foods you love without adding the inches to your waist. Better yet, LOSE some of those inches!!

Lisa Lillen, the creator, is NOT a nutritionist, she is a self proclaimed foodologist who has spent the time and research trying to find good tasting and healthy food items. Lisa develops these recipes based on her idea that “food is [her] passion and it has been [her] lifelong obsession.”

Hungry Girl now has two books out, Hungry Girl, and Hungry Girl 200 under 200. Both are great. They are full of more ideas than you can possibly imagine. Comfort foods, cocktails, desserts, breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks and you name it. There is even a section on typical party foods.

The basic concept behind all of the recipes is that you take a regular dish and just exchange a few ingredients for smarter choices… all while maintaining the delicious flavor!!

If you don’t want to jump right into buying the books, you also have the option to sign up for the daily newsletter which gives you some recipes and healthy grocery store finds. The pink links will take you to where you can buy the books!

Hungry Girl: Recipes and Survival Strategies for Guilt-Free Eating in the Real World

The website is also a fountain of information and well designed!

There are sections called top ATE. For example, the top ATE: holiday favorites, long lasting snacks, and summer beverages.

The most useful top ATE is the one on calorie saving swaps. Hungry Girl uses simple substitutes like using the liquid egg substitute rather than a traditional egg. My own swaps that I ALWAYS stick to: turkey instead of ground beef, whole grain pasta (and all breads) instead of white, and olive oil spray instead of olive oil.

It is because of this mentality that you can cut out tons of calories without having to try to hard, or even worse, STARVE!!!

Hungry Girl: 200 Under 200: 200 Recipes Under 200 Calories

My only complaint with the Hungry Girl books is that they suggest using a product called Shirataki Tofu Noodles… I tried them once, and found I’m not such a fan. They are quite slimey and have an odd consistency… but go ahead and try them. If not, just substitute with whole wheat pasta.

Good luck!! Sign up for the newsletter at Hungry Girl, and buy the books!! Trust me, it will be worth it!

I forgot to mention they also have a fun little game called Whack-a-Snack!

This past week, I somehow received all of my magazine subscriptions in a matter of two days… Between that “wake up call” and my lovely budget crunching mode that I’m in, it made me wonder, when did I get all of these magazines?

I like many girls my age went through the various magazine stages. From Highlights as a little kid, to Seventeen when I hit 13, to my current obsessions.

I now receive: Women’s Health, Shape, Glamour, and People Style Watch.

While this may not seem like “a lot,” when you routinely run out of time to look at all of them, and you eventually throw them all out anyway, you realized what a waste. Plus, it is not very “green!”

My Women’s Health and People Style Watch are more expensive than your traditional $12 subscription price. But I suppose they balance out with the great $12 for two years I paid for Shape!! YAY!

But add it up, I’m suddenly spending OVER $50 for some paper!! Information I can easily access online!

I know you are thinking, $12, big deal, you are practically robbing the magazine! Turns out, you are actually making them more money simply by taking them up on their “great offer.” Magazines make their money with advertising. They are making mucho dinero on your “savings” because you add to their circulation numbers. Higher circulation=More expensive Ad buys. Personally, I think Ad buys are a little overrated when you think about the “impression” you get with the readers. I mean I skip the ads. I’m sure you skip the ads. That is why we find ourselves surrounded by “advertorials.” You guessed it, they are trying to trick you. Bummer!

By the way, this holiday season when you are checking out all of those nifty gift guides, make sure they are not paid for. Some publications are so strapped for cash that they are actually offering up their gift guides as paid advertisements. It will guide you alright, right to their customers’ products. Not so trustworthy is it?

SO what is my point? Well my point is that I do not need to spend $50 a year on magazines. I’m not sure which ones I will end up giving the boot, but you can be sure some of them will get it! I can go online and try to do my little part of the environment and my pocket!

By the way, did you know that the website, Perez Hilton makes $110,000 A MONTH!!??!! Man I wish I had all of the latest gossip to share!

Holy Hell it is hotttt tonight. It is Saturday night, and you guessed it, I’m home. Still a little sick, but I did make it to a little BBQ get together this afternoon. Now that I’m back home writing this, I’m getting a little sweaty! Ewww. I’m not sure if it is the hot humid weather or if I have a little lingering fever, either way, it blows.

On to happier more helpful things.

The other day I was looking at all of the bookmarks I have, trying to decide which ones I could get rid of… then I realized how much I use mine. So there ya go….

The 10 Bookmarks every modern girl needs:

• 1- Your Bank. Who doesn’t need immediate access to their bank account when they have, let’s say, spent too much??? I am quite familiar with this concept… you may also want to bookmark your credit cards…
• 2- Google. For the always important quick find.
• 3-Blog. To keep all of your people up-to-date. Besides, if you spend at least an hour or more a day on something, do you really want to go searching?
• 4- Twitter. I must say I never thought I would have Twitter bookmarked. Yet, here we are. If you have a blog/website/business, Twitter is the new, ever powerful way to keep in touch with your clients. (I have more on this coming up in a blog, thank you Twitter 101, and yes, there is a class)
• 5- Weather.com. Because every girl needs to know how to dress tomorrow!!
• 6- CrossFit or Gym. For me, it is great to be able to access the W.O.D. (Workout of the Day in CrossFit speak) so that I can get mentally prepared for the workout ahead of me as well as eat correctly so I have the most energy. If you go to a normal gym, you might also want to keep up with the class schedules.
• 7- Facebook. Whether for personal or professional use, Facebook is a clean, easy and straight-forward way to keep in touch with friends and customers.
• 8- IMDb. IMDb is my lifesaver when I have a face that I cannot put a name to or vice-versa. Great for a movie or TV watcher.
• 9- eBay. Whether you are a buyer or seller, having eBay around is very important! It is so much fun just to see what you can find sometimes!
• 10- E-mail. Which ever medium you decide to use, gmail or yahoo, you need it around! Duh!

  So why do you keep searching around for everything??

  There are many other things you might find important to have bookmarked. For example, I have other bookmarks for this blog, my salon (to make quick appointments), the Women’s Health monthly giveway, and a few other.

  The choice is yours, but please…. simplify your life!! Your sanity will thank you!

Welcome to the first EVER Fave Find Friday!! (OK I apologize, it is on Sat this week)

If you are chocolate lover like me, then you will not be able to resist the chance to try this amazing creation!

This is actually not a new find for me, I think I have just recently hit my one year anniversary of eating No Pudge! Brownies. I’m really not sure how I discovered them, maybe the cute pink packaging and the promise of no fat caught my eye in Trader Joe’s. Who knows?

However I landed on them, the point is that thy have been a staple in my life ever since.

A Little History

The creator, Lindsay Frucci decided in 1995 that she was going to come up with a delicious recipe that would not add to her waistline. For several weeks, she made batch after batch, testing them on the construction workers who were currently remodeling her home. In August of 1995, the Original No Pudge! Brownies landed on the shelves of some local stores on the east coast. Since that time, they have seen nothing but growth!!

You can now find the No Pudge! Foods products in your local grocery stores, chain grocery stores, or you can order by phone, fax, or online order.

My absolute favorite is the “cake like” version of the Original No Pudge! Brownie. There are a couple of different ways you can make them (as it will tell you on the box), but this is my favorite, light and a little airy, but still gooey! If you don’t want to make a whole batch (but just you try to control yourself), then the box will also give you a great and simple single serving!!

Now I have only tried the Original and the Mint, but there is also Cappuccino and Raspberry. Personally, I have a little bit of a problem with the mint. I normally LOVE like mint chocolate chip and York patties… but for me… the mint was a little bit of a disappointment. For some reason, it tasted as if I had eaten the original flavor right after brushing my teeth.

Maybe it is just me, so try it for yourself! However you feel about the other flavors, if you like chocolate and/or brownies, you will LOVE LOVE LOVE the Original No Pudge! Brownies!!

Oh PS, a 2″ square of the brownies is only 120 calories.

Do you ever get to the gym and think holy cow this is boring? I mean, on the rare occasion you actually get your ass to the gym.

As a competitive athlete during my school years, I relied on the practices and team workouts to keep in shape. I was lucky enough to be blessed with a semi-reasonable metabolism so I never really had to worry about my food intake because it balanced out with my activity level. I assumed that since I was always athletic, I would be fine after college. Boy was I wrong.

Caught up in my new life, new job, new boyfriend, new schedule, and a lack of someone dragging me to a gym, I found myself 20 lbs heavier in no time at all. A harsh harsh reality for someone who had always been in shape.

I finally made the decision to sign up for 24 HR, I occasionally went with the BF, and a couple times with co-workers, but that probably lasted about 3-4 weeks. I had 5 “free” private training sessions from signing up, which were going well until I my trainer who was a girl my age went out with my friends and me and started buying shots. Obviously her power in the gym was no longer.

Five free sessions gone and no motivation left, I had nothing. Then something interesting…

Quit my job, quit my boyfriend, freed up my schedule, planned a trip to a tropical location. Can we say bikini?!?

Here I was, overweight and having to be in a bathing suit in front of the general public… now to me, that was enough. My entire family needed to lose a little around the mid section, if ya know what I mean, but here was the motivation.

After a few weeks, I had finally convinced them to do something. We all ended up with personal trainers. WHOA EXPENSIVE!!!!!

After a few months, we found an even better, more affordable option.

Ever heard of CrossFit?? No? Maybe? Yes? However you answered doesn’t really matter. You may end up thinking I’m crazy (I am, so I’m ok with that assumption), you may be curious, or my may already be “one of us.” Yes, drink the Crossfit Koo-laid!

CrossFit is the new workout craze that is taking over the world. People are slowly learning the benefits of this type of gym and workout. In reality, it has been around for years, but it has seen slow but steady growth, due in large part to its local nature.

CrossFit gyms are no 24 Hour Fitness. You will not find rows or treadmills or stationary bikes, in fact, some won’t even have any. What you will find are pull up bars, rowing machines, kettlebells, boxes, free weights and GHD machines (which I affectionately refer to as the torture machine). I have read that CrossFit is a combination of Boot Camp, Gymnastics and Cardio. I am not sure how that is supposed to describe that to someone, but there it is.

You may get frustrated with me right now, because I am not going to be able to explain the true benefits nor the real feel of this type of workout to you. It is something that you need to experience for yourself. And while we are on the subject, you have to promise me that you will give it a full month before you make your final decision. You will hurt like hell the first few weeks, and I am sure you will want to quit on a couple of occasions. But think about this… CrossFiters have noticed an improvement in their personal and professional lives outside of the gym. Apparently a lot of people have gotten promotions and better sex drives…? Is it weird that those two things stuck in my head? Yeah, I thought so.

What it will offer you and who should try it

If you want to lose weight, tone up, have energy, be able to keep up with your friends or kids, get in shape for ANY sport, become a personal trainer, extend your life, or just have fun, CrossFit is for YOU!

CrossFits are like a little family. The family that yells at you when you miss a day, yells at you when you try to cheat (you’re really only cheating yourself you know) during a workout, but supports you unconditionally when you feel like you are about to die.

I have a love hate relationship with CrossFit as does everyone. I laugh more during my workouts than anywhere else. My closest friends are CrossFitters. My body is in better shape and I feel more physically capable than when I was in sports. But man does it hurt sometimes. I don’t even know what it feels like to not have at least one body part be sore.

You will get a whole body, cardio heavy workout in a matter of minutes. In fact, some of the workouts are only 5 minutes long. Some are an hour. You never know, and the benefit is that your body never gets used to it. You have to leave it and you guessing.

Don’t worry ladies, you won’t bulk up if you do CrossFit! You will just have a much more toned and proportional body!

Oh and PS, many CrossFitters adopt the Zone diet to help maintain your energy levels, but let’s take it one step at a time shall we?

I’m sorry for the back to back lists, but my friend just sent this to me and I wanted to share! Once again, for time saving measures, I have included my faves. Should you want the full list (which is definitely still good) I would by happy to send it to you. In Blue you will find some of my comments. I did want to add one of my own: Who has the time and will power to create these lists to e-mail to people!!??

ENJOY!

• The letters T and G are very close to each other on a keyboard. This recently became all too apparent to me and consequently I will never be ending a work email with the phrase “Regards” again.
   

• Have you ever been walking down the street and realized that you’re going in the complete opposite direction of where you are supposed to be going? But instead of just turning a 180 and walking back in the direction from which you came, you have to first do something like check your watch or phone or make a grand arm gesture and mutter to yourself to ensure that no one in the surrounding area thinks you’re crazy by randomly switching directions on the sidewalk.
   

• I totally take back all those times I didn’t want to nap when I was younger.Oh man was college a rude awakening for a girl who NEVER took a nap.
   

• Do you remember when you were a kid, playing Nintendo and it wouldn’t work? You take the cartridge out, blow in it and that would magically fix the problem. Every kid in America did that, but how did we all know how to fix the problem? There was no internet or message boards or faq’s. We just figured it out. Today’s kids are soft. And why do 6 year olds have cell phones and demand that I do things for them when I don’t even know them?!?
   

• There is a great need for sarcasm font. I totally feel this one… I usually feel misunderstood in print.
   

• Sometimes, I’ll watch a movie that I watched when I was younger and suddenly realize I had no idea what was going on when I first saw it.
   

• I think everyone has a movie that they love so much, it actually becomes stressful to watch it with other people. I’ll end up wasting 90 minutes shiftily glancing around to confirm that everyone’s laughing at the right parts, then making sure I laugh just a little bit harder (and a millisecond earlier) to prove that I’m still the only one who really, really gets it.I’m probably the worst about this one… definitely did it the other night!
   

• The other night I hit a new low at an open bar. I had already hopped on ” highway blackout ” when, inevitably , I had to find a bathroom. Eventually I decided it was probably on the other side of the bar so I tried to walk over there, but ran into a girl coming the other way. We played that, Both go left, Both go right game to no avail, so I finally put out my hand to guide myself past and that is when I realized, yup, that’s a mirror I just tried to walk through. And the girl on the other side is me. Even cats can recognize their own image.
   

• How the hell are you supposed to fold a fitted sheet?
   

• I would rather try to carry 10 plastic grocery bags in each hand than take 2 trips to bring my groceries in.
   

• The only time I look forward to a red light is when I’m trying to finish a text. Bad, but true.
   

• A recent study has shown that playing beer pong contributes to the spread of mono and the flu. Yeah, if you suck at it.
   

• Was learning cursive really necessary? I was JUST thinking about that. How many people use it anymore? And do they still teach it in schools?
   

• I have a hard time deciphering the fine line between boredom and hunger.
   

• Answering the same letter three times or more in a row on a Scantron test is absolutely petrifying.
   

• Whenever someone says “I’m not book smart, but I’m street smart”, all I hear is “I’m not real smart, but I’m imaginary smart”.
   

• How many times is it appropriate to say “What?” before you just nod and smile because you still didn’t hear what they said?
   

• Everytime I have to spell a word over the phone using ‘as in’ examples, I will undoubtedly draw a blank and sound like a complete idiot. Today I had to spell my boss’s last name to an attorney and said “Yes that’s G as in…(10 second lapse)..ummm…Goonies” I deal with this on a daily basis with “M” and “N”
   

• What would happen if I hired two private investigators to follow each other?If I could afford it, I think I would try it. But then again, wouldn’t they find out that I hired both?
   

• While driving yesterday I saw a banana peel in the road and instinctively swerved to avoid it…thanks Mario Kart.
   

• MapQuest really needs to start their directions on #5. Pretty sure I know how to get out of my neighborhood.SERIOUSLY!!

   

• Bad decisions make good stories. HAHA
   

• Whenever I’m Facebook stalking someone and I find out that their profile is public I feel like a kid on Christmas morning who just got the Red Ryder BB gun that I always wanted. 546 pictures? Don’t mind if I do!
   

• Is it just me or do high school girls get sluttier & sluttier every year?YES!!!
   

• Why is it that during an ice-breaker, when the whole room has to go around and say their name and where they are from, I get so incredibly nervous? I know my name, I know where I’m from, this shouldn’t be a problem….
   

• You never know when it will strike, but there comes a moment at work when you’ve made up your mind that you just aren’t doing anything productive for the rest of the day.
   

• Can we all just agree to ignore whatever comes after DVDs? I don’t want to have to restart my collection.
   

• There’s no worse feeling than that millisecond you’re sure you are going to die after leaning your chair back a little too far.
   

• The best thing about sex is that part where I have it.
   

• I’m always slightly terrified when I exit out of Word and it asks me if I want to save any changes to my ten page research paper that I swear I did not make any changes to.
   

• “Do not machine wash or tumble dry” means I will never wash this ever. I just ignore this usually… or I guess handwashing isn’t TOO bad.
   

• I hate being the one with the remote in a room full of people watching TV. There’s so much pressure. ‘I love this show, but will they judge me if I keep it on? I bet everyone is wishing we weren’t watching this. It’s only a matter of time before they all get up and leave the room. Will we still be friends after this?’
   

• I hate when I just miss a call by the last ring (Hello? Hello? Dammit!), but when I immediately call back, it rings nine times and goes to voicemail. What’d you do after I didn’t answer? Drop the phone and run away?
   

• I hate leaving my house confident and looking good and then not seeing anyone of importance the entire day. What a waste.
   

• I like all of the music in my iTunes, except when it’s on shuffle, then I like about one in every fifteen songs in my itunes.
   

• Why is a school zone 15 mph? That seems like the optimal cruising speed for pedophiles…
   

• Sometimes I’ll look down at my watch 3 consecutive times and still not know what time it is. For me, my watches are more of an accessory… is that bad?
   

• It should probably be called Unplanned Parenthood.
   

• I think that if, years down the road when I’m trying to have a kid, I find out that I’m sterile, most of my disappointment will stem from the fact that I was not aware of my condition in college. Gee… you think this was a guy?
   

• Even if I knew your social security number, I wouldn’t know what do to with it. This one creeps me out…
   

• Even under ideal conditions people have trouble locating their car keys in a pocket, hitting the G-spot, and Pinning the Tail on the Donkey – but I’d bet my ass everyone can find and push the Snooze button from 3 feet away, in about 1.7 seconds, eyes closed, first time every time…
   

• It really pisses me off when I want to read a story on CNN.com and the link takes me to a video instead of text. OMG I know!
   

• I think the freezer deserves a light as well

I REALLY tried to cut this one down… but I guess I liked too many of them. I hope you don’t feel like I just wasted precious time in your life!!

I mentioned it before on the About Page, but if you EVER have any questions about ANYTHING, please let me know. If you are a curious girl (or boy) like I am, you wonder why, how, who, when, where, etc. ALL the time. But do you really have the time figure everything out?

Well I have some time, and I am willing to give you some!! From my time working in public relations and marketing (having to track people and contacts down – yes I have probably talked to you or sent you something in the past ), I have gained this crazy ability to find almost anything on the internet, and at an alarmingly quick rate. Let me know who you want to know and we’ll figure it out! Plus I’ll be glad to share the findings with everyone on Book of Randomness.

Thanks!!!

PS, please let me know if you are enjoying/learning from the entries so far. More importantly, if you like it, tell everyone you know!!!

I mentioned it before on the About Page, but if you EVER have any questions about ANYTHING, please let me know. If you are a curious girl (or boy) like I am, you wonder why, how, who, when, where, etc. ALL the time. But do you really have the time figure everything out?

Well I have some time, and I am willing to give you some!! From my time working in public relations and marketing (having to track people and contacts down – yes I have probably talked to you or sent you something in the past ), I have gained this crazy ability to find almost anything on the internet, and at an alarmingly quick rate. Let me know who you want to know and we’ll figure it out! Plus I’ll be glad to share the findings with everyone on Book of Randomness.

Thanks!!!

PS, please let me know if you are enjoying/learning from the entries so far. More importantly, if you like it, tell everyone you know!!!

I try to be a minimalist when it comes to the non-essentials. Unfortunately, I did not get that gene from my parents because they have some issues parting with items. Don’t get me wrong, they are not that bad, there are no stacks of newspapers dating back to 1978 nor can you see any of this if you visit the house.

When I go through random crap, it is easy for me to get rid of things. In my opinion, you have to weigh the options… is it really something you need? are you going to use it in the next week, month, year? how much or how hard would it be to replace if you did need it down the line? As long as your answers are not: absolutely, definitely, and nearly impossible for $1 million, you probably DON’T need to keep it.

My case study: Magazines…

So, magazines…. we all (or most of us) get at least one or two, or ten. We of course get them because they are relatively cheap and easy entertainment, with each having some kind of value to us. Whether you get fashion, health, sports, home, gossip, etc. you are bound to find something you want to keep for future reference. My top ones are usually clothes, random products, and exercise routines.

So what do you do with these stacks of magazines? Do you keep them because there is one little paragraph you might need down the line? Well if you are my dad… yes you do, you never know when you will need that tip on how to whittle a tree log into a toothpick. Ok bad example.

My solution: and keep in mind that it can be applied to just about anything

I have taken a small plain notebook, and created my own little fashion book. When I am looking through my magazines, if I see a top or an outfit I like, I tear it out. Once I have some extra time, I cut out the images and tape them onto the pages of my “fashion book.” It is an easy solution to keeping ALL of my magazines. This way I have everything I liked out of it, just in much smaller and concise packaging. I was lucky enough to find a notebook with a cover that looks like a magazine, so I make sure to position the images inside as well. It is like having my own magazine of things I like!
 



 
So far, I only have my fashion one, but you could have your own little workout book, recipe book, home decorating book, and so many more! The sky’s the limit on this one folks. 

Just remember to enjoy your little arts and crafts project. Trust me, it will simplify your life when you are looking for a new outfit!

By the way, the magazines I love: Glamour, People Style Watch, Women’s Health