Birthday Recap

On the 17th was my......I don't want to say it....Lord.....30th birthday.  I still have mixed feelings about being 30 :\  Getting to this age seemed to take forever and I was really liking the idea of being "Forever 20-something" lol  Things got a little busy around the date and didn't had time to create a St Patrick's makeup look or manicure. I even had planned a post about my favorite green polishes & eyeshadows but maybe next year.

To share a little about my birthday, things didn't went the way I planned and to be honest, I was very angry for that.  To me, your birthday is that day when its ok to be a little selfish and make it all about you....it didn't happen. Anyway, not all was bad.  On Thursday I finished a couple classes of my 2nd semester and got A's on the final exams.  Later, I had dinner with a friend at PF Chang's for the first time.  Everything was delicious! Then we headed to a local bar to have a few drinks.  On Friday I woke up a lil' hung over to play basketball -for the 1st time ever- with a friend. I sucked at it.  On the day of my bday I went shopping during the morning with my cousin & aunts, later had dinner with my parents & younger brother.  I welcomed the Sunday alternating whiskey with tequila shots at El Morro, to wake up to a nasty hang over.  Later that day went out to have delicious chicken kabobs and this huge thing:

I almost ate it all and I'm happy that I lived to savoir that moment.  This is the best burger I have ate, ever!!!!

I'll blog later in the week about the birthday goodies I got :)

A rare thing: me cooking

This is a very rare post - me cooking!  I only do salads, chicken & vegetables stocks, broiled chicken, veggie quesadillas; the simple stuff.  While ago I had to make dinner for my parents while my mom was working late.  She told me to do ricotta stuffed pasta shells.  Pasta is easy, but cooking always gets me nervous.  I had ingredients issues, but at the end everything turned good.

besides the cheese, I grabbed pretty much everything I found in the fridge: already cooked ground meat, cheddar & taco mix cheese, marinara sauce, ricotta cheese and even alfredo sauce to experiment but I didn't used it.

After cooking the pasta I started to fill the shells with the ricotta + meat.  I had half of the pasta box left when I run out of ground beef to mix with the ricotta.  I improvised mixing the ricotta with random herbs & italian seasoning.

I think those shells multiplicated like the gremlins because I run out of ricotta and there was plenty of them!  Again, had to improvise; but this time with butter / lemon vegetable meddle to fill the shells and the rest (yeah, there were more) with some chili mom did a couple days back and she froze the remaining.

After so much improvising I put aluminum foil over the oven tray, put plenty of marinara sauce over and arranged the stuffed shells.  I covered them with more sauce, taco mix & cheddar cheese and parmesan.  The electrical oven I was using is small, so I had to bake them in batches. I froze the remaining.  This are medium size shells.  They are easy to do in advance and have them on hand for a quick fix meal :D

What else would you use to fill your pasta?

Homemade thin crust pizza

I made this pizza a while ago.
I was craving pizza but there was no place near me that could offer something low in fat and calories so I grabbed what I had on hand to create one :)
what I used:
- whole grain burrito tortilla
- low sodium pizza sauce
- low fat mexican cheese medley
- broiled chicken breast leftovers
- diced green peppers and red onion

put it all together and then to the oven until crispy.  It looks a little weird LoL cause I took the picture with my cellphone but it tasted so good! and at the same time I satisfied my craving controlling the amount of fat & calories.

Which are your favorite toppings for home made pizza?

My birthday cake!

My birthday was on the 17th but my family decided to celebrate it on the 19th because both my uncle & aunt had birthdays that week.  My mom mad the cake, which I helped her to decorate! :)  I love my mom's cakes! They are super moist but not to the point that they crumble when cutting, they are just perfect!  It doesn't have any specific flavoring, its the normal cake batter and she moist them with a mixture of white sugar and almond extract diluted in hot water. We usually eat it with vanilla ice cream but my brother got confused and got coconut; it was yummy anyways!

with my uncle & aunt blowing the candles :)

my mom's awesome chicken chili! that I also helped to prepare

it looks a bit weird because it have been simmering only a couple of minutes

turkey "a la varita"

tostitos spinach creamy dip, covered: "cielito lindo" & puertorrican chicken salad

Snack Time: 100cal. yogurt flavored pretzels

When you start to eat healthier it could get a little crazy, specially if you are super busy with school, work, kids, etc. Many times the worst choice in terms of snack is the one that is available.
That's why I always carry one of the 100 cal. versions of my favorites snacks! It makes dieting easier, fun and helps to keep on track since I don't have to restrain myself from everything, just to look up for their low sugar / low fat versions or smaller portions. Their Mister Salty Yogurt Flavored Pretzels are the perfect combo of crunchy, sweet & salty!

I recommend you to try them! :D
*picture taken with my crappy cellphone :P

Update on diet and Alli talk

Attention: just want to clarify that what I'm sharing its what works for me. I am no professional nor have any scientific / medical degrees to say what will work for you. Though you may have the same fears and doubts as I did and sharing my experience might help in some way.I've been overweight pretty much my hole life and have tried so many times to loose it; but this is the first time I feel that I'm having success at it.Also,Lastly, If my experience motivates someone, exposing my weight issues totally worth it!