I hate money.

So...today I began to delve deeper into the financial aspect of nutrition school. The Natural Chef training costs about $10,000. There are no scholarships offered, no sort of financial aid - just 1 payment plan, in which you have to pay them $2000 a month. Even the admissions woman I spoke with today admitted that is "pretty much impossible." I've been looking for scholarships for over a year, and haven't found/gotten anything. My high from being accepted has now turned in to a horrible depression over the fact I might not even get to GO if I don't find about $4,000, and QUICK.

Apparently, the only way I could get school paid for is if I were unemployed. The government could pay for it ALL. I figured it out with my dad, and I would get way more money by NOT WORKING than by working my butt off like I have been. This concept is sooo BIZARRE to me...that it might be more fruitful for me to be unemployed. WHAT THE HECK.

So I'm checking out my options...but uh...if anyone has a few extra thousand dollars they wanna throw my way, go for it! ;-)

Breakfast:

• 2 pumpkin pancakes - approx 2 cups almond/flax flour, 1 tsp baking soda, 1/2 tsp baking powder, 1/4 tsp salt, 1/2 cup-ish canned pumpkin, cinnamon, clove, nutmeg, allspice, ginger, 1 tbsp agave nectar, and water added until proper pancake-y consistency
• 2 Applegate Farms breakfast sausage links

Lunch:

• leftover chili from a few nights ago
• big spinach salad with grapes, dried figs, cashews, and cranberry balsamic vinaigrette
• some Jimmy Johns "skinny" potato chips (yeah, not the best...at all....haha I caved)

Snack:

• 2 Kashi granola bars

Dinner:

• 1 organic chicken mild Italian sausage link, sauteed peppers and eggplant, 1/4 cup couscous
• 1 healthy peanut butter cup, made by my lil sister - in a little muffin tin, put some finely shredded coconut, then organic peanut butter with a bit of agave mixed in, then some of that chocolate soy pudding, and put in freezer - delicious!!!
  

Every day I hear more and more positive feedback about the field of work I'm planning on going into. It is SO reassuring!!! Today, I had an offer to financially back a healthy restaurant if I wanted to move back to my hometown and start one. !!! Can you believe that?! So freakin sweet! I have so many options and possibilities..I really can't wait to see what ends up happening! I had thought of opening a restaurant, but I know statistically 8 in 10 restaurants fail, so...yeah not sure about that one. We'll see!
I'm also excited because my friend who I work with is getting SUPER in to all-natural health. She has been looking up these studies and facts and texting me with things such as "OMG, my shampoo is full of CRAP that is KILLING me!!!" And I just smile and nod knowingly, because though it's old news to me, it is shocking to newbies to the natural movement ;-)

SoHOOO anyway, here's the menu from today:
Breakfast:

• protein smoothie - huge handful fresh spinach, handful almonds, 1/2 banana, 1/2 apple, almond milk, 1/2 cup plain organic yogurt, ice cubes
• 1 slice cinnamon raisin Ezekiel bread

Lunch:

• breakfast burrito - 2 organic scrambled eggs with red and orange peppers, spinach, in a sprouted grain wrap
• 1 apple

Snack:

• leftover carrot salad from last night

Dinner:

• Mediterranean beef soup - made from leftover steak from last night, with homemade beef broth, random organic greens, eggplant, carrots, and some spices...I think cumin and tarragon perhaps?? I could have just made that up...helpful I know, right? ;-)

Snack:

• almond crackers and 1 Organic Valley cheesestick

That's all, folks! Now to go pass out...

Chocolate tofu...mmMMMmm!

I am still SO EXCITED about nutrition school :-D AND today I booked a ticket for $230 ROUNDTRIP all the way to California! So I can go visit before I actually up and move out there...I was trying to be tough and trusting and say, "Oh, I don't need to spend the money, I'll just trust God and move out there!" And then, after consulting with those close to me, I realized how unbelievably stressed out I would be come moving time, and that that would destroy my health beyond reason, soo....it's not worth saving the money. Plus God threw that amazingly low fare in my path, so I did it. It will be really good - I'm excited :-)

Breakfast:

• protein smoothie with chocolate tofu (I normally avoid soy, but this looked AMAZING), 1 banana, almond milk, 1 tbsp peanut butter, ice cubes
• 1 slice cinnamon raisin Ezekiel bread toasted

Lunch:

• leftover chili from last night

Snack:

• organic apple with sunbutter

Dinner:

• Pan-fried organic steak and onions, carrot salad, corn on the cob - SOOO good!

Snack:

• small bowl oatmeal flakes cereal with almond milk
  

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I couldn't think of a better title for this post. Because GUESS WHAT.

I JUST GOT MY ACCEPTANCE LETTER FOR NATURAL CHEF TRAINING IN THE SPRING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm officially GOING!!!!! All the way out to California!!!

Oooooh, dear sweet goodness! I will have SO many amazing recipe ideas and magical goodness once I'm there......... :-D :-D :-D I can.not.WAIT.

Oh yes. YES!!!! Oooh man...now I just have to find somewhere to live, a job, some way to PAY for it..haha...ha.....ummm....God will provide. *tries to suppress freak-out session*

ANYWAY...My metabolism has kind of recovered from my college nostalgia weekend, so I'm back on track now. And heeeeeeere's what's on today's menu:

Breakfast:

• smoothie: big handful of spinach, 1 tbsp peanut butter (should have been almond butter, but I couldn't find it in my semi-conscious state in the morning), 5 fresh strawberries, flax seeds, ice cubes, almond milk. I've recently found that you actually can't TASTE spinach when it's in a smoothie! Especially if you put it in with an apple, flax seeds, and a squirt of lemon - GREAT power smoothie!!!

Lunch:

• Tropical Smoothie - asian chicken salad, smoothie with no sugar (can't remember the name of it..the one with orange, mango, banana...)

Dinner:

• Chili with great northern beans, soybeans, garbanzo beans, sauteed carrots and onions, organic vegetable broth, Spike, garlic, white pepper, mustard greens, ground organic turkey - YUMMM! With 1 slice Ezekiel Bread.

Ok...now to go frantically search for affordable housing in California...is that possible?

My body hates me.

Sorry I haven't posted in so long...I have been gone all weekend visiting my friends who are still at college. I had already forgotten how NUTS the schedule of a college student is...my body is so incredibly WHACKED OUT right now it's not even funny. I haven't slept or eaten normally since Thursday night........my metabolism is in major rebel phase right now.

Hopefully I will be back to normal by the end of the week, and then I'll start posting again...because my eating schedule this whole weekend has been anything BUT exemplary ;-)

Breakthrough!

Today was possibly one of THE most exciting days of my life. Ok, all things considered, not really, BUT, I was realllllly excited this morning! I decided to whip up a batch of almond flour pancakes, sans recipe. I ground up some almonds and flax seed, added some cinnamon, ground cloves, nutmeg, 1/2 tsp. baking soda, 1/4 tsp salt, 2 eggs, a squirt of agave nectar, and a couple tbsp of water, and about 2 tbsp coconut oil. I stirred 'em up, put them in the pan with coconut oil, and....could it really be? No, surely....but yes! THEY CAME OUT WAY BETTER THAN THE ONES I MADE FROM A RECIPE!!!! They actually stayed together and were light and fluffy, yet substantial. I take this as a very exciting sign that my innate cooking skills are coming to fruition! YAY!!!
On another note, I guess I'm starting one of my phases where I'm ravenously hungry for a few weeks straight, so I ate a LOT today. Haha don't judge. ;-)

Breakfast:

• 2 almond flour pancakes
• smoothie with 1 small plum, 1 banana, flax seeds, ice cubes, apple juice

Snack:

• 1 large organic carrot on the way to work (yes, I was already hungry by then)

First Lunch:

• more leftover chili
• half of a container of leftover salad from last night

Second Lunch (I feel like a hobbit or something...):

• One Fresh Stir Fry - quinoa, chicken, broccoli, carrots, water chestnuts, cashews, citrus sauce - yummmmmmmmmmy!

Dinner:

• The rest of my salad from lunch
• rest of stir fry
• another large almond flour pancake
• pear
  

Paranoia strikes again

So today I thought my friend/co-worker had been kidnapped and/or murdered. She didn't come to work for 2 days or answer any calls or texts, and her mother hadn't heard from her either, so it was kind of a legitimate freak-out fest I had. I literally got to the point today where I envisioned her mother calling me, sobbing as she stood in a pool of her daughter's blood. Or the police showing up at work to question me about the last time I saw her. And the Facebook status I would have to make asking for prayers because my friend had just been officially named a Missing Person.

My imagination is kind of over active sometimes. Turns out, she just has a sleeping problem and kinda slept for 2 days......at least she's still alive ;-)

That was pretty exciting though! Doesn't happen everyday!

I had to add that story because I ATE nothing exciting today, and you have to have SOME excitement to read about, right??

Breakfast:

• 1/2 cup organic oatmeal with unsweetened dried cranberries and walnuts
• a mug of magically delicious Gingerbread tea because it was sooo cold out!

Lunch:

• leftover chili from last night

Snack:

• 2 Kashi granola bars

Dinner:

• hamhocks and greens; mixed greens salad with spiced walnuts, mandarin oranges, bleu cheese; acorn squash with Earth Balance and honey