It's Summer Over Here!

Wow. Summer already? Where in the heck did those first two semesters of college go?!! I am not really sure. All I know is that I had a great year away in Portland at college. First semester was rough with rowing and time management but once I got out of rowing and turned my focus to school I was having the time of my life. I finally had time to go to the library and socialize while I did homework. I could stay an extra while at our dining hall to catch up with friends. I was able to go to parties and meet tons of people. I got to know the girls living on my floor. And let me assure you… we had tons of dance parties in the study room on our floor. School was tough but having friends to turn to for a release was great. During the second semester of school I was honestly the happiest I had been in years.

It was tough to leave everyone and my routine there behind but now I am back in Salt Lake City, sitting outside in the sun, sipping some iced peach green tea and relaxing after two semesters of tough work. This year I learned that I love to read and learn. That is something I really thought I would never love or want to do. In fact, I've been having a tough time sitting around all day and not going to class to learn something new. But I guess that's what books, TED talks, and conversations are for! Do you guys have any favorite books you recommend I read?

It has been nice, though, getting back into my groove at home. I get up around 8-8:30 every day and have my morning coffee and bowl of cereal with banana and peanut flour. Then I hit the gym to either lift or do a class. Classes at my gym are amazing. I really connect with the instructors and have created a network over there. I may even start teaching classes soon! I am excited to see what happens with that. After my exercise class or lift I come back home to my wondrous kitchen and whip up my new favorite breakfast known as cauliproats!

Ingredients (serves 1)

• 1/2 cup oat bran or old fashioned oats
• 1-1.5 cups hot water
• 1 packet stevia
• Extracts of choice (I typically use vanilla, almond, maple, or butter)
• 1/2 a sliced banana
• 2-4 T egg whites or one large egg white
• 1 cup cauliflower "rice"
• 2 T protein powder
• Water to thin

Instructions

Measure out 1/2 cup oats or oat bran in a bowl. Then add 1-1.5 cups of hot water to the bowl and let it soak for a few minutes. Microwave for 2:30 minutes. Then stir in a packet of stevia, extracts of choice, half a sliced banana, 2-4 T egg whites, and 1 cup of cauliflower "rice". Make the cauliflower "rice" by putting cauliflower in a blender and pulsing a few times. The texture should resemble rice… you don't want to puree it! At this point you may need more water. Don't be afraid to add it! Stick your bowl back in the microwave for thirty seconds. Stir it up. Microwave another 30 seconds. Stir it up. And then microwave again if needed. Once the egg whites are thoroughly cooked, stir in 2 T protein powder of choice. I like to use cellucor brand the most.

Then go crazy with the toppings and enjoy your never-ending bowl of protein fluffy carby goodness! (Except the bowl of goodness does eventually end… sorry for the buzz kill)

Being home has also meant getting creative in the kitchen! One of my all time favorite Thai dishes is a pad thai. 

I saw these noodles at the store and knew I had to do something fun with them!

I decided to try and cook a bowl of pad thai up one night and it ended up being a sweet, salty, and tangy success! I didn't have all the ingredients I needed for the recipe I was following so I decided to ditch that recipe and just make it up on my own! I urge you all to try and do that in your own kitchen. It's crazy how your creative juices will get flowing. And it's a lot of fun!

Here's my creative spin on the traditional pad thai dish:

Single Serving Pad Thai

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 15 minutes

Keywords: fry saute stir-fry entree low-carb sugar-free healthy dairy-free chicken Thai

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Ingredients (serves 1)

For the Base

• 1/3 raw daikon (julienned)
• 1-2 raw carrots (sliced in rounds)
• 1/3 raw yellow squash (julienned)
• 1 serving kona berry or kelp noodles
• 4-8 oz. cooked chicken
• 4 T egg whites
• 1/2-1 t ground ginger
• 1-2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1/4 cup chopped white onion

For the Pad Thai Sauce

• 1/3 cup chicken stock or broth
• 3 T rice vinegar (or white vinegar)
• 1/4-1/2 lemon or lime, juiced
• 2 packets of stevia
• 2 T fish sauce
• 1 T low sodium soy sauce
• 1/2 t ground black pepper
• Tamarind substitute (chop up and mash 2 pitted dates, 1 dried apricot, and 2 prunes)

Instructions

For the Sauce

First, make the sauce, and let it sit for a few minutes so the flavors combine. To make the sauce, simply add all the ingredients together, mix well, and make sure to really mash the dried fruit. Add more lime or lemon juice if it is too sweet for you. Note that a pad thai sauce should taste sweet at first, followed by sour, and then salty.

For the Base

1. Rinse your kelp or kona berry noodles. Then soak in warm water for 10-15 minutes. Set aside.

2. Heat a wok or large frying pan over medium-high heat. Drizzle with coconut oil or spray with pam then add in the minced garlic, chopped onion, and ground ginger. Stir fry for about one minute, releasing the fragrance.

3. Add in the rest of your vegetables and 1-2 T of your prepared pad thai sauce. Keep the heat high so you are stir-frying, rather than steaming, your vegetables.

4. Add in your cooked chicken and 1-2 T more of your prepared pad thai sauce to keep the ingredients frying nicely.

5. Push the ingredients to the sides of the pan and pour in your egg whites. Stir so the whites quickly scramble.

6. Add your prepared noodles and 3-4 T of the pad thai sauce. Stir and incorporate the noodles with all the other ingredients. Keep adding sauce and stir frying until the noodles and vegetables are cooked to your liking. The sauce should get absorbed and everything should be cooked thoroughly but not too cooked, or else it will be a mushy dish.

7. Remove from the heat, garnish (some ideas for garnishes: green onion, crushed peanuts, sweet chili sauce, thai chili sauce, sriracha, peanut sauce), and serve immediately.

I hope you guys get around to trying this recipe and let me know if you do by posting a picture on instagram and tagging me (@eatburnbalance) in it!

Now to wrap it all up… I am happy to be home. 

I mean look at this place! It's gorgeous! Yes, I am missing my friends and time in Portland but I am excited to get to spend the summer in Salt Lake, working out, cooking, laying at the pool, and possibly working at LuluLemon! But I can't get too comfortable in the glorious kitchen of my home… because we move to our new condo in just 2 weeks! Big life changes are coming up but I am excited to take them on with 110% positivity and effort.

Viva Las Vexcess

Okay peeps! I am finally finding the time to write about my time in Las Vegasexcess. After spending my Thursday grocery shopping and food prepping for the short (but sweet) weekend at home I am de-stressing, eating my salmon dinner, and sharing my times of Vegas with you all. What a perfect way to get ready for Friday.

My trip to Las Vegas was… interesting. I forget how crazy Las Vegas is. So much to do, so much to see, so many people everywhere, such good food, such unhealthy food, lots of alcohol, lots of smoke, lots of gambling,… Man. I could go on for a while. Let's just all agree on the fact that Las Vegas has everything (literally everything) in excess amounts. Las vegas goes big. There is no doubt. That is why I have decided to rename it to "Las Vexcess". Nonetheless, I did have a great trip.

Laying in the sun all day and being with my family laughing about everything was the perfect way to decompress after a tough week of midterms. And I mean… getting to lay by this fashionable dad of mine? No where else I would rather be. Those are my sunglasses by the way ;)

Here is my brother and I… he put on his "I'm hard and I lift heavy stuff for fun" face for this picture… but he's still cute :)

While in Vegas I didn't even think for one second about school! I decided to leave my backpack zipped (besides unzipping it to grab my quest bars) and I kept all my thoughts about school in a part of my brain that I shut off. It was great. I even started reading a new book.

It's called "The Fault In Our Stars" by John Green. I only got a quick few chapters in because I was reading the preview on my kindle. I decided I need a hardcopy of this book because of the great quotes and reminders I have already read. Have any of you read this book? How do you like it?

Dinner the first night was absolutely amazing. We went to a Thai restaurant called Lotus of Siam that was off of the strip. Their menu was like the Cheesecake Factory's. The flipping of pages never ended. Somehow, we all decided on a dish and did the whole dinner "family style".

A whole bunch of veggies, protein, and delicious sauces over steamed rice. This was the best Thai food I have had since being in Thailand. It was so authentic and tasted like it came right from the kitchens in Thailand. I am somewhat convinced that they had super fast shipping and a restaurant in Thailand cooked up our meal then sent it over to Las Vegas. I donno… could be possible… right?

This is what my plate ended up looking like! I promise there is rice under there :) My favorite of all the dishes was definitely the Pad See Ew. I used to be terrified of this dish because of the sauce and noodle calorie count (dumb, I know) but I thoroughly enjoyed it and didn't even worry about those stupid calories. After our dinner we walked the strip and went in and out of all the humongous and ridiculously fancy palaces hotels. We stopped for gelato at the Aria but I failed to take a picture because we ate it so quickly! Our favorite part of the strip after that night was the Aria property. It was so futuristic and pretty quiet compared to all the other hotels. I think it was a little quieter because it is so fancy and a little more pricey than everywhere else. My mom is set on staying there next time we visit.

The next day, after my brother had left town to meet friends in California, my mom, dad, and I drove to the outskirts of Las Vegas to Red Rock Canyon to get some hiking (and more sunshine) in. It was so nice to get out of the city scene and be surrounded by rocks, blue skies, and just… nature! I love hiking more than a lot of things in life so this day was perfect :) We even picked up rocks and used them as weights to get an upper body workout WHILE hiking! About halfway through one of the hikes, all of our stomachs were growling so I pulled out the infamous Quest Bars! My parents went gaga over them… My dad even kept saying, "Hey Ali! Quest me!"… Whatever that means.

We even had a photo shoot with some Quest Bars. Isn't my dad ripped?! He is such a goof too.

After the hike we got some lunch at Cafe Rio and were back at the hotel to shower and get ready for our night. For dinner we went to an amazing French Steakhouse at The Paris. It was called Mon Ami Gabi. Our waiter was amazing. He was so willing to change items on the menu to satisfy my not-so-accepting-lactose-tummy. I ended up getting the chicken paillard that was served with root vegetables and arugula.

Classic "Steakhouse lighting" on that picture… but oh boy was the dish de-lish! My mom got some sort of fish that was smothered in capers so I was not really a fan of that. Capers are not my thing. Yuck. I don't know what it is but I can't stand them. My dad got steak covered in caramelized onions and a red wine sauce. I had a generous amount of his food.

Our bellies were completely satisfied (almost too satisfied) after dinner and we were ready to walk the strip again! We went across the street and watched The Bellagio fountain show.

It was so mesmerizing. I wanted to stand on top of one of the water shoots and go flying up with the water as it shot up. How fun would that be? I feel something like that has happened on a Spongebob episode before. 

Of course we had to get a selfie with the beautiful Bellagio building. How cute are my parents? They're into the whole "selfie nation" thing right now… you should see the pictures (and videos) my dad sends me. He makes me laugh so hard.

Then we went in The Bellagio and straight to the patisserie where they have the worlds tallest chocolate fountain. Isn't it pretty? I was about ready to start quoting Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Or break the glass and let the chocolatey goodness flow down my gullet. Haha. 

We had enough chocolate viewing and proceeded to the humongous green/flower house in The Bellagio (don't forget this is all INSIDE the hotel… quite EXCESSive) to see all the pretty flower arrangements and introduce our noses to a scent other than cigarette smoke. This was gorgeous. But I think there was some sort of sleep drug being exhaled by those flowers because we were ready to snooze right once we walked out of the flower room. To our hotel we went.

The next day my dad left for home because he had to get back to work so it was down to my mom and I. We decided to sleep in until 11:30! WHAT! I don't remember the last time I slept that long. I was feeling pretty drudge-y waking up that late and the last thing I wanted to do was work out. But my mom got my butt in gear with a cup of coffee and to the gym we went.

What the heck was I thinking, not working out?! I forgot how much I love that sh*t! My kind of drugs are endorphins. An endorphin high cannot compare to anything. Does anyone else feel that way? Just me? You all would rather do real drugs? Haha. Kidding. After this awesome burn I fueled up with food from our hotel cafe:

An eggwhite skillet. In the bottom of the pan were roasted potatoes. Topped with scrambled egg whites, roasted red peppers, caramelized onions and mushrooms, turkey bacon, and avocado. Whole wheat toast, fruit, and coffee on the side. Woo-wee. It was good.

For the remainder of the day (even though it was already 2 since we slept in so late) my mom and I soaked up the sun at the pool and debated where we should go for dinner. Putting two total foodies together and trying to make a decision on dinner is quite a difficult task. After awhile we finally decided. We went to the room, cleaned up, and were on our way to Todd English Pub at the Aria. I was a little skeptical going here… but after the first smell bite of my dinner I was in complete heaven.

Again… lighting not so great… but the food. Very veggie. Much yum. So bread-y. Honest to goodness the best portobello burger I have ever had (and I have had a lot of porto burgers!). Two balsamic marinated portobello mushroom caps, roasted red peppers, caramelized onions and zucchinis, lettuce, tomatoes, and a garlic aioli all sandwiched between a toasted seven grain bun. Oomf. On the side were pickled vegetable and my mom and I shared grilled asparagus. That asparagus was perfect too. I was a happy Ali after this meal. My mom and I walked around in the Aria for a bit and then through the shops in The Bellagio and Caesar's Palace. By 10, we were ready for bed.

We had a great sleep after our pub food and woke up ready to take on our 7-hour drive home. But first we had to fuel up! A lot of you suggested we go to Hash House A Go Go and that we did! Wow is all I can say. That place is amazing! The plates they were bringing out were unbelievable. Their most famous plate was obviously the fried chicken and waffles. Two fried chicken pieces and four waffles. Can you say EXCESSive? It was crazy. My mom and I kept it simple and got the roasted chicken hash with asparagus, mushrooms, and peppers and then the huge bowl of oatmeal with fruit galore.

It was a great meal. Thank you everyone for the awesome suggestion! My mom and I were eager to get on the road and back home to our routined and not-so-excessive lives at home! So just like that… we were off and out of Las Vexcess!

The drive was long, but with music bumping and a huge costco bag of carrots, we kept ourselves busy. Seven hours later, we were home! Home sweet home! I opened my bedroom door to a great home-warming package from Akiva over at The Cookie Department.

Look at all those cookies! I dug into one right when I opened the package… more to come on those soon. I will be doing a full review as soon as I try each one!

I hope you all enjoyed your past weekend and week. Can you believe tomorrow is already Friday?! I better get out of EXCESS land and get some homework done!