Conquoring Quinoa!!

...and subsequently being told I have a huge computer label sticker on my derriere.

Thank you kind sir for taking pity on me and informing me of this matter... I can only hope that it was not there long and that the people in this office are not so cruel that they would have allowed me to wander the halls and freqent their meetings all morning without letting me know of this embarrassing sticker. 

Started out my day today per usual, with a protein shake mixed up by the BF. 

Made it through the morning team meeting and back to my desk and found myself with a killer headache.  Luckily there's a community coffee pot (s) in my area so I hiked on over to get myself a big cup o'joe and on the way back to my desk is when I found out about the sticker on my ba'donk.  Awesome way to start the day.

Also, I found out I have a meeting at 11am which is when I usually eat lunch and no they are not providing lunch... so I decided to snack on one of the awesome 90 cal Fiber One bars at my desk and even enjoyed dunking it into the fresh, hot coffee :)

So hopefully that will hold me over until I can eat my lunch.  Which should be amazing since it's leftovers and last night I conquored quinoa!!!!

I've tried cooking with quinoa before and made a huge mess attempting to rinse and strain the little suckers and subsequently ended up with watery gross quinoa.  Tuesday Night I made quinoa with brown rice in my rice cooker pot and all turned out well so I gained back a little cooking confidence and decided to work solely with quinoa last night. 

Back to my awesome Rice Pot cooker I went!

Recipe for Sweet Quinoa with Craisins:

I also added a bit of lemon juice - you could also add salt to taste and/or honey if you prefer a stronger flavor.  I served this with Tilapia prepared two different ways (The Split Decision!)

See, I originally went to Central Market with the idea of Lemon Pepper in my head - because I like it AND I know how to do it well so it's a sure bet.  Near the Fish Station they had a taster station with Red Fish rubbed with some sort of Texas BBQ Rub - and the flavor was quite delicious.  So we bought the rub figuring we can use it on a lot of different things and I prepared one filet this way.

Final Product:

So, as we all know, while the Rice Cooker is AWESOME because it cooks everything for you - it's also simultaneously irritating because it takes so. freaking. long.  So what did I do for the 1.5-2 hours my quinoa and veggies were cooking? 

Well, I watched a hilarious old episode of Iron Chef, nibbled on Brie with fresh French Bread, and ran the perimeter of an island several times with the average speed of 4 seconds/rotation.  {what???}

No, Not that type of Island....

THIS one!!!!!!!!!

{Very Detailed Reinactment}

The BF found this hilarious, and I told him not to blink because I was faster than the Flash.  He then offered to time me and I made it around the whole perimeter, in socks, without slipping, in UNDER 4 seconds.  Booyah.

Calories Burned waiting for Quinoa to cook:  Hopefully = the amount of Brie I ate.

Well, back to the grind (a.k.a. work).

Question of the Day:

Do you watch any cooking shows?  What are your favorites?

I love food shows. I love to watch Cake Shows while on the treadmill/eliptical and listen to music while I stare at the delicious foods.  Recently I stumbled onto Iron Chef and find the show to be hilarious!

 



Deal of the Day - BCBG MaxAzria on Rue La La!

One of my *all time*  favorite brands!

Deal of the Day is their Satin Locking Clutch in Pewter/Beige

Orig. $178 SALE $89.90

Featured at Rue La La

I actually own this exact purse in black leather and it's my favorite handbag!

It's dressy, chic, and holds the necessities when you go out at night - phone, camera, lipgloss, credit cards. 

The *best* part about the purse though is its super unique locking mechanism... the 'petal'-like BCBG symbol on the front rotates 45 degrees to 'unlock' the purse.

I originally saw this design over a year ago at a BCBG Outlet store and the purse was still well over $150 and I swore to wait for a sale!  Just a few months ago I was able to pick up the black leather & gold version of the bag and use it all the time. 

{My Bag}

BCBG as a brand is known for their chic designs and their timeless quality. 

Rue La La also has some cute BCBG Dresses that would transition well from Summer to Fall.  I wear a lot of their dresses to work and get tons of complements!

In fact, I'm wearing a BCBG Dress to work today:

Shoes: a Look for Less.  Resemble these BCBG heels  but I wanted them in a black color with a wedge, so I flipped when I found these shoes here.

{Close up view of dress for pattern detail}

Lunch today was a *win*.  Leftovers from last night... which means my dinner last night turned out well!

I took my second attempt at Quinoa last night.  I used my handy dandy rice cooker pot and combined 1 cup dried quinoa with 1 cup dry brown rice and the appropriate amount of water according to each bag.  I then added 1/2 a cube of Vegetable Chicken Broth for flavoring, some minced garlic, and pepper.  On the top steaming tray I added sliced mushrooms, chopped onions and chopped bell peppers to the rim.  Then clicked the 'Brown Rice' cook button and went out for a bike ride with the BF.  I love when dinner cooks itself :)

Finished Product:

Yummy!!!!!!!

I ended up adding some salt because I was in one of those moods but it was really delicious.  With my Quinoa I enjoyed a sliced red bell pepper which I love to eat raw as a snack, and since I've been starving all day after our hour long bike ride last night + my one extra mile that I ran (I wanted to go the extra mile lol!) I also have enjoyed an 80 calorie Nature Valley Dark Chocolate Granola Thin.

It's like a cookie - only it offers nutritional value haha.

The #1 Ingredient is Whole Grain Rolled Oats.  (Sure the next one is sugar, but you knew that when you saw the words 'dark chocolate' on the outside of the box!)

**EDIT**  Similar Bags found for $111.12 at 6pm.com!!!

Both BCBG on Sale from $278

 

Question of the Day:

What is the dress code at your job?  What do you wear to work?

I work at a pretty relaxed, corporate engineering office.  Some people wear polos and jeans but I'm not really a big fan of jeans unless it's cold outside and they always say "Dress for the job you want, not the job you have" so I try to keep it a bit more professional.  Unfortunately things are pretty conservative here so the only time I get to have 'fun' with fashion is on the weekends!  What about you?