Good morning!
I’m glad you enjoyed The Story Of The Green Monster. :) It feels good to have it told.
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Eating dinner with Christmas ambiance is so much more fun, wouldn’t you say?


The view from our dinner table makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. The time spent in our family room has increased ten fold since these decorations went up.
Last night Eric and I finished watching Julie and Julia. Oh my gosh was it ever a great movie!!!! Eric had me in hysterics laughing because he kept imitating Julia/Meryl’s accent. I don’t think I have laughed so hard in ages. I could relate to the movie a lot because of course it was about blogging and cooking! Definitely check out this movie…it was unique like no other!
I’m still on my huge Quinoa kick…I now buy all my grains and protein in bulk to save on packaging and cost. Beans, lentils, quinoa, brown rice, couscous, you name it, it’s in my basement. One bonus of a vegan diet? You end up saving so much money not buying meat. Grains and lentils are so cheap, especially when you buy in bulk. This meal below cost me approx. $1.35 (and that was mostly because my olive oil is pricey).

I am crazy for this Organic Chamomile with Lavender herbal tea. I had NO idea that I loved this tea until I had it last night. Dare I say that it may be my favourite tea aside from sencha?! WOW. To say it is a relaxing tea is an understatement. I felt like I was in a spa while sipping it! I am going to buy more asap. I wonder if they have it in loose leaf?

In case you are wondering, it takes great balance to hold a SLR camera + backlight + fork + food and get the picture to turn out. LOL. Aw, the things I do for you guys. ;)

Black Beans, Corn, and Tomatoes over Quinoa
Ingredients:
- 2 cups cooked black beans
- 1 can diced tomatoes (with salt)
- 1 can corn
- 1 T Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- Italian Seasoning
- Fine grain Sea Salt (to taste)
- Black Pepper
- Cooked Quinoa
Directions: Cook the black beans (or you can use canned too). Add first 7 ingredients into a saucepan and heat over low-medium. While this is heating up, cook quinoa. Serve the bean,corn, and tomato mixture over a bed of quinoa.

This dish was very basic, yet quite satisfying. Very high in protein too! It made a great recovery meal for my poor abs.
Other fun happenings to know about…
1) Glo Bakery:
- I meant to mention yesterday that the pre-ordering of Healthy Holiday Lovers Variety Packs are 10% off until November 20th! Get those orders in early and save! You can join Glo Bakery’s Facebook fan page to learn about all of the updates going on and be the first to know!
2) Whittle My Middle:
- I meant to mention as well that for my waist measurements, I took one at the smallest section of my waist (couple inches above my belly button) and then the widest section of my waist (a few inches below my belly button). This will vary for everyone, so just make sure the area you measure is consistent between measures should you chose to do so.
- Is anyone else finding that the stability ball roll-out (#5) doesn’t work very well? I don’t find it that challenging. I am thinking about subbing the exercise with something else. Maybe I am doing it wrong? Ideas?
- My abs hurt. But in a good way if you know what I mean. Everyone said they hate me on Twitter this morning. :( heh.
- Someone asked where my before picture was for the last Bikini Boot Camp Challenge. It is here. In two months I was able to loose quite a few inches, so hopefully in a month I can do about half that progress. I will likely be revealing this challenge’s B+A at the end.
- Don’t forget you can follow my Whittle My Middle workouts each day on the new Abs page!
Enjoy your Friday!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My abs are killing me today, but in a good way. I have tried for 2 days now to do the jackknives and I cannot do it. I cannot get my balance and it’s frustrating. Any suggestions?
I felt the same way about the stability ball roll out until my husband suggested putting my hands closer to the edge of the ball at the starting position and then taking the whole movement and SLOOOOOOWING it all down. It got a lot harder when I made these tweaks. Thanks for the awesome program. It was much-needed and it’s fun… I’ve started doing the moves during commercial breaks at night… I’m already feeling the difference in my core.
love the recipe! i will be making that asap! yes, vegan diet is the best economically and for our health! gotta love beans and grains! yumm!
what kind of quinoa is that??
there are soo many different varieties.
The ball roll-out is actually one of my favorite new exercises! I started Whittle My Waist Today too. I am doing it mainly to gain core strength.
MMM – your dinner looks awesome!
I LOVE this challenge idea!
Christmas decorations make EVERYTHING better! Seriously, it is a fact.
I love quinoa too, you can add anything to it to make a delicious and hearty meal. Great photos, by the way!
I find stability ball rollouts reeeeaaallly challenging but I just watched the video and that’s not how I do a stability ball rollout :/ I hope I can describe this. Try clasping your hands and putting your arms from hands to elbow on the ball. Have a straight body from shoulders to feet, toes on the floor then roll the ball out so only your elbows remain on the ball and then roll the ball back in. Tight core throughout obviously. This should be a bit more challenging than that one in the video.
Your dinner and decorations look lovely :)
Great pics! I love the Christmas ambiance!
I just read this post and I’m laughing because I literally made the same exact meal for dinner last night! Great minds think alike! I put onions and peppers in mine(and avocado on top!). I was inspired by a kashi frozen meal
Awe….I’m so jealous of your cute Christmas house! No matter how I hard I try or how many years I live on Maui I’ll never get use to summer like Christmas….Love your blog and Sketchie:-) Aloha, Amanda
That Quinoa dish sounds good and simple enough for me to make without messing something up.
Marc just put “Julie and Julia” in our netflix list, looking forward to watching that movie. ;o) I am sure you will come to mind many times while watching it. ;o)
Have a good day.
yay for the Christmas ambiance! :)