OK, I know that this is a blog about food & healthy living.  But I had to share my situation since I'm positive this happens to women everywhere:  the unsatisfactory hair dye job.  Ugh!!  

Here is the back story:  a few years ago, I started getting some noticeable gray hair.  I was living in Pennsylvania and going to an awesome stylist, Lindsay, and totally trusted her.  When she said that she could brush some color over my grays, I was definitely on board.  The hair color looked super natural.  For comparison purposes,  here I am a few years ago with my natural hair color:  

And here is my color with Lindsay's color job:    

So similar, right?  Then, when I moved to Charlotte, I needed to get my hair colored again.  Not knowing much about hair color, I thought it was perfectly fine that the new hair guy I tried started putting the dye all over my hair.  I was wondering why he did this, when Lindsay only put the dye over my roots/greys, but I am no expert so I didn't question it.  The result?  Super, duper dark hair.  After doing a little research, I found out that putting hair color over existing hair color makes the hair really dark.  I hated it.  I felt like I looked "goth," which would have been fine if I was still a teenager in the 90's, but not so fine as a 32 year old professional adult.  

As a result, I have tried a home experiment I read about on this website, which states that a mixture of crushed up vitamin C tablets and Head & Shoulders can lighten hair dye.  

Here are the steps I took:  

 1) Crush up a handful of vitamin C tablets in a zipper bag, I used a potato masher to smash them up.  

2) Combine the vitamin C powder with a few big squeezes of Head & Shoulders, then apply to damp hair.  

3) Cover hair with a shower cap to prevent a big mess, then leave on for about an hour.  

4) Rinse off, and make sure to condition hair well.  

I did this treatment two times, here are the results:

My opinion is that I noticed a slight difference after the first treatment, but don't notice a difference between the second two treatments.  So definitely worth trying, since I got a subtle result and it was an inexpensive at home attempt.   

What do you guys think?  

Does anyone else have a natural at-home hair lightening method I should try?  

After {another} week of traveling for work, I was definitely ready to eat a home cooked meal.  Of course, I found myself once again barely having any food in the fridge, but I did manage to throw together something really yummy this morning - Peanut Butter Berry French Toast!  I'll bet most of us already have the ingredients on hand to make this.  

This looks luxurious, right?  And it was pretty easy!  I wouldn't have time to do this during the work week, but on a weekend morning I definitely don't mind taking 15 minutes to make something special.  Cooking french toast for one person actually works out quite well for me because I can fit exactly two pieces of bread in my frying pan.  I never know what to do when making french toast for a group - I usually end up putting the done pieces of french toast in the oven to keep warm while I'm frying up the other pieces. 

For Peanut Butter Berry French Toast, simply start with 2 pieces of French Toast per person.   

And then smear on some peanut butter.  I use Trader Joe's Unsalted Crunchy.  Mmmm.  

Finally, spoon some warm berry mixture on each piece, and devour!  

Peanut Butter Berry French Toast

Ingredients (for 1 serving):  
2 pieces whole wheat bread 
1 egg
1/4 cup milk
cinnamon to taste 
peanut butter
1/2 cup frozen berries 
1 T water
honey or other sweetener
1/2 t corn starch 

First, prep your berry sauce.  Add about 1/2 cup frozen berries to a small sauce pan.  I used Trader Joe's Very Cherry Berry Mix.  Mix the corn starch and cold water together, then add to the sauce pan.  Add sweetener if desired, I used about 1/2 teaspoon of honey. Heat on low heat, stirring occasionally, until mixture is warm & thick.  This takes about 8-10 minutes.  

While your berry mixture is cooking, prepare french toast by combining milk, egg, & cinnamon in a bowl, then dunk the bread into the mixture, coating well.  Add cooking spray to a nonstick frying pan over medium heat, and cook the bread until golden brown on both sides.  

One the french toast is ready, put it on a plate and top with the peanut butter & berries.    

I started my week by making something new and creative:  Crispy Breaded Tofu Strips!!  These were yummy, and a great alternative to your average tofu dish.  I have been obsessed lately with recipes from the blog Oh She Glows.      

And for the un-creative, a few of my usuals.  Pacific Low Sodium Tomato Roasted Red Pepper Soup, and a grilled cheese.  

Scrambled eggs and sweet potato wedges with ketchup:  

A dinner I always seem to order, no matter what restaurant I'm in:  Fish Tacos.  These are from Duckworth's in Mooresville.  I ate both tacos, but passed on the chips.     

And finally for a weight loss update:  A few weeks ago I wrote about the fact that I can't seem to lose these extra 6 pounds, and the saga continues.  I was talking to my sister about it last night, and I decided that when I'm traveling for work, I should try to stay in maintenance mode and then focus on weight loss when I'm at home.  

Do you guys remember this episode of Friends where Rachel Green starts smoking because she doesn't want to miss out on the "smoke break" work conversations?  I know how she feels, only with food/drinks.  

{Image Source}

I am NOT going to retreat to my hotel room and eat carrot sticks by myself during work trips just to lose weight, I am going to join my colleagues for dinner and drinks.  And if I have a chance to meet some friends for dinner, I'm going! The best I can do is try and choose a relatively healthy meal, and then stick to 1 or 2 glasses of wine. 

It also helps to be dressed up, it's easier to resist chowing down on a messy plate of nachos when you're wearing dry clean only clothes!!  So, we'll see how the next few weeks go, I am frustrated, but I also realize that I can't win them all.  

Happy Saturday!  Yesterday, after being snowed in for 3 days, I was finally able to venture outside of my apartment and go into the office in the afternoon.  I have never been so happy to see my cubicle!  

When I was doing meal planning for this past week, I only planned through Wednesday because I thought I was going out of town for work.  I ended up being stuck in the house, so I needed to figure out some meals with the few grocery items I had on hand.  

Throwing together meals is not new to me - meal planning can sometimes be overwhelming, so I usually find that I only plan meal from Sunday - Thursday.  I figure that on Friday, I'll have leftovers and randomness to pull something together.  Over time, I have come to enjoy being creative and consider it a challenge to cook a "scrounge meal."  Plus, I can guarantee that any scrounge meal I throw together at home is healthier than stopping off for takeout. 

Here are a few of the meals I threw together during my snow entrapment:   

Oh Charlotte, how did you go from being 60 degrees over the weekend, to this?  9:30 AM:    

And 2:00 PM:  

When I was a kid, I used to LOVE fettuccine alfredo.  Creamy, cheesy, rich & delicious, I know that a ton of people love this decadent dish.  When I was in my late teens and started having symptoms of IBS, I knew that I could never eat fettuccine alfredo again.  

A couple weeks ago, I saw a recipe for alfredo sauce that is made with cauliflower instead of heavy cream & cheese, and I knew I had to try it.  I adapted my dish from the version on Oh She Glows, a vegan blogger who always posts yummy looking recipes.

For the past few months, I have been obsessed with the idea of trying a bunch of restaurants from the Charlotte Magazine 25 Best Restaurant List.  Since I know that I am going to be traveling for work a lot this year, I decided that Matt & I should commit to eating at five of these restaurants throughout the course of 2014.  And then, once Charlotte Magazine publishes the new list in December, we can spend 2015 visiting the restaurants on the new list.  Sounds like a great plan, right?  

The first restaurant I decided to try from the list was Halcyon- Flavors from the Earth.  It's located in Uptown inside the Mint Museum.  It would be super fun to visit in the warmer weather, they had a nice balcony outside with tables.  When Matt & I visited last Saturday the weather was decent, but not quite warm enough for outdoor dining.    

Happy Saturday!  I have a fantastic weekend ahead of me- my family is here to visit.  I miss Sadie so much. And my husband too of course.  :)   

The great news is that after living apart for 5 months, Sadie and Matt will finally be joining me here in Charlotte in early March.  Yes!!  Since I am here by myself, and don't have most of my furniture or my family here yet, I sometimes get the sense that I am just here temporarily, and there will be a time when I need to go back to Pennsylvania.  I know, it doesn't make sense, but I think it still seems surreal to me that I am actually living in the city that I love.  

The other thing that seems surreal is how mild the winter has been!  SO much better than the PA winters.  I spent a few days in Detroit for work this week, and realized how much I don't miss the months of frigid cold. But check out my rental car I had in Detroit you guys- it was super awesome.  I remember as a teenager thinking how cool it would be to have a Mustang, and 15 years later I finally get to drive one, haha.   

Confession: I have not been doing what I always talk about on this blog- planning meals and being prepared.  I have found myself "grabbing" lunch or dinner in way too many situations.  Living alone and cooking meals for myself has not gone as well as I had hoped.  This weekend, my parents were here in Charlotte to visit, and unfortunately my fridge was in its usual state of emptiness.    

My strategy, as always, was to to make the healthiest choices possible, but still including wiggle room to have a few treats.  On Friday night, we enjoyed a casual dinner at Jason's Deli.  I ordered half a Zucchini Grillini sandwich, which is a yummy combo of veggies, cheese, & hummus.  On the side, I had a cup of Southwest Chicken Chili, and some fruit.     

A lot of times when I am thinking about what to make for dinner, I think about recent restaurant meals I've liked and how I can recreate them at home.  Over the Christmas holiday, I had some delicious lettuce wraps during a lunch at Houlihan's.  The problem is that the Houlihan's lettuce wraps are chicken-based, and as a flexitarian I don't usually prepare meat for myself at home.  The solution?  Use tofu & lots of veggies.    

You can see my ingredients below:  tofu, veggies, lettuce, brown rice, stuff for easy Thai peanut sauce.  You guys know I am obsessed with my peanut sauce, and even entered it into a recipe contest (which I didn't win, but that's besides the point, right?).