Special Delivery

After work I went to the gym and got a great workout in. I ellipticaled for 30 minutes and then did a pyramid strength workout from Pinterest that focused on upper body. It included planks, arm curls, pushups, dips, and more. I will have to dig this one so I can post it for all ya’ll.

As I pulled into our driveway after the gym, I noticed the UPS lady was at our house. What were they delivering to me? Keep reading and you shall see! But first things first.

Bachelor is on… still rooting for Casey B!

I have a belly full of home-made tomato soup with crackers and cheddar cheese. This turned out AMAZING! I loved it. As I said last night, I will be posting that recipe for you.

And am in the process of activating my IPhone4S BABY! I wanted to hug the UPS lady but I resisted. I am pumped!

That’s Dana’s manly hand btw, not mine.

My old phone was on it’s last limb. I was lucky if I could text on it because the keypad was so shot. It gave me a lot of headaches and tested my patience often.  Needless to say I am ecstatic about this new phone. Dana is helping me get situated with it and next step is for me to start entering in a million phone numbers (because I have a million friends, duh, pahhaha just kidding) and learn how to navigate this bad boy. I have never even had internet on my phone before. Holy cow. I am moving up in this world, and getting caught up with the rest of the world.

I am so distracted right now I better get going. I have some learning to do. I hope everyone had a good Monday. Good night!

Continue Reading Special Delivery

Game Day Recipe Recap

Morning!

MMMm breakfast was a bowl of greek yogurt with honey, banana, and Peanut Butter Multigrain Cheerios. It has to be a good day because I had a good breakfast right? One can only hope!

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Quick recap from yesterday. Later in the afternoon after going through some bins in the basement, we turned on the puppy bowl for Moose. His kind of Super bowl.  He was really into it, see him watching the “game”?! Love this photo so much.

I spent a whole lot of time in the kitchen yesterday whipping up our Super Bowl snacks and Dana did an awesome job keeping up with the mega dishes!

At game time I plated up some goodies for myself: chicken bites, bean dip, guacamole (recipes below), sugar snap peas, Blue Corn with flaxseed tortilla chips, and home-made zucchini and potato chips. I went back for seconds of some more chips and guac.

I didn’t really tune in to the game until the half time show (way to go Madonna!) but then watched most of the last half.

Anyway, here are my Super Bowl recipes. I tried keeping everything healthy. Enjoy!

Baked Chicken Poppers

Baked Chicken Poppers

Ingredients

  • 1 boneless skinless chicken breast, cut into bite sized pieces
  • 3/4 cup Fiber One Original
  • dash of onion powder
  • 1/3 cup egg white
  • salt and pepper to taste

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400°F; coat baking sheet with cooking spray (I laid aluminum foil down first, then sprayed it for less clean up)

2. Break down Fiber One in food processor until ground; pour cereal onto plate; add a dash of onion powder

3. Pour egg whites into small bowl and line up assembly line (L to R): chicken, egg white, cereal, pan

4. Drop chicken one at a time into egg mixture, then coat in cereal, and place on baking sheet. Repeat until all pieces are coated.

5. Spray chicken with cooking spray; sprinkle with salt and pepper.

6. Bake for 20 minutes.

Serve with warm with honey  mustard, ketchup, barbecue sauce, light ranch, or your favorite dipping sauce. These were really good–I wasn’t sure how they would turn out but they were winners!

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Green Chili Bean Dip

Green Chili Bean Dip

Ingredients

  • 1/2 small white onion, diced
  • 4 oz can diced green chilies
  • 16 oz can reduced sodium pinto beans; rinsed, drained
  • 1 tsp garlic powder
  • 1/2 tsp cumin
  • 1/4 cup salsa
  • salt and pepper to taste

Directions

1. Saute onion until translucent

2. Add chilies, beans, garlic powder, and cumin; mix to combine

3. Remove from heat; place in food processor

4. Process until smooth; adding salt and pepper to taste

5. Pour into bowl; stir in 1/4 cup salsa

Serve hot or cold with tortilla chips, sugar snap peas, or your favorite veggies

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Guacamole Salsa (with peas)

Guacamole Salsa (with peas)

Ingredients

  • 1 cup peas, food processed to smooth
  • 1 ripe avocado, diced
  • 1 cup corn
  • 1 lime, juiced
  • 1 Roma tomato, diced
  • 1/4 cup red onion, finely chopped
  • 1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
  • 1 1/2 tsp garlic powder
  • 1/4 tsp cumin
  • 1/4 tsp onion powder
  • salt and pepper to taste

Directions

Mix ingredients until combined. Chill before serving. Serve with tortilla chips. SO GOOD!

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I did baked up some home-made potato chips and zucchini chips for the game as well. We used the mandolin to cut thin slices then baked at 425° for I don’t know how long. We actually had to keep adjusting the temperature of the oven because we couldn’t get the chips to cook evenly. They tasted awesome but because of the experimenting with the temperature and not knowing exactly how long they baked, I won’t be able to give you an exact recipe. Sorry bout that! I’ll get ya next time.

In the midst of all of the super bowl snack prep, I also whipped up a batch of tomato soup for a weeknight dinner this week, as well as some energy balls, and pulled chicken for Dana’s lunches this week (and probably my lunches too). I told you I was a busy lady in the kitchen today!

I will share those recipes later this week. I didn’t want to bombard you with 5,000 recipes right off the bat Monday morning. 🙂

What a wonderful weekend. I am so happy I got to spend so much time with my honey. I felt like we had a very productive weekend. I’ll check in with you all later! Happy Monday.

Continue Reading Game Day Recipe Recap

Super Bowl Sunday and A Day in the Kitchen

Good morning! Happy Super Bowl Sunday!

Catching you up from last night….

I marinated two tilapia filets. The marinade included 3 Tablespoons lower sodium soy sauce, 1 Tablespoon honey, 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder, and 1/4 teaspoon ground dry ginger.

I let Dana cook them up on the stovetop because I didn’t want to smell fishy since we were meeting up with family soon after. My hair absorbs smells so quickly and I didn’t feel like nauseating myself and everyone else the rest of the night. He was more than happy to help me cook…take a look for yourself! All smiles. 😛

We served the honey soy tilapia with some mukimame (also a soy product!) and some brown rice with soy sauce. It was a soy kind of a dinner I guess. Ha! The tilapia turned out wonderfully. I usually need to put some kind of sauce on my tilapia, but I didn’t with this recipe. It was so easy too! Give it a shot.

It was a light dinner because I knew we would be snacking and having a couple of cocktails later at my aunt and uncle’s. Upon arrival my uncle made me one of his famous margaritas! He used light margarita mix with a splash of orange juice so really he made us “skinny” margaritas. I truly appreciate that since I am trying to watch my waist a little bit these days! I also snacked on some chips and cheese and crackers with a light cream cheese spread. I negated the skinny margarita with the chips and cheese, but I don’t care. I enjoyed every bite of the salty snacks.

We had a great time visiting and catching up with my mom and dad, my aunt and uncle (Chip and Patti), and their kids. It is always so great to see them. I have the best family!

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Sunday Morning

First off, I love Sunday mornings. I especially love Sunday mornings when I know I don’t have much on the agenda for the day. I started my morning off on the right foot by heading down to the treadmill for a quick two-mile run. After that I through a load of laundry in the wash, folded clothes from the dryer, went through a bin of old clothes from the basement, clipped coupons, and eventually came around to making myself some breakfast.

Fresh blueberries, strawberries, and banana topped with a dollop of greek yogurt sweetened with honey. It tasted like dessert it was so creamy and sweet.

Next on the agenda will be finding an at home strength workout on Demand. I am hoping to find a lower body workout including lots of squats. Make it burn baby! I am in a productive mood today.

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Super bowl plans include staying home with the boys and snacking on some real good treats. I am not the type of person who can sit and watch the whole game, so it will be nice to be home so that I can get some stuff done around the house. I’m hoping this will include going through some more bins in the basement. I am not a hoarder but I do have a lot of junk that I do not need. Like Dana says, “just let go.” I need him with me when I’m going through my old clothes so he can help me justify why I DON’T need that swimsuit anymore that would most likely cover only one half of my behind. Kidding, but seriously, I do have a hard time letting go of old clothes.

On the menu for tonight:

  • Guacamole-made with avocado AND peas
  • Healthy bean dip
  • Home made sweet potato chips and possibly zucchini chips depending on how motivated I am
  • Baked chicken poppers
  • Home made caramel corn

We will see if all of these things actually get made. I also want to make up a batch of tomato soup to have for a week night meal this week. It sounds like I will be in the kitchen all day. I LOVE IT! I am feeling ambitious. I feel like someone injected a triple espresso into my bloodstream. I better stay on top of this.

I will be sharing ALL of these recipes with you once I have developed them! I am excited to get creative in the kitchen. Have a wonderful Sunday everyone! Much love to all!

Continue Reading Super Bowl Sunday and A Day in the Kitchen

A Colorful Lunch

How is everyone’s Saturday?

I ended up running 3 miles on the treadmill this morning. I think I have the winter running blues. I am so bored of running inside. After my run I did 5 sets up 10 knee pushups and some ab work.

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Lunch was very colorful! I started off munching on these while I decided what I wanted for lunch.

Then through this little guy together. In the mix was mini bell peppers, tomato, green olives, and Laughing Cow Swiss cheese wedge. I topped it with some honey mustard dressing and called it a lunch.

Off to run errands. I packed an apple just in case I needed a snack while we were out (which I ended up eating). We ran to Target to get some Super bowl food for tomorrow, Costco where I had an AMAZING chocolate cake sample, and the Mall to stop at Bath and Body Works and get their 5 for $15 antibacterial hand soap. One is missing because is out in the kitchen already!

For dinner I have some tilapia marinating in a honey, soy sauce, garlic powder, and ginger mixture. Time to cook it up so we can hit the road to my aunt and uncles!

Oh and real quick. I FINALLY finished the Help. I loved it and highly recommend it. I can’t wait to see the movie now! I refused to see it until I had finished reading the book.

K, I need to go now. Sorry for the condensed version of my day today!

Good night!

Continue Reading A Colorful Lunch

This is My Confession

G’ Morning! It was so nice to sleep in this morning and not have to be woken up by an alarm clock! I’m up, had some breakfast and a cup of coffee, and now gearing up for a little run. To be perfectly honest though I don’t have much drive to go run right now. I’m going to do it, I just don’t wannaaaa.

Breakfast: Banana and Peanut butter with cinnamon and my morning mo jo lovingly placed on a perfectly pink valentine tableclotch.

I’m on my second cup of coffee now. I decided I want to enjoy my Saturday morning leisurely before I tackle the day.

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Last night, I was dead on in saying I ruined my appetite with all of those almonds. We got home at about 7 pm after running our errands and I wasn’t very hungry yet. Eventually I came around though and put together a summery salad (in the dead of winter).

Mixed greens topped with fresh strawberries, blueberries, and feta cheese. In the mini food processor I made a homemade viniagrette by adding 5 frozen (thawed) strawberries and 1 Tablespoon of balsamic vinegar. I whirled it together and made a refreshing salad topper. This is one of my absolute favorite salads in the summer and it was nice to be reminded of the sunny season through this dish.

For dessert an hour later I ate a single serving box of Fruit Loops, only 100 calories but 12 g of sugar! Yikes! They are made with whole grain now so at least they have something good (and 3 g of fiber). Anyway, I also had a nice little glass of Tazo Chai tea with a splash of creamer.

We actually did not end up playing games last night. Dana was a little too  intimidated I think. Kidding. We decided to start talking about our plans for an upcoming vacation we have planned at the end of February to……beautiful Southern California! We are going to be visiting three of our friends that live out there and I am ecstatic. More to come on this later. 🙂

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Peanut butter confession time.

Okay, so you all know that I have a slight obsession love for peanut butter. Well, about 4 years ago, a great friend of mine from college, who also happens to love pb as much as I do, told me about this product she found called PB2. She said she found it online, and that it is a powdered peanut butter. They remove most of the fat so that there’s only 1.5 grams of fat and 45 calories per 2 Tablespoon.

Initial thoughts were gross, powdered peanut butter? That can’t be good. Only 45 calories though and 1.5 grams of fat? I don’t know. Completely skeptical. We decided to give it a go together.

We followed the directions and mixed 2 Tablespoons of the powdered PB to 1 Tablespoon of water, and we tasted. Initial thoughts were that it was way different than full fat delicious peanut butter. The texture was lighter, not as sticky, and it had a more subtle flavor. But hmmm….I kind of like. It grew on me.

The only ingredients are roasted peanuts, sugar and salt (1 grams of sugar and 94 mg of sodium per 2 Tablespoons which is not bad). It has 5 grams of protein per serving and regular peanut butter has 7 grams, so a little bit less, but still, it’s good.

I’m not saying I don’t eat regular peanut butter anymore because I do. I switch it up though. Pb2 is a little spendy, almost $5 per jar, but it’s kind of like a treat to me. When I feel like my peanut butter intake is getting a little out of hand, I order some of this stuff and it helps slow me down a bit. I can’t just open up the top and dig in. If I want it I actually have to make it. We do always have the natural peanut butter around the house as well because I’m not going to give that stuff up but I do really enjoy the taste of PB2 as well.

I really like the PB2 because I can add spices to it such as cinnamon, and make a cinnamon peanut butter which is delicious on bananas. Also, you can change the consistency of the pb by adding more or less water to your liking.

PB2 is not in many grocery stores in my area, so I end up ordering it online. You can check it out for yourself at http://www.bellplantation.com/. They have recipes on their website too which are fun.

And that’s my confession. Don’t judge.

Off to run!

Continue Reading This is My Confession

Nuts for Nuts

I am so happy it is the weekend! I cannot wait to relax and enjoy the two glorious days ahead.

My day started off with a bit of indecisiveness. I really wanted peanut butter and banana, but I also really wanted cereal. What to do? Throw it all in a bowl, add a splash of almond milk, and you have the best of both worlds! That’s proof that sometimes being an indecisive person can be a good thing.

I made to sure to get my peanut butter banana fix in at breakfast because I knew I wouldn’t be having it at lunch (if you can believe that). My coworkers and I decided to go out to lunch at a Bakery and Cafe called Patrick’s. Patrick’s is connected to Bachman’s and the inside is just beautiful. There are fresh flowers everywhere, the ceiling is made up of some material (like the stuff used in metrodomes maybe?) where a little bit of sunlight shines through and lightens the room naturally. The menu wasn’t ginormous but still offered a nice selection of soups, salads, and sandwiches. They do also have bakery items but I didn’t feel like tempting myself so I didn’t really look at it.

I decided on one of my all time favorite soups, French Onion. It was topped with a large crouton melted with what tasted like gruyere cheese but I am not for sure. On the side a nice hunk o’ baguette.

Pretty with the table linens and natural light, huh? I was pretty excited about that. I am working on my camera skills you know.  The soup was pretty good, a little too salty though. I have very high expectations when it comes to my french onion soup though because my mom makes DYNAMITE french onion. She will be modest and say, “o, goodness really it’s so easy, but thank you.” But really, hers is the best. I only spent $4.00 at lunch today and it definitely held me over long enough to get home and stuff my face have a few almonds.

Let’s talk about almonds for a second. Clearly, along with peanut butter, I really enjoy almonds. I eat them every day pretty much. It must be their slight saltiness and crunchy texture that really get me. They are a good source of protein (6 g per 1/4 cup), they do have some fiber (3 g per 1/4 cup) not to mention that evidence suggests that eating 1.5 ounces of nuts daily can help lower your risk of heart disease. HOWEVER, it is important to watch your portions with these bad boys because they do pack a load of fat at 15 g per 1/4 cup. Many of these fats are the “good” kinds but you still want to be careful with portion control. Yea, I’m still working on that one myself. Sorry Dana if I ruined my appetite for dinner. That’s what you call a tangent my friends. There will be lots of them. The moral of the story is I am Nuts 4 Nuts (just like the vendors in New York right Bets?). I am a pretty nutty gal.

One more important bit to share with you. I resisted sweets (specifically doughnuts with chocolate frosting and sprinkles) again today for the third day. I am very proud. Now if only the pants would start fitting a little more comfortably again. It takes times, I know.

Off to run a few errands then we’ll see if I’ve conjured up an appetite for dinner by then. Then it’s relaxation time including kicking butt in SkipBo, Sequence, and maybe Rummy. I don’t know. We’ll see if we have time. 😛 Har har har.

Continue Reading Nuts for Nuts

A Taste of Tuscany

First and foremost I have to say that my husband is a genius. He fixed my computer and I can now transfer pictures onto my computer from my camera. THANKS BABE!

This morning I actually got out of bed early to do my workout before work. When the alarm clock went off at 5:30 am I thought meh, I don’t know about this. I laid there playing the contemplation game in my head. Should I reset my alarm and sleep for another hour? Should I get up and just do it  Nike style? I don’t want to get up. Remember how good you feel after a workout and how much energy it gives you throughout the day? After about five minutes of contemplating I realize I am still lying there awake. Just get up. So I did.

I headed downstairs to the treadmill and started off with a nice little 4.0 walk. I slowly began cranking up the speed to 5, 5.5, 6.0, then felt comfortable at 6.4 for a while. I decided to run spurts of increased pace, I believe they’re called fartleks. I would crank up the speed to 7.4 and run at that pace for a song, then bring it back down to 6.4, and I did this little combination for 3.5 miles. I got real sweaty this morning and I am SO happy I got out of bed early! Now I don’t have to go to the gym after work.

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Breakfast

Breakfast was a success. I attempted oatless oatmeal again this time with a couple of modifications.

I mixed together 3 tablespoons egg white, 3 tablespoons almond milk, 1/2 tablespoon ground flaxseed, 1/4 teaspoon vanilla, a dash of cinnamon and 1/2 frozen banana that has been thawed. I cooked this mixture on the stove top on low-medium heat for about 3 minutes. I removed from heat and added 1/4 cup blueberries, a little stevia to sweeten, and a touch of brown sugar (because I love the flavor of brown sugar). Voila. The consistency was great and the flavor did not taste like eggs one bit. I also had a small handful of almonds for added protein.

Tasted way better than it looks

Hi ho, hi ho, it’s off to work I go…

Lunch

I decided to stop home for lunch because Dana was going to be home. I ate my packed lunch. Any guesses what it was? Sorry to bore you. But yes, peanut butter banana wrap.

I love seeing him at lunch break!

To jazz up the afternoon at work I brought some Celestial Seasoning’s Black Cherry Berry herbal tea  to sip on. I had never had this kind before but it was GOOOOD! It tasted kind of like fruit punch. That reminds me of kool-aid mustaches as a kid. 😛

Dinner

Another easy dinner tonight. I decided to pull some Rubollita soup out of the freezer that I made about a month ago. Since I made this soup before I started the blog, I didn’t write down the recipe, therefore don’t have a recipe to share with you. However, I will make it in the future again and will no doubt write it all down!

I discovered this wonderfully veggie filled soup when we were in Italy. Julie, a friend of mine, told me I had to try this soup when I was there and I am so glad she recommended it. Rubollita is a hearty Tuscan soup made with bread and lots of veggies. We were at a little Tratorria (a more casual type of dining restaurant) in Florence when I spotted it on the menu and decided to give it a go. It sounded like it was right up my alley. I topped it with fresh parmesan and devoured that bad boy. It was UNBELIEVABLY delicious, healthy, and very filling! I knew this was one I needed to recreate once I got home. So that’s just what I did. To give you an idea of the components of the soup, here are some components of the soup:

  • cabbage
  • tomato
  • onion
  • kale
  • carrot
  • beans
  • chicken stock
  • garlic
  • whole grain bread that has been dried in the oven

The process involves cooking all of the veggies in the stock, simmering, and then adding the bread at the end of the cooking process. You let the bread soak in for about 20 minutes then use an immersion blender to slightly blend the mixture. The outcome does not look the prettiest but it sure does taste good!

Don’t spill….don’t trip….

My bowl was filled to the brim. It tasted just as good as the first time if not better this time around. I love easy dinners like this. I’m thinking I need to whip up a batch of soup this weekend! What kind should I make? Hmm…..Creamy tomato? Pumpkin carrot? We shall see what this brain conjurs up.

I have a raging appetite today so I will no doubt be eating a snack later tonight. I’m off to relax and watch a little Wheel of Fortune! Good night!

Continue Reading A Taste of Tuscany

A big accomplishment

I’m going to keep this short and sweet. My computer is being completely slow and not acting normal at all. Dana was working on it all evening but no such luck. I still can’t transfer photos from our camera to my computer which is super annoying. Anyway, enough of that rant. Womp womppppp.

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Lunch was identical to yesterday. I am really loving the pb banana wraps lately. I will try and branch out again soon to keep things interesting. Maybe.

I had a major accomplishment at work today. I resisted cupcakes. That doesn’t happen very often but I am trying to cut back on the excessive sugar because I have become slightly addicted to the sweet goodness of sugar and want to regain control over my sweet tooth. Plus they weren’t homemade so  I had an easier time saying no. 🙂

A cupcake from Crumbs.
Image via Wikipedia

After work I headed to the gym and ran/walked for 15 minutes on the treadmill, ellipticaled(??!) for 10 minutes, headed to the weights to work on triceps and chest, hopped back on the treadmill to walk it off for 5 more minutes. Then to the mats to work on some abs with the 6 lb medicine ball. Some days I challenge myself with the 8 lb-er and I’m thinking I should really start doing that more often than the 6 lb ball.

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Dinner tonight involved no chopping, cooking, or cleaning. Only a trip down the road to Subway. Dana and I split a $5 footlong. Did you know it’s FebruAny and you can get any foot long sub for FIVE DOLLARS? What a steal, right? We got turkey on 9-grain honey oat bread, pepper jack cheese, loaded veggies, and honey mustard sauce. Dana got wasabi sauce on his half which is a little too spicy for me. Dinner really hit the spot and it was a nice break from the norm.

Like I said, I’m going to keep this short and sweet. I am so frustrated with my computer I can just feel my blood pressure rising. I’m hoping to be back up and running soon. I will keep posting as often as I can. Keep readin!

Hope everyone had a great Wednesday!

Continue Reading A big accomplishment

Four Months Ago

It’s February?! Ohemgeee! Holy cow time flies! Did you know that four months ago from today I married the love of my life? Well believe it!

Melanie + Dana = Love Forever

October 1st, 2011.

According to Dana it’s been the best four months of his life. I believe him and I agree. It has been an amazing first four months. Married life was kick-started with a wonderful, beautiful honeymoon to Italy where we visited Rome, Montalcino (and surrounding areas in Tuscany), Florence, and Cinque Terre. It seems like a dream.

Florence: view from the top

Cinque Terre: Photo in front of the Ligurian Sea

Once we returned home we started tackling thank you cards, writing reviews for our awesome wedding vendors, and unpacking/reorganizing our home with all of our wedding gifts! It took a little while to get back into the swing of normal life and felt very strange to not have a wedding to plan for anymore. It is crazy how much it really consumes your life when planning a big wedding, but in a good way!

Next events to follow were Halloween, my birthday, Thanksgiving, Christmas, friends and family’s birthdays, New Year’s, work…..life. It’s been busy but such is life. I am the luckiest girl to get to spend the rest of my life with  my best friend!

Okay, I’ll stop. I know it’s only a four month anniversary but I am a sappy kind of a person. What kind of shenanigans will I post on our one year anniversary? Oh boy, you’ll be in for a treat I’m sure. But really, I am so happy. I love you, Dana. 🙂

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Breakfast

Breakfast tasted better than normal today. It may have been because I woke up really hungry. In the bowl was blueberries, blackberries, plain non-fat greek yogurt, honey to sweeten it up, and chia seeds. A good breakfast is a sign of a good day ahead. Hope everyone has a happy Wednesday!

What did YOU eat for breakfast this morning? 

Continue Reading Four Months Ago

No Dreadmill

Good evening friends! How was everyone’s Tuesday? Mine was pretty good. Work was smooth and flew by, but what helped my mood the most today was the beautiful weather! We are having some seriously out of season weather here but I LOVE it! I’m not sure what the official temperature was today, but my car said 43° when I was driving home from work at 4:00. Talk about a heat wave! 🙂

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First things first. I didn’t take snap a photo of breakfast this morning because I kinda flopped on it. I was trying to make Oatmeal No Oats again but decided to “wing” it and make  it from memory versus looking at the recipe. Whoops. I forgot the cinnamon and it completely changed the taste and ended up with a slightly egg-y taste. It wasn’t horrible, and I still ate it after adding a little brown sugar and some banana. It was actually kind of good in a weird way, but next time I will remember the cinnamon.

Fast-forward to lunch… I actually decided to pack a lunch today versus coming home. I had an errand to run so I packed a peanut butter banana wrap, Pink Lady apple, mini bell peppers, carrots, clementine, and string cheese. I always pack more than enough when I do pack a lunch because I never know how hungry I will be. Today I ate everything pictured below minus the string cheese and clementine.

After I ran my errand I parked my car in a sunny spot and pulled out my book. I am still reading the Help but am getting towards the end of it. I am loving it still and will probably finish it tonight before bed! When I was driving back to work after break I decided since it was so beautiful outside that I was going to run outside after work. No “dreadmill” today! Alleluia!

It’s been a while since I ran outside due to unkind Minnesota weather and due to the fact that I am pretty much a big baby when it comes to cold temperatures.  After work, I geared up in my long underwear, headband, gloves, and hit the road running. It was challenging but felt SO good to be outside. It makes a world of difference breathing the fresh air, having the constant changing scenery, the entertainment of other walkers and cars, and the challenge of hills. I’m not gonna lie, I didn’t love the hills but they are great for training and building stamina. I think I had a little bit of a hard time maintaining any sort of steady pace because I noticed myself breathing heavier than normal. I have a lot of work to do in order to feel more confident in my running. I will get there though! I know it doesn’t happen overnight.

The good news is I didn’t have any shin pain today. I am hoping I can get another outside run in soon so I can see if I have ditched the shin problems all together or not and then see what happens when I run on the treadmill again. Experiment time!

Get it 40 for forty degrees? Neat.

I will be the first to admit that the picture above totally grosses me out. I am not one of those people who thinks it’s cute to get slobbered on by their dogs. This picture was an accident as I was trying to get Moose to sit with me for a picture. It was too funny not to post though. I immediately washed my face after this happening occurred. Gross. I love you, Moose but honestly you don’t have a clean mouth. I don’t care what everyone says about “dogs mouths are cleaner than human mouths.” I know where that mouth has been. Ew.  Sorry to anyone eating while they are reading this.

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After a nice little shower, I started pulling dinner together. I threw some Alexia’s Sweet Potato Crispy Bite-Sized Puffs, aka tator tots  in the oven along with a whole bunch of broccoli sprinkled with garlic powder. As I waited for the tots to cook, I snacked on some broccoli and  Holy Land  Roasted Red Pepper Hummus which is made in Minneapolis. I love supporting the locals.

So let’s see, I had a starch, a veggie….I needed a protein. How about an egg? Sure, why not. I cooked an egg over-easy and topped it on the roasted broccoli alongside the tator tots. I dabbed a bit of good old Heinz Ketchup on the plate, sprinkled a little parmesan cheese, cracked black pepper, and a dash of salt over the whole rainbow bright dish. Then, dug in.

Random, but good and very pretty! I would do it again! Dessert was a handful or two of Craisins. Now, on to the rest of the evening involving relaxation and possibly a cup of tea. Good night good night, and tomorrow is Wednesday. I love Wednesdays!

Continue Reading No Dreadmill
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