Pizza Night

So, my hubby snapped a picture of us before we headed out for our walk.  Here we are:

 

Friday night is traditional homemade pizza night at our house.  My hubby usually takes over in the kitchen and I get to relax and enjoy!  Mine really hit the spot tonight, I suppose it’s because I was pretty hungry, but also because of the TLC he put into mine!

Just low-fat mozzerella on a whole-wheat pita with a side of green beans, but it was great!

Ok, off to watch some 30 Rock…I am craving a small sweet treat, so stay tuned…

Desktop Dining Day

TGIF!   I say this and it has only been a four day week…but still, we’re always thankful for Fridays, right?  My hubby got the day off of work, so he stayed up late last night and fell asleep on the couch.  I feel awful about saying this, but I slept SO well!  I had one of those night’s sleep where you wake up to the alarm mid-dream halfway wondering where you are.  Anyway, I got right up and ventured to the gym. 

Pre-workout snack:

At the gym, I did 30 minutes on the eliptical trainer followed by 35 minutes of  solid core work (including push-ups).  It was a good workout.

I ventured into the office and there were just two of eight of us in today.  I cooked my pumpkin oats “microwave style” and they turned out pretty well.  I used 1/2 c. oatmeal, 1/2 c. soymilk, 1/4 c. water, 1/3 c. pumpkin, 2 tsp. brown sugar, and cinnamon, cloves, and ginger. 

It was pretty dead around work as I imagine most people took the day to recoup and whatnot, and by the afternoon I was jonesing to get outside and play.  It was nearly 60* here and looked gorgeous!  

Around 11:30 I got hungry and decided on part of my lunch…I ate 1/2 pb on honey whole wheat, carrots, and about 2/3 a grapefruit.  It tasted delicious and satisfied me until 3pm!

For my afternoon snack I decided on a greek yogurt mixed with homemade cranberry sauce.  I just followed the instructions on the back of the Ocean Spray bag but instead of 1 cup of sugar I used a little less than 2/3 cup of maple syrup.  It came out so well and tasted almost like dessert!

I got popped by the video store on the way home from work and picked up THREE (count ‘em) 30 Rock dvd’s.  We can keep them for 10 days, so I figured I’d rent them all!  I guess I got a little Tina Fey happy.  When I got home, my hubby and I took the dog for a nice walk as the sun was setting.  It was still pretty warm and we walked for about 35 minutes.  I had a handful of Kashi crackers before heading out and a few raisins.

Ok, I’ll post dinner soon!

Two Zero Zero Nine off with a BANG

Today ended up being a great day.  Nearly perfect, might I add!  I’m happy to kick of the New Year with such a bang. 

After my oats settled in my tummy for a little bit, I tested the temp (nearly 50*) and decided to take the dog for a nice 5 miler.  I ended up running in shorts!  For January 1 in Colorado, that’s pretty good.   It felt so good to get outside and enjoy the fresh air.

The fridge is looking a little bare, but I decided on a delicious lunch of leftover butternut squash soup, whole wheat toast topped with a laughing cow, a grapefruit, and raw veggies.  I think my eyes were bigger than my hunger because I left nearly all the grapefruit, and bits of both the soup and veggies.  It was my last container of leftover soup.  It was super quick and easy and came out so well.  The recipe is posted  here. 

I cleaned up and curled up with my book on the couch while my hubby was enthralled with football.  I’m reading Unaccustomed Earth by Jhumpa Lahara.  If you haven’t read any of her books, you should!  She’s an amazing author.

I decided to forgo the 2pm Alignment Intensive yoga class and opted to go to a Hot Power Fusion class at 4pm instead.  It was INCREDIBLE!  The class was relatively small and incorporated poses from both Bikram/Hot Yoga and Power Vinyasa.  I left feeling so energetic and invigorated. 

Funny thing, though, that some of you might be able to relate to.  You know when you’re doing floor poses (cobra, floor bow, etc) and between sets you relax your hands by your sides and rest one ear on the mat?  Well, the teacher didn’t give us a direction, and each time I placed my ear down, I was looking my neighbor straight in the eye!  When I flipped my head over to try the other way, I found myself face-to-face with the other neighbor.  It was pretty humorous.

When I got home, I was starving, and had a small bowl of shredded wheat with a handful of raisins and a baby spoon of peanut butter to tide me over ’till dinner.

After showering and whatnot, I began to fix dinner.  We had a package of tofu and a sweet potato to use up, so I made a pretty sizable scramble with zucchini, red pepper, onion, spinach, sweet potato, and the cubed tofu.  I had my leftover grapefruit from lunch on the side.

It came out ok, not great, and I found my mouth wanting something else, so I made a cup of hot cocoa w/ 1 c. silk light, 1 heaping tsp cocoa, and 1 tsp of agave (sorry, I sipped it right up before I could snap a photo).  It hit the spot!

Ok, off to bed.  G’night!

Happy New Year’s Day!

Ok, here’s my first official post of 2009 and the kickoff to my regular postings and my blog-for real!  I’ve been testing the waters over the last few months and now I feal ready and excited to commit. 

I slept in very late (10am!!) which felt so good, considering I went to be at like 2:15am.  I fixed a quick breakfast this morning of oatmeal made with 1/2 c. oats, 1/2 c. plain lt soy, 1/2 c. water, 1/2 banana, 1 tsp. brown sugar (I topped it with about 1 T. of peanut butter, but after having a bite or two, decided I didn’t feel like it and ate around it).  I also had 2/3 mug of coffee w/ a splash of soymilk.

My hubby is planning on watching football all day, so I have planned:

• Run/walk with the dog
• Yoga (a class labled “Alignment Intensive” Core Power 2 for 75 min)
• Cleaning
• Returning running shoes (wrong size) if Sport’s Authority is open.

See you later for lunch and dinner!

A Lesson in Goal Setting

Wow, this week really flew by!  I can’t believe that Christmas came and left and we’re roundin’ the corner to 2009.  I’m excited and hopeful that the New Year will bring great things.

My New Years “goals” (I’m using goals instead of resolution because of the bad stigma attached) are as follows:

1.  Walk the dog at at least 3 days per week for a minimum of 30 minutes during the cold/dark months.
2.  Find my most healthy weight by feeding my body regularly and rejecting the diet mentality.
3.  Stop picking at my cuticles.
4.  Aim for 8 hours of sleep each night.
5.  Keep in touch with family and friends better.
6.  Blog daily.

There.  I got ‘em down.  

Experts say that goals should be SMART:

S-Specific
M-Measurable
A-Attainable
R-Realistic
T-Timely

When looking back over my goals, I realized that only my first two follow the rules of “smart” goals.  I guess I’m going to have to work on my last few and doctor them up a bit!  Being the overachiever I tend to be, I can think of dozens more goals to add to the list.  I suppose I should get them all down and then prioritize from there!  I’ll work on that…at least I have 3 more days to do so!  The good news is that you don’t have to use New Years as the only time to set goals.

Ok, off to cook some dinner…on the menu…EASY!  Whole wheat pasta with marinara, steamed broccoli, and some dessert!

Pumpkin Pie for Breakfast…

So, breakfast wasn’t my best effort.  Well, it could have been that I waited until I was too hungry, but the bowl was kinda…um…boring.

This bowl included:
1/2 c. oats, 1/2 c. skim milk, 1/2 c. water, 1/2 c. canned pumpkin
1 T. maple syrup
cinnamon, ginger, cloves

I’m going to try and drink a bunch of water and see if that will help me to feel satisfied.  I’m staving off a cold, so I know there’s not much exercise in my future, so I’m trying to just be mindful and not overconsume today. 

Ok…more later!

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL!

Happy Christmas morning!  What a good one it has been for me so far.  I’m still feeling under the weather, but am happy that today can be relaxing.  I plan on reading a lot and just taking it nice and easy.    Since the hubby’s parents left, it is just the two of us, but that should be very nice.  They spent the early part of the week and last weekend with us to celebrate Christmas, as they had to work tomorrow.  It was a great visit and it actually has been wonderful to just be the two (three including the dog) of us!

For Christmas Brunch I ate:  scrambled eggs (1 egg/1 white), 1 slice GH honey whole wheat toast with some jam, 1 clementine, 1/2 small banana, and 1.5 slices of turkey bacon.  It was a DELICIOUS feast.  I was telling the hubby that I like doing food with more substance for brunch because it seems to hold you well!  

Ok, off to relax…I’ll check in later.

Christmas Eve Part Deux

After eating a quick lunch of black bean chili (more like soup), a whole wheat tortilla with 2 T. low-fat mozerella, and a big piece of celery, the hubby and I bundled up and headed out to do some final Christmas shopping. 

The mall was not as packed as I thought it would be and we ended up having a grand old time.  I finished getting a few stocking stuffers, and the hubby bought me a really nice emersion blender!  It’s a Cuisinart and has a mini food chopper, whisk attachment, and the emersion blender.  It’s AWESOME!  He joked that we couldn’t fit it in my stocking (which is usually only what we do for eachother at Christmas) and I told him that I would make it fit!  I decided to make some butternut squash soup for Chirstmas and will get to use my new blender!  I didn’t take a real picture, but this is what it looks like:

On the way home, I snacked on an apple and had 1/2 serving of TLC crackers to tide me over.  The hubby made some green chili for dinner and it was delicious!  We used the mini chopper part of the new blender to puree the chilis (a combination of poblanos, serranos, and habeneros) which became the base.  I’ll post the recipe because it was healthy and fabulous. 

After dinner, I made some brownies ala request of the hubby and some gingerbread cookies for me!  I will post that recipe too.  I had two with a cup of sugar free hot cocoa to which I added a drop of peppermint extract.  They were delicious and rounded out the night!

Ok…more in the morning…Merry Christmas!

Christmas Eve Day!

Good morning!  Well, today started off better than yesterday.  Although I’m not feeling 100%, I’m feeling a heck of a lot better!  I got a nice amount of sleep and instead of feeling like I want to die, I’m feeling a little stir crazy, which is always a good sign.  My hubby is talking of going out for a run with the doggy and the feelings of jealousy started to boil up.  I just need to remember to BE PATIENT! 

I started the day with a mug of delicious black coffee.  My mother-in-law bought some dark roast that is phenomenal.  It tastes perfect black, and doesn’t have any bitter aftertaste or anything!  In fact, it’s way better black than with a shot of milk.  I love that!

For breakfast, I decided on some traditional banana oatmeal.  I really liked how it came out, even if it didn’t have a ton of creativity involved. 

I used:

• 1/2 cup oats, 1/2 cup skim milk, 1/2 cup water
• 1 small banana (1/2 mixed in, 1/2 sliced on top)
• 1 tsp. brown sugar
• splash vanilla extract

I ate it out of my little pale yellow bowl with a mini spoon and it tasted delicious!  It came in at 287 calories, including the coffee.  I’ve filled up my SIGG, so I’m off to a good start of water drinking!

Mid morning, I had a clementine to hold me over until lunch, weighing in around 35 calories, I believe!

 

More later…

Sick Day

Well, I think I have the flu.  I should have listened to my body yesterday when I was driving to the gym and craving crawling under the covers instead.  Oh well.  I woke up in the middle of the night burning up with a horrid sore throat.  My body felt like it was bogged down with sandbags, and I truly thought I was dying.  I guess that’s how you know you’re sick.

Luckily, I could work from home today.  I decided to go easy on myself and have low expectations considering my hunger and fullness cuse would be off.  I started my day with a large glass of iced orange juice and a few tylenols.  I had a small mug of coffee at one point, a small bolw of pumpkin oats, 2/3 a banana spread with peanut butter, and a small cup of black bean chili, some cornbread, and a little greek yogurt with cranberry sauce.  It’s weird but I still feel pretty hungry considering I am under the weather.  Oh well…I’m just going to try to stay mindful.

Until later…