Dishing

First of all, thank you to everyone who has commented on my Hunger Takes No Holiday post - and for everyone who has helped me spread the word! Please keep it up and comment if you haven't already. :)

Workouts

Last night, I intended to take the 6pm spin class, but when I arrived at 5:55pm - all 40 of the bikes were taken!

I was lucky enough to score an Arc Trainer, which I did for 45 mins. Then I did 2000m on the rowing machine which was probably around 10 mins. I figure that I have to start doing some rowing to prepare for the Adventure Race in April. Rowing is tough and makes my back ache.

Food

I mentioned in a previous post that my mom, sister and I went to Let's Dish last Friday. I am not sure if everyone has a Let's Dish around them, so to give you a little background...

• There are different stations set up with the ingredients you need to prep meals on the monthly menu.
• Everything you need is set out for you with directions on how to do each step and what equipment to use.
• The menu changes each month and it is such a fun thing to do with others.
• You take home your meals and freeze them to cook at a later time. (bring a cooler with you)
• The meals are portioned for a family of 6, but you can split the meals if there are only two of you.
• They bake fresh scones and encourage you to bring your own wine to have during breaks.

I use these meals as a supplement to the things I cook myself. I haven't been in awhile - not sure if I have been since I've had this blog actually. They work well for nights when I have no desire to cook or don't have much time.

Funny Story - the first time we ever did it - I thought they were providing FREE wine for everyone and just went up to help myself. This one lady started asking me about my "multiples" and I had no idea what she was talking about. I think I just "smiled and laughed" - the normal response when you have no clue what someone is talking about. I guess a group, "Mothers of Multiples", was there "dishing" and had brought wine for their group. oopsie. ;)

Last night, I made one of the Let's Dish meals - Mandarin Breeze Shrimp with Jasmine Rice.

Tender shrimp marinate with huge chunks of green pepper, onion, whole button mushrooms and mandarin oranges in a delectable sauce that includes a touch of sesame, garlic and hoisin. Sautéed until sizzling, then served on fragrant Jasmine rice.

It was delicious because the mandarin oranges broke apart and became part of the sauce. It was even better leftover today for lunch when all the flavors had more time to hang out.

Nutrition Facts, Servings: 6

*They said sugar content wasn't available, so that makes me think it might be bad. call me a pessimist.

A picture of what is becoming my standard dinner drink. Equal parts of Mango Nectar and Sparkling Water. More mango than sparkle going on last night though.
The following is becoming Kevin's standard drink - Skim Milk and Peanut Butter Puffins. ;)

Breakfast this morning (Tuesday) was a throwback to an old favorite before I got hooked on oatmeal. I am all out of oatmeal. (gasp)

Grilled corn tortillas topped w/ 2% shredded cheddar, scrambled eggs (liquid egg whites and 1 egg), and chipotle hot sauce. A tiny bit of turkey bacon in the background that needed to be used up.

Question for Ya

What is your go-to simple and easy dinner?

Read more...

Weekend Recap

I am playing catch up again, but I wasnt good at taking pictures of everything so this wont be as long! Friday night, I whipped up Annie's shells and cheese with some steamed broccoli. I also threw in a garlic & herb laughing cow cheese wedge for extra flavor - it made it so creamy and tasty!Saturday morning - we woke up to a rainy mess, but wanted to get the run out of the way, so Kevin and I headed out for a 12 mile city run. Oscar came along for the first 2 miles which was a loop around Patterson Park. During this loop, the skies decided to open up on us and it started pouring. The rain was dripping into my eyes and nose and I was miserable. I seriously considered bagging the entire run, but I had friends coming into town and wanted to relax that night!

So after we dropped Oscar off, I changed shirts and we pressed on. The rain was on and off the entire run, but not pouring, so it actually felt good. We ran down along the inner harbor and over into federal hill and back. I couldnt believe our time when we finished - 1:53 - for 12 miles!!! But then, I was skeptical - we have been pretty consistently running around 10 - 10:30min miles for our longer runs, so I went back and checked the course I had mapped out for us and realized I made a mistake. We ran a little under 11 miles - OOPS. So, while we didnt get the 12 miles in - I still feel like it was a good run.

For lunch on Saturday, kevin and I went down to Fins in Canton and grabbed our favorite chicken caesar wraps for lunch - yum. This restaurant recently changed names and owners, but their menu is the same, so we were happy to see the chicken caesar wrap wasnt changed!

I had two friends from college coming into town saturday night (one from NJ and another from WVa) to celebrate Jen's 30th birthday. We started off at Pazo Restaurant, which is this cool tapas restaurant in Harbor East. I was to busy catching up with them and enjoying the AMAZING food to remember to take pictures of everything. I ordered a jorgito, which was a tropical mango-coconut martini. It was so refreshing and light.

For food, we just ordered a bunch of the tapas and shared everything. Our tapas included:

• Empanadas: spiced veal & pork in pastry salsa verde
  
• Braised Lamb Shoulder: chickpea “polenta”, lamb jus
• Crispy Calamari: lime salt, chili, cilantro & aioli
• Pizza Cristina: buffalo mozzarella, tomato & basil
• Malloreddus Pasta: hand-made saffron "gnocchi" with tomato, garlic, basil & roasted eggplant
• Buffalo Mozzarella with mushrooms (cant find the description on the online menu)
  
• Valdeon: (Léon-cow & goat) creamy, sharp, complex

They were all AMAZING. We ordered another plate of the empanadas because they tasted soo good and only came with 2 of them! Here is a picture of us after dinner, full, but not stuffed - ready to head out to federal hill for some bar hopping. We had alot of fun!Around 8am this morning, I woke up and made myself a bowl of Honey Almond Flax GoLean Crunch with peaches and skim milk. Didnt feel hungover at all, which is a good thing - I have learned how to taper off the drinking as the night goes on. ha.At 11am - Kevin whipped up some special brunch tacos that had egg whites, red peppers, onions, jalapeno chicken sausage and asiago cheese stuffed inside a grilled corn tortilla. He seasoned the tortillas with lots of black pepper which gave them an extra kick!Since my legs arent really sore today, we may try to do a bike ride or throw the football around in the park. I also need to head to the grocery store to pick up some ingredients to make my mom's homemade salsa and I want to make some turkey chili! Then it is redskins/cowboys game at 4:15 - GO SKINS!

Read more...

Monday - hopefully not getting sick...

Today I woke up and just didnt feel quite right. It wasnt a cold sickness, but I just felt sort of out of it. And my neck glands on my left side were swollen. Please dont let me get sick!

Breakfast was huevos rancheros. 2 corn tortillas were heated in a dry pan and stuffed with egg beaters, green chiles, shredded cheddar, and some cholula. By the way, these corn tortillas are awesome - I love the taste and 2 of them are only 90 calories, 1g of fat, 2g of protein and barely any sodium!I also had half of a banana.Mid-morning snack was a juicy, ripe pear - it was perfect!I was craving soda and felt like I needed some caffeine, so even thought I brought lunch - i ran out and got a Diet Dr. Pepper to go with everything. I hadnt had one in awhile and just really wanted one!

I made my sandwich with WW soft bread, garlic and herb laughing cow, pickles, and boars head BBQ chicken.Dessert was a slice of my pineapple/banana bread from yesterday. It is extremely moist and I think it tastes great, considering there is no butter or oil! You can see the chunks of pineapple throughout the bread...Afternoon snack was French Vanilla Stoneyfield yogurt with Go Lean Kashi Crunch and almonds mixed in. I love this snack and actually look forward to eating it!After work, I stopped off at my grandmom's house and had a few bites of pork tenderloin and noodles, but didnt eat alot since I was planning to run. Had to have a quick bite though! :)

The run just wasnt in the cards tonight - i had the worst headache and couldnt knock it, so Kevin and I walked oscar around the park and into Fell's Point for over an hour long walk! Probably around 3.5 - 4 miles, it was a beautiful night. The sky had turned into pinks and purples by the time we made it back to the house. My right hamstring was still pretty tight from the 20-miler on saturday, so I stretched out for a good 5 mins after the walk. Will plan to get a 30 min run in tomorrow.

Ever had those nights where nothing sounds appetizing? Tonight was one of those for me - I just didnt feel like having/making anything I had. So, I had a small bowl of leftover pasta, chicken, and green beans mixed together with a sliced apple and water.Dessert was a piece of WW toast with reduced-fat peanut butter and dark chocolate covered raisins on top! this was very good.I still have my frozen chobani for later, so we shall see if I get to eat it. I hope this isnt a big sickness coming on - I want to go to bed early and get lots of rest!

On a side note to show how weird (awesome) my dog is...he will only eat his food if people are nearby. Basically, he is a social eater. So I have started bringing his food into the living room so he can eat while I am on the couch relaxing instead of sitting in the kitchen on an uncomfortable bench. Here he is being extremely lazy - eating his dinner while laying down! :)

Read more...