Friday Catchup (1.23.2009)

First off, I received an award and wanted to send a big THANK YOU to Lori over at Fake Food Free. I happen to think her blog is fabulous also. She describes herself as a "realistic nutritionist" and is all about having a healthy balance with real food. Sounds perfect to me, so I really enjoy reading her tips! She loves to travel and I think that adds a special "something, something" to her posts because you get to see all the delicious eats from different places she visits.

Food

Dinner on Tuesday night was Mediterranean Crusted Salmon with Sun-dried Tomatoes and Pine Nuts. I went the easy route on this one.

I overcooked this a tad, but it still had good flavor. I am slowly getting back into salmon since I had a bad case of food poisoning a year or so ago after eating a bad piece.

The fish was served with steamed cauliflower that I seasoned with smart balance, parsley, and fresh parmesan.

Wednesday night, we went out to dinner and I had a chicken caesar wrap with steamed veggies. No pics, but I wanted to share because I was proud of myself for saying "no" to the fries. I love fries - like really LOVE them. But I want to try and cut down to just having them as part of a splurge meal every now and then.

Last night, I cooked up a quick stir-fry using Trader Joes Beijan Style frozen veggies, thinly-sliced chicken, Soy Vay Teriyaki sauce, and brown rice.

It turned out pretty good, but I just wasn't into the chicken, so I picked around it. I decided to bake up some tofu using the Soy Vay sauce as a marinade so I could get some protein. These little cubes were caramelized and delicious.

Breakfast this morning was oatmeal. I am all out of fruit, so this combination included:

• 1/2 c oats
• 1/2 c vanilla soy milk
• sprinkle of brown sugar
• spoonful of part-skim ricotta
• spoonful almond butter
• pecans

Mmm. Mmm. Deeeelish. I ate my oatmeal while checking out some new reading material - Cooking Light. A Christmas present from my friend Carolyn that just arrived last night. There are a ton of delicious recipes, so expect to see some in the near future.

Workouts

Last week, I talked about the training program I started and am proud to say that I am keeping up with it! I put together this handy-dandy spreadsheet to help me track my progress against the plan. Here's a peek:

You may have to enlarge it to actually read it. Items highlighted in green have been completed.

I am playing indoor soccer on Wednesday nights, but last week, our team had a bye. This week the game was at 9pm and after my Tuesday run, my lower back was killing me. I ended up going to the gym earlier on Wednesday to do light cardio and a little lifting (not anywhere near my back), but didn't think playing indoor soccer would be a good idea.

Polar Bear Plunge

Tomorrow is the Polar Bear Plunge and I am still nervous. Today is a beautiful day and the temperature is up in the 50s. Why cant it be like that tomorrow?! The temperature is supposed to drop all day tomorrow.

Our plan is to get there around 10am and tailgate until the plunge at 1pm. I am going to layer up, so that I can decide what I want to wear for the actual "plunge" right before. I will probably end up wearing my triathlon outfit. Tri shorts and a wick-away tank. Oh and my scuba booties because someone told me I definitely need something on my feet.

If you have time, check out some of the pictures on the Plunge site. http://www.plungemd.com/

It looks like it is going to be a blast.

What are you all up to this weekend? After the plunge, my goal is to get warm. Then, get some housekeeping done around the blog...and my house!

Read more...

It's Good to be Home...

While it was SO nice to get away for a few days and relax - it was also really nice to get home. There is something about sleeping in your own bed that feels so comforting after a few days away. Not to mention the fact that I missed Oscar and Lucy immensely.

It was great to meet Kevin's family and see a part of the country that I had never seen before. Makes me want to take a drive cross country for a few weeks just to see all of the places I have never been!

Here is an extremely brief recap of our time in Cincinnati:

View from Mount Adams of the Cincinnati skyline. After stopping to take pictures here, we drove over to Krohn's Conservatory. It was beautiful with lots of flowers and plants, but it was so muggy and hot in there that I got nauseous. We didn't stay long.
My place setting at Thanksgiving dinner. Kevin's aunt is so creative! The little turkey is a chocolate covered nutter butter that she made and then decorated. I, of course, ate this before dinner and was double fisted with a bourbon slushie drink and wine. :)
Two places I had to try while I was out in Cincinnati. No pictures of White Castle because I only took one bite of the small little burger - I am not a big burger person and wasn't a fan of these.
Skyline Chili was a different story. Check out all of that cheese. Whoa! It looks messy and it WAS, but in a GOOD way.
Kevin and I went into the city one afternoon to walk around and ended up stopping for a drink at this cute little French Bistro - JeanRo. I got an Irish coffee that was huge and extremely STRONG. I drank most of it and left there with a major buzz.
The drive home on Saturday was a tough one because we hit some traffic and then got locked out of the car after lunch. Somehow the lock got stuck and the keyless entry buttons weren't working. After calling Triple A, and settling in to wait for an hour, we tried the lock one more time and it magically opened. whew!

SUNDAY (11.30.2008)

Despite it being rainy and horrible - Sunday was a great day. Woke up and had one of the cinnamon crumpets from trader joes. I topped mine with homemade apple butter and had sliced bananas on the side. I hadn't photographed my food in so long, that I tried to make the bananas look extra special. These crumpets were delicious. They have the consistency of a pancake, but are lighter and fluffier with lots of holes throughout.
The most exciting thing about Sunday was - joining a gym!!! It has been months since I belonged to a gym and I am so excited. We were able to get 30 days free, so I haven't paid a cent yet!

My workout was 40 mins on the arc trainer and then lifting upper body doing a few ab exercises. It felt great and my hamstring didn't give me any problems!

After a shopping spree at the grocery store, I came home and tried some of these dates. They were a little pricey, but totally worth it.

For dinner, I drizzled some of this sauce (which is THE BEST) over thinly sliced chicken breast and baked them in a 350 degree oven for about 15 mins.
Meanwhile, I sauteed the asian veggies below with PAM and the sauce that came with it. Love trader joes.
After slicing up the chicken, I mixed it with the veggies and voila - a simple and pretty healthy dinner. Can you guess what I want for Christmas?! new bowls!!!!
I had to use up some skim milk, so I made these quick cheesecake flavored pudding pies! Sugar free-Fat free instant version. I figure that I will throw different toppings on these to mix it up.
Now it is back to work for me! Oh and my google reader is overflowing with 335 unread messages, so I am going to try and make my way through - I feel so out of touch and cant wait to read about all of your holidays!

Have a great Monday!

Read more...