New Addition...(10.19.2008)

This weekend has been a really good one. Saturday night, Kevin made his famous Chicken Marsala over fresh linguine. I have been hearing about this since we started dating, but this is the FIRST time he made it (after a year and a half!!). It was amazing!! I will be posting his recipe soon (hopefully tomorrow) - definitely something to have every once in awhile since it isnt really healthy for you. But totally worth it. Here is a picture to get you interested...This morning, I woke up and ate a piece of toast with AB and fig jam before the run. I ran 6 miles and felt good. It was freezing and windy this morning, so I wore long sleeves and my head thingee for my ears. Kevin and I started out with 2 miles around the park with Oscar. Kevin had to quit after the park loop as well because of a bad "runner" toe. Just gross. But he got on his bike and rode with me for the rest of my run. So that was nice!

After the run, Kevin whipped up some protein shakes with vanilla protein powder, skim milk, a banana, and some frozen berries. The Fancy glass made it taste better. ;)We got free, last minute tickets to a jazz wine festival out at Linganore Winery and decided to head out there and also pick up a pumpkin at Larriland Farm. It was a perfect fall day and we had a great time at both places! I was SO happy to find more PUMPKIN BUTTER at the farm...yessssss!!I wasnt too hungry for a big dinner because of lots of wine and food at the festival - Kevin and I split a crab cake, each had a cup of crab soup, and then apple fritters - sorry no pics...but everything was great! Getting home, I wanted to use the pumpkin butter, so I made a small bowl of 0% fage, GoLean Kashi crunch, pumpkin butter, and almond butter. This is a great combo!Tonight we also brought home a new addition to the house - a kitten!!! We are calling her LUCY and hoping she is a girl - havent been able to check yet. She and two of her siblings somehow crawled into my dad's car and drove home with him from work. My parents drove up the driveway and saw them playing under the car. The kittens then proceeded to crawl back up in the engine! My dad said he had seen some cats around the parking lot at his work. So anyways, we stopped out there and were able to grab Lucy, so we could bring her home and begin the spoiling process. She is really scared right now, but I am so excited to see the interaction between Oscar and Lucy, once she gets more comfortable.

Good night everyone! Oh and Hail to the Redskins! :)

Read more...

Back to the Grind...

Now that my experiment with the "Michael Phelps" diet is over, it's time to get back into my routine. ;)

This morning's breakfast was one of my favorites, huevos rancheros. A mix of green chiles, eggs and babybel cheese inside two corn tortillas.I stopped on the way to work and picked up a hot, skim vanilla latte with one splenda - it was delicious. Mid-morning snack was a chocolate coconut larabar. This wasnt my favorite - i need to get some more of the coconut creme pie flavor.Lunch was leftover spaghetti squash with turkey meatballs and tomato sauce. It was still good from last week, but my taste buds weren't really in the mood, so I ate about half of this at lunch. Check out that huge piece of garlic from the sauce - i threw that out so people at work didn't have fire breath on them during meetings.
Dessert was a piece of whole wheat potato toast with almond butter and pumpkin butter. I love this. Very exciting picture of the slice of bread - ha, hope you enjoy it. and here is the almond butter and pumpkin butter that went on the bread. Afternoon snack was my best yogurt combination yet. I mixed honey flavored Oikos greek yogurt with Honey Almond Flax GoLean Crunch (is this new? b/c it was the first time i had seen it) and a very ripe peach from the produce stand yesterday. The peach was so ripe that the skin basically fell off as I was slicing it, and it was extremely juicy, so it made this peachy, yogurt sauce that was to die for.When I got home from work tonight, I took Oscar for a walk in the park and then came home to do some upper body lifting and abs. I did the following:

• 3 sets of 20 regular sit-ups
• 3 sets of 15 modified push-ups
• 3 sets of 10 side shoulder raises
• 3 sets of 10 front shoulder raises
• 3 sets of 15 triceps extensions
• 3 sets of 20 bicycle crunches
• 3 sets of vertical leg crunches
• 3 sets of 15 bicep curls
  

It felt good to do some lifting since I have been slacking in that department.

While making dinner, I was snacking on some wasabi peas and blowing my nose because these were clearing out my senses.
Dinner tonight was brown rice with sauteed zucchini, squash, broccoli, onions and garlic. Unfortunately I have never had the best luck cooking brown rice and I overcooked it. I think it is because I have always undercooked it, so I went a little overboard and it was mushy. I used some of the marinade from the tofu below to season up the rice and veggies. I ate a bowl of it that was just OK - would have been better if the rice was cooked properly.I also made an attempt to bake some tofu. I have been wanting to do this after reading about it for awhile in food blog land. I found a recipe for a peanut sauce marinade and decided to go for it since I had basically everything in the recipe. I cooked it at 400 degrees for about 45 mins and it turned out pretty good. But after I ate a piece, I decided to put it back in the oven for another 10 mins to try and get it really crispy. I think it turned out well and loved how the chopped peanuts from the marinade got all caramelized on top.Dessert was a rice pudding with raisins and a sprinkle of cinnamon/sugar mixture. These rice pudding packs are the best and only 90 calories!I am off to do some dishes because i made a mess in the kitchen and then settle in to watch the HILLs. :)

Read more...