Tuesday – Part I

Hi Bloggies -

Just a quick post while I’m having lunch.  A few more thoughts about what a productive day I had yesterday and some other ideas of what worked and how I was able to get to the gym on a Monday.

A lot of you know that I do not love Mondays.  It is the start of a long week, plus a lot of times I can have a hard time getting to sleep on Sundays making it harder to get up nice and early on a Monday. I am doing my best to put all of that stuff behind me – I am looking at Mondays as a new, fresh start to my week – and what better way to wrap up a Monday than by working out?

So, I got home around 5:30 last night (not bad at all commute wise!) I threw a load of laundry into the wash, made myself a snack, and got changed for the gym. Normally I bring my workout clothes with me to the office, but I had forgotten them at home Monday…

One of the most important things about my successful work out on Monday was my snack. One tablespoon of Barney Butter on a piece of Arnold’s Double Protein bread. Wow – that really worked wonders! It is so hard to go to the gym and have a good work out when you are starving. I was able to have dinner at 7:45 because of this awesome snack!

I went into the workout with a plan. Do just a little bit of cardio to warm up, and then focus on strength training since that is what I have been neglecting for a few weeks now.  That really mixed up my workout well. I went into BSC having the idea that I would do 20 minutes on the elliptical first, then do weights and then run a mile as a cool down. Well, the gym was crowded – no ellipticals to be had, but there were four treadmills open… so I readjusted and did my run first, then weights. I did not beat myself up for not having the desire to do elliptical after, especially since I had been at the gym for nearly an hour and I had enjoyed a twenty minute walk at lunch time.  I was just glad that I got to the gym at all!

Last night I stayed up way too late again. I started reading a new book and was up past midnight. That meant not getting up quite as early as I had intended to catch the early train (6:42 AM!) Instead I slept an extra half an hour (my body deserved it, I told myself) and took the 7:24 train with my friend Tim. I got to the office by 8:30 and enjoyed a bowl of Kashi Go Lean hot whole grain cereal for breakfast… more on lunch later tonight.

I am getting home late tonight, taking the 5:40 train, so getting home around 6:45 – 6:50. I will do everything in my p0wer to get to the gym. My goal tonight – 30 minutes on the elliptical and strength training for my arms. Let’s hope I can stick to the plan! I have to remind myself how much better I feel when I actually get to the gym. 

See you tonight for a lunch, dinner and exercise recap!

Switching it Up

Hi All-

Last week I switched my hair shampoo and conditioner – and is is making a huge difference in my hair, and I am loving it. Switching the shampoo, etc. got me to thinking about other things that might need switching up in my life.

Last week I only got to the gym once. Grr. I felt so horrible about this, but there were extenuating circumstances which always have to been taken into consideration. But this week I decided to switch up my workout routine.

The first step was to make exercise a priority for this week. That means getting up and getting to work earlier. This also means that motivating myself to get to the gym, even if I am really tired after a long commute and long day at the office.

One thing I had been doing for a while is letting myself skip Monday workouts at the gym. I really hate Mondays at the gym…. but today I went to the gym. It was crowded, but not all that bad. I did 17 minutes of a warm up on the treadmill (running mostly, 3 minutes of walking total). After the treadmill, I really needed to get some weights into my workout. I did half an hour minutes of weights for a total of 47 minutes at the gym. Not bad! I also had a great 20 minute walk at lunch today with Katherine. I was so happy to get outside and get some sunshine onto my face. I cannot wait for spring!

I am hoping to get to the gym again tomorrow because we are expecting a pretty big snow storm on Wednesday, so that might be my day off from working out… or perhaps an evening of yoga at home after a long commute!

I’ll see you tomorrow – hope everyone’s week is off to a good start.

Oh Eggs! A Product Review of Egg-Land’s Best Eggs

Hi Blog Readers:

One of the cool benefits of being a FoodBuzz Featured Publisher is that every so often I receive food to taste, cook with and review for you! Last week I received a coupon from FoodBuzz and Egg-Land’s Best Eggs.

This was especially exciting for me because I love cooking with eggs… I love omelettes! I love egg sandwiches! Breakfast burritos… there are so many ways to make eggs! I have to say I do not usually buy Egg-Land’s Best because they are a little bit pricey, when compared to other eggs at the market. But I know that they are the best. The chicken they raise are on a strictly vegetarian diet, which I think is great. The eggs from Egg-Land’s Best have less saturated fat (yay!) The best part (I think) is that Egg-Land’s Best eggs have less cholesterol than traditional eggs (Egg-Land egg: 175 mg cholesterol; Traditional Egg: 213 mg cholesterol). Eggs are really high in important vitamins, too. They are a relatively cheap and easy way to get protein into your diet (who needs red meat!?)

Tonight I opened my coveted carton of eggs:

I mixed one egg in a small bowl:

Added garlic powder, a pinch of salt, a few cranks of freshly ground pepper. First I sauteed a handful of spinach. I removed the spinach and then added my spiced up egg. Final product on a whole wheat wrap with a palmful of light Mexican cheese, a a teaspoon (?) of ketchup and a splash of hot sauce:

On the side of breakfast burrito for dinner I had about half a cup of my homemade coleslaw (Bittman!!) I love this coleslaw and on top of that, my mom read an article yesterday that said cabbage is a super healthy food. Yum.

Dinner:

It all turned out really well, and it was a healthy dinner. I loved it and I really like Egg-land’s Best Eggs.

Seriously

Hi Bloggies.

I’m such a loser. I left my camera at home today, because I was blogging in bed before falling asleep reading John Adams. I think my camera is in bed. I hope. I still have to find it.

OK, so a brief all verbal recap.

Breakfast:

1. coffee and 1% milk, enjoyed while driving through the snow to work

2. Chobani Greek Yogurt – blueberry flavor along with TJ granola, a tablespoon of PB2 (which is more than usual, but it spilled into the container as I was measuring out last night – good thing I love the stuff!) along with a few dashes of cinnamon.

3. A second cup of coffee at 9:45.

I was starving before lunch, but made it through.

Lunch:

1. small cup of corn chowder (a small cup at the caf @ work is less than a cup thankfully!)

2. spinach salad with mushrooms, carrots and cherry tomatoes. 1 tablespoon of Newman’s own ginger dressing.

3. Half a brownie that my friend Kaitlyn made.

Ahh… the reason I had the brownie?! I started getting a huge headache at around 10:30. I took a total of two Motrin, one when the headache first started and one after lunch because it had not gone away even though I had consumed 1 1/2 liters of water. (I thought I might have been dehydrated). I thought the sugar might help, because the water and motrin had NOT helped.

Afternoon Snack:

1. light babybel cheese

2. 8 whole wheat crackers

3. diet coke – because I still had a headache

In total during the day I consumed over three liters of water. This is an average water day for me, nothing out of the ordinary. Cannot figure out why I had such a headache today, it is out of the ordinary for me.

After work I had quite a few errands to run. And I ran them.

Errands:

1. Target

2. Gas for my car, road trip out to western-ish Mass tomorrow

3. Bank, cash needed for the next couple of days

4. CVS – RXs to be filled

HOME finally around 7 o’clock. My mom had made dinner! She made freshly put together hamburgers. Weird to have red meat twice in one week, but this hamburger was fantastic!! I loved it because it was on the smaller side, and I put a slice of Swiss cheese on my bun along with some spinach and dijon mustard. I had a few home baked french fries as well.  After dinner I was still hungry, and I had cantaloupe and a clementine. I love fruit!

After dinner I started thinking about what to pack for my trip tomorrow. I wish I was traveling for a good reason, but instead I am traveling to say good bye to a good friend. Tomorrow is the wake and Friday morning is the memorial service. It will be a sad time (but I will be with other good friends), and I will most likely not be back at the Blog until Saturday.

OK, I’m packed. I have run the errands. I have had good food. My headache is gone. I am hydrated. Right now I am sipping on some ginger tea with a teaspoon of honey stirred in. It is fantastic.

A note about having red meat for dinner. I have to say for the first time in a couple of days I am not hungry. I am wondering if I am not getting enough protein in my diet. Yesterday and the day before I had a glass of milk with extra protein powder stirred in. Along with my cheese and Greek yogurt, I thought that would be enough to get me through. I don’t know.

OK – I am signing off for now. Hope to get back to the gym and running soon. Will be sure to let you know how it goes! [for the record I went once this week so far - Monday]

BYE BLOGGIES!

In the Zone or Zoned Out?

Happy end of Tuesday, everyone! Just a quick post before I hit the hay.

I don’t know about you – but I spent a good amount of time kind of zoned out tonight after I got home from work around 7 o’clock. Thankfully I had done a lot of the busy work at home last night (laundry, cooking, etc) so I did not have to accomplish too much tonight.

Last night before I went to bed to read and sleep, I packed my lunch. I packed a container of gluten free TJ’s granola with PB2 and a dash or two of cinnamon to go with my vanilla greek yogurt for breakfast. I must have been super hungry at 8:30 this morning when I had the breakfast, because I forgot to take a photo of it. At 10 o’clock I was hungry again, which was actually rather shocking to me – good thing I had thought ahead by packing 1/2 a cup of dried Cheerios. I definitely felt a little like a toddler digging into my cereal, but it did the trick and got me through until 12:15 when I could break for lunch.

My lunch consisted of three items. First, a spinach salad with cucumbers, carrots, cherry tomatoes, a teaspoon of hummus and a splash of dressing:

Second course, Bittman’s pasta fagioli left over from last night:

Is it just me or does this pretty much look like a bowl of pasta? Well, the night before when I packed it it seemed like more broth than pasta – I think the consistency changed over night. Well – it was still great. The flavors for this soup are sometimes better the next day as they have had some time to sit and meld together. I love this stuff!

My last part of lunch was a clementine. I love citrus season! I made a mental note to pack another (or maybe 2 more?) for lunch tomorrow. I also had a little piece of dark chocolate a little while after lunch. I love the Dove dark chocolate individually wrapped pieces. I usually pack one in my lunch bag and have it most days after lunch. They work out to be about 36 calories a piece – not bad for a somewhat sweet treat after lunch!

At 4 o’clock my stomach was talking to me, so I took a quick break from work to have the remaining half of a LUNA bar that was still in my lunch bag from last week. These things make great snacks, especially if you can get two snacks out of them like I do! The Luna bar did the trick, and I did not have to eat again until I got home. Dinner was more pasta fagioli and a couple of pieces of sour dough baguette that I picked up from Seven Stars the day before.

I also had 1/2 a cup of light ice cream tonight after dinner. It really hit the spot!

As for exercise – I had a fairly active day at work today. A good amount of walking around, climbing ladders, etc. But also a good amount of time sitting at my desk doing some data entry, catching up on work emails and doing research. I really enjoyed my walk to the train tonight – which is just over one mile. Today it took twenty minutes at a good pace. I loved the fact that when I walked out of the office a few minutes after five o’clock it was still light out! The sun had probably just set, and there was still a bit of lightness in the sky. It really made my day! I feel like we’ve turned the corner, and spring is just a month or two away (I know, perhaps this is wishful thinking – but it’s all about positive thinking!)

Ok, as promised – a brief blog entry. I am heading for bed. See ya’ll tomorrow!

It is great to have a favorite meal…

What is your favorite meal? It is great to have a favorite meal, I think. For me, my favorite meal changes from time to time – often depending on the season. One aspect of having a go to meal is you know the ingredients off the top of your head – or you know 95% of the ingredients! Before we go into what I made for dinner tonight, let’s do a brief re-cap of the day…

Today I had a scheduled day off from work. Yesterday I went to Connecticut for a family dinner with Mark and his clan… it was quite fun, with about 20 – 25 people fun was had by all!

Today I left Connecticut at 1:30. I drove straight to the gym. I was not really feeling a run, but I did not have much of a choice. I have signed up for a 5k on Sunday, and I am really wondering why I signed up to run 3.1 miles outside in February. What was I thinking!?

Sooo, today I did 2.25 miles on the treadmill. I could not make myself do more. I was bored and not feeling it. But it was definitely better then not doing anything. I was glad to get myself moving. I had a lot of stuff on my mind, mostly the laundry, groceries and food I wanted to accomplish before bed time!

I got to the market at 4 o’clock (where had my day off gone!?) and I made myself a budget. I had to get out of East Side Market spending $30 or less. If you have shopped at East Side Market, you might know that this is a bit of a challenge   

In my head, I knew that I wanted to make pasta fagioli and that I needed some veggies, etc. for lunches this week. I quickly maneuvered through the store picking up produce as I went…

a package of spinach

a cucumber

package of grape tomatoes

garlic

one onion

two cans of cannellini beans

two cans of tomatoes

one box of vegetable broth

So, there might have been another thing or two that I made it home with (but I can’t remember!) but I spent $17 and I had almost everything I needed! I was lucky that I had pasta for the soup and a few Greek yogurts to pack with lunch this week.

When I got home I ran over to my cherished Bittman cookbook to see if I had forgotten an ingredient… I was pretty impressed, I had only forgotten the parsley, which is too bad because the soup is amazing with it – but it is still wonderful without it.

I quickly gathered all of my laundry and got it started. Then I started chopping the onions, garlic, and prepping the other ingredients. I used my mortar pestle to crush my dried rosemary – it worked like a dream!

Here is the final product:

Seriously!? It was sooo good. I am so excited to have leftovers for a few days this week. Here is a hint, if you make the soup one day: if you are going to use the soup for a couple of days, I suggest leaving the pasta separate from the rest of the soup mixture. The pasta can get soggy after a day or two.

OK – I am off! Hope you are all having a good Monday and that your week is off to a great start.

If you think you do not have time to exercise…

Think again!

I definitely felt that I did not have time to exercise this week. I went for a couple of twenty minute walks, and instead of taking the elevator at work I took the stairs, even when it meant climbing six floors I like to readjust my eating and my daily habits when I know I will not be able to go running several miles during the week as I like to. Taking the stairs all day is a big help in getting in some cardio.

This morning I had thought I would try and get to the gym, but being on a tight schedule and wanting to carve out some time for myself, I opted to take it easy this morning. Life has been soo busy this week I did not have any time for myself. But even though I did not make the time to go to the gym today (I feel a little guilty!) I did find time to do 30 minutes of yoga at home.

Yoga at home is wonderful. When I need to get moving but do not have time to drive twenty minutes to the gym, work out for forty minutes, shower, etc. and drive twenty minutes home, I can still find time to do yoga at home! Even twenty minutes of yoga or any activity is better than sitting on the couch.

If you need a starting point for yoga at home I would highly recommend trying out Yoga Downloads on line. This morning I did a twenty minute program of Morning Flow #1 with another ten minutes of sun salutes. I loved stretching and using my muscles, and I even did a shoulder stand! Yoga is a great way to start your day – that is for sure.

Well, I’m off to get ready for my trip to Connecticut. I’ll see you all soon!

Looking back at the week…

Hi All

Wow, this week was busy. I had things going on almost every single night either involving work or other things and I was getting home late and still getting up really early to start my day. I should have made time for the blog, but this week it just wasn’t happening

On Tuesday I had a great veggie wrap with a couple of slices of Boar’s head low sodium turkey:

It was so good!

Tuesday night Mark and I made homemade pizza. It is hard to tell, but the toppings were fresh basil, mushrooms and fresh tomatoes. The pizza was fantastic! I love homemade pizza and fresh dough. There is nothing like it. Here is what our pizza looked like after we took it out of the oven:

For lunch on Wednesday I had a piece of pizza and an orange:

Wednesday night I got home from work late, but I made homemade mac and cheese to get mom and me through the week for lunches.

Thursday was mac and cheese:

I used 1% milk when making the mac and cheese and a 100% natural shredded cheddar cheese, two cups of it. The mac was not overly rich or cheesy, and I loved it. I also diced up a lot of grape tomatoes and mixed that into the dish. For seasoning I added a little pinch of cayenne, garlic and onion powder. Yum!

This morning I whipped up a smoothie, it has been so long since I have had one and I really enjoyed it. One container of Chobani yogurt, a small scoop of Amazing Meal, 1/4 scoop Jay Robb protein powder, a small handful of fresh blueberries, and a spoonful of PB2 along with a couple of ice cubes and a splash of 1% organic Brown Cow milk. The smoothie was not very thick, but it was good!

In a few minutes I’m going to have my first cup of coffee of the day. I’ll be packing up and heading to Connecticut in a little bit – but will blog again tomorrow. I hope everyone is having a great weekend – see you in a bit!

A Hungry Monday

Hi All -

I am usually rather hungry on Mondays, as sort of a rule. I can never really avoid it. I think it has something to do with coming off of my weekend schedule of sleeping later, eating breakfast later and thus pushing back my entire eating schedule during the weekends.

Sunday I slept until about 9:45 and had breakfast around 10:30. Today I woke up at 5:30 in the morning (it was pitch black out!) and had breakfast around 7:30 – and I had already been awake and moving around for two hours at that point.

My first breakfast was a Luna bar. I really love this peppermint stick flavor!

I was sort of rushing around this morning, didn’t have time to make breakfast and for some reason I was not in the mood for my instant Kashi oatmeal. I was fine with the Luna bar until about 9:30 when I started getting hungry again. By ten o’clock my stomach was talking to me. I did not have much to choose from. It was one of those days when I thought I had packed a lot of food… but maybe I did not pack enough.

I ended up paying a visit to the vending machine… ew. I had 60¢ for a small bag of pretzels. I was glad the bag was small. Only 160 calories. By 11 o’clock I was hungry again. I snacked on a small apple. By this point I could not believe that I had eaten so much and it was not even lunch yet. But I had been awake for a while. . . At the end of the day I also realized that I had skipped my cup of coffee from the caf this morning. I usually have one cup of coffee from home (in my to go mug) and then another one about an hour or so after I have been at work. Maybe I should not skip that cup of coffee – at least on Monday mornings!

My apple:

I left my camera at home today, in case you haven’t been able to tell – these are old ‘file’ photos from past blog posts

Lunch was great. One cup of fresh pasta tossed with pesto and a few pieces of chicken sausage along with a large garden salad (mixed greens, carrots, grape tomatoes, mushrooms, red peppers and cucumbers!) After my lunch I sipped on some peppermint tea which was really perfect on such a rainy and windy day.

At three o’clock I was hungry again. I had a Larabar.

I hate eating more than one bar a day – but I did not know what else to do! At least once I had the Larabar my hunger was finally satisfied.

Dinner was around 7. I had a third of a chicken breast, roasted veggies and a piece of bread along with a big glass of water. Yum.

Ok – I have to go to bed. Another long day tomorrow! Hope everyone’s Monday was awesome! I don’t know about you – but I am missing Conan already. Sigh.

See ya!

Sunday Night Dinner

Wow, my third (?!) post of the day. I just wanted to let you know how dinner turned out The fresh pasta, pesto, chicken sausage and grape tomatoes turned out well. My mom even finished her entire serving, which is always a good sign. I just love fresh pasta – it is such a treat.

I like this meal because I used something from our freezer. Our freezer at home has a lot of food in it. So whenever I can use something from this storage unit, I feel like I have accomplished something. I had two different types of chicken sausages in the freezer and I used one of each, a garlic rosemary and a sweet Italian sausage. I like the garlic rosemary the best. Both types were from Trader Joes.

To thin out my basil pesto, I used a tip from Bittman. I used 1/3 of a cup (maybe a little less?) of pasta water to thin out the pesto – after that it was perfect for tossing the pasta in. I also topped the pasta with freshly grated parmesan cheese.

For dessert I made a chocolate bread pudding. I grated two individual pieces of Dove dark chocolate, so the pudding was not overly chocolate. I was making a small amount of pudding, so I quickly glanced at a couple of recipes (Bittman and Martha) and took what I could from them. I added vanilla, a tiny pinch of salt, a half a handful of sugar, lots of cinnamon, some nutmeg, 1 cup of 1% milk (and a little more after) 1/8 cup of light cream and one egg. I warmed up the milk / cream and spices and then mixed in the chocolate shavings. I poured it over the bread pieces (one inch cubes of a french baguette). Then I beat the one egg, and then stirred it into my mixture. It baked at 350 for about 36 minutes.

The final product (it’s not really photogenic):

My dish:

Yeah, definitely not the prettiest thing in the world. But it tasted good! I really like the fact that I used a lot less sugar, and it was not overly sweet. There was just a touch of chocolate and just a tad of sweetness from the sugar. I could have used more vanilla.

Well, that is a wrap. I’m exhausted and will be heading to bed soon! See ya’ll tomorrow.