Oh Blog, How I Miss You…

Hi Readers -

Today as I was commuting to work, I promised myself that I would be doing a blog post tonight if it was the last thing I do! When I started the blog the point was to prove that you can balance your life… find the time to work, commute, exercise, eat healthily and have a social life. Well, in the past few weeks I have been struggling to find this balance myself!

Work has been busy. The commute has been long. Exercise has been hard to come by (except for my wonderful lunch time walks with my work friends!). Food has been fine, but I have not thought too much about it. I have often thought about my blog, and have not been able to find the time to do my daily posts. This makes me sad!

I am going to do my best to get back on track. Yesterday I had a long day – but I went for a walk at lunch (2 miles) and after work I found the energy to go to the gym (ran 2.25 miles). I even took pictures of my meals But after getting home from the gym at 7:30, thinking about dinner, starting laundry, packing my lunch for the next day, and so on it was quickly 9:30 and I had to get ready for bed because I was exhausted!

Here is what I had yesterday: an Arnold’s sandwich thin with peanut butter and low sugar jam for breakfast. I hate the end of Daylight Savings Time. I was having breakfast at 9:30 yesterday morning, and my stomach thought it was time for lunch already!

Lunch was a small cup of minestrone soup from the Caf with a few Wheat Thins (the “touch of salt” kind, only 5% of your daily sodium!) with a light Babybel Laughing Cow cheese. My afternoon snack was a small pear. Unfortunately during the day I snacked on Trader Joe’s peanut butter pretzels twice… I cannot resist them. I drank lots of water during the day (per usual) and had a cherry flavored Emergen-c in the afternoon.

For dinner my mom made enchiladas which were fantastic. Along with enchiladas, I had a glass of half skim and half light chocolate soy milk.

So, even without the pictures being processed and uploaded, I figured I would write a blog entry tonight just to put something out there.

I promise to have the blog back up and running soon.

Thursday

Hey -

Question: will this week ever end!? Gosh. lt is freezing outside, and it is officially SNOWING in Connecticut, just one state away from me!! What on earth!? It is only the middle of October! I cannot believe it. I got home from work today (looking like a ski bum in my fleece, wool ski hat and sunglasses!) and changed into my flannel pjs, wrapped up in a blanket, and I still have my ski hat on… I made a huge cup of tea and settled in for the night with my book. I didn’t go to the gym. It is now raining, and I hope it does not start to snow!

This morning I had a great commute from Jenn’s. I walked to Starbucks and ordered a grande pumpkin spice latte with skim milk, and just two pumps of flavor. It really hit the spot and made my commute on the T really enjoyable.

Breakfast was a Clif bar… I packed it Tuesday night, so I would not be tempted by a pastry or a bagel at work!

I had half of the bar at 8 o’clock when I got to work and the other half at 10:15 as a mid morning snack. At noon Kate and I went for a great walk. It was cloudy (rather gray, it reminded me of those afternoons in the middle of winter, when you feel like you never actually have a chance to see the sun… meh!) but there was no wind off the water, so it felt warmer than it did the day before.

Lunch was an Amy’s burrito. I feel like I was eating a lot of “processed” food today. Spending the night at a friends house is the best but sometimes it can compromise my food for the next day at work. (Oh well, I think it’s worth it for a fun night!)

What a pretty picture:

Anyhow… I love my iPhone for many reasons… but one of my favorite “apps” is Lose It. It lets you record the food you eat during the day, gives you the approximate caloric value and nutritional information along with your exercise of the day and lets you know how many calories you are consuming, burning, etc. It is a really fun way to keep track of your day!

Really cool! This shows yesterday’s food… If you have an iPhone, I highly recommend downloading this App. Also, if you are a runner, iPhone now has a Map My Run app. It is super cool, using GPS to map your run, etc. So sweet!

Tonight my mom made an amazing pumpkin soup. I was exhausted when I got home from a super busy day at work (and feeling a little bit like I was coming down with a cold…. oh I hope not! I’m going to say something that so many people say, “I don’t have time to get sick!!”)

It was such a treat to have my mom make dinner! This was the end result:

Pumpkin soup, garnished with a spoon of sour cream, nutmeg and a great bread stick! This soup was amazing. I love it, and I think I will have some for lunch or dinner again tomorrow!

Here is the recipe:

1 8 ounce package fresh mushrooms, sliced (this makes the soup, seriously!)

3 tablespoons butter (unsalted)

1/4 cup flour

2 14 ounce cans vegetable broth (low sodium will be healthiest!)

1 15 ounces can cooked pumpkin

1 pint half and half cream (we used a cup of 1% milk instead!)

2 tablespoons of honey

1/2 teaspoon curry powder

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg (and we added more to garnish)

Instructions:

1. Saute mushrooms in butter in large saucepan. Add flour, stir well and gradually add broth. Boil and cook for two minutes or until mixture thickens (do not be afraid to wait until it thickens, it took us more than two minutes)

2. Stir in pumpkin, cream (or milk!), honey, curry powder and nutmeg. Stir constantly until soup is thoroughly hot.

3. Enjoy!

Wednesday

Hey All -

Hope everyone survived hump day in tact! I could not believe it was only my second day at work… it has been feeling like a long week for some reason. Whatever! I woke up early, got ready for work and before I left for my commute from hell I enjoyed a super quick / small bowl of steel cut oats! My mom had gotten up earlier than me (amazing!) and whipped them together. The oats were sooo good, such a wonderful way to start my morning. I was in such a better mood while driving and sipping my awesome coffee (thank goodness for coffee makers that can be pre-set to start at 5:45 AM!) because I had oats in my tummy. I had 1/2 a cup of oatmeal and a teaspoon of brown sugar. I felt like a kid going off to school!

I was so surprised by how long I was able to make it through the morning on only half a cup of oatmeal. It was not until 10:30 that I needed the actual breakfast I had prepared the night before!

We were out of bread at home, so I used a whole wheat tortilla for my peanut butter banana combo… I prepared the peanut butter / tortilla the night before and put the banana in my lunch bag…. when I was finally ready for it, I sliced up half of the banana and added it to the wrap. It was soo good!

Great work news – one of my great friends has started working at the Libs three days a week. My friend Kate started on Tuesday, and I am so glad to have a new walking buddy at work now! Kate and I went for a beautiful half hour walk at lunch on Wednesday. It was fantastic, and it was super fun to chat and walk together and get caught up on each others lives. After our walk, I went to the lunch room to heat up my butternut squash soup. Along with the soup I had a wedge of Laughing Cow and a few wheat thins.

This was a good lunch!

I left work a bit after 5 o’clock and took the T to Brookline. There I shopped in my favorite book shop, Brookline Booksmith. I picked up an early birthday gift for my awesome friend Jenn, whom I met a while later for dinner and a girls night of fun!

Jenn and I went to one of our favorite places, Zaftigs. I had my ‘usual’ sandwich, The Rachel. A turkey, swiss, sauerkraut, and Russian dressing on the side. Instead of french fries, I ordered green beans that were perfectly cooked – still crunchy!

This sandwich really hit the spot! It was sooo cold out last night, that for a moment I was tempted to order a cup of chicken noodle soup to go with it, but I decided against it (probably because I had enjoyed soup at lunch). I also thought about ordering hot tea for my drink, but opted for a glass of pinot noir instead! (Great choice!)

That about wraps up my day of food. Hope everyone is doing well, and I’ll see you soon!

Tuesday – back to work…

Hey All -

Hope everyone had a good day today! For me, it was back to work Tuesday. My commute was super fun in the rain this morning Luckily while I was waiting for the train it was only ‘drizzling’ and the rain held off for the second leg of the journey, the bus ride! My office is over a mile from South Station. In the morning I take the bus to save the 15 – 20 minute walk, but in the afternoon I really enjoy the walk to the train after a day of work.

I woke up early enough this morning to re-pack my lunch Last night when I ‘packed’ my lunch I was totally uninspired. I am really glad I had enough time this morning to re-organize my day of food.

For breakfast I had a packet of instant oatmeal, half a small banana and a tablespoon of Barney Butter:

This was a really good breakfast, especially because it was sort of cold and raw out this morning! This breakfast kept me going until lunch time without a problem.

I was super excited for my re-invented lunch today! I had two slices of sour dough bread, spinach, tomato slices, a light Laughing Cow cheese and a hard boiled egg. I melted the laughing cow onto the sour dough and piled on the rest of the ingredients onto the bread for an open faced sandwich. This totally hit the spot!

I garnished the sandwich with some black pepper. I love my new sandwich and I cannot wait to have it again soon. I also snacked on a few carrots and celery sticks, and the rest of my small banana that I had from breakfast. A lot of fresh, whole foods for lunch – it was fantastic!

It was really cold in my office today:

I felt like I was dressed for a day in January, not October! I had a long sleeved tee-shirt, a sweater and a scarf on. Wow. Maybe I am not ready for winter this year!?

At 4:30 I was starving and I had to take a quick break from my work day to grab a quick snack to try and tied myself over until the end of the day. Thankfully, I had a Luna cookie tucked away in my lunch bag. I often pack a “just in case” afternoon snack, especially on Tuesdays because they are my longer and later days at the office… I do not get home until around 6:45 on these days.

I really do like the Luna cookies, and the chocolate mint flavor especially. The ‘cookie’ definitely tastes healthy, and it is rather good for you compared to a run of the mill cookie! These are 95% organic, and there are lots of vitamins and minerals packed into them! At only 130 calories, they are not too bad for a once in a while treat.

I walked my 1.2 miles to the train this evening, and once I was on the 5:40 train I had to enjoy three pieces of dried apricots (not pictured). I enjoyed reading my book and chatting with my friend Tim on our ride home.

Once I was home, I really had every intention to go to the gym. I hate to admit it, but I did not make it to the gym, and I feel horrible about this. I hate feeling guilty when I do not make my personal gym commitment. I have to remind myself that on a weekly basis, I am good about getting exercise between my lunch walks, walks to the train, my runs (2 or 3 times a week) and my visits to the gym. It is not the end of the world that I did not go to the gym tonight! Uuughhh! It was soo dark when I got home, and I was ready to settle down with a big mug of tea and my book!

For dinner tonight I had a container of Annie Chun’s organic Teriyaki Noodles with vegetables. To add some bulk to this dinner, I minced up one clove of garlic and added the garlic to a hot pan with a teaspoon of olive oil. Then I added a cup of spinach to saute. This was a perfect addition to the noodles:

Along with “dinner” I had a tall glass of skim milk. Soon after dinner I did make myself a big mug of peppermint tea, and it is really hitting the spot right now!

Well, that is a re-cap of the day. I hope everyone is staying warm! It feels like winter out there to me!

Monday Morning – Coffee and Pancakes

Hey All -

Well, for those of you enjoying a three day weekend, I hope it is a great one for you! For those readers who are at work… I am sorry.

I woke up pretty early this morning, around 8 o’clock. I made coffee and caught up on some blog reading first. Nothing like Curious George to start your day off right:

This is a vintage Curious George mug… I love it! I used to have four Curious George mugs in my coffee cup collection… but over the years a few of them (3) broke, which was heart breaking because they are very hard to find these days. I now have two left… the one pictured above was given to my by a friend because they knew I was in search for more Curious George (I still am!).

At around 9:30 I decided to make pancakes. I have to admit, I used heart healthy Bisquick to speed along the process this morning. When I use a mix to make pancakes, I always add a splash of vanilla and a dash of cinnamon to add some nice flavors. It is sometimes hard to tell that these pancakes come from a box mix! This morning I added bananas to the mix, and garnished the tops of the pancakes with a few extra slices, and some Earth Balance.

I had two medium sized pancakes for breakfast with a bit of maple syrup. It was a great way to start off the holiday! Now I am off to run errands, and finish stuff up around the house. Hope everyone has a great day – and I will be back later!!

Sunday: Exercise and Lunch

I just love three day weekends! Every so often I love having a three day weekend when I have scheduled little or nothing. I just adore having three days where I feel no pressure to accomplish anything. These are some of the best times – Friday and Saturday I was able to hang out with my friends and cook wonderful meals. Today I enjoyed a super relaxing morning, and this afternoon I got out and enjoyed the great October weather.

This afternoon I went over to Blackstone Boulevard, where I do my outdoor running. I love “the boulevard” as my family and I call it – mostly because the train one runs or walks on is packed dirt and gravel (and at this time of year there are colorful leaves and acorns – that occasionally hit me on the head as I exercise). When you are running often, it is great when you do not have to run on pavement (booo – pavement hurts knees, backs, and bodies in general).

This past week I took it easy with my mileage. I did not run at all and only went on a couple (three) walks which were about two miles each. I had a very busy time at work, last week and I have been having a bit of knee pain lately. Today I figured it was time to hit the road, after six days of rest. I got three miles under my belt today with a run / walk combo. Not too bad. Four hours later, I am not in pain at the moment – so far so good!

After the run / walk I went to East Side Market to pick up some salad things, Olga’s bread (to eat the remaining cassoulet with tonight!) and a few other items that were on sale (Annie’s mac & cheese and Amy’s burritos were not on my shopping list today, but the sale was too good to pass up and you can always use these things for days when you do not have time to make a full fledged dinner!)

By the time I got home I was starving. I whipped up an amazing sandwich with tuna (1 teaspoon [maybe less?] celery and a dill pickle chopped up and mixed in] on the remaining baguette from last night… I sliced up some cucumber, tomato, layered that on and spread garlic hummus on one side and spinach pesto on the other… I loved this sandwich!

Carrot sticks on the side:

Well, the Red Sox just lost the third game of their series and their season is officially over I am contemplating this while sipping some lovely peppermint tea. Oh Sox. So sad.

I am going back to my book now (I hope to finish A Gate at the Stairs by Lorrie Moore this weekend – I really like it so far, I’m about half way through). I hope you are all having a great weekend.

Friday and Saturday in the Kitchen

Hi Everyone:

On Friday night my friend Katherine and I made a fantastic pasta fagioli. Katherine has Mark Bittman’s How To Cook Everything and that is where we found the recipe. It was fantastic – and I will definitely be making the recipe again soon. I think it is one of the most perfect foods for fall and winter.

I was in charge of dicing up a lot of garlic (because I do it so well):

I love lots of garlic!

In this pot most of the ingredients have been added, sans the vegetable broth and pasta…

Soon after we added the broth and pasta. My bowl looked like this when we sat down to eat:

We also enjoyed a couple of pieces of Iggy’s bread with our soup. I definitely had seconds on the soup, and I will be making it again soon because it was amazing.

On Saturday I decided to have my friends Tim and Nicole over for dinner. They are always feeding me, so I decided it was about time I had them over for dinner I enjoyed hanging out with Henri during the evening. I cannot believe he is six weeks old already. Wow!

Saturday I decided to make another version of cassoulet. I found the recipe I used on the Food Network. I really love watching The Next Food Network Star and a couple of seasons ago I really liked Lisa Garza. I remember the episode when she made her cassoulet and all of the judges on the show loved it.

Here is the recipe:

White Bean Cassoulet

Unfortunately while I was making this dish, I could not find my camera (what!?) and it took me a while to put all of this together. I even made the spinach pesto! My cassoulet turned out a little bit strange because I accidently put 1/2 a cup of the spinach pesto in my le creuset where I was cooking the rest of the ingredients together… I was supposed to be using it as a garnish. I still had plenty of the spinach pesto left, so I did use it as a garnish as well…. and I do not think it ruined the taste of the cassoulet (at least that is what my dinner guests told me). Oops.
Here is what my cassoulet looked like when we sat down to dinner:
I apologize for the low grade photograph… it was taken via my iPhone! Tim and Nicole brought over a baguette from Seven Stars (my favorite!) and they also brought dessert. A fantastic apricot clafoutis. This dessert is a masterpiece!

Here is the recipe:

Jacques Pepin’s Apricot Clafoutis

OK, that about wraps up my last couple of days in the kitchen! I’m off to get some exercise…. it is a perfect day outside, so I am off for a run. See you soon!

Sunday morning …

Hi All -

Hope everyone is having a great long weekend so far! Columbus day weekend is one of my favorite holidays during the year… you cannot beat a long weekend in October. I have had a busy weekend so far – and I am sort of looking forward to relaxing some today.

My morning has gotten off to a good start so far. I made stove top oats for the first time in a long time:

This morning I made the oats with 1/2 cup of rolled oats, 2/3 cup water, 1/3 cup light chocolate soy milk, two dashes of cinnamon, 1 dash of pumpkin spice, half of a small mashed banana. Once the oats were in the bowl (I only ate 2/3 of the “single” serving this morning) I added a few cacao (raw chocolate) nibs and a teaspoon full of Barney Butter. Perfect!

I also enjoyed a cup of coffee with skim milk… for new readers, here is a great way to use milk instead of cream in your coffee. I use about 1/4 cup of skim or 1% milk in my coffee in the morning (for a big travel mug). So the coffee does not turn luke warm (ew!) I warm the milk up in the microwave before adding the coffee. It works every time! This morning I enjoyed my coffee out of my old school Black Dog mug.

This weekend has been busy with a lot of cooking so far. I will be back in a bit for recaps of both Friday and Saturday.

Friday night: Pasta Fagioli

Hi all – I have not done a post via iPhone recently so I decided this would be a good time to write one!

Right now I am hanging out at Katherine’s apartment in Central Square and we are making a fall like soup – pasta fagioli! It smells great. I am definitely having a love affair with fresh pepper these days

Ok, back to the stove. I will write more tomorrow!

Tonight’s Menu: homemade tomato sauce with whole wheat pasta

Well, tonight’s blog post is going to be a little dull because I could not find my camera… oops! But I had a busy night in the kitchen, so I wanted to write and report But first a recap of the day…

This morning I had a doctor’s appointment. This was good for many reasons. First and foremost, I was able to SLEEP IN just a couple of hours this morning and it made a huge difference in my outlook for the day. When you normally get up at 5:45 or 6 o’clock in the morning, being able to sleep in until 8:15 is like a dream come true – at least for me!

At the doctor I learned that I have lost a few pounds, that I have great blood pressure… and then I learned that they were fresh out of the flu vaccine. Bummer… the search continues! I did not get out of the doctor’s office until after 10:30 this morning. I had not eaten a thing (blood work to see how low my cholesterol actually is!) so I snacked on a Nature Valley granola bar on my drive into work.

Not the best breakfast, but these bars do the trick when you do not have time or resources to work with!

For lunch I had a turkey wrap, and a few carrots which was pretty good.

When I got home I was inspired to make dinner… which was surprising since I have been a bit low energy this week. Last Friday I was at Tim and Nicole’s and Tim made us an amazing homemade tomato sauce with spaghetti. It was so wonderful – I decided to re-invent and make something similar for my mom tonight.

To start the sauce, measure out just a little less than 1/4 cup of EVOO into your pot. Warm the EVOO on medium high heat. Once the oil is warm, add four or five cloves of garlic that have been smashed and minced. Also add about a tablespoon of red pepper flakes. Once the garlic is almost browning, add 28 ounces of crushed and peeled tomatoes (low sodium – no salt added if you have it). Bring down the heat to medium. Add freshly ground pepper, fresh basil, and oregano to taste. Tim adds salt, and you can if you want to – but taste your sauce before you add salt, to see if you need any at all. Tonight I actually did not need to add salt to my sauce.

Cook your pasta (spaghetti works best for plating) as you normally would. When the pasta is nearly done, use tongs to pick up the pasta and shake off excess water… and then put the pasta directly into your sauce pot. Mix together the pasta and sauce. Serve on warmed plates, garnish with more fresh basil and freshly grated parmesan cheese. Fantastic! All of this only took about 30 minutes to put together, by the way. Very easy – and very good!

Tonight I have been making brownies to bring to work in the morning…. happy birthday Jane!

Hope you are all having a great day and ending the week on a positive note. I will be back this weekend. I am having Tim and Nicole over to my house on Saturday for dinner – it is about time. Cassoulet will be on the menu… I cannot wait to make it!

See you soon!