Sunday

Hey All-

After being away from the house for so many days, today has been a busy day! For the first time in over two weeks I went to bed last night without setting my alarm… what a nice feeling! I did not care how late I slept, but I am glad that I was out of bed by 9:40 this morning – I did not want to sleep the whole day away!

The first thing I did was go to the grocery store because we were out of a lot of key ingredients for breakfast. At the market I picked up some milk, Stoneyfield yogurt, eggs, cheese and Canadian Bacon (at mom’s request – yum!). On my way home I stopped at Dunkin Donuts and ordered a medium iced coffee with 1/2 the normal ice with milk. It was sooo good on such a hot day!

When I got home I set to work making our Sunday morning smoothie. I used the Organic Cow 1% milk (about 3/4 a cup) 1/2 a cup of Stoneyfield vanilla low fat yogurt, a small handful of frozen blueberries, another small handful of rasberries, 1/2 scoop of protein powder and a packet of Vega smoothie infusion which I got at the Summit yesterday (a review of this product is coming later this week, I promise).

The smoothie was very pretty:

More importantly (maybe) it tasted very good as well. I had this at 10:30 this morning and did not have to eat again until 3 o’clock. I like anything that works for that long!

It is very hot today in Rhode Island. It is in the 90s which is a bit of a shock to my body, since it has felt more like spring or fall for much of the summer. But today I have embraced the heat. I took a twenty minute walk around my neighborhood as I talked with one of my very good friends via BlueTooth and iPhone. I like combining my walking time with talking time if it is in person or on the phone. It cam make the walk more interesting, and the time goes by a lot quicker! I feel like it is more productive to talk while moving when my other option is to talk while sitting on the couch

After getting home and showering I decided to investigate some yoga on the much raved about Yoga Downloads website. I did not realize that all of their 20 minute downloads are now free – wow!! Today I downloaded three classes and did a half hour of yoga in the living room. It was so hot while I was doing yoga, I felt like I was participating in Bikram (or hot yoga) rather than Hatha! Needless to say, I felt great after my half hour of yoga.

After my workout I took a break for lunch. I made a great sandwich on a piece of Arnold’s double protein bread with a slice of Monterey Jack cheese, with two slices of chicken, lettuce, tomato and spice brown mustard. This sandwich was sooo good! On the side I had some more blueberries and a few Cape Cod potato chips!

I thought my sandwich was very pretty today – and I was remembering Janel’s advice about consuming a fruit and a vegetable with every meal… I accomplished that with my tomato, lettuce and blueberries. It was a very satisfying lunch.

Well, I am off to see my friends Tim & Nicole for dinner a movie and maybe a swim – it sure is hot enough.

I hope you are all having a lovely Sunday. See you soon!

Saturday – farmers market, etc.

Hey All -

Happy Saturday!! It was such a beautiful day here in Providence and I’m thrilled to say that I spent most of the day outside. No humidity, beautiful blue skies and sunshine – who can ask for anything better?

I started off this morning with a cup of coffee in my Black Dog coffee mug:

After the coffee I made a wonderful smoothie which got me through hours today!  In the smoothie was ground flax seed, Stoneyfield vanilla yogurt, blueberries, PB2, ice, Amazing Meal and skim milk.  Here’s what the blender looked like before all of the ingredients were mixed together:

Pretty!! (just kidding)
But the end result was beautiful:

I feel like this was a super healthy smoothie with two super foods: blueberries and Amazing Meal!  It was also very filling and it tasted amazing.

Mom and I headed over to the East Side to the Farmer’s Market on Saturday morning. It was busy and there were a ton of great vendors:

Here is what I bought:

Along with a beautiful bulb of garlic, a loaf of freshly made sour dough bread and homemade gazpacho:

Tomorrow I’ll be making (or attempting) a recipe by Jacques Pépin for ratatouille and I’m glad I was able to get almost all of the veggies needed from local vendors at the market this morning.

At around two o’clock mom and I split a scone and a few handfuls of fresh blueberries – so good!  The scone was from Seven Stars bakery – one of my favorite places.

The rest of my Saturday was super busy and I will write a re-cap tomorrow.  Katherine, Mom and I had a wonderful time at Julie and Julia – it was such a fun movie and I will talk more about it tomorrow.

Good night everyone!

Wednesday

Hey All -

I’m taking a few days off from work for some rest and relaxation…

This morning I took advantage of not having to get off to work by making a really wonderful smoothie.    I added 1/2 a cup of ice, a handful of blueberries, 1/2 a banana, 1/2 a cup of yogurt, 1/3 cup of skim milk, 1 scoop of protein powder, and a scoop and a half of Amazing Meal (chocolate flavor).  The ingredients worked really well together and made an amazing smoothie. I could have enjoyed all of it easily – but I poured half of it into another glass for my mom to enjoy!

After a few sips:

About an hour after my breakfast I started to get ready for the gym. I ended up spending nearly two hours at the gym today! I did 2.25 miles on the treadmill, which today took me 25 minutes… (I was slow!) then I spent 25 or 30 minutes doing weights and another 20 minutes on the elliptical machine to cool down.  The Boston Sports Club in Providence is so nice and it is basically brand new – it’s been open for maybe six months. I really like going there and I love that the facilities are so clean and new.

A little while after the gym, I started making lunch for me and my mom. I decided veggie quesadilla sounded perfect – so that is what I made:

I used a whole wheat wrap from TJ’s along with low fat Mexican cheese, grilled red peppers, Dr. Praeger’s veggie burgers and a spoonful or two of corn.  This picture was taken before I put the wrap on the stove, so you can see the ingredients better.

Here is the final product:

Served with a side of light sour cream and salsa! It was a wonderful lunch.

Hope you’re all having a good Wednesday – see you again soon.

Green Super Food Smoothie!

Happy Sunday morning, everyone!  I woke up this morning really excited for a smoothie.  Last weekend when my sister and I were at Whole Foods, I was really happy to find some sample packets of Amazing Grass Green Super Foods for sale. It was going to be a huge commitment for me to buy a big container of the stuff if I had not tried it yet. Here are some of the samples I picked up last Sunday:

Here is the Super Food I decided to use this morning:

Along with the Chocolate (cacao) blend, I added 1/3 of a banana, a handful of blueberries, a few raspberries, ice, 3/4 cup soy milk, 1 1/2 scoops of Aria Protein Powder and 1/3 cup organic yogurt.
The end result!? Amazing:

Although I used my blender to make the smoothie, I drank it out of my blender cup. I love this cup – on mornings when I do not have time to use the blender, I can shake up a drink with soy milk, protein powder and Green Super Food. It is also a great To Go cup:

A few of my friends have asked me about the benefits of this Amazing Grass stuff.  Here are a few facts and you can go to their website to learn even more: one serving has a large serving of antioxidants, it will boost energy, boost your immune system and helps you get part of your five servings a day of fruits and veggies. And one serving is only 30 calories – and has anywhere between 65% – 100% of your vitamin A along with many other vitamins and minerals.

I really enjoyed the chocolate drink mix. But I am going to try the other two before I make up my mind on which to purchase.  I will make sure to report back on how I like the Berry flavor and the original flavor!

Now I am waiting just a little longer to “digest” before I head out for a run. It’s a great running day out there – slightly overcast and cool. I must take advantage!

I’ll be back later today. Enjoy the day, everyone!

Smoothie love…

It seems like it’s been a really long time since my last post. I’m not going to bother to re-cap Sunday, because the food was dull. However, for breakfast I made an amazing smoothie!! Here is the picture:

Here’s what went into the smoothie (keep in mind – in total it made two servings!)

• One container of Oikos blue berry Greek yogurt.
• A handful of frozen raspberries (I love Trader Joe’s frozen raspberries, blue berries and strawberries – especially for smoothies).
• 1/2 a cup of skim milk.
• 5 or 6 ice cubes.
• 1/2 a very large banana (normally I would put one whole banana
• One scoop of Aria protein powder

I put my blender on the “smoothie” setting and blended everything together. It was a really good drink to start Sunday morning out with. Normally I will put in a little bit of peanut butter or almond butter into the smoothie (the fat actually helps to keep you full!) but I did not add that this time around. I am sort of excited for Summer time – because that means more smoothies!