Shrimp Scampi

Good Morning! As I mentioned yesterday, after watching Julie & Julia I was inspired to cook something different. After raiding our cabinets for ingredients I found this recipe to try. It’s nothing too fancy or out of the ordinary but something different for us. Shrimp Scampi.

I used the base of this recipe since those were all the ingredients we had and it turned out lovely.

Shrimp Scampi
(modified from the GoodLife eats recipe here)

1 lb shelled and deveined shrimp
2 Tbs Smart Balance Light buttery spread
1 Tbs olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/3 cup white wine
2 Tbs lemon juice
1 Tbs parsley
cooked pasta for 2

Sauté shrimp in Smart Balance until cooked through. Add garlic, sauté one minute more. Add white wine and lemon juice. Simmer sauce until thickened, about 2 minutes. Add olive oil and some parsley. Combine cooked pasta and shrimp with sauce in large bowl. Toss with additional parsley and add freshly grated parmesan (optional).




This didn’t photograph well but tasted great. I especially liked this scampi since it wasn’t rich tasting like most made with real butter. It went great with steamed broccoli on the side. I also made salad but we were so eager to try the scampi that I forgot to get them out of the refrigerator. So I have my lunch ready for today.


This morning started off like any other day with my black coffee and oats.



At the moment PB and apple butter oats are my favorite!

½ cup oats
spoon of peanut butter
spoon of apple butter
cinnamon
½ packet of stevia
cooked with about 1 cup hot water

Perfection!

There’s a lot to do today so I need to step away from the computer. Here is what’s on the agenda:

• Give Elli a bath
• Get oil changed
• Workout
• Finish Cleaning

Doesn’t seem like much but the last on the list may take awhile. Off I go…. Have a great hump day everyone!

Lots of Catching Up

Hello there, wow it's been a while! I'm glad that I'm off work all week since there is so much catching up to do. Not only with the blog but I have to clean house for our New Year's party, get my oil changed, and other stuff. Surely there are other things to do. Rather than writing a really long post about the holidays I'm going to keep it semi short with mostly pictures instead. They're more fun anyway!

Christmas Eve started with my first ever oats in a jar! Here is the pb I started with


I added oats, cinnamon, stevia, and apple butter. Cooked with about 1 cup hot water.


Yummy! When I was done, this was the cleanest pb jar to ever go in our recycling.


Now for the good stuff!

We spent Christmas Eve night at my parent's house. This has been a tradition for as long as I can remember. Here's a peak...





Lots of good food and company!


My FIL with the silly cat.

Best girlfriends!


Good news! I'm going to be an aunt!! Me with my SIL who finally shared the news that she is 3 months pregnant.

(for those who didn't know, shhhh!)

And being silly with my mom


Christmas Day was also spent with my parents. We had too much fun opening gifts and trying on our new onion goggles that I forgot to take pictures. woops.

I was able to snap these of my parent's cute dog.

He loved the camera!


And I have to show off my Mom's favorite gift this year- Lenox Christmas china.


Saturday we spent the day with my in-laws and family. Once again I didn't get out the camera but we had a blast together. We laughed our butts off playing charades!

The entire weekend was wonderful and we couldn't have ask for a better time with our family and friends! I'll admit it's nice to be home and away from all the Christmas cookies though :) Now I have to get back on track.

I'm enjoying my morning coffee and Good Morning America this morning. I'll brave the cold weather for a run this afternoon.

I keep this mug out all year since it fits me so well... thanks Mom!

Well that's all for now but I'll be back with a Monday recap.

I hope that everyone had a wonderful holiday! Have a great day!!

Oats Remix

Good Morning! I am happy to report that I didn’t eat any sweets yesterday, YAY! Just had to get that out first thing :)

I finished the last of my holiday baking yesterday. Peanut butter treats for the doggies in our life. I tried my best to make them look like bones with the little cookie cutter I found. Elli wouldn’t leave me alone while these were baking.




Last night after dinner I curled up to watch football with a mug of Sugar Cookie tea.



While watching the game we heard several fire trucks pass our house. This is pretty common since we live on a busy city street but they just kept coming. Soon we heard helicopters and police and quickly peaked outside. Oh my goodness, there was a huge fire just two blocks from our house. It’s sad but I immediately grabbed my camera and took this terrible picture.



Now for today…

I skipped a workout today since my butt is still sore from Jillian. (Damn her!) My body could use some rest though so it feels nice.

With no more bananas I decided to try a different mix with my oats. I added apple butter to my normal pb oats. Why haven’t I done this sooner? OMGosh it was amazing! I definitely found another great combo. With just a little peanut butter left I’m looking forward to oats in a jar on Thursday. Tomorrow I’ll be having brunch with my co-workers so oats will not be necessary.



• 1/2 Oats
• 1 tbs peanut butter
• 1 tbs apple butter
• cinnamon
• stevia
Cooked in about 1 cup hot water.

Pure deliciousness! You know it’s good when you plan breakfast two days in advance.

Today was yet another freezing cold day in the office. My lunch warmed me up a bit.



Remember my impulse buy from last week, this Pad Thai soup? Besides the rice noodles it didn’t resemble the Pad Thai I know but it was tasty. For a convenient soup it was fairly healthy too and number one, it warmed me up! Along side my soup I had an apple and baby carrots. Overall this was a very satisfying and filling lunch.

I don’t know how you’re feeling about work these days but it’s rough. This time of year work is the last place I want to be and I really have to push myself to get things done. Does anyone else have that problem? Man, am I looking forward to vacation next week!

Time to make dinner... have a great night!

Pumpkin Spice Pancakes

Good Morning everyone! Elli woke me early this morning, I think she wanted to play outside in this



yep this is what I woke up to. At least 6 inches of snow and its still going strong. These are the best days! I love being stuck inside a warm house watching movies, baking whatever comes to mind, and relaxing with my family.

Feeling very thirsty and just a bit hungry this morning I made my very first Green Monster.



• kale
• banana
• soymilk
• flax
• wheat germ
• peanut butter
• ice

This was very tasty but I wish I had some berries to add. They're now on the grocery list just for my next GM!

Later this morning once Jeff woke I made Pumpkin Spice Pancakes. After my impulse buy of PS Silk I had to make something with it. I veganized the recipe on the carton and thought they were blog worthing since the husband gave them 2 thumbs up.

Pumpkin Spice Pancakes

¾ cup flour
¼ cup whole wheat flour
½ tsp salt
1 cup Silk Pumpkin Spice
1 tsp vanilla
2 tbs oil (I used canola)
¼ cup unsweetened applesauce

Whisk dry ingredients together. In another bowl mix wet ingredients together. Combine wet and dry ingredients, mixing gently. Cook on a preheated skillet.
Note: Batter maybe a little lumpy. Makes about 10 pancakes.
*recipe modified from Silk's Pumpkin Spice carton.



Top cooked pancakes with your favorite toppings. Here's mine with earth balance and agave.



Now it's time to finish wrapping Christmas gifts and watch movies.

Have a great day!

First Timer

After hearing so much about Jillian Michael’s 30-Day Shred on other blogs I had to check it out. Since I decided a few weeks ago that joining the gym wasn’t an option, I ordered 3 of her DVDs to keep me busy at home. Hoping these workouts will be good on my days off from running I gave one a try.

I started my morning off with Jillian’s 30-Day Shred workout. This is the one I’ve heard the most hype about. As a first timer I started with level 1 as she instructed. The DVD is made up of 3 workouts (level 1,2, and 3) that you progressively work through. Each level is 20 minutes of continuous workouts alternating between strength, cardio, and abs.

I have tried a lot of these quickie 20-minute workouts and never see results or feel very challenged. Jillian held her word and worked my ass hard during those 20 minutes. I have a feeling these workouts are going to be good! Come on, she is referred to as America’s toughest trainer.

Soon I’ll try the other DVDs- No More Trouble Zones and Banish Fat Boost Metabolism.

Once at work I had breakfast- PB oats :)

Amy’s came back into my life today around 1:00. I promise I’ll never cheat on her again! Today I had the low fat Minestrone soup that is by far one of the best. Next time I’ll look for low sodium in this flavor. No wonder I like it so much with all the salt!



After lunch I made some hot tea to fill the rest of my belly :)



Side note: I drink water all day long. I don’t see the need to post it everyday but I keep a 24-ounce bottle at work that I fill up at least 3 times a day. Yesterday I had 3 bottles before even eating lunch. Just to give you an idea. I’m always thirsty and can never get enough ice-cold water. I read once that you should drink half your weight in ounces of water each day. There’s my little fact of the day :)

Not too much going on this evening. Take a peak at my to do list.

Make dinner- grilled vegetables over brown rice

Pack Jeff’s lunch and my oatmeal

Set out work and warm running clothes for tomorrow

Bake M&M cookies with leftover candy (while Jeff’s at basketball)

Relax


There you have it! Stay warm tonight wherever you are.
See ya tomorrow!

Santa Came Early!

Last night when Jeff got home from work he threw a package on the counter and said Merry Christmas baby!

Santa (aka FedEx) delivered my Christmas gift. It’s a…drum roll please…. Garmin Forerunner 405!! Definitely an upgrade from the Timex Ironman on my wish list. My hubby does it right.

Here take a peak! Charging...



Isn’t she darling? Yes, she!


(these pictures suck)

I was eager to post this last night but spent the entire evening reading the owner’s manual and setting up everything. I can’t wait to run this weekend.

There are so many cool features. It has a heart rate monitor and a USB to upload all my stats to the Garmin Connect website.



This means that I will be running outside a lot this winter! Hopefully no frostbite!


Workout

This morning I did the Ace Fitness At-Home workout again. This time with music! If you haven’t looked at the site yet here is what the workout included:

Warm Up
Cobra pose
Cat-Camel pose
Supine Pelvic Tilts

Workout: 3 sets of 12 unless noted otherwise
Glute Bridge
Contralateral Limb Raises
Side Lying Hip Abduction
Side Lying Hip Adduction
Side Plank with straight leg (held 15 secs/3 times per side)
Push Ups (only did set of 12, then 10 more)
Forward Lunge with Arm Drivers (did 2 sets of 12/side)
Side Lunge (2 sets of 12/side)
Supine Reverse Crunches
Bent-Knee Sit-up/Crunch

Cool Down
Cobra
Downward-facing Dog



This felt great and I figured out that the lunges were what made me so sore last time. I think I’ll continue this workout at least twice a week.



Meals

I had another breakfast cookie this morning alongside some chia tea with unsweetened soymilk.



This b cookie was even better than the first, I tried stevia instead of agave nectar. It had a more subtle sweetness that was perfect.

• ½ cup oats
• unsweetened soymilk
• 1 tbs raw almond butter
• raisins
• vegan chocolate chips
• stevia


I still can’t believe how long this breakfast sticks with me. No morning snack and I didn’t eat lunch until almost 2:00. I think it was 1:50 to be exact. Lunch was a huge salad from the grocery store salad bar with Annie’s balsamic vinaigrette dressing.



There was so much in this salad…

• spring mix
• spinach
• cucumbers
• carrots
• broccoli
• broccoli slaw
• bean mix (black, pinto, kidney, black-eyed, lima)
• red, green, and yellow peppers
• mushrooms
• black olives
• cherry tomatoes
• grapes

I think that’s everything. It took me 40 minutes but I managed to eat every last bite of these beautiful veggies. I just couldn’t stop once I started.

You know sometimes I get sick of posting what I eat every single day. It does help me keep track of my diet rather than journaling, which gets old real fast. Besides I am even more conscious of what I do since I share it with the world. (Well I know that no one really reads this but the world has access). Just wanted to get my thoughts out there. I will continue writing as I have been since this blog is about me and what I do. It keeps me sane and gives me my sort of a diary to look back on.

Anyway! Jeff is planning to make us dinner tonight since he may get home early. We are trying to be creative and avoid the grocery store. (Although I stopped this morning for a few items that were on sale). He is planning to make chili with baked French fires and a vegetable on the side. Hey sounds good to me!

Tomorrow I’m going to test out my Garmin. Yay! I haven’t looked forward to a run like this in a while.

I hope that everyone (the entire world) has a wonderful weekend. Stay warm.

My first breakfast cookie!

This morning I woke up early to run my 2 miles from yesterday. Surprisingly I am still sore! What the heck? I feel like an old lady when I get up from bed, out of a chair, even walk.

I snuck out of the bedroom trying not to wake Elli. I planned to run quick then take her out when I got back. It worked since she was sleeping soundly and I even covered her up with a warm blanket as I tiptoed out the room.

I bundled up with lots of layers and ran my two miles. My stomach was growling the whole way. I usually don’t eat breakfast till 9-9:30 so this was strange for 6:00 a.m. I kept thinking about my breakfast cookie waiting in the frig which made me run a little faster.

Once back home I stretched my sore body, took the recycling out, then woke Elli. I couldn't believe she was still sleeping. When we got back in I had to try the breakfast cookie. After the first bite I knew it needed a little sweetener (there wasn’t any included to start with) so I drizzled some agave on top.



I ate half and brought the other half to work. I can’t even describe how delicious this was! And a nice change from my regular oats.



Once I got to work I had some breakfast blend coffee with a little unsweetened soymilk.

Oh yeah, I almost forgot that I baked some vanilla cake last night. I had some Nasoya leftover from the sugar cookies and found this recipe on Tina’s blog. Since I had all the ingredients I thought I’d give it a try. I’ve baked a lot this week but end up freezing most of it. Whenever I get on a baking kick I throw most of it in the freezer that way we can have treats anytime.



Back to today… my bfast cookie held me over till 1:00! I couldn’t believe it.

Lunch was Amy’s Organic Chunky Vegetable soup. This is one of my favorites! I also had, for my first time, Mary’s Gone crackers that were really good.



Look at all the veggies!



Plus I finally remembered to pack a reusable napkin and spoon, see!



There’s something about Mary’s crackers, I kept going back for more. (Wonder if that's where the movie came from..hehe) I think it’s the crunch. It’s a nice texture. After my soup I had a sweet tooth so I had 2 clementines.


Around 3:30 I felt hungry and my blood sugar felt low but I was in a training session. As soon as I finished I felt a binge coming on since my body was so weak. (I’m hypoglycemic). So then at 4:00 I ate a lot! An apple, crackers, and an organic Z Bar. What a terrible feeling it is to have to get your blood sugar up without inhaling too many calories. I thought that I balanced my meals pretty well today so I’m not sure what made me crash like that.

After getting rid of my shakes and feeling normal again, I realized that I didn’t photograph my late day snack. I’m sure you got the idea though.

There are no major dinner plans for tonight. I think I’ll be eating a salad with some Mexican inspired toppings since I still have leftover rice and beans.

I’ve gotta catch up on all my recorded shows from last night. I still can't believe we didn’t stay up for the Top Chef finale!

Shhhh… don’t tell who won :) Night!

Change in schedule

So I don't forget, here is dinner from last night. Baked sweet potato with earth balance and cinnamon, steamed green beans, and black beans with onion.



This morning was not a typical morning in our house. Jeff had to leave at 5:30 a.m. to catch the train to DC for the day. This threw me off a bit since I usually get up at that time and he is still snoring away in bed. The weather is crappy today and it's raining pretty hard, so I decided to stay in bed while he got ready. I woke around 6:00 to take Elli out and couldn't believe how sore and stiff my body was. I guess that workout yesterday worked my muscles more than I thought. To my surprise I was really feeling it. Since the weather sucked and I was sore I decided to skip my run this morning. Instead I started my morning off with a good cup of black coffee,



read some blogs and then did some much needed yoga.



This yoga series on Fit TV is just what I needed today. It felt so good to stretch my sore muscles.

Afterwards I took Elli out again and showered for work. By the way, I plan on running my scheduled 2 miles either tomorrow or Friday. Depending on the weather. I'll do the Ace Fitness workout again the other day.

My breakfast this morning was pb oats with raisins...mmmmm..yummmy.




• ½ cup oats
• cinnamon
• raisins
• quick squirt of agave nectar
• 1 spoon full of nature’s promise organic pb



After breakfast and reading Bobbi's post I felt like I needed a little bit more of a workout. Since my upper body wasn't sore I got out my little 5 lb. wieghts.

• Hammer curls (3 sets of 10/arm)
• Standing triceps extensions (3 sets of 10/arm)
• Double-arm raise (2 sets of 12)
• Shoulder presses (3 sets of 10)
• Chest fly (3 sets of 12)
• Upright row (3 sets of 10)

(Big thanks to Fitnessista and Bobbi for these links)


Then it was time to get to work...

I worked from home today so I was able to prep a few things for tomorrow. During lunch I made my first breakfast cookie to try tomorrow morning. I followed Fitnessista's recipe here.

I made mine with the recommended oats, raw almond butter, unsweetened soy milk, and my "add-ins" were vegan chocolate chips and raisins. I cannot wait to try this!




Training
I was checking the schedule of events for the race and also found this training schedule. It's a beginner training plan but seems more intense than the one I got from Runner's World. I might mix the two together and see what works for me.


Here is what I whipped up for lunch. I had some green and black beans leftover from dinner and added this Kashi whole grain pilaf and carrots sticks.



Added taco sauce and it was perfect! Lovely lunch and very satisfying.



I even had black beans and pilaf leftover for dinner tonight. Works well since tonight is "clean out the frig" night.

Well I hope you have a wonderful night :) We're half way through the week! Yay!

Let’s have dessert first

I always liked the saying that you should eat dessert first to make sure you have room for it.

Last night after dinner I made the Nasoya sugar cookies. They were huge and had a nice flavor! Much sweeter than I expected from the ingredients and they had a cake-like texture. Oh yeah, they look more like Easter cookies since we don’t have any green/red sprinkles.



I got a little creative with my dessert.



The end result: sugar cookie soy ice cream sandwich! This vegan treat was sinful and oh so tasty.



Onto this morning’s workout… I tried something new today. Yesterday I discovered the Ace Fitness website and their At-Home workout caught my eye. I have to try new things at home since there will be no gym in my life. This was a good workout to do and I’ll probably do this on my days off from running. It was pretty quick, about 25 minutes, and targeted several different muscle groups. The warm up and cool down include yoga poses and the workout is pretty basic. Take my advice and play some music if you decide to give this a try. It got a little boring and music would have jazzed it up. I was too lazy to turn any on.

I also ordered 3 of Jillian Michaels’ DVDs from Amazon this week. I read from other bloggers that she has some great workouts.



My plan is to make our basement a comfortable place to workout and keep things interesting. Unfortunately I’ll be stuck inside a lot through the winter months. I just hope the weather doesn’t keep me from running outside, safely anyway.


I changed my oatmeal this morning since there was no fruit on hand.

• 1/3 cup oats
• 1/4 cup Bear Naked granola
• Cinnamon
• 1 tsp agave nectar
• 1 spoonful of natural pb



I added too much water to the mix so it wasn’t as good as it would have been. I also finished off a bottle of Trilogy Kombucha that I had at work. This stuff takes some getting used to but I find myself craving it now, weird.

Back to training- I’m jumping around a bit today.
I charted my training schedule today since I like to check off the days as I go along. I used Runner’s World to create my schedule through the Smart Coach application. It’s a moderate schedule with Saturday as my long-run day, a total of 15 weeks ending on race day. I’m not sure how to post the chart so I’ll try my best to explain it. I will run on Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday (weather permitting) and cross-train/rest the other days. After running 2 half-marathons I am comfortable tweaking the schedule if needed but this is the plan.

Week 1: M 2 mi, W 2 mi, S 2 mi – 6 miles total
Week 2: M 2 mi, W 2 mi, S 3 mi – 7 miles total
Week 3: M 2 mi, W 3 mi, S 4 mi – 9 miles total
Week 4: M 2 mi, W 3 mi, S 5 mi – 10 miles total
Week 5: M 2 mi, W 5 mi, S 6 mi – 13 miles total
Week 6: M 2 mi, W 5 mi, S 6 mi – 13 miles total
Week 7: M 2 mi, W 5 mi, S 7 mi – 14 miles total
Week 8: M 2 mi, W 6 mi, S 7 mi – 15 miles total
Week 9: M 2 mi, W 7 mi, S 8 mi – 17 miles total
Week 10: M 4 mi, W 4 mi, S 4 mi – 12 miles total
Week 11: M 2 mi, W 6 mi, S 8 mi – 18 miles total
Week 12: M 2 mi, W 7 mi, S 9 mi – 20 miles total
Week 13: M 2 mi, W 8 mi, S 9 mi – 21 miles total
Week 14: M 2 mi, W 7 mi, S 10 mi – 21 miles total
Week 15: T 2 mi, Th 5 mi, Sun Race Day! 13.1 mi

Hopefully that makes sense. I find it difficult to squeeze in long run during the week since I work full time and try to run in the mornings. So I tend to adjust this schedule as needed.


Ok enough about running for today!


What was on the menu for my other meals today…

Lunch- Amy’s Organic Vegetable Barley Soup, carrots sticks, and two clementines. I also had Celestial Seasoning’s gingerbread spice tea since my office was freezing.



I’ve realized from all my lunch pictures lately that I am very wasteful. I consider myself to be fairly ‘green’ so are all these disposable spoons necessary? I have reusable plastic spoons at home and need to start packing them for my lunch. I promise to start working on that.


Dinner- Baked sweet potato with black beans and green beans (me) and baked chicken (Jeff)
I'll post that pic tomorrow.

It's now time to clean up from dinner and watch Fringe (DVRed from last week).

Help me out and cross your fingers that we don’t get the icy mix their calling for tomorrow morning! I’ve gotta run!

Have a great night!