Let the fun begin

Hello all! I've been M.I.A. for a while since the winter semester started on Monday. I am cramming in an online course that is only 4 weeks long which makes for a huge work load. Music Appreciation sounded like an easy fine arts credit to take online but I could never have guessed how much work would be assigned. Since I'm devoting an hour each night (plus lunch breaks) to school work, that doesn't leave time for blogging.

There will be a lot of catching up to do come February but I'll try to stop by over the weekends.

I hope that everyone is having a wonderful 2010 so far! Reach for the stars.

Ring in the New Year!

Happy New Year’s Eve!! So, what kind of plans do you have to ring in the New Year this evening?

We’re having some family and friends over for munchies, drinks, and fireworks. The city does a great firework display at midnight that we can see perfectly from our rooftop deck.

I’ve spent today doing some final touches, cleaning (o.c.d. here) and prepping food. We have quite a spread planned…

Pulled pork BBQ
Harry & David’s pepper relish cheese dip with crackers
Hot pepper cheese ball with sliced almonds
Dill Havarti cheese
Deviled eggs
Tortilla chips with salsa
Fresh veggies with hummus
Pumpkin roll
Cookie tray with chocolate covered cashews

Let me check the frig to see if I missed anything…. Oh yeah, three bean salad.

As you probably guessed I will not be eating much of this so I’ve planned on making a BBQ tempah sandwich to fill my belly. What better way to get rid of food you don’t eat, feed it to guest. (Oh that sounds terrible). I’ll post pictures of all these goodies sometime soon.

While I was cleaning today I used these stainless steel wipes for all our appliances. They work great so I thought I’d share.


Method Stainless Steel Wipes



We pick these up at Big Lots super cheap. Look how shiny the refrigerator is!

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Have you thought about your 2010 resolutions? Mine seem to be about the same every year and I haven’t put too much thought into them this year but here’s a general idea of what I would like to accomplish.

Save money (always on the list)
Live a simple and healthy life
Start a family (TTC this spring!)

I try not to set goals like loose 10 pounds, although I’d like to, I rather be realistic and stick to a healthy lifestyle. I just want to feel great and be happy! Of course I have other goals besides just these three (i.e. attend church frequently, spend more time with family and friends, further my education).

....

In case you’re wondering about my eats (probably not but I’ll share anyway)…

Today started off with my regular black coffee and pb/ab oats. Like always I wanted to lick the bowl clean.

After cleaning a while I ate an apple, sliced with sprinkled cinnamon. This taste so good I’m not sure why I hadn’t tried it sooner. I also polished off the last two vegan cookies I baked. They were in the freezer just yelling my name :)

For lunch I am baking some carrot fries that I can’t wait to try. I always see these on Mama Pea’s blog and wanted to try them. There’s no better time than after buying 5 lbs of carrots from Sam’s.

Note to self: don’t toss in olive oil. The first batch burnt in less than 25 minutes.



Much better with canola oil.



For someone who loves sweet potatoes fries, carrot fries are right up there! I could have done without the salad and had more fries. These maybe a new staple in our house.




Fiesta themed salad: spring mix, broccoli, carrots, salsa, Kashi Fiery Fiesta rice

Time to finish house work and get myself cleaned up. If I have time I’d like to workout before guest arrive, we’ll see.

Wishing you a very happy 2010!!

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!

Running Blues

Its official I have the blues. This is when my no-gym membership decision kicks me in the butt. I can’t run outside! Ugh! Have you looked out there lately? It’s a mess. Not only do I have cabin fever but I’m supposed to be training and am extremely anxious. I did yoga this morning but that didn’t help my anxiety. This afternoon it was pretty nice outside so I decided to give it a try, to run that is. Since we had movies to take back to the Redbox I decided to attempt a run to Safeway to return them.

It was nice to get outside and the sun was shining. But this was pretty dumb to say the least. First of all, not many people in Canton shoveled their sidewalks and the city still hasn’t plowed any side streets. So needless to say it was very dangerous and I couldn’t do much running. I had to hop over snow and run in slush so my feet were soaked.

Ok, enough complaining but I really miss my runs. So I’ll be hanging out with Jillian for the next couple days or week. Santa, please bring me a treadmill!

Have a good night everyone :)

Impulse Friday

Happy Friday everyone! I’m looking forward to the weekend, how about you? In my area they’re calling for snow tomorrow. Apparently a blizzard with anywhere from 1 – 20 inches! I’m so glad we don’t have any plans.

Time to fess up and share my impulse buys for the day. I was so close to making it all week without any more buys! Today I headed to the grocery store during lunch for a trip to the salad bar and look what I spotted…



Pumpkin spice Silk! I had to try it, just had to. Anything pumpkin is a must have. Somehow I justified this purchase but not sure how or why. While waiting in line I was excited to see a recipe for pumpkin spice pancakes on the carton. There that’s why I needed it so I can make breakfast while we’re snowed in this weekend.

Here is what I really went for



This fixed my salad craving that I’ve had for a while now. I loaded it up with good eats.

• spring mix
• spinach
• mushrooms
• black olives
• chickpeas
• tomatoes
• broccoli
• shredded cabbage
• cucumber
• green pepper

Then I added my own toppings of edamame, Mary’s crackers and Annie’s organic balsamic vinaigrette. Exactly what I needed!

Somehow this ended up in my tummy too.



Freezing cold office + pumpkin spice Silk = pumpkin spice chia tea



I almost forgot to share my second impulse buy of the day. Man, I really blew it today. While at Sears picking up my Dad’s Christmas gift the latest Fitness magazine was screaming “renew your subscription!” and it jumped into my cart. On a better note I am finished Christmas shopping! Now I just have to stop shopping for me.

Workout

I froze my butt off this morning during my run. Just went for 2 miles (2.21 for those counting) with the sista. This is what she said

Mile 1- 10:03
Mile 2- 9:24
.21- 2:04


Yesterday I didn't post my workout or eats but I started the morning off with Jillian's 30 day Shred.

Also had this super huge and yummy lunch of baked tofu with leftover grilled vegetables and basmati rice.



The joys of working from home!

The rest is history... have a great night, do something fun before the blizzard hits :)

Season's Greetings

Hello there and happy Thursday! Rather than writing about what I ate and what workout I did today I decided to share some thoughts (some of other people) of the season.

I read such a nice post this morning over at Mama Peas about giving. It really got me thinking about the season and what it's all about.

You may remember when I posted about my Salvation Army Angel that I bought gifts for this year. This is something I plan on doing every year from now on. It's amazing how helping others makes you feel, it really brightens the season for me and hopefully for the little girl as well.

I encourage you to think of ways you can help others during this holiday season and over the course of the year.

Check out the Mama Peas post for great gift ideas for all ages. Also read about Holly's goal over at the healthy everythingtarian.

Sometimes I make excuses for not donating but than I remember how very blessed and fortunate I am and that every little bit counts. After reading about what Holly is doing I donated a little towards her goal. Again, every little bit counts!

There is no better gift than knowing you brighten someone's day :)

Before I wrap I have to share this beautiful clip with you...

Peace On Earth

(I saw this on Jessica's blog and it gave me chills)



Season's Greetings to all!

Hip pain with the Sista

Yesterday was a super productive day! We had a ‘to do’ list ready and checked it all off which is an awesome feeling. Jeff got up early to take Elli out and to my surprise also served me breakfast in bed. So sweet. He made me oats with dried cranberries, fresh blueberries, slivered almonds, and a touch of agave nectar. It was so yummy!

After getting ready we headed out to complete our list of things. We went to the grocery store to pick crab meat for my MIL. She makes crab cakes every Christmas and we found a good deal. Then we headed out to the county to order our kitchen backsplash tile. I’m so glad this is final done and can’t wait till it’s installed.

Our next stop was supposed to be the Christmas tree farm but on our way we passed a tree stand that advertised all trees $25. What! We were feeling cheap so we stopped and found a beautiful Scotch pine tree. We’ve never heard of the Scotch pine before but it’s a nice looking tree that ended up costing $28. Not sure how they managed the additional $3 but it was still a good buy. The past couple years we have paid around $70 which seems insane considering we’re never really home for the holiday.

We set our tree up to see how Elli would react and she could have cared less. I thought she would try to play with it, eat it, pee on it, who knows what. Anyhow we decided to let it sit one day and soak up lots of water and are decorating it today.

Our naked tree


I finally went for a run once the tree was up. According to my training schedule I was suppose to run 2 miles but since it was a nice sunny day I went for 4 instead. Besides I couldn’t wait to run with my sista aka my Garmin! Yeah, that’s her name now. Sista! It’s appropriate since we’ll be spending a lot of time together exploring the city.

Jeff snapped a picture of me before we headed out.



And one of Elli too… with his earmuffs on :)



Running with my sista really pushed me to run faster. During the first mile warm up I was confused with the display screen and couldn’t see how fast I was running. I need to change the display but got used to it on this run. After my run I couldn’t wait to log into Garmin Connect to see my stats. Here goes…


Distance: 4.01 miles
Time 39:48

Splits

Mile 1- 10:44 (warm up)
Mile 2- 9:47
Mile 3- 9:41
Mile 4- 9:26


Seeing my time each mile pushed me to do better. I hope that this will help me to achieve a PR at my next race.

Bad news

My body is screaming for rest! Apparently my hip hasn’t completely healed from my fall 10 days ago. After the 4 miles I felt pain in my right hip and by the evening I could barely walk.

I am the type of person who hates being hurt and tend to push myself too hard which of course makes it worse. Today I will be resting and that I can justify since I worked out every other day this week.

Well I’ll be spending the last day of my weekend decorating the tree, packing lunches, planning meals for the week, doing laundry, and whatever else I can get into. Oh yeah, I’m supposed to be resting. We’ll see how that goes.

Enjoy the day everyone!

Spin class and Elli's return home

Finally made it to spin class! I needed a kick-butt workout after the holiday so I went to a cycle class this morning. I got there early and did a 20 minute ab routine then asked the cycle instructor to help me with the bike since it was my first class at this gym. I really enjoyed the 65 minute class and look forward to going back again next week.

While I was at the gym Jeff picked Elli up from doggie daycare. She was there throughout the holiday since we had a lot of company. It’s nice to have her back, we missed her! Last night we went out and got her a new toy and a birthday treat. She turned 1 year old last week and we forgot to get her a treat. Of course I didn’t take a picture but it was so cute- a homemade cookie with icing that said Happy Birthday in pink. We left it in her food bowl and she noticed it right away. The toy we bought her is pretty cool. It’s a heavy plastic bone that screws apart and holds treats in the middle and has these brushes that spin around to clean her teeth…. Very interesting to say the least. She wasn’t sure about it at first since it’s really heavy but Jeff tourmented her with it and now she won’t leave it alone.

Elli checking out her toy basket and her new toy! (The lines on her back are from the sun coming through the blinds).

After spin class I was ready for a yummy lunch. We had broccoli leftover from Thanksgiving so I steamed some with pepper and made a “cheese sandwich”. I used TJ’s soy cheese slices to maked my grilled sandwich and put tomatoes in the middle. Served up with a side of raw green pepper slices. So tasty…

Now for the shopping part- after lunch we decided to get out of the house and do a little shopping. We really don’t need anything but like to poke around in discount stores to see what we can find. So we headed out to Ollie’s and Big Lots. You never know what kind of deals you’ll find at these stores. We came home with a few bags from each store of toiletrees and a few convenience food items. I love to find good brands like Kashi and Cascadian Farm organics so cheap and we never pass them up!

Now that we're home for the day it's time to chill out. There are a few things to finish around the house but it's feeling like a movie and popcorn kind of night.

Enjoy the weekend everyone!

A Day in The Life

In an effort to stay on track with my attempt to exercise daily and eat a balanced diet, I’ve decided to share a few days with you here-and-there. I don’t plan to bore you with this everyday although it will help hold me accountable. I am not even sure anyone reads this blog but I pretend someone out there gives a damn, which makes me think about my actions. Whatever works!
Today started off well with a peaceful and productive morning, always a plus in my book. Elli, our black lab, woke me at the usual 5:25 this morning to take her out. Here is what the rest of my day usually looks like…

Wednesday (Happy Hump Day!)

5:25 Woke up and took Elli out
5:40 Fed Elli and prepped dinner, cut up sweet potatoes
6:00 Bundled up and hit the pavement for a 2 mile run
6:20 Stretched and checked The Nest fitness board
6:30 Got ready for work, made coffee, sent Jeff out the door
7:20 Left for work
8:00 My workday begins….
4:30 Head home
5:30 Take Elli out and start dinner
6:00 Catch up with Jeff over dinner
7:00 Blogging & Facebook updates
8:00 Watch TV (usually recorded from previous night), read and relax
9:30 *yawn* get ready for bed

I try my best to plan meals for the week and here is what’s in store for today.

B: regular coffee with unsweetened soymilk
vanilla soy yogurt with blueberries & raspberries
S: carrots with roasted red pepper hummus
L: Amy’s organic black bean and vegetable burrito
S: apple with natural peanut butter
D: vegan Boca burgers with sweet potato fries

Usually I stick with the “plan” but depending on my mood I may switch it up a bit.

Turns out that I wasn’t hungry for a morning snack so I skipped the carrots and hummus. This was my first of Amy’s burritos and I brought taco sauce a long just incase it was dry. I didn’t need it because it taste great plain. I kept cutting my bites smaller and smaller to make it last longer. During my lunch break I caught up with my current read: In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan. My friend, who is also very much into nutrition, let me borrow it. I’ll let you know how it is once I’m finished. I am juggling two books right now so it may be awhile.

Breakfast


Lunch


Snack


Dinner. I had some salad to use up so I threw that in too.


This post has ended up longer than expected. Hope you have a wonderful evening!

Veggie tales

Living in the city is great although you are limited when it comes to land and gardening. We are very grateful for the huge park outside our front door since we have absolutely no grass surrounding our house. I wanted to test out my thumb (not sure if it’s green) and plant some vegetables. With our limited space a container garden works best. We planted some “trial” vegetables this year, two types of lettuce and radishes. I have read that these are some of the easier to grow and we eat them the most so it sounds like a win-win.

It has been 3 weeks since we planted the seeds and so far they are looking good. The radishes are growing like crazy although the lettuce is slow coming. We are not sure how fast lettuce is supposed to grow and are wondering if the seeds were duds.

We can’t wait to try these beautiful vegetables, if they make it to our plates. Elli may get to enjoy them before we do since she has been eyeing up the radishes an awful lot lately.

Pictures above: Our container garden, Elli relaxing on the deck below our newly installed retractable close line, Elli guarding her veggies

Spring has sprung!

Today’s post is short and sweet. We get daily emails from one of my favorite websites, The Daily Green and I have to share this beautiful photo. There is a wonderful album of spring photographs that is updated daily as readers send pictures in and this one really caught my eye. This floating petal was photographed at the New York Botanical Garden.

Check back soon for a new recipe post, we are making turkey black bean & rice burritos this evening!