So I forgot to take my camera and iphone today when I went to work. I guess I’m still in vacation mode. Doh I know – a big blogger no-no. Have you ever done that? I felt so naked all day. Not only did I not have my camera and was unable to take my food pictures, I can’t check my personal email from work so I felt disconnected from the world (I had over 50 new emails when i finally picked up my phone!!). As far as food pics – luckily I took a picture of dinner last night (and ate the leftovers for lunch). I’ll have to describe my snacks to you, okay? Let’s start with dinner since today is CEiMB Thursday.

This week’s recipe for grilled zucchini roll-ups with herbs and cheese (recipe here) was hosted by My Table, Their Table. Some CEiMB members make their weekly recipe on the weekend and just post them on Thursdays but since my blog is journal-like, I typically am “forced” to make the chosen recipe actually on Thursday. The grilled zucchini roll-ups sounded great but I knew I needed to make something else for dinner to bulk them up. Enter – big salads!

I’m not going to lie – these babies were even smaller than I anticipated and were kind of a pain in the ass to make. I think it I had all day to make them and was lucky enough to use a real grill instead of a tiny grill pan (thus necessitating 4 batches, with a “break” to stop the fire alarm from beeping) and then leisurely rolling them, it could be fairly easy. I mean all you have to do is slice the zucchini (I used a mandoline), grill them, then stuff them, right? Time was not my friend today, so I kind of got flustered and gave up on the mid-way. We didn’t need that many for dinner anyway and the rest of the zucchini ribbons could just be used in a de-constructed salad.

I used fresh thyme instead of parsley, and cut the fresh basil into ribbons. I also apparently used more filling than 1/2teaspoon/roll since I ran out of the goat cheese after making only 9 rolls (see above). The biggest test is of course the taste test. What did we think? I LOVED them! Well I love all the ingredients individually so it was a no-brainer, really. Adam liked them too but thought they had too much cheese (I guess Ellie’s proportions would have been right up his alley since he basically scraped a bunch of the goat cheese out. The horror. ). Overall I’d recommend this recipe if you are able to take your time.

With the roll-ups I served us some fun salads – arugula, cherry tomatoes, ham, grilled zucchini, cannellini beans, pine nuts and goat cheese. Drizzled with some lemon juice and a teaspoon of EVOO.

I liked this dinner but I’ll admit it was more “me” than “Adam.” I think the chef gets to be selfish once in a while, no?

Rewind to…

BREAKFAST

Ww toast with nutella + coffee

Yes, I’m on a nutella kick now after vacation.

+ a green monster – skim milk, frozen spinach, frozen banana, frozen strawberries, almond butter, ice, xantham and guar gums. Yum!

LUNCH

Leftover cuban inspired mac & cheese (recipe based on the Pink Apron original). I had to healthify it, though, so for 4 servings I used 8oz pasta, 4 oz lite mexican blend cheese, 1T butter and 2/3 of the rest of the ingredients. Oh and I didn’t realize that we ran out of eggs so I omitted them and I used skim evaporated milk instead of whole. It turned out pretty yummy (leftovers were actually better than fresh). The pickles were awesome in this version of mac&cheese. Trust me!

WORKOUT

I worked out for the first time in 6 days today! The last time was my favorite yoga class last Thursday and I went back to it today. I brought all of my workout gear to Aruba but it just didn’t happen. I felt surprisingly tight at first (like I’m sore from working out too much, haha maybe lifting those drinks was a workout after all) but eventually relaxed and got into it. I hope to get a real sweaty workout tomorrow. I am way overdue!!

SNACKS

1 orange, 1 small packet of sommersaults, 1 nut box from Tatte (it’s my treat every few months – today was the day) and lastly another ww toast with nutella. I kind of felt guilty for overdoing it in the sweets dept today but they all did taste amazing so I’m hoping tomorrow I’ll just naturally crave cleaner eats. Let’s cross our fingers for that.

All right, sorry for the lack-luster post. I have lots of topics I’d like to post about but it’s not in the cards today. You’ll just have to check back here soon. My bed is calling my name. Gnight!

BREAKFAST

Power bran muffin with a sliced persimmon and nonfat yogurt

Lots of textures and tastes!

LUNCH

Thai food leftovers. The papaya salad was still crazy spicy but so yummy

SNACKS

3 things I’m obsessed with – TJ’s ww Tuscan bread, avocado + baba ganoush

I actually had some more bread with baba ganoush after dinner as a snack. The stuff is my new crack – my Barney Butter de jour if you will.

A little piece of fudge with walnuts at the office…

DINNER

Dinner was one creamy concoction – risotto with cauliflower and walnuts (based on this recipe, which I found through Tri to Cook). I used only 1 cup of dry arborio rice but added some cooked wheat berries, inspired by this recipe. I also only used 1t of EVOO (for toasting the rice), 3 oz of brie and walnuts instead of almonds (we ran out of sliced almonds). This was SO indulgent tasting!

It was actually overwhelmingly creamy (Adam thinks that’s crazy talk ), so mid-eating I decided to add some fresh cherry tomatoes to the bowl. What a great addition! The tomatoes added such freshness to the dish. I still managed to eat only 1/2 of this bowl.

Soon after dinner, I found room for dessert!

I ate 3 out of the 4 cookies in the package. These guys are so much yummier (and junk ingredient free!) than oreos. The cookie is actually chocolaty.

After the kitchen designer left, Adam and I watched 5 episodes of season 3 of Entourage. We just couldn’t stop. Have you seen the show? We’re addicts here!

All right kids, I’m off to work! Happy Tuesday

I haven’t gotten to making any muffins or stews yet, but last night the mac and cheese daydream was made a reality. I based it on Alton Brown’s baked macaroni and cheese recipe (found here) but of course lightened it up a bit. Here is my version:

Ingredients:

• 1/2 pound elbow macaroni (I used Barilla brand)
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon powdered mustard
• 1.5 cups of skim milk
• 1 bay leaf
• 1/2 teaspoon paprika
• 1 large egg
• 3 ounces sharp cheddar, shredded
• 2 ounces gruere, shredded
• 1 ounce grated parmesan cheese
• 1 teaspoon salt
• Black pepper to taste
• 15 butter-style round crackers (I used these from Wild Harvest Organic brand)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

In a large pot of boiling, salted water cook the pasta to al dente.

While the pasta is cooking, in a separate pot, whisk in the flour, mustard, stir in the milk, bay leaf, and paprika. Simmer for ten minutes and remove the bay leaf.

Temper in the egg. Stir in 3/4 of the cheese. Season with salt and pepper. Fold the macaroni into the mix and pour into a 2-quart casserole dish (a heart shaped one is optional ). Top with remaining cheese.

Put the crackers in a ziplock baggie and crush them with your fist (like me, possibly a little ghetto) or a rolling pin (classier). Top the macaroni with the cracker crumbs. Bake for 30 minutes. Remove from oven and rest for five minutes before serving.

[Makes 4-6 portions]

This was cheesy and indulgent tasting, even without the butter, cream or insane amounts of cheese. The leftovers harden in the fridge, and you can enjoy a mac and cheese pie the next day. Mmm…

In related news (not mac and cheese-related, but cold weather/snow-related ) I’ve learned something new about my husband today. Apparently on a cold weekend day he cannot sit at home, sip hot chocolate and watch the snow fall while I bake cookies. He insisted that we go outside and take some pictures. So here are some pics… we didn’t make it too far. It was windy!!

Notice how we are the only ones on the street (except for the snow plow guy – he clearly was not out by choice). Yeah, we’re crazy.

My parents in law are driving down to see us today, so we’ll be taking them out for dinner. I think more comfort foods will be enjoyed! What’s your favorite comfort food?

P.S. – Only a few days left to enter the somersaults giveaway (enter here).

It looked ugly, but man was it good. Warm apple crisp over cool nonfat yogurt, fresh apple slices and pecans. Definitely comfort food at its best! This breakfast kept me full for over 4 hours. In fact when lunch time came, I didn’t even want a full blown lunch so I had a snack – TJ’s organic double fiber blueberry muffin. So hearty and delicious. Love these!

So far, so good. Not sure if it was the anxiety at work that kept my mind wondering, or the fact that my co-worker stopped by to see how my race went (she ran it too!) and my dad called to tell me it’s ok (he read my blog post – I kind of avoided most phone calls this weekend). Oh yeah, I also had a recovery clinical massage for my sore legs and had to tell the girl about how the race ended.  Somehow I couldn’t get the race off my mind and I just wanted to have that moment back so I could do things differently this time. I don’t remember exactly what happened. I’m still in awe that I walked off the course and just quit. It doesn’t make sense to me. I know my body needed the rest, but couldn’t I have walked for 0.6 miles?! I wanted the satisfaction of crossing that finish line SO BAD and now my first half marathon will forever be my worst nightmare. I can never have another first half marathon. I know this is irrational. My husband keeps reminding me that I blacked out (!!!!) and that I can’t keep blaming myself. I know I pushed too hard and that’s another reason I keep wanting to relive that moment – so I can pull back and finish. My sister and I emailed back and forth a bit and she tried to screw my head on straight about this whole thing. I know everyone else is right. It just really was traumatizing and I think the only way to change it IS to run another half, but race season is basically over (and it’s freaking cold outside!!!) so I’ll have to wait a whole year to do it again. Can I do it next weekend, lol? I’m all about instant gratification (you know, instant as in 2+ hours of constantly challenging my body beyond its limits)

Back to food – the next self-pep talk involved snacking. This gorgeous German chocolate cupcake won this time

Wowza. Amazing rich dark chocolate, pecans + coconut. I was in heaven! The problem with delicious treats like that is that I want more right after. Instead I decided to wait a little, and about an hour later enjoyed a healthier sweet treat: 1/2 FFL english muffin, Barney Butter + 1/2 banana – my favorite go-to dessert “alternative.”

Wait, did I forget to tell you all about lunch? Mixed greens, green and yellow beans, borlotti beans, hard-boiled egg and a scallop from last night’s dinner.

Dinner was also delicious and nutritious (hehe, this sounds like it should be in some kind of infomercial ). I had some nappa cabbage left from chop suey last week, so I searched around for another good recipe to put the rest to use. This recipe from Cooking Light for tangy stir-fried vegetables caught my eye, and I was even able to buy all veggies at the local farmers market. Sweet

You know the drill – I omitted the onions and otherwise followed the recipe (except that I used over 3 times the tofu, doubled the sauce and added a whole bunch of veggies without really measuring). The marinaded tofu was out of this world flavorful! Great spicy kick too! Adam and I were eating the tofu raw while the veggies were cooking. So delicious – the vegetables were so fresh and the recipe made them shine. My husband was excited about tofu. What have I done to him?!

And I wish this was it. I was full and satisfied. Did I stop eating? Nope. Somehow the chocolate covered almonds and roasted salted pistachios were consumed – in large quantities, while watching the Biggest Loser. I tried to talk myself out of the madness but gave in. Seriously, what happened? Literally a month ago I was on top of the world, eating intuitively, losing weight and feeling spectacular, and now I’m back to old stupid habits that I can’t seem to reverse. This needs to end asap, so I can once again be healthy and sane!

All right, this post became whinier than I planned on it. My apologies. Let’s see if I snap out of it soon and become the inspiration that many of you tell me I am. <3

Just for kicks, here is a link to my very first post. Wow, I was in denial about summer being over then too. I guess I haven’t changed that much.

DINNER

I’m starting with dinner today because it was so fabulous. We had friends over, our first mini dinner party at our new condo. I was nervous! Our new oven sucks (it takes nearly double the time to cook most things) and I was so afraid the food would not come out right. To minimize the damage, I went with old favorites:

• Goat cheese/date/pecan stuffed pork tenderloin
• Cider-glazed roots with cinnamon walnuts
• Apple crisp (actually this was the first time I tried it, but with Tina’s review I knew it would be a winner)

I asked our guest Katie to bring a salad, and she brought an incredible fall themed one: mixed greens, roasted butternut squash, grilled pears, raisins and gorgonzola, dressed in Newman’s Own light cranberry walnut dressing.

Doesn’t it look like it was served in a fancy restaurant? Gorgeous!!

The veggies for the main course took the longest to make. I peeped and chopped the beauties the night before. It’s very important to prep ahead time intensive dishes! Before (I still can’t believe colors like this naturally exist in nature!)…

After nearly 2 hours of baking…

+ pork

All together:

My plate (I had another slice of the pork… it came out incredible!)

Dessert – before:

After – with Sweet Scoops vanilla frozen yogurt

Mmm, warm apple crisp with creamy frozen yogurt = perfect ending to a fall meal (I had a tiny bit of seconds )

We had such a great time with Mike and Katie – I want to start entertaining more at our place! The conversation was flowing, and so was the wine. Oh did I mention we drank 3 bottles of wine between the 4 of us? No? Well we did. I told you we had a great time

OTHER EATS

Do you like entertaining? Any tips or go-to recipes for all of us newbies?

What I found interesting is that despite feeling uncomfortable in my big pants, I am hesitant to put them in the donation bin. They are only 1 size larger than I am today! What if I gain a few pounds? If you’ve lost weight before, did you hold on to your old clothes or got rid of them as soon as they got too big? I got rid of pants that were several sizes too big, but these ones I’m struggling with… even though I feel like I’ve reached my comfortable weight (i.e. I stopped dieting and am maintaining this weight with little effort)!

BREAKFAST

Banana oats with white chocolate chips, almonds, pecans, raisins and cranberries + coffee

Warm and creamy. I gave a taste to Adam because this bowl was just extra good and he said he wanted me to make oats for him next time

LUNCH

Turkey/laughing cow/grape sammie on Nature’s Pride whole wheat + carrot sticks

The combo of creamy cheese, slightly salty turkey and super sweet grapes was divine. All of you non-vegetarians must try this sandwich!!!!

SNACKS

Oikos + 1/2 banana + Nature’s Path Heritage cereal (unpictured – added the cereal last minute at my desk)

Chocolate chip z-bar

100 calorie almonds pack

DINNER

I haven’t had time to hit the gym again (work ) so making a healthy dinner was the only way I could “treat” myself. I followed this recipe for parmesan polenta with eggs and roasted mushrooms.  This dinner took a lot longer than the promised 20 minutes (could be my sloooow oven and only 2 burners), but it was really worth it!!! This is comfort food for me.

I am really obsessed with mushrooms and their woodsy flavor paired so nicely with the creamy cheesy polenta. We only had 1 egg left, so I decided to add shrimp to Adam’s dinner. While I was cooking the shrimp, I forgot about my egg and it cooked a little too long. No runny egg. I bet it would have really tied everything together. In any case, I LOVED my dinner (Adam just liked it)

After dinner I watched the Biggest Loser (ok, I totally understand now who Jillian referred to as the devil… she clearly hates this girl!!!) and ate some pecans and 2 Kashi cookies. I didn’t need those; I just really wanted this food for the taste of it. I went to bed feeling quite guilty, although I know it wasn’t really about the nuts or cookies but rather a combination of feeling bluh all day (boo baggy pants), being hungry all day (I fed myself healthy snacks to remedy that), skipping the gym (need to make it a priority no matter what!) and then eating when not hungry. Every time I feel like I lose a good amount of weight and start feeling good about my body, I begin to gain. I think I felt guilty because I was scared.

How do you dress? Do baggy clothes comfort you or do you like to show off your curves?

Only a few days left to enter the Lazy Baker cookie mix giveaway. Get those extra bonus points. The cookies are worth it!!!

Breakfast: FFL english muffin with Barney Butter and a small banana

Mid-morning snack: red grapes + chocolate mousse Crazy Camel hummus

First bite:

I guess the grapes were supposed to taste like cherries when covered in hummus, but guess what? They tasted like grapes! I thought this combo was too sweet actually, so I ate the grapes first, then slowly enjoyed the chocolate mousse. The stuff is so yummy!

About 1.5 hours later, I went on a speedy 4 mile run – 8:26 average pace. Nice!

Lunch: leftover pork tenderloin stuffed with goat cheese, dates and pecans + 1/3 giant sweet potato and sweet pea leaves/avocado salad.

I’ve made this pork before here, and it turned Adam into a goat cheese lover. This is actually his favorite meal I make, and it’s so easy! It looked a little better at dinner the night before…

Dinner: Ellie Krieger’s macaroni and 4 cheeses

The photo is very orange and bluh looking but it’s a very delicious dish. I don’t think it really tastes like mac and cheese, per se. It is a cheesy sauce over macaroni but the winter squash makes the whole thing sweeter and the reasonable amount of cheese (reasonable = not a crazy amount) makes it less creamy and sinful than your average mac and cheese. I’ve made this before and will make it again, I’m just saying if you make it too, don’t expect a buttery/cheesy/creamy mac and cheese. It’s just a yummy meal in it’s own category, in my opinion.

Oh, I also stole a sip of Adam’s Malbec

Dessert was fun. My sister got us some Max Brenner chocolates and dishes for some holiday a while ago, and I found it while packing. It’s been way too long since we got this (sorry, Innz) but I was always trying to “be good” so we didn’t even put a dent in most of the stuff. It’s still good though! I assembled a little suckao (hot chocolate shot) for myself by lighting a candle and warming up some skim milk.

Ready to sip:

The spoon is the coolest! It has a straw built in:

Yum! Better late than never, right?

Hope your day is going well. I can’t believe the Healthy Living Summit activities are starting tomorrow. I’m getting really excited!!

Yesterday was such a fun day. Lots of fun foods and good times with friends. I started out a little stressed out about everything that needs to be done before the big move (it’s in 2 weeks, yikes!) but slowly loosened up and decided to just go with the flow

The morning started with a blueberry muffin + coffee:

+ very soon after a peach chobani + fresh peach and Kashi Golean cereal was consumed:

For some reason I just had a crazy hunger all morning. What’s up with that?! I had the other half of the Goji Moji bar while waiting for our appointment to see our new condo the last time before closing (we brought the color wheel to finalize paint colors, measured the outdoor space so we can order furniture, etc.). This time I still tasted the orange peel but also the flavor of the figs stood out. K was right that it tasted a bit like the filling of the fig newtons… but more wholesome of course

By the time our condo “inspection” was over, Adam and I were both STARVING (seriously, this should not have been the case. Something was up with my metabolism) so we went to the first place we saw – California Pizza Kitchen. Despite loving the pizza I’ve had lately, I’ve been lately slightly jealous of Adam’s selections, so he agreed upfront that we could swap 1 slice of each other’s. This meant we had to “approve” each others’ toppings and after much consideration chose 1/2 original bbq chicken (bbq sauce, smoked gouda and mozzarella cheeses, bbq chicken, sliced red onion and cilantro) and 1/2 wild mushroom (cremini, shiitake, portobello and white mushrooms, fontina and mozzarella cheeses with a wild mushroom walnut pesto; garnished with chopped Italian parsley).  We asked for no onions on anything and requested a thin crust instead of the original (it’s $1.50 extra but saved about a million calories so it’s worth it in my opinion).

Here is the whole pie (about 12″):

My first 2 slices (I had another mushroom one):

This was honestly amazing, and I’m not just saying that because we were really hungry. The thin crust was really thin so I felt like it was a significantly healthier option – and it was really flavorful! The toppings were also quite creative in my opinion – not just your standard mozzarella/red sauce combo. Have you had CPK pizza? What’s your favorite?

We were still a little hungry after this lunch, so dessert was in order! I knew exactly what I wanted – a nut box from Tatte (if you don’t know what a nut box is – I raved about it and Tatte here). I am absolutely obsessed with this bakery. It’s just the cutest thing and everything is super fancy and amazingly delicious. Just look how adorable the decor is…

As you can see below – what I actually got was not a nut box. The desserts in the back refrigerator started talking to me when I saw them I got the raspberry cheesecake and a coffee. Doesn’t it look wonderful?

It was light and fluffy and just rocked my world. I was eating it very quietly while enjoying the cute bakery scenery. This dessert was a larger treat that I allow myself on a daily basis but was just an amazing weekend splurge. Good thing I burnt over 1,000 calories on my Sunday run (more details in a separate post). Everything balances out

Adam chose a much healthier dessert – Berryline. I had to get a little tasting of the rose flavor. Yum! I keep forgetting how indulgent these nonfat frozen yogurts taste. Very creamy. I think there is some Berryline in my future over the next 2 weeks (it’s currently located in the building we’re moving out of).

Oh yeah – when I got home I had a package… 6 flavors of the Crazy Camel dessert hummus (thank you, Chuck, for sending me these!). I’ll do a separate post on them but basically they are pretty awesome and healthy. I’m a big fan!

Oh man, this has become a marathon post – sorry to bore you, but I guess this was a happening Saturday We ended up going to Church for dinner. I knew I’ve been quite indulgent over the course of the day, so I tried to keep it kind of light with my food choices. Not everything was waist friendly, but I tried to keep the portions reasonable.

I started the meal with the shrimp bruschetta (spicy pepper sauce, oven roasted tomatoes, feta cheese) my sister ordered and was kind enough to share with the table. These guys were spicy! Adam and I have actually ordered this exact appetizer before and recommended it to my sister. It was a winner once again

Knowing that I’ll be tasting other people’s food, I got the salad appetizer as my meal. This salad is off Church’s summer menu – tomato salad with mixed greens, kalamata olives, feta & lemon-mint vinaigrette.  The dressing had onions in it, so they brought me the balsamic vinaigrette on side + some EVOO and balsamic vinegar as well. I only drizzled a bit of the vinaigrette over the salad greens. Everything was so fresh and flavorful there was no reason to doze it in dressing.

The tomatoes were the coolest! There was a mix of yellow and green tomatoes and they were literally melting in my mouth. Oh and mid-way through the meal I noticed that it was goat cheese, not feta that was in the salad. Works for me since I love goat cheese more than feta

All right on to other things I tried/ate. I had some of the baked mac and cheese (sinfully cheesy, crispy bread crumb crust) my sister and I ordered together. This stuff was rich! We ordered a “small” since I knew it would be one of those things that you can only have a few bites of before getting into a food coma. This was still a very generous portion.

The mac and cheese was on a drier side (i.e. not runny) – just the way my sister and I like it. The topping was especially buttery – we think they used ritz crackers or something. I tried not to eat too much of it, but my fork definitely was reaching for more when I wasn’t paying attention Good stuff!

I also had 1/2 of my dad’s scallops – isn’t the presentation awesome?

It was perfectly cooked. Unfortunately the risotto had onions in it, so I can’t speak for how that was. I tried 1/2 of my mom’s crab ravioli and wasn’t a big fan. It got cold by the time I was ready for my tasting so that could have something to do with it

After chatting for a bit, I realized I was still hungry, so I had a slice of the white bread with some butter from the bread basket. The butter was very yummy but I’m not sure what was in it – maybe roasted garlic and thyme, but it was also a little sweet. Yum! Btw, I do this often – leave the bread basket to the end of the meal. I’d rather have the bread if I still have stomach room instead of overfilling on it and being unable to eat the actual meal.

Everyone really enjoyed their meal at Church! The restaurant is a block away from our current place – I’m going to miss having such a great venue so close to home!

Finally – seriously I’m going to end it soon – I promise … we went to a drink-off party. This was part II of the original drink-off (where someone you may know came out victorious ). I’m retired at this point, so this time it was between our friend Tiffany (Tiffany, do you want to say anything for yourself in the comments section? hehe) and Gary. Man, this was a hilarious night! I had 1 Organic Peak pomegranate wheat beer. That’s it for drinks for me. Actually this beer was too hoppy for me, otherwise I would have had another.

At some point during the night, I had a few handfuls of Smart Food. I actually checked the ingredients list before diving in and it wasn’t that bad. Nothing alarmingly scary. I forgot how much I liked this stuff!

And 1/2 of a Hershey’s bar was also consumed.

My friend Jim wanted to be on the blog, I think, so he stole a bite of my chocolate. I had to document it. Ok, maybe he just wanted chocolate.

Mmm, sweet ending to a wonderful day. I’m off to do more packing!

Yesterday was a great 2nd day of the challenge. I wasn’t going to blog about it since I blogged about our NYC trip last night, but it was such a good day, I just had to share (NYC recaps will continue over the next few days).  I feel like I’m eating so much fresher. Despite a busy day at work I was able to eat wholesome foods. Yay! I’m keeping this short and letting the pictures talk for themselves (if they don’t talk loudly enough, scroll over for descriptions )

[308, incl. coffee]

[125 calories]

[46 calories]

[400 calories]

This guy is confusing so I’ll explain. I made one of my favorite sides the other day with dinner – mashed plantains from this recipe for jerk chicken with plaintains in Cooking Light (the jerk chicken in the recipe is nothing to write home about but the plaintains are delicious. I cut the butter in the recipe by 1/2). With the leftovers, I made little patties, rolled them in some whole wheat bread crumbs and pan fried them. They were kind of mushy, but still delicious… and made for a great snack in the very late afternoon.

[173 calories]

Dinner requires a tiny bit of an explanation as well. Ever since I saw Kelly use langoustines as a lobster substitute, I knew I had to find me some of these jewels at TJ’s and put them to good use. Last night after a long work day, I did just that and as I was passing by a frozen package of polenta Provencale (balls) with spinach and peas in a creamy spicy sauce, I remembered I had it in my freezer at home. This is where the idea for a quick and satisfying dinner came. I added some fresh broccoli to the pan, together with the polenta mix, while defrosting some langostino tails under cold water in the sink. After a few minutes they were ready to be added to the rest of the mix, and voila – dinner was ready in less than 10 minutes.

Mmm, lobster (almost )

[342 calories]

[106 calories?]

Total calories consumed during the day: ~1499

WORKOUT

I knew it was going to be another long night at work, so I made sure to squeeze in a workout during lunch. I was craving running (I think I’m back to prefering the treadmill over outside running but maybe that will change with nicer weather). I started with a 0.20 mile walk at 4.7 mph, stretched, and then ran 5 miles at 6.9-7.0 mph, breaking it up by 0.25 mile intervals and changing inclines (0-2.0). After a 0.2 mile cooldown walk, I completed the 60 minutes with 11 minutes on the elliptical. I burnt about 570 calories, I think, and was ready to get back to work and crank out that project of mine

Great day! Let’s hope today is just as good Happy Humpday!

BREAKFAST

I decided to make another smoothie today, using this little packet of YouShake.

This was a strawberry/banana breakfast blend, I believe. I blended 1/2 of it with 1/2 c vanilla soy milk, 1/2 c water, some ice cubes, 1/2 banana and a bunch of frozen berries. Yum yum yum.

[222 calories]

LUNCH

I topped my favorite Food For Life english muffin with a little salmon salad (1/4 can of pink salmon, 1T dijon mustard, 1T light mayo + chopped water chestnuts) and pickles + some baby carrots and grape tomatoes on the side. This was very satisfying. Great little salmon combo and I just can’t get enough of those english muffins. I’m pretty sure I’ve had one a day for the last week… they’re so versatile

[404 calories]

DAY SNACKS

[dates + 1/2 bar + coffee (unpictured) = 190 calories]

[160 calories]

DINNER

I was craving oven “fried” chicken so I made just that. This chicken was based on the recipe from The Best Light Recipe (a Cook’s Illustrated cookbook I got for my birthday – thanks, Katy!!! I LOVE it!). I used about 1/2 cup (a little less) of panko crumbs for breadcrumbs mixed with 1T canola oil, dried thyme, garlic powder and cayenne pepper, and the egg wash was made of egg whites and mustard just like the book suggested. 3 very large chicken breasts (you see 1/2 of one here) were baked at 30 minutes. It wasn’t crazy flavorful (although nice and crunchy) so I decided to dip it in some spicy bbq sauce. I felt like a kid eating this. So fun! The veggies bulked it all up… I dipped them in the bbq sauce too

Baked to perfection!

And of course I had to have some dessert – TJ’s chocolate covered espresso beans. I don’t love these so I can actually have a reasonable amount and be satisfied. I guess that’s not a bad thing

[dinner, incl. dessert = 317 calories]

Lastly, while watching The Office my sweet tooth kicked in again. Ok, I kind of just wanted Barney Butter

[213 calories]

Total calories for the day: 1536. I’m happy

WORKOUT

I haven’t worked out since last Thursday when I went for a run from hell (I think I need to post about that soon). I didn’t feel like running still, the bruise on my butt from the fall on Sunday got bigger so that ruled spinning out for today… so I took a Balls to the Wall class instead (crazy bootcamp class), did some jump rope before and after the class, and finished off with 19 minutes on the elliptical. It was a great workout. It felt so good to sweat. I really was smiling the entire time I was at the gym. The gym is seriously my drug! Workout stats:

• Duration: 1:00
• Calories burnt: 530 (40% fat)
• Ave HR: 149 (77%); Max HR: 168 (87%)

RANDOM “NEWS”

• Did you hear about the new food documentary “Food Inc.” that’s coming out this June? It’s from the same producers as “The inconvenient truth” and I have a feeling we’ll see a lot of inconvenient truth about our food systems here too. I can’t wait to watch the movie when it hits the theaters!
• Shannon is having an Annie Chun’s products giveaway. I want to try their pad thai sauce
• Shannon also hosts Fashion Fridays every Friday. Check out her blog this week for the outfit I submitted to her
• Should you have a V8? Check out what e-brands says.

This week is half way over and the weekend is right around the corner. Sweeeet