Highlights:

- I can’t stay out of the kitchen for too long. Last night I made a recipe that’s been on my list for a whole year. Yes, this one is from July 2009 Cooking Light issue – phyllo pizza with feta, basil and tomatoes (recipe here). It sounded (and looked!) delicious so I thought this would be a perfect dinner to make on a meatless Monday. Now here is the kicker – have you ever worked with phyllo? It was crazy. The sheets of dough were SO thin and they were definitely sticking together and breaking the second I touched them. The recipe said to use one sheet at a time and spray it with EVOO spray (layering it with the cheese mixture every 3 sheets). I fought it for a few rounds and then started grabbing 2-3 at a time. I was nervous that it would result in a rubbery final product but it was one of the best things I’ve made in a long time. So flaky and light, the cheese melted beautifully between all the layers and the super fresh tomatoes enhanced the dish even further. It tasted like a cheat meal but it wasn’t! I will never attempt to make something like this on a weeknight again (especially since work was waiting!) but I think I need to give phyllo another go. It’s too delicious not to.

- The chocolate chip cookies from yesterday’s post were from The Best Light Recipe cookbook. I made them as a thank-you for our neighbors but we never saw them so I brought them to work instead. This cookbook is amazing but I have to say this recipe was just okay. The cookies were a little too crunchy and actually got rock hard after a few hours on a plate. I had to warm them up to bring them to life. Warm cookies are always better!

- No gym today. I get too overwhelmed on Mondays. I feel like I’ll never meet my deadline. Hopefully it will all come together soon (I definitely made a lot of progress over the weekend).

That’s all I’ve got for today. Here is yesterday’s breakfast and lunch (snacks were unphotographed – imagine a breakfast cookie, a serving of almonds and 1 plum).

Cya tonight!

As you may have guessed, we spent most of the afternoon/evening trying to clean up the mess. We extracted over 10 gallons of water just out of our carpet in the hallway. Thankfully Adam built up this little barricade between the living room and hallway so at least it prevented the water from going too far into the rest of the place (our bedrooms are dry). Our living room floors are 100% okay (we are still trying to figure out whether there is a risk of mold growing under there, but the carpet is soaking wet days later. The shop vac is unable to extract that much water at this point so we’re not sure what to do.

Anyways, we’ll get through it, I’m sure. Maybe we’ll at least become friends with our new neighbors out of this. They were extremely helpful – unclogged the sewer drain, brought lots of towels and around 7pm on Saturday even brought us dinner, fresh out of their oven. How incredibly nice is that?!!!

We weren’t going to stop until the mess was cleaned up, but when she came over with a hot pan of lasagna and meatballs, we realized we were actually starving. Talk about a random act of kindness. Adam and I couldn’t get over this. Definitely one of the nicest things a stranger has ever done for either one of us.

By the way, my laptop charger got submerged in water and is not currently working so I’m using Adam’s laptop which is painful (switching from a mac to a pc is not as easy as one might think), so I’ll try to keep it brief. Basically, this whole flood in our condo is a metaphor for my life. It been ridiculous at work, I feel like I can’t catch up with anything at home and the last drop in the bucket which I can’t ignore is that I gained so much weight recently that it’s affecting everything from how my clothes fit to my fitness level at the gym and how I generally feel about myself. I stepped on the scale last week and let’s just say that I haven’t seen that number in 4 years (!!!). I’ve been ignoring this issue since then but it’s time to clean up the flood mess!! I am not going to feel bad about myself, I’m going to do something about it. The plan of attack:

- Plan meals for the week and stick to the plan!! It’s ok to make minor adjustments based on taste preferences at the moment but I will stick to 3 meals + 2 snacks + 1 dessert (in moderation) equation until some progress is made in the weight dept.

- No mindless snacking/eating. My hours at home are going to get all out of whack over the next few weeks as I spend majority of my time in the office. That usually means stress eating. As mentioned above, I will make sure to stick to the pre-planned meals and snacks only. When life gets crazy like this, structure should be a good thing. I can do this!!!

- Continue making exercise a priority. I’ve been pretty good about this recently. I hope I can continue to keep it up despite the longer hours at work. I usually need a mental break mid-day anyways. A good sweat session should kill 2 birds with 1 stone (or something along those lines that’s less gross ).

How does this sound? I think it sounds good. I did A LOT of prep work last night for the next few days. Hopefully this builds up the momentum I’ll need.

So since I haven’t blogged in a few days, here are the highlights of this weekend’s eats.

Iggy’s ww bagel with olive jalapeno cream cheese and tomatoes

These tasted like sugar cookies with a pomegranate twist. Amazing!!

Beet/pesto/goat cheese and pecan panini + leftover b.good southwestern chicken salad

Spinach/artichoke hearts and mushroom calzone from Mangia (a treat on Friday night)

It was really delicious. We’ll definitely order from that place again!

I had the leftovers for lunch on Saturday. Yum!

+ Carly’s Confection 7 layer bar with a twist. So much white chocolate goodness. Another amazing treat for sure.

Sunday brunch at Sel de la Terre

Virgin bloody mary (I had to go to work!)

I had 2 of these. They weren’t very spicy but were definitely delicious.

Bread basket - I helped myself to a mini cinnamon roll and a cracker

For my entree I ordered the brioche French toast, strawberries, honey roasted almonds and vanilla butter.

It was really fantastic!! I removed that big butter blob and didn’t use any maple syrup because it was already rich and flavorful on its own. The strawberries were amazingly fresh and sweet as well. The sides of the french toast were perfectly grilled and the middle was kind of goey (souffle like) which normally would gross me out but it was so tasty that I didn’t care about texture. I would order this again in a heart beat (I ate half for brunch and then ate the other half later in the day as a “snack”).

Garlic/thyme smothered pork chop over qunoia and roasted rhubarb (adopted from this recipe).

It was great having a home-cooked meal again! Adam and I ate every morsel of our plates and I can’t wait for leftovers which I plan on making into a sandwich tomorrow.

All right, time for work! I apologize in advance for my random blogging schedule. I’m thinking of doing a picture collage at the end of each day and noting how my plan of attack is working so far. What do you think? Are you up for it?

I’ll be back with a bang in a few weeks. I have some giveaways in the works and a few posts that just need a little more research time. Happy Monday!

BREAKFAST

Oikos, 1/2 banana, healthy and sane YouTrailMix

Lots of good stuff in there.

LUNCH

A few days ago I saw Shannon’s post on shaved asparagus & egg pizza and decided that I had to make that right away. I had all the ingredients on hand… except wait, my pizza dough got moldy. Bleh. Tortilla wrap to the rescue!

I used 1 oz of goat cheese and only 1 egg to make it a lunch sized meal. It was a really fun dish but I think more goat cheese would balance it would more. It needed something else. Ooh, maybe some hot sauce… or more goat cheese. Ha.

Runny egg yolk…

I was actually on a conference call while making and eating this so there was no time to make a side salad as I planned. I grabbed a cherry & chocolate granola bar instead. I LOVE these bars!!

So here is the first new thing I tried today – while eating lunch/working, I was icing my foot. It’s been sore since the half (actually it’s been sore after most long runs lately but obviously 13.1 miles is the longest run I’ve done and it’s taking forever to recover). I’ve been stretching, getting massages on occasion, but I’ve never iced! It felt so much better right after but I think I was just numb. It still hurts a bit now. I’m going to keep it low impact for the next few days.

SNACKS

+ almonds + roasted broccoli. I roasted a bunch while at home waiting for our new dining room table to deliver and munched on it throughout the afternoon. SO good! Back at the office, I also had a mojo bar. We’re all out of fruit. I hate snacking on bars all day long but you do what you gotta do. I told you I was hungry all day!

WORKOUT

Another new thing – I tried pilates at a real pilates studio last night. The pilates at my gym got so lame but I know it can be a good workout. We used a circle and some 2lb weights. I forgot that there are all these “gadgets” you can use in pilates. I remember using the circle back in the day when I was going to Healthworks. Maybe they have better classes there than my current gym. I’m going to have to check it out. For now, I got a mini membership at the Boston Body pilates studio through buywithme and I can’t wait to get more into it. They have reformers too. I have a personal training scheduled for next Monday. So fun!!!

DINNER

You guys didn’t tell me how amazing rhubarb is!!! That’s another new ingredient for me to cook with – I bought some at the farmers market last week and planned a meal around it. I followed the recipe for superb marinated pork fillet roasted on rhubarb from Jamie Oliver’s Happy Days with the Naked Chef (recipe can be found here).

Of course I had to healthify it a bit. I used ONE tablespoon of oil instead of FIVE (come on Oliver, that’s so unnecessary!). I also used 2 slices of prosciutto per pork chop instead of 5 (does he like the number 5 or something?).

I used the orzo blend from TJ’s to serve this dish over. I made this before pilates but had to run to the class and I was dreaming of it.

And it was even BETTER than I could have imagined. The pork got smoky from the prosciutto juices and the rhubarb was so tender, juicy and sour. I just loved that sourness. Next time I’m going to quadruple the amount of rhubarb. Amazing!!!

The last of sour cream ice cream for dessert.

Have you tried anything new lately?

I feel like I’ve been living, breathing, and drinking the organic and local kool-aid. It’s not a bad thing. I am becoming more and more passionate about the subject and passion is never typically not a bad thing.

But let’s switch gears for a bit – let’s talk about something else that’s been on my mind lately. My weight gain. I’ve been eating pretty intuitively for months now and I really like it. Meticulous calorie counting worked for me before but not this time and I needed to adapt. Eating intuitively allows me to enjoy healthy meals at home (without weighing every gram of my food and plugging it into the computer – btw, I used to LOVE doing that) and go out with my friends and family without a second thought (these kind of events used to be reserved for my “day off”). Anyways, sounds pretty good, right? Well, I stepped on the scale the morning of my birthday, just to see what the number says. You know, I’m 28 today, I weigh X # of pounds. Just as a stat. I was at least 3 pounds heavier than I thought I would be. This could have the potential of crushing me but I had a run and birthday celebration to worry about. I moved on.

My birthday weekend was fantastic (I still have to share with you my dinner out – it was awesome… and local/organic/sustainable!) – I ate well but enjoyed treats in moderation (that term is looser on birthdays btw ). And then I kind of binged on Monday night. I think my skirt was too tight or something. I just felt gross and there is only one thing I know how to do when I feel like that. I eat. This by the way, was the 3rd bingeing episode in the last 3 weeks. They say “it’s not about the food” – it’s not. But structure actually helps me avoid these kinds of things sometimes so I’m going to share with you my plan of attack – the healthy living checklist.

Breakfast first – 2 banana zucchini spelt muffins

As mentioned, calorie counting no longer works for me mentally. I know it will work if I stick to it but I just don’t have the energy for it anymore. So I constructed a little daily checklist that I would like to stick to instead.

1. balanced breakfast
2. snack #1 (optional)
3. balanced lunch
4. snack #2 (optional)
5. balanced dinner
6. nothing with junkie ingredients list
7. no mindless eating (!!!! <– definitely the hardest one)
8. at least 8 cups of water
9. move for at least 20 minutes (even if it’s just a walk around the block – clears your head at least)
10. treat – can be an indulgent sweet, a more indulgent breakfast, lunch or dinner, or something that made you feel like it was special even if it was healthy (more expensive? more time consuming to make?)

I’ve been actually trying to follow this structure for a few months now but haven’t officially stuck to it. I am hoping that showing it to you would make me more accountable. I think it’s a good balance of structure and flexibility. What do you think?

BALANCED LUNCH

Organic mixed greens, pea shots, roasted peppers and zucchini, cucumber & avocado salsa, grape tomatoes, brown rice, black bean dip, fromage blanc

SO good, fresh and spicy!!!

SNACKS + TREAT

+ somersaults + two 100-calorie dark chocolate bars (unpictured)

These unfortunately were eaten “mindlessly” or more accurately put – eaten due to stress. At least I stuck to the rest of the rules.

BALANCED DINNER

Homemade pizza – one half of my 1/2 with roasted veggies + fromage blanc

The other half of my half (got that? ) with sun-dried tomato pesto, potatoes and bacon ala Lauren.

I ate 2 slices (left one for lunch today) – this was the best pizza I’ve ever made. Pre-baking the crust for 2 minutes was key (thanks, Lauren!!!) – it was so chewy on the bottom. Yum!

Pretty awesome eats, if I do say so myself.

In other news, we (basically Adam!) planted some flowers in our patio last night. I hope we did it right. I’ll take pictures of the final product soon.

What would you add to your healthy living checklist?

* Just a few hours left to enter the cookware giveaway. I’ll announce the winner tonight.*

So this post today has no real purpose except to tell you about my fabulous day and of course share my eats with you (although Boston readers have a special offer below, read on for more details). Sometimes I find the positive energy transfer over my computer screen as I read other bloggers’ happy posts. I hope this one brings a smile to your face and makes your day filled with a little more sunshine.

Every day starts with…

BREAKFAST

Nonfat organic yogurt, mango, Kashi Golean cereal and the Healthy and Sane YouTrailMix

Mangos + trail mix in yogurt is my favorite combo of all times

As my mid-afternoon/pre-workout snack I had a camera-shy chocolate, cherry & pb granola bar. Yummy.

Insert here a 5.25 mile run in the sun (during which I got a mild case of shin splints and really bad chafe marks on my belly button from the water belt scraping against it for nearly an hour, but that’s just details). On the way back I stopped by the first farmers market of the season at the Prudential Plaza. Weeeeeeee. This market is really tiny and basically this time there was not much fresh produce (some lettuce and fiddleheads, that’s it) but there were 2 new stands that I was particularly excited about.

• One was Samira’s Homemade. I am beyond obsessed with Samira’s baba ganoush. I buy it at Whole Foods nearly every week and can seriously polish off a container in 2 days (actually I could really polish it off in one day, but I “behave myself” ha). Last week I actually forbid myself from buying it because it’s so good, I go through it too fast – so I gave myself a little time out (the stuff ain’t cheap, you know?). Samira actually saw my positive thoughts on baba ganoush on the blog before and thanked me by email, so this time despite being sweaty and gross, I introduced myself to her at the farmers market. I can’t wait to try more hummus flavors! Samira hooked me up with some free baba ganoush and a bean dip. Score! I want to go back there next week less sweaty, with a camera in tow and “introduce” her to you. I’d love to feature local producers here on the blog.
• The second booth that peaked my interest was the Foxboro Cheese Co. They were selling grass fed humainely raised veal (yeah, I didn’t know that existed either!), grass fed beef hot dogs and burgers and cheese! The cheese is made from milk from their grass fed cows. Yay – love love love that. I bought a tub of tomato basil fromage blanc.

My farmers market purchases made it into a fresh…

LUNCH

Organic arugula, pea shots, cucumbers, Samira’s baba ganoush + white bean dip, Foxboro Cheese tomato basil fromage blanc, basil EVOO & lime juice + a big chunk of When Pigs Fly olive bread (remember it from here? I’ve been anxiously waiting for the farmers market’s return just for this bread).

Mid afternoon snacks included an apple and a small packet of somersaults. I also attempted to make this week’s CEiMB recipe – chocolate egg cream hosted by Chaya’s Comfy Cook blog. I admit – I wasn’t excited about this one and I was right, it’s not my thing. It tasted like a creamier sweater selzer. Really not my thing. After 2 sips, this thing was poured out.

It’s cool. I had yummier things to fill my belly with. I had a Blogger Bash to attend, hosted by Healthworks. The Bash started with a spin class which I couldn’t fit into my schedule, but I met with the girls at the club before heading out for drinks and food. PS – a little tip – if you go out with bloggers and they ask you to take a picture of them, beware. You’re going to be there for a while.

The gang:

Can you recognize your favorite bloggers… like ME?

On our way out, Judith pointed out the new and improved Healthworks sign…

… and everyone busted out their cameras. I was cracking up in the corner (of course after taking a picture myself. So predictable. )

After a quick T ride, we were at our destination – the gorgeous Liberty Hotel.

So many bloggers!

Our bash was held at Alibi. The Liberty hotel used to be a Charles Street Jail, so Alibi plays up the history of the space with a modern take on “jail chic” as I like to call it. The windows had prison bars and the walls featured photos of celebs that have spent a night or two in jail. The place felt surprisingly cozy for such a creepy motif.

Bloggers, bloggers everywhere. Melissa, your arms look awesome in this pic. I’d frame it if I were you.

Is it time for food yet? Oh yes, it is! All the food was courtesy of Alibi but came from the Scampo kitchen (upstairs, in the Liberty hotel). It was SO GOOD. Let’s see…

Fresh mozzarella, tomato and roasted garlic pizza

Caprese salad

Artichoke, prosciutto, pear and arugula pizza

Hi, Meghan!

Tuna tartare with a wasabi aioli (they made a special one for me, without onions!!! love)

Pizza bianco with bufala ricotta, fontina & green asparagus and truffle oil

Excuse the deteriorating quality of the pics. It was DARK in there (thank god for my super fancy lens I got as a gift from the rents for my birthday. Ok, I got a bit of track. Moving on).

The food was seriously amazing. You guys may know this already but I am one picky customer. This was possibly the best pizza I’ve had in Boston. I’m pretty sure it was. Yeah, that says a lot!

Of course drinks were involved as well. Double Cross vodka and RIPE sponsored this portion of the bash.

I had 1.5 of the strawberry basil cocktails (the half was due to the fact that somehow I lost my drink mid-evening – too much gabbing I guess)

This was so well balanced – not too sweet and had a fun little twist to it. I just loved the basil! I’m realizing I’m a fan of herbs in my cocktails. The best cocktail I’ve had to-date was a combo of thyme and pear at Church.

Shannon played with my camera for a minute and took some artsy photos of the Double Cross vodka bottles. Cool, right?

Hi, Shannon!

I had SUCH a fabulous time. I met so many cool Boston bloggers and one from Philly. I can’t wait to check out everyone’s blogs. I love finding new friends.

And if that’s not all, did I mention there was a swag bag involved? Yeah, this was SICK. So.much.stuff (like free massages and haircuts and yogurt coupons and passes to Healthworks,…….). I’ll review them as I go.

Thank you, Healthworks, for organizing such a fantastic event!!! I hope we can keep in touch.

Boston readers – if you’d like to check out a Healthworks gym near you, follow this link for a free 3-day pass. I got some passes too and am very much looking forward to trying some fun new classes.

Lastly, if you haven’t already, don’t forget to enter my cookware giveaway!

Happy Friday! Birthday countdown: less than 24 hours!

I resisted the urge to start my morning with a delicious garlic pickle but the craving did not go away and I finally surrendered mid-afternoon. This pickle addiction opened my eyes to other high-sodium things I’ve been craving (and consuming) lately. I think yesterday was the worst of it. I need to get my act together asap since high sodium consumption increases blood pressure and has been linked to a higher risk of heart disease and stroke. I eat such a small amount of processed foods – I should not be worried about sodium but here we are.

BREAKFAST

Food for Life english muffin with Barney Butter, 1/2 banana and cherry preserves + coffee

Yummy breakfast. Stayed clear of pickles! Phew.

MID-AFTERNOON SNACK

1T almond butter + baby carrots

Such a filling combo! I love this unsalted/unsweetened almond butter with carrots.

LUNCH

Kick-ass salad – that’s what’s for lunch!

Mixed greens, shredded carrots, steamed brussels sprouts, TJ’s baked teriyaki tofu (amazing!!!!), goat cheese, hot pepper rings + 1T Jenna’s sesame sauce

While making my salad, I finally had a large pickle (60% of daily sodium recommendation based on a 2,000 calorie diet). The hot pepper rings have also become a new favorite. My mouth was on fire and I was loving every second of it. The hot pepper rings are another 20% of the daily sodium recommendation.

I just realized that the tofu has another 25% of sodium + of course some of the dressing/sauce has sodium as well but I can’t really count that right now. Let’s just say that by lunch time, I already consumed 105%+ of sodium. Eek

MID-AFTERNOON SNACK

Lunch was crazy delicious and very filling but I still wanted dessert. I decided to go to Paradise Bakery for a cookie after work (once I was less full) but was getting impatient waiting for 5pm. I considered hitting up the vending machine for some peanut M&Ms but then remembered that I had a serving of TJ’s Nutty American trek mix stashed in my drawer. This was not a cookie but it did satisfy my chocolate + nut craving.

DINNER

Have I had enough sodium yet? Apparently not! For a Friday night dinner, Adam and I decided to make a homemade pizza. I had 1/2 with buffalo chicken and 1/2 with mushrooms.

I’m sure the sauce, dough and cheese have some sodium but the most obvious source was the buffalo sauce. I always remember that (bottled) buffalo sauce is extremely low calorie (5 cals/tablespoon) and fat-free. This time I looked at the label to find the sodium content (I was getting paranoid… and for a reason) and saw a whopping 20% of daily allowance in a serving. I had at least 2 tablespoons if not more. Total so far: 145%!!!!

My half of the pizza is on the right. It was sodium laden but SO good!!

A little dessert after dinner? Sure, why not!

Godiva truffles I got from Adam for Valentine’s day. I forgot I had them so it was fun to re-discover them.

Adam joined me in the tasting and we ate all four. The box said 4 were a serving!

Yum!!!!

After dinner we changed and hopped on the T to meet our friends at Grendel’s Den in Harvard Square.

My sodium craving kicked in once again and I just decided to go with the flow and ordered a bloody Mary (I’ll do better tomorrow – have you heard that before? hmm).

Flash or no flash – both pics suck for different reasons, huh?

Grendel’s Den was packed. I was happy we were able to get a table on a Friday night!

Hmm, my friends are not looking too happy here. Hopefully a little more drinking will solve that problem

I wanted my blood Mary to be more-tomato-ey but it was kind of watered down. Oh well – I’m sure my heart was thanking the bartender for that one. Maybe he knew I had one too many pickles already

For my second drink I ordered a 10oz Hefeweizen

I love me some wheat beer… so creamy! But how sad does my 10oz pour look compared to Adam’s 1/2 liter? It looked like such a baby.

I drank about 3/4 of it so I guess it was the right amount for me after all.

11pm munchies kicked in and I knew just the right salty snack. Double hummus with tahini, vegetable crudites and pita wedges

Flash?

Or no flash?

Grendel’s Den’s food is cheap but kind of gross (I’ve been there before and all I have to say… you get what you paid for). With that said, I thought it was hard to screw up hummus. Apparently, it’s possible. This had waaaaay too much tahini and was almost bitter. The veggies seemed pretty fresh though. I had a few scoops of hummus with cauliflower and a pita wedge and munched on some carrot sticks. The rest of the table devoured it.   

Total sodium intake – over 200% of daily allowance. Certainly eye opening – I better get my act together. Do you track your sodium intake? Ever worried about over-consumption?

Let’s remind ourselves what the kitchen looked like before:

That hole on the left wall is the opening to the living room.

Oh yeah, 1980′s all the way!

And now the after pics.

Can you see how open it is now to the living room?

It’s looking a little bare right now. I can’t wait to put all of our stuff back in and make it really ours. For now, it just feels like we are in someone else’s (nicer looking) house. We couldn’t be happier!!

What do you think? How did we do?

I broke out the new stove by making a… wait for it…. frozen pizza! Hehe, we had no groceries and I actually wasn’t sure that the kitchen was going to be done today. It’s been going to be done “today” for over a week now.

TJ’s wild mushroom black truffle flatbread – my favorite!

I had 1/2 of this. Good thing I’m a good wife because I easily could have eaten the whole thing but I left the rest for Adam.

Adam was a good husband too. He brought me cookies that I “urgently” requested. Sometimes a girl just needs cookies.

I’m just a model of health here today, aren’t I? I figured it was better to satisfy my craving than eat everything else in the house.

The rest of today’s eats…

2 mini cinnamon buns from Holey Donuts

Instant blueberry oats, 1/2 banana, Barney Butter and cherry preserves

Very sweet but oh so good.

Mixed greens, grilled chicken, dried figs, cucumbers, pears and goat cheese

The pear slices were by far the best part of the salad!

Clif Mojo mountain mix bar

Smartfood popcorn clusters

Too much sugar, not enough fruits and veggies. Oh well. Everyday can’t be perfect, right?

We’re taking my parents out to dinner tomorrow night to celebrate my promotion and the new kitchen, so my next post will be a dinner recap (I have a pizza lunch tomorrow at work – not exactly exciting stuff).

The kitchen is done!!!!!! Sorry, I just had to say it one more time. Weeeeeeee

Speaking of donations to good causes, a friend of mine emailed me a few weeks ago about Taste of the Nation, a culinary benefit in Boston. I was lucky enough to get a few tickets. 100% of ticket sales from Taste of the Nation are granted to the most effective anti-hunger organizations working to end childhood hunger in America (click here for more event details). I think this will be a really spectacular event, so if you are in Boston, please consider purchasing tickets. Donations that reward you back with yummy food are my favorite kind.

Now onto today’s eats…

BREAKFAST

2 Nature’s Path organic flax waffles with Barney Butter and pear slices

[387 calories]

MID-MORNING/PRE-WORKOUT SNACK

Clif Mojo mountain mix bar

+ tea

[180 calories]

WORKOUT

I had 5 miles on my training schedule for today, and I really had a hard time talking myself into going to the gym. I realized that as much as I LOVE my long weekend runs with friends, I have a hard time with mid-week runs on the treadmill. This is not a physical constraint, btw, I just really have to continue convincing myself to keep going (it starts with getting to the gym, and then actually staying at the gym). All in all, the run was hard, but it was actually really good. I planned on staying at 6.8 mph and varying inclines. 6.8 used to be my warm-up/”resting” speed. I am not there anymore, but I hope with continued training to get back to this level of running fitness and even exceed it! I completed my planned 5 miles and stayed right around the target speed, speeding up at times when I had more energy and slowing down when I needed a little break. I felt fantastic after finishing! Hopefully I will remember this wonderful feeling on Friday afternoon (my next planned run).

LUNCH

I had no time to make a real lunch this morning so that’s why you see a very ugly collection of ingredients here. The truth is, it was actually quite tasty.

TJ’s roasted chicken patty with laughing cow cheese and mustard on a FFL english muffin + baby carrots and an orange

[431 calories]

MID-AFTERNOON SNACK

Oikos with 1/2 apple and Barney Butter

[221 calories]

Man, this was GOOD (and also filling)!

DINNER

When you’re low on groceries and want something quick, make a tortilla pizza!

TJ’s flour tortilla with whole wheat, TJ’s organic tomato sauce, organic pizza cheese blend, roasted rosemary chicken + avocado

I know I’ve said it before but I’ll say it again. TJ’s organic tomato sauce (in a can) makes the best pizza sauce! It is so flavorful. I love love love it. The roasted chicken was courtesy of my PILs. Also, have you ever had avocado on pizza? It’s pretty awesome!

Open wide!

While eating dinner, I was watching the Food Network ice cream challenge. Instead of 2 little truffles I planned on having for dessert, a frozen chocolate covered banana seemed more appealing. Can’t wait for some truffles tomorrow though.

[all together = 436 calories]

While typing this post, I also had a mini pack of somersaults (70 calories).

Total calories consumed: 1,736

KITCHEN CONSTRUCTION UPDATE

We are getting SO close! Over the weekend we had the cabinets installed and today the countertop went on. I am counting down the days until I can cook in my own kitchen!!!

So excited that it’s already Wednesday tomorrow AND I have a fun lunch date planned and a dinner out. The weekend will be here before we know it.

Green = completed as planned, yellow = changed workout, red= skipped it altogether

I started this last week and as you can see, I’m already making changes. It’s all about having a structure but also remembering to go with the flow.

A few highlights:

• I mentioned that I’m running the run to remember half in May, but as you can see I also signed up for a 5K. A few bloggers like Shannon and Tina are running it and I thought it would be fun to join them. The thing is, training for a long distance race is very different from training for a 5K. That’s why you see some interval runs in the mix. I want to not only continue hitting new personal distance records, but also get faster doing it! Speaking of distance…
• You may notice that I plan on running up to 18 miles as part of my half marathon training. That is not necessary at all. I think I was physically ready for my last half, and dehydration and a few dumb decisions in my state of delirium (like sprinting a mile before the finish line) have contributed to a nightmare of an ending. With that said, I want my next half to feel like nothing. I know that’s silly since I will push myself harder than ever before (racing brings that out in people… must be all that adrenaline running through the body) but at least distance wise, I want 13.1 miles to feel kind of short. We’ll see if my plan works.
• I’m keeping some resistance training, yoga and spinning as part of the schedule. I will obviously be running a lot more than usual, but I want to keep my body strong and avoid burnout by mixing in some of my other favorite workouts.

I’ll keep you guys posted on how my training progresses. Twisting my ankle means that “4 miles fast” is probably not the best idea tomorrow. I’ll try to spin or take a pilates class instead. Like I said, it’s about flexibility as well as consistency.

Now let’s get to today’s eats. I like talking about workouts but I LOVE talking about food

BREAKFAST

Barney Butter/banana/pom seed waffle sandwich

We sold our old appliances so now we don’t even have a microwave to use. This was amazing and all I needed was a toaster and some yummy ingredients.

[365 calories]

MID-MORNING SNACK

Cranberry & almond KIND bar

[190 calories]

I LOVE the whole nuts in KIND bars!! Next time I make my own granola bars, I’m going to put in whole nuts as well. They add such a great crunch!

LUNCH

Thai rice noodles (leftover from last night’s soup) with mushrooms, broccoli, snap peas, chicken and thai spicy sauce

I felt pretty resourceful saving the rice noodles and giving them another life today

[347 calories]

MID-AFTERNOON SNACK

Clif mojo mountain mix bar

[180 calories]

I don’t think I’m ever going to get bored of these!!

DINNER

Tortilla pizza!!

[247 calories]

TJ’s flour tortilla with whole wheat, TJ’s organic tomato sauce, TJ’s lite shredded cheese mix, fresh mushrooms = perfection!! I LOVE the TJ’s organic tomato sauce (in a can) used as a pizza sauce. This was the best tortilla pizza I’ve ever made. Somehow it had the perfect proportions of ingredients and was perfectly crispy. Delicious… especially “chased” by some chocolate!

I also had some roasted almonds (unpictured) and now I’m doing everything in my power to NOT eat any more. It was a good, balanced day of eats. I can have more tomorrow.

Total calories consumed: 1611

I’m off to watch some No Reservations with the hubs.

For those who participate in races, how do you train?

• Go to work today (man, work really cramps my style)
• Go on a date with my husband tonight – he chose the restaurant for tonight. It’s a secret (I know it’s in the North End, though, so I’m guessing Italian food)
• Bootcamp with my sister and Molly Sat morning (Molly just got engaged and I can’t wait to see her ring and hear all the details about the proposal. Congrats, Molly!!!!!!!! )
• A truffle workshop with my sister. We’ll be learning all about chocolate and then will be making our own chocolate truffles. Pretty cool, right?
• Shopping with sister (and parents?)
• Choosing countertops for our kitchen (the one we previously picked was above our budget. Boo!!)
• Filming a video tour of our condo (stay tuned)
• Emptying our kitchen for construction to begin
• Meeting contractor on Monday morning to start construction of our kitchen!!!!!

We have a busy weekend ahead of us. I wish I could skip #1 and dive straight into the rest of it

BREAKFAST

Oikos, kiwi, grapes, Zoe’s granola, Kashi autumn promise, walnuts, shredded coconut

Btw, I mentioned the poor quality of my pictures recently and realized aside from bad lighting, my camera is too old (it’s only a year old but I abuse this baby quite a bit). I’m going to buy a new one today. These pictures were taken with a tripod and they’re still blurry.

TREAT OF THE DAY

Coffee cake at work. Unfortunately this did not prevent me from wanting more treats later on. I tried to be reasonable but at the end the chocolate cravings won. More adjustments to my plan to come next week.

WORKOUT

I had the most amazing yoga practice today. I know the class is good but I’m still blown away every time. The instructor, Nathan, just transforms you into a different world. After 75 minutes of practice, I almost teared up during shavasana. It was just really moving. Thank god I didn’t skip it for the sake of a sweatier run (which I’m craving – doing that today!).

LUNCH

Open faced salami, laughing cow, roasted pepper baguette sandwich + a pickle and baby carrots

MID-AFTERNOON SNACKS

DINNER

Tortilla pizzas – so healthy and delicious! I made 1 pizza with leftover steak and mushrooms + 1/2 with kalamata olives. Very yummy

I’m not going to lie – more chocolate was consumed after dinner. Adam tried to reason with me, and it almost worked. We “closed” the kitchen and cuddled up on the couch to watch Entourage. Unfortunately, about mid-way through the first episode (we watched 3!) I just couldn’t take it – I got up and grabbed chocolate. I ate 4 large squares again. I’m a serious addict. It’s ok, I will figure this out. With determination and motivation, great things can happen.

Any plans for this weekend?