Healthy and Sane

Entries Tagged as 'eggs'

Moving on

October 14th, 2009 · 21 Comments · Cooking Light, Italian, breakfast, dessert, eggs, pasta, snacks

I wrote yesterday’s post right before going to bed, and of course got myself all worked up. I couldn’t fall asleep, trying to think of any other half marathons other bloggers mentioned they were doing. Eventually I got up and did a little online research. Most of the ones over the next few weeks were closed for registration. Dang. I decided to spend a little more time on it in the morning. Long story short, I found a half marathon that was happening this weekend and spent most of today trying to convince my husband that it wasn’t a stupid idea to run another half marathon so soon, despite the fact that I blacked out at the end of my last one. I promised I’d hydrate and take it easier – I told him I had to do it! He still wasn’t convinced.

During my lunch break I went to City Sports and bought myself all sorts of fancy shmancy running stuff – a water belt, running gloves and a new warm long sleeve running tee. It got COLD here in Boston. How many gadgets can you fit on one person? ;)

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After work I got dressed and set out for a run. I didn’t have a distance in mind and I wanted to take it easy just in case I decided to run the half marathon this weekend after all. Um yeah, the run did not go well. My legs were heavy and I just wasn’t into it. The entire time I was thinking about all these other things I was excited about doing after my half was over – like more bootcamp classes, trying a new zoomba class my co-workers have been raving about, bringing yoga back into my life – all these workouts that had to be on the back burner while I was training for the half! I put all my energy and thoughts into preparing for Sunday’s race. I think I’m ready to move on. Over the past 3.5 months running has become more than a challenging workout – I learned to love it, but I need to spread the love a little. I’ll still run on occasion during the winter, but I want to concentrate on strength, yoga and spinning during the colder months. I’ll pick up running again next year when it warms up :)

BREAKFAST

Egg, ham & cheese on a FFL english muffin + coffee

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LUNCH

Delicious randomness: corn tortilla, green and yellow beans, borlotti beans, roasted root veggies, grape tomatoes, goat cheese

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SNACKS

Caramel, pecan, chocolate chip brownie from Tendercrop Farms

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Apple (ha!)

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2 Ryvita crackers with Sabra hummus and a hard boiled egg – great combo, although I’m not in love with these crackers

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DINNER

I had a fun dinner planned but somehow didn’t realize it required cheese, and we were all out. Plan B was a random pasta dish with wild mushrooms based on this recipe from Cooking Light. I used TJ’s lemon parpadelle pasta, added lemon zest to the mushrooms, omitted the onions, and subbed skim milk + 1 laughing cow wedge for the whipping cream. I really enjoyed this dish although it could definitely be more saucy. Adam thought there was too much lemon and mushrooms and asked if I could take the rest for lunch. Oh well, at least I didn’t slave over dinner for hours :D

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Dinner also included a glass of white wine and some chocolate covered almonds for dessert. Can’t wait for those things to be gone. Note to self: never buy a giant container of choc covered almonds again!!

I’m off to bed, getting up early to take a strength class with Coco. I’m excited to dedicate more time to other kinds of workouts besides running. What’s your favorite type of exercise?

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The countdown begins

October 10th, 2009 · 19 Comments · breakfast, dessert, eggs, salad, sandwich, tuna (canned)

Tomorrow is my first half marathon!!!!!!!!!!! I am definitely counting the hours at this point. Yay!!! Regardless of what happens during the race, I know that running 13.1 is an amazing accomplishment. I can’t wait!

Molly, Kirsten and I picked up our numbers earlier today. We’re all super excited :)

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Oh and I FOUND MY IPOD NANO!!!!! No clue how it got there, but it was in my smaller purse. Seriously, it must have jumped in there on its own because I really don’t know why it would be there. Either way, I’m not complaining. Yay! :D

YESTERDAY’S EATS:

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Next post will likely be a race recap!! :)

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Bigger is not better

October 1st, 2009 · 29 Comments · breakfast, comfort foods, eggs, oats, polenta, sandwich, snacks

My title refers to clothes! This morning I got dressed; the forecast was low 60’s so I thought it was appropriate to wear some long pants (during the warmer weather months, I mostly sported capris, skirts and dresses). I reached into my closet and found a pair of pants I haven’t worn for a while. These used to be one of my favorite pairs because I felt thin in them.  Today – they were baggy, embarrassingly baggy. I’ve about maintained my weight for the past year and a half. These pants were purchased at some point during that time. When did they become baggy? Sometimes baggy = relaxed. When it’s paired with heels for work, baggy = tired and frumpy. Instead of feeling skinny because my pants were too big, I wanted to hide in my cube because I felt like a little girl playing in my mom’s closet. These pictures don’t truly show how laughably big my pants were. Adam called them clown pants!

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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

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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

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

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SNACKS

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

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Chocolate chip z-bar

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100 calorie almonds pack

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DINNER

I haven’t had time to hit the gym again (work :evil: ) 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.

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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) :D

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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!!! :mrgreen:

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Nature’s Pride Bread tasting

September 29th, 2009 · 18 Comments · breakfast, dessert, eggs, product reviews, snacks, turkey

Since we moved into our new condo, I’ve been sending all of my packages to work. I feel a little funny doing it, but otherwise it becomes a game of chasing packages on weekends and that’s just no fun.  Do any of you do this or am I the only weird one? ;) I think the mailmen at my work are going to start talking about me soon, because I’ve been a popular girl lately. Yesterday a big box full of bread was delivered to my cube at work. I had to giggle a little :lol:

The bread was from Nature’s Pride Bread and I received it through participation in Foodbuzz’s Tastemaker program. Taste testing is definitely one of my favorite things! Here are the two loaves – 100% whole wheat and 12 grain. All the breads are 100% natural with no artificial ingredients, no HFCS, no trans fat, etc. Perfect!

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I dug into the whole wheat loaf first thing in the morning. This kind of soft bread is perfect for french toast for breakfast and as I found out today for egg in the hole! I had my lovely egg in the hole with some mascadine grapes + regular organic red grapes. Sweet grapes + egg and toast are a heavenly combo. The whole wheat bread was also so delicious. Very soft and flavorful, not rubbery at all like whole wheat breads sometimes are. I’d say it’s a whole wheat bread for whole wheat bread haters! *I’m going to test this theory on Adam soon.*

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Mmm, egg in a hole. Yum!

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Mid-morning snack revolved around another slice of Nature’s Pride bread – this time the 12 grain kind. There are little seeds inside the bread. Again, the bread was very soft with great texture and a touch of sweetness. I toasted it a bit, slathered it with a light laughing cow wedge and topped it with some more organic red grapes. Wow, what an awesome snack! Sweet (grapes) + savory (cheese) = satisfied Elina :mrgreen:

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This snack also perfectly fueled me though a bootcamp style workout. Coco joined me for the class today and I thought she was going to kill me at some point. We did the usual interval training for a while (alternating between weights and cardio for 1 minute) and then the instructor told us to put everything away and we started doing team sprints from one end of the studio to another. Wholly cow. I was sweating buckets, and kind of felt like I was back in high school… except this time I think I was in a better shape ;) Thankfully Coco was a trooper and said she liked it overall. This was definitely quite the class to try out for the first time at my gym. We didn’t ease her into it at all :D

Lunch: leftover cheddar crusted salmon with sweet roasted broccoli + heirloom grape tomatoes

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Mid-afternoon snack: Heart Thrive apricot bar (reused pic)

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This cookie bar sat like a rock in my stomach all afternoon. I was happy it did because it made a cupboard full of treats or worse, a trip to the bakery, that much easier to resist. Yeah, work got MEGA stressful again, and my instincts are to eat. I am NOT giving in. I will fuel my body the right way!!

After a 10-hour work day, I had absolutely zero desire to cook dinner. Luckily a newsletter from b.good with a special buy one/get one free offer made dinner an obvious choice. I got the b.good turkey burger: caramelized onions, mushrooms, garlicky greens, steak sauce (sans the onions of course!) and stole a few baked fries from Adam.

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These pictures do not do this fabulous burger justice!! It was SO juicy and flavorful. The garlicky sauteed spinach and mushrooms were seriously incredible. I kept on saying how much this dinner rocked the entire time we were eating. Adam enjoyed his “usual” – beef el guapo. I’m adding the “b.good burger” to my rotation at b.good (current other favorites: southwestern chicken salad and the turkey el guapo).

Dinner without dessert? Not on this blog! I had a small slice of the chocolate fudge cheesecake when we got back home. Yeah, that’s how you end a night of perfectly delicious eats! :D

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Do you have a favorite bread brand? I used to be obsessed with Ezekiel bread but now am not a fan for some reason (despite still LOVING their english muffins). There is also a Whole Foods organic spelt bread that I enjoy and of course a good crusty baguette on occasion cannot be beat.  For a soft bread I haven’t found “the one” yet. Nature’s Pride Bread could become just that very soon. I was seriously impressed!!! :grin:

Oh, how could I almost forget… if you haven’t already, go enter my Lazy Baker cookie mix giveaway!!

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Taking responsibility for my actions

July 30th, 2009 · 24 Comments · breakfast, eggs, snacks, yogurt

I’ve been doing a lot of soul searching lately and trying to think about why I keep bingeing. I’m honestly sick of talking and thinking about it, and I hate that I feel like a victim to this “bingeing demon.” I’ve decided that I’m no longer going to give in. I’m taking responsibility for my actions and changing them for the better. On that note, I think I figured out why going from calorie counting to intuitive eating probably triggered this crazy bingeing. I almost feel like with this new self-discovery and my new “plan” I can get this resolved… for good! Feel free to skip over this part and scroll over to the food pics if this is not relevant to you… I won’t judge :)

So here we go… When I was in a hardcore losing weight mode last year, I counted calories religiously for 6 days, then went 100% nuts on day 7. I worked out during those 6 days and had the seventh day as my “rest day” – from everything!  I ate all day long, whatever I wanted, and of course gained some weight due to this one “cheat day” but overall I lost more during the week so the number on the scale was going down and my workouts helped shape my body.  I thought that this approach was a good one – for me. I accepted the fact that I was an all-or-nothing person and thought that I figured out a way to make things work with this handicap.  Unfortunately, it looks like the second I stop counting calories, my brain thinks it’s “day 7″ so all bets are off – and my binge eating is triggered again. This is not healthy and I’m stopping this madness. I’m serious this time! :evil: <– scary smiley face=I’m serious ;)

Oh, about my plan. I’ve been emailing back and forth with Eve, who’s been absolutely wonderful. Eve is an RD in NYC and I wish I still lived there. I think she would have been a huge help to me! Anyways, she said something very basic yet kind of genius. She said that I still needed rules even if I stop counting calories … and she’s right! I work well with rules. That’s how I lost weight before. I just need some slightly softer rules now as I’m trying to resolve my food issues and lose weight slowly. So here is my new rule: I can have 1 treat (any treat) a day, every day, if I want one. If I know I’ll be going out at night, I’ll eat super clean during the day. If I want a large cookie or a special dessert, I can have it too… but just 1, and I have to eat super clean for the rest of the day to provide my body with the nutrients it needs. Simple, right? Today I allowed myself to have a treat, but I didn’t want one! I passed by free office cookies with no problems, and then passed by a cute brownie stand at the farmers market like it was nothing. I wanted cleaner foods so I rolled with it. I think I’m still kind of disgusted by Tuesday’s incident. It won’t last long but it’s ok, because I can have a treat every day if that’s what I really want. :D I won’t lose weight as fast, but it’s ok. I’ll be sane, and with my workouts I think I will still be able to lose some weight. Thanks again, Eve!!

Onto today’s cleanish eats. I’m so proud! :razz:

In the bowl: TJ’s organic nonfat european style yogurt, 1 fresh apricot, cantaloupe chunks, fresh blueberries, Kashi Golean cereal, Zoe’s almond cranberry granola (just a tiny handful) + cacao nibs. I feel like I haven’t had a big yogurt bowl like that in forever. This was delicious!!! The cacao nibs were really subtle. I still can’t figure them out – they’re either intense and bitter, or get lost in the mix. I’m going to keep experimenting :)

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Mid morning snack: Nature’s Path organic cinnamon apple instant oatmeal + 1T Justin’s cinnamon peanut butter. This was such an amazing snack! It was sweet but hearty. I’m going to buy more packets to keep on hand for dessert. Seriously, I think this may satisfy my sweet tooth on many occasions going forward. Yay for new discoveries :mrgreen:

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Lunch was random (another dinner sans leftovers): yellow cauliflower from the farmers market (microwaved for 2 minutes) +Annie’s white cheddar organic mac & cheese. I added the cauliflower to the cooked pasta and then added the cheese powder to make everything nice and cheesy.  Actually this was kind of ass kicking :lol:

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Mid afternoon treat: decaf tea + 2 Indigo Rabbit heavenly chocolate pillows

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Dinner was also ass kicking! I followed this recipe from Cooking Light for tomato goat cheese strata (found through Tri To Cook). We didn’t have enough eggs so I halved it. So delicious!! Adam said it was like a fancy deconstructed egg and cheese. Okay – whatever works ;)

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Multiply this slice by 2. This is only 1/2 serving shown here… I went back for seconds :)

Dessert: 2 turkish dried apricots. These guys are extra sweet!!

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If you can’t tell from the tone of this post, I’m in a fantastic mood! I feel a lot more in control and feel like I am finally making true progress. I have a special treat in the oven that I will enjoy tomorrow since it’s 10pm right now. Yay to being rational :lol:

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