In the blender – 1+ frozen banana, frozen blueberries, 1c water, 1c 1% milk, Greens+ wild berry burst, 8 ice cubes, baby spinach and 1/4t xantham gum and 1/8t guar gum

It made 2 awesome smoothies – Adam and I shared them.

I paired my smoothie with a Food For Life millet toast with Barney Butter

[300 calories]

MID-MORNING SNACK

[70 calories]

LUNCH

Leftover savory pumpkin pudding

Still delicious the next day

[450 calories]

MID-AFTERNOON SNACKS

TJ’s 100 calorie dark chocolate bar

+ 2 somersault packets

[All together: 240 calories]

WORKOUT

I had a lunch meeting, which meant I had to go to the gym after work. I REALLY hate working out after work but for some reason I got a burst of energy right at 5pm. I left a bit later and found Adam on one of the treadmills finishing up his workout. It never gets old seeing my husband running! Unfortunately, the second I started running, all that energy disappeared. I was dragging. I had 4 miles with 6×200 on the schedule but I wanted to get off the treadmill a minute after starting running. I finished 6×200 with walking for recovery for most intervals (I NEVER do that!) and then got off. I probably ran a little over 1 mile instead of 4. Ugh This is my 3rd crappy run in a row. I considered quitting all together last night. Something is off with me on the running front, and I feel trapped. Maybe the 5K I’m running this weekend will be the perfect fun distance for me, and then I can get back to distance running. We’ll see how it goes.

DINNER

Sweet potato gnocchi with brussels sprouts and walnuts (recipe can be found here, originally discovered through Tri to Cook)

To make this, I used the Nuovo sp gnocchi (purchased at Whole Foods). This was super quick and Adam and I both really enjoyed it. The brussels sprouts overwhelmed the sweet potato taste a bit when eaten together in one bite, but alternating bites between the gnocchi and the brussels sprouts resulted in a great balance between sweet and earthy. The walnut pieces added a nice crunch as well. Great, great dinner!

Oh yes, and there was a bit of vino involved. This bottle of Cono Sur pinot noir was fantastic. So smooth. I had this glass and another splash after that. What a fun treat on a Tuesday night!

Label close-up:

Dessert: the infamous peanut butter chocolate chip granola bar cookie

This time I ate it like dessert and enjoyed it immensely. It really is kind of a perfect bar cookie (minus the calories).

Are you ever super tired for several consecutive days? Any ideas on how to re-energize? I’m all ears!

Now onto today’s eats…

BREAKFAST

TJ’s european style yogurt, pear, fresh blueberries and 1/2 blueberry muffin + coffee

The muffin chunks tasted like CAKE for breakfast! Best idea ever.

All messy… mmm

[302 calories]

MID-MORNING SNACK

The other half of the muffin + orange slices

[206 calories]

Man, it hurts me to post this ugly picture. It was crazy delicious though. I promise!

WORKOUT - abs + spin. Nice and sweaty

LUNCH

Baba ganoush, turkey, cucumbers and mustard on white whole wheat bread

A garlic pickle <3

+ baby carrots and cucumber slices

All together:

[326 calories]

I know this is obvious, but I just wanted to remind you all that cucumbers in sandwiches are awesome!!!

MID-AFTERNOON SNACK

Strawberry Soyjoy I got at a conference ages ago.

[130 calories]

I liked it a lot. It kind of tasted like a strawberry cookie.

DINNER

Did I mention how much I love our new kitchen? Because I do! It’s seriously a pleasure being in it. I can’t get enough! I hope Adam can keep up with all the dish washing because I kind of want to live in the kitchen for a little while

For dinner tonight I made some sweet potato falafel by following this recipe from the Pink Apron. My pita bread totally fell apart so this was one messy meal, but it was quite tasty nonetheless. I loved how crunchy the baked falafel balls were and the subtle sweetness of the sweet potatoes added a fun twist to the traditional recipe. The tomatoes + cucumbers added a nice freshness to this meal. Unfortunately, the sauce, to be honest, was just okay. I didn’t thin it enough so it was quite thick and Adam is not a fan of parsley so I just used a bit of dried parsley instead of fresh and the sauce ended up tasting kind of like plain sour cream. Not that exciting (not Kelly’s fault since I didn’t follow her directions properly). I’d make the falafel again but probably use hummus for sauce.

[395 calories]

I just totaled up my calories for the day and realized I’m a bit low. I’m munching on a clementine and calling it a day.

See you later alligators!

So last night, I finally asked Tina for help – she LOVES ecto. If you’re not familiar with what it is – ecto is basically an offline blogging platform. You should be able to write your post, insert images, etc. offline and once there is an internet signal, the post can be published. Tina uses it mostly to upload images because of the aforementioned trouble we all have with uploading pics through wordpress. Anyways… I guess that was a long introduction to my coffee date with Tina. She happened to be in my hood this afternoon and promised to show me the ecto ropes. I was so excited! Could my previous ecto frustrations be finally put to rest? Was it time for my ridiculous daily ritual with wordpress to come to an end?

We met at Wired Puppy – a cute little specialty coffee and tea shop on Newbury st with all organic offerings.

The muffins in the display case looked divine! I was a good girl and stuck to just a simple calorie-free beverage.

I got a loose leaf tea, and being the great blogger than I am… I forgot to write down exactly what I had. It was very fruity and flavorful. I also loved that glass mug!

Tina and I caught up on recent life events and then we got to our little demo from the ecto expert. My ecto was messing up a bit for Tina, just like it did for me, but I seemed to learn a few tricks from Tina.

Tonight, after a very long day at work, I thought I’d give this (ecto) baby a whirl. Um, it still sucks!!! My images imported at a different size from what I wanted them at, so I tried to change them all at the same time – no luck. I decided to stick with the default size, and then all of a sudden, my next batch of images started uploading at the right size. WTF?! How did that happen, and will it stick around? I manually changed the size of each of the previously imported images, and I hope that was the end of that. Is anyone out there an ecto genius? (Sorry, Tina, I guess I’m a bad student). I think this is the least intuitive program ever! I thought Apple was supposed to be great for media stuff like that. **Ok, ending the rant here. Thanks for listening, guys.

Let’s jump to the rest of my eats, shall we? Ah, much better!

BREAKFAST

2 mini Holey Donuts cinnamon buns + coffee

[200 calories]

SECOND PART OF BREAKFAST / MID-MORNING SNACK

A super juicy pear with plain oikos – no other sweetener required!

[135 calories]

LUNCH

A gigantic salad: mixed greens, sweet potato, ham, pinto beans, cherry tomatoes, broccoli + 1T Annie’s balsamic vinaigrette

[275 calories]

The salad had so many flavors and it was SUPER filling. The sweet potato chunks were definitely the best. I may have to recreate this exact salad asap.

MID-AFTERNOON TREATS

Things I was able to avoid at the office:

I am EXTRA careful today with my teeth.

Things I sank my teeth into:

[150 calories? They were small and had some nougat in them]

This was followed by a healthier treat…

[180 calories]

Which contributed to this…

[135 calories]

… being my DINNER! I planned on attending a 7:30pm sweat box class and the only thing I could stomach prior to it was a small snack (which due to work, I ended up having like half hour before class – dangerous!!)

And now I’m snacking on this little love

[80 calories]

Total calories consumed: ~1500

It was really easy eating well today. I hope this health-kick continues. My body is screaming for a detox!!

Does my post look any different in ecto?

BREAKFAST

A “green” monster + a power bran muffin

In the monster – 1/2 frozen banana, frozen blueberries, 1/2 cup skim milk, large handful of baby spinach + Amazing Grass Green Food packet… it kind of came out black but still delicious I loved getting so many servings of fruits and veggies by 8 am!

The bran muffin was toasted from frozen and was still yummy although a little dry.

[405 calories]

MID-MORNING SNACK

1/2 cashew cookie larabar. I love this flavor!!

[105 calories]

LUNCH

Lunch was the aforementioned date with Mary Kate at Tossed. I got a giant salad with mixed greens, grape tomatoes, cucumbers, mandarin oranges, snow peas and cajun shrimp + dijon mustard dressing on the side (I used about a tablespoon).

So much veggie awesomeness!

After paying I realized adding the shrimp cost $5!!! I will say the shrimp was delicious.

[~272 calories]

Mary Kate, I had a great time catching up with you. I’m looking forward to future lunch dates

When I got back to my desk, despite feeling uncomfortably full, I wanted chocolate in a bad way. A little calcium did the trick. Taking vitamins is so hard. lol

[30 calories]

MID-AFTERNOON SNACK

The craving for a baked good hit later in the day. This chocolate brownie zbar really satisfied me today. I used to eat these all the time and forgot how good they are. I think I need to stock up  – these are great and are only 120 calories!

[120 calories]

DINNER

Dinner was unphotogenic but very delicious. I made Ellie Krieger’s nutty sweet potato soup, hosted by Popsicles and Sandy Feet this week on CEiMB. I think a dollop of greek yogurt on top would have made it a little prettier but we are all out. I tried crumbling some goat cheese on top but it just sank. In any case, the soup was hearty, flavorful and just the right amount of spicy (I used 1/2 amount of cayenne). The only little problem I had with it was the texture – my peanut butter didn’t melt that well. Once in a while there were pb chunks on the spoon. Not the worst problem but I was hoping for a super creamy consistency. Probably my fault.  On the side I enjoyed 1/2 FFL english muffin with some four pepper goat cheese. A perfect meal on a cold winter night!

[399 calories]

NIGHT-TIME SNACK

Once again I haven’t had enough calories during the day. I was craving white chocolate and I was cold. I grabbed a piece of chocolate and went to the cupboard for tea… and then I saw hot chocolate packets! Brilliant

These are fancy shmancy French hot chocolate packets we got at a gourmet cheese store last year. I used 1/2 cup of 1% milk, 1/2 cup hot water and the whole hot cocoa packet to make my hot chocolate. This was so rich and satisfying that I ended up only eating 1 little square of the white chocolate. Yay for listening to my body and being reasonable around yummy foods!!

[~155 calories]

Total calories consumed: ~1500

I’m going to dinner at Oleana in Cambridge tomorrow night with the hubs. Calories will not be counted at dinner but every bite will be enjoyed. This is how I keep myself sane!

Happy Thursday/Friday (if that’s when you read it)!!

Saturday started by meeting a reader, Allison, who teaches lots of fitness classes at the Beacon Hill Athletic Clubs. I decided to attend her muscle and abs class at the center in Brighton. After chatting for about 10 minutes before the class, we got to business The class was really a blast. Allison knew everyone’s name and mentioned Jillian Michaels, new tv shows, while kicking our butts with moves I’ve never seen before. We used every gadget you can think of, and just kept moving. Awesome! Allison also introduced me to the class as her special blogger friend. If some of you Brighton BHAC girls are in fact reading this post, say hello in the comments section!

Allison and I after a super sweaty class:

I actually decided to take a break from taking pictures of my food for the day, so Saturday eats will have to be my little secret Let’s get to Sunday!

I woke up super excited for my first Healthy and Sane social running group meet-up! I fueled up with some dessert for breakfast: When Pigs Fly chocolate bread with chunky Barney Butter + coffee. Not a bad way to start the day, that’s for sure

Our first social run was awesome! There were just 4 of us running today, which made for easy navigation. We ran across the Mass Ave bridge towards Cambridge, looped by the Museum of Science, then ran to Fenway and back to the Back Bay. I ran 7 miles and didn’t even realize it! I was too busy having fun!! We held about a 9:30 minute pace (I think, I actually reset my garmin by mistake without checking) and all felt great! I got to meet and get to know Shannon from Lessons to Learn, and hang out with my Boston girls, Shannon (from Tri to Cook) and Molly of course. Great fun! I feel so lucky to have met so many cool people because of my blog! If you like running and live in Boston, you should join us. I can almost guarantee a good time

Oh, look what Shannon brought for me…

Baked mini cider donuts!!! Yum! But we’ll get to that later… onto…

LUNCH

1 cup of V8 Vegetable Blend soup with the bud of the olive bread.

I tried the soup by itself this time, without adding anything else, and it was delicious! Mmm, chunky delicious veggie soup (a few more days left to enter the V8 soup giveaway!)…

+ yummy olive bread. I think I’ve eaten my weight in bread over the past few days. It’s too good!

+ Dessert: mini baked cider donut

These tasted like delicious mini muffins – lots of cinnamon and spices. The perfect fall treat! My parents in law came over and got to enjoy them as well. They were a hit for sure! Check out Tri to Cook in a few days for the recipe

OTHER SNACKS

There were lots of snacks because I’m never hungry after a run, which made for a small lunch and a ravenous Elina later in the day

One of the last apples from the apple picking trip:

Mini peach pie slice with Stonyfield nonfat vanilla frozen yogurt:

Yellowtail cabernet sauvignon:

This is a pretty nice wine, especially for the price. Brings back memories of buying giant bottles of Yellowtail wine with my sister and polishing them off way to0 quickly in our NY apartment. Good times! :lol

DINNER

Dinner ended up being such an amazing fall treat! I wanted to make something with wonton wrappers we had on hand, and came across this recipe in Cooking Light for sweet potato ravioli with lemon-sage brown butter. This was my first time making ravioli… pretty fun! The wonton wrappers are a great shortcut to making the pasta dough, and these really did taste like real ravioli. I was a proud ravioli mama

I cut the amount of butter a little bit, but the butter lemon sauce makes these really special so definitely don’t skip the butter sauce!

Absolutely delicious! Rich, flavorful, and so “fall.” Adam loved them as well, despite being hesitant at first. Sweet

What a great weekend! Lots of food, lots of exercise. Perfect! What food defines “fall” for you?

I ate really well today. By “well” I mean healthy AND delicious foods. I also made some choices I’m proud of. If you’ve been paying close attention, the last few days had more than 1 treat. I honestly was not beating myself up over it (hello, progress!) but I also would like to treat my body with respect and I think that 1 sugary/fatty treat a day is plenty.  So today I made a conscious choice to eat a lot cleaner. It was not about deprivation but rather moderation. I already bought a treat to enjoy tomorrow so I know it’s only a day away. I made a comment to my husband the other day that sometimes we need to stop eating like kids, who don’t think of consequences their food choices may have on their future bodies or health, and act like adults. Eating like an adult today to me meant that the chocolate chip cookie that I purchased at the farmers market will wait until tomorrow. I plan on fully enjoying it then with a nice cup of tea

The day’s eats:

Breakfast – 1 egg + 1 egg white + 1 sl. of American cheese + 1.5 sl. bacon on a Food for Life english muffin

Pre-workout snack: local peach

Lunch: baby spinach, grape tomatoes, cucumber, 1/4 avocado, 1/3 giant sweet potato + 1T Annie’s organic goddess dressing

+ TJ’s 100 calorie dark chocolate bar (it was for the anti-oxidants )

Mid-afternoon snack: TJ’s ww low carb tortilla + 1 Barney Butter packet + 1/2 banana

Dinner was spectacular! I was craving salmon and we haven’t had it in a while, so I decided to go to my go-to salmon recipe I raved about previously here (check out #8 of top 8 meals in 2008). In case you didn’t link there, this is the sweet-spicy glazed salmon from Cooking Light (recipe is available online here). I kind of think my salmon pic looks better

The green beans look unassuming in the back of that picture but they were beyond amazing too! I followed a recipe for skillet green beans with garlic and lemon from my current cookbook obsession The beans were a little spicy, saucy and so flavorful. I could eat a whole pound of them in one sitting – easy!

And now we get to dessert. I haven’t caught the “raw food bug” but I was intrigued to taste the famous raw banana soft serve that’s been all over the blogosphere lately. I had 2 frozen bananas sitting in the freezer waiting to be used up for a green monster or banana bread, and this was the perfect opportunity to give them a new life After about 3 minutes in the food processor, the bananas became beautifully creamy and produced a delicious soft serve!

Wow, that’s just bananas? That’s it? Yep! Amazing!!! Adam and I shared this portion. I couldn’t help but add a few walnut crumbles to “spice it up.” What a perfect way to finish a great meal… the healthy way!

As you can see above, eating like an adult did not mean that there were no treats. The treats were just much healthier, so really it’s about balance.  That chocolate cookie definitely has my name on it tomorrow, though

Hope you finish the work week strong and have some fun plans for the weekend!

I’ve been trying to lose weight since I was a young teenager. I always tried one form of diet or another and was never happy with my weight. At some point, my Junior year in college, I got really close to my goal weight. I could “smell” the finish line – I was really really close. I was becoming a lot more confident in how I looked, which in turn made me happier in many aspects of my life. Unfortunately, I was also working out twice a day and counting every carb gram I was consuming (yeah, it was the low carb craze at the time and I fell victim to it) – so I was also hungry… often. Anyways, I’ve clearly come a long way since those days. I eat pretty well balanced meals and don’t even think about quick fix diets.  I know better now. The thing is I’m also about 15 lbs heavier today from my Junior year of college… and I really want to smell that finish line again.

Here is my question – is it worth it fighting so hard to “get there”? I’m trying to rationally think how my life would change if I got to my goal weight. I know my husband would not love me more (luckily he already thinks I’m hot ) and I know my friends and family would not care one bit – they already think I’m fit and healthy and just want me to be happy. I may approve of my body more, but is over-analyzing and judging every food choice for the rest of my life “worth it,” especially since this so often makes me unhappy in the process.  I definitely struggle with answering this question because I don’t think I’m doing anything drastic at this point (I stopped counting calories, allowing myself treats, etc.), and I can’t turn off my desire to look hot in a pair of shorts or a bikini. Are you at your goal weight? How did your life change by getting there? Are you happier? Was the journey to get there, and the diligence required to maintain this weight, worth it? If you’re still trying to lose weight – why are you doing it? How do you think your life will change when you get to your goal weight?

Ok, enough deep talk – let’s get to FOOD

Breakfast – oikos, 1/2 banana, juicy peach, Bear Naked continental divide blend trail mix + coffee

Mid-morning snack – cashew cookie larabar:

How can something with just 2 ingredients taste so good?

Office treat(s) of the day – homemade banana bread (amazing!!!) + a brownie

Lunch: sweet potato/ organic kidney beans/ avocado/ light mexican cheese quesadilla

Great combo!

For dinner I met up with Shannon, Lauren, Tina and Mary Kate at Scoozi.

We ordered a pitcher of sangria, which was let’s just say much needed after a long day of work The sangria was light and fruity and totally hit the spot!

I wanted to keep dinner on the lighter side given my office treats earlier in the day so I ordered the mesculin field greens salad – field greens with goat cheese, tomatoes, candied walnuts in a citrus vinaigrette. I asked for the dressing on the side, and added some grilled chicken to it.

The salad probably had a whole chicken on it, but it was SO good! The goat cheese was so creamy, the candied walnuts were perfectly roasted and sweet and the dressing was great too! I ate every bite despite the fact that really there was way too much chicken. I just couldn’t stop eating – it was too good! You’ll be definitely seeing more trips to Scoozi on the blog (we’ll be living minutes away from the restaurant after the move).

For dessert the girls decided to walk down the street to J.P. Licks. I LOVE J.P. Licks. It’s absolutely my favorite ice cream shop and the only time I allow myself, with no hesitation, to order the full fat ice cream. The coconut almond chip is my favorite, but this time I decided to branch out (just a bit) and order 1/2 of my fave and the other 1/2 of maple butter walnut. This is a small cup.

OMG – this is definitely my new favorite combo! Creamy, nutty, de-licious!!! I was a happy girl when this picture was taken.

Unfortunately I was unable to get a photo of the lovely ladies, so check out Tina’s recap of the night

Hope your day is going well! Happy Thursday

BEST MEAL OF THE DAY…

We didn’t go grocery shopping over the weekend so I had to get creative.  This combo was delicious and definitely hit the spot.  Too bad this lovely lunch was overshadowed by eating crap for the rest of the day

Hummus + sweet potatoes are great together!

OTHER EATS

Multiply the above picture by 3.  Yep, THREE.  Bleh.

I also ate 2 large chocolate chip cookies (unphotographed).

Then I considered skipping dinner because honestly I wasn’t even hungry, but I thought this was not a good move.  I didn’t want my body to feel like I was punishing it and feel deprived.  So instead of cooking (which I didn’t feel like doing at all), I went to UFood.

Actually I had 2 of these too… it was definitely one of those days.

Calories for the day: definitely over 2,500… I stopped counting after a while.

Confession – After I got off work I could have gone to the gym.  I knew it would definitely, without a doubt, make me feel better and get me right back on track, but it’s like I didn’t want to feel better.  This was also the moment when I was about to hit up another bakery and get something else, but I didn’t do that either.  I knew that that would be really bad.  Even when I fall off the wagon like that, I know what I should be doing.  I just don’t really listen to myself.  Does anyone else ever experience this?  I swear I feel like I’m the craziest person sometime.  I really love being healthy – why do I do this to myself then?

Ok, I’m done.  Sorry.  I promise to be back to being much happier.  In fact, I’m enjoying a cup of coffee in my house right now instead of rushing to work.  I need to start the day on the right foot.  No more self destructive behavior!!  I can do this!

I did eat A LOT of really yummy food.  We had a pot luck day at work, which spilled into a 2 day event (there was just so much food we couldn’t eat all of it in one day!).  I took lots of pics, but there was definitely even more food that did not get photographed (again, mostly chocolate). A few items that you do see pictures of, I ended up not eating after tasting them (because they just weren’t “worthy”).  Here goes (Sun-Wed eats)… scroll over pics for descriptions.

BREAKFASTS

LUNCHES

SNACKS

DINNERS

Sunday: tilapia with S&P, bread crumbs and parmesan cheese, broiled in toaster oven for about 15 minutes + brussels sprouts cooked using this recipe (it’s the best!).

Monday: my in-laws were over for dinner so I made tuna casserole using this recipe from Cooking Light.  I used condensed milk instead of 2% milk and it came out very creamy and delicious!  Here is the whole pan:

And my portion (about 1/6 – I was stuffed from all the potluck eating at work):

Tuesday: out with friends – I got a flatbread mushroom pizza at Dillon’s.  It was huge and amazing (!!!) –  had the whole thing, minus 1.5 slices I gave to my husband.  I also had 2 glasses of wine

Wednesday – Christmas Eve – dinner at my sister in law’s…

Pig-in a blanket, bacon wrapped mini scallop (I had like 5 of those), a piece of cold cut calzone and a crab cake: 

Second plate: another pig in a blanket, a chicken parm calzone (I had another 1/2 slice… maybe a whole slice, I can’t remember), a chicken wing (I had another 1 or 2 after that):

A chocolate cookie with frosting… it was decorated by my 4-year old nephew and he proudly presented me with it so I had to have one (ok, it didn’t take much convincing )

Key lime pie slice (I had another tiny sliver of this):

And some monkey bread (this is the whole pan, but I really went to town on this – seriously I probably had 1/4 of the whole cake).  It tasted like cinnamon buns, minus the frosting – amazing!!

Sorry for the lack of descriptions here.  It was just too much food – I didn’t want to overwhelm you with too much writing on top of all the pictures.  There was NO exercise ( ) at all.  I kind of lost all control, but I am seriously motivated to get back on the wagon !  I had a healthy breakfast this morning… plan on hitting the gym in a bit and planning some healthy meals for me and my hubs for the next week.  Merry Christmas everybody!!!!

BREAKFAST

I missed my yogurt parfaits… it’s been a few days!  Today’s bowl had about 3/4 c of nonfat yogurt, 1/2 banana, about 2/3 serving of (Target’s) Archer Farms cranberry nut trail mix (includes cranberries, white chocolate chips, almonds and pecans) + some kashi golean cereal.  This trail mix tasted much healthier than the double chocolate espresso kind (duh!) but I missed the dark chocolate chips (I need that intense chocolate flavor!).  This trail mix is definitely a really good one and I’m thinking should be incorporated into some kind of baked good.  Let’s see if I can come up with something one of these days – or I may just eat it plain

PRE-WORKOUT SNACKS

I was planning on having this snack…

But after biting into the apple I walked over to the printer and found some ricotta cheesecake.  Of course I had to cut myself a tiny slice!  I didn’t end up eating any of the bunnies so you’ll see them on some other day (I did finish the apple though).  Here is the tiny sliver of the ricotta cheesecake (it looks way bigger in the picture than it really was).  It was from a bakery and very delicious!

WORKOUT

Amanda of Run to Finish is hosting a Holiday Bootie Buster Challenge (HBBC) which starts today and runs through Jan 4th.  The idea is to log a bunch of exercise in to counteract some of the inevitable indulgences during this holiday season – sounds like my kind of challenge so of course I signed up!  If you care, you can find the rules for the challenge here and I will update you on my points earned on daily basis.  Btw, I don’t plan to really increase my activity level to compete with 70+ people… I know I won’t win, but I do plan on tracking my exercise minutes using her point system and maybe this will be eye opening (and even inspiring) come Jan 4. 

Workout was simple but sweaty.  I wanted to do some cardio but didn’t feel like running so I signed up for a spinning class and finished myself off with 15 minutes on the elliptical  Spinning was a little easier for me today – not sure if it was because I didn’t work out for the last 2 days (so my body was well recovered) or if my machine was not as tight or something.  I felt like I had to turn the knob a lot more to really feel it today.  I dunno…  After 60 minutes of this workout, though, I was definitely sweaty and ready to go back to work

Total HBBC points earned: 4

LUNCH

Lunch today was a nice big salad.  I finally finished the romaine lettuce we had and bought some baby spinach.  I love leafier greens so I was really excited for my salad today!  In this combo I used 2 cups of baby spinach, some grape tomatoes, cucumber, 3 oz of grilled chicken (just sauteed on the pan spayed with EVOO Pam), 100 calorie pack of almonds and 1 laughing cow cheese wedge.  After taking this picture I dressed it in 1 tablespoon of Annie’s goddess dressing.  Yum!

MID-DAY SNACK

I thought I could maybe go without a mid-day snack but my body is so used to eating every few hours that I just start thinking about food when the hour comes whether I am truly hungry or not.  It’s ok, I was a little low on calories at that point so I made myself a yummy snack with some tea

This is 1/2 of Arnold’s sandwich thin with 1/2 packet of Barney Butter and 2 dates (chopped).  I’m not crazy about the sandwich thins (too white tasting) and I really wanted to finish off the rest of the Barney Butter packet to make it more indulgent tasting, but I held off and still enjoyed this very much!

DINNER

A few hours later after coming home and relaxing for a little while, my husband asked me to cook dinner.  We were both pretty excited for the shepherd’s pie I planned on making using this recipe from Allen of Eating Out Loud. I used 1.2 lbs of super lean turkey in this recipe, skipped the onions and fennel, halved the butter and omitted the oil (just used Pam), otherwise I followed the recipe to the T and it came out fantastic!  What a perfect comfort food!  Here are a few pics of the process…

Mashing the sweet potatoes after boiling them.  They came out so smooth and creamy, I couldn’t believe it!

Here are some of the shepherd’s pie “innards” in process, right after adding the frozen peas to the mix:

And this is the mixture after the sauce has thickened.  It was ready to be transferred into the pan…

And putting it all together.  I wish I had pretty single pots like Allen but the bread pan did the trick

And the final product after 25 minutes of baking and about 5 minutes under the broiler.

Inside the sweet potato blanket:

And my plate (1/3 of the recipe ~ 400 calories):

This was a lot of food.  I was actually planning on only having 1/4 of the recipe and having the other half for lunch tomorrow but my husband wanted a larger portion so we agreed to split it 3 ways and he gets to have the leftovers.  Lucky guy!  This recipe was a winner – we both really loved it!!!

And I finished the meal with a Kashi oatmeal dark chocolate cookie (I got this sample in the mail today).  I’ve had these before (and loved them) but who can turn down free food

And now I munching on the trail mix referenced above (I brought the bag over to look at the name of it and now of course I’m eating straight from the bag!).  I have a serious weakness for trail mix!!  I’m only grabbing a few pieces at a time (instead of the usual handful) so I’m kind of behaving

Total calories for the day: 1606 + trail mix out of the bag