The Sweet Spot

I've finally found the sweet spot in my workouts, the three days on and one day off is working perfectly. My legs feel fantastic and last week I was able to push out 6 quick miles (for me) on my 3rd day. My lats and biceps were pretty sore today from yesterdays workout but because of the way this week lays out I had to get a gym workout in today. Here are the details:

Cardio: Run on treadmill for 15 minutes @ 1.5% incline with varying speeds. Average speed was probably right around 7.4mph. 5 minute cooldown

DB Chest press on stability ball: 3x10 @ 22.5 (I wanted 27.5's but they were in use as were the 25's. I can do 30's but it's hard to get them up on the ball without a friend).

DB shoulder fly: 3x10 @ 10lb dbs (still getting my right shoulder back in shape, at least the pain is gone).

Tricep kickback with pronation: 3x10 @ 12.5lb db

Cardio: HIIT sprints for 6 minutes (alternating 1 minute @ 6.0, :30 @ 10.0). 3 minute cooldown

Tricep dips 3x10 bodyweight
Vogue press 3x10 @ 15lb db
Pushups: 3x10

Cardio: Elliptical for 15 minutes. Varying ramp and resistence (between 7-11).

Tonight for dinner I made the delicious Pulled chicken in the crockpot. I just eat mine out of a bowl since I'd rather have baked sweet potato fries than a bun. I also sauteed some squash, zucchini, and mushrooms in a little olive oil and then drizzled some balsamic vinegar over them. So ono!

I have a late morning run planned for tomorrow morning, not sure how far I'm going to go. I'm thinking 4-5 miles since Wednesday is an off day again.

Another day at the gym

My eye is still all gross but it seems to be healing a little bit more. I feel like I've been so busy lately but I honestly don't know what I'm so busy with. Does that make sense? I ate most of the usual suspects today. Dinner was a new recipe for chicken enchiladas (I've been burnt out on the one I used to use). I found this simple recipe on Jenna's blog and ran with it. The only change I made is that I used 2 4oz cans of green chiles (one inside the enchiladas and one on top). What can I say, I love green chiles! I also used 9 whole wheat soft taco sized tortillas. I love the Safeway Select enchilada sauce, it is so good and was the perfect amount.

Here is my workout for the day:

Cardio warmup: 8 minutes run (avg pace 7.0mph)

Dumbbell skull crusher (on incline bench) 3x10 @ 12.5lb dbs
Push press 3x10 @ 15lb dbs
Push ups 3x10

Cardio burst: 8 minutes (avg pace 7.5 mph)

Cable crossover 3x10 @ 12.5lbs each side of the machine
Dumbbell frontal raise 3x10 @ 15lb dbs

Cardio: 22 minute run varying speeds between 7.0mph and 8.5. Average pace ended up being 7.8mph. 5 minute cooldown

Crunches 3x20
Stetched out for 10 minutes or so afterwards.

I'm going to go finish up Season 2 of Entourage and read a little more of my book. Nite!

Leg day!

Today was leg day at the gym, here is my workout:

Cardio: 15 minutes on treadmill avg pace 7.5mph. 5 minute cooldown.

Double Leg Lift 3x15
Calf raise with stability ball 3x15
Reverse lunge with dumbbells 3x10 @ 15lb dbs
Booty blaster on stability ball (can't find my link to it grr) 3x15
Stability ball pass 3x10 my abs were still sore from Tuesday so these were killer.

Cardio: 15 minutes on treadmill avg pace 7.5mph. 5 minute cooldown.

All the typical food for today, for dinner I didn't feel like doing much since I was only cooking for me. I sliced up a zucchini that I desperately needed to use, also about five jumbo mushrooms. I sauteed those in some olive oil and seasoned with black pepper and cayenne pepper. I then cooked up a box of Annie's shells and cheese and threw a can of tuna fish in. I ate about half the mac n cheese and tuna with a healthy portion of hot sauce (gotta have hot sauce on mac n cheese).

I finished Janet Evanovich's latest Stephanie Plum novel last night, Finger Lickin' Fifteen. It was very funny, almost back to her usual. I have to admit, I'd like to see her mix it up and have Stephanie finally pick a love interest. Lula was hilarious as usual, there could have been more Grandma Mazur too. But overall plenty of laugh out loud moments.

I'm going to watch another chick flick tonight, this time Confessions of a Shopaholic. I've already seen it but had put it into my Netflix queue anyways for fun. I really enjoyed the Shopaholic series of books (even though Bex is an idiot). So I already know that it is light, humorous, and something to veg out to.

I did like Bride Wars last night, again just something light to veg too...totally unrealistic but you can just drone out the real world and use it as escapism.

I've got a lot on my mind right now so it's nice to escape in a dvd or a book. I'm also starting a new book tonight, I can't wait to curl up in bed with it. I hope Cooper joins me (Jada won't sit still she just wants to rub on the book and stand on me). The book is A Summer Affair by Elin Hilderbrand, this is my first book by her so I'm curious if I will like her writing. Has anyone read any of her stuff? I love to chat about books. :)

Happy Rest Day

So I've been doing a 3 on, 1 off rotation with working out lately. I think this is best for my body, after that 3rd day of exercise I need to rest my legs. I didn't do a dang thing today and loved it. I had this rather scary looking Green Monster this morning.

Don't fear, it was delicious. I bought a huge thing of Strawberries at Costco yesterday so we are eating a lot of them right now. In the GM was:

1 cup of Cow's milk 1 scoop Optimum Nutrition vanilla whey protein powder 1 TB Trader Joe's raw creamy Almond butter 5 strawberries 1/2 frozen banana 4c spinach 1/2c frozen blueberries 1.5c crushed ice

I just haven't really been feeling like taking pics of my food, I think it makes me self conscious. Maybe more than 4 people would read my blog if I took more pics, what do you all think? Though, I eat the same stuff most every day so it really isn't exciting. I'm much better about workout blogging than food, which is true to form because I'm a good exerciser but am pretty lax about my nutrition.

For my morning snack the strawberries made another appearance....

1/2c Fage 0%
1/2c Peanut Butter Puffins
1/2 Kashi Heart to Heart cereal
6 sliced strawberries

I was starvin marvin' by lunch time...

photo courtesy of Wikipedia

Lunch was a wrap:
Morningstar Farms tomato basil pizza burger
1 Flat Out wrap
1c spinach
1/2 tomato
1 Laughing Cow Light Swiss

All grilled up because it sounded freaking good...served along side a handful of riceworks sweet chili brown rice chips.

Afternoon snack was a Kashi Honey Almond Flax bar (my least fave of the Costco variety pack, but DH won't touch 'em so someone has to eat them while he gets the nummy Trail mix ones...how is THAT fair?) and a big juicy peach.

For dinner I tried something new, I went out on a limb that the 'skid' would eat it but he isn't a super picky eater so I wasn't too worried (DH said he thought he'd eat it). Thanks to Danica for this delicious recipe! I only had a 10oz package of frozen spinach so I went double chicken (DH is a huge carnivore and I need the extra protein on my rest day). OMG, so delicious. I ate two of the shells along with about a cup of steamed broccoli and cauliflower. The 'skid' actually said (unprompted) 'This is really good!'. So two thumbs up for Danica's recipe. I used Newman's Own marinara since I haven't been to Trader Joe's in a few weeks.

I plan to eat a serving of Dreyer's Tart Honey froyo later. I picked up a tub last week because all Dreyer's was $2.99 at Safeway. I really like this but I don't like that the honey is a swirl, I wish it was more mixed in. There's definitely a tart lemon taste (which isn't suprising because there is lemon juice concentrate in the ingredient list). It doesn't compare to my fave froyo with coconut but it will do for a treat, it's a lot cheaper.

picture courtesy of Dreyer's

Okay I'm off to get some laundry done and to read some more of the latest Stephanie Plum novel, Finger Lickin' Fifteen. It's hilarious!

More Hotness

I've been a bad blogger, actually I've just been straight up lazy. It is so hot outside and Seattle just isn't equipped for this shiz. Today was the hottest day EVER in Seattle. We did eventually hit 103 at my house...in the shade. I really wasn't wanting to workout at all today, the 'skid' and I got our portable AC (usually lives in our bedroom) downstairs to try to keep the living room cool. Fortunately the temp stayed steady down here all day, so it worked. However my work laptop has a steaming pile of ish for a wireless network card so I kept getting dumped offline all day and got next to nothing accomplished. I finally found a solution around 1:30pm and got an old USB wireless card I had working on it and just disabled my crappy POS internal card. Whew.

I was frustrated with it all so I went to the gym at lunch. I was trying to be super quick so my workout was much abbreviated (I figured something is better than nothing). Here are my stats:

Cardio: 20 minute run (2.61 miles). Plus five minute cooldown.

Box Step Ups with dumbbells 3x10 @ 17.5lb dbs


Calf raises on the step with dbs 3x15 @ 17.5lb dbs (superset)


Seated Oblique Twists w/ medicine ball 3x15 @ 10lb ball


Wall squat with stability ball 3x15


Stability ball crunches 3x25


Hamstring curls 3x10 @ 60lbs

I had a Green Monster for lunch as my appetite was finally a little off from the hotness. It also turns out that Cooper doesn't mind water, he let me wet him down to cool off. I even placed a frozen towel over him and he didn't mind. My sweet boy.

The 'skid' and I went to Starbucks when I finished work just to enjoy some AC (and iced drinks). I had a venti iced americano with caramel and the 'skid' had the strawberry banana smoothie. He said it was really good, and the nutritionals weren't horrible (although I'm sure there is added sugar in the strawberry puree they add).

For dinner we all went to a new Mongolian Grill tonight. It was so delicious! They had a great selection of veggies, I went with mushrooms, spinach, zucchini, broccoli, onions, celery, tofu, chicken, and brown rice with their mongolian sauce. I had tons leftover (I did the one bowl option while the 'skid' and DH did the all you can eat option). So I got to bring my leftovers home. :) They also gave us a sample of their tart frozen yogurt...I loved it but DH wasn't a fan (I ate both of ours lol).

Hopefully the pic I posted works...I'm using a different computer than usual (and IE 6) and it's not showing up in my Compose screen...I added it via HTML code so hopefully it will work. Note: yeah it didn't work and I don't have the patience to deal with it...so I'll post it tomorrow from my other computer.

It's getting hot in here...

Le sigh! At 10:00 last night when I went to bed it was 85 degrees in my living room....this morning when I got up at 5:45am it was still 79. I'm just thankful we have AC in our bedroom so we can sleep at night...I actually moved my work laptop in there yesterday afternoon and worked on documentation from bed. LOL.

Last night I made a delicious dinner though I was breaking a sweat the whole time. I really wanted sweet potato fries but really didn't want to turn on the oven. No SP fries for me. :(

Super Sloppy Joe's
Adapted from Rachael Ray 30 Minute Meals

Ingredients:

• 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil, 1 turn of the pan
• 1 1/4 pounds ground turkey breast
  
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 2 teaspoons to 1 tablespoon steak seasoning blend, such as McCormick brand Montreal Seasoning
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1 small red bell pepper, chopped
• 1/2c chopped carrots
  
• 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
• 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
• 2 cups tomato sauce
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste
• Trader Joe's multi grain hamburger buns

Heat a large skillet over medium high heat. Add oil and meat to the pan. Spread the meat around the pan and begin to break it up.

Add sugar and Montreal Steak seasoning to the skillet and combine. When the meat has browned, add onion and red peppers to the skillet. Reduce heat to medium and cook onions, peppers, red wine vinegar and Worcestershire sauce with meat for 5 minutes.

Add tomato sauce and paste to pan. Stir to combine. Cover and reduce heat to simmer and cook Sloppy Joe mixture 5 minutes longer. Using a large spoon or ice cream scoop, pile sloppy meat onto bun bottoms and cover with bun tops. I personally eat mine open faced so I can fit more meat/veggies.

This recipe is a fave of ours, and it appeared the 'skid' liked it a lot as well (he went back for a 2nd sandwich). The hubs wasn't hungry when he got home from his 2nd job, when it gets hot he doesn't eat as much. I hear a lot of people say that, I am so envious...my appetite is not deterred by anything (except for stomach viruses). I swear I am a bottomless pit.

We also went for froyo before DH had to go to his 2nd job yesterday...which hit the spot.

Last night when I went to bed I asked the 'skid' if he wanted me to wake him up this morning for a run. He said yes...I figured he'd just roll over and go back to sleep at 5:45 when I woke him up but he got up and was ready to run. Here are the stats from our run, I think the ascent/descent numbers are a little high but I could be wrong I suppose. Our first mile was all uphill and we were still waking up. I'm very happy with miles 2 and 3. I woke up with a raging headache this morning (despite drinking a gallon of water yesterday easily), so I wasn't into more than 3 miles.

We came back and made protein shakes, mine was a Green Monster with the following:
1 cup ff cow's milk
1 scoop Optimum Nutrition chocolate whey
1/3 frozen banana
5 strawberries
1 TB Natural Peanut butter
4c baby spinach

The 'skid' had
1 cup Simply Orange Orange Mango juice
1 scoop Optimum Nutrition vanilla whey
2/3 frozen banana
5 strawberries

Definitely hits the spot after a sweaty morning run (it was pretty humid).

I think we'll either hole up in the bedroom with laptops or maybe make a trek to Starbucks for awhile to keep cool. Our house has zero shade and has east/west facing windows so we just get hammered, oh and crappy insulation. I'm bitter, can you tell? Oh well, I guess at least our house is still worth more than the mortgage so I should be thankful for that!

Colossal Meltdown

Okay, I admit it. I had a freaking meltdown this afternoon. I don't know if it's the heat (and lack of AC in my office) getting to me, or the fact that I've been doing email support for work for like a week straight now due to vacations...or some PMS. I think it's likely a combination of all three. To be honest, I don't know what I want to do with my life. I wish I did. I like to think something to do with fitness and nutrition would fit me, but maybe I'd get sick of that too. In an ideal world I'd of course be independently wealthy, travel a lot, and of course sit by a pool with handsome pool boys to fan me with huge leaves. But we all know it isn't an ideal world. So I sucked it up and finished my work just in time to sign off and head to the gym.

I did the following workout (variation of Gina's Summer Shape up)

Warmup: 10 minutes on the treadmill plus 5 minute cooldown (worked out to about 1.7 miles).

-Leg extension machine 1x10 @ 100lbs, 2x10 @ 80lbs
-Calf raises on a step 3x10
-Squat jumps (as many as you can for 1 minute total)
-Lunges (twisting with medicine ball) 3x10 @ 10lb ball
-Jumping jacks (as many as you can for 1 minute)
-Stability ball hamstring curl 3x10
-Wall squats (Hold for 30 seconds with 30 seconds rest in between; 3 times)
-Dolphin plank (hold 30 seconds) then do a side plank for 30 seconds, other side 30 seconds, then back to dolphin plank for 30 seconds) - I did 3 of these.

Cardio: 10 minutes on the treadmill plus 5 minute cooldown (worked out to about 1.7 miles).

After that I went to Costco because I needed spinach (fortunately Costco is right around the corner from the gym).

So I made a new recipe for dinner tonight. It was VERY easy and VERY delicious. I was nervous, I admit....but it was delicious. I made the following recipe (from recipezaar.com) for pulled chicken sandwiches in the Crock Pot.

http://www.recipezaar.com/Pulled-Chicken-Sandwiches-Crock-Pot-242547

Ingredients

• 1 medium onion, thinly sliced or 1/2 large onion, thinly sliced
  Note: When I make this again I will likely use 2 onions, they were the star of the dish.
  
  
• 3 boneless skinless chicken breasts

Sauce

• 1 cup ketchup
• 2 tablespoons cider vinegar
• 2 tablespoons molasses
• 1 tablespoon yellow mustard
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 teaspoon onion powder
  Note: I didn't have any on hand so I omitted this and it was fine.
  
• 1/4 teaspoon cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/2 teaspoon Tabasco sauce
• 1 pinch salt

Directions

1. Cut the onion in half and slice into thin half rings. Line the bottom of the crock pot with the onions.

2. Trim the chicken breasts and place on top of the bed of onions.

3. Mix all of the sauce ingredients together and pour on top of the chicken covering completely.
   

4. Cook for 6 hours on low setting. The sauce thickens and turns into a dark rich brown during cooking. At the same time the onions dissolve into the sauce.

5. When the chicken is falling apart tender, take two forks and shred the chicken.

I actually had mine in a bowl since I didn't feel like a sandwich roll.

I also had a sweet potato (wanted fries but didn't want to turn on oven) and some sauteed zucchini, summer squash, and 'shrooms.

Jada has been busy tonight sleeping in her saucer bed. We call it the Little Grey Bed. For a little grey cat, obviously!
Cooper is lounging on the couch with me.

Make sure to get in your last minute votes for Danica!!!!!! Danica's Nectarine Raspberry Sorbet

Enjoy the Silence!

Tomorrow morning my stepson is arriving in town to stay with us for three weeks. So tonight I enjoy my freedom LOL (kidding, kinda). It's funny but it does change a lot in our household when he's here. The little things really. He's 16 so it's not like he's a little kid, but I still like to make sure he eats while the hubs is at work. LOL. I'm trying to plan dinners for the week, tomorrow night is kind of up in the air but I am thinking about making shrimp and goat cheese risotto. Wednesday night is pulled bbq chicken sammiches (easy because I can dump it all in the crock pot on Weds morning). Thursday I'm thinking about making the Shrimp po' boys in this month's Cooking Light that Jenna was raving about a few weeks ago.

Not much went on this afternoon, just work and then I ran to the library to pick up the new Jennifer Weiner book (I was lucky enough to get on the hold list as soon as they opened it up, so I got a "first" copy).

My bestie is in town this weekend from Spokane so I've got plans with her Friday and Saturday. YAY!

My afternoon snack was the usual...1/2c 0% Fage, sliced strawberries, 1/4c of Kashi Go Lean Crunch - Honey Almond Flax.

Dinner tonight was chopped veggies and chicken in TJ's Thai red curry sauce with quinoa. I chopped up 1 zucchini, 1 red bell pepper, 1 can of bamboo shoots, 1/2 Walla Walla sweet onion, and a bunch of mushrooms. Quick and easy. :)

At the request of the hubs I made Choc. Chip cookies for his co-workers. I did not eat a single one, yet it is the only food I took a pic of today. LOL. I did lick the Kitchen Aid paddle though (hellooooo Salmonella). He already picked up the cookies to take to them, so no chance of eating one.

This recipe is delicious and I like how 'pretty' the cookies come out looking. I use this recipe from allrecipes.net.

Amanda @ Run To The Finish has a great tofu giveaway going on make sure to check it out!

Taking it Easy yo!

Last night the husband and I cooked up a delicious dinner! He manned the grill, we had 3 small steaks we needed to use up (two little pieces of filet mignon and one small top sirloin). I sauteed up some shrimp in a little olive oil and canola margarine with some garlic and cajun seasoning. I also sauteed some zucchini and mushrooms in olive oil and cayenne pepper for some zip. Dinner was delicious. We also went for froyo after dinner, I had my usual a plain yogurt with coconut on top. Sooo good, I just love the texture.

This morning the hubs had to go into work for awhile, I more or less woke up with him at 5:45. I got a solid 8 hours of sleep last night and felt great this morning. I laid in bed and petted Cooper and Jada. I got up and fed them (and myself). I had a slice of spelt flour cinnamon raisin toast with a touch of almond butter and headed out to the gym.

I knew I needed to take it easy on the legs so I started with 12 minutes on the elliptical at a moderate pace.

I then did bits and pieces of Gina's Summer Shape up.
Dumbbell hammer curl 3x10 @ 20lb dbs
reverse plank (hold 30-45 seconds) 3 x held for 45 seconds each

I then did a cardio burst on the tread. I did 4 x of 1:00 @ 6.5mph and 1:00 @ 9.0mph. Then did a 4 minute gradual cooldown.

Triceps dip assist 3x8 @ 24lbs assist.
Straight bar cable bicep curl 3x10 @ 50lbs
standing triceps extension 3x10 @ 20lbs
long arm crunch 3x20

I skipped the rest of the cardio to rest my legs, came home and made a huge Green Monster.

There are a few sweet giveaways going on!

Erica is giving away some Mix1!
Ruby is giving away a copy of Jillian Michaels' book Making The Cut.

I'm about to shower and head out to get my hairs did. Enjoy your Saturday everyone. :)

Happy Friday Eve!

It's a beautiful, warm evening here in the Seattle area. I was so happy I got my run in early, and I'm going to do the same tomorrow (mile repeats at the track) since I know it's going to be warm again tomorrow. Saturday morning I'll hit the gym for my bicep/tricep workout.

I was feeling lazy after work today so I did some basic strength workout. I did 4x10 sets of scorpion push ups. I also did some bicycle crunches.

I'm sitting here watching the KFC World Cup of Softball. I admit, I am super in love with Jennie Finch's hamstrings, I know weird fascination right? I seriously cannot stop staring at them. Sadly I cannot find a good pic of her hamstrings (surprising some dude hasn't put up a picture to gawk at her butt). But this pic shows just how strong her legs are, love 'em seriously.

So for lunch today I had leftover quinoa, chicken, and veggies from last night. Seriously so good, I'm obsessed with this meal.

My snack was 1/2c 0% Fage, 1/3c Kashi Go Lean Crunch - Honey Almond Flax, and some sliced strawberries.

Dinner tonight was a Hugh Jass taco salad. It had: romaine, chicken, corn, black beans, red bell pepper, tomato, guac, and a lot of salsa. I also added a few riceworks red chili chips for crunch. It was delicious!

And now some cute kitty pix!

Cooper stretched out on the floor, you can see the tip of Jada's ear along the bottom, she was trying to get all up in my bidness. :)


I guess what goes around comes around, Cooper stuck his tail in Jada's pic.

Over the Hump

I'm really looking forward to this weekend, I'm getting my hair done Saturday morning and hopefully meeting the lovely Debra for lunch after. :)

I was a busy bee again this afternoon, I like being busy at work though it keeps me out of trouble. Tomorrow will be super busy so I will probably only do an evening post. I have support duties again tomorrow, and have to drive into the office for a meeting in the middle of the day (in Renton, at least it is after the morning rush hour(s) and before the afternoon rush). I'm going to try to wake up early to get in a run BEFORE work hours. LOL. Famous last words (although I'm usually very good about it when I know that is the only time I have during the day).

I had a pre-workout snack before I headed out to the gym (a Kashi TLC trail mix bar and a couple of dried apricots). I'm trying to decide if I should buy a foot pod for my Garmin so that I can use it at the gym on the treadmill, the husband rolled his eyes at me when I suggested it (okay so we were on the phone, but I KNOW he was rolling them). What do y'all think?

My workout was A-MAZING (like I predicted HA).

It was based off of Gina's Summer Shape up Leg day, but I didn't like some of the exercises so I mixed and matched.

Warmup:
10 minutes on the tread (2.25 miles) plus 3 minute gradual cooldown.

Stability ball back extension - 3x15
reverse lunge 3x10 @ 15lb db
captain's chair leg raise 3x15

Treadmill hill run: 9 minutes alternating incline between 1.0 and 6.0 @ 7.0mph. 3 minute gradual cooldown.

booty booster (slide 5) 3x15
dumbbell squat 2x12 @ 22.5lb dbs
dumbbell front squat 2x12 @ 15lb dbs
Stability ball Ab crunch 3x15 done very slow with a pause on both passes (abs were on FIRE)

Cardio: 17 minutes on elliptical, varying incline, resistence between 7 and 12.

I came home and fed Cooper & Jada, took a quick shower, and made dinner. I was so hungry I forgot to take a pic. I cut up 1 whole Walla Walla sweet onion (love), 1.5 red pepper, 1 zucchini, and a bunch of big mushrooms (stuffing size), and 1 chicken boobie. Sauteed in a little extra virgin olive oil (1 turn of the pan). Added 1 cup of marinara and simmered while I cooked up 1/2c quinoa. This was two HUGE servings (and I was HANGRY).

Gonna kick back and rot my brain with some Bejeweled Blitz.

Oh, I almost forgot. Danica @ Danica's Daily has an AMAZING Annie's giveaway, you'd be CRAZY not to enter.

Busy Worker Bee

So I've been meaning to post since before lunch but I've been too busy with work, every time I clear something off my plate something else comes up. Tuesdays are always busy for me at my job, it's the day I have to answer all support queries for our project so it's a lot of email all day long. I was happy that I got my run in at lunch (I pretty much cleared my plate and marked myself away for lunch as fast as possible LOL). I'm happy that I shaved about 5 seconds off my time for the hilly mile. But otherwise my times are almost identical to the times I ran this route at a few weeks ago.


So I was going to post last night after I made the black bean burgers...but I was really just too pissy and wanted to wallow in self pity. First I blended the peppers and onions together, which resulted in an epic failure because I blended too much and it was liquefied. A food processor is really necessary for this. Next time I'd just saute the peppers and onions and call it good. So to try to save my mixture I added ANOTHER can of beans and another scoop of oatmeal. It helped but they were still a little soft.

Well to add insult to injury I was slicing a sweet potato for oven fries, and a couple of baby reds for DH and I freaking cut my finger with the sharp knife. Right around the finger nail bed. BRILLIANT! Stupid thing wouldn't freaking stop bleeding, it didn't hurt but was just an annoyance. So yeah, all I wanted to do was feel sorry for myself. I had my burger on an Orowheat sandwich thin (my first time with one), some TJ's guacamole and tomato. The flavor of the burgers was outstanding (I used cumin, chili powder, and Tapatio hot sauce). I can't wait to make them again and recitfy the issues I had.

I had a delicious Green Monster for breakfast (along with my java). Morning snack was pre-run fuel (Rainier Organic bakery cinnamon raisin toast with TB of Almond butter).

Lunch was a wrap (morningstar farms, hummus, tomato, avocado, cucumber, and spinach), some rice works sweet chili chips, and a bunch of grapes.

I have a cute cat picture but I don't have time to upload it now (have to use my other computer), but I will post it later. :) Work beckons.....the things we do for a paycheck!

Quick Weekend check in

This is going to be a quick one, this weekend has been so busy and I'm trying to clean the house. I thought I'd post really quick while a load of laundry finishes. :)

Yesterday I did my mile repeats (3 miles, plus one super slow mile cooldown). My legs wanted to give up, I ended up taking today off of all physical activity (sans cleaning). I screwed up my timing with the Garmin so my first lap around the track was a total wash time wise. Oh get this, I went to the local high school at like 6:15 yesterday morning to get this workout in since I knew the rest of the day would be busy.

There was a group of guys doing landscaping and no one else using the facilities. Since I have all these random irrational fears, I figured better safe than sorry. As I went to get in my car and leave they were mowing the field in that area so I'm walking with the key to my car (Volkswagen switchblade key) out thinking if they try to kidnap me I'll be all tough and stab them with my key. Yeah, I'm genius.


Went home, showered and got dressed and hit Starbucks with the hubby. I was so happy! They had the venti cold cups there, so I got one. These are so great (and BPA free), I find that I drink a lot more water when I have a straw. LOL. They had about ten there, of course after that we find out they are super hard to find, so we went back this morning to buy the rest and of course they were sold out. C'est la vie!

Quick run down of eats...

Friday dinner: Indian. DH and I split an order of lamb tikka masala and baigan burtha with some roti. We were stuffed but went for froyo. I got a small plain with coconut and white choco chips. DH got a kids size (lol) plain with peanut butter cup pieces. We both ate about three bites and got lids to take it home.

Saturday: pre-workout fuel was a Kashi honey almond flax bar. After workout recovery was a green monster with protein. Lunch was a grilled chicken sandwich and a small salad. Dinner was naughty...we went to the local bar and shared an order of boneless buffalo wings (extra hot) and a chicken fajita wrap.

Today: Worst...Green...Monster.... EVER. Seriously. It was so gross I plugged my nose to drink. Here's the combo to never do...

1 cup cow's milk
4 cups spinach
1/2c frozen blueberries
1/2c frozen raspberries
1/2 frozen banana
1TB almond butter

I think it was the blueberries and raspberries together, but it was freaking gross.

DH and I went to Sports Authority to get some gear, I found some Nike tanks for cheap! Then we did Pho for lunch since it's grey and gross today.

Ok, laundry done. Lates!

Friday Eve!

Yay tomorrow is Friday! I'm excited because I get to go out to dinner with DH (we rarely get to eat together because he works two jobs Monday, Wednesday, Thursday...so I usually make dinner and he re-heats). Everything sounds good, top picks right now are Indian or Chipotle (hey random). Although a new Vietnamese restaurant just opened by our house that I want to try. But DH isn't as into Vietnamese food as I am, so I'll probably try it on my own and if it's good I'll make him go. :)

Afternoon snack was about 1/2c of 0% Fage (last of the tub) and the last of my strawberries. Sadness!

I also took a nap after work, I laid down with DH (before he left) and I fell asleep to the Food network. When he left for 2nd job I went to Costco for spinach (and grapes, mushrooms, Sabra's and more Flat outs...).

I came back and made dinner, I thought I had more Thai red curry sauce (TJ's) than I thought but nope...so our dinner wasn't overly saucy. I was also too hungry to wait for brown rice to cook, so I made quinoa instead. I love that it cooks up in 10 minutes, and honestly I think it keeps me full longer than brown rice (must be the protein).


I just had a little bit of Dreyer's light slow churned Neapolitan ice cream.

And I took a cute pic of Cooper because it's so easy. :)

Wednesday

I'd like to say I was too busy to post today, but really just too lazy. I more or less eat the same stuff every day until dinner time, I'd like to say I mix it up but really I find stuff I like and eat it until I get tired of it. Fortunately since I started blogging I noticed that a lot of people are the same way. I think it is the convenience factor. Anyways...I started my day off with two cups of coffee and then made a sludge monster.

• 1 scoop of ON vanilla whey protein powder
• 1 cup of vanilla unsweetened Almond Breeze
• 4 sliced strawberries
• 4 cups of spinach (the spinach I bought at Costco is going bad FAST this week)
• 1/2c of frozen blueberries
• 1 TB almond butter
• 1/2 frozen banana
• 1.5c crushed ice

My morning snack was 1/2c 0% Fage, 6 sliced strawberries.

LUNCH, I was really craving sweet potato fries but we are out of sweet potatoes (cry). Fortunately I had bought a bag of organic red potatoes for DH so I sliced one of those up and baked it with some cayenne pepper. Pretty good, but still not a sweet potato. I also made a wrap today: 1 morningstar burger, hummus, spinach (gotta use it fast), 1/4 'cado, 1/4 tomato. I even grilled it today. Fancy pants!

Hopefully you all have noticed that the quality of my pictures is improving, I started to use my digital camera instead of my craptastic cell camera. Of course this also contributes to the laziness of my posts, see my desktop computer that I use most of the day has no reader for the memory card...so I'm posting now with my laptop since it has the little reader built in. Yeah, I'm lazy.

I grazed a bit for my afternoon snack, I had 6 cubes of fresh pineapple, a few TJ's chocolatey cats (whatever was left in the tub, like 6). Right as I left for the gym I had a Kashi trail mix bar (no pic).

Here is my workout today. I did Gina's summer shape up day 2.

Warmup: 1 mile @ 8:02 + 3 minutes cooldown.

split squats 1x10 @ 20lb dumbbells. 2x10 @ 15lb dbs.
Pilates side leg lift 1x30 each side
Pike up with the ball 3x10 - these are HARD
Seated calf raise 3x12 @ 100lbs

Cardio: Hill intervals
0-1:00 7.0mph 0.0 incline
1:00-2:00 7mph 3.0 incline
2:00 - 3:00 7.0mph 0.0 incline
3:00 - 4:00 7mph 4.0 incline
4:00 - 5:00 7.0mph 0.0 incline
5:00 - 6:00 6.5mph 6.0 incline
6:00 - 7:00 7.0mph 0.0 incline
7:00 - 8:00 7.0mph 6.0 incline
3 minute cooldown

leg extension 3x10 @ 75lbs (legs were TIIIRED after hills)
stability ball hamstring curl 3x12 (I love doing these, I hold for a few seconds at the top)
Weighted plie with calf raise 3x12 with a 30lb db

Cardio: 14 minutes on the elliptical at varying resistence (7-13) and varying crossramp (between 6-13). 5 minute cooldown and stretch.

After that I made dinner. I was totally wanting a big ol taco salad. I poached a few chix breasts early in the day so that all I had to do was shred and cook in seasonings at dinner time.


In my salad: 1 shredded chix breast, 2 cups of mixed greens, 1/2 tomato, handful of corn, a lot of salsa, a little plain yogurt, a little shredded pepper jack cheese, and 1/2 c of black beans...oh and a handful of riceworks sweet chili chips for a little crunch.

And with this I leave you with some random pics that I found on my camera!

Jada!

Cooper! This picture was actually on the local news, they have a morning "pet walk" forecast, and I submitted this picture for Apple Cup petwalk last year. I still have the clip saved on our DVR, such a proud kitty mommy.

And a pic from our last trip to Maui (February 2009), this is at the Ho'okipa Lookout on the North shore of Maui. This is a big windsurfing spot, though none where there the day we stopped in.

Aloha!

Once Upon a Mattress...

Okay so it was a really odd musical, one I played in the band in high school...but I digress. Our new mattress was delivered today and I caught the tail end of DH's nap this afternoon. It is pretty amazing, I can't wait to sleep tonight!

Onto my eats for today, I made something somewhat new for dinner tonight and it came out pretty well.

Lunch:

Hugh Jass salad (baby spinach, 1/4 red bell pepper, 1/4 cucumber, tomato, 1 MorningStar tomato basil pizza burger, 1 TB Sabra's sun dried tomato hummus)
Crack Wrap (total Sarah lunch apparently) 1 FlatOut wrap, 1TB hummus, 1 slice 2% Swiss cheese

Afternoon snack was kinda all over the place because the guys came to deliver the mattress...1/2c pineapple, 1 serving of riceworks Sweet Chili "chips"

I got the idea of Turkey and Spinach meatballs from Jess' creation.

Estimated recipe, Serves 4

• 1 cup quinoa
• 1.25 lbs ground turkey breast
• 1 package of frozen, chopped spinach
• 1/4 cup of quick oats
  
• 1 jar marinara sauce of choice
• 2 zucchini, quartered and diced
• 1 red pepper, diced
• 1/4 sweet onion VERY fine dice
  
• 1 sweet onion, diced
• 7 mushrooms, sliced
• 10 spicy kalamata olives, diced

Thaw spinach according to directions, make sure to place the spinach in a CLEAN kitchen towel and wring all of the water out, you want it dry. Combine with turkey, oats, finely diced onion, and seasoning (I used crushed red pepper, oregano, poultry seasoning, and some black pepper). I was able to form 22 golf ball sized meatballs out of this.

Sautee zucchini, red pepper, onion, and mushrooms in a little bit of extra virgin olive oil (1 turn of pan). Set aside.

I put half the meatballs in my large skillet and browned them in two batches, I'm ADHD in the kitchen and get side tracked easily, so working in smaller groups is good so I don't burn them. Once the second set of balls (lol, I'm also 13) is browned put all of the veggies back in and the rest of the balls. Top with the marinara sauce of choice (I used a roasted tomato and garlic one). Simmer.

At this point I start the quinoa, I think the time it takes to cook a batch of quinoa is perfect to simmer the 'balls in the sauce and veggies. Since I wanted this to also feed us tomorrow night (Tuesdays are DH softball night) I only made quinoa to serve two (I'll make the quinoa for tomorrow night when it's time to eat). Place 1/2c quinoa in a pot with 1 cup of water (or broth), bring to boil and cover. It usually takes 10 minutes for my quinoa to be done (you know it's done when the liquid is done and the quinoa gets that 'ring' around the outside).

Place 1/2 quinoa on a plate, 5 meatballs and some sauce/veggies on top, and some of the olives. I also topped mine with shredded cheese, since there is very little fat in this meal I knew it needed some more.

And a Cooper & Jada pic to end the evening....I think it is funny that her tail is wrapped around his shoulders. Please ignore the ugly futon they are sleeping on...it needs to be burned.


Peace out!

It's Getting Hot in Here...

Seriously, it is 76 freaking degrees IN my house right now. Down from 80 earlier. Thankfully we have a portable A/C unit for our bedroom because it is probably 10 degrees hotter up there. Yay for crappy insulation.

Today's eating was pretty sporadic. DH and I went to Sushi Zen for lunch, I adore their lunch bento boxes. For $7.95 you get salad, miso soup, and a bento that includes your choice of two items (I got salmon teriyaki and spicy tuna roll), 3 pieces of California roll, and the appetizer which is some scallop thing. Being the piglet I am I inhaled my whole bento (except for some of the rice that went with the 'yaki) and stole two pieces of spicy tuna roll from DH because he was full. Oink, Oink.

We wandered over to the mall because they have A/C, went to the Shane Co. to get my rings and earrings cleaned and inspected....I ended up getting DH a chain that he liked since he complained that I always get the jewelry. I'll try to take a pic tomorrow, it looks good on him. Wandered over to Old Navy to get some wife beaters tank tops for me, and grabbed a pair of the capris they had on special for $9 this week. They rock, I don't like capris that are more like cropped pants. These have ties so I can tie them off right below the knee, just like I like!

After that we went to TCBY, where I was super disappointed. They do not have coconut topping, wtf? Also their plain yogurt is not as good as this little local place (The Inside Scoop in Mill Creek for any locals that read this blog). I should have waited another 30 minutes because we went right by that place, bummer. We also went to Sleep Country to look at mattresses. I so wish we didn't have to buy a new one, but somehow this one made it 11 years and really needs to be replaced (my right shoulder has been bugging me for months now). They are having a GREAT deal through the weekend so I think we will go back and buy one...it's $250 cheaper than normal and includes free delivery and removal of the old one.

After that we came home, DH went to go help his brother move furniture. Now for the kicker, when I was 11 I was in love with The Babysitters Club books....I did not know until last night that they actually made a movie. It was on HBO at like 11:30 so I set the DVR to record....and I indulged myself in some BSC goodness while DH was gone. LOL. You can all laugh WITH me, instead of AT me.

DH got thai on the way home, I got the Spicy basil chicken and DH got the chicken pad see ew. We shared of course. :)

I baked a few treats for tomorrow...from Tina's recipe vault @ Carrots 'n Cake I made coconut macaroons and her peanuty butter bars. I of course taste tested each (as did DH), very good and super easy. I spent one hour from start to finish including baking time for BOTH batches of treats.

I think I'm going to go over to the high school near our house early tomorrow morning and run mile repeats, it's really a beautiful school with an amazing view of the Snohomish River valley. If I seriously thought I could be up at sunrise (not bloody likely), it is an amazing sight. Ok I'm off to watch some tv!

Hooray for the Weekend!

First and foremost there are some great giveaways going on right now!

Elizabeth over at Our Life Is Delicious is celebrating her first full month of blogging with a tea giveaway from Portsmouth Tea!

Justine @ The Confessions of a SAHM is giving away some breakfast foods along with AMAZING Coconut Buttah, I must get some of my own. :)

Low is giving away some amazing beauty products!

Otherwise a mostly uneventful night, I had an afternoon snack (1/2 0% Fage, 1/2 Kashi TLC Honey Almond Flax bar crushed, sliced strawberries, and a few PB Puffins).

After I finished work I did a quick grocery run, I decided on taco salad for dinner since I didn't feel like heating up the oven. I poached a couple of chicken breasts and shredded the cooked chicken. On top of some romaine with tomato, corn, jalapeno, black beans, and a little pepperjack cheese. Plus plain yogurt and some Tapatio.

I never did get that nap this afternoon, so I think I'll call it an early night. I have a gym trip on the agenda for tomorrow, but after that I have no idea what I'm going to do. I think some froyo is definitely in order. :)

One more day...

This afternoon was largely unproductive at work thanks to a meeting. I ate the last of the monster cantaloupe during my meeting (probably about 1/3 of a cup). Then grabbed another Lemon Zest Luna bar to eat on the drive to the gym. Here was my workout:

Warm-up: 1 mile @ 7:52 and then a gradual 4 minute cool down.

I did a variation of Gina's Summer Shape up.

Limb raises 3x15 (each side)
Walking lunges 3x10 (each side)
captain's chair leg raise 3x15

Cardio Burst: 8 minutes of interval hill work @ 7mph.
1:00 @ 1%
2:00 @ 3%
3:00 @ 1%
4:00 @ 4%
5:00 @ 1%
6:00 @ 5%
7:00 @ 1%
8:00 @ 6%

booty booster (slide 5) 3x15
Wall squat w/ stability ball 3x15
Plie squat w/ db 3x15 @ 35lb
single-leg stretch

Cardio: I decided to give my legs a little rest and did 20 minutes on the elliptical on the glute program. Alternated resistance between 7 and 12. Cooled down for 5 minutes.

Came home and made my current fave dinner...so good! Chicken & veggies in Marinara sauce over quinoa.

Cut up the following: 1 zucchini, 3/4 red bell pepper, 8 mushrooms, 1/2 Walla Walla sweet onion. Diced up the chicken breasts.

Sauteed the veggies in a little extra virgin olive oil (1 turn of the pan). Once they were to my liking I set them aside and cooked the diced chicken. When chicken is cooked through added the veggies back in and 1 cup of Classico fire roasted tomato and garlic marinara. Sprinkled a little crushed red pepper for some spice, cover and simmer.

In another pot I put 1/2c dry quinoa and 1 cup water. Bring to boil and then cover and simmer for another 12 minutes.

Mix the quinoa with the sauce and go to town. I ate a ton...and loved every minute of it. I don't know if the hubs will be able to eat all of his, as this is all a little over 2 servings imho.

Made sure to clean the kitchen up, anyone that knows my husband knows he's a neat freak, ESPECIALLY about the kitchen. He was a Chef for many years and hates a messy kitchen, so I always make sure to spray everything down really well with 409 and clean up. I also made sure to pack his lunch for tomorrow, and get the coffee set.

I just sat down and enjoyed a little Dreyer's Light Neapolitan ice cream (maybe 2/3 cup?). Now I'm cut off until after my blood work tomorrow. I hate fasting, but I have a Luna bar to take with me so I can eat ASAP after they are done. LOL.

Uneventful evening

I was so busy this afternoon with work that I ended up working overtime before I knew it. Crazy day. I'm going to go all techno-geek for a second, the way our application is setup we have installations on both Windows and Unix. When I started really getting into computers in 1996 I was so into Unix and continued that through college. After I was laid off from a dotcom in 2001 I went into a few companies that ran strictly Windows. So my Unix skills are rusty...at best. Today I had to setup something on our Unix server. Theoretically this task takes me about 30 minutes on Windows, yeah it took me close to two hours on Unix. It really humbled me, but I figured it out on my own and hopefully next time it will only take me one hour (baby steps, I will track my horrible work stats like I track my runs).

Anyways, I didn't have time to shower after my lunch run (yuck) so I showered and got ready to leave the house for the hubs softball game and went to that to enjoy some time in the sun. I had a quick snack before we left of 1/2 cup of 0% Fage, 1/2 Kashi TLC trail mix bar crushed, 6 sliced strawberries.

When we got home I made a quick dinner since it was after 8pm. I made a quesadilla of two small, soft taco sized tortillas 1 shredded chix breast with taco seasoning, and some pepperjack cheese. I was lacking on the veggies but too lazy to really care tonight. Last week we bought this random big bottle of Mango Weizen. It is by the Trade Route Brewing Co of Seattle. I can't say the mango flavor is subtle as the website implies but it's weird, when I took a first sip I was almost grossed out but after a few seconds a pleasant after taste kicked in and I was like hmmm. Can't say I'd buy it again but it's fun to try new beers sometimes.

Ok I'm off to watch the new episode of Tori & Dean and cuddle with Cooper. Lates!