Happy Sunday! Today was a pretty lazy day. My husband was up all night with restless legs & a couple nosebleeds (lovely) so he was going to bed as I was getting up.
I started the day off with some Kashi 7-grain waffles topped with maple syrup, a little bowl of blackberries and a cup of coffee with Pumpkin Spice creamer. I don’t really like creamer in my coffee except for some of the seasonal flavors that are only around this time of year.
That was follwed by more coffee (sans creamer), coupon clipping and catching up on some reading. This picture sums up the morning pretty well:
I saw this post over at The Fitnessista earlier this week and re-discovered an old favorite food. I’d forgotten all about my love for tomatoes and cheese topped with balsamic vinegar. In my version today I used fresh mozzarella instead of goat cheese and added some of the leftover polenta from yesterday. Delish! Pardon the wimpy tomatoes. It’s winter in Ohio and the produce selection is quite lacking.
After lunch it was back to reading for a while and then watching part of a Real Housewives of Orange County marathon. That show (along with the NY & Atlanta seasons) is my guilty pleasure. I know I shouldn’t watch, but I can’t help myself. 
I started to get a little stir crazy midway through the second episode. We’ve been inside a lot the last few days because of the cold so I really wanted to do something. I decided to make the easiest muffins in the entire world: Pumpkin Spice muffins.
I can’t say that they’re pretty. They are quick, simple to make, require few ingredients, very filling and fairly healthy.
- 15 oz. can pumpkin (NOT pumpkin pie filling)
- 1 box cake mix of your choice (I used spice this time, but I’ve done yellow cake before and it’s good, too.
Stir both ingredients together in a large bowl until thoroughly combined. It is very thick and sticky so use your muscles! Divide the mixture into two 12-cup muffin tins sprayed with non-stick spray or lined with cupcake liners. Bake according to the directions for the cake mix. Makes 24 muffins.
…and then I ate one. It was a perfect pre-workout snack. Today was the beginning of my last week of the 12-week plan from the book Buff Brides by Sue Fleming. I did the 24-week workout plan from this same book before my wedding and it really toned me up. The workouts aren’t especially difficult, but they’re easy to step up a notch by adding more weight or doing more reps. I also add cardio bursts between each set for extra burn. Roughly 45 minutes today = 363 calories.
Afterwards we headed home and made some pizzas using pre-made crusts. I had two slices of the taco veggie pizza topped with shredded romaine lettuce and reduced fat sour cream. This meal doesn’t top the “healthy” scale, but it wasn’t horrible and tasted really good.
We had an in-home vaccuum sales demonstration tonight so we hurried to shower and straighten up the kitchen. The sweeper was amazing. It doubles as an air purifier and uses water to clean rather than a bag or canister. It also does about a bajillion and one other cool things. Being the neat freak that I am I was in complete awe and ready to write the check…until we saw the price.: $1,800. Oh, and that’s after a $300 discount if we bought within a week of the demonstration and a $200 discount because we don’t have any carpeting and thus don’t need the special attachment for that. Maybe someday, but not today.
Now we’re watching football (GO STEELERS!!!) and praying that the guy from Baltimore team is okay. That was a rough hit.
I hope everyone had a lovely weekend and those who go back to work tomorrow are well rested. I’m off for the holiday and looking forward to some cooking, an extended work out session, Australian Open tennis and more reading.
