Layered Up

I didn’t do it on purpose, but layers were a common theme in yesterday’s eats.

When I was cleaning out pantry the other day, I found an upopened box of oatmeal I forgot I’d purchased. I go in spells with oatmeal. I’ll eat it almost every day for breakfast, get burnt out, take a break from it for a while, then rediscover my love for its wholesome goodness. The last few months have been one of those vacations from oatmeal, but finding it made me go “Mmmmmm.”

I didn’t just want a boring bowl of oats with toppings. My solution? Oatmeal parfait!

It’s really just layers of blackberries, vanilla Oikos, and oatmeal with a peanut butter stir-in. Eating it this way made it feel almost more like dessert than breakfast. Food should be fun, right?

There really is coffee in the mug. It was not layered. It was just coffee. And it was delicious.

 

Lunch was a little something I like to call a garbage salad. Basically, I just scour my fridge for leftovers and make a salad out of them. It cuts down on the food waste and the creations tend to be pretty delicious. Plus, it’s fun to be creative! I feel like a mad scientist.

This one turned out to be a hybrid of buffalo chicken salad and taco salad.

~2 handfulls mixed greens
~3 oz. Italian dressing marinated chicken breast (leftover from meal swap), tossed in buffalo wing sauce
~chopped tomato & sliced green onions (leftover from Sunday’s supper salad bar)
~shredded mozzarella cheese
~3 Tbsp. reduced-fat sour cream, mixed with powdered ranch dressing mix

Very, very yum.

Dinner was not made in layers because there was no dinner. Monday nights are fasting nights for my husband and I. This is NOT weight loss related. It’s something we’re doing once a week as part of our Bible study. I’ve started to enjoy the weekly experience and am beginning to truly connect with the meaning behind the practice.

How do you make your food fun?

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Super Husband Sunday

Congratulations to the Green Bay Packers! I’m not a die-hard fan of either team, but I am a huge fan of football in general. Besides, it’s the Super Bowl! It was a great game. The National Anthem, however, was not. That part made me sad. And, I think I was the only person in the entire universe who DIDN’T hate the halftime show. I did have to ask my husband who Slash is which brought much ridicule and jeering from my Facebook friends. I did rock out to Usher and Black Eyed Peas, even busting out some of my Zumba moves.

I was a little disappointed in the commercials. They were chuckle-worthy, but nothing made me really laugh. A kid who went to my high school starred in the Safe Auto commercial where he gets kicked repeatedly. I wouldn’t tell him this, but I didn’t find it all that funny or original. Still, it was cool to see someone I know during the Super Bowl.

My husband earned the title of MVP in our house yesterday. After church, he served up some mazing veggie omelettes for brunch. One egg, two egg whites. The innards were mushrooms with a blend of feta and cheddar cheeses. To top it off, he added fresh tomatoes, green onions and a dollop of Greek yogurt seasoned with ranch dressing mix.

As if that weren’t enough, he made dinner too! This man makes an amazing burger. He never adds the same seasonings twice, but they always turn out super juicy and delicious. I wasn’t feeling a bun so I cut mine up and had a cheeseburger salad.

That would be mixed greens, chopped tomatoes, cheddar cheese, my diced-up burger and plenty of dill pickles! Nom nom nom. For dressing, I mixed up a honey mustard vinaigrette. My aunt recently sent the honey mustard as a gift and it’s heavenly. Whisked with a little red wine vinegar, it was the perfect condiment to go along with my cheeseburger theme.

My only contribution to the festive food was twice-baked redskin potatoes. I stuck them in the oven about an hour before we’d planned to eat dinner. When I went to retrieve them, I realized I hadn’t turned the oven knob all the way to “Bake” so the oven never heated up. I tossed them in the microwave for a few minutes, mixed up the filling and popped them in an oven I made sure was hot that time. We ended up eating them as finger food at halftime so all was not lost. I just felt pretty stupid.

What’s your favorite Super Bowl food?

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Sculpting It Old School

Before there was P90X…there was Power 90! Same Tony. Same cheesy comments. Similar great workout concepts, just not quite as elaborate. Level 1-2 has 3 workouts contained on 1 DVD: Sculpt (strength), Sweat (cardio) and Ab Ripper 100 (10 reps of 10 ab exercises).

I’ve owned this DVD forever. It was the first thing I bought when I decided to get serious about my health. I remembered my college roomie doing the program for a few months when we lived in the dorm and, since I knew a big fat ZERO about exercise, it seemed like as good a place as any to start. I did it 6 days a week for quite some time before expanding my horizons to include the gym and other DVDs. Even though I stopped following the program exclusively, it’s still a DVD I pull into my rotation on a regular basis.

Yesterday I saw a post from MizFitOnline about training biceps, triceps and shoulders. I’ve been so focused on my running lately that I haven’t been as serious as I should about my upper body. Her post inspired me to dedicate some more time to that area. I decided to do the Sculpt circuit of Power 90. While it does have some lower body stuff, it’s much more focused on upper body. It felt really good. By that, I mean I was SORE! It was a good pain, though.

In case you’re wondering you can still purchase the program from BeachBody although it now comes as a package with all levels (1-2 as well as 3-4) and each workout looks like it’s on a separate DVD. I have no idea if the workout is exactly the same, but I’m guessing that it’s at least similar.

Post-workout lunch was a junk salad. I just grabbed a bunch of junk outta the fridge and threw it on a salad.

~organic mixed greens
~leftover Mother’s Day chicken, sliced
~sprouts
~Sabra spinach & artichoke hummus
~handfull of cauliflower

Dinner was a request from my husband, Bacon, Ranch & Chicken Mac & Cheese from Cooking Light. I’ve featured before. This time I substituted 2% shredded Mexican blend cheese in the sauce (instead of the Italian cheese blend) and 2% mild cheddar on top (instead of the colby jack). It tasted a little different, but was equally as yummy.

Do you have a DVD/workout/class that you’ve done for years? What makes you keep it in your rotation?

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Rebounding

I don’t mean this kind of rebound:

While we’re on the subject…congrats to the Duke men for winning the NCAA championship last night! I’m not a big basketball fan, but I do tune in during March Madness.

I’m really talking about rebounding after a disappointing workout.

I had a bad run last Friday. I’m talking HOR-RI-BLE! I set out to run the same route I’ve been doing for a week or so, but just past halfway I was complete toast. My legs felt like Jell-O, my feet felt heavy and I couldn’t slow my breathing no matter how hard I tried. When I looked down, my heart rate monitor was reading a little over 200. Being in the 190s when I run isn’t uncommon for me, but I’ve never seen a number that high. I decided to walk a little to calm my body down. When I tried to pick up a run again, I immediately felt exhausted. I walked the rest of my running route, then doubled back around to cool down. The whole time I was mentally beating myself up and questioning my ability. “Why couldn’t I run that? I did it just fine two days ago.” This one subpar run had me doubting whether I could ever really get back to where I was pre-baby.

One thing that kept me from completely berating myself was knowing that I’m not alone. Just last week, Caitlin posted about the first race in which she bonked. The week before, Allison posted about her less-than-stellar marathon training run. Granted, these ladies are running a LOT further than I am, but I admire both of them (through their blogs) and asked myself WWHLBD (What Would Healthy Living Bloggers Do)? Did they quit running altogether? Nope. Did they use that fluke run to define themselves as runners? Nope. They’re both still running…and kicking booty!

I very easily could have slipped into a funk over my lackluster run. Instead, I started my “rebound” as soon as I got home.

• Positive Self-Talk: We are our own toughest critics, but we can also be our own biggest cheerleader. When I walked in the front door, I vowed to only say positive things to myself about the workout. I applauded myself for getting out the door and exercising in the first place. I mentally thanked myself for getting outside and enjoying the beautiful weather. I commended myself for how far I’ve come in the 7 weeks I’ve been back to running. “Remember when you couldn’t even run for a minute?”
• Retrace Your Steps: While I was showering after my workout, I tried to think of anything I’d done differently that day that could have had an impact on my workout. The four things I identified were 1) not drinking enough water throughout the day; 2) eating lunch about 30 minutes before running instead of my usual snack before, lunch after schedule; 3) running in the late afternoon rather than late morning; 4) first day of 80+ degree temperatures rather than the 60ish I’ve been running in lately. I didn’t set out to find excuses for hitting my wall. Identifying these things just gave me an awareness of how my body might react to certain variables.
• Look forward, not back: A funny thing happened when I started being nicer to myself. I started getting excited about going on my next run. The “bad” run was over. Done with. Finito. Dwelling on it would accomplish nothing. I laid out a complete workout outfit on top of my dresser (including my running shoes) for the next time. Because there would be a next time. I was NOT giving up.

That “next time” came yesterday and guess what happened? I rocked it! Not only did I run the whole route, I actually added an extra .25 miles or so to the end. I took hydration and eating schedule into consideration and ran at my more usual time of day. Those might have helped, but I know that setting out with a positive attitude was the most crucial key to my success.

Post-run lunch was a humdinger of a salad:

~organic greens
~broccoli
~cherry tomatoes
~1/4 cup Sabra Hummus with Roasted Pine Nuts
~1oz. President fat free feta cheese

The star of dinner was the spinach & asiago chicken sausage I reviewed yesterday. I cut the three leftover links into rounds, then cut those in half (to form crescents) and reheated them in a skillet with a little extra virgin olive oil. + a jar of spaghetti sauce + a handful of mushrooms = delicious spaghetti sauce! My husband raved about it’s deliciousness.

(Sorry for the blurry pics. My camera battery is going.)

Have you ever had a disappointing workout or race? What did you do to rebound?

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Project Run-way

First and foremost, don’t forget to head over to Erin’s blog today for the final hours of her Auction & Bake Sale to benefit cancer research. A little birdie told me that she’s getting extremely close to the milestone mark of $1,000 raised. How exciting would it be to meet and even exceed? Head on over and get your bids e-mailed to her soon. Bidding ends TODAY at 5pm EST.

My next 5k is coming up in about a week and half (yay!) and I’m already thinking about what to wear. The problem is that my growing belly isn’t very compatible with the running gear that I already own. Shirts are fine, but shorts are becoming a struggle. The maternity stores and departments only seem to carry yoga pants which are fine for strength training or (duh) yoga, but they’re less than ideal in this situation. I tried on a pair of running shorts in a larger size at Target yesterday. They fit in the front, but the back was droopy and slid off my waist when I moved around.

So, now I’m on a mission to find some maternity workout gear suitable for running and longer walks outdoors this summer. I’m honestly surprised that this is uncharted territory. My ideal would be shorts or not-too-long capris made of a wicking material. Bonus would be if I could find something with a pocket large enough to hold my camera so I could always be ready for that perfect, bloggable moment. This is when I wish l was one of those creative minds on Project Runway and could just sketch what I want, buy the fabric and sew away while Tim Gunn critiqued over my shoulder and told me to “make it work.”

I didn’t realize how little I ate yesterday until I uploaded the pictures this morning. Trust me, though. The calorie content was plenty sufficient. Not my most outstanding day.

Before leaving the house, I made a yummy egg white & turkey bacon sandwich on a whole wheat English muffin…and then I left it sitting on the kitchen counter! I was so mad. I didn’t have any breakfast goodies in my desk so I was left to hit the deli across the street for coffee and a homemade banana nut muffin.

I felt slow and weak during my workout at work session on my lunch hour. I’m blaming it on the sugar overload from my impromptu breakfast choice.

I was excited to try my new soup, Amy’s Organics Curried Lentil, for lunch. I really wish I could tell you that I loved this. Truth is, it was pretty disappointing. It was almost flavorless and I didn’t really like the consistency. It didn’t look any more appetizing in person than it does in the picture, either. I ended up only eating about half of the bowl which was probably a good thing because the calories and sodium content weren’t the greatest. I’d try more soups from this brand. Just not this one. The one yummy thing about my lunch was the big glass of cold water with a packet of True Lemon. Love that stuff!

One thing I will give the soup is that it was filling. I didn’t need an afternoon snack. I made it comfortably through until dinner which was one of our classic favorites, chicken baseballs. Check out the previous post for photos and the recipe. The beauty of these is that they’re a protein and a starch. Our only side dish was salad.

The rest of the evening was spent curled up on the couch with my pooch and my husband while watching The Biggest Loser. We’re exciting, aren’t we? We hit the hay pretty early so that he could make his 3:00 alarm clock and I could get up early to workout.

By the way, HAPPY EARTH DAY!

What are you doing today (or every day) to preserve Mother Earth?

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CHECK IT OUT: Bidding for Erin’s Bake Sale & Auction has begun! All money raised is going to the fight against cancer through our mutual friend Beth’s Jimmy Fund Walk. There are sooo many yummy & fun items on the list so be sure to view the items and place your bids!

Every single time I see the word auction, I can’t help but sing (in my head) the John Michael Montgomery song, Sold! Country fans? Anyone? No?

Yesterday started off pretty sad for me. I got word that the OB I’ve been seeing for all things baby passed away unexpectedly over the weekend. It appears to have been a heart attack. I was so saddened by the news and my glum feelings matched the grey, cloudy, rainy weather outside. Dr. K was truly a remarkable man. Not only was he an MD, but he was also a practicing Catholic priest. As if that wasn’t enough, he did tons of charity work. He touched the lives of many and will be missed greatly.

I was in a hurry to pack lunch and snacks for yesterday which resulted in very unexciting eats. Breakfast (not pictured) was a toasted whole wheat English muffin with peanut butter and Amish blueberry jam.

My morning snack was a Chocolate Brownie Clif Z bar. I picked up a few different flavors of these at the grocery last weekend. They’re designed more for kids than adults, but I like that they’re low in calories, still very filling and quite delicious. They taste more like a chewy cookie than a traditional bar and this one was VERY chocolaty.

Lunch was another English muffin topped with a Boca Chik’n patty, Laughing Cow Light Swiss and yellow mustard. I’ve been through 2 boxes of these Bocas in just a little over 2 weeks. Can we say addicted? On the side I had a 100 calorie bag of Smartfood White Cheddar popcorn. My grandma used to stock this in her house and it was a favorite snack of all us grandkids. Brings back some fun memories.

My afternoon snack was an entire package of blackberries. I brought it thinking I’d eat half and save the other half for another day. They were perfectly sweet and tasted so good that I just couldn’t stop myself.

Dinner was hijacked from my parents’ house. Mom made way too much goulash and said there was no way she and my dad could eat it all. She sent a generous container home with me which made dinner quick and easy at our house. Mom’s version is made with macaroni noodles, Classico Four Cheese pasta sauce, sliced mushrooms and grated Vermont cheddar cheese. We topped ours with grated Parmesan cheese from the Amish store and paired it with fresh-from-the-oven French bread

Salad on the side as the veggie.

Group photo!

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Weekend Recap

It was a crazy weekend and a dead-camera-battery Monday so I’m just getting back into the swing of things. Here’s a quick recap.

Friday: Husband was in an accident on his way to work. Dark+fog+stopped garbage truck=bad news. Everyone was fine save his sore shoulder/back and bruised ego. His company sent him home early from work to rest so I left at lunchtime to meet him at home.

Saturday: Went to the outlet mall near our house with my husband, cousin-in-law and his wife. They’re expecting in July and found some major baby bargains. Despite all of the adorable baby things, I only bought one pair of maternity jeans. I haven’t purchased even a single baby item yet because I know once I start, I won’t stop.

Sunday: Dinner theater with my mom, my friend and her mom. I had every intention of taking pictures, but everything on the buffet was greasy and gross looking. I did eat my body weight in their signature cheese bread!

Monday: Drive. Work. Drive. Sleep.

Which brings us to yesterday’s eats:

I was craving something really carby for breakfast so I headed to the cafe across the street from my office. I had a toasted blueberry bagel with a little real butter (Are you proud, Erin?) and cream cheese. That’s Twinings English Breakfast tea on the side. Yes, I realize this is not the healthiest breakfast, but man was it good!

I switched back to healthy mode for my morning snack, a pear. I think it looks a little like a flower when it’s still in the slicer like that. Pretty & delicious!

It was measurement day for our workout at work group. I wasn’t sure what to expect, but it wasn’t nearly as bad as I though. Since the middle of February, I’ve gained 2″ in my waist, an inch in my thigh and half an inch in my bicep. The place that really shocked me was my hips. I feel like that’s where I’m getting bigger (thanks to baby), but it actually stayed the same. Since I’m in my 2nd trimester now, doctor says I shouldn’t do anything flat on my back, exercise included. There were just 2 ab stations that I had to modify yesterday.

***PRODUCT REVIEW***

The fabulous Kristin of Stoneyfield Farm was nice enough to send me some Oikos Organic Greek Yogurt samples since I was having trouble finding it in the grocery stores near me. Yesterday I broke out the honey flavor and, lemme tell ya, I was impressed. The texture was really creamy and the flavor was rich. I loved that it was both fat free and organic. The 5.3 oz. containers are the perfect single serving size and contain just 120 calories.

I topped mine with a little Bear Naked Fit granola and a couple dried dates. I didn’t realize that the honey was in the bottom until after the picture so you can’t really tell what it looks like all stirred up.

My verdict: I’ve never tried 0% Fage (can’t find it at my grocery either), but I liked the Oikos a lot better than that brand’s 2%. There was just the right amount of sweetness from the honey without making it overly sweetened like lots of other popular brands. I stayed full the entire afternoon and through my commute (from about 2PM – 7PM) without needing to eat again which is quite impressive. I’m going to speak with the manager at my usual grocery this weekend to ask them if they’ll pretty please start stocking this ASAP.

After work, I headed to my parents’ house to pick up the pooch. The yummy smell hit me as soon as I walked in the door: soup beans with ham. I know a bunch of you just wrinkled your noses and said “ewww” which is how my husband feels about them. These were a staple in my house growing up and we had them at least once every other week because my mom LOVES them. I hated them until a year or so ago and now I miss having them regularly.

My mom hooked me up with a container to take home since she always makes a huge pot. They came in real handy when I got home. My husband wasn’t at all hungry and I didn’t feel like making anything elaborate. My parents eat them with cornbread. I prefer mine served over brown rice:

With a lovely, leafy salad:

Dinner is served!

Our kitchen table is becoming a catch-all because the mail basket is overflowing so, after I ate, it was time for sorting and filing. I’ve come to the conclusion that I HATE JUNK MAIL. It’s wasteful of natural resources and causes annoying clutter. I know about Catalog Choice to opt out of receiving catalogs, but if anyone knows of a good way to make the other stuff stop I’d greatly appreciate your tips.

Are there any foods that you hated/wouldn’t eat as a kid and now love?

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Food Frustration

Yesterday was a frustrating day for a few reasons. Luckily, it ended on a great note.

I splurged all of my caffeine allowance for coffee day and ordered a large frozen skim latte with sugar free hazelnut syrup and a scoop of protein powder. I drank it pretty fast and definitely felt the buzz.

Breakfast was where things got frustrating. Well, it actually started on Tuesday and just continued into my Wednesday. For some reason, my coworkers all suddenly feel the need to critique my food and tell me how gross it is. Tuesday, it was tofu. No fewer than 6 people stopped me on my way from the microwave to my desk. The conversations all went something like this:

Coworker: What IS that?
Me: Tofu. Would you like to try a piece?
Coworker: Gross! Yuck! Disgusting! Nasty! Gag! How in the world can you eat that?
Me: Have you ever tried tofu?
Coworker: No! I can’t even imagine. It’s awful.
Me: *walking away*

Very few people in my office have any concept of healthy eating or exercise nor do they care about either. Most of them are female and older than me by at least 20 years or so. Several of them have health issues which could benefit greatly from a more healthy lifestyle.

Save three of four people, my coworkers aren’t the easiest to get along with and they tend to be extremely nosy. I try to be pleasant, respectful and cordial at all times. While I do often notice their unhealthy food choices, it’s none of my business and not for me to judge. I can’t imagine walking up to someone and telling them how disgusting the food they were about to eat looked. I just wish they would show me the same courtesy.

…which brings us to breakfast yesterday morning. I made up a packet of Quaker Simple Harvest Vanilla, Honey, Almond oatmeal. Then, I stirred in a couple handfuls of blueberries and some unsweetened coconut.

One coworker was pouring herself a cup of coffee while I was mixing this up in the work kitchen. She turned her nose up and asked, in a disgusted voice, “What IS that?” I tried not to sound annoyed and replied back simply. “It’s oatmeal.” “Oh,” she said. “That’s not what it LOOKS like.” She then huffed away, mumbling under her breath, and proceeded to tell other people how gross my food was. Of course, they all had to come over, check it out and share their opinions. My boss said it looked like “horse food.”

Vent over. Just needed to get that out there.

Around noon the IT people came down to swap out my hard drive. This left me computerless until about 3:00. While it was down I took a brisk 15 minute walk to soak up the sunshine, filed, wiped my desk down, wrote my to-do list and tidied up my office.

Somewhere in there I ate my lunch of leftover buffalo chicken, a Laughing Cow Light Swiss cheese wedge and lettuce all on a La Tortilla Factory EVOO Tomato & Basil Softwrap.

I also had a snack. Kashi TLC Roasted Vegetable crackers and another Laughing Cow Light Swiss cheese wedge.

Shortly before I left, I had a juicy plum to hold me over until dinner.

Dinner was a rare weeknight meal out. I met a friend at Dakota’s Roadhouse. We were so wrapped up in conversation that I forgot to photograph my house salad with bacon tomato dressing and a baked potato with cheese, bacon & sour cream. We were all geared up for dessert, but they only had 3 choices and nothing looked good.

I got home a little before 9, watched Criminal Minds with my husband and headed to bed. That show always creeps me out and then I have trouble sleeping.

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A Clever Kitchen Tip

I got an e-mail yesterday that I have to share. I get so frustrated when I’m trying to tear off a sheet of aluminum foil or plastic wrap because the roll always seems to fall out. Apparently, there’s a really easy fix for this. I was skeptical after reading it because the solution seemed so obvious. I checked as soon as I got home to see if it was true. Sure enough, ….

Yes. There are “push here” tabs on either end of the boxes. When you press them in, little tabs are inserted into the hollow part of the roll so it can’t escape from the box.

I checked every box I had that contained a roll. My aluminum foil, plastic wrap and and Press ‘n’ Seal boxes also had the tabs. The parchment paper and wax paper boxes did not.

Please tell me I’m not the last one to figure this out. I’m guessing not since my friend past the e-mail along, but it could just be because she knows I’m slow sometimes. lol

On to yesterday’s eats!

I had a disagreeable stomach most of the morning so I pieced on some of my pre-prepped strawberries when I got to work, then stuck with just water and hot Lipton Red Rose tea for the rest of the morning.

Around 10, I had a Babybel Light cheese wheel and some Gliding Calm tofu dipped in yellow mustard.

That kept me full for quite a while. I was working away when I felt my tummy growl and decided to feed it with some sliced peaches.

I had to run to the Green Machine at lunch to get “allowance” money for my husband and I. The bank branch closest to my work is conveniently located inside a grocery store so I hit up the salad bar for lunch. My container looked like this:

The largest compartment was the salad made up of:

• spinach
• yellow, red & orange peppers
• cucumbers
• diced tomatoes
• bacon crumbles
• chopped hard boiled egg
• black olives
• mozzarella cheese
• chickpeas
• a few jalapeno pepper slices

I really need to start being more strategic when I build my salads for photographic purposes. The healthiest stuff is always on the bottom and it looks like I only have “extras.”

One small compartment held summer coleslaw. I find this ironic because it’s not summer. From what I could tell, it was cabbage, red onion, diced tomatoes and diced cucumbers in a typical slaw dressing. Pardon the runaway chickpea.

The other small compartment was broccoli & cheddar pasta salad.

I ate the whole salad and about two bites each of the pasta salad and coleslaw. They were disgusting! The coleslaw was mostly onion (which I don’t like) and the pasta was still a little crunchy. Not sure what I was thinking when I got those two. I typically don’t even like creamy salads. Oh, well. I’ll know next time.

***Product Review***

I was really thirsty after making my salad and decided to grab something refreshing. I was thinking POM Wonderful because I’m addicted since receiving my samples, but I found something on the shelf below that looked interesting: POM Light Tea Pomegranate and Hibiscus Flower Green Tea.

It was excellent! I had hibiscus flower tea for the first time when I visited San Francisco in December and have been on the lookout for similar products closer to home. This was the perfect blend of pomegranate and hibiscus flower flavors. It wasn’t overly sweet, but it wasn’t bitter either. I will certainly be buying more of these. It’s a perfect warm-weather beverage. I’m eager to try the other flavors, too.

This is from the back of the bottle:

“Paradise found. Flavor breezes through our all-natural Pomegranate Hibiscus Light POM Tea. It’s a lightly floral green tea made from the finest Far East tea leaves. Our tea is gently brewed, and brims with powerful pomegranate antioxidants and the tropical nuances of sweet hibiscus.“

There are two 8oz. servings per bottle. The nutrition information per serving is as follows:

Calories: 35
Total Fat: 0g
Sodium: 0g
Total Carb: 16g
Sugars: 8g
Erythritol: 6g
Protein: 0g
Caffeine: less than 2mg

On to dinner! This was a special one. Why? Because I didn’t cook it. My husband planned the menu and volunteered to do the work. I eagerly accepted the offer and sat at the table to chat while he prepared everything. I enjoy cooking and it helps me relax after a day of work. It’s still nice to have that break every now and then.

He pounded out some chicken breasts, dipped them in egg whites, breaded them, cooked them on the grill pan and then tossed them in some homemade buffalo wing sauce. These were served on Arnold’s Whole Wheat Sandwhich Thins with lettuce and light ranch dressing.

with steamed asparagus on the side, drizzled with EVOO.

Ta da!

I cleaned up the kitchen and then we settled in to watch The Big Bang Theory. We both think this is by far the funniest show on TV right now. I was in bed and asleep shortly after it ended.

Eating Bender is giving away not one, but TWO fabulous prizes to celebrate her 1st Blogiversary. Fabulousness!

In honor of National Nutrition Month, the health nut is giving away a reusable “Eat Right” tote from the American Dietetic Association. So cool!

I’m in the market for another BPA-free water bottle.I have one SIGG bottle which I love, but it seems to have disappeared *cough*myhusbandtookittoworknevertobeseenagain*cough*. I’d like it to be at least 32oz, easy to clean and nonbreakable. Anyone have brand suggestions?

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One Year Ago…

Today is our first anniversary! To celebrate, we stayed last night at the state park lodge where both our ceremony and reception were held. We did a lot of reminiscing about that special day, what’s happened since then and what lies ahead. I love this man more and more every single day. In case you hadn’t guessed, the picture above is of our ceremony taken from the mezzanine level where our reception was held. It still touches my heart that so many friends and family were there to share in our special day.

I’m SO UPSET that I forgot my camera. Dinner on Saturday was amazing! We ate in the restaurant at the lodge where most of the food is local, organic and sustainable. To start, I had a house salad which was romaine, chopped hard boiled egg, bacon crumbles and their fabulous Creole dressing. Deciding on an entree was tough. I finally settled on the herb-rubbed grilled free range chicken served with sausage fennel stuffing and rosemary jus. There aren’t words to describe the flavors. My mouth was watering out of control and it tasted so good I’m afraid I nearly inhaled the entire dish in under 30 second. My husband had an open-face pulled pork sandwich with Yukon Gold mashed potatoes. After a little digestion walk, we headed to the bar to hang out for a bit. The bartender was so sweet. I was craving a fruity umbrella drink, but that clearly wasn’t going to happen. She offered to make me a blend of pineapple, cranberry & orange juices which I happily accepted. It was exactly what I was after and I didn’t feel one little bit deprived as my husband sipped his whisky sours.

We took along the top tier of our cake (well, cupcake tower) to enjoy for dessert. While it wasn’t nearly as bad as I’d expected, it certainly wasn’t as good as it was on the big day. It was tradition for tradition sake though and we made the best of it.

This morning we got up and had breakfast in the lodge. It was your typical hotel breakfast buffet spread. My parents kept the pooch overnight and her back to meet us around noon. The weather was too gorgeous to waste so we took her for a walk on one the 1.5 mile loop hiking trail before heading home.

I started watching Jon+Kate plus 8 as soon as I got home. Watching Kate and her stellar organization skills put me in the mood to do some housekeeping. I turned on the TV in the kitchen and set to work. First, I cleaned out the refrigerator. Then, I started some food prepping for the week ahead.

I baked up a batch of Gliding Calm tofu.

While that was in the oven, I cut some celery into sticks and portioned them out into baggies for quick lunch packing. I also sliced some strawberries

and chopped some romaine and green leaf lettuces so we’d have salad for the week.

Oh, and I have to brag a little on my husband. His anniversary gift to me was a sweet card and a beautiful necklace. I LOVE pearls and have been wanting a new everyday necklace. I didn’t get him anything special other than a card. His birthday was last weekend so I pooled the money I’d budgeted for both occasions and bought him the semi-pricey tool he really wanted for his birthday which he appreciated more (I think) than two smaller gifts.

I hate this part of Sunday when I stop enjoying the weekend and start dreading work tomorrow. I’m going to go pick my clothes out for the week and then sit down to read and relax for a bit until The Amazing Race.

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