Just another Monday

Oh, the start to another week. It feels good but at the same time I’m getting anxious because my last day of work is Thursday and I won’t be back until the 21st!

Breakfast today was a Thomas whole wheat bagel with light cream cheese, some strawberries, and 1 1/4 cup of chocolate soymilk (I drank some and then filled the glass back up):

My mid-morning snacks were some granola bites and a big red delicious apple but I completely lost the pictures of them, sorry!

I went for a walk to the bank and the mailbox and it was then that I decided there was no way I was going to the gym today, but I still wanted to exercise so I planned for a long walk after lunch.

Lunch was Sunbutter and preserves (aka PB&J almost!) on whole wheat with a banana and some Total 2% cherry Fage, yum!

This has brought me to an unfortunate conclusion. I think I may be lactose intolerant. It seems whenever I eat yogurt, cheese, etc. made from real dairy, I have some side effects that I guess I never contributed to that before. So I’m going to do some more research. It sucks though because this yogurt ruled today!

I went out for my walk, about 30 minutes to the grocery store where I picked up some tofu because they didn’t have the kind I liked at the one near my house. I also stopped at Starbucks for a grande iced decaf SOY latte

I’m about to eat some cashews as a snack while I finish my work for the day. Hope everyone has had a safe and happy Monday!

Since I have no idea who, if anyone, reads this site, please leave a comment if you get a chance. I’m just curious! Thanks

Weekend update

Okay, it seems that I can get my pics on here now, thank goodness! They were really starting to pile up…

Saturday

After lunch I had to go out and run some errands and knew it was hot and that I’d be on my feet for most of it, so I took a snack with me (Kashi Autumn wheat cereal) and tried some Propel powder in my water bottle (berry flavor, pretty good!).

It took me forever to decide, but finally I settled on Jimmy John’s for dinner. I had the vegetarian sub with no mayo and some carrots on the side from home. Since we are blessed with the JJ/Starbuck’s combo, I got myself a grande coffee light frappuccino that I drank 1/2 of on the way home

We had a weird power outage for a couple of hours and I ended up falling asleep on the couch. When I woke up for some reason I was majorly hungry, so I went and heated up two blueberry muffins that I had made earlier in the day and topped them with some Smart Balance spread:

Then later on that night, I had some Very Cherry organic Rice Divine and some trail mix. I was very snacky that day for some reason.

Here is a pic of the blueberry muffins I made earlier that day, they turned out okay, weren’t too sweet except for the blueberries. I followed the recipe, except I used canola oil instead of vegetable oil because it was all I had. I also used slightly less sugar than it called for. Ok, and I used soy milk instead of regular milk, haha. I think next time I would rather use a different type of flour or try adding some spices for more flavor.

Sunday

Breakfast – another round of 2 eggs scrambled on a pita, please! It’s soooo good. I also made a smoothie with soy milk, banana, a few strawberries and chocolate instant breakfast powder but I had no ice, so it wasn’t as good

Snack at church: Snicker’s Marathon bar; it was one of the big (Protein) ones with 280 cals, more like a meal replacement, but I didn’t know what or when I’d be eating next so it held me over very well. It tasted pretty good too! I probably wouldn’t buy them, but I got it for free at a walk I did. I like the nutrition bars better

Lunch – 2 slices of Little Caesar’s cheese pizza; caffeine free diet soda. Not my favorite choice but I was attending a lunch meeting and had to eat something.

When I got home, I ate some carrots and hummus to even things out and because I was still slightly hungry (pizza just isn’t that filling to me unless it has a lot of veggie toppings).

When I finally got settled down, my husband and I ended up taking a 2 hour nap! I don’t know what is with my napping this weekend, but I guess my body needed it so I let myself for once. When I woke up, I was hungry again, so I ate two more blueberry muffins with Smart Balance.

Then we went to a baby shower, but I didn’t eat anything there (not even cake!) because I knew we were having dinner at my in-laws that night. When we got there, it was pizza again! But this time mushroom and from Papa John’s. I only ate 1 and a half pieces (cut the one on the left in half), my eyes were bigger than my stomach. So I am all pizza’d out again, it’s not something I’m a huge fan of anyway unless it’s a special treat and I get to pick what I want on it

When I got home I wanted something sweet or a snack but I said no and went to bed, I had already eaten more caloric-wise than I wanted to and I hadn’t really exercised at all, just napped! So I called it a night.

There’s my weekend! Hope yours was enjoyable

Deciding on dinner…

Isn’t it funny how you go grocery shopping one day and then when it comes time for dinner, you can’t decide, so you opt for takeout? Ha ha! Right now I’m trying to decide if I want Subway or Jimmy John’s…

I have come to love Saturdays lately. I used to get up really early and run when I was training for my half-marathon and I also did a lot of other races in the Spring. But here lately, I have been sleeping in (for me, like until 7 am, ha) and then taking my time doing my daily tasks. It’s been a very enjoyable last couple of Saturdays!

I woke up this morning in the mood for eggs and luckily we had two left, so I scrambled them up and put them on a whole wheat pita — I thought of this at the last second, but I loved it so much that I bought more eggs so I can do it again. I also had what I am calling a “Black & Blue” smoothie, with vanilla soymilk, blueberries, blackberries and ice. It was dark purple and totally tasty!

Lunch was a sunbutter and preserves sandwich on whole wheat with an apple and chocolate soymilk:

Here is a pic of the Sunbutter. It was good but very different from peanut butter, it almost had a spicy taste if you know what I mean. Sunbutter is made from sunflower seeds! It’s a great alternative for those with peanut allergies (which I do not have, I just wanted to try it).

For some reason my computer is giving me a lot of trouble loading my pictures (not blogger) so I’m going to have to finish this up later I’m afraid.

Buenos noches!

Last night was a great night out with my friends! But first, let me catch you up with the rest of the day…

Before I left the house to run some errands, I grabbeda bag of Nature Valley granola bites:

I was able to get most of my errands done in the time I had alloted, so I was very happy. When I got home, it was after 1:00 so I was ready for lunch! I made some Barilla whole grain penne pasta and Ragu chunky garden combination sauce and added in some mushrooms, tri-colored peppers, onion and a chopped up Boca vegan burger for some protein; parmesan sprinkled on top!

I needed a little something sweet afterwards, so I had a mini-Clif bar in my favorite flavor!

Several hours later before I left the house to go out with my friends, I had 1/4 cup of trail mix just so I wouldn’t be starving when we got to dinner.

We went to Qdoba, where it is $1 beer night and live music! I started things off with a Miller Chill, my favorite!

For my dinner, I enjoyed a ‘naked’ Vegetarian burrito (cilantro lime rice, pinto beans, salsa verde and guacamole):

Then an after dinner Miller Chill

Qdoba is right next to to Ce Fiore, a very cute and artsy yogurt shop that we were excited to try. I got the green tea yogurt and topped it with chocolate chips, nuts and blackberries. I asked the girl for her recommendation and she said either nuts or fruit, so I did a little of both The yogurt tasted amazing (I love green tea stuff) and the nuts and fruit each did something different with the flavor, so I’m glad I tried it both ways. I can’t wait to go back to this place again!

Here’s a close up of the very cute cup it comes in (this was a small, by the way!)

What a great night! Hope yours was good as well.

Busy morning

I was up and at it by 6:15 this morning before my alarm even went off. I knew I would be eating more cottage cheese pancakes, so I set the batter out of the fridge because it had become really thick and I made a cup of green tea and went back to bed and watched some tv

Then after about 30 minutes, I got up and made the pancakes. I ended up having to add some water to loosen up the batter and stir it a bit but it worked just fine. I made myself three smaller pancakes today, but they are hidden in the mound of strawberries I put on top of them! I also sprinkled a tiny amount of powdered sugar on top and spread the pancakes with just a little bit of sugar free strawberry preserves; chocolate soymilk on the side:

I have been running errands all morning but I have already gotten so much accomplished and it’s not even lunchtime yet! I was hungry when I got home to take a break, so I made myself a soymilk-banana-peanut butter smoothie, one of my all time faves now

Happy Friday! Gotta get back to ‘work’ even though it’s my day off

Fake Friday

Today was like my Friday because I am off tomorrow, though I have so much to do it won’t feel like a day off. I’m finally checking out of the old apartment tomorrow, thank goodness! It will feel good to put that place behind us once and for all.

Snacks before I left work were a mini-bag of Orville Redenbacher’s Natural popcorn and a cup of raspberry herbal tea and a red apple. I started eating the apple and it looked like it was starting to rot and didn’t have a very sweet flavor, so I tossed it after 2 bites. I hate to waste stuff, but it just didn’t seem right to eat it either.

I had dinner with my mom at McAlister’s Deli where I enjoyed the Veggie Spud, which is a giant potato with black olives, green onions, red onion, usually tomatoes-but they don’t have any because of the contaminated ones, and topped with mozzarella cheese and a side of salsa. I’m glad I finally tried it, I have been eyeing it for a while. I ate it all except for about 1/4 of the peel. It’s a good thing too because I would need the energy!

We spent 2 hours cleaning out the apartment again, I still can’t believe we had that much left over there even though I spent so much time working on it already. But it’s done now and when I got home I enjoyed some snacks…

Right when I got home, I needed something cool and refreshing, so I popped open my new container of Good Karma Organic Rice Divine in “Very cherry” and it was very good! This same brand also has a carrot cake flavor which I must get the next time!

A slice of 100% natural wheat bread with 1 tbsp of Nutella:

And finally, another piece of bread with 1 tbsp Peanut Butter & Co’s cinnamon raisin peanut butter and chocolate chips:
It’s bedtime! Good night everyone

Missing yogurt

I left my yogurt in the fridge at home, darn it! But luckily I think I brought enough other stuff that I won’t need it. But I was really ready to try it, oh well, another day

My mid-morning snack today was a package of granola bites (I think these are only available at Target?) and my leftover raspberries from yesterday (about 1/4 cup):

Then I hit the gym hard. I did 35 minutes on the treadmill, alternating walking and running. Here is what I did:

Walked for 5 minutes (increased speed by 0.2 every minute, from 3.0-3.8)

Ran 3 minutes @ 5.2 mph, walked 2 minutes 4.0 mph

Ran 3 minutes @ 5.4 mph, walked 2 minutes 4.0 mph

Ran 3 minutes @ 5.6 mph, walked 2 minutes 4.0 mph

Ran 3 minutes @ 5.8 mph, walked 2 minutes 4.0 mph

Ran 3 minutes @ 6.0 mph, walked 2 minutes 4.0 mph

Walked for 5 minutes (decreased speed by 0.2 every minute, from 3.8 to 3.0)

Then I did my strength workout:

V-crunch using balance ball (pass back and forth between arms and legs) – 2 x 15

Side crunches – 2 x 15 for each side

Back extension on ball – 2 x 15

Lateral raises using green (least resistance) elastic tube – 2 x 10

Tricep extensions using red (medium resistance) tube – 2 x 12

Bicep crunches using blue (high resistance) tube – 2 x 12

Lunges – 2 x 20 (10 each set for each leg)

Squats – 2 x 10

Plie squats – 2 x 10

I think I’m ready to change things up some more, but most of this routine has been working very well for me, especially the leg exercises. I think maybe with that I could just add a couple more to my sets. So we’ll see!

Lunch today was a can of Amy’s Lentil Vegetable soup, which was quite yummy! I just don’t know what possessed me to eat soup on such a hot day, it was 80 degrees at 6 am! But it tasted great, has lower sodium, and I threw in two Wasa sourdough crackers for some crunch.

I just had a mini Clif bar in chocolate brownie, I swear these things were such a great invention (only available at Target, as far as I know). I just wish they had more flavors, but I do like the three they have (chocolate chip is my favorite, which surprised me).

I will be back later with more pics!

Cottage cheese pancakes!

I got up this morning and saw the recipe for “Cottage Cheese Pancakes” sitting on my counter and I thought, what the heck. I need to use up the eggs I have in my fridge anyway…so I made them (2, and then stored the rest of the batter in the fridge) and topped them with spray butter and fresh blueberries and had a side of Morningstar veggie sausage and some chocolate soy milk.

They turned out so good, I loved the texture and the flavor too of course! Here is the recipe (from The Cottage Cheese page via the former Fast, Fresh and Fit) with my specifications in parentheses:

Cottage Cheese Pancakes

This one is really delicious, especially with the addition of the recommended ingredients.

2-3 beaten eggs (I used two)

1 cup cottage cheese (I used Friendship 1% whipped cottage cheese)

Honey or a couple of teaspoons of sugar, to taste (I squirted just a little bit of honey in)

1 cup uncooked oatmeal (I used Bob’s steel cut oats)

Optional, highly recommended ingredients: banana, a sprinkle of cinnamon, a splash of vanilla (I did all of these)

Grab your handy blender and dump the ingredients in, in the order they appear (otherwise the mixture will get all chunky). So, eggs in first, then start the blender. As it’s blending, pour in the cottage cheese, then the banana if you’re using it, then whatever sweeteners and spices you like, then the oatmeal. Once this is nicely blended, cook as you would pancakes, in a nonstick pan over medium-low heat. I love these plain or with fruit, but you can put syrup on them too, just like regular pancakes.

I just drank a cup of green tea and didn’t take a pic, oops! I’ll be back later with the rest of the day. Happy Thursday blogworld!

Holy cow!

This is the bad thing about waiting until the end of the day to blog, I have a ton of pics to get through!

My mid-morning snack today was 1/4 cup of trail mix. I decided I would stay away from the gym today and take a nice long walk after lunch.

Lunch was leftover tofu stir fry, a whole wheat dinner roll from Whole Foods (yum-o), and a huge red delicious apple (my favorite kind). This lunch was very filling and rather perfect even for leftovers:

About an hour after I ate lunch, I went for a nice walk down to Starbucks (about 15 minutes away) but first I walked around the nearby grocery store just to kill some time and I got some straws for my smoothies because I was out. Then I purchased a grande mocha light frappuccino (only 140 cals!) and walked back to work, it was nice but a little too hot so I don’t think I’ll be walking outside much during the middle of the day anymore.

After a meeting this afternoon, I was feeling hungry so I ate my Whole Soy & Co Lemon yogurt, which was very good. I really think I prefer this brand of soy yogurt the most, but I can’t get over the So Delicious vanilla that I had a few days ago. I will have to get some more of that in the future. I also had some raspberries, I ate all but about 10 of what is shown here:

Then right as I was getting ready to leave work I was hungry again and knew I would not be eating dinner for a couple more hours so I ate my Larabar that I was saving for dessert. It was cinnamon bun flavor, like the yogurt I had yesterday, only the Larabar tasted much better. Now that tastes like a cinnamon bun…almost!

Tonight was girls’ night and we got take out from Penn Station. I had the grilled artichoke sandwich (minus the mayo) and a bag of cheddar Sun Chips, both were very tasty. It was the first time I had tried this particular sandwich and I think it’s my new favorite now. Funny how the vegetarian choices are becoming my favorites everywhere

I just got home not too long ago and I immediately went for a serving of my chocolate tofu pudding. The batch before this one was definitely better, I will have to remember to use firm tofu next time, this particular kind of silken was just too soft so it’s more like a drinkable pudding than the consistency I prefer. But it still tastes pretty good!

After this I thought I was hungry so I poured a small cup of Kashi Autumn wheat cereal but I ate three pieces and decided I wasn’t hungry after all, plus I’m not too long from going to bed now. So I did not eat this whole thing:

That’s all folks! Good night

Wednesday :)

I woke up this morning feeling refreshed, probably because I wore myself out yesterday and slept hard because of it! I feel good about everything I managed to get done yesterday though even if I’m sore today

But I had a nice filling and refreshing breakfast this morning, toast with Peanut Butter & Co’s cinnamon raisin peanut butter (I have really enjoyed this, can’t wait to try their other flavors!) and sugar free Smucker’s strawberry preserves (I loooove this Healthy Life 100% natural whole wheat bread!) and a smoothie made with vanilla soy milk, a whole banana, a packet of instant breakfast in chocolate (no sugar added-chocolate is the only flavor that comes this way unfortunately-I get a generic brand) and some ice. Good way to start the day!

I haven’t yet decided what my workout will be today. Not sure if I want to go to the gym to do weights after lifting boxes and stuff last night, but we’ll see. I brought my stuff just incase!