A walk in the park

The boy and I finally tried out a work-out in the park this morning.  Honestly, kinda lame.  Oh well.   We also went on a nice 3 mile walk so all was not lost. I must say, though, that my pecs are already a little sore from the push-ups.

The other exciting bit of news is that I gave my first injection to Paige.  I essentially had the technician holding my hand, but I did it!  Since we have to give her injections nearly every other day, and they are $19 a shot at the vet, I figured it would be best if I learned how to do it.  I must say that it is scary! I’m contemplating as to whether I need another hand holding.

Breakfast (382 cal): Totally sub-par pancakes. Forgot the flax meal and walnuts in the batter.  Flax meal makes a HUGE difference.

Snack (234 cal): Lovely bowl of oikos w/ a super ripe nectarine along with some Kashi GoLean and the last of my almonds.

Lunch (381 cal): Similar sandwich as yesterday.  Ezekiel, hummus, lettuce, sprouts, cucumber, carrots, more sprouts and chive cream cheese.  On the side I had some Newman’s Own Organic Soy Crisps in Lightly Salted. I have to say these are the best soy crisps I’ve tried and the ingredients rock (Organic Low Fat Soy Flour, Organic Rice Flour, Salt, Sunflower Oil.).  I find most have this odd taste and are way too salty.

Snack (183 cal): Huge pile of cucumber and carrots with guac.  I love cutting my fruit and veggies into small slices so it takes longer to eat.

Dinner (490 cal): Since I got home so late from the vet, I was all about the microwave!  I had a MorningStar Farms Vegan Griller with ketchup, sweet potato, brussels sprouts and some beets.  I was still a bit hungry, so I also had a small bowl of puffed kamut with SO Delicious Unsweetened Coconut Milk.  I wasn’t impressed with the coconut milk – I think I’ll stick with my soy milk.

Calories in/Calories out: 1669/~2150

Olé

We did a little shopping last night as I really needed a bread type item.  I wanted ezekiel tortillas, but ended up with bread instead.  This is the first time that I am trying to exclusively use non-diet type bread products in years.  I certainly enjoy the grainy, nutty taste and texture of this bread.  My hope is that the bread will actually end up having more staying power because it is all-natural.  I think that was the case with lunch, as I wasn’t starving for my snack and wasn’t even starving for dinner. The increased calorie count will be an adjustment, but I’m liking it so far.

Due to rain yesterday morning we didn’t go on our long run, but we did hit the gym.  I did about 15 minutes on the treadmill before switching to the elliptical because it was aggravating my Achilles tendon.  My tendon feels much better today and I am itching to get back to running on Wednesday, until then I’m just focusing on walking.

Paige is super itchy.  I’ve been giving her allergy medicine, but it just can’t counteract having allergens pumped straight into the body I guess. Poor baby.

Breakfast (288 cal): One egg plus two egg whites, ezekiel toast and half an apple with peanut butter.

Snack (191 cal): oatmeal with cinnamon and raisins.

Lunch (476 cal): Veggie sandwich on ezekiel bread (home made hummus, lettuce, sprouts, carrot, bell pepper, cucumber), oikos with nectarine with more carrots and cukes on the side. I also had a iced coffee, made with almond breeze, on the way back to work.

Snack (147 cal): Popcorn.

Dinner (496 cal): I have been craving this salad from the Tortilla Factory for probably about a month.  It is simple with romaine topped with warm black beans, cucumber, peppers, and avocado.  It was supposed to come with a hard boiled egg, but they must of forgot it.  On the side I had some tortilla chips, salsa and steamed veggies.  So good.

Calories in/Calories out: 1598/~2300

Weekend Update: Cookology, Birthdays and the Vet

Another packed weekend over here.  I’ve made most of the images clickable thumbnails in this post since there are so many….

On Saturday we had our last of 3 classes in the vegetarian cooking series at Cookology. So sad.  Food was awesome though.  Of course, these are all meant to be stand alone meals, so this ended up being a very heavy meal – I certainly couldn’t finish everything.

QUICK VEGGIE MAINS
Pecorino Ravioli with Walnut Brown Butter
Tomato and Feta Cheese Strata
Thai Veggie Curry

I had never made a strata before and it was very easy.  Basically it is a baked egg casserole that includes eggs, veggies, bread and cheese.  I can defiantly see us making this in the future, especially when we have leftover bread.

The Thai Veggie Curry was certainly easy too.  I loved the combination of coconut milk and curry – spicy and sweet.  Basically you can use any veggies you like.  I think ours included sweet potato, corn, okra, cauliflower, and chili peppers.

The ravioli was also quite easy, but a little more time consuming if you were to make your own dough.  I wouldn’t make the brown butter sauce again – it is just much too heavy for my taste.  I would have preferred the ravioli with a light red sauce.

After pigging out at cookology we went home and watched Coraline and then headed over to the inlaws for birthday celebrations. My MIL had recreated the bulgur burgers that we made at cookology for my birthday celebration a couple weeks ago and they were super. I also had baked beans, corn, sweet potato fries, regular fries. And then there was this lovely strawberry cake and lemon meringue pie and ice cream….

Completely back on track Sunday though. Thankfully. 

Grilled cheese and apple on ezekiel cinnamon raisin bread with a salad. YUM!

 We took the pups to the vet, spent an ungodly amount of money and finally started Paige on her allergy shots. I chickened out with giving the injection, but I’m going to watch again tomorrow and then maybe I’ll try on Thursday….

Hope everyone had a great weekend!

The wheels on the bike go round and round

I was watching the Today Show briefly as I was getting ready this morning and they had a segment about rising gas prices.  Some new book hypothesizes that gas prices will reach $20 a gallon – in 20 years, but still.  Anyhow, the book talks how this would be good for our culture because it would force us to use manual means of getting around.  Inspired, I quickly decided that I was going to ride my bike to work.  It took me just as long to bike as it does to drive – there are a lot of lights.  So, got some exercise and did something green.

Breakfast (435 cal): Same loverly Apple Butter Oat pancakes as yesterday with cherries. I don’t think it gets better than this.

Snack (185 cal): While my fruit of choice was strawberries yesterday, today it is clearly cherries. Cherries are my favorite fruit besides oranges btw. What’s yours?  They are paired with some egg whites.

Lunch (499 cal): I took this picture last night when I packed it – avocado doesn’t stay pretty for long. ;)  Clockwise – cherries, 4oz oikos (found these at Whole Foods – they come in a pack of 4), carrots, and avocado, cabot, lettuce and carrots on a multigrain baguette.

Snack (132 cal): I’ve been in a popcorn mood lately…..

Dinner (443 cal): My salad was a mix of greens, carrot, a sprout mix, cherries, a few almonds and avocado tossed with blueberry pomegranate dressing.  My flatbread pizza was simply cheese and a boca bruschetta burger.

Dessert (125 cal): We did more biking tonight.  We got new running shoes and then stopped by Ice Berry (original w/ strawberries and mango) before picking up our Red Box movie – Coraline.  We’ll have to watch the movie tomorrow, otherwise I’ll just fall asleep anyway. I also had a handful or two of some Just Fruit Munchies.

Calories in/Calories out: 1818/~2400

Just the facts ma’am

Breakfast (405 cal):I had some super yummy pancakes this morning.  I wasn’t quite sure how they would turn out since I didn’t have any bananas to put in the batter, but all was ok – better than ok even.  Last night I mixed 1/2 C oats, 1/2 C egg whites, 1 T flax meal, and cinnamon.  This morning I added 2 T NSA apple butter, 1 T crushed walnuts and 1/4 t baking soda.  These were AWESOME – the apple butter added just the right amount of sweetness and spice. I drenched them with my new SF syrup that I picked up at Whole Foods last night. This is probably the best SF syrup I have tasted and it is super thick. I also had a few strawberries. Perfect.

Snack (188 cal):Yummy oikos, strawberries and almonds.

Lunch (420 cal):Bento from yesterday: sauteed veggies, boca w/ ketchup, strawberries and celery, corn on the cob and sweet potato w/ butter and cinnamon.  Now, like Gina this was my first time having real butter in quite some time. Not because I avoid it per say, but I don’t like cold butter on bread, in fact I only like butter in a handful of situations.  Apparently on a sweet potato is not one of them (I usually use a little butter spray).  For dessert I enjoyed a mock mocha.

Snack (139 cal): Plain unadulterated brown-bag popcorn.

Dinner (460 cal):I have been craving an egg sandwich for days, but until last night I had no eggs.  I fried up 1 egg + 2 egg whites and served it with cream cheese on one of the left over baguettes from yesterday.  On the side I had a monster salad topped with carrots, strawberries, avocado, almonds and poppy seed dressing.

Calories in/Calories out: 1612/~2100

Just not meant to be

Had to skip my run this morning.  I mean I knew I would have to, but it still sucks.  The good news is that my achilles tendon is starting to feel better (not too much pain going up/down stairs today).  I’ll be playing it safe and skipping my Friday run as well and then seeing how I feel for our short “long run” on Sunday.  So, next time I think it would be fun to go bounding (yes bounding) down a super steep hill reaching speeds in the 6 m/m range I will think twice, let me tell you.  It sure was fun though. Yeah, because while it “gave out” on our Sunday long run, I technically injured it last Tuesday. *sigh* Why must I be so damn fragile? hehe

This of course, reaffirms my belief that I was not meant to be a runner. I mean, I think I could do it on a very casual basis, like 2-3 times a week for about 3 miles.  I think that would be ok for my body and I would stop “getting” injured every other month.  Also, just to clarify, I’m not upset by any of this, just accepting my body’s limitations.  And after October I don’t think I will be training for a marathon again, perhaps a half, but even then.  I may just stick to 5-10Ks.

What I would love is to be able to focus on weight training, which I think I’ve brought up before.  It is just hard to do that while training your body for running – I think it sends mixed messages to the body. October will be here before I know it, so I’m not too worried about the delay.

On a more upbeat front, we went shopping at Whole Foods this evening and picked up the rest of our food for the week.  It makes me feel good that I was able to buy mostly local, organic foods. AND I don’t think we spent more than at the regular store. Bonus.

Anyhoo… eats.

Breakfast (348 cal):Vanilla Praline Protein Oats topped with PB and Strawberries. Pretty darn good.

Snack (207 cal):A generous dusting of cinnamon on a Jazz apple (not the most ethical fruit purchase) with some cabot and krackers.

Lunch (470 cal):So I actually did make a bento today, but the boy talked me into Panera. I am so weak! I was pleasantly surprised that they have black bean soup today AND more pleasantly surprised that they let me order a cup instead of a bowl.  I didn’t know they did that.  You see, I love the idea of a You-Pick-Two, but I want a full salad (especially when it is the Strawberry Poppyseed – YUMMMMM!) and would rather have the cup of soup that comes with the You-Pick-Two.  Problem solved.  I got both with a multigrain baguette and nabbed the boy’s as well.  They will fit perfectly in my bento!

Snack (163 cal):In an effort to clear out our lass than desirable packaged food I had a Quaker Raisin Date and Walnut instant oatmeal packet.  I don’t like instant oatmeal. I found this one to be surprisingly salty. Blech. I also had a lovely mock mocha that totally made up for the sub-par oats.

I assure you that is a raisin….

Dinner (409 cal): I contemplated having my bento for dinner, but then I would just have to go ahead and make one for tomorrow. And I am lazy like that.  Instead I had… a flatbread pizza. What!?! Yes, it is the third one this week, but they are devine.   Tonight’s included my leftover zucchini/squash/onion sautee, Morningstar Farms crumbles, and a little cheese.  This was not as good as the roasted veggie pizzas, but still pretty darn good.  On the side I had a carrot and celery stalk and for dessert I had some strawberries.

Calories in/Calories out: 1598/~2100

Thank you Leng!

I picked up my mail today (something I do too infrequently for my mail man’s taste) and was happy to see two surprises in there.  First a package from Leng @ A Fat Cat Who Created a Vegetarian, that included the most lovely change purse.  I LOVE IT – thank you Leng!

Next was a package from Gaia Herbs.  Apparently I participated in a survey and so they sent me a coupon and a sample of Chia Fresh their fiber supplement. I am very interested in their Omega-3 EFA product made from Chia seeds as well. From the materials it looks like a good company – organic, ethical company that makes vegetarian products.  I’ll give a formal review once I try the product out.

Our workout this morning was totally uninspired.  We had this idea of doing a circuit on our walks.  We did the walk today, but only scoped out a park to see what kind of exercises we could do there.  Of course there are squats, lunges, step-ups, pull-ups, push-ups, horizontal pull-ups, bench dips.  I think once we get our plan in place it should be some good fun. On our walk we stopped by Dunkin Donuts and I grabbed a medium coconut iced coffee w/ skim milk. I love that it only has 40 calories.  Quite the calorie bargain.

Breakfast (410 cal): Much the same as yesterday – Cinnamon Banana Flax Oats topped with NSA Apple Butter and PB.  YUM!

Snack (173 cal): I’ve been working hard to par down my snacks to make them snacks instead of mini meals.  I’m not sure why I’m making this change, but I’ll go with it. Apple dusted with cinnamon and some cottage cheese.

Lunch (555 cal): Second day I packed my bento! YAY ME! Clockwise – cold flatbread pizza like last night, boca w/ ketchup, pistachios (far right), celery and carrots. Even though the pizza was a little soggy, it was out of this world. If I could I would eat this every day.

Snack (178 cal): Flatbread with melted cabot and avocado…. yummy, but wish it was bigger. :-/

Dinner (413 cal): Dinner was simple – Boca with sweet potato, corn on the cob and a mix of sauteed zucchini, squash, and onion.

Calories in/Calories out: 1729/~2200