Cleaning Marathon!

I ate lunch around 1:30 – a combo of leftovers that needed to be eaten up:

Romaine lettuce, shredded carrots, tomato & cucumber from the Farmer’s Market, small apple, hard-boiled egg, and about 2 oz of chicken breast with TJ’s balsamic vinaigrette.  I tried to eat the chicken, but it just didn’t taste good so I pushed it aside – I think I’m getting to that burn out point with chicken breast.

Added a cheese stick at the end since I was a little shy on protein.

After lunch, I worked out for an hour and change – finished 45 minutes on the elliptical and 15 minutes of core strength training and 5 minutes of arms.  I’m excited because Jim wants to buy the P90X DVD series; it will be nice to do something different for a change.  I think it should be here in a week or so!

Post-workout I tried out the apple butter from Earthfare:

whole wheat bread with fresh ground almond butter and apple butter – YUM!

The rest of the afternoon was spent cleaning – 2 or 3 hours worth!  I swept & mopped the kitchen/bathroom floors (first time in a month for mopping!), swept the den/foyer, vacuumed the bedroom, dusted, and finished two or three loads of laundry.  I used the vacuum attachment to hit all the hidden spots  in our bedroom- I even moved the bed to get the baseboards.  I now  realize why my allergies are worse at night – total dust/feather party back there!  A clean house makes me feel so productive and happy – does cleaning bring anyone else joy or am I the only weirdo out there? I asked Jim to mop the den/foyer, but we’ll see if that happens…

While cleaning, I munched on a few carrots here and there (unpictured) to tide me over until dinner.  We grilled cheeseburgers (96/4 ground beef with 2% colby jack) for Father’s Day – Jim isn’t a father in the technical sense, but we treat Kenan like a child so I got him a card anyways.  I tried to make potato wedges, but I think we didn’t grill them long enough because they turned out crunchy!

I had one of the potato slices and chucked the rest.  Good thing I had a big-old salad to fill up:

romaine, carrots, tomatoes, cucumber and TJ’s reduced fat cilantro dressing

Dessert was grilled peaches with a homemade strawberry glaze:

I didn’t measure any of the ingredients so these are estimates:  2 big handfuls of frozen strawberries, dash ground cinnamon, 1 tsp of vanilla extract, 1 tsp brown sugar, 2 Tbsp lemon juice, and 1 tsp Earth Balance margarine.

Everything blended together in the food processor:

I had a bite straight – it tasted like sorbet!

I filled each peach half with the glaze and then Jim used a rack on grill for about 10 minutes.

The finished product – they were delish!

Dinner was followed by clean-up and then lunch prep for the next few days.  I finished the night with a bowl of cereal:

1/2 cup each Peanut Butter Bumpers, Kashi Mighty Bites, and skim milk

Okay, better go call my Dad and wish him a Happy Father’s Day.  He’s in Atlanta with my mother and her parents for the weekend; otherwise, I would have made a trip home.  We’re going flying next Sunday, so I’ll have to give him a late hug then.

Wedding Festivities

Yesterday’s wedding was beautiful, and a lot of fun.  As I’m looking through my pictures, I’m really disappointed I don’t have any of the bride or groom!  I should have tracked them down and made them pose for me…oh well.

Dinner was buffet style – I had 2 chicken skewers (maybe 1.5 oz of chicken total), 2 meatballs, 1/3 cup of artichoke/potato casserole dish, 4 wheat crackers, 3 cubes of colby jack cheese, 1 cup of raw veggies, 1/2 cup of the sweetest strawberries ever (they had to be from a local farmer or something), and 2 pieces of fresh pineapple.  I also had a small piece of the groomsmen cake – it was chocolate with chocolate icing and a layer of hardened chocolate on the outside…superb!  I guess it’s hard to go wrong with so much chocolate involved.  This is Jim (the husband), me, and Donna after our meal.

Donna and Chris (Jim’s best friend and his girlfriend)

Family Photo

Liz (one of Jim’s good high school/college friends)

I drank more than I planned, but luckily I’m not being punished for it today.  Last night’s festivities involved 3 smallish glasses of wine, 2 Miller Lites, and 1 Michelob Ultra.  It’s hard to believe I feel okay right now, especially with wine thrown into the mix.  Surprisingly, I passed on the actual wedding cake and ended the night with 2 cups of coffee instead (I added a bit of creamer and one Splenda packet to each cup).  But….

I was pretty hungry once we got home (alcohol tends to do that…), so I had a bowl of cereal before I passed out went to bed.  At least we didn’t stop for greasy fast food!   I forgot to take off my make-up and woke up with my contacts still in – tell-tale signs that I had too much to drink.

Breakfast today was another bowl of cereal: 1/2 cup Cheerios, 1/2 cup Kashi GOLEAN Crunch Honey Almond Flax, 2/3 cup Peanut Butter Bumpers, and 1 cup of TJ’s Vanilla Soymilk.

Still loving the macro setting on my camera!

And a glass of soymilk on the side:

I must go to the grocery store today; we’re running low on quite a few things, including cereal – life without cereal would be disastrous…haha!  I’ll probably try to fit in a workout and clean up some around the house, too.  This place is a mess!  Other than that, it should be a pretty relaxing day.

Wednesday Eats

Breakfast

- Veggie-Rific Egg Casserole

- Overnight Oatmeal Base + Toppings

I added fresh blueberries and Kashi Go Lean Honey Almond Flax cereal to the oatmeal base today.

Had planned on getting to work early today to catch up on paperwork, but that didn’t quite happen – an invisible force made my hand reset the alarm.  I had a cup of coffee at work (unpictured) with a spash of skim milk to get me going.  Feeling a bit sluggish today, probably because I (no, I mean invisible force) reset my alarm – should have just gotten up!

Lunch

My salad inspired by my new container:

- 2 oz turkey breast

- 1/2 oz dried edamame for crunch

- 1/2 cup dried beans (black/pintos)

- mixed greens, shredded carrots, red peppers

…and some healthy fat: ~1/4 avocado & splash of balsamic vinaigrette

Followed by the Dark Chocolate Ghirardelli from last night!  The perfect end to a filling salad.

Snack:

The usual~1 Tbsp almond butter on TJ’s low calorie wheat bread.  I had this around 2:30, followed by a marathon of initial consultations.  One of which was accidentally scheduled as a follow-up – threw me behind, which is my pet peeze.  Makes me feel frazzled and I hate for my patients to sit in the waiting room.  Anyways, finished up with patients around 5:30 and my brain was DONE – I chatted with our fitness trainer and good friend, Arielle, for about 30 minutes to decompress.  We shared some Kashi Original 7 Grain crackers and I had a wedge of Laughing Cow Cheese (unpictured) before I headed home.  Also had some carrots in the car – don’t worry, I took this picture at a stoplight…

I probably had 1/3 of the bag.   Still feeling really hungry when I got home – I think it’s the combo of being tired and having a super busy day.  I microwaved another serving of the egg casserole (yes, I know…again, I’ve got to get some variety here) with some extra 2% cheese on top & polenta with 2% cheese stirred in.  While I waited for these to heat, I was guilty of taking a few bites of my Dijon Potato Salad from the center of this bowl (1/3 cup?) before I took a picture…this is what I put back in the refrigerator:

Looking forward to my day off tomorrow – I won’t have as much  “me-time” as usual since I have an appointment with an allergist and the dentist, but I can’t complain.  Working 4 days a week isn’t too shabby!

Monday Eats

Physical Activity:  Woke up earlier today so I could fit in some strength training before work – spent 20 minutes with upper body weights and then one round of the Carolina workout from my husband.  I had planned on running after work, but it is roasting outside today!  I’ll probably stay indoors with my elliptical (and DVR’d episodes of So You Think You Can Dance) instead.

Breakfast

- Veggie-rific Egg Substitute Casserole

- Overnight Oatmeal Base topped with Kashi Go Lean Crunch & fresh blueberries

I was super pleased with the casserole – plain eggs get old after awhile, plus I enjoy knowing I’ve already eaten vegetables by 8am.    The only down side was that I didn’t microwave it long enough, so the middle bites were a bit cold.

The oatmeal mixture was excellent.  I love the crunchy sweetness of the Kashi, and it’s so much lower calorie than granola.

This combo kept me full until lunch, which is a great thing since I ran over with a few patients today and didn’t have time for a snack.

Lunch

- 1/2 can chunk light tuna with 1/2 Tbsp light mayo

- Creamy Low Fat Cole Slaw

- baby carrots

- cheese stick

- Kashi Original 7 Grain crackers

- kiwi

I’m pumped about my new plate from Target – I got sick of eating my lunch out of  Rubbermaid containers and plastic baggies.  It’s amazing how much more satisfying a meal can be when it’s plated in a decorative manner!

Afternoon Snack:  1 Tbsp freshly ground almond butter on 1 slice sunflower nut bread

You’ll have to use your imagination on this one – still getting used to this whole picture-taking thing and completely forgot.  I didn’t get around to this until 5pm, so really it was more of an appetizer.

Dinner

I have random leftovers in the fridge right now that need to be used – fresh pizza sauce from Earthfare, cooked red kidney beans/black beans, polenta, turkey breast.  Decided the four of those together didn’t sound very appetizer, but I was able to come up with something for two of the four:

Turkey & Pasta Pizzaz – I’m not going to post this on the recipe page because it’s a bit odd…unless other people like weird combos, too.

- 2 oz whole wheat pasta

- 1/2 can diced tomatoes

- about 1/4 cup pizza sauce

- handful frozen asparagus

- 3 oz turkey breast

Boil pasta in salted water.  While pasta is boiled, saute frozen asparagus in skillet sprayed with Pam.  Add tomatoes, pizza sauce, and turkey breast once asparagus has thawed.  Drain pasta; mix all ingredients.

I topped the dish with some grated Parmesan.  This would have been really pizza-ish with turkey pepperoni instead of turkey breast and some mozzarella cheese as well.

My eyes were bigger than my stomach – I left some of the pasta so I could have room for fresh pineapple!

Okay, off for my date with the elliptical…

Carolina 400 Workout & Grilled Turkey Breast

Strength Training: Carolina 400 Workout

This is courtesy of my husband, the UNC fanatic – seriously, he’s as obsessed with Carolina as I am with food.  I don’t have a medicine ball at home, so I improvised and used a 7.5 weight instead.  I like this because it’s quick – I can finish in 20 minutes if I really push myself, 30 if I take a more leisurely pace.   Great for the core!

After my workout, I was starting to feel a little hungry.  I had a slice of Trader Joe’s low calorie wheat bread with a tsp or so of Tofutti Better Than Cream Cheese and a glass of Silk Light Vanilla Soymilk on the side.

I’m actually upset about the “cream cheese” – the taste was great, but it has 2 g of trans fat per 2 Tbsp!  I didn’t read the ingredients when I purchased it because I was at Trader Joe’s.  Proves you still have to read labels even when you’re in a health food store.  I hate to waste food, but I’ll probably throw this out after my next grocery store trip.

While I was working out, Jim was nice enough to grill a turkey breast:

He basted it with canola oil, and leaves it covered on our grill (covered) with a pan below the rack to catch the mess.  Grill time is anywhere from 1-1.5 hours, until a meat thermometer read 170 degrees.

I love when he does this because then we have fresh turkey for an entire week – so much healthier than processed deli meat!  I wasn’t super hungry after my grazing this afternoon, so I added it to a salad of mixed greens, carrots, TJ’s fire roasted red peppers, dried edamame for crunch, and balsamic vinaigrette dressing:

And some fresh pineapple for dessert: