Branching Out

Today was a lot better. I got right to the exercise; no fooling around. I thought my run might be a little weak, but it was great! I got in a nice, strong 40 minutes. Much needed after the eats yesterday.


Breakfast was a whole wheat cinnamon raisin english muffin topped with 2 tbsp. PB2. A delicious and hearty 3 POINTS...


After breakfast, I cleaned up and did something I never thought I would do. I joined a gym! I am now a proud member of Planet Fitness. They are having an amazing deal right now of a year's membership for $99. It's a cool place with tons of weight machines, ellipticals, bikes, treadmills and a 30 minute express workout circuit. I thought it was about time that I got out of my basement with my archaic fitness equipment although, it has done me well all this time. I'm really excited about trying something new and I'm looking forward to getting a good weight training routine together. I'm hoping this will be just the thing I need to drive me to goal! I won't get to the gym very often until the daughters go back to school, but I wanted to join now while the special was going on (which is only until July 22, if you're interested). So, more on my new gym adventures when I get there...

Lunch was a leftover barbecue chicken calzone (about two-thirds of the calzone) and some super sweet cherries that my MIL brought us. A delicious 7 POINT lunch...

Snack time called in the afternoon and just to prove to myself that I can eat only 1 serving of friggin' Cheez-its, I portioned out a serving for 3 POINTS...

And that was it! Mainly because there wasn't much left in the box ;P

More leftovers for dinner. I'm trying to be good about using up stuff in the freezer and fridge. I made Veggie "Fried" Quinoa -Italian style...

• 1 cup cooked quinoa
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• couple tbsp. chopped red onion
• 1/4 c. diced carrot
• 1/4 c. diced zucchini
• 1/4 c. diced mushrooms
• 1 egg white, beaten
• 1 tbsp. parmesan cheese
• s + p
• pinch of dried oregano
• pinch of red pepper flakes

Heat 2 tsp. olive oil in a nonstick pan. Add ingredients and stir-fry until veggies are slightly softened....

I also had the leftover tomato, cucumber and mozzarella salad ( minus 1 mozzarella ball -given to big daughter)...

A nutritious 10 POINT dinner...

It was such a beautiful night, we went for a leisurely family walk after dinner. Then came back home for dessert. I had a No Pudge Brownie - straight up - for 2 POINTS...

Now, I'm ready for some relaxing! Have a great night, everyone =)

Sluggy McSluggerson

Sorry I missed posting last night; I was too pooped to post! Frankly, it wasn't the most stellar eating day anyway. You know it always starts off fine ...

I picked up a box of my old favorite when I was at Trader Joe's the other day...

A serving is 2/3 cup (90 calories, 1.5 gr. fat and 7 gr. fiber =1 POINT) which doesn't sound like much, but when you load it on top of 1/2 c. nonfat greek yogurt and 1 c. sliced strawberries, it becomes a mountain of food that was so filling and almost too much to eat for only 3 POINTS...

This bowl held me over for the longest time. I wasn't ready for lunch until almost 2:00! That was a good thing since I was out running some errands and didn't get home until almost that time. I couldn't decide exactly what I was in the mood for, so I went with some random things: a bowl of TJ's organic lentil soup, 3 flax and honey flatbread crackers, 2 tbsp. hummus, carrots and a Mott's Healthy Harvest Peach Medley applesauce. A nice 5 POINT tasting plate...

But, then for some reason, I continued to eat a bunch of junk. A couple of cookies, a couple of chocolates and handfuls of those stinkin' Cheez-Its. I don't know why I must eat nonstop handfuls of those suckers. Really, isn't that ridiculous?? Who the heck cares about flippin' Cheez-Its?? Not like they are the food of the gods or anything. More like food of the devil; at least for me, lately. They need to be off the shopping list for a while; sorry daughters!


Later, I started prepping for dinner. The husband invited his parents over for the "unveiling" of our first tomato from the garden (*cue choir of angels*)...

When I tell you he has been talking non-stop about this tomato for the past 2 days, I am not exaggerating. He is so proud of his tomato-growing skills and has been nuturing this guy like it is a newborn baby! We had a "slicing ceremony"...I know, we need to get out more...

I must give him props; it was delicious! Nothing like homegrown:) Great job, hon!

To go with our tomato, I made cheese calzones, pepperoni and cheese strombolis and, in an attempt to be a little healthier, barbecue chicken calzones for me. Here's some of the "bad" guys...

I also made a grape tomato(not ours), red onion, cucumber and mozzarella salad dressed with a little evoo and vinegar...

For the barbecue chicken calzone, I used ...

• 1/2 of premade Trader Joe's whole wheat dough
• 4 oz. leftover roasted chicken breast
• 1/4 c. honey barbecue sauce
• red onion
• 2 oz. part skim shredded mozzarella cheese

This made 2 decent sized calzones for 9 POINTS each.

I had a one with a side of tomato mozz salad...

Then topped it off with a serving (um, yeah right!) of Breyers Cookies and Cream Ice Cream...

Notice that there are no words like "light, reduced fat or fat free" in the aforementioned brand of ice cream! So good going down....so bad landing on the hips ;P

Oh and to add insult to injury, there was no exercise to be had today either. Stop the insanity!!!!

See ya tonight for a hopefully much better day!