According To Schedule

Today was the first full day of togetherness with the daughters. So far, so good. I devised a schedule for our day...

• my workout from 8 -9 a.m.
• cooking lesson with big daughter at 9 a.m. (she know where nothing is in our kitchen, so I decided it's about time she learn!)
• cleaning of disgusting rooms from 10-11:30 a.m.
• washed and dressed 11:30 -12 p.m.
• lunch 12 p.m.
• after lunch....whatever sounds fun!

There were no complaints about the schedule and it worked out pretty smoothly. I started off with a good 20 minute fast run on the treadmill and then switched over to Level 1 of The Shred. I'm going to try to up my exercise time as long as the daughters cooperate. It was a good workout and I wore my heart rate monitor for fun today, too! It's a Polar F1, so it's an older model that you have to "do the math" to figure out how many calories burned. I found an online calculator and it looks like I burned 411 calories. Not too bad! I'm not sure how accurate that measurement is since I go by the average heart rate and my heart rate goes down quite a bit when I do the strength part of The Shred. Oh well, it's cool to have a general idea anyway.

After my workout, I had a cereal bowl of Quaker Crunchy Corn Bran, 1/2 c. unsweetened vanilla Almond Breeze, 1/2 c. strawberries and 1/2 c. freeze dried bananas for 3 POINTS...




When all the chores were complete, I made some lunch. I was in the mood for salad today. I decided on a Chicken Bruschetta Salad made with romaine, 4 oz. grilled chicken breast, 1/2 c. homemade bruschetta and 1 slice of asiago cheese. Such great flavor for only 5 POINTS...


I needed some extra crunch, so it was a good time to try these new Mini Edamame Crackers...


A whole lotta for only 2 POINTS...

These are another rice chip-type cracker that are thin, crispy and a bit salty. I love that you get so many in a serving...

all together now...

Then, we were off to the mall to shop in the most hideous of all stores...Hollister. Big daughter wanted a few things from there, but it is the loudest and darkest store I have ever been in! I have never felt older than when I'm in that store! The lack of lights... the loud music.... the whippersnappers working there....LOL! Seriously, I did ask one girl who works there if she needed to sign a waiver against future hearing loss when she was hired. And guess what she said? She said, "WHAT????" See, it's happening already ;P

When we got home, little daughter wanted to make cookies. Lovely. That means cookie dough, chocolate chips and lots of cookies begging to be eaten. I caved. I indulged in it all. Cookie dough. Chocolate chips. And a cookie x 2...

My stomach was not happy after that. Thankfully, I had a reasonable dinner planned. I baked some mahi mahi and served it with leftover Greek Lima Beans for 5 POINTS...

Nooooo dessert tonight. I had enough for the whole week this afternoon! Gonna have to burn some serious calories the rest of this week!

Hope everyone had a wonderful weekend!

Lost In Leftovers

I did not want to get up this morning. I felt like I could have slept for quite a few more hours. But, only 1 more day to get through before I get to sleep in until 7 a.m. - yay! It's way better than 6, that's for sure!

I decided to do a quick Shred this morning for something different. Jillian still continues to kick my butt, even on Level 1. One day, I will be shredded ;) After huffing and puffing, I had a cereal breakfast. Are you guys sick of seeing this breakfast?? I know, but it's been really filling me up, so I'm sticking with it for a while. Today was 3/4 c. High Fiber O's, 1/2 c. unsweetened vanilla Almond Breeze and 10 oz. of strawberries! Yes, you read that right! Ten ounces of strawberries (300 grams) is only 1 POINT. If you're not a "weigher", it works out to 1 1/2 cups. That is an awesome POINT bargain! It was a great 3 POINT bowl...



After breakfast, I went to visit my friend, Rosemary who just had her first baby. He is sooooo adorable. I got to hold him and get my baby fix! He is the cutest! On my way home, I got a little lost (duh) and it ended up taking me almost an hour to get home instead of 30 minutes :( Needless to say, I was more than starving when I got home. The first thing I saw in the fridge was my bbq baked tofu, so I went with that on a whole wheat bun with lettuce, a slice of 2% cheese and BACON! Way to make something un-vegetarian ;) I had some carrots with 2 tbsp. hummus to go with it. It was a quick 6 POINT lunch that I promptly munched down...


I sailed through snack time with no troubles since I ate such a late lunch. I had no specific plan for dinner other than wanting to use up some leftover ground beef from tacos the other night. I thought about making a beef stroganoff with it, but realized I didn't have all the ingredients on hand. I finally came up with a take on an old recipe called Barbecue Beef Cups. Instead of the biscuit dough, I used my Cornbread recipe as the base. I mixed up the cornbread batter, divided it evenly in a 6 cup muffin tin, topped it with the leftover cooked ground beef ( only used 1/2 oz. per cup) and baked it for about 15 minutes. Then, I topped it with shredded 2% cheese (about 1/2 oz. per cup) and put it back in the oven for another minute until melted. I topped the Beef Cornbread Cups with shredded lettuce, tomato, salsa and 1 tbsp guacamole. Good and hearty ! I paired it with a heaping cup of leftover roasted veggies for a terrific 6 POINT dinner...

For dessert, I broke out another freeze dried fruit find - BANANAS...

The nutrition facts are good, too...

I used 1 POINT worth as a topping for 1/2 c. Breyers Fat Free French Chocolate Ice Cream...

A super sweet 2 POINT treat. These banana slices are VERY sweet, even though they are unsweetened. They remind me of those crunchy little meringue cookies. They kinda stick to your teeth as they melt in your mouth, too. My dentist would NOT be happy.

I must go brush and floss ;P Have a great night!!