Run, Forrest, Run!

With a morning like this…

you gotta Run, Forrest, Run!!!!

Even he had an “escort”.  See the resemblance…

Before heading out, I fueled up with some banana and 1 tbsp. homemade almond butter…

Looks kinda gross in this picture, but it was good!

Then I was off to the trail to pound the pavement.  I knew right from the start that it was going to be a good run.  My breathing synced up right away and I was able to get in a nice groove mainly because I brought my “old school” headphones and didn’t have to fiddle with my ear buds the whole time…

Excuse the bug-eye glasses and Bride of Frankenstein hair.  Scary.

I planned on doing 3 miles, but since my run was going so well, I wanted to see if I could make it to 4.  Answer:  hells to the yeah!  I can’t believe I did it!  I felt great!  I even felt like I could have done more, but didn’t want to be in a wheelchair later today, so I stopped at 4.  My longest run so far!  Coolness.

During my run, I observed some of the other runners as they sped by me like freight trains ran past me.  Did you ever notice that everyone has their own individual style of running?  Some seem to bounce, some run with their feet high off the ground like there are little wings on the back of their sneakers, others run without lifting their feet very high, but are fast as lightning.  Some run on their tippy toes and some run with a flatter foot. 

I thought about how I must look.  I’m definitely not light on my feet.  I have more of a clod, clod, stomp, stomp style similar to that of Godzilla crashing through a city….

Oh well.  Maybe one day, I’ll run like the wind!

I brought a dashboard breakfast (part 2) of light string cheese and Triscuits to get me through the rest of the morning…

After some errands and a good shower, I was ready for lunch.  I was in the mood for another tofu scramble.  In the mix…

• 1/2 block Nasoya Lite Firm Tofu
• 1 package of Green Giant Immune Blend Veggies
• 1/4 cup of Galaxy Nutritionals Veggie Shreds

Very delicious!  I’ve had some questions about this, so just to clarify, there are no eggs in the scramble.  I crumble the tofu and brown it before adding the veggies, so it looks and has the consistency of a scrambled egg.  It was a huge serving and filled me up for the afternoon!

I was looking forward to dinner – Philly Cheesesteaks and sweet potato fries!  I decided to make my cheesesteak into a wrap using a Joseph’s Lavash Bread with sauteed peppers, romaine lettuce, pickles, ketchup, 2% cheese and 2 slices of Landis sliced sirloin steaks.  Messy, but good!  My sweet potato fries, on the other hand, went over to the dark side…

I lost track of them and they torched up in the oven.  Boo!  I was so excited for those, too :(  I ate a couple but they were too “blackened” for my taste.

I have quite a bit going on for the coming weekend, so I may be MIA.  I have been working hard on my new blog and hope to have everything up and running for Monday!!!  I’m really excited about it and hope you guys will like it, too!

ONE GOOD THING:  I ran 4 miles today!!!!  Stomp, stomp, stomp, stomp…

Have a great day, everyone!

Spicy Sunday

Hope you all had a wonderful Sunday!  Thankfully, the weather cleared up nicely and it was a picture perfect fall day. 

Since it was such a beautiful day, I decided  to go for an outdoor run and I dragged the family along with me!  Before we left, I nibbled on a Banana Walnut Breakfast Cookie topped with PB2.  I cut it in quarters and only ate half so as to not be weighed down during my run…

We went to a nearby paved trail/park for the run.   The paved trail is exactly one mile, so it was easy to gauge how far I ran.  I planned on doing 3.1 miles, but didn’t want to push it too hard considering I haven’t run since the race and I’m still suffering from bouts of dizziness.  The husband and daughters came along for my first mile, then branched off into some basketball playing and scooter riding.  I can’t lie – my first mile was tough.  My breathing was fine and I was running at a mild pace, but I felt weak and not really into it.  But, I kept going.  And beginning with mile 2, I started to feel that rush of good feelings.  I was in a steady groove and got “out of my head” and into the music.  I ended up doing 3.25 miles and finished strong.  I tried not to pay too much attention to the time, but I think I pulled it off in about 40 minutes.  My goal for right now is to get my body used to the mileage more so than concentrate on the speed.  I know that will come later.

After the run, I joined the family and walked another mile while they rode scooters.  I brought along  this coconut water to try out…

I took 2 sips and knew it wasn’t for me.  Straight up water seems to be my drink of choice these days :)

The fresh air did us all good!  Nothing like crisp air and beautiful changing leaves to brighten up your day…

By the time we got home, I was ready for some lunch.  I went with turkey and hummus wrap with arugula on a Joseph’s Lavash Bread , Kettle Brand Baked potato chips and super sweet cantaloupe…

After much chillaxin’ in the afternoon and a surprise visit from the in-laws, I got around to making some dinner.  Well, most of this dinner made itself!  Tacos were on the menu and I thought I would try out this new item from Trader Joe’s – Carne Asada…

It’s finely chopped beef sirloin seasoned with some spices and lime.  It’s fully cooked which is convenient, but a little high on the calorie and fat side…

I served it taco-style for the husband and daughters with the usual suspects:  white corn tortillas, lettuce, tomato, quacamole, salsa and cheese.  I decided to put all the ingredients together in a big taco salad…

I added some pinto beans to it and toasted my tortilla for crunch.  My final addition was a dollop of another new TJ item…

Pretty low calorie, but definitely a long list of not so great ingredients(aka processed)…

Overall, a tasty salad!  However, the Carne Asada was not as good as I had hoped.  I found the meat to be tough and chewy.  Not a texture I love and the price tag is steep - $7.99 for a bag that serves 4.  The Queso Dip was okay.  It was moderately spicy and added a nice kick to the salad.  It would probably be good in a quesadilla or as a topping for a Mexican-style baked potato.

Dessert was the other half of my Banana Walnut Breakfast Cookie and then a trip on the Tilt-a-Whirl.  Yes, the vertigo acted up big time, so medicine popping and to bed I went.  It sucks getting old :(

ONE GOOD THING:  I got some great outdoor activity today!

Have a great day!!

Fridays Are For Dates + Pizza

I love Fridays!  I love them even more when the husband is off from work and the daughters have school.  Instant date time with no sitter required !  Our big date plan was to go for a walk together.  I know, we’re really wild and crazy ;P 

I made sure to get in some breakfast, but one that wouldn’t be too heavy.  Yogurt sounded good this morning, so I went with some plain nonfat Chobani with fresh strawberry “syrup”.  I topped it with some granola crumbs.  It was really good…

Because I was using the plain yogurt, I decided to sweeten it with a packet of NuNaturals NuStevia that I received a while back…

  Now, I have to say that in my quest to reduce the amount of artificial sweeteners (especially Splenda), I have tried stevia as a sweetener in my coffee/tea.  One word –blech.  I wanted to like it, but I couldn’t get past the bitter aftertaste.  The NuNaturals product claimed to be non-bitter, so I was interested to see if that was the case.  I used about half a packet in my yogurt this morning and it was great!  No strange aftertaste and just the right amount of sweetness.  I think with stevia, less is more and you do need to play around with the amounts to get the level of sweetness that you like.  For me, half the packet was perfect.  I’m looking forward to trying it out in some coffee or tea and see if it still holds the non-bitter claim.  Also, Ron at NuNaturals was kind enough to send me quite a few of their products to try out which included baking blends and extracts…

Might make for some good sugar-free holiday treats!  Thanks, Ron:)

After the daughters were off to school, the husband and I set out on our walking date.  With the dog :)  We walked at a good pace for about 50 minutes and 3.5 miles.  It was a beautiful morning!

On the way home, I had a craving for coffee, so we stopped for a small Pumpkin Latte Lite…

I can’t believe I’m saying this, buuuuut, I think this was better than Starbucks!  Gasp!

Lunch was a fiber powerhouse – Mixed Bean Melt and a pear the size of my head…

The Mixed Bean Melt…

• Joseph’s Lavash Bread 
• 1/2 c. pinto beans, mashed
• 1/4 c. chick peas, mashed
• 1 Laughing Cow Light Cheese Wedge
• handful of baby spinach – you know I put it in everything

Spread beans and cheese on one half of the Lavash.  Add spinach and fold over.  Spray skillet with nonstick spray.  Cook until browned on both sides and warmed through.

Very filling…

As always in this house, Fridays are pizza night!  I usually make our pizzas and alternate between making my own dough and using Trader Joe’s pre-made dough.  I have fooled around with my own dough recipe quite a bit, trying to tweak it and get it just right.  I’m always open to new recipes and when I saw Biz had a No Rise Pizza Dough that’s ready in 5 minutes, I jumped all over it!  I doubled the recipe to get two pizzas and actually ended up making 2 and a small one for me.  For my pizza, I used Trader Joe’s Roasted Red Pepper and Artichoke Tapenade for the sauce, added some baby bella mushrooms, Chavrie goat cheese and a tiny sprinkle of mozzarella…

It was fab!  I ate quite a bit of it along with a side salad of arugula dressed with evoo, red wine vinegar and a shaving of parmesan…

Now, that’s a pizza!

ONE GOOD THING:  I indulged in pizza tonight.  Guilt free.  That hasn’t happened in a loooooong time :)

Happy weekend, everyone!

Paint + Date

Hey guys!  Sorry for this fly-by post;  I have lots to get done to put Humpty Dumpty the kitchen back together again!

The husband and I sent the daughters off to my parents for an overnight stay so that we could paint without interruption.  It was a work day for sure!  We started bright and early and didn’t finish up until nearly 6:00 p.m.  I made sure to start off with a yummy breakfast.  My Mom gave me some of her homemade fig jam made from the fresh figs in her garden and I was looking forward to trying it out…

I spread some on 2 slices of toasted Trader Joe’s Organic Spelt Bread with a wedge of Laughing Cow Light Cheese.  It was delicious!

The husband painted away in the kitchen, while I taped and painted trim/doors in various parts of the house.  Time flew by!  Before we knew it, our stomach were screaming for food.  I decided to just make a quick wrap with turkey, avocado and baby spinach on a Joseph’s Lavash Bread .  I knew the wrap needed some condiment, so I dug around the fridge (which was in the middle of my kitchen!) and found some of this …

That made it!  It was a yummy addition.  I rounded out the lunch with some POPchips crumbs and a juicy pear…

Then, it was back to the grind.  The husband finished off the kitchen and I finished off the last of my downstairs trim and cleaned up our painting supplies while hobbling around.  Back breaking work, but well worth the effort!  We finally decided it was quittin’ time, showered and headed out for a little dinner date to a local sports bar.

We celebrated our hard work with a nice, cold one…

Then ordered a couple appetizers…

Sweet Potato Chips with Horseradish Sauce …

Fried Mozzarella Moons…

My plate ( sorry about the dark pics, they really dimmed the lighting at this point)…

We also ordered dinner.  I went with the Lemon Pepper Salmon Salad with citrus vinagrette.  It was delish and I ate most of it.  I was really craving some greens!

And the husband ordered a GINORMOUS burger with steak fries and a side Iceberg Wedge salad smothered in bacon and ranch dressing…

Heart attacks on plates.  He’s a hopeless cause!  More frustrating, he’ll probably wake up and have lost 2 lbs.!!!

We headed home and plopped in bed for a good night’s rest.  Got much more to do before the daughters get home, but we’re close.  Here’s a sneak peek…

Hope you had a great day!

ONE GOOD THING:  I didn’t go crazy with appetizers at the restaurant and ordered a healthy dinner  =)

A Snappy Day

Beautiful morning!  I got an earlier start , so I had time to make up a Banana Oat Smoothie before leaving the house.  This time, I decided to add a big handful of spinach to “green” it up!  I remember trying a “green monster” here and didn’t care for it so much, but this mix was really good!

Then, it was off  to the gym.  I did 50 minutes on the elliptical and 15 minutes of upper body weight work.  I’m surprised at how much I like doing the weights.  I feel so strong and like feeling my muscles doing their work!

I had lots of house stuff on the agenda today, so I came home and got to work.  Lunchtime rolled around quickly and I have been excited to try out a recipe for Chickpea Croquettes with Greek Salad Topping in the latest issue (Oct.)of Vegetarian Times Magazine…

The only “hard to find” ingredient in this recipe was chickpea flour.  Surprisingly, I was able to find it in the natural foods section of my local Giant Supermarket under the guise of garbanzo bean flour (which is the same thing – some say tomato, some say toemotoh - heehee)…

I prepared the greek salad topping first and swapped reduced-fat feta cheese for the vegan feta since I had it…

then, prepared the croquette batter…

and cooked them in a nonstick skillet for about 8 minutes total.  The result was nothing short of amazing!

Go get the October issue – it’s worth it just for these patties!!

Since I was in the house all day, I felt like eating.  Something about being all alone with this…

But, I kept it in it’s cage.  I felt very proud of myself for that because I must have gotten it out about 3 different times to drool over look at it :)  Instead, I satisfied my craving with 2 of  Trader Joe’s Dark Chocolate Crisps…

Dinner was simple.  Everyone around me is sneezing, snotting and sore.  The husband and daughters have colds and were feeling yucky, so I scrapped my original dinner plans and made them breakfast for dinner.  They were so snappy (that means snotty, sneezy happy)!  Yeah, I should probably check my temperature, too ;)  Anyhoo, I decided to not eat with their germy selves and waited til later to have a quick dinner, too.  Per the suggestion of my friend, Rosemary, I made a Lavash Bread pizza using Joseph’s Lavash Bread, some leftover marinara and light shredded cheese…

It was great and huge, but for very little calories compared to regular pizza.  One whole Lavash Bread is only 100 calories!  I paired it with some leftover Italian-style Squash.  Delish!

I’ll definitely be making that again!

I’m off to spray myself down with Lysol.  Have a great one!

ONE GOOD THING:  I resisted cake this afternoon!!  I consider this a miracle :)

Question of the Day:  What make you feel better when you’re sick?