Burning Lungs

For the second day in a row, I woke up late. I got ready as fast as I could, grabbed my cafe au lait and ran out the door. Once I got settled into work, I ordered breakfast from the kitchen again. Another egg and cheese sandwich but boy was it ever good. The Chef really knows his way around a salt and pepper shaker 🙂

Lunch was pretty simple, I asked The Chef for a salad to go along with my PB on sandwich thin. I only got a picture of the salad because I had company in my office for lunch time.

Work went by pretty fast and by the time I got off, I was inspired by the sunny day to try my hand at running outdoors.  It had been a really long time since I ran outdoors but since I am planning to run a 10k in March, I figured no time like the present to get started. I laced up my sneakers and headed outside. My lungs began to hurt from the cold air pretty instantly. I ran for about a mile before calling it quits, my lungs just hurt too bad. I guess I haven’t built up enough lung strength to handle the cold. Anyone have advice in this arena?

After my short run, I came inside and starting coughing like mad. Finally, my lungs felt normal again so I heated up dinner. We had a quick meal because we had to be at Body Pump class and were hoping to get there a little earlier than last week. I made a huge pot of chili over the weekendso I heated that up and served it over blue corn chips. I topped it all off with queso cheese and a dollop of sour cream.

After dinner, we headed to Body Pump to pump some iron. I love Body Pump because it takes the guess work out of lifting weights and for a newbie like me, that is awesome! Once we were home, I had half of an Honest Foods Choco Peanut Butter bar warmed in the microwave.

For those of you that are looking for a new blog to add to your list, check out my friend Brandi’s new blog. Brandi seems to have the balance of food and exercise figured out and I am proud to call her friend.

So Much to Do, So Little Time

Happy Monday, Bloggies!!

My weekend was exhausting, I think I was a little over ambitious about the things I wanted to get done. I woke up yesterday and enjoyed a cafe au lait while blogging/blog reading and then when the dear husband woke up, I made breakfast. We had a repeat of last Sunday, I made poached eggs in the microwave and put them on top of english muffins and a little cheese. This was the last of our english muffin stock so I will miss this breakfast!

After breakfast, I got started on my really long to do list, I had a lot of food prep to do for the week including cooking beans, chopping veggies, making chili, draining tofu, making sauces, the list seemed endless. In addition to all of the food prep, we had laundry and other preparations for the week ahead. Once I had all of the food prep done, we went upstairs for a quick workout before lunch. I did a 30 minute walk run with incline interval workout on the treadmill while the dear husband rode the recumbent bike.

After our cardio, I made lunch. I made baked tofu BBQ sandwiches; a favorite combo in our house. I normally do this on pizza crust but with my new obsession with sandwich thins, I thought we would give that a try. I drained the tofu, the coated it in olive oil, salt, garlic powder and onion powder and finally baked it for about 40 minutes. While it was baking, I caramelized some onions with balsamic vinegar. Once I had all the part made,  I assembled the sandwiches. On the sandwich thin, I layered the baked tofu, jack cheese, BBQ sauce and the onions. What a great combo, next time, I will add some pickles.

On the side, we had orange quarters from an orange that I removed the skin from in my food prep.

I also made us caramel lattes but ended up giving mine to the dear husband.

Once lunch was done, we rushed off the meet my friend Becky at the gym for Body Pump. It was an awesome class and I can already tell that I am getting stronger. Once we were finished pumping iron, we split this protein bar on the ride home. We both really enjoyed the flavor, I think I commented at least twice that it was like a candy bar. It did not have that protein bar texture that neither of us like so these will go on our next shopping list for sure.

Once home, we had to finish up the laundry and shower. Finally, we were *basically* done and sat down for an easy peasy dinner. I had a more elaborate dinner planned but I was just too tired to make it happen. We had buffalo mozzarella pizza topped with fresh basil

with steamed artichoke hearts on the side. I topped the artichoke hearts with garlic, olive oil, sea salt and parmesan cheese. This dinner was really good, especially given that it was so easy.

For dessert, we had warm chocolate pudding the escaped the camera. At that point, I was so tired, I wanted to cry. Needless to say, shortly after, I was in dreamland.

What do you do to relax when the time that is supposed to be your down time is too busy?

Pump It Up

Yesterday was a great day! I started with a cafe au lait on my ride to work followed by breakfast once I arrived. I had a bowl of whole grain Cheerios topped with flax seed, dried blueberries and milk. The dried blueberries made this bowl of boring cereal a rock star. They had been tucked away in our pantry for weeks and I am certainly glad they made their way into rotation. You’ll be seeing alot of these little gems as the days pass.

For lunch, the chef made me a mescalin greens salad with tomato, cukes, carrot and a few poached shrimp he was looking to get rid of. He tossed it all with balsamic vinegar and olive oil to make a fantastic little salad.

I also had a small bowl of 16 bean soup that I pulled from the freezer. I wasn’t able to eat most of it because the shrimp on the salad made it more filling.

To cure my lunchtime sweet tooth, I had this little package of dried pears. I really liked these, they make a great sweet treat that you don’t feel guilty about. The only ingredient is pears.

Around 3, I was hungry for a snack. I had spoken with my friend, Sarah, earlier in the day and she reminded me about my passion for lemon curd (I know that word sucks) and greek yogurt. I drizzled my berry covered bowl with a healthy dose and it was heavenly. Isn’t if funny how we forget about foods we love so much?

After my delightful treat, I headed home and hit the treadmill. I did a 5 minute brisk walk to warm up, ran for 20 minutes and then did a 5 minute cool down. I’m so thankful to be running again; I really can’t wait until the weather warms up enough to make running outdoors possible. I am hoping to be able to run about 6 miles without walking by then because there is a race that the dear husband and I want to do.

Once I was stretched out from my run, I made another fast dinner. Pinto bean taco salad. I had done all of my chopping and other prep work this weekend so all I had to do was heat it up. I sauteed an array of colorful peppers with onion and garlic and then tossed in the beans and corn. I added in some cajun seasoning and a hearty salad topper was born. For the salad I used spring mix, the pinto bean mix, salsa, sour cream and cilantro. On the side we had a few blue corn chips for crunch. Both the dear husband and I enjoyed this five minute dinner.

 

After dinner, we bundled up and headed to the gym for Body Pump. It was a madhouse. You would have thought it was the only class available…ever. They opened the doors and people rushed it like it was Black Friday at Walmart. People were running and pushing and slinging steps and weights. It was a site to behold. Finally, once the chaos settled, the teacher said there was not enough equipment to go around; she didn’t have any weights! She asked the group who hadn’t signed up in advance and gotten their hands stamped. She asked them to leave! There was cussing and foot stomping. I was thankful that the dear husband and I had signed up for the class when we were there on Tuesday. After the madness settled, the class got started and we got a great workout. I left with my whole body quaking.

Once we arrived home, I made us cups of caramel hot cocoa to warm us back up. We watched a little tv land and then hit the hay.

Thought Provoker: What foods do you sometimes forget that you love?

Busy Bee

Whoa. I have been a busy little bee. After breakfast yesterday, the dear husband and I did lots of housework, laundry and food prep. For lunch, I had a grilled cheese on a sandwich thin

and a small bowl of Amy’s Low in Sodium Cream of tomato soup drizzled with olive oil.

Seriously, I think the sandwich thins are the greatest invention since sliced bread 🙂 I adore them and am so happy to have finally found them!

After lunch, we met my friend, Becky, for a Body Pump class at the gym followed by a half hour run on the treadmill. It was my first time taking the class and I really enjoyed it. I am very new to weight training so it was really helpful to have someone telling me and showing me what to do.  I am pretty sore today so I think it got in a great workout despite going light on the weights. On the way home from the gym, the dear husband and I shared a coconut larabar. It escaped the camera but I am v. sure you guys know what they look like.

Once home, I popped the bean burrito casserole that I prepped earlier into the oven. After a long hot shower, dinner was ready! I started off with a big salad because my veg intake was severly lacking for the day. On the salad was spring mix, tomatoes, red pepper and cukes. I topped it off with italian seasoning, garlic, sea salt and oil and vinegar.

After I filled my veggie quota, I had a small portion of the bean burrito casserole topped with sour cream, salsa, and cilantro. It was pretty good but it had TJ’s roasted corn in it that kinda tasted like an ash tray smells. Needless to say, I won’t be buying that again but I will make the casserole again using regular corn. Stay tuned for the recipe!

After dinner, I had a little pudding cup with a squirt of whipped cream. We spent the rest of the evening reading before bed.

Next thing I knew, it was morning! I started off with a cafe au lait and then had a whole wheat english muffin with sunflower seed butter for breakfast.

Then, while waiting for Monday lunch to arrive, I had a mini apple pie larabar. And like VeggieGirl, I sure wish they sold the minis in stores!

And that brings us to lunch, The Pro picked up Firebird’s salad. I had a mixed greens salad with grilled salmon. It was a little more bland than usual but I still enjoyed it.

Now, it is back to work for me. Catch ya later!