Breakfast for lunch, Junk Food for dinner

I slept in until a little past 7 yesterday, I would have slept longer but I had to get to yoga. I drank my cafe au lait while eating breakfast. In the bowl was Barbara’s shredded spoonfuls, ground flax seed, dried blueberries and milk.

 

After breakfast, I headed to yoga class. The class had, yet again, another new teacher who had suffered from some miscommunication. She thought the class was supposed to be a gentle hatha flow class for beginners. We didn’t even come to standing until about 45 minutes into it. At that point in the class, she said “we are going to come into Warrior I” and immediately, we came into warrior I. She looked up and said “oh, you are already there” because she was expecting to have to teach us the pose. A few moments later, she seemed very confused about what was going on and said something about us being more than beginners so I finally spoke up. I told her that the class was normally a vinyasa I and II class. She looked like a deer in headlights and said, “so this class has been way too easy” and we all agreed that it had. Then she said she wish she had known because she normally teaches vinyasa and was having a hard time teaching a gentle class. We finished out the class with a few sun salutations but by then, time was up.

After class, we all sat around and had a long discussion about the class. It was a complicated discussion that I’m still not even really sure what happened.  In the end,  I’m not sure if it is the studio for me anymore. With all of the teacher changes and style changes and level changes, I’m just not sure I can keep paying the high price. I like vinyasa and feel that, for the money, I should get what I pay for.  Confusion like this has happened many times over the past couple of months and it only leaves me frustrated. I have been told that maybe these gentle class come by to teach me something but they only teach me that gentle yoga is not my thing. I just sit, lay or whatever in the poses and feel frustration. I like vinyasa because it doesn’t give my mind time to wander; it is very much a moving meditation for me. I do yoga to ease my anxiety and depression and those gentle classes just make it worse.

I have found another studio in the area that is a few minutes further away, but they have a vinyasa class on Saturday mornings. Once my session is up at my current studio, I may give it a try.  I wish I had another r option but at this point, I don’t feel like I do. I have talked to Laura, the studio owner, about the problem but it isn’t being resolved. It actually makes me really sad because it really feels like home to me. It is the only studio I have ever practiced in so I feel emotionally tied to it. Yoga changed my life so walking away from the place that made that happen is hard.

After yoga, I came home and caught up on my blog reading and then made lunch. I saw lots of omelets in blogland and thought that would be the perfect way to use up some things in the fridge. I made a mish mosh fritata with shrimp, corn, black beans, onions, broccoli, light cream cheese and mozzarella.

On the side, we had toasted english muffins with an olive oil drizzle. This was a eggs-ellent lunch 🙂

With a full belly, I made a menu plan and shopping list for the week and then we headed out for errands. While out, I had a venti caramel latte to help keep me warm. It was very frigid outside! Once we got home, it was almost 5pm and we knew we wanted to get in a good workout. We met upstairs and he rode the recumbent bike and I did a run on the treadmill. I am very proud of this run because it was the longest I have ran in a couple of years. I walked for 5 minutes, ran for 26 minutes and then did a 4 minute cool down. It was awesome.

When I met the dear husband, I was an avid runner. I typically ran about 5 miles a day and it was just part of who I was. Once I moved into my current neighborhood the running stopped. The hills here are insane, more like mountains and the adjustment made havoc on my hips. It was just too painful to run anymore. Now that I have yoga in my life, the running doesn’t seem to bother my hips the way it did back then. Of course, I haven’t run outside yet so we will see when spring comes. Even if I have to run on the treadmill forever, I am glad that running is back in my life.

Once we were fresh and clean from our workout, I made us some junk food for dinner. I made a batch of morning star farms buffalo “wings”

a pan of sweet potato fries

with carrot sticks

and blue cheese dressing for dipping.

What a fun dinner this was. Even my carnivore husband thought that the “wings” we good and the sweet potato fries were killer! It was all pretty spicy so we wanted something sweet to balance it all out. Since it was so cold, I really wanted something warm. I made rice pudding with pecans and topped it off with chocolate chips.

It was a warm and comforting dessert. I made it from a box with the exception of the nuts and chocolate but I will be seeking out a recipe for homemade. I want to have this treat again!

Have you ever felt so frustrated with something you love so much? What have you done to resolve it?

I just love Sundays

Sundays are by far my favorite day of the week. Especially when they are slow and easy with nothing but relaxing to do. I started the day with a big glass of chocolate milk to tide me over while making breakfast. My camera batteries died so I don’t have a picture of the milk but it really just looked the same as the milk from Saturday 🙂 For breakfast, I made some blueberry oat muffins. I used whole wheat flour, oat flour and rolled oats. I was a little nervous about mixing up the flours but they turned out great. I had two of them with a little light smart balance. It was my first time using smart balance and I have to say that I liked it. It was smooth and buttery tasting without all the saturated fat of regular butter and without the trans fats of margarine. A nice compromise, I think.

blueberry oat muffins

After the muffins, we packed up a backpack and headed for a short hike. We went to Point of Rocks park which is about 10 miles from home. It has a nice marsh walk and a few miles of trails. The morning was cool so it made for great hiking weather. I’m not exactly sure how far we went because the gps kept losing it’s signal but we were out there for about an hour. If I had to guess, I would say it must have been about 2.5 miles. Here are some nice pictures we took along the way.

the marsh walk

pretty

what a view

After hiking, we headed home for some lunch. I made buffalo sliders; they were tasty! I made two little mini burgers on 100% whole wheat Hawaiian rolls. I topped each with a little lettuce, local tomatoes, pickles, ketchup and mustard. On the side we had some green grapes. It was a satisfying lunch after being in the wilderness 🙂

buffalo soldier...i mean slider

grapes

The afternoon was lovely, we read, watched tv, did some laundry and of course took a nap. When I woke up from my nap, I felt ravenous. I made a small bowl of fage with raspberries and honey. For some reason, the yogurt was very tart so I ended up only eating the berries and the honey. The same thing happened last week and I thought it was the blueberries but now I am thinking something was wrong with that batch of yogurt. Oh well, I have new containers waiting for me in the week ahead.

greek yogurt with raspberries

For dinner, I made tofu parmesan. I drained some of the local tofu I bought on Saturday, sliced it into four slices and then coated it in panko mixed with parmesan, then egg wash and then panko again. I baked the tofu for about 45 minutes so that it was nice and crispy on the outside. I served the tofu over whole wheat angel hair pasta and then topped it with mozzarella cheese and marinara sauce. Alond side the pasta, we had a green salad with oil and vinegar. I think it was the best dinner I had eaten in a long time. It was also the best “oven fried” results I had ever achieved.

tofu parmesan

A couple of hours after dinner, I had a raging sweet tooth. I finally decided to have a small bowl of cocoa bumpers to wipe it out. After my dessert, I was off to dreamland. It had been a perfect Sunday.

cocoa bumpers

QOTD: Do you have a sweet tooth? What do you do when you aren’t hungry but are really craving something sweet?

Dinner with Friends

I woke up around 2 am yesterday, wired, with a blaring headache and just simply unable to sleep. I’m sure that was related to the steroid the doc gave me to strengthen my nasal passages and reduce the inflammation my entire head. I did fall back asleep around 5 and really did not want to get up at 6. I did, however, drag my butt out of bed for just one more day of work this week. Not feeling that great, I started out with a bowl of that Dorset cereal, I really do like that stuff. It might even be worthy of an amazon subscription. It is really filling and all of the different textures rock. And the best part is, it takes less than 1 minute top prepare on a groggy morning!

my new favorite cold cereal

After my fine breakfast, I headed out to work with dread. I really didn’t feel well and I just wanted to stay home but with my review just days away, I didn’t think calling in again would be a good idea. Once I got there, my headache started to ease a bit and luckily, things were calm. I really wanted to feel “caught up” by the end of the day so I really dove into my work. Around 11, I decided to head downstairs and see what was cookin’ for staff lunch. It was grilled pork chops, rice and veggies and I decided that rather than disturb the chef intern, I would just have some of it. I am glad I did, it was pretty good. I really liked the veggies and rice.

staff lunch

After lunch, I still felt slightly hungry but I knew that was probably the steroid shot still talking so I held out as long as I could. Around 2:30 my stomach was growling so loud that I knew that waiting until dinner just wasn’t an option. I had some greek yogurt with fresh blueberries and honey. The berries were a little bitter for some reason but the honey really helped with that.

greek yogurt with blueberries and honey

After the snack, I caught my friend Sarah on google chat and we made arrangements to meet for dinner. She has been traveling a lot for work and we haven’t been able to get together that often as a result. We planned to meet at 5 so working late was not an option but thankfully, all my hard work paid off and I even got my “not real priorities” work done in time, yay me! I think I will really enjoy being able to go into work on Monday with a clean slate. I am going to be in meetings most of the day so not having a pile of work looming over my head will be nice. 

After work, I met the dear husband at the car dealership to get some routine maintenance done on my car and then we headed out to meet our friends. We met at Uno’s Chicago Grill, though it is a chain, I have to admit to it being one of my favorites. It is also one of my binge spots, it frightens me how much food I have put away in this place.  But before we arrived, I decided that this time would be different. I had made up my mind that I was going to get what ever I wanted but that I was going to try my best at eating less than I have on past visits.

We started with our favorite appetizer, shrimp and crab fondue. A cheesy mixture of shrimp, crab, cheese and tomatoes and it is served with the best buttered garlic crostini. The ultimate in savory fun food. I had a few of the crostini topped with the fondue and it was like a party in my mouth…so good!

shrimp and crab fondue

For my entree, I ordered the flat bread pepperoni pizza. We normally order the Chicago style but I wanted to give the flat bread kind a shot just for good measure. The waiter told me that it would serve one so I went ahead with it. It came to the table and this thing was huge! Almost the size of those archers farms pizzas the dear husband and I adore so much! I ate two of the little squares and stopped. For some reason, I wasn’t diggin’ on the sauce at all and think I should have stuck with the Chicago style crust. But, I wanted to save room for dessert anyway so all was well.

where are my veggies?

We boxed up my pizza and promptly ordered dessert. The dear husband and I shared the Uno’s Deep Dish Sundae; it is a deep dish chocolate chip cookie topped with vanilla ice cream, whipped cream and chocolate syrup. Seriously, I could have just eaten that. It is so good! Honestly, I forgot all about eating slowly and we polished this thing off in a matter of minutes.

oh.my.goodness.

The good news is that I didn’t feel stuffed when we left. I did feel full but given my past experiences there, this was a major accomplishment for me. I even kinda felt proud of myself for not turning dinner out with friends into a full on binge. Once home, we settled into our pj’s and started to watch the Olympics. I, of course, promptly fell asleep. It had been a long week and I really needed the rest.

QOTD: Is there a place that you struggle with eating until satisfied? Do you avoid the place all together or do you have a strategy to not overeat when you go there?

Fun Food Day

Yesterday was a really good day.I had decided after a long week on wanting to diet that I need to really just start keeping my portions in check. To accomplish this, I decided that I would try eating until “not hungry” instead of to “full”. I was a little nervous about the results but here is how it went.

I woke up early and ate breakfast almost right away. I had made some muelsi the night before with Bob’s Red Mill Muesli, a very ripe nectarine and some greek yogurt. When I was ready to eat it, I added some ground flax seed, a little milk to thin it out and topped it with some local strawberry jam. Oh, it was oh so good, I think muesli may be one of my new favorite summertime breakfasts! I ate really really slow, something that is REALLY new to me. About two thirds of they way threw, I decided I wasn’t hungry anymore and I stopped eating.

muesli

About 30 minutes later, my stomach was growling again so I drank a big glass of water to see if it was just thirst. Ten minutes later, it was growling again. Ok, so my experiment wasn’t going as well as I had planned. I needed to have a little something more. The muesli wasn’t an option as Georgy, one of our cats, had had a few bites. So, I put about a teaspoon of almond butter on a slice of whole wheat bread and had that. That seemed to do the trick, at least for a while.

breakfast number two

After my two breakfasts, we headed out to Ukrops to do some grocery shopping. It has a starbucks inside so, of course, we got some lattes. Today, I had another tall vanilla latte, I seem to be addicted to those things lately! There is something so perfectly delicious about them.

I can't get enough of these

We took our time and loaded our cart with all sorts of goodness. We bought some local peaches, tomatoes, blackberries and green peppers. That is one of the reasons why I like Ukrops, they always have local food available. We took the groceries home and discovered that our little Georgy likes a little local tomato with his muesli. He had noshed on a good portion of this poor tomato! Into the compost pile it went 😦

yes, the cat did that

After we put the groceries away we decidedto head out to lunch. We went to another on of our favorite places, the Central Park Deli. They are New York deli right in our backyard. The food is ALWAYS good and every time I go, I have a hard time deciding what to get. One of my favorite things about the place is that they bring the most fabulous dill pickles to the table as soon as you sit down. I have a hard time not eating the whole bowl! I also have a hard time deciding what to get. Yesterday, I debated between the veggie sub or the chicken cordon blue. I ended up picking the cordon blue on wheat along with an order of steak fries for the dear husband and I to share. As expected, it was fantastic. I had maybe two thirds of the sandwich and a few of the fries. Which is less than what I would have eaten in the past. I left feeling satisfied from the meal but not heavy and bloated. I think I ate just the right amount.

the best pickles on earth

steak fries

doesn't that look good?

After lunch, we headed out jean shopping. As every woman knows, this is a task that could drive anyone over the edge. Luckily, at the fourth store, I endedup with two pairs that I like and that fit very well. Once I had the jeans, we hurried home to get ready for my friend Beth’s birthday party. I couldn’t wait because I knew there would be tons of good food there.  It was a pot luck and that always means plentiful and interesing eats.

When we arrived, I started with a small glass of wine called Jerimiah from Rockbridge, a winery in the mountains of VA. This particular wine brings back tons of memories for Beth and I so I thought it would be fun to bring it along. After the first glass and some catching up with so many people that I hadn’t seen in years, I had another small glass. In total, I probably had about 5 ounces of wine. Since I don’t drink much anymore, this had me a little tispy and I was ready for some food. All of the food looked so yummy but I knew that I didn’t want to over do it. I filled my plate with just the things that I really wanted and didn’t heap on the portions. I had a hot dog with ketchup and mustard, some baked beans, a deviled egg, a litle fruit and mint salad, and a good size portion of the salad I brought along. It had mixed greens, dried cranberries, walnuts, crumbled goat cheese and some maple balsamic vinaigrette by Maple Farms of Vermont.

potlucks are the best

All of the food was awesome and I ate very slowly, pausing between bites and putting my fork down. I realized I was “not hungry” anymore after about two thirds of my plate. This was seeming to be a trend. I am sure had I finished the plate, I would have been full. I was proud of myself, I made it through a party without stuffing myself silly. About an hour or so later, Beth’s dad told me that I had to try the cheese dip and since I am a cheese lover, I knew he was right. I smeared a little of the dip on a piece of crostini and ate half and handed the other half to dear husband. Sorry for the lack of picture, it was kind of a spontaneous thing. The dip was awesome but I did the right thing and didn’t continue eating it because I wasn’t hungry.

After some hanging out and catching up with old friends, it was time for birthday cake. But this cake wasn’t just any ole birthday cake, it was a 7-up cake turned fabulous berry cake. I had never had 7-up cake but everyone was telling me how awesome it was. The cake was very dense pound cake with berries and whipped cream. Dear husband and I shared a slice and it was so good. The outside edges of the cake had this crsipy caramalizedcrust on it that I think I could have eaten all day long.  Oh, my and the way it melded with the berries and whipped cream was divine. But keeping true to my new form, I did not stuff myself. I had a few nice bites and stopped.

heaven on earth

Shortly after cake, we said our goodbyes and headed home. It had been a long day and we were both exhausted. Once home, the dear husband did some man things around the house and I read for a bit.  It had been an awesome day and I was ready for a good nights sleep.

In Memory of Paul

Yesterday started out pretty good. I slept in a little, I woke up around 7. It took me forever to decide what I wanted for breakfast and I finally settle on pancakes. I did a little twist of my oat and flax pancakes and made nutty oatmeal pancakes. I  topped them with a fruit puree I made out of Sarah’s homemade cherry jam, a ripe banana and a very ripe nectarine and then I had a little pure maple syrup on the side. I served them with scrambled eggs made from 1 egg and 2 egg whites. This was a hearty and satisfying meal.

nutty oatmeal pancakes

Shortly after breakfast, I received some tragic news. The Pro informed me that Paul, our golf staff intern, lost his life in a car accident on Saturday. Paul was 22 years old. I only knew him for a short time but his death struck me so deeply. I lost my brother at the age of 25 to a terrible car accident and this really hit home for me. I feel such deep sympathy for his family and hope that they can come to a place of peace with their tragic loss. It has been almost four years since I lost my brother and losing Paul brought all of those feelings to the surface. All day long I thought of Paul on a golf cart meanwhile thinking of my own brother and his goofy faces. I guess it hit home for me yesterday that the grief doesn’t end, it just changes. I know what Paul’s family is going through and I hope they will find some comfort.

After the news of Paul’s death, I needed something to take my mind away from all of it. Dear husband and I decided to go for a really long walk. We walked just over six miles between our neighborhood and the one across the street. The walk felt long and somber. When we got home, I made lunch. Dear husband wanted pigs in a blanket so I made them with reduced fat crescent rolls and low fat turkey kielbasa. I ended up eating way more than I should have. I ate four of them along with a small salad with seasoned rice vinegar.

salad

pigs in a blanket

 

Lunch was followed my housework and cooking. While preparing some meals to pack into the freezer, I gave one of them a taste. It is called beef and bulgur casserole and it is really really good. It kind of took me back to childhood as it tastes like a cross between rice a roni and chili mac. But in a healthy way.

make ahead meals

For dinner, I made a lentil loaf from vegetarian times. It took almost 2 hours to prepare from start to finish so this was definitely a Sunday dinner kind of thing.

Veg Times lentil loaf

According to the recipe, you should serve it with garlic and herb mayo but I couldn’t get to my basil plants because it was pouring rain and hailing outside.

holy storm

So, I made a pesto mayo instead. I just mixed some already prepared pesto with some olive oil mayo. I served the lentil loaf with the mayo, garlic mashed potatoes and peas. It was all pretty good though, I don’t know that the taste value was worth the effort value. I actually think the pesto mayo is what made it.

Sunday Dinner

Shortly after dinner, we decided to have some ice cream. I had a small bowl of lemon pie ice cream from the local ice cream shop. They make all of the ice cream on site, it is the richest most divine ice cream I have ever had.

lemon pie ice cream

A couple tv shows later and I was off to bed. I was really not looking forward to going back to Golf World, I knew it would be a sad place to be. Rest in Peace, Paul.

A Mental Health Day

Yesterday, I woke up with a blaring headache, the kind that sits behind your eyes and makes everything else hurt. I decided to text in sick to work and use my headache as reason to chill out for the day. I wanted something fast for breakfast because I needed advil right away. I made a bowl of dear husbands live active harvest nut and grain (or something like that) cereal. I had it with a banana and some milk. It was pretty tasty but I don’t think my stomach likes the probiotics in that stuff. I got down a couple advil and some coffee and the headache was well on it’s way by mid morning.

quick breakfast

For most of the morning, I hung out online reading blogs and articles about bikram. Just before noon, I had a snack of greek yogurt and a nectarine. My snack was followed by a little more web surfing and just hanging out. It was nice to be home with nothing to do, those days are so rare I was savoring every minute of it.

there really is yogurt under those nectarines slices

Around 1, I was ready for lunch and I decided to make a grilled tomato and cheese sandwich on 100% whole wheat bread along with a bowl of Amy’s Organic Low Sodium Low Fat Butternut Squash soup. While the grilled cheese was cooking, I ate the other half of the lovely tomato with some salt and pepper. I will be so sad when the hanover tomatoes are gone. The lunch was right on and seemed to be just what I needed.

tomatoes just don't get better than this

soup and sandwich

After lunch, dear husband came home and we went out to run some errands. And of course, we stopped by Target for a Starbucks. They were tasting the strawberries and cream frappucino so I had a sip of that and a tall vanilla latte. Of all the crazy concoctions that starbukcs has, I really think that is my favorite. It is nice and creamy and the sweetness isn’t too much. I rarely get the ones with the syrups but when I do, I really enjoy it.

a tiny treat

vanilla latte

 

After our errands, we came home and got the grill going. I had really been craving steaks so I pulled some fillet mignon out of the freezer and steaks it was. We had them with some baked sweet potatoes sprinkled with cinnamon and brown sugar and a salad with cukes, tomatoes, goat cheese and oil and vinegar. I only ate abotu half of what you see pictured, when we packaged up the steaks for the freezer, it didn’t really dawn on me how big those steaks actually were!

goat cheese on salad

iron and vitamin c

This meal hit the spot like I can’t even begin to describe. I talked to Monica about my beef cravings and how beef always makes me feel so much better, less tired and more alert. I have tried to avoid red meat but she assured me that a little is OK every now and then, especially for people with problem with iron.  She also suggested that eating foods rich in iron along with foods rich in vitamin C is best because it helps with the absorption of iron. Today, I plan to do a little more research on foods that are rich in iron and ones that are rich in vitamin C.  Which I actually chose the steak and sweet potato before I knew this information which assures me that my body really does know what it needs! I feel best when my iron isn’t low and it seems to sneak up on me when I need it most.

After dinner, I made some “healthy” “cookies”. I saw them on this blog yesterday and I thought I would try them. I tweaked the recipe a bit and used dried cherries and chocolate chips; they turned out great. They were like warm granola bars, not really cookie like but they were still so good. So good in fact, I need to be sure I have company around next time I make them. Dear husband and I ate 5 of these little delights! Now granted, they are pretty small but five was still too many.

coooookie

Once we devoured the cookies, we played SIMS on the Wii for a bit and then headed to bed. It was a great mental health day.

I love PB & CO

Yeseterday, I got through the morning without rushing…again! I might be setting some sort of record with this. For breakfast, I had a bowl of rolled oats made with milk and while it was cooking, I stirred in some of the PB & CO chocolate dreams peanut butter. I topped it with a banana and it was so good, it made me think of Elvis. It was really filling as well, I was only able to eat about 2/3s of it before calling it quits.

elvis oatmeal

Once I made it to work, I knew I was in for a stressfull day. My desk looked like a tornado hit it but at least the internet was working! The morning went by so fast that before I knew it my stomach was growling and it was lunch time. I went downstairs to find out what the staff lunch was and I was once again delighted. And serioulsy, that never happens twice in one week. It was salad bar! I loaded my plate with lettuce, tomatoes, cukes, carrots, a little egg salad, a little tuna salad and some grilled chicken. I asked the chef for a slice of that yummy bread and back upstairs I went. I put some oil and vinegar from my secret stash on it and it was really good and really filling as well. I think it must have been a nice combo of fat, protein and carbs.

another healthy staff lunch

After lunch, I had another meeting about the website. Once that was over, I had to ride out to the Training Center and the Maintenance department to work on some email issues. It was a lovely day outside, 85* and no humidity. Not your typical July day in Virginia, that is for sure. After all that, it was time to head home. Once home, I made tacos and refried beans. For the tacos, I used morning star farms soy crumbles, salt free taco seasoning and corn shells. I topped them with goat’s milk gouda, salsa and fat free sour cream. The refried beans were so easy, just a can of fat free refried beans topped with more of the gouda and some salsa. It was such a good dinner. I wasn’t able to finish all of it, those beans are filling.

tacos and refried beans

I was so tired after dinner that all I did was watch a little tv and then hit the hay. I wonder if my balance of rest, work and exercise is out of whack.

And beacuse I found this little shot to be irresistable, here is a nice shot of Callie.

callie