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?

Diet Thoughts

One of the things I have been avoiding writing about recently is probably the one thing that I should be writing about the most.  For the last week I have been ravaged with thoughts of starting a diet. I have gained a couple pounds over the top of my “comfortable fat” weight. I woke up yesterday with these thoughts stronger than ever. I toiled over ways to cut calories without dieting. I racked my brain for ways to explain to my readers that I was going to start a diet. And I eventually moments before eating, I decided that if I wanted to start a diet, I didn’t have to do it right then. I proceeded with breakfast as usual. I had muesli that I had made the night before with Bob’s Red Mill Old Country Style Muesli, greek yogurt and a splash of milk. I topped it with a banana and a little honey.  It was really tasty and satisfying.

muesli

Work was much calmer than it had been and I was able to work at a nice pace without panic of not getting it all done. Before I knew it, I looked at the clock and realized that I was about to miss the staff lunch. I knew it was salad bar day and I had two choices, run downstairs RIGHT THEN or wait 10 minutes and have to PAY for lunch. OK, clearly I chose the less expensive option. I ran downstairs and found the picking to be slim, there was just enough left for me. I filled my plate with lettuce, tomatoes, carrots, cukes, grilled chicken, a little egg salad and a little chicken salad. I asked the chef intern for a slice of wheat bread and some of that delicious ponzu dressing and I was on my way. A hearty and filling lunch.

salad bar day

Shortly after lunch, I had about 4 sips of my homemade latte but I had been having some fluttering in my chest all day and that seemed to make it worse so I didn’t finish it.  ***Edited to add: The fluttering in my chest is related to an ear infection, I believe. Not heart related at all, the fluttering was in the upper part of my chest near my throat. End of edit*** G came upstairs around 2 and wanted to break chocolate and today, I was in the mood for it. I had a little less than half of a frozen snickers bar and it was really good. It had been years since I had one!

kers

The afternoon flew by and it was time to go home in what felt like minutes. Once home, I heated up some beef and bulgur casserole and steamed some asparagus. I topped the asparagus with balsamic vinegar, olive oil, garlic and salt and pepper. It was a fantastic meal, it was comforting and delicious.

comfort food

After dinner, we just kind of hung around and watched some television. I went to bed early because I knew a long day was ahead of me at work. At least it would be Friday.

The Great Kitty Rescue (part 1)

Sorry for the delay in getting the posted, I haven’t had internet access all day! Seriously, it sucked.

 

Yesterday was not as hectic as Monday, I got up on time and the morning went by smoothly. I was able to get ready without rushing and eat without having to shovel it in. I had my typical breakfast, wheatberries, oats, bulgur and flax seed topped with a nectarine and some almond butter along with a glass of milk. I really liked the nectarine, boy I will miss these summer fruits once the weather turns colder.

mmm...summer fruit

 

I had a full day at work, my inbox was literally overflowing and I had a meeting that was expected to last all afternoon. I worked on one of my website project most of the morning only to discover at 11 that I hadn’t had a snack at all and I was hungry! I went downstairs to get some water and scope out the lunch situation. And to my delight, the staff lunch was chicken and veggie stir fry with teriyaki sauce and rice. I filled my plate with chicken, veggies and sauce but only took about ¼ cup of the rice. I also had a stonyfield farm low fat strawberry yogurt. It was all pretty tasty, for a staff lunch, I was impressed.

 

this is staff lunch?

 

Before my meeting started, I was able to at least get my inbox sorted and I enjoyed my homemade cinnamon latte. To avoid stirfrycoffee breath, I popped a starlight mint that I grabbed out of the mixed grill.

 

fresh

 

As expected the meeting took most of the afternoon and by 3:30 I was really hungry. My guess is the lack of whole grains at lunch. Since I knew I was planning a quick and easy dinner, I decided to hold off on a snack.

 

Once I got home, I made some whole wheat mini shell pasta with stir fry veggie mix, fresh Hanover tomatoes and garlic. Once it was all cooked, added in some crushed red pepper and crumbled goat cheese. I added a little of the pasta water to make it saucy and then topped with a few more crumbles of the goat cheese. It was pretty tasty but I think I overdid the crushed red pepper.

 

is there anything better than goat cheese?

We had planned that after dinner we were going to rescue a little kitty that has been hanging around our house. We started feeding her and of course she started coming by more regularly. We were worried she might belong to someone else or that she may have kittens somewhere but once we started feeding her, she never left the yard. So, we decided we were going to rescue and adopt her. We called the vet and they told us to make an appointment and to rescue her just before it came. The appointment was set and we had it all planned out.

 

Well, the bad news is that when we got home from work she was not around. We searched the neighborhood, called for her and asked around. She was no where to be found. We finally gave up around 8:45 and I made us some of my famous popcorn for dessert. It is air popped yellow corn and while it is coming out of the popper, I drizzle it with walnut oil. Once popped, I sprinkle on some salt and granular fructose and shake it all around. It is such a nice balance between salty and sweet and the crunching really helped calm our nerves about the missing kitty. Shortly after popcorn, we headed off to bed.

 

famous popcorn

 

I didn’t see the kitty this morning before leaving  but the good news is that dear husband did and he got her! YAY for kitty rescues!! I promise to post pictures of her as soon as I can.

Hump Day!

Finally, I had a no rush morning. Everything seemed to go smoothly even though I had to prepare breakfast from scratch. I forgot to pull more oats out of our deep freezer that lives in the outdoor storage. So instead of the usual mixed grain hot cereal, I made a bowl of old rashioned rolled oats with milk instead of water. I mixed in some ground flax seed and topped it with a banana and some almond butter. It was so good! I love making rolled oats with milk, they are so creamy that way.

banana overboard

When I got to work, I was pleasantly surprised at my low level inbox. I was able to work at a nice tolerable pace and not feel stressed and over worked. Though I was working at a slower pace, the morning still flew by. I had my hummus and cukes since I am so stuck on that lately. I really love hummus. Anyway, about an hour after the snack I was ready for lunch and I had the same as yesterday. An egg salad sandwich on 100% whole wheat bread with lettuce and tomato and a stoneyfield farms low fat strawberry yogurt. When I decided to use the olive oil mayo in the egg salad, I was nervous but it is pleasantly almost the same!

um...how much can I cram is my lunch bag?

After lunch, I had a homemade latte with espresso, milk and cinnamon and today it really hit the spot. The afternoon went by just as quickly as the morning had; before I knew it, it was go time. I had an appointment after work so dear husband was in charge of dinner. When dear husband is in charge, frozen pizza it is. We buy the archers farm brand from target, they have extra thin crust so the calories aren’t as high as a regular frozen pizza and they are yummy. They have a few varities and tonight we had pepperoni along with a green salad with oil and vinegar. I was pretty hungry so I ate two slices. So good and just the right amount of fun food.

fun food

After dinner, we went for a nice walk around the neighborhood. We only did one loop plus a couple extra laps around two of the cul-de-sacs. Dear husband did not wear his GPS but I think it should be almost 2 miles. Once we finished our walk, we setttled in for a little television and then to bed we went. Another day awaits.

Tired Tuesday

I decided after the rushed morning I had on Monday to get up even earlier yesterday. What is it with getting up earlier that makes the morning routine longer?  By getting up 30 minutes earlier, I made it to work right on time rather than a few minutes past 7:30. Breakfast was the same ole same ole. Can you tell yet that I am big into batch cooking? Anyway, it was half a serving of hot grain cereal (wheatberries, oats, bulgur) topped with an almost perfectly ripe banana, flax seed and some almond butter. I also had a cold glass of milk and a tall drink of ice water. I guess the reason I stick with this breakfast is because it really holds me over, sometimes even for six hours! 

hot grain cereal…again

Today, Golf World was a madhouse. My phone rang at least 100 times before 10 am. I have multiple projects going on all at once and it makes for a pretty hectic day. But, I stay focused and keep in mind that in November things will settle down. Today both my snack and my lunch were eaten out of “I  need a break” instead of actual hunger. Well, I take that back, the snack was eaten in as an avoidance tactic against garlic bread. The staff lunch is held in The Pro’s office which is right next to mine and the smell of garlic and butter was really getting to me. So, I noshed on some cukes and hummus, my favorite go to snack.

 

 

I will not eat the garlic bread

Lunch came about an hour and a half after the snack and I really was in “I need a break” mode then. I had just finished the work I had anticipated being done with my 10 am, it was almost 1. I had and egg salad sandwich on 100% whole wheat bread with lettuce and tomato. I made the egg salad on Sunday with olive oil mayo, yellow mustard, salt and pepper. Is there a different way to make it in the south? I also had a stoneyfield farm low fat strawberry yogurt. I had plan to have the peach you see pictured but I was full and didn’t want it.

have lunch, will travel

For my afternoon snack..er..pick me up..I had a cinnamon latte I made at home with espresso, milk and a couple sprinkles of cinnamon. 

wake me up

This is my favorite way to have a flavored latte without all the added sweeteners (fake or not) of the syrups. I do like to have those every now and then but I really try to keep the sugar monster at bay.

     The rest of the afternoon was busy, as per usual, but T and I did get a fun little lesson about pin sheets from PVV. I think it is so funny to work in an industry that I know absolutely nothing about. Did you know that they move the hole…EVERY DAY… in golf? Every day. Seriously, who knew. Anyway, it was nice to get out onto the nice soft grass and get some sunshine. By the time the lesson was finished it was time to go. I was wiped out.

     The drive home was spent in a trance of “I want pizza, I want to go to sleep, do I really have to make dinner, will I work out, will I just bail on working out”. Luckily, when I got home I already had a plan for dinner so I could do it without really thinking or giving myself time to give in to the thoughts of cheesy gooey italian food. The plan was pork tenderloin stir fry, I know stir fry twice in just a couple days but it comes together so quickly and it makes such a nice balanced meal I make it alot. Today, it was sliced pork tenderloin, broccoli, snow peas, peppers, zucchini and carrots stir fried in sesame oil/olive oil and then mixed with a sweet and sour stir fry sauce and a dash of rooster sauce. I added some sesame seeds on top to make it pretty and served it over brown rice.

yumma

After dinner, the decision was made to bail on a workout. I had got in about 4 hours of exercise in the previous three days and a rest seemed like a great idea. It was almost time for Monica’s teleclass when I decided to have an after dinner snack. After dinner I was feeling like I wasn’t quite full but by 7:45 I was sure. I had a deep chocolate vitatop with a squirt of low fat whipped cream and a dark chocolate covered walnut.

dessert

Now that was a satisfying treat! After the snack, I dialed into the call with Monica, my holistic health counselor friend. There were about 6 participants total, myself included. Monica told us about the 8 reasons why the body will start to crave thing, the number one being dehydration. She also talked about the yin and yang balance and primary foods and secondary foods. Primary foods being things that fufill ours souls, like family life, work and social activities. We deconstructed one of the cravings that I have often, greasy pizza after a stressfull day, and determined this was probably a mix of a yin/yang craving and a primary foods/secondary foods balance. It was all very interesting and now I am armed with a list of things I can do when those types of cravings arise.

After the call, it was off to bed I went. It had been a long day and another one was right around the corner.