What I ate

Saturday is for the Chirpy

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Hello friends!

Good news!  I woke up this morning, and I literally had a smile on my face 😀  The sun was shining and the birds were chirping (which some people find annoying but I happen to love)…   Come to think of it, that is odd for me considering I have a phobia of birds… 

After my rough start to the day yesterday, we thought the best cure would be Gionino’s pizza and their amazing hot sauce for dinner last night (we will take any excuse for the G, really):

After dinner, I walked 2.5 miles at about a 4 mile per hour pace.  I’m not 100% sure the walking is helping me to rebuild the strength in my knee, but it doesn’t seem to be hurting so I’m going to keep on keeping on!

For breakfast #1 today I decided to make up some eggs.  I swear my body goes through egg withdrawal if I am sans-eggs for more than a couple days!  I chopped up a small potato into bite size pieces, then microwaved for 4 minutes flipping the little guys over half way through. 

Then I threw them into a hot pan to crisp up on both sides.  Once the potatoes were crispy, I added the following mixture: 4 egg whites, some Frank’s red hot, S&P, red pepper flakes, and  a splash of water.  

Served em up with a dollop of ketchup 🙂

Stats on breakfast #1:  215 calories, 36g carbs, 9g fat, 17g protein, 3g fiber

After the eggs, I completed Day #1, Week #2 of my interval training plan which consisted of 5 intervals of 3 minutes walking and 3 minutes running.  No knee pain!  Boo ya!  I got to the 2.5 mile marker in 27 minutes. 

Breakfast #2 today was some overnight oats 😀

Last night I threw the following into a bowl then popped it into the fridge:

  • 1/2 cup uncooked quick oats
  • 1/2 cup unsweetened almond breeze vanilla almond milk
  • 1 tsp JIF peanut butter
  • 1 tsp brown sugar
  • sprinkling of cinnamon

This morning, I topped the oats off with some fresh strawberries.  Mmmm mmmm gooooood 🙂

Stats on breakfast #2:  233 calories, 36g carbs, 8g fat, 7g protein, 6g fiber

You know what I really love about overnight oats (besides the delicious creamy coolness)?  It’s like a little surprise for yourself.  You take 1 minute of time for yourself the night before, and the next morning you have this little bundle of joy just waiting for you! 

Speaking of preparing, I haven’t been doing a very good job of planning my meals out for the week in advance.  During tax season, I am amazing at this (not to brag or anything 😉 ) and not only do I shop for the meals on Sunday, but I also cook EVERYTHING for the week on Sunday.  Lately, it feels like I’ve been going to the grocery store several times a week, instead of one large trip over the weekend.  So, this week I’m going to do my best to sit down and plan everything out.  Speaking of planning… I need to plan out what to make for dinner tonight!

Headed to the yard for hours of glorious yard work 🙂

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What I ate

Ooey Gooey Love

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This week is just F-L-Y-I-N-G by.  Can’t believe tomorrow is Friday already!      

Breakfast #1      

This morning I was craving something warm and peanut-buttery for breakfast.  I pulled a Mama lupe low carb tortilla out of the freezer to let it thaw out.  Then I topped it with 1 tbsp Trader Joe’s Crunchy Almond Butter and some sliced strawberries.       

      

I wrapped it up into a little burrito and put on the george foreman grill until it was hot and the shell was crispy.  Then I wrapped the little guy up in foil and stuck him in my purse.      

      

I got to work about 20 minutes later, and the wrap was still nice and hot and gooey.      

ooey gooey love

 

This was just delicious.  So simple, and so delicious!    

Side note:  If you are obsessed with freezing things like me, before you freeze the tortillas put a piece of parchment paper or wax paper between each one.  That way you can easily grab 1 tortilla from the freezer at a time (and they won’t all be frozen into one tortilla blob).      

Stats on Breakfast #1:  172 calories, 13g carbs, 12g fat, 9g protein, 7g fiber      

       

Breakfast #2      

OO!  That’s right, Overnight Oats!      

I typically use quick oats when I make overnight oats, but this time I tried them with Bob’s Red Mill Thick Rolled Oats instead.  Last night I threw the following into a bowl in the fridge:      

  • 1/2 cup Bob’s red mill thick oats (uncooked)
  • 1/2 cup Almond breeze unsweetened vanilla almond milk
  • 1 tsp brown sugar
  • cinnamon

This morning, I topped the oats with strawberries and blueberries:      

       

The rolled oats have a different consistency than quick oats.  They really keep their oat texture and are somewhat chewy:      

      

These were sooooo yummmy.  If I had to choose, I’d pick quick oats over rolled oats, but I’d be happy to eat either one 🙂      

Stats on breakfast #2:  258 Calories, 45g carbs, 6g fat, 8g Protein, 8g Fiber      

       

Lunch      

Healthified Tuna Salad Lettuce Wrap!  This was one of those times were I just kept adding things to the bowl until I found something tasty:      

  • 1 can tuna
  • s&P, rpf, celery seed, dill weed
  • 3 tbsp greek oikos
  • 1 big squirt wasabi mustard
  • couple drops lemon juice
  • 1/4 cup chopped white onion
  • 1 chopped pickle (that’s how my dad makes it!)

I made a lettuce wrap out of the tuna salad and also had some cucumber salad on the side, which was leftover from last night’s gyro dinner.       

      

Stats on lunch:  211 calories, 19g carbs, 2g fat, 29g protein, 6g fiber      

       

For dessert, I had a little unsweetened applesauce with some cinnamon.  When I say little, I mean about 2 spoonfuls.. 🙂  (Leftovers from the big fat flop protein cakes I made)      

      

Good news!  I think my phone is almost fully recovered! 🙂     

DAY #3 OF INTERVAL TRAINING TONIGHT!  LET’S HOPE FOR NO KNEE PAIN!

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What I ate

Big Fat Flop(s)

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 Breakfast #1   

Last night I was apparently in the mood to try 3,000 new concoctions.  I found this recipe for Protein Cakes the other day.  They are super simple to make and work out to less than 100 calories each (before you add toppings) so I decided to make two different kinds to try out for breakfast #1.   

Protein Cake #1   

  • 1/2 scoop chocolate protein powder
  • 1 tbsp cocoa powder
  • 1/4 tsp baking powder
  • 1 packet truvia
  • 1 tbsp sugar free applesauce
  • 1 egg white
  • 1 tsp choc chips

    

Protein Cake #2   

  • 1/2 scoop vanilla protein powder
  • 2 drops vanilla extract
  • 1/4 tsp baking powder
  • 1 packet truvia
  • 1 tbsp sugar free applesauce
  • 1 egg white
  • 1/4 cup fresh blueberries

    

They only take 1 minute to cook in the microwave!   

Cakes in the mugs:   

   

Check out the height on the chocolate cake:   

   

As you can see, one of these cakes is not like the other.  One of these cakes just doesn’t belong…   

   

Apparently the blueberries had a negative effect on the vanilla protein cake.  BUMMER!  (PS, that one got tossed, it was just gross looking).   

BIG FAT FLOP #1.   

    

This morning, I was really excited to try the surviving chocolate cake. I heated it up in the microwave for about 15 seconds, and took a big ole bite.  I guess since they have “cake” in the title, I was expecting something moist and delicious.  But this was super dry and not very tasty.  I put some blackberry preserves on top, but still ended up throwing most of it away.   

   

BIG FAT FLOP #2.   

    

Because I’m such a smarty pants, I had planned ahead for such a catastrophe by bringing a Peanut Butter Cookie Lara Bar.  This is the first time I had tried a Lara Bar.  What really intrigued me was the mere 3 ingredients:    

   

Gotta be honest, I wasn’t super happy with it.  If it weren’t for the ingredients list, I probably wouldn’t buy it again.  Maybe some of the other flavors I picked up will be better–but as of now I’m not sure when I’ll be trying them.   

Any of you prefer Lara Bars to Luna Bars?  Looks like I’m a Luna girl…   

BIG FAT FLOP #3.   

    

OVERNIGHT OATS!!!  YAY! 😀 😀 😀    

No let downs here!  My oats today consisted of:   

  • 1/2 cup oats
  • 3/4 cup almond breeze unsweetened vanilla almond milk
  • 1 packet stevia
  • 1 tbsp PB2
  • 1 tsp unsweetened cocoa powder
  • fresh strawberries

   

 These were coldy, creamy, and delicious, as usual!   

Stats on the oats:  219 calories, 36g carbs, 7g fat, 9g protien, 8g fiber 

    

Lunch   

After the flops I had for Breakfast #1, I was kind of anxious for lunch.  I have always really enjoyed chicken salad with grapes in it, so last night I decided to whip up my own healthified chicken salad using Oikos plain greek yogurt:   

  • 3 oz shredded chicken breast (grilled up last week with McCormick’s Montreal Chicken Seasoning)
  • 2 tbsp Plain Oikos greek yogurt
  • 1 small green onion, minced
  • 1/2 tsp lime juice
  • 1 tsp chopped cilantro
  • Sprinkling of S&P, cumin, cayenne pepper, celery seed
  • 1/3 cup grapes, halved

I put the chicken salad in a Joseph’s Low Carb Pita.   

chicken salad with greek yogurt and grapes

 

SUCCESSS!!!!!!  This was really yummy!  Hooray!   

Stats on the chicken salad:  215 calories, 14g carbs, 5g fat, 25g protein, 4g fiber

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Ramblings

Power of the Purse

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Today I had the pleasure of attending the Power of the Purse Luncheon sponsored by the United Way of Summit County.  This luncheon celebrates the impact women have on giving in our area.  We had a terrific speaker named Jessica Clements.  Jessica was hit by a roadside bomb while serving for the US Army in Iraq.  She was given a 2% chance to live due to the massive brain trama she suffered.  Despite these terrible odds, Jessica was miraculously able to recover.   She spoke on the importance of persevering, challenging yourself, and giving back.  What an amazing and inspiring speaker! 

Breakfast #1

Last night, I cooked up two of my lil eggins with the 1/2 of a link of Jennie-O’s hot turkey sausage I had leftover from the Jambalaya! (I apparently can’t type that word without using an “!” after it 🙂 )

The eggins consisted of 3 egg whites, S&P, Franks Red Hot, Red Pepper Flakes.  I baked them up in a 350 degree oven for 27 minutes.  I also had the other half of the english muffin that was leftover from yesterday’s egg love.

Despite looking slightly creepy, the sausage/egg combo was so yummy!  🙂

Stats on eggins & 1/2 english muffin:  193 calories, 18g carbs, 6g fat, 23g protein, 4g fiber

  

Breakfast #2

Chobani Blueberry greek yogurt with 1/2 a serving of Bear Naked Maple Granola

As much as I L-O-V-E greek yogurt, I am seriously looking forward to making up some overnight oats tonight.  There are just so deliciously cold and creamy!  And addicting!

Stats on yogurt + granola:  205 calories, 31g carbs, 2g fat, 16g protein, 2g fiber

  

Lunch

Good news / bad news on lunch. 

Bad news = I didn’t make anything fun for lunch because of the luncheon, nor did i get any pics of what I ate! Bummer!

Good news = I jotted down a few inspirational quotes from the speaker at the luncheon:

Don’t give up the first time you do something and it turns out terrible.

Every day strive to be the best “me” you can be

I especially liked:  Live for today.  Yesterday is gone, and tomorrow may never come.

I’m trying a couple new recipes tonight!  Pumped! (as always 😉 )

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What I ate

Starting the week off on the right foot

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Happy Monday 😀

This morning I decided to start my week off on the right foot with a 2.5 mile power walking session.  This was a follow up to Day#1 of my interval running/walking plan, which I started yesterday.  My knee only bothered me slightly during the running intervals yesterday, so I ended up swapping the 5th running interval for a cool-down walk.   I definitely want to err on the side of caution as I start building myself back up to running.

I thought walking today would be good to help keep things loose.  I’m also making sure to not sit in the same position for too long while I’m working so that my knee doesn’t lock up.  I’m determined to get my knee back into running shape!

 

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