Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Catch-up

Yesterday morning started out with some Puffins. I realized I didn't have any regular milk so I used chocolate almond milk instead. 200 calories. I had my usual americano with some half and half and sweet and low as well. 35 calories.


Lunch was a salad with bacon, that fried egg from the day before and my low fat blue cheese. 175 calories.


After I got off work at 12 I ran around town looking for something (more on that in a second) and when I finally got home I had a teeny tiny plum. 20 calories.



Plus my cute little man in the background. :)

So what I was looking for were these...



Green curry paste and sticky rice!! I went to my local "Asian Market" and they had all kinds of interesting things. That's where I found the green curry. The market close to my house has a larger than normal "asian" section and that's where I found the sticky rice.

Sticky rice is my favorite thing ever. Possibly.

Do you ever go to the "ethnic" grocery stores? You should! They have produce MUCH cheaper than any of the standard places. At my favorite "mexican" supermarket I got all this...


For exactly $4! Cilantro, limes, avocado, beets, garlic, tomatillos and tortillas! Definitely would have cost $7-8 at Winco.

With the tomatillos, cilantro, garlic and some lime I made this salsa.



Pretty dang good! My mother in law makes a chili blend of serranos, habaneros and other hot peppers and then freezes it. She gave me some and I used it in this to give it quite a kick.

I also made sticky rice and added in 2 tbsp of lite coconut milk.



It was heavenly. 185 calories.

So that salsa? My husband was craving Chipotle and asked me to try to make their cilantro lime rice. I did and he said my version was EVEN better. He had his rice along with homemade "refried" beans, sour cream, avocado, jack cheese, the spicy salsa and roasted chicken inside of the tortillas I bought.

I had my rice with the beans, jack cheese and salsa on a bed of lettuce. Since I skipped the chicken and don't like avocado I also used some of that roasted corn I bought from Trader Joe's awhile back.

It's bomb, yo.



365 calories for dinner.

After dinner we went to Fresh & Easy because I had a coupon that was about to expire and they have the best price on boneless, skinless chicken breast I've seen in town.

They're trying to make Fresh & Easy more like Trader Joe's with various specialty products. On some stuff they have really good prices, but on some stuff they are way more expensive.

These were my finds.




Bread flour at a decent price. Dr. Pepper 10. It's 10 calories for 8 ounces and tastes SUPER CLOSE to regular Dr. Pepper. Quinoa which I haven't been able to find at Trader Joe's. Chicken sausages in 2 flavors that were $3 each. I usually buy the aidelis (spelling?) and they're like $5-6 a pop. Last, anchovy paste. I know that seems like a super random thing to buy but my husband LOVES Caesar salad and I've been wanting to make a homemade dressing for him. I've also seen anchovy paste in other recipes I wanted to attempt so I'm excited to play around with that and the capers I got a few days ago.

I also got this.


Awhile back I read about carbonated chocolate and thought it sounded interesting. So when I saw this at Fresh & Easy in the "British" section I snatched it up.

It's really good and very different from regular chocolate. It almost has a more mousse-like feel in the mouth. My small piece was 30 calories.

I closed off the night with a bag of kettle corn. 90 calories.

Putting me around 1200 for the day. No exercise because I was too sore. I rate yesterday a 7/10. Lots of refined carbs.

Now for today's eats. I had peanut butter puffins and skim milk for breakfast. Also coffee. 210 calories.

I was so busy cooking this morning that I did not have time to make lunch.

Luckily I was EXTREMELY busy at work and didn't even notice my hunger.

Once I got home I cleaned up and finished dinner.

Tonight was special. My parents, my aunt and my grandma who I haven't seen in a really long time came over!

Last night I marinated and put together these guys for my husband to grill today.



The last chicken shish kabob! He did SO good. The chicken was flavorful, moist and juicy. It was just perfect.

I also deseeded and sliced open some hot peppers my dad gave me. I stuffed them with jack cheese and my husband grilled 'em for a minute or two. Everyone who had one really liked them. They were gobbled up so no pictures.

My grandma is low-carbing it so I made this special for her.



Noodle less lasagna! It's basically regular lasagna except you layer in zucchini/squash instead of noodles. It was completely delicious but a lot of moisture came out of the squash. Next time I'll use less tomato sauce in between layers.

And for the carbivores...




Cheesy rice with zucchini. Recipe is from my cooking light book. It's completely delicious and I'll definitely make it again.

All day I was so excited to eat this...




Artichoke! (Butter, all the way. Mayonnaise with artichoke is GROSS!) Except I was SOOO full from the zucchini lasagna and rice that I barely touched mine. This is what remains that I'm planning to eat tomorrow.

I made a garlic dip... basically low fat mayonnaise with a TON of fresh garlic, pepper and then blended with some canola oil and buttermilk to take away the "mayo" taste...

It was DELICIOUS.

Especially when I put it in one of these and added chicken... Seriously heavenly.




This, by the way, is homemade Naan bread! It was easy. I'll be making my own Naan bread forever now.

Plus it impresses people when you make bread from scratch. :P

I didn't have time to make a dessert so I had my husband go down to the ol' dessert standby place... Costco! No surprise he got a pumpkin pie. (His favorite.) We served it with french pressed coffee and whipped cream.

I just had a teeny tiny 1/2 inch thick piece. I like pumpkin pie but I was so stuffed.

I think I ate about 1000 calories at dinner time. I'm not sure, I really didn't count.

I love big family dinners and I like to indulge and not worry about calories.

I did limit myself to two pieces of the bread though. Which is GREAT for me. Fresh bread is absolutely my biggest weakness.

I cannot wait to have one of those pitas with chicken and some garlic sauce tomorrow though. O.O OMG.

I guess I ate somewhere between 1200 and 1500 calories.

I give today an 8.5 out of 10. No, I didn't eat amazingly good, but I didn't go hog wild either, and I think enjoying good food with people you love is an important and lovely part of life.

I'm pooped! Time to catch up on my sleep.

Monday, August 29, 2011

I need a get ripped quick scheme!

I suddenly remember why I hate strength training.

1) It's hard. I normally do some kind of cardio which is by no means easy for me. I don't get runner's high, I don't feel less stressed, I pretty much just cannot wait for it to be over. But here's the thing, strength training is actually 3x MORE difficult for me than cardio.

That's annoying.

2) Whatever muscle group I am supposed to be "feeling the burn in"? Ends up feeling absolutely nothing. This morning I was trying to work my arms and all that hurt was my back and neck. Invariably I know this means I'm doing it wrong. My posture is off or the exercise elves hate me, I'm not sure. I try really hard to get it right but never end up feeling it where I'm supposed to feel it.

That's extremely annoying.

3) I know that if I continue to do the exercises "wrong" I could injure myself. This is what would happen.

Normal people: Uhm, how'd you break your leg?

Me: Chest plies.

Normal people: .... What?

Me: Exactly.

That's RIDICULOUSLY ANNOYING.

I remembered all of this because I got up at 5:40 am to do 30 day shred. It's supposed to combine cardio and strength training. I think it becomes mostly cardio for me, but the ol' heart rate monitor says I burn about 200 calories while doing 80 million jumping jacks, ineffective and poorly postured strength exercises, and all the while listening to Jillian make snarky remarks.

The way she says "Right buddy?" makes me do fist punches 10x harder because I am imagining her face jumping in the way.

I suppose that's good.

Short story long, I am retarded at strength training.

I had an iced coffee this morning. Sugar free chocolate milk mix, a splash of chocolate almond milk, a splash of non-fat milk. 50 calories.

I made a confetti smoothie for breakfast. Carrot, spinach, strawberries and some non-fat milk. I should have cooked the carrots because it had a gritty texture. I knew, of course, that it was going to. I just was too lazy to do it right. 75 calories.




I also made this. However after I finished my fruits and veggies I knew I wasn't gonna be able to eat both the egg and the toast. I opted for the toast smeared with a laughing cow cheese wedge.

Saved the egg for lunch. Except then I didn't eat it. It will be lunch tomorrow then.




Instead I had this. Flat out wrap with chicken, lettuce, tzatziki sauce and a laughing cow cheese wedge. 265 calories.

Flat out wraps are GROSS. O.O

Just the taste... it's all wrong.

Blech.




Dinner was a splurge. Protein style burger and fries. Diet coke. 650 calories.




I think that makes today a 60/40. Not 80/20. But yesterday was close to perfect and I'll try to balance it out by making tomorrow a 90/10 or better.

And then...

My weekly shopping trip at Trader Joe's!

Frozen blueberries and strawberries for smoothies. Chile spiced mango for my husband. Ginger candies. They are the best. thing. EVER. Spicy. The perfect texture. Delicious. Orzo because I've been dying to make this blue cheese orzo salad I saw somewhere. Last, Harvest Grains. Just wanted to try 'em. Looked interesting.




But wait! There's more!

Canola oil spray. For obvious purposes. Capers. Not sure why. Just cuz. Fig butter. I'm going to attempt to make my husband some homemade fig newton bars. He loves fig newtons. Last, smoked sea salt. It smells like campfire in a jar. Yummm.





Approximately 1,200 calories today.

Sunday, August 28, 2011

Just Dance. Gonna Be Okay. Doo doo doo...

I am all sweaty and gross. I cannot wait to crawl into bed with my husband and my baby.

And by baby- I actually mean my dog. I didn't give birth in the last 24 hours. He's a really cute dog though. Cuter then most babies, in fact.

More on my sweaty grossness later.

First. The eats.

I woke up way too early this morning and was out and about with my dad, uncle and husband.

We stopped at Starbucks. I got my typical drink of course and then started trying to figure out some sort of breakfast-type-eating-food-thing. I wanted something lighter than their sandwiches and didn't want to pay $4 for plain old oatmeal. Eventually I found some kind of raw gojiberry energy bar. Then I looked at the back "nutritional facts" and then I picked up the bag of chips sitting next to it and looked at those "nutritional facts".

The chips won. More fiber + vitamin a. Plus they were $3 cheaper and probably more delicious too.

So breakfast was these. Unconventionally awesome.


Check out the facts.


Not bad for "chips".

I had 75 calories worth of creamer in my coffee(s) this morning. Stupid Starbucks doesn't carry non fat half and half or else my calorie count would be significantly less.

I digress.

For lunch I had a salad. Butter leaf lettuce, salami, mozzarella, an egg, 2 black olives (that's all my dad would share with me) and a dressing I concocted on the spot. It was good. A teaspoon and a half of mayo, 2 teaspoons of percent milk, mustard, pepper, fresh crushed garlic and a tablespoon of parmesan cheese.


290 calories. Left my breath tasting garlicky for hours.

Wasn't satisfied with the salad so I made this smoothie afterwards.


Frozen blueberries, strawberries, water, ice, sweetener, vanilla and a bit of greek yogurt.

Tasted like garlic. (By the way, have you ever had garlic ice cream? It sounds strange, I know. But it's actually quite delicious.) 95 calories.

Dinner was another salad on account of I bought a 3 pound bag of lettuce and wanna use it up before it goes bad.


This one had chicken, reduced fat feta cheese, kalamata olives and balsamic dressing. 200 calories. I had also some watermelon with it. 75 calories.

Oh yeah. Remember that garlic breath I mentioned? I went somewhere after that and couldn't find any mints. I did happen to have an A&W candy though. Didn't really want to waste the calories on it, but I also didn't want to scare anyone away with my hideous breath so I sucked it up and ate it. 25 calories.

Started getting hungry towards the end of the night. Instead of having ice cream I went the more nutritional route.



2 slices of whole wheat bread and one "cheddar" baby bel cheese. (Which tastes absolutely nothing like cheddar, by the way, if you wondered.)

1200 calories for the day.

Goal progress:

1) I ate 1200 calories today and the only thing that didn't do me any nutritional favors was the hard candy. 25 calories out of 1200. So instead of 80/20 it was more like 98/2. Some people might not consider salami or salad dressing "nutritional" but I actually think fat in moderation is important so I'm counting it as healthy and balanced. Overall. Today gets a 9 out of 10! Not perfect, but pretty dang close.

2) I did indeed keep to my exercise promise. Hence the sweaty grossness. I played "Just Dance" for 45 minutes. Which is how long it took my heart rate monitor to guesstimate I had burned 200 calories. I'm pooped!

3) I haven't researched strength training yet, but my plan is to do it tomorrow!

Okay, gotta hit the hay. :)

Challenging Myself

Yesterday morning we wandered around Costco. I ate various samples and shared some pizza with my husband. 400 calories.

We took WiFi to my parent's house and swam around for a bit.

At dinner time I was starving. I turned my taco into a salad. I laid down a huge bed of salad mix then poured my favorite salsa all over the top. I added in cheese, carnitas, refried beans and pieces of a fried taco shell.



It was delicious! 450 calories.

I couldn't resist going back for another taco though. I filled it with my carefully weighed meat and a smidge of cheese. 175 calories.

I ate a sliced up dill pickle as a snack. 5 calories. Two small cheddar garlic biscuits as well. 190 calories.

And then the badness.



500 calories worth of vanilla ice cream and milk mixed together.

Ending my day at about 1700 calories.

I'm not opposed to spiking my calories once or twice a week. I think that randomly changing up how many calories you eat forces your body to keep guessing.

I do however think that I could have chosen a better, more nutritious, way to get those calories up. 200 calories worth of ice cream and 300 of fruit, dairy, veggies or protein would have been a better option.

Those biscuits were pretty empty nutritionally as well.

So I give yesterday a 6/10. Not because of my calorie count, but because I could have chosen more of the better quality foods and less of the treats. My balance was a little out of whack.

This week I'm going to challenge myself to do 3 things.

1) Follow the 80/20 rule. Eat 80% vegetables, protein, low-fat dairy, fruit and whole grains. 20% refined grains and sugary treats.

2) Burn 200 calories a day. This means I need to either walk/run 3 miles, do 30 day shred or swim laps around the pool for 30 minutes.

3) Investigate a strength training routine that I can do at home. Play around. Find something I like.

I'll let ya know how it goes!

Friday, August 26, 2011

Shake it for the birds, shake it for the bees.

Yesterday. No idea what I did yesterday morning. I think I slept quite awhile. Eventually there was lunch. Green beans and a boca burger smeared with tzatziki and some reduced fat feta cheese. 175 calories.





At work I enjoyed some frozen grapes. (Not this whole bag!)




As well as some red potatoes and ketchup. 210 calories.



Dinner was asparagus, corn and a burrito made with a tortilla, black beans, cheese, butternut squash, and a sauteed mix of garlic, onion and celery and some potatoes.


It sounds weird. But it was good. 470 calories.


An iced coffee. 100 calories. I didn't realize the iced vias have sugar in them. *Shakes fist at starbucks* It added 45 calories to my total. Lamesauce. I didn't even need that sugar.

Ah well, lesson learned.

Once I got home I blended up a frozen banana with a bit of some of that leftover coffee. Then I sprinkled on some (non-sweetened) via.

Via, by the way, is Starbuck's instant coffee. It doesn't suck.


120 calories for my mocha banana mess.

I ate about 1100 calories yesterday.

As for today.

I got up and decided to clean up my patio outside. A neighbor's cat keeps coming over and pooping and since WiFi hasn't had all his shots yet, I didn't want him to get sick.

The whole project took probably an hour.

In the morning time I snacked on some pretzel sticks, coffee and watermelon. 170 calories.

I also roasted a chicken.

Talk about a productive morning.

At lunch time I had some spaghetti with tomato sauce, artichoke and peas.



I absolutely love how the peas pop with the red sauce. It just makes it look yummier for some reason to me. Plus I love peas. Love the natural sweetness it adds. 235 calories.

At work I ate more pretzel sticks, an entire bag of seaweed snacks and some more frozen grapes. 210 calories.

Then I came home and gave WiFi a bath.




Dinner was delicious. Some of the roasted chicken with refried beans, cheese and this frackin' amazing salsa a local restaurant makes. I have NO IDEA what's in it but I WISH I DID. This stuff is like crack. I cannot explain how good it is. Except I can tell you it tastes like no other salsa you have ever had.

It's 1 million times better.



I didn't get to photograph my actual dinner so I snapped a pic of some of the key ingredients. ;) Also I had a side of wadeemelon. 415 calories.

After that I had to leave WiFi home alone for awhile to go with my mom to Costco. I got a pair of pants for hubby, jack and cheddah cheese, a huge bag of salad, dried onion flakes and more kettle corn.

Except they didn't have the gigantic bag that I got last time. Instead they had smaller pre-portioned bags.

More expensive. But ehn. Got to try a new flavor!



Weird right? It's kinda spicy. It's good. I have a feeling my husband will love it. 90 calories.

When I got home I decided I didn't want to just sit and watch TV the whole rest of the night.

So I did what I always do.

Bake!!

WiFi likes to lay either right on or right beside my feet while I am cooking in the kitchen.

Here is photographic evidence.


And here is what I made.



Cheddar garlic biscuits.

They turned out AMAZING. Seriously. Best. Biscuits. EVER!!

I ate one, of course. No idea how many calories were in it. I'm guesstimating 185. I don't know why. That's just what I chose. Could be more. Could be less. Either way it won't kill me.

Also as I made the biscuits I danced around to obnoxious country music. So... that counts for something, right?

And that puts me at around 1300 for the day.

Pretty soon I'm gonna have to go get the husband from work.

And thank goodness because me and little man were busy today and we are TIRED!

Oh. Ratings. Yesterday. 7 of 10. Slept through breakfast, but I ate a lot of produce.

Today... 8 of 10. Didn't skip breakfast, but I didn't eat enough vegetables. Dinner was sort of thrown together at the last minute and I didn't want to bother making my dinner guests wait while I dug around in my freezer for a vegetable-type-thing.

Night ya'll.

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Puppy Diet

Monday I skipped breakfast. At lunch I had a Chicken Chipotle bistro box from Starbucks. 320 calories. I went into work a little early so I could get off early and take WiFi to the vet. He was vomiting a little and coughing. After the vet I went to get my husband and then we pretty much had to go straight out to his mom's house across town. So I ended up eating a pintos and cheese and a soft taco from Taco bell. 440 calories. On the way home from his mom's house I was still hungry and we got Burger King. I had a Jr. Whopper with cheese. 410 calories. That's approximately 1200 calories for the day.

Yesterday I skipped breakfast again. Had a coffee. 50 calories. I went into work early and forgot to pack food. After work I went to Walmart to try to find a baby gate. We were keeping WiFi in a crate-thing while we were gone but he started fighting going into it and peeing and pooping inside of it. Plus he's only 8 weeks. He shouldn't be left SO long in a small space. We decided that we're going to have to fence him inside of the kitchen and hope and pray that he'll pick up on potty training enough while we are there to eventually behave himself while we're not there.

Problem however. The doorway into our kitchen is 53". Random. Most baby gates are 42". So I didn't find anything at Walmart. Cue me calling my husband and getting all irritated and annoyed.

Went to Target to try to find something and I did.

By that time I realized I had to take my husband to work in less than an hour and needed him to install the gate before then. So since I was already turning into a hideous grump monster and wasn't going to have time to cook I grabbed Carl's Jr. 800 calories. I ate some of a salad later on in the evening. 200 calories.

1000-ish calories yesterday.

I have been eating BAD foods and also not enough food because we've been so busy trying to get the hang of life with this adorable little man.





So now it's been 4 days and I'm trying to get my eating refocused.

Today, again, no breakfast. Not a great start.

I didn't get fast food though.

Fairly close, however. A frozen meal from Costco- Lobster Mac and Cheese.

Sorta looked like this.



(Image and recipe for this homemade version found here.)

Tasted pretty good. For, ya know, pre-packaged and processed food. Bleh. It had to come out of my freezer eventually though. Might as well be while coming off of a fast food binge-o-rama. It was 300 calories for my portion.

I found some strawberries at work and ate those. 40 calories.

Had a handful of kettle corn before I left. 70 calories.

Whenever I eat fast food or frozen meals I just do not feel as hungry overall. I think fat really does keep you "satisfied".

Plus, I have been busy. When I'm busy my mind doesn't really have time to dwell on "So what am I gonna eat next?". These past few days it's more like "PLEASE DON'T PEE ON THE FLOOR, PLEASE DON'T PEE ON THE FLOOR! I'm. So. TIRED!"

I cannot wait until little man gets over his kennel cough. Then I can take him to my parent's house. I miss my mom! And I think it's good for little man to be around other animals. (She has two small-ish dogs and two attack kitties.)

That said, I also can't wait until he gets all his shots! Then I can take him for walks. (That will be good for me too. Especially because I cannot bring myself to leave WiFi home alone so I can go to the gym. I'm probably going to end up freezing our account until he's bigger and more comfortable being by himself.)

And THEN I can't wait until he's all grown up! Then I can take him to the beach, and to the mountains, and to the farmer's market and... and... and...

I'm trying to savor his puppyhood though. I know that this stage of furball adorableness will not last forever, but I am also yearning for the days of well-behaved adulthood.

Potty training is tough work! Especially when it requires waking up in the middle of the night to take him out and then again at 5 am!

I'm exhausted. Fewf.

But even though he is interrupting our schedules and lives like crazy right now, he is totally worth it.

Later on, for dinner, I had this.


Just add a little more meat, another potato wedge and way more carrots and celery. 400 calories.

To close off the night, this.


Frozen greek yogurt and a blended up frozen banana. 200 calories.

Puts me at 1100 for the day.

A little low, I know. I was going to eat again after that yogurt/banana mixture but I fell asleep and completely forgot.

Today I weigh 127.2

I give my recent days a 2 out of 10. Wayyyyy too much crap and not enough nutrients. Not quite enough calories in general.

Monday, August 22, 2011

WiFi

Various eats from this weekend:




Another huge cobb salad.





Pear and corn.





This amazing soda made from wine grapes by Vignette. This is my favorite flavor. It's amazing.




An olive, mushroom, marinated eggplant, sundried tomato, muenster cheese and pesto sandwich that I ended up taking half the bread off of.

Dang that eggplant was amazing. Enjoyed with some fruit, way too many chips, and some homemade desserts at a winery/outdoor concert.

And on Sunday I made these.




Strawberry corn muffins. Sunday I also ate 2 slices of pizza and 3/4 of an order of nachos. Possibly some ice cream as well.

I'd guesstimate 1600-1700 calories for both Saturday and Sunday.

I haven't had time to photograph and keep track of my food as well as I usually do because I've been so busy with the new addition to our little family.





Meet WiFi. This is a picture of the first time I saw him. At that winery picnic/outdoor concert I mentioned. A mobile SPCA unit was there with lots of pets that needed to be rescued, including this little guy.

Doesn't his face just scream "Are you my new mommy?"

As soon as I held him, I knew that I was.

My interpretation of what WiFi is saying in the following photographs:



>.>



<.<



RAWR!!!!



Just kidding. I'm a good boy.

Isn't he the most precious, sweetest thing? Okay maybe not to you. But to me he is.

And I am having some MAJOR separation anxiety right now.

I've been at work for almost 3 hours and it's still going to be another hour before I'm out.

My heart is BREAKING right now because I miss my little guy so much.

As soon as I get off work I have to take him to the Vet. He has a little congestion and I want to get it checked out.

Doesn't this face just kill you?



Take me with you?


Oy vay.