The Hunger Cure

Since I was on call last night, Mike and I didn't prepare ourselves to make dinner. I figured I would get called in, so he planned on just making some leftovers for himself. Well, to my pleasant surprise, I didn't get called in! So dinner was just sort of thrown together based on what we had on hand.

I made a cheese tortilla and heated up some of our leftover Rosemary White Bean and Veggie Soup. It was a hearty dinner, so it left me quite full.

For lunch yesterday, I brought the leftovers from Sunday's lunch. Mike and I were out running errands all day on Sunday, so we went to the Remedy Diner in downtown Raleigh for lunch. We have eaten there before, and this place has quickly become one of my faves. Somehow, I always forget about it, though. It is one of those restaurants that make you feel like you are at a hidden gem while living in a huge city. We all know that Raleigh is not huge, so it isn't very often you find restaurants that remind you of places like D.C., New York, or San Fran.

I love Remedy because they have such an awesome menu to choose from. They have a great vegetarian menu, so I always take forever to choose what I want. I am a little afraid to try a lot of vegetarian things like tempeh or seitan. I know that Remedy would be the perfect place to try it when I am ready, since they are pretty well known for their wonderful vegetarian dishes.

Remedy is also super adorable. It is right on the corner of a pretty popular area in downtown Raleigh, with a park, lots of restaurants, and the children's museum surrounding. It is pretty small, but we had no trouble getting a table for lunch. During the warmer months, they have sidewalk seating and a patio out back.

I had the Kansas Katie which had cream cheese, avocado, homemade raspberry honey mustard, and turkey on ciabatta bread... oh em gee... so good. I had their homemade potato salad as my side, which was good, but a little too mustard-y for my liking. I liked Mike's fries much better, so I snagged a few of those. :)

Check out those layers... yum!

Mike had the Spicy Turkey. It is turkey, provolone, jalapenos, lettuce, tomatoes, and homemade chipotle mayo on sourdough. His was really good too, and really spicy. He had fries on the side and they season them with old bay or something, because they tasted crab-like.

Since we were really in the mood for deli type food, this totally hit the spot. I am so glad Mike remembered it. I plan on going there a lot more often in the future. It is so different, yet has cozy food at the same time. There are so many things I want to try.

Gym Time
Yesterday, when I was planning out my gym session, I decided I needed to give my upper body a rest, since I was extremely sore. I didn't think my arms could handle doing back, and that was all that was left to do this week. My arms feel much better today, but I still went with a lower body work out. I did the same leg work out that I have been doing, since I have felt pretty happy about it for the last few weeks. Today didn't disappoint. I upped my weights a little bit and gave my legs a good long stretch before leaving.

Tomorrow I plan on just doing abs and cardio, leaving back for Thursday or Friday. I am loving getting to the gym every day during the week. It takes so much pressure off of the weekends! If I want to go on Sat or Sun, I do, if I don't get to it, I don't worry about it!

Have a great evening! Sorry for the late post, been quite busy around here lately...


Yesterday's Stats:
Calories (-) 140
Sodium (+) 1010
Protein (-) 2

what to do...

...when you extremely over cook dry northern white beans... OR ... if you want to make a really yummy soup?

Either way, I have a solution for you.

Sorry for the delay in posting. Friday was crazy busy, and I just couldn't find the time to post. I worked all night Friday night, so Saturday was a total doozie... We stayed on the couch until 4 pm, ate some dinner, and then played a board game with friends and called it a night. Mike was hungover on Saturday, so he was no help getting the motivation train going. :)

Let's go back a few days, shall we? Thursday, Mike had put some white beans in the crock pot to cook all day, so that we could make some rosemary braised white beans. When we got home, the beans were very soft. A little mushy even, and had quite a bit of water still over them.

I scooped out a few cups of the beans and tried to start making the recipe that I had in mind. I added in some rosemary, salt and pepper, and started stirring. Before long, they went from whole beans, like this:

to mushed beans like this:

I knew they were not going to work for the recipe that I wanted to make. After a swift evaluation of our fridge and pantry, we decided to attempt to make a white bean soup. Mike was the brains behind this, I just threw in a few ingredients that I thought would make it tasty. We didn't have any broth (chicken or vegetable) so we got creative by using the bean "broth" that was left in the crock pot. It worked perfectly!

Rosemary White Bean and Vegetable Soup

1 lb dry white beans, overcooked in the crock pot (we put the beans that were soaked overnight into a crock pot with water and allowed to cook on low for about 8-9 hours.
2 medium carrots, sliced
1/2 white onion, chopped
3 cloves of garlic, chopped
2 stalks of celery, chopped
1 cup frozen corn
1 cup water
Sea salt and pepper - about 1/8 tsp each
Thyme - 1/4 tsp
Parsley - 1/4 tsp
Rosemary - 1/4 tsp
2 roma tomatoes, chopped
1 tbsp olive oil

We started by chopping all the vegetables and putting the carrots, onion, celery and garlic into a skillet with the olive oil and water. Allow to cook until soft (next time, I will put the carrots and celery into the bean pot, so they can cook longer in the fluid and get softer). In a large soup pot, combine soup, soup broth, and corn, bring to a boil. Once the vegetables are soft, add them to the soup pot, along with the S&P, thyme, parsley, and rosemary. Allow to cook for about 5-10 minutes, until everything is hot and cooked through. Add the roma tomatoes just before turning the burner off, so they have a chance to get warm, but not get soggy.

This soup is a perfect warm and cozy meal for the winter. It had elements of a chowder, but we used absolutely no dairy. You can adjust the seasonings as you wish, I found it to be perfect, but Mike would have liked a little more salt. I wanted a hunk of crusty bread to go with mine, and to my surprise, we had a half of a loaf of Italian bread in the freezer. I cut it up, threw it in the oven and used it for dipping.

Don't you love my attempt at food photography with the iPhone? Mike laughs at me every time I put a nice cloth under my food, but I tell him that you all probably appreciate it! :)

Next up... Sauteed purple cabbage!
I had an entire other half of a head of purple cabbage and didn't want to let it go to waste. I decided to give sauteing it a try, since green cabbage is so good that way. While we were cooking our soup for dinner, I threw some shredded purple cabbage in a skillet with EVOO, S&P. It was sooo good! And, so pretty and easy.

I told Mike we could share this bowl while we were waiting on the soup to finish, but I ended up eating it all.

No formal recipe needed, but now you know what to do with any leftover purple cabbage!

Gym Time
I 100% blame Michael P. for me not going to the gym on both Friday and Saturday... yup, I said it. :) He pretty much begged me not to go on Friday, so he could sleep in. Then, on Saturday, as I was getting in my weekly dose of complete trash TV (it is pretty much mandatory for me to watch trash when I first wake up after working all night), I started to get antsy, and mentioned going to the gym. Mike let out the biggest, whiney, wimper every time. Poor little, hungover, Mike... lucky for him, I was not really in the mood to go either, so we remained on the couch a few more hours.

Sunday, we went to church, Sunday school, and then straight to the gym. We got in about an hour and 20 minutes of chest, abs, and cardio, so we are both quite sore today.

I got in a great hour long work out this morning, doing arms and cardio. The juice must be helping, because I am getting in some serious sweat sessions on the treadmill these past few days. :)

I hope everyone is having a great Monday so far!

Thursday's Stats:
Calories (+) 171
Sodium (-) 179
Protein (-) 6

BTW - That soup has some AMAZING stats... Just in case you are interested, using the Spark Calorie Counter, I found the following:
Calories: 220
Fat: <1
Sodium: 262
Total Carb: 41
Protein: 14.4
and -

Nutritional Analysis

Good points

• Very low in saturated fat
• No cholesterol
• High in dietary fiber
• High in iron
• High in manganese
• High in magnesium
• High in potassium
• Very high in vitamin A

Bizzzzeeeeeee!

I am crazy busy today and won't be able to fit in a post. Sadness...

But, my next post will have 2 new recipes!

Here is a clue...

Happy Friday!

I'm Juicing

Duh, duh, du-du-duh, dun, dun, duh, duh, dun, duuuun. Duuuuuuuuuuhhhhhhhhhhhh!

Finally, a run! I busted out 30 minutes of straight up running this morning and it felt really good, even if it was on the treadmill. I put my incline a little lower than normal, because I wanted to be able to finish, and I didn't do any walking intervals. I ran at a pace of 10:30 min/mile with a several 9:00 min/mile intervals to mix it up. My legs didn't feel heavy and I actually felt really energized. I am still convinced that I am just making up excuses, but maybe I really did need some nutrients.

I think writing everything out, really helped me to focus on what needed to be done. After reading over my list from yesterday's blog, I realized that I needed to just shut up, and do it. This little bloggy really does help me with staying on track. :)

When we got home from work yesterday, I immediately started on dinner. I really wanted to get to bed early last night, so I figured the quicker we could get done, the better chance I got to bed early. I made Joy the Baker's Black Bean and Sweet Potato Tacos again, since we had some slaw leftover from last time. We had gotten some mushrooms from our produce delivery box and I didn't want them to go bad, so I added some to the black beans. Nothing like a little added protein. The tacos were just as good as last time! 

I mentioned in my blog post yesterday, how I thought maybe I needed to add some nutrients into my diet. Maybe that is the reason I have been so sleepy and unmotivated lately. So I decided to dust off the old juicer.

RIP Jack, thanks for the power juicer

Our fruit and veggie drawers have been packed full lately, with all of the produce deliveries we have gotten. We go through the veggies pretty quick, but are having some trouble with the fruit. I am not a fan of bringing citrus fruit with me to work. It is messy and annoying to eat, so I would rather just bring a pear or apple to eat whole. I mostly just had oranges and carrots on hand but, I added in some apples and celery for good measure.

When I juice, I do not use a recipe. I pretty much just start throwing things into the juicer and taste as I go. If it is too sweet, I throw in a veggie, if it is too veggie tasting, I throw in some fruit. I made Mike and I each a glass of orange, apple, carrot and celery juice to have this morning before we left for work. After we cleaned up the dishes (which is probably the worst part about the juicer), we headed to bed.

I fell asleep really quickly last night and woke up at 5 already feeling refreshed. When I woke up again at 6:20, to leave for the gym, I was in good spirits. I drank my juice on the car ride to the gym, and definitely felt energized. It is pretty sad that when I came downstairs to leave this morning, Mike's first words to me were "Oh, you aren't bringing a pillow and blanket for the car ride?" haha.

I plan on making another batch tonight for tomorrow morning and hope to get another good cardio work out in, along with arms and abs.

Mike is giving dry beans another try today, so he soaked some white beans all night and then threw them in the crock pot this morning. I hope they turn out good because I am really excited to make some rosemary braised white beans tonight. As long as they do, I will post the recipe tomorrow!

Recent Eats:

Leftover Spicy Pineapple Chicken and Rice

Energy Ball

Have a good day!

Yesterday's Stats:
Calories (-) 9
Sodium (+) 369
Protein (+) 4

where are you, Motivation?

Source

People, my cardio mojo is still lost...  I am starting to get a bit frustrated. I haven't done any type of cardio since last Friday. Even though I would have liked to stay in bed this morning, Mike forced me to get up. I had planned on just doing cardio today, no weights or other work outs to get in the way. That was a big, fat, FAIL!

Well, I got to the gym, jumped on the treadmill, and realized my shoe was feeling loose. So I stopped and tightened my laces. While I was doing that, I decided, why not try a different cardio machine to see if that will shake things up a bit. I got on the stationary bike and started pedaling... nope... no fun. Actually, within seconds I remembered why I hate any other cardio machine out there. Back to the treadmill. Ran for 2 minutes, felt exhausted, like I had just finished a marathon (side note, I have never finished a marathon, so you can imagine just how tired I felt, for no reason at all). Slowed down to a fast paced walk and increased my incline to try to compensate. Still not feeling it. Tried to run again, and felt as if my legs were one thousand pounds each... back to walking. Finally, I just quit. I figured it would do me no good to half-ass a cardio session, so I might as well do something that I know will get my heart going and end with me feeling good about myself.

I decided to spend my gym time on legs. It is time for it in my rotation, so it isn't like I didn't need it. And I worked pretty hard at my lunges and squats and ended up feeling really worked after, so at least I can be happy with my work out. But, I am just so annoyed that I can't seem to get any cardio in. I can't figure out why I have no desire to run, when normally I am excited about it. I still have a lot of motivation to work out, and have gotten in a good weight work out every day, but I just don't feel like doing cardio... Why???

I have decided to break down the most common reasons why people lose their motivation, in my opinion, to see if any could be the reason why I am lost right now.

• Time - I have been getting to the gym with plenty of time to get both cardio and weights in, so that is not the problem. We have also been staying in town this entire month, and plan to for the next month, so I don't feel like I am in a time crunch at all.
• Lack of Sleep - This is certainly not the problem. I can't figure out why I am even tired when I go to bed most nights between 9 and 10. I did work at the hospital last night, but I got off on time and was home and in bed by midnight. That is not that late, especially since I went to bed at roughly 8:45 on Monday night. 
• Injury - no injuries that I know of. I actually feel really great (body wise) and am feeling stronger with each of my work outs. 
• Poor Eating Habits - As you all can see each day, I have been right on track with what I want to be consuming when it comes to calories, sodium, and protein. One thing that I may need to do is to evaluate my nutrients to make sure I am getting enough. Maybe I could start taking a multivitamin or maybe I need to start making veggie and fruit juices again. We have a pretty stocked fridge right now, so maybe that will give me the energy I need. I haven't changed what I am eating lately, so I don't know why just this week I feel so run down, but I think I will give that a shot.
• Plateau - I am right in the smack middle of a plateau, which is pretty normal for me to feel a little unmotivated. The scale is staying the same, and on some days, it is even creeping up. But, I know my body pretty well, and I know that this is just part of the journey. My clothes fit better, I feel slimmer, and others notice my body changes, so I know it will swing back. I feel like that makes me MORE motivated if nothing else.
• Challenge - This is another area that I think could be an issue. When I am not feeling challenged, I seem to let go a little bit. Right now I am itching to get outside, go running on a trail, or try something new (like the recent basketball exercise I have been doing), but I know it is too cold (for me) to go outside, and I am not sure my basketball exercise will give me the same result as running does. I need some kind of change up to my normal routine, I just need to figure out what. Since obviously the stationary bike was not the solution. 
• Making Excuses - This one is definitely hitting right on the nose. See the bullet above this one? Yeah, that would be excuses. I make excuses that I can't run outside because it is too cold, or I don't have the proper clothing... but I really just need to do it. I am just such a wimp (<----- another excuse). 

I definitely think it helps to have those all out there. Now I can see the areas that maybe I can focus on and make a change. I hope that Mike will join me at the gym starting tomorrow, since he has had to go to work early this week. That might be helpful to have him there to push me and snap out of this rut.

Sorry for a boring rant post today. I am hoping tomorrow will be better. If anyone has any good motivational tips for me, please send them my way!

I am making those tacos again tonight... yes THOSE tacos. I just can't get enough. And, my friend Lindsay made them last night and sent me a text about how good they were, so now I have to have more. :)

Yesterday's Stats:
Calories (+) 76
Sodium (-) 84
Protein (-) 2

Spicy Pineapple Chicken

I am not sure what is going on, but I am in a funk. I feel grumpy and lazy, and very tired. Plus, I seem to have lost my cardio mo-jo.

Yesterday, I had to stop myself from taking a nap in the gym parking lot instead of working out, and today, I dragged out my back and ab work out so that I wouldn't have to get on the treadmill. What is wrong with me lately?? I usually really enjoy the cardio portion of my workouts, but so far this week, I have been avoiding them like the plague. I hope I snap out of it soon, because I could use a good sweat session about now.

I have to sign up to be "on call" at the hospital for 8 hours every 2 months (I split mine up in 2 - 4 hour shifts). Usually, when you are on call, you have a pretty slim chance of being called in, because the hospital tries to avoid paying the premium wage for nurses who are called in. Lately, since my floor has been short, we have been called in every time. Tonight, I am on call.  At 9:15 am, I was called in. Blah... I just have to keep reminding myself that working these shifts will get me to Sin City, Mehiko, and Beantown this summer. It will all be worth it.

Last night's dinner turned out pretty good. I made up my own sauce to cook the chicken in and it complimented the pineapple perfectly. I may have went a little too heavy on the crushed red pepper, since Mike started coughing when he took his first bite from the heat, but it's a learning process. He and I both thought the flavor was really good.

Spicy Pineapple Chicken with Rice
Serves 2-4

2 large chicken breasts, trimmed and cut in half
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
2 tablespoons soy sauce (I use light for the lower sodium)
2 tablespoons sweet chili sauce
2 tablespoons wasabi teriyaki
2 teaspoons crushed red pepper (to taste)
4 pineapple rings (fresh or canned)

2 cups cooked brown rice

Cook brown rice as directed. Set aside. Preheat oven to 375 F.  Combine everything except the chicken and rice in a baking dish using a whisk. You can taste it to see if the flavor is enough and then add more seasoning or sauce if needed. Add in the chicken after coating both sides with the sauce.  Bake covered for 20 minutes, flip and then bake another 10 minutes. Place a pineapple ring on each piece of chicken and spoon sauce over pineapple and chicken. Bake another 10 minutes. Serve over rice.

Easy and yummy dinner. :)

I think tomorrow I will try to go to the gym and only do cardio. Maybe like 45 min worth... I guess it will just depend on how my night goes tonight. I need to get out of this funk, and get positive, otherwise, I am in for a loooonng week.

Have a good day everyone!

Yesterday's Stats:
Calories (+) 142
Sodium (-) 1
Protein (+) 11

Cardio Change Up

I feel like I am running on fumes, y'all. I am so tired, and soooo unmotivated. I hope tomorrow is a better day.  I probably have the beverages I consumed yesterday during the Pats game to blame... but oh well.

This weekend was busy, to say the least. My cousin was in town, so we went out to dinner after work on Friday and then out for a few drinks with friends. Saturday morning, we woke up and headed to Fayetteville for my other cousin's soccer game. It was so nice catching up with my cousins, Aunt, and my mom (who randomly was also in Fayetteville).

We had planned to go out with some friends on Saturday night, but by the time we got back home, we were cold and tired, and didn't feel like going out. We did decide to meet a few of them out for dinner at Chuck's, a burger restaurant we have been really wanting to try.

Chuck's was great. It had very simple designs, furniture and menu. It was very reasonably priced for a "boutique burger restaurant" and I will definitely be going back. We really loved it.

Our table split their Belgian Fries with several of the dipping sauces, my favorite was the Sweet Chili and Malt Vinegar Aioli. The fries were thick and crispy, and the sauces had amazing flavor.

For my burger, I had the Spirit Animal and it was so good. I love cream cheese on anything, so I was totally down with trying it on a burger. It wasn't too spicy, but had enough kick to satisfy my palette. This is the 5oz chuck, which is their "smaller" burger. It was plenty for me.

One of my friends, Jessica, also got a milkshake. It was peanut butter and banana, and it was so incredible. I had a taste and wished I would have gotten one myself. She had bourbon added to it, but no one could taste it.

Chuck's is definitely a place I will be going back to. Their menu is not extensive, but I want to try everything on it!

After eating, we headed to Fox's Liquor Bar, which is owned by the same person who owns Chuck's. So far, Mike and I have been a huge fan of all of her restaurants, so we figured Fox's would be no different.

Fox's was pretty impressive. It was a bar with nothing but small tables, couches and round-table areas, with a smaller bar. It was very intimate feeling and the drink menu was interesting, in a good way. It was also very expensive. Mike and I each had one drink, and then headed home. I rolled with a simple glass of wine, but Mike got an old fashioned.

Jessica got some type of complicated mixed drink, I can't remember what it was called, but it was very pretty, and she said it was tasty.

It definitely looked tasty! They had some pretty interesting things on the menu, one of them being absinthe. Apparently absinthe has a very different presentation, where you allow ice water to slowly drop over a sugar cube to sweeten it perfectly. It looked like crack rock to us, so we had a lot of fun making fun of it. Too bad I didn't snap a picture, but it would have been awkward, since it wasn't one of our drinks.

After church yesterday, we had some people over to watch the Patriots play the Ravens. Mike is a huge Patriots fan, so I have become one as well. Thankfully, the Pats barely beat the Ravens and will now be going to the Super Bowl. Mike was very happy about this...

Gym Happenings
I ate pretty unhealthy this past weekend, and never had a chance to get a work out in. Since I had gone every day last week, I didn't feel too bad about it, but I knew I needed to get to they gym this morning. I had zero motivation this morning and honestly thought about taking a snooze in my car in they gym parking lot.

Somehow, I forced myself to get inside, but I had no interest in running on the treadmill. Geez... when is the weather going to get warmer so I can go back outside to run??!! It sucks it is only January still... Instead of running, I decided to play basketball by myself.

I actually played basketball when I was younger and for my high school in Virginia before we moved to North Carolina. It is one of the only sports I really enjoyed and was actually good at. Mike and I played one on one recently and I remembered just how hard you have to run and just how good of a work out it is to play.

I made up a fun game to play by myself. My hand-eye coordination is not quite what it used to be, so I am pretty bad at lay ups these days. I challenged myself to run down the court, dribbling, go for a lay up, and if I scored, I made free throws until I missed. That was my break. Otherwise, I had to keep running from basket to basket, attempting lay ups. Let's just say I did a lot of running back and forth today...

Sometimes, you just have to switch it up to keep yourself going. I could have stayed in bed, or napped in my car, but I made up a fun cardio session, and got the work out done. Even if it wasn't pretty, it got done.

Food Stuff
This past weekend's GoLocal produce delivery did not disappoint. Mushrooms (in the brown bag), radishes, celery, carrots, pears, apples, bananas, garlic, red onion, roma tomatoes, and a poblano pepper. We still have a ton of oranges and apples left from last week's delivery, so we are going to have to do some juicing to get through it. Our veggie and fruit crisper drawers are full to the brim! I love it!

We also still have our pineapple from last week's delivery, so we are using that up tonight. I have Googled my butt off for a recipe using chicken and pineapple, but none sound like what I want, so I am going to attempt a recipe on my own. Sometimes these recipes are great, sometimes, they are awful. Let's hope for a great one!

Purple Cabbage Slaw-some

It's FRIDAY! We all know it is my favorite day of the work week. :)

Let me just tell you how awesome dinner was last night. I was skeptical of the combination of this recipe, so I didn't have too high of hopes, but it was total amazeballs.

After getting our GoLocal produce box last week, I knew I wanted to incorporate the purple cabbage into some type of taco meal. After some Google searching, I found a recipe from one of the foodie blogs that I had seen before - Joy the Baker. And, after tasting the recipe I made from her blog last night, I am adding her to my reader STAT!

We made Joy's Black Bean and Sweet Potato Tacos. Such a simple concept, and definitely something similar to what I have made before, but the combination of flavors, textures, and ingredients was like hitting the taste bud jackpot.

Mike added some sauteed spinach to his

I wasn't sure I would be a fan of the raw cabbage slaw on my warm, soft, bean and sweet potato taco, but it was unbelievable. I wasn't sure Mike would get over the fact that I put cilantro in this dish, since he hates that herb with a passion (why??), but he loved it. I wasn't sure I was even hungry when I went to build my second, enormous taco, but I knew that I hadn't had enough of that flavor.

These tacos had an amazing taste - lots of lime, cilantro, onion, and red pepper flakes, but the texture and combination were so good. The crunch of the cabbage, chew of the sweet potatoes, and mush of the black beans were a great combination. The best part? Lots and lots of leftovers. :) My company ordered pizza for everyone today, but I am seriously considering skipping the free meal and just eating my leftovers... but I rarely pass on a free meal. I can always have the tacos later.

Gym Time
My cousin made it into town pretty late last night, so I didn't get to bed until after 11:30. I feel pretty tired today, but I made it to the gym to get in a 30 minute cardio sesh. I attempted to skip, but made myself go since I am not sure I will be able to go tomorrow. We are going to watch my other cousin play soccer tomorrow morning and we will probably try to hang out with her and my Aunt for a while after the game. A gym trip may not be in the cards, but we'll see.

I think tonight we might hang out or maybe go out for dinner and drinks... I guess we are just going to play this weekend by ear.

Have a great weekend everyone!!

Yesterday's Stats:
Calories (+) 105
Sodium (+) 673
Protein (-) 8