The Return of Dry Beans

Apparently my failed attempts at making dry beans made it to one of Mike's colleagues, Anne, who made a few suggestions. I have always tried the "quick soak" method which involves boiling the dry beans for 1 hour with the lid on, and then cooking per normal instructions. The "long soak" method involves leaving your beans in water overnight, and then cooking them in a crock pot all day. Anne told Mike that she has had success doing the long soak before so we decided to give it a try.

Mike took over this task since I had given up. He followed Anne's instructions and let the beans soak in water over night after rinsing them off. The next day, he drained the water, rinsed them off, and then put them in the slow cooker. He added water to cover all the beans and then left them on low all day. At the end of the day, they were soft and moist, perfect for seasoning of any kind.

I split them up into several glass containers and we have been using them in all kinds of dishes. We just dump them in a pan, add our seasonings and some water, and heat up. Perfect. Thanks, Anne, for bringing the dry beans back into our life! I have bags of pinto and white beans that I plan to try out next. :)

Yesterday Eats
For lunch yesterday, I had some leftover roasted vegetables and a greek yogurt.

Before heading into the hospital, I shoved a peanut butter sandwich in my mouth and then ate an energy ball  when I got out of work. By the way, while I was making a batch of energy balls last weekend, I decided to calculate the calories, sodium, and protein old school style to make sure I was getting the right information. I made one batch which left me with around 18 individual energy balls.  After my calculations, I came out with 113 calories per ball with 2 g of protein and 23 mg of sodium in each one. That is really not bad for a before the gym or mid morning snack. At least now we know. :)

Gym Time

Today, I made it to the gym (yawning) and did a full leg work out. Since I wasn't very sore from my 7 exercises last week, I decided to up my reps a little. I did all 7 leg exercises with 10 reps instead of 8. I usually try to go low on the reps with legs, since I am usually paying for it the next few days, but hopefully with a good stretch, I will be alright.

In case you are interested in what I did:

• Lunges - across the group fitness room, 3 sets of 10 using 15 lbs weight in each hand
• Squats - 3 sets of 10 using 40 lbs on the bar
• Leg Press - 3 sets of 10 with 90 lbs weights added
• Backwards leg curl (you know the thing where you lay on your stomach and bring your feet to your butt?) - 3 sets of 10 - 45 lbs weight
• Thigh and Glueteal Curls (sitting machine where you either extend your legs straight or bend them down) - 3 sets of 10 each - 50 lbs weight
• Calf raises - 3 sets of 15, start with feet pointing in a 90 degree angle, raise up on calves slowly, hold for 5-10 seconds, lower back down slowly. 

Then I did 3 30 second planks on the balance ball - these things are NO JOKE!- and side bends with 15 lbs weights. I got in a 10 minute stretch for my legs and called it a day. 

I hope everyone has a great Thursday!

Yesterday's Stats:
Calories (+) 139
Sodium (-) 1019 (!!!!!!!! as I am sure my calculator is a little off, that is still awesome!!!!)
Protein (-) 7