fish bones

Have you ever bought fish with the bone still in it? Did you have any idea what to do at that point?

Mike went to the store earlier this week and decided to buy a salmon steak, which I attempted to make last night for dinner. When I took it out of the deli package, there was a bone still in it. Yuck...

I tried to cut the salmon out of the bone and skin, which kind of just grossed me out. I've decided I really don't like making fish at home. I love ordering it and eating it when someone else makes it, but I am a big baby when it comes to cooking it myself. I also never feel like it is cooked enough either, so it usually turns out gross by the time I am finished.

Once I finally got this thing de-boned and de-skinned, I used a sweet and spicy rub and then broiled it. I used a recipe from eatliverun since I had all the ingredients on hand, and it seemed super simple. It was a very easy recipe to put together, and the flavor was pretty good. I just worried the whole time that it wasn't cooked well enough.

Luckily, I made a monster side of sauteed veggies, which I piled high on my plate. I used green cabbage, yellow peppers, onions, and my new favorite - Swiss Chard, with some olive oil and sea salt and pepper.

I loved the veggies, they were perfectly wilted, but with plenty of crunch.

After eating dinner, I remained on the couch, doing my yearly training requirements for the hospital until Mike got home. I am such a party animal.

This morning I headed out for a run, but I really didn't have a lot of time. My legs were pretty tired from yesterday's run, so I took today really easy and slow. I would actually call it more of a jog than a run. The weather was much cooler, and I really just wanted to stretch my legs out and get in some form of exercise today.

I came back to the house, showered, and then headed back out the door for work. I grabbed a glass of chocolate milk (chocolate sun warrior, skim milk) for the drive in, since my stomach was growling before I even woke up this morning.

We have another pretty busy weekend with me working at the hospital a little bit and going to a retirement party for a friend in Greenville. Sunday we will be going to church, then to a luncheon, then back to the house to clean and get ready for lots of visitors that are coming for Easter.

I hope you all have a great weekend!

Yesterday's Stats:
Calories (-) 282
Sodium (+) 213
Protein (-) 2

trial run

I'm back!

The last 2 days have been very long and busy, so I am really glad to be back to my normal schedule. Yesterday, my day started at 6:00 am and I worked until 6:00 pm. It was such a long day. I came home yesterday, immediately changed into my pajamas, and then vegged out on the couch until I went to bed at roughly 8:45 pm. I don't think I was awake past 9:00.

I woke up this morning around 7:30, thanks to some hyper dogs playing around my bedroom. Unfortunately, Mike had to go back to his hometown for a funeral, so he wasn't there this morning, so I was on my own.

So, for the past 2 days, I have been back and forth between a few buildings, eating complete crap, and getting through some boring, but needed training.

On Tuesday, after a run on the treadmill, I had a yogurt parfait for breakfast with greek yogurt, thawed out cherries and berries, and pumpkin flax granola. I also had some thawed out mango chunks on the side.

In between breakfast and lunch, I probably had 3 or 4 spoonfuls of chocolate chip cookie dough almond butter, which reminds me... take that jar of almond butter home so I can't snack on it all day!

I rode over to the training with a co-worker, and we decided to grab some lunch on the way. We ended up at Chick-Fil-A, which tasted amazing, but was certainly not the best choice for me. Later on in the day, I needed a chocolate fix to pick me up, so I got some Peanut M&Ms from the vending machine.

We were promised breakfast yesterday morning since we had to be at training so early. The only option was donuts, so I decided not to partake. Instead, I had a banana and some cheese and whole grain crackers to tide me over until lunch. By the time our lunch arrived, I was starving!

The lunch that was ordered was from Bear Rock Cafe, which is one of my fave cafes that I used to frequent while in college. I haven't been to one in years, so I was pretty excited about having a sandwich yesterday. They just ordered several items from the menu and allowed everyone to choose what they wanted. I went with the Colorado Turkey, which was basically a turkey club with raspberry chutney on a flat bread. It was really good, but after looking at the nutrition facts, I will probably not be ordering that again. I ended up just eating half the sandwich, and saved the other half for today's lunch.

It has a TON of sodium, and the calories were pretty high as well. Oh well, I guess as long as it is only every once in a while, I can manage.

My dinner last night was simple, but delicious. I wanted dinner to be easy, so I could get to bed early and get some TV time in as well. I made 2 eggs with a side of sauteed vegetables. Swiss chard, yellow bell pepper, onions, and tomato. It was awesome. I think I have found a new vegetable love as well - swiss chard. It was so good! I actually liked it better than spinach, which spinach has always been a favorite of mine, so that is pretty impressive. It has a really good flavor, and it was really tasty sauteed.

I meant to have my eggs over medium, so I could use the yolk as a sauce of sorts. They broke while I was cooking them, but there was still plenty of yolk by the time I sat down to eat, so it turned out fine. I also had a piece of honey wheat toast to load up with eggs and veggies. 

I was feeling pretty crappy about not working out at all yesterday, so I went for a run this morning after taking care of the dogs. I took a big chance by allowing Franklin to stay out of his cage while I was gone. We try to allow him these "trial runs" to see if he is getting anywhere near the point of being able to stay out of the cage. I made sure all the cords and paper were up off the floor, closed all the doors upstairs and to the bathroom downstairs, and tried to hide anything I thought he might get into. Then I headed out the door, telling him (and Deluca) to be good.

I had a great run this morning. It wasn't as fast as I would have liked, but the weather was amazing. I had the Avril Lavigne Pandora station blaring in my head phones, since I enjoy listening to man hater, chick music when I really need to get myself moving, and it was working pretty well.

I did a hilly 4 miles and then a nice cool down walk, just as I remembered Franklin being out of the cage.

Considering I was only gone for 40 minutes, I would say he isn't quite ready to be sans cage anytime soon. This rug normally sits in our foyer, and he dragged it out into the living room, probably to tease Deluca with it. I am sure Deluca just shook his head, without giving any kind of warning what kind of trouble he would be in when I got home.

Franklin doesn't take scolding very well. If you yell at him, he pees. So I try not to yell at him in the house. Then again, if I yell at him outside, of course he doesn't pee. I brought the rug outside to yell at him, he tucked his tail for a second, but then came running back over to me, wagging his tail, hoping I would pet him. He is such a crazy dog. Good thing that rug wasn't expensive!

 
Mike Update:

Since I know you are all probably wondering how Mike has been doing on his weight loss, I figured I would give you a little update. He is doing really well and has lost quite a bit since starting everything. He attempted a juice fast this week, which I find a little extreme, but he had to cut it short due to heading back home yesterday.  But, even without me there to push, he sent me an awesome picture from a run he went on this morning with his friends. I am really proud of him and hopes he keeps it up!

Yesterday's Stats - they aren't pretty

Calories (+) 1116
Sodium (+) 1786
Protein (+) 8

interesting reads.

Hey there!

I am in a 2 day training for work, so there will be no blog posts until Thursday... I know you are all so sad... 

Hopefully, I will have lots to say on Thursday! In the meantime, here are a few interesting articles that I read today. 

FitDay - 8 Powerhouse Foods You Should Be Eating--> some of my favorite foods!

FitDay - 10 Easy Steps to Weight Loss--> this is actually one of the methods that I follow when plating my food.

Chocolate Eating Linked to Lower BMI --->>> I like the sound of this!!

Enjoy!

Have a great few days!!!

fun with food, family, friends, and flamingos

Haaaay! This past weekend was a blast, but boy was I tired! I slept for 12 hours last night, and I believe I could have slept longer if a certain puppy dog would have just laid down and kept quiet... oh well.

Where do I begin?


We actually arrived in D.C. at a reasonable time on Friday, right around 8:30 pm. We had planned to just pay for parking all weekend, because I have spent too many of my precious hours searching for parking in that city, that I will never, ever get back. But, as we were driving to the parking garage, there were several FREE spots along the road... SCORE!

We headed to my best friend's apartment and freshened up. Then we went just a block down from her place to get dinner. Didi (my friend) suggested Tortilla Coast, since it had good food and was really convenient to her place.

We started with the standard chips, salsa, and an order of their fresh made guacamole.

Didi and I also ordered some sparkling sangria, which was awesome.

I ended up getting the veggie enchiladas which were topped with avocado and full of sauteed squash, zuchinni, and beans.

After dinner, we headed to a nearby bar where we each had 1 drink before heading home. The bar we went to had an incredible beer list, so I got a brown ale, which was great.

My bff has always been in shape, but she has been doing yoga for a while now and this chick is seriously buff. She is hot stuff! I might need to start incorporating a little yoga into my life after seeing what it has done for her.

Saturday morning, Didi and I got up and did a running tour of her neighborhood in D.C. Mike wanted to join, but since he packed himself for the weekend, he had forgotten any running clothes, so he stayed behind and showered. The weather was the perfect temperature, but it was quite foggy. The run felt great, but my pictures only came out so so. I was just so glad for a change in scenery. I barely noticed that 3.5 miles had gone by, since I had so much to take in of my surroundings.

Of course we also ran by Didi's neighbor's house.. who happens to be Mr. Obama himself...

After our run, we came back to the apartment, showered and got ready for the day. Mike and I then headed to Northern Virginia, to my sister's house, where she was throwing an incredible party for a very handsome 2 year old.

My sister had made quite the food spread and everything was so adorable!

My other nephew was also there, and so was my little princess niece... always acting out some Rapunzel scene.

I had a plateful of the delicious party food, which was really tasty.

We could only stay at the party for a few hours, because we had to be back in DC for an engagement party for another friend of mine. I didn't get any pictures on my iPhone of the engagement party, but it was a lot of fun. We had a great night with friends, catching up and celebrating a very happy couple.

The entire party headed to get a casual dinner afterward, so I ended up having Mexican 2 days in a row. Luckily, the second night, Mike got me grilled veggie and chicken tacos, which I ended up just eating everything out of the taco shell. It just seemed to taste better that way.

We had a few more drinks, hung out with more friends, had a late night cheeseburger, and then finally headed to bed around 2 am. We slept in pretty late (gasp... 9 am) on Sunday, grabbed breakfast with my family and then headed home to our pups. We spent the entire afternoon and evening on the couch, until we made a spaghetti dinner and headed to bed very early. What a busy, but fun weekend.

When we woke up this morning, we saw that a flock of flamingos had made their way to our front yard. Our church does this every year, and you have the opportunity to buy "flamingo insurance" so that your house doesn't get hit, but we forgot to ever buy any. Which meant this:

I secretly sort of love them, and want to keep them. :)

Have a great week!

I lied...

Definitely went out for lunch today...

As soon as Mike sent me an e-mail asking if I wanted to join some of his co-workers for lunch at one of favorite spots, I couldn't the 'heck yes' onto a reply fast enough.

I also definitely had a brownie.

Hey, rules were meant to be broken, right?

off to DC!

Yipee for Friday! I hope this day speeds right along, so we can get on the road to D.C. We will be spending the weekend in our nation's capitol to visit some friends and family. We have my nephew's 2nd birthday party on Saturday and then we head straight to an engagement party after. We will be staying with one of my best friends while we are there, so I am excited to catch up with everyone!

Mike, my friend, and I are planning to get up tomorrow to do a fun run around the monuments and such before we head to my nephew's birthday party. I always get really excited when I get to change up our scenery and course a bit. Hopefully I can snap some great pictures along the way. My friend is mapping out a good course so that we can do a mini tour along our run as well. We have been to DC a million times, but it will be fun to see it from a different view.

Lately, I have been really wanting to go out to eat. I think the weather and busy schedule I have had, just make me want to ditch the kitchen and leftovers, and go out and grab lunch outside. I have tried to remain in control though, since we will be eating out and probably not our best for the next few days. I have stuck to homemade meals and packed lunches, so that I can have a little wiggle room this weekend. :)

--

Yesterday's lunch was a really good, but pretty simple chicken salad. We have a bunch of leftover chicken from Sunday night's unhealthy dinner, so I have been topping my salads and such with that lately. The chicken has a cracker coating (that I tried to brush the majority off), so it made for an almost fried chicken salad taste. Really yummy!

I used a Caesar vinaigrette dressing, and it was a great flavor combination.  I am having pretty much the same thing for lunch today.

This morning's breakfast was grapefruit (thanks to Mike) and a piece of honey wheat toast with chocolate chip cookie dough almond butter.

I am already starting to get hungry for lunch, so I might have to make that happen here shortly. Am I the only one who tries to wait as long as possible to eat lunch so that the rest of your day speeds by? I am going to leave a little early today, so I think I can manage on an earlier lunch.

I hope everyone has a great weekend!!

Yesterday's Stats:
Calories (-) 182
Sodium (+) 280
Protein (+) 45 !!

he's back!

This week has been pretty rough. Not for any real reason other than the fact that I have been so busy and haven't gotten a quality work out in since last weekend. I am feeling like I am in a mini funk, although this time, I have the desire to get out and get moving, I seriously just haven't had the time.

Look who is home!!!

All sun burnt and golfey looking.

Last night I thought I would be able to sneak in a run as soon as I got home from work, but once I got there, I was just too excited to see Mike to leave. Plus, he already had dinner on the grill and I didn't want to miss having dinner with everyone.

Mike grilled some chicken cheese burgers for his dad and I. He spiced up the ground chicken with some jalapeno, onions, seasonings, and oatmeal. They were delicious. He also baked some sweet potato fries on the side.

I was so glad I didn't have to cook last night. I was so exhausted from working late on Tuesday, and I had some extra work I had to get done after dinner so I spent a few hours last night studying for a skills check off that I am going to at the hospital tonight. It is pretty boring, and I will be glad to get it over with.

We headed to bed pretty early, since the guys were worn out from golfing and the sun, and I was just plain tired. The pups were pretty excited to see Mike as well, but Deluca would never let you know that. He plays such a tough guy, but we all know he was bursting with excitement.

One little guy did not keep his excitement hidden. He laid on top of Mike for a while and then just sat there, letting Mike pet him for as long as possible.

--

So I forgot to tell you all that Mike planted us a garden over the weekend! I am so excited to grow some of our own veggies and can't wait for them to actually come in. We had made 3 above ground garden beds last summer, out of some leftover wood from our fence. Mike went out and got some of the veggies last week and planted them on Saturday. So far, they are looking pretty good!

He planted brussel sprouts and romaine lettuce in this planter:

and red cabbage and cauliflower in this one:

We plan on adding sweet potatoes to the 3rd planter and then hopefully we can get some tomatoes growing as well. I can't wait to eat one of our home grown vegetables!

We have lots to do tonight with getting packed up to go out of town tomorrow and me having to go to that skills thing tonight. We are going to DC tomorrow, so maybe I can get a run in on Saturday around the capitol, that would be fun!

Yesterday's Stats:

Calories (-) 242
Sodium (+) 1001
Protein (+) 12