roasted veggie and basil chicken

Mike and I have been having a hard time coming up with meals lately. Usually, I have plenty of time to research and make up ideas during the day, but lately, I haven't had a plan before the drive home.

Yesterday, I had taken out some chicken so that we could make something with that, but I wasn't in the mood for a simple piece of grilled chicken with veggies and a starch on the side. After a quick survey of our fridge and pantry, I just started throwing some stuff together that actually turned out really awesome.

After chopping up some veggies, I threw the onions and a few cloves of garlic in a pan along with some olive oil. I let each of those soften up a bit before I added the chicken until it was cooked through.

While that was all going, I coated the rest of the veggies in olive oil and sea salt, and roasted them in the oven for about 30 minutes until they were tender.

Once the chicken was cooked through, I added a little sea salt, pepper, chopped sweet basil (from Mike's garden), 2 tablespoons of skim milk, 1 oz of cream cheese, 1 tablespoon of plain greek yogurt, and about a tablespoon of grated parmesan cheese to the chicken and allowed to simmer and thicken up.

After everything was finished, I put the chicken over some cooked quinoa and added the veggies.

It was really rich and creamy with a ton of flavor. I had the rest for lunch today and it was just as good as last night. I love when a meal comes together well!

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I didn't get a run in today, since I woke up to pouring rain outside. I have absolutely zero interest in running on a treadmill these days, so I will try again for tomorrow morning. I really need to get on it, since I ate pretty awful last weekend and am still feeling heavy from it.

Hope everyone had a good day!

100 miles

Hey there! I am going to try my hardest to post everyday this week, but I have a lot on my plate, so we will see if that happens. :)

I know I have been running long before March 5, but that is the day that I used the Nike+ GPS app for the first time. Since then, I have been hitting the pavement with that app and it slowly counted up all the miles I have completed. On Friday morning, when Mike and I went for a pre-work run, I hit the big one.

In a little over 2 months, I put 100 miles on these legs of mine. That is certainly something I can be proud of. :)

We ran the route over by his work and decided to reverse it this time. Bad move by me. The hills were 10x worse going the opposite direction that we usually go. It was rough.

We only did 3 miles, since we both planned to get a long run in on Saturday up in Virginia. We headed to Virginia Beach on Friday night after work to celebrate Mike's sister, Haylie, and her fiance, Tim, at their wedding shower.

Saturday morning, Mike, Haylie, Tim, Jay (our friend), and I headed out early in the morning to go for a run. Or in Haylie's case, a "blading session."

Mike and Jay made a lot of fun of her for roller blading, but she took it pretty well. At least she came with us!

We went running along the waterfront of Virginia Beach and it was so gorgeous. Running is so much easier when there are new and exciting things to look at and take pictures of. :)

Along our run, we went past an aquarium so, of course, I had to stop in to see the seals.

It was awesome to see them swimming around in the open tank. They are so adorable!

Since Haylie and I stopped to see the seals, the boys left us. It was fine with me since they had planned to run 11 miles that day and I only wanted to get in 5. When we got to the aquarium we were right around 3 miles, so Haylie and I turned around and headed to the boardwalk to finish up.

We ran along the boardwalk for a little while before we finally hit 5 miles. Then we enjoyed the beach for a few minutes.

It was quite windy, so I was getting pelted by sand in order to get this picture. When I got home, I had sand all throughout my scalp.  Oh the things to get a blog photo...

It was a really fun run and I am so glad the weather allowed for us to enjoy it. It was nice to catch up with my sister in law too.

We did about a 2 mile walk after this to get back to the car, so my legs were nice and stretched by the time we got home. I actually wasn't sore at all on Sunday either.

When we got home, I had to rush to get ready so I could help set up for the shower at one of Haylie's friend's houses. I was in charge of the chalkboard signs and paper poms, so once I was dressed, I hurried over there to get started. Those poms take forever to puff out!

The backyard was perfect for hanging poms from the trees and everything turned out so nice. The food was also amazing. The party was thrown by myself and two of Haylie's bridesmaids and I think we did an awesome job.

Those spicy thai noodles were banging. Yesterday, after we got home, I couldn't get them out of my head, so I tried to re-create them with stuff I had on hand in the house. They didn't even come close to tasting like the noodles at the party, but they were still ok.

Since Tim's family is from England, we tried to sneak in at least one element for their sake. The host of the party found a recipe for a traditional drink that is called "Pimm's Cup." It uses Pimm's gin and fruit juice, along with fresh fruit, mint, and rosemary to make a sangria-like drink. It was really tasty.

The favors were mason jars, so I had mine in one of those. There is something about a drink in a mason jar that just makes me so happy. Especially being outside with paper poms hanging all around.

The party was a lot of fun and I think the bride and groom really enjoyed themselves. We had a blast getting to know their friends and hanging out with the family.

Of course, Mike and I had to get a photo together. It is mandatory.

We all passed out at roughly 9:30 pm after the party. Running + a few drinks + entertaining others = exhausted.  Oh, and I forgot to mention we had to clean up a huge mess from my little puppy dog who decided he didn't want to stay in his cage while we were at the party all day. He somehow wedged himself out of his cage and tore up the entire house. Needless to say when we went out for lunch on Sunday, we had to get creative.

Little punk...

Have a good week!

and we're back.

I haven't been to bed before 11, my Google reader has over 100 posts unread, and you poor people haven't had the privilege of seeing my meals and post work out photos since Monday... I know, it is a travesty.

I wish I could tell you something really exciting is going on in my life that has kept me from this place... but, I don't. Work has been crazy lately and my free time at home has been anything but free. Between working at the hospital last night, crafting for my sister in law's bridal shower that I am assisting in hosting on Saturday, and all the other random errands I have been running, I haven't had a moment to blog.

I miss g-chatting with friends, reading blogs, and e-mailing my sister and husband. My days feel like they are minutes lately and each time I look at the clock it is almost time to go home... to start on some diy project that I should have done months ago to prepare for this shower... oh, procrastination!

Lucky for you, I decided to take some time away from the things that I should be doing to compose a quick blog post to let you know what I have been up to. Even with all the craziness at work, I have done a pretty good job of getting out for runs and to the gym.

Monday night, we headed to our bible study group for casserole night. I had to hold back a little on this one, since casseroles are such sodium filled meals, but I had a little of each type and then ate a salad to finish me off.

On Tuesday morning, Mike and I went running around his building. I did not have a very good run, but we finished it, 3 whole miles. 

Tuesday night, we made the best chicken nuggets ever with some roasted sweet and red potato wedges.

Right after eating, Mike and I spent the next 3 hours making paper tissue poms for his sister's shower. Mike completely sucked at doing this, btw. He is pretty handy, but ask him to fold a stack of tissue paper in an accordion and he starts acting like a 5 year old who was just asked to clean his room. Goodness. Wish I would have gotten photo documentation of the poms he made, but I just wanted to get to bed.

We woke up Wednesday and Mike headed to work and I went to the gym. I told you all the other day about how I am following an app on my phone for a pretty good ab workout, so I did that when I got to the gym, along with some push ups.

Mike is doing the 100 Push Ups plan and asked if I wanted to join him. Apparently you follow the plan every other day until you can do 100 real push ups. Since I really want to tone my arms, armpits, and back area, I figure it wouldn't hurt. Plus, there is an app for that. :)

I also did a little foam rolling for my hamstrings... and creepy gym room picture taking.

We had planned to go for a 3 mile run after work on Wednesday too, but I didn't leave work on time and had to be at the hospital at 6:45, so we went and got some dinner instead.

Which also became my lunch today. :)

Breakfasts lately have been the grand return of overnight oats. My most common concoction lately: rolled oats, strawberry slices, chocolate protein powder, vanilla chobani, and skim milk. Left overnight in the fridge and then adding banana slices in the morning. So good!

Alrighty, y'all! I hope I can return to normal daily scheduling soon! If you want, you can check out my sister's blog, since she has been posting way more frequently than I have been. Her latest post talks about me naked... thrilling. :)

Yesterday's Stats:

Calories (+) 50
Sodium (+) 442
Protein (+) 30

the salty life

Hey, hey! Hope you are all having a great Monday so far.

I am still trying to get in the swing of things after a really crazy weekend. We were super busy all weekend long, and then spent all of Sunday relaxing on the couch after having a little too much fun on Saturday night.

Friday night's date night went really well and we totally indulged in way too many bad-for-us foods, which leads me to believe it is time to make a real change in my behavior on the weekends, but we will get to that in a minute.

We headed to dinner at BW3's for Mike's celebratory outing. We ordered beers, a fried appetizer, wings, and cheese covered potato wedges.

We sat outside so we could enjoy the beautiful weather, and I am glad we did since yesterday and today are FREEZING cold!

I ordered my favorite thing - traditional chicken wings with the salt and vinegar dry rub. We rarely go out to eat there, so I figured I might as well get my favorite thing.

When we headed to the movies, neither of us were hungry, but again, since we rarely go out to the movies, we thought it would be a good idea to get some movie theater popcorn with butter. We each had a good amount, but didn't even finish half of the small bag we ordered.

Side note - American Reunion was awesome... if you liked the other American Pie movies, you will like this one just as much. Totally cheesy, totally predictable, totally too much male genitalia shown on the big screen, but totally worth it. 2 butter covered thumbs up from me!

On Saturday morning, we got up, Mike headed to a work function, and I got ready for a bridal shower. We headed to Greenville as soon as he got home and I made it to the shower just a few minutes late. We decided to spend the night in Greenville, since it was also a friend's birthday, so we wanted to celebrate.

These pictures are from later in the night, but here I am with the bride to be and then another picture with one of my best friends, who also lives in Greenville. 

I indulged HEAVILY in some celebratory drinks and even drank liquor, which is a BIG no-no for me normally. I am just not a fan of liquor... this theory was further proven later that evening, when I had to sleep on the bathroom floor. Yikes.

We woke up Sunday feeling awful. Mike had ran 7 miles on Saturday while I went to the bridal shower, and he said he felt like it was for nothing after eating and boozing it up that night. I was not feeling good at all, so we spent the ENTIRE day on Sunday on the couch. Even though I was OK with this, since we really wanted to catch up on some TV, I did not like the hungover feeling of a queasy stomach, constantly hungry, and sadness. I haven't felt that way since Mexico, and it did not feel good.

Getting Personal

Normally, I would just chalk our weekend up to a wash and start fresh on Monday. We always eat really well during the week, and even mostly on the weekends, but this was just one of those times where we let it get out of hand. Normally, I would just let it slide, but, I was smacked in the face this morning with reality, so it is time to make some real changes about these every once in a while weekends.

I had a doctor's appointment this morning just to get my yearly physical. This is with my primary care doctor, so I had gone in a few weeks earlier to get my blood work drawn. The last time I went to the doctor, my cholesterol was all out of whack and I knew I had to make some changes to my diet.

When my doctor came into the room, we reviewed all of my blood work. My triglycerides (bad) were back in the normal range, when before they were elevated. My HDL (good) was too low before, but now was high, which is great. My LDL (bad) which was elevated before, was now really low, which is pretty awesome. He told me I was at the perfect weight for my height, and my BMI which used to be in the overweight category, is now in the normal category, which I already knew, but it was nice to hear from him. My pulse had dropped from the high 80s to the low 60s, which is a pretty direct correlation to the running.

The only thing that was not any better, and had actually gotten worse, was my blood pressure. I know I have touched on it before, but I have had issues with this in the past. I thought that I had a pretty good handle on it, since for the last few years, my blood pressure has been completely normal, but I guess not.

The first question my doctor asked me was, how much salt do you take in daily?

I immediately jumped into my purse, showed him mynetdiary and explained that I only allow myself 1500 mg of sodium per day... usually. As soon as those words came out of my mouth, my mind started racing through the salt and vinegar wings, cheese fries, popcorn, and beer on Friday, the deli sandwiches, cheese dip, and alcohol on Saturday, and the tortilla chips and salsa on Sunday. There was my answer.

Now, I am not saying that there isn't more to it than just sodium intake, because there absolutely is. I have a STRONG family history of high blood pressure, stroke, etc., which is why I have always been a little more concerned with it than most, but it is something that I really need to take more seriously. I guarantee, that if I hadn't had the weekend that I had, my blood pressure would have been in more of the normal range. Blood pressure is one of the few things that is directly related to sodium, meaning, you spike the sodium, you spike the blood pressure. You remove the sodium, the blood pressure returns to normal, if there isn't some other underlying disease or issue. I also have a bit of what some would call, anxiety and 'white coat syndrome.' Even as a nurse, I get super nervous and anxious about going to see the doctor. Reverse the roles, and I am cool as a cucumber.

I now have to check my blood pressure each morning and night for several months, to make sure that it is not consistently high, and so that I don't have to be put on any type of medication. I 100% believe that this is something that can be managed by my lifestyle, and I will do everything I need to in order to avoid medications.

My doctor kind of laughed at me when I said that I monitor my sodium levels as close as my calories, he said, "wow, the things you will do to avoid a pill." He really does know me so well...

Overall, I think this last year has made drastic improvements on my health, I just need to do a lot better with my weekend indulgences. I know we all need to have them every once in a while, but I would say that 3 full days of it is a little more than what I needed. For some people, their bodies can tolerate that without any issues, clearly mine can not.

I think I am going to do a little experiment with my blood pressure... I'll keep you posted.

Disclaimer: I am in no way, shape, or form trying to provide any advice on dietary or medical changes, I am only providing my opinion on these topics and how I plan to make changes in my own life.  Please refer to your own health care provider for any medical advice or treatment options.

You never know who might come across this little bloggy blog. 

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

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!