OMGorgeous Saturday!

Hello friends, welcome back to the work week. Blah...

I have all sorts of things to discuss about this past weekend. It was an awesome weekend, with lots of good food, exercise, accomplishments, and gatherings with friends. I worked all night on Friday and ended up having a pretty smooth night. I am always thankful for those. :)

Saturday morning, I got home and went to sleep for a few hours. When I woke up, I had a very exciting delivery on my front door step.

Our very first GoLocal Produce delivery! It was full of wonderful goodies that I couldn't wait to start eating.

Below the romaine lettuce, there was even more!

I love that they always include staple items, like bananas, onions, and potatoes. We rarely buy red peppers because they are kinda pricey, so I was pumped there were a few in there. In addition to everything else, this pack included limes, tomatoes, avocados, apples, oranges, and even fresh cilantro. Plenty of produce to last us a week, if not longer. We are going to try to make our meals based on what we get each week, so I am pretty excited about this. Also, every week, they always include a little surprise item...

BEETS! I have no idea how to make anything out of them, and I have no idea if I like them, but that is all part of the fun. That is one of the main reasons I wanted to join a produce delivery service that you don't have a choice in what you get. I wanted it to open my eyes to new veggies and fruits that I have never tried before. I have been googling beet recipes for the last hour and only really found roasted and pickling recipes. I think I will try roasting them, but if you have any ideas, please share!

I went for a great run on Saturday, since the weather was absolutely gorgeous. I went in a pair of yoga pants and a t-shirt and had to roll up my pants mid-run. I was so hot! I spent about 10 minutes walking and talking to my mom before starting my 2.5 mile run around my neighborhood. It felt so great to be running outside again! When I got home, I wanted to get in an arm and ab workout so I busted out the dumbbells. I had planned to go to the gym, but this worked out really well and I was able to do everything I wanted to.

Once I was finished, I couldn't wait any longer to dig into something from that box.

I had some tomato slices with sea salt and pepper and a fried egg with an apple on the side. It was delicious. 

By the time I got in the shower, it was 4:30 (I guess that is what happens when you sleep until 12:30...). We had plans to go over to a friend's house to make pizzas and hang out. We haven't had a chance to get together with a lot of our friends since before the holidays, so I was really looking forward to catching up.

We brought a bunch of ingredients so everyone could make their own pizzas. We decided to go with full sized pizzas and everyone partnered up to share, since we didn't really have enough pans for everyone. It worked out great.

Lindsay and I made a monster pizza using pepper jack cheese, banana peppers, green peppers, onions, sweet apple chicken sausage, roma tomatoes, black olives, and mushrooms. Holy yum. Everyone made fun of it because they thought it wouldn't cook and we would have to eat it with a fork (like that is a problem), but it turned out perfect.

Before

After

I enjoyed my slices with some vino and a chocolate brownie after. Mmmmm.

We didn't stay out too late, since I was exhausted, and we wanted to make it to church in the morning. We had a great time with our friends and I loved catching up with these lovely ladies.

Sunday was a pretty great day as well. I was so pumped about Saturday's weather, so Mike planned a great little date day in the park after a run. Well, the weather wasn't quite as pretty and Mike was feeling a little run down. He is definitely getting whatever cold is making it's way around town. We decided to just go grocery shopping after church and take the pups for a walk. Thankfully I got in a great workout on Saturday, so I didn't feel bad about not getting one in on Sunday.

Franklin is totally losing all of his great leash training since we aren't going on so many runs lately. I had such a hard time keeping him on my side and not pulling me everywhere. :( We will have to work on that.

Mike and I spent the rest of yesterday getting our kitchen and living room back in order after finally taking down our sad tree.

Once everything was clean, we spent a few hours flipping between episodes of Chopped and football and then made dinner. Since Mike wasn't feeling too well, I wanted to make something warm and comforting. Chicken pot pie was on my mind so we decided to try to make a lightened up version.

We had some refrigerated biscuit dough in the fridge from when we had company last week, and I figured we could use that as the crust. We used 4 biscuits to create the crust, so it was pretty thin. Then I made my own creamy sauce so that I wouldn't have to use the sodium-rich cream of chicken soup. I just used some low sodium chicken and vegetable broth, skim milk, and whisked in some whole wheat flour to create about 1.5 cups of sauce. I added some sea salt and pepper and it tasted pretty good. We threw in some grilled chicken breast, boiled red potatoes, and boiled corn and then topped with the rest of the crust. We baked at 350 F for about 20 minutes, until the crust was brown and done.

Overall, it tasted pretty good. Definitely nothing like the frozen pot pies we had as children, but those are just not something I will buy or eat these days, so this will do. I put this into a nutrition calculator and the stats, while not great, were not horrible. I figured this was at least 6 servings, if not more, so that is what I plugged in.
Per Serving:
Calories - 445
Fat - 6.2
Cholesterol - 31
Sodium - 561
Carbohydrates - 11.1
Protein - 11.8

I enjoyed mine with a green salad with balsamic vinaigrette. I went with a half portion of the pot pie, since I wanted to be able to eat cookies while watching a movie last night. :)

We will probably be having the same for dinner tonight since Mike is still feeling crummy and we have lots of leftovers.

It is back to the grind around here. I'm always sad to see the weekends end. Have a great day!

Yesterday's Stats:
Calories (+) 195
Sodium (+) 1587 (this is based on me using canned cream of chicken, which I didn't)
Protein 0 - I am really getting my Protein lately!

Stir Fried

Happy Friday! I skipped the gym this morning since I am working overnight at the hospital tonight. I am not a very good napper, so I try to get as much sleep as possible in the morning before having to work all night. 

After discussing all of the upcoming events we have this year, this 2nd job is really going to come in handy. I am going to try to squeeze as many of these 8 hour shifts into the next 6 months as I can, that way, we don't have to use any of our savings to pay for the festivities. It might be tough, but it will be worth it. I wanted that money to go towards fun and extra savings, so that is exactly what it will be used for. I am so thankful to have that as an option!

Yesterday's Eats:

Let me start with lunch yesterday. I had cut up some of the leftover chicken we had from a few nights ago and threw together the ingredients for a taco. My taco really didn't turn out like a taco.

The stuffing was almost bigger than the tortilla and I couldn't really wrap it up. So I used a fork instead. Still delicious and filling. You can't really see, but there is chicken, cheese and hot sauce in there all on top of a small whole wheat tortilla. I finished up lunch with a dark chocolate peanut butter cup from TJ's. Yum.

For dinner last night, I came home to the husband starting dinner once again. :) We didn't defrost any meat and really had nothing planned, but he came up with the great idea to make a stir fry.

Mike's Cooking Blooper (this should become a segment on here):
Mike learned last night that rice expands 100% after it is cooked. He realized this after he had made 3 cups (!!) of uncooked rice turn into 6 cups. Let's just say we will be eating leftover rice for a while...

Big Ol' Pot O Rice

We had a good laugh about that, then I took over cooking since he had a friend over to talk man stuff (i.e. bachelor parties, brewing beer, and how rice expands after you cook it).

Since he had already cooked the rice and sauteed some onions and peppers. I just added some chicken and steak that was leftover in the fridge, and made a sauce to finish the meal.

I made a sauce out of a bunch of condiments that we had from when we made swish swish with my family over Thanksgiving. I used a tablespoon or two of each and the sauce turned out OK.

I let the boys dig in to their rice bowls with the chicken and steak and then made a new batch of just veggies for myself. I used kidney beans, carrots, green beans, corn and onions for my dinner and then attempted a slightly sweeter sauce to mix in.

I couldn't really tell you what I did differently with the sauce, I think I added more soy and more sweet chili sauce, but it turned out much better. Sorry boys!

It was a great unplanned dinner and we have tons of leftovers to get us through a few more meals. Does anyone want to come over for some rice later? We have plenty to spare.

For breakfast this morning I made some hot oats. Ever since we had drinks with Layne, I have been thinking about the hot oats she was talking about. She said she likes to add too much milk, peanut butter and a few chocolate chips to hers. I decided to give it a try with the last few spoonfuls of the chocolate chip cookie dough almond butter I made before Christmas. Yum! She was right, it really does taste like a Reese's Cup!

The best part was that my almond butter really didn't melt into the oats like peanut butter probably does, so every once in a while, I would get a chewy bite of almond butter. Sooo good!

Well, it is back to work for me. I hope everyone has a great weekend!


Yesterday's Stats:
Calories (-) 352
Sodium (+) 339
Protein (-) 10

Up Past 9! and a Budget Makeover

Since I am on a roll with self-diagnosing, why not throw a brain aneurysm in there for good measure? I am kidding. sort of.

My head has been pounding for the last 5 days. Maybe it is the super dry and cold weather, maybe it is the fact that I have spend the last 10 days around 2 one year old's getting over a cold, and then a toddler and a preschooler getting over a cold. Either way, something is going on in this head of mine.

I got to the gym this morning and jumped on the treadmill, thinking I really only had enough time for that. After 2 minutes of running, each step was accompanied by an intense pain through my skull. So I lasted only 10 minutes. Since I normally don't couple cardio with leg workouts, I figured this would be a perfect day to get that in.

I did some squats, lunges, leg presses and calf raises. By the time I finished, my legs were like jelly. At my gym, the work out room is on the 2nd floor, so getting down the steps after a leg work out is always interesting. I have to hold on to the railing for dear life. It was a good work out though, and I am sure I will be paying for it over the next few days. It is a good sore, I know...

Dinner Last Night

When I work until 6, I don't get home until close to 7, so it is just easier for Mike to start or make dinner.   We discussed some pizza ideas yesterday and what he ended up making turned out delicious.

I had found a pizza dough last week at Lowe's Foods that was whole wheat, and the ingredients list was pretty short, so I figured we would give it a try. I think it is my favorite so far. It had a crunchy crust, but was soft and doughy under the toppings.


He used salsa, tomato paste, and some pizza sauce to make a spicy, southwestern style sauce. Then he loaded the pizza with grilled onions and peppers, cooked pinto beans, and shredded monterey and cheddar cheese.

This tasted awesome. I added a little hot sauce to mine, and it was pretty perfect as far as flavor goes. Pinto beans are really tasty on a pizza. I had my doubts, but not anymore!

After dinner, we met our friend, Layne, and a few others for a drink. Yeah, you read that right, we went out on a school night. After going to bed the last few nights at 8:30 pm, we decided that we needed to get out of the house. We went to World of Beer, where the specialty is... yup, beer.

I forgot to take any pictures of my beer, but I had the Bell's Christmas Ale. It was a pretty dark beer for me, but it had a wonderful toffee flavor to it. It was not too sweet, but not too dry either. It was really yummy. It was my first time going to that bar, and I really liked it. It is in a really good location too, where there are lots of restaurants around to order from. They don't serve food there, so they let you order from any of the surrounding restaurants while you hang out. Pretty cool concept.

I only had 1 beer, and Mike maybe had 2. We only stayed for about an hour and a half, but it was nice to get out of the house, catch up with a friend, and act our age. We will probably have to go to bed at 7:30 tonight to make up for it. ;)


Budgeting

To say the upcoming year is going to be busy, is a major understatement. Our spring, summer, and fall are filling up fast and I am already feeling a little overwhelmed by all that we are involved in. The only problem is that we really can't cut any of it out.

We have 3 very good friends getting married as well as Mike's younger sister. Everyone who is getting married this year, was in our wedding and we are a part of theirs, to give you an idea of how close they all are to us. Combine those with the showers, bachelor/ette parties, family obligations, and our own personal trips and celebrations and we have one crazy year ahead. Fun for sure, but expensive and exhausting too.

We are going to have to take a serious look at our budgeting and saving to see where we can fit everything in. I guess we will have to make some decisions on what is most important and how we can pull all of this off without damaging our personal budgeting goals.

Should be a pretty interesting year for us. Stay tuned for the shizz show that is sure to follow! :)


Yesterday's Stats
Calories (+) 22
Sodium (+) 603
Protein 0

Freak Alert

Being in the medical field gives me a right to be a complete hypochondriac, right? Yeah, I think so too.

I am a bit of a freak-a-zoid when it comes to germs at the gym. I wash my hands immediately after working out and try not to touch anything that I don't have to. Today, I was using a machine and cut my leg on it. At first, I just continued to work out, cursing the machine and myself for giving myself a bruise, but as time went on, I started to freak out. I started to think about the possibility that the germs on that machine could be something horrible, like a resistant staph bug. I ran to the locker room and immediately scrubbed my leg with antibacterial body wash.

Maybe I am crazy, but these are the things that go through my brain.  I finished up my workout, careful not to let the scratch on my leg touch anything and then scrubbed it again while I was showering. Hopefully, that will ensure that I don't end up with some awful infection in my leg, requiring weeks of antibiotics, hospitalization, and pain medicine (that is worse case, but that is what I think about). Yeah, maybe I really am crazy.

Now back to normal posting...

Dinner Last Night

I walked into the house last night, where Mike was cooking dinner again. Man, I love that guy! I went to grab a spoon, obviously to dip into the almond butter jar, but all of our spoons were dirty. So I grabbed the next best thing.

measuring spoon

Mike had made grilled chicken and roasted sweet potatoes. We also had some leftover roasted broccoli from Saturday night, so we heated those up to finish them off.

I cut up the rest of the chicken and threw in some canned pinto beans so we could make tacos for lunches. I will be having the last of the spaghetti today for lunch, but I already have my lunch packed and ready to go for Thursday.



When I woke up this morning, my stomach was growling, so I had a slice of whole wheat bread with some almond butter smeared on top. It definitely gave me the energy I needed to get through my 25 min run and 15 min ab work out. After the gym, I came to work and made some oatmeal with dried cranberries and brown sugar.

Dinner Tonight

Tonight, we are going to have pizza. I want it to be vegetarian, since we have been eating so much meat over the last week, but I am having trouble coming up with a recipe. I want to use chickpeas, but Mike doesn't care for them much. We have several veggies in the fridge that we can use, but we need to add some kind of beans to up our protein. I'll have to do some research to see if there are any other bean topped pizza ideas out there. Let me know if you have any ideas!

I hope everyone has a lovely Wednesday! Only 2 days until the weekend!

Yesterday's Stats:
Calories (+) 24
Sodium (-) 48 YAY!
Protein (+) 5 YAY!
Definitely my best day in a while!

29 going on 79

Some days, things just don't happen as planned. Like today... when I got into my frigid cold car this morning and this light popped up:

Don't judge my dusty dash...

I was already running late for the gym by 10 minutes due to the warmth of my bed and my eyes refusing to open. But that was ok, since I would still have 50 minutes by the time I got there. After looking in my owner's manual I found that this meant my tire pressure was low. It said to IMMEDIATELY check the tire pressure. So I went to the closest gas station and looked at my tires. They looked fine. I inserted 75 cents and added air to them, the light is still on.

My mom said that it is normal when the weather gets this cold for your tires to freak out since air deflates or expands or something. So I headed to the gym. Not 10 minutes after being on the highway, I was in a dead stop. I guess everyone in the world decided to actually go to work today. I hate this time of year.

I finally arrived at the gym with exactly 20 minutes left in my allotted work out time. I got on the treadmill and ran the entire time. It wasn't a pretty work out, but it was a work out. I could have easily said 'eff it' and gone back to bed, but I made it. Hopefully tomorrow I can get my full hour in as planned.

A Re-cap in Photos and 2012 Resolutions

HAPPY NEW YEAR!! 

What a week! We are back from our trip, I am now back to work, and we are back to reality... unfortunately. I am glad to be home, but not excited for the vacation to be over. Sorry I didn't post while I was away. Even when we didn't have plans, we were busy doing something.

Here is a re-cap of the last week:

We opened a lot of presents:

Out of control. We got lots of great gifts from Mike's family and Mike got me some awesome things. A new iPhone (!!), lots of cook books, and a cute, festive apron. My mom and friend also got me some aprons so I have quite the selection now...

We spent a lot of time with these guys:

Our nephews

They turned 1 year old while we were there. I am so glad we were able to be there for that.

The only work out we got in was a little of this:

Which resulted in this:

Don't joke my pajamas. Or my socks... or my sweater.. it is really cold there.

We caught up with Mike's family:

Did a bunch of shopping:

 We went to a Chicken Farm:

pasta, fries and chicken - the only option... random

And, got a lot of sleep. It went by so quickly.


On our way home, we shared some chicken nuggets (I re-lapsed on the fast food, but only had 3).

He loves McD's!

I got bored in the car and messed with Deluca:

Once we were finally home, my mom brought us back an adorable pup:

Also, some of our favorite humans came to stay with us and celebrate the new year!

We made a delicious new years eve feast with my sister and brother in law:

We sipped some champagne and sparkling apple cider while watching Ryan Seacrest:

Don't ask me why she is wearing a robe, she is a baller.

Cheers to 2012!

My mom made pork and sauerkraut on New Years Day for good luck - a tradition in my family.

I had 2 servings, I am hoping for lots of good luck in 2012! I already feel like it is going to be an amazing year.

Last night, I watched an adorable duo make dessert:

And it was delicious...

Funny, my scale ran out of batteries while we were away... isn't that a shame. What perfect timing! ;)

Time to get back to reality!

2012 Resolutions - I have a bunch:

• Get to church more - we fell in love with a church, but just haven't had/made the time to go very often. I would like to make more time for that this year. 
• Date night every week for Mike and I.
• Shop more - that sounds like a bad resolution, but I have a problem where I won't shop for months on end, then I will be so far behind in the things I need and can't ever get caught back up. I would like to set aside a little money each paycheck to put in a shopping fund. That way, my wardrobe will be up to date. 
• Update my iPhone more - now that I have a new phone, I want to keep it up to date and current. 
• Stay home more - I have a bad habit of planning tons of mini-trips to see family and friends. As much as I love doing this, we need to spend more time at home, enjoying what Raleigh and our area has to offer. 
• Pay off debt - we have a really great plan for our debt pay-off and I really want us to stick to it.
• Savings - we also have a good plan for our savings, but we haven't been very good about sticking to it, so this year, I hope we can do that. 
• Finish re-decorating our downstairs.  
• Continue with my goal of losing 25 (now maybe 30) lbs by the end of next summer. Get to the gym more, continue eating healthy. 
• Run a sub-29 minute 5k race
• Run in an 8k race

I hope you all had a wonderful holiday. Cheers to 2012 and all that it has in store!