Maybe It's All About the Food?

I used all of my pictures up in yesterday's post. I forgot to take any pictures of anything I ate yesterday or today so far. Sorry, this post might suck a little. :)

I had to work from 7-11 pm last night and I was exhausted. Mike and I ride together to our normal jobs a lot of the time, so he drove me to the hospital. Along the way, we decided to stop and get some dinner. I had a Sicilian grinder with french fries and unsweetened iced tea. I have the leftovers waiting for me for lunch today, so I am pretty excited.

Work ended up being really good and the evening went by smoothly. I crashed when I got home and am still feeling very tired. I think I will try to be in bed by 9 tonight. I am such a loser. :)

Mike, being the wonderful husband that he is, put some breakfast together for me. I had told him to put some dried cranberries, brown sugar, and 1/4 cup of oatmeal into a baggie that I can add hot water to when I get to work. He didn't get it quite right, but his version came out better than mine. Oatmeal (probably 1.5 cups - I had to throw a little out), frozen raspberries, and brown sugar. Delicious combination that I will certainly be making that again.

Working Out Woes

I feel like I am in such a working out rut. I am already a pretty cold natured person, so it is hard for me to get the motivation to run outside when it is below 40 degrees. Since the 5k on Thanksgiving, I haven't ran at all. I have made lots of plans, only to have them be crushed right and left. I feel like I am just throwing out excuses, but seriously, I couldn't run with only 1 good eye. So this week, I figured I would get to the gym a few days and at least do some treadmill running. I am still hoping I can get a few days in, but with getting called into work last night and riding with Mike everyday, it may not happen.

Eating My Way Slimmer?

Somehow, even without working out, I am slimming down. My weight has remained about the same, but I can tell a huge difference. Even Mike has made a few comments recently about how I look slimmer, and I can certainly feel it. My clothes just feel better, my jeans are looser, and everything is a little more comfortable. Yesterday, I put on a pair of dress pants that I know have been a little too big on me for a while, but I was able to make them work before, just do not work anymore. I had to wear a belt for it's actual purpose, for the first time ever. They must look pretty bad because Mike thought they were scrub pants. I guess it is time to hang them up for good, and I am pretty excited about that.

Also, I no longer feel the need to wear tank tops under everything. I always felt more comfortable if I had a slimming tank top underneath of my sweaters or tops, to try to keep everything in place. Lately, I feel like they are too bulky and actually make me feel chunkier. I have 2 turtlenecks that I always wore a slimming tank underneath, but I have worn them both in the last week without one. One of those days being the day that Mike made that comment. It has to be my eating habits.

I am still keeping a pretty strict food diary and keeping my eating *mostly* healthy. Of course I have a few bad meals every once in a while, but I don't ever want to become the type of person that doesn't do that. I enjoy food too much. So I am assuming that is what is aiding to my better-feeling body. I just can't help but think about how much better my body would feel if I were working out more consistently. I just need to get back on track.

Dinner Tonight
For some reason, I have really been craving chicken nuggets. Sure, it would be easy to run out to Wendy's for a $1 order of chicken nuggets, but that is not how I roll. No more fast food! I am going to attempt to make a healthier version of chicken nuggets for dinner. I am going to use some whole wheat bread crumbs, olive oil, and bake them instead of frying. We are in desperate need of a grocery store trip, so I hope I have everything I need at home. I'll post the recipe and how they turned out tomorrow. 

Have a great day!

Yesterday's Stats:
Calories (+) 82
Sodium (-) 0
Protein (+) 46 - yikes!

Monday Blues

Happy Monday... (said in my most monotone voice possible). Today is not happy. I am tired, cranky and ready to crawl back in bed. I woke up late, forgot my badge to get in my building, and realized I am on call tonight at the hospital. I really hope I don't get called in!

I would love to remain in my bad mood, but, that sucks. So, I might as well get positive!

This past weekend was so busy, but so fun. On Friday night, Mike had his holiday party for work and they are not allowed to bring spouses. Silly, if you ask me, but it gave me a chance to go to dinner with a dear friend. We ate some amazing food, drank some delicious wine, and caught up on life. It was magnificent. Later, the boys (her boyfriend and Mike are close friends and work together) met us for a drink before we all headed home.

We ate dinner at a great place downtown called Zely and Ritz. I had eaten there before, but Lindsay hadn't and it is totally food that is up both of our alleys. Most of their food is fresh and local and they have quite an impressive wine list.

We started with some bruschetta and wine. The bruschetta came with 3 topping options, a goat cheese spread, arugula pate, and a pear butter. I loved mixing the goat cheese and pear butter, it was so delicious.

This is the wine that we chose. It was a malbec blend and it was some of the best wine I have ever had. We were joking about how we could enjoy a $3 bottle of wine any day of the week, but then you put an actual nice bottle in front of me and I feel like I can't drink anything else. The difference is truly amazing. Unfortunately, my wallet does not agree with me, so I am sure I will be back to my $3 bottles in no time. :)

Next, we each ordered our entrees. Lindsay had the pork tenderloin stuffed with blue cheese and on top of a cherry glaze. The pork came from the restaurant's local, grass fed farm and it was amazing. I am not even a huge fan of blue cheese, but the flavors were so good.

I ordered the sweet potato gnocchi, butternut squash, and broccoli. I was really in the mood for meat, but those are some of my favorite vegetables. I just couldn't pass it up. It was made in a maple sauce and it almost could have been dessert, it was so good.

We decided to share some creamy risotto with pork. It was awesome. The pork flavor was really strong, but it was so wonderful. I was stuffed, but kept dipping my fork in the bowl for another taste. :)

We were too full for dessert, but their menu looked yummy. I will have to try to limit my bread intake next time so I can enjoy some dessert. It is really nice to get out to a nice dinner with friend's every once in a while. We are usually really good about not eating out or choosing relatively inexpensive places, but every once in a while, it is worth it to spend the extra money and enjoy a well made meal with great company.

The rest of our weekend included a lot of driving and spending time with family. Mike had tickets to go to the Redskins - Patriots game yesterday. So, we drove up on Saturday morning to see my sister and her family for the day. My sister and I did a lot of shopping around and playing with kids. I am really loving that we have seen them so often during this holiday season. They are also going to come to our house for New Years, which will be really fun. I just wish we could see them this often all year round.

Yesterday, Jaime (my sister), made a crock pot veggie lasagna. It was delicious. I am so glad I was able to stay and have dinner with them. I will definitely be making this meal at some point. I love crock pot meals and am always looking for new recipes to try. We had the lasagna with a side salad and garlic bread. So good!

Jaime - the cook and her little side kick.

I finished up my dinner right as Mike was walking in the door from the football game. We headed out pretty quickly after he arrived since we had a long drive ahead and had to get up for work this morning.

Along the way, we stopped at Caribou for a coffee for the boys, and a hot chocolate for me. Let me just tell you, I will be returning for their dark hot chocolate with peppermint. It was to die for! I love dark chocolate and this really tasted like dark chocolate. I had them add in a little peppermint and it was like the holidays having a party in my mouth. I really like Caribou. I feel like they have really great non-coffee options and a really cute gift shop. I even picked up a few things there as gifts for my friends. I am not sure why I haven't gone there in the past (probably because there is another coffee shop that is much more present in the area), but I will be seeking this one out a lot more. Plus, look how adorable their cups are?

I just got a call from the hospital and they are going to need me tonight. Whaaaa! I think I am going to get back into my bad mood now. :(

I hope everyone else has a great day!

Something Sweet - To Be Determined

I had another vegetarian meal planned for last night. I was going to make lettuce wraps filled with chickpeas and quinoa. Then I realized that we haven't eaten any meat since Sunday... and Mike gave me the look. The look of "I am on board with all of your crazy food ideas and never complain, but I am ready for meat now."

So, I replaced the chickpeas with chicken and made a super healthy, super easy dinner.

Curried Chicken, Tomato and Quinoa Lettuce (or Tortilla) Wraps
adapted recipe from Fat Free Vegan Kitchen (man, they would probably be upset to know I used chicken!)

1 medium onion, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, minced
2 chicken breasts cut into bite size pieces
1 can of diced tomatoes (or fresh)
Salt and Pepper
1 teaspoon ginger (I used dried, but you could use fresh)
1-2 tsp cayenne pepper powder (to taste)
1-2 tbsp curry powder
1 1/2 cooked quinoa (I cooked mine in low sodium vegetable broth)

6 large lettuce leaves or whole wheat soft tortilla shells

In a medium sized skillet, cook the onion in some oil of choice until soft. Add in the garlic, salt and pepper and chicken. Cook the chicken until 1/2 way cooked. Add the diced tomatoes, ginger, cayenne pepper, and curry powder and allow to cook for about 5 minutes. Throw in the quinoa and cook just long enough to heat up.  Scoop the mixture into the lettuce leaves or tortilla shells.

Don't let this fool you, I had 2 of these and Mike had 2 helpings on tortillas.

I have to say, we were not very thrilled with this recipe. We ate dinner last night and thought it was just OK and I figured we would probably never make it again. It made enough for 4 servings, so I packaged up the leftovers for lunch today. Holy cow, this recipe is amazing.... the 2nd day. I guess the flavors needed some time to settle in and marry together, because that was one of the best lunches I have had in a long time. Last night, it was too spicy, the curry wasn't right and the filling fell out of the lettuce. Today, the filling was thicker, it wasn't too spicy and the flavors were amazing.

It is funny how that works sometimes. A recipe you thought you would never make again, may become a favorite. It would be a great recipe to make on a Sunday and pack up for the whole week's lunches.

Today, my project at work threw a baby shower for a co-worker. Whenever we do these types of parties, everyone signs up to bring something and we totally pig out. This year, several people (including myself) signed up for "something sweet - to be determined." Last night, at 10 pm, I remembered I was supposed to bring something. I had a box of devil's food cake in the pantry and figured I could just whip up some cupcakes for the party. Today, when I brought in my cupcakes, I placed them next to a cake and 2 other batches of cupcakes... I guess those people also signed up for "something sweet - to be determined." There are a LOT of leftover cupcakes in the break room. haha.

Also at the party today, Bojangles chicken, rice, cornbread, coleslaw, beans and lots of other sweet treats. I decided not to partake in the Bojangles as I have not had fast food in a very long time and hope to eliminate it completely from my life. I ate my healthy leftovers for lunch and then snagged a few desserts that were pretty well portion controlled. :)

1/2 of a chocolate cannoli and some mud pie :)

I have a hot date tonight and I hear they will be wearing fur. No, I am not talking about my dogs. :) We are heading to northern Virginia tomorrow to see my sister and her family and Mike is going to the Redskins/Pats game on Sunday. Have a great weekend!

Leftover Chili Solution

I am a big fan of leftovers. I am one of those people who think that a meal tastes better the 2nd and 3rd day after it is made. It took a long time to get Mike on board with this. He was not a leftover person, but now, he loves them.

Chili, however, is not something I normally look forward to the next day. There is something about chili that tastes so perfect the day it is made that just can not be re-created in the microwave the next day. The problem with chili, though, is that there is always a ton leftover. It normally sits in my fridge for weeks until I finally toss it in the trash.

A while ago, I saw numerous food blogs creating various versions of a Chili, Mac ,and Cornbread Casserole (mostly all of them were pointing to this recipe as the first source). I was intrigued.

I used How Sweet's version of cornbread with a few variations (since I didn't have heavy cream, half and half, whole wheat pastry flour, or enough cheddar cheese to put in the muffins), but it still turned out amazing. I don't think I will ever make packaged cornbread again. And, the brown sugar addition was absolutely perfect.

Warning: this is not a super healthy recipe, but it is so worth it and will certainly take care of the leftover chili in your fridge.

Cheddar, Chili, Cornbread, & Pasta Bake
adapted from How Sweet It Is

1-2 cups of whole wheat pasta (I used elbow), cooked according to package directions
3/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese
2-3 cups leftover Chili
A batch of cornbread of your choice
Sour Cream or Plain Greek Yogurt for topping

Preheat oven to 375F. Once noodles are cooked, drain and place in the bottom of a casserole dish. Top noodles with leftover chili, add a layer of cheddar cheese, and then top with cornbread batter. Let bake for 20-30 minutes, until chili is bubbling and cornbread is golden brown and cooked through. Enjoy!

The Good, The Bad, and The Horrible...

I had an eventful weekend... Some good, some bad, and some down right horrible. Let's start at Friday, shall we?

The Good:
I left you all on Friday with my plans for shopping all day for Christmas with Mike. We did exactly that and pretty much got all of our shopping done. It was a fun day and we got a lot accomplished. I have decided that I will definitely be doing that every year from now on. It is so much nicer to get to the mall, find a parking spot and shop without fighting a million people.

Nice food court lunch, chicken kabob, hummus and whole wheat pita

The Not-So-Bad:
We got home around 5 on Friday and I tried to take a nap since I was scheduled to work that night from 11 pm - 7 am. I had trouble taking a nap so I eventually gave up and watched a little TV. At around 9:30 pm, I got a call from the hospital saying they didn't need me and I would be put on call. I was so excited for the night off. Mike and I immediately ran to the store, got dinner, a Christmas tree, and a movie and spent the evening on the couch. It was perfect. We had about 20 minutes left in the movie when I got called back in to the hospital. That really, really sucked. I ended up having a pretty easy night, and I am thankful to have a job, so I didn't complain too much. But, I was definitely bummed about my luck.

On Saturday, I slept until around 12:30 and then Mike and I spent the afternoon decorating our Christmas tree and house. It is funny because some of our friend's decorate every inch of their houses for the holidays and we only decorate one little corner of ours. I like to decorate, but we don't have a lot of decorations and I don't want to spend days decorating or cleaning up from it. So, we decorate our little corner and it is perfect.

I know that Deluca is thankful to have a little brother during this time of year. We usually chase him around the house forcing him to wear light up antlers, but this year, we did that to Franklin... hmmm, this may explain what happened on Sunday. Franklin was probably just getting back at me... keep reading.

Such a cute reindeer!

After we got done decorating, we got ready and headed to a tacky sweater party. My friend's have one every year and it is a lot of fun. It is always interesting to see everyone's homemade or store bought disasters of outfits for Christmas.  I forgot to take any pictures with my phone, so I will have to post some later from my camera.

The Horrible:
I was extremely exhausted on Sunday morning when I woke up. I just wanted to stay asleep, but Franklin was up and ready to go. I tried to hold out as long as possible so that Mike would get up with him, but that plan just backfired. Franklin was laying beside me and when Mike came out of the bathroom to take them outside, he jumped up and his paw hit me in the eye. There was immediate pain in my eye and when I tried to open it, I could barely see. Everything was very blurry and it felt like there was a sharp eyelash stabbing my eyeball.

The funny thing is, this exact thing happened to my sister while she was visiting last weekend. Her little boy accidentally poked her in the eye and she ended up having to go to the emergency room. She had a scratch on her cornea and got some antibiotic drops and pain medications. I knew by the way she described the feeling, that the exact same thing had happened to me.

We headed out to an urgent care where it was confirmed that I had a scratch on my cornea. Everything was blurry because the scratch was directly over my pupil. They did an evaluation, wrote me some prescriptions, gave me a tetanus shot :(, and sent me on my way. I spent the entire day on Sunday, with my eyes closed on the couch. Mike had to wait on my hand and foot, which I am sure he was thrilled to do. :) He did make an excellent lunch of grilled chicken sandwiches with roasted butternut squash on the side.

I took yesterday off from work and slept pretty much until 1 pm. I tried to get up around 10, but the pain and discomfort was just too much, so I went back to sleep. When I woke up at 1, I could keep my eye open without any pain or watering, but my vision was still very blurry. I spent the remainder of the day wrapping presents and making chili for dinner.

 I made Cocoa Chili, which has been pinned to my meal planning board for months from The Edible Perspective.  She is one of my favorite food bloggers, and her recipes never seem to disappoint. This chili was very good, but very different. The flavor is not chocolaty, and not chili like either. It is hard to describe. Mike picked up some cornbread on his way home and we each enjoyed a bowl, topped with cheddar cheese. We have lots of leftovers too, so maybe I will be making something else with the leftovers... stay tuned!

I made it to work today, but I am not sure I will be staying the whole day. It is really difficult to respond to e-mails and stare at a computer with blurry vision, so pardon any spelling errors please.  I hope everyone had a better weekend than I did!

"I've Got a Fever..."

"...and the only prescription, is more cow bell."  haha.

Mike and I took the day off today to do some shopping and I am really excited for us to get in the Christmas spirit. We had plans to sleep in, get to the mall without crowds to fight around 10, and then shop until we drop, although Mike is totally being a trooper for even going with me, so I doubt we will be dropping from shopping. :) Our plans to sleep in were pretty spoiled from these guys waking us up at 7 am.

Wednesday night, Mike and I had more errands to run after work. I feel like we have had errands every night lately! After running around, Mike offered to buy dinner. I didn't feel like cooking or trying to find anything to eat, so we went to Q'doba.

I am still in a no-meat mood, so I rolled with the grilled veggie burrito. We got our burritos to go and headed home.

these things are so huge! 

I ate half of my burrito with a small side of tortilla chips and salsa. It was pretty filling so I packaged the other half for lunch on Thursday along with a monster honey crisp apple.

I usually don't by apples that big. But, I really wanted to taste this honey crisp apple. I am usually so stuffed from lunch, I don't want to waste half of my apple, so I stick with smaller gala or fuji apples. I only bought 1 of these, just to try.  It was so sweet and tasty but, I was definitely full to the brim afterwards.

We drove to Greenville last night to celebrate one of my best friend's birthdays. Also, she recently had a baby boy who just got home from the hospital, so I was excited to see him. We opted to just eat dinner at her house where she and her husband made a big salad bar with all of the fixings (which I forgot to snap a picture of). I was so happy to not eat out. It was so much more fun (and healthy) to just hang out at the house, hold the baby, and go at our own pace with conversation and wine drinking. Plus, it saves money! Which is pretty key around the holidays.

Baby Fever
I love babies! Especially babies that are close to me (family, friends, etc). I am one that will hold anyone's baby and I love it, but getting to see and hold a baby that means a lot to me, is just so special. I find myself smiling the whole time and just loving every minute. I really look forward to becoming a mom one day, and I probably would have one now, if Mike and I weren't trying to put ourselves in a better financial position first. I really don't want to have a baby until we have a hefty savings, some solid debt paid off, and are in a better position to sell our house. Those may just all be excuses because I am scared to death of having a baby, but it is what makes sense to us right now. :)

Until then, I will just enjoy the amazing babies and kids I already have in my life. And bonus, I get to give them back and sleep through the night. :)

Me and Baby Preston

Gotta go get ready for shopping! Have a great weekend, y'all! Ill post some pictures from this weekend's festivities next week (Tacky Sweater Christmas Party, Decorating our house and tree).


Wednesday's Stats:
Calories (+) 109
Sodium (-) 1857 - damn you Q'doba
Protein (+) 27 


Breakfast - peanut butter and banana on a piece of honey wheat bread
Lunch - Turkey sandwich with ketchup (I know I am weird), green bean casserole, mac and cheese
Dinner - 1/2 Q'doba burrito, chips and salsa
Snacks - 2 dark chocolate Hershey's miniatures

Butternut Squash Fries = FAIL

I like to think that I have a fully stocked kitchen with all of the necessary tools and gadgets that one would need. Compared to my kitchen before I got married, I would say that we have more than what we could ever need. However, each time my mom visits, she adds something to her list of things that she needs to get me for my kitchen. 

I attempted to make this recipe last night for Baked Butternut Squash Fries. With all the turkey and ham I have had over the last week (and all the leftovers I will continue to consume), I was really wanting only veggies last night.

After running a few errands after work, we didn't get home until about 7pm. Mike and I each had a piece of artichoke bread (leftover from Thanksgiving) while I cut up a butternut squash to make my fries. I know that fries should probably not make up an entire meal, but that is all I really wanted. :) 

I pinned the above recipe over 2 months ago to my "Healthy Meal Planning" board, so I was eager to try them out. It took almost an hour to cut up, coat in olive oil, and bake these fries, so when I pulled them out of the oven, only to find they were soggy and nothing of the "fry" variety... I was a little disappointed. I was too hungry to care. I threw the soft, mushy squash in a bowl, and ate my "fries" with a fork. I guess the rack that the recipe calls for is a must. Add it to the list, Mom!

Even though they were not fry-like, the flavor was delish!

Thanksgiving is OVA!
I need to be done with everything that is left over in my fridge and just toss it. As much as I hate to waste food, I have got to keep myself on track throughout the holidays. I haven't been very good over the last week with documenting my meals in my calorie counter app. I started back yesterday and hope to keep it up! Sodium is my serious downfall... I know I can technically have 2,300 mg of sodium per the recommended daily allowance, but I would really like to keep my intake under 1500mg. I guess I have good days and bad days



Yesterday's Stats
Breakfast - Egg White with leftover chopped ham and cheddar cheese, whole wheat toast with butter
Lunch - Leftover turkey breast, leftover mac and cheese and leftover green bean casserole
Dinner - 1 slice of artichoke/cheese bread, butternut squash "fries"
Dessert - M&M Ice Cream 

Calories (-) 45
Sodium (+) 1075
Protein (-) 31