Bah! I’m finally here!!!

 

It feels so weird to have this post as my only post today!  I usually try to post breakfast and lunch during my lunch hour, but Nick and I went to Books a Million at lunch, so I didn’t have time to blog once I got back to work. 

 

I will do my best to make it a good one!

 

 

Breakfast today was a bowl of Happy McOatmeal

 

 

You know it’s going to be an okay day when your breakfast is smiling back at you! 

 

 

Just look at that cross section  – yum!  

 

This was a mix of:

* 1/2 cup old fashioned oats

* 1 cup water

* pinch salt

* cinnamon – a lot!  I love cinnamon

* 3/4 cup frozen mixed berries

* 1/2 sliced banana on top

 

The combo of tart berries and sweet banana is SO good in oatmeal. This was one of those bowls that I wish never ended  :)  Like that new IHOP commercial where his pancakes keep “refilling”? I sometimes wish my oatmeal would do that…

 

I also had a cup of skim milk and a hard boiled egg for some protein!

 

 

 

 

Plus a cup of coffee with skim milk at work  –  so I could function.

 

 

 

Today was finally a bit slower at work – we have just been slammed lately with submissions, so it was nice to be able to get my work done and not feel rushed all day. I’m glad we’re pretty much a paper-less office, but it really makes me hate my email even more! Everything we do is by email, so my inbox is constantly filling up…all. day. long. Even when I clear it out, it’s filled up again usually in less than 1/2 hour!  Sometimes I wonder what would happen if I just didn’t show up for  a week at work…

 

 

Lunch was pretty much the same as yesterday – chicken chili with avocado, veggies and clementines. Yum! but sorry for the re-runs  :) 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

One of the clementines had a few bad pieces, so it kinda ruined it. I didn’t eat the other one because I was scared it wouldn’t be good either. Isn’t that a little ridiculous? I did bring it home, though.

 

I had one snack that I won’t mention now – only because I’ll be doing another review soon and I don’t want to ruin it  :)

 

The snack I can report is my pure love creation –   0% greek yogurt, pom, semi sweet chocolate chips. In VeggieGirl’s words – Holy Yum!

 

 

This is best snack!  It’s the perfect combination of creamy, crunchy, tart, and sweet. Check out the condensation on the chips from being in the fridge! 

 

 

 

Dinner was another re-run tonight but still so tasty! 

 

Salad for some greens:

 

 

And whole wheat penne, those turkey meatballs, and homemade sauce from last night!

 

 

 

All mixed up!

 

 

 

 

We took today off from the gym, but we’ll either be going to run at the gym tomorrow or outside, depending on the weather. Then we’ll have BodyPump on Friday!  We’re doing a little experiment and trying every time they offer it to see which day is the least crowded  :)   So far, Monday and Wednesday have been exactly the same! It’s been pretty packed in there, so we’re hoping the Friday 5:30 pm class will have a few less people since it’s the start of the weekend and everything. I guess we’ll know in 2 days. We’re also hoping some of these students will quit coming to the gym once their school work picks up – then we won’t have to fight for the treadmills, either!

 

 

So, for something a bit more interesting than my leftovers…

 

I found this pretty good article today about Nine Nutrition Essentials for 2009 – I love that it also has links to Cooking Light recipes that deal with the nutrition tips!

 

This quote from the section on “Save Room for Treats” is a great one: 

Food is meant to be pleasurable, and part of the pleasure is treating yourself

 

I definitely think we have to find our balance between eating healthy and treating ourselves, and that’s a hard thing to do. It’s so easy for me to convince myself that I deserve a dessert because I ate well that day or because I worked out. And maybe I did.

  

But I also need to take into consideration whether I’m actually hungry, if it’s something I really, truly want….or if it’s just the  idea of “dessert”  that is tempting me.

 

 

If you learn anything about me from this blog it will probably be this: I. love. sweets.

 

Period.

 

Always have, always will.  If there was a chocoholics/sweets anonymous, I would probably need to join. Most of my baby pictures are of me with some sort of chocolatey mess or cake smeared all over my hands and face. And I love it  :)

 

I love good, quality chocolates and probably some of the worst!  Those stupid Cadbury mini eggs at Easter are some of my favorites. And Jelly Bellys.

 

It is really hard for me to turn down a dessert, but I have been trying to not eat something if it’s really not that great. Sometimes those work cakes or conference sweets are hard to say no to, but honestly, they don’t taste that great in the first place.

 

If I’m going to have dessert, I want something that I truly enjoy in every sense possible. I want pure decadence  – nothing that’s just “eh”.

 

I want to boycot eating something that isn’t pleasurable. In honor of Tina’s post earlier today, I want to say YES to treating myself, and treating myself WELL. If that means eating an awesome dessert every day, so be it. If it means I’ll quit eating something if it’s not that good after a bite or two, I want to be able to do that.

 

Why?

Because I’m worth it to eat what I want, what I like, and what makes me feel good. We’re all worth it.

And most of the time…..that involves chocolate  :)   At least for me!

 

 

I hope you’re getting ready for LOST!!!

Or that’s what my computer is telling me – this post won’t be long since I have to update my laptop and it’ll take at least an hour!  Boo.

 

 

I did have an unpictured snack…I can’t believe I forgot to take a picture!  I had my camera with me and everything! I was pretty busy at work while I was eating said cookie, and I didn’t even think about it until after I finished it.

 

Just imagine the BEST chocolate chip cookie you’ve ever had – that’s what I ate around 3:30 today at work.  :)

 

 

 

The gym tonight was a little weird. All the treadmills were taken when we got there, so we started to just do some weights while waiting until something opened up. I took the first one once it was available, and then Nick took one a few minutes later. Our runs were cut a little short because Nick forgot to pack socks – he stopped running earlier than normal so he wouldn’t get horrible blisters. Anywho – a workout is a workout, but it was just kind of weird tonight.  At least we went, right?  Baby steps!

 

 

I was really excited about dinner tonight – I’ve made this recipe a lot, and I still love it every time I have it.

 

First, we had colorful salads – a mix of romaine, carrots, mushroom, and tomato (just for me). Mine had about a tsp of ranch dressing – sometimes, you just gotta have ranch!

 

 

 

 

 

For the main dish, I used this recipe from Heather’s site, which is modified from a Giada recipe on Food Network.

 

Penne with Turkey Meatballs

 

 

My changes:

* I usually bake these at 350 for about 20 minutes instead of cooking them on the stove top. It’s probably not the same texture, but it works fine, they get crunchy on the bottom, and I don’t have to have 3 things on the stove top at one time.

* I only make 1/2 box of whole wheat pasta -and that will be dinner for us tomorrow, too. I usually only have 1 cup of pasta; Nick has a little more.

* I do use the soy parm in these and it’s delicious  :)

 

Under the sauce, I drizzled about 2 tsp. of olive oil to the hot pasta. This was just what I needed.

 

I’m thinking of having some hot chocolate while the computer does its thang – See you tomorrow!

 

Check out Zesty Cook if you want ANOTHER meatball recipe today – his looks great!

I was hoping for a day off, or at least a delay but we got nothin’. We’re supposed to being having this wintry mix, but all we have right now is rain  :(

At least breakfast and lunch were good!

I had 2 over easy eggs on some grits, along with some fruit and milk for breakfast.

Lunch today included leftover chicken chili from last night with some avocado, steamed veggies, and clementines! They’ve returned  :)

Back to work I go….

Ahhhh……………….yoga was great!  I felt so relaxed after class was over. My whole body just felt longer, taller, and completely free of stress. This was so nice to have on a Monday night.

I’m pretty sure I’ll be joining the class for good; I have some money saved up from graduation that I’m thinking of  putting towards the class. I can never make it to the yoga classes at our gym, and I like the audio ones,  but I really like actually being in a class sometimes, too. This class is $55 for 6 classes – does that sound reasonable? I’ve never just taken classes like this before, but it sounds pretty good to me.

Yoga was from 6:15 – 7:45, so dinner didn’t happen until around 8:15 or so. Nick made this while I was at yoga, and we ate when I got back.

Chicken Barley Chili (recipe on back of Quaker Quick-Cooking Barley Box)   :)

This used about 3 cups of leftover roasted chicken from last night and everything else is from a can, except the barley. Super easy, super fast, and super good  :)

I also had one of my crescent rolls with dinner – so doughy!!!  I love these.

Add on a BIG cup of water, and you’ve got a good after yoga dinner. Not too much, but I’m satisfied.

Now I’m just waiting on this to steep while winding down for the night…

Hope your Monday was a good one!