My husband is a saint

I was certainly tired this morning, as predicted. Woke up, fed the kitties, and went back to bed for a while. My legs hurt, but I tried something new last night with switching shoe types halfway through the night and I think that helped. In the end, the event I coordinated went very well and these events always have the potential to be stressful if one little thing goes wrong, so I was relieved.

For two hours or so this morning, my husband worked on a house project. Seriously, I know someone might be reading this thinking, that’s no big deal. The guy stood on the couch and figured out how to hang these pictures perfectly, despite d-rings not hung the same on the big picture, etc. We could have ended up with completely crooked pictures that would have bugged me for years, but thanks to his precision, we didn’t. I can’t do these kind of projects, so therefore, he is a saint to me.

We went from having this depressing photo above the couch.

To these three pictures from Target.

Believe it or not, we ran around to all of these hardware stores last weekend, only to find that the pictures already had d-rings and the little zig zag picture hangers on the back (they were covered up with cardboard and we were scared to rip it away for fear that we would destroy something on the back of the picture). Craig finally pulled one back this morning and discovered the picture hangers already there. ARGH! We laughed about it in the end, but the instructions on the picture just weren’t that clear.

Breakfast was a big cup of coffee in my Jonathan Adler Starbucks cup and some Jessica’s granola. Are you sick of seeing it yet? I am not sick of eating it!

Lunch was iced coffee and about half of this bowl of the quinoa dish. My husband had the other half. He was starving from working so hard all morning. I also had the rest of the Blueberry Stonyfield yogurt with the last of the pom arils. I finished up lots of items from our fridge today.

After lunch, I snacked on some tangerine and strawberry licorice from Newman’s Own Organics.

They are very yummy! I haven’t tried the pomegranate and black yet, but will report back when I do. What I like about their products overall is that even candy like licorice doesn’t taste too sweet. I like sweet things, don’t get me wrong, but my palette has changed since eating better.

Thanks Newman’s Own Organics!

I just lounged around in the afternoon, did laundry, etc. The usual Saturday, except that I tried to rest my legs as much as possible. I read part of the Sedaris book and wasn’t into it, so I quit it. I’ll put more time into finishing Larsson instead.

Around 3, I finally got out of the house and did some grocery shopping. I meal planned first. I picked out a Vegetable Medley with chiles recipe from Clean Start by Terry Walters.

It has parsnips in it, which I have never cooked with, so that’s exciting. I might make it for dinner tomorrow.

I also took a look at our pantry to see what to use up and pair with things I would buy at the store. We had two falafel boxes, so I decided to get the ingredients for falfafel sandwiches and make them for dinner tonight.

My pita contained about three falafel patties, grape tomatoes, Athenos hummus, a chive and yogurt dill dip that I made from the recipe on the falafel box, & lettuce. Craig didn’t want the hummus and the dip, but that’s the best part in my opinion!

My dessert was one of these. Holy yum! Hadn’t tried this flavor before and it’s delicious. I love these little ice cream sandwiches. Perfect dessert portion to keep me from eating more!

I was kind of bummed that I didn’t make it to the gym today. I’ll do a longer workout tomorrow. Maybe I will go when the Packers and Bears are playing because I might be the only person there!

Hope you all had a great Saturday!

Hi ho, hi ho, it’s off to work I go…

I am going into work soon, so this will be a somewhat quick and short post.

It is freezing out this morning and I decided to skip the gym. I cleaned the house instead and did laundry.

Breakfast was stovetop oats with pumpkin, vanilla extract, a bit of brown sugar, pumpkin pie spice, two different types of cinnamon spices from Penzey’s, a banana and a bit of frozen berries. I topped it with pom arils. I made too much, so I saved some for tomorrow morning.

I also organized my coupons this morning and sorted them into their respective envelopes. I just use an old cosmetic bag and envelopes labeled with the coupon type. Karma was enjoying the sunshine (while sitting in the Amazon.com box) and it was quite shadowy in our living room.

Lunch was the quinoa dish I made last night and a blueberry Oikos greek yogurt.

I just had another cup of coffee because I need to stay up until midnight. I am an old lady and can’t really stay up past 10:30 without feeling so tired. These late events are hard on me because my sleep schedule is out of whack and because when I get home from work, I find I am still kind of wired and thinking about the event and what could be done differently, etc. Oh well, hi ho, hi ho, it’s off to work I go…

I was just about to post this and the UPS man came and delivered a package. Holy best mail week ever (I love getting mail, but doesn’t everyone?)!! It was from the nice folks at Newman’s Own Organics. Four different types of licorice to try–black licorice, tangerine, strawberry and pomegranate. Cool fruity flavors, huh? Can’t wait to dig into some of those this weekend and I’ll share my thoughts on them, of course.

Hope you have a wonderful Friday!

Brrr, it’s cold outside & a perfect day for soup

It’s a soup kind of day…with temperatures the coldest they have been all winter, my body craved soup this morning.

So, I pulled out some Minestrone from the cabinet and packed it for lunch.

I also had some grape tomatoes, pita chips and a chocolate chip cookie.

Breakfast was Jessica’s granola again. I can’t get enough of the stuff!

For those of you interested in the nutritional stats on the Vanilla Maple Jessica’s gluten free granola flavor, here they are:

Morning snack was about 5 or 6 dried apricots and a Yogi green tea kombucha.

I got a big craving for chocolate mid-afternoon (blame it on the long email I had been writing compiling lots of stats and comments).

So it was off to the candy shop at my work. It was either milk duds or a $7.00 bar of chocolate that the cashier said was “just ok.” Milk duds it was!

When I got home from work, I found another package on our doorstep. It wasn’t something I won, but a package from Amazon which contained a yoga book for my husband and this book for me to read on our trip to Florida:

Karma wanted to read the new David Sedaris book because it’s about animals. I still have to finish the Larsson book, but will get started on Sedaris soon and just read two books at once. I need a funny book after this rough and tiring week! David Sedaris was on CBS Sunday Morning a couple of weeks ago and that man just cracks me up. I think I have read almost all of his books and my favorite is Me Talk Pretty One Day.

I finally made a quinoa dish for dinner tonight. It contained TJ’s organic quinoa, grape tomatoes, chickpeas, feta, mozzarella, dried basil, garlic and a few Penzey’s spices. I topped it with olive oil, balsamic vinegar and a little sea salt. Every time I eat quinoa, I think to myself, “I need to eat this more, it is so good.” I love it’s versatility. I don’t think I have ever made the same quinoa dish. I just use whatever ingredients we have that go together well.

My picky eater husband even ate it! I think this is the first time he has ever had chickpeas. I told him they didn’t really taste like anything particular and he bought it.

And because I can’t stay away from this stuff, I had more of Jessica’s granola for dessert tonight.

Then it was off to yoga. My favorite teacher still wasn’t there tonight, but we had the teacher whose class I go to on Saturday mornings from time to time. Class was empty, but the gym itself was packed. Probably the most packed it has ever been since I have been going there for four months and I was surprised because the wind chill is probably in negative temperatures tonight.

Time to start reading the first chapter of the Sedaris book called “The Cat and the Baboon.”

Tomorrow, I’ll be blogging in the morning if I have time. I have to work mid-afternoon until midnight. Probably an eleven hour day and I am on my feet for so much of that time. After these particular events, I am just so tired all weekend and achy.

Quick post

I had to work today and my weekend will be cut short, since I don’t have off on Monday. Therefore, this post will also be short because I am limited on my time! After a nap, I buzzed around the house doing dishes, laundry and picking up in general. Unfortunately, I have been a slacker in the fitness department this week. I really miss the gym, but when my body hurts from running around all day at work, I can’t justify going to the gym for a workout. Sometimes you just have to listen to your body and rest.

Breakfast today was the rest of the stovetop oats I made for breakfast yesterday–I put a half of a banana in it, NuttZo and chocolate chips. Next time, I will skip the banana because the chocolate and nut flavor would have been perfect.

I snacked on a banana at work this morning and then ate my lunch while geeking out doing my family tree.

Like I said before, I had the opportunity to work with some local genealogists and had help researching my family tree. I have a lot of information on my dad’s side, but had names and dates for my mom’s and didn’t know a lot about it. I got a few more pieces of information filled in today, so that was cool. Last night, I stayed up late and finally figured out that a misspelling in a town name on my dad’s side had stopped me from finding the area in Germany they were from. Finally, I read through some history and found the district of Neubrandenburg, Germany and the correct spelling and city where my ancestors originated from. I love history and majored in it in college, so it makes sense that I love discovering all of this information about my family.

We are supposed to get hammered by a big snow storm tonight and I hope that doesn’t change my plans for brunch with the girls and Whole Foods after tomorrow.

That’s all folks–it’s getting late here and I’ll write a longer post tomorrow.

Holiday pot luck & my first Zumba class

Today’s breakfast is pictured here.

Lunch was a holiday pot luck party, so there is no picture of my plate. I ate little portions of lots of things. I also had lots of fruit desserts and surprisingly, wasn’t craving chocolate at all today!

I brought something to the potluck that I knew I would eat–fresh veggies. Cucumbers, grape tomatoes and baby carrots. Everyone loved the Santa plate I brought too.

After a food coma at work, I knew I needed something peppy to add to my afternoon. I looked a the YMCA schedule and decided to try Zumba for the first time tonight.

It was a lot of fun. I was a little nervous, as I told my friend, who is a Zumba teacher, I am not so coordinated. The class was packed and the women in my class seemed to love Zumba (they even wear shirts that say I heart Zumba, etc.) I loved the first song and the moves best–Enrique Iglesias’s “Baby I Like It” and the Indian inspired dance. There were some other songs that I couldn’t follow the moves with as well. I think it would take me about 6 or 7 classes to get the dances down pat. At one point in the class, I said to myself, “I feel like I am at a middle school dance trying to dance naughty to get noticed.” Maybe it’s just me, but the moves reminded me of that time of my life!

To learn the steps, I watched people in front of me because I don’t do well with watching teachers who are facing the class. I am sure I will try it again. I really do like Boot Camp, Body Pump or Yoga better, but Zumba will be fun to change up my workout once in a while.

I arrived home from the Y with tons of energy. Craig laughed at how chatty I was.

I made a nice red quinoa dish with feta cheese, tomatoes, roasted red peppers and chickpeas. I mixed it with some Penzey’s spices, balsamic vinegar and olive oil. Oh and a glass of red wine was perfect with it!

Now it’s time to relax and read with my adorable Karma sleeping by my side.

Lazy Friday

Well I guess I wasn’t that lazy yesterday, but it felt like a nice, relaxing Friday.

I ate lots of leftovers…my quinoa recipe for breakfast.

I am not much of a Black Friday girl (more of a Cyber Monday gal), but Craig wanted to go to a music store to buy his Christmas present for himself with a percentage off that doesn’t come along too often. He dropped me off at a department store because they had a coupon for $10 off any $10 item. Of course, so many things were not applicable with the coupon, so I didn’t find anything. I gave my coupon away when I left the store. The crowds were bad, but I was just happy I didn’t have to go anywhere else, so I didn’t mind.

Lunch was cheesy potatoes, green bean casserole and stuffing. Holy carbs! No wonder I wanted to snack the rest of the day. Eek. I need to get back to my normal eating habits.

Practicing my Thanksgiving dish

Hooray! Thanksgiving is tomorrow and that means I have a four day weekend! Can’t wait for Pumpkin Pie, Green Bean casserole and Sweet Potato casserole tomorrow. Oh and a few glasses of wine.

Breakfast today was Total Blueberry and Pomegranate cereal with some POM arils on top.

Lunch was the rest of my Subway sandwich, baby carrots, red peppers, Newman’s Own Organic pretzels and Newman’s Own Organic chocolate chocolate chip cookies.

This was my first time trying the pretzels. I asked Newman’s Own Organics if I could review some of their food and they sent me a huge package of various items. I’ll be reviewing them over the next week/weeks. The pretzels were hot as they say on the package, but they weren’t overwhelmingly hot. The heat reminded me of jalapenos or Frank’s Red Hot sauce.

I was tired after work and took a little nap. Then, I got to work in the kitchen. I wanted to try out the recipe I am making for Thanksgiving tomorrow to make sure it was ok. I am making Oh She Glow’s recipe Mandarin and Maple Spiced Quinoa.

The recipe calls for toasted almonds and pecans. Until about a year ago, I wasn’t really much of a cook or baker. Reading food blogs has helped me with my confidence in the kitchen and I guess writing my own blog also has done the same. I confess that I hadn’t toasted nuts in my life until tonight. My co-worker scared me a bit today, saying that it was hard to do. I just tried it anyway and set the oven for 350 degrees, coated the pan with cooking spray and then coated the sliced almonds and pecans too. They were in the oven for about 10 minutes and I flipped them over a couple of times. They turned out perfect! I am going to toast nuts for recipes more often. It’s so easy. I put the heated oven to good use and baked some brownies too.

I measured out the ingredients, followed Oh She Glows’ recipe on my iPod touch and it was really easy to make!

I think (hope) it will be a hit tomorrow. Except for my mom and Craig, all of the guests attending Thanksgiving lunch have never tried Quinoa before.

It’s a great dish for fall. I had commented to Craig that it would be good for breakfast and then I reread Oh She Glows’ post and she said the same thing.

Mandarin & Maple Spiced Quinoa with Cranberries, Apricots and Almonds

Chewy, crunchy, and subtly sweet, this dish captures Autumn all in one delicious spot.

Adapted from ED&BV.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup quinoa, uncooked
• 1 & 3/4 cup water
• 1/2 cup dried apricots, chopped
• 1/4 cup dried cranberries
• 1/3 cup toasted almonds
• 1 tbsp pure maple syrup
• 1 tbsp mandarin juice
• 1/2 cup mandarin slices, from can or fresh
• 1-2 tbsp pecans, chopped & toasted
• 1/2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg
• 1/4-1/2 tsp sea salt, to taste
• Cinnamon + maple syrup + sea salt, to garnish before serving

Directions: Add your quinoa, water, cinnamon, nutmeg, sea salt, and mandarin juice. Bring this mixture to a boil and then reduce to low and simmer for about 12-13 minutes. Now stir in your chopped dried apricots and cranberries. Cook on low, covered, for another 5 minutes. Stir in your oil, almonds, and maple syrup. Taste and adjust seasonings if necessary. Stir in the mandarin oranges very gently. Pour into a bowl and garnish with chopped pecans, a drizzle of maple syrup, cinnamon, and sea salt. Makes about 2.5-3 cups.

What are you making for Thanksgiving?

Have a great holiday!

Memories of glühwein and Christmas markets

Aaah, I got the all clear from the physical therapist to do something other than bike at the gym! And of course I hit the elliptical right away when I went to the Y tonight and it was so nice. I missed the elliptical. Time flew by on it while I listened to my iPod and read the latest issue of Health magazine. I logged 35 minutes on there, lifted a full circuit of weights and biked for 17 minutes.

I was released from my doc and PT care today and that is a huge relief. I still have to be careful with both of my ankles, but the PT seemed to think I look pretty strong when she assessed me. I still need to ice and do exercises to strengthen my feet. I can handle that so I can regain my strength.

Breakfast this morning was Pumpkin Pie Oatmeal. It was tasty, of course!

Restful evening

Tuesday is my rest day from the gym. I needed it today after feeling quite sore all over from yesterday’s Boot Camp. My thighs, quads, triceps and especially my abs (from the scooters) hurt. It wasn’t the same soreness I got from Body Pump at the Y, but was a close second.

For dinner tonight, I wanted to challenge myself to Tina’s Cookbook Challenge. Alas, I realized that unlike Tina, I don’t have that many great cookbooks. I like pictures–I am a visual person. Mine lack pictures. I do have some checked out from the library, but figured those didn’t count. I looked through the two below and decided I didn’t like anything I saw and was craving quinoa anyway.

Pumpkin Smoothie

Oh man! My muscles are aching. My back is especially hurting, but I am not sure if it’s from Boot Camp or from raking over the weekend. I get really bad back aches from raking this time of year.

Breakfast today was coffee and Island Vanilla Kashi cereal.

Lunch was more quinoa leftovers (I wasn’t sick of them yet) and baby carrots. After eating the baby carrots, I was so full. I didn’t end up eating the apple. I’ll save it for tomorrow as a snack or dessert. I did want some dark chocolate though, so I opted for that instead as my dessert today.

I wasn’t that hungry for dinner and didn’t really crave anything in particular, except pumpkin. I decided I have been craving a pumpkin latte, but I am too cheap to buy one. So, I settled for a Pumpkin smoothie topped with cinnamon.

Pumpkin Smoothie

As you saw in the photo above, I combined Trader Joe’s Organic canned pumpkin (about 1/2 cup), a fresh banana (other recipes recommend frozen, but this tasted good and I had a fresh to use up), skim milk, Trader Joe’s Organic Non-fat plain yogurt, pumpkin pie spice, a bit of ginger, vanilla extract and honey. Ginger and honey weren’t pictured, because I decided to add them after blending the first set of ingredients together. I never used to taste everything I made, but realize how important it is now. The honey was a nice addition to sweeten it up a bit. Yum!

I also snacked on some pita chips with hummus and then had about half of Craig’s whole wheat tortilla with cheese, salsa and steak strips.

Other bloggers show themselves eating with their spouses at dinner time. I know how important that is, but Craig and I rarely eat the same thing for dinner. I often eat healthier food and he doesn’t always like olives, mushrooms, etc. When we do eat the same food, it’s usually frozen pizza, mac and cheese and burritos (not so healthy choices). Do you always eat the same meal as your spouse? Who cooks in your house?

Because my muscles are aching, I was looking forward to a rest day when I got home from work. I did want to do something sort of active and instead of a walk, I opted to do Wii EA Active for 15 minutes. I like EA Active when I want to do a bit of exercising but don’t want to go to the gym (great for snowy or really cold days).

I did the following exercises. I didn’t complete the volleyball set, but I started it.

If you haven’t done EA Active before, you exercise with a Wiimote and a Nunchuck. The other tools are the Wiimote holder strap (which you wear on your thigh and tighten with a velcro strap) and a resistance band.

My only issue seems to be that the strap always want to fall off of my thigh!

When we first got this game, what struck me as being really impressive was the demonstrations of exercises. I don’t use them much anymore, but if I ever forget how to do a certain exercise, I can refer back to the demo.

Now dance!

I am watching Biggest Loser as I type, but I may turn it off and opt for reading a few magazines and the addictive Larsson book. I am way behind on my magazine reading! I think I have only paid for one subscription (Health) and the rest were free–Fitness, Glamour, People StyleWatch and my mom gives me Good Housekeeping to read. They all seem to pile up at once! I need to bring more to the gym to read while biking or walking.