Whew Wednesday.

HAPPY HUMP DAY!

AND HAPPY WEIGH-IN WEDNESDAY!

ANNNND HAPPY WHAT-I-ATE-WEDNESDAY!

Today was such a particularly packed Wednesday, I think I’ll rename it Whew Wednesday Smile

The day started off with a handful of Barbara’s Peanut Butter Puffins:

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I affectionately call this the Cereal of the Gods.  It really is THAT good.  I also hear Barbara’s now makes chocolate peanut butter puffins.  Don’t worry.  I’ve added finding the new cereal to the weekend to-do list.

After I popped the puffins, I headed out for my interval run (which consisted of a short 2-interval series of 1 minute walking and 9 minutes running).

Post run, it was time for eggs and bacon … sprouted 7 grain bread.  Mmmmmmm Smile

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These are the eggs I make pretty much every day.  I call them my fake out dippy eggs because it’s actually a 3 egg white scramble topped off with 1 dippy egg.

When you poke the yolk it oozes down over the egg whites and tastes just as darn good as a plate full of dippy eggs. Thumbs up

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After the eggs, I headed to work (insert 2 hours of number crunching here) and around 10am it was time for Breakfast #2!

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Overnight oats, my friends. Overnight.Oats.  Yes, I STILL love and adore them.  Yes, I STILL eat them every day.

(insert two additional hours of number crunching here)

2+2 = Lunch time.

Today’s lunch consisted of some leftover ground turkey taco meat that I threw onto a bed of lettuce along with some tomato, onion, black beans and corn:

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If you are looking for a tasty side dish for Mexican food, try out this recipe for Corn and Black Bean Salad.  I made it over the weekend, and it was super tasty and SUPER simple.

Afternoon snack consisted of an un-pictured apple and some cocoa roast almonds….

After work, I headed to Dandelion Market for happy hour with some coworkers:

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The Dandelion Market is a tapas restaurant that serves up a variety of intriguing small plates.  The atmosphere in the restaurant was rustic, yet chic.  Dimly lit and extremely cozy.

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I’d of felt equally comfortable sipping a cup of coffee in a chair in the corner as I did sipping a glass of cabernet at a table near the window.

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Tonight I had the pleasure of sampling two of the tapas.  First was the pepperoni flatbread.  Isn’t it beautiful?

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Don’t be fooled.  This was not your typical peperoni pizza.  This flatbread had cured peperoni, ricotta salada, a rustic tomato sauce, and BASIL.  It was light and delicious, and honestly I think I could have ate three of them.  The basil was the perfect finishing touch.

I also sampled the grilled steak skewers:

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The steak was cooked PERFECTLY medium rare and was incredibly juicy.  But what REALLY made the dish was the sweet and spicy honey soy marinade that came along side:

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Coming from a lady who puts A-1 Steak Sauce on EVERY steak that goes in her mouth, you KNOW it must have been amazing if I devoured the entire plate without even pausing.

Dandelion Market on Urbanspoon

After dinner, I headed to TCBY for some froyo with the Charlotte Food Bloggers!  Now, truth be told I am an ice cream snob.  I worked at the world’s most fantastic locally owned and operated creamery throughout all of high school and college (biased much?), and during these years I had the opportunity to taste, sample, and create some of the most outrageously delicious ice cream concoctions.

So, frozen yogurt?  Meh.  Doesn’t really do it for me.  Which is odd, given that this town is littered with Fro Yo joints.  What DOES do it for me though is the crazy assortment of toppings all these frozen yogurt places have.

Here’s my combo of the evening:

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PB and Cake batter froyo…. with a little cookie dough, some heath bar, a little brownie, mochis, Peanut Butter drizzly drizz, and some blueberries for good measure.

Let’s focus on what’s really important here:

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Who’s with me?

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Run and done(ish)

The low down:  This week marks week four of my self-proclaimed Kick the Knee Pain running program.  I started off this new program with intervals of 2 minutes walking 1 minute running, and each day I run I bump my run interval time up by 1 minute.  Sunday I completed 3 intervals of 8 minutes running and 1 minute walking.

Status:  Other than some mild tightness in my knees, I haven’t had any knee issues so far!

Contributing “Success” Factors:

  1. Buying new running shoes BEFORE starting to run.
  2. Running primarily on softer surfaces (trails, paths, etc.)
  3. NOT running every day and giving my knees a chance to recuperate
  4. Being conscious of my natural tendency to heel-strike and focusing on NOT
  5. Strength training.  Building up the muscles in my legs and my core supposedly takes stress of the knees.

Conclusion:  Boo ya.

*Note that stretching is not on the list above…  feel free to leave angry comments about the importance of stretching.  Maybe that will get it through my stubborn brain.

Short-Term Goal:  Be at 30-minute running only intervals (i.e., no walking) with no knee pain by August 15th.

And now on to more exciting things… like this lovely tuna wrap I had for dinner Smile

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Isn’t it perdy?  This was a quick hodgpodge I threw together after work and consisted of:

  • 1 can chunk tuna in water, drained
  • 1 tbsp light HELMANS mayo (none of that miracle whip crap Steaming mad)
  • 1/4 cup chopped red onion
  • 1 small dill pickle, chopped
  • Handful of romaine lettuce
  • Handful of grape tomatoes
  • S&P
  • Dried Dill
  • 1 light Italian Flat-out wrap

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This made for one gynormous wrap, that I basically inhaled.  Along with some cucumber salad:

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This should be called the Lazy Girl Salad.  It consisted of 1 sliced cucumber, some white vinegar, and some dried dill.  Easy peasy!

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Tomorrow is Wednesday!  And for the 92nd week in a row, I’m going to attempt to NOT forget it’s What-I-Ate-Wednesday.  I even put a reminder in my phone Smile

Question of the evening:  How do we feel about my giant head on the right hand side of the page?

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Waffles in mah belly

I woke up bright and early this lovely Saturday morning to head to Day #4 of Body Pump.  Apparently, sometime between Thursday and today the Y got new weights, which are LB weights as opposed to kilograms…  Needless to say, I was thrown off by this ABSOLUTELY INSANE change, but I managed through the class Smile

When I got home I wanted something a little special for breakfast.  Something delicious but balanced…

After some foraging in the kitchen, here’s what I came up with:

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That’s

  • 2 Eggo Light Whole Grain Waffles
  • 1/2 cup Trader Joe’s vanilla fat free Greek yogurt
  • 3 sliced up strawberries
  • 1/4 cup of blueberries
  • 2 tbsp Smuckers Sugar Free Syrup

And that, my friends, was a whole heck of a lot of deliciousness.

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This may be my new Saturday staple Smile

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Mmmmmmmm…

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Stats on breakfast:  286 calories, 54g carbs, 3g fat, 14g protein, 5g fiber

What’s on the agenda today?  I’ll be running some errands, hopefully grabbing a tasty lunch, then spending some quality time with the condo *hopefully* making a dent in the pile of boxes I now call home Smile

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Friday Night Kabobs

While talking to my sister on the phone tonight I came to an odd realization.  Even though I have gobs more free time (compared to a month or two ago), I feel as if I have no time to myself.  What the heck have I been doing with all my free time?  Your guess is as good as mine my friends!  I guess I’m still getting acclimated to the big move.  My brain must need some serious veg time.

Speaking of a serious amount of veg, tonight I cooked up some chicken and veggie kabobs on the BF’s outdoor George Foreman grill:

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SO DELICIOUS!

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I used a McCormick’s Peppercorn Garlic marinade packet on the chicken, and it was terrific!  Kudos to you McCormick!

I’ve been debating on whether to get an outdoor grill like the BF’s outdoor George Foreman Grill.  OR get the GRIDDLER that I’ve been pining over for nearly a year.

George Foreman Outdoor Grille:

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Versus Cuisinart Griddler:

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Yes, the George Foreman Grille can hold a whole heck of a lot more meat, but check out what I could do with the Griddler..

PANINIS:

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Open face grill… griddle… or half grill half griddle?!

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Don’t act like you aren’t impressed.

Decisions decisions…

In other news, I’m taking my very FIRST BODY PUMP class tomorrow.  I’m excited.  And scared.  Mostly scared Smile

How about ya’ll? Winking smile Any big plans this weekend?

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What’s-in-yo-fridge Salad

Last week I did a HORRIBLE job of planning my meals out for the week… which led to a few too many Panera, Bruegger’s, and Jimmy John’s stops.  So this week, my goal was to pack my lunch E-V-E-R-Y day. 

Last night I was way t0o freakin tired to pack anything ahead of time.  I’m talking the level of tiredness where you’d rather sleep on the couch than make your way upstairs to bed.  So this morning I was in a scramble to find something for lunch.  When all else fails, you go with the salad!

Luckily, I had quite a few yummies to throw into a salad:

  • 1/2 bag Fancy Lettuce (yes, it says “fancy” right on the bag)
  • 1/2 a roma tomato
  • 1/4 cup(ish) of sliced red onion
  • Some banana peppers
  • 2 slices deli turkey
  • 2 tbsp Kraft Shredded fat-free cheddar cheese
  • 2 tbsp Ken’s Romano Italian Low Carb dressing

Last minute, I decided to boil up an egg to throw in there, which I did while I finished straightening my afro. 

I love eggs.

Quite a delicious (healthy) last minute lunch!

  

  

  

 

 

Now I just need to find a cure for my ramped sweet tooth……..

Stats on mah salad:  318 calories,  18g carbs,  13g fat,  33g protein, 4g fiber

 

 

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