Running : 5K Challenge!

So I have completed the 3rd week of the Ease into 5K - C25K app on my phone.  Continuing onto the idea that I would like to be able to 'run' for 30-45 minute stretches with out dying, on a regular basis.

I didn't die, and it wasn't the worst thing in the world either. 

After running the 11.29 min mile, I would have to say it at least helped me to push through and run the 3 minute intervals, because I had to have 'run' for 5 minutes at least once, I mean, when I did the TC1Mile last week, I didn't stop running until I had hit the 1/2 mile marker.

I think doing the BodyWorks Plus Abs (mind you, I always step out of the Abs portion, only because I need to get home and get ready for work) helps a bit.  In the class you use hand weights (2.5, 5 or 7.5 lb) and do a lot of reps. 

The Thursday morning class is growing on me.  Yesterday she talked about how she makes us do about 100 reps per muscle move, and how high reps/low weight will help give muscle tone/definition.  She said the other option is to do high weights, and significantly lower reps.  Sometimes I think that would be nicer.

As I was sifting through the Internet blogs on my lunch hour, I came across a Virtual 5K Challenge on the blog page of KTJ Weighing In, and figured, why not?

  

I mean, really, I am doing the Hal Higdon C25K training program(again) anyways.  It happens on June 1st, which is a Saturday.  And I am hoping that while we are camping over Memorial Day, that I will go for a trail run or two, I wake up earlier than most, and plan on not drinking and staying up to all hours of the night, and that should help a little endurance training - right?  And allegedly we will be going on 'hikes' as a group.

I am a little apprehensive of the camping as well, mainly because, well, it is all picnic food! Pasta salads, creamy salads in general, chips, crackers, candy, bacon, eggs, pancakes, buns, you know, the tasty stuff that I have a hard time saying no to! 

I am hoping to bring a fair amount of veggies, fruit, and of course meat choices - chicken, steak, and skipping hot dog night.  Well, that's the other thing, no one plans anything with this camping crew (the Hubster's family and close family friends). 

There will be 8-10 children, depending on if his brother's 1st child from another lady comes, and if all the people make the outing too.  That is a lot of kids, and one brother, is notorious for not having enough food (in general) to feed his family.  At home they must eat like birds, but when in front of others, all bets are off.

What do you do to try to plan ahead for food/exercise challenges?.

P.S. If you are interested in signing up for the Virtual 5K Challenge - go to KTJ's Post, maybe she will let us in even though it might be 'closed'.

Lunch : Salad with Balsamic

Sorry friend, your salad looks sad.

Have you tried balsamic?

Just about every brand has one.

At Cub (not sure what your shopping options are these days) they have a 1lb tub of 'spring mix' lasts me easily a week of extra large salads for lunch. ($6.99-organic section) I mix 3 c. of that with 1/2 c. broccoli slaw mix (dry-has carrots and broccoli) 1/8 cup of of unsalted roasted sunflower seeds, couple tablespoons of craisins and finely shredded Parmesan cheese, and top it with a tablespoon or 2 of Newman's Own Lite Balsamic Vinaigrette dressing.

Can you believe this clocks in at a mere 230 calories including 2 tablespoons of dressing?  It fills me up (I mean, it's 3.75 cups of veggies!).  I have been eating this for 2 weeks now, I love it, and apparently am borderline obsessed.

I had the hubster eat it last night too - Thursdays are generally pizza night, and he can put down a few slices, I wanted to limit the number of slices I ate, so he joined me in a salad before the pizza.  He still ate 3/4 of the pizza. 

Wish I were a guy, then I would only gain a pound every month by eating like that.. *sigh* but at least I get to have long pretty hair..

Do you have a great low calorie, high nutrient salad?  Please share, for I fear I will become bored with this one.

Dinner : Crock-Pot Sesame Chicken!

OH MY GOSH!

Have you tried this?  It is so yummy! And it was quite easy.

I found the recipe on Pintrest.  The link matched up to chef in training blog.  She is gorgeous.  I followed the recipe as written, only thing I changed up, was I cut up the chicken while it was still chilled prior to putting it into the crock pot, so I didn't have to do it later when it was messy. 

I will also say, I took the sauce out of the crock-pot, and put it in a pan to try to reduce it.  COMPLETLY forgetting that I had the corn starch out for some reason.  Once I realized the err in my way, it was quick and easy.

I served it with some steamed broccoli, and some brown 'asian' rice from Uncle Ben's.

Again, it was SUPER delicious!  You should try it, and tell me all about it!

Dinner : Chicken Enchiladas!

Let me just say, I have never made Enchiladas before.

They were actually really easy!  I used some shredded chicken that I had made before by putting a bunch of chicken breasts in the crock pot, and then shredding it all and freezing in roughly 3 cup portions.

So, on my way home today, I grabbed some enchilada sauce, and cheese at the store.  I had tortillas, salsa, beans, and some taco seasoning at home.

So what I did, was I took the chicken, mixed it with some salsa, taco seasoning and finely shreded cheese.  I poured some enchilada sauce on the bottom of the pan, and then I took the tortillas, added about a quarter cup of filling, and rolled them.  Put them seam side down in the sauce, until the pan was full.  Then I poured the rest of the enchilada sauce over them, and topped with cheese, glorious cheese.

I put them in the oven for about 20 minutes, covered, and then took the foil off for about 10 more minutes

While they were baking in the oven, I made some 'mexican style' rice from the box, and threw some corn in those.

Served them with some sour cream, and devoured.

I would like to say, they are really filling.  We will have left overs for a few days.  I don't know if they will freeze well, but hopefully we will be able to eat most of them before I throw them away.

Breakfast : French Toast!

I enjoy my weekends.  I really do!

They give me time to make a tasty breakfast, and take my day at a slower pace.

Today I made a super simple french toast.

First, I started with the sausage patties, and put them in the pan.

Then I took an egg, a little milk, and some cinnamon, dash of vanilla extract, and whisked it all together.  Once  the sausage was about done, I soaked a piece of bread in the egg mixture on one side for about 10 seconds, and then the other side.  Making sure that it had soaked up all it could.  I took the sausage out and put it on a piece of paper towels, and then put the french toast in the pan.  Let it brown, and then flipped it over until it was done.  It was delicious.

Dinner : Sushi For Lent!

I am not Catholic.  The Hubster is.  I try to be accommodating.  He pretends he is hugely in to his religion.  But does not go to church, I have tried to get him interested in trying one out, or remember much of how everything works in his religion, or well, the Bible in general.

So in honor of the Catholic faith, and my Husband, I choose to not eat 'meat' on Friday.  So, I set up to have sushi at home.  I stopped by Lund's on my way home, and bought up some Spring Rolls(which, if they do not have any out, you can ask them if they are there to make them!), California Rolls, and some Squid Salad.  Generally Wednesday is the day they have $4.99 sushi, but it's Lent.  And all of it is considered Fish right?

Don't you just love the Beer Mugs?  They are a little hard to see, but they are like a wine glass, inside a mug, so when you fill it with a liquid, it looks like wine!

Very cheeky.

Manicure Monday : Heart

Simple design, and I was rushed. I appologize for it not looking as fab as it could have.

So I did a nude nail, and a purple heart as my accent nail.

You can find a tutorial here, if you would like to re-create it for yourself.  I used a little different tecnique.  I basically take 2 dots, and drag them to a point.  Same idea, but different.

 



Dinner: Gumbalaya Time!

Did you know that when you crush raw garlic, the juice is sticky?

I didn't know that either.

So, you may be asking yourself, what is Gumbalaya, surely she meant Gumbo, or Jambalaya.  Didn't she?

Well, I, in fact, did not.  Those recipes included chicken, or used flour.  I used neither.  I did use rice though, and sausage, and shrimp. I used this recipe from Iowa Girl Eats, and altered it to what I wanted. And it was delicious!

Not pictured, corn and crushed garlic.

Basically what you see is what you should get, also grab a 2 green peppers, large onion. You can find more info on the ingredient list on the Gumbalaya recipe page.

This is what I did:

First find the LARGEST stock pot you have.  I would have used a large dutch oven, but I do not own one.  Then finely dice all your first 3 ingredients (onion, pepper, celery) - this is the 'Holy Trinity'. Set aside.

I sliced the sausage at an angle, and put it in the largest pot I had.  I browned the slices.  Once they were done, I put them on a plate, leaving the oil behind.  I added my Holy Trinity ingredients, and I ended up adding a little extra oil.

  

Saute these until softened, about 10 minutes or so.  Once everything softens, add your crushed garlic cloves, cook for about a minute.

Return the sausage to the pot, add all the other canned items.  Add the broth, hot sauce and rice, and stir it all together. 

Turn the heat down to medium-low, and cover.  Keep it at a simmer for for 15 minutes, stirring frequently, then add your shrimp.  If you purchased them with tails, I recommend you remove them before putting them in the pot.

Cook for about 10 minutes, or until your shrimp are cooked, and serve.  I always add a little more hot sauce.  But taste yours first, my hubster is not a fan of anything too spicy.

Looks Delicious, doesn't it?!

Poor Man's Pad Thai

I love peanut butter.  I actually quite enjoy Ramen Noodles.  They are super cheap. And completely unhealthy.  I never had to live on Ramen, I lived at home through college. Both times that I went full time.

Chicken flavor is my favorite.  I tried one a couple weeks ago that was a spicy shrimp or something, it was good too.

But anyways, I saw a pin on the Pintrest.  Peanut Butter, Sriracha Sauce, and Ramen?!  WHAT!  That is out of this world! I had to try it.  So I did, and I have been eating it probably 1-2 times a week, for the past month.

Here is my delicious concoction.  Mind you, this is purely my preference/flavor combo for eating.

So, basically you make your Ramen, drain out about half the water, add 2 tablespoons of peanut butter (not organic, I tried that, it wasn't good). And add 2 tablespoons of Sriracha sauce. Or if you don't like it so hot, start with less, and increase to your liking.  They say you can use chunky peanut butter, I have also tried that, it didn't really do anything for me.  I posted the reicpe on my Recipe page, if you want it without all my posty stuff, check out the other stuff there too!

Once you have eaten all of your noodles, slurp, yes, slurp all of your delicious noodle water juices.  I LOVE that part.

Have you tried a weird flavor combination that was a little questionable at first?

Super Simple Snack : Peaches and Cottage Cheese!

It's August, and I have posted before about the super awesome Colorado Peaches at BoB's Produce.  Love them, absolutely without a doubt.

I also really enjoy cottage cheese.

When I was growing up, my mom would have dinner, and would sometimes serve us up for dessert, peaches and cottage cheese.  I actually like it.  She used canned peaches, proabably because that was what she had on hand.  Well, I have fresh, ripe, super juicy Colorado Peaches! 

I ate this a couple of times for breakfast, and a couple of times as an afternoon snack waiting for the Boyfriend to come home.  He's been working until 6:30 lately, and, in order for me to not be starving and cranky, this was a nice mid afternoon snack for me.

Here we have it 1/4 cup to 1/2 cup of cottage cheese, and a cut up peach. SO yummy!!

Peach segments and cottage cheese.

Tonight I made beef kabobs on the grill.  Kabobs are so simple, a great summer time dinner.  Cut up peppers, onions, mushrooms, tomatoes, potatoes if you would like, some meat if you are into that. Thread them on some skewers and pop on the grill. Turn every 5 or so until the meat is to your liking. 

I cut up some beef cubes the last night threw some soy sauce, wirshesher, garlic, red pepper flakes and ketchup.  Ahh.. yes, quite odd combination, no idea what I was doing, but thinking, they probably taste good on a piece of meat, right?

Turns out I was right, as per usual. (ha, ha.)

I tossed them in the marinate this morning, and again when I got home from work. Once I knew the Boyfriend was on his way home, I fired up the grill, and while it heated up I threaded the cut up veggies and meat on skewers, and threw them on.  Cooked the kabobs for about 15-20 minutes.  And viola!  Dinner.  I picked up some coleslaw and stuffed mushrooms(to throw on the grill) on my way home too, so we had a little mini feast!

Dinner!

I like my veggies charred.  If you aren't into that, turn the heat down.  It was all so yummy. 

Do you have a go-to marinade recipe to share?