Grateful

There are a lot of thoughts swimming through my head so I'm going to do my best to organize them clearly for ya. I definitely want to share that I had a great Tuesday for MANY reasons and I think that my thoughts will demonstrate that my great day was the result of choices I made that made me grateful.

I had a dentist appointment before work which meant getting up early after a long night of class. I whipped up my favorite cereal, choosing peanut butter and a drop of fig jam for toppings with an egg white alongside before heading to the doctor's office.

I made it into work and chugged through the morning despite battling a bit of fuzziness after lots of thinking, etc. as a result of 5 hours of class.

On my walk home for lunch I had a great phone call with my mom that helped me think through some ideas I've been mulling over. She was supportive and encouraging - I love my mom!

Lunch was a serving of split pea soup along with the last 1/4c of baked beans and a slice of Udi's whole grain bread toasted and topped with tomato paste and a schmear of hummus.

Instead of constantly checking my blackberry as I headed back into the office I deemed it a technology-free 10 minutes and thought about what I was grateful for. That might have been the big turning point in my day.

The afternoon flew by and before I knew it I was heading to my late afternoon meeting. It went well and then I headed over to the quad to witness Bid Day with my office. Bid Day is when freshmen find out which sorority they will be joining and they gather on the quad to meet those chapter members and begin their Greek Life careers. I was so happy and back in my element for this hour that I think I scared a few colleagues with my enthusiasm. It brought back so many positive memories of when I joined my sorority and made me feel proud and inspired to continue to be a part of my organization and Greek Life as a whole today. I was on Cloud 9 for the rest of the evening.

I headed to the gym after work (!!!) for an elliptical session inspired by who knows what. It didn't hurt that I wanted to have exercised some before parking it on the couch to watch the Biggest Loser though! I did 2 miles in 20 minutes not wanting to overdo it with my foot (I'd say its maybe 90% better at this point). You have to start somewhere, right?

After a quick stop in the store for a few items I headed home as the sun was setting. Instead of grumbling that sunsets are getting earlier I paused and took in the beautiful sky. Those few seconds inspired even more happiness, yay!

I played in the kichen, roasting up my first kabocha squash, a sweet potato, and kale and got dinner ready. It was time to break into a pouch of Bob's Red Mill polenta and I wanted to make sure I had some for lunches for the rest of the week.

Tonight's bowl contained broccoli, one carrot - grated, fresh grated Cabot sharp cheddar, and a serving of polenta. On the side I had kale chips and a sample of my roasted veg. You'd have thought it was November or December with all the comfort I cooked up!

Now I'm snacking on an amazingly flavorful ripe pear from the farmers market and watching the Biggest Loser. I am pleased to report that it's much, much better than the season premiere was. I have a conference call at 9:30pm that I doubt I'll complete because I am exhausted. I had quite the full day!

 

What are you grateful for today? Do you find that positivity and a "good day" is a conscious choice you make?

It's all about cravings

Today I let my stomach guide my meals as I had some cravings that popped up as I considered what to eat throughout the day. I guess after a fast week of thinking about so many things it was nice to not have to make extra decisions :) Thank goodness tomorrow is Friday though!

Breakfast this morning was a hot bowl of cereal. Last night I just didn't have the time to prep overnight hot cereal but it suited the pleasant morning we had. This bowl contained:

• 1/4c Bob's Red Mill Mighty Tasty GF Hot Cereal and buckwheat
• 1/4c unsweetened almond milk
• 1/2c water
• 1/2T chia seeds
• 1/2T almond butter
• 1/4 apple, diced
• ~1/4c frozen blueberries
• a few crushed almond slices
• cinnamon
• splash of vanilla

It was the perfect fuel for my morning at the office.  I made my way home for lunch and for about the hour before and my entire walk home, I couldn't think of anything else besides tomato sauce. Weird, but I went with it. I whipped up a thin crust pizza on a Food for Life brown rice tortilla. I toasted the tortilla first before topping it with tomato sauce mixed with wilted greens, basil, oregano, and garlic powder. Hit. The. Spot. Plus a small salad on the side.

That lunch kept me full for a good 3.5 hours which was great and kept my mind focused on my work at hand. I had a small snack towards the end of the day of the remaining 3/4 of an apple drizzled with some TJ's peanut butter.

I had a couple of errands to run after work and then spent some quality time in the kitchen. I cooked lunch for tomorrow and prepped a special dinner for tomorrow night before the holiday begins. Here's a hint of what's to come:

It's been raining since the late afternoon and that coupled with the lack of natural light and more cool temps had me craving some fall and winter comfort foods for dinner. I had the last serving of the TJ's black bean soup with 1/2c of black beans mixed in and topped with a pinch of cheese. On the side I had a baby red potato, 1/4 of a sweet potato (both leftover from tomorrow's dinner prep) and some steamed broccoli with a clementine for dessert.

Now I'm heading out to celebrate my friend Suzy's 24th birthday! Here's to a bit of fun on a dreary Thursday night!

Lazy x2

Hi guys. How was the rest of your Sunday? Mine was glorious. I tackled most of my to-do list and only skipped the things that involved spending money O:-)

I tackled a few chores around my apartment and then headed off to the gym. I did 33 minutes (an increase... AND 0 FOOT PAIN!!) which was right at 3 miles. Then I lifted a little bit.

For lunch I was craving a big salad. Enter: arugula (which I seem to enjoy more than I did at the start of the summer), romaine, generous quarter cup of black beans, one chopped carrot, 2 homemade pickles, all topped with Amy's Lite Italian dressing which is like crack. I've been putting it on everything. I also had some Food Should Taste Goods topped with hummus and tomato paste.

I spent the late afternoon / evening cooking for the week. I roasted up these babies along with some cauliflower and a sweet potato. Look at how big some of them were (TWSS)!

I also whipped up some "Creamy" Cauliflower soup.

• half a head of cauliflower, steamed
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• one carrot, diced
• 1/4c cooked rice
• 21 seasoning salute (or other spice(s) of your choice)
• ~2c vegetable broth

Clean, chop, and steam your cauliflower. In a non-stick sprayed soup pot, saute the garlic and carrot until softened. Add rice, cauliflower, and broth. Bring to a low boil, stirring. When ingredients have come together take off the heat and allow to cool for 1-2 minutes. Carefully transfer mixture to a blender, removing the stopper so the steam can escape. Blend until mixture is pureed.

This batch made about 4 1 cup servings that clocked in around 50 calories and 3g fiber each.

With some cooking for the week out of the way, I took the easy way out for dinner. I tasted a serving of my cauliflower soup to which I added a splash of Amy's Italian dressing, hot sauce, parm, and a crumbled Food Should Taste Good.

I also had some okra fries and the small roasted sweet potato. I also had half of a tamale I found in my freezer. It'd been there for a while and I ate around a few "off" tasting parts.

Dessert was a small serving of GF hot cereal with some brown sugar and PB = ultimate comfort. There's also been lots of relaxing on my couch!

Off to enjoy the last few hours of Sunday. Good night!

Got My Feet Propped Up

Sorry for my great disappearing act yesterday. My eyes were so heavy that I crashed before 11pm. I took it as a victory though because I listened to my body instead of grazing mindlessly trying to stay awake and think clearly!

Yesterday was all about foods from the farm (aka my CSA box.) It all started with blackberries and cherry halves stirred into my standard mix of overnight GF hot cereal. I topped it with 1/2T of almond butter and packed it up to take to work.

The only non-farm related meal was lunch. A group of colleague and I went to a restaurant called Nooshi as a going away for one of the girls. She'll be going to Cameroon through the Peace Corps and we wanted to celebrate this next step in her life. We started with some edamame and I had a few pods. For my entree I got the Vegetarian Hot Pot which was a pot of vegetable soup with cellophane noodles, tofu, and veggies. I asked for extra veggies too. I maybe ate a third of this but it was delicious!!

Afternoon snack was a CSA white peach. Plus a bit later I broke into these guys after a week of pickling in my fridge :-D They are amazing!!

 

And I finally made it to the gym for some elliptical time! I have been feeling guilty about not going to the gym because I'm supposed to be "testing" my foot. Last night's workout felt better than Sunday's but it's shocking how slow I feel compared to my pacing in February! I did 2.25 miles in 23 minutes. It felt sooooo good to sweat. I think that workout plus walking errands really tired me out!

I had a couple of other errands to run and then it was dinner time. I had a bunch of things to use up in my fridge. Enter - BBQ Turkey Tacos!

First I diced and sauteed half a small onion and 2 cloves of garlic in some non-stick spray on the stove top. Then I added 4 chopped tomatoes and the large zucchini, diced, and sauteed with oregano and basil.

When the veg shortened a bit I set it aside and in the same pan, heated up a serving of chopped turkey and quarter cup of black beans. I added back about a cup of the sauteed veggies plus BBQ sauce and stirred it all up.

Served on 2 corn tortillas (that I ate about 1.5 of).

Dessert a while later was half of a large farm apple "baked" in the microwave. I sprinkled it with some cinnamon, syrup, peanut butter, and a few crushed Puffins.

This morning's breakfast was a muesli style bowl of overnight hot cereal. In the standard mix I added 1/4 of the same apple, diced, a few blueberries and topped it with 1/2T of peanut and almond butter.

Lunch was a salad with arugula, romaine, carrot, bell pepper, and pickle plus a turkey sandwich with red pepper spread, spinach on a toasted piece of Udi's whole grain bread.

Snack was some leftover veggies at work. I was excited to run a couple of errands after work but why for the life of me I thought it was smart to go to Target after work and during back-to-school weekend is beyond me. I got what I needed though so it was a successful trip!

It'd been a few hours since I'd eaten and was quite hungry when I got home. I whipped up the quickest thing I could think of - veggie fried rice! Plus another side salad.

I now have my feet propped up, am about to watch a movie, and unwind after a long, crazy, tiring week!

What are you up to this weekend??

The Flow of the Week

Happy weekend everyone! Are you ready to relax? I know I am! 

As much as I love to do something on a whim every now and then, I have to admit that I'm a creature of habit. It's not too terribly OCD, but I find myself maintaining a routine that works for me and my schedule and crave that order. In the last few weeks though, I have noticed that my routine is a bit off. Why? I don't know for sure but there's a few things I can pinpoint:

• My exercise routine changed and became more sporadic
• Work has picked up leaving me with busy days full of meetings and things to do
• I'm studying for the GMAT
• I'm working on some major improvements to the Gluten Free Grazer :-)
• I'm snacking at night even when I know I shouldn't. Especially carbs like cereal or toast
• There's just lots of things going on!

None of them are excuses and I am definitely not complaining. I'm definitely challenging myself to manage my time wisely and have packed evenings many nights on top of full days. It all makes me wonder what'll happen once I toss some business school classes into the mix in a month. Oy. I want to find a healthy balance!!!

Nonetheless I promise that my mind is always thinking about ways to keep things interesting here on the blog and Once I've tweaked my routine, blogging should follow suite as well.

Are you a person who craves routine or loves to fly by the seat of your pants?

One thing that has been great and consistent has been the food.  Yesterday's breakfast was a delicious bowl of overnight cereal in the crack crunchy almond butter with flax jar. There were cherries and blueberries added to the standard mix with a few crushed almond slices on top.

I clearly hated it ;)

Lunch was a salad topped with veggies and a small grilled chicken breast. Plus half a serving on Food Should Taste Goods. I'm addicted to them!

Then temptation struck. These surfaced in our office and while I intended to have just a few, I had the bag and enjoyed every drop. Sometimes you just have to have regular ole Lays!

Before I left work I snacked on a serving of watermelon that I cut up on Sunday. It helped hydrate me for a nice, albeit humid, walk across town for a friend's birthday happy hour. I didnt drink anything but nibbled on a few chips before heading back home (walked again.) It was a great way to get in ~3.75 miles of exercise after work.

I had the last half of this black bean soup I brought home from Whole Foods, plus a small salad topped with hummus and a pear. The rest of the night was low key.

This morning I was craving carbs and something savory - enter my favorite Friday breakfast: egg white sandwich on an English muffin. I had it open face with spinach, red pepper spread, and hot sauce with a couple of strawberries on the side. This Friday "treat" breakfast is definitely becoming part of my routine!

Mid-morning I had to go get a DTap (tetanus) booster shot so that I can take class. It was quick and painless and I got a cool multi-colored Garfield band-aid. That appealed to my inner 5-year old.

Lunch was a big salad with romaine, spinach, cannelini beans, carrot, asparagus, broccoli, with hummus and red pepper on the side. Plus some more chips.

Afternoon snack was even more watermelon and then I made my way to a treat to kick off my weekend. I stopped into a nearby salon after work to kick off my weekend with a 15 minute chair massage. It felt sooooooooo good, loosened up my shoulders and upper back, and quickly snapped me into weekend-mode. I <3 making that switch!

Dinner was 2 part. The first was kale chips and some carrot fries while I waited for tofu to bake.

The second was a half cup of brown rice with spinach and tofu on top. I bought Nasoya Lite tofu this week at the store as compared to my usual extra firm 365 brand. I really liked the texture of the Nasoya tofu and the fact that the whole block is only 200 calories! Don't worry, I didn't eat it all...but I could...

Then I roasted and cut up beets that have been in my fridge since mid-June when I went berry picking. They are just as delicious and fresh tasting as the day I bought them! I felt like a purple smurf though :)

It's been a perfectly relaxing evening and I'm at least grateful that my favorite part of the week has finally arrived! Of course I unwound with some warm, carb-y goodness O:-)

Goodnight!