Monthly Archives: February 2010

“Over Easy” Ain’t So Easy

Posted on February 12, 2010 | 6 comments

Happy Friday and happy long weekend for some! Oh and Happy Valentine’s Day soon. Hubby and I don’t do anything for V-day. Neither one of us has ever really been into it. We’ll actually be traveling upstate this weekend for a quick stop at my parent’s house and then on to his parent’s house. So we’ll be with his parent’s on Valentine’s Day. What are your plans for the romantic holiday?

I hope everyone had a good day yesterday. Mine was pretty decent. I started off breakfast with some boring Kashi Heart to Heart cereal with almond milk. Sometimes you just feel like having some cereal – you know?

Work was busy yesterday. After the snow on Wednesday and our office closing early, there was lots to catch up on. I ate my lunch very late in the afternoon and had leftover bulgur with chicken, veggies and salsa from the other night.

My afternoon snacks were fairly light – a pineapple Chobani yogurt and a pumpkin muffin around 4 p.m.

I am loving these muffins as a snack. They give me energy, but don’t fill me up too much. And with that added energy boost, I got myself to the gym right after work to try to squeeze in a 6-mile run.

I’d like to name this next little section: Tales from the Habitual Gym Rule-Breaker…

Well, I did it – I got in my 6 miles, but not without some guilt. Things started off alright when I arrived and saw hardly anyone on the treadmills. But around mile 4 things started to fill up and I realized that 3 of the treadmills must have been out-of-order because people would get on and then hop off after a few seconds. You’d think that during the height of winter the gym would to try ensure that all the machines–especially cardio machines–were working right. So no one was actually waiting for a treadmill until I hit about 5.6 miles. And at that point I was soo close to 6 miles that I could not stop. So I increased my speed to 8.3 (holy cow – I’ve never run that fast on a treadmill in my life!) and finally finished up my 6 miles in 49:12. It is definitely the fastest I’ve ever run 6 miles on a treadmill and toward the end I felt like I was in a race and experienced a minor adrenaline rush. But then when I finished I felt really guilty and actually apologized to the girl waiting in line that took my machine.  

I did some ab work while I sweated profusely and then headed home. I certainly didn’t want that girl to come find me and yell at me. 🙂 

Once I was home and showered I made some dinner. I have been craving eggs recently, and yes, I had them on Wednesday night, so two nights in a row is probably not a great idea, but so be it.

I was picturing a beautiful egg sandwich in my mind and decided to attempt to fry an egg “over easy.” I went through a stage in high school where I ate an egg sandwich with an over-easy egg every morning for a while, but my mom would always handle the egg part. This time it was all on me and I was intimidated. I may have even Googled “how to fry and egg” before I got started.

My first attempt was pathetic. I just plopped the egg onto the skillet from rather far away and watched as the yolk in the center broke and spread into the white area. I contemplated just throwing it on the sandwich and making due, but I wanted to do this right. So I ate that ruined egg (I couldn’t waste it) and set to work making another.

This time I was much more gentle and slow in my release of the egg onto the skillet. I was psyched when it landed gently with the center yolk in tact! I cooked it that way for a bit, added some pepper, and then ever-so-gently flipped it over and let it cook on the other side for about 30 seconds. I flipped it back and let it cook for a little longer and then decided it was done!

My very first fried egg over easy!! I was so proud. I placed it gently on an Arnold Sandwich Thin along with a slice of cheese and my egg sandwich was complete. 🙂

I know – my small feat is probably a mindless routine for many, but for me it was a new challenge and I’m glad I figured it out – all on my own too. I fully enjoyed my delicious egg sammy and have a feeling this little fella will be showing up again soon.  

Dessert was….you guessed it – another muffin. I know two muffins in a day maybe isn’t the healthiest option, but after my super-fast 6 miles I decided I needed it.

What is your favorite way to cook eggs (if you eat them)? And who taught you to make eggs? The over-easy egg sandwich might be my new fave. I was a scrambled egg or omelet girl before, but my heart may now belong to another egg.

Alright – that’s enough rambling about eggs. I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend and Valentine’s Day. Anyone going to check out Valentine’s Day – the movie? I’d like to see it, but Hubby will not be up for that one. That will have to be a girlie movie night. 🙂

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Posted in Holidays, Running, Uncategorized

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Home Office with Hubby

Posted on February 11, 2010 | 10 comments

Good morning – happy Thursday. Did you make it through the snow – if it touched your area? It was kind of crazy just how many people in various states were affected by the storm. I feel like the west and far south were the only people who didn’t get it.

I worked from home yesterday and so did the Hubby. That was certainly interesting.

I started off my day with a 3-minute breakfast cookie made with: oats, protein powder, apple butter, baking powder, walnuts, raisins, vanilla extract and a packet of Truvia. It was really good.

I tried to stay on my normal work schedule and ate lunch right around 1:00 p.m. I had leftover venison and barley soup (now stew).

I also had a Chobani yogurt with Kashi Go Lean.

During the entire day, this was pretty much the view from our window. Snowing like crazy.

Setting up our work at home situation was interesting. We live in a 550-square-foot one bedroom apartment. We have one desk area and both Hubby and I needed to use it. So – I concocted this interesting set up for us.

Here was my work area and our combined work area:

Yes, I sat on the corner of the desk and used a kitchen table chair. I never realized how hard those chairs are until I sat in one for about 3 hours. Then I decided I needed some cushioning – hence the lovely blanket. How do you like our little work from home arrangement!? I thought it was a pretty decent use of our small space. I think NYC residents are the most creative people when it comes to utilizing and maximizing minimal room.

Around 4 p.m. I was ravenous and had a nice little apple snack with peanut butter.

I ended up working till about 5:30 because I was into a writing project and lost track of time. It was kind of strange not to have to travel anywhere to leave the office.

My overall work-from-home thoughts: It was definitely very convenient, but also tougher in some ways.

  • I feel like I have such a standard routine at work that I was a bit confused at times as to what to focus on next.
  • I’m much better at multi-tasking when I’m actually at work.
  • I didn’t have access to all the resources that I have at the office.
  • I also realized that I didn’t drink as much water when I was working from home.
  • I only had the Hubby to interact with – and while I love him to pieces, sometimes I like chatting with other people too.
  • I didn’t experience that “leaving work excitement” when the day is finally done and you are free to focus on stuff you want to do.  
  • Without that definitive dividing line, I could very easily see work creeping into home-life.

So that’s my general feedback on working at home. I think it was a very good experiment and was happy to see that I still managed to get quite a bit done. Hubby and I were also very good and didn’t have the t.v. on at all until about 4:00 p.m. I think that certainly helped lessen our distractions.  

What about you – what do you like or dislike about working at home? What tips do you have to stay focused and keep your work and home life separate?

After work was “done” I showered (yup – I was gross and didn’t shower all day) and headed into the kitchen to make dinner. I made an omelet with two eggs, spinach and feta cheese. It was yummy.

And then to further divide the work/home worlds, I baked some Pumpkin Muffins using Megan’s recipe. I saw this recipe on her blog a little while ago and have been wanting to make them ever since then.

The recipe made 12 (one is missing above cuz Hubby ate it). And then after dinner I ate one with my tea.

And then after that I ate another. 🙂 These were really good and very moist. Thanks for sharing a great recipe Megan!!

As you will note, I did not get my 3-mile run in yesterday. I may try to work it into Friday morning or Sunday. I am supposed to run 6-miles today, but did NOT make it to the gym this morning (boo), so I’ll have to take my chances tonight and pray that it’s super slow.

After dinner and muffins Hubby and I watched Blood Diamond. I had seen parts of it before, but finally watched the whole thing. I really liked it, but I’m not sure Hubby was overly impressed.

And that was the end of our work-from-home day. We pretty much spent about 36-hours together in our tiny apartment non-stop. We both said that we don’t know how my parents do it; they own a business together, so they work together all day and then come home together at night. I love Hubby and he loves me, but everyone needs a little space.

Have a great Thursday everyone – it’s almost time for the weekend!

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Posted in Recipes, Uncategorized

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Working from Home!

Posted on February 10, 2010 | 9 comments

Good morning everyone – did you get some snow? NYC is getting dumped on. I woke up this morning and although there wasn’t a ton already on the ground, it was coming down like crazy. Yesterday, my boss told people with laptops that if it was bad out today we could work from home. I’ve never worked from home before and when I looked out at all the snow, I decided today was the perfect day to try it.

How about you – does your office let you work from home? How often do you work from home?

I’ve got to say, so far I’m liking it. I’ve got my coffee and breakfast and have sent a few emails and am working on my first project. All without having to trudge through the snow, onto a bus, onto the subway, etc. I live in NYC, but it still takes me about 45 minutes to get from my home to work. To everyone who is commuting today in this snowy weather – be safe and travel slow.

Let me do my quick recap of yesterday and my eats. I actually made it out of bed to hit the gym before work and was very excited. I’d like to try to hit the gym in the a.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays, but we’ll see how that goes. Tomorrow morning could still be sort of a scary commute.

But I made it to the gym yesterday morning and ran a decent 6 miles in 51:11. I also used my new towel at the gym. I invested in an Aquis Microfiber Body Towel. The reviews from amazon.com said it was super absorbent, took up minimal space and dried quickly. I found out that all of that was true! I know a lot of people use the towels at the gym when they shower, but for some reason I really prefer to bring my own. My regular towel was taking up so much room in my bag. This one is definitely better.

Do you have any favorite gear that you bring and use at the gym if you have to shower and get ready there? My prep gear looks something like this: towel, flip flops, mini make-up bag, deodorant, work clothes. I don’t bother with my hair though. I also use the shampoo, conditioner and body wash that the gym provides – that certainly saves on space and it actually smells pretty good!

I finished up at the gym and headed to work for some breakfast. My make-shift work breakfast was a banana, coffee and an orange cranberry gnu bar (flavor was just okay).

For lunch yesterday I tried something new – Tofurkey! I made a tofurkey sandwich on an Arnold Whole Wheat Sandwich Thin with mustard and a slice of cheese. I also had a peach Chobani yogurt with some Kashi Go Lean cereal added to it.

The tofurkey was pretty decent, but for some reason it made me burp for the rest of the afternoon. Around 4 p.m. I also snacked on an apple. Have you ever tried tofurkey – what’s your opinion?

I headed home yesterday with my laptop in tow – in preparation for the mammoth storm they were forecasting. I got home and relaxed for a bit — another plus of hitting the gym in the morning – so much free time in the evening. A growling tummy got me moving and headed toward the kitchen to make dinner. I decided to make buglur again. I made what amounts to a bulgur burrito bowl. I know, sounds kind of weird, but it was good.

In the mix: cooked bulgur, chicken, carrots, celery, black beans, salsa and teeny bit of cheese. The end result:

My bulgur dinners always look kind of gross, but this was pretty good. Although Hubby did ask if we “could just have plain brown rice” sometime in the near future. Haha.

The Biggest Loser came on shortly after we finished dinner, so we tuned in. I totally forgot about American Idol. I’m usually an Idol watcher, but BL has got me hooked this season. I can’t seem to understand why Melissa could not lose weight at the ranch when she seemed to do okay at home. Very strange. And the blatant product placement with the chewing gum vs. the desserts in Vancouver was pretty annoying.

So that was my Tuesday and my Wednesday has started off snowy. I’m supposed to run 3 miles today at some point, but I’m starting to question how that will happen. I’ll have to call my gym later today to see if they’re open. Oh how I wish I had a treadmill in my apartment.

Have a great hump day everyone!

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Get into the Training Groove

Posted on February 9, 2010 | 2 comments

Good morning everyone! Hope you all had a decent Monday. Mine wasn’t too bad as Mondays go. My breakfast yesterday was a delicious bowl of oats with banana, almond butter and agave. Delish!

I was ravenous again by early morning, but I decided to have a small snack  of 3 prunes. They look gross, but they are actually pretty tasty.

For lunch I finished up some rice and beans from Saturday night, as well as a few sticks of celery with Garlic and Herb flavored Laughing Cow Light Cheese.

My afternoon snacks were Strawberry and Banana Chobani yogurt (this one was not zero-fat – it has 2%)  and an apple pie Larabar. I liked the Larabar flavor just okay.

After work I headed to the gym for an easy run. My legs were still a little sore from my run on Sunday, so I was definitely happy to have an easy night. And I did not even try to up the speed or increase the distance at all. I ran 3 miles in 28:00 minutes. Then I did some ab work and a few arm exercises with 5-pound weights. I so did not feel like running or exercising at all, but was very proud that I actually went. Hopefully I’ll be able to stick to my marathon training plan a little better if I can just get into a groove with it.

I headed home after the gym and just re-heated Sunday’s dinner of Venison and Barley Soup (sorry no picture!). It was actually even more flavorful on day two, which was what some of the reviewers of the recipe had said. I finished that up, but then had a strange craving for some…

Pickles!! I had a little pickle plate with dill and bread and butter pickles! I just love em!

And finally, a little while later I wanted some dessert, but I also felt not entirely full. I had big plans to run on Tuesday morning, so I thought a little snack might actually be a good idea so I wouldn’t be completely low on fuel on Tuesday morning. I made a Tina 3-Minute Breakfast Cookie, but used: oats, egg whites, 1 packet of Truvia, 1 teaspoon of pumpkin purée, cinnamon and walnuts. 

It was actually pretty darn good – maybe a little bit bigger than it should have been.

Then Hubby and I watched The Bachelor and shared some moments of utter disgust. Hubby turned to me at one point and told me he felt like punching Jake. HA! I agreed. Jake says the SAME things about every girl and then stares at them trying to seem deep, but to me it comes off as a vacant stare. He was really annoying me last night. And then Allie pushed me over the edge with her fake crying (yes, she had real tears at other moments) and her overly-dramatic exit at the end. Hubby and I agreed they will be bringing her back later to spice things up or maybe will give her a spin-off Bachelorette. Overall – GRRR to that episode.  

Health in the news

Learning What Food Looks Like Before It Goes Into the Package – I would have loved to take this class in high school. I’m so happy that schools are starting to offer courses like this one.

The Healing Power of Herbal Tea – I don’t think I really realized there was a difference between “tea” and “herbal tea.” Interesting.

Study links sugary soft drinks to pancreas cancer 

Three Home Habits Help Youngsters Stay Slim

P.S. – Who’s excited for the Olympics to start?!! MEE!! I love watching them. Hopefully they aren’t on too late at night.

And who’s not excited for the snow we’re supposed to get tonight/tomorrow? Me again.

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Posted in Dessert, Running, Uncategorized

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A “Super” Run and Soup

Posted on February 8, 2010 | 11 comments

Good morning. I hope you had a nice weekend! I took a little blogging hiatus on Sunday.

After my last post on Saturday, I visited my neighbor/old boss who is having a baby very very soon, ran some errands, and then Hubby and I went to see Avatar late in the evening. I really enjoyed Avatar. We went to the IMax theater on the West side and I was shocked by how huge it was and that this movie is still selling out. The 3D glasses were a little goofy, but all in all it was a great experience. And it didn’t feel like a 2 1/2 hour movie. It flew by. I think parts of the movie had a bit of the cheese-factor going on, but the action sequences totally drew me in and I forgot about any corny parts.  But the movie started at 10 p.m., so we didn’t get home until 1:30 a.m.! 

Have you seen Avatar? Did you like it?

As I mentioned, unfortunately I did not get a long run in on Saturday. I theoretically could have run in the afternoon, but once my mind was set on not running the night before (thanks to the darn weathermen), I was not motivated to go. Plus, I was not hydrated at all.

I decided that I would do my long run on Sunday morning. I woke up a little late – around 9:30 a.m. on Sunday and had my pre-run breakfast of a honey-wheat double fiber English muffin with peanut butter and a banana on top, along with some water.

But then I glanced at the temperature gauge and saw that it read 21 degrees outside. BRR! I putzed around and wasted time until finally I had to either go running outside or go to the gym. I left our apartment around 12:45 p.m. for my 11 mile run in 30 degree weather. I was sufficiently bundled, but my nose would not stop running (no pun intended). I headed to Central Park and did two 5-mile loops, plus a mile warm-up there and cool-down back — so a total of 12 miles. Here are my stats:

Mile 1 – 10:23
Mile 2 – 8:13
Mile 3 – 8:31
Mile 4 – 8:17
Mile 5 – 8:38
Mile 6 – 8:34
Mile 7 – 8:29
Mile 8 – 8:57
Mile 9 – 8:43
Mile 10 – 8:45
Mile 11 – 8:49
Mile 12 – 9:36
Total Mileage 12.40 miles in 1:49:10.

I was somewhat consistent and ran faster than I expected. I had so many layers on, along with gloves, that I didn’t check my Garmin once while I was running. I just went at whatever pace felt right and good.

After my run I wanted a snack, so I made a breakfast cookie with  oatmeal, egg whites, protein powder, raisins, Truvia, baking powder and cinnamon. It was a great after-run snack.

The afternoon flew by after I finally finished stretching, showering, ate and warmed back up and before I knew it, it was 5:00 p.m. and I wanted a light snack before dinner. I had an apple with cheddar cheese.

Before my snack, I set to work on cooking up some Beef and Barley Soup (made with venison) from a recipe on cookinglight.com to have while we watched the Super Bowl. This recipe took 2 hours to make!

Ingredients

  • Olive oil
  • 1 pound of cubed venison meat
  • 1 1/2  cups  thinly sliced carrot
  • 1 1/2  cups  thinly sliced celery
  • 2/3  cup  chopped onion
  • 1/2 cup of fresh cremini mushrooms
  • 4  cups  fat-free, less-sodium beef broth
  • 1  bay leaf
  • 2/3  cup  uncooked pearl barley
  • 1/2  teaspoon  salt
  • 1/2  teaspoon  black pepper

Preparation

Heat a Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Coat pan with cooking spray. Add beef to pan; cook 4 minutes or until browned, stirring frequently. Remove beef from pan. Add carrot, celery, onion, and mushrooms to pan; cook 6 minutes or until liquid almost evaporates. Add beef; fat-free, less-sodium beef broth; and bay leaf. Bring to a simmer over medium-high heat. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 1 1/2 hours or until beef is tender, stirring occasionally. Stir in pearl barley; cover and simmer 30 minutes or until pearl barley is tender. Stir in salt and pepper. Discard bay leaf.

It was yummy, but next time I would start making it much sooner. Hubby and I watched the Superbowl and I was very happy The Saints won. 

After it was over, I read for a bit and headed to bed – my long cold run made me exhausted. I definitely think running and marathon training in the winter/spring is harder than in the summer.  I feel like I’m exerting more effort during my long runs this time around.

What about you – have you trained in the winter/spring, and if so, do you think it’s harder than the summer/fall?

I really hope that this training pays off in the end. I’ve been trying to stick to my training plan, but this time around feels a lot tougher (I think because of the weather). How do you motivate yourself to get out there and run?! I could use any advice anyone has to offer at this point.

Have a good Monday everyone!

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Posted in Recipes, Running, Uncategorized

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Weathermen Stink

Posted on February 6, 2010 | 5 comments

Good morning – happy weekend! Did you get some snow in your area? We haven’t YET and I’m so frustrated. If I had known that the snow wouldn’t actually start until late morning today then I would have gone out for my training run. I was shocked when I woke up this morning and looked outside to see NO SNOW! Grrr – weathermen never get it right!

I apologize – yesterday I forgot my camera, so I don’t have many pics. I do have a photo of my breakfast, which was my first attempt at overnight oats. I followed Iowa Girl Eat’s recipe for this yummy breakfast.

It doesn’t look very good, but it was yummy! The coldness of this breakfast was a refreshing change.

  • 1/3 cup old fashioned oats (uncooked)
  • 1 fat-free Vanilla Chobani Yogurt
  • 1/2 cup pumpkin puree
  • cinnamon
  • 1 sliced banana

Then simply mix it up, refrigerate,  and eat it the next morning. This made a ton of food and I could actually only eat half of what I made. I saved the rest for Saturday morning.

My day at work on Friday was filled with much less than food than the previous day. I didn’t have a morning snack and then my lunch was chopped carrots, tomato and cheddar cheese with balsamic vinegar. Then I snacked on 1/2 bag of kettle corn light popcorn and an apple.

After work my co-workers and I headed to Stone Street for some cocktails. We went to a new placed called Vintry Wine and Whiskey Bar. I don’t drink whiskey, so I went with some Italian red wine. It was very yummy. While we were there we also snacked on an array of appetizers. We had a cheese plate with parmesan cheese, goat cheese and brie. We also had knishes, something called “the egg” and some almonds and fruit. Here is the spread.

Everything was really yummy. After a few glasses of wine and the delicious food I headed home around 9:00 and spent the rest of the evening reading and cleaning a bit. I’m pretty sure I was asleep around 10:30 p.m.

For the rest of the day I’ll be doing laundry, cleaning and then heading to Avatar this evening. I’ll finally find out what the hype is all about!

What about you – did the snow, or lack of snow affect your weekend plans?

Have a nice weekend!

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Posted in Restaurants, Uncategorized

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Avoid Noshing till Nausea

Posted on February 5, 2010 | 5 comments

Happy Friday everyone!! Who else is soo happy?! And who else is dreading the thought of snow this weekend? I have an 11 mile run planned for tomorrow morning and I’m not sure what’s going to happen with that. It may have to be postponed until Sunday morning depending on the weather.

How was everyone’s Thursday? Mine was pretty good – it started out with a nice breakfast of a honey wheat double fiber English muffin with peanut butter and banana and a side of light cranberry juice with orange juice.

Then yesterday afternoon was very snack-filled. I don’t know why I was so hungry, but it started off with me snacking on my granola bar at 10:30, following by an early lunch at 12:30 of a salad with romaine lettuce, carrots, cheddar cheese, chickpeas, peas and artichoke hearts. I apologize – I left my camera at home today, so I can’t upload my pictures from yesterday.

After lunch from about 1:00 – 4:30 I proceeded to eat: a big bag of blueberries, two Lindt Lindor Dark Chocolate Truffles, a small bag of walnuts and raisins and a Larabar.

I know – that is a lot of afternoon snacking. I just could  not stop. Do you ever have days when you seem to be constantly hungry? Yesterday was out of control and then when I headed to the gym after work I felt super full.

The gym was dead, so I managed to work in my required 6-mile run in 52:34. I was happy with that, considering I had quite a full belly.

Before my afternoon of noshing, I had texted Hubby to ask him to take out two frozen burger patties for dinner. I decided to give him the meat he so dearly loves and claims he needs. But as I approached home, I felt less thrilled by the idea of a big burger sitting in my tummy.

When I walked into the apartment, I finally realized just how excited Hubby was for his meat — he had stopped and picked up a tomato (to slice and put on his burger), a large bun (since I don’t eat my burger with a bun we don’t keep buns in the apt. regularly) and a new jar of small pickles for sandwiches or burgers. Clearly, he was preparing for full enjoyment of this meal. I had to laugh. 🙂

And so we cooked up some burgers and had a nice side salad to go along with it. As you can see, mine is sans bun – it ends up being just too much food for my tummy with a bun. And lord knows my tummy was at its limit already.

Please note how delicious these pickles look! Good job on the pickles Hubby. He got “bread and butter” which I like, but never think to buy.

Mmmm those pickles hit the spot. I seriously think that I love or could love any kind of pickle. They are just soo good. What about you – do you like bread and butter or are you more of a dill person? I will eat whatever kind of pickle you send my way!

And for dessert I had a handful of these:

I know – a lot of food for one day. So today is going to be a bit leaner. Well… breakfast didn’t really start out that way, but that’s tomorrow’s post.

So what are your plans for the weekend? As I mentioned, I need to run a nice 11-miler, per my training plan. I seem to have a slight problem with my training plan… I can’t seem to run 5 days a week. So far, all I’ve been managing is 4 days. I had lofty dreams of getting up this morning to run a quick 3 miles outside –  in the dark. But then the alarm went off and it was pitch black and I snoozed instead. By then it was too late to even attempt the gym. And I’ve got a work happy hour to attend tonight, so I can’t sneak it in later. Argh!

For my first marathon, I only ran 4 days a week and that worked. But with my new goal of trying to BQ, I feel I need to be running more.

And advice? If you’ve followed a training plan – how do you ensure you meet your weekly mileage, run the full amount of days, etc.? Or do you not let it bother you if you don’t stick to the plan?

Other than trying to work in an 11-mile run somewhere around the forecasted snow this weekend, I plan to read these:

Oh yeah – I’ve got some magazines to catch up on! Apparently, people know me pretty darn well. I received Runner’s World as a gift from my cousin and cousin-in-law this Christmas (thanks Linda and Chris). Linda loves running marathons and tried to get me to run one for years by talking about what a great experience it was and sending me a gift subscription to Runner’s World every year. Well – I’m not sure if it was the magazine, her recaps or my own desire that finally got me to run one…maybe all of it combined.

And my Aunt and Uncle got me a gift subscription to Fitness this Christmas too (thanks Aunt Pat and Uncle Pete)!  Apparently, I make my interests pretty well-known to everyone. 🙂

Lastly, I signed up for Cooking Light one day in the fall when I found a one-year subscription deal for only $5 (a steal)!

Oh my – I’ve got some serious reading to do! Not to mention that I’m about 100 pages away from finishing The Historian and I literally can not put it down . You guys are going to want to put this one on your list for sure…and move it right to the top. I also think I heard that it’s being made into a movie, so you’ve got to read it before it comes out!

Other than that, I plan to clean, hang with Hubby and hopefully finally go see Avatar. I kn0w – yes, we are the last people in the country to see it.

What are your weekend plans! Whatever you’ve got planned – enjoy it and travel safely through the snow, if it’s headed your way.

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Greek Goodness and the Ballet

Posted on February 4, 2010 | 5 comments

Good morning – how is everyone this fine Thursday morning? Is this week going by fast for you all? It is for me. I am definitely happy it’s Thursday though. Wednesday was busy and was over before I knew it!

Breakfast yesterday was Kashi Heart to Heart cereal with blueberries on top. I bought a huge container of blueberries last week and they’ve really lasted well.

Lunch was a salad from across the street – romaine lettuce with cheddar cheese, carrots, dried cranberries, walnuts and chickpeas. Topped with balsamic vinaigrette.

Snacks for the afternoon were Chobani yogurt with Kashi Go Lean cereal and a bag of grapes. The grapes were on sale last week so I bought them, but they did not last very long.

After work I headed uptown to a restaurant called Molyvos Restaurant to meet up with my friend Katie, her brother and her brother’s girlfriend. I’ve had Greek food before, but never really out at a nice Greek restaurant. This place was very nice and food was delicious. The menu on their website isn’t correct, but the one on menupages is right.

 We started with some wine and two appetizers: hummus and Tzatziki, which is sheeps milk yogurt with cucumber, garlic, mint and dill. I loved both, but favored the Tzatziki a bit.

 For my entrée, I had the Yemista, which is a  stuffed local red bell pepper, with arborio rice, eggplant, tomato and manouri cheese.

Sorry – I had to use flash on this one. It was scrumptous!! Soo delicious. I tried a bite of everyone else’s meal as well. Here they all are:

Aglaias Moussaka: casserole layers on eggplant, potato, tomato, spiced ground lamb and beef, yogurt bechamel.

Kritharaki Me Halaassina orzo risotto style with calamari, scallops kozani saffron and feta

Makaronia rolled pasta stuffed with agiorgitiko slow cooked short ribs, three cheese cream sauce

ALL were amazing!! What’s your favorite Greek dish? I have to say that mine was good, but I think the Makaronia was the best – hello it had a 3-cheese sauce!

We finished up our food and drink and then hopped in a cab to Lincoln Center. We made it just in time! We saw The Sleeping Beauty, performed by the NYC Ballet. It was a really great show. The only other ballet I’ve seen is The Nutcracker, which I dragged the Hubby to last year. Both were amazing, but this one was kind of nice because I knew the story better (thanks Walt Disney) and followed along easily. I had kind of forgotten The Nutcracker story when we saw that ballet, so I spent some time trying to remember the story while the ballet was going on.

I will say the first half of the show seemed a bit too long – intermission was a solid hour and a half into the show. We left Lincoln Center a little after 10:00 p.m. and I hopped in a cab. I was tired and ready to go to bed and was riding along smoothly until we were almost through Central Park and then the cab got a flat tire! Seriously. I had to get out and try to find another one to finish my trip home. Never had that happen before – very weird.

I made it home via the second cab and pretty much fell into bed. I was so happy that Katie asked me to go to the ballet — her dad and step-mom bid on the tickets at a charity auction and won, but then neither they, nor the other couple they bid with could attend, so the tickets would have gone to waste. The ballet is generally something that I wouldn’t think to go to on my own. It’s just a reminder that there are still soo many things I have yet to take advantage of in NYC and I’ve been living here for almost 4 years!

How about you – do you take advantage of all the activities and cultural events that your city/town has to offer?

NYC is soo diverse – I could probably do something different every night of the week if I wanted to (and had the money)! I should add that goal to my 2010 Resolution List – take advantage of more of the things NYC has to offer. 

Hope you all have a good Thursday. Talk to you on Friday.

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Veggie and Cookie Cravings

Posted on February 3, 2010 | 6 comments

Good morning – Happy Hump Day! Hope everyone had a good Tuesday. My day was pretty good – I started off with a nice breakfast of oatmeal with banana and peanut butter, along with a side of light cranberry juice. A very filling breakfast.

It was such a filling breakfast that I didn’t even have a mid-morning snack – so unlike me. But lunch was filling enough as well, I had leftover chicken and spinach bulgur from the night before. This meal was very hearty.

Afternoon snacks were Chobani yogurt with Kashi Go Lean cereal (aren’t you so sick of this snack – maybe I will switch it up on Thursday) and an apple.

After work, I headed to the gym to try to squeeze in as much of a run as possible. I ran a decent 4 miles in 33:26 and then was going to stop, but saw that there were one or two treadmills opens, so I ran another mile for a total of 5 miles in 42:30. Then I noticed people waiting so I hopped off and did some ab work. I slacked on doing free-weight arm exercises, but oh well.

So far, this week I am doing okay with my marathon training. Here is a link to access my training plan through Google Docs. I like using this program because I can update it from anywhere. Here’s a brief snapshot of my progress so far:

I can’t wait until it starts getting warmer and light outside later so I can do my longer week workouts outside — running 8 miles on the treadmill would not be fun.

After the gym, I was craving veggies in a really weird way, so I came home and made a giant salad for dinner with Mediterranean lettuce, carrots, goat cheese, raisins, and walnuts. I drizzled Newman’s Light Balsamic Vinaigrette over top.

It was delicious and hit the spot, but then I was craving some dessert (very much like me). I decided to try to make Tina’s 3-Minute Oatmeal Raisin Cookie into a chocolate chip oatmeal cookie. I followed her original recipe, but added peanut butter, swapped out raisins for chocolate chips, used protein powder in place of flour, left out the cinnamon, used Truvia instead of brown sugar and voila!

The addition of the peanut butter made it a little gooey in places, but I was okay with that. I also doubled the original recipe, which produced a GIANT cookie  – totally unnecessary. Somehow, I managed to eat it all, but wouldn’t double it again in the future. Here was my final recipe:

  • 1/2 cup oats
  • 1/4 cup liquid egg whites
  • 1 packet of Truvia 
  • 2 tsp protein powder (thanks Hubby)
  • 1/4 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1/2 tsp baking powder
  • handful of semi-sweet chocolate chips
  • 1 tsp peanut butter

    • Thanks again to Tina for this great recipe and congrats to her on her two-year blog birthday!

    Lastly, here are a few health headlines that caught my eye:

    Slimmer Doesn’t Always Mean Fitter – I am still trying to determine what my “best” weight is for running. Hopefully I can figure it out by May – just in time for the marathon! How about you – have you PRed or run better when you were either heavier or lighter – how did you find your ideal running weight?

    Rules Worth Following, for Everyone’s Sake – I am buying Michael Pollan’s new book  Food Rules: An Eater’s Manual, published in December 2009. I really want to read his other books:  In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto and The Omnivore’s Dilemma, but I think Food Rules has moved to the top of my list. This NY Times article gives a great overview of the book’s main ideas, as well as some general info/facts about healthy eating.  Have you read any of  Pollan’s books? Will you be checking this one out?

    Have a great Wednesday everyone. I’ve got some exciting plans tonight: I’m going to the ballet with Katie and trying some authentic Greek food beforehand!  I’m super excited! See you tomorrow.

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    Beautiful Bulgur and a Worthy Cause

    Posted on February 2, 2010 | 9 comments

    Good morning – happy Tuesday. How is everyone doing this week? My week is much less hectic and I am very thankful. I was supposed to get up for a morning run at the gym today, but it didn’t happen. So hopefully the place will be desolate tonight and I can squeeze in a longer-ish run. Yeah right.

    Before I get to Monday’s eats, I wanted to spread the word about a unique cause. My friend Rachael at Outdoorphins is an outdoor activity enthusiast and she sent me some information about her friend who is seeking support for her new non-profit organization dedicated to outdoor activities linked to raising money for charitable organizations. Here is her friend’s request:

    ——————————–

    “Hey Everyone,
     
    I need your help! As many of you know in April of 2009 I started a non-profit called Outdoors For A Cause (OFAC). Outdoors For A Cause is a non-profit organization which brings together outdoor activities and raising money for charitable organizations and causes. We believe that if people are given an easy way to raise money while doing the outdoor activities they enjoy, together, we can make a difference while maintaining healthier, happier lifestyles.  
     
    I submitted OFAC to the Pepsi Refresh Project which gives grant money to new ideas that will have a positive impact! I am in the running for a $50,000 grant. Pepsi likes my idea but now it’s up to your votes to see who wins! If I win this grant money OFAC would be up and running in 4 months!  This organization will truly make a difference in the lives of those in need and all it will take is YOUR VOTE!
     
    You are allowed to vote once a day, so vote as much as you can through the month of February!
     
    YOU CAN START VOTING FOR OUTDOORS FOR A CAUSE BY CLICKING ON THE LINK BELOW!
     
    http://refresheverything.com/outdoorsforacause
     
    As one becomes many and $1 raised becomes millions, Outdoors For A Cause and all of you that voted will be proud to say that we were part of a movement that promoted happier, healthier lifestyles while supporting those in need, saving lives, and making the world a better place for future generations to come.
     
    If you like my idea, vote for it! If you REALLY like it, then help spread the word to everyone you know via email, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc! 🙂 Pepsi has even created links to easily promote this idea, after you vote simply click on the social networking site you prefer and spread the word!!
     
    Thank you very much!

    Karen Lewis
    Outdoors For A Cause

     

    —————————————–

    I think her organization sounds like a great idea and a unique way to stay healthy and fit while giving back to charities and groups that need the help. I always feel better about signing up for a road race and doling out sometimes upwards of $75, if I know the money is going to a charitable or needy organization. I’m very happy that the Poconos Marathon in May benefits The Red Cross, especially after all they’ve done in Haiti.

    So I encourage everyone to check out the site and at least vote – voting is super easy and you will be helping someone to move one step closer to achieving their dream/goal.  And  I know so many of us out there have some amazing and important goals and can relate.

    Now onto Monday’s eats:

    Breakfast was Kashi Heart to Heart cereal with skim milk (no almond milk in the house) topped with blueberries, and with a side of light cranberry juice.

    My mid-morning snack was a Larabar and I was ravenous for it by 11:00 a.m.

    Not the biggest fan of the cherry pie flavor, but it probably would have been good combined with something else – for instance in my yogurt maybe?

    Lunch was reduced Fat Triscuit crackers with Garlic and Herb Laughing Cow Light Cheese. YUM! And a side of carrots.

    Afternoon snacks were Chobani yogurt with Kashi Go Lean cereal and a bag of green grapes.

    After work I hit the gym for a quick run of 3 miles – I finished in 26:20. I definitely took it slow and steady. I’ve had quite a bit of congestion in my ears and nose lately and yesterday was particularly bad. I was glad for the easy run.

    For dinner, I took some inspiration from Meg and made a meal with Bulgur. It’s been sitting in my kitchen cupboard for a while, but I just couldn’t figure out what I wanted to make. Meg made hers with shrimp, but I decided to use chicken and I switched a few other things up. Here was my final recipe – thanks for the inspiration Meg!

    Bulgur with Chicken and Spinach

     Ingredients
    1 shallot – chopped
    1 cup of bulgur
    1 tsp. olive oil
    2 cups of chicken broth
    1/8 cup of cheddar cheese
    1/2 cup of frozen spinach

    Directions

    Add chicken to skillet and sauté for 5-6 minutes or until nearly cooked. Add shallot and bulgur to pan – sauté with olive oil for 2-3 minutes. Add 2 cups of chicken broth and bring to a boil, then turn the heat down and simmered for 15 minutes.

    While that is cooking, heat up frozen spinach in the microwave and add it to the skillet for the last 2 minutes. Add cheese for the last minute of cooking – allowing it to melt and stir.

    Final result:

    Up close

    I added a little bit of ground Cumin at the end as well and it got a “pretty good” from the Hubby. So that passes in my book.

    Have you ever cooked with bulgur? If yes, what is your favorite recipe?

    After dinner, Hubby and I watched The Bachelor – I guess you could say we are now officially “regular watchers” no matter how much we want to claim we aren’t. I’m leaning towards thinking Tenley is going to win it. But I definitely thought he was going to axe either Gia or Vienna last night – I was way off.

    And as I mentioned, this morning I was supposed to run, but instead I made a quick visit to my doctor just to be sure there was nothing weird going on in my ears. They have been clogged for almost two-weeks and it can be really frustrating. I feel like I am constantly yelling because I can’t hear what’s being discussed. I figured it would go away eventually, but wanted to practice the “better to be safe than sorry” idea.

    Doc said it’s viral and that it should go away if I continue to flush out my nose to drain the mucus (this will in turn help my ears I guess). I’ve been taking Sudafed off and on, but he said I need to be strict with my regimen: Sudafed, Mucinex D, Nasonex and I need to try something called Salt-Aire, which is kind of like a netty pot, but with a saline solution. I’m sure none of you wanted all that info – but just in case you face a similar congestion issue – here’s the cure! He made a point to note that if I don’t do all this, it could turn into a sinus infection – eek!

    So besides a longish run at the gym tonight – I’ll be doing all that – fun, fun!  Don’t you just love winter? Blah. Have a good Tuesday.

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