Minimums and Maximums

by Emily

Minus the fact that I lengthened it by forgetting my lunch until I was a block away, my walk to school actually wasn’t so bad! I was cold, but not oh-my-gosh-I-think-I’d-rather-just-curl-up-in-the-snow-and-die-cold.

My first day of classes went well (this semester is going to be hard!) and p.s. my packed lunch ended up being delicious and satisfying. To top off my good day, I even headed to the gym after class.

1mile in 9minutes 10seconds, followed by a quick .25mile walk cool down.

(This next bit is mostly on here for my records, feel free to skip ahead.) I’m excited to get back to the gym, and I’m even more excited about a fun fitness thing that might be happening the second week of March. I want to make sure that I am (1) ready, as in, in shape and (2) ready, as in, not injured so I made a loose workout plan for the next month. In addition to strength training, the following are my minimum and maximum workout goals for each week.

1/24 – 1/30: run 1 mile; x-train 20-30minutes
1/31 -2/6: run 1.5 miles; x-train 25-35minutes
2/7 – 2/13: run 1.5 miles; x-train 30-40minutes
2/14 – 2/20: run 2 miles; x-train 30-45minutes
2/21 – 2/27: run 2 miles; x-train 30-50minutes
2/28 -3/6: run 2-3 miles; x-train 30-60minutes

With between 4-6 cardio sessions each week, all done on the treadmill and elliptical. Basically I want to get back into shape, but to force myself to move slowly so I don’t mess up my legs again. I can walk as much as I want, but I want to stick to the maximum miles running on any given day.

Anyways. When I got home this evening I was treated to a killer migraine, but I managed to push through and ended up with a banging dinner.

Lemon-Artichoke Risotto, a la Rachael Ray.

This was my first ever attempt at risotto and it ended up being pretty painless. Stir, stir, stir, and you end up with a nice creamy dish.

Add leftovers and a few steps on the side, and you’ve got a great dinner.

Risotto,

leftover bbq chicken from yesterday’s pizza,

and some steamed brocoli.

Also a side of cheese, we watched The Initiation of Sarah while we ate 😉

Have you ever made risotto?

24Jan2011

Scheduled

by Emily

Hello, future readers, it’s Emily from the past! In order to share my lunch before I get home at dinner-time I pre-scheduled this post.

Speaking of scheduling, here’s a look at my life this semester –

Hours-wise this should be a bit easier than the fall, but most of my classes are slated to be pretty difficult, so it’s going to be a busy semester.

Today’s plan is to eat lunch between my two nutrion classes, in between dropping of an important application, fingers crossed!

I’ve got a sliced up cucumber,

and a leftover serving of last night’s wonder pizza.

As I munched happily last night I told the husband that this (bbq chicken caramelized onions and gouda) pizza is a 7-out-of-10 on the pizza scale, but a 9.5-out-of-10 on the homemade pizza scale!

I’ve got plans to hit the gym after my last class (finally!) and then this evening should be nice and relaxing since Tuesdays are school-free! See ya this evening!

24Jan2011

Back to School, Back to School

by Emily

Today is a big day – the first day of my second semester at BSC!

Normally I like to bound out of bed on mornings of big occasions, but today’s -7* weather left me clinging to my pillow! Fun fact – in just a bit, I’m going to have to go outside for my 30minute walk to school in those negative temperatures. Yikes! I’ve already had to build extra time into this morning’s schedule for bundling.

I also made time for (warm!) breakfast.

Even though I’m not a teacher any more, I still like to start off new semesters with an apple. This morning it was a stewed apple – a la IGE – atop a Van’s Berry Boost Waffle.

With a side of ‘smores hot cocoa.

Now if I can just find a parka and a dog with a barrel around its neck I’ll be ready for school!

Help me. This is my first foray into degrees below 10, does anyone have any advice about my walk to school?

23Jan2011

Like a Saftey

by Emily

Confession – in order to write my clever title I had to Google “football players who tackle.” And I was a cheerleader.

Anyway, that’s what this weekend has been about, tackling my to-do list:

Hooray!

I tackled two weeks worth of laundry (actually, the husband tackled this, but I folded!),

I tackled the pile of outgoing mail,

I tackled my huge stack of unsorted magazine clippings,

I tackled my planner for the semester,

And more! I didn’t work the whole weekend, but I did more in two days than I’ve done in two weeks.

Breakfast this morning had a mix of carbs and protein to fuel me up.

That’s a plan fat-free yogurt with Crofter’s Strawberry Jam stirred in, topped with Kashi H2H and some chunky peanut butter.

So good! Peanut Butter and I have totally resparked our love affair lately.

Around noon I headed out to run some errands at school and replenish our food stores. Wegman’s was terrible this afternoon – the hot bar was barely stocked and the store was packed. Nonetheless, I managed to carve out a booth of calm and spend an hour tackling my NYE resolution to read more.

Eating materials, hot bar Asian style veggies, potatoes, and sweet and sour chicken.

Reading materials, The Food of a Younger Land, Mark Kurlansky.

When I got home from pushing my way through the hoards I snacked on a mini bag of kettle corn and a glass of skim milk.

Dinner involved some prep throughout the day – chicken getting soft and shreddable in the crock pot, red onions caramelizing on the stove – but the end result was beyond worth it –

Bbq chicken pizza with caramelized red onions and gouda!

I topped a store-bought crust with caramelized red onions, shredded chicken tossed with bbq sauce, and gouda, and 10minutes later I had pure, steamy bliss.

Bliss served with a side of roasted asparagus.

It was a pretty heavenly dinner.

Dessert was from the bulk bins; yogurt pretzels, chocolate pretzels, and a piece of local sponge candy.

I’ve got to go shower and get my beauty sleep; school starts tomorrow!

22Jan2011

Snow Filled Saturday

by Emily

Howdy all, happy Saturday! It’s been chilly and busy ’round these parts. I had lots of errands to run, but more on that later (tomorrow). Basically I have today and tomorrow to tackle this monster to-do list –

Before I got started on my errands I grabbed this coconut aloe juice.

So good, the best coconut (or aloe) drink I’ve had yet!

The weather was insane today, whiteout for miles.

It took me forever to get the five miles to the post office, probably because I was only going 10miles an hour! At least the bad weather meant that this adorable snowflake ended up on my steering wheel –

I snacked on a bag of kettle chips when I got home.

And made myself a Peanut Noodle Lean Cuisine for lunch.

This was actually very good, the sauce was mild but nice.

I also snagged a minneola.

And while I was ruthlessly cutting down my magazine clipping I snacked on a 7-Layer bar.

Then came dinner.

A recipe from Everyday with Rachael Ray, Stir-Fried Pasta Primavera (sorry I can’t link to this recipe).

I basically followed Ray’s lead, with a few healthy changes:

I wanted 3 big servings (vs. 4), so added a bit more veggies and used a bit less pasta
subbed parsley for basil
subbed light for heavy cream

The end result was delicious.

I almost never order cream sauces when dining out but lately we’ve been loving them at home.

What’s the weather like in your neck of the woods today?

21Jan2011

Blojo, It’s Not What You’re Thinking

by Emily

I don’t know what my deal is lately, I have lost all my blojo (that’s blog mojo, fyi). Sometimes I run out of time to blog, or sometimes I’m just too lazy, but the other day I actually forgot to blog before bed. That’s crazy! As I spend my last days before the semester begins relishing my time as a slug, I guess my eats have been pretty forgettable though. Sort of like the pizza we ordered for dinner tonight 😉

While we wait for that delivery, I might as well fill you in on my day. Like breakfast.

A slice of cinnamon sugar toast with Smart Balance Light, on a rye/pumpernickel swirl.

Plus a tasty yogurt bowl; 0% Plain Oikos, honey, pb, and a chopped banana.

This was the high point of my day nutritionally, – which shouldn’t be hard because Greek yogurt is pretty nutritionally impressive – mostly because lunch came in the form of corn, popped and kettled.

And several handfuls of cheezits.

Hello, carbs.

It’s time for another trip to the store but with 10* weather I’m having a hard time finding the motivation (hence the pizza dinner delivery). However, I realize that the lack of fruits and veggies is effecting the rest of my motivation; the motivation that gets me off the couch or prompts me to write a decent blog post. Dare I say school on Monday might be the best thing to happen to me all month?

How do you keep up your blojo?

19Jan2011

Chocolate Straws and Muffin Bars

by Emily

This morning I had Adam drop me off at my school on the way to his, so I could finally get those to-do’s done. It was nice to be out of the house, and up before 9, for a change.

Plus it felt good to check things off the list. I picked up my recommendation letter, and delivered it to the application desk, and I printed off a few things. Then I went to the registrar’s office….no, wait, I didn’t. I walked halfway home and then I remembered that I had one final to-do! I trekked back and was informed that my music class does indeed cover two requirements, which means I can’t drop it, no matter how god-awful it sounds.

I wasn’t expecting to make that extra half trip, but I’m glad I came prepared with breakfast in my purse.

LaraBar sent me their newest flavor to sample, Blueberry Muffin. I’ve heard mixed reviews in the blog world so I wasn’t sure what to expect, but I loved it! I don’t know how they managed to approximate a baked good so well using dates. There was this great crumbly muffininess to it.

When I finally did make it home from tromping about in the cold, I was parched. Enter a big glass of skim milk with a chocolate milk straw.

I don’t drink a lot of milk (I prefer to get my dairy in yogurt form), but when I do I love it. The straws are pretty neat too, they just barely flavor the milk with cocoa. I tried to find a link and came up short, but I did discover that the Got Milk? site is totally amazing. You should check it out.

Two Questions for Hump Day:

What is your favorite way to eat dairy?
What is your favorite LaraBar flavor?

18Jan2011

Representative, REPRESENTATIVE!

by Emily

Woo-whee, today has been a frustrating day! This morning I lost two hours of my life to customer representatives, two hours I’ll never get back. Can I just say – I hate automated phone systems!

I didn’t have time to go to the grocery store until much later than planned, so most of the day’s eats were random things from my almost bare fridge. 1.5Tbsp of cheese spread with Mary’s Gone Crackers.