Tag Archives: workout

Pho Sho

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Did getting sucked in by Twitter keep me from accomplishing enough this afternoon? Pho sho.

Did I have a fabulous workout anyway? Pho sho.

Did I use a free sample to make some tasty soup for dinner? Pho pho sho!

Is this post punny in the worst kind of way? For sure!

I didn’t get nothing done, but I didn’t get enough done either.  Still, there’s a limit to how much work I’m going to get done after 6pm, gym or not, so I might as well go to to the gym!  Where apparently there is also a limit to how much I’ll get done after 6:00, because it was packed!  I settled for a quick treadmill workout.

  • 5minutes walking, warm up
  • 20minutes running
  • 5minutes walking, cool down

I covered 2.67miles, a little further than yesterday 🙂  Not an improvement from yesterday was the fact that I had to stop twice during my run to give my feet a break; I have the worst blisters right now 😦

Dinner came in the mail.

Star Anise Foods contacted me about trying their Garlic Goodness Happy Pho and I’m never one to say no to new things.  I’ve never had Pho before, so I can’t comment to its authenticity, but this definitely sparked my interest in trying some at restaurant.

Nutritionals –

Stellar sodium levels for a soup.  Just a head’s up – we found that this made way more than 2 servings (3-4?).

The cooking process was beautifully low-key as well.

We made a hybrid recipe from their traditional and vegetarian options –

Along with the package we did 4cups of low-sodium veggie broth, 8oz of sliced chicken, 4 sliced green onions, a heaping cup of spinach, and cilantro.

The verdict?

Two thumbs up.  This wasn’t very soupy, but that was user error because we let the water cook off while we took a phone call.  The flavors were mild but in a pleasing way, and the use of cinnamon was delightful.  I loved the texture of the noodles too, very soft without being mushy.

Want to try Happy Pho for yourself?  From now to October 5th you can get free shipping when you order online through Amazon.com.  Simply enter this code at check out – ESEFJ7WN.

He’s Just Like Garfield

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I did not get enough work done today!  I got behind from my “free” weekend last week and I’m still making work up, and I have 4 exams next week so things are feeling a little crazy.  But I did something so that feels good.  Progress, people!

This morning we sent the in-laws off with a hearty breakfast from Panos.

I ordered “The Fix,” which was Two eggs, scrambled with Feta, in a grilled Pita, served with homefries.  I made some adjustments – mozzarella subbed in for feta, plus broccoli and spinach.

I forgot to ask for no butter on my pita so I ended up taking a few sandwich bites and then eating the insides out.  I left a lot of my huge pile of hash browns as well.

I think we sent them off full!  I wrote my blog address down for my m-i-l so she might start stopping by (hi Barb!).

I spent the morning studying – and internet time killing 😦 – at home.  The last of the 7-layer bar was calling me.

I cut it up into little pieces for ease in eating without crumming on my Orgo book.

Around 3 the husband came home from the lab and we drove over to my campus so I could go to the gym.  My knees have been feeling off so I decided to do a nice low-impact treadmill run.

  • 5minute walking warm up
  • 20minutes jogging
  • 5minute walking cool down

I covered 2.53miles.  I finished with a super quick stretch, the gym was closing as I left!

Adam and I studied in the library for a couple of hours – although, again, I got distracted by the internet; gleesh!  I packed some plums and a Babybel Light to snack on.

I also opened this Turtle candy bar my in-laws brought me.

I ate 1.5 and gave the rest to the husband.

I should not have wasted any more time, but when we got home and Adam asked if I wanted to go for a walk my answer was “of course!”  We didn’t have any destination in mind so we ended up visiting the store kitties.

The “store kitties” are two cats that live in a clothing shop on Elmwood, the husband is obsessed with them.  They are ginormous; one has huge paws and is just a big cat, and the other is a total fatty. 

Sidenote 1 – Adam and I have been talking for weeks about baking a lasagna just so we can take a picture of it with the fat cat.  Sidenote 2 – when we lived in Park Slope there was a store puppy, a french bulldog that visited a shop 13 blocks from our apartment.  We walked those 13 blocks at least 3 times a week so we could go in and be total dog creepers.

Dinner was a cinch when we got home because my m-i-l brought us all sorts of home cooked goodness.

Rosemary chicken (just to note, I only ate one of those two pieces, I don’t think I’m a fan of chicken thighs),

with roasted potatoes.

All we had to do was pan-steam some Red Russian Kale, finished off with a bit of sesame oil.

I dipped every component in ketchup 🙂

This meal felt very hardy.

Now I’m already late for my goal bedtime and I’ve still got to shower; I’m off!

Do you have any “store animals” in your neighborhood?

Pumpkin Packed Pantry

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It’s been the near perfect sort of Saturday – fun time, food time, school time, errands.  I’m definitely a happier camper when my weekends are productive 🙂

We headed over to the in-law’s hotel at 7:00 this morning to meet up for breakfast.  Everyone was getting the buffet so I did as well, but there ended up not being a lot available for me.  Sidenote – what kind of breakfast buffet has no fruit?!?  I ended up putting together a pretty good meal though.

Drinks –

Black coffee (they only had cream) and a small pour of oj.

1 plate –

A little bit of scrambled eggs and breakfast potatoes with a half slice of french toast (syrup was hiding off to the side).

1 bowl –

A vanilla Dannon with half a serving of Frosted Flakes and strawberry jam.

Adam and his parents drove up to the funeral today but I had too much school work so I had to stay home.  My knees have been hurting (too much ellipticalling?) so I decided to skip the gym today, but I still wanted to stretch my legs out so instead I walked home from breakfast.  Glorious!  The walk was a little less than 2miles and the crisp 50* weather felt amazing.  Plus I got to walk through the farmers’ market on my way home.

I spent the morning crafting my totally embarrassing entry for Foodbuzz’s Project Food Blog.  At least I can cross having to do the subsequent challenges off my to-do list 😉  I did some school reading as well.  It actually took me forever to get started on work and I was furious with myself, but then I was so pleased once I accomplished something.

Around 2:30 I set out for Target and Wegmans.  I didn’t get home until 5:30, which means that grocery shopping took an insane amount of time.  But I found Libby’s pumpkin, so it was totally worth it!  I never really got hungry for lunch, though I did grab a medium iced coffee (with skim milk) at the store.

Normally I would try to eat a snack now to round out dinner, but we have a fun (big!) dinner planned so for today I’ll just hope things even out on their own.

Have you found canned pumpkin in your neck of the woods yet?

Full of Nerves

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It’s almost 5o’clock and all I’ve eaten today is a Balance Bar, yikes! At least it was my favorite flavor.

I think I’m full of nerves – I’ve been so busy I haven’t even gotten hungry! I had class –> transfer credit arguments –> class –> class –> more dealing with transfer credits –> and finally I got to take a trip to the gym.

36 minutes on the elliptical – random, level 6 –  and I felt more relaxed. It even occurred to me mid-gym that I had not announced my CSN giveaway winner!  Comment # 5 – Nicole – shoot me an e-mail for your prize!

Now I’ve got to scurry off again; we have to go pick up the husband’s parents. A close family friend passed away last week and they are in town for the service. I’m sad about the circumstances, but it will be good to have dinner with them.

By the way – eating my 7-layer bar in bed with a magazine last night was heavenly!  In fact, it felt so luxurious that I knew I did not need to eat the whole bar to feel satisfied, so I had the husband put half of it away for later.  I’m pretty good about not picking up food that I’m not excited about, but I think this is the first time ever it’s occurred to me to stop eating while I was still enjoying something.

Have you developed the skills to stop eating while you are still enjoying or do you stuff yourself silly?

When It Rains…

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…it pours!  Today was dark, rainy, and cold, which totally set the gloom and doom scene for this frustrating day.  At one point it seemed like everything that could go wrong would.  My pants got soaked, my bag was so heavy my right arm started to fall asleep, I didn’t do well on my quiz, I’m frustrated by the cat muscle lab, I forgot my lunch…  But eventually the sun came out (metaphorically of course, it stayed grey here all day) and things started to work out.  I can easily find a silver lining in most of today’s mishaps.

When I got to campus this morning I bought a small coffee – with 2 creamers because there was no skim milk – to sip while I did my last-minute review. 

I quizzed with a friend and we both felt pretty confident.  By the time I headed into lab there were only about 5 words out of the 200 that I didn’t know – – – and 3 of them were on my version of the quiz!  Since the quiz was only 12 questions that is a lot, arrrgh.  It is frustrating to know so much of the material and still earn a poor grade.

I was pretty irritated with myself when I realized I forgot my lunch, but I ended up getting a surprisingly good lunch from Taco Bell in the food court.

I got the Ranchero Chicken Soft Tacos (it comes with 2) and they were fresh and tasty.

We had to sample what we made in Food Prep Lab today but most of the items were red meat so I ended up only taking a small bite of muffin.  I’m not sure whether or not I’ll be able to take photos in lab, but the amount of food each week will be so small it doesn’t really matter if it goes undocumented.

I attended the introductory meeting of Roteract (a service club I’m joining) and then headed to the gym.  It doesn’t matter what the weather looks like outside, a workout always makes me feel good!  I did 30 minutes on the elliptical, random, level 6; followed with a few minutes of strength/stretch.  After I carried all of my stuff home I set out with Adam for a walk to the Co-op.  I don’t think anything feels better after a gym session than stretching my legs out with a walk. 

I have a philosophy statement due tomorrow so I worked on that most of the evening.  I hate those types of assignments – half of the reason I didn’t go to graduate school was because I didn’t want to write a personal statement! – but I think I did a pretty good job in the end.  FYI on the schoolfront – I got a 100% on my extra credit presentation and my Orgo teacher called me out in class to say I did a good job on my homework notes; go me!

I had a small handful of dried hibiscus and a chocolate-covered fig when I got home.

The rest of dinner was a little bit small.

I wanted to make chips out of the local Red Russian Kale I got at the farmers’ market, but those turned out like this –

The green bean fries were much more appetizing.

Honestly, dinner was pretty much an afterthought anyways, all of my thoughts were on this –

Oh yes, a 7-Layer bar from the co-op; be still my heart. 

I’m going to take a quick shower and then eat it in bed with a magazine, Heaven!

What’s the weather been like in your area?  Summer still?  Fall-like?  Or did you have gloom and doom like me?

A Lesson Learned

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Today has been insane, and it’s still going!  I’m going to be up very late tonight; I’m never doing nothing on a weekend again; “oh my god! oh my god! oh my god!” I’ll leave it at that.

For lunch I dug into my Naan Pizza sample stash from Tandoor Chef.

Spinach and Paneer Cheese.

Here is the ingredient list,

and the nutritional panel,

both of which checked out positively.  The fact that these pizzas are packed with real foods is definitely what keeps them from tasting frozen.  In fact, the taste was divine!

I burnt the crust last time, but now that I know my oven is set too high and lowered the temperature accordingly I was rewarded with perfect crust; it had great chew and was just crisp enough.  There was just the right amount of red sauce and its tang complimented the paneer cheese.  This was pretty plain, a child would probably enjoy it, but still had a great degree of interest.

I ate the entire pizza (technically two servings) and that ended up being just right.  I needed some extra lunch calories since my “breakfast” was coffee, but it wasn’t too much cheese and this didn’t leave me feeling heavy at all.  I was perfectly full and awake for Orgo and Anatomy class.

I had a bit of a quandary about how to divide my time this afternoon – study or gym?  I have three medium assignments and big presentation due tomorrow so I knew I needed to work.  But along the same vein I can’t go to the gym tomorrow (I have classes, with breaks, from 8am – 8pm) so I wanted to work out.  I ended up deciding to work out, even though I didn’t really have time, but to push the timing back.  Adam met me on campus after class and we spent a few hours studying together. 

I had to organize some e-mails when I got home so I got in a small serving of carbs before my run.

That’s a Van’s pancake (1/2 of a serving) topped with Smart Balance and Crofter’s strawberry.

Running with Adam was wonderful, he definitely pushes me to go faster than I do on my own.  We kept it casual, the husband says we ran ~2miles but I have no idea what our time was; we ran the whole time and the pace felt pretty good though.  We finished things up with a short walk, and some stretching.

Dinner was speedy, tasty, and healthy.

I put some of the (best ever) chilli leftovers on a bed of steamed dinosaur kale.

The kale was pretty bitter, but it felt good to pack in the nutrients.  I totally save the bites with sharp cheddar in them for last 😉

I’m going to be up past midnight (ack!) but if I do any snacking I’ll put in the morning post.  Wish me luck!

Was it the healthiest decision to honor my workout today, or should I have tried for an earlier bedtime instead?  What do you prioritize over exercise?

Patriot Day

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I’ve been missing the husband lately so I skipped my run this morning in leu of cuddle time.  Instead I did 15minutes of strength and stretch moves.  I finished on my yoga mat, with a few minutes of silence for the victims of September 11th.

I made a patriotic breakfast too.

I added blueberries into my Strawberry Danish Oats mix.  I used ~1cup of fruit total.

Hopefully that breakfast will fuel me well, because this weekend is going to be pretty freaking stressful.  Here’s a breakdown of what I need to do for next week –

Monday

  • Orgo – read and take notes on ch. 3
  • Orgo – hand in my recopied class notes
  • Anatomy – read and take notes on ch. 5 -6

Tuesday

  • Nutriton100 – read ch. 3 + 5
  • Nutrition110 – read ch. 1 -2
  • Nutrition110 – 20 post reading questions
  • Nutrition110 – article analysis
  • Nutrition110 – 15minute presentation

Wednsday

  • Orgo lab – flow chart and pre-lab questions

Thursday

  • Anatomy lab – quiz identifying 150+ bones
  • Nutrition100 – prelab questions and last week’s post lab

Friday

  • Nutrition230 – a personal philosophy statement
  • Orgo – read and take notes on ch. 4

Oh, and before I can start any of that today I have to go grocery shopping (at multiple stores), go to Target, go to the Post Office, and fill out a few financial aide forms.  {insert hyperventilation}  Think productive thoughts for me please!

Friday (Mostly) Freebie

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So it’s been 14 hours since my last post, also 14hours since I last sat at my laptop; yikes!  I’m a bit concerned that this semester is basically going to be insane.  My packed lunch was tasty, I guess, I’m not really sure since I inhaled the sandwich while running to class.  The cucumber slices were good, but perhaps a bit loud for crunching during Orgo; insert red face here.  I did squeeze in some Friday fun though.

After my last class ended (3pm) Adam came over to my campus for a study session with me.  I am so much more focused when the husband is next to me, probably because I’m not texting him!  A little after 5, I headed to the gym.  30minutes on the elliptical, random, level 6.  I wasn’t so lethargic today so I was able to run interval sprints for the last 10minutes or so.

After a shower we headed to the mall to Johnny Rockets.

I came home from BlogHer with coupons for 2 free meals so we made that our dinner date.  Usually JR would not be my first choice, but I’m kind of cheap 😉  Adam and I decided to do some sandwich splitting –

I got the #12 turkey burger,

and he ordered a tuna melt on sourdough.

He loved the melt (I thought the tuna tasted funny) and I thought the turkey burger was actually pretty fabulous, not too greasy at all.  I’d forgotten how much I enjoy pickles on burgers.  I ate ~ 1/3 of each sandwich and half of my fries.

Since all we had to pay was the tip we brought the evening’s cost up to a grand total of $6.71 by splitting a mini Brownie Batter Blizzard.

Cons – I don’t like brownies so I’m not sure why I thought I’d like this (I ate about 1/3 of it though).  Pros – our DQ has mini Blizzards now, yippie!

Does your DQ offer the mini?  What is your Blizzard order?