ATTENTION ATTENTION ATTENTION
Eat for Health, Eat for Fun is moving!! That's right people, the U-Haul showed up and it's moving day!! It has been a dream of mine for a while to have a lot more creative freedom with my blog as well as have my own domain and now it is a reality! I am blogging through Wordpress now, but I have my own domain name, so you don't find me under Wordpress exactly. My new address is
eatforhealtheatforfun.com
Same blog title but just with a .com instead of a blogspot.com!
Link up here: Eat for Health, Eat for Fun
My breakfast post for this morning is up on the new site :)
You are going to have to bear with me as I go through some changes- still new to Wordpress and not used to having so many choices for everything! I am sure things will be popping up and disappearing like crazy as I figure out just what I like and what I don't. I hope you like the way the new site looks for now though and I am excited about where this will go :)
Thanks for reading and I hope you follow me over!!
October 18, 2012
October 17, 2012
THERE IS PASTA IN MY SOUP...OR SOUP IN MY PASTA?
Wednesday Evening
A good time was had by all at the gym tonight! (Orrrr at least by me!) I did a combo of 15 minutes on the elliptical (161 calories...I think I was having a contest with the guy beside me...) and 15 minutes on the spin bike (89 calories).
Thank you, Mr. Crock Pot for dinner. I absolutely love getting back from the gym and having dinner ready!! Our meal was very simple and I put it together during nap-time so there was next to nothing to do this evening.
Red Bean Pasta Soup (I halved the recipe.)
-21 oz. low-sodium vegetable broth
-1/4 diced green pepper
-1/4 diced red pepper
-1/2 onion diced
-1/2 TBS chili powder
-1/4 tsp. cumin
-1/2 a 15oz. can red beans
All goes into the crockpot to simmer on low for 4-5 hours.
When I got home all that I had to do was throw in 4oz. of ww rotini. Topped the soupy pasta (pasta-y soup?) with parsley and it was a meal!
Delicious :)
Now Zach and I are doing some cleaning at the church and possibly trying on Halloween costumes tonight!
A good time was had by all at the gym tonight! (Orrrr at least by me!) I did a combo of 15 minutes on the elliptical (161 calories...I think I was having a contest with the guy beside me...) and 15 minutes on the spin bike (89 calories).
Thank you, Mr. Crock Pot for dinner. I absolutely love getting back from the gym and having dinner ready!! Our meal was very simple and I put it together during nap-time so there was next to nothing to do this evening.
Red Bean Pasta Soup (I halved the recipe.)
-21 oz. low-sodium vegetable broth
-1/4 diced green pepper
-1/4 diced red pepper
-1/2 onion diced
-1/2 TBS chili powder
-1/4 tsp. cumin
-1/2 a 15oz. can red beans
All goes into the crockpot to simmer on low for 4-5 hours.
When I got home all that I had to do was throw in 4oz. of ww rotini. Topped the soupy pasta (pasta-y soup?) with parsley and it was a meal!
BURN BABY BURN
Wednesday Afternoon
Too much raw cauliflower in the fridge! What's a girl to do? Why, make Golden Almond Cauliflower of course!
I melted a little butter in a skillet and threw the cauliflower in to cook until tender. Then I added golden raisins, slivered almonds, S + P, and coriander and cooked a bit longer. The almonds got a little burnt unfortunately. What is with me the past two days burning stuff? I don't typically burn things...sigh.
Well despite the burn this was still some good cauliflower! I especially love the golden raisins in it. Teeny bowl of low-fat cottage cheese on the side.
I am going to try to stop burning stuff now. Sheesh. You'd think I was new to this whole cookin' thing...
Despite the fact that my shoulders are still sore from Monday's Shred with Jillian, I did it again today! This level definitely is one that works my shoulders. It's funny how I never gave much thought to how shoulders looked in general, but now I am working them out and trying to get them cut! Can I just repeat again how much tougher level 2 is than level 1? Thank you.
Excited that Zach is getting a big project with stones done outside.
Excited that my weekend surprise is almost here.
Excited for our Halloween party coming up in less than 2 weeks.
And the list could go on and on and on because truthfully, I get excited easily :)
Too much raw cauliflower in the fridge! What's a girl to do? Why, make Golden Almond Cauliflower of course!
Excited that Zach is getting a big project with stones done outside.
Excited that my weekend surprise is almost here.
Excited for our Halloween party coming up in less than 2 weeks.
And the list could go on and on and on because truthfully, I get excited easily :)
YOU MATTER
Wednesday Morning
It's humpday! I celebrated with 30 minutes on the gazelle (oh wait, I do that every weekday...).
You know what's on my mind this morning? Treating your body right. We get ONE body, ONE chance. Why would we waste any bit of that chance? Our health is so crucial to every single part of life. Not just how we look, but how we act, how we work, how our relationships go, the list goes on. When we are not getting enough sleep or eating the wrong foods or skimping on physical activity (or YIKES all of the above!!) we are not only cheating ourselves but also everyone around us of the best you that you can be. I'll stop with the sermon now, but don't cheat yourself today! Instead be the best you that you KNOW you can be!
Part of being the best me I can be involves eating bananas. :)
And natural peanut butter. :) (Bran cereal = vehicle for peanut butter)
'Twas a great breakfast and great fuel for the day! Now do something good for yourself today. Don't do it for me, do it for YOU!
It's humpday! I celebrated with 30 minutes on the gazelle (oh wait, I do that every weekday...).
Part of being the best me I can be involves eating bananas. :)
October 16, 2012
BURNED BITS
Tuesday Evening
Gym time tonight! I did 20 minutes on the arc trainer during which I discovered my iPod had died and needed charged. It was a sad day and I decided to spend my time praying while I worked out instead and I swear it went by faster than ever! :) 281 calories burned on the arc trainer. Then I did 15 treadmill minutes at a 15 incline and burned 175 calories.
Dinner was a plan to use up more orchard apples. (Yes, I still have some.) It was inspired by a recipe that I got out of Shape magazine. Here is the way I made it:
-2 tsp. EVOO
-four 2oz. tilapia filets
-S + P
-1 tsp butter
-1/2 a white onion
-ground cinnamon
-1 apple
-white wine vinegar
1. Heat the olive oil in a large sauce pan. Season filets with S + P and cook for one and a half minutes per side in pan. Remove and keep warm (they won't be cooked through yet).
2. Add butter, thinly sliced onion and a few dashes of cinnamon to the same pan and cook until onion is caramelized (around 8 minutes).
3. Add thinly sliced cored, peeled apple and cook another 7 minutes.
4. Put filets back in pan on top of apples and onions and cook, covered for a few minutes until fish is cooked through. Remove fish and deglaze pan with a splash of white wine vinegar. Serve the apple and onion mixture on top of fish.
I also sautéed zucchini in a pan with garlic and some italian herb blend.
Unfortunately I didn't like the method of cooking the fish on top of the onion and apple. They looked lovely beforehand and then seemed to burn to the pan, even though it was over medium heat. It still tasted good but I had to pick several of the burned pieces out. :/ If I made this again I would cook the fish separately.
Oh well, can't win them all I suppose!!
Gym time tonight! I did 20 minutes on the arc trainer during which I discovered my iPod had died and needed charged. It was a sad day and I decided to spend my time praying while I worked out instead and I swear it went by faster than ever! :) 281 calories burned on the arc trainer. Then I did 15 treadmill minutes at a 15 incline and burned 175 calories.
Dinner was a plan to use up more orchard apples. (Yes, I still have some.) It was inspired by a recipe that I got out of Shape magazine. Here is the way I made it:
-2 tsp. EVOO
-four 2oz. tilapia filets
-S + P
-1 tsp butter
-1/2 a white onion
-ground cinnamon
-1 apple
-white wine vinegar
1. Heat the olive oil in a large sauce pan. Season filets with S + P and cook for one and a half minutes per side in pan. Remove and keep warm (they won't be cooked through yet).
2. Add butter, thinly sliced onion and a few dashes of cinnamon to the same pan and cook until onion is caramelized (around 8 minutes).
3. Add thinly sliced cored, peeled apple and cook another 7 minutes.
4. Put filets back in pan on top of apples and onions and cook, covered for a few minutes until fish is cooked through. Remove fish and deglaze pan with a splash of white wine vinegar. Serve the apple and onion mixture on top of fish.
SCRUM-DIDDILY-UMPTIOUS
Tuesday Afternoon
Who's ready for lunch? Me! Me! Me! (I believe that was my cats, my brain and my stomach respectively...)
Oh how I love myself a lunch that fixes itself!
Great green grapes. Leftover broccoli and parmesan casserole.
So simple. SO scrumptious.
Today's afternoon workout was brought to you by my Tone It Up trainers K + K. Three circuits through of the Best Abs Workout. Remember when I was doing this 3 times a day for a week straight right before Hawaii? Still hurts just as good :)
Actually have a fairly normal, low-key night ahead. It's been a while since the evening has lacked lots of plans and I for one and thankful for it! Just gym and cooking dinner and hanging out. A few more days until the weekend excitement :)
P.S. Look who I found lurking in the game closet?
:) It's the "Zach" doll who has been making his way into hiding spots around the house, he has found a new home in a tight space. We'll see how long before he is discovered!
Who's ready for lunch? Me! Me! Me! (I believe that was my cats, my brain and my stomach respectively...)
Oh how I love myself a lunch that fixes itself!
Actually have a fairly normal, low-key night ahead. It's been a while since the evening has lacked lots of plans and I for one and thankful for it! Just gym and cooking dinner and hanging out. A few more days until the weekend excitement :)
P.S. Look who I found lurking in the game closet?
WHY DO YOU BLEND ME UP, BUTTERCUP BABY
Tuesday Morning
What IS that gorgeous thing up there!? Oh, hey, what's up cookie dough oatmeal? (She said in a casual voice trying not to betray how much she wanted to devour the bowl right on the spot.)
It was time to try out the cookie dough oatmeal creation again. Cooked my stove-top oats in typical fashion using the whipped banana technique. Then at the end of cooking stirred in a TBS of 60% ghiradelli until melted. If you remember from when I made this before, the banana lends enough sweetness that I like a little darker chocolate. It's funny because 60% used to be too dark for me and now I think I would like to go even darker!
I let it all cool and then put it in my blender with vanilla, a small amount of brown sugar and a tiny amount of butter (the butter was a new addition). Blending this is really the trick to mix all the flavors and turn this into cookie dough!
Topped off with some raw oats and a few more Ghiradelli chips.
I felt as though I had over blended because the volume seemed so small in this little bowl but it was so thick and rich that it was just right!
Prior to this amazing oatmeal I did 30 minutes on the gazelle and I am now ready to take on the day! :)
It was time to try out the cookie dough oatmeal creation again. Cooked my stove-top oats in typical fashion using the whipped banana technique. Then at the end of cooking stirred in a TBS of 60% ghiradelli until melted. If you remember from when I made this before, the banana lends enough sweetness that I like a little darker chocolate. It's funny because 60% used to be too dark for me and now I think I would like to go even darker!
Prior to this amazing oatmeal I did 30 minutes on the gazelle and I am now ready to take on the day! :)
October 15, 2012
A BETTER BECHAMEL
Monday Evening
Guess what? I got done a little early from work and squeezed in a 1 mile run in the neighborhood :)
So. There was going to be food at my mother-in-law's party at the Delta Scoop tonight but I knew that the chances of the food being very healthy were slim. Also I knew that there would be desserts and sweets and I didn't want to show up hungry with weakened resolve! (This may sound silly to some people, but for me to resist a temptation it is important to be prepared!)
In the spirit of being prepared I fixed dinner to eat before we left! Tonight's creation?
Broccoli and Parmesan Casserole from Way to Cook Vegetarian.
Chopped a whole army of little green trees broccoli florets and cooked them until tender. On the stove-top I combined salt, ww flour and dry mustard and whisked these over a low heat with unsweetened almond milk and vegetable broth. This created a béchamel without the heaviness (and fat) of butter!
Once thickened I added sharp cheddar cheese + parmesan cheese and melted it in.
The recipe called for 1 cup of cheddar cheese (4 oz.). See here how important a food scale is.
The 4 oz. is clearly more than a cup and if I would have went by measuring cup alone I would have missed out on a good amount of cheese necessary for both flavor and thickening! Exact measurements can make all the difference when cooking!
Lastly pimientos and the broccoli were tossed in. Poured my casserole into a sprayed 13 x 9 in. dish and topped the whole thing with crushed garlic melba toasts + a bit more parmesan.
It came out looking and smelling fantastic!
It tasted every bit as delicious as I had hoped!
A serving size for this dish is one cup and is only 154 calories! Now how's that for some healthy food that tastes good too?
We headed out to the Scoop for the party and then Bible study for a lovely night! Now we are watching the Johnny Depp version of "Alice in Wonderland" on TV. Enjoy the rest of your evening friends :)
Guess what? I got done a little early from work and squeezed in a 1 mile run in the neighborhood :)
So. There was going to be food at my mother-in-law's party at the Delta Scoop tonight but I knew that the chances of the food being very healthy were slim. Also I knew that there would be desserts and sweets and I didn't want to show up hungry with weakened resolve! (This may sound silly to some people, but for me to resist a temptation it is important to be prepared!)
In the spirit of being prepared I fixed dinner to eat before we left! Tonight's creation?
Broccoli and Parmesan Casserole from Way to Cook Vegetarian.
Once thickened I added sharp cheddar cheese + parmesan cheese and melted it in.
HOMEMADE TACO SEASONING
Monday Afternoon
I have now been on my drink fast for 16 days and the no snack fast for 13 days. Friday is when it's up but there are definitely good things I am taking from this! I am pretty sure this is the longest super-clean eating stretch on my blog so far. Even before Hawaii I only did the no drinks/no snacks for two weeks. It really feels great and my clothes are fitting so much better again.
I have gotten better and better over time about making drinking an occasional thing and I am finally reaching a place where I can do that with snacks too. It's fine to have an evening treat once in a while, but I told myself pretty much every day that I could have a big snack at night. It gave me something to look forward to and I associated treats with happiness, a reward. This "fast" has been so good for habit-breaking and I am ready to make treats a sometimes thing and NOT a necessity.
Allright- lunch time.
With FAGE finding it's way back into my fridge again, a new purchase of reduced fat sharp cheddar, some tofu to use and romaine lettuce sitting patiently it was time for the taco salad to resurface! (Been bringing back old favorites today I guess.)
I crumbled up a couple of ounces of tofu and wanted to cook them with a bit of taco seasoning. I realized I didn't have any taco seasoning and thought "Why not make my own?" Much lower sodium anyway when you can control what you are putting together!
Taco Seasoning:
1 TBS chili powder
1/4 tsp. garlic powder
1/4 tsp. onion powder
1/4 tsp. red pepper flakes
1/4 tsp. oregano
1/2 tsp. paprika
1 1/2 tsp. ground cumin
1 tsp. sea salt
1 tsp. black pepper
I mixed all my spices in a container and sprinkled a bit on the tofu while cooking. The taco salad was a base of romaine with the seasoned tofu, sautéed peppers and onions (also seasoned), cherry tomatoes, cheddar cheese, FAGE and salsa all mixed in.
The seasoning turned out great!
We are leaving pretty much as soon as I get off work today to go to a joint birthday party for Zach's mom/reception for Zach's grandma and her new husband at the Scoop. It's Delta Greens and the Delta Scoop's last day to be open for the 2012 season! So anyway this meant I needed to get a good nap-time workout done.
Today was my first time ever to do the Shred with Jillian level 2! I have had the DVD for a couple years, but always quit after 5-7 times of level 1. This time I have now completed level one 10 times and it was time to move up a level! Omigosh. Level 2 is SO. MUCH. HARDER. than level 1. I was dying and dripping and gasping. Maybe that sounds dramatic but it is 100% true.
I have now been on my drink fast for 16 days and the no snack fast for 13 days. Friday is when it's up but there are definitely good things I am taking from this! I am pretty sure this is the longest super-clean eating stretch on my blog so far. Even before Hawaii I only did the no drinks/no snacks for two weeks. It really feels great and my clothes are fitting so much better again.
I have gotten better and better over time about making drinking an occasional thing and I am finally reaching a place where I can do that with snacks too. It's fine to have an evening treat once in a while, but I told myself pretty much every day that I could have a big snack at night. It gave me something to look forward to and I associated treats with happiness, a reward. This "fast" has been so good for habit-breaking and I am ready to make treats a sometimes thing and NOT a necessity.
Allright- lunch time.
Taco Seasoning:
1 TBS chili powder
1/4 tsp. garlic powder
1/4 tsp. onion powder
1/4 tsp. red pepper flakes
1/4 tsp. oregano
1/2 tsp. paprika
1 1/2 tsp. ground cumin
1 tsp. sea salt
1 tsp. black pepper
Today was my first time ever to do the Shred with Jillian level 2! I have had the DVD for a couple years, but always quit after 5-7 times of level 1. This time I have now completed level one 10 times and it was time to move up a level! Omigosh. Level 2 is SO. MUCH. HARDER. than level 1. I was dying and dripping and gasping. Maybe that sounds dramatic but it is 100% true.
POP THAT PILL
Monday Morning
There are definitely more Mondays in a year than Fridays I do believe. Although actually I shouldn't be complaining because this has been a good Monday so far! I felt great during my 30 minute booty call on the gazelle, I woke up totally rested, had a great breakfast, have a smaller group of kids today and have a good night planned!
Now about that breakfast...
I resurrected an old stand-by: the grapefruit! This was a sweeter ruby red and I put half a packet of Truvia on top.
I cannot have grapefruit without toast. Plain toast with butter. I always require this to eat at the end to get the acidic grapefruit taste out of my mouth! This toast was half of an Ezekiel bun and it worked its usual after-grapefruit magic.
Did you notice an extra something in the first breakfast photo? How about a close-up?
I take a multivitamin everyday but it's never pictured. I figured that I should show it today to stress the importance of a vitamin. I definitely credit better health and wellness partially to a vitamin (as well as exercise and clean eating). Take your vitamins people! They improve your quality of life!
Only 5 more days until we go away! Zach is taking me away for a surprise birthday weekend :) Yeah, I know my birthday was a couple of weeks ago but soccer gave us no chance to celebrate. So excited for a weekend away!!
There are definitely more Mondays in a year than Fridays I do believe. Although actually I shouldn't be complaining because this has been a good Monday so far! I felt great during my 30 minute booty call on the gazelle, I woke up totally rested, had a great breakfast, have a smaller group of kids today and have a good night planned!
Now about that breakfast...
Only 5 more days until we go away! Zach is taking me away for a surprise birthday weekend :) Yeah, I know my birthday was a couple of weeks ago but soccer gave us no chance to celebrate. So excited for a weekend away!!
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