FISH FOR ME

Thursday Evening


Workout: Kind of run-down tonight. I have been feeling like I am fighting a cold so I took it a little easier tonight. Did a leg machine (more thigh work today!) and the treadmill at an incline for 20 minutes (265 calories burned).

Weight: 117.1

Dinner For One

Well, I made enough dinner for two...or four... But Zach is getting home late and even though Hillary came over to hang out tonight, she brought her own dinner because she didn't want what I was fixing! Haha!

I am so sorry to tell you I couldn't find the recipe online anywhere to link up to and since it's from my "Better Homes and Gardens: Easy Dinners, Healthy Recipes" cookbook I am not at liberty to pass out exact measurements. I will give you the gist though!

Crispy Orange Roughy with Dilled Yogurt Sauce

(Although I used tilapia instead of orange roughy because that's what I had on hand!)

I had three different bowls set up for dipping the fish in:

Bowl One: cornmeal, thyme and lemon-pepper seasoning

Bowl Two: egg whites and water

Bowl Three: bread crumbs, wheat germ, parsley and paprika

Dipped the fish into bowl 1, then bowl 2, then bowl 3 and then baked them in the oven until flaky. Honestly I don't know why you dip it in the cornmeal mixture then the egg mixture because all the cornmeal washed off basically...

Prepared a yogurt sauce with FAGE, lemon yogurt, dill and hot pepper sauce. I was unsure about being able to find a fat-free lemon yogurt, but Chobani to the rescue!

I had actually never had Chobani, but have seen other food bloggers rave about it. After making the sauce I ate the last four bites out of the container and I thought it was great! Still a bit higher in sugar than I would prefer, but overall really good!

Served with some lemon wedges (leftover from last night's lemon!) and topped with the sauce.

Made up a side dish of brussels sprouts by tossing them in EVOO and sea salt then roasting in the oven at 450 degrees until cooked. Served with organic ketchup!

Great dinner! The fish was really nice, especially with the sauce. Without the sauce it may have been a bit  too dry but with it was delicious. And brussels sprouts are always welcome in my house!!

Now Hillary and I are hanging out this evening which involves hopefully finding a pair of black high heels + a cross-body bag both for Hawaii and moving on in her exposure to the Harry Potter films. Tonight: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (my favorite one!) :D

I did decide to end up having a snack tonight. Had a banana that the top basically fell off of so I decided it had to be eaten now ;)

I created something I have had in mind for awhile- a Chocolate Banana Boat!!
I simply slit open a banana and stuffed it with a TBS and a half of vegan carob chips then baked it in the oven until melted.

Served with a tsp of white chocolate wonderful and it was wonderful indeed! Fantastic snack :)

Back to Harry Potter now!

A TAKE ON A TACO SALAD

Thursday Afternoon


Mmmm...taco salad. My mom always made great taco salads and it is what I was thinking about for lunch today. Just a bit...revised!

Instead of ground beef cooked in a taco seasoning I cooked up some seitan! Seitan is a completely vegetarian/vegan meat substitute. It only has a handful of ingredients and with only 2% fat is way, WAY better for you than red meat!! It's hard to describe seitan other than, it tastes like meat! The last time I cooked with it Zach asked what kind of meat it was! Seriously, you don't miss a thing.

Today's seitan was a new flavor I had not yet tried: Upton Naturals Italian. I cooked it up in a pan with some red and green peppers just until heated and the peppers were soft.

It didn't even need seasoning since it was the Italian kind! Threw them on a bed of romaine and I added cherry tomatoes, salsa, a few Xochitl chips and topped it all with a dollop of FAGE. FAGE is the best sour cream substitute there is, I even prefer it!

Bowl before toppings. Wish I would have had onion and/or avocado on hand!!

Had a tiny little baby of a peach on the side. Would have grilled it if I weren't so hungry and just wanted to eat!

I love a good lunch, don't you?

So I was reallllly wanting to do a ZWOW for my afternoon workout but my triceps + shoulders are pretty sore from yesterday and I couldn't find a ZWOW without some type of push-up/arm move. So I am holding a ZWOW off for tomorrow and today did 3 circuits of Tone It Up's Thigh and Leg Workout.

Got some plans for this evening!

HOT PLATE

Thursday Morning

What is my deal? As the hottest season of the year approaches I start craving hot fruit? Isn't this the time everyone wants a nice COLD bowl of fruit? Well apparently I go against the norm...

So after grilled peaches last night my warm fruit trend continued this morning with a broiled grapefruit! I put a tsp. of brown sugar on top with a couple teensy drops of butter. Then stuck it under the broiler for a few minutes until crystalized on top.

 Tried a new creation as well today, another hot dish- french toast! (kind of) I dipped a slice of Ezekiel cinnamon raisin bread in a bit of egg whites and cooked it on the stove top.

 Topped the toast with a tiny spread of PB and a drizzle of maple syrup

 The grapefruit was good, don't get me wrong, but it wasn't anything SPECIAL. No better really than eating it normally with some Truvia on top.

 The french toast on the other hand? Amazing :)

Did my routine 30 minutes on the gazelle and am ready to take on my Thursday!

8:19

Wednesday Evening


Workout: Got the urge to try for a new PR on my mile tonight, so with a little trepidation I sucked it up and did it! Started at a 6.9 and ended up at a 7.7 and ran my mile in 8:19 (136 cal burned), my new best!! :) Then did 20 minutes on the arc trainer (226 cal. burned)

Weight: 118.3 Also sucked it up and weighed myself. Honestly, I'm pleased! After last weeks "sundae and pizza dinner" combined with a three day vacation FULL of rich foods and desserts it could have been much worse! I think maybe all that sweating we did in Tennessee has something to do with it... :) Seriously though, you can enjoy yourself fully on a vacation, just don't skimp on the workouts!

Dinner Time

Tonight tasted like summer :) Got my recipe out of one of my trusty "Taste of Home: Healthy Cooking" magazines:

Lemon Cous Cous with Broccoli

Pre-chopped the broccoli at nap-time. 

Followed the recipe to a T except found out at the last second I was out of dried basil, so subbed in parsley instead.

This was all of my favorite things- simple, quick and healthy!!

Our accompaniment? Grilled peaches :D These were so good the other night at the cookout and since I was sent home with a surplus this made a great addition!

Grilled peaches are just sooo incredible! It makes them juicy and even sweeter and all caramelized and wonderful :)

This was a fantastic, light meal!

You all know that I am always drinking water constantly and I just drink it out of the same reusable bottles day in and day out which aren't really photogenic, so they never make it onto the blog. Well since I had a lemon lying around (from grating the lemon peel) I decided to put it to good use flavoring my water.

Pictured in a lovely glass I won as a door-prize in my last 5K :)

Bit more for seconds

Our kitties are friends :)

 Yea, I know. We are crazy cat people. Sigh.

Watching "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" now with Zach. I really enjoyed the book, hoping the movie does it justice!

KALE + COLOR

Wednesday Afternoon


Loving that it's already half way through the work week! If only it were always on four days off for three...

I wanted to eat some color for lunch today!

Sautéed up some red and green peppers (second time in two days I have wished I had mushrooms on hand!) then coated them in egg whites to make a scramble. Added in black pepper, oregano, thyme and cherry tomatoes at the end.

Also sautéing was more kale! (I had a lot to use up) Cooked this until wilted in a couple of TBS of chicken broth and then tossed with sea salt and drizzle with a teensy bit of real maple syrup :) Yes, real. Remember what I said about using real condiments instead of fake?

Satisfying! Though I must say the end of each bite of kale was a little too bitter. Could have used a bit more broth maybe.

My "trainers" Karena and Katrina of Tone It Up have a whole line of "bikini ready workouts." I figure that maybe I should get cranking on these since I am only going to be living in a bikini for two weeks in 23 days!!!!

Today I combined the Itty Bitty Bikini Workout with the Bikini Strap Workout. Did each one through two times. Also been doing random exercises such as some push-ups here, jumping jacks there, crunches and whatever I fit in. I do this pretty frequently.

Starting to actually sort through my clothes and set stuff aside for vacation- AAAHH!

BEST BOWL

Wednesday Morning


Booty Call: 30 minutes on the gazelle

I have been thinking about making oatmeal for days upon days and woke up this morning ready to do it!

Into the pot:
-1/3 cup rolled oats
-1/2 cup unsweetened almond milk
-1/4 cup water
-1/2 banana
-pinch of salt

Cooked it all until the banana was whipped in and the oats were thick and creamy- then came the best part: TOPPINGS!! :)

I may have went a teensy bit overboard...but it created the best bowl of oats I have ever had!!!

-splash of vanilla
-TBS flaxseed
-TBS TJ's valencia PB (not pictured)
-several dashes of cinnamon
-tiny handful raisins
-1/2 TBS of the sweet and salty mix I picked up from the Farmer's Market a couple weekends ago
-other half of the banana
-bit of white chocolate wonderful on the baby spoon for dipping :)

This was sooo good!! I really love that sweet and salty mix- perfect topping with the PB! I will have to get more when I run out. Also the whipped banana in the oatmeal makes the bowl so sweet and fluffy with marshmallowy bites of banana. By the time the bowl was finished my mouth wanted to keep eating more because it was just so great and my stomach was begging me to be done!

JORDAN'S JAMBALAYA

Tuesday Evening


Workout: Hello Muncie YMCA, I'm back! Did 30 minutes on the elliptical for 273 cal. burned. Followed that by an arm machine and a leg machine. Then got out of there to go make dinner!

For a while now I have had two Applegate fire roasted red pepper chicken and turkey sausages that need using. I took a good look in my veggie basket, my pantry and my refrigerator and thought "I could make jambalaya I bet!" So I did. :)

Remember several days back when I cooked up brown rice that I didn't end up using? I tried to find which post that was but had no luck. Well anyways that had been sitting in the fridge begging to be utilized so I heated it back up for tonight's dinner!

During nap-time I had chopped half an onion, some celery, and green pepper so it was all ready to go tonight!

In a large saucepan I sautéed the sausage, onion, celery, green pepper and some minced garlic in a teeny bit of real butter.

 Then stirred in a can of Muir Glen fire roasted crushed tomatoes and some garlic powder, white pepper, cayenne pepper, black pepper and a little hot sauce. No exact proportions really, just a bit of this and that to taste! :) Brought it all to a boil then simmered for about 7 minutes.

Stirred in the rice and bam! Jambalaya Jordan style ;)

You really could mess around with this recipe and make it with whatever you have on hand. I would have used a can of tomato paste if I had had one!

Cooked kale chips in the oven just spritzed with EVOO and some sea salt for a side dish and kept a close watch on them so as NOT to burn them to a crisp this time!!

Served with a side of organic ketchup. I had half of these!!

I had a ladle sized scoop of jambalaya and then a few bites more for seconds.

This jambalaya was really great! Sweet and spicy all at the same time :) I will definitely have to make this again! And add shrimp! Ooh and mushrooms! The possibilities are endless!

Off to relax with that guy who makes me smile :D

{Edited to add}
Zach and I went for a lovely 20 minute dusky stroll around our neighborhood