Friday, August 9, 2013

Viva La Pasta

I wanted to start out with a little motivation. Since the weekend is finally here (woohoo) some people might need some extra motivation that live a healthy lifestyle. With all the cookouts, laying out by the pool, late night dinners, I mean the list could go on and on but I think you get the point. I know for me it is especially hard and very tempting on the weekends because I don't have my set meal plan that I plan the night before. But honestly the best feeling is on Monday when you know you haven't blown away a whole week of hard work.
 
"The principle is competing against yourself. It's about self- improvement, about being better than you were the day before."  steve young

If I can do it, anyone can!
 
(I'm so cheesy, I know ha)
 
 
Now to the foooooodd.....
 
Whoever said Italian food makes your gain weight, I am here today to prove them wrong. One of my coworkers yesterday told me about these gluten free black bean noodles that were just made of black beans and water. I immediately wanted to try them, so she picked me up a bag when she went to the store at lunch. So I decdided I was going to make pasta for dinner but I wanted to try something a little different. I normally just buy a can of spaghetti sauce just because it is easy and cheap. But if you look on the label there are somethings that I try to keep out of my diet (lifestyle). For example the sugar. It is crazy how much sugar some of the sauces have. So I told myself I was going to make homemade marinara sauce.
 
 
What you will need for the sauce
ground chicken
organic crushed tomatoes
1/2 onion
3 garlic cloves-minced
Italian seasoning
3 bay leaves
crushed red pepper
 
 
Noodles
Gluten free organic black bean spaghetti shape
 
Topping
small spoonful of low fat cottage cheese


 
They remind me of worms :) Hey if worms tasted like this I would eat them ha

 
Start by chopping up your onion and garlic while your ground chicken is cooking. Then add to your (cooked) ground chicken and let cook on high for about 5 minutes.
 
Then add your sauce and all your seasonings. I will let you decide how much seasoning you like. Everyone is different.
 
Then cover and let cook for about 20 minutes. While that is cooking start your noodles. The noodles cook very fast . They only took about 10 minutes tops.
 
After everything smells delicious and the noodles are soft,

(This is before I stirred all the seasonings in)
 
Stuff your face with this delicious pasta without worrying about destroying all your hard work.

 
VIVA LA PASTA!!!
 
After I was finished, I packed my lunch for today and added some yummy, fresh fruit with my pasta.

 
Week 10 Workout 4

 
after this I rode the bike on the rolling hills level for 20 minutes.
 
 
Day 177:
Breakfast: 2 eggs with hot sauce and apple and green grapes
Snack: 20 almonds 4 tiny pieces of dark chocolate
Lunch: Viva La Pasta
Snack: 2 pumpkin muffins
Dinner: Viva La Pasta and a side salad
 
 
126 days no diet mountain dew- 80 days no soda
 
10 days till ultimate goal
 
20 days till vaca
 
36 days 1st 5k
 
 
 

Thursday, August 8, 2013

Pumpkin Muffins

 
I love fall it is my favorite part of the year. Everything from warm fires, a lot of family time, boots, scarves, comfy clothes, college football, the beginning of the holiday season and of course ANYTHING pumpkin. I am starting to get fall fever so last night I decided to make something pumpkin. I quickly remembered all the yummy pumpkin treats I made last year were in no way healthy. So I went to the grocery store and started looking. This is what I came up with, you are gonna want to try this!!
 
PUMPKIN MUFFINS
Sugar free- less than 100 calories- no eggs
 
What you will need
Sugar free Cinnamon swirl muffin mix
flax seed
pure pumpkin
 
Preheat oven 375'
 
Mix all ingredients together.
All muffin mix, full can of pumpkin, 2 tbsps of flax seed and I filled 1/2 the pumpkin can of water.

 
Once fully mixed,

 
fill each cupcake holder with 2 spoonful's of mixture.

 
Place in the oven and let cook for about 15 mins or until you stick a knife in one and it doesn't stick.

 
Let cool for about 5 mintues.
 
Then get ready to taste a little bit of pure heaven.
I had to put them away so I didn't eat them all.

 
I brought them to work today and offered them to all my coworkers. When I told them all the healthy things about them they were a little hesitant but finally tried them and loved them.
I can't wait to make these for my family for Thanksgiving!!
 
I also wanted to share my dinner last night. The bf and I went to Panera and I got a salad that I had never had before and holy moly it was amazing. It was the Chopped Thai Chicken salad. The great thing about it is it only has 470 calories. I actually got it without the noodles and dressing on the side so it would actually be less calories that that. It also came with a delicious cold(I love my apples cold) apple.I would suggest everyone try this one out! Oh and it is only $8.79 and you will be so full!

 
Week 10 Workout 3
My workout this morning was not the easiest. I woke up feeling sluggish and almost went to back to bed but I knew that the 5k is getting closer and I don't have time to sleep in.
It was a sweaty workout I will say that!

 
 
 I have had a good amount of people email me asking about my Date Jar and what types of ideas I put in it. So I thought I would share a handful of them
 
1. You get to pick all of  Saturday's activities and your date has to do whatever it is.
2. Your date has to treat you to your favorite restaurant this week
3. Your date has to buy you a surprise under $20 this week.
4. Go for a hike. Somewhere you both have never been
5. Go to the zoo
6. Go get frozen yogurt after dinner
7. Take a walk at sunset
8: Write 10 things you love most about your date.
9: Your date has to cook you a surprise dinner this week.
10. Date night with a budget of $20
11: Movie night. Each of you pick your favorite movie and favorite snack
12: Go to a water park or kayaking
13: Have a picnic with all homemade dishes
14: Go for a jog together.
15: Make a bonfire and sit around in comfy clothes making smores and enjoy nature. (Hopefully I get this one later in the season ha)
 
I know some might be cheesy and some might not seem like a date but sometimes the smallest things make the biggest memories. 
 
 
Day 176:
Breakfast: 2 eggs with hot sauce
Snack: 20 almonds, 4 tiny squares of dark chocolate and 2 yogurt covered peanuts
Lunch: low calorie broccoli soup
Snack: 2 of my pumpkin muffins :)
Dinner: Viva La Pasta (recipe tomorrow)
 
125 days no diet mountain dew- 79 days no soda
 
11 days ultimate goal
 
21 days vaca
 
37 days 1st 5k
 
 

Wednesday, August 7, 2013

Polar FT4 & Kale Chips

So I am pretty excited to share a few things today and I am going to start with my new watch. The bf surprised me with a watch that I have been wanting for a while now. The Polar FT4. I mainly wanted it to keep up with calories burned during my workouts. But with all the special features it will help me train even harder for all my future races. I am super excited to set this baby up and begin my training with it.

 
Of course it's pink :)

 
Another thing I wanted to share is my new favorite snack. I have heard the new rave about kale chips but I had never tried them. Something about putting lettuce like food in the oven to bake just didn't appeal to me. But I am always in need of a new snack so last night I tried it out.
 
Start by thoroughly washing your kale and preheating your oven to 400'
 
The tear off all the leafy parts from the stem and make them into bite size pieces. (Don't make them too small because they do shrink up)

 
Then in a mixing bowl add all your seasoning that you want to add. I added garlic salt, minced onion and crushed red pepper. Then mix in a small amount of extra virgin olive oil. Make sure everything is mixed evenly.
 

 
Then spread out all pieces on a baking dish.

 
Let cook until all pieces are crispy. Make sure you don't burn them. (mine took about 15 mins)

 
Then pack them up and you have a healthy, crispy, non expensive, extremely low calorie  snack for work the next day! Beat that Doritos :)

 
Week 10 Workout 2
 
2.0 miles on the treadmill- best time so far (I think I am getting a hang of this whole running thing, finally)
 
5 rounds of each
5 burpees
10 pushups
15 situps
20 squats
 
leg weight machines
 
10 minutes on elliptical
 
 
Day 175:
Breakfast: substitute egg with sugar free syrup
Snack: 20 almonds, 4 tiny squares of dark chocolate and 2 small yogurt covered peanuts
Lunch: low calorie broccoli soup (kale chips throughout the day)
Snack: thinkthin protein bar. 
Dinner: Chopped Thai Chicken Salad
Dessert: 1 1/2 pumkin muffins (see recipe tomorrow)
 
124 days no diet mountain dew- 78 days no soda
 
12 days till ultimate goal
 
22 days till vacation
 
38 days 1st 5k

 
 


Tuesday, August 6, 2013

Sweaty Band for a Sweaty Workout

So on Saturday when I checked my mail, I had something very exciting waiting for me. A Sweaty Band. If you are not familiar with them they are just plain fabulous. The way I got it was pretty fabulous too. I of course have a few blogs that I ready every day and one of them was having a giveaway. Her blog is called Healthy Living Maintenance and I absolutely love it. So I of course signed up for the giveaway and kept my fingers crossed. I rarely win anything so I was shocked when I saw her post for the giveaways winner.

ME!!!

 

Make sure you check out her blog!!
 
 
So this morning when I got up for my workout I was ready to try it out. I mainly love them because they will not slip off your head and then of course they come in all different bright colors. (this is the no makeup, 5:45am look  ha)
 
Thanks Anna!!
 
Week 10 Workout 1

 
After I finished this I had some time left where I did the arm weight machines and then rode a mile on the bike, fast paced.
 
The Sweaty Band didn't move once! Ahhh I love these things!!
 
 
Day 174:
Breakfast: 2 eggs with hot sauce
Snack: 15 almonds
Lunch: I have been craving my low calorie broccoli soup lately. So last night I made a batch. Super excited for lunch today.
Snack:peanut butter protein bar
Dinner:grilled chicken, steamed broccoli and side salad with hot sauce for dressing
Dessert: fat free whipped cream (I was craving something sweet)
 
123 days no diet mountain dew- 77 days no soda
 
13 days ultimate goal
 
23 days till vaca
 
39 days 1st 5k
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Monday, August 5, 2013

New Date Adventures

Hope everyone had a great weekend! Mine was wonderful but too fast as always. I wanted to share with you a little craft idea that I came up for the bf and I. We normally do the same things as far as dates we go on  and as far as where we eat at restaurants. So I wanted to come up with something that would change it up a little. So I got a jar, some paper, a pen and ribbon and got started. On the paper I wrote out different date ideas and places to go and also some other little things and then filled the jar.


 
Once it was full I came up with the rules. One of us gets to draw one every Friday and they have all week to do whatever is on the paper. So this Friday I let the bf go first.
 
He drew
" Your date must buy you a surprise for under $20"
 
So later that afternoon I went Walmart to look for his surprise
 

I got him new razor blades, buy 1 one get 1 deodorants and a card. All for under $20
 
 
I can't wait for this coming Friday when it is my turn to draw. I will keep you updated with all of our new dates!
 
 
Day 171:
Breakfast: skip
Lunch: O' Charleys. Grilled chicken salad with spinach, pecans, a few blue cheese crumbles and balsamic vinaigrette
Dinner: the leftovers from my salad at lunch
 
Day 172:
CHEAT DAY: Last one until I hit ultimate goal
 
Day 173:
Breakfast: 2 eggs with hot sauce and a little parm cheese
Snack: 20 almonds
Lunch: tomato soup with crushed red pepper and parm cheese. Chopped up grilled chicken with hummus and hot sauce
Snack:small turkey roll uo with lettuce, cheese, mustard and 15 almonds
Dinner: Thai (chicken and veggies) then after I made my batch of super I tried a little bit of it.
 
122 days no diet mountain dew-76 days no soda
 
14 days ultimate goal
 
24 days beach vaca
 
40 days 1st 5k