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Crazy Fun Sunday

What a way to start my day! I met my friend Kate for a morning swim at a gorgeous lakeside swimming pool on the Rollins College campus. But before the fun started, I had a latte and half of a giant croissant! I'm warming up the croissant section of my stomach in preparation for Paris.

It was amazingly cool this morning so the swimming pool was fairly quiet. 45 minutes of swimming drills and laps in this beautiful pool hardly felt like a workout.

Walking back to the car we passed this gentleman who was feeding Mike the squirrel! He introduced us to Mike, who promptly flicked his tail and took off to bury a choice peanut.

Once home I made a quick banana berry (strawberry & blueberry) smoothie for lunch.

And a fruit and nut cracker with almond butter on the side.

I met some friends for dinner at a Greek restaurant that serves do-it-yourself hummus! They bring you a mortar and pestle filled with garbanzo beans, olive oil, garlic, salt and pepper. Then you mash - mash - mash.

It was good, but extremely garlicy! I also had a little less than two glasses of Greek white wine served in these highbrow wine glasses.

And for my entree I ordered the veggie souvlaki plate: pita, tzatziki, roasted veggies and fries.

My entree was ok -- I ate about 60%.

Then after dinner we all went to see our friend Kristin sing! She sings with the singing group Singlive. Singlive's concept is to bring the joy of singing to everybody. No auditions are required. If you love to sing, you're invited to join! How cool is that? This is my second Singlive show I've seen and it didn't disappoint. Tonight's theme was musicals of the silver screen.

Now I'm beat. G'night!

Operation Produce Reduction

Ahhhh, the joys of having a functioning memory card! I think I have my photo problem solved, thank goodness.

Chris and I slept in today and went for a late morning run (pain free, yay!) followed by brunch at First Watch. I had their veggie skillet.

And we shared a blueberry pancake.

Then we were on the go-go-go all day running last minute errands to prepare for our trip to Europe! Dare I say the air was a tad crisp today? It was a GLORIOUS change of pace from our usual stifling heat and humidity. It was nice to be able to wear a light jacket and catch a chill now and then. As the sun was setting, we made our final stop at Target.

On our way out we made a pit stop at Starbucks. I treated myself to a tall decaf espresso truffle. Mmmmm. It felt decadent to be able to "warm up" with a hot coffee.

Once home I launched Operation Produce Reduction. Chris wanted to get take-out for dinner but I insisted on cooking because I knew we had a bunch of produce that needed to be eaten ASAP. Our dinner included....

- Squash

- Barley

- Onion

- Bell pepper

- Asparagus

- Green beans

- Spinach

- Pear

- Cranberries

I had a small squash on hand that I split into two, cleaned, and roasted at 400 degrees for about 30 minutes until fork tender. I roasted it face down in a pan filled with about 1/4 inch of water.

On the stove I cooked plain pearl barley according to the package directions and in a separate pan I sauteed onion, red bell pepper and asparagus in extra virgin olive oil. When the barley was tender and the veggies tender crisp, I mixed about 1.5 cups of the barley into the veggie mix and seasoned it with some balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper. I spooned the mix into the roasted squash, topped it with some shredded parmesan cheese and popped it under the broiler for a few minutes until the cheese was melted.

We each got a stuffed squash half, some steamed green beans, and a side salad of spinach, pear and cranberries simply dressed with aged balsamic vinegar, salt & pepper. I had a glass of Kim Crawford sauvignon blanc to accompany my meal.

I think Chris's favorite part of the meal was the salad. We're both big fans of sweet and savory salads. If I wasn't so lazy I would have toasted up some almonds to sprinkle on top. Feta cheese would have been a nice addition, too.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Freaky Friday

Ugh. There's something wrong with my memory card. I need to buy a new one this weekend. Again, my photos disappeared. So frustrating! Fortunately we discovered this problem before we leave for Paris next week!

For breakfast I had a slice of sprouted grain toast with peanut butter and jam. After a few hours of work I headed to yoga class. It was a fun one today! We did some hip openers using the wall. On my way home from yoga I picked up a latte.

After a few more hours of work I decided to have a smoothie for lunch.

- 2 cups spinach

- 3 tablespoons oat bran

- 1 tablepoon ground flaxseed

- 1 banana

- 1/2 pear

- large scoop 0% greek yogurt

- small scoop cottage cheese

- ice

- water

I was planning to save the other 1/2 of the pear but ended up eating it right out of hand. It was ripe and juicy!

And now for my only meal with photos! Chris and I went out to a local Italian restaurant for dinner, Il Pescatore. We started with the bruschetta.

My entree came with a starter salad.

Eggplant with ricotta and marinara. I ate 25% of my entree. It was HUGE.

And a side of spaghetti marinara that also came with my entree.

I am irritated that the rest of my photos disappeared. I'm going to upgrade to a better memory stick and see if that fixes the problem. Cross your fingers!

My camera ate my photos

I have no idea what happened to all of the photos on my memory stick. I reviewed them on my camera and then POOF...they disappeared.

I had a beautiful bowl of autumn apple nut oats this morning. I made my usual banana flax oats and mixed in some cottage cheese and cinnamon and topped it with diced apple, sliced almonds and almond butter. It was gorgeous! I wish I could show you.

For lunch I took the easy route and heated up an Amy's Organic Indian meal. Nothing fancy.

This afternoon I went on an hour long bike ride with a friend. We got to practice riding in rush hour traffic. I used to hate riding on busy roads, but I'm getting used to it.

After my bike ride I headed over to a friend's house and brought a sub sandwich only to find lots of yummy snacks! So for dinner I had half of a mini veggie sub on wheat, a small piece of whole wheat crust pizza with low fat cheese, and a few handfuls of grapes, raw veggies, and about six whole grain crackers. Oh, and about 1.5 glasses of red wine. It was a delicious, snacky dinner.

Roid Rage

I got up early and headed out first thing for my appointment with a sports medicine doc. I grabbed a latte on my way and figured you didn't need to see another coffee picture! I also ate two pastry samples they had sitting out at the cash register. Breakfast of champions!

My appointment turned out very well. They took several x-rays of my foot and knee, which all looked normal. Since I've been battling plantar fasciitis in my left foot for about a year, I've read just about everything online on the topic. One of the last resort treatments is a cortisone injection into your heel and I've heard nothing but declarations of pain regarding this particular shot. One person claimed they screamed so loud everybody in the parking lot could hear them and they then refused to allow their other foot to be injected. Sounds painful.

So, when the doc said he wanted to give me cortisone injections in my knee and my heel I immediately started to sweat. I'm all...."Um, I hear that's painful. Very painful. Is it really necessary? Is it really that painful? How much will it hurt? Will it help me? Can you guarantee it will help? Honestly, don't mess with me, will it hurt really bad?"

Turns out it really wasn't THAT bad. Sure, it hurt. It was mighty unpleasant. He stuck a long, thick needle into the side of my foot, all the way through to the center of my heel and then poked around. But it was nothing a squinchy face and deep breathing couldn't handle. By the time I was done with my appointment I had so much adrenaline running through me that I was a shaky mess.

Anyway, the good news is that the doctor thinks I'll be fine and can resume light running in a few days. Yay! So I celebrated by joining my friends for a non-impact pool run at the gym. I hung around the pool and did some laps and swimming drills, extending my pool workout to about 90 minutes.

My light breakfast, adrenaline filled doctor's appointment and pool workout left me quite hungry. I grabbed a quick lunch of grilled veggie and black bean quesadilla with a plain tortilla on the side. I love Panchero's tortillas -- they cook them fresh so they're warm and doughy. Mmmmmm, carbs.

I found a wifi hotspot and got some work done before heading to my next appointment. By the time I got home at 4pm I was ready for a snack. I had a banana with some almond butter and a Perrier.

For dinner I had a "kitchen sink" salad and a glass of sauvignon blanc.

- spinach

- tomato

- bell pepper

- onion

- apple

- chopped date

- dried cranberries

- toasted almonds

- parmesan

- salt, pepper & balsamic vinegar

And a pineapple chobani for dessert!

Weird Food Day

I woke up with a headache this morning that hung around all day long. I ate quite oddly today, not terrible, just odd. I didn't feel like much for breakfast so I had a container of my new love, Pineapple Chobani.

Guess who also loves Pineapple Chobani?

I had to run a few errands this morning and while on the road I listened to the Dr. Oz show on satellite radio. His show is all about health and wellness and today's guest was a food critic. The discussion moved in the direction of food blogging, and burger blogging in particular. The conversation about regional burger chains got me thinking about our "premium" burger chain, Five Guys. I decided to grab their version of a veggie burger for lunch.

Check out all of the bags of peanuts!

For lunch I had an unsweet iced tea and a veggie sandwich with grilled onions, peppers, lettuce, tomato, pickles and cheese.

For an afternoon snack I made myself a small peach banana smoothie.

- 1/2 of a peach

- 1/2 of a banana

- 1/3 cup greek yogurt

- 2 tablespoons raw oats

- 1/2 cup milk

- 5 ice cubes

And for dinner I had a cup of black bean and corn salad....

...with cereal right out of the box! So glamorous, I know. I munched on about half of a cup of dry cereal.

Weird food day, right?

Cake for Breakfast

You know I couldn't let that chocolate cake sit in the refrigerator for long.

PEACHY CHOCOLATE CAKE OATS!!!!

- 1/3 cup old fashioned oats cooked with 1/3 cup milk, 1/3 cup water, 1/2 of a sliced banana and a dash of salt

- Near the end of cooking stir in tablespoon of ground flaxseed and tablespoon cottage cheese

- Top with 1/2 of a diced peach, two tablespoon crumbled chocolate cake and a sprinkle of almonds

After breakfast I made a doctor's appointment for myself to have my knee and foot checked out. I was feeling sorry for myself so I had half of an apple bran muffin with a smear of raw cashew butter.

I had a productive work day today and I finally broke for lunch around 3pm. I had a bowl of leftover corn and black bean salad from last night.

Followed by a mug of tea, dark chocolate square, and two chapters of my book!

Around 7pm I jumped in the pool and did a quick 35 minute pool running workout. I waited until the sun had set because I'm frankly tired of being in the sun. I know that may be hard for people in cold climates to understand, but the sun can get old (and make you LOOK old, too!). You don't have to apply sunscreen after dark. The pool was still so warm (about 95) so it was a toasty pool running workout.

After I got out of the water I showered and made myself exactly what I was craving for dinner -- wine, bread, cheese and pear. It's a classic flavor combo that hit the spot tonight. Not too exciting, but delicious.

And for dessert I had MORE chocolate cake and a scoop of chocolate peanut butter ice cream. Heaven. I made Chris eat the remaining chocolate cake for dessert. It's all gone (whew!).

See ya tomorrow!

Decadi

Thank Goodness It's Sunday. I'm reading a book that's set in France in the late 1790s when they were still following the Republican Calendar. The new calendar system only lasted for a short while (around 12 years), but when it was in force the week was increased from 7 to 10 days and people only got one day of rest every 10 days. The 10th day, or decadi, was the day of rest. Can you imagine that?

Thankfully this morning was truly restful. Since I didn't get to bed until about 2:00 am I blew off my AM workout and slept in. Ahhh, it felt great! We rolled out of bed around 10:00 am and were at Starbucks by around 11:30 am. I had a triple grande latte. Just what I needed!

And I stole three bites of Chris's old fashioned doughnut.

We ran some errands and ended up at PF Chang's for a late lunch around 3:00 pm. I had a pot of green tea and ice water to drink.

For my entree I ordered two starters....tofu lettuce cups (ate about half)...

...and steamed veggie dumplings (ate all four).

My fortune was inspiring!

And I now know how to say 'wine' in Chinese -- how appropriate and useful!

After lunch we went grocery shopping and I had to visit two grocery stores in order to stock up on my new favorite yogurt flavor -- Pineapple Chobani. I bought the store's ENTIRE inventory of this flavor in order to encourage them to continue stocking it. That's how much I love this stuff. Of course I had to eat one immediately once we were home.

After a nap and some laundry I decided to whip up a cold salad for dinner. Here are the ingredients...

And I drank a glass of zinfandel while cooking.

I made a black bean and corn salad based off of this recipe. I've made this several times before and it's a huge hit with Chris. If you can, use fresh corn and fresh lime juice. So good.

I had a piece of garlic bread toast on the side.

And for dessert I had a piece of Amy's Organic Vegan Chocolate Cake with a squirt of real whipped cream. I swear, this is the BEST chocolate cake. You can find it in the freezer section of your grocery store. It's so incredibly moist and delicious. I might have to incorporate some into my oatmeal one morning this week!

Yet another weekend is coming to a close. How do they go by so darn fast?