Beta Carotene Boost

Yawn! I slept like a rock last night and woke up hungry. I was out of bananas so I decided to make pumpkin pie oats. Fortunately I had a can of organic pumpkin waiting for me in the pantry.

- 1/3 cup oats cooked with 1/3 cup water, 1/3 cup milk & dash of salt

- stir in large spoonful pumpkin near the end of cooking

- mix in ground flax, pumpkin pie spice and a teaspoon of brown sugar

- top with a few sprinkles of CHEESECAKE and raw almonds

YUMMO! I came home to find a slice of cheesecake in the refrigerator so I decided to use a bit as an oat topping this morning. It melted into a cheesecake icing over the oats. I wasn't sure if I was eating breakfast or dessert -- it was THAT good.

I got to work until I suddenly realized poor Tango was waiting for me to pick him up at the vet's! After I had Tango home and settled I grabbed a quick lunch.

This is one of the few frozen meals I truly enjoy. I almost always top it with extra peas. I love peas.

While I was enjoying my lunch I got a call from my friend Leslee reminding me of our afternoon swim lesson. Whoops! I had totally forgotten about it. I really wasn't in the mood for a swim lesson but I went anyway. I swam for about an hour and a half at the UCF pool.

Shortly after I got home Chris arrived home from a business trip - yay! After catching up we decided to stay in for dinner and have a relaxing evening at home. I was hungry and I knew dinner would be a while so I made us an appetizer of six Mary's Gone Crackers topped with Laughing Cow Light cheese and a sliced honeycrisp apple. Here are our individual plates of crackers and the one apple we shared.

Dinner was filling and delicious. I sauteed...

- onion

- bell pepper

- grated carrot

- fresh corn

- tomatoes

- black beans

Then I mixed in some tomato paste, chili powder, cumin, salt & pepper. I used the veggie/bean mixture as a sweet potato topping, over which I added a scoop of low fat cottage cheese for a protein boost.

I'm so full! Between the pumpkin, sweet poato and carrot I got my share of beta carotene today. Now I'm off to digest.

3/3/Swim & Movie Night

I had a super productive day today -- love those days, don't you? I woke up, did a few chores around the house, then headed out for a quick three mile run. After I cooled down I made myself some french press coffee and a piece of sprouted grain toast with cashew butter and natural strawberry jam.

I kept my breakfast light because I knew I had a delicious lunch waiting for me! Around 1:00 pm I reheated my leftover pasta and veggies from last night. I had to keep myself from inhaling it so I could enjoy the flavors.

Around 3:30 pm I went for another 3 mile run along the trail by my gym. I'm training for a relay race and the training schedule suggests you train by doing multiple runs in one day. Today was my first attempt. The last mile of my second 3 mile run was HOT so I slowed to a walk. My car read 100 degrees. By the time I was done with my 3 miles I was sweaty, shaky and needed food ASAP. Fortunately my gym has a snack bar and I was able to pick up a protein bar which I immediately ate in about 15 seconds. I don't have a photo because I didn't have my camera. But I can tell you it contained Designer Whey and had 15 grams of protein and 180 calories.

After eating my protein bar in record time, I jumped in the pool for some swimming drills. It felt soooo good to get in the water after my hot, sweaty run. And I did remember to shower before getting in the pool!

Once home I made myself a green smoothie.

- spinach

- green apple

- banana

- flax

- oats

- greek yogurt

- splash of milk

- ice

Then I had some friends over for a movie night! I drank some wine (unphotographed) and munched on these crackers, cheese, hummus, pear and apple. Thanks Jenni for bringing the delicious snacks!

Time for bed. I'm beat!