Posts from — November 2010

Howdy!  My house has been a revolving infirmary.  First, the husband, then little daughter and now big daughter.  My MIL and Mom are sick, too!  Seems like yucky colds are making the rounds. 

I have donned my hazmat suit.  The yucky will.not.get.me.

In other exciting news…

Yesterday, I did my first run since the half marathon!  It was a nice, light run and all felt well.  I pulled the intervals back to 5:1 instead of 8:1 and it was just right.  I finished up 2.38 miles in 30 minutes.  I think I’m ready to do a little more, but I right now light runs a couple times a week are perfect.

This morning, I hit up the stationary bike in the basement.  Snore.  I do not love the stationary bike.  I pedaled, I read, I got the heck off.

Then, looked forward to breakfast – Baked Oatmeal…

Basic Baked Oatmeal

• 2 cups old-fashioned oats
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1 tsp. cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/2 cup skim milk
• 1/2 cup nonfat greek yogurt
• 1 egg
• 2 very ripe bananas, mashed
• 1 tsp. maple extract (or vanilla)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. In a large bowl, combine oats, baking powder, cinnamon and salt.
3. In a separate bowl, combine wet ingredients.  Add to oat mixture.  Stir until fully incorporated.
4. Coat an 8 x 8” pan with nonstick cooking spray.  Pour mixture into pan, spreading evenly.
5. Bake for about 35-40 minutes or until golden and set.

Makes 4 large servings.

*note – this baked oatmeal is not sweet despite the ripe banana.  If you like a sweeter oatmeal, you can add 1/4- 1/3 cup brown sugar or a sweetener of your choice and/or diced fruits.

I like the “blank slate” quality of this baked oatmeal and the firm texture…

It’s a great base for PB2 icing!

Lunch was just as square.  I whipped up another Zucchini Bake;  this time using mozzarella cheese instead of swiss and subbing diced red pepper for the onion.  YUM!

Served with a side salad…

With round carrots on a round plate…

It’s the hazmat suit.  It’s cutting off my oxygen and making me loopy

Later in the afternoon, I put up exactly 3 Christmas decorations before declaring it exhausting and went for a snack instead…

From New Zealand!  Hi Mary!!!

Round and round…

Dinner was courtesy of Clean Eating Magazine.  I remembered making Individual Chicken Pot Pies some time ago and thought they would be a good way to use up the leftover turkey that is multiplying in my fridge.  I pretty much stuck with the recipe other than subbing turkey for chicken and leeks for the onions…

Topped with whole wheat biscuits…

An easy and comforting meal…

Off to comfort the sick…. *sprays Lysol while exiting*

Stay well, everyone and have a great day!

What food do you crave when you are sick?

It’s already been one week since my first half marathon!  I’m still in a little bit of disbelief that I did it and it’s all over.  I guess that post-marathon sadness is kicking in.  All that training, then…bam… it’s over!

I spent the last couple of days thinking about all I learned and what I can share with you about the experience.  There are so many things, but I narrowed it down to a few important ones…

1. Don’t be afraid.  Well, that sure sounds easier said than done!  What I mean is don’t let your fear hold you back from trying something.  I have had many fears keeping me from doing things throughout my life.  Sadly, most of those fears stemmed from my weight and how I felt about myself.  See, I’ve never been an athletic person.  I never was much into any exercise, period.  Mainly because I felt too overweight to do any of it without looking stupid or uncomfortable.  When I began my final weight loss journey three years ago and made exercise a regular part of my life,  I started to loosen that hold.  I began with walking and transitioned into running;  an activity I never believed I could do.  After all, I didn’t “look” like a runner.  My body had no idea what an athlete was!  I almost felt stupid to say, “I run” for fear that people would look at me like, “yeah right”.  But, I slowly pushed through and took baby steps out of my comfort zone.   It’s a scary thought at first!  However,  side-stepping the fear and breaking out built a whole new person that I never imagined could exist.
2. Runners come in all shapes, sizes and ages.  As I’ve said before, I read a ton of blogs.  Most are about healthy living and many owners of those blogs are runners.  Young, fit runners.  Yeah, I kinda feel out of my league sometimes.  I read their race recaps and they run like the wind.  Me… not so much!  Needless to say, I was shaking in my sneakers when I signed up for this half marathon, thinking that I would be the biggest, slowest, oldest runner there.  Not so.  There were runners older, younger, bigger, smaller, faster and slower.  But, we were also so much the same.  We may all look different, however we all had the same goal… to finish.  Drive and determination is what it takes to be a runner;  not size, shape or age. 
3. Have fun- it’s not a job! Although training for a half marathon seems like a job with its intense training schedule and the time it takes, the point of doing it is to challenge yourself to reach new heights.  That should be fun!  I carried that theme over to the actual race itself;  making sure to take my time, enjoy the scenery and the activity around me.  After all, I’ll never have another first!  I wanted to remember it and soak it all in.  My goal was to finish and have a good race.  I ended with a smile on my face!
4. It’s okay to walk!  If there is one thing that I can share with you it’s this:  You don’t have to run the entire time.  You know how much I love run/walk intervals  and how it’s helped my running.   And guess what?  Tons of other racers do it , too!  There were many, many other runners stopping for walk breaks; even right from the start like me.  Ain’t no shame;  it works!

So, the inevitable question that surfaces….

Now What????

I’ve been thinking.  Tossing around a few ideas.  Trying to figure out what I really want my next goal to be.  And the same one keeps coming to mind, but I’m just not quite sure about it.  How to do it…if I can do it…we’ll see….

Have a great day, everyone!

Has your weight ever kept you from trying something new?

When I woke up this morning, I still felt full from yesterday!  Sheesh!  Instead of eating breakfast anyway, I decided to wait it out and see if I would actually get hungry at all today! 

Sure enough, late morning I got a growl.  Ready for this exciting breakfast?

Corn Chex and skim milk.  Yawn.  But honestly, it was light and about the only thing that sounded good!

At lunchtime, we headed over to my parents’ house to hang out with Dad for his birthday.  While everyone dug into pizza, I raided the fridge for leftovers.  I had the perfect lunch in mind, inspired by Cabot’s website.  I saw the Turkey, Two Potato and Cheddar Hash  recipe and it looked like a great use for our leftovers.  My version included a bit of stuffing and broccoli rabe, too.  Might as well get all the goodies in there…

I just heated it all in a non-stick pan along with a few tablespoons of gravy and garnished with fresh parsley.  Thanksgiving in a heap!

Not quite as pretty as the recipe’s photo, but very delicious.

We spent the remainder of the afternoon in a Wii bowl-a-thon!  I forgot what great exercise the Wii is, besides being fun.  Plus, it kept me busy and away from the chocolate chip cookie dough balls!

Dinner was super low-key.  We were all feeling tired of every type of food,  but I finally got a consensus of breakfast for dinner.  Sounded good to me, too!

Cheese omelets, Ezekiel toast and a side of shredded sprouts…

Yawn.

Boring is the best way to get back on track!  I find that keeping it simple helps me reel in the overeating after a food-filled holiday.  Along with guzzling a ton of water and a good night’s sleep.

Off to bed…. *slosh slosh*

Have a great day, everyone!

What’s your favorite Thanksgiving leftover dish?