I loved all the summer reading suggestions you guys listed from yesterday’s post!  I have added them to my list.  Hope I get to sit long enough to read them!

So, I haven’t posted much about weight lifting lately.  I’ve still been doing it, but I feel like I need a change.  Mainly because I haven’t SEEN much change in my body.  I like feeling strong when I do the workouts, but something is missing.  What I like best is doing a mix of cardio and strength in circuit form;  similar to The Shred or Jackie Warner’s Total Body Conditioning.  There’s tons to choose from on Exercise TV, so I may switch it up to those for the summer.

Today, I opted to try out The 100 Workout that Jenn posted about the other day.  Basically, it goes like this: 

And then you die.

Or you bruise a vein while doing jumping jacks because you are a reject…

Did that every happen to any of you?

*cricket…cricket…*

Well, it really hurts!  I had to get an ice pack to put on it!!

Anyhooooo, it was a great workout that required no equipment (except ice pack), TV or fancy gear.  I loved it!  I got the daughters to do it with me, too and the husband is going to use it when he has to travel. 

After nursing my injury, I made breakfast.  An egg white omelet stuffed with turkey sausage crumbles and lite mozzarella (4 PP) served with a half slice of toasted cornbread (3 PP) …

For lunch, I brought back an old fave – Buffalo Chicken Salad ( 8 PP)…

• 4 oz. Trader Joe’s breaded chicken tenderloins tossed in 1 tbsp. hot sauce
• romaine lettuce
• 2 small carrots, sliced
• 1 celery stalk, sliced
• 2 tbsp. Marie’s Lite Chunky Blue Cheese Dressing

YUM!

Afternoon snack was half a Cashew Cookie Larabar (3 PP) while prepping dinner.  Even though, it was 90 humid degrees today, I was craving roasted potatoes!  I cranked up the oven to 475 and got them going.  I was tempted to just eat potatoes for dinner, but decided to add a few things to make it complete.  Woman cannot live on potatoes alone

I found this can of Marinated Bean Salad in my pantry and thought it would be a good addition to my hodge-podge dinner …

I don’t love that it has added sugar as part of the ingredients, but it is only 3 grams which fits in with my sugar rules ( more on that tomorrow!)…

After my potatoes roasted, I topped them with fresh steamed green beans from my garden, red onion, 1/2 cup of bean salad,  1 tsp. olive oil and a shaving of asiago cheese (10 PP) …

Delicious and filling!

Turns out living on more than potatoes isn’t all that bad

Have a great day, everyone!

What is your favorite way to eat potatoes?  I love potatoes ALL ways, but roasted is probably my favorite. 

Hello! *said in British accent while sipping coffee tea*

Being inundated with news media coverage of every aspect of Will and Kate’s wedding has had an affect on me

Could be that I’m just loopy today, too.  Not feeling that great, but I decided to suck it up and go through the motions of a workout anyway.  I went with a modified weights workout with no rest between …

Better than nothing!

Many of you have asked, so I wanted to give a quick thyroid update.  Good news is the biopsy was benign!  I still haven’t found a new doctor and had more miscommunications with the current idiotic doctor, so at this point, I’m taking a wait and see approach.  Most of my bloodwork has come back normal, although a few of the results were on the higher “normal” side and will need to be retested at some time.  Right now, I’m kinda sick of being poked and prodded.  I need a little break to figure out what the next steps are and whether I want to start on the train of more testing.  I’ll keep you posted! 

Let’s get to eatin’…

The warmer weather today had me craving a yogurt bowl ( 5 PP)…

• 1/2 cup nonfat plain Chobani yogurt
• 6 strawberries, sliced
• 1/4 cup Cocoa Goodness  Love Grown Granola 

Look what was right next to it…

How wrong is that ?!

Uninspired for lunch, I went with a basic turkey and swiss on whole wheat pane  ( 9 PP) …

With a scattering of carrots for crunch …

Afternoon snack was an old running buddy …

I used to eat Larabars all the time as pre-run fuel!  I forgot how much I love them …

I wanted a big bowl of comfort for dinner.  Pasta, to be exact!  I decided to take the plunge and try this interesting pasta that I bought a while back when I was doing the Gluten-Free Experiment …

I won’t lie… I was a little nervous about how this would taste!  I ended up being pleasantly surprised!  It had a nice firm texture and a taste similar to regular pasta.  Not corny at all!

I boiled the pasta according to package directions;  meanwhile I cooked up the toppers – Spinach and Feta Chicken Sausage …

Removed from the casing;  browned and then tossed with some leftover broccoli.  When the pasta was ready, I took a few tablespoons of the cooking water out, added it to the sausage mixture along with 2 tbsp. grated parmesan cheese to make a sauce.

A hearty and comforting 13 PP bowl!

Carb coma achieved

Have a great day, everyone!

Thanks for all your supportive comments on my Gluten-Free Experiment!  I’m looking forward to trying out some new recipes, but most of all, seeing if I feel any better by eating this way. 

Can I tell you how much I wanted to ditch my run today?  I hate days like that!  I was just feeling lazy.  I debated on skipping and having  breakfast instead since I was super hungry ( a good feeling because I’ve been having trouble with hunger these few weeks).

But, I couldn’t do it.  I had a half of a Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Larabar for some fuel and headed out…

Trudge, trudge, trudge.  That was the theme for this run.  Actually, I envisioned quitting when I got to the 1 mile mark, but ended up talking myself out of it! To all newbie runners:  sometimes you’re gonna have these stinky runs when your head just isn’t in it and you struggle to put one foot in front of the other.  Power through and don’t give up!  You’ll feel glad you did!

I finished up 4.6 miles using 6:1 intervals.  

Then, it was time for a real breakfast!  Open-faced egg white omelet with spinach, Canadian bacon and gruyere…

I’m totally on a Canadian bacon kick.

Altogether with a cup of French Roast press…

Thanks to prepping the night before, lunch was ready and waiting in the fridge.  A new twist on my favorite chickpea salad!  This was chock full of veggies and simply dressed with olive oil and red wine vinegar.  I didn’t measure anything, just threw together what looked good…

Chopped Chickpea Salad

• 15 oz. can garbanzo beans (chickpeas), drained and rinsed
• carrots
• red onion
• english cucumber
• roasted red pepper
• kalamata olives
• s + p
• dash of oregano
• drizzle of evoo + red wine vinegar

I had a good helping…

along with the rest of my Larabar from the morning…

Afternoon snack that may be the new norm – Gala and string cheese…

Now, dinner.  Oh dinner.  Such an epic fail!  I thought I would be crafty and come up with a quick Chili and Cornbread Casserole.  Here was the “quick”…

Why make chili when you can buy it in a can, right?

I sprayed an 8 x 8 glass dish with cooking spray, then dumped 2 cans of Trader Joe’s Organic Vegetarian Chili in the dish…

So far so good.  Really can’t mess that up, right?

Okay, here’s where it gets screwy.  I mixed up some cornbread  and spread it over the top…

I placed it in a 450 degree oven for 3o minutes….

I ended up with cornbread on steriods over a teensy tiny dried out bit of chili…

Sad, so sad.   I should have halved the cornbread recipe.  Duh.

Luckily, it tasted good.  Be prepared for some creative uses of the leftovers!  

Have a great day, everyone!

Have any recipe disasters lately?  Did you eat it or ditch it?