Weekend Headlines

Body. Mind. Soul :

Made Breakfast:

Egg whites, veggies, a slice of whole wheat with peanut butter ( its really flaxseed butter) , Fruit ( raspberries, blueberries, cherries, mango), Coffee

Ate Breakfast with Future Hubby at the table I finally organized and setup.

Talked about joining Sam’s Club or Costco.

Cleaned the house
Washed the car aka Carol the Corolla

Cleaned the truck aka Lurlota the Dakota

Vacuumed the Carol

Windexed the Carol

Fertilized the lawn so that neighbors will think we care about the house

Sprayed weed killer for the same vane reasons

Trimmed the 6 bushes that were starting to make our house look more like a jungle

Trimmed the hedges along the driveway that I was running into every time I came home and walked to the door

Made Lunch:

Oikos Organic Greek Plain with PB and Organic Red Delicious, Kashi Go Lean, Spinach and Artichoke “dip” with extra veggies.

Yelled at the dog when he got up on the couch

Felt bad about yelling at the dog so I took him for a walk

Took myself to the shower.

aaaahhhhhhhhhh

Sat on Couch.
Drove to In-laws.

Made random amazing creations…

Cheesy Broccoli:
I used 1 tablespoon of sour cream, 1 tablespoon of mayonnaise, garlic salt, and a little shredded cheese- Mixed with thawed frozen broccoli.

Quick Horseradish Mushroom Sauce (to go with Filet)
1 teaspoon BBQ sauce
1 teaspoon A1 steak sauce
1 tablespoon Horseradish
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup red wine
Whisk all ingredients and bring to a simmmmmaaah
Add mushrooms

Salad

Organic Baby Greens
Carrots
Cucumber
Tomato
Feta

Future Brother in Law Grilled:

Put the following into Foil and grilled for 35 minutes:
Potatoes
Onions
Mushrooms
Olive Oil
Garlic Salt
DIVINE!!!!

Filet Mignon

My plate of deliciousness

When the parents are away, the kids go gourmet

Wine! Bogle Vineyards Merlot.

 

We came up with this creation later…
Whoopsey’s ( Whisky and Pepsi)

I had one while we played Texas Hold Em and Box Cars

The WEEKEND IS HERE!

Breakfast:

Fruit loaded Oats!
I don’t know what got into me but when I bought peppers for last night’s Stuffed Peppers at the store, I also grabbed more peaches, raspberries,  strawberries, apples, another huge orange and an avacado! I’m craving Fresh Fresh Fresh!!

In my oats, it was no surprise I wanted a ton of fruit! So I did 1/4 cup oats with water and protein then covered them with bluberries, pineapple, cherries, strawberries, mangos, raspberries and banana….

Phew! That was delicious!

Approx.

275 kcal
2-3 servings of Fruit
1/2 serving of whole grains
lots of delicious filling Fiber!

Vitamin E and Omega -3 from the Flaxseed Butter!

Morning Snack:
A Protein Shake: I mixed half a scoop of chocolate protein with water, milk, frozen pineapple and mango

Approx.
140 kcal
1 serving of fruit
16 g protein

Lunch:

A leftover Stuffed Pepper ( which was even better than the day before! ) with salad mix ( no dressing).

2+ Servings of Veggies
Approx. 300 kcal
Vitamin C and Vitamin A!

Before Dinner I had half of this guy

He was even bigger than the others! I swear it doesn’t look like it, but this was bigger than a softball- about 5 inches top to bottom!

1 serving of fruit
~ 70 kcal

Dinner:

A preseasoned chicken breast that Jeff grilled, brussel sprouts (frozen, thawed in the microwave,tossed in Balsamic Vinegar and Lite Soy, broiled in the toaster oven) with the last of the salad mix and a dab of creamy parm rice.
 
Provides Approx :
3 servings of veggies
26 g protein
295 kcal

* I know I am a bit low but I felt like I’ve eaten all day! I did nibble on some more cinnamon garbanzos and a half a banana before I headed to the gym. I’m not really concerned about it because its friday, so I will probably be up later and enjoy a drink or dessert later! *

Body:
I took it easy again but the good news is all week my leg has been getting better and better everyday!
I walked for 3 miles and did 10 minutes on the elliptical. I’m hoping to run this weekend ( Today was the 7th day since my last decent run)

Mind:
I did almost every test correction due monday morning! There is only two left that I can’t seem to figure out the answer to…

One question is regarding identifying the Low GC Bacterium- I know the criteria from the lecture said “low” means G+ C is less than 50%. But the answers we had to choose from are 26% and 36%. So… ?

Soul:
It’s friday weeeeee!  I converted my video to a youtube file and another format and hopefully will have it all spiffy soon!

Do you have any plans this weekend?

My fiance and I are looking forward to a slow , relaxing weekend at home! We have been go go go so it will be nice to talk about wedding stuff! We haven’t really had time to make more plans!

Peaches and Cream Oats for Breakfast Stuffed Peppers for Dinner

Breakfast: Peaches and Cream Oats

Oats with oikos plain,  a fresh peach, and ground flax, cinnamon, little sprinkle of chocolate protein powder and peanut butter (of course )

Provides:
325 kcal
1 serving of fruit
Heart healthy unsaturated fats, Oatmeal provides a fantastic source of soluble fiber which helps reduce cholesterol!

Lunch:

A Boca Vegan Burger on whole wheat with mustard, organic ketchup , lettuce etc. On the side I had steamed veggies and cinnamon roasted garbanzos and an orange

Provides:
285 kcal
1 serving of fruit- Great source of Vitamin C ( I ate the rest after the photo! )
2 servings of veggies full of antioxidants!

Snack:
1/2  Apple and Peanut Butter

Provides:
110 kcal
1/2 serving of fruit
Heart Healthy unsaturated fats, Omega 3 ( It is flaxseed peanut butter) and anthocyanthins from the apple!

Dinner:

Stuffed Peppers!

I had defrosted lean ground beef and didn’t know what I was going to do with it. I saw all the leftover whole wheat cous cous we had and just thought I hadn’t had stuffed peppers in forever!

So this was super easy- I had frozen extra spaghetti sauce awhile ago . I browned the ground beef, added the defrosted pasta sauce, then added the whole wheat cous cous and a little cheese.

I prepped the peppers ( which are excellent sources of vitamin c ! ) and filled them with the beef/couscous mix and topped all of them with a can of crushed tomatoes with roasted garlic.

and some mozzarella cheese..

I had mine on a salad – I used a bag of veggie salad mix but added fresh strawberries, raspberries , cinnamon garbanzos, goddess dressing and brie!

It was AWESOME!

I didn’t use a recipe! However, I made healthy changes like using a 4% fat ( 96% lean) ground meat instead of most using higher fat %, I used whole wheat cous cous which is higher in fiber and protein and less overall kcal than white rice. I also used a homemade tomato sauce which is lower in sodium than canned but has just as much lycopene to prevent prostate cancer!   

My estimations per pepper:
260 kcal

---

Total Fat  7g  

Saturated Fat 2.6g 

Potassium 659mg  

Total Carbohydrates 26g  

Dietary Fiber 5g 

Protein 18g 

Sugars  6-8 g ( from sauce per pepper which wasn’t exact)

The following %Daily Values are based on my ESHA software- I used estimates from random stuffed peppers they have stored in the database:

Vitamin A 20 %

Vitamin C  160 %

Calcium 5 %

Iron  34 %

Thiamin  14 %

Niacin  62 %

Vitamin B6  32 %

Magnesium  15 %

Folate  35 %

4 servings of Vegetables
1/2 serving of fruit

Total for the day:
3 servings of Fruit
6 servings of Veggies
1215 kcal
and then there was
Dessert!

A mini no pudge with some ice cream , choc chips and whip cream.

I am guessing approx. 270 -300 kcal …

Body:
Strength training: back and biceps and the elliptical felt great today! My leg felt much better so I took it easy again and just did 20 minutes.

Mind:
Class! We went over antioxidants today and I was so happy that it was more of review for me!  phew!

Soul:
I went up to my brother’s school and he helped me with a video I am putting together for a job application! I can’t wait to show everyone! I have been working on it for awhile but I haven’t said anything until now!

giveaways!

Hey all!

FYI:  Hangrypants Heather is doing a giveaway for Element Bars that look fantastic! Enter Here

and….. FitnessNYC is doing a Blueprint Cleanse Giveaway, Enter HERE!

If you don’t enter, keep your fingers crossed for me!

Tofu Triangles & Cinnamon Roasted Garbanzos

Meal Of the Day!

Lunch, yep a random creation from the mind of bhealthier.

I grilled extra firm tofu that I had cut into triangles.  I steamed veggies underneath while it was grilling and I threw together a quick spinach-artichoke dip. All I did was microwave frozen spinach and artichokes, remove excess water, then reheat with nonfat greek yogurt and some parmesean cheese, s& p. It was awesome. I used the tofu triangles as “pita” sections to eat my dip. Up close… and….

I also had an organic red delicious with some Valencia Peanut Butter ala Trader Joes.

Snack

Roasted Cinnamon Garbanzo’s

I’ve had this can of garbanzo’s in my cupboard for-ever it seems! I intended to make hummus with it but then never did and wanted to do something fun with it. So I took my can of garbanzo’s and rinsed them, threw them onto my toaster oven baking sheet. Drizzled a teeny bit of olive oil ( Newman’s Own Organic) and then drenched in cinnamon before baking for 35 minute at 400.

I took em out and sprinkled Sugar in The Raw over top and then downed a whole bunch! I was surprised at how much I loved the sweet/ salty /spicy contrast!! I should have baked them longer to make them more dried out but they were awesome! I almost ate all of them they were so good!

Dinner:
We were invited over to our super close friend’s Andrea and Nate’s house for dinner tonight. Nate grilled “country spare ribs” and Andrea made delicious sides: tomato mozzarella salad, brussel sprouts, rice and beans ! hmmmm so divine!

I snacked on a few hershey’s kisses and a couple small glasses of wine while we caught up on our crazy lives.

Body:
Rest… well… sort of.. my leg is very bothersome however, I knew I would feel worse if I didn’t get some form of exercise- so I walked (at an easy pace) for about 3 miles.  It felt fine- the leg wasn’t awesome but it was more of a stress-relieving activity that wasn’t super strenous. Plus fresh oxygen from outdoors is always refreshing!

Thanks for all your well-wishes!

Mind:
Class- We go our exams back! We are allowed to do test corrections on our exam as an extra assignment- woohoo! I did not do as bad as I feared for missing what in real semester time would be over 1 month- but I didn’t get what I usually do in most classes. I am fine with it though!

I turned in another job application AND I followed up with a previous application and got semi-good news! Yippee! The lady replied back with a hopeful response ( not a “we definitely want you” but it seemed very pleasant. I feel like if I didn’t have a chance, she would have just said sorry but we have already chosen our interview candidates…etc ). She said to expect to hear from them in the next two weeks- fingers crossed.

Soul:
Oh I love dinners with Nate and Andrea!

While I won’t discuss this on the blog, I did have alot of stressful things come about today and recently more so. The walk really helped out and chatting with my friends helped too.

ah and i almost forgot that breakfast was a HUGE orange and a half of an apple with peanut butter and an oikos! nice and fast!

Tuesday

Breakfast:
1/2 cup oats, 1/2 cup water, 1/2 cup soy milk, cinnamon and ground flax together soaked overnight and microwaved in the am. PB and fruit on the side!

Provides Approx.
340 kcal
1.5 servings of fruit
1 serving of whole grains

Lunch

Salad and Tofu Salad!
I made it even better than yesterday’s! I used more goddess dressing and more yogurt and mashed it all more. IT WAS AWESOME! Strawberries on the gold plated car plates Nana gave us from England.

 

 

Dinner:
I was craving fresh fruit!! At the store today I got 2 huge oranges, 3 peaches, 4 apples, and 5 bananas for $ 5 !!!

I had a peach, an organic red delicious apple, some salad and leftover cacciatore veggies and cous cous from last night. It was delightful but I couldn’t finish all of it!

Body:
My leg is bothering me again! Argh- I am resting from running and that area as much as I can and hopefully will get back to running in the next few days.

So I went to the gym and on the elliptical realized my leg was just not up to it so I did strength training: chest, shoulders and triceps..

Mind:
Exam is over! I knew a bunch of questions for sure but some I had no idea ( i.e there was a question on how endospores  produce however, I knew all the organisms that produce endospores not how they themselves produce… ah well )

Soul:
Hurricanes Game 4- If they lose, the penguins move on to the Stanley Cup Playoffs. If they win, they have to win the next 4 games straight! Yikes!

Memorial Day

Happy Memorial Day!  ( I know its belated at this point)

My Memorial Day Breakfast
Micro-meal:
I didnt feel up to cooking persay, so I microwaved my breakfast. I threw in a bunch of frozen veggies and thawed tehm in the microwave, added about 3 egg whites and cooked it all up.

 
Then I did a mini-cobbler- I took frozen peaches, pineapples, blueberries and oats with some milk- heated it all up in the micro.

Lunch:

some leftover pasta (carbonara with tomatoes, broc, bacon and whole wheat penne )from before we left and some frozen steamed brussels with my new creation of Tofu Salad! 
I saw Lindsay on Daily Goods make a Tofu Salad with mayo and I loved her idea! All her meals are always fantastic! So I don’t have any mayo in my house and couldn’t do a version like hers. So I used some Goddess Dressing and some Oikos Greek plain and extra firm tofu- mixed it all up really well and heated it with the rest of my stuff. It was darn tasty!

and some more fruit:

I went off to study so Jeff made us dinner! He is a really fantastic cook but I almost always end up having more time to cook than he does!  He made Chicken Caccitore with mixed frozen veggies, browned chicken breasts , a large can of crushed tomatoes, red pepper flakes…. more red pepper flakes.. and then he added brown mustard!! I could tell there was “something” else but had no idea it was mustard until he told me!

It was delicious! Thanks babe! We cooked up some whole wheat cous cous to go with it and I grabbed a thing of salad mix on the way home.

Fantastic!

We started watching Cold Mountain together and I wanted dessert ! When I was at the store I saw the ice cream isle and had a craving for some ice cream-

I picked out this guy…

Because it looked delicious and it was BOGO Free ( usually there is at least one brand on sale each week so that isn’t an excuse but it does make it an easier buy). I’m not a plain-vanilla kinda gal- I like chunky “overloaded” ice cream- so I didn’t go with the “all-natural” kind.
Hmmmmm despite the laundry list of ingredients – it tasted AWESOME! You can totally see and taste the caramel swirls, the brownie pieces were soft and fudgy, the almonds were tiny and crunchy! Fantastic! I had some whip cream and strawberries too. yum yum yum

Body:

I managed to get to the gym for a quick 2 mile run and a 30 minute elliptical session.  I got a great sweat but not a super great workout. I didn’t mind because I knew it would help me focus on studying!

Mind:

Finished studying viruses, cholera, and reviewed everything like procaryotes, eurokaryotes, and small pox! Phew, I feel like catching up an entire week of summer class ( which is like 1 +month of regular semester classes) is nearly impossible!

I am not good at biology either- give me math, chemistry, or latin and I will zip through it- but Biology is just so tough!

Soul:

Watched Cold Mountain with Jeff!! I forgot exactly how everything happened in that movie but Jude Law is so hot! I think Jeff and him look alike a bit too!

I got laundry and unpacking done too!

It is so crazy to think of how war throughout history has cost so many lives unnecessarily. It worries me for the future the world has, ya know. Wars will continue, lives will continue to be lost, and it just makes me feel that everyone should appreciate every second they have and cherish their time with loved ones at all costs. Happy Memorial Day. 

I’m Done Golfin yall!

My last day of golfing for this trip was sunday and we decided to head home afterwards to hopefully have a productive monday at home!

I started out my sunday with a fantastic bowl of Kashi Go Lean Crunchy, but spilled over during cooking!  I filled my bowl with a little Marmalade French Toast and added fresh blueberries and kiwi to my breakfast!

Last Day of Golfing:

For Lunch/Snacking I had packed our stuff up when we got back so no photos- but it was some Almonds, an Orange and an Oikos Vanilla in the car on the way home.

On our way home we drove directly through where my sister lives so we had planned to stop in and say hello or visit or grab a bite to eat. We ended up grabbing dinner at UNO’s in Bethesda, MD but I would highly recommend NOT going there! My sister warned me that the service sucked there but I had never gone so I wanted to try it!

I had a side salad to start because I was really missing my vegetables this weekend so I was craving fresh!

My sister, Jeff and I split a 2-3 person deep dish with chicken, pepperoni and mushrooms.
It was a great combo and well-put together pizza but it was COLD in some spots and warm in others.  blech- the waitress had clearly left it sitting forever because it took forever to come out! She also never re-filled our drinks or ever came back to check on our pizza, if she had, we would have told her it was cold!

But we just wanted to enjoy our visit and our food and we did that! Off it was to another 5 hour drive. Phew. That was rough after a long day of golfing- we were both exhausted by the time we pulled in our driveway. We unpacked the car super quickly and went straight to bed!

Body:
4 hours of golf! I wore my heart rate monitor for fun and found that my heart rate stayed at about 45 % of its max most of the time. I burned 610 kcal but knew the previous days were more strenous so it was a hefty bit of exercise!

I was slightly sad that I didn’t get in a good run at all but I also felt like all the travelling and golfing was enough of a tax on my bod.

Mind:
Studied Archaea and now all I have left is Eukaryotes and Viruses to study for the exam tomorrow.

Soul:
It was awesome to golf again and to see Jeff’s family and my sister!

Home sweet home indeed!

Marmalade French Toast

 
This was my prep Saturday Night for Marmalade French Toast Casserole that I served for breakfast on Sunday!
 
Ingredients: ( to serve 8 +)
3 Tb butter
Two loaves French Bread or Ciabatta ( I used one of each)
1 jar Marmalade (I used Trader Joes Organic Orange and Apricot Marmalade)
2 and 3/4 cup Milk ( I used 1%)
6 eggs, plus 2 egg whites
1/3 cup sugar
1 teaspon vanilla
1 teaspoon cinnamon
*Optional 1/2 cup Raisins and/or Walnuts

Directions:
Grease casserole dish and butter one side of bottom layer of bread slices. Lay bread butter side down, Spread Marmalade over top layer. Repeat with top layer of bread slices only lay marmalade side down, butter side facing up. Beat together eggs, milk, sugar, vanilla, and cinnamon. Pour over bread slices.

* at this point I added NOO raisins but I should covered the dish in the oven or I should have kept the raisins underneath the bread because a few burned after cooking. *

Let sit in fridge overnight or 8 hours+. Bake at 350 for 45 minutes.

I think everyone liked it… one dish was already gone before I even got to take a photo!!

I kept golfin yall!

Day 2 of golfing was even better than day 1!!!!

I started out for breakfast with a delicious bowl of Kashi Instant Oats! After golf yesterday we had to run to a store to get milk and charcoal, while there I found this specific variety up here in PA that I have been SEARCHING for since trying it in buffalo last september!

It is Kashi Go Lean Hearty vs. Creamy. I have seen the creamy vanilla flavor but not this crunchy type anywhere in NC. So I grabbe d as many boxes as I could to take home. I was too excited to try it so I had a bowl instead of the Pemael Bacon Canadian Sandwiches that were suppposed to be for breakfast!

I did have a bite of Jeff’s though- The paemael bacon is actually very much like lean ham but only available in canada as I’m told. It was actually very tasty but I was super happy with my oats and fruit!

We went to another Golf Course today, right across from our house:

 

Afternoon Snacking:

A small oikos vanilla that I found at the same place- they had packs of 4 for $3 but they were slightly smaller containers than the 5.3 oz singles usually available. Each were about 80 kcal and 12 g of protein ( nonfat) and perfect! I had some with leftover mango ….

I also had a few whole wheat crackers and 3 year aged Cheddar

And I tried a dip someone had made ( salsa, sour cream) with carrots

 

A Sprite zero in my koozie ( my nickname is L-Mo, Jeff’s is Mo). Our friends Nate and Andrea made our koozies and gave me my nickname!

 

Dinner:
Steak ( Porterhouse), Baked beans and hash brown casserole

 

Body:
Another 4.5 hours of golf, horseshoe games, washer games, and more card games (Euchre and Mexican Train)!

Mind:
Studied another two sections of material for the exam!

Soul:
Another gorgeous day of golfing! Ahhh…