Make up your mind already!!! :)

Yesterday morning I woke up really hungry and really craving something sweet, so I thought. I've been seeing this Brownie Batter Oatmeal on various blogs and thought that sounded like something that would hit the spot..... unfortunately it was too sweet for me and after 2 bites I tossed it.

So then I decided I wanted something as UNsweet as possible. I toasted 2 sprouted grain breads, spread with Tofutti cream cheese, thinly sliced tomatoes, basil and some salt/pepper. I had 1/2 of the first one and decided THAT was way too "dinner-like" and not hitting my taste buds they way I wanted them to!
So I scraped off the remain cream cheese and tomatoes and spread some natural strawberry jam over it and perfecto! Hit the spot! :)
After church we came home to a very bare fridge, so I put together a salad with what I had on hand. Romaine, spinach, carrots, broccoli, tomatoes, sesame sticks, Chik'N patty, BBQ sauce and hummus!
Yesterday was a very busy day. I spent most of my afternoon at the grocery store and then at home preparing for our Happy Birthday Jesus party we were having today (more pictures to come later)...so I thought what is the easiest dish to prepare that everyone will eat. Spaghetti!

Kids got whole wheat noodles, hubs and I got zucchini noodles. Marinara had LOTs of yummy mushroom chunks and onions throughout.
This has become my new favorite snack when I've gotta have something sweet! Just a few scoops of Coconut Bliss' Cappuccino flavored icecream, a dash of almond milk and a few Vegan Chocolate chips. Yummo.
I opted for that, instead of this beauty I made for the party.... more about this later!
And on a totally un-food related topic....I found THIS while out shopping the other day at TJMaxx. Bed Head for dogs!!! PET HEAD! Is this not adorable or what??? It smells divine too!!!
As the bottle says: "Only for Cool Dogs".... look at that face, I think my dog is definitely cool!

Built a roof, ran a PR & Created a Gourmet Pizza!!

Not bad for one day, eh?

Today, the hubby and I, along with my in-laws company, volunteered with Habitat for Humanity. They are a non-profit organization that builds affordable housing for low income families. They are founded on the conviction that every man, woman and child should have a safe, decent, affordable place to live!

We get there, and little did I know we were going to get some fine fancy wear. Watch out now...we're bringing sexy back to construction site attire!

Note: Neither of our eye goggles are our normal look

just in case you were unsure! LOL

But hey! Helmet head hair aside, we'd do it all again for a great cause such as this! These were the town homes we were building... adorable aren't they?
This is our crew today....setting the trusses, nailing in the hurricane straps. But I cannot tell a lie...they did NEED someone to hold the ladder (on the floor) while someone else was 13 ft in the air pounding in the nails. It IS a very important job, and I took one for the team and offered my services for that position. Thank you very much.

What was that saying..."no job too small?" That's what I'm going with! I mean seriously...I couldn't allow my husband to hold the ladder for me!!! Now how would THAT look? I was really just looking out for HIS best interest. He's my hero.
In keeping with traditions of construction sites all across the good ol' US of A...around 10:45, a truck, similar to this one, came horns blaring around the corner signaling lunchtime to a bunch of hungry construction men. Ummm....thanks, but no thanks. I wasn't ready to take my chance on this one.
In the area of town we were in our alternate choices were VERY limited. But thanks to the handy dandy mapping feature on my iPhone, I was able to track down a Quiznos Subs only about 10 minutes away.

I ended up with a Veggie Sub on Whole wheat. Included on it: Mushrooms, black olives, yellow peppers, red onion, lettuce, guacamole and red wine vinaigrette! It was actually quite tasty!
We got done with a little over an hour to spare before we had to go get the wee ones of our household (thank you Grandma!) In keeping with my training schedule, I still needed to get in a 5 mile run. Hubby was sweet enough to go with me this time too! I ran my 5 miles (feeling awesome too) in 52 minutes. New best record. I'm determined to get it down even lower now too!!!

This weekend is quickly going by with a TON of things still on my to-do list. As I check one thing off, something else seems to appear! I got home from our afternoon activities and got to work on things around here. I look up and realize its already 6pm and the tribe is getting hungry and restless...including this Momma too!

I had purchased an Amy's Vegan Pizza, but had yet to try it.
In this little beauty was roasted red peppers, marinated artichokes and organic shittake mushrooms.
When it came out of the oven, it looked a bit lonely...like it was missing something. So I chopped up a bunch of romaine lettuce, tossed it in garlic, red wine vinegar and a wee bit of EVOO and placed it on top of the pizza. NOW it looked complete...gourmet if I do say so myself.

I give this pizza, exactly as I created it, 2 thumbs and 2 big toes UP. It was INCREDIBLE. Even the hubby thought it tasted great!
I did have more than the normal amount of starchy carbs with the sandwich for lunch, pizza for dinner, but ya know....sometimes you just gotta go with what you have on hand. But I will most definitely be buying this pizza again!!

Now back to my running, if you will.

I want to improve my time, and from what I've been told, incorporating speed drills once per week will definitely help me achieve my goal.

So my question to all you runners is: how exactly do you do speed drills? Do I just do sprints in between walking or do I jog as normal adding sprints along the way? Please help this runner out!

Are you a Chipotle fan like us???

Anyone that knows me really well knows that I really love me some Chipolte. During my "fluffy" phase I would easily pack away a steak burrito with a side of chips. It's Organic...doesn't that make it okay to eat???? HA!

I've easily made the switch over to eating a vegetarian salad which I actually like better...especially love the fact that I LIKE what I'm eating and it's not going to jump right on my rump as soon as it's ingested! LOL

Recently I ran across this website that will actually calculate the calories/fat, etc. in the chipolte menu. WHAT AN EYE OPENER to see what I was eating in the past! Oh my word. If you are a regular diner there, you've GOT to check it out!

Here was my meal in the past: Steak Burrito, cheese, sourcream, lettuce, tomato salsa, fajita onions and chips on the side. 1565 calories and 66g of fat!!!! Holy Toledo...no wonder I was busting out of my shorts!!!

Here are the nutrition facts for the salad I typically get: lettuce, fajita onions/peppers, corn salsa, tomato salsa, black beans and rice (although I usually ask for 1/2 the amount of rice)... only 525 calories and 19 g. of fat!!! A lot of times I will only eat half the salad and save the other half for my mid-afternoon snack. The guacamole adds 150 calories and 13g. of fat to the meal...BUT that is extremely good for you/healthy type of fat! BRING IT ON!!!

Check out the protein content too...16 g!!!

Question for you: Are you a Chipotle fan? If so, what's your favorite meal? Where you surprised with these stats???

Tis the Season for baking....

Today I got a hankering for brussel sprouts. Having no recipe to go by I just kinda winged a recipe with some items I had on hand. It actually turned out quite tasty.

Roasted Brussel Sprouts with Cranberries & Lemon Sauce

Quarter the brussel sprouts and brown them on a skillet for about 7 minutes.

Then add chopped onions and dried cranberries!
Once onions are soft add lemon marinate. Lemon marinate consists of juice of 1 lemon, 1/3 cup of water, 1 T of whole wheat flour and 1 packet of stevia. Marinate will thicken fairly quickly! Enjoy!!
Tonight we have a Christmas party to go to so I decided to make a "Semi-homemade" Rosemary-Parsley Hummus.

2 (7oz.) containers hummus

1 garlic clove, minced

2 T fresh lime juice

2 tsp. chopped fresh parsley

1 tsp. chopped fresh rosemary

1/2 tsp. cracked black pepper

1 T extra virgin olive oil

Ground red pepper to taste
Combine first 6 ingredients. Drizzle with olive oil, and sprinkle with red pepper to taste.
I plan to combine this hummus with carrots, cucumbers, peppers and some blue tortilla chips.

Each year during the holiday season my husband's office has someone bring something to eat throughout the month. Tomorrow is our day. This year I decided to make an Apple Berry Crisp for their morning fare, and then some more of the Rosemary-Parsley hummus/veggie tray for them to munch on the rest of the day.

Here is the recipe for the Apple Berry Crisp:

4 granny smith apples - diced

2 cups of frozen blueberries

1/4 cup sucanat (or brown sugar)

1/4 cup orange juice

2 T whole wheat flour

1 tsp. of cinnamon

1/2 cup oats

Mix all together and place in baking dish.

Topping:

1 cup Oats

1/2 cup sucanat (or brown sugar)

1/3 cup melted Earth Balance (or butter)

Mix together and crumble over the top.

Bake on 350 degrees for 30 minutes. I plan to cook this in the morning right before I take it to his office, so the end result will come out looking more browned and toasty! ;)

Run Forest Run!!!

As you know I've been training to do the Disney's Princess 1/2 Marathon in March 2010. In the past I did NOT follow any type of training schedule and just ran. Unfortunately, THAT always lead to injuries and WAYYY overtraining. This time around I am strictly adhering to this schedule that I found online. I'm on week 4, so it's been pretty easy up to this point, but I'm so ready to get more mileage going. I feel like a horse at the starting line just waiting for the gate to go down!

The best part is that while I DO feel major improvements in my running, I feel stronger, it is significantly less then I ever ran before. It really shows me just how much overtraining I was doing...thus the list of injuries I acquired!!!

Sugar is CRACK!

So I'm back and this is most certainly a fly by post, just to let you know I'm alive!

I had an incredible weekend with my girlfriend. I got to see her beautiful new home and we spent three days PACKED with shopping for furniture, picking out wall colors, talking with various contractors on things that need to be complete prior to their move in date.

We ate at some GREAT places and I was able to make GREAT choices, so easy to eat healthy if you look for it. BUT there is this little cupcake shop called SAS Cupcakes. We eyeballed them one evening and thought we'd have to come back before the weekend was over to pick some up for the family...yeah right!? :)

We came back Saturday night and I indulged in one called an Oreo Cupcake. Basically chocolate cupcake with this to-die-for frosting that is swirled with oreos...O-M-G!!!

I ate it. Felt completely OKAY with eating it. Not like I eat that stuff all the time. Actually I've completely eliminated ALL refined sugars from my diet.

But you know what happened to me? It completely awakened this sleeping monster inside of me. Seriously. All of a sudden the rest of the weekend and even today I've been CRAVING sweets, sugar, crap.

This is something that I've completely had ZERO desire for. My body was seriously never craving that stuff. I eat a bit of it and WHAM...it's like crack I tell ya. Another thing is my energy is drained. Now yes, I know a lot of it is attributed to our long hours, strange place to sleep, out of my element and normal eating schedule, etc. BUT I know that part of it is most definitely attributed to the sugar.

I brought three home for the family and I've managed to eat bites (large bites) of each of theirs and it's only prolonging the detox process and getting this DRUG out of my system.

YUCK. I most definitely like the way I feel when I'm eating my normal way then any 5 minutes of sugar coma I put myself in while eating that stuff. The baggage it brings is just not worth it!

What kind of experience have YOU had eating sugar, etc. after not eating it? Similar experience?

Leftovers ROCK!

Not only did I get on the scale this morning and saw that I'm DOWN another 1.5 lbs (seriously...this is the WAY to lose weight. I almost feel like someone's gonna pull the rug from under me and say this is one big joke you really haven't lost all that weight b/c I am EATING lots of really really really good food, with desserts, chocolate, icecream and almond butter OFTEN...all no-no's when you're on a typical "diet") but I also found yet another breakfast dish that ranks right up there with my apple oatmeal....

Oats, sprinkled over the top with last night's Pumpkin Muffin, 1/2 banana, dates and vegan chocolate chips!!! Sigh...this was a keeper for sure!

This weekend I'm going away with one of my oldest childhood friends. She is sadly relocating with her family to Charlotte, NC. BUT this weekend, the two of us are heading north to decorate their house they just bought before the entire family moves! How fun is THAT!!!

I went ahead and packed a little stash of goodies I could keep on hand should I find myself hungry on the flight or while we are up there: Some bananas, larabars & my homemade chocolate Superfood bars, carrots, my homemade healthy trail mix, some Tazo Organic Chai Tea & stevia)

We had SEVERAL errands we needed to run before I leave tomorrow, but needed to fuel up first...so we hit my FAVORITE fast food joint of all time, Chipolte!!! I seriously could eat there everyday. Got the usual...

Vegetarian salad with romaine, green peppers, onions, mild tomato salsa, corn salsa, black beans and guac on the side.

It didn't take very long for this bountiful bowl to look like THIS!!! I would have licked the plate, but I'm thinking my kids would get the wrong idea about table manners. Gee whiz.

Dinner tonight was rushed as we were going out to our Church's Singing Trees performance. I grabbed another one of my Chickpea Empanada Style Burger and made my own hamburger with pickles, mustard and ketchup. So really enjoyed this meal.

I was still a wee bit hungry after my "burger" so I decided to top off my meal with another Pumpkin Muffin...this time with a bit of almond butter and Strawberry jam. Delish!!!