Hey all ... I'm still here. Just more life transitioning and such. Let me get myself/my thoughts together a bit more before some further unveiling of me and what I'm all about.
Stay tuned. =)
Stay tuned. =)
So Ryan and I have a fried chicken cutlet habit. This has been addressed several times in the blog ... but I just wanted to reiterate that point. Moving back ... However satisfying my breakfast was this morning, I found myself to be hungry again pretty soon after. Maybe it was brought on by my morning run? I snacked on the tried and trusted; popcorn.  Sprinkled with cayenne pepper and cinnamon. Mm-mm. Honestly though, I haven't been eating popcorn that much these days. Maybe because I was having it one to two times a day for about a month and I'm a little over it at the moment ... healthy snacking nonetheless. For lunch I enjoyed a bowl of lentil soup and a big plate of greens.  Simple and delicious. Sometime in between lunch and dinner I went on a bunch of errands. FYI, waiting on line to return boots is far less enthralling as waiting on line to purchase boots. And by the way, what was going on at DSW today that caused major panic all over the overcrowded parking lot? The silver lining is that I ordered the same boots I returned from their online website and now own the pair that fits me like a glove =) And as per the norm in this household, I fried up some chicken cutlets for dinner. It happens at a minimum once a week, and sometimes even twice. That's just what happens here. Deal with it.  And also to continue with recent trends, I roasted up veggies to enjoy alongside our chicken and mash.  Green beans and yellow baby carrots.  So amazingly delicious. And there ya have it ... The end of another weekend, and the beginning of another work week ... Bleh. By the way, I may or may not have feasted on ten more pumpkin cookies some time after lunch ... just sayin'. I woke up to a brisk morning. Actually, around 4Am I woke up freezing with a stiff neck, and forced myself to get up and close most of the windows in the house. Ryan and I just put a new comforter on the bed yesterday and I felt like I spent the night sleeping wrapped in a fluffy cloud. Amazing. So after leaving my warm cloud this morning, I contemplated for about thirty minutes if I should run outside or hit the gym. I even started mapping out a route, but decided against it. It was still pretty cold around the house and running in more cold just didn't seem appealing. So off to the gym I went. Upon return I of course heated up a delicious bowl of hot cereal with cocoa, nuts, and strawberry yogurt.  I really just wanted to eat ten more cookies for breakfast, but I've been able to restrain myself thus far anyway. Now on to the rest of the day ... Enjoy! Pardon me for being away for so long! The first week back to work after being off for an awesomely long, relaxing week is always shocking to the system. Plus, I feel like I'm juggling more and more things lately ... a 40hr work week, a running regimen, spin classes, acupuncture .. and ya know, everything else there is in life. Somehow, I'm finding a way to make it all "comfortably" fit ... though I sense it'd fit much more comfortably without out the 40hr work week thrown into the equation ... just sayin' ;-) So what have I been up to besides all that? Basically, I've been bitten by the fall bug. Aside from Ryan and I completely transforming our home into a fall haven today, I've been addicted to roasting food in the oven and baking pumpkin-infused treats.    Chickpeas, broccoli, eggplant, squash ... you name it, I've been roasting it.  FYI my ultimate flavor combination to put on roasted chickpeas is cayenne pepper and cinnamon. Delish. And because the pumpkin scones I baked last week were such I hit, I was inspired this week to produce a chocolate pumpkin loaf  and way too many pumpkin cookies for only two people.  I actually ended up bringing the chocolate pumpkin loaf to work on Friday, after sampling a slice of course. It was just so good, and though Ryan tried it upon my request, he simply doesn't favor the chocolate/pumpkin combination; and I really didn't want to end up eating a whole chocolate pumpkin loaf by myself! It worked out well though because everyone at work seemed to enjoy it. The pumpkin cookies on the other hand ... well, I ate probably about ten tonight ... oops! They are absolutely fantastic (and Ryan concurs). One thing I wish I did get to photograph for you all is any one of my breakfasts this past week. I've completely been on a cocoa-ed up oatmeal kick. Like this morning I started off with a creamy bowl of oatmeal filled with half a raspberry yogurt, a scoop of cocoa powder, a teaspoon each of walnuts, almonds, and pumpkin seeds, with a scoop of peanut butter on top. How have I not been starting all my days like this?? Later on for lunch I continued my roasting frenzy and enjoyed a bed of greens coated with flax oil topped with roasted chickpeas, with yellow carrots on the side, rice cakes, and almond butter for dipping.   I picked up those yellow carrots today at Wild By Nature. I'd heard of them before, bu never actually saw them in stores. And like a child, I couldn't resist trying out a new color; the verdict: tastes just like regular carrots but maybe a little bit sweeter? Fun and good. I'd buy them again. And finally, I wrapped up my eats tonight (aside from the plethora of cookies) with meatballs and pasta.  The meatball recipe needs to be tweaked a bit, but I get points for trying!
Enjoy the remainders of your weekends, and good night! So I had acupuncture tonight after work. It's been my third session; Friday (my second session) was by far my most relaxing acupuncture experience thus far ... tonight, not so much. I think the Dr. tried to perform a spinal tap with an acupuncture needle. FYI, it doesn't work. Be that as it may, I'm continuing to pursue acupuncture. Something has to help. Because acupuncture is around the block from my parents' house, I got to score an awesome home-cooked meal tonight. I really appreciate a home-cooked meal these days prepared by anyone but me ... but especially Mom! Upon request, Mom cooked up some vegetable meatloaf. I've had a craving for meatloaf for quite some time, and because it's not Ryan's favorite I've held off making it. Now thanks to my cured craving, Ryan's been spared probably a couple more months ;-)  Mom also prepared some delicious sweet potatoes, seasoned green beans, and she got creative and made her own falafel balls. They tasted just like a falafel you would get in NYC! A fun treat. My older sister also seemed to really enjoy Mom's meal. She was certainly chowing down on her sweet potato waffle fries!    And I definitely came home with about a 1/2 pound of meatloaf, so I will most likely have some for lunch tomorrow ... I'm thinking it might pair very nicely with the mashed butternut squash leftover from last night's pork chop dinner ...  Quite possibly.
So after a nice run this morning in the most perfect running weather, I decided to opt for a bowl of warm cereal versus the cold I've been having all week.  I added a cherry soy yogurt, pumpkin seeds, walnuts, and a scoop of almond butter to the mix. It was delicious and entirely hit the spot. Today is a bit of lazy Sunday here in our household seeing that I've been off from work one full week and tomorrow is the dreaded Monday I return (Actually, it's not that bad ;-), and Ryan has been off for five days and tomorrow is the dreaded Monday he returns. I keep saying we won't win the lottery until we start playing it... For lunch today I decided to get a little creative, and started with this.  I didn't have any hummus on hand, and I don't have a blender (it's on my most immediate to-buy list), but I was determined to make a sort of chickpea topping for my rice cakes. So I portioned out a serving of chickpeas in a bowl, coated them with a teaspoon of olive oil, and grabbed some additional ingredients; i.e. a carrot, a garlic bulb, and some spices.   I ended up transferring the chickpeas to a plate so I could really get in there and mash them. Then I transferred them back to the bowl to add in all the other ingredients, and voila!   Fresh chickpea spread-topped rice cakes. Divine. So I started my day by fueling with:  While I do love the flavored Silk Live! Soy Yogurts, I wish I could get my hands on the plain flavor. I only know it exists because I've seen it on their website, but I've never actually seen it in stores. I could definitely be cutting down on sugars and additives if I used my own mix-ins with the plain flavor. I'll just have to keep an eye out! Then later today I decided to take this:  And turn it into:  One.  Two.  Three.  And Four. I haven't tasted any of these bad boys yet, but Ryan says they're really good ....  Actually, what really happened is; Ryan walked in the door ... I told him I baked Pumpkin Scones ... and fifteen minutes later he had inhaled three and said he's going to spoil to his dinner. So, they sound like they'll be good, right?! Fortunately he stopped at the three and didn't spoil his dinner, because dinner turned out really tasty. I fried up some chicken cutlets (Ryan and I are aware of our addiction), baked some butternut squash oven fries with cayenne pepper, and sauteed baby spinach in flax oil with garlic.  Mmm, mmm, mmm. So good.
Now we're letting digestion do its thing, and then we're hitting the lanes for some bowling! So post acupuncture, post spin class, I was proudly able to get up this morning and get a good run in to start the day. I think my body was still feeling a bit worn down from the extra intense spin class last night, but still it felt good to get going. Before I headed out to the gym (which I opted to do because it was already hot outside at 8:30 this morning) I ate a light breakfast of yogurt with rice cereal mixed in.  The crunchy texture was a fun change of pace from the hot cereal I eat most often. Afterward I definitely had a spoonful of almond butter straight from the jar, but alas there is no picture of that. After running errands and such, I threw together a light lunch of rice cakes topped with hummus and baby spinach. Light and nutritious.  No Ryan and I are off to do some last minute shopping for his mom's birthday which is ... today! Catch ya later. As I'm sitting here finishing my pre-spin class dinner, I just realized I've eaten two salads today ... Guess my body had a craving! So I did in fact survive my acupuncture experience. Was I almost on the verge of tears and panicking most steps of the way ... Yes. But that's why Ryan was there to support me =) It's a well known fact that basically everything freaks me out. No big deal. It was actually quite impressive. Basically the Dr. checked my pulse and told me what all my ailments were down to a tee. And after freaking out before and during and maybe a little right after, I had a few of the most relaxed hours of my life this afternoon. A feeling that can solely be contributed to my acupuncture session. Hey maybe it's benefits will be two-fold; my pain stops and I'm not ridiculously anxious in life ... It seems probable at this point anyway! So I'm scheduled to go back Friday morning. The Dr. recommends I do two sessions a week initially and then taper until my symptoms are no more (Ideally!). Ryan's still going to be my support buddy Friday, but then after that when we're both back to work I'll have to man up and manage alone. (The office is right around the block from my parents' house so I'll have to schedule it in to score a free home-cooked meal as an incentive of surviving on my own ... You reading this Mom? ;-) Post acupuncture we stopped by Moe's to grab a quick bite, in the hopes that we'd go bowling right after.  (I also ate a small cup of rice with this but have no photo.) But alas, Wantagh Lanes forever has closed lanes for leagues and parties. Boo. So instead we did some laps around the mall ... and I compulsively shopped a bit ... oops! And now (phew, this is a lengthy post) I just wrapped up dinner and am about to gear up for spin class. Last week I went on Monday and so met the Monday instructor, and tonight I get to meet another instructor. It'll be fun to see how the classes compare. For dinner I had a light salad dressed with flaxseed oil and ground black pepper,  and a bowl of butternut squash soup sprinkled with cinnamon.   Clearly this is not enough food, but I wanted to keep it light so I wouldn't have a heavy tummy for spinning. I'll be sure to replenish with protein later tonight!
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