Gone too fast!…and, Tofu on You ;) January 28, 2009

*I am a total dork!  I saved this one as a draft instead of publishing it on Sunday!  Grrrr….. *

Why do weekends have to be so fast?  This weekend has ended up well, did not involve work after all (yee-yeah!), and has laid the groundwork for a week with some new food combos.  I’m seriously excited to put Sriracha on like everything possible and break a sweat from the heat!  Ya feel me?

I’ve got a block of extra-firm tofu pressing in the fridge right now, and I’m tempted to cook it tonight so I can use it for lunch tomorrow 🙂  Hell, I’m gonna get on that NOW.

I sliced it into 12 pcs., rubbed some BBQ sauce and Sriracha on it, and baked it for 35 minutes at 425.  It’s done…check it out:

Before:

After:

Perhaps I overdid it a bit, but it still tastes good 🙂  More details on that in a minute.

On to the rest of my day…

Last night I totally thought of prepping my oats, but got distracted and never did it.  So, this morning I went for a bowl of Barbara’s Shredded Oats with two sliced strawberries and almond milk.  I also tried out a new creamer in my coffee… Silk French Vanilla Creamer.  Yay!  I found an alternative to the super-fake-o Coffeemate!

Around 9:40 I left for the gym to hit up my usual Sunday yoga class.  Holy moley, the class was packed already by the time I entered the door at 9:55.  Because there’s no class beforehand anymore everyone moves in early and the place fills up fast.  I got a spot up front and was perfectly happy, tho.  I forgot my towel AGAIN, but managed not to sweat all over the place.  I opted to head out after yoga rather than do cardio without a towel.

Not too long after getting home lunch started calling my name.  I was struggling to figure out what to eat when I remembered my Gardenburger riblets in the freezer.  Perfect!  I put that in a tortilla with shredded carrot, chopped celery & green bell pepper, and green leaf lettuce.  It was really messy, but divine.  I also had some carrot and pepp on the side, and an whole apple. 

The afternoon was easy and productive, and at one point I finally made some bird “suet” from old PB, trail mix I didn’t want, bird seed, raisins, and old cornmeal.  Want a bite?  I poured it into old suet containers and my tofu container and popped it in the freezer.  I hope the birdies love it tomorrow 🙂

I also refilled my hummingbird feeders, but totally pushed my thumb through the plastic on one of them!  I guess 2 years in the sun has made them brittle 😦  I got sugar water on my arm, the counter, and the floor.  Boo.  At least we still have one feeder.

Eventually I realized I was pretty hungry around 3:30, and went for a modified regular snack:  Dannon Light’n’Fit strawberry with 1/2 a banana.  It tasted good, but I got more of the fake sweetener taste in this flavor.  Freddy’s was out of vanilla 😦

Around 5 we went to Fajitas for dinner.  I had the same thing as last time there:  tortilla soup and part of a Casuela.

Not pictured is the guilty goodness that is La Casa: a small glass of 1/2 & 1/2 blended with ice cream and Bailey’s Irish Cream, then topped with cinnamon. 

I bought the tofu yesterday and was hoping to have it for dinner tonight or tomorrow, but then I realized we are eating at McCormick’s tomorrow, and that having it for lunch would be great.  Prepping and baking it was so easy!  I’ll have to experiment with toppings and see what else, besides my current fave flavor combo of BBQ and Sriracha.  Told you I’d put it on everything I could!  I ate three of the driest looking pieces with more of the said sauces:

Oh, and I had a few small glasses of chardonnay.

No, both glasses aren’t mine, sillies!

Shit, when did it get to be 11:45??  Oy vey!  I’m outta here and off to bed.  Might as well start the week with a good amount of sleep…

Take care, and I hope your weekends were very enjoyable 🙂

What day is it? December 5, 2008

I feel totally disoriented today.  I worked from home and keep feeling like it is Saturday.  Also, I am dizzy today!  I think it is allergy related, but it is majorly annoying.

I started off the day with a newer oats combination:  1/4 cup steel cut oats, 1/4 cup pumpkin spice Silk, 1/4 cup water, tbsp raisins, tbsp slivered almonds, cinnamon, dash of salt, and a dash more of water and 1/4 cup fat free cottage cheese after they were done cooking.  Rich and creamy, slightly tangy, yummy.  I bought some pumpkin and need to remember to add that in!

(BTW, I LOVE that I can select multiple pics to upload at once now and that this new version of WP is a lot faster!!!)

I had some good coffee, played with Lily, blogged, worked, and shipped the last 3 eBay boxes I had. 

Lunchtime came around, and I mad a yummy wrap:  low fat tortilla, 1/2 wedge LCL, semi-scrambled/fried egg, spinach, and broc slaw.  I also had ~1/4 cup ff cottage cheese mixed with a big spoon of lf cottage cheese. 

The egg and LCL taste so good together!!  I strongly suggest you give it a try on a sandwich, in a wrap, in an omelette, etc.  While eating this I noticed I zoned out a bit, though, and wasn’t as mindful of what I was doing as I should have been. 

I putzed around this afternoon, not even sure if I can recount what I did… I had a small snack of 1/2 wedge LCL and some Food Should Taste Good multigrain chips around 3 or 4.  Forgot the pic of course.

I watched the 4pm news and some shows on the Food Network.  I’m liking Good Eats again (didn’t like it for a few years), and watched an episode about fruit cake and one about roasting meat.  That made me nice and hungry, and excited to head off to eat Mexican food.

Off to Fajitas Chris and I went, and I had my usual feast:  some chips and salsa, tortilla soup, and a Casuela. 

I added a tbsp of sour cream to the soup tonight for a little extra indulgence.  Bad me!  The soup was probably cheesy enough that I didn’t need it, but it was good 🙂  The jalapeno was nice and spicy, just as I like it.

 “La Casa” for dessert 🙂

I didn’t sleep as well as I’d hoped last night (kept waking up, sleep wasn’t very deep), and I know I’m watching Lipstick Jungle at 9, so I figured I had better post earlier tonight. 

There’s another party tomorrow night–Erin, Joel is back in town for the holidays and Chad & Chelsea are having a party.  Should be fun!  I’ll try to take some pics and post them for you 🙂  We’ll miss you!

Flipping the calendar (off) December 1, 2008

It is sooooooo weird that December is already here.  Where is the time going?  Ahhhhhh!  Over the last few years it seems that life has been accelerating rapidly.  How bout you?  On to the posting madness… Let’s start with a pic of yet another female hummingbird that is visiting my feeders:

This means there are at least 4 coming by!

Sunday was good, especially because I got in a rockin’ yoga class–more on that in a minute.  I started out at about 8, made coffee, cooked steel cut oats on the stove top, played with Lily and enjoyed some blogs.  I’ve figured out that I totally prefer steel cut oats soaked overnight then nuked rather than done on the stovetop.

I headed out to the gym, got warmed up on the treadmill, and plunked my yoga mat down in the biggest class ever.  There were like 50 people in the studio, and a few had to be turned a way I think.  I saw Megan S. and her sis-in-law (hi!!) in class 🙂 This yoga session was pretty intense, moved quickly, and was warm since there were so many bodies squeezed in there.  I felt kind of inept a few times, but it was a great overall.  I had planned on doing cardio and weights afterward, but just did a quick bicep/ab/back workout instead.

Since I already ran out of my new friend, cottage cheese, I stopped by Freddy’s on the way home and managed to fill an entire grocery bag with stuff.  I got a big container of fat-free cottage cheese to try and other usual stuff.  I was getting pretty famished, and made the same lunch as Saturday (sans apples): low fat tortilla with one egg, 1/2 wedge Laughing Cow Light, spinach, broc slaw; cottage cheese on the side.  At first the f.f. c.c. tasted kinda weird to me (funny aftertaste?), but it was still good. 

Not sure what I did after this…blog some?  Play with LB?  Shower? Who knows…

I snacked on the same thing as Saturday, too, while reading up on yoga poses. It was cottage cheese and Food Should Taste Good multigrain chips.  Mmmmmmm…..

Putzed around more in the afternoon, and got out some chicken I’d had in the fridge to cook for our lunches this week.  Peeeeeeeeeee-eeeeeeeeeeewwwww! It had gone bad and smelled kinda fishy 😦  Damn.  At least I bought fresh chix and can cook that up, as we’re about out of lunch meat.

Moving on to dinner… I was bad at menu planning and didn’t really have any sides, so we used mashed potatoes, roasted veggies, and dressing from Thanksgiving.  I cooked up a pork chop for each of us; when I opened the package I saw one was pretty small–perfect for me 🙂  I gave Chris the carrots from my roasted veggies, and had the remaining parsnips, squash, and onions.  I also had dressing.  It was all yummy.

I never got hungry after dinner, and felt like I had a good day since I was back on track eating well.  Chris and I decided to watch a movie around 9, and we chose “Heat”.  We enjoyed a Willakenzie 2004 Emery Pinot Noir–soooooooooo tasty.

That wrapped up Sunday 🙂

On to today, Monday.  Hmmm…got up later than I should have, felt discombobulated making lunch since it had been so long, but then felt skinny when I got dressed for work!  My pants were definitely looser than they have been, and my shirt.  Yay!!!  That put me in a stellar mood all day.

I didn’t get a chance to eat breakfast until 10:30.  I should have known better and eaten at home.  I was doing work stuff, had to pick up wreaths I ordered from a colleague in the next building, and take Lily to my mom’s house.  I was really hungry and enjoyed my oats tremendously.  I mixed in a big spoonful of cottage cheese!!  It was somewhat creamy, and I think the little curds plumped up in there 🙂 BTW, this was the first day I had the Fred Meyer bulk oats, and I couldn’t tell the difference from Bob’s Red Mill.

 I’ll add more next time…

I went into a meeting after this, and emerged hungry already around noon.  Chris and I sat down for lunch in his office, where I had half of my wrap (low fat tortilla, 1/2 wedge LCL, turkey, spinach, broc slaw, ground pepper), a little bit of the cottage cheese pictured, half an apple, and water.

Around 12:45 I left to go to acupuncture, which also went well.  I saw my naturopath and conveyed the good news that I have been working out and eating well, and that I feel so much better.  She was really excited for me–thanks Dr. B!  My acu. session went well, and back to work I went.

I was hungry again and ate the rest of my lunch around 2:30, sans cottage cheese (Chris had it with his lunch). I should have photographed the “butt” of my wrap for Erin!

Man, I was a bottomless pit today, and ate my banana around 4:45.

Hello little nanner!

Chris told me Maria was calling (aka he wanted to go to Mexican for dinner), and that didn’t sound too bad to me at all.  My 5pm meeting couldn’t make it, and around 6 we left to go to Si Senor.  I had an Original Margarita and a Chicken Monterrey Burger (small chicken breast with jack cheese, lettuce, avocado, and jalapeno(not pictured), oh and fries on the side).  I ate waaaaay to much of the burger…spurned on by the yummy chicken, avocado, and roasted fresh jalapenos (not to mention margarita buzz), I kept putting food in my mouth.  The jalapenos were bloody hot, and I kept trying to find something to kill the heat, too (or at least that’s part of my excuse!).

So, although my day started on a good note, I feel bad for overeating tonight.  No, I did not eat the whole burger, or even half of the fries, but I was full and knew it while I was still eating.  Bad me!  Lesson learned and I will do my best to be more diligent in the eats dept. this week. 

I think I’m going to find some yoga online and do a little sesh here at my house.  I have a 4:30pm meeting tomorrow but hope I can make it to the 6:30 pm yoga class.  I’m really digging the movement, exercise, and breathing so far, and am excited to become more proficient.  It is really awesome that all classes are included in my gym membership–thanks 24 Hour Fitness!

On a random note, my WordPress Dashboard said I had like 300 views today!!!!!!!!!!!!  Say what?  Is this a fluke?  Did your view counter look right today?  That’s like 10x more than my normal traffic.  If it is true, thanks for visiting everyone!  Please leave a comment and say hi 🙂