How did I…. December 1, 2009

Make it through the whole month of November and only post once?!  I suck!!  Chris and I moved on Nov. 7, and life has been a blur since then.  Where has the time gone?  I’m totally reeling that today is December 1st.  😐

You’ll have to bear with me… I don’t have my camera cord at work, nor can I plug the card into the CPU, so all you get it text, people!  I’ve taken some great pics of food here and there, but for the most part I haven’t eaten well and haven’t exercised in like forever.  I’m having some issues with body image b/c of how the bod is looking these days, and the fact that I now have like 10 large mirrors around the house.  Handy for getting dressed, not handy for freaky critical ladies like me to evaluate the bod!

On a great note, Chris, Lily, and I love the new house 🙂  Our move sucked b/c of the torrential rain that day, but the process went just fine (and we managed to avoid killing each other ;))  We hosted Thanksgiving at our house, and when all was said and done we were quite proud to invite our families into our home and serve them a wonderful holiday meal.  I was in charge of the following dishes:

• turkey
• mushroom dressing (vegan)
• mushroom gravy (vegan)
• mashed potatoes (vegetarian)
• root vegetable gratin (vegetarian)
• green bean casserole (vegetarian)
• pumpkin pie

Leading up to Thanksgiving I was torn over whether or not to eat turkey/non-veg items.  Poultry is my veg weakness it seems, and that bird was talking to me all afternoon while I roasted it.   I had a small piece of white meat, but otherwise my meal was vegetarian.  I should have just made mashed or roasted sweet potatoes, as my gratin just wasn’t quite right.  Okay, but odd–garlic and nutmeg in the same dish?  Okay, Gourmet, I trusted you but am not convinced. 

I was such a proud little domestic goddess in the week leading up to Thanksgiving.  I planned the menu meticulously, created a Turkey Day Timeline for prep and cooking, and then went and got the flu 😐  Gah!  Thankfully I had picked up the turkey the Friday before T-Day, but I was illin’ when I intended to do my fresh food shopping on Tuesday.  By the time I got to the store Wednesday there were no green beans, no Brussels sprouts, hardly any parsnips, no white, cremini, or dried porcini mushrooms, and like 10 sweet potatoes to choose from.  Gah!  I ended up nixing my Brussels sprout dish (boo!!), went with frozen green beans, subbed in mini mushrooms and mixed dried, and all turned out okay. 

After Thanksgiving Chris and I enjoyed a nice relaxing weekend at home.  Our new neighborhood has lots of walking paths, and butts up to two schools.  We take Lily for walks, and play ball with her at the school, and so far she’s loving the new neighborhood, too 🙂  I wish it weren’t getting dark so early so we could walk more after work…summer, where did you go!?!

It has been so beautiful here in Portland this fall–lots of sun, and not much rain (but for that week we moved!!).  The tree outside my office has lost its leaves, so now my office gets more light and I have a bigger view.  I love the crisp fall days, the remaining colorful leaves, and the beautiful sunsets.  I’m totally in need of getting my holiday baking on!!!  I almost make cookies this weekend…. I’ve got a leaf-shaped cookie cutter begging to be used 🙂

As you may have noticed I’ve all but abandoned the blogosphere 😦  Not intentionally, but because I’ve had so many things distracting me, I’ve not had internet access at home (and probably won’t), and I’ve honestly felt a little guilty.  Because I don’t eat as well, am not working out, etc., I feel bad in a way.  Since I can’t share my triumphs and glories of fitness and food I’m not as jazzed about blogging.  I kind of feel like I’ve let y’all down a little cuz I’m not as inspirational as I was 😐  Nameen?

Oh, dude, I almost forgot…. I hit my one year blogiversary in early November!  I think it was the 7th…  Can’t believe it has been one year, and that I’ve made so much progress in that timeframe.  I know, I know,  was just ranting about letting you (me?) down, but in reality I do feel proud that I shed nearly 30 lbs. and got my ass in better shape by working hard, eating well, and using the blogging community for support, inspiration, and resources. 

Enough of this novel!  Words without pics are boring, no?  Thanks for reading, bloggies!  I’ve missed you and hope to reconnect more soon!  Hope you all had a fabu Thanksgiving and are excited for the holidays!!!!!!!!!!!

Gobble, gobble…gobble-gobble November 27, 2008

Whoo-ee, what a day!  It felt so loooong, and had a few speed bumps in there.  But, here I am, somehow not in a comatose state from all of the food I consumed. 

The day started out well, with me getting up around 8:15 and knowing I was going for a walk around 10:30.  Lily and I played, and the wildlife came out in droves. 

I had my oats, but today added a bit of nutmeg since I had it for the apple crisp.  It was so yummy!  To recap, the oats consisted of steel cut oats, pumpkin spice Silk, water, dried figs, almond slivers, cinnamon, and a pinch of nutmeg. 

I got ready for my walk, got Lily ready, too, and headed over to my dad’s house to carpool.  Lily was excited b/c she saw lots of dogs and people walking in my dad’s neighborhood, so while my dad changed we ran around his back yard.  There was a bright orange fungus growing at the edge of his lawn, and it fascinated me.  I forgot to take a pic!  At first I seriously thought it was flower petals or an orange peel.  Way cool!

We went for our walk on Mountain Park, in Lake Oswego, and it kicked my ass!  It was my brother, my dad, my bro’s dog, me, and Lily.  We huffed it up the hill, moving at a good clip, and finally reached the top of the hill about 50 minutes in.  At that point I noticed my left heel was getting rubbed by my shoe for a few reasons.  1) My left foot is a half size smaller than my right, so sometimes shoes are a little big for it.  2) I wore low cut socks, and the left one kinda shrunk down into my shoe.  On the way downhill my feet were barking at me a bit more, and I was kicking myself for not thinking more about the socks I wore and the friction I’d experience.  Grr.  My feet hurt pretty bad afterward, but my dad wanted to go to Whole Foods and I wasn’t about to say no.

We shopped for Friday’s dinner, and ended up getting halibut, rice, brie for a starter, and some beer 🙂  While there we sampled some yummy Seaside Cheddar.  I LOVE their cheese section and could probably just stand there all day asking for samples.  As you can see, my cheddar sample was HUGE.  I stabbed the toothpick into the bowl of cubes, and accidentally snagged that big boy on the end of my toothpick.  I was famished from walking so I gladly ate what I got 🙂

When I got home I felt tired, sore, and the dogs were barking.  As I bent over to untie my shoes Lily accidentally head butted me so hard I cried!  I’ve totally got a bruise on my forehead.  I made myself a typical wrap for lunch, and got out my yogurt snack that I prepped earlier.

The wrap was a low fat tortilla, 1/2 wedge Laughing Cow Light, turkey, spinach, broc slaw, and ground pepper.  I probably didn’t need the sidecar of yogurt, but I ate about half of it and saved the rest.  It was Dannon Light & Fit vanilla, half a nanner, slivered almonds, and cinnamon.

After this I got to baking my Thanksgiving dishes, starting with the vegetables.  They smelled yummy as they roasted, and I was happy with the finished results.  This consisted of parsnips, onions, carrots, acorn squash, olive oil, salt, and pepper.  Simple and tasty.

I was in quite a funk for some reason this afternoon, and totally emotional.  It was so weird and unexpected, and Chris had just the thing to try to snap me out of it:

 Cheers!

Next the apple crisp went in.  Just mixing the topping up made me drool!  Check out this pre-baked dish of goodness.  It smelled like heaven already and I totally licked off the beater from my mixer.  Wow, out of control!

As this baked I thought I was going to melt b/c the smell was to die for.  The finished product looked beautiful, with the top all crispy and brown, but I forgot to take a photo since I was in mad prep mode to get going to Grandma’s house.

After arriving at G-Ma’s I helped to finish and dish things, and the usual family stress crept in.  Too many people helping out in the kitchen, too many things going on at once… “hand me the wine.” 

Once we finally got seated for dinner, I just about died at how good the food was 😀  SO TASTY!!! I put too much food on my plate, at it all, and even had a little more afterward.  And, yes, those wine glasses are both mine 🙂  The plate o’ goodness included: white turkey meat, mashed potatoes, dressing, roasted veggies, two kinds of cranberry sauce, and gravy over half of the above.  The bowl back there had fruit salad with apples, orange, bananas, walnuts, cherries, and whipped cream (zoikes!). 

I was so bad and kept picking at the food as we cleared dishes and put leftovers away.  Naughty girl!  My sis-in-law’s dressing was super tasty, and I kept sneaking bites every time I passed by.  Someone slap my hand away!

Dessert was fabulous, and I had tastes of my apple crisp and my mom’s pumpkin pie.  The whipping cream froze solid during its short stay in the freezer (don’t ask…), so we opted for the blow-on kind instead.

Here’s where I really went over the top–too much food=uncomfy tummy!  I had a hard time sticking to my guns today, obviously.  All I can say is at least I worked out a lot this week, otherwise I think I would be feeling a lot more guilty now.  Did you all workout more to get ready for today?

I think Chris’ parents had a good time, and everyone got along really well and had fun.  Phew, and yay 🙂  The puparoos were really good during dinner, and here they are laying down watching the kitchen activity.  They were both laying with their heads on the floor, but Lily heard me and lifted her head up.  Hi sweetie!

Lily is tuckered out, and so am I.  I’m watching the Real Housewives of Atlanta reunion right now–wow, them bitches are crazy!  Off I go to watch more and drink massive quantities of water (too much vino). 

Hope your Thanksgiving ended splendidly 🙂 

Ready to go! November 26, 2008

Yippee, Turkey Day is almost here.  Today was rather slow, but all in all felt productive and positive.  I had a little funk this evening, but snapped out of it by doing food prep.  More on that later…

I was up later than usual last night, until a little after 1.  I listed 16 Cow Parade cows on eBay (they were a reward from my old office manager), got done around 11:45, and then decided to read some Road & Track.  There was an interesting article in there about oil use, unconventional liquids, and water.  Sounds like we’re in the shitter on non-OPEC oil production, and that water supply will be one of the key problems, perhaps moreso than oil.  Check it out here: http://www.roadandtrack.com/article.asp?section_id=36&article_id=7319

Lily has totally been my alarm clock this week, coming in to say hi and wake me up around 7, and insisting I get out of bed around 8.  It is kind of good, though, because that way I get up and start my day earlier on weekends, which I like.  No where near the 5 am alarm most of you have, but early enough for me 😉

Chris wasn’t feeling too hot again, and while he decided whether to stay home or go to work I had my oats.  Steel cut oats, pumpkin spice Silk, water, almond slivers, dried figs, cinnamon, pinch of salt=yummy.  Chris did decide to stay home, so I also made coffee and took a cup with me to work when I left.  I suppose I enjoy having coffee in the car, especially when it is cold like it has been lately.

I worked for a few hours, and nearly ate out of boredom before I was hungry.  Alas, thinking about food make me hungry, so I had my wrap around noon.  Low fat tortilla, turkey, 1/2 wedge Laughing Cow Light, spinach, broc slaw, and pepper.

 I was drinking hot water with lunch b/c I was so cold!

It was hard to warm up today for various reasons, and I think the hot water helped.  Kinda weird though, just water with no tea or anything (didn’t feel like it).  And yes, I used a non-recyclable cup 😦  I can reuse it thought 🙂 I didn’t want to use my regular coffee cup, b/c even when it’s clean it still smells like coffee! 

I knew traffic would be horrible today, and I didn’t need to stay at work, so I left waaaaay early, like at 1:30.  Even then I hit some traffic, but not much–  phew.  I was already getting hungry thinking about my yogurt snack awaiting me, but when I got home I first heated up some soup for Chris and played with Lily outside.  Then I indulged in my snacky poo:  Light & Fit vanilla yogurt, slivered almonds, 1/2 a nanner sliced, and cinnamon.  I forgot to take a pic before I stirred it…

After this I felt like doing something other than watching TV or reading, so I began prepping my veggies for the roasted veggie dish I’m making tomorrow.  I gathered some of the victims on my cutting board for you to see:

 “Haha!  You’re no match for my incredibly large and sharp chef’s knife!”

…Or so I thought.  That acorn squash’s skin armor was really hard to get through!  I had no idea how tough those puppies are! Don’t know if I needed to, but I peeled the SOB, too, which involved cutting the squash into sections and peeling them individually.  Hopefully it all turns out well.  I’m just going to roast them simply with some olive oil, salt, and pepper.  Maybe a little balsamic or nutmeg if it seems right, but I haven’t made up my mind.

After that I sat down for a few minutes, and Lily wanted to play again, so I went to the back door.  Behold, a Sharp Shinned Hawk had caught a bird and was eating the last bits of it!  Holy moley!  Lily and I scared him when we walked up to the door, and he flew into the tree nearby, but then came back, grabbed the last of the bird, and flew off.  I went out to inspect the feathers, and I don’t know what kind of bird the hawk got.  Here’s the scene of the crime:

Wow, nothing left but feathers.  The orange on the feathers makes me think it was a Varied Thrush or Spotted Towhee 😦  Oh well, that’s nature for you!

I was kind of in a funk after this, but not because of it I don’t think.  I was getting a little hungry and had a spinach and broc slaw salad with S&P, olive oil, and balsamic.

After this I got dinner ready, and as I prepped my chicken I realized just how natural it is for us to be a bit grossed out by handling meat, and that alone is another good reason to be a vegetarian.  I’ve never considered being one before, and I do like chicken and beef mostly, but just a thought that crossed my mind. 

Dinner was plain and simple:  sauteed chicken breast with whole wheat egg noodles.  I put Smart Balance on the noodles, cut up the chicken, and sprinkled canned parmesan & ground pepper on top.  I know, I know…canned parmesan?  Yes, I like it on pasta. 

This was a bit too much food for me, but I ate it all anyway.  I was still coming out of the funk and was just kind of eating it mindlessly for a few minutes.  Bad, bad me!  I ended up feeling full, although not too bad.  That strange confused full/hungry feeling came over me as I digested; I find it quite fascinating that for a few minutes my stomach really seemed to be telling me I was hungry, yet I knew I had eaten and was full. 

Hmm…what did I do next?  Uh, I think I cleaned up, started the dishwasher, and sat down in front of the fire to read for about an hour before Top Chef.  I read more of the Road & Track, and before I knew it 7pm rolled around and I went into the living room to watch TV.  I have DirecTV, so I get new non-local-network shows premiering at eastern time, and then repeated a few times that night usually.  It means I can watch Top Chef, Mad Men, and other good series early 🙂

Top Chef was good, quite a doosy of a kitchen they had to cook in!  I won’t say anything in case you haven’t seen it yet, other than that dessert seems to get the best of ’em!  I’m surprised that in so many seasons the contestants haven’t learned to step outside their comfort zone and learn how to make better desserts before going on the show.

I talked with my mom and brother, and my bro asked me what I was doing tomorrow morning.  “Probably going to the gym, why?” “You should go on a walk with Dad and I in Mountain Park at 10:30, with the dogs.”  “Okay, sounds great!”  I’m excited, as I’ll get to exercise and spend some time outside with some family and the pups 🙂  My bro and his wife have a cute Bison Frisee/Havanese mix–Beaudin–and Lily loves to play with him. 

Knowing that the walk would take a few hours out of my day, I decided to prep the apples for my crisp.  I peeled, cut, and cored 10 apples and then added lemon juice, orange juice, lemon zest, orange zest, cinnamon, nutmeg, and sugar.  Woohee, I think I got enough peeling in today to reach my annual quota!

I ate a few of the apples before putting them away–they were so good!

I also mixed the dry ingredients together, so my work tomorrow should be really simple.  Yay for prep work!! 😀  That definitely got me out of my funk, and I finally feel all warm and cozy… now I get to go climb into my cold bed.  Brrr 😦

I can’t believe how excited I am for Thanksgiving…it is so weird.  You’d think it was Christmas and Santa was coming tonight or something.  Are you all excited and ready to cook up a storm?  What’s your favorite part of the holiday?  I LOVE the smell of the turkey and gravy, and the taste of pumpkin pie with whipped cream.  [Drooling now…]

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving everyone, and I look forward to seeing and reading about all of your yummy Turkey Day eats and fun family experiences.  Be sure to take lots of pics!