Slog

Good morning friends!! I am very happy to report that I have had two wonderful 5k training sessions in a row!! (on nonconsecutive days)  There has been one similarity in both sessions… I forced myself to actually jog. Okay, okay… It might sound obvious.. I started with Week 5 of a program, walk 2 minutes then jog 3 minutes and repeat for a total of 30 minutes.  In the past when I started a 5k program, I would start at the beginning.  By Week 3 or 4 I would be totally bored.  This time I started past my usual hump and told myself that I could go as slow as possible, and the only important thing was that I was moving… and that I complete the entire workout.  Sounds easy enough, right?

Well. I did just that. I went slow.  So slow that I jokingly threw out the term (that I think I made up) “slog”.  Slow + Jog = Slog. Well, I slogged through the first two session bored out of my freaking mind… my feet barely coming off the treadmill on the jogs.  I was miserable. I would stare at the clock checking time… each second felt like five seconds.  Finally, during my final session of the week I decided to push it a bit and increase the speed. At the end, I was actually ENJOYING myself. HOLY ENDORPHINS, BATMAN! I forgot that feeling!

I hopped on the treadmill this morning ready to go!  I was ready to progress! I picked up the pace from the get-go. I still didn’t go fast, but I started faster than my usually slog, and you know what? I was actually somewhat enjoying myself after the first five minutes… By the end, I was really jogging.  I was flying high, too. 

The lesson? NO SLOGGING ALLOWED! Nope, nu uh. Well, maybe if I am sick, then I will allow myself.

And, because I am a complete asshat 99.9% of the time, I just went to log my training session… and I completely made up “Week 6”… oops.  It was supposed to be “Run one walk three for 32 minutes”.  Instead I walked one and ran four for 30 minutes.  Oops.  Week 7 is walk one and run four for 35 minutes. I may just skip ahead.  Or maybe I will just do my own thang. I like having a 30 minute session…

Yesterday’s Food

Yesterday’s food was quite the bore. I had three protein waffles and three egg white and shroom omelets throughout the work day… and a  bowl of noodles.  I took pics, but you’ve seen them before. I also rediscovered that I do not like hot sauce on egg whites. Nope. Got home frustrated (eh, rough day at the office. It happens) and crashed. Straight up fell asleep… for two hours. I woke up groggy-eyed, walked into the living room, and the big guy was asleep on the couch. We were both out cold and said that we could’ve have easily slept until morning. 

Because of our sleepcapades, I got a late start to dinner.  I heated some pre-cooked chicken, cooked some veggies, and nuked the instant rice noodles from Thai Kitchen.  I picked these up over my lunch break at Big Lots for fifty cents a pack. The ingredient list is not scary, they are low fat, and toooootally tasty. I plan on picking up more!

Once the noodles were cooked, we built our bowls by adding the fixins of our choosing.

The Spread

I picked out the water chestnuts (Seth hates them, I love them), snow peas, threw in some grilled baby portabellas and chicken…

and stirrrrrred.  Feeding time!

I will be having this again! Definitely!

Diet food CAN taste good!

Low Carb Low Fat Ricotta Topped Waffles

Mmm Mmm Good!

 

Ingredients (serves 1)

• 1 scoop (31g) Beverly International Ultimate Muscle Provider
• 2 egg whites
• 2T water
• 1/4c (62g) low fat ricotta (You could use fat free as well)
• 2T (0.5oz) Sugar-free syrup (I used Maple Grove Farms.  Carbs could be lowered by using Walden Farms)
• Butter Spray
• Cinnamon
• Waffle Iron
• Non-stick spray

Easy Instructions

1. Heat waffle iron.

2. Spray with oil or non-stick spray

3. In a bowl, mix protein powder, egg whites, and water until mixed through. You could use a blender or Magic Bullet, but this is easy enough for me.

4. Pour batter onto waffle iron and let it do it’s magic. It takes a little time. The steam should almost stop rising from the back of the iron.  If you try to lift the lid and there is quite a bit of resistance, let it cook longer.

5. Remove waffle from iron. Top with ricotta. Spray with butter. Pour syrup on top. Sprinkle ample amounts of cinnamon on top.

6. Enjoy!

Nutrition Facts (using ingredients and toppings listed)

240 calories, 5g fat, 13g carbs, 33g of protein

** Carbs can be cut by SIX WHOLE CARBS by using Walden Farms syrup. I didn’t have any on hand.

I have tried making waffles with other protein powders, but I find Beverly International (any of them!) or BSN Lean Dessert to work best. I’m sure there are others, but this is just my experience.

Training:

Week five of Spark your way to a 5k is complete! Yes, I am a weirdo and decided to start at week 5. It was a great session. I ENJOYED it! Even though I was hung over. I think I liked it because I decided to actually push myself a bit.

My iPad makes cardio fun!

We just got back from Applebee’s. It was a blast. We took a friend that had never been! He thought it was apples and bees! LOL! Oh the fun minds of youth!

Now I am enjoying red wine and the movie Red.

I am totally enamored with my new stemless anti-chip dishwasher-safe wine glasses! I found them originally on the Williams Sonoma website (loooooooooove that site/store), but I was hesitant to pay that much for glasses that may break quickly! Luckily, I found them on Amazon for a fraction of the price!!! And with free shipping with Amazon Prime.

I prepped six waffles and six egg white and baby portabella omelets for the week.  I hope omelets are freeze-friendly. If they kill me, I will be sure to let you know.

 

If my belly wasn’t full of a 7oz. sirloin (medium rare), seasoned veggies, and a hayooooge baked tater with sour cream and butter, I would totally go to town on wunna them thurr awmlets.

 

Happy Saturday, friends! And I just realized I forgot about the Ask Me Anything questions that I was supposed to answer yesterday!  Feel free to get your questions in. I will answer tomorrow! I haven’t had many Qs yet! It’s anonymous!

click here: http://www.formspring.me/geniesjourney

Beware of scary fish (+ gnocchi)

I love gnocchi.  I didn’t know this until last night.  Let’s just say I was feeling creative. I picked up a pack of gnocchi at Big Lots the day before with no real plans for it.  The menu for the day was that and fresh lake trout (EEP! Scary boogers!)

On the way home from the gym last night I stopped at a tiny grocery store. I knew I wanted garlic, and I knew I wanted lemons.  Other than that I had NO CLUE.  I wandered the aisles one by one, glancing at every item.  “OOH STEAK!”, I mentally exclaimed… then I reminded myself of the task at hand. garlicgarlicgarlicgarlic.

Lemons! I threw three in the cart.  OOh garlic in a jar! Perfect! I hate chopping.

Turnips are on sale! And so is grapefruit.  I admit, a few random items made their way into my cart.

In the end I left with the following:

• 3 lemons
• can-o-garlic
• 4 turnips
• 2 grapefruit
• 2 bags of frozen broccoli florets (been craving them)
• fat free half and half
• 2 containers of bleu cheese (bc one wasn’t enough????)
• fat free ricotta
• low fat ricotta (I was a girl possessed by … the cheese demon?)
• 2 chicken burritos (don’t ask)
• chopped pecans
• 12 pack of diet cream soda (really? ha!)

I couldn’t find real parmesan. You know, the big block kind, not Kraft. Oh shmell.  I got home, plopped the necessary shit on the counter, and started on the scary ass trout.

I started to de-fin and filet it, but I seriously got the heeby jeebies.  I literally  had to remove myself from the kitchen, scrub my hands down, and then it came to me.  The BEST way to cook these finned-up headless alien creatures required as little cleanup and TOUCHING as possible.

I protected my precious bakeware with an armor of aluminum foil that was sprayed down with olive oil which formed a lubricant barrier.  I sprayed the fish, too… because they were creepy. *shudders*

I topped the scary mofos with the zest of about 1/3 of a lemon… my fragile mental state (thanks to the horrific fishies) feared zesting my finger off… then being infected with scary fish juice. SERIOUSLY! There are freaking fins on this damn thing. Then I squeezed the juice of half a lemon over the four aliens, topped it with fresh cracked pepper and garlic salt, then covered it with foil to bake OUT OF SIGHT for 20 minutes on 400*.

PHEW! Now that’s over with. Scary scary scary. I have goosebumps thinking about those creepers.

I threw a medium-ish/almost-large pot on the stove and went to town… without direction. Oh well.  Here is a not-so-organized impromptu recipe. I did measure everything… but I’m working from memory here (and pics! )

Creamy Bleu Cheese & Bacon Gnocchi

Ingredients

• 1c fat free half and half
• 1Tbs of butter
• 1/2c coarsely chopped baby portabellas
• Pack of gnocchi
• 1tsp minced garlic
• juice of 2 lemon wedges
• 1/4c chopped pecans
• 1/4c REAL bacon pieces (Bacos are gross. Don’t even CONSIDER using them!)
• 1/4c grated parmesan
• 1/2c frozen spinach (mine was chopped)
• 3oz. bleu cheese crumbles

1)  Heat 1c fat free half and half and 1Tbs of butter. I used real butter. Because I love it.

2)  Throw in the mushrooms and let it boil/simmer. If it boils, turn it down. My method was not rocket science.  Actually, I think it was more like dumb luck.

3)   Throw in gnocchi… but don’t throw it in violently. That liquid is hot, and if it splashes on you, don’t come whining to me. You’ve been warned.  Keep doing the boil/simmer thing.

4)  Next throw in the lemon juice, bacon pieces, pecans, parmesan, and garlic.

5)  At this point, things should be looking a little… monochromatic.  Toss in the frozen spinach.  Stir. Wait for the spinach to no longer be frozen (duh) whilst stirring occasionally.  Whilst is definitely an underutilized word.  So is underutilized.

Mine stuck to the pan a few times. I’m not good at tending to things on the stove. I’m a fix and forget kinda gal.

6) It should be about finished. Toss in the bleu cheese crumbles.

 

7) Stir and serve.

If you are really kewl, you can plop it on a plate next to scary trout.  Be sure to disguise the scary trout with a lemon wedge.

I must admit.  This was a DAMN tasty meal. Maybe the best meal I’ve had in a long, long time. Maybe ever. Yes, even the scary trout was fabulous.