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$5 Homemade Pizza

January 15, 2010 by

Happy Friday everyone! I’m going to make this quick because my head is hurting right now. I had a great 30-minute interval run (ranging from 7.0 to 7.6) on the treadmill, followed by lunges and squats. I know I’m going to feel that tomorrow! 

BREAKFAST

After seeing many of you starting your day with oatmeal, I’ve been craving it for days. I usually can’t find time to make it on a true workday, so I saved all of my oatmeal wishes and cashed them in today…

I actually made TWO bowls of these because Miss M quickly spied my yummy oats and wanted some. How could I say no to her big blue eyes?

As I mentioned yesterday, I had a very important call today about an upcoming, nationwide project for my company. Well, that one phone call turned into three phone calls and several emails. Taking calls on my day off can be a little tricky, especially when I’m watching the kids. Thankfully, my mother-in-law drove a hour to stay at our house while the kids napped. I was really afraid the kids would wake up while I was on the call which would make the situation very awkward. They ended up sleeping through all of the calls!

LUNCH

Lunch was not very healthy today for two reasons…1) I didn’t have time to make a decent lunch because I was on the phone (or prepping for the call) from 12:30- nearly 2:30 and 2) I ate my lunch super fast because I was starving after the calls…

  • Veggies? NO
  • Fruit? NO
  • A big cheesy roll with salami? YES

Again, not so healthy.

DINNER

I made up for it at dinner though. Earlier this morning I picked up some fresh whole wheat pizza dough from Trader Joe’s and all of the pizza fixins’…

Could I have made pizza dough myself? Probably. Do I have time to do this? Take a guess at that answer. Trader Joe’s pizza dough is actually quite good – it IS Trader Joe’s after all. And, it’s only 99 cents. Why would I want to make my own???

Since we were splitting the pizza four ways, I had to be very careful of the ingredients. I like all types of pizza (when it’s good pizza) but tonight, I topped my portion with sauteed bell peppers, spinach, red onions, turkey pepperoni, and cheese. Sauteing the peppers, onions, spinach, and pepperoni ahead of time really helps bring out the flavors.

I think the whole pizza – which all of its ingredients, only cost about $5. Not bad for a family of four – healthy and cheap!

Almost forgot to mention…prior to pizza, we all grazed on some Trader Joe’s spinach dip…

I can seriously eat a whole bowl of this stuff by myself (but of course I would never do that ;-)). I took a few bites and then pushed it aside to save room for pizza — thankfully.

Gotta run for now. I’m going to try to make it into the gym for the 8 AM yoga session – we’ll see about that!

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Toes Are Free To Run

January 13, 2010 by

Hi All! Glad to see you’re all intrigued by the concept of barefoot running. One reader, Neal, mentioned a very unique type of running shoe/sock that is supposed to allow the foot to move in a more natural way but still gives you protection from the road/trail and related elements. Neal wrote…

I’m a big proponent of the Vibram Five Fingers. You should give them a try if you are serious about exploring the barefoot running thing. 

I have to admit, when I saw this “shoe” it kind of creeped me out a bit. But then it also reminded me of the toesie socks that were so popular a few years back! It really makes sense though – having all of your toes “free” allows them to flex and grab the ground, hence making it easier to balance and putting less stress on the ankle and legs.

I’m sure we could talk for hours and hours about this, but let’s move on for now. My morning started off with a quick treadmill run. Wednesday is usually my day off, but after last weekend’s indulgences, I felt like I needed an extra day of calorie burning! Running was following by a little Cheerios for breakfast…

1.13.10 Cheerios and blueberries

Ahh…so healthy and colorful! On my way to work, I was really wanting a Starbucks but resisted the urge and temptation (after all, I am into Week #2 of the restaurant diet!). Instead, I tried out my office’s coffee/hot chocolate machine for a little frothy, chocolaty milk…

1.13.10 Hot Chocolate

Adequate, but not Starbucks quality. I had back-to-back meetings this morning (you haven’t heard me say that in a while!) so, on a break, I managed to snack on a lemon Luna bar…

1.13.10 Lemon Luna bar

I LOVE lemon cookies, cakes, etc, so I was pleasantly surprised with the taste of this bar. It’s also a nice change from chocolate and peanut butter – whoaa, did I just say that?

Lunch happened to be an unpictured bowl of Trader Joe’s shells and white cheddar followed by TJ’s vanilla Greek yogurt in the late afternoon…

1.13.10 Greek Yogur and Tazo Tea

I mixed in some homemade granola and blueberries for an tasty and protein-filled treat. Plus, a little Tazo Awake tea to keep me going. I’ve discovered another new feature of my office’s gourmet coffee maker. It has a frothed milk option! So, I fill up a mug about 1/4 way with frothy milk then fill up the rest with hot water. I add my Tazo and voila – instant Tazo Awake Latte – not bad for spending no cashola!

Dinner was quickie because I was not in the mood to cook…

1.13.10 Minestrone soup

I’m so thankful we had minestrone soup still left in the freezer, otherwise I would have probably resorted to peanuts.

We are nearly out of all things chocolate in our house, except for the chocolate/peanut butter Cliff bar that I put in Scott’s Christmas stocking. He was not very willing to share his treats, even though he ate most of the chocolate truffles from my stocking – blah! He needs to go back to kindergarten. 

Ok friends, I must be off to bed. I have a date with the treadmill in the AM as well as a yoga session at noon. Have a great night!

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Chocolate Beginnings and Endings

January 9, 2010 by

I am officially on the first trip of 6 or seven trips that I have planned for the next 5 months. I have already eaten more food in two days than I normally do in about 4!! And yes, I am truthful when I say that my day began with chocolate and ended with chocolate. I really have to start pacing myself or I’m going to gain 10 pounds by May.

To give you an example of my less than ideal food selections, breakfast was a carb-loading buffet…

1.9.10 Scottsdale breakfast buffet

And so, my day started with a chocolate muffin pictured in the center. Yes, there was a fruit options, but the chocolate muffin seemed to be calling my name. 

My day ended with a piece of red velvet chocolate birthday cake…

1.9.10 red velvet birthday cake

And if you think that’s rich, you should see the rest of the food I had in between!! But you’ll have to wait for those details tomorrow. I’m tired and must leave for the airport at 5:45 Am.

Have a great night!

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Fun With French Macarons

January 5, 2010 by

Hello everyone!

Thank you all for your kind words about my last post and my 2 babies! I really struggled with whether or not to tell all of you about them. But then I realized that it’s really hard to talk about some aspects of my life (like travel, stress, etc.) without mentioning that I have children! Now you can understand why I’ve only been posting once a day and so late at night 😉

Anyway, the day started off per usual, with a fast 40-minute run on the t-mill, followed by a big, green, juicy pear – just ripe for the pickin’ eating…

1.5.10 Pear

And it looks too cute on my oh so pretty plate from Anthropologie!

On Friday, I will head out to Phoenix/Scottsdale for the 1st of 6 trips I have planned for the next 5 months (5 of the trips being work-related). So this week, I’m trying to get a bunch of things done before leaving the office on Thursday. I really want to use any extra free time I have on this Phoenix trip to STUDY for my personal trainer test. It’s only about 5 weeks away – yikes!

Lunch ended up being leftover chicken noodle soup from Sunday, along with another LUNA bar. I was actually in the middle of a project when I paused for lunch and completely zonked on the picture taking.

Scott doesn’t start teaching his night class until next week, so he was home tonight! Thank goodness too, because he had dinner almost ready by the time I came home from work (and from picking up Mr. C and Miss M). He made an awesome one-pot meal of sausage, leeks, and tri-colored bell peppers…

1.5.10 Sausage Leek 1

I do want to point out that I made this dish FIRST, so in essence, I taught Scott everything he knows about this lovely meal!

1.5.10 Sausage Leek 4

After dinner, I was soooo wanting a cookie or another somethin’ somethin’ from Barnes and Noble Cafe. But, seeing as we just started our Restaurant Diet, I went to freezer to see if it would magically reveal something that I like – and it DID!!

1.5.10 French Macaron 2

I bought these little beauties just before Christmas at Trader Joe’s! Who would have thought that TJ’s would have French macarons (yes, they are spelled with just one “o”, unlike American macaroons). Now I absolutely adore French macarons – love them, love them, love them! So, when I saw them at TJ’s, I just about squealed with delight. Normally, I would prefer fresh macarons from a patisserie but seeing as those are few and far between in the Chicago suburbs, TJ’s macarons would do just fine – and that they did!

1.5.10 French Macaron 5

After about 15-20 minutes of thawing, I anxiously tried the vanilla flavor. Oh my – this cookie was so light and creamy and the flavor was incredible! Since they are a Trader Joe’s product, you know that they are using natural ingredients. Plus, they are only 45 calories per cookie – perfect for a little after-dinner treat. 

Ok, enough fun with my macarons, it’s time to hit the books. Have a wonderful night!

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A MUFA-licious New Year

January 2, 2010 by

Afternoon everyone!

Yesterday, Scott and I spent most of the afternoon taking down all of the inside Christmas decorations. I didn’t put out as many as I normally do, so it wasn’t as bad as last year taking them down. I will miss how pretty my house looked, but I am glad to have it back to normal.

This morning, Scott left early to attend an Illinois v. Gonzaga basketball game in downtown Chicago. But, I managed to convince him to take a picture of me in my new Lucy shirt before he left…

1.2 Jen Breathe shirt 10.1

Thanks shman.

Blah, I just saw that Illinois lost. I didn’t go to U of I and, frankly, college basketball is NOT my thing. But I still want the Illini to win. Scott usually goes to the big game every year and hangs with all of his old college buddies. You think I would like basketball, even a little, after playing 4 years of b-ball in high school. Thanks, but I’ll pass. 

I didn’t end up going to yoga this morning like I planned (too cold to venture outside at just 6 degrees of bed separation). Instead, I started the morning with a few lunges, squats, and leg extensions. I usually start doing these in March to gear up for bikini season. But, seeing as I’m headed to Florida at the end of February then twice again in April, I figured I should get a head start! I also munched on some super nummy yogurt…

1.2 Trader Joe Greek Yogurt 2

Instead of buying individual 5.3 oz of Trader Joe’s nonfat vanilla Greek yogurt, I bought the big carton. I’m trying to really watch portion sizes this year, and I feel that the individual yogurts are a little too much for me. With the full-size carton, and a handy dandy 6 oz ramekin, I can fill up the ramekin 1/2 way, then add granola and blueberries. Honestly, this is ALL I need to get me started on most mornings.

1.2 Trader Joe Greek Yogurt 1

As for watching portion sizes, I’m not really trying to lose weight – I don’t have much to lose at just 107 pounds. I’m also not really the type to do New Year’s resolutions. But, every year, I try to start the new year off right with some of the basic principles of healthy eating…

  • Watching calorie intake
  • Loading up on fruits and veggies
  • Eating more fiber-rich foods
  • Cutting back on junk food
  • Saying “yes” to MUFA (monounsaturated fats)
  • Reducing diet coke
  • Kicking my Starbucks habit (I wonder if there’s a Starbucks support group I could join?)
  • Opting for all-natural foods, when possible
  • Limiting snacks

For instance, for lunch, I knew I’d be satisfied with a 1/2 reduced-fat salami sandwich, so that’s what I had (reduce portions – check). I made the sandwich on Brownberry double fiber bread (add fiber – check), and plus I threw in a few cherry tomatoes for the huge vitamin C but also because they are fruit (add fruits/veggies – check)

1.2 Salami Sandwich with olives 2

It’s a little strange eating lunch without Scott on a Saturday, considering we are almost always together on the weekends. No matter though, I had olive eyes watching me…

1.2 Salami Sandwich with Olives 1

Not to mention a beautiful a bird sitting in my tree who kept his hawk eye on me and my food…

1.2 Wild Hawk

I named him Nicholas Nickleby – Nick for short. Don’t ask me why, I was just in a Charles Dickens kind of a mood today. 

Tonight, I plan to do some major studying at Barnes and Noble and then tomorrow starts our 30-day restaurant diet – more details to follow 😉

So, what’s your healthy eating goal for the year?

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Yoga – No Excuses

December 28, 2009 by

Hey There! 

I don’t know what the problem is  – yesterday and today, running has been so HARD! I could barely make it through 4 miles on the treadmill. Spring weather can NOT come soon enough!

After my mediocre run, I replenished with some Kashi Go Lean Crunch…

12.28 Kashi Go Lean Crunch

Then, it was off to my first day of work after 10 days of being off. The day was actually really good. Half the office was still on vacation so it was nice and quiet. I ended up getting a ton of things done. I hope that it’s the same way tomorrow. Plus, when I walked to my desk this morning, there was a cute little Christmas card and a Christmas tree magnet on my desk from a coworker – how sweet!

12.28 Christmas Tree Magnet

About 11 AM, I started getting a snack attack but just wasn’t ready for lunch. Instead, I grabbed a peppermint chocolate Luna bar….

12.28 Luna bar

It tasted sooo good going down, but I think I ate it way too fast because I had stomach cramps for the rest of the day, ugh!

Lunch ended up being leftovers from the other night – a little spinach risotto and mesquite chicken…

12.28 Spinach Risotto

Luckily, my stomach eased up enough to let me eat this, but then it was back to cramping again. Later in the afternoon, I found out some GREAT news! A few months ago, I mentioned on one of my posts that my office was going to offer onsite yoga once a week. Well, our office yoga starts next week – woo hoo!!! I am so excited! My colleague who is arranging the yoga class brought the instructor by my desk to introduce me. How cool is it that I can now practice yoga at least once a week and not even have to leave my office? Now I have no excuse not to practice. Hmm…I think I might have to buy a new yoga mat to celebrate!

Any recommendations on a good yoga mat????

A great thing about the yoga class, aside from it being onsite, is that my company is paying for the majority of the class. Perfect – nearly free yoga! I was so thrilled that my stomach felt a little better. I decided to splurge and have some this….

12.28 Enstrom toffee

Mmmm, melt in your mouth, Enstrom English toffee! This is my absolute favorite toffee and I only have it once a year around the Christmas holiday (good thing too, or else I’d be huge!). If you have never tried this toffee, I highly recommend it. But a word of caution, it is very hard to STOP eating it. I took two small pieces from a gift box that was delivered to our office. But, while walking to the staff lounge, I accidentally dropped one piece on the ground. I contemplated picking it up and eating it anyway (yes, that’s how good it is!), but decided to just throw it away and – what else? – get another piece to replace it!

My commute home was a breeze and I was happy to see that dinner was nearly ready when I arrived. It was a basil chicken stir fry kind of a night…

12.28 chicken stirfry 1

Hmm..so good, and not too spicy, which was good for my tummy…

12.28 chicken stir fry 3

Scott’s parents are taking us and Scott’s brother and sister-in-law out for an early New Year’s dinner tomorrow night. Can’t wait!

Have a great night everyone and see you tomorrow.

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Savoring my last day of vacation…

December 27, 2009 by

Hey all!

I can’t believe how fast the last 10 days have gone by! In less than two weeks, I was able to give the house a major cleaning, spend some quality time with my sister and her family, and celebrate Christmas. Plus, I managed to accomplish ALL of my goals for the vacation…

  • Wrap 40+ Christmas gifts
  • Sort through my clothes and household items to find items to giveaway
  • Donate items to Goodwill
  • Get to a yoga class
  • Study for personal trainer certification (although I need to study a TON more)

Not too shabby!

So, my last day of “freedom” started out like this….a fast but very challenging 5-mile run on the treadmill. It’s amazing that I can do 6 or 7 miles outside with no problem, yet 4 or 5 on the treadmill is really difficult. After the run, I enjoyed a big, steaming bowl of oats…

12.27 oatmeal

Plus, I had a cup or two of Harney and Sons English Breakfast tea – loose leaf style!

12.27 Harney and Sons English Breakfast

I go back and forth between Harney and Sons English Breakfast and Tazo Awake tea. I just happened to be down to my last Awake tea bag and thought I should save it for my first day back to work – always thinking ahead!

The rest of the day was spent cleaning and studying, including a nearly 3-hour study trip at Barnes and Noble, just for the change in scenery. While I was gone, Scott spent the afternoon making his homemade pasta sauce, which we also enjoyed for dinner…

12.27 Pasta sauce

I admit, I ate way too much of this pasta/sauce combo tonight, plus the AWESOME three-cheese garlic bread. Not to mention…fresh turkey meatballs..

12.27 Turkey meatball

Now, I’m finishing off the night with a little blog reading and cookie eating…

12.27 walnut cookie

Enough from me, gotta run so I can get some decent sleep before work tomorrow!

See you then!

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Christmas Goodies

December 26, 2009 by

Happy Day After Christmas Everyone!

From the looks of your posts (or lack of them 😉 ) I gather that all of you were doing quite a bit of merry making and rightly so. I, of course, did quite a bit of celebrating myself. Instead of giving you every detail about the last three days, I’ll just give you the highlights starting with Christmas.

I can hardly believe it, but it ended up being 45 degrees and sunny on Christmas morning in Chicago!! I was absolutely thrilled to be able to run outside on Christmas. It felt awesome to breathe in the cool, crisp air, and see the glistening snow in the trees. After my run, I enjoyed a fantastic breakfast – a 3-egg omelette (1 egg and 2 egg whites) courtesy of my egg-loving husband…

12.25 Christmas omelette 2

He put all sorts of goodies in it too, like broccoli, red peppers, mushrooms, spinach, and cheddar cheese – I’m such a lucky girl!

12.25 Christmas omelette

Then it was PRESENT time!! Most of the gifts I gave to Scott came from JCrew, that’s what he likes, so that’s what he gets. In turn, most of MY gifts came from Anthropologie. I LOVE Anthropologie but rarely buy anything there because their items are so expensive. I think that’s why Scott shops there for my birthday and Christmas because he knows that I won’t spend the money on myself.

For starters, I received some cool European-esque dish towels…

12.25 Anthropologie towels

I feel like we go through a ton of dish towels each week so these were a very welcome gift. Next up were some cute little bejeweled hair clips…

12.25 Anthropologie hair pins

He knows me so well and knew that I would fall in love with these little darlings. He also gave me a very trendy cupcake book…

12.25 Anthropologie cupcake book2

Surprisingly, there was no red velvet cupcake recipe to speak of. I find that very odd – how can you do a gourmet cupcake cookbook and NOT include a red velvet cupcake? It is still a very sweet book though! I can’t wait to make some of these cupcakes, especially because I can put them on my brand new Anthropologie plates…

12.25 Anthropologie plate 1

12.25 Anthropologie plate 2

Oh my, was I ever having fun opening these presents! And, last but not least, came my favorite gift of all…

12.25 Anthropologie teacup 1

A new tea cup! Scott knows that I’ve been wanting a new tea cup for work and for home. I kept saying how I needed to find just the right cup, not too big, not too small, and just the right design. I definitely won the lottery with this little cutie!

12.25 Anthropologie teacup 3 The detail around the cup is fantastic – especially the cute little flower by the handle as well as the inside design…

12.25 Anthropologie teacup 2

Ok, how lucky am I to have a guy who can go into Anthropologie and buy frilly things for his wife!

I also received a very pretty top from Anthropologie although it’s too big 🙁 

After presents we hustled over to my in-laws for the rest of the day. We were having so much fun opening presents and eating that I really didn’t take many pictures. But, let’s just say I ate my fair share of dip, cheese, and cookies. I am SO feeling that today too!

Moving on to today….Saturday is normally my day to take off from running. But instead, Scott and I headed to the sledding hill for a little outdoor fun. Unfortunately, I became cold really fast (only went down the hill twice) and had to take a rain check.

I warmed up with some hot Tazo Awake tea and a few little walnut cookies…

12.26 Walnut cookie and Awake Tea

These walnut cookies, courtesy of my Father-in-law, are so yummy! They taste a LOT like mini coffee cakes, so it’s no wonder why I love them!

12.26 Walnut cookie

Lunch was warmed-up turkey chili from the freezer – perfect for a very snowy and cold day…

12.26 Turkey Chili

Then it was time for a much-needed nap. I am usually not the napping sort of gal, but I do love a good nap when I’m on vacation.

Dinner was my own creation tonight – mesquite grilled chicken with spinach risotto and sweet carrots…

12.26 Spinach Risotto 2

The risotto was especially good, although Scott thought it had a little too much spinach it it.

12.26 Spinach Risotto

Now, were eating a little popcorn and watching Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince – another Christmas present.

Ok friends, that’s all for now. I want to want the rest of my movie then it’s off to bed! Have a great night everyone!

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Oatmeal Inspiration

December 22, 2009 by

Good morning!

Hope your day is off to a good start. I started my day with a fast 4-miler on the treadmill. I opted NOT to run outside today because of all the new fallen snow. Plus, after two 40-minute outdoor runs in a row, my hips are actually starting to hurt.

For breakfast, I was inspired by Kath’s oatmeal and decided to make a bowl of my own…

12.22 oatmeal with walnuts 1

I used about 1/4 cup whole oats combined with about a 1/2 cup of skim milk, then topped it all with bunch of walnuts and a little brown suga-baby – hmm..hmm…good!

12.22 oatmeal with walnuts 2

I ate it while looking out my back windows and enjoying the beautiful winter scene…

12.22 snowy backyard1

So what’s on my agenda for today?

  • Trip to Goodwill to drop off my donations
  • Mucho Christmas wrapping
  • A little more shopping (can I be done already!)
  • A LOT of studying

But, before all of that – I’m meeting my friend Anne for lunch at Big Bowl – it’s going to be a stir-fry kind of a day, whoopie!

Have a good one!

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And Away She Goes…

December 14, 2009 by

Hi Everyone!

I’m so glad that you all enjoyed my tips for staying healthy and not gaining weight during the holidays. We all know that food temptations are abundant from October through December, so it either takes a lot of will power or a little planning (or both) to make sure that we’re staying on track with our health goals.

Gingy: http://www.flickr.com/photos/41754875@N00/2137900541

Case in point 

I walked into our office today to find many goodies up for grabs – candy, chips, and even individually wrapped Cheryl and Co cookies. I already know what they taste like and know that the sugar cookie with frosting is my favorite. There were no frosted sugar cookies in sight, so I passed on taking one for myself – although I did take a snickerdoodle for Scott. Was it will power? Maybe. But it could also have been that I had a big bowl of Kashi Go Lean Crunch this morning…

12.14 Kashi Go Lean Crunch

But, if it wasn’t for Kashi, I may have been all over those cookies! 

And Away She Goes….

I found out today that I am adding at least two more trips to my Spring 2010 travels. Yikes – I think I’m going to be away on business more than I’m going to be at home! Now I know how flight attendants feel – or at least a little.

So far, here are the trips I have planned:

  • January: Phoenix and Washington, DC
  • February: Orlando
  • March: Baltimore (FitBloggin Bound!)
  • April: Orlando and Miami (and I’m hoping Key West 😉 )
  • May: New Orleans
  • June: Washington, DC
  • October: Vancouver, BC

Whew! My head is spinning just thinking about it. I should probably write a few posts about how to stay healthy while traveling for business – I sure have experience with it! Although business travel is not as glamorous as it looks it in the movies, it definitely has its perks. You can be a regular traveling gourmet, eating at nice restaurants with someone else picking up the tab.  And, when you’re lucky, you can actually take in a few of the local sites.

I’ll be sure to give you all a heads up before leaving on my trips. I’d love to hear your ideas for great restaurants or sites in these cities.

Ok, I’m off to bed. Have a great night all!

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