It's like I never left…

Hey All! Going back to work after being on vacation always seems a bit hectic. I didn’t check a single work email for ten days, so I had to sift through about 600 email messages – non of which were too urgent.

Luckily, I anticipated a very long day and started out on the right foot. I jumped out of bed just before 6 AM for a 4.5 mile interval run on the treadmill. Then, it was an energizing breakfast  – 3/4 cup Kashi Go Lean Crunch with flax..

I know flax is supposed to be good for you, but does anyone else think it leaves a weird aftertaste in your mouth?

On the way to work, I wanted to treat myself to a new Starbucks drink – the cherry mocha. Has anyone tried this yet?? Because I was running late for work, per usual, I was hoping to zip in and zip out of the ‘buck. However, as fate would have it, there was a sign on the counter that said they would only be making brewed coffee and tea drinks today due to equipment problems. Foiled again, Batman!

Work ended up being a pretty normal day – like I never left. I don’t know if that’s a good sign or a bad one???

For dinner, Scott made another one of his specialities – chicken fajitas!!!

This is usually his go-to summer dish, but for some reason he was craving fajitas – maybe it has to do with March Madness ;-). Scott makes his fajitas with all the fixins, like bell peppers, mushrooms, onions, lettuce, and guacamole. I made a fajita salad in order to avoid unnecessary calories from the tortilla.

Now, it’s off to bed for me. But wait!  Stay tuned tomorrow for a peak at my new 1154 Lill bag. It was delivered to my door the day we arrived home from vacation – how’s that for timing?

Have a great night!

A Gooey Breakfast Triad

Morning everyone! I was so excited when the mail arrived with my new SHAPE magazine! I am sooo looking forward to a relaxing read this weekend. We had an awesome dinner last night – mainly because I didn’t have to cook! Not to mention that I was so hungry from running around all day – busy, busy!

Scott cooked up some Italian sausage and yellow and red peppers – a true Chicago dish! He also steamed a bunch of veggies – carrots and broccoli …

Very satisfying and fairly healthy – about 300-400 calories total – not bad. Although dinner was great, we basically have no treats in the house, so it was a no dessert night for me – blah!

This morning, I got up early in order to get a jump start on the day – although I did NOT start with a run. I ran Sunday-Thursday this week so I decided to give myself a break yesterday and this morning – I did a ton of walking though! I also decided to treat myself to a decadent breakfast considering I missed out on dessert last night…

Doesn’t that look awesome! I threw together some slow-cook oats and added all-natural peanut butter and Ghirardelli dark chocolate chips. It was my own breakfast triad and it was a completely gooey and yummy mess! It was surprisingly healthy too, considering oatmeal, peanut butter, and dark chocolate are all good for you 🙂 I’ve had a very busy day, so now I’m off to bed.

Catch ya all later!

Snow, Pizza, and a Hint

It snowed the ENTIRE day today here in Chicago. Much like the rest of the Midwest and Mid-Atlantic, we are under a winter storm warning until tomorrow morning. I’m still hoping for a snow day 🙂 My office did let us out at 2:30 PM which was great. The roads and traffic were not too bad, thankfully. 

I had originally planned on making turkey burgers for dinner, but had a change of plans at the last minute. Our favorite local Italian cafe was running a “snow day special” – buy one get one free pizzas or pastas. We ended up getting the equivalent of a small pizza and a family size pasta for just $10. Now that’s my kind of snow day deal.

I haven’t had their pizza in sooo long due to our restaurant diet. It was a welcome change from our usual weekday meals. Our pizza included huge slices of pepperoni, red bell peppers, and spinach, all on whole grain crust – it was awesome. We also ordered the country-style rigatoni, which was made with Italian sausage and mushrooms, all in a light garlic cream sauce..

Again – soo good! Although, any meal that I don’t have to cook is a good meal.

Despite the huge amounts of snow, I was surprised to get a special package delivered to the house tonight. Through all of the snow and darkness, I could just barely make out a huge object and red lights sitting in front of our driveway. At first I thought it was a snow plow, but no – it was UPS! Oh how Brown makes me smile! The very reliable UPS man delivered a huge box of Hint water – all for me!

The folks over at Hint were kind enough to send me a few samples of their unsweetened, no calorie, flavored water. As a runner, I absolutely LOVE water. I drink at least 8 – 8oz glasses a day and usually prefer it icy cold. But every now and then, water becomes bland, boring, or just doesn’t seem to be enough for my taste. That’s where Hint can fill this void. It also is a great alternative to my usual diet coke or sweetened coffee drinks. What I also love about Hint water is that it’s made with all-natural ingredients and no sugar.

When I received the packaged, I immediately tore it open and viewed my new flavors. I received 6 of their 10 flavors. All of the bottles were delivered icy cold, no doubt due to the weather. I gave the Mango-Grapefruit a try and was not disappointed. The water had a delicious, but rather strong scent. I expected the actual taste of the water to follow suit, but the mango flavor ended up being very light – just a Hint as a they say. I can really see this being a summer drink for me, either drinking it a alone, or adding it to ice tea or lemonade. Can’t wait to try my next flavor – Raspberry-lime – doesn’t that just sound fantastic? It really makes me wish for summer!

Gotta run for now! See you all tomorrow.

Super Goal Sunday and Big Easy Irony

Hey All!

This weekend, I planned to accomplish several things, including:

  1. Study for my CPT exam
  2. Run
  3. Shop for groceries
  4. Clean
  5. Study some more

It’s funny that I accomplished all of those things, and more, in just one day! So, I am calling today my personal, Super Goal Sunday! I started the morning with a sweaty run on the t-mill (I’ve got to get that heat turned down – ugh!). I am sooo looking forward to running outside in Orlando in a few weeks. The treadmill is really starting to get old.

Breakfast was a super energizing bowl of Trader Joe’s Greek yogurt with a dollop of all-natural peanut butter and a few walnuts…

Breakfast was followed by a little lot of grocery shopping! I can’t believe I spent more than $80 on groceries – guess that’s what happens when you have two growing kids and a husband who is training for the Chicago triathlon.

Lunch was a carbon copy of yesterday’s lunch…

A reduced fat salami sandwich – only this time I had three-cheese bakery bread. Wow – the bread made all the difference in the world. I swear I could have eaten the whole loaf by itself! Along with my sandwich, I also had a few carrots, some low-fat chips and a juicy naval orange. I have been craving citrus fruits so I bought a bag of oranges today. I just couldn’t wait to dig into them!

After lunch, I cleaned a good portion of the house, then headed off to Barnes and Noble to study. After about an hour of studying, I had a mocha frap, mostly to keep me from dozing (only had 6 hours of sleep last night). I only have about a week left to study before the big test! Tick, tock, tick, tock.

Dinner was Scott’s creation – chicken stir-fry…

Stir-fry is so easy to make and it is relatively healthy, as long as you don’t douse it with sodium-fill soy sauce. Plus, you can add all sorts of yummy and color veggies to it to make it even healthier. 

**Congratulations to the New Orleans Saints! On a side note, here’s a bit of irony – Big Easy style.**

The Year of the Big Easy

  • In December 2009, Disney released it’s Princess and the Frog movie, set in New Orleans
  • We will be in Disney World during Mardi Gras
  • We will be staying at the French Quarter
  • The New Orleans Saints win the Super Bowl

How’s that for coincidence? 

Ok, I’m off to study a little more before bed. Have a great night!

When Organic Is Better

We all know that organic foods provide no additional health or nutrition benefits  compared with nonorganic foods. But eating organic can often help reduce the amount of pesticides and other chemicals we consume directly through our food intake. I am quite aware that many fresh fruits and veggies contain harsh chemicals. However, like many Americans, I can’t always afford to buy organic produce, which in most cases, is more expensive than nonorganic.

The Dirty Dozen

According to the latest report by the Environmental Working Group, there are actually nonorganic fruits and veggies which may contain very low amounts of pesticides. In the Shopper’s Guide to Pesticides, the EWG lists 12 fruits/veggies to always buy organic because of their tendency to contain the highest amounts of pesticides. Likewise, they list 15 types of produce (the Clean 15) which contain low amounts of pesticides, and, therefore, would be safe to buy in the nonorganic form. Let’s take a look…

As reported by the EWG in its Shopper’s Guide to Pesticides:

The Dirty DozenWorst Fruits/Veggies (those that contain the most pesticides and would be better to buy organic)

  1. Peach
  2. Apple
  3. Bell Pepper
  4. Celery
  5. Nectarine
  6. Strawberries
  7. Cherries
  8. Kale
  9. Lettuce
  10. Grapes (imported)
  11. Carrot
  12. Sweet Potato

The Clean 15 – Best Fruits/Veggies (those that contain the lowest amounts of pesticides and would be safe to buy in the nonorganic form)

  1. Onion
  2. Avocado
  3. Sweet corn
  4. Pineapple
  5. Mango
  6. Asparagus
  7. Sweet Peas
  8. Kiwi
  9. Cabbage
  10. Eggplant
  11. Papaya
  12. Watermelon
  13. Broccoli

You can actually download the EWG’s Shopper’s Guide to Pesticides for free. It’s a great cheat sheet to take with you to the grocery store to remind you which fruits and veggies to buy.

Happy Organic Shopping Everyone!

An Unexpected Work-at-Home Day

Hey All!

I worked at home today – with the kids! I hadn’t planned on working at home at all and especially not with the kids. But, when push comes to shove, I do what I have to do.

Before Scott left to teach a class, I hopped on the treadmill for about 45 minutes. We have a separate heating system (electric heat) in our basement where the treadmill is. For some reason it is super hot down there every morning. So, I’m usually a sweaty mess by the time I come upstairs.

Breakfast was 1/2 a carton of TJ’s vanilla Greek yogurt, with a teaspoon of all-natural peanut butter and a few walnuts…

I also had the last of the OJ, which was seriously like 2 ounces!!! Why even bother leaving 2 ounces of juice in the carton? I just don’t understand it.

Lunch happened to be leftover homemade fried chicken from Saturday night…

I had two small pieces, although I could have easily eaten more. I paired the chicken with some steamed baby carrots and about a cup of Trader Joe’s shells and white cheddar..

Let me tell you, it is REALLY hard to work at home with the kids! At their ages, they demand all of my attention – which is not a bad thing except when I need to work. Fortunately, they both take naps and can be calmed by a Disney show (desperate times call for desperate measures).

While the kids napped then watched a Disney show, I was heads down in a project for work. Between working a little before getting on the treadmill, and working in the afternoon, I was able to finish my project and put in about 3.5 hours at home. Whew – what a day! I was so busy – and HANGRY – that I just had to have a snack – 2 small homemade chocolate chip cookies and a 1/2 cup skim milk. Plus, right before dinner, I was starving and couldn’t wait. Had a small, snack pack of Sunchips too – blah! Oh well, still under 1,600 calories for the day.

In all of my craziness today, I actually found the time to make dinner…

I tried a new Giada recipe for creamy orzo (at least it was new to me). Minus the peas, I thought this dish was really good, although I had to add a bunch of salt and pepper for taste. I’m glad I quartered the recipe because Scott and my son did not like this AT ALL! That’s ok though – Giada will never know. The kids and I also split a turkey burger which is the reason why it looks so small in the picture!!

Now, I have about 200 calories that I could still eat to get to my 1,600 calories a day – I’m thinking a small brownie and a little Breyer’s vanilla – what do ya think? 😉

Restaurant Diet Update

So today, it has been officially 4 weeks since we started our Restaurant Diet, vowing not to spend any of our own money on food outside of the house. So how did we do? We did fantastic!! By having gift cards from Christmas at our disposal, we were able to get our fix of eating out without spending money. So, for the most part, we really weren’t tempted to stray.

That is, until yesterday. That’s right, we decided to end the diet one day early. We contemplated going to Panera for lunch and using the last of our meal gift cards. But Panera just didn’t sound good. So, we opted for the Italian cafe near our house. Kids eat free on Sunday and we actually had a free meal to boot. So, we spent about $14 to feed 2 adults and 2 children – about $3.50 a person. Not bad!

So how much money did we save? Well, we were regularly going out to eat 2-3 times a week with the kids – blowing about $75. Then, between Starbucks, Barnes and Noble cafe, and going out to lunch, Scott and I easily spent another $25 a week, if not more, between the two of us. Overall, we probably saved about $400 by on the Restaurant Diet, which is well worth the effort!

Gotta get to bed. See you all tomorrow!

All-Natural Chicago Hot Dog Lovin'

Ok folks, I have to make this quick. I actually have work to do tonight. Yes, it seems that I don’t spend enough time working during the day that I need to work more at night. 

Before I forget, check out my new Bistro Chic post where you’ll learn all about my love for Jane Austen novels and Masterpiece Theatre – he he!

Today was sooo crazy busy at work that I barely had time to go to the bathroom. Not good – at least for my bladder.

Dinner was a makeshift meal of an all-natural, nitrate free hot dog by Vienna Beef. Hey, I gotta get me some Chicago hot dog lovin’ some how!

As you can see, I balanced the meaty hot dog on a double fiber piece of bread with a HUGE portion of broccoli. And I mean huge! I think there were two cups worth of the trees on my plate 🙂

Tomorrow, I’m getting ready for my son’s big Saturday birthday bash. He’s turning the big F-I-V-E and I can hardly believe it! We are all set to make goodie bags and then shop for other party items. This will be my first time hosting a kids’ party. I’m a little nervous I have to admit. Running after 20 kids, mostly 5 and under, is not my idea of a relaxing Saturday. But hey, you only turn 5 once right?

OK, gotta run. Have a wonderful Thursday night!

Lunch with the dinosaurs

Hey all!

Hope you had a relaxing Sunday! I started the day with an interval run on the treadmill for about 40 minutes. I started at 7.0 and then maxed out at 7.6. What a great workout! The run was followed by more squats and lunges – so great for the toning the legs which I totally need for my upcoming trips to Florida.

Breakfast was rather light – only a 1/2 Luna bar and 1/2 a pink orange…

This was the first time I’ve ever eaten or even seen a pink orange! The sign for the oranges didn’t give any indication that they were pink so their color really took me by surprise. Does anyone know why oranges can be pink sometimes???

The rest of the day was spent at the Field Museum (aka home of Sue the dinosaur) in downtown Chicago. I was really itchn’ to get out of the house for some reason, so going to a museum seemed like a good plan. When we arrived at the museum, we immediately ate a packed lunch so as not to buy any of the expensive (and mostly unhealthy) food there…

It was a PB&J sandwich made with all-natural peanut butter on whole grain bread, with a few chips, pretzels, and carrots/celery on the side. We ate in a little cafe area which had a great view of some of our new best friends…

I am not a huge natural history fan – I’m more of an arts and artifacts kind of a girl. But, the museum is great for kids and is not too expensive as far as admission. After about 3 hours at the museum, I had had my fill of dinosaurs and stuffed mammals. 

Dinner, again, was on the lighter side. I had a small salad with:

  • Red leaf lettuce
  • Cucumbers
  • Carrots
  • Tri-color bell peppers (sauteed)
  • Red onion
  • Bacon, 1 slice
  • 1/2 hard boiled egg
  • 1 oz of white cheddar cheese

I topped it all with a little spritz of olive oil and a bunch of balsamic vinegar. Super yummy and healthy! But of course, I just had to throw in something to off-set that healthiness…

Scott and the kids actually had hamburgers/turkey burgers tonight. I just wasn’t in the mood for a burger, but these oven-baked fries sure hit the spot!

I’m off tomorrow for MLK day – woo hoo! But, because I’m only in the office on Tuesday and Friday this week (due to my trip to DC), my two work days will be jam-packed.

Time to get studying – see you all tomorrow.

Green Tea Living

Hey there!

Today was our first session of beginner yoga at work. The class, which was a complimentary session, was held in our small auditorium onsite. I have been so excited for so long about this class that it pains to me to say…the class was extremely underwhelming. It was so basic that I felt like I didn’t receive any benefit other than a break from work. Granted, some of the 10 women who attend were complete yoga novices, but it still left me disappointed. However, I have committed myself to 4 more weeks (or sessions) of the class. I really hope it gets better or I will be totally bummed.

When I came home from work, my day got a little better when I saw that a new book had arrived in the mail…Green Tea Living 2

Green Tea Living is a Japan-inspired guide to eco-friendly health, habits, and happiness. Although it focuses much of the book on the healing (and other) properties of green tea, it also offers insight into how we can live greener lives, similar to how they live in Japan. The book is super cute and is a quick read – I read or scanned most of the book in just an hour. It is also easy to navigate with specific chapters dedicated to eco-friendly beauty, eating, cleaning, healing, and much more. It even has references to the practice of yoga which was nice surprise.

This book totally inspires me to drink green tea…

Yogi Green Tea

But it also made me think about how wasteful people can be, including myself. That’s one thing I really want to improve on this year is cutting down on unnecessary waste – reusing shopping bags, recycling water bottles and cans, and trying to fix things around the house before buying something new. Holly, you’d be so proud of my new outlook on green living! 

Gotta finish packing for my trip to Phoenix tomorrow. Hope you’re staying warm and dry wherever you are!

Fun With French Macarons

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!