Jan 20th- I have a confession to make. I had planned on yesterday being totally healthy. I had fruits and vegetables, roasted chicken at lunch, some spinach salad, the whole 9-yards…then I got home to find that the Hubby went above and beyond for dinner, and I ate about 2 servings of EVERYTHING instead of one.

He made whole wheat gnocchi with pesto and baked chicken, bought Feta Cheese Bread from Farrell Farms, roasted extra small artichoke hearts with asiago and romano cheese, made an AMAZING salad (even chopped up some hard boiled eggs!!) and roasted a whole head of
garlic…which I ate half of by spreading it all over my feta cheese bread.

Did I remember to take a picture of it? Fail. Did I enjoy EVERY SINGLE BITE OF IT? Pass!! Oh!

And we paired the meal with Dynamite Chardonnay. I was so surprised
that he went all out for dinner last night. Melts my heart, I tell ya!

I’m eating the leftovers today…it’s not very pretty, but super tasty!

January 21st- I had all the intentions of meeting my veggie/fruit goals and exercise this week, but I didn’t quite get there- the past 3 days have been extremely busy (due to spontaneous changes in my plans), and I didn’t get my recommended fruits and veggies in on the 18th, 19th and 20th. I also missed my workout last night because I had to work
till 9pm.

So, I’m making up for it today! I ate a half a banana at breakfast with the rest of my blueberries (about ¼ cup). I’m eating an apple with peanut butter for my mid-afternoon snack. For lunch, I made an EXTRA LARGE salad of mixed baby greens and spinach (2 cups), a whole yellow pepper, 2 celery stalks, reduced fat blue cheese crumbles (1 tbsp), roasted chicken breast (4 oz), some sweet balsamic vinegar and 1 tbsp olive oil.

Tonight, I’m going to get a full hour of cardio in instead of just 30 minutes. SCORE!! Yes, I made my salad in the container it came in- I’m lazy and didn’t feel like doing dishes at work.

OFF TO HOUSTON- I spent the weekend in Houston for my very good friend Kristy’s Wedding Shower and Bachelorette Party. There weren’t a lot of notable meals; however, I did eat some fun food on Saturday. We started the day at her friend Lisa’s for the Wedding Shower.

Lisa made a cake to represent some stromatolites found near the Saratoga NY region (where Kristy grew up). Stromatolites can be made up of blue-green bacteria or green algae …so the cake was blue and the frosting was green. The pink sparkles represented the river that goes thru the region (we’re geologists- just go with it).

REAL STROMATOLITES (courtesy Wikipedia)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Stromatolites_hoyt_mcr1.JPG

After the shower, we went to Downtown Houston and had dinner at Massa’s Seafood. It was STELLAR. We started off with some sourdough bread, St. Supery Sauvignon Blanc and calamari (I skipped the calamari).

The restaurant gave us a bottle of Segura Viudas Champagne ON THE HOUSE to celebrate- how sweet is that?!?! It was deliciously dry and went amazing with everyone’s seafood.

I had Shrimp Cocktail for my appetizer and the Grilled Veggie Platter for my entrée since the servings there were so HUGE. I wanted to eat something semi-healthy since I ate such a big piece of stromatolite cake earlier that day.

The shrimp was served on a tortilla that looked like a starburst and had avocado salsa at the bottom to dip the shrimp in.

The veggie platter had grilled carrots, squash, zucchini, asparagus, mashed sweet potatoes and sautéed spinach with garlic.

After dinner, we went to a concert at the House of Blues and then went to a dueling piano bar to end the evening up! Here’s a shot of me and Kristy at the end of the night.

We had so much fun!! It was a great evening out- I had great wine and champagne and GREAT HEALTHY FOOD! WOOHOO!!

January 25th- Health Check!! Well, kids, last night I started training to RUN my first 5k in over 2 years!! Normally, I walk/power walk/walk and jog 5k’s. But, I have never jogged one straight through the whole time.

I’m going to do the Run Lucky 5k on March 13th in OKC. I’m following an endurance “couch to 5k” plan I got off the internet. I don’t care about speed right now. I just need to get some stamina built up.

I just went to the doctor for a check-up last week and my blood pressure was down to 117/74. It used to be 137/83 a few months back. YAY for cardio! When I first started power walking a few months ago after being completely sedentary from my surgery, my heart rate would jump to 170 or 180 (about the MAX for my age) after power walking for only 10 minutes at 3.5 mph. My doctor said he wanted me to keep it around 135 (for fat burning) and 155 (for cardio)
since I was just starting out.

So, I dropped it back a notch and walked between 2.6 mph and 3.2 mph. That usually kept my heart rate in the target zone (125-140). Please check with your doctor for your target heart range- everyone is
different depending on age and how cardiovascularly fit they are.

My first day training: I had to walk briskly for 1 mile, run for 2 minutes every half mile until I reached 3.5 miles, then cool down for a half mile. It was really tough, sweated a lot, ran out of PowerAde Zero during the last run interval, BUT I kept my heart rate between 125 and 165 the whole time…which is amazing for me.

My brisk walk was 3.2 mph and my run was 4.0 mph. My “recovery walk” in between jog intervals was 3.0 mph. I focused on keeping good form for the most part. I’m hoping to get out of this injury free

January 26th- Well, I was supposed to walk 4 miles last night, but I only was able to do 3. My legs were killing me, I slept awful the night before and I’m fighting off some kind of allergy/congestion again. I hate being sick all the time. I made some lentil curry to help, but even that didn’t make me feel better.

I decided not to push it to 4 miles because I always say if you are not feeling up to it, don’t push it. Better to take it easy one night than injure yourself.

Tonight I do my first round of strength training so that will be a nice break from cardio. Have a great week!

QUESTION FOR THE WEEK: I need some ideas for high protein, low fat breakfasts. I’ve been doing eggs or waffles with peanut butter. Please suggest ANYTHING! Especially you vegetarians/vegans out there- I’m a meat person so I’m not familiar with other high protein/iron foods. And I LOVE to try new things! Thanks!

Incoming search terms:

• wine dynamite

GOOD MORNING ALL! I am finally feeling better and I couldn’t be happier. No more sore throat or ears, no more violent allergic reactions to my medication. Just a happy and mostly healthy me. It’s a miracle!

I’m pretty sure I owe it to this:

Sonic’s Red Velvet Cheesecake Blast. Uhhh huhhh. It wasn’t as good as I wanted it to be, but still very yummy. I’m going to miss Sonic when I move East. I don’t think they have them over there.

In case you were wondering, yes that was my dinner.

I would have had something else more nutritious, but I was asleep before 9 p.m. again. My body cried out for rest, and I was happy to oblige.

So it seems that ice cream dinners, when combined with 9 hours of sleep, will heal almost any ailment.

If you’re one of the millions of people that are currently sick right now (it’s seriously EVERYWHERE!) - I suggest you try this immediately.

You can pick the ice cream of your choice.

Thank me later.

What is your favorite ice cream? My all time favorite is chocolate custard with toffee bits mixed in.

Well, I went to the doctor yesterday and he confirmed that it was in fact a sinus infection. He said I came in at the perfect time, because it was about to spread into my lungs, which is what happened last year when I was sick for two months with sinues issues.

He also gave me lots of meds to heal me up, which is great, but they have left me in a major fog this morning. So much so that I really can’t type for more than 30 seconds without having to take a break and close my eyes. I really think I should just go home and go back to bad, but that doesn’t seem like a good idea either seeing as how I fell asleep twice on the way to work this morning.

I say this only to tell you that while I had originally planned last night to drink this wine

and eat this fudge

last night and then tell you funny story about how horrible my Monday was, I’m suddenly left without any energy to do so.

Also, the wine didn’t even get consumed. It hurt to much to swallow. I did nibble on the fudge though. And I ate another sweet potato. And then took cough medicine that stopped me from coughing by kept me up all night itching.

Hopefully everything will settle out later and I won’t feel like I’m about to puke/pass out/fall asleep and I can return with a more cohesive post.

If not… Happy Tuesday!

January 13- Spent this morning getting ready and reminiscing how my hubby told me how proud of me he was this past weekend for working out and making healthy dinners (he eats them too and never complains if they have veggies or something he doesn’t like). Been smiling all day!! This coming weekend is going to really show me if I have adhered to any healthy habits this past week because we have THREE days of birthday events planned for Low. She has no idea, but we’re throwing her a surprise party on the 16th!

January 14th- For the first time in a long time, my jeans have gotten a tad bit loose (size 16’s that have to be washed in hot water to fit me, but I have a muffin top if I squeeze into my 14’s so I refuse to wear them until that goes away). Due to the loose jeans, I had to put my belt on. My belt that is ONE NOTCH TIGHTER NOW!

January 15th- I have been eating a lot more eggs for protein in the morning. It was recommended to eat some protein at breakfast (which I usually don’t do) to keep from getting hungry after 2 hours. It’s paid off because I stay full for longer- for breakfast I scrambled one egg, one egg white, 1 tablespoon fat free half and half,
cayenne powder, garlic powder, onion powder, parsley (for color) and 1/8th cup shredded Gruyere cheese with some sliced oranges. It was a perfect pre-workout meal.

I had a fun time at Low’s birthday bash last night…didn’t touch the tortilla chips and salsa (wanted to save room for dessert), had 2 spinach enchiladas (no cheese and I scraped most of the sour cream sauce off because it wasn’t low fat), 2 light beers and some pinto beans… and 2 of Grandma’s brownies- they were small so I think I did really good!! I don’t ever have dessert guilt.

At Low’s birthday lunch today, I ordered a veggie platter which made me happy- it had TONS of veggies, some rice with a delicious cilantro sauce and yucca fries and plantains. Since the yucca and plantains were fried, I only had one small slice of each. Not enough to make me sick, but enough to enjoy 2 bites of flavor. It was a FUN and HEALTHY lunch.

January 16th- So, to help keep me on track, I made an excel spreadsheet to help chart the Cooking Light Healthy Habits (5 servings fruits&veggies/day and 5 exercise sessions/week for 30 mins). I love this chart! I never get enough fruit and veggies in my diet so this is really helpful to me.

Low’s Surprise Birthday Party!

I had 1 and a half pieces of delicious pizza. The hubby wanted the same pizza as me (he loves feta)- Chicago Style Deep Dish Greek Goddess (chicken, mushrooms, artichokes, olives, garlic). YUM! We also shared some with everyone else since I was in a caring mood- ha ha…I also had a Caesar Salad with dressing on the side and
2 Michelob Ultras. This was perfect for me…before my surgery, I would eat 3 or 4 pieces of pizza and it’s just SOOO much. I ate 1/3 of that and I was completely satisfied. I know “eating until satisfied” will help keep me healthy. After dinner, the chefs at Humble Pie came out to serenade Low with a lovely rendition of “Happy Birthday”. I think deep down she really loved it despite the fact that her face was RED.

January 17th- NEED TO VENT…I’m finding that eating FIVE servings of fruits and veggies daily is HARD WORK…no wonder why most Americans only get 25% of their daily requirement met. I have eaten out several times in the past two weeks and have really started studying menus. I have found most restaurants offer huge protein and starch servings and nearly LESS THAN HALF of a serving of vegetables. When you look at “sides” fruit is not even on most menus as an option. There are vegetable options, but unfortunately they are fried, loaded with oil (and not olive oil), or have cheese or some kind of fattening mayo based sauce on them. I’ve had to special order almost everything I ate. There are tons of sides that seem to be “staples” at a lot of places like mac’n cheese, green beans (sautéed with bacon), corn (more starch), onion rings (fried), French fries (fried), mashed potatoes (I asked about the prep- they use whole milk and butter, which sounds amazing, however, it had and estimated 20 grams of fat in them per serving!!!) and the list goes on. I do love some potatoes, but seriously, I’m not going to have a pulled pork sandwich
with corn, fries and mashed potatoes. And it REALLY irks me that when you ask for a salad substitution you get charged $2 or $3 more…it’s not like I ordered the salad AND the potatoes, I didn’t even get the potatoes. UGH! I just wish some squash or asparagus or something would pop up at “normal” restaurants…you can
almost always find those veggies at the high-end places, but I can’t afford to eat at high-end restaurants all the time. This is why I’ve been cooking at home so much. Healthy and affordable!

January 18th- HAPPY 25th BIRTHDAY LOW!! Last night I made myself and the Hubby a treat for dinner. We had Simply Asia spring rice noodle veggie soup (I split the bowl between us), mixed baby greens with Marie’s Creamy Garlic Italian (my favorite, I just used 1 teaspoon on the side), and SCALLOPS with orzo pasta and veggies. I chopped up celery (4 stalks), ¼ of a very large red onion, 1 yellow pepper (about 1 and 3/4ths to 2 cups chopped veggies total- sorry, I don’t measure).

I sautéed the veggies in a pan with 2 tablespoons garlic infused olive oil from Lovera’s (check them out- they’re on-line and located in Krebs, OK!!). I also added McCormick’s Valencia Orange Peel (1 tsp), 1 tablespoon of finely cut pickled ginger (what you put on sushi), and some paprika for color. I rinsed the scallops and patted them dry. I have finally mastered cooking scallops without ruining them!

The best technique is taking 1-2 tablespoons of butter and melting it in a pan on HIGH heat and adding the scallops once the pan is very hot (the butter will start to bubble). You only need to cook scallops 2-3 minutes on each side (keep the heat on HIGH). This is very important. Any longer and they come out like rubber.
Also, be sure to pat them dry before cooking because they hold a lot of water and that ruins the “browning” effect. Last night, I did one pound of scallops with only 1 tablespoon of butter and it was more than enough.

I used regular orzo pasta instead of whole wheat because I didn’t want the nuttiness of the whole wheat to overpower the light vegetables (one “cup” of dried orzo cooks into 4 servings. We paired the meal with Etc. Sauvignon Blanc (2008). It was delicious!

*Note, if you want to use oil instead of butter, I recommend Grape seed oil. It has a high “burning point” so it won’t “pop” like olive oil and burn you when you’re flipping. It’s the only oil I’ve used that doesn’t over-power the scallops too. I’ve tried olive oil, canola oil, sunflower oil…all bad, bad, bad for cooking on high heat.

Today (and tomorrow), I’m using 1 cup of leftover orzo pasta with veggies and adding 1 cup fresh spinach with a tablespoon of olive oil to it for a nice lunch. I’m also having 2 slices 98% fat free turkey bologna with it (for some protein) and ½ cup blueberries on the side for my dessert with 10 plain chocolate M&M’s- I’m having
a craving and I’m going with it! All this healthy eating is making me feel REALLY good. I love thinking of new ideas to use fresh produce in multiple meals.

Until next time – Ciao!!

Q: What do you make when you want to have a fancy dinner, yet keep it healthy?