Jaclyn’s Birthday

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Today’s Workout

The weekends are always great for getting in good, sweaty workouts.  Today I made my way to the gym and jumped on the Stairmaster first thing.  As I may have mentioned before, I have a sort of love/hate relationship with the Stairmaster, I have to get on it as soon as I get to the gym or I know I won’t do it at all… my time on that machine is always brief but it gets me sweating like nothing else.

Today I set that machine to its highest setting (20) and did a five-minute “fat burner” workout.  Before I was halfway through I was already dripping sweat.

After that I spent a minute and a half planking, then made my rounds on some machines (3 sets of 8 each on the chestpress, ab-crunches, and leg curls).

I really wanted to run, but I’m trying not to overdo it on my shins so I did a 30 minute circuit on the elliptical.

I hope to do a decent outside run tomorrow, since tomorrow’s my cardio-only day.

Jaclyn’s Birthday

Yesterday was a good day with (most of) the family as we celebrated my sister Jaclyn’s 17th birthday.  I can’t believe my sister (number 3 out of us 6 kids) is already 17!  I remember when I was 17 and it certainly does not feel like it was almost 6 years ago… guess I’m getting old.

We went out to eat as we usually do on birthdays, and Jaclyn chose to go to Chilis.

Before dinner, though, we stopped at the mall so that the birthday girl could pick out a dress to wear to homecoming at the end of the month.  Of my own volition I never went to homecoming or any formal school dance myself, but I always secretly wanted to wear one of those sparkly dresses.  Fortunately, I am able to live vicariously through my sisters as I help them pick out their dresses

Jaclyn picked out (with my help) a cute one!

She was making a terrible face so I cropped that out. Also, she’s just holding the dress up so you can’t see it as it’s really meant to look.

I think I was more excited than she was.

After dinner we went home for cake (one of my favorite things)

Strawberry cake with my favorite icing ever… chocolate cream cheese

I was still pretty full from my Grilled Chicken Salad at Chilis so I just had a small slice.

Celebrating Jaclyn’s birthday is always a little extra special to me because it serves of a reminder of the fact that she almost didn’t make it to her 12th birthday.   In the summer of 2007 she was kicked in the head by one of our horses and almost died.  Jaclyn was flown from our house to Johns Hopkins Hospital by helicopter (Shock Trauma) and initially we did not know if she would live, and then we were told it was very possible that she would have brain damage.

Jaclyn came through beautifully and suffered no brain damage and was completely restored to her original self (except she has a slight scar on her face from where she was kicked).  She made records with her quick recovery, and I truly consider it to be miraculous that she is still here and our family escaped unscathed from what could have been a much more traumatic, life-changing disaster.

OK, now there is a giant, delicious cake in the fridge calling my name.  I’m either going to have a slice OR make myself some healthier oatmeal cookies to satisfy my sweet-tooth cravings (otherwise I’ll probably end up eating the whole cake!).

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Avocado Chicken Salad

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Look familiar?  That’s because today’s lunch was a spin-off from the Avocado Salsa that I made to go with dinner on Monday night.

I still had an avocado left that was calling my name so  last night I mixed up another batch of the salsa but only used half an avocado and added in half a large can of all white-meat chicken.  I also mashed the avocado much more than I had when I made the salsa

I loved this spin on chicken salad, and even more I loved that it wasn’t made with mayo!   I filled a Joseph’s Flax Pita with the salad and had a plum on the side (only $1 for plums at my grocery store this week, whaaat!).

Avocados make such a great addition to any meal with all of the healthy fats.  There isn’t much that is unhealthy about this lunch.

I’ve been spending most of my lunch break on Pinterest looking at the Food section and drooling over some ridiculous looking desserts… I might have to make one of them tonight when I get home…. we’ll see how strong my resistance to temptation is.

OK, back to work now,  maybe it has something to do with my healthy avocado-lunch but I’m feeling productive!

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Coconut-Orange Oatmeal Cookies

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As promised, here is the recipe for the Coconut and Orange Oatmeal Cookies I made yesterday.

I adapted this recipe from a very basic one I found online but made some changes.

Since some of my family members don’t like the texture of coconut, I made half of the batch without the coconut or orange extract.

They were pretty tasty as well and not a single one of my family members could tell they were eating slightly healthier cookies.  This recipe made about 3 dozen cookies, and after some calculations I figured out each regular oatmeal cookie (without coconut) is only about 55 calories!

Left: Coconut-Orange Oatmeal Cookie
Right: Oatmeal cookie (sans coconut & orange)
Misses Colors in the background really wanted a bite of each.

 

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Coconut-Orange Oatmeal Cookies
Author: 
Recipe type: Dessert, cookies
 

Ingredients
  • 6 Tbsp butter
  • 2 Tbsp unsweetened applesauce
  • ⅓ cup + 1 Tbsp granulated white sugar
  • ⅓ cup packed brown sugar
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • ¼ tsp orange extract
  • 1 large egg
  • ¾ cup + 3 Tbsp white whole wheat flour
  • ¾ cup + 3 Tbsp quick oats
  • ½ tsp baking powder
  • ¼ tsp baking soda
  • ¼ tsp salt
  • ½ cup shredded coconut

Instructions
  1. Beat butter, applesauce, sugars, and vanilla together until combined. Scrape sides of bowl and stir again until combined.
  2. Add egg, mix until combined.
  3. In medium-sized bowl, combine white whole wheat flour, oats, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
  4. Gradually add dry mixture to butter mixture, stirring until combined
  5. Add shredded coconut, stir until combined
  6. Chill dough approximately 30 minutes
  7. Preheat oven to 375 F
  8. Drop dough by rounded spoonful onto ungreased cookie sheet (or cookie sheet lined with parchment paper)
  9. Bake in oven for 8 minutes
  10. Cool on pan 5 minutes before removing to wire rack to cool completely

Notes
Nutrition information calculated for oatmeal cookies without coconut

Nutrition Information
Serving size: 1 cookie Calories: 55 Fat: 2.3 Saturated fat: 1.3 Unsaturated fat: Poly: .1, Mono: .6 Trans fat: 0 Carbohydrates: 7.1 Sugar: 3 Fiber: .6

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Post-Football & Avocado Salsa

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So the Ravens game last night was way intense, to say the least!

Zach has his stoic game-time face on

For my first football game ever, it was quite an experience.  Baltimore made the news for some angry chanting over some seriously  questionable calls by the refs.  There was so much screaming I thought I might go deaf, and I’ll admit I was pretty impressed by the way the players were brought out on the field.

I won’t bore anyone with the details because I’m probably the only one who hasn’t seen this sort of thing before, but I there were fireworks, and flames and, of course, a whole lot of screaming.  Everyone was so amped up!  During the game there was even a streaker!

OK, so he wasn’t exactly a streaker, but he was only wearing a cape and gym-shorts

(Sorry about the pic quality, I had to move fast to snap a shot before the guy was tackled and escorted off the field, presumably to streaker-prison)

It was a really close game, but the Ravens won it in the end!  What a relief, too, because Zach can be quite difficult to be around when his teams don’t perform as well as he would like them to.

Today

I had planned on working out today, but I didn’t get to bed until after 2 thanks to the Ravens last night and I still had to be up early for work so I was pretty tired all day and the last thing I wanted to do when I got home was any kind of sweating.

Instead, I felt like staying home and baking, and I made a batch of healthy (healthy as far as cookies go, anyway) Coconut-Orange Oatmeal Cookies.  I was really happy with how this recipe ended up turning out, and I’ll post the recipe tomorrow so check back for it if you’d like to try it out! :)

Dinner

For dinner tonight, my mom had made one of my favorite dishes, chicken enchiladas (She follows this Kraft recipe, I always remove the cheese).  I whipped up some Avocado Salsa to compliment the meal and served it over my enchilada… delicious!

I found the recipe for the salsa from Chef in Training but you can also find it below with a few modifications, and made to serve just 2 people.

 

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Avocado Salsa
Prep time: 
Total time: 

Serves: 2
 

Ingredients
  • 1 ripe avocado, diced
  • 1 medium-sized tomato, diced
  • 3 Tbsp chopped onion (I would recommend using a red onion, but all I had on hand were white onions and it turned out fine!)
  • ¼ cup corn (I used super sweet yellow & white corn by Green Giant)
  • 3 Tbsp finely chopped cilantro
  • 1 Tbsp lime juice
  • ¼ tsp garlic salt
  • ¼ tsp ground black pepper

Instructions
  1. Combine avocado, tomato, onion, corn, and cilantro. Stir well.
  2. Add lime juice, garlic salt, and black pepper. Stir again.
  3. Keep refrigerated until ready to use.

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First Football Game

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As I mentioned before I’m not a big fan of football, though Zach, my boyfriend of four years is (very much so).

Well tonight he is taking me to my first ever football game (Ravens vs. Patriots)!  Even though I’m really not a football fan, I’m looking forward to going to this game, it should be far more exciting than when we watch the games on TV.

Pre-game I made myself a pita pizza.  Since I won’t be getting home until late and I have to be at work early tomorrow morning, I made two of the mini pizzas, one for tonight and one for lunch tomorrow.  I used mozzarella cheese on one and crumbled goat cheese on the other (which I just discovered that I love).  They were both delicious!

To make each pizza, I used  Joseph’s Flax, Oat Bran & Whole Wheat Pitas, drizzled a little bit of extra virgin olive oil over each pita, and spread about a spoonful of marinara sauce (leftover from last night’s Zucchini Pasta) on each.  For the toppings I sprinkled on some diced onion, used a few slices of fresh tomato, used some fresh spinach leaves and then sprinkled one with mozzarella cheese and one with crumbled goat cheese.

I had half of each pizza to keep me full enough before the game so that I’m not starving and don’t spend a ton of money eating greasy stadium food.

Alright, let’s see how football game goes… GO RAVENS! :)

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Zucchini Pasta with Marinara & Goat Cheese

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After all my cardio today, I was craving some PASTA for dinner.

I’ve been seeing recipes around for zucchini pasta, so I figured I’d give that a shot, and let me tell you I was glad I did.

I’ll admit, initially I had some doubts about how this “pasta” would hold up to regular pasta, but I was happy delighted with the results.

This stuff was soooo good, smothered with marinara sauce and I sprinkled goat cheese on top which made the sauce extra creamy.

I will be making this recipe again and again and again, for sure.

Ingredients: (serves 1)

1 Zucchini

1 tsp extra virgin olive oil

1/4 cup marinara of your choice (I used Rinaldi Chunky Tomato, Garlic & Onion)

Goat Cheese to sprinkle

Instructions:

Thinly slice zucchini to about fettucini-size.  Do not use the zucchini once you get to the seedy center of it.

(If you have a mandolin, this process will go much faster for you!  I did not have a Mandolin so my zucchini was not sliced quite as thinly as I wanted, but it all worked out in the end!)

Heat 1 tsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil in skillet over medium-high heat.

Add zucchini to skillet, stir to coat zucchini with olive oil

Cook over medium-high heat until zucchini is almost translucent and is as flexible as cooked spaggheti.

Almost done!

Heat Marinara sauce

Place zucchini on plate, cover with marinara and sprinkle with goat cheese

I liked to mix my goat cheese into the marinara for a creamy sauce

Enjoy!

 

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Zucchini Pasta
Author: 
Recipe type: Main Course
 

Ingredients
  • 1 Zucchini
  • 1 tsp extra virgin olive oil
  • ¼ cup marinara of your choice (I used Rinaldi Chunky Tomato, Garlic & Onion)
  • Goat Cheese to sprinkle

Instructions
  1. Thinly slice zucchini to about fettucini-size.  Do not use the zucchini once you get to the seedy center of it.
  2. Heat 1 tsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil in skillet over medium-high heat.
  3. Add zucchini to skillet, stir to coat zucchini with olive oil
  4. Cook over medium-high heat until zucchini is almost translucent and is as flexible as cooked spaggheti.
  5. Heat Marinara sauce
  6. Place zucchini on plate, cover with marinara and sprinkle with goat cheese

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Super Sweaty Workout

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Today was a fantastic day for a run, but because I’m trying to take it easy out on the trail so as to not bring my shin splints back on, I limited my outside run to only 2 miles on the flat easy trail.

Today was another cardio-only day so I spent 5 minutes on the Stairmaster on a setting of 19/20, a great way to get the heart pumping and the sweat flowing!

And speaking of sweat… Let me tell you what a difference it makes to have a good book with you on the elliptical…

As I mentioned before I’m reading Lightning by Dean Koontz.

I was so absorbed in this book that my 45 minute elliptical workout flew by in no time and when I was finished I was so drenched that you probably could have wrung my shirt out and swam in the puddle of sweat.  Sorry for that visual, but it was intense!

After that workout I ventured outside for a 2 mile run on the trail.

Like I said, it was a beautiful day for a run, and the trail is the perfect place for an easy run… and the scenery is great!

After my workout I refueled with half of a chicken salad sandwich on an Arnold Sandwich Thin.  The chicken salad was made with chicken, diced apple, diced onion, pepper, and just enough Mayo made with Olive Oil to coat everything.

Delicious.

Also, I discovered my new favorite snack today!

I love almonds and I love chocolate, so I knew I couldn’t go wrong by buying these!

Question:  What is your favorite cardio workout?

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Sweet Potato & Black Bean Chili

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So, I’m kind of a sissy when it comes to the cold.  This morning it was probably 55 degrees outside but I miiiiight have acted like it was below freezing.  I’m not ready to trade in my flip-flops for close toed shoes just yet (really, I’m never ready for that) but my car doesn’t have working heat, so though I bundle up like I’m in Canada in December my feet freeze the whole drive to work (which was an hour and a half long this morning :-( ), my fingernails turned blue and my nose was so cold I thought someone had replaced it with an ice-cube.

The saddest thing is, it is only mid-September, and I’m already having such trouble dealing with the cold.  I’m certainly not looking forward to November, December, January…  I think I’m going to have to eventually migrate far south of Baltimore to a warmer climate!

Cold weather like this morning’s calls for hearty meals that warm you from the inside out, so today was the perfect time to try out a recipe for some Sweet Potato Chili.

This chili recipe is probably my favorite one to date.  It is very healthy (sweet potatoes and black beans are both so good for you) and delicious, and pretty darn easy to throw together.

(Recipe from Eating Well)

Ingredients:

2 tsp extra virgin olive oil

1 large sweet potato, diced

This was the size of my sweet potato… pretty big!

1 white onion, diced

3 (large) cloves garlic, minced

1 Tbsp chili powder

2 teaspoons ground cumin

1/2 teaspoon ground chipotle chile, (see Note)

1/8 teaspoon salt, or to taste

1 1/3 cups water

1 15 oz can black beans, rinsed

1 14.5 oz can Hunts Fire Roasted Diced Tomatoes

2 teaspoons lime juice

Optional: chopped cilantro to stir into chili after it is done cooking.  I went without the cilantro

Instructions:

Heat olive oil over medium-high heat. Add onion and potato and cook, stirring often, until the onion is slightly softened, about 4 minutes.

Add garlic, chili powder, cumin, chipotle and salt and cook, stirring constantly, until fragrant, about 30 seconds.

Add beef broth or water, bring to a simmer, cover, reduce heat to maintain a gentle simmer and cook until the potato is tender, 10 to 12 minutes.

Add beans, tomatoes and lime juice; increase heat to high and return to a simmer, stirring often. Reduce heat to maintain a simmer and cook until slightly reduced, about 4 minutes.

Remove from the heat and stir in cilantro, if using.

 

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Sweet Potato & Black Bean Chili
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 

Serves: 3 (1½ cup per person)
 

Ingredients
  • 2 tsp extra virgin olive oil
  • 1 large sweet potato, diced
  • 1 white onion, diced
  • 3 (large) cloves garlic, minced
  • 1 Tbsp chili powder
  • 2 teaspoons ground cumin
  • ½ teaspoon ground chipotle chile
  • ⅛ teaspoon salt, or to taste
  • 1⅓ cups water
  • 1 15 oz can black beans, rinsed
  • 1 14.5 oz can Hunts Fire Roasted Diced Tomatoes
  • 2 teaspoons lime juice
  • Optional: chopped cilantro to stir into chili after it is done cooking. I went without the cilantro

Instructions
  1. Heat olive oil over medium-high heat. Add onion and potato and cook, stirring often, until the onion is slightly softened, about 4 minutes.
  2. Add garlic, chili powder, cumin, chipotle and salt and cook, stirring constantly, until fragrant, about 30 seconds.
  3. Add water, bring to a simmer, cover, reduce heat to maintain a gentle simmer and cook until the potato is tender, 10 to 12 minutes.
  4. Add beans, tomatoes and lime juice; increase heat to high and return to a simmer, stirring often. Reduce heat to maintain a simmer and cook until slightly reduced, about 4 minutes.
  5. Remove from the heat and stir in cilantro, if using.

Nutrition Information
Serving size: 1½ cup Calories: 283 Fat: 5 Saturated fat: .5 Unsaturated fat: Poly: .5, Mono: 2.3 Trans fat: 0 Carbohydrates: 50 Sugar: 9 Sodium: 960mg Fiber: 14 Protein: 12 Cholesterol: 0

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Laid Back Sunday

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Pretty laid back day today, which is always nice!  I’ve been working on getting a more personalized theme for my blog but it’s taking some time…

Breakfast this morning was a Banana Donut in lieu of a regular gas-station donut.

It hit the spot without weighing me down like a regular donut would have, and I made it through a workout without feeling sick from a sugar/fat/grease overload.

Workout

I’ve developed shin splints again that are currently keeping me bound to the elliptical, which is not very exciting.  Fortunately, with a good book it’s  a lot easy to power through 35 minutes of elliptical on the cross-training setting.  I’m currently reading Lightning by Dean Koontz.  I’m a huge Dean Koontz fan and though I”m only 50 pages into this book, I have a feeling I won’t be disappointed by this novel.  This particular novel is one of Koontz’s older works, published in 1989 (An excellent year, considering that I was born then ;) ).

After the elliptical was 2 minutes of planking followed by  3 reps of 8 each on the chest press, leg extensions, leg curls, and abs.

Lunch was the last of my Quinoa Chili with a side of grapes.

I don’t know what it is but for some reason I need to have both purple and green grapes together to really enjoy them.  I don’t like to eat just one or the other, I need one purple and one green at the same time, it’s like they balance each other out.  Maybe that’s just me though…

I spent most of my time after lunch working on updating and personalizing my theme (which is obviously not finished) until it was time for dinner.  My family usually goes out to dinner together on Sunday, and this weekend we went to Friendly Farms.  They have delicious crab cakes (though I can’t say I’ve ever had a crab cake that wasn’t delicious).

A nice, tasty end to the weekend.

What is your favorite thing to read while working out?

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Baked Banana Donuts

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Every Sunday after church, my family has a sort of informal tradition where we stop at the local gas station on the way home and pick up a dozen donuts for breakfast.  I love donuts, but I hate the way I feel after devouring one.  Every Sunday I end up feeling gross from an overload from sugar and fat and spend the morning feeling like there is a rock sitting in my stomach.  Not pleasant.

This morning I decided to make my own much healthier donuts instead. I adapted this recipe from Undressed Skeleton and modified it to make it even healthier than the original form.

I’ve made these donuts before, but always with Whole Wheat Flour.  After running out of Whole Wheat Flour on Friday, I was excited to find WhiteWhole Wheat flour at my grocery store and I quickly snatched that up.

White whole wheat flour offers all of the same nutritional benefits of regular whole wheat flour, but it’s better for baking with because it has less of the taste of regular wheat flour.  Sounds like a win-win to me! :)

Ingredients (makes 12 donuts):

  2 ripe bananas

2 egg whites

1 Tbsp unsweetened applesauce

3/4 c brown sugar (packed)

1/2 tsp vanilla

1 c All Purpose flour

3/4 c Whole Wheat flour (or White Whole Wheat, as I used this time)

1/2 c oats

2 Tbsp ground flax-seed (optional, I add it for extra nutritional value)

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp cinnamon

1 Tbsp white sugar (optional)

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 425.  Spray 2 cookie sheets with cooking spray.

Mash bananas well.  In mixer, combine bananas, egg whites, applesauce, brown sugar, and vanilla.

Mix until combined.

In separate bowl, combine flours, oats, baking soda, baking powder, ground flax-seed, and cinnamon.

Gradually stir dry mixture into banana mixture.

Stir until all ingredients are combined.  Allow dough to sit for 5 minutes to rise.

Spoon heaping tablespoons of dough onto cookie sheet (about several tablespoons per donut, should make 12 donuts)

Using a knife, form a hole in the center of the dough

Sprinkle with sugar if desired.

Cook at 425 for 7-8 minutes

 

 

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Baked Banana Donuts
Author: 
Recipe type: Breakfast
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 

Serves: 12
 

Ingredients
  • (makes 12 donuts):
  • 2 ripe bananas
  • 2 egg whites
  • 1 Tbsp unsweetened applesauce
  • ¾ c brown sugar (packed)
  • ½ tsp vanilla
  • 1 c All Purpose flour
  • ¾ c Whole Wheat flour (or White Whole Wheat, as I used this time)
  • ½ c oats
  • 2 Tbsp ground flax seed
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • ½ tsp baking soda
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • 1 Tbsp white sugar (optional)

Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 425.  Spray 2 cookie sheets with cooking spray.
  2. Mash bananas well.  In mixer, combine bananas, egg whites, applesauce, brown sugar, and vanilla.
  3. Mix until combined.
  4. In separate bowl, combine flours, oats, baking soda, baking powder, ground flax seed (if using) and cinnamon.
  5. Gradually stir dry mixture into banana mixture.
  6. Stir until all ingredients are combined.  Allow dough to sit for 5 minutes to rise.
  7. Spoon heaping tablespoons of dough onto cookie sheet (about several tablespoons per donut, should make 12 donuts)
  8. Using a knife, form a hole in the center of the dough
  9. Sprinkle with sugar if desired.
  10. Cook at 425 for 7-8 minutes

Nutrition Information
Serving size: 1 donut Calories: 148 Fat: .7 Saturated fat: 0 Trans fat: 0 Carbohydrates: 35 Sugar: 16 Sodium: 95 mg Fiber: 2.6 Protein: 4 Cholesterol: 0

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