Whirlwind of activity

Pfew! What a day. I didn't even do all that much, but commuting from place to place (today I was in three different burroughs!) that really wipes me out. I went all the way uptown today just to get a couple hours of mid-day shut-eye... you gotta do what you gotta do.

This morning I made a breakfast cookie out of steel cut oats, which was a first for me. It was definitely a lot chewier, and I think they work better as overnight oats or plain ole stovetop (which reminds me, I don't even remember the last time I made oatmeal on the stove!), but it still tasted yummy and filled me up. I topped it with a craisin/currant version of Ari's band's logo. Bring on the cheese.

1/2 cup steel cut oats
1/2 scoop vanilla protein powder
1 tbsp peanut butter
1/2 banana
2 big scoops nonfat plain yogurt
craisins/ currants

I made a little pit stop at Wallgreens on the way to the gym for some much needed supplies. (Yes, Lucky is a necessity, thank you very much.)


I took Caroline's advice and bought some Tiger Balm to rub into my sore spots. I had an awful experience in 6th grade when I applied Bengay to my stomach (for kicks, I guess?) and was promptly told by one of my classmates that I smelled like a peppermint. My abs have been pretty uncomfortable for the last few days, so I tested a small amount of TB on my stomach. It wasn't too painful, so I just slathered it on my tummy.

I'm still getting to know my HRM, so here are the stats I do have:

Stairmaster: 20:00 minutes
Bike: 20:00 minutes
About 440 calories burned... I might have to take my notebook with me again until I get the watch figured out.

Usual ab series, minus leg lifts (abs need a little rest)

I had an apple on the way out. If I'm gonna take pictures in the gym, I might as well set the stage!


I went to Whole Foods to pick up some things. I got three new bars (Gnu, ThinkThin & Amazing Grass Organic Superfood), Unsweetened Almond Breeze, Ezekiel Sprouted 7 Grain English Mufins, a dark chocolate bar, and my usual bar variety. Whole Foods always has coupons for bars, so be sure to pick the coupon booklet up at the front of the store! I was distressed to discover that their Union Square locations does not have a bulk foods bar. What's up with that, WF?


I decided to try something that's been in our fridge for a very long time:


I used it to cover one half of my English muffin. On the other half, I had a whole can of [dolphin safe] tuna mixed with the juice of half a lemon, two tsp of Fage, craisins and grapes; dijon mustard, and lettuce. Yum! (Tuna salad does not photograph so well...) I'd planned on having butternut squash fries, but alas, the squash was no longer. Instead, I had a sweet potato with B&B and brown sugar. Not much of a sacrifice, I have to say... I think I could eat these guys every day.


With almond milk (I added vanilla extract to it and it tasted like coconut...?) and my long-lost vitamins:


I had a date and a prune for dessert, each stuffed with peanut butter and a chocolate chip.


This evening, I went to see The Cherry Orchard with my parents at the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) in Fort Green.


We went to an Austrian Bistro called Thomas Beisl for dinner, which was conveniently right across the street. I started with a glass of Grüner Veltliner.


Blurry bread plate that tastes better than it looks... soft and salty! I had a slice with a little butter.


My parents and I split an appetizer sampler of different Austrian salads: beet, potato, cucumber, and lentil.


For my entrée, I had oven-baked salmon (they couldn't grill, steam or poach it) with sautéed greens and parmesan polenta. It was delicious. I'd actually been planning on making a polenta dish that I saw in SELF later this week, so I guess I'll hold off on that! I had half the salmon, all the greens and 2/3 of the polenta. I don't know why, but I was full after only a few bites. I kept on eating, but I'm glad I didn't force myself to eat the whole thing.


I needed a little coffee to make sure I wouldn't fall asleep during the play, which has been known to happen with me....


For dessert, we all split an apple cranberry oatmeal crumble with vanilla ice cream. It was divine. I'll have to remember to use toasted oats as a topping!


The play was really, really good. The cast was stellar (Ethan Hawke, Rebecca Hall, Richard Easton, Sinéad Cusack, etc.) and the story (Chekov) was great. The theater itself was really neat, too, and I snuck a look at the café menu and that looks good, too!

I'm off to douse myself in Tiger Balm goodness hit the hay. Oh, and I also just had a pickle and a light Baby Bell cheese. No photo... it all happened so fast!

Bonne nuit, mes amis.

You'll shoot your eye out, kid!

Hiya kiddos! I'm so sorry about the posting delay. I hate posting once a day! Oh, how did I live before the blog? (Just kidding... sort of.)

I had a nice dinner at home with my parents last night. My dad made one of my favorites: a sort of Cajun-rubbed salmon. We also had garlicky broccoli and basmati rice. I enjoyed it all with a nice mug of skim milk.


We had Haagen-Daaz Vanilla Swiss Almond ice cream for dessert; it's a Lilveggiepatch family favorite. We had it with homemade passion fruit jam that we brought back from Switzerland a few years ago. The flavors had time to steep together and it was delicious on the ice cream!

We watched A Christmas Story while we ate; I had to leave before the movie was over so I'm watching it while I type this. My mom gets so excited each year because she's from Indiana, too! Apparently the house has been restored to "its original splendor," with all the old furnishings and everything!


Ari treated me to breakfast this morning at our diner. What a nice boy! Look at that fuzzy smile.


Bagel with lox it was, again! I got the cream cheese on the side, and I only spread a little on each quarter.

Breakfast was a little bigger than I'm used to, and it put me right to sleep for two hours. The epic napper is back! I had a banana and left for the gym.


We got so much snow today, and it's still coming down! I thought I got a vacation from this! Actually, I'm hoping it'll stay around until next Thursday... we haven't had a white Christmas in years.


My workout was less intense than yesterday, but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't sweaty and gross by the time I was done. I was so sore when I woke up this morning. Guess I haven't done a workout like that since before my injury. My little abs (very little) hurt when I laughed! No pain, no gain, right?

Stair mill:
20:16 minutes
201 calories burned
1.57 miles
75 floors climbed

Elliptical:
10:08 minutes
102 calories burned
.89 miles

Bike:
10:00 minutes
1.5 miles
74 calories burned

Usual ab series (I added a 6-pound medicine ball to my seated twists today and yesterday, which probably added to my soreness).

I was starving when I finished, so I had half of a Pear Apple Streusel Clif Bar. I was SO EXCITED to finally find this... it's the one flavor I hadn't found! (Yes, I know it's a little sad to get so happy about a nutrition bar, but whatever.) It was pretty good, but I think I still prefer the kinds with chocolate in them.


I got home around 4:15 and made a huge salad. We conveniently had some of these Morningstar Farms Chik'n Meal starters, unopened, in the freezer from over the summer. I always forget how much I love these, which is sad because they are SO GOOD!


In my salad:
romaine
Chik'n Strips
grapes
apple (I ate most of it before it made it into my bowl; I was so hungry!)
craisins
walnuts
vinaigrette: mustard, pear-infused vinegar, olive oil, salt & pepper


I'm going to have a little snack before I go to work tonight, since I won't get to eat until midnight. Enjoy your Friday nights!

Mish Mash

Good morning! I had another weird night of sleep last night but woke up feeling a million times better. I hope everyone else is fighting off their flus... don't forget to get your shots if you haven't already!

Before I went to the gym, I had a Kashi trail mix bar.


I had a pretty good workout today, although after 20 minutes on the bike I was tempted to stop. I just put down my book, put my headphones (I am sorely in need of a new pair... the left earbud doesn't work and the wires are exposed...) on and powered through 15 more minutes.

Bike
36:00 minutes
6.64 miles
306 calories burned

Machines
pulldown- 3 x 10 @ 30 lbs
chest press- 3 x 10 @ 10 lbs
shoulder press- 3 x 10 @ 10 lbs
row/rear deltoid- 1 x 10 @ 10 lbs, 2 x 10 @ 15 lbs

usual ab series, + 2 30 second plank holds (I think I'm going to stat adding these to my daily routine)

I'm going to my prof's house today for brunch, so I only made half a smoothie today.

2.5 scoops Greek yogurt
1/2 scoop vanilla protein powder
1 clementine
handful frozen cranberries

This strange combination (I don't really have any fruit in the house) was surprisingly tasty. I guess citrus/cranberry go together a lot, I just never thought to put them into a smoothie.

Someone else is bringing potatoes to the pot-luck, so rather than have a starch overload I decided to bake muffins and bring salad fixings.

Women's Health had an article few months back about muffins that do your body good (instead of confirming the old story that "Krispy Kreme donuts have less fat than a blueberry muffin). I made the good-for-your heart Apple-Cinnamon Oat Bran muffin, with a few adaptations. Here's my version of the recipe:

Apple-Cinnamon Oat Bran Muffins

1/2 cup oat bran (Bob's Red Mill)
1 cup whole wheat pastry flour (Bob's Red Mill
1/4 cup ground flax seed (Bob's Red Mill)
1 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground ginger powder
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1 egg, beaten
4 tbsp canola oil
1/3 cup applesauce
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup chopped pecans

Preheat oven to 350.

In a large bowl, whisk together bran, flour, flax seed, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger.

In a separate bowl, whisk together egg and oil until smooth. Stir in applesauce and sugar. Combine mixtures and fold in pecans.

Spoon batter into paper-lined muffin tin. Bake for about 20 muffins, or until muffin tops spring back when lightly touched. Cool and enjoy!




As you can see, these aren't exactly fluffy muffins. On the Women's Health website, a lot of the testers said that their muffins didn't puff up. Hopefully they'll still taste good... I'll tell you how they are after the brunch.

Have a great day, and Happy Monday!

Transit Eats

I guess my stomach's already used to eating more (and better!) and I was sort of in a constant state of being hungry or thinking about being hungry.

Before I left for the airport, I made a sandwich to take with me: cranberry sauce, sharp cheddar, spinach, apple and mustard on baguette.


All wrapped up and purdy like a present:


Luckily we figured out my flight was delayed 3 hours before I left, and my dad got me on a different flight on a totally different airport. That one was also delayed, but at least I got on and didn't have to take the 8 AM flight tomorrow morning!

I had a Fage 0%/pumpkin/pecan/honey snack before I left:


An apple at the airport:


Apple cake on the plane:


And finally (I hope), an Oatmeal Squares/Wheetabix/skim milk clemmie snack when I got home in St. Paul.

I already miss New York! That break felt like such a tease. I missed my kitties (Betty Ford is sitting on my arm as I type this) and friends though, and I'm going to try to get right back into my routine tomorrow morning by going to the gym at 7.

Hope you've all had lovely Thanksgivings. How many days until Christmas break...?

Up and at 'em

I've been craving a smoothie for a while, but since I usually get up earlier than Jalene it wouldn't be very nice to wake her up with the blender. Today was the perfect day (although outside it is cold, gray and rainy and I'm going to stay cozy and warm in here as long as possible), and I whipped up a killer if I do say so myself.



4 tbsp plain nonfat yogurt

1 scoop vanilla Dessert protein powder

1 tsp flax seeds

1 tsp peanut butter

1 banana (1/2 blended in and 1/2 sliced on top)

1/2 cup frozen cranberries

1/4 cup muesli

4 walnuts, crushed on top


So good! I can't even taste protein powder, and that aftertaste is the reason why I don't make smoothies more often. It packed over 30 grams of protein, which i a great way to start the day.

I'm off to the Tria center to go to the acute injury clinic to get an ex-ray of my leg and find out what the heck is going on! (Sorry, S. Pal took over my brain for a second there.)