Cookies!

When I came home this evening I announced, "I'm having a very specific craving for Nilla Wafers." Sweetie replied that she was pretty sure she'd seen how to make those online somewhere. I went in search and sure enough, I found recipes abound! I had narrowed it down to 2, and decided to try the one on Weelicious that used one whole egg instead of 2 egg yolks.

As always, I made sure to read all the instructions before starting. Good thing too, because instruction #1 was to preheat the oven. Instruction #6 was to refrigerate the dough for 30 minutes. This happens all the time and it irritates the bejeezus out of me because it makes zero sense. Anyway, I saw that the flour, baking powder, and salt was to be mixed in a bowl together and set aside to be added in later. I had what I considered to be a genius flash and used a Gladware container for those ingredients. Then I just snapped on the lid and shook away! Perfect and no-mess.

Genius

In the end, I changed too much to say for sure if these didn't replicate Nilla Wafers because of my changes or because that's not what the recipe does. 

Cream sugar & butter 3-4 minutes until fluffy.
Sweetie told me that means it should look like mashed potatoes.

Add the egg & vanilla. I'll use more vanilla next time.

Add the flour mixture and mix till smooth.
The beater licking was SO GOOD!

Supposed to be teaspoon sized balls.
I used a #70 scoop  which is closer to a Tablespoon.

Smash them flat. The dough was sticking to my glass so I
started dipping it in sugar.

In the end, they didn't taste like the Nilla Wafers in my memory. They weren't immensely vanilla-y, which is something I definitely remember from the store-bought version.  They weren't crispy, but that might be due to the larger sizes I made. 

However, they were so delicious and so easy that they are definitely still on the list of cookies to make when I'm having that craving. I will be trying another batch later this week with some changes. I will add more vanilla and make the balls teaspoon sized. They don't expand when cooking so you can tell exactly what size they'll be when they're on the tray.

Food!

Last week, I had the same thing for breakfast and lunch every day. This is actually pretty typical for me. I very much enjoy food, especially those which are full of flavor. I love trying new foods and dishes. I love the smells, the colors, and the variety. However, most of the time I eat more for satiation than for pleasure.

I've been eating steel-cut oats with some variation of toppings every morning for a little over a year now. (Unless we run out or I've put off making it.) These last two weeks, the topping was a tablespoon of cocoa and a teaspoon of sugar. A few days, I stole some of Max's "treats" and threw in some dried banana chips. It was like a dark chocolate version of no-bake cookies without the peanut butter and felt like having dessert for breakfast. Excellent!

Dessert for breakfast!

For lunch last week, I had frozen mixed vegetables and shrimp, tossed in Franks Red Hot Sauce. After that was finished, I'd eat 4-5 sticks of raw jicama. Today I got adventurous and threw chunked up jicama into the shrimp concoction. The sweetness of the jicama kind of got lost in the spice. When I finished, I wished I hadn't done it because I wanted that refreshingly cool and sweet crunch to clear my palette.

Shrimp w/ veggies & raw jicama chunks - doused in Franks Red Hot Sauce

We had friends over for game night on Friday and Sweetie made some snacks & treats for the group. As always, her creations were delicious!

Bruschetta	"Southwest Chicken Puffs"	Pastry puff filled with pudding & whipped cream

The toast points for the bruschetta were from a loaf of french bread she had made the day prior. She felt it had too much yeast to be eaten soft & warm but it worked excellent as toast points for the tomato-basil & herb goat cheese.

The chicken was a mixture of pieces from the chickens she'd roasted, cream cheese, and salsa.

The pastry puffs were made from scratch as well but I have no idea where the recipe came from. Maybe she'll read this and comment ;-)

Korean Food and a 97 Degree April Day!

Sweetie and I are part of a Supper Club that meets once a month. Each person in the group gets a month to pick and this week, the pick was Kokoro Maki House. They had both Japanese and Korean cuisine to choose from and a very large variety of sushi. I still didn't get brave enough to buy the sushi but after seeing everyone's samples around me, I'll definitely be trying some next time!

I ordered the Bul Go Gi with steamed rice, which was served with a side of Kimchi, Eomuk (fish cake), and Potato BokkEum. I'm including some pictures below that I found online - I did not whip out my camera during dinner but these all look like what I was eating.

Kimchi 

Bul Go Gi

Eomuk (closest link I could find - no soup though)

Potato BokkEum

Oh, and Sweetie shared some tempura calamari with me. Everything was delicious and I definitely want to try more! The couple sitting next to me had a sushi roll that was beef & asparagus, and a friend next to them had a cucumber roll. There was also a roll on the menu that had smoked salmon, cream cheese, and apple - that sounded decadent! So I think next time I'll spring for the sushi.

In other news, the weather has turned again. It was a blasting 97 degrees here today. In APRIL!? I am terrified at what August will bring. Yesterday, I planted a second round of snow peas, a second round of radish, and tried another direct planting of tomato & basil. I also planted various lettuces and a cucumber. One of the lettuces was actually the stem of a romaine head we'd finished from the store. I thought I'd try burying it and seeing if it takes root again. The same concept supposedly works with celery so I figured it was worth a shot. We'll see in a few weeks how those all turned out. Last night, I drew up the flower-scape intended to fill in around the veggies. I had planned to plant those today but it was just too hot. I also still need to widen the rock trench bordering the fence line landscaping in the backyard. It's supposed to be cool again by Saturday and we don't have any plans so I might just get it done!

We're having a group of friends over for a game night this Friday, which I'm very much looking forward to. I'm sure I'll have some fun quips to share about that on Sunday. 

Frustration and Mormons (Not Correlated!)

We found out on Sunday night that our dog Max believes wind storms to be almost as scary as thunderstorms. Sweetie and I had enjoyed a great evening and finally laid down for sleep around 2am. Max decided at 2:30 that he needed consoling and jumped his gate. So I stayed on the couch and slept intermittently between his pacing fits every time a wind gust hit the house.

Monday morning I headed to my car bleary eyed and beaten, only to see that the recycle bin contents had been blown across 3 neighboring lawns.

And yes, it had occurred to me to put the heavy trash bags on top of the bin ...

... at about 2:00am. So there's that.

After picking up the recycling and wedging the bin against the house, it occurred to me that I still hadn't pulled cash for the office lunch. I specifically only wanted to pull $15 and had previously been able to do so at a few bank ATMs.

They apparently chose Monday as the day to thwart me. I went to 3 banks before giving up and heading across town to my last ditch effort which resulted in success!

Have I mentioned yet that I'm already running 20 minutes late to work by this point?

So I got the cash. Our office had lunch and I handed over my contribution to the boss's birthday lunch. How much was left over in my pocket? $7. Seriously. I could have just stopped at the first ATM and pulled $10 to begin with. I was so irritated. I'd love to say I was excited to have extra cash to spend but I didn't - I needed to buy stamps. Oh well, at least I had the money to buy stamps I guess :-)

All day long I looked forward to going home, picking up Sweetie, and heading out to watch Hunger Games at a theater 30 minutes away. When we got to the door, the manager came up and apologized because they had just cancelled the evening showing 10 minutes prior. I wanted to cry. Two days of sleep deprivation were catching up with me.

One of the awesome things about being an adult:

Consolation prize for two cruddy days in a row.

I can make a freaking root beer float whenever I damn well please and for whatever reason I deem appropriate! Consolation prize acquired. Then Sweetie and I watched a Netflix that's been sitting in our living room for almost 3 weeks. We watched The Tourist which was just good enough to give my attitude a much needed adjustment.

Yesterday I got frustrated again while trying to slog through the various prepay phone service options. When I got home, we took Max for a walk which helped alleviate the tension. I noticed the Peonies were blooming so I cut a few and brought them inside. They smell so beautiful!

Peonies from the yard

This morning, I went to my obgyn for then annual checkup. He asked again about my cholesterol. It's odd that he's concerned about that but I like that he takes an interest in my heatlth ouside the girly parts. At least I've got one doctor looking out for me!
He had a nurse practitioner (a woman, ugh) learning with him so I got everything twice. Woo! I'm pretty sure all women reading this understand that this is not a form of special treatment.
All that talk of cholesterol concerns had me craving crap food something fierce! I dug out enough change in my car to buy a double chocolate donut from Lamar's and ate it with satisfaction.

Tonight, Sweetie and I went with friends to the open house tour for the Kansas City Missouri Temple.

The tour consisted of a short video explaining why Mormons build temples and a little about their beliefs, followed by an hour guided tour explaining the purpose of each room. We were requested to not take pictures inside or I would show you my favorite parts, which consisted of paintings and architecture. I didn't think it was as architecturally beautiful as Catholic temples but was beautiful.

When we got home, Sweetie set right to work getting chickens in the oven to roast. They were on a good sale so she's roasting them, I'm carving them, then we'll freeze the chicken pieces in portions we can pull out for dinners. She just posted this image on Facebook so I guess it's time for me to get carving!

Winner winner chicken dinner!

Mindless Hand-To-Mouth

I forgot to plan something to bring for lunch today. Luckily, I had a free coupon in the car for a Jalapeno Cheddar Sausage from Quik Trip! I walked there and on my way back decided to stop in at Dollar Tree for a bag of chips. The bargainer in me snagged up the Salsitas bag because it was bigger than the Doritos (and I happen to like them).

I have a problem with bagged chips. If I portion them out on a plate and put the bag away, I'm fine. If I'm eating them directly out of the bag, I'll eat the whole damn bag. It doesn't matter if it's a 20 serving bag (or in today's experience, a 5 serving bag), I will continue that hand-to-mouth routine until it's empty.

How was lunch though? It was great! It felt like middle school field trip lunch. I don't know if this was common for most people, but my school (a private Catholic school) would take field trips during the day to various outdoor places. When we did, we were to bring a sack lunch. I remember sitting on grass under the bright sun with a warm breeze, munching away at my bologna sandwich & chips. I also remember getting soda but I don't know if that was packed in my lunch or provided by the school. For me, it was a treat because we rarely got soda when I was a kid. Today, I was walking but the feeling of eating processed meat in the bright sun with a warm breeze was the same as I remembered it.

Pushing & Pizza

This week has been tough. The weather has been gloomy and rainy. We can't go for our nightly walks and there's no sunshine pouring through the windows. It really takes its toll on me and by the time I get home, the last thing I want to do is exercise.

Monday I skipped the workout all together. I did not want to run in place after having been able to stretch my legs outside for a full week. I also couldn't be bothered to decide on an alternative exercise that would suffice for replacing the run. By the time I was heading to bed, I felt like a complete slug. I was like that character with a black cloud hovering over their head. Or Eeyore.

Tuesday I knew better than to let myself skip again. I went downstairs and decided to do jumping jacks for 20 minutes to make up for the run I didn't do on Monday. Instead, I did jumping jacks until I couldn't stand it anymore and then lightly jogged in place (sometimes just walked in place) until the burning in my calves went away, then jumping jacks again. I felt like it was a satisfactory replacement since I was just as winded and sweaty and jello-y as I am when I finish a good run.

Then I did something strange. I decided I'd go ahead with that night's scheduled workout as well! It was Shoulder, Arms, & Abs so I figured my jiggly legs wouldn't be to bothered by it anyway. I was right, the workout was completely do-able and I finished it feeling great. I felt so great, that I went ahead and did the "Strength Rounds" that usually follow the run (which I had skipped because my legs were so wiggly). I only got 6 rounds out before I felt like my legs were going to give out under me during the squats.

Wednesday morning I woke up feeling a strangely familiar soreness. My entire body ached. I could feel each an every muscle that had been worked the night before - especially my calves. I hadn't felt that sore since I did the Insanity program.

That night when I got home, Sweetie had a headache and didn't want to make dinner. I offered to make pizza and she took me up on it. The caveat? She was ready to eat. So I skipped the Deck of Cards workout scheduled and made dinner, then ate dinner, then sunk my overstuffed belly into the couch and read Rules of Civility until bedtime. I didn't feel bad at all about skipping, and my attitude didn't cave either. I'm chalking it up to the pizza ;-)

Yay for 60's!

Today's temps were in the mid to high 60's. We had clear skies, a bright sun, and a pretty good breeze going. Absolutely beautiful!

Sweetie and I took our dog Max on a walk as soon as I got home. Tonight was my 20-minute walk/jog so I decided I'd just keep going. Runkeeper tracked me doing 1.32 miles at a pace of 15 minutes/mile. Not nearly as fast as I was when I was running with the C25K music but it was enjoyable and that's what really matters!

When I got home, I did the Strength rounds and was consistent with the 11 rounds in 10 minutes. I still had 45 seconds left on the timer but called it quits instead of getting halfway through a 12th round. I don't need to beat my record every time, LOL! I think I must be getting faster on my push-ups because that's the only part of those sets that I wasn't already moving pretty fast on.

Tomorrow's supposed to break the 70's! We're going to enjoy it while we can!

Healthy Cookie Dough Dip

I had posted previously about trying the "No Sugar Cookie Dough Dip"  from Chocolate Covered Katie. Today, I made the regular version Cookie Dough Dip with brown sugar. I also blended it longer. I came close to burning out the motor of our blender so I'd suggest others stick with Katie's recommendation to NOT use a blender!

cookie dough dip

The majority of this dip is beans. There's a titch of peanut butter, brown sugar, oats, milk and just a dash of baking soda, salt, and vanilla. I have read in the comments that someone prepared PB2 (the powdered peanut butter) according to package directions and it still turned out well - so that's an option if you want to cut the calories even further.

I strayed from the recipe on a few things. I had a bag of beans so instead of canned, I soaked & boiled 135g (the equivalent to 1 1/2 cups, which is what you get out of a 250g can). I used semi-sweet chocolate chips. I don't have a food processor but I do have a "handy chopper" so I pureed it in small batches and then blended it all in the blender on the "liquefy" setting while lightly tapping the top down with a spoon.

So how did it taste?

This batch was a lot less "beany" textured than last time because I took the extra step of liquefying in the blender. I really wish I had a food processor!

This batch also tasted more like cookie dough than the last batch. I didn't have any more graham crackers to eat it with so I just ate it with a spoon. Yup, it is that good! I ate 2/8 of the batch as soon as I finished portioning it out for the week. This will once again be my workweek 3:00 dessert and added bean intake.

Nutritional Info as entered on Sparkpeople.com

Next week, I'm going to make Black Bean Flourless Cake
Sneak peak photo:

Eating Beans As Dessert?!

A few weeks ago, my boss sent a newsletter from our health insurance and one of the featured articles was how certain beans can help lower cholesterol. I was intrigued so I did more research on it. High on the list of good cholesterol-lowering beans was kidney, navy, pinto, black, chickpea (garbanzo), or butter (lima). Only a cup of any of those beans a day is said to lower cholesterol by as much as 10 percent in 6 weeks!

So off I went to search Pinterest. Usually, I would just Google recipes but I've found that Pinterest is pretty good about showing me stuff that other people have already tried and liked without having to wade through pages of comments in multiple recipes. What I stumbled across multiple times was a  "No Sugar Cookie Dough Dip"  and a Cookie Dough Dip from Chocolate Covered Katie.

"No Sugar" Cookie Dough Dip

cookie dough dip

The first few times I saw it, I figured someone had just mistyped when they pinned (which happens so irritatingly often). The third time though, the caption on the pin explained that the dip was made with chickpeas. What?! A dessert snack made with beans? I had to try it.

I decided to try the "No Sugar" version first. I was so happy when I read through the recipe to see that it didn't use Stevia or some other "sweetener". It used dates. The majority of this dip is beans, dates, and chocolate chips. There's a titch of peanut butter and just a dash of baking soda, salt, and vanilla.

I strayed from the recipe on a few things. I had a bag of beans so instead of canned, I soaked & boiled 135g (the equivalent to 1 1/2 cups, which is what you get out of a 250g can). I used regular chocolate chips instead of the sugar-free option of cocoa nibs. I also didn't add oats or milk. I don't have a food processor but I do have a "handy chopper" so I pureed it in small batches.

So how did it taste?

It does not taste like cookie dough but it is so sweet. The texture is a little "beany" but that is more than likely a result of not using the food processor (which she warned about). It was good though, and eaten with 2 graham cracker rectangles, satiated my 3:00 dessert craving every day. I ate 2/8 of the batch as soon as it was finished and had some pretty severe stomach cramps for a little bit. I entered the recipe into Sparkpeople.com and found out I'd eaten 18 grams of fiber within 30 minutes. No wonder I had stomach cramps! I portioned the rest of the batch out to 6 servings for the rest of the week. It's an easy and delicious way to incorporate more beans into my daily intake!

Nutritional info as entered on Sparkpeople.com

I'm going to make it again tonight for this week's dessert cravings. This time though, I'm making the other version which uses brown sugar as sweetener - and I'm thinking that will make it taste more like cookie dough. I think I'll go ahead and throw the oats & milk in there too. I'll be sure to post next week and let you know how it went!

So Farro So Good!

Okay, now that I've settled down from laughing at my own punny joke, I can continue with posting.

I ran out of quinoa last week so I reluctantly pulled the farro out of the freezer for this week's lunches. I don't recall how I used it last time but I do remember being less than thrilled about it. It obviously had something to do with how I prepared it because this time it tastes great!

I followed the instructions on the bag to make what should have been 4 servings. It said to boil for 5-7 minutes or until 'al dente'.  Well, I boiled for 10, it was 'al dente', and there was still water. So I just drained off the water and divided the grain among my lunch containers. I only ended up with 3 1-cup servings. Maybe it wasn't supposed to be a cup? Maybe I should have waited until it absorbed the water? I obviously don't know, but it doesn't really matter now.

Then I divided up a bag of frozen carrots & peas among the 3 containers. And because garlic makes pretty much all veggies better, I divided 2 minced cloves among them as well.

At work (to the misfortune of my coworkers), I broiled fish in the toaster oven when I was ready to eat. It was very filling and Oh So Tasty! The farro isn't overwhelmingly earthy, but has enough to it that it has flavor (unlike rice, which doesn't really have a flavor when plain other than bleh). The garlic softened nicely when I heated the container in the microwave. And the veggies brightened everything up and just made it look pretty.

So the yummy dish, plated, was this:

Farro, peas, carrots, garlic, fish (tilapia, salmon, cod, whatever) seasoned appropriately

It's Soup Weather!

It's been soup weather for about a month now but I've been stuck on the creamy mushy food cravings. Today, I'm making a big batch of soup to keep me away from so much gooey cheese (and ultimately be kinder to my cholesterol!)

I've got some cans of low sodium black and kidney beans from last winter that I need to use. I've also got frozen mixed veggies. With those ingredients in hand, I went to Google for a well-reviewed recipe. I found Tangy Bean Soup. Even better, I can pop it all into a slow cooker and just go about the rest of my day. Awesome.

I also have some leftover tortillas so I might crisp one of those up when I have my bowl at work. The recipe is set at 6 servings so I'm set for lunches all week - plus two servings frozen for some day down the road when I don't feel like cooking again.

Green Tea - thoughts?

Lately, I've been tossing around the idea of switching from coffee to tea for multiple reasons. I first began looking into it when coffee started upsetting my stomach. Then I started getting fitness newsletters that touted the benefits of tea as an appetite suppressant (in line with a healthy eating plan) as well as the many antioxidant benefits. So when today's Health Notes article from HyVee was about green tea, I didn't expect to be reading anything I hadn't already learned.

I didn't expect to learn that by drinking at least 3 cups of green tea a day, I could see results of lower LDL cholesterol totals in as little as three weeks.

This is a renewed motivation to get my blood tested. With current test results in hand, knowing I've been taking fish oil capsules for well over my intended one-month test time frame, I'll have something to compare after a month of drinking green tea.

Are you a tea drinker? What do you think of the claims?

Bottomless pit

I've been doing really great at working out. However, whenever I get back into the habit of daily workouts, it seems to kick my metabolism into overdrive. When I finish the workout I am famished! And when I'm that hungry, I don't do well with portion control. I try, don't get me wrong. I put the good portion amount on my salad plate. I scarf it down and sit for 30 minutes to wait and see if that hunger goes away. Thirty minutes (sometimes more) goes by and I'm still hungry so I eat another helping.
Logically, I can see in hindsight that instead of a second helping, maybe I should be grabbing some fruits or veggies. Unfortunately, that logical sense never seems to hit when that feeling of never-ending-hunger is upon me. The upside is that breakfast and lunch portions haven't changed!
I haven't weighed or measured yet so I can't say with certainty, but I feel like I've just managed to maintain the same weight and measurements. My pants and shirts don't feel like they fit any differently anyway, which is what I was going for.
Still though, if the worst that's happened is that I've maintained my body, I can't say that's a horrible thing.

Productivity :D

I had an excellent week!

The day job has been super busy and doesn't look like it will slow any time soon. Busy days go by quicker and leave me with a sense of accomplishment. They also leave me with an exhausted mind and stress-weary body, but the workouts wipe all that away!

I completed my weekend workouts and managed not to eat like Complete crap. Only 2 more days of Hip Hop Abs and then I'm starting the C25K program. I'm actually hoping to start that tomorrow so I'm back on track with my original calendar. I am a scheduler so I have these calendars that I printed which workout I'm doing on which days. When I changed my rest day and then skipped a few days on the HHA program, it threw off the days. I also have on the calendar that I was going to do Insanity at the same time as C25K but I've changed my mind on that. I think I'm pushing too hard and don't wanna end up back where I was last year.

Wednesday, I will be taking my weight and measurements again to compare with what I took when I started HHA, and also to serve as a comparison for when I finish C25K.

This week's lunch is leftover turkey (some lime-mint roasted and some maple roasted), turkey bacon and whole wheat penne. It seems disjointed because I intended to have sandwiches but the penne was there and Sweetie doesn't like it so I figured I may as well use it. Maybe I'll throw a pesto sauce or something similarly light.

Lazy weekend

Friday was the new rest day for the workout schedule. It's not much of a rest day when I work 2 jobs and have barely 2 hours of down time between them but that's what I've got.
Saturday I woke up very late and didn't have time to workout before heading out to celebrate my brothers' birthdays at the bowling alley. When I got home from that I was just exhausted and didn't feel well. I'd eaten like crap since Thursday night and my body was telling me about it. So I didn't work out.
Sunday I woke up by 9 (still late for what we had planned for the day), proceeded to drive 2 hours to meet up with a friend and help organize for a garage sale (don't feel like we did much though), and drive 2 hours back. I'm exhausted again. I don't feel like crap though. I just don't feel like working out. I've lost the drive. So I'm taking another day off.
I will start up again tomorrow after work. I'm not as likely to talk myself out of working out if I do it as soon as I get home from work. I just walk in the door, change into my workout clothes, and go downstairs. The weekends don't give me that opportunity. I'm a little frustrated that I let it go so easily AND went to crap on the food front, but it's one little slip and not the end of the world. I'll be back on track and feeling great in no time.
I still have steel-cut oatmeal with dried fruit for breakfast throughout the week. I just finished making lunches for the week as well. This week I'll be having tequila-lime seasoned pork with lemon soaked quinoa. I might cook some frozen veggies in a bowl after work to eat on the way home if I don't have room to eat them with lunch. The quinoa tends to fill me up pretty quick.

I'm Prepared!

I've got a really busy 3 weeks coming so I decided I needed to plan my lunches so that I could prepare them over the weekend and have one less thing to remember on weekday evenings.

This week's lunches will be "Fiesta chicken sandwiches" and "Fiesta sweet potatoes". 

The chicken was just a container of fresh salsa and 2 chicken breasts in a crockpot on low for 6 hours. I strained off the excess liquid and put that in a container for the week. When I assemble my sandwich, it's a bun, slice of cheese, green peppers, pineapple, and chicken. SO tasty! 

The potatoes are 2 large sweet potatoes cut into bite sized chunks - tossed with olive oil to coat - then tossed with 2 Tbsp of fajita seasoning (I found a diy and made my own) - bake at 350 for 35 minutes. I'm not as impressed with the potatoes. I don't know if I have too much seasoning or if the potatoes just aren't sweet enough to counter the spice (the ones in the bin marked "sweet potatoes" were yellow/white - not orange.

I went ahead and rearranged the workout schedule. I could see myself allowing a skip day otherwise. So I took Saturday as my rest day and started the week on Sunday. I'll take Friday as my rest day this week which will be one day earlier than scheduled but better than 2 days early. 

I tried working out downstairs tonight. The adapter cable was missing quite a few pins so the picture wouldn't show on the television. Since I'd already lugged everything down (fan, mat, laptop, dvds, water, phone) I wasn't about to pack it all back upstairs. So I just played the dvd from my laptop. About 15 minutes in, the laptop decided it wasn't going to recognize the dvd anymore. ARGH! So I restarted the laptop and walked in place while I waited for the start-up to complete and dvd to load. The rest of the workout went flawlessly. Plus, once I turned on the light, I could see my reflection in the black television screen so it was like having a mirror!

I left the fan and mat downstairs. I think I'll keep working out down there. Maybe we'll find a freebie used dvd player somewhere.

Gardening

All 7 of our tomato plants are plentiful with little green tomatoes! We've even gotten a few red ones from a few - YUM!

Both bell pepper plants have little pepper nubbins on them. One pepper fell off of one and we cracked it open only to find this caviar looking stuff inside. What is that? I really hope all the bells don't do that.

Both of the salsa pepper plants also have peppers dangling all over. I'm very pleased with my ignored gardening method :-)

When the temps get back down to the 80's, I'll throw some more lettuce seed, broccoli, and cauliflower to see how it goes in the front yard. I'm not sure the squirrels and rabbits will let it happen but it's worth a shot. I should probably plant some in a container too.

It would be ideal if I could grow enough lettuce and produce to never have to buy food for lunch but that's apparently a LOT of garden. The yield from one bell pepper plant is enough for 3-5 salads. The lettuce patch I planted earlier in the season was good for about 4 salads. But 4 days isn't enough time for the lettuce to grow to cutting height again. So maybe I'll try a rotation crop next season.

Cool breakfasts

Someone suggested salad for breakfast. I tried it and it was surprisingly filling! I didn't have any added protein - just leaves and veggies and a light drizzle of dressing. I learned later in the day that I probably shouldn't jump right into having 2 salads in one day. It's apparently too much fiber - I wasn't digesting some of the lettuce - so that's something I'll have to work up to.
Maybe to start with, I'll have a small salad for breakfast and my normal sized salad for lunch. Maybe a bowl of fruit with breakfast to help fill up.

I also considered blending fruit with greek yogurt and a splash of juice. The issue here is making time to do so. My mornings are always just-in-time or running late. I'll try making it the night before and see how that tastes having sat in the fridge over night. If that works then I'm golden!

For now though, I really need to suck it up and finish off my oatmeal. I'll be eating it in an air-conditioned office anyway so it shouldn't be the issue that it is. I think I'm just making excuses for my laziness.

Eat Right 4 Your Type

I've been reading "Eat Right For Your Type" by Dr. Peter DÁdamo and it has some interesting advice regarding food choices, exercise, and how to deal with stress based on a person's blood type. 


At first, I was like, "Me? A meat eater?" I mean, I'm not vegetarian but I'm certainly not a meat lover either. As I read though, I began to ease up. I do enjoy fish, and all the fish I eat is listed in the allowed or beneficial columns. Something else he stressed was that the meat should be grass-fed and organic but I'm not too concerned about that at this point. 


Then I got to dairy. Minimal to restrictive dairy? I balked. 


Then nuts. Peanut butter acts as a poison to my blood type? WTH? 


And then finally in beverages. Steer clear of coffee and beer. Oh I was reeling by that point. I was fighting this logic. I've been drinking and eating those things for years with no problems! 


I didn't feel like doing the research to validate or refute his claims though. Then I got to the 'Common Questions' portion of the book. Basically, the level of intensity recommended for following this diet is in relation to how you feel. As long as I am not always tired, having indigestion, experiencing insomnia, noticing a lack of concentration, always feeling cold, or experiencing muscle and joint pain then I'm basically okay. Or if I start having medical problems (high cholesterol?). 


At this time, my only real symptom of my current diet is the high cholesterol. So while I will try to incorporate some of these guidelines into my diet, I don't think I'm to a point yet where I need to be strict about it. Should I eat cheese or yogurt every day? No. But I don't think the occasional casserole with cheese or the dish with cream sauce is going to break the bank at this point.


The exercise portion indicated that Type Os benefit from strenuous exercise and use physical exertion to relieve stress. Bingo! 

I copied a chart that someone online put together which hits the highlights of the food portion for Type Os.

Each of the food groups are divided into three categories: Highly beneficial ( food that acts like Medicine), Foods allowed (food that are no harm to the blood type) and Foods not allowed (food that acts like a Poison)

Characteristics of Type O - Best on High Protein Diet
Thrive on intense physical exercise and animal proteins Do not do well with dairy and grain products Hardy digestive tract The leading factor in weight gain for Type Os is the gluten found in wheat germ and whole wheat products. Type O have a tendency to have low levels of thyroid hormone and unstable thyroid functions, which cause metabolic problems and weight gain. Type O have high stomach-acid content, can digest meat easily.
	Comments	Most Beneficial	Food allowed	Food not allowed
Protein	The more stressful your job or demanding your exercise program, the higher the grade of protein you should eat	Beef, Lam, Mutton, Veal, Venison
	Type Os can efficiently digest and metabolize meats		Any meat except for those listed not allowed	Bacon, Ham, Goose, Pork
	Cold-water fish are excellent for Type Os. Many seafoods are also excellent sources of iodine, which regulates the thyroid function.	Cod, herring, Mackerel	Any fish or seafood except for those listed not allowed	Barracuda, Pickled herring, Catfish, Smoked salmon, Caviar, Octopus, Conch
Dairy	Type Os need to severely restrict the use of dairy products and eggs		Butter, Farmer, Feta, Mozzarella, Goat cheese, Soy Milk	All other dairy products and yogurts
Fat	Type Os respond well to oils	Olive Oil, Flaxseed oil	Canola oil, Sesame Oil	Corn oil, Peanut oil, Cottonseed oil, Safflower oil
Nuts	These foods should in no way take the place of high-protein meats, and they are high in fat especially if you are overweight.	Pumpkin seeds, Walnuts	All kinds except those listed not allowed	Brazil, Cashew, Peanut, Pistachios, Poppy Seeds
Beans	Type Os don't utilize beans particularly well. They tend to make muscle tissue slightly less acidic and inhibit the metabolism of other nutrients.	Aduke beans, Azuki beans, Pinto beans, Black-eyed peas	All kinds except those listed not allowed	Beans - copper, kidney, navy, tamarine. Lentils - domestic, green, red.
Grains	Type Os do not tolerate whole wheat products at all.	Essene Bread, Ezekiel Bread	Amaranth, Barley, Buckwheat, Rice, Kamut, Kasha, Millet, Rye, Spelt	Corn, Gluten, Graham, Wheat (Bulgur, Durum, Sprouted, white and whole, Germ and Bran) farina, Oat, Seven-grains, or any products such as flour, bread and noodles made with these grain products
Vegetables	These vegetables inhibit the thyroid function for Type Os			Brassica family: Cabbage, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, mustard greens
	These vegetables help blood clot, Type Os lack several clotting fractors and need vitamin K to assist in the process	Kale, collard greens, romaine lettuce, broccoli, spinach
	These vegetables irritate the digestive tract and the high mold count can aggravate Type O hypersensitivity problems.			Alfalfa sprouts, shiitake mushrooms, fermented olives
	These vegetables can cause arthritic conditions in Type Os			Nightshades: eggplant, potatoes
	This vegetable affect the production of insulin, often lead to obesity and diabetes for the Type Os.			Corn
	This fruit agglutinate all blood types but Type Os.		Tomatoes
		Artichoke, Chicory, Dandelion, Garlic, Horseradish, Kale, Leek, Okra, Onions, Parsley, Parsnips, Red Peppers, Sweet potatoes, Pumpkin, seaweed, turnips	All kinds except those listed not allowed	avocado
Fruits	Dark red, blue and purple fruits tend to cause an alkaline reaction the digestive tract, and therefore balance the high acidity of the Type Os digestive tract to reduce ulcers and irritations of the stomach lining.	Plums, prunes, figs
	These fruits contain high mold counts which can aggravate Type Os hypersensitivity problems (allergies)			Melons, cantaloupe, honeydew
	These fruits are high in acid content which may irritate the acidic stomach of Type Os		Grapefruit, most berries	Oranges, tangerines and strawberries, blackberries, Rhubarb
	Fruits are not only an important source of fiber, minerals and vitamins, but they can be an excellent alternative to bread and pasta for Type Os		All kinds except those listed not allowed
	Type Os are extremely sensitive to this fruit.			coconut and coconut-containing products
Spices	Rich source of Iodine to regulate the thyroid gland	Kelp-based seasonings, iodized salt
	Soothing to the digestive tracts of Type Os	Parsley, curry, cayenne pepper
	Irritants to the Type O stomach			White and black pepper, vinegar, capers, cinnamon, Cornstarch, Corn syrup, Nutmeg, Vanilla
Condiments			chocolate, honey, cocao	Ketchup, pickles, mayonnaise, relish
Beverages		Seltzer water, Club soda and tea	Wine	Beer, Coffee, Distilled liquor, Black Tea

Hidden Exercise

Saturday I trimmed the hedges along our property line for about 30 minutes. Technically, these are our neighbor's bushes but they don't maintain them so they've become overgrown and are all scraggly looking as well as in our lawn. Mowing around them proved difficult last summer so this year I decided to take matters into my own hands and go hack at them until I was satisfied (with the side that faces our lawn anyway). On Sunday, I felt a little soreness in the muscles in the back of my thighs, a bit in my upper arms near my armpits, and some cramping in my hands. Today it's even worse. I have to wonder if it would be any different had I still been doing the Insanity workouts (or any workouts for that matter). Is this just my body saying WTF? I am SO looking forward to July when I can truly dedicate myself to the fitness portion of this goal.

Saturday morning I had leftovers from dinner out the night before: half a pork chili tamale and about a quarter of a spinach & cheese enchilada. After trimming the hedges, I had another big plate of salad with tomatoes and a baked Swai fillet breaded with Andy's fish breading. When I got hungry later, I had another big plate of salad with tomatoes but was still hungry after that so I had some leftover farro with mixed veggies. Ashley grilled hamburgers for dinner (a small one for me by request).

Sunday I had more salad w/ tomato and another piece of fish for lunch. We were invited by friends for frozen yogurt around dinner time so I had that. Since it was dinner time and I was hungry, I ate more than I usually do. If I remember correctly, my cup was almost 11 ounces! Then on the way home I stopped at Chipotle and we ordered a burrito to split.

So up until Sunday night, I was doing pretty good at staying on track with eating better. I need to get in and get my blood re-tested and would really like to be on an ideal diet for a week before doing so. This way, if the results come back better, I know that it's related to my diet. If the results are still high (cholesterol is what they're concerned about), then I know it's not just diet and will probably need medication to help. So I got through the week and blew it at the end. Going to post a note in my car this week to remind me not to cave so I can get my blood tested on Monday. Maybe I can make myself a reward of getting froyo for lunch that day.

I forgot to weigh myself on Friday, but judging by how my pants are fitting, I'm going to assume I've gained quite a bit...