The Times They are a Changin’

TGIF

So it’s been a while since I last posted. I’d like to say I’ve been too busy but my eats lately haven’t been very exciting and I’ve been spending some quality time with the hubby.

I’m going to give some highlights of my eats over the past few days and then go over my new exercise goals.

Tuesday evening Matt and I grabbed a pizza. I got ham and pineapple on mine. I love pineapple on my pizza. Wednesday I wasn’t feeling like much so I made some oats and a protein green smoothie.

Oats:

• 1/3 cup of rolled oats
• 3/4 cup of UVAB
• 1 tsp of vanilla extract
• 1 tbsp of flaxmeal

In the bowl:

Toppings:

• 1/2 banana
• blueberries

I promise there are oats under there.

Coconut Banana Protein Green Monster

In the blender:

• 2 handfuls of organic spinach
• 1 organic banana
• 1 tbsp of coconut
• 1/2 cup of UVAB
• 1/2 coconut milk
• 1 scoop of Lean Whey
• ice

So bright, fresh and green!

While at the grocery store Matt and I picked up a box of Skinny Cow ice-cream sandwiches. Only 130 calories and they taste just like the ones you use to have when we were kids. So good.

Last night was a healthy version of tacos.

Tacos were made from extra lean ground turkey.

Tacos Seasoning:

• 2 tsp of onion salt
• 1 tsp of chilli powder
• 1/2 tsp of red pepper flakes
• 1/4 tsp of oregano
• 1/2 tsp of garlic salt
• 1/2 tsp of cumin

This seasoning was awesome. Not too spicy but just spicy enough.

Topped with mozza, organic spinach, red pepper and yellow peppers on a whole wheat wrap.

I had two!

Today when I got home from work I had a bowl of organic carrots.

With some roasted garlic hummus.

Dinner tonight was subway – 6 inch turkey on cheesy bread.

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So last night Matt and I sat down to have a serious discussion about our workout/exercise goals. Lately we haven’t been very good with getting to the gym and I think I figured out the problem(s).

We have two.

First: we are over planning – making crazy workout schedules (working out at least 2 times a day) that are unrealistic with our current schedules. We are setting ourselves up for failure and so when we are not able to accomplish them we feel frustrated and disappointed and just stop going to the gym all together.

Second: we keep making goals like – lets run a 5 km this time or run a 10 km at this point. This one is especially not good for me. I get very stressed over running outside. I love to run on the treadmill inside but I just haven’t figured out the outside running thing yet and whenever I start thinking about it I get stressed and think of any excuse not to go.

So here's our new plan. Go to the gym – 5-6 times a week. Three days of cardio, three days a weight training.

Simple. Affective. Realistic.

We are going to focus on just getting back to enjoying working out again. I already feel less stressed and more excited about going back to the gym.

This morning at 5:30 am was our first day back. Our goal is to do weight training Monday, Wednesday, Friday and cardio Tuesday, Thursday and one day of the weekend.

Today was a weight session. I started with a 5 min warm-up on the treadmill then hit the weigh room.

Since next week is our first full week back and I have a plan for the start of next week I just decided to do one more day of Winter Shape Up Week 3 with a few added exercises. My weight session looked like this:

Plie and Bicep Curls	16lbs	12 reps
Bend-Over Row with Kickback	16lbs	12 reps
Ballerina Plie	15lbs	12 reps
Chest Fly and Reverse Crunch	16lbs	12 reps
Lunge and Lateral Raise	10lbs	8 reps per side
Oblique Crunch with Dumbell	12lbs	12 reps
Swimming Back Extension		15 reps
Plank		30 secs
Push-ups		6 reps
Weighted Crunch	12 lbs	12 reps

 

It was a great workout and I’m glad to get back. I have a cardio session planned for tomorrow afternoon so I’ll let you all know how that goes to.

 

I now have the house to myself so I’m going to catch up on Glee (I’m a few weeks behind and can’t wait for the Lady Gaga episode) and do some blog reading and maybe watch a girlie movie. As you can tell I have big plans.

 

Night all!

 

~ Katie :)

No Music? It’s All Good!

Evening all!

This is going to be a quick blog post since 24 starts in 25 mins and it’s the last episode ever of Jack. Must. Be. Fast.

This morning I opened my jar of Prairie Natural Protein Powder.

Lean Whey. Ingredients list was great too. Low in calories and high in protein.

Breakfast was a Coconut Banana Protein Green Smoothie.

In the blender: 2 handfuls of organic spinach, 1 banana, 1/2 cup of coconut milk, 1/2 cup of UVAB, 1 tbsp of coconut. I like it green.

Then I headed for the gym. Once I got to the gym I realized I forgot water bottle at home. Once I stepped on the treadmill I found out that my ipod was dead as well. Crap! I am not good without my ipod. I figured I’d do a quick 5 min warm up on the treadmill then do a quick weight session.

After my warm-up I did another week 3 of Winter Warm Up by Gina. You can check out my previous workout here. My only change was: Oblique Crunch with Dumbell – 15lbs.

After my weight sess I decided to do a 10 min run. 1 min run at 5.2, 1 min run at 6.0. It felt great! I rocked my workout!

When I go home I made a bagel sandwich with sliced Turkey, organic spinach and mozza.

With a side of organic baby tomatoes.

And a large bottle of water.

Yummy.

After lunch I did a little blogging and reading before I decided to go for a short 3.5 km walk. While walking I stopped at the grocery store and at booster juice to pick up a Pineapple Freeze.

Dinner tonight I adapted from Diana. I used her Easy Chicken Penne Arrabiata with Mozza and Basil.

Mine used the following ingredients:

• 2 boneless skinless chicken breasts
• 1 box of penne
• 15 mozza balls (I made from grated mozza)
• 1 jar of tomato sauce (I used a presidents choice 3 cheese pasta sauce)
• 2 handful of baby tomatoes
• red pepper flakes
• basil (I couldn’t find fresh so I had to use the spice instead)

First I cut the chicken breast and cook them with a few red pepper flakes.

As well I cut the tomatoes in half.

And I grated some mozza and rolled them into 15 balls.

While boiling the pasta I heated up the pasta sauce.

I added some more red pepper flakes and the tomatoes.

Then I added the chicken…

And mixed it in…

Finally I added the mozza balls and covered it with a lid for about 5 mins – until the cheese is melted. Then I sprinkled a few flakes of basil on top.

Delish! Dinner is served (with a piece of cheese bread I picked up from the bakery this afternoon – unpictured).

Dinner was awesome! Thanks Diana!

Now I’m going to watch 24 with the hubby and maybe finish Lost from last night. Night!

~ Katie :)

Pasta Revolution

Happy day before the long weekend! How many others are as excited as I am? I’m so excited for the weekend. It’s a long weekend and the weather in Halifax is calling for 20 degrees and sunny. Who could as for a better weekend.

This morning started with another green smoothie. In this morning’s blender: 2 handfuls of organic spinach, banana, 1 tbsp of flaxmeal, 1.25 cups of UVAB, ice and this…

1/2 the pack of Vega Whole Food Smoothie Infusion. I love the extra greens in my smoothie.

I think I’ll be starting my day with a smoothie for the rest of the school year. I’ve had so much more energy the past couple days.

So how many people out there watched Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution? Matt and watched it every week and really started to love it.

I loved the idea that Jamie had to changed the school system and the food that our kids eat. We also loved the idea of eating real food and we’ve been trying to work on that. That includes pasta sauce from scratch not from a bottle.

Tonight we finally decided to try our first Jamie Oliver recipe. Matt decided to cook me Jamie’s Classic Tomato Spaghetti.

He followed the recipe exactly but here’s a quick breakdown of our dinner.

Jamie Oliver’s Classic Tomato Spaghetti

Ingredients:

• 2 cloves of garlic
• 1 red chile
• A small bunch of basil
• Box of Spaghetti
• 1 large can of diced tomato
• Olive Oil
• Parmesan Cheese
• Bag of frozen shrimp (this one we added on our own)

Matt first sliced the garlic and chile and took the basil leaves off the stem and cut up the stems.

He boiled pasta and and in a pan heat up 2 tbsp of olive and cook up the garlic, chile and stems of the basil. When the garlic starts to brown add the tomatoes and the basil.

In a separate bowl cook the shrimp.

Once the pasta is cooked, drain and mix into the tomato sauce.

Then add the shrimp.

Serve on a plate topped with some parmesan.

Served with a piece of Oatmeal brown bread that we picked up at Pete’s this afternoon.

Dinner was simple, healthy and delicious. NOM!

This recipe made 6-7 servings so lots of leftovers.

And after dinner treat included 2 or 3 of these that we also got a Pete’s.

Overall, another great day of eating.

Question: Is everyone enjoying my recipes recently? My dinners have been so yummy lately that I really wanted to share them with all of you. If I’m boring everyone please let me know or if you’d like to see something different on the blog please tell me.

I have lots of big plans for the weekend so hopefully I’ll have some other interesting and exciting posts for you coming up.

~ Katie :)

Evening on the Beach

I had an amazing night last night with the husband. It stared out as just a plan to grab dinner at the pub and ended up with a walk on the beach.

Lunch included leftover nut butter parsnip fries. I must say they were just as good re-heated.

After talking to Jaime on twitter I was craving a green smoothie and since I knew I was going out for dinner I figured I’d stock up on some veggies.

In the blender: 2 huge handfuls of organic spinach, one organic banana, UVAB and some ice.

At dinner I started with a Banana Daiquiri…

And Sesame Chicken Voodoo Sticks…

Matt had a burger and fries…

I had fish and sweet potato fries…

 

There might have need an ice-cream from DQ in there but there’s no photographic evidence :)

It was such a beautiful day Matt and I decided to go for a walk on the beach. I thought I’d share just a few pictures from that walk. I hope you enjoy :)

 

This is our wedding monogram…

A few others…

Finally I decided to attach a video of me playing in the sand and water (yes I know I’m crazy).

Hope you enjoyed the pictures. Have a great weekend all!

~ Katie :)