Guac #5

Today we tried the "A Taste of Honey" guacamole. It was very simple to make - avocado, serrano chile, red onion, tomatillo, lime juice, and honey. Clay made it since I wasn't feeling well! He did a great job. I definitely enjoyed it. The honey added a sweet element to it and it made the consistency smoother than normal guac. I wish you could tell more of the ingredients from these pictures. Maybe I should take a few before everything is mixed together! Well anyway, here it is:

Sickly

Well, I woke up this morning and my throat was really really sore. I felt awful and I couldn't talk very well. I was concerned about how much help I'd be at work so I called Matt and he told me to stay home. I was kind of bummed - I love working, but honestly I would not have been a good worker today.

I knew it was probably a bad idea, but I went to the gym in the morning. I figured even if it made me feel sicker, better to just do it in the morning and then spend the day recovering. I couldn't just not do it. I'm worried enough that my workouts will take a hit when I'm home this weekend, I've gotta keep cranking during the week. So, I went and biked and did the elliptical. On my way out, I stopped in the Poolside Cafe in the AFC and grabbed a mango smoothie! It was soothing on my throat and was only 90 calories! I drank that along with a granola bar, followed by hot chamomile tea. Anything to get me feeling better. I laid around most of the afternoon until Clay got home from work. He fixed me a little plate of my Japanese leftovers for lunch, which worked out great cause I had already had the smoothie. He finished up the leftovers from his potato creation the other night and topped it off with the remains of the corn!

Then the darling boy made our next guacamole, unloaded the dishwasher, and cleaned up the kitchen a bit. It was very nice of him. He left and I continued just kind of hanging out all evening. Since I had kind of been snacking all day and he was working, it didn't make sense for me to cook a meal for just myself. I also didn't feel like leftovers, so my solution was to make a delicious sandwich! It was almost identical to a sandwich we make at GH. I had vanilla almond butter, banana, granola, and honey on Honey Whole Wheat bread. The only difference is we use our Groovy Granola at the bakery, and I had Cville Cluster on hand at home. I actually prefer the Groovy because I like the dried fruit and nuts in it, but the Cluster is good, too. I ate it with a Chobani Greek yogurt. I actually prefere Fage when it comes to Greek yogurt, but the Chobani was on sale when I bought it. I ate my favorite flavor, pomegranate - there are seeds in it! It was a nice lil dinner - Bailey even ate a little piece of bread with banana on it!

That's all for today! Hopefully I'll feel better tomorrow.

Guac #4 - Late Night Edition!

We accidentally forgot our special ingredients for guac last night at dinner time, so our solution was to have late night guacamole! He got off work at 1:00 a.m. I was still awake, eagerly awaiting his return, and he brought a jalapeno and a fresh mango with him for our "hot and fruity" guac. It was a really simple recipe - avocado, serrano chile, jalapeno, mango, and lime juice. Let me tell you, I absolutely LOVED it. It was definitely my favorite so far. The sweetness of the mango was awesome against the heat of the chiles. I've always loved mango flavored/fruity salsas, so it's no surprise I liked this one.

Work It

I worked a lot today, in many ways. I got up and was at the gym working by 10:00. It was weird to do in the morning but I knew I'd be way too tired tonight. Today I upped everything a step for the start of week two. I did the treadmill and the bike.

I worked the closing shift at the bakery, which always makes for a long day, but it of course wasn't too bad. We had an employee meeting tonight where we ate DELICIOUS pizza made from GH dough by Matt and got 2 new t-shirts - I'm super pumped to add them to my rotation! :)

Since I ate pizza, I didn't need dinner at home tonight. It was the perfect tonight to use up some leftovers from the past week of cooking, which is exactly what Clay did. What a feast:

He left to drive a late route, and Nicole came to pick up the loaf of bread I snagged for her at work today and we had a nice chat. After she left I fixed up all my new photos I printed, talked to my mom a bit, and finally finished up the day with weights and situps. Feeling good about things today!

Such a Little Chef

I wanted to take one post to recognize what a great cook Clay is. I'm sure I'll be mentioning his creations many times, but he sent me a picture of a sandwich he made the other day in the hopes that I'd devote a post to him, so here it is. (Who knows if he'll ever read it) He's the king of making huge double decker sandwiches with ham and turkey, hummus, spinach, etc. He's so good at thinking on his feet, and I can always count on him to come up with great flavor combinations. He knows a lot about seasonings and marinades. He's always in charge of the meat when we cook and it's always really flavorful and delicious. So here's the sandwich! Hooray for my love! :)

Guac #3

 Tonight's guac was Greek, so it worked out great with our Mediterranean inspired potato/chicken dish. Took out the garlic and the chiles, and added oregano and feta, with a little olive oil drizzled on top. We ate it with pita chips. Twas yummy!

Eating Continued

Sunday: As if Mas wasn't enough, Clay and I got up Sunday morning and went to Boylan Brunch!!! I had been wanting to go for weeks. No, make that months. I didn't take any pictures, but I got "The Hillary" which was an omelette with spinach, feta, tomato, and mushrooms. Perfect for me. Served with oatmeal date toast and their amazing housebrowns. Clay got "The Hangover" - a huge bowl with layers of housebrowns, ground beef, egg, cheese, and spicy ketchup. We were very satisfied. I didn't go to the gym on Sunday, but I worked up a goooood sweat moving stuff around and cleaning in my apartment, as well as still doing my weights and situps. I went to Harrisonburg in the evening to celebrate Dave's 18th birthday (!!) at Kyoto, where I ate shrimp and scallops with all the hibachi fixings. Yummmm.

Monday: I came back down to earth today a little bit from my food overload from the weekend. Dad came to visit which was so nice. We went to Whole Foods and Kroger, hung out at my apartment, went with Clay to GH for lunch (I got turkey on High Five!), then hung out some more. Went to Target, took Bailey to the vet :(((, and finally came home after a surprisingly busy day off to watch some Bachelorette while Clay cooked dinner! Still not sure what he's calling this creation, but it worked out really well! He smashed red potatoes and topped it with chicken, tomato, onion, pepper, garlic, and spinach, with plenty of seasonings/oil/chicken broth/white cooking wine. He mixed it all together with lots of feta on top, and served it with corn. Yay for having a boyfriend that can cook!!

Eating, Eating, and More Eating

My weekend was completely and utterly filled with food.

Friday: I was up waaay too early (5:15) to work the opening shift at GH. It wasn't so bad when I got there, and I made it through with the help of a yummy blackberry oat bran muffin and two mugs of cherry mint tea. :) After that, I avoided the urge to collapse on my bed and went to the gym and biked and did the elliptical. I did my weights and situps and THEN I collapsed on to Clay's bed and took a nice hour long nap. I then went to work at Petit Pois where I had fried rice with egg, asparagus, and peas, potatoes, and a little beef. I came home to Dani and Co., visiting from Pennsylvania and we all had a fun night!

Saturday: Worked a small shift from 11-3 at GH, and Dani and Co. + Clay visited me for lunch! When I got back I hung out with gang a little bit more, then trekked over to the gym and put in more time on the elliptical and treadmill. More weights and situps followed, and then I got ready for the first meal in my whirlwind of good food for the weekend: Clay and I went on a hot date to Mas Tapas!! I had never been before, and I was SO SO excited. We had to wait for about an hour for our table but it was totally worth it. I felt really trendy to be out on a late night dinner date like that. Here are pics of all our entrees! (taken with Clay's iPhone cause I forgot my camera)

broccolini

deviled eggs with shrimp and saffron

bacon wrapped dates (YUM)

traditional Yukon gold potato tapas

artichoke and goat cheese spread with crusty bread

crusty potato roll topped with grilled veggies, feta cheese, and tomatillo salsa

HUGE grilled shrimp with garlic alioli

carne asada with tomato alioli and grilled bread (SO DELICIOUS)

love <3

Me Time

I spent most of today doing my own thing, which was good. I need days like that. A large part of this journey to become healthier is becoming confident in myself, which in my opinion can only happen through being self sufficient. I always say I hate being alone, but time alone will do me good!

I worked from about 10:15 to 3:15 and made a lot of sandwiches. I then came home and changed and went straight to the gym, where I did the treadmill and the bike. I then got gas and went to Kroger to get a few things for my dinner, and them came home to finish my workout and cook. I made Rachael Ray's Moroccan Chili and Couscous. Combined with our Indian guac, we had a very tasty dinner!

Guac #2

Today I made the Indian style guacamole. It involved replacing the serrano chiles and tomatoes from the classic recipe with curry powder and ground cumin. We ate it with warm Naan bread. Yummmm. It was tasty. Doesn't look like anything different, but the difference in taste was definitely noticeable. It was a success.

Yay Productivity!

My day today pretty much made itself. I got up and went to work from 9:00 to about 3:30, then I ushered Clay back to my apartment so I could cook us an early dinner since he had to work this evening. After that was the gym, and now I'm freshly showered watching "Grease" on TV, drinking hot green tea with a cute kitty at my feet. Life is good.

I did more situps and weights, and made another trip to the gym today. Elliptical and treadmill.

For lunch I treated myself to an almond butter banana crunch sandwich at work (delicious, obviously) along with an Izze and a Great Harvest Original Cookie. I usually don't eat lunch but that can be unhealthy also, so I'm still undecided about how to handle that.

Tonight I cooked a Giada recipe - Italian Baked Chicken and Pastina. Instead of pastina I used my cute little Ditalini noodles. It was basically just a baked pasta and chicken dish. It was yummy! With it, I served a ready made salad I bought from Kroger that was spinach leaves, almonds, dried cherries, blue cheese, and balsamic vinaigrette. A loaf of Popeye from GH rounded out the meal nicely, and there are leftovers of all of it, which I am excited to enjoy for the next few days. Here are some pics.

Day Off

Today was the only day I'm not scheduled to work this week, so I wanted to make the most of it by having a productive, yet also fun day! And I did just that. I started my day by going to the gym. I rode the bike and did the elliptical. I got home and did some situps and resistance training with my free weights, as well.

My plan for this whole exercise thing is start small and work my way up. I think that weights and abs will be something I try to do daily. My goal for cardio is to get to it five days a week, rotating between the bike, the elliptical, and the treadmill. I'm going to start out on level 1 for all the machines, and work my way up as the weeks go by, adding more resistance, longer amounts of running vs. walking on the treadmill, etc. I'm thinking slow and steady is the best way to make sure that this new plan sticks. If I start out with too much too quickly, I will get tired and cranky and I won't follow through with it.

Anyway, on to the more exciting stuff - food! For dinner, Clay and I christened the 2D kitchen by making a delicious and healthy meal! We ate Clay's own "Jammin' Salmon" with Forbidden Rice we got from the new Whole Foods today and green beans. It was delicious.

And yes, the rice is purple! It was a cool find, and we definitely plan to go back to Whole Foods and try other different fun rices - they have an extensive collection! It was a great first dinner. I'm hoping to cook all week!

Guac 10 Ways!

Today I embarked upon a fun food adventure that will last me a few weeks. I found a little article in Every Day with Rachael Ray entitled "Guacamole 9 Ways" that listed different fun ways to spice up your average guacamole. I LOVE guac, so this seemed like a really fun thing to try. I made my first batch tonight, but decided to start with their given basic guacamole recipe. It turned out really well! I had never tried serrano chiles before, but I liked the flavor in the guac. I didn't put cilantro in it - I didn't see any at the store. But it's just as well, cilantro isn't one of my favorite flavors.

Here's a pic:

It's messy, but only because I forgot to take a picture until after Clay and I had already dug into it! Here's the recipe: http://www.rachaelraymag.com/recipes/rachael-ray-magazine-recipe-search/appetizer-starter-recipes/basic-guacamole

I'll be posting more as I try some of the different suggestions, found here: http://www.rachaelraymag.com/food-how-to/cooking-tips/9-ways-to-make-guacamole