Tuesday

Organic yogurt find

My first taste of organic yogurt. I haven't been buying any yogurt lately because they all have sucralose (splenda) or aspartame in it (among other chemicals). I've been looking at organic yogurt for a while, but it seems like the craze is all about greek yogurt right now, which I didn't care for.

But this, this was good. Texture was a little thin compare to other yogurts and a little more sour in taste, but I really liked it. It's on sale this week for .99 cents at my local grocery store. Is that a good price?

Sunday

Oatmeal Bites

Last weekend, I made some of Roni's oatmeal "bites" because I was hankerin' for a cookie, but decided to try something semi-sweet to feed my sweet tooth. Honestly, these didn't really work for that purpose, but they were pretty tasty and turned out to be a good snack or even a quick breakfast on the go.

Here's a couple of pics I took of the process. The "batter" (I added some molasses, which is why it's so dark in the pumpkin mixture bowl. Then the bites prior to baking. I smushed them to be more cookie-like in shape. Then after they came out of the oven.





Tuesday

Tornado time

Riding out the storm in our walk in closet. That's what happens when you don't have a basement.

Monday

Kick it up a notch

I'm thinking it's time for double workout duty. I'm not really dropping any LBs or motivated to stop eating, which is the best way for me to lose weight fast. I know this about myself, yet I continue to have little willpower - especially when it comes to sweets. Today, we had a birthday at work and I ate a piece of lemon cheesecake-y stuff (I don't even like lemon!).

To make up for that, I went to both kettlebell and yoga class today. My legs were already shaky from kbell, and to do warrior pose in yoga was amazingly difficult, but it felt good at the same time.

Tomorrow, I hope I can make yoga on my lunch hour (as long as no meetings come up at work) and then either run outside or go to spinning if it's rainy out. I do hope it rains though, we put down some sod as part of our Project Curb Appeal this weekend.

Sunday

Bandana's BBQ

After another weekend of working in the yard, we decided to get take out. We usually eat out on Friday or Saturday nights but don't usually on Sunday. Last night, we stayed in so I didn't feel so bad about eating out tonight. Especially considering we worked outside all day on our curb appeal and burning some of the bushes we cut down last year. After last weekend's monster bush was added to our "burn pile" we are starting to become "those people" so we had to work on burning some of it.

I'm rambling.

The point is that we ordered Bandana's for dinner and I was super impressed that the calorie count was listed next to every item on their carry out menu!!



I had already decided on my choice (turkey platter with corn and green beans) but it validated that I know what I'm doing when making food choices. I will happily support any business that decides to post calories willingly. I know it's required in some places like NYC, but here in the midwest that is a rare practice.

5k slacking

Wow. Last week was rough for me emotionally. The combination of stress at work and stress at home made for a unproductive week as far as working out goes. I only ran one time (usually three) and went to one kettlebell class (I usually go twice a week) and one yoga class (normal).

The hubs and I did spend most of the weekend working on our curb appeal by digging out a big mound of dirt that the previous owner had neglected into a big pile of weeds. While we've attempted to keep as few weeds from growing there as possible for the past two years, we finally tackled the task of digging out the roots. We were both sunburned and sore from that project, but we were tough today and tackled another. We bought a pole saw attachment for the hubs' weed-wacker and went to town on a monster thorn bush that was next to our front porch. It took about 6 hours of cutting down limbs and then dragging them to the backyard fire pit pile of wood to get that thing out of our lives. The true challenge was to bleed as little as possible from the thorns. A high-quality photo illustration is below. I took this photo two years ago when we first moved in, so image two more years of thorn-ified growth on that bia. We took out the other FOUR bushes to the left of the front door last fall.


And this is what it looks like tonight, with three new bushes ready to move in - two boxwoods and an azalea.


Needless to say, I did not run yesterday or today. Tomorrow is kettlebell, and I have a "park date" after that to walk with one of my marathon-running friends, so maybe I can convince her to run with me. ;)

Monday

Cabbage Rolls

Cabbage rolls, aka stuffed cabbage, is what we had for dinner tonight. Most recipes I checked out said to cook the meat after rolling, but I thought it would be faster if I browned the beef, then rolled and just heated in the oven for 20 minutes. It was a pretty simple recipe, but took me over an hour from start to finish. I also used beef from our cow instead of ground turkey. 

Here's what I did:
12 cabbage pieces, boiled

Combine for filling:
1 lb ground beef (or turkey) - browned
3/4 c. brown rice, cooked
1/2 c. shredded carrot
2 T. italian seasoning
1 egg
2 T tomato soup

Combine for sauce:
14.5 oz can diced tomatoes (undrained)
10 oz can condensed tomato soup
2 T cornstarch mixed with 1/2 c. water
2 T vinegar

The cabbage is boiling. I couldn't separate it nicely pre-cooking, so I threw the whole darn thing in the water. I'd recommend that, but then put it back in after you peel a few layers off. The inside was still raw.

Obviously, this is the filling.

 This is right before going in the oven.

 This is fresh out of the oven.




Saturday

Oatmeal talk

One of our (being Americans, not me and mine) favorite fast food joints is McDonalds, right? I know they've had oatmeal on the menu for a few months now, but as a rule I don't eat at the golden arches. I just read a pretty good article summarizing my thoughts on the oatmeal at McDonalds.

Unfortunately, my hubs still does occasionally eat McD's when he's in a rush. I say it's not worth it, but that's another story. When McD's came out with oatmeal, he attempted to get me to eat them one morning. I didn't even need to set foot in the store or place an order to know that would be a poor choice. Along with everything else in that "restaurant" I knew it would be full of chemicals and unnatural ingredients. I was 100 percent sure they could screw up something so simple as oatmeal.

I also just saw a recipe for PB&J oatmeal, which I'm going to try soon. I think the hubs might like it too. I usually eat plain oats with some honey or fruit added, but he still eats the packets from the store. While some would say that's a poor choice, it's certainly better than anything from McD's - and cheaper too!