Five Star Foodies Artichoke Burgers

Ah! With Body Pump training this weekend, I honestly felt like I had a million things I wanted to get done before I left. After a shortened work day, I did lots of laundry, ran some errands, gave Frank a bath, packed, and baked up a few dishes to keep Josh going through the weekend. I made him a big pasta bake with shell pasta, ground turkey, marinara and cheese (mix all together, top with additional cheese, bake at 350 for 20 minutes):

And I made him some Tina Bars with Chocolate chips:

Phew ;) As I mentioned about a week ago, The very nice people at Five Star Foodies were nice enough to send me some of their Artichoke burgers to try. According to the Five Start website, these fabulous burgers are vegan and 100% natural:

“Artichoke Burgers are in a class of their own, unlike anything on the market today. Filled with the rich taste of artichoke hearts and cashes combined with wholesome brown rice.”

Yum! Nutritional Stats can be found here. The picture below is from Josh’s version of the dinner. We cooked up the burgers on the stove top in just a little oil. Josh had one on an Arnold’s thin with cheese and one alone on the side (plus some potato rounds and an orange):

Sorry for the bad lighting! This getting dark early stuff stinks! Our thoughts on the burgers:

YUM! A great veggie burger. They taste almost like an artichoke Parmesan burger. They definitely have a slight "green" taste, but both Josh and I are HUGE green veggie fans so we really enjoyed it. We cannot WAIT to try them on the grill. Thank you Five Star Foodies!!!!

Alright guys- another request! I have to make a pot luck dish for work next week. I want something that I can make ahead and that’s preferably vegetarian-any suggestions?

Insomniac

You all had some great sounding dinners last night! From Jenna and Lauren’s soup and grilled cheese to Caroline’s stuffed squash, you all provide me with such great ideas/inspirations!!

After I taught Attack last night(Tuesday), I came home and had to do lots of work. I ended up staying up until around 11:30 finishing up. Today was another crazy/busy day! After working hard without a break for 9 hours, I left work and came home to fit in a run. I did a quick just over 6 mile run in the sunshine:

...showered, squeezed in some dinner (Acorn squash topped with honey, pinto beans, peppers, and an apple with lots of un-pictured nut butter ;)):

and then got right back to work! I finished around 11 and then figured, while I'm up, I'll do some house work! I did some ironing and vacuuming (so glad Josh can sleep through pretty much anything ;)) and just now sat down to blog!

Tomorrow I am taking a day off from working out, as my Body Pump training starts on Friday (YIKES!). I am looking forward to some afternoon napping. Do you have any fun weekend plans?

Peanut Veggies/Noodles/Fruit

Thank you for all of the lovely comments on the interview! You guys are too sweet.

Was it me, or did today feel like Wednesday? After work, I did the usual run around at home which involved laundry, a walk with Frank:

...dinner prep, and then out the door to teach Body Attack. Since Josh has a dinner meeting tonight, I just had to get my dinner prepared. I was contemplating all day what I wanted, but knew it needed to involve peppers since I have 5 sitting in the fridge. I decided to go with a slimmed down version of Rachel Ray's Hot and Cold Sesame Noodles:

Ingredients
1 large apple chopped
1/4 cup whole wheat pasta cooked
1 pepper chopped
1 serving broccoli/broccoli slaw
1 tablespoon naturally more peanut butter (or brand of choice)
1 tablespoon reduced sodium soy sauce
1 teaspoon hot sauce
1 teaspoon rice vinegar

Directions
With a whisk, mix together peanut butter, soy sauce, hot sauce and rice vinegar. Toss cooked (but cooled) pasta, vegetables, and apple in sauce mixture. Enjoy or put in the refrigerator to enjoy later- this allows the vegetables to really absorb the sauce (I think it makes the dish extra tasty and is perfect for me on the nights I teach!).

Can't wait to come home to this! Later tonight, I know I will also be enjoying a snack of pumpkin with honey and cinnamon since this:

was on sale at WFs for 99 cents!

Whats on your dinner menu tonight?

Stir Fry & Salad- Prepped

Hi Everyone!

First things first, check out my interview at the Health Blog Helper blog. I want to send a big thank you to Alison for conducting this interview!

Did you have a good day? I did! It was my first day of my adjusted work schedule (abbreviated days Monday and Friday) and I can already tell how much I’m going to love it. I got up early to finish packing Josh’s lunch and to clean the house. Next, I got to work and then took a mid day break to run a few errands. I finished up with work and took Frank for a walk, prepped our dinners, and then headed out to teach Body Step.

For dinner tonight, Josh is having turkey stir fry with asparagus, water chestnuts, cashews and stir fry sauce topped with regular and black sesame seeds:

I will be having a huge salad with mixed greens, red pepper, steamed asparagus, walnuts, and tomatoes. Later, I plan to top this with olive oil and lemon juice, a little mozzarella cheese, and serve with a hunk of bread and a chopped apple:

I love prepping our dinners! Do you prep ahead of time??

I cannot believe it is November! My Body Pump training is this upcoming weekend and I am excited and nervous! What are you looking forward to this week??

Note: I seem to be having major blog issues so I had to delete my last few posts. I apologize for the craziness and hope to have it figured out soon

11 miles & "Nachos"

Hey ladies & gentlemen! You’ve got some rocking workouts planned for this week! I hope you enjoy them. Since I was working from home today, I got up extra early to fuel and start working. I took a break mid morning to do my long run-11 miles!!! The run went pretty well. It is 80 degrees and humid in SC today (and almost November ;))….so that made it a little tougher! I did refuel at mile 8 with 1 shot blok (I wanted to start slow and not upset my tummy).


It gave me tons of energy and I will definitely be using these in the future. For some reason my HRM was slipping off during the last 4 miles so my calorie count is way out of whack (I looked down several times and noticed my HR was recording at 64 haha). Oh well- the time is correct and that’s the stat that matters ;):


After work today, there was lots of cleaning, a few errands, and then dinner. Josh ended up having a dinner meeting last night, so he ate the Peanut Noodles I prepped last night, tonight.

For me, I made a plate of “nachos”. I cut up a jicama into chip like pieces and cooked them up. Then I topped them with beans, salsa, bell peppers, tomatoes and part skim cheese and put them back in the oven for a few more minutes to heat up. When they came out, I put a little sour cream on top. The result:


Ohhhh yah. I also (of course!) had a big ole plate of fruit on the side. Now its World Series time!! Do you plan to watch any of the games?

Peanut, Peanut butter

Thank you all so much for the vacation suggestions! Your lovely lists includes:

Napali Cliffs- Hawaii
San Francisco
Chicago
Colorado Springs
Wine Country
Monument Valley
San Diego
Laguna Beach
Waikiki
Southern Utah- Zions National Park or Moab
Rockies in CO
Berkshires in MA
AZ- Phoenix, Tucson, or Sedona
Cabo San Lucas
Grand Canyon
Palm Springs
Florida Keys
NYC

Decisions, decisions! Today went well. Work seemed to fly right on by. I came home and took care of Franky and prepped dinner. Peanut Noodles with chicken and broccoli slaw for Josh:


And then for me, I cooked up the remainder of my acorn squash and mixed it with tomato, broccoli slaw and green pepper and topped it all with marinutta sauce:


On the side I had a delicious apple:

and pumpkin mixed with honey (no picture). Once I was finished with my prep, I finished up some laundry and headed out the door to WFs to pick up a few things and then taught Body Attack.

I'm excited that my teaching schedule is lighter this week so I can focus on running a bit more. My plan looks as follows:

Monday: 2 mile run, 1 mile walk, 45 minute spin (done!)
Tuesday: Teach Body Attack (done!)
Wednesday: 11 mile long run (if it stops raining- fingers crossed!!)
Thursday: Body Pump
Friday: 6 mile comfortable run or off
Saturday: Teach Body Step
Sunday: 6 mile comfortable run or off (depends what I do on Friday)

Do you have any fun planned workouts this week?

Twice Cooked Acorn Squash

And here we are, at Monday again! I really enjoyed reading all of your comments on my post yesterday about the best parts of your weekend. Sounds like you all had lots of good stuff going on!

After the usual work, I ran home to let out Frank and then went to the gym. I did a two mile run and 1 mile walk on the treadmill and then took my friend Jennifer's 45 minute spin class. I also ran some errands (dry cleaners & kohl's to return a pair of Josh's pants). When I got home, I cleaned up our wood floors (VERY exciting...I know!)

Since Josh had a dinner meeting tonight, I made myself up some twice cooked acorn squash. Method as follows:

• Bake up squash (cut in half and bake at 450 degrees for 1 hour or microwave for 13 minutes)
• Scoop out some of the cooked squash (but not ALL of it, otherwise the "bowl" will not maintain its form)
• In a bowl, mix your favorite toppings into the squash (I used salsa, green bell peppers and beans), top with cheese (shredded probably would have looked prettier but I used grated Parmesan
• Place mixture back in "bowl"
• Place under broiler for a few minutes (keep an eye on it so it doesn't burn)
  

I served mine with an apple and a little un-pictured nut butter


TOTALLY delicious.

Since you guys provided so many great yoga video ideas (thank you thank you), I have another question for you. Josh and I are trying to plan a trip. Initially, we were thinking of going to a couples resort in Jamaica but are now contemplating staying in the US. Potential ideas thrown around were Arizona, San Francisco, somewhere else in California, New Mexico. We would love to stay somewhere that either has a great fitness facility, hiking, or access to some other kind of healthy activity. We'd also prefer it to be warm-ish (or hot!) in the March/April time frame. Any suggestions?