I've been asking that question a lot lately. For some reason I am just one of those people who gets spinach stuck in their teeth every time I eat it. And lately, it's been A LOT.
The benefits of spinach are amazing. It's a documented super food and one of the best and most healthiest things to eat on this planet. So you can imagine my excitement when I went grocery shopping last week and found it on sale for 99 cents a bag. I bought five. There is A LOT of spinach in each of those bags, so I've been inventing all kinds of new ways to incorporate it into my diet.
*I've added it to my egg whites in the morning *I use spinach instead of lettuce on my sandwhiches *I'm experimenting with all kinds of "green monsters" *I'm eating spinach salads *I even ate it with just a little butter and salt after heating it up in the microwave
There are SO many ways to incorporate spinach into any kind of diet!
What creative ways have you incorporated this super food?
P.S.-Has anyone read the book "Superfood RX"? I'm considering buying it.
This morning I wanted to inform all of my followers that I am going to start linking to your blogs as I am reminded of you...I hope that's ok! I've already done it with some, but I started thinking about how so many of you inspire what I write but I rarely give recognition to you all! (Plus Tiff @ Project 365 is also doing a similar "shout out" section and it also inspired me!)
So for today I will start by saying that Tonye @ The Unlikely Success Story confirmed my idea of doing a "random sputtering of thoughts post" today.
So here goes:
A few weeks ago Kristen @ Change of Pace asked me where I get my coconut tea. Well, my mother in law actually found it and it is from a tea house here in the Seattle area called Queen Mary Tea. If you like tea and coconut, I would HIGHLY recommend checking out there website and possibly ordering some. So Yummy!Has anyone ever tried Nutella? If not, you are missing out on a HUGE joy in life! What is it? Basically nutella is a chocolate hazelnut spread, very similar in texture to peanut butter. It comes in a jar. It is about 200 calories for 2 tbsp, so very similar to peanut butter, and obviously you have to be very strict on your portions, but if you can control yourself, its an awesome treat. Yesterday I made a green monster with 1 tbsp nutella, 1 banana, soy milk, and spinach. It was freakin delicous. It tasted like a chocolate milkshake! I will be putting up pics when I can get my hands on a jar (I was bumming my employer's)
Yesterday I picked up some extra Vitamin D supplements from my local vitamin shop. I have been fighting serious fatigue lately and have been really surprised that NOTHING seems to help. I get at least 8 hours of sleep a night (more like 10, I know, I sleep a lot), I eat healthy, I'm active. Yet I STILL feel like I could literally fall asleep at any point during my day. This has been a problem my whole life. When I was younger, my mom would find me asleep at various random places in our house. Needless to say, I've been doing some research and am going to try adding a significant amount of Vitamin D to my diet! We will see if it helps... Well that is about it for my random thoughts today. Hope you all have a good one! :)
In honor of all these catchy weekly post names, I am starting my own. It's called "Trick Your Man Tuesday's" This is one in which I decide to fool my husband into thinking he is NOT eating something healthy, but instead just another normal fatty food meal that he is used to.
Let me first start by explaining that my husband is a skinny mini-- and although I love the man to death, he has never had a concept of nutritious eating. His honest advice to me on how to lose weight was "just eat lettuce for every meal" WOW, hunny! You should write a book! Who woulda thought you would know the secret to weight loss?!?! (please forgive my sarcasm)
Now I also must inform you that I am not the only culprit in the house that is hiding eating habits from the other person! Have you ever seen the episode of King of Queens where Doug gets in trouble with Carrie because she discovers that he eats a "pre-dinner" cheeseburger every evening?!
Yeah. Well.
After my WONDERFUL post yesterday about my amazing tuna casserole that my husband helped himself to TWO servings of (I take that as a compliment of course!), he ran to our local store to pick up some batteries. As I am checking our bank account this morning, LOW AND BEHOLD there is a charge from our local pizza joint...for that day!
Don't worry people, I confronted. He confessed. It's all good. (We actually both had a good laugh)
So on to the "meat" of this post....
I decided to trick my hubby dear this evening with mashed potato-cauliflower creation. SHHH! DON'T TELL HIM I'M USING CAULIFLOWER IN MASHED POTATOES!Basically I used three red potatoes and a whole head of cauliflower, mashed it, added some butter and milk and VOILA! I also made a weight watchers side that had been sitting in the cupboard for a while. Hurry! Throw the weight watchers evidence away!Here's our final product:Mashed potatoes, noodles, and chicken.
The verdict: He walked in when I was chopping the cauliflower. DARN IT! And he asked what the noodle stuff was....I can not lie....
He still liked it though :)
So there you go. I'll keep your secrets if you'll keep mine. As long as you don't tell him that last weeks taco soup was made with ground turkey!! This may become a weekly tricky occurrence. May not. We will see!
February 1st. Today is my third month anniversary on this health journey and I am SO excited. Slow and steady wins the race, right? I lost another 2 pounds this week....bringing my grand total to 22 pounds lost.
January 2010 is behind us. I learned a lot this month and experienced new and exciting moments on this journey. -I started to FEEL like my body was different -People began noticing and commenting on my weight loss -I ran a total of 28 minutes- the longest amount I've ever run consecutively before -I started my food journal -I weighed in LESS than my husband AND I finally admitted my weight to him (I was nervous to do this previously)
In February my goals will be: - Make it back to my high school weight by Feb. 28th -Finish my c25k program -Run 3.1 miles 5 times -Journal ALL month
Before I go let me share with you all the DELICOUS dinner we had last night. My goal lately has been to find dinners that are few ingredients, cheap, healthy and delicious. This one definitely fits in that category:
Thin Tuna Casserole: This pretty little dish has the following: -1 can of tuna (packed in water, drained) -1 can "fat free" cream of chicken soup -1/2 cup frozen peas -1/2 cup frozen broccoli -3 cups cooked whole wheat pasta -1/2 cup reduced fat cheddar cheese (shredded)
Mix all ingredients except cheese, place in baking dish. Bake at 375 for 15 minutes. Sprinkle cheese on top, bake for 5 more minutes. 350 Calories per serving (give or take a few calories) Makes four servings...but be prepared! Hubby just may eat TWO! (Caught red handed eating his second serving) Let's rock this month bloggers!
Well I started off my Friday with one of my favorite treats. I say TREAT because it was starbucks-- it's probably not good for me at all, and also probably a big waste of $$, so I am trying to only have it ONCE a week. Here I am, enjoying my tall, iced, 1/2 sugar free vanilla, 1/2 sugar free caramel, soy latte! (I know, can you say complicated?!? I never intended to be a coffee snob, i swear. But when you live in the Seattle area, it just becomes a part of you...)
Friday night was girl's night at my friend Colleen's house. She made chocolate chip cookies and we watched All About Steve. NSV- I ate ONE cookie, although the things were freaking DELICIOUS. Luckily I had prepped myself before I left with a nice, healthy dinner!
On Saturday morning I decided to try another recipe from HG's 200 under 200 cookbook. I tried the "chocolate chip mini pancakes."
Here is my PRE creation: And the final product:Ok. Notice anything? This is the ENTIRE batters worth of pancakes. You are supposedly supposed to get "four mini pancakes" out of this recipe. The TWO you are looking at are probably the size of the top of a glass--pretty small if you ask me. (they are on an appetizer plate above)
My opinion? Eh. First of all, this would not really fill me up. There's oatmeal in it, which kind of makes it kind of dry tasting. It did however fulfill a chocolate craving. But I'm not sure I'll be making this again.
While I was making the pancakes, Kellen had a little to much fun with my camera. I had literally just rolled out of bed and done NOTHING to look decent...thanks, hun!Check out the flour on my shirt, I am a MESSY cook! haha
After BFAST, my friend Olivia and I headed to the Healthy Living Expo in our local town. I was SUPER excited cause I thought I might get to talk to some local dietitians and possibly do some "networking." Well, unfortunately we didn't see any dietitians there...but we did get a chance to check out some other cool stuff! We even got a free pass to check out a "Power Pump" class at the local gym.
Olivia and I then headed out on a walk/hike nearby. Gotta love the pacific northwest since there are tons of beautiful forest paths/places to hike around here. It was a great workout, but I had forgot my camera :(
That night we made Spaghetti Carbonara at their house. Healthy? I think not. Did I have workings in my mind of how to MAKE it lower calories? Of course! (You know I did, Olivia!)
The original recipe called for: -spaghetti -1/2 cup half and half -3 eggs -1/4 cup Parmesan cheese -8 slices of bacon
It was delicous, but at 681 cals a pop, this dish is going to HAVE to be renovated to make it as one my regular recipes!
and here is what my mind is thinking: -whole wheat spaghetti -egg whites -low fat Parmesan cheese (does this exist?) -fat free half and half -Turkey bacon and/or replacing the bacon with chicken
I'm excited to try this out maybe this week sometime. We also had a super yummy raspberry spinach salad with it.
We wrapped up the night with some homemade caramel popcorn. Now, I am not even going to TRY to think about how many calories this was (honestly, probably an entire days worth). But after three months of eating healthy, this was definitely a treat that I used a "get out of jail free" card on. It was SOOOOO good!
It's Sunday. Our day of rest. I've been listening to Oprah's "Better Life" webcast series and doing the dishes...all day. Is it weird to say cleaning is becoming therapeutic? Yikes...who am i?!
I really do not appreciate when you completley disregard the "Keep Your Pets on a Leash" sign. It is common sense that when you are in a public place, you should keep your dog on a freakin' leash. Hello, there may be small children around. I have a very excitable husky puppy who would love nothing more than to distract me from my vigorous running workout by pulling me towards your unleashed dog. PLEASE make things easier for me and keep your dog on a leash, so I can continue my run around the path instead of having to cut through the middle of the park just to avoid you. You are being very inconsiderate and rude.
Last night I went swimming at my local community pool for the first time. It was lap swimming. When I headed out I thought to myself...well this will be fun! I used to LOVE swimming as a kid! It will be easy!!
WRONG.
OMG! Have you ever tried swimming laps before? It is definitely an ALL body workout...to say the least. I think I only made it through about 10 or so laps before I decided to call it quits.
However, I DO want to do it again sometime. Maybe not at this pool, because it's super small and 5 people were sharing one lane! (I know, it was awkward and we were all squished).
No pictures today as I have been LACKING on my picture taking. Better get to it ASAP!!
I've been asking that question a lot lately. For some reason I am just one of those people who gets spinach stuck in their teeth every time I eat it. And lately, it's been A LOT.
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