Frozen meal challenge - fish

Today's meal was 290 calories of awkwardness. Microwaved fish is just gross. If this wasn't an incentive to drop the seafood from my diet I don't know what is. The pasta portion was okay but I'm so over pasta. Here's the thing, when the majority of your diet has a veggie base, pasta is the bulk of what you'll find when you buy mainstream (i.e. Lean Cuisine, Healthy Choice, etc.) If I can stomach frozen meals after this, I may have to branch out into Amy's and other healthier lines. I won't go into detail, so here's the link to the Lean Cuisine site: Parmesan Crusted Fish Final judgment: I will not buy again.I tried the fish and thought that by mixing it up with the pasta it would unleash the deliciousness of it all - NOT!
What you see on the iTouch is a free Starz series I downloaded last night. It's free this week, folks. Check it out! I love the freebies on iTunes. Sometimes you wind up with cool music, videos, etc. Oh, don't ask me about the show. My sistafriend swung by the media center and we gabbed during my entire lunch break.

Moving on, and it's weird that I'm logging my meals randomly, but I seem to be thinking as such today, so here's breakfast. I awoke craving cheesy eggs. Okay, actually, I came home from work last night craving cheese and eggs. So this morning I scrambled up two eggs, a la microwave, added a slice of cheese and slapped it between two slicees of Arnold Sandwich Thins. Please buy these 100 calorie treats. The bread is soft, tasty and works with anything - veggie burgers, eggs and honey even slaps his sandwich meat between these little slices of heaven. It shocked me a bit because he requested that I buy it again when I went grocery shopping this past Sunday. Can you hear the Scooby Doo "uh!?" I added a side of grapes and I was a happy camper.
Let's tackle dinner. I borrowed this recipe from Healthy Tipping Point. Caitlin has blogged about these enough times to get me to try it. It's an artichoke/sun dried tomato/grilled cheese sandwich. I love everything except for the tomatoes. You win some, you lose some. But big ups to Caitlin for expanding my repertoire. I think I ate too much bread today. I've yet to blast my calories limit but I cannot remember the last time I had bread at every meal. Time will tell. Honey will be home soon and then it will be time to go insane.

KEEP PUSHING PLAY!

Supplements

I know some people are firm believers in eating healthy, organic foods when it comes to getting all of their vitamins. I think differently. I am a firm believer in supplements. In addition to my daily vitamins, I drink shakes to fuel and recover. The thing about just eating the right foods is that a lot of foods loose nutrients during the cooking process. Add that to pesticides, because I don't buy 100% all organic foods and just other bad things in the atmosphere, I feel a need to help my body get all the good stuff it can use.

Let's start with the PowerBar Recovery formula. This is the newest powder in my arsenal of drinks. Of course the folks at Beachbody sell the heck out of Shakeology. I'm not opposed to the drink, I just like to buy stuff when I need it. I'm a last minute person folks and waiting for my drinks in the mail will cause me to fall of course. Anyhoo, I debated between the PowerBar and the Clif recovery formula. Based on getting more bang for my buck and suggestions from the folks at Performance Bicycle I went with PowerBar. However, I may try the Clif drink one day because the products I've tasted thus far are yummy. I also feel a difference after drinking this shake following Insanity. My pains have minimized substantially and I'm powered up and ready to go the next day.

Spiru-Tein is my FAVORITE powder. A lot of folks don't care for it but it's an Annie moment for me. It's thick like a malt and in addition to being a protein packed shake, it's a great meal replacement. Now, I'm not one for skipping meals, but I'd rather drink this before working out then eating a huge meal. I consider it more of a snack. Finally, it's a natural energy boost. Take a look at my favorite Spiru-Tein combination below:Thanks to the tips at MegaNerdRuns I froze my bananas and the shake tastes even better. When I want chocolate I'll add a dash of International Delight creamer. Yeah, not perfectly healthy, but perfectly good.

The Dessert shake is new to my drink collection because I wanted something that will add in the production of lean muscle. It's okay, not great but I will finish the container. I may buy something fruity next time. I use it for recovery after weight-lifting days at the gym (Rush Fitness). So far so good.

The last two powders belong to honey. He and I both see a marked improvement in the muscle definition of his arms. He likes the taste so if he's happy, I'm happy.

Last night involved Pure Cardio and I made it through the "warm up" non-stop. Take that, Shaun T!

Healthy Mistake

Before I go into the details of day two of my frozen food challenge let's recap my return to Insanity.

• Last night signaled the return of the 40 minute heart attack.
• Honey cussed out Shaun T and his wretched ways. He swore the 30 second break was actually 15.
• I jumped higher and harder than ever before and I truly thought I was going to die.
• Having two weeks off is not smart. I need to work out some part of my body at least 4-5 days a week to not shock my body. I swear, a third arm emerged from my body and smacked me silly.

It was Power Cardio and Resistance and in truth, it's the devil. Give me Pure Cardio anytime.

My healthy mistake involved eating Healthy Choice (HC) Tomato Basil Penne - yuck yuck yuck. I'm sorry, HC, but this particular dish needs to be removed from the line. Yes, vegetarians are happy to have a dish that clearly screams, "There ain't no meat in me!" but can you make it taste good? Allow me to present before:

And after:

I swear, I ate more than I should but I was hungry. First off, can HC at least make the disk look like the box? The red sauce wasn't in there. There was more clumped up cheese and basil (which I generally love) than anything else. I should have known not to give this dish a second chance. I tried it several months ago and I wasn't thrilled. But seriously, how can anyone go wrong with pasta and marinara sauce? The biggest surprise is that I usually bring one frozen meal a week and HC usually delivers. To put it plainly, don't buy it. HC can take their 280 calories and shove it! In my desperation to not go to the school cafeteria (that's an entirely different blog. If you haven't, read: Fed Up With Lunch) I succumbed to delving into the snacks I keep on hand for after school meetings. I ate two chocolate chip cookies. You know, those cookies didn't seem as satisfying as they did a few months ago. Ladies and gentlemen, it appears that my taste buds are evolving to a clean eating lifestyle.

Frozen meal challenge

In an effort to clean the out the freezer I am embarking on a frozen meal lunch challenge. My challenge is to see if the frozen meals will keep me full until my next major meal which is usually dinner. This challenge may prove difficult because I work T/TH/F nights but I'll cross and write about that bridge when I get to it.

Today's review will be the Healthy Choice Tortellini Primivera Parmeasan.
For only 220 calories I enjoyed a portion controlled meal that was pretty darn good. The carrots tasted like carrots, the zucchini wasn't mushy and the whole grain pasta was cheese filled. Overall, I would buy it again. I noshed on my fruit for dessert. Here's the description from their website: Healthy Choice.

This four-cheese-stuffed tortellini features whole-grain pasta, julienne carrots, and red pepper strips. We've tossed in Chardonnay wine and extra virgin olive oil, and finished it off with Parmesan cheese to bring out the flavor that's sure to please any palate.

Oh, I don't count Weight Watcher's points but according to the HC website, it's a 4 point meal. Considering their competition, that's a nice touch.

So, it's 5:11 and I'm starving. If I don't bring something extra I will be a grumpy goose when I make it to my 5-9 job tomorrow night. Off for another slice of "turkey" quiche.

Copycat

Here's my recipe for healthy pumpkin muffies.

• box of angel food cake
• can of pumpkin

Scoop like cookies and bake at 350 for 10 minutes. I wish I could form mine as pretty as Panera's but they were tasty. Try it and let me know what you think.

Starbucks and Quiche

While running into Target I dashed to Starbucks because I was feeling low. My body needed my vitamins (which I failed to take today) because it's going nuts from all the bad foods (yummy birthday cake) I forced into it this weekend. I asked the barista if SB make their frappes with soy milk. Her reply was "not yet." What a fantastic sign of things to come. Instead I tried a passion fruit lemonade ice tea. It's time for another Annie moment: Oh my goodness, oh my goodness! Heaven in a cup. Try it, folks!
Our freezer has entered into the zone of the ridiculous. If you think librarians are anal, you haven't met honey when it comes to maintenance of the freezer and pantry. Today I knew it was time for him to clean the freezer because I couldn't find anything which simply means it's time to stop buying groceries and time to cook what we have. I started to chunk the pie crust until I remembered a dish I used to love back in my turkey/chicken eating days. Turkey cheddar quiche. I decided to try it again and I just finished eating true yumminess. The complete dinner was a slice with a side of strawberries. Here's the recipe:
1 cup shredded Italian-style cheese blend
1 cup veggie sausage (Hot & Spicy Morning Star)
4 medium green onions, sliced (1/4 cup)
1.5 cup soy milk
3 eggs or equivalent - i used egg beaters
1 teaspoon chopped fresh basil leaves
1/4 teaspoon ground red pepper (cayenne)

Sprinkle cheese, sausage and onions over crust. In small bowl, beat milk and eggs with fork or wire whisk; stir in basil and red pepper. Pour into pie crust. It's better to make your own but I used a store bought crust.

Bake at 400°F for 30 to 35 minutes or until knife inserted in center comes out clean. Let stand 10 minutes before serving.

Oh, I figured out a lower calorie Pumpkin Muffie recipe. More on that to come. Right now I need to take the fastest shower in the world so I can watch Desperate Housewives!

Saturday Mornings

I adore my honey but as an only child I find myself relishing the moments alone with my thoughts. Saturday morning is MY time, rather ME time. Every other Saturday I go Buff Natural Nail Bar. As a side note Buff is "green" nail salon where the nail technicians are golden, the coffee/tea/snacks are sublime and the neck wraps are heavenly. If you live in the North Carolina Triad make an appointment today. Back to me. ME mornings involve breakfast at Panera which may last less than an hour but can make the majority the the week's drama disappear. It's me, a book and this delicious breakfast.It's so simple: egg, with a little pepper and Vermont cheddar on Ciabatta bread. Yum, yum, yum, nosh, nosh, nosh. I eat this along with Panera's fresh squeezed OJ. In my opinion, this is perfection. Not just the meal but the entire experience. My Saturday mornings usually include an early morning workout but on this birthday weekend, just me, my book and my Panera breakfast.

I had a hair appointment this Saturday and I knew I'd be hungry after so I picked up a snack. I've been reading Healthy Tipping Point and Caitlin, the author, has a slight obsession with pumpkin. Consequently, she has me wanting to try recipes that call for the big orange ball. I totally understand the pull of pumpkin but I only seem to enjoy it around Thanksgiving and Christmas when people are making pumpkin bread like crazy. Today I noticed that Panera sold a Pumpkin Muffie. Everything at Panera is yummy so I didn't hesistate to try one. Let's just say that I wish I bought three. O-M-G! So delicious, moist and in a word - perfection. Somehow Panera found a way to merge a pumpkin muffin with a cookie. It's a little oily as you can tell from the bag, but if you're out and want a snack - pick it up. By the way, it's 270 calories so if you're a counter please take that into consideration.

Please ignore the car mess. I attacked the muffie as soon as I left the salon.

Monday is the beginning of week 2, yes, I'm still on week 2 of Insanity. My back seems to be okay and my cardiovascular system appears to be back on point. It's time to keep pushing play and this time I hope to hit it nonstop. Wish me luck.

Happy Birthday to meeeee!

I remember when 35 used to seem so old. I'm not old, I'm fabulous! On my 35th birthday I feel great. Physically I haven't felt this good in years. There' s a wonderful man in my life and I have great friends and family. I'll have to make this one brief because I'm at work and my class will enter any moment now but I want to share my morning thus far.

Honey went to work early but I found the most beautiful card, a kooky little animal and a balloon this morning when I went downstairs. Why I didn't photograph the card is beyond me. I LOVE SURPRISES!!!! Please excuse the mess in the background along with the dwindling fruit bowl. Hey, it's Friday. The fruit bowl should be about empty.

I also amped up my breakfast this morning. I was ravenous when I awoke and craved oatmeal. Thanks to MegaNerdRuns I crave it daily. This morning I added bananas.


Oatmeal contained:

• brown sugar
  
• cinnamon graham cracker
  
• strawberries
  
• 1/2 banana
  
• blueberries
  
• a dash of vanilla soy milk

And instead of my over sized mug, I placed it in a pretty bowl. YUM YUM YUM! Here's an interesting piece of trivia, Gabby (from Desperate Housewives) and I have the same dishes.

My students and teacher friends left poster and balloons all over the media center. I'll post those later.

New Energy

Thanks to Megan, author of http://www.meganerdruns.com/, I have discovered heaven in a packet. Megan writes frequently of nibbling on Clif bars. After ready her blog for several weeks I started to ask people about their opinion of the Clif products. Can you hear the crickets? Yup, that's because NO ONE has ever heard of or eaten this. So I find myself at Wal-mart after my return to the gym to try a few. The majority of the boxes have 2-3 Clif bars remaining. THAT'S A GOOD SIGN! The bars are only $.94 so I delved in, head first in my quest to find sustained energy. The first one I tried was the brownie flavor...not bad. Not bad at all. The second is the Oatmeal Raisin Walnut. I felt like Annie, "oh my goodness, oh my goodness!" These things are yummy. Okay, sure, they contain 240 calories but these bars are so dense that it takes a few days to eat one. Again folks, eating junk is not going to get you through anything substantial, especially Insanity.

I will share this: since I've substantially cut down on the junk, the cravings are going away. I no longer feel the pull of Sonic's Egg & Cheese toaster. Now the pull is more about oatmeal with strawberries, blueberries and brown sugar. Why has it taken 35 years to figure this out? I would start my rant on healthy foods but I'll save that for a later post.

You'll find a few photos of my healthy snacks for the week above. Please excuse the Cool Whip bowl. Those bowls are great for food storage. :-) Oh, I no longer indulge in Cool Whip. Certain dairy items and I no longer get along. It's sad but there are so many delicious alternatives out there. Have you tried Soy Delicious ice cream? Both the soy and the coconut options are delicious.

KEEP PUSHING PLAY!

Samples at Sam's

So, I walk into Sam's and there are "eat this" booths all over the store. I should have know better to go in Sam's on a Saturday but I was in the neighborhood and we all know the appeal. My intent was to get a new bag of bribery, uh, candy for my students and pick up some produce. I don't know why the produce at Wal-mart sucks but it's so on point at Sam's - Go figure. Anyhoo, I picked up the most amazing grapes, the sweetest strawberries (which are so big they would make the employees at Church's Chicken go "hmm..."), and 8 bananas which I feel stole for the price. As I'm winding my way through prepared foods I notice a woman giving samples of hummus. O-M-G, I've been meaning to try this particular hummus FOR-EVAH! Folks, when I tell you it's ridiculous, I mean it. This stuff is the truth. The hummus came with Stacy's all natural pita chips - yum! PLEASE GO BUY WHAT YOU SEE IN THE PHOTO. You will not be dissappointed. Personally, I think the serving size is a bit munch because it's all so filling but I feel I can get one heck of a snack/meal for a minimal amount of calories.

By the way, my back is pretty much okay. There's minor pain when I move a certain way but I'm going to jump back on Insanity - week 2 tomorrow. Stay tuned.

Back to the gym

So as you know I've restored my sanity due to a back injury. However, I miss Insanity something serious. I didn't think I would. On a scale of 1-10 (10 being worse) my back pain is a 1 as opposed to the 10 I felt a few days ago. I only feel pain when I move a certain way. As not to rush my way back to a 10 I'm going to stay away from Insanity and no some non-impact elliptical training at the gym tonight. It's gotten to the point that I don't feel right if I don't exercise.

Off to feel the Rush (fitness) - can't you just hear Talib Kweli all in your ear? :-)

Out for the count

There's nothing like a backache to let me know that I'm knocking on 35 y/o next week. This backache has led me to taking it super it easy today. Due to no exercise I've had to monitor my caloric intake big time.

I hope to return tomorrow.

Junk no more

It took several weeks for me to realize that Insanity will not work if I fill my tummy with junk. Of course I know that I feel better when I eat clean but sometimes a cupcake just calls my name. It was a harsh weekend food wise and when I tried Insanity I failed. Miserably. Basically folks, follow the eating plan. If you cannot follow it to the letter, please eat clean.

This weekend has been a bad one. My back is going through the aches that seem to come with my special lady time for about a year. It's not pretty and I think I may need to take a week off because it hurts to simply type this entry.

I want to share a few recipes a found and made. The recipes come from: http://meganerdruns.com/ This young lady makes incredible dishes and thus far they are super delicious and very healthy.

The first is my breakfast and it will probably be my breakfast for the remainder of the week: STRAWBERRY SHORTCAKE OATMEAL. The name has your mouth watering, right? Well, i won't read off the ingredients because I encourage you to visit the website. I'm sure you'll find something yummy to make for your breakfast or lunch: http://meganerdruns.com/2009/06/29/strawberry-shortcake-oatmeal/

The second is a summer salad. I made it for my coworker and she said she spent her lunch dissecting the salad so she can make it on her own. The only difference is that I used spinach because it's yummy and I didn't add chicken. I only eat seafood. I just might try it with shrimp next time.

Oh, I tried Power Cardio and Resistance tonight but I was that chubby girl in the back of the Fit TV program doing the modified version. Hey, I still burned 415 calories so all was not lost. Plus, I felt a little better while I did it until now. Geesh, a woman's body is a curious thing.

Until later...

Kicking booty!

All day long - honey, honey, honey, when are we going to do Insanity?

Boy: as soon as i finish cleaning

me: hmm, okay.

boy: if you want to do it without me, go ahead.

me: no (because i know he won't do it), i have no problems waiting on you.

boy: okay, but can we order pizza first?

This was a true conversation and talk about boy paying for those four slices. I don't get why honey doesn't get the calorie thing. I've decided to to let him do his thing food wise and hope that he'll watch the pounds/inches fall off me and finally get it.

On to the blog - I KICKED INSANITY ASS today! We did pure cardio and it was amazing. I didn't stop once during the "warm up" x 3. I even went faster when Shuan asked me to.

Stay tuned for tasty recipes for my lunch and dinner for the upcoming week.

Keep pressing play!

Insanity Day 4: Cardio Recovery Pt 2

Just a little update during my Insanity part duex - I feel like I'm getting better, faster and stronger. I'm burning mad calories, more focused on my eating plan and I'm actually enjoying working out with honey.

Most of my new updates until I get back to week three will be meals and such so please stay tuned, keep reading and if you're a Beach Body devotee, KEEP PRESSING PLAY!

What is love?

Love is restarting Insanity to support your honey. Yes, I actually did that but I gotta tell you that I feel better for it. I feel supported by Chris. He can no longer tell me to push because he's trying to gasp for air himself (tee hee). Okay, it feels good knowing that this former track/baseball star is struggling as much as I but just having him there makes me want to show out a little more and prove that I can keep up with the boys. However, Chris seems to get extra encouragement from Shaun because there's ALWAYS one of the two Chris's in the videos. Oh yeah, Chris is on vacation this week so he feels the need to not only do Insanity but jog it out at the track. What the heezy!?

I found a GREAT new restaurant in my hometown: http://www.zoeskitchen.com/ YUM YUM YUM and the food is straight up healthy. The menu is based on the Mediterranean diet. Try the shrimp kabobs. Yum-o! Any guess on what I ate for dinner tonight?

After the track, Chris and I went to GNC to get our monthly supply and club discount of protein shakes. I'm going to try BSN Lean Dessert Protein Shake. I'm a faithful Oxygen reader and the ads have finally broken me down to try out. I'll report more tomorrow after my workout. I've been using Spuri-teen for over a year now but it's really been nothing more than a recovery shake/meal replacement. I need something at this point that's going to help me build lean muscle mass and help define by physique.

Day 1: Watched Chris do the fit test. HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! Do we all look like birds flying when we try it for the first time? I recorded Chris's results and he did okay. But the boy has zero rhythm. Bless his poor little multi-racial soul. No offensive people without rhythm but you know what I'm talking about.

Day 2: Plyometric Cardio Circuit: I burned 614 calories. Yea me!

Dig deeper!

I'm baaack!

Spring break was a BLAST and so was my diet. Maybe I should say it was a bust. If the food was fried, or baked, or had cream cheese on top and yummy brownie on the bottom - I ATE IT! My friends and I went to Myrtle Beach and Insanity didn't figure into the program. With that being said, I'm restarting Week three and I'm beginning on a Monday this time. This is great because now I get a rest on Sunday. My plan is to go outside and play with honey on rest days.

Because I'm resuming my program you'll find a few of my Insane meals in the photos . The top photos is whole wheat pasta salad, grape tomatoes, spinach all mixed with vinaigrette. The second photo is "chicken" fruit salad. I said "chicken" because the only meat I eat is seafood so I used Boca chicken patties. You'll find the actual recipe on my Beach Body coach's website: http://fitonawhim.squarespace.com/.

Stay tuned.