New blog

Dominican Insanity is now Healthy Mika.  See you there!

I'm still here

Hello World. I'm still here.  Life has been incredibly busy over the past week:

1. I've been working three jobs non-stop (oftentimes 2 per day) in an effort to SAVE SAVE SAVE for summer vacay.
2. I started my second master's program.
3. We're preparing our angels for standardized tests.

So, I know I have a lot to update but I simply don't have the time.  I will say that honey and I are doing 5:30 AM workouts this week because of my crazy work schedule and trust and believe that I haven't forgotten to update you about my frozen meal challenge - blah, yuck yuck.  ANY QUESTIONS?  I will go into detail as soon as this crazy week is over. 

I will share the best news - my grad program comes equipped with a MacBook Pro. 

I'm in iLove!  Of course I'm at work at the moment so stay tuned and if you're INSANE, keep pushing play!

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.