Filed under: Food, Green Monster, Katie, Lunch, Product Review, Snacks, Spinning
Mid-morning I snacked on a chopped apricot (I do not think I’ve ever bought a real apricot before, just the dried variety), Fage, and toffee granola from Sunflower. This granola was tasty, but how can one go wrong when toffee is in the name?!
Lunch was leftovers from Sunday night- half a whole wheat calzone with pesto, cheese, chicken, roasted red peppers, tomatoes, and artichokes. We go out to eat too much, but at least I usually get two meals out of it.
Sometime in the afternoon, my sister texted me this picture of a yogurt bar she just discovered at her new college- impressive amounts of fresh berries!! I was so proud and excited when she messaged me this weekend to let me know the blog had inspired her to eat better and ask what to add to Greek yogurt! 🙂 I really don’t think she was ever unhealthy by any means though a few more vegetables and fruits couldn’t hurt.
On the way home from work, I stopped to buy a zucchini for my dinner plans and grabbed a new jar of peanut butter. I had to try this Bee’s Knees immediately, and the little protector seal was a good scooper into my mouth. I like the subtle honey flavor.
After a couple of peanut butter scoops, I didn’t feel like a snack before the gym- SPINNING with Julia! LOVE this class. She is tough and makes me push, push, push. Halfway through though, the hunger hit me and my stomach felt so empty. I was breathing so hard, I was filling up my stomach with air and kept burping! 😛 Has this ever happened to anyone?! It was awful!
I was so hungry by the time I left I needed something ASAP, and decided to try my first Green Monster. I have seen these all over but have been skeptical. This is my skeptical-but-need-nourishment-sweaty-post-gym face.
First, I added the following to the blender:
- handful of spinach (~1 c.)
- whatever plain kefir remained in the carton (~1/2 c.)
- water swished in kefir carton to get it all (~1 c.).
I thoroughly blended this because I was scared of getting a chunk of spinach while sipping which would probably make me gag and never try a Monster again.
After I had a nice pale green liquid with no dark green specks, I added:
- 1/2 banana
- ~7 frozen peach slices (what I had left in the bag)
The end result:
Guinness Green Monster for Strength! The green hue and Guinness glass made me do a little jig. Not really. Well, maybe.
I couldn’t get a picture that captured the color well but if you didn’t know there was spinach in it, you would probably guess it to be a mint milkshake. Anyway- I LOVED IT! I need to stop being skeptical of all these new and sometimes bizarre-looking concoctions I come across on blogs! Always good. It was cool and refreshing and filled me up (for a little while at least, I would need to add more spinach and some sort of protein or fat to make this have staying power). In case there are any skeptics, it doesn’t taste like spinach AT ALL. It tasted like banana and yogurt mostly.
Alright, time for a shower and then dinner, which might be just a bunch of snacks depending on my hunger levels after this Monster digests.
I’ve seen almond milk on a bunch of different blogs but since I like regular milk and soy milk, there was never much reason to buy it. Whole Foods had a lovely display and it was on sale so I decided to give it a try! This morning, I added some vanilla almond milk to my oats and my coffee.
Into the pan: 1/3 c. oats, 2/3 c. almond milk + 1/3 c. water, 1/2 banana, sprinkles of cinnamon. I noticed that the almond milk was absorbed very quickly by the oats. It cooked really rapidly and the result was creamy and slightly chewier oats. I liked it better than my usual water-only oats (I just don’t buy milk very often). The vanilla taste wasn’t noticeable but that could be due to the bananas and the peanut butter I added on top.
I definitely loved the almond milk in my coffee- I usually drink my coffee black unless I get a misto or latte at Starbs! The coffee flavor was a cinnamon spice (for Christmas I got a flavor variety pack of individual servings- perfect) and with the vanilla almond milk, this was heavenly.
Almond milk synopsis: I like it better than soy milk for sure. With soy milk, I feel like the flavor is always evident and sometimes overpowers whatever you just poured it on top of. The almond milk texture is thinner like regular milk and the I liked it immediately whereas the soy milk flavor and texture took some getting used to. I still don’t like soy milk by itself, but I like it in granola and oatmeal, etc. I’m glad I tried it! I will be buying it again, trying some other flavors- I bet some chocolate almond milk in oats would be incredible.
What’s your favorite “milk”? I’ve seen rice milk too, maybe I will try it out for the sake of trying new things!
Morning bloggies! After a solid 8 hours of sleep I am feeling much better 🙂 I havn’t talked much about P90X, and wanted to give everyone the lay of the land with this workout plan… Here is how it works. I have a “fitness guide” that tells me what DVD to do everyday of the week (6 days in a row). Since I am doing the “P90X Lean” they incorporate a low of the “Cardio X” dvd and “Yoga X” dvd. According to the instructions if you do a power, hot, or bikram yoga class you can replace the yoga dvd. You can also replace the cardio dvd if you are a runner or want to do some other kind of cardio. Now that I have gone through week 1 I feel like I can give a pretty solid review on these workouts. So here is what my first 3 weeks look like on this plan:
Day 1_ Core Synergistics. This DVD is awesome. I works the entire core and then some. Through doing moves like planks, push ups, “banana’s”, and other core strengthening calorie blasting goodness. Whenever I do this DVD my entire CORE (not just abs) is sore. This includes my pecs (boobies!), abs, and back.
Day 2_ Cardio X. This is replaced with a 5 mile run.
Day 3_ Shoulder & Arms, Ab Ripper X This workout is big on using dumb bells or resistance bands. I already had dumb bells, so I didn’t bother buying a resistance band. I tend to stick with 5lbs and 8 lbs dumb bells with this workout. This workout is a great combination of curls, presses, and flys. It really keeps my muscles guessing and left me pretty sore the next day. I honestly can’t remember the last time I was sore from an arm workout. Maybe this means I wasn’t working hard enough before, but that is definitely not a problem now! And the ab ripper? My abs definitely ripped.
Day 4_ Yoga X. I tried this dvd and really wasn’t a fan. I decided I’ll replace it with a Bikram class instead. I would rather do Bikram than listen to some guy (Tony Horton) ramble on. He probably has not been practicing yoga regularly or for as long as my Bikram instructor, and all his chit chat about how great P90X is makes it very hard to find your center.
Day 5_ Legs and Back, Ab Ripper. The main focus of this DVD is the legs. There are a variety of moves to strengthen the hamstrings, glutes, quads and calves. However, it also incorporates lots of PULLING for your back muscles. You are going to do everything from a simple lunge to a full pull up in this DVD. Don’t worry if you can’t do a pull up, I use a chair to assist 🙂
Day 6_ Kenpo. Now this one is interesting. This DVD is a glorified kick boxing class, but done at a little bit of a slower and more controled pace. I really didn’t feel like I was working too hard during this work out the first time I did it, but was surprised at how sore my tri’s and bi’s were the next day. Jury is still out on this one.
Day 7_ Rest or Stretch X DVD. I tried the stretch X DVD and I became a big fan. It helps you stretch all those muscles out in different ways. You get to stretch all those muscles that you just used really hard over the last week and boy does it feel good!
After I do this sequence for 3 weeks I am supposed to take a week off from the DVD’s and return to a normal routine. Then weeks 5-8 start. So far I am really enjoying this program. It works my muscles in all different ways, and is achieving the goal of variety very nicely. I did not buy this program to become “ripped” or look like Madonna (aka: sinewy arms. ew) I bought it to have a solid strength workout throughout the week and to incorporate lots of variety in my strength routines. So far, p90X is beating every expectation 🙂
With all the traveling and then jumping right back into work, I didn’t set an alarm last night and let myself sleep until I woke up naturally. I figured this would be a good way to make sure I was giving my body enough rest after switching time zones and sleeping erratically. This is a one perk of grad school but still, I’d rather have a job. Anyway, about 7:30 I was up and hungry!
Using some of the same veggies last night, I made a 1 egg + 2 egg white scramble. I started with sautéing one mushroom, a hunk of diced tomato, and a tsp of chopped onion.
I added the egg mixture and cooked until set. The end result wasn’t pretty but it tasted just fine, especially dipped in ketchup.
I also had a slice of Ezekiel toast with mom’s homemade jam.
While everything was cooking, I packed up lunch and a snack for work. My snack: 3/4 of a chopped apple (left over from my salad last night) with 1/3 cup Greek yogurt and cinnamon in the bottom container with about 1/4 of Kashi Go Lean to top it with in one of the small containers. A big cup plus broth from my chili/soup and a small container with avocado salsa and Greek yogurt.
After a frustrating day at the office, I was so hungry for another snack. By the way, I was very good about my resolution and only went on Gchat once more than I planned. Sometimes a girl’s gotta send email and then someone chat’s me up and I can’t be rude! I would have went to buy a Luna bar or something but it was soooo cold I didn’t want it that bad. I made a snacky plate with about half a cuke sliced, 2 Tbsp. of Cedar’s Garlic Lover’s Hummus, and a few 34° Rosemary Crispbread topped with brie. I have never tried Cedar’s hummus but it was on sale and I love it! It’s very very creamy, just like my favorite Sabra. The Crispbread are another favorite of mine, they are great cheese vehicles- very crisp like a cracker but nice and thin so you mostly get cheese. Those brie slices look huge, I swear it’s the angle!
Lot’s of good eats so far today. New favorites: Cedar’s Garlic Lover’s hummus (I better not get too close to anyone at the gym ;)) and Ezekiel bread. Oldies: brie cheese, mom’s jam, and Crispbread.
I’m about to go hit up the gym to do some lifting and running, I gotta get going on the resolution! Dinner should be an interesting mish-mash involving a lot of vegetables and a veggie burger. Catch ya later!
Katie
After my breakfast attempt, I was a bit behind on time and grabbed one of these Evol burritos from my freezer for lunch. They are made in Boulder and use quality ingredients. Local, somewhat organic, and vegan- pretty good for a frozen meal. I’ve tried a few varieties but didn’t let them defrost first, which resulted in a stale feeling tortilla. Today I defrosted and the whole wheat wrap was perfect! I think they could use a bit more filling but tasty nonetheless. I had an orange too- I feel a cold coming on so hope the extra vitamin C helps.
For a snack I had some more Cranberry Creme Brulee Kefir with a little Kashi Go Lean Crunch again. I love these little ice cream bowls, they are the perfect snack size.
This was the pink I was hoping for this morning!
After a gym sesh (walking/running intervals for 25 minutes and 40-ish minutes of legs with Osdania), dinnertime was long overdue. I snacked on literally only four crackers with Kerrygold Dubliner cheese because that was all I had left. Topped with some of mom’s hot peppers!
Before the gym, I had parboiled and chopped some (huge) chicken breast and mixed it with a little bit of pesto. I made pesto using a Cooking Light recipe this summer and froze it for quick use all through the year. It is less oily than the version I used to help my mom and aunts make. I came home and finished cooking it while boiling whole wheat pasta.
Meanwhile, I cooked up a bunch of vegetables to add to the pasta and make it fiberific:
- Small head of broccoli
- Two canned artichoke hearts
- 4 white mushrooms
- 1 very small zuchinni
- 4 chopped up sun-dried tomatoes (added at the end)
Altogether, this made a TON and I will probably be having this for lunch and dinner tomorrow. Sorry for the repetitiveness but, I leave on Friday and have a cookie night tomorrow and research group luncheon Thursday.
Yum, it was filling and the perfect proportions of pasta, vegetables, and chicken. Night all!
Despite the fancy title, these oats looked pretty boring. I had high hopes that the pinkish Kefir would make for a pretty pink bowl of oats that I could show off but no. It tasted just ok too. I liked the Kefir better with some granola so I can actually taste it, or maybe I needed to add more Kefir to the oats. Either way, I managed ;-).
In this bowl:
- 1/3 c. oats
- 1.25 c. water
- 1 tsp. vanilla
- 1/2 banana
- ~1/4 c. Cranberry Creme Brulee Kefir
Simmered the first four ingredients until oats were cooked and then added and stirred in Kefir until the consistency looked good, though it was on the watery side. Live and learn!
To make up for the boring picture, here is a pretty one
Katie
Sorry for no food pics tonight! Sometimes I can’t get a good one with a phone camera and sometimes I just forget. I did snap my afternoon snack of Kashi Go Lean and Kefir:
I had never tried Kefir but I read about this flavor on Live Laugh Eat last week. I saw it at the grocery store today and decided to give it a whirl since it combines 3 things I love: cranberries + creme brulee + yogurt. It smelled like raspberry yogurt when I opened it which I am not a fan of but the taste was much less sweet than sugary raspberry flavored yogurt. It had a little cranberry tartness to it and I loved the texture. I will be trying more Kefir soon!
At the gym, I felt like a long cardio session after a weekend of eating out. It’s never so much what I eat, but all the extra sodium that bugs me! It makes me feel puffy, especially my hands and feet. I needed to sweat it up, and sweat it up I did! First up, 30 minutes of intervals on the treadmill with 2 minutes walking at 7.0 incline/3.6 speed alternating with 6 minutes running at 2.0 incline/6.3 speed. Then I did a 30 minute hill climb on the elliptical. Resistance level 13 (the minute top of the “hill” burst) is pure evil.
I had an Amy’s mushroom and olive pizza and big salad for dinner… and forgot a picture because I was starving. The pizza was in my freezer for awhile but I finally tried it. It was pretty good, no frozen pizza aftertaste but could have used more toppings! I will add more myself next time. I might have to go snack on more Kefir before the night is over!
Katie
Two Lives, One Lifestyle 
