Showing posts with label tomatoes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label tomatoes. Show all posts

Thursday, July 6, 2017

Holiday Wins and Vacation Prep

Warning - this post is going to be a bit haphazard. I have pre-vacation brain trying to remember all the things I need to do before we go and what we need to take. I have to keep reminding myself we are not going on safari - not everything needs to go and there will be a Walmart nearby.

Before I forget  - Cajun Shrimp update:  I pulled the last foil packet out of the freezer and threw it directly on the grill. I did cook it a bit longer to make up for it being frozen, but maybe a bit longer than needed. Unfortunately I didn't keep an eye on the clock, so next time I will time it. I will definitely make these again and put packets in the freezer for quick and easy meals.

Some rude beast left this on the deck for me. The deck is on the opposite end of the yard from the garden, so whoever it was went out of their way to let me know.  For a minute, I thought it might have been Millie, but when I tried to get her to eat it she wanted no part of it. I got some advice to put Irish Spring shavings around the garden to repel varmints. I put some out - fingers crossed. 
My sister gave me a new flamingo towel for my collection. It is ginormous and so soft.
Fourth of July swim. I was coming off a "pool all to myself" high from my last swim. I thought it might happen again since it was a holiday. I was ready to swim 5 minutes before the gym was even supposed to open. Now I kinda get why my husband likes to get there early.

Turns out, I was not alone. (I hope these people are far enough away that I am not invading their privacy.) I was the first one there so I jumped in the lap lane with the idea that if I saw a serious swimmer come in I could give it up. Within minutes there were about 8-9 other people in the pool. I felt just a tiny bit guilty hogging a quarter of the pool as I slogged through 12 laps. When I got to my running laps, I did offer the lane to a couple other people who looked like they were really trying to exercise. Most of the people seemed to be chilling and chatting. When I finished, another guy came in. He didn't want the lap lane because he was pulling him self along the ropes every few strokes. Is there something to that - anyone know?
I got home and had my yummy breakfast.
This tomato variety is called "Fourth of July" because they are supposed to mature by then. Well, they missed it by a couple days. I picked them on the 5th, but they need to finish ripening a day or two more.
I am not sure what is going on with this tomato, but I see Gru from Despicable Me.
Random flower I planted in the garden. Love the color.
Just in time for vacation, my little yellow tomatoes are coming on. I hope my house-sitters enjoy them.
I don't understand what is going on with the grape tomatoes. I feel like they have looked like this forever and none are turning red yet. I think it is time to consult Google. I love to mix red and yellow tomatoes in our pico de gallo.
My 4th of July harvest. (This morning I picked about 10 cherry tomatoes).
Poor lazy Zommie celebrating the Fourth with red, white and blue pillows.
I hid a few of the rocks we painted. This one was by the gym. I posted it in the "rockers" Facebook group and a short time later a car pulled up, a little girl jumped out and grabbed it, then back in the car and mom sped away. I hid another one nearby there and last I checked it was still there - maybe I need to post a better clue.
On the way home from hiding I stopped at the grocery store and noticed this little guy peeking out from a patio chair display. My first find.
And here is the reason I swam and ate good food for breakfast and lunch on the 4th. My friend always has sundaes with ALL the toppings at her 4th of July BBQ. the brown at the bottom of the picture is one of those banana "ice creams" with banana, coconut milk (or was it almond?), cocoa and peanut butter. It was good, but not really ice cream. I am a vanilla girl :)
Finally, I baked a bit batch of my turkey/veggie meatloaves to take on our trip. I might be sick of them by the end of the week, but they will travel easily and save us money and calories :)
I hope to get in a little update while we are gone. We are staying at a friend's house in Denver while she is out of town. I've never been to Colorado. It will be quite a drive, but free lodging is irresistible.

Until next time....hope you are happy and healthy :)

Wednesday, June 28, 2017

Sometimes It is One and Sometimes It is the Other

Two days into the week and I have had two very different days.

Monday - Good on Food and No Exercise

I bought of bag of peaches from Aldi. I am always anxious about buying peaches. Seems like they are never ripe when I buy them they get ripe and spoil 8 seconds later. I end up wasting them. This bag was actually very good from the start and haven't spoiled yet. I am putting my sweet potato on hold for a couple of days and having peach oatmeal this week...mmm!
After breakfast, Monday set in. I was in the middle of curling my bangs when this happened.  How does a curling iron just randomly break in half?? I got a little burn on my forehead where it hit me, but fortunately I dropped the iron quickly and it didn't roll down my entire face.
I packed a lunch with leftover Cajun Shrimp and Veggies that I made on Sunday. The Cajun Shrimp portions seemed a bit skimpy, especially for the 300 calories listed in the recipe. I recalculated the calories using the actual ingredients and amounts I used. It was actually 194 calories. Remember I used half the oil, less shrimp and a different andouille sausage. To bulk up the meal a bit I cooked some whole wheat spaghetti and put the shrimp/veggies on top. It turned out really well, even though I am not a huge whole wheat pasta fan . I mostly used it to finish up the box and get it out of the pantry. Cherries and veggies completed the meal. I love the black meal containers - they really highlight the colors of the food.
While I was at work, my husband called to say the person who wanted to buy our car was ready to get it. I ended up leaving work a bit early to meet my husband, give the car a final cleaning and deliver it. We have had this car for almost 5 years. I am too embarrassed to post a full picture of it - it is a hot mess. However, it has run great and my husband was a trooper for using it so long. Hurray for saving money! About a month ago we bought an upgrade for my him - he definitely deserved it. He appreciated the years of service his ugly car, affectionately known as R2D2, gave. But he was ready to move on. I don't think Boba Fett is known for watching over people per se, but I hope he will watch over the new owner and she will have some good years with our R2D2.
While dinner was on the grill, I visited the tomato plants. I am eager for fresh ripe tomatoes, but thought we had a couple weeks to wait/ Then I spied these guys nestled in the middle of the tomato bed. Can't wait to eat them!
Clearly, I am a fan of the Cajun Shrimp foil packets. I ate them again for dinner. The fourth packet is safely in the freezer...for now. For dinner, I ate it with a sweet potato. I was a happy camper.
By the time we got home after the car delivery I was hungry and not in the mood for a workout. I know, I know, lame reasons to not workout, but it happened. This also happened. That is my shoulder to the left of the picture. Millie was leaning against me. Puppy snuggle time :)

Tuesday - Not So Good on Food and Great on Exercise

I got up at 5a and enjoyed a beautiful dawn walk in the 53 degree weather (ideal in my book). One of my absolutely favorite things about dawn is this. Be sure to turn up the volume.


This walk is brought to you by the color pink.






There was an abundance of pink flowers blooming in the neighborhood. Even the fake flowers were pink.
This particular house had so much more than pink. How pretty is that??

Almost finished my walk. It occurred to me there should be GO signs to encourage walkers in the wee hours of the morning. I guess I will have to interpret this sign as "stop, making excuses and keep moving."
It wasn't exactly a time to write home about (just to blog about). For the next walk I am going to have a time goal. I think I can take a minute off each mile. Obviously, a little time is lost in picture taking, but I definitely need to pick up the pace to get a good cardio workout.
Breakfast was peach oatmeal again. Spoiler alert: Tomorrow will be peach oatmeal. The next day will be peach oatmeal.  
I packed my lunch from the meal prep grilling I did on Sunday - chicken, veggies and cherries. A former co-worker was going to be at the office today and I knew we would go out to lunch. I packed my lunch just in case, her plans changed. I certainly didn't want to be lunch-less. 
On the way to work I had to stop at the store and I saw this. I like granola bars okay, but have never found them very satisfying. I am not sure making them bigger is the best solutionl - more sugar, more fat, more calories. I did not buy them.
As I mentioned, a former co-worker was at the office today. She was there cleaning out some of her stuff from when she worked there. I carried about 5-6 stacks of books up these stairs. The same steep stairs I mentioned carrying books up last week because I am super strong now :)
Honestly, I wasn't excited about going out to lunch because I wanted to eat really well this week before a planned splurge Wednesday evening. But here I was trying to make a decent choice. I got sucked into the lunch menu and nothing else sounded good after I saw this taco salad. Okay, it is a salad, but that doesn't mean healthy. I ordered the dressing on the side, so that was good, right?
And I picked around most of the chips. In an alternate universe I would have eaten ALL of those chips - after dipping them in the rest of that chipotle ranch dressing. Hurray for small wins at least.
When I got home there was a Double Light strength training waiting for me. We started with Skier lunges. Basically you are lunging from side to side as you are raising and lowering the weights. I didn't love this exercise, but I had determined to have a better attitude.

A better attitude - even if the smiles were fake!  I suspect my trainer recognizes sarcasm, but he might prefer it to grouchy trainee.
Bent rows. By the way, did you notice those are bigger weights. My husband broke out the 15 pounders for me. There were definitely fewer reps before I failed out, bur it felt good to push. Like I said, I prefer pushing strength training to pushing cardio :)
Finished up with some Skullcrushers. Another workout without actually crushing my skull...winning!
Dinner was very similar to what I would have eaten for lunch :)  I need to get those peaches eaten before they turn.
Some days you might be better with the food and some days you might be better with the exercise. I am keeping my fingers crossed that it has balanced out in my favor this week.

I am writing this Tuesday evening and thinking I should be getting in bed because I have early morning swimming on the schedule Wednesday. We are having dinner out tomorrow and I want to get a good calorie burn in to help balance that controlled pizza splurge.

How do you find your balance?

UPDATE:  I am completely bummed. I went out to pick those beautiful tomatoes and they were GONE!!!!  Maybe rabbits?  I am buying some fencing today!