Getting Rest & Bird Obsession

Not much going on this weekend. I have been attacked by the creeping crud and am just trying to rest and recover as quickly as possible.  Most of my meals have been raiding the leftovers.

I sauteed leftover steak and green beans from one meal and asparagus from another. I added a little sweet chili sauce and put it in corn tortillas. It was surprisingly good.

I made a wrap with leftover sheet pan chicken from the other night. It was actually much better cold and the mustard tarragon was tasty with the avocado and spinach.

I love loads of fresh berries in my oatmeal. You can't help but feel better eating colorful foods.

In between meals, I've pretty much been resting, watching t.v. and Netflix (House of Cards came out Friday) with my faithful and bed-hogging pups I  am pretty sure their loyalty is to my plate and not me specifically.

  I don't think I have quite reached my water goals, but I have been refilling my glasses often.

I am thankful for my March Food Photo Log. When I am sick I tend to want to eat everything in site, but knowing that I have to take a picture to post has kept me more focused. Mentally, I have also felt good about pulling together healthy meals.

To wrap up a few more pictures from the zoo. I was a little obsessed with the birds this time.

Not exactly sure that I want to be known as a Thick-knee. If they are referring to this bird's legs I am just not seeing thick knees. My biologist niece (who worked at the zoo for several years) explained that birds' knees are actually higher and covered by their feathers. The joint we see is actually an ankle not a backwards knee.

I think I am going to take a nap. What are you up to this weekend?

Office Laps & Sheet Pan Chicken

I was a happy camper to have my egg muffins again for breakfast wraps. I am trying to keep meals between 300-600 calories each. This breakfast came in at 273. I will probably mix up the fruit I have with it (clementines are so low - 35 calories) to get it over 300 calories. It is actually quite filling so I am not obsessed with increasing the calories if it is working for me as is. I am sure my food log will get a little boring with egg muffin wrap after egg muffin wrap.

I am going to have to get serious about getting my exercise minutes in. Yesterday, at work, I took two 10 minute breaks to walk laps in the office. Basically, down the hall around the conference table and back to the copier...over and over. It was a little boring, but I did my best to move with a purpose.

I passed this sign every lap. As I passed it I couldn't read the small print. I just kept seeing SUCCESS over and over...I hope some of that success rubs off on me. Funny thing is that sign has been there forever and I think I have really only read through it once or twice and couldn't tell you more than a couple items on the list without peeking.

When I was on the straightaways (hallway) I did some punching. Around the corners I just tried to keep my arms pumping. I am a little embarrassed to say that my poor neglected arms were pretty tired after 10 minutes.

I took a cup of the homemade chili for lunch. I am not a huge fan of chili but it sounded good on a cold day.

Since a cup of the chili was only 200 calories I added a generic lunchable that I had a work. I love cheese and crackers. The package was 220 calories (including the candy) so it fit easily into my target calorie range.

 For dinner I tried a new recipe Sheet Pan Chicken with Roasted Potatoes from Cooking Light.

You cook it in a very hot oven (500). while the oven was preheating I prepped everything. The sauce is basically a mustard/tarragon sauce. I am getting my dollar's worth out of that little tarragon packet!

The sheet pan goes in the oven while the oven is preheating. By the time the oven reaches temperature the pan is super hot too. I had doubts about lining the pan with aluminum foil because foil cools so quickly and I thought it might take away from the reason they had me preheat the pan. But when I put the potatoes on the pan I was quickly proved wrong. The potatoes immediately started popping and shaking around the pan from the heat. That amusement alone was reason enough to make this recipe.

I didn't read the recipe as clearly as I should have. I thought everything just cooked together. Before the chicken goes in it had to be seared in the skillet. It makes sense, but it was extra step. It works out though because the potatoes get a 10 minute head start in the oven - plenty of time to sear the chicken.

I ended up making three chicken breasts because I thought my husband might want a little more chicken.  If not, I could always eat it as a leftover. After the chicken is seared it is drizzled with the sauce and added to the potatoes to finish in the oven.  It looked pretty coming out of the oven and clean up was a breeze with the foil :)

I served it with peas. The plate definitely needed the green! Overall, I liked this meal. It was simple to make. I liked the sauce - tarragon is growing on me. My biggest issue was the chicken - it came out a bit rubbery. My husband did not like the sauce. I tried to zero in on what he didn't like about it, but he couldn't pinpoint it. I hope it is not the tarragon. Bottom line is it was a good meal, but I won't be in a rush to make it again. There are so many options we have enjoyed more.

I would love to hear from anyone who has tried this recipe or does try it. I am especially interested in how the chicken turns out for you.

Day 1 and A New Page

I am just going to say it I am quite happy with Day 1 of the March2May challenge. I did an official challenge start weigh-in. Not ready to share that number yet, but someday...

I ran to Aldi at lunch time to grab some veggies. I needed my grilled veggie egg muffin wraps!!  On sale at the "grocery" store this week....all kinds of fitness goodies. In addition, to groceries Aldi always has an array of interesting items.

A couple of ladies in our group have tried mini-steppers. I've been thinking about getting one, so this one caught my eye. I will have to do a little more research on this brand before I plunk down my $40.

As soon as I got home from work I ran out to light the grill. Then prepped the veggies (and a couple pieces of chicken) and got to grilling. I didn't realize that the temperature was dropping like it did, but I had to get my grilling done.

Incidentally, the collage below is my very first completely-on-my-phone collage. While I waited for the food to cook (and to take my mind off the cold), I installed PicCollage, took the pictures, made the collage and shared it on Facebook. I know, I know I am amazing...I can now do what most third graders have been doing for the past couple of years :)

I had bought a big package of ground beef at Sam's the other day (just under $3/lb for 93/7).  I put 4 pounds in the freezer. I decided to use a pound to make a big pot of chili for lunches (mostly for my husband, but I am sure I will have a lunch or two out of it). Of course, I added some extra veggies - diced zucchini is one of my favorite tricks for more veggies.

I pulled a package of our garden tomatoes from the freezer and threw them in the pot. I try to freeze several quarts of tomatoes every year just for chili.

I made hamburgers for dinner with some of the ground beef. I had mine on an English muffin with spinach, red onion and tomato. I also sprinkled some red curry powder to my patty before I cooked it. It didn't give it as much flavor as I hoped, Next time I think I need to mix it in the meat. Overall, it was a tasty burger.

After dinner, I made a giant batch of egg muffins. So, I am all set for a week of breakfast wraps. I am actually hoping my husband will eat some of them cause I might have gone a little crazy. I didn't have any cheese so these are cheese-less. To be honest, I think they are prettier without the cheese on top and I don't think there is much of a taste difference.

I got a fun package in the mail. Christina, one of our Lovely Ladies and blogger at Love Yourself Healthy has been shrinking out of her workout wear and offered it up to our group. I picked these fun crop pants and a pair of black leggings. They arrived yesterday and I LOVE them. I probably would not have bought this pattern for myself cause I am so conservative, but the are fantastic and I think I will make some different choices in the future. I can be fun too, right?  I can't wait to test-walk them :)  The leggings are a tad long, but I am planning to work on my BMI with a growth spurt, so...  Thank you, Christina for your generosity!

I finished the day with one more glass of water for a total of 92 ounces.

I am trying a photo food log for the month of March. If you would like to see everything I ate checkout my new "food log" tab for details. I would like this to be a fun new level of accountability for me.

I will call yesterday a very successful start. Today I will start my working on my exercise minutes :)

March 2 May Challenge

Time for another challenge with my Lovely Ladies. This challenge will run from March 1 to May 31. We have an overall goal of a certain number of minutes of exercise to complete each month. Each of us chose our own minute goal. It is important for goals to have an element of challenge, but not be so lofty you quickly lose hope that you can achieve them. I have set my minutes for March at 800. That comes out to about to roughly 35 minutes 5 times a week. I will evaluate after March to set goals for April and May.  

As you all know I have been struggling with the exercise since my Jedi streak. I bought new shoes and I have been babying my feet. I think now is as good of time as any to get back to regular exercise. I plan to incorporate walking and spend some time at that gym we pay for (gasp!). The main reason I have kept the gym membership when we are clearly not using it is that I don't want to give up access to the pool. Swimming is an excellent exercise I can do more easily even when I am hurting. But the truth is I can't remember the last time I was in the pool...that is changing!

In addition to our overall minute goal, various members will be "sponsoring" weekly challenges. Examples are daily water goals, eating so many fruits/veggies every day, etc. I think it will be fun way to keep the challenge fresh and motivational.

I have a couple of additional personal goals that I am adding to the challenge. I have to buckle down on the eating aspect of life. I was off to a great start this year with target calorie ranges for each meal. Then I kinda let it slide in February. I am committing to that goal for the duration of the challenge. I will be adding a challenge page in the next few days to track my progress for all the world to see.  Who knows maybe I will even become brave enough to share my actual weight....let's not get too crazy :)

As promised a few pictures from the zoo. I got a little carried away with the student art display. I love that students have the opportunity to create and then display their art to the public.

It is little difficult to see in the picture but the black part of this pictures is raised making a 3 dimensional picture.

Because I love flamingos. I am also impressed at the perspective with a much closer bird looking at the more distant birds.

 Who doesn't love owls? (did you see what I did there?)  The multi-media art is so fun.

 I am not entirely sure why this armadillo needs a helmet....I would love to hear more of its story.

The colors in this print jumped out me and I could actually see this as an art piece someone would buy.

Notice the letting in each part of the picture...pretty intricate.

The next two pictures are made of yard. That takes serious planning to figure out how to make it all work before the glue dries.

 I like the additional dimension of the trees and grass by the yard not being completely glued down.

The panda and the large leaves are painted on cellophane and placed slightly forward from the background.

 Deconstructed lion.

Mosaic giraffe made from tissue paper. I was impressed with the expression the artist was able to achieve.

And because everyone loves giraffes. This picture by a 1st grader was actuall the first one I took a picture of. It looks a little like he is swallowing a rather big lunch.

I hope you enjoyed this little art gallery. I wish I could tell the artists how impressed I am with their works and how much I enjoyed seeing them at the zoo.

Happy March!