monday morning rush

Oh how I love waking up to daylight!!! I was planning to get up early and take the dogs for another romp around our neighborhood, but I just couldn't get moving in time. I was out of bed at 6:45 and packed up some food goodies for the day.

For breakfast I toasted 1/2 of a whole wheat bagel from Bodo's and smeared 1 tbsp of almond butter and 1 tbsp of apple butter on it. An Oikos greek yogurt with honey was a great side. I LOVE LOVE LOVE Oikos yogurt. I typically eat the plain nonfat with some sort of fruit sprinkled in it, but if I'm going to actually eat it plain I prefer the kind with honey in it. Its so sweet its almost decadent and I could easily eat it as dessert to satisfy a craving.



I snacked on my bagel as I was getting ready and saved my yogurt to have with my pomegranate green tea at work.



I packed the last of my black beans and yellow rice for lunch, which I planned on eating with a pear but it filled me up so much that I saved the pear for an afternoon snack.



Eating at my desk...lots of errands to run during lunch so I wolfed this down so I could be on my way.



For snacks I threw a banana and a kashi in my bag. I ate the banana mid-morning (my breakfast didn't stay with me at all!) and will substitue my lunch pear for the kashi in the afternoon. The kashi is now stashed in my drawer at my desk in case of emergency...



My afternoon pear...what a beauty! I can't wait.



I'm off to run some errands, then its back to work 'till 6. I'm hoping to go for a light jog tonight or at least take the kids out for a spin. Its dark here by 5:15 though...I hate that! For dinner Bri's making his famous potato cheese soup...not too healthy but sooooooooooo good! I'll make a salad to go along with it and try to control my portion size of soup. We'll see how that goes... :)

yay for yoga!

It has been another beautiful day in Virginia! Perfect temperature, clear blue skies, gorgeous fall colors. This is definitely my favorite time of year, of course until the spring bulbs start popping up and the farmer's market starts up again! I think I just love that we have seasons here...Florida is great (especially in the winter when its not below freezing for my morning runs!), but I really really enjoy the seasons in VA.

I went to a Vinyasa Yoga class at Studio 206. It was fantastic. Hilary is such a great instructor, I always love her classes. This was my first time back in over a year, so I'm sure I will be super-sore tomorrow, but it felt SO GOOD to be there! I realized that I was at my happiest physically when I was combining yoga with running, so I decided to get back into yoga with the start of the 10-miler training. Also, when I was practicing yoga along with running I didn't have any injuries, so maybe all the stretching will help prevent injuries this time around too.

After yoga I ran a couple of errands and snacked on a Kashi.



Then I came home to do some laundry, cleaning and prep for dinner. I stopped by the Organic Butcher this afternoon to pick up some chicken breasts, which I seasoned with a splash of extra virgin olive oil and a generous rubbing of Chef Paul's Poultry Magic. We have all of Paul Prudhomme's Magic Seasoning Blends, his restaurant in New Orleans is one of our favorites.




I also chopped up some fall veggies to roast.



Beets, Carrots, Baby Yams, Potatoes, Onion, Garlic...YUM!

Then I decided it was too beautiful to stay inside even with all of the windows open, so I took the kids for a nice 2-mile hilly walk around the neighborhood. They loved it and were totally wiped out by the time we got back.


When we got home I was really hungry and realized I'd skipped lunch! SO unlike me. I blame it on daylight savings and my lunchtime yoga class. I heated up 1/2 cup of saffron rice and 1 cup of leftover veggie black beans that I made last week. Very satisfying and held me over 'till dinner a couple of hours later.



For dinner I had 1/2 a chicken breast (they were pretty big!) a good pile of roasted veggies and a side of Near East Whole Grains, accompanied by a small glass of wine. The yams in the veggies were so good! I LOVE sweet potatoes and was excited to find these little guys at Whole Foods yesterday.




I had a side of WahooQ bbq sauce on the side...I think one of the main reasons I still eat meat is because I can't give up bbq sauce!!!



I am now wonderfully full, finishing up my wine and contemplating whether or not I want any dessert....

UPDATE: Yep, definitely caved to the need for sweet. A Kozy Shack rice pudding hit the spot! :)

lovely sunday morning

For breakfast this morning Brian was craving omelets, so he whipped up this beauty for me:



Ingredients:

 

• 2 egg whites


• 1 whole egg


• 1/4 cup chopped ham


• 1/4 cup shredded cheese


• 1/2 cup yellow bell pepper, chopped


• 1/4 cup onion, chopped


• 3 tbsp salsa on top

 

Calories: 312   Fat: 17.7g   Sat. Fat: 7.7g   Carbs: 11g   Protein: 29.3g

This sucker was huge, I only ate 2/3's of it.  The animals were pretty interested in what their dad was doing in the kitchen this morning, especially since it involved their favorite ham!  (They got to share my leftover omelet...)



Bri and I shared a tangerine on the side:



I love citrus, its something I really miss from living in Florida.  My grandfather had three trees in his backyard and used to send me back to college with bags full of tangerines, oranges and grapefruit.  Oh how I miss that!  I have a hard time actually buying citrus in Virginia, before I moved here I don't think I ever had to pay for any!  :)

Brian has to go into work for a few hours this afternoon, so I think I'm going to go to a yoga class at Studio 206.  I used to go to this class all the time, but they moved its time slot to 12:30 and I don't like how it chops up my day.  But with Brian occupied for a few hours this afternoon anyway, it seems like the perfect way for me to spend an hour on this lovely Sunday.  Plus, the studio is only a block from our offices so we can ride downtown together.  :)

already missing deadlines

:( Oops. So I didn't post my food recap yesterday. I sat down after going grocery shopping to download my pictures and start writing, but then we had a friend come over for dinner and I didn't have time to finish. She left pretty late and I wasn't feeling all that great so I went straight to bed. Oh well...I'll get the hang of this eventually! So here's yesterday's recap:

After my training program and a long walk with Christine and our pups, I made a cup of Kashi Heart to Heart Honey Toasted Cereal with a sprinkle of sliced almonds and a banana on top. A cup of Hemp milk finished it off. Yum!

Kashi H2H and Hemp Milk

 

my bowl

This was the first time I had tried hemp milk, but I've read about it on other blogs and was intrigued. It was really good! Not a whole lot of flavor, which I actually like. I am typically a Silk plain soymilk girl. The hemp milk is thinner than soymilk, more like the consistency of skim milk, and has a slightly sweet flavor to it. I'll continue to buy it for sure, along with the soymilk.

 

After breakfast Brian and I went to the Vintage Apple Festival. It was the perfect fall day, high in the mid 70's, crystal-clear sky and beautiful fall colors.

Vintage Apple Festival

Several of the vendors that are usually at our weekly Farmer's Market were there. Sadly I didn't get pictures of them, what was I thinking!?! We bought our usual little 1.5 pound ham from Double H farm....this stuff is SO GOOD! Brian eats ham sandwiches for lunch all week...

And some broccoli...

Double H Farm broccoli

And we stocked up on our favorite sausage from Babes in the Wood for the winter. They have a special breed of pig that they let forage in the forest for food rather than feeding them processed food that they weren't meant to eat. This stuff is AMAZING!

Babes in the Wood sausage

I know sausage isn't the best thing for you, but I seriously only eat a link like once a month so I'm not that worried about it when I do. Everything in moderation. Sometime I will write about my food philosophy in more detail (maybe in a tab at the top with my [unfinished] story)... But basically I eat mostly vegetarian (not apparent from this post I know!) and the meat that I do consume is all local, organic and humanely raised. Brian + I are really really picky about this because we understand how important it is; for our health, for the environment and for the quality of life of the animals. So that is why we LOVE our City Farmer's Market so much, and are so sad that the season is now over and we have to wait until next April to enjoy it again. Luckily, we have our Charlottesville Organic Butcher to keep us stocked through the winter time...all local, all organic.

 

For lunch Brian and I found a nice little shady spot in the peach orchard and I had a pulled chicken sandwich (made with local, organic, humanely-raised chicken of course!) on a home made whole wheat bun. Yum!

And a bite of Bri's cheddarwurst (all descriptors above apply except that its pork)...

And I helped out with Bri's homemade, fresh applesauce. I can't even describe how good this was.

And of course I couldn't leave without buying apple butter, which they were making in big vats at the festival!

Apple Butter!

Sadly, we didn't bring enough money for me to actually buy any apples, but we have an orchard that is closer to us that we will go up to next weekend to pick our own.

 

After the festival I went grocery shopping at Whole Foods. It was such a disappointing experience! I typically LOVE grocery shopping, but today I just wasn't in the mood. I wandered around, still managed to spend a ton of money and had a cart full of produce at the end of the trip, but I just couldn't get any inspiration for meals while I was there. So it should be an interesting week of coming up with dinners off the cuff. I got my usual favorites, but didn't get pictures of them before going in the fridge so here's a fridge shot...

While at the store I had a splitting headache and was feeling a little queazy so I picked up an Odwalla.

A lot of sugar in these drinks but I felt like I needed it since I was a little faint. I finished about 2/3s of it and gave the rest to Brian when I got home.

For dinner we had Mexican take-out from a restaurant down the street. We were supposed to cook for our friend, but like I said earlier I was feeling uninspired and wasn't really in the mood to cook. No pictures of dinner...once again, I'll get the hang of this eventually! Now, I thought about trying to be healthy but it is really difficult with Mexican food from a restaurant. So instead, I just ate what I wanted because again, we don't do it that often. I had 1/2 of a cheese quesadilla, spanish rice and refried beans, and a few chips with a bit of cheese dip. All in all it was pretty unsatisfying, I think I was just having an "off" afternoon/evening. We also shared some wine...

And after a movie and some chatting I went to bed, really not feeling well. I just never perked up after my initial headache at the grocery store. :(

Whew! Blogging is quite time-consuming! Hopefully my posts will get shorter after I get the hang of it and get all of the background info out of the way...

training week #1

This morning I started the 10-miler training program!  I am very excited, even though I am starting in group 1 when last year I started in group 3.  I probably could have pushed myself into group 2 (they were going on a 2 mile run this morning versus my 3/4 on the track...) but I'm trying to be smart this time around and prevent injury.  I am still getting hilly walks in with Christine (my former running partner until my injuries and her pregnancy! she's due in april!) so I feel like I can take it nice and slow with getting back into the running.  

A little background...

The first day was great! It was definitely easy for me, but that's ok. I'm not pushing myself. We did 3/4 miles on the track, walking the curves and running the straights. I'm supposed to do that 2 more times before next Saturday when we will do a mile. They said it is fine to run the whole thing if you feel that you are in between groups one and two, which I am, so I think I will run the full workouts from now on. I KNOW that I could run a full mile on the track, probably even two, without pushing myself past my limits. But since I'm cross-training with a little walking, I'm still going to take it easy.

The hubby and I are off to the Vintage Apple Festival today (yay! i love festivals!) so I will post my findings and eatings when we get back from that.