Hunger Solved

Posted on March 27, 2012 by Jen @nutcaseinpoint

I’m baccccccck!

Just got back from seeing The Hunger Games, and if you must know, I was a tad disappointed. They left out some characters, omitted parts, and it seems the beginning was drawn out entirely too long, with the games themselves going by rather quickly. And wait, did Cato cry? I don’t remember reading that. Sorry, no spoiler alerts here.

Of course I’m legally obligated (not legally obligated at all, but I feel I am supposed) to watch all the movies now since I have read all the books- it’s only fair. Meh

So here’s what I came up with for dins pre-movie date:

Chicken Breast stuffed with Spinach Blue Cheese and Bacon

(I came up with this because I scanned my brain for what was sitting in the fridge, then Googled recipes that contained those items. See?! We can all be geniuses sometimes!) recipe from here

4 slices bacon
2 chicken breasts
5 ounces spinach (about 1/2 bag of fresh spinach) sauteed, patted dry, and cooled
1/2 blue cheese
1 tbsp all purpose flour
1/8 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper

Cook the bacon until crisp. Set on paper towels and let cool.

Preheat oven to 350. In a medium bowl, mix the blue cheese and spinach. Stir in the crumbled bacon.

Using a knife (or someone who can do that part for you) slice through the center of each breast creating a pocket. Stuff the mixture into the pocket. If you have toothpicks, use them to secure it shut

Blend the flour, salt and pepper on a dinner plate. Take each breast and coat the sides with flour mixture.

Over medium-high heat, quickly brown each sides of the chicken before placing in a greased baking dish and covering with foil. Bake for 30 minutes.

******

Since Tyler doesn’t care for potatoes of the orange variety (some may call those sweet potatoes), I made baked potato wedges coated with olive oil, s&p, basil and rosemary for him; and sweet potato wedges with olive oil and s&p for me. (roasted about 25 minutes, flipping halfway through)

His

Hers

He got the bigger breast. (Hey, I thought that was MY job in this relationship!)

******

In the spirit of all things for St. Patrick’s Day coming late this year, I sported the socks mom and dad sent me. Kept me nice and cozy for the movie!

Layla so wanted in on that photo shoot.

Confessions

Posted on March 27, 2012 by Jen @nutcaseinpoint

There are a few things I need to confess:

I always add A1 to my steak. Even at fancy restaurants.
The seam on my socks needs to perfectly align with my toes otherwise I can’t put on my shoes
I still try to avoid cracks in the sidewalks. Don’t want to break mama’s back!
I forget to turn off my straightener. A lot.
I wear my sunglasses all the time. I do not want crows feet.

And, in the spirit of confessionals, I did something very very bad today. Like, go to church and tell a priest bad. I had no motivation to go to the gym (even though I wanted to, my body didn’t) so I went to the store and bought skittles BEFORE my workout. And not the regular size pack. The kind that has a hole on the top so it is a hanging display. Like the bag that has six servings. AND THEN. (this is where you must brace yourself) I went to the gym parking lot AND ATE THE WHOLE BAG. In like minutes. Then worked out. (*gasp*) Please, please, please tell me someone out there has done something as shameful as that. Oof, I felt so horrible about myself.

While I was doing some cardio, I debated whether or not I should make this confession. I know a lot of bloggers try (I’m not saying all!) to put their best foot forward in what they choose to share with the online world, but then JLo’s ‘I’m Real’ came on my iPod, and I thought, ‘What the hell, I’m real-what you get is what you see’. And that ended that debate.

Oddly enough, I had a great workout, but I am hoping the sugar overload and high performance workout were not related. GAH, it feels so good to get that off my chest. Like is something that someone in Overeaters Anonymous would confess. OMG, should I be in Overeaters Anonymous?!

On to better and brighter things. Before my appalling sugar behavior, I started the day with a bowl of oats. I had no nut butter in the house- I REPEAT: NO NUT BUTTER IN THE HOUSE- so I had to improvise. I mixed oats with almond milk, water, chia seeds and Vanilla Chai Vega protein, then topped with a spoonful of Cranberry Apple Butter.

I have to admit, it was probably the least appetizing looking bowl of oats I have ever made. The protein powder had a greenish hue to it. But, it had a sweet flavor; definitely different than the creamy bowl of peanut buttery oats that I’m used to.

The Vega One was a single serving pack- I am still debating whether I want to indulge myself in a full canister. It’s so expensive! But there is SO MUCH protein in it, and it’s good, and I like it and I could have it everyday…

You know what today feels like? It feels like a great day to go see The Hunger Games! Especially since it’s half price Tuesday at the theater around the corner! Eek, I’m so excited. I was going to make lamb stew for dinner in honor of the movie, but I realized I don’t really care for lamb, nor do I care for stew. And I wasn’t about to go shoot a rabbit with a bow and arrow instead. Nuts and berries maybe? No, Tyler needs a man’s meal. What to do, what to do.

I’ll check in tonight when I get home from the movies! In the meantime…

Anybody have a confession?

Meatless Monday

Posted on March 26, 2012 by Jen @nutcaseinpoint

Mmmk mmmmk, let’s talk more about meeeeeeee. No one seems to be interrupting or even commenting, so I’ll take that as a go-ahead.

I ended up doing 30 minutes of cardio at the Y, then finished off with arms. (I already did a full body workout and extra abs this am!)

I’m gonna jot down some gym pet peeves. It really doesn’t matter what gym you go to, you will most definitely see some of these things. Feel free to add on others I fail to mention.

Wanderers. These people look as if they feel satisfactory enough by just having made it to the gym, yet they have no idea what to do. And if they do decide on a machine, it’s for about 45 seconds until they change their minds. Then, because they weren’t on the machine for that long, they feel they are exempt from having to wipe it down. People, I still don’t want your germs.
Creeps. I’m talking to you, fellas. Stop checking out the girls with the tights spandies or the low cut tops. Yeah, they’re asking for it, but it’s rude. And gross. And us laddddies feel inclined to either talk to management about you, or just confront you in person. If it gets to that point, you should just be embarrassed.
Another one for the boys: Why do you always have to grab your junk between sets? NO ONE wants to see that. Plus, I gag.
Sweaty gorillas. I fall under this category. MAKE SURE TO WIPE OFF ANY EQUIPMENT. Otherwise, it’s like the skit from Jackass 3 where Steve-O drinks Preston’s sweat. Not pretty.
Groups. Do 14 teenage boys need to huddle around one piece of equipment? No. This isn’t social hour.
Naked people. Ugh, they make stalls for a reason. It takes all my might not to gasp in horror when I round the corner and find wrinkly boobs. I just worked out hard, I might be prone to fainting, and nakedness doesn’t help the cause.

One thing I LOVE about my Y here in Calgary is that there is no equipment signup. AKA: No one’s is going to tap you on the shoulder and demand to see the ‘time elapsed’ on your machine to make sure you are not cutting into their allotted 30 minutes. That system is not effective. Anywhere. I have been to this Y a crap ton of times already, and not once have I seen a problem. Good job Crowfoot YMCA!

Phew. I feel better now.

In honor of National Spinach Day, lunch consisted of a Green Monster (frozen banana, 2 handfuls baby spinach, almond milk, 3 ice cubes and a splash of vanilla) and an english muffin topped with Trader Joe’s Cranberry Apple Butter (When you have an obsession and you have limited packing room, you make room for necessities)

After some domestic chores, (laundry, change bed, grocery shop and ~~take a bath~~)—> ok, maybe that last one isn’t a chore, but I did it anyway, I painted my nails. Woop! Perhaps it was to pay homage to St. Patrick’s Day a tad bit late, or perhaps the spinach smoothie got to me, but the green was calling my name. Warning: Do not zoom in on this picture, I have fierce cuticles. And if you decide to zoom in, don’t judge me, it was a cold winter and I have sensitive skin.

I decided I was going to make tonight’s dinner a Meatless Monday dinner. This was for a couple of reasons; a) We still need to stock up on meats at Costco, and b) I’m sick of chicken.

So, I came up with a little pasta concoction. I packed the meal with a lot of veggies, to make sure a good a good dose of vitamins and goodness.

Whole wheat penne with broccoli, yellow pepper and fresh green beans. Drizzle with EVOO and add a dash of salt.

Ahhh, back to that grocery store trip I mentioned. Only wanted to get some produce to fluff up our pasta dish, but decided to check out the yogurt section to see what they had going on (again, I have to wait for our Costco run, but argh, I couldn’t help myself) Ok, so they have 3 different brands of greek yogurt. Liberte, as I have mentioned before, and two other brands I have never seen. It took me forever to figure out what they were because all the dang containers were French-facing-front! I am sooo not a fan of this two language thing. Anyhoo, none of the yogurts were 0% or even 1%! They were all regular fat, whatever that may be, and contained 18g of fat per serving! My indulgence in that aisle was quickly squashed. I can wait.

******

I am almost done with Mockingjay! It took me longer than usual to get through because of my meltdown-of-a-week last week. I am hoping to finish tonight! Does anyone have any suggestions on what I can read next? I don’t like serious books or Jodi Picoult or sci fi (The Hunger Games is an odd exception)

Flurry Monday

Posted on March 26, 2012 by Jen @nutcaseinpoint

And a happy snow day to you, my dear friends. It is a glorious 0 degrees here in Calgary this a.m. and I am ready to get this week going!

But first, I will show you what I threw together for dinner last night (to be consumed while watching The Amazing Race. While we’re on that topic, I hate the green team. Ok, no, I seriously don’t like the girl on the green team. And the Kentucky boys are HILAR) That said, dinner was basmati rice toped with garlicky sauteed spinach and chopped chicken sausage. Yum!

After The Amazing Race, we decided to watch The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. Holy balls is that a crazy movie. Slow and twisted, but really good. Now I can see why I had a hard time getting into the book. There are so many different characters to remember and how they are connected to each other. Woof!

After watching that and 12 episodes of The Walking Dead the night before, I had some crazy bizarre dreams last night. I need to stop doing that to myself!

B-fast this am was a couple leftover banana chia muffins with a scoop of pb and some scrambled eggs.

After adequate digestion time, I decided to get started on my fitness for the day.

Dont’ I look intense? The answer is YES.

I decided to once again turn to Pinterest for some inspiration. You know, change it up a bit. Keep me from having to get creative. I came across a workout I have done a few times before, and I thought it would be perfect for a Monday morning pre-workout workout.

Source: indulgy.com via Rose on Pinterest

I did that 3x through, then did the same stability ball ab routine I posted yesterday. I had a little interruption here and there when my separation-anxiety ridden dog decided to ass-plant on my mat. Doing crunches with her there was like playing peek-a-boo with a baby. I’d extend back, and she’d cock her head to see where I went, then I’d contract back up and her neck would jolt back. It’s comedy hour at my house this morning. We’re a funny little team in this house.

I just wanted to get this all jotted down before I really get my day going. Lots to do today!

YMCA for cardio and weights
walk with Layla
Paint my nails (yay! Jen squeals with joy! The move and crap weather have wreaked havoc on my precious digits)
Come up with an amazeballs dinner (I’m domestic like that.)
Paint! (Will it ever be done??!)
Costco (Yesssssssss. Mama needs a big ol’ jar of almond butter, and almond milk by the gallons, and economy bags of brussel sprouts and strawbs and…..)

Ok, I guess that really isn’t a whole lot, but for this gal, it’s the mecca of all daily schedules right now.

Off to the gym!

Sunday Sweat Sesh

Posted on March 25, 2012 by Jen @nutcaseinpoint

Just thought I’d share some bits of my workout today!

First, I started with a leg burner that I saw on Pinterest (thanks, Ashley! I found it on your board!)

Source: fitsugar.com via Jen on Pinterest

I did that 2x through. I needed some cardio, so I did a quick 30 minutes of kickboxing (Give Me Everything, How Low, Ramalama, Get on the Floor, Beat It, Dun duh-duh, Enjoy Yourself, Down on Me)—-> for you CBC folk 😉

Then, I followed it up with another lower body burner I found on Pinterest