Return of the Run

I believe the word I am looking for is PHEW!

I woke up this morning and was balls to the walls sore. Like, I’m-not-even-gonna-get-up-to-get-a-glass-of-water-because-that-requires-movement sore. But, after a quick gchat with Athena, she convinced me to try a treadmill interval workoutIt was good, y’all.

At first, I didn’t think my muscles would want to go through the interval set 2x, but once I got movin’ and groovin’ those muscles didn’t mind at all!

After the treadmill, I used a foam roller to get all those kinks out of my legs, then I did a bit up upper body work. It included:

  • Front raises
  • lateral raises
  • cuban presses
  • skull crushers
  • chest press
  • clean and jerks
  • cross legged overhead press
  • standing knee to elbow press
  • weighted oblique dips

A big ol’ thanks to Athena for helping me get my bee-hind to the gym for a good long cardio session!

******(Insert smooth transition here)

For dinner last night, I made homemade calzones (even the dough was from scratch!) and s’mores parfaits.

Here’s the recipe:

For the dough

  • 1 packet yeast
  • 3 1/2 cups flour
  • 1 1/2 warm water
  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 tsp sugar
  • 2 tsp salt

Mix the yeast and warm water in a bowl and let sit for about 5 minutes. Then, add the rest of the ingredients until well incorporated. On a floured surface, knead with your hands for 2-3 minutes. Place back in a bowl, covered with a towel, and let sit for 1-1 1/2 hours.

To make the calzone

Half the dough. For each ball, knead and stretch out to about a 10″ diameter (like a pizza). Add sauce, fillers of choice (I used zucchini, red peppers, pepperoni and mozzarella) to one half the dough. Fold the other side over the fillings. Take a fork and press the ends together to make sure the pie is sealed. Top with cheese (optional) Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes

There were veggies in there, I promise!

The s’mores parfait was even easier.

I made Jell-o cook and serve chocolate pudding (with almond milk). After it was chilled in the fridge for a few hours, I layered it with marshmallow fluff and graham cracker crumbs. Not gorgeous, but delicious!

Good thing I ran like a maniac today after all that food. Woof!

Oh, and Layla says hi to everyone.

Recent Eats

Here are some pics of recent eats. Hence the title name. Duh.

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Jugo Juice is seriously becoming a front runner for a go-to meal. Especially with this warm weather coming around. Important: always get a shot of wheatgrass. It is the bomb dot com

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My body was craving some serious carbs in the form of pasta. To health that sucker up, I threw in peas.

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Oats with chocolate chips and rainbow sprinkles. Enough said. It was pretty sweet though, so I could only manage to choke down half.

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Greens with red pep, garlic stuffed olives, scrambled eggs, ketchup and onion dressing. Health craving: satisfied.

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Israeli couscous with ground turkey, red pep and mushies. Topped with Frank’s Red Hot.

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Green Monster with almond milk, bananas, spinach and ice.

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Eggs Benedict with a crapton of fruit from Cora’s, easily one of my favorite breakfast places here.

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Doggie Treat. That’s for Layla. But believe me, I was tempted.

Any good eats you’d like to share?

Ma, The Meatloaf!

Consider my day made. Lookie what yours truly got today

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And

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Bahaha yes! I don’t LOVE these books as in I’d tell you they’re my favorite, but I do love laughing at how dirty and cheesy the plot is. For reals. First 20 pages: “oh, woe is me, I’m a single girl and lonely” rest of the book: sex sex sex. Hahaha so bad.

Twyla and I hit up the Barbell Blast class today down the at the Eau Claire Y. It was great! Bing bang boom, we were a-movin’ and a-shakin’ and lifting those weights like they were going out of style. Only downfall: after class, we had to climb the dreaded stairs to get back to my car. That alone was a workout!

Dinner tonight was meatloaf.

“Mom, the meatloaf….F$&*#!”
Hahaha

This lady had no eggs in the fridge, so this is what I came up with

    1 1/2 lb ground beef
    1/4 chopped onion
    1/4 tsp salt
    1/4 tsp pepper
    1 cup milk ( I used almond)
    3/4 cup quick oats
    Ketchup

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine all the ingredients (use ketchup to top. See picture) and place in a loaf pan. Bake for 60-75 minutes. Let sit for a few minutes before cutting and serving.

The result:

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Pretty good. Really easy.

Especially for those nights when you don’t know what to make an just need something to schlop together
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source

Right now, I’m watching The Bachelorette and I’m 99.9% confident that I will barf before the episode ends. How is this show still on the air? Probably because doofuses like me who continue to watch it. #fail

Hey, did I mention you should follow me on twitter? Because you should. And Instagram. Add me @nutcaseinpoint

G’nite all. Who’s excited for Friday?! Plans? Please share!

Outdoor Workout and Recipe You.Must.Try.

Phewfsies. Another exhausting day for the books.

Bootcamp was awesome. I mean, anything involving these stairs is pretty great:

There’s 165 steps. I counted.

Our workout today consisted of supersets of a bunch of different exercises. We would do 2 back to back, each for a minute, then take a minute break. 4 sets in total. We did lunges, jump squats, burpees, plie squats, planks, russian twists, pushups and jacks.

Then, we had cones set up and divided the group in two. One group would do a cardio exercise down and back while the other would do a strength. They were:

  • Jump skips/tricep dips
  • grapevine/spiderman planks
  • shuffle/ squat pulse
  • shuffle/bench crunches

Then we did some ab progressions and jogged back down the stairs and back to the gym.

Pretty great workout. Especially outside. Except when you forget to put on sunscreen. Which of course, I forgot. I was planning on laying out in the sun tomorrow (unless it rains) to get rid of my god awful tan lines, but I was asked to attend an afternoon bootcamp (indoors. this calls for another phewfsies) and then a hi-lo/step workshop. So, it looks like it’ll be another active day tomorrow!

Lunch was a plateful of veggies. Gotta hit the daily requirement.

It was really too hot out to eat a bunch of hot veggies, but I’m so turned off by salads right now. Must be the last one I had had a nasty dressing. Who knows. Who cares, really.

Twyla and I took all our 4-legged beasts down to the river for a little walk. Which turned out to be a 2 hour walk. Which means my dogs are killing me. (Not the 4-legged ones, but the ones attached to my legs. Haha, I’m such a comedian) I forgot to take pictures because we were chit-chatting the whole time and Layla was a savage on the leash. I think my left arm is exempt from any bicep/tricep work for at least a month.

LET’S GET TO DINNER….SHALL WE?

That’s not even a question, because I AM going to show you dinner. In fact, Tyler’s still eating it. He just came in -from his video game, no less- and told me it was the best sauce he’s ever had. People, this is huge. Massive, even. Best part? He doesn’t know that it’s a healthified version. Bwahahahaha.

I found this recipe from Stephanie Cooks. I only changed one thing and added two others. Here it is:

Lighter Creamy Garlic Pasta

  • 1 tsp olive oil
  • 4 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1 tbsp butter
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 1/4 tsp pepper
  • 3 cups chicken broth
  • 3/4 cup 1% milk
  • 1/2 pound angel hair (I used rotini)
  • 1 cup grated parmesan (I used 1/4 cup)
  • 1 tsp dried parsley

I added

  • 6 large mushrooms, sliced and sauteed
  • 2 sausage links, removed from the casings, crumbled and cooked

Directions:

1. Heat the oil, garlic and butter in a large pot. Stir frequently. After 1-2 minutes, add the salt, pepper, chicken stock and milk.

2. Bring the broth to a boil. Add the pasta and allow it to cook according to packaging directions. Then add the cheese, mushrooms and sausage. Remove from heat, stir well. Top with parsley (I forgot!) Serve immediately.

The result:

The broth and all that creamy goodness soak into the pasta as it’s cooking, so there is no need to drain the pot. Oh man, it is good. I highly recommend this meal. I only used 1/4 of the cheese because it’s all I had left, and I think it was just the perfect amount. You be the judge though.

That’s all for now, because my eyelids…..are……slowly………..closing.

 

Weekend roundup and a tabata quickie

Friday: worked out. A lot. Like, ran those dang stairs in downtown for an hour. Did you miss my photo on instagram? Probably. So, here’s a pic of my new office

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Fast forward a bit, and this is what I surprised Tyler with

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Homemade sangria, STEAK, grilled portobello and baked taters.

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Hi, doesn’t that look delish? Ok, bye.

Saturday: I did my hair and put makeup on. But that’s not all!

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Tyler took me downtown for lunch. We also walked around a bit and enjoyed the wonderful sunny day.

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Saturday night: I finished my book, we drank weird beer, and played scrabble.

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Sunday: breakfast of champions, lunch (more like snack), sunny walk and burgers

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;

Lots on the agenda today. BUT, I leave you with this:

Feeling sluggish? Have 16 minutes laying around? Way to feel awesome and maybe sweat a little bit?
(hint: the answer should be yes to all of these. Unless you dot feel sluggish… Then good for you!)

Try this 16 minute tabata workout!
tabatas are 4 minutes sets where you work hard for 20 seconds, rest for 10 and repeat 8 times
1st set: jumps- not just your run-of-the-mill jump rope. I want you to jump HIGH
2nd set: weighted plié squats- get LOW
3rd set: stability ball crunches- if you don’t have a ball, do regular crunches on the ground with your legs straight in he air..FEET FLEXED
4th set: overhead press… You’re only doing this for FOUR minutes (with breaks) so grab a heavier set of weights and really push yourself!

Feel better? I do just typing this. Hasta luego!