This dog was made for walkin’

Posted on April 3, 2012 by Jen @nutcaseinpoint

I was able to peel myself off the couch after 4 episodes of Mad Men. Sheesh. I’m such a bum.

Layla and I ran some errands, then we headed over to Nose Hill Park for a long hike.

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That place is super hilly! We got in some running here and there as well, but I had to be quite careful not to twist my ankle on some of the rocks and holes along the path. Layla was in heaven.

Some great scenery, per usual for Calgary!

I’m a smart lady too, and brought lotsa aqua for the little one. She was huffin and puffin.

And my favorite pic from the walk:

Once we trekked our way back, I needed some protein and veggies to hold me over until dinner. I came up with this bowl:

Spinach topped with scrambled eggs, onion/poppyseed dressing, and a dallop of ketchup. It hit the spot!

Big to-do’s for dinner tonight! I’ve already got some schtuff in the ol’ hot box.

Here’s something to think about: how would you fill your day if you weren’t working?

I had intentions of getting my workouts done early in the day, but they seem to still revolve around the evening hours. I do, however, get to be out with Layla a lot more, so I am moving a heck of a lot more than when I was sitting at a darn desk all day. And I get to actually make meals rather than whip a quick smoothie or have hard boiled eggs when I get home from work and have to dash off to the gym. Even though I enjoy these luxuries, I do miss the regimen that requires me to be places at certain times. Thoughts?

Chicken breasts in a bag

Posted on April 3, 2012 by Jen @nutcaseinpoint

Big things are happening here. I started season 1 of Mad Men today. I have a strong feeling I’ll be sucked in to the Mad-ness (pun intended). I’m going to have to restrict myself to only so many episodes per sitting so that I can get stuff done around here. Like, walks with the dog and domestic errands. OooOOoo.

I was busy on the Internet box last night but managed to quickly whip up a dinner that Tyler actually liked.

Potato chip chicken and Brussel sprouts with walnuts and raisins. In case you ladies need to make dinner in a jif (dare I say male readers want to get creative in the kitchen. Oof sexist comment? Nah, just praise for lady kitchen genius over here-me,) here’s how it’s done:

Potato Chip Chicken
In a bowl, whisk an egg and 1/8 c of milk. Add a dash of salt and pepper. Take 1/4 bag of potato chips (I used BBQ popchips), and crush the chips still in the bag. Take two large chicken breasts and soak them in the egg wash. Then throw both breasts in the crumbled bag of chips and shake to ensure the breasts are completely coated in chips. Put chicken on a baking pan lined with foil and bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes.

Brussel sprouts with walnuts and raisins
Cut the sprouts in half and simmer in a pan on medium high with olive oil. Cover and let steam for 10 minutes. Toss in a dash of cinnamon, raisins and walnuts, and a bit more oil, and stir. Cover the pan and remove from the heat and let sit until chicken is ready. (I added a dash of red pepper flakes since Tyler likes spice. The sweet/spicy combo was actually great!

Dessert was a modified banana split. I melted 1/4 c chocolate chips, topped with rainbow sprinkles and a banana to dip.

Then, another sleepless night. More reading under the covers, tossing and turning, and according to Tyler, I was sighing all night. I even got up at 3:30am to shower in hopes it would help me sleep. Meh, no such luck. I really think I need to get out of the house and keep busy so that I konk out at night. Today, I shall do just that! (after a couple episodes of Mad Men, of course).

But first, breakfast!

I had leftover batter from Sunday’s whole wheat pancakes. Except this time, I made them with bananas, then topped with almond butter and a drizzle of honey. A glass of OJ ~~Simpson~~ on the side. Terrific way to get my intended busy day started!

Calories-don’t-count-day

Posted on April 1, 2012 by Jen @nutcaseinpoint

Today was filled with lots of food. But it’s ok, because calories don’t count on Sundays. I like to give myself a day off from green smoothies and what not. Plus, I needed to start the day with a solid base-meal as a means of absolving last night’s alcohol consumption.

I made plates of bacon, chocolate chip pancakes, fruit and eggs. Coffee x467853 on the side.

The pancakes were whole wheat and whole-great. I suggest you make them soon. Not now, because you have to finish reading this post. But soon.

Whole wheat pancakes

(for 4 hearty sized pancakes)

1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
2 1/4 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp sugar
1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 cup + 1 tbsp milk
1 tsp vanilla
Chocolate chips (amount is at your discretion)

Directions
You know what to do. Mix it all up and pour 1/4 batter at a time on griddle over medium heat. Once batter starts to bubble, sprinkle with chocolate chips and flip.

After that filling plate of deliciousness, Tyler, Layla and I went for a lovely walk. Of course I forgot my camera on a beautiful clear day. Fail.

Tyler declared that we were going to have steak for dinner. ~~I was kicking and screaming against it~~. So we went for Safeway and got us some meat! We also stopped at Jugo Juice for some midday nourishment. Yeah, sure, it looks like we just consumed a ginorm breakfast, but there’s a considerable time lapse in today’s story. I’m just fast-tracking through the riff raff. Did you want to know that I walked around the house for a bit, cleaned up the kitchen, and spied on Tyler killing aliens? No, that’s boring.

So these smoothies- yes they were great. And yes they are comparable to my beloved Jamba Juice I so desperately miss in the States.

Then the best part: a wheatgrass shot! Tyler knows I love my grass (the healthy, non-smokable kind).

Obviously the day was already quite fatiguing, so I downloaded Fifty Shades of Grey to my Kindle app and took a bath. 30 minutes later, I had read 3 pages, snuck in a 20 minute nap, and got pruned fingers. Relaxation success.

Fast forward through some more boring things and Tyler fired up the grill. Layla helped.

She’s good at what she does.

He made us the best meal ever.

I finished up some of the leftover potato wedges from the other night while Tyler cooked up a new tater for himself.

In a word…

Perfection.

Last, but not least, today’s menu ended with a cookie pie.

This recipe is meant to yield a crispy outer layer with a dense, moist innard. (terrible description, I know).

Cookie Pie
taken from here

Directions
Cream butter and sugars. Add eggs, egg yolk and vanilla until combined. Mix in the dry ingredients, then chocolate chips.

Press dough in a greased 8×8 dish and bake at 325 for 55 minutes are until a toothpick comes out with some crumbles. Wait one hour before cutting.

There, no calories consumed today. I can sleep easy.

I have a shirt that reads: ‘Yay Clea”v”age!’

Posted on March 31, 2012 by Jen @nutcaseinpoint

Let’s play catch up.

Last night, I had the urge to do my hair and put on makeup. Here’s what happened;

I was wearing my ‘Yay Cleavage!’ shirt (there is no ‘V’, but the V-cut of the shirt substitutes for the missing letter.)

Once Tyler got home, we went go get pizza and wine for a nice night in.

We got Pizza from Panago

I didn’t realize it until just now, that I might have had that little reverse camera function on my iPhone, because I also had this picture:

Classy.

I got the Panago classic. It had pepperoni, Canadian ham, black olives, red onions and mushrooms

And Tyler got the Genoa Classic with Salami, Green and black olives and goat cheese

We paired out eats with two bottles of red wine from Australia. Both were really good. First, we had Firestick

It was really light on the palate and tasted great with the pizza.
Second was Deakin Estate.

It was also a great wine, but a little too sweet to enjoy with our meal (that’s why I save it until after I finished my pizza! Yum yum) I never really buy Australian wines, but these have made the list, and I recommend them.

This morning’s first task was Costco! It was all too easy to drop $200 there. (Especially when a package of chicken breasts was like $40 million. I should have won that lottery back in the states, then I could have bought two packs of chicken today. I would have felt like the luckiest girl in the world)

I hadn’t eaten anything before, so by the time we got home, I had the jitters and needed food. Pronto. Good thing I bought TWO big jars of almond butter! Yum yum in my tum tum. And medjool dates. And veggies. Lots and lots of veggies.

So, bfast started off looking like this:

A whole grain bagel with almond butter and fruit salad (strawbs, naners and oranges)

But then I sat down, and this is what happened:

Somehow the bagel was consumed and there was a bowl of melted chocolate sitting next to the fruit. I only assumed it was meant for me to dip the fruit in. So dip the fruit I did. And it was good. (Ok, it didn’t just appear. I melted the chocolate. Perhaps it was because we bought a 78 lb. bag of chocolate chips at Costco. This girl likes her chocolate.)

After bfast was consumed (at lunch time) and emails/texts were exchanged with some of my best gals, Tyler and I joined Joe and Twyla to take our gaggle of dogs our for a walk. We went to a park near the Bow River. All the dogs were off leash, except mine because she’s an idiot and looks for an escape, and I was not about to chase her dodging moving vehicles. Nope.

Layla really loves rolling around in the river. She even puts her whole head under the water.

It was a really nice walk. Once we left the little park area, we headed around some pathways that followed the river.

Hopefully it tuckered out this little model of a pup. Apparently, she thought she was too good for the camera.

I finally got her to look at me, though

Now, I just gotta squeeze in a little workout before getting myself presentable for dinner and a lacrosse game at the Saddledome

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See ya later!

Fine Friday

Posted on March 30, 2012 by Jen @nutcaseinpoint

While it feels like every other darn day for me, but for most of you…it’s FRIIIIIIDAY! End of the week. Go out tonight. Have fun. I’m staying in with the man to paint and watch TV. In a word: romantic.

I did manage to finally snap a few pics yesterday. Let’s start with the best one..me!

Do I look fierce or what? Fast forward 20 minutes and I’m out for a walk with the pup- the pup who happens to have diarrhea- the dog who happens to have diarrhea while it’s windy- the dog owner having to carry said diarrhea in a poop bag in the wind- and it’s not so fierce.

We took a different route today and managed to hit some of the streets that are actually just around the corner. I am flabbergasted that EVERY HOUSE is different. When I grew up in CA, you could tell the different neighborhoods because the developer only had about 4 different models of houses. So each street looked identical; maybe some of the designs were flipped or something. But here, every single house is different. I have secretly been on a mission to find our house’s twin.

I made some fabbbb apps when I got back. I found the idea at Healthy Tipping Point.

Mushrooms stuffed with hummus and topped with cheddar cheese. Bake in the oven at 350 for 15 minutes. Yum!

Next, came dinner. Spinach salad with steak, strawberries, pineapples and poppyseed dressing.

Jen was happy.

I finally decided to walk to the Y last night for my workout. (My walk to this Y is shorter than my walk to the Oak Square Y in Boston! I didn’t think that was possible. But, oh, it is. This will help extend that tank of gas even longer!) Like I mentioned before, I did an entire tabata workout. I found that this type of workout is not only quick; it helps keep me focused and motivated; and it helps me get in a good workout when the gym is absolutely PACKED. My workout looked like this:

2 cardio tabatas (heel taps for the first, alternating plank jacks and high knees for the second)

bicep tabata (one leg stand bicep curls- one foot on stability ball)

tricep tabata (tricep extensions and kickbacks)

8 minute tabata on the row machine (holy YES this was my favorite part)

lunge tabata (elevated; holding weights)

squat tabata (alternating between regular body weight squats and elevated squats)

2 cardio tabatas (jumping jacks for the first, alternating between up-downs and front kicks)

ab tabata (mix of crunches, russian twists, leg lifts and pilates pulses)

Done in just under an hour. Boom.

******

Breakfast this AM was a delicious and nutritious yogurt bowl. Haven’t had one of these in for-ev-er. I used my new-to-me Oikos