Thanks for hanging in there folks! I had my new class start last night and by the time I got home I just needed some chill time. I do think that the next 5.5 weeks just may kill me. This class is going to be tough! A LOT of projects due in a very short period of time! Summer courses are doubled up so a typical 12 week semester is condensed into 6 short weeks. I already have a project due on Tuesday! Eek! Good news is that I’m almost half way through it already. I’m really going to have to pace myself for this course and with the next three weekends booked up I need to be REALLY diligent so my apologies if there are a few Tuesdays and Thursdays with no posts! It’ll only last a couple of weeks and then I have five whole weeks off of school! YEAH!!!!
This morning I continued on with Day 3 of my Half Marathon Training. I did 36 minutes of ChaLEAN Extreme’s Burn Phase 1. I think I need to up my resistance though as I didn’t exactly feel “extreme” and barely worked up a sweat. This program uses high weights and low reps and I’m used to Jillian Michaels’s low weights, high reps. The good news is that I have some resistance bands that I’ve never used so when I do it again on Tuesday I’ll try those instead!
After that (and my shower) I mowed down into some yogurt!
- 3/4c plain, all natural yogurt
- 1/2tbsp ground flaxseed
- 2.5tbsp chia seeds (I had a bit of an accident with the chia jar…)
- 1/2 large banana
- 4 strawberries
- 1 crumbled Nature Valley Oats ‘n’ Honey granola bar
- maple syrup for sweetness
It was loverly! I did, however, miss my Overnight Oats. I find that just yogurt (even with all the fancy extras) doesn’t fill me up as much as oats do.
Lunch on the menu was totally tasty! I made a sandwich with Dempster’s Sunflower bread with masala hummus, greens, cucumber and a dash of blue cheese.
Then I loaded up on the last of the carrot and raisin salad as well as a nectarine (which I insist on calling tangerines and I don’t know why!!! I always have to double check that I said the right fruit before I say/type it…).
I normally snack twice a day at work, once in the morning and once in the afternoon. I find that doing this helps to keep me from getting so hungry that I eat everything in sight come lunch and dinner! So today I planned to have roughly half a Clif bar for my early morning snack and an apple with some double smoked white cheddar cheese (OMG, it’s to DIE for)!
Normally I can eat a whole Clif bar without thinking twice about it so I deliberately only ate half. I usually only have bars to fuel for exercise but it was in the house and I needed a “second” for my snacks. Clif bars are delicious but pretty high in calories. But I hadn’t had this flavour and I need to NOT get it again…it was too good!
Alan and I did have plans to go see a preview screening of Barney’s Version tonight but I opted out as Toronto is under a severe thunderstorm watch. Go figure it’s almost 10pm and it hasn’t rained at all this evening! :S But it’s all good! Alan’ brought home some wine and I decided to make some Pumped Up Pasta!
Pumped Up Pasta
(Don’t be fooled, I eat off of dessert plates, I didn’t really eat that much!)
I love pasta. It is my comfort food. I don’t know if it’s the carbs, the warmth or what but any time I’m in a bad mood or just want some comfort food, I turn towards pasta. This being so I’ve had to learn to health it up! My trick is twofold: 1. Always add copious amounts of veggies to the sauce, and 2. Have a small amount of pasta with double the amount of veggies.
This sauce I used on this one turned out amazing and I really didn’t think it would! When I was last at the grocery store I picked up this:
I honestly don’t know why when everything screamed “GROSS”!!!! But lately I’ll try just about anything once so I threw it into the basket. I find Yves veggie products to be a hit or miss, they’re either pretty good or really nasty. I’m also trying to cut back on the amount of veggie “meats” I eat due to the fact that they’re still processed and loaded with sodium. But every once in a while I like to use them. To make the veggie sauce just saute whatever veggies you want (in this case it was eggplant, broccoli and two mushrooms – we only had two left, I don’t know why) with as much garlic as you like (I like a LOT). Then I threw in the ground “chicken” and Classico’s Florentine Spinach & Cheese sauce (HOLY YUM!). Pour it over your pasta du jour and polish off with parmesan. You know what? That fake chicken wasn’t too bad! However, it wasn’t too bad because they LOADED it with spices. I can’t see myself using it for much more than what we had but for an experiment it turned out pretty tasty!
We had our meal with some Farnese 2009 Sangiovese and watched The Tailor of Panama on The Movie Network instead (and snacked on some popcorn). So regardless of the weather, we still had our fabulous dinner and movie that we originally planned, just a heck of a lot cheaper!
And yes, I felt the earthquake! I haven’t felt a tremor like that since I lived in Japan! I actually find them fascinating so I was weirdly excited when it happened! And I understand that not everyone’s felt an earthquake before but no need to panic! Everyone’s freaking out! We’re fine!
Have you ever experienced an earthquake before?
