I See Green

Today has been great. I feel like I've accomplished a lot, and I love that feeling.

About an hour after I ate breakfast I went to the gym for a killer shoulder work out. I love the Fitnessista's blog for many many reasons. One of them is her crazy work outs. Today I did the intermediate version of the Winter Shape Up week 2. It was awesome. My arms were quivering by the time I was finished.

Another reason why I love the Fitnessista? Her egg puff idea! Love this one - a great way to get protein in without taking in too many calories.

Soon after I got back to our house, I left again for school. Part way through class I munched on my lunch, which unfortunately went unpictured because my camera died. It was a cup of 1% cottage cheese, an organic apple, and cinnamon. Not too exciting, so don't feel bad for missing it.

When I got home again, I started making D's dinner. I made him beef lasagna, very similar to this one. While cooking his dinner I ate this:

I absolutely love these bars. They come in three different flavors. We got them from Cosco. They have 15 grams of protein! How awesome is that!?

About a half hour after D's lasagna went in the oven, I started on my dinner.

This had:

2 ounces pasta
1/2 tbsp butter
1/2 tbsp flour
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup frozen peas
1.5 cup spinach
freshly grated nutmeg
s & p

It was alright. The sauce was hardly there at all, but the peas made up for it. I adore peas in my pasta.

After I finished that off (which didn't take long), I moved unto my salad.

This salad had about 2 cups of mixed salad greens, 1/4 of a tomato, 1/4 of a cucumber and less than a tablespoon of balsamic vinaigrette. So good. I think a salad is the best way to end a meal.

Now, it's back to work.

My work area looks something like this right now (yes, that is a cup of coffee, I need to stay awake through this paper!)....

Gooooooood night to you!

A Veggie Feast!

Good evening to you,

I feel pretty healthy after my day of eating today (if I don't include that bag of Smart Pop popcorn... But we don't have to mention that, do we?).

For lunch I made myself a smoothy.

This glass of goodness contained, about a cup of frozen mixed berries, 1/2 a cup of plain non-fat yogurt, 1/2 a cup of skim milk, a scoop of vanilla, whey protein powder, and a frozen banana. Good stuff.

It was during this part of the day that I may or may not have, indulged in a bag of popcorn while watching Center Stage (good movie by the way). No photos to prove it, so you'll never really know ;)

Dinner tonight was simple and easy. Peeled zucchini and a tomato basil sauce.

Very rarely do I eat "pasta" with no carbs and no protein, but I only wanted something light tonight. This did the trick.

The recipe for the sauce couldn't be simpler.

Tomato Basil Sauce

2 tablespoons olive oil

1/2 onion (finely chopped)

1 small carrot (finely chopped)

1 small celery stick (finely chopped)

3 tablespoons fresh parsley (finely chopped)

2 garlic cloves (finely chopped, grated, or pressed)

1 teaspoon red pepper flakes

1/2 teaspoon a dried basil

1 28 ounce can of whole tomatoes

salt and pepper

1. Heat oil in a deep skillet over medium heat. Add the onion, carrot, celery, and fresh parsley. Cover and let cook for about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.

2. Once the vegetables are cooked through, add the garlic and red pepper flakes. Turn the heat to medium high.

3. Let the garlic and red pepper flakes cook for about 30 seconds (just until you can smell the garlic).

4. Add the can of tomatoes and the dried basil. Break up the tomatoes with your spoon. Cover and let sit for about 10-15 minutes. Season your sauce with salt and pepper.

This is a spicy sauce. If you don't like your food spicy, you could cut the garlic down by half and opt out of the red pepper flakes.