Sunday, January 30, 2011

Dinner tonight:

Curried turkey tenderloin with penne and roasted asparagus. Thanks, Chef MD!
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Low Motivation Today....

I'm supposed to be working on my thesis right now.  Or my homework... or the housework.  I just have no motivation today.  Could be the lupus, could be the steroids... or it could be the rainy, cold weather that makes me want to snuggle with Spartacus instead of doing anything.  I thought maybe if I did some babbling on here it would inspire me.
I would love a case of puppy lap right now.
I just spent the past half an hour browsing various message boards.  I've recently come to the conclusion that making friends in real life seems rather difficult.  I can't seem to find anyone who shares my interests- where have all the tomboys gone?  Add to that the sociological fact that people tend to associate with others who at similar life stages to their own and I'm just not supposed to make friends in grad school.  To be married without children seems to be an enigma. I've been contemplating taking an ad out in the paper:
"23 year old, married, female graduate student and social worker who enjoys football, beer, and good food seeks friendship with a male or female of similar tastes. Excessive partiers need not apply."
Is "partier" a word?
Anywho, so I've been browsing various message boards, thinking that the internet is probably the best place to find a like-minded individual- but even then it's not working out.  I've belonged to the Lupus Foundation board for awhile now- it's a great place for general questions about lupus and finding people with similar symptoms.  It makes you feel less crazy, really, which is always nice.
However, I can't help but notice that the boards are full of nothing but whining.  And, of course, people who like uplifting whiners with promises that things get better, the board is there to help you, etc. Which, of course, is crap, since the boards are really slow.  It takes a good day for anyone to respond to a topic.  There's not even a section of the board for non-lupus related talk. I'm sorry, but lupus is not my entire life.  So, while it would be nice to make a lupus-friend, I don't think it's in the cards.
I next checked The Nest- a branch of theknot.com.  Back before getting married I was member of The Knot to help me with inspiration ideas.  I met a great bunch of ladies- including Leila (Who I've been meaning to link to for days now... whoops), who were down-to-earth, but fun, and really helpful in times of stress. They had careers and practical dreams.. they were mature! The only bummer was/is that they all live in Washington.  And they like the Twilight series. Sigh...
Anywho, the Nest ended up being very baby-crazy.  Don't get me wrong, I've got the itch, but it's so far from a possibility right now that I don't want to read about it.  I still may give the site a shot if I find a Sac area group- but for now I'm back to square one.  
As much as I'm bitching, I want it to be clear that I still have my best friend.  
At the Ball. It was like the good prom I never had.
I will be very happy if I only have Kevin as a friend for the rest of my life.  Or, at least until we enter that married with kids part of our life.  I hear you make tons of friends once you start popping out babies.  
In the meanwhile, Facebook comes in handy.  I still have connections to friends from high school.  Most of them are too far away to grab a beer with, but it's still nice to interact.  So long as I don't become one of these:

How do you meet new people?

Saturday, January 29, 2011

Mmmmm, healthy and satisfying lunch!

After a morning of cleaning, filing, and sorting, I'm treating myself to some roasted red pepper and tomato soup and a piece of toast misted with olive oil and some goat cheese. I'll probably have a salad, too. And yes, I often eat out of measuring cups. I'm fancy like that.
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Great start to the morning!

45 minutes of yoga, followed by some yogurt with flax seed, walnuts, blackberries, and a bit of maple syrup. Today is going to be productive, I can feel it!
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Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Check out this lupus girl rock dinner!

Broiled swai with thai coconut curry sauce, brown rice, and broccoli. Not bad for a girl who has to start steroids tonight.
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Sunday, January 23, 2011

Let the madness begin!

School starts this week.  Shit.
Alone, this would not be that intimidating.  However, it's also the end of the month- which means a lot of home visits.  Then they decided to have a seminar this week too.  Fantastic.
Then there's that whole eating-healthy, physical therapy, yoga stuff I'm trying to pull off at the same time.  I'm slightly discouraged.
At least for the next few weeks I have this to look forward to:

I'll be in Spokane February 11-14th! That should keep me going, at least for a little while!
Now, to contemplate if I have time to do yoga in the morning.

Saturday, January 22, 2011

Plan for the week

I've used my new book of Chef MD's book of culinary medicine as inspiration for my meal plan this week. I've also made it my goal to eat veggies for two meals PLUS at least one salad a day.
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Thursday, January 20, 2011

Snackie!

A slightly irresponsible snack since I'm ahead of schedule for my next meeting. Chai with soy.
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Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Beware of the Hangry

I wasn't planning on posting tonight.  Frankly, I just wanted to get home.  The crap thing about social work is that you are obligated to do a home visit once per month with your kids.  When most families work and/or go until school that puts most home visits in the 4-6 pm range.  That's the same range of time I like to be at home with my feet up and a glass off wine in my hand.  Eh, such is life.
My day was long today. I was busy and working non-stop until around 3:30, then I drove off to a home visit that was supposed to start at five.  I got there at a quarter until, then proceeded to wait a half hour until I could leave.  Sigh....
I finally got back to Folsom from Rocklin (A nice 45 minute drive with traffic) but needed to get some groceries before making dinner.  Of course, by this time my neck was killing me, I was tired, and I had just gotten over a bit of shock from damn-near being rear-ended. Then, I proceeded to shop at the closest grocery store instead of the one I was familiar with.  Tack on an additional 30 minutes for wandering around, trying to find pitas (unsuccessfully, I may add).  By this point, I was in no mood for the chipper talk from the baggers.  It was around 6:30.  I decided to stop at the nearby Papa Murphy's for some DeLite Pizza to put myself out of my misery.  Herb Mediterranean Chicken DeLite?  Yes, please.  Paper plates?  Why not?  Aaaand a glass of wine to take the edge off and stop me from yelling at Kevin for not answering his phone.  He does that.  It's annoying.
It's good to be home.  I'm now watching 28 Days Later (I <3 Zombies!) and nursing my Oncoming UTI- ig Special:  Pure Cranberry Juice, a big splash of diet 7up, and a splash of vodka.  Yes, alcohol tended to make UTIs worse.  However, a lack of vodka makes pure cranberry juice worse as well.  It's a terrible. The pure cranberry juice and the UTI, that is. And the no drinking.  And the suggestion to abstain from sex.  It's a shit situation.
Tomorrow is a long day of training followed by my feeble attempt to convince a published social worker to write a book with me.  It's going to be embarrassing.

Saturday, January 15, 2011

Yes, please

Simmering and getting happy on the stove.
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Meal planning: Meat sauce!

Behold the glorious amount of meat sauce I'm working on. I include a ton of carrots and lean hamburger meat. This will all eventually be frozen and used on busy weeknights or last weekends.
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Friday, January 14, 2011

Pot roast


Nothing fancy here, but bound to be delicious.
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Also, I just thought I would share that searing the meat set off my smoke detector.  In an embarrassed panic, I pushed the little button on the thing until I had a minor flip out and then yanked on the damn thing.  It's now hanging from the ceiling.  Then, after I finally got all the kids into the hot tub to get delicious the alterations place called and canceled my appointment.  It's going to be one of those mornings.

Thursday, January 13, 2011

Preparing for School!

It's still two weeks away but I'm basically freaking out.  I have done zero work on my thesis.  I'm not able to just work on it when I have time- I seem to need an entire day.  Just like tomorrow- I'm supposed to spend the entire day working but I've also got other crap to do- dress alterarations, costco, cleaning.  I'm never worried about getting my thesis finished, but I just wish I was farther along.

After a short work day I was happy to have enough time to eat lunch and make a grocery list before running off to physical therapy.  Being the second day of my period, I did not have the energy to do the exercises.  I started with the medium resistance barbells and quickly changed to the light resistance ones.  While my lower back pain and cramps were less bad than last night my body just refused to exert itself a ton.  I spent a good 20 minutes in the hot tub as a result.  Then Don "helped" my arms with a bit of torture.  Good fun.
I'm kinda rocking my diet today- only 1400 calories in-- and that's with two drinks so far!  Hey... it was a long day... no judging in blogger land.

Breakfast
Oatmeal with Almond Milk, Walnuts, Maple Syrup, and Blueberries
Fuji Apple
Lunch
Leftover Curried Lentil Soup
Roasted Brocolli and Cauliflower
Snackie
Hummus and Wasa Crisps
Dinner
White Bean and Kale Soup      This was a bit blah.  Kevin put Rooster Sauce in his.
Salad with Citrus-Shallot Vinaigrette

My post is about preparing, but I haven't mentioned much about that yet.  Typically ADD Kara.  To begin, I'm hoping to work on prepping veggies on a Sunday to use during the week.  I already rock my menu planning, so I should know how many veggies I'll need.  Kevin already ordered some extra Tupperware off of the interweb for this and other purposes (mostly so he wouldn't have to do dishes as often, I'm sure).
Next, I bought a ton of meat at the store to have plenty of options for dinner.  When meat is on sale you really should stock up.  Nothing makes meal planning more difficult than starting completely from scratch.  I bought ground beef, a whole chicken, chicken legs, and a pot roast to cook tomorrow (nom).  I asked Kevin about what to make with the chicken legs for Sunday night dinner.  His response?  The ever-delicious maple-cayenne glazed chicken.  I'm thinking with mashed sweet taters.  Yes, please.
 I'm also planning on making a big batch of meat sauce this weekend to freeze for super busy weeknights.  (Remember to go a large sauce to pasta ratio.)  I always make a ton of meat sauce for Mama and Papa when I'm in town and it makes me drool.  I'm looking forward to it.
I just hope I'm as productive tomorrow as I was today.  I'm running off to campus to pay for books, a parking pass, and to pick up my stipend check.  I should be able to squeeze some actual work in there if I don't get distracted by facebook or blogging.  It could happen.  Right?
                                
Right?

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Ugh.

****Disclaimer**** 
The following post will be related to my period.  Nothing gross or weirdly in-depth, but my lupus is exacerbated by hormone fluctuations.  Plus, you know, periods suck to begin with.  You have been warned.

Each morning Kevin hits the snooze button anywhere from once to five times.  It's a problem, but we always manage to get to work/school/whatever so we kinda just pretend that we're high functioning snoozeaholics.  Then I slept in even longer, convincing myself that since my training didn't start until 9* I could get some extra Z's. No yoga this morning.  I just couldn't get motivated.  Then I got up out of bed and I realized why... blammo!  My period was starting.  I was fine for the first half hour and then the lower back pain and the cramps began.  And then (don't tell Kevin I'm admitting to this) I started getting so crazy-psycho irritable.  I don't like being that stereotypical bitch on her period.  It's obnoxious.  Ugh.

*The training actually started at 9:30.  I was all stressed out because I was running "late" and then I barked at a receptionist when I couldn't figure out which room I was supposed to be in.  Then she told me that they would be calling me back for the training, but that wouldn't be until around 9:30... when it was supposed to start.  Whoops.


Anywho, my schedule today was training, lots of work, more training, then home. With all that I wanted to make sure I wasn't tempted to have snacks that may be provided by the training facilitators.  So I went prepared with hummus, tangerines, and rye crisps for snacks.  Here was my full menu:
Breakfast
3/4 cup yogurt with a hint of maple syrup, flax seed, blueberries, and some walnuts.
Snack 1
Hummus and Rye Crisps, Tangerines
Lunch
Leftover quinoia with pomegranate seeds, apples, and scallions
No salad today!  Frownie face.  As I said before, I was "running late" for my "9 am" training.
Snack 2
Avocado tartine
Dinner
Tuscan white bean and kale soup

That was the planned menu, anyway...
.....and now for the actual meal that I inhaled in all of three minutes.....

Whoops.
Famous star with extra pickles.  Yes, please.
I really believe that my iron levels get low while I'm on my period.  Without fail I always have a craving for some sort of red meat while I'm on my period.  Typically this craving is indulged on the first day when I'm feeling like crap.  If you're sick you get a treat, right?
Well, that's how it's going to work in my house!
On the bright side, my lupus related stuff hasn't blown up.  Hands hurt a bit (I should stop typing, huh?) and I had a small amount of chest pain earlier, but nothing crazy.  Keep your fingers crossed for me.
I'm going to go feel just the slightest bit sorry for myself now.  Kevin's playing video games.  I'm also going to be working to suppress the crazy bitch inside of me so I don't yell at him to pay attention to me.  He did go buy me a burger after all.  I'm a lucky woman.

Write it down!

I find that if you don't actually pencil in your workouts you make excuses not to do it and/or tell yourself you're too busy. Kinda like what I did this morning.
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Tuesday, January 11, 2011

What a great start to the day!

Did you see that bowl of oatmeal?  Seriously, it was delicious.  It kept me full for a very long time.  I survived 45 minutes of physical therapy in the pool.  It's so crazy how physical therapists are different.  My lady I had in the pool today seems to be OBSESSED with lunges.  Every arm exercise seemed to be paired with lunges.  It was a bit annoying.  I'm just too uncoordinated. It's a problem.
Today was a very long day- I needed that oatmeal.  But I rocked everything.  I mailed Kayla the cell phone that used to belong  Kevin (her's broke), I drove to work, I rocked work, had two home visits, quick trip to the grocery store, than home to cook dinner.  Long day.
Here was my menu:
Breakfast
The aforementioned oatmeal
Snack (After PT)
Vanilla-Date Smoothie
Lunch
Leftover Seared Salmon with Salad
Car Snackie Between Clients
2 dried Figs
Dinner
Pan-Fried Pork Chops
Quinoia wit Pomegranate, Apples, and Scallions

My calorie count is a bit high for the day.  This could also have something to do with the two gin and tonics that I had after work.  Long day.  Also, I may have an ounce of chocolate later.
Long day.  And another one tomorrow.

Mmmmm breakfast

Oatmeal with almond milk, flax seed, bananas, blueberries, walnuts, and just a hint of maple. And my crammed day planner in the background... How appropriate.
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Monday, January 10, 2011

Lesson learned: Never complain about boredom at work...

...Because the second you leave the office for scheduled home visits you will be called by a panicking co-worker, telling that there is a gas leak at the shelter home and we need to find a place for all the kids to stay tonight.
The issue ended up being resolved before anyone had to be moved, but there was definitely an "oh shit" moment in there.  So, I'm never complaining about being bored at work again.  I'll do what I did today- clean off my desk, remove old notes from the ol' yellow legal pads, update my calender, and do some filing- but this time I will keep my mouth SHUT!
I was bad this morning.  I didn't have to go into work right away thanks to some late-day home visits. This meant that I gave myself an extra half hour of sleep, plus a couple snoozes. Then, I kinda just meandered around my house while getting ready. Cup of tea here, a snuggle with the puppy there.  And no yoga.  I feel quite guilty about it.  But, I have physical therapy tomorrow and I'm looking forward to burning off some calories.
My menu today was as follows:
Breakfast
Leftover Sweet Potato Hash
Kefir
Lunch
Leftover curried Lentil Soup (Even better today!)
Salad with one of the leftover Salmon Cakes
Snack
2 Trail Mix Cookies
Dinner
Sauteed Mushrooms
Seared Salmon over Greens with Toasted Pecans, Pomegranate Seeds, and Balsamic Vinaigrette (see picture)
Dinner was very tasty- I was pleased. The original plan was to have the salmon over an avocado and grapefruit salad but the dressing didn't look very "Kevin-friendly".  Also, no grapefruit.  Shit happens.
I'm thinking either a truffle with tea tonight or one cookie with some tea, I'll have to do my calorie counting.
Time to go relax- I have an early day tomorrow with PT starting at 8.  Toodles!

Seared salmon on greens with toasted pecans and pomegranate seeds

I didn't think Kevin would eat the salmon with avocado and grapefruit salad that the cleanse called for so I got creative.
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Sunday, January 9, 2011

Trail mix cookies

Yum! This time I used a woman's blend of trail mix- next time I'm going to try a ginger blend. Serving size is two cookies or one cookie and all the dough you lick off your fingers throughout the baking process.
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Almost forgot!


I finally found rooiboos tea! Yum!
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Meal planning, chores, cooking smarter

Yesterday was an awesome day.  The Seahawks beat the Saints (the reigning Super Bowl Champs) and I had a date night with Kevin.  I ended up getting a falafel pita for dinner.  It had pickles.  I was pleased.  Then we went to see True Grit, which was quite good.  I avoided the popcorn and snuck in a bottle of white tea.  I ended the date night with a bite of dark chocolate and some grocery list writing.  It's an exciting life I lead.
As previously mentioned, I'm continuing to do the Food-Lover's Cleanse, but as I'm not following it exactly I don't feel right labeling my posts as such.  I'm mixing and matching the combinations of breakfasts, snacks, and lunches I've had in the past to save a bit of money and use ingredients we already have on-hand.
Today's to-do list is long.  This was made more difficult by the fact that Kevin and I seemed to be in a coma until 9 am.  Late start to the day, that's for sure. I started out by doing yoga with Kevin.
The lateral angle pose is giving me trouble.  My shoulder doesn't like to move in that way and my arm gets tired really quickly.  This is what it should look like if you're a pro:
Haughty bitch.
I have anger issues when it comes to yoga.  I regularly think about hurting the people in the yoga videos, usually because they hold the pose longer than I think it really necessary or because their arm/leg/back/whatever is bent in a way that is just not humanly possible.  I think I should get better at yoga before I attempt classes.
(Source)
So, after I finished my yoga and I showered I made the planned breakfast for this morning:  Sweet Potato Hash with Egg.
Oh my gawd.  This is Kev's manly sized portion, btw.
I did make one big mistake.  I missed the line where the cleanse told me to swap out the three tablespoons of butter for olive oil.  So, my breakfast was extra delicious.  Whoops.

The plan for later:

Lunch/Snack (Breakfast was at 11:30!)
Almond-Banana Smoothie (with yogurt)
Dinner
Salmon & Lime Cakes
Curried Lentil Soup
Salad

I also need to do all of the laundry.  I'm glad Kevin and I swapped chores, my hands really used to hurt after doing the dishes.  That being said, I hate doing laundry.  I may have a drink. I'm really relying on that 3-4 drink/week allowance for the cleanse.
I'm also taking the opportunity to get ahead for the week- I'm making trail mix freezer cookies and a nice big batch of my citrus-shallot vinaigrette.  I bought a trail mix that was on sale- supposedly geared towards women (it has some soy nuts in it).  You chop it up and throw it in the batter.  It has regular all-purpose and whole wheat flour.  I'm excited.
Back to work tomorrow.  I'm so energized I don't even dread the approaching work week.  It's nice.
Oh, and GO PACKERS!  If they win the Seahawks have an easy game next week.  Huzzah!

Saturday, January 8, 2011

Kara's new diet- Day 1

This cleanse has been really great, the scale says I'm down another half pound this morning.  I'm really shocked.  It seems ridiculous that I've lost that much weight but I do feel really fantastic. I'm going to continue it for the next week but without following it exactly.  It's been pretty expensive to stick to it completely.  I'll keep not drinking a ton of coffee or alcohol.  I think I'll continue some of the recipes I liked more- like the omelet and the salmon dishes.  I think it will be good and a bit less stressful.
 Also, Kevin and I want a date night tonight.  We're going to try out Pita Pita- I'm hoping to stick to a low dairy diet with a small amount of complex carbs.  I think that place will help me stay on track.  I suggested getting sashimi and miso soup but we seem to always turn to sushi for our date nights (not that there's anything wrong with that).  Then the greatest challenge of all: We're going to a movie.  I love movie theater popcorn. Delicious, carby, buttery, popcorn. Nom.


So, today here's the menu I'm going with:


Breakfast
1/2 Cup Yogurt with Toasted Pecans, Flax Seed, 1 Tbsp Maple Syrup, and Blackberries  (From the cleanse.)
Lunch
Leftover Roasted Cauliflower and Broccoli 
Tuna on Rye Crackers

Apple
Mid-Afternoon Snack
Almond-Banana Smoothie (No Yogurt)  This was supposed to be Tuscan Kale Chips which sounded gross.

Dinner
Pita Pita.  I'll probably get something with lamb.  If their pitas are whole wheat I'll get a sammich, if not I'll stick to a platter.  The dinner tonight was supposed to be Salmon-Lime Cakes and Curried Lentil Soup.  That will be dinner tomorrow night.


Evening Snack
2-3 Dried Figs, Tea

Day 6- How it actually went.

Yesterday was crazy hectic.  I only had one meeting to go to at work.  So, I slept in an extra hour, did some yoga, and was about to make my poached chicken breast for lunch. Then, I found out that the transportation for my clients fell through and I needed to go pick them up from school.  So my two hour day turned into a five hour day.  I really wasn't able to stick to the diet.

Breakfast
Almond-banana smoothie with kefir and yogurt    The first time I had this smoothie it was just bananas and almond milk.  It wasn't very filling. Thius, the addition of 1/4 cup of yogurt and 1/4 cup kefir.

Lunch
Leftover Beet Soup with Avocado  My avocado was disappointing.  The beet soup was "meh".

Rye Crackers with Almond Butter


Mid-Afternoon Snack
Arugula salad with Balsamic Vinaigrette   I felt like I needed an extra dose of veggies.
Dinner..... The only meal I actually stuck to!
Bulgur Pilaf  This took a long time to make but it was pretty good.  Next time I'm using ground coriander.  The whole seeds were weird to eat.

Poached Eggs    I fried it instead.  I liked it right over the pilaf.
Oven Roasted Broccoli and Cauliflower   I just love the simplicity of roasted veggies.

Evening Snack
2 Tangerines and 1 Ounce of Chocolate      Nom.



It might not have been by the book, but I kept it pretty healthy. 

Friday, January 7, 2011

Food-Lover's Cleanse (Day 6) Menu AND Exciting News!

News:  Current Weight: 149.2!  I'm really stoked.  I don't know if I'm going to do the full two weeks or just try to make recipes in general that leave out a lot of dairy and simple carbs. Some of this stuff is just too expensive to find.


I doubt I'm going to be sticking to this today.  I don't even know if I have oatmeal.  Also, where the heck do you buy oil packed almonds, pink peppercorns, currants, and bulgur wheat?


Breakfast
Oatmeal with Bananas, Walnuts, and Almond Milk
Kefir

Lunch
Leftover Beet Soup with Shredded Poached Chicken and Avocado

Rye Crackers

Mid-Afternoon Snack
Oil packed almonds with Rosemary


Dinner
Bulgur Pilaf

Poached Eggs
Oven Roasted Broccoli and Cauliflower

Evening Snack
2-3 Dates and a Tangerine

Thursday, January 6, 2011

Day 5- Hey! I like beets!



Well, let me be clear: I don't LIKE beets. Bad title.  However, I don't mind them and that's not a great title.  Not that I'm doing Shakespeare or anything.  I actually think I would like them a bit better whole instead of pureed.  
I had my first PT appointment of the new year.  Due to this my life was a little crazy today.  I'm posting my actual menu below.


Breakfast
2-4 rye crisp crackers topped with smoked salmon and yogurt mixed with red onions and chives    What's not to like about anything involving smoked salmon?
Tangerines

Post-PT  Snack
Vanilla-Date Smoothie   Again, delicious.



Lunch
Leftover Endives, Apples, and Grapes   Like I said, I'm done with endives.  I tried.  I will continue to eat them if they are involved with seafood in some way.
Leftover Sweet Potatoes   These didn't warm up well.

I was supposed to have a salad but I didn't have time.  I finally ate lunch at around 3.

Dinner
Five-Spice Beet Soup     Not bad.... Eating it again tomorrow for lunch.  Kevin wouldn't touch it.  
Seared Steak     I was bad.  It was supposed to be hanger steak- I did NY strips.  
Warm Spinach Salad with Mustard Vinaigrette.  This just added Dijon mustard to the citrus-shallot vinaigrette.  Yum 

Evening Snack
2-3 Dried Figs and a Handful of Pistachios... I may have some dark chocolate instead/also.  I'm low on calories today and I didn't have chocolate with my yogurt today.  



Also, I'm drinking tonic water with a lime wedge.  It's my faux gin and tonic.  It's not too bad.  I'm surprised I didn't think of this back in my low carb days.

Wednesday, January 5, 2011

Food-Lover's Cleanse (Day 5) Menu

Breakfast
2-4 rye crisp crackers topped with smoked salmon and yogurt mixed with red onions and chives
Tangerines


Lunch
Leftover Endives, Apples, and Grapes

Leftover Sweet Potatoes
Spinach Salad with Pomegranate and Sherry Vinaigrette

Mid-Afternoon Snack
Yogurt with shaved chocolate and tangerines


Dinner

Five-Spice Beet Soup
Seared Steak
Warm Escarole Salad with Mustard Vinaigrette.


Evening Snack
2-3 Dried Figs and a Handful of Pistachios

Day 4- Yawn but feeling good.

Holy crap.  I'm tired.  I Had all this energy at work and when I was making dinner.  And then I just wanted to go to sleep.  That feeling started at around 7:30.  Yawn.  Time for my dark chocolate and tea, I think!


Also, can I just say that I survived a team meeting/birthday party/going away party?  There were delicious looking processed meats and cheeses and buttery crackers.  Plus... brownies.  Yum.  However, I stuck to carrots, celery, broccoli, and a piece of pineapple.  I'm a good kid.


I have physical therapy tomorrow, then a couple hours of work.  I hope I can squeeze it all in.


My thoughts on the menu for today:


Breakfast
Almond-Banana Smoothie    This was really good, but it didn't keep me full.  I mean, it probably had around 100 calories total.  That's not a breakfast!  Next time, I'm throwing in some yogurt.  Or, this will be the snack smoothie and that vanilla date one will be for breakfast.
One Sliced Pear

Lunch
Canned Tuna or Salmon   I tossed this in with the salad.  Pretty tasty.
Arugula Salad with Citrus-Shallot Vinaigrette

Mid-Afternoon Snack
Almond Butter (the cleanse calls for cashew) and Rye Crisps   Couldn't find the almond butter so I had peanut butter instead.  It was still organic, though.
Apple


Dinner
Pan-Roasted Chicken with Persillade   This was really good, my chicken skin got nice and crispy.

Endives, Apples, and Grapes     Endives are just not my bag.  
Roasted Sweet Potato        Yum, but it's hard to go wrong with sweet potato.
Arugula Salad


Dessert
1 ounce Dark Chocolate and Herbal Tea

Tuesday, January 4, 2011

Food-Lover's Cleanse (Day 4) Menu

Breakfast
Almond-Banana Smothie
One Sliced Pear


Lunch
Canned Tuna or Salmon
Arugula Salad with Citrus-Shallot Vinaigrette

Mid-Afternoon Snack
Almond Butter (the cleanse calls for cashew) and Rye Crisps

Apple

Dinner
Pan-Roasted Chicken with PersilladeEndives, Apples, and Grapes
Roasted Sweet Potato

Arugula Salad
Dessert
1 ounce Dark Chocolate and Herbal Tea

Day 3- Meh... Am I losing steam?

I feel like I'm losing energy for this cleanse.  Maybe it was because all the food today was kinda "Meh".  I miss coffee.  And cheese.  Also, I had a glass of wine with dinner.  It was a nice meal, I wanted a glass of pinot grigio to go with it.  And, I'm allowed to have up to four glasses per week, so I think I'm fine.


Breakfast
Warm and Nutty Quinoa (Leftovers)
One Sliced Apple


Lunch
Leftover Black-eyed Pea Curry
Spinach Salad with Apples, Sunflowers, and Vinaigrette   This was possibly the best part of my day.  I really love the citrus-shallot vinaigrette.

Mid-Afternoon Snack
Edamame "Hummus" with Veggies and Rye Crisps   I'm not sure why, but the hummus just really didn't do it for me.  Maybe it was too much sesame oil.  I dunno.  And those rye crisps remind me of eating hardtack back in our colonies unit.  


Dinner
Wasabi Marinated Tuna  This was yummy but I made it up.  Not on the cleanse.  That's right.  But it was healthy, so I think it would be cleanse-approved.
Miso Soup      This was tasty, but it's hard to mess up miso soup. 
Steamed Bok Choy     This actually turned into a quick veggie stir fry. Still healthy, right?

Dessert
Oven-roasted Pears with Sliced Almonds     Yum.  You baste the pears with some maple syrup.  Nom.



Oh, and I went to the gym for a whole fifteen minutes.  My knees started hurting.  So, I'm off to stretch.  Sweet dreams!

Food-Lover's Cleanse (Day 3) Menu

Breakfast

Warm and Nutty Quinoa (Leftovers)
One Sliced Apple
Lunch
Leftover Black-eyed Pea Curry
Spinach Salad with Apples, Sunflowers, and Vinaigrette 

Mid-Afternoon Snack

Edamame "Hummus" with Veggies and Rye Crisps
Dinner

Wasabi Marinated Tuna
Miso Soup
Steamed Bok Choy


Dessert
Oven-roasted Pears with Sliced Almonds

Monday, January 3, 2011

Day 2- Lots of work!

I made it through my first day back at my internship without straying from my cleanse!  I'm super proud of myself... especially since there's that damn candy dish right near my desk.


Breakfast
Warm and Nutty Quinoa   Pretty delicious, made with almond milk instead of the dairy.  However, quinoa is quinoa, no matter what yummy stuff you put in it.  It's no mother-in-law's monkey bread, that's for damn sure.  Recipe here (clickey).
Kefir      I bought it from TJ's for some reason, so it was unflavored.  Meh.

Lunch
Leftover Winter Couscous
Crudités with Citrus-Shallot Vinaigrette
Mid-Afternoon Snack
1/2 cup Yogurt       I'm not a big yogurt person, but I ate it.  I went to TJ's after work and got a different brand with half the sugar and 50 fewer calories.
Tangerine
1 ounce Dark Chocolate

Dinner
Salmon with Mustard Sauce   I couldn't find mustard seeds anywhere!  I skipped that part but it was still quite tasty.  I think this one is a keeper.  Recipe here (clickey).
Black-eyed Pea Curry    The curry was delicious, not too sure about black-eyed peas, though.  I think in the future I'll just use a jarred curry- that's basically what it smelled and tasted like.  I think cleanses frown upon things in jars, though.
Salad with Roasted Butternut Squash 
Over all, this was a pretty yummy day!  I came home from work and did 30 minutes of yoga.  It was nice.  I'm around 800 calories or so under for the day.  Yay!

Menu for tomorrow posted later.

Sunday, January 2, 2011

Food-Lover's Cleanse (Day 2) Menu

Breakfast


Warm and Nutty Quinoa
Kefir

Lunch
Leftover Winter Couscous
Crudités with Citrus-Shallot Vinaigrette

Mid-Afternoon Snack
1/2 cup Yogurt
Tangerine
1 ounce Dark Chocolate

Dinner
Salmon with Mustard Sauce
Black-eyed Pea Curry
Salad with Roasted Butternut Squash

First day back at my internship!  Wish me luck!

Yum! Day One!

All the food today was freaking delicious.


Breakfast
Omelet with Mushrooms, Thyme, and Caramelized Onions   I made an Omlette!  Did you see the picture?  It was pretty amazing.  It was very rich but kept me full until around 2:15 (shopping took longer than expected).

1 slice of whole grain toast

Lunch
Avocado Tartine  Who would have thought?  Mashed avocado, lime juice, chile, and salt. On toast.  Yum!  My husband had to have something with it as he wasn't going to go near something called "crudites", but it lasted me until smoothie time.
Winter Vegetable Crudités  They're vegetables.  I had only ever had belgian endive as a little holder for some cream cheese based seafood appetizer.  Needless to say, this is not as good as that.
Citrus-Shallot Vinaigrette  Better than I thought it would be.  I enjoyed it more with my evening salad.

Midday Snack
Vanilla-Date Smoothie  Holy crap this was delicious!

Dinner
Green Salad with Citrus-Shallot Vinaigrette
The Ultimate Winter Couscous.    This was a bit time consuming, but rather tasty. I had no clue what harissa was, so I googled it and ended up throwing garlic, adobo sauce, and coriander together.  Then I thought preserved lemon sounded expensive so I used lemon zest.   Regardless it was really yummy .  I'm going to rock it tomorrow for lunch.



I was never hungry today, all these dishes are nice and filling.  I am noticing that I'm already missing non-tea drinks.  I really wanted a ginger ale.  Also, I usually put a nice helping of Parmesan on my salads.  Frownie face.But I'm looking forward to tomorrow!  Menu to come in the morning!

Food-Lover's Cleanse (Day 1) Menu

I almost started this cleanse off poorly when I asked my sweet husband to bring me a cup of coffee.  Whoops!  Instead I had some hot jasmine tea with a nice big squirt of lemon in it.  Something about boosting the digestive system... I dunno. Anyway, on to the menu for today!

Breakfast
Omelet with Mushrooms, Thyme, and Caramelized Onions
Can you believe this was the second omelet I've made in my life? Pretty amazing.
1 slice of whole grain toast

Lunch
Avocado Tartine
Winter Vegetable Crudités
Citrus-Shallot Vinaigrette

Midday Snack
Vanilla-Date Smoothie

Dinner
Green Salad with Citrus-Shallot Vinaigrette
The Ultimate Winter Couscous.

The thing I'm most curious about is whether or not I will actually lose weight on this cleanse.  I've calculated a couple days of the calories and they are usually around 1700.  So here it is:

Current weight:  151.6
That's right, I count the decimal point.  At least I don't always round down.

No formal exercise for the day (I woke up achy) but I am wearing my ShapeUps to the mall.  Have a great day, everyone!

Saturday, January 1, 2011

Happy New Year!

I'm one of those people who really loves making New Years Resolutions.  With the exception of those seven years I said I would stop biting my nails, I'm usually very good at keeping them.  Hopefully this year's resolution should be pretty simple: Take better care of me.

Last semester was pretty hard on me.  I lost a ton of strength and was flaring constantly.  All I could do was go to my internship and my classes and plug away on my thesis.  This left little time for exercise or stretching.  I even had to stop doing water therapy at physical therapy because I was just too busy to take an extra hour and a half to do all that was associated with going into the pool.  So, I'm trying to do better.

I've asked my supervisor at work if I could modify my hours so that I would actually be coming in four days a week.  I would come in late on Tuesdays, after physical therapy, and then would make up however much time by coming in on Thursday before heading to class.  I'm hoping it will work out well and that I can stick to it.  Other than my thesis I feel like my classes are going to be pretty easy.

On the other days of the week I' going to go to the gym and do yoga as it's possible.  I'm thinking definitely on Fridays I can go straight to the gym after class and do some of my reading.  I also got these:
I did a blog about them awhile back.  I got them for myself for Christmas, along with a couple yoga DVDs that are less intense than P90X.  I tried them out the last couple days- as such I am sore all over.  I'm hoping to see an increase in strength and flexibility in a couple months.

Finally, I need to jump start all these plans! In my last post I alluded to the Food Lover's Cleanse.  I start tomorrow with a caramelized onion and mushroom omelette for breakfast. I'm excited to start, but some of the ingredients are expensive and hard to find.  Also, I go back to work on Monday.  Diets are hard when you're supposed to be out the door at seven.


It's my hope that if I really stick to this I can start feeling better on a more regular basis.  Feeling better means fewer steroids and less vidocin.  And, if I don't need vicodin, that means I don't need to ask my doctor for medical marijuana instead!  Yay!

Well, Kevin's video game is giving me motion sickness- off to take a nap!