Friday food...not so good.

(Pretend that rhymes please)

My tummy does not like when I splurge!

Today was my "splurge meal" where I eat to my heart's content and don't worry about counting calories. For Christmas my mom gave Bryan and I a gift certificate to the Geneseo Family Restaurant (basically a diner) so we decided to use it today.

I got a Chicken Souvlaki pita.


Bryan got a three egg omelette with ham, bacon, sausage, and peppers, and homefries and toast on the side.


My meal again....
The pita was loaded with marinated chicken, lettuce, tomatoes, tzatziki sauce and feta. It was fantastic, but a little light on the feta. This meal wouldn't have been too unhealthy if I hadn't gotten fries on the side, but I hadn't had them in so long and I figured it wasn't the worst choice, right?

WRONG!
Do you see that?!! The fries were so greasy they ate through the styrofoam!!! OMG, imagine what they are doing to my stomach!! Understandably, just a little while after lunch I was feeling awful.

I spent most of the day curled up on the couch. I guess my stomach just isn't used to handling this kind of stuff! When I was finally up to eating again I didn't have much to choose from so I went with this:
As most frozen meals are, it was low in calories but loaded with sodium. Aside from the fact that half of it was still frozen while the other half nearly burned my mouth, it could have been worse. But it could have been better. Much better.

Not thrilled with my choices for today!

Side note, how cute is my cat?
:)

Vegaliciously Delicious!

This morning I tried another Vitatop.
Forgive me for forgetting to flip the picture?
I had a fudgy peanut butter cup one and it was great!!! So so yummy. Can't remember if I gave this a rating when Bryan tried it but I'm giving it a 9/10.

My day did NOT start out well due to the snowy weather and slippery roads, but I got over it because I knew I had a lunch date to look forward to :)

Bryan and I went to lunch at Great Northern Pizza Kitchen. I ordered the Greek Veggie wrap which comes with a Kalamata olive spread, lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, feta cheese, roasted peppers, red onion, and eggplant. I also asked to add fresh mozzarella to my order. Here's what I got...
Doesn't look like a wrap, does it? Nope! They gave it to me on panini bread instead...a much less healthy option! Ugh! I didn't want to send it back and waste more of my break time so I took the bread off and ate most of it salad style. This is what my meal actually looked like.
Everything was very tasty together. The "Kalamata olive spread" was actually just Kalamata olives...but they're delicious so I wasn't disappointed. I did sneak a few bites of the bread which was awesome of course. Oh! It also came with baked chips which wasn't really necessary but I had a few anyway.

Bryan ordered chicken wings, half buffalo and half sweet country or somethin or other.
It took everything in me to not gobble up that blue cheese all by itself!

Lunch was really filling so I wanted to have a very light dinner.
More vegetables! I was thrilled that Bryan had sauteed up some veggies for me (zucchini, eggplant, onions, and peppers in garlic and oil) and left them in the fridge. I ate them on a whole-wheat wrap....YUM! Seriously, how can veggies alone be so good?!

I needed a little something extra after dinner so I tried a VitaBrownie.
At first this reminded me of a low carb bar I used to get from Trader Joe's (when I lived near one, ah the good old days), which wasn't extremely flavorful, but halfway through I really found the chocolate taste and I decided I kinda loved it! 8/10.

I haven't worked out yet tonight but I will, I will!

Another day, Another salad.

Like I mentioned yesterday, I am very low on food so I apologize for my less than exciting eats!

Went back to the oats today.
Same as always, maple and brown sugar with dried cranberries. Mmm mm mm.

For lunch I had sliced cucumbers on a whole-wheat wrap with light veggie cream cheese.
Delicious, but simply not filling enough. I was glad I had some barbecue popchips on the side. They were awesome!!! I don't think I've ever tasted chips that captured the bbq flavor this well! Big fan! 8.5/10

Dinner was another salad.
I mixed it up though (no pun intended, ha) and chopped up a black bean burger (Morningstar Farms, of course) and added shredded cheddar. I also combined my yogurt ranch dressing with some taco sauce for a very tasty dressing with a Mexican twist. Yum!

I worked out tonight! Yay! I had to take it easy because my calves (particularly the right one) are still hurting, ugh! My workout wound up being an amalgamation of many different things. I attempted to do the 10 minute/100 cal workout but the long jumps and jumping jacks were really painful so I scratched that and just jogged around my apartment for a while. It's more of a workout than it sounds because there's currently a stack of boxes in the hall that I need to jump over every time I pass, haha! Then I tried to follow some tae-bo workouts on youtube but got frustrated with my slow internet and wound up throwing some random moves together (kicks, jabs,crunches, squats, and so on) and calling it a night. I'm excited for the dvds I won to arrive!

ANNOYANCE of the day. The case of the missing eyeshadow! My eyeshadow that I use every day mysteriously went missing. It never leaves my desk, where I do my make-up, and yesterday it was no where to be found. I have looked EVERYWHERE and am convinced my cat took it and hid it!!!! So bummed out. What's your annoyance of the day?

Half way through my week...

Thank God!!!

This morning I went for a Vitalicious muffin top instead of oats.
I chose a banana nut, and microwaved it for 27 seconds. Yes, 27 exactly :) The first bite was dry but it got more moist as I kept eating and overall I was very satisfied. I would give this an 8/10. I don't think it kept me full as long as oatmeal does though, because by about 9am I was feeling all sorts of hungry!

Lunch was...
An apple...what a camera trick! It looks like there are a million slices!...Light veggie cream cheese, baked chips, and slices of turkey. At first I dipped the apple in the cream cheese and liked the sweet and salty mix but soon decided that the baked chips, turkey, and cream cheese combo was way better.

Dinner wasn't overly exciting...
I am due for a food shopping trip and am out of lots of good food so I had to rely on some basic essentials and threw together a salad with baby spinach, a cut up Italian Herb Chik'n patty (Morningstar), cucumbers, and the last of the monteray jalepeno. I had the last of my baked chips on the side (I really need to go shopping!!!) and had two Newman's Own Organics espresso chocolate chip cookies for dessert. Cookies...YUM-MY. It was so difficult to not have three..or four..or five. 9/10!

My fitness has taken a backseat yesterday...and today. I only did crunches and arm work yesterday and simply can't fit a workout in tonight (I got home from class at 7:45, ate dinner, blogged, have to do homework and then I'm hittin the hay) so I feel a little guilty. But, I know it's all for good reason and as long as I am active 5 days a week I'm happy. I am confident I will workout Wed, Thurs, Fri or Sat and then Sun.

It's only Monday? :(

I am not a fan of Mondays!!

Breakfast, however, was good.
Nothing too exciting, same old maple and brown sugar oatmeal, but I love it. I also added in some dried cranberries which made it even better.

The lunch picture is substantially less artistic because I took it myself.
I had a salad of baby spinach, cucumbers, turkey, shredded cheddar, and light peppercorn parmesan dressing. I also had a handful of pretzels and white cheddar soy crisps on the side.

Today one of the preschool teachers was out so instead of working with my 2 year olds, I subbed in the 3 year old room. It was so much harder! And I actually really, really missed my kids!! I also had some frustrating phone calls at lunch that made me grumpier, and then my day was capped off with a lovely 2 hour class. Woo. Hoo. So very glad to be home now with my babe!

As always, I was starving so I whipped this right up (Ok, Bryan made the tuna for me) and was eating in a hot minute.
Tuna on the last of the tiny pumpernickels, a pickle, broccoli with dressing or mustard (weird? tastes good!) to dip in. For dessert I had chocolate mousse cup. (Remember, delectable, and only 60 cals!) This was a satisfying meal but I was still hungry after and ate a few too many pretzels to fill myself up.

I wound up doing another 10 minute workout yesterday on top of a ton of squats and lunges and I apparently overdid it because my calves are KILLING me today! Ugh, just another sign of me not being in shape. But on a positive note, hopefully my workouts will become more consistent because I won TWO Turbojam DVDs and a guidebook from Andrea at For the Love of the Run. Yay!! I'm so excited! Huge thank you to her! Speaking a giveaways, I'm thinking of maybe, possibly, doing a Newman's Own Organics giveaway...thoughts??

Here's to a better Tuesday!

HUNGRY Sunday

Today's lunch...
I tried to cut out some carbs so I made little roll-ups of turkey and monteray jalapeno cheese, topped with dabs of spicy mustard. On the side I had fresh broccoli dipped in light veggie cream cheese (YUMMMMM) and tried out the original flavored popchips. I loved these chips...they reminded me of Munchos, which I was obsessed with in elementary school.
While both chips have approximately the same sodium and carbohydrates, popchips (single serve size) are only 3 grams of fat (versus 10g) and 100 calories (versus 160). popchips are clearly the better choice! I would give these an 8/10. Towards the end of the bag I started dipping the chips in leftover mustard (I'm such a dipper) and liked them even more. popchips should definitely come out with a mustard flavor!

Lunch was tasty but must not have filled me up very much because I was hungry all day long! I snacked on Newman's Own Organics Pretzel Sticks (featured below), N.O.O white cheddar soy crisps, dried fruit, and even a tiny bowl of oatmeal. I forgot how much I liked the soy crisps. Stay tuned for a "taste-off" between the white cheddar soy crisps and cheddar popchips later this week.

For dinner I chopped up a Morningstar Farms black bean burger,
mixed it up with red onion and pickles, topped it with Sriracha and ketchup and ate it on a whole-wheat wrap. DELICIOUS! I am huge fan of Morningstar Farms products.

I had more of these pretzels on the side.
They were AWESOME! I think I like these better than the first pretzels I tried. What I love most about these is their crunch. It almost tastes like they are a little overcooked...yum! 9/10!

Feelin Productive!

By about 9:30 last night Bryan and I were both satisfied with the amount of homework we got done so we salvaged the evening and watched 500 Days of Summer.

For our movie snack we decided to pop some popcorn that his brother and brother's girlfriend, Jared and Melissa, got us for Christmas.

I was finishing up some reading when I heard Bryan laughing out loud in the kitchen at the sight of an overwhelming amount of popcorn being popped.

The finished product in the lovely popcorn bowl, also from Melissa and Jared:

The popcorn kit came with three unique seasonings...
I tried the Asiago and Cracked Pepper on a small portion just for me since Bryan doesn't like cheese. It was SO TASTY! Packed with flavor! Bryan and I used the Sweet and Salty Kettle Corn flavor on the rest of the bowl and it was also great. We practically plowed through the whole bowl within the first few minutes of the movie.

Bryan and I agreed that movie was just OK. I had heard some really great reviews and probably built my expectations up too high. The directing was very unique, though...and Lots of clever editing.

I began this morning with a Deep Chocolate Vitamuffin.
DELICIOUS! Easily a 9/10. It tasted like a brownie smothered in chocolate sauce. Contrary to Bryan's comment yesterday, I could not believe this was only 100 calories. I felt like I was splurging. It was more like dessert than breakfast...no complaints here though!

After breakfast and some reading for class I did some arm work. I did the reps much slower than usual and it made a huge difference. I could really feel my muscles being worked out. I was in pain by the end! I did a couple sets of crunches and also tried this out...

100 Calories in 10 Minutes

• 1 minute - Brisk walk or march in place
• 1 minute - Light jog outside, around the house or in place
• 1 minute - Jumping jacks
• 1 minute - Long jumps - jump forward, landing with both feet
• 1 minute - Light jog
• 1 minute - Jumping jacks
• 1 minute - Squat and kick, alternating legs
• 1 minute - Light jog
• 1 minute - Long jumps
• 1 minute - Brisk walk to cool down

This was awesome but really made me feel out of shape! I could not believe I was only burning 100 cals...I was sweaty and exhausted after. I liked it a lot though and hope to get in a least one or two more of these workouts today.

Boar's Head Revenge! & Saturday's Eats.

So a few hours after I had my Boar's head sub for lunch my tummy was not happy. Not sure what did it, but I was feeling really yucky. Stupidly, I couldn't fathom the idea of the second half of the sub going to waste so I ate it for dinner anyway! And felt even worse! Still, worth it :)

I tried a Vitamuffin top for breakfast today.
I think I accidentally called this AppleBran in yesterday's post and it's actually AppleBerry but it had a definite bran taste to it afterall. It probably wasn't the best one to try since I'm not a huge bran fan but it was much more moist than most bran muffins (I popped it in the microwave) and I liked the apple and berry mix. Bryan tried a fudgy peanut butter flavored one which I tasted andwish I had picked for myself! In his words, "it tasted like it was only 100 calories", whatever that means, but I liked it! I took a pic but it got deleted...oops! Final numbers... AppleBerry 7/10, the fudgy PB flavor 7.5/10.

Bryan got me a Pita Pit gift card for Christmas so I used it today on this:

Holy Yum! I got a wheat pita stuffed with feta (so so so much feta), red onion, shredded lettuce, mushrooms, onions, and banana peppers. It was huge but I happily ate it all. I did pick out the banana peppers halfway through, though...I find I do that with banana peppers when I get them on things like subs and pizza...strange.

Driving home from Pita Pit I took off my super cute but super uncomfortable flats to let my feet breathe, and wound up like this...
I have Raynaud's, which means my fingers and toes are always really cold due to poor circulation, which makes Bryan really concerned so he insisted I put his gloves on my feet!! Ha!

I had dinner at Wegman's with some friends from my sorority.
I got a simple salad of baby spinach, iceberg lettuce, mushrooms, onions, blue cheese crumbles, cucumbers, and fat free ranch. I was very unimpressed with the salad bar selection. I also had one of my favorites, a cup of lobster bisque. Delish!

On a fitness note, I was a little lazy yesterday and only did lifting and crunches but nonetheless I am in pain today! I might save the workout for tomorrow.

Well, back to my fun Saturday night of HOMEWORK!! Boo!!

Favorite lunch, school stress, and a special delivery!

Today is my splurge day (woohoo!) so I had a very small breakfast of a blueberry Special K bar so I could save my appetite for lunch. No pic, sorry!

My splurge meal was a Boar's Head sub!

Check this baby out! It is loaded with ham, provolone, lettuce, tomato, sweet peppers, onions, and oil and vinegar. I concocted a Sriracha/mayo mix to dip it in. I love my condiments! And...this is only half of the sub so it will actually be two splurge meals. Oops :)

Believe it or not, this is my favorite meal of all time. I know what you're thinking...a sub? Out of all of the wonderful food out there? Ever since I can remember I have had a love affair with deli sandwiches. I could eat one anywhere, anytime. As long as it's Boar's Head! Other deli meat simply doesn't compare. Boar's Head is so fresh and tasty...their ham tastes like Christmas ham...their turkey tastes like Thanksgiving turkey! ...You get the idea! Sadly, Boar's Head is so hard to find in this area! Downstate we have Boar's Head at every deli...and there's probably 8 delis within 10 minutes of my house. Up here I have only found 3 places that carry it and the place that makes the best subs is 45 minutes away! So, we made the 45 minute drive to Greece and 45 minutes back just to have our delicious subs. Totally worth it!

Here's what we ate with our subs.
Bryan bought the Dirty chips (chipotle flavor) to snack on on the way home, and of course I had to give them a try. They were tasty but not as loaded with flavor as I would have liked, and very high in calories! With my sub I ate the sour cream & onion popchips. Again, they weren't as good as my first bag...the salt & pepper flavored...but they were still very tasty. I would have liked a little bit of a stronger flavor, but I was still pleased. I'm stealing an idea from Katie from Faith Food & Fitness and giving the foods I review a rating. I would give this flavor of popchips a 6.5 out of 10. (The salt & pepper would get an 8.5!)

We ate our subs while catching up on all our favorite shows. We watched Scrubs, Law & Order, Modern Family, The Office, and 30Rock. My other regulars are Law & Order SVU, How I Met Your Mother, House, and American Idol. What TV shows do you regularly watch??

Grad school stuff put a damper on my afternoon. I found out more about some of the requirements for my classes and it is going to be SO difficult getting it all done while working full time. One of my classes requires me to work with a student outside of class time and I'm stressed about not only finding time to fit that in, but also about actually finding a student! Some of the things my classes require are so impractical! Very frustrating!!!!

However, my mood was lifted when I received this...
My Vitalicious sample package! It was LOADED with muffin tops...flavors like Banana Nut, AppleBran, Deep Chocolate, Fudgy Peanut Butter Cup, Golden Corn, and many more.,.and also some VitaBrownies.

Here's some info one of their representatives, Katie, sent me:

Here is the VitaBreakdown of what you get in each individually-wrapped serving:

• 100 calories
• No artificial ingredients
• No preservatives
• Whole grains
• 5g - 6g of fiber
• 0g - 1.5g of fat
• 3g - 4g protein
• 15 vitamins and minerals

SO excited to try these!

TGIT!

Thank God it's Thursday! I have Fridays off so it is now the weekend for me! Yay!

I had oatmeal again this morning and decided to take a picture of the ingredients so I wouldn't bore you with a picture you've seen a million times!
I used maple and brown sugar oatmeal (Walmart brand..I'm on a budget!) and added some white chocolate wonderful PB.

Bryan took a very artistic picture of my lunch today.
Doesn't it actually look like art? Adorable, haha. I had two tiny turkey and tomato sandwiches with a dab of light parmesan peppercorn ranch dressing, cucumber slices, a cut up gala apple, and monteray jalapeno cheese. Everything was delicious. I ate the cheese and apple together which was a very yummy combination of sweet and spicy.

Class was so long and went I got home I was famished! I texted Bryan and asked him to have this waiting for me.
I had a whole-wheat wrap with light veggie cream cheese, roasted red pepper bruschetta (all out of it now, so sad!) and a couple slices of turkey. If you think this sounds plain, I dare you to try it. It was delectable. So much flavor, I didn't want it to be over! I had some broccoli dipped in light dressing on the side and tried a second flavor of popchips. I went with the sea salt & vinegar and thought they were good, but that they didn't live up to the amazingness of the salt and pepper flavor. The vinegar taste was a little strong for me. While they wouldn't be my first pick, I'll stick take them over regular chips merely for the nutritional value!

While I was eating dried berries and fresh blackberries for dessert I talked Bryan into breaking open a bag of Newman-O's.
These are basically their version of Oreos. I snuck a tiny bite and Bryan and I both agreed that these tasted just like the competitor and are a much healthier choice. It will be hard to not snack on these all weekend!

Eats and THANK YOU to popchips!

Breakfast was the same as yesterday -- maple and brown sugar oats with no toppings--hence why there is no pic! I was feeling extra lazy and liked it yesterday so I figured, why not!

Here's lunch...
A turkey burger with spicy mustard and bbq sauce to dip in, with cucumbers and bbq soy crisps on the side. The burger was just as delicious as last night...such a great substitute for red meat! I wound up mixing my dipping sauces together and created a phenomenal condiment. The crisps were great as always, but I ate the last of them :( And the cucs added a nice refreshing touch to the meal.

Dinner was more tiny sandwiches!
I had tiny pumpernickels with turkey, tomato, and monteray jalapeno cheese. The cheese flavor was kind of overpowered so I took it off and ate it separately to really savor it :) I had leftover sauteed veggies on the side...still very tasty!

A big thank you to popchips for sending me an awesome package of samples of six flavors of chips!
I tried the salt and pepper chips with my dinner and they were FANTASTIC! They had the healthy lightness and airiness that crisps do, but the salty crunch of potato chips. They are packed with flavor and each little bag is only 100 calories! I was very, very satisfied. This is definitely a perfect alternative to greasy potato chips. Can't wait to review the other flavors. popchips also included a nifty little chip clip and a packet of coupons! Thanks so much!

I am home on the early side tonight so I will definitely get in some fitness. (I did get myself to work out last night...lifting, kicks, crunches, and jogging in place...go me!) However, my arms are already tired because I spent most of my morning holding 2 year olds. I think that should count as an arm work out!

Tiring Tuesday!

Just got home, more than 12 hours after I left :( Classes started today which means a long, non-stop day for me...and to make matters worse, work was busy busy busy! Endless runny noses and poopy diapers! I am SO tired!

I began my day with oats.
I had a bowl of maple and brown sugar flavored instant oatmeal...no toppings or anything. Very simple, very delicious.

Lunch (of course photographed by the man who makes my lunch daily) was, as planned, another Italian herb chik'n patty with roasted red pep bruschetta.
I also had baked chips and fresh broccoli dipped in garlic hummus. Yum!

I came home to a surprise dinner! Yay!
There was not ONE but TWO dinners waiting for me in the fridge! Bryan wanted to give me options :) I chose a turkey burger over a seafood sausage which I also tasted and was super good. The turkey burgers were homemade and I'm not exactly sure what was in there but I definitely tasted bbq sauce. Whatever the combination was, the flavor was awesome. I broke a burger up and put it on tiny pumpernickels and topped some with spicy mustard and some with roasted garlic honey bbq sauce. DE-LICIOUS! WOW! There were extras in the fridge and it was so hard to not go back for more. I'll definitely be having leftovers for tomorrow's lunch :) I also had some veggies on the side that Bryan sauteed in lots of spices. Also great!

I think I'll have some more dried berries for dessert.

So tired...to work out or not work out....

A Few Carb Crazy Days!

Sorry for another delayed post! Yesterday was spent traveling in the car again (a TERRIBLE trip through snow, ice, rain, and fog...and by the way, passed TEN accidents!), so let me catch you up.

Yesterday's breakfast was a gala apple.
I was saving my appetite because I was going to my cousin's baby shower and I knew there would be a feast.

Lunch at the shower was a real test of my willpower. There was everything from bacon and sausage to chicken parm and beef. Happy to say that I did not give in to temptation!
I had some fresh mozzarella and tomato, a little pasta salad, green salad, and LOTS of fresh fruit and veggies. There is a pancake buried under there somewhere too, but it got smothered in balsamic so, needless to say, it didn't get eaten!

Dinner was eaten in the car.
The picture doesn't make it look very appetizing but the tuna, tomato, and monteray with jalapeno on a wrap was absolutely delicious. I also snacked on more Newman's Own Organics pretzels and bbq soy crisps.

This morning's breakfast was a painfully dull blueberry Special K bar, so I skipped the photo. My hours at work changed because I start classes this week so I am out the door before 7am and my tummy was simply not ready for food yet!

Lunch, though not very exciting, was Awesome.
I had half of a Morningstar Farms Italian Herb Chik'n patty smothered in roasted red pepper bruschetta on a whole-wheat wrap. There wasn't much to it but it was So tasty and I will likely have it again tomorrow! Also, I meant to flip this pic and forgot but I think this angle looks okay too :)

Dinner was also simple but again, tasty.
I topped an english muffin with lite veggie cream cheese and red onions. Yum! All it was missing was the lox :) On the side I had soy crisps from Newman's Own Organics. I had more bbq (can't get enough) and tried some of the white cheddar flavor. I think I like the bbq best, but the white cheddar gave me my cheese fix!

I tried some dried fruit for dessert.
The apricots were a dark brown shade which was strange to me because I have never seen dried apricots look like that before. And to be honest, I did not enjoy them one bit.
So I switched over to these...
It was a mix of blueberries, cherries, raisins, and cranberries. Much better!

I realized that with all the Newman's Own Organics snacking I've been pretty heavy on the carbohydrates so I'm heading to the store tonight to restock on fruits and veggies.

On a fitness note, I'm going to try to get in some cardio and arm work tonight but I'm laying off the abs because they are Killing me today! I did a whole bunch of crunches last night after the car ride and am feeling it today. My arms are also a little sore because I used my 5lb weights for a good part of the ride!

Ok answers to the quiz! (Click the images for a clearer view)

Questions, for one last look...

Answers...