Back among the working! And Chicken :)

Well, the working that get paid, that is.  I'd like to think I have been "working".  Let me tell you, it has definitely not been any sitting around eating bon bons, and I haven't watched a single soap opera!

It has been a busy few days!  I have an 11 year old now, who enjoyed his birthday imensly!  I started my classes for the semester, and I got a job!

Starting Monday I will be a Group Fitness Instructor at the YMCA fitness center here in town.   I am taking over the Senior Fit class on MWF, and the Cardio Class on Tues and Thurs evenings.  I am really excited about Tuesday and Thursday, it's an open canvas for me, I can do whatever kind of class I would like, I just need it to be mostly cardio, because they have strength training classes Monday and Wednesday evening.  So I am going to write up so Cardio intervals this weekend, and test them out for time and make sure they flow ok.  Now hopefully people show up for my class! :)

So, aside from that news, it has been business as usual around here.  Yesterday I got out to the high school later than normal.  But since it was light, I wasn't nervous to go alone, and since I was alone, I figured I would try a new work out!

Warm Up

Walk 1 lap

Walk up and down one flight of steps twice

Work Out

Jog 8 laps

Run one side of the stadium in a "S" patter, two times through

Jog 1 lap

Run other side of stadium in a "S" pattern, two times through

Jog 1 lap

Repeat first side (2 times through)

Jog 1 Lap

Repeat 2nd side (2 times through)

Jog 2 laps

Cool Down!

So it was nice and simple, but it was something different, and it allowed me to get my run in at the same time.  Including the stadium running it was a little over 4 miles in 50 minutes, not a great time, but not bad since the stadium running slows down my time.  I did a shorter version of that this morning when I went as well.  Then I went to Intervals class, it was half cardio, half weights.  Luckily none of it was the same muscles we worked in Muscle conditioning last night, so it wasn't agonizing!

Tonight's dinner is Jalapeno Popper stuffed chicken Breasts.   The picture doesn't do it justice, you can slightly see the bacon and pepper filling peaking out of the chicken. 

Here is the original  recipe:

Jalapeno Popper Stuffed Chicken
Source: adapted from Allrecipes

1 8-ounce package cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
2 jalapeno peppers, seeded and minced
4 strips of bacon, diced
4 (6 ounce) skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
1 cup seasoned bread crumbs (I used regular bread crumbs and seasoned them with salt, pepper, garlic powder and onion powder)
1/4 cup vegetable oil

1. Cook the bacon in a skillet over medium heat until crispy. Drain on paper towels.

2. Stir together the cream cheese, cheddar cheese, bacon, and jalapenos in a small bowl.

3. Cut a pocket horizontally through the thickest side of each chicken breast, and fill with 1/4 of the cheese mixture. Secure with toothpicks.

4. Roll the chicken breasts in bread crumbs to coat. Heat the oil in a skillet over medium-high heat, and cook chicken breasts until no longer pink in the center and the juices run clear, about 8 minutes per side. If your chicken breasts are thick, like mine were, they can be finished in a 350-degree oven.

Here are my changes:

- Butterfly breasts, and flatten

- No breading, I just seasoned the chicken breasts with dry ranch mix (who doesn't like a jalapeno popper with a little ranch dressing??), pepper, garlic powder, and onion powder.

- I seared the chicken breasts, then set them in the oven to cook, 350 for 30 minutes, or until no longer pink.

They are in the oven as I am typing this, so I can't give you a review quite yet.  But I can tell you this.... the filling...?  AMAZING.  Oh my.  I could eat an entire batch of it with a spoon!  I think it would make a GREAT party dip!

Tomorrow we are revisiting carne asada. Yum.

Neglect!

Oops!  I guess I fell off the blog wagon there for a few days.  What can I say, life got in the way!

I did manage to stay on the health wagon though.  Until Yesterday anyway!  Fried foods.  That about sums it up.  I spent a nice day shopping with my husband, and ended it with a Salad, accompanied with fried Zucchini and french fries.  Ugh!  Pure guilt is all I felt afterwards!  Believe me, I had it in my mind all through my work outs this morning!  I powered through an extra set of bleachers, and an extra lap around the track at the end, and I busted my but in class after that.  So hopefully I have balanced out whatever damage I did last night.

At weigh in time Saturday I was down 2.4lbs from the week before.  Yay!  122.4 lbs total. 12.6 to go to my original goal.  I say original because unless I lose all 12.6 from my lower mid section, I am going to have to keep dropping! But I don't know, once I get to my goal, maybe I will focus more on a waist measurement as a goal instead, we'll see.

This morning was my first day back to school.  Woo hoo!  It's going to be a challenge balancing it, but I hope that after a few weeks I can fall into a nice groove.  I am so excited about the nutrition class, I can't wait to share things that I learn.

Speaking of nutrition, lets talk recipes.  I haven't made my meal plan yet for this week.  I need to do that, and get to the grocery store.  It was a busy birthday filled weekend, so I am a little behind.  I promise to have recipes to share this week, but today all I have is a breakfast recipe that I am going to try tomorrow.  I bought Protein Powder last week for a few reasons; 1 being that I spend a fortune on protein shakes, and 2 because I have seen a lot of recipes that call for it that I thought would be fun to try. So tomorrow I will be making chocolate protein pancakes.


http://www.pbfingers.com/2010/03/17/kiss-me-im-not-irish/

I challenge you to push yourself this week,  Take that as you wish, push your work out, push your eating habits, you chose, just stick to it!  Cheers to a week of accomplishments!

Reviews and weights

Whew!  My kitchen was busy yesterday!  We made the Peanut butter oatmeal bars, Stuffed Bell Peppers, Caprese Salad with pesto, and some totally unhealthy buttermilk blueberry muffins for the husband.

Let's start with the peanut butter bars, http://gingerbreadbagels.com/2011/03/22/peanut-butter-banana-oatmeal-squares/:

Since they were for the kids, I thought I'd let Andrew help me make them.  He gets an A+ in the helping department, and a D in the Cleanliness department..... two words - Flour Everywhere! I doubled the recipe and got 8 good sized bars out of it. They came out good, the kids enjoy them with a little peanut butter on top.  They were easy to make, and are a nice quick breakfast for the next few days, I think it's a keeper.

Next, Buttermilk Blueberry muffins.  Sugar, sugar, flour, sugar.... more flour.  Enough said.  I have to stay 2 miles away from them.  Moving on.

Caprese Salad with Pesto.  YUM!  I had some left over pesto, so I picked up some cherry tomatoes and mozzarella cheese.  I cubed the cheese, mixed it in a bowl with the tomatoes, added the pesto, a little EVOO and some minced garlic, and voila!  Delicious, I wish I had made it sooner, and more of it!

Lastly, Kate and I made the stuffed bell peppers (http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Stuffed-Peppers-4/Detail.aspx).  Very quick easy recipe.  Don't know that  I will make it again though due to the lack of Bell Pepper appreciation.  Somewhere between the last couple months and last night it appears Andrew no longer likes bell peppers, and Kate and I never really have.  Ari is the only one who actually ate a stuffed bell pepper.  The rest of us at meat and sauce.   If you enjoy a good bell pepper, then I advise you try this, if not, just brown some meat and call it a day :)

I ended up with quite a bit of meat left over (I used a 2.5 lb package) so tonight we are having taco salads for dinner.  

For Breakfast I had a Protein Shake, mid morning I had an atkins oatmeal bar, and for lunch I plan to eat my weight in Caprese Salad :)

Now, for the work out portion of my day.... I started with Stadiums.  Stepped it up a little, and instead of running up one flight, down the next, I ran up AND down every flight before moving to the next.  Burned my legs out a little faster, kept my heart rate up a little longer.  Then I went to the gym and did 40 minutes on the elliptical. If you love to read as much as I do, here is a little tip I use on myself, I only let myself read on the elliptical.  So if I am sitting here and home and want to turn the eReader on and get lost, nope, can't do it.  If I have time for that, I have time to go to the gym and read.  

Tonight Katie and I are going to do some strength training. We worked our shoulders and chest pretty heavy last night in class, so I wrote a workout that will focus on our biceps, backs/lats, abs, and legs. 

Set 1

Bicep Curls - 15 Reps

One Armed Row - 15 reps each arm

Dumbbell Pullovers- 15 reps

Pendulum Abs- 30 reps

Step Run - 1 min

Repeat 3 times

Set 2

Wide bent over row - 15 reps

Hammer curls- 15 reps

Dumbbell side bend - 15 reps each side

Weighted Squats - 40 reps (30 second time, 20 3rd time)

Jumping Jacks - 30 seconds

Jump Rope - 30 second

Repeat 3 times

Set 3

Concentration curls - 15 reps each arm

Leg press - 15 reps

Standing crossover crunch - 15 each side

Plank - 1 minute

Basketball hops- 1 minute

Repeat 3 times

Katie, don't read this and change your mind! ;)  See you tonight!  

Recipes!

Wow, I guess I was tired!  I woke up at 5:00 to go run stadiums,  but Kayle couldn't make it.  I stood there for awhile contemplating what to do.... I don't think it's safe to go alone, so I was considering heading to the gym.... Sleep won, and I crawled back into bed.  Next thing I knew.... 9:00 am!  I can literally not remember the last time I slept that late.  Aside from having to rework my exercise plan for today, I guess I am glad I got the rest!  Tonight is Muscle Conditioning class, so I think I will go early and run before class.

Speaking of running, and safety, look what I saw on Facebook this morning

What's worse is that this is on my route.  I rarely jog alone, and when I do it's in the evening, not a night, but still this is an eye opener.  I am curious to hear more details, and wonder if it was a truly random attack.  Either way, from now on Dixie will be running with me.

I didn't plan on mentioning this, but I did promise to be real here, so why not.  I have an interview this afternoon at the YMCA wellness center.  They are hiring a Group Fitness Instructor.  I am going back to school next week to  finish up my AA, so that I can transfer to Sac state and work on my BA in Kinesiology.  I think it would be great to pick up some jobs in the field while I work through school.  I spoke with the hiring manager about not having any experience aside from on the personal level (taking group classes! lol) and I really never expected an interview, so it was a pleasant surprise to get that phone call.  I am not getting my hopes up, as I am sure there will be more qualified applicants, but if nothing else the interview will be great experience!  Prayers are appreciated!  :)  Speaking of the interview, I had nothing to wear to one, so I ran to Ross yesterday afternoon to find a pair of slacks.  Like normal, there wasn't a whole lot to choose from, my options were limited.  I found a decent pair in a size 12, and was optimistic, I figured I'd try them.  They FIT!  Another non scale victory!  Woo hoo!

Ok, lets talk food!  The most favorite part of the blog for most people I am sure!  I have two recipes for you today.  A dinner one, and a breakfast one.  Neither of which I have tried, but both I will be making today!

I'll start with the breakfast recipe,  Peanut Butter Banana Oatmeal Squares:

http://gingerbreadbagels.com/2011/03/22/peanut-butter-banana-oatmeal-squares/

Although, mine will be Peanut butter oatmeal squares, I don't have any bananas laying around.  I found this recipe on pinterest, and the other pinner recommended subbing the brown sugar with applesauce. I don't see how unsweetened applesauce would be a sub for sugar, not to mention the consistency difference.  I may however add the applesauce in place of the bananas, but not omit the brown sugar.  These are for the kids, so a little brown sugar is fine by me.  I'll do a review on these tomorrow.

And for dinner, Stuffed Bell Peppers:

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Stuffed-Peppers-4/Detail.aspx

Ingredients

• 1 pound ground beef
• 1/2 cup uncooked long grain white rice
• 1 cup water
• 6 green bell peppers
• 2 (8 ounce) cans tomato sauce
• 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/4 teaspoon onion powder
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. Place the rice and water in a saucepan, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover, and cook 20 minutes. In a skillet over medium heat, cook the beef until evenly browned.
3. Remove and discard the tops, seeds, and membranes of the bell peppers. Arrange peppers in a baking dish with the hollowed sides facing upward. (Slice the bottoms of the peppers if necessary so that they will stand upright.)
4. In a bowl, mix the browned beef, cooked rice, 1 can tomato sauce, Worcestershire sauce, garlic powder, onion powder, salt, and pepper. Spoon an equal amount of the mixture into each hollowed pepper. Mix the remaining tomato sauce and Italian seasoning in a bowl, and pour over the stuffed peppers.
5. Bake 1 hour in the preheated oven, basting with sauce every 15 minutes, until the peppers are tender.

I'll sub brown rice in the husband and kids peppers, and omit it all together in mine, and I am going to puree some tomatoes instead of buying tomato sauce.... Also considering adding some ground sausage, we'll see if I have any in the freezer.  I'll review these tomorrow as well :)

Keep this in mind today, and get out there and work out!  :)

The Color Run!

 

We did it!  We ran the whole thing!  Well, we had one bathroom break after the 2nd Kilometer.... but we did run the whole thing aside from that.  We came in right under 38 minutes, little slower than I hoped, but we had slow downs and stops at almost ever color spot, so that kind of killed our time.  But hey, we did it none the less, and I have to say, it's a pretty cool accomplishment!  I am so glad I did it.  On top of that, it was Fun!  We had a great time, and will totally do it again next year!  I just finally got my "Color Run" tattoo to scrub off in the shower last night, and my right armpit and tricep are still blue, but other than that there were no issues!  It all washed right out of my clothes and shoes, even the color I tried to save on my shirt washed out, boo.  

       

That was the only exercise I did on Saturday.....and I took yesterday off, so today it was back to business!  I hit the high school this morning, and then I went to intervals class at the gym.  Both good workouts, I feel much better :)

I made breakfast for dinner last night.  Kate is gone (surprise, lol) so I made Chorizo and egg burritos for the boys, and I had an omlette. 1 egg, 1/2 cup of egg white, handful of mushrooms, 3 pieces of marinated artichoke heart (chopped up), and 2 pieces of bacon crumbled.  I topped it with cheese, and also has 3 sausage links, Yum!  On a bad note, I had a 3 musketeers bar, AND movie theater popcorn yesterday.  Maybe that's why it felt so good to work out today!

This morning I had a protein shake after stadiums, and A sausage link and string cheese after class (weird combo when I think about it, haha).  I made hard boiled eggs yesterday, so I think I will have egg salad for lunch, and Dinner is Turkey burgers and corn on the cob.

Speaking of dinner, I am not making this but I thought I would share the recipe.  It's all good complex carbs, lots of fiber, and low fat.  It's a family favorite around here, and SOOOO easy!

Taco Soup

1 (16 ounce) can pinto beans 

1 (16 ounce) can white beans or kidney beans 
1 (11 ounce) can niblet corn 
1 (11 ounce) can Rotel tomatoes & chilies 
1 (28 ounce) can diced tomatoes 
1 (4 ounce) can diced green chilies 
1 (1 1/4 ounce) envelope taco seasoning mix 
1 (1 ounce) envelope hidden valley ranch dressing mix 
1 lb shredded chicken, ground beef or any meat 
Cook meat and drain. 
Shred if needed. 
Add all ingredients to crock pot. 
DO NOT DRAIN CANS. 
Stir. 
Cook on high for 2 hours or low for 4 hours. 
Keep on low until serving to keep hot. 
Garnish with sour cream, shredded cheese, chopped green onions, etc

 Here are the changes I make when I prepare this:

I puree all tomatoes (I have non tomato likers, so we can't risk finding a tomato chunk or lives will be over!)

I use cayenne, chili powder, garlic, onion powder, instead of premade taco seasoning

I DO drain the cans, and I cook a little longer, it ends up much thicker, almost like a chili.

This is great for the fall and winter, we have it a lot!  It might not be so bad now either, since it doesn't require turning on the oven!  Enjoy!

Oops!  I just realized I didn't update on my weigh in last week, or this week.  I was down 2.8 last week, and 1.2 this week.  That puts me 15 lbs away from my original goal.  Almost there!

3.1, Done!

Yesterday I started my morning off with stadiums, which has become the norm lately.  I took it a little easier than normal, because I had set a goal for myself, and I didn't want to be too tired to reach it.  I wanted to run an entire 3.1 miles, just to prove to myself that I could do it before the run on Saturday.  Annnnnnd, I did it!

Not as fast as I had hoped, but I did it, I can work on getting my time down from here on out.  To finish up the exercise portion of my day, I went to Step class with Danielle.  Haven't been there in a couple months, so  I have to say, it was rough, but we lived!

This morning I skipped stadiums (sorry Kayle!) so that Carrie and I could get one more run in before tomorrow.  We ran the whole 3.1 miles, I didn't get an exact time, but I think it was about 32 minutes, not too bad.  That is all I am going to do as far as exercise today, I don't want to over do it and be sore for tomorrow.

If you follow me on pinterest, you probably saw my pin for flourless Peanut butter cookies.  I love peanut butter, I love cookies, flour is a no no, so I really was excited about this!  It called for 1 cup of sugar, which I figured I could substitute with splenda.  I looked up the conversion, and it said a cup for a cup.  So I did 1 cup splenda, 1 cup peanut butter, 1 egg.... and I doubled it, because like I said, I love peanut butter, and I love cookies!  Well, it was a Fail, capital F.  They didn't hold together, at all, and the taste of the splenda was overwhelming.  I suppose I could cut the amount of splenda down, but then I'd still have the crumbling issue. So I think that this is one for the trash.  Actually, not only the recipe was thrown in the trash, I threw out the whole two batches. I had too, because even though I didn't like them, I would have eaten them if I kept them.  What can I say, that's why I was almost 300 lbs!  If it's there, eat it.  Ugh.

School is starting back up for the kids in a few weeks, so we have been getting stuff ready for that around here.  I got to thinking about lunches, and how I didn't like just sending them with sandwiches and junk every day.  I have really tried to give them the tools to make good choices, and always make sure they have healthy options available.  But then I feel like it's contradicting to send them off every day with sandwiches chips/crackers and crap.  Good old pinterest gave me some ideas:

http://media-cache-ec5.pinterest.com/upload/210824826276131347_nUMFGpD9_f.jpg

http://easylunchboxes.smugmug.com/The-Best-Lunchbox-System/Yummy-Lunch-Ideas/10136835_YSuyb#696914291_YxmUd

Each of these websites has loads of examples of 90% healthy lunch ideas and pictures.  So, for the past few days I have been making stuff like this at lunch time for the kids, and they love it.  It's smaller portion sizes, but more items, low sugar, and good carbs.  They are actually kind of excited about trying this system for lunches at school.  I haven't nailed down the containers I am going to use, but I am leaning towards this set :

http://www.rubbermaid.com/Category/Pages/SubCategoryLanding.aspx?SubcatId=LunchBlox&CatName=FoodStorage

There's a $1.50 off coupon on the website, too.  And target sells the Set for just over $10.00. If you are near a Kmart, they sell them for $9.99 :)

The Flat Out pizza was such a hit the other night, that it has been requested that we have it again... (that and poor Kate was away for the night and was pretty bummed about missing it).  So we are repeating that this evening.  I can't say I am disappointed, it was yummy, and easy, and I had most of what I needed still on hand from Tuesday.  Besides, what's a better Friday night dinner than pizza??

I can't wait to post about tomorrow's run!  Stay tuned! Have a good weekend!! 

Oh.My.Quad.

Ow!  My quads are on fire. FIRE.  We did 5 sets of 20 reps of weighted squats in class last night.  That, on top of doing stadiums and a run yesterday has made for a painful morning so far.  Stadiums this morning was very slow going, as I went up the steps I seriously felt like I had cement blocks strapped to my thighs.  I pushed through it and got it done, but not without wincing!  I went to the gym afterwards and did a quick elliptical work out, and threw in the towel.  It's time for some advil and low impact stuff.  We'll see how it feels this evening, and maybe I will squeeze a run in.  

I did not make the Chili Relleno Casserole last night.  I took the kids school clothes shopping and by the time we got back I had 30 minutes to get ready for class.  So leftovers it was!  Which means tonight is casserole night!  So, sadly, I don't have a new recipe for you today.  I'll start looking now for one to blog tomorrow! :)

So, speaking of shopping... Non scale victory alert!  I was able to buy a pair of LEI jeans in a size 13.  I haven't worn a size 13 in about 9 years.  At my heaviest, I was a size 24, so to comfortably wear a size 13 was a big win!  It's also a little scary though.  At a size 24, or even 22 and 20, shopping for clothes was more of a chore, and it sometimes came down to "It fits so just settle on it".  Now that I can actually go into a store and have so many options is going to take some self control and restraint so that we don't go broke!

To make up for no recipe, I do have something cool to share!  A 10 issue subscription to Fitness Magazine for $3.99, just use the code "krazy" at check out.  AND when you buy that, they offer you a 10 issue subscription of Women's Health for $3.99 as well!  Awesome!  I ordered mine!  You only have until midnight eastern time, so don't put it off and miss a great deal!! (Big thank you to Kayle for sharing this deal!!)

http://goo.gl/C4zD2