Falafel Fail

I've been trying to find some more interesting luchtime options than my usual peanut butter and apple butter sandwich or ginormous salad.  I actually found this recipe on pinterest for falafels.  I had everything that I needed already, so that was another plus.  The recipe I used was loosely based off of this recipe. 

Falafel Recipe

1 15oz can garbanzo beans drained and rinsed

1/4 red onion diced

handfull fresh parsley

2 cloves garlic

1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

1/2 tsp cumin

1/2 tsp baking powder

2 tbsp whole wheat flour

Add all ingredients excpet baking powder and flour into a food processor. Process the mixture until it forms a paste (this is where I had some difficulty).  Place mixture in a bowl and mix in baking powder and flour.  Form into small patties and cook in a nonstick pan coated with cooking spray until they are golden brown.

I think these would have been perfect....if my food processor actually worked properly.  It chopped everything up, but I couldn't get it to form a paste.

So when I tried to cook them they of course fell apart.  I might have been cursing my food processor at that moment.  Good news though...they still tasted really good. Nice and garlicy.

Perfect addition to one of my giant salads. 

Today was just another Monday. Work went by pretty fast and then I headed to the gym.  I was in the locker room getting changed when I got this text from Matt....

...Come Play Mommy

How could I resist a face like that??? I went through my workout faster than usual finishing in a little under an hour and then raced home to hang with my little man!! I swear this is going to be a million times harder when we actually have children.  This is something Matt and I talk a lot about.  We think we'll alternate gym days so someone can be home with the baby. And a plus...our gym has a daycare attached!! One of the reasons I love our gym.  But that is very far away at the moment so we don't have to think too hard about it!

One day down, 4 days to go!





Unexpected Run

Our wine tasting last night was so much fun.  The wine itself wasn't too great actually, but I enjoyed the company and the dinner that followed.

enjoying our wine

We ended up getting a bottle of the dry reisling to take home which was included in our groupon.

Afterwards we headed to Kennet Sq (the mushroom capital of the world) for dinner. I was looking through the menu and the grilled tofu for some reason looked really good to me. This was my first time ever eating tofu so I was way outside my comfor zone.

Grilled tofu, lentil pilaf, broccolini, coconut curry dressing. Final verdict...I loved it!! It was all in the dressing.  It wasn't as mooshy as I thought it would be which was good for me because I tend ot have texture issues.

On Sundays I usually try to do something a little more interesting for dinner since I have more time and energy to put into it than during the week.  Matt and I went to a local fish market on Friday night and picked up some Arctic Char.  I had no idea how to cook it so I did some searching online. First I roasted an entire head of garlic for an hour at 350 degrees. Then I put the garlic into our food processor and mixed it with 2 tbsp of lemon juice, 1/8 cup canola oil and 1.5 sprigs of rosemary. I spread that on top of the arctic char and cooked it at 400 degrees for 20 minutes.

Some of the best fish I've ever had. This sauce would work well on any fish especially salmon since it's so similar to arctic char.  I roasted some sweet potatoes on the side and cooked some brussel sprouts on the stove as well.  I decided to make an entire meal of it and made a little something for dessert.  I made two of Chocolate Covered Katie's Single Lady Carrot Cake Cupcakes.  All I did was double the recipe. So quick and easy.

A little undercooked but still good.  Matt likes his baked good mooshy...so strange.

The best part of today...Matt's foot is finally starting to feel better so we went for a run around the neighborhood together!! We did our 3 mile loop and stopped once so Matt could stretch.  Running with Matt is always a good workout because he is a lot faster than me.  I really have to work to keep up with him. It was a good end to the weekend.  Back to work  tomorrow....but in the back of my head all I'm thinking is 6 days until I see my wedding dress :)

Workout Before Wine

Matt and I are headed to a wine tasting that we got through Groupon with my parents and my aunt and uncle. We get a wine tasting, two glasses and a bottle of wine for $20.  My kind of deal.

First things first.  Breakfast before heading to the gym.

1/3 cup oatmeal, 1 container apple cinnamon nonfat chobani, 1/2 tbsp chia seeds, splash of milk with granolla, craisins and peanut butter on the top

At the gym I started out with 4 sets of 14 lunges with 10lbs in each hand.  Then I did 3 sets of 20 squats with a 25lb dumbell and finished up with some abs.  Then I jumped on the treadmill for this 40 minute run.

I alternated half mile jogs and half mile sprints for 4 miles and then ran at a 6.5 until 40 minutes were up.

4.4 miles in 40 minutes!

happy to be done and ready for lunch!

I wanted something high in protein for lunch so I whipped up a egg white and cheese sandwich on a whole wheat deli flat.  I microwaved a banana in a bowl for 30 seconds and then added a spoonful of plain nonfat greek yorgurt, almond butter and a sprinkle of cinnamon.  And of course a cup of decaf coffee on the side to rehydrate.

I'm so obsessed with my microwaved banana mixutre.  Perfect thing to warm me up this winter. A few things to do around the house before our tasting! Hope everyon has a good Saturday!

What was your workout today??

Ever been to a wine tasting before?

This is our second wine tasting that we've done through Groupon. We went to a tour and tasting in New Jersey over the summer and had so much fun we had to do it again.

How To Train an ADD Dog

Today I went right home after work since it was Matt's turn to go to the gym and my turn for doggy duty.  It wasn't the prettiest day out today, but it was in the upper 40's.  I really wanted to run, but felt bad puting champ back in his cage.

Can't resist this face after all.

I thought to myself for a second about taking Champ with me on my run.  When we first got him I tried to run with him and it was a total disaster. He is so ADD he would stop at every mailbox, fire hydrant and street light to mark his territory.  How a dog his size can pee 2 times in one walk still baffles me.  We've been working on his walking since we got him and he finally has stopped pulling me around the neighborhood.  So I decided today was the day. I mean I know he can run...

.....but can he run with me????

We started off a little rocky. He was zig zagging quite a bit and I almost tripped over him a couple of times. Then we started to get into a groove and he was doing really well! I could tell I was going a little slow for him.  At some points he would actualy drag me along behind him...thanks for rubbing it in my face man.  We were outside for about 35 minutes and I think we were running for around 30 of them. We stopped a few times so he could still sniff some trees and take a dump.  Thank God it was trash day in our neighborhood.  I hadn't thought about what to do with the bag of poop for the rest of the run, so I just dropped it into someone's trash can.  I'm sure that is bad neighbor etiquette.

When we first got Champ I really wanted him to be a  running dog and when I realized he sucked at it I kind of gave up.  But I'm so happy that we are making some progress! I can't wait until the spring when we can run more often outside.

For now we'll have our hikes!

My camera died so not many actual pictures from today.  I had leftover tuna burgers from Tuesday in a nice big salad for dinner and I'm just pouring Matt and I some Thursday night wine.  We do have reason to celebrate after all....

4 Months Until The Big Day!!

 





Hump Day WIAW

Happy Hump Day! And it's WIAW!

First a cameo from Champ.  Love him.

Breakfast:

Pumpkin Chia Overnight Oats

Lunch:

Unpictured...I think I was a bit hungry.  I got a sandwich from wawa that hit the spot. Turkey, cheese, spinach, cucumber and tomatoe on rye. I ate half with an apple and saved the other half for tomorrow. I love getting two meals out of one.

Dinner:

Whole wheat pasta with pesto, chicken and feta. Salad on the side!

Snack to help warm me up!

I also had a late night snack of a cut up pear with two scoops of nonfat plain greek yogurt and one scop of almond butter



After work I went to the gym for a short workout.  I started with a couple of my favorite arm machines:

AND

.....just kidding haha. I love how they changed these informercials to men instead of women. Like that helps haha.

After my weights workout I hopped on three different cardio machines for 10 minutes each. I went from the bike to the eliptical to the treadmill. On the treadmill I sprinted a mile and finished in 8:20.  A little better than last week, but I think I can still do better.



Jury Duty...Thank God It's Over

Today I had Jury Duty for the first time ever. I have to say all the horrible rumors I heard were true. It was the most boring day of my life.   Being forced to sit in a room for hours waiting to see if you'll be called for a trial is like some sort of punnishment for me.  I am definitely one of those people who can't sit still for long, even though I used to be quite the oposite.  I had a few magazines with me and a book and ate a huge breakfast since lunch break doesn't roll around until 1pm (I'm like an old person, I usually eat lunch at 11:30 haha). One of the magazines I had on hand was People.  I read an article about Paula Dean having type 2 diabetes....big surprise there.  The entire article just disgusted me. She's had diabetes for two years and had continued to cook her type of food and just now admits that she has diabetes because she is the spokesperson for some diabetes drug.  If she was really serious I think she would have told everyone from the get go and she should have changed the way she cooked.

This little diddy was hightlighted in the article

The Lady's Bruch Burger...EW

source

Oh you know just 936 calories and close to 60 grams of fat!

After reading that article and sitting for a good portion of the day I went out for a run when I got home. I ran 4.75 miles in 41:20 (8.37 pace).  It was gorgeous here in the 50's.  I decided to run without music today so I could really enjoy the weather.  I thought this was a good idea until I hit 30 minutes and really started feeling it in my legs from my weights workout last night.  Then I wished I could turn on some Lady Gaga to get me motivated.  Funny how music does that to people. I usually run with my ipod in even though I've read in several places that it's pretty dangerous (cars and attackers). 

When I got home I tried out a new recipe for dinner that I found on Pinterest, Tuna Burgers based off of  Can You Stay For Dinner? Super easy and really cheap, double whammy!!

Recipe:

2 6oz cans tuna in water, drained and flaked

1/2 cup panko bread crumbs

1/4 cup chopped green onions

3 tbsp chopped flat leaf parsley

2 cloves garlic minced

pinch each salt and pepper

3 tbsp egg whites

3 tbsp non-fat sour cream

4 slices provolone cheese

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Mix all ingredients and form into 4 patties.  Place on sprayed baking sheet and bake for 20 minutes. Top with cheese and put back in the oven until cheese is melted. 

With it I sliced up a sweet potato very thin, drizzled them with olive oil, salt and pepper and backed them along with the tuna burgers, flipping them halfway through. 

I finished my night off with some work on my graduate certificate application. I started to get a little stressed and poured myslef a glass of wine to help. I'm hoping to submit it within the next couple of weeks!!

Say It Ain't So

I just finished watching the ravens/patriots game.  How did they lose that??? I'm usually an Eagles fan, but on the off  pretty much every year when they end up not doing so well I root for the Ravens because of....

Joe Flacco!

source

One of a handful of famous people to come out of the not so well known University of Delaware!!!  That's right, the Ravents QB was a fightin' blue hen haha! Yes I'm serious our mascott is a blue hen.

I started off my day with a trip to the gym! I tried to shake things up a bit by splitting my cardio workout around my weight training.  I did two 20 minute interval workouts on the treadmill and in between did 30 minutes of weight lifting including lots of squats and lunges.

This was my teadmill workout today. I completed 4.2 miles in 40 minutes.  When I got home I chowed on an egg white, cheese and apple butter sammie with an apple and grapes on the side.

I also tried a new type of coconut water with my lunch.

Not a fan. I definitely like the taste of the vita coco coconut water better.

In other news (wedding news): Matt and I finally booked our honeymoon!!! We'll be in St. Lucia from June 2-Jun3 9!!!! I can't wait.

source

And this is where we'll be staying....I mean HELLO!!!!

Since we had people over for the game  dinner was quick.  I cooked some pork chops up sprkled with some sweet paparika and made some mashed red potatoes in the microwave.

After dinner activity: Stop being lazy and take down your dead christmas tree haha. Check!  This next week should be interesting. I got called in for jury duty on Tuesday. I'm hoping I only have to be there one day.  At least this will give me a chance to finish the book that I'm reading.