65 In November?? I'll Take It!

It was gorgeous out today!! I woke up and saw that today's high was going to be 65.  Matt and I decided right then and there that we had to go to a park.  We took Champ to White Clay Creek State Park for a little  hike.  It was total overstimulation from him, but I could tell he was loving every moment of it.

And the best part? Little man zonked out when we got home.  Another thing on my list today was to do some baking.  I made these baked oatmeal bars a couple of months ago, froze some and have been picking away at them little by little.  Well last night I ate the last one, so I decided to make more.  I got the recipe off of one of my favorite food blogs Kath Eats Real Food.  They are so easy to make and they are much better for you than any graolla bar you would buy in a store. 

Baked Oatmeal Bars

1 1/2 cup rolled oats

1/2 cup chopped nuts ( I used 1/4 cup almonds and 1/4 cup walnuts)

1/2 cup dried fruit (craisins and figs for me)

1/4 cup seeds (sunflower)

1 tsp cinnamon

pinch of salt

1 1/4 cup skim milk

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla

Combine wet and dry ingredients separately.

Mix together and pour into a 9x9 baking dish lined with parchment paper

Bake for 40 minutes at 350 degrees.  Makes 12 squares.

These are the perfect snack with some peanut butter spread on the top.

When it came to dinner tonight I only had one thing on my mind....leftover stuffing! I decided to make a big salad full of leftover stuffing and turkey (and maybe some veggies too).



The whole salad was really good, but this was how I was seeing it in my mind:

STUFFING!!!!

I'm so happy we still have another full day of the weekend left! Unfortunately tomorrrow I actually have to get some chores and cooking done.  Well I'm off to pour myself a glass of wine! Here's to a great and relaxing weekend!

Thanksgiving Recovery

Hope everyone had a good thanksgiving! I did. The food was amazing and it was great seeing my family especially my brother! I had turkey, stuffing, sweet potatoes, corn, carrots, ambrosia and of course apple pie.  I'm so happy that my pie turned out well. 

Today was the start of thanksgiving recovery. I woke up to my pumpkin pie overnight oats (sticking with the thanksgiving theme). 

After breakfast Matt and I had one thing on our mind...a nice long workout.  We headed to the gym and were 2 of 5 people there haha.  I really concentrated on weights today.  I like to do more weights on the weekend since I have more time to stay there and can get more of a complete workout in.  We were there for about an hour and half.  After that I was spent.  I got home and was craving eggs so I made and egg white omlet with red peppers, spinach and cheddar cheese.

apple and almond butter on the side

After lunch I had to go to the grocery store :( yuck.  I dread going to the grocery store every week. I never know if it's going to be mobbed or completely empty.  I got lucky today though.  Not too many people and the lines moved quickly.  AND...I also stumbled up some apple butter! Sad, but this completely made my day.  I had gone to a local orchard about a month ago and got some apple butter. I just finished it last week and had no idea they sold it in our grocery store. I'm glad to see they do!  When I got back Matt and I finished our save the dates!!! FINALLY! They will be mailed out tomorrow...exaclty 6 months until our wedding.

We decided  to go to main st. for dinner since all of the students are home and we knew it wouldn't be crowded. We went to a local bar/restaurant Deer Park. I got the Harvest Wrap with a side salad.

Delish! Now we are sitting down to watch Super 8.  Tomorrow we are hoping to take Champ to a park since it will be in the 60's.  Hope this weather sticks around for a while.





Time For Apple Pie

Today after work I went straight home to make an apple pie for thanksgiving since my night tomorrow is packed!  The recipe I used was in People Magazine a few years ago and is from Barefoot Contessa.

Apple Pie

4 lb granny smith apples, peeled and cut into slices

1 lemon zested and 1 orange zested

2 tbsp lemon juice

1 tbsp lime juice

1/2 cup sugar (I used sugar in the raw)

1/4 cup all purpose flour

1 tsp salt

3/4 tsp cinammon

1/2 tsp nutmeg

1/8 tsp allspice

2 premade pie crusts

1 egg beaten with 1 tbsp water (I used egg whites)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Peel and cute apples and add to a bowl with zests, juices, sugar, flour and spices.  Mix well.  Drape 1 pie crust over a pie plate.  Add filling.  Brush the edge of the bottome pie crust with egg wash.  Add top crust and tuck edges under the bottom crust.  Brush the top crust with egg wash, sprinkle with sugar and make 4-5 slits.  Bake 1 to 1 1/4 hours.

The hardest part of this recipe for me is peeling all the apples. The last time I made this I had help from my mom and she can  peel an apple in one long peel. I managed to do one like this.

After pie baking it was time to whip up dinner! Good thing it was nice and quick.  It was taco night in our house.  I cooked up a pound of ground turkey with some reduced sodium taco seasoning and put it on whole wheat tortillas. 

I had mine with some cheddar cheese, black beans and spinach leaves with some veggies on the side. 

After dinner I finally had some time to get a quick workout in.  I tried the No Gear Here workout from the Women's Health Magazine  website.  I really liked the leg workouts but I wasn't too wild about some of the arm ones. I could barely do some of them.  I guess my upper body needs some work.  This one was my favorite:

Front Lunge Floor Reach and Reverse Twist

Stand with your feet hip-width apart and your arms at your sides. Lunge forward with your left leg so your right knee is nearly touching the floor and your left thigh is parallel to the floor. Bending forward, try to touch the floor on either side of your left foot (A). Push off your left foot; using that momentum, shift your weight to your right foot and swing your left leg behind you. As you sink backward into a lunge, rotate your torso 45 degrees to the right (B). Return to standing. That's one rep. Do 12 to 15 and repeat on the other side. That's one set. Do three, resting for 30 seconds between sets.

All in all I really liked the workout and the fact that I didn't need any equipment.  I have a feeling my legs are going to be sore tomorow.

Time to go watch an episode of Lost with Matt! The darn X Factor is on AGAIN tonight so there is no glee.  That show really needs to go away if you ask me.



Dreary Monday

It's been such a nasty day here in Delaware.  It's been cloudy and raining on and off all day.  Days like this make me glad I have the gym.  I did an easy workout today because my legs are still a bit sore from the race on Saturday.  I think it's so weird that I've run a 10k several times on my own, but when I run it in a race I'm sore for several days afterwards.  I guess that means I was pushing myself! I stuck with 20 minutes of upper body weights and then 20 minutes on the bike and 20 minutes on the eliptical. 

thought this was funny

love this

When I got home from the gym I tried to throw together a quick dinner.  I had never had gnocchi before so I decided to give them a go. I found a recipe on http://www.eatingwell.com/ that I based my recipe off of.  I didn't make the gnocchi myself, but I'm hoping to do that at some point.  I remember coming across a recipe for sweet potatoe gnocchi. Sounds good to me. 

Gnocchi with Spinach and White Beans

olive oil

1 lb package of refrigerated gnocchi

1/2 yellow onion chopped

2 cloves garlic

1/2 cup water

3 handfulls spinach leaves (very precise i know)

1 15oz can white beans, drained and rinsed

1 15 oz can diced tomatoes undrained

pepper to taste

1/4 cup mozzarella cheese

1/4 cup shredded parmesean cheese

Heat 1 tbsp oil in a skillet and add gnocchi. Cook about 5 minutes until browned and remove gnocchi from pan.  Add 1 tsp oil to pan along with onion and cook for 1 minute.  Stir in garlic and water.  Cover and let simmer for 2 minutes until onion is soft.  Add spinach and stir until wilted.  Stir in tomatoes, beans and pepper and bring to a simmer until sauce thickens.  Stir in gnocchi and sprinkle with cheese.  Cover and cook for 3 minutes unil cheese melts. Enjoy!

The recipe got pretty good reviews from Matt although he did say that it could have used some meat (I expected this hah).  I'm thinking of adding some italian turkey sausage next time but all the flavors were great and it was nice and filling!

Tomorrow after work I'll be coming home to bake an apple pie for Turkey Day.  I'm a little nervous...I'm not a very good baker.  But we'll see how it goes.  I'm also hoping to fit in an at home workout from women's health magazine! It's equipment free and uses only your own body weight.  I'm excited to see how it turns out!

Thank God this is only a 3 day week :)





Lazy Sunday

Today was a nice relaxing Sunday. I went on a couple long walks with Champ and got some cleaning and cooking done.  My legs are in a bit of pain from yesterday, so I decided to take a day off from the gym.  For dinner I made Almond Crusted Chicken Fingers.  I got the recipe from http://www.eatingwell.com/ and it turned out great.  I made some sweet potatoe "chips" on the side.

Recipe:

1/2 cup sliced almonds

1/4 cup whole wheat flour

1 1/2 tsp paprika

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1/2 tsp dry mustard

1/4 tsp salt

1/8 tsp pepper

1 1/2 tsp olive oil

egg whited for dredging

1 lb chicken tenders

Preheat the oven to 475.  Line a baking sheet with tin foil and place a wire rack on top.  Put all dry ingredients in a food processor and blend.  While running, add olive oil and contine to blend until  crumbly.  Transfer the mixture to a shallow bowl.  Add egg whites to a second shallow bowl.  Add chicken to egg whites and coat, then add chicken to almond mixture and coat.  Bake chicken fingers for 20-25 minutes.  Enjoy!

Along with the chicken I sliced up a sweet potatoe as thin as I could get it, mixed the slices in olive oil s&p and baked them along with the chicken for about 15 mintues, flipping them halfway through. 

Well it's back to work tomorrow but it's only a 3 day week! I can definitely handle that!!  I'll sign off with a couple more pics from my race!