Geocaching

I need to tell you about my newest obsession - geocaching! It's an app that you find the grid coordinates of where a hidden item is and you go find it and sign your geocache username on it. My daddy-o got me and my sister hooked a couple months ago and yesterday me and the hubs went on a caching spree. We started at the National Harbor in Maryland, found 2, hopped over the river to Virginia where we got lost on 2, but found 1, then skipped back over to DC where we were too scared to get out of the car to look for the cache, so we left. After taking a little dinner break, we walked to the University of Maryland and found 5 more! In total, we walked about 6 miles in search of these 8 little hidden treasures, then I came home and did 5 more miles on the treadmill. May not have been all together, but trust me, my legs told me they had done 11 miles (and remember, I'm trying to have fun and not get burnt out!)

Then, today, me and a friend ran 6 miles with some pretty insane hills. I am tired, because if you remember, I also did 8.6 on Saturday, but I'm also feeling pretty good about myself.

We (obviously) also had a couple really good meals since the last time I wrote. First, I have to share about this Cilantro-Lime Dressing that I came across on Pinterest. Oh. My. Goodness. It was tasty! It was so creamy and tangy and really gave the flounder and salad a kick. I smeared it on the fish with the last 5 minutes to go in the oven and let it melt a bit over the top, then I also mixed a little in with the salad (pretty epic salad of lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers and corn). I couldn't get enough of it! However, it is pretty high on the point scale. It's 16 points for the whole thing, so I used half the batch, so still 8 WW points!

Cilantro-Lime Dressing

1 cup loosely packed cilantro, stems removed and roughly chopped
1/2 cup plain Greek yogurt
2 Tbsp. fresh lime juice (about 1/2 lime)
1-2 garlic cloves
1/4 cup olive oil
1 1/2 tsp. white vinegar
1/8 tsp. salt

1. Puree all ingredients in a blender or food processor until smooth.

2. Taste and adjust seasonings if necessary.

Too easy!

Look at how awesome that salad is!

Then, yesterday, while geocaching, we went to Elevation Burger in the National Harbor and had one of the most amazing veggie burgers, ever! And they wrapped it in lettuce instead of a bun so I didn't feel as guilty about the boat of fries I had on the side:

Boat of french fries!

You can see how tasty it is just by looking at the picture!

Seriously, life is too short not to enjoy every bite of food you put in your mouth.

Keeping Things Interesting

In Weight Watchers this morning (I'm still on point for my maintenance at goal weight!) we talked about some tricks and trades for staying on track and my big thing is to keep it interesting. This is even more important as a vegetarian because it is so easy to fall into a rut with eating the same things.  I add excitement by constantly trying new recipes (if you haven't noticed) mostly from Hungry Girl and Pinterest, but also from finds that my momma comes across. I also try to go back to the really good recipes and repeat them every so often so that they aren't forgotten. One of my favorites are these sweet potato burgers that are so tasty, but I also made this new cheesy, veggie bake for the first time to go alongside the burgers. Both are definitely keepers...and I only made minor adjustments from the original post :)

Sweet Potato Burgers

(8 WW points per burger using a sandwich thin as the bun and topping it with avocado)

1 can white beans
1 large sweet potato, baked/peeled/mashed (about 2 cups)
1/2 cup Panko crumbs

1. Peel the sweet potato and bake until soft (you can peel after, but it's so hot, that I do it before)

2. Drain beans, add to mixing bowl and mash using a potato masher

3. Once the potato is done, cut it up to make it easier to mash, add it to the beans and mash it all together

4. Separate into 6 patties and coat with a layer of panko crumbs

5. Heat up a pan with a spritz of cooking spray, add the patties to the pan and cook for about 5-6 minutes on each side, or until they start to brown

6. Transfer cooked patties to paper towel. Cool for a few minutes.

7. Serve on a sandwich thin with as many toppings as you'd like. I went with lettuce, avocado and mustard

Cheesy Veggie Bake
(6 points for half the recipe, from the shredded cheese)

1 Tbsp. olive oil

1 medium yellow onion
1 Tbsp. minced garlic
1 medium zucchini
1 medium yellow squash
1 medium tomato
1 cup shredded Italian cheese
Optional - a head of broccoli

1. Preheat the oven to 400

2. Finely dice the onion and mince the garlic. Sauté both in a skillet with olive oil until softened

3. While the onion and garlic are sautéing, thinly slice the rest of the vegetables

4. Spray the inside of an 8x8 square or round baking dish with non-stick spray. Place the thinly sliced vegetables in the baking dish vertically, in an alternating pattern. Top with the onion/garlic mixture

5. Cover the dish with foil and bake for 30 minutes. Remove the foil, top with cheese and bake for another 15-20 minutes or until the cheese is golden brown

Here's the whole meal together

Okay, time for my confessions. I did not run Friday. I know that I shouldn't try to justify it with excuses, but I really was tired! And I had eaten half a pineapple again and I didn't want a repeat performance from the citric acid. I'm trying really hard to not get burnt out on running this year, so I let myself have that break...and because of it, I added a couple extra miles to today's workout:

Life is all about balance!

Lay Off Me, I'm STARVING!

So, yesterday, I made it through my first day back to work in about a month. Barely, but I did. And now I know that whoever 'they' are, they are right to say that you should never let yourself get to the point where you are starving, because then you end up eating more than you should.  That most definitely happened last night, but it was out of my control yesterday.

After working an 11-hour day, my usually, 45-minute commute turned into about an hour and a half. I was STARVING by the time I walked in the door. I tried to tame my hunger with some cauliflower and Bolthouse Blue Cheese dressing, but the damage had been done. 

I'm talking Chris Farley as a fat girl, starving.

I made the Hungry Girl Mac n' Cheese and it was tasty; however, next time (and there will be a next time) I'm not going to bake it. I'm just going to eat it after pouring the ooey, gooey, cheesy mixture all over the noodles and cauliflower.

This was one time where I did follow pretty close to the original recipe, I just halved it so that it didn't make 4 servings:

Cauliflower Mac n Cheese
(6 points for 1 1/3 cup)

These are the measurements to make 4 servings, I halved each ingredient-3 cups frozen cauliflower florets
-4 1/2 oz. (about 1 1/4 cups) uncooked high-fiber elbow macaroni
-5 wedges The Laughing Cow Light Creamy Swiss cheese (I used 2)
-1/4 cup fat-free shredded cheddar cheese (I didn't halve this)
-1/4 cup fat-free milk
-2 tbsp. fat-free sour cream
-2 tsp. Dijon mustard
-1 tbsp. butter
-1/2 cup panko breadcrumbs
-1/4 tsp. garlic powder

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray an 8" X 8" baking pan with nonstick spray.

2.  Place cauliflower in a large microwave-safe bowl; cover and microwave for 3 minutes. Uncover and stir. Re-cover and microwave for 2 - 3 minutes, until hot. Roughly chop cauliflower, return to the bowl, and cover to keep warm.

I used the colorful cauliflower. It doesn't effect the taste at all, it's just pretty

3.  While the cauliflower is cooking, cook pasta. Drain pasta and stir into cauliflower. Cover to keep warm. 

4. In a microwave-safe bowl, combine cheese wedges, shredded cheese, milk, sour cream, and mustard. Mix well. Microwave for 1 minute, or until cheeses have melted. Stir. 

I used coconut milk instead of dairy milk just because that's what I drink and I used greek yogurt instead of sour cream. It all worked out in the end

5. Add cheese mixture to the pasta and cauliflower. Stir to coat. Transfer contents to the baking pan.

This is where I'm going to stop next time. Look at that ooey, gooey-ness! No need to bake it away and you'll save a point for not using the bread crumbs

6. In a medium microwave-safe bowl, microwave butter for 20 seconds, or until melted. Add panko breadcrumbs and seasonings, and stir to coat. Evenly distribute mixture over the contents of the baking pan.
Bake until lightly browned, 25 - 30 minutes. 

Look, I even portioned out the other half for lunch for today (I had to, otherwise I would have eaten it all!)

I also made the zucchini boat to go along with my cauliflower mac n' cheese (did I mention that I was STARVING!?):

Zucchini Boat
(2 points for 1/4 cup mozzarella cheese)

1. Slice a zucchini in half. Slice off the bottom to keep it stable. 

2. Brush with olive oil and top with garlic or garlic powder. 

3. Top with sliced tomatoes, salt and pepper to taste. Use mozzarella cheese, Parmesan cheese or mixed blend.. 

4. Bake 375 for 20 to 30 minutes until soft.

No complaints, I just recommend you do cook it all the way. I was too hungry to wait till it was all the way done

I was proud of myself because I also fit in a 3-mile run after the long work day, and I of course made time for a glass of wine before bed.

I look tired...and old

Okay, now back to work!

Eat Like a King

Don't you love after you go grocery shopping and you have these amazing three course meals because your fridge and pantry are fully stocked? That happened for dinner last night.

So we started off with the buffalo tempeh (directions at the bottom of this post), which is a new addiction if mine. The tempeh is so filling and I found a very low-cal buffalo sauce from Target's Archer Farms brand. Next, we had a pizza crust in the pantry, so I topped it with some pizza sauce, mozzarella and avocado. We devoured the entire thing! Then, dessert. Oh, dessert. I got the original idea for our dessert here, but I made quite a few of my own modifications. 

Baked Pineapple

(6 points for half the recipe, 7 if you add whipped cream as a topping)

-1 pineapple

-1/2 cup coconut flakes

-1/2 cup macadamia nuts

-4 tablespoons Malibu Coconut Rum

1. Cut up the pineapple and put it in a foil lined baking pan (I am not patient enough to cut the pineapple and use its shell to bake in like the original post. This isn't as pretty, but it does the job)

2. Pour 2 tablespoons of Malibu over the pineapple

3. Top with coconut and macadamia nuts

4. Pour 2 more tablespoons of Malibu over the whole mixture

5. Bake at 350 for 25 minutes, or until the macadamia nuts start to brown. Enjoy it while it's still hot

 See how the macadamia nuts turned nice and golden in the oven

I topped mine with a dollop of light whipped cream

The only problem? Trying to run 8 miles after eating half a pineapple. Oh, the citric acid was terrible, so there were some walking breaks, but I still completed 8 miles! Walk or run, miles are miles.

I tried another new recipe for breakfast this morning, and once I work out all the kinks, I think it will be a regular staple for weekend breakfast. As usual, I made some adaptations from the original post, so here's my take:

Oatmeal Pancakes 

(5 points for 2 pancakes)

-1/2 cup rolled oats

-2 egg whites

-1 ripe banana

-1 tsp of cinnamon

-1 tsp of vanilla extract

-mixed berries (or whatever you would like to put in yours)

1. Mash up the banana really well then add the rolled oats and give it a stir

2. Add the egg whites (or egg substitute if you have it) if you don't know how to separate the yolks from the white, just crack the egg and half and pass the yolk back and forth between the two halves over your mixing bowl and the whites will roll off into the bowl (I tried to take a picture, but it was hard since the hubs is at work and it's just me). Give it all a stir

3. Add the cinnamon, extract and whatever other stuff you'd like to be inside. I used mixed berries, but you could add chocolate chips, chunks of banana, nuts, just realize it will change the point value

4. Pour half the mixture into a greased up pan (I forgot to grease it on my first one) and cook for about 3-5 minutes on each side

They really don't need anything like syrup or butter because all the ingredients make them pretty sweet. They were a perfect day starter.

This is me trying to show you how to separate the whites from the yolks, but one hand had to hold the camera

Side-note, here is my homemade vanilla extract that has been sitting since Nov. 2011. To make it, all you have to do it add vanilla beans (you can get them from Walmart) and vodka and just let it sit. Every so often give it a shake

I used my handy-dandy pancake flipper for these beauties and just gave it a flip after 4ish minutes

See the burn marks? Remember I said I forgot to grease the pan for the first pancake? Yea. The second one turned out great though!

Speaking of goals...

The other day I wrote about some of my fitness/nutrition goals (scroll down to the end of this post), but today I hit a different goal. Today was the first time I went to a Weight Watchers meeting since March (see any of my Hawaii posts to know why) and **drum roll** I made my goal weight!

I love Weight Watchers because everyone is always so proud of you when you make a milestone. They clap and say 'good job' and bring you up front, give you a hug, let you have your moment in the spotlight. It's very motivating. So, that was pretty exciting. Now I have to maintain for the next six weeks, then I become a lifetime member. Woot!

Besides that, I also ran 7 miles today and have kept up the water intake that I said I would when I stated my goals. I'm kind of floating on a cloud right now :)

Me and the hubs were also able to get some yard work done today.  A couple months ago, while my husband was away at training, me, my mom and a friend of mine cut down these hideous, overgrown bushes that were at the end of our driveway. They would scrape our cars as we were pulling out and I just couldn't stand them anymore. Hubs wasn't impressed, but what was worse was the stumps that were left behind. So, we finally got around to renting a stump grinder and got rid of those eye sores.

We also had a pretty tasty lunch, which of course makes me happy because, hello! I live for food. Why else would I need to be on Weight Watchers?

I used the Lightlife Veggie Sausages, Italian style, cut them up and put it over some sauerkraut with sauteed onions and garlic. The hubs had his sausages in a bun and kind made it like a bratwurst type deal. Either way, tasty.

Now we're going to go reward ourselves with a movie at the drive-in. My hubs has never been to a drive-in (talk about a deprived childhood!) and the snack bar website says they have a veggie wrap with my name on it.

Have a great weekend!

**Update ** here's a picture of my husband wiping off spider webs. My hero!

Eating in Real Life

I did both of the things I said I would yesterday, even though I really didn't feel like doing either. So I think I deserve a pat on the back, maybe? (procrastination nation)

The real test came last night when my husband was making Oreo Balls for a work picnic today. I love oreos. Like LOVE oreos. So I watched as he crumbled up an entire bag of them, mixed it with cream cheese, froze them in balls, then dipped them in melted Ghirardelli chocolate. Take a moment to reread that. Yea, I had to leave the room so that I wouldn't lick the blender clean from the Oreo and cream cheese mixture. Talk about willpower! Here's the recipe, if you dare! I caved a little by sprinkling a couple of the Ghirardelli chocolate chips over my cut up fruit. Compromise! 

The next test was at the picnic today. It was a traditional BBQ - hamburgers, hot dogs and lunch meat wraps. So, not much that I could eat, being on Weight Watchers and a (near) vegetarian. Luckily, I brought a Special K protein bar and someone had brought some fresh fruit that I could nibble on. It pays to always have one of those bars on hand just in case, so if you do find yourself somewhere that you don't have many options, you can pull it out and nom on that, at least until you can get some real food.

For dinner, I made shrimp po' boys and they were yummy!

Shrimp Po' Boy

(8 Weight Watchers points. This can vary depending on what you add and what kind of hoagie bun you use)

-Greek Yogurt

-Shrimp

-Garlic

-Mayo

-Hoagie Buns

-Whatever extra toppings you want to load it up with (see below)

1. Cook up the shrimp then toss them in a strainer with a handful of ice to let them cool down

2. Cut the shrimp and garlic up and mix it with a dollop of Greek yogurt

3. Add just a touch of mayo, just enough to give it that tangy taste, but not too much so that you don't add all those calories. I also gave mine a shake of garlic salt, along with the cut up garlic

4. I let this mixture set in the fridge for about an hour to cool down and to let all the flavors blend

5. Then, I toasted a couple hoagie buns (for me and the hubs)

6. I bulked mine up with lettuce, tomatoes and banana peppers and then a heaping serving of the shrimp mixture. Delish!

Gym rant and new goals

So, I know one of the reasons why I don't like lifting weights, weight rooms are ridiculous. I went there today hoping to do my little weight routine (check it out here), but it ended up getting cut short because there was a lot of judgement going on, from both sides. First, I cannot stand the guys who are all pumped up and high fiving each other after every rep. Really? Second, don't watch me workout! I do not want your 'advice' on how I could do it better or that my workout has no focus. How about you FOCUS on your own workout. Third, I don't know where to stand. I always feel like I'm in someone's way. So, I left. I did most of the workout (just not bench press, modified pull up and then I did the negative resistance when I got home), but I was very uncomfortable there. I'm seriously tempted to go buy my own free weights...hm, food for thought.

Speaking of food! I have to tell you what I had for lunch - a vegetarian Reuben! *swoon*

My mom taught me this substitution on one of my favorite sandwiches from those days when I ate meat (has it really almost been 4 months?!). Now mine had some modifications today because I used what I had, but I'm going to teach you how to make it the right way.

Vegetarian Reuben
(10 weight watchers points)

You'll need:
-Meatless lunch meat. Any kind is fine, my favorite is Lightlife turkey or bologna, but I used hickory smoked tofurky today and it was just as tasty
-sauerkraut
-laughing cow light swiss wedge. I only had the queso fresco & chipotle kind, but you want to use swiss if you want it more authentic
-Bolthouse Thousand Island Yogurt dressing. I didn't have any today because I just got home and haven't been to the grocery store, so I did without, but I recommend using it to get the true taste of a reuben
-Bread

1.  Gather all your supplies and pop your bread in the toaster
2. Smear the laughing cow on one side of the bread
3. Top with sauerkraut
4. Top with thousand island dressing
5. Top with lunch meat
6. Dig in!

I like to add some tomatoes and lettuce to mine just to boost up the veggie intake, feel free to make any modifications based on what you have available.

**Instead of toasting the bread, you could assemble the sandwich first then give it a press on a panini press, but I made it the lazy/quicker/cleaner way.

I had my sandwich with some Special K Sweet & Salty Popcorn Chips. Delish! It's kind of like a mix between a tortilla chip and popcorn and you get 28 of them for 3 weight watcher points! I thought they were going to taste like those bland rice cake things, but these are really good.

So, the whole reason I started this blog was because I read an article in Runner's World that talked about how it can keep you motivated if you express your goals. I figured that if I write them out instead of just keeping them in my head, that I will be more likely to work toward them, even if no one reads it. Here goes:

-Short term goal - Drink more water. I don't think I'm ready to cut back on coffee and diet soda, but I'm going to try to drink at least one of my camelbak water bottles a day for the next week, then reassess from there.
-Middle goal - 7:00 min mile. I did my last graded 2 mile run for the Army in 15:29, so about 7:45 miles. I'd like to get the 1 mile down to 7 minutes and see how it helps my graded 2 miles
-Long term goal - Sub 2 hour half marathon. The last half marathon I did was in October 2011 and it was 2:07. I've still been doing races since then - 5k's, 10k's, marathons - but I haven't done a competitive half since then (Disney Princess Half Marathon doesn't count!). I'd like to be below 2 hours by the end of June. I'm going to try to sign up for one next month to see where I'm at and then train accordingly.

They are out in the world now, even if just for me to come back and check on.

Hopefully, my workout schedule for this week will play out like this:
Tuesday - 5 mile run
Wednesday - Weight lift, speed
Thursday - 6 mile run
Friday - Weight lift, speed
Saturday - 7 mile run
Sunday - rest

Now, I need to go buy those free weights so I make sure my weight lifting gets done this week!

Getting back on track

I didn't want to step on the scale after a week in Hawaii this morning, but I knew it had to be done to know how much damage needed to be repaired. **Drum roll** One pound! After all that decadent food, I had only gained one pound! That made me so happy. I thought I had ruined 10 weeks of work on Weight Watchers for one week in paradise, but no real damage was done. And now it is time to get back on track!

However, jet lag was kicking my butt. I had a hard time getting to sleep last night, and an even harder time staying awake today. We wanted to get a workout in, without killing ourselves in our semi-conscience state, so we went to water aerobics at the YMCA. It was perfect. It kept me moving, but I could also zone out and just move through the water. It was a nice transition to being back in Kansas where it's only 40 degrees. That may not sound bad, but it is when you just spent a week in the 80's.

While I could have easily stayed in Hawaii another week, it was so great to have home-cooked meals and have some control over the calorie count. We had unsweetened oatmeal with a cut-up apple for breakfast (4 points), that stuck with us during our swim session, veggie fajitas for lunch (6 points) and eggplant parmesan for dinner (10 points per serving). I'm hoping I have a bit more energy tomorrow because I still don't feel like doing anything right now, even with an afternoon nap! I guess I have to stop signing off with 'Aloha!' now that I'm back on the mainland :/ meh.

Home-cooked veggie fajita! Beautiful after a week of eating out.

My iced coffee isn't as glamorous in sweats in Kansas.

Even the dog knew it was nap time.  She was too tired to chew, she just laid there with the rope in her mouth.