ice cream sundae, hold the guilt

At last, the long-awaited “congrats-to-me-I-lost-20-pounds” ice cream sundae.

I chose the Reese’s Cup (jr.) Sundae. Seriously, this is just the JUNIOR. Can you imagine how big the regular would be??? It was filled with both hot fudge and peanut butter topping, peanut butter ice cream, whipped cream, a cherry and a Reese’s Cup. Can you tell I like peanut butter? I do. And I can’t tell you how long it’s been since I’ve had a Reese’s Cup. A LONG time.

I love this place. I love that it embodies a bit of a “diner” feel without being kitschy, like Johnny Rocket’s. It’s a combo ice cream parlor and candy/chocolate shop, not that I ever pay any attention to the candy side. I’m too busy staring at the list of ice cream flavors…

Love it.

Back to the ice cream.

It was great. No, it was more than great. It was FANTASTIC. And the best part? No guilt. Seriously, I enjoyed every bite without a single thought about counting calories, working it off in the morning or fearing regret. I earned it, gosh darn it!

*Major disclaimer: I in NO WAY advocate feeling guilty about enjoying splurge-worthy food. I believe in eating good, whole, healthy food, both high- and low-calorie, and enjoying every bite! However, I understand that if you’re watching what you’re eating or trying to lose weight, splurges can lead to guilt and regret. Try not to let them, and remember that tomorrow is a new day!

So yeah, I’m super excited (still) about meeting my goal and going forward from here, sticking to principles of healthy eating, like everything in moderation. Except this sundae 🙂

THREE homeruns in one day – score!

I pulled out all the stops today and made not one, but TWO new and different meals today. For a lazy Saturday, I think that’s pretty outrageous, even for me.

Lunch was a stuffed tomato with leftover quinoa.

The beefsteak tomatoes cost me an arm and a leg ($3.50 for 2!), but it was worth it to hear Andrew approve. The filling was a mix of diced, cooked chicken, pineapple and spinach, dressed with olive oil and dijon mustard. It was a cinch to whip up and you could easily do just about anything with this…switch out the filling components and use ranch dressing or a balsamic vinaigrette, or you could always stuff a pepper.

After lunch we headed into EA; me to visit Abigail at Fowler’s and Andrew to spend some time at work prepping for a Monday telecon. I “splurged” (not really since I ran THIRTEEN miles, but still) and got a scoop of Birthday Bash ice cream before leaving. YUM. It’s cake-flavored ice cream with swirls of blue icing. Seriously amazing.

I picked up the mail at Andrew’s parents’ house and then he arrived from work and we left to run errands. On the agenda: buy Holly a new bathing suit. This proved much harder than we thought it would be, seeing as it’s early August and pretty much everything that’s left is on the clearance rack. And it’s either all tops or all bottoms. How that happens, I don’t know…

After striking out at Target, Kohl’s, Swim City (it had a “For Lease” sign on the door…grrr) and TJ Maxx, we made a last-ditch effort and headed across the street to the mall. SCORE! JC Penney was loaded! I was able to pick two different patterns to try on, and, thankfully, the one I loved from the moment I saw it totally worked. It was meant to be. And major bonus points to Andrew who was incredibly patient through all of this suit-shopping.

When we finally got back to the hotel, I hurriedly whipped dinner together. Spicy Southwestern Tabbouleh, or, in this case, barley. If you don’t know, tabbouleh is a classic Middle Eastern dish made with bulgar, parsley and mint. I had just used up the last of my bulgar, so I substituted barley and cooked it earlier in the day.

It’s full of southwestern spices, like chili powder, paprika, cumin and allspice, and veggies akin to taco fillings: red onion, cilantro, tomatoes, yellow pepper and jalapeno. I added avocado to mine and leftover diced chicken to Andrew’s. It was a hit with both of us. This is also a very versatile dish; you could use just about any grain here. Brown rice would be a fantastic choice, and one most people have in their pantry.

I found these at Target today and thought I’d give them a try.

The coconut flavor caught my eye. I’m obsessed with coconut-anything lately. Not sure why… A co-worked of mine a few years ago used to drink these all the time and I’ve been intrigued ever since. I’m not a big mineral/sparkling water fan, but because I don’t like drinking sugary drinks, I thought these might be good. Well… I’m still not a sparkling water fan, and I think it’s a taste you have to get used to. I’m also not sure coconut was the flavor to start with; they have other ones like lime or cran-raspberry, which might have gone down easier. I am, however, willing to keep drinking them to see if I develop a taste for it. It’s zero calories without an artificial sweetener, which is important to me. Who knows? I might be a convert in no time!

Tomorrow is our beach day with some of Andrew’s friends from work and Abigail!

size 4’s!

OK, so the highlight of my night wasn’t dinner, although the wheat berry dish was really good. Even Andrew liked it! (Always a victory…)

The highlight was, you guessed it…fitting into SIZE 4 shorts at J.Crew! Seriously, I never thought this would happen. Before I get too far, I will admit that I don’t really think I’m a 4; J. Crew’s sizes run a bit big, but still. They weren’t even tight! So yeah, I’m pretty much on cloud 9. Or 90.

No, I haven’t met my weight-loss goal yet, and I apologize to all my subscribers for the premature “congrats-to-me” post e-mail from late last night. With the end of my weight-loss journey coming soon (I hope! THREE pounds to go!), I have a draft of what I’d like to post that day going and I was working on it, and… accidentally hit the “publish” button instead of the “preview” button. Oops.

Let’s back up.

Today was my pilates/yoga and kickboxing day, so I spent the morning at the gym, sweating. I usually get back around 11 and then have a pretty substantial lunch after showering and getting ready. I hate waiting that long to refuel after working out, so today I grabbed an apple and a cheese stick and headed out the door on a walk with Hadrian.

Having eaten something already, I felt great and proceeded to do laundry/iron/clean-up/prep dinner for the next two hours until I got hungry again. This time it was sweet potato tortilla chips and guacamole–YUM! I love guac…I could eat it every day! Today I was craving another slice of Abigail’s leftover birthday cake, which was calling to me from our fridge. Because I’d gone so light food-wise so far (after a great workout) I didn’t feel bad indulging in the chocolate mousse cake; it was glorious.

Tonight’s dinner wasn’t the most amazing thing ever, but I thought the wheat berry salad was fantastic. I sauteed a sliced plum in some extra marinade from the chicken and white wine, then swirled some balsamic syrup on top. They came out mushy and with a bit too much bite. Oh well, there is always next time.

The chicken recipe I used was from my new Eastern Mediterranean cookbook. It was marinaded in orange juice, orange zest, white wine vinegar and brown sugar. Not bad, but not memorable either. I browned both sides of the chicken breasts in a skillet, then roasted them in our toaster oven for about 25 minutes. They came out very well cooked, so that was nice.

The star of the meal: Anna Pump’s wheat berry salad with pineapple, cucumber and mint. Loved it! It was incredibly fresh and light. The only other wheat berry salad I’ve made before is Ina’s, and it’s more of a veggie and balsamic mix, so a totally different flavor than what we ate tonight. I cut up a fresh pineapple for this (the only way to go here), and the salad also includes parsley, dried cranberries and scallions. The only dressing is lemon juice and olive oil, and plenty of salt and pepper.

After dinner we headed out to the mall since it was kinda crummy and rainy out. I had hoped to try on some shorts (since none of mine fit!) and Andrew loves perusing Williams-Sonoma and Banana Republic. Before we left the mall we shared a vanilla milkshake at Johnny Rockets, which brought back memories for Andrew of going as a child with his grandma. I was just proud we actually SHARED. All too often, I intend to share/have a few bites of Andrew’s treat, and instead am seduced by something enormous that I see on the menu. Victory tonight! As I said, I really lucked out at J. Crew and I was also able to run a few errands while we were out, so I would call the night success.

Yay for smaller clothes!