sugar high

I didn’t sleep very well last night; it was as if I could FEEL the sugar running through my bloodstream! Seriously…I think I’ve become so used to a “whole foods diet” that something like a giant sundae with all the fixings will totally throw my body for a loop. Rule of thumb: extravagant desserts are for super-special occasions, single-scoops are for treats.

I fueled up this morning with the last two slices of my Great Harvest cinnamon raisin bread, fruit and yogurt before pilates and kickboxing. My lunch, however, was worth writing home about:

YUM YUM YUM YUM YUM. I’m trying to finish off my quart of plain yogurt before our trip this weekend to Dayton, so I decided to build a meal around it. I spooned about 3/4 C into a bowl, swirled in some Trader Joe’s Mango butter to sweeten it up, and topped with granola, shredded coconut, flax seeds, flaxseed meal, dried cranberries and blueberries. It was almost TOO sweet! And at 485 calories, it better keep me full for AWHILE.

I’m going to be a busy girl today–LOTS of phone calling, computering and perhaps a trip to the mall. I have TWO freebie coupons from Victoria’s Secret and Bath & Body Works–can’t wait!

BIG breakfast & weekend re-cap

Wireless is back at the hotel! Hallelujah! Seriously, I was really beginning to miss it. Pathetic, I know, but for a blogger without a day job, what the heck else was I going to do?

After going almost three days (gasp!) with only one picture-less post, I feel I owe my loyal readers (ha!) a bit of a re-cap:

First, this morning (since it’s more timely–it’s the journalist in me):

BIG BREAKFAST! Plain yogurt flavored with 1/2 banana, mashed, and 1/2 tbsp Trader Joe’s Mango Butter, blueberries and granola, AND Great Harvest whole-grain cinnamon raisin bread with 1 tbsp Justin’s Maple Almond Butter, the other half of the banana and a tablespoon of maple syrup. I was craving maple this morning.

It was 526 calories and felt pretty heavy in my stomach on the way to the gym, but I’m glad I had it! It powered me through an hour of Pilates, 45 minutes of hard swimming (did some sprints!), and kept me going for an additional two hours of putzing around after I got back from the gym. Usually I’m RAVENOUS by the time I pull out of the parking lot of the gym, if not before!

Back to Saturday:

This was my post-run breakfast on Saturday. I went out for a quick three miles while Andrew took Hadrian on a walk/ball-throwing session, then we both did a nice four-miler in the neighborhood near our hotel. This is one of my best shots yet, so I had to share.

I love granola. LOVE. This is Wegmans Granola with Raisins, and unfortunately, it’s only OK. I mean, what did I expect? It’s just light and not very cluster-y. I’d rather it be chock-full of goodies and in big chunks. Alas, it was cheap. It was the peach, blueberries and coconut milk that really did it for me!

(I did order the OpenSky cherry chocolate granola fundraiser that Kath recently sent out in support of another blogger–I would want some nice stranger to order granola to raise money if I got cancer, too–so that should be here soon. Will post when it arrives!)

The rest of Saturday, as I said here, was filled with laziness and movies. Mad Max is STILL on TV as of yesterday and if Andrew puts it on one more time, I might go through the roof.

We tried a new church Sunday, and liked it enough to go back. We’ve been a bit discouraged in the church department, so we’re excited that we found something we felt was authentic and like it could be ‘home’ to us. If we decide it is, I’ll let you know!

As Abigail will be leaving for college in less than a week (where did the summer go?), we popped over there for an impromptu visit. I brought the computer and snagged some of their internet to catch up on calorie-counting (I was trying not to get obsessive about it, but I’m less than a pound from my goal and my OCD tendencies make it hard to just ‘let things go.’) and check my email.

Did you know you can pickle things just by putting them in the juice from your pickles? I didn’t…I think I read it in this month’s Shape. I’ve pickled green beans before, but always using the canning method and pickling salt. The article said you basically just throw veggies into the juice after you finish off a jar of pickles. Go figure.

So, I bought a half-pound of green beans (for 50 cents!) and blanched and shocked them before packing them into the jar:

Don’t they have great color?

I also made two batches of Jeni’s sorbets, but they will get their own post 🙂

who knew veggies could be so filling?

Here’s my light lunch today:

As I said in this morning’s post, I over-did it last night on our date (ahem, the GIANT milkshake), so I wanted to make sure I had lots of fruits and veggies today to counter balance my calorie-laden date.

I had to use the half red pepper sitting in the fridge, as well as a couple celery stalks and the hummus, as they were all getting a bit old. I’m loving Patricia Wells’ hummus from her Salad as a Meal cookbook. I’ve made it twice already. It has more tahini and less olive oil, so it’s lower in calories. It doesn’t have cumin, but instead has more lemon juice and cilantro, so it’s more fresh than smoky tasting.

Here’s the recipe:

Patricia Wells’ Chickpea and Sesame Dip (from Salad as a Meal)

Makes 2 cups; 52 calories for 2 tbsp

1 can chickpeas (she calls for cooking from scratch; her recipe is in the book)

2 garlic cloves

4 tbsp lemon juice

3 tbsp tahini

1 tsp sea salt

2 tbsp sesame oil

1/4 cup cilantro leaves

1/8 tsp paprika

Drain and rinse the beans (since you’re using a can) and throw them, along with the garlic, lemon juice, tahini, salt, 1 tbsp oil and cilantro in a blender or food processor. Add more water as needed to thin it out, up to 1/4 cup. Garnish with the remaining 1 tbsp oil and paprika when serving.

The broccoli was a local find from Wegmans and I couldn’t pass it up yesterday. I find I don’t like hummus on broccoli–I think it’s just too dry or something–so I included a serving (2 tbsp) of my Wegmans Yogurt Ranch Dressing as well.

I added some dried fruit and chocolate to round out the meal.

The photos are pretty horrendous…I was super hungry!

I LOVE Sunsweet’s Cherry Essence Dried Prunes. Prunes get such a bad rap, but they are so good! I also grabbed a couple pieces of Trader Joe’s Dried Mango. WOW. If you have a TJ’s near you, get them! If the prunes are good, these are like dessert. Seriously. They are almost too sweet. The only thing you have to watch out for with dried fruit is the calorie count. It’s easy to snack away and not realize how many you’ve had. A serving size is usually 4-6 pieces (prunes, dates) or less for bigger, sweeter items, like apricots or mango. Just remember that dried fruit is exactly that–smaller, dehydrated WHOLE fruit (usually). You wouldn’t sit and eat 5 or 6 apricots or plums in one sitting, would you?

I also broke up a chocolate bar (on smaller plate) and noted the serving size. I chose half of a serving, or 1/4 of the bar.

However, I didn’t even eat it because I got too full! I guess there was quite a bit on my plate. I’m thinking I’ll have the chocolate this afternoon with a cup of decaf coffee or tea. Or maybe not if I’m still full!