Archive for August, 2009

Posted on August 24, 2009 - by Ashley Jackson

Plans? What plans…

My plans to get up at 4:30AM and get in a Couch to 5K jog before work went to pot. I had an insanely sleepless night–I wasn’t wearing my GoWear Fit, so I’m not sure how sleepless it was, but I remember getting up wide awake at 3:30 and reseting my alarm for 6:15. Still managed to get into work at 7AM (where I discovered I was computerless!) and managed to make it through the day.

It was a good thing I packed my food the night before!

I rarely eat breakfast at home on weekdays–I’m one of those people who is somewhat disgusted by the thought of eating so early in the morning, so I usually take something small and eat it while I work.

This morning, it was some leftover fruit salad. I put it in one of the cute little containers I bought from IKEA a couple of weeks ago. It was strangely fun to eat out of…

A few hours into work, I took a quick walk outside, then came back and munched on these while I edited:

I was excited to find 100-calorie packs of Emerald Cocoa Roast Almonds at Harris Teeter yesterday–I’ve been wanting to try them and they were as delicious as I had hoped! The taste was oddly reminiscent of Cocoa Puffs. I was a little wary after reading the label and discovering they were sweetened with both ace-K and sucralose, but I didn’t detect any of the weird aftertaste that usually makes me shy away from Spelnda-sweetened products.

I was excited about my lunch–a combination of things I’d been craving…

I went to pick up a package of colby-jack cheese from the deli case at the grocery on Sunday and discovered it was sitting right next to the Genoa salami. Too many party trays at workshops this year have led me to a strange fondness for salami, so I had to grab some for sandwiches. I made myself this cute little sandwich from part of my loaf of wheat French bread, a piece of co-jack, four pieces of salami (the serving size is 8 slices!!), and some lettuce. On the side I had some raw carrots and broccoli, and dip that  I made from Fage 0% Greek Yogurt (my first experience with it!) and some Penzey’s Buttermilk Ranch Dressing Base. I only ate about half the vegetables and dip, but my lunch was all good.

I left work ready for a nap and craving more salad, so I thew this together using what was in my newly restocked fridge.

European salad mix, baby bella mushroom slices, co-jack cheese, Genoa salmi, bacon crumbles, and the leftover carrots and broccoli from lunch. I served it with a side of Wildflour’s Honey Mustard dressing and some grapes. The last few times I’ve gotten grapes at the store they’ve been duds, but these are really good.

In my haste to leave for work this morning, I nearly forgot my lunch bag and did forget the brownies I’d bought to take to work with me. I grabbed another small chunk of each for dessert before hitting my bed for a well-deserved nap. I’ll be glad when the brownies have gone away to the office…

Posted on August 23, 2009 - by Ashley Jackson

I less than three food.

Today was the end of my “Eat for a Month on $60″ project, and man, was I glad. So glad that I spent $107 at Harris  Teeter this afternoon on food. Because I love food. Mmm. I was out of a lot of stuff–chicken, salmon, eggs, butter, olive oil, etc.–and I had this craving for fresh fruit that wasn’t peaches. I filled up the front section of my cart while I was still in the produce section.

Before that, though, I had a late breakfast with whatever I could find in my barren fridge. I scrambled three eggs with some Penzey’s Ozark seasoning (I love that stuff–so good on everything!), heated up some leftover black beans in the microwave, then dumped them on top and added some picante salsa.

Much more delicous than it looks, really.

After that I cleaned for a while. My apartment is in a constant state of disarray, but I managed to get the entire front room cleaned, and the kitchen. I also worked my way through most of the laundry, so I won’t start running out of work clothes like I did last week.

While I was at Harris Teeter, I picked up two trays of brownies in the deli. They were buy one, get one free and I wanted to bring some goodies to work tomorrow. It’s been a bad year for a lot of people and brownies make things better. I got a tray of cream cheese frosted ones and a tray of fudge frosted ones. I tried a little bit of each as an afternoon snack.

I love my little ramekins–things fit so nicely in them…

I was craving a fresh salad for dinner, and fresh fruit. And pasta, oddly enough. So I had a huge dinner to make up for my small brunch.

I put some European salad mix–dunno what’s so special about that, but it’s what it said on the bag–some sliced baby bella mushrooms, and some bacon crumbles in my bowl, then decided to tear up a piece of colby-jack cheese and throw it on top. I had some Wildflour’s Honey Mustard dressing on the side.

I love my cool IKEA bowls.

I cooked up some chicken proscuitto tortellini that I picked up in the refrigerator case in the store. Once it was cooked, I added some marinara sauce. And to quell my fruit craving, I halved some grapes, sliced a banana, and quartered four strawberries, added some broken up candied walnuts, and mixed it with the last of my Trader Joe’s Greek yogurt. And then I had piece of wheat French bread on the side. It was good–the pasta was a little more pasta-y than I would have liked, but I really liked the marinara sauce instead of spaghetti sauce. And the fruit salad was delicious–I made extra, so I have some more waiting in my fridge. Mmmm…and I had a little more brownie for dessert, along with some diet caffeine free cola. I’ve decided the brownies are good but have too much frosting on top. I’m sure that won’t be a problem tomorrow at work.

And in other news, I did my weekly weigh-in this morning, and I’m down another pound from last week! Whoo-hoo. I have to be in bed in 20 minutes so I can get up at 4:30AM for my run–I think I might bump it up to Week 3 this time. And the dog wants to play ball…

Posted on August 23, 2009 - by Ashley Jackson

In which the dog park turns into epic fail

Late on Friday night I got hungry again and ate the other half of my banana, which had been chilling in the fridge. You know how bananas start getting that slimy goo on them after you cut them and put them in the fridge? Mine started doing that, but I ate that part anyway, and in doing so have convinced myself that it’s fine to eat.

My digital camera, on the other hand, is not fine for taking close-up pictures.

For breakfast on Saturday I decided to eat two of my homemade muffins. I have a whole stash of these in the freezer–cherry, peach, cranberry-orange, and chocolate chip pumpkin. I pulled out a peach and a cranberry-orange and stuck them in the microwave for a minute.

Mmm. After which I decided to watch The Prestige while I cleaned up some. About 2PM I got hungry for lunch and made this:

I grilled a piece of ciabatta with some olive oil, heated up some leftover brown rice and added Penzey’s Garden Salad seasoning to it, and cooked some chuck roast with honey BBQ sauce. I found the BBQ sauce in my cabinet and have been trying to get rid of it in this fashion. It’s working, albiet slowly, and it’s kind of tasty, too. I didn’t eat all of that meat–a lot of it was fat, which I cut off, even though that’s what makes chuck roast so tasty.

Outside it rained and rained, and then it stopped. I peeked at the doppler and it didn’t look like anything else was headed our way, so I threw on some going-outside clothes, grabbed the dog, and headed for the dog park.

Naturally, as soon as we hit the main road it started sprinkling. “Eh, it’ll stop in a few minutes,” I said to myself. No, it did not. It just got worse. We got to the dog park and five minutes later the only other person who was there, ensconced in a poncho and fearlessly chatting on her cell phone in the rain, grabbed her two dogs and left.

I’d grabbed my umbrella out of the car on the way to the park, and so was content to let Heath wander around in the rain as long as he wanted to.

Yes, I had my cell phone out, too, but mine was under my umbrella.

After about 20 minutes, Heath decided he’d had enough and planted himself in a puddle next to the double-entry gate and waited for me to whisk him away. And I did, having the foresight to bring a towel for him to sit on during the ride home.

Naturally, as soon as we got home, it stopped raining.

For dinner, I threw an (unwrapped) baked potato in the oven on 450 degrees for 45 minutes, then pulled it out, popped it open, and topped it with grilled chicken, Greek yogurt, kosher salt, and some bacon bits I’m trying to use up. This was my second time making this meal and it was just as good as the first. I think baked potato night will be entering my meal plan soon, particularly now that I’ve realized how quick it is to bake potatoes.

About an hour and a half after dinner, I hit pause on The Dark Knight, got into my running clothes, and headed to the fitness center for my Couch to 5K jog. This is the second or third time I’ve started the Couch to 5K, and I’m determined to finish it this time, no matter how long it takes me. When I restarted a couple of weeks ago I decided to drop back to Week 2 and I did it three times that week and once this past Monday. Then I woke up Tuesday and discovered that while I could put weight on my ankle, it did not feel good at all, and so I spent two days limping around. And then waited another two days “just in case.” I still did my walks, though, as you can tell from the 5-miler I did on Friday, and by Saturday I was confident I could go jogging again. And so I did. And during the first jog, at 5.5 MPH, I accidentally hit the emergency stop and nearly flew off the treadmill. But I hit the QuickStart button and bumped the speed back up and kept going, relieved no one else was in the fitness center with me…