Happy Hump Day, Good Eats, Good TV

Good Morning!

I can't believe it's Wednesday! I'm so happy this week has been flying by. Yesterday was filled with a lot of good for you tasty treats as well as a couple of not so good for you treats.

To begin, I ALWAYS have to start my day with a cup of coffee. I mean, it's the first thing I have when I get out of bed. The night before I will set my coffee machine to start brewing at 6:45am. As soon as I'm done brushing my teeth I pour myself a mug of caffeine. Since coming back from Costa Rica, I've been a bit of a coffee snob. These days I'm drinking Trader Joes Winter blend. I just love the hint of spices in the coffee :-)

Morning Muffins

Over the weekend I made a batch of breakfast muffins made with pumpkin purée, almond flour and walnuts. I think these muffins are delicious BUT they do not contain a gram of sugar! I try to avoid sugar but can't let go of my carb loving ways. Replacing regular flour with almond flour still allows for a low glycemic treat with a carby feel. So, breakfast was good.

Then came lunch. I had a PB & J sandwich with a side of a few pretzels. Now, this really isn't the worst lunch out there but I was a bit worried the bread in my sandwich would give me stomach issues. Luckily it didn't. This lunch held me over until dinner time! Before dinner I was able to get a quick cardio session in. I did 30 minutes on the stair master. Not bad for a just cardio day.

I came home famished and devoured a Chipotle meatloaf (recipe coming next week) and side salad. Delicious.

After dinner the hubs and I watched The Mindy Project together. I love that show. I do have a few staple shows I watch. Here's my list:

Modern Family (gotta love Comedy)
The Mindy Project (see above)
The Office (love the humor)
Castle (nothing like a good detective show to keep you thinking)
Once Upon A Time (let your imagination go)
The Following (my new FAVORITE, totally suspenseful and thrilling!!)
The Simpsons (need I say more)

This is about it. I'm really not into reality TV. Occasionally I will watch The Biggest Loser. That's about as real as I get :-p

Do you guys have any staple TV shows you watch?


PS: Did you guys get to check out  my video on making Paleo Thins Paleo Thins .

Weekend Recap

Good Morning!
Well, if you had off yesterday, I hope you had a fun filled three day weekend. If you didn't have off... Well yesterday was just another Monday for you :-p

My weekend consisted of eating good food, healthy recipes, finally getting a video together for Paleo thins, finding out ice skating is really not my thing, working out and... of course... Food shopping at Trader Joes :-)

Recipe for Paleo Thins: http://youtu.be/SJyuNJJGSrQ

Weekend highlights:

Catch Up...

Wow, can you believe tomorrow is Thursday!! This week is flying by! I'm glad the day is winding down and I'm looking forward to a good nights sleep. Last night was no good in the sleep department. For the second time this week we had a water main break and had no water. The first time was last week but we were warned about this through email and were prepared to go a couple of hours without water. This time we had no warning and were out of water from 8:00pm to 2:00 am!!! We were fine and had tons of bottled water but we also just got back from the gym and I hate not showering after a workout!

At 2:00am we woke up to what sounded like pipes banging but was really the faucet that was left on and releasing air pressure. Then at 3:00am the water company decided to let the water out of a hydrant right outside and of course that woke us up again. All in all, it was a crazy night.

Well, now that that rant is over let's talk food and exercise. I didn't make it to the gym today. To start off I was EXHAUSTED from last night. Also, I'm pretty sore from yesterday's Total Body Conditioning class and Step class. So, today was a well deserved day off from working out. I did however, continue to make healthy food choices.

I started my day off with a smoothie made of almond milk, protein powder, pumpkin purée and pumpkin spice. Not too bad but I do wish it was sweeter. Maybe next time I will add a banana. Lunch was turkey on a paleo thins bread (I know I know.. Recipe is coming soon) and a salad with no dressing. In between lunch and dinner I snacked on some mixed nuts. Dinner was out with some friends. We went to a Chinese restaurant where a friend and I split steamed salmon with ginger dressing and a plate of mixed vegetables in spicy sauce. This meal was delicious!!

So, question.... With all you hear about diets such as low carb, low calorie, paleo, gluten free, etc do you ever drive yourself crazy wondering what to eat?!?!? Sometimes with all I hear out there I get so confused as to what to eat, what's good and what's bad. Yes, I do want to lose weight but I also want to feel good. To me, feeling good is so much more important than being thin. I also feel if I feel good, the weight will come off with regular exercise. So, I've started listening to my body more. I eat more whole foods and less processed foods. Sure, mix nuts can be fattening BUT I know the exact ingredients of what I'm eating. Sure, I make my paleo thins bread but I also know the 2-3 ingredients in my bread. Eating more whole foods certainly does make me feel better.

What is your approach to eating right?

Looks like the hardest day of the week is over! Good bye Monday, hellllllo Tuesday! Oh yes, four more days to a three day weekend :-)

Yesterday was a busy day consumed with work and TWO gym sessions. The first gym session was a 1:00pm Total Body Conditioning class at NYSC. I normally love a body conditioning class but the instructor was horrible. All she did was go around telling everyone that their form was incorrect (which it wasn't) and she really didn't give a total body workout.. Or really a workout to begin with. Well, now I know to stay away from Monday's 1:00pm Total Body Conditioning with this instructor!

Anywho, since I wasted a perfectly good lunch hour on a crappy class, I hit up the NYSC again after work and did a 30 min sesh on the stair master.

My food highlights:
Breakfast: vegan oatmeal made with almond flour, milled flaxseed, almond milk and sliced almonds. This was filling but very bland. I need to keep working on this recipe.

Lunch: turkey and pastrami on home made spinach paleo bread (recipe coming this week).

Snack: mixed nuts, probably 1/4 cup

Dinner: Mexican meatloaf made with lean ground beef. Salad on the side.

Highlights from yesterday:

Monday Morning...

Good Morning All,

I hope you all had a great weekend and were not too snowed in! Saturday, I pretty much stayed at home all day! The hubs and I had a fun time making a snowman, cooking a meatloaf for dinner and catching up on movies. It was a great chill day :)

I've been experimenting in the kitchen a lot lately and I have recipes to share with you guys. I'm also experimenting with creating videos and using a star ingredient. Say tuned later this week for an update on that.

I hope you guys had a nice weekend and are off to a great start to the week! If you in NJ, don't let the gray weather get you down... It'll be sunny in no time! Here are a few highlights from my weekend!