Monday Lunch and Dinner Update!

Lunch:

Leftover Pasta and Tomato Sauce with Chicken

and Salad.

Accomplishments: ( in an attempt to make me feel more positive about getting a rude response to a job.. )

• I finally heard back from the organization I was interested in Volunteering with, turns out they would like me to help with marketing and potentially here on my blog and elsewhere in the community in addition to teaching nutrition classes!! WOOHOO-I have to read through some materials they sent but I am excited!
• Started My Pre-Packing List (I found this Day of The Week notepad at a craft store recently. I have used it for foods/meals we have that week- but it works well for this too!)

• Gym- Run 5 miles... toes are now hurting... I am icing as I type
• Took out the materials I needed and started to make one of "jeff's" gifts- I have made him something each year and I knew exactly what I wanted to put together... I will take a pic for after xmas!
• Wrapped a few presents
• Made Chocolate Bourbon Truffles ( post to follow)
• Made Toffee Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies ( post to follow)
• Cleaned out the Fridge ( blech!!! but phew! and YAHH! at the same time.. it was gross and now its not nearly as gross.)
• Laundry
• Talk with Mom about lots of stuff
• Bank Errands
• Dancing with The Stars Latin Cardio Dance DVD! (Veggie Girl is this the same one you have? ... I didn't realize until now there is more than one!)

Review of DWS, Latin Cardio:
I liked it! It wasn't a great cardio workout for me- I need to run a good 5-10 miles for that. So for beginners that are looking for a good cardio dance, I would suggest it. I really enjoyed it! I did the warm up and then all 4 of the dances and then most of the toning workout. I broke a light sweat and was actually confused a couple of times . The mutitasker in me was also baking cookies at the same time, so I had to pause, run in the kitchen, then run back and unpause and start again! I am looking forward to doing it again so that I can get some of my "dance moves" back! Get my "mojo" flowing again if you will. I haven't danced since college and I could tell I was way more rigid and fumbly than I used to be!

Dinner:

Leftover Chicken Salad Sandwich ( 2 Halves) and Organic Spicy Bean Sprouts with leftover Tomato Sauce...

Another Chicken Salad

Cranberry Carrot Celery Chicken Salad.. lots of C's!
So I wanted to use up the celery I had gotten and some other veggies and the Stoneyfield Oikos ( like that would be a problem! I use this for a gazillion things!)

I made another chicken salad for lunch today but since I didn't have grapes anymore, I used... Cranberries! I thought, cranberries go well with turkey, why not chicken? So I thawed frozen organic cranberries in the microwave, chopped celery hearts, chopped a heart of palm, grated organic carrots, added three big tablespoons of Oikos Plain Greek Nonfat Yogurt.

And then added the last of some goat cheese I had for extra creaminess and fat ( since I knew this would be an essentially fat free chicken salad anyway).

While I was doing all of this I boiled 4 small chicken breasts in a pot of water . I brought them to a boil , then reduced to a slow bubbling for about 15 minutes.
When they were done, I let them cool then shredded 3 of them into the bowl. ( I saved the other one just because it wouldn't fit).

There is the whole bowl, I threw in purple cabbage just because I have it.

Here is mine with sprouts, lettuce, newman's own double fiber bread, carrots and a pickle.

It was a really TALL sandwhich.

Jeff really liked this... but we both liked the version the other day with grapes. I may get an apple to chop up and put in this for some sweet crisp/crunch. It is always better the next day because the flavors meld and set in the fridge. I might try to use it for an appetizer of some sort for Andrea and Nate's party-

Sicilian Bacon Cheddar Pizza, Whole Wheat

Pizza #1 ... it got a little crispy but it was still delicious

Pizza #2..Much better

Dinner:

The pizza:
whole wheat dough from trader joes, sicilian sauce ( made earlier this week ), bacon crumbles, reduced fat mexican cheddar. Both were gone in about 2 minutes. Glad you loved it Jeff and Andrea !

I had this and then another slice of the #2

Lunch:
Chicken Salad leftover and a slice of #1

Body:
Run 4.5 miles, 36 minutes total- before lunch ( elliptical while reading a magazine in the evening- 20 minutes)

then ... I went back to the gym in the evening to meet Jeff and so strength training. I swear , we make such a great team!! I have so much fun- we lifted shoulders (flyes, side extensions?), biceps (hammer curls), triceps (kickbacks, dips), abs, chest (incline). Time: 1 hr !

Mind:

no job yet... im struggling.. two places were no longer hiring. not sure what to do yet. suduko.

Soul:

I did mine and jeff's laundry and ironed everything- i never iron.

My mom is coming to town tomorrow ! WOOOOOHOOOO!! I can't wait, so excited to go christmas shopping with her all day!

I found a TON of christmas presents today-

Andrea came over to share in the pizza-ing. She is one of my most favorite people, I <3 her dearly

And... I will leave you all with the best soul filling experience of the day,

love our brown-dog Jack...

Mish Mosh Lunch and Chicken Salad Dinner

Lunch:

Asparagus spears in sicilian sauce with a little cheese (Sargento Reduced Fat Mexican)

Apple crisp sprinkled with cheese, I heard about apple pies with cheddar on top and figured I'd give it a whirl. Honestly, it was delicious but you couldn't taste the cheese at all.

On the side I had a chobani nonfat greek Strawberry Yogurt with half of a whole wheat British Muffin.

The Snowman says "Yay!"


Dinner:

Super Easy Super Healthy Chicken Salad

Ingredients:
I sliced up red grapes, length wise (about 2 cups)
Chopped Organic Celery Hearts ( I used 1 bunch)
1 green onion chopped
Boiled Chicken Breasts... (I did three here and it took about 20 minutes). let them cool, then pulled the chicken apart and into the bowl ( boiling makes it super easy to pull apart for "shredded chicken" )
Then I binded everything with:
1 container of Chobani Plain, Nonfat Greek Yogurt ( the 5.3 oz size , but I could have used the bigger tub)
1 big Tablespoon Helmann's Fat Free Mayonaisse ( its about 25 calories, 0 g fat)
Salt
Cracked Black Pepper
Stir and let sit in the fridge for about 2 hours.
That whole bowl ( it is big! it holds 8 cups) is total less than 600 calories, 108 g protein, No Fat ( well, about 1 g from the chicken but i took off what I could see). It also offers fruit, veggies, and calcium!

It was delicious!
I used a whole wheat wrap and added sliced purple cabbage, sliced raw almonds and hot sauce!