New Day

Pumpkin Smiley Oats

Organic Banana Mouth

Peanut Butter Teeth

Crystallized Ginger Nose

Nonfat Greek Yogurt Eyeballs

Pumpkin Butter Eyes

Lunch was skipped since I ate this oatmeal at 10:30 and more so because Jeff dropped me off on-campus to study then he picked me up when I finished (dinner time). It could have been worse but I will say that I hate skipping meals more than anything because it throws off my whole hunger levels/schedule.

Body:
No cardio today. After dinner , I did much needed Yoga for 40 minutes and some strength at home: BBQ ( back, biceps, quads) and abs... planks, side to sides, figure 8's ( I will hopefully get to explaining those exercises soon when I finish finals)

Mind:
Studied all the sections for Research Methods Exam but I feel like I don't remember any of it! Blah! I switched to Metabolism studying (Kreb's cycle, Oxidative Phosphorylation, Lipids)... Then called it a day.

Soul:

I just keep hugging Jeff, happy that the accident wasn't worse. We were supposed to get the xmas tree yesterday so Jeff came up with a great idea to pick out a tree today on the way to campus and decorate later tonight.

So that is exactly what we did, there is the farmer's market trees.

Jeff even surprised me by picking up Organic Eggnog for our "tree decorating night" while I was studying! Isn't that so sweet! I thought it would be great to bake some cookies to go with the tree and eggnog, So I baked Jeff's Mom's Neiman Marcus Cookies and Nana's Chocolate Windows ( hi Nana!). See Below for the details on the Neiman Marcus. The window cookies have to chill overnight, so I will post them tomorrow. Dinner before dessert right...

Dinner:
I did a spin on some menu items from this restaurant a fellow blogger went to the other night- Heather at HangryPants

I pan seared pork chops in the pan with some items I had in my fridge: red wine vinegar, apple cider vinegar, texas pete hot sauce and a dash of worchestire. Nutritionally this adds a few milligrams of sodium but adds no fat. If you were watching your blood pressure I would suggest cutting out the worchestire, and added fat is not necessarily a bad thing just not my personal preference. So its give/take and I personally think it reminds me of "Carolina BBQ Pork"...

I threw some mushrooms in the pan with a little splash of bourbon ( Jeff and I are both fans of bourbon) and tomato sauce. I added in that same pan some thawed frozen asparagus spears. After the pork was finished, I sliced Organic Polenta in that pan and let it heat up "real good" and I also sliced up a half of a sweet potato ( previously cooked in the microwave last night) in there as well.

I layered everything I could because all the flavors top down is sweet potato, polenta, asparagus, pork, mushrooms. Jeff was shocked I was eating it all together. This seems like a perfect example of how eating deliciously does not have to include lots of fat! I actually added NO fat ( no butter or oil at all!).


Now on to the cookies:
Jeff's mom makes these at christmas and they are DELICIOUS! I made changes as I always do to this recipe but not too many because I would hate to have a less than stellar comparison.

Out of The Oven

Inside

Very Happy with the final product- I think I ate about 8... okay I really had 3 plus a little mini one

Organic Eggnog and the cookies

Jack and our perfectly decorated charlie brown tree, we are contemplating a name for it.

Long, Long, Looonnnnggg Day

Fall 2008 Classes:

Monday: Research Methods in Foods and Nutrition... hmm... we are starting out with a group lit review... after having already completed a thesis in undergrad ( based on previous literature/studies, I chose to experiment injecting post-natal rats with an excitoxin in their tiny little brains ( about 1 cm)...after they had been pre-natally stressed. Then I had to write my intro, lit review, methods, stat analysis, results, discussion, and conclusion..... I think this class will be lots of busy work and not very difficult. However, it is 3+ hours long!! ugghhh

Tuesday: Gastronomy!
SUPER EXCITED! The basis of this class is what makes a dining experience a pleasurable dining experience? What did gastronomers do and how/what impacts our food choices i.e why do I eat out of a tupperware container and how is that more pleasurable than say having a candlelit dinner on china with Jeff... Today We watched a video on physiology of taste...

Wednesday: Minority Nutrition and Health Disparities...

This class should be interesting because I actually wanted to start out in this area of the field, but have since changed my interests. The prof is the same as monday's class, whom has already assigned readings due on the first day of class from books that were Un-orderable!

Thursday: Advanced Nutrient Metabolism

I didnt take the pre-req ( Biochemistry ) for this class. However, I took organic chemistry 1 and 2 and got A's in both- I only started paying attention when we started looking at structures of molecules as what they contribute to be.. like carbohydrate chains and sugar molecules. So that was the best part of organic chem and we reviewed that in this class last week. So it should be a very difficult but rewarding class and the professor is totally like my undergrad advisor... even down to the Calvin and Hobbes syllabus!

Fridays FREE day! and boy am I going to need it! In gastronomy alone we are reading 4 books plus an additional chosen book at a later date!

I am totally overwhelmed by asthma/health insurance/ knee problems and class vs. work right now. I know it will get better but it seems like all at once there is a BILLION things to think about/buy/do/take care of... big sigh! I cant even sleep because my mind is just still racing from my day.

Body: I ran!!!!! HOORAYY!! 2 miles without pain!!! IT FELT ABSOLUTELY PHENOMENAL!
I stuck to an 8 min/mile pace once I warmed up for 30 minutes on the elliptical. I only wanted to attempt a half of a mile to gage how my knee was... and when it was fine at joggin pace, i up'ed the stakes to 1 mile and a little faster ... before i knew it I was back into my groove and happily going. I stopped purposely at 2 because I most certainly do not want to over do it but man it felt good!

Mind: I have researched and gone through countless health insurance policies today hoping to find one that is not $300/month and will cover my asthma perscriptions. I find it totally appauling that the health insurance options in this country are over-priced, complicated, take weeks to apply, then longer to get cards, then you have to present your cards to pay EVEN more to get a perscription after having paid EVEN more to go see a doctor and losing money by having to often take off work to make an appointment! Its absolutely ridiculous and I have been furious about it all day. I am actually more interested now in figuring out which presedential candidate is going to provide the best reform on the US health insurance ...

Soul: I cried, a lot today, because I am so overwhelmed right now. It started last week with getting "kicked out" of my job for 8 weeks because my knee is hurt (no stairs no squatting means I cant perform my job duties and no medical leave b/c i am part time because of grad school), then I can't continue training because my knee is hurt, then i lose health insurance because I am not working, then I cant fix my knee problem because i dont have health insurance, then my asthma gets worse because my inhaler is not covered under my temporary insurance, then my asthma gets worse because i worry about it and because our house is dirty because I can't clean it because cleaning makes my asthma worse.

positives: I feel better after all the crying today honestly. I took lots of time to smell the lillies Jeff gave me. I talked to my mom for countless hours and helped her de-stress ( she is overwhelmed right now just like me with visitors this weekend and school etc. herself!) .. I cleaned the bathroom, and the kitchen floor. My mom and I discussed options for our house/asthma/allergy dillema...
We should mop the walls, get rid of the old furniture and buy new stuff ( we have been putting it off but i think at this point - its necessary for my health, and for my piece of mind, and will be WELL put to good use)... paint the walls, and maybe buy another air filter. I created a "safe" room- our bedroom door stays closed during the day, Jack (dog) is not allowed in their, the air filter stays on in there too.. So that way I have a clean-air room I can go to if need be.

Breakfast: Smoothie...
I actually woke up before Jeff this morning and tried to get him up by enticing him with scrambled eggs... he asked if he could have a smoothie instead!!
Wow...
So- I made him one but I wanted something a little different so
1 scoop pure protein
1 cup frzn strawberries
1 cup frzn blueberries
1 glob chobani greek yogurt plain
1 Tb ground flax
3.4 cup milk

I gave him a good 14 oz serving, then gave myself the rest ( about 3 oz ) with the remainder of the chobani, a tsp natural pb, some strawberry smart start oat bites...

Lunch:
Two pieces Whole Wheat toast
1 serving grilled chicken breast strips ( the oscar meyer lunch meat section kind)
1 pickle
1 cup frozen veggies, steamed

Post Workout Snack/ Pre Class :
a bite of a protein bar... not enough but i had to rush to get to class on time!

Dinner:
I grabbed a bag of dole veggie salad mix on the way home from school..

I had about 2/3 the bag ( 2 servings+)
with a Tb of Annes Goddess Dressing
plus a sprinkle of gorgonzola cheese
the rest of the grilled chicken from lunch ( the pack has 2 servings, 110 kcal/serv. 22 g protein, 1 g fat)
+ I made Jeff "buffalo chicken sausage and polenta"
so I took a serving of the polenta too with some cheddar on top and I had a bite of the buffalo chicken sausage ... NOT BAD AT ALL!
this is the first sausage ever that I kinda like!

For the polenta, I had organic polenta in a roll form.. I sliced it into 1/2 inch slices put it in the pan and drizzled a tiny bit of smart balance oil on each ( i mean tiny.. only so that it wouldnt stick)... then turned them over after about 3 minutes on medium heat, then sprinkled with cheddar! The sausage I just stuck in another pan, covered and cooked on medium heat for 8 minutes, then flipped em for another 5 minutes or so... Super easy and quick ...