It's Mexi-CAN, Not Mexi-CAN'T

My afternoon Body Pump class went really well today. I'm starting to like it the more I do it. I even added more weight to my barbell. Watch out, Mr. Olympia, I'm comin'!

My triceps still felt like they were going to explode, but pain is just weakness leaving the body, right? Or something like that.

Dinner

When my mom got home from work, she said that she wanted Mexican for dinner. We obliged her and went to our favorite Mexican place in Woodinville. I thought that instead of having one of their salads, I'd have the chicken fajitas with no tortillas. The tortillas are deadly, in a good way. Even without ordering the tortillas (those at the top of the picture are not mine) I still had a shit ton of food.

I only took a little bit at a time on my plate. I ate most of my veggies, some of my chicken, and only a little bit of the rice and beans. It was definitely all about restraint at dinner tonight.


When we got home after dinner I cleaned up a little bit in the kitchen then decided to have my one piece of Halloween candy. I mean, it's a holiday right? So why not splurge. I had a fun size Snickers Peanut Butter Squared, which sounded good. Chocolate, peanut butter, peanuts, caramel...what's not to like?


Well...it was okay. Very candy-like. Meh.


Now for some Dancing with the Stars while we wait for no trick-or-treaters to ring our doorbell.

Happy Halloween!

Or should I say "Happy Kim Kardashian/Kris Humphries Divorce Day!" So, who bet 72 days in their office pool? Because that's how long their joke of a marriage was. My producer called their marriage a "farce," which is also pretty accurate. I can't wait to see what kind of viewership they'll get for their show now. Talk about disgusting.

Any-who... my dad and I went out for another run on this brisk (and I mean BRISK) Halloween morning. There were some things that went better in this run than in the last one we had on Friday. First of all, I actually had music to listen to. I listened to my Pandora radio app on my iPhone. I was totally rocking it to the "Summer Hits of the 2000s" station. However, at one point the station started playing "Stand By Me," which last time I checked, was not from the 2000s.

Another good thing that happened on my run was that I shortened my mile time by about 20 seconds. Running to the end of the road is a piece of cake. It's the run back to my house that's the real issue. The run back is at some kind of incline that doesn't seem like much, but it kills me every time. That incline is the biggest bitch I have in my life right now.

And this might sound really disgusting, but whenever I run outside, I get so much phlegm in my throat that I always have to stop and cough it out. It's really annoying. What can I do to remedy this problem?

Towards the end of the run, I was really picking up some speed. Mainly because I just wanted to get the run over with. Other than that, I'm still a terrible runner. But I'm pretty confident that there will come a time when I won't die trying to run 2 miles. I might need to do more treadmill work, especially with the weather getting increasingly colder slash crappier.

Breakfast

I was so stoked to have my Protein Pancakes today. I heated them up and poured on the syrup (it was sugar-free so I didn't feel that bad about it). They were actually pretty delicious. I little denser than normal pancakes, but I chalked that up to the fact that these ones were packed with oats and protein powder.


The bananas in the pancakes were also really good (somebody queue the Jack Johnson), but I can't wait to try the pancakes with other berries as well.


Hopefully all the protein will help me recover from my run and the Body Pump class I have after work.

One of my co-workers brought in cupcakes today (When will there ever be a day when someone doesn't bring treats in?). They were chocolate with cookies and cream frosting. I mean, hello! I gave in.

It was so good. However, the cupcake and frosting were so rich, I could only take about two bites. I think that's probably for the best.

Snack

I wanted to finish the last of the pineapple I had left over from my pizza. So, I mixed the p-apple with some slived almonds. So refreshing.

My producer let me booth the 15/45 segments today. It's so fun now that I'm getting the hang of it. Also when I printed out the scripts to give to our anchor, I drew a little spider and a little ghost to get him in the Halloween mood. He said they were cute. Win!

Lunch

I was really craving another Lazy-Ass sandwich, so I made one. The Cilantro and Jalapeno hummus I got from Trader Joe's is really growing on me. At first it tasted a little weird... but I'm a cilantro girl and I'm totally digging it now.


Did you know that people are genetically predisposed to like/dislike cilantro? I obviously got the "LOVES cilantro" gene, which thank goodness because my dad will put it in everything if you let him.

I hope everyone has fun plans for this Halloween. I, for one, don't unless you count going to Body Pump and then curling on the coach to watching Dancing with the Stars. Then in that case, I do have plans. Lame plans.

I'll try not to eat all the Halloween candy that is supposed to be for the tons of trick-or-treaters we plan to get this year...not. I think in the 22 years I have lived in my house, we've probably have had one trick-or-treater. We're just not in a prime T-o-T location, obviously.

Protein Pancakes

Before I get into the pancakes, let me show you what I had for dinner.

I used the last of my spaghetti squash and mixed in the usual marinara sauce, turkey meatballs, and Parmesan cheese, but I also added some eggplant and zucchini bits that I had left over from my pizza experiment.


Doesn't it look super Italian? Yeah it does.

I read two healthy living blogs religiously and the two woman who write them are always talking about making Protein Pancakes - basically pancakes with protein powder in them to give them that little extra oomph!

Well, I went to Trader Joe's (second day in a row, obsessed much?) and picked up some vanilla protein powder so I could make these infamous pancakes. I really wanted them for breakfast tomorrow, but I knew I wouldn't have time to make the batter and cook them on the stove before I had to leave for work. So I made them tonight.

Protein Pancakes

Ingredients:

• 1/3 cup rolled oats
• 1 scoop vanilla protein powder
• 1 ripe banana
• 1/3 cup liquid egg whites
• 1/2 tsp baking powder

Directions:

1. In a bowl, mix together ingredients.
2. Preheat a skillet (medium-low heat), spray with non-stick spray, and pour in half of the batter while shaping it into a pancake with a spoon.
3. Heat until partially cooked and flip pancake.
4. Once cooked through, top with syrup, nut butter, fresh fruit or anything else your heart desires.

Makes 2 pancakes

If you're the type of person that needs a photo essay to understand directions, here you go:

The photos don't really do it justice, but the pancakes turned out way better than expected. I know that they're on a tiny plate, but still. They were larger than the average pancake.

I also had a little nibble of one, just to see how it tasted. Not too shabby. Can't wait to slather them in syrup tomorrow morning. I'm sure I'm going to need it after my morning run with my dad. Awesome.

Not As Relaxing As I'd Hoped

I had a really off and disappointing workout today. I was hoping to do my 45-minute treadmill workout and then probably try to run a couple miles. Well, I was getting through my 45 minutes fair enough. Thankfully my treadmill had ESPN2 on its little TV so I could watch the Red Bull-Galaxy game. But then about 3/4 of the way through, my stomach started to feel really wonky.

I tried to jog a little bit to see if I could possibly run it off. But my tum-tum was having none of that. I think my body was trying to tell me not to have pizza before going to the gym because it was not happy whatsoever. Duly noted body, duly noted.

When I got home I thought that I was going to be able to sit down, relax, and watch some soccer triple header. Yeah...no. I came home and had to help my dad paint part of parents' bedroom wall.

I wasn't super happy about that. I fact, I kind of acted like a brat. But after pulling my head out of my butt, I painted.


Here's my dad painting the last of it. I helped, I swear.


After some cleaning of the brushes, I'm finally sitting down to watch some playoff soccer. I don't know how any of the games end. I'm sure they'll be more entertaining than the Sounders game from last night. Man, did they shit a brick.

I'm Still a Little Bitter...

...after last night's Sounders embarrassment. What a tragedy of a game. What a waste of a great season. I don't know what's worse: not making the play-offs in the first place, or making the play-offs and then get your ass kicked in the first game.
This might sound a little on the pesimistic side, but I'm pretty sure we're not going to advance to the Conference Final.

Whatever, as long as LA doesn't win the MLS Cup it's good in my hood.

On a lighter note, at least Husky football won yesterday. Now they're bowl eligible! Woohoo for being better than the Cougs!

Breakfast

Since I had some pineapple left over from my epic soiree into pizza-making, I decided to toss it in with some Greek yogurt, wheat germ and sliced almonds. It was very island-y...aside from the "Greek" yogurt part. Which I guess is made up of little islands. Whatever.

Snack

Grapes and cheese.

Lunch

I was really excited to tear into this scrumptious morsel. Leftover pizza (which is always so much better the next day) and a spinach salad with some crumbled blue cheese. The mango chicken sausage and pineapple really put this pizza creation over the top. Who would have thought that mango + chicken + sausage would have been so amazing? Trader Joe's did apparently.

Off to the gym to do some treadmill action...maybe even to try to run a couple miles. We'll see how that goes.

Can't wait to get home, sit on the couch, and watch play-off soccer all day long.

I am Papa John

If you read post from this morning, you know that I was having a killer craving for homemade pizza. None of that Papa John's drivel. Well... my craving was quenched, thanks to a pit stop to my favorite grocery store. Yep, Trader Joe's.

Since the TJ fresh dough was so cheap ($1.29 for a pound of dough! Suck it, Boboli!) that I got all three flavors: plain, wheat, and garlic and herb. I went with the wheat for today's pizza. Not gonna lie, it kind of looks like a huge dog turd. Sorry.


While the dough rested for twenty minutes, I chopped up my toppings. Zucchini, red bell peppers, eggplant, mango chicken sausage (yeah, I know!) and pineapple.


Oh...can't forget that "all natural fresh" mozzarella.


Once the dough was properly rested, (it was talking a power nap?) I spread it out, making a little square. Round pizzas are for suckers.


Sauced and cheesed...

...topped...
...and ovened at 450 degrees for 15 minutes.


I wanted it to get in my belly(!), but I had to let it cool down a little bit. 450 degrees is really hot.


I had about a fourth-ish of the pizza for dinner. I was thinking about having a salad to go along with it, but I figured that I had enough veggies on the pizza itself to suffice.


My pizza was totally awesome. The crust was really crispy and the melted mozzarella added the perfect amount of salty cheesiness. And my pizza came on time, which is more than I can say for the Papa John pizzas that my parents ordered. It was a half an hour late. Should of made a pizza with me.

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This has nothing to do with pizza, but I saw this little guy stuck to the window in our front door. I'm pretty sure he's still there.

Pizzaaaaaaaaa

Imagine that in some kind of Frankenstein voice.

I woke up this morning with such a hankering for pizza. And I'm not talking about like a Domino's grease pit (although the new Domino's is actually quite delish). I'm talking about something homemade. Stretching pizza dough, fresh veggies, tomato sauce and herbs, and of course...mozzarella cheese! My tum-tum is growling just thinking about it (I really need to stop thinking about pizza at work).

Another thing I woke up with this morning was a total-body soreness. Mainly in my back and thighs. I guess Body Pump really did work me hard yesterday.

Breakfast

Last night, I had no idea what to make for this morning's breakfast. I wanted something easy, but I also didn't want yogurt or oatmeal or whatever. So...I ended up making an Egg McMuffin - sausage + tomato + cheddar cheese.


Meh... it didn't make me feel hungry anymore.

Snack

Again, I was lazy, so I just had the last bag of my apple chips and some almonds.


Lunch

I had some more of my leftover Pho from the other day. And I still had some left over. So much Pho.


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This was something that happened to me yesterday, but I completely forgot to blog about it. I've been doing a lot of reading of healthy-living blogs and most of them talk about running marathons and what not. While I am nowhere near ready or willing to run a marathon, I do want to enjoy running more and I think these blogs have inspired me to do that.

Yesterday I was researching some road races that take place in Seattle (which there are a lot btdubs) and I think I want to run a 5k. I know that doesn't seem like a lot, but 3.1 miles sounds like a long way to me. I have to start somewhere. Plus I don't want to run a 5k just to run a 5k. I at least want to do is at some kind of fast(ish) pace.

I'm thinking of doing a 5k in March when the weather is slightly less awful. Once I complete that, I can start looking at other, longer races. I'm actually really excited about this.

You Never Regret a Workout

I was totally dragging when I left work this afternoon and I still had Body Pump to go to later. Bahhhh.

I went home to chill out for a little bit before heading out to the gym. It was so hard to get off the couch. I just wanted to stay in front of the fire and take a nap. But I went to the gym and got ready for my class.

Once I got my body pumping and the blood flowing, I was so glad that I made the trip to the gym. As Elle Wood would say: Exercise gives you endorphins. Endorphins make you happy. Happy people just don't shoot their husbands.

I definitely didn't regret doing this workout.

Dinner

For dinner I cooked up some sirloin. I've had it in the fridge for the last couple days, and it was looking a little on the brown-ish side more than the red side. Hopefully the cooking killed any bacteria that could potentially kill me (maybe). Either way, it was delicious covered in garlic salt.


There also was broccoli and carrots for more fiber. Yay digestion!

Then I had to have one of my pumpkin muffins.


Still so good. Gotta get more muffin mix next time I go to TJ's.

RIP iPod

Happy Friday to everyone that didn't have to start their work week today...like me.
I got up at 7:15 this morning to gear up for my run with my dad. I was surprised by how dark it was at that hour. I'm used to either waking up at 8:15 when it's already light-out, or getting to my work at the dark 4am and not leaving the building until noon.

It reminded me of that one Friends episode where Joey walks in on Chandler and Monica talking in the living room at like 4 in the morning. Joey says, "What are you guys do up in the middle of the night. It's pitch black outside." Chandler and Monica retort by saying, "No Joey, this is what 9 in the morning looks like." Joey, of course, believes them.

No Ally, this is what 7 in the morning looks like.

My dad and I stretched before we headed out. It wasn't as cold outside as I thought it would be. Maybe I wasn't as chilly because of my awesome discounted running top. Woohoo for clothing bargains.

We set out. I was listening to my iPod. Katy Perry was on. Things were going well. I was keeping a slow, but comfortable, pace. Then about a half mile in, my iPod stops playing. I find this inconvenient. We stop momentarily while I investigate what is going on. I take my iPod out of my pocket and I see that the screen is totally fading. Balls sack! My iPod was literally dying in front of me. I had to run the rest of our two mile run listening to nothing but my heavy breathing and my dad's loud footsteps. Not ideal.

The first half of the run was fine, probably because it was at a steady slope. It was on the way back home where I wanted to die. I guess you could say I hit the wall. This is why I need to get better at running. I can't just run a mile and then die. It's pathetic. Anywho, I managed to jog it back home in one piece (barely).

When I got back home I did manage to reset my iPod and it turned out again, but I don't think I'm going to take it on a run again. I'll just use my iPhone, which is probably better in case I get stuck somewhere and have to call someone. Plus, my iPhone has Pandora radio, which I find a lot more enjoyable that my iPod right now.

Breakfast

I broiled up a grapefruit with Splenda and cinnamon on top.

Don't worry, I didn't eat the charred rind part. There also was a piece of toast with almond butter and a glass of milk.

It's nice to come to work having already exercised some. Though my legs kind of feel like Jell-o, and I still have a Body Pump class this afternoon. Ooftah.

Snack

I had one of my go-to's of grapes and cheese. They grapes said they were seedless, but I'm pretty sure there were some little seeds in there.

Lunch

Another go-to: the Lazy-Ass sandwich is back. But this time I changed the hummus. Now instead of Roasted Red Pepper Hummus, it's Cilantro and Jalepeno.

Show of hands of how many people are glad the Viaduct is re-opening earlier than planned. Yep, I didn't think you cared either.

My New Running Partner

At lunch today, I was telling my dad how I really want to take up running. I've always had a negative attitude towards running and I want to change all that. My dad was like, "that sounds like a good idea, let's run together!" Okay, dad. Sounds good. Then he said, "Let's start tomorrow morning."

I said, "Yeah, that sounds great, but I have work tomorrow."

"No problem, we'll do it before. How about 7:15?"

Gah. Okay.

So I'm running tomorrow morning with my dad at the freezing cold time of 7:15 in the morning. He's super gung-ho about it. We even stopped at a New Balance store on the way home so he could get some new running shoes and orthotics.

He wasn't the only one that whipped out the old credit card. I managed to by two long-sleeve running shirts for only $35. They were having a deal on pink/red colored clothing since it was Boob Cancer Awareness month.

Dinner

Since I had such a rich (yet delicious) and filling lunch, I thought I'd take it easy on dinner. Just some spinach, chicken sausage and blue cheese. Nice and light, but with protein to help fuel me for my daughter-daddy run tomorrow morning.


Now I'm spending the rest of my weekend watching some soccer (surprise, surprise) and some Flashpoint (aka the best show ever).

Saturday-Sunday weekends feel so much longer than my Wednesday-Thursday weekends. Maybe I'm just too used to having three-day weekends. Damn you, college!

Dahlia Lounge

8:30am came too soon this morning. I literally could not believe it when my alarm went off. I think my black out curtains are messing with sense of what morning should feel like.

Breakfast

I had a cycling class this morning, so I wanted to fuel myself without being too heavy. I got a box of peanut butter Puffins at Trader Joe's yesterday (at half the price of Albertson's b-t-dubs), so I poured myself a bowl. However, I stayed to the serving size of 3/4 cup, which was a lot smaller than I thought it would be. I cut some banana on top.


Lunch

I worked hard during my cycling class, which was good because I was about to have a fatty lunch at Dahlia Lounge in Seattle.
My dad and I went to Dahlia Lounge as part of Seattle Restaurant week, so we got to enjoy 3 courses of delicious food for only $15 each. Awesome-balls!

For my starter course, I ordered the WSU cougar gold cheddar (which despite its Pullman roots really is the best cheese) plate with bruleed figs, some kind of candied almond and watercress. Yum cheese!


My entree was the pork loin with butternut spoonbread (which is a cornmeal-based dish, kind of like a polenta), brussel sprouts with honey, candied pecans and apple mustard (which basically tasted like applesauce). This dish was absolutely exquisite and I was completely obsessed with the pecans. No wonder pecan pie is so nom nom.


For dessert, the most important course obviously, I ordered the chocolate-pecan cookie while my dad ordered the coconut cream pie bite. I was going to order the devil's food cupcake, but after having those candied pecans, I had to have more pecan in my life. The cookie was basically a grown up Oreo. So good and so buttery.


Thank goodness I worked hard at the gym, otherwise I would have felt like a total lard-ass. Someone's having a salad for dinner tonight.

When in Doubt, Use Greek Yogurt

After hitting up Trader Joe's and arming myself with enough pumpkin baking products to last me through the rapture, I had to make me some pumpkin muffins. The recipe called for "just eggs, oil, and water", but I didn't really want to use any eggs, oil, or water.

A baking trick that I learned in my college days (ha! that's funny because my "college days" were literally five months ago) was to switch out the fatty eggs and oil (water is not fatty) with either applesauce or Greek yogurt. It's a fraction of the calories and fat, not to mention it makes the baked goods wayyyyyyy more moist. Those Greeks knew what they were doing when they made yogurt. They not be able to keep their country from economic collapse, but yogurt they can do.

Well, I didn't have any applesauce on hand (although now that I think about it, applesauce with pumpkin muffins would have been awesome), but I did have plenty of Greek yogurt. I added 3/4 cup of Greek yogurt and 1/4 cup pumpkin puree (because more pumpkin isn't a bad thing) to the Trader Joe's pumpkin muffin mix.
Look very nommy, doesn't it? I mixed the three ingredients and eventually got this delectable-looking batter.
Not gonna lie, I licked the mixing spoon on more than one occasion. Hooray for muffin tins!
I put those bad boys in the oven at 400 degrees for 18 minutes. I wanted them to hurry so I could put them in my belly.
Finally, they were done. I'm gonna try to refrain from eating those until dessert time. And when that time comes, I'll try to only eat one...maybe.
Okay...dessert time! I popped a muffin in the microwave to warm it up a bit, then cut it in half and lathered on some butter. Holy amaze-balls!!!


Dinner

I had pho leftovers. I filled this bowl and still had enough left over for lunch. Those Vietnamese know what's up when it comes to huge portions. Since I ate most of my pho veggies at lunch, I added some steamed broccoli for some more fiber.
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I'm watching the FC Dallas-NY Red Bull playoff game. There's a close-up on Brek Shea. This is what I see.


There really are no words for how bad this haircut is. Oh wait, I can think of one: Neo-Nazi. It's hyphenated. At least I got my picture with him while is hair looked somewhat decent. I mean, why?