Smiles on my Face

I am happy to report that my throat feels all better! I have always been prone to throat infections so I am happy this didn’t turn into one! Another happy thing this morning was a bit of extra sleep! I didn’t have to go into work until 8:30 so I set my alarm for ½ an hour later than usual. NICE!! And if you can believe it, another smile inducer this a.m. was a great bowl of oats! I know I eat oats every morning, but every now and again I get a bowl that just tastes better then usual.

-1 cup water
-1/2 cup flax seed porridge
-3 strawberries, chopped
-1 Tbsp pecan pieces
-cinnamon

Great texture, great flavour, great breakfast! :)

Work was on the busy side today because we were running pays so the morning flew by. Around 10:30 I stopped for a quick break and enjoyed 2 medjool dates and a big mug of TAZO chai tea.


Then, about a ½ hour before I was set to hit the gym for a tough treadmill workout, I ate the other half of my Pear Strudel Clif Bar from Monday.

Still good! I really like the texture and denseness of the Clif bars over the chewiness of a Lara Bar. I find them more cake-like and I think that tricks my mind into thinking I’m having a treat rather than some fuel. Whatever works, right?!

Speaking of a toughie on the treadmill…PHEW! I tried this workout from Oxygen Magazine that I came across on Gina’s blog the other day and new I needed to give it a go. OMG….was I ever red in the face (and neck) after that run! What a killer! If you’re looking to shake things up a bit, I highly recommend this. I ran an extra 5 minutes at the end and walked the last 2 to bring the routine to an even 30 minutes. Other than that, I followed it to a tee. Here are my stats!

Time: 30 minutes
Avg HR: 167
Max HR: 187
Calories Burned: 296
Miles: 3.8

Lunch today was some of my bean soup from the freezer. I have only 1 left in there now! I had some flatbread crackers on the side….actually, they served as spoons. See, I forgot a spoon at home so I scooped what I could with the crackers and then behaved very un-lady like and drank the rest from the container! Hey! A girl’s got to do what a girl’s got to do!

Sorry about the crappy photo, but I was in a rush and didn’t have time to make it even half way pretty! When the soup was gone I ate some cucumber sticks to “refresh” my mouth.

As promised, here are photos of the energy bars that I made last night.



I subbed in honey for the maple syrup and I’m happy to say that I didn’t change the taste any. I didn’t think it would. This batch of bars was a little thinner than the last because I used a different pan which must have been just a smidge bigger. This recipe is a big winner in my books and I plan to make it many more times!

I had pulled some ground turkey out of the freezer this morning thinking to make it into pasta sauce for dinner tonight. At some point this morning, I realized that I had used the last box of pasta over the weekend. All day the thought “of what to do with the turkey now” was at the back of my mind. Then I came across the perfect recipe over at Erica’s blog for turkey quinoa stew! I knew some modifications would need to happen, but I had the bones that were needed and my dinner dilemma was solved!

Let's see here...I used edamame instead of peas, Israeli couscous instead of quinoa, 1 19oz can of drained chickpeas and no hot sauce. The reason for the changes is that I had to use the ingredients I had on hand. Except for the hot sauce...that was to save my kids from an ulcer! This was absolutely FABULOUS! Holy Yum! The fam used this as a filling for "burritos" which must've been good because the kids had 2 each and my hubby 4....AND they all wanted the leftovers in their respective lunches! DS can be quite picky where veggies are concerned, so I built his wraps at the counter and he didn't even notice the corn and edamame! I tricked him a long time ago into thinking that couscous and chickpeas were "baby pasta" so that wasn't a problem. I think everyone should try this recipe-you won't be disappointed! OH! That fluorescent blob you see there is plain yogurt and some mozzarella cheese...

My sweet end was an energy bar, of course! Plans for the night include an hour at the pool for DD's swimming lesson. I'm taking DS along as well to give my hubby a break. That should be interesting! UPS delivered my boxes of Pampered Chef goodies from the catalog show that I hosted today so when we get home I will be sorting through all that. Fun times! I can't even remember what I ordered aside from the ice cream scoop (I had one, but it got lost when we moved) and the rotary grater. I think I pretty much have one of everything from the catalog now! I'm such a PC addict! I usually host a show every year this time, but my schedule was just too hectic this year. Maybe I'll do a show in the summer. Have a margarita night or something!

Anyhow, enough rambling for me! Have a wonderful evening!

Bye for now!!