Are You Up For The Challenge?

First off, it was so nice to be off work today!!! I rolled out of bed around 8am to a bright sunny morning! Awesome! Here's my morning eats;
-1 cup water
-1/4 cup Bob's Red Mill 7 Grain cereal
-cinnamon
-a good cup of homemade applesauce (I used an apple, cinnamon, splash unsweetened vanilla Almond Breeze whipped up in the Magic Bullet)
-handful of raisins
So good! Lovely apple flavour and I got a whole fruit into this meal! Bonus!!

I let breakfast digest for about an hour while I got caught up on blog reading then decided to head out for a run. DD tagged along on her bike. It was much cooler than it looked outside so I was a tad uncomfortable for the first few minutes, but warmed up real quick!! As soon as I got home I popped the 30 Day Shred in to finish off level one while I was still loose and limber from running. Here are my stats:

RUN:
Time: 28 minutes
Avg Hr: 167
Max Hr: 182
Calories Burned: 274
Distance: 2.5 miles

SHRED:
Time: 20 minutes
Avg Hr: 143
Max Hr: 170
Calories Burned: 178

I find my runs are always a bit slower if I take one (or both) of the kids with me. That's OK, though. I still got out there!!

I relaxed for about a half hour before getting lunch ready. I was feeling a toasted WW bagel with homemade PB and pear ginger jam with a green monster so that's exactly what I had!!! One of the many reasons I enjoy being home...I can make/eat what I'm craving at that moment instead of having to eat what I brought along.
I did enjoy one small piece of DD's crispy bunny for a sweet end. I love chocolate with rice crispies in it! Definitely a danger food for me!

After lunch I had to make a trip to the store for cat litter of all things. Going back out made me really happy that I got my run in this morning because it had gotten cooler yet and the sun disappeared! Not good!

I spent the afternoon curled up on the couch reading my book. I'm still working on Duma Key and am loving it so far! I'm about 3/4 of the way through the monster. I got hungry around 3 so I made myself a chai tea latte and enjoyed a piece of coconut lime oat bar...

I wasn't too concerned about supper because my hubby is back to working afternoons this week so I knew that I didn't have to prepare a big meal. There was some leftover pasta and roast beef in the fridge so I combined the two, covered the mixture with grated marble cheese and popped it in the oven for 10 minutes.
Dinner for the kids-served! I swear, they'll eat anything with melted cheese on it! :) I warmed up what was left of Good Friday's leftovers for myself as well as preparing some sauteed spinach and kale to bulk it up a bit as there was only a tiny piece of salmon left.
My sweet end was a piece of carrot cake. There's only one slice left and it has my hubby's name written ALL over it! As delish as it is, I'm happy that's it's gone!
Last but not least, you may be wondering what the challenge is that I mentioned in the title of this post. Well, Marianne emailed me earlier this week to see if I would be willing to host this week's BSI Challenge! I've always hoped that it would make it's way to me so of course I accepted!! Before I reveal my ingredient pick, here's a glimpse of past choices;

• Week 27: From French Fries To Flax Seeds - Coconut
  

• Week 26: Plentiful Plants - Avocado
• Week 25: Training Fuel – Eggs
• Week 24: Dinner at Christina’s – Cabbage
• Week 23: Hey What’s for Dinner, Mom? – Strawberries
• Week 22: One Bite at a Time – Basil
• Week 21: Just Sweet Enough - Black Beans
• Week 20: What I Ate Yesterday – Kale
• Week 19: What’s for Dinner – Orange
• Week 18: BranAppetit! – Spinach
• Week 17: Tales of Expansion – Dates
• Week 16: Biggest Diabetic Loser – Zucchini
• Week 15: Sweet & Natural – Peppermint
• Week 14: bella eats [and runs] – Ginger
• Week 13: Coffee Talk – Walnuts
• Week 12: For the Love of Oats – Pumpkin
• Week 11: Trying to Heal - Sweet Potatoes
• Week 10: The Inner Workings of a College Graduate – Eggplant
• Week 9: Itzy’s Kitchen – Pears
• Week 8: The Fitnessista – Cranberries
• Week 7: Tri to Cook – Lentils
• Week 6: Rhodey Girl Tests – Polenta
• Week 5: Eating Bender - Butternut Squash
• Week 4: Care to Eat – Apples
• Week 3: On a Lobster Placemat – Mushrooms
• Week 2: Hangry Pants – Tomatoes
• Week 1: Sportsnutritionliving – Quinoa
  

So, without further ado, the Blogger Secret Ingredient of the week is......LEMON!
I picked this fruit for many different reasons. Here are some of them;

• they can easily be incorporated into a sweet or savoury dish/drink
• they have many health benefits (read on for more on that)
• they're inexpensive
• they're never really out of season

Here are some interesting health benefits on good ole lemons;

**They are very effective in curing many digestion problems when mixed with hot water, including biliousness, nausea, heartburn, disorders of the lower intestines like constipation

**Water plus a few lemons becomes lemon juice. Lemon juice, when taken regularly in the morning, acts as a tonic to the liver and stimulates it to produce bile making it ready to digest the day's food.

**Lemon juice also relieves symptoms of asthma, tonsillitis and sore throat.

**Due to the digestive qualities of lemon juice, symptoms of indigestion such as heartburn, bloating and belching are relieved. By drinking lemon juice regularly, the bowels are aided in eliminating waste more efficiently thus controlling constipation and diarrhea.

Just a few tidbits I found online! Please email me with your recipe (or email me with a link to the recipe) at kristaskravings@gmail.com. I will be accepting entries until midnight, Sunday April 19th and announcing the winner in my post on April 20th in the pm. I'm thinking the prize pack for the winner will include all things lemon (or yellow) in keeping with the theme. So, now it's time to spread the word and go pull all your most favourite lemon recipes to send my way!!! I'm very excited to see what you guys all come up with!!!

Bye for now!!!