All posts by harkey12

Search for Flavored Coffee

Daily Life!, Food for Thought, Recipes

So I’m a BIG sucker when it comes to flavored coffees in coffee shops. I’ve never ordered just a plain ole cup of Joe at Starbucks, that’s for sure! But only recently have I started experimenting with flavored coffee at home. (Gevalia mocha and vanilla flavors were on sale at Dillon’s a couple of weeks ago – they make my house smell fantastic and fancy!)

photo(23)Since I’ve come to the realization that I can make awesome flavored coffee at home with my completely normal drip coffeepot, I’ve been determined to find and purchase the fun holiday flavors to try. My current mission: find the best Pumpkin Spice ground coffee that I can afford! I’m beyond excited that Fall is quickly approaching, and I want my house to smell like pumpkiny-spicy goodness each morning when I wake up. Is that too much to ask? Nope. Nope it’s not.

Currently, I’m considering ordering this one from Green Mountain Coffee. It has lots of positive reviews! I’m sure lots of good flavored coffee options are going to pop up in my local grocery stores anytime now, but I’m impatient and want to know that my delicious smelling coffee is on it’s way asap!

Google has been slightly helpful in this hunt, but a lot of good seasonal coffee flavors are not available yet for purchase. Sad day, I know 😦 But the anticipation of the season and all its wonderful flavors and smells is still kinda fun! It also makes me excited for peppermint mocha and gingerbread flavors as it gets closer to Christmastime. Can you tell I’m a BIG time holiday lover?? Starting October 1, I’m in heaven for the following 3 months!

So while we wait for Fall and cooler temps to arrive, let’s back up to lunch today…

Lunch

Lunch today came together quick because I threw together a nice chop salad last night so I wouldn’t be so rushed at noon. It contained a spinach spring mix, snap peas, carrots, and mushrooms! A little light zesty Italian dressing topped it off.

photo(36)I may have had a few tortilla chips on the side for a salty crunch 🙂 Yum! And the rest of my lunch is unpictured because it is boring and not healthy at all! I had a spinach, artichoke, and chicken Lean Pocket for my main meal. It was as delicious and filling as a frozen lunch can be. But, to be honest, it was pretty tasty.

I also took a second to cut up a massive apple that has been sitting in my fridge for the past few weeks because it is too big to eat like a normal apple. I don’t think you could’ve bit into this sucker! It filled up this 2-cup container and took me about 20 minutes to polish off at my desk this afternoon.

photo(35)A super filling snack to say the least!

photo(34)Dinner

Dinner started with yogurt. Key Lime pie flavor!

photo(26)I ate this as soon as I came in the door from my Jazzercise class tonight.

I then quickly showered before my main meal: leftover veggies from last night and shrimp salad that I threw together right before I headed off to class tonight.

photo(25)

Shrimp Salad for One

For this easy peasy recipe, I combined:

  • 3/4 cup salad shrimp, thawed
  • 1 1/2 TB Light Miracle Whip
  • 2 ts mustard
  • a little sweet relish
  • 1 stalk of celery, chopped
  • Salt & pepper to taste

I let this sit in the fridge for a little more than an hour, and it was delicious! Keep in mind that I love mustard, so I added quite a bit for this small serving. So alter for your taste as needed 🙂

photo(24)Salad shrimp are one thing I try to always keep in the freezer. They are yummy; you can toss them into basically anything; and they are a great source of protein!

Now I’m headed off to relax so I can wake up early and hopefully get in a good workout at the gym before my Friday workday begins. Sleep tight everyone!

Lovin’ Oatmeal & Chilly Run

Food for Thought, Workouts, , ,

I don’t know what it is about my tummy this week, but I have been cravin’ and lovin’ oatmeal everyday! I’ve always liked oatmeal (and make it often), but this week it’s been my breakfast everyday. Something about how the warm oats fill up my hungry belly makes me feel so cozy and ready to take on my day! So this morning’s food obviously followed suit.

Breakfast

Blueberries and oatmeal and Greek yogurt, oh my! It was delicious and filling as always. Plus I was excited to find a plain vanilla Greek yogurt in my fridge this morning so I could mix in my remaining blueberries. I love to eat blueberries plain, but when I’m having coffee with my breakfast, this is never okay to do. Plain blueberries + hot coffee = YUCK! If you’ve never tried it, just don’t. It’s terrible. So I had yet another blueberry-filled breakfast but mixing them into my oats and then into my yogurt as well. All yummy!

photo(33)Workout

I woke up a little later than usual when I’m wanting to complete a morning workout because I knew I only wanted to run outside this morning as practice for my 5K coming up in less than 2 weeks! I woke up at 5:40 and rolled out of bed and into my running gear. Mac was wide awake but had to stay home since he can’t run farther than 1.2 miles without me dragging him. We’ll just blame it on his extra short legs. 🙂

It was still dark when I headed out, but my RunKeeper app kept me company and provided a little light on the dark streets. My extra motivation this morning?? It was COLD when I set out! I had on a tank knowing that I would be hot by the time I got to mile 2. But I was wishing I had on a little more clothing! It was pretty glorious to run in the cool morning. It felt like Fall might actually be upon us very soon. If only the whole day would stay that cool…haha. Forecasted high of 86 degrees today here in Springfield-land. Oh well…

I completed 3.5 miles in 31m 15s which is an average pace of 8:55 per mile. Yay me! For a girl that has NEVER been a runner and struggles through just about every run I complete, this is a great time. Especially when I’m running alone in the dark at 6 AM. After this, I think it’s safe to say I’ll hopefully breeze through the Glow Run on the 14th. Let’s hope my girlfriend that I’m running with is ready too! We’re gonna rock it! In our best neon running attire, that is. 🙂

Hope your Thursday is off to a great start. We’re almost to the weekend already!

Teaching Body Sculpting

Food for Thought, Jazzercise

Wednesdays are usually my days off from teaching Jazzercise, but tonight was a little different as I was asked to sub for a fellow instructor who is on her honeymoon! I’m very jealous as they are somewhere warm and tropical, and I’m stuck here in SW Missouri waiting for Fall to arrive. Anyways, the 6:45 class on Wednesday evenings at our center is a Body Sculpting class. It’s a Jazzercise class format that focuses on building and strengthening muscles with a 40 minute set of strength training routines.

It’s a completely normal and widely used class format in Jazzercise centers – it’s just something I’ve never taught before! So last night I was frantically searching through all my Jazzercise materials to make sure I didn’t fudge this thing up. The outcome? It was super fun and challenging to do something new for a change!

Typical classes are around 40 minutes of cardio followed by 20 minutes of the strength training songs. So basically, I cut out the cardio and just about triple the strength training requirements, and voila! You get one awesome muscle toning session.

I arrived home sweaty and exhausted. This little lady is gonna be sore tomorrow!

Lunch

Lunch today was extra quick and half of it was eaten in the car on the way back to work. (I was busy finishing up my bodysculpting music set!) I threw together a salad with romaine lettuce, snap peas, and some more sweet peppers!

photo(29)Those sweet little babies are also getting ready to go bad, so I need to eat them up quick! Still crisp and delicious as of today 🙂  And I had some cottage cheese with a spoonful of mango salsa mixed in for a little extra flavor. After inhaling this, I quickly walked King Mac who couldn’t seem to quit crying for my food! Whiny and annoying as always during meals…

picstitchI made a quick turkey and mustard sandwich on wheat to finish off my lunch. This was eaten as I was driving back to work, and therefore, it is not pictured. There are crumbs all over my drivers seat now as proof though!

Dinner

Dinner needed to be substantial tonight after 2 workouts and a faster-than-normal lunch.

I downed some yogurt as soon as I walked in the door along with a banana. I literally inhaled this stuff so fast that I couldn’t snap a picture! I then hopped in the shower and thought about what else I wanted….decisions, decisions.

photo(22)I decided to keep it carb free and go for some steamed broccoli and cauliflower and ham! The mix of warm veggies and ham definitely hit the spot. And I now have leftover steamed veggies for lunch tomorrow. Win!

And now Nick, Mac, and I are lounging on the couch getting ready for a new Duck Dynasty! Wednesdays really are the best weekdays when there is a new Duck Dynasty to be watched 🙂 I love me some silly rednecks!

Have a great night!