Category Archives: Food for Thought

Leftover Turkey

Daily Life!, Food for Thought, , , , , ,

Hey there! How’s your day going? Mine’s like any other Monday….super duper (in a sarcastic voice). HA.

I really can’t complain. It was a good weekend of running, relaxing, and eating so I’m a happy camper. I also traded Jazzercise classes for today so I’m teaching at 6:45 tonight instead of my normal 5:40 AM. That’s always a nice surprise in my schedule. 🙂  I lose some of my evening at home, but I also get an extra hour of sleep. Gotta give a little to take a little!

Leftover Turkey

I told you all yesterday that I was trying to cook my first turkey breast on my own in my Crockpot. Well despite the issues with the lid not wanting to go down (the turkey was too big!), the turkey turned out wonderfully!

IMG_3232It was moist, delicious, and falling apart it was so tender. Yum!

IMG_3236Nick and I were pleasantly surprised! I was kind of full from snacking on some Superbowl goodies all day, so I had some turkey alongside some steamed veggies.

IMG_3237I was happy after my one plate, and Nick was too. But we now have loads of leftover turkey. I like leftovers…but meat is my least favorite thing to reheat. Nick may be taking cold turkey sandwiches to work for a while. 🙂

Superbowl Sunday

Did you guys have a good Superbowl Sunday? When I checked in yesterday, I was actually watching the Puppy Bowl on Animal Planet while Nick was napping. Mac really enjoyed watching the puppies play and make some touchdowns! My favorite? The water bowl camera. Hilarious.

Other than the Puppy Bowl, we indulged in some typical football party food…

IMG_3222And it was insanely delicious. I never make things like this for us. Velveeta never enters my grocery cart. So this was our once a year treat for the ‘holiday.’ I took my Lactase pills, and they kept me happy for the most part. Velveeta + Rotel + chips? Complete and utter heaven. We also enjoyed some buffalo chicken wings mid-afternoon along with countless peanut butter cookies that I made on Saturday. Hence the reason I didn’t want much turkey for dinner!

Springfield also had a light dusting of snow cover the area on Sunday afternoon, so Mac and I decided to go for a walk to enjoy it.

IMG_3223 IMG_3229It was cold and windy, so I utilized my ear warmer + the 2 hoods I was rocking on my vest and jacket.

IMG_3226I look awesome, I know. 🙂  But I stayed warm! The snow ended after about an hour and didn’t amount to much. But now we have several inches in the forecast for tomorrow. It could make for an interesting commute to work. I may wake up a little early and take Mac for a jog around the block to survey the road conditions. Plus he’ll need the extra exercise if momma can’t make it home at lunch time. Oh Winter….when will you leave?!

Well I’m headed off shortly to spend a little time with Nick and Mac before class tonight. Maybe I’ll have some beautiful snow pics for you next time I check in. But fingers crossed that I don’t. 😉

Have a great evening!

To Split or Not to Split?

Daily Life!, Food for Thought, Running, , , , ,

Happy Friday everyone! I’m so ready for the weekend. It’s been gloomy and rainy here, but I don’t even care. The weather won’t drag down my spirits before Superbowl weekend!!

But before I start rambling, look at this super attractive photo my coworker took of me this morning!

IMG_3196We have a new glass panel in our office that is perfect for standing behind and drawing funny faces on people. So that’s what we did for a good chunk of the morning. Don’t judge. It’s Friday.

So yesterday I started pondering my running plans for the weekend… I checked my Little Rock marathon training schedule to make sure I wasn’t crazy. 20 Miles. 20. Miles. Holy cow. That one’s gonna hurt. I decided a mini carbload could only help the situation, so I started today with brown rice and Greek yogurt.

IMG_3192Does anyone else like their rice hot with milk, cinnamon and sugar? Nick thinks I’m absolutely insane when I put this concoction together, but it’s a total comfort food that my mom used to make for us with leftover rice. He believes rice is meant to only be salty/savory. And I feel it can awesome sweet or salty. 🙂

Then for lunch I had some tortilla chips and cottage cheese followed by an open-faced bagel sandwich.

IMG_3194Disregard the cheese….I was craving it and decided the one piece would be worth the pain. So far so good. 🙂  I had half a bagel leftover from carb loading last week, so I microwaved it with some chicken deli meat + Gouda cheese. It was delish!

To Split or Not to Split?

With my long runs for the next 2 weeks being so long, right at or exceeding 3 hours, I started wondering if this is really good for me. And is it really necessary to do it all at once? Well Google only confused me on the subject of splitting up long runs (darn those other running blogs!), but I think I’ve come to the conclusion that I need to shoot to do it all at once. BUT, if I have to split it up due to social events, weather, etc, it won’t be the end of the world. Many people mentioned that running longer than 3 hours can set you up for more injuries and will take longer to recuperate before your next run.

I was happy to hear this as we are forecasted to have lots of rain tonight and into tomorrow morning that could mess up my 3 hour running plan. You’re thinking – just run after it stops?! Right?! I know. But I’m so OCD about when and where I run. I want to get out early while it’s still dark. I want to run on some roads that get too busy later in the day. And I just want to the rain to go away so I can do these things on Saturday morning! But you’re right. I could just wait it out as the rain is supposed to subside late morning. And Sunday is always an option as well – working around Jazzercise and the Super Bowl, of course!

So the main point of these ramblings? I realize I need to be flexible with my weekend training schedule. And if my run has to be split into 2 sessions, then that’s okay too!  And just to throw in one more curveball…we have lots of snow in the forecast for next week! Holy smokes!

Superbowl Plans

Do you guys have any? Nick and I are being little hermits this year and decided to party it up at home with Mac for the Super Bowl. We’re awesome….we know. 🙂

I’m a horrible sports fan. I rarely even know the teams that are playing in these major games, unless it’s a team from Missouri of course! But I’m the sucker that still gives into the ‘hype’ of the game. I will watch the pregame show, the puppy bowl, the whole game, commercials, and the half-time show. And I will eat chicken wings and chips and be excited for whichever team wins. And I will go back to not really caring Monday morning. Nothing against the game or sport – I’m just not that attached to it!

If you do have plans, I hope you have tons of fun! Have a great weekend and I’ll talk to you all soon!

Carb Loading is NOT My Fave

Daily Life!, Food for Thought, Running, , , , , ,

Happy Thursday! It is FRIGID here today. I’m talking ‘high of 15 degrees with a negative wind chill’ frigid. Yuck! When I woke up this morning, my weather app told me to go to the gym instead of run outside.

IMG_3135
Yes, I’ve powered through worse during these past few months, but when it feels like -10 degrees and the wind is blowing that hard, it’s just not worth it…especially during my taper week! So I headed out to the gym to complete my easy 3 miles for the day. I did some intervals – 2 minutes at a 8:15 pace, 2 minutes recovery at a 10 min pace – and that helped the time fly by on the dreaded treadmill.

Once I got to work this morning, the carbo-loading began. To be perfectly honest, it’s not that exciting and I’m not feeling so hot from it. I thought I would love it, but it’s really not my fave. At all…This is what I’ve had so far today.

IMG_3136Breakfast! Which was followed by a snack of cinnamon graham crackers (not pictured).

IMG_3137Then this stuff! Donated by a kind coworker. It was tasty and helps the immune system + 14g of carbs, so I was thankful for their gift.

IMG_3140Lunch! Whole wheat bagel + some fettucine Lean cuisine. I also stole some of Nick’s guacamole and had it some tortilla chips. Don’t tell him though. 🙂

After that lunch, my tummy has been slowly expanding the rest of this afternoon (probably from the alfredo sauce….oops). I know it’ll pass as the gluten and carbs digest, but it’s definitely not been the most pleasant experience so far! I’m just thankful for my run this morning. Exercise makes my tummy hungry. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have been able to stomach this much food.

I’ve decided that I will continue with my ‘carb-o-thon’ through dinner tomorrow night, but my heaviest meal tomorrow will be lunch. Dinner will be eaten late with Nick’s family, and I don’t want to wake up Saturday morning still trying to digest my food from the night before. So I’ll try to keep my helpings of spaghetti and bread fairly small tomorrow evening!

Sickness Be-Gone!

Today, I’ve still felt a little icky with a sore throat and a runny nose, so during lunch I grabbed some meds to get me through the day.

IMG_3143And also two little Halos for a citrus + vitamin C kick. (Ignore Mac….he’s doing doggie yoga in the background!)

IMG_3141It all seems to be helping this afternoon! Hopefully the Zicam will work and at least keep me from feeling any worse through the weekend. I’m not sick yet, but I definitely feel like it could hit at any moment. Lots of hand sanitizer and orange juice for me until Sunday!

In other news, I came across our professional photos from the Diva Dash 5K today!

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Can you spot Rikki and I? Look for the pink tutus on the right-hand side. Good luck.

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Tonight will consist of last minute packing (though most of it got done last night!) and teaching Jazzercise at 6:45. This will be my last class before the race, so we will be taking it easy so we don’t kill my quads pre-race. I’ll try to have a little fun though….it’s my last class until Monday AM!

Have a great night, and I will see you all tomorrow before we head off to STL!