Eggnog pancakes...my two favorite things collide at IHOP!

The other night I saw the IHOP commercial for their seasonal pancakes.  Ever since eggnog pancakes have been all I can think about.  Yeah, my mind is very busy...lol.  So I decided I must go there for dinner tonight.  I love IHOP because for like $7 you get a meal and a dessert in one!  I got two eggs over hard, turkey sausage, and hashbrowns with cheddar.  Sometimes I order off the healthy menu but usually I go full heart-attack.

  I inhaled my meal because I couldn't wait to get to the pancakes.  They did not dissapoint!  OMG so good.  The pancakes are eggnog flavored and then they have this vanilla cream in the middle, and a butter rum sauce on top.  I did share 1/2 with my husband so I'm not a complete piggy.   Only about 75% piggy! :P 

I'm so glad eggnog season is here again.  I love making eggnog bunt cakes and eggnog cheesecakes.  Who knows what else I'll find to make this year! 

A celebration!

Today was my first day back at work.  It's always hard after a break but coming back from being sick is better than from vacation because you weren't having fun on your off days! Due to my medicine I had to break my breakfast into two parts.  First I had this wonderful yogurt.  It's new at my store.  It seems to have replaced Oikos.  It's just as tasty and they all have a buy two get one free coupon on top!  Score! 

Breakfast part two was Kashi Go Lean Waffles with Nutella.  Yummy!  I love Nutella.  I know it's not super healthy but a girl needs a bit of fun in her life!

Lunch was leftovers from last night's dinner.  Pork tenderloin that was cooked in the crockpot with Mrs. Dash, Cumin, black pepper, and cinnamon rub.  Brown and wild rice mixed with white corn.  Cheddar jack cheese and sour cream as a topping.  I brought Tupperwear container that I bought from my cousin Jess.  There is a removable segment for cold stuff (cheese and sour cream) and the rest you pop the lid on, pop up the vent, and microwave. 

My good friend Jessi has been on a quest to lower her blood pressure.  We had planned a celebration dinner for after her doctors appointment today.  Happily Jessi worked super hard and got her numbers down!  YAY Jessi!  To celebrate we went to Pies and Pints...I'm an addict.  I did decide to try something I've never tried before today.  I got the Rustica White pie.  It has ricotta, mozarella, salami, artichoke hearts, and kalamata olives.  Not as fabulous as my usual Grape or Cuban but mighty good!  Todd got the pineapple, bacon, and feta pizza.  Also delicious!  Now I have leftovers for lunch!

I'm so frustrated that I keep getting sick.  It seems like I eat healthier and exercise more than at least 80% of the people I know so I don't know why I can't stay well!  Also oddly enough the doctor told me to avoid eating things with Vitamin A.  I thought Vitamin A was good for immunity?  Sad because I have so many pumpkin and squash recipes I want to make...

Long time no blog!

Just wanted to say I've been sick and having some tests done so I just didn't feel up to blogging.  I'm hoping to get back in the swing of things this evening! 

Wednesday recap

I've been in a funk the past couple of days so I haven't been keeping up with blogging.  Not sure the blog helps anyone anyhow so I guess it's all good!

This mess is 1/2 cup of oats that soaked in 1/2 cup of milk and 1/2 cup of frozen raspberries overnight.  Then I added in 1/2 cup of Fage 2% and handful of frozen mango.  Heavenly.

Boring lunch, but tasty.  PB and J pita, low sodium V8 and an orange.

Dinner was out.  No pictures.  Went to Logans with my parents.  Got salmon, baked sweet potato, side salad w/ ranch, and steamed brocolli.

Got my Burt Bee's acne solution sample I requested a few weeks back in the mail.  Eager to try it.

Forgot to mention that I drank this after my workout Tuesday night.  Not bad.  Down in two drinks.  I'd be willing to try it again.

On my way to kickboxing.  I'll blog about today later!

Lazy evening!

Still having yucky shingles pain today.  The world still goes on though so I headed to work and had a delicious breakfast!  Nature's Path Flax waffles, Fage 2%, frozen mango, and a drizzle of honey.  Very delicous.  I love frozen fruit!

Lunch was simple.  Whole wheat pita with peanut butter and banana, grape tomatoes, and a low sodium V8.  Peanut butter and banana is one of the best combos in the world.  Peanut butter is awesome with just about anything though!

I snacked on an unphotographed Zbar and I may have munched on some salt and vinegar Kettle chips before dinner.  My husband had to go to a computer conference so I didn't want to cook a big meal.  I found a Trader Joe's Indian Fare entree in the cabinet I'd been wanting to try.  I mixed it with some microwave brown rice.  Not bad.  A little spicier than I like.  I think everything is too spicy though.  My family laughs at me!  I watched the first episode of Dexter while I ate.  I am eager to start the series because I've read some of the books and I will have to wait forever for True Blood to be back.

  I skipped kickboxing in favor of a nap.  I found that when I'm under the weather and I push myself I end up getting major sick like I did with mono.  Then I'm out of commision for a month.  I wasn't completely lazy though.  After Dexter I did Self's Your Best Butt Fast workout.  This was the first time I've tried it and I liked it.  It wasn't super challenging but then again I'm hurting and not up to a big challenge.  It's split into various segments...kickboxing, dance moves, sculpting with weights, and yoga.  I also liked it because I met my 10 minute yoga challenge without doing an extra workout! :)  I also burned 310 calories.  Not bad for 40 minutes!

Now I'm headed to bed.  I do think I will be breaking into the Purely Decadent.  My goodness that stuff was AMAZING! 

I also wanted to share my new shoes!  It seems that the only time my foot doesn't hurt is when I'm wearing Birkenstocks so I had to get a pair for fall! I just love them!

A crazy couple of days!

I seemed to have gotten super busy over the weekend and totally skipped updating the blog!  So we'll start at Friday morning and I'll post pics and do a quick recap.  Pear bread w/ Krema Natural Peanut Butter, Fage 2% with lemon curd on the side.

Lunch: Pita with Sabra hummus, leftover pork tenderloin, and shredded cabbage.  Carrot sticks on the side.

Friday was Bosses Day.  My boss is really cool!  I got her a Starbucks giftset.

Dinner was Mexican.  Forgot pictures.  I got the best carnitas.  It's now my new addiction! Also went to a bar and listened to our friend sing karaoke.  She totally sounds like a for real singer!  She's awesome! Had a few New Castles.  Not usually a beer person.

Then we headed to another bar where our friend Jason's band was playing.  Had one of these. 

Saturday I went to lunch with my best friends Pam and Vanessa.  We were celebrating Pam's birthday.  She wanted to go to Applebee's.  I got French Dip sliders and french onion soup instead of fries. These are not my pictures btw.

Saturday night we had dinner with friends at Delightfully Yours.  This is another of my favorite restaurants.  Again I didn't take pictures of my dinner because I didn't want to explain the whole blog thing. I had an apple and gouda panini with sweet potato fries.  Then I remembered that I don't care for gouda and immediately wished I had gotten my favorite...the butternut squash and bacon panini.  It is the best sandwich on earth.  Anyhow the apple and gouda was okay and the fries were the best ever! After we ate I did take pictures of the fancy chocolates.  I really liked the turtle ones above.  They were $2 a piece though and too cute to eat!

 

After dinner we wanted to watch Where the Wild Things Are but it was sold out! :(  So instead we did something I haven't done in literally a decade! 

That's right!  Bowling!  Cute shoes, eh? 

This leads us into Sunday.  I had plans...going to church, going to the gym, and going out shopping.  Instead I woke up with a searing pain in my right side.  It feels exactly like the two times I have gotten shingles.  Yes I am the only person under 90 who gets shingles.  :(  So far I'm just having the pain and nothing else so I really don't know what is going on!  I was in terrible pain and basically laid on the couch all day.  I also missed a day of my 31 day yoga challenge! :(  This makes me sad. 

I did make one meal however.  Eggs in a basket.  My husband loves these.  I think it's because he love V for Vendetta! lol!

This morning I started the day with waffles, Krema peanut butter, and strawberry All-Fruit. If anyone is wondering about the Lexapro plate I guess I should mention that I work for a mental health agency.  Lest it looks like I'm such a big customer that I get free dishes! :P

Since I haven't been feeling good I didn't feel up to packing a home-made lunch.  So I brought this Healthy Choice Mediterranean Pasta.  It's tasty and at least I can recognize all the ingredients.  Not perfect but it will do!

Snack was a gingersnap Larabar.  Yum, yum!

Dinner was Ronzoni Smart Taste pasta with Newman's Own roasted tomato and garlic sauce, and feta cheese.  I picked a quick dinner because  I was supposed to go to my first bible study but it got postponed til next Monday.  For the best though because I'm still feeling craptastic.

I didn't want to miss another day of yoga so I found this on streaming Netflix.  I did the 10 minute buns and thighs segment.  Pretty decent workout.  I can't wait to try the rest!

Now I'm going to snack on some Purely Decadent chocolate frozen dessert. I've been wanting to try these coconut milk desserts for a long time but they are always around $6!!!  This week they were on sale for $3.49 so here is my big chance.  Hope it's tasty!  After my snack I'm headed to bed!  Hopefully this weird pain will be gone by tomorrow! 

Thursday in the Kitchen

I absolutely did not want to get out of bed this morning!  It was cold and raining!  Definately sleep in weather!  Sadly I have to work for a living so I got up and trudged in!  I was getting bored of oats and yogurt for breakfast so I switched things up.  Today I had Van's Flaxseed waffles with Trader Joe's crunchy almond butter and strawberry All-Fruit.  So good!  As always a nice cup of tea!  Stash organic English Breakfast this morning!

  Since it was cold and nasty I had soup for lunch!  This is my favorite soup, Trader Joe's lentil vegetable.  It's delicious!  On the side I had a whole wheat pita with a wedge of Laughing Cow light garlic and herb.  Quick and easy!

After work I had to get some groceries!  I broke the cardinal rule of grocery shopping and went to the store hungry!  I wanted everything in the store! I found a great deal on pork tenderloin!  I got a one pound tenderloin for $2.94!!!  I grabbed it up because I had the perfect recipe to go with it!  Emeril's simple grilled pork tenderloin!  Very easy to make and so good.  It says to marinate overnight but I only marinated it for about an hour!  To go with it I chopped some apples and cooked them on the stove with lemon juice, cinnamon, and pumpkin pie spice.  I also grabbed up some zuchinni and summer squash and sauteed them in olive oil on the stove.  Definately one of my favorite quick sides.  This dinner was SO GOOD!  I grilled the pork on the George Foreman grill and it was ready in about 15 minutes! While the pork was marinating I got started on dessert.  A few weeks ago I read about a pear bread on The Fit Bride blog and knew I wanted to try it.  The original recipe was from All Recipes.  I made a few changes such as using whole wheat flour, 1/2 cup of applesauce and 1/4 cup of oil, and using Sugar in the Raw.  The batter was so good I was tempted to just eat it and skip the baking step! :P  The finished product was delicious too!  My husband is in love.  It makes two loaves and I'm not sure they'll last the night!

See I couldn't even get a picture before he ate the end of this loaf! 

I did skip kickboxing tonight just because I've felt a bit rundown this week and I had to get groceries and do some laundry.  I didn't skip working out though!  I pulled out 30 Day Shred and did level 1.  I haven't done the video in months and I'm glad to say my heart rate is much lower doing it now than last time!  I also did a 10 minute yoga abs workout.  I've packed my lunch and I'm ready to head to bed!  Glad tomorrow is Friday!

Early to Bed! Way Early!

Today I just plain wasn't feeling good.  I think I might be coming down with a cold.  I started the morning with some overnight oats.  Recipes:  1/2 cup oats, 1/2 cup greek yogurt, splash of milk, 2 generous spoons of pumpkin, 1 TB of currants, spices, Sun Crystals, and unsalted pumpkin seeds sprinkled on top.  Delicious and very filling!   I love to make breakfast ahead of time because I am NOT a morning person!

Lunch is unpictured because seriously I just wasn't with it today and forgot!  Imagine a whole wheat pita stuffed with almond butter.  Not too exciting anyhow, eh?  I was going to the dentist so I didn't want a big lunch in me!

Since the dentist is located so close to my favorite pizza place, Pies and Pints, I knew I had to get a pizza to go.  I wanted to surprise my husband!  After the horrible chicken in the floor incident of last night I didn't even feel up to cooking today! lol!  I got half grape and gorgonzola and half Cuban.  So delicious!  Best idea I've had in weeks!  So after dinner I'm still feeling yucky plus it's cold so I threw on sweatpants and a hoodie and I went to bed.  I read some of my book for bible study.  Turns out there are questions I'm supposed to answer at the end of the chapters.  I guess I should've assumed as much! lol!

I took a big nap!  From 8p.m. to 1 a.m.  Now I'm up when I should be asleep! Oh well.  I'm trying out my new nightguard.  Turns out I did not have to have my filling done today, thank goodness since I'm already feeling bad!  He said where my jaw is cracking and popping it wouldn't be a good idea to have my mouth propped open so long so I'm to wear my nightguard a few weeks and return Nov. 3rd!  This little device pictured above is what my guard looks like.  It's called an N.T.I. Tension Suppression System.  You wear it over your front teeth and it prevents your teeth from touching so you can't clench or grind!  It not only prevents tooth grinding it also relaxes the muscles involved which can clear up TMJ! Would you believe this little hunk of plastic is $195!!!

I almost missed a day of yoga!!!  No fears when I awoke I did some self-guided yoga stretches before I got up to do this blog post!  Very relaxing.  No one else is up.  Just me and the cat! Her purring was quite soothing and well suited to the poses actually!  Yogi master Buttercup? :)

Question for the day: How does everyone else attempt to fight off a cold?

Dinner=Epic Fail!

Today was one of those days where things just don't go quite right!  First off the batteries in my camera died.  I mean the picture quality on my camera is bad enough but breakfast and lunch pictures are taken on my way subpar cellphone camera!  Anyhow breakfast was two more of the Clean Eating Coco Cran Nut muffins and pumpkin yogurt.  I mixed 2/3 cup Fage 2%, a couple of spoonfuls of pumpkin, spices, a few chopped pecans, and a pack of Sun Crystals.  The pumpkin yogurt really seemed to creep out a co-worker.  You'd think I ate bugs or something like that guy on the Travel Channel to hear this lady talk!

 Lunch was leftover stir-fry with a carrot and some grape tomatoes.  Surprisingly filling!  I did have an afternoon snack of some grapes but honestly I didn't even need my usual pre-kickboxing snack bar today!  As for kickboxing.  My goodness it was so hot in there.  I don't know why since the A/C was on and it's cold outside.  I felt like I could spontaneously combust!  It was a tough class to get through.  Plus it was abs night and my abs are still super sore from my 1 hour ab class last night!  Oh well!  I hung in there and got it done!

  After class I was starved.  I snacked on some Food Should Taste Good Olive chips (wonderful!!!) and Sabra hummus.  Then I started on dinner but had a huge mishap.  I was making a recipe from one of the South Beach cookbooks called Indian Chicken.  Things started out good, brown the chicken pieces.  Put them on a plate while you cook some garlic, ginger, curry powder, veggies, and coconut milk.  Then add the chicken back.  Except I added the step of drop all but one piece of chicken in the floor!  So I threw some chickpeas in the pot instead.  My husband wasn't keen on a vegetarian entree and since he was out and about anyhow he got some chicken from Krogers Deli!

I had a small piece.  I took the skin with the smokey barbeque coating off before I ate it though.  With my Indian (not) Chicken I served quinoa.  I've eaten it many times but never cooked it.  I decided to use low sodium chicken broth instead of water.  Then I added a touch of curry powder and a few spritz of Bragg's seasoning.  Very tasty! I think I will be making quinoa more often!

For tonight's yoga I did a 10 minute Yoga legs workout.  Now I'm ready for bed and reading.  Starting this coming Monday I am going to a once a week bible study thing.  We are to be reading Slightly Bad Girls of the Bible.  I have to read the first two chapters by Monday.  Not a problem since I read quite fast.  I have never been to any sort of bible study before so I'm a little nervous.  Seeing as I have quite a few tattoos I don't fit in at a lot of churches!  Luckily I am friendly with girl hosting and my best friend is going to be going too so it should be fine!

I have to get a filling tomorrow and get fitted for my mouth guard!  I hate going to the dentist!  I'm actually almost excited about the mouth guard because I'm a terrible teeth grinder and now my jaw is snapping and popping like crazy! 

Ang's Awesome Abs???

I can't believe it's Monday already!  Where do the weekends go???  Today for breakfast I had cottage cheese and two Coco Cran Nut muffins.  I got the recipe in the newest Clean Eating magazine.  They are REALLY good!  I love Clean Eating magazine.  They have so many great recipes to try! 

For lunch I had the leftover fajita mix stuffed inside a whole wheat pita.  Some of it wouldn't fit so I just ate it by itself!  Still yummy today!  Grapes on the side!  For my afternoon snack I had another Cliff Smores Zbar.  I had to have a snack to gear up for a new class I was trying at the gym.  Al's Awesome Abs, hence the title of the post.  Technically I don't have awesome abs yet but hopefully in the future the title will be true! ;) Actually I really think  I do have awesome abs.  They just have a bit too much cushioning they are hiding under! lol!  The class was supposed to be 45 minutes but it ran a whole hour.  I actually burned close to 350 calories!  I guess Al's class was awesome!

I came home from the gym STARVING.  Luckily the dinner I had planned was quick.  Steak stirfry!  I bought the steak already in strips.  I started by heating garlic and ginger in the pan, I added some chopped carrot and mushroom, then the steak, then shredded cabbage, then steamed brocolli, a scrambled egg, sprouted brown rice, and black bean garlic sauce.  So good and ready in a jiffy.  I got the Annie Chung brand of microwave sprouted brown rice.  All natural.  Very fast and tasty.  I will definately buy that again! 

For some reason this evening  I am wore out!  I think I'm going to pack tomorrow's meals and head to bed!

Weekend and Yoga Recap!

It's been a little bit hectic this weekend so I decided to just do one big post!  Saturday morning I got up and made apple pie oatmeal.  I chopped an apple and cooked it on the stove with some water, lemon juice, cinammon, pumpkin pie spice, and a packette of Sun Crystals.  Once it was soft I added additional water and oats to cook.  I topped the oats with a bit of Trader Joe's crunchy almond butter.  Yum!  This was good oatmeal! After breakfast it was time to start getting ready for my nephew's 3rd birthday party.  He has a little ride on John Deere tractor that he absolutely loves to drive so the party was tractor themed!

Here was his cute tractor cake! He loved it!

I didn't eat any of the tractor cake.  One of the little boys at my table is on a gluten free diet and he brought some cupcakes to share with anyone who wanted one so I decided to have a cupcake with him!  He's a big WVU fan in case you couldn't tell!  The cupcake was really tasty!  Turned my lips blue though, but that's okay!  It was a party!   The food at the party was relatively healthy.  Little Subway sandwiches.  I had one of the ham and cheese ones and one of the turkey and cheese ones.  Lots of veggies.  No mayo.  Also there was a delicious fruit salad.  Grapes, strawberries, blackberries, and raspberries!  I loaded up on that! :)

This morning for breakfast I tried to make whole wheat buttermilk biscuits.  They tasted really good but they didn't rise.  I later noticed that my baking soda was expired so that could be the reason!  Anyhow they were still edible...just flat!  I served them with two fried eggs.  After breakfast I helped my daughter with a TON of math homework.  Bluck!  Then I hit the gym for 45 minutes of rolling hills on the elliptical.  I did a quick strength training workout before bed last night so today was all cardio.  After the gym I made a cheeseburger in pita (see Friday's dinner) and took a bit of a nap!  Sunday afternoon naps are what I live for!

After my nap I showered and got ready to go to dinner.  My husband has been wanting to hit the Mexican restaurant all weekend!  We met our friends Mike and John and had a pretty good feast!  I had chicken fajitas with mushrooms, green peppers, and tomato.  No onion for me!  Served with rice, beans, lettuce, and guacomole.  So good.  Plus I have leftovers for tomorrow! I don't feel guilty when I go out to eat.  I feel like I eat healthy at least 80-90% of the time so a splurge once in awhile is fine! 

Now for the recap of my first 11 days of yoga!  Going well.  I'm glad  I accepted the challenge.  I wish I had more yoga options but even with my Denise Austin and You Tube videos I'm feeling a benefit.  I especially like to do relaxation yoga before bed.  It's helping me get to sleep earlier!  I still haven't learned to like a sun salutation but there are still 20 days to go...maybe I'll get there! lol!