Chile With Beans

I was in a hurry this morning.  I had my coffee (almost never miss that), but had to run out the door without breakfast (almost never miss breakfast either!).  Luckily, someone brought donuts to work so I snagged one of those to satisfy me until lunch.

One of our VP's was in the office today and I had meetings with him that pretty much took up my whole lunch hour, so I resorted to my stockpile of Lean Cuisines again.  I chose some kind of flatbread sandwich and it was DISGUSTING!  I choked about half of it down and then remembered I had thrown a multigrain bagel and some almond butter in my bag yesterday, and I always keep some honey at my desk.  Woo hoo!  I tossed the rest of the nasty flatbread and enjoyed every bite of my bagel!

I also had a greek yogurt later in the afternoon.  I was planning to run after work, so I figured I would need a little afternoon snack.  When I left work, however, it looked like it might rain.  This provided an easy excuse for me to bag the run for today.  As I got closer to home, the skies looked clearer and seeing all of the people out walking, running, and biking made me feel really guilty.  I decided I should at least go for a short run.  As usual, I was so glad I did!  It was a good run and I was able to stay under a 10 minute pace (barely, but it counts!)!  Having that new pace goal gave me the extra challenge and motivation I needed to make it through the run.

Here was the prize waiting for me after the run:

This is a Pinot Grigio from Chile.  I drank about half of this glass. This is the third "half glass" I've wasted from this same bottle.  I've tried several wines from Chile, and I have never found one that I liked. 

While I sipped on the mediocre wine, I started making dinner.  I tried a bean salad recipe tonight that was really good.  I had several veggies that I just needed to finish off before they go bad.  Here's my salad:

Black beans, pinto beans, red bell pepper, corn, red onion, cilantro, cucumber, grape tomatoes.  

I mixed up a vinaigrette dressing with evoo, cider vinegar, dijon mustard, cumin, salt and pepper.  Here's the recipe - the only things I changed was to use pintos instead of lentils and I added cucumber.  It was so fresh and good!  We also had grilled hamburgers.

I'm really tired and ready to go to bed!  Sorry it wasn't a very exciting day, but tomorrow is Friday and I expect things will be hoppin'!  :)

Rain, Rain, Go Away!

I can't believe how much rain we have gotten lately.  We needed it badly, but I'm ready for it to end...NOW!  I think my motivation matches the weather...dreary.  It seems like most Mondays are like that for me so I'll just roll with it and look forward.  Tomorrow is supposed to be nice, sunny, and warm!

This morning started with coffee and a bowl of oatmeal with bananas, pecans, and maple syrup.  It was gone before I remembered to take the photo! :)

It appears I will be making a lot of Green Monsters for the foreseeable future.  My son decided he loves them and wants one every day for breakfast.  I made him one before school this morning and then I made one for myself to take to work.  I had it as a snack later in the afternoon.  We liked this new flavor.

Mango Zico, splash of coconut milk, chia seeds, 1/2 banana, Bartlett pear, spinach, and kale.

This made a really good snack, it wasn't too filling but I felt totally satisfied after drinking it.  I must have been really hungry today because I can't manage to get any pictures before I dig in!  Sorry! 

Dinner was ho-hum tonight, and then we spent the evening helping our neighbors drink the leftover beer from the party on Saturday. 

Let's Talk Coffee...

I gave you a teaser last week that I would post soon about coffee "my way".  Well, the time has come.

I'm no coffee snob, I don't grind my coffee beans fresh daily, and I'm not even extremely picky about the type of coffee I drink.  I buy various brands of coffee.  Sometimes whatever is on sale or whatever sounds good at the time.  Matt dictates that it can't be a flavored coffee.  He hates those and I'm fine with that.  Usually we pick a medium to dark roast.

I AM, however, concerned about what goes IN my coffee!  There are 3 things I put in my coffee that make me happy.

I mentioned coconut oil once before.  I've started sneaking adding about 1 tablespoon of coconut oil to the coffee grounds (Matt still hasn't realized it!).  The coconut oil (unrefined, cold pressed, "extra virgin", etc.) is so good for you and putting it in coffee is a good way to get that oil into your daily diet. 

When I was on my "Coconut Kick", I decided to try replacing the cream in my coffee with coconut milk.  When you look at the calorie and fat content it's about half that of cream (yes, I used full fat heavy cream) and, although I do not claim to be an expert by any means, I believe the type of fat in the coconut milk is much better for you than what you get from heavy cream (and if I'm wrong, please allow me to remain blissfully ignorant).  I've been drinking my coffee with coconut milk for about 2 months now and I'm totally hooked.  I don't want it any other way!

Several years ago, Matt started topping off his coffee with some Reddi Whip we had leftover from some dessert (when he wasn't squirting it directly into his mouth!).  It caught on and I started adding it to my cup of coffee...now we buy Reddi Whip for the sole purpose of topping our coffee!

And that's coffee..."my way"!

Hello Motivation!

Even though I was REALLY tired today, I had more motivation than earlier in the week.  The weather was beautiful and I'm starting to plan for the weekend so maybe that had something to do with it.

I briefly talked about it only once so far, but coffee is a daily ritual for me.  I always have my coffee even though I don't mention it in the daily posts.  One of these days (soon) I'll dedicate a post to coffee "my way" because it is a wonderful thing! 

I was running late this morning, so took my breakfast with me to eat at work. 

 

I decided to try something new with my SCO so I added raspberries, almonds, 1/2 a banana, and some maple syrup.  Not bad!  

I went out to lunch with a friend from work and, as usual when I'm out at lunch, I forgot to snap a picture.  We often go to one of Austin's most popular local restaurants, Chuy's, and we always order the same thing.  I have Deluxe Chicken Enchiladas and my friend has the Chicken Fajita Burrito.  They also have awesome sopapillas, but we were trying to be good today so we restrained ourselves. 

I've been so hungry lately.  Even though I was stuffed after a big lunch, I was still ready for a snack around 3:00 this afternoon.  I had the other 1/2 of my banana and some greek yogurt with honey (I'm so hooked on this stuff!).

I rushed home around 6:00pm, did a quick change, and headed out for a short run.  Really short - I ran just under 2 miles before it started to get dark.  That's ok because I've been having some pain in my leg and I'm afraid I have a shin splint so I don't want to overdo it.

(FINALLY I got the screen capture to work on my iPhone!)

When I got home I fired up the grill and got to work on dinner.  I marinated broccoli, red pepper, red onion, grape tomatoes, and carrots in balsamic vinegar, olive oil, oregano, basil, salt and pepper.  I grilled the veggies and a pork tenderloin that Matt started marinating in the afternoon in Wasabi Teriyaki sauce.  I cooked some couscous and voila!

 

Notice that I used the same "spinach trick" I tried the other day.  Because of the shape of the pork tenderloin, it didn't wilt the spinach quite as much but it was still good.  

 

Here's a close up of the grilled veggies:

 

It's late and I'm hungry again.  I think I've had plenty of calories today so I will skip the late night snack and go to bed. 

Ahhh...Saturday...

It was a great Saturday!  I woke up at a decent hour (before 8:30) and we immediately started getting some chores out of the way.  Well...ok...after a cup of coffee and some SCO!

 

I have a secret about the coffee.  I've been sneaking coconut oil in it for a while now.  Matt doesn't seem to care for things cooked in coconut oil so I have to find some way to get that healthy goodness into him!  :)  If you've never heard about the benefits of coconut oil, you should really check it out.  There's a huge difference between the hydrogenated crap and extra virgin, unrefined, cold pressed coconut oil.

Getting out of bed and getting dressed at a decent time is a key motivator for me.  I got so many things done this morning instead plopping down on the couch in front of the TV. 

We ate a quick lunch, mostly leftovers, and then headed out to run a few errands.  I picked up these candle holders for the bedroom.

 

Not exactly what I want, but they were really cheap so they'll make due for now until I find something more sparkly!

After a quick stop at Whole Foods (LOVE that place!), we took the kids to the bookstore and just hung out for a while.  We browsed through some books and had some drinks - one of my favorite things to do with the family on the weekends!

By the time we got home it was time for dinner.  I have had this weird craving lately for vegetables of all kinds. 

In one corner we have acorn squash and beets roasted in that wonderful coconut oil and then glazed with honey.  In the other corner we have asparagus and mushrooms brushed with olive oil and spices and a pat of butter.

While I was cooking, I had a glass on Pinot Noir.  I love to have a nice glass of wine while I cook.  I really like this one...

 Dinner was yummy!  I grilled some chicken and made some short grain brown rice to serve with the overabundance of veggies.  :)