Finally!! I got to workout!

I woke up this morning feeling much much better than I did when I went to bed last night. I took some Azo and it seemed to help, but I think I completely flushed my system with the amount of water I consumed. I was peeing like a camel all night. I'm sure I still need an antibiotic, but we'll see how I'm feeling tomorrow.
So, I got up with Dallas this morning, even though I'm on my week long vacation, and started my day. I turned on the today show upstairs and downstairs so that I could hear it wherever I was and headed to the kitchen for some breakfast.

Goal number 1 today- make a delicious Green Monster Spinach Smoothie! I know, it sounds dreadfully awful, but to my surprise it was quite appetizing. (recipe at bottom)
I promise that it looks far worse that it tastes. The other ingredients completely mask the spinach taste!

I headed back upstairs with my breakfast and Dallas looked my way and made a terrible, painful, disgusted face. "What is that?!?!"
haha... then he took a sip and I think he was pleasantly surprised! It's not so bad!


I got dressed, sucked down my smoothie and headed to the gym. I took Body Pump this morning at 8:30 and it was so awesome to be back in there. I haven't taken that class in almost 2 years and it felt great! And by great I mean every single muscle in my body was worked and my arms were literally shaking by the end of it all... Not many things feel as good as pushing yourself to your limits.


If you don't know what body pump is, here's the description from our gym's website.

"BODYPUMP is the original barbell class that strengthens your entire body. This 60-minute workout challenges all your major muscle groups by using the best weight-room exercises like squats, presses, lifts and curls. Great music, awesome instructors and your choice of weight inspire you to get the results you came for - and fast!" 
Yep- that just about sums it up. My arms were jell-o by the time I walked to my car. Safe to operate a moving vehicle? Probably not, but I'm a rebel and did it anyways! ;)

Lunch was left-over Beef Tataki from last night (recipe on yesterday's blog).
and it's a healthy version of Chicken Gumbo for dinner tonight. 

It is so so SO delicious!

Here's the recipe:

Healthy Chicken Gumbo

1 teaspoon vegetable oil
1/4 cup flour
3 cups low-sodium chicken broth
1 1/2 lb. chicken breast, skinless, boneless, cut into 1-inch strips
1 cup (1/2 lb.) white potatoes, cubed
1 cup onions, chopped
1 cup (1/2 lb.) carrots, coarsely chopped
1/2 medium carrot, grated
1/4 cup celery, chopped
4 cloves garlic, finely minced
2 stalks scallion, chopped
1 whole bay leaf
1/2 teaspoon thyme
1/2 teaspoon black pepper, ground
2 teaspoons hot (or jalapeño) pepper
1 cup (1/2 lb.) okra, sliced into 1/2-inch pieces

1. Add oil to large pot and heat over medium flame.

2. Stir in flour. Cook, stirring constantly, until flour begins to turn golden brown.

3. Slowly stir in all broth using wire whisk. Cook for 2 minutes. Broth mixture should not be lumpy.

4. Add rest of ingredients except okra. Bring to boil, then reduce heat and let simmer for 20–30 minutes.

5. Add okra and let cook for 15–20 more minutes.

Serve this up over a bowl of brown rice!

Also, please take a gander at what I bought for $10... After we trimmed the tenders off of the breasts we ended up with 4 dinners and 4 lunches. Yes, that's correct. 8 meals for $10! Gosh I love saving money!

 
And here's what I consumed today: 
(5 small meals is hard to do, but Bria insists it's necessary...and I love her and trust her, so I did it)

-Green Monster Spinach Smoothie for breakfast
-1/4 cup oatmeal (measured before it was cooked), 1 tsp. brown sugar, 1 tablespoon raisins for snack

-Beef Tataki for lunch

-slice of bread with peanut butter for snack

-Healthy Chicken Gumbo over brown rice for dinner
-glass of peach green tea with 3/4 tbs. of sugar (best drink ever!)

and again- TONS OF WATER!

Here's the recipe for that yummy green stuff I wrote about earlier... It kind of reminds me of Oscar the Grouch for some reason. Maybe I'll just begin referring to this drink as an Oscar...

Green Monster Spinach Smoothie AKA an Oscar:

1 frozen sliced banana

1 Tablespoon peanut butter

1/2 cup fat free plain yogurt

dash of vanilla

1 cup Unsweetened Vanilla Almond Breeze (or other kind of milk)

4 cups baby spinach (or more, or less)

Blend it up in a blender and enjoy! And possibly gross out anyone in close proximity to you... 

Well...this is no fun.

So I lied earlier when I said I was going to blog again "later when I've done something with my day."
I suppose if you're reading any of this then you're interested in knowing about my life, my habits, my recipes, my workouts, and well- now my health. You're welcome.

I was feeling great all morning...Enjoyed a delightful bowl of oatmeal with raisins, brown sugar, and cinnamon and a cup of coffee. I watched the moving picture box, set up this glorious blog and after a few hours of pinterest and running errands I heated up some lunch (left-overs). I am seriously loving this one week I have off of work. It's so nice waking up knowing you don't have a plan and you fly by the seat of your pants...

So Dallas came home and we had lunch, roasted chicken with roasted carrots and potatoes and got my afternoon agenda going.

-Pick up the girls from school (I'm nannying for a family)

-Body Pump at 5:30 hopefully with Abbie

-Come home and cook dinner (Beef Tataki)

-Hang out with the Prichards

-Come home, make out, go to bed. ;)

So basically I got to the first thing on my list and that was it.
Sometime around 3:30 I had to pee, so naturally, I headed to the restroom. OOOOHHH MY PUMPKIN PIE! It burned like a son of a gun, I was passing blood in my urine, and as I pressed on my lower abdomen to test for pain I almost came unglued. Gotta love a sudden UTI/Bladder infection. I haven't decided which it is. Gosh I forgot how awful those things were- it's been years since I've had one. There was no way I could do body pump. My entire body was already sore from the two previous days work-outs and now my organs are not feeling so hot. I went home and decided I had to do something... I couldn't just sit around and feel sorry for myself.
I did approximately 20 dips and 20 push-ups before the pressure that I was causing on my lower abdomen was too terrible to go on. What a waste! UGH!

Dallas, sweet Dallas, brought me home medicine and I'm still waiting on it to kick in.
I did, however, get up and cook dinner. I hate being useless so I had to at least do that!
It was wonderful and super healthy... Here's the recipe! Today wasn't totally a waste I suppose.

Beef Tataki:

Bag of Brocolli Slaw (with matchstick carrots)

Fresh chopped Chives (to taste)

1/4 c. reduced sodium soy sauce

2 tablespoons of lemon juice

1 lb. beef stir-fry. Or sirloin if you can't find it cut already. (cut into thin strips)

First, I used half of the bag of slaw and I covered it in water in a bowl for 5 minutes. 

Mix the soy sauce, lemon juice and chives in a bowl.

Pour the water off of the slaw and then use 2 tablespoons of the liquid mix to pour over it. Mix and let it sit.

Lightly season the beef with pepper and garlic salt. 

I used a teaspoon of coconut oil and cooked the beef until it's to your desired temperate. 

Serve beef over the slaw and drizzle desired amount of remaining soy mix over the top.

mmmm...little asian lady food!

We each ate about 1/4 cup of rice with it and Kimchi (spicy fresh cabbage mix).

All of the vegetables were raw so they were even more full of vitamins and nutrients than usual. :)

It was so yummy and we even had leftovers. 

Portion control sucks, but is worth it. 

So today:

1/2 cup cooked oatmeal, 1 tsp. brown sugar, 2 tablespoons raisins, dash of cinnamon

Cup of coffee, teaspoon of sugar, 3 tablespoons milk.

TONS OF WATER

Piece of roasted chicken, 5 chunks of roasted potato, 3 roasted carrots

1 cup broccoli slaw, 5 thin slices of beef, 1/4 cup of rice, 1/4 cup of kimchi.

And a beer because my mother-in-law says that it's a cure for bladder infections...we shall see.

Here goes nothing...

Well, It's January 9, 2012 and this is my first post to my latest blog. I'm terrible at keeping a blog but I am really going to give this one a go. I don't have a whole lot of cool stuff to post at this point in the morning considering I'm still sitting around in my robe and and I just finished watching Kathie Lee and Hoda on the Today show...
I do plan on (at the end of every day) posting what I've done for  my workout and what I've had to eat for the day. And hopefully I'll even get around to posting some of my favorite recipes as I stumble upon them. I grew up in a down home, good living, good eating, country style home where everything was breaded and buttered and deep fried. Unless of course it was a steak- then it was thrown on the grill. Mashed potatoes and creamed corn with butter butter butter. It was delicious while it lasted, but at this point in my life, 26 years old, I know that eating healthy will play a huge part in my overall health as I age, raise a family, and pass on good habits to my children (which I have none of right now...just thinking ahead!)

I know how to cook healthy foods, but they get old really fast and eventually everything feels like it tastes alike-kind of bland and boring. I WILL find recipes that keep everyone looking forward to dinner and I promise to share them with everyone. :)

I'll also tell you how many times I almost vomited at the gym and how awesome I felt afterwards...
I plan on taking some classes, simply because I think they're so fun, but as soon as I get everything worked out with some other crossfitters and I can meet up to workout I'll post workouts and times. Can't wait!

I'll post later on once I've done something with my day!