We’ve got to move it, move it!

Kicking off the Healthy Heart Weekend with this workout!

I would have used the squat cage, but some guys had camped out in it. I didn’t want to work in because it would have been loading and unloading the barbell and I didn’t want to do that.  I walked some on the treadmill and then came home to breakfast.

Pumpkin oats topped with some creamed honey and toasted pecans.

Plus pour over coffee.  John is ordering the new coffee maker since I bought the espresso machine.  I hope it comes by next weekend for our Mardi Gras party!  Eeek! 

Busy work day today.  A new doctor was added on my account and I have to say that I love his voice!  That was a nice bonus today.

I was feeling the pumpkin love again for lunch today.  This is one of those times when I am eating what John calls my ‘weird food’.  This is a pumpkin protein shake made with just pumpkin, almond milk, cinnamon and unflavored protein powder.

I really like this shake, but most people probably wouldn’t because it is not sweet at all.  I just love the pumpkin flavor.  I realized that there wasn’t much fat in this meal, so I had some cashews with it.

For the Pixie lovers – she was being cute today.  Pixie is one of those weird cats that loves to have her tummy rubbed.  Most cats will go ballistic and scratch when you rub their tummies, but Pixie rolls right over when you come up to her.  She is very expectant here.

I don’t need my tummy rubbed, but I do like it filled with lattes!

I was so productive with work that I finished up early!  Yay for that on a Friday!  I even had my guitar practice done before dinner.  Sweet.  I had turkey again.  Here I said how tired I was of it, but nothing else was thawed out and I didn’t feel like an omelet.  So, I cooked up the turkey with some taco seasonings and put it on a potato with some sour cream.  It was really good!

Tonight is relaxing night.  I will ride the trainer for a little bit, but then have a quiet evening.  John is feeling a little better, but not enough to go paint the town red.

I will have a chocolate snack tonight as well.

This is really, really good, too.  Did I mention that Albany is getting a Trader Joe’s?  Now I will only have to drive an hour to pick up stuff.  They are supposed to open in late spring of this year.  Hopefully it really will be that soon.

Have a great Healthy Heart Weekend!

It was a more quiet weekend around here.  What better thing to do than to carve pumpkins right before Halloween?

We use the Pumpkin Master patterns and bought a new booklet this year for a change.

Pumpkin carving tip:  Photocopy the pattern and reduce or enlarge to the size of your pumpkin so the pattern fits.

You put the pattern on the pumpkin and poke little holes through the pattern to transfer it to the pumpkin.

Then you can open the top and clean out the guts.

Thick pumpkin!!! I am saying right here and now that pumpkins stink when you open them up. I love pumpkins, love looking at pumpkins, love eating pumpkin,  but they smell when raw.

We don’t save the seeds.  I remember toasting pumpkin seeds and then never really liking them.  The seeds aren’t the same as the pepitas anyway.  Too fibrous.

Pumpkin carving tip: After you have transferred the pattern, wipe it with cornstarch so you can see the pattern.

Then cut out the pattern, making reference to the paper pattern so you don’t cut the wrong stuff.  Not that I have ever done that!

You can take a break from the carving with some homemade kettle corn, too!  Use oil to pop your corn (coconut is best!). When you put the kernels in to the hot oil, add 3 tablespoons of sugar to the kernels and pop as usual. Sprinkle with salt when it is done.  Voila, homemade kettle corn super easy!

Optional, but tasty!

Pumpkin carving tip:  Scrape the inner wall of the pumpkin thinner behind your pattern.  This will make it easier to carve and easier to see when back lit.

This one is one of my new favorite patterns, it came out so cool!

This witch is stirring a pot, but John said she looks like she is rocking out with a guitar.

John did an ad lib with his pattern and added a couple things. He made the RIP headstone and added a crescent moon. He is such a rebel!

Who says kids get all the fun on Halloween?

This was good, but I was really full from it.  It actually kept me full for hours! Not sure I liked the sugar feeling, though.  I definitely don’t eat stuff like this for breakfast very often and not likely to change that.

Work was hard today.  Very difficult dictator all day long and it hurts my brain.  It always amazes me how being mentally exhausted also makes you physically tired.

I decided to boost my brain with a big protein hit for  lunch with chicken salad.  This was about 4 ounces of chicken!

Mixed with some mayo, curry powder, chopped apple and grapes.  Good stuff.

We have cold weather now.  High in the mid 40s, so Pixie was glommed onto me, which is fine.

Then she stretches out.

I had to move her at that point as I don’t type with 1 hand.

I took a break to make the lattes again today, but I skipped the liquor 

Along with some nuts:

I finally slogged through work.  My brain was totally fried.  I couldn’t even think about dinner.  I stood there snacking on pretzels.  Don’t you love those times? Almost went to get a slice of pizza, but John decided to cook up a cube steak for us.  I couldn’t even muster up the energy to cook up any veggie, so I just cut up a pear 

One way to get the energy back up up?  Hit the gym!  My mother and I now belong to the same gym, so we hit the gym tonight.  Wednesday night is mother/daughter night and we get together for something.  What better than being active?

I made mom go into the Iron Den LOL!

Weird seeing this table at the end, isn’t it? I can’t even remember the last time I did a nighttime gym workout. I think at least a couple years!

It felt good to work out.  You never, ever regret a workout.

Afterwards we stopped for a bit of decaf:

Today’s pink item?  Soap colorant:

This was used for my big soap order this week.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups of gluten-free flour (I used Bob’s Red Mill) *see note below
• 1 tablespoon of baking powder
• 1.5 teaspoons of xantham gum
• 1/4 cup brown sugar, packed
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 stick of cold butter (4 tablespoons)
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup of canned pumpkin
• 1 tablespoon of milk.

Preheat the oven to 375 F.  In a large bowl, mix together the flour, xantham gum, both sugars, baking powder, salt, and pumpkin pie spice.

(yeah, I am totally stealing the photos from the wheat scone recipe, but the technique looks exactly the same!)

Dice the butter into small pieces.  Make sure it is very cold butter. Add the butter to the dry mixture.

You can use a pastry wire cutter to mix in the butter, but I find that clean hands are your best tool for this job as you get a much better mixing.  You want the mixture to look kind of sandy when finished:

Combine the eggs, pumpkin and milk together and mix well.

Add to the dry ingredients.

Mix until everything is just moistened and turn out onto a well- floured surface.  Keep some flour nearby for dusting, as the dough will be very sticky.  I used probably a couple extra tablespoons of the flour to keep the dough from sticking.  Use more flour than the below picture.

Press the dough into a rectangle about 1/2 an inch thick, flouring your hands or the dough surface if need be.

Cut this in half the long way. Cut each half into 3 equal pieces, then cut each of those squares on the diagonal so that you have 12 pieces (each half of the above dough will make 6 triangles).

Carefully move the scones using a spatula to a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or a silicone mat.

Bake at 375 degrees F for 15 minutes.  Do not over bake.  These will not rise quite as high at the wheat scones. Remove to a wire rack to cool.

Then enjoy!  Top with whatever you choose.  Me, I am partial to glaze.

For a quick frosting for 1 scone, mix 1 tablespoon of reduced fat cream cheese or neufchatel (not fat free, ever) with 1 tablespoon of confectioners sugar with a about 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon of milk to get a glaze consistency.

Nutritional stats:  Per scone (with no glaze). 156 calories, 5.5 grams of fat, 25 grams of carbs, 2.5 grams of fiber, 3 grams of protein.

If you add the above glaze, it will add 70 calories and 3 grams of fat per scone.

John was quite pleased with these scones.  He said if I hadn’t told him they were gluten free, he would not have guessed.  They are maybe a little more dense than wheat scones, but quite good.

** Note on the GF flour.  I used Bob’s Red Mill All purpose GF flour.  If you use another flour, make sure that it can be subbed 1:1 with regular flour in recipes. The package should state how much per cup of regular flour you need.

Mine was topped with some of that lovely maple cream.  My goal was to eat gluten free today.

John got some molasses cooked in with his and pecans on top with maple cream.  Libby’s better get on the ball.  I have 1 hoarded can of pumpkin left.

Did you know that almond milk can go bad?  I did not.  I opened up an almond milk that we bought yesterday a month before its expiration date.  This is what it looks like.  This was supposed to go in my coffee.

Curds and whey anyone? arf: It didn’t smell, thank goodness, but I did have to go to the store today to exchange it.

I was really productive today.  Much, much better than on Friday.  Must be because I won the football picks.   You know when things go well, they just keep going well, right?

Lunch time!

I really mean it now.  No more tuna for a looooong time.  This was so dry, even though I mixed it with light mayo.  The last of the hurricane Irene stash.  Even if we get some other weather prediction like another hurricane or blizzard or whatever, I am not buying more tuna.

I did, however, enjoy my afternoon latte!

This is topped with a drizzle of honey and some cinnamon.  A miel, in other words.  I don’t sweeten my lattes, but I do like a little drizzle of something on the foam.

Before getting dinner ready, I decided to make some gluten-free banana bread.  I am using Bob’s Red Mill gluten free flour mixture.  My first foray into the multiple non-gluten flour blends.  While that was in the oven, I heated up dinner.

Chicken thigh, mango and sauteed brussel sprouts.  This was good!  The mango was just perfectly ripe.  I really should eat mango more often – it is such a tasty fruit.

After dinner I took a walk.  Come with me…

Someone has a tasty dinner planned 

Fall decorations abound now:

Sunflowers:

My shadow:

When you are 5 feet 2 inches tall, seeing your legs this long is really exciting!

My Broncos are on TV tonight for Monday Night Football.  However, it is the 2nd game which starts at 10:15 p.m.!  I will be asleep by the end of the first quarter, I think.

So how did that gluten-free banana bread come out?

Triple dipple thumbs up!  Gosh this was good.  You would never even guess it was gluten free, either.  I will post the recipe tomorrow.

Go Broncos!!

I slept in later this morning until 7:30.  I had trouble sleeping last night.  The full moon filtered in and kept me awake.  We are going to do something about the light tonight.

So, I got up and decided to get right to work seeing as we have been so busy, and we still were!  Feast or famine and I will feast as long as possible.

I did break after a bit and made up breakfast.

The pumpkin cake topped with coconut butter and peach jam!  Gosh, I am liking this!  It does make me a little thirsty, though, which I think is from the coconut flour?  Keeps me full!

Lunch break.  I made a different salad today, how about that?  Last night I made up a honey mustard dressing.

I used 2 tablespoons each of mustard, macadamia nut oil, honey, and apple cider vinegar.  Since they are all equal parts, you can make as much as you want.  I added a little bit of salt and pepper, shook it up and let it sit in the fridge overnight.  The flavor was much better today.  About 45 calories per tablespoon.

I had cooked chicken and a chopped hard boiled egg and added the dressing.

Porch lunch!

After doing more work this afternoon, I grabbed a date and then headed out for a bike ride.  I would have gone tonight, but rain was in the forecast.  Catch as catch can.  That seems to be the biking motto this year.

Solo ride for froyo.  Coopers Cave should be called The Place of Too Many Choices.  This is only part of all their flavor choices.  They customize yogurt and soft serve for each person.

I chose to get rum cheesecake topped with toasted coconut!

See the eagle eye I have on my bike in the background.

So good!

I then booked it home.  Total miles – 15.1.  Average speed:  13 mph.  Calories burned 464 (buh-bye yogurt, and then some).

Then it was back to work until dinner time.  Pixie always steals my seat when I leave.

I just always have to get at that tummy with my hands when she rolls over like this. Too tempting.

I decided to give another psuedo noodle a try for dinner.  No-oodles.

Long-time readers my remember my dislike of the shiratake noodles.  However, these are made with yam flour (aka glucomanan).

The noodles had somewhat an odor in the bag, but not as strongly obnoxious as the shiratake ones.  I made a cream cheese sauce with

• 2 tablespoons of neufchatel cream cheese
• 1 tablespoon of butter
• 1 tablespoon of milk (1%)
• salt and pepper

Quick and easy sauce that was, too!  I tossed the sauce with some steamed broccoli, cooked shrimp and the no-oodles.

Looks pretty good, no?

I did like the sauce.  The noodles?  Okay, but still with that odd texture like gummy bears or something. They don’t have the toothsome-ness of pasta.  No way around that.  I doubt I will purchase them again, but they weren’t bad.

This was a lot of food and I wasn’t hungry for my planned pear, so I am saving that for tonight’s snack.

I did sneak out on a mission for Operation Sleep to KMart and found this!

A sleep mask! I just never thought to look in the froofy bath section for these.  And it is bamboo and earth friendly to help me sleep even better   $3.99 is much cheaper than buying new light blocking window coverings.  Now we will just see if my tossing and turning self can keep this on overnight.

Operation Sleep continues…

I was so efficient this morning with super sets and finished that workout in 30 minutes.  Then it was breakfast time!

The 1-minute applesauce muffin done in the waffle iron. Topped with a warmed mashed nanna and coconut butter.  This kept me full until lunchtime, which was really nice.  BTW – I nurse about 10 ounces of either cow’s milk or almond milk over the course of the morning in coffee. That gives me about 12-14 ounces of coffee.

Helen commented on the long bike ride post about how did I manage to stop at 1 cupcake.  I guess I didn’t say that those 2 cupcakes pictured were both mine.  They were and I ate both.  I didn’t really need both, but I couldn’t decide on the flavor.  Normally this shop has 2 bite cupcakes and I will get one of those with the medium cupcake.  They were out of the little ones, so I just got the regulars and figured I would eat what I wanted (which turned out to be all of both).  I definitely give myself a lot more leeway on long ride days.

Yesterday, I got serious carb cravings.   That oftentimes happens to me the day after long rides where I become a bottomless pit.  I made some macaroons last night and proceeded to eat 5 of them.

Phew.  Today I am really trying to swing that pendulum back.  I said no macaroons today, but I can have one tomorrow if I want it.  Gotta bargain with myself sometimes to stay on track.

Lunch time:

Tuna with light mayo and lemon pepper.  I whole can of tuna, I might add.  Need that protein (24 grams)!

I didn’t actually eat the coconut biscuit.  I put in on there for the picture, but didn’t end up wanting it.  Trying to listen to my body and how much food it wanted.

Almond milk latte for a snack, although it was pretty warm outside – in the 70s! 

The almond milk foams like a sonofagun, too.

I was really productive with work and finished up in good time.  Love those days!  I took a walk to the hardware store to get some leaf bags to clean up our yard, but they were sold out.  Guess everyone had the same idea. I did get the rose bushes pruned – all 4 seem to have survived this tough winter, yay!

My basil sprouts are doing well:

Then it was time for grillin’!  Such a sight for sore eyes.

I had some of that with  laughing cow on it (and hot sauce).  Tasty.

We are working on the half bath tonight.  The hardware came in for the pocket door, so we can get moving on that last wall. Thank you!  I will post some pics in a day or so.  We are hoping to get done relatively soon as the weather is biking weather and not renovation weather

I got stocked up with this:

So tonight’s snack?  The pumpkin/cream/walnut combo:

Question: Have you grilled yet this year?