Category Archives: cream of wheat

Lifting and latte primer

I am glad you liked my recap of the 1500 calorie week. I am tired of talking calories now, though LOL! Back to eating 😀
After fueling up this morning, I headed out to see what trouble I could get into at the gym.

After a treadmill warm up:

Exercise Set/rep/weight Muscle worked
Barbell Squats 1 set of 10 at 65#

1 set of 10 at 75#

1 set of 8 at 85#

1 set of 6 at 95#

1 set of 3 at 100# !!!!!

 Lower body
Dumbbell Pull Over 3 sets of 10 at 30# Back
Pushups 3 sets of 10 Chest
Decline Sit Ups 3 sets of 10 Core
Seated Calf Raise 3 sets of 10 at 140# Calves
Prone Cuban Snatch 3 sets of 8 with 10# DBs (20# total) Shoulders
Nosebreaker 3 sets of 12 at 25# Triceps
1-leg deadlifts 3 sets of 10 each leg with 15# DBs (30# total) Hammies and balance

Did you see that? I full squatted 100 pounds! 95 is tough, and I added 5 more pounds. You wouldn’t think it is that much heavier, but it sure is. I did 2 and then a 3rd. I got to the bottom of the 3rd and said “Uh-oh, I have to get back up!” I had to really power it back up, so I did not attempt any more. I re-racked, pumped my fist and said “Yes!!” LOL. Goober.  Hopefully I can do 3 more by the end of the month. I have to say that I already feel the squats setting in. My quads are toast. Tomorrow ought to feel pretty good…

Then it was home for a well-deserved brekkie! Pumpkin custard cream of wheat topped with honey fluff, cranberry sauce, and toasted almonds.

Does that not look good? It was.

Slow start to work, so I actually went upstairs and got on the bike trainer for 30 minutes for my cardio.  I usually will do that at night, but I will have to work tonight since the morning was slow.   Love my trainer 😀

Lunchtime and we are using up the food in preparation for a trip this weekend.  I made a yummy BBQ chicken sammie with laughing cow on a pita.  And some rare applesauce.

This was a really good sandwich (pitawich?).

I have gotten a question or 2 on the lattes.  Here is what we do.  We have a cheapie machine – It’s a Mr. Coffee.  It does a great job on the milk steaming, but the espresso could be better.  Until we buy a new one, this will have to do:

First, the coffee filter gets filled and packed with coffee.

Then inserted into the machine.

The reservoir is filled with water and then you turn the machine to the brew portion.  Espresso with crema coming out.

There is a mark on the coffee container that tells you when to start steaming the milk.  Each mug has 8 oz of milk in it (and mine has 7 g of protein powder as well, those squats, you know).  Place the mug with the tip of the steam wand just below the surface and turn to ‘steam’.

The steam will heat and froth the milk.  You don’t want lots of big bubbles, so keep the tip below the surface of the milk.  This isn’t like blowing bathwater bubbles.

Note how the steaming will aerate the milk and make it seem like more!

I love having my own personal barista.

Once the espresso is done, pour it into the steamed milk.  If we got better crema, I would try latte art, but again – cheap machine.

Time for the ‘drizz’ as we call it.  This is raw honey on mine.

That’s my usual afternoon snack!

With some of these:

If I could have one expensive kitchen gadget – it would be a really nice espresso machine.  Best start playing Power Ball!

I actually ate fish for dinner tonight – this is Gorton’s Fish cake.  It doesn’t taste very fishy, so I am okay with eating it (with hot sauce).

Even though I am eating more today, I seem to be doing well with keeping snacking in check.  Yay!  Now it is back to work with said snack and hopefully some football watching when I am finished.

Question:  If you drink coffee, what is your favorite drink?

Laboring on Labor Day

I took a day off blogging yesterday! I didn’t have anything interesting to say, really, and I worked,so figured I would just not post. Today is also work day for me, but I get paid a little extra 😀
My gym was open today, but open later.   I, however, was up at my usual time.  So I decided to eat breakfast before my workout instead of moving everything up an hour.

Banana custard cream of wheat!  Topped with honey fluff. I promise the recipe will be posted on Tuesday.

I biked off to the gym in some chilly weather today. Full tummy, which was a little weird, too.

I went for a massive (for me) lifting session since it is the last one until after my Charity Ride (6 days!!)

Exercise Set/rep/weight Muscle worked
Barbell Squats 3 sets of 10 at 45# Lower body
Dumbbell Pull Over 3 set of 15 with 20# DB Back
Barbell Deadlift 3 sets of 10 at 65# Lower body
Incline chest fly 3 sets of 15 with 15# DBs (30# total) Chest
Seated Calf Raise 3 sets of 10 at 110# Calves
Captain’s Chair 3 sets of 12 Core
Face Pull 3 sets of 12 at 30# Shoulders
Straight Arm Lat Pull Down 3 sets of 12 at 50# Back
Alternating Side Lunge 3 sets of 10 (each leg) with 15# DBs (30 total) Lower body
Good Mornings 3 sets of 12 with 35# bar Low back and hammies
Triceps kickback 3 sets of 12 with 15# DBs (30 total) Triceps
Push ups 3 sets of 10 Chest

** Note to self. Do not do push ups at the end of the workout.**

I was. wiped. out. after this workout.  I came home and had some cafe au lait, showered, and got to work!

Other people laboring on the holiday are window people.  They did not quite finish up the capping on the outside of our house, and they arrived bright and early this holiday morning to get it done!  Now that is dedication to the job, don’t you think?

Lunch time was some of my yogurt/berry/cereal mash.  I keep wondering if I will tire of this, but I never do.

The strawberries taste excellent as well.

Work ran out for a while, so I was able to do some garden work.  Removed a couple plants I decided I didn’t want anymore and figured it was a good place for my new rose bush!  (I also need to divide sedum later this fall).

This bush is going to do a late bloom, too, and I am pretty excited about that.  I can’t wait until it appears in the Friday What’s Blooming!

I have been toying with the idea of going through the Master Gardener program for the county.   I just need to make sure I have time to do the volunteer work the position requires (like being at the county fair, community gardens, schools, etc).  Not to mention sitting through the training courses.

Time for snacks!

Check this out.  The rumor is that we are going to have early fall color around here and it will be super bright.  The tree across the street has already flipped over!

No other tree is like that around here.  Isn’t that weird?

Dinner time arrived.  I have been super hungry the last couple days.  Not sure what is up with that.  Annoying, though.  I did eat an apple while waiting for dinner to cook.  I mixed up some ground turkey with minced onion and seasoning.   Then put it in muffin cups and topped with BBQ sauce.  Baked for about 30 minutes and I had little turkey muffins!

Tasty.  I wanted to go the whole meatloaf route with bread crumbs and egg, but I got going on it too late because of work.

After dinner was some coffee roasting (Guatemalan):

Now we are going to do some coffee drinking!  Hope you are having (had) a relaxing holiday!

Lifting and cheap toys

Some great comments on the blogger role model post from yesterday.  I loved all the insights. Thanks for saying I am a role model. I don’t know as I really meant to ask that specifically, but the post title kind of did that. 😀

I woke up to cloudy gloom today. I decided against biking because rain was supposed to be imminent and not ready for new bike and rain yet. Gotta at least pay it off first, right? I got to the gym and ran 1.5 miles on the treadmill to warm up, going between 5.5 and 6.1 mph. It felt pretty good.

Then the iron. Again, lower weights and increased reps:

Exercise Set/rep/weight Muscle worked
1-arm dumbbell row 3 sets of 12 with 15# DB Back
Dumbbell Incline Chest Fly 3 set of 12 with 15# DBs (30# total) Chest
Plie squat 3 sets of 10 with 30# DB Lower body
Planks 3 sets of 90 second holds,

(3rd one I touched down briefly)

 Core
Seated French Press 3 sets of 15 with 10# DBs (20# total) Triceps
Seated calf raise 3 sets of 10 at 110# Calves
Stiff-leg deadlift 3 sets of 12 with 65# bar Lower body
Bent lateral raise 3 sets of 12 with 10# DBs (20# total) Shoulders

Then I got back on the treadmill for 1 more mile. I almost stopped at 1/2 a mile because my legs really were having trouble running after lifting, but then they got used to it…. sort of. Reminds me that I need to start brick training for the duathlon coming up in October.

I had a hankering for chocolate when I got home, so I made some banana custard cream of wheat and topped with peanut butter and tiny mini morsels.  You get so many more of these per serving than regular chocolate chips.  The power of surface area. My eyes love that!

My tummy loved it, too.  Num.

Working hard today.  Crunch time to pay off the bike!  I should just need a couple more weeks of this and then back down on one of the jobs.  I keep saying that, but maybe I mean it this time 😉

For your entertainment, here is Pixie being active and playing.   She is playing with a bread tie -proof that you don’t need expensive cat toys  – (so why do I keep buying them??).

Lunch time brought out an oldie, but goodie.  Toast with laughing cow, chicken and fruit spread.

I know it may sound weird, but this is a good combo.  Some of the pear/cranberry jam I made last night.  Who knew that making jam was so much fun?  I think I see a few holiday gifts this year.  😀

Note the waffle cut carrot that snuck into my bag of baby carrots.  Someone must have been asleep at the switch.

John made me an afternoon latte:

And I had a couple of these to go with:

Antioxidant power!

We got a phone call that our windows are ready and they are going to be installing them mid next week.  It will take them 2 days, since there are so many windows.  I am not sure quite what I am going to do, as I really need quiet for transcription.  Construction does not = quiet.  I can work from the library or Starbucks, but not sure I really want to do that for 8 hours.  Will have to see.  Excited for the new windows, though!

Dinner time.  We got some more Smart Option crabcakes, I had kind of forgotten that these existed until I saw John put them in the cart.

Paired with broccoli and a pluot.  The genius of cutting these up.  My hubby is so smart 😀

More work tonight, and some Monday night football!   17 days until official kickoff!  My Broncos jersey is ready and waiting to come out (I won’t wear it for preseason).

I will be having a little dish of this that we got with our free coupon for donating blood:

Question:  Do you buy toys for your pets?  And do they play with them?

Lifting Move of the week – The Face Pull

Off to the gym on my new bike this morning.  It was a fast ride there.  Definitely take some getting used to, I have to say.  I locked it up at the gym and kept looking out the big windows to make sure it was still there LOL!

I am now working on some endurance, so I have lowered the weights and increased the reps a little bit.

Exercise Set/rep/weight Muscle worked
Barbell deadlift 3 sets of 10 with 65# bar Lower body
Dumbbell Chest Press 3 set of 12 with at 20# DBs (40# total) Chest
Cable Squat to Row 3 sets of 12 at 50# Full body
Dumbbell pullover 3 sets of 12 with 20# DB Back
Captain’s Chair 3 sets of 10 Abs
Seated calf raise 3 sets of 10 at 110# Calves
Face Pull 3 sets of 12 wat 20# Shoulders
Nosebreakers 3 sets of 12 with 25# bar Triceps
Good Mornings 3 sets of 12 with 35# bar Lower back and hammies

Note to self – Don’t be surprised when you do more reps that the workout takes longer…..

I then biked home.  It felt fast.  I didn’t have the computer on my bike yet this morning, so I don’t know exactly what my speed was and didn’t think to time it  (with pre-coffee and all, that isn’t surprising), but it seemed fast. LOL.

I was ready for some brekkie!  I mashed up a banana and cooked it with whole grain cream of wheat and topped with PB and jam.  Breakfast of champions!

I would have had egg whites in there, but forgot those at the store the other day.  I swear my head is just not quite on right lately.

Lifting Move of The Week:  The Face Pull.  No, it isn’t plastic surgery!  This is actually a shoulder move and a fun one to do.  You need to either be at the cable machine or you could also to this at home with a resistance band.

When you pull, think of pinching your shoulder blades together.  That keeps the focus on the shoulders and not the arms. I split my legs as you can see in the video to keep from leaning.  I found that if I stood with my legs together, I was leaning back and using my arms more than my shoulders, but that is just me.  Your mileage may vary.

Lunch time included a bit of everything:

I should quit showing my lunches as they are boring during this heavy duty work phase I am in. I just need quick!

Saw that my choosing a bike post from yesterday has made it onto the homepage of FoodBuzz in the health section!

The dork in me gets excited about stuff like that!

I won’t bore you with the latte and chocolate snack I had.  Groundhog Day anyone?? (I’ve got you, babe)

John left this afternoon to go to another bike shop to look for himself.  Fran had mentioned the lack of bikes now, but up here in the North Country, biking season doesn’t last all year.  Most shops will also sell winter sports stuff, so they aren’t buying new bikes because the season is ending soon (for wimps :mrgreen:  ) and they need to gear up for ski season.  However, that does mean some good deals!

Dinner time was a BBQ chicken salad and a POMtail.

Then I went back to work impatiently waiting for John to get home.  He came home with a Specialized hybrid bike.  I hope he isn’t too much faster than me! That meant we  could go on a ride for this!

How long has it been since you have seen frozen yogurt on here??  Too long, I say.  This was macaroon flavor with raspberry sauce.  Yummers.

It was a good ride.  Definitely faster than the old bikes, which I would hope to be the case!  Broke in the bike with 16 miles today.  Tomorrow we are biking to bagels, so another good ride.  We will see how it feels!

Now I have to get back to work for another hour tonight.

Question: What are your quick go-to lunches?

Back to the grind

We are now home safe and sound. Sunday was a snack eating day with chocolate and bread and crackers. I woke up pretty puffy feeling this morning! Up too early as Pixie was pushing on the bedroom door at 5:30. I got up and moved into the spare room so she wouldn’t wake up John and she curled up on me and we fell back asleep. (FYI – she does not come in the bedroom as it is John’s 1 allergy free room). I ended up sleeping in a little bit later this morning and didn’t get up until 7:30.

I was debating whether to jog the 2 miles to the gym or drive, but I wasn’t sure I wanted a total of 4 miles with a weight workout, plus it was kind of rainy, so driving it was.

I hopped on the stationary bike when I got there for 10 minutes, which actually just pissed me off, so probably not a good idea in hindsight LOL! Then I did weights:

Exercise Set/rep/weight Muscle worked
Barbell squat 3 sets of 10 with 45# bar (full squat) Lower body
Dumbbell Pullover 3 set of 10 with at 25# DB Back
Decline Sit Ups 3 sets of 10 Abs
Alternating side lunge 3 sets of 10 (each leg) holding 15# DBs Lower body
Dumbbell chest fly 3 sets of 10 with 20# DBs (40# total) Chest
Seated calf raise 3 sets of 10 at 110# Calves
Reverse lateral raise 3 sets of 10 with 12# DBs (24# total) Shoulders
Kickbacks 3 sets of 10 with 15# DBs (30# total) Triceps

I thought about more biking or treadmilling, but I just wasn’t into it at all. So I went home and had a comforting breakfast.

Pumpkin cream of wheat sweetened with a bit of molasses and topped with pecans and crystallized ginger.   I do believe my pumpkin stash is going to make it!

I took a vacation day from job #1 today, but still worked job #2. I am going to have to stick with both for a while longer to pay for the new bike, so good thing I didn’t quit job #1 yet!

After doing the work available, I had some lunch.  We need to grocery shop!  I did find a cucumber in the veggie drawer, so paired that with tuna and crackers.

I have narrowed down my choices on bikes. After discussion with the bike people about how we ride, the type of bike I am looking for is a performance hybrid.  Because we do some riding on gravel surfaces and some rough road sides, a true road bike is out.  A commuter/comfort hybrid is out because of the distances that we ride. That puts our needs at a performance hybrid designed for longer rides where you sit more forward and not so upright.

The brands we are considering right now are Giant, Fuji, and Cannondale and a few others. I have looked at the Giant, which I liked, and today after lunch I went  to test “drive” the Fuji, a Raleigh and a Haro.  Have a lot of decisions to make!  I did go ahead and get my pedals.  I still have the bike shoes (obviously), but the clip pedals went bye-bye.  $80 down the drain there and only 3 months old.   I’ll put a post together about choosing a bike and hopefully get that done tomorrow.  A lot goes into a decision like this.

Came back from bike testing to have a latte and a piece of yummy pain de bluets that we purchased at a market before we left Montreal yesterday.

It came from this market – how delicious!

I’ve been working on the cookbook, and I hope to have it finished up over the weekend?  Eeep!

Dinner time was a round up.  I had baked some rye bread and threw a sweet potato in the oven while that was going.  I paired that with an omelet with laughing cow and sauteed broccoli.

I usually microwave my sweet potatoes for time reasons, but the taste of an oven baked sweet is sooooo good.

Tired kitty today:

Not sure from what because she really doesn’t do anything….

Stocked up on groceries tonight!  I bought some canning jars as I am participating in a jam swap next month.   Should be fun as I have never preserved jam before.   I just make it and eat it LOL!

After getting back I tested out the new rye bread:

It came out really good!  I am not sure I would have ever thought to pair peanut butter on rye, but it was good.

Tonight is more working and polishing up the cookbook.  Oh – and Football!!!!!

Question: How do you cook your sweet potatoes?

Lifting move of the week – barbell chest press

Ahhh – less humid today!  Felt good to step outside this morning  when I headed to the gym. This is a fountain that I pass to and from the gym.  I really only get this close to it on the way home, which is a nice treat after working out.

I ran a mile on the treadmill for a warmup.

Exercise Set/rep/weight Muscle worked
Barbell split squat 3 sets of 10 with 55# bar Lower body
Dumbbell 2-point row 3 set of 8 with at 25# DBs (50# total) Back
Lying leg press 3 sets of 10 at 100# Lower body
Barbell Chest Press 3 sets of 8 at 55# Chest
Reverse crunches 3 sets of 15 Abs
Lateral Raise 3 sets of 10 with 8# DBs (16# total) Shoulders
Good mornings 3 sets of 10 with 35# bar Low back and hammies
Overhead french press 3 sets of 10 with 10# DBs (20# total) Triceps

I was going to run a little more, but then changed my mind and just biked home as my tummy was growling.  My snack didn’t last very long.

I was craving nut butter today, so I made banana custard cream of wheat and topped with some cinnamon PB I made the other day and some homemade strawberry jam.

Very, very tasty.

Lifting Move of the Week:  The barbell chest press!  You can do this with dumbbells or a barbell.  It’s actually easier to do 55# with the barbell than using two 25# DBs, at least for me.   I keep my feet up on the bench as I do with most lying bench workouts because I am short.  If I place my feet on the floor, then my lower back arches.  If you are taller , you can  put your feet on the floor.  Keep your abs in and don’t lock your elbows at the top.

Note, this is one exercise where I don’t go much heavier than 65# as I don’t usually have a spotter (using 55# in the video).   This is really a classic move to build the chest muscles.  Ladies – building up your chest will really give you some ‘youth’, if you know what I mean.  Good underlying muscular structure makes things appear higher.  🙂

Lunch time!  I made a quick lunch today.  Just a standard tuna salad with lemon pepper on top.

Wheat Thins Fiber Select crackers.  These are quite good!

I think I am close to going down to part time with job #1.  It’s starting to wear on me a bit.  I noticed I have been saying that more and more, so it is about time to let part of that safety net go.

Snack time! 

I’m not in a rut or anything, am I?  :mrgreen:

Not as humid today, but it is still hot! I let the latte sit for a while before consuming.

Dinner time included an open face BBQ chicken sammie with laughing cow.

Standard brussels.  I just shred and sautee in a tsp of coconut oil with salt and pepper.  It only takes 5 or 6 minutes to cook them this way and they get some crispy brown bits on them. Mmmmm…. caramelization….

I have to say that I am doing really well on not snacking while cooking anymore.  I still use the altoids, but not as often.  I think I might have broken that habit.   Now must keep it broken.

Took a break to water the garden and write this post, then it is back to work again.

Can’t wait for biking for bagel day tomorrow!

What’s blooming today!

Garden time post!  But first, I must get to the very important thing of breakfast.  It is the start of my weekend, although I had to work job #2 for about an hour.  No biggie.  Today was a rest day before the race on Saturday, so I was kind of lazy this morning.  It was much cooler and drizzly as well, so I had a hankering for pumpkin.

This is pumpkin custard cream of wheat topped with pecans and some cream cheese with powdered sugar mixed up (yes, we can call that cream cheese frosting 😳  ).  My trick when I want something really decadent on top is to have the cream of wheat instead of oats.  That saves me 50 calories, so the topping can be more indulgent and I still stay within my preferred calorie range for breakfast.

Ate on the porch with some coffee!  This was soooo good.  I then browsed catalogs online and ordered some fall bulbs.  I need to double check where all my others are planted.  Good thing I take a lot of pictures of my garden.

Speaking of – here is what is really the crowning jewel of the garden.  My butterfly bush.

This is 5 feet tall.  I would have taken a picture of me standing by it if I wasn’t in my jammies and unshowered.  I was so afraid this one got killed by frost because it had started leafing out really early with the warm spring and then the hard freeze, but it survived.  It normally is more arch shaped, but I think the frost kill made it grow a little different this year.

The butterflies just love this plant. These flower cones are about 8 inches long and smell like honey.

The globe thistle also started blooming.  Actually a bit late on the photo of this one. I’ll try another one this week on the other blooms.

My first successful attempt at this plant.  2 other times they never grew for me.

Another potted geranium and allysum:

The purple trillium (??) keeps blooming, too.  This one wandered into my garden bed, and I think I will take it out.

One thing I like about perennials is that they come into their own all summer and fall, so there is always something new.  I still have plants that won’t bloom for another month or so!

I cleared out all the volunteer black-eyes Susan’s on the left side of the path, so you can actually walk through it now.  Hopefully the other plants will get sun and get bigger on that side.

Lunch time!  I made more tuna/hummus on toast for lunch.  I almost tried the tuna and cottage cheese, but I just couldn’t make myself do it LOL!

Delicious plum on the side.  Plums are awesome right now!

I had to go out and run errands, including picking up food for Pixie (and some hairball stuff….).  There was the sweetest dog at the pet supply shop today.  Meet Buddy:

Is that the cutest face or what??  He only has 3 legs and is their mascot.  So sweet.

I then convinced John to play hooky for a while and go out for a treat.  We are buying his birthday cake from Baker’s Dream in a couple of weeks, so we went to go see what flavors they had to choose from, and had to have a little treat to go with!  I had a vanilla cupcake.  Perfect size.

Plus some coffee.  I actually brought a jar of 1% milk with me to add to it, as Baker’s Dream only has half and half, which I just don’t like in my coffee.  It coats my mouth or something, but I just don’t like it.  I am not above bringing things I want when going out to eat.

It poured all afternoon.  Good thing it was a rest day for me and I wasn’t planning on a bike ride or anything….

Dinner time:

Chicken curry salad – minus the bed of lettuce.  It was cold enough today that a salad was unappealing to me.

The blog was down for a bit this evening.  I have to say that I actually like my webhost.  I use justhost.com and they knew about the problem and got back to me right away about how they were working on it.   Customer service really goes a long way to stand out in a crowded arena.

I had a few extra things to eat today, some blueberries and one of these:

I’ve been very hungry, which seems to happen on my rest days.  I don’t mind a few extra carbs for tomorrow’s race.   Going to bed early tonight as the race starts at 8 am, and it is 15 miles away!

Question: Do you ever bring your own food out to an eatery?

Sweet and salty.

Happy Tuesday!  I had a good night’s sleep last night.  Yay!  I decided to do a pre breakfast run today.  Haven’t done one of those in a long, long time.  I think pre-injury!  I had a granola bar first for energy:

then I hit the streets for a 3-mile run.  Running is still a struggle for me.  It’s  my thigh while runnning, and does not feel like it used to before when I ran.  Plus my back aches when I am done.  Oh well, I can’t complain all that much, because I am pretty much back to normal activity.

I did get pretty sweaty, though.  Good thing it was 7 am and only about 55 degrees out!

I showered up (don’t post exercise showers feel the best??) and commenced to breakfast making.  It went much easier than yesterday 😀

Custard cream of wheat with a mashed banana.

I topped it with some of that beer jelly I got a few weeks ago.

Beer with breakfast? Why not?  It actually had a beer smell to it, but not so much in the taste.  It was mostly sweet.

Work went pretty smooth today.  I actually had an interview today with another company.  MTs with experience are in demand, which is good, but the pay is just awful every where you go.  Thank you off shoring for that….  Anyway, I may try this company to see how it fits for me.

Lunch break for a tuna wrap and a delicious kiwi!

A girl needs chocolate, right?  So I had some with my latte:

There actually was more in this bowl, I just forgot to take a picture before I ate some.  Just so you know….

And yet another reason for me to keep embracing caffeine.  This study shows a link between 4 cups of coffee a day and reduced head/neck cancer!  I always take studies with several grains of salt, because the numbers can be manipulated, but there seems to be more and more evidence that compounds in coffee have beneficial properties!

Dinner time was a classic BBQ chicken salad.  This bowl has about 1/2 a bag of spring mix in it, topped with 4 oz of chicken chopped up with BBQ sauce, a little slivered almonds and 3/4 oz of reduced fat feta cheese.

It has that sweet/salty mix I like.

Speaking of sweet/salty – we headed out to run a couple errands and hit up the cheap shopping:

John snuck these into the cart:

D’oh!  I didn’t even want to try them, since I love pretzels and chocolate together.  But, I did.   I ate some out of this bag.  Quite tasty.  I actually wish there was a little more chocolate in each one, but the texture was yummy.  This is something that won’t be coming into the house very often.

Tomorrow is bagel day and lifting move of the week!

Question:  Have you tried the pretzel M&Ms?

I’m cool like that

Hump day for me!  Yeah!  I got some good sleep and was hungry for breakfast.  I decided on pumpkin cream of wheat.  I think my pumpkin stash might make it until fall.

This bowl contained whole grain Cream of Wheat, 1/2 cup pumpkin, cinnamon, 1.5 tsp of molasses, 2 egg whites, topped with crystallized ginger and toasted almonds.

This bowl actually only lasted me about 2-1/2 hours and I had half of a Luna Protein bar to tide me over to lunch.

Not sure I am that crazy about these?

Speaking of lunch:

Egg salad!  I have been wanting this for a while, but keep forgetting to hard boil eggs.

So, the appetite seems strong today.  I ended up eating the other half of the mid morning snack in the afternoon.  Just before drinking this:

I added 7 grams of whey protein isolate to this to give me about 6 g extra of protein.  Could not even taste it.  Nice.  Isolate is the whey way to go.

So, my new bike jersey arrived!

LOVE!!!! And let me tell you – when they warn you to order a size up for European sizes, do it.  I got a large and if I had gotten a medium, I would have popped out the seams in front…..

I couldn’t wait until after dinner to go for a ride.  I finally broke out the “noodles” for dinner:

The package said to rinse and parboil to reduce the “authentic aroma.”  No joke.  So why did I proceed to smell the freshly opened package?

Nas-tay.  I rinsed copiously and added to a sautee pan with sweet potatoes, broccoli, chicken and some BBQ sauce.

Verdict?  They are completely tasteless, which is fine, but the texture was rubbery.  Not like pasta at all.  Not really like anything I have ever eaten, except maybe those pink erasers when I was 5.   So now I know.

John and I got geared up for a post dinner jaunt.  Ready for a ride to yogurt 😀

Bright sun, it makes me look like Casper.  These are my new bike shorts as well.

We rode 15 miles round trip and I was getting a lot of looks on the bike trail with this shirt.  With my gold helmet and clip shoes – I don’t think I have ever felt this cool in my whole entire life.  Note that I really am not cool, but who knew you could buy the feeling for about $75 and free shipping?? 😎

Stop for the treat:

Coconut yogurt topped with pineapple.  Quite good, although this pineapple was pretty sweet.

I almost didn’t want to take my jersey off when I got home.  I swear it made me faster today.  Hope you all like it, because you’ll be seeing a lot of it this summer :mrgreen:


What’s blooming today and vegging out.

Ah the weekend. Fridays are never crowded at the gym. Guess nobody wants to work out on Fridays? Had a protein drink and then biked in. I decided to take it easy on the legs today with a race coming up Sunday.

Exercise Set/rep/weight Muscle worked
Stiff-legged dead lifts 3 sets of 10 with 45# bar Lower body
1-arm dumbbell row 3 sets of 10 with 20# DB Back
Chin ups 2 sets of 2, 2 sets of 1 Upper body
Railing squats 3 sets of 10 – body weight Lower body
Standing Cable Fly 3 sets of 10 at 30# (each side) Chest
Shoulder Shrug 3 sets of 12 with 30# bar Shoulders
Horizontal Wood chop 3 sets of 10 at 30# Abs
Nosebreaker 3 sets of 10 with 25# bar Triceps

Nice non stressful workout today. I rest 1 minute between sets for the most part unless I am supersetting any of the exercises. The above workout took about 35-40 minutes.  Then I biked home for some brekkie!

It was a cooler morning, so warmth was in order.  Pumpkin cream of wheat – custard style.  Cooked with molasses as the sweetener and topped with a bit of crystalized ginger and toasted pecans.

Yum.  I spent a good chunk of the morning puttering around in the garden.  A few new things today:

Potted painted daisy

Allysum:

Gazania:

Clematis:

This thing is a monster, too.  The twine broke that it climbs onto the porch along and it is just drooping in a big mass:

Lunch break!

More sweet potato with laughing cow and sauteed broccoli.  I was trying to find a good protein source and didn’t feel like eggs and chicken was set for dinner.  So I mixed some strawberry protein powder with greek yogurt.  I think I would try freezing this mixture.

More miscellaneous outside work today.  We are working on the southeast side of the house which is kind of overgrown with vegetation.  It is really a nice day outside today!

Straight up latte snack:

plus a granola bar.

Think the warranty on a PlayStation would cover cat butt?

It’s off the floor so it doesn’t get stepped on, but Pixie thinks it is her personal seat.  This is why we can’t have nice things….

Classic Lori salad for dinner:

Those bagged salads are so handy.  We get either Dole brand or Fresh Express (I like spring mix).  One bag makes 2 salads for me 😳   That’s a lot of greens.  I am totally vegging out in a good way today.

I didn’t bike today (other than to the gym) so that I could get in one last run before Sunday’s race.  I wanted to do 3 miles one last time.  I did pretty well.  Completely pain free.  I finished up in 33:33.  A little bit faster than last time.  Tack on 0.1 miles and I hope to finish up under 35 minutes on Sunday.

Treat afterwards:

Banana soft serve.  I put cinnamon in it and topped with a bit of chocolate sauce.  What a great post run treat!

I am in a really good spot with food lately.   It feels good.

Question:  Do you do bagged salad mixes?