Tag Archives: Pumpkin

3-day weekend and bleeping cold!

It’s so cold out!  I wanted an outside bike ride, but again, this morning it was 30 degrees when I woke up.  So, I waited until later.  I am going to put flannel sheets on the bed tonight (I am such a dork to get excited about that…).

It was definitely a morning for warm oats.  I made banana PB&J oats:

oats1015

This was with the Silver Palate oats.  This bowl kept me full from 8 until noon!  I am shocked.  I did supplement with mid morning tea:

tea1015

This is good tea.  My very favorite tea is good old fashioned Constant Comment, though!

I will spare you my boring lunch of tuna sandwich today.  I had it toasted to keep warm.  It stayed cloudy and I knew it wouldn’t get much warmer, so a bit after lunch I put on a long sleeve technical shirt, my workout jacket and a fleece jacket and headed out for a ride.  It was so cold!  Windy, too.   I just did a 9-10 mile easy pace ride.  My legs feel pretty good.  Another couple easy days and they should be fresh for the duathlon!  I had some company on the canal for my ride:

duck

There were about a dozen ducks swimming in the same direction I was going.   Coming back the wind was at my back, so it went quicker.  I did not even get the least bit sweaty on this ride.  I have to remember that I did a run last December when it was 15 degrees out, so I can do it in the mid 30s.

I was thoroughly chilled to the bone (bicycle-sicle!) when I got back and John made me a latte and I bundled back up in a sweatshirt.  I was happy to get this!  (This is my work station).

lorilatte

Last day of work for the week.  I am taking Sunday off to chillax (to quote Lynn) after my duathlon.  I am going to freeze that day!  I am more worried about the weather than the actual duathlon.  Overnight temps are supposed to be 30 degrees and a high in the mid 40s.   The duathlon starts at 9 am, so it will be around 35 by my best guestimation. I need to revamp my clothing ideas for that day and just layer up.  I think my technical turtleneck is in order.  I just worry about getting too hot with that on, since it is really hard to get off (it’s tight) I would have to wear it the whole time.

Pink item for the day!

pink1015

Ice cream is so unappealing right now LOL!  Guess that’s a good thing.

If you like pumpkin like I do, Fat Fighter TV has posted links to 10 healthy pumpkin recipes (including one of mine!).  Pumpkin butter is on my agenda.

Dinner was a happy accident.  We had a bit of ground turkey and I just sauteed it and then dumped in the rest of the steamer veggies with cheese sauce that we had leftover from the other day.  It came out yummy!  Plus, John made some jalapeno corn bread.  I am all about the warm stuff today.

din1015

Having a little problem with snacking since this afternoon, though.  Not sure if it is lack of sleep or the cold (a little from column A, a little from column B).  Dark chocolate chips and wheat thins make a great sweet/salty combo, but not in large quantities :O

Tonight is blanket time and writing time.  Feels great to be on the eve of 3 days off!

Question:  What is your favorite tea?

Eats and notes on reviews

After today’s workout, I came home to protein pancakes.  I left out the protein powder, as I need to be careful with calorie intake this week with the lessening workouts.  I usually burn 600 calories or more on hard workout days, and today was only 300.  Need to account for that!

brekkie1013

Got right to work and very busy.  I certainly can’t complain about lack of work this week!  I had a fun lunch combo.  I’ve been all about pumpkin lately, so I had it with lunch:

lunch1013

Oikos vanilla yogurt with pumpkin, Grapenuts (just for you Steve!) and Craisins.  This bowl had a wonderful texture to it and great flavor contrasts.  Yum!

John brought me a latte in the afternoon with a secret ingredient:

latte1013

Creme de menthe!  With his homemade chocolate sauce on top.  I love my hubby.  I continued the chocolate theme with an Attune bar:

attune1013

(Note the laziest cat in the world sleeping in the background). I love the Attunes because they are yummy, for one, and portion controlled.  90 calories in most of the bars.  That’s a little easier for me than portioning out dark chocolate chips.

Pink item of the day:

pink1013_edited

It’s that time of year when I start drinking several cups of tea in a day.

Dinner was a ground turkey burger and one of those Steamer bags of veggies.  I really love pan sauteed or roasted veggies because of the carmelization that gives them flavor, but these were pretty good.  Lightly sauced with cheese (always a good thing).

din1013

A-1 sauce for dippin’!

————————————-

Just taking care of some blog business here.  I like to give reviews of products on my site, whether I purchase the product (which is usually the case) or if a company happens to provide me with a sample.  I also always try to be very clear when it was a sample provided by a company. That doesn’t always mean the review is going to be  positive.  I feel that I am honest about all things in my weight loss and fitness, including the times I struggle or fall on my face.  I feel the same way about being honest in how I perceive the things that I try.  I am not going to say something is great if it isn’t to me.  That doesn’t mean others won’t love it.  I am just  giving my opinion.  I certainly am not in any way trying to undermine a company if I don’t like something.  I would never be downright mean or bashing about something.  It just means it wasn’t right for me and I explain why.  I recently received an unpleasant email from a company whose product I was less than favorable on.  I really don’t feel that I need to apologize for that.  I know that the readers of this blog appreciate me as I am and how I present myself and expect nothing but the truth from me.  ‘Nuff said.

Bagel day tomorrow!!

Holey Donuts and fall flavors

Phew – I have too much to say and not enough posts, so I am sorting out stuff  (plus I don’t want to bore you all).

Before John’s race today, I had a lovely fall-inspired breakfast with whole grain cream of wheat, pumpkin and dried cranberries, topped with slivered almonds:

PA100005

Delicious!  Cream of wheat has 50 less calories per serving than oatmeal and yet, I was so full after eating this!  Yay for whole grains!

It was really weird just watching in this race today.  I have always been a participant, so it was weird waiting around.  I just decided not to do this one with the duathlon coming up, plus a 5K on Halloween.  I don’t need to do it all!  I got in some pretty pictures at this race spot:

Wild asters

Wild asters

Chicory

Chicory

After John ran his fabulous race, he wanted a bagel – and you know I am not going to turn down an opportunity for that!!

More flavors of fall with this cinnamon apple bagel.  Sooooo goooood!!!

PA100034

Good thing this place is 15 miles away or I would be there every morning 😀

I was lucky enough to win 3 boxes of Holey Donuts in a drawing on Nutricious is Delicious, and the donuts arrived packed in dry ice.  3 kinds:

Donut Holes

Donut Holes

Low fat donuts

Low fat donuts

Holey Donuts Cinnamon Rolls

Holey Donuts Cinnamon Rolls

Sorry about the photo quality here.  I was pretty excited to try these after seeing them everywhere on the net.  I tried a couple donut holes: Vanilla Raspberry and Boston Cream:

Holey Donut Holes

Holey Donut Holes

Heated up in the microwave.  I have to say that I was a little underwhelmed.  The flavor was good, but they didn’t taste like a really good, hot and fresh donut.  I thought they were a bit dry.  I feel a little bad saying this, because I am thrilled to have a chance to try them and the company was very generous.  John had one of the regular size donuts and said the same thing.  Definitely a nice snack, and it will take a while to get through the boxes (Mom and Dad – guess what??), but I wouldn’t be ordering them for delivery.  If they had a store where they are made fresh (which I hear is in the works), that would be another story.

Went out for a gorgeous bike ride today.  John did his own brick by coming with.  We did 14.5 miles.  I love biking so much.  I run a lot, but I am a biker at heart.  I am getting really excited for next week.  I just hope it isn’t raining.  If it is anything like today, I will have a great race.

Found silly Pixie laying in one of my plants today.  I don’t know why she wanted to lay like this!  It doesn’t look very comfortable and she was there for a couple hours.

Pixie and plumeria

Pixie and plumeria

I will have a new veggie experiment for tomorrow that I actually had for dinner tonight.  Yum!  I need to sign off before this post becomes to epic.

Question:  What weird thing does your pet do?

Sunday eats

Rest day today!  My legs really need it.  I was feeling a little bummed looking at last year’s stats for the duathlon.  It looks like I will likely come in last or close to it compared to last year’s times.  Of course, the reality is that I am not competing against anyone.  I keep telling myself it is okay, and I know it is, but it still bothers me a little.  Anyone know what I mean?  At least I have endurance even if I don’t have speed.  I know that athletes train for years to get good at their sports, and I have just started running about 1-1/2 years ago and serious biking for a couple years.

My body wanted carbs today! We drove to Panera instead of biking since I needed a rest day and we needed to grocery shop.  French toast bagel and coffee!

panera

Got to work right away.  My new account is full of files to do.  It was a little depressing as the chunk I have been working on most of the day is the neonatal intensive care unit.  Very sad.

Lunch break of Bumblebee tuna sensation.

tuna

This was quite good.

lunch

Plus an absolutely delicious Macintosh apple.  Ironic that the apples came from an apple orchard that we biked by yesterday!  Maybe that is why it tasted so good.  Wonderfully fresh.  Makes you realize how eating local really can make a difference!  We are hoping to go out apple picking soon.

I have already lost the football picks this week…. boooo!  That means I have to take John out to dinner again.  😛

I had a coupon for a Larabar, which I like but normally don’t buy because I can make them and they are a little spendy.  I tried a new flavor:

lara

Yummy!  Very clovey.  Wonderful paired with my latte.

My folks came over to watch the Broncos/Cowboys game.  Pixie says “Time to stop working, mommy!”

pix

She loves to lay on this footstool, no matter what is already on there!

John made a delicious chili for us to eat while I worked.  I love my hubby!  He used ground beef, white beans (no kidney beans thankyouverymuch), onions, crushed tomatoes and spices simmered in the crockpot all day.  I had mine with some pan sauteed brussel sprouts and strawberries.

din

After dinner, I had a tiny sliver of a fresh pumpkin pie that John also made (is he amazing, or what??).  I love fresh pumpkin.  Celebrating a Broncos victory!  (Sorry Dad!).

pie

Overall very pleased with how I ate today.  Sundays are very difficult for me, but maybe it was because I got my snacky day done on Friday 😛

New stage for NROLW tomorrow.  Eeeek!

Question:  Do you go apple picking?

Powered by pumpkin!

Gorgeous day today! It was cold when we got up, 38 degrees. At least we weren’t going riding right away, so it had time to warm up into the 40s LOL!

Breakfast was pumpkin oats with the fresh made pumpkin. I love it! I like canned pumpkin, but the fresh is so different tasting.
proteinoats

I also added 1/2 a scoop of protein powder for a little extra something.  This bowl was really creamy and yummy.  Topped with some cranberry preserves.

Temps in the mid 40s and we headed out for the ride.  Packed wraps full of this mixture (plus some lettuce)

wrap

My curry chicken salad.    Plus brought the last 2 of the chewy granola bars I made the other day.  First part of the ride was brisk and flat.  It was really nice.  I was starting to get hungry since we had eaten 2 hours earlier, so we stopped around mile 8 for one of the bars.  It is a nice little parking area right by the canal.

ride

I’m all decked out in riding gear.  This jacket was one of my consignment store finds for $3!  I love this jacket.  I am wearing thin gloves under my biking gloves.  Doesn’t look cold, but it was.    I am so glad we stopped and ate, because about 2 miles later the hills came.  It was really rough!  My legs were kind of tired and sore today.  I really should not have ridden last night.  I was so glad to get to Greenwich after 16 miles.  We averaged 11.8 miles per hour on the way there, which was really good with the hills.

Ate our wraps and then started walking around the fall festival. Lots of store sales, hay rides (which we couldn’t find where they originated from), animals, music:

P9260007

sheep

Found a christmas ornament store that was overwhelmingly christmasy!  It actually was very peaceful inside.

xmasshop

I bought a gift there for someone whose birthday is coming up soon 😀

Stopped for a latte here:

P9260013

latte

Then to go with the fall theme, bought a pumpkin cookie.  The biggest pumpkin cookie ever!

pcook

I think the band probably thought I was taking their picture.  Little do they know I am always more interested in the food LOL!   This was a good cookie.  It was kind of cake-like, yet chewy.  And it did not taste super fatty, if that makes sense.  It actually was very pumpkiny and good.  Enough so that John bought a couple to bring home.  They were only $1 each – now that is a bargain!

Greenwich is a cute little town. I loved all the little shops. It makes me miss when we had our own shop in Illinois. Sometimes I get that strong pull to open another.

Then it was time to get going home.  At least the majority of the ride was downhill.  Yay!  We got up to 30 miles an hour at one point, which was pretty exhilarating.  On the flats were were going 14-16 miles per hour.  Nice pace.  John said I was powered by pumpkin!  I need to get a t-shirt that says that. That cookie did me good.  The worst part was the last long climb to get to our house.  It’s a long hill that starts steep, then it just keeps going.  I had to really talk myself through the last 1/4 mile.  Anyone on the sidewalk probably thought I was completely insane.  So glad to get home.  My thighs need a day off tomorrow.

Had a quick stirfry for dinner of chicken, broccoli, Country Bob’s sauce topped with sesame seeds.

din

We were going to go to the balloon fest, but after being around people today, we just didn’t want to fight the crowds.  Plus, it is windy again, so the balloons might not even have gone off.  About 20 went off last night after we left, and there was a launch this morning.

We are going to go to the mall tonight to get my niece a birthday present.  Lots of birthdays and anniversaries in September!