Trying New Things

In my quest for a healthier lifestyle, I've been looking for and trying new things and ideas for dinners. I really don't mind cooking too much, however, I must add that I don't mind cooking too much IF I can focus on it, pay all of my attention to it and just have some peace and quiet without interruptions while in the kitchen. So basically, its very rare that I enjoy cooking because none of the pre-requisites seem to ever exist. I've really fallen in love with crock pot cooking because the beauty in it is that I get all the "hard" parts of the cooking out of the way when I have one child at home and there's no fighting between the two, less distractions in the earlier part of the day because there are no cranky, tired children around needing me every second. I am not complaining about Nate and Grace. I understand Nate's 2 and kids are kids, and at the end of the day they are cranky and tired. I don't mind them needing me, but it makes it hard for me to cook when they want me with them. So with the crock pot, when the end of the day starts getting a little hectic, I am able to be more useful and dinner is happily cooking away by itself in the kitchen, and it makes for a less stressed evening for all parties involved.

Now, not all recipes I've been discovering have been crock pot based, unfortunately. However, I have found one VERY easy recipe that I just tried last night and I must say, I was very surprised by how yummy it was. Even Ray, who is not a fan of the dish usually, said it was quite good. I liked it so much that I wanted to share it on my blog for all to enjoy. **I take no responsibility though if you do not like it =) I put the recipe below, and in bold italics is what I did. The nutrional info is if you follow the recipe to the T....however, to figure out the info on what you use, just add info for the can of soup, the crescent rolls, the vegetables, and the chicken, then divide by 4 since the pie serves 4. If you need to feed more than 3 people, I suggest doubling the recipe. You can also use other pans than just the pie plate if you need to.

Bon Appétit!

Chicken Pot Pie:

Ingredients:

• 8 oz. raw boneless skinless chicken breast; cut into bite-sized pieces (I used about 1 lb)
• 3 cups Petite Mixed Vegetables (or any other frozen mixed vegetables) (I bought a small bag and added some little by little so I didn't add too much)
• 1 can (10.75 oz.) Campbell's Condensed Soup, 98% Fat Free Cream of Celery
• 3 Pillsbury Reduced Fat Crescent Rolls (unprepared) (I used 4 on top and I also used some to put on the bottom. However, the recipe only calls for these to be on top and is less in calories if you follow the recipe)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Saute chicken pieces for several minutes in a pan spritzed with nonstick cooking spray, until chicken is light brown/cooked but still tender; set aside. Heat frozen veggies in microwave according to package. Mix chicken, vegetables and soup together and put in a 9" round baking dish sprayed with nonstick cooking spray. Place dish in oven and bake for about 30 minutes or until hot and bubbly (stir about halfway through). While dish is cooking, unroll 3 crescent rolls. Combine pieces together with hands to make one large ball of dough. With a rolling pin, roll dough out into a circle to cover top of dish. Add dough to the top of the dish and cook for an additional 15 - 20 minutes or until top is golden brown. Serves 4.

Serving Size: 1/4th pie (approx. 7 oz.)

Calories: 210

Fat: 6g

Sodium: 800mg

Carbs: 24g

Fiber: 2.5g

Sugars: 6g

Protein: 16.5g

*Weight Watcher Points: 4 Points

This in my opinion is just as good as the ones you buy in the freezer for WAY less calories, fat and sodium! You can also alter this to use biscuits or whole wheat products as well. This was VERY simple and very fast! I'm trying some other recipes this week, so look for more recipe blogs!

I Hate Heat

Can someone tell me why exactly it's 87 degrees outside in FEBRUARY for Pete's sake? I mean really? I get it that I'm supposed to be lucky that I live where its warm and not in like 17 feet of snow, but really, even southern California has cooler weather than this. I just hate it. Sorry to be a complainer today, but really when its pretty low humidity out, and the wind is blowing at like 16mph, and its still 87 degrees outside, I feel I almost need to say something. Sigh.

As for the weight loss department, this week has been a resting week. I still have a cough and I am hoping I am well enough to start back up again with my classes at the gym and my C25K program on Monday. I also restarted the Weight Watcher points program. I've been just trying to watch portions and eat better choices, but that left too much room for me to mess up. So far, its going well. On Monday when I weighed in, I was up a little more than last week, but the exact number I don't remember. (I'll fill that in this Monday when I have the info up) Anyway, that's all for now. Just trying to get rid of this headache I've had for a few days now.

A Tad Bit Frustrated

I'm just frustrated. I took a butt kicking kickboxing class last Friday (the 8th) and it literally kicked my butt. I had been sore for a good part of the week, so I didn't realize that I had pulled/strained one of my right gluteal muscles (you know, one of the muscles in the gluteus maximus, medius or minimus, i.e. butt). Anyway, I realized the other day that all of my muscles are no longer sore, except one in that area. I started thinking about what I could have done to injure myself, and then one deep lunge type move we did in the kickboxing class came to my mind. I’m so competitive when I take these classes because I don’t want people to see me as someone who can't finish the class just because I may not seem as athletic as some of the others. And I certainly do not want to be the one who can't keep up, so I make sure that I keep up, no matter what. I push myself beyond my limits, beyond what I would ever do on my own, and I keep up with the class at all costs. This is good and bad, because on my own, I would usually stop before reaching my limit because I "think" I can't do a workout. Yet if I had a trainer, that person would push me to go further than I thought I could, and I would get a great workout. However, when I take a class, its possible I may push myself too far. Apparently it seems that in this case, I may have pushed myself beyond a physical limit within my body that I failed to adhere to, and pulled a muscle in that process.

So, anyway, I can basically do one of two things. I can continue to workout and I could end up being out for weeks if I injure myself further, or I can just sit it out now for a few days and be better off in the long run. I hate doing this, especially now I'm on a roll, but I know after having torn the muscle in my quadriceps (right leg) back in high school, that if its not fully recovered with rest, it will just get worse.

At any rate, I just feel frustrated because I still have the left shoulder issue I am dealing with, too. After two steroid injections it's just not better. I was seeing a doctor who is a family friend because I don’t have insurance, and I know he was doing his best (this area is not his specialty), but I know the issue will not get resolved without seeing a specialist. That, with all the testing a specialist will do, will cost me a fortune and that I can’t really afford that at this point.

So here I am FINALLY really getting into exercise mode, and I’m hit with yet another exercise inhibiting injury. Sigh. On top of that, I am in the beginning stages of a nasty chest cold, which let me tell you, I am just so looking forward to. I've been feeling it starting these last few days, and today I wake up with a terrible tightness in my chest, and when I cough, OMG it feels like my chest is on fire. Anyway, I think I am going to cut back on my workouts some this week, take it easy without completely sitting it out, and see how it goes, and reevaluate at the end of the week to see how I feel. And hopefully my little pain in the butt will be gone, my chest cold will be history, and I will be set to hit it hard next week!

No More Slacking

I decided to takes things easy this weekend with my eating since it was my birthday and all, and I happened to slack with my water drinking as well, and I ended up gaining 3 lbs (definitely a lot of water retention there!) So this week, it's back to normal, no slacking. Here's the workout plan for the week:

MONDAY:

• C25K Week 2 Day 3
• Salsa class @ gym
• Yoga

TUESDAY:

• C25K Week 3 Day 1
• Hip Hop Dance Video

WEDNESDAY:

• Kickboxing class @ gym
• (Maybe) Salsa class @ gym
• Yoga

THURSDAY:

• C25K Week 3 Day 2
• Hip Hop Dance Video

FRIDAY:

• Kickboxing or Salsa class @ gym
• Yoga

SATURDAY:

• C25K Week 3 Day 3
• Hip Hop Dance Class @ gym

So far today, I have done the C25K Week 2 Day 3 (had to catch up since I didn't do this on Saturday as planned due to the overwhelming soreness I had) It went well and I was doing better on my breathing. Week 3 is just like week 2, but the walking intervals are cut down from 2 minutes to 90 seconds with 90 seconds of jogging. I also did the salsa class at the gym, and I am currently getting ready to do some yoga before lunch. I'm starving.

Funny thing, Saturday I got to sleep in until after 9am, which for me I am usually up between 5am-7am pretty much everyday of the week, so that was definitely sleeping in for me. But usually when I go to bed between 10-11pm and I have to read a little in bed to help get me relaxed and feeling tired. Well thanks to my kickboxing class on FRIDAY, my body was still exhausted on Saturday that I had a lot of trouble staying awake until 11! I was trying to finish some things up and I just couldn't stay awake any longer. I'm looking forward to feeling this way again soon!

Post-Birthday Post

So Friday night my wonderful hubby surprised me with dinner at a quaint Italian restaurant I had wanted to try for a while now. the restaurant is in an old 1912 mansion that was once used as a farmhouse until the Port was built, which ended up flooding the farm land. Its really hard to imagine there was ever a farm around here!

Anyway, the food was fantastic, and the garlic bread is the best I've ever had. It was a very romantic setting and the ambiance was really nice. I totally recommend this restaurant to anyone, so if you're in the area and you want some good Italian food, let me know and I will tell you the name.

As far as my Saturday C25K run/walk, and my hip hop dance class at the gym- they were non-existent. Why, do you ask? I am so stinkin' sore, I have never been as sore in my entire life! I really must have worked hard in that kickboxing class. I loved it but man, I am having a hard time sitting down and getting back up, walking, and any other task. I am sore in muscles in my back I had no idea I even used in the workout. Dang, how long does it take to stop feeling sore after doing the same activity?

So how did I do on my workouts this week? Well, I am 8 for 13. Not bad, and if it hadn't been for my soreness, I would have been 10 for 13. I will definitely try to do better this week!

Oh and by the way, I think my weight will show a gain this week. Sigh-birthdays!

Catching Up

Wednesday: My workout for Wed. was heading to the gym for the salsa class, and doing a dance video back at home. I did both and was feeling my poor muscles in my abs burn. Burn= good, right?

Thursday: Today went well. I think my breathing is pretty much the same, but my legs felt good. I'm hoping that I'm feeling better with the breathing on day 3, or even day 1 of week 3. We'll see. I was supposed to do Yoga also, but I did not get it done.

Friday: Whew. What a day so far. I woke up dog tired and said to myself, "Self. You're tired. And it's your birthday, so why not just take the day off." Self then agreed. However, I thought I would just bring my workout clothes "just in case" and proceeded to take Grace to school. After leaving school, I found myself driving to the gym. Once I got there, I did hesitate a tad before going inside, but I am glad I did. I went and dropped off Nate with the child care, changed in the locker room and proceeded upstairs to the group exercise room where I was about to get my butt majorly kicker, aka, Turbo Kickboxing class. Man, that was intense. I think I burned like a million calories or something. It was hard, it was some major cardio work, but in the end, it was fun and awesome and I am going to have a hard time moving around tomorrow. They have a class on Wednesday mornings as well, however if I do the kickboxing, I won't be able to do salsa, too since there is like an hour gap in between both classes and Nate would get a little worried about me if I was gone that long. But I am looking forward to hitting this class up again next Friday. What am I, crazy? (Oh and I decided to nix the dance video today. I mean it is my birthday afterall, even though I wouldn't consider it slacking off after doing that class this morning).

Week 2 Begins

Today I started week 2 of the program. I didn't think it was too bad, but I could definitely tell a difference between this week and last week. Each interval of running this week is 90 seconds (as opposed to last week when they were 60 seconds). It seemed as if for the first 60 of the 90 secs I was fine. I felt strong, didn't seem like my breathing was too bad, but then for the last 30 secs I was definitely breathing harder. Anyway, it felt really good despite it being in the 80's and running. As many of you already know, I really hate the heat.....hate it hate it hate it, so being outside exerting energy making me hotter isn't usually at the top of my list of favorite things to do. But I did it.

Funny thing is, I set my alarm to wake up at 5am to do it, but I overslept and never heard the alarm go off until almost 6am and by that time I had no time left to do it before having to get Grace to school. But I couldn't stop thinking about when I would be able to get this done, and really just felt the need to. I just thought that was kind of cool to see how my body is really wanting the exercise.

Also, speaking of bodies and cravings, I've been really good with my water intake, and I am currently averaging about 10 glasses a day. What's funny is that now that I am used to that amount, I can feel that my body just craves the water, and I'm drinking it all day long. Who'd a thunk it?

Oh and last but not least, I have kept up with Tuesday's scheduled workouts. So far I'm 2 for 2. =)

Workouts For the Week

First let me say today's weigh in went ok. It was in the right direction, although I would have loved way more. I was down .6 lbs. At this rate, my kids may graduate high school before I will reach goal, but at least I'm getting there, right?

Second, I thought it would give me some extra accountability to post my planned workouts for the week and then evaluate how I did at the end of the week with it.

• Monday: Salsa class @ gym, Hip Hop dance video
  
• Tuesday: C25K (couch to 5K) program, yoga video
• Wednesday: Salsa class @ gym, Hip Hop dance video, Dancer workout @ gym
  
• Thursday: C25K program, yoga video
• Friday: Turbo Kickboxing class @ gym, Hip Hop dance video
• Saturday: C25K program, Hip Hop dance class @ gym
• Sunday: walk/rest

So there you have it, my plan for the week. I just finished all of Monday's workouts, so I am now looking forward to some relaxation.

Recent Update

I know, I know. I am really horrible at this blog thing. But I will work on trying harder so that my 6 readers will have something to read once in a while.

So anyway, here is my recent update. I'm down about 3 lbs since 1/14 (Ugh I should be more than that). But the good news is I have been exercising regularly. This past week I've exercised every day but today (that's 6 days in a row, folks). Here is how my week went:

• Monday: Salsa class @ gym (30 mins) and a 30 min Yoga video @ home
  
• Tuesday: Couch to 5K running program
  
• Wednesday: Salsa class @ gym (30 mins)
  
• Thursday: Couch to 5K running program
  
• Friday: Yoga video @ home (30 mins)
  
• Saturday: Couch to 5K running program, Hip Hop Dance class @ gym (40 mins- supposed to be 60 but I was late)

OK, so that was how I worked out this week. Also, I started back up with the Couch to 5K running program. In case you don't know what that is, its a program designed to get beginners to run a 5K in about 9 weeks time. Each week you do walk/run intervals and each week it gets to be more running and less walking. The weeks consist of only 3 days of training. You can progress at your own pace so if you need more time on a week, just repeat. I finished week 1 yesterday and about to do week 2. I will probably try blogging about those days as they come. So far, the week went well. I didn't notice any leg burning during the running part, which is good because last time I did this I was feeling that. I did have some soreness the days after, but I love that feeling- makes me feel as if I'm accomplishing something.

As far as eating, I am still working hard at being good. I tend to mess things up on the weekends, so I am trying especially hard this weekend. I messed up last Monday thinking I wouldn't have too much trouble fixing it, and I ended up playing catch up all week from the gain I caused on Monday. Sigh. At any rate, I guess it doesn't help that my birthday is this week, and I would love to just eat whatever I want, but I know if I do that, I will pay the repercussions.

Last but not least, the kids are doing fine. Nothing new to report except that Grace fell off some monkey bar type thing at school on Friday right before school got out and she hit her mouth on a bar. She ended up bruising her gums over 3 of her teeth, busting her lip a little and knocking her top tooth, that was already getting loose, a little looser. She almost knocked that tooth out completely, but its now just going to fall out a little quicker. Shes doing good. She had a hard time eating dinner Friday night, but other than that, shes been good.

Well thats all for now. Stay tuned..........