A Nice Run

Dave and I ended up sleeping way too long to get a run in Tuesday morning. (It's inhumane that too late is 5:15am. But, whatever.) He said we'd go in the evening, which sounded like a great idea...at the time. It turns out, though, that getting up that early and not running meant that I would be essentially asleep all freakin' day. It was great!

Anyway, after work and dinner (crockpot sloppy joes! I took a picture, but it was awful. You'll have to take my word for it - they were delish!), we took Meghan to swim practice. We got home close to 8 and I literally ran up to my bed to snuggle in. Apparently Dave remembered that we needed to get a run in, though, and started getting ready. He said I didn't have to go, but I knew that meant I really did.

Once we got out there, I was glad we did it. I know a lot of people went on various runs for Boston and I was glad that, even though this wasn't a declared memorial run or anything, I had some time to reflect and make sure that I contributed to runners get back out there. After we finished the C25K portion, Dave cooled down and I got another mile in. It wasn't fast and it certainly wasn't long, but I did it.

There's a Solidarity Run on Sunday here in Buffalo at 9am. I really want to go, but have my daughter and I have a meeting about a mission trip we're going on next February to Belize. It's crazy that I: 1. have multiple places I could be that early on a weekend; and 2. am going to Belize! Amelia really wants to do this trip and she needs an adult to go with her. We've never done anything like it.

Between work and dinner yesterday, I made muffins. The kids are going through NYS testing this week (let's not even get started on that) and Meghan said they needed a hearty breakfast. They are typically frozen waffle eaters. However, yesterday I made them egg sandwiches and tomorrow I'm making them smoothies (with fruit, PB, chocolate soy milk and spinach). Today, they're eating muffins. I got the recipe here.

Horrible cell picture with glare from window

We each tried one last night and they're So. Good. Meghan liked them. Amelia said they were ok. Brett said he liked them, but he didn't like all of the oats on top. (I think I can chop them finer, though, so he'd like them more.) They're definitely hearty and I think will get the kids through testing and me through the morning at work. I also think they'd be great to munch on after a long run or something.

Keep running!

The Morning After

I had some girls over last night for a jewelry party. What we really did was eat, drink wine and make it hard for the jewelry lady to do her job. We had some great (not very healthy) snacks, including gluten free crackers with a cheesy onion dip - the surprise hit of the night! We also had chip, salsa and guacamole from Moes. And, no party is complete without a mixture of peanut and almond M&Ms. It's a good thing I didn't eat dinner beforehand!

Bad phone pic of our snacks

The last guest didn't leave until well after midnight. So, you may have guessed...I didn't go to spin this morning. Seriously - I need a kick in the butt! Dave and I ARE going for a run this afternoon and I'm doing another one tomorrow. I can't go now because he's at baseball practice with Brett. Then, he has coaches meeting and then Meghan has softball practice. It's going to be a full day!

I'm making a gluten free banana bread right now. Bananas don't often make it long enough to become banana bread in our house, but when they do...yum! I've never used this recipe before, but figured a cake mix can't be bad, right? I'll try to remember to post a picture and a review. I can't wait!

Dinner will be a variation of this, a cornbread/taco/cheesy casserole kind of thing. My father-in-law is a butcher and gets ground beef at a very good price. So, every now and again I buy 10 pounds (it comes in bulk). I got some the other day and immediately thought of this recipe. The whole family loves it and it's gluten free! Win-win. Again, I will try to post pictures. In fact, perhaps this can be a two-post Saturday with an evening recap, including discussion of my run, along with pics of banana bread and dinner.

Have a great day everyone!

How to Stop Eating When Something Tastes Good

I actually have no expertise with the title of this post. There have been many-a-meal that I've eaten well past being full because I didn't want the experience to end. Tonight we had Wegman's gluten free spaghetti with Italian sausage and red sauce. It was delicious. I had one serving and was pretty full. I knew I should stop eating, so I did. I even talked to my kids about not eating any more because I wasn't hungry. After dinner I had to get some work done, so I cleared the table and got my computer out. While it was turning on...I grabbed half a sausage and inhaled it. I guess it's a good thing that's all I took.

It appears the title of this post should be asking for help in not eating when something tastes good.

I'm actually not as bad as I'm leading you to believe. I'm using MyFitnessPal.com to track my food consumption and it has really been helping. I've also been meeting with a nutritionist every three weeks to help keep my on track and to answer any questions I have. I just get frustrated sometimes when I feel like I have no control.

The (hopeful) schedule for the rest of the week is as follows:
Wednesday Yoga
Thursday C25K with husband, with possible additional mile if there's time
Friday 5K
Saturday Spin
Sunday rest

Do you have trouble putting the fork down when something tastes good? Do you have any advice for this?

Bad at New Blogging

I had a blog several years ago that I kept up for a few years. It was based loosely on recipes, although I definitely spent time just rambling. This current blog rolled around in my brain for quite a while before I started it. The problem I'm having now is that many blogs have a lot of pictures. I admit that the ones I love are picture-heavy. So, why can't I get it together???

We had pizza for dinner because I was in the mood and the place near our daughter's swim team practice has a gluten free crust available. I ordered spinach, onion and bacon on top - so good!!! I had every intention of taking a pic or two before eating, but I was so hungry I didn't think about it until I was eating the last couple of bites. (It's essentially personal-sized.) This is a sad situation.

I am trying something that many blogs do: writing the night before. We're planning to go for a very early run tomorrow morning and then I have to leave for work. (I'm heading to Rochester for the day.) It makes much more sense to get this in now than stress myself out writing something short in the morning. I even got my husband to fill my gas tank on the way home from swim so I don't have to worry about that in the morning, either. It's perfect!

I have to say that yoga this morning did a great job stretching me out. I'm definitely ready for a a quick run in the morning to get the blood flowing. Tonight, though? Tonight. I'm watching TV with my husband and sipping vodka. Life. Is. Good.

Back At It

Our weekend trip was awesome. We ate, drank and played and stayed up too late. In other words, it was all the things a weekend getaway should be.

I didn't plan well AT ALL for the drive home yesterday and didn't have very much food I could eat. I also didn't think through where dinnner would be. (We left much later than expected because we went for an incredible lunch at Han Dynasty - link to come when I'm not posting from my phone. So. Good. You must eat there when in the Philadelphia area.) Because we're typically back home by dinner time for road trips, I never thought about stopping. We ended up stopping at McDonald's because there just wasn't time for anything else. Ugh! I went online and found out I could eat a burger without a bun and the french fries with a relatively low fear of being glutened. (It certainly wasn't healthy, though!)  Even though I managed to get through the drive, I feel gross for eating that. So, this morning I got back at it: sunrise yoga.

It was a great class today! Lots of really good stretching and some ab work thrown in. We has a substitute teacher today and I really liked her.

I have just enough time for a little coffee before waking the kids up for their first day back after spring break. Getting back to a routine is so hard after a break!

Have a great Monday!