Disappearing Act...

Hey All!

Sorry I've disappeared. The vacation was great but ever since we got back I've been feeling like I'm on my death bed. My cough hasn't gone away (my ribs are bruised and hurt!) and I think I have a cold on top of it! I have had no energy to make food, eat food or remember to take photos. Also, believe it or not, I haven't even started my Christmas shopping yet! Yikes!

Real quick a summary of photos from the weekend before our trip. Dinner in the North End at Carmen. I had a glass of Italian white wine, salad and pumpkin and squash ravioli.

My friend had this delicious looking bowl of seafood. I'm going to have to try it the next time we go back!


Then there was our awesome vacation with our friends Julia and Chris! Of course I forgot to take pictures of most of our food but here is what I do have!

Breakfast at the airport


Our first drinks at the resort... Airborne... which apparently did nothing for me


First real drink at the pool, BBC


Day 1 buffet lunch on the resort


Day 2 first breakfast at the resort


Day 2 lunch, conch chowder yum!!


Day 2 lunch grilled mahi-mahi on a salad


Hummus appetizer at dinner


Scallop appetizer


Crab chowder


Matt's dessert, key lime pie


My dessert, grilled bananas with ice cream


This was the view from the gym. It made going to the gym more enjoyable. I actually went a couple of mornings before breakfast. Matt kicked my butt by going to the gym every day! Jerk! ;o)


Chris, Julia, Matt and me at the swim-up bar


Matt and I on the pier


All dressed up for our last dinner on the resort


Hope everyone is more prepared for the holidays than I am! I probably will return to the blog after Christmas. I haven't been going to the gym, trying to rest to get healthy again. I've now been sick for a month and it's so frustrating!

Happy Holidays!

Blogger MIA

The last week has been crazy! Between all the work that needs to be done before we leave for the Bahamas, still being sick, a crazy "after work" schedule and all the errands that need to be done for our trip I have only remembered to take food pictures occasionally and I have NOT found the time to write about anything!

Regarding my pre-vacation goals. I think I've failed at least one of the goals every day since last week. I haven't been able to sleep between the stress of life and my cough (which still isn't gone!). I have done pretty well with not drinking during the week, with one Corona light exception! Most of the days I have stayed within my allotted 1550 calories. However, the days that I have failed at this goal have been awful food days! (I haven't figured out how to plan for parties yet!) I have been able to succeed in drinking at least 8 glasses of water a day! However, all the water in the world doesn't make up for the lack of gym time. I haven't been going to the gym as much as I would like because I am still trying to get healthy again. I figured the gym depletes my energy which is counter-productive to beating this cough!

I can't wait for my work/life balance to return! Right now it's just end of the year push: work, work, work!

Hopefully the trip to the Bahamas will help me re-center so I can focus on this blog again. I have been missing my daily time with my food, pictures and computer!

I will be posting pictures when I return from my vacation next week. Until then...

Healthy Eating Articles

Good Morning!

I received an email with a link to a couple of good articles that I wanted to share. They're perfect for the holiday season cooking, baking and eating!

Cut the Fat in Baking
"Healthy" Cookies and Desserts
Baking with Sugar Alternatives
5 Easy Appetizers Under 250 Calories

Enjoy!

On the road again...

I'm hoping it's the road to recovery... today was my last day of medicine!

Let's rewind back to Monday. I woke up Monday morning and immediately realized I wasn't going to work. I think I accidentally made myself sick combining my antibiotics, a dose and a half of my narcotic cough medicine and two glasses of wine. Even though I drank the wine over four hours I woke up with what felt like the worst hangover ever! I went straight back to bed still half soapy and wet from my half shower that I managed to take. Matt was nice enough to put Bailey on the bed for cuddle time before he left for work. Little did he know that us lazy bones would be in bed until 1:30. I tried to get up before then but each time had to run back to bed!


I finally had breakfast (or brunch) at 2:00. I had a slice of whole wheat toast with some apple butter and peanut butter, a Yo Plus yogurt and a large glass of water to rehydrate.



A couple hours later I was still weak and tired but managed to eat a snack. More fluids, pomegranate white tea, and the last two sweet potato oatmeal raisin cookies.



We got our monthly delivery of coconut water today. Perfect timing! I needed to be all the fluids I could get into my body! Did you know that a cup of coconut water contains more potassium than a banana?! It's the best, natural drink for electrolytes and rehydration. Matt and I have recently gotten into a habit of drinking coconut water instead of a sports drink. Only downside is that they are pretty expensive!



Matt picked up a rotisserie chicken on his way home for dinner. I mashed up our last Boston Organic delicata squash with some yogurt spread, raisins and a little brown sugar and made a slice of whole wheat garlic bread. I've discovered the best way to make garlic bread is to cut a clove of garlic and rub it on a hot piece of bread. The oils from the garlic seep into the toast! I then put a little olive oil or yogurt spread on the toast and sprinkle it with Jane's Crazy Mixed-Up Salt. Yum!



Shortly after dinner, I was starting to feel whole again, and decided I wanted a snack. More tea and a packet of SunBest Currant Raisin Biscuits.



To finish the night Matt made a big smoothie! I forgot to take a picture of my little cup of smoothie.


I was feeling bright eyed and bushy tailed this morning, at least compared to yesterday! When I got into the office I made myself breakfast. Oatmeal with a little pumpkin spice, flax seed and raisins. I rinsed down my last antibiotic with a big bottle of water and my coffee.



I am back into my routine. You can tell by my lunch. I had my typical lunch wrap, salad with chicken and herb blue cheese mustard. A side of Kettle Salt & Vinegar Chips and a yogurt. I really love my routine even though my sandwich may get boring every now and then!



I forgot to take pictures of my afternoon snacks. I had a big honey crisp apple (my favorite) before the gym. I completed my lower body, shoulders and tricep strength training session today. After the gym I had a kiwi and a cheese stick which was surprisingly enough to hold me over until dinner.


For dinner tonight I made this recipe that I've been dying to try, Turkey with Dumplings. Instead of turkey I used the rest of the rotisserie chicken from last night. I also halved the recipe. It came out delicious. Matt thought the sweet potato biscuit was a great substitute for his favorite drop biscuits. I call that a win! It looked pretty and with all the color from the veggies you know it's healthy! One serving fills you up and it's only 280 calories!






I'm now enjoying another cup of the pomegranate white tea and I'm about to go do another hour of work before I head to bed.


Back to the Goal Checklist!
Go to the gym - √
Drink Water - √
No Alcohol - √
Get 7 hours of sleep - √
Consume no more than 1550 calories - √

Work, work and more work...

Have I mentioned that I have been doing work all day?!

My cough kept me up last night AGAIN! Matt was kind enough to get up first, walk the dog and pick up breakfast before he woke me up. I got to sleep in and wake up to breakfast! That's the perfect start to any day! For breakfast I had a ham, egg and cheese on an english muffin, a yogurt and a large coffee. I was going to need the caffeine for all the work I had ahead of me!



Both Matt and I got into the routine of work shortly after breakfast. The next time one of us stopped it was 5:00. Matt decided to run downstairs to City Convenience and pick up a snack for us. He was also nice enough to get me a Lipton honey green iced tea to go with my snack, red pepper hummus and crackers. You'll also notice my medicine! Lucky me!

I finished the project that I had been working on during snack time and decided that if I was going to make dinner I needed to go to Whole Foods stat. I took Bailey out real quick and then walked to our closest store. We have nothing in the house and I got overwhelmed trying to figure out what we were going to eat that I ended up walking around the store about 4 times. I finally decided on pizza and a salad. I picked up the bare necessities for dinner and lunch for tomorrow then walked home. We had a nice pepperoni and red pepper pizza with a side salad for dinner. We're also enjoying one last bottle of wine before we go back to no liquor for the week.

Now I'm going to go do more work and hope that Matt makes a smoothie soon for dessert!

Have a great night!

Sunday = Sick in Bed + Work

I have a lot of work to do today but I'm still not feeling 100%. So I've decided to stay in bed today and do work. My boy wanted to cuddle so I put a sheet on the bed (Bailey sheds SO much that we need a sheet on the bed to contain his hair) and now he's "helping" me with my work. I had to share this photo!

Things that I'm hoping to accomplish today:

1. WORK!

2. Walk to Whole Foods for some bare necessities to hold us over until tomorrow
3. 1:1 yoga with my friend

It doesn't look like a long list but we'll see how much I actually get accomplished!

Hope your Sunday is better than mine!

The Rest of Our Visit

Friday and Saturday have been a blur of food and family. Friday Matt took me to the ER so that I could get some medicine for my cough that wouldn't go away! I hadn't been able to get a good night sleep (and neither had Matt) since the cough had started and we didn't want to risk me being sick on our vacation. With the H1N1 they make anyone with potential symptoms wear a mask. Lucky me! Didn't I look hot?!

I was diagnosed with bronchitis and was sent home with two prescriptions. I'm finally on the road to recovery and was able to get in some good sleep!!!

Shortly after we got back to the house we had to say good bye to my sister-in-law and her husband. They had a flight back to Chicago to catch! Later that night some of our friends came over to my in-laws house and we all played Wii and snacked on some appetizers and cookies from Thanksgiving.

Today I managed to get some work done in between naps and food breaks. Now we're back home just in time for bed.

I'm feeling better so tomorrow I should be back on track with the goals, cooking at home and taking pictures.

Below is some of the food that I ate over the last two days!

Friday's Breakfast: Pumpkin pancakes and Canadian bacon

Friday's Lunch: Leftover sandwich with a side of sweet potato casserole and mashed potatoes with gravy

Friday's Dinner: Chicken soup and salad

Friday's Dessert: one of my sweet potato oatmeal raisin cookies and a turtle bar

Saturday's Breakfast: scrambled eggs, bacon and my lemon poppy seed muffin

Saturday's lunch: a medley of apples, veggie crackers and laughing cow cheese

Saturday's Dinner: Front Porch Restaurant in Ogunquit. Matt and I shared a chop salad to start.

For dinner we split a steak with green peppercorn butter and parmesan fries and a side of mushroom risotto. Everything was DELICIOUS! The picture doesn't do the meal justice.

To counteract the "effects" of the antibiotics that I'm on I have been eating a container of yogurt as often as I can. I prefer all natural greek yogurt but the grocery store in Wells didn't have any. This was the best yogurt that I could get. I figured the probiotics should help me out!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving is a day that is full of tradition. I remember the days of waking up early and running to the TV waiting for the Macy's Day Parade to begin! I remember all the family packed in our house. The smell of food. The eating, all day!! Today was no exception.

I woke up early in the morning and came downstairs to find the in-laws sitting around the Macy's Day Parade while breakfast was baking in the oven. For breakfast we had Grand Marnier French Toast accompanied by my Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins. I was happy with my muffins but I almost think that they would have been better without the "glaze". Too sweet and sticky. My in-laws disagreed. My mother-in-laws french toast is always great!

Appetizers came out around noon. We had a great spread of dips for crackers, pretzels and carrots along with Chex Mix and peanuts. My sesame garlic dip was good but it was just a different version of the french onion soup dip. It was a seasoning packet mixed with nonfat Trader Joe's Greek yogurt.

My first Thanksgiving drink was mixed by my brother-in-law. A delicious vodka and soda water with a splash of cranberry. It looks just as good as it tasted! The perfect color of pink!

My drink was a perfect match for my salad with homemade croutons! Yum!

The dinner table looked beautiful! For dinner tonight we had:

turkey
mashed potatoes
gravy
stuffing
butternut squash
sweet potato casserole
roasted asparagus
homemade cranberry sauce
homemade rosemary bread (that Matt made)
a couple beautiful bottles of red wine and good beer also graced the table

Last but not least we had dessert. My homemade pie. To be honest, it was way too sweet for my liking. I think the pie would have been perfect with more pumpkin and no cream cheese layer. Everyone was nice and they said they liked it. It's nice that they love me.

Today is a goal free day. No checklist as I would fail them all and I really look at the holiday as a "skip day".

Thanksgiving is a day to remember what we are all grateful for. This year I was extremely appreciative for technology. We were able to "visit" with my sister-in-law who is in Alabama celebrating Thanksgiving with a fellow AmeriCorps friend. She is stationed in Mississippi so Alabama was a nice 3 hour drive for her. We were so thankful to have the chance to celebrate with her. We also got a chance to visit with my father-in-laws family in Michigan, grandma, grandpa, 2 aunts, a friend, 2 awesome cousins* and their cute puppy! I am so grateful for Skype!

*Speaking of the two awesome cousins they design, make and sell their own jewelry! They are having a 25% off Black Friday sale! Check out their awesome Etsy site!

What were you thankful for this Thanksgiving?!

Hope everyone had a great day celebrating with family and friends!