Week 4 Complete

I am very proud, I finished Week 4 of C25K today! This was definitely the hardest yet. Although this week, since the weather here was so bad, I decided to finally brave the gym on base. Tony has been telling me for months to go there, that it is so nice, blah blah blah. I always have gym anxiety, I don't know, I think it's the fat girl in me that worries I am going to be judged by some little stick girls who look like supermodels and here I am, looking 4 months pregnant, when really it's just my fat belly. But, to my surprise, I loved it! The gym was really nice and big, and I did not see one supermodel there! Plus, I discovered running on the treadmill is much easier than running outside with these hills here, and when I run outside, especially in the cooler weather, it seems to irritate my sinuses/bronchial tract and makes me a snotty mess with too much post nasal drip, gross! This doesn't happen in the controlled environment of the gym. Today was the only day I ran outside, hubby went with me, and I was much slower and much more tired, although not as sweaty, running outside. So, I think this winter and possibly at least half the time, I will be sticking to the treadmill and the gym! So here are the stats for the week:

Week 4 Day 1: 2.87 miles, 33:53
Week 4 Day 2: 2.87 miles, 33:52 (I also calibrated my Nike+ this day and did an additional 0.60 miles after c25k)
Week 4 Day 3: 2.86, 38:37 

On the weight loss front, not much has changed, still playing the gain 0.8 then lose it again all this week, part of it I'm sure was brought on by the Chili's dinner on Monday and the cupcakes. Last night and the night before I didn't make exactly healthy dinners, so weight is pretty much staying the same. Hopefully next week I will have a loss and push me into the next "decade" finally. Until then I will be trying to stay within my points and eating better!

Toasted Ravioli

Tony has been complaining lately that he is getting tired of our same old dinners, granted some of that is due to me trying to watch my diet and lose weight, but I figured the occasional deviation from my standards would be alright. Enter toasted ravioli. I saw this on Rachael Ray a while ago and it looked so yummy, I knew I had to try it. See I love all things cheese and all things breaded. It's a weakness, it really is. So here it goes, ingredients:

1 package of Buitoni four cheese ravioli (the fresh kind, not frozen)
about 1/2 cup breadcrumbs
2 teaspoons grated parmesan cheese
2 teaspoons Italian seasoning (mine has basil, oregano, garlic and some other spices in there)
1 teaspoon granulated garlic powder
3-4 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1 egg or in my case about 1/4 cup egg beaters
tomato sauce for dipping

First combine breadcrumbs, cheese, garlic, and seasonings in one bowl, in another bowl place your egg or egg beaters, and have a plate handy as well. I made a little production line with the package of ravioli, the bowl with the egg beaters, the bowl with the breadcrumbs/seasoning, and then the plate to put my finished products on. At the same time I placed 2 Tbsp evoo in a skillet on the stove on medium heat. One by one dip the ravioli into the egg then the breadcrumbs and place on plate. When all have been dipped place in hot skillet and fry about 1-2 minutes on each side. Serve with a side of hot tomato sauce if desired.

This was really easy to make once I got the hang of it. I didn't have enough canned breadcrumbs to make the whole package of ravioli, so I ended up toasting a piece of bread and then making crumbs out of it in my Magic Bullet. I think from now on I will be making all my breadcrumbs that way, first off it's easier for me to figure out the exact nutrition content that way, and I know I always have healthy bread on hand, unlike the canister of breadcrumbs. Naturally, I made Tony eat the ones breaded in the white breadcrumbs and I ate the high fiber wheat ones that were made with my breadcrumbs. Also, my pan wasn't big enough, so I had to do about 4 batches to make them all, which meant I put about another 2 Tbsp evoo in there, not exactly what I wanted to do, but they were still delicious, and as you can see above I used a paper towel on the plate to try to soak up some of the excess oil. We ended up eating them with some of my yummy zucchini and squash and some Merlot. We finally broke open the bottle of red chocolate covered wine and enjoyed our wine and the dark chocolate it was covered in for dessert! So good! I will be running all this off tomorrow to complete Week 4 of c25k.

Steel Cut Oatmeal

So in my quest to eat healthily I have converted from instant oatmeal to steel cut or "Irish" oatmeal. There were a couple obstacles to this at first, one the commissary doesn't sell it, two, it takes forever to cook in the morning. Seriously, according to the package directions it takes over 30 minutes to cook on the stovetop. Not so nice and quick for a hungry girl first thing in the morning. After some research I found this awesome way to cook my whole week's worth of breakfast. Enter the crockpot! So first things first, I got my steel cut oats at the local Kroger in the organic section:

 

I then assemble my large Pyrex bowl with 1 cup of oats and 4 cups of water, exactly as the directions on the can says. Then I place about 4 cups of water into my 6 qt crockpot, and put the bowl with the oats and water mixture inside the crockpot. The crockpot will then become a kind of double boiler type thing:

I usually set the crockpot for 8 hours on low right before I go to bed and then voila the next morning I wake up and I have my delicious healthy breakfast waiting for me. Here's how it looks when it's done:

And here is my delicious bowl of steel cut oatmeal and one tablespoon of brown sugar mixed in. Enjoy, I know I do!

Backyard Fun

We live in the country, often before I moved here Tony would call me while he was eating breakfast and tell me how he was watching deer while eating his morning cereal. I sometimes thought maybe he was making it up; then the first day after I moved in we saw a doe and two of her fawns in the backyard. Here's the proof:

Anyway, I was on the phone with my dad this evening when something caught my eye as I walked into the kitchen, a flash of brown and white racing by, and then coming back again. I was so confused. I looked out the kitchen window and saw this:

This, my friends, is five, yes, five, deer running around chasing each other in a circle! It was so cute! I took a couple more pics, but it was hard to try to manage with one hand since I was still on the phone with my dad. Plus, the blinds on the kitchen window were blocking me, so when I raised them up they turned to look at me and quickly ran off, as evidenced by this photo:

I can't wait for Tony to come home so I can show him these photos and tell him about it. I hope they come back to play again sometime soon!

Cupcakes!

Ok, so these weren't really homemade because both the cake and frosting came from a box/tub, but they still taste yummy, and after all I did have to supply the eggs, oil and water and mix it together and bake. But anyway, I really wanted to try piping on the frosting and see how it turned out. Unfortunately I only got about 6 done before my dollar spot decorating set thing died. Alright, so it didn't really die, but the thing is obviously only worth the $1 I paid for it, the thing holds like 2 Tbsp of frosting, the lid doesn't screw on right. Hubby and I went to Walmart today and to my great surprise they carry quite a variety of Wilton baking supplies, including many decorating bags and tips, so I think I may buy one of their sets there soon so next time I can do the entire batch! So enjoy some of these pics and drool over them like I have been doing...ok who am I kidding? I had four, yes, four, in the last two days! So glad they are getting out of my house tomorrow morning!

The End of Another Week

When I started Week 3 of C25K I thought I was going to die. The intervals this week were 90 seconds jogging, 90 seconds walking, 3 minutes running, 3 minutes walking, to be repeated twice. I thought there was no way I could run for 3 minutes straight. I was dying last week running for 90 seconds. Well Day 1 was really hard, Day 2 a little easier, today, Day 3, I think I could have kept on going! I was so proud of myself! So Monday I move on to Week 4, 5 minutes of straight running! We'll see how it goes. Granted I think this lovely weather may be contributing to my less stressful runs. It's been in the 60s here all week! It's sunny and breezy and just all around enjoyable to be outside! I have been loving it, it definitely feels like Fall now! So stats for this week:
Week 3, Day 1: 2.27 miles, 29:42
Week 3, Day 2: 2.38 miles, 30:06
Week 3, Day 3: 2.34 miles, 30:14

The other thing I have been working on this week is pacing myself, hubby has convinced me that I run too fast when I run, and that's probably why I am ready to die at the end. So this week I have been really working on keeping a slower pace during the running interval so I can go farther and longer. Day 2 and today I think it made the biggest difference. I've also been working on keeping up a faster pace when walking, trying to stay between 13 and 15/mile, I've definitely noticed a difference. And the biggest difference? I lost 3 lbs in the last 3 weeks! I am now at my lowest post-wedding weight! Only 10-15 lbs to go. I really want to get to 15, but I will settle at 10.

Cuban Food! I Miss South Florida...

I've been missing the Cuban food of Miami for a while now. I've always had the thought that I could make some awesome shredded mojo pork in the crockpot, because I can make some awesome BBQ pork in the crockpot. So tonight I decided to try it. I got a pretty good recipe online and made my own marinade and let it marinate overnight. So here's what you'll need: a 1 lb pork tenderloin, garlic, salt, pepper, olive oil, cumin, lime juice, orange juice, honey, and I threw some Adobo in there too. I didn't measure, but basically you put all the spices in with some oj and lime juice, leave the honey out for now, I put all this in my Magic Bullet and blended, then poked holes in my tenderloin and shot the mixture in it. Then put it a gallon size Ziploc bag and let it soak overnight. This morning I put the tenderloin and the marinade in the crockpot and set it on low for 8 hours. This is how the tenderloin looked in the crockpot when it was done:

Then I took it out and it fell apart, like this:

So then I used those two forks to shred it all up. Next, I made a sauce. Here's the recipe for the sauce:

1/3 cup OJ

1 Tbsp Lime Juice

1 Tbsp Fresh Minced Garlic

2 Tbsp Honey

1 Tbsp Olive Oil

Again I mixed it all together with my Magic Bullet and then heated the mixture for a few seconds in the microwave and then poured it all over the shredded meat in crockpot.

Next, it was time to make the zucchini and squash. I love zucchini and squash! Here is my not so secret recipe of how I make it:

1 large zucchini

1 large yellow squash

2 tsp extra virgin olive oil

lots of Goya Adobo

Slice the zucchini and squash in half lengthwise and then chop, making half moon shapes, throw it into a large saucepan with the olive oil and sprinkle liberally with Adobo, cook on medium-high for about 5 minutes until veggies are tender.

And voila, here's the finished meal, not exactly La Carreta, but hubby and I definitely enjoyed, and I loved how easy it was!