New site for the blog!

Hey, for anyone who ends up reading this, I've changed my blog to a new website: eatinggreenstayinglean.wordpress.com. This site will allow me to do a few more fun things with my posts.

See you there! <3

A little bit o' this, and a little bit o' chicken parm...

"There is no spectacle on earth more appealing than that of a beautiful woman in the act of cooking dinner for someone she loves.” -Thomas Wolfe

Nice quote, right? Well I thought it was perfect to set the stage for today's plans: cooking chicken parmigiana for my boyfriend and mother :) More on that later...

To catch up on the past few days, we'll start with Saturday:
I worked from 8 until 3ish. I had a little time before meeting up with a friend, and so I made this lovely concoction (egg white omelet similar to the other day, with chevre, mushrooms, arugala, and some seasoning...along with a piece of delicious multigrain toast):



...and then met up with Kaitlyn around 4:15 for a long cardio sesh...40 minutes on the elliptical :). The best part, however, was afterwards because we had date night and went out for SUSHI! Yummmm. We both enjoyed a glass of wine (red for me) and had an appetizer (picture below...avocado and cucumber roll) and then for my main meal I enjoyed a soft shell crab roll. My favoooorriitteee.



I went to bed around 10 because I had to get up early again on Sunday, wash and repeat...

I woke up to one of the better breakfast cookies I've ever made:


During work, I munched on one of my homemade granola bars (seen in a previous post) for a pick-me-up. Afterwards, it was time to head home to see the boy <3, so I made myself another delicious smoothie:

*1/2 medium banana (50 calories)
*1/2 scoop Designer Whey Vanilla (50 calories)
*3/4 cup frozen berries (50ish calories)
*1/2 cup each of almond milk and OJ (about 120 calories)
annddd....
*1/4 ripe avocado (to mix it up, about 80 calories)
*1/4 container vanilla yogurt to make up for the berries (i ran out of them...haha)
Total? about 350 calories

With it, I enjoyed another piece of the multigrain toast that I bought at a local bakery at home and am keeping frozen in my freezer. Delicious:


This morning, I left the boy's house and munched on a banana (100 calories), and one of the last of my homemade granola bars (about 300 calories). I picked up some coffee, went to visit my mom at work for a while and munched on a few mango slices (about 150 calories). Thennn, I rushed off to the grocery store to pick up some things for tonight's dinner: CHICKEN PARM! I've never made it before, but I'll be sure to post pics tomorrow.

Once home, I made myself a KILLER lunch. I made a salad with:

*1/4 ripe avocado (80 calories)
*2 cups mesclun/arugala/spinach mix (about 40 calories, maybe less)
*1 cup sliced mushrooms (20 calories)
*2 tbsp Annie's Goddess Dressing...I've never had it before, but it was DELICIOUS....maybe I should find new synonyms for delicious :) (130 calories)
*tortilla strips (20 calories)
*2 tbsp basil and roasted garlic chevre (50 calories)






AND a 2 egg white puff with red pepper flakes on the side (about 30 calories):


Total for lunch? About 370 calories. Not bad for being so satisfying.

For an afternoon snack, I munched on some Veggie Pirate Booty (130 calories):



Phew, that was a lotta pictures. I'm off to do some exercise dvds with my mother, take a quick shower, and get started on Project: Chicken Parmifantastic. haha

Results to follow...
<3, Jenna

P.S. My new mini life goals are currently:
1. get in super duper shape while changing my eats (this has become apparent to most of you)
2. save up some money and get my personal trainer certification
3. in the meantime, start training for (and register for) a half marathon to be completed this summer.

Bam.

Time sure flies...

Oh my...has it only been two days since I last posted? It seems like forever ago. Anyways, amongst the work and gym craziness, I've been able to take a few pictures of the yummiest foods I've been chomping on since we last talked. :)

I should PROBABLY start with a recap of my granola-bar-making experience. First of all, I found the recipe on ehow.com, believe it or not. It can be found here. However, I did make a few variations...

In my batch I added:

about 2 1/2 c. rolled or steel cut oats (not quick oats)
about a 1/2 c. whole-wheat flour
about a 1/4 c. flax seed meal (optional)...I ground the seeds in my coffee grinder
some cinnamon
about (probably more than) a 1/2 c. Natural peanut butter
about a 1/2 c. water
about 2 tsp. vanilla
3 large egg whites, lightly beaten
anndd about a tbsp or two of my new friend AGAVE to sweeten it up a bit.

ANDD, instead of adding in the dried fruit and nuts separately, I bought a yummy pre-mixed mixture of dried apples, sunflower seeds, peanuts, raisins, chocolate chips, etc. that I sometimes put on top of salads. With that mix, I added a bit extra in the chocolate chip department so I wouldn't scare away all those people that are COMPLETELY unhappy with COMPLETELY healthy foods...just enough to lure them in :)

Mixture pre-oven:



Post-oven, cooled and cut into 12ish pieces:


Overall? Not to shabby. I could probably go through all the ingredients and figure out a basic estimate on the calorie count, but I don't really feel like it, so I'm estimating around 300 calories per bar. It sounds like a lot, but nuts, dried fruit, peanut butter and chocolate are all high calorie foods. Don't feel bad, however, because with the exception of the chocolate they are all ingredients that are high in good healthy fats, protein, and nutrients that will digest slower than regular store-bought granola bars and won't spike up the blood sugar and make you as hungry. Next time I might try to make them a bit thinner, and I'll definitely use some precise measurements. So far they've made a great pre-workout treat, or a snack-on-the-run at work when it's busy.

As for the gym aspect of my regime, I made it to the gym yesterday before I went to work and managed to do a whole 45 minutes on the elliptical. I'll admit that making a new playlist and updating some songs definitely helped, but it was satisfying...and I burned 600 calories! Whoa. Thank god for my good ol' heart rate monitor.

Now that we're up to speed, today I had to work from 8-4 so I made a quick almond/OJ/berry/protein smoothie before work, enjoyed a small crepe filled with one egg, pesto and some cheese for an early lunch, a homemade granola bar for late lunch/pre-workout snack, and then managed to make this beautiful egg white omelet filled with baby portobella mushrooms, arugala, avocado, and chevre. I was skeptical combining chevre, avocado and eggs but with a little garlic powder, salt and pepper for seasoning, this beast was awesome. Awe. Some.

The recipe? I actually threw this all together myself! Once I learned how to make an omelet, there was no stoppin' me :)


Today was also a weights day at the gym, and my workout (varied slightly from the other day) is posted below:

Cardio:
*30 minutes on the elliptical (~300 calories)

Weights: (repeated circuit three times)
*Dumbbell frontal raise (10lbsx12 reps)
*Medicine ball twist (10lbsx10 reps on each side)
*Chair Squats (these KILL) (12 reps)
*Hammer Curl (15lbsx10reps)
*Good mornings (10lb weightx 12 reps)
*Tricep Kickbacks (10lbsx12 reps)
*Bent Knee Leg Raises (12 reps)
*Regular bicep curl (10-15lbs x12 reps)
*Inner and Outer Leg Machine at 70lbs (x12 reps)

I'm working tomorrow and Sunday from 730-4. I'll hit up the gym tomorrow for a cardio sesh, and then take Sunday off from the gym (but may do some yoga). Something to look forward to: on Monday, the Fitnessista will be posting some new workouts for the Winter Shape Up 2010 (which she designed) that I'll try out for next week's routine.

G'night all!

Jenna

Things come in threes...

Hey everyone,

Sorry that I'm slacking, I've been super busy finding jobs, visiting home w/the hubby and mom, and a bunch of random little errands in between. The good news? I've been going to the gym every day since last weekend. So far, so good. The Winter Shape Up (Fitnessista.com) is something I'm determined to finish. And, someone once told me during my time of emergency medicine that things come in threes. This may be true in the life of an EMS-er, but it's also true for circuit workouts, and fun finds at the health food store. :) So first of all....today's workout:

I did a variation of what she posted for this week's circuit workout (see her site for those specifics) and ended up doing the following:

Cardio:
*30 minutes on the elliptical (~280 calories)

Weights: (repeated circuit three times)
*Dumbbell frontal raise (10lbsx12 reps)
*Plie Squat (x12 reps)
*Medicine ball twist (10lbsx10 reps on each side)
*Chair Squats (these KILL) (12 reps)
*Hammer Curl (15lbsx10reps)
*Good mornings (10lb weightx 12 reps)
*Tricep Kickbacks (10lbsx12 repts)
*Bent Knee Leg Raises (12 reps)

Phew! After that? ~600 calories. Nicely done, and I have the exhaustion to show for it...

Rewinding back to this morning, I went out to breakfast with my mom at a local cafe and enjoyed some freshly baked multigrain bread with a little jam, and a veggie omelet :) (Mind you, i was almost done eating at this point...only ate half)


I managed to stop by Healthy Living Market today on the way back to my apartment, pre-gym. Fun finds?

Pirate Booty, veggie style:

I know it sounds disgusting, and I thought it would be when my Aunt told me she fed it to my cousins sometime last year. But, they loved it and I realized it's pretty tasty. It's very similar to smartfood, but just a little healthier and with a few seasonings.

A KIND brand granola bar that I (tried) to enjoy on the way to fill out a job application before work. The good news? The job I was applying for was at a local gym! The bad news? This granola bar was gross:

Turns out this wasn't such a good choice...ew.

Anndd, lastly, some mint carob-covered rice cakes:

YUM. YumyumyumyumYUM. It may sound gross, but carob tastes like chocolate and the whole experience is like a healthy, filling girl scout cookie minus the calories.

As for the rest of the day, I enjoyed a delicious smoothie made out of:

* about a half cup OJ and half cup Almond Milk (maybe less) (120 cals)
*3/4 to 1 cup mixed frozen berries (70 cals)
*1/2 banana (50 cals)
*2/3 scoop Designer Whey protein (vanilla) (75 cals)
=315 cals



YUMMM. This is my new favorite, easily. The almond milk sounds gross but it actually goes really well with the orange juice. I dare you to try it out.

Then I proceeded to eat the not-so-delicious granola bar mentioned above with a little Pirate's Booty, and brought a Cabot Vanilla Bean greek yogurt to work with me which I enjoyed with a small salad w/chevre.

I'd love to continue, but I have to get some rest before my 45 minute cardio sesh on the elliptical tomorrow morning. Anddd I need to get some new songs for the playlist before I die of boredom.

I'll show you a few more things I found at the grocery store tomorrow, anddd something to look forward to: I'm going to try to make my own granola bars.

And yes, I have that much time on my hands before work :)

<3, Jenna

P.S. For future reference, one of the MOST uncomfortable things you can do in the winter is take a cold shower post-workout. I got back today and found (once I got IN the shower) that our water wouldn't heat up, and proceeded to rush through a colder-than-lukewarm shower that turned my little fingernails purple. Not fun, haha.

A tired blogger...

Hello!

Apologies for not writing in the past day or two, my life has been crazy. Work at the restaurant was INSANE this weekend, and completely wiped me out. I didn't manage to get too much time to count in any calorie totals for my days, but I DID manage to get my bum to the gym yesterday and today despite the sleepyness...

...also, I enjoyed a few yummy meals along the way...


Breakfast Cookie (Source)!


Not the healthiest, but the most delicious salad from work. It had: tomatoes, chevre, mesclun, cheddar cheese and then a small side of strawbs and a dollop (haha) of nutella to satisfy the good ol' sweet tooth. YUM.

Those were both consumed yesterday. As for today, I managed to have a fantastic salad and egg white (x2) for dinner, post-gym adventure:


As for the rest of my life, I"m off to the gym in the morning because I'm starting the WINTER SHAPE UP 2010, designed by Fitnessista.com on her awesome blog, so we'll see how that goes. After the gym I'm headed home to see the hubby and visit with my madre. Back here to work Wednesday through Sunday, yee haw.

Hopefully more detailed posts to come...

G'night all! <3

Hello, Kale...meet Mr. Blender...

Hey everyone!

It's been an exciting day for the kitchen/foodie enthusiast, to say the least. After my breakfast cookie, I had a cup of WATER :), browsed around for some new recipes, and zoomed off to the grocery store to pick up a few basic things like parsley and red pepper flakes, bananas, etc. While there, however, I got a little inspired and decided to also pick up some Agave Nectar and Almond Milk. These have been praised around the fitness world lately, and nonetheless, I figured "what the hell"...

(Note: For those of you still in the dark, Agave (pronounced ah-gah-vay) is a more natural form of sweetener that is supposed to have a lower glycemic index, made from the agave plant. Comparable in taste and texture to honey, this sweetener has swept the fitness world and is making appearances on health and cooking shows such as my fav, Rachael Ray, who says she's begun to use it in her daily cooking as well.)




I got back to my apartment, and a friend showed up to visit so I postponed my foodie adventures to grab some delicious Starbucks (on her)! I had the usual, a tall soy misto (about 70 calories), and while browsing the shelves I found a new collection of raw and gluten-free products the company is now carrying in their efforts to attract a more health-conscious crowd. Within this collection, I found this:



A Raw Granola bar! Made by Two Moms in the Raw, the ingredients are (all organic): millet, buckwheat, coconut, flaxseed, sunflower seeds, sesame seeds, pecans, almonds, pepitas, apples, blueberries, agave, cinnamon and sea salt. Since seeing a variety of these bars on tv, and on my fav blog (Fitnessista), I figured that at 220 calories I'd give it a try despite my skepticism. I took about a third of a chunk off to make sure it was edible :), and to my surprise it was DELICIOUS. Just another reason people should step outside of their comfort zones...

Here's a closeup:

Doesn't look so bad, eh? I'm excited to finish the other half at work tonight.

After the snacking sample, I heated up some of my glorious dinner from last night, but tried for a smaller piece. My friend and I watched American Idol on dvr, then she left and I proceeded to make another creation. For some reason, smoothies have been on my mind a lot lately. Maybe it's because I have a lot of time to make them, or maybe just because they're yummy. In efforts to continue to make them worthwhile nutritionally, I took a leap and made mine with Kale.

Kale? WHAT?! I know...that's what I thought when I first saw it on tv a few months ago. It may not have been kale, but it was definitely some sort of green that I didn't feel worthy of being blended with fruity goodness. Anyways, I browsed a few recipes online, and used this one for my basic guideline. In it, I put:

*about 1 cup chopped Kale= 40 calories
*half of a medium-sized carrot (I was nervous)= 20 calories
*half of a medium-sized banana (saving the other half for tomorrow's breakfast)= 50 calories
*about 1.5 tbsp of Agave Nectar (heres where it fits in!)= 90 calories
*about 1 cup of high-pulp orange juice= 110 calories
*1/2 scoop Designer Whey French Vanilla protein powder= 50 calories
*1 cup frozen berry mixture= 60 calories
*1/2 cup water and 4 large ice cubes

All together, that's about 420 calories...or enough for a meal. Soo, I split it into two servings and am saving the other half for a snack tomorrow...


As for the almond milk, I was again pleasantly surprised to find it was sweet, smooth, and nothing like I'd imagined it would be. I'm going to put it in the mix for my breakfast cookie tomomorrow and see how that works out.

Now, I'm off to go finish my energizing smoothie, head to work from 5-10ish, and then back to bed because I (sigh) have work super early tomorrow morning and have to be up by 6:30.

G'night all!

P.S. Figured calorie total for the day?
Breakfast cookie: 315
Coffee: 70
Sample of almond milk: 25
Lunch: 500 (to be safe)
Smoothie Snack: 210
Granola bar (to be finished for dinner): 220
Salad (yet to be had for dinner): 300 or less
Total: about 1640, but hopefully a little less.

Oh, and for the water intake today? I'll say about 5 cups by the time I'm done working. Better than yesterday, but still needs work.


<3, Jenna

Oh. My. Gosh.

Let's just say I'm a HUGE oatmeal fan in general. This morning I decided to finally try the Fitnessista Breakfast Cookie:



AMAZING. Really. I was skeptical at first, but you can't even taste the protein powder, and it's a perfect way to use up ripe bananas. (Also, please note the adorable coasters we have in our apartment) In mine I put:

*1/2 cup Quaker Old Fashioned (rolled) Oats= 150 calories
*1/2 scoop Designer Whey French Vanilla= 50 calories
*1 TBSP Almond Butter= about 90 calories
*1/8 cup 1% milk= about 15 calories
*1 packet Splenda
* Some Cinnamon for flavor :)
All together? About a 300 calorie breakfast, leaving just enough room for one of those amazing mango slices (50 calories)!



Overall? Completely satisfied, and it's only 9:45 in the morning. Now, time for some yoga...