The Power of Purple...

Today was day 2 of boot camp. My legs were DYING going into boot camp this morning, and were not necessarily DYING but more of a long term care type situation when I left. You know when you have worked out so hard going up and down stairs is painful or the thought of strolling from your office to the restroom 50 feet away makes you rethink whether hydration is really all that important? I dropped my power cord for my phone when I was trying to plug it in. I contemplating letting the battery die rather than do the squat necessary to pick it up. Seriously.

Once I got moving this morning in boot camp, they were better but it was one of those things where you knew you had worked your legs and worked them hard. Boot Camp Herb says it because I do too much running and not enough strength. Clearly. If ever I doubted the need to balance running (or any cardio really) with strength exercises, this confirmed how many muscles aren't being worked by running alone.

Today's boot camp was a hodge podge of everything which is why I love it!

Lunges down one side of the basketball court and back (x3)
Jumping jacks (60 seconds x 3)
Wall jumps (60 seconds x 3)
Running side squats (down and back on the basketball court x 3)
Wide squats up 2 flights of stairs (x 3)
Tricep dips (20 x 3)
Bicycles (25 per leg x 3)
Shoulder presses (30 seconds each arm x 3)
Jumps on the bosu ball (60 seconds x 3)
Cable Standing Row (60 seconds x 3)
A variety of partnered pulling and twisting exercises with exercise bands

I actually burned 100 some odd more calories today than day one, we seemed to have more exercises that got my heart rate going than we did on Monday. All in all a good day and I think my legs will survive!





Today's food offering is brought to you by the color PURPLE (just the color purple, not THE COLOR PURPLE as in the movie, book or broadway musical). Did you know the power of purple? Purple fruits and vegetables contain a variety of phytochemicals important to health that are lacking in the greens, oranges and reds that you normally see on your plate. The benefit to eating purple (and blue) fruits and vegetables are:

Increased Memory Function
Lower LDL Cholesterol
Improved Urinary Tract Health
Reduced Cancer Risk
Encourages Healthful Aging

Next time you are stocking up, don't pass by the blackberries, blueberries, purple grapes, plums, eggplant, or purple cabbage so quickly! This past weekend, as I was whirling up spinach shakes, I decided maybe I should try some other things that I previously thought might not taste too good. In honor of my new food attitude, I had some eggplant.

My first experiment with eggplant was not great. Not bad, I just wasn't impressed. I will say, I forgot to spray the pan with Pam when I roasted eggplant on Sunday so there was a lot of scraping eggplant pieces off the pan and I am sure that didn't help the curb appeal of roasted eggplant. I ending up tossing them on a salad for lunch on Monday.

In light of my less than stellar attempt, I decided to give eggplant another try. Last night was Baked Eggplant Parmesan. I know this is kind of a "been there done that" dish. For someone whose only experience to date was some eggplant remnants scrpaed off a pan and tossed on a salad like yesterday's trash, I thought I would go with something a little more universal. I am so glad I did.

Easy Baked Eggplant Parmesan
(recipe borrowed from Whole Foods)

1 Large Eggplant cut in 1/2 inch slices
2 egg whites (the original recipe called for whole eggs, I just used the whites)
1 1/2 cups panko bread crumbs
2 T olive oil (I omitted this and just sprayed the pan with Pam)
1 jar pasta sauce
1 c shredded mozzarella cheese
1/2 c Parmesan cheese (I just realized I forgot that last night... ha.. guess I had Eggplant Mozzarella instead of Eggplant Parmesan).

Preheat oven with baking sheet inside to 375. Coat eggplant slices in egg white and dip into the panko crumbs.



Spread oil (or Pam) on the hot baking sheet and place eggplant slices in a single layer.



Bake 15 minutes, flip the slices and bake 10 minutes.



Increase oven temp to 475. In a 8 x 10 pan (I used 9 x 9 and it seemed too big - I am a perfectionist and it didn't seem like they really layered well enough even in the smaller pan I used), layer sauce, then eggplant, then cheese. Repeat, finishing with the cheese.




Bake until cheese melts and is golden in spots, about 15 minutes. (Mine was a little too golden so maybe more like 10 to 12 minutes)





The recipe serves 4 and is about 400 calories per serving. Next time, I will probably use a smaller pan. I went a little light on the sauce and did not nearly use a full jar (maybe a half jar). It was incredibly good. I cannot believe I have not had this before! Please try it...

In other news... One step forward, two steps back. I guess if you could control everything in your life, how would that be interesting? I have grown to hate calls from CR's friends. Granted, I really only have had two. The first was to tell me he had a dirt bike accident and I needed to meet them at the hospital. The second was yesterday.

It was the usual, "Rick is OK but...". Turns out he had some sort of motorcycle accident yesterday in Daytona Beach. It required staples in his head and an ambulance ride. He has a bruise on his brain and four broken ribs. Ouch. I am kind of in limbo right now trying to find out when they will release him. Tonight will be night two in the hospital. He is supposed to have some kind of physical therapy tomorrow mostly because he cannot move without a lot of pain. I am told it took three people to get him to the restroom. I guess my achy quads are nothing to complain about. He always has to "one up" me... :) I guess that is to be expected when you are married to Evel Knievel's long lost brother. Now to figure out how to get him home as Daytona is about an 8 hour drive from here ... Keep him in your thoughts for a quick recovery!

Given the current state of affairs and stress level, I did what any self respecting girl would do... I got my toes done. Welcome Spring! It will be 60ish this weekend. Flip flops, here I come.

Hello Spring?

It is snowing here again. I cannot tell y'all how unusual that is for Atlanta. We just don't get snow like we have this winter. Weird... I keep thinking maybe that means a really warm summer. You know, we have sort of wrung all the cold air out and there is nothing left but warm. Just a theory... :)




By the way, I woke up in a mood today. You have been warned... I intended to get up in order to get to the gym for at least an hour on the treadmill but sleep was too hard to shake off. In the end, sleep partially won but not without a fight. I convinced myself SOME time was better than NO time at the gym today and managed to get out the door to get 30 minutes of cardio in the books.

My legs are hurting pretty good from yesterday so couldn't muster up a run. A hill climb sounded better somehow so I used the incline and pounded out 30 minutes in zone 2 (I have been doing zone based training again). All in all I really wish I had gotten up earlier but sometimes the call of a few more minutes of sleep is too strong to resist!

Part of my mood has to do with the tennis league I am in now. My first 2 opponents couldn't play their match so gave me a free win (on paper it sounds good but I really would have preferred to play). My 3rd match emailed this morning to reschedule our match. Initially, it was a GRR! moment but now that I have had some time to think on it, it actually works out for the best as I have a thyroid biopsy tomorrow (again) and really probably shouldn't be playing a match right after. So, the moral is don't get all crabby about something until you have fully assessed the situation as it might be for the best!

The spinach obsession continues. I very well may be one step away from spinach cookies at this point (or not).

Last night's shake experiment:
2 cups spinach
10 frozen cherries
Scoop of chocolate protein powder
1 c skim milk

Surprisingly good - a must try. If you dare...

Speaking of things that are surprising...





Did you know that ONE Hershey Nugget contains 50 calories? That seems like a lot for one piece of chocolaty, almond goodness. I believe I am more shocked by that calorie content than I am by the girl scout cookies containing 100 calories per cookie for some of their offerings. Granted, it won't stop me from eating them but now I am just a well educated consumer :)

One final thing... As I was eating my lunch yesterday perusing the magazines we keep in the break room, I ran across an article on one of my favorite blogs, The Pioneer Woman. Mostly, I love her cooking information but she has a pretty interesting story living on a ranch. It was in Woman's Day March 2010. Very cool.

My arms hurt too much to type...

Seriously. Is there anything better than leaving a work out knowing you are spent? You know, you can barely hold up the hair dryer to dry your hair. Your legs are like jelly walking down the stairs to the locker room and you are wondering if anyone would notice if you were 15 minutes late for work so you could sit in the whirlpool. All signs of an excellent work out!

A month or so ago, I participated in a national calorie burn challenge at Lifetime Fitness. Basically, you just had to log in how many calories you burned that day for a chance to win $50 that could be applied to purchases at Lifetime. They selected 20 members from each club and I was one of the winners from my club. WOO HOO!

I have been missing my boot camp experience and kind of wanted a little kick start so I put my winnings toward a month of boot camp. The thing of it is, once you leave boot camp, it is tough because you still see all your friends taking part and there you are trying to go it alone. Kind of like not being invited to eat lunch with the cool kids. :)

So today, I was back. I KNEW my strength was not where it had been and it showed today. The first round was 3 - 60 second sets each of bench presses, squats with 25 lb weights and triceps dips.

Round two was the same 60 second sets repeated 3 times but this time was leg presses, plank on the stability ball and squats where you swing the 25 lb weights with you arms.

Round 3 continued with the same 60 second format for each exercise repeated 3 times. This time was some kind of ab thing (I am pretty sure that is the official name). You lie on your back with legs lifted slightly and you head and shoulders off the ground and hold for 60 seconds. The other 2 exercises in the group were some kind of side lunge with weights (like swinging a bat) and then regular lunges holding 10 pound weights overhead. The final few minutes were a variety of pushups, mountain climbers, burpees and squats. It was plenty for me!

Luckily, my opponent for my tennis match tomorrow just cancelled as I am pretty sure my arms will be hurting! I am so excited to be back at boot camp even if it is only a month.

By the time I got to work, I was ready for some food so I had my usual vanilla yogurt, grapefruit, pinapple, granola combo. It was the best ever today!

On my day off yesterday, I was experimenting a lot with food so am looking forward to trying some at lunch. I have a white chili along with a spinach salad (I have a serious spinach addiction right now, can you tell?). I roasted some eggplant last night so tossed that with some broccoli and tomato on the spinach for my salad.

I have a run planned for tomorrow AM and then bootcamp again Wednesday. Have a great day!

All things green and lovely...

I did it today. By "it" I mean I fell prey to the much touted Green Monster. I had my doubts. I did. For everyone who said you can't taste the spinach, you are 100% correct. I was hesitant to create a smoothie whose largest ingredient was spinach. It sounds, well, less than appetizing. The appearance, well, the same. Now that I have had one, I REALLY liked it. I know...

What ended up putting me over the edge was just the idea of this being an easy way to get in some more veg. Over the past month I have really been eating more "cleanly"; however, in taking stock of what I have been eating, I found that green vegetables seem to be lacking. Not that I DON'T eat them, I think in terms of food that I can tote around with me, fruits and carrots are more of the go to items. Today was the day I decided to put it to the test. Granted, I was starving when I got home so ANYTHING might have tasted good but it really hit the spot. (Literally starving, I am pretty sure there was a Feed Karen telethon or other charity in the works...)

My smoothie contained:

1 c milk
1 c ice
1/4 cup pineapple chunks
1 small banana
1/2 scoop vanilla protein powder
2 cups RAW SPINACH!

I am not going to lie, the sight of it in a blender made me doubt. CR was buzzing about the kitchen as I was throwing it together and turned his nose up at it although lets face it, he just started eating broccoli in the last year so his veggie tolerance isn't as finely tuned as mine. I secretly think if I put some chocolate powder in there he would love it. (Right now, CR is making a note to himself to not accept any suspicious chocolate shakes from me.)



Whirl it all up for a little bit and drink up. You absolutely cannot taste the spinach. You can't. I will say next time I might try strawberries in there as I like my smoothies to be slightly tart. Overall, it is worth a try even if you think it might not be your thing. Ignore the color and drink your veggies!

Side note on taking stock of what you are eating... I have been using the daily plate link on livestrong.com to sort of journal my eats. I am not really one to count calories but I do like to track from time to time to get a better picture of what I am eating. I find I tend to snack less when I am logging it as I don't want to see a box of girl scout cookies on my list as interesting as it might be to see the calorie count for that sort of indulgence. Samoas, I love thee... :)

***update***
CR just sampled a chocolate-banana version of the green monster. He was fully aware going in that there would be spinach in his smoothie. His only request was that I stay nearby "in case he gagged" :) He proclaimed it to be "not bad" and couldn't finish it because he was cleaning his motorcycle but asked me to save it for later. If he could manage to drink it, we all can. Trust me on that one.

Give a man a fish...

It turns out my hubster, CR, may really NOT like eating the same thing day after day after day for 19 years. Who is this person? First he tells me he is tired of cereal, now this... I came home last night and he was making a tuna sandwich. What the ?!?! He said "I found these cans with the pop top in the cabinet". It turns out he didn't know where we kept the can opener. I wasted no time telling him. I only hope the fact that it is one of those smooth edge jobbies doesn't throw him. You know what they say... Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime. Turns out there wasn't much teaching needed - the man only needed a can opener.

In other news, my PC had a virus this week. Really. Not one of those that requires a simple download and a little scrubbing of the files. This one required a trip to the PC hospital. Is there anything more frustrating? What kind of person enjoys creating a virus and then spreading it to the rest of us causing us to spend time and money to fix? It is so wrong. Well, it wasn't all bad in the end. I didn't lose any files and CR got me a sweet new monitor for my trouble. My old one was pretty tiny but it worked and I was truly fine with it. My new one is 19-inches of viewing and typing pleasure AND he got me that BEFORE I told him where we keep the can opener :)

Run the Reagan...

Don't ever believe a word I say... If my fingers are typing, I am probably lying. Well, not intentionally. Remember when I said I was only doing three races this year? Maybe it was four, can't remember. Anyhow... The call of the race was too much for me today. My first race EVER, or at least EVER since I started actually training for such things, was the Run the Reagan. It all started with a 5k back in 2008 and then last year I ran the half marathon at Run the Reagan. This year I wasn't going to run at all. Not because I didn't want to but more because I had to work. As luck would have it, I was blessed with a blanket of snow and ice yesterday. As luck would also have it, the race directors bumped the start back 4 hours. How could I say no to one of my favorite races that not only would be run in the snow which makes for a great story but also doesn't require me to get up early? You see my point.

I stepped outside this morning to this and it all fell into place from there...



I ate some oatmeal (must share this fab recipe with you sometime...), chipped the ice off my windshield, brushed my teeth and headed out.



The thing with "snow" in Atlanta is that it usually is more ice than snow so driving can be a scary proposition. Thankfully, once I made it out of the neighborhood, the roads were mostly clear and I had almost no trouble at all making it the 15 minutes to the race. (Another reason this is one of my favorites - the short drive time). I only had to pause twice for cars to get pulled out of ditches. I am assuming they landed there last night although it did make me think twice about continuing my journey!

I arrived at the race and was pleasantly surprised at the number of people who showed up. I had envisioned me and 5 other people so my chances of an age group win were looking pretty good in my mind - ha! The race directors did an excellent job of pulling this together. Like I said yesterday EVERYTHING closes here when it snows so it is quite the effort to convince people to leave their homes. This particular race is run on a highway which they close for 24 hours each year just for the race so keeping the roads closed in order to delay the start apparently wasn't an issue. I am so glad I ran it. It was just what I needed to kick the last bit of the crud out of my lungs and get some miles under my belt. I also loved the fist pump I got from a random stranger at the start. Funny, the little things make you happy. :)

I also got to try my new GU flavor, Vanilla Gingerbread. Truthfully, I have had it for a month or so just haven't had a chance to use it. This one is a winner. Not too sickeningly sweet. I think the ginger kind of cuts down the sweetness. Good thing I like it since I have 2 boxes. LOL.



When I got home, I was starving. I really wasn't feeling the usual banana, granola bar, bagel offering at the race - even though they did have cream cheese and peanut butter which was a nice touch. Hubs had not eaten either as he has been glued to the TV for the Daytona NASCAR races this week. Being valentines and all I decided to make something instead of heating up leftovers. Winner, winner, mid-day dinner!

I heated up two of these sausages. I am pretty sure they aren't part of the eat clean diet plan but neither is the tub of popcorn I plan to eat later so ... it is still a work in progress!



With a side of rice, tomatoes, chili peppers and zucchini... This is actually the leftovers so imagine TONS more zucchini in the mix.



and a little kick of this and that. Tabasco in the rice and mustard for the sausage.



It was given two enthusiastic thumbs up from hubster. He never eats zucchini. I am pretty sure he was just REALLY hungry. He said something about me being the best cook ever. Again, just REALLY hungry. Hope you are having a great weekend. I think the race is almost over which means I need to get ready to go see The Wolfman. Talk to you soon!

Snow, Presidents and Valentines

We have a little situation here. It doesn't happen often but it did today. Some people think it is a four letter word. I think it is AWESOME. LET IT SNOW! I can say that because we only get snow like this maybe once every few years. I can't remember the last time we had this much. Yes, in Atlanta we shut everything down. We shut some things down at the mere suggestion of snow. It started snowing around 2:00 and is still coming down. So beautiful. I am sure it will be gone tomorrow but for now, I can just enjoy the loveliness of it all.

My co-workers and I all learned today the purpose of a snow brush. I have seen such things but never had an occasion to use one. Luckily I had the foresight to hire someone from New Jersey. Someone who brushed all our cars off as we were leaving. He really deserves a raise!



The lovely view from my car...



and on my street...



and in my backyard...




I heart snow. Can you tell? Another happy outcome of the snow was I didn't have to work tonight. Like I said, we close EVERYTHING. So no work tonight. I was actually supposed to work all weekend but the tennis tournament was cancelled due to the snow so I am off all weekend. Almost all of the courts in Atlanta are outdoors so any rain, or in this case snow and it really messes with the scheduling of tennis matches. Especially juniors tournaments where they play more than one match a day. Sometimes I feel bad for those kids and their parents waiting around during rain delays.

As luck would have it, it was a three day weekend for me from my main job anyhow due to President's Day on Monday so WOO HOO! Actually, I have mixed feelings, the cash I make during tournament weekends is pretty sweet so that I will miss. I will not miss getting up at 5:30 to be at the club at 7:00. I am pretty sure I will be over it pretty quickly as the thought of waking up without the aid of an alarm clock sounds pretty great right now.

Tonight was a quick and easy dinner night. Hubster had one of those Bertolli type frozen meals in a bag. He is so spoiled. :) I had a Kashi Veggie Pizza. It is pretty good. I am normally not a veggie pizza kind of girl but I like the thin crust. I will say the contents of the box do not exactly look like the photo on the box but do they ever? Hubster actually stole a slice and proclaimed it to be "not bad". High praise from someone who only learned to choke down broccoli a month or so ago.



In other news, I used the coffee grinder this morning for the flax seeds. That thing is the bomb diggety. Absolutely worth the $15 to grind up those bad boys. Of course now that I have ventured down the flax seed path, I learned of a new seed today. I had heard of it before - chia. They apparently are the super hero of the seed family. Who knew? Speaking of knowing... Did you know that chia pets were actually sprouted chia seeds? Maybe I am the only one who didn't put two and two together on that one. ch-ch-ch-chia.



Check out the benefits. All that from a little seed.


1. Help weight loss. Chia seeds are popular for weight loss. They reduce food cravings by preventing some of the food that you eat from getting absorbed into your system. This blockage of calorie absorption makes them a great diet helper.

2. Feel fuller faster: They can also help your diet by making you feel full. This is because they absorb 10 times their weight in water, forming a bulky gel.

3. Hydration for athletes: They are also great for athletes because the "chia gel" can hydrate the body.

4. Reduce your blood pressure: There's evidence to suggest they can reduce lower blood pressure.

5. Omega-3: They are the richest plant source of Omega-3 (the vital fats that protect against inflammation—such as arthritis—and heart disease). In fact, they contain more Omega-3 than salmon!

6. Benefits for diabetes: Because chia seeds slow down how fast our bodies convert carbohydrates into simple sugars, studies indicate they can control blood sugar. This leads scientists to believe chia seeds may have great benefits for diabetics.

7. They are easier to digest than flax seeds, and don't need to be ground up.

I will have to do some more investigating on this one. I have heard the texture can be a little odd especially if you soak them because they absorb the liquid and become very gel-like. Definitely worth a try though.



Any big plans for Valentine's Day? Hubster is dying to go see the wolfman movie with Anthony Hopkins. He was a HUGE fan of all the Dracula, Frankenstein and Wolfman movies as a kid so I think I can spot him this one even though it isn't really my kind of movie. Might be a little too sci-fi like for my taste. I am more a chick-flick type girl. The things I do for a big tub of buttered popcorn love. Have a great weekend!