If you read my post yesterday, you’ll know that in the last two weeks I am up 1.8 pounds.  While I am obviously not going in the right direction, there are non-scale victories.  I ran my fastest 5k in 34:10.  My size 12 pants are loose.  I’ve meal planned. 

So what am I going to do differently this week to get a loss on the scale?  Switch up my exercises – while I am loving running lately, I think I need to switch it up this week.  Also, I need to get 60 minutes in of exercise a day, and if that means getting my ass out of bed to the gym, that’s what I have to do.

And I am going to ditch the wine!  I always say I will, but I don’t.  Tony, you have to help me keep wine free this week!

How are you doing?  Are you where you wanted to be?  Have you hit a plateau?  What are your plans for the week?

Tony and I decided to smoke some ribs for dinner.  I tried a different dry rub and we both loved it.  It isn’t as spicy as my other one, so I think Tony was happy about that.  While I put K.C. Masterpiece original bbq sauce on Tony’s, I added K.C. Masterpieces buffalo sauce on mine (thanks again Errign for sending that to me!)

Dry Rub

1 tablespoon salt
2 teaspoons paprika
1-1/2 teaspoons onion powder
1-1/2 teaspoons garlic powder
1-1/2 teaspoons dried basil
1 teaspoon dried ground mustard
1 teaspoon cumin
2 teaspoons ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon chili powder

These were delicious – they smoked for 2 1/2 hours at a constant temperature of around 200 degrees.  We had corn on the cob on the side, but it tasted like ass. 😦

Okay, so here is something I didn’t know.  Remember how I said my local grocery store closed?  Well, my SIL went to Caputo’s in Algonquin after Weight Watchers.  I had gone on their website, made my meal plan off of that, and I was good to go.  Um, apparently there are TWO Caputo’s – the one I went to in Algonquin was Joe Caputo and Son’s.  The sale paper that I made my meal plan off of was Angelo Caputo’s. 

So my meal plan was shot – chicken wasn’t on sale at the store I went to, the deli prices were just okay, but at that point, it was too late to redo a whole weeks worth of meal planning, so I stuck with the plan, and ended up spending $105 this week on groceries. 😦  At least now I know the difference between the two stores!

I did score on a big box of mixed veggies for $1.99.  Green and red peppers and yellow squash and zucchini.

I ended up grilling them all up to use this week.

I already made a spicy beef thai noodle soup with some of the grilled zucchini – that recipe will be posted later this week.

Alright, I am off to cook up the rest of my SIL’s lunches – I have a short window this week because I am meeting my twin sister and our best friends who are twins for . . . TWINFEST!   

Enjoy your Sunday – let’s make it a great week!

If anyone lives in the Chicagoland area, you know that Dominick’s and Jewel are the most expensive grocery stores.  I typically only stop by Dominick’s on my way home from work to pick up a couple things I might need for that nights dinner, like hamburger buns.

I am a sale flyer menu planner.  Last week I had my whole meal plan worked out, Tony and I drive to my favorite grocery store, only to see that the whole parking lot was roped off.  We learned a couple days later that they suffered roof damage and were closed until they could make repairs.

According to their website, they’ll be closed for 2 – 3 months!  It’s the perfect store, awesome meat prices, best produce and stunning deli.  My only saving grace is that a Fresh Market is opening up “soon” in Crystal Lake.

Are you loyal to one grocery store or do you use several?

As I was getting out of the shower yesterday morning, I suddenly realized that I forgot to defrost my chicken for my Asian broccoli slaw chicken salad.  I was running out of time and ideas, so I made a quick stop at Walgreen’s on my way to work.  You’ll never guess what I had for breakfast!

Yep, a bowl of cereal.  I love milk, but it doesn’t like me back, so I have it only once in a while.  This was Special K’s almond vanilla – it’s very good – very crunchy.  I didn’t think this would keep me full for very long, but it did – probably the protein in the milk helped. 😀  1.5 cups cereal and 1/2 cup skim milk = 7 WW points.

I checked the weather before I headed out for my run at lunch.  It said 77 degrees, 65% chance of rain during the hour I was going out.  I thought, “who cares if I get wet!”  I started at my “start” line at 12:10.  I concentrated on the music I was listening to, told myself I could stop if I really had to, but convinced myself I was doing fine. 

It was the perfect weather – overcast, sprinkles at times, and at my half way point to turn around, I told myself “walking is not an option.”  Guess what??  That worked!  I ended my 5k in . . .34:10!

That’s the fastest I’ve run outside. . . ever!  My last 5k outdoor race was in 2008 – I can’t believe almost 3 years ago!

Yup – 40:54 was my time back then!  Why didn’t anyone tell me my belly was so big?  I am on the left, Hannah in the middle and my friend Kim – I think that was Kim’s and Hannah’s last race too!

I still need to sign up for two races before Labor Day – and Shelley, to answer your question about the dualthon I was going to do – I realized I’ll be in Virigina that weekend. 😦

Because of my horrible food planning today, I give you a glimpse into “prepared food Biz food!”  Truth be told, I love Hormel chili – always have.  Next to spaghettios, Hormel chili was my go to.  I also found a new chip that I absolutely love – Tostitos new artisan black bean tortilla chips.  They are thinner than their regular chips and super flavorful.  This bag comes in at 6 points, so with a cup of chili, lunch comes in at 11 points.

Dinner was another simple go to – stuffed peppers for two.  I made these for my SIL for one of her lunches this week – she texted me “outstanding stuffed green peppers!”

Stuffed Peppers for Two (each pepper is 10 PointsPlus)

• 2 large green peppers
• 8 ounces tomato sauce, divided
• 4 ounces ground sirloin
• 2 ounces Italian sausage
• 1 ounce chopped pepperoni
• 1 ounce cooked brown rice
• 1.5 ounces mozzarella cheese, divided
• 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
• 1 teaspoon oregano
• salt and pepper

For an easy weeknight dinner, I just put the green peppers whole in the microwave, poked with a knife, and hit “fresh vegetable.”  Meanwhile, I cook the ground sirloin and Italian sausage until cooked and no longer pink.  Drain the fat.  Add in 6 ounces of the tomato sauce, pepperoni, Italian seasoning, rice, oregano and salt and pepper, cook a couple more minutes.

Once the green peppers have cooled enough to handle, cut off the top. Stuff with meat mixture, top with 3/4 ounce of mozzarella cheese on top of each pepper and broil until the cheese is bubbly.  I added the last 2 ounces of the can of tomato sauce on the bottom of the baking dish.

I’ve tried to have Friday features, like fashion Friday or Friday flashbacks, but turns out I am lazy.  I think what I will do is spread a little link love to new to me food blogs I’ve been enjoying lately.

Broke Foodie.  I just discovered her blog yesterday and already love her writing style and recipes (um, and she may be a cookbook whore like me!) 😀  I may have to give her Thai Carrot Pizza a go – but add cheese!

Crave.  She recently made a chipotle cole slaw that I’ve been drooling about since I saw her post it.  I love that it mixes greek yogurt with a smaller amount of mayo – all mayo cole slaws make me want to throw up in my mouth a little.

The Cooking Bride.  Um, she just made the best looking homemade mini corn dogs.  Must.Make.Soon!

Stats for Thursday:

• 45 minute workout (included 34:10 5k PR!)
• 34 points (including 5 points of crackers while watching t.v.)
• average blood sugar 101 – nice! 😀

PRODUCT ALERT!  Nicole, I hope you are reading this!  I need to find this – soon!  Sadly, when I went to the store locater on Tabasco’s website, this is what it said:

No stores within 145 miles carry TABASCO^® brand Buffalo Style Hot Sauce 5-oz.

Tony, I may be using some of our paypal $$ to order some!

Happy Friday!  Hoping I have a loss on the scale tomorrow at WW – either way, I know I am a running superstar! 😀

See that .99 cent bag of trail mix up there?  Seems innocent enough – some nuts, raisins and a few m&m’s.  Throughout the day yesterday I kept reaching my hand in, eating it, loving the salty/sweet combo.  In my head I thought it would be 5 WW points at most.

Um, not so much.  My 3 ounce bag of train mix?  Try 10 points!  That’s almost like eating a 4th meal for the day.  😦   I can’t have trail mix or pretzels in my vacinity, I just have no control!

Breakfast was a spinach egg sammie with sauteed bananas with raisins and pumpkin seeds on the side – seems like a weird combo, but it was really good – 9 points for breakfast.

Work was super crazy.  One of the secretaries was on vacation the rest of this week, so I became the go to person – I ended up having to eat lunch at my desk and didn’t get out to exercise that’s how busy it was.  Which makes me even more mad that the trail mix was so point heavy on the one day I didn’t exercise.

Since I am making lunches for my SIL who is on WW (she’s so close to losing 10 pounds!) I am trying to broaden her tastes.  She’s never had Indian food, so I thought I would introduce her to my version of chicken tikka masala.  You can find the recipe here.  She loved it!  Lunch comes in at 9 points with the brown rice.

Dinner was simple, I really didn’t have the energy to be that creative.  Sloppy joes and fries.  Remember when I said that I wanted to get 10 servings of fruits and veggies in every day?  Turns out it didn’t happen yesterday!  Dinner was 13 points.

Totally off subject, our shower drain has been so slow, mostly because of clogged hair – gross, I know, but Tony bought this $3 tool and it worked amazing!  Our drain has never run quicker!

AFter dinner Hannah and I went to Good will and then to Deer Park Mall, where my favorite Williams Sonoma store is.  Most of their stuff is way too $$, but I got a few deals.  Check out this product – um, pretty sure I’ll be making fried chicken this weekend.  Normally sold for $18, but I got it for $3.75!

And I won the lottery!  $20 big ones!  Tony won $100 earlier in the week, so pretty sure I need to check my power ball ticket from last night to confirm I won $111 million dollars. 😀

Stats for Wednesday:

• 41 points
• no exercise
• average blood sugar 124

Q:  What food is like crack to you?  Make it a great day!

 

 

I really suck at making omelets, yet just like scalloped potatoes, I keep trying.  So while I had visions of the perfect zucchini omelet, um, let’s just say I got a zucchini egg beater scramble.  Don’t let the looks fool you this was delicious!

I shredded one whole zucchini (2 veggie servings?) and melted 1/2 teaspoon of butter and about 1/2 teaspoon minced garlic and sauteed the zucchini for about 5 minutes.  Then I took that out, wiped my pan clean, sprayed it with Pam and poured in my egg beaters.  Which stuck to my pan, which is why this turned into a scramble!

• 1 zucchini shredded
• 2 tablespoons chopped cherry peppers
• 1/2 teaspoon butter (our butter sits on the counter so its scoopable!)
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic
• 3/4 cup egg beaters
• with 2 ounce toasted french bread
• 1/2 teaspoon butter on the bread
• canteloupe on the side

A delicious 10 point breakfast – and filling!

I had plan to bike ride.  I took half the amount of insulin at breakfast, only to remember I had a lunch meeting at work.  Rats.  So I had to take some insulin to bring it down, and then had a serving of granola bites (unphotographed) to fuel me.  It worked perfectly, my blood sugar was 212 when I left and when I got back it was 104 – nice!

After my meeting I decided that I felt like running instead of biking.  I know, I can’t believe I wrote that sentence either!  My run yesterday more than made up for my shitty walk the day before.  It was in the low 80’s, lower humidity – since it had been a while since I last ran, it was a 90% run, 10% walk, but ran pretty much all the way back at the 1.6 mile mark – ended up doing 3.2 miles in 39 minutes. 😀

When I got back to my desk, I went to eTools to put in my exercise – I guess I normally put “jogging” but yesterday felt that “running” was more appropriate.  I guess I thought it was funny that the third choice down was running, while pushing a wheelchair – and was wondering what part of the WW community would consider that an activity that is done very often??!! 

Since I could literally have Mexican food every single day and never get sick of it, I had another taco salad – 4 ounces ground taco beef (4 points), 2 tablespoons light ranch dressing (2 points), taco sauce (0), mixed veggies of broccoli slaw, baby spinach, romaine, carrots, cucumbers and radish (0).  It looks like a hot mess, but its delicious!

And on a total side note, one of the job responsibilities I took on at my old job has followed me to my new job:  refrigerator nazi!   For a couple weeks I’ve noticed some “smells” but truth be told, I have no sense of smell at all.  I think Tony thinks with all the hot and spicy shit I eat, I’ve burned off most of my tastebuds and olfactory cells. 😀

Since basically all the people I work with were from the old firm, I started getting emails “Biz, I think the fridge is starting to get funky!”  So I put on my refrigerator nazi hat back on and cleaned it out – let’s just say there was a Panera bag that had something that resembled a sandwich at one time but was about 10 different colors.  Ew!

Think this:

Turned into this:

I had pork chops on the menu, but as soon as I opened the package I could tell they were bad – and since I had to throw all my frozen meat out after the power outage, other than pasta, didn’t really have anything else to fix, so we ordered our individual pizzas from our local pizza place – $5 dollars for three toppings for an 8 inch pizza:  mine was spinach, spicy peppers and pepperoni – I ate 3/4 of it and am counting it as 14 points?

Stats for the Day

• 33 points for the day
• 50 minute walk/run, 39 minute 3.2 included in that time 😀
• average blood sugar: 124

Okay, this may seem like a weird request, but our blog friend Christina with Dinner at Christina’s needs help.  She and her fiance are getting married in December.  However, her fiances parents own a farm and need it to be looked after so they can attend the wedding – they live in Homer Glen – they have four sheep, a pegeon house, 3 dozen roosters/hens and goats that need to be milked daily otherwise they stop producing.  No experience is necessary!  If they can’t find someone they probably won’t be able to attend the wedding. 😦

I know its a long shot, but figured I’d try to help Christina out. 😀

Have a great day!