A Snack All to Myself

When you have a two year old, unless you wait until he is asleep, you don't really get to eat anything by yourself. How can I look into those adorable eyes and tell him I won't share? I know, it looks like I'm a softie. He gets told no quite a bit, so don't think I let him get away with everything!

Today my mom and sister came to visit for a minute and to take the Monkey home with them for the night!!!! I was quite happy with this arrangement. :)

I decided to have popcorn without my popcorn buddy. I make my own air-popped popcorn with {some} butter, salt, pepper, and grated Parmesan cheese. It's pretty much amazing, which is probably why the Monkey likes to have his own bowl. Chap can't stand popcorn, so I never have to share with him! 

Popcorn actually has a decent amount of fiber in it, and I like controlling the toppings. I use maybe 1/2 tablespoon of butter for the whole bowl and a light sprinkle of salt and cheese. Grating the cheese with the tiny side of the grater helps it go farther with less. I definitely load it up with black pepper! I'm not sure why I tried that as a kid, but I remember using pepper on my popcorn in elementary school. Who knew???

Popcorn is my favorite snack for sure!

Love Your Body Challenge Before and After!

Well, folks, here they are!  I can definitely see a big difference when I compare the pictures side by side.  It's hard to tell day to day, and some days I feel more confident than others!  I plan to keep up a workout schedule and running should be easier as the weather turns nicer.  I ended up doing 93 miles between New Years and Valentine's Day.  A little short of 100, but I'm not going to sweat it!  I'll finish them soon! :)

Valentine Turtles

The Monkey and I have been scheming for a little bit.  We wanted to make Chap/Daddy a delicious Valentine treat that wasn't too sweet and decadent.  Well, I'm not sure if we succeeded, but we did create something delicious!  Valentine Turtles!

You only need four ingredients: cashews, pecans, caramels, and chocolate chips.

Valentine Turtle Treat

Even little hands are a big help!

Ingredients gathered!

My little scooper!

 Always taste test the caramel!

 Never leave a Monkey alone with a bowl of chocolate!

Freeze and finished!

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!

Parsley Almond Pesto

Parsley Almond Pesto

 

I love eating pesto.  I love to make pesto.  Who knew that a few key ingredients could mesh so easily and create such a delicious topping for many foods?  Obviously, the Italians were on to something.  While I do love pesto on pasta, I discovered that I also love it on pork chops!  We don't eat pork chops very often - they're not my favorite, and as you probably know, if it's not Mommy's favorite, it's not a family favorite!

We had pork chops in the freezer because they came with our awesome Omaha Steak Christmas gift.  My biggest fear with pork chops is drying them out, so I'd been avoiding them.  Until I was on Pinterest...  I came across a pin for pesto chicken and thought, hmmm, why not try pesto on pork chops?  I felt adventurous and determined.  We were going to have pesto pork chops.

Now came my favorite part of the pesto making process - the ingredient selection!  I make pesto with a lot of different greens, arugula being my FAVORITE.  I also vary the type of nut based on what we have in the cabinet.  Pesto is not restricted to basil and pine nuts!  Too expensive for this budget-conscious house.

I decided on parsley, almonds, and pecorino-romano cheese as my main ingredients.  We had all but the cheese!  The parsely had been on super sale at the farmers market - four bunches for a dollar!  So of course, Chap bought eight bunches.  Who doesn't need eight bunches of parsley in their fridge...

I wanted to have a lot of extra, so I used two bunches of parsley.  Also, I find that making pesto is a bit of an art.  You should start with less of the ingredients and taste often to adjust them.

Parsley Almond Pesto
(Makes 1 1/2 cups pesto)

Ingredients:

• 2 bunches parsley
• 1/2 cup almonds
• 2 ounces Pecorino-Romano cheese, cut into large chunks
• Salt
• Pepper
• Olive Oil

Directions:
In a food processor, combine almonds, cheese, and a decent sprinkle of salt.  Pulse to combine and break up the almonds.  Add the parsley and continue to pulse.  After well combined, turn food processor on and stream in olive oil until the pesto is the desired consistency.  Taste, adjust ingredients, and add pepper at this point.  Pulse and taste again until you are satisfied!

I find that I always need to add a little more cheese and salt to make my pesto taste just the way I like it.  Keep in mind, too, that dry pesto will be difficult to spread on meat or mix into pasta!  I usually need a little more olive oil that I initially thought.

The pesto was delicious on the pork chops and they stayed super moist.  Pesto goes well on meat, pasta, fish, and eggs.  Chap likes putting pesto into an omelet in the mornings!

How many ways do you use pesto?

Food for Thought

I enjoyed reading this article from NPR and felt that it contributed to what I am trying to do with my blog.

What Separates A Healthy And Unhealthy Diet? Just $1.50 Per Day

Free Yoga in Atlanta!

I'd never ventured into a yoga class. Pilates, yes, but not an actual yoga class. The DVDs I had attempted were Fat Burning Yoga and Prenatal Yoga, and those left me a little bored and feeling completely inflexible. Or, as I like to say, unbendy. My sister mentioned a free yoga class on Saturdays just down the road at Lululemon. Well, what's more budget friendly than a free exercise class? 

So my sister picked me up at 8:30, and good thing we got there early because a lot of people must like free yoga. In the car we reminded each other that if it sucked, it was only and hour, plus an hour of low intensity exercise counts for 3 miles on our Tone It Up challenge. We went in with low expectations, sad to say. 

So... Yoga was actually FUN and I enjoyed it. I was able to follow along and found throughout the hour that all my running had my muscles tight, so the slow stretching was exactly what I needed. Go figure. 

The instructor was from a local studio and was excellent, especially considering she was in the middle of a LOT of yoga mats and men/women of varying levels. I'm so thankful I've been doing the tricep push-ups on the TIU workouts because I was able to lower myself gracefully instead of just flopping to the floor!  It's the little things...

I will definitely participate in free yoga again. Maybe one day I'll post a picture of myself with my feet on my head or something... Ha!  Look around to see if you can find a free class to attend!  

Post yoga - I'm absolutely horrible at selfies and always get my thumb in the way!  Aren't we just glowing with inner peace and tranquility???

Wishing-for-Spring Salad

I'm done with the cold weather!  We were so spoiled with a mild winter last year, and this winter seems to be the exact opposite!  Hey, I live in the south for a reason and that reason is warm seasons most of the year!

I made a salad for lunch that reminds me of spring.  The boiled eggs make me think of a warm Easter afternoon.  Mmmmmm....

Wishing-for-Spring Salad
 
Boil eggs.  I bring my eggs to a boil and then cover and turn the heat off.  Today I left them on the burner for about 15 minutes then moved them to sit for another 5 minutes.  I used a slotted spoon to fish them out and dunked them {gently} into ice water.  They sat there for another 5 minutes and were ready to peel!  I liked the consistency of the yolk much better today than I did last time.

Place about 2 cups of greens on your plate (again, I'm really into this baby kale mix).  Top with sliced grape tomatoes, avocado, shelled edamame, and sliced boiled eggs.  Dress with olive oil, lemon, salt, and pepper!

Here's hoping for warmer weather soon!

Easy Southwest Salad Recipe

I've been keeping up with the Love Your Body challenge and do the workouts daily.  The cardio part was a little slack last week... so Chap and I have committed to run 40 miles during these next two weeks!  We are certainly able to do it.  In fact, I'd already planned to run my own 10K on Sunday.  So far we are 6/40 of the way done.  As a former math teacher, I do love my fractions!

This regular working out and getting in shape makes me HUNGRY.  This is all well and good until it starts making me crave things that aren't very clean!  We have a bit of a blessing and curse right outside our condo.  There is a "mall" which I like to call a glorified food court.  Today after my Love Your Arms and Abs routine and two rounds of Love Your Abs, I was really wanting Moe's.  Now Moe's is not a bad choice if you make good choices while you are there.  You can be sure I would have wanted a FULL serving of cheese today and probably would have met my daily quota for sodium with the meat on it.  I also know that tonight my mom and dad are taking the Monkey and me to.... THE VARSITY! YUM!  So breakfast and lunch needs to stay pretty clean.  It's all about balance!

So.  Lunch.  Hungry and wanting Moe's.

Here's what I decided to make!  These are all ingredients we had on hand, and of COURSE other toppings can be subbed!

Southwest Salad
Start with a bed of greens.  I used a great baby kale mix.  Top with cubed avocado, sliced grape tomatoes, shredded purple cabbage, salsa, black beans, and 1/2 ounce of cheese.  (See?  I behaved!  I used a really nice aged white cheddar)  Drizzle with a little olive oil and squeezed lemon juice.

I love that this salad was Moe's-like but had healthier greens and great toppings that made me feel great! 

I will certainly enjoy The Varsity tonight knowing that I had a clean breakfast and lunch today!

What'll ya have?  What'll ya have?

One Month Workout Check In!

This month has been busy with working out and eating clean, healthy, budget-friendly meals!  I've been tracking each workout on a calendar to keep up with miles and workouts.  On Sunday, the Tone It Up girls send out a weekly schedule.  I write it in on the calendar and snap a pic to send to my sisters.  They are doing the workout plan too, and we keep up an awesome group text chat about our successes!  I love it and adore connecting with my awesome sisters.

Now for the {gulp} check in photos.  I didn't post my before pictures, because WOW, it's tough to put yourself out there like that!  I'm definitely seeing some progress after only one month!!!!

Front View:

Before:

After 1 Month:

 

 

Side View:

Before:

After 1 Month:

 Back View:

Before:

After 1 Month:

Before:

After 1 Month:

Progress is happening!  I'm most amazed at my booty and hamstrings.  I thought my running already made them as good as they could get, but I see I was wrong!  I'll admit, tighter abs are nice too...

I can't wait to take my Valentine's Day pictures!  I might even break out the teeny bikini!  Woohoo!