New Addictions!

I hope everyone had a great Easter holiday! Nick and I went to Spiral Diner and saw the Hunger Games. Pretty good!

Also, over the weekend, I became addicted to Tumblr. Oh god, what a wonderful timewaster. I started watching Doctor Who. Why didn't someone TELL me this show was so good?! And, I got some new running shoes! More Brooks Addictions! My favorite. They were on sale for $50. It would have been irresponsible NOT to get them.

One not great thing about the holiday is that it's thrown off my workouts. I didn't get to go to the gym Sat or Sun.. then I was going to go on Monday, but I had a headache. Then today, I skipped kickboxing because I donated blood. Last time I went to kickboxing after donating blood, I felt awful. Almost like a hangover feeling. Headache, lightheaded and sick to my stomach. Ick.

Donating blood didn't go that well, either. At first, they couldn't find my vein. Then the blood flow was really slow. Then it stopped. A few different Phlebotomists tried to get it going again, but then they just let me go. What the heck. It's usually fine!

So, what I ate today. Not really great, actually. I have to get back on track. I blame holiday-minded eating.

Breakfast:
Oatmeal w/ blueberries and 1 Tbsp walnuts
Soy milk

Snack:
Ezekial toast w/ hummus

Blood drive snack:
Oreos

Lunch:
Creamy mushroom linguine
Strawberries

Snack:
Apple slices w/ almond butter

Pre-dinner snack
Ezekial toast w/ almond butter

Dinner:
Spaghetti w/ beanballs

Post-dinner snack:
Walnuts w/ semi-sweet chocolate chips
Decaf coffee

Eeeeeeeek. Need to cut down on the snacks and pick up the workouts.

Here's my spaghetti and beanballs from the Veganomicon:

Easy avocado toast breakfast

I didn't get much sleep last night. Nick has been working day shifts and so we've been sleeping at the same time. So we're in a bit of an adjustment period. For example, he woke me up at 1am to tell me that Satine had jumped on the bed and was being cute. WHAT IS WRONG WITH HIM!

So I needed a good breakfast to get me going.

Avocado Toast w/ black beans and hot sauce

-1 piece Ezekial bread (toasted)

-1/4 avocado, smashed

-Sprinkled black beans

-Dashes of hot sauce.

YUM

And a Pineapple strawberry smoothie!

So altogether, I ate today:

Breakfast:
Avocado toast w/ black beans and hot sauce
Pineapple strawberry smoothie

Snack:
Toast w/ almond butter
Green tea

Lunch:
Creamy Mushroom linguine

Snack:
Carrots w/ hummus

Dinner:
Chickpea cutlet
Caulipots w/ vegan gravy

Nick ate it on a sandwich. I was kind of jealous I didn't think of it first. Oh, and I feel the need to mention that this is on a salad plate, to make the portions look bigger. haha

Ahhhh Tornadoes!

So, we had some excitement here in Dallas this afternoon!

I was in a meeting when we heard the sirens go off, and we noticed it was getting pretty dark out. Then we started hearing warnings to stay away from windows. So we all took our laptops and headed into the kitchen. We were listening to the weather report and saw that funnels were actually touching down and even tossing Tractor Trailers into the air! HIGH into the air!

Fortunately, nobody was hurt. I drove home. It took slightly longer than usual, but when I got there, nothing was damaged. What a relief. I did miss my workout, though. There was just too much weather drama.

The coloring at sunset was kind of weird, too. A little more yellow than usual. Not sure it comes through in the picture, but this was taken looking down our street.

What I ate today;

Breakfast:
Green Monster Smoothie (Soy milk, banana, blueberries, spinach)
1 piece Ezekial toast

Snack:
Ezekial toast w/ hummus

Lunch:
Quinoa salad w/ mango and black beans over Romaine.

Snack:
Baby Carrots and hummus
Protein Shake

Dinner:
Ancho Chili lentil soup with Grilled Pineapple

Here it is!

First, make some Ancho Chili powder:
-2 dried ancho chiles, seeds removed, ripped into bite sized pieces
-1 Tbsp cumin
-1 Tbsp coriander seeds

Put them all in a small saute pan on medium heat, stirring constantly for about 3-5 min.
Dump into a food processor and whiz around until it's a powder. There can be chunks.

Soup:
-1 Tbsp olive oil
-1 large onion, diced
-3 cloves garlic, minced
-2 bay leaves
-1 tsp salt
-2 cups green lentils
-7-8 cups of water/veggie broth or a mix
-3 Tbsp lime juice
-6-8 pineapple rings
-hot sauce

-Preheat a big stockpot over medium heat. Add oil and chopped onion. Saute for about 5 min.

-Add garlic and bay leaf - Saute for 1 more minute

-Add Chile powder, salt, lentils, and 7 cups of water or broth. I used 4 cups broth, 3 cups water.

-Cover and bring to a boil. Then reduce heat and simmer for 30 min.

-I used fresh pineapple and they weren't rings. But I just set the broiler for high and flipped them every 3 minutes until they were a little brown and carmelized.

-When soup is done, add the lime juice and either immersion blend or use a potato masher to mash it up a bit. I wanted kind of a chunky soup, so I just potato mashed it.

-Add the pineapple and a little hot sauce on top! It's really good. Smoky and sweet with a spicy kick of the hot sauce.

I can barely lift my arms.. Save me, Quinoa!

This Monday dragged on and on and on. And I was tired from the beginning. I had this anxiety dream around 4 am that I was missing something at work, or that I was late for something I was supposed to do. Nothing makes me more crazy than being late for something important.

So to sum up the weekend, I have my car back! Yay! Nick and I have started watching Mad Men. I tried to watch the pilot by myself once, and the sexism made me so mad that I didn't really get into it. But we're on the 3rd season now, and it's pretty exciting! Nick is starting to align himself to my schedule. Sort of. He works in the afternoon/evenings, but we're both home at night now.

Then today after work, I took an hour step class. I probably looked like an uncoordinated idiot. But that's okay. After that was Body Pump, which is the weights class. That's why I can barely lift my arms. Over 800 reps in total, she said. Ughhhh. I'm sure I'll feel the squats tomorrow.

And now I must tell you quickly what I had for dinner, because I'm falling asleep!

Quinoa Salad with Black Beans and Mango

-1 mango, peeled and diced
-1 red bell pepper, diced small
-1 cup chopped scallions
-1 cup chopped cilantro
-1 can of black beans

INTERLUDE: I had to take a picture when I got this far. Doesn't it look so pretty?

Add the Dressing:
-2 Tbsp Red Wine Vinegar
-2 Tbsp Canola oil
-1/4 tsp salt

-Whisk all this, add to first set of ingredients and mix around.

-Lastly, the Quinoa! I did 1 cup of dry quinoa. Just follow the instructions on the bag. Rinse it with cold water, then mix it all up. It's a salad!

I love all the colors! So fresh, tangy and appetizing.