Home Alone :(

Erik had to go into work today for a conference, bleh. He has been gone since 7am and will get back tonight at 4pm, again bleh. So I was left home alone, with Ella. In the morning we went for another run (still really hard), then I went over to my mommy’s house and we went to Costco together! The crowds weren’t too bad, because we got there at around 11, but by the time we left it started to get SUPER packed. Thank goodness we went early. I hung out with my mommy and sister for most of the morning. After I got home Ella and I played in the backyard with her big yellow tennis ball, I think Ella can go pro in soccer, here you be the judge:

In the afternoon I went over to Ossian Park in Annandale, for our football practice. It was awesome, Sunny is a great coach. We ran through some of our plays, and they were going really well until one of the other people on the field basically tackled poor Mari. I think we need to be a little meaner on the field so that the guys playing soccer don’t push us around. grrrr!

After practice we went over to Patti’s house for a little party! We were celebrating Patti and Ramsey’s Engagement, YAY! I obviously did not take any pictures, horrible I know. Luke made some spicy chicken enchiladas, which were yummy, and Diana made some pineapple-cilantro rice, super yummy. Patti had made some homemade chicken tenders and potatoes, man they were good, she used Ritz crackers as the breading on the chicken tenders, genius! We brought a yummy cake from Giant, but Luke didn’t even give us a chance to take a picture of it before he cut it all up! All in all it was a yummy and awesomely fun night.

Off to bed!

Running makes me sleepy!- Day 4

After two days of morning jogs, Ella was pooped.

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Ella loves Harpoon!- Day 3

We never should have let her lick the empty beer bottles.

Have a great night everyone!

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Lunch with Luke

I feel like that should be a tv show, where we go around seeing how much food Luke can eat.. I suppose that would be the same things as Man vs. Food. Haha. Well today was my Friday off, so I ran a few errands. After watching about 4 episodes of Saved by the Bell (the college years), I took Ella for a run. I am not a running and I have never run with a dog, let me tell you it’s really hard. I came back finished up the laundry, vacuumed the house, and made our dinner list for the week. After that I was off to Giant, I hate grocery shopping, it is the devil.

I met Luke for lunch at “3” in Arlington. I don’t know if any of you have ever been there but it was really yummy, I highly recommend it. I knew it was going to be a good/fatty lunch when I walked in and Luke said, I hope you are ready to be a fat kid because we need to spend $40 and the entrees are all really cheap. I forgot to take a picture of our appetizers, but they were awesome. We had a “Grilled Brie Wheel” and “Grandma Doris’ “Mac” and Salad”. This was the description on the menu: Linguini & Creamy Cheddar Sauce, Mixed Greens Salad with Dijon Vinaigrette . SO GOOD. For the main dish, I got a burger with fries, and Luke had the 3's BLT (shown in the first picture):

(what you see is what was left of my burger after I was finished) .

I took the bacon off of my burger and gave it to Luke, which is why there are like 100 pieces of bacon on his sandwich.

I was going to make Chicken Enchilada Pasta for dinner tonight, but I am way too full for that, I will probably have some cereal, and hopefully the leftovers I brought back for Erik will be yummy enough for dinner tonight, if not I will whip something yummy up for him J.

Oh I almost forgot, dinner last night was also very yummy, it was another recipe from “Clean Eating” magazine. This one was called “Mediterranean Vegetables, White Bean and Feta Penne”.Delish. Here is the recipe:

Ingredients

• 6 ounces whole-grain penne pasta
• 1 cup cooked white beans, drained and rinsed well
• 2 medium tomatoes, chopped
• 4 garlic cloves, minced, divided
• 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
• 1 teaspoon dried basil
• 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
• 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil, divided
• 1 teaspoon extra-virgin olive oil, divided
• 1 medium zucchini, cut into eighths lengthwise, then cut into 2-inch pieces
• 1 medium green bell peppers, cut into thin strips, then cut into 2-inch pieces
• 1/2 teaspoon dried rosemary
• 1 cup crumbled reduced-fat feta

Directions

1. Cook penne for 12 minutes in boiling water, adding beans during the last minute of cooking.
2. Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, combine tomatoes, 2 cloves garlic, vinegar, basil, pepper flakes and salt; set aside.
3. Heat 1 tsp oil in a large nonstick skillet on medium-high, tilting skillet to coat bottom lightly. Add zucchini and bell pepper and cook for 4 minutes or until edges begin to brown, stirring frequently. Add remaining 2 cloves garlic and cook for 15 seconds, stirring constantly. Remove from heat, stir in tomato mixture and drizzle with remaining 1 tbsp oil. Cover to keep warm.
4. Drain penne-bean mixture, place in a serving bowl, sprinkle evenly with rosemary and all but 1/4 cup feta. Spoon zucchini mixture over top and finish with remaining feta.

Alright that’s all for now, Have a great day everyone!

Bruno Mars is Stalking Us- Picture Day 2

This is a picture of Sundeep's GPS (his GPS is also his radio). Let me explain. Everyday during lunch whenever Kirstie, Sundeep and I get in the car to go somewhere, Bruno Mars' Song "Grenade" comes on the radio. Get this it comes on no matter which station we are listening to, Bruno Mars is in fact stalking us. So there is it, my picture for day 2.

See you all tomorrow!

updated bechtel challenge results!!!

Apparently when they send out the email telling us the standings were available, they hadn't really finished editing them. Here is where we really stand:

Exercise minutes : 107 out of 652
Weight Loss: 156 out of 475
Steps : 65 out of 594!!!!!

We actually did really well!!!!

We are still going to step it up, but now we know we actually have a chance at winning!!

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Orange Chipotle deliciousness

This is last night’s Orange Chipotle Chicken served over brown rice, and boy oh boy was it delish. I got the recipe from Kirstie’s “Clean Eating” magazine, and instead of frying the chicken in a skillet, Erik grilled it! Super yummy; grilling it also eliminated the need for the oil, therefore reducing the points, and making it healthier. Here is the recipe:

INGREDIENTS:
-1 tsp chile powder
-1/2 tsp ground cumin
-1/2 tsp sea salt, divided
-1 tsp safflower oil (we used EVOO)
-4 boneless skinless chicken breast, about 1 lb. rinsed, patted dry, pouned to 1/2-inch thick
-Juice 1 medium navel orange (1/3cup orange juice)
-2 tbsp pure maple syrup
-1 tbsp chopped chiles in adobo sauce
-1 tsp orange zest
-2 cups cooked brown rice
-1/4 packed cup chopped cilantro leaves

INSTRUCTIONS:
One: In a small bowl, combine chile powder, cumin, and 1/4 tsp salt. Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet on medium-high. Tilt skillet to coat bottom lightly. Season both sides of chicken with chile-cumin mixture and cook for 3 minutes per side or until no longer pink in center. Remove from skillet and set aside.

Two: Add orange juice and maple syrup to juice and bits left in skillet and cook for 1 minute to thicken slightly (until it measures 1/4 cup liquid) stirring constantly. Remove from heat, stir in chipotle chiles in adobo sauce and orange zest. Add chicken back to skillet, return to heat and cook for 1 minutes on medium high turning constantly.

Three: In a medium bowl, combine rice, cilantro and remaining 1/4 tsp salt. Serve chicken over rice and spoon any excess glaze over top of chicken pieces.

Calories: 283, Fat: 4g, Carbs: 32g, Fiber 2g

Today for lunch we are going to a Chinese buffet called “Tendo”.

Our boss is leaving for six months, and our group is taking him out to lunch. (Basically an excuse to eat out). Tendo has this made to order section, where you can get rice, and veggies, and chicken grilled without all the extra breading, so that is what we (Kirstie, Sundeep and I) are going to do. That is the only way we can keep ourselves from going up to the all you can eat buffet 100 times, (I might get a cream cheese wonton, they are the devil but my weakness, don’t judge).

Tonight’s dinner will be another dish from the “Clean Eating” magazine, “Mediterranean Vegetables, White Bean and Feta Penne” (WW = 9). YUM! Can’t wait. Last night Erik and I took Ella for a nice long walk, it was so nice to get out and walk together as a family! It was a bit cold, but nice enough to walk outside without freezing. I love family walks!

That’s all for today! Hope everyone has a great day!

305 Day Photo Challenge!

A bit odd I know, but Kirstie and I have decided to jump on the photo challenge bandwagon, and since we are already 2 months into 2011, we are doing the 305 day challenge instead of the 365 day challenge (we didn’t want to cheat and back blog pictures). Our rules are simple, take a picture everyday and write a bout it. I will either include it in my daily post, or add a different post at the end of the day (I will keep you guessing).

Please check out my friend Kirstie’s Blog for her updates! :)

We thought we would start the challenge off with a picture of ourselves on day 1!

Yippie!

The Results are in...

And they are not too good :(. Unfortunately out team did not do too well, here is where we stand:

Weight Loss- 196 out of 368
Exercise Min.- 196 out of 368
Pedometer Steps- 222 out of 409

I think I need to step it up a bit myself, there were a lot of variables that prevented us from doing well these last two weeks. One of our teammates was sick with the flu for an entire week, although she still put in really good numbers. And another one of our teammates went skydiving, and her pedometer broke, haha. Anyway, I’m not too worried.

Last night we finally made it out to get Pho! Erik had to work until 7:30 *sad face*, but he made it home in time to meet for Pho. It was as usual, amazing! We were bad, and starving, so we ordered a fried roll (always a good decision). I should have taken pictures, because Luke ordered 2 complete meals, although I am really not surprised. Afterwards we went to Breeze Bakery Cafe, and Erik and I shared a small Mango Gelato, again I forgot to take a picture. Gelato is quite expensive, the small was literally the size of a golf ball, and it cost $3, but it was super delish.

I woke up SUPER late today, so I was running around like a chicken with my head cut off, not a good way to start the day. But the week is almost over! We also haven’t been working out at all this week, not good. Tonight is “Plyometrics” for me and “Back & Biceps” for Erik.

Not pictures today, but tonight for dinner I am making Orange Chipotle Chicken with brown rice (WW points 7), look for the pictures tomorrow!

Oh yes also today’s Living Social deal is $9 for TWO movie tickets at Fandango.com !! GET IT
http://livingsocial.com/deals/28498?ref=email-jp&rpi=6656910

That's all for for today! Have a great day!

Our "go to" Meal

I believe everyone/ every family has a “go to” meal, something that is quick and easy and doesn’t require planning. Most of the time I feel like its Spaghetti, which is a good one, so quick and so delish. Our “go to” meal is a bit of a mash up of three things we love: Tortellini, chicken nuggets, and pesto. We named it chicken nugget tortellini, obviously. So instead of Pho last night (Luke stood us up, jk, he had plans with Amanda for dinner), we had chicken nugget tortellini.

Today for lunch I ran out of bread, and buffalo chicken breast, so I had a PB&J on a whole wheat hamburger bun, haha. It was pretty good.

You may notice the container under the Chobani, that contains a new discovery of mine. I love ranch dressing, and it is unfortunately quite unhealthy, however, my wonderful mother showed me a way to make it healthier. All you have to do is take this:

and mix it with nonfat, plain yogurt! It is so good. Try it out!

Tonight for dinner we are getting Pho! I can’t wait! Oh and also, how horrible is this, I am already excited for dinner tomorrow night, Orange Chipotle Chicken with Brown Rice! YUM (I hope). I got the recipe from Kirstie’s “Clean Eating” magazine. I plan on making 3 or 4 other recipes from that book next week! yay!

Okie, that’s all for today! Hope everyone has a great day, and get out an enjoy the SUN!