Blog Archives
Boxer Day
Happy Boxing Day!!! For you American folk, boxing day is holiday here in Canada and many other parts of the world. Click on the link above to learn what it means, then come back and tell me, cause I still can’t figure it out! A day of recovery after Christmas dinner perhaps? :P
I slept for a glorious 8.5 hours last night – a rarity for me! A food coma for sure. I prepared a usual-sized breakfast for myself, ate part of it, and felt stuffed to the gills.
Smoked meat, swiss cheese, homemade relish, mustard on rye bread and some grapes that went uneaten. I had to wait a solid two hours after this before I could even think about going to the gym! So not like me!
Sister Sara wanted to join me for the workout. She’s a member of the YMCA, and my mom had a handy-dandy pass for me.
Did you know there’s special VIP change rooms at the YMCA? I didn’t!! It had a whirpool! Anyways, my sis said she wanted to do some upper body weights, so that’s what we did!
Warm-up:
20 minutes on the elliptical w/ 10 min high intensity intervals
A1 – One-arm dumbbell snatch:
3 sets @ 20 lbs x 8
B1 – Romanian deadlift to bent-over row:
3 sets @ 55 lbs x 8
B2 – Dumbbell fly:
3 sets @ 15 lbs x 8
C1 – Assisted pull-ups:
3 sets @ 70 lbs x 8
C2 – Cable tricep pulldown:
3 sets @ 30 lbs x 8
Plank: 90 sec
Side plank: 30 sec each side
Swiss ball roll out: 12 reps
Prone jackknifes: 12 reps
HIIT:
15 minutes in treadmill, 2 min recovery, 1 minute sprints
T’was an awesome workout! I typically work out alone, so it was nice having a buddy :)
My hunger returned with a vengeance after the workout. Thankfully, there was leftover lasagna to be had.
Then it was off to my dad’s place!
They just got a new puppy – a boxer/bull mastiff mix. I was a little apprehensive, especially when we were greeted by this GIANT kennel in the entrance!
But the puppy is harmless. Ohmygoodness, the most docile and shy dog I’ve ever met. No beastly doggie to be found.
It was a wonderful afternoon hanging out with my dad and step-family #2. We noshed on many sweets, fruit, and maple smoked salmon.
And showed off all the gadgets we got for Christmas.
The cat meanwhile, snoozed behind the tree. Typical :P Oh, you guys may apreciate this: their cat’s names are Peanut Butter and Cashew ;)
Then it was back to my mom’s place for even more food!
Leftovers. Reheated Sweet Potato, Goat Cheese & Parmesan Galette, Brussel Sprouts, Bacon & Figs, Carrots & Turnip and then whole grain baguette that I ate with laughing cow cheese, turkey and Chunky Apple Cranberry Sauce. Um yeah. It was good.
Eaten with my two boys by my side…
Bah! I miss having pets around!
Then I cuddled up with the fam and watched movie about, you guessed it, food!
I liked it, it was cute :) I also randomly want to debone a duck now.
I gotta say, today I really noticed the difference exercise has on my appetite. I didn’t workout yesterday and basically ate a big breakfast and big supper and was completely satisfied the whole day (when I usually eat 5-6 times a day). When I woke up this morning, I couldn’t stomach my usual sized breakfast. After 90 minutes at the gym, it’s as if those big meals never happened. I got hangry!! And have been all day! Exercise also gets rid of that lingering grossness I have after big meals sometimes. Funny how that works. Another +1 for a solid sweat sesh in the morning! ;)
Question of the Day: What’s the number one reason why you workout? I’m addicted to endorphins. Some of it is vanity for me, but nothing beats the way I feel both during and after. It’s incomparable to anything else!
Home for the Holidays
I’m home!!!
My mom has gone Charlie Brown this year. She says it’s because she spent all her money on our high end Christmas presents. I’ll take an SLR over a Christmas tree any day ;)
Thank you sosososo much for all the congratulatory comments on my new job!! I’m still in shock about it really! I still haven’t hammered all the details out yet, seeing as it’s the holidays. But I’ll know everything for sure after this weekend :)
Was up early today determined to 1) Run, 2) Drive home! Ate a small breakfast first.
Two Nature’s Path pomegranate waffles, almond butter, honey. Powered me through 30 minutes of shovelling my car out, then 60 minutes on the treadmill! Did my usual 5.3 mile speedwork.
On a 1% incline:
2 min @ 3.2 mph
3 min @ 3.7 mph
5 min @ 5.6 mph
10 min of 1 min intervals alternating between 6.0 & 6.4 mph
10 min of 1 min intervals alternating between 6.2 & 6.6 mph
10 min of 1 min intervals alternating between 6.4 & 6.8 mph
10 min of 1 min intervals alternating between 6.6 & 7.0 mph
5 min @ 5.8 mph
3 min @ 3.7 mph
2 min @ 3.2 mph
Pheeooowee! My ticker was definitely working hard today. Must have been that tough shovelling workout first ;)
Came back and had a real breakfast after.
Soft-fried eggs on whole grain toast and sweet potato hash browns with onions. Seriously, seriously yummy meal. Felt like I was on vacation. Wait! I am! ;)
Then I hit the road and had a verrrry boring 90 minute drive home. Walked in the door as my mom was assembling the meat pie!
She makes tons of meat pies every year. I asked, and this is an English/French tradition that started in my nana’s family. My mom’s pies have chicken, pork and beef. Now that I’m an everythingtarian, this is my first year eating meat pie since childhood!
We hit up my mom’s boyfriend’s parent’s place for a little Christmas Eve get together. From now on, my mom’s BF will be referred to as Mark, for clarity’s sake ;)
The spread. I only reeeally took this picture because there was a goat cheese blueberry spread that was delish. And the biggest grapes I’ve ever seen. The size of plums!
We came back to my mom’s place for the real feast though. She went all out.
A lasagna:
Meat pie:
And I threw together a salad so our meal didn’t consist of ground meat alone:
My plate:
The meat pie was even better than I remember it!! I put some green chow chow on top and it was awesome. The lasagne was fab too. The whole time my mom kept saying it was the best she ever made :P
My mom’s place is really dim, I apologize for the awful flash photography!
My subjects are at least beautiful ;)
Daughter and mother (ie my mom and nana).
Sister Jane posing next to a self-portrait she did in high school :P I don’t know why, but this really cracked me up.
But wait! We can’t forget dessert!
I must point out sister Sara’s homemade sesame cookies. However, I went straight for the butter.
Shortbread with almonds. Melted in my mouth.
Then some music with the step-family.
Christmas carols lose their appeal when you work in a mall :\
That’s all for tonight, short and sweet. I’m beat. But I’m also embarrassed to go to bed before the kids. I may wait it out. Have a wonderful Christmas!!! I will hopefully be updating Christmas Day with some better-than-usual pics ;)
Question of the Day: What’s the best thing you ate on Christmas Eve? Mine was meat pie!!
Fake-sagna
Did you know it’s Apple Week?? I celebrated with a pink lady today.
I bought pink ladies for the first time last week (may or may not have been influenced by the cute sticker). They’re pretty good! Lovely, crunchy texture. A bit of a bite though, and a touch dry. Nothing will ever live up to my sweet and crisp (and aptly named) honeycrisps.
I tried to make a dent in my behemoth market zucchini by making fake-sagna tonight. I barely made a dent, but it was at least a tasty dent!
Veggie Fake-sagna
- half of an elephant-sized zucchini, thinly sliced
- 1 package Yves Italian ground round
- 1/4 spanish onion, chopped
- 1/4 green pepper, chopped
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 1 can Hunt’s no-salt added tomato sauce
- 1/2 tbsp chili powder
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- 1/2 cup cottage cheese (I used the Mediterranean flavoured kind)
- fresh spinach
- button mushrooms
- fresh basil
- 1/2 cup grated mozzarella
- 2 tbsp grated parmesan
Sautee the soy “beef” crumbles, onion, green pepper and garlic until lightly cooked. Stir in the tomato sauce with chili powder and oregano. While that simmers, put a thin layer of the tomato sauce on the bottom of a square baking dish (I don’t know the dimensions, half the size of the big rectangular ones :P ). Thinly slice the zucchini, and make your first layer covering the bottom of the dish with some slices. Spread half the cottage cheese, spinach, sliced mushrooms and half soy mixture. Then repeat the layers. I put the basil under the top layer of zucchini slices, then topped it with the mozzarella and parmesan cheese. Bake at 425 F for about 25 minutes.
It was quite juicy, probably because I was lazy and didn’t cook the zucchini first. I’d also cut back on the tomato sauce (or use tomato paste). I just dumped the whole can in because I didn’t want leftovers. Otherwise it was deeeeelish!!! Seriously, who needs noodles?
I calculated the nutritionals on my portion (one-third, I was hangry) and it came up to about only 300 calories and a whopping 34g of protein and 8g of fibre!
Now I don’t feel so bad about eating about a dozen mini plums and 1/3 of a watermelon today ;)
You know what else I did today? I went for a bike ride!! It turned into a gorgeous evening, 25 C and sunny. So after dinner digested, I geared up and dragged by unmotivated ass down the stairs. My legs were screaming at first, but I eventually zoned out at pedalled for 24 km. It took me about an hour which is kinda slow. It’s okay though because I climbed the monster hill! I wasn’t planning on it, but when I got to the turn leading up the hill, I just buckled down and went for it! It was awful as always, but I didn’t let out any grunts this time which in my books is progress!! :D
I also want to send out a big thanks for all your positive comments on my new “gettin’ real” page. It only solidified that putting my story out there is the right thing to do. I don’t know why I was so nervous about it. Everything I’ve gone through has made me the person I am today. Without some of my previous bad decisions, I would not have gained the insight to know how to make great ones today.
On that note, I’m off to bed. Night night!!
