Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Wednesday

Breakfast:



Lunch:


Dinner:

Italian dressing marinated chicken, baked potato with queso and broccoli


That's pretty much my day besides work.  I was super sore this morning from my Jillian workout, but I got an adjustment from the hubby and felt 1000 times better. 

I'm out- gonna tackle the sky-high stack of charts from today.  Later gators

Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Shredder!


Not the "heroes in a half shell.... turtle power" Shredder.  Brings back memories though.  Anyone ever watch the movies?

No, I spent a couple minutes with an old friend tonight.



Jillian and I worked out Level 2 of the 30 day Shred tonight.  Our Vegas trip is coming up way too soon, so it's time to kick it in gear.  Plus I need to get back to aerobics shape if I'm going to start teaching again.  Hopefully I can walk tomorrow.

This morning I needed to use up some ripe bananas or freeze them, so I chose to use them since I already have a couple packages of ripe bananas in the freezer.  I made some yummy banana bread, recipe courtesy of my auntie Teresa.  Not the healthiest, but tastes sooo good.  Has a little surprise layer of cinnamon and sugar.

Banana Bread

Makes 1 loaf

3 large ripe bananas                                             1/4 tsp salt
1 c sugar                                                             1/2 tsp baking soda
2 eggs                                                                  1/2 tsp baking powder
3 T milk                                                               1/2 c butter
2 c flour                                                                1 tsp vanilla
1 T sugar                                                               1 T cinnamon


Beat bananas, sugar and eggs.  Stir in milk.  Mix flour, salt, baking soda and baking powder in separate bowl then add to the banana mixture.  Stir in melted better and vanilla.  Mix 1 T sugar and 1 T cinnamon.  Spread half the batter in a greased loaf pan, and sprinkle half of the cinnamon and sugar mixture on top.  Add the other half of the batter and sprinkle the remainder of the cinnamon and sugar on top.

Bake at 275 degrees for 1 1/2 hours (although mine are always done at 1 hr 15 min, so check with a toothpick often)            



Thanks Teresa for the recipe.  I ended up giving this to some friends though, since I need to watch my sugar.

It was really hard not to break into the loaf but I didn't.  Instead I had a bowl of vanilla Chobani with blueberries, chia seeds, and coconut.  No picture.

I wasn't sure what to have for lunch, so I just went searching for leftovers in the fridge.  When we went out to eat at Champs on Saturday, my mom had a french dip sandwich and brought half home.  She left it here, so I decided to use up the meat.

My inspiration for the meal was those little appetizers that you make with dried beef, cream cheese and pickles.  I loooooove those things.

So I used one of my new artisan tortillas, spread a dab of lowfat cream cheese on it, put the warmed up roast beef and threw some dill pickles on top.  It was awesome.







I took this picture so you can judge the size, I have two sizes of plates, and when you take a closeup it's hard to see how big it actually is, so here's the little next to the big.  Love Fiestaware!



Supper was prepared by hubby, some chicky chicky parm parm.  Homemade chicken parmesan!  He pan-fried some smart chicken dipped in Italian bread crumbs, warmed up some sauce, made whole wheat noodles.  I threw all that in a bowl plus a big handful of spinach to get some greens since I didn't have any for lunch.  Topped it off with some Italian seasoning, crushed red pepper and of course Parmesan cheese!



That's all for today, have a feeling tomorrow is going to be cah- razy!

                                 

Monday, August 29, 2011

Battle with Thrush

TMI alert, if you don't want to read about my battles with breastfeeding, just stop reading right now.

Remember that nasty little rash Tyler was dealing with?  Well it's back.  I treated it with some OTC antifungal cream, and it went away almost immediately, only to come back a couple days later.  Then I noticed that I've been having some pain during pumping sessions and some cracked and red skin in the nipple region.  Told you, too much information.  Put two and two together, and figured we're dealing with some thrush issues.

I'm not one for going to the doctor if I can treat it naturally, so here's what we're trying, as of this morning:

For Tyler: antifungal cream on rash followed by zinc oxide cream to keep moisture out.  No baby wipes used on skin, just watered down paper towels.  Might add in a vinegar rinse.  I also am adding 1/8 tsp of probiotic powder to one bottle every day to help balance his natural flora.

For me: Grapefruit seed extract solution applied after pumping, then air dry.  Probiotic with every meal.  Lots of washing and sterilizing pump and bottle parts.  Limit sugar intake as of today!

Yeast thrive on sugar, so it's important to keep that out of the diet.  I say this as I'm watching the new Food Network show Sugar High.  They are currently making coconut cream pies.  Total torture.

That's enough yeast talk for now.

Meals today:

4 tiny eggs scrambled up for breakfast



Spinach salad! Spinach, chicken, pumpkin seeds, cucumber, feta cheese, poppyseed dressing.




Chicken nachos because we were tired and starving. Queso with Rotel, chicken, black beans, spinach and bite size Tostitos

pre-spinach

post-spinach


I'm sure I'll be up several times tonight with Tyler, he fell asleep as soon as he got home from daycare.  We woke him up at 8 to feed him, but he fell right back asleep.  What a tired little baby!



Sunday, August 28, 2011

Short Sunday

Hi again.  This will be short because of a lack of pictures taken.  I forgot my camera today when we went to visit baby Beau (and my brother and his wife).  Fortunately everyone else had their camera, so there were some pretty cute pictures of the two babies.

Breakfast this morning was a jumbo-size smoothie, so it could feed my mom and I both for breakfast.  I threw in some strawberries, blueberries, a banana, chia seeds, coconut, protein powder, fiber powder, spinach and my favorite smoothie yogurt (Organic Valley).  Good way to start the day.



My brother and his wife provided lunch- Papa Murphy's pizza.  Here's the aftermath:



We did pack up the babies in the strollers and took them and the dogs for a long walk.

After some big meals, we didn't feel like much for supper so on our way home we stopped at Walmart and I bought this:



So we had popcorn for supper, which was perfect.

Great weekend... on to the new week!

Bloody Mary City!

Too tired to post last night, so I'm making up for it this morning.  Grandma Pat is in town, which helps me out a lot.  Yesterday morning I was able to make it to the Farmer's Market and pick up 4 dozen farm fresh eggs.  That better last us a week.

After that we picked up and headed to Galena for the day, to do a little shopping and exploring.  Galena is in NW Illinois, and it is absolutely beautiful there- very historic little town with lots of shops.  Highly recommend it for a day trip if you get the chance.  Yesterday the weather was perfect, so everybody and their dog was there.

The first stop was lunch, since breakfast was just a Clif bar.  We ate at some pub, Boone's maybe?  I was starving, and of course that's when I make bad decisions, so I ordered the white cheddar curds for an appetizer.




They came with bbq sauce in this nifty little container.  They were sooo good, but would have been even better if we had 2 more people to split them with.

For the main course I had a peppercorn chicken wrap.  It came with a side of potato salad.  I tried not to eat all the salad to make up for the cheese curds.  I came close.  The wrap was good, kind of boring except for the addition of sauteed onions.  At least the portion size was on the smaller side so I felt a little better about myself.  (I totally know this kind of self-talk is bad for me, don't worry.)



Tyler gnawed on his stroller for lunch.



After lunch we went to my favorite winery, Galena Wine Cellars, which is just downstairs.  We loaded up with some yummy wine that I can't wait to enjoy.

We ended up having to carry Tyler because it was way too crowded for a stroller there.  He did ok, fell asleep in my arms at one point.  I definitely need to get back to lifting weights, because my upper back did not feel good after carrying that lug around.  The things I do for that boy.  jk Love you Tyler!

We did sit down and take a break in a little town circle.



Tyler and Grandma


Apparently Galena is the Bloody Mary capital of NW Illinois, because every single bar had a sign out advertising their Bloody Mary's.  Can you believe I didn't stop to drink a single one?!!  Where's that self control when it comes to lunch?!  We did do a little wine tasting though.  I think next time I will be trying out the place with a Bloody Mary Bar- choose your own fillers.

They also have tons of candy stores, which is also tempting.  I dare you to go in and not get anything.  I got a couple pieces of salt water taffy in one store and then a dark chocolate haystack in another.

After that exhausting couple of hours, we headed back to Dubuque where we met up with my cousin Kayla for supper.  Ate at Champ's, where I had a delicious salad.  This was probably not the healthiest of salads, but it was good and I felt better about myself.

Here's a really crappy picture of it.  Super dark in there and my flash on my phone is way too bright.  It was a chopped salad with bacon (told you it wasn't healthy), grilled chicken, dried cranberries, sliced apples, pecans and bleu cheese.  The dressing was a balsamic vinaigrette.



Made a quick stop to Hy-Vee to stock up on some healthy goodies.

That's about all for yesterday folks!  Started this morning off with a delicious smoothie that I'll post later.  Get out there and enjoy that weather today!  Unless you're on the East Coast... thoughts going out to the people there.  We have friends in Brooklyn that got evacuated, but everyone is safe and sound.  Keep the prayers going!




Friday, August 26, 2011

Single mom

That's right, I'm a single mom this weekend.  Hubby took off for Indianapolis to watch motorcycles with his buddies.  I'm not all alone though, Grandma Pat came today and spent the afternoon with Tyler.  That helped a lot since I was SUPER busy today.  I don't think I sat down all day.  Maybe to eat.

Breakfast was quick because had to drop Tyler off at daycare.  Made another smoothie to drink in my new cup.
  • blueberries
  • strawberries
  • spinach
  • scoop of vanilla protein powder
  • scoop of vanilla Chobani
  • half a ripe banana
  • filled up the rest with water- would have been better with almond milk
Here's the before:


and after:




Lunch was a delicious treat at the Coffee Den.  Spicy chicken wrap with carrots and celery.  I added a coconut mocha frappe because it sounded delicious.  It was.



After a craaaaazy day, we settled on some salads for supper.  Taco-style.  Used some left-over cajun chicken, black beans, fresh jalapenos, fresh avocado, and taco sauce. I picked up a bag of spinach yesterday at Fareway to tide me over until getting a big container of organic spinach.




After taking the picture I crushed up a couple Doritos and put a dollop of sour cream on.

And I enjoyed a Bud Light Lime as a reward for my efforts today.

Exhausted, time for bed, off to the Farmer's Market tomorrow!

Thursday, August 25, 2011

Overnight Oats pt 2

I told you I had something brewing for breakfast.  Turned out to be fabulous this time around.

The first time I tried this I wasn't too impressed.  Then I made a couple changes.  Last night I threw together these ingredients in a glass bowl, covered it up and put in the fridge:

  • 1/3 c oats
  • 1 c vanilla almond milk
  • 1 T cocoa powder
  • 2 T chia seeds
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 1 ripe banana cut up and mashed in with the rest of the ingredients
This is what it looked like last night:



This is what it turned out to be this morning:



Yes it looks like vomit, but it tasted like dessert.  I think the cocoa tasted way better than the protein powder I used the first time. Maybe if I found a better tasting protein powder it would be better.  I also think the chia seeds helped a lot because they soak up the extra liquid and make it more pudding-like.  The banana gives it a natural sweetness.  I will definitely be making this again, maybe even tonight!

Today was a very busy day, which was needed.  I checked many things off my to-do list, and saw a couple patients.  

I showed you breakfast, which really filled me up.  I don't think I even ate lunch until 2 or so.  All I did for lunch was throw some leftover whole wheat thin spaghetti noodles in a skillet, and heat up with some chopped garlic and parmesan cheese.  Instead the usual olive oil, I used one of my new Wildtree items.

Extra garlicky!




This afternoon we went out and ran some errands around town, Tyler was ready to go with his little baseball hat.




Bought some new kicks today- much needed ones.  I'll post a pic when they come in.  Yes, I had to order them because I have huge feet- size 11.  At least stores are finally starting to carry more bigger shoes, women's feet are getting bigger and bigger.  If I ever have a girl she's probably going to have size 15 or something.

Supper was prepared by hubby- steak and potatoes, big surprise.  : ) 

At least it was just a thin sandwich-cut steak, which I only had half of.  I did unfortunately make up for that with a nice loaded potato.  Added some cheese, 1 crumpled up bacon piece and then decided that wasn't enough fat so I added some sour cream. 




Fat-ified


Getting pumped for a fun-filled grandma weekend!  Hubby is off tomorrow morning to Indiana for some boy time, and Grandma Pat is coming over to help with Tyler.  I have a feeling I will be exhausted, since my schedule is already almost completely booked for tomorrow!


Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Survived day 2 of daycare

I forgot to mention the other day, when we dropped Tyler off at daycare the first time, this little boy comes up and pokes him in the eye (not hard or anything).  This kid had a red rash all over one side of his face.  Hubby and I just looked at each other and thought "oh my Lord".  Today that same kid came up to peek at Tyler, and had green stuff dripping out of his nose.  I have a feeling daycare is going to wreak havoc on his immune system.  And his sleep schedule- he took a 15 minute nap and a 20 minute nap today.  Yikes.

Had a rough night with Tyler last night, he just couldn't eat enough and for some reason didn't want to sleep in his crib.  We had a slumber party on the couch instead.

Sometime this morning in my sleepy haze, I poured a bowl of Honey Nut Cheerios because I was too lazy to get anything else.  I finally got it together and took a shower then grabbed a pomegranate Chobani on the way out of the door so I could get a little protein in to start the day.

I'm one of those girls that likes hardly any milk in her cereal




Still haven't made it to the store for spinach, so for lunch I had a quesadilla, using our new grill press.  I put some chicken, black beans and shredded colby jack in a spinach tortilla, folded it in half, sprayed the outside with some olive oil PAM and then pressed it down with the grill press.  Pretty handy- it was nice and crunchy.




Topped it with some salsa.


For supper we used up a couple more jalapeno peppers, and made some bacon wrapped jalapeno poppers.

Just cut the pepper in half, take the seeds out (with a spoon, not your hands!), put a dab of lowfat cream cheese in the middle, put the pepper back together and wrap with bacon.  We secured it with a toothpick and threw them on the grill for 15-20 minutes.  I must not have gotten all the seeds out because a couple lit my mouth on fire.  Overall they were a success though.



The main meal was a cajun-seasoned grilled chicken breast and steamed broccoli.



Delish.

I have a breakfast concoction in the fridge, so you'll have to stay tuned until tomorrow to find out what it is!


Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Rash no more

Happy day, the rash is nearly gone!

Thank you for all your suggestions, guess this is a common ailment.  I pulled out the old physical examination text book from school and determined that Tyler's rash was not just a diaper rash, but in fact a yeast/fungal infection.   Yesterday I put on some OTC Clotrimazole on the rash (typically used for jock itch and athlete's foot), just put it on once in the AM and once in the PM, and this morning the rash was almost gone.  Still some redness but the skin is starting to flake off.  I wish I would have taken some pictures so you know what to look for, but didn't want to gross anyone out.  FYI- look for satellite lesions, scaly skin, slightly raised border and a rash that does not get better within a couple days of treating for diaper rash.  I am NOT a medical doctor, so get it checked out if you're in doubt between diaper rash and yeast infection.

Everyone was in a much better mood today.

I could taste my food, so I had a piece of Ezekial toast with some natural PB and homemade raspberry low sugar jam for breakfast.


Lunch was a smashed up avocado with some cilantro (enjoyed with some blue corn tortilla chips) and the leftover 6 inch buffalo chicken sub from Subway.


Look at these goofy guys.




For supper, I decided to improvise and use up some of these:


Not all at once of course.  Thanks Janet!

So what do I have on hand.....

How about shrimp, 2 cut-up jalapenos (minus seeds), 2 cloves of garlic, and 1/4 cup chopped onion?



And.... BACON!




Perhaps this is why I was a little too excited about bacon:




Just kidding, I only had about 3-4 oz. It's a school night.

I don't know why I didn't take more pics, probably because the entree wasn't too great.  I sauteed the shrimp in a frying pan and added the produce and 3 slices of chopped up bacon.  Once they were nice and brown I threw in 4 oz of lowfat cream cheese, splash of milk, and a couple sprinkles of parmesan cheese.  I was basically attempting to make some kind of an alfredo.  A healthier one hopefully.  I added then concoction to some thin whole wheat spaghetti.

Here's the finished product, hard to tell.  It was just ok, I will definitely work on perfecting this one.



Eh.  Cover it up with more Parmesan cheese and it's ok.  I think next time I'll just stop before adding the cream cheese.  It probably would have had enough flavor without it.

Any other ideas for jalapeno peppers?  Besides jalapeno poppers?


Monday, August 22, 2011

We survived.


Well we all made it through the day.  No tears were shed, but I came kind of close.  I'm not going to lie, I thought about the little guy all day- but still focused on patients of course.  When I checked in with the daycare at noon, they said he was doing great.

When I picked him up at night, he was the only little kid at the whole daycare I think!  I felt so bad.  Guess no one else keeps their kid there until 6.  Quite different than the whole mess of kids there in the morning.  At least he was a happy little guy.  This is the note I got:



I love that little guy.

My meals were pretty pathetic today.  Started off with a quick power smoothie in my new smoothie cup from Palmer's homecoming.  Love it!


  • 4 frozen strawberries
  • 1/2 c frozen blueberries
  • 1 scoop vanilla DFH protein powder
  • 1/3 c vanilla Chobani
  • enough filtered water to fill up the blender cup


Lunch was a bowl of chicken noodle soup.  I think it was Campbell's Healthy Selection?  Does that sounds right?  Something that was "healthy".  I figured since I couldn't taste anything (still rocking the stuffy nose), might as well eat something blah and low cal.  And liquid.  Totally hit the spot.




My sad sick self sipping soup. With my gross greasy hair.

By the time supper rolled around, I could taste food a little bit, but we didn't have much for produce.  So Subway it was!  

Big philly cheesesteak for hubby and buffalo chicken on wheat with spinach, tomatoes, cucumbers, green and banana peppers for me.  

Forgot to take a picture, so here's a stock picture.  It always looks exactly like that, right??



Talk to yous tomorrow!