Whew.

This week is sucking the life out of me!  In a good way- we're busy at the clinic and busy with Tyler.  Trying to scrap together babysitters until we have to start daycare.  Thank you so much Erica and Jill!  I don't know what we'd do without friends like you guys.  It's hard living so far from family...

Breakfast:  I felt like eating a lot of blueberries.  I probably could have just eaten them plain, but there's no protein there, and I firmly believe you should start out every day with some kind of protein for breakfast.  So I added them to another new-to-me kind of Chobani.  Tried the "honey" flavor today.  I sprinkled a couple chia seeds on top and tried it out.  Not a fan of this one either.  Couldn't really taste the honey flavor.  The blueberries were good though.

For some reason I was super hungry after eating my berries and Chobani, and since the hubby opened a box of Honey Nut Cheerios, I decided I needed a bowl of that too.  Sorry, no pic.  I usually don't eat cereal for breakfast, since there's so much sugar I eat it as a dessert.  I guess today it was my breakfast dessert!

Lunch was another spinach and arugula salad.  We used up the left-over roasted chicken from Monday.  Here's a little helpful hint: when we put it away on Monday it looked a little dry because it was all breast meat leftover.  So I dumped a little chicken broth (can use chicken stock) on top and today it was super moist.  And super delicious on my salad.

Here's the pic: spinach, arugula, chicken, cucumbers, peppers, pumpkin seeds, feta and Newman's Own poppyseed dressing.

I took another "after the dressing" picture, and realized it's not as pretty.  It also looks like I dumped a ton of dressing on it, but I only used 2 tablespoons.

I also had to have a little side of Hint of Jalapeno tortilla chips.  Gotta have my salt.

Dessert was about half a watermelon.

After another very busy day in the office, my hubby took care of supper.  Any excuse to use the new grill grates!  Burgers were on the menu, and it would have been a side of potatoes and onions, but due to time constraints, we settled on potato chips.  At least we went with spicy cayenne and cheddar kettle chips.  Gourmet!

That's sharp cheddar on the burger

To do list for tomorrow:
1. Finish charts
2. Work in office catching up on paperwork
3. Yoga!!
4. Run
5. Clean kitchen

Ambitious, right?  Hopefully I don't just sleep all day.  Nighty night!

What a day

What a jam-packed day.  My swim went awesome this morning, even though I wasn't too excited about getting in the water when it was about 60 degrees out.  It made me feel a little more confident about the triathlon.

After swimming, I enjoyed a new flavor of Chobani.  Strawberry banana.  It was 2%, so it was a little creamier. I wasn't a big fan though.  The banana tasted fake, would rather just have plain yogurt and add my own fruit in.  Guess that's the way it usually goes though.  

Later in the morning my sister-in-law came up with her little boy Beau.  He's my favorite nephew!  (And only nephew but who's counting)

Tyler and Beau got up close and personal.  

We decided to have lunch at Chuong Garden, since that's Katy's favorite. Since it's only a block or two away, we walked.

Hubby was a gracious gentleman and carried both babies until his shoulders nearly fell off.

I enjoyed some cashew chicken and a crab rangoon.  Couldn't eat it all because it was super spicy.  I drank so much water that I didn't have room for all the food.  Maybe that's something I need to do a little more often...

After a very busy afternoon in the clinic, hubby grilled up some pork ribeyes from Fareway and I made up some little spinach side salads.  Mine had spinach, arugula (mixing it up!), banana peppers, green pepper, cucumbers, pumpkin seeds, feta cheese and poppyseed dressing.  Felt great to finally eat salad again.

I only had one of these! And not even all of one.  I had to share.

I bought a watermelon last night while grocery shopping and decided to cut that bad boy up.  I don't remember where I read this, but there was an article on a blog that I read about how to cut a watermelon.  I always thought the way I did it was ok, but now I can get it done in no time!  I feel kind of stupid that I didn't know how to do this in the first place.

Step one: slice the watermelon in wedges.

Step two: make vertical cuts along the length of each wedge.

Step three: slice horizontally across the wedge and drop pieces into container.  

Step four: run knife along edge of wedge to get rest of watermelon out.

Seriously, how did I not know to do that?!  It saves so much time.  

Oh yeah, and another big accomplishment for the day is that Tyler tried squash again.  He tried some last night but it was only kind of successful, but he did so good tonight that I thought I'd mention it!  He made a huge mess, but managed to get some in his mouth.  This was just Gerber squash, haven't made any other food ourselves except avocados and rice cereal.  

It was also Tyler's 5 month "birthday".  5 months ago I was in the most pain I've ever been in, but experienced the most joy I've ever felt.  We just feel so blessed everyday to have him in our life.  Love you little guy!

Project Zucchini Part One

I'm sure you were just on the edge of your seat waiting for a post last night... and then probably threw something at the computer screen when you found out there wasn't one!  I couldn't seem to squeeze one in since I was either feeding a child or working on charts while pumping.  Yes, that is when I write this, when I'm pumping.  4 1/2 months going strong.

Recap of yesterday:

Breakfast was another delicious smoothie.  Same exact one as Wednesday.

Lunch was this delicious salad.  I was super pumped about it because a patient brought in some cucumbers.  Nothing says summer salad like fresh cucumbers.  Also added some chicken, sliced almonds, feta cheese and dressing.

Supper was a treat of Casey's pizza.  I was thinking, I should probably call this blog Small Town Sometimes Healthy Living.  Last night was definitely not healthy, but it was easy and quick.  We brought the pizza over to some friends' house since they watched Tyler for us.  No picture, since I inhaled it.  Think I had 2 pieces of taco and 2 pieces of canadian bacon and pineapple.  I tell myself they were small pieces.



Now on to today.  Started my day off with some pineapple Chobani with shredded organic unsweetened coconut and chia seeds.

Lunch was an open faced turkey sandwich.  I used some mesquite Hormel no preservative turkey, a piece of Ezekial bread, a wedge of garlic and herb Laughing Cow cheese, and some spinach.  The cheese helps the sandwich feel a little more creamy- and not so dry.

I threw in a handful of these goodies- gluten free crackers.  Love the crunch.  I usually get the cheddar kind, but these are good as well.

So why the title of this post?  Besides catching up with this week's Project Runway- make it work!- this is what I've received from some of my favorite patients this week.  Lots of fresh zucchini!

Lots.  Now what the heck am I going to do with it all?  I've got some ideas... this is how I used up 3 of them today.  Stay tuned for part two.

2 of them I sliced up thin and made zucchini pickles.  Here's the recipe (courtesy of Cooking Light), but I won't have the verdict until tomorrow.

Zucchini Pickles

4 c 1/8 in slices of zucchini
1 c slivered sweet onion
3 thinly sliced garlic cloves

Combine in a glass bowl.  Bring 1 c white vinegar, 1/2 c sugar, 3/4 tsp crushed red pepper, 1 tsp mustard seed, and 3/4 tsp kosher salt to a boil.  Pour over zucchini, onion and garlic.  Cover and chill for 24 hours.

Notice a glass of my cooking juice in the background... it helps, it really does.


The other zucchini I cut up and used for supper.  I bought a couple sirloin steaks today and threw them on the grill for supper, made a quick brown and wild rice side, and a yummy veggie basket on the grill.  I learned my lesson this time, I steamed the carrots, zucchini and broccoli for 3/4 minutes before putting them in the grill basket.  I added some green pepper, grape tomatoes, onion and salt and pepper and threw it on the grill.  I stuffed my face, but only took about 1/3 of the smaller steak and filled up on veggies and rice.  Hubby ate the other steak- the whole thing.  What a guy.

I did try another new recipe tonight for some homemade granola bars which may or may not be vegan?  Like that matters to me... although it might scare people away if they are.  They are in the freezer firming up, so I'll let you know how they turn out.

Just a walk today, no major cardio.  Saving that for tomorrow!

One more day 'til Friday...

Kind of a long day.  Good news: Tyler slept through the night.  Bad news: I had to be up at 7 AM for a conference call.  Go figure.

I had one of these while on the call:

Got a nice swim in today along with a sprint workout at the track.  I was absolutely starving after all that, so I inhaled this around-the-world salad.  I just threw a bunch of stuff in- spinach, chipotle chicken, feta cheese, green olives, slivered almonds, and sesame ginger dressing.  Didn't know how mixing all those flavors would go, but it didn't even matter I was so hungry.

The rest of the day I pretty much just snacked.  Had some more homemade salsa and tortilla chips, energy bar and some cracked pepper triscuits with sharp cheddar.  I guess my "supper" would be considered this piece of toast with natural peanut butter and a drizzle of honey.

Must have been enough because I had enough energy to make it through two softball games tonight.  Had a pretty good hitting night.  Next week is the tournament and then it's good-bye softball for the year.  : (

Blah.

This humidity just kills all my motivation.  I haven't worked out at all the last two days.  I haven't put anything in my nice new Craigslist desk (although it is finally clean and in place!), and I didn't even have the energy to finish all my charts from today.  It's all I can do to finish this post. I'll try my hardest!

Thank you craigslist

Not bad for $45!  Need to replace a couple handles

Didn't help that Tyler got up at 2:45am and was ready to eat.  Thankfully he went back to bed around 4 so I could sleep a little more.

Breakfast:  lemon Chobani with blueberries and coconut.  No picture since I was in a big hurry.

Lunch: spinach salad with smart chicken, blueberries, slivered almonds and Newman's sesame ginger dressing.  Also finished up the banana bread from last week.

Supper:  my master griller hubby fixed up some more grilled smart chicken, as well as grilled corn on the cob. This was actually the first time I've had grilled corn- not too bad.  It was a little tough, but I think that was the more the corn's fault than the grill's.  I also made a little salsa- threw fresh tomatoes, green pepper, banana pepper, jalapeno pepper, red onion, garlic and cilantro in the food processor.  Doesn't look too pretty, and it's kind of soupy, but it works.  Tested it out with a couple tortilla chips, but it will be delicious over some cut-up chicken and brown rice.

Using the handy dandy corn griller aparatus

Soupy salsa

Speaking of brown rice, we tried to spoon-feed Tyler again tonight.  I whipped up some homemade organic brown rice cereal.  Didn't go well, he ended up puking it all up.

To make your own baby cereal mix, grind up 1/4 cup brown rice- I used organic long-grain but you can use any rice.

Bring 1 cup of water to a boil, and add the ground up rice.  Reduce to a simmer and whisk constantly for 10 minutes.  When it was done, I let it cool a little and then thinned it out with some breastmilk.

He kind of ate a little, got a bunch all over his mouth and face, then he coughed and explosively puked it all up.  Guess we need to wait a little longer.  I'll just have to deal with the middle of the night feedings for a little bit.

Good thing he's so darn cute.

Chicken nacho night

Well we somehow made it through the day without our front desk gal Kelly.  I know some people say they could never work with their spouse, but we actually work well together (or so I think).  Doesn't hurt that we both stay busy and hardly see each other during the day.

So let's see... breakfast was some left-over plain Chobani that I used in the banana bread.  Oh yeah, I did have a piece of that for breakfast.  So I had the plain yogurt, added a little vanilla and honey, blueberries, chia seeds, and slivered almonds.  

For lunch I had a spinach salad- chicken, blueberries and toasted walnuts.  With the dressing. 

I've been saying all this time that I'm adding toasted walnuts, guess I can clarify on that.  I take a few walnuts and throw them in a non-stick pan on the stove and heat them up for 2-3 minutes.  It just warms them up and they get a nice flavor.  Just don't leave them in too long, like I did today.  Didn't quite burn but they were definitely some toasty nuts.

Since it's Friday and we never feel like preparing much after a long week, we went with an old favorite.  Chicken nachos!!  Since it's kind of an unhealthy option, we try to make it as healthy as we can but still make it sinfully delicious.  So we use organic blue corn chips, chopped up smart chicken, black beans (drained and rinsed), cut-up spinach and.... the cheese.  Most of the time we use some wholesome Velveeta.  Tonight we classed it up and used a new kind: queso blanco.  We melt about half a container with a can of hot Rotel.  Soooooooo good.  

Here's a pic of the ingredients, I didn't bother taking a picture of the final product because it's covered in spinach and you can't see the individual ingredients.  Plus if you wait too long the chips get soggy and that's no fun!!

Tomorrow morning should be interesting.... riding my bike to Delhi then running a 5K race there.  I hope I don't pass out.  I'll have to wait to recap everything for you, I'll be heading to Chicago for my best friend's 30th birthday party this weekend.  Chi-town!!  Be back Sunday!

Choice of beverage

Happy hump day.  Since I was up at 4 am, I just stayed awake and went for a little swim this morning. It was much harder than I anticipated, so I think I'll be bumping up my swim workouts since the countdown to the tri is on.  When I got home and showered up, I had a bowl of mango Chobani, blueberries, coconut and chia seeds.  I looove mangos- fresh, salsa, margaritas- but for some reason this one wasn't my favorite.  It was good, don't get me wrong, but it was a little more sugary than what I'd like.  It did taste great with the coconut.

I did have a quick piece of peanut butter toast after that because I was still hungy.  That was the theme of the day- I was always super hungry!  I'm pretty sure I was actually just dehydrated though.  More on that later.

Lunch was another spinach/salmon salad.  Just put blueberries and a little mozzarella cheese on with my sesame ginger dressing.

Also had some of the jalapeno chips that I had yesterday.  And I finished the rest of the bag.  

Those bags are pretty tiny, trust me. 

We had to pack up Tyler at lunch and take him to our friends Doug and Erica's house so she could watch him since the babysitter got sick.  Had a crazy afternoon in the clinic and finally made it over there to pick him up.  My friend Heidi and her two boys were visiting- so good to see them, even if it was for only a short time. Doug fired up the grill and we had some delicious jalapeno cheddar brats, as well as a pasta salad and corn on the cob!!  I only had one little cob but I expect to have many more this summer!

I have just been hungry all day, but I know it's because I didn't drink enough water.  I try to drink at least 64 oz. as a minimum every day.  I probably needed more yesterday because I had a massage and went on a long, humid run.  I get kind of sick to my stomach when I get dehydrated.  

I pretty much only drink water.  I will have an occasional glass of juice, most likely orange or V8-based.  Pop very very rarely, and hardly any milk.  I have all kinds of reasons for staying away from milk, that's another post (and for those of you worrying, I get plenty of calcium).  

Believe it or not, I have quite a few patients that say they don't like water.  If that's the case, there are other options.  They do make a Crystal Light now that is flavored with Stevia, instead of aspartame.  I've tried the lemonade flavor and it is excellent!! Highly recommend it if you're bored with water.  There are some calories in it, but they're minimal.  Look for Crystal Light Pure.  If you want more flavor, but no calories and no added sweeteners of any kind, just throw some cut-up lemons or limes, or even cucumbers in a glass of water if you want a little flavor.  No matter how you get it, just make sure you get enough water throughout the day.  The body thrives when it is well-hydrated!

And I haven't really looked at a pop label lately to look at the ingredients, but NO. Water in pop does not count.  Ice cubes in pop do not count.

That's my soapbox for the day... leave me a comment if you have any questions!! 

Another hot and humid day

Good day to stay completely indoors today, as the humidity was crazy.  However we did not.  Got another complete night of sleep (yay!) and had a bowl of raspberry Chobani with 2 small cut-up peaches, and a sprinkle of coconut and chia seeds.

De-lish.  After that I packed up Tyler and headed to the massage therapist. I've been having some elbow problems that come about once a year (during slow pitch season) that needed to get worked out. Her girls watched Tyler while I was getting worked on, and I'm pretty sure they put a tutu on him. And took pictures. Can't wait to get ahold of those for future blackmailing!

After that we headed in for his 4 month check-up, even though he's 4 1/2 thank you very much.  :)  He's a growing boy! 16 pounds and 27 1/2 inches. Guess all that pumping is worth it. The ARNP said he's pretty advanced and it's time to baby-proof the house since he'll be crawling soon. If you saw our place, you'd know it was pretty far from baby-proofed, unless that means having plenty of cords around for him to chew on and plenty of exposed outlets that don't even have the plate on. Maybe we'll just build a big cage for him to play in.  

Lunch was a salad, surprise surprise. We had a little left-over salmon so I thought I'd throw that on for protein.  I wasn't sure how it would taste but it was pretty darn good. Didn't hurt that I added blueberries, feta, and toasted walnuts.  And of course sesame ginger dressing.

I worked in the clinic this afternoon, and after finishing up I headed out for a run with Cheri.  It was so humid out it was hard to breathe.  Very thick air.  We did about 3.3 miles though, and 0.5 miles of that were intervals.  Good idea for those of you stuck in a rut: instead of doing just the same ol' cardio every day or every other day, change it up and add some sprints in.  Or not necessarily sprints, just pick up the pace for awhile then recover.  I like doing these workouts at the track but the track was busy tonight.  I'll run a 1 or 1 1/2 mile warmup, then run 1 mile of sprinting the straight-aways and jogging (or walking depending on the day) the curves.  Then always add a little cool-down.  Great challenge for the body, and you'll see results faster!

Here's me after the run- very disgusting. 

Supper was 2 huge glasses of water, an open-faced sandwich of turkey, roast beef, sharp cheddar and spinach on Ezekial bread and some yummy jalapeno chips on the side.  They have these in the gluten-free section at Fareway and they are soooooo good.  I'm pretty sure I could eat the whole bag in one sitting, but I might end up burning a hole through my mouth because they are a little spicy.  

That's all for today... swimming at 6 tomorrow morning.... what are you doing for exercise tomorrow???

I love my little baby.

So many reasons why I love my little guy, but I especially love the way he slept through the night last night. He finally got rid of his head cold/allergies. We all really needed that extra sleep- great way to start off the week!

Breakfast was vanilla Chobani with blueberries, strawberries, chia seeds and a little All-Bran cereal. Stay tuned for some bran-banana muffins this week.

Can't even see the yogurt!

Lunch was a grilled roast beef and sharp cheddar sandwich. We got some awesome roast beef from Hy-Vee yesterday, so I made a sandwich with Ezekial bread, sharp cheddar and the roast beef, smeared some yogurt spread on the outside and grilled it up. Then you add spinach and some mustard.  Yummy!  For a side I had the leftover grilled veggies from the other night.  

Tonight we had a softball game, so didn't eat until late but did have another awesome salad- sorry no pic, you can only see so many salads. Salad was spinach, strawberries, chicken, feta, walnuts and some of my fav Newman's sesame ginger. Also had a couple bites of hubby's steak.  

So being a new mom, can I just say it's the coolest thing in the world?? I think this every day, but for some reason today, it just melted my heart to see his little smile. You could be having the crappiest day ever, but then you come home and his face just breaks out into this enormous smile just because you're there. That unconditional love is just like nothing else. I always figured I'd have kids, I had no idea how much it would change my life.  Now this little guy is the center of my universe and I'd do anything for him.  So much fun!