Working Girl

Before we even get into things, I have to address several comments I got in my last post that deeply concerned me.

Some of you do not know what marshmallow fluff is!!

Marshmallow fluff my friends, is made up of sugary pillows sent straight from the heavens.

In all reality, it’s a lot like spreadable marshmallows. Fabulous with anything peanut butter or chocolate related.

I typically only ever use a tablespoon at a time, which only sets me back 24 calories.

So there you have it! I typically don’t allow sweets like cookies or pastries in my pantry, but dark chocolate and marshmallow fluff are the two exceptions that must always be made :)

 

You may have noticed that I was MIA again yesterday – and with good reason! I’ve been working! After 2.5 months of being unemployed “between opportunities,” it’s nice to get up and have a job to go to. My days have a sense of purpose again. Plus, I was starting run out of things to complain about ;)

Monday had a late start, so I took my time preparing my new protein waffle/pancake recipe.

• 1/4 cup whole wheat flour
• 1/4 cup unflavoured soy protein powder
• 1 tsp baking powder
• several shakes cinnamon
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup egg whites
• 1/3 cup skim milk (it seems skim milk produces a different consistency than almond, before I used 1/2 cup almond milk)

These weren’t any ordinary pancakes, ohno.

I also added a tablespoon each of flaked coconut, walnut pieces and chopped dates.

Made better only by the presence of iced coffee.

In these troubling humid times, iced coffee is a must.

Now, y’all know I am not about fancy or complicated recipes. To me, the idea of simple food pairings is tasty enough. On Monday, I got to put together a pairing I’ve been dyyyying to try.

Watermelon + feta cheese. It was delightful!! I love pairing berries with cottage cheese, or apples with cheddar cheese, and this combo was just as tasty. Watermelon is very sweet and juicy, which paired wonderfully with the saltiness of the feta. Thumbs up!!

I then proceeded to spend the rest of the day training clients at the gym! My very first client that I trained last week was back in and said she already felt a giant increase in energy and gained a ton of confidence at work. After a week! I was brimming with pride for her :D

T’was close to my bedtime by the time I made it home, so I opted for a light and simple dinner.

A small chunky salad tossed in cottage cheese, feta & hummus. Looks gross, but I assure you, it was awesome.

Before I knew it, my alarm was blaring at 4:30am to get up and ready to hit the gym once again. It was eerily familiar to the days when I worked the morning shift as a radio newscaster.

My years of getting up at 4am have turned me into a pro for these early mornings. I had these overnight oats and iced coffee waiting for me in the fridge. For the oats, I just mixed up some yogurt with a dash of milk, scoop of oats, raisins, fresh apricot, cinnamon, maple syrup and a dollop of almond butter. The measurements here don’t seem to matter, as I’ve noticed the outcome is always different for everyone. Experiment! :)

Today, I was shadowing one of our best trainers at the gym. He specializes in functional training, something I’m not overly familiar with, so it was really fun and interesting to watch! It’s not something I can see myself specializing in, but I really appreciate aspects of it, and would love to start incorporating more of it into my programs.

Even though I kinda wanted to go back home and pass out, I stuck around the gym for a workout of my own. Full-body:

Straight set x1:
One arm dumbbell snatch 12 x 20 lbs

Alternating sets x3:
One arm dumbbell row 12 x 25 lbs
Plie squat 12 x 25 lbs

Straight set x1:
Alternating Step-up w/ forward knee lift for 1 min
Alternating Step-up w/ back leg lift for 1 min

Alternating sets x3:
Standing one arm cable chest press 12 x 25 lbs
Bulgarian split squat 12 x 10 lbs

Straight set x1:
Mountain climber for 1 min

Alternating sets x3:
Barbell upright row 12 x 30 lbs
Good morning 12 x 45 lbs

Straight set x1:
Reverse lunge w/ forward kick 20 each leg

Alternating sets x2:
Skull crusher 12 x 30 lbs
Barbell curl 12 x 30 lbs

Straight sets x 2:
Plank 60 sec

Whole thing with 15 minutes warm-up on the treadmill and 5 minutes cool-down stretching took me 65 minutes and burned 450 calories. It also left me unable to run up and down the stairs in the subway station without my legs wobbling ;)

After the workout, I was ready to come home and nap. I closed my eyes and fell asleep for what felt like an hour, only to find 10 minutes had passed. I claimed defeat and made lunch.

Giant kale salad topped with shrimp, egg whites, and a dressing made of pesto/laughing cow/lemon juice. The egg whites were an afterthought, and a delicious one at that! I just zapped half a cup in the microwave and added the bits to the salad. Such an easy and delicious way to add protein.

I also polished off this Chakra Bar that I hate half of on Monday.

I purposely left the price tag on because $2.99 is pretty frickin’ steep for a granola bar. But if you look closely, there are two servings, which sort of justifies it. And in all honesty, the full bar is kinda huge (110g).

Not gonna lie, I was attracted to this bar because of the ingredients:

See that?? The first ingredient is love!! Not any kind of love, but organic love!! I’m such a sucker.

The spirulina is what makes it green. According to the Chakra Bar website, spirulina  is “a blue-green algae and is known as a green "superfood". It has over 60% digestible vegetable protein, is jam-packed with vitamins and minerals and is a great source of chlorophyll (antioxidant).”

Taste-wise it had that “grassy green” taste to it, but I don’t mind it. It was a little sticky from the syrup, but I liked the additions of the seeds. I probably won’t buy it again because it’s $$$. But it was fun to try!

It is approximately here where I dropped off the face of the planet for three hours.

I read the final Harry Potter book when it first came out, and forgot completely what happened!! It was like reading a new book all over again. But now I’m depressed it’s all over. Anyone else ever suffer from post-book depression? I think I may stick with this theme and re-read the final books in the Twilight and Golden Compass series. I love children’s fantasy novels, I cannot deny it. Plus, it is summertime and I want something that won’t make me think too hard ;)

I did eventually stumble out of my room, disoriented, to make a quick dinner.

That would be grilled pork in a mesquite flavouring with a microwaved sweet potato slathered in Heinz BBQ beans. Classy :)

 

Now it is time to get my things ready for another 4am wake-up call. But I’m excited for my morning client. He wants to bulk up, which means some old-school heavy weightlifting, my favourite!!

 

Question of the Day: What’s on your summer reading list? Any recommendations for the class? As Holly would say, sharing is caring!!

Houseguest

My apartment has been thoroughly sniffed and I think it passes inspection…

I’ve got this little bugger staying at my place for three weeks while my mom is in Florida! I am so excited to have Archie here. First, it’s nice to have another body wandering around my place, but I also like having another creature besides myself to look after. He’s a 13-year-old apricot miniature poodle by the way, and his full name his Archibald Dylan. He’s pleased to meet you all :)

Was in bed early last night and slept a full 8.5 hours!! Wooo! That never happens. I felt like junk when I first got up, but my cold has progressed into a light cough. So it’s going through the motions at least!

Breakfast was so good Saturday I had the same thing today.

Eggs on ezekiel bread with an orange (need my Vitamin C to fight this cold!)

 
Except today I scrambled my eggs and switched out the butter for bacon. I never have fresh bacon like this and it was sooooo good. Must put on grocery list ;)

I didn’t work out again today. Figured I’d rather take another rest day than just aggravate my cold. I’m not in a spot where I worry about falling off the workout bandwagon, so a few days rest is refreshing once in a while.

So guess what I did today instead? I studied! Ahhh, so many muscle fibres, joint movements and program recommendations to memorize. There’s a reason I did Liberal Arts in university ;)

Lunch was a ginormous salad, using up all the ingredients in the house! Oops sorry mom.

I heated some chicken strips in Bull’s Eye steak sauce and topped it with feta cheese a la Lori.

Bbq and feta really is a combo that can’t be beat!

I’ve spent aaaalllll weekend studying, I hardly got to hang out with my mom while home! Only in between online course modules…

And I hid behind my laptop the whole time ;)

I looked kinda zoned out there. Eyes glazed over from trying to remember the difference between abductor and adductor.

We did get to see my Nana though!! I snacked on some baked Lays chips she randomly had out (Nana’s always have bowls of munchables out).

Not only that, but she packed me an egg salad sandwich for the road!!

Nana’s egg salad sandwiches are the best everever.

Cut in the little squares just like she always does – and the crust was even cut off!

<3 Similar to the little sandwiches you get at church functions, but better :) I had it for supper along with a macinstosh  she packed me that I cut up and sprinkled with cinnamon.

 
And the remnants of a bag of sugar snap peas I discovered in my empty veggie drawer.

Groceries are definitely on the schedule for tomorrow, along with 6am spin class, work, showing my apartment, and of course spending every spare moment with this pup.

But as for now, Archiekins and I have some golf to watch ;)

P.S. Why am I watching golf???

 

Question of the Day: Do you have pets? Tell me about them!

Granola, Chocolate and Hummus, oh my!

Helloooo! As with most Sundays, I have a ton of food photos to share! And I’ve got a ton more food to prepare for my day tomorrow – so let’s get to it, shall we?

Woke up this morning and made my mom and I a waffle feast. 

For three waffles:

• 3/4 cup rolled oats
• 1/2 cup cottage cheese
• 1/4 cup plain yogurt
• 3/4 cup egg whites
• 3 tbsp ground flax
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp baking powder

For the topping I heated frozen strawberries in the microwave, then stirred in 1 tbsp maple syrup and a couple spoonfuls of plain yogurt. I think the pictures speak for themselves – major yums!

I spent the morning lazing around. Sundays are meant to be lazy! By the time I’d gathered the energy to go to the gym, it was time for another snack.

Almond butter + banana. Basically the same thing I eat everyday before I go to the gym. Never fails.

Then it was off to the gym for treadmill, upper body and abs.

Treadmill

Minutes	Speed – MPH	Incline
0-5	3.5	0.0
5-6	5.5	0.0
6-7	6.0	0.0
7-8	6.5	0.0
8-9	7.0	0.0
9-10	5.5	0.5
10–11	6.0	0.5
11-12	6.5	0.5
12-13	7.0	0.5
13-14	5.5	1.0
14-15	6.0	1.0
15-16	6.5	1.0
16-17	7.0	1.0
17-18	5.5	1.5
18-19	6.0	1.5
19-20	6.5	1.5
20-21	7.0	1.5
21-22	5.5	2.0
22-23	6.0	2.0
23-24	6.5	2.0
24-25	7.0	2.0

 

Exercise	Weight	Reps	Sets
Romanian deadlift to row	50 lbs	8-12	3

 

Exercise	Weight	Reps	Sets
Dumbbell incline bench press	20 lbs ea	8-12	2
Underhand grip lat pulldown	55 lbs	8-12	2
Dumbbell bench press	20 lbs ea	8-12	2
Wide-grip lat pulldown	55 lbs	8-12	2

 

Exercise	Weight	Reps	Sets
Barbell upright row	20 lbs	15	2
Barbell curl	20 lbs	15	2
Skull crusher	20 lbs	15	2

 

Exercise	Weight	Reps	Sets
Cable horizontal woodchop	35 lbs	12	2
Plank	bw	60 sec	2

Treadmill

Minutes	Speed – MPH	Incline
0-1	3.0	0.0
1-3	3.5	0.0
3-4	8.5	0.0
4-6	3.5	1.0
6-7	8.5	1.0
7-9	3.5	0.0
9-10	9.0	0.0
10-12	3.5	1.0
12-13	9.0	1.0
13-15	3.5	0.0

I wore my new running shoes today and they were awesome :) Amazing how much the cushioning wears down in just six months, I could notice a huge difference!

I went straight to the grocery store after the gym, so I picked up a Bolthouse Farms vanilla chai tea and drank it right in the store as I shopped. I was ravenous!

It was way sweeter than I was expecting! Not bad for 20g protein, but awful at 42g sugar in 450 mL. Blech.

Came home and had some real food, including a new (to me) food!

 Armstrong garden herbs cheddar cheese.

I guess I can’t really call this a “cheesestring” as it’s not stringy. Cheese stick perhaps? Regardless, it was creamy, full-fat, treat :)

Then it was on to my weekly food prep!

First up: some of Deb’s Puffy Pimped Protein Faux-nola.

It’s a lower-cal, higher protein version of regular granola. Subbing out puffed rice for some of the oatmeal. I followed the directions almost exactly and it turned out amazing. Seriously. Cooking down the maple syrup first, and then stirring in protein powder, gave it such an awesome flavour!! Once you’re done making coconut chia granola, go make this :)

In between stirring the granola, I got to work on Averie’s Vegan White Chocolate Chocolate-Peanut Butter Cups. 

Except I used totally non vegan ingredients ;) As with most of Averies’ recipes, this one is super simple. Just stir up some peanut butter, cocoa powder, vanilla extract and agave nectar for the filling. Pour a little white chocolate into the cup, plop in your filling, then top it off!! Keep reading to hear the results of these bad boys.

Theeeen it was some Olive & Feta Hummus a la me ;)

• 1 can chickpeas
• 3.5 oz feta cheese
• 1/2 cup sliced black olives
• 2 small cloves garlic
• salt and pepper

All blended up in my food processor. This turned out great. I can’t wait to make tomorrow’s turkey sandwich with it.

Oh yes, and while all this was going on, I also roasted a chicken.

With some roasted brussels sprouts and parsnips. One of my fave dinners!

And the best part – dessert!

 
Ohheckyes, it was good. I was scared I didn’t sweeten the filling enough, but the white chocolate is so sweet it goes perfectly. The rest of these will be pawned off on my coworkers tomorrow, muhaha ;)

Okee doke, I hate to blog and run, but I have to go get ready if I intend to get up for spin class tomorrow! Have a great start to your week!!

 

Question of the Day: White, milk or dark chocolate? I’m dark chocolate all the way, but I lovelovelove white chocolate too :)