Green Scene

Lunch today was quite the scene of green.

The Green Machine

I made a salad using several green ingredients:

• Spinach
• Celery
• Green beans
• Broccoli
• Apple
• Turkey
• Feta cheese
• Annie’s Naturals raspberry vinaigrette dressing

Dressing so good you could drink it!

Salads full of veggies, cheese, fruit and meat are a lot more satisfying to me than plain lettuce and dressing. It’s fun to taste something different every bite.

I know Ryan isn’t big on fruit in his salad. I, on the other hand, love fruit in pretty much anything, so I’m quite the fan. Do you like fruit in your salad? Any favorites?

Easy Dinner

Tonight I will be kicking off holiday movie night with some of my girlfriends. Each week through Christmas we’ll watch a holiday movie one night a week at a different girl’s apartment. I’m excited!

Since I’ll be out of the house by 7 p.m. tonight, our Sadie-walking/ dinner-cooking window is tight tonight. To be sure Sadie gets her walk and we have time to eat before I go, I placed the pork for tonight’s  dinner in the crock pot before I left for work.

Stay tuned for the easiest pulled pork recipe in the world!

Big Ol’ Salad

The only veggies I ate yesterday were in the light spinach salad I ordered for lunch. My dinner was a bowl of clam chowder and a bag of 100-calorie popcorn… tasty, but not exactly full of nutrients.

Today I made a commitment to incorporate more leafy greens and fresh produce into my meals.

Exhibit A: My lunchtime salad.

Monster Monday Salad

The base of the salad was broccoli slaw and fresh spinach. I added chopped celery, steamed broccoli florets, chickpeas, sliced plum tomato and MorningStar Farms chik’n strips to the mix for additional flavor and variety.

Close Up

I used balsamic vinegar as my dressing and placed the lid back on the Tupperware before shakin’ it up to evenly distribute the veggies and dressing.

All Shook Up

The salad was tasty and filling! The chickpeas were my favorite. I am off to make a hot cup of tea now because I am freezing and cold salads don’t exactly warm ya up.

Question: What’s your favorite way to enjoy chickpeas?

Every-Veggie Salad

Every veggie under the sun seemed to be in my lunchtime salad!

Veggie Overload

• Spinach
• Broccoli Florets and Broccoli Slaw
• Cauliflower
• Carrots
• Zucchini
• Mushrooms
• Green Pepper
• Celery
• Morningstar Farms Asian Veggie Patty

Phew! That’s a whole lotta produce (& one tasty veggie patty).

We had a variety of vegetables on hand from our homemade chicken soup on Saturday, so I took advantage of the fresh and nutritious options.

Big Ol' Salad

All Shook Up

Though I loved the two runs to McDonald’s for pumpkin milkshakes and the trip to Jeremiah’s for ice cream this weekend, my vegetable intake definitely fell to the wayside, and my body is happy to have some nutritious food to digest!

Boots, Soup and a 5-Mile Race

Yesterday

With the arrival of chilly weather in Orlando yesterday, I jumped at the opportunity to wear my new boots!

Yay Boots!

Though Weather.com indicates this colder weather will be gone by Monday, now that the boots have come out of hiding, they’re here to stay. Yay boots!

Jumping at the opportunity to relish in the autumn weather, Ryan and I decided to make a cold-weather favorite for dinner: chicken soup.

We bought a variety of fresh veggies from the grocery store and had a great selection to serve as the base for the soup.

Carrots, Onion, Celery, Green Pepper, 'Shrooms

While I chopped up the veggies (except for the onion because they make me cry), Ryan cut up the chicken breasts.

Queen of the Veggies

 

Meat Man

Ryan threw the chicken into a big pot bubbling with a mixture of a box of chicken broth, two cups of water and Knorr’s vegetable mix.

 

After the chicken was cooked through, we added in the chopped veggies and let the soup simmer for about 45 minutes.

 

Chopped Veggies

Stirring the Soup

The smell was mouth-watering! I couldn’t wait to pour myself a hot bowl o’ soup!

 

My Bowl

The soup hit the spot! I loved the carrots and onion. All the flavors blended together perfectly.

Yum, Yum

 After our bellies were warm, we hit up Jeremiah’s to split a large gelati. The cashier even gave Sadie a “puppy cup” of vanilla soft serve. She was one happy dawg.

 

Today

 

Since we did not turn the heat on in our apartment last night, at the sound of my alarm, I awoke to a brisk chill in the air. Nothing takes away the motivation to get out of bed like cold weather! Phew.

 

I knew I had to get out of bed to head to the University of Central Florida campus for the UCF 5-Miler race at 7:30 a.m. Luckily, I had two super-cute fans accompany me to cheer me on!

My Cheerleaders

The temperature gauge in my car read 50 degrees and I am used to running in 80-degree weather, so this was quite the shock! My chest felt tight the entire race, but it was definitely nice not to be sweating before the race began.

UCF 5 Miler

The course meandered throughout the campus, past my old sorority house, classroom buildings and the football stadium before ending in front of the basketball arena. I love courses that take you all over the place, as opposed to simple out-and-back races. I like having new things to look at as I run. All in all, this was a great race! 

Almost Done!

I finished in right around 43 minutes.

 

After running in the cold weather, I was ready for a hot breakfast when  I got home. I cooked up an American favorite for me and Ryan.

Hot Breakfast

The two eggs, Canadian bacon, toast and tangerine were a perfect post-race meal.

 

Tasty

I also drank a nice mug of Hershey’s white chocolate hot chocolate that my friend Merri gave to me to try. We share an intense love for this warm cocoa beverage!

Hot Cocoa

Eating a big, hot breakfast like this makes waking up and running in a colllld race totally worth it!

Question: What’s your favorite hot beverage?

 

 

Redeeming My Chocolate-Covered Popcorn Indulgence

After eating my body weight in chocolate-covered popcorn (and pumpkin pie!) last night, I knew today’s lunch needed to step up the nutrition a notch.

What better way to get a lot of fresh, vitamin-rich veggies in your belly than a big salad?

Last night I prepped for my lunchtime salad by chopping up a sweet potato into little bite-size chunks and microwaving them for five minutes before flipping them and nuking them for another 90 seconds.

Sweet Potato

Not the best way to cook a sweet potato in my opinion, but it works!

Chunk-a-Chunks

The base for my salad was bright green leafy spinach topped with several handfuls of broccoli slaw.

In addition to the sweet potato chunks, I used freshly chopped zucchini and celery to add some crunch to the salad and incorporated steamed broccoli and cauliflower florets for additional color and flavor. Naturally I needed some cheese to make me happy, so I added a handful of feta for a protein kick.

Biiiig Salad

Close Up

I used a light raspberry vinaigrette as my dressing and wolfed the entire salad down in no time at all. I have a gift for fast eating. 😉

One Mo' Time

I’m fulllll.