Thursday, October 27, 2011

Hey Ya!

Ok so my last weigh in I kind of cheated. When I woke up Sunday morning I weighed myself and it said 180.8. Then I went back to sleep and weighed myself again a few hours later when I woke up. That time  the scale said 178.8. I was so excited that I decided that the second weigh in was the "official" one. No harm in that right?

Later that day Todd and I decided to go to Taster Wok. I wasn't going to drink but when we got there they said that the dining room was closed but the bar was open with a full menu. Two Mai Tai's later I was singing karaoke.


Totally unlike me but it was fun! We had an order of their Szechuan eggplant and their mock shredded pork. They were both really good. I have never seen eggplant look so meat-like. At first I thought they made a mistake and served us meat. The food was so good!

Oh and I've moved up to the Bakery at Safeway! I never realized how hard people in the bakery dept. work until this week! At least I got a laugh when I realized that the caramel sticky bun had a misprint.


Monday, October 17, 2011

A new form of chocolate and the "boom".

We all know how much I love chocolate...well if you don't you know now! When I was at Bartell Drugs I found this new Theo sipping chocolate. I wasn't sure at first because I thought the chipotle might make it too spicy. I just melted 1/2 cup almond milk with 3 Tbsp of this stuff on the stove top in a small pan. It turned out so good! The chipotle and cinnamon just add a depth and warmth to the flavor and doesn't over power. The texture of the sipping chocolate is kinda like hot chocolate but thicker. At only 158 calories per serving, I think I will drink this everyday!

Yesterdays weigh in wasn't so good. I only lost .4 pounds. I know why though. I only exercised 3 days and I went over my calories last Sunday because I couldn't control myself with all those cookies I made for movie night. I went 400 calories over. It could have been worse I guess.

My goal for this week is 6 days at the gym. I'm off to a good start today. Only 5 more days to go.
  • 30 minute jog to the gym
  • 35 minutes on the elliptical
  • 30 minutes of lower body strength training 
  • 2 mile walk home
I felt so good after my workout today! I thought since I haven't jogged for 3 weeks that it would be a little hard. I was at a really good pace the whole time and I didn't stop once.
 


The past few nights I have been staying up late watching this MTV show called "I used to be fat". I'm addicted. I found out about the show from A New Poison's blog. I can really relate to some of the stories. My favorite trainer on the show is Joey. He was showing Josh how to pick up the ladies with what he calls the "boom" and "power stance". I couldn't stop laughing!

Sunday, October 9, 2011

Definitely not a .4 week + Maple cranberry walnut thumbprint cookie recipe.

I just woke up and weighed myself. The number I lost is to be expected with as much working out as I did this week! This week I lost 4.6 pounds! I am now 182.8 pounds and I have lost 75.2 pounds so far. The extra working out plus the 1500 calories is what did it for sure this week.

Its kind of hard to read but it says ---Walk 6 miles, Gym 65 min, Gym 65min, Gym 65min, Gym 65min, Gym 65 min, Gym 65 min. When I looked back at my calender to see the last time I had gone to the gym 6 days in one week ( I used to all the time). I realized that I haven't done that since the middle of July! 3 months ago! I feel so much better after working out 6 days that I want to try and do it next week too.

Last night I made pizza. The Safeway I work at gave me a coupon for free pizza dough. When I saw the coupon I was thinking " A whole 99 cents. Safeway you are so generous!" lol. Here is the pesto pizza I made with pizza sauce, sun-dried tomato, olives, artichoke hearts, mushrooms, bell pepper, and a spiral of pesto on top.
Only 410 calories for two slices. Not too shabby.

Later today I'm going to my SGI Buddhist district meeting. We are having movie night so I made a lot of cookies. Here is the recipe for the cookies just in case you were wondering...

                      Vegan Maple Cranberry Walnut 
                         Thumbprint  Cookies
                 Makes 2-dozen cookies  (169 calories per cookie)   

This recipe like my favorite vegan chocolate chip cookie recipe is from the book "Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar". I wasn't sure at first about the cranberry but now I am! The cranberry is perfect with this soft sweet maple cookie ringed with walnuts. This recipe is perfect for fall!

1/2 cup canola oil
3/4 cup sugar
1⁄3 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup nondairy milk (I used almond milk)
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon maple extract
1 2⁄3 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup cornstarch
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cups finely chopped walnuts
1 cup jellied cranberry sauce, stirred till smooth

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

2. In a large bowl, beat together the oil, sugar, brown sugar, nondairy milk, and vanilla and maple extracts. Sift in the flour, cornstarch, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt. Stir to form a thick, stiff dough. If the dough seems too dry, add a tablespoon or so of nondairy milk.

3. Pour the chopped walnuts into a shallow bowl. Scoop the dough with a tablespoon and roll into balls, then them on the baking sheets, about 1 inch apart. Using the opposite end of a wooden spoon (the stick end), gently shape a hole into the center of each ball. Place a ring of walnuts around each cookie. Don't press down too hard though. Pour a generous teaspoon of cranberry sauce or jam into each center. Bake for 16 to 18 minutes until the cranberry sauce seems mostly dry and cookies are firm. Allow the cookies to cool at least 5 minutes before carefully moving them to wire racks to complete cooling.

Monday, October 3, 2011

SGI annual Ballard Locks photo

Dang it! another .4 pound loss week. I'm seriously gonna cut my calories to 1500 now. It might make up for the extra days off from the gym I have been taking lately. Anyways after I weighed myself I quickly ate breakfast. I was in a hurry because I woke up a little late and I was about to be picked up by Gretchen to go to World Peace Prayer for my first official Byakuren shift. I pretty much just greeted people at the door and Gretchen MC'ed the event. Afterwords, we went to PCC to grab some lunch. I made semi-healthy choices. I bought a cup of fresh tomato basil soup, 1 banana, and 1 vegan peanut butter and chocolate chip cookie. Like always when I got home after eating out I had to just guess on my calories when I got home.

 


Later we went to the Ballard Locks to do another Byakuran shift there for our annual Ballard Locks photo.We all get together as a group to take a photo to commemorate our mentor Daisaku Ikeda's first visit to the locks in 1960. We just waved SGI-USA flags at the entrance and told people where the photo was going to be taken.


Even though I didn't work out today I am so sore! Todd had to bus it to work so I decided to walk 3 miles with Todd to the park and ride. Then I walked back and went to the grocery store and carried groceries home part of the way. As usual it was a busy busy Sunday! = )