Good Day!

Its nice to start out the week with a good day!

I had a great run and lifting session this morning.

I was able to keep my eating well under control - I wasn't very hungry very much.

Work was pretty mellow.

I ate a BUNCH of fruit! 2 bananas, 3 clementines, 2 apples.... yum!

I got my iPhone!!! My wonderful hubby picked it up from our apartment office and set it all up for me.

The one little snag in the day was that I lost my car key - hopefully I'll find it at work tomorrow. Good thing is that we only like about 2 blocks from work, so Dillon was able to bring me my spare really quickly!

And I made a fabulous dinner!

A delicious strifry! Photo taken from my iPhone.. not bad, eh?

Serving it up!

Served over 1 cup of brown rice. So satisfying.

Dillon found this cool thing you can do with WolframAlpha. Just add your ingredients with "+" signs in between them, and you get this:

Nutrition facts! This made 3 servings, so 442 calories per serving... and you get all the great vitamin values and such.

Dillon always discovers cool things like this - I should really listen to him more!

Well with that, I'm going to go have him teach me more about my new phone!

Au revior!

~Kasey

My Favorite Hummus

Happy Sunday, Everyone!

We ended up having a great day yesterday. I made a spur-of-the-moment decision to do this -

I got my nose pierced! I've been wanting to do this forever and the parlor where I've gotten my tattoos done was having a special and piercings. $10 for piercing and jewelry because they were training an apprentice. Lucky me, though, because the trainee was too busy, and I got the professional to do it for the discounted price! It was only a little painful, but Dillon held my hand so it was ok. It doesn't even hurt today. I just love it!

This morning I got up to do a bit of cross-training after my long run yesterday. I did 30 minutes on the stationary bike and some weights. I need to make a point to do cross training so I don't get burned out from running.

Then Dillon and I did our normal grocery shopping. I couldn't wait to get home to make hummus since I've been out for a few days.  I make the same recipe every time because I just love it - so I thought I'd share it with you!

My Favorite Hummus

1 can of chickpeas, drained and rinsed

~ 1/2 cup reserved chickpea water

4 tbsp lemon juice

1/3 cup tahini

4 garlic cloves

ground pepper to taste

To start, drain and rise the chickpeas, but make sure to keep about 1/2 cup of the chickpea water to add to the mix. Then add all ingredients to the food processor, but use the chickpea water sparingly so you're able to adjust the thickness later. 

Then just blend, blend, and blend - scraping the sides and adding any more chickpea water as needed. I let it blend for a very long time, probably 5-9 minutes for so, because I like really smooth hummus.

Put it into a container, and then you're done! Easy as that :) It's garlicy and delicious! 

This morning I also made peanut butter (sooo good), and pizza dough for later tonight. I've been a busy bee!

Now I'm going to watch some more football with my love (and kitty!). Have a great day :)

~Kasey

Meal Plan: January 2-8

Good Morning!

As promised, here is what I plan on cooking this week. The first listing is what I will pack Dillon and I for lunch, and then the second is what I plan to make for dinner.

To Prep
Brown Rice, Black Beans, Chickpeas Tofu, Nut Butter

Sunday
Tofu Scramble
Refried Bean Tacos

Monday
Rice bowl w/tofu and broccoli (chickpeas for hubs)
Salad with Beans/Leftovers

Tuesday
Black Bean Wrap & Salad
Fried Rice

Wednesday
Salad or Rice Bowl w/Tofu (chickpeas for hubs)
Leftovers

Thursday
AB&J Sandwich
Grilled Tofu Sandwiches (turkey burger for hubs) & roasted veggies

Friday
Leftover Tofu for me, Black Bean Wrap for Dillon
Seitan Guinness Stew

Saturday
Leftovers

Seems pretty do-able! Along with lunches, I always pack snacks like clementines, apples, nuts, etc because I like to snack a bit throughout the day.

The prep I do is on Sunday which makes throwing together lunches really easy. As for the meals in italics, I plan to make sure you get a recap of those :)

To Start, here is a brief description of how I prep on Sundays.

I made nut butter earlier in the day by blending ~ 1 cup of cashews until creamy (about 10 minutes).

Brown Rice
I used 1 cup of dry, long grain brown rice and 2 1/3 cups of water.

First, boil the water. Then add the rice, stir once, and let it sit, covered, for 45 minutes or until the water is absorbed.

Be patient and really just leave it alone to do its thing.

All done! 1 cup of dried rice made about 4 cups of cooked rice. I'll be using this in the rice bowls and in the fried rice I'm going to make on Tuesday.

While the rice was cooking, I made the next 3 things.

Black Beans
I started by draining and rinsing 1 can of black beans. Then I put it in a frying pan and added spices.

Cooked for about 7-10 minuted until warm and covered in the spices.


Chickpeas
I repeated the draining and rinsing for the chickpeas. Spiced and browned in a pan for these as well.

Cooked about 10-12 minuted until browned.


Tofu
I pressed the tofu for about 20 minutes before cooking. I used the same spices for the tofu as I did for the chickpeas.

Cooked for about 15 minutes until nice and brown.

All ready to go!

I did all of this in about 30 minutes and even cleaned up the kitchen while everything was cooking. It's surprising how productive I can be if I want to :)

I think this will really help the week be less hectic. Having healthy food on hand is very important to me, and it's pretty easy as long as you plan ahead!

Happy Monday! I'm working for 10 hours since its supposed to be a really busy day. I'll be glad to come home and relax.  I hope you have a great day!

~Kasey