Fitness first.  Today’s workout was energized.  It must have been the extra carbohydrates ingested from all the Super Bowl food.  The plan was a 30 min. run + 30 min. weights + 30 -40 min. walk.  The result was a 4 mile run (36 min). 35 minutes of weights, chest and biceps and 49 minutes of walking (a jog here and there) with Shane (3.38 miles).  It felt good AND it’s a Monday. 

Then Monday happened. Everything came crashing down.  I’ll just mention one thing and spare you all the other details.  My left hamstring began a pulsating pain.  Darn!  That’s my weak point when I start pushing my runs.  I’m going to try to ignore it and hope that on Wednesday, my next scheduled run, it will feel better.

Another drawback to running is that it might just cost you money.  They say it’s one of the least expensive sports, well, read on and see how it can tap into your wallet.

A few weekends ago, I was on the treadmill for a long time running away the miles and watching Info-mercials.  Remember I told you I was a sucker for the BigBossGrill?  That’s where running tapped my wallet….$$$$$

So far we have tried the waffles for Ted. They were wonderful.  Today, I made Banana Mini Donuts following the recipe in the book for Apple Donuts but changing it to suit our tastes. 

This is my recipe:

    3/4 cup all purpose flour
    3/4 cup whole wheat flour 
    1/4 granulated sugar
    1/2 tsp salt

    1 TBS baking powder
   3/4 tsp cinnamon
    1/2 tsp nutmeg
    1/4 cup REAL Maple syrup
    1 large egg
    1 mashed over ripe banana
    1/2 cup canola oil
    1/4 cup yogurt (I used Low Fat “Banilla” by StonyField Farms)

Directions using the BIG BOSS GRILL

Preheat Big Boss with inserted donut plate

The red light comes on when the grill is hot and preheated…

In a large bowl mix the flour, sugar, salt, baking powder, and spices.  In a medium bowl, whisk the maple syrup, banana, egg, oil, and yogurt.  Stir into dry ingredient and mix well.

Fill each donut cup with 1 TBS of batter (batter is thick). Close lid and lock. Cook 5 minutes.  Allow donuts to cool before removing from pan.

Add a maple glaze if desired (powdered sugar, maple syrup, and water to desired consistency).

These mini donuts were so good and so easy.  Did you note they only took 5 MINUTES TO COOK?!!! Amazing. I love my new gadget!  BUT… if you don’t have a Big Boss and don’t want to add to your gadget collection, I also used some of the batter and baked in a 375 F oven for 15 minutes.

I don’t want to sound like an “Info-Mercial” but this grill is super.  It comes with grill plates, omelet plates, sandwich plates, griddle plates, waffle plates, and donut plates.  I can’t wait to post some of the future recipes I come up with for this grill. 

What’s your favorite kitchen gadget?

Homemade Mini Donuts

Another week absolutely flew by. Now it’s Friday, the prelude to the weekend.  No plans… not yet anyway. 

Both of us got up early yesterday and today in order to work off some of that Key West fat we accumulated earlier in the week.  It was worth it….the fat accumulation of course.     

This morning was a long walk with my main “dog”, Shane.  We went 4.23 miles under an hour.  It was wonderful walking weather, no wind, the roads were clear. We actually saw two other dog walkers and had our usual encounter with walker “Dude”. 

The nutrition to get me walking and to fuel my day went a little like this:

1/2 scoop Smooth Banana Whey Protein – pre – walk

Breakfast:  1/4 cup Bob’s Red Mill Steel Cut Oats with 1 TBS Pumpkin and 1/2 tsp Pumpkin spice. I added 1 tsp honey and 1 chopped fig.

My breakfast protein shake was 1 scoop Smooth Banana Whey Pro with 1/2 cup blueberries.  Oh So BLLLUUUEEEE! Gotta check your teeth after drinking a shake with berries.. you know…. the seeds?!!!!

Bob's Red Mill Steel Cut Oats

I was still having sweet cravings so I scooped, just under a TBS , Naturally More Peanut Butter to “chew” on.

The morning snack was 1/2 cup Stonyfield Farms Fat Free Plain Yogurt with chopped apple.

Lunch was a HUGE salad of baby spinach, a radish, 3 cherry tomatoes, some broccoli slaw, chopped red bell pepper, 3 oz Tuna, 1/4 wild rice, 3 TBS F/F Raspberry Vinaigrette.  I added some baby carrots with Red Pepper Hummus on the side.

Official "Tuna Salad"

I’m STILL having issues with my ear. It keeps popping. Flying into Charlotte, NC, I had the worst pain in my ear. Then it took a good day to “unplug”.  Now, after the flight home, it STILL feels plugged and keeps popping when I swallow. Most annoying!      I feel like doing a hand stand, then having Ted grab my legs to give me a good shake.  Maybe that would unplug the PLUG!

Tonight both Ted and I decided we have had enough of dining out for the week so we may wander around Utica and grab a snack if we feel like it. May meet up with friends… but we won’t embark on this exciting adventure until a little later… maybe 7PM.  I’m not even sure I feel like happy hour tonight.  We’ll have to wait and see what 5 PM brings.

So until to-mally… have a great night!

Yippee! FINALLY, our dishwasher is fixed! It was so great to finish lunch and just lazily put my dirty dishes and utensils in the dishwasher. How spoiled I am!  

Nothing tragic at the Vets today. Shane got his shot like a good boy so now if he bites any one… it’s okay?!!!!

I looked forward to lunch since there was no time for snacking this morning.  I had the left over

Wholesome Vegetable Soup with Black Eyed Peas

Wholesome Vegetable Soup

Added some broccoli slaw and a Veggie Burger.

Wholesome Veg Soup, Broc. Slaw and a Veggie Burger

Later this afternoon, hunger struck and since I didn’t have time for the morning snack of all good things.. I had it at 2:30pm.   Stonyfield Farm Fat Free French Vanilla Yogurt plus some nuts and raisins.

A healthy yogurt snack

The menu for tonight is Broiled Salmon.

• Sprinkle salmon all over with lemon juice
• Mix together 1 TBS each Soy Sauce + Honey Mustard.
• Add just one shake of Hot Sauce to the Soy and Mustard.
• Mix up those 3 ingredients and pour over salmon. Let sit while you prepare your veggies to go with the meal.
• Preheat broiler (on high). When ready, broil about 4 minutes* per side depending on thickness of fish.

Oven roasted vegetable suggestion: 

• Chopped Eggplant = Peel eggplant and chop into even pcs. Salt and let sit while preparing parsnips and zucchini.
• chopped parsnips = peel and chop evenly. Heat water to boiling, drop in parsnips and boil for about 3-4 minutes.*
• chopped zucchini. 
• 1 chopped plum tomato (for color)
• Rinse eggplant and pat dry.
• Put all veg in a foil lined pan.
• Drizzle with a little infused EVOO (remember I made my oil on Sat. with a sun dried tomato, fresh dill, and smashed garlic clove).  Salt and pepper to taste.
• Roast in a 425 deg. oven for about 40 minutes*, covered. Uncover drizzle oil on top* and roast another 10 minutes.

Broiled Salmon with Roasted Vegetables

Oh la la! 

 *All these little “*’s” mean I made changes to how I cooked it. 1. I cooked the salmon 5 min/side …too long. 2. I didn’t boil the parsnips first and they were hard PLUS 3. I only cooked the veg 35 min + 10 uncovered. Undercooked. 4.They didn’t brown so I would drizzle a little extra EVOO on top when uncovering.  I made the respective changes that I think will make the dinner turn out a lot more tasty.  Any comments would be welcomed from all you Master Chefs out there.

Now we have some bad news.  Nancy’s mom had a fall a week ago and had major surgery on her arm. BUT… the GREAT news is, she was joking around with the Dr’s and has now been moved from Syracuse back to Utica for rehab of her arm.  It’ll only take her a couple of weeks, we’re sure because she’s one tough little lady. Good luck Nancy, Bob and especially Gertrude. Keep that smile going… and good luck organizing your Bridge group!

It’s a wonderfully mild morning in Upstate. 38 degrees.  The bad part about that is that the snow is melting and it’s ugly out there. There are so many puddles,  and the roads are mucky, there’s also a little bit of ice in places so you really have to watch your step.  I found out all this when Shane and I went for our walk.  But we’ll take it back a bit to the indoor workout.

The morning began with a VPX preworkout shake which took me through a good 45 minute 5 + mile treadmill run.  I worked my back and triceps today. 12 to 15 reps x 4 sets of each exercise.  4 exercises for the back and 4 for the triceps. This took about 35 minutes. Shane and I went out for about 45 minutes but we hit the track on the way home to toss the frisbee about in the dark.  The MVCC track wasn’t cleared of snow so no one was walking.  I decided it couldn’t get any worse trudging through the snow on the track since I stepped in a HUGE-O puddle along the road. I was wearing my fav. Merrills for winter running and it turns out, they are pretty much water proof.  My socks are not. 

Cream of Rice

Breakfast

• Cream of rice
• Apple pie spice
• 1/8 cup Stonyfield Farms Organic F/F plain yogurt
• 1 scoop VPX mixed with 3 oz raspberries and 1/8 cup S.F yogurt.

I also nibbled on some trail mix before leaving the house …feeling nutty. 

I’m taking a few minutes here at work to do my AM blog and guess who is puttin’ in some hours?…

You guessed it! Shane!  That’s a disgusting knuckle bone he has on his “park it ” rug. Looks kind of like a big chewed apple doesn’t it?  Anyway – he’s here because the dishwasher repair guy is coming a day early – yippee!  We thought the guy would rather repair the appliance without a dog in his face. 

Alright – that’s it for my break..to work. Have a good one.