Day 19 Beans, Beans & Beans

Trish Workout: Trying out a new class at the gym today! Powerflex Class! Lifting weights. 
Vince Workout: Yoga moves

Made a new soup Sunday for my lunches this week.
Mixture between the lentil chili recipe and my own creation.

Bag of 9 bean mixed. Cook and let sit for 1 hour or until soft.
Set aside. 

Saute white onions, lots of portabella mushrooms,
zucchini, garlic. Add chili powder, cumin, 1 teas of brown sugar

Add organic chicken stock and beans. Bring to boil. Simmer for 25 minutes. 

Discovered some great turkey meatballs at target. Good
ingredients. The only problem is that they are not organic
so Vince won't eat them. I was hoping to make dinner quicker
by using these. So instead, I'll use them for lunch.

Notice the turkey ingredients. Vince shouldn't eat wheat
either and sometimes stays away from gluten. Other
than that it looks good. The fact that it isn't organic
means the turkeys were not fed organic food. If they ate
regular corn then I'm eating GMOs, which is not good.
I just need to make planning for lunch easy this week.

Frozen lunches for Monday - Wednesday. Just toss in a couple
fruits and come cottage cheese in the morning.
Bean soup, frozen broccoli and frozen turkey meatballs.
Pop in microwave at work. 

This was my dinner Sunday. Will have the same for some
lunches this week. 

Breakfast: beans, 1 scrambled egg with mushrooms, organic frozen blueberries, green tea
Snack: low fat cottage cheese, water
Lunch: seen above
Snack: fresh pineaplle
STARVING at the moment. Forgot my peanut butter sandwich for after work.
Dinner: later  ??

Day 18 Houston Marathon!

Trish Workout: Gym: weights and some cardo
Vince Workout: Gym: slow Power of 10 exercises

We didn't make it out to the Houston Marathon this year.  Visited friends late last night and didn't drag ourselves out of bed early. Cold front came in and the weather was a bit dreary as well.The times we have been to cheer the runners on has been great. Photos were taken from our television this morning.
Houston Marathon

Random people 

Winner. Didn't catch his time this year.

Random shot

Visited friends and their family last night for game night. Had fun playing card games with about 15 or so people. Turns out they are from the Ukraine just like my husband's grandmother. Interesting conversations about the country they visited before "The Wall" was torn down. They let Vince pick a large bag of lemons from their lemon tree and picked some cumquats from their tree as well. Never had a cumquat. Looking forward to the experience later today. Added the lemon to my green tea this morning. Delicious!

Cumquats off the tree.

Fresh lemons straight off the tree.

Day 17 Benefits of Mushrooms Plus Recipes

Trish: Workout: Spin Class! Always a difficult workout, but fabulous.
Vince: None

Notice the calories burned doing
Spin class! Great way to get in
shape and have fun!

Did you know mushrooms have wonderful health benefits? See benefits and delicious recipes: Mushrooms!

From: photo from seasonwithspice.com

Different Breakfast: Out of usual breakfast. Ate beans and quinoa.

Pineapple is a delicious healthy sweet treat. 

Lunch. Love my hot cocoa. Doesn't taste as good with the
unsweetened almond milk. Used to drink it with the
vanilla soy milk, but trying to cut that out of my di

Day 16 Kale...Try It!

Trish Workout: None
Vince Workout: None

Ate out at our favorite place again: A Moveable Feast. Lots of organic food and healthier choices there.
Did you know Kale is an excellent food for you, but there are some things you need to know?
 Kale Information!    Kale Recipes!

Trish: Chicken salad sandwich, bean soup, water

Vince: my side salad, kale, water

Shared avacado and some blue corn chips

I had a wild hair to get some ice-cream nearby. Tried a
new flavor: chocolate and cream cheese. Not good at all.
Should have never gotten the ice-cream in the first place.

Out of breakfast for now. Ate quinoa and beans.
Was hungry a lot faster than normal today. 

Some of what I ate today. Not finished
logging in at this point. 

Day 15 Ever Eaten Quinoa?

Trish Workout: Walked 1 mile.
Vince Workout: None  Has he given up?

 Quinoa is like a grain. Sort of a cross between rice and pasta with a different texture. It can be cooked like whole grains or rice. I use it a lot to add to a stir fry meal. Incorporate with chicken chunks and your favorite veggies with a little olive oil. Can be eaten stand alone or as seen in the caption. Quinoa is a complete protein  and is very healthy for you. It is glutten free and cholesterol free. 

Preparation: Cover it with water or vegetable broth and boil until soft, about 15 minutes. Or, place 1 part quinoa to 2 parts water in your rice cooker.

Nutrition: According to CalorieCount, 1/3 cup of cooked quinoa has 160 calories, 2.5 grams of fat, 3 grams of fiber and 6 grams of protein.

Was surprised to learn this morning that Vince ate the
last few scoops of my oatmeal! Desperate for a replacement. Attempted
to eat his quinoa for breakfast. He usually warms it up with
coconut milk and adds blueberries. My eyes can barely look
upon it when he eats it! Reminds me of vomit.
Was able to eat it plain. Better for dinner with spices,
onions and tomatoes and a bit of olive oil. etc. 

Blueberries are a superfood in my book!

Did you know... Vitamin D3 can help you maintain a strong immune system, help you avoid the common cold, may help in keeping cancer away as well as other muscular/skeletal diseases!
Check out: All About Vitamin D.

All should know that I passed by 2 of these tantalizing boxes
at work today. Did not partake in the temptation! 

Breakfast: quinoa, 1 scrambled egg, green tea, frozen blueberries.
Snacks: 1 small orange, 1 organic apple, water
Lunch: organic sprouted bread with natural peanut butter, water
Dinner 1 Early: at meeting late...ate grilled chicken subway sandwich with veggies, no dressing.
Dinner2: Little salmon on a salad, water:  photo to come soon after dinner....

Day 14 Wild Caught Salmon VS Farm Raised Salmon

Trish Workout: None today unless you count walking around all day at work. 
Vince Workout: None today

Today was the first day I went over my calorie limit by 53 calories.  Planning on waking up at 5AM to try working out in the morning! Crossing my fingers I get up with the roosters!

Did you know Wild Caught Salmon is much better for you than Farm Raised? There is so much confusion out there about what to eat. Here are the salmon facts.

Dinner: Wild Caught Salmon with spices, sweet potato, organic broccoli.

Dinner: organic salad with tomatoes

 Lunch: left over lentil chili and a peanut butter sandwich.
Snacks: 1 organic apple, 1 small orange, 1/2 cup 2% cottage cheese

Breakfast: 2 scrambled eggs with zucchini, 1 slice organic bread, green tea

Day 13 Temptations

Trish Workout: Not Much. About to jump around and do abs while I watch the news. (Have Toastmasters on some Tuesdays. No time to exercise much).
Vince Workout: Meditated. Vince claims he burns 25 calories meditating. Can I make fun of that?

Temptations + Rainy Cool Weather = Eat Bad Stuff!
At least it makes you want to eat everything.

Barely passed up the infamous breakfast tacos at work! The fact that they had been sitting there for 2 days made me think twice. Control...control...control...I must maintain control of what I eat at work. Always so many munchies at work. This is the place the calories pile on if I'm not careful.

Brownies! They are in my oven as I type. Taking them to my meeting tomorrow for some teachers. After reading the ingredient label I'm guilt ridden that I'm feeding them dessert with hydrogenated oils! I claim to eat healthy, but I give others "bad" foods? Houston, we have a problem.  I can't picture them wanting to eat cold carrots or broccoli. Hoping I stay away from them today. Vince announced he can't wait for them to come out of the oven!

Brownies for a staff meeting tomorrow. Not for me, although
I can practically taste them now! Drooling. 

Seriously? Partially Hydrogenated Soybean Oil.
What does: May Contain Milk mean?
They don't know if they added milk or not?
All bad stuff. GMOs for sure.
I can't believe I am making this for people.
Will have to rethink my desserts for others soon. 

My breakfast today was the same as usual: 1 egg, 1/4 cup oatmeal with milled flaxseed, blueberries, green tea.
Snacks: organic apple, small orange, water
Lunch: Left over lasagna, water
Lunch a couple hours later: natural peanut butter sandwich on organic bread. (only peanuts and salt)
Snack: almond milk with 100% cocoa (no sugar)
Dinner: Will be left over lentil chili and a salad with spices and little olive oil, water

Day 12 Lentil Chili Recipe For Dinner

Trish Workout: Jillian Michael's DVD #5 
Vince Workout: None

Back to work today after a great long 10 day Christmas vacation! Students weren't back today. Just
faculty meetings. Kiddos come back tomorrow so I have to freeze some lunches for myself. Making a hearty soup and plan to freeze some for later. Still have the lasagna frozen for tomorrow's lunch. Without planning my meals and snacks I'll eat anything! Planning healthy meals is the key to success and it saves time and money.

Spices for the recipe: 1/4 teas all spice, 2 tbls chili powder,
1/4 teas cumin ( I love cumin!)

Ingredients for recipe: medium yellow onion, bell pepper
( I have never used the green one. Usually use yellow,
red, and orange). Can organic corn, 2 cups organic
chicken broth, 1 16ounce organic diced tomatoes. I
put in 2 cans. 

recipe

Snacks I pack in the mornings before work. 

My regular boring breakfast. 

Got to go to lunch since the students are not back.
Went to "A Moveable Feast" Ordered vegetarian
chili, tuna sandwich and a salad. Forgot to ask for
no mayonaise so I ate it anyway. Bummer.

Vince gave me this great 24 oz water
bottle for Christmas to keep track of my
water intake. (one of my issues). This is the
full bottle at 7am. Unfortunately, the water
bottle looks the same at 6pm!! Bad water day!!
Better drink ALOT this evening. 

Found some yummy candy surprises in my box at work!
The peppermint patties are 50 calories each! Yikes.
I'm sure I'll have to share with other staff members.
I might have one on days that I eat very well.  : )

Day 11 Watch Your Snack Intake!

Trish Workout: Gym. 35 minutes of mainly leg weights.
Vince Workout: Gym. His Power Of Ten Weight Exercises.

Amazed to report that I lost 2 pounds. I'm sure it was spin class!

So excited to have Vince join me at the gym this evening.
Usually I complain about problem areas where I never lose the weight. Time to stop lying to myself and face the facts in 2013. The issue: I don't work out those "problem areas" because it is too hard. Worked them out today! Crossed a barrier! On the road to better workouts....inner thigh, outer hips, lower tummy, tricepts....you know, those spots that wiggle too much! Not for long! Woohooo!

This great App proved something interesting to me tonight. First of all, I was hungry throughout the day, which I do not like. First time that happened since using the App. I did notice that my meals were smaller causing me to snack more often than normal. My snack calories are way too high. Need to eat more during mealtimes.

Problem: Snacks are more calories than
my regular meals. If I had eaten more
dinner instead of worrying about the
calories, I would  not have wanted so many
snacks.

Notice the small dinner. Should have had
a salad with it. Was still hungry, but too
lazy to make a salad. 

Lunch. 

Day 10 Spin Class Is Awesome!

Trish Workout: Gym Spin bike class for 50 minutes.
Vince Workout: None

Did you know...you can burn up to 700 calories Spinning!
Went to Spin Class this Saturday morning. If you want the best cardio workout ever spin is a must try! The music is blaring, the instructor motivates you to work hard and you push yourself like never before! It will give you a boost of energy for the entire day. I burn 558 calories at medium intensity and 664 - 700 at high intensity. It is amazing! The only downside is that I am a lot hungrier all day long after I spin.
Spinning info. 

Lunch: grilled cheese (processed cheese...bummer), 1 small
pear, mixed greens with 1 tomato and oregano and basil, water

Early Dinner: Hungry at 3:30pm! Sauted carrots, white onion,
mushrooms, red, orange, and yellow bell peppers first. 

Ingredients for our dinner. 

Left over lasagna noodles (not the best for you...packaged), tomato,
organic chicken. Added tumeric, garlic, little salt & pepper to
chicken while cooking it. Mixed with veggies above. Yum!!

Vince went to Costco without me and came back with his
favorite! We try not to buy chips at all, but he gets these
every few months. There are GMOs in corn, but not
in organic corn. 139 calories in only 14 chips. Beware
if you are counting calories. 

Good ingredients in the chips. Canola oil is also a GMO product,
but organic canola is not so we feel okay eating these. 

I love this app: "Lose It"

Breakfast

Lunch

Dinner

Snacks & Exercise