Niki's Neverending Adventure

Hey guys!! How has your Sunday been? Mine’s been pretty nice!! It warmed a little above freezing today so a lot of the ice has been melting. Not sure what that means since the temps are going back into the low 20’s tonight. Hopefully not too much refreezing, since I have to go to class in the morning! Maybe they will cancel it again… probably not, but I can dream right?!

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I attempted my long run on the treadmill today and it wasn’t very fun. I tried to watch Ghost of Girlfriend’s Past, but the sound was all the way up and I still couldn’t hear it that well :(  Kinda weird since I’ve never had an issue watching TV before while running on the treadmill. Maybe movies are quieter?? Anyway, I ended up doing 8 miles instead of 11, and I am totally fine with that. 8 miles on the treadmill is plenty of torture for one day! My feet were killing me and I felt exhausted! I felt so much more tired on my 8 miler today than I did my 10 miler outside last week. I’ve told y’all before how I think the treadmill is harder to run on, and I am definitely sticking to that! I don’t know how some people only run on treadmills! I am so looking forward to running outside again! Bring on the warmer temps please!!

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My tummy was unhappy for a while after I finished my run, so I didn’t eat lunch until around 3pm. I had freezer soup AGAIN!! I just keep craving it! Plus, it’s so easy and quick :)

 Buffalo Chicken Chili with a dollop of Light Sour Cream and some Shredded Cheddar Cheese.

With some chips and salsa on the side.

These Scoops with a Hint of Jalapeno are AMAZING!! You must try them! I will be buying them from now on!!

I told the fiancé I would make him some more cookies so I used the same recipe and made a whole batch of All Time Favorite Chocolate Chip Cookies!! They look yummy! I will be having some for dessert! I used the flax+water again instead of eggs. I like how they turn out better than if I used eggs!!

While working on the cookies, I had a cup of Chai Spice Black Tea with skim milk and sugar. This is so good!!

 

And for dinner I made some Zatarains Jambalaya and roasted some Acorn and Butternut Squash!!

I added some Roasted Red Pepper Chicken Sausage to our Jambalaya.

And the squash!! Roasted at 400* for 30 minutes in a little EVOO, salt and pepper! So good!!

All together now! This dinner was awesome!! I’m ready for some cookies!!

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So, I told y’all this morning that I would recap how I’ve been doing so far on my 2010 goals. Here it goes!

Fitness and Nutrition

1. Run at least 2 half marathons- Haven’t had the chance to do this yet, but I am planning on running the Germantown Half Marathon March 21st and the Nashville Country Music Half Marathon April 24th.

2. Try to run at least 1 race per month (if possible, according to races available in my area)- Fail. No races available this month, but I do have 2 10k’s planned for February! That makes up for January, right??

3. Strength train at least 2X per week- includes ab workouts, bootcamps, and free weights. I have been doing SUPER well at this! I have been strength training 2-3X per week every week so far!

4. Incorporate more veggies in my diet. Try to include a veggie with lunch and dinner at minimum. I’ve been doing ok at this. I have discovered a new love for squash though!!

5. Limit sweets to one treat a day- This is going to be SUPER tough for me!! Big FAIL. I have already given up on this because when I was limiting myself to 1 treat a day, that’s all I could think about! So some days I have a couple treats and other days I only have one. I feel ok about this!

6. Drink more water!! I think I will try to drink 48 oz a day minimum. That’s 3 of my Nathan water bottles which is a lot more than I’m drinking now! I have been doing AWESOME on this!! I can totally tell a difference in how I feel in general and on my runs now that I am really hydrated!

Personal

1. Finish planning my wedding and honeymoon and continue enjoying every minute of it! Still working on this!!

2. Marry the love of my life on June 11th, 2010!! Not here yet but it can’t come soon enough! We cannot wait to be husband and wife!!

3. Daily quiet times reading my Bible and spending time in prayer- I have definitely been slacking on this, I need to make it part of my morning routine. I always feel so much better after spending time with God! I have been doing really well with this also! I have done a quiet time every single day since January 1st! I am using a devotional that will have me read the whole Bible in a year! I love it! I truly look forward to this special time each day. I also started trying to be part of the 5 o’clock club!

4. Become a better listener, less bossy, and more understanding. Still working on this… I think this might be the hardest one on the list!

5.Cut back on needless spending and put more in savings. This is VERY important!! I am in school and have NO job so I don’t need to be spending money like I have an income! I am going to try to save $200/ month minimum. FAIL! Not because I am needlessly spending but I have had some crazy expensive expenses come up :(  The one area I am spending way too much money on is grocery shopping! Someone please help and give me tips!!

I think I’ve been doing pretty well! What do y’all think?? How have you been doing on your 2010 goals so far??

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Tomorrow is a special day for me tomorrow!! Can you guess what it is??

Have a lovely night!!

Posted in: on Sunday, January 31, 2010 at at 8:18 PM 2 comments    

Good morning!! Happy Sunday!!

Sadie says hello!! We are still covered in ice here… that’s not good news for my long run today :(

 

 

At least the sun is out and it's making the ice look sparkly!!

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Let’s rewind to yesterday…

Lunch was prior to my store adventure, so it was some more freezer soup.

Not really sure what it was, I think some type of Chicken Tortilla soup! It was yummy!

With some chips and salsa!!

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After lunch, I decided to venture out to the grocery store and to rent some movies. The main roads weren’t bad because the snow plow was out plowing them, but my neighborhood and the parking lots were still solid ice. FYI it’s super hard to steer a full shopping cart on ice. I kept getting stuck!! Haha! But I made it back and was so happy to actually have some food in the pantry and movies to watch!!

After my shopping adventure, I settled on the couch with Sadie to watch Julie and Julia. I am just now finally getting to see this movie!! It was AWESOME!! Kinda cool to be able to relate to the main character in the food blogging aspect!! I definitely recommend this movie!!!

While watching Julie and Julia, I had my favorite afternoon snack! Home made trail mix and tea!!

Trail mix made with dark chocolate chips, peanuts, Oh’s, and Quaker Crack that I stocked up on at the store!! Along with some Chai Spice Black Tea with a tiny bit of sugar and skim milk! YUM!

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Since we didn’t have Friday pizza night this week, we decided a Saturday pizza night was definitely in order!! On the menu: BBQ Chicken Pizza!! My fav!

Start out with a cooked chicken breast, shredded, and mixed with your favorite BBQ sauce.

I picked this up yesterday! One of the only brands I could find without HFCS!

Pretty good ingredient list! I take Sugar and Molasses over HFCS any day!!

Next, spread BBQ sauce over the pizza crust. We like the Boboli ones best!! They are amazing!!

Pile with toppings!! I used sliced onion, jalapenos, chopped, cooked spinach, and the chicken, of course!!

Top with mozzarella cheese and bake!!

I had this X2!! Love, love, love this pizza!!

I also enjoyed one of these Lazy Magnolia Southern Pecan Beers that came highly recommended by Melissa!! Both the fiancé and I loved it!! Thanks for the suggestion girl! Also love that it’s semi-local(made in MS)!!

In a fishing beer glass, nice right?! Ha!

And a cookie and a half for dessert!! And these were the last of the cookies! The fiancé ate them all! Haha! He is requesting more, so I may make another batch today!!

While having pizza night, we watched the movie Surrogates with Bruce Willis. It was pretty good, kind of odd though! Another future type movie. We have been renting a lot of those lately! But I love Bruce Willis!!

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Back to today…

I was able to sleep in today and got up around 7:45am! Nice!! I whipped up a yummy breakfast after doing my Bible study.

I made my Banana Oatmeal base and added 1 TBSP raisins, 2 TBSP Pumpkin Granola, and 1 TBSP NM PB! I am trying to be better about actually measuring my food so I don’t over do it!! It was delicious! Natch.

And some coffee in my running mug to get my running motivation going!!

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So, I have an 11 miler on the schedule for today. As I said before, everything is still iced over. The main roads are ok, but there’s no way I’m running in the street on the main roads! I would totally get run over! When they plowed the snow and ice, they plowed it onto all the sidewalks so they are completely covered :( And, if my driveway and yard are still solid ice, I’m sure the running paths I normally run on are also. So this basically leaves me with one option: The Treadmill. I have no clue if I will be able to do 11 miles on the treadmill. Not because of physical reasons, but because of mental ones! I don’t think I’ve ever ran more than 6 miles at a time on the treadmill! I’m gonna try though! I really want to get this long run in! I have Firefly Lane I can listen to and I rented Ghost of Girlfriend’s Past to watch also! So hopefully I can get through this!!

What’s the longest run you have done on the treadmill? Any tips?!?

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Apparently, it’s supposed to get up to 34* today so hopefully some of the ice will melt! And we are going to be back up in the 40’s and 50’s this coming week! Yeah!! So over this ice stuff!! Well guys, gotta get going! I will be back later with my run recap and a fun post about how I’m doing so far with my resolutions!! Take care and have a GREAT Sunday!!

Posted in: on at at 9:31 AM 3 comments    

My backyard is SOLID ICE!! Sadie didn’t even make a dent in it when she went out this morning!!

 

 

It’s not supposed to get above freezing today, so it looks like we are stuck with the ice today. Hopefully, I can venture out to the store this afternoon to go grocery shopping! Luckily, the store is like 2 minutes from my house!!

I’m a little nervous about what all this ice is going to mean for my long run tomorrow. Maybe by tomorrow afternoon it will melt some… because I sure don’t want to do 11 miles on the treadmill! There’s no way! Haha.

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This morning I had a 3 miler on the schedule. So I hopped on the treadmill and did a nice, easy 3 miles while listening to Firefly Lane. Still loving that book! It’s awesome!! After my run, I decided to do some ab work. Here’s how it went:

• 25 reverse crunches
• Side plank with arm extended, 50 seconds each side
• 60 bicycle crunches
• Plank with arms extended, 80 seconds
• 20 jackknifes
• Plank ups, 10 each arm- These are KILLER!!

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After my workout was finished, my tummy was GROWLING!! This morning I decided to make a yogurt creation!!

I mixed together:

• 1 container Blueberry Oikos Greek yogurt
• 1/4 cup Pumpkin granola
• 1/2 cup OH’s
• 1/2 pear, leftover from the fiance’s lunch yesterday
• 1/2 TBSP NM PB

All mixed up!! Super yummy!! I love yogurt messes!! Only bad thing about these is that they tend to not hold me over as well as my usual oats… guess I will see!

And my morning coffee!!

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What are y’all doing today?? Since I’m kinda stuck in the house, I need to live vicariously through you!! Haha :)

Have a great Saturday!!

Posted in: on Saturday, January 30, 2010 at at 9:01 AM 2 comments    

Hey y’all! I hope you had a GREAT Friday!! I was officially snowed in today! It has been snowing/sleeting all day and I think they are forecasting it to continue all night long! Should make for some super icy roads. Fun. I am just hoping we keep power! Some people have already lost theirs! Yikes!!

I tried to be productive with school today but it just wasn’t happening! It’s hard when I know I don’t HAVE to be doing any reading/school work but I COULD be doing some for next week. I blame it on the weather, just sucked the motivation right out of me! Haha! I did read about 10 pages and worked on 3 questions from a take home test, so at least I did SOMETHING!

I did a lot of other things besides school work though! I cleaned up around the house, vacuumed, did some laundry, did 15 minutes of yoga and 10 minutes of ab work, cuddled with Sadie, caught up on blogs, and baked some cookies!! So I definitely have not just been sitting around!! I was happy the fiancé had a snow day too so he could come hang out with me and Sadie!!

Sadie HATES this weather! She’s such a wimp! I think she has only been outside once today and all she did was prance out, pee, and run back inside. Didn’t even take 1 minute! Haha!

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I started getting super hungry around 11am so I had some OH’s to tide me over until lunch.

This times 2 :)

When it was finally time for lunch, I made a snack plate.

Leftover tuna from last night with crackers, cheese, and a sliced pear. It was a yummy snack plate!!

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So, I was really in the mood to bake today, but I was out of eggs and running low on butter. I decided to try out the flax+water substitution for eggs and proceeded to make my favorite cookie recipe. I also had to half the recipe because I only had a small amount of butter! But, the flax+water combo worked GREAT!! Couldn’t tell a difference at all! I will definitely be using this a lot more for baking cookies! Plus, I didn’t feel so bad eating the cookie dough because there wasn’t any raw eggs in it! Haha!! The fiancé had no clue I did an egg substitution and he said the cookies were awesome! He keeps eating them too, so that’s another good sign! Anyway, here’s the recipe:

All Time Favorite Chocolate Chip Cookies

• 3/4 cup butter, softened
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 2 eggs*
• 1 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 2 1/4 cups plus 2 TBSP all purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 3/4 tsp salt
• chocolate chips**

*To make the flax+water egg: Mix 1 TBSP ground flaxseed plus 3 TBSP water. Let sit 2 minutes, then it’s ready to use! This is the amount to equal 1 egg*

**I used dark chocolate chips and Heath Bar pieces. I just dump in whatever amount I have or want!**

Directions:

1. Preheat over to 350*. Beat butter and sugars at medium speed until creamy. Add eggs and vanilla, beating until blended.
2. Combine flour, baking soda, and salt in small bowl. Gradually add to butter mixture, beating just until blended. Beat in chocolate chips until combined.
3. Drop by tablespoons onto parchment paper lined baking sheets.
4. Bake for 10-14 minutes. Remove and cool completely.

Yummy cookie dough!!

 

 

These turned out awesome!! I already ate 1 and a half and am planning on having another 1 (or 2) for dessert tonight! Haha!! Glad I halved the recipe!! I don’t need a ton of cookies lying around tempting me!

Here’s my afternoon snack:

 

Said 1 1/2 cookies

And some Chai Spice Black Tea with a little milk and sugar!! Yum!! Loved it with the little bit of milk and sugar!!  Thanks for the suggestions guys!! I think the milk is good in black teas, but I’m not sure how it would be in herbal or green teas… Thoughts??

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Dinner tonight was one of my favorite Salmon recipes I got from Erin!

Mustard and Brown Sugar Rubbed Salmon

• 2 TBSP brown sugar
• 1 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp pepper
• 1/2 tsp cumin
• 1/4 tsp mustard powder
• 4 salmon filets, skin removed
• 1 tsp EVOO

1. Stir together sugar, salt, pepper, cumin, and mustard in a small bowl. Press sugar mixture onto one side of fish.

2.  Heat oil in large nonstick or cast iron skillet over medium heat. When hot, place fish rub side down in pan. Cook until rub dissolves and darkens slightly (being careful not to burn), about 4 minutes. Flip fish and cook to medium doneness, about 1 minute more.

For side dishes, I heated up some Uncle Ben’s Brown Rice and roasted some Broccoli and Cauliflower. I did a new little twist on the veggies that I saw the BAREFOOT CONTESSA do today!

Roasted Broccoli and Cauliflower

1. Roast veggies on 400* for 15-20 minutes in EVOO, minced garlic, salt, and pepper.
2. Remove from oven and sprinkle with parmesan cheese, chopped (or dried) basil, toasted pine nuts, and a few splashes of lemon juice.

All together!!

This was a great combo! So glad I caught the BAREFOOT CONTESSA on Food Network today! She knows what she is talking about!

And this salmon is TDF(to die for), as always!!

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Here are some pretty snow/ice pics of my backyard:

This was late morning…

And late afternoon!!

And Sadie wanted to get in on the photo shoot too!

Being camera shy!

Watching me cook dinner with alien green eyes!!

Now with the red eyes! She has magic eye colors! Haha!

We are laying low tonight! Sadie is watching Law and Order and I am about to go join her! Looking forward to some decaf tea and cookies in a bit!! Fingers crossed for no power outages!! Have a great night!!

Posted in: on Friday, January 29, 2010 at at 7:20 PM 2 comments