Black Forest Breakfast and Bowls of Buffalo.

Seems like it's been a while since I posted about food, so how about some tasty catching-up?

My 28th birthday was this past Tuesday and I decided to create a nice lil' treat for myself before starting the day. I present to you, Black Forest Birthday Breakfast:



In a bowl, I combined:

• 1/2 cup 0% Fage yogurt
• Splenda (or sweetener of choice)
• 1/3 cup No Sugar Added Cherry Pie Filling
• 1 Deep Chocolate Vitatop, warmed in the microwave 
• Mash everything together and enjoy.

Dessert for breakfast! So, so good (and under 200 calories). Thanks to the large amount of left over pie filling, I repeated this combo for breakfast this morning and will probably have it again tomorrow. And the next day. And the next day... Why? Because I'm Team Cake.

Side note: I'm really glad Costco started selling Vitatops- MUCH more affordable this way. Another budget-friendly option is to  buy the mix on Amazon and make your own!

Now, time to switch gears from sweet to spicy. A few weeks ago, I came across a Ready Set Eat recipe for Buffalo Chicken Chili. Doug made his version, all nice and pur-dy:



Garnished with bleu cheese and celery greens. We used white beans instead of black; the creamier texture of the white beans just seemed to be a better fit. Our version also used chicken breasts (instead of thighs), carrots, onions, extra tomatoes, extra wing sauce, chicken broth and reduced-fat bleu cheese. If you're craving chicken wings, but still want to keep things healthy, you really can't go wrong with this dish! Tofu could be used as well, for a great meatless option.

Rush, as in not enough time, not the band.

I really need to go back to packing my lunches and snacks the night before. The past few mornings have been too rushed and it makes me cranky. Buh. Oh well. Nothing a little Daydream Nation by Sonic Youth can't cure. Music Tangent: I wasn't a big fan of Sonic Youth before (didn't hate them, just kinda neutral). Doug on the other hand LOVES them. Between hearing him play their albums all the time and seeing them in concert last year, I must say, they've totally grown on me.

Let's back up to last night's dinner, shall we? I had a couple of ideas on what to make, but I also had a Buy One Get One Free coupon to Noodles & Company, so off we went.



I got a small order of Bangkok Curry with a grilled chicken breast on top. Added a few drops of Sriracha and I was good to go.

But y'know what I'm really excited to share? DESSERT:



What is this, you ask? Well, my inner Fat Kid took a Deep Chocolate vitatop, a tablespoon of marshmallow cremé and sprinkled on about a teaspoon of reduced-fat unsweetened coconut. The result? A mother-frickin' Sno-Ball. Only much better, in my opinion. I do enjoy me some original Sno-Balls from time to time, but I get sick of them after a few bites because there just seems to be too much marshmallow and not enough cake (is there ever really enough cake in anything though?). Well problem solved, with my version. And the vitatop has chocolate chips in it, so um, helloooo?! Heaven, for the most part.

Moving on to this morning's breakfast:



A bowl of I-Don't-Know-What and a slice of Great Harvest Cinnamon Chip toast.



Ok, so here's what I mixed together:

• 1/4 cup oats
• 1/4 cup egg substitute
• 1/4 cup fat-free cottage cheese
• 1 tbsp ground flax
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• cinnamon
• splenda
• splash of vanilla extract

I microwaved it for 2:30 and let it cool for a bit. It was good, but maybe could have used a tablespoon or so of flour? I don't know. I just wanted a little bit of oats, but with extra sources of protein, so that's what I ended up with. I guess you could call it Stuffed French Toast in a Bowl? Whatevs. If I want to go for the French Toast effect though, I think next time I need to drizzle some syrup on top. Maybe that's what was missing...

And another shot of the toast, because it made my soul smile:



Quick 'n' Dirty Review of Jari Love's Get Extremely Ripped DVD: Love it! Another great strength & resistance workout. There's definitely not any cardio moves in this one which kinda bummed me out at first, but since it's based around high reps with no breaks in between, my heart rate and sweat output stayed steady the whole time.

It's well over an hour and does move slower than the Get Extremely Ripped! 1000 DVD, but overall, I still enjoyed it. Using the step makes a HUGE difference! Especially when doing stuff like reverse lunges and side squats. Good lord. I had to step off of it occasionally because my quads were on fire.

After the first two workouts (each 30 minutes each), I did the push-ups and plank interval, but skipped the abs routine because I was running out of time and needed to start getting ready for work. Plus, after the ab work I've been doing on the Jackie Warner DVD this week, I was sooo not in the mood for more abs.

Tons of squats, lunges, bicep curls, shoulder presses, rows, tricep kick backs & extensions. Some of the pulsing squat moves killed me, but I could feel my butt and abs working overtime, so I couldn't complain. And you pretty much keep dumbbells in your hands the whole time, so my lifting gloves came in handy for a better, less sweaty grip.

After being disappointed with her Body Rock! DVD the other morning, I'm glad this one met my expectations.

My shoulders and rump cheeks are officially killing me now though, so I don't think I will follow through with my original plan of doing the Jackie Warner DVD again tomorrow. I think I'm just gonna do a 2 mile run (maybe) and call it a day. I know I said last week that I didn't want to break my runs down into smaller distances over the course of more days, but this week, it seems like a better fit.

That's all for today. I think I'm gonna skip lunch and snack photos today since they're basically the same as yesterday, more or less.

Taking things up a notch?

Brief re-cap of last night's dinner: Tuna salad sandwich on an Arnold's Sandwich Thin. Those are definitely becoming a favorite of mine. Had a baked potato on the side w/ some light sour cream and chives. Topped it off with a deep chocolate vitatop and a glass of chocolate almond milk. I love vitatops so much. Unfortunately, they're pretty damn expensive, whether you buy them in the store or online, so I usually only order them when they have some sort of special promotion going on that includes free shipping. Although, I recently discovered that Amazon sells them as well, with the "free shipping on $25 or more" deal, so my addiction may just go on...

Moving on for today...

FOOD

breakfast:
thomas light english muffin- 1
cheese single- 1
egg beaters- 1
boca sausage links- 1

snack:
9 almonds- 1
baby carrots- 0
PB2- 1

lunch:
kashi pesto pasta- 6

snack:
lightfull smoothie- 1

dinner:
salmon fillet- 3
corn tortillas- 1
salsa- 0
fat-free cheddar- 1
light sour cream- 1
green beans- 0

post-dinner:
fudge bar- 1
frozen sliced peaches/strawberries- 1
chocolate almond milk- 1

total points used: 22/22
activity points*: P90X- Plyometrics- 5
WAPs**: 23/35 remaining

*Activity points are also part of the WW program. I wear a heart rate monitor when I work out and award myself one activity point for every 100 calories burned. APs can be used to swap out food points on the days I eat a little extra and go over my daily food points.

**WAPs stands for Weekly Allowance Points. These are like extra back-up points that I can use during the week. I get 35 each week and only use them if I go over my daily food points, which includes days where I swap out all of my activity points and am still over (i.e., days where I'm feeling a little on the piggy side).

Breakfast this morning was the same as yesterday, because it's good. I have some salmon in the fridge for dinner and am still debating on what I want to do with it. I can either make salmon tacos or simmer the fillet with some spinach, tomatoes, garlic and white wine. Both of those options turned out pretty awesome last time I made them.

As for the Kashi dish, I'll have to report on that tomorrow, as it's my first time trying it. I love Kashi; they're one of my favorite food brands. Love, love, love their TLC granola bars, Go Lean Crunch cereal and their flax waffles. I don't buy their products that often because they can be pretty pricey, but if I catch them on sale and/or with a coupon, it's definitely worth it.

EXERCISE

My usual routine on Thursdays is to go to the gym and run or do some incline training. But last night, my boyfriend informed me that he acquired a copy of the new P90X DVD set that I've been eying for a couple of months now. Yes, it's an infomercial product, BUT, I've been hearing reviews from people both online and in-person and I'm more than ready to give it a shot. My mom's boyfriend's son, who is a personal trainer, says it's a pretty kick-ass system and will definitely bring on a challenge. I actually used to have Tony Horton's older system, Power 90, on VHS back in the day. I remember it being a good workout, but of course I wasn't nearly as dedicated back then, so I never stuck with it all the way through to really experience the benefit.

Well Tony, I'm ready to give you another shot, you handsome tiger, you. Ideally, I want to dive in head first, stick with it and become totally ripped, but there's also the possibility that I will completely wuss out. At the same time though, I've been able to bust through all of Jillian Michaels' DVDs pretty well for the last few months, and her workouts are pretty brutal. So at the very least, P90X will give me a better idea of where my current level of fitness is; it may be considerably higher or lower than I think.


That's all for now. Tomorrow (Friday) is my weigh-in day. I'll also share a recap of tonight's impending dinner and of course, my first P90x workout.