Fit-Sick February

Boooo.  Somehow I managed to catch yet another cold from my boyfriend.  That’s two since the New Year if anyone is counting.  Down with big offices full of germs, and up with more at home hermit workers like me!

So my Winter Shape Up Week Two ended up falling a little flat since I couldn’t breathe, let alone bang out sets of squats.  I ended up with three days off from the gym, but did manage to recoup a couple of cardio days later in the week.  I even drove in from Michael’s on Saturday to spend an hour at the gym.  I’m actually pretty proud of that!  (it’s really easy to just hunker down out in the burbs and avoid the real world!)

Monday – Winter Shape Up, Week Two, Day 1

Tuesday – hugging a box of Kleenex, and a wee walk to Starbucks with my funny Valentine…

Wednesday – more Kleenex and a walk to the park…

Thursday – thisclose to going to yoga, only to complete lose my steam an hour before class.  :(

Friday – sweated out the last of those cold germs during an hour long cardio session…

Saturday – make up cardio day…

Sunday – unless buying a new iPhone counts as exercise, rest day.  :)

So needless to say I’m starting Week Two over again.  Oh goodie, squats squats and more squats.

Getting Greek

Yesterday I didn’t even bother attempting coffee.  I reeeeeeally wanted it but I just knew that I’d be wasting a pot like I did on Monday.  Stupid tummy.  Toast with PB and banana seemed more the way to go.

At lunch time Michael popped by so I made us tea.  My body didn’t reject it…yay!  After he left I whipped a bowl of leftovers.  Turkey veggie spaghettini to which I added fresh spinach and basil.  Yum.

Mid afternoon snackeroo…I was finally able to bust into this bad boy.

And since I knew dinner would be somewhat late I whipped up a bowl of yogurt, blueberries, granola and almonds.

Tiffaney and I booked last night for a Greece planning session.  Now that we have plane tickets it’s high time we figure out what we’re going to do when we get there!!!  She offered to make a main dish so I brought along a salad (of course!).

In the big silver bowl:  red leaf lettuce, carrots, baby cukes, tomatoes, green onions (all local!), herby goat cheese, and homemade vinaigrette.

Our main course was the Mexican Lasagna (made vegetarian) from the Crazy Plates cookbook.  Totally yummy.

Especially with all that sour cream and fun toppings on it! :)

After dinner and catching up on our lives (we barely see each other these days!!) we got our our travel books and the laptop and got to work.  Things are coming together!!

Not long until I will be posting more specific details about where we are going.  Weeeeeeeeeeee!!

Tummy Happy Supper

Antibiotics can be harder on your body than whatever was actually wrong with you, I’m tellin’ ya!  All weekend I’ve been having trouble discerning whether my symptoms were due to my sickness or my drugs.  But being as most of my original issues have passed I’m chalking the headaches and now unhappy tummy up to the stupid drugs.  Glad I just took the last one. 

Needless to say yesterday was as light and simple on the eats as possible (I don’t have much of an appetite yet anyway).  Almond butter toast was all I could muster after my body violently told me that coffee was soooo not going to happen.  Bastard.

After a super chill doggie party in the park with Michael and Burl I stocked up on fresh groceries and came home to immediately make a tummy soothing smoothie.  Frozen banana + fresh baby spinach + unsweetened plain Almond Breeze.  Simplicity.

Come dinner time I was ready for something more substantial!  All afternoon I’d been formulating a plan for something involving ground turkey breast and fresh zucchini…I wanted to keep it simple and light. 

Once I settled on spaghettini as my base, I decided a light tomato sauce would be the best way to go.  Easy on my tummy and a good pairing for the ingredients.

I simply sautéed diced onion and minced garlic with fresh oregano & rosemary from my deck.  Added salt and pepper and a large can of plum tomatoes (which I smushed with a spoon to break up for cooking) and let it all simmer while I prepared the rest of the meal.  When I was ready to serve I blasted the mixture with my immersion blender to make it the right consistency.  Easy peasy.

In a separate pan I sautéed zucchini, carrots, onions and more garlic then added one pound of extra lean ground turkey breast, more herbs (including some dry Italian seasoning) and lots of salt and pepper and kept cooking until the turkey was all browned.

Once the pasta was cooked and drained, I served my plate up.  Pasta, then sauce, then meat & veggies.  Sprinkled with fresh basil.

You could mix the meat & veg into the sauce but it’s prettier this way!  That, and I wanted the leftovers to be separate just in case I have other inspiration for them. :)

A perfectly filling, easy on the tummy, light meal.

I didn’t even want dessert.  I must be sick.

Hiding Under the Covers

Well hell.  THAT is not how I intended to spend my weekend.

In the interest of keeping away from TMI-land let’s just say I managed to get a bacterial infection that left me feeling like I had the flu from hell for a good, solid 72 hours. Ugh.

Thursday I woke up feeling slightly off so decided just to sip coffee and wait on breakfast. When I did get hungry I headed straight for comfort food. Grilled salami and cheeeeese sammich!

I snacked on a few cherries and ate leftover Chicken Penne Soup before meeting the other Jamie for an evening tea.  By the time I got home I knew I was officially sick.  Booooooooooo.

I went to bed telling myself that if I felt even remotely the same in the morning I’d take myself to the doctor.  I think I jinxed myself because as I laid in bed I got achier, hotter, and more yucky feeling.  Awesome.

Friday morning I c-r-a-w-l-e-d out of bed and took myself straight to walk-in where they confirmed my suspicions, gave me a prescription and sent me on my not-so-merry way. 

It took me all morning but I managed to eat a banana and sip on the tall soy iced coffee I bought on my way home in between hard core naps.  That Clif Bar was my barely-there lunch.  I’ve never been so glad I have multiple seasons of Friday Night Lights on my laptop as I can’t remember the last time I spent the better part of 24 hours in bed trying not to die.

At some point I found the energy to get up to walk Chibi (what a little pooper trouper!) and made myself this shrimp salad sammich with leftover grilled potatoes.

I ate the potatoes then damn near fell asleep trying to eat the sandwich.  All my energy had gone into making it leaving me to exhausted to eat!  I didn’t even get to try my delicious chocolaty treat!

Overnight I managed to finally break my fever (I thought it had broken on Friday only to have me feeling 10x worse shortly thereafter).  I struggled through a teeeeeny bowl of granola with almond milk and managed to get outside with the dog again.  The fresh air did us both good but I was right back under the covers as soon as I brushed my teeth.

Eventually I decided I was feeling well enough to get up, move around, have a shower and make a plan to get the eff out of the apartment.  Michael had offered to come over and bring me dinner and movies but instead I asked if he would mind getting some fresh air with me. 

I sipped iced coffee while we walked our dogs, then completely relaxed at his place with a perfect healthy dinner.  Everything on the plate was exactly what my body was craving…roast chicken, brown rice, veggies, and a super fresh, crispy salad.  My appetite died about half way through the plate but I dominated that salad. 

Sadly I kind of regressed later in the evening…chills and then so hot I wanted to climb out the window.  (I know, I’m a really great date hey?)  But…by morning I felt a million times better! 

I was able to meet Melinda for a completely normal (and way too rich) delicious brunch at Spoon’s!  I opted for their special Croque Monsieur…grilled ham and three cheese sandwich topped with béchamel sauce and fried eggs.  Heart.attack.yum.

Just wait though… Had I known what I was being served for dinner I probably would have ordered the fruit bowl for breakfast.  haha.  Dinner deserves it’s own mini post since this pity party has gone on long enough.  Feel bad for meeeeeeee!!!  Waaaaaaah! ;)  Thanks y’all!!

Kick the Cold

After being a sneezing mess at bedtime last night I was pleasantly surprised that I woke up feeling…well, not horrible.  Determined to keep the cold at bay I took my vitamins and bundled up with hot tea.

For breakfast I opted for some probiotics…in the form of organic yogurt…

Mixed with bananas, dates, and toasted pecans.  Opening that container of toasted pecans smells like heaven!

Some mini vitamin C…

Keeping with the lunch theme of the week I recreated the turkey, tomato, hummus and cheese quesadilla…and paired it with the leftover tomato soup.

Maybe it’s just childhood memories, but even homemade tomato soup doesn’t work the magic that Campbell’s does.  Thank you, subconscious. :)

During a break in the shiz weather we’ve been having I made a run out to get my errands done.  I had a bit of a drive so decided to get a hot coffee for the car…

How many extra hot egg nog mistos have I ordered over the last few years?  A bazillion?  Ya.  And today the barista hands it to me and states they can’t make it extra hot because it will cook the egg nog.  Um, WTF?  Since when?  It was crazy hot anyway so I don’t know what she was blathering on about!

I finished it off at home with the last of my Clif Kid Zbars.  Good thing I’m going to the states this weekend!

At dinner time I was still craving hot and sour soup, but since I don’t have even one ingredient necessary for that I decided that Thai Red Curry would have to do.

With fresh tomatoes, big shrimpies, and bamboo shoots.

I knew I froze that last batch of fresh basil for a reason!  Perfect addition to the curry.

Served over steamed brown rice.  It was all yummy but I felt like it was missing something.  Maybe a squeeze of lime?  I never did figure it out.

After dinner, some laundry, and a chat on the phone I sorted through all of the book suggestions I received and picked out my first three Kindle books.  Yay!

• The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield (thanks Heather!)
• I Remember Nothing by Nora Ephron (which Fitnessista also just got for her new Kindle!)
• Sarah’s Key by Tatiana de Rosnay (thanks to CampingGirl!)

Keep the suggestions coming.  Hopefully this puts me in a reading mood and I’ll be blasting through books instead of TV shows.

Oh ya, and remember how I saved the Oh La La cupcake for a friend?  Um, well, I owe him a cupcake. :) 

I’ll say again that I’m super surprised how much I like Oh La La’s chocolate based cupcakes.  So moist and deeelish.  So good I even looked past that the icing was cherry….

And now to dive into the first box of Candy Cane Lane for the season.  Cozy good! 

It has healing properties, I swear!

Paying the Piper

Don’t worry, I haven’t only been partying, sipping cocktails, and filling my face.  Well, mostly.  But it’s what I do!  Um, apparently. :)

For my actual birthday I got pretty much back to normal…until the cupcake feast anyway.  I woke up feeling like I might have a cold coming on so treated myself…

Ha! I know it’s not really a treat when you drink 5,789 lattes a month.

Look! Fruit! PB toast and banana…

I even got a few groceries to get through the short week at home. Crack hummus is in the house!

Rolled up with turkey and tomatoes…

Itty bitty mini Mandarin oranges…

Followed up sushi it was a pretty balanced day…until I dove into the cupcakes.  So sue me. :)

On my way to bed Monday night I knew I was for sure getting a cold.  Munched on Vitamin C, took a melatonin, and tried to sleep it off…but alas it was there when I woke up.

I fought hard by avoiding coffee and drinking juice and spicy orange tea instead…

And turned Monday’s wrap idea into a quesadilla of sorts…

A fistful of minis…

By the time evening fell I’d been sneezing all day and had just moved the box of tissues from the bathroom to sit on my desk.  Dinner couldn’t be anything other than soup.  Since a bowl of hot ‘n sour didn’t magically appear, Campbell’s hit the spot.

Bedtime never looked so good.  First time in months I went to bed at 10pm. zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

Today I’m showing this cold who’s the boss!