Lasagna Salad

After my last post, I had to eat dinner at the speed of light.

I give you…Lasagna Salad…

And by salad I mean greens tossed with dressing.  :)

Topped with lasagna.  Fancy I know!

Then we ran out the door to catch the early showing of Sherlock Holmes.  We made the mistake of trying to see this last Friday night and we could barely find parking let alone navigate our way through the theatre line-ups.  It was insane!!  Is Avatar really THAT good? 

I always get movie theatre popcorn.  It’s one indulgence I refuse to totally give-up.  I workout and eat healthy just so I can splurge on occasions like this (ok, not ONLY for this but you know what I mean!).

For some reason I got the medium size.  I think I thought FH might share…but he had ice cream.  Um, so I kinda ate it all by myself.  Which in and of itself is not the end of the world…but, I, um, well, I sorta got a bigass bag of Peanut Butter M&M’s too. *cough* This is what happens when left to daydream in the concession line for too long.

I now have a belly ache.  That’ll learn me!

The good news is that I really liked the movie!! Who doesn’t love Robert Downey Jr. (the comeback king!)?

I’m off to continue flushing myself out with water and hope that the sugar doesn’t keep me up all night. 

Tomorrow morning I have to drop my car at the shop after the gym, so my plan is to get a little outdoor run in…the shop is only a couple km from the house and the mornings have been pretty mild this week.  I’m a little afraid…it’s been two months since I ran outside.  eeeeeek!

Nighty night.

The Things I Know

• I need to drink more water, but sometimes it’s a struggle.
• I should work out on Mondays, but should not wait until after work.
• I’m good at writing to-do lists, but not so good at actually completing the tasks.

So the goal tomorrow is to drink 3 litres of water even if it kills me, go to the gym in the morning, and bang off at least half of my to-do list.  I’ll report back, but I’m determined now.  Maybe the start of a new month is just the kick in the pants I need.  Project Energize can wrap itself in a festive scarf and wear a Santa hat.  :)

This morning began with the usual half-caf…

No more egg nog in the fridge, so back to skim & demerara for now.

Breakfast was an old favorite with a new treat…

Toasted whole wheat English muffin with peanut butter & bananas…

And a fun fruit new to me…Persimmon!  I used to see these all of the time when I was a grocery store cashier, but if I’ve ever tried one I don’t remember.  These have been around the supermarkets here for about a month but every time I picked one up they were mushy and gross…but last week I found some nice hard ones at Pete’s Frootique.

Meaty like a peach on the inside, but not as juicy.  More like a banana in texture.  While the skin is edible I didn’t care for it, so I just ate the fruity flesh inside.  Sweet and delicious.  Nice for a change of pace!

At lunchtime I got to enjoy a leftover Chicken Enchilada.  Even better the second day.  Deeeeelish.

Afternoon pick-me-up of a few TJ’s peanut butter pretzels and PC Organics chocolate animal crackers…

Don’t these poor cookies look sad?

I had plans to try to get to the gym after work so I had a little pre-gym snack to tide me over…

Astro Original Organic vanilla yogurt.  This was a great find.  Thick and flavorful like our beloved Liberte but not quite so pricey. 

With sliced banana and a crumbled Roasted Almond granola bar.

Of course, by the time I finished work and completed a couple of personal tasks I had absolutely no desire to go to the gym.  It’s dark out, our Christmas tree is lit, FH is comfy on the couch, and I’m happy here in my slippers.  The world will not end if I miss a workout…right?  :)

FH had already eaten because I had said I wasn’t going to be here, so I just made a quick salad topped with some leftovers from the fridge.

Spinach, grape tomatoes, red onion & mushrooms drizzled with EVOO and s&p…

Topped with the Zucchini & Black Bean Pasta from Friday night…

We are now cozied in with some tea, some dry roasted peanuts, and Video on Demand.  Sounds good to me!

The One With Little Oscar

I don’t have a food processor.  Yes, I know…it’s a tragedy!  I had one on my Xmas wish list last year…and I’ll have one on there again this year!  ;)

What I do have is this little Sunbeam Oscar. 

Essentially he’s a food processor, but he runs only at one speed (crazy fast) and he’s quite small.  He actually belonged to my Mom…I remember this little guy from when I was a kid.  I’ve had him in my possession for years, but only pull him out of the cupboard once in a while.  Really he’s only good for things like chopping nuts or making hummus…but I thought I’d try him out making pesto tonight.

Spinach & Pecan Pesto to be precise.  :)

Into the Oscar:  two huge handfuls of baby spinach (had to whirl the first handful down just to fit the second handful in), 1/2 garlic clove, s&p, big squeeze of fresh lemon juice and a couple of tablespoons of chopped, toasted pecans. 

Drizzled in a tablespoon of EVOO while processing (this is a serious challenge with this little guy).  Oscar does an OK job of this but didn’t puree quite as much as I would have liked.  Good enough though!

I split open and boneless, skinless chicken breast and spread a thick layer of the pesto and a thick layer of ricotta inside.  Sprinkled with s&p and closed it up.  Pressed a light sprinkle of parmesan on the outside and baked on a sprayed cookie sheet at 400 degrees for 20 mins.

Let rest while the broccoli steamed…and served!

I had squash on the menu for tonight too, but since I didn’t go to the gym (ya ya, I know…you guys know I should never leave this stuff until night time!) I decided to forgo the extra carby goodness.

I did complete my chores though…the sheets are washed, the bed is changed and the kitty has himself a fancy new mani/pedi.  :)

Keeping Busy

Well at least when I'm really busy I'm not stuffing my face.

Last night I didn't get to bed very early...stupid Big Brother! I took a Tylenol Night capsule to try to knock myself out...I think it worked for about 4 hours....but I still started tossing and turning in the wee hours. Argh. Don't you hate when you are exhausted but just can't sleep? So I ended up sleeping in right until I had to start work (well "sleeping" would be pushing it) so no gym for me today. Double Argh.

Anyway, since I got up work has been non-stop, so all I've had time for is a bowl of Special K, a blueberry muffin and only one cup of coffee. I'm going to cram in a salad before the next conference call and have another muffin and coffee to tide me over until dinner. Dinner will be those shrimp that I was supposed to have last night, with more salad. Keeping it light because I'm going to the movies tonight.....

I think I'll pack my water bottle and stop to buy a bag of Baked Lays on my way there. Sour Cream & Onion are better than yucky greasy popcorn anyway, right?

The sun came out briefly this morning but seems to be gone again now. Will we ever get our Summer back? ...it's depressing. If I have time after work, before the movie, and if it doesn't start raining I will try to get on my bike for a ride....maybe at least to the store for those Baked Lays.

Here's hoping today's plan sticks!