Weigh in Monday!

I went to WW this morning before work. I am happy to say that I lost 3.4 lbs for a total of 33 lbs gone! I made some people at work pose for a picture cause I didnt have any other pic to put on here. Kim, Me, CJ and Heather! I work with the best people!

Murn

Sunday hike

Amelia and I went to hike Black Diamond Mones trail in Antioch today. It was a beautiful day! The amazing thing is I lived about a mile from these trails for 10 years and never went to them! Sad really! Anyways it was quite a hike up and then a sharp descent down some slippery rocks.

Amelia and I were happy in conversation when there was a very loud rattle sound to the left of us! I jumped! To the left there was creature that was not happy to share his yard with us. I dont know if you can see the big snake in the picture below!

We got down to the mines. It is amazing how cold the air coming out of there was!

Was a great day!

Murn

Murn's non-pasta salad, pasta salad!

I have created a pasta salad that I love. I do not like the normal grocery store pasta salad. I hate onions and mayo which are staples in most pasta salads. I have created my own and I must say it is pretty damn good! No two times are the same but I have a set of ingredients that I love in it. Here it is:

Boil a bag of twisty noodles. Drain them and set them aside. They can not be hot when you put them with all the veggies or they will all wilt! (no one likes a wilted cucumber!) I then take a package of turkey kielbasa and slice it longways once and then make slices. (where you get 2 half circles.) Sizzle those in a skillet til browned and yummy! Let those cool too (remember.....no wilting the veggies!) I have tried several varieties of turkey kielbasa. I like Hillshire Farm best by far. I do not like Trader Joe's.

I then put all of these things in a big bowl:

1 cucumber, diced up

1 zucchini, diced up

1 carrot chopped up

1 bell pepper (I use red cause thats the kind I like best)

1/2 bag of spinach loosely cut up

1 bunch of cilantro chopped up

1 small can of diced olives

1 can of artichoke hearts chopped up

handful of non-oil packed sun dried tomatoes diced up

cut up small squares of extra sharp cheddar

add the sausage and pasta and toss it with:

I use 1/2 the bottle for the above amount. Toss and there you go:

I made this over at Harmony's house today cause she and I had talked about it last night on the phone. Her hubby said that if he was at a buffet and saw it he would never taste it but was shocked how good it was. I told him I am not a pasta salad person either....hence the name. After eating Harmony and I went on a lovely 4.2 mile walk. It was a perfect day to be outside.

This last week I have been having a problem with my shirts. The necks are too big for me now. I didn't anticipate this. I am constantly shifting my shirts around so I am not showing my bra etc. I went to the store and bought 3 shirts in a smaller size. I was hoping to not have to do this. I wanted to keep wearing my big shirts longer. I have pants in a size smaller (12 pairs to be exact!) so I have pants at this point. I will report when I have to get more pants. Hoping it is soon!

Hiking with Amelia in the morning. Pictures to follow!

Murn

bad case of the blahs!

I am still feeling less than great today. I even called in sick to work with hopes if I sleep and take it easy that I will get over this cold much fast than in the past. In the past when a cold gets into my chest I can not shake it for months! (ask my coworkers and little sister....they all complain when I am STILL coughing months later!) I will let you know how this works. So today I have been drinking green tea and resting. I am starting to get a bit stir crazy! I cant remember the last day I did nothing! Tomorrow I am hoping to get up in the morning and if I am feeling ok I want to go walk. (typing this made me want to make plans...calling Harmony....stand by to see if she is available to walk tomorrow....)

So tomorrow I am going to go walking with Harmony then maybe go out on the boat with her and her family. I am going to get stuff to make my yummy pasta salad on the way over there. Recipe and pictures on tomorrow's post.

This morning I was not in the mood for my oatmeal that I had prepped. I have found a yummy pancake mix that is not too bad for me. 3 pancakes of Fiber one pancakes are 3 points. I added blueberries to the mix today but most days I add an apple. I am always trying to sneak fruit and veggies into my foods! I then sliced these awesome strawberries I got at costco earlier this week on the pancakes. I was planning on taking a picture of these pancakes but I had a bit of a flipping mishap so no pictures are available! (they were really ugly pancakes but still pretty yummy!) I put some smart balance light on them then topped them off with sugar free syrup. Delicious! (3 points for pancakes, 2 points butter...went a little overboard with that, 1 point for strawberries and blueberries for a total of 6 points)

Tonight I was wanting comfort foods. I get lazier than my normal lazy when I am not feeling good. I went rumaging in my kitchen looking for something to eat. Torn between what I wanted....and what I knew I should eat. I think I came up with a good compromise.

I cooked some whole wheat pasta. The box said there were 7 servings so I divided up the box of dry pasta into 7 servings before I cooked it. It said one serving was 3/4 cup but I didnt know if that was cooked or not. I put 5 of the servings in individula baggies to cook another time and then cooked 2 servings tonight. For the sauce I used one of my veggie containers I made a couple days ago and are pictured in that post. I chopped the veggies up a lot smaller (2 cups worth) and put them in a skillet. I added 2 servings of tomato sauce and 2 servings of a light alfredo sauce (I like my sauces mixed!) and put them in the skillet with 8 oz of already browned lean ground beef (I keep these for handy cooking in my freezer.) I added about 1/2 cup of water and let all of this cook for a while together to meld flavors as well as cook the veggies. I divided the sauce into 3 servings. Turned into a delicious meal esp after I topped it off with 1/2 oz of parmesan cheese.

I hope all of you are feeling 100%! Dont take your health for granite!

Murn

under the weather

Yesterday Kim and Meghan came over. We went for a 4.5 mile walk then came back to my house and cooked. I made these fake chicken breast (I'll post more on these another time), asparagus, artichokes and a salad. It was a very healthy meal and very yummy! After dinner we watched "The Blind Side." Love that movie! We didnt end up going to bed til 2:30 am. Kim spent the night so she wouldnt have to fight traffic for work meetings this morning.

When I woke up this morning I started not feeling great. Have a bit of the post nasal drip (I am sure it has nothing to do with my 4 hours of total sleep!) I am ready for bed as soon as I eat my soup! There are few things in this world that I love as much as sleep!

murn

Weigh in Monday!

Today was weigh in day. I was a little nervous since this was a short week. I weighed in on Wed last week so I only had 5 days this week. I am happy to say I lost 3.4lbs this week for a total of 29.6. I got my 10% award today at the meeting. I am knocking on the door of 30lbs! Feeling good about that.

I have been salivating and obsessing thinking about the maui zaui pizza from roundtable pizza. Tonight I treated myself to a personal size one. I was impressed with how small the slices are and the roundtable web site says each slice is a serving. I took a picture of the pizza but I thought that it looked big so then I took a picture of the slice so you can see it is really not that big of a pizza. The whole pizza was 15 points.

I then came home (after stopping by 3 different grocery stores...Safeway, Whole Foods and then trader Joe's...each one has diffrent things I get at it!) I came home and chopped and cooked for over 2 hours. I am working the next 4 days and so I prepped what I was going to take. Thought you might like to see what I take. Here is my veggie bowl. It includes asparagus, green beans, zucchini, squash and carrots. I put a little seasoning on it and will microwave it at work for 2.5 min and YUM! 0 points!

While I was chopping veggies I had a pot of steele cut oatmeal cooking. It makes 4 servings and I chopped 4 apples up in it to sneak in a fruit. I also get a big bowl of it so I feel like I am getting a lot! (apple=1 point, oatmeal is 3 points)

I love a little sausage in my oatmeal. I browed up 6 links which is 6 servings and each serving is 2 points.

I make a lot of things and freeze them. Here is how I freeze my soup to make it easy for later serving it. I make the joke that this is a Marion Lean Cuisine.

I made a wrap to take each day too. Here is a wheat tortilla, laughing cow cheese spread on it chicken and veggies galore. Total of 6 points for the wrap.

I cut up fruit. I put yogurt on it and some Koshi Lean cereal and it is a very happy parfait for 4 points and much filling power. I use a lot of zip lock bags but what I am doing works for me right now.

Hope this gives you some ideas and hope you had a great monday!

Murn

Hill Week

Well it seems that hills are being worked into my life. Most of my walks in the past were faily flat. Not this week. As you saw yesterday Briones was anything but flat and then Hannah took me on a walk through the Presidio that had quite a climb. It was a BEAUTIFUL day! MOst of these pictures were taken in the area of the presidio that George Lucas has his film office. It is amazingly beautiful. I am really trying to slow down in my postings of the GG bridge!

Hope all of you got out and enjoyed the Sun of this Sunday!

Murn