The last of Fabulous in February

Thank you Hope for hosting fabulous in February and for your fun fashion photos for teachers. I have been posting 3 things I like about myself every Monday in February. It's hard to believe that February is over.

March is our crazy month. I turn 30 (YIKES), my husband turns 32 and my son turns 3!

So here are my last 3!

1. I like that I am in tune to people's feelings. I really try not to hurt people and I think I am good at recognizing when I need to go to my students who are feeling down.

2. I like that I was able to have 2 all natural childbirths. This was really important to me and many people told me I might not be able to do it. I never once faltered on this and never asked for drugs. It certainly wasn't easy, but in my heart-of-hearts I knew it was what was best thing to do and it was one time in my life where I really felt like I had accomplished something that meant a lot to me.

3. I like that I am conscientious. I want people to see me as someone who does well at whatever I am doing. I am currently taking a graduate course and I am always the first one to hand things in. I am not a slacker in anything that I do. (except maybe exercise :o).

Well, That was pretty good. I managed to come up with 12 things total. I guess I am not so bad. I might even be fabulous!

What I refuse to sacrifice....

Let me start this post by saying my husband has lost over 40 lbs since November!

Amazing right? He looks great and feels great and I am so proud of him. How did he do it? Well, the biggest thing he did was that he left a job he hated. This was a major decision and probably one of the best things he could have ever done for us. He owned a construction company and it was such high stress, long hours, hard work. He was so stressed and had no time for himself. When we found out I was pregnant with our second child, we knew something had to give. Now he is a stay at home dad and works at various odd jobs when he can. I am also a teacher with summers off, so he will be working during the summer.

I bring this up because I really believe that to be healthy you often have to change your life and sometimes the changes and sacrifices are big.

Did I like the money my husband brought in when he had his own business? Sure.

Would I rather have a husband who is happy, healthy and will grow old with me? Absolutely.

To be able to do this we have had to sacrifice. We are now a one car family and I am sure that loading the kids up every morning to drop mommy off at work will have its not so wonderful moments. We don't go out to eat. I have had the same pairs of jeans for like a bazillion years. I almost never buy something just because I want it.

But we are now healthier than we have ever been. We function as a family unit and we are happy.

But as I think about all the big and little things I am happy to sacrifice for the sake of our emotional and physical heath, it is also funny to think of the things I just will not give up.

So here's my list.... What are you unwilling to sacrifice????

1. Coffee, and yes it is sad that this is number 1. I did not drink any the first half of both pregnancies. But I seriously love it. I like the taste, the smell, the caffeine kick. Along with this I need some kind of sweetner in my coffee. I am still at a loss for how to clean this up to my liking...but I refuse to drink it black.

2. Cheese. I love cheese. I could not be a vegan and my cheese needs some fat. This was reconfirmed when I tried skim ricotta last night. Part skim is as low as I can go.

3. Meat. I would love to challenge myself with a vegetarian diet for a month. I love me some veggies, but I don't think I could do it as a forever thing. Maybe I could if I still could have fish. I do try and have at least 2-3 meatless meals a week, but beyond that..I don't know.

4. Family trips. I would rather go on a random weekend trip than have a new wardrobe any day. And even though we are cutting costs, I will not sacrifice my desire to bring my kids to new places.

5. Butter or margarine for my steamers. I live near the ocean. In the summer we eat steamed clams and if I am going there, I need something to dip them in.

6. The Internet. My son is allowed to watch PBS cartoons. The Internet is what I do when the latest exhilarating plot of Curious George does not entertain me quite enough. Plus I have nursed one baby for a full year and will still be nursing my second baby for 4 more months. It helps me pass the time when they eat. Not to mention I really just need it for my job. Come to think of it, teachers should get free Internet.

7. Mascara and tinted moisturizer. I don't need some fancy pants brand...but something needs to hide my exhaustion.

8. My beach sticker. It is 60 bucks for 2 years and I need it. As I said I live in a beach town and the beach is the only reason I suffer through these long winters.

9. Yoga Pants. I love yoga pants. I wish I could afford some really nice ones (lullulemons???)...but most of the cheapies are fine. I work out in them. I wear them to bed. I wear them to mommy and me classes. I buy new ones when old ones wear out. I like the champion brand from target just fine.

I'd love to round this out with a 10th, but I can't think of anything else.

I've emerged from bed...

The good news,
Even after our party I am weighing in at 141 lbs.

The bad news,
Having the stomach flu is probably why I weigh this much.

I was seriously ill. Thank the good Lord for my husband. It is moments like that where I just cannot imagine how single/ military mom's do it. My own mama was a military wife. My dad would go off on air craft carriers for months at a time. She had no family near by. I have no idea how she ever functioned when she got sick or even how she ever washed her hair. God bless the mamas who do it on their own.

Well I have reemerged and feel much better. last night I finally ate a real meal. It was nothing spectacular, but I was dying for comfort food.
I went with Trader Joes turkey meatballs
wheat rotini
tomato sauce (I call it cheat version of homemade)
and fat free ricota cheese (YUCK! I usually get the part skim version, which is sooo much better and worth the few grams of fat)

Want to know what "cheat" homemade tomato sauce is?

I get two can of organic diced tomatoes with herbs. Shaws has a nice orangic version that includes herbs.
I use a sauce pans to heat a little bit of EVOO (extra version olive oil for those who do not enjoy Rachel Ray). I usually just do one circle around the pan.
I add 3 cloves of pressed garlic to the EVOO. If I am out of fresh I use the frozen cubes of garlic I buy at Trader Joe's
I saute the garlic for about a minute or two.
Then I add the two cans of tomatoes. if I have it, or if I am in a cheesy mood, I add a 1/4 of Parmesan.
Sometimes I add extra fresh oregano

This is soo good if you like thin sauce with  chunks of tomato. I hate the canned sauce and I hate how processed it is and how much sugar is added (seriously, look at the carb content on Ragu)

Want to make it even cleaner. Use your own tomatoes and herbs. I only do this in the summer when I have a huge tomato garden and more time. Or use jarred tomatoes, which are better then canned.

Coconut black beans over warm Asian chicken salad.

Okay, I do realize that this has suddenly become a food blog, but when I come up with a new recipe I NEED to share.

Here is tonight's Dinner. I have no idea why I paired these two things. For some reason it just sounded good together, and it was.

The coconut black bean recipe was not my own. You can find it HERE. I did modify somewhat. I did not have whole chili's, so I added Cayenne pepper powder instead and I added extra Cumin and some Tamaric. I also used light coconut milk instead of the full fat stuff (canned Trader Joes). If I made it again I would use only about 8 ounces of the coconut milk instead of the whole can.

I did NOT add the mango and avocado because I knew I would put it on the salad.

Asian salad:
Ingredients:
Sesame Seed oil
2 Chicken Breast
2 whole leeks
1 whole or 1 bag of white cabbage


-Heat about 1.5 tablespoons of sesame seed oil (cold pressed) in large skillet or stir fry pan
-Add in 2 cut up chicken breasts (I prefer them cut into strips) and brown until almost fully cooked
-Add 2 cut up leaks. I like to slice the leeks in half and then cut into 3 pieces. Add leeks to chicken and oil and stir until they appear soft.
Add 1 whole cut up white cabbage to the pan, along with 2 more splashes of sesame seed oil. I buy the precut/ prewashed organic bagged cabbage and use the whole bag.
Sir mixture for a few minutes until cabbage is lightly cooked, it should still be firm.

Divide salad onto plate then top with black bean mixture.

****If I made this again I would add cooked plantains to the black beans. Then it would have been PERFECT!

Oatmeal is boring you say? Try this...

Okay, I admit it, I am food obsessed. The eating clean change has really made this even more apparent. There is nothing more enjoyable to  me than finding a really healthy, but really tasty food. Now, as most of my readers know, I was never a HORRIBLE eater, but I certainly over-indulged in some bad things (eating a half of a pizza was no strange occurrence). I refuse to go back to that. Instead I am channelling my love for food onto new things.

So most healthy people know that oatmeal is a top rated breakfast. I think oatmeal is okay, but I don't LOVE it. However, I have started a new love affair with overnight oats.
If you have not tried overnight oats, you should. It is easy, filling, healthy and fun. You make it the night before and you can get creative with it. if I was to compair it to something it would be a really high quality bread pudding or an oatmeal/ frozen yogurt like dessert.

You can do this in many variations but here is the general idea:
-In a small bowl mix together

-1/2 cup oats (I use steel cut or rolled oats or quick oats)...they CANNOT be instant, and instant oatmeal is not that great anyway.
-1/2 cup non-fat or low-fat yogurt. You can use any kind. I usually use plain non-fat greek or low fat vanilla
-1/2 cup low/ non-fat milk. I typically use unsweetened vanilla almond milk, skim cow's milk or vanilla soy.
-a swirl of honey or maple syrup
-1/2 a banana
-1 sprinkle of Cinnamon

Cover and put in fridge overnight.

When  it comes out you can mix in other toppings. I like walnuts and flax seed.
Instead of banana you can use any type of fruit combo. You can also mix in a spoon of nut butter (I like sunflower, almond or peanut) instead of the honey.

Mix it up! you can put in anything you want. You can also skip the yogurt and use twice as much milk.

Need extra protein? Add a scoop of protein powder.

I personally like to eat it cold. But I know some people warm it up, or let it sit at room temp for 10-15 minutes.

Really good stuff!

What's for dinner?

Here's my back on the wagon clean dinner:

*4 oz Ezekiel Protein Pasta
2 tbsp Olive Oil
2 Cloves Garlic, diced
1/2 Red Onion
1/2 sliced red pepper
1/2 container of fresh mushrooms
1/4 wheat flour
1 egg
1 package firm organic tofu, cubed
1 tblspn crushed red pepper

Place tofu on paper towel covered tray and put more towels on top, place in fridge for 1 hour (gets all the water out)

Boil water for pasta

Heat 1/ 2 the olive oil and stir fry all veggies until golden brown and remove from pan.

add the rest of the oil into empty pan and heat on med-high

Crack egg and lightly beat

put all tofu in egg to coat

roll tofu into flour and place in oil.

Brown lighlty on all sides of cubes

Drain pasta and divide onto two plates.

Add veggies, tofu, and crushed red pepper and lightly toss.

Enjoy.

* Ezikiel Pasta is a bit of a different taste and it needs a lot of flavor added, hence the red pepper. You could also use brown rice or quinoa and it would be just as good. Here is a link to the pasta:
http://www.foodforlife.com/our-products

Fabulous in February, week 3

Thanks Hope, I am going to try and dig deep for this one.
3 MORE things I like about myself...........

1. I like my teeth. I had braces, and retainers for a bazillion years BUT they are now straight. I have always been very good about my oral hygiene and I do not have cavities. The dentist is always amazed by how healthy they are. And for my age and coffee habit, they are pretty white.

2. I like how I parent. I feel like I am a good balance between laid back/ fun and strict. I value healthy habits, but I also love laughter. I am not upset when my son makes fart jokes, I laugh when he sings songs about his bum BUT my kid knows how to say please and thank you and I hold him to appropriate behavior standards and expect both kids to eat healthy and get exercise.

3. I like that I can cook. I am no chef, but I can whip up decent meals in a jiff. I experiment and usually things turn out pretty good and I am not opposed to trying out new things in the Kitchen. I think I keep my husband pretty well-fed and people seem to eat all my food at parties. I have become a bit of a health food junky and know how to make many meals from the super food/ clean list.

dirty girl

So, we've had a lot of company, a party, and way too much bad food. My body hurts, my stomach hurts, my head hurts and I need to get back on the wagon. It was a great time, my littlest peanut was baptised...but now I am getting back on the healthy wagon.

Starting tomorrow I am "cleansing myself." I am not weighing in for 3 days in hopes that I can fix any damage I have done. On Friday I was 143 lbs, down 1.5 from the week before, but I have a feeling I may have undone the good. All well, I had fun and didn't obsess too much.

On a clean eating note, I did make some "clean" dishes for the party. I ate some really unclean things. Especially a giant piece of cake...but I also made the following:

A field green salad with blue cheese, cranberries, walnuts, tomatoes, red peppers and onions

Wheat pasta salad with artichoke hearts, tomatoes, feta cheese and black beans

A giant fruit plate with all my favorites

A vegetable platter with greek yogurt veggie and onion dip.

So tomorrow our company is leaving, which is very sad BUT the healthy me will be back.

Ta, Ta, Ta Tuesday

In honor of The Biggest Loser I had a date with Jillian Michaels' shred work out tonight. It is a good quicky workout when you don't have much time. I love the show, but I am not digging the new trainers this season....they annoy me. This is pretty much the only show I watch every week because it is inspiring in my healthy eating efforts.

A blog reader emailed me about what a typical day of 'clean' eating looks like for me. I thought I would share what I emailed about today's food (which is a pretty typical work day menu).

Breakfast: Protein/ Fruit Smoothie. I have the recipe here  500ml water and coffee*

10am snack; Handful of almonds and a organic light cheese stick 500 ml water

12:30am: Orange, 2 hard boiled eggs, 500 ml of water

2:45 protein shake (natural protein and water)

4:40pm green tea and 500 ml water

5pm 4oz salmon (cooked under broiler) on salad with 1/2 tomato, 1 carrot, 1/4 yellow pepper and 1/4 cup feta cheese, 500ml water

7:30pm 2 pieces of 100% whole wheat toast with natural sunflower nut butter and 500ml water

* my one "non-clean" treat was flavored half and half in my coffee. I still haven't found a natural sweetner that I can deal with. I am working on this. So far I have tried orgaic honey and stevia and neither is doing it for me.

See, eating clean isn't too hard. You can do it.

Fab in Feb, week 2

As I mentioned in last week's post, thanks to a fabulous gal pal blogger (and old college friend) Ashley
I have found a fun fashion blogger http://www.hopeandthedresscode.com/ who is sponsoring Fabulous in, where each Monday in February we must say 3 positive things about ourselves. It was tough the first week, but I have been reflecting and here it goes:

I like that I can read quickly and take deep meaning from what I read. As an English teacher and student, this makes life much easier. I can practically speed read. I am taking an online graduate course right now and I can get through 15 education articles with a screaming 2 year old in the room in less than a hour and then pull a decent refelction paper out of my butt that summarizes all the main points.

I love that I am a planner. I can plan the crap out of any vacation. We rarely forget anything when we travel and my to-do lists are to die for. People thought I was crazy taking a newborn and a 2 year old on a 5 day camping trip in the Mountains with no toilets or shower ...but it went off without a hitch thanks to my weeks of perfect planning.

Speaking of camping. I like that I am very low-maintenance. I camp, I hike, I am not afraid to travel through remote jungles of Belize with slightly creepy tour guides. I am tough and have carried a baby up a mountain without complaining. I have come face to face with wild animals without screaming. I do not need makeup or a mirror ever day and I think I am confident enough to try almost anything. I thank my mountain man father for this.

I love Soba Noodles and My Mama

My mom was down this weekend, which was WONDERFUL. Every time she comes it makes me wish we lived in the same town. She took my son all day on Saturday so I got some special one on one time with my little lady, got some errands done AND wrote a paper for the grad class I am taking. It is amazing what a human being can get done without a 2 year old hanging off of them. She also bought us our membership to the local farm we frequent. It is a great little place that had lots of animals to visit and pick your own crops to enjoy. I am toying with the idea of registering for their CSA. I know we plan to have a large garden this year, but I wonder if I would get additional variety if we bought in to their share. We are eating A LOT of veggies. Hmmmmmm....

Now on to the noodles. I confess that I am no chef, but one thing I am good at is pulling together a meal in a snap.
We were planning on salmon for dinner, but both local fish markets were closed and most of the grocery store salmon is yuck. So I needed a quick back up plan and it needed to fall into the clean category. 2 years ago we would have ordered a pizza, it grosses me out just thinking about it.

Tonight I worked magic with a box of Japanese Soba noodles.

If you don't know about Soba noodles, you should. Soba is made of buckwheat and has good nutritional value. They are more expensive then regular wheat pasta, but they taste better and don't get stuck together.

Here is tonight's clean eating recipe:
1/2 box Soba Noodles
1 can of Italian flavored diced tomatoes
1/2 package of sliced mushrooms
1/2 cup of whole wheat flour
1 egg
2 chicken breasts, cut up into about 8 pieces total (I use the chicken breast tenders)
olive oil
1. green onion
2 cloves garlic diced (I love the frozen cubed garlic from trader joes)

Boil water for noodles and cook them for 4 minutes
In pan add 2 tblspoons olive oil and heat.
add mushrooms and garlic and cook until brown
in separate pan add enough olive oil to coat pan and put on medium heat
beat egg in bowl
coat chicken in egg and then coat in flour
cook chicken in olive oil, browning each size (if the chicken pieces are small enough it should cook through)
when noodles are done, drain and add the can of tomatoes with liquid and stir
divide noodles/ tomatoes onto plates
Top with chicken and mushroom/ garlic mix
cut green onions to top off dish
You might also add a small amount of cheese

Enjoy!

Goal 1 is DONE

Scale today was 144...SWEET. My first goal was to be 145 by my daughter's baptism, which is next weekend.

I did it with 8 days to spare. Thank you loose pants Gods, I love you!

Fabulous in Feb.

Thanks to a blog I found on a friends page I am now participating in Fabulous in February. Check it out if you'd like to follow.
http://www.hopeandthedresscode.com

The idea is to focus on a positive month, and God knows I can use lots of positive vibes. So the first mission is to write 3 positive comments about ones self. So, here it goes:

1. I like that I am tough. I am pretty sarcastic and quick and it takes a mountain to move me. It is rare that I overreact and most people do not challenge me, this is especially helpful in working with 14 year olds.

2. I like that I am a guys girl. I could always party with the boys and I think that many of the guys in my life have come to me for things because of my laid back personality.

3. I am a good teacher. The kids typically like and respect me and they learn from me. I am not one of those teachers that the kids walk all over but I am also not one who needs power for the sake of having it. I try to see the good in each child and let them know that I have expectations of them, but that I will also help. I always apologize to them when I am wrong.

-How's that for positive? :o)

Survey Geek

I have been a bad blogger this week. Mostly because I have been disgustingly busy and the kids have been sick. Lately I feel like I am in survival mode, especially at work. I am just living for February vacation.

On a health note, I exercised Monday (cardio and weights) and Tuesday (cardio and pilates). But last night I had a huge amount of grading and tonight I have an awful cold, so no go on the workout. I am hoping to feel better tomorrow and do something. I did get a few pairs of new Yoga pants (my attire of choice) so I want to workout just to try them out. I have been doing pretty good on the eating front. I haven't broken the "clean" diet except with one Dunks Iced with splenda before a late meeting on Tuesday. But foodwise I did really well. I am probably going to weight myself this weekend (I skipped last week) and am hoping to have something good on the scale.

I follow several health and fitness message boards, and I completed this survey on one of the boards. Thought I would share:

What is your favorite exercise?
Well for an every day/ group class workout, Pilates. I love how it makes me feel. If it is a nice day nothing beats hiking..particularly in the Mountains of Montana, which I cannot wait to do for 2 weeks this summer.

What is your favorite healthy food?
I have so many. For a snack, almonds. For a meal, salmon or my vegetable and turkey lasagna. I am also currently digging goat cheese, almond milk and hard boiled eggs

What was the least healthy period of your life?
My first 2 years of college...think non-stop partying, vodka, beer, dominos pizza, horrible dining hall food and general abuse of my body. Luckily I had a fast metabolism and I always worked at gyms.

How about the healthiest period?
In terms of eating, I am currently eating the best I ever have in my life. I think I really get it this time and will continue with the life change. I worked out a lot and was in very good shape the year I lived in Boston, but I don't think I would call in healthy as I drank too much and stayed out way too late.

What do you find the hardest about exercise?
I LOVE exercise, but when you have small children and a full time job, just finding time and moments alone is the hardest. I just wish I had more time.

What do you love about it?
I love feeling the burn in my muscles and of course the high you get after a good workout. It really is the best mood booster. Plus it is nice to look in the mirror and know you have no regret.

If you could buy one piece of gym equipment and what would it be (if money was no object)?
An arch trainer FOR SURE. I love those things, but they are like 10 grand. Or maybe an olympic size pool.

Are you happy with your weight?
I am okay with it, but I know that my body is meant to be about 7-10 lbs lighter and I think if I was at my healthiest that is what I would weigh, so that is what I am aiming for.

If you were to give someone your top 2 pieces advice on health what would it be?
I am not sure I should be giving advice but...
You should seriously think about food that comes from a box and eating things with man-made ingredients. If you do your research you might learn how bad it is to eat so much of what Americans consider food.
And if you really want to be healthy and stay healthy you need to move your body.

But it is the Superbowl....

Okay, so as much as I want to be the All-American girl who LOVES football..I really don't.
I mean I am all for a good sporting event. I love competition in most forms and I love to do physical things...but I just don't really love football. Before I had kids, and the laundry of 4 people, and 3 toilets to clean and the metabolism of a snail I used to like to watch games and eat my face off during Superbowl parties.

Now, most days that I have time to sit on the coach and do nothing, I am so exhausted and brain dead that I don't have the mental energy to follow a super long football game (or movie, or show).

So I really could care less about the Superbowl. Though the Blackeye Peas sort of make me want to get on my old black clubbing pants fom my Umass days and hit up a frat party.

I digress....

So although the Superbowl is on, to say I am 'watching' it is a stretch. Instead I worked out for an hour (elliptical and cross training with 2 minute circuits). This is the good decision I made today.However, I can rationalize away just about any bad decision I have ever made..so here is today's ridiculous rationalization:

Since I would normally have eaten about 5,000 calories if I did love football, and was invited to a party, and did have a babysitter so I could go to that party...

This means I was allowed to break my clean eating rules and have a date with Mr. and Mr. Ben and Jerry. I didn't go all in. I went with Frozen Yogurt...but I ate the whole thing and it was damn good. Phishfood was my poison of choice.

A year ago I would have probably done some serious damage with a pizza and maybe some wings and perhaps a few beers (well not last year, because I was preggo...but you know what I'm saying). So in theory my cheating wasn't so bad (I told you I am the queen of rationalization).

Our dinner was pretty healthy. It was a mock seafood chowder recipe I got out of the latest Clean Eating Magazine. It has a vegetable base and was pretty good. I would post the recipe, but it had a ton of ingredients and I am lazy. I promise to do so later because if you love chowders..this is a great alternative.

So I did cheat but it could have been worse. Thank you Superbowl for giving me a great excuse to eat refined sugar.

Pity Party Express

Well I am officially hosting a pity party for myself. My husband is still sick and now the baby has a fever and is miserable. I was up all night and it doesn't seem like there is an end in sight. I feel the worst for my son, who is fine but just so bored. We were supposed to go see some of my girlfriends today and go to a birthday party. I was so excited about the trip and now I am in a state of depression because we can't go. BOOOOOOHOOOOOOO.

Okay, pity party over.

I will say that I forgot to weigh myself this morning and I am thinking I will hold off, I don't need anything else that may piss me off. I guess the one positive of having to stay home is that I wont be tempted by all the food that comes with going to a party. I did cheat and get a dunks iced coffee with splenda this morning. I needed some kind of pick me up after I dragged my butt through Walgreens getting medicine and thermometers and such. I have stopped using artificial sweeteners in my coffee in the morning and using a little bit of honey instead (I just can't drink it black), but if I am getting Dunks it needs to be sweet.

For breakfast I made Spinach and Pepper Egg Wraps with cheese. It was good and I have been really working hard at not throwing away food, so this was a good way to use up veggies.
On the exercise front I did okay this week considering I was working double duty with the kids all week since Mike is sick. I had 3 workout in 5 days, 2 of which were 20 minutes on the elliptical and the 20 minute shred workout with Jillian Michaels (which is a lot of arms and cardio) and then 25 minutes on the elliptical another day and I just did some abs afterward. This was in no way the best workouts, but it was something.

I am planning to make 'clean' burritos tonight is anyone is healthy enough to eat.

This consists of:
brown rice (Trader Joes Organic, it's the BEST)
avocado
lettuce
Tomato
Plain Greek yogurt (in place of sour cream)
Part skim cheddar cheese
Black bean
and think strips of chicken in steam which I cook under the broiler with a little bit of sea salt, garlic and pepper
I am putting them on Ole's low carb wheat wraps (which have a great fiber count and are low cal)

Maybe my burritos will cheer me up.

Fence Posts and Lasagna

I am THE most inflexible person in the world. Seriously, iron fence posts are more flexible than me. I hate this about myself for a number of reasons. I love the concept of yoga. I did prenatal yoga when I was pregnant, and I loved it. But in prenatal yoga no one is expecting that you can bend over like a wet noodle. In real people yoga you need to be a noodle. I get all self-conscious about the fact that I can't even touch my toes and when I am self-conscious I hate exercise.

Now, you might be saying to yourself...if she stuck with it she might be more flexible and to a certain extent you are probably right. I did take a pilates class for a while, and it certainly helped my flexibility...but I was still far from soft noodleish.

The thing that is the hardest for me is when you have to sit on the floor with your legs spread and then sit up straight, which, by the way, is a signature pilates move. It it pure torture for me. It is almost like I have unusually short upper leg muscles.

I am going to try to work on this. By the time I am 70 years old I will probably be so tight I will be a hunched over mess.

Now on a positive note I made THE healthiest and best tasting lasagna tonight for dinner. If you love lasagna but hate feeling and being fat I totally recommend this. I made up the recipe, so I am sure you can adjust it to taste.

Ingredients:
1 package precooked wheat lasagna noodles (I like the Archer Farm Organic ones from Target)
2 cans of fire roasted organic tomatoes
1 package part skim mozzarella cheese, shredded
1 small container of part skim ricotta cheese
1lb ground turkey meat
1 egg
1 eggplant
1 package fresh spinach
2 table spoons olive oil

Preheat Oven For 375
Peel eggplant and cut into thin circles
Heat the olive oil in frying pan.
Put sliced eggplant in pan, letting eggplant brown slightly.
Remove eggplant from pan
Rinse spinach and cook it in pan, drain off liquid
Brown turkey meat
In glass or metal lasagna pan pour a small amount of juice from one of the cans of tomatoes (just enough to coat the bottom)
Add one layer of noodles
In small bowl stir together one egg, ricotta cheese and 1/ 4 of the mozzarella
Spread 1/2 this cheese mixture over noodle
Spread 1/2 the eggplant over the cheese
Then add Turkey meat and then a layer of spinach
Then one can of tomatoes
Add 1/2 of what remained of the mozzarella
Add another layer of noodles and repeat the same layering process above ending with a layer of mozzarella.

Cover with foil and cook for 45 minutes. Remove Foil and cook an additional 10 minutes.

Let sit for 5 minutes and enjoy. So tasty, so healthy!

Some exercise is better than none

My husband is SICKKK. Which, when you have 2 kids, is so inconvenient. I feel so bad for the guy..but secretly also feel bad for myself (I know, that's evil). It is just pretty tough to squeeze in exercise and do everything else that needs to be done.

So, because I needed exercise THAT bad, I drank some caffeinated tea when I got home and waited up until everyone was in bed. I put on a Jillian Michaels shred workout. I seriously HATE that lady, but she does know her crap. What I like about her is that she keeps you going and there isn't much transition time. She makes the most of the workout by keeping your heart rate up, and I believe that is the most effective.

Because the hubs was sick I didn't do much for dinner. I had tuna on wheat bread with tomato and low fat cheese. I also prepped my chick peas for tomorrow nights dinner. This is wheat pasta with chick peas, stewed tomatoes, mushrooms and garlic. I love when meals are planned a head of time.

I have not had any refined sugar or white flour since last weeks cookie slip up at school, and it feels good.