Weekend Goodness & the Healthy Surprise Winner!!!

I had such a great run! I’m trying to increase my miles because I signed up for a half marathon in Springfield in April with my friend over at fitrunningmama.  She’s a great motivator for me & pushes me a bit to get me going.  I don’t think she’s aware of it, but I’ve got a little bit of competiteveness in me (just a little), so I usually succumb to her suggestions.  Thanks Laura!  Anyway, it was supposed to be a virtual 5k for the 13 in 2013 challenge.   I’ve signed up for, but got excited & ran a wee bit extra!  I love a challenge!

I have to share some great recipes that I made the past couple days.  However, I am not so great at the picture taking, so I apologize for any pics that are missing.

Friday night I made these sweet potato zucchini patties.  They were seriously delicious.  I actually made a lot & didn’t have the room in my oven for 4 sheets of patties, so I decided to bake the last 1/2 of the batter in a 9×12 pan like a casserole.  It was much easier & almost as good.  However, I do like the crispiness/burnt edges of the patties.  I ddin’t, but you could easily put hummos or salsa over them to give them that little “extra”.  I’m thrilled we have so much leftover because it’ll be so great for lunch this week.

I added extra chili powder to the top for extra flavor!

Along with those I made this roasted cauliflower.

I was on a new recipe rampage & everything was really great.  I also made this chicken coconut curry soup!  Well, I did forget to take pictures & made a few swaps, but I’ll be making again very soon because everyone liked it, so I’ll be sure to get it right next time!

This Kalamata olive & herb socca with roasted vegetables is also another new recipe for our house.  It’s so good!   I’ve got some more ideas on how to make this a little different next time as well.

I seriously couldn’t cook without Pinterest anymore.  Sometime I wish I could stay home & just cook everything on my boards.  I’m so grateful to have discovered this amazing site!

The winner of the Healthy Surprise starter box is:

• 92 Laura ~ Invent Your Own Option! ~

Please email me with your email address so I can tell my friends at Healthy Surprise to  send it out to you!  Congrats!!!

Last night was a lot of fun!  We went to a Purim carnival tonight & the festivities will continue today…

Stone & Stone (I dressed up as Stone)      Truman & Benji

What’s on your agenda for the day?

Friday in pictures

We got some snow last night.  Of course the forecast was worse than it is now, but a little of the white stuff is so pretty when it first falls!

Nemo loves the snow!

 

I did my push ups this a.m. with my 100 push up app & got to watch Homeland- added bonus!

 

It’s definitely a coffee a.m.

Boys are so excited to dress up for school today, it’s almost Purim!

I know it’s a lot of boys pictures today, but they were so excited about dressing up for Purim & I love when we have easy, happy mornings.  Truman was up at 5:45a.m. ready to go!

Last day to enter Rafflecopter for Healthy Surprise Box- It’s seriously good- don’t miss it!

Enter on the upper right hand side of this page.

Have a great weekend!

Coconut PB tofu

Good Morning!  I started off my day yesterday with a 6 mile run & some Homeland!  Yup- I’ve still got a little more Homeland left.

I do need to thank you all for all your suggestions for my next “running dvd”.  I’ll have to make that decision eventually!

I had a bunch of errands to run, laundry to finish, etc.  Then as a special treat, I went downtown to meet Benji for lunch.  It was so nice to change our routines & have a great lunch!

Here was my lunch:  kale salad, cucumber & tomato salad, black bean vegan burgers & corn muffin.  IT was delicious!  I ate it all up.  Shared a little muffin with Benji & didn’t care for the dressing, as I preferred hot sauce, but it was really GREAT!  We ate at a place called Wishbone.  There were so many good choices on the menu.  This will definitely need to be a place to visit again!

Ran around some more & I was sure to have my new straw jar with me that I won from Kasey Surfs giveaway!

I really do love it!  I prefer glass, as I don’t like plastic & don’t like the tast of drinking out of metal.  This is my new favorite!  Thank you Kasey!

For dinner tonight, I played around with tofu!

I have a tofu press that I really like to use to save time!

It really is a great little gadget.  Got this one from Amazon!  It presses the tofu in about 5 minutes & does a great job!

Well, I pressed my tofu & then made this marinade:

Coconut PB Tofu

1 T Earth Balance coconut spread

1 T Earth Balance coconut peanut butter (crunchy)

2 t cayenne pepper

2 T Bragg’s liquid aminos

1 t garlic powder

Put the coconut spread & peanut butter in a pan & put in oven on 350 for 5 minutes to melt.

Add other seasonings & then add cubed tofu into pan.  Stir together to coat all tofu & bake in oven on 425 for 20 minutes (or desired consistency).

That’s it!  You can put over saad & it’s delicious!

Enjoy.

I’m off for a quick run before I get ready for work.

Do you exercise in the morning or evening?

**Don’t forget to enter the rafflecopter for Healthy Surprise, there are 2 days left!

WIAW #3

Good Morning…  I must tell you that I did forget to take some pictures for today’s post, but I’ll do my best!  Thank you Jenn at Peas & Crayons for hosting WIAW!!!

This is my quick go to breakfast when I am in a hurry.  I put it in a little mason jar yesterday a.m. so I could eat when I got to work.  No time to have breakfast at home yesterday.  I love this stuff though.  Have you ever had Be Real Cereals?

I like to have a mid morning snack, no time yesterday.  However, I did munch on a few of these ginger treats. I really am enjoying them.

Lunch was great!  I had lentil soup & salad with peanut dressing.

Had some popcorn for a mid afternoon snack to get me through til dinner.  I love my popcorn!

Had 1 million vegetable stew for dinner & I’m sure I’ll be having for many lunches this week as well!

Just needed some jelly beans after dinner- I just needed them while playing Monopoly with the boys.

I also had a special treat waiting for me when I got home from work yesterday:

How cute is this?

I won this great glass drinking jar from Kasey @ KaseySurfs via Bittersweet Lemonade.  THANK YOU- I love it!!!!

The funny thing is Kasey is the one who designed the cute additions to my blog.  She’s fantastic.  I’m not so savvy, nor artistic & Kasey came up with the additions to spruce it up a bit.  She’s willing & able to assist you with your blog “sprucing” if you need help.  Just contact her via her blog:  www.KaseySurfs.com.  You’ll be so happy that you did!  She’s easy to work with, reasonable, and SO HELPFUL!  Thank you for everything Kasey!!!

Don’t forget to enter the raffle for the Healthy Surprise giveaway!  It truly is great stuff.

I’ve got a busy day, but going to start it off with a run & some Homeland!  I’m addicted!

What show are you loving right now?

Randomness (poo, marathon chat, Affresh winner, Healthy Surprise giveaway)

Last night I got this email below & wanted to share it with you & also hope that you’ll pass it on to your friends.

You may have heard the big news: thanks to LARABAR’s partnership with TerraCycle®, LÄRABAR wrappers are now recyclable! We hope you will start saving your wrappers!!!

TerraCycle collects all kinds of hard-to-recycle items (did you know you can recycle flip-flops?) and repurposes them into new products, ranging from recycled park benches to upcycled backpacks. Additionally, each Brigade program provides an opportunity to raise money for non-profits and schools. To get started, visit the TerraCycle website.

We value your support and assistance with #larabarupcycle as we continue on our journey to do better for the planet!

By the way- There will soon be a giveaway for LARABAR’s.  You won’t want to miss that one!  I’ve got a few good ones lined up for you!

Today is my “rest” day.  I typically choose 2 days not to workout & today happens to be one of those days.  Not that I sleep in & relax or anything, but I don’t have to jump out of bed at 5:00, I typically stay in bed til 5:30.  So, I was wondering what I should share with you today.  Well, I need to tell you about all of the weird poo going on around my house.  Yup, that’s right, I said poo!

We have a ball python in our house.  Yes, it’s in a cage, and yes, it’s Truman’s pet.  However, I’m the one who takes care of it, as Truman is too young & Benji isn’t interested.  Fireball, the ball python only poo’s after he eats.  He does eat frozen thawed rats.  I buy them from the pet store that way.  Well, Fireball poo’d.  Why am I telling you this?  I can’t even tell you how much that snake poo’d.  It didn’t look like his regular snake poo, looked like another animal got in his cage & poo’d, there was so much there.

That’s Truman & Fireball!  So, when I was telling my family that I was surprised, I was joking & said it looked like another animal got in the cage.  My family thought I was so crazy, but, I’m telling you it was bigger than the snake.  THEN, I went to check in on Yertle &  Mrs. Yertle, our Russian Tortoise’s & the Mrs. had some poo on top of her shell.  I’ve never seen that before.

I’m sparing you pics of the poo, as I didn’t take pictures of that, but it was a weird “poo” day yesterday!  Did I turn any of you away?  Glad I shared with you?  Well, we have a houseful of animals, which I think is great for my kids & truly I like as well.  It’s work, but not a ton & certainly worth it.  I think that it’s healthy to have pets around, as it’s so comforting, teaches about responsibility, etc.

Stone has a guinea pig too.  I don’t have any poo story to share about “Junior”.  I’m sure you’re glad I spared you from that one.

I’m so indecisive about signing up for the Chicago Marathon (which may sell out soon) or a marathon in another city.  I like Chicago because it’s so well sponsored all throughout the entire race, you’re never alone.  People cheering throughout is pretty amazing & really gets me through the tough times.  However, it may be neat to run in another city.  I’m just worried about hills.  I ran the Flying Pig Marathon many years ago & it was too hilly.  Thought I was going to die.  Who knew that Cincinnatti had huge hills that felt like mountains when running uphill.

I’m done rambling for the day.  Well, for now.  Aren’t you lucky?!?!?!?!

The winner of the full line of Affresh cleaning product:

• 14 Alida Harris ~ Invent Your Own Option! ~
•  I’ll be sure to get your information over to my friends at Affresh right away so they can send you your new cleaning products!

Don’t forget to enter the Rafflecopter giveaway for Healthy Surprise.  I’m thinking of entering so I get another box!  Ha!

Can you help me decide?  Which marathon to choose?  Minneapolis, Chicago, Milwaukee???  I need an early fall marathon on a Sunday.

Thanks for your help.

Meatless Monday

Today is Meatless Monday & I’ve got a GREAT soup & other stuff for you as well.

I made this lentil soup, with a few alterations of course!

I added a can of tomatoes & omitted the onions.  I added extra garlic gloves & hot sauce.

It’s really good & simple!

I also had some leftover salad that was amazing.  It’s kale, purple cabbage, fennel, spinach with this peanut salad dressing from Carrie on Vegan.

This dressing is really great!  Not the most appealing looking, but delicious!

I also made a few other things that I prepped for the week.  I love when I’m prepared for the week with my meals because then I know that I’ll be eating well & not just grabbing things in a hurry that I would otherwise not eat if I had healthy stuff prepared!

So, I made the lentil soup, peanut dressing, kombucha squash tots, have tofu ready with ingredients for a recipe, as well as ingredients for sweet potato/zucchini patties & vegie soup.  I’ll share all of these with you as the week continues.

I had a good workout yesterday while watching Homeland, of course!  Ran 4 miles, 40 “ball sit-ups” & 128 push ups with the use of my 100 Push Up app!  So excited to be part of the No More Girly Push Up Challenge!

As for the Healthy sELF challenge.  Today is tackle a nagging task day.  It seems to be the theme of many other bloggers lately for this one- cleanin out workout clothes drawer.  I simply throw my workout clothes in this drawer & have to dig when I want something.  I’ve been meaning to clean it, but haven’t taken the time, well this is the time!  It’s got to get done!

Tomorrow I’ll announce the winner of the Affresh cleaning supplies.  You’ve still got a little time left today if you haven’t entered the rafflecopter!

The next giveaway is from Healthy Surprise!  The snacks are really amazing.  I blogged about it here, so you can check it out again if you forgot!  The rafflecopter is up & ready.  This is definitely one not to miss.  There are great things in there that I’ve never seen before  & am so happy that you’ll now have a chance to try out these goodies as well.

Click on the Rafflecopter on the top right side of the page to enter!

Are you having a meatless Monday?

Another Challenge, healthy surprise & date night

So much to share, let’s start with another challenge that I found here!  It’s a fun challenge that started a few days ago, but you can still join.     

It’s so interesting that the goal is to do 100 push ups & I recently posted about the 100 push up app.  You can use that & get supported by a slew of other people as well.  I love challenges.  It’s good for my psyche as well as such a great motivator for me.  Do you like challenges?  Join in on the fun!  I started yesterday!

I also was so excited to get such a great box of goodies from Healthy Surprise!  They have a great philosophy…

-Check the ingredients-don’t count the calories

-Grains are not good (I’m not 100% in agreement with this one)

-When you eat, eat the good stuff

-Eat for Health, not from guilt

Checking the ingredients, not the calories is a way I live my life. I  try to eat healthfully & clean; meaning, that if I know what the ingredient is, then it’s ok to eat.  There are so many processed foods filled with so much “poison”, no wonder so many people are ill all the time!

You choose how big you want your box, how often you want it & of course the customer service is amazing.  You can call & let them know if you like or dislike & they’ll take care of you!  For me, a company is super when they have really great customer service, that makes a big differnence!

Love this company.  A few of the delicious goodies that came in the box are:

I’m going to be offering a giveaway very soon, so don’t forget to check back daily!  This is really one you want to win!

Last night was date night & such a treat!  It’s so nice when Benji & I get to go out by ourselves & enjoy each other.  We went to a Greek restaurant 2 other couples (cousins) & had such a nice time!  This is part of our healthy living, spending time togehter.  We still like each other, so it’s a treat for us :).  Some couples don’t really enjoy being together, but I’m lucky, I not only love my husband, I like him & enjoy his company.  Awwww.  Really, I do feel lucky.

(Gotta do something about this picture taking, I know, but, here’s a pic anyway)

Ok, enough mush, I know!

Had a good workout yesterday too…. Ran 5 miles, got 88 push ups in with my app & am working on 100 for the challenge, and did my ball sit ups.  I know I need to mix it up more, but I like my routine.  Hmmm, wonder what I’ll do next.

What’s your workout routine lately?