Hi all.
I hope your Memorial Day holiday went well. Short weeks always mess me up. For two days I couldn’t remember what day it was. Then you throw month-end close on top of that….TOTAL CRAZINESS!!! Today is the last day of school for Denton ISD, which means that I am now the mommy of a 5th grader….if I don’t end up in the loony bin first. The 10 year old continues to drive me nuts.
The weekend was nice. I took Morgan and two friends to Color Me Mine and we expressed our inner artist by painting some bisque. It was a nice way to spend an afternoon, until I realized that ceramics was a contact sport. I went to the back to rinse off brushes, and proceeded to cut my big toe on the molding at the bottom of the sink! OUCHIE!!!! While the kids were expressing their inner artist, I was busy expressing my inner klutz!!!! Well, that was Saturday the 29th, and no further injuries to report (thankfully!!!).
Since the Texas weather is already approaching the century mark (and it’s not even summer yet!!!), we kept the workouts inside this week. When it gets to be 89 degrees at 10 am, it’s best NOT to run outside. I learned that the hard way LAST week!!!. In any case, Dwayne concocted a workout that left me a tired, drenched sweatball. Wednesday’s workout had me doing 2 laps on the treadmill (walking the first and running the second at 4.5 – 4.7 mph…) alternating with bicep curls and presses and overhead extensions. The next series was on the elliptical and alternated with stability ball oblique crunches and combined crunch, leg lifts (to work the outer thighs…). Lastly, he tried to kill me with an assortment of core exercises using the stability ball. I am telling you, I was still sweating after I got out of the shower!!!
The Walk-It Challenge is coming up this Sunday. Hard to believe it’s been a year since the last one. Our leader is organizing a walk in Plano. I am participating with them. I am also doing the normal 5K this weekend. When all is said and done, I will have completed a 10K this weekend. I haven’t attended my meeting yet this week, due to the holiday on Monday. I will hit the Friday noon meeting in Richardson to weigh in. Even though I haven’t attended the meeting yet, I went online and got this week’s topic. The topic is making exercise fun. I was one of those who always hated being active. Once I started working out back in 2008 (after the grand epiphany…), I had a shift of paradigm, and grew to enjoy it. I work out faithfully 3-5 times per week, and mix it up. One of this week’s attachments deals with ways to make your workouts fun.
“You simply have to put one foot in front of the other and keep going.
Put blinders on and plow right ahead.”
-George Lucas
ATTACHMENTS
I have a couple of fun and informative attachments for you this week.
- Fun is contagious – this is the companion article to this week’s meeting topic
- Learning to love exercise – this is where I was about a year and a half ago. This provides ideas to help you move beyond ‘having’ to exercise and actually enjoying it!
RECIPES
Red, White and Blueberry Crisp
I found this recipe (go figure…) on the Weight Watchers site. Since I already had a bevy of berries in the house, I thought that this recipe was a good choice. Hope you all enjoy!!!
Layers of sweet berries and home-made brown-sugar oats make a wonderful dessert. Enjoy on Independence Day or at any other festive summer gathering.
This is my photo of the finished crisp (sans Cool Whip!)
POINTS® Value: 2
Servings: 8
Preparation Time: 15 min
Cooking Time: 15 min
Level of Difficulty: Easy
Ingredients:
2 cup(s) blueberries
2 Tbsp sugar, divided
2 cup(s) strawberries, hulled and quartered
1/2 cup(s) uncooked old fashioned oats
2 Tbsp unpacked brown sugar
2 Tbsp light butter, melted
1/2 cup(s) lite whipped topping
Instructions:
Preheat oven to 375°F.
In a small bowl, toss blueberries with 1 tablespoon of granulated sugar; set aside. In another small bowl, toss strawberries with remaining tablespoon of granulated sugar; set aside.
In a third small bowl, stir together oats, brown sugar and butter. Spread mixture in a single layer on a sheet pan; bake, stirring occasionally, until lightly browned, about 15 minutes.
Spread blueberries and strawberries in an 8 x 8-inch glass dish, alternating to create stripes. (Or prepare in individual serving bowls like we did here.) Sprinkle with oat topping, decorate with whipped topping and serve. Yields 8 servings.
Notes
Retain the crispness of the oat topping by sprinkling it on the fruit just before serving.
Tomato Basil Chicken
This recipe was the ‘Wellness Wednesday’ entrée choice. I had it, and it was fabulous. The only difference was that the café served a breast half and not cubed chicken. Full of fresh pesto flavors, this saucy chicken rests on a bed of hot fettuccine. This comes courtesy of http://www.eatbetteramerica.
POINTS® Value: 7 per 1-1/2 cup serving.
Servings: 4
Preparation Time: 20 min
Cooking Time: 20 min
Level of Difficulty: Easy
Ingredients:
8 oz uncooked whole wheat fettuccine
2 teaspoons olive or vegetable oil
1 medium onion, finely chopped (1/2 cup)
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
3 medium tomatoes, chopped (2 1/2 cups)
2 cups cubed cooked chicken or turkey breast
3 tablespoons chopped fresh or 1 teaspoon dried basil leaves
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon red pepper sauce
Instructions:
1. Cook and drain fettuccine as directed on package. Cover to keep warm.
2. Meanwhile, in 10-inch nonstick skillet, heat oil over medium-high heat. Cook onion and garlic in oil, stirring occasionally, until onion is crisp-tender. Stir in remaining ingredients except fettuccine; reduce heat to medium.
3. Cover; cook about 5 minutes, stirring frequently, until mixture is hot and tomatoes are soft. Serve over fettuccine.
Nutritional Information:
1 Serving: Calories 360 (Calories from Fat 60); Total Fat 6g (Saturated Fat 1 1/2g, Trans Fat 0g); Cholesterol 55mg; Sodium 540mg; Total Carbohydrate 47g (Dietary Fiber 6g, Sugars 5g); Protein 30g Percent Daily Value*: Vitamin A 20%; Vitamin C 15%; Calcium 6%; Iron 15% Exchanges: 3 Starch; 0 Other Carbohydrate; 0 Vegetable; 3 Very Lean Meat; 1/2 Fat Carbohydrate Choices: 3
*Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet.
