Caffeine Update

Hello hello! Remember how I told you guys about a month ago in this post that I was going to try weaning myself off the caffeine? Well I thought I would give you an update on that since I believe I've only mentioned it once in passing since then.

I am on day 6 of absolutely no coffee. Score one for me. However, I am still drinking soda. I have a half of a bottle of Diet Pepsi left in my fridge and my goal is to just not buy it again when that runs out. I will allow myself to have it if I am going out to dinner, but I am no longer going to drink it at home. Eventually I will stop ordering it when I go out but for now, I'm hoping weaning off slowly instead of going cold turkey will allow me to stay off the caffeine wagon a little longer than it usually does. Caffeine is my crack. I have a really hard time kicking the habit. They need a rehab for caffeine addiction, or at least something like AA meetings. Hi, my name is Stephanie, and I'm a caffeine-aholic. I think that might really work for me, any venue where I can stand in front of a group of people and talk about myself will keep me coming back.

Now on to my daily eats! This morning's very rushed breakfast was cereal. I didn't make it to spin this morning, I decided to sleep in since I was up a little late last night and didn't end up sleeping well. Lunch was a big mouth sandwich with turkey breast, avocado, tomato, and a little mayo on sourdough (yep, I'm still loving the sourdough). Dinner tonight is going to be orange glazed tofu, which I will post the recipe and pictures for tomorrow morning.

How did you kick your caffeine habit? Or are you still an addict?

I Can Bench 250...Grams That Is

Good morning bloggies! The rain is a bummer this morning. I'm tired of the dark and drearies...fall is supposed to be one of my two favorite seasons. Bring on the cool crisp air and sunshine please.

I've been going to Bodypump at least once a week (sometimes twice) for the last month, and today was the first day that I actually felt like I had the right amount of weight on every track and left feeling like I had a good workout (it takes a lot of trial and error to figure out what weight you need) and today I am documenting the amount of weight I use so I can track my progress. My goal is to get stronger...I have always been a cardio girl...have never had any problems with intervals or breaking a sweat for an hour, but I have never been able to stay consistent with a weight training routine. I'm trying to change that because I know how good it is for you for your muscles, bones, and metabolism. So, here are my current weights not including the 3 pound bar:

Warmup: 15lbs
Squats: 20lbs
Chest: 15lbs
Back: 15lbs
Triceps: 10lbs
Biceps: 15lbs
Lunges: 15lbs
Shoulders: 10lbs
Abs: Body weight

A lot of these weights seem low, but remember I'm a beginner. I'm actually going to see how I feel tomorrow from today's class and make the judgement if I can go up. I'm probably going to increase my squat and back weight on Sunday.

Today's breakfast was pumpkin oats. This weekend I found the pumpkin butter is back at Trader Joe's so of course I stocked up and have added it to my oats the last 2 mornings, along with some cinnamon, walnuts, and a half a scoop of vanilla protein powder. A perfect breakfast. My mid-morning snack was a 1/2 of a banana (the bottom half had a yucky black spot) and a pear. Lunch was a nice surprise from the boy...my favorite basil fried rice :) I had leftover steak tips on the menu, but the basil fried rice was perfect for this cold rainy day. I had a piece of banana bread for dessert and shared it with the boy, about which a convo ensued:

Me: If I hadn't told you it was healthy, would've you have known it was?
Boy: Yeah, it kind of has that bland taste that only healthy things have
Me: You think my banana bread is bland???
Boy: It's actually the best banana bread I've had in a long time
Me: That's because it's been a long time since you've had banana bread, isn't it?
Boy: Maybe...

I guess my banana bread isn't as good as I thought! Oh well, you slather anything with as much butter as I put on my banana bread and it's bound to taste good!

What is your weight routine like? Do you find weight lifting or cardio easier/more fun?

I'm a Quitter!

Today I have no pictures of food, no recipes to post, no meals to talk about. Today I have much more important things to discuss. Today, I quit my job.

Of course I didn't quit without another job, don't get nervous! I actually landed a job that I have been trying to get for pretty much the last 5 years of my career, and it's a career-making move. I get to travel a lot, work from home a lot, get six weeks vacation, and get paid a lot more than I do now :) I feel a little bad that I just started this job that I'm at now a little over 4 months ago, but when an opportunity like this comes along, you can't let it slip away.

There are no words to describe to you guys how happy I am about this and have been dying to tell you all for weeks now and today I gave my notice so I can officially announce it to the world! For privacy reasons and all, I can't actually disclose who I am going to be working for. But it's a big important company! And now I'm big and important! (Well, sort of.)

Share your good news with me! Anyone else have good things happening in their lives?

Marini Farm Corn Maze

Sunday night is the most depressing night of the week. The weekend is over and it's back to work :( But since today is Sunday Funday, I went to the Marini Farm Corn Maze with my lovely friend Danielle in Ipswich.

We actually got the tickets  for the maze on buywithme which including the hay ride, corn cannon, and jumping pillow (we skipped the corn cannon and jumping pillow). It was freezing out today, I even had to wear a coat and at the time was really thinking I should've worn a scarf and gloves. Typical time through the maze was 90 minutes. When we arrived we were greeted by the Hay Man.

After watching a short instructional video about the maze and repeating the seven commandments of the maze out loud in a group like we were first graders, we were off!

Everyone is given a large flag when entering the maze just in case you get lost and want a maze person to come get you (I was contemplating using this near the end, the maze is serious business). You are also given a game book with two puzzles, a word puzzle and a picture puzzle with the clues hidden in the maze. D and I didn't get all of the clues, but seriously,  by the time you get to the end of the maze, you couldn't possibly give a shit because you've been wandering amongst corn for an hour or more. I highly recommend bread crumbs hanzel and gretel style...or at least bring surprise because wandering around for an hour makes you HUNGRY. Finally we made it out, and took a happiness picture!

We made our way over to the hot food stand and both got a hot dog and grilled apples with honey.

The apples were only so-so but the hot dogs were good. To add to the ambience of the farm, there were tables with hay bales for seats, which excited my inner farm girl. Because I'm a shorty of course I had to double bale it ;)

After lunch we took a hayride through the farm, which was a lot of fun as well. We had a great time overall. I love fall.

Anyone else done a corn maze yet this fall? Or have any fun fall plans? Halloween is coming!

Banana Bread

As promised, I attempted a new banana bread recipe today and wanted to share with you. What you need for success:

1 1/2 cups of mashed banana (about 3 bananas)
1/3 cup of plain greek yogurt
5 tbsps of melted butter
2 eggs
1/2 cup of granulated sugar

Mix these ingredients together with a mixer on medium speed. Then add:

1 cup of all purpose flour
1/2 cup of wheat flour
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp of salt
dashes of cinnamon, allspice, and nutmeg (as much as desired, I happen to love nutmeg so I used a lot)
2 tbsp of vegetable oil

Mix these ingredients together with a mixer on low. Fold in 1/2 cup of walnuts.

Spray a 9X5 pan with cooking spray, then put in the oven for 55 minutes at 350 degrees.

Let cool for about 10 minutes before removing it from the pan.

Slice, then enjoy with some nut butter or in my case, regular butter. Yum! Just a warning for those of you who are not used to cooking with wheat flour...the wheat flour makes baked goods a little heavier and because of that the banana bread doesn't rise up as much as it would if you were using white flour. That being said, the taste is unbeatable, and making a treat like banana bread a little bit healthier will make your waistline a little happier. Don't fear wheat flour.

B. Good

It's not an illusion, I am actually blogging on a Friday night. Earlier I had said I was going to see The Social Network tonight, but of course the show we were going to got sold out before we got there. Being tired and disappointed that we weren't going to see the movie, I decided to just call it a night after dinner and come home and cuddle with this girl...

She doesn't looked to be pleased to be having her photo taken does she?

For the movie we met up at Legacy Place in Dedham (if you haven't been there it's amazing but such a bitch to park at) so decided to hit up B. Good for dinner before the movie. I had actually never eaten there, so I was excited to try it.

The restaurant is actually a chain and it's real...food...fast. I was very excited to see that you could get sweet potato fries (unheard of at a fast food restaurant). I was originally going to roll with the turkey burger but decided to just go with the regular burger when I got there. Of course I was already half way into the burger before I remembered to take a picture...how typical of me...

The burger was incredible. It was so juicy and flavorful. I got my usual burger toppings of cheddar cheese, mustard, ketchup, and lots of pickles. I gobbled that sucker down in about 2 seconds. I cannot say the same good things about the fries, however. They are actually the worst sweet potato fries I have ever had. They were way too thick so they were not even all the way cooked through, were extremely soggy and you could tell they had been sitting there (the burgers are made fresh to order but the fries are not). I was told the regular fries are better so I will try those when I go back again. All in all I'm not going to let the sweet potato fries keep me from going back, but if the regular fries are as disgusting as the sweet potato fries, I probably will not go back even though the burgers are delicious.

Tonight I am staying in, catching up on my DVR and stacks of magazines that have gone unread for the last couple of months. It's nice to be relaxing at home for a change.

As promised, banana bread recipe coming tomorrow...have a good night bloggies!

Grill in a Box

Ew crappy weather. What a good night to go see a movie! The Social Network to be exact. I am actually really excited to see this one. I've been hearing good things left and right, even some Oscar buzz! I will also have a restaurant review for you that I will post tomorrow as well as a recipe for banana bread that is TO DIE FOR.

I did promise pictures of my dinner last night, however, it was a huge fail :( I don't have a grill at my house, so my date brought a "grill in a box"

Oh friends, I wish I was kidding, but I'm not. I forgot to take a picture of the actual one he brought, but it looked exactly like this I assure you. We fired the grill in a box up and it flamed right up. The instructions said to let the flames die and start cooking when the coals were just red but not flaming (elapsed time said 15 minutes). It was very exciting to watch the flames and wait for it to die down. I was extremely impressed that this little contraption was going to cook my dinner. And only for the bargain price of $2.99 the boy told me.

Assuming we had about 20 minutes of cooking time, I chopped up one regular potato (for him) and one sweet potato (for me), threw them in the oven to roast, and boiled up some green beans. Well, the potatoes and green beans finished and he brought in the steak tips. Which were cold. So he went out and threw them back on the "grill in a box" for another nearly 20 minutes. After a total of 40 minutes, the steak tips were finally hot but not really cooked. Now, I like rare meat so it was no problem for me. But the boy, however, well let's just say if there is even a little pink, he gets skeeved out. So all he ended up having for dinner was a potato and some green beans. Lesson learned. If you think it's too good to be true, it probably is.

I didn't take any pictures of the steak tips since the boy was so upset about our foiled dinner, so sorry for not living up to my promises there.

I did not work out today as I was just too tired. Breakfast was a bagel since it's bagel friday and I went with my usual everything with plain cream cheese and a side of orange juice. Lunch today was a turkey sandwich, some veggie chips, and this little gem:

I love these. I only buy a few at a time because I would eat them after every meal, but they are an extra special treat that I splurge on every once in a while. I am not a huge ice cream lover for dessert...I much prefer cookies, candy, or pie...but for only 150 calories, this little bowl satisfies my sugar craving. They have a few other varieties as well, but this one and the mixed berry are my favorites.

What do you keep on hand to satisfy your sweet cravings? Anyone else ever tried cooking on a grill in a box?