Today I hit up the gym in the morning and was planning on getting in my second weights workout of the week (planning ahead because I know I will not have access to weights later in the week when I am at my parents house) but I my legs were still feeling a little sore (I’m pretty sure I killed them with my Monday calisthenics workout!). Normally, a little soreness is not concerning, but since my race is Thursday, I want to be in peak condition. So, I decided to do a 45-minute elliptical workout (on interval), and then do a 5-exercise arm only circuit.
1) Side and then press in lateral raises, all in one fowl swoop. 15 reps. OK, so I kind of snuck in 2 exercises in this one :-) Just do your typical side arm raise and then when your arms are up, change the weights from horizontal to vertical and bring your arms together (keeping them straight), so the weights meet in front of your body. Then reverse this entire motion to get the weights back to the starting position.
2) Back rows. 15 reps. Bend your knees slightly and bend over so your leaning forward at about a 60 degree angle (just in between 45 and 90). Start with your arms down, weights facing you
Pull your arms back till you make 90 degree angles with your elbows, you should be squeezing your shoulder blades together.
3) Inclined bench press. 15 reps.
4) Bicep curls on bench. 15 reps, each arm.
5) Overhead tricep dips with weight. 15 reps.
After this I Whittled My Waist (are you getting excited for update photos tomorrow?!)
After the gym I worked on some homework, super fun (can you hear sarcasm? It’s palpable over here!)
Then it was lunchtime! It’s Taco Tuesday so I decided to keep with my Mexican theme. Since I am now OBESESSED with putting things in my George Foreman, I decided to make a little quesadilla. I took an Ezekiel tortilla, heated up a vegan boca burger, and cut it up a little so it would fit.
Then I shredded a little of both types of my vegan cheeses
and put a little salsa on that.
Next, I just folded the tortilla and popped it in the George for 2 minutes.
It turned out incredible!
The cheese melted so much better than it does in the oven. It was vegan cheese heaven ;-)
On the side I had some leftover butternut squash, a granny smith apple, and a zevia. An overall A+ meal!
Joey leaves for Texas tomorrow to see his family so we planned on having a fun day together when he got off work at 1. And what is one of our favorite things to do? Cooking of course, well actually baking today. We both wanted to make something to bring home for our families for thanksgiving. I decided to try a new twist on the Apple “Raisin” Muffin recipe I got from RhodeyGirlTests. So, I followed the recipe from my earlier page, but instead of adding walnuts, apples, (and raisins, ha), I used 1/2 can organic pumpkin (you know my new love of pumpkin) and 1 tbsp agave nectar as my mix-ins. I also wanted to try to add a little crust so I thought of using a crumble I used when making a SkinnyandtheCity cobbler recipe and adding it to the top of my muffins. The crumble recipe is so simple; you just mix all of these together:
1 1/2 cups rolled oats
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/cup chopped walnuts
1/ cup chopped almonds
1/cup maple syrup (*I started using real maple syrup because it doesn’t contain artificial sweeteners)
1/4 cup canola oil
1/teaspoon vanilla
2 teaspoons cinnamon
Use your hands to mix all of these together and voila! It’s really good. I just put my pumpkin muffin batter into muffin tins and then covered the tops with the crumble.
1) I would have pressed the crumble into the mixture more when I was adding it to the batter in the muffin tin
2) I might have added a bit more agave nectar
Besides that they turned out really well! I think that next time I would add some raisins. But regardless, my family is getting them! Ha. Joey said he liked them better than when I made the apple walnut ones, a little less “wheaty.” So maybe these would be better Kelli :-) I think they would be delish with greek yogurt too! So although I would change a little (mostly because I think they look funny; Joey said they look like porcupines, ha) I chalk this one up as a success! Or at least a success in the making!
Oh, and you know I hate wasting food, and I had crumble left over so I just put it in a cake tin (or a cookie sheet would work) and heated for 15 minutes. Now I have some homemade sweet granola to add to my yogurt or soy ice cream!
Joey made some pistachio/cranberry biscotti (I bet my family wishes he was coming over!) It looks incredibly good! He is such a better cook than I am, grrrr!
Tonight we went to the mall to do a little shopping for Joey and then I made the feta & date pizza for dinner! (Courtesy of Carrots and Cake). I must say this was a HUGE success. Joey absolutely LOVED it! :-)
Yum! We also “celebrated” with some sparkling white grape juice! Haha. Don’t you just love that stuff?!
Well that’s it from me! Hope everyone has a wonderful evening and I’ll be off to bed early since I’m taking Joey to the airport at 445! Eek!
Exact Muffin Recipe I Used:
ReplyDeleteIngredients: The dry: 1.5 cups whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons baking powder
1.5 tbs cinnamon
The wet: 1 egg, lightly beaten
1 cup almond milk (you can find this at grocery stores in the natural food section, or use soy milk or skim milk)
2 tbs brown sugar (I use splenda brown sugar mix)
1 tbs white sugar (I use stevia, I think thats the same thing as Truvia, just FYI, or you can use splenda)
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
The mix-ins: 1/2 can pure organic pumpkin (mom found this at dierbergs)
Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Spray a 12 muffin tin with nonstick cooking spray.
2. Mix the wet in one bowl. Mix the dry in another.
3. Add the wet to the dry, but don’t overmix.
4. Stir in the pumpkin.
5. Fill each tin about 2/3 the way full
6. Put the crumble on top of each muffin (make sure to press in, refer to my post if you're confused) or you don't even have to add the crumble they are good plain too!
7. Bake for about 12-14 minutes until the top is nice an golden brown.