Day 28

Many of you know that I am allergic to pumpkin and some other squashes. Every year when these tempting squashes are in season I cannot resist and end up with a whole mess of complications. The weird part, is that my reaction is purely topical. I can eat pumpkin (if I want) but I have a hard time touching it. That being said, I always have a pumpkin carving party! I love carving pumpkins, and I always decide to have a party so I can control my environment. I make sure I have the proper tools, rubber gloves, and sturdy tools, and some years, a rain coat, goggles, rubber boots, and the occasional helmet, just for fun! We usually make some kind of comfort food, and have good pumpkin beer. This year I will have to change my menu and stick with some homemade apple cider or something. I will let you know when I plan my menu.

For breakfast: Oatmeal.

For Lunch: Tossed green salad, with purple and green cabbage with a strawberry vinaigrette. and a pear.

I am staying on campus today to do some homework.

Day 27

It is so cold in our apartment! Cassi and did homework and laundry last night, and went to sleep nice and early.

For Dinner: Vegetable stir-fry spaghetti. I had two pieces of that lasagna I had to use. I chopped it up (since it is basically just vegetables with red sauce and chicken sausage.)Put it in a pan with a bit of olive oil and fresh basil and sauteed it. I put it on top of spaghetti squash. Yummy.

Day 27

For Breakfast: Scrambled eggs and spinach. Coffee.

Josh, Mom, Dad, Cassi, and I drove up to the Ice Caves today. It's a short, easy hike, and it was beautiful up there.

For lunch: Mom's homemade chicken spetzel soup.

Cassi and I are getting ready to head home and start in on some hefty homework.

Day 26

For Breakfast: Coffee. Spinach, Basil, and Red bell pepper Frittata.

We drove up to Arlington in the morning and helped Josh, Mom, and Dad trim the laurel hedge. Lots of work! But it was beautiful outside.

For Lunch: An apple.

Fro Dinner: Filet mignon on the grill with dungeness crab and roasted vegetables. (red potato, butternut squash, and onion)

For dessert: Another apple and I did have a small snickerdoodle cookie. Only a small one (about 1 1/2 inches in diameter) It was worth it. I savored it slowly.

We watch the Huskies game and relaxed in Arlington. The game was amazing! Go Dawgs!

Day 25

Well, I had a long day. I didn't get a chance to eat breakfast until I got home from class so, I was more in the mood for something more "lunchy"

For breakfast-lunch: A MahiMahi taco that I had from the night before. Wonderful.

For lunch-lunch: I had a serving of the Eggplant lasagna. (We have quite a bit of leftovers in the fridge so we are doing a lot of repeats.)

Then I went to work and ended up munching on a salad for dinner from there because Cassi and I decided to go to the movies.

For dinner: Insalata di Salmone. Baby spinach, grilled salmon, bermuda onion, mushrooms, and walnuts with avocado, in a light lemon dressing.

Cassi and I saw "Whip It" It was really good. It has been a long time since I have been to the movies, and it was definitely my first time since my blog has started. I was worried because . . . Movie theater popcorn and I have a very close relationship. I love it. You'll be happy to know that in anticipation of those popcorn cravings I counterattacked by peparing healthy snacks to munch on instead.

Move snacks: sliced apple and kiwi and trail mix.

Day 24

For lunch: cucumber, bell pepper, and broccoli, with a little bit of caesar dressing for dipping.

For dinner: Grilled MahiMahi Tacos with spicy avocado salsa and cabbage and jalapeno slaw. Yum. For dessert, an apple.

Day 24

Woke up this morning. Went to class, and then I walked down to the gym and sat and had breakfast before I started feeling the burn.

For Breakfast: One banana and a 1/2 of vanilla yogurt.

I worked out for almost two hours today. I am beat, yet surprisingly refreshed. I am up at school again and I am going to do some things for class at 2:30. I am really enjoying my classes and I think it is going to be a challenging but productive quarter. Since I have started this blog and since I am doing so well, I have been thinking about incorporating my "journey" into my thesis for graduation. Not to mention, incorportating a this into an academic project could be a really good thing to prepare me and help me with Culinary school. We will see what comes of this blog besides my killer beach bod. (fingers crossed)

I would like to dedicate this next part of my blog to a certain someone who I have run into at the gym quite a few times recently.

There is a man that works out at the gym around the same time I do. He is probably about 70, maybe 67. And he has the thickest glasses I have ever seen. We wears light grey tiny cotton shorts, a little white tank, and a towel slung over his neck. It's great that he is there working out, and from what it seems he looks like he is in pretty good shape,BUT. . . When a person is on the machine that he would like to work at, he stops what he is doing and glares at the person. Usually when a machine is being occupied a person moves on to another machine and waits patiently until that machine is available, not this guy. This little ordeal has happened to me 3-4 times now. I was using a machine and he walked over to it and got closer than "comfortable" and just glares at me through those thick glasses. He never says anything, just stares until you feel so uncomfortable you get up. I feel myself rushing through my workout because I am so intimidated by this senior citizen-workout machine-bully. It's pretty nuts.

Day 23

I had a great workout today. Went swimming, and did a full workout. Then I walked to Trader joe's and got a few groceries that we desperately needed. When I got home I prepped some things. I cooked a spaghetti squash and then made an awesome Eggplant lasagna. I made it early and then let it set so i could have it when I got home from work tonight.

For Lunch: Just a hard boiled egg and some trail mix.

For Dinner: The Eggplant Lasagna.
I had some marinara that I made by hand a while back. I had it in the freezer. I also had some extra lean all natural italian chicken sausage. I took the sausage out of it's casing and sauteed it, with some garlic, red bell peppers, zucchini, sweet onion and at the very end I threw some spinach in there. Just a little salt and pepper and oregano. While that was sauteing, I sliced a whole eggplant into very thin pieces and grilled it. I did not use anything on the eggplant and just cooked it until it was tender. Once everything was cooked and cooled I got my pyrex casserole dish and started layering. I used the eggplant sheets instead of pasta, and used the veggie and chicken as my filling with the homemade marinara. No cheese. I don't like cheese, which is good because it doesn't help with the weight factor. I put it into the fridge and let it set and when I got home I sliced it and baked the individual pieces for Cassi and I. I topped it with fresh basil after it came out of the oven. It was really good and it is fun to come up with interesting new HEALTHY recipes for popular dishes that are usually so bad for you. I will definitely make this again. I will eat it again too, because I have lots left over.

Day 23

I woke up this morning early enough to make myself breakfast. And have a little coffee. I only have my one class today, so I am excited to get in the gym afterwards. I feel like I haven't worked out in a long time and I need to get back in there. Planning on swimming today, depends on whatever strikes me when I get into the locker room. I have decided that I really love my Women's Studies class. The instructor is really great and it has been a long time since I have felt excited to go sit in lecture, It's really interesting.

I don't know if I mentioned this before, but my bike is broken. :( The gears all really screwed up and I need to take it into a place before I get out there again. I don't know where I should take it though, any suggestions Seattle people?

For Breakfast: Oatmeal, and like I said, Coffee.

Day 22

I had a really long day and I feel like going to bed, but it is only 5:30 so I guess I need to hang on for a few hours. On tuesdays I have class for five hours. I had to grab breakfast after my first class because I was late out the door this morning.

Last night I got a text message from my brother asking me if I had heard about Jessie Frable. I had not. I went to school with Jessie Frable and her identical twin sister Jenny. We were in classes together but were not good friends. What most people knew about the twins in high school was that they were really smart and dedicated students. Jessie was a really sweet girl and I don't know if anybody could say a mean thing about her. A week and a half ago she commit suicide. I feel so horrible for her family and especially her sister Jenny. It is just hard to understand something like that and I have been feeling sad all day. I can't even imagine what her family is going through. My thoughts are with them.

For breakfast: Non-fat plain greek yogurt and 1/2 cup of kashi blueberry crunch cereal.

For lunch: A turkey burger, with spinach and stoneground mustard on a whole wheat bun.