Monday, February 10, 2014

Fantastic Sunday Off - high as a kite :)

What a high on I was on Sunday! Holy smokes! There actually had to be something in the water!! I text David and said "I don't know what kind of endorphins my body is giving off, but I feel like I'm on drugs!" From the moment I woke up, I was rearing to go. I think I'm finally back in 'mode' to get healthy and get in shape. Our trip to the Dominican is in less than two months and if that isn't reason enough to get 'bikini ready' .. I don't know what is!

I sported the ol' two-piece last year in Vegas/California, but I definitely wasn't feeling on top of my game with how I looked. I know it isn't all about how you look, but ya have to admit, confidence booms when you're feeling comfortable in your own skin, right? Right.

Anyhow, a play-by-play of my off the wall Sunday goes as follows. 

Breakfast

After a 9:45 wake-up, I started my day with a smoothie, coffee and water.



In the mix was a small banana, 1/2 scoop of chocolate peanut butter combat protein powder, 1-C of Kirkland mixed berries, 1T of all-natural peanut butter, 2-C of unsweetened vanilla almond milk and 1-C of ice water.



I knew I probably wouldn't be home for a few hours, so I made sure I had a big and energizing breakfast.

Workout

I was gonna do the same workout as yesterday but I was running in different sneakers and they definitely didn't serve me well. My shins were aching and it was just an uncomfortable run. I ran 2.5-miles on 6.0mph for a total of 25-minutes. After my run, I walked on an incline of 5.0 for 30-minutes and punched out 2+ miles. Not bad for someone who had bad legs.

After my cardio, I did a '12 in 12' workout. That's 12 sets of shoulder exercises in 12-minutes.




12 in 12
3 x 10 Shoulder Press (20-lbs)
3 x 10 Shoulder Shrugs (20-lbs)
3 x 10 Side Lateral Raise (12.5-lbs)
3 x 10 Cross Overs (12.5-lbs)

I probably would have skipped the weights if I hadn't of run into Caitlin where we got on the topic of trimming up for down South. She too, is going on a trip the same time as myself (Caitlin does Cuba) ;) haha <--that's my daily attempt at being funny. Fail.

After the gym, Samantha and I text back and forth on supper plans and we went with vegan macaroni and cheese (compliments of miss Georgia Brown..Hi Georgia / Thank you for the great idea). I had the rice noodles at home but decided to go all out and get the dairy-free cheese at Natural Value in Dominion.



It was definitely a great idea to go with a vegan meal because Sam had bought a massive box of tofu at Costco.

After Dominion, I headed to the Natural Health Shop. It was my first time there and I've had it written in my book 'to do' for quite some time now! I love all that stuff and I buy a chunk of my groceries at Natural Value so it seemed like a fit.



Look at all the goodness, right? Sam and I have been on a hunt for soya sauce but everything we found was SO high in sodium. Like 38% of your daily intake high. I managed to find a bottle at the Natural Health Shop that has 6% per T. This sounded perfect since our macaroni and cheese called for 2T. It's fermented soya sauce and the owner told me she has been using the stuff for 20+ years. Score!



I also got some goodies to try out.

I bought rye flakes, apple chips and some pre and post-workout Vega mix. I've heard some good stuff about Vega (plant-based protein) and thought it wouldn't hurt to give it a shot. Steven swears by it.


Funny how I got the Vega to try, because after I left the Natural Health Shop, I headed to Popeyes for some Nutriwhey.

They didn't have any Nutriwhey on hand so I was pretty disappointed. I went to Cavedog cause I was sure they'd have it .. butttt they were all out of vanilla.

I'm pretty particular about the protein powders I use cause 1. I hate chalky-tasting powders, 2. I hate powders that don't mix well and 3. I like powders that have a good consistency for baking.

The girl working at Cavedog assured me that I'd love Isoflex and said that it's so light that it "floats" haha I said f-it and went with it.

Bonus: Notice how FULL to the rim the powder is? Omg, I usually expect to open the tub and it be half empty (this is quite common) so I was super pumped! (o the little things in life).


When I got home, I tried my first Iso shake and it was loved it! Yum!

..Followed by a small bowl of leftover chicken that Sam cooked a few nights a go.



The girl at Cavedog also told me that she too, bakes a lot. She said that she used vanilla Isoflex to make oatmeal cookies the night before.


The little darling was lovely enough to write down the recipe for me (which I totally ended up whipping up for snacks this week).

After my little run-around, decided to start some meal prep/baking (and this was ALL before 2-pm! La-la-la-lifeeee .. I walked in my door at 1:52).

Samantha was coming home for 5, so I did a few things before prepping us supper. My afternoon went as follows:

  • showered 
  • did a hair treatment
  • shaved my legs (this is big)
  • cleaned my room
  • took down the Christmas tree (stop judging)
  • tidied the living room
  • did dishes
  • started and finished a blog post
  • read some of my favourite blogs (you gals know who you are)
  • started the new storage room in the basement
  • reorganized my closet 
  • reorganized my books


Then... then it was baking time :)

Protein Banana Cookies 

Prep Time: 5-minutes MAX 
Cooking Time: 15-minutes 
Serves: 9


Ingredients 



Directions

1. Pre-heat the oven to 350-C

2. In a medium sized mixing bowl, mash up the bananas



3. Stir in the remainder of the ingredients




4. Using a regular-sized spoon, portion the batter in 9 servings of cookies




5. Bake for 12-15-minutes, remove and let cool




6. Eat desert for supper :)




Holy hannah were these cookies delicious!!

The girl with the recipe told me she had a mind to eat the whole batch ... ugh .. these definitely won't last a week. Sam and I both ended up eating 2 and I'm sure she's gonna pack a few for her lunch! Yum! :) Thank you whoever you are!


After desert-baking, it was time for supper prep. We cooked the vegan Macaroni and Cheese. I won't give you the recipe as I cannot steal the thunder from Georgia as this was her wonderful recipe!






Damn, she's one hell of a vegan! I usually don't experiment with vegan recipes but I was impressed with this one! Surprised actually.

The only thing I would have changed with this recipe was using dijon mustard (as she had advised). Instead, I only had lime mustard from Liquid Gold in Halifax (this gave too much of a tang..) .. yet I still managed to eat it :)

If you're interested in making this, the brands I used were:





After supper, I:


  • cleaned up the dishes
  • curled my hair (cause ya'kno .. I'm really cool on a Sunday night)
  • ripped the ass out of my Samantha's jeans
  • headed to Starbucks
  • drank too many coffee for a Sunday night
  • organized all the photos on my lap top
  • relaxed for the remainder of the night

Now, that's some Sunday isn't it? Ahh yiahhhh!

Anyhow, I shall be off as Courtney is meeting me at Starbucks for a Monday morning catch-up :)

Later lovers!

Questions
1. What makes a 'productive day' in your eyes?
2. Do you have a 'go to' protein powder?
3. Have you ever tried a vegan dish?

2 comments:

  1. Yowzers you were busy. Holy crap. I did dishes and laundry and that was it for me.

    ReplyDelete
  2. YAY! I love that you tried my recipe!! I always wonder if people who have tried them, like them? Sounds like you had an awesome weekend.

    ReplyDelete