![\"\"](\"http:\/\/foodembrace.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/01\/OHC-01-04-10_rocky-300x225.jpg\" "\\"Rocky")
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Hey all!\u00a0 It is cold up in these parts.\u00a0 And by cold, I mean, snot frozen to your face, cold.\u00a0 Single digits and teens for temps.\u00a0 Kick ass.<\/p>\n
Please be prepared for the sharing of too much information and some yuckies.\u00a0 If you are eating, you may want to revisit me at another time.<\/em> I woke up Sunday morning ready to bust out my long run.\u00a0 I was going to do 8 miles come hell or ice.\u00a0 I hadn’t run in two days and wow but cranky A was rearing her head and that is never pretty.\u00a0 I came downstairs to a message on the fridge that said, “Windchill Advisory in the AM”.\u00a0 Picture this spelled out in magnetic fridge letters with some improvisations along the way.\u00a0 My hunnies, always looking out for me!\u00a0 I would have taken a picture but before I had a chance, the message was erased and replaced with “Cold”.<\/p>\n Word.<\/p>\n Anyway, I checked the temp and it was 4 degrees outside.\u00a0 Ouch.\u00a0\u00a0 I layered up and hit the road.\u00a0 I got a mile done before my hands felt like they were going to fall off.\u00a0 I swung back home and slapped on another pair of gloves bringing my total glove count up to three.\u00a0 I looked like I was on my way to a sports game supporting my team with giant foam hands.\u00a0 Nothing shows team spirit like giant foam apparatuses.<\/p>\n As I was bent over trying to free my keys from their shoe pouch prison, my nose started running.\u00a0 My nose always runs so this isn’t a surprise but because of how cold it was, I couldn’t tell it was running.\u00a0 Until I saw its contents dangling in front of me.<\/p>\n Hawtness!<\/p>\n This is also why I wear soft gloves when running in the cold because I am constantly wiping my nose.\u00a0 Gross?\u00a0 For shiz.\u00a0 But totally necessary.\u00a0 I am not stopping to blow my nose because then that would require me to remove all 15<\/span>, 3 layers of gloves.\u00a0 I do not have that kind of time when it is 4 degrees outside.<\/p>\n End Yuckies<\/em>.<\/p>\n Did I complete 8 miles?\u00a0 No because I’m a big wuss and wrapped it up at 4.5 miles.\u00a0 At this point the wind did start getting to me and my hands were cold.\u00a0 I wasn’t satisfied with that though and promptly busted out 2 levels of shred.\u00a0 When I do multiple levels like that, I’ll skip the warm-up part of the next level.\u00a0 I’m already warmed up so there is no sense in me doing that, it will actually only slow my HR<\/abbr> down.<\/p>\n Shred is alright but I think I’m going to look for something else that is longer.\u00a0 Like a 45 minute DVD or something because the shred just isn’t as intense as I would like.<\/p>\n I was satisfied with my workout at this point and took a glorious hot shower.\u00a0 Then refuled.<\/p>\n A bit of 2% Fage, granola, and some dark chocolate chips per my Sunday morning treat to myself.\u00a0 Who says you can’t have chocolate for breakfast?\u00a0 Not this sister!<\/p>\n Scott got up and I proceeded to stuff my face with protein and carbs galore.\u00a0 You know it’s PMS time when I start craving the carbs.\u00a0 Bonus, I finally was able to start using a Christmas present.<\/p>\n Hello sexah new cutting board!\u00a0 Scott has been prepping and oiling that baby up for days, making sure it was ready for action.\u00a0 He was a total pro too, like he’s done that kind of work before.\u00a0 It is a dream to chop on and it smells divine.\u00a0 I’m still getting used to it, but so far so good.<\/p>\n Sunday Breakfast was awesome and I proceeded to stuff my face with an entire asiago bagel.\u00a0 Whoa!\u00a0 I was crying when I realized I was out of Ezek muffins but quickly got over it when I remembered we had bagels.\u00a0 Normally I eat a half of one, but not this time!<\/p>\n There was also a fritatta made with the leftover veggies I roasted Saturday night.\u00a0 In the scrambled egg mixture I had:<\/p>\n Poured over the veggies in an oven safe skillet and cooked at 400 for about 10 minutes.\u00a0 I add a bit of extra onion and some chopped spinach to the mix as well.<\/p>\n Chicken breakfast sausage on the side and some clementines in the middle.\u00a0 OJ for some kicks.<\/p>\n Scott and I spent the last day of vacation doing work around the house.\u00a0 Cleaning and organizing.\u00a0 I also did some laundry because excitement just oozes like cheap cologne over here.\u00a0 Then we gamed for a bit and around 8pm I realized that maybe we should have some supper.<\/p>\n Breakfast held me over really well and I wasn’t too terribly hungry.\u00a0 I decided to make some soup since that would be easy, quick, and I could have as much or as little as I wanted.\u00a0 The kind of soup I was making would also give Scott a chance to bust out and use one of his new presents.<\/p>\n Light sabre chop sticks.\u00a0 Totally awesome!<\/p>\n I made an Asian inspired ramon soup.\u00a0 Good ramon bought from WF<\/abbr>, not cheapy ramon.\u00a0 I just had a little bit in my soup because I wasn’t really looking for anymore carbs.\u00a0 The soup had a chicken stock base with:<\/p>\n Some curry powder, garlic powder, cayenne, and a dash of chili powder were added as well.<\/p>\n After supper we kicked it on the couch watching a pathetic Pens game.\u00a0 Lord they have done lost their minds and their ability to play hockey.\u00a0 To help ease my woes, wine and chocolate became necessary for my survival.<\/p>\n Those are some mint chocolate cookies and they were heaven.\u00a0 After the game I read for a minute and then hit the hay way too late for my last day of vacation.<\/p>\n Monday, January 4th:<\/strong><\/p>\n Ugh.\u00a0 This morning came way too quickly!\u00a0 All I wanted was a yogurt mess only to be faced with an empty yogurt container.\u00a0 I was going to make some but my stomach was growling too much.\u00a0 I turned to oatbran and called it good.<\/p>\n I have turned a corner in the coffee department.\u00a0 Creamer was one of the last “icky” items I was holding on to.\u00a0 I loved the way it made my coffee taste.\u00a0 Creamy (duh) and decadent.\u00a0 It was awesome.\u00a0 However it is also full of the yuck.\u00a0 Eventually my local grocery store started carrying their own organic creamer and I fell in love with it instantly.\u00a0 The draw back to that was it only came in small bottles and the price was a bit ridiculous.\u00a0 For one small bottle of creamer, I could easily buy half a gallon of milk or soymilk.\u00a0 I had tried soymilk before and didn’t like it.\u00a0 It wasn’t sweet enough and it didn’t make my coffee creamy.\u00a0 It tasted almost watered down and I hated it.<\/p>\n What to do?<\/p>\n Scott and I made the switch to Stoneyfield organic 2% milk and were using that in our coffee for a while.\u00a0 It isn’t easy to find but we made due.\u00a0 We ran out of milk one morning and used vanilla soymilk since we had that on hand.<\/p>\n AMAZING!<\/p>\n I know I just bashed it and here I am using it.\u00a0 I think this goes to show how tastes and preferences can change over time, especially when you are making healthier choices.\u00a0 When I tried using soymilk the first time, it was in the early stages of my new healthy eating journey.\u00a0 My tastes were so accustomed to the fake cream and sweetness that nothing else worked.<\/p>\n But now, it’s like a whole new world.\u00a0 I can use the soymilk and I also don’t add much sugar at all to my coffee anymore.\u00a0 That is the one area where I would still use sugar because I wanted it to taste sweet.\u00a0 Even though I am not a huge sugar\/sweets person, coffee had to be that way for some reason.\u00a0 Now I’ve adjusted and could not be happier.\u00a0 I hated using milk.\u00a0 I don’t really have anything against milk as I’m certainly not a dairy hater but I don’t want to drink milk.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Using it in my coffee, I felt like I was drinking milk and it really wasn’t that much of a great experience.\u00a0 Plus milk makes me feel heavy and weighted down whereas soymilk does not.<\/p>\n So I am proud to say that I have kicked the nasty creamer habit goodbye forever!\u00a0 Hooray!<\/p>\n I worked all morning and then took a break to deal with Rocky.\u00a0 For those of you that are super empathetic to animals you might want to skip right to pictures of lunch.\u00a0 This is the part of the entry where I torture my dog and someone is bound to call the ASPCA on my ass I’m sure.\u00a0 Brace yourselves.<\/p>\n Remember earlier when I said it was cold?\u00a0 Well that hasn’t changed at all today.\u00a0 The wind isn’t as bad and the temps are in the teens, but it’s still dang cold.\u00a0 Rocky didn’t get a walk yesterday because with the wind it was just too cold for him to be outside.\u00a0 However he had to go today because he was getting stir-crazy thus driving mom up a flipping wall.<\/p>\n The thing with my dog is this, he loves cold weather.\u00a0 He loves snow and chilly temps.\u00a0 When he is outside and it’s cold, he gets all hippity-hoppity with excitement.<\/p>\n The reality is that my dog is not a cold weather dog.\u00a0 He’s a boxer which means he’s got a super short fur coat and feet that are not evolved to handle snow and ice.\u00a0 He does not realize this.\u00a0 In his mind, I am sure he is convinced that he’s a glorious huskey leading his team to an Iditarod<\/a> victory.\u00a0 I have no idea where he gets such grandiose notions.\u00a0 It must be from his dad’s side.<\/p>\n Because I love my dog, I indulge his fantasy and we head out into the cold and snow.\u00a0 And because I love my dog, I have to keep him safe which means he has to wear a jacket and booties.<\/p>\n Oh the horror!\u00a0 Look at that face, sheer and utter inhumane treatment. I don’t really understand what his issue is because at least he matches.\u00a0 My boots don’t match my jacket and I look like Homeless Marge when I’m out walking him while he looks like all smart and put together like he comes from Money (P.S. we are totally not money).<\/p>\n His jacket he loves and has no problems getting that put on.\u00a0 His booties are another story because he hates them.<\/p>\n When he’s in the house.<\/p>\n He walks around like he has the biggest piece of scotch tape stuck to his paws and had an OHMYGODIAMDYING look on his face.<\/p>\n Then he gets outside and prances and preens and acts as if he’s the shit because I just won the race in this matching set suckahs!<\/p>\n I would seriously buy a Flip just so I could show the difference in how he acts.\u00a0 It is unreal and also hilarious.<\/p>\n We went out and busted the walk as quickly as possible.\u00a0 Dang cold!\u00a0 We got to the last half that headed home and Rocky started pulling trying to run home.\u00a0 I told him to “MUSH!” in the hopes he would pull me and we could get home that much faster but he only looked at me like he had no idea what I said.<\/p>\n Punk kid should research his fantasies a bit more. I’m just saying.<\/p>\n I’m showing you lunch since it is a bit on the different side.<\/p>\n Morninstar chick’n patty with BBQ sauce and some carrots.\u00a0 I will tell you right now that carrots dipped in BBQ sauce are the freaking bomb.\u00a0 Blows carrots + nut butter out of the water (P.S. I always thought that combo was odd. Sorry carrot\/nut butter lovers!).\u00a0 Some veggie lentil soup, clementines, and a smoothie!<\/p>\n I was craving this smoothie like nobody’s business because it had seriously been lacking in our house.\u00a0 We had a smoothie on Saturday but it was a Bolthouse Farms green goodness and that’s just not the same.\u00a0 I needed one of my own!<\/p>\n I did some cooking in the kitchen after lunch.\u00a0 I made some granola and roasted up some beets that seriously needed to be used.\u00a0 Now I have that ready for salads.<\/p>\n Speaking of salads, check out this garden monster (Hugh Jass is so 2009<\/a>, get with it.)<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/foodembrace.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/01\/OHC-01-03-10_breakfast-300x225.jpg\" "\\"Coffee,")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/foodembrace.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/01\/OHC-01-03-10_cuttingboard-300x225.jpg\" "\\"Cutting")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/foodembrace.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/01\/OHC-01-03-10_fritatta.jpg\" "\\"Fritatta")
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