experimentation station.

i have been trying a few new things out in the kitchen today!  this post is going to be full of stuff, so sit tight and stay hydrated.

first of all i just want to say that i was overwhelmed with how many people told me my poop would be green from all that food coloring.

for the record, you guys were wrong.

that was enough poop talk to last me the rest of 2010, so let’s move on to more exciting things.. FOOD.

meal 1: PB&J protein oats @ 9:30 AM

this had 1/3 cup oats, 1 scoop vanilla protein powder, 1 TB mighty maple, 1 TB smuckers sugar free and 1 TB of oikos greek yog.

i really wanted yoatgurt but the carb to protein ratio is a little off and i am trying to be as close to 40/40/20 as possible.. so i just added a dollup (1 TB) of greek yogurt to give the oats that tang.

340 calories, 10g fat, 32g carbs, 35g protein

technically, i could make yoats with a smaller portion of oats and more protein powder and it would balance out perfectly, so i guess i will have to mess around with some macros and perfect the quantities. soon.

thursday is officially the hardest day for  me to focus.  i think by the time thursday rolls around i have hit max capacity for dealing with work nonsense and i just can’t get motivated.  this thursday was no exception.

luckily lunch came around pretty quick.  it should be no surprise that food is one thing i never have trouble focusing on ;)

meal 2: spinach turkey meatloaf wrap + baby carrots

whenever i make turkey meatloaf i don’t freeze any of it because i love the leftovers so much.  i have no problem eating it for days and days in a row.  im excited to eat it again tomorrow!

baby carrots confuse me. where does the rest of the carrot go?  oh well, they were on sale so that is why they are on my plate, confusing or not.

ugh. my sweet tooth got to me again. i have found that it comes only after lunch. not after dinner. strange.. anyway~ i went with 1/3 of a chai tea luna bar.

all together: 399 calories, 11g fat, 45g carbs, 37g protein

i was reading ellie’s blog today and her sweet-but-savory egg white omelet looked insanely delicious, so i emailed her on how exactly to make it.  here is what she said:

“whisk 3 egg whites with cinnamon, vanilla and sweetener (optional), pour into frying pan sprayed with pam and cook until wee bubbles appear- chop a Laughing Cow wedge on top, add wee dollops of jam, fold in half until cheese is melty, plate up and serve :D”

i love her use of the word “wee” :)

so.. i didn’t have any vanilla or sweetener at work.. and i also didn’t have a frying pan. i really wanted to give it a shot for my pre-workout snack, so i decided to improvise.

4 egg whites + cinnamon + 2 tsp vanilla protein powder (i figured this could replace the vanilla and the sweetener… uh… ok)

since i didn’t have a frying pan, i decided to microwave the mix.  i always microwave my egg whites at work and they turn out fantastic.  i figured this method would work out just fabulously.

i popped the mix in the microwave and took a photo of the filling for my delicious sweet-but-savory egg white omelet:

oh boy, i was getting excited.

the microwave beeped and i expected to pull out a perfect egg white omelet, as usual.  uh. wrong-o, janetha b.

hahah! look at that! turns out that the protein powder made the egg whites all sorts of fluffy/rubbery/weird.. and only on the edges.. the middle was still liquid.

total fail!

oh well, pre-workout meal plans changed. i will have to give this recipe another go when i have all the proper components!

meal 3: isopure plus & mini larabar @ 3:45 PM

i picked this drink up at GNC the other day because i loved the stats:

i was hoping it tasted amazing because you can’t beat 15g’s of protein and 0g carbs for 60 calories.

the verdict?

LOVED IT! i am going to go buy more of these right away!

the mini larabar was sent to me from the lovely amie.

i usually don’t buy larabars because of the low protein/high carb content, but i LOVE how they taste.

since the protein drink had 0 carbs this actually ended up balancing out perfectly.

all together: 180 calories, 6g fat, 16g carbs, 17g protein

today was an upper body workout day and i planned to hit it hard. gotta get those arms in prime wedding dress condition, yaknowhatimean?

before i dive into the details, i want to explain how the body for life lifting workouts are laid out.  several of you have asked me about it so i figured i would just tell everyone in a post.

ahem:

• weight training occurs every other day, 3 days a week, with an upper body/lower body split.. alternating every other lift day. so, one week there will be 2 upper body workouts and 1 lower body workout and the next week it will be vice versa.
• upper body consists of: triceps, back, biceps, shoulders & chest.  lower body consists of: quads, hamstrings, abs & calves. this is according to body for life. i like to add in glute and lower back training on my lower body days.
• for the workouts, you do all of one muscle and then move onto the next.  for each muscle, there are 6 sets which consist of two different exercises.  you do five sets of one exercise and then one set of the second exercise.  for the five sets, you gradually increase the weight and decrease the reps (like a reverse pyramid).  you rest between each set except for the fifth. between the fifth set and the final set, there is no rest. for the final set, you switch to the second exercise. here is an example:

let’s say you are working your quads.

exercise (move)	weight	reps
split squat	10# dumbbells	12
split squat	12# dumbbells	10
split squat	15# dumbbells	8
split squat	20# dumbbells	6
split squat	10# dumbbells	12
leg press	100# setting	12

• you want to base your weight setting on the RPE (rate of perceived exertion) scale.  the first set should be somewhat easy. the next should be challenging. the one after that should be fairly hard. the set with 6 reps should be very hard to complete. the fifth and sixth set should be the high point of the workout, where you really struggle to pound out the reps.  if it is too easy, you need to up the weight.

i know this is pretty confusing~ i think it is just hard to explain but once you understand, it is really simple to memorize.  i don’t ever have to write down my workouts and i always know what is coming next.  it is a really fun structure to follow!

with that said, i will now tell you the details of today’s upper body workout.  since i explained the format a bit more, i am going to change the way i type the details. please let me know if it makes sense.  instead of resting between sets, i did something to keep my heart rate up. the activity i did between sets is listed under the table, marked with an asterisk.

• 5 min/level 10 elliptical warmup

TRICEPS

move	# rep @ weight
overhead cable extension	12 @ 35# 10 @ 40# 8   @ 45# 6   @ 50# 12 @ 35#
tricep cable pushdown	12 @ 35#

*boxing holding 3# dumbbells, 30 seconds x 4

BICEPS

move	# rep @ weight
cable biceps curl	12 @ 25# 10 @ 30# 8   @35# 6   @ 40# 12 @ 25#
dumbbell hammer curl	12 @ 10# dumbbells

*jumping jacks holding 3# dumbbells, 30 seconds x 4

BACK

move	# rep @ weight
single arm dumbbell rows	12 @ 17.5# 10 @ 20# 8   @ 22.5# 6   @ 25# 12 @ 17.5#
bent over barbell rows	12 @ 40#

*pike crunches on bench, 15 reps x 4

CHEST

move	# rep @ weight
incline dumbbell chest press	12 @ 17.5# each hand 10 @ 20# each hand 8   @ 22.5# each hand 6   @ 25# each hand 12 @ 17.5# each hand
incline dumbbell chest flyes	12 @ 10# each hand

*ball crunches, 25 reps x 4

SHOULDERS

move	# rep @ weight
upright barbell rows	12 @ 20# 10 @ 25# 8   @ 30# 6   @ 40# 12 @ 25#
lateral dumbbell raises	12 @ 5# each hand

*15 second rest between sets

 

i got home from the gym and was going to make a post-workout smoothie.. but i was greeted with a package from lizzy!!!!

MORE POWWOW BARS TO TRY!!!

i decided that my post-workout nutrition (AKA meal 4) would be a mean & lean powow bar! @ 6:00 PM

80 calories, 1g fat, 4g carbs, 15g protein

awesome stats, awesome ingredients.. and most importantly~ awesome taste! thank you so much, lizzy! i will gladly be your product tester FOR LIFE!

after this, marshall & i went to the grocery store to get some essentials for the dinner i whipped up:

mmmm… can you guess what i made?

meal 5: sun dried tomato & basil & feta stuffed chicken + roasted broccoli @ 8:30 PM

270 calories, 8g fat, 12g carbs, 37g protein

super easy to make meal. here is how it went down:

step 1: chop the basil, open the feta container and the sun dried tomato pesto jar. (i know, such difficult tasks!)

step 2: butterfly the chicken, spread 1 T of pesto, 1 oz of feta and a good amount of basil inside chicken breast

step 3: coat chicken breasts in egg whites and then in bread crumbs

step 4: bake at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes or until chicken is no longer pink in center (check with a knife)

voila! easy as 1, 2, 3, 4!!

for marshall, i whipped up some noodles to go with the chicken:

these noodles are SO good! i need to go back to cali so i can buy more! or trader joe’s just needs to come to utah. yup. i think so.

while i was mixing the noodles (with the pesto and feta) marshall had a photo shoot with my chicken and optional side dishes:

orange..

pickles..

pepper grinder..

hahah.. yes, i am marrying this goofy kid.

i think the roasted broccoli went best ;)

this chicken was amazing! toot, toot. yes, that is my own horn that you hear!!

here is marshall’s plate.

oh, how i wish i had the metabolism of this guy..

marshall declared he likes steamed broccoli better than roasted broccoli.. he is crazy! i am all about the roasted!

after dinner i decided to do some more experimenting and whipped up some peanut butter chocolate two bite protein brownies!

yes. that is what i have dubbed them. alternate name would be “healthy version of two-bite brownies” mmm.. i love those damn two-bite bits of heaven!

i was going to make susan’s apple cinnamon protein bars but all my vanilla protein powder is at work.  so i improvised.

into the bowl went:

• 1 cup egg whites
• 2 cups oats
• 8 scoops (aka 4 servings) biochem chocolate fudge whey protein powder
• 6 TB naturally more peanut butter
• enough water to mix ingredients well (added gradually)

separated this mixture into 24 mini muffin cups:

again, i am going to express my LOVE for silicone baking pans/mats/etc!!

baked these at 350 degrees for almost 10 minutes.. and they were done!

each bite has 68 calories, 1.7g fat, 6.3g carbs and 6.4g protein! great ratios and they are fun to eat :)

i had two.

these taste really good!!

to be honest, they are a tad dry on the outsides~ but they are still delicious. i am pretty impressed that i just made these up on a whim. the recipe could use some tweaking but for the most part i am stoked!

these will come in handy for that after lunch sweet tooth i have been having lately!!

is this post long enough? yeah, probably. i have a lot more to talk about but i think i have taken up enough of your time for now. don’t worry.. i will be back. with lots more rambling. i am full of it.

tomorrow is national chocolate with caramel day so i am going to go back to the kitchen and get to work on a special treat for the office.. it may or may not be those life changing brownies that zesty posted about awhile back and susan whipped up for treat monday. wink, wink.

 

Qs~

1. what wins: steamed or roasted?  one vote for roasted right here!

2. tell me about your recipe flops!

YAY.. FRIDAY TOMORROW!

xo. janetha b.