goals & a giveaway.

hey, friends! thanks for the sweet comments regarding my efforts for marshall’s birthday week. and for those of you who asked to marry me, well, the answer is yes. as long as we can have peaches and ice cream at the wedding.

first things first, remember my wild mushroom stroganoff recipe? well, it was actually an entry for a recipe contest that marx foods is hosting! i would love to have your vote. click the banner below to vote!

just scroll down to my entry, it is alphabetized, and mine says “Meals & Moves: Mushroom Stroganoff”

thanks in advance!

let’s rewind to last night’s dinner.

because i made something particular every single day last week, i really just wanted to eat something i had on hand and that would be simple. it turned out totally random, but totally delicious!

i roasted some diced sweet potatoes, broccoli and purple cauliflower. i had served purple cauliflower at the party last saturday. my friends thought i had actually tinted the cauliflower with food coloring to make it look pretty. when i told them that is how it grows, they didn’t believe it! they asked how it grows purple, but i didn’t have a reason. i just knew that it did. i decided to turn to google and find out what exactly was up with this purple colored cruciferous veggie. here is what i found:

[The purple color is] the result of traditional selective breeding – where different strains have been cross breed and cross bred until these strains have been created. While traditionalists may baulk at the unusual colours, it is not the first time that plant breeders have changed the appearance of vegetables. Until the 17th century most carrots eaten Europe were white, yellow or purple. The orange pigment was added by Dutch plant breeders looking for a way to celebrate Holland’s royal family. The last few years has seen the introduction of purple carrots to supermarkets in Britain, along with yellow tomatoes and purple potatoes. In America, where colour cauliflowers have been available for several years, they have been a big hit with foodies. The purple colour comes from anthocyanin, which may help prevent heart disease by slowing blood clotting.

[source.]

good to know!

i scrambled 2 eggs whites and one whole egg, then topped the eggs with parmesan cheese. i forgot (and then remembered) how awesome parmesan cheese is on eggs!

i was out of ketchup (i know, isn’t that horrible? we ran out at marshall’s birthday party. i blame jessica.) and so i topped everything off with trader joe’s peach salsa. a close second. i don’t know what it is about roasted veggies that makes them so delicious.. i really love the flavor that you get out of a nice, slow roast!  

yum.

to keep me from nibbling on the leftover bread pudding, i made a batch of april’s pumpkin protein bread.

my nutrition statistics came out a little different than hers. that is a small pyrex pan, and i split the cake into 4 slices.

per slice: 125 calories, 16g protein, 12g carbs (9g net carbs) and 1g fat. pretty stellar. april is notorious for high protein quick breads!

here is the recipe with my adjustments in bold:

Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup liquid egg substitute
• 3/4 cup pure pumpkin
• 2 servings tera’s whey vanilla bean protein powder
• 1/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour
• 2 TB wholesome organics zero calorie sweetener
• Dash of vanilla extract
• Pinch of baking powder, cinnamon, ginger and pumpkin pie spice

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 350. Spray a muffin tin or baking pan with nonstick baking spray.
• Mix all ingredients. Pour into pan.
• Bake for about 25 minutes, or until a knife inserted into the center comes out clean.

i topped my slice with maranatha natural peanut butter.

it was no bread pudding, but it did the trick!

i have to be honest, i took friday, saturday and sunday off from working out. social life, family time and birthday fun wins over a workout more often than not in my world. but i will tell you this: taking three days off from working out just made yesterday’s workout amazing! i was craving a good sweat session and i definitely got one.

here are the details:

30 minutes on the treadmill

this was a fun new routine i made up. after a 5 minute speed/incline warm up, it has an overall increasing incline and 6 minute blocks of speed intervals with a 1 minute recovery (for a total of 4 blocks). one minute cool down.

minute #	speed (MPH)	incline (%)
0-1	4.0	1.0
1-2	4.5	2.0
2-3	5.0	3.0
3-4	5.5	4.0
4-5	6.0	5.0
5-6	6.0	0.5
6-7	6.5	0.5
7-8	7.0	0.5
8-9	7.5	0.5
9-10	8.0	0.5
10-11	4.0	0.5
11-12	6.0	1.0
12-13	6.5	1.0
13-14	7.0	1.0
14-15	7.5	1.0
15-16	8.0	1.0
16-17	4.0	1.0
17-18	6.0	1.5
18-19	6.5	1.5
19-20	7.0	1.5
20-21	7.5	1.5
21-22	8.0	1.5
22-23	4.0	1.5
23-24	6.0	2.0
24-25	6.5	2.0
25-26	7.0	2.0
26-27	7.5	2.0
27-28	8.0	2.0
28-29	4.0	2.0
29-30	3.0	0.0

total distance was 3 miles and some change.

i hopped on the stairmill because i had my new issue of oxygen just begging to be read. i stayed on the mill for 30 minutes. i just set it to level 8 intervals and let the machine do the speed changing. sometimes that is easiest!

after a nice stretch, my whole workout ended up being 1 hour 10 minutes with a 532 calorie burn. that’s unheard of for me! i guess i really worked hard.

when i got home from the gym yesterday, there was a package waiting for me.

nature made generously offered to send me a 30 day supply of their tripleflex formula.

this is a glucosamine, chondroitin and MSM supplement all in one! i was given this sample for free and plan to take the supplement for 30 days. once i have, i will give you guys an honest review. i was not compensated by nature made in any way.

from the website:

Back in its original formula, Nature Made TripleFlex Triple Strength is full of all the joint-healthy essentials that promote overall long-term joint health and comfort. With glucosamine, chondroitin and MSM, this formula provides daily joint maintenance that really works.

here is a video that shows how the tripleflex formula works:

pretty cool, right?

well, receiving my bottle of tripleflex reminded me of my october goals, one of which is to remember to take my vitamins and supplements. it’s like the world was telling me to REMEMBER to take them.. because i’ve been failing at that one lately! i thought i would go ahead and check in on all of my october goals.

eating, etc.

1. drink a gallon of water a day. doing really well with this one! have only missed two or three days, and on those days i was close to a gallon. i feel much better when i am hydrated.
2. eat more protein. i have upped my protein ratios and am eating close to 40% of my calories from protein each day.
3. remember to take my vitamins! kick me in the face, i need to do better at this one! i need to bust out my pill keeper.

exercise

1. increase mileage. i got 5 miles in yesterday. i have been doing good at this but i really need to ramp it up if i want to hit my end of year goal. also, i need to update my mileage page. i have been keeping track on paper but i need to put it on the blog.
2. be consistent. aside from the whole 3 days off last weekend, i have been very consistent at hitting my workouts. birthday weekends are a definite exception. and i got right back on the workout wagon, so no harm, no foul.

organization

1. flipping finish unpacking!! getting there. we have unpacked quite a bit this month and also made a lot of progress on making our house a home. i hope to be totally unpacked by the end of the month, we’ll see.
2. put things away. doing better at this one because of penny. she ate a couple pairs of shoes and now i’ve learned my lesson!

knowledge

1. read a book. i should probably start one so i can finish it…
2. look into going back to school. i talked to my boss about this. they are paying for me to go to school but want me to hold off for now. so this one is on the back burner, unfortunately :(

and that’s that!

two thirds of the way into the month, i think everything is going pretty good for the most part! i will do a month-end review in a couple weeks.

well, we are going to dinner with marshall’s grandparents tonight for his birthday. i guess birthday week has been extended just a bit. oh well, at least i don’t have to make him dinner! just kidding, i really love making him dinner. or making anyone dinner, really. come over to my house, i will make you dinner!

oh yes, my title. it mentioned something about a giveaway, didn’t it? nature made has offered to give one of my readers a month supply of their tripleflex formula!

to enter:

• leave a comment telling me what vitamins and/or supplements you currently take. if you don’t take any, you can just say none!
• for an extra entry, tweet about this giveaway: “@janeeetha is giving away a month supply of nature made tripleflex : http://wp.me/pv3O5-6ru”

pretty simple.

oh, and before i go, i wanted to mention something. as many of you know, october is national breast cancer awareness month. bess over at bess be fit has an online shop where she’s added products to raise money for breast cancer research. the product line, called “be fit for boobies”, includes shirts, hoodies, hats and scarves with pink ribbons and designs. she is donating all profit to the fight against breast cancer. to check out her store, click here. thanks for doing this, bess!

Qs~

1. what is your favorite roasted vegetable?

2. what is your favorite quick bread?

3. don’t forget to leave your giveaway entry!

xo. janetha g.