What a stormy day we had yesterday! It was so windy yesterday morning, I told Hannah not to go to school – she drives through some open roads through farms to get to school – there were tornado warnings. The power flickered on and off a few times before I left for work.
At 9:30, Tony called me to say our power was out – it didn’t come back on until 4:15 in the afternoon! Tony and Hannah went to Buffalo Wild Wings – I kept getting texts from both of them saying how bored they were!
I had the last of my bagels for a bagel sammie:
414 calories, 47 carbs, 21 protein, 18.3 fat and 5.5 fiber
I had plans of walking on the treadmill with a medicine ball – only problem was the last machine with a t.v. on it was broken. So I ended up doing a 7 mile bike ride on the bike machine. I went to turn on my iPod, no juice 
Luckily I could plug my headphones into the bike machine – I listened to some of the most eclectic music! From Prince, to Meatloaf, to Led Zepplin.
The ride was hard so I told myself “don’t look down.” I am usually obsessed with how far I have to go, if I am ahead or behind the pacer bike or my ghost rider. I just pushed it as hard as I could and ended up getting a PR on this race by 15 seconds, and I beat the pacer bike by 2 minutes!
I am a sweaty bad ass 
This is how the sky looked when I went to the gym – parts would be blue sky, then huge clouds.
I have my co-worker Renee to thank for our lunch yesterday. I am lucky that she and I have the same tastes – what my family wouldn’t touch with a ten foot pole, Renee will happily take what they won’t eat.
She saw a show on Cooking Channel – it was a Canadian show called Healthy Gourmet. One of the recipes that jumped out at her was a recipe for Spaghetti Squash Pasta with Chicken Meat Sauce. I adapted the recipe by adding a bit of red wine, oregano and a bit more pumpkin.
Chicken Bolognese with Pumpkin (printer friendly version here)
Makes 4 servings (250 calories, 4.7 fat, 11.7 carbs, 3.6 fiber and 37 protein)
Ingredients
| 1 | pound chicken breast |
| 2 | cloves garlic |
| 28 | ounce canned tomatoes |
| 1/2 | cup pumpkin |
| 1/4 | cup red wine |
| 1 | teaspoon crushed red pepper |
| 1 | teaspoon oregano |
| 1 | pinch salt |
| 1 | pinch pepper |
Directions
- Put chicken breasts into food processor and grind. Add chicken to hot pan with a scant amount of oil – cook until half done – add remaining ingredients and simmer for 30 minutes.
- If you don’t like chunky tomatoes, puree the tomatoes in the food processor before adding to chicken.
- Serve over cooked spaghetti squash.
Okay, so maybe this picture isn’t the most appetizing, and happened to be what Hannah saw as she was walking into the kitchen. I believe her words were “I’d rather eat dog shit.”
But it is delicious!!! The crushed red pepper is a nice balance to the slightly sweet pumpkin – but seriously, if I didn’t know there was pumpkin in there, I wouldn’t know! I had this with a slice of 100 calorie garlic bread.
385 calories, 40 carbs, 42 protein, 5.7 fat and 6.7 fiber
I was glad that the power was back on by the time I got home. I had pork chops on the menu, but Tony wasn’t feeling it, so I ended up making fried chicken breasts, mashed potatoes and canned green beans.
For the chicken, I just dipped chicken breasts in an egg/milk misture then dipped in seasoned flour and then repeated that step. While the deep fryer was coming to temperature, I put the breasts in the freezer – the coating stays on better that way.
My chicken needed a bit of a kick – Buffalo Wild Wing Spicy Sauce!
474 calories, 25 carbs, 51 protein, 12.8 fat and 3 fiber
I should have only cooked one chicken breast – both of us could only eat half!
Stats for Monday:
- 1351 calories, 135 carbs, 124 protein, 36 fat, 16 fiber
- 25% of calories from fat
- 7 mile bike ride in 29 minutes – 11 minute cool down
- 5 minutes abs on the ball
I have the day off today to go to a doctor appointment with Tony – I’ll catch up with you guys tonight!
I had to come check out what this pumpkin dish was all about!!! Looks very interesting!!!!
Great job on the bike ride!
It was soo windy here in St. Louis as well. Its finally starting to feel like Fall though. That breakfast sammie always looks amazing compared to my breakfast!
Oh yea and pumpkin in that Bolognese sauce sounds awesome!
“Don’t look down, don’t look down”. I could have taken a lesson from that. I rode my bike to work on Monday (9.7 miles), and I was zoning out going up hill and into the wind.
Then I realized I was about to hit the curb, and started saying “don’t hit the curb, don’t hit the curb”. Yep. I hit the curb. Nice big bruise. At least I wasn’t going very fast.
Aw, that stinks – at least you weren’t going too fast!
Awesome job on the bike ride!! And I’m a sweaty beast when I work out, too.
Pumpkin is like, the best thing ever invented. I love how it can be incorporated into almost anything!
That is a long time for your power to be out! Crazy weather.
LOVE LOVE LOVE that you beat the pacer bike and got a PR – you really killed it with that workout!
The sauce with pumpkin is weird, I’ll admit – I’d be better off not knowing it was there before I tried it. I’m just weird that way…;)
Hope you have a good day off and that the doctor visit goes well.
Can I just spend a week with you and eat all of your delicious food?
You are welcome any time Tyler! But I think you’d rather spend time with your momma now!
yay for pumpkin season!! enjoy your day off!
I was looking for a sauce idea for my spaghetti squash I have sitting over here! YUM to that Chicken Bolognese with Pumpkin! I like adding in pumpkin to anything and everything to give it more fiber to make it more filling (it’s a weight watchers thing lol)
I made a breakfast pizza this AM- inspired by you of course!
I even topped it with hot sauce! lol 
Thanks for the GREAT ideas!
The fried chicken looks so good! I will have to research a baked version or else I’m going to eventually find my way over to KFC and that would not be good for my thighs!
Happy Hump Day!
I think with just a half cup of pumpkin I would try that sauce….
I was thinking it was more than that! I would have said the same thing if I were Hannah looking at that! Ha!
Call me when you can..
I love telling myself not to look at the screen on the treadmill until the song I’m listening to is over, etc. Works out great
I must be getting behind in fitness equipment because I haven’t gone to gym for a long time! I didn’t even know there are things like pacer bikes…
I also didn’t know there are tornadoes in Chicago. I thought they only attack small flat places like in the Oz movie.
I can’t wait to see what kind of pictures you post after Halloween. Are you all going to wear costumes?
Yes, my office dresses up each year – I really look forward to it!
amazing job on the bike! your recipes are always incredible – I would have never thought to mix chicken and pumpkin, I’ve been blogging sporadically – so I’m catching up with what youve been up to. that korean place looks amazing!
Congrats on your PR! It’s funny how we can psyche ourselves out with the numbers sometimes. I was a sweaty bad a$$ today too!
Woot!! Great job MB
Wow I just found your site and I really love how you put together the pictures with the recipes. Great site ~ Thanks for sharing!
You are a sweaty bad ass! No doubt about that! Woo!
I am making that bolognese…what a creative way to use pumpkin! YUM!
That Chicken Bolognese with Pumpkin looks and sounds amazing! Wish I had had some of that for dinner tonight instead of my leftovers.