I know its the beginning of a new year and it all seems fresh and new.  We’ve all talked about what we are going to do to get healthy.  Some of us will drink more water, walk more, take the stairs.  It’s one thing to SAY you’ll do something, but to actually do it is a whole different animal.

One more than one occasion, I’ve kissed Tony good night and said “if you don’t see me in the morning its because I am at the gym.”  We both laugh, but I say “no really, I am getting up!”

Then the next morning arrives, my six o’clock alarm has been turned off because I’ll just lay my head down five more minutes, and the next thing I know its 7:45.  But guess what? I got my ass out of bed, was in the car at 6:20 (its still dark at that time of morning people!), got to the gym at 6:35 and by 6:40 I was in the water.

Now anyone who knows me personally knows I can’t swim for shit.  In fact, when I did a triathlon in 2006, I practiced swimming in a pool.  You can put your foot down in a pool if you get tired, you can’t do that in a lake!  I’ll still never forget the look on Tony’s face when I got out of the water at that tri – priceless!

So there weren’t any lanes available right away.  I have no idea what the “sharing the lane” etiquette is, so I just walked laps in the therapy pool for 10 minutes until a lane opened up.  So about 10 minutes into my swim, I look up and a man says “can I share your lane?”  I didn’t know what to say so I said “Okay, but I have to warn you I am a really slow swimmer!”

It took me 30 minutes to do 30 laps of 25 yards – I thought for sure I swam a mile, only to discover later at the office that my 750 yards is about 1000 yards shy of a mile!  Oh well, room for improvement, right?

So I get out of the pool and decide to sit in the hot tub for 5 minutes before showering.   I happened to look over at the lane I was just in and look as the man I was sharing the lane is looking around for me!  He then puts his goggles on and checks underneath the water to see if I am there.  He looks around again and I waved “I am over here!”  He sighed relief – he was surprised that I was no longer in the water!  It’s nice to know I have my own personal lifeguard 😀

So even after 40 minutes of swimming, 5 minutes in the hot tub, showered, dried my hair, I was back home by 8:00 – and I don’t need to leave my house for work until 8:25 – plenty of time to make my food for the day and get dressed 😀

Okay, this one needs a bit of prep work – another version of breakfast nachos, this time using wonton cups.  I am in the process of revamping my recipe index – turns out I have about 300+ recipes to add, and I am trying to put the points on everything.  I ran across my Thai Basil Chicken in Wonton Cups (which I need to make again soon!) and decided to bake up some cups for my breakfast.

Make these – you won’t be disappointed!

Wonton Breakfast Nachos 

Course: main meals
PointsPlus™ Value:    8
Servings:  1 

Preparation Time:  5 min
Cooking Time:  15 min
Level of Difficulty:  Easy

Ingredients

1/2 cup(s) Egg Beaters Egg Beaters
1/4 cup(s) canned refried beans
1/2 oz Kraft Mexican blend shredded cheese
1 tsp cilantro
1 Tbsp Old El Paso® Chilies Drained Pickled Jalapeno Slices
6 item(s) wonton wrapper(s)
1 Tbsp salsa

Instructions

Heat oven to 350. Put wonton wrappers into a muffin tin, and press down to fit the tin. Bake for 10-15 minutes, just until slightly browned and crisp.
Cook eggs in a non-stick skillet. Heat up refried beans in microwave.
Evenly divide the refried beans, eggs and cheese between the wonton cups.
Top with salsa, pickled jalapeno and cilantro. Serve immediately.

I made the baked wonton cups the night before and just filled them yesterday morning – really only takes a couple minutes to put together – so good – and filling!

wonton nachos with a banana = 8 PointsPlus

And then guess what I did?  I went to the gym by my office at lunch! 😀  Yep, I am pretending like I am playing field hockey again when we used to practice in the early morning and late afternoon on hot days.  I ended up doing 45 minutes on the treadmill, alternating between a 4.0 walk for 5 minutes, then started at 4.8 mph for 5 minutes, and my last 5 minutes I ran at 5.5 mph.  My hope is to increase my speed and endurance this way.  We’ll see!  Either way, I ended up working out for 85 minutes today! 😀

Lunch was leftover split pea soup I made over the weekend with a spinach salad on the side that had carrots, diced apple, and pepper jack cheese.  Lunch is 10 PointsPlus.

I have to realize when I mention I am making something for dinner that is one of Tony’s favorites, I should maybe mention to him that I am making a healthier version.  Turns out he had visions of a super crispy bottom crust and I only added crust to the top. 😀  I based this recipe off of Katie’s from Chaos in the Kitchen.  I love using the eTools on WW’s site because I can tweak a recipe by lowering or changing ingredients as I am typing it in.

Chicken Pot Pie 

Course: main meals
PointsPlus™ Value:    8
Servings:  6 

Preparation Time:  10 min
Cooking Time:  35 min
Level of Difficulty:  Moderate

Ingredients

1 Tbsp regular butter
1 clove(s) garlic clove(s) (medium)
1/4 cup(s) all-purpose flour
2 cup(s) canned chicken broth
2/3 cup(s) 2% reduced fat milk
1 cup(s) frozen green peas
1 cup(s) Hanover Frozen sliced carrots
1 item(s) Pillsbury Refrigerated All Ready Pie Crust
2 cup(s) roasted chicken breast (chopped)

Instructions

Preheat oven to 425.
Melt butter in a large skillet. Saute garlic for a couple minutes.
Sprinkle in flour and cook flour for a couple minutes. Add broth and milk. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly until thick.
Add frozen peas, carrots and cooked chicken, cook until hot and thick.
Spray a pie plate – add veggie mixture and cover with 1 refrigerated pie crust. Brush top crust lightly with milk.
Cut vents in the crust and bake for 30-35 minutes. Let cool 10 minutes before slicing.

while the recipe calls for 1 cup frozen peas and 1 cup frozen carrots, I did add 1/4 cup carrots to mine last minute
after you put the pie crust on top - be careful putting it in your oven - its filled to the rim!

my bowl – I had to serve in bowls because my sauce wasn’t as thick, but the flavor was there 😀  Tony actually called it Pot Pie Soup though 😀

this is 1/6th of the pie = 8 points
love the crust - I did add crushed red pepper to my bowl too 😀

Stats for Monday:

  • 37 Plus Points (includes wine with/after dinner)
  • 85 minutes of exercise earned me 16 Activity Points 😀
  • average blood sugar 109

Okay, last weekend Tony and I were at a restaurant that had all sorts of wall art.  He had me take a picture of this Native American Indian because he said it looked like Michael Dukakis.

I say other than the bushy eyebrows, they don’t like anything alike – who do you agree with?  Me or Tony?!  (we may have a small bet riding on this!)

And a huge thank you to Hannah for spending 4 hours cleaning my basement.  Yes, you read that correctly.  She organized my print photos, threw out about 5 bags of garbage (i.e. broken Christmas lights, etc.) and it was way beyond anything I expected when she told me what she was up to – thanks Hanners!

And by the way, if you live in the Chicagoland area and need a personal organizer, Hannah is your girl – but be prepared – she’s ruthless with clutter! 😀

Have a great day! Guess who’s on the way to the gym this morning? 😀