I had a work appointment at 9:00 that was 1/2 a mile from my gym – score! I ended up running 29:00 minutes for 2.5 miles, then cooled down for 6 minutes. Then did 5 minutes of abs on the ball, stretched and did 20 minutes of upper body strength training. A nice 60 minute workout. š I even had time to dry my hair at the gym AND put make up on. As I was leaving the locker room, they have a really big wall to wall mirror, and I stopped and said to myself “I look pretty today.” It was a nice way to start the day – and then I read Marisa’s post about Positive Affirmations Week – and love the message she has about being having positive affirmations about yourself throughout the day. š
Over the weekend I made blueberry pancakes, and as I printed out the recipe, realized I didn’t have any milk. So I took this best blueberry pancake recipe, but subbed in one 12 ounce can of evaporated milk. They were delicious! She said she got 15-18 large pancakes, I got 13 large pancakes – each one comes in at 5 points plus, but really one is plenty.
I didn’t have any sugar free pancake syrup, so I fried an egg and topped it with 3/4 ounce of mozzarella. I know it sounds weird, but the saltiness of the cheese paired well with the sweet and juicy blueberries. Breakfast comes in at 9 points.
A co-worker brought me her old bike she doesn’t use anymore – I’ll have to take a picture of it, and although its been sitting in her garage for 5+ years, it’s been ridden once! So now I have a work bike I can leave here, and keep my bike at home – nice! I got in a sweaty 45 minute bike ride in 90+ temps. š
I have never been a big fan of chicken salad. Mostly because they are so mayo heavy just the thought of it made me kind of gag. But I saw a recipe for a grilled chicken salad with dried cherries that looked amazing, and I could control the amount of mayo.
Grilled Chicken Salad
- 4 pts. for 1/2 cup; 8 pts. for 1 cup
Ingredients:
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
- 2 garlic cloves
- pinch of salt and pepper
- 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
- 1.5 pounds boneless skinless chicken breasts
For the salad:
- 1 cup diced celery
- 1/4 cup diced red onion (for you onion lovers out there!)
- 1/4 cup dried cherries, chopped
- 1/2 cup light mayo (I used the reduced fat mayo/olive oil kind)
- 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
- 1/4 teaspoon of salt
Combine the olive oil, vinegar, garlic, salt and pepper and Italian seasoning. Add to a ziploc bag, add chicken and marinate for at least an hour, but can be marinated overnght.
Grill chicken, discarding marinade. When the chicken is cool enough, dice into bite sized pieces. Combine remaining ingredients, add grilled chicken and toss.
My lunch – 1/2 cup chicken salad on a 1 ounce dinner roll, an ounce of veggie straws and an unpictured cup of watermelon – lunch comes in at 11 points.
I really liked this, the flavors melded even more overnight and I love the chewy dried cherries. Mom, I’ll have to make this for you the next time you are over.
So I met my Mom and Hannah at Seasons 52 for dinner last night. I had no idea what to expect, but was quite surprised with the decor and it had a huge, beautiful bar – and a guy playing a piano and singing in the middle of the bar! There were no prices marked on the online menu, never a good sign, but I was presently surprised – most small plates/appetizers were between $4 and $9 dollars, and the most expensive entree was $16.95 – not bad!
We started out with the parmesan and thyme flat bread – a whole serving is 9 points, so my 1/3 portion was 3 points.
Sorry in advance for the photography – I had old blue with me and the lighting wasn’t very good. The flatbread was super crispy and flavorful. š
Anytime I see goat cheese on a menu, I am all over it. My Mom is a goat cheese lover too, so we split the appetizer portion – which was one giant ravioli. The whole plate is 7 points, so my portion was 3.5 points – heaven on a plate. The goat cheese was super creamy mixed with fresh basil and tomatos. I need to make goat cheese ravioli at home soon!
For dinner my Mom got the trout, and though I am not much of a fish eater, this was good. Hannah, however, spit her taste out into her cloth napkin and needed a palate cleanser, stat!
Hannah got what I can only call grown up chicken fingers. Probably from the age of 2 to about 17, the only thing she ordered no matter where we went, was chicken fingers. Italian restaurant? Chicken fingers. Mexican restaurant? Chicken fingers. She got the sesame teriyaki skewers.
I got the maui tuna crunchy salad – the whole thing is 11 points, including the dressing. I ate about 2/3 of it, so I am calling it 7 points. For some reason I thought the tuna would be slightly warm, but it was cold – still delicious!
And while I am not a dessert person, they have things called “mini indulgences.” When he brought the tray over, I had to get the sugar free oreo cookie with no sugar added chocolate cake – holy shizz – this was so good and worth the 5 points!
So all in all, I didn’t do too bad – my dinner came in at 18.5 points. I earned about 10+ activity points yesterday, so I am not going to sweat it. š
Stats for Monday:
- 35:00 minute treadmill, includes 2.5 miles in 29 minutes
- 5 minutes abs on the ball and stretchng
- 20 minutes upper body strength
- 45 minute bike ride
- 39 points
- average blood sugar 131
We have another couple of hot days in Chicagoland – temps near 100! I may need to take my lunch early today to get my bike ride in before it gets too hot!
Make it a great day!
oh my gosh, you’re not capable of taking a bad food picture, everything looks amazing!i i really love what you did with that pancake!
I love Seasons 52! I’ve never been dissappointed. The chicken salad looks and sounds great too, Biz! I don’t remember the last time I rode a bike!
Sweet and salty are always a good combo in my book! Although normally egg dishes with fruit are more on the sweet side for me.
So funny that you mention Seasons 52. I just saw it on our way to Bombay Chopsticks in Schaumburg on Saturday. I have always heard great things about it but didn’t know we had one nearby. Cannot wait to go try it out.
Great job on the workouts!
That food looks so yummy š
There’s going to be a Seasons 52 open around L.A…I can’t wait. Everything looks great, and you just reminded me I have frozen pieces of chicken in my freezer.
Hee hee, my eyes brighten whenever I see goat cheese on the menu, too. It’s certainly one of my favorite cheeses, along with brie and fresh mozzarella.
Wow I didn’t realize that it got that hot in Chicago!
Dinner looks amazing! I love goat cheese too! Definitely one item I can’t pass up either!
YUMMMY!!! I am not going to complain about our hot weather…not after the awful couple of rainy and cold spring months we just had! haha I am just going to suck it up…lol
Ooooo….that grilled chicken salad is on my list for sure! I even have everything I need to make it too!
Fellow goat cheese lover here too….when we were in NYC this weekend, we happened to walk along central park farmers market where they were selling goat cheese feta…my brother is a goat cheese lover too…and I was like…hey, look at that! That is our two fav cheeses all made into one! lol
I love restaurants that have those mini desserts!
Adding that Chicken Salad to my “Biz list”.
Though – that chicken hot off the grill wouldn’t have made it passed my lips!
Hi Hamed, thanks for your enemruagcoent about comments. be sure if you were in my shoes you wouldn’t get happy after seeing these words its better not to write again. especially when you are a beginner.ok anyway, the chicken is not my own story. and I know my writing is not good. I didn’t even know this blog is for writing improvement, I just thought some texts are gathered here for learning more English. now I think it got clear to me. I’ll read others writings and improve my own vocabulary. Thank you again for telling your ideas.there is one beautiful quote: when someone is hopeful do not take the hope from him/her. maybe the hope is the only thing which is left for him/her.
Try this as a mayo substitute: 3 tbsp. greek yogurt, 1 tsp. brown spicy mustard, dash salt & pepper. I saw this in a magazine while getting my pedicure; made it to go on my turkey sandwich yesterday. It’s good!
Sometimes the absence of prices on the online menu isn’t because it’s expensive but because the prices vary by location. So a dish might be $7.95 in Atlanta but $8.95 in Orlando. Yet the online menu serves all locations.
We’ll see when Rachel outgrows the chicken finger phase. Even when we go out for Chinese: she gets sweet & sour chicken without any sweet & sour sauce and doesn’t eat the veggies or anything else. So it’s essentially chicken nuggets.
That’s so cool that the restaurant had sugar free dessert options! I have leftover grilled chicken from last night…I might have to try my hand at the chicken salad. For some reason, that’s something that never turns out right for me. My mom makes THE best – I guess that’s what I always compare mine too, and come up short!
I’ve exercised Sun, Mon and today – so far so good for the week! Now if only the scale would move š
What a grat dinner! I’ve never been to a Seasons 52 before.
Total score on the bike. Nice!
What a wonderful meal with your mom and daughter. Three generations at dinner-love it! Your chicken salad looks really good too–I’m a fan of fruit in my chicken salad so I know I’d like it. Thanks for including the onion in the recipe even though I know you left it out of yours! š
So glad that you started your day with saying something nice to yourself! You’re awesome!!
That chicken salad looks delish! So does your dinner! I’m going to have to seek out a Seasons 52 in my area.
What a great looking dinner. Aren’t the mini desserts that many places are making now the BEST!? Have a great day Biz, hope you can stay cool in that early heatwave!
That chicken salad sounds great – I love dried cherries and happen to have a bag in my pantry. Hmmm, I forsee me actually cooking in the near future! š
Cool beans on the work bike! Nice to not have to tote your regular bike back and forth.
And I’m so impressed that you took the time to dry your hair and put on makeup – and acknowledge how great you not only looked, but felt. I need to remember to do that more often – now that I’m spending so much time in the pool, I’ve become “comb hair and air-dry” and also “makeup? what’s that?” which is nice, but I looked pretty um…ragged.
Have a great day!
How cool that you thought you looked pretty! Chicken salad sounds wonderful, of course all of your eats look delicious! Great job on the exercise too!
Chicken salad with dried cherries or craisins and walnuts is one of my most favorite things ever! I love to put it on a salad then drizzle just a teensy bit of balsmic vinaigrette on the salad. The salt vs. sweet – YUM.
That’s so great about your new work bike!
Don’t you love those days when you look pretty! š
Love the chicken salad and I’m going to have to try the egg on the pancake trick! Yum!
Not gonna sweat it – hah, cute!
It’s hot as balls in Asheville hahah.
Food looks great – sounds like it was an awesome girls night out š
What a BEAUTIFUL dinner! Everything looks so amazing. Love Hannah’s fancy chicken fingers and the flat bread. Wahoo on the bike! What a great score. And glad you had such a great start to the day.