Sorry guys — I have been an excellent fitness blogger recently, but a very, very bad food blogger.  I haven’t shared a new recipe in WEEKS!  So, here’s two new recipes in one post.

For my mid-day snack, I made Chewy Cookies and Cream Granola.  This would taste divine with yogurt or on top of oatmeal!

Chewy Cookies and Cream Granola

Ingredients (makes 2 servings):

• 1 tablespoon Muscle Milk Light Protein Powder Cookies and Cream
• 1 tablespoon brown sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup oatmeal
• 1/4 cup water
• 8 almonds, chopped

Preparation:

• Heat oven to 350 degrees.
• Mix first 5 ingredients in a bowl.  It will be kind of mushy, so don’t over mix.
• Spray a cookie sheet with EVOO spray.
• Crumble granola mix on cookie sheet, separating big chunks.
• Bake granola mix for 8 minutes.
• Rotate granola mix and add almonds.
• Cook an additional 8 minutes, remove from oven, and allow to cool
• Enjoy!

I was out of yogurt so I mixed my granola with some sliced banana. 🙂 DEEElish!

A little bit later I had my second mid-day snack…. a nice bowl of Kashi Heart to Heart cereal (alert! alert! time to go to the grocery store).

Day 1 of 10K Training

Future Husband and I had to go to the grocery store this evening, so we made our gym work outs SHORT.  I skipped strength training even though it was on my schedule…. Oh well! I’ll try to do some push ups before bed.

I did an INTENSE 30-minute cardio session.  I used gradually increasing intensity to keep my heart rate high.

On the elliptical (55 rotations per minute):

• Minute 0 – 2; Warm up at Level 1
• Minute 2 – 4; Level 8
• Minute 4 – 6; Level 10
• Minute 6 – 8; Level 12
• Minute 8 – 10; Level 14
• Minute 10 – 20; Repeat Cycle

Then I jumped onto the stationary bike (50 RPM):

• Minute 20 – 22; Level 1
• Minute 22 – 24; Level 10
• Minute 24 – 26; Level 12
• Minute 26 – 28; Level 14
• Minute 28 – 30; Level 16
• Minute 30 – 32; Cool down at Level 1

This schedule definitely burned more calories than my typical elliptical program (just slogging it out at Level 6 for 30 minutes). I felt a deeper burn in my thighs and arse, too! Here are my statistics:

• Duration: 32 minutes
• Average Heart Rate: 131 bpm
• Maximum Heart Rate: 161 bpm
• Calories Burned: 190

Groceries and Dinner

We went straight to the store for some much-needed grocery shopping.  I ate a Chocolate Chip Z-Bar in line. 🙂 I saved the wrapper for a photo!

Fish Burritos

When we got home, I got started on dinner…. we wanted something with a little spice!  This recipe always reminds me of California, one of my favorite places in the whole world.

Ingredients (for 2 Groom-sized portion and 1 Bride-sized portion; 3 burritos in total):

• 0.6 lb fresh Tilapia
• 1/4 red pepper, chopped
• 1/4 red onion, chopped
• 1/2 cup baby bella mushrooms
• 2 tablespoons of taco seasonings
• 1 tablespoon EVOO
• 1 tablespoon of pepper
• 1/4 cup of salsa
• 3 burritos (I used a 100-calorie brand; check for trans fat!)

Preparation:

• In a large wok, combine pepper, EVOO, taco seasonings, and vegetables.  Cook on Medium for 5 minutes.
• Rinse fish and add to wok.

• Cook fish and veggies on Medium for an additional 10 minutes, flipping fish occasionally and watching to make sure it doesn’t burn on either side.
• After 10 minutes, use a spatula to break up the fish and mix up with the veggies.  Add salsa and heat throughout.
• Spoon into warmed burritos and serve!

These burritos are warm, filling, and delicious.  I bet the leftovers would taste great in an omelet, too!

On the side, we each had a LARGE serving of steamed broc. 

Well, we’re off to watch TV (obviously).  We are the WORST tv rats! 🙂 But the fall programming is so good right now, I just can’t tear myself away….