A journey of living a healthier, greener lifestyle.

I was up at 6 am to get some reading done – I didn’t finish my “assigned reading” for yesterday.  I am now 3 pages short but consider that close enough…

Before getting in the shower, I prepared some Baked Banana Oatmeal but today I added some blueberries which were sitting on my counter defrosting. 

If I did this again (which I will), I will add a little less water.  The blueberries added a little “juice” which made the dish a little watery. 

The blueberries made this taste like a blueberry pie – nice and sweet…plus a few extra antioxidants don’t hurt.

2010 Carbon Fast Suggestion of the Day:  Consider composting your food wastes.  Put the nutrients from food waste back into the soil, not into a landfill.  Learn more about composter options for indoors and outdoors from this article.

Mexican Lasagna is a dish I have been making for years.  I love the simplicity, amount it makes and that it tastes just as good if not better reheated. 

I made a few changes to the recipe:

• 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil – once around the pan
• 2 pounds ground chicken breast, available in the packaged meats case 1 package Morningstar Farm Soy Crumbles
• 2  1 tablespoons chili powder
• 2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 1/2  1 red onion, chopped
• 1 (15-ounce) can black beans, drained
• 1 cup medium mild heat taco sauce or 1 (14-oz) can stewed or fire roasted tomatoes AND 1 can diced tomatoes
• 1 cup 1 package frozen corn kernels
• Salt
• 8 (8 inch) spinach flour tortillas, 4 Light Flat Out Wraps (Whole Wheat) available on dairy aisle of market (they are in my supermarket deli section)
• 2 1/2 cups as much as you need shredded Cheddar or shredded pepper jack
• 2 scallions, finely chopped

I pretty much follow the preparation instructions from the recipe. 

Matt and I made this dish Sunday night and have been picking on it ever since

We reheated up the remainder for dinner tonight

The extra corn made this dish almost sweet.  Love the flavor combos – I typically make this with ground turkey, but with Vegetarian for Lent in full swing, I switched to soy crumbles.  Next time, I would try this with two cans of black beans (or if you lived in a household without an aversion to refried beans – Matt, I would use one can refried beans and one can black beans). 

I’ve got an exam in 2 weeks plus a lot of reading to catch up on – to get my act together, I created a master plan (Green for St. Patty’s Day)

My professors gave us a list of 7 possible exam questions – 2 will be on the exam.  I hope to be done preparing each exam question by Tuesday.  Let’s see if I can stick to the schedule!

Wish me luck!

Cream of Wheat Wednesday has been brought back in the form of Pink Soup again.  I made this similar bowl back in February – I thought I would have it again on this dark and dreary day. 

First, in the blender went:

• POM Wonderful Juice
• Frozen Berries (Blackberries, Raspberries and Strawberries)
• Banana
• Drizzle of honey

I then prepared the Cream of Wheat as normal (3/4 cup water and 3 tablespoons COW). 

I combined the smoothie and cooked Cream of Wheat and then warmed them together.  Enjoyed with a sprinkle of Back to Nature Chocolate Granola. 

Carbon Fast 2010 Suggestion of the Day:  Be aware of how much food you discard this week.  Look for opportunities to avoid wasting food by planning well and eating leftovers. 

My car is headed into the shop this morning to get a new windshield – I had a fight with a piece of something on the highway.  Unfortunately piece of something won and my windshield is wearing the battle scars. 

Last night for dinner, I had a vegetarian burrito.  This morning, I had an egg and cheese burrito.

In my scrambled breakfast burrito was some egg whites, one egg (didn’t have enough whites), salsa and one slice of reduced fat cheddar cheese; all rolled up in a Light Flat Out Wrap.

I am stuffed now.  I realize that I didn’t really consume any fruits or veggies with my breakfast so I plan on getting 1/2 a grapefruit at school.

Carbon Fast 2010 Suggestion of the Day: Turn off lights you’re not using.  Shut off lights as you leave a room.  You can put reminders on your switchplates or install motion sensors that turn off lights automatically. 

I have a meeting from 11 am – 1 pm today; the goal is to leave work around 2 pm and head to the library to get as much reading done as I can for class tonight – I had over 230 pages to read for this week! 

Long day at work!  It’s 6:45 pm and I’m here for at least another 2 1/2 hours. 

For lunch, I had some Vegetable Orzo soup with some parmesan cheese

There were big pieces of kale in the soup – it tasted much better than it looked.

With my soup, I had a salad with an egg white and chickpeas for some staying power.

Around 4 pm, I broke for a yogurt with granola

I selected the vegetarian burrito for dinner which had rice, black beans and roasted peppers inside

It was a tad bit spicy – my mouth was on fire by the last few bites.

With my burrito, I enjoyed an apple – but forgot to take a picture.

I’ve been very productive day – got a few things off my to-do list.  I’m hoping to  get a little reading in before my 8:30 pm event. 

How did it become March 1st?!?

I got home from my retreat yesterday around 2 pm – after a shower and a 2 hour nap, I was feeling more “normal.”  I then spent the rest of my day/evening working on a paper due tomorrow…rough draft is done.

I slept a little later this morning – well only because I had intended to get up for a run but after looking out my window to see snow and sleet, I decided my bed was a better place. 

Last night I was thinking long and hard about why I run…sure I run for exercise but really what gets me going is the ability to shut my brain off.  For some reason, running is the only time I can think about nothing – I stare at houses and cars and look for animals – and forget about to-do lists and projects and cleaning…

Running on a treadmill does not do that for me – in fact, I HATE running on a treadmill.  I do not enjoy it and spend the time thinking about the things I am trying to avoid.  Running on a treadmill kills my love for running itself. 

I need to get back into an exercise routine, but I need to perhaps focus on the Core Fusion DVDs, crunches, planks, and strengthening exercises to make running easier.  Hopefully this weather will clear itself up soon and perhaps the sun will come out…

Sorry – that was a bit longer than I anticipated!

On to my breakfast eats – Cereal

In the bowl went Kashi Island Vanilla, Quaker Oatmeal Squares and Kamut Puffs – plus a sliced banana.

Because I missed yesterday…here are two:

2/28 Carbon Fast 2010 Suggestion of the Day:  Run your washing machine only with full loads.  Turn the knob on your washing machine to “cold/cold,” and leave it there.  Washing your clothes in cold water gets them just as clean as washing in hot water, but uses half the energy.

3/1 Carbon Fast 2010 Suggestion of the Day:  Speak Out!  Ask our leaders to take action on climate change today.  (Dosomething.org, stopglobalwarming.org)

I’m up early to make it to school for 8:30 am – not so fun on a Saturday!

I decided to try something new for breakfast – and it is something I will make again.

That’s a toasted Food for Life English Muffin, sliced apples and sliced reduced fat cheddar cheese. 

I love the apple-cheddar cheese combo – why not have it with breakfast?

2010 Carbon Fast Suggestion of the Day:  Plan ahead to bring reusable bags with you to get groceries today.  If you already use reusable grocery bags, purchase a set of reusable produce bags for fruit and veggies. 

I will be back tomorrow…

After learning I have a cavity the dentist, Matt and I went to one of our favorite “restaurants” where I used to live in Bristol, RI. 

It makes the most amazing wraps and pizza.  Matt and I always get the same thing when at Papa Joe’s

I always get it without the hot pepper rings. 

I mean – could anything be better than this?!?

I absolutely love this wrap – the flavors are perfect and the calamari is always piping hot.  They make this wrap in pizza form too – which is pretty close to heaven.

Ahhh…Matt and I both savored every bite of this.

After spending some quality time at the eye doctor learning I don’t have a scratched cornea again – hooray – just suffering from very dry eyes.

Matt and I made a simple but comforting dinner – roasted brussels sprouts and Creamy Tomato Mac and Cheese.

I roasted the brussels sprouts at 400 degrees for about  15 minutes – they could have used another 2-3 minutes though.

We cooked up a box of Annie’s Whole Wheat Shells with White Cheddar.  To the cooked pasta (with cheese and milk mixture), we added a can of diced tomatoes (drained) and one wedge of Laughing Cow Light Swiss. 

I also added some cooked peas to mine!

I love this way of making Mac and Cheese – jazzes it up – it almost tastes like a penne vodka sauce. 

More reading tonight – and packing.  I am off to the Cape for tomorrow and tomorrow night with the students for a retreat. 

I had a little bit more time to make breakfast this morning as I don’t have to leave for the dentist until 11 am – I still go to the dentist in Rhode Island (where I used to live) so it takes approximately 40 minutes to get there.

I decided to make Tina’s 3-minute Oatmeal Raisin Cookie except instead of raisins, I used mini chocolate chips – it is Friday.

I then used my cookie to top a bowl of Stonyfield Farm Fat Free French Vanilla yogurt.

With a Green Monster (1 cup of Oat Milk, 1 banana and 1 cup of spinach)

I’m going to do some reading before Matt and I go to the dentist (yes we both have appointments this morning – saves on gas!)

Carbon Fast 2010 Suggestion of the Day: Look to purchase locally-grown food today.  Plan to walk to a farmers’ market this weekend, or consider joining a community supported agriculture (CSA) group that delivers local produce.

I arrived home this evening in a rush to get a load of laundry in the wash – I have two to do tonight!

By the time I got that going, I debated my dinner.  It’s just me tonight, so I decided to keep things simple.  Very simple.  Cereal and fruit.

In my cereal bowl was:

• Kashi Island Vanilla
• Quaker Oatmeal Squares
• Enjoy Life Crunch Rice Cereal
• Kamut Puffs

The Rice Cereal is a new addition to our pantry – I saw it at Whole Foods the other day and picked it up.  It is “allergy friendly” – nut and gluten free.  It tasted kind of like Rice Krispies – very interesting.

With my cereal, I had an apple and orange

I love dinners that are like this – very little cleanup and prep!

I have the day off tomorrow – but in reality I will be at the eye doctor and dentist.  Not really a relaxing day…