Hey guys! My computer has decided to throw a hissy fit, so I won’t be able to post until tonight (hopefully!!!) with pics. Just wanted to let you know what’s going on. If you’re curious, I had an Ezekial wrap with a Dr. Prager’s veggie burger (with KETCHUP…damn you, sugar!) and an apple for lunch. It was delicious. 
Hope you’re having a great day! Be back tonight!
Hey y’all! Happy Bachelor Night Monday!
My afternoon went by pretty quickly. After charging my Garmin, I headed out with my i-phone (gotta have a podcast!) and the dogs for a walk. I decided to walk the dogs over to campus, where Ryan was doing course prep, to surprise him. Unfortunately, when I got to our office (we share one), he wasn’t there! I called him to see where he was, and he said he’d just walked in the front door to our house. Doh! U-turn!
It was pretty cold outside, and Baxter was getting colder by the minute, so Ryan came and picked us up when we were about halfway home. It’s just too cold out there for a little guy!
Having missed out on the long walk I wanted, I agreed to go to the gym with Ryan for a little more cardio. We always go to our gym in the morning, when it is relatively empty, and now I’m glad we do—it was PACKED this afternoon! I also feel like I get such a better workout in when I do it in the morning—by the afternoon, my energy levels are seriously lacking. I had to really push myself just to eke out thirty minutes on the elliptical and 10 minutes of weights. I’m definitely a morning person in all respects—work, play…everything!
We got home around 5:15, showered, cleaned up, and got to work on some dinner. Soup was on the menu tonight!
Eat Your Veggies Soup
Ingredients:
1 tbsp. olive oil
1 onion, chopped
2-3 carrots, chopped
2-3 celery stalks, chopped
1 cup fresh broccoli, chopped
1 cup frozen corn
1 cup frozen green beans
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. lemon pepper
1/2 tsp. dried basil
1 1 lb., 12 oz. can diced tomatoes with juice
5 cups vegetable stock
1 cup Morningstar veggie crumbles
Directions:
In a heavy-bottomed soup pot, heat olive oil. Add onions, carrots, and celery and cook for 5-10 minutes, until they have begun to soften but have not yet begun to brown. Add broccoli, corn, green bean, and spices. Cook for another 2-3 minutes. Add tomatoes and stock. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and cook for 30 minutes or longer. Before serving, stir in veggie crumbles and allow to cook for another 5-10 minutes.
Yum, yum! My mom used to make a soup just like this when I was growing up, so it’s definitely comforting to me.
Soup in a Leaf:
I realized something was missing:
Crackers!!! What good is soup without crackers?
This soup was healthy, simple…and made a BIG pot of soup! We froze about half, and put half in the fridge for Ryan to eat while I’m gone this week and weekend.
Sugar Challenge:
The sugar challenge went okay today. My breakfast was a little high in sugar, but lunch balanced it out. I was disappointed to see that my probiotic chew, which I take along with my vitamins, had 3 grams of sugar!?! Hmmmm…not buying these again!
Also, before we went to the gym, I was starvin’ marvin, so I wanted a quick snack. Whenever I want a quick, easy snack that will sit well before a workout, I usually reach for a bar of some sort, but as I was looking at the bars in our pantry, I realized that they are ALL full of sugar! None of them had less than 10 grams, and some of them had upwards of 20…and these are “healthy” bars. I finally decided on a Luna bar, which clocked in at 11 grams of sugar—not too bad, but still pretty high for just an afternoon snack.
Anywho…here are the tallies for the day:
Total sugar: 24 grams
Aaaaaand, they just played the instrumental version of “On the Wings of Love.” This episode is off to a great start.
See you tomorrow, kids!
