Firsts

After enjoying breakfast with my hilarious cousin, Mikey, Philip woke up and ruined it joined us. Since it was his birthday I told him I would make him anything he wanted, which was a poached egg, two slices of turkey bacon, and a banana. (Health freak…I’d want a big stack of chocolate chip pancakes! Haha!)

He also opened the gifts I got him: a Nerf gun, Arnold Palmer powdered drink mix, and this cool corn-on-the-cob popcorn thing.

Presents!

You should have seen what I wrote on his card:

“It’s nice growing up with someone like you -
someone to lean on,
someone to count on…

someone to tell on!”

Haha! I can’t bring myself to give him a serious card, but I guess that’s what siblings are for.

After opening my gifts we (Philip, Mikey, and I) watched Barnyard. I do not like that movie – it’s so sad – not good for children, in my opinion.

(source)

Then we went to ShopRite to pick up groceries for the week and ingredients for Stromboli!

Can you guess what we had for lunch?

Lunch

If you guessed Stromboli, then you were right! This time I decided to roll the Stromboli so it was long and thin, rather than short and wide, and it was much easier on the eyes (and easier to cut!). ♥

The funny thing is, I never used to like salami until I made this…(I wouldn’t even touch it because it was so greasy. Ew!)

After lunch we went swimming for an hour, took Mikey home, and then came home and had a snack. I had cucumbers (from the garden) with Tribe hummus and some strawberries. (Strawberries not pictured.)

Today’s dinner was BBQ pork chops! Mmmmm. ♥

Dinner

• BBQ pork chop (bone-in)
• Leftover Mexican Bean Salad
• Spinach sautéed in garlic and olive oil

I let my dinner digest for half an hour and then I was off to Cross Country practice! Today we did the usual 2 “small” loops + 2 laps. (Maybe ½ a mile each?) I only stopped to walk a few times, not because I was tired, but because my darn calves kept hurting! Does anyone know why this is happening?! I have a hunch that it’s because my legs are getting stronger…

Karate immediately followed Cross Country. Thank God we were only doing Joong Bong (Korean for Short Stick) today, I wouldn’t have been able to move around, have good reflexes, etc.

And then, the highlight of the evening…my first time having a Larabar!

Banana Bread Larabar

Usually I try to stay away from Larabars since they are so darn expensive at the ShopRite/Wegmans/Whole Foods near us, but I found a coupon for 75¢ off of 3 over at Eat Better America. I got the Peanut Butter Cookie flavor, (Thanks to PB Fingers for her recommendation!) PB&J flavor, and the Banana Bread flavor that I enjoyed today.

How did it taste, you ask? Well I loved it (of course) but the kicker is that my mom (who eats healthily, but doesn’t take “food risks”) tasted it and said “Wow, this is pretty good for only being made of almonds, dates, and bananas.” Haha! It was very good! My only complaint about Larabars is that they are so small. (But the healthy fats and fiber are so filling that it makes up for the size.)

I love trying new things and today I tried 2 new things - OOIAJ & Larabars! It was truly a day of firsts! Well, that’s all I have for now. Tomorrow I won’t be Mikey-sitting, instead I will be going swimming at my friend’s house. (Phil’s coming too, it’s really for his baseball buddies but I am tagging along since it’s at my friend’s house.)

Questions of the Day:

1. In case you forgot from the beginning of the post…Why are my calves hurting from running?              Muscle?!
2. What have you tried for the first time lately?

Goodnight!

OOIAJ!

Today is the first day of Mikey-sitting! But, it is also the first time I have ever had Overnight Oats In A Jar (OOIAJ)!

Last night I mixed together ½ cup of oats, 2/3 cup of Dannon Light & Fit vanilla yogurt, and a tablespoon of ground flax-seed in an almost empty Skippy Natural jar.

This morning I simply stuck a spoon in the jar and dug in!

Mush

My little cousin, Mikey, (I am Mikey-sitting this week!) was making faces when he saw me eating my “Jar of Grossness,” but I loved it! I mean, c’mon, I love Overnight Oats and I love Peanut Butter so it actually was a “Jar of Grossness Deliciousness!” Mmmmm.

Hope you enjoyed looking at drooling over my delicious (are you reading this Mikey?!) breakfast!

Bye!

Too hot to handle

Whoa! It’s hot today! Mikey and I went for a walk after breakfast and came home 35 minutes later with sweat dripping off of our faces! Of course, I decided to check the weather after we came home and found out it is supposed to be 100°F today! I don’t think I will be going outside later.     

After cooling off we decided to log a dollar bill into http://www.wheresgeorge.com/ . I love that website, but this particular bill was pretty boring. (It only had one other entry!)    

Tennessee to Jersey!

 

Then we had game night  day! We played a bunch of (old-school) card games like Go Fish and War. Mikey pretty much kicked my butt in all the games.    

 After all the butt-kicking we worked up an appetite! So once Phil came home we had  a lazy lunch.  

 I had a Salmon with Basil Lean Cuisine. ↓  

   

 Salmon with Basil: wild salmon, whole wheat orzo pasta, spinach and carrots in a basil sauce.  

 Overall:  It was really good and for some reason a lot more filling than other Lean Cuisines. The only downfall was that the salmon had a really, really, fishy taste.   

 Grade: B   

 I don’t know what I am going to do now. Mike’s dad is picking him up early today so we don’t have much time…

Energized!

I had a lot of fun today. I don’t know why (I didn’t do anything different from what I normally do) and I felt energized and well-rested. Maybe it was my carbalicious breakfast…    

Anyways…After playing 2 games of Yahtzee, Mikey and I took a speed walk. We did the same route as Tuesday but much (2 minutes ) faster. We’re making progress – Yipee!    

When we got back we lazed around for a bit and then began preparing lunch before Philip came home.   

Once Phil came home, the boys made English Muffin Pizzas…   

   

   

…And I made myself an English Muffin Tuna Melt.   

   

Lunch:   

• 1 Thomas‘ Smart Start Multigrain English Muffin
• 1 pouch (2.6 oz.) tuna
• mozzarella cheese
• sugar snap peas
• a dash (or ten!) of Tabasco

Lunch was very filling and kept me full for an hour of swimming! (laps, volleyball, goofing off) Then, I came home and had (of course) had a snack.   

Snack:   

• 1 banana
• Yoplait Thick & Creamy Cinnamon Bun yogurt ♥

   

While snacking, I read blogs and surfed the Internet. Then, I decided to freeze the last few pieces of Pumpkin Fudge and see how they keep in the freezer.   

Freezer-Ready Fudge

 

I also helped my mom clean and so other boring things around the house.    

Then, I had dinner!   

• 2 chicken drumsticks (marinated in Lawry’s Honey Dijon)
• Betty Crocker Sour Cream & Chives scalloped potatoes
• sautéed green beans with slivered almonds

   

   

Once we had full bellies we headed to Phil’s baseball game…they lost.   

Oh well, they have a consolation game tomorrow – lets hope for 3rd place!

 

Goodnight!

Ginormous Oatmeal

Today, in true foodie-fashion, I had a ginormous bowl of oats!  

Oats and PB!

 

Breakfast: 

• ½ cup oatmeal (cooked in 2 cups water – it becomes HUGE!)
• ¼ cup wheat bran
• ¼ EggBeaters
• cinnamon&pumpkin pie spice
• peanut-butta’

It came out huge! The trick I got from Hungry Girl really worked! (And of course PB and cinnamon make everything delicious! ) 

Now, (for my last full day of Mikey-sitting ) I am going to play a couple of games of Yahtzee and go for a walk.