SCBR Week 8/ Day 2 Food/Exercise Journal

7:30 am – Coffee – Content (5)

As usual and partially due to getting home so late yesterday and staying up late catching up on blog posts, waking up this morning was pretty rough. Coffee eased the wake-up ,but I forgot to take a picture of my coffee before guzzling it down. Here’s a photo of my empty mug. 🙂

9:30 am – Multi-grain Hot Cereal + Starbucks Monday! – Content (5)

I got a new Multi-grain Hot Cereal this past weekend from TJ’s. I wanted to eat it on Saturday morning, but held off. I was really looking forward to trying it out this AM. The cereal contains Rye, Barley, Oats, and Wheat.

Pre-cooking ingredients:

• 1/4 cup multigrain cereal
• 1/2 cup water
• 1 tsp flaxseed

Post-cooking ingredients (in order of addition):

• stirred in a couple tablespoons of 2% milk
• stirred in a tsp of raw sugar
• 1 tbsp dried cranberries, on top
• 1 tbsp sliced almonds, on top

I thought the whole grain cereal was really good. It was a lot like oatmeal, but not as thick and creamy. This cereal reminded me a bit more of the texture and consistency of a rice pilaf, if the rice were shaped like oatmeal pieces. The cereal didn’t mix together as creamy as oatmeal would, but it was still quite enjoyable. I actually liked the texture a lot and it will be nice to have this hot cereal in my pantry to switch things up when I get tired of oatmeal. If you’re a fan of oatmeal and also like whole grains, I’d give this a go. Not only is it tasty, it’s organic, too!

Today was Starbucks Monday! so I picked up a Grande Vanilla Soy Latte on my way to work. Btw, not sure if I mentioned before, but do you remember that gift card I won over the holidays? Well, turns out if you register your Starbucks gift card (the kind you can keep recharging with a new balance), for a limited time, you get free syrup and soy upgrades! I save about 70 cents every time I get my new usual (the Grande Vanilla Soy Latte). You also get other perks like a couple hours of free wi-fi at Starbucks locations. Check out starbucks.com for details.

1:45 pm – Jersey Mikes – Full (7)

Lunch came extra late today. I got totally caught up in meetings, emails, and phone calls and the next thing I knew, it was after 1 pm! After wrapping some stuff up, I headed out to Jersey Mikes and made it there and back in a record 10 minutes! It pays to go during the off-hours.

I got the #7 Turkey + Provolone mini on wheat – Mike’s Way plus banana peppers. I also got a bag of Baked Lays in Cheddar Cheese and Sour Cream and a sweet tea.

Lunch was great, but I wish I hadn’t eaten so late so I could have a snack before zumba. I didn’t have any snacks today!

6:30 pm – Zumba – Belly-Dance Style – Ecstatic

After work today, I went to a belly-dance-around-the-world inspired zumba class. The class was taught by a girl who started taking classes shortly before me, which made me wonder more if I should look into becoming an instructor…hmm…anywho, my friend did an awesome job with her first class ever. I was so proud of her! Class was super fun and a great work out, too!

9:15 pm – Cheese + Crackers, Pork Tenderloin, Brussels Sprouts, and Rice – First Signs of Feeling Full (6)

Directly after zumba, I headed to TJ’s for some dinner groceries. We’re getting another delivery of organic fruits + veggies tomorrow morning so I tried to keep my purchases minimal with an accent on non-produce items.

Not to be defeated by that pork tenderloin from last week, I decided to try pork again for dinner. I was feeling pretty tired after a long Monday of work and a long workout, too, so I was looking for something simple, healthy, and tasty and the pork seemed like a simple solution.

I also picked up some baby brussels sprouts.

Even though the bag said these were ready to cook, I trimmed the very ends, pulled a couple external leaves off (the brownish/yellow pieces), and sliced the brussels sprouts in half. I then drizzled them in olive oil and seasoned them with salt and fresh cracked black pepper. I tossed them with my hands and put them in a pre-heated 400 degree F oven while I worked on the pork.

I browned the pork on both sides…

I even remembered to put the lid on the pan before putting it into the oven this time! Yay! lol

I turned the brussels sprouts, dropped the temp to 350 degrees F and added the pork to the oven.

While the pork and brussels sprouts cooked in the oven, hubby and I snacked on some new cheese I got at TJ’s – Havarti cheese – on more TJ’s Multigrain + Flaxseed crackers.

I love cheese + crackers!

I think we let the brussels sprouts go a wee bit longer than I would have liked – that pork always seems to take longer than it should! I served the pork and brussels sprouts with some of the leftover Japanese-style fried rice my sister made for the picnic on Sunday (we set some aside before taking to the picnic).

Even though the brussels sprouts were over-cooked, we still enjoyed them. I had a small serving of pork, small serving of rice, and a BIG serving of brussels sprouts! Yay for veggies, right?! 🙂

Dessert was a small piece of dark chocolate – simple but delicious.

I love going out of town, but I hate how behind I feel once I’m home again. I have a lot to do, including sending out some info to local news stations for Pink at the Plaza…wish me luck!