NY Ballet today

Yesterday I did the Strong Knees video again and today did the New York Ballet. It was fairly easy to follow and has some great potential. I don't know how many calories I burned doing it, but I can see how it would tone my muscles even if I don't burn a lot of calories. Interestingly, many of the exercises in Strong Knees are also ones used in the ballet video.

I subscribed to the GAMES txts for Redbox therefore get a free game rental once a month. Twice now I've gotten a Just Dance game. The first one I did by myself and the boys watched. This time though, I had a 'date' night with Jared and made him dance with me. In just a few songs he was hooked! Then Aaron got home and he was hooked too. It was so fun watching them dance! It is good to know that it would be a game they would enjoy and choose to play. I think it helped that One Direction's song What Makes You Beautiful is on it. The boys (especially Aaron) LOVE that song and are familiar with the video. Aaron played the song over and over. He was getting pretty good at it by the time I had to return it. Generously, a friend from high school has offered to send me her game because she doesn't care for the Wii version. So excited about that!! I could spend hours playing it (and I KNOW it burns a lot of calories ;))

I had lunch today with a new friend. I had a grilled chicken avacado sandwich. It was really good, but I probably shouldn't have eaten the fries because based on the closest option available on MFP, I ate over 1000 calories in that meal. ouch. I should walk on the treadmill and burn some more, but once Aaron is home that isn't an option. I have a small offering of calories left for the day. boo.

Homemade Quinoa Bread

Quinoa Bread courtesy of neverhomemaker.com

I love that you can actually see the quinoa!

I have been trying to get back in the habit of making bread as opposed to buying it. This recipe was one of the ones I found while looking for dinner ideas the other night. I happened to buy a bag of quinoa in the last few weeks, made a recipe with it and decided it would be really hard to use it all up. I think I have found the perfect use of it and may even need to buy more!!! (Though we will see how that holds up after everyone reports back from lunch today).

The recipe is really easy and seems to be pretty forgiving. Here is side by side of what I did vs the recipe:

What you'll need . . . 

• 1 cup raw quinoa (we used red quinoa, but any kind will do) (I used white)
• 2 cups of water
• 1/2 cup raw walnuts, chopped (I used 1/4 c chopped pecans but you could probably leave them out)
• 2 teaspoons active dry yeast (used instant yeast)
• 3/4 cup water, wrist temperature
• 1/3 cup agave nectar (again, we used Xagave) (1/2 c. honey + 1/8 tsp baking soda)
• 1/4 cup sunflower oil (or canola)
• 2 tablespoons flax meal (didn't have any so left it out)
• 3 tablespoons grainy mustard (ommitted)
• 2 cups unbleached white bread flour (used regular all purpose flour)
• 1 cup whole wheat bread flour (used white whole wheat flour)
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

I think she only made one loaf from her dough, but I divided mine into two which made the final product only 93 calories a slice (19 slices in a loaf). I loved the pop of the quinoa when I tested the dough. I like that the quinoa adds most of the grain for the bread so it doesn't require as much flour either. I probably would have used more nuts if I actually had walnuts instead of pecans, and the flax would have really boosted the nutty texture too. It is really good as a toast!! For some reason all last night it was calling to me as a peanut butter sandwich (probably because I've been reading up on making my own nut butters too) so I finally got one for lunch today. Yep, it works!! I think I prefer it as toast with butter and honey though.

Taste test: jam or honey. Jam won this time.

I did find with the honey substitute it browns really quickly in the oven. She says to cover it with foil to continue the baking without the browning but even then it still got really brown on top. I wasn't sure if it was really done or not when I took it out, and there aren't any dough spots in the middle, but it is a really moist bread (which is probably why I prefer it as toast). 

Banana Bread Minute Muffin

Banana Bread Minute Muffin from fitfoodiefind.com

Ingredients:

quick oats
mashed banana
egg white
choc chips or other add-ins

Mix in mug and bake in microwave for 1 min 30 sec.

She claims it tastes like banana bread, but I think the real thing is better. However, for someone who is gluten free it probably will satisfy the craving. I added mini-chocolate chips. In her picture there is more yellow so I am thinking she used the whole egg and not just the white. With the chocolate it is over 200 calories, but it makes for a nice quick snack.

Pumpkin Smoothie

Pumpkin Smoothie from edibleperspective.com

While scouring for dinner recipes last night I ended up on a few different sites that have me in the kitchen experimenting today. This smoothie is one of them. It is pretty good though Aaron didn't care for it. I think it is actually the protein powder he doesn't like because it has an almost bitter taste to it though I try to mask it. The banana adds a nice sweet flavor.  I did not add any spinach though I probably could have and been fine with the taste. After 2 servings (8 oz each)  and a banana minute muffin, I am feeling rather full though I will probably finish it off.

Weigh in Week 4

Last week - 176.4
Today - 176.8

Well, it isn't heading in the right direction but it is close to maintaining. Water weight. Gotta love it.

I have my videos and am excited about them! Yesterday I did Strong Knees. Oh MAN!!! The exercises are so simple, but boy do they work those muscles. The premise is that you have to strengthen the leg muscles that support the knees so there is a segment for each muscle group. Good stuff.

Relief Society put on a healthy workshop last night and had a zumba class, strength training, healthy snacks, and green smoothie segments. More good stuff. I enjoyed the zumba. It was a little tricky to keep up, but it was fun. I liked being able to try some varieties of smoothies too. I can't wait for the email that has all the recipes!! Strength training.. well, I need to do a lot more of that!