Ouch.

Okay, so my experiment yesterday was to not lie to my tracker. Ouch. 40 points. No wonder I am not losing weight. My daily allowance is 26 points. Those peanut m&ms cost me 6 points. FOR A QUARTER CUP! Forget those little crunchy bits of peanutty, chocolatey goodness. I'm going to save my points for something else. Like wine. Harrumph. Yesterday cost me all of my activity points and a few of my weekly points. Dinner wasn't even that bad. I made IKEA meatballs with sauce and veggies for dinner. Not good for a Monday.

So far today:
coffee with 2 T fat free half and half - 0
2 eggs - 4
2 T shredded cheese - 1
1 T poblano pepper - 0
3/4 cup mushrooms - 0
1 t coconut oil - 1

I feel like Dory from Finding Nemo, except that I'm chanting "must keep tracking..."

I'm not going to lie.

That's right. I'm not going to lie. On my tracker. I do, you know. I lie to it all the time. Don't measure, don't count things after dinner. Skip days. Don't include that extra glass of wine. Yup. I'm a liar.

For today, I'm not going to lie. I am going to track everything. The good, the bad, the ugly, it's all going to get tracked.

So far:

Breakfast: 1 cup of coffee w/ 2 T fat free half and half = 0 points
                  1 cup non-fat yogurt = 3 points
                  1 T honey = 2 points

Early lunch: 4 cups salad greens = 0 points
                     4 oz chicken breast = 4 points
                     1/2 cup water chestnuts = 0 points
                     1/2 oz crispy noodles = 2 points
                     3 T Kraft light raspberry vinaigrette = 2 points

I have 13 points left for the day. Not sure what I'm making for dinner, but I'm certain that I'll track it. I don't want to be a liar to you, too.

Perfect summer salad

Summer. The time of year when you can get the most amazing, fresh, in-season produce. In-season is important because it means you can find locally grown fruits and vegetables that were picked at the peak of ripeness and weren't trucked in from across the country, or from another country altogether.

Lucky for me, corn and tomatoes are in season right now in Texas. I wish I could take credit for growing these amazing vegetables, but I can't. I didn't plant tomatoes in my bed at the community garden this year, and I've never had luck growing corn. This year I planted potatoes and onions. I'll plant tomatoes for fall harvest.  Usually I steam or grill a few ears of corn, we'll enjoy them, but I tend to have some left over. Rather than have it go to waste (something I'm really working on), I left a few of the ears uncooked so that I could try making a salad. I'd had black bean based salad in mind, but that isn't what I ended up making. What I ended up with was even better. Feel free to play with the amount of veggies you use, and adjust the dressing quantities to match. I made enough for me for a couple of meals, but this would be fantastic to bring to a cookout.

Sweet Corn and Tomato Salad

3 ears of uncooked sweet corn - kernels removed
1 cup of grape or cherry tomatoes, cut in half
1/4 cup of red onion, finely diced
2 T olive oil
1/4 cup vinegar (I used an herb vinegar)
freshly ground black pepper to taste
2 T finely chopped cilantro (optional if you don't like or don't have cilantro)

Cut the kernels off of the corn cobs and combine with all of the other ingredients (except the cilantro)in a large serving bowl. Mix to combine. Refrigerate for at least an hour to let the flavors blend and the salad to get nice and cold. Mix in the chopped cilantro before serving.

Enjoy!

Now to dream up something to do with those in-season Texas peaches I picked up yesterday...

Kyra

Bang Bang Sauce. What else would be so appropriate for the Fourth Of July.

I have to admit, I have never been to Bonefish Grill and had never heard of "Bang Bang Shrimp" until Martinus, who I met at Fitbloggin 12, posted a picture of it on Facebook the other day. It. Looked. Delicious. The more I researched it the more I understood that it practically has a cult following. Fried shrimp, crunchy greens, spicy sweet sauce. What's not to love. I do love fried shrimp, but I knew I had been making less than stellar wine um, food choices this week, so I wasn't looking to duplicate their recipe exactly. I had a big bag of defrosted shrimp in my fridge that I was planning on cooking up on The 4th, so I decided to make a leaner grilled version of Bang Bang Shrimp. Delicious, if I do say so myself. Thank you, Martinus, for the idea.





 

Bang Bang Grilled Shrimp

1 lb large shrimp/prawns, cleaned and shelled
1 T garlic powder
1/2 t freshly ground black pepper
1 t olive oil

Combine the above ingredients in a bowl and let marinate until you're ready to put the prawns on skewers.

Bang Bang Sauce

1/4 cup low fat mayonnaise
1/4 cup fat free mayonnaise
~ 1/4 Mae Ploy (sweet chili sauce)
1-2 T Sriracha sauce (to taste - this stuff is hot!)
1 t rice wine vinegar

Mix all together until smooth. Keep refrigerated until ready to serve.

If you're grilling, thread the shrimp on skewers and grill over medium heat for about 3 minutes per side, or until they're opaque. You can definitely broil in the oven or cook the shrimp on the stove. I have leftover shrimp in the fridge that I'm planning on cooking up for lunch and having over salad greens with more sauce drizzled on top. The sauce was delicious on my grilled steak, too.

Enjoy!

Kyra

On missing #Fitbloggin and how real life takes over...

There's a lot of buzz going on this week on the interwebs about Fitbloggin. I remember hearing about it a couple of years ago from fellow fitness/health/weight loss friends. Timing wasn't good for me the first couple of conferences because of family events. Last year, though, timing was good. I saved my money, bought my earlybird ticket, and then put it out of my mind until the conference drew near. Then I started freaking out. I'm not an extrovert by any stretch of the imagination. If I'm comfortable with you and it's a small group, I'm ok. If I don't know many people and it's a large group, I'm going to latch on to familiar faces and stick to them like a barnacle. Whether they like it or not. Just ask Steve, Meegan and Tara, and Jack. Oh, no. It's you again.... sigh.

Much as I will miss seeing old friends I met at Fitbloggin 12, meeting new friends, hugging lots of friends, and posing for pictures while wearing a purple wig and pink feather boa, I will not be going to Fitbloggin 13. This year, my life has been turned upside down and taken turns in directions I never thought I'd be heading. (See my new blog page to see the first glimpse of what I've gotten myself in to.) I've also not been blogging very much these last several months, so I could scarcely justify needing to go, or the expense. Heck, after I got back last year I went and got myself a wordpress site. Have I blogged there? Once. Did I buy Wordpress for Dummies recently in the hopes of getting off my ass? Yup. Some day, when I'm not hauling brush, digging up stuff and pruning overgrown shrubs, I'll get back to it. In the meantime, I hope everyone has an amazing time at Fitbloggin 13. Tell Roni I say hi. Oh, and be sure to tell her "thank you." She works her ass off putting this together.

#BostonStrong with Go Sport ID

It's hard to believe it's been a week since the Boston Marathon bombings. A split second can change your life, for better or for worse. This tragedy has brought out the good in so many people and companies. Of of these companies is Go Sport ID. They have made a bracelet that reads Run For All. All For Run. Boston 4/15/13, and all proceeds are going to the One Fund Boston fundraising campaign. That's right. All. Proceeds. This fund will help those most affected by last week's bombing.  I can't take away the bad that happened to so many, but I can be part of the good that will help them recover from this tragedy. Join me in buying a bracelet, or ten, to help.

Today, it's not about the bling... #PrayForBoston

What happened yesterday in Boston was so horrific. All afternoon, Twitter and FB were buzzing, as so many of us tried to find out if our friends who were running Boston were ok. Thankfully, none of the runners/family members that I know were physically injured, but it was so close for some of them, it's scary. It sickens and saddens me that someone could do something so awful, but as someone who worked in New York City for many, many years, I know there are evil people out there. 

Today, it's not about the bling. Today, it's not about pace. Today, it's not about PRs. Today, it's about unity. Today, it's about solidarity. Today, it's about community.  My prayers go out to all who were affected by the tragic attack in Boston.