Lots of leftovers

Today was quite busy with various interviews for freelance projects, camping prep, cooking, and laundry. Honestly, it felt pretty good and I'm really looking forward to roughin' it a bit this weekend.

I tried using up the strawberries and bananas before we leave tomorrow, thus breakfast saw a second helping of these lovely fruits. I had six strawberries with a fourth-cup of blueberries, and Cybros Multi-Grain flatbread with Ghee and a banana. Love this combo!

Lunchtime saw my final installment of my yummy Taco Bake with Turkey. I was craving something else and had missed my usual mixed herby greens all week, so I decided to add 'em in. I also grabbed some fresh basil and some fresh dill from my herb garden. Add a tablespoon or so of balsamic vinegar and a dash of pepper and you have a pretty sweet salad.

I am not the world's biggest coffee drinker, but I've developed quite the habit of having one after lunch. Ryan makes one for himself, so I've been joining him in that ritual. I should really stop, since it's cutting in my time of having water, which is what I drink all day long, all week long.

Dinner saw our second helping of Real Simple's Spiced Beef Kebabs with Minted Watermelon Salad. This time we added some grilled cucumber and cherry tomatoes. I enjoyed the change. Also, I seriously cannot get enough of the watermelon salad. It's cool, it's refreshing, and I could have had a second helping. I mean, how gorgeous is this salad?

Ryan and I spent the remainder of the evening getting ready for our trip. We're pretty dang excited. Ryan has never slept in a tent before! Isn't that INSANE? I have camped a gazillion times and slept in a tent a gazillion times, so this will be fun. The car is half-way packed, too.

Oh I can't forget ... I logged 45 minutes on the elliptical trainer today! Back in motion. We'll be doing some biking and hiking this weekend, too, so I am not going to feel guilty about missing Wednesday's workout.

... and snacks. I had two pickles, one nectarine, and one low-fat part-skim string cheese from Lucerne. Oh yeah, I snuck two Kraft Jet-Puffed Marshmallows when I was organizing the packing. I couldn't resist.

So it's me and Siggi's before bed. 

Before I go, here are today's totals:

Calorie goal 1,210-1,560: 1,546
Carbohydrates goal 164-237: 199
Fat goal 32-57: 48
Protein goal 60-128: 91

Back to yoga bright and early tomorrow. Thanks for reading!

Slack ... er

Today was pretty productive with various deadlines and applications to complete. Sadly, I slacked on the exercise front. Ryan and I had plans to attend another Yoga course, but wussed out to focus on work and our upcoming camping trip. Total lamesauce, I know.

I'm keeping with the fruit this week in an effort to use up as much food that's stored in the refrigerator prior to our mini vacation. So breakfast featured lots of strawberries (four large berries, quartered to be exact) and one banana with two Nutri-Grain low fat Eggos with two teaspoons of Ghee.

Lunch saw my third day with the Taco Bake with Turkey. This stuff is just too good. Check out my recipe at SparkPeople here. I also added a nectarine to the mix. Can't get enough of these either.

Also in preparation of our camping trip, I prepared some Cranberry and Almond Granola for Ryan. He LOVES this stuff. Eating Well has a great and healthy recipe, too. Check it out.

Ingredients:
- 2/3 cup frozen unsweetened apple juice concentrate, thawed
- 1/2 cup maple syrup
- 1/3 cup canola oil (or almond oil, if you like)
- 1/4 cup packed dark brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon salt, or to taste
- 5 cups rolled oats (not the instant kind)
- 1 cup toasted wheat germ
- 1 cup whole almonds, coarsely chopped
- 1/2 cup sunflower seeds, (2 ounces)
- 1 cup dried cranberries, divided

From there, preheat the over to 325 degrees and coat two large baking pans with cooking spray. Combine the apple juice concentrate, maple syrup, oil and brown sugar in a medium saucepan and bring to a simmer at medium high heat. Add cinnamon and salt.

In a separate large bowl, combine oats, wheat germ, almonds, and sunflower seeds. Add juice mixture so oats are covered. Evenly spread granola to fill each baking pan.

Bake granola for 15 minutes, stirring once or twice with a spatula. Switch baking pans to opposite racks for another 15 minutes, until fragrant. Add 1/2 cup dried cranberries to granola and let it cool.

Granola can be stored in an air-tight container for up to two months! Ryan usually works through this stuff in a week. Only 262 calories per serving (1/2 cup) and 7 grams of protein.

Prior to dinner, I snacked on a pickle and had some Lucerne low fat string cheese. And dinner found us resorting to the August 2010 issue of Real Simple for Spiced Kebabs and Minted Watermelon Salad. The cover inspired me to try this, for it's just too beautiful to ignore. Right?

LOVED THIS! We cookrf our top sirloin on the grill and added a 1/2 cup of a grilled red pepper.The minted watermelon salad was really refreshing and lite. We added some Athenos Reduced Fat Feta Cheese, per Two Peas and Their Pod's recent adaptation, too. Perfect!

We have enough for tomorrow's dinner. Hooray!

So yeah, it's time to call it a night with some Criminal Minds and some Skyr.Is Strawberry Yogurt. Back on the exercise schedule tomorrow. Anxiously awaiting word on some potential freelance gigs. Keep your fingers crossed for me. Thanks for reading.

Calorie goal 1,210-1,560: 1,453
Carbohydrates goal 164-237: 184
Fat goal 32-57: 45
Protein goal 60-128: 87