swamp thing

I went for a 22 mile bike ride this morning.  That’s right 22 miles!   But before I left I knew I needed a little something in my stomach, so I had a mini clif bar.

dscf2161

Then I set out on my way for my bike ride.  It was awesome.  At first.  It was nice and cool out so I didn’t get really sweaty, so that was nice.  The not nice part- getting chased by not one, not two, but THREE dogs!!  The third one I thought was going to pull me off of my bike!  It was a looooong hard ride (1 hr 45 mins).  There are TONS of hills around here, so it was very challenging.  I was doing really good up until around mile 15 then my knees started hurting really bad.  I’m wondering if maybe my seat isn’t adjusted to the right hight or something?  My knees hurt really bad still. 🙁

But hey, I burned 772 calories on my ride!!  I can’t wait to see what I burn on saturday on my 34 mile ride!

Anyone know anything about bicycles?

Anyway, after I got back I decided to make a smoothie.  Some people like to call these green smoothies or green monsters, but I’m going to call mine the “swamp thing”.  Looks are decieving on this, I promise it was SOOOO good!

dscf2162

My “swamp thing” consisted of….

  • 1 cup of mixed frozen fruit (pineapple, strawberry, mango, papaya)
  • 1 cup OJ
  • 1 scoop green vibrance
  • big handful of spinach

This was so refreshing after that bike ride!

Hubby was off of work today, so we just kind of lounged around a bit, then we decided to go to Fort Worth and have some lunch/ do some window shopping.  We had some Vietnamese food for lunch.  We went to Tu Hai (thanks Dana for getting me hooked on this place!)

We shared some veggie spring rolls, and I had shredded veggies with vermicelli noodles.  I don’t remember what it was exactly called but it was super light and fresh and so very tasty!  I forgot my camera, so no pictures.

Then we went to Wolf Camera and looked around since Justin is getting me a camera for my bday.  Mines about to go kaput, so it’s time for a new one.  I found the one I want and it’s very reasonable priced!  I’m really excited to get it, but I don’t think he’s going to let me have it till my birthday 🙁

Then we went to Best Buy to look at laptops.  I don’t think I’ll be able to afford to get one for a while, but mine is about to fall apart.  Literally.  It’s really barely hanging on by a thread.  I found one that I liked and it was very reasonable priced!  I kinda want a Mac, but I don’t think I’ll ever be able to afford one.  I am unemployed after all, lol.  The one that I picked out was a Toshiba.  It is super light, which is good because I will be carrying it around a lot at school for the next few yrs.  It also has a 6 hour battery- that will come in handy as well.

So after the window shopping we decided to watch a movie.  We went to see Land of the Lost.  It was really funny!  I don’t think there’s a movie that Will Farrell has made that  I haven’t liked.  He’s hilarious, I’m a huge fan!

Then it was onward to the casa.  Where for dinner we made our favorite standby- crispy chicken fingers.  We had them on top of a salad that consisted of romaine, spinach, carrots, a sprinkle of cheese and some Annie’s light honey mustard.

dscf2165

I’ve been craving sweets like a maniac today, so all I’m going to say about this is mint+oreo+ice cream=heaven on eart.  Enough said.

dscf2167

Cruisin…

Justin and I decided to go on a cruise this summer!!  We are going to celebrate our wedding anniversary and also a new beginning with me starting back to school.  I am so so excited and happy about this!  I just feel that this is not just a vacay but a new beginning.  We are getting a stellar deal so we just decided to go for it!!  Aaaaahhhh, I can’t wait- I am SO happy right now!

Another thing that makes me happy… tomorrow is my last day of work!!!!!!!  (yes, it does need that many exclamation points!)  It’s finally arrived and I am so very happy.

For breakfast this morning I decided to give the oat bran another try.  This time I added a little of my chocolate protein powder to it and it was much much better.  It looks a little weird (mostly because I took a bite before I remembered that I hadn’t taken a pic yet) but trust me, it was good!

dscf1975

In the mix…

  • 1/4 cup oat bran
  • water
  • 1/2 banana
  • 1/2 scoop chocolate protein powder
  • Tablespoon of Barney Butter

Fabulous!

And don’t forget the cafe!

dscf1977

Lunch was almost non-existent.  I spent the whole 20 minutes that I get fighting with the copy machine in the teachers lounge.  It decided to be a jerkface today, so I was giving it what-for.  The copy machine won, btw.  So during my 5th grade classes I had a few minutes to gulp down some Greek yogurt with blueberries (no pic).

When I got home I was sooo tired!!  But dinner must be had and I really didn’t want to eat out(we have a trip to pay for for goodness sake!).  So we had some crispy chicken fingers.  Find the recipe here.

dscf1982

To the tasty chicken fingers we added…

  • steamed broccoli
  • small sweet potato with a tiny bit of butter

Oh so good!  These chicken fingers are a classic and they are going to be around this house for a looong time!

Oh and I may have had a glass or two of Prosecco.  (or we may have finished off the whole bottle.  whoops!)

dscf1979

Gosh this stuff is so good.

dscf1978

Well, that’s all I got for now.  I need to go get some dishes done.  I hear hubby clanking around in the kitchen so I gotta take care of it before he breaks something!  🙂

Crispy Chicken Fingers

This recipe is from Ellie Krieger.  I love her show and her cookbook!  These are soooo tasty and seriously taste fried!

Ingredients

  • 1 1/4 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut across into 1/2-inch pieces
  • 1/2 cup lowfat buttermilk
  • Cooking spray
  • 4 cups whole-grain corn cereal (recommended: Corn Chex or cornflakes)
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • Freshly ground pepper
  • Dash of Cayenne pepper (I added this- it’s not in the original recipe)

Directions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Combine the chicken and buttermilk in a shallow dish. Cover and chill for 15 minutes.

Spray a baking sheet with cooking spray. Put the cereal in a sealed plastic bag and crush with a rolling pin. Transfer the crumbs to a shallow dish. Season the chicken with the salt and a few grinds of pepper. Dip each piece of chicken in the cereal to fully coat and arrange on the baking sheet. Bake until cooked through, about 8 minutes(mine took waaay more than 8 minutes.  I had to bake mine for around 20 mins). Leave the chicken on the baking sheet to cool slightly. It will become crispier.