Healthier Spaghetti

I think its obvious by now I have a thing for squashes, pumpkins, and most other things that harvest in the fall. Butternut squash will always be my favorite, but spaghetti squash is right up there. It has been a few years now since I cut into my first spaghetti squash. If you haven't yet, it is a fun experience. The first few times I cooked with it I usually roasted it plain and mixed it with some brown sugar and butter. That is the simplest, easiest way to eat any squash. When it comes to the spaghetti squash, it really lives up to its name. Next time you are craving some spaghetti, but don't want to only eat 3 strands of pasta because one serving is so dang small, substitute a spaghetti squash. Your tummy and your waistline will thank you.* Also, my husband likes this meal. I find that important to note here :)


The innards of the spaghetti squash.



The finished product. I labeled it because it was hard to see all the parts on their own in this picture.




Healthier Spaghetti

-1 large spaghetti squash, 700g cooked (The one I used was about the size of a football before cutting into it, this fed two of us and we had leftovers)
-1 pound beef, or your favorite protein (I prefer to use chicken sausage, ground turkey, or extra lean ground beef for this. I didn't want to make a trip to the store and we only had 88% lean beef on hand so I rolled with it. Obviously using one of the above listed will make this even healthier. )
-2 tablespoons olive oil
-100g onion, chopped
-2 cloves garlic, minced
-Jar of your favorite pasta sauce (we had Prego on hand, not my first choice but DH likes it)

Start by cutting your squash in half. Scoop out seeds and stringy stuff. Place face down on a microwave safe dish or plate with water on the bottom for steaming. (You can also do the same in the oven, this takes longer...usually about 60 minutes at about 350). In my microwave, this takes 11 minutes but you might have to go more or less depending on yours. When the squash is almost done cooking, start browning the meat. Keep an eye on the meat, and take the squash out of the oven or microwave carefully. Set it face up and begin scraping out the "noodles" with a fork. Set aside. In a medium pan, heat olive oil until rippling. Add garlic. Cook for about 1 minute, then add onion. Cook until onion starts to get translucent. Add in squash slowly, turn down heat. Mix together well to coat. Now build your bowl. Put noodles in the bottom and add your sauce.

I was going to include nutrition facts, but I figured it will vary so much depending on what you have on hand. But for comparison, here are the differences between squash and whole wheat pasta:

100g Spaghetti Squash (about 1 cup), cooked according to Fit Day:
Calories: 46.7
Fat: 2.6g
Carbs: 6.3g
Protein: .64g
Good source of Vitamin A, C, and B6.

100g dry (approx. 1 cup cooked), of Barilla Plus Multigrain Pasta (what I have on hand):
Calories: 370
Fat: 3g
Carbs: 67g
Protein: 17g
Good source of Folate, Thiamin, Iron, and Riboflavin




*Another way to use this squash is to make a "pasta bake" with it. Same ingredients as above, but mix everything together in a bowl, then spread evenly in a sprayed glass baking dish. Top with mozzarella, and bake until the cheese is bubbly and slightly golden.

Vegas Re-cap

I had planned to post some pictures of our recent trip to Vegas a lonnggg time ago, but got caught up geeking out over Body by Eats and being sick.

I guess there really isn't much to say about it. We mostly did 3 things:

1) Walked all day everyday and sometimes would get lost inside the giant malls within the hotel/casinos because there is no daylight nor point of reference.
2) Gambled. I stuck with video poker, while my husband likes "real" stuff like poker and blackjack.
3) Drank beer, mostly Corona.

One of the highlights of my trip was the greatest sandwich of all time, courtesy Earl of Sandwich. Why was it the greatest? It was reasonably priced for one, and I have a serious thing for warm toasty sandwiches a la Potbelly or dare I even say Quizno's in a pinch.

If you have an Earl's near you, I am jealous. There nearest one to me is in Detroit. Earl, if you are reading this please consider your franchise options in Minnesota. I would even be willing to go to Wisconsin for your delicious sandwiches.

There were other highlights besides a sandwich, I promise.

Overall, I had a blast, but if I ever go back I will hopefully be richer so I can go to ALL the shows and eat at ALL the awesome restaurants. Make that A LOT richer.

Lastly, the few pictures I took are a little blurry and mostly random. Fitting I suppose.


Here are the boys admiring the fountains at the Bellagio.


Here we are downtown. We had a great time there and I really enjoyed seeing the old, classic Vegas.



My lovely sister in law and I still enjoying downtown.


This is where we stayed.


Kidding!


In front of the giant lion at the MGM.


Cheers!

Work It Out...sort of

Well, once again I was sidelined from workouts this past week. I managed two decent workouts, but on Wednesday woke up with a high fever and spent the next 5 days with influenza/H1N1. I took resting seriously this time, and am hoping it will pay off. So far so good!

A few other changes is my lack of following a program. I had started up NROL4W again, but wasn't in the mood to follow a program for a while. Right now I am focusing on having some fun in the weight room, hitting my muscles, and focusing on some fat loss vs. increases in strength.

My weekly work out report for the week of October 19th - October 25th:

Monday:
4 mile run

Tuesday: My "a" workout

Straight sets
warm up, then

hang clean
3 x 5 x 65

front squat
2 x 5 x 65
1 x 5 x 75

lunges
3 x 5 x 75

flat bench
3 x 5 x 65

bent over row
3 x 5 x 65

planks
2 @ 1 min

-20 minute jog

Wednesday-Sunday:

No workouts to report...my husband and I did get a lot done around the house over the weekend, so all was not lost.

On another note, I decided that I am just not digging diet soda anymore. I was having about 4-5 cans of Diet Coke a week, mostly at work, completely out of boredom. I don't even really like it that much anymore, it was just something to do around 3 p.m. when the afternoon seems to crawl by. I am not going to say I will never have a soda in my life again, I am just not going to go out of my way to have it anymore.

It's here!

Sometimes I get overly excited for what most people would consider very mundane things. A few examples would be the day any disc of The Tudors or Deadwood arrived in my mailbox from Netflix, the first live hockey game of the season, my morning coffee, a really good beer. Maybe I am not alone on that last one. I do get excited for big things, too.

Another thing got me excited this week. This time it's one of the big things. I think a lot of people are going to agree with me on this one - and a lot already do. I was lucky enough to get a pre-order of Leigh Peele's new project, Body by Eats. It started out as a book, but has grown into many books, and a really cool new members only site. And its affordable.

So far, I have only had time to skim through a few of the books (not something you should do with Leigh's books, you need to read them, and read them again) and perused a few of the recipes (YUM), but I know the books, the site, and the forums are going to be a valuable tool for everything training and food.

What I am really excited about is to have a collection of recipes that have been tried out by the author, are put together using grams and ounces, and include all the nutrition facts you need for your goals. This is perfect for anyone who loves to cook and is looking for portion control and macro and calorie counts a.k.a ME.

Here is a link to the site, and I will also keep a link on my page to the right.

Enjoy!

Wait for it...

It's no secret I have been rather absent lately. I haven't been cooking as much and with our vacation, I have just been plain busy. Such is life. I got a couple cool posts coming up...promise!

In the mean time, I found an interesting write up by Tony Gentilcore on his new website about endurance athletes and the improvement of one of his clients' marathon times by running less and lifting more.

As I was reading about her history, I sat there nodding my head. Her schedule looked oddly familiar. Five days a week of cardio - running, stairmaster, or elliptical. I wasn't a D-1 athlete, but after being fairly competitive in high school I went through the motions of doing almost all cardio and playing a little intramural sports, with zero strength training. When that wasn't enough I started running more, but didn't get better at it (or lose weight, which was my goal). When I finally lost some fat and started strength training, my running finally improved - and continues to improve. I am not training for a race or anything, but who doesn't want to have better, faster, more enjoyable runs? Strength training, for the win.

Work It Out, and an update

I am alive...barely. We got back from 3 days in Vegas on Saturday. Needless to say, I am tired and glad to be home! We did the most walking I think I have ever done. Hopefully all those miles helped offset the food and drinks!

I will have a post soon complete with pictures from our adventure.



My weekly work out report for the week of October 12th - October 18th:

Monday:
t-mill intervals
5 min warm up
1 min @ 8.4-9.0 mph, 2 min @ 5.5 mph in between
8 min cool down
8 min walk

Tuesday: none
Wednesday-Friday: many, many miles walked. I didn't bring my GWF, but would have been curious to see how many miles and steps I did each day. It was at least 10-12 hours of walking each day.
Saturday-Sunday: none

Very happy to be back home and back at it this week. "It" being my proper diet and workouts of course!

All growned up.

Today my baby sister turns 16. I am so excited for her. I remember turning 16...and failing my first drivers test. Kind of put a damper on the mood. That and having a birthday in the depths of the most depressing part of winter doesn't exactly scream party time. But oh yeah...we are talking about her, right?

It's amazing how fast time has gone. Since we obviously have a large age gap between us, I remember everything about her life from the day she was born. I will never forget seeing her for the first time, watching her learn to talk, teaching her funny things to say, and watching her grow into the beautiful girl that she is today.

If I sound like a Mom, it's probably because I feel a little motherly towards her still. I think its just the nature of being that much older and babysitting her for many years. The mother in me is turning more into a sister and friend as time goes on. And, I know as time goes on we are only going to keep getting closer.

So in the spirit of the day....reminiscing...I found some awesome old pictures of her and I. Not only do you get to see how nerdy I was in the mid-nineties, you get to see how dang cute she was...and is today.


Here we are jammin' some fat beats on the piano. Check out those bangs!



At the lake out on the water. Some of the best memories we have made as a family have been cabin time.



My brother had to make an appearance of course. Here we are at Niagara falls circa 2000 I believe. The best part about having a younger sister was that we still did the fun stuff like going on rides. I was always like "okay I suppose I can take her on this merry go round one more time." But secretly loved it.


This one is awesome. Look at that hair! It's almost distracting us from the cuteness in the picture, which is clearly the little blondie in yellow.

She sure looks different now...




Happy Birthday baby sis!

Work It Out

Each week I will post the previous weeks workouts. I am not going to post the lifting in detail out of respect for the authors of the programs. If I hit a PR or have a great lift I will report on that.

My weekly work out report for the week of October 5th - October 11th:

Taking some time off from NROL4W and just getting some strength training in along with more intervals and cardio for a few weeks.

Monday
-random workout #1

Barbell complex

6 rounds of the following, 6 reps each, with 55#, 1 minute rest in between rounds:

bent over row
hang clean
front squat/push press
lunge
good morning

then I did some other stuff:

db swings
3 x 15 x 25
planks and side planks
cable wood chop

-2 mile jog...in the rain... since the gym has apparently started getting busy and there were no treadmills. Sigh.

Tuesday:

-another indoor workout because of the wind/rain
treadmill intervals, 1% incline
5 min warm up @ 5.5mph
1 min @ 8.4, 8.6, 8.6, 8.7, 8.8, 8.9, 9.0
8 min cool down @ 5.5mph
8 min walk

Wednesday:

5 mile run, 46:20 Started out slow with no intentions of trying for any sort of time, but then felt good and picked it up. Last 2 miles were really fast.

Thursday:

Random Workout #2 (just throwing some weight around)

Front Squat
3 x 5 x 65
Hang Clean
4 x 5 x 65
barbell bulgarian split squat
4 x 5 x 65
dumbbell incline bench
2 x 8 x 30's
flat bench
2 x 15 x 45
cable woodchop
2 x 15 x 50

treadmill intervals:
5x 1 min @ 8.5 mph, 2 min in between @ 5.5 mph
some warm up and cool down @ 5.5

Friday:
3+ mile jog in the morning. It was about 35 degrees when I ran! Had to bust out my running hat and pants. :(

Saturday:
none

Sunday:
3 mile run - again with the hat and pants! Gloves will be next. It was about 35 again when I ran...and today its SNOWING!

Work It Out

Each week I will post the previous weeks workouts. I am not going to post the lifting in detail out of respect for the authors of the programs. If I hit a PR or have a great lift I will report on that.

My weekly work out report for the week of September 28th - October 4th:

Monday
- NROL4W Stage 1, A8 again (did another round of 3x8 because I missed a week being sick)
- 20 minute jog
*PR for reps on barbell squat 6 x 125

Tuesday
- treadmill intervals
5 min warm up @ 5.5 mph
7 x 1 min @ 8.5
8 min cool down @ 5.5
10 min walk @ 3.9

Wednesday
- 5 mile run, 46:10

Thursday
- NROL4W Stage 1, B8 round two, 3x8 (working on 165 for deadlift for a while before moving up)
- 20 minute jog

Friday
- 3 mile run

Saturday
- none

Sunday
- 2 mile walk, 2 mile run (wasn't feeling 100% so I took it easy)