November 20, 2008

Early bird continue~~~~~~~~ but happy early bird (2 parts) ^_^

yeah~~~ I woke up again at 5am (6.5 hours of sleep) but unlike yesterday that I had headache...today I woke up totally awake, no headache, no tired, just like that all I needed to sleep was 6.5 hours. Maybe it was last night's vinyasa yoga that gave me extra energy to be more productive sleeping?! (oh. . for the record, when I came back last night I had 1/4 baked squash, 1 muffin with PB before going to sleep)

This morning's combo was very interesting
  • 1/2 cup old wessex (my new favorite)
  • 1/2 banana
  • 1 small apple chopped
  • 1/4 silk
  • pinch of salt (it's the magic touch, because somehow it makes the whole thing sweeter)
  • 1/4 pumpkin
And the star was: tatatataaaaaaaaaaaaaa BARNEY BUTTER
mmmmmmmmmmmmmm........yummy yummy!!!!!!! Now I can understand why Tina and Kath are so obsessed with it. It's creamy, with a smooth taste of almond, not so sweet, just PERFECTION! (I'm such a bad reviewer ).

I worked from 7am - 12.30pm, very productive morning (not sleepy at all). Snack was the usual: trail mix and marroc
I had to leave home around 1.30pm, so lunch was quick: corn noodles with tons of frozen veggies and Tj's turkey meatballs.
Dessert: Fage 0% with wheat berries and cinnamon.
I packed more trail mix, an apple with cinnamon and BARNEY BUTTER for snack since I had to be in campus all afternoon and spin class at 5pm. (The small packet is so convenient to carry. )
This photo was taken in office after I had Barney Butter with a new feature of Mac.........can you see my happy satisfying face? (part 1)
I got this in Co-op before the spin class. It has a bland taste....won't buy it again.
Well...part 2 was the spin class. Because I have a new heart rate monitor!!!! Polar F6. I'm so happy to get a new monitor because the one I had for 3 years haven't been working properly. It's hard for it to catch my heart rate, sometimes in the middle of the workout it just stops.....grrrrrrrrr..... finally I got a new one!!!!!!!! And it comes with more functions. It records several workouts, it informs either HR or % of target, cal burned, how long you've been in zone....etc. It's very light and feminine, really like it!
So, today's spin class was amazing, I sweat more than usual (because I'm more aware of how much effort I'm putting and when the instructor tell us to be in 80%, I could be in 80% and not have to guess). Here's my stat:
Duration: 45 min
Average Heart Rate: 144
Maximum: 202 (is it possible?)
Calories burned: 275
wooooooooo.......great workout, isn't it? I haven't done serious cardio work for almost 4 months now, I'm totally out of shape. I might go to the gym for a run tomorrow and check how I am.

On the way back home, I was thinking what to have at dinner. And my intuition told me that I need something warm, preferably spicy and with yellow/orange color. hahahha.......see how good communication I have with my intuition? I reminded me what I had in fridge and the recipe was created. First, the result

okay. It's not soup, its not chili, so I don't know how to name it. (can you help me with that?) but I do have the recipe:
  • 1/2 medium onion
  • 1 tbsp canola oil
  • 2 cup chopped cauliflower
  • 1/3 cup red lentils
  • 1/3 cup pumpkin puree
  • 1/3 cup diced tomatoes
  • 1 tbsp cumin
  • 1/2 tbsp curry powder
  • S+P
  • 1/2 tbsp sugar
Method:
Cook chopped onion with canola oil for 2-3 min until it gets the brown color. Add coliflower, lentils, tomatoes and 2-3 cups of water. Let it cook for about 20 min, stir pumpkin puree and seasonings.
It's really tasty even without stock as base. Just what I was craving.
I also had 3-4 pieces of Tj's grilled chicken and 1/2 baked acorn squash.


mmmmmmm..........so satisfied with my dinner. I think when you want to eat something and you make it (instead of eating out) by youself, it really satisfy you in all sense!
A perfect dinner can't be perfect without desserts, right? So
Dessert 1: fage 0% with frozen strawberries.
Dessert 2: fage 0% with cinnamon.
It's my first time to have fage 0%. It's good but not as creamier as 2%, so I think 2% of saturated fat won't hurt, right? ^_^

Have everyone a good evening~~~~~~ mine is great! since I finished dinner and blogging so early today, I can have more time reading "Eat, Pray and Love". Have you guys read it? It's a easy reading, very funny and insightful.

Here's a question for you guys: how do you measure your cardio work performance? duration? maximum HR? average HR? I remember my favorite spin class teacher told me once that it's how fast you pump up your HR and how fast you can go back to your normal HR the measure of your cardio performance. Is it right?

And don't forget to suggest a name for my recipe ^_^

18 comments:

LizNoVeggieGirl said...

I'm an early bird too, haha :-D

Enjoy your night, girl!!

Fitnessista said...

yup your teacher was right-- that's the definition of fitness:
i'm NOT an early bird. i haaaate the morning!
mmm i love barney butter!!
hope you have a great night!

Erica said...

Yes, like fitnessista said- your teacher is correct! Glad you are loving the heart rate monitor. Yes- I teach group fitness classes part time and love it! I teach turbo kick, body step, and use to teach a hip hop class ;)

Trying To Heal said...

seriously, i love all your food, every single day! i want you to be my cook!

Krista said...

LOVED the book "Eat, Pray, Love". I actually bought it. Elizabeth Gilbert is a fantastic writer!

Sweet Tooth said...

i came across ur blog while browsing for vegetarian yummies and so far amazing! um.. i would suggest "Tiger Dish" for your dinner cuisine..don't know why just popped into my head, maybe cuz the colors are so bright and warm and seems a bit oriental as well..hmm.. oh well! :-)

jesse said...

I love that picture, you look gorgeous in it! And yummm, your food looks so nourishing and wonderful...

Anonymous said...

I love playing with my photo booth on my mac too! Your food looks fantastic.

Pearl said...

mmmm your soup looks so good!

hope to keep in touch :)

Anonymous said...

i'd hate to go all "rachael ray" on you, but how bout choup- a mix between a chili and a soup. i only suggest that because i'm watching her show right now haha

btw, where do you buy your barney butter? i've been wanting to try it but i don't like ordering things online.

Anonymous said...

you can call your recipe stoup like rachel ray does! Its somewhere in between soup and stew :)

Lindsay (Happy Herbivore) said...

I invested in a good heart rate monitor (the kind that requires a strap around your heart and also a watch on your wrist) and it calculates everything for me -- even the estimate cals I burned. After my workout, it gives me a reading of all that I did -- and it even tells me when I'm not in my zone, over my zone, etc etc.

I highly recommend the investment!! I use a HRM by Polar.

Anonymous said...

Cheers for Barney Butter! I just tried it this weekend and it is phenomenal!!!!!
How I measure my cardio workouts; I've never used a heart rate monitor or any device for that matter. I workout more to feel good, not burn a certain number of calories, or attain a certain heart rate. I go by how happy I feel running, how much I'm enjoying it, how my shins feel, and how my lungs feel. I don't even know how long or how far I run. I just run to run. It's a great feeling!!!!
Happy Friday Coco, hope you have a fantastic weekend coming up :)

Anonymous said...

What are corn noodles?

Balance, Joy and Delicias! said...

Sweet teeth: thanks for the name, great idea!!! I think it's so perfect for my dish!

Joanna, lisasrant: I like your new words choup and stoup... I'll adopt them since I like to make soupy chili and soupy stew. So depending if I put beans or not, I'll use either of them Thanks a lot!

biz319: corn noodles is just noodles made with corn meal instead of wheat. I bought it from asian store. It taste similar to other noodles but has more fiber in it.

TheBoyfriend1124 said...

jaja, very interesting photo.

And finally you eat some meat.

the noodle looks delicious.

Meg said...

Whatever you want to call it...your dinner looks delicious!

Isn't Barney Butter delicious!?

Balance, Joy and Delicias! said...

Meg: BB is delicious~~~~~~~~~ much much more than I thought. I'm glad that it's so good because it's really expensive. ^_^

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