This week I purchased these Kashi Country Cheddar crackers for the first time.
They taste great and being Kashi, I also assumed they must be better for me than Cheez-its reduced fat crackers. Well I’m not dietician; but with the exception of Kashi having less sodium and saturated fat, it doesn’t look to me that they are any healthier. In fact, based on my reading of the nutrition facts, they might be less nutritious, as they don’t really have any vitamins, including calcium. The Kashi offer less protein and also less saturated fat. Each of these are from their respective websites; let’s take a peak at the stats:
I really thought the whole grain would give these Kashi crackers a fiber kick, but there isn’t one. Obviously, all of this is just my opinion and based on reading the nutrition facts.
I don’t think this will be something I bother spending extra money on. Even though the Kashi seemed to taste less artificial, it could all just be in my head. If there are any real dieticians out there who can tell me I’m wrong, I’ll gladly listen.
Sources:
Last week was really long. I had to stay at work until 8pm on Wednesday and then until 7 on Thursday. There were tons of meetings, several students who just decided to show up for the semester, even though we are two weeks in, which means getting them all caught up. Needless to say, I was really glad to sleep in on Saturday.
Once I did wake up, I was really hungry and wanted something different. I pulled out the bible The Joy of Cooking and settled on waffles. These waffles were ok. When I make them next time, I’m going to replace the white sugar with brown and add cinnamon, vanilla and maybe some Chobani. While they “baked” up well, they were seriously lacking in flavor.
The waffles were just as good today, when Jeremy reheated them in the toaster oven.
Today was a much better day, while there were angry students and angry parents, I had a better attitude. One thing that helped was getting a good nights sleep. I went to be a little early and laughed my head off rereading some David Sedaris. His essay “In the Waiting Room,” is one of my favorite things. If you’ve never read Sedaris or heard him NPR, he is really quite funny and has his own perspective of the world. After work, I went to the grocery store, which was of course picked over Monday. I managed to get the majority of things I needed.
After bringing home the groceries, I got dressed and went to spin. The class kicked my butt tonight. It was good workout, even though my legs are really tired.
Once spin was over I dropped my friend off and then Jeremy and I made dinner. I’ve seen strata all over the place lately, and it has looked so warm and easy that I wanted to give it a try. It was as easy and good as I’d imagined. I’m not sure if the bread is supposed to go on the bottom or the top. Having it on the top made it really crunchy, which I loved. Next time I’ll either keep it there or do small layer at the bottom and then some on the top. This strata included: bacon, broccoli, baguette, swiss cheese, red onion, green pepper, and of course eggs and milk.
This is something I will definitely make again; it hit the spot.
I have had major motivations issues for about a week.
My justifications:
I really didn’t feel well last week; I had a pesky headache for about five days that just wouldn’t leave me alone. The headache was draining. I came home and crashed pretty much everyday. This plus the fact that it’s been frigid has not made anything any better. I only got in two workouts, which is a major disappointment, because I’ve been doing so well. Today was the first day that I’ve felt “normal,” even though I got very little sleep last night.
My Game Plan:
Well I don’t exactly have one. I’m meeting a friend for the good spin class tomorrow, which will be nice. I really need to choose some meals and go grocery shopping. If I make it through this week and fit in three workouts by Saturday, I need a reward. I’m not sure what the reward will be yet. But I need something to get me through this week. On Wednesday, all the teachers have to stay 8:00, for “course night,” which means I won’t get home until close to 9. And of course this doesn’t negate my regular Thursday tutoring which gets me home around 8. Whew! Long week ahead. Must find and stay motivated.
Well Jeremy and I ended our moratorium on spending month Saturday night, by heading out to celebrate a friend’s birthday.
I’m glad it’s over for sure, however it was a really interesting experience. Jeremy and I really missed some of our favorite restaurants. It was easiest during the week and really difficult on the weekends. It was frustrating to not be able to start any projects. I missed my trips to Michael’s and Joann Fabrics. We did still have a lot of fun. Netflix was a lifesaver, and Jeremy even learned to play Yahtzee.
Things Learned:
- Jeremy and I eat out way too much.
- When you aren’t wasting money on yourself, you can spend money on others. We were able to give a lot more to Haiti than we would have.
- Eating breakfast and lunch at home or work is easy, but cooking dinner every night, while not difficult, wasn’t always fun.
- We are good at keeping each other accountable.
And Now I Hope
- to be more conscientious about my spending.
- to not purchase stupid things that I don’t need.
- to give more to others.
Now to figure out how we’ll challenge ourselves next.
After trying Trader Joe’s Vodka sauce a few times, I figured how difficult could it be. I also figured that I didn’t really need a recipe, because hello, I am an amazing cook. Well apparently my amazing skills are on vacation, because the sauce was disgusting. I literally had to pick out my raviolis and scrape the sauce off. Apparently, when it comes to vodka less is more, and 1/2 cup was really way, way, way too much. Jeremy tried to pretend it wasn’t that bad, and in general, he’ll eat pretty much anything anyway, but it was obvious he didn’t like it either. Thanks for trying to spare my feelings Jerem!
Options for next time are A) following a recipe or B) just buying it from Trader Joe’s.
Here’s to an easy week, I hope.
Things at work have not gone well this week. I really like to be able to control situations. Unfortunately right now the only thing I can control is my attitude and I’m not exactly excelling at that. It seems everything that is happening at work is totally out of my control. Biggest issues:
- My students aren’t attending school. The attendance average for all my classes today was less than 50%. When this happens not only are they not learning, but I worry about the reasons they aren’t attending, which with my students could be grave. In addition, it will be a pain in the butt to get them caught up, whenever they choose to return.
- Some of the policies or lack there of at my school are making me feel so frustrated. I work at a very traditional school, which I understand. But the lack of value they place in diversity makes me feel isolated and dare I say it discriminated against. I’m going to have to figure out someway to get around this. Alerting the newspaper doesn’t seem like the best idea, and lately I’ve had this going through my head.
(I heart That Thing You Do).
- Lastly, some of my co-workers drive me nuts. I wish they would go far, far away.
With all that said, this is the semester of English that I prefer teaching, and I am so thankful to have a job. But a long week is a long week, and I really just wanted something warm and comforting for dinner. So when Jeremy suggested quesadillas, I was definitely on board. I knew the warm, melty cheese with veggies and black beans would at least make me forget if not remedy my problems.
Between this and a good laugh at my Thursday night NBC line up, I’m hoping to get out of my funk. I’m a bit concerned that I may be getting sick. Ugh. . .
Dear J.D.,
Thanks for that one great summer when I was 19 and read Nine Stories. You made me feel deep and literary, of which I was neither. There are images from those stories burned into my mind, specifically “Just Before the War with the Eskimos”.
I’m bummed I won’t get to stalk you this summer in northern New Hampshire; I was really looking forward to that.
While I honestly did not love The Catcher in the Rye, the story seems to often swirl through my head, which means you really were as good as they say.
Rest easy.
CB
I tried spin again tonight and it was the RPM version. This class was SOOOO much better than the last one. I think it has little to do with it being an Les Mills class and everything to do with the instructor. Christine was perky, but not obnoxious and more importantly friendly and helpful. She helped my friend and I set up our bikes from the handlebars all the way down to pedals. My ride was so much more comfortable than last time, thanks to her. I will definitely be going back. Comfortable, by the way, does not mean easy. After my long first day of semester 2, pushing through the tension was just what I needed.
Before class, I ate half of a Carrot Cake Cliff bar; but when I got home, I was famished. Which means, I was really excited to know that there was homemade chicken chili waiting for me. This chili was just spicy enough and so hearty. It is a protein packed, extremely low fat meal. I felt so full and satisfied after I ate. The Jiffy corn muffin didn’t hurt anything either.
Chicken Chili
Ingredients:
- Crushed Tomatoes, 1 280z can
- Chicken Breast, no skin, 1.5 – 2 pounds
- Red Onion, 1 cup, chopped
- Green Peppers 1 cup, chopped
- Red Paper Flakes 3 tbsp
- Chili powder, 3 tbsp
- Salt, 1 tbsp (to taste, I use kosher salt)
- Water 1 Cup
- Dark Red Kidney Beans, 3 15oz can
- Black Beans 15oz cans
- Tomato Sauce, 1 15oz can
Steps:
- I added the first 8 ingredients in the crock pot this morning and set it on 10 hours (which is my lowest setting).
- When I came home, I pulled apart the chicken which took less than two minutes.
- Next, I added the beans and tomato sauce.
- I restarted the crock pot on med-low for another 2 hours.
I ran the stats on SparkPeople; using their recipe calculator. I estimated six servings, but you might be able to get eight. At six servings, there are 385 calories, 3 grams of fat, and 26 grams of protein. This chili tastes so good that I was sure there would be far more calories. This is a great week night meal, and it will be even better tomorrow.
Figuring out what to eat for lunch is a nightly process for me. If I don’t have everything ready the night before, I’ll end up eating a Kashi bar and yogurt. Which is ok sometimes, but would get old fast. For the most part, I’m not really a huge sandwich person. And honestly, if I worked from home, I’d probably be eating cereal for lunch.
Today I have created my own little Bento. I reused the box that my baby spinach came in, because why waste such an awesome contraption, and through in green leaf lettuce and green onions to accompany the baby spinach. Now this alone would A) be a lame lunch and B) not really make a Bento.
So to my greenery I added left over guac, salsa and goat cheese. All of these things together = one awesome weekday lunch.
3 classes down, Seniors and resource to go. A treadmill workout will be in order tonight and maybe some time in the sauna.
