Lotsa pictures weekend

Hello!

Hope everyone had a great weekend. The weather has been beautiful in MO : ) I just finished writing an Examiner article on sodium and now I’m having some relaxing “me” time doing one of my favorite things … blogging!

Here are some highlights of our weekend …

I discovered a new bar (made by Mrs. May’s Naturals) at my grocery store. A Trio bar … very similar to Kind Bar, tastes great, and only 99 cents a bar!! I’ll take that, thank you!

As we often do, on Saturday we went to Kansas City. The weather was so beautiful and we spent some time simply driving around, windows down, while people watching.

Dinner

We decided to eat at Bristol Seafood Grill (pictures are little dark because by the time we got there, well … it was dark, ha).

We ate outside and it was so neat. The weather was absolutely perfect, lighting just right, and wonderful atmosphere. To top it all off, there was an open fire outside and we got to sit right below it (that’s what’s glowing above Erik’s head). It permeated the perfect amount of heat to counteract the small chilly breeze.

We started out with shrimp cocktails which tasted great. I love shrimp cocktail.

I had the king salmon with grilled asparagus and mashed sweet potatoes. Again … YUM! It just doesn’t get much better than grilled asparagus, sweet potatoes and salmon.

 Whole Foods Pick-up

Some random things we picked up at Whole Foods (because we can’t go to KC without stopping there;)

Some bars to try …

Puffed cereal. I love this stuff because it’s only around 60 calories for 1 cup, no sugar and no salt. Unlike most other cereals that have a lot of sugar, I can eat a huge bowl full with some fruit, stevia, cinnamon, almond milk and feel great about it ; )

And some hemp seeds.

When we got home we watched a movie and doted on our dogs for a little  bit.

 

What did you do this weekend??

 

-Lesley

 

Butternut & Sleeping in

Happy Weekend!!!

Does anyone else feel like they’re the only one that’s not at the Foodbuzz Festival this weekend? Haha, I would love to be there. Oooh well.

Either way, I’m so happy it’s the weekend.  I love sleeping in (aka 7 or 8) and being able to hang out with Erik all weekend.

I cooked a butternut squash last night that had been in my fridge for a long time! My mom gave it to me from her garden a long time ago. (Good thing they last awhile).

So today for lunch, I had half of it with:

• ground turkey
• balsamic vinegar
• Mrs. Dash’s
• sea salt
• pepper
• reduced fat Parmesan

I would have liked some other veggie in there (like peppers) but I didn’t have any and my lunch break is short.  It was still pretty tasty though! : )

 

Weekend plans: work a little, workout a little, bake a little, eat good food, do whatever I want, and have fun with Erik ; )  I’m quite sure we’ll take a trip to KC at some point this weekend.

Have a great weekend … do something that makes you smile! : )

 

-Lesley

 

What to eat when you’re out of everything

Are you tired of hearing dog stories yet? Ha. I’ve got another one.

Here is what Erik found when he got home today … can you guess the culprit?? (hint: he’s right there)

Thankfully, Bubba rarely ever gets in the trash but for whatever reason, he decided it looked like fun today :p I think we need a lid, ha.

We are pretty much out of everything right now so dinner was “be creative” night.

I toasted some Ezekiel bread and ate it with hummus and zucchini.

It was very flavorful and surprisingly satisfying.

I then ate an apple that I chopped up and microwaved with:

• a little pb
• a little almond milk
• allspice (I was out of cinnamon)
• stevia in the raw

I’m glad tomorrow is Friday!

I’m excited for the weekend because we have nothing planned : )

Happy Thursday Day/Friday!

 

-Lesley

 

The lion and the lamb together

Happy Hump Day! … I’m glad it’s getting closer to the weekend! I love weekends.

 

The Lion and the Lamb

Yesterday I came home from work to see the unthinkable. Erik had Bubba and Adrian outside walking them TOGETHER.

(In case you missed it, Bubba is my father-in-law’s 150 lb Akita that we’ve had for over a month now while he’s in the hospital/living community. He is not known for being a nice dog and hasn’t been around other dogs before and he could easily eat both of our dogs. When Bubba met Adrian a month ago he immediately growled at her and did not show affection for her in any form).

So … Erik somehow whipped out his Dog Whisperer skills and now they magically get along! It’s like a lion and a lamb laying next to each other (well, sort of?)

Adrian has always been very submissive to other dogs though so if she does something to make Bubba mad she’ll just submit to him.

I don’t know if we’ll ever get Rocky and Bubba to get along because Rocky would NOT submit to Bubba and would totally be up in his face. (I told Erik I don’t want to be around if he attempts that :s)

This has solved some of our Adrian problems (aka digging out of the yard all the time out of boredom) because now she can come inside with Bubba. Hooray … my husband is good at everything!

Ha, so thank for listening to my dog story of the day and looking at my poor quality pictures.

Food

I’ll be totally honest here and tell you that I had the exact same thing for dinner tonight as last night. A lot of you commented and said you were going to eat an egg sammie today  because of it and so I just kept thinking about it and I couldn’t resist! ; )

Fitness

45 minutes on the treadmill this morning (walking on incline).

Tonight I did chest and Erik did tris. I basically just benched really light weight (well, just the bar) and I did:

• warm-up set of 12
• 2 sets of normal grip to failure
• 2 sets of wide grip to failure
• 2 sets of close grip to failure
• 2 sets chest flies

I focused on my chest muscles and made really slow movements to really focus on feeling it. By my last set I literally had to have Erik’s help to get just the bar back up :s. Haha.

The end! : )

How do you stay motivated to workout and eat healthy in these holiday and cold-weather filled months ahead?

 

-Lesley

 

An old favorite

I had all intentions of making this post a plea to Cesar Millan to please come to our house and help us with our dogs, ha. (Let’s just say I chased Adrian up and down our block in my work clothes this morning 5 minutes before I had to go to work when I hadn’t eaten yet or gotten my stuff together). 

Ha, but I don’t feel like doing that anymore because I’m tired. Maaaaybe tomorrow ; ) We’re probably going to spend a large portion of the weekend cementing underneath our fence so that she can’t dig out anymore.

Anyways … back to regular scheduled posting … I worked another 10 hours today and came home tired. So … I went for a fast old favorite I haven’t had in awhile … egg sandwich.

Consisted of:

• 1 egg, 2 egg whites beaten together and cooked atop coconut oil
• 2 slices toasted Ezekiel bread
• 2 % cheese
• cottage cheese (spread on bread … I prefer Laughing Cow but we were out)
• Ketchup

Speaking of ketchup …

We usually use Heinz less sugar ketchup but Erik found this and I love it! Ketchup with agave nectar … that’s my kind of ketchup!

For the duration of the night, we’re going to do nothing and watch Biggest Loser.

Good night, all : )

-Lesley

Lots of water, easy dinner & cheesy smiles

Monday is over.

Okay … so first off, I’m still not used to it being dark out so early and bright out so early! I woke up on my own at 3:38 a.m. wide awake (since I’m used to getting up at 4:40). Needless, to say, it was nice to sleep another hour!!

My Monday went by pretty fast and that’s always a good thing. I decided to paint my nails black to go with my dark hair, ha.  (TLC on in the background … anyone watching Kate’s interview tonight? I might if Erik doesn’t protest, ha).

I proudly drank two of these babies full of water today (104 ounces). Needless to say, I had to go to the bathroom constantly. Ha, but since I just type all day long it’s oddly enough a nice break ; )

(insert cell phone picture)

I worked 10 hours today and came home and did a light back workout. (That was after chasing my escaped dog, Adrian, down the busy street that is right in front of our house).   The dog drama never ceases.

For dinner it was ground turkey with Mrs. Dash, pepper, sea salt mixed with Brussels, peas, 2% cheese and balsamic vinegar. It may or may not look gross but I enjoyed it!  It could also be known as I-don’t-feel-like-cooking-and-this-is-really-easy : ) Either way … it satisfied me!

Then I tried to take a picture of Erik and myself …  and ended up with this cheesy, fake smile picture.

That’s all for the night at the Lesley Living Life household … hope you all have a great night!! : )

P.S. Thank you all for the wonderful and nice compliments about our house! It made us (or least for sure me) feel special ; )

Love, (yes, I love you all!)

 

-Lesley

 

Welcome to my house & my Sunday

Happy Sunday!!

Even though it means Monday is fast approaching, Sunday’s are seriously one of my favorite days of the week. I love sleeping in (a little) and then taking my time with breakfast and lounging a little before going to church. This morning I had an oatmeal protein powder pancake (a little too well done :s)

It’s beautiful here today!  It’s been cold and rainy lately and fall has been acting an awful lot like winter … but finally …. a beautiful fall day! It’s about 70 degrees and I’m loving it!

I’ve so far spent a lot of time playing with the dogs. (Read: throwing Rocky’s stick a million times for her to go fetch and petting Adrian non  stop). Ours dogs are so different. Rocky only wants to go chase her stick and Adrian only wants to be doted on.

I opened all my curtains to let all the sunshine in and decided to take some pictures of our new furniture. (Ha, and they’re kind of ultra bright, aka too bright but oh well!)

First up … couch and chair in the living room

All together with a bonus of Erik flashing by …

This drafting table is what I got Erik for his birthday in September.  And next to it is his signed Johnny Cash guitar.

And some new bedroom furniture.  (Please excuse the current lack of art and accessories throughout as well as the ultra bright sun).

And, yes, as you can see, we have a very odd shaped bedroom. There are little nooks with dormers that are virtually good for nothing on both sides.

And I couldn’t forget the old man of the house … clearly he has a pretty rough life. (He’s also on a doggie diet! haha. But for 13 years old and 150 lbs, I’d say he’s doin’ pretty good).

And that’s all. I now “have to” go to Target to get some dog food among other things and Hyvee for a few grocery items.

How was your Halloween and weekend??

 

-Lesley

 

Fake Fridays

Hello!

Do Thursdays always feel like Fridays to anyone else? They do here! We got some new furniture today though and that makes this fake Friday all better!

My mother-in-law is coming over tonight so here’s to a quick post … dinner tonight will include these:

Pre-oven pictures of Smart Chicken breasts marinated with:

• greek olive hummus
• no salt added tomato sauce
• no salt added diced tomatoes
• minced garlic
• sesame seeds
• tomato & basil reduced fat feta
• sea salt
• pepper
• Mrs. Dash’s garlic & herb
• balsamic vinegar
• olive oil
• a little Parmesan

Made by Erik. I’ve been working a lot of overtime so thankfully he’s been Betty Homemaker ; )

And it will also include this:

This pasta made with rice, quinoa, and amaranth was only fifty cents a box!!! Score.

Speaking of Erik … he got in the mood to paint something and here is his abstract creation. (Sorry, not the best picture but the best I have).

Now we’re off to eat and enjoy our evening … so glad tomorrow is real Friday! ha ; ) 

 

-Lesley

 

POM Spiced cider & grass fed beef

I love POM Wonderful! This Spiced POM Cider came in the mail the other day and it smells so good! I can’t wait to try it.

Thanks for always being so generous, POM : )

Last night we had our grass fed beef that we got at Whole Foods the other day.

We Erik cooked it on the George Foreman (though a regular grill would have been better ; )

A few random facts and health benefits of grass fed beef vs grain fed:

• Assuming that you eat a typical amount of beef (66 pounds a year), switching to grass fed beef could save you approximately 18,000 calories a year and if everything else in your diet stayed the same, you'll lose about 6 pounds a year. - Gearld Fry [source]
• Grass Fed Beef is four to six times lower in fat than grain fed beef and contains only half the saturated fat, making it as lean as poultry and wild game. [source]

There are many more reasons why grass fed beef is superior to grain fed, not only for our own health but for the environment. I plan on writing a more extensive post on this when I have more time.

The taste of our grass fed beef? Loved it! It’s hard to put it into words but it tasted much cleaner and just had tons of flavor. The best burger I’ve ever had off of the George Foreman times ten!

Now I just wish I had easy access to grass fed beef so I could eat it more!

That’s all folks … have a great night/day/morning! : )

 

-Lesley

Banana Pumpkin Bread

We made it through Monday!  Actually, Mondays always seem to go by really fast so I don’t mind them at all.

As you may have noticed, I’ve been posting a lot of baked goods lately  with no recipes. Many of you have asked for the recipes so I’ll gladly oblige and share them : ) First I’ll start with:

Banana Pumpkin Bread

(please pardon the pictures. if you missed it, here is why there are nibbles missing out of it)

I modified Angela’s recipe that is found here.

Ingredients:

• 2 ripe bananas
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup almond milk
• 1/8 cup coconut oil
• 1 1/3 cups pumpkin puree
• 1/3 cup agave nectar
• 1/2 cup NuStevia baking blend (or any other type of sugar/sweetener)
• 1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
• 1 cup oats
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• Little less than 1/2 tsp sea salt
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp allspice
• 3/4 cup raisins

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven at 350 degrees.
2. Mash bananas and stir in all other wet ingredients.
3. In a separate bowl, mix together all dry ingredients excluding the raisins.
4. Add the dry mixture to the wet and stir. Add raisins.
5. Pour mixture into greased 9x5 inch pan and bake for approximately 55 minutes.
6. And finally, make sure you don’t let it cool on the edge of your counter where your dogs can eat it ; )

And there it is … we loved it! Perfect fall bread.

Anyone else loving the beautiful leaves all around as much as me? Wonderful fall foliage all around! I also love to step on really crunchy leaves. Does anyone else find themselves going out of your way to step on a really crunchy looking leaf?? Ha, I do : ) I can’t help myself.

Happy fall food and weather!

 

-Lesley

Weekend wonderings

Hi!!

How was your weekend??  Ours was good. Here’s a randomly bulleted list of some of the things that happened at our household …

• Got this in the mail to review

• Worked some overtime
• Discovered this really good ice cream … it’s made with coconut milk and is sweetened with agave nectar … love it!

• Made some cookies with a bunch of random ingredients including: pumpkin, agave, peanut butter, cacao nibs, hemp seeds, etc, etc … they turned out great!
• Got annoyed at my dogs some more: Adrian won’t stop digging herself out of the yard, ugh!  And Bubba did his business in the house on the rug and let me tell you he’s 150 lbs, it wasn’t just a little bit :s Thankfully, he never usually does that!
• Took a picture of myself on the way to Nebraska Furniture Mart (though you can barely see my face because this picture is so bright, haha).

• Got some new furniture … it will be here on Thursday … hooray!
• Got to eat at Whole Foods (we don’t go there very often so it’s always really exciting and tastes so stinkin’ good!!)
• While at Whole Foods we picked up some grass fed beef and grass fed eye of round … I’m excited to try it! We don’t have that readily available unless we want to drive an hour.
• Was a bad blogger and took hardly any pictures this weekend. Oh well.

And that’s a wrap … hope your weekend was a good one : )

 

-Lesley