TV Dinner

Since I knew we'd be spending 2 hours on the couch watching Biggest Loser last night, I decided to make a fun spin on TV dinners for Katie and I! One of the meals I had planned for the week was veggie meatloaf, and I knew this would be the perfect opportunity for it. I used this recipe for meatless meatloaf from Whole Foods. I think the only substitution I made was to use an orange bell pepper instead of green, because that's what I had. I also used a brownie pan because apparently I no longer have a loaf pan! I made sure to finely dice the veggies because I don't like huge chunks in my 'loaf'.

For sides I made mashed potatoes (made with plain yogurt), mushroom and horseradish gravy, cinnamon apples, and sweet & sour Brussels sprouts!

Don't be scared of Brussels sprouts - they're just like baby cabbages!

To cook these, I sautéed them for a few minutes in a tiny bit of oil, then I added about 1/2 cup of water and let them simmer for 10 minutes (until the water was almost completely evaporated). I then added about 1 Tbs of apricot preserves and 1/2 Tbs apple cider vinegar to the pan, mixing to combine. Then I seasoned it up with salt and pepper and let it reduce down a couple of minutes until the sprouts were glazed.

I plated everything up on our porcelain TV trays! So fun!

Like last week, I did squats and planks during the commercial breaks of the second hour of the show. Seems like 2 sets of 15 squats and 2 60 second planks works out perfectly, time wise!

Later, I packed a breakfast and lunch for work.

Breakfast was a bowl of (very unphotogenic ) banana and peanut butter overnight oats. This was a mix of 1/2 c rolled oats (raw), 1/2 c plain yogurt, 1 sliced banana, 1 Tbs peanut butter, and about 1/4 c almond milk. For lunch I packed a taco-ish salad made up of spinach, brown rice, pinto beans, tomatoes, orange bell pepper, and salsa verde. To round out my lunch was a pear. Snacks were cottage cheese and carrots with hummus.

Tonight after work I went to an introductory meeting for a long distance running club! I'm really excited because most of the people there were looking for motivation and running partners - just like me! The club meets every Sunday morning for a long run and every Wednesday evening for a guest lecture and short run. I'm hoping this is just what I need to get my running back up to speed (no pun intended!). No set plans yet, but the Omaha marathon is 24 weeks away!

After the meeting, I met up with my friends Laura and Sarah for yoga. It was a good, slow & stretchy sort of class. Even though I was shaking by the end of it, it felt soooo good!

And now I'm going to catch up on a few blogs while I have one of these:

And one of these:

Check out my sweet @ss mermaid bottle opener!

I love this thing. If it broke, I would probably cry. I'm not kidding.

'Night, all!