One down, two to go until vacation starts!

I started off the day in a great mood, knowing that Monday was really “Wednesday” haha… I was cold and craving the warmness of oatmeal, but craving the flavor of yogurt & the variety of mix-ins… so what did I settle for?  Warm cereal!  I decided to try a different method of preparing it by heating JUST the milk first to see if it provided a slightly different texture.  I poured a mixture of fiber one, grape nuts, and heart to heart and topped it with a sliced banana and flax.  Delish!  The texture was pretty similar but a little bit less mushy.  I will definitely do this again

Although my breakfast held me for 4 hours, I had a snack mid-morning to hold me over until lunch… oatmeal   It warmed me right up – my office is cold – and satisfied my daily oatmeal quota!

Lunch was provided at a meeting that I had today, so no pictures to provide.  They brought in wraps from a local sandwich place so I had a veggie wrap with some Baked Lays.

I was SUPER excited for my mid-afternoon snack because it was courtesy of Andrea from OffHerCork.  We decided to do a bar exchange since I can get the fun seasonal Clif bars and she can get the fun seasonal Z bars.  Look at all the delicious bars she sent me!!!

Thank you SO much Andrea – you made my week!!!

Today I couldn’t decide on what flavor to have first, so I let Bill choose for me haha.  He selected the Blueberry Z Bar, which I am now a HUGE fan of.  Upon opening the package, I was pleasantly greeted with a strong blueberry aroma.  Eating the bar was no different – it was awesome and totally beats out my normal chocolate chip Z bar – yum.  I think I’ll be ordering these in bulk from Amazon ha!

I headed off to the gym for my great 5:30pm spinning class (burned 458 cals), but got there a little earlier so I decided to do an upper body circuit & abs.  I did the following:

• pull ups
• chest press
• bicep curls
• tricep dips
• love-handle machine
• captain’s chair abs

I was really looking forward to a super easy dinner.  Yesterday I made a huge batch of homemade chicken noodle soup, I honestly just kind of winged it as I went along, so that we would have a meal already prepared for us for Monday and Wednesday nights!  I love doing this because it makes the work nights so much easier.

Here’s the recipe:
1 tbsp olive oil to coat
4 cans light chicken broth
4 medium carrots, chopped
3 stalks of celery, chopped
1/2 chopped turnip
1 medium onion, chopped (even though I hate it I thought I had to include it for an authentic soup)
2 chopped cooked chicken breasts
1 cup uncooked whole wheat rotini noodles
sprinkling of chopped leeks
tons of fresh parsley, salt & pepper, 2 chopped garlic cloves

Bring olive oil & veggies to boil.  Simmer until veggies are soft.  Add in pasta and bring to another boil.  Lower heat to medium and add in cooked chicken & seasonings and simmer for 5-10 minutes.  Remove from heat & enjoy.  I’m not quite sure how many servings this will make but it appears to be a LOT!  I think we will easily get 5 LARGE bowls of soup out of this recipe.

On the side, I also made up some quick biscuits using Biscuick HeartSmart for Bill, but I had probably two servings (aka rest of the bag) of Kashi Crackers. 

The verdict?  The chicken noodle soup was amazing.

This was my first time making it from scratch so I was SO happy that it turned out well.  It was the ultimate comfort food and was heartier than most chicken noodle soups I had because I doubled up on all of the vegetables.  I prefer chicken noodle soup to be heavy on the veggies and light on the broth, noodles, and chicken and this definitely fit the bill.  Bill was a fan of it too.  I can’t wait to have it again on Wednesday night

Now it’s off to watch Heroes!  Have a great night everyone

I didn’t have time to go and comment on everyone’s blogs tonight, but I do read em all… I wanted to thank each and every one of you for your super sweet comments regarding the wedding pictures I posted the other day and the BSI wrap-up post.  I truly am blessed to be a part of this wonderful community – thanks guys!