New month, new things...

First of all, not sure how I was able to sleep with the AC off and windows open on July 31, but hey I’ll take it.

After a whirlwind trip back home, it was time to get back to routine.  But I was able to try out several new things this week!

At home (Illinois), my sister and I were talking about breakfast smoothies, and I mentioned wanting to adding protein powder to my smoothies to give it a little more stick-to-your-ribs effect and hopefully keep me full longer.  At that point she threw a thing of Usana Chocolate Protein Powder at me.  After checking that I could get it through security in a carry-on I went straight to work looking up smoothie ideas.  And breakfast for the rest of the week was found.  I am going to look into other flavors/brands of protein powders because unfortunately chocolate doesn’t go with everything.

The protein powder does have a bit more sugar than I would like, but overall not too bad.  It’s about 80 calories a scoop.  I made one batch that was 3 breakfasts.

Ingredients for the whole batch (filled 3 mason jars):

·        2 cups Silk Almond Milk (unsweetened 30 cal per serving)

·        4 scoops of Protein powder (might try using only 3 next time)

·        3 bananas

·        12 strawberries

·        Handful of ice cubes

  

The next new to me thing I try is ZOODLES!  Along with having an awesome name, they are extremely easy and yummy.  Basically is it zucchini noodles.  You take a julienne peeler or spiral slicer and go to town on zucchini.  One you have your noodles made, sauté them up on the stove top to soften them and you are set.  Next add any topping you want.  This week I just did halved cherry tomatoes and a small amount of spaghetti sauce. 

I am a big fan of this and will probably be making in the near future with some grilled chicken!

The last new to me thing was testing out Insanity.  I tried to go to class 2 weeks ago, but it was canceled because they forgot to find a sub for the normal instructor who was out on vacation.  At last I gave it a try.  It started with a 5-10 minute warm up, followed by 3 Blocks: Plyometrics, Strength & Endurance, and then agility.  Once we finished that, we were 30 minutes in, and my first thought – ‘Oh no, please tell me we don’t have to do all that again, I’m not going to make it.’  Luckily we did not.  Next it was on to abs and cool down.  The whole class lasted approximately 45 minutes.  Definitely something I will be looking at doing in the future.