Out with the Old, and the Excess

What a whirlwind year it has been, friends. I don’t know about you, but I feel like as I get older each year, the time speeds by even faster. This year was a busy one, from work to home. There was a lot of travel for business …

And some for fun!

We sold one house …

And bought (and have been working on) another!

We skipped out on full-blown season passes in exchange for buying things for the house, but made sure to hit up some big games when we could: 

Had laughs with friends and family alike …

And ate really well: 

Whew! It’s only mid-way through another holiday season, and I have already had to put myself in check on health matters. All of that "good eating" has added up, especially when my new work commute has limited my options for workouts. By good eating, I don't always mean "good" as in "healthy!" The scale hasn’t moved too much, but I have not. felt. good. I have been straight up dragging, and spending my upcoming PTO time on the couch in recovery mode just isn’t going to work. I just don't have that kind of time and would rather make the most of my vacays. 

So, starting this week, I threw myself back into Weight Watchers with all of my might. Yes, my office might be giving away free breakfasts and lunches. Yes, the social events have snacks and drinks and sweets out the wazoo. But if I am already feeling like I usually do on January 1, over-spent on food and under-spent on energy, I need to kick some serious Katherine booty, like, now. Otherwise, I am not going to enjoy the rest of the season at all.

Maybe I am taking this space as an opportunity to cyber-guilt myself, sure. But, I am pretty sure a number of you are in the same boat, and I thought that there might be strength in numbers, without the excess. The cookies from this past weekend’s exchange were delicious – but now they are in the freezer, ready for enjoyment at a later date, one at a time. Our kitchen is stocked and our meals are planned. Freebies at work, I am ignoring you. Instead of a daily Chai, I am going to treat myself to maybe one each week. 

What are you doing to moderate yourself this season? 

Hi, and Happy New Year!

Hello Friends, and Happy New Year! 

It's been, let's say, a wee bit longer than planned since the last time I blogged. I am so sorry! Apparently, my mind needed a bit of a blogging break, so I gave it one. And while I stayed on social networks, I didn’t take too many photos or post too many updates. A bit of an unplugged season, I guess. All in all, the mental rest did a body good! In the meantime, it was a busy fall and holiday season, and life sped on. 

Football games were lost … and won! [War Eagle!]

Trees were lit … and taken down … last night. Ha! We held out until the Epiphany. That's my excuse :)

We saw pretty lights …

And city lights …

I may have turned 30. [How's that for the downplay of the year?!]

And we just capped it all off with a weekend in the mountains with good friends to celebrate other good friends. 

What have you been up to these past few months? I hope you all had a safe and happy holiday season. 

As always, the New Year is bringing some New Starts in the Lehmann household, including early mornings at the gym (2 for 3 so far. Today, it was 20 degrees outside, so the bed won in the end) and reconnecting with our home cooking skills. It will be time to start thinking about bathing suits again before we know it, so I am trying to get a head start on fitness now, while mid-winter social plans are quiet. 

Yesterday, in efforts to banish the cold already seeping into town, we cooked up a batch of Italian Wedding Soup. Extremely fitting as we had just returned home from said wedding in the mountains, this soup was the perfect cozy soup for a chilly winter day. Since it's homemade, you can keep things low-sodium and low-fat depending on the type of meat and amount of pasta you throw in. Plus, it tastes amazing. Hard to beat that. Below is our recipe – we loosely adapted things from a recipe we found online, enough that it is now "ours" :) 

Happy New Year, everyone! Looking forward to a fun 2014 ahead! 

Lehmann Italian Wedding Soup

Serves 4-6

1 small onion, finely diced

2-3 cloves garlic, finely diced

1 lb. ground beef (80-20 blend or your choice)

1 c. Italian breadcrumbs

2 eggs

3/4 c. chopped Italian flat-leaf parsley

1-2 tsp. each salt and pepper, to taste

3 boxes low-sodium chicken broth

1 c. pastina

1 c. baby spinach 

Saute onion and garlic in olive oil until tender and translucent. Set aside to cool slightly as you prep the other meatball ingredients. Combine beef, breadcrumbs, eggs, parsley and salt and pepper in a large bowl; add in cooled onions and peppers and mix with hands. Form small meatballs (half inch in diameter) and place on wax paper on a baking tray. Place meatballs in freezer for 15-20 minutes.

While meatballs cool, heat up broth on the stove in a large pot. Bring to a boil and carefully add in the meatballs, a few at a time. Simmer over reduced heat, uncovered, for 15 minutes. Add pastina and cook an additional 5 minutes, folding in spinach towards the end. Enjoy!

Our Challenge

It was a big weekend in the our household. We saw the Yellow Jackets go 70-0 on the Flats (an ACC record, woo!). We yelled "War Eagle!" virtually via our laptops while we watched a big Clemson late-night win over the dirty dogs (note the correct spelling) on TV. Then we did the Tomahawk Chop not once, but twice, at two Braves games.

Whew. To say we are sports-ed out for a few days would be an understatement :) But what fun it all was! We loved seeing our friends and family and so many great games. We are now going to rest up and then do it all again, albeit on a much smaller scale, with the next GT home game in a few weeks. By then, the leaves will be starting to turn. Cool weather or not, Fall is here, y'all, and I couldn't be happier.

Well, ok, truth be told, I could be happier. Since the wedding, we have enjoyed a Summer full of leisure. Social gatherings, drinks and amazing food. Thinking back to April, when we were both a bit maniacal about healthy eating and working out, it's no big surprise that neither the hubs nor I have been feeling "great" these days. In fact, after this long holiday weekend of food and festivity, we both felt a bit physically exhausted and ready for a serious jolt of nutrition.

We have both been struggling with motivation to get back on the healthy train. Attempts to workout have been halfhearted, at best, and while we've tried to keep meals mostly standard-issue healthy, we have slipped up with enjoying more desserts, snacks and adult beverages than usual. Now that the hubs is heading back to classes a few nights a week, we both need something to hold us honest to eating right and working out, whether solo or in tandem.

Enter our own personal Biggest Loser Challenge. We have always loved that show, and figured it's time to star in a version of our own. We set our individual goals, took our initial measurements, and each have our own approach to tallying up a "win" at the end of 90 days. While we did set a fun little "prize" for the winner, we both agree that it'd be awesome if we just both hit our goals. For me, I think this might be my ultimate 30th Birthday present to myself. What the wedding did for us in April, we'd like for this Challenge to do for us as we head into my 30th year, and continue with our first year of marriage – be at our physical best and enjoy life that much more.

We designed this Challenge just for us, so while I won't be publicly sharing updates, I am going to continue to share our new favorite healthy recipes and workouts and activities. After all, it's not just a number on the scale. It's a full-person approach -- body and mind!

What keeps you motivated to stay healthy? How clothes fit? A workout buddy? The scale? Or just how you feel? Let's keep each other motivated as we all avoid that upcoming winter weight :)

Here There and Everywhere

Breathe in, breathe out, and woosh, it's Wednesday. We are hitting the mid-point of the week already!

It's been a rough few days for me over here. I was all pumped up on Sunday after getting in my early morning run and then spending the day with family ... and then the same stomach virus that I had in early December made a reappearance. One horrible sick day and one slow recovery day later, and I am feeling almost back to normal today. Except now I have a sore throat and a cough. Is my immune system taking a late holiday break?! It's like my body knows I was hitting a groove with exercise and eating right and decided to mess with me a little bit.

As I drink down vats of tea today, I am incredibly glad that we spent some time on Sunday making a huge vat of chicken noodle soup. That soup, while intended for freezer restock, has been a miracle food for me the last few days as I battled upset stomachs and congested lungs. The great thing about chicken soup is that it is really versatile. We took advantage of leftover chicken and roasted potatoes for ours, but you could easily drop in pre-packaged cooked chicken breast strips and more pasta instead. Adding butter replicates the richness of the drippings that get from leftovers, too.

If you aren't currently sick, I highly recommend making a batch of something like this now, so that if/when you get the plague, you can just pop out one of these frozen containers into a saucepan for 10-15 minutes, no effort required. When you can barely get off the couch from the sickness, this is a clutch thing to have on hand.

Chicken soup for the soul? This week for me, you better believe it! Hope you all stay well and warm!

Chicken Noodle Chowder
Serves 6-8

One medium onion, diced
One poblano pepper, seeded and diced
One shallot, diced
Three cloves of garlic, diced
Two cups of mushrooms, mixed variety, roughly chopped
Two cups of cooked chicken
One cup red potatoes, diced into half-inch cubes
2 Tbsp. butter
Two containers of reduced sodium chicken broth
One large bunch of asparagus, diced into one-inch pieces
One package Ramen noodles, spice packet discarded
2 tsp. salt
2 tsp. pepper
2/3 cup flour + 2 Tbsp. tap water

Saute onion, pepper, shallot and garlic in olive oil until tender. Add mushrooms and saute for additional 3-4 minutes. Add chicken, potatoes and butter, stirring to melt butter. Add chicken broth, and bring soup to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer on low for 10-15 minutes. Increase heat and add asparagus, Ramen noodles, salt and pepper, cooking for 5-10 minutes or until the asparagus is tender and the noodles are cooked.

Mix flour and water in a separate bowl until it is a smooth, thick liquid, adding more water/flour as needed. Stir mixture into chicken soup, and cook soup for 5 more minutes or until soup thickens. Serve with crackers, bread or your choice of Gatorade!

Note from Katherine: We utilized leftover roasted chicken, roasted potatoes and 2-3 Tbsp of the drippings from that dish in lieu of butter for our soup, which added a great, slow-cooked richness.

Mexi Breakfast

There just aren't enough words to describe how enjoyable relaxing weekends are.

This weekend, other than my trip up to Roswell, I have spent the entirety of my time in and around Buckhead, with no major plans. These types of weekends, especially when sandwiched in between busy holidays and other weekends to come, are such a blessing in disguise. If we can restrain the desire to fill up the free time with activities, what results are hours and hours of quiet recharging.

After a quiet night like that spent at home on a Saturday, the other benefit of weekends like this is that I wake up ready to go early the next morning. Today, we got in a run at Chastain before picking up supplies to make a healthy brunch.

While I love going out to eat on the weekends, heading out in workout clothes is not my idea of Buckhead Betty living. Instead, we grabbed supplies and I recreated a family favorite from local brunch spot J. Christopher's - Huevos Avocados.

With hearty high-fiber English muffins as the base, and some Mexican cheese, salsa and sour cream to top it off, this over-easy egg + avocado dish makes me so happy. It fills you up without being heavy, and it's full of healthy fats. 

My favorite part? When you cut into it and the yoke oozes out :)

Here's my "recipe" - if you could even call it that! I hope you enjoy it!

Huevos Avocados 
Amended from J.Christopher's; serves 2

2 high-fiber or other English muffins
4 eggs
1 ripe avocado
Low-fat sour cream
Salsa
Shredded Mexican cheese

1. Toast English muffins while you warm a nonstick pan for the eggs
2. Cut avocado in half and use a knife to slice, arrange one half of slices on one English muffin, the other half for the second person's.
3. Crack two eggs into your greased pan and make over-easy eggs.
4. Arrange first two finished eggs onto the halves of the first English muffin and avocado.
5. Top eggs with shredded Mexican cheese, a spoonful of low-fat sour cream and a spoonful of salsa.
6. Repeat with two more eggs for the second serving.

Enjoy!

Pie Time

Even though I have been crazy-busy, spending time together at home at night cooking a good meal is one way I have tried to add some balance back into my world. We both love to cook over here, so dinnertime is a perfect stay-at-home date night opportunity. It is nice to have a beer or a glass of wine, turn off the phones and laptops, talk about what happened that day and really just sit down and relax. Good food makes it all the better, and so when I can pre-plan out a few meals on a weekend, it makes it easier to sit back at the end of the day and just make whatever is scheduled on the menu. It also cuts down on the impromptu "I am tired and want pizza" nights. Cough. Tonight. Cough.

Last week, we went almost the entire week without eating any meat, just by accident. I attempted to have a nice balance of meals, but from mushroom soup to veggie chili, meat just wasn't calling to me when I picked out the recipes last Sunday. What's awesome, though, is that we didn't even miss it. We tried out three new recipes, found two keepers (that mushroom soup was ehhh) and I had some fantastic, healthy leftovers for lunches, too.

Believe it or not, that pizza above is made out of cauliflower! This pizza crust was a bloggy find that I pinned and nearly forgot about, but my mind kept coming back to it. I am so glad we tried it, because it was healthy-ish (note: there is definitely some cheese involved) and it leaves room for some experimentation when we make it again.

Things we learned and/or I have noticed in the original blogger's comments since making it:

1) A pizza stone, while helpful for regular crusts, didn't do much for this crust. Ours did not hold up to picking up and we had to eat it with a fork and knife casserole-style. Next time, I am going to stick to the nonstick pan they recommend and see if that makes a difference. The recipe does note that it's not a sturdy pizza though.

2) The crust has a lot of natural moisture. Put another pan below it in the oven in case it drips at all (ours did), or use a jelly roll pan instead (a pan with edges). Some readers suggested squeezing out excess moisture from the riced cauliflower too.

3) There is so much cheese in the crust, stick to lots of healthy, natural toppings and sliced mozzarella instead of grated cheese. You really don't need much more than that. We used basil and canned tomato sauce and it was heavenly.

4) Triple the proportions of the recipe to make a full-sized pizza. We used almost the entire head of cauliflower this way, but it definitely ups the cheese and egg count, so be sure to count that in any calorie or WW points! You will get a lot more servings out of it this way.

Enjoy! You can find the recipe for this great cauliflower pizza crust here with Lauren Conrad, but originally here over on Eat. Drink. Smile. (love that blog! This cauliflower recipe sounded fab, too.). 

Soupy Slow Cooking

I've got a winner of a crock-pot soup for you today!

I have been rocking through the recipes in my Fix It and Forget It cookbook, which features TONS of recipes made just for a slow cooker. A lot of the recipes are similar and most often can serve simply as inspiration for you as you learn how to best throw things together for a slow cooked meal. The beauty of crock pot meals are that they are also extremely flexible beyond the variable cooking time. Don't like that vegetable? Skip it! Want a cheesier soup? Add two cans of the cheese-based condensed soup instead of one.

This recipe was just one of those meals for me. I wanted a basic minestrone soup, so I found and used a recipe for inspiration. I skipped the usual pasta and instead used the suggested barley, which kept things really low-calorie but super hearty. You could add in or substitute red kidney beans, zucchini and many other veggies.

My key to maintaining my weight during the week most often depends on healthy lunches, and soup is my go-to for a quickie lunch that fills me up. I made this crock-pot meal overnight, dealt out servings in individual containers the next morning, and took one with me for lunch while freezing the rest. Then, throughout upcoming days and weeks, I have a supply of healthy soups to grab in the morning, no defrost required. I just let the soup sit through the morning at my desk before heating the container for four-five minutes in the microwave for lunch.

Enjoy!

Minestrone Soup
Adapted from Fix It and Forget It

Source: laurenslatest.com via Gay on Pinterest

Makes six-eight lunch servings

2 boxes of Tuscany-blend chicken broth
3 carrots, peeled and diced
1 Spanish onion, chopped
4 ribs celery, chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced
3/4 dry barley
1 can chickpeas, drained
1 Tbsp. parsley
1/2 tsp. dried thyme
1 tsp. dried oregano
1 Tbsp. rosemary
28 oz. can diced Italian tomatoes
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. pepper

Combine all ingredients in slow cooker. Cover and cook on Low 6-8 hours or until vegetables are tender. Optional: stir in baby spinach once soup is done, and/or top with grated Parmesan cheese.

Slow-Cooked on a Fast Night

Are you a slow cooker addict? This has been one of the most fun appliances I have had the pleasure of owning. Well, alright, it's tied with the stand mixer; it's hard to deny the appeal of that beauty, too :)

Over the past year, we have both enjoyed learning what types of foods and combinations work well in the crock pot, and have had a few less-than-stellar learning experiences in the meantime, too. Lean meat = a no no, cream of anything soups are amazing transformers of even the blandest ingredients, and I am still amazed at how great just onions and carrots and celery can be when cooked for 10 hours. When we walk in the door late each evening, dinner is just there and waiting. Amazing.

The learning curve has paid off. Yesterday's creation (read: I made it all up) was a pure WINNER. The best part was that I threw it together in only five minutes before running out the door to work. The meat was frozen, and all I had to do was peel and chop a few carrots. All of that "effort" later, and we had an inexpensive, healthy, gourmet meal just like Mom used to make. I have included the recipe below for you to try out in your own crock pot, if you please. The chicken shreds down and almost just melts in your mouth, and the resulting sauce is rich but healthy.

The other thing I wanted to tell you about were the noodles we served this chicken and carrots casserole over. I picked up a bag of Organic Brown Rice Pasta Fusilli from Trader Joe's on a whim - gluten and wheat free, cholesterol free and sodium free, made totally from brown rice and water. Since I am a Northern-born gal, I love me some traditional pasta, but I am also willing to try out healthier and lighter options here and there.

My take: This stuff was great! I couldn't tell at all that it was not regular pasta. Granted, I wasn't eating it plain, but I still think this pasta would be fantastic under a red sauce or tossed with cheese and oil, too.

Ok, time for the recipe! Enjoy it, all!

Chicken and Carrot Slow Cooker Casserole
Serves 4-5, WW points = 6 + pasta

1 lb. frozen chicken breasts
4-5 carrots, peeled and sliced
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 can cream of celery soup
2 tsp. salt
2 tsp. black pepper
2 tsp. garlic powder
2 tsp. Penzey's Forward seasoning (or your own creation of paprika, etc.)
1 cup frozen green peas

Layer chicken, carrots, soups and seasonings in crock pot. Cover and cook on Low 10-12 hours. Stir in green peas during last 10-20 minutes while pasta cooks. Serve over pasta of choice.

Workout Recap: Pavements and Plateaus

Last week was such a blur and filled with so many meetings after long work days that yep, you guessed it, my workouts dropped right off the radar. I stayed up too late all week, too, so morning workouts never happened, either. By Friday night, I was tired-feeling and blah, and I knew that it was a direct corrolation to my lack of energy-boosting workouts. Nothing like that kind of feeling to jolt you right back to the gym. And nothing like the knowledge of me committed to sharing my progress here to make this coming week's chart look better than last week's:

Bright and early on Saturday before we headed off to the wedding, I hit the gym and hit it hard! I did a two mile-run (shown above) and did an ab-workout, too. While I may have consumed back all (plus some) of those calories at the wedding that night, I also did a fair amount of dancing, so I am ok with my splurging :)

Tonight I am keeping up the streak and have reserved a spot in a spin class in my building. A healthy crockpot meal is heating up at home as I post, and there are a few other healthy meal options waiting for the week ahead, too. 

My goal this week: schedule in workouts just like all the other things I reserve my time for. Total Progress: 2lbs. lost and 19.52 miles logged

How are your New Year's (or Life) Resolutions coming along?

Keeping Things Fit

As part of my New Year - New Me campaign, I have hit the roads again to run. I was a Varsity swimmer growing up, and until college, I never knew that working out was actually something I had to do. I just enjoyed swimming, and never realized that I could eat whatever I wanted because of those three miles I did earlier that day!

Enter college, the freshman 15 and an eye-opening year of hitting the gym for the first real time in my life. Solo, no team in site or behind me touching my toes in the lane to keep me going. Ugh. 

I LOVE the post-workout feeling, don't get me wrong. I know how amazing I can look if I work off more than I eat and drink, and if I weight-train the right spots, that bikini will look that much better. It's never been easy, though. Getting my booty to the gym is tough, y'all. Even tougher? Getting my booty outside for a run. Running has been hands-down the only thing that I can do to keep my body trim and tight. Spin class, kickboxing and swimming all add to the fun, but my legs and butt get the biggest bang for their bucks with just a pair of athletic shoes hitting the pavement. And guess what? I hate to run. 

I'm going to do a weekly mini check-in here moving forward where I feature my Daily Mile exercise updates. Have you ever used Daily Mile? If you are a social networker, you will love Daily Mile for that "bragging" quotient of telling your friends and fellow athletes what you accomplished on that day's workout. It lets you input any kind of workout, from swimming laps to lifting weights. Even better, though, is the feature that lets you share how you actually felt during the workout so that others can provide feedback, motivation or just a simple "yay"! It may not be someone right behind me in the pool or my coach yelling at me from the side, but it definitely works.

I was sure to start 2012 off right with a run, even on a super windy/chilly day!

Working out may be tough, but sites like this one give people like me an extra oomph, and I am going to extend that accountability out to you all here, too. In honor of today's first New Year - New Me workout post, here is my Daily Mile weekly summary so far!

I have a spin workout scheduled for tomorrow and also am planning on a long walk outside to hit my 4 workouts per week goal. So far, so good! It's been tough with long workdays and trying to also get enough sleep each night, but I know I can do it if I put my mind to it.

I have added a new Daily Mile widget down on the righthand sidebar so you can follow along with me and help keep me honest :) How do you track your workouts? Do you use a special app, gadget or site?