Turkey Taco Thursday

Can you believe it's almost Friday?...

Where did the week go?!?

It seems like days just rush by anymore. The older you get, the more you have to do, and the more you have to do, the faster life goes. It seems like I'm getting to a point in my life where I can truly appreciate the moments, not just the big picture. But, I feel like those moments are so fleeting. I'm married now (well, I've been married before, buy that was just practice). Soon, we'll have babies, then they'll be kids, and then teenagers. Before you know it, you're a grandparents, and then... what?... Life is so beautiful, and by the time you realize that, almost 30 years have already gone by. How does that happen?!

Am I the only person that thinks about this stuff or what? :D

Tonight, I did a hard 45 on the upright bike at the gym. Then, we came home and I made Turkey Tacos.

To make Turkey Tacos, I use a taco seasoning packet. I could make it without, but honestly, it just saves me so much time.There's a variety of brands and flavors to choose from, and they're super quick. I usually by a low sodium seasoning packet. Tonight, I used an old favorite, McCormick's Cheesy Taco. It's a higher calorie one, so we use it rarely. It sure is tasty, though.

We mix up our taco fixings by putting half of the fridge out on the counter and choosing whatever calls to us. The bananas were not considered part of the fixings. :)

Tonight, I had Smart Balance Sour Cream (This is new, and I had a coupon. It's okay. I prefer yogurt, actually.)...

Meat, lettuce, and chopped tomatoes...

After dinner, I finished the book I've been reading, Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen.

You've probably seen me reading it for a while.

It was... interesting.

It started out incredibly slow. I read half the book before I was at all interested in the storyline. The story is set during the Depression and follows a young almost-Cornell Grad named Jacob. His parents die in a tragic auto accident, and he literally runs away and joins the circus. Long story short, the circus owner is shady, Jacob falls in love with a crazy man's wife, and all hell breaks lose before the novel ends. It includes alot of twists and turns at the end that left me absolutely elated when I read the final page. I actually ran into the bedroom to tell Ryan how much I loved it. Yes, I get ridiculously excited about books.

So, I liked it. Alot, actually. It's an incredible book by a first-time writer. However, I do wish Gruen could have found the plot line a little sooner in the book because I have a feeling alot of people would quit reading. Which would be a shame, because in the end, it was a fabulous read!

Do you like to read? What do you read? Novels? Nonfiction? Memoirs? How-To?

Hubby in the Kitchen: Turkey Strogonoff and Randomness

Did I spell strogonoff right?!?

I can't spell... Ok, so tonight was another Hubby in the Kitchen. Note: It's adorable something awful to me that Ryan actually refers to it as Hubby in the Kitchen. I'll update you briefly on the rest of today, so I can get to the good part.

Breakfast:

Today was busy. I was supposed to go to the office and leave at 1. 4pm rolled around and I was just leaving. Sigh... Thankfully I took a little food. Not enough, considering I eat pretty much every 2 hours like clockwork.

Snacky: Vanilla Oikos and about a 1/4 cup Pumpkin Flax

For lunch, I brought the rest of my california roll from yesterday. I had 6 pieces. I ate 5. I didn't want the last one, but I was still hungry. I ate a nature valley trail mix granola bar. These things are addictive, so good to me. They're not bad for you, really, just not good. Anyway, I didn't get to picture any of these things. I worked really hard today.

So hard, that around 2:30, I began to have stabbing pains behind my eyes from looking at powerpoint all day (I am creating a major presentation for a multi-million dollar client, so lots of stupid animation, little squiggles and fade ins and outs - ugh!). When 4pm rolled around, I bolted. I couldn't take anymore today.

Thankfully, I walked in the house and remembered it was a Hubby in the Kitchen night. So, I promptly fainted on the bed and covered my head with a pillow. That lasted all of 15 minutes until Hubby came home and came to find me.

Hubby in the Kitchen: Turkey Strogonoff

We kinda forgot to take pictures until the end, so basically before this pic, he browned the turkey and threw in a packet of Beef Strogonoff seasoning (does not have beef in it, I've checked) and boiled the noodles.

Then combined them:

Then, he added in a container of plain Oikos.

He served this with a side of steamed zucchini. YUM!

Then, we descended into randomness.

Random beer shot.

Him doing random poetry. His words were flowing so fast, it messed up the camera.

Me trying to do poetry with the camera.

Him getting back at me and me not being amused.

After all this, I decided to go for a walk since I didn't want to hit the gym. My walk turned into a run. And, afterwards, this was my reward:

And now, I need to go do some abs, pushups, and weighted squats.

Peace out homies.

xoxo

-Mrs Myers

==========

Oh!!! I almost forgot! The XBOX BURRITO worked!!! Can you believe it? The boys are playing it right now! Ha! Who knew?

===

Hubby in the Kitchen: Reader-Inspired Turkey Burger Meal

Good evening guys!!! Thank you SO MUCH for all your wonderful comments on my Weight Loss Surgery post. I promise I will respond to them tomorrow (tonight is a worky worky night for me, sigh...)

I have alot of wonderful food to talk about tonight. Not only is tonight a Hubby in the Kitchen night, but I also made a wonderful two-part lunchie.

Today, I was at the office until 1pm. When I go into the office, I tend to eat a two-part lunch because I can't wait until I get home and fix it. It's just too long. My stomach starts wanting food at noon without fail.

So, today, I had a delicious white peach with Oikos Honey yogurt around noon.

Around 2 when I was home, I made a fantastic Broccoli-Kidney Bean wrap.

I also threw on some of the brown rice from last night's din-din.

Envelope Fold, of course

I also scrambled up some eggbeaters because I was low on protein.

It was SO good. The afternoon brought snacky goodness: a few pretzel twists and a frigo light cheesestick when I got home from class.

To my utter delight, I came home to this:

Mr. Myers hard at work chopping up french fries for tonight's dinner.

Oh! I almost forgot. Tonight's dinner was suggested by AZLinda of Linda Gets Fit.

Let's see, what's an easy hubby dinner....hmmm....men love to grill..so how about grilled turkey burgers, grilled corn on the cob, and baked sweet potato fries on the side...

Well, Ms Linda, Mr. Myers altered your suggestion a bit... We don't have a porch or balcony and had to give away our grill when we moved here (he was sad).

On the Menu at Chez Myers

"White Castle" Turkey Burgers

Baked French Fries

Corn on the Cob

Oh my wordness, so good. Prepare to drool.

For real, for real, he made these burgers better than I do! My man can COOK! I ate my burger bunless since the meal was already carb-loaded. And, yes, I do my corn on the cob "off the cob." This meal was heavanly. Even our roommate got in on the action. I really enjoyed this meal. Thanks, AZLinda, for the inspiration!

Since I'm doing Sparkpeople again, I thought I'd give you today's stats:

Calories: 1472
Carbs: 208 grams
Fat: 41 grams
Protein: 85 grams

This is a fairly typical day for me. Discretionary (no-count) calories include no sugar added popsicles and Diet Oceanspray. I'm also a grazer, so basically I realize I take in more than I realize. Unfortunately, this is part of my "deal," so I just roll with it. I would guess I take in around 200 calories more than I account for, which puts me in a very reasonable range.

Ok, so enough of all that food stuffs. Again, thanks for your comments on the last post. I will try to get back to you guys very soon.

xoxo
-Mrs. Myers

Hubby in the Kitchen: Ground Turkey Tacos

Hey guys. This will be a quick post. I have an exam tomorrow that I need to do some final studying for. I also want to spend time with Hubby, who had a hard day.

NOT that you can tell from the following pics. Since I had to make a Costco run after school, he did the photos himself. :) Have I told you lately that I love him?... lol.

Browning the turkey.


So stinkin adorable, I tell ya.

My taco included chopped cherry tomatoes, spinach, greek yogurt, nutritional yeast, and ground turkey w/taco seasoning. YUM!

Ok guys. That's about it for my day. It was busy, crazy and beautiful. How was your day? Leave me a comment and tell me about something beautiful that happened today.

P.S. Speaking of things beautiful. Since this is a short post, hop on over to Angie's blog. She wrote a great post on body image today. I couldn't have said it better myself.

xoxo

-Mrs. Myers

Who's got the Nooch?

Good afternoon chickadees. Most of you are looking at a three day weekend. Not me. I work tomorrow, but hubby doesn't. He already did a little dance about it when he got home. :p

Today was really busy. I had a quick lunch of leftovers. My bowl was filled with cauliflower and I had a little pasta and a meatball on top.

Then, I set out to the mall, where I picked up Lamb for my dad's birthday.

I also grabbed an iced soy latte because I was sweating up a storm in the heat. After the bookstore, I headed back down the hill (much easier going down) to Costco, where I picked up bananas, grapes, blackberries (great price right now!!!) and Yoplait Light Smoothies (aka Sugar Shakes) for the hubby.

It doesn't look like much, huh?

This darn bag was SO heavy. Costco is really close. Maybe a half-mile walking, but it's uphill and I swear this bag felt like lead.

When I finally got home, I peeled off my jeans (they were like heat-affixed to my legs) and put on my workout clothes for this afternoon's class. It felt oh-so-good to be cool. Then, I realized I was starving.

I know I know... It looks disturbing.

I kinda fell into a coma after that and ended up being 5 minutes late for class, which sucked. I hate being late!!! When I got there, I was greeted by Sheree's smiling face and a small baggy of "nooch."

Ok, call off the cops. It's not what it sounds like. This stuff is nutritional yeast. You basically sprinkle it on food, and it has a cheesy, nutty sort of flavor.

Wikipedia says:

Nutritional yeast, similar to brewer's yeast, is a deactivated yeast. It is popular with vegans, who use it as an ingredient in recipes or simply as a condiment. It is produced by culturing the yeast with a mixture of sugarcane and beet molasses, then harvesting, washing, drying and packaging the yeast. It is a source of protein and vitamins, especially the B-complex vitamins and is a complete protein.

Cool, huh?

Tonight, I decided to make Turkey-Kidney Bean Tacos and use the "nooch" in the place of cheese on my taco.

Ground Turkey and Kidney Bean Tacos

Brown the turkey and add in drained, rinsed kidney beans (this gets off all that icky sodium they use during canning).

Then, add in spices. I usually use a packet of taco seasoning (I've used lots of different kinds, but this low sodium packet works best for me - and it's fast).

Then, you stir it all together and you turn yourself around and that's what it's all about...

I used whole-wheat taco shells. I chopped some 'maters and topped the whole deal with "the goods," greek yogurt, and salsa. Aren't my recipes just soooooo hard? :p

It's 8pm now, and it's not even dark yet. Yay! I love summer!!! If I don't talk to you between here and there, have a happy 4th, and I'll catch ya on the other side.

Ok, I'm out. :)

Night Night,

-j