(no subject)

[maggiemanning13]

This week went pretty well some as far as my leisure goal/s were concerned. I spent most of my week cooking instead of dining out. It is super hard for me to cook dinner every night considering I work most nights and weekends. I decided to pre-cook 3 meals and keep them stored in the fridge for the rest of the week. Though cooking like this is not exactly what I would consider a leisurly activity, I spent some of my free time doing this and found it sort of relaxing. I cooked my favorite baked chicken and Italian dressing and also made some baked eggplant to serve with it. My second dish I made twice baked potatoes with bbq chicken. I have not tried this recipe before but It looked really good and I am excited to eat it later this week. My last dish I made a slow cooker turkey taco meat. This is one of my stand by dishes that are easy to make and it always turns out great. I am having a hard time finding great recipes online that also meet my health standards so if anyone knows of any good sites or cook books, please let me know. This week I want to try and make a super healthy pumpkin bread and maybe some bran muffins. I started baking last year and have put it off throughout the summer because I hate being by a hot oven when it is hot. So now that the weather is cooling off it is the perfect time to bust out the baking pans and get baking. Baking is a completely different process than cooking. With cooking you can improv a lot with tastes and ingredients where with baking everything must be calculated and followed exactly like the recipe. I have learned quite a few baking secrets and techniques over the past year and I am very excited to see if any of them actually work and improve my baking. Along with my cooking, I have switched yp my workout routines a little bit. I am hitting the cycles at the Rec more and taking some of their classes. I enjoy the cycle yoga class and the instructor is really great also! I have been trying to do more cardio intervals because I heard that you burn more calories that way. It is definitely a more intense workout than my old cardio routine. I have completely quit my weight lifting regimen and I am not sure when I am going to pick that back up again, probably this winter. I have also completely quit swimming at the pool. I wanted to take one of their instructional classes but I will have to wait until the next sign up date. I have also been running on the treadmills in the front workout room. I enjoy the t.v.s that are in there and watching t.v. allows me to zone out of the pain I may be feeling but still allows me to have enough focus on my running. I have the following 3 days off of work and I am looking forward to spending at least 2hours a day at the rec and focusing on really burning my body out.