Cheesy creamy pasta...

Sounds pretty unhealthy, right? It doesn't have to be!

Start with 2-3 tbs olive oil in a hot skillet. Throw in your favorite chopped veggies.

I used sweet onions, yellow squash, mushrooms, red pepper, and baby spinach.

Season with your desired seasonings and sauté until soft.

Meanwhile, in a small pot, mix 2 tbs flour, 1/4 cup milk, 1 tbs butter, 1 tbs lemon juice. Whisk while this thickens, then slowly add about 1 cup chicken broth. Continue to whisk over medium heat until it reaches a nice thickness. Play around with broth and flour if it is too thick or thin. Season with similar seasonings you used for the vegetables.

Boil your favorite noodles and put them in a baking dish. Toss with cooked vegetables, creamy sauce, and about 1 cup Parmesan cheese (grated, not the powdery stuff). Throw in some sliced cherry tomatoes before you cover the pan and bake at 300 for 20-30 minutes.

Voila!

Happy Easter!

Blogging from the iPad this morning! Let's see how this goes!

Mr. PT and I had a wonderful Easter here in Roanoke. My mom came in town to celebrate Holy Week with us at our church. I'm in the choir so my vocal cords are still recovering from all the singing!

Mom is trying desperately to keep her cholesterol number down these days without the support of prescription medicine. I am so proud of her because she has dropped almost 40 points with healthier eating and exercise only. Way to go Mom! Specific changes she has made include...

-eating meat only 2-3 times a week
-eating vegetarian meals with whole wheat pasta or rice
-salad with fresh fruit and baked chicken
-eating out at restaurants less
-cutting back on diet soda
-only drinking alcohol on the weekends
-walking to the gym, working out, walking back 2-3 times a week
-using her exercise bands daily for a 20 minute strength workout

As you can see, they are not huge changes that have drastically changed her life, but they are simple, consistent changes that she has gradually embedded into her daily routine. The results are evident! She looks thinner (she has lost between 5-10 lbs), her clothes fit better, she has more energy, and she is much less winded when we exercise together!

With the extra 20 lbs I'm hauling around these days, I am more winded and tired than her!

Anywho, we ate some great meals while she was in town. Try this one I found on Pinterest! It had a great flavor and made awesome leftovers!

http://www.celebrations.com/content/skinny-chicken-broccoli-alfredo

We also had a dinner of fresh fruit, hummus, crackers and cheese one night.

On Saturday we made blueberry pancakes (of course) and ate dinner at a fantastic farm-to-table restaurant here in Roanoke called River and Rail. Mom ordered a plate of perfectly roasted vegetables with grits. Yum!

In between breakfast and lunch we snacked on apples, Lara bars, and cheese!

For Easter dinner, Mr. PT and I were alone but we did not go hungry! A friend from the church choir made us some authentic egg rolls to brown off and dip in her homemade duck sauce. Wow, were those good. We munched on fresh pineapple and strawberries as well.

Happy Easter everyone!

More Pancakes!

Mr. PT and I have yet to think of a name for our little one yet, but I'm considering giving her the nickname "pancake girl."

Or maybe we'll call her Maple?

Mr. PT suggested Mrs. Buttersworth but that is too much!

Long story short, I am loving pancakes.  In my first trimester, I ate waffles for dinner 4/7 nights a week because it was one of few things that didn't sound revolting.  Now, I dream about pancakes and waffles and french toast.  But mostly pancakes.  

Breakfast, in general, is a pretty amazing meal.

Mr. PT and I headed out of town last weekend for a conference he was a speaker for and we found two awesome diners to eat in!  

Diner #1, with blueberry buttermilk pancakes

Diner #2, with scrambled eggs, toast...and a side of pancakes

Am I obsessed?  Yes.  Do I feel bad about it?  Not really, because at this point baby Kent is in control and if she wants pancakes there is not a whole lot I can do about it.** 

However, I can help my wallet and my blood sugar by making healthier pancakes at home!  So this morning, when I was home due to snow, I made the PT version of pancakes, with oatmeal, fresh bananas and strawberries (no picture, sorry).

For lunch, I had leftover pancakes with homemade peanut butter, bananas, and a drizzle of honey.

Talk about a slice of heaven.

My amazing friends in Roanoke even agreed to throw me a baby shower and serve brunch...WITH PANCAKES!!!

**Tonight for dinner, we are having zucchini, eggplant, red pepper paninis.  I'm not completely nuts!

Combine with some sprints in your workout routine...if you're in the pool, watch the clock and do a lap every 60 seconds (do 5 reps).  If you're running or walking outside, walk the length of the street and sprint the sidewalk to the next block.  It will get your heart rate going and make you faster!

The BIG 27!

I recently celebrated 27 years here on earth!  Mr. PT got me an Ipad which I have been obsessing about in the past week...hence my lack of blogging.

But I have been wanting to share this amazing chicken dish Mr. PT cooked up for me!  (I only helped a little...)

It was really healthy, incredibly delicious, and quite light!

He started by softening 1/2 red onion, sliced, in 1-2 tbs of butter in a hot pan.  He set this aside.

Then he lightly breaded 4 chicken breasts with whipped egg and breadcrumbs and cooked them in a hot pan with olive oil.  When the chicken was cooked through, he wrapped the breasts in aluminum foil and tucked them into a low-heat oven for safe keeping.

To the chickeny-oily mixture in the pan, he added 1/4 cup white wine, 2 tbs butter, salt/pepper, and 1/2 squeezed lemon.  He reduced this to a nice sauce.

While this was reducing, he put about 4 heaping handfulls of spinach leaves in a large bowl with 4-5 tbs of water.  He covered the bowl with plastic wrap and microwaved it on high for 5 minutes.  This steamed the spinach.

To the steamed, drained spinach, he added 1 tbs butter and the other 1/2 of the lemon juice (squeezed), with a dash of salt/pepper.

To put it all together, he spread the spinach on the plate, topped it with a chicken breast, topped THAT with onions, and topped THAT with the wonderful wine-lemon sauce.

YOU CAN'T TOP THAT!!

It was a wonderful dinner and a wonderful birthday.  27 is going to be a great year!

Combine with a challenging walk/run...tackle that hill you normally avoid!

Mr. PT gets fishy

Mr. PT has been doing a great job keeping up with his Thursday night dinners.  And I will admit, there are several things he makes better than I do:

-eggs

-pancakes (the griddle part)

-broccoli

-hamburgers (major fail on that one yesterday)

-fish

I don't really cook fish that much because he always takes over!  It was one of the first things he made for me when we started dating so it's kind of a tradition.

Last week he got a nice cut of Salmon from Fresh Market.  He cut it up into thirds, put it on a rack above a baking sheet, seasoned them with a little olive oil, salt/pepper, and lemon, and broiled them on both sides until cooked thoroughly.

He also baked up some nice asparagus (dressed the same way, except with some powdered garlic) in the oven.  This takes slightly longer to bake so stick them in a 350 oven for about 15 minutes before you put the fish in to broil.

Simple and yummy!

Salmon is full of those great "fatty acids" we hear so much about.  They reduce inflammation, prevent obesity, clear your arteries...they're just awesome.  If you're pregnant, they give a nice little boost to your baby's developing brain.

Not a fish lover?  Fatty acids are also in walnuts, flax, and sardines.

Asparagus is your average amazing green vegetable.  Full of nutrients such as Vitamin B, calcium, fiber...you name it.

The research is still out there, however, I think you are better off eating foods like these that are naturally full of "good stuff" rather than trying to supplement your body with vitamins.  Vitamins and supplements are man-made, and can only do so much.  Besides, our bodies were meant to eat food, break it down, and absorb the nutrients...not swallow pills.

Am I taking a prenatal vitamin you wonder?  Yes!  But am I still trying to keep my diet full of all this "good stuff?"  Of course!  

Combine with a good stretch...back pain can be a pain.  Striking a pose like downward dog and child's pose may relieve you of that ache in your arch.

A perfect day of eating...kind of

If you could have a perfect day of eating, what would you eat?

I would prefer a perfect week of eating, but wouldn't we all!

I was going through my most recent food photos and realized I had shots of breakfast, snack, and dinner that I could eat every day if I had to!  Well, I would probably get tired of them eventually, but, you get my point.

Let's start the day off with breakfast.

French toast with fresh fruit.  Mix 3 eggs, 2-3 tbs of milk, and your favorite flavors.  I go crazy with vanilla, cinnamon, cloves, ginger, and nutmeg.  Toast your bread crusty, soak in the egg mixture, and cook in a non-stick skillet until brown.

Go to work, the gym, whatever you need to do to build up an appetite.

Mix 1/4 cup peanut butter with 3/4 cup vanilla yogurt and your favorite granola (I had some blueberry flax granola!).  Nosh on a banana and bar of some sort.  Today I treated myself to an organic blueberry poptart.  This is not a regular in our house, but it was leftover from our cabin weekend, so, what they hay!

If you have not tried mixing peanut butter and yogurt yet, try it!!

Before you know it, it's time for dinner!

Homemade pesto with whole grain spaghetti!  In a food processor, blend a handful of walnuts (or pine nuts) with 1 1/2 cups of loosely packed basil leaves.  Add a handful of parmesan cheese, 2-3 cloves of garlic, and enough olive oil to make it your desired consistency...less if you like it chunky, more if you like it runny.  Experiment with this one and add more of any ingredient to get the pesto you like.  You really can't go wrong, unless you forget something!

So what do you think?  Could you eat this every day?  What have you made recently that you are loving?

Combine with a swim.  Do 10 laps to warm up, 6 laps of kicking, 6 laps of pulling, and 8 laps of alternating breaststroke/freestyle. 

Cabin fever!

Mr. PT and I decided to slip away from Roanoke for the weekend and drive about an hour south to Fairy Stone State Park.  For the Fairy Stone legend and history, see here!

We rented a cozy little one bedroom cabin right on the lake.  It was the perfect kind of camping for me because we got away from cell phones, computers, and televisions but still had a hot shower and a stove!  Perfect!

Friday night, we unpacked and explored our little cabin which took all of 10 minutes.  We decided to snack for dinner on cheese, fresh bread, and fruit.

Mr. PT drank a dark beer while I sipped my San Pellegrino.  Wine would have been amazing but...higher calling these days.

Saturday morning, to further satisfy my hunger for pancakes these days, Mr PT made fresh blueberry pancakes with bacon...and coffee for me, of course!

Ohhh yummy.  We used the rest of our organic pancake mix with buckwheat flour, extra milk, a splash of olive oil, and fresh blueberries.  So good.

Saturday afternoon was chilly, but we were determined to see the park!  So we bundled up and hiked 3 different trails, seeing only two other hikers in the quiet woods.  It took us about three hours but it was worth it.  We got a great workout and saw some beautiful views of the Blue Ridge Mountains.

 

After our hike, I was totally worn out.  Exercise with a 25 month old baby (fetus) is doable but my stamina is not what it used to be.  I get what they call "round ligament pain" which basically feels like a cramp in my side.  But it was fun toting baby around the woods!

For dinner, we brought some pre-made pizza dough made by our favorite local bakery and the makings for calzones!  I filled Mr. PT's with tomatoes, cheese, peppers, onions, pepperoni, and basil.  Mine had tomatoes, peppers, onions, mushrooms, spinach, and goat cheese.

Double yum!

Saturday night Mr. PT crushed me at both rummy and Bananagrams so I made him give me a 20 minute foot rub.  Ha!  We read for a little bit in front of the fire and then crashed.

Sunday morning, we knew we had to be out by 10am, so Mr. PT got crackin' on breakfast.  Literally, with scrambled eggs, toast, and bacon.

We don't eat bacon often, but when you are camping, it is kind of essential.  And if you are making bacon, you might as well cook your eggs in bacon grease.  Then you really feel like you're living!

Overall, it was a fantastic weekend getaway.  If you are feeling the winter doldrums getting you down, I encourage a weekend away, whether it's in a cabin or a beach-front hotel.  Who cares if it's not swimming weather?  Sometimes a change of scenery and foreshadowing of warmer days is all you need to get through the next snowstorm.

Combine with an outdoor exploration!  Don't worry about how much cardio or reps you're getting.  Get to a park and explore for a few hours.  You may just e a bit sore the next day!