Sunday Blues

Sunday always manages to come way too soon! I must admit, Sunday night is my least favorite part of the week! Especially this Sunday night, being that I go back to school tomorrow, and have a Neuro Quiz waiting to welcome me back!

I woke up late today, and didn't feel bad about it because I knew this would be my last day I could sleep in for quite some time. I headed to work, and it was incredibly slow, so I got to go home relatively early, but didn't make very much money :(.

When I got home, I downloaded some Med/Surg lectures onto my ipod to prepare for my workout. I'm officially on Week Two of C25K. This includes a brisk five minute warm up, then alternating 90 seconds of jogging with 2 minutes of walking. I did this for the first 25 minutes as indicated, then decided I wanted to continue my workout to coincide with my lecture. Listening to lectures about intercranial pressure and strokes is definitely motivation to keep my butt moving on the treadmill! I need to stay active in order to stay healthy. No dying of strokes or heart disease for me!

After the 25 minutes of C25K, I alternated one minute of running with 90 seconds of jogging until my legs were exhausted, and I decided to walk the rest of the way. My goal was to accomplish 60 minutes on the treadmill. I managed to go 4.08 miles in 60 minutes. I know this is incredibly slow, but this is my first time ever doing it! Baby steps, right?

I felt great after finishing my workout, just incredibly tired! My calves are extremely sore. However, I love that I got to incorporate studying with exercise! I will definitely do this more often.

I'm off to finish listening to the stroke lecture and studying for my Neuro quiz. I have 8 hours of sitting in ONE lecture hall tomorrow, and it is torture! Things I need to take care of tonight include:

-Packing a lunch for class tomorrow.
-Setting the coffee machine timer.
-Packing my school supplies in my backpack ;)
-Picking out a recipe to cook for dinner tomorrow, since my dad is visiting.
-Setting aside my outfit, and setting my alarm.
-Cooking dinner tonight!
-Study, study, study.
-Picking out a strength workout and writing it down, so I can immediately head to the gym tomorrow!

Things on my agenda tomorrow include:
-Lecture 7:30-4:00
-Deposit money at the bank.
-Strength workout.
-Cook dinner and enjoy dad's visit.
-Pick term paper topic and research articles.
-Start packing!

Hopefully I don't end up super lazy like Lily here ;)

Chicken Verde Enchiladas + Mexican Rice

Happy Monday, everyone! I had a hard time getting up this morning. I didn't manage to wake up until 9:30, and it's now 10:00 and I STILL feel exhausted.

I have a lot on my agenda today, a lot of stuff that I didn't get to do yesterday must be completed today. There seriously aren't enough hours in the day!

Last night I decided to try out a new recipe from Cooking Light's website. I decided to make Chicken Enchiladas with Verde Sauce, and used a recipe from AllRecipes.com to make some Mexican Rice.

Although I did mess up on a few measurements (cut me some slack, I'm a novice at cooking!), it did manage to turn out scrumptious although not visually appealing.

Chicken Enchiladas Recipe
Mexican Rice Recipe

My boyfriend loved the Mexican Rice Recipe the best!

Mexican Rice:

Ingredients

• 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 cup uncooked long-grain rice
• 1 teaspoon garlic salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/4 cup chopped onion
• 1/2 cup tomato sauce
• 2 cups chicken broth

Directions

1. Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium heat and add rice. Cook, stirring constantly, until puffed and golden. While rice is cooking, sprinkle with salt and cumin.
2. Stir in onions and cook until tender. Stir in tomato sauce and chicken broth; bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer for 20 to 25 minutes. Fluff with a fork.

Nutritional Information 

Amount Per Serving  Calories: 292 | Total Fat: 11g | Cholesterol: 3mg

Chicken Enchiladas Recipe:

Yield: 4 servings (serving size: 2 enchiladas and 1 lime wedge)

Ingredients

• 1  cup  chopped onion
• 1/4  cup  chopped fresh cilantro
• 2  garlic cloves, minced
• 1  (7-ounce) bottle salsa verde (such as Herdez brand)
• 2  cups  shredded cooked chicken breast
• 1/3  cup  (3 ounces) 1/3-less-fat cream cheese, softened
• 1  cup  fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
• 8  (6-inch) corn tortillas
• Cooking spray
• 1/4  cup  (1 ounce) crumbled queso fresco
• 1/2  teaspoon  chili powder
• 4  lime wedges
• Cilantro sprigs (optional)

Preparation

-Preheat oven to 425°.
-Combine first 4 ingredients in a blender; process until smooth.

Combining ingredients.

Yummy Salsa Verde Sauce.

-Combine chicken and cream cheese in a large bowl.
-Stir in 1/2 cup salsa mixture. Reserve remaining salsa mixture.

Chicken mixed with the Salsa Verde.

The best part ;)

-Bring broth to a simmer in a medium skillet. Working with one tortilla at a time, add tortilla to pan; cook 20 seconds or until moist, turning once.
-Remove tortilla; drain on paper towels. Spoon about 1/4 cup chicken mixture down center of tortilla; roll up. -Place tortilla, seam-side down, in an 11 x 7-inch baking dish coated with cooking spray. Repeat procedure with remaining tortillas, broth, and chicken mixture.
-Pour remaining salsa mixture over enchiladas; sprinkle evenly with queso fresco and chili powder.
-Bake at 425° for 18 minutes or until thoroughly heated.

Fresh out the oven!

-Serve with lime wedges. Garnish with cilantro sprigs, if desired.

The finished product.

Ugly, but it tasted good, I promise ;)

We have leftovers for lunch today as well!

I'm going to finish my cup of coffee while reading the newest Cooking Light magazine, then head to the apartment gym to do Day 1 of Couch25K. I went to the apartment gym yesterday, but all of the treadmills were full, and I had work so I didn't have time to head to 24 hour, so I just ended up spending some time on the elliptical.

My agenda includes:
-Day One Couch25K

My little cheat sheet.

-30 minute walk with Lucky.
-Shower, get ready.
-Head to the bank.
-Buy a loaf pan so I can bake banana bread tonight!
-Fold Laundry
-Clean my room.
-Finish my nursing communication reading.
-Order printer ink, phone battery, and renew my DL online.
-Shop online for new furniture (we are signing the lease on our new place this week!)
-Yoga workout dvd.
-Relax with my honey and watch "Life as We Know It"

I'm a bit obsessed with my pets, so I just had to throw in a picture of Lily! She's annoyed here.

Time to go Grocery Shopping...

I woke up a little earlier this morning than yesterday, which is good considering I slept in until 12 yesterday ;).

I actually woke up at 7:30 which is early for me on a weekend! I have to wake up at 5:15 or 6:00 am during the weekdays because of school, but it's always rushed. I wake up, have 30 minutes to get ready, then run out the door to make it to the hospital for clinicals or to campus for lecture.

I like the idea of waking up earlier to give myself more time to get stuff done in the morning. I never feel like there is enough time in the day, so this is a great way to give myself the gift of more time!

Anywho, I woke up to wake my dog and kiss my boyfriend goodbye as he left for work, then decided to get up instead of going back to sleep. I went into the kitchen hoping to make myself a breakfast with scrambled eggs, toast, and a pancake, but lo and behold, WE HAVE NO GROCERIES!!

I haven't been grocery shopping in quite some time, which probably contributed to my, um, not so healthy lifestyle. We did have some eggs, but they expired March 12th. Actually, we live with roommates so I'm not really sure where some of our stuff goes sometimes...I know none of us would intentionally eat the other person's food, but sometimes there is so much stuff in the fridge that it all kind of gets mixed up.

Since I didn't have any eggs, that eliminated my plan to have scrambled eggs or a pancake. Therefore, I started perusing the freezer and pantry and found that I still had a huge box of Boca Burgers from Costco!

Unfortunately, we didn't have any buns. But that didn't matter to me! I decided to heat up a Boca Burger with some of the last of our frozen broccoli to make myself a healthy, although not a visually pleasing breakfast. I added just a tiny bit of ranch and BBQ sauce on the side. I'm not a person that goes heavy on the sauces, but I like to have just a dash of sauce in my food to give it flavor. I had this with a cup of coffee and I feel energized to take on my day!

My day is going to be pretty busy...today I plan to tackle:
-laundry

-cleaning the room

-day one of couch25k
-studying/hw for my nursing communication class

-work at 12:30
-dishes
-cooking! (my mom just gave me us a George Foreman grill and I plan to put that baby to use!)

-taking Lucky on a 30 minute walk

-grocery shopping!

-relaxing with my boyfriend when he gets home to some Grey's Anatomy (we've been working our way through the seasons and are currently on season six! Oh, how I love Netflix)

Annnd...I'm off!