Short Cuts

I realized driving to Trader Joe's today that sometimes I feel guilty for every short cut I may take, even if it really isn't a short cut.  For example, there are days I feel like I should learn to churn my own butter.  As I keep trying to eek out time to exercise today, I realize that some short cuts are just necessary.  I can't take every step I'd like to take to be healthier and still live a life that is the quality that I want.  So, I'm ok that I still have a large amount of processed food in my plan - nobody's perfect.  So lets see, I was going to exercise at 10:30, and then got busy playing with the kids.  After M went down for a nap, I had to shower, and then I was STARVING - so I was going to exercise after lunch settled, but then M woke up earlier than normal from his nap.  Now, I need to start cooking dinner.  I will exercise today.

Here's what I've got so far for food & drink:

7:00 - Diet Dr Pepper
8:00 - Bagel with Cream Cheese                                              150 cal
10:30 - 1/8 cup almonds (about 10)                                           75 cal
10;30 - 25 pretzel sticks                                                            55 cal
10:30 - String Cheese                                                                80 cal
11:30 - 3 pickle spears                                                              15 cal
1:30 - Arugula Salad w/ Avocado and Balsamic                        125 cal
1:30 - 1 corn tortilla                                                                    50 cal
1:30 - 1 Fiber 1 Bar (yum)                                                        140 cal
3:00 - Banana                                                                             90 cal
5:20 - 10 minutes of random cardio                                             -50 cal
5:30 - Homemade Chicken Tortilla Soup                                   300 cal
6:00 - Homemade Apple Crumble                                             200 cal

Total:  1230 calories

I was SO hungry after my shower - It was hard to eat my salad because that crazy Fiber 1 bar looked SO SO good.

I love making Chicken Tortilla Soup - but it makes lots of dirty dishes, and I hate cleaning.  Here's what's in it:  I bake 2 chicken breasts at 350 for 25 minutes with salt, pepper, olive oil, and cumin.  Let cool and cut into chunks.  I saute onion and peppers, add chicken broth, add chicken.  Then I roast some frozen corn, and add that.  I top with some avocado.  Sometimes I dip chips in it, but it isn't even needed.  Guess it isn't "tortilla" soup without the chips, but this is one of my favorite dishes that I just sort of made up after eating it in a restaurant once and figuring out what I like.  Lots of people add beans - I don't like beans.

Phil said the soup was good, but the apple crumble was bland.  It was 2 apples, 2/3 cup quick oats, 1/3 cup brown sugar, and a drizzle of butter and cinnamon.

Did I mention that blogging while a 1 year old screams and trys to pull you out of the chair is difficult?  I did manage 10 minutes of cardio today - random dance/lunges - nothing too structured that I figure burned about 50 calories tops.

Day 2 a success, but I'm hungry.