I love Thursdays post 5pm. Have I said that before? I hope so.
Thursday marks the end of my work week and this Thursday was PAY DAY.
Even though I go to bed around the same time Thursday night and wake up on Friday relatively early, there is something about Thursday’s after work that make me feel like I just have more time thus can be more relaxed. The thought of work the next day does not loom and there’s no pressure as to when I have to hit the hay.
Tonight my game plan included: working out, making dinner, online shopping 
(can’t stop, should stop- but hey, at least I got paid today and worked hard all week? spoken like a true addict…), calling my Mom, and then just relaxing!
My life is REALLY exciting- I know. At least I was pumped about it!
The weather here is still beautiful by the way. Hence why at lunch I’ve been walking around the city during my hour break while eating. Curious about what I had for lunch?
Remember those roasted fall veggies I made a week ago? Well I’ve been eating them pretty much everyday since I made them. Not to harp on yesterday’s post… but planning, prepping food ahead of time, and keeping things simple is key. Throughout the week I’ve had the veggies over salad, as a side to sandwiches, and today- mixed with leftover ground turkey from those turkey burgers I told you about.
Last night I used the other half of my pound of ground turkey to make a cheeseburger pizza (on the other crust that came in the dual package I bought to make the roasted fall veggie and ricotta pizza).
Well, to quote Rachael Ray annoyingly, YUM-O!
About this cheeseburger pizza... MMMMMMMM! Here’s the recipe link in case you missed it above. I followed it pretty much- but used smaller portions because my crust wasn’t that big. And I had turkey burger on hand so I used that. OH and I didn’t have vinegar, green pepper, or pickles so I nixed those. Work with whatcha got my friends.
It still came out so good and it did in fact taste like a cheeseburger. Big fan. Thank you to Carrots ‘N’ Cake for making me aware of this.
My slices with some roasted broccoli!
Not all the ground turkey fit on the pizza so I saved a portion for today’s lunch to mix with the remainder of my roasted fall veggies! Again… CREATIVITY. I made SO many meals out of ricotta cheese, roasted veggies, a pound of ground turkey, and two pizza crusts. I’m telling you all this so you can see a live example of what I preached in my last post.
MOVING ON to post-work times… I practically skipped home to get my night started.
Before hitting up the gym, I needed to do some dinner prep. I knew I was going to make Eggplant Parmesan per recipe of blogger Kath Eats and she recommends “salting” your eggplant for an hour before using it. I figured it could salt while I worked out!
I googled how to do this (and why…) because I was confused. THIS website helped me get some clarification and I prepped my eggplant. Basically just throw some salt on your sliced eggplant and let it sit in a strainer. After the hour you just wash off all the salt and use the eggplant however you were planning on cooking it… skeptical but I rolled with it.
Gym time.
On Thursdays I tend to workout a litttttle longer than normal (~75 mins. as opposed to my usual 45-60 min. workouts).
My cardio portion of the workout looked a little something like this:
- 10 min. on elliptical
- 10 min. power walk on treadmill
- 5 min. easy run/jog on treadmill
- 10 min. sprinting/running intervals on treadmill
- 10 min. elliptical
- This cardio workout was stolen from Tina of Carrots ‘N’ Cake. Thanks girl!
My strength portion of the workout looked a little something like this:
- Burpees 10 reps // 3 sets
- Row to Overhead Press 15 reps // 3 sets
- Reverse Dumbbell Chop 15 reps // 3 sets (both arms)
- In and Outs 20 reps // 3 sets
I used to absolutely hate burpees, but I’ve come around a little bit. Key words: “a little bit.” They’re still wicked challenging and really push my body, but for some reason I don’t mentally want to die when told to do a burpee anymore. Have they grown on me?! I never would have thought…
It was a really good workout filled with positive vibes- wahoo! success.
Eggplant Parmesan time. My Italian genes were happy happy happy.
Like I said earlier- I followed the recipe of blogger Kath Eats for this one (mainly because I had all the ingredients already bwah hah hah)
Sauteed the eggplant slices a little first (seeing as I don’t have the option to grill mine like she did) and then placed them on a greased pan. Then I made the homemade sauce recipe Kath recommended. I was making a smaller portion of her dish so I had lots of sauce leftover- should come in handy during the week!
I put the sauce on the eggplant slices and topped with mozzerella and parmesan cheese! No common breading or breadcrumb mixture needed/wanted in this recipe (what you’d commonly see chicken/eggplant coated with before the sauce and cheese).
The finished product :)
While the eggplant parmesan was cooking I steamed some kale according to these instructions and doused the greens in Balsamic Vinagrette per Kath’s advice.
There was a pretty good amount of kale hidden underneath the eggplant.
Not the best pictures ever… but the meal DEFINITELY satisfied my tomato sauce cravings that had been building up. This meal was certainly satisfying.
Soooo curious as to what I bought online? Catching up on blogs and websites I read regularly, I found myself perusing Lauren Conrad’s blog. She had a post about Pura Vida Bracelets, which are handmade by artisans in Costa Rica. Her post on them explains the brand even better and in more detail :) Her pictures and claim of them being the “Ultimate Fall Accessory” sold me. I’m a sucker it’s fine. Butttt L.C. offers a discount code- get on it!
They have a million different options- but here are some pics from their site:
Guys- their bracelets are so fun and pretty! I looked through them for at least an hour coming up with different color combinations and styles. It took me forever to decide on three that I wanted (I limited myself- I swear).
The company even has bracelets in their “Charity Collection” for countless powerful causes (i.e. Breast Cancer Awareness, Fight Hunger Awareness, Anti-Domestic Violence Awareness, and Suicide Prevention Awareness to name a few)
One of the ones I got! I’m so boring when it comes to trying bright colors- I tend to stick to neutrals… but I thought this would be good for the Fall :)
Okay. Time for a spoonful of Sunbutter and catching up on some more blogs.
Goodnight readers, sleep well! xoxo
