Baby Cows

First things first, check out the amazing contest at Oh She Glows!  What’s the best size for every woman? SIZE HEALTHY!

Just because I think it’s kind of funny/I really like baby things, I thought I’d share one of my joys on the way to work every morning!  Every morning and every afternoon we take US Highway 36 in and out of Boulder.  Every spring there are, on either side of the highway, “herds” of cattle that graze right next to the highway.  All in all, it’s a very scenic view…BUT every year around this same time, the cows start giving birth to the baby cows (yes, I it’s technically a “calf” or “calves”, but I’m pretty sure we can all agree that the ‘baby’ in ‘baby cow’ really shows how cute they are).  And so, with the miracle of birth all around us, I sing “Baby Cow, Baby Cow” over and over again until we are at our exit.  Nate loves this about me, probably about as much as I love how he sings “Yankee Doodle” or “The Song That Never Ends” every morning before work 😉

OK, enough with the baby cow talk, and on to today’s eats!  For my first course of my first meatless day, I had a cup of Potato & Leek Soup from Safeway:

I ate this while I waited for curling to be over and downhill skiing to come on.  Alas, it never did as NBC has all of the rights to the Olympic coverage and has chosen to flex their metaphorical arm and wave a specific metaphorical finger at those of us who want to have live-streaming Olympic coverage from the comfort of our desks.  I digress.

After I found out that we wouldn’t be watching downhill skiing as a company, I made myself a “pizza” with the last FlatOut bread, a mushroom Boca burger, and a slice of low-fat provolone.

This was actually really great!  I enjoyed the flavor of the mushroom “burger”, and thought this was an excellent choice for a non-meat meal.  Today we took one of our cars in for some repairs, so I used some of my lunchtime for that.  After I got back I went on a 45-minute walk, and decided to do 15 minutes to a nearby park.  Once I got there I did 100 lunges and 100 body-weight squats, and the proceeded to jog back to the office.  It was a really great workout, and I was totally comfortable during the times I was jogging!  I’ve decided to accept the fact that I may never run again (other than sports) and I’m fine with that, but I figure every now and then probably wouldn’t kill me so I can keep my heart rate up!

Post workout snack was the best one yet:  3/4 cup plain nonfat yogurt, 1 Tbsp shredded unsweetened coconut, 1 Tbsp dark chocolate chips, and 1 Tbsp dried cranberries!

OH.MY.GOSH.  This was so incredibly creamy and amazing and had just the right amount of sweetness from the toppings!  It was a great snack, and would make a wonderful dessert too!

Dinner tonight was kind of haphazard since I didn’t pull anything out for Nate to eat (meat), and I didn’t really plan something specific for myself.  I sauteed 1/2 a yellow onion, some baby carrots, 3 zucchini, and 4 cloves of garlic (I adore it) in 1 Tbsp of olive oil and 1 Tbsp of butter.  Then I added 2 Tbsp of flour and 2 cups of milk and let it simmer until it started to get thick.  I added a cooked box of penne pasta and 2 canned of drained cannelini beans, along with a random seasoning mix from the cupboard.  Voila!  Instant dinner!  I did pull out a Boca vegan patty so I’d feel like I was eating meat, and then had a couple of toasted slices of whole wheat baguette.

“Dessert” is a Pipeline Porter in my Tortola koozie, which I’m drinking as I settle in for a fun evening of medical notes.

I loved all of y’alls answers to Christie’s question, “Why do you read blogs?”  I think it’s definitely interesting to see not only why people do what they do, but to dig deeper into the motivations behind it!  I feel like I’m so blessed to be able to share my life and the things I do with all of you, and I appreciate all of your kind thoughts and words 🙂

As a continuation of the Oh She Glows contest, do you feel any pressure to be a specific weight or wear a specific size in clothing?  Why or why not?  What sort of external factors cause you to view yourself differently than you would if you just learned to love yourself? I don’t necessarily feel like I should weigh a certain number or wear a certain size, but I am VERY aware of the fact that I’m bigger than most girls (I’m 5’10”, and I don’t know how much I weigh since I’ve banished the torturous object known as a scale).  There is a production/clothing design department where I work, and all of the girls there are these teeny tiny things that dress great and look like they hardly care what they weigh.  I feel as though I should be their size, even though they’re all anywhere from 3 to 8 inches shorter than me.  I am working on understanding how my height will always affect my weight, but loving myself for it!