Day 93: Book Review, Recipe and the Usual

Yesterday was a good day. I woke up at 121.5 – down a half from the day before. I worked from home so I was able to sleep in, eat healthy, etc. I also got to spend the day with Reuben – little buddy! I had cheerios for breakfast, a kashi meal for lunch and a few snacks (pretzels, granola bar, ½ turkey sandwich). I walked 4 miles at lunch – nice! After work I threw in a load of laundry, gathered the trash and headed to the library (Certain Girls was due back today) and to the grocery store. I feel like I go there all the time – blah. Then I finished Certain Girls and was left like hmmm.

SPOILER ALERT

So I really loved the story, I loved how it filled in the blanks of what happened between the last book and this book. I liked her relationship with her daughter and how you can see how things came about, and why, and it just had a great story to tell. I loved the characters, and how you could read it from her point of view as well as her daughter’s. What I didn’t like was SERIOUSLY- Peter died?! What? I was on the treadmill at lunch reading it and walking along and I see that he died. I had to reread it twice… then it went into a dream thing and so I thought she was dreaming but no, he was dead. What? I just don’t think Connie, or Joy, needed that. But I guess that was the point – shit happens. Still – I wanted a happy ended and Certain Girls, while I suppose the ending was happy (her and Joy reconciled; a new baby – Peter’s baby, etc.) it was empty and felt wrong.  There’s my 2 cents.

 After I got back from Kroger I made dinner – Chicken “Fried” Rice! A favorite of mine since FOREVER. Seriously – been making it since I was old enough to cook! I’ve (clearly) switched it up over the years but it’s still basically the same – and SIMPLE. First – I made the white rice (1.5 cups for 2 people) last night and refrigerated it over night. So I got out the white rice, 1 egg, 2 tbsp egg whites, onions, 3 baby carrots, PAM, garlic salt, and light soy sauce. I set a pan on medium, sprayed it with PAM and cooked the egg/egg whites with salt and a ½ tbsp skim milk and set them aside. Then I sprayed the pan again, and cooked two servings of defrosted chicken in garlic salt and 1 tbsp soy sauce and set it aside. Then I dropped in ¼ cup chopped onions and the three baby carrots, chopped. I cooked until the onion browned then removed it. Now I had an empty pan and a plate with cooked egg, chicken, onions and carrots! I sprayed the pan and  added in the cold white rice. I stirred it until it started to brown (3-4 minutes), then added garlic salt and 2 tbsp soy sauce. I stirred it for 2 more minutes. Then I added the egg, chicken, onions and carrots to the rice and 1 more tbsp of soy sauce. I stirred it for 2 more minutes and that was it! It made two (large, filling) servings and each had 430 calories, 3 fat grams and 60 carbs. So kinda high on carbs but SO worth it!! Lots of protein too (33).

After dinner I did some work and then we watched a movie –fun! At the end of the day I had 1,430 calories, 21 fat grams and 235 carbs – so pretty high on carbs (barely in REC zone) – other than that a good day! Here's what I ate. And, I burned 216 calories walking 4 miles (60 minutes), which takes me to 1,214 calories – great day! And today I was down to 120.5 – not bad – slowly getting back to pre-Thanksgiving weigh ins. This weekend is going to be tough though – we have lots of plans. Wish me luck!