Greek Marinated Cucumbers - or Cuke and Onions

Oh.....my......gosh......

So Keifer's is one of my most favorite places in Jackson (maybe of ever) to eat. Jonas and I probably go about 3 times a month. I almost always get the gyro with melted feta on whole wheat. And I almost always get the cottage fry to go with it to share, plus it's only like $3. But sometimes I like to mix it up and get the Cuke and Onion.......actually, I believe they re-did the menus and it is just called Cucumbers and Onions now.

Anyways, they are marinated cucumbers that come with feta dressing to dip them in, and it is one of the best things I think I have ever eaten. But they are like $5 or $6, and not much food, so I don't always get them.

Well, I figured out a marinate that makes my cucumbers taste almost exactly like theirs! I was so excited about this that I had to put this out there for you all to try. It may not be the most healthiest of way to eat cucumbers, but you are still getting your vegetables! And this is delicious! I don't even use any feta dressing with mine and it is still good! And so easy!

2 very large cucumbers or 3 medium/large cucumbers. Washed, skinned, and cut up however you prefer. I just sliced mine.

One small onion, sliced. (if you don't like onions, add them anyway for the flavor, and pick them out. However, I do not like the taste of white onions, but they are good after soaking in the marinade)

For the marinade:

1/4 cup of lemon juice
1/4 (or less) of Italian dressing
1/4 (or more) of white vinager

1 1/2 tablepsoons of sugar (more or less)
1 1/2 tablespoons of salt (more or less)

Pepper to taste
and I added some onion/garlic seasoning as well

Mix up all ingredients for marinade, then add cucumber and onion slices. Be sure to stir very well, and stir every hour or so.

Allow to sit in fridge for 3 - 5 hours (or longer) before devouring these delicious cuke and onions!

I just eat them right out of the bowl as a side dish, but they would be soooooo good on a salad as well.

Hope you enjoy!!

Day 14 of 14!

Ok, so last day with this Food Challenge thing. I think it definitely helped me be more conscious of what all I was eating when I knew I was going to have to take a picture of it and post it for you all to see. I will still occasionally post what I'm eating, but probably not so much with the pictures. But we will see.

Breakfast was a little different this morning. It is Saturday and I'm at my parent's house. All healthy things are out the window. I had an oatmeal raisin cookie, cup of coffee, and piece of that strawberry cake for breakfast.

Shocking. I know.

Went to see my grandmother for a few hours, then met mom at the Secret Garden when she got off work and bought a few plants. Again, forgot to take pictures, but will post later.

Next for lunch, I had a turkey and roast beef sandwich, which I forgot to take a picture of.because I inhaled it.

Then the rains and hail came. And it rained, and rained, and rained......

Then we were all hungry again. Either we had to go to the grocery store or go somewhere to eat. So we decided it would be a grand idea to load up and drive to Philadelphia to go to the Silver Star and eat the seafood buffet! Crab Legs! This picture looks ridiculous because we had finished eating already. But the bad thing is that the table had already been cleaned off once! But crab legs take up a lot of space. This is my brother Josh.

Josh, say "hello!"

Calories for the Day - unknown.
Deliciousness for the Day - way too much to count! 

Day 11 of 14 Day Food Challenge

6:00 am - Cereal! And a new picture!

8:00 - large glass of water. yummmmmm..........feeling slightly dehydrated from yesterday.

11:00 - another BBQ chicken pizza from lean cuisine. I eat this a lot. Not necessarily because it is delicious, but it is pretty good and easy for work. And I think one of the better ones they have.

12:30 - Still hungry, so had my free Special K Protein Meal Bar. (meal bar, my ass......) No way could this ever be an entire meal for me.  It's just an addition to. However, pretty dang tasty, and not as chalky tasting as my regular Pure Protein bars.

But I'm not going to buy these because:
a)this one only has 180 calories;
b)it only has 10 grams of protein; and
c) it has 15 grams of sugar (must be why it tastes better).

Sticking with my other ones because:
a)200 calories (and I need the extra calories);
b)20 grams of protein; and
c) only 2 grams of sugar. (Great for the low-sugar diet)
So not only do I get more fuel, more protein, but also less sugar to break through. I like it. :)

Song of the Day: Emergency by Faithless. 7:44 long, but it stays interesting. If you have never heard it - check it out! Yes, it is one of my weirdo spinning songs, but it's great! Every spinner should have this on their iPod.

3:00 - have 5 strawberries for a pre-workout snack, about 40 calories.

Head to gym at 4:00 and teach about 55 minutes in my Spin class. We did another strength ride, and it was a different group of people. So that is 3 this week for me so far. But that was all I did today. Calories burned at the gym - 763

When I got home, Jonas and I decided to go to the Pizza Shack to celebrate his birthday again. Love this place....

We got our favorite pizza - Chicken Curry Delight with Pineapple. I know....sounds weird, but give it a try. So good! And we split a pitcher of Budweiser, because if you buy a large pizza on Thursdays, a pitcher is only $2! I have no idea how many calories are in 2 slices of that pizza. I'll guesstimate 1,000. But I did get another fruit in with the pineapple. Plus the beer, around 350, maybe?

Breakfast - 337
Lunch - 340
Protein Bar - 180
Snack - 40
Gym - (-763)
Dinner - 1,350 - blew it....

Calories Consumed (approximate) - 2247
Calories Burned at Gym - 763
Remaining Calories for the Day.......................1,484

This is OK because I will definitely be making up for it tomorrow....

Day 7 of Food Challenge, and Spin Cure for Cancer!

It's Saturday, but I got up at 6:30, had my cereal (337 calories) and vitamins, and headed over to the Madison 51 Courthouse for the Spin Cure for Cancer.

I got there at 7:40 am, and hopped on a bike. While taking just a few breaks off the bikes, I stayed with it until 11:00 am! What a long morning! But it really was fun. I probably had 6 Poweraids, at 60 calories each (360 calories). Around 9:30, I had a protein bar (200 calories). At the end of the ride, my HR monitor said 2500 even, and was constantly going up as I was just walking around.

And yes, I did come home with an awesome tan line!

Came home, had a tablespoon of peanut butter. 95 calories, then a Lean Cuisine BBQ Chicken Pizza, 340 calories.

Jonas has frozen wings in the sink, so looks like we'll have wings tonight! In the meantime, I have another tablespoon of peanut butter (95 Cals), then a slice of turkey (25 cals), a slice of cheese (60 cals), and a 1/4 cup of pecans (200 Calories).

Around 5:00, I was falling asleep and Jonas was bored, so we decided to go to Buffalo Wild Wings and play buzztime. I have two Blue Moons - 680 calories - yikes! And we split a grilled chicken quesadila, 400 calories.

We finally get to cooking the chicken wings. He did 3 different sauces, hot honey mustard, blazin', and jalapeno lime. I think I only had 4, one of each and another honey mustartd. Not really hungry after the BWW trip. 180 Calories + 20 calories from the sauce.

Cereal - 337
Spin Cure for Cancer - (-1940)
Lunch - 435
Snack -  375
BWW - 1080
Dinner - 200

Tally for the day - 487.....oh yeah!

Day 6 of the 14 Day Food Challenge

Same thing as always, cereal at 6:45 (slept in a little) - 337 + multivitamin (I take this every day, just usually forget to post it.)

No Coffee this morning - just water.

Went home for lunch, had another salad. This time with no cheese, with chicken. 247 Calories
1 tablespoon of peanut butter - 95 calories

I had some Simply Raspberry Lemonade, left over from Memorial Day weekend, decided to pour a very small glass, and as I was drinking it, it has 120 Calories for 8 oz! Sometimes I would drink a whole thing in a weekend. Not good. So I probably had about 4 ounces. About 60 calories

Jonas is finally coming home today. I have to pick him up at the train station at 5:20. We go straight to Keifers. I have no idea how many calories were in this, but we split a pitcher of Amber Bock, I had a gyro with melted feta, and we split a cottage fry. I don't know how many calories are in this, but I don't care! One of my most favorite meals ever!

Cereal - 337
Lunch - 402
Dinner - unknown
Gym - didn't go, Fridays are my day off!
Total - who know!

Tomorrow, I'm back on track!

Day 5 of the 14 Day Food Challenge

6:15 - Start to make cereal. Put everything in the bowl. Go to open a new jug of milk that was in the back of the fridge, and it's frozen. Great. Drink some chocolate milk (not in cereal).Eventually, it sits out long enough for me to jab a knife into it and get some milk flowing, and I get to eat breakfast around 6:45.
337 + 90 =  427 calories for breakfast.

8:00 - 1 coffee at work - 10 cals

11:15 - Same exact salad for lunch as yesterday. 244 Calories

Ipod time....song right now: New Moon Rising (YACHT Remix) by Wolfmother. LOVE this beat. Search for it on http://www.rcrdlbl.com./ . It's a totally free, totally legal site where you can download music. Usually weird or remixes, but every now and then, you can get great finds.

1:30 - Banana - 100 Calories

3:00 - Protein Bar - 200

4:00 - headed to the gym to teach my Spin class, then abs, and my first ever Bootcamp class all by myself! I'm pretty pumped about it. Doing a big arm/chest/core circuit, and a big leg circuit. I hope I can keep up enough to teach it!

Class went fantastic, even though I had low numbers. Calories burned....1588!

Had a message to go meet my mother-in-law, her hubby, sis-in-law and nephew at Cozumel's, so I did. Had 2-for-1 margaritas on the rocks, about 500 calories; a basket of chips and salsa, about 400 calories;
 and a chicken fajita salad....about 560 calories (totally guessing). Total, a whopping 1460.

Tally for the Day:
Breakfast - 427
Coffee - 10
Salad - 244
Banana - 100
Protein Bar - 200
Gym - (-1588)
Mexican Dinner - 1460
Tally for the day..................853. I'll take that! :)

Day 4 of 14 Eating Challenge

My Tip of the Day: If you don't wear a heart rate monitor while working out - get one ASAP! How else are you going to know what you are doing? Plus it helps you keep up with how many calories you burn during your workouts. And it lets you know if you are eating enough (or too much) during the day, like I did yesterday. This is the Heart Rate Monitor that I wear, and so far, I've really liked it. And looks like it is on sale right now on Amazon (just click the picture). I think I paid $85 for it. But Polar is another great brand.

And....if you aren't working out now - START TODAY! You only live once, you only have one body - be the best you can be!! (I sound like an Activia commercial mixed with the Army slogan ....or something...)


Back to the food: Had a very hard time getting up this morning. Another couple hours of sleep would have been spectacular.
Started off the day at 6:15 with a half glass of chocolate milk - 90 Cal
Next, Cereal at 337

Get to work, have some coffee and a big glass of water - 10 Cal

First song of the day: April 26, 1992 by Sublime. This song takes me waaaaaaaaay back! I will always love Sublime. Can't play it in any Spin class though.

Brought a salad for lunch today (can't ever go wrong with a bowl full of raw veggies). Most of the same ingredients: romaine lettuce, grape tomatoes, cucumber, broccoli, carrots, slivered almonds, and shredded cheddar cheese.  Traded out the grilled chicken for 2 slices of turkey meat, and traded dressings again for lite balsamic viniagrette. Tall glass of water. 244 Cal

Planning on skipping the gym today because a) I kinda over-did it yesterday, and I need a little time to recover, and b) Jessica and I have plans to eat at Pan Asia tonight - sooooo good!

Get home from work and see the almsot empty bag of Zapp's Spicy Cajun Crawtators chips Jonas left on the counter. Had to eat the rest! So good! 150 Calories. Not too bad. (This is why I fuss when he buys stuff like this - I have no will power not to eat it! If it's not here, I won't eat it!)

Then I have a few pieces of pineapple - about 28 calories.

Head over to meet Jess at Pan Asia and have tha Pad Thai. I have no idea how many calories are in this, but I'm guessing around 700. We also split a bottle of Guenoc Chardonnay (wine is half off on Wednesdays there!) about 200 calories.

Tally for the Day:
Choc Milk and Cereal - 427
Coffee with fake creamer stuff - 10
Salad for lunch - 244
Zapps - 150
Pineapple - 28
Dinner - 900

Total for the Day - 1759 .....not to great, but not too bad considering yesterday's count.