a mediocre meal day

While I didn't wake up particularly early today, I did get some strength training in!  I did the last 3 circuits of Jillian Michaels No More Trouble Zones, which are mostly core-focused.  I knew I didn't have it in me to do the whole DVD today (it's so hard!), so I just chose a few circuits and then did some extra leg exercises after.  Tomorrow, M and I are going for a long run - we have a 5 mile route plan and will do intervals, should take us about an hour.  I'm hoping it won't be too hot or humid and that we'll be able to make it through without me collapsing, haha.

Today for lunch, I made Rigatoni with Artichokes.  This recipe was pretty decent, and I haven't had artichokes in a long time so I was excited to eat them!  The recipe has you sprinkle bread crumbs and parsley on the top, which I thought was kind of strange, but it actually made it tasty.  Oh, and I used penne instead of rigatoni, but who has the money to buy 27 different types of pasta just so I make everything by the book?

Then, for dinner I had Vegetable Kung Pao.  I was surprised how the sauce for this is made - it's basically just water, sugar, and cornstarch.  I guess I'm not well-versed on my Chinese cuisine, but I think of Kung Pao as having a brown sauce, with soy sauce or teriyaki or something similar.  The main 'flavor' ingredient here was the chili puree with garlic.  Unfortunately, I could not find chili puree with garlic ANYWHERE.  So I ended up getting diced chilis from the Mexican food section and adding garlic.  So, of course I have no idea... if I had found the right thing maybe it would have tasted completely different?  Anyway, the dish was surprisingly sweet - possibly because I don't have real sugar and used Splenda.  Other than that, it was ... decent?  I won't lie, after I ate half of it, I put some soy sauce on it to make it more flavorful.

Otherwise it was okay.  I didn't miss having meat in there as much as a I thought... but I also just finished eating about 4 minutes ago, so it's too soon to tell if my tummy missed it!  The recipe does have peanuts, so you get protein, but I think I would have liked it better with some chicken.  That's alright though, only one more day of Pescatarian week!  I can't believe how quickly it went by, and how I didn't really miss meat all that much.  I don't know if If could handle no meat or fish, though!

So, after two medicore meals today and and a few others that were just "fine" this week, I need to find some "WOW!" meals to make this week.  Stay tuned!