Event Update: Mosquitos SUCK - literally

Ugh. We knew we weren't going to be able to get in an SOS this week, so we had grand intentions of getting in SOF instead. We had not taken into account mosquitos. Due to the rains we have been getting, the mosquitos are the worst this year that I seen since I moved to Florida in 2000, and that includes trips to the everglades. We walked about 2 miles at Riverview park in Vero, which was about a mile and a half more than I wanted to walk, luckily Heather was there to convince me that I am stronger that 8 billion mosquitos. I mean, I am truly a wimp - I was covered in bug spray, and Heather was not, and I was still the one wimping out. Anyway, despite being eaten alive, we still got 2 miles in, and a few good pictures. If you didn't GOYB, here's what you missed:

A very dramatic little blue heron at dusk.

Lots of giant land crabs out this evening.

A dramatically posed picture of a little blue heron and squirrel. Would have been more dramatic (and surprising) had it been moose and squirrel.

Join us for our next walk on Tuesday at Riverview in Vero. I cannot emphasize enough to BRING BUGSPRAY!!! and probably wear long sleeves, and long pants.

Taste of Tuesday

I came up with a new recipe this week. David and I have been using this program on the iPhone called "Tap and Track" to monitor our exercise and food intake. One thing this has helped us with is to realize that neither of us are particularly good at getting in protein. So, I made this high-protein, lower carb casserole. It is similar to my Not Chicken Pie recipe, hence the name:

Even Less Like Chicken Pie (makes 10 servings, freezes well)
============================================
Ingredients:

• 8 oz shredded low-fat cheese. I used the Sargento Reduced Fat Mexican blend
• 2 packages Aidell's Organic Chicken and Apple sausage, sliced
• 5 oz bag of baby spinach, chopped
• 1 Vidalia Onion, diced
• 1.5 lbs chopped fresh broccoli
• 1/2 cup 100% Egg Whites
• 2 Tbsp Vegetable Oil
• Garlic
• Paprika

Chop the broccoli, removing the leaves and other stuff you don't want. Steam the broccoli till tender and set aside. In a large frying pan or wok, stir fry the chopped onion and garlic (to taste) in the vegetable oil until translucent. Add in the chopped baby spinach and cook until kinda slimy looking. Turn off the heat and remove from burner. Add in the chopped broccoli, sausage, cheese and egg whites. Mix well, then put into a large casserole dish that you have sprayed with Pam. Smooth the top and sprinkle with paprika. Bake in 350 degree oven for 40-45 minutes. 

Nutritionals per serving:

• 271 calories
• 20.1 g protein
• 15.4 g carbs
• 15.5 g fat

Eat a Pint of Ice Cream!

Face it, there is just something about sitting down and devouring a pint of ice cream. We've all done it. You  go to the store, you think you are being "good" by just buying a "little" container of ice cream, you get it home, suck it down, say to yourself, "Hey, it's only 300 calories". Then you see the "per serving" and realize that a "serving" is 1/4 cup and you just ate 8 servings.

Or worse, you buy "diet" ice cream, and feel good about saving the calories until you see the ingredient panel, and realize that you just consumed a pint of something that contains absolutely no ingredients that you can pronounce, but you know for sure that they didn't come from no cow. Well maybe a mutant soylent green type of cow but not the kind that goes MOOOoooo.

So, you have the following choices:

• Eat 1/4 cup of real ice cream and feel deprived and beat yourself up and go back for more.
• Eat a bunch of nasty tasting chemical laden ice "creme" like dairy-ish product (hey, the chemicals might cause you to grow another head out of your arm pit, but at least you won't be fat!)
• Say screw it and allow yourself a treat of a pint of really good ice cream every now and then, with real sugar and fat in it. This is by far the best option. There is absolutely nothing wrong with treats now and then. 

But today, I discovered there is actually one other option for an ice cream fix. My trainer told me about this new stuff called "Arctic Zero". I tried the Vanilla Maple flavor today - the nutritional information is  amazing:

• Serving Size: A pint (the carton says 1/2 cup, but we all know we aren't going to stop there, so I did the math here to eat the whole thing)
• Calories: 150
• Total Fat: 0
• Sodium: 320 mg
• Total Carbs: 24 g
• Dietary Fiber: 8g
• Sugars: 15 g
• Protein: 14 g

What gets me is the ingredient list: Filtered water, whey protein concentrate, organic cane sugar, chicory root, guar gum, anthem gum, natural flavors, sea salt, organic monk fruit. No Aspartame or even Splenda here!

The consistency is more like ice milk, and it tastes better if you let it melt a bit (although I think all ice cream tastes better melted) but the flavor of the Vanilla Maple is amazing. David tried the Chocolate Peanut butter, and thought it was ok. I didn't love the chocolate peanut butter flavor, but I'm not a huge peanut butter fan either.

The only problem is that it isn't that easy to find. I got mine at the Publix in Vero. The Sebastian Publix doesn't carry it yet (although I really really really really really really really hope they start!) 

Let me know if you try it and what you think. Personally, I love it so much I would marry it it. But that's just me. 

Event Update: SOS Walk on A1A from Jungle Trail

Oh my. Today was very hot, and very buggy. But, I was joined by both the divine miss H and HFC David, so it was a wonderful walk as always. It amazes me how many times we can walk the same stretch of road, and yet see completely different things of every walk. If you didn't GOYB today, here are some of the very cool things you missed (click to embiggen):

This was something we hadn't seen before. A slug! We felt really bad for it, the sidewalk was very hot, so Heather picked it up and put it in the cooler grass.

We were not sure what these bones were from. David was guessing maybe a giant land crab?

This was a spider. The whitish stuff was sticks in her web, the spider is the brown and grey thing, but I'm not sure what kind, it was kind of bunched up.

 This was a formerly pretty but currently very dead moth being eaten by life. Circle of life became a recurring theme on todays walk.

It was a beautiful, albeit hot day. On the shore there were a ton of little birds...

...including a Ruddy Turnstone coming into his winter plumage...

... and some Spotted Sandpipers.

 This is most likely the same Reddish Egret we saw last week. Here is taking off.

This was really sad. It happened really quickly so she wasn't sure what happened, but Heather saw this guy do a loop-de-loop on the telephone wires, then crash into the water. It looked like he might have hit the wire, broke his wing and crash landed in the water. There really wasn't anything we could do for him, he was floundering quite badly but still moving when we left him. We didn't see him on the way back.

 This is a Black Vulture. Not sure if the fact that he was hanging out is related to the fact that we didn't see the hurt pelican on the way back. But again, it is the circle of life, something dies and something else feeds on it and survives.

BTW, a free DeeMotivation t-shirt if someone (other than David or Heather) can tell me what color this bird's legs are and why!

 We saw lots of spiders today. There are at least 4 in this picture.

 Here is a close up of a golden orbweaver (one of the same type that is in the photo above.) Pictures don't do them justice, they are beautiful critters.

 Something that cracks me up -- all of the houses on A1A have PRIVATE docks, and there are signs on all of them telling you that. I love seeing the peeps being such little scofflaws!

On our way back, we were just shy of 6 miles, so rather than cut across the grass to our car, I made everyone walk along the road a little further. I was rewarded for my efforts when this little guy came running out to say hi to me!

Overall it was a great walk. Be sure to join us for upcoming walks. We are doing Riverview Park in Vero Tuesday night, and A1A again next Sunday night. Remember you will never experience real life sitting on your couch!