La Du It 2 It: It's Friday!!! & 10 Day Cleanse

Woohoo, it's Friday!! We made it through another week and the sun is shining = a good day! I don't have too much to talk about (again, weird) so I am just going to blabber on about my weekend plans and the cleanse I am starting on Monday.

Tonight is the last Friday of lent (Bud is Catholic and does the whole no meat thing, I am Lutheran so I just enjoy fish whenever he makes it ;-) ) so my husband and I are making crab dip, salmon, and asparagus with mushrooms (and drinking lots of wine). I am really looking forward to it because we have a really easy way to make salmon and it always turns out delish. Here is what we do:

Make sure the salmon is thawed out completely (if previously frozen)
Rub olive oil on the salmon and sprinkle on any seasoning you like. We have our own seasoning that we made that is like Emeril's Essence seasoning.
Put on a baking sheet and put into the cold oven.
Put the oven on 400 degrees, for 25 minutes.
Don't pre-heat the oven just turn it on once the salmon is in and 25 minutes later you will have the most perfect salmon. I was amazed the first time I tried this by how good it was.

For the asparagus and mushrooms, we just toss both into a frying pan with olive oil, a little salt, garlic pepper, and saute until they are done. Nothing too special here but it turns out really good. We are currently obsessed with this combo.

Recipe for Cheesy Crab Dip:

8 oz of reduced fat cream cheese, softened
1/3 cup light mayo
1/3 cup milk
2 tablespoons of chopped fresh dill
1 tsp of Worcestershire sauce (anyone else have a problem saying Worcestershire?? I feel like I never say it right)
1/4 tsp garlic salt
1/2 pound imitation crab meat, coarsely chopped
6 tbsp grated Parmesan cheese
Sliced carrot, celery, cucumber, radishes, or bread for dipping (I have never tried this dip before and I am thinking pita chips would be good)

1) Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees and coat a 9-inch pie plate with non-stick cooking spray.

2) In a large bowl, combine cream cheese, mayo, milk, dill, Worcestershire sauce, and garlic salt. Fold in imitation crab meat. Spoon mixture evenly into prepared pie plate. Sprinkle parm cheese evenly over the top.

3) Bake for 25-30 minutes until lightly browned. Cool slightly.

Well there you have it - our meal for this evening. I am looking forward to that, along with relaxing with Bud and KB. I also plan on taking KB for a walk after work tonight since it's so nice out. He gets to try out the jogging stroller for the first time. Hopefully he likes it because he will probably be spending a good amount of time in that thing this summer.

Saturday, I HAVE TO run my scheduled 8 miles. I have to so bad because I skipped my long run last week, and have only ran 1 time this week. I have been slacking like a mo fo lately! After my run, if I am still alive, I have no plans other than cleaning, organizing, and relaxing. My inner Monica (from Friends, duh) is speaking to me. She has been talking for a while now, and I keep telling her to pipe down, but this time she is not listening. I don't know if it's the nicer weather or what, but it just makes me want to clean and get rid of the crap we have accumulated over the winter.

Sunday, we have plans to go to Bud's grandparents house for lunch and that is pretty much it unless some pending dinner plans go through. It's KB's first Easter and I kind of feel guilty that I haven't gotten him anything yet... I know he is only 6 months old, and the kid has PLENTY of stuff, but I just feel like I need to get him SOMETHING. So, maybe I will try to pick him up a little something after work today. I am thinking something along the lines of a Disney movie on DVD. I have a ton of Disney movies from when I was younger but they are all on VHS. I am going to try and replace them with DVDs because I still think those are the best movies EVER for kids. Plus, KB likes any cartoon that sings.

I know every line in this movie by heart

Now onto MONDAY - DOOMSDAY! I have convinced Bud to do the AdvoCare 10-day cleanse with me, starting Monday. Like I mentioned in a previous post, the cleanse consists of eating very clean (no sugars, bread, cheese, processed foods, alcohol, etc.), drinking 100+ ounces of water daily, and drinking a fiber drink (the "cleanse"). I figure this will be a great jump start to summer, and also a great push towards getting to my pre-preg weight and also closer to my ultimate goal weight. I am excited, nervous, and anxious about the cleanse because I want to stick to it and hopefully see some good results. Now that Bud has agreed to do this with me I feel much better because before all I could picture was me eating lettuce leaves and drinking water, while he is eating hot wings and drinking beer. So this is a very good thing. I will post my results after the 10 days and I will also probably post throughout the cleanse about how it's going, about me going ape on people at work from lack of coffee, and about the urge to want to eat an entire box of Captain Crunch. Stay tuned!