quick quinoa and a non kettlebell kettlebell workout

well its humpday. and i'm pretty ready for this week to be over...not that it ever ends since i work everyday but i definitely have less hours towards the end of the week so thats what i can look forward to.  i havent gotten to get any running in yet this week which is putting some pressure on me to get my 10 mi goal but im hoping to get at least 2 on the treadmill tonight. we shall see.

in other news, i had a bit of a binge day yesterday--its bound to happen and i dont hold grudges unless it happens like 3 days in a row. so today has been like a "make up day" if you will and i've been doing quite wonderfully if i do say so myself.  had the morning off so i actually got a good breakfast in and had time to make my quinoa for lunch, which i shall share my easy peasy recipe here in a bit.  breakfast i had the usual egg white scramble with my onions and peppers and i threw in some turkey sausage crumbles and a little bit of cheese.  topped that off with chipotle tabasco, a slice of rudi bread, coffee and an apple and i had about 380 calories there.

i had been meaning to make up the rest of my quinoa for a while now and i decided today would be a good day for it.  it isn't anything more time consuming than cooking noodles so that 15-20 minute process was the hardest thing about the whole meal. and of course it only came to about 400 calories take a little.  quinoa is also really filling, you get a good bang for your buck and i probably couldve eaten even less and saved myself some calories but since i knew id be at the gym all night i figured id get the calories in early--thats how i prefer it anyway.

so i took the remainder of my boxed quinoa and cooked it up -- for 1 cup of quinoa add 2 cups of water, bring to a boil, simmer and cover for 10-15 minutes--usually takes me the full 15.  the water will be soaked up/evaporated and you'll see a white ring around the kernels.

in the mean time get the rest of your ingredients together:

• schwanns roasted peppers and onions--i used a handful which prob came to 1/2 cup (3/4 cups is 60 calories)
• morningstar crumbles--once again i didn't measure but a serving is 2/3 cup at 80 calories so it was close enough to that
• 1/2 cup of spinach
• 4-6 tbsp. salsa
• 1/4 of an avocado
• cheese if you want (i used half a slice of american because it's all we had, not my preferred choice)

i took the roasted peppers and onions and the crumbles combined them in a bowl and microwaved for a minute or so, then topped with the cheese, microwaved for another 25 seconds, and stirred to combine.  once the quinoa was done i put it into that mixture as well.  i used the spinach as more of a bed/liner and lined the bottom of a bowl with it and put the peppers, crumbles, cheese, quinoa mixture on top.  then topped it off with chipotle tabasco (clearly a staple of mine), salsa and avocado and wallah you have a meal.  after i took the picture i basically just stirred it all up and destroyed my presentation.  it was very tasty, quick, healthy, and satiating as well.

nutrition facts:  ~375 calories/serving, 14g fat, 3g sat. fat, 10mg cholesterol, 44 g carbohydrate, 10 g fiber, 6g sugar, 19 g protein, 34% vit A, 9% calcium, 19% vit C, 24% iron

filled with good fat! nomnom (i hate when people say that and me and steve <3 tend to mock things with it, so its appropriate)

so the workout so far today was a take on a kettlebell workout my boss/trainer did at a kettleball class and wanted to bring it here with the use of dumbbells.  it was somewhat just thrown together timing wise and basically i was the lab rat for it but it was a pretty good workout for sure, lots of squatting!

what i have written down isn't the exact sequence i did, but is basically the same thing.  you would want to set your interval timer for 30 seconds on 10 seconds off 12 rounds and when you go to the next sequence, youll press start again. we didn't do it like that and it kept getting all messed up so that's the somewhat revised way of doing it.  i had 10 lb, 12 lb, and 15lb dumbbells on hand bc somethings were harder than others.  i probably used the 12 and 15 pound weights the most

single arm reverse lunge with a swing thru kick - hold the weight with your right hand just about the shoulder area and youll just keep it there through the whole process, do a reverse lunge and when you come up swing your leg through.  from there youll go straight into a reverse lunge again. 
high swings - swing the weight between your legs and bring it up over your head
repeat single arm reverse lunge with kick with other leg

youll go 2x through for each set/exercise

single arm clean - squat and put dumbbell towards the floor, pull up to your shoulder and repeat
presses - just press up from the shoulder
single arm clean - switch arms

single dumbbell squat - hold dumbbell with one arm and perform a squat
goblet squat - hold dumbbell at your chest with both hands and perform squat
single dumbbell squat - switch arms

single arm swings - using one arm, swing dumbbell between legs and up straight in front of your chest, not above your head
alternate catches - perform single arm swings, when you swing up in front of you let go with one arm and grab with other arm, swing, and repeat
single arm swings - switch arms

--take 1-2 minute break--

single arm rows - bent over row, you'll do 5 with one arm, switch to the other do 5, then 4 with one arm, 4 with the other, and so on down to 1 then go back up to 5.  this may take up to 2 minutes so you may have to either adjust your timer or just go through it and then start your timer (you only have to go through this once, but you're always welcome to do more)


single arm clean and press -  same as single arm clean but combine the press at the end
alternate single arm clean and press - alternate clean and press with both arms
single arm clean and press - switch to other arm
(you'll be doing 2x through again)

front plank in pushup position - hold plank from hands instead of elbows (no dumbbell for these)
up downs - start in pushup position, then go onto elbows and repeat
front plank in pushup position - repeat

tricep extension - hold dumbbell behind head with arms bent and push straight up
bicep curls
tricep extension

straight arm side plank - same as front plank in pushup position but to the side
russian twist - in seated position hold dumbbell with both hands and touch floor on either side of body continuously
straight arm side plank - switch sides

bench press
windsheild wipers - continue holding bar and swing your legs up straight to either side
bench press

DONE!
if you feel like running like i suppose i feel like doing then do before or after.  i got a good 3 hour break though--sorry ima cheater!