I re-upped my weights in Body Pump today for the chest and triceps tracks.  I had dropped them down when I finally got back to the gym after my toe injury (have I talked about THE toe injury??) because I had been out for so long but today, I decided, was the day to put my big girl pants back on.  I felt every single rep.  I have a feeling I'm going to have some screaming arms tomorrow morning!  I had wanted to get a short 3 or 4 mile run done today too but just didn't have time because I was meeting a friend for some speedy shopping and lunch.

We went to Sweetwater for lunch, which I've always loved, and was super happy at the meal I was able to pull together.  A side salad with no cheese or dressing (which was pretty big) and a side order of steamed spinach and mushrooms.  Yum.  It was all totally fantastic.  I like when I can piece together a good vegetarian lunch when I go out.  Dinner seems to be a lot harder.  No, I do not want yet another salad, thankyouverymuch.  I now know that my once favorite neighborhood restaurant is not very veg friendly.  It took me forever trying to piece together dinner the other night.  The soup was a creamy tomato...that would do a serious hurt on my stomach...the salads were all with chicken, fish or beef and once you take them out, your pretty much left with lettuce.  I ended up getting two things from the sides menu - rice and black beans and steamed veggies.  It worked but I would have liked a bit more for dinner.

Simply, yummy sauce

Rice Noodles, Spinach and Tofu

Speaking of dinner, I have to tell you about my awesome dinner the other night!  I originally found C'est La Vegan on VegNews.  She has a video of her Quick Noodles with Kale and Tofu and when I saw it, I immediately had to have it.  I have to admit that I was initially put off by the sauce simply because the one time I've ever tried a peanut butter based sauce, I found the peanut butter taste so overwhelming that I've never wanted to make it.  But, since this is a new journey, I decided to make it with the sauce.  I know....quite the adventurer!  I made a couple substitutions to her recipe...I used spinach instead of kale (only because I didn't have kale but next time, I'll make a point of trying it with kale), rice noodles instead of somen (because I know rice noodles are gluten free...I wasn't sure about somen) and tamari instead of soy sauce (for gf).  The entire meal came together in a snap.  Believe it or not, this was the first time I have cooked my greens with the pasta and I loved how quick and easy it made everything.  The sauce was so simple to put together and was so, so, SO good!  I loved everything about this meal and I loved the leftovers the next day even better!