Karrie, did the cat approve of the new home? At present I have NO junk food in the house. No blue corn chips or anything, and I was looking for them tonight! I think I should leave them at the grocery store lol. Well done on the swim and the initial loss! I agree just getting right at making a good dinner is the best way to avoid eating something you don't need. I read something that really stuck with me from In Defense of Food, that work used to be kind of a food-free time other than lunch, but now work places are well-stocked with food to get us through that LONG stretch between breakfast and lunch, and the LONG stretch between lunch and dinner. So true! I am really working on sticking to no snacks at work, or at least make it an apple or veggies.

Carla, I have tried quite a few buddha bowl recipes and always love them. I think the sauces are what make them so great too. The flavors are so complex. Hope you had a nice visit with your mom. And yes I slept great last night! I am going to start morning exercise next week. I can't face it yet this week lol.

I do most of my shopping on Amazon too. We have a small family and none of us have kids so it's pretty easy. I'll get to it next week. I will have to think about what I'm contributing to Christmas dinner. I think the festive chickpea tart and I'll figure out something else.

I think the cat is undecided. He sure did get dusty investigating, though. Not sure where he was, but at least he cleaned it as he went by!!

On Monday I seem to have talked a friend into doing a Triathlon with me next summer. Who knows what I was thinking there... She was so inspired by our conversation, that she brought a swimming workout for us to do last night. It was tough! I told her "I'm not sure if I like you anymore..."

So apparently I'm doing a triathlon next summer.... sheesh.

I did this same triathlon a few years ago. Will want to beat my time, but it shouldn't be too hard, because my time sucked.

I've done 1 triathlon, 1 tough mudder, 5 half marathons (maybe more, I've lost count) and 2 full marathons...

Karrie, the triathlon with a friend sounds great! You have each other for motivation and as workout partners, too. Your time sucked....LOL...so you completed the triathlon? I'd be SO stoked about that. It's epic. You're epic You'll probably cream your old time.

Donna, I've never tried a spin bike. It's great that they have one. Have the hotel gyms been crowded at all? It sounds like you're doing this vacation up right, nice and balanced between all the physical activity yet having a glass of wine and a meal out here and there. You're making me want to go to Whistler again. It has been too long. We don't ski, but I think I'll look into an off season deal for a night or two. There's tons to do there all year round and I feel like going for that walk around Lost Lake again. We are a 2.5 hour drive away, so it could be done in a day, but having an overnight trip makes it more fun & relaxed.

Traci, I'm sorry you are struggling. I know what you mean about feeling like you are missing out because you aren't baking or decorating etc. Last year I was sad and mad at myself for not putting in the effort to do those things, but this year I put up the tree & lights and it isn't doing much for me anyway. At least I don't have the guilt over not trying! (that's worth quite a bit!)

Yesterday I was a snack monster. I grazed all day and wasn't hungry enough for dinner. It was supposed to be a stir fry night. I'm going to make the stir fry on Sunday since we bought all the fresh veggies for it, and we'll freeze some of the other leftovers we have for lunches.

Friday is when the meal plan for the following week is released. This coming week week we're having Creamy Vegetable Grain, Coconut Kale Bowl with Garlicky Baked Tofu, Creamy Tomato soup w/ Smoky Garlic Crackers & Mixed Grain Salad with Blueberries, Noodles w/ Spicy Peanut Sauce and Veggies, and Smoky Baba Ganoush Stuffed pitas. I noticed that each week there's also a fast track option, where you make up only a few of the items and then just serve them with soup or salad quick & easy style. I'm sure we'll be making use of that option on crazier weeks.

The meal plans sound great Carla! I agree with you about Karrie's triathlon... doing one at all is aMAHzing!

Sounds like a wonderful trip Donna. And that's great your husband is doing so well with not snacking or eating sweets.

This has been one of my worst days at work ever. Everything seems to be a crisis these days. This whole week has been crazy and today was sort of a topper. I am tired, frustrated, sick to my stomach. I am seriously thinking of not going to the office tomorrow and take a breather, but it may just make things worse. Guess I'll decide tomorrow morning.

Awww, Carla that's so sweet your in-laws remembered the pets. But no presents for the chickens? LOL

Are the cookies vegan? I have no problem avoiding all the hundreds of Cheryl's cookies that get sent to us at the office since they aren't vegan. They really aren't even good cookies IMHO, but I used to eat them anyway before I went from vegetarian to vegan. So I'm glad that temptation is gone.

I am not making the chickpea tart after all. My brother has been making a spicy buddha bowl recipe the past few years instead of the traditional Christmas fare, and it is SO good... can't wait. http://www.crazyvegankitchen.com/spicy-buddha-bowl/ So I'm making Dreena Burton's chocolate pumpkin pie as my contribution. It's relatively healthy. No oil or anything, and easy peasy. I haven't tried the recipe before so I hope it's good.

Haven't managed to accomplish much today even though I decided to stay home. I've been doing nothing very energetically though. Spent a small fortune at the grocery restocking all the household goods. My basic plan for the rest of the day is a quick surface only cleaning of the house, and a couple loads of laundry. It's pretty warm today, in the 40's, and sunny. That's nice at least.

The cookies are not vegan, Mihani, but that doesn't stop me. There are a few I like a lot, but some of the others aren't my favorite, yet I still eat them. And then get mad at myself at night and can't sleep thinking about all that sugar in my system. I'm going to ask Joe to take them to work to eat in his office.

The spicy Buddha bowl looks great. I added it to my list of recipes to try once we're off of the meal plan. Or, maybe if one of the meals doesn't appeal, I can swap in the bowl. I always love buddha bowls.

Speaking of spicy, I found some pickled jalapenos that I LOVE! They are super crunchy and "tamed" so they aren't quite so deadly spicy which is a good thing, because I keep eating them straight out of the jar. The brand is Mezzetta, deli-sliced tamed jalapenos. Yum!

Something else I've been having lately, is low sodium club soda/seltzer water with a shot of white peach vinegar in it. SO good! It's a quality vinegar with no added sugar. I fill a large glass with ice, add the shot of vinegar, and then fill with club soda.

Mihani, when I told my friend about the jalapenos, he already knew the brand and also recommended the garlic stuffed olives. They must be good! I need to tell myself the same thing regarding the holidays. There's no reason to stray the week before and the week after Christmas! I'd do much better being strict and then going a bit off plan for the 2 days.

I opted to try the quick 'n dirty batch version this week, rather than doing 5 complete meals. I think it's going to work well for us. I made the grains in the IP, made the 2 dressings, and did 2 blocks of baked tofu. I had an early lunch because it all smelled so good: a big bowl of salad, topped with some of the mixed grains and the baked garlicky tofu, and then Orange Sesame dressing over the whole thing. Crazy fast to throw together and so tasty.

Mihani - I will join you after Xmas, I am maintaining my weight loss and then get back on track after xmas. We have friends staying with us until Friday and then Brooks has call at hospital on Saturday so I am going to grocery shop and prep for the weekend. I hope your car is running better. Limiting wine is rough for me this time of year. I don't mind not eating meat or the cookies but no wine is challenging.

Carla - I will start the meal planning soon. What is the dirty batch? Are there options other than tofu?

Hi Limath - good to hear from you. Have you read Dr. F's book Eating for Health? I found it very inspiring..maybe more than Eat to Live. Take good care of yourself and good for you for cleaning out the fridge. A good place to start.

Limath, nice to see you back! I hope all the nutritious food makes you feel great and gets you back to work soon. Did your doctor recommend walking or an exercise program?

Donna, the quick batch option was what I was talking about with the dirty batch. It is an easier version of the weeks meal plans - a batch of beans, grains, a soup, and a salad dressing. You then put that together however you want during the week. I think she has a sample menu that you can get for free to try out before deciding if it's for you. https://cleanfooddirtygirl.com/mealplans/ There's a ton of info on that page, too. The menu for next week will be available tomorrow. It is always released on the Friday. I will post it here, and you can also join the private FB group. You don't need to be on the meal plans to join the group.

Mihani, that's irritating about the damaged book. Did it come from Amazon? I've never had anything arrive damaged from them before, even though a highway patrolman came by to drop off a package to our front door once...followed a few hours later by our tearful mail person who had been searching the streets for our package. She'd left it on top of her car and driven away! Hopefully the additive you're adding to your car makes a difference.

Karrie, how are you managing? Is December your son's last month delivering the paper?

The tofu, grains and dressing over greens has worked well for me this week. I've been looking forward to my salad every day for lunch. Next week I'm going to have something similar, but sub black bean burgers for the tofu, and use whatever the meal plan dressing is for the week.

I'm coming down with a cold so I'm not sure if we're still going to go ahead with all of our plans for Christmas Eve and Christmas. We had our first snowfall of the season two days ago.

Mihani - that is a bummer about the book. Yes, we are home as of Sunday night. Wonderful trip. I didn't gain and was about .5 lbs down so all good.

Our friends have been with us for about 4 weeks. They closed on their house today and the furniture & stuff arrive tomorrow. It has worked out really well for everyone. They took care of my 3 dogs while we were gone...they had a dog too and everyone got along well. I will miss them when they leave but also plan to get back to smoothies and salads.

I played 2.5 hours of tennis today...in pain despite motrin but it was fun. Had a mammogram this morning. They are not as bad as they use to be.

Going to Trader Joes early tomorrow before mobs show up.

Hi Carla,

Thank you for the explanation and sharing the menu for the week. I will check it out. The winter harvest with farrow looks interesting. We were lucky this morning at Trader Joes. Yes it can be crazy. There are two in San Antonio and we go to the less "snooty" one. It was actually fun shopping with hubby. The only ones who got xmas cookies were the pups....they got Gingerbread dog treats. That is a beautiful picture you posted of the snow.

What a bad time to get colds. I too try to track down where I was exposed. Our friends staying with us caught something at work. Hoping we don't catch it. Their house is about 20-30 minutes away. I wish they had bought something closer. Traffic is horrible in San Antonio. It is the 7th biggest city in the US.

Sun is out after a dreary morning. Going to take some motrin and then go walk dogs.

Hi Donna... your post snuck in before mine. Hope the motrin helps. Glad you had a good trip to Trader Joe's. I forgot to mention, I do agree with Carla that nobody seems to remember how to shop and navigate a grocery when they hit TJ's. I get irritated with people. Of course, I am kind of naturally irritable. I'm going to be a horribly cantankerous old woman some day I'm sure!

Step away from the xmas cookies. I don't know why I reverted to my favorite morning treat, cookies and coffee.....nothing healthy about that.