Oatmeal & bare bottoms in the grass

Yesterday evening I was looking on the internet to try to find several recipes for oatmeal. For the last few months, I have grown to love oatmeal. It's very tasty and it's great for feeling full and no snacking in the morning! There’s seems to be a lot more choice in the USA than in the Netherlands when it comes to oatmeal brands, possibilities, etc. I would like to do something about that!

I’m planning to try several oatmeal recipes and try several brands. The two most well known brands of oatmeal in the Netherlands are Brinta and Quaker. These are instant oatmeal which means that you only need to heat up milk, when it’s warm add the oatmeal, stir it for about 30 seconds and eat it. That’s the kind I’m eating in the morning. In fact, I have quite a lot oatmeal at home so I’m not planning to buy anything else like steel cut oats for the time being. But I think it’s fun to see what I can create each morning. I have to tell you that I’m very loyal to a taste/ flavour if I like it so there’s a change that you will see the same recipes for several days in a row.

With that being said, this morning I tries something new. This morning I used the following ingredients:

250 ml skimmed milk

35 gram instant oatmeal

2 tablespoons of chia seeds

2 tablespoons of raisins

2 tablespoons of non fat yoghurt

1 teaspoon of cinnamon

I let the chia seeds and raisins well overnight and in the morning put the milk, oatmeal, chia seeds and the raisins in a pan and cook it for about five minutes. Normally I heat up the milk, put it in a bowl and add the oatmeal. But now, once it was all in a pan and it started to cook, it started to get think and more fluffy than I’m used to. I pored everthing in a bowl and added the yoghurt and cinnamon. When I took my first bite, I was hooked! I loved it! Just make sure that you stir the chia seeds through the oatmeal because otherwise the seeds will stick together! I had my sliced apple and a cup of rooibos tea, as usual, and it was perfect. A great start to the day!

I had planned to eat nothing till lunch to try and see if this meal would get me through lunch. Sadly (or not!) my manager bought me and my colleagues coffee and something sweet. So I chose a cappuccino and a bar of Tony Chocolonely chocolate and ate a few pieces. Later in the day I gave the rest to my colleagues and they loved it!

Lunch was, again, nothing special: 3 sandwiches with chicken filet, mustard and veggies. I never make photo’s of my lunch because, I’m sure, my colleagues will have a big lough!
In the afternoon I snacked on an apple, a small kiwi and a few radishes. I cleaned them in the morning.

Dinner tonight was grilled chicken, french beans with cannelonni beans, herbs and sweet potatoe fries. The french beans with cannelonni and herbs are called “bare bottoms in the grass” in the Netherlands which I got from the new Allerhande. Can you tell why? I also added a tablespoon of hummus for the veggies and the fries. It kinda made like a sauce which was good!

Dessert was simple: rooibos tea with two whole wheat cookies in front of the TV watching DC cupcakes.

This week has been low in terms of exercising. After Sunday, my feet and knees hurted a bit and I wanted to rest before any injuries would accure. I feel much better know and am planning on going to the gym tomorrow and slowly start to get back to my fitness regime; 30 minutes of weigth training and 40 minutes of (interval) cardio. On May 5, my wedding dress is being altered and I need to look good!

Speaking of the wedding: the important preparations has been done and it is now down to the details. I’m thinking of a nice thank you presents for the guests when the wedding is over. Do you have any ideas, I would love to hear them!

I’m going to study now, have to hand in my school assignment before April 30 and I still have a lot to do.

Enjoy your day, wherever you are!

Thank You Thank You Thank You

Wow, thank you very much for your kind comments about me patricipating the 10 km at the marathon of Rotterdam! I really appreciate it, thank you, thank you , thank you!

Today was back to reality! I started in the morning with oatmeal. It contained 250 ml of low fat milk, 35 grams of oatmeal, a tablespoon of granola and a teaspoon of chia seeds. Along with a sliced apple and a cup of green tea. The oatmeal was a bit bland. I used to like it like that but ever since I added almond butter and yoghurt to it, it’s much better. I’ll try again tomorrow!

I couldn’t go on my bike to work today because the bicycle chain is broken. So I took the tram but halfway went out and walked to work. This way I thought that I would do some exercise. The only thing was that my feet and knees hurted a bit from yesterday so walking wasn’t going really easy but I managed.

Lunch was pretty basic with a cup of vegetable soup, three dark whole wheat sandwiched with chicken filet, mustard and salad on top of it. Around 3 pm I had an Apple and a small kiwi. This was enough to get me through to dinner!

Dinner tonight was a healthy pasta bolognaise. I got this recipe from Dutch weigth loss queen Sonja Bakker. Gradually I changed the recipe and made it more mine. I make the pasta sauce with what I have at home, which usually is:

Low fat minced beef, about 350 gram

Beef spices

2 cans of sliced tomatoes

An onion

Garlic

Vegetable broth

Sliced vegetables, about 350 gram

Several herbs like fresh basil and Italian spices

A tablespoon of capers

Salt and pepper

Cayenne powder

I don’t add any fat but bake the meat in it’s own fat, then add the onion and garlic. Then add the tomatoes, vegetables, broth, herbs and cook it for about 10 minutes. For the pasta I used whole wheat penne and I added extra French beans to be sure that it was a healthy meal! It tasted great and I made enough to put it in the freezer so we can eat it another time. Dessert was nothing special. S. had low fat lemon yoghurt and I had non fat yoghurt with a little bit of cinnamon in it.

It is now time to sit on the sofa and watch a little bit of tv. Tonight I’m going to bed early because I need to be up early to go on the road for work. I’ll take a few healthy food options with me, just not sure what. I’ll let you know tomorrow.

Talk to you soon!

Today was the day: 10 km marathon of Rotterdam

Today was the day!

Today was the day that I finally participated in a race in the marathon of Rotterdam! I was born and raised in Maassluis, a small town nearby Rotterdam and this annual marathon was a big thing for me as a child. I watched it on tv and always dreamed of participating, even it that meant giving out cups of waters to the runners! But I thought that something as a marathon would be impossible for me and that it only  was for the real athletes. Then life happened and I forgot about the dream, had different interests and gained weigth in my twenties. I would lose the weigth, gain it again, lose it and then gain it again.

When I turned 31, I thought 'No more'! I started going regurlary to the gym and watched what I ate. Then last summer I went on holiday to Spain. There was a small gym at the appartmentcomplex and hotels where we stayed but it wasn't very professional. Then we were in Valencia where there was a large park in front of our hotel, I had my running shoes with me and thought that running would be a good option instead of going to the hotel gym. So during the holiday, I ran regurlary. And when we got back home, I continued running, joined a running team for a short time and learned techniques how to run the best way that suits me.  By now I learned that besides the whole marathon I could also run a 5, 10 or 21 km. In that time I was fit enough to run a 10 km. Then life happened again, I stopped exercising and gained some weigth again. But then it happened that I thought about that dream I had as an child about running in Rotterdam.

So at the beginning of this year, I decided that I mattered too and to life a healthy life, I needed to go back to the gym and I started exercising again. In January I decided to run my very first 10 km in The Hague. I ran the 10 km in March and set a personal record of 1h03m and realised that I could just as well enter myself in the 10 km in Rotterdam and so I did. And today was the day!

This morning I made a breakfast suitable for champions: oatmeal with a banana, a teaspoon of almond butter, a tablespoon of yoghurt, a tablespoon of granola, chia seeds and coconut seeds. I felt full immediatly but I ate it 2 1/2 hours before the start so I knew it would be digested enough by the time I would start.

S. went with me which was very nice because he's starting to become my personal coach/manager! Really nice to have, ha ha! Unfortunately, I don't have a lot of pictures of the event because there wasn't enough time and because I was too focused before the start.

S. did make a small film as soon as he saw me. You can only see me in the first second!

I eventually ran a new personal record of 58minutes and 46 secondes! While running, I felt good and had a feeling that I could finish within the hour. When I finished and saw the time, I nearly cried of happiness! Look how beautiful this medal is!

I made a special playlist for this race:

Genesis                             Turn it on again

Gavin DeGraw                  Not over you

Ik dans, dus ik besta      Het Goede Doel

Nooduitgang                     Het Goede Doel

Forever                              Chris Brown

Eye of the Tiger                Rocky IV

Dance in the Dark           Lady Gaga

The Flood                           Take That

Music Inferno                   Madonna

Dancing in the dark        Bruce Springsteen

Crazy                                    Seal

Makes me wonder         Maroon 5

Binnen                                 Marco Borsato 

* For the Dutchies who are reading this blog, if you know these songs of Het Goeden Doel you probably know that these song have a great beat and this is nice while running! For those who don't know, Het Goeden Doel is a Dutch band and had their glory days in the 80's! My sister loved their music and for me this is nostalgia!

What about you, have you realised a childhood dream/ And do you have a song you love that is so bad but you love it anyway?

Talk to you soon!

Chicken Cashew

We just came home from having dinner at our fiends. They introduced us to the fenomenon Chicken Cashew!

It is fried chicken with a sweet ginger sauce and cashew nuts, served with brown rice. It has a lot of carbs but I condered it has a good meal, in preparing for tomorrow! We ended the meal with a lovely latte macchiato with a little bit of Starbucks vanilla syrup. We went for a walk around the neighborhoud to walk off a few of the calories, ha ha. It is going to be a short evening because we're leaving early to Rotterdam tomorrow. Have a great evening and wish me luck for tomorrow!

Love this lunchroom!

Ahhh, just saw this picture on Facebook: Cake Hole Cafe at Vintage Heaven. I would love to go here, have a coffee and a piece of pie and be in heaven!

In the meantime, I'm at home, looking at great pictures like that!

Eggplant for dinner

Happy weekend everyone! Hope you have great plans!

Yesterday I didn't blog because it was a busy day at work and after that I did grocery shopping, made dinner and then went straigth for the couch and my Ipad! I did however made a few pictures of my day.

To start with breakfast: a easy version of granola. I had some yoghurt left and paired that with five tablespoons with granola, a sliced apple and some cinnamon. Since I'm living a healthier lifestyle, cinnamon has because a reliable and great friend! Like every morning, I had a cup of rooibos tea.




And made lunch to go: three pumpkin yeast sandwiches with chicken breast and a tomato. For later in the day, I'll have a whole wheat sandwich with apple syrup and a banana because I'll be starving and I'll be eating late in the evening.


Which was a good thing that I did because halfway on the way home there was something wrong with my bike, I guess the bycicle chain fell off and I had to walk... Then I had to do groceries, come back and have dinner at 7.30 pm, so to cut a long story short, I needed those carbs!

Dinner tonight was a grilled eggplant with low fat mozzarella cheese, a little bit of Parmesan, tomato and basil. With that I had wokked spinach with onion.


I got this recipe of the blog of Kath eats real food,. This has been one of my favourite meals lately! It really fills me up and you don't need cards like pasta of brown rice with that.


So I saved that for the dessert!


Low fat yoghurt with a little bit of granola, cinnamon and a whole wheat cracker!

Well, I'm about to go to the bakery. I try not to buy bread at a supermarket because the taste is just not the same as from a good bakery, and I'm very picky with bread. Here in the Netherlands, you have so much choice in the different types of bread, from whitter than white to the darkest whole wheat bread. I'm going for that last one but S. likes it a bit more light but still whole wheat. I wondering how it is going to be like when we go to the USA and buy bread over there. I'm guessing that there's more lighter bread but we'll see.

Today I'm relaxing, doing some homework (i have to finish my assignment for school before April 30) and tonight we're going to friends and have dinner at their house. Tomorrow is the big 10 km in Rotterdam, really looking forward to it!

An ordinary day

If I'm working during the week, I have a fulltime job, I leave the the house at around 07.30 am and get on my bike and ride to work. It's about an twenty minute ride so that's easy to do.


Before I leave, I make breakfast and make and pack my lunch. Today I had three pumpkin yeast sandwiches with grilled chicken. I also pack a tomato and at the restaurant at work, I usually have a small salad from the salad bar. I also pack a sandwich with apple syrup for later in the day because I'm going to the gym straight after work and if I don't have anything to eat at around three pm, then I'm for sure going to eat something bad!


So lunch is packed and off to work!




At my desk I have a rolling cabinet with my 'goodie' draw. I mostly have healthy stuff in there: green energy tea from Yogi tea, Matze crackers, rye bread which I usually have a piece of in the morning and some fruit. There's a candy jar in our office but I have hidden it so I'm not tempted to have any!


After lunch, I had a wonderful cappuccino from the coffee place in our office building. the milk is not skimmed but I allow myself one per week and it really helps me feeling full.


I had the sandwich at four but, unfortunately, also a few pieces of chocolate... I was so embarrassed that I didn't take any pictures of it!

I left the office at five, went straigth home, got changed and went to the gym. First I did strength training for half an hour and worked on my legs, arms, back and belly. After that I did some cardio training for 50 minutes but not very intense this time because I'm running a 10 km on sunday and I really don't want any injuries! But is was still good because I burned 700 calories in total!

I was done at 7.30 pm and went home, took a quick shower and had dinner which were leftovers from earlier this week: grilled chicken breast with green beans and brown rice. I gave it a bit more taste with soya sauce and lemon juice.


For dessert, I had a few bites of this:



This is yoghurt with no fat and hardly any sugar. I bought it for S. because I usually never eat this. I mean, no fat and hardly any sugar in it, what is in it then? Although I have to say that I like their coconut flavoured drinking yoghurt...!


So, that's my day for today. I'm working on a grocery list because I'm doing groceries tomorrow after work.

Have a great evening and talk to you soon!

Breakfast during the week

During the week, I wake up at 06.30 am, get dressed and go downstairs to pack my lunch and make breakfast and tea. While I'm eating my breakfast, I read several blogs on the Ipad which are usually American blogs. This means that I can read in the morning all the stories that happened the night before. It is a bit of relaxation before my busy days starts.


I usually have oatmeal in the morning. In the Netherlands there's a brand called Brinta which sells oatmeal that you mix with warm (non fat) milk, it's very easy and simple to make. Lately I also add some extra ingredients to spruce it up a bit: some chia seeds, coconut, a teaspoon of almond butter, a tablespoon of granola and a tablespoon of non fat yoghurt. And for fruit I have an apple on the side.


For me, this is the perfect breakfast because it doesn't take very long and it is nice and warm to start the day.

I'm off to work. It's about twenty minutes on my bike (did you know that the Dutch love their bikes and a lot of them ride on them on the way to work) which means that I get a morning workout and already burn a lot of the calories I consumed in the morning! I highly recommend riding on a bike to work if that's possible for you to do. For me, it's a great way to start the day!

Talk to you soon!

Dinner tonight: chicken with cheese and no carbs?

Tonight I didn't go to the gym. Because I'm running a 10 km this sunday and my muscles don't feel all that fine, I decided to stay at home tonight. This gave me the change to clean the house a bit, fold laundry and cook. This way I'm still doing a bit of exercising (we have a lot of stairs in our home!) instead of sitting on the coach and doing nothing.


S. is usually working four evenings a week, this gives me the change to try different reciped and ingredients that I know he doesn't like. Cheese for example, S. hates it and therefore we normally never have it at home. But we had our mothers over for Easter brunch and I bought cheese for them and we had some leftovers. So I grilled a chicken breast, put it in the oven with a different vegetables and topped it off with a bit of cheese. to give the vegetables a bit more taste, I added soya sauce and lemon juice. it was delicious...



I had no rice or pasta with it which gave the change of having two small slices of Easter bread for dessert. I put it in the oven for a few minutes because we don't have a toaster. The sugar caramalised the bread and I topped it with a little bit of butter. I was in heaven!


Just worked on the layout of my blog, again. it's getting better but I'm still not completely satisfied. Expect to see more changes along the way!

A different lifestyle

While enjoying a nice cup of tea, I thought it was time to give you a little update about what has been going on lately.


Our wedding is coming very soon now, just 6 more weeks and I will be mrs. S! We're getting married at a galerie in the city centre of The Hague, at one of the best locations I've ever been to! The ceremony will take place there and after that a small reception. We'll be with about 40 people so enough that S. and I will have enough time to mingle with everyone.

The honeymoon will be directly after the wedding reception is over! We're going for three weeks to the USA!!! First five days to New York City and then for two weeks to Florida!!! After that, we return to New York and will stay for two days in Brookyn before we go back to Amsterdam. I'm counting down the days as, I'm sure, you can understand! I've been looking on the internet and reading several blogs to get as much information about things to see and places where we have to eat! If you have a great suggestion, let me know!

To look fabulous in my wedding gown (can't show pictures just yet!), I've been working out like a crazy person! It started at the beginning of this year, at first it started out about looking good in The Dress. But then it quickly became about something else. I realised that I've been battling with my weigth since I was 21 years old. And since then it has fluctuated up and down. I have clothes in at least three different dress sizes and that's crazy, right? So I realised that it should not be about just losing the weigth but also to live a healthier life and maintain an active lifestyle.

So weekly, I work out about 4 to 5 times a week: running two or three times a week and going to the gym for about two times a week. Last month, I ran my first 10 km in a race and will participate in another race this weekend and run another 10 km and hopefully beat my first time which means that I have to be faster than 1 hour and 2 minutes. I'm really looking forward to it!

Regarding weigth, I lost almost 7 kilos, which is about 15 pounds, since the beginning of this year! Last year I also lost a lot of weigth but gained a few kilos back again but now my weigth hasn't been this low in about 12 years! I'd still like to loose 2 or 3 kilos and then I would have the same weigth as when I was 19 years old! Can you imagine, this means that throughout my twenties I was allways a bit overweigth! and now in my thirties I'm determined to remain or stay close to this weigth, which is about 70 kilos or about 154 pounds.

I would like to take you on this journey by talking and learning, both you and me, about the right kinds of food and experimenting a lot along the way!
I believe that variety in your food and life is essential to keep those pounds off! Of course, my home and interior is still very important to me so I gues it is going to be more about my lifestyle and how I live my life! I really like that idea and am super exited to let you all back into my life again!

Sorry to keep you waiting but I'm back now and looking forward to hear a lot from you!