This week I had to do something a little different food wise. So I decided to switch dinner and lunch around. Instead of having my lunch time salad:

I made a summer vegetable cassoulet of sorts, and had that for lunch instead. Lunch was definitely a rushed affair this week and I did not think far enough in advance to take a photo when I was sitting down. I was just totally starving when I was able to have lunch and getting food / fuel into my body was my number one priority.

The cassoulet was something I cooked up on Sunday afternoon. I cooked up onions, summer squash, zucchini, eggplant and then added a large can of crushed tomatoes, and two cans of white beans. At the same time, I cooked up four chicken sausages from Whole Foods. Once they were cooked through, I cut them up into bite sized pieces and threw them into the Le Creuset and let everything cook on low for almost an hour. I had some for dinner on Sunday and then had it for lunch Monday through Wednesday. It was super!

On Monday night I had a massage scheduled to try and work through some hip issues due to my running. I had tight calves, shoulders, back, and glutes, too so it was a great hour but it was sort of painful too. But I left feeling so much better 🙂 It was also a good reason to take a day off from exercise.

Tuesday I had a really long day at work and made it to the gym. I only had it in me to do 35 minutes on the elliptical machine after being on my feet all day at work. I had not packed enough food for the day, so I was starving at 5:30 when I got to the gym. I was also cranky. But I was really glad that I forced myself to work out – I did feel better after.

Tuesday night I got home, showered and changed and headed right into the kitchen to make dinner. I made a large salad, which really hit the spot:

In the salad:

spinach, carrots, sliced almonds, tuna, yellow and red peppers, tomato, avocado and cucumbers. SO GOOD.

I am not quite sure what is going on with me this week – but I am so super hungry. After the salad I had one of my favorite snacks:

I have been craving peanut butter more than life itself the last couple of days. Yum.

Today was a better day than yesterday, I guess. The most exciting part about the day was that after work was the first run of my after work running club. Last week I sent out an email to a few of my work friends to see if anyone would be interested in getting together once or twice a week for a run after work. Three of us did about three miles tonight. It was hot, but our office is right on the water so the run was fun and beautiful. There was a breeze off of the water, so it was not quite as hot as it was in a lot of other places. I am glad we did it tonight and will not be running tomorrow night since it is supposed to be even warmer tomorrow.

I really enjoyed driving home at a non-rush hour time of day. It was also a great feeling driving home from work already having accomplished my exercise for the day! I walked in the door and continued my normal evening routine. Shower, think about dinner, make dinner and eat dinner. Another salad – exactly the same as last night.

Well, I am heading for bed. I hope you all managed to stay cool on such a hot day. See you tomorrow!