quick foods and RUNNING!

The other evening after football practice I was totally unprepared, kiddos were hungry and I had to throw something together QUICK!  I grabbed leftover chicken from the grill, sliced and put in a skillet with a pkg of frozen mixed veggies, 2 cups brown rice, and strange as it sounds-a little cumin and chili powder
(just to taste, I don't like a lot of these seasonings-they can be too powerful for my taste buds)  Stirred and served on a tortilla for the boys and my husband and I ate it in a bowl!  It was perfect!  Surprisingly, it had a lot of flavor...

Here's another yummy recipe that I threw together that the whole family enjoyed, but sadly I forgot the pictures;
Mix 1 cup Bisquick Heart Health with one can of drained black beans and 1/4 c water, stir and set aside.
Brown 1lb lean ground turkey and after browned, add 1/2 pkg low sodium taco seasoning
Layer meat mixture over bean mixture, and then top with 1/2 c salsa, spread around and top with 2% cheese.  
Bake at 400 for about 25 minutes or until crust cooks through.  I served this with a huge fruit salad and it was AWESOME!!!

and EXCITING news, 

I RAN.

my proud, goofy picture after my first post-back injury RUN!

Just to be cautious, I start with a mile walking warm up just to loosen my muscles and stretch my back...then I slowly pick up the pace and BAM, I'm running!  
I almost started to cry.  
It had been over 2 weeks of power walking and very little other form of exercise so this was a BIG deal for me!

Having that back injury really put things into perspective.  For one thing, I am not sure how people go without exercising daily.  I mean, I know life gets hectic and sometimes we just don't know where to begin, but seriously...being unable to push myself during workouts was REALLY hard on me.  I had never had that happen.  It was awful and I know it could have been WAY worse.  As I had said before, I had sprained my ankle, broke my foot but would push through and still be able to get a GOOD workout...not with that back injury.  It had me MESSED UP.  It did keep my eating in check since I knew I wasn't burning the calories I was used to.  I LOVE RUNNING!  I'm not sure what I changed in my life going from an inactive, overweight girl that hated to sweat and exercise but it's guaranteed I AM NOT THAT GIRL ANYMORE!!!  AND NEVER WILL BE!!!

Hey, my name is Marissa and I'm back to RUNNING!!!!!!!!!  wooooohooooo!!!