Heeeeeeeey!!
Let me begin by saying that I am so sorry I didn’t blog last night. My internet was being stubborn and wouldn’t connect. On any other night, I would have put up with it until it worked, but I was so exhausted after not sleeping long on Saturday. I figured it was best if I just got to bed so I didn’t start the week off on the wrong foot.
So, let’s get to a recap of last night’s eats before we get onto today 
On the way to Mr. KD’s friends’ house, I stopped and got an ice coffee because I was struggling.
I LOVE cinnamon hazelnut coffee from Honey Dew! It’s the perfect iced coffee flavor and reminds me of spring! 
We visited the baby, who is SO PRECIOUS and then headed off to dinner with Mr. KD’s parents. We decided to go out for Mexican at Sam Diego’s. You can check out their menu here.
They have two locations in MA: Plymouth & Hyannis. We visited the Plymouth location. I have been here a number of times before, but there is always a significant time between visits, so I was excited to go last night with my “food blogger cap” on for my first restaurant review.
The ambiance at Sam’s is really great. Southwestern and traditional Mexican flair decorate two floors of the restaurant with cowboy boots, sombreros and cacti. The atmosphere allows a customer to feel just as inclined to order a burrito, as he or she does barbeque ribs. In fact, Sam’s offers BBQ as a special every Sunday.
A bar with televisions can be found on the first floor where guests can enjoy a cold one and snack on chips and salsa. Sam’s has great margaritas too! Although I did not have one last night, I certainly have in the past and have never been disappointed.
Chips and salsa are also served immediately when you are brought to your table. Both items always taste extremely fresh, even though I would have liked the salsa to have a bit more kick to it. However, I can’t hold this against a restaurant because most folks don’t enjoy spicy food as much as I do.
We decided to order two appetizers: The Cheese Crisp and Poppin In Buffalo Combo. The cheese crisp was served pizza-style in 8 slices. It was very thin, but because it was fried and loaded with cheese, I only had half of a piece. It’s funny how a simple, fried tortilla covered with cheese can still be that tasty. I also had half of a buffalo finger and two jalapeno poppers (I would much rather waste my “fried bank” on these). They were good, but nothing so out-of-this-world to deserve more detail in this post.
I had planned on getting a salad for my entrée, but nothing truly stood out to me as being super nutritious or delish-sounding, so I canned that idea. I was then trying to decide between the Texas BBQ Pulled Pork Burrito and the Sandra Frisco, which the menu describes as “a trolley ride of vegetarian flavors”. It included an onion/cheese enchilada and a black bean burrito. I opted for this entrée because I was sold at the “guacamole salad cup” that accompanied it. The mention of Spanish rice didn’t hurt, either 
When it arrived, I could NOT believe how HUGE it was!! I should have known because these places ALWAYS give you too much food, but I was still pretty blown away. I made a promise to myself that I would stop at the first sign of contentment. Generally, I have no issue with splurge meals on a Saturday. I always put in a great workout and know that the next day is a new day for me to start off healthy. I generally do not like to eat poorly on a Sunday though. I like to start the week off right with a nice, home-cooked meal. BUT life doesn’t always work out that way, so this was my compromise to myself.
Look at that thing!
I ended up eating the onion/cheese enchilada (tried to scrape most of the top cheese off) and less than half of the burrito. I probably took 3 forkfuls of rice too. The guacamole cup, on the other hand, was a different story. It was covered with cool lettuce and fresh pica de gallo and was OUSTANDING. I ate about ¾ of it.
I could have eaten more of my meal, but Mr. KD’s mom was trying to give away some of her French fries and who better to help her with such a burden than the self-proclaimed Ketchup Queen? There was only one problem: it was HUNT’S ketchup. Ick. Don’t get me wrong, I still love ketchup and will eat Hunt’s when it’s the only option. I feel the same way about Diet Pepsi, which Sam’s also serves. I’m a Coke girl through-and-through. While these are personal preferences that you may not agree with, any restaurant that has a combination of these two gets knocked down a peg for me. Of course, it didn’t stop me from eating 10 french fries. Yes, I counted.
My overall take on Sam’s is this: It’s a great place to grab a drink with friends and socialize because of the ambience, especially in the nicer weather when outdoor eating is available. The food is consistently good, but never in the knock-your-socks-off category. Mr. KD agreed with this assessment because I made sure to get his take last night. Overall score: B-.
Now let’s talk about today, shall we?!?
Did everyone enjoy their Monday? It was gorgeous here again!
I hit the treadmill this morning with the sole intention of getting a good sweat on. I felt so bloated from all of the salty, unhealthy food this weekend and I just wanted it out of my system! Do you guys know that feeling? When even your fingers feel bloated? Ick – hate it.
I decided to do a slightly extended version of this run by Iowa Girl. I basically extended it an additional interval cycle and used my own warmup/cooldown speeds. It went something like this:
- Warmup for 5 min (4.0 – 4.7)
- Jog for 3 min (6.0)
- Run for 1 min (7.0)
- Jog for 3 min (6.0)
- Sprint for 1 min (8.0)
- Complete this cycle an additional 4 times
- Cooldown for 5 min (4.7 – 3.3)
Total Time: 50 min
Total Mileage: 4.84
It was a good workout, but I actually think I missed running at an incline 
Can you believe I just said that?!? I decided against it because I knew I am not yet able to maintain speeds of 7.0 and 8.0 on an incline. But, the more I thought about it, I should have modified the speeds to ones I COULD have maintained. I’m thinking I might do this workout again on Thursday in this new manner, so look for it!
When I got to work, I sucked down breakfast because I was in another all-day meeting!! I can’t wait for normalcy tomorrow to sit at my desk and attempt to get caught up!
Breakfast was one of my favorite combinations: a whole-wheat English muffin, topped with 1 tbsp of Naturally Nutty and a sliced banana. Mmm…so good! And the perfect balance of all the good stuff: whole grains, protein AND healthy fats. Love it!
Lunch was much more boring and I apologize. I always keep Kashi and Amy’s meals in the freezer for nights when I CANNOT FATHOM packing a lunch. Last night was one of those nights. Ironically, I ate a frozen meal after complaining about too much salt 
I am now a frozen entrée snob. When I was on Weight Watchers, I used to buy Lean Cuisine meals frequently. Now, I only trust Kashi and Amy’s to fulfill my need for quick, freezer meals. Both companies use all-natural ingredients and there is never anything within the ingredients list that leaves me scratching my head.
The entrée was excellent, but only contained 260 calories, so I decided to bulk it up with some celery and carrots. Very little ranch was used in this experiment
3 pm snackage was handled by some cottage cheese and fruit salad.
Dinner was a favorite in the KD household: Pork tenderloin! When Mr. KD and I were on vacation in Martha’s Vineyard last year, we picked up this delicious rub that we have been using ever since on our pork. Tonight, I decided it was time for a change and I was going to whip up my own rub, so I followed this recipe exactly.
Chili Rubbed Pork Tenderloin (For 2 lbs of pork)
- 1 tbsp chili powder
- 1 tbsp garlic powder
- ½ tbsp sugar
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp pepper
I spritzed the pork with olive oil and then applied rub and baked at 375 for 45 minutes. DELICIOUS.
On the side, I served up a nutritional rock star: Quinoa (keen-wa)! Have you guys tried quinoa yet? I was hooked at first bite and that was over a year ago! I like it better than brown rice because it has a subtle, nutty flavor. And just like brown rice, I always cook it in reduced-sodium chicken broth for even better flavor!
So, what’s the deal with quinoa and why should you eat it? Quinoa is an ancient grain grown in South America. Along with only corn and potatoes, it sustained the Inca civilization. While quinoa is technically considered a grain, it is also a complete protein, which means that it has all nine of the essential amino acids! Quinoa also contains a good amount of fiber to help you feel satiated longer. What’s not to love? Learn more about it here.
Quinoa must be rinsed thoroughly before cooking, so look for a pre-rinsed variety at your store. It basically cooks up exactly like brown rice, so it’s quick! It’s also fun to eat because of its translucent color and texture, which is something you will only understand if you try it!
Roasted asparagus rounds out the meal
Ahhhhhhhh. Yumtastic and healthy. Where were you on my Sunday?
I will say, however, that this rub was not my favorite combo. It was definitely tasty, but I’ve had better. I would tweak it slightly next time. I wanted it to be a little more on the sweet side to bring out that savory/sweet combo. Perhaps brown sugar would have worked better? I like to try recipes for what they are first and then determine how to tweak them. So definitely look for a modification to this in the future!
P.S. I’ve been getting a lot of great feedback on this blog and I really appreciate it. However, bloggers can see how much traffic hits their site every day and I’m sad to report that my views have dropped dramatically in the past few days. Granted, I know I just started, but I’m working hard at this, so tell your friends and neighbors (hehe) and if you stop by, leave a comment! It makes it all worth it to hear feedback
Question of the day:
Do you prefer Skittles or Starbursts?
While I like them both (the word love is reserved for chocolate candy), I would choose Starburst. I like that they’re individually wrapped and easy to take with you.
Terrible, right? So, we’re doing dinner in the evening to ensure she can have a nice Easter too. Brunch will be for my parents, sister and grandmother. Of course, they’ll be staying for dinner too. Considering dinner doesn’t even start until 6:30, I’m not sure what time folks will leave. Depending on the time, I can’t promise that I’ll be posting tomorrow night. I will DEFINITELY give you a full recap on Monday of all the spectacular eats. 
