In a Rut

I'm in desperate need of some new and different food in my life.  Let me explain my predicament.

I spend the majority of my meal times at work.  The hospital provides us with a very generous meal fund.  During the day, the food options are quite plentiful and I'm almost always pretty excited about the multiple options.  At night and on the weekends, however, it's a totally different story.  The problem - those are exactly the times I've been working the past 2 weeks.

Here's a sampling of the options for dinner last night:  baked chicken quarters (floating in mystery greasy sauce), fried chicken, mac&cheese, broccoli, butter corn, mashed potatoes, white rice, and gravy.  Any one drooling yet?  Or you can choose from the delicacies at the grill:  burgers (literally floating like little buoys in a vat of their juices), philly cheesesteak, fried chicken fingers, or a "black bean veggie burger".  So among those stellar options, I went with the veggie burger.  It is new to the menu since the dazzling cafeteria remodel (the only change I've noticed is INCREASED prices).  Well, let me tell you, I don't know where they got that nasty slab of a veggie patty, but I never want to see it again!  I should have taken a picture to show you the horror, but I was too busy gagging.  And just for the record, there were definitely no black beans to be found in it!

When I am home, I try to cook a fresh meal.  Last week I made a delicious BBQ salmon and sauteed greens.  Enough, in fact, for 4 or 5 servings.  It was quite good the first day, and even the second.  But by day number 5, I was over it!  I tried to trick myself into making a casserole of sorts with it, but to no avail.

For dinner the other night I was trying to come up with something appealing that utilized all of my fresh farmers market fruits and veggies.  It was tasty, but just didn't leave me feeling very satisfied.

Toast with hummus and homegrown tomatoes, the LAST bit of sauteed greens, and apple with yogurt dip.

So my mission for the week - diversify the food situation.  I'll start with a dinner out at Cantina 1511 with the ortho girls tonight!  Yum!  Then I might just have to make Pumpkin Mac and Cheese and Sloppy Josephines later in the week.  And I might just need a little meat in my life - time to defrost some frozen organic chicken.

And speaking of ruts, what on earth is up with my workouts recently?  To put it bluntly, my runs have sucked  the past couple weeks.  I've got this little Thanksgiving Day Half-Marathon coming up and my legs aren't having any part of long runs.  Currently, 8 minute miles are dreadfully painful.  That could spell trouble for what I though would a very easy endurance pace sub-1:38 half in a few weeks.  I've been swimming, biking, and fitting in some yoga and pilates too, but nothing that stellar to write home about.  Maybe it's the lack of sleep, working the night shift, less than stellar food choices some days, or the absence of my awesome teammates and training buddies at The Sport Factory.  Whatever it is, I've got to make a turnaround and find some new fire in my swim-bike-run life!

Guess I'll start by taking a run in the beautiful weather and contemplating all of the great sleep and tasty meals I'm going to enjoy over the next couple weeks.