Wednesday Workout and Vegetable Compote

Wha????  Vegetable compote!  Bet you didn’t see that one coming!

By the way, if you’ve popped over from Iowa Girl Eats, welcome!  I hope you take the time to look around, and come on back if you like what you see!

Let’s start with the workout!  Yesterday I was feeling tired and sore from Monday’s workout, and contemplating a rest day.  Well, I knocked out an easy three mile run on the treadmill while RoRo napped.  It definitely helped to get moving and shake out some of that lactic acid.  I feel less sore today and was able to get through my workout this morning with more energy and enthusiasm.  Cheers to active recovery days!  I decided I would do cross training today.  I warmed up with 2 easy miles on the treadmill and then completed three 15 minute Nike Training Club workouts.  The first two focused on strength and conditioning and the last was full body stretching.  Much needed!  I don’t stretch much, and honestly, don’t believe it’s a necessity, but I do find I feel better when I do it, so I thought I’d give it a shot.  The two workouts consisted of 3 rounds of 5 different exercises performed for 1 minute each.  I followed the stretching with a one mile cool down run on the treadmill.  Here they are the NTC workouts I did, except for the stretching:

Workout 1: Unbeatable (I used an 8 lb. medicine ball):

Side Crunches to Burpees

Toe Taps with Medicine Ball

Ski Jump to Single Leg Squat

Quick Feet in Place

Suitcases

Workout 2: To the Core (I used an 8 lb. medicine ball);

Jack Knife Crunches

Plank Lateral Leg Kick

Squat Twist

Cross Leg Hip Raises

Plank Scorpions

And now to the vegetable compote!  I’m not sure that’s really what it is, but my worldly husband said it would work, so I’m rolling with it.  I’m not sure what else to call it and compote just sounds fancy!

Saturday night I had Lucky Charms for dinner.  Followed by a bowl of ice cream.  Sunday, I thought we should class it up, and maybe try to eat something with slightly more nutritional value.  First, I marinated some large, butterflied pork chops in a mixture of soy sauce, canola oil, garlic, fresh lemon juice, pepper, and salt.  Hubby had an Italian herb bread cooking up in the bread maker and it was up to me for side number two.  I thought about salad…and then I thought about a warm salad.  Mostly, I was thinking about caramelized onions.

So I sliced up two medium yellow onions and sautéed them in extra virgin olive oil and a bit of butter over low heat.  After about ten minutes I tossed in a couple handfuls of cherry tomatoes cut in half.  After about ten more minutes I added in about 4 cups of baby spinach.  I seasoned it all with salt and pepper and a drizzle of balsalmic vinegar.  After the spinach cooked down I plated by creation and topped it with crumbled blue cheese.  Holy yum!  Seriously delicious and easy!  And it paired very well with our pork chops, fresh bread, and red wine.  Delicious and nutritious!

Enjoy the rest of your day!

Any major victories in your kitchen lately?

Have you tried Nike Training Club before?