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Brrrrrr.... Another frigid morning in Virginia! My little feet are so cold right now, I am in dire need of some winter shoes! Day after Thanksgiving shopping, here I come! :)
I was in a big rush this morning trying to do some house cleaning while making lunch and breakfast. I put together a bowl of oats using:
1 cup prepared rolled oats
1 small banana
1 tbsp ground flax seeds
1/2 cup frozen blueberries
1/4 cup Back to Nature Maple Nut Medley Cereal
I think the cereal would have been a great idea, but because I was in such a rush I wound up running out of time to eat breakfast at home. So I scooped it all into a gladware container and reheated it at work. By the time it went through all of that and got all mashed up together into a wonderful oatmeal mush, the cereal was definitely soggy. It did add a nice flavor though. Oh, and the blueberries were terrific with the mashed banana.
For lunch I made tuna salad to put in my last WW wrap.
Ingredients: (makes 3 servings)
2 cans of white albacore tuna in water, drained
3 tbsp light mayo
4 tbsp yellow mustard
3 tbsp relish
1/2 red bell pepper, chopped
2 celery ribs, chopped
1/4 cucumber, chopped
garlic powder
salt
pepper
I wrapped up 1/3 of the tuna salad in a whole wheat wrap and added some arugula mix to the top.
Paired with a Pink Lady...
Mia REALLY wanted some tuna...
So did Hank.
My animals are such beggars!
For snacks I have a banana and a Kashi.
Tonight Brian and I are going for another run after work. Wish me luck...its supposed to be 32* at 6pm when we hit the pavement! Brrrrr....
Aaaahhhhh.....I am in post-yoga bliss right now. Another wonderful class at Studio 206, taught by Hilary. I must say though that I am more of a 60-minute class kinda girl. The 90-hour class is nice, you get extra time to work on balance positions, extra meditation time etc., but I really hate to get home after 9pm. And, I honestly feel that I get as good of a workout in 60 minutes as I do in 90, its just stretched out more in 90. Anyway, the studio only offers one 60-minute class that works with my schedule each week so it looks like I'll have to make do... :)
Knowing that it was going to be a late night, I thought ahead this morning and revved up the crock pot for some black bean soup. I love this simple, wholesome, filling recipe...I could eat it every single week.
Black Bean SoupIngredients:
about 1 pound dry black beans
one onion, diced
one red bell pepper, diced
3 big garlic cloves, minced
1 can diced tomatoes (15 oz)
8 cups beef or veggie broth
1/2 tbsp cumin
salt and pepper to taste
cayenne pepper to taste
Steps:
Put all ingredients in crock pot EXCEPT for salt, pepper and cayenne.
Set crock pot to low. I do this in the morning before work and when I get home 10 hours later the beans are perfect. You could cook them on high, but they would probably only take 5-6 hours total.
When beans are done, stir in salt, pepper and cayenne to taste. I don't put these spices in at first because they intensify with slow cooking, and I don't want my soup too salty or spicy.
That's it! So easy and sooooooooo good. I make brown rice to pour my soup on top of, and Brian likes saffron rice. We sometimes chop up sausage or ham in the soup which also makes it really, really good. Cheese, sour cream and scallions are all good toppers. You could add many other types of veggies to make it your own...its so versatile.
Instead of sausage in the soup this time we pan-fried it and had it on the side. I knew Brian would want lots and I just wanted a little taste, so this was the best compromise. This sausage is from Babes in the Wood, a local company that breeds a certain type of pig that they allow to forage in the woods. Its a highly sustainable practice and the pigs lead happy lives eating the things they are meant to eat. And, it is DELICIOUS. I am not a big fan of sausage, but this stuff makes me pretty happy.
my dinner bowl
1/2 cup brown rice
2 cups black bean soup
1 tbsp sour cream
1/2 sausage link
brian's dinner bowl
saffron rice
lots of bean soup
lots of cheese
1-1/2 sausage links
For dessert I had a Kozy Shack rice pudding cup with berries on top.
A little backtrack, tonight before yoga I tried the Clif Mojo Peanut Butter Pretzel bar.
Product Review:Clif Mojo Peanut Butter Pretzel
Ok, I know I've been saying this a lot lately and you're probably going to stop believing me if I don't give something a bad review soon, but this bar was AMAZING. Seriously. I felt like I was eating a candy bar. The only negative thing I have to say is that it has 200 calories...I usually like to stay in the 120-150 calorie range for my afternoon snacks. But, every single extra calorie was worth it. I thought about only eating 3/4s of it but once I bit into the peanut-y, pretzel-y goodness there was no turning back. I polished it off. Plus, I burned 350+ calories at yoga tonight. So there. :)
Now I am off to enjoy my post-yoga bliss before crashing in bed. Have a great night!
Good Tuesday morning! I woke up to discover 2 lovely things happened while I was sleeping... #1...It snowed last night!!! Only a little dusting but it was still such a nice surprise. Looking outside my office window now I see that it has all melted already...oh well. #2...The lovely and talented Ashley at Sweet + Natural awarded me with the prestigious Superior Scribbler Award! Isn't she a sweetie? I love Ashley's blog because she delivers useful information and incredible recipes with a wonderfully witty style and gorgeous photography. I can't wait to try more of her delectable recipes, if only I could get a handle on this new blogging obsession of mine that seems to be taking up all of my evening time...! :)
I now give you the rules.
1. Post the award on your blog.
2. Link to me for giving it to you.
3. Link the originating post here.
4. Pass it on to three deserving people - I’m keeping Ashley's rule to continue the rebellion...
5. Post these rules for your recipients.
So, here goes.
1. Allison at Green Dog Wine. I love Allison's blog because she shares great recipes, has the cutest puppy, is at a very similar place in her life as me (we're even the same age!) and has a fabulous blog name encompassing her favorite things, which just so happen to be some of my favorites as well so I feel a slight kinship with her... :)
2. Monica at SmarterFitter. Monica is so clever. She shares wonderful information and beautiful recipes and is a fabulous writer. Plus, her blog is so ambitious with TONS of useful information. And, she lives in the U.K. I'm only a little jealous... :)
3. Erica at Itzy's Kitchen. Erica has great, quick recipes...especially her breads! I am always looking for healthy, fast bread options and I find myself constantly turning to her blog for ideas. Plus, she makes simply pleasing dinners that would be satisfying for both me and my husband, which is no small feat.
Congrats Ladies! Enjoy!!!
On to some food...
Breakfast: One 5.3oz container of plain Oikos with a handful of fresh raspberries and sprinkling of sliced almonds on top. I mashed the raspberries up so the juice colored the yogurt pink...tasty and pretty at the same time. :) Also, I've pictured a Luna Sunrise Apple Cinnamon bar and a banana, but I decided to save the banana for a snack since I am now REALLY full and over-calculated my breakfast calories.
Lunch: Another veggie wrap and apple combo, exactly the same as yesterday. :) Its a quick, filling lunch and I really enjoyed the added boost the black beans gave me. Plus, I have WW tortillas in my fridge that I must use up. Don't be surprised if you see another of these beauties on tomorrow's post.
Snack: Clif Mojo Peanut Butter Pretzel bar. This is my first Mojo bar experience so expect a product review later!
I'd like to introduce you to my little helper this morning, Mia. She likes to stick close to the kitchen in the morning in case a little piece of turkey or cheese falls from the sky while Brian is making his sandwiches...
Ok, I work 'till 6 tonight then have a 1-1/2 hour yoga class this evening, so it will be another late post tonight. I revved up the crock pot this morning though for a batch of my black bean soup, so I'll be posting a new recipe tonight. Woohoo! Have a fabulous Tuesday! :)
Good evening! Tonight Brian and I tried an after-work run downtown. It was fantastic! The temperature was a good 10* warmer than it was this morning, we were still in "go" mood from being at work and, best part, we weren't trying to drag ourselves out of bed and onto the road. We did a little under a 1/2 mile warm-up walk, 1-1/2 mile run and a 1/4 mile cool-down walk. It was perfect. This was my first 1-1/2 mile run on the road (not the track) since the start of the training program and it felt really really good.
For dinner we had leftovers in the fridge for Brian, so I wanted to put something easy together for me. I was still in comfort food mode and wanted something warm and satisfying after being out in the cold. So, I pulled an Amy's Tomato Bisque out of our pantry, a couple of slices of leftover oatmeal bread and some broccoli together.
I was going for a tomato soup and grilled cheese kinda thing, so I put 1/2 a slice of 50% reduced fat white cheddar on each of my oatmeal slices and broiled them in the oven. The cheese didn't melt very well...it kinda looked like plastic wrap while it was in the oven. Scary. I also steamed some broccoli and added a sprinkling of sea salt to it. I don't understand why restaurants put butter or cheese on broccoli, its natural flavor is so great and perfectly enhanced with a bit of salt. Yumminess.
The Amy's Tomato Bisque is pretty good. Its definitely not homemade, but I just didn't have the energy in me tonight. I'll do a tomato soup soon though, I've got a couple of recipes that I love and now I'm in the mood... This meal was really filling, I only finished 1-1/2 pieces of the bread and about 3/4 of the soup, but I ate all of my broccoli like a good girl... And Lucy was more than happy to finish off the cheese bread for me, how could I resist this face?
For a snack today I had my Clif Nectar Cacao: dark chocolate walnut about an hour before my run.
Product Review:Clif Nectar Cacao: Dark Chocolate Walnut
This bar was SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO GOOD!!! I had never tried any of the Cacao flavors, and sadly this is the only one my Whole Foods carries so it may be the only one I try for awhile. It had a wonderful, dense texture, almost like a really chewy brownie. And big chunks of walnuts! It was a great energy boost for my run and held me over until dinner a couple of hours later. I will definitely be buying these again!!!
I also tried a bite of Brian's Clif Builder's Chocolate bar....also really yummy! He loved it, which says a lot because he is NOT a protein bar fan. I wanted him to try out some Clif bars this week for me and give me some reviews. He says "it tasted almost like a candy bar"..."really filling". So there you go. :)
And last, but not least, my favorite coffee shop downtown broke out the Spiced Apple Cider!!! You know I was all over that this afternoon...nothing says "its fall!" like spiced apple cider...
Have a great night! Oh! I added a Meet Andrea page, so if you feel like learning a bit more about lil' ol' me, check it out! :)
I can't believe it! Thank you so much Melissa for picking sweet potatoes, what a great ingredient to work with! This contest and all of the great recipes that were submitted have opened my eyes to what a versatile ingredient the sweet potato is!
And congratulations to my co-winner Marianne!!! Your recipe looks amazing, I can't wait to try it out!!!
Don't forget to check out Lindsay's blog for this week's BSI...
Yay!!! Monday just got SO MUCH HAPPIER! :)
This morning Brian and I set our alarms for 5:45 to get up for a mid-week training jog. I got out of bed, brushed my teeth and put in my contacts, and then crawled right back in bed because it was SO COLD!!! Argh. We agreed that we would bring our workout clothes with us to work so that we can go for a jog downtown immediately after work. It will still be pitch black but maybe it won't be as frigid.... How do you handle workouts in the cold? And I mean COLD...under 35*. And I don't have a gym membership... :(
Once I finally got up the nerve to get back out of bed I put together a quick breakfast. 1/2 a whole wheat bagel with 1 tbsp almond butter and 1/2 a banana on top. I ate the rest of the banana on the side.
For lunch I made a veggie wrap with my new roasted red pepper hummus!!! So excited to try this new brand and new flavor. I also decided to beef up my wrap a bit with some black beans. I've noticed in my calorie tracking (yes I track, more on that later) that I'm not getting a great balance of carbs to protein, so I'm going to make a conscious effort to sneak more veggie protein in when I can. I'm only eating meat about once a week these days, so I need to make sure I'm getting enough protein from other sources. Today's wrap includes:
8" whole wheat tortilla
2 tbsp roasted red pepper hummus
1/4 cup black beans
arugula lettuce mix
red bell pepper
cucumber
broccoli sprouts
And a pink lady apple on the side...
And I packed a new flavor (for me) of Clif Nectar...dark chocolate walnut, for an afternoon pre-run snack.
I have the office all to myself today! My boss and one other co-worker are in D.C. checking on some of our jobs, so I'm enjoying playing whatever music I feel like! It'll be a great day for lots of productivity without distraction...woohoo! :)
When we were in college, my roommate Jackie and I used to make a big "southern dinner" and invite a bunch of friends over to feast. The meal consisted of:
breaded, fried chicken tenders
macaroni and cheese
mashed potatoes
collard greens w/ bacon
black eyed peas
fried okra
These six items are at the top of my list of favorite comfort foods, and those meals are some of my favorite memories from college. After we started dating, they quickly became some of Brian's favorites as well. I already mentioned that my hubby was craving some good ol' stick-to-your-ribs comfort food, and this was exactly the kind of meal he wanted.
So, tonight we cooked together and made chicken tenders, mac + cheese, garlic + dill mashed potatoes and steamed green beans (I had to have SOMETHING healthy!). It was a wonderful, filling meal, and I didn't even try to over-"healthify" anything (hubby may have divorced me...not really!). I did load my plate with steamed green beans and took smaller-than-normal helpings of the other, not-so-healthy options though.
The one thing I changed in my mom's amazing mac + cheese recipe was that I used brown rice pasta instead of semolina...I LOVE this stuff! Its texture is so similar to semolina, I don't even notice a difference.
I loved the meal, and I loved cooking with Brian, and I love that this kind of food brings back such great memories of friends and family, but I don't love the guilty, nagging voice I have in my head that is telling me I should have tried to make a healthier dinner. :( Why does classic comfort food always involve frying, cheese and potatoes? Now, I'm not saying that my healthy meals don't evoke satisfying feelings, because they do, its just a different kind of satisfaction. Think how heightened my enjoyment of the meal would have been if I had made healthy chicken fingers, mac + cheese and mashed potatoes that still tasted just as good as the originals?!?!
So I'm setting a new challenge for myself and my hubby. One night a week we are going to pick a classic comfort food from mine or Brian's past and "healthify" it. And we're going to do it together, because part of what was so great about tonight (and last night's home made pizza) was being in the kitchen cooking side-by-side.
And, another even bigger challenge for myself is this: On these very occasional nights when we decide to have a blast-from-the-past with a not-so-healthy meal I'm not going to feel guilty about it, because it doesn't happen THAT often. :)
We've had a beautiful, but CHILLY day here in Virginia! I slept in 'till about 8am, and met my buddy Christine for a hilly walk around the neighborhood. We were pretty slow today because we had her dog with us and he's a big sniffer, but it was still a nice, hilly 3-mile walk in just under an hour.
After that I made a quick breakfast and spent some time catching up on a few blogs.
1 tbsp almond butter spread on a piece of my banana apple bread and a cereal bowl filled with 1/2 cup Kashi H2H, 1/2 cup Back to Nature Maple Medley, a banana and 1 cup of hemp milk. Yum!
Oh! I almost forgot. Last night after posting I had a craving for something sweet, and thought it was a great opportunity to try out my new PB&Co Dark Chocolate Dreams!
I spread it on a piece of banana apple bread and OH. MY. GOODNESS. I don't think I need to say anymore.
After breakfast and blogs I did a little cleaning, then went to my favorite vinyasa yoga class at Studio 206. It was amazing as usual. We spent a lot of time working on our hamstrings which was wonderful and is going to be so beneficial to my training. I've only been back at yoga for about 3 weeks now but it feels so great to be there. I've always been pretty flexible so its been an easy transition back into my old favorite classes, I just need to work on my upper body strength. I don't have a gym membership, but I do have a couple of sets of handheld weights at home. Does anybody have any good suggestions of great at-home strength training dvd's that I could order on Netflix???
For lunch I decided to try out a sweet potato and black beans combo!!! This was my first, but I've been reading about it on blogs for a few weeks now and was dying to try it. I had an extra baked sweet potato leftover from my BSI submission, so it seemed like the perfect opportunity (especially since the hubby had leftover pizza to make him happy, he wasn't such a fan of the sweet potato for lunch idea).
It was fantastic!!!!! I used one medium-sized sweet potato, 1/2 tbsp Earth Balance buttery spread, 1/4 cup black beans, 1/4 cup corn, chopped scallions and sea salt. So simple, so delicious and so filling. :)
After lunch Brian and I did some yard work for about an hour...its been a pretty good activity day! Which will make up for the fact that tonight we are making a favorite, classic dinner. Chicken tenders, homemade mac + cheese and green beans. Yum. This week's menu has a few more hubby-friendly meals on it (thus the homemade pizza last night, mac + cheese tonight...). While I can subsist on veggies and grains pretty much every night of the week, his tall frame and ridiculously-speedy metabolism don't do well with that kind of diet. So, this week my challenge is to strike a healthy balance of good-for-me meals with good-for-hubby meals. I don't think that means changing a whole lot, I think it just means adding in meat for him to eat in addition to my veggies and grains...and a few comfort food favorites. :)
Good evening! I hope everybody had a wonderful Saturday, despite any dreary weather you may have had (like me!). After my BSI submission I cleaned up the house a bit, lounged around a bit, blogged a bit and made a grocery list.
For lunch I had leftovers: 1-1/2 cups green potage and 2 slices of oatmeal bread, one with roasted garlic hummus.
Turns out the garlic hummus and oatmeal bread weren't that great of a combination...I only ate about 1/2 of that slice.
Before grocery shopping I had a Clif Nectar bar so that I wouldn't eat or buy everything in sight.
Product Review: Clif Nectar lemon vanilla cashew flavor
This is my all-time favorite Clif Nectar flavor, and I'm so glad that my Whole Foods still carries it. I also really love the cranberry apricot and cherry pomegranate but they've discontinued them at my store...SO SAD!!! :( This flavor is wonderfully sweet from the vanilla but still has a nice tartness from the lemon, and there are big chunks of cashews. Yum.
The bar held me over through our various errands and grocery shopping, and kept me from ordering anything when we drove through Taco Bell so Brian could snack on a bean burrito.
Here is a sampling of the grocery store loot this evening:
First, the regular items.
bananas
brussels sprouts
sweet potato
broccoli sprouts
mushrooms
cauliflower
broccoli
raspberries (!)
z-bars (!!)
Clif Nectar Cocao (this should be on the newbie list, never tried this flavor before)
tofu
Silk plain soymilk
Oikos (!) (would love to try Chobani, but my store doesn't carry it!!!)
vino
honey
Amy's soups
Kashi cheddar crackers
whole wheat pitas
More regular items.
rolled oats
part skim mozzerella
Wallaby yogurts (Brian's favorite...so good! they have great flavors and are super-creamy)
red bell peppers
pomegranates (2 of these! 2 for $5!)
feta cheese
frozen edamame
coffee
Regular items not pictured:
cucumbers
tortilla chips
more vino
lunch meat / cheese for Brian
arugula lettuce mix
scallions
onions
cream cheese for Brian's bagels
Newbies!!!
Clif bars!!! (the Whole Foods Whole Deal has tons of coupons, lots of taste-testing this week!)
new hummus - roasted red pepper
PB&Co dark chocolate dreams (!)
turbinado raw sugar
Smart Deli veggie pepperoni slices (for our pizza tonight)
So excited about my newbies!!! Especially the PB&Co, I didn't realize my Whole Foods even carried it! And, I discovered that they carry the MaraNatha almond butter, but I'm not in need right now so I will try it next time I'm all out.
We also stopped at Bodo's to get Brian a supply of everything bagels for the next couple of weeks,
and the Organic Butcher to get chicken breasts and some bacon. I love the Organic Butcher, most of the meat that he carries is local and it feels great to support a local business as well as local farmers. We actually reserved our local, organic turkey for Thanksgiving tonight! :)
By the time we got home I was STARVING! Brian and I put together a wonderful homemade pizza with fresh pizza dough from a local pasta shop. Sadly they were all out of whole wheat, but we were in SUCH a pizza mood that I couldn't say no to white flour.
We made up for it with part skim mozzarella, veggie pepperoni slices and lots of veggies.
I had about 1/4 of the 12" pizza, and paired it with a salad and small glass of red wine.
My salad consisted of:
arugula salad mix
cucumber
red bell pepper
1 tbsp feta crumbles
1/4 cup red raspberries
1 tbsp sliced almonds
1/2 tsp grape seed oil
1 tsp red wine vinegar
This Syrah is a new bottle we found at Whole Foods, just $9, and is pretty good!
I'm off to watch SNL...have a great night!
So this morning I finally had a chance to try out the BSI recipe I've been working on for the last couple of days!!! This is my first BSI submission, and the one goal I set for myself was to try something that I had never tried before, not necessarily something that nobody else has ever tried before. A big thank you to Melissa for picking Sweet Potatoes as this week's BSI! It was fun to challenge myself to come up with my own recipe and really think about what sweet potatoes mean to me.
I've been in a mega-baking mood lately, so I decided to run with that and come up with a yummy sweet potato baked good. At first I was thinking cookies, then I got really into breads so I decided to do muffins instead. I love that baked goods become so seasonal - I make strawberry rhubarb pie in the spring, fresh berry and peach cobblers in the summer, pumpkin bread and apple crisp in the fall. I really wanted the muffins to scream "this is fall!!!" and become something that I crave when the weather gets cooler.
I started with my banana apple bread recipe and substituted sweet potato for the banana, thinking that they would have similar consistencies and the apples and spices in the bread would compliment the sweet potato well. I wanted to make some sort of crumb topping, and cranberries immediately jumped to mind, but I only had dried cherries in the pantry so I made do with those. Here's the recipe, I hope you enjoy it! There are a few modifications at the bottom that I think will make the muffins even better next time.
Sweet Potato Apple Muffins with Cherry Crumb ToppingYields 12 muffins146 calories, 3.7g fat, .8g sat fat, 26.3g carbs, 13.1g sugar, 3.2g protein per muffinMuffin Ingredients:
1 medium baked sweet potato, mashed (about 1-1/2 cups)
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1 egg
1/2 cup plus 2 tbsp apple sauce
1 tbsp orange zest
1 cup peeled, chopped tart apple (pink lady, granny smith, etc.)
1-1/4 cup white whole wheat flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp sea salt
1-1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
Crumb Topping Ingredients:
2/3 cup walnut halves
1/3 cup dried cherries
1/4 cup WWWF
1-1/2 tbsp cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1 tbsp brown sugar
Steps:
Preheat oven to 350*. In a small bowl, mash the potato and add the brown sugar, applesauce, orange zest and egg. Mix well.
Add the chopped apple to the wet mixture.
In a larger bowl, sift the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg.
Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and gently fold together.
Place walnuts, cherries, flour, brown sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg in a blender and briefly blend to chop coarsely.
Put topping mixture into small bowl and add butter pieces. Blend with fingers until mixture resembles coarse bread crumbs.
Pour batter into greased standard-size muffin pan, sprinkle with topping and bake for 25-30 minutes.
Let cool for 5 minutes in the muffin pan then release and cool on rack for 10 more minutes before serving.
wet ingredients dry added to wet topping mixture pre-baking
I'm pretty happy with the result! The muffins are perfectly moist, and the sweet potato and apple flavors work beautifully together. I love the tartness that the dried cherries add, and will probably increase the orange zest next time because it didn't really come through. I am a bit disappointed in the topping, it could be a tad more sweet and a lot more crunchy. In hindsight I realize that I should have toasted the walnut halves prior to coarse chopping them in the blender. And I think that pecans may have been a better nut choice, but I didn't have any in the pantry.
All-in-all I am really pleased with this recipe and will definitely be making it again, with those few minor adjustments to the topping. :)
Good morning (almost afternoon!)! Its still rainy and dreary here, but I still managed to drag my bootie out of bed for my third training session with the 10-Miler Training group. We had about 1/2 as many people this week as in weeks past, I guess a lot of people gave in to the desire to stay in bed on a rainy Saturday morning!
This morning's pep talk and info session was kept pretty short because of the drizzle, but I have a couple of tips to share:
Eat or drink within 1/2 hour of finishing your run. And water doesn't count, you need something to replace the electrolytes lost during your run. Gatorade, granola bar, banana etc...you will feel much better in the afternoon because you'll avoid the crash that causes you to want a nice long recovery nap!
Cotton is BAD to run in, especially in rainy, cold weather. It holds 3 times more moisture than other fabrics which can make you miserable on a run as you carry the extra weight, freeze the entire time and probably chafe in unpleasant places. (I am SO in need of a shopping trip!)
Stretching before a run is BAD. The analogy we were given involves silly putty... Think about when you first take silly putty out of its little egg, if you immediately try to stretch it out it will break. Your ligaments are the same way. Instead of stretching for a warm up, walk or VERY SLOWLY jog for 1/2 a mile. This will get your legs nice and warmed up before you really let loose into your run. DEFINITELY stretch after your cool down, for at least 10 minutes.
Today's workout was 1/4 mile walk, 1-1/2 mile run (woohoo!), 1/4 mile walk. I ran the whole 1-1/2 miles even though most of the group is still run/walking. I'm getting a little impatient with these shorter distances but we'll get up to longer runs in no time. The next group up is already at 3.5 miles which is way too big of a jump for me. So, I will continue to be patient because I am determined to not overdo it and injure myself!!! This morning we were still running on the track and sadly I didn't have my hubby with me to run with (he hurt his back and was sore in bed) so I was REALLY bored. I'll definitely be taking my ipod with me next time if I don't have a buddy...
When I got back from the track I put together a bowl of apple-pumpkin oats.
Ingredients:
1 cup prepared rolled oats
splash of Silk vanilla soymilk
1/4 can of pumpkin puree'
3/4 small pink lady apple
cinnamon
pom seeds
Yum! The bowl was huge though and VERY filling so I only ate about 3/4s of it. I also had a bite of Brian's breakfast sandwich which was AMAZING!!!
Ingredients:
1 Bodo's Everything Bagel (I buy a bunch at a time and freeze them for Brian's breakfasts)
1 fried egg (in a tsp of olive oil)
1 Morningstar veggie sausage patty (these are sooooooooooo good!!!!!)
1 slice sharp cheddar cheese
Man I miss those breakfasts....
My BSI recipe just came out of the oven!!! I will post it this afternoon...
Forgot to mention that I had a slice of banana apple bread before my run.
Mmmmmmmm potage. One of my favorite cold, rainy night dinners. Its basically a creamy soup made by simmering veggies (and sometimes meat) together until they break down enough to puree' them together in a blender. Brian helped me tonight...he's kinda become our dedicated potage chef. He used and slightly modified a recipe from one of our soup cookbooks, Soup: A Way of Life by Barbara Kafka. It turned out perfectly.
Green Potagemakes (4) 1-1/2 cup servings180 calories, 3.4g fat, 1.8g sat. fat, 35g carbs, 4.3g fiber, 4.5g protein in one servingIngredients:
1 tbsp unsalted butter
1 medium onion, thinly sliced
4 cups mashing potatoes, peeled and cut into 1-inch cubes
5 cups veggie broth
1/2 medium head of broccoli, stems peeled and cut into coins, tops into florets
4 tsp kosher salt (less if using a commercial veggie broth)
ground pepper to taste
Steps:
In a medium saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat. Stir in the onion and cook, stirring occasionally, for 5 to 7 minutes, until wilted and translucent.
Stir in the potatoes and stock. Bring to a boil. Lower the heat and simmer, uncovered, for 10 minutes. Stir in the broccoli. Cover. Simmer until the potatoes and broccoli are completely tender, about 10 more minutes.
Strain the soup and reserve the liquid. In a food processor or blender, puree' the vegetables with a little of the reserved liquid. Whisk the puree' into the remaining liquid and return to the saucepan.
Add salt + pepper and heat through.
My task tonight was to try out the Oatmeal Whole Wheat Quick Bread recipe I found on Itzy's Kitchen. I was really impressed with how easy and fast this recipe was. And, it was really good! VERY filling. I made a couple of small modifications.
Oatmeal Breadyield 1 loaf, 12 slices198 calories, 4.5g fat, .4g sat fat, 35.1g carbs, 4.2f fiber, 5.7g protein in one sliceIngredients:
2 cups rolled oats
2 cups whole wheat flour
4 tsp baking powder
3 tbsp honey
2 tbsp vegetable oil
2 cups hemp milk
Steps:
Preheat oven to 450*.
Grind oatmeal in a blender. In a large bowl, combine oatmeal, flour and baking powder.
In a separate bowl, dissolve honey in vegetable oil then stir in the milk.
Combine both mixtures and stir until a soft dough is formed. Move dough into a greased loaf pan.
Bake in preheated oven for about 25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
If I had more honey, I would have used the 4 tbsp recommended in the Itzy's Kitchen recipe. My bread was really good, but it could have been a bit more sweet. Unfortunately I ran out after 3 tbsp so I just worked with what I had! I will definitely be making this recipe again.
Dinner was sooooooo good. Exactly what I wanted at the end of this dreary day. The potage and bread are both really filling. I had about 1-1/2 cups of soup and 1-1/2 slices of the bread paired with a small glass of wine, and am now completely stuffed!!!
A little backtrack to my afternoon snacking. Lunch only stuck with me for a couple of hours....it was just veggies. I realized when I was starving at 2:30 that I hadn't had much protein today, but sadly didn't have anything to supplement with at work. So, I had my apple and slice of banana apple bread for a snack with a cup of green tea, which held me over for another couple of hours.
On Friday afternoons my office always gets a bottle of wine, cheese and crackers to celebrate the end of another week. Today we were also celebrating my big drawing submittal yesterday, which was nice. I had a small glass of wine, about a 1oz piece of really yummy white cheddar and a couple of water table crackers. No pictures, I still haven't gotten comfortable enough to clue my co-workers in to what I'm doing. I think that's best for now though.
Tomorrow starts another week of training and blogging!!! I wasn't very good this week, I was so busy that my workouts and home cooking suffered. I hope to find a way to better balance things because the busy weeks will keep happening and if I want to get to my goal weight I need to stay on top of my exercise and good eats.
I am now totally pooped out and ready for bed, so no BSI cooking tonight. I did spend about an hour working out my recipe though, so I'm all ready to prepare it tomorrow!
This morning I decided to use the leftover pumpkin puree' in my fridge on my oats. What a great combination! I was inspired by Jenna's recent breakfasts, and will be using this combo again (probably tomorrow, to use up the rest of the pumpkin!)
Ingredients:
1 cup prepared rolled oats
splash of Silk vanilla soymilk
1/4 cup of pumpkin puree'
1 mashed banana
sprinkling of pom seeds
For lunch I packed up my leftover spaghetti squash and veggies. I love when I have leftovers to pack for lunch, it makes my morning so much easier!
For snacks I have had a pink lady apple and a slice of banana apple bread...yum!
So, I skipped a couple of meal postings the last couple of days because they just weren't interesting and I was feeling stressed from being behind with the deadline and all. But, a couple of things are definitely worth talking about...
Product Review:Clif Z-Bar peanut butter flavor!
I LOVE these bars!!! This is my second flavor, I tried the chocolate chip last weekend. I think the chocolate chip is my favorite so far, but the peanut butter was REALLY good. I had it as an afternoon snack anticipating that I would be going to spin class, which was canceled, but it held me over nicely until dinner was ready around 8pm. It had great texture and flavor, very similar to a peanut butter cookie. Those Clif people sure know what they are doing! :)
I can't wait to go to the store tomorrow and pick up a few more, especially since I scored some coupons out of the Whole Foods Whole Deal...definitely pick one up if you haven't yet. Coupons for practically every type of Clif Bar available and Stoneyfield coupons, along with some other good stuff.
Product Review: Larabar cherry pie flavor!
I've been a long-time fan of Larabars, and cherry pie is one of my favorite flavors. They are so wholesome and filling and always hit the spot. I love the fruitiness of their fruit pie flavors, but I'm also really wanting to try come of the non-fruity flavors. I've never been able to find the chocolate coconut, coconut cream pie or peanut butter cookie flavors, and I'm dying to try them!!! They are so hard to find...
Have a great afternoon! I'm trying out my BSI recipe tonight...so excited!!!
Last night I tried out a new recipe. My inspiration came from several sources, the first being Jenna at Eat,Live,Run with her whole wheat banana bread recipe. I made this bread a couple of weeks ago with one alteration inspired by my mother's banana bread recipe, which uses a peeled, chopped granny smith apple. I was really happy with how it turned out, and decided to continue to make a few changes to make it my own.
Banana Apple BreadYields 1 loaf—12 slices106 calories, .4g fat, 0g sat fat, 24.6g carbs, 13.2g sugar, 2.2g protein per sliceIngredients:
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1 egg
1-1/4 cup white whole wheat flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp sea salt
1-1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 cup plus 2 tbsp apple sauce
2 very ripe bananas
1 cup peeled, chopped tart apple (pink lady, granny smith, etc.)
Steps:
Preheat oven to 350. In a small bowl, mash the bananas and add the brown sugar, applesauce and egg. Mix well.
Add the chopped apple to the wet mixture.
In a larger bowl, sift the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and gently fold together.
Pour batter into prepared nonstick (or greased) loaf pan and bake for about 45 minutes.
Let cool for 5 minutes in the loaf pan then release and cool on rack for 10 more minutes before slicing.
I am extremely happy with the results!!! The bread is super-moist, and the chunks of apple are wonderful little surprises. The white whole wheat flour made it fluffier than the whole wheat flour version (for a great explanation of WWWF see sweetandnatural). Yay baking!!!
Good evening! With deadlines and social engagements the last couple of days haven't been very conducive to coming home and cooking a meal. But, finally, tonight I had time to play around in the kitchen! I decided to try out the spaghetti squash I picked up last weekend.
I cut it in half, scooped the seeds, rubbed about 1 tbsp olive oil all over the flesh and sprinkled it with salt and pepper. I placed it flesh-side down on a nonstick pan and popped it in the oven at 400* for 30 minutes.
When it came out, all I had to do was use a fork to pull the flesh away from the skin. So easy!
We had some veggies in the fridge to use up before our grocery trip Saturday, so I decided to roast some asparagus while the squash cooked. Ends chopped off, little drizzle of olive oil, sprinkle of salt and pepper and in the oven it went.
I was debating toppings for the spaghetti squash and decided to keep it nice and simple. I chopped up a zucchini, red bell pepper and 1/2 an onion.
The veggie trio was sauteed together with a drizzle of olive oil, salt and pepper. I really wanted all of the pure flavors of the veggies to come through and not be muddled with any extra spices.
Finally, I needed a protein. I hadn't done pan-glazed tofu in awhile, and for some reason it sounded really good tonight. So, out came a block of extra firm tofu. I sliced it into (6) 1/2 inch slabs and layered it between paper towels for about 15 minutes. No pressing, I've found that it doesn't really help that much.
I heated one tbsp of olive oil on medium heat in a nonstick pan and waited for it to shimmer. When it was ready, the tofu went in and immediately started to sizzle. This is the hard part....no moving the tofu! So difficult for me because I like to stir things on the stove top. It just sizzles for about 7 minutes until it is golden brown on one side, then you flip it.
Once the tofu has sizzled on the 2nd side for about 5 minutes, you add a glaze to the pan. I use this glaze from A Year in a Vegetarian Kitchen by Jack Bishop, I haven't been able to stray from it because it is so good!
1/2 cup veggie broth
1 tbsp maple syrup
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
2 garlic cloves, minced
sprinkling of red pepper flakes
salt
Whisk it all together and add it to the pan with the tofu.
Once the tofu has sizzled in the glaze for about 2 minutes, remove it from the pan. Perfect every time!
Dinner was a success. I didn't saute' the veggie trio for very long so it still had a nice crunch to it. The spaghetti squash was awesome, I love its texture!
Paired with a small glass of red wine and I am a happy girl.
I hope that everybody had a lovely day. I worked on a new banana apple bread recipe tonight that just came out of the oven. I'll report tomorrow about how it turned out and share the recipe...I'm pretty excited about it!
Hi All!!! I'm sorry I've been absent last night and today... I'm officially through my deadline, WooHoo! I will do a catch-up post this afternoon/evening. Unfortunately I don't have that much exciting food news to post...my creativity with food flies out the window when I'm stressed and we've eaten out a lot the last couple of days. I'll still post though, if nothing else than to keep myself accountable! :)
Its DREARY here today! I hope you all are having better weather where you're at!
Hi y'all! I was just perusing the Food Network site (just a little break from work....) and saw that they have started the sign up for 12 Days of Cookies!!!!! WooHoo! Just thought I would share. :)
I think we should have a blogger contest when we get closer to the holidays to come up with fun, creative and healthy holiday baked goods! What do y'all think?
Good morning! I'm going to try to keep this quick so I can get back to work. Deadline is tomorrow at noon so life should return to normal then...hopefully! :)
Last night Brian and I went to watch our friend defend her title at CLAW, the Charlottesville Lady Arm Wrestlers. We had just enough time after work to run home to feed the dogs, but not ourselves. So, we stopped at our favorite pizza place on the Downtown Mall, Christian's Pizza (no website, sorry!). I wanted to get one of their vegan slices so as to be a bit more healthy by eliminating cheese and adding a whole wheat crust, but they were all out of the pre-made vegan slices. So, I settled for a classic fresh tomato, mozzerella and basil...it was delicious. :) I had one slice, but these are some huge pizza slices so it was perfectly filling.
When we got home we decided to watch a movie and I was in a sweet/snackie mood. I decided to try out the Annie's Bunny Grahams and...let me tell you...I was very impressed! (sorry for the blurry...)
I love these little bunnies!!!!! First off, they are adorable. Second, they have amazing flavor and Third, they are perfectly, deliciously crunchy. I paired a serving of them with a sliced pink lady apple. A very satisfying sweet/snackie experience.
Ok, now for today. And I'm sorry again for being so quick...
Breakfast: Ezekiel cinnamon raisin muffin (1/2) with almond butter and banana slices on top, paired with a cup of plain Oikos and the rest of the banana slices.
These Ezekiel sprouted wheat muffins are great. I'm still not totally sold on the plain sprouted wheat bread, but the cinn raisin muffins and the onion sesame bagels are really tasty.
And I've been using Whole Foods brand almond butter, but I'm not totally sold on it yet. I'm really trying to love almond butter, but this brand isn't doing it for me. Do any of you have a favorite almond butter brand?
Lunch: What is becoming my "I don't know what to make for lunch" lunch...the veggie wrap. Its just so tasty and it never fails to satisfy me so its a great go-to lunch when I'm not feeling creative in the morning.
Ingredients:
whole wheat tortilla
2 tbsp roasted garlic hummus
baby greens
red bell pepper
cucumber
banana peppers
alfalfa sprouts
Paired, of course, with a pink lady apple. :)
And for a snack I have yesterday's Larabar stashed in a drawer at my office. The salad filled me up so much that I ate just 2/3's for lunch, had my apple and hour or two later, and the rest of my salad a couple of hours after that.
And thats my day! Tonight Brian and I are going to a friend's house for the premier of Top Chef!!!!!!!! We have a tradition of cooking with a theme on Top Chef nights, sometimes it is a key ingredient (think BSI contest). I think I may try to come up with a recipe for the BSI contest this week using sweet potato and try it out on everybody... I'll report in later. I was so inspired by Meghann's recipe this week, if you haven't seen it yet you should check it out.
Have a fabulous Wednesday!
Good morning! Brian and I started the morning out right with a mid-week training run. I'm pretty proud of us, we got up at 6am and were on the road by 6:15. It was only 25* outside!!!!!!!!!!! Absolutely frigid at first, but we got used to it quickly after we started our run. We did a 1/2 mile warm-up, 1 mile run at an easy 10-minute pace, and 1/2 mile cool-down. It was only a 28 minute workout but it felt great to get up so early and I was completely awake and refreshed by the time we got home.
For breakfast I made a bowl of oats using 1 cup prepared rolled oats, splash of vanilla soymilk, spoonful of flax seeds, 1 medium banana and a couple of spoonfuls of pom seeds. Yum! This meal was so satisfying and tasty that it actually evoked the food dance out of me...that only happens with really good food. :)
I'm prepared for another busy day at the office with a filling lunch. I made a lima bean + corn salad that I found in a Self magazine a couple of months ago. I was unsure of it at first but its actually really good and completely filling...I've made it several times since.
Ingredients:
1.5 cups frozen lima beans, thawed in microwave
.75 cup frozen corn, thawed in microwave
.5 cup chopped red bell pepper
.5 cup chopped cucumber
1.5 tsp olive oil
1 tsp balsamic vinegar
1 tsp dijon mustard
Once veggies are thawed and at roughly room temperature mix them all together. Whisk the olive oil, balsamic and mustard together and toss with veggies.
On the side I packed a pink lady apple. :)
And for a snack I packed a Larabar, cherry pie flavor.
Ok, time to get tons of work done! It may be a late dinner post tonight.... I'm hoping to finish work by 8:00 so that I can go to CLAW, the Charlottesville Lady Arm Wrestlers. There's a match tonight and it is so much fun to watch! Plus, my friend Krisin aka TinkerHell is one of the defending champions... :) You should check out their blog if you have time...very entertaining!
Today was just as hectic as I thought it would be, and it the day isn't over yet! My breakfast (pictured last post) held me over 'till about 11:30, but I didn't get to eat until 12:15. It took me about an hour to eat the lunch I packed (pictured last post) because I was so busy. I was hungry again by about 5:00 and ate my yummy snack, pink lady apple slices dipped in Oikos plain yogurt. The sweet/tartness of the apple perfectly balanced the yogurt...so good!
I left work at 6:00 and came straight home to do a Taebo workout dvd. It had been FOREVER since I had done one of these, so I started with a basic workout. It was way too short so I did another to get about 35 total minutes of fast-paced cardio and 20 minutes of stretching.
And now I am going to scarf down my dinner, a veggie salad (that's lite ranch on top) and small helping of leftover mushroom barley risotto, while catching up on some blogs. I brought some work home with me so that will probably take up the rest of my evening. :(
But first, I've been tagged by Amy at CoffeeTalk! So, here's the deal:
Rules:
Link the person that tagged you and post the rules on your blog.
Share 7 random and/or weird facts about yourself.
Tag 7 random people at the end of your post and include links.
Let each person know that they've been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.
Facts:
I decided that I wanted to be an architect when I was in 6th grade. I finished my undergrad degree in architecture, worked for 2+ years in an architect's office, finished my graduate degree in architecture...and now work in a landscape architecture office and LOVE it. Go figure.
I'm part Finnish, and my maiden name had the classic double vowels of a Finnish last name (I kinda miss it...).
I've had a love affair with peanut butter and bananas since I was a baby. I called peanut butter banana sandwiches "p-bo nannas" when I was 2.
I was a vegetarian for 9 months. Now I'm just REALLY picky about the little bit of meat that I do eat. (I promise to write my food philosophy soon...)
I went to Astronaut High School...no, they didn't teach us to be Astronauts.
My husband and I lived in the highest incorporated town east of the Mississippi for a year...anybody know what town that is?
I'm addicted to looking at real estate listings online, even though we're not in the market to buy a house. I guess I could have worse addictions, right?!?
Tag-lings: (I'm sorry if you've been tagged before...I'm new and don't have a big blog list yet!)
I think the cereal would have been a great idea, but because I was in such a rush I wound up running out of time to eat breakfast at home. So I scooped it all into a gladware container and reheated it at work. By the time it went through all of that and got all mashed up together into a wonderful oatmeal mush, the cereal was definitely soggy. It did add a nice flavor though. Oh, and the blueberries were terrific with the mashed banana.
For lunch I made tuna salad to put in my last WW wrap.
Ingredients: (makes 3 servings)
Paired with a Pink Lady...
Mia REALLY wanted some tuna...
So did Hank.
My animals are such beggars!
For snacks I have a banana and a Kashi.
Tonight Brian and I are going for another run after work. Wish me luck...its supposed to be 32* at 6pm when we hit the pavement! Brrrrr....
