Unplanned Is Better Than Not As Planned
In case you missed the weekend:
- Friday I got groceries and ate from Whole Foods and gave nut butter recipes
- Saturday people weighed in on an awkward and moralistic gym situation.
- And Sunday was the big Mother’s Day brunch
I live off to-do lists and plans(you should see my to-do list for today. Yikes!). It should then be understandable that I’m no happy camper when things don’t come out 110% like I planned.
Vegan Tiger Fudge
The “new recipe” I alluded to was vegan tiger fudge: a layer of vegan chocolate fudge with a layer of peanut butter fudge on top. After a few hours, the top never set, so while this was tasty, it wasn’t wholly “fudge”. Boo 😦 It’s back to the drawing board for that recipe. On the bright side, my vegan chocolate fudge tastes as good as ever.
As opposed to not-according-to-planned, things that are unplanned have seemed to have great success recently. Betty White never planned that she would actually get on SNL, and she was hysterical. Amy Adams in Leap Year didn’t plan to fall in love with the Irishman she hired to take her to Dublin(even though it was the most predictable plot-line ever), and that worked out for her. And this dinner, while completely made on the fly, was fantastic:
EVOO Seared Sweet Potato And Chickpeas
EVOO Seared Sweet Potato And Chickpeas
How could something so simple be so good? This was just sweet potato chunks roasted and then seared in a little olive oil with the chickpeas added at the end to finish them off in the oil, and heaped on spinach. It was 5 ingredients with the salt(gotta have the salt), and that was all this needed. Best of all, it combined two of my favorites: sweet potatoes and chickpeas. Love it! Anyone else want to boast a kitchen success story out there?
Oatmeal With Chocolate Peanut Butter
Cascadian Farms Organic Vanilla Chip Bar
Maple Sugar Maple Leaf
It was certainly unplanned that I turn in to the carb king between dinner and breakfast this morning(add in the tiger fudge from before and you’ve got yourself a few meals there). And I’ll admit: It had me feeling a little down. Until I realized what those unplanned carbs could do for me.
12.1 Miles In 1:46:48
As a sort of “Last Hurrah”, I ran on the treadmill watching The Today Show and my other morning television for a strong and unplanned 12.1 miles. Hurrah! My entire gym set up is a luxury of convenience I will sorrowfully miss over the Summer.
Mighty Maple Oatmeal, Pineapple Chobani, Gingerade Kombucha
After all that, I’m happy to be sitting and having a well-balanced, moderately-sweetened breakfast with Mighty Maple and a pineapple Chobani. And, yes, that would be a Gingerade Kombucha at breakfast no less. It’s the only thing keeping me sane today between my to-do list and walking up and down 3 flights of stairs to cook and do laundry.
What do you do when a recipe’s a flop? My gut response: Call the neighbors over. If it’s something bready, I can usually crumble it over yogurt and call it granola. But with anything chocolate and sweet, just hand me a spoon and let the pity party commence.
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( 16 so far )Oopsies, Daisies, And Half Marathons
I was going to right a post about added sugars(which were not my crowning glory the past 14 hours), but then I accidentally ran a half marathon. Oops. I’m hoping that’s more interesting, as I look at the other “oopses” that led to that happy accident.
Peanut Butter Q.Bel Wafer Roll, Coconut Oil Chocolate
As you must know, I’m addicted to Survivor; I’ve watched every season! Last night, I was so enthused to see a reward for–what else–chocolate. Apparently, I must think I’m a contestant this season, because I went ahead and made a chocolate plate of my own to rival the prize. Oops. It was certainly tasty, though. The coconut oil chocolate got a little soft at room temp, but was fine with a spoon to finish it off.
Peanut Butter Q.bel Wafer Roll
I forgot how much I loved these peanut butter wafer rolls from Q.bel;; I should read my own reviews more often, haha. They taste so much more peanut buttery than you’d think, and it’s all natural! I only wish they’d be gluten-free, which I forgot they weren’t. Oops. As you can(and will) see, I’m awful about eating how I should.
Oatgurt With Vanilla Chobani And Nuttzo
I’ve never been one for oatgurt, but I thought I’d give it a shot since I was craving oatmeal and greek yogurt. Pouring salt over all of this was a BIG oops and made the yogurt taste nasty. After I scooped that off, it wasn’t half-bad, but still wasn’t half good. At least the Nuttzo didn’t have any added sugar thankfully? I’ll take a win in the nutrition department where I can get it. Perhaps this wasn’t such a big flop since it really nutrient-loaded me for the morning.
Fudge Mint Back To Nature Cookies
I set my alarm purposefully 10 minutes earlier, knowing if I wanted to get a long run in(still unsure how long), this would be easier than extending it 10 minutes later. While sipping some coffee and changing, I snacked on 3 Fudge Mint Back To Nature cookies. What can I say? When a cookie is a 10/10, you’ve just gotta munch on it 🙂 Plus, I was sure those added sugars would help me just a little bit(Note: These are also not a gluten free food, proving moreso my awfulness in that respect. Oops).
13.1 Miles In 1:57:39
I think it helped me to run 13.1 miles that there was always somebody else on the treadmills around me; that kind of atmosphere is so much more encouraging. I had planned for 12, but when I got there and it wasn’t even 9 o’clock, I figured why not go for it?My record(also on the treadmill) is 1:46:28. For my race(in 16 days), I’d hope to run it in 1:40, though won’t be disappointed by anything. It’ll also be my furthest distance ran outside!
Chocolate Avocado Pudding, Vanilla Chobani With 1/2 A Gluten Free Cupcake And Butter Toffee Peanut Butter
Vanilla Chobani With 1/2 A Gluten Free Cupcake And Butter Toffee Peanut Butter
And then there was refueling. As silly as it may sound, I didn’t have oats this morning in part because I didn’t want to have to look at one of those green plastic bowls again 😦 I can’t wait to buy a real one. Who needs oats, anyway, when you have flavors like these? I topped a vanilla chobani with my last Bob’s Red Mill gluten free vanilla cupcake–I think that deserves a moment of silence right there–and some butter toffee peanut butter ala Naturally Nutty. I made my standard chocolate avocado pudding with Xagave in place of stevia. After 13.1 miles of rough labor, I’d rather give my body a caloric sweetener rather than risk confusing it. Now if only I had measured or used a little digression on adding that sugar 
…
So there you have it: Fueling for an accidental half marathon. I think this goes along with the emphasis in this post that if you’re a regular exercisor, you really need not worry about overdoing it. Of course, there are exceptions to be said about any statement. But extra energy sure will show out in your workout. Now, you can enter here for a raw chocolate giveaway, or here for a Fresh & Fit carry container! And even though I don’t have classes on Friday(whoopee!) I have somewhere I need to be soon and am under-prepared for(Oops). Happy Friday!
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( 17 so far )Who Plucked Out My Sweet Tooth?
If I took you all in a room, and told you I didn’t like things sweet, I’d expect a roar of laughter(or at least some backwards glances). But today it’s like I’ve crave nothing sweet(that, for me, just meaning not a lot–not literally nothing). And the only reason I can think is that–save 1/8 teaspoon in my coffee at 6:15–I haven’t had any stevia. Today was not a hot drink type of day and I used agave in my yogurt this morning. I’ve never thought it before, but maybe there’s some truth to not craving sugars without low-cal sweeteners, even natural ones like stevia.
Red Delicious Apple
I can never make it between breakfast and a reasonably timed lunch on Tuesday/Thursday, so I had a naturally sweet apple. It was also quite naturally mealy and just naturally not-good, but it held me over so that I could make my favorite salad to eat in class.
Hemp Oil Dressing And Mulberries
I’d never thought I’d say that: “Favorite salad”. But I’m really digging the new flavor combination I struck on 2 weeks ago. I guess these are sort of sweet ingredients, but not too much. I used a good squirt of Foods Alive Hemp Oil Sweet & Sassy dressing and a handful of Navitas Naturals mulberries, mixed in with chickpeas and diced cheese.
Raw & Probiotic Chickpea Salad, Trilogy Synergy
Chickpea, Mulberry, And Garlic Parsley Cheddar Salad Over Dressed Spinach
Everytime I eat this, I swear it gets better; it just makes me feel so fresh! The garlic parsley cheddar raw & probiotic cheese from Next Generation Dairy really makes the flavors come together. And so much of this is raw, you know it must be good for you. On the side, I accompanied the meal with a raw and probiotic drink, namely the Trilogy flavor by Synergy. I talked about this more in the end, but it was quite the tastey juice. It tasted more just like a regular gingerade kombucha to me, but I didn’t mind because that’s most of the ingredients and a flavor I love. I would’n say this was sweet, though; It’s much more vinegary. And it finally made me feel full. Where was that when my stomach was on a war path yesterday?
Orange Chocolate Energy Bar
This afternoon, on top of my 3 hours of class I had another engagement that lasted about an hour. Therefore, a bar was a complete must. I grabbed this Nature’s Path Organic Chocolate Orange Energy Bar from my bag. Sweet? Definitely. I didn’t say my sweet tooth had wholly disappeared 😉
Broccoli With Salsa
When I got back to my dorm, it was the oddest thing: All I wanted was dinner foods, even though dinner was a good time away and I still had preparation to do. I scrapped around for something not sweet, and this was the best I could do; it totally hit the spot, too! Go figure. I just hope this doesn’t continue for long because I do not keep that much savory stuff around.
Forming Grass-Fed Beef Patties
It was that time of week again. I want to thank each and every one of you who comments on how well I eat for living in a dorm. I assure you, after a full day of classes, the last thing I want to do is form burgers, cut sweet potato fries, and cook it all, especially when I still have homework for the next day. To be honest, I just don’t feel like there’s much of a choice, though. To eat in the dining hall, I either need to compromise a lot of my food philosophy, or learn to be happy with the salad bar; I just don’t like raw vegetables that much. When you get right down to it, cooking is work(God, now I understand my mother all too much), but it’s work I’ll do.
Grass-Fed 1/4 Pounder, Sweet Potato Fries
This was worth the work, too. I do not know what was up with the beef; it was incredibly juicy but wouldn’t hold on to the juice. That’s OK because I ended up licking the plate clean(did I really just admit to that?) Happily, despite the lost prep time, I can be a fast eater and move on to my readings for tomorrow now. I’m sure today was just a fluke and that my sweet tooth will reappear soon for dessert(how could it not?).
There’s so much extra out there, I feel lie I have to mention a few before I give a product review summary. First up, there’s this article concerning fat as a new flavor. I’ve read this a couple places now, and I’m totally willing to jump aboard the flavor train if that’s the case. What’s interesting is reading how they want to take and utilize this knowledge. There’s also a funky monkey snack giveaway for you all to enter, not like those have much fat in them 😉 And check out the $50 shopping spree giveaway on Mary’s Weight Loss Blog! I can win an $50 Shopping Spree Giveaway from iHerb.com and so can you! Click here for contest details! Now, I’ll wrap this up with my Kombucha product review recap. I was able to sample 4 flavors to review for Synergy, and here’s my thoughts on those I tried. I think what I learned was, whichever you choose, you won’t be disappointed so long as you like Kombucha. You can also look at my Synergy review page to see what other flavors I’ve had and might have in the future. Enjoy!
Botanic No 9
8.5/10: A delicate blend of honeysuckle and flowers, this kombucha has an equally tame flavor. It wasn’t “blue” in a saddening way but rather very mellow. I almost missed the vinegar flavor of the kombucha which is pretty much rendered down to nothing here. This one wasn’t for me on account of its subtlety but would definitely be a mellow welcome to anyone looking for “down time” or simply new to kombucha.
Citrus
8/10: The vinegar flavor of kombucha is a lot to handle naturally. I’m afraid it just might be too much for citrus to handle, too. While I liked this as a drink, it didn’t scream citrus! or lemon! the way I was expecting; there was just some certain zest of life missing from the flavor. That being said, it was very good kombucha, and I’m glad nothing fought the natural vinegar punch but–if anything–enhanced it. And perhaps the citrus helped to boost my mood because I felt like an all star after drinking it.
Multi-Green
9/10: “Drinking your calories” often gets a bad wrap; but when you’re drinking greens, living enzymes, and a host of other nutritious things, how can anything be bad? I’ll admit that I was wary of the color for this. When I started sipping I was pleasantly surprised to find that the flavors here–vinegary kombucha and bitter greens–actually work and thrive together! And the algae and other add-ins give a welcome dose of protein. The only unpleasantry was the chalky remnants at the bottom of the bottle. Otherwise, this was a surprisingly joyful way to take in my greens!
Trilogy
8.5/10: Even when synergy dabbles with juices, they really can’t go wrong; so often, the typical juice drink is over-sugared and more of a dessert than a health drink. I like how synergy keeps the kombucha strong and the ingredients simple; in this was just kombucha, raspberry juice, citrus, and ginger. The “trilogy” of flavors work well, but perhaps a little too well; you can’t identify much more than a strong vinegar flavor with a sharp bitter tone that could come from any 1–or all–of the flavors. Still, this drink had me sipping more and feeling well,, and is one of the flavors I’d gladly grab again.
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( 14 so far )When CAN I Have Sugar?
Stand back–I’m going to try being 1/2 serious in this post and somebody might lose an eye.
Raw Vegan Mint Coconut Macaroon, Coconut Oil Chocolate
Last night presented one of the silliest dilemmas yet: I wanted an Emmy’s Organic mint chip macaroon AND I want a coconut oil chocolate bar; which one should I put on top of the chocolate avocado pudding I couldn’t have cared less for? Doy! I nixed the pudding and went ahead and had both. I forgot how quick these bars are to make! Just 3 minutes prep and popped it in the freezer while I washed the dishes and good to go! A little later, another chocolaty snack:
So Delicious Soy Yogurt With Milk Chocolate Sunspires
Hello, sweets! I was wiped out after writing the draft for a paper by 9:50 and needed the agave syrup/cane juice whatever here to stay up a little longer. Ice skating was not helping with that either; is that really a “sport” or more of an “art”? And how disturbing are the relationships of half of those teams? Yuck! That was not what I needed for sweet dreams, but thankfully I was too tired to care mostly.
Jay Robb Fudge Brownie Protein Bar
When I woke up, I was having a major chocolate almond craving. I could have gone for a bowl of oatmeal right then and there, but I wasn’t sure how that’d sit with my stomach running, so I grabbed this Jay Robb chocolate bar with almond butter as the first ingredient.
Ingredients
Overall, I liked this bar, but wouldn’t get it again most likely; I’ve never been one for protein bars to begin with. The flavor was almost more “milk” than “fudge” from all the whey, although the almond chunks were really flavorful. The xylitol had me scratching my head, but I was comforted to read that it’s naturally derived from kosher, non-GMO corn and used here to keep the protein and fats high but the net carbs low.
Running Part 1
Looking at my day, I could tell 2 things: I’m going to be studying a lot of Greek, and it’s going to pour buckets. At that, I knew I wanted to leave everything I had on the gym floor and go for my long run of 11 miles today. I broke my run into 2 halves so that, during the break, I could go to the bathroom, change treadmills, and swap the television channel(I know, I’m a needy person).
Running Part 2
I finished in 98:30 and got a lot of quality television time in. While I was running, I couldn’t help but notice the new Splenda commercial and find myself arguing with it. If you haven’t seen it, the families in the commercial are using Splenda EVERYWHERE. I don’t mean taking a packet and pouring it in their coffee; they take a pound bag and advertise it for use in everything from sweets like cookies, lemonades, and pies to savory things like dip and chicken marinade an. Basically, the message was to put Splenda anywhere and everywhere there would otherwise be sugar–no excuses. And it really didn’t seem like this was being marketed towards diabetics(I don’t even remember if this is mentioned at all) but just the general population.
Of course, after my initial disgust, this got me thinking; I believe my actual thoughts were” Jesus, when can I have sugar?”. What’s ever wrong with something like good ol’ agave nectar in coconut oil chocolate? And then the hypocrisy started to hit me: I put NuNaturals‘ stevia in my coffee that morning, sweetened my soy yogurt with vanilla extract stevia, and the Jay Robb bar had xylitol in it. Naturally sourced or not, this all seemed like quite a contradiction to me, which is the thought I had going in to breakfast…
Oatmeal With Coconut Milk And Chocolate Almond Butter, 2% Yogurt With Banana Rum Jam
Oatmeal With Coconut Milk And Almond Butter
Finally, some real chocolate almond butter ala Justin’s to hit my sweet tooth along with rich coconut milk. I’ve put the coconut milk in a bag to try to keep odors out but it still doesn’t taste quite as magical as those first few days; is there anyway to keep coconut milk tasting fresh? On the side was some yogurt sweetened with a little stevia and topped with this magical jam. I think rum should be at every breakfast table–just sayin’.
This gave me more time to think and ask myself if my disdain for this particular commercial contradicted the way I life my life? My answer: Yes and no(Ha! Not only am I wholly a contradiction but I’m good at it too ;-)). I get not wanting to drink 40g of sugar, and I get the delicious appeal of a frothy Coke Zero. Trust me–I have those cravings even after giving that stuff up and Zevia can only help so much. And I just don’t think I could have plain greek yogurt if I tried–it’s too tangy for me. But that’s where I draw the line; 99% of the 0-cal sweeteners I use are in beverages or yogurt/pudding, and that’s where I draw my line. Almost any other time I’d rather have agave nectar, maple syrup, or good ol’ sugar. The thought of basting chicken in Splenda or stevia is just a little revolting.
Have you seen this commercial? Do you have any thoughts on Splenda or sweeteners? Did anybody lose an eye from my seriousness? Why did I not crack open my Greek text all weekend?
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( 24 so far )Whippin’ It
Alternate titles: A Fruity Morning, Freezing My Potassium Off, and I Said I Wouldn’t. All very descriptive, the last one as in “I said I wouldn’t go back for more vegan meatloaf last night.”
Vegan Meatloaf
I had to. It was just too good. And, no, this wasn’t like I didn’t eat enough at dinner and needed a little more. I filled up on this at dinner(trust me), and this was me wanting this for dessert 2 hours later. I even thought about all the chocolate I could have instead. Nope. I wanted meat(sort of). This was probably a good choice to watch The Biggest Loser with. Did you watch it? I did, but honestly I don’t feel any connections with contestants when there are still so many. After that, I noticed a recipe on Facebook that was calling my name!
Vanilla FroYo Banana Whip With NuttZo And 2 Goji Almond Oat Cookies
The link was to a NuttZo blog post about banana whip ice cream! It looked so good, I had to break out the food processor. I blended 4oz banana(about 1 big one) with 1/4 cup really pure vanilla frozen yogurt, and then topped it with some Goji Gourmet almond oat cookies and a spoonful of NuttZo. This was so good! The banana ice cream had such great flavor and texture, and the cookies and NuttZo really hit the spot. And the healthy sugar here didn’t even keep me up at all so that I was sleeping pretty 30 minutes later.
By the way, did anybody else catch the Jay Leno Show? It was perfect. First Kim Kardashian deep fried Oreos with Guy Fieri, then Jillian Michaels came out and traded insults with Jay. She admitted her fat food of choice was Cheetos as a child. i could not picture her ever eating a Cheeto. Anyway, this morning I woke up in time to say goodbye to everyone heading off to work. I decided I needed something that felt like dessert for breakfast, so banana whip it was!
Banana And Chobani Whip With Xanthan Gum
Oatmeal With Vanilla Almond Butter, Strawberry Frosting, And Strawberry And Cocoa Granola
This time I whipped the same amount of banana with 1/2 a container of plain Chobani and some NuNatruals vanilla stevia. The texture came out more like a smoothie so I added xanthan gum and refroze it. I feel like a mad scientist playing with that stuff 🙂 For oatmeal, we’re running low on pumpkin. W’ere not out, but dangerously close so that I want to save it for an oats emergency. Instead of break the little glass box that holds the last can of pumpkin, I made some plain oats and gave it a fruity frosting with my MojaMix granola that has dried persimmons and strawberries. Yum! It went great with the clean but earthy vanilla almond butter.
So far today, I’ve been very lazy(still in my PJ’s :-)). Morning TV has been eventful, though. First, Goji Gourmet was featured as Rachael Ray’s snack of the day! And it was the almond oat flavor I had last night–too funny. After that, on Regis and Kelly, a guest explained how you can use alternative natural sweeteners to cut sugar out of the American diet. Perfect! Except he said Fage yogurt was good for you “because it has only one sugar cube per serving”. Correction: Fage yogurt, and other plain yogurts, have no sugar cubes per serving. They have sugar, but it’s lactose which is completely natural in milk. Attacking that would be like attacking the sugar in apples. OK, I just had to get that out there.
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( 11 so far )Good Call/Bad Call
Good Call: Suggesting that, while my mother and grandmother go to the Linkin Park Casino, my dad take me to the Dedham Whole Foods, which is the largest in New England.
Bad Call: Not checking the batteries on the car DVD player or taking the car adapter before leaving the house for the 50 minute drive to the casino followed by the 40 minutes to Whole Foods. There was no energy left in the machine, which made me holding my copy of Gettyburg look rather silly.
Peanut Butter And Chocolate Black Bean Brownie
Good Call: Grabbing a ziploc with 2 of these for snacks in case I got hungry. After 80 minutes in the car, I got hungry
Bad Call: Not taking a watch to time myself. I think we legitimately spent 90+ minutes in there. My mom and grandmother were probably happy with that, though, because they got to gamble more.
Full Wine And Beer Section
Good Call: Not bringing my mom and grandmom for this very reason. I’m guessing that this is where my dad was, too, for the time when he was “lost and looking for me”(It’s big but it’s not that big).
Good Call: Getting a coffee from a freshly brewed pot to “settle in”
“Meh” Call: The Whole Foods doesn’t really have that much different stuff than the other ones near me(once you get past the wine section, walk in cheese cellar, 4 rows of salad bar, and fresh butchery). That is, of course, except for the bulk bin section…
Vanilla Bean Sugar
Coarse Salish Smoked Alderwood Sea Salt
Whole Wheat Pastry Flour
Nutritional Yeast
Good Call: Hitting this up like it was nobody’s business. So many fun foodie finds! They really had a lot more I wouldn’t have minded trying but I controlled myself.
Good Call: Loading up on random proteins/vegetables/yogurts for the next 3 days of snow!
Cake Batter Gelato
Bad Call: This gelato(did I mention this Whole Foods has a gelatoria?). When is gelato ever bad? Well, it wasn’t; but it really wasn’t good either. It might as well have been vanilla.
Good Call: Giving the gelato to my dad and running back in for a good snack that’d last me the 90 minute drive home.
Voskos Honey Vanilla Bean Yogurt With Peanut Butter And Chocolate Brownie
Good Call: Going with a yogurt I’ve sampled and reviewed here and know I’d love and topping that with another brownie.
Bad Call: Mentally calculating that in 24 hours I ate 2 tablespoons cocoa, 2 tablespoons NuNatural baking blend, 1 1/2 tablespoons vegan butter, almost an egg, almost a serving of black beans, 1 1/4 serving of peanut butter chips, and an ounce of greek yogurt through these brownies(I was bored and it was a long drive).
Good Call: Demanding that we stop in Bellingham for an emergency bathroom break unless we had an empty bottle to do it Dumb & Dumber style.
Oh Nuts! Sweetened Dried Cranberries
Pumpkin Oatmeal With Nuttzo And Craisins
Good Call: Making about the quickest and sweetest thing I could think of for dinner because I was starving by the time we got home. Naturally, that involved oats, which made sense because this was more like dessert time anyway. I thought I’d try these craisins from Oh Nuts! While I wanted something sweet and red; I wasn’t much a fan because they definitely weren’t tart but also didn’t have much flavor. Oh well, I think I just needed some form of sugar.
"Fun" Groceries
Good Call: Being a “grown-up” and paying for my own “fun” groceries, which included vanilla sugar, nutritional yeast, fancy salt, grain sweetened dark chocolate chips, and organic Bac’uns
Bad Call: Staying up till midnight the night before and dragging all night long. Why did I do that? Oh yeah, New Years.
Dark Chocolate Grain Sweetened Chocolate Chips
Good Call: These little buggers as a snack. They aren’t the same as Sunspire brand I don’t think, because I’ve had those and they taste more like unsweetened milk chocolate whereas these are more like bitter dark chocolate.
Brussels Sprouts And Broccoli With Smoked Salt And Nutritional Yeast
Bad Call: Not eating much veggies all day. That wouldn’t be bad if I didn’t like vegetables, but I love them(especially green ones). So right before bed I heated up these leftovers and had them with yeast and my new salt. The yeast was OK; it didn’t really remind me of cheese except in mass quantities, but it had amazing nutrition to it.
Bad Call: Trying to go to bed before 11. My body just does not work that way. I’m too much a creature of habit.
Oatmeal With Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Peanut Butter And Coffee
Good Call: Deciding to get back on the fitness horse after a few too many days of not. I made a pre-workout snack(which looks alarmingly like a breakfast but wasn’t) to make sure I’d be set for a good, long work out. The better thing about getting in a workout mindset is that the body starts getting into “regularity”.
“Oh my God” Call: Kind of how I felt after doing this
- 50 standing lunges, 50 walking lunges
- 70 tricep dips
- 70 side crunches, both sides
- 100 crunches
- 50 second crunch hold
- 40 push-ups(messy)
- 100 air kicks
- 100 sit-ups
- 70 standing marches/chest flexes
- 240 alternating arm rotations
- 40 squates
- 5 sets of 7 chair swings
- 70 rowers arms
- 40 second rower pose hold
Followed by 200 flights of stairs(a little more than an hour’s worth).
Good Call: Showering before breakfast, because I was sweaty as all hell.
Bad Call: Opening up the Strawberry Chobani that expired 10 days ago when I prefer plain anyway(stuck it back in the fridge; somebody will eat it).
Pumpkin Oatmeal With Gingerbread Peanut Butter And 1/2 A Ginger Molasses Cookie, 2% Yogurt With Banana Pineapple Rum Jam
Good Call: Thinking no bowl of oatmeal is complete without peanut butter and cookies, and buying gourmet jams to use a little at a time with yogurt. Seriously, this all made my morning.
Bad Call: Taking so long to write up this post that I’m almost about to eat lunch and feeled semi-compelled to upload it though not planning to at all.
Bad Call: Worsening my chance of winning The Not So’s Vitatop Giveaway from Vitalicious by telling you about it.
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( 14 so far )Color My Yogurt
Apparently the mystery is solved: I ate an unripe hachiya persimmon whereas I should have eaten a fully ripened or fuyu persimmon. I think from now on instead of hear about the 25 reasons I could be dying from WebMD I’ll just ask the blogger world. Dare I go back and try another? I think this experience has scared me off for now and I will stick with the dried persimmons in my granola. Well when I said I was dragging yesterday, I was reeaaallly dragging. I reached for the only caffeine I keep around after I posted.
Cola Zevia
Well that picked me up. I straightened up a bit around here; there seem to be papers and books everywhere. What is this? A dorm during finals period?! Oh wait… haha 🙂 Dr. Phil was on Oprah; I can’t really stand him on his own show but somehow Oprah made him tolerable. I must admit I love some of his expressions: “dogpiling in the foyer” If anyone can explain that to me, they get bonus points. My hunger definitely subsided after the persimmon incident and I wasn’t feeling too snacky in the afternoon. There was one thing I didn’t mind having, though.
Plain Soy Yogurt With Peanut Sundrops
Omnomnomnom. I love this soy yogurt with milk chocolate peanut butter cups, so having it with milk chocolate coated peanuts was just as good! It was so nice and sweet and salty and delicious. But what I really loved here was how the colors ran and made the yogurt orange and yellow and purple. It may sound silly, but once and a while since going all-natural I miss the fun food colors and playing with those, and most natural food dyes cost an arm and a leg. This reminded me of how ugly cookies get when you bake them with M&M’s in them 🙂
Like I said, I wasn’t very snacky in the afternoon, so I had no problem holding off until dinner when I could try out my new purchase.
Tikka Masala Simmer Sauce
I think I’m starting to like Indian food. Or at least start to crave it, because it was on my mind all through Whole Foods. I really wanted to make a chickpea dish but the dining hall didn’t have those, so instead I got carrots and broccoli and diced half of one of my sweet potatoes and let that “simmer” in the microwave at a low power. I served that along side some lemon and lime salmon also from Whole Foods
Vegetable Tikka Masala, Lemon And Lime Salmon
The salmon(which was like 1.50 off the salad bar, wahoo bargains!) surprisingly did taste like lemon and lime. Sprite, anyone? With enough salt, though, it got back to its fishy roots. I liked the vegetables, but the sauce was a bit too mild? I know it says “England’s favorite mild curry sauce” but I was expecting their mild to be a bit more. Oh well, I’ll have to step it up next time!
I loved loved loved Survivor last night. it was the auction episode, which I’m always a fan of. It’s also such a good sign you’re getting towards the end of the season and can see who the real playa’s are. I had a (very repetitive) snack.
Oikos With Crushed Sunspire Peanut Milk Chocolate Drops
These mini Oikos cups are… mini, but they’re perfect for when you just want the topper and could care less about the yogurt 😉 Have I mentioned I’m now obsessed with the milk chocolate covered peanuts? I’m writing in to Trader Joe’s to request it(literally). Since there was no Grey’s, I was able to watch The Office and 30 Rock on their regular time. Neither of them had me loling, but at least I don’t have to worry about watching them online now. Then I got really random for Leno.
Toast With Butter Toffee Peanut Butter, Vegan Pumpkin Molasses Cookie, Double Chocolate Pillow, Advent Chocolate, Newman's Own Organic Orange Dark Chocolate
Like I said: random. I was going to make my favorite bowl of oats but then thought this “sampler” platter was more fun. I still way prefer peanut butter on oatmeal than toast–it’s just better! And both of these cookies were still amazing after so much refrigeration, which made me happy. I’m definitely “rediscovering” my Newman’s Own Organic chocolate stash, which is dangerous since there’s a ton to rediscover.
This morning I didn’t have much of an excuse not to get up and go go go for a run. I set my sight on 12 miles and grabbed this bar.
Amazing Grass Whole Food Energy Bar
At 6:40, anything with the word energy is very welcomed. This flavor is OK, but I really prefer the chocolate or chocolate peanut butter(Could you imagine that? Me preferring chocolate and peanut butter? :-P). I ended up eating half and saving the other part for another morning, though I must admit I hate the idea of having half a bar around and right now that’s the case with 2(!). After the 10th mile I had to stop; I just wasn’t feeling it and, while I could have “entertained myself” and gone another two miles with eating up the rest of the bar, I recognized this was a time when pushing myself was not a strengthener but would weaken me. Instead I stopped at 10 miles and 83:18, did my cool down, showered, and made a breakfast.
Pumpkin Oatmeal With Maple Almond Butter And 2 Goji Almond Oat Cookies
Pumpkin Yogurt With Brown Sugar
Omnomnomnom. The oatmeal was such a great bowl of antioxidants, healthy fats, and flavors. And I forgot how simple yet worth it raw sugar on yogurt can taste. Maybe that’s a good thing I forgot since sugar isn’t exactly the most nutritious thing but some granolas are practically 100% sugar anyhow so I just got rid of the bulk 😉
This morning I had a really positive interaction with my gym friend, Gail, that I thought I’d share. She told me that she saw me from her office window yesterday and wanted to compliment me on my leather jacket.
Firenze Leather Jacket
Spiffy, no? I got it in Italy the summer after 9th grade and now that it fits me better I find it so comfortable to wear. I also corrected her in thinking that my name was Ian; it felt a little awkward to address but I knew it’d be only more awkward with time and that it was better to correct a problem like this at the beginning. I think I’m going to make it my goal to compliment someone today. If such a simple and little thing can brighten someone’s morning, why not do it, right?
Who doesn’t love a tofu giveaway?
Amazing giveaway at Averie’s blog
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( 20 so far )Pans And Pies
I didn’t feel that much pressure to get out and run yesterday. At the same time, I wasn’t sure how many opportunities I’d get today and tomorrow, so I decided to take the time and go out. It was a slightly slow 6.7 but felt good to be active for an hour(because I firmly planned on being lazy the other 23). When I got home, I challenged myself to make a lunch not with the microwave. It’s simple enough but there’s so many flavors and textures it just can’t achieve. After planning out a menu, I got to work with my fancy pan I won from some Hood milk promotion last month.
Brussels And Sausage In A Pan
First I scrambled 2 eggs and cooked those in the pan to the perfect doneness–so much easier than in a microwave! Then I steamed raw brussels for 3 minutes in the microwave and then pan-browned them for another 2 minutes. I also heated up a pre-cooked chicken sausage in the microwave(btw, all these uses of it don’t count ;-)) and finished that in the pan.
Scrambled Eggs, Spicy Chicken Sausage, Brussels Sprouts
This deserves a Holy Yum award. Brussels sprouts are seriously my favorite green vegetable and by far the best thing here, even though they were a bit dry, with a touch of salt. The browning gave a good crispness to the outside. The sausage was also quite good. Note: It was real meat and not faux meat. I think I can love them equally. The fennel in it was really impressive. For dessert I had something that took neither pan nor microwave.
Oikos With Banana Pineapple Rum Jam
So perfect. Well, OK, it could have used more jam, but then again my ideal would be eating the jam from the jar with a spoon, which is a no-no when it costs as much as this one does. I had a lovely evening on the couch planned, but then my mom asked if I wanted to accompany her to Market Basket while she picked up some last minute food. My knee-jerk reaction was a big yes, and next thing I knew it I was in the car. Oops. At least I brought a little work with me. For those who don’t have a Market Basket, it’s a place full of interesting finds…
Christmas Decor
Oh, Canada. What are you doing up there? Jk, but Market Basket does have good finds. It’s right across the way from Whole Foods, and while it might only carry about 30% the same stuff, what it does have is very often cheaper. The only thing I could find on my list this trip was a 4-pack of deep chocolate vitatops for 3.69. they had faux meat, but unfortunately nothing all-natural and breakfasty 😦 It was pretty late when everyone was done, so I was happy to grab a snack in the car.
Banana Walnut Gnu Bar
Wow. Wow wow wow wow wow. All you have to do is read my review to know I loved this. I don’t like bananas that much, but I swear anything that tastes like bananas I’m game with. And this was just like banana bread. There wasn’t a large presence of walnuts, but that was fine by me since I don’t care for the. And all the fiber filled me up and kept me calm when I realized I still had to make the pie! Yikes. By the time we got home it was dark and I was getting anxious about that, until I remembered this is the simplest recipe and I didn’t even need to check my computer to remember how to make it.
Unbaked Crustless Pumpkin Pie
There was a mini-issue with the pesky water bath, but otherwise crisis averted and sanity restored. I felt a little something was in order along with a pat on the back.
Chocolate Elan Frozen Yogurt
This snack ended up being a little littler than I expected; who knew we were almost out and there was hardly a serving left in the container! Too bad nobody realized this over the past 4 weeks we’ve been having freezer-space issues. Normally I’m happy to finish an ice cream but I love elan and this flavor so much I feel like I need to get an exact replacement for it. I watched 1 of the 2 SNL’s I slept through and then the pie was done.
Crustless Pumpkin Pie
It had a couple bubbles but no cracks and definitely nice and firm so that it will stand on its own at the table. Amen 🙂 And then there was dinner.
Haddock With Soyaki, Beets, Parsnips With Peach Salsa
Not quite my pan-licious lunch, but this was pretty good, too 😉 There was a little more beets taken after the photo and we finished it all! We didn’t want any leftovers going in to Thanksgiving. I swear this house empties of all vegetables when I’m not here so I made sure we got good ones at Market Basket. Parsnips are so good for a soft and white vegetable; I don’t like white potatoes because they always taste dry and starchy but I think I’ve found a new friend in parsnips.
I almost forgot about The Biggest Loser last night! I was so thankful my tivo reminded me of it. I brewed some coffee and had a naked dessert.
Deep Chocolate Vitatop
I kept racking my brain to try and figure out what to do with this vitatop. It finally occurred to me: If it wasn’t coming naturally, it wasn’t meant to be. And this vitatop tasted just delicious on its own. It was great to see where former contestants are and to know they’ve really changed their lives. I think finding and staying with that balance must be the toughest thing. There was another snack.
Oikos With Turbinado Sugar And Chocolate Chips
Turbinado sugar is good for you because it has the minerals crystalized in, right? And it’s from Trader Joe’s so it cures cancer, right? We’re just going to go with all of that because this hit my sweet tooth. It was so depressing seeing the winner who gained back so much weight. Clearly, though, he felt bad about it, too, so it’s hard to be upset with him.
Pumpkin Oatmeal With Mighty Maple And Chocolate Sunflower Seed Butter
Let’s just say, this bowl took a lot of work to figure out what to do with it, but I’m happy where I settled. I forgot how good and chocolatey(not to mention thick) the chocolate sunflower butter is. And probably a better choice at 10:30 than chocolate chips with my sugar tolerance(or lack thereof).
I set my alarm for 7 this morning. On a holiday–why’d I do that? To run, of course. I wasn’t sure it was going to happen but it was actually reasonably warm and I felt refreshed with only 8 hours of sleep. I grabbed a bar for the run.
Amazing Grass Chocolate Whole Food Energy Bar
What a delicious way to start Thanksgiving 🙂 I ate 3/5ths of it on the run and then never needing the last bit. I ended up doing 10.55 miles–my longest run outside! The course was completely new to me; they demolished a bridge near my house which pretty much eliminated as options all my longer runs but I figured out a new course that worked perfectly. I came home to a house already smelling of food–love that. I got a touch creative with breakfast:
Pumpkin Yogurt With Smart Balance Peanut Butter And Nog Cream Cheese Frosting, Peanut Oikos
Ok, I’ll admit it, I used the microwave for the oats and I don’t regret it because this bowl was perfect. The frosting, which I dreamed up on the run, really made it; the recipe is 1oz greek yogurt, 1 tablespoon low fat cream cheese, and 1 tablespoon Silk Nog with 3 drops vanilla liquid stevia. I wouldn’t give such precise measurements if I weren’t convinced those are the measurements of the Greek Gods. It’s sweet but not so much that you lose the cream cheese, and it’s entirely seasonal.
Happy Thanksgiving, all! Now I’m kicking back, watching The Parade with Pikachu just having floated by. My relatives are coming in just 2 hours! I’m so excited, even though I realize the 2 little cousins will probably have me tearing my hair out of my head by the end of the day, haha.
NuNaturals giveaway! I think they’re stevia taste the purest(and this is coming from someone who, from time to time, nibbles on his plant).
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( 10 so far )I Go Back
Normally, I hate leaving my room if it’s not perfect. Even if that just means one dish is unclean. What did it look like yesterday?
Messy Bed
Beautiful. But let me explain. I get out of class at 2:50 and my dad had planned to pick me up at 3. I was using the “throw it on the bed as you remember it so you can grab and go later” method. Surprisingly, I think it worked, because it’s been a day and I can’t think of anything I forgot. After my first hour of class I grabbed a bit of lunch and supplemented it with a bit more of what I was feeling.
Trader Joe's Mac And Cheese, Roasted Balsamic Portabella
Broccoli With Cream Cheese
I think the backlash of vegan Thursday was wanting dairy products wherever I could put them(i.e. on broccoli). By the way, that was delicious and something I’ll do more often. And the mushrooms from the dining hall were soooo good. I’m not even sure what they were roasted in but there was tons of rosemary. This really filled me up for my next two classes, and when I got out at 2:50 things when just as planned. We piled everything up in bags and hit the road. I grabbed a nutritious pick me up.
Orange Zevia
Let’s pretend this has nutrients even though it completely doesn’t and doesn’t even have caffeine. On the way home, I did something I haven’t done in forever: nap in the car. I tried working but napping one out. I usually can’t/don’t and am always afraid my contacts will disappear somewhere if I sleep with the but it felt so good I couldn’t care less. That also made the trip that much shorter. When I got home I realized we really didn’t have much of the food I’d like, so I grabbed a snack and we went off to Hannafords.
Blueberry Crisp Clif Bar
This was the last of the Clif bars I recieved to review and i’m very happy that it ended things on a good note. I was a little skeptical about how this flavor would be, but I think the blueberry flavor with the plethora of spices(which I take to be the “crisp” part) worked really well. A little bit heavy on the sugar but I probably needed that at that point. We just picked up some Greek yogurt and pumpkin(surprise surprise) because we really didn’t have tie to do more damage.
The reason I came home yesterday was because my elementary school principal was retiring and they were having a banquet. Not many people get to know their elementary school principal and facutly well but I went to a very small school for 7 years where it was easy to become like family with everyone. My graduating class in 6th grade was 4 kids including me, and my full class(6th plus 5th) was 7. Here’s the class photo that was on the wall last night:
6th Grade Class Photo
I’m the little chubby one on the bottom left. I guess I’ve always liked food 🙂 But I like the better food now(i.e. not tacos from a box). It was a ton of fun to get to see all my teachers. Because it’s so small a school, most of the faculty’s the same; my kindergarten teacher from 13-14 years ago still teaches kindergarten and was as kind as ever. There were just a few speeches, the best given by the man himself.
Mr. O'rourke
Did I mention he’s retiring at 87?! We actually don’t know his age; it’s been debated that might be 89, but it’s pretty high up there. Amazingly, he also has most of his mind with him. Most of the night was fun and light-hearted but it was a little emotional when he mentioned how he missed my grandfather; in the time I was here they became good friends and he even surprisingly showed up to his funeral 4 years after I left the school. There was even someone from my old class there.
The Thomas And Tardiff Family
Andrew(the tallest one who dwarfs us all) was pretty much my best friend from kindergarten to 5th grade. We basically all sat and chatted about the scandelous moments from the past, like when so and so broke a window or someone knocked over the school’s sound system. I was hoping I could make a dinner out of the Whole Foods energy bar I packed and what there was but it really wasn’t the case; thankfully, Whole Foods is pretty close to the school so we took a short trip there.
Carrot Ginger Soup, Traditional Stuffing, Salad
Yum! I can’t believe Thanksgiving is less than a week away, at which time I’ll have about 10 times more that stuffing. It’s soooooooo good. And the soup was delicious, too. The ginger gave a strong kick. There was cake:
Retirement Cake
Which I avoided because I figured it was box mixed and the frosting was from a tub. There was apple crisp:
Apple Crisp
It wasn’t very good and probably because it had twice as much flour and butter as it should have but I figured it had a good chance at being all-natural none the less. This made me appreciate how amazing my vegan apple crisp is for something relatively healthy. It was a fun night and such a trip to go back and think “this is where I learned to read”. I hope that I retire long before 87. I even got approached by a 50-60 year old man who saw my sweatshirt and was an alumnus of Brown. Apparently, his kids went to my school in the 80’s. I honestly don’t think I’ve met an alumni of Brown who’s had anything bad to say about the school. I’m so happy to be part of that community. When I got home I was a bit famished from the lack of eats, so I made some comforting oatmeal.
Pupkin Oatmeal With Chocolate Butter Toffee Peanut Butter And Vegan Pumpkin Molasses Cookie
I’ll pretend like this wasn’t almost exactly my breakfast except with chocolate butter toffee instead of butter toffee peanut butter. Nope. Not me 🙂 I was basically away from my computer since noon so there was tons of catching up to do but only so much that could happen before my self-imposed bed time(maybe I am 87 already?). After I logged off I was still hungry so had some random snacklings.
Kashi Oatmeal Raisin Walnut Cookie
Newman's Own Organic Milk Chocolate With Smart Balance Peanut Butter
Raw Broccoli And Carrots
I warned you it would be random. I forgot how much I love those cookies until I heard Tina and Melissa mention they score a NuVal score of 41 when the average for a cookie is 3! I’ll eat to that 😉 The chocolate square was good, although I was looking for my favorite Mocha Milk Chocolate. Apparently this family likes their chocolate too much for it to stick around while I’m gone. And the vegetables were eaten in bed when I realized I was still pretty hungry. I forgot that I hated raw broccoli, so left half the bag untouched. Talk about going back, I found The Golden Girls on The Hallmark channel to fall asleep to. Things like that remind me of being sick when I went to elementary school and staying with my grandparents and watching their daytime tv. Such great memories 🙂
This morning I slept in until a little after 8. Glorious. After grinding some beans and making a pot, I mostly meandered around the house until I got hungry an hour later.
Pumpkin Oats With Maple Yogurt Frosting And Mighty Maple, Snickerdoodle Greek Yogurt
I couldn’t decide what I wanted so I went with the obligatory pumpkin oats. Still delicious 🙂 The snickerdoodle yogurt was just plain with cinnamon and vanilla stevia, and then topped with 5g of turbinado brown sugar. The fun thing about buying plain in my mind is you can do with it whatever you want, and 5g of raw sugar compared to the pre-flavored ones is a smart move.
This morning I’d love to get out and run 5-7 miles. It doesn’t even look that bad out. However, at the moment, I’m catching up on the TONS of tivoed shows, and I kind of haven’t started homework even though it’s a pretty light weekend. You can be assured that, since I’m home, there’ll be baking and recipes 🙂 We just need to hit Whole Foods and Price Chopper today to grab the ingredients and we’re good to go. Yikes, that’s making running seem less probable. Have a great weekend!
Here’s a soupy giveaway.
Michelle(Lucky Taste Buds) is really outdoing herself with a peanut butter giveaway, a soda stream giveaway, all in honor of her own birthday! Happy birthday!
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( 8 so far )Whoopie In The Dorm Room
Get your mind out of the gutter 😉 Did the Newlywed Game ruin that word for anyone else? Who would’ve thought the Game Show Network could scar a child.
In Latin Class yesterday morning we got to talking with each other and one of my classmates moved to a new dorm because her roommate was from hell and literally threw a shoe at her. Could you imagine having to live with someone who would do that to a stranger? Sure, a good friend or family member deserves a slipper in the face from time to time, but not someone you don’t know. Now I’m thankful I have a normal roommate(he might just wish he were able to say the same, haha).
My appetite funk really wasn’t fixed before lunch but I went ahead and tried making due anyway:
Maple Mustard Tofu, Steamed Broccoli, Sweet Potato, Corn On The Cob
Clearly the maple mustard tofu has become a fave of the week with me; if you’re wondering how it tastes, the maple and mustard don’t really overpower the tofu flavor, but moreso blend with it to make some median of the 3. I recommend trying it(obviously). The sweet potato I had in my fridge from a few dinners back, and the corn was from last weeks farmers’ market. I actually finished it all(or most of it at least) before my 1 o’clock class. I didn’t think it would hold me over long but my appetite really never got going in the first place so I didn’t notice anything.
No Emma run in to report between classes. But you can’t say I didn’t try. I even went to the little cafe where I saw her last, mostly to get a cup of coffee because it’s been so cold in New England. Oh well, I heard a few weeks back she went to England for the weekend. Could you imagine what that would be like with the flight and time shift? Craziness.
When I got out of my Epic Poetry class I had something in my mailbox:
Stonyfield Mail
Kristina from Stonyfield sent me coupons after my moldy Oikos experience. Thanks, Kristina! It’s great that a company cares so much about their consumers. I always love it when big companies send a hand written note, too. I always stash them away with my old birthday and graduation cards because they feel special. After that I did something else that’s become a theme of the week:
Chocolate Brownie Z-Bar
Z-Bar? Check. Grocery Bag? Check. The walk over to Whole Foods was nice and relaxing once classes were done for the week and I could not think about homework for a bit. It’s supposed to rain the majority of the weekend so in case I’m stuck in doors constantly I wanted to be well stocked. There are such good sales these two weeks at Whole Foods. One of my favorite soy ice creams, So Delicious, is on sale so much I might just have to get a pint and risk it being stolen. I couldn’t help but gawk at these as I meandered the bakery section:
Huge Cupcakes
Really? It should be illegal to display such gawdy cupcakes to those who have hopes of unclogged arteries. I think these were about the size of my face–no lie–which the 3.99 price tag is a testament to, not to mention it came in amazing flavors like mint and peanut butter. If they made these properly sized and priced, I would have been a lot more inclined to get one, but this was slightly ridiculous. What I really was looking for was a black and white cookie like Ada has suggested, sicne I’ve never actually had one of those. I could only buy those by the pack of 10, which I wasn’t looking to splurge on, so I gave up that search for now. In the end, though, I was very delighted with my loot:
Plain Oikos, Cascadian Farms Vanilla Chip Granola Bars, Pumpkin Maple Whoopie Pie
Oh yeah, that was a good trip. The granola bars are one of my favorite “candy bar granola bars”(i.e. higher sugar than whole grains), and they are a weekly special PLUS I had a coupon. All in all this was 3.74. Props to me for sticking to a budget. I just had to grab that whoopie pie to celebrate Cookie Friday. Pumpkin Maple sounded so delicious and like Fall.
Pumpkin Maple Whoopie Pie
I don’t treat myself to things like this enough. I can’t complain; a bowl of oatmeal with peanut butter and chocolate chips, for as healthy as it is, is also one of the best damn snacks around. But sometimes it’s nice to have something that you can tell someone else put time and effort into making. And when I do go for a sort of treat food, I like it to be food. As in, I recognize and own all the ingredients to this. I watched The Office while eating this. This weeks episode was cute, but I can’t wait for the wedding! That’s going to be the exciting time. I guess it wasn’t a surprise I was hungry when dinner came around after my scant eats, which is good because Friday night means fish at the Ratty:
Steamed Broccoli, Baked Pollock, Acorn Squash, Asparagus
Talk about TGIF. Apparently some people don’t like fish, like my friend Adam. What’s with that? I would eat it every night of the week if it were offered more. This was a little dry, but I was just thankful to have it. Same to say about the squash. The asparagus was just… laughable. At least it was some green on the plate? The fish had me happy enough not to care about anything else.
When Ghost Whisperer came around at 8 o’clock, I was ravenous for anything carby and peanut butter and chocolate laden–there was my appetite. Hello, oats:
Pumpkin Oats With Mighty Maple And Maple Syrup
Yes, yes, and yes. This bowl was pretty much perfection, especially for watching a show about murdered ghosts. Wait–scratch that last part. But ghost whisperer was really good last night; it kind of followed the same pattern as most episodes and felt like a repeat but I like it when there isn’t a huge twist in the show’s plot episode to episode. When I finished with this bowl, my hunger had actually gone away–what’s up with that? But thankfully not my appetite, which I was happy to feed:
Peanut Butter Oikos With Baking Chips And Vanilla Sugar, Cinnamon Raisin Toast With Vanilla Almond Butter
Fun Fact: I would prefer baking chips to a real candy bar almost any time(except for maybe Newman’s Own Organic Mocha Milk which I’ve raved about so much). I don’t know why, maybe it’s the baker in me, but I love the flavor of those little chips. Holly asked where I plan on getting my peanut flour on. The brand I was first sent by The National Peanut Board was Byrd Mill so I think I’m going to stick with that and order from their website. I was sent the 12% light but I might try the 12% dark for a nuttier roast. Oh, and of course the Naturally Nutty vanilla almond butter was divine as usual 🙂 I like eating different nut butters because I feel like I’m getting different nutrients, but they flavor almond butter so much less and worse except for Naturally Nutty.
I was so tired sleep came like a breeze to me and was absolutely perfect… until about 1:30 when my dorm neighbors decided to park right outside my door and sit and chat at high volumes for an hour. I had to basically hear their life stories as I tossed and turned, trying to get back to sleep. Why do some people thing adding “I don’t know, I’m drunk right now, but…” makes whatever their saying more interesting or appealing? It doesn’t. I ate a Z-Bar midway through because being awake had my metabolism running like crazy. Needless to say I was annoyed and lost good sleep. Then at 6 my roommates alarm went off for a camping trip he has today. He was in such a rush he ended up being loud as hell stuffing things into his backpack and again waking me up. Once he left I could hear it raining so I reset my alarm, knowing that I would not be very happy at 7. I ended up waking up at 8:30 since the gym near me opens at 9.
I may be able to complain about sleep, but I couldn’t about running this morning. When I got on the treadmill I felt great, and what was supposed to be a 6.3 miler on the road turned into a 9 at the gym at a great pace. I ended up finishing in 71:44. The better thing might have been cmoing back to an empty dorm where I can sprawl my things out onto the bed and make myself breakfast as loud as I want:
Carrot Ginger Muffin Top With Smart Balance, Yogurt With Cinnamon And Muffin Bottom
No part of the muffin went wasted today. The Carrot Ginger muffins from Trader Joe’s is one of my favorites and it pairs really well with Smart Balance “frosting” for some reason; the flavors really work. I added the butt into 4oz plain yogurt with extra cinnamon and stevia and it tasted just like carrot cake. Holy yum I should try that with the whole damn muffin next time. My bad experience of sleeping as well as some other stuff have prompted me to go home today, so I’ll be cleaning up around the dorm until my parents show up.
Plenty of great giveaways out there to shout about today. One Fit Foodie is having one hell of a giveaway.
Julie Go Lean will make your cupboard fill up with all the exciting stuff she has here.
And want to try Zevia? Hop over to One 2 Try for a chance here.
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Food Makes Fun Fuel 