One week down, fifteen to go

Hey there!

Today was a great day.  Lot’s of running around, but all-in-all a solid end to the weekend.  I started bright and early with a fresh and filling breakfast:

I love Chobani greek yogurt!  This is the 2% plain variety so it has just the right amount richness.  Sometimes the fat-free ones just don’t do it for me.  I mixed it together with some berries (frozen) and yummy granola from the bulk bins at Sprouts.  Those dark-colored specks are chia seeds–a newer to me purchase.  I’m working on getting more Omega-3s into my day, so I figured these would be easy to add to oatmeal, smoothies, yogurt, etc. 

Lunch was split into two per usual on weekends… I’m too indecisive to commit to one meal when I’m at home so I usually do snacks instead. 

Meal #1

A lovely assortment of colorful fiber with hummus for dipping.  Those Mary’s Gone Crackers are my latest obsession.  I don’t remember them being THIS good!

Meal #2

Peanut Butter & Banana Smoothie aka the easiest/tastiest smoothie there is! No, for real… 1 cup milk, 1 frozen banana (cut in chunks), 1 spoonful PB.  The frozen banana is the key to any great smoothie, let the froth prove it!

I also made it to a wonderful Core Power Yoga class tonight for the second Sunday in a row.  I feel like it’s a great supplement to my race training and it’s just great mentally for me.  I’m not talking one of those 100 degree crazy person classes (although those can be fun too…), just pure and simple yoga that ends with a cold face towel.  Sold!

Pre-Yoga Dinner was a homemade fried-rice of sorts.

I basically threw some mushrooms and carrot shreds in a pan with sesame oil, then added leftover wild rice and an egg and mixed the heck out of it.  Topped with sliced almonds for some crunch! 

I am hoping for a productive week at the office since Food Service starts on February 6th already!  Holy cow does time fly.

One week of marathon training down, fifteen to go.

• Monday–4 mile run
• Tuesday–3 mile run
• Wednesday–Yoga Sculpt (holy shiz this was hard)
• Thursday–3 mile run
• Friday–OFF
• Saturday–6 mile run
• Sunday–Power Yoga

 

 

 

Fun-Filled WEEK.

Yes you read that right… I’m always thinking ahead to the weekend because my Monday-Friday are typically just go-go-go with no time to do much relaxing, but this week should prove different.  Even though I’m still busy, we still have plans in the works for our guests!

Monday—show Sue campus, boot camp
Tuesday —Pick up Steven from the airport, Rio for margs
Wednesday—Possibly see a movie… so many good ones out right now!
Thursday— I have a Biochem exam so afterwards will be major celebration… We’re going to attempt a tour of New Belgium brewery, and head out to Whiskey River in the evening.
Friday— Staff appreciation night formal, after-party at friend’s house… who knows where else the night will take us?

We’re planning on doing our 10-miler sometime near the beginning of the week too and I think Buddy wants to join us so it should be a fun one.

Reversing to yesterday’s food… We decided to do a taco night for “family dinner” because it’s easy, quick and delicious. Surprisingly, less money was spent at the grocery store than usual even though we’re preparing for 4 people this week instead of 2. Weird?  I guess we cut out luxury items when we know others will be around to eat them LOL…

Came back from the store, whipped these up in about 15 minutes and chowed. We then proceeded to talk about how everyone likes tacos and how they always hit the spot.

I tried to squeeze everything in there but it wasn’t an easy task.  I had:

• Organic taco meat
• Mexican blend cheese
• Refried beans (spread on sides of shell)
• Peach salsa
• Romaine lettuce
• Black olives
• Avocado chunks
• Plain Fage
• Hot sauce

x3

The perfect taco!

Breakfast this morning was mixed berry oatmeal.  We have so much good food right now, I didn’t know what I wanted.  This was good though!

Topped it with Nature’s Path granola and TJ’s Raw Creamy Almond Butter that my cousin delivered to me!!!!! This is seriously the best almond butter ever and I bought it when I was in Minneapolis a few weeks ago.  However, due to not checking a bag, I couldn’t take it back with me so I had to wait a bit.

If you’re lucky enough to have a Trader Joe’s nearby, buy this stuff now!

Welp, I better get moving into Monday.    I’m coming home for lunch today so I may or may not put up a lunch post.  We’ll see if time allows!  It’s supposed to get into the high 50′s all week!!!!! Practically spring….

Happy March 1st!

Antioxidants galore

I woke up freezing this morning…

…so I definitely needed something hot to eat for breakfast.  This bowl of oats was an antioxidant powerhouse!

I started by microwaving the following for 2 1/2 minutes:

• 1/3 cup oats
• 1/3 cup vanilla soy
• 2 handfuls frozen berry mix (blueberries, strawberries, blackberries, and pomegranate)

And topped with:

• scoop of Hell’s Kitchen Peanut Butter
• pumpkin spice granola
• dried apricot bits
• dark chocolate covered pom seeds

My tea of choice for the morning is going to be this TAZO Green Ginger. It has just a little bit of zip to it.  FYI in case you haven’t tasted it yet–I don’t really like regular green tea at all, but I LOVE this stuff.  I don’t even know what possessed me to try it??? I’m glad I did.

Today’s my crazy day when I don’t get home until after 7, so not sure when the dinner post will go up.  I’m pretty sure that it will involve a Mexican-themed meal though.

Happy mid-week!

Recovery Smothie

YUM.  I’m starting to get that weird saliva issue where I feel the need to constantly clear my throat (so annoying in class), cough and drink liquids.  I really, really don’t want to be sick for the next few days because I have a bio exam on Friday, followed by an extremely fun weekend.  In comes the Amazing Grass stash!

This is a combo of:

• banana
• mixed frozen berries
• skim and vanilla soy
• Pomegranate Mango Infusion Amazing Meal

SO energizing!  Love this fruity flavor almost (but not quite) as much as the chocolate.  Happy Wednesday!

A great-tasting superfood SMOOTHIE

YUM.  Just made this fabulous smoothie and thought it was so good, I had to share it right away.  I’ve been using this chocolate silk in a bunch of different ways and decided that I really like it!  It’s a good way to get some chocolate along with all of the benefits of soy milk.  In addition to smoothies, think oatmeal, iced coffee… you get the idea.

These are the approximate proportions (estimation only):

• 1 cup chocolate silk (isoflavones, omega-3, flavor)
• 1/2 cup organic skim (protein, calcium, vitamins A &D)
• 1 banana (sweetness and potassium)
• 1 cup mixed frozen berries (vitamin C, fiber, antioxidants)
• 1/2 cup pumpkin (vitamin A, beta-carotene)
• 1 scoop almond butter (healthy fat, vitamin E, protein)

Enjoy!

Walnut and Flax encrusted French Toast: Edited

Easter breakfast!!! I had so much fun making this… A great way to start my Sunday morning.  It was really simple too.  Here’s what I did:

1.) Dip a slice of whole wheat bread into batter (vanilla soy milk, 1 egg, cinnamon).

2.) Press the bread into a mix of crushed walnuts and flax (some falls off, but do the best you can!).

3.) Butter a pan, and “fry” each side until crispy.

4.) Carmelize berries/bananas by adding them to a separate pan with some brown sugar and cinnamon.  Keep the heat on medium or lower to avoid scorching.  Slow and low on these!

5.) Plate the french toast and layer the fruit mixture on top.  Enjoy!

ANNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNND…. Yesterday I had the sudden urge to stop at the food co-op after my workout and looky what I found:

You have no idea how excited I was… I’m such a geek, I know! LOL Although I said no more bars for awhile, I think this qualifies as an exception since I haven’t been able to find this guy anywhere.  Come on, you know you would do the same!  I’ll eat it this week sometime before a workout.  Hope it lives up to all the hype!

Sorry this posted funny this morning, I tried using a gallery for the first time and it messed everything up. Is there a way to post a gallery without using all of the pictures you downloaded for your post?  I can’t figure it out so there’s no recap of yesterday’s food… Help me out people!!

Boring Lunch, Exciting Dinner!

Annnnnnnd Breakfast wasn’t too shabby either:

Leah and I were laughing earlier because we had an extremely similar breakfast this morning.  I swear I’m not a copycat! lol These are my leftover banana walnut pancakes from Sunday morning, this time topped with AB and berries.  This was exactly what I needed to get me going this morning! With my tea from above:

I’ve been eating breakfast super early lately (around 6:00) so mid-morning snacks have been a must!  Today I had a pink lady apple and this bar that I tried for the first time:

I LOOVEEEEEEEED this thing!!! Here’s what it looks like on the inside:

This baby was loaded!  It had peanuts, almonds, choco chips, pretzel pieces, sunflower seeds, oats, dried fruit (I think?)… Anyways, the important thing is that it was good.  A little high in sugar, yes, but on days where I’m moving around a lot I don’t really mind.  I love the sweet/salty combo!

As stated in the title of this post, my lunch was a predictable bowl of  leftover lentil soup and fresh pineapple.  Still so good! haha I think tomorrow will be my last day of eating this soup for awhile… the rest is chillin’ in the freezer.

Dinner was this RAINBOW of a salad that I threw together and ate before I went to lab:

I was surprised at all of the wonderful fixins I had in my fridge to make this beauty!  This may have been the best-tasting salad I have ever created… Here’s what went in:

• Earthbound Farms Herb Salad Mix (the best base ever!)
• Red pepper
• Avocado
• Carrot peels (I chomped on the rest while I put it together)
• Walnuts and Raisins (my favorite way to make any salad better)
• TJ’s Goddess dressing

You can’t really see how big this thing was, but it took up a large dinner-sized plate… I finished it in about 5 minutes flat!

I’m just getting ready to watch the Biggest Loser and take it easy for the rest of the night.  Tomorrow is another long day which includes early morning NSCA studying, internship office hours, Chem studying (lot’s!), Lecture, Body Step, and a “Biggest Loser Debate” group meeting.

I had a mini-emotional breakdown today, so let’s hope I can keep things together for the rest of the week.  Nothing serious, just one of those days, you know?  Nothing a chat with Mom and a swift run couldn’t cure though… I went for 35 minutes and felt super fast.  Without music or a buddy, I completely zoned out and just took in all of the fresh air.  Much better now!

What are your favorite ways to relieve stress?