Category Archives: Food

Five Things Friday {11-09-2012

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1. Earlier this week I received my confirmation of acceptance card in the mail for the Boston Marathon. I have to admit, even though my name has been on the entrant list since a few days after I registered I always get nervous that something went wrong during registration or somehow my name was left out etc. It was nice to get a reminder in the mail– if only the Goofy Challenge/Disney Marathon would do the same!

2. On Tuesday night Ian decided that he wanted pizza. We usually keep frozen dough and other ingredients on hand but we were all out so after a quick trip to the convenience store in our building, Ian returned with a DiGiorno. Unfortunately, we do not own a circular baking sheet so we had to get a little creative and used a flipped over circular casserole dish (so the solid side was up). Obviously neither of us really thought this through because as the dough softened it molded to the pan making a nice pizza casserole!

Ian said it tasted the same but the crusts were doughier. Hmmm….

3. I almost never go out to lunch during the week– in fact, yesterday was only the second time I’ve purchased lunch since starting my current job in late-July. Yesterday morning I was not feeling packing a lunch so I decided to pick one up from the fancy grocery store salad bar near my office. I felt like a kid in a candy store (flashback to college cafeterias) and I loaded up my salad with the most random things (raisins? ok! marinated mushrooms? sounds good!).

When I got back to my office though I was disappointed. First, my crazed put-everything-on-salad mindset hadn’t created a coherent meal and second, it did in fact taste like a college salad bar (nothing wrong with that but for almost $5 I should have picked up a salad elsewhere).

4. This week was a good week for mail. On Tuesday night I was informed that I had received a package and I was in no way expecting one (while I was/am but I knew it couldn’t have gotten there by them). Yay surprise package! I walked over to the package pick-up place in my building and found a large and somewhat heavy box. I was so excited to open it!

Turns out it my Muir Glen Tomato Gift Basket that I won from Blonde Bostonian. Yay, chili for everyone!

5. You know when you have a good idea for a meal so you make it and it looks good but unfortunately it doesn’t taste half as good as you thought it would? Yeah, that was my breakfast this morning.

I toasted two gf waffles and topped them with pumpkin mixed with protein powder, honey, and pumpkin pie spice, banana slices, and pb2 sauce. It looked so good but tasted kind of bland. Boo.

What are your plans this weekend? Ever won a blog giveaway?

Last Chance Survey

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After staying up way too late on Tuesday night watching election stuff + getting up super early to fit in a long run on Wednesday, my brain has completed turned to mush. So, instead of rambling on about who knows what today (it wouldn’t be pretty I promise), I’m going to fill out the Last Chance Survey that’s been floating around blog land. Enjoy!

1. Last food you ate?

Well I’m currently eating breakfast which is pumpkin protein oats in a sunflower butter jar with banana slices. Pumpkin oats + sunflower butter might be one of my all time favorite combinations!

2. Last beverage you drank?

I’m drinking water right now and looking forward to my coffee when I get to the office ;) .

3. Last workout?

This morning I competed a 6 mile recovery run. Nothing too out of the ordinary to report but I am LOVING that it’s getting light earlier. I keep reminding myself to appreciate the light because it will only last a few weeks!

4. Last thing you pinned?

I use Pinterest almost exclusively for recipes so the last thing I pinned was OSG’s Fall Detox Salad. Yum!

5. Last text message you sent?

“It feels so cold out today”. Pretty self-explanatory :P .

6. Last blog you visited?

7. Last tweet you sent?

Besides for tweeting my run through Daily Mile, my last tweet was to Erin about moving to a self-hosted platform.

8. Last place you visited?

Well the last place I physically went to was work  but if we’re talking about vacation (besides going home to Michigan) it’d be Boston!

9. Last time you did ab work?

Remember when I tried the Whittle my Middle Challenge? Yeah. I lasted about 2 weeks. Even though I could tell I was getting stronger, I lost interest pretty quickly.

10. Last show you watched?

Ian and I have been [slowly] working our way through Arrested Development. I love it!

(source)

11. Last thing you baked?

I helped Ian make some cinnamon rolls last night. I’m not sure which recipe Ian picked or why but I do know that I was called in for damage control about halfway through. They actually turned out well though and for picking a complicated recipe, Ian did great.

12. Last thing you instagrammed?

Ah I’m so bad about using instagram but it’s a picture of Sonic all swaddled up in a towel.

13. Last item on your to-do list today?

Laundry! I washed the linens and towels last night but I forgot to do my own laundry. Annoying!

Now it’s your turn, pick a question and answer it :)

Five for Friday {11-2-2012}

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1. Last year I needed to return something to Forever 21. After wandering around the store for a long time I decided that there was absolutely nothing that I wanted to buy and the salespeople were only willing to give me store credit. Bummer. I ended up finding one of the best/ugliest sweaters around that also happened to benefit ASPCA. I was sold.

It may be hideous but its super comfy and I love wearing it around the apartment. Isn’t Ian lucky to have such a girlfriend who dresses so cute? Oh and I totally put post-it notes on the back of my cell-phone to remind me to do things. Don’t judge.

2. I received a free sample for an all natural no calorie sweetener made from monk fruit in the mail this week. I was a little skeptical because it’s made by Splenda but I tested it out in my coffee and it wasn’t bad at all. I’m not sure it’ll replace my Stevia (I need to do more research into the product) but it could be a good alternative for people who dislike the Stevia aftertaste.

3. I am obsessed with the concept of never nudes from Arrested Development. I just think it is sooo funny. I really wanted Ian to be one for Halloween but he wasn’t interested (and we didn’t celebrate whomp whomp). Maybe if Ian is lucky he’ll get a nice pair of cutoffs for Christmas?

4. I’ve perfected my protein pumpkin oats recipe and wanted to share. I heat 1/2 cup oats, 1 1/2 cups water, and 1 tsp chia seeds on the stove. Once the water starts to boil, I stir in 1/2 cup pumpkin, and 1-2 tsp pumpkin pie spice. I wait until the pumpkin is heated through and then add in 1/2 scoop vanilla protein powder. Super easy.

Some of my favorite toppings include pepitas (above), dried cranberries (above), walnuts, raisins, banana slices, and nut butters. Yum!

5. Have you guys been reading the Runner’s World articles about the 2-hour marathon? Some experts predict it will happen relatively soon while others are saying it may be another 90 years. There’s a great article that summarizes both points on RW and can be found here. What are your thoughts? When do you think it will happen?

Most importantly, what are your plans this weekend? My mom’s coming in town and I plan on staying as far as possible from work-related stuff!

A Looong Halloween

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Happy belated Halloween, I hope everyone had a great time whether you celebrated or not!

My Halloween was just kinda meh. My day started super early (4:30 eeek!) so I could fit in a 12 mile long run before work. My run actually went pretty well. The lakefront trail was still closed so I completed a big loop in the city before heading down to the trail and running an out-and-back, turning around where the path was closed. I was super surprised to see a car parked on the trail around Ohio St and a man prohibiting runners from continuing along the trail (at like 6 am!) In all the inclimate winter weather we’ve had, I’ve never seen that before.

I ended up running about an 8:00 min/mile with my first 6 miles in the city slower (stop-and-go) and my last 6 faster.

This picture makes it look like I was out running on a beautiful fall day. My run was great and all but it was 37 degrees feels like 28 when I left my apartment. Not so fall-y at all!

Back in my apartment, I put together breakfast as fast as possible.

[Horrible picture, I apologize] I made a smoothie using a sampler packet of chocolate Vega protein powder, 1 banana, almond milk, and maybe 1-2 T oats to thicken everything up. I also had a rice cake with sunbutter, banana slices, and a few raisins. I was pleasantly surprised by the Vega, I might check out some other flavors since it’s easier to find than my beloved Lifetime Life’s Basics Plant Protein Mix.

Work this week has been incredibly busy. We had about a week to pull together a grant application and all other research projects have been put on hold as we attempt to finish everything by Friday. I’ve had quite a few days where I just haven’t been able to eat lunch until 2 or 3 pm because I’m running around and working on stuff non-stop. I’m not trying to complain because I’m actually really glad to have an opportunity to work on this application and it’s a great experience but being so busy really makes for a long day.

Ian and I had plans to use our free Chipotle coupons (from the Cultivate festival) last night so we headed over around 6:30. This was a big mistake. Apparently, Chipotle was giving out $2 burritos to anyone dressed in costume and given that the Chipotle we went to is surrounded by 3 colleges, the line was incredibly long and filled with college kids dressed to go out for the night. Ha. I felt so old.

About 30 minutes later we finally got to the front of the line and I ordered my veggie burrito bowl with romaine lettuce (best of both worlds). I want to say it was worth it but I was so hungry at this point that I just scarfed it.

[recycled photo but you get the point, also I always share the guac with Ian]

Our building does trick-or-treating but very few kids actually participate. Ian saw one little girl before I got home and a few people picked up candy from the bowl we left outside of our apartment but we didn’t get anyone else after dinner :( .

Finally, we settled down on the couch, put on Arrested Development, and I enjoyed my one and only piece of Halloween candy, a Reese’s peanut butter cup!

I also had a dark chocolate wafer chip (TJs) with sunbutter. By the way, Reese’s cups are gluten free but do have dairy in them. I made an executive decision when my boss put one down on my desk earlier in the day that Halloween only comes once a year and I was going to enjoy myself. It was totally worth it!

We also gave the furball some catnip treats but I think he was a little jealous of my Reese’s cup or just the wrapper, whatever.

How was your Halloween? Did you do anything fun? Favorite piece of candy?

WIAW {10-31-2012}

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Hey guys, happy Halloween!

I’m running a bit behind (I squeezed in a 12-miler before work this morning) so let’s get right to the food, I’ll be showing you my meals from yesterday!
Spooky Snacks and Healthy Halloween Treats

As always thanks to Jenn for hosting!

{5:15 am} Pre-run Snack

Classic date stuffed with sunbutter that successfully fueled me through my 7 mile recovery run on the dreadmill.

{7:00 am} Breakfast

For breakfast I had oats in a jar. I cooked 1/2 cup oats, 1 1/2 cups water, and 1 tsp chia seeds on the stove until it started to boil. Then I added in 1/2 mashed banana and 2 T PB2. The oats came out tasting nice and peanut buttery and tasted great in the dark chocolate dreams jar!

When I got to work at 9, I drank some coffee with almond milk and stevia.

{12:00 pm} Lunch

I had some leftover soup from last week (it’s still good so I’m still eating it!) with half an avocado sliced on top. The two didn’t really go together but the avocado definitely cooled off the soup a bit. Plus, I’m under the impression the avocado (and hot sauce) make everything better :) .

I finished off lunch with two mandarin oranges.

{3:30 pm} Snack

My stomach started to grumble around 2 but I put off eating anything because I thought I was dehydrated. Half of a bottle of water later + a Vitamin Water later it was still grumbling so I had a mini Larabar that I got at the Chicago Marathon expo.

{7:00 pm} Dinner

I’ve been loving these huge fall-inspired salads. The one above is actually from Monday night and is loaded with a baby spinach/baby kale mix, sliced mushrooms, mandarin oranges, roasted brussels sprouts, walnuts, and dried cranberries.

The one I had last night had a base of steamed kale and was topped with mushrooms, roasted brussels sprouts, roasted butternut squash, dried cranberries, walnuts, and TJs light champagne vinaigrette dressing.

Both of these salads were delish and I actually struggled to finish mine last night.

{7:45 pm} Dessert

I mixed pumpkin, Life’s Essential Protein powder, and pumpkin pie spice together and crumbed in a piece of dark chocolate with ginger. I served it with an almond butter spoon.

What are your favorite salad toppings? Mine change pretty regularly but right now I’m loving roasted veggies — particularly brussels sprouts.

Have a great day!