WIAW {02-08-2012}

Posted on February 8, 2012 by runningthewindycity

Today is my first What I ate Wednesday post, I hope you enjoy

If you’re unfamiliar with What I ate Wednesday, check out Jenn’s blog Peas and Crayons for more information.

7:30 a.m. Pre-Run snack

A peanut butter stuffed date and about half of a bottle of chocolate coconut water. I ususally eat more before medium-long runs but my stomach felt a little off this morning.

9:30 a.m. Breakfast

I was hungry after running 10 miles, so I dug right into the Baked Banana-Blueberry Oatmeal I made last night (recipe credit to Sarah at The Flying Onion). Baking yesterday saved me some time this morning, so all I had to do was warm it up, top it with sunflower seed butter, and enjoy it with coffee and soy creamer (x2!).

1:00 p.m. Lunch

Breakfast held me over for a really long time today! Lunch was zucchini fries (half with breadcrumbs and half without) and a new-to-me type of fake meat, Lightlife chick’n tenders. They tenders don’t have a lot of scary ingredients (always a plus) but they taste a little weird. I probably won’t buy them again.

I also had a clementine.

2:30 p.m. Snack

After a quick trip to Target my stomach was growling so I had a brown rice cake with cream cheese and fig jam.

6:00 p.m. Dinner

I’m trying to use up leftovers/veggies before going out of town this weekend so I had some cheeze-y kale with wheatberries and cornbread crumbles for dinner. I also snacked on some unpictured veggies with horseradish hummus while making this.

6:30 Dessert

No yogurt yet today so 2% plain greek yogurt, walnuts, cashews, cinnamon, and warmed blueberries.

I usually like to have dessert right after dinner, a “close the kitchen” type of thing, but it’s early enough that I may go back for another snack later.

But that in a nutshell is what I ate today. Have a great night!

Super Bowl 2012

Posted on February 5, 2012 by runningthewindycity

I hope everyone had a wonderful Sunday and enjoyed the Super Bowl! Ian and I got a bit football-ed out (and maybe a little bit sleepy) and left our party just as the crowd was getting ready to head to a bar. Monday’s are hard enough, I didn’t want to start the week feeling drained or hungover!

To rewind a bit, I spent my morning and early afternoon doing homework. I did take a break to eat a repeat lunch.

I had a salad of arugula, wheat berries, mushrooms, sausage-less sausage, tahini, and Bone Suckin’ Sauce. If it ain’t broke don’t fix it right?

I also had a piece of cornbread with cream cheese. I know it sounds really weird but the bland cornbread pairs really well with the cheese. Unfortunately, I made a lot of this tasteless cornbread so I’m brainstorming what to do with the rest. Any suggestions?

I also baked snickerdoodle cookies for the Super Bowl party we attended tonight.

I made a dozen plus a mini for me to taste-test.

Yum!

The highlight of Super Bowl food was supposed to be pork chops but because I don’t eat meat, the host made me whitefish. It was unnecessary but very sweet!

I had a plate of whitefish, rice, and potato salad and I drank a Lagunitas’ Little Sumpin’ Sumpin’. Everything was so good that I ended up going back for seconds.

Our host also made a homemade flan. Can you believe I’ve never had flan before? I quickly convinced Ian to split a piece with me.

And, I really liked it! It reminded me of a less sweet, more dense piece of cheesecake.

I really enjoyed the party and really appreciate our host accomodating my dietary needs. It is never anything I expect, my eating habits are my choice, but it is also sweet when other people respect my decisions.

Catch you guys later!

What was your favorite commercial this year? I have a couple that I really enjoyed, but this one is most definitely one of my favorites!

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y3bqbJduK2w]

BBQ Friday

Posted on February 3, 2012 by runningthewindycity

It wasn’t until I had finished packing my bbq-themed lunch this morning that I remembered that Ian and I had dinner reservations at an upscale barbeque restaurant. At that point my lunch was made and tucked away in my backpack AND I was already running late, so there was really nothing I could do but suck it up and eat BBQ twice today.

Good thing I like cornbread

For BBQ round 1 I had a salad of arugula, tomatoes, and roasted potatoes with a piece of cornbread on the side.

For salad dressing, I plopped a dollop of hummus on top of the salad and then poured Bone Suckin’ Sauce over everything. The hummus made the dressing really creamy. Delish!

I finished everything off with a blood orange.

I probably won’t see any of those on the menu tonight

T-minus 3 hours until the weekend officially starts. I think a nap may be necessary before date night though!

Happy Friday kids

Protein Success

Posted on February 2, 2012 by runningthewindycity

A few weeks ago I posted about how my marathon training hunger was kicking in. I was feeling hungry almost all of the time and I was starting to get sick of it. It is much harder for me to make healthy eating decisions when I feel ravenous all of the time!

So I made a conscious effort to up my protein intake at meals and in snacks and I have to say it seems to be working. I feel fuller much longer after a protein-packed meal than a carb-centric one. I really should have tried this earlier (duh, Lindsay), it’s not like I didn’t know the protein (and fat) has more staying power than other foods but it is difficult and requires more planning and foresight.

Any tips on how to add protein (vegetarian or fish) into more meals?

Workout
I woke up wanting to sweat this morning. Does that ever happen to you? Sometimes I just crave a hard workout. I only had about 40 minutes so I set the treadmill to the hill setting and did a speed workout with the hills.

Breakfast
I can’t go a couple of mornings without having my favorite breakfast, so last night I whipped up some protein-packed overnight oats.

I mixed 1/3 cup of oats, 1/3 cup almond milk, 1/3 cup greek yogurt (mix of 0% and 2%), 1 T protein powder, 1/3 banana, 5ish cashews, 1 tsp chia seeds, and cinnamon.

This morning I topped them with warm strawberries and honey, almond & flax cereal.

Coffee and an adora disc complimented the overnight oats perfectly

Lunch
My morning was spent in class and dealing with a USPS mix-up. I was so busy, I couldn’t believe it was time for lunch so soon!

I packed leftover taco soup and cornbread from last night to eat at work.

I can’t get over how good this soup is. I may have to start making it with peas everytime

I also packed a blood orange for snackage.

Adios kids!

Whats your favorite kind of soup?

Do you ever crave sweaty workouts?

Sunday Recap & a Trip to Chinatown

Posted on January 15, 2012 by runningthewindycity

Happy Sunday evening! It feels weird saying that because neither Ian nor myself have to work tomorrow and I don’t have class. It feels much more like a Saturday over here than a Sunday night

After blogging this morning, I layed on the couch, iced my ankle, and did some reading. When I started to feel hungry a few hours later, I threw something together using leftovers in the fridge.

I made a salad with arugula, mushrooms, roasted red peppers, and tempeh bacon. I also had half a piece of cheese bread (bread topped with cheese and toasted in the toaster oven).

I went back for another half of cheese bread and two clementines about 20 minutes after finishing lunch. What can I say? I was a hungry girl!

This afternoon Ian and I went to Chinatown to pick up some groceries for a recipe I want to make this week.

Chinatown is not that far from us but we barely ever make the trip. It’s fun to walk around the different shops and grab a quick bite to eat or a bubble tea. Today we were primarily there to go grocery shopping but Ian picked up a red bean milk tea that we split while shopping.

When we finally made it to the market we couldn’t find half of the things we needed. After walking up and down the teeny tiny crowded aisles, we gave up and left the store. It just wasn’t worth it anymore!

After a handful of episodes of Friday Night Lights it was time for dinner.

When we left Michigan after the holidays, Ian’s mom gave us some frozen soup and beef chili. After being out in the cold all afternoon, Ian was craving some of his mom’s chili. I thawed some out for him and took advantage of not having to cook and made this split pea soup from Trader Joe’s.