My first run in over a year!!

[source]

Today is a very special day. 

I ran for the first time in over a year!!!!!

Yup, you read that right. For the past year I have been nursing bum feet (I will leave out the details because it is incredibly boring - even I find it boring).

My tootsies have been on the mend but very, very slowly.

But today I had that restless feeling I used to get when I really needed a run. If you run regularly you know what I mean. 

I strapped on my running shoes and just started jogging. It felt WONDERFUL!! 

I only ran for 1/4 of a mile or so and it was a walk/jog/walk/jog kind of pace but still - I went for a run:-)

How did I celebrate when I got home?

Balega Enduro running sock [source]

I ordered some new running socks. The Balega socks are my absolute favorite and I didn't realize until this morning that I have worn through the heel on almost every single pair.

My post workout meal:

A pink lady apple, a spinach salad with blueberries and a black cherry yogurt.

This little salad really hit the spot.

One of my favorite brands of yogurt - they are not too sweet.

And something weird was going on with Blogger today. I got an error message when I uploaded my morning post. Now that post is not showing up blogger stats but I can see it from my webpage. 

Odd, very odd. So if my morning post isn't showing up for you just click here.  

*update* the morning post is showing up on my end now - I guess blogger is just slow today.

Best laid plans...

This morning I started out with the idea of making baked sweet potato fries wrapped in prosciutto.

Sounds great, right?

And it started off well - 

But I set the oven temperature too high and cooked them too long and they ended up looking like this:

Not exactly pretty.

They did taste wonderful, if a bit burnt. I tasted one and the dogs each got one since they were swooning over them.


For breakfast I ended up eating this:

Siggi's yogurt with Kyo-Green with a sprinkle of brown sugar and chopped apples and oranges.

I realized this morning that I have gotten caught up in the 'posting what I eat' trend but that was never my intention with this blog.

My intention was to create a blog about what I cook and the quirky things I occasionally feed the dogs.

I have decided to head back in that direction so while I will most likely continue to post at the same rate, the focus will be on what I create in the kitchen (and, of course, any restaurant posts).
 
And while my fries were a bust this morning I am having an urge to experiment with souffles later today.

Happy Tuesday!

Honey in a comb

I have had this locally made honey sitting in the cupboard for a while. 

It is still in the wax honeycomb. I love eating honey that is still in the wax. You get all the great sweetness of the honey along with the chewy wax. The wax ends up being like a piece of honey flavored gum that you chew until you squeeze every drop of flavor out of it.

My favorite way to eat it is smeared across a lightly buttered piece of toast.

Toast with honey, chopped apple and pineapple.

This apple was so pretty - It was a shame to cut it up((

But it also looked really delicious so I only hesitated for a moment.

I also had a big mug of tea.

This is the last day I have to clean before the workmen arrive at my door tomorrow morning - Yikes((

I was stuck staying off my feet because all the walking on graduation day aggravated my bum foot (( But it was well worth it :-)

Happy Memorial Day!

What a racket

They were working on my patio this afternoon so I used the dogs as an excuse (I do have to spare their poor delicate ears from all the racket, right?) and I hit the mall.

 Macys to be exact. And I finally broke down and bought this:

I will take some 'before' pictures and if I see a significant difference in four weeks - I will post the before and afters.


*Gasp* That is right - in four weeks you may (or may not) get a chance to take a gander at my beautific visage. And you may never be the same again :-)


Oh, and since I was taking pictures in the car - and because I am such a nice person - here is an *awwww* moment for you on this Friday:

Tigger who hangs on the windshield.

For lunch I stopped here:

I ordered a iced chai latte.

I tried the hot version before and it was way too sweet. This one was just right - very cinnamony and just a little bit sweet. The barista must have gone overboard on the syrup last time.


And a chicken Caesar salad and an apple:

I was craving that apple like a Jurasic Park dinosaur craves lysine.


Maybe I am low in pectin?

Letting things go

After spending the morning letting things go I wanted something simple for lunch.

I boiled some sweet potatoes and stirred in some Bulgarian yogurt and some chopped up red cabbage.

Then I spooned over the top some tuna fish mixed with some yellow mustard, garlic powder, black pepper and onion powder.

It was fast and filling. 

And an apple on the side.

Letting things go of anything is not easy. My sister tells me it will feel wonderful when I have cleared out all of this stuff.

I have decided to take her word for it. 

I am still not sure...

Cheesy brown rice with basil and broccoli

This was a great breakfast and it is a great way to use up leftovers.

I sauteed 2 slices of ham in a skillet till they started to get crispy on the edges. Then I added in the following:


1/2 cup of cooked brown rice
1/4 cup of cooked broccoli
1/4 cup of soy milk
2 Tbsp. of nutritional yeast
1 Tbsp. of chopped fresh basil
a pinch of salt
black pepper to taste

I turned the heat to low and let the mixture simmer until it was thickened.

The blurry pictures? The bowl was still steaming when I took the photos - 'cause I couldn't wait to dig in:-)

The rest of the meal:

An apple and tea with soy milk. 

I am making a recipe today that I used to make in college. Back then I thought it was so fancy. And here is a hint - the recipe involves the use of toothpicks *gasp*.

A sweet and sour start

Since I have been hitting the gym regularly (i.e. regularly lifting weights in addition to my cardio) I have been craving pasta.

Spaghetti in a creamy tomato sauce - Yup, that was my dinner last night.

I substituted Tofutti cream cheese for the cream, just so you know :-)


Not quite sure what the pasta craving means - Do I just need more carbs in my diet? Is it just the usual appetite increase that sometimes comes along after hard workouts? 


The cravings always seem to hit in the evening so it got me thinking that I should add in more carbohydrates in the morning.

So, this morning I came up with the idea for sweet and sour pork and brown rice balls.

They started out as balls but they flattened out in the oven, so technically they should be called patties but I think balls sounds better.

I mixed together:

3/4 cup of cooked brown rice
2 Tbsp. of pineapple juice
1 Tbsp. of pineapple
1 Tbsp. of egg whites
2 Tbsp. of soy sauce
1 Tbsp. of rice wine vinegar
1/3 of a pound of ground pork
1/2 cup of flour
a pinch of cumin
a pinch of salt
cracked black pepper to taste

I rolled the mixture into balls and arranged them on a sheet pan. They went into a 350 degree oven for 25 minutes.

 
They turned out just OK. Next time I need to increase the amount of pineapple - decrease the amount of soy sauce - increase the amount of vinegar and possibly add a little brown sugar. Yup, lots of changes... But they did look pretty.

Sweet and sour pork and brown rice patties with pickled cabbage and apple slices.

The good news? This recipe made enough for several meals so now I have some easy meal options in the freezer.

And some tea.

I am contemplating buying a bathing suit today - a very scary prospect. 

Since I want to look as hot as possible while swimming laps, I am considering this look:

Protein oatcakes

Since I am getting back into the gym habit, I thought I would experiment with the standard oatmeal and egg whites breakfast.

Enter these:

Protein oatcakes.

You can make them sweet by adding in things like apples or banana but of course I chose the savory route.

I combined 1 cup of cooked oatmeal with 1 1/2 Tbsp. of egg whites, a pinch of sage, a pinch of salt and lots of cracked black pepper.


They went into a saute pan with a little coconut oil. Next time I think I will cook them in the oven.

I topped them with some Tofutti cream cheese.

Protein cakes with chopped apple.

 This morning was definitely a coffee morning.

And I am definitely sore after my workout yesterday. But I will be heading back to the gym today - gotta keep the momentum going.

And I will have a protein oatcake recipe in the future - I just need to figure out the cooking temp and time for cooking them in the oven.

Oh, and I bought new running shoes which I desperately needed.

Check out the difference in the soles - 

I had worn down one side of the heel almost to the white part.

Success!

I made it to the Y and completed my workout - First day of new routine? Done and done.

While I was at the Y I did 30 minutes on the treadmill and then I hit the weights -


Biceps/Triceps

Skull crushers - superset with - bench dips

Rope pull downs

Dumbbell kickbacks

Straight bar curls

Concentration curls


I can already feel it in my arms - I will definitely be sore tomorrow. 

Since I am using the gym trips as a way of breaking up my day I have decided on a 5 day split for the weights with the 6th a cardio only day and the 7th being a rest day.

A split weight workout (if you are wondering) is just a way of working only 1-2 muscles groups a day and only working out each muscle group once a week. 


I find that schedule the easiest to follow when starting back into weights.


And then I treated myself to a no-cook lunch:

 I just emptied the bag into a bowl and popped it into the microwave.

I had a side of sliced beets (straight out of the can) and an apple.

I was wondering how everyone else handles their diet if they are trying to gain muscle.

Is it really necessary to do all that 6 meals a day and buckets of protein approach? 

What do you eat when you are trying to gain muscle (or just including weight lifting into your exercise routine?)?

Cabin fever

As I am embracing this writing endeavor I am quickly realizing one thing - the need to stave off cabin fever.

Too many days in a row (I walk the dogs so I am not a complete shut in, lol) spent bent over the keyboard trying to get pages out? My productivity goes down the tubes.

And my cooking gets bizarre - check out this mornings breakfast:

The ugly breakfast: Quinoa with spinach and garlic stuffed olives topped with herbed egg whites.

Yeah, the garlic olives were not a great addition in this dish. I love the garlic stuffed olives - just not for breakfast.

Garlic stuffed olives.

But I am sure the people at the Y (when I stop in later today to re-activate my membership) will appreciate the garlic breath:-)

So I think I need to have a daily routine (not that I am much of a routine person) that includes 1-2 activities that get me out of the house (aka. cabin fever prevention).

You probably guessed the first one I picked (see above) - yup, exercising at the Y.


Other activities? I haven't decided yet but it has to be something that increases my productivity but isn't a complete waste of time...


My breakfast, although being not the cutest thing on the block, was very filling.

The bit players:

A mug of tea and an apple.

There really is tea in that mug - 

And my apple had these cool green swirls on the top but I think it is kind of hard to see them in this photo.

Time to start the day!

A rainbow begining

My day started with a rainbow:

Pears, apples, carrots, kale, parsley and a banana.

Everything went into the juicer and out came this:

I feel very orange now :-) Oh, and I did add in 1 tsp. of Udo's oil to the drink.

I decided to try this - 

A 1/4 cup of the pancake mix went into a bowl along with an egg white, soy milk, wild raspberry honey, canola oil.

The result? one perfect pancake.

Topped with maple syrup.

And just so you know, I didn't juice the banana.

 

Here is hoping for a very productive day...

5 layer morning.

After lunch yesterday, my sister and I went for a leisurely shopping trip to Whole Foods. 

As per usual I ended up bringing home way too much stuff.


For breakfast this morning I layered together several of the items I picked up at WF's.

5 layer breakfast bowl.

 First, I lined a bowl with seasoned rice.

Then a generous layer of vegan espresso black bean chili. I need to pause a moment on this chili. It was sublime. I had a hard time believing it was vegan. It was dark and rich and while you couldn't quite taste the coffee - it did add a depth of flavor that was very impressive.

On a breakfast note - although the taste of the coffee was very subtle - the aroma of coffee was pronounced - making it perfect breakfast food IMO.

Then a layer of guacamole, a layer of salsa, a dollop of Tofutti sour cream and a sprinkle of scallions (I didn't count the scallions as a layer since they are a garnish).

Heaven in a bowl.

And I had a mug of strong tea and an apple.

I do love the Honeycrisp apples.

Oh, and I did pick up my liquid version of crack:

This is not my favorite brand of tea but it does run a close second. It does brew a lovely, super strong mug of tea.

And one of the interesting things I picked up at the store which I will have to figure out a use for:

I love finding locally made products.


Happy Tuesday everyone!