(Not A) Fail

So if any of you have stuck around after hearing my "Khloe" voice well, thanks.  I'm sure all you dog owners have a special voice for your doggie(s) too!

I went to the women's fitness celebration expo that was going on this weekend and a specialty bakery was selling cupcakes for $1.


Red velvet, yum!  I like the ratio of frosting to cake.  There were so many to choose from: strawberry, lemon, coconut, chocolate, vanilla bean... but red velvet wins every time in my book.

I also got a lot of free stuff like tasty samples, chocolate milk, string cheese and entered lots of giveaways *fingers crossed* I never win anything though, so I am not holding my breath.

I'm usually not a pancake girl in the mornings because I think they too long, but I really had a hankering for them so I used a whole wheat honey mix plus mashed banana and real maple syrup.


Plus over easy eggs.  I eat eggs nearly every morning, no oats for me!


A "snack" of sweet potato fries.

More sandwiches this week!




Turkey, smashed avocado, tomato, spinach and sprouts!  I love sprouts but sometimes it takes some conscious effort to use them all before they get... slimy.  I packed this cute english muffin full of them.  Despite the size of this little guy... it packed a serious punch.

Look at me and my vegetarian salad:


Everything but the kitchen sink: black beans, avocado, tomatos (that were mushy and I ended up picking most of them out, spinach, sunflower seeds, boiled egg, mushrooms, goldfish crackers... did I leave anything out?  I wished I had beets on hand, darn.

Confession:  I did jack squat in the workout department this week.  I have been feeling really fatigued and keep getting headaches about bedtime.  I don't know if it's low iron/protein, sugar detox or stress about school.

Either way, I decided to listen to my body and lay low and get some extra sleep this week.  At first I thought, man! I totally failed my goals this month.  But then I realized that it's better to slow down than get run down.  Sometimes our bodies just need a little R&R.


I did however run kick butt at the 5k for the Women's Fitness celebration.  We sprinted the last oh, quarter of the run and it was one of the most exhilarating sprints I've done in a long time.  Such a blast!


It great sprinting to the finish line.  I really dug deep, because I like to finish strong.  We both finished at 36:17 which is about average for me.  I don't care that I'm not incredibly fast, I only compete with
myself.



p.s. like my sweet new under armour hat?  I hate, hate, HATE running in sunglasses and this had was really lightweight and I didn't notice it at all while I was running.

If my fatigue does have to do with school stress, at it's paying off!  I've been studying my butt off and I got a 90% on my lab exam!  Woo!

Saturday night was Bronco Night!


Hunter was ready with his bandanna.


We beat Tulsa 41-21, Go Broncos!

Goin' strong

Week 3 of September is already here!  Yikes!

In just a month, I'll be tackling a new challenge and I can't wait to tell you about it!  But for now, I'm plugging away at school.

And in case you're wondering, I broke a mug today.  I'm sure by now you aren't surprised.

I don't have many food photos this week.  I feel like I've been eating a lot of repeats.  Especially sandwiches.  I had a bunch of errands to run Saturday, so I bribed myself with a sandwich from Jimmy John's and promise of a new book.




For lunch today, I decided to save myself $7 and make an equally appetizing sandwich for lunch at home:

Egg salad (made with 1 egg +1 white, greek yogurt, mustard, onion powder, S&P) with smashed avocado, tomato, sprouts and spinach.



Plus a fuji apple on the side.

Check out what happened to my avocado pit!

Split right in half when I opened it up.  I am so easily amused.


Goals

Sunday: REST!

Monday: spin class

Tuesday: light cardio + whole body circuits

Wednesday: 6 am hot yoga (ahhh!  I almost died!  Can't wait to go back!)

Thursday: hiking REST! I was quite.. sore from hot yoga the day before

Friday: REST!

Saturday: 2.5 mi run

I FINALLY tried hot yoga!  My dear friend Linzi agreed to get up at the crack of dawn 5 am to get to hot yoga at 6.  Having barely dabbled in non-hot yoga, the class was definitely a challenge. There were a few times where I got overwhelmed, but not sick, from the heat.  It felt really good to stretch and sweat buckets!  It felt so detoxifying.  Oh, and sweat kind of burns when it gets in your eyes.  Just sayin.

Post-hot yoga.  I look more scared than tired, but whatever.

In other news, we've been trying to teach Hunter to swim and each summer he gets a little bit better.  He used to be really scared to jump into the canal behind our house, and we would only throw sticks in the water because 8 times out of 10 he'd chicken out and we'd watch them float out of sight.

Considering he IS a golden retriever that is made for swimming (he has webbed paws!), it's about time that he embraced the doggie paddle.  I hope you enjoy the two videos below!



And no, I do not talk in that pitch all the time, it's my special "Hunter voice".  Hee hee.


Click here if you can't view the video.


Click here if you can't view the video.


Something tells me he'll be doing a lot of this later this afternoon...

Broken things

Sigh, fall is almost here.  I plan on making the most out of the warm days that are left!

I've been feeling more klutzy than usual this week and it gets me a little frustrated when I'm constantly dropping, spilling and breaking things!

Considering how many times this has been dropped, I guess I had it coming.


Waaaahhhh!  :( Rest in peace little guy!

I was really hoping to wait it out for the iPhone 5, but I didn't want to pay $100 to replace the screen of my old phone.  It seemed to make more sense to just get a new phone all together.


Hello beautiful.  #iamsospoiled  Luckily, I'd backed up my phone on iTunes only a few days earlier, so I was able to restore everything to my new phone.



Goals: week 2

Sunday: rest
Monday: 3 hours of yard work *whew* Part of me will be glad when I don't have to mow the lawn every week month.
Tuesday: full body circuits
Wednesday: body pump!
Thursday: full body circuits + abs
Friday: 2.5(ish) mile run (I felt so sluggish!)
Saturday: rest

Bonus!  I remembered my vitamins all week!  I think drinking water was a little lacking and it's probably the culprit for feeling a little sluggish this week.  And by the way (TMI!) drinking water actually helps relieve bloating!


I baked some peanut butter chocolate chip banana bread this week.

I used this recipe.  I used half all purpose flour and half cake flour.  It made extra fluffy bread!

My new favorite snack is quickly becoming this:

plain greek yogurt + agave + banana slices.

One of my gal pals is an honest to goodness chef!  She had me over for dinner this week and prepared this gourmet sandwich:

Turkey steak, roasted red peppers, grilled eggplant with a roasted red pepper spread.  Mmmm...  I provided peaches and strawberries.  Win, win!

Recipe: portobellos stuffed with greens and mozzarella

I went to see The Help for the second time Tuesday night.  Just as great as the first time!  It left me craving deviled eggs (WITH paprika) and fried chicken.  Mmmmm....

This recipe is neither.  But like those sassy ladies, it is fancy pants.  Maybe you can have some girls over for bridge and serve these.  With some deviled eggs and fried chicken.  Yeah.  Can I come too?

I've been craving mushrooms lately and decided to give this recipe a go...

You're going to need Swiss chard.  Or, if you temporarily forget what Swiss chard is, kale.  Oh, all right!  If you never knew the difference between Swiss chard and kale is.  You'll also need some fire roasted tomatoes, mozzarella, garlic, green onions, herbs and S&P.



Start by separating the stems and greens from the kale and chopping the kale.  You can use the stems if you want, but I didn't feel like it.  This will mean less volume for your mushrooms.  Add some extra cheese and call it a day.

Wash your mushrooms and cut out the stems.  Make sure that they dry really good, otherwise the water will make the mushrooms soggy.  Take it from me, patience is a virtue.



I bought the most amazing garlic at the farmers' market more than a few weeks ago with Sara.  To say I've been savoring this fresh garlic is an understatement.  Yum.



Next, crush the garlic.  Invest in a garlic press.  You won't regret it.



Cook the garlic with a bit of salt.  Mmm...

Separate the bulbs from the greens of the green onions.  Chop and add to the pan with the kale.  I added half of the kale at a time to prevent most of it from ending up on the floor.






I swear I have more kitchen incidents than anyone in the world.

Add the chopped green onions, parsley, tomatoes (oops, I forgot to drain them) and cheese.  Mix.  Add pepper to taste.





Coat the mushrooms with olive oil and sprinkle with salt.




I started with a brush and quickly changed to PAM.  I like the easy way out.  Spray the baking sheet while you're at it.

Divide the greens mixture onto the mushrooms.  Top with a sprinkle of cheese and some more pepper if you like.



Bake at 400 *F for about 15-20 minutes.





Giant Mushrooms Stuffed with Greens and Mozzarella
(adapted from Women's Health)

2 tbsp olive oil
1 lb. (about a bunch of 8 stems or so) Swiss chard, or kale
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1/4 tsp salt + some to sprinkle on mushrooms
1 bunch green onions (about 6), bulbs and greens separated and chopped
8 portobello mushrooms
1/2 c. DRAINED fireroasted diced tomatoes
2/3 c. mozzarella cheese, coarsely grated
2 tbsp finely chopped parsley
S & P
1/2 c. coarsely chopped cashews (optional)

1. Heat oven to 400 *F.  Heat 1 1/2 tsp. on medium high heat (my stove cooks hot, so I kept it on medium low).  Add kale stems (if using), garlic and salt and cook for 5 minutes.  Stir in scallion bulbs and kale leaves.  Cook until tender, about 12 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Remove from heat.

2. Coat mushrooms with remaining 4 1/2 tsp olive oil and lightly sprinkle with salt.  Place on large baking sheet.

3. Stir tomatoes, green onion greens, cheese and parsley into kale mixture and season with pepper to taste.  Fill mushrooms and bake for 15-20 minutes. If using cashews, sprinkle on right before serving.

Or you know, just get someone else to do it while you lounge around.


Hunter says, "You wish you had my life."  Yes, sometimes I do.

Whaaaat??

Some of you might have noticed that I removed the commenting system from my blog.  It seems that no matter how I do it, some people are having trouble commenting for which I apologize!  Some of you might also have landed on my Wordpress account!  The rumors are true: I'm in the process of moving.  Wordpress is definitely more complicated than blogger so I'm still trying to figure everything out.  I am taking my time getting the new blog up and running so please have patience with me.  In the meantime, I will continue to blog here so I hope you hang around!



September is off to a great start!  I got 100% on my first class and lab quizzes, yay!  Tests make me ridiculously nervous to the point I can't concentrate and I make dumb mistakes i.e. I know the answer is "b" but I become temporary dyslexic and mark "d".  So frustrating!

Goals:

As I mentioned, exercise has been a great stress reliever and this week I have felt so strong!  Let's see how I did the first week (I know it dips into the end of August, but that's ok.):

Sunday: rest

Monday: warm up cardio + legs circuits

Tuesday: 3 mile run/walk

Wednesday: rest

Thursday: warm up cardio + arms circuits

Friday: corefit (1/2 hour ab workout) + body pump

Saturday: 4.36 mile run


********Hold the Phone********

4.36 MILES?!?  Oh, no big deal.  


Often I run/walk about 2 miles and feel pretty tired afterwards.  I haven't ran anywhere near 4 miles in at least 2 years!  I think it helped that I was 1) running in the shade the whole time 2) running with a buddy and we had lots to chat about.  I never knew I had it in me!   Perhaps there might be a 2nd 10k in my future?


Hunter stayed at home for this run. But I forced him to take a celebratory picture with me.

********Wooohoo!!!**********

As far as clean eating, I can't believe how great I feel!  I can't say I ate perfectly clean, but perfection isn't what I'm aiming for.  I'm aiming for better nutrition and moderation!


Tuna + cottage cheese + ranch seasoning with celery for scooping.


Broccoli bowl a la Stefanie!  Broccoli, carrots, corn, buschetta boca burger, marinara, parmesan.


Salmon burger + ketchup, half a sweet potato + drizzle of agave, apple + pb.

My sweet tooth is my biggest challenge, so I've been eating a lot of berries and apples to keep it in check.  After a few days, fruit tastes MUCH sweeter and more enjoyable!

This is quickly becoming a favorite quick smoothie:

1 c. vanilla almond milk
spoonful peanut butter
half a very ripe banana
ice


Even Hunter wants in on this.

Check back soon for a real recipe!

And feel free to congratulate me on my excellent run. ;)

September Goals

I love the beginning of a new month.  A chance to re-think goals and get re-motivated.  However, it always seems that the first week of the month flies by and while I could post my monthly goals a week late, I try to have some organization on my blog.

Plus, I love lists.  As in lists on paper.  I love paper.  Sorry trees. :/ (I do recycle and use both sides though!)  I could put a list in my iPhone, but it's really not the same.  Same goes for agendas/planners.  I had a hard time finding on for school this fall!

Anyhoo...

September Goals

• continue with exercising 4-5 days per week
•  2-3 days strength training per week and 2-3 days cardio per week
• drink at least a gallon of water a day
• take vitamins daily (I take vitamin D, calcium & magnesium, a probiotic, and glucosamine)
• try one new recipe per week (next week is an excellent recipe involving mushrooms!)
• continue clean eating and cutting back on processed food, refined sugars and refined carbs (more on this in a future post!

That's it!