Love = Grocery Shopping

Last night I started to blog--Then I realized I had work early this morning so I saved it and went to bed:) Here is last night's post :)

I. Love. The grocery store. Not all grocery stores. Not the ones that are horribly lit, and you feel like you need a shower when you leave. I'm talking about the Market Streets, Whole Foods, HEB Central Market...Whatever healthy-geared grocery store in your area -- I love it. I started my day off with some steel cut oats oatmeal that my Mom had so nicely made for me and left in the refrigerator for when I got up. I added some cinnamon and 1/2 an apple--chopped. Then I had my usual handfull of almonds and some honeydew and called that breakfast. Then I packed up my car with my bike, helmet, gloves, a granola bar, many waters, my wallet (I knew I'd be wanting to go grocery shopping even though we have a Whole Foods here in San Antonio--but it was right up the road from where I was going) and headed for Austin. San Antonio is not a very bike and running friendly place and I had just feld I'd exhausted a lot of my usual routes so I decided to switch it up by taking a little me time on the drive to Austin. I went back to Zilker Park where David and I did the kayaking because I'm semi-familiar with it and when you're going alone that's pretty key:) I pulled in and saw that the parking fee was $3 which was PERFECT because that's exactly how much cash I had found in another purse that morning (and I wasn't even looking for money! Such a good feeling when that happens) so that made my good day start off even better! I ran first and I'm guessing it was around 6 miles or so. A lot of it was trails around the river and I went about as far as the paths let me go before turning around. I loved running out there! So many people kayaking, canoeing, biking, walking dogs and running. Not to mention it was gorgeous! I took a water bottle with me though even though I'm not much of a fan of doing that but it was pretty hot today and extremely humid. Weird thing too though, my knee which hasn't bothered me in at least a year started to hurt on the inside. I'm hoped it was a fluke and I tried to stretch it but I couldn't get it to stop hurting for very long. I'm going to e-stim it tonight or tomorrow and see how it feels to run a little bit in the afternoon. Then I tried to bike once I finished my run. I know how, I'm used to my bike. What I'm not used to is riding with A LOT of cars on the roads. That will take some getting used to for sure, but I'm sure I'll eventually get the hang of it. I definitely realized today that to get really good at something, you must first stink at it. If you stink at it, you learn a lot more than if you are naturally gifted with being able to do whatever. This is why when I later fell off by bike making a sharp turn on loose gravel (hello, that screams sliding and falling which I should know because I've done this a time or two), I got up, laughed out loud at myself -- which in retrospect might have been funny to onlookers:) -- and rode around a little before heading back to my car. I would have biked more but after that, and almost getting hit by a bus (yes it is true --I was in the biking lane and it scared the daylights out of me that if I would have reached out to my left, I would have easily touched it), falling, and then realizing I had a lot of grass and gravel wedged in my tire, that I should probably call it a day. Next ride around Austin, I think I'll try somewhere new where I can ease into the hustle and bustle. Maybe someplace with fewer busses:)

Then I went to Whole Foods. I love it there. All the healthy varieties of so many different things, the eco consciousness that goes into their store and a lot of the products...It's just a lovely place:) I spend probably an hour and a half walking around looking at all the wine, produce, frozen things, household products..EVERYTHING! I wound up getting a bunch of Lara bars and other granola bars because when I work, I don't get a lunch break. So by the time I get home I'm famished and I raid the fridge and eat entirely too much to where I feel like I wanna pop. Then I got some more of the Guiltless Gourmet chips in two flavors (spicy black bean and chili lime--new one I've never tried! I'm excited:)), a multi flavored pack of green tea from Stash, some raw cashew butter, peaches, oranges, lentils (I usually buy canned but I decided to give the kind you make yourself a try to cut back on sodium), a watermelon, coconut milk and these awesome T-shirts by Threads 4 Thought (go to http://threadsforthought.com/ and you can see all of what they sell--I just got 2 basic v-necks [$10.00 a piece] and a basic tank [$8.00 each] which fit perfectly and are SO comfortable and cute).

Here I'm showing all the new flavors I've yet to try of the Larabar's I got. They include, Chocolate Coconut Chew, Chocolate Mint, Peanut Butter & Jelly, Key Lime Pie, Tropical Fruit Tart, Lemon Bar, Cocoa Mole', Coconut Cream Pie, Cashew Chew, Chocolate Coffee and Chocolate Hazelnut. So far, today I had the Key Lime pie and it was really good. I've never tried one of these that I haven't liked (like Banana Bread, Cinnamon Roll, Cherry Pie [FAVORITE!] and a few others.)

This is the raw cashew butter. They have an area where you get your own nuts, granola, etc. and you can get this here and put it in whatever size tub you want. This was the medium size. It has 220 calories per 2 Tbsp but it was a nice and new alternative to the almond butter I love so much.:) Plus, it's still a better option than peanut butter.

I got these for work as well. They're called Bumble Bars and they're delish! I've only had the original and the almond ones but here I have original, lemon, chocolate and cherry chocolate. If you cannot have soy, the original, almond and lemon are good options. The chocolate ones have a little soy lecithin in the chocolate. These (as well as the Larabars) are definitely meal replacers because they pack 190-240 calories a bar. But don't think they won't get rid of the hunger, they definitely do.

 

Yummy yummy! Can't wait to try the Chili Lime flavor!!:)

Here is the 8 flavor green tea variety pack I got from Stash. It comes with chai green (that is what I usually get but I decided to broaden my horizons), fusion breakfast, fusion green + white, ginger peach, organic premium green tea, moroccan mint, pomegranate raspberry, and decaf green.

These are the lentils I got. They take about 35-45 minutes to make but its really simple so all you have to do is put them on the stove, set a timer and don't forget about them:)

This was my absolute FAVORITE buy of the day. In the area I mentioned with the nut butters and granola was a trail mix stand where you picked what you wanted and threw it in the cup. In mine I had dark chocolate chips (I'm almost positive they have no soy in them but they definitely don't have any dairy), coconut shavings, walnuts, almonds, banana chips, dried papaya cubes, candied dates, and pumpkin seeds. This is heaven in a cup! I've already eaten over half of it and it's only been a day. Yum yum:)

Present --

So like I said, I didn't expect to work today. But last night, I found out I needed to be there by 9:30 which means I had to be up by 8 to get ready and leave by 9 this morning. So when I got up, I had some more oatmeal with 2 diced peaches, and a couple handfulls of blueberries with some sliced strawberries. Then I cut a banana in half and dipped it in the cashew butter as well as making my usual eggs (no tomatoes this time though, we didn't have any :-/ ). For lunch was the larabar while working. Then when I got home around 4 or so, I had some left over bbq turkey, potato salad (I know, it's not the healthiest thing but it's OK to not eat perfect all the time;)), a little lean briskit, some spaghetti squash, a couple carrots in some not very good hummus I got from the store yesterday as well, and then of course some trail mix. By the end of what was supposed to be my snack, I decided that was better off being "dinner" and having a small snack later on around actual dinner time.

Today at work though we were making mashed potatoes and I realized a tip I hadn't shared yet. Mashed cauliflower is a really good alternative to mashed potatoes--if you don't add all the butter you normally would to the potatoes. Or you can sub half of the potatoes for the cauliflower. It is really good and there isn't much difference in taste--just in how good they are for you!

I'm also going to be moving up to Saucier next week (Hopefully! Keep your fingers crossed!!) and then I'll get to learn how to make all sorts of yummy sauces, dressings, cakes, icings and creme' brulee! Most of those have dairy of course (Today I was offered a spoon full of freshly made from scratch cream cheese icing...There has not been a moment since I've not been able to have lactose that I have wanted to be able to eat it more than at this moment) but I'm excited to pick his brain about lactose alternatives and coming up with some of my own.

Speaking of lactose alternatives--a couple semesters ago I took a class at Tech and we had to come up with an alternate recipe for those who cant have gluten or lactose or have diabetes etc. My group decided to do something with lactose free and we did Macaroni Casserole. What we used instead of cheese and milk was puree'd chick peas and soy milk. I'll e-mail my friend from the class and see if she still has the recipe. It was actually really good!! If not though, I believe it was about 1/2 soy milk and 1/2 chick peas for whatever the cheese/milk mixture called for.

Have a good evening! Time for me to run some errands with Mom & then run 2 miles to the gym, work out, and run 2 miles back!:)

Breakfast, Austin, Kayaks & Cooking :)

The original goal was to try and blog at every meal. I found that to be impossible however. Then the goal became to blog every day, that has also been rather hard. However, I'm going to do my best to make that happen:) Sorry for the broken promise of blogging yesterday! I'll catch you guys up to speed as well as the recipes. (No pictures, sorry! I didn't end up getting to make the meal but when I do, I'll re-post the recipes as well as the pictures.)

Yesterday was my FIRST day off! Hoorayy!!:) And it was a marvelous one at that. Breakfast with Kayla was so yummy! We went to Mimi's Cafe and I ordered of their "Fresh and Fit" menu with the "Low-Fat Fitness Omlette" which had broccoli, tomatoes, egg whites, and mushrooms. Mmmm mmm:) And then it came with sliced tomatoes which I added a touch of salt to:) This was around 9 AM. I had already gotten up at 5:15 and had a good weight and cardio workout. I didn't run because my foot is acting up again, but I did do this machine (not an elliptical) that simulates running. It's like an elliptical only you can do a star movement, medium stride or full stride and you have complete control over how large your stride is. I loved it!

From there, I went to pick up David around 11 or so before heading off to Austin to do some kayaking!! I started to get hungry again so I ate the cup and a half of spaghetti squash I brought along:) We settled on Zilker Park/Barton Springs to rent the kayaks from and we went around town lake. I LOVE AUSTIN! I will live there one day, guaranteed:) Before we set off on kayaking, I had the best coconut snow cone I have ever had. I felt like a kid again:) While we were kayaking, we saw a snapping turtle! And a whole bunch of people doing the stand up "kayak" (I'm not really sure what they are) and I'm definitely going to try those out this summer. After about an hour and half, we paddled ourselves back to Barton Springs and returned the Kayaks. I HIGHLY recommend this place to rent from! They have tandem kayaks, and solo (that's what we did) as well as canoes. The address is 2201 Barton Springs Rd. It was only $10 an hour or $40 for the entire day. Since we only went an hour and a half, the guy gave us a $10 discount and only charged us $20 total:) Such a pleasant suprise! Then we layed out on the grass at Barton Springs for a bit and swam in the freezing (but refreshing if only in there for about 10 seconds) water:) We got hungry (and toasty) so we left and went to Thundercloud subs. Here I had a small on wheat with mesquite roasted chicken, avocado, sprouts, tomato, black olive, hummus, and cucumber. It was exactly what I needed after the great day we had:) When I got home, I had a second dinner with the Texas Caviar and guiltless gourmet chips, more butternut squash, a So Delicious coconut milk ice cream bar and a pear:) I also came up with the idea of "chocolate covered" strawberries with subbing the chocolate with the chocolate peanut butter I listed in a previous post. It's not exactly Godiva, but it's still yummy (and peanut buttery!:)).

Then I called it a night:) Got up again this morning at 5:30, went to the gym and had a good weight workout. Then came home, got ready and went to work until 4, and mowed the lawn when Dad got home (my first time ever!! So he had to teach me). Time for bed again and another early start at 6 to go run and shower before work!:)

Here are the recipes I promised:) They're my own and I never measure, so I'm going to get as close as I can to measurements.

Salmon/Fruit Salad (with this I'm always mixing up the fruits and trying new things so feel free to experiment!)--and this is for 1 serving

1/4 lb salmon (about 3 oz.)
Blueberries -- handfull
Honeydew -- cubed, about 1/2 a cup (or just add as much as you want, that's what I do)
Strawberries -- 1/2 cup
Almonds -- handfull when whole, now chop them (I used roasted as well as tahari -- a como is really yummy)
Foil
Watermelon (a few pieces, I just ate these on the side)
Blackberries or raspberries -- handfull
Meyer lemon -- sliced in circles
Capers -- roughly a spoonfull or however many you like -- I love them so I add a bunch
Spinich leaves (as many as you want, I usually have anout 1 1/2 handfulls)

Dressing:
Meyer lemons -- 1/4 cup juice
1 tsp Honey dijon mustard (you can add a little more to taste)
1 tsp Olive oil (you can add a little more to taste)
1 clove garlic, chopped

1. Preheat oven to 350-375 F.
2. Place salmon on foil. Make it into a little box (so the juices don't run all over the place. sqeeze half a meyer lemon over the salmon and add the capers and lemon slices to the top. Now fold the foil so it's completely enclosed.
3. Place in oven and bake for about 12 minutes.
4. Wash spinich and place in bowl. Then add all of your fruit and almonds to the top. When the salmon is done, you can place it on top. I usually flake mine apart into bite size pieces and remove the skin (and throw away).
5. For the dressing, you will squeeze 1/4 lemon juice into a cup. Now add the honey dijon mustard (tsp) and oil (tsp) and garlic. Now taste it. If it is too tart, add a little more olive oil to mute it down, and a little more mustard to sweeten it up just a little bit. Repeat until you get the desired flavor.

ENJOY!!:)

Another dressing I love is my honey-balsamic dressing. I make it in a shotglass usually which works well for 1-2 people. I add about 1/3 oil and 2/3 balsamic vinegar. Some honey (about = to the amount of oil I used), a tsp or a little more of whole grain mustard and then stir! Sometimes I also add some flaxseeds for a little nuttiness:) It's been one of my favorites to make!!

Other times, I just use lemon juice:) I'll update again in the next couple days!:)

"The more I thought about what I get to do, the less I realized I had to do. It was just a shift, just a new perspective, just a new and more grateful method for labeling the things in my life. Think about it - if you stopped yourself every single time you were about to say 'I have to' and changed it to 'I get to', it might change your entire experience." -Kristin Armstrong

I have quotes all around my room that bring out positive thoughts and motivation in my goals and daily life:) I'll start posting some of them on here:)

A Very Belated Update

I'll give you the rundown of my last week so you can understand my absence..Tuesday was orientation for the Byron Nelson (which I talked about last update). Then Wednesday-Sunday it was up at 4 AM, passed out at 7:30 Wednesday, but Thursday and the rest of the week it was anywhere from 10-11:30, and during the day it was working the bar and with customers from 6:30 (when I had to get there and set up) in the morning until about 6-7:30 at night. It really was a blast, it was just exhausting. I skipped a couple days of working out because I was SO tired, but I made good use of the gym a couple days and I definitely went on a few 4-5 mile runs around Valley Ranch:) My meals varied day to day. The first day I went free-food happy and ate until I popped, but the rest of the time I either ate really really well (fruit with cinnamon and coconut milk for breakfast, or one day I even ate the spagehetti squash with cinnamon and coconut milk for breakfast because it was quick and quiet [there were people sleeping in the living room that I didn't want to wake up], salads with veggies and lemon juice for lunch and something similar for dinner), or did the same with a little potato salad or roasted veggies, a cookie here and there, maybe some pretzels..Free food is hard to turn down. I don't care who you are:) But for the most part, I did this all in moderation.

While on my trip to Dallas, I made some good connections and good friends:) My new friend Jamie and I found we both love nutrition and eating well. She told me about the vegetable juice detox and I was all geared up to do it and was even about to go buy a juicer when my mom and I did some research. It is a really good idea, just not for me. The cons were reduced metabolism, and reduced muscle mass. Neither of which go hand in hand with endurance running. I'm still on the fence about whether or not I will give it a try, but for those who do eat not so great, or are wanting to start fresh with their diet (by diet I mean daily diet, not something you go on to lose a few lbs) I think it's a great idea. You can google 'vegable juice detox' and it will give you the whole shebang on it and even some recipes. Jamie's favorite was 3 bug's bunny carrots and a large tomato juiced. She also recommends cabbage and beets.

Today was the first day of my internship at Kona Grill and I am very excited! I feel so in my element there learning how to make all sorts of stuff and just learning the business. Yay!:)

My plan was to wake up around 5:30 this morning and make it to the gym to get my workout in early before going to work. Well, the alarm went off and I struggled a bit too much to get up (I guess I wasn't fully recovered from all the work last week) so I set my alarm for a marvelous 7:15 and opted to go to the gym later. Breakfast was a little larger today than usual because I wasn't sure when I'd be able to eat again (I'm so glad it was!). I used half an orange, a whole banana, and a cut up peach for my coconut/cinnamon concoction. Then I had a piece of the double fiber bread with almond butter and organic honey drizzled. Then I had a pear with almond butter, as well as a few grapes. SO FULL! Then it was off to work! I got off around 3:30, came home, ate a snack since I hadn't eaten since 8 that morning, hung out with mom, layed out for about 30 minutes before it started to drizzle, snacked some more on this d'lish recipe my mom made, and now I'm just waiting for my food to digest before going to the gym. Here is the recipe for the Texas Caviar she made - we kind of made it our own. It's great as a salsa or on a salad or just by itself!

Texas Caviar
Ingredients:
1/2 red onion, chopped
1 can black beans, drain and rinse and colander (I prefer the Eden Organic Canned Black Beans)
1 can whole kernel corn (pour over beans)
1 chopped, seeded jalapeno
1 chopped red bell pepper
Lime juice (to taste)
Drizzle of olive oil (not too oily, but enough to make it semi slick)
Maybe a tsp of sea salt (maybe a little more or little less depending how you like it--less is better!)
1/3 bunch of chopped cilantro
Chopped avocado (add as you serve so it doesn't turn brown--1/8 of an avocado is a serving but in this recipe because you already have your fats with the beans, I would put less)

Directions:
Just combine all ingredients and refrigerate! The Guiltless Gourmet would be GREAT with this:) However, they didn't have them at the store when I went yesterday so we substituted for HEB Central Market Organic Blue Tortilla chips:) Adjusting to a new grocery store is hard!

From this, my mom and I got to talking about ceviche. I have this really good recipe that seems to go over really well everytime I make it so I'll just plug it in right here too:) (Gotta cram in a bunch since I've missed a few days;)) Note: When I made this recipe, it was for 8-12 servings, so cut it in half to make 4-6.

I love all of their canned goods. They seem to have less sodium than the other brands as well as being organic. However, I'm finding that here in San Antonio they're more expensive than up in Lubbock (so is the Salmon!) so that kind of stinks, but maybe you won't find it a big deal. (1.80ish in Lubbock as opposed to 2.30 or so here in San Antonio)

Kate's Ceviche
Ingredients:
2 lb medium-small shrimp, peeled and devained

1 1/2 cup lime juice (juice from 8-12 limes)
3/4 cup lemon juice (3-4 lemons)
1 cup finely chopped red onion
1 jalapeno, ribs and seeds removed, minced
1 1/2 cups chopped cilantro
1 1/2 (or 2, I just only had half of one) cucumber, peeled, cut into 1/2-inch chunks
1 avocado (or 2 if you really love the stuff), peeled, seed removed, and cut into 1/2-inch chunks
1. Boil water in a pot and boil shrimp for a minute or two (I bought already boiled at market street, but either way works)
2.Cut each piece of shrimp in half and place in bowl ith lime and lemon juice. Cover and place in refrigerator for 30 minutes
3. Mix in the chopped red onion and jalapeno. Add cilantro, cucumber, and avocado right before serving.

And here's the recipe to this REALLY YUMMY chicken we had last night:

Sweet Garlic Chicken
Ingredients: (yields 4 servings)
1 tsp olive oil
1 tsp minced garlic
1 lb chicken
1 tsp paprika
1/6 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup red wine

Directions:
1. Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium high heat. Cook the garlic in the oil until it is tender. Then place the chicken in the skillet and cook about 10 minutes on each side until it is no longer pink and the juices run clear.
2. Drain the oil from skillet. Then sprinkle chicken with paprika and the brown sugar. Follow by pouring the red wine around the chicken. Cover, and simmer about 15 to 20 minutes; lightly baste (spoon the juices over the chicken) the chicken with the wine sauce while cooking. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

I also want to add that whatever recipe you have, even if you make it up off the top of your head, as long as you have the measurements you can plug them into NutritionData.com and find out all of the nutritional information. Such a great tool and I LOVE it because so many cook books and websites don't provide the information. This way it's also fairly easy to see what substituting different ingredients (i.e. coconut milk as opposed to soy or cows milk or applesauce instead of oil) will do to the information.


Tomorrow it's breakfast with Kayla at Mimi's, kayaking in Austin with David as well as Comal winery, and then making dinner for the parents! I'll be sure to post pictures of breakfast as well as events from the day and my recipe for dinner. It's a salmon/fruit salad with a lemon viniagrette:) I'll also put up the recipes to other dressings I love to make:) Have a good night and see you tomorrow!:)

So Busy and So Little Time!:)

These last few days have flown by! Sorry for not updating and adding any sort of recipe. I can't say tonight will be any different (as far as the recipe goes) but here's a brief look into my last few days...

Saturday seems so far away right now so it's a little blurry. But I woke up, had my breakfast (the usual and then a bunch of snacking), and then went on a 5-6 mile run around the neighborhood. I love running around where I'm from in San Antonio, there are so many memories associated with everywhere I go. I ran by the soccer fields I used to play in with Ryan, Brian, Danny and Erin in High School and Middle School. I ran by my old best friend's houses, and the stables where the guy I had my first crush on lived when we were in elementary school. I ran by the water way where we used to play when it would rain so much it flooded..It was just so nice!:) Then I ate my lunch (sorry, it's been so long ago and so much food since then that I can't remember what that was), went to the mall with Katy (and I didn't even buy anything that was unnecessary! Hooray me!:)), came home ate a quick dinner (I'm sure it was probably along the lines of spaghetti squash, almonds and fruit with maybe a piece of bread..there's that snacking again), got ready and went to David's to go to see Wade Bowen at the Valero Texas Open with him and Jadon. Then I called it a night around 10:30 because I was tired (they had fun giving me grief about this, I am not an old woman..I just enjoy my sleep..especially when I have to get up early to get a run or workout in:)). I did eat quite a lot today. I had 2 dinners pretty much because one was at 5 when I thought I was going to be eating my last meal, but around 7:30, we got free vouchers to Rudy's BBQ at the Texas Open and I can't ever turn down BBQ, especially when it's free. There's that Texan in me:)

Sunday was my Mom's own personal Mother's day since we weren't here for her's last Sunday. So, I got up and went to the gym and got in some really good weights hitting every part of my body. Then I came home and got ready while my sister drove down from Austin. When my parents got home from church, we went and ate lunch at P.F. Changs. We got the Chicken Lettuce Wraps, Crispy Green Beans (fried green beans), and Dynamite Shrimp (fried shrimp in spicy sauce) as appetizers to split between all four of us. Then I got the Asian Shrimp Salad that had grilled shrimp, watermelon balls, candied walnuts and lettuce with this citrusy, oil dressing--d'lish! Mom and Dad got the Chilean Seabass and sarah got the Beef something or other. I mainly stuck to the salad because it was HUGE but we split everything and it was really good. I had a couple of the lettuce wraps to start with and then a couple of the green beans just to try them (I couldn't have the sauce so they were a little bland on their own I thought), and a couple of the Dynamite Shrimp. From here we went to Clay Casa and painted some pottery. I made a mug that I am REALLY excited about using for my green tea in the mornings!!:) Then we went home and ate dinner (spaghetti squash and some more snacking..I have got to quit this) and then my sister left. I then just hung around with my parents watching Desperate Housewives since I would be leaving the next day (today) for Dallas and wouldn't see Mom til Thursday when she came up and Dad until Sunday night.

So finally, today I woke up and ran to the gym, worked out and ran back. The last mile or so of the run I sprinted as hard as I could in little segments and I have to say, you definitely sweat so much more in humidity. In Lubbock, I'll be on mile 7 and hardly sweating. In San Antonio, I've run a little more than a mile and I've got it dripping down my face. That's OK though because I actually love the feeling of sweating, maybe that's gross but I do! Both the run and the workout were really good. So then I went home, got ready and finished packing, ate some lunch (spaghetti squash with carrots and hummus, later followed by my makeshift "PB&J" with the toasted bread, almond butter and cut grapes..and an orange), and got on the road around 2 to head up to Dallas. Dinner was a chicken breast Mom made for me before I left and probably about 2-3 cups of spaghetti squash and some sliced bell peppers. Then once I got here to Bonnie's, I had a little salad with some steamed green beans and a little garlic bread. The garlic bread though was different than what you might normally think of. Instead of being covered in this buttery, garlicky sauce, it was just a loaf with garlic cloves baked into it! Such a good idea!

So tomorrow is the orientation for the Byron Nelson. Hopefully I'll have some time to update this week but it probably won't be every day and there also probably won't be many recipes but I'll do my best!:) Have a great week if I don't get to update much!:)

Spinning, Snacking, Fondue, Products & Love :)

Today started really well and really early! My alarm went off at 5:15 AM and I popped up, got ready and drove to spin class. It helped a little bit that Dea (my dog) started going crazy about 4:30 when the rain, lightning and thunder started rolling in so by the time my alarm went off I had pretty much already snoozed all I needed to. Spin class was really good, I really liked the instructor! Too bad she's leaving for the summer though to go to the Carolinas (I'm a bit jealous since I want to go to Charleston so badly!), but I'm sure the next instructor will be just as good. Then I just did some weights and drove home to be able to eat, shower and make it to my appointment by 9:30.

Breakfast was a little broken up. I had a banana when I woke up before spin, then I had my 3 egg whites with cumin and tomato as well as a pear, watermelon and pineapple afterwards. Then I followed that up about an hour later with some trail mix (I must have worked out hard because I kept getting hungry!). For lunch I cut up some left over steak that my Dad made the other night and made a steak sandwich and had that with some steamed cauliflower with chili powder on top. Then I had half of a So Delicious Coconut milk Neopolitan "ice cream" sandwich for dessert! (Listed below on the products I love.) My mom and I then went to see Letters to Juliet, which was really good:) A little corny at the end, but I'm always a sucker when it comes to a love story. After the movie we went and ran a couple of errands before coming home to get ready and go the Melting Pot with my dad. We had this thing called a Groupon where we paid $25 to get $50 off of our bill (go to Groupon.com to look and see if they have them for your city..unfortunately they don't have them for Lubbock). Melting Pot is this fondue restaurant and I was suprised when I could actually eat some of it! The appetizer was cheese fondue, so that was obviously a no go. Then the salad was lettuce wraps which I absolutely LOVED. I ate all three of mine and my Dad only ate one of his so he gave me his other two. Plus most of one my Mom didn't finish (yes, they were THAT good). Then the main course was all sorts of sea food (lobster, ahi tuna, kiwi lime shrimp) and other stuff like veggies, veggie dumplings, chicken and pork that you put on little skewers and cooked in this broth that had things like orange juice, minced garlic, cilantro and lime juice in it. Dessert was then a chocolate fondue (my parents opted for the banana's foster fondue) with dippers like strawberries, bananas, cheesecake, brownies, pound cake, marshmallows covered in vanilla or chocolate cookie crumbs, and rice krispy treats. I sneaked a few rice krispy treat bites, strawberries and a marshmallow:) It was a pretty good dinner! Though a little overpriced I think..but I'm glad we went:) And I'm really glad we had the Groupon. So now it's time to wind down and fall asleep, I'm a bit tired from getting up so early. But first, I have below a list of products (some with pictures) that I absolutely LOVE.

PRODUCTS I LOVE:

Almond butter. You can buy MANY different kinds. My favorite is of course the most expensive. It is Woodstock Farms organic raw almond butter. At Market Street in Lubbock or Dallas it runs about $18.99 a jar which is pretty steep on a college (or any in my opinion) budget. So, you can either go for a different brand, opt for the not raw, grind your own if your grocery store has a place to do that, or make your own (recipe below). I like to make my own version of the PB&J that my friend Kimi showed to me. You toast your break to bring out the dextrose and make the sandwich naturally more sweet without adding anything to it. Then you put on your almond butter and slice either grapes or strawberries to use instead of the jam. Ta-Da! I think it's even more delicious because it doesn't have that superficial, too sweet taste that you get from jellies in a jar.

Recipe for Raw Almond Butter:

Ingredients: 1 cup raw almonds

Directions: Place 1-2 cups of raw almonds into food processor. Process for about 15 minutes making sure to scrape sides frequently. 2 cups of almonds yields about 1 1/2 cup of almond butter so 1 cup of almonds yields about 3/4 cup.

Dark chocolate (Chocolate Dreams) peanut butter. I love this stuff. It's like a dessert. I put it on bananas or on toasted bread when I need something sweet. It doesn't have any lactose in it, just cocoa powder. You can get it here online at http://ilovepeanutbutter.com/ or hopefully your grocery store carries it. I know places like Market Street, Sun Harvest, and Central Market all carry it.

These are the "ice cream" sandwiches I mentioned earlier. They're delicious! They have only 100 calories and are made with coconut milk so you don't get any soy, or lactose in here. The only come in the banana split flavor, but I think they're great. I often cut mine in half, giving me the perfect amount of sweet at even less calories. I also love coconut ice cream from the same So Delicious (made by Turtle Mountain) brand but it is called "Purely Decadent". My favorite flavor is the coconut flavor with the coconut milk. It's even MORE amazing when you grill pineapple and have that with it as well. Hope you enjoy these little treats:)

Honey. Okay, so organic honey takes a little getting used to. I bought it expecting no difference. Do not do that. You probably won't like it if you do. I didn't, but I didn't want to buy more honey either because I had this perfectly good, different tasting honey sitting at home in my pantry. Let me warn you a little bit before you go out and buy some. First of all, it's darker and it has a sharper taste to it. But, once I got used to it, I liked the "not-so-sweet" while still being honey-sweet taste to it. It's worth a try, but it's a little more expensive. This is the Full Circle Organic Honey. I love to put honey on almonds. It's definitely my favorite indulgence. It's even better with a banana, smushed or not:) Or if you just put it on toast, that's good too. I really just like honey on almost everything. I especially love it in home made salad dressings (I'll post recipes for some of those later on.)

Frozen pizzas. I also love these frozen dairy-free pizzas by Amy's below. My favorite is the roasted vegetable. You could also make something similar at home, but these are easy and ready to pop into the oven.

Cereals & oatmeal. Another thing I'm crazy for is Bob's Mill anything. I love the oatmeal oats, I love the steel cut oats, I love the flours, I love it all. I also love Puffin's peanut butter cereal. It tastes so much like Reese's Peanut Butter Puffs you wouldn't even believe it. And it's healthy for you! It's wheat-free because it is made from corn. I also am a huge fan of the Kashi instant oatmeals as well as the Full Circle instant oatmeals.

Hummus. Huge fan of the Sabra Artichoke & Spinich hummus as well as the Roasted Pine Nut flavor. So good with cut cucumbers, carrots or as a sandwich spread!

Bread. I love this kind. I've tried many different kinds, even the little 100 calorie bun things they have out now. I've also tried the Ezekiel breads, but this one stands as my favorite. It's a little more sweet which is something I have found I like about it. However, if you do get Ezekiel bread, I highly recommend the cinnamon raisin (even though it's not really a sandwich or every day kind of bread). On the flip side, I highly advise you to not try the low sodium kind from Ezekiel if you can avoid it. I found it had almost no flavor. Why would you want to waste the calories on something bland and tasteless?

Granola bars. As we all know, they're great for being on the run whether it be a workout, work, or class. My absolute favorite are the Kashi Dark Chocolate & Cherry (not pictured here) But I'm also a big fan of all of their granola bars. These here are Peanut Butter, Honey Almond Flax, and Trail Mix. All of those three have 150 calories while the Be Kind bar has 170 and the LARA Banana Nut has 210 calories. I love them all, so take your pick! :)

Squash. I love spaghetti squash. I've tried it before but my Mom re-introduced it to me this week and I am crazy about it. Whether it's alone or with spaghetti sauce, it is delicious. I also love summer squash either grilled or baked in the oven for about 12 minutes on 350 with a little olive oil and sea salt. Another favorite of mine is butternut squash. I buy this frozen and organic so it's easy to pop in the microwave and in 3 minutes it's done. With this I like to put some coconut milk on it, mash it up (in a cup) and add some cinnamon. It makes a really good comfort "soup". If you like vanilla or light vanilla soy milk, it is even better with that.

Tortilla or corn chips. I'm a huge fan of the Guiltless Gourmet Black Bean (as well as Blue Corn) chips. They're baked and not fried and so full of flavor! I also like the Tweeds Flaxseed chips but they have a more nutty flavor. Whichever way, they both are lower in calories and sodium than most other types and taste really good. It just depends what you're looking for in your chip:)

Have a good night!

Very very sleepy:)

Today for lunch, Tommy and I went to Magnolia Pancake Haus..My absolute FAVORITE restaurant in San Antonio..yum yum yum:)  He got some sort of sandwich and I got the Strawberry Chicken Salad and it was d'lish! It came with canteloupe, two slices of banana bread, strawberries, roasted chicken breast, crutons, and a hard boiled egg. The dressing was a raspberry vinaigrette but I'm pretty sure it had a little bit of dairy in it even though the waitress said it didn't so I tried to steer clear of it. I have a really good banana bread recipe that I got off of runnersworld.com that I have posted below.

This banana bread would also make a really good breakfast or a good addition to your breakfast.

1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup sugar, plus 2 tablespoons sugar
2 eggs
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup applesauce
3 1/2 bananas, very ripe, mashed
2 tablespoons low-fat sour cream
1 teaspoon vanilla
2/3 cup walnuts, toasted and chopped (I've tried it with chopped almonds before and that worked as well, or you can use pecans)

Preheat oven to 350°F. Sift together first four ingredients. Beat sugar and eggs with a whisk until light and fluffy. Drizzle in oil. Add bananas, sour cream, and vanilla. Fold in flour mixture and nuts. Pour batter into a buttered 9" x 4" loaf pan and bake for 45 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Makes 12 servings.

Calories: 260
Fat: 9 g
Carbs: 41 g
Protein: 4 g

Even though the banana bread calls for sour cream, you can still eat it if you are lactose intolerant/have other issues like me (just as long as it isn't an allergy to dairy). In case you weren't aware, you can have things that are cultured as in sour cream, and yogurt.

After lunch, I went on a 2 mile run to the gym, did my weights and finished with a 2 mile run back to the house. I wanted to run longer, and would have preferred to have not split it up to build endurance, but with my plantar fasciitis acting up lately I've been babying it so it doesn't come back full swing putting me back off of running for who knows how long. Since then, I've just been snacking on fruit and trail mix (it was my make shift dinner) and enjoying hanging out with my Momma:) Have a good night!!

Late start but good morning!:)

So last night, I set my alarm to wake me up at 8AM this morning so I would be able to get my workout, run, and biking in all before lunch and still have time to shower and get ready to meet my friend Tommy at 1. However, that's not the way it played out. I vaguely remember my alarm going off and me hitting the down button to 'dismiss' to turn the ringer off thinking I'd just wake up in another 10 minutes or so. But no. I ended up sleeping in to a glorious 9:45 this morning. I'll just stick my workout in later, because who can really complain about the luxurious feeling of sleeping in? I guess I haven't fully bounced back from finals yet.

Usually every morning, I cook up 3 egg whites in a pan that has been sprayed lightly with olive oil spray. I then top them with cumin and halved cherry tomatoes (my favorite are the Nature Sweet Cherubs..I could eat them like candy and I often do!). Then I'll cut up half a banana (if it's rather large [6" or more], if it's on the small side say about 5" long I'll just use the whole thing) and half of a navel orange. Then I top these with a lot of cinnamon, and pour coconut milk on top and stir. I will tell you, cinnamon doesn't really mix well in the coconut milk and it takes almost 'folding' the milk and fruit to get it to mix but it can be done. I also almost always have a cup of Stash Chai Green Tea every morning rather than coffee.

I'll explain why it is I use cumin, cinnamon and coconut milk. I use cumin because it has been said that when mixed with the proteins of the egg whites, it helps to burn more fat. It took a little getting used to, but now I love it and it's especially good with the tomatoes on top. Another way to add flavor would be to chop a fresh herb like basil, cilantro or parsley and mix them in with the eggs when cooking or crumle up a slice of soy cheese and cook that in the eggs as well. Both are very good and they're also really good when you do both at the same time. I use cinnamon because one day I was looking through many of the health-food e-mails and recipes I get from fitnessmag.com and it was a list of all these different herbs and spices including the health benefits of each. For cinnamon it said that just 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon daily lowers blood sugar, LDL (bad) cholesterol, and triglycerides in people with type 2 diabetes. I have also read that it is believed cinnamon helps with memory, and from personal experience I'd like to vouch for that. Now I have tried many different kinds of lactose-free milk. Cow's milk with the lactose removed, soy (vanilla, light, vanilla light, unsweetened, original), rice, almond, and now coconut. I do not like the cow's milk because they talk about all the hormones involved in it. It is also completely unnecessary for humans to consume cow's milk. I was on soy for a long time and I absolutely loved it. Then I noticed it was hard for me to lose the extra couple pounds I wanted to get rid of for bathing suit season and soon after learned about a hormone in it that causes obesity when consumed frequently. I was also having skin problems and after talking to a lot of people who have broken out because of soy milk, I realized this was also a potential downside. While it tastes amazing (the vanilla tastes like melted ice cream), I just didn't think it was worth it. So then I moved on over to rice milk and only bought a carton of that because I just didn't like the taste. Then came almond milk, and once again I just couldn't really stick with it very long. Then I tried coconut milk. While it doesn't have a ton of flavor, that's kind of nice. I don't find myself going to the refrigerator every hour wanting something sweet and guzzeling down another glass of vanilla coconut milk. I actually just buy the original so I'm not even tempted to do that. If you want to try the vanilla, please let me know how it is:) While coconut milk has a lot of fat, it's good fat. This isn't the type of fat that will stay stored in your body because they are short and medium-chained fatty acid's that can actually help when trying to lose weight.

Even though for most of you it is now lunch time, I hope you had a great breakfast and have a great day!

First Post..Horray!:)

So it's Wednesday night and I've been up for a bit trying to get this blog together so I can officially send it out for every one to see! Look's like I've finally made it:)

Yesterday I drove down here to San Antonio from Lubbock so I can start my summer of interning for Kona Grill with the Executive Chef. But first, I'll be working the Byron Nelson Championship in Irving next week which I'm equally excited about because it's such a cool opprotunity. I'm so excited for the semester to be over even though it completely FLEW by, because now I will have more time to train for the half-marathon/triathalon/full-marathon I have coming my way this summer, fall and early next year! I've completed 2 half-marathons so far but haven't ever ran a full yet. I've trained, but I always end up getting injured somewhere late in the training because the I think I increase my mileage too quickly and it finally takes it's toll. This time I hope it will be different and I will put the plantar fasciitis I'm currently dealing with to shame:) I also have never done a triathalon before because of the swimming. I. Hate. Swimming. Something about putting your face in the water while moving freaks me out because I can never seem to get my breathing quite right. Well not anymore!:) Today, I went to Triton Gym over here by my house and got a summer membership and talked to them about adult swim lessons and they gave me the number of the Lady Bird Johnson swim coach who will help me out. Swim caps, goggles, and polka-dotted one-piece, here I come!:)

On the following blogs, I'll be talking about what it is that I ate throughout the day, most of the time with pictures and recipes. Tonight though, I just wanted a little intro:) I will tell you though, I have been indulging in a little steak these last couple days since being home..mmmm mmmm:) But I've been good, only eating the right portions (3 oz.) at a time. If you only knew the restraint that took for me because I can really put away some steak. To me, it's better than chocolate. Sleep well!:)