Stuff, Lately.
Posted: May 30, 2013 Filed under: breakfast, cardio, crossfit, daily, nutrition, paleo, recipes, strength, workouts | Tags: breakfast, cardio, crossfit, daily, dessert, nutrition, paleo, recipes, strength, workouts 3 Comments »I’ve been meaning to share this picture for a full week now, so here:
I got that meal at a chain restaurant that I went to with my coworkers and was a little nervous about not being able to find anything on the menu at. (The 99, to be exact.)
Maybe I was just being negative, but when I placed my order, I was a little nervous that I would be slapped with a greasy piece of chicken and some freezer-burned veggies. Boy, was I wrong. What came out was a perfectly grilled, tender piece of lemon rosemary chicken breast drizzled with a balsamic glaze and a whole bunch of super-fresh grilled broccoli, tomatoes, and asparagus. It’s nice to know you can still get a good meal for cheap these days!
This week in the gym, I decided to resurrect my quickly forgotten dream of becoming a pull-up queen. I planned to end every day this week with 25 pull-ups, but unfortunately, I forgot about that plan by the second day. That’s what happens at 6am, I guess!
Here’s what Tuesday’s workout looked like, with the pull-ups:
- Warm-up: 5-10 minute walk on treadmill
- Shoulder presses:
-
- 15 @ 45lbs
- 10 @ 55lbs
- {5 @ 75#} x5
- Thrusters: {5 @ 75#} x5
- Workout (7x):
-
- 15 Wall balls
- Walking lunges one length of track
- 10 Push-ups
- Run rest of lap
- 100 Jump ropes
- 100 Swiss ball crunches
- 100 Weighted side bends
- 25 Assisted pulls-ups @ 50#
- Cool-down: 5-10 minute walk
And here’s what Wednesday’s looked like, without:
- Warm-up: 10 minute walk
- 150 Wall balls
- Deadlifts:
-
- 15 @ 95#
- 12 @ 105#
- 8 @ 135#
- 5 @ 155 x3
- 8 @ 135#
- Workout (6x):
-
- Run 2 laps
- 15 OH squats @ 40#
- 10 KB swings @ 25#
- 100 Crunches
- Cool-down: 10 minute walk
The good news is that I was back at them today!
Other than that one standout above, food has been pretty standard around here lately, as I polish off my prepped meals…
And go with some old favorites.
I’ve also been snacking on lots of fruits + nuts as usual…
But one downside has been this new yogurt. It’s a local, grass-fed plain yogurt I found at the Co-op, so I was excited to try it, but I have to admit that I was let down. Maybe I’m just used to thicker, Greek style yogurt, but this was thin and runny, which is so not my thing. Beyond that, it has more sugar, more fat, and less protein than my beloved plain Chobani… not exactly what I was going for. I need to finish it up though, so I threw some cinnamon and berries in it for breakfast the other day, and I’m making my way through it. At least now I know that the grass isn’t always greener…
This banana loaf has certainly been a bright spot this week though. At first I was nervous about the recipe, but I actually really love how it came out. It’s just sweet enough to be the perfect dessert alongside a whole slew of berries and cherries.
And finally, this is my “I planned on going running but I just spent 45 minutes on the couch taking weird pictures of myself instead” face. It’s a mix of confusion, thoughtfulness, and surprise. I know, I’m deep.
Happy Thursday! 
Spinach Banana Pancakes
Posted: May 24, 2013 Filed under: breakfast, dinners, paleo, recipes | Tags: breakfast, paleo, recipes 7 Comments »Holy cow.
Have you ever heard easy, delicious, and healthy in the same sentence as pancakes as much as you do on this blog? Well, get ready because today you’re going to hear it again.
Before I started experimenting with healthier foods, the pancakes I ate were usually out of a box, loaded with artificial ingredients, and covered in chocolate chips. And while I obviously still love going to restaurants and getting a big stack of old fashioned ‘cakes, it’s not exactly the kind of thing I want to be eating on a regular basis.
At this point, I’ve made banana pancakes and pumpkin pancakes and even strawberry banana protein pancakes – all of which are totally delicious and pretty healthy – but now I’ve taken it a step further…
by adding spinach.
Now before you get all upset and grossed out, please listen when I say: you cannot taste the spinach. I mean it – not at all! If you’ve been reading for a while, you’ve probably seen me load up my smoothies with spinach and maybe you thought I was crazy then too, but I swear it’s true. And if you can’t taste it, why wouldn’t you load up your pancakes with the healthy green veggie?
Spinach is a great source of vitamins and minerals, as well as dietary fiber. Can you say that about the short stack at your local diner?
I didn’t think so.
And that’s what makes these bad boys a totally acceptable weekday indulgence.
All I did was put one ripe banana, two eggs, and a crap-ton of spinach in my food processor, blending until it was was pretty much a puree.
The batter seems pretty thin, but like with the regular banana pancakes, the trick is to pour slowly.
Keep the heat on the griddle low, and don’t get overanxious about the flip. Give them time, and when they are full of bubbles, they are actually very easy to move.
(Don’t mind that little missing piece there. I always mess up the first one.)
They sort of look like someone is playing a St. Patty’s day prank on me, but hey – they’re delicious! They’re not as dry as regular pancakes can be, but I’m not opposed to that. The pumpkin and banana pancakes are the same way, so if you’re into those, I’m sure you’ll be all for these as well.
You really can’t go wrong loading them up with the usual berries, but if that’s not your thing, there are plenty of other options. Melted nut butters, crushed nuts, seeds, dried fruits, or even just the moist pancakes all by themselves would be great options as well.
Give them a try and let me know what you think. I think you’ll be a believer too!
Just Live
Posted: May 6, 2013 Filed under: breakfast, crossfit, daily, recipes, workouts | Tags: breakfast, crossfit, daily, recipes, workouts Leave a comment »I am absolutely loving my new weekends. Normally, I’m either packing, unpacking, or getting ready to pack, but for the second weekend in a row, I didn’t have to do any of those things. When I’m busy (or when I know I’m going to be busy in the future), I tend to create this mile-long list of things I need to get done, and I stress and worry about it until they’re all complete. But lately, I’ve been trying to weed out the non-essential tasks, keeping them off my list by choice, and I’ve been finding that there really aren’t that many essential things still on it. It’s been allowing me to stop worrying about things that really don’t matter and just live, and my free time has been a lot more enjoyable as a result.
Saturday morning, I was up early and had some blueberry pumpkin pancakes with cinnamon, strawberries, and maple syrup. My apartment is so sunny in the morning and it makes eating breakfast at home even more enjoyable.
After breakfast settled a bit, I headed over to my friend’s house for a workout, which looked like this:
- Warm-up run down the street and back
- Bench press:
- 15 @ 45#
- 10 @ 65#
- {8 @ 75# + 10 Upright rows @ 35#} x5
- Workout:
- Med ball run to the road and back (~50yds?)
- 10 Pull ups (assisted with band)
- 10 Box jumps
- 10 KB swings @ 35#
- Work on cleans
After that was done, it was time to shower and get dressed because my dad and his girlfriend came out to visit for the day, and we had all kinds of fun things planned.
First up was a stop downtown for lunch. They wanted burgers, so we decided to try out a place in town I’d never been to before called Local Burger.
Some people that I work with had told me it was good, but other than that, I didn’t really know what to expect. I was surprised by their large menu though, and it wasn’t hard for all of us to find something we wanted to try.
My dad and I split a serving of their handcut French fries, which were totally delicious. (I still prefer my homemade version, but they did give them a run for their money.)
They had all different types of burgers (turkey, veggie, angus) and toppings (buffalo sauce, fried mac and cheese…) to choose from, but I kept mine simple and went with the grass-fed burger topped with roasted red peppers, lettuce, and tomatoes. I left the bun behind, but the burger was from a farm in the next town over, and it was pretty tasty.
This weekend was the start of the Farmer’s Market in town, so we walked around and checked out the booths a bit while we let our food digest. We were a little late, so most of the vendors were largely out of product, but now that I know it’s open for the season, I will have to get there earlier next time!
Next up on the agenda was a bike ride. The weather was absolutely perfect for a ride – warm, sunny, but not too hot – and we headed over to a farm near my apartment to hop on the rail trail.
There are all kinds of trails around here for walking, running, hiking, and biking, and there were lots of people out there taking advantage of the nice weather. We rode about 6 miles from the farm to the center of town and back, and it was beautiful!
After our ride, we relaxed a bit, walked around downtown and did some shopping, and then headed out for dinner. My dad said he saw the post where I was raving about The Stage when I went with my friends a couple weekends ago, and he said we just had to go there for dinner. It has quickly become one of my favorite restaurants in town, so of course I didn’t object!
I ordered the same thing I got last time – the NY strip steak with broiled potatoes and veggies, and it was just as good this time. My dad followed my example, and I think he agreed. I don’t know what’s in that “compound steak sauce,” but it’s a great addition to the dish.
There was definitely some mint chip and cookie dough ice cream going on after dinner, but I guess I was tired of taking pictures by then. There were people walking around outside all over the place, and a night like that is just calling for ice cream, so how could we not get it?
Sunday was just as much fun, but more on that later!
Can I Have Every Friday Off?
Posted: May 4, 2013 Filed under: breakfast, crossfit, daily, groceries, recipes, workouts | Tags: breakfast, crossfit, daily, groceries, recipes, workouts Leave a comment »Yesterday was a glorious day off, indeed! The weather was beautiful, I got everything done that I wanted to do, and I got to hang out with some great people!
I decided to get up at my usual 5am wake-up time and head to the gym early in order to get it out of the way. It was a great choice, and I was glad I didn’t have to think about my workout for the rest of the day. Here’s what it looked like:
- Warmup: 5-10 minute walk
- Front squats:
- 15 @ 60lbs
- 12 @ 95lbs
- 8 @ 115lbs
- 3 4 5 2 1 @ 135lbs
- Workout (7x):
- Walking lunges one length of the track
- 10 Shoulder presses
- Run one length of the track
- 10 Wall balls
- 50 Box jumps
- {12 Barbell curls + 12 Close-grip bench presses} x4
- 50 box jumps
- Cool down: 5-10 minute walk
When I got home, I took a little nap, and then made quite a fabulous breakfast. I have a George Foreman grill with removable waffle plates, but I don’t use it often enough. With extra time, I decided to pull it out, and used my usual pumpkin pancake recipe for the batter. I topped it with blueberries, strawberries, blackberries, and maple syrup, and it was totally delicious.
After breakfast, I cleaned my apartment, did a little blogging, and sat out on my balcony for a little while taking in some sunshine. One of my favorite things to do is watch the morning talk shows on TV, but it doesn’t happen too often!
For lunch, I met my friend at my favorite local bakery and café, and decided to go with the salad. This salad had mixed greens, grilled chicken, strawberries, almonds, and balsamic vinaigrette.
We ate lunch outside, and it was like summer in a bowl!
After lunch, I ran a few errands, including a stop at the grocery store. I had a few things still in my fridge (frozen meats, almond milk, green veggies, apples), but I picked up some other essentials to get me through the week.
Green + red peppers, tomatoes, cantaloupe, spinach, strawberries (on sale for $1.49 so I got three containers even though I already had two in my fridge)…
Bananas, grapes, carrots, corn, jicama, steak, and chicken…
Plus an angel food cake that I just couldn’t resist sampling.
Once everything was put away, I sat outside in the sunshine for a bit reading my new book. I am only six chapters in, but I am absolutely loving it. It’s a mix of science and common sense, and I love the way the authors present their arguments. Not only do they talk about the science and research behind it all, but they also give all kinds of real-life examples that make it easy to understand.
For dinner, I had the leftover chicken and veggies I made on Thursday. I was a little worried that the zucchini would be soggy after it was reheated, but that was not the case at all! That’s good news because it means this meal can be worked into my weekly meal prep and taken to work for lunches.
After dinner, I went over to the high school lacrosse field to see my good friend from high school. She coaches a high school lacrosse team that was playing the local high school team, and it was great to get to see her for a few minutes!
Next, it was off to the bowling alley to have some fun with some people from work. The event was a fundraiser for the Big Brothers Big Sisters organization, and my team raised over $500! The night was low-key, and we all had a lot of fun!
I’ve got another busy day planned for today, starting with a workout, so I’ve got to hop to it.
Have a great weekend! 
Work & Play
Posted: April 14, 2013 Filed under: breakfast, cardio, crossfit, daily, desserts, recipes, strength, workouts | Tags: breakfast, cardio, crossfit, daily, desserts, recipes, strength, workouts 2 Comments »Since I’m leaving tomorrow on another two-week work trip, I had a few errands to do in preparation. I’m the type of person who will think (worry) about something constantly until it’s done, so with that in mind, I decided to front-load all of my chores so I could just relax and enjoy the rest of the weekend once I was finished.
First up on Saturday morning was a workout. Even on the weekends, I love getting my workouts done first thing in the morning; not only does it make me feel super productive early on, but it’s also usually my most challenging “errand” for the day, so I like to check it off right away.
Yesterday’s workout focused mostly on legs, but I also worked on some of the new things I’ve been learning. Here’s what it looked like:
- Warmup: 10 minute walk on treadmill
- Back squats:
- 10 @ 135lbs
- 8 @ 155lbs
- 6 @ 185lbs
- 4 @ 205lbs
- {3 @ 215lbs} x3
- 4 @ 205lbs
- 6 @ 185lbs
- 8 @ 155lbs
- 10 @ 135lbs
- Workout (5x):
- 10 Box jumps
- 5 Handstand push-ups
- 10 Deadlifts @ 55lbs
- 5 Cleans @ 55lbs
- {12 Plié squats @ 95lbs} x4
- {10 Snatches @ 35lbs + 5 Shoulder presses @ 35lbs} x4
- {10 Cleans @ 35lbs + 5 Close-stance front squats @ 35lbs} x4
- {10 RDLs @ 35lbs + 10 Close-grip bench presses @ 35lbs} x4
- Core (4x):
- 20 Swiss ball crunches
- 15 Swiss ball back extensions
- 20 Overhead side bends
- 15 Hanging knees lifts
- {5 Inverted rows} x5
- {10 Hanging shrugs + 10 Calf raises} x3
- Cool down: 5 minute walk
When I got home, all I wanted for breakfast was a bacon and egg sandwich. I resisted Dunkin Donuts so hard, until suddenly I remembered coming across Tina’s recipe for a microwave English muffin. Honestly, I was a little skeptical about it at first, but I think I was also a little desperate. Sometimes, toast and bread is just so tempting – especially for special weekend meals – but I’ve been trying so hard to really be conscious of my dairy/grain/gluten intake again over the past few days, and it seems to be working, so I really didn’t want to blow it.
I followed Tina’s recipe, mixing almond flour, an egg, butter, and baking powder in a bowl (minus the salt), although I did have to microwave mine a bit longer than she specified. My microwave seems to be weaker than other people’s, plus I think my “muffin” was a bit larger, so I just kept microwaving it until it looked done.
Once it was done, I plopped it out onto a wire rack and let it cool for a few minutes before cutting it in half and popping it in the toaster.
While it was toasting, I cooked up a couple slices of bacon and two eggs, and I topped the muffin with a little butter once it was done. Add in some fresh strawberries and blackberries, and this meal was truly fit for a queen! It wasn’t exactly the egg sandwich I was going for, but it did have all the parts – and honestly, it was way tastier than a DD sandwich would’ve been, plus: no stomach ache.
I would say the “English muffin” tasted more like a corn toastie (something I used to love when I was younger), but that was totally fine with me. I absolutely loved it, and I can already see that these are definitely going to become part of my usual rotation from now on. Thank you, Tina!
After breakfast, I did laundry, finished packing, and then did some baking for my trip.
I’ve been really bored with egg scrambles lately, so first on the list were banana muffins to try and make things a little more interesting in the breakfast department. I used this recipe (tripled, minus the chocolate chips), but also added three tablespoons of PB2 for some extra protein. I’m really not as big of a fan of PB2 as I thought I would be, so the jar’s been sitting in my cabinet forever, and I couldn’t really think of anything else to use to give the muffins a little more staying power. Luckily, the peanut butter taste isn’t strong at all, and they still mostly just taste like banana cinnamon muffins.
Next on the list was a batch of my honey almond chocolate chip cookies.
One of the things it can be so easy to do while traveling is overload on sweets. Every restaurant, store, and vending machine around is loaded with desserts – and not the healthy kind. My coworkers often go to Subway for lunch on these trips, and they frequently bring me back cookies, which is really so nice of them, but my stomach always ends up paying for it.
And besides that, the hotel we’re staying in has these amazing, fresh, warm cookies available at the front door every day when we get back from work, and I can hardly ever resist. (I’m going to have to start using the back door, I think.) But I’m hoping that having a stash of these on hand will help me avoid other desserts that don’t agree with me quite so well.
Once I was finally done with all my chores, I did stop at DD’s – not for an egg sandwich, but for a large unsweetened ice tea (which totally made me feel like summer is on it’s way, despite the 40*F weather). A Fuji apple and some more chips and salsa rounded out my lunch.
For dinner, Eric and I met up with my friend from work and her husband at a restaurant downtown. I had never been, but she said it was very good, and she was 100% right. I had the 12 oz. NY strip steak with julienned vegetables and broiled potatoes, and I’m not exaggerating when I say that I cleaned my plate. Yeah, it was that good. (And I guess I was that hungry.)
Being the wonderful person that she is, she brought me a box of truffles from one of her favorite local cafés. LA Burdick’s is a café and chocolate shop, and she has been telling me I need to check it out for a while now. I haven’t made it there yet, but after tasting these truffles, it has now jumped to the top of my list!
The box came with all kinds of different truffles, along with a guide to what’s inside of each of them. I do like to be surprised, but it’s also really cool when you can find out exactly what ingredients are joining forces to create the flavor party going on in your mouth. I’m not good at guessing, so being able to read all the interesting combinations was pretty cool.
L.A. Burdick’s is famous for their little chocolate mice (my mom and I actually watched a TV show on them once and I just realized it was the same place), and now I can see why! Not only are they super cute, but (minus the tail), they are also totally delicious!
My friend recently got offered a new job, so she and her husband will be moving away soon, and although I am beyond happy for her, I will miss her very much. I have never been to Ohio though, so at least now I have a good excuse to go visit! Thank you for the wonderful chocolates, AB!
Afterwards, we walked around some shops downtown for a bit and then stopped for ice cream. I went with the (gluten-free, no-sugar-added) vanilla frozen yogurt with Oreos and a waffle cone on the side, and it was delicious. Just enough to give me a treat – but without a stomach ache. Maybe I am getting the hang of this, after all!
Time to enjoy what’s left of the weekend… Have a good one, everyone! 
