Return of the Almond Butter

Hi peachies! So I’m still getting back in the swing of things, but plan to play catch-up today. No class! Normally I’ll work, but today I have off 🙂

First things first, I received an exciting package the other day that I forgot to mention on my last post! I got my bloggie secret santa package sent to me here at school – so I finally got to open it when I returned.

Thank you so much Katy!! You know me too well 😉

Wednesdays I have no class so I’ll usually be working all day. Today, however, I had the day off, so it was a definite laid back day 🙂

Woke up starving after a late night out and made my typical yogurt bowl.

• Strained yogurt mixed with pumpkin, pie spice & maple syrup
• Wheatbix twigs & flakes cereal
• Quaker oatmeal squares
• Almond butter

I recently used a coupon I had for a Maranatha product, and decided to finally try out raw almond butter.

I’ve heard mixed reviews on raw almond butter. It tastes “dirtier” to me – does that make sense? Not sure if I like it better than roasted or not. One thing I know for certain – it’s been too long since I’ve had almond butter in my life and I’ve missed it!

I’ve also been eating this cereal in most of my recent yogurt messes –

Delicious. The perfect balance of sweet, and great nutrition stats!

I really wanted to hit up the gym this morning since I had the whole day off, but I really need to balance it out with my knee pain. I did a treadmill workout yesterday, so I knew two days in a row wouldn’t be the best idea. Instead, I did:

• 35 minutes upper body dumbells & ab work
• Physical therapy hip exercises
• Stretching and foam rolling

I haven’t talked about it yet on the blog, but over break I got a second, more powerful MRI done that focused more on the top of the tibia bone rather than just directly on the knee. According to the doctor and new physical therapist I saw, I have inflammation exactly where the hamstring muscle connects to the tibia – and that’s exactly where the peak of my pain is.

My pain is the worst right my fingers are. Please ignore my chipped polish – yes I need to do my nails.

And notice the weird pale indent on the left side of my knee? That’s where I got my cortisone shot 6 months ago. Apparently they can cause skin discoloration and decrease in adipose tissue, hence the weird indent. Pretty, isn’t it? 😉

After anaylizing my arch, feet, walking, running, skipping, squats, etc, the physical therapist diagnosed me with weak hip muscles, which causes my hips to drop during the landing part of running, which in turn causes my knees to turn inward like this:

While the knee is supposed to stay in-line with the second toe like this:

This causes my hamstring muscle to work extra hard to pull my knee back to the right position, therefore pulling extra hard where it attached to the tibia. Causing inflammation, causing the pain.

We went over a lot of hip exerises an stretches, which I’ll go over in my next post. I just felt relief to at least hear what very possible is the root of my pain, rather than just “runner’s knee” or “knee pain”.

I made lunch immediately after my 1 hour workout. 1 egg + 2 egg whites, Morningstar Asian veggie patty, laughing cow cheese, & roasted red pepper dressing in a WW wrap.

+ 1307538 million baby carrots and 2 clementines.

Afternoon snack was an unpictured WW sandwich thin with jam and a few slices of deli turkey.

And dinner was a veggie-filled bowl of:

• Sauteed zucchini, mushrooms & onions
• Cranberry jalapeno chicken meatballs
• Trader Joe’s baked beans

Not going to lie when I thought these baked beans tasted a little plasticy. I LOVE baked beans, but have never had Trader Joe’s brand. Maybe it was just a fluke?

Remember – we are more than halfway through the week!!

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Bittersweet

Breakfast was bittersweet this morning.

Oats in a jar = love

Using my Justin’s Maple almond butter jar = sad

Dear best almond butter of all time –

You have served me well. I loved you dearly and your taste was like an explosion in my mouth each time (TWSS). Maybe one day we shall meet in the future (when you go on sale again).

Love, Me

The oats were glorious, however.

I really go overboard on those toppings.

Not gonna lie when I say it felt like a brick hit my stomach after finishing this. There was probably at least 2 servings of nut butter in there (once I added in extra PB).

Probably one of the saddest “oats in a jar” of my life past 5 months since I discovered it.

I then hit the gym danced around my room for a bit to Rascal Flatt’s Summer Nights and did some at home strength.

• 20 minutes upper body dumbells
• 10 minutes ab work

I’m just going to say it, but not complain about it. My knee is achey breaky today. On a scale of 1-10 (with 10 being the worst it’s felt), it’s probably at a 6. Not good. Not sure what happened to it getting better, but all of a sudden it’s worse. Way worse. So no gym for me.

Cabin fever hit, and I quickly got ready to head out for errands, studying, and magazine reading. I got a bit of work done, but mostly some browsing.

Snackies at Border’s

I also finally got to read Tina’s article in Shape!

Yeah-yuh!  Lookin’ hot girl 😉

Costco to pick up some much-needed household supplies (aka paper towels and dishwaster soap).

And Apple store to exchange my phone. I forgot my phone charger in my room – Gaah!

Surprise location to pick up supplies for a giveaway? Maybe? Perhaps? 😉

Once home I snacked on an apple & plum before a lazy night dinner of soup.

I was cold. So soup sounded yum. I cooked up in the pot:

• Trader Joe’s vegetable lentil soup
• 1 chopped potato
• Spoonful of ricotta cheese

Along with a side of Mary’s carraway crackers (x this amount by 3). And leftover cauliflower topped with ketchup.

Now we’re just chillin’ and being lazy for the rest of the night. Trying to decide what to do….

Are we ready for some Flashback Friday action, in honor of Janetha? This is my second time participating – I always seem to forget about it, but I’ll particiate when I remember! Unfortunately, I only go back about 4 years in pictures on my new computer, so I’ll work with what I can.

Let’s go back in time to…past Octobers! What was I doing 4 years ago? Freshman year of college? Second year of college?

Freshman year I went to visit my best friend in Riverside for her birthday and we touristly explored Hollywood!

Obsessed with them.

I have big feet.

This was also the trip where I broke my toe when I kicked the table, and also left my new camera in the hotel room.

I also took a spontaeous trip to visit my other best friend in Santa Barbara.  Was feeling really homesick/depressed one night and literally hopped into my car and drove there within 10 minutes notice.  Love that.

And ate the best nachos of my life at Freebirds.

I miss the fun pre-going out rituals me and my sophomore year roommies had.

Going to frat parties.

By Fourth year I had migrated from parties to more nights at the bars! (bad me)

My whole family Mom, Dad & sister also came to visit for the first time last October.

My daddy likes to have fun 😀

(Wondering where my Third year went? I was training and lame so didn’t go out much…don’t ask)

I know that you’ve really enjoyed venturing through the Octobers of my college years.

On that note…

1. What’s your favorite month and why?

2. What was your favorite spontaneous trip/roadtrip?

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10 things to do in your free time

Ever had days upon days off of work without anything to do? Well let me give you a few ideas for next time.

1. Sweat profusely on a stationary machine. I managed a trip to our newly remodeled transferred gym that is now in the large non-air conditioned actual basketball court gym. Did that sentence make sense? In order to remodel our exercise gym, they moved all the machines, and basically “moved” our gym into the large building that used to be the basketball courts. Which means no air conditioning. How come I’m the only one who seems to sweat buckets in this world? It gets all over the machine and drips on the ground (TMI? No – you know it happens to you). Then I look around, and others have barely broken a sweat. C’mon. Please?

2. Get rid of some George Washingtons. Forever 21 stole my money. Oh wait, never mind. I gave it to them willingly. What would I wear this sweater drapy tank top thiny with? It’s cute, but I’m at a loss.

And I think I’m heading back today to pick up a different shirt I saw. I hate you Forever 21. Leave me and my wallet in peace!

3. Change your skin color. I’m now 2 shades darker than I was yesterday thanks to the Mr. Sun’s golden rays. Yes, I know. Skin cancer and all that jazz. Don’t worry, I sunscreen it up, and only sit out for about an hour just to enhance my knowledge by reading these very informative articles:

4. Bake and eat your weight in goodies. I baked some strawberry banana sour cream bread muffins (I really need to buy a loaf pan) using this recipe. Didn’t turn out nearly as good as the last recipe I used.  These were beyond mushy and kind of bland. Oh wait – no fat in them. That could very well possibly be why.

Later, I attempted the currently blog-popular Montanna Whoppers. I had no chocolate chips or mini M&M’s, but I did have peanut M&M’s. Suggestion: they do not work. The dough was bland and really tasteless to me. And the M&M’s were too big for the cookies, so they didn’t go so well.

They look tasty! Too bad I still ate my weight in dough.

My baking attempts obviously weren’t too successful these past few days!

5. Celebrate a random person’s birthday. I accompanied my roommate out for her friend’s birthday to pizza Mediterranean food. Yes, I’ve always wanted to try it!

Chicken shawarma, hummus & pine nut platter with tabouleh. Also consumed a very large, warm & doughy, empty calorie white bread pita. I don’t like to think of things like this as “empty calories”. Sure, they’re not as “nutrionally beneficial” as whole wheat, but as long as it’s something I want and enjoy, why are they empty? I believe it filled me up quite nicely 😉

The rest of the night I snacked on doughy reese’s brownies. Yes – you read that right. Cue dropped jaw….now.

6. Make friends with the mailman. Mailed out my Special K treatment package!! A little on the late side, but it’s out there in mail-world and on its way!

Yes getting mail is something to do in your free time. Apparently. Because I receieved a little somethin’ somethin’ from Miss Holly!!

As soon as I started reading her cute little note – I knew it was from the creative gal herself. 😉 And I am in love with the cute ribbons!  Thank you Holly!! 😀

7. Grow a polar bear. How’s my little guy doing? Well I think Lars (what I named him – obviously) is done growing.

Much smaller than I was expecting. But still a cutie patooty. He has now won the honor of joining my polar bear community (yes – I collect polar bear things and even have a polar bear Christmas tree during the holidays. Just wait and see).

8. Make your own food because you’re too cheap to buy it. Naww…I just thought sunflower hummus sounded tasty!

Tossing and turning at 3 am? You can also stumble downstairs and make your own PB mix.  (I sound like an infomercial).  Getting a little tired of plain PB, I mixed it with raisins, a bit of agave, and cinnamon. Then I got the beyond brilliant idea to add pumpkin pie spice. So I did. Nothing better than pumpkin spice raisin PB made at 3 in the mornin’.

9. Ingest macro and micro nutrients necessary to fuel your body. Food is enery. And I like energy. So give me food. Pleeeease 🙂

Iced coffee & Vitabrownie snack (before the birthday dinner):

Deeeeeelicious! Not joking when I say this tasted like a real brownie. Okay. Almost like a real brownie. But it was melty and chocolatey!

Yesterday’s Ezekiel english muffin breakkie. 1/2 with maple almond butter & fig spread, 1/2 with my midnight pumpkin spice PB mixture & banana slices:

I also had 2-3 muffins throughout the morning before I realized they were actually disgusting and tossed them. 😦

What would my life be without another 3 other fruit & yogurt bowls? My one for lunch was ginormo.

Included in the large bowl is:

• 1/2 banana
• 1 whole James in the giant peach
• 1/2 a 16 oz container of strawbs
• 4-5 fresh figs
• 1 container plain Chobani
• Zoe’s granola
• Nature’s Path strawberry yogurt cereal
• Flaxseed
• Few spoonfuls of Sunbutter

Yes it fueled my long run quite nicely.

Post-run din din. Leftover chicken & tabouleh with homemade sunflower seed hummus in a Rudi’s spelt wrap.

I should’ve grilled it. All things taste better Formanated.

Followed by 2 of Holly’s delicious tahini cookies.

And then 1039304893 million cookie’s worth of Montana Cookie dough.

Please look away if you’re tired of yogurt messes. Breakfast this morning:

I. Am. Obsessed.

• 1 whole banana
• 1/2 peach
• ~10 oz strawberries
• 4 figs
• 1/2 carton peach chobani
• 1/2 carton blueberry chobani
• Zoe’s granola (on top and in the middle)
• Ground flaxseed

I’ll tire of them soon, I promise. And then I’ll be sad.  But you shall be happy because you’ll see variety.  Sorry about that.  But deal until then, k?

Oh and remember this bag of taffy’s I got from the candy store when we went kayaking? I’ve been digging into this all week.

This special time time I actually took a picture of it before I ate it, and I dug out some type of caramely one. Something like that. Who knows. It was good.

I’ve been eating 3-4 of these per day. The bag is dwindling, and it’s a must to get more soon.

10. Run aimlessly around in a circle 20 times. I did my long run of a teeny bit over 5 miles! Here’s what it looked like:

• 2.5 mile run
• .25 mile walk
• 1.5 mile run
• .25 mile walk
• 1 mile run

Total: 5+ (a little bit over) miles, but 5.72 miles including the walking
Time: 54:41

I felt awesome during my run. So awesome, in fact, that I just picked up speed and cruised right along until I realized that my knee was really bothering me around mile 3.5-4. I felt strong at that pace, but knew I needed to slooooooow it down for my knee. My time was pretty good for it to include about 1/2 mile of walking in there! But I need to slow down. Gaah.

11. Get drunk. I mean…we shall pretend I didn’t say that, and just stick to a list of 10, okay? Although our friends are having a back to school shin-dig tonight, and I fully intend to be hungover tomorrow. Not that I want that, but I get hungover after almost any amount of alcohol enters my system (blech), so we’ll see how it goes. It’s my last “last week of summer” ya hear?

If you made it through my massive list – congratulations. You won….well you won the joy of reading yet another of my posts in the future. I promise I’ll try and keep them shorter. Have a wonderful Friday and a fabulous start to your weekend!

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It’s a Girl!

I really wasn’t hungry right when I woke up for breakfast this morning. It’s so weird that this has been happening to me lately. I used to be starving the second I woke up – it actually kept me from sleeping in. I think it’s really been since I cut out my old running ways and also I’m not getting up very early now. Sleeping in seems to stall my appetite for a bit.

Anyways, I wanted something a bit more creative for breakkie, but am trying to use up my huge stash of frozen foods since 2 of our roommates are moving back soon, and I’m taking up a majority of freezer space right now!

I seemed to have acquired 2 packages of English muffins, so Food for life sprouted English muffins it was!

1/2 with maple almond butter, 1/2 with earth balance PB & Crofter’s jam.

Even this left me feeling too full – it goes to show how un-hungry I was!

Once my tum-tum settled a bit I hit up the track. Originally I planned to do a shorter run today and then another shorter one tomorrow. But once I got out there, I decided to do a “long” run today, and then rest my knee for 2 days in a row (Friday & Saturday).

Distance: 4.5 miles

Time: ??? I forgot G-man at home! But I did make myself go slower this time. I’m guessing I went about 9-10 minute miles.

Ended with 2 sets 15 pushups.

I really wasn’t hungry post-run, but figured I’d need a snack eventually and that was the best time!

Strawberries and fresh figs with some blueberry Chobani and strawberry Chobani. Zoe’s granola & a spoonful of Sunbutter.

Mmm I really like the blueberry yogurt (I was always a fan of blueberry yogurts), but the strawberry – ehhh not so much. It’s good, but not my fave.

I realized why I only have straightened my hair like 3 times this summer – because it’s so dang hot. I couldn’t stop sweating – does it count as a workout? Then I went to get my new phone. Yup, my phone’s been freezing, and I thought about wanting the 16 gb one. So that’s what I got. It’s all synced up now, my pretty pretty white phone 😀 Sara, my roommate, says it’s now officially a girl since it’s white. Cute.

When I got home just now, I had a Banana PB bomb muffin (PB spread on the inside):

Nectarine

And grabbed an iced Americano for the road (hey! We’ll be up late tonight!)

Now I’m sitting here deciding what to bring for dinner on the road. Our friend said he planned to stop at In-N-Out, so obviously I’d need to bring something (since I don’t eat burgers). But if they stop somewhere else – I can probably find something to eat. Meehhhh, I’m thinking making my own chicken burger and wrapping it up to eat. It’ll save me money too!

I still need to pick out what I’m wearing, then we’re off for our 1 1/2 hour drive to gambling central (hmm…if I planned to do much gambling). See you manana. Wish me winner’s luck!

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Taylor the Sailor!

Yes, I was a sailor for Halloween one year and actually carried around a sign that read “Taylor the Sailor”

I was so clever 😉

Beware: long post guys. Lonnngggg post. But don’t let that scare you off!! Please 🙂

Few things to catch you up with over here. First thing, kayaking!
After waiting around forever for the guys to beauty themselves up get their lazy butts ready, we finally made it up to Morro Bay. It was beautiful weather!! The bay can get extremely foggy, but it was almost crystal clear!

All buckled up and ready to go!

Sara and I rented a double.

So fun!! We even got super close to the seals!

Peeee U they stunk!! Why do seals sit with their noses turned up into the air like that? I was wondering.

We kayaked for about an hour. Tiring, but beautiful, refreshing, and fun!

Afterwards, we walked along the stores by the water for a bit in search of saltwater taffy. And boy did we find some!

60 flavors!!! I grabbed a big cauldron bucket and started piling them in. From pumpkin pie to hot chocolate, they had them covered 😀 Like a kid in a candystore I tell ya.

Now how about a little Foam Party action? Before we left for kayaking, we had a little adventure in our own kitchen. Sara, my roommate, used dish soap instead of dishwasher soap in our dishwasher.

2 cycles, a freshly mopped floor, and about 6 towels later – our dishes are sparkling clean. 😉

Despite being exhausted from kayaking (yes, 1 hour really seemed to tucker us out!), I set my alarm to get up early this morning before work for a run on the track.

Pre-run: 1/2 Ezekiel english muffin with Earth Balance PB & Crofter’s superfruit spread. And cawwfee of course.

Sorry for the half eaten muffin. I wasn’t going to photograph it, but then midway decided to.  Have I ever told you how much I like this PB?  It’s actually too salty for my taste, but other than that I really like it!  I’m not a fan of Smart Balance, but this Earth Balance stuff is quite good!

My run was stellar (did I really just say stellar?). Well as stellar awesome as a run can be running around in circles on a track.

Miles: 3.25-3.5 with a .25 mile walk break in the middle

Time: 29:34

Woohoo! I’m not sure on the exact distance because my Mr. G-man registers 1 lap around the track as .27 miles, when really it’s .25. Now that doesn’t seem like much, but when you added up all the laps, it can cause about 1/4 mile difference.

Football practice was going on next to and in the middle of the track this morning, so I had my entertainment 😉 Can I just say how good it felt to get up early and get ready for a run before work like the old days? Man I miss that!

Post-run snack: Penny’s low fat poppyseed muffin top with a little almond butter.

Oh my goodness golly yummness! This was soooo good. Definitely more dessert status than post-run status, but oh well!

Even though it was Labor day, I still had work. Labour on Labor day, eh? Guess so! I was a hungry, hungry girl today! Snacks through the morning included:

Carrots & this sundried tomato/pea/garlic dip thing they had in the fridge

It looks like guac, but it’s not.

A small berry/lemony moist tart thing (they had a party this past weekend, so had lots of delicious leftovers 🙂 )

And a couple sweet, buttery, candied pecans. These were good.

Finally got to sit down to lunch. Peach chobani (much better than I was expecting! I like it better than the strawberry) with strawberries, 1/2 white nectarine, Zoe’s cinnamon raisin granola & Nature’s Path strawberry yogurt cereal. With a little something new today!

Chia seeds!

Ewww they look like little bugs! LOL. But honestly, I couldn’t taste them at all! And for all the benefits they provide (omega-3 fatty acids, tons of fiber, calcium, protein), I find them wonderful! I can’t wait to make chia-seed pudding!

Plus 2 rice stuffed grape leaves:

(this picture was from last week, but they look the exact same. Literally.)

I dug into this bag a couple times during the afternoon:

And also had an unpicutred Cranbran Vitatop.

Finally – home for dinner! A grilled pupusa (cheese filled corn tortilla) topped with sauteed Mexican seasoned veggies, guacamole, sour cream & corn salsa.

This was mad good. The ooey gooeyness of the cheese. Oh man. But afterwards I was still hungry! So I whipped up a strawberry vanilla almond milk smoothie.

And snagged a couple of these little babies.

They’re cutie-patootie minis!!

I then headed to a friend’s house for a little Scattegories & Baby Mama action. But the whole time I was thinking about how hungry I was!! So right when I got home I devoured:

2 of Tina’s Peanut Butter granola cookie balls. (post to come on these, I promise – this post was already big enough ;-)! )

2 mugs hot chocolate (yes 2). Some dried apple chips dipped in almond butter, and a couple of chocolate someraults. Why was my appetite so out of control today?!

I’m so sorry for the long post guys – but I wanted to get caught up on everything. And I’m sorry for the sporadic commenting! It seems that everytime I sit down to dig into my reader, something comes up.  But no work tomorrow, so hopefully I’ll put a dent into my To-Do list and my google reader!

How was everyone’s holiday weekend?  Any fun vacations, activities, or parties?? Do tell 😀

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Dessert for Breakfast

Like I promised you yesterday, I did indeed make a nice bowl of yogurt mess. 🙂

• 1 container plain Chobani
• 1 white nectarine
• 1/2 banana
• Zoe’s cinnamon raisin granola
• Spoonful of almond butter for good measure

Wow I was starving – this tasted beyond words good!

Costco wasn’t anything too exciting – I just had to pick up water (yes, I do still drink bottled water – I really need to invest in a nice durable reusable one), and somehow this 4-lb container of strawberries ended up in my cart.

Oh well -gotta enjoy summer fruit while it lasts! And $5.49 for 4 lbs? C’mon!! How’s a girl supposed to turn that down. We also picked up a few things for the BBQ.

And they were also sampling Food Should Taste Good multigrain chips with guacamole 🙂 Mmmm. I love good samples!

Once home, I got to work making cookies for the BBQ. So upset I didn’t get pictures of the dough because that is by far the best part! I love this cookie recipe that all my siblings call my “mom’s” cookies because she would always make them. It’s an actual cookie recipe from somewhere that she just tweaked throughout the years (no nuts, using oil instead of butter, and no chocolate chunks – just chips). And it really does make a HUGE batch. I cut it in half and still came out with 40 good sized cookies.  I also actually used whole wheat flour, which I normally wouldn’t do (especially when baking them for other people).  I was just out of normal flour and realized it at the last minute.  They actually turned out completely find, and no one knew the difference!

Mom’s Cookies

(Makes a HUGE batch. Cut in half to make less)
2 c. brown sugar
2 c. white sugar
2 c. oil
4 eggs
1 tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp vanilla
4 c. flour
5 c. blended oatmeal
1-2 c. milk chocolate chips

1. Cream sugars and oil.

2. Add eggs.

3. Mix dry ingredients together. Add to sugar/oil mixture in slow batches. It makes a thick dough, so keep mixing until it’s all moist.

4. Cook at 350 for approx 9-10 minutes. The cookies will look really doughy when you take them out, but don’t worry, they harden up. And they’re supposed to be soft 🙂

I made half this way, and then added cinnamon & heath toffee bits to the second half. The cinnamon was a huge hit! It had a slight snickerdoodle taste to it. I’ll have to convince my mom to add cinnamon to hers now.

So I obviously snacked on some dough and cookie crumbles – probably about 2 full cookie’s worth.

The BBQ was fun! It was great to have a fun-filled laughing night. It’s been a while since one of those 🙂 I did bring my own garlic lime chicken patty to grill and the guys kept making fun of it! It did look a little out of place on the grill though. haha

I completely forgot to get a picture of my actual dinner as it was kind of chaotic, and I was half falling off a chair it was so crowded haha. But I had 4 watermelon slices and my chicken patty on a normal white bun with tons of BBQ sauce & ketchup.

K folks, I normally would not eat a white bun – I always have my whole wheat ones to use at home, or I would just eat the patty plain with some other side. I know it sounds bad, and I’m almost ashamed to say it, but I felt immense peer pressure to eat the bun last night. No one was verbally pressuring me, but I knew if I didn’t eat my burger with a bun, people would question it and make generalizations – “Oh she’s carb-o-phobic, or too healthy, or what’s wrong with her?” I know I should not care at all what other people are thinking. I should eat what I want. But I already felt a little out of place eating a “special” burger, and I knew the bun would add to it. So I went ahead and ate it. And I’m not saying white buns are bad for you. They’re not going to kill you. They’re not going to make you fat. It’s just more processed and less nutritionally dense than a wheat bun. That’s all. But it was the fact that I almost felt forced to eat it, that I feel bad about. If it was something that I enjoyed and tasted good (like dessert), than I would be completey happy about it! But as I was eating my burger, the bun literally had a plasticy taste to it, or almost no taste at all. It took away from the garlicy taste of my delicious chicken patty. That’s that. I just wanted to make it clear that I wasn’t a little put-off about having to eat a white bun because it was white, but because I almost felt forced to eat it when it honestly didn’t taste good. I don’t want to make a huge deal about it, but it’s just something I was thinking about last night as I was eating it. Moving on…

My cookies were a huge success!

And someone else brought brownies (which were like batter in the center haha) and ice cream.

I had 2 cookies, and 1 brownie.

I made this with one cookie and my brownie:

But added a couple more scoops of vanilla ice cream afterwards 🙂

We then spent the rest of the night cracking up while playing Catch Word (the same as Catch Phrase – it was just an Iphone application! Pretty awesome!) and Apples to Apples (you’re never too old to play that game!)

Late last night I remembered to put something special in the fridge for this morning’s breakfast:

A breakfast cookie!!

• 1/3 cup multigrain oats
• 1/8 cup almond milk
• 1 mashed banana
• Cinnamon, maple syrup & raisins
• 1 tbsp almond butter

I then frosted it this morning with plain Chobani. Mmmm it was really really good. The reviews around blogworld don’t lie! However, it was a bit too banana-y tasting to me, so I think next time I’ll use just 1/2 a banana. And maybe add in some stronger tasting mix-ins. And I also couldn’t taste the almond butter at all! Maybe mixing in PB2 powder would help give a stronger nut butter taste? Anyone have good recommendations?

So I have a massive to-do list for today/this weekend. Here’s what I hope to get accomplished today:

Workout
Clean out my locker at the gym
Clean/organize room/rearrange furniture
Call my madre
AT&T store to deal with my phone (it’s been acting up)
Organize my music on my computer & Itunes
Catch up on Google reader
Work on the blog

Do-able? I hope so!

And now, the moment you’ve all been waiting for! The random winner of Nature’s Path Giveaway is….

Dee from the Apple Hill Adventurer! Congratulations!! Just shoot me an email at tsaunder@calpoly.edu with your address, and the 3 products you wanted.

Thank you to everyone who entered!! And I may be having another giveaway in the near future 😉 so check back soon!

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Who likes the track anyways?

I didn’t know what I wanted to breakfast this morning, but wasn’t too hungry right away. When I finally got a little hungry (about an hour after waking), I was already sweating from my coffee, so hot oats were out. And I didn’t want something too heavy since I’d be working out soon. Hmmm what do I have…? Oh yeah! Bagels in the freezer!

Rudi’s cinnamon raisin bagel, 1/2 topped with maple almond butter, a bit of Crofter’s South America superfruit spread (maqui berries and passionfruit blended with red grapes and morello cherries) and banana slices. The other 1/2 topped with whipped cream cheese & a bit of jam.

I liked the almond butter side better 🙂 And I now have garlic breath since it was garlic & herb cream cheese! Mmm pleasant 😉 As much as I like bagels, it was over too quickly. That’s why I like big bowls of yogurt messes or oatmeal – takes longer to eat!

I really didn’t want to swim again – I go through phases. Plus it makes me feel really weird the rest of the day – groggy and…blah. I don’t know why! I used to love swimming! I felt the need to sweat, and since our gym is closed (boooo) I decided to try the track. I figured that would be more forgiving to my knee than the pavement, right?

So I don’t know if I’m getting sick, or if it was the heat, or if I’m just plain out of shape, but the track was hard. I felt nauseous, and my face was burning, but inside I felt chilly. Like I had goosebumps. Is that what a fever feels like? ha. Anyways, I did a lot of walk breaks – I didn’t really keep track, but I think I did: (remember each lap = .25 mile)

• 3 laps run (.75 mile)/1 lap walk
• 4 laps run (1 mile)/1 lap walk
• 3 laps run (.75 mile)/1 lap walk
• 1 lap run (.25 mile)/1 lap walk
• 2 laps run (.5) miles)/1 lap walk

I think I totaled about 3.25 miles running. But it was bad. I can’t believe that just 5 months ago I was doing 20 mile training runs! I’m hoping it was mostly the heat because I was doing fine on my outside run last week, and I can go much farther on the treadmill. Ugh. At least knee-wise it felt fine. No pain or twinges whatsoever like there is on outside pavement. We’ll see how it feels in the next couple days!

Anyways, enough complaining, I’m sorry!! I’m about to grab a snack/light lunch right now (I’m thinking yogurt mess??), then hit up Costco (yay!). And we’re heading to our friend’s for a BBQ tonight.  I’m pretty sure I’m going to bring dessert – any suggestions?  I’m thinking just cookies or I might make those PB cookie balls that I’ve seen on a couple blogs lately.  Those look good!

Don’t forget to enter my giveaway by tonight!! I’ll pick a random winner in the morning (or tonight after midnight if I’m up) and let you all know!

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Sunscreen Your Elbows

So y’all know what a warm day off from work equals don’t ya?  Pool time, duhhh.  First I fueled up with a bowl of oats.  I’ve had a bag of chocolate somersaults for months now, and after almost finishing off the bag, I had to set them aside since I knew they would make a stellar oatmeal topping.  I finally remembered to use them today!

In the mix:

• 1/2 cup multigrain mix (from Trader’s yo’ – it’s some good stuff)
• 1 cup almond milk
• 2 egg whites (was feelin’ the whites today, not the whole egg.  Don’t ask why)
• Cinnamon, vanilla & maple syrup
• PB2 powder
• Chobani plain

Then topped with:

• Banana Nut Cheerios (holla!)
• Chocolate somersaults (amazing on oatmeal)
• Justin’s maple almond butter
• More Chobani

This bowl was rockin.  Guys, the Greek yogurt made all the difference.  Crazy crazy good.  With a delicious cup of coffee (x3 – I use mostly decaf.  No caffeine overdose here!) in my favorite mug 🙂

Then I hit up the pool.  I originally planned to do at least an hour workout (and about 2 miles), but this was my first time back in the water in about 2 months and boy, something was off!  I felt insanely dizzy and nauseous.  So I cut the swim short after 30 minutes and 1 mile.  Ugh!

After soaking up some rays, I came home to hit up the new Forever 21 with my roommate.  This place is huge and it’s really going to kill me this year.  Or kill my wallet.  I walked out of there with 3 new shirts, 1 new pair of earrings, and I think I’m going back for another shirt I really liked.  Ahhhh!!!  I grabbed this Cashew Cookie Larabar while rushed between pool & shopping time, and ate it while browsing.

I was still starving when we got home (never did have time to have lunch!), but it was almost dinna so I just whipped up a snackie.  Green Monster – it has been so long!  Wait…or is it mushy colored pond scum monster?

Topped with Zoe’s granola.  I made this one with frozen strawberries so the color was a bit…off.  I miss my frozen mangoes.

Still snacky afterwards…

Those would be snap peas inside the beautiful photogenic plastic bag.  I was lazy, k?  And an aspartame filled green tea.  Yummm.  Or not.  I like the actual Lipton brand better.  My elbows were also a bit tender and I realized they were sunburned.  Weird.  Lesson learned folks.  Put sunscreen on your elbows.

Dinner was thrown together in…oh…about 5 minutes.  I know, I was really creative tonight.  A mini Greek-ish platter with rice stuffed grape leaves and a Sunshine falafel burger topped with hummus.  And I most definitely added BBQ sauce to it after this was taken.

So I was stoked to try these burgers after seeing/reading so much about them on the blogs.  But honestly?  I was disappointed in how small they are.  And they’re pretty dry.  I know I should jazz it up in different ways, so what are your favorite ways to eat this patty?  And I still have a coupon for a free box of Sunshine burgers.  Any favorite flavors out there?

Followed by an unpictured square of dark chocolate.  I’m super munchy tonight.  I think I know what that means…

My roommate (Sara) and I then met some friends at Woodstock’s Pizza for Trivia Night!  It was my first time, and pretty fun!  You’re in teams, and they pretty much just ask tons of questions.  There are different rounds, prizes, etc.  I was still a big hungry so I had 1 deliciously doughy pizza crust since our friend does not like pizza crust.  *Gasp*.  Especially this crust.  What’s wrong with him?!

We did order the Cinnabread dessert pizza however.  Please excuse my crappy artistically blurry phone picture.

Who needs cheese on their pizza?  Why not cinnamon, butter & loads of frosting?  However it came out with pools of butter on top.  Yes that yellowish stuff is butter, not pee.  I had about half a slice and it tasted exactly like a cinnamon roll.  I wasn’t really feeling the rest, it was way too sweet.  I mean gagging sweet.  It has such great potential!

Still hungry when we got home, I found some frozen strawberry bread I made a few months ago in the freezer.  Mmmm!!  Although once toasted, it tasted like old freezer burn.  Blech.  I’ll have to remake that bread soon.  It was delicious.  So I settled on the last of my flattened banana with almond butter (I cannot get enough of this Justin’s almond butter).

With a side of hot chocolate of course.

And thank you so much for your awesome quinoa suggestions!  I’ve gotten wraps, on salads, with scrambled eggs, and in stuffed mushrooms!  I’m loving them all!  Keep them coming (if you have any!).  I can’t wait to test them out.

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Follow Me (everything is all right)

Uncle Kracker song anyone?  Anyways, first things first guys. I never thought I would say this, but, I now have a twitter. Follow me? Fly after me? Soar after me? Whatever birds do…do it. I know almost everyone else in blogland has a twitter, but I don’t know how to find y’all! I’m obviously new to it. So anyone else? Post your links, I guess!

I started out the morning with a 2 mile walk. My knee has been very tender and sore since my outside run last week. I did do a couple treadmill runs this weekend (which I’m sure didn’t help), but it’s really amazing how much more outside really irritates my knee. Unfortunately my school gym is closed for 3 more weeks. I guess I can try a track?

I knew exactly what I wanted for breakfast again this morning. Overnight muesli of course!

I soaked overnight:

• 1/4 cup muesli mix
• 1/2 cup almond milk
• 2 spoonfuls strawberry chobani
• Cinnamon, vanilla & squirt of maple syrup
• Chopped date

This morning I mixed in Banana Nut Cheerios and then topped it all off with:

• 1/2 chopped nectarine
• Rest of the strawberry yogurt (about a spoonful)
• 1 spoonful almond butter
• Zoe’s cinnamon raisin granola

I wanted some crunch on top and went in search of granola. I saw this box was “Best by August ’09” so I knew I needed to open it up and use it pronto! I forgot how much I love Zoe’s granola!

K guys, this stuff is awesome! Although not as good as it was mixed with banana (I had none last night 😦 ), it was still yumm-o in my tumm-o!

Then it was off to work! The little baby was adorable today (although I did get spit-up on about 4 times. Why do I shower beforehand again?) She couldn’t stop giggling at one point! Too cute 🙂

Lunch was a Cedarlane bean & cheese burrito I grabbed quickly out of the freezer. I really didn’t plan ahead for lunch! Topped with a dollop of guacamole.

These burritos are amazing for a quick frozen meal. All organic, the ingredients list is so simple. All it really contains are: organic Pinto Beans, Organic Brown Rice, Soy Cheddar Cheese, Organic Tomatoes, Organic Tomato Puree, spices & a tortilla. I love how it’s soy cheese & brown rice!

With the rest of my nectarine from breakfast:

And snackies:

My 30 minute drive home was spent thinking of what to make for dinner.  I have an insane amount of food that needs to be used up (I always come back to school from home with soooo much food loaded up in a cooler 😉 ), so I have a ridiculous amount of meal options! I do, however, have a couple perishable bulk items that I need to use up quickest (more quickly, quicker…??).

I got this large Cranberry Quinoa Salad with Pumpkin Seeds container at Costco:

Quinoa, tart cranberries and raisins, balanced with the smoky flavor of toasted pumpkin seeds, infused with the taste of honey.

It’s delish!! While it has delicious and wholesome ingredients, it’s pretty calorie and fat dense (due to added canola oil) for the 1/2 cup serving (which is a teeny amount!), so I’m trying to find different ways to beef it up. I know I can just eat it straight up, but that get’s boring, right?! And what fun is that? 😉 I’ve already stuffed it into bell peppers.

I was starving tonight and had no unique ideas, so to “spice it up” I cooked up some nectarine pieces and mixed those in with some feta cheese.

The feta cheese really added to it. I’ll probably mix that in again. Anyone have any other good ideas to use this for? I’m already thinking a wrap filling.

Is it weird that quinoa never keeps me full very long? It always surprises me because it has so much protein & fiber. But I’m always hungry so soon after. I ventured downstairs just now in search of something…something…ahhh some nut butter 🙂 Never fails.

Trader Joe’s just flattened bananas rolled up with PB (x3):

And a couple dried apple crisps dipped into almond butter:

(One of the best discoveries ever).

Also enjoying the CMA Music Fest: Country’s Night to Rock tonight. I wish I could go to a major festival like this! How fun 🙂 Also squeezed in 15 minutes of ab work at one point while watching. That makes up for my ultra laziness all day right?

Speaking of country music, Rascal Flatts added a new stop to their concert in San Jose (30 minutes from my house). YESSSS!!!! 😀 My sisters and I jumped at this and purchased tickets A-stat. Prior to this addition, they didn’t have any concerts in CA at all! We’re excited. I’ve heard they’re amazing live.

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Flips & Cartwheels

The weekend at home was pretty uneventful, but I did get to see my sister compete in her first gymnastics meet in Sacramento!

I’m so happy I got to see her compete in all 4 events. It was amazing to watch what she works so hard for each week, and I was so proud of her 😀

I didn’t capture everything this weekend, but I did get a few.

Friday’s deliciously dense cinnamon raisin Ezekiel english muffin with almond butter, tayberry jam, & smushed banana:

Breakfast before we left for Sacramento was a honeydew fruit bowl (I actually had this Saturday and Sunday).

Filled with strawberries, blueberries (extremely sour ones!), white nectarine, Chobani yogurt, and a sprinkling of Strawberry & Yogurt Nature’s Path:

Soooooooo full after all this! But delicious.

I completely forgot to take a picture of my taco salad dinner at El Balazo, but remembered to snap one of the leftovers before I devoured them the next day:

A bunch of ice cream was consumed. Some more of this Tennesee Mud Pie coconut milk ice cream (simply amazing stuff) along with Breyer’s free cookies & cream.

I actually really really like this fat free ice cream. Most fat free (and even some low fat) varieties have that awful taste to them. But this stuff is creamy and delicious! It’s different, but I love it!

This (and a honey graham clif z-bar) were devoured in hunger at the meet. It was good, but I like the cashew flavor better.

An unpictured McDonald’s soft serve cone. Yummm. I forgot how delicious their cones are!! And for one dolla!

I just arrived back here at school at about 10:30 and raided the kitchen hungry!! After some spoonfuls from the froyo carton, I settled on a rice cake spread with almond butter and sprinkled with Banana Nut cheerios & a few chocolate chips:

Twas tasty – but I think I like it with jam on it as well.

Oh yay The Notebook’s on TV!  Time to lay in bed, catch up on google reader, and cry my eyes out hit the sack!

Hey peeps – and don’t forget about my first giveaway!! Time’s ticking! 😉

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