Oatmeal, Almond Butter and Jeggings

So I gave oatmeal another chance and.....yuck. I have such texture issues. I can still only handle oatmeal if it's mixed into yogurt.  But I thought I would provide you with the recipe anyways.  It tasted good, just the texture made me want to vom. Oh well

Pumpkin Pie Oatmeal

1/3 cup old fashioned oats

1/3 cup skim milk

1/3 cup milk

1/2 banana cut into slices

1/3 cup pumpkin

shake of cinnamon

shake of pumkin pie spice

Put oats, milk and water in a small saucepan and cook over medium heat.  Once the oatmeal starts to bubble, add banana and mix often.  The oatmeal should be done in about 5 minutes.  Stir in pumpkin, cinnamon and pumpkin pie spice.  Add toppings. I added a spoonfull of peanut butter and craisins.

After breakfast I went for a 3 mile run around the neighborhood.  It was a little on the cold side, but it felt good to get a run in outside with no foot pain! I came back and had lunch.  A peice of great harvest dakota toast with barney butter and apple butter, a pomagranate chobani and a sliced apple.

My new almond butter.  I'm a huge fan!

Recently I broke down and purchased my first pair of JEGGINGS haha. I resisted for so long, but tried some on a few months ago and realized that they are actually really comfy. Make fun of me all you want but I love them.



(notice my granny sweater to keep me warm in our freezing house)

After a full day of cleaning and playing with the puppers, Matt and I went out to dinner with my parents.  I had a LivingSocial coupon to a restaurant called AquaSol.  I love this place. They have really good food and they also have half portion entrees which is a huge plus in my mind.  My dinner was yummy. I had the salmon with wild rice and pineapple salsa and a side of zucchini and squash.

My mom alwys provides me with a plethera of awesome magazines when I see her. I'm sitting down to read people magazine right now.  Can't resist!



Trying to find the right running shoe

Happy Friday everyone! I'm just sitting here tonight thinking about what else....my running shoes.  When I first started running I didn't wear the appropriate footwear and I didn't change my shoes out as often as I should have.  I started to develop pain on the ball of my foot by my big toe joint.  I decided that I should probably get new shoes to see if that would help.  After doing some research I ended up with the Asics GT-2150:

To be honest I wasn't looking to spend a lot of money.  Matt had a coupon to a local department store.  I did some research into motion controlled shoes and found out that they had this shoe at the store on sale!! So I went for it.  These shoes were great. They had good support and a wide toe box.  Within a couple of weeks the pain had subsided. I felt it every now and then but defintely not as bad as it had been.  So 6 months goes by, Matt and I join a running club and I realize hey, I should probably get new shoes again.  With our running club membership we got 20% off at a local new balance store.  I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to figure out what shoes were right for me and get a professional's opinion.  I spent way more money than I thought I would and trusted the salesman's opinion.  I walked out of the store with this shoe:

The New Balance 1260.  I did my first couple of runs and everything was ok.  They were much different than the asics. It felt almost like I was walking on a cloud they were so cushiony.  The guy at the store said they were for moderate overpronators so I thought they would have good support, but I think my $50 asics had more.  As my running got more frequent the pain in my foot returned.  Whenever I wore these shoes I could feel it.  I really didn't want to admit to myself that I just wasted all this money on these shoes and that the cheap shoes were probably a better fit for me.  After my 10k I gave my foot a rest for a couple of weeks. My first few runs back I used my old asics. NO PAIN!! My doctor's appointment is Monday and hopefully that will take me to a foot specialist.  I think I want to get a real professional's opinion before I go buying another pair of running shoes.

For now I'm doing shorter runs and stopping if I have any pain. Thank God it's winter...gives me a good excuse to cross train since it's so cold out!

Tomorrow morning I will be giving oatmeal another try.  I could never stomach it before because of the texture.  The overnight oats are the only way I could handle them (because I'm obsessesed with greek yogurt).  Well I'm giving them another go.  I'm making pumpkin pie oatmeal...noticing a trend lately? PUMPKIN!!!



Back In The Saddle

I'm back baby! After biking, walking, light "jogging" and elipticaling my life away since my 10k I finally went for it today and ran! My foot has been feeling great all this week so I decided I needed to run.  My doctor's appointment is scheduled for monday and I will still tell her about my foot. I just really needed to run today.  It's such an amazing stress reliever.  I felt invigorated afterwards and wanted to keep going, but I stopped myself.  Don't want to push the foot too much. Here's what I did:

Treddy Interval Workout:

warmup:

walk 2 minutes @ 4.0

minutes 2-3 speed 5.0

minutes 3-4 speed 5.3

minutes 4-5 speed 5.5

minutes 5-6 speed 5.8

minutes 6-10 speed 6

speed intervals:

alternated 1 minute sprinting and 2 minutes running @ 6.0 from minutes 10-25

hill intervals:

alternate 1 minute at incline 1/2/3/4 then back down and 1 minute at incline 0 from minutes 25-39

sprint until 4 miles! 9 about 1-2 more minutes

Today was also a yummy meal day. I had my usual for breakfast followed by a big salad for lunch with some leftover black bean burger.

spinach leaves, black bean burger, pineapple, carrots, blue cheese, craisins, sugar snap peas and an apple on the side

For dinner I used our broiler for the first time ever...hard to believe I know.  I cooked up a london broil for Matt (my carnivore).  I also made a baked potatoe and cooked some spinach in a pan with garlic salt and pepper.

unsweetened applesauce on the side

For dessert I had to have another one of my pumkin cranberry muffin tops with some peanut butter and a peice of dark chocolate. Perfect end to the day.









Craving Pumpkin

Today was a blur! Busy day at work with a birthday lunch for a coworker smacked in the middle.  We went to a vietnamese restaurant in Newark.  I had never had vietnamese food before, but it was pretty good. I went safe and ordered the  chicken and mixed vegetable.  It sure was filling, so I stuck with just a peanut butter and apple butter sandwhich for dinner with a banana on the side before I went to the gym.  The gym was much less crowded than Monday! I think all of the post thanksgiving workout people have already given up lol.  I did 25 minutes of weight training and 40 minutes of cardio.  I broke my no running rule and ran for 20 minutes and loved every second of it. I did some small intervals but kept it at an easy pace just in case. But my foot feels good! I finished with 20 mintues on the bike at level 8 on the random setting.

Last night I was craving pumpkin like no other. Sometimes you just have to feed the beast! haha. I found a recipe for Pumpkin Cranberry Muffin Tops.  I think pumpkin and cranberry are amazing together so this was perfect for me. I adjust the recipe for what I had on hand and they came out perfectly.

Pumpkin Cranberry Muffin Tops (from fANNEtastic food)

dry ingredients:

1/2 cup whole wheat flour

1/2 cup unbleached all purpose flour

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/2 tbsp pumpkin pie spice

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

wet ingredients:

1/2 cup canned pumpkin

1/4 cup applesauce

1/6 cup dried cranberries

1/6 cup maple syrup

1.5 tbsp egg whites

1/2 tsp vanilla

Mix dry and wet ingredients separately.  Then add wet ingredients to dry ingredients.  Form 12 small cookies.  Bake for 15 mintues on a cookie sheet covered with parchment paper at 350 degrees.

YUM!! It was just what I needed. Healthy and satisfying!



Are you that girl that smells like onions??

I will get to my amazing black bean burger recipe soon, but first....I learned a very important lesson yesterday. Don't cut up or eat large amounts of onions before going to the gym.  You will reek haha. Yesterday was one of those crazy busy days where you barely have time to stop and think.  I got home from work, walked the dog, made our black bean burgers (for dinner tonight) and then started on dinner for last night.  Matt's mom had given us some ham so I just wanted to make a side. I had a can of white beans on hand so I decided to use those.

I started out by putting about 2 tbsp of olive oil in a pan and added a half of a chopped onion and 2 cloves of garlic to it.  I cooked that for a few minutes and then added the drained white beans (15oz can) along with some salt, pepper and dried thyme.  After this cooked for a few minutes I added a splash of white wine. 

Yum. So after dinner I headed to the gym without realizing that I smelled sooo bad like big onion. I really noticed it when I started doing my cardio haha. I was trying to read people's lips around me to see if they had notice. I'm so paranoyed. 

Anyways....today was another day.  I had a dentist appointment which took FOREVERRRR. I got home around 5:30 and put my black bean burgers (made the night before) into a pan to cook.



I found this recipe somewhere, but it was so long ago now that I can't remember.

Favorite Black Bean Burgers

1 16oz can black beans

1/2 green bell pepper chopped

1/2 onion chopped

3 cloved garlic minced

1 egg

1 tbsp chili powder

1 tbsp cumin

1 tsp hot sauce

1/2 cup panko bread crumbs

Mash black beans in a bowl with a fork.  Place pepper, onion and garlic in a food processor and pulse.  Add these to the black beans and mix.  In another bowl mix together egg, chili powder, cumin and hot sauce.  Add this mixture to the black ben mixture.  Add bread crumbs until patties will stay together.  This recipe makes 4 patties.  Cook on the grill or stovetop 8 minutes per side.

I also threw a sweet potatoe in the microwave for 10 minutes (5 minutes per side) and had some carrots and celery on the side.

On such a rainy day I'm glad I'm inside staying dry. Matt surprised me today by getting our backyard fenced in for Champ!! It looks great and Champ is going to love running around back there and playing fetch!



I Don't Want It To End!!!

After my 4 day weekend I really don't want it to end. It's been nice to do things outside and spend time with the new pup.  I started off my day with a trip to the gym.  I've been sticking to cross-training since my 10k because of my foot (I'm calling the doctor tomorrow I swear).  It has been getting better. I've traded in the treadmill for the stationary bike and eliptical :( to my dismay.  It's still a workout either way, but I miss running so much.  I also did about a half hour of weight training. When I got home I grabbed some lunch and then took the pup to the Newark Resevoir for a walk.

Champ had a blast seeing all of the people and dogs. It was super crowded because of the unseasonably warm weather...I even broke out my shorts!  We walkeda about 2 miles before heading home.  And waiting for me at home? Chores. Laundry, dishes, cleaning my car, cooking.

When it came time for dinner I really had no plan.  I searched through the fridge and freezer and decided on Chicken Parm Rollups.  I mixed together about a third of a cup of part skim ricotta cheese with a handfull of frozen spinach and a bit of shredded parmesean and garlic powder. I mixed that all together and spread it on a chicken breast cutlet.

Then rolled up the chicken and put it seem down in a baking pan. I baked the chicken for 25 minutes at 425 degrees.

Then I pulled them out and topped then with some tomatoe sauce and more shredded cheese. I popped them back in the oven for 3 minutes until the cheese melted.

I had some garlic toast and veggies on the side. Yum!

Not looking forward to this full week of work :(