my next race!
Andrea
Its Thursday!!! I am SO ready for this weekend. I feel like I haven't had a chance to slow down and hang out with my hubb in weeks...we are in need of some quality time! I'm picturing movies, pop corn, yoga and running. And as a bonus, some good friends are in town and I believe we have plans for brunch on Sunday. Aaaahhh...I feel content just thinking about it. :)
But first, today's recap.
Breakfast: fig + peanut butter oats
[419 cal]
Reader Lindsey asked me to tell a bit more about my oats process in the morning. So, here goes! Toppings and mix-ins change, but this classic bowl seems to be one I come back to over and over again.
Fig + PB Oats
[400-ish calories, 15.8g fat, 2.2g sat. fat, 58.3g carbs, 9.5g fiber, 18.8g sugar, 13g protein]
Ingredients:
My oats stuck with me for about 3 hours today, so I snacked on a piece of banana date bread mid-morning to hold me over 'till lunch an hour later.
Snack: banana date bread
[143 cal]
We had lots of leftover gumbo from last nights dinner, but I wasn't up for a bowl of just gumbo because it was so rich. I decided to quickly saute' some kale to use as a base for my gumbo/rice mixture. It was perfect!
Lunch: leftover gumbo on sauteed kale.
Snacks: 1 square of dark chocolate and a Clif ZBar, apple cinnamon flavor, pre-run
[200 cal]
Remember my apple incident with my run last week? Well apparently the upset stomach while running results from apple energy bars too... It wasn't as bad today as it was when I ate a whole apple prior to my run, but it still wasn't pleasant.
Exercise: 4.1 mile run with Kelly
[-420 cal]
We've decided to run the Martha Jefferson 8k on March 14th!!!!! This will be my longest race distance yet!!!!! I'm super-excited, if you can't tell by all of the exclamation points. :) We ran most of the race route today and it is H.I.L.L.Y! You're probably really tired of me writing that... It was a really nice run though and I felt completely confident that I could have run the whole route tonight. I'm going to get a 4-1/2 - 5 mile run in this weekend, and Kelly and I are going to run the whole race route one day next week, along with our normal evening runs.
For dinner my hubb and I had a last-minute meal with Kelly and her husband. We went to a little Mexican restaurant around the corner from our house and enjoyed good food and great conversation. I resisted the margarita and stuck with water, along with a veggie quesadilla, a few bites of refried beans and a handful of tortilla chips. Definitely canceled out the calories burned on my run, and then some!
Dinner: veggie quesadilla (LOADED with fresh roasted veggies...so good!!!), refried beans and some tortilla chips
[xxx cal???? how about A LOT. ]
Alrighty, I'm off to bed. T.G.I.F!!!
G'night!
Read More
Reader Lindsey asked me to tell a bit more about my oats process in the morning. So, here goes! Toppings and mix-ins change, but this classic bowl seems to be one I come back to over and over again.
Fig + PB Oats
[400-ish calories, 15.8g fat, 2.2g sat. fat, 58.3g carbs, 9.5g fiber, 18.8g sugar, 13g protein]
Ingredients:
- 1/2 cup rolled oats, 1 cup water, pinch of salt
- 1/2 mashed banana
- 1 tbsp soy milk
- 1 tsp ground flax seeds
- 2 dried figs, chopped
- 1-1/2 tbsp crunchy PB
- Bring 1 cup of water to a boil. Add pinch of salt and 1/2 cup of rolled oats. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to medium and simmer, stirring occasionally.
- When the oats have absorbed most of the water, after 5-7 minutes, turn off the heat. Add the mashed banana and splash of soy milk. Stir. Ad the flax seeds, stir.
- Pour oats into bowl and top with mix-ins of choice, mine usually being figs, PB, and wheatberries if I've got them. :)
- After I take my photos I stir everything up so that the peanut butter swirls through the whole mix. Yum!
My oats stuck with me for about 3 hours today, so I snacked on a piece of banana date bread mid-morning to hold me over 'till lunch an hour later.
Snack: banana date bread
[143 cal]
We had lots of leftover gumbo from last nights dinner, but I wasn't up for a bowl of just gumbo because it was so rich. I decided to quickly saute' some kale to use as a base for my gumbo/rice mixture. It was perfect!
Lunch: leftover gumbo on sauteed kale.
Snacks: 1 square of dark chocolate and a Clif ZBar, apple cinnamon flavor, pre-run
[200 cal]
Remember my apple incident with my run last week? Well apparently the upset stomach while running results from apple energy bars too... It wasn't as bad today as it was when I ate a whole apple prior to my run, but it still wasn't pleasant.
Exercise: 4.1 mile run with Kelly
[-420 cal]
We've decided to run the Martha Jefferson 8k on March 14th!!!!! This will be my longest race distance yet!!!!! I'm super-excited, if you can't tell by all of the exclamation points. :) We ran most of the race route today and it is H.I.L.L.Y! You're probably really tired of me writing that... It was a really nice run though and I felt completely confident that I could have run the whole route tonight. I'm going to get a 4-1/2 - 5 mile run in this weekend, and Kelly and I are going to run the whole race route one day next week, along with our normal evening runs.
For dinner my hubb and I had a last-minute meal with Kelly and her husband. We went to a little Mexican restaurant around the corner from our house and enjoyed good food and great conversation. I resisted the margarita and stuck with water, along with a veggie quesadilla, a few bites of refried beans and a handful of tortilla chips. Definitely canceled out the calories burned on my run, and then some!
Dinner: veggie quesadilla (LOADED with fresh roasted veggies...so good!!!), refried beans and some tortilla chips
[xxx cal???? how about A LOT. ]
Alrighty, I'm off to bed. T.G.I.F!!!
G'night!
our favorite
our favorite late night coffee and beignets, 
at our favorite jazz bar,
on our favorite day, at 
I had big plans for this week, different NOLA-inspired recipes every day. Some gumbo, red beans, muffalettas and bananas foster. I have fallen WAY short of that goal, but do have a bit of the Big Easy to share with you from dinner tonight... But first, breakfast.
My oats this morning were tasty, but a little dry. And not too filling, surprisingly. I was starving just 3 hours later.
Breakfast: ultra-textured oats
[398 cal]
Lunch: a lovely salad and 3 Back To Nature multigrain flax crackers
[400 cal]
I had my board meeting after work, so knew that dinner would be late. I packed this bar in case of emergency, and needed it at 7:30. It was pretty good...reminded me a lot of the Clif Nectar Cacao bars.
When I pulled in my driveway at 8:30 and climbed out of the car, I could smell dinner cooking. Seriously. From the driveway. And it wasn't being cooked outside on the grill, it was inside my kitchen. I don't know if that speaks more of the amazing aroma of gumbo or the crappy quality of my windows but either way, I couldn't wait to get inside and dig in!!!
Dinner: GUMBO!!!!! On rice, with a glass of cabernet.
I've debated whether or not to share this recipe. It was really delicious, but my hubb and I have had better. My stepfather makes an amazing gumbo that he has adapted over many years of experimenting with many different recipes. This one was from Paul Prudhomme, the father of the blackening method and owner/chef of one of our favorite NOLA restaurants,
I've decided not to share, because its not right yet. The roux was a deep chocolate brown, just like Chef Paul specifies, but we've learned that we like gumbos with more of a milk chocolate hue. And it was thick...much thicker than the last Chef Paul gumbo we tried. We're soupy gumbo folks, and will be working to perfect a recipe that reflects that texture. So now we have an excuse to make gumbo more often, because I'm determined that by the time I write about our anniversary on April 28th, I will have a gumbo recipe to share with you all.
And now I'm off to read more of 
Dinner: We were with my stepfamily in Daytona for their Christmas Eve tradition. This was the first time that the hubb and I participated because we typically spend Christmas Eve with my dad and other stepfamily (the hubb and I have 4 families total...). There were all kinds of goodies coming out of the kitchen that I munched on throughout the evening. We don't have a set meal, people just graze...its lovely. :) Here's a small sampling, I wasn't on top of the food pictures for the evening:
antipasti tray
crescent roll wrapped sausage
homemade chicken tenders (unbelievably good...I had several!)
cream puffs (also amazing...)
And the family
It was a lovely evening, and we were exhausted by the time we got home. I wrapped up a few last presents and then crashed!
Christmas morning was supposed to start with another run, but I just could not drag my bootie out of bed and when I thought I hit snooze I actually turned my alarm off. :( Oh well. We'll go later...or tomorrow...
Breakfast: The tradition in our family is to have panettone french toast [recipe to come]. I'm sure you've all seen the boxed panettone loaves in the supermarkets, they've become very popular. When we first started making our Christmas breakfast my stepfather had to search the state to find a loaf, and now they are everywhere! I guess we're trendsetters... :) Panettone is a fluffy Italian bread that contains candied orange, citron and lemon zest.
I think this may be my all-time favorite breakfast. I look forward to it every year. We spent last Christmas with the hubb's family and we had to introduce them to the tradition because there was just no way I could go a year without it. I realize I could make it on other days around the Christmas holidays, but its just not the same for me if I don't have it Christmas morning! This morning I also had two slices of bacon and some orange and tangerine slices.
After breakfast we opened presents! So much fun to be with my hubb, momma, stepfather, stepbrother and sister-in-law. I received some wonderful, thoughtful gifts, but I think my favorite is my new KitchenAid Mixer!!!!!!!!!!!!! My current KitchenAid is a 28-year old hand-me-down from my Momma. Its almond-colored...oh yeah. It only has 3 of its original 10 speeds and puts off an interesting electrical smell whenever I use it. It almost died while I was making marshmallows last week and I was nearly in tears. So, needless to say, I am SOOOOOO EXCITED!!!
My hubb gave me some fantastic new bread baking tools that I opened while we were still in Virginia so I don't have any pictures to share now, but I will because they will go so well with the new mixer!
Lunch: Our second Christmas food tradition (we have lots of food traditions...I told you, my family is ultra food-oriented!) is to make Chicken and Andouille Sausage Gumbo [recipe to come]. My family has a very strong love for New Orleans (the hubb and I even got married there!), which I will write more about when I post the recipe for the gumbo.
Christmas food (or drink) tradition #3 is MOJITOS!!!! My family does live in Florida, and when you have 80* Christmas' mojitos are completely appropriate. Trust me. :)
There are so many wonderful smells coming from the kitchen right now...we are going to have a fabulous afternoon meal here in a couple of hours that I will post later tonight. For now, I'm going to fulfill Christmas tradition #4, which is the afternoon nap! :)