Sprint 2 the Table

Appetites and Adventures

Free Chick-fil-A Breakfast!

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I was going to take the entire long weekend off from blogging…

…but THIS I had to share.

This week (8/6-8/10) Chick-fil-A will be giving away a FREE BREAKFAST entree to those with reservations.

 

Don’t eat fried chicken before noon?  No worries – you have options:

  • Spicy Chicken Biscuit
  • Sausage Biscuit
  • Chick-n-Minis
  • Bacon, Egg, and Cheese Biscuit
  • Chicken, Egg, and Cheese on a Sunflower Multigrain Bagel
  • Multigrain Oatmeal


To make a reservation, click here.

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Since I’m posting… here’s the weekly recap.  I was in 5 cities in 5 days this week and managed to workout every day (except Friday, which was a planned rest).  It wasn’t easy, but it can be done!

 

Workout Recap (8/29-9/4)

  • Monday – Biceps/Back, 2 mile walk, 100 push-ups
  • Tuesday – 45 mins elliptical, 6 min plank sequence, 100 push-ups
  • Wednesday – 4 mile run, 30 mins legs, Ab Ripper X, 100 push-ups
  • Thursday – Tris/Chest, 6 min plank sequence, 100 push-ups
  • Friday – Rest
  • Saturday – 4 mile run, short swim, 100 push-ups 
  • Sunday – Tennis, Ab Ripper X, 100 push-ups

***

If I have to go back to work tomorrow, at least there’s free breakfast!  So. Excited.

What was the best part of your long weekend?

Have you tried Chick-fil-A’s oatmeal yet?

 

Obesity Outbreak

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HALF of U.S. adults will be obese by 2030.*

Half.

We aren’t talking about a few extra pounds here.  Obesity is a serious problem.

That’s a mug… made of bacon… filled with cheese.

My co-worker and I were running through an airport the other day and he commented that he judges people that are clearly at an unhealthy weight who are eating Big Macs and riding on the moving walkways in airports.

His point is that they are adding to healthcare costs and, in turn, costing everyone.  It may be controversial, but I can’t say that I disagree.

Relax – you’ll never be more than a 145 mile drive from the nearest B’Mac.

 Source: Data Pointed

The other thing that bothers me?

Denny’s new sandwich offering is a 1650 calorie gut-buster: The Mac ‘n Cheese Patty Melt.

The contents?  “A hand-pressed beef patty topped with new creamy Mac ‘n Cheese, melted cheddar cheese, and zesty Frisco sauce on grilled potato bread.”

I get it’s their prerogative and people have the right to choose.  But really Denny’s… is this necessary? 

*As reported in the Washington Post, and according to a report released Thursday on the international obesity crisis in the British medical journal the Lancet.

***

This week of living at the mercy of hotel and airports have driven home the point that it’s not always easy to find healthy options.

Are restaurants being irresponsible serving items like this when half of our population will be at dangerous weights in less than 20 years?

Everybody’s WIAW

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Happy Hump-WIAW!

 Get yer mind out of the gutter.

 

As always, head over Peas & Crayons to check out 100+ others’ creative eats!

 

With football season so close (Tech’s opener is 8 days away!) and the Italy trip in less than 5 weeks, I’m getting really antsy.  Ants.  In.  My.  Pants.

Here’s our high-level Italian wine region/city itinerary:

  • Days 1-3 – Veneto/Verona
  • Days 3-5 – Friuli/Cormons
  • Days 5-6 – Lombardy/Milan
  • Days 6-8 – Piedmont/Alba
  • Day 9 – Driving/Hike Cinque Terre(!!!)
  • Days 9-11 – Tuscany/Lucca/Sienna
  • Days 12-13 – Tuscany/Florence

 

Of course, there will be side trips to smaller towns.  We are working out the winery strategy now.  Our trip also falls at the beginning of truffle season and I couldn’t be more excited.  One stop in the Piedmont region includes 2 hours hanging out with the chef at a family run, Michelin star restaurant before enjoying dinner there.

It is looking like this will be a trip to remember!

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After listing all of that my day’s eats seem anti-climatic, right?

 

Breakfast

 

 

A hodge-podge overnight oats mix in poor lighting at 7am:

  • 3/4 C unsweetened almond milk (a little too much… maybe just 1/2 C next time)
  • 1/2 scoop cookies and cream protein powder
  • 1/2 banana, mashed
  • 1/2 C uncooked oatmeal
  • 1/2 tsp cinnamon
  • Blueberries

 

Lunch

Here I go again with leftovers!

I made my Chili Nutty Tofu again – I think this is the recipe I repeat most often (which says a lot since I rarely repeat anything).  The spicy chili with the sweet, nutty peanut butter (use chunky!) is addicting.  It’s a baked tofu, which is my favorite way to eat it because of the way the tofu fluffs up in the oven while the outside becomes nice and crispy.  My only edit this time was to add freshly grated ginger to the marinade.

 

Served with a leftover raw kale and oyster mushroom salad (full recipe for the raw kale salad tomorrow).

 

Snack

 

Dinner

Everybody’s Pizza

Mom and I ate dinner together in honor of my dad.  He would have been 56 yesterday.

Is it the best pizza in Atlanta?  No.  But it’s the most memory-filled.  My parents used to hang out at Everybody’s when they were in college.  Growing up, he would take the family there and sometimes as a special treat on Friday nights he would take just me.

Same front door they had when my dad was in college.

 

I always ordered the same thing – a pie with pepperoni and feta.  They are huge individual pies, but I conquered it.

20 years later… my order has changed!  Mom and I split 2 massive pies.

The Pizza Salad has a pizza base, but is piled with salad on top.  We chose the Panzanella – a pie topped with lettuce, basil and Roma tomatoes tossed with house roasted chicken, mozzarella, provolone, sun-dried tomato and onion on a pesto cheese pizza.  Yes, it was as good as it sounds.

 

Pie #2 was a Cheeseless Pizza.

 It consisted of oven roasted zucchini, fresh spinach, mushrooms, onion, fire-roasted red peppers, Roma tomatoes, broccoli artichokes, sun-dried tomatoes, sesame seeds, and hot pepper-infused E.V. olive oil.

My first helping:

 Dad didn’t like to miss dessert and we honored that tonight.  The last part of the tradition at Everybody’s is to order bread pudding.

It’s the only dessert they serve and it is rich amazing.  I often wonder how many they could possibly sell since it’s not even on the menu… but I like to think it as a cult following. 🙂

***

Life is short.  Don’t skip dessert.

Did anyone on the East Coast feel the earthquakes yesterday?

Does your family have food traditions?

 

Free to Breathe 5K

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I am writing this from a Korean Spa.

 

JeJu.  It’s really the only way to recover from a 5K!  I also used it to recover from Tough Mudder.

No, there isn’t a happy ending.

 

The race was the Free to Breathe 5K.  It was a very, very hilly race through an Atlanta neighborhood called Virginia Highlands.

Despite the humidity and hills, I nailed a PR!

 

Stats:

  • Distance – 3.14 miles
  • Time: 23:06
  • Average Pace – 7:21

 

1st place in my age group and 5th overall!  The fastest female finished in just over 19 mins.  Crazy fast.

 

 

Which clearly deserved a hearty breakfast from Osteria with my friend Jessica.

The omelet was good, but the grits were icky soupy.  In my omelet: red pepper, onion, spinach, basil, and a side of pomodoro sauce.  YUM.

***

Back to the sauna I go!

What are you doing this weekend?

Can any of you run a 19 minute 5K?  How?!

Twitter Delivers

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Yesterday I failed.

 

Twice.  Once I tried to get too creative with baked falafel.  Then I tried to get creative with blueberry muffins.

 

My falafel is in the garbage.  The muffins are edible, but I would never let anyone else eat them.  At least they photographed well decently ok in the right light.

#fail

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I did have a good run – fastest pace ever in a non-race run!  It had been a while since I’d run in my Newtons and I definitely giving them credit.  As advertised, I could feel them propel me forward.  (Previous review here.)

Newton Motion

 

Stats:

  • Distance – 4 miles
  • Time – 31:56
  • Average Pace –  7:56

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In lieu of a recipe (trust me – you don’t want either of the afore mentioned), I want to write about a consumer win.

 

Do you ever wonder if companies are listening to consumers?  Apparently Chipotle is!

 

Thanks to the power of social media, Twitter, and one pro-active consumer, Chipotle will be changing their menus to make consumers aware that their pinto beans are prepared with bacon.

 

Seth Porges, a non-pork eating customer, discovered the beans were made with pork product (bacon) and tweeted his displeasure.

Within 2 hours the CEO of f Chipotle, Steve Ells, called Porges to apologize and rectify the situation.

Source: The Consumerist

 

To read the full story, click here.

Pretty cool, right?

***

I’m constantly impressed with the company responses I receive via Twitter.

Have you ever received a company response via Twitter?

Is anyone unpleasantly surprised about the bacon in those beans?

 

Coconut Milk Greek Yogurt + WIAW

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Jen’s WIAW is becoming my favorite weekly feature.

 

 

I get SO many great ideas reading other people’s posts!  Head over Peas & Crayons to check them out.

 

Breakfast

I was fortunate enough to receive samples of the new So Delicious Greek-style yogurt.  The flavors include blueberry, raspberry, chocolate, and plain.  Made with coconut milk, the Greek-sytle yogurt is VEGAN.

 

The nutritional information overall is good.  The fiber contect is awesome – 8g!  For those who prefer flavored yogurt, it only has 11g of sugar.  That’s a lot for my taste, but it is pretty low compared to others on the market.  It also have a ton of Calcium, Vitamin D, Vitamin B12, and Magnesium.

Admittedly, I was a bit disappointed with protein.  One of the reasons I love Greek yogurt so much is the high protein content.  This coconut version only contains 2g.

 

I tried the blueberry version first.  While I did like it… it was very different than Greek yogurt.  The texture wasn’t as creamy and it didn’t have the tartness.

Recognizing that this may be a plus for some of you (especially if you don’t like/have never had Greek yogurt), I like the “real” thing better.

 

Had I tried it expecting a traditional yogurt, I would have been happier.  I think it’s better than “regular” yogurt!  (Disclaimer: I don’t like regular yogurt.)

 

I gave it some more “oomph” with my new love: Peanut Flour.  Why didn’t you guys beat me over the head to order this sooner?!  It’s life-changing!!!

 

It’s incredible.  Just add a little liquid and salt and you have a protein and fiber-rich peanut butter substance with less fat.  Did I mention it’s also gluten-free?!  I cannot wait to make pancakes and cookies with this.

I’m not sharing – order your own here: Protein Peanut Flour (woo hoo for this hometown Georgia company!)

From a galaxy far, far away...

 

PBJ Vegan Yogurt Deliciousness

  • 2 T Peanut flour
  • 2 T So Delicious unsweetened vanilla coconut milk
  • Pinch of salt
  • 1 container So Delicious Blueberry Greek-style yogurt

 

In small bowl, mix together first 3 ingredients to form a peanut butter-like substance.  Swirl in yogurt.  Inhale bowl of deliciousness.

 

 

Lunch

Moroccan Carrot Salad is even better a day or 2 later!  I made some extra so I could eat it through0ut the week and I thoroughly enjoyed it in a wrap today.  I used a Rudi’s spelt tortilla and stuffed it with hummus, carrot salad, cucumber, celery, spinach, and green pepper.

With lots of water throughout the day in my Georgia Tech glass.  (16 days until the beginning of the GT football season!!!)

Insert 4 mile, music-less run here.  Silly Shuffle was out of juice. 🙁

Do you see that sweat?!  It was so flipping hot.  No music.  630pm.  I think I ran fast just to get ‘er done.

I fantasized thought about dinner the WHOLE way.

Dinner

More carrots!  This time with Shirataki tofu noodles and peanut sauce (yes, more peanut flour!).

Tomorrow you get more details on this!  This post is getting loooong… it was a fantastic throw-together-meal.  You should check back.  Everybody’s doing it.

Snacks

I cannot believe I FORGOT to take a pic of my snack today.

 

Pinkberry yogurt.  Sheer deliciousness.  I got the watermelon (only in stores until August 19th!) with mango and toasted almonds on top.

I also sampled the Salted Caramel.  It was good, but I prefer yogurts in fruity flavors.  “Dessert” flavors (like chocolate and caramel) are reserved for ice cream treats.  Clearly I don’t mind a fruity tart!  (That’s what she said.)

 

My nighttime snack doubled as dessert – a chocolate-peanut butter protein shake.  With spinach, of course.

Almost forgot the pic.  Lucky me – I was chatting with the famous Jen while drinking it and remembered just in time.

In my shake:

  • 1 scoop chocolate casein protein powder
  • 1/2 C spinach (I ran out!)
  • 1/2 C unsweetened vanilla almond milk
  • 1 T crunchy peanut butter
  • 1/2 tsp vanilla
  • 1/4 tsp cinnamon
  • Pinch of guar gum (helps to make the texture more shake-like)
  • Ice + Water, to taste

***

I have dinner plans tonight and it’s making the day dragggggg.

Do you have dessert preferences in terms of what you like fruity vs. chocolate-y?

What is the best thing you’ve eaten so far this week?

 

Celebrating Italy

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How to run 8 miles:

 

Break it down.  Run 4 miles away from your house.  Then you have no choice but to run the 4 miles back.

Stats:

  • Distance – 8 miles
  • Time – 1:04:40
  • Average Pace – 8:05 min/mile

 

Not easy after a little Friday night celebration at Sotto Sotto (313 N Highland Ave NE , Atlanta, GA, 404-523-6678).  Italian-style.

The 2007 Valdicava Rosso di Montalino was incredible.  Tons of licorice up front.  After it had about 30 minutes to open up, the layers came through and revealed a big, complex red that couldn’t have paired better with our meal.

The mushroom risotto is life-changing, especially with that wine.  So is the spinach gnocchi.  You spinach-lovers will appreciate the amount of spinach in the gnocchi – it was like they simply rolled up a ball of spinach with some cheese-y, butter-y goodness.  The pappardelle with duck ragu was good… it just couldn’t compare to how fantastic the other two dishes were.

 

My partners-in-crime and I are off to brunch and then the Dekalb Farmer’s Market to pick up supplies for a homemade Italian feast tonight!

***

If I had to choose one style of food to eat for the rest of my life, it would be Italian.

What type of cuisine could you never tire of?

 

Apple-Fennel Salad + WIAW

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Cheers to another WIAW!

This one is more of a “what I ate in preparation for and while on the road this week.”  One day life will slow down… right?!

Who am I kidding – I totally thrive on running around with my hair on fire.

Anywho… it’s a quickie because 7am meeting are a bad idea for night owls.  That does NOT mean that you should discount my Apple-Fennel Salad.  I actually surprised myself with this one.

Breakfast

Like warm… err… cool apple pie

Post-Run Apple Pie Smoothie

  •  1/4 Gala apple
  • 1 C spinach
  • 1 C unsweetened vanilla almond milk
  • 1 scoop vanilla whey protein powder
  • 1 tsp Maca powder
  • 10 drops vanilla NuNaurals Stevia
  • 1/2 tsp cinnamon
  • 1/4 tsp nutmeg
  • 1/4 tsp ginger
  • Sprinkle guar gum
  • Ice + Water, to taste

Lunch 

An exercise in using what’s left in my fridge before jumping on a plane turned out pretty damn good!  Loved the licorice crunch of the fennel with the sweet apple and the punch from the chili pepper.  (Scroll to bottom for the recipe.)

Insert power walk through the Atlanta airport.

We have a lot of African sculptures in the ATL airport. I don’t know why…

Snacks

Biscoff Cookie Dough Ball

Not pictured: Think Thin bar, peanuts, and a kombucha.

Insert arrival in Charlotte and pleasantly brief wait in taxi line.

The gym was nice in my hotel – they provide foam rollers (I won’t think about how many sweaty, hairy legs rolled on that thing before me) and post workouts on the walls to inspire!

Dinner

Dinner out with family in Charlotte.  I didn’t want to take pics and the lighting was terrible… but I did take a pic of the guy rocking a ‘hawk in the kitchen.

Good Food (creative name, right?!) in Charlotte, NC is worth a stop!

Small plates not-to-miss:

  • Sauteed Mushrooms with herb and garlic
  • Steamed Bun with five spice rubbed pork belly, hoisin & pickled vegetables
  • Braised Duck Fettuccini pancetta, peas & sweet onion cream
  • Macademia Nut Pie with banana ice cream

Apple-Fennel Salad

  • 1/2 medium Gala apple, diced
  • 1/2 medium fennel bulb, thinly sliced
  • 1/2 small shallot, minced (~1/2 tsp)
  • 1/4 C celery, thinly sliced
  • 1/4 fresh cayenne pepper, minced (~1/4 tsp)
  • 1 tsp lime juice
  • 1 tsp extra virgin olive oil
  • 1 tsp apple cider vinegar 
  • 1/2 tsp tarragon
  • S+P, to taste

Mix all of the veggies together to combine.

Whisk together the remaining 5 ingredients.  Toss with veggies until just coated.

Enjoy!

Serves 1 main or 2 as sides.

***

 I’m off to Chicago tonight!  Look forward to a thought-provoking guest post by another of my favs tomorrow!

Do you travel for business?

What are some of your favorite “use everything in the fridge” dishes?

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