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What I Ate in San Francisco (from home)

September 11, 2013 By Laura

Leave it to me to go to a food city and bring my own.

 

Not my first choice.

A HUGE part of the commitment to compete is a commitment to your diet.  It’s not easy.  It’s not always fun. HOWEVER… abs are made in the kitchen.

any one can workout for an hour...

 

This trip to has been especially hard for me because it’s my first with my new job… and I have a really fun team to hang out with.  So far I’ve been good, even working out twice in 12 hours due to scheduling.

Preparation is key.  This trip I packed up some old staples.  These are items that “save” me:

Travel foods

  • Homemade fro-yo: I take single serving containers of plain Greek yogurt, add my on mix-ins, and re-cover them to freeze.  Freezing the yogurt makes it easier to get through security (it’s a solid) and it acts as an ice pack for your other foods.  And it’s tasty.  This week I had peanut flour-strawberry and vanilla-mango.
  • Packaged foods: these are a great to have on had.  I pack up single-serving protein powders, bars, stevia, tuna, and rice cakes.
  • Oatmeal: Usually I plan to get this from room service, but I wanted to try something new.  I pre-measured out my oats and adding in ginger and cinnamon.  All I need to do is add water/protein powder/hotel fruit to make oatmeal in my room!
  • Jerky: I don’t often eat jerky, but Perky Jerky offered to send me sample of their (preservative-free) product.  I really like the turkey version only has 110 mg of sodium!  Score.

 

Of course I brought more… see below… 😉

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I’ve done detailed travel posts before, so this is WIAW travel food-edition going to be more of an overview.  I did manage some new (strange?) travel eats this time around.

WIAWbutton

Read on for my San Francisco treats, and then check out Jenn’s blog. for some more “normal” days of food.

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On the Plane:

Overnight oats in a jar make getting up early just a little easier.  These were packed with fig, cinnamon, ginger, and vanilla protein powder.

Yes, they made it through security.

overnight oats on a plane

 

Round 2 on the plane was the baked chicken from my food prep (recipe coming tomorrow), carrots, and airplane pretzels.

The fro-yo kept it nice and cold!

chicken on a plane

 

Hotel Breakfast:

This has become an art.  The Westin St. Francis has been fabulous with my crazy food requests.  They brought up apple cider vinegar so I could have my morning cocktail!!!  I downed that along with half a muffin (brought from home) to fuel a morning workout.  Check out the view I woke up to!

Then the full meal was delivered: plain oats with a side of berries, cinnamon, and coffee.  I mixed in my own protein powder, and added coffee to thin it out.  Perfection!

semi-homemade hotel breakfast

 

Other Mini-Meals:

You can actually find acceptable food to eat in cities like SF.  I got to enjoy a kale-barley salad with chickpeas and shrimp for lunch on our first day here:

shrimp salad

 

This was the peanut flour and strawberry fro-yo creation I brought from home.  Can you tell how fantastically frozen it was?!

I ended up having to do my workout at midnight east coast time… this was just the treat I needed after.  I spent half the workout thinking about it.

homemade fro-yo

 

This next snack happened at the conference.  People seemed a little surprised when they discovered I brought the egg from home.  I can’t imagine why…

It turns out hard-boiled egg travels really well!  Tomato Brownies travel well too.  I took it straight from my freezer from home, and by day two it had thawed and tasted delicious!  I didn’t reveal the secret ingredient to my co-workers.  They’d have been too jealous. 😉

tomato brownie and egg

 

Of course, there have been other eats.  When we go to restaurants I order veggies with a plain grilled protein or I bust out my “emergency” tuna.  It’s really no too hard too eat out (temptation side).

***

If anyone wants to send random tweets of support and keep me honest… that wouldn’t suck. 😉

Do you struggle with diet?  It’s the hardest part about competing for me!

Do you like hard-boiled eggs?  This was my first time making them for myself!

 

Filed Under: Fitness, Travel Tagged With: breakfast, dessert, figure competition, frozen yogurt, Greek yogurt, protein, San Francisco, snacks, strange but good, WIAW, workout

International Blogger Fro-Yo + WIAW

June 5, 2013 By Laura

Blogger meet ups are always fun.

 

Yes, always.  It’s a rule.

Meet ups with bloggers from the other side of the world ROCK.

Last night I had the honor of eating dinner with Hannah of Wayfaring Chocolate.  She is in town from Australia (via Canada).  I remember the day I added her to my Reader (RIP).  I’d read a review of a chocolate bar she’d written and fell in love with the way she turned a chocolate description into poetry.  If you haven’t ever read her blog, I don’t recommend doing so while hungry.

Me and Hannah

 

Hannah was staying with Alayna (who also has quite the way with words… and Japanese food!) and her husband.  I’m so grateful to her for coordinating this meet up.  And impressed with how amazing she looks while carrying a small human inside her.  Only 6 weeks to go!!!

Read on for our dinner adventure…

Hannah, Alanya, and Me

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My WIAW meals should be re-title “meals of desperation.”  There has been so much going to that I still haven’t done a big trip  to the market since Blend!  This means I was eating the last of everything in my fridge.  By snack time I was 100% out of veggies and had convinced myself to ditch kickboxing for a grocery run.

WIAWbutton

Check out my (mostly) clean eats below, and then click here to head over to Jenn @ Peas and Crayons to get to see what delicious spring foods everyone else is enjoying!

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Breakfast:

I’m kicking myself that I wrote that whole post yesterday on detoxing and didn’t mention my morning cocktail (apple cider vinegar, water, Glutamine, and Fitmixer Aminos).  This little drink will start your day out in a (ahem) cleansing manner.

Breakfast was a #strangebutgood creation.  Can anyone guess what it is?  I asked on Instagram yesterday and the only ingredient guessed correctly was the collard green wrap.  Hints: It doesn’t involve quinoa, chickpeas, or TVP (though all would be good adds).

strange but good collard wrap

Recipe will be posted in Friday’s #strangebutgood link up! 🙂

Snack 1:

Crab salad with blueberries, basil, black pepper, lemon juice, and red pepper flakes.  Seafood and fruit are the best combo!

Blueberry-Crab Salad

 

Lunch:

A super-satisfying “deconstructed” salad.  This was spinach, collards, parsley, butternut squash, shredded raw beets, red bell pepper, and red onions.  I ate the rainbow!

deconstructed salad

Snack 2:

These Terra veggie chips happened while on  mute during a conference call.  They are super crunchy, but delicious.  The best part?  Only 50mg of sodium!

Terra chips

 

Dinner:

This was my Hannah meal!  We went to one of my favorites, Metro Fresh.  I had the sautéed mussels, scallops, and salmon in tomato broth with grilled garlic bread.  Yes, it was as good as it sounds!

mussels at Metro Fresh

Dessert:

Like good bloggers, we made our way across the street to Yoforia for some frozen yogurt.  Can you guess which one is mine? 😉

Yoforia

Hint: Mine involved banana pudding and chocolate flavors.

I’m sad we didn’t have more time, but Hannah is jetting off again tomorrow. Did I mention this girl is living the dream traveling around the US and Canada?!  #colormejealous

***

Did you notice how many of my detox foods were included?!  Until the fro-yo, that is.  LOL!

Do you try to eat the rainbow?

What is your favorite frozen yogurt flavor?  

 

Filed Under: Recipes, Restaurants, Strange But Good Tagged With: breakfast, dinner, frozen yogurt, lunch, Metro Fresh, protein, restaurants, salad, strange but good, WIAW, Yoforia

Marvelous Monday Meals

March 18, 2013 By Laura

Rainy Mondays can be hard.

 

Ok, always.  Rainy Mondays are always hard…

A few weeks ago I committed to making an effort to be more positive on this most glorious day of the week and joined the diva-licious Katie in her Marvelous in My Monday link up.  This week I need to get back on that train.

Marvelous Monday

What a better way to do it than recap some tasty food?  I’ve been eating good this past week, and I have a LOT to share.  This is a long one.  That’s what shai said.  Sorry… but not really. 😉

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To start it off, last Sunday my friend Kathleen and I went to an underground supper club hosted by Souper Jenny. she does these once or twice a year; the secret location and chef is announced the day before the event.

Our surprise chef was Omar Powell!  He is the Chef de Cuisine at my favorite Indian Restaurant, Cardamom Hill (a James Beard nominee!), yet he is Jamaican with a French culinary training.  I was beyond excited to see what he came up with!

Souper Jenny Underground Supper Club - Omar Powell

 

We arrived at the secret location (a local pasta shop, Storico Fresco) and were immediately blown away by the stunning table setting!

Before the meal, we had the chance to walk around a bit and I got in the professional photographer’s way snuck behind the counter to grab a shot of Chef Powell and Chef-Owner Asha Gomez discussing a dish.

 

The first course was a small treat that left me way too excited for the rest of the evening.  Soft farm eggs with ackee, cod, scallions, and bacon.  The flavors could have easily over-taken the egg, but they were perfectly balanced in the delicate shell.  There is nothing more fabulous than a perfectly cooked egg.

Soft Farm Eggs from Omar Powell

Next we were presented with a brown stewed chicken served over tun cornmeal, pickled onions, and fin herbs.

We questioned whether it was really chicken – I’ve never had a more rich, flavorful piece of chicken in my life.  This could have easily passed as a tender piece of red meat.  It doesn’t even look like chicken, does it?

I almost asked for seconds… and I did ask for the recipe!

Omar Powell's Brown Stewed Chicken

The third dish was a Jerked Pork served with yellow yam augratin, mango, papaya jam, and all spice oil.

The flavor combination in this dish was perfection.  The jerk was just the right amount of heat against the sweet fruit, and the creamy augratin.  Augratin can often be too rich for me, but this yam was restrained and didn’t take away from the other components.

Omar Powell Jerked Pork

This next dish was my favorite of the night.  I think… it’s hard to choose!  It was a oxtail agnolotii (agnolotii is a stuffed pasta, like ravioli) in a pumpkin soup laced with all spice and black pepper tulie.

I’m a huge oxtail fan, and the agnolotii did not disappoint.  However, what made this dish for me was the soup.  I admired his use of all spice here because it is one I’m timid with.  A little bit can go a long way.  The burst of it here gave a depth of flavor to the soup, allowing it to stand out against a big flavor like oxtail.

Oxtail Agnolotti by Omar Powell

Lastly, we enjoyed a sweet and savory dessert.  This was a cornmeal pone with comte cheese, “drops,” and thyme honey.

I had not heard of drops before.  Apparently they are a Jamaican street food candy.  It’s a sugar-glazed, chewy piece of coconut.  That sweetness with the thyme honey and the more savory pone and cheese was a storybook end to a memorable meal.  I’d like to say I was too stuffed to eat it all… but I ate mine and half of Kathleen’s.

#sorryimnotsorry

Cornmeal Pone by Omar Powell

Yes, I ate the flower too.

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I had another awesome meal with my mom last friday night.  We went to a family favorite, Everybody’s Pizza.

This place is one that will forever have a place in my heart.  They have been open since 1971 and this coming Tuesday is their last day in business.  My parents used to go on dates there in college, and later my dad would take me as a treat on Friday nights.

He’d tell me stories about what it was like “back on the day” when then had communal seating and tables of strangers would share pies and pitchers of beers.  We would eat an entire pizza and then polish off a giant order of bread pudding.  There are staving kids in Africa, right?

Everybody's Pizza

In honor of my dad, my mom and I had one last meal there.  We toasted my dad’s memory with beers and shared a  giant pizza.  Half cheeseless veggie, and half with extra feta cheese, portabello mushrooms, jalapenos, and meatballs.  And then a bread pudding.  We were only going to eat half… but you know that didn’t happen.  🙂

It was a great night sharing stories and eating one last meal at a local haunt.  Everybody’s, you will be sorely missed.

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What do you do the morning after carb-loading?  You take a trip up Stone Mountain!  Mom and I met up with my friend Kathleen the next morning for a hike up the mountain in the gorgeous spring weather.

They were great sports, cheering me on as I ran my sprints up the steep part.  They even joined in for a couple of rounds!

Where’s Waldo?

 

The refuel was classic.  Fro-yo from Yoforia for lunch!  Fruit, dairy, protein… I got chocolate and Irish cream flavors with kiwi, strawberries, pretzels and a Reese’s egg.  Is that not the BEST topping offering?!

This deliciousness fueled my trip to the gym for a killer shoulder and glute workout.  Sprints + glutes in the gym = one tired butt.

Yoforia

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Finally, on Sunday, I rounded out the marvelous with a day of softball.  My women’s softball team beat both male teams we played!

I think it was the lucky socks.

 

After the game we had a social, and I brough a St. Patrick’s Day treat for the team: Irish Car Bomb Cupcakes!!  These cupcakes are an annual request… they don’t have to twist my arm too hard to oblige. 😉

Irish Car Bomb

This is a fantastically indulgent cupcake.  The base is Guinness chocolate cake.  I fill them with Irish whiskey ganache and then ice them with an Irish cream frosting.

I’m too late to post a recipe for the holiday… but if you’re interested I may do a post later this week.  Let me know!

***

It was a bit of a gluttonous weekend, but coupled with a LOT of activity.  No regrets, but I’m really looking forward to getting back to normalcy this week!

Does your family have a nostalgia restaurant?  Is it still there?

What is making YOUR Monday marvelous today?

 

Filed Under: Baking, Fitness, Restaurants, Running, Softball Tagged With: Asha Gomez, Cardamom Hill, cupcakes, dessert, dinner, Everybody's Pizza, frozen yogurt, James Beard, Marvelous Monday, Omar Powell, pizza, softball, Souper Jenny, St. Patrick's Day, underground dinner, underground supper club, Yoforia

Easy Weekend

July 30, 2012 By Laura

There’s not much I’d rather do than see live music.

 

 

The weekend began Friday at 6pm when my friend picked me for the Brandi Carlile concert.  I adore Brandi, but I was especially excited to get to see her play at on of my favorite venues – Chastain Park.  Chastain is an outdoor amphitheater in Atlanta.  You can buy a table for 6 and bring dinner to enjoy during the show.  People get really in to it – they have tablecloths, candles, and flowers to decorate their tables.  We were a little more low-key, but I did bring my special protein-filled dinner.

 

 

It was a great show.  Brandi played a good mix of new and old.  she did a cover of Johnny Cash’s Sunday Morning Coming Down, introducing it by saying that she felt is was an appropriate song because she no long drinks tequila and she no longer eats Chick-fli-a (the song references a hangover and fried chicken).   My favorite part was her cover of Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody.

 

 

Saturday was another concert!  This time I trekked to Tennessee to see the Indigo Girls play with the Chattanooga Symphony Orchestra.  I have a friend that lives in Chattanooga, so she got the tickets for us and chose an excellent place for dinner – Easy Bistro and Bar.

I was really impressed with the restaurant!  We decided to spit a couple of appetizers and a main dish.

 

We began with the Heirloom Tomato and Watermelon Salad.  After a hot walk to the restaurant, the light salad hit the spot.  It included a few types of heirlooms and cucumelon. I’d never heard of cucmelon before, but t was fantastic!  It was topped with shaved pecorino cheese and basil live oil.

 

We also enjoyed a rich Crawfish and Artichoke Dip with toasted flatbread.  It’s been years since I’ve had a cheesy artichoke dip.  The cream cheese-based dish was very, very rich… and it was just as good as I’d remembered.

 

The entrée was the highlight of the meal – swordfish.  It had just been added to the menu that morning, so it was incredibly fresh.  The meaty fish was grilled, which gave it a great char taste.  It was plated atop a summer squash salad and simply garnished with olive oil, cherry tomatoes, and Marcona almonds.

 

We walked to the Tivoli Theatre where the Indigo Girls were performing with the Chattanooga Symphony Orchestra.  It was such a neat show!  The theatre itself was beautiful; it reminded me a lot of The Fox Theatre in Atlanta.  The Indigo Girls are known for their acoustic, singer-songwriter tunes, and to hear those redone with the string and horns behind them… it gave me chills more than once.

 

 

Did you think it was strange we didn’t have dessert with dinner?  I mean, it WAS cheat day.

Don’t worry.  I didn’t get possessed by aliens; we were just in a hurry to get to the show.  Post-show we hit local for-yo shop, Top It Off.  The Red Velvet, Double Chocolate, and Peanut Butter flavors were all just as good as they sound… but the show-stopper was the Salted Caramel Pretzel.  I’ll be dreaming of that stuff for weeks.

 

 

This is my friend’s yogurt.  We have a friendly wager that her bowl would get more likes on Instagram than mine would.  She won… and since I’m a good sport I’m posting the pic of her pretty cup ‘o yogurt.

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Last week was a good week for workouts.  I felt especially focused at the gym.  We all know that you need to concentrate on the body part you are working out… but sometimes my mind wanders.  My goal last week was to be more focused, and I think it paid off.  Especially on back day… I was SORE after that one.

Leg day on Tuesday was fantastic with my trainer.  I was able to squat more than ever!  Leg day by myself on Saturday left something to be desired… I find it much harder to max out on legs alone.  I know it’s mental…

 

 

Workout Recap (7/24 – 7/29):

  • Monday – Chest/Biceps, Calf raises, 2 mile walk
  • Tuesday – Legs (with trainer), 2.5 mile walk
  • Wednesday – Back/Triceps, Calf raises, 2 mile walk
  • Thursday – Shoulders/Glutes, 1 mile walk
  • Friday – Chest/Biceps, Calf raises, 2 mile walk
  • Saturday – Legs, 150 push-ups
  • Sunday – *rest day* … easy 4 mile walk

***

The icing on the cake of the weekend was not having to wake up to an alarm Sunday.  I stayed in bed until 10, and it was glorious. 

What was the last concert you went to?

Do you find certain body parts harder to work out on your own?

 

Filed Under: Fitness, Recap, Restaurants, Weights Tagged With: Brandi Carlile, Chastain, Chattanooga, dessert, dinner, Easy, frozen yogurt, Indigo Girls, restaurants, seafood

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