Sprint 2 the Table

Appetites and Adventures

Pumpkin Pie Protein Bowl + WIAW

By

When you fail to plan, you plan to fail.

Not until I started competing did I realize how true this saying is.

My food prep is saving me this week, once again.  Starting a new job where I’m in the office every day (I used to work from home a lot) has forced me to be more structured and has tested me mentally.

Planning workouts and meals has become SO important.  Otherwise I’d never get out the door.  Preparation and constantly reminding myself of my goals and why I do this crazy thing is a necessity.

you are intense

I feel more like I’m going it alone during this competition prep.  I’m adjusting my workouts to meet my needs/limitations post surgery, and I have more fat to cut than I did in the past.

It’s new and it’s scary.  It’s also going to be awesome when I prove to myself that I can get out of my own way to reach a goal.

This is WIAW is a little glimpse into how I use my prep to stay in line, despite a new routine and later workouts.  It’ not easy.  But it’s not impossible.  I think.

WIAWbutton

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

Breakfast:

You may have seen me post on Instagram that I’m changing up my morning cocktail.  I decided to try out new aminos in my draaaank.  Why?  I still love the taste of the old one, but their customer service is so bad (read: non-existent) I can no longer use the product. Their ingredient list wasn’t the *most* clean anyway.

This new one came highly recommended by my local nutrition store.  It is pretty good.  Doesn’t mix quite as well, but I like the mild taste and it still provides good energy!

morning aminos cocktail

I went on a bulgur kick a while ago with this Blueberry-Green Tea Bulgur… then forgot about it.  It made a comeback in this week’s food prep!

I mixed this delicious raspberry blend up to grab as a ran out the door to an early morning meeting.  It tasted like raspberry cream.

Raspberry Overnight Bulgur

Raspberry Overnight Bulgur

  • 1/4 C bulgur (raw)
  • 1/2 C Greek yogurt
  • Water or almond milk, to mix (I think this was about 1/2 C… you can always add more in the AM)
  • 1/4 C raspberries
  • 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1/2 tsp cinnamon
  • 1/4 tsp ginger
  • 6-7 drops orange liquid stevia (or other sweetener)

Mix everything together in a small bowl or jar and store in the fridge overnight.

Remove from fridge in the morning, add liquid if necessary, and enjoy!

Mid-Morning Snack:

This was Turbot with a random (salt-free!) Indian spice blend I found at the Asian market and a side of my tabbouleh with hummus.

I had just finished re-heating my fish in the break-room when two ladies walked in. One commented: “It smells like dead fish in here.” #sorryimnotsorry

turbot and tabbouleh

You may find it weird to eat fish before noon and/or at work.  I find it #strangebutgood. 

Lunch:

Turkey on a bed of spinach with my new lentil hummus, Ezekial bread, and raw zucchini sticks.  This was going to be a sandwich before I realized I had more stuffing than bread.  Typical…

turkey salad and hummus

Mid-Afternoon Snack:

This is like a treat meal to me.  If tuna is the chicken of the sea and swordfish is the steak of the sea… sea bass must be like the pork belly of the sea.  Without the fat (or the pig).  It’s absolutely decadent!

The salad with it was broccoli slaw and radish mixed with a quick sauce: nutritional yeast, apple cider vinegar, cumin, turmeric, and smoked paprika.  And I ate it off of a Zoo Pals plate. 😉

sea bass and broccoli slaw

Dinner:

Dinner has become snack-like on my new work/workout schedule.  I now have to workout right after work, so dinner actually is at 9pm and looks like dessert most days.

This is my chocolate-beet smoothie (it’s become a serious addiction), extra spinach blended in.  I left out the coffee since it was late, and topped it with pre-roasted kabocha and granola.

Chocolate-Beet Protein Smoothie

Dessert:

A dessert-like dinner doesn’t stop me from doing it again!  Since declaring this pumpkin pie protein bowl The Most Amazing Bowl of Deliciousness Ever, I’ve had it 3 nights in a row.  After the first night I began freezing it for an hour or so.

Pumpkin Pie Protein Bowl

Pumpkin Pie Protein Bowl

  • 1/2 C Greek yogurt
  • 1/2 C pumpkin purée
  • 1 scoop vanilla protein powder
  • 1/2 tsp pumpkin spice
  • 1/4 tsp butter extract (vanilla or almond would be good too)
  • Optional topping: cocoa sauce (cocoa powder, stevia, and almond milk), peanut butter, pumpkin seeds… etc.

 Place ingredients in a blender and mix until smooth.

Freeze for ~1 hour for a frozen custard, or enjoy right away for a more batter-like snack.

***

It’s oddly motivating to be really sore post-workout today.  I guess it’s like feeling the reward of hard work?!  #strangebutgood

Do you have any tips for staying focused and getting out of your own way?  Help.  Me.

What’s the weirdest thing you’ve brought to work to eat?

Easy Dijon Baked Chicken

By

You may have noticed that simple is hard for me.

But the things I make really aren’t hard!

I like ingredients, and I find its easy to toss together a bunch of spices quickly.  But I get it.  Long ingredient lists are intimidating.  So here’s a recipe that couldn’t be any easier.

Dijon Baked Chicken only calls for 3 necessary things: chicken, Dijon, and red wine vinegar (you could use *almost* any acid you have on hand).  I have made it as part of my food prep 2 weeks in a row!  Click here for a full post on that.

Baked Dijon Chicken in pan

The simplicity of this dish doesn’t make it any less delicious.  In fact, this is one of the best baked chickens I’ve made yet (and I make a lot of chicken).

Two things will make this better than your average chicken: use a GOOD mustard (I used a beer dijon) and tenderize your chicken.  Tenderizing is a pain in the arse, but it makes such a huge difference that I always, always do it.  I hate touching raw chicken, so I put mine between 2 sheets of wax paper before beating it.

Easy clean up and it’s not a bad stress reliever. 😉

Dijon Chicken Salad

 You know me.  I couldn’t leave it at just the 3 ingredients.  I added rosemary, black pepper, and a touch of lemon stevia (honey mustard!).  And red pepper flakes.  Add your favorite flavors or keep it super simple.  It won’t disappoint either way.

I used this chicken many ways, but the simplest meal was for lunch over a bed of spinach and broccoli slaw.  Tossed with a little hummus dressing (hummus mixed with apple cider vinegar and a little cumin), it was the perfect midday meal!

Easy Dijon Baked Chicken

Easy Dijon Baked Chicken

  • 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
  • 1/4 C Dijon mustard
  • 1 T red wine vinegar
  • Optional adds: lemon liquid Stevia, rosemary, red pepper flakes, black pepper… etc.

Preheat oven to 425.

Tenderize chicken breasts and place in 9×13 glass baking dish.

In a small bowl, mix together mustard, vinegar, and any additional flavors.

Pour mustard mixture over chicken, taking care to coat each one.

Bake for ~30 mins, until 165 degrees.  

Tip: I only cook mine to 160 degrees to keep it nice a juicy.  I take it out and let it rest, which allows it to cook the rest of the way, and for the juices to soak in.

***

I made so much of this… and then I made it again.  Chicken for days in the freezer when I get home and I couldn’t be happier. 🙂

Do you have a go-to way to make chicken?  (Or tofu… the vegan chicken. 😉 )

How about some mustard love – have you tried any of the fun flavors?  Sweet potato and caramelized onion mustard is also delish in this!

What I Ate in San Francisco (from home)

By

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… 😉

________________________________________________________________________________________

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.

________________________________________________________________________________________

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!

 

PB & J Topped French Toast + WIAW

By

My favorite porn is #yolkporn.

 

I can only imagine the search terms I’m going to get from this…

When I saw this video on Lifehack yesterday I couldn’t wait to share it with you guys.  It’s (allegedly) a fool-proof way to cook a sunny side up egg.

In case you need the definition a perfect sunny side up egg should have the whites just cooked through, but the bright yellow yolky deliciousness should remain runny.  Like a silky syrup for your toast or oats or salad or jicama nachos… anything!

Warning: this video will make you crave butter.  And egg, obv.

The guy’s name is Mr. Breakfast.  He must be an expert.

________________________________________________________________________________________

In other news, I failed and didn’t have a runny egg on WIAW.  I did win at food prep though!  After a few weeks of being less than planned, I was happy to have my meals ready for me today!WIAWbutton

Read on for my prepared food, and then check out Jenn’s blog.  I don’t know if she’s doing the link up though… because she had her bagel baby!!!!!!!

♥ Congratulations and welcome to baby Mia! ♥

________________________________________________________________________________________

Breakfast:

Of course I had my morning cocktail (apple cider vinegar, water, Glutamine, and Fitmixer Aminos) to start my day out right.

I was feeling like something decadent for breakfast in honor of the short work week.  That only means one thing: french toast.  My protein-filled toast tasted like a treat with the peanut flour sauce and strawberries.

Note: I order peanut flour from iHerb – use discount code USO924 for $5-10 off your order.

PB & J Topped French Toast

PB & J Topped French Toast

  • 1/4 C egg whites
  • 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1/2 tsp cinnamon
  • 1/4 tsp ginger
  • 4-5 drops liquid Stevia
  • 1 large slice of bread (I used p28 High Protein)
  • 1 T peanut flour
  • 1 tsp sugar-free syrup
  • 1/8 tsp butter extract
  • Almond milk (adjust to desired consistency)
  • Strawberries and granola (to top)

 

Beat together first 5 ingredients in a shallow bowl.  Soak bread slice in the mix, flipping once to coat.

Cook in greased pan over med-high heat until browned.

Meanwhile, mix together peanut flour, syrup, butter extract, and almond milk.  I used 2 T almond milk; add it slowly and adjust to your desired consistency.

Plate toast and top with syrup, berries, and granola.

 

Lunch:

Things got busy and I missed my mid-morning snack so I had an early-ish lunch.  I packed up the chicken, tabbouleh, and celery sticks from my food prep, and added to that some hummus and a piece of Ezekial bread.

Chicken and tabbouleh

 

Mid-Afternoon Snack:

No need to eat boring food just because you’re sitting in an office.  This snack was incredible: salmon sashimi, lavar, edamame, and kabocha.

Totally normal work eats, no?

edamame, lavar, and salmon sashimi

 

Late-Afternoon Snack:

My schedule was thrown off and I had to busy out an emergency bar to power through my workout before dinner.

Note: I don’t actually like these.  It was a freebie. 

Detour neapolitan bar

 

Dinner:

I was going to eat the snapper from my food prep… but after I workout all I want is a smoothie bowl.  Eating solid food after a workout just doesn’t appeal to me.

My new staple is this Chocolate Beet variety.  Last night I wolfed it down with oats, fig, and a bar I made as part of meal prep (side note: I want to make some adjustments before I share – sorry!).  Extra spinach.

chocolate-beet protein shake

 

Dessert:

Smoothie bowls are like dessert to me, but that didn’t stop me from having a second dessert.  The post-Labor Day fall mood struck and I made a Sweet Potato Pie Protein Bowl as my midnight snack.  I’ve been adding coconut flour to everything lately – it makes everything deliciously cake-y.

With all the toppings I had to take a bite shot for you to even see the pie!

Pumpkin Pie Protein Bowl

Pumpkin Pie Protein Bowl

  •  1/2 C sweet potato, mashed
  • 1/2 C no-salt cottage cheese
  • 1 T coconut flour
  • 1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
  • 1/4 tsp almond extract
  • Liquid Stevia, to taste
  • Almond milk (adjust to desired thickness)
  • Optional toppings: popcorn, figs, cacao nibs, breakfast bar crumbles

 

Mix it all together and devour!

Note: you could blend it to smooth… I was too impatient. 😉

***

How awesome that it’s already Wednesday?! 

Do you have a hard time eating solids after a workout?

Do you ever eat something you don’t love just because it’s free?  I don’t know why I’m so compelled…

 

Work It Out: Meal Prep

By

Tuesday is the new Monday.

Why can’t this be a permanent thing?

Since Monday was a holiday, it became food prep day (usually Sunday).  I get a lot of questions about what I prep for the week, so I am doing another kitchen-themed Work It Out.

sprint2table-workitout

I am diligent about prepping proteins and carbs on food prep day.  Veggies most often I do as the week goes because I like then fresh and they don’t take long to put together.

Breakfast

First up is breakfast.  This is a place I half-prep, often making bars or Baked Oatmeal To Go.  This week it was bars. I’m going to see how this recipe keeps before I share it, but it was a Carrot Cake Protein Bar creation.  Half I keep fresh and the other half I freeze to have as a quick grab in the future.

Carrot Cake Bars

Carbohydrates

Then It’s on to the carbs.  I always have Ezekial bread and edamame in the freezer for a quick add to lunch.  Then I prep some sort of grain and my sweet potatoes and/or winter squashes.

This week I make kaboacha squash (this often gets the twice-roasted treatment), quinoa, and sweet potato.

food prep carbs

Proteins

My proteins are a mix of turkey, chicken, and seafood.  This week I baked a ton of chicken (some of which I will freeze – it was a LOT) and made turkey burgers.

Chicken is most often baked, and the turkey burgers are done on the George Foreman grill.  This chicken recipe was another new experiment that I promise I’ll edit pics for and share.  The burgers are a simple mix of salsa and onion.

If anyone can care an easy way to clean the George Forman, I’d love you forever.

Protein food prep

The seafood this week is a yellowtail snapper and salmon sashimi.  Most often, I bake seafood with a simple seasoning.  Tonight I just drizzled it with lemon juice and added minced garlic and freshly ground black pepper.

You’ll see a few of my veggies in the pic too.  I made more of my Tabbouleh Salad and cut up celery.

Seafood food prep

It may seem like a lot, but once you get the hang of it, the whole prep takes less than 2 hours.  Plus you can do other things (like laundry) while you wait for the food to cook/cool.

Preparing my food at the beginning of the week saves me time (and stress) in the long run.  When you eat 6-7 meals a day, food prep is a life saver.

For more on my staple foods, flavor adds, and typical grocery store buys, check out the No Shit Diet post. 🙂

***

Yes, these pics are all via iPhone.  This is another time-saver.  #sorryimnotsorry

Do you prep food for the week?  How much time does it take you?

What your favorite things to take to lunch?

Strange But Good: Cinnamon Toasted Quinoa and PB Eggs

By

Start your day out toasted.

I crack myself up.

When I prep food I usually end up double-cooking it.  You get the groundwork done during your Sunday meal prep, but to keep it tasting fresh and crispy I pop it back in the oven before you eat.  Oven, not microwave.

Double-roasted is my favorite way to eat kabocha, and yesterday morning I did that with my quinoa.  Strange to do with stuff you already cooked, but oh-so-good.

Toasted Quinoa ingredients

Can you believe how cheap that giant thing of cinnamon was?! Love my farmer’s market.

This is really a non-recipe.  There are no measurements, only flavors you should adjust to your liking.  3 simple ingredients: my new English toffee liquid stevia from iHerb (you can use any sweetener), cinnamon, and ginger.

Basically, it tasted like cinnamon toast.  Much healthier than the butter-slathered stuff mom made us.  Add to that some bananas brushed with coconut oil and thrown under the broiler with the quinoa and you’ll wonder who put the dessert on your breakfast plate! 

Cinnamon Toasted Quinoa, Caramelized Banana and PB Eggs with Raspberries

The quinoa was prepped on Sunday (after I burned the beans), making it quick and easy to grab from the fridge to make this.  When you toast already-cooked quinoa, it becomes crunchy and granola-like.  The added texture was amazing on top of my PB eggs!

How do you make PB eggs?  I’ve posted them a lot in all my “Jegg” creations (there’s even a
vegan tofu version), but here’s the run down.

Peanut Butter Eggs

  • Mix peanut flour, cinnamon, butter extract, and a teeny bit of liquid stevia with enough water to make it a runny PB consistency
  • Prepare egg whites in a small pot until almost cooked
  • Stir in peanut flour and allow to cook the rest of the way (~30 secs)

PSA: It’s also awesome on top of a protein-rich bowl Chocolate Zucchini Bread Batter (this recipe, but with chocolate protein powder).

Cinnamon Toasted Quinoa with Caramelized Banana and PB Eggs

Cinnamon Toasted Quinoa

  • Quinoa, cooked
  • Liquid stevia (I used toffee)
  • Cinnamon
  • Ginger

Toss together all ingredients and spread evenly on a piece of non-stick foil

Place in over under the broiler until crisp.  Watch closely – it’s easy to burn on broil!

Remove from oven, top your eggs (or yogurt, salad, etc).

How have you enjoyed making co-workers, friends, or family stare with strange but good creations this week? The link up rules can be found here or by clicking on “Strange But Good” in the menu bar above. In short, I want to see what concoctions have earned you weird looks from co-workers, family and friends! Post your Strange But Good creations, grab the logo below for your blog, and link up here.

Sprint 2 the Table

Remember to use #strangebutgood in any Tweets and Instagrams of your creations. 🙂

***

There aren’t many (any?) things I say this about, but caramelized bananas could honestly replace dessert.

Quinoa for breakfast: yay or nay? Yay!

Have you ever tried peanut butter eggs?  How about just sweet eggs?

Peanut Flour Love + WIAW

By

What’s more exciting than packages?

Chocolate cake.

I came home last night to a delivery from iHerb.  After a massage and a trip to Whole Foods, it was the icing on the chocolate cake.

Use discount code USO924 for $5-10 off your order!

iHerb order

Many of these are new to me – toffee stevia, Walden Farms caramel, and the peanut butter protein powder.  I have been out of tahini and coconut flour for a while, so I’m excited to use those again.  I bet I can use it all together!

Do you think I got enough peanut flour?  I love that stuff.  It’s better than the other stuff (ahem… PB2) because it’s just the de-fatted nuts.  No added sodium or sugar.

What should you do with your peanut flour?  Allow me to help…

Sweet Potato Peanut Butter Ice CreamSP ice cream

Tofu Noodle Stir Fry with Spicy Peanut Sauce

Tofu noodles with peanut sauce

Rum Butter Kabocha Bowl

Rum Butter Kabocha Bowl

Sweet Potato Scramble with Spiced Maple-Peanut Sauce

SP Scramble with PB Sauce

Sweet Potato Pan-lette

SP Eggs

French Elvis Toast

P28 Bread French Toast

There’s a lot more where that came from… check out my Recipage.  I may or may not have an addiction…

________________________________________________________________________________________

This WIAW was a good one.  I was much more prepared this week to stick to my plan.  I’m using more quinoa to help me hit my carbs.  This time I made extra to keep in the freezer for quick access next week too.

WIAWbutton

Read on for my food, and then check out Jenn’s link up for everyone else’s tasty eats.

________________________________________________________________________________________

Breakfast:

Of course I had my morning cocktail (apple cider vinegar, water, Glutamine, and Fitmixer Aminos) to start my day out right.

Then it was on to the #yolkporn.  I made Toad in a Hole with my P28 bread and local eggs.  I ate it with a side of kiwi and cottage cheese mixed with cinnamon.

Toad in a Hole with P28 bread

Mid-Morning Snack:

This was my post-workout refuel.  I made a Chocolate-Beet Protein Smoothie with extra spinach.  Topped with my custom granola and blueberries.

Side note: It drives me insane when people call them “bloobs.”  Is that silly?  #sorryimnotsorry

Chocolate Beet green protein smoothie

Lunch:

Cod that I baked in marinara sauce and mushrooms with a side of quinoa mixed with hummus, white bell pepper, and broccoli slaw.

It was pungent, so I also had one of the office soft mints. 😉

Cod

Afternoon Snack:

Sandwiches aren’t a staple in my life, but I’m really liking them lately!  This was turkey made at the local farmer’s market on Ezekial bread with local greens and hummus.

The salad was a Quinoa Tabbouleh.  The recipe will come tomorrow!

Turkey sandwich and quinoa tabbouleh

 This is when the day got awesome.  I left work to get a massage… where I realized exactly how badly I need to get them regularly.  My back was a knot forest.

Kombucha is good for muscle recovery, so naturally I headed to Whole Paycheck Foods to get a one on tap.  And a few other things I didn’t really need.

Buchi Fire

Shamelessly staged a photo shoot in the parking lot.

Dinner:

Ripped Recipes shared my Cheese-less Cauliflower Crust recipe on Instagram last night… which sparked a craving.  Pizza time!

I topped mine with marinara, broccoli slaw, baked tofu, and a slice of Daiya Provolone.  I eat cheese, but I actually love Daiya.  I do not; however, think it tastes like real cheese.

Cheese-less cauliflower crust

I am finally getting smart about making this pizza – I make a few crusts at a time to keep in the freezer for quick week night dinners.  MUCH better than pizza from the freezer section!

Side note: I recently discovered and really like Ripped Recipes as a resource for creative, protein-rich ideas.  Have you guys ever heard of them?

Dessert:

I really, really love carrots.  Hence – once again – my Carrot Cake Protein Batter.  I added some of the protein powder from my iHerb box and used a tiny bit of the Walden Farms caramel.  Both were a little fake.  The custom granola crack and the figs were good!

peanut butter carrot cake protein batter

***

The peanut flour farmers should really pay me.  Or I should at least get a break on my state taxes (it’s made here in GA).

Have you ever ordered from iHerb?  What are some of your go-tos?

What are some of your favorite carbs?  Oatmeal?  Quinoa?  Others?

Getting Big is Marvelous

By

This weekend was especially marvelous.

 

Not that all weekends aren’t good.

After several weeks in a row of go-go-go, it was nice to be in town and left to my own devices.  One might say it was absolutely marvelous.

Click the image for Katie’s Marvelous Monday link up!

 

Saturday I had brunch with some friends from grad school.  We had a great time catching up and resolved (again) not to go some long without a reunion.

On my way home, I stopped at The Fresh Market and picked up a few treats.  Apparently I was feeling ginger?

Ginger buys

 

Then I hit the gym.  Hard.  I am finally feeling comfortable lifting again, and seeing some good progress.  A guy I don’t know, but had seen around for a year or so know agreed… he stopped to tell me I was making some good progress and looked a lot bigger than I did a year ago.  I almost hugged him.

Just a couple of years ago I would have killed someone for telling me I look big.  On Saturday I was flattered and thrilled.  So much so that I had a photo shoot in the locker room… paying no mind to the lady changing and giving me the “WTF?!” look.  #sorryimnotsorry

gym progress

 

When I got home, I had a package.  The timing couldn’t have been better.  It was a delivery of my favorite protein powder from Growing Naturals!

I immediately busted out the vanilla and made a smoothie with spinach and raw sweet potato. It was good, but I want to perfect before sharing.

Growing Naturals

 

That night I went to see an artist I used to listen to in college – Melissa Ferrick.  The group of friends was totally random; they all responded to my plea for a concert buddy via Facebook.  Crowd sourcing concert buddies. 🙂

The venus is a listening room where there are tables and a full menu.  I brought my own food in.  It was really good!  And I saved some carbs to have a Guinness.  The best part about bringing your own healthy food to a show?  Coming home to a healthy dessert in an almost empty Greek yogurt container!  This was my favorite Carrot Cake Protein Batter, topped with granola and cocoa powder sauce.

Melissa Ferrick

 

Sunday I got up and made my Fluffy Cauliflower Protein Pancakes and a broiled grapefruit.  Is it just me or are pancakes are the perfect way to start the day?

I semi-homemade my own syrup.  It was 1 tsp sugar-free syrup, 1 tsp peanut flour, cinnamon, and a little water to thin.  I’ll be doing that again!

Cauliflower Protein Pancakes

 

There was a little snafu.  I left to run errands and forgot to turn off the stove.  The black beans I was cooking for the week turned to a char.  Oops.

No matter!  I had a date with some new friends to run sprints up Stone Mountain!  Even more fun was getting to introduce them to my favorite market, where I bought some things to make the dish below.  

I will share later.  Bwhahaha…

***

In other marvelous news, it was actually sunny and warm in Atlanta most of the weekend.  A nice change after our monsoon season.

What do you do with a “do what you want,” agenda-free weekend?

What was the last thing you burned?  After burning those beans, my condo smelled like a giant fart. 🙁

 

Follow Me!

instagram_b facebook_b twitter_bpinterest_b
rss_a email_ayoutube_b googlep_b

Popular Posts

Home | About Me | Privacy Policy | Fitness | Recipes | Training & Nutrition

Affiliate Links: This site is monetized through the use of affiliate links. This means that if you were to make a purchase through one of these links, Sprint 2 the Table would receive a small percentage of the sale price. Thanks for your support!