Sometimes there’s no shame in staying in bed half the day.
Especially when the last couple of weeks have been chaos!
Last Monday I depicted pre-conference life. This Monday is recovery life. Marvelous recovery. Recovery life started with sleep. Since I couldn’t take pictures of that, we’ll pick up with the wakeful part of the weekend.
Agreed.
…
This really needs no intro.
Who needs to explain dessert porn?
Many of you have heard of poutine. It basically french fries with gravy. Well… I’ve always found it to be a bit overwhelming. I don’t love white potatoes or gravy. I do love sweet potatoes and almost anything sweet.
This is going to sound really strange… but I hand-on-the-Bible swear it’s good.
I kept it simple by using sweet potato crinkle fries from the frozen section at Fresh Market.
While they baked, I whipped up a quick peanut butter sauce. If you haven’t had sweet potatoes with nut butter… well, you’re missing out on a truly amazing #strangebutgood combo. Top all that with marshmallows and pop in under the broiler to achieve that crunchy s’more char.
Make this. You’ll be left licking the plate and moaning “I need ‘smore poutine!” 😉 .
Wow. That was corny, even for me.
Peanut Butter Gravy
Bake the sweet potato fries according to package instructions on a piece of foil or parchment. Meanwhile, mix together Gravy ingredients in a small bowl.
Remove from oven and top with gravy, marshmallows, and chocolate chips.
Return to oven under broil for 1-2 mins. Watch it closely – it will burn! Allow to cool slightly before transferring to a plate.
*Note: I buy my peanut flour on iHerb. You can use discount code USO924 for $5019 off your order. You could also use protein powder or nut butter here. If you use regular nut butter you may want to reduce the amount of milk.
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.
Remember to use #strangebutgood in any Tweets and Instagrams of your creations. 🙂
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This is going to make for the perfect Labor Day weekend treat. Bonus points if you have a campfire to toast your ‘mallos over.
Have you ever had poutine?
What’s your favorite sweet potato topping?
Wasting food is one of the 7 deadly sins in my house.
There are starving children in Africa!
Before leaving to go out of town I make it my personal mission to eat everything perishable in my house. If it’s not eaten before I leave, it’s eaten on the road. I’ve done a couple of travel food posts before; while I’m not in competition mode this trip I still would rather have my own food from home than eat nasty airport food. I’d also rather not pay a ton of money for nasty airport food. That money is better spent on chocolate and wine in Europe!
Often people are surprised by the food I bring through security. You CAN bring food! Just avoid the liquid.
Pro Tip #1: Protein powder will not be mistaken for cocaine.
Pro Tip #2: If you freeze yogurt, it’s a solid!
This WIAW is a crazy mix of leftovers. I’m not even going to try to separate it into meals!
Read on for my eats, and then check out Jenn’s blog for everyone else’s delicious creations!…
I’m stranging-up Mayo!
(That’s May, not mayonnaise.)
It occurred to me that many of my Mexican-inspired creations are a bit strange. Mexican is one of my favorite cuisines, and I’m always looking for a good way to shake it up!
No matter what time of day you celebrate, I have an appropriately themed dish!
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.
Remember to use #strangebutgood in any Tweets and Instagrams of your creations. 🙂
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Check out the FitFluential Cinco de Mayo Round Up for more ideas!
What’s your favorite cuisine to add a #strangebutgood twist to?
Do you have Cino de Mayo plans? Any special meals?
It is time I clean up my act.
Let’s be real – it’s beyond time.
It’s generally pretty easy for me to keep my diet in check during the week. The weekends… it’s another story. Since I’m not competing this year I haven’t been following any real nutrition plan. Of course, I took that to the extreme.
What I know about myself is that I love to indulge. I also know that when that starts happening too much, I feel like crap. It affects me physically and mentally. I’ve been struggling lately, and I know it’s time to reign it in.
For a few years now I’ve been doing my own version of a cleanse… it’s really more of a jump start though. Basically, it’s eating super clean and eliminating common allergens like eggs, dairy, nuts, and gluten. The first 10 days is meatless. The last 11 days include chicken and deep sea fish.
I’m only through Day 1, but here’s my first reactions:
This WIAW is my first on the 21 clean(se). I’m still working out the best foods to bring and when to time protein and carbs to get the energy I need.
Read on for my eats, and then check out Jenn’s blog for everyone else’s delicious creations!
My morning cocktail had to be modified. The Aminos I usually use aren’t really clean, so I modified by using ACV and juice from half a lemon. It wasn’t too bad.
Cleanse meal #1 was chia pudding. It’s been a long time since I’ve made a chia pudding, but I used to eat them all the time. Today’s was a berry theme, with my favorite pea protein for added stay-power. I served myself in a martini glass… 2 cocktails in one morning! 😉
In a small bowl, mash berries until they are a chunky puree. Stir in remaining ingredients. Cover and refrigerate overnight (or at least 2-3 hours).
In the morning, uncover and stir. Add additional liquid or sweetener as needed.
This happened in two parts. My new pre-workout was dates stuffed with tahini. It was delicious, if not a little messy. It was slow to get going on my workout, but I felt better once I got into it.
Post-workout I made sure to get my protein and carbs in. Can’t lose my gains!
This is my Liquid Sweet Potato Pie made with a date instead of Stevia (Stevia is permitted, but I’m trying to limit it), no extract, and – knowing I have a lot of greens coming my way – I left out the spinach.
Salad of epic proportions and a creamy red pepper soup. See what I mean about the greens?
Roasted veggies from my trusty Tupperware. Brussels, shiitakes, broccoli, and eggplant with coconut oil, cumin, and cayenne. Coconut oil is a very, very good idea when roasting things. Why do I always forget to use it?
I was starving. Not gonna lie. I forgot my quinoa at home, so I missed my delicious, filling carbs. The better to fuel with when I got home!
Sautés are a quick and easy hanger cure. I tossed some red pepper in a pan to soften while I washed and chopped kale. Then, I added the kale and some pico de gallo to the pan, cooking until the leaves were just beginning to wilt. Lastly, I mixed in the pre-cooked quinoa and a bit of lime juice to warm. Toss it all in a bowl and top with avocado and freshly ground pepper.
Super clean, #strangebutgood dessert. I made protein ice cream by mashing together half a banana, some avocado, pea protein, cinnamon, and unsweetened coconut milk. I froze it for a couple of hours, then blended it in my Vitamix. Topped with cinnamon-honey coconut flour fluff and cacao nibs.
Color = questionable. Taste = good!
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Day 1 done. 20 to go.
Have you ever needed to clean up your act?
What is your favorite pre-workout? Do you keep it clean?
New kitchen methods fascinate me.
The stranger the learning, the better!
This week’s ingredients aren’t necessarily strange, but the way I cooked it was strange to me. It’s a quinoa casserole… but you don’t have to cook the quinoa first! Perfect for the lazy chef. Like me.
For some reason I have a mental block about cooking grains. It seems like SO much effort. I know this is totally irrational, and I make other things that take much longer. It is what it is. When I saw this recipe from Lee where she simply baked the quinoa uncooked, I knew I had to try it.
I used Mexican flavors here, but I’m excited to try the method with other flavor profiles (French is next on the list!). It’s one of those magical recipes that seems like it took a ton of effort, but is incredibly easy. It’s a one dish meal – I just tossed everything in a bowl to mix and transferred it to the dish.
Random story about my dish – it was just returned to me by a friend. She’d had it for 2 years from when I brought over these Mexican Black Bean Brownies to an Oscar party. LOL!
If you like heat, you’ll love this. If you don’t, I’d keep the paprika but leave out the cayenne. The smoked paprika is a must for me. I love that smokiness with the Mexican spices and the slight sweetness from the sweet potato.
Between the bean and the quinoa, this makes for a fantastic protein-rich vegan dish!
Preheat oven to 350F. Prepare a baking dish with nonstick cooking spray.
Place all ingredients into a large bowl and miix until everything is evenly combined. Pour into baking dish, spreading evenly to combine.
Cover with foil and bake for 75 mins, or until sweet potatoes are tender and quinoa is cooked.
Makes 9 servings.
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.
Remember to use #strangebutgood in any Tweets and Instagrams of your creations. 🙂
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I’m so excited for this weekend – I’m going to see some of my old teammates at the Atlanta Rollergirls‘ Bout!
Do you have certain foods that seem like a lot of effort to cook?
What is your favorite quinoa dish?
Last week was a long one.
Understatement of the year.
This past weekend I made sure to savour every blissful moment. I took an extra moment to appreciate new product finds, watch my sister’s music video on repeat, and enjoy dinner at a special restaurant for no particular occasion.
In this month of love, I wanted to share a few apples of my eye with you guys! ♥
It is saving my skin from winter. My skin is dry in this crazy weather, yet it is also oily in spots and prone to breakouts. Slathering it with oil was a terrifying thought… but I trusted my sister’s advice and gave it a shot. Lo and behold, it works!
I now use Jojoba oil as a nightly moisturizer, along with a bit of tea tree oil on any acne spots. Both can be found at Whole Foods or most natural food stores.
…
Food, in the simplest of definitions, is fuel.
I missed that memo.
Food, for me, has always been entertainment. It’s art. It’s an experiment. It’s what I do when I’m sad, happy, grumpy, tired, bored… I love food. End scene.
You might imagine that a limited diet is my worst nightmare. I’ve been trying to prove you can still be creative on a competition diet. You can… but the last week of cutting is HARD. You’ll notice from last week’s WIAW at 4 days out, I still had a lot of variety. This time around I decided to try something new. Being more boring traditional.
I cut fat and am sticking to lean proteins (mostly tilapia). My main veggie is asparagus. My carbs are oatmeal in the morning and sweet potato after that. I’m not hungry at all… but my palette is bored out of its mind. Food has become fuel.
Why am I doing this? Quite simply, to see if it’s necessary. I want to compare last weekend to this weekend. Will it make a difference if I eat more like everyone else the week before a competition? Only my abs time will tell!
The fascination with experimentation is what’s keeping me on track this week!
I almost feel like I should apologize for the repetitive nature of this WIAW. I am 4 days from my 4th figure competition. It’s the last one for a long while… I promise next week will be more interesting.
Read on for my eats, and then check out Jenn’s blog for everyone else delicious creations!
I still start the day with my Aminos and ACV morning cocktail. I swear it’s more energizing than coffee.
Breakfast was oatmeal with a ton of cinnamon, honey, and pomegranate atop a homemade Turkey Breakfast Sausage Patties. I really do love the turkey “sausage.” It’s something I would make in the off-season too – they’re a great clean, low-sodium alternative to the store-bought stuff.
As usual, I ate it in the car on the way to work. Turkey-oatmeal coffee mug parfait!
Surprise, surprise. Tilapia. I did add some variety with cucumbers, red bell pepper, and purple sweet potato chips (with cinnamon).
Fish variety at lunch – I had Perch with my asparagus. The asparagus I sautéed during food prep with shallots, garlic, lime juice, and herb. I’m really loving the perch – it’s super mild.
Tilapia. Again. Added some variety in two ways: I used purple asparagus and I made it into ribbons! Purple asparagus is thicker, so it makes it a bit easier to shred into ribbons. Fuel can be fun. Ish.
Dinner was is my favorite treat – Sea Bass. It even makes asparagus taste better. Purple sweet potato is like dessert. I topped it with some nutritional yeast for a nutty accent.
It’s not really dessert anymore. Tilapia topped with a blend of Mexican spices and cucumber with salt-free mustard. Nom.
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I prepped all my food to take to Denver today for this weekend’s competition. Tilapia and curry-roasted asparagus are on tap for the plane. Others on the flight are going to love me. #sorryimnotsorry
Do you view food simply as fuel? Fun? Something else?
How do you keep it interesting in the kitchen?
