Kale, Three Ways - and Other Weekly Goings On

I just realized that I ate kale three times today. That is insane. I never ate kale before, like, ever. I know it's super trendy right now, but consider me on that bandwagon, I guess! Apparently, it has happened. I think a big reason for the kale-centric diet this week is the fact that I bought a giant bag of the stuff from Trader Joe's this weekend... therefore, KALE!

First, I put a giant handful of kale in my green smoothie this morning. I've been obsessed with the Classic Green Monster from Oh She Glows, as I previously mentioned. I make it with chia seeds and a scoop of vanilla protein powder.

Second, I found a recipe for a Kale and Chickpea Salad on the What's Cooking, Good Looking blog (another pinterest find). Since I had raw cashews but no almonds, I used those in my salad, and made the dressing with a little more vinegar and less oil. I brought some with my Taco Shepherd's Pie for lunch today!

(Do you like my cute little dressing doohickie thing that I brought today?)


Third, I brought some homemade kale chips (although the ones I make are never even CLOSE to as good as the premade $6/bag ones at Whole Foods... sigh), as well as some other veggie chips and almonds, for a snack this afternoon.


So, slight kale overload today, but considering it's something I barely touched as of a few months ago, pretty exciting!

EVERYBODY GETS SOME KALE!!!
(hehehehehe... pic from knowyourmeme.com)


Also - Anne! I used my sister's awesome idea of making egg whites into a wrap yesterday to bring to work, since I ran out of time to finish my breakfast at home, oops. Success!

(I put Spinach, Avocado, Turkey Bacon, and a little Pesto inside.)


I also had the pleasure of trying a new restaurant yesterday, and I'm kind of obsessed. After a lovely (hot!) run around the Stanford campus, I used Yelp to figure out where I wanted to eat, and found LYFE Kitchen. Omg.

First of all, I love that it's a restaurant that focuses on healthy but delicious food, and also on sustainability. All of their dishes are 600 calories or less as well - not that it's something I'm focusing right now (at least I'm trying not to), but that's nice for those who are! They also offer tons of gluten-free and vegan options, if that's your cup of tea.

My order was: Thai Red Curry Bowl with eggplant, broccolini, carrots, and other veggies and I opted for chicken breast over tofu, Side Salad, Ginger Mint Chia Water. Check out the full menu! Who wants to go for breakfast with me? (Quinoa blueberry pancakes with maple? YUM.) Or share a flatbread and some roasted veggies?

The LYFE Kitchen experience:

This place is a chain, so perhaps there's one in your hood as well!



As I mentioned earlier, before I went to LYFE Kitchen last night, I took a run around the Stanford campus. It's really pretty cool having such a beautiful college campus so close - although it's not my Alma Mater, still pretty cool. And now, it's that time of year - the kiddos are getting in to college! The campus was full of gangly teenagers and parents with Stanford hats and cameras. So many dads. Cuuuuute. Getting me excited for my OWN SPRING BREAK, which is in two weeks! Part staycation, part trip to Seattle. Entirely perfect. Did I mention how EXCITED I am?!



Look at me with a mid-week post. Well... there may not be one at the end of the week, since we're headed to Baltimore to surprise my lovely great aunt on her 90th! (If she typically used the internet, I wouldn't post this here... but I'm pretty sure she won't find this. Although she is a cool lady, and did go with me to see Magic Mike when it was in theaters...)

In any case, let's hope I keep up this posting streak! Have a great week, all!

Musings and Eatings of the Week

Ugh GOSH it was such a slow week this week. For some reason, it just dragged on. I mean, there were definitely some highlights. The weather has been BEAUTIFUL, and I got to enjoy some outdoor drinks after work and see Divergent with some co-workers. So that was nice. But for some reason, March has both dragged on and flown by at the same time.



So first, I've recently gotten back into Pinterest in a big way. You can check out my pinterest here!

One thing I spotted on Pinterest was some microwave Paleo cakes and muffins. Despite the fact that I've gotten really into cooking lately, and am happy to spend what free time I might find in the kitchen, I am really fundamentally lazy. So give me a recipe that takes 5 minutes to make, and is super delicious? So down.

Delighted Momma is one GREAT blog that has quite a few "mug cake" recipes that I've pinned. Since I never have more than 10 minutes to make breakfast before work in the mornings (well, I mean, I could, but like waking up even earlier than the god awful hour I wake up? No thx.), I decided to try the Two Minute Paleo Blueberry Muffin... and OMG IT WAS SO GOOD.

I didn't take any pics of it in the mug, because pre-coffee. I did take this pic of it after I so un-gracefully plopped it out of the mug on to a plate for ease of eating. It's not the prettiest, but it was definitely the yummiest.

I ALSO tried the Three Minute Paleo Chocolate Mug Cake this weekend! (Although three minutes is a little long... didn't know if I could handle the long prep time after that delicious TWO minute recipe. But I did it.) I adapted the recipe slightly, adding unsweetened applesauce and a little agave and stevia instead of two Tbsp. honey, since that seemed like a little much to me. Also did egg whites instead of an egg since I had a carton of those, and added a little baking powder. DELISH.

Another pinterest find was this Taco Shepherd's Pie from the Lucky Penny Blog. (I like the girl who writes the Lucky Penny Blog as her diet philosophy is similar to mine - less processed food, but not getting rid of anything completely.) I love this recipe in particular because it includes so many veggies in the meat, and it makes a filling, complete meal. I made mine with ground turkey rather than beef.

I didn't expect this to be so good because of the number of veggies in it (two carrots, one zucchini, one bell pepper, green chilis), but wow! Delicious. It was perfect with the slight sweetness of the sweet potato topping and plain greek yogurt. (Would have added avocado too, but I had avocado for lunch and was avocadoed-out for the day.) That + roasted green beans (and an appetizer of kettle corn made with coconut sugar) and it was the perfect dinner!

Also, I bought some parsnips on a whim at Whole Foods this week, since I've seen some recipes that use them lately. I decided to try to make some "french fries" with parsnips, and Delighted Momma had a recipe that I wanted to try. So I mixed these parsnip fries with some sweet potato and carrot, and voila! Mixed veggie fries.

Also made some homemade fish sticks from my Gwyneth Cookbook. I used them both with a very easy veganaise lemon "aioli" and in a "Fish Taco Salad" when I was craving Mexican this weekend and didn't want to spend more $$$ on food!

Finally, I have been craving oatmeal all week, and have not had any prepared. Sad. So I made a big crock pot batch this morning, loaded with cinnamon and nutmeg and sweetened with stevia and agave. I had it with all the fixins post-yoga today: raisins (golden AND regular ones, because I'm a badass), dates, walnuts, and chia seeds.

In terms of workouts this week, I did another 12-mile run (albeit slowly) yesterday to prepare for my next half marathon on April 6th. I've also been loving my weekly TRX class - and it's been exciting for me to see that I have at least a little upper body strength, which is something I've never felt like I've had!




One last thought of the week is regarding the scale. I talked about two different options when I talked with my therapist, one being that I'd stay away from the scale for good, and the other that I'd weigh myself daily or almost daily, and track my weight, but not judge it. She referred to weight and BMI as something we can regard as informative - for instance, if I'm gaining weight or losing weight, I can look at that information and see what I might need to change or adjust.

If I'm going to maintain around my current weight for the long run, I think this is a good idea. It puts me at ease to just weigh myself, not judge the number and let it affect me, and to not have it be a surprise every time I face the scale. I bought a scale this weekend, and I've already weighed myself twice (first thing in the morning, right after I wake up) - I thought the number would fluctuate, but it was actually exactly the same both days this weekend, and right around where it has been since I've been maintaining, so that was nice. The scale also tells my body fat percentage, which I have never known before. My # was 25.1%, which I felt like is a lot - but apparently is in the "normal" range for 20-29 year-olds (about 18-28%). I am curious to see if that number changes at all as I continue to build some upper body strength - not that I need it to change, since I'm happy exactly the way I am, but just curious to look at that information! :)



Hope everyone has a great week ahead!


S

What I Ate This Week: Day Seven and Go Green Half Marathon!

So, I kind of got tired of taking pictures and recording all my food for this blog. It was a fun novel project for the first couple days... aaaaand now I am tired of it. Enough so that I didn't really do it at all this Sunday, or write anything in my blog about it yet. In any case, count this as kind of a combined post - Sunday's food with my latest half marathon!

So I signed up for the Go Green St. Patrick's Day Half Marathon on a whim - I saw that it was local and St. Patrick's Day themed, and since I was training for another race in early April, it was a done deal.

I hit Target for some green accessories to wear, and luckily, it was a super nice day out, so I was able to wear a tank to run, and I had the perfect green one.

6 a.m. race day bathroom selfie!!!

My friend picked me up around 6:45, and we arrived at the park to warm up and use the bathroom. It was a cute set up, and people were milling around in their green shirts and costumes. Lots of green tutus, sparkles, and shamrocks! I was nervous about my new sunglasses (Target $1 bin, whatttt), and that they wouldn't stay on, but I wore them on another run this week and they worked marvelously. Winning. I also attached a light up shamrock pin!

I was nervous about warming up too much before the race - for some reason, it's always seemed counter-intuitive to me to warm up pre-race, as I've always thought about it as wasting energy that I could use for the race, especially since I don't ever eat beforehand. However, my friend Ellen, who ran the race as well, is a much more experienced runner than I am, and always warms up. So we did a 10-minute slow jog/run, and I felt good and shed my sweatshirt soon afterwards.

Pre-Race Photo, Post-Warm Up

Checking out the medals pre-race.



I was more relaxed than I've ever been at the start of the race, I think especially because I know the trail on which the race was run so well. Perhaps warming up had something to do with it as well! In any case, I got off to a typical start, allowing myself a few minutes to warm up and find my pace.

I found that I was able to pretty easily sustain a 10:15-10:30/mile pace throughout the race, which was better than I thought I could do! It was definitely less easy towards miles 9-11, in which there was a stretch of path without much shade. For awhile towards the finish, I was toeing the line of pushing myself and feeling nauseous, so I held back, staying more around the 10:20-10:30/mile pace. I found one woman who was running about a 10:20/mile, and stayed right behind her and let her pace me for awhile. (She actually ended up finishing right before I did!)

Here were my final results:

Time: 2:16:22
Pace: 10:25/mile

And it's a PR by 6 minutes!!

I found one picture online of me finishing the race:

Woohoo!



After the race, a brewery was offering free beer... and then they ran out before I could get one! They were still serving when I finished and I figured I'd wait a half hour or so to stretch and cool down first... laaaaaame.

Empty beer station - lame.

So my friend Ellen, who also ran, bought me this amazing Guinness Chocolate cupcake with Bailey's Cream frosting. I didn't feel like eating much, aside from oranges and bananas after the race, but then I remembered the cupcake... and though my initial plan was to eat half, it was gone in minutes.

YUM.

(That being said, in retrospect, I do wish I had not eaten the cupcake. My sugar cravings all day Sunday, spanning into Monday, were definitely not worth it. I really do think cutting out refined sugar in most instances is the right way to go for me, since afterwards, I just always, always crave more. Stuff like a little ice cream I can do, but a whole cupcake? Sugar cravings for days. I'm learning and wheeeeelp, now I know! It WAS really a delicious cupcake though.)

So the food station at the race was decent - Power Bars, Oranges, and Bananas, as well as a separate station with Kind bars. Post-race, in the future, I will NOT be eating any cupcakes. However, the vanilla protein-packed Power Bar was decent, and I always love bananas! Much better post-race selections.

After the race we got Mexican food. Mole enchiladas. SO good.

Later in the day, I made two recipes from my Gwyneth Paltrow cookbook (again), both from the "Kids' Menu" section. But like, adults can eat that stuff too, right? :) Super easy - just tofu and cooked carrots broiled or cooked at high heat with a mixture of raw honey, soy sauce/liquid aminos, garlic, olive oil, and I added a little Sriraicha. Yum!

I used rainbow carrots - my friends did not believe it was a real thing, but it is a real thing!



Had some fruit, veggies, and (vegan) pesto mayo for a snack.

(Yes, that is a margarita with my snack!)



Finally, I made vegan chocolate chip cookies. And they're meh. I mean, they're good, but I subbed maple syrup for the type of natural sweetner that the recipe called for, and... just yeah, not as good. Still decent with a glass of milk, but I'm going to work on finding a better Paleo/vegan/low glycemic cookie recipe.

Okay! Well now that it's far into the following week, I finally finished the previous week's blog posts. Hope you enjoyed! I will keep you all posted as I continue to experiment with new recipes and different types of foods to try, as well as training for my next half on April 6th!


xoxo
S

What I Ate This Week: Day Six.

Ahhhh, sleeping in. It is so amazing. By sleeping in, I really mean staying in bed 'till like 8 or 9, since I'm usually up at 6, but it's still pretty awesome.

This lovely morning, I slept in, lazed around for a bit, then did an easy pace 2-mile run to loosen up for my race tomorrow!

I planned on eating a light breakfast a bit earlier, but it really ended up being around 11. Oops. I wanted to do avocado toast again, because it was amazing yesterday, so I made an egg, fruit, and a handful of sauteed spinach with a bit of chopped garlic and EVOO to go with it.

Breakfast, 11:00: Avocado Toast (on Ezekiel Sprouted Grain and Seed Bread), Egg, Berry and Banana Fruit Salad, Sauteed Spinach

I met a good friend for lunch in Palo Alto today, and we tried Sliderbar. I decided to go with one bunless veggie burger slider (homemade black bean patty, yummm), which had aioli, red pepper, and cucumber, and one spicy chicken slider (appropriately named "Hot Chick," lol!). We also shared sweet potato fries!

I stopped by Whole Foods on the way home - they had a wine-tasting there, but as I had to drive home, sadly I did not partake. I did, however, pick up lots of stuff for the coming week's recipes, and a pint of this local ice cream from Petaluma: Straus Creamery. I tasted it (for quality assurance, of course!) this afternoon, and it's as good as it sounds!

I decided to make kale chips today as well, as I had some leftover kale from this week. I used Oh She Glows' All Dressed Kale Chips recipe!

I wasn't hungry, so I stored the kale chips in some baggies to use for this week. The leaves and stems that I didn't use went into a baggie into the freezer to put in green smoothies.


Enjoyed some iced coffee on a hot afternoon while making the kale chips :)

Salad Course, 6:30: Lettuce and carrots with cauliflower/chickpeas, sunflower seeds, raisins, blue cheese, and lemon vinaigrette

For dinner, I got slightly lazy, and used a Tikka Masala Simmer Sauce to cook some chicken breast. But, paired with the lentils from this week, it was an AWESOME Indian dinner combo. I made some brown rice in order to add some extra carbs for fuel for tomorrow!

Dinner, 7:30: Chicken Tikka, Lentil Coconut Curry, Butternut Squash Puree, Brown Rice, Plain Greek Yogurt Topping

Finally, I made the best yummiest dessert ever. I took the extra baked apple half from last night, added chopped dates, and re-warmed it. I topped it with some caramel ice cream and oat granola, and YUM. It was like an apple crisp!

Okay, got my stuff laid out for the race in the morning - see you tomorrow for the last day of this little project!

What I Ate This Week: Day Five.

I made myself a proper green smoothie today! I wasted no time in using my "The Oh She Glows Cookbook," and made myself the Original Green Monster smoothie! I was going to have some Paleo bread, but was really full after my smoothie, so brought the bread to work instead.

Breakfast, 7:10: Original Green Monster Smoothie from Oh She Glows!

Snack, 9:55: Paleo Bread with Laughing Cow Strawberry Cream Cheese, Berries

Lunch, 12:00: Coconut Lentil Curry Soup (from last night), Butternut Squash Puree (also from last night), Cocoroon Cookie, Tangerine, LAST SLICE of Delicious g/f Leftover Pizza!

Snack, 3:30: Veggies, Kale Chips, Chocolate Chickpea Snacks

I was SO excited to pick up my packet for my half marathon this Sunday after work today! It's a St. Patrick's Day themed run, and the tech shirt (which I will not wear to run, because as we Californians say, it will be hella hot on Sunday) is super cute. I can't wait!

Had a diet coke craving. DIET COKE SELFIE! (Yep, my hair is straight today - just got my hairs did.)

For dinner, I was going to make chicken... then I realized I had forgotten to take it out of the freezer to thaw the night before. Blerrrgh.

But! It ended up being a great thing, because what I made was SO. GOOD.

Remembering flipping through the breakfast section of my new cookbook last night and seeing sweet potato home fries, and as I'm stepping up the carbs a little today and tomorrow, I decided to go with a variation on the Oh She Glows Cookbook's Sunrise Scramble with Roasted Home Fries and Avocado Toast.

I was hungry when I got home around 7:00, so I had a quick salad with vinaigrette, raisins, and sunflower seeds.

So I started off by dicing the sweet potato (which I had bought a few days ago and had no idea what to do with - win!) and adding the ingredients to make home fries, as well as some red peppers, because yum.

Instead of the tofu scramble suggested in my cookbook, I made a two-egg omelette with spinach, mushrooms, and blue cheese. Finally, for my avocado toast, I used the recipe from my Goop Cookbook which was super easy and delicious - I used Ezekiel Bread, Vegenaise, and avocado.

All together, it was a super easy, colorful, and delicious dinner!

WINE SELFIE!

Finally, I decided to make a baked apple (from Goop's It's All Good cookbook again). Super easy. Wash apple. Take out core. Mix chopped walnuts, raisins, 1 Tbsp or so maple syrup, cinnamon and nutmeg, put in apple, bake. YUM.

Happy Weekend, everyone!