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Kale Fail

I HAVE to start by sharing the best part of my day: breakfast.

We’ve run out of coffee at my house so my Dad has to grind beans each night for the next morning. I can’t believe what a difference that makes–it tastes so delicious!

I would eat this breakfast sandwich every day for the next thirty years. It was THAT good.

Whole wheat english muffin, 2 eggs with spinach, 1 veggie sausage patty, a sprinkle of shredded swiss cheese, and raspberry jam. Ehhhhhmahgod. It was a sweet salty compilation for the ages. That, plus the fresh coffee made for a magnificent morning.

Not much to report today. I got my hair done and did P90x yoga.

Boo!

Today was definitely a yoga day. These 5 mile runs every other day have been taking a toll on my hips and legs in general. I hate stretching and icing but it’s oh so important to the thing that I do love (running) so it’s necessary to get in some yoga time every week or two.

What I like about P90x yoga is its intensity. I’m all for relaxing and meditating but it needs to be a good workout at the same time. P90x does just that. It’s pretty long (90 minutes!) but today I just did 70 minutes because I got caught up doing frog pose for too long instead. That realllllly helps stretch out the hips and I just couldn’t bring myself to move on!

In other even less exciting news, I tried to make kale chips today.

Granted my kale was on its last leg, but damn–it smelled bad, looked bad, and tasted bad. I even closed my eyes and begged my fairy godmother to turn it into a big tray of Doritos, but alas, all I was left with was a kale fail. Oh well.

Lunch before work was fajitas!

Plus a few dates:

Love love loveeee me some dates.

Confession: my sweet tooth has been RAGING lately. Ladies, you know what I’m getting at. So aside from these dates I had one too many pieces of Dove chocolate today along with constantly picking at a bag of semi sweet chocolate chips. Even as I type this I’m dreaming of pressing “publish” so I can run downstairs and get some cookie dough ice cream. I’m not perfect–sugar is a beast! Sometimes I just have to let it win 🙂

Tomorrow is going to be a great day–Jazzin at the Shedd Aquarium downtown! Prepare yourselves for pictures overload. The Chicago skyline along the lake is too good to pass up.

That time I took a nap on the front lawn

Oh my gosh I know I’ve said this before but I’ve officially learned my lesson about not getting my outdoor runs done EARLY in the morning. Apparently 9:30am isn’t early enough.

I set my alarm for 7am, since that’s the time of the Big Ten 10k. I figured I should get used to running outside in Chicagoland at that time. Of course I stayed up way too late eating chocolate in bed (busted) and watching Suits so when 7am rolled around my hand hit the snooze button faster than Usain Bolt.

So 9:30 it was. It was already in the mid-80s and humid in the suburbs so this run was horrid. Sticky, sweaty, chafey…all the sexy running words combined. It was not pretty.

I knew that I wanted to lay down within 2 minutes of running. Sadly, I had 46 more minutes to go. The minute I hit that 5 mile mark and was back at my house, I promptly took a doze on my front lawn. It was shady and magical. (Tree shady, not stalker shady…although I’m sure to passersby I was that kind of shady as well).

After my nap I proceeded to make the biggest, most delicious omelette

2 eggs, tomato, onion, spinach, and 2 veggie sausage patties.

Enjoyed with two huge cups of black coffee. Love.

I could share the rest of my eats with you for the day but to be honest they were random and kinda boring. Aside from this deeeelicious apple and peanut butter, my lunch/dinner was just thrown together out of hunger before and after work.

One thing I did want to talk about is a new goal of mine: to cut out aspartame!

There are a million and one studies out there that all claim something different. Some say that aspartame is carcinogenic, some say that’s bogus. I do, however, have a friend going to medical school and during his internship recently he performed a lab test regarding aspartame. I asked him about it and he said that based on what his experiment presented, aspartame is no good. Carcinogenic, in fact.

Now, I’ve been so much better about not drinking diet sodas in the past few years. I used to drink 4-5 diet Snapples every day in high school. And once I started drinking alcohol, I always chose diet soda because I didn’t want the extra calories. However, I also began to have weird stomach issues in college. I never figured out what it was, but I’ll tell you this: since giving up Diet Coke for NYE this past year, I haven’t had any more issues. That, plus the fear of those chemicals in my body, have really put me on edge. I love Snapple, Arizona Iced Tea, sugar-free vanilla lattes…all that good stuff. But it’s just not worth it to me anymore.

(*Sigh*) I’m becoming a grown up.

That being said, water is not my favorite. I need something with a taste to enjoy with my meals. So I gave Zevia a whirl.

I’ve mentioned it before because I tried the rootbeer version last week, and now I’m trying the cola version. I’m a stevia fanatic so I was so on board with this product the minute I saw it. Now, it’s no Diet Coke. But for a zero calorie, naturally flavored beverage, I love it. It even has caffeine! Who doesn’t need more of that?

I’ll definitely be on the lookout to try new flavors. I just figured it would be something good to share for those who aren’t ready to totally jump off the soda wagon.

Now it’s time for Suits and sleep!

Date Night!

Tonight I experienced a whole new neighborhood in the city of Chicago: Wicker Park!

I’ve never been to that neighborhood before so I didn’t know what to expect but thankfully I was blown away by how cool it was. I might be biased, but Chicago is the best. It has everything!

Before I had date night which, as you may have guessed, did not include healthy eating (I stopped my detox diet last night with a wedding reception…hey 6 days is pretty darn good!) so I made sure to get in a good workout beforehand.

30 minutes on the stairmaster alternating speeds back and forth every 2 minutes

20 minutes on the elliptical

20 minute upper body workout (3 types of curls, overhead tricep extensions, shoulder raises)

Then I was off to explore the city!

Wicker Park is a Chicago neighborhood northwest of the Loop. It was full of young people, (mostly hipsters, let’s be real), outdoor patio bars, eccentric shops, narrow houses, and hidden gardens. I. Loved. It.

The thing about Chicago is that these “neighborhoods” are all connected by the CTA, an above-ground subway system, so you can just jet from one to the next in no time. Each one has its own flair so every time you get off at a stop you are immersed in a whole new corner of the city.

I have wanted to try Piece Pizza for almost seven years now after a coworker in high school mentioned its deliciousness. Being that I was 16, barely licensed to drive, and too scared to be out of the suburbs past dark, I never made the trek. But today seemed like the perfect opportunity!

It was about a half an hour wait, which I was surprised at considering it was a Sunday night at 8pm! Even though I was starving, I knew that a wait like that meant the food had to be something special, so the boy and I took a walk around the neighborhood. It was a gorgeous summer night in Chicago–those have been few and far between–so it was the perfect way to pass the time.

When we finally got seated, it took just a few minutes of perusing the menu to figure out what we wanted. Piece is cool because you have a few “base” options (red sauce with mozzarella, white, or bbq sauce) and then you can build your pie from there. They had everything from basil to clams and even mashed potatoes. After asking the waiter what his favorite pizza was (I always get the opinion of the server at restaurants), we made our choice. Large red pizza, half spinach/onion/green pepper, half spinach/bacon.

Ummmm hello, gorgeous. I think I’m officially the worst kind of sinner–I think I liked this pizza more than deep dish (pause as all of Chicagoland gasps in horror). It was just so flavorful and chewy but crispy at the same time and the toppings were the perfect amount and the cheese was just right and …. I mean come on. Look at that thing. That pizza definitely excuses that horrible run on sentence that just happened. Basically, Piece Pizza is my new place.

Finally, I knew I wanted to go all out. I’ve been hearing whispers about an ice cream place in Wicker Park that uses LIQUID NITROGEN to individually create your ice cream. Being in the area and not going to that delicious laboratory would have been an atrocity to foodies everywhere, so we stopped by. It was really cool!

At first I wasn’t sold on my ice cream because it melted so so fast once it hit my tongue, but I started to realize with each bite that it was some of the most flavorful ice cream I had ever had. I had a mix of butter pecan and caramel with pecans folded into it, and it was truly one of the most delicious butter pecans I have ever had. It was definitely different, but in a great way. Wayyyy overpriced, but it had to be tried!

Such an amazing Sunday night! Have a great week, everyone!

Why I Cook

Get ready for some philosophy from a not-so-philosophical person.

Why I Cook

When we were little kids, the main things we learned were numbers and colors. Sure there was the animal unit in Kindergarten and cursive in second grade, but I remember learning about numbers and colors vividly. We carefully fingerpainted blurred lines of blue and yellow and squealed when it made green, counted to ten playing hide and go seek, and counted down the days until our next birthday while dreaming about what color frosting our mom would put on our cake.

I think that, as we grow up, we make decisions of how to keep finding amazement in numbers and colors. Engineers see numbers as devices that create things and make them come alive. Teachers paint pictures of historical stories and let their students learn by creating colorful characters in order to act out moments in history. Accountants see numbers as formulas that make our entire social system run smoothly. Theater students paint sets and create new worlds in order to keep audiences entertained. Everyone finds a way to get the same excitement from numbers and colors that we did when we first learned about them as kids.

Now, I’m not saying I’m a chef. No, I’m so so far from that. But at this point in my life, when I’m still trying to figure out who I am and what my career will be, one thing I do know about myself is that I cook.

I find joy in measuring 1/2 a teaspoon of baking soda into a bowl of sifted flour as I embark on making a giant chocolate cake. I get excited when I click on a recipe and have to make a list of ingredients to hunt for. I’m proud when I can include green, yellow, orange, AND red peppers into a dish, and even more proud when I can make a dessert tart made from all different types of berries fanning out in a distinct pattern.

I cook because it brings me back to the days when I didn’t even know the storylines of Disney movies, but I could remember the colors throughout the films clearly. I cook because there’s something almost magical about measuring ingredients that are completely unlike each other and someway, somehow, they all come together and create a dish. Cooking should be impossible. It makes no sense. But it happens and creates something beautiful. Whenever I successfully cook something, I feel that excitement that I did when I was a kid. Cooking is a wonder.

Hard Day + recipe

Today is one of those days when things just aren’t going my way. When it rains it pours, right? I do consider myself lucky because these days are few and far between!

Today I woke up and saw peaches in the freezer. I knew I had to make oatmeal with them! Seriously guys, peach oatmeal is so good because if you add the right stuff, you can make it taste like peach cobbler (one of my all time favorites).

I boiled 1 cup of almond milk on the stove, added 1/2 a cup of oatmeal, and stirred in a bunch of flax seeds, chia seeds, walnuts, peaches, blueberries, and cinnamon. So comforting and it sat like a rock in my stomach for a few hours, which did a lot of good helping me fuel for my run.

I headed to the gym to attempt a “non-stop” 5 mile run. Success! I love setting a fitness goal and accomplishing it. It’s a great feeling!

I’ll be running the Big Ten 10k in just two weeks so I’m glad these 5 miles are getting easier. I can’t wait to run in the city–it’s one of the best things to do. That, plus running in huge groups–it’s an endorphin high like no other.

I made a quick lunch before running off to work.

I sliced up some grilled chicken, tossed it in jalepeno bbq sauce and red onions, and served that over mixed greens. I have so much spinach to use up!

Finally, I decided to ACTUALLY cook something that I pinned on Pinterest 🙂

I think most people who are active on that site know that it’s easy to pin a hundred things in one sitting, but actually doing them? That’s a whole other story.

I tackled a Black Bean and Quinoa casserole! I left out the cheese because of my dietary changes this week but when it was done I topped it with some plain greek yogurt and sliced avocado with sea salt and it was delish!

Black Bean Quinoa Casserole (adadpted from Pinch of Yum.com)

5 garlic cloves
1 onion chopped
4 bell peppers chopped (I used 2 green, 1 yellow, and 1 orange)
2 small jalepenos, seeded and minced
5 cups cooked black beans
1.25 cups vegetable broth
2 cups cooked quinoa
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 teaspoon cumin

Instructions

Black beans: Heat oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Add the garlic, onion, and jalapeno, sauteing for 4 minutes and stirring occasionally. Stir in broth and black beans. Bring mixture to a boil and cook for 7 minutes. The mixture should be thick, not watery. If you still have a lot of moisture, let it cook out by keeping it on the heat for another few minutes. Taste and season with salt.
Quinoa: In a dry nonstick skillet over medium high heat, toss and toast the cooked quinoa with the cayenne, chili powder, cumin, and salt for 1-2 minutes. Taste and season with salt. Set aside.
Peppers: In the same dry nonstick skillet as the quinoa, over medium high heat, place the diced peppers and do NOT stir. This allows the peppers to get a brown roasted look on the outside. Wait for 2-3 minutes before stirring, then let them “roast” for another few minutes before removing from the heat. Add the peppers to the quinoa that is set aside.
Assemble: Preheat oven to 375 . Put black bean mixture into a 8X8 glass baking dish coated with cooking spray. Top with quinoa/pepper mixture. Cover with foil and bake for 25 minutes. Top with whatever you’d like–avocado, greek yogurt, sour cream, cheese, tortilla chips, etc.

Enjoy!!

Question: does having a bad day motivate you to work out more or less?

Chocolate Cherry Protein Smoothie recipe

Hey all!

I just wanted to share a quick post with one of my newest smoothie loves. The hot summer heat always makes me crave icy cold smoothies, and slipping some greens and protein in there is just a great bonus! So without further ado:

Chocolate Cherry Protein Smoothie

1 cup almond milk (or any other milk you choose)

2 cups cherries (pitted)

1 scoop chocolate protein powder (I use GNC brand)

2 big handfuls of spinach

A few ice cubes (add at preference. Frozen cherries aren’t as solid as other fruits, so I needed more ice cubes than normal)

Blend and enjoy!

Mango Mahi Mahi + (why i love lululemon)

90% of this day was boring, when it comes to what I can put on the blog.

Breakfast? Same as yesterday. Boring. Workout? Done, but with little to no motivation or energy. Dinner? Grabbed the first thing I could get my hands on after work. Boring.

….but LUNCH.

Oh my goodness, lunch. How you surprised me.

Before I get to that, I just have to comment on how much I love Lululemon. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: as I get older, I realize more and more that the old adage “You get what you pay for” is so true. I had a hard time justifying wearing $90 running pants. But hey, it was my birthday and I had never purchased anything from Lulu before, so I tried them out. The material is so wonderful and high-quality that it’s supposed to last you around 5 years! That’s 5 years of running, squats, sprints, stairs, you name it. Those are some tough pants.

Well, to sum up, one of the seams on my Run: Inspire Crop II came loose, creating a hole on one of the legs. I was worried that they were goners and I’d be out the money I just shelled out six months ago. This was not the case, however. The wonderful people at the store in Evanston happily exchanged my worn, not even washed pair of leggings for a brand new, sitting-on-the-shelf pair, no questions asked. They even let me pick a different color! I’m so happy that I decided to shop at a store that stands by its product.

The streets of Evanston–such an elegant town

Anyway, back to the exciting stuff–LUNCH!

I decided to try out a new recipe (tweaked to my taste buds) and to say it was phenomenal would be an understatement. Everything about this lunch just screamed summer. Spring mix topped with a piece of fresh mahi mahi, all absolutely smothered in a homemade dressing of simply lime juice, red onion, salt, chopped mango and blueberries.

I. am. obsessed. And I don’t obsess over food easily (**jokes**)

Since it’s July and it feels like a swamp outside you must promise me that you’ll try out this salad. It left me feeling light and summery all afternoon (a far cry from the heavy tuna melts I’ve so desperately been craving).

Mango Mahi Mahi

1/2 cup blueberries
1/2 cup chopped mango
3 tablespoons chopped red onion
The juice of 1 small lime (about 2 tablespoons)
1 teaspoon minced jalepeno
Salt/pepper
4 oz mahi mahi fillet

Mix the blueberries, mango, onion, lime juice, jalapeno, and salt into a bowl. It’s supposed to be a “dressing” so don’t worry about smashing the fruit.

Cook the mahi mahi how you prefer (I cooked it on a skillet with olive oil–3 minutes on one side, 2 on the other over medium-high heat).

Lay your greens on a large dinner plate (I chose spring mix). Spoon the dressing over the greens. Top with your cooked fish.

Eat ASAP.

Enjoy! This truly was a beautiful meal.

Question: Have you tried a new recipe lately? What was it and how did it turn out?

Detox Monday

Detox can be a scary word. I always read about cleanses and want to try them…then I remember that I love food and that a juice cleanse or seriously restricting diet would be way too hard and I’d just be setting myself up for failure. So today, I’m starting fresh after 5 days of not-so-healthy eating.

Don’t get me wrong, I didn’t shove Twinkies down my throat and wash them down with Doritos and a Big Gulp. But I always get a little lackadaisical with the sweets/pizza/alcohol on holidays. And I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that! There’s nothing better than celebrating with friends and family and forgetting the “rules” of everyday life, then getting back to good habits the next day.

So today, I start a 7 day “adventure” of clean eating! Here’s my version of a detox, one that I’m hoping will leave me feeling lighter and cleansed.

Eat This

VEGGIES, Fruits, H20, Green Tea, Oatmeal, Eggs, Avocado, Lean Protein, Brown Rice, Ezekiel Bread, Dandelion Root Tea, Plain Greek Yogurt, Boca sausage and burgers, etc

Not That

Milk, cheese, anything fried, added butter/oil, SWEETS

I don’t drink much milk so that won’t be a problem. The cheese and sweets part? That’s my biggest issue 🙂 I’ve done this before though and it does make me feel great. There’s a reason this is only 7 days though…I love my cheese and sweets! I just need to get back into a good balance of eating.

Day 1 wasn’t bad at all! Good thing I love veggies 🙂

Breakfast was an amazing 2 egg omelette with onions and garlic (both GREAT for detoxing) as well as green peppers. I topped it with sliced avocado and sea salt. It was so satisfying it kept me full for hours.

I did some grocery shopping this afternoon to supply this lovely eating plan.

It’s like a rainbow woooo!

Stars of the show were kale (gonna try making kale chips good luck to me), Yogi detox tea made with dandelion root, sugar snap peas, mangoes, and cucumbers. I have so many ideas of how to use these new products I can’t wait!

I reheated a veggie burger that my Dad grilled last night. A burger with no cheddar is not nearly as delicious but oh well–it’s only a week. I topped the burger with spinach, iceberg lettuce, tomato, grilled onions, ketchup and mustard. Such a summer meal.

Soon after I went to the gym. I ran 5 miles while watching The Bachelorette–I didn’t think I was going to get into this season but I really like Des more as it goes along. I’m rooting for Chris but we’ll see what happens!

I came home and made a Chocolate Cherry protein smoothie.

Recipe to come!

I ended the night with a veggified snack.

The picture makes me miss the buttery popcorn I was snacking on this weekend instead

…..but I know I’ll feel a million times better by Sunday 🙂

Happy post-holiday week!

Back from the holiday weekend!

I’m back from my crazy-long holiday hiatus!

It was a busy, stressful, fun and exciting weekend full of moving, driving, and exploring.

I’ll be back tonight with a normal day recap but first, here are some pictures from my Fourth of July weekend in Chicago.

I hope you all had a great holiday weekend as well!

Nothing better than long summer days

Today started bright and early at (what I thought would be) the crack of dawn. Turns out that 6 am in July actually is pretty sunny. My body didn’t get the message and up until about 2 minutes in my run I felt like a zombie.

I quickly felt the invigorating morning air, though, and have decided that I really have to make an effort to get my runs done in the early hours of the AM. This is going to take a lot of dedication (aka getting to bed early before 2 am like I’ve been doing lately) and less inclination to hit the snooze. I used to be an early riser, and I know it’s in me, I just have to start the habit again. That run was too nice!

I love this sign in a store window that I ran past. Now, I’m all up for drinks with my friends (especially a good mimosa) but I always prioritize my health over that. The day after drinking I never feel like working out or eating right, so I make sure to balance “going out” with putting in the hard work and dedication to eating right and treating my body well with exercise. I wanted to walk in the store just to tell the owner how funny and creative that sign was!

Ended my 5 mile run feeling happy with how my 10K training is going. I’m obviously not a speed demon but I’m getting there! I’m just excited to run the race with my friends.

My boyfriend’s flight landed early so I only had time for a quick breakfast in the car. PB toast with half a sliced banana.

We drove downtown to drop off his first rent check before he can move in tomorrow. I don’t think I’ll ever get over the excitement I get when I drive down Michigan Avenue.

Needless to say, we were home by 10:30 am and exhausted! That’s a LOT to do before 11 am on a Tuesday! Driving that long, especially after a run, hurts my legs so much so I definitely foam rolled and stretched after I got home.

I snacked on some fruit for awhile and then finally got to making a real lunch.

2 veggie corn dogs (Morningstar brand) with carrots. Don’t knock ’em til you try ’em. These corndogs are deeeelish.

I spent the afternoon shopping for the Fourth of July party that we’re throwing on Thursday. As of now we’re making S’mores bars (via Hungry Runner Girl), crockpot pulled bbq chicken (via How Sweet It Is), spinach dip, and a fruit skewer flag.

It should be a good time!

We ended the day with a family dinner and a night out at our local forest preserve to watch a bluegrass band perform. We went to see the same band last year, Henhouse Prowlers, and they are so good! It doesn’t hurt that my family loves bluegrass music and these guys are incredibly talented. It was such a fun night to spend with my family and boyfriend!