National running day!

Did you know Wednesday was National Running Day!?  Step aside hump day, you have been replaced.  Good thing I had the day off work, so I could get a nice exercise sesh in (in honor of the holiday, of course).

No work = extra zzzzs.  So I definitely slept in.  YES!

As I sipped my frothy coffee, I caught up on all the critical news (like the happs in J+K+8 and the crazies from the Jerz) – I’m soooo worldly. 

I went old school with breakfast…oats were my first love, and no amount of time apart can break that kind of bond. 

Naturally, I have classed up my act a bit since my grade school days (of Quaker’s maple and brown sugar packets). 

This bowl was overflowing with almond milk, cinnamon, stevia, and carob chips.

I KNOW you are drooling now :)

That massive bowl held me over for quite a while…so I got my inner-chef on (seeing as the rain was preventing me from doing any outside cardio).

So, a few days ago I received a wonderful treat in the mail from Miss RhodeyGirl. 

She was ever-so-sweet to send me some home-made Za’atar, after I had my first encounter with it a few weeks ago, and subsequently fell in love with it (to then never find it again).  Oh, Sabra how you tease me so…

Just opening the package, filled the room with the most a-MAZ-ing aroma.

I was soooo eager to use it.  First up on the menu, za’atar tofu.

Cut.  Press.  Spice.  Bake.  Flip.  Repeat. 

Done.

I sampled a few before packaging the rest up.  SUCCESS!!!

I hope the apartment smells like this forever.

Sorry I have no recipe, but I’m sure if you head over to RhodeyGirlTests and beg for more info promise her your first born child, she’d pass it along.  I keed, I keed.  She’s a gem :)  Thanks again girl!

Before heading off to corre corre, I had some fruit. 

I thought I had timed my run perfectly – can someone pass on the fact that it’s JUNE to the weather gods?!?! 

The clouds seemed to have put a cork in it, at least temporarily, but alas, the second my sneaks hit the pavement, I began to feel raindrops.  Next thing I know, the soft drizzle turned into a full on downpour.  Good thing I was only a block away.  I came back home, grabbed my gym bag, and headed off to the land of boring machines (aka NYSC). 

I did manage to change things up a bit, thanks to a Shape magazine workout.

• 30 mins elliptical (level 5-10) warm up (3.5 miles)
• 10 minutes stair master (level 10-12)
• 10 minutes treadmill (level 6-7)
• 10 minutes elliptical (level 10-13)

As usual, I finished with stretching, abs, and arms on the mats.  I left the gym high as a kite (on endorphins, duh)!

Post gym “refueling” (in the form of hummus) was very necessary.  No ifs, ands, or buts, I was dead set on a crack-wich.  I used home-made hummus and veggie slices (vegan “cheese”) and toasted it on the grill until the smoke alarm went off (which is my latest substitute for a timer). 

I also had one of these.

Yeah, this habit is going to destroy my wallet.  At $4, that’s like 25 cents per sip (ok, my math is not great, sue me).

I’m not sure my taste buds are refined enough to distinguish the difference between some of these flavors, but Trilogy did not disappoint (unfortunately). 

With so much fruit on hand, I basically snacked my way to dinner.

Because of this, my appetite wasn’t exactly chomping at the bit…but I knew I wanted those darn oat bran sesame crisps, so I created the entire meal around that desire.

I couldn’t find spinach at the store today (sad) so this is a fancy lettuce mix…not that you can even see the lettuce in my salad creations.

Is this not the definition of YUM?! 

Have you ever centered an entire dish around one (not so central) component?  This monster ensalada was my attempt to (healthfully) distract myself from the oat bran sesame stick obsession.  I guess I am just too dang smart, since I finished the rest of the bag of the sesame sticks after the salad was gone…

Note to self: don’t buy these in bulk.  Dangerous.  Very dangerous.

Dessert fruit platter (complete with mood lighting while watching Conan).

oil…from the gland of an otter

Apparently I have to choose between saving for a wedding, and keeping up with the food blog fads.  So, in the interest of staying engaged, I’m unable to juice for breakfast. 

No, not that kind of juice.  This kind.

So I settled for the poor man’s version (aka a smoothie). 

Into the blender went: 1/2 cup almond milk, 1/2 cup OJ, 3 oz POM, applesauce cup, frozen plain tofu cubes…

and the juice of 1 orange (hand squeezed).  Nice before and after, no?

The predominant color is the almond milk and plain tofu.  Good thing the POM brightened it up a bit, otherwise it may have looked a bit like Livy’s diaper.

I had to use the most massive thing I could find to put it in (there was just too much)!  My phone is there to show you just how big it actually was.  That’s what she said x2.

BTW, how appropriate is it that the hugest thing I could find was a beer stein from my UCLA days…gotta rep the alma mater (sorry Caroline).

This held me over for a LONG time.  Like, hours.

Eventually, I did need a little java to get me going.  Topped with froth and a dash of cinnamon.

I had a few treats to try out for lunch. 

Anyone ever heard of Za’atar before?  I hadn’t, but if you’re interested you can find out more here.  Basically, it’s a staple spice used in Arabic cuisine, and is believed to make the body and mind strong.  Plus, Sabra can do no wrong in my eyes, so it was a pretty safe “gamble.” 

 

I sliced up some (3!!) apples, popped open my can of Ocean Spring’s Harvest of Heaven Mixed Veggies snacks and dug in…

I practically inhaled this flavor of hummus!  Is it just me, or did Sabra just come out with a bunch of NEW flavors?  The other day at the store there were so many types I’d never seen before, and I had a seriously hard time not buying 5 tubs at once.  The size of our fridge was the only thing that held me back. 

That’s not even the normal 7 oz container, it’s a 14 oz tub!  Practically a VAT    …told you I inhaled it!

As for the Harvest of Heaven Veggie chips, they were decent. 

Pros: They weren’t as salty as I was expecting (47 mg per serving, 2% daily value), and didn’t taste greasy or leave my fingers all oily.  Plus, the nutritionals are pretty good (NO artificial preservatives, artificial flavors, MSG, wheat, gluten, nuts, corn, or added sugar).  There are a wide variety of vegetables, too, including sweet potato, taro, okra, yam, pumpkin, carrot, and green bean – all of which actually tasted like the actual vegetable, but in a chip form.  Not too shabby.  Plus they were thick enough to hold a LOT of hummus, and that’s the only thing that really matters, right?

Cons:  Some of these vegetables weren’t exactly meant to be chips, so the flavors weren’t amazing (ie taro).  Luckily I’m quick on my toes.  Easy solution – add a pound of hummus, and voila!  Any vehicle to get hummus to my mouth faster and easier works for me. 

In the end, I liked Ocean Spring’s Harvest of Heaven Mixed Fruit chips better, but these were still good, healthy alternatives to normal chips.

A bit later I had a Strawberry Chobz and a couple of dried pineapple rings.  Then, after my multi-course lunch, I headed to the gym (finally).

Stats: 60 min on the elliptical, 15 min on the bike, 15 min arms/abs on the mat

It felt great to finally be exercising again.  Woohoo!  Unfortunately, I’m working all weekend, so it’ll be a while ‘til I can get my cardio on again, which is why I made sure I had a solid sweat sesh.

I have no idea what I was doing the rest of the day, but next thing I knew my tummy was growling…dinner time!

I had to repeat my recent “cheesy” garlic bread because it was oh-so-tasty!  2 slices of toast + vegan buttah + vegan parm + garlic salt = Mmmm…

 

In order to even out the butter to substance ratio in my food, I enjoyed the toast alongside a veggie packed salad.  In this salad was half an avocado, cherry tomatoes, shredded carrots, broccoli slaw, cukes, and clover sprouts on a bed of spinach.  The other half of the avocado I ate on the side (plain with a dash heaping mountain of salt). 

I could live off of avocado alone.  Seriously. 

Anyone wanna move to Mexico with me and grow an avocado tree?  We wouldn’t need much with the nice weather and a life time supply of guacamole…

After Kyle got home and ate, I was getting a little stir crazy so we decided to go for a walk.  Perfect night for a PM stroll…

 

I had a bowl of berries (above) before we headed out…and carob covered raisins with medjool dates (below) after we got back.

Who missed my mega dried fruit desserts?  I did!  I did!!

Work tomorrow, so I’m off to hit the hay.  Happy weekend to the rest of you :)

fact: I love Newman’s Own

Last night I got the best surprise.  After 10+ hours of traveling I was so excited to find a HUGE package waiting for me (TWSS).

Holy So.Much.Stuff.

 

Newman’s Own hooked it UP!!  Can you even believe all these goodies fit in a box.  This is my heaven.

I hardly knew where to begin!  Even though it was well past midnight I had to try something (duh).  I think it’s pretty obv what I wanted, since K has been making my mouth water for days…HERMITS!

Stats for the original flavor: Organic Unbleached Wheat Flour, Organic Raisins, Organic Molasses, Organic Sugar, Organic Palm Fruit Oil, Oats, Organic Figs, Raisin Paste, Spices, Leavening (Baking Soda, Monocalcium Phosphate), Salt, Rice Bran Extract

I love that these are SO tasty and at the same time, all the ingredients are organic and wholesome.  No HFCS, no weird chemicals that I don’t recognize…all organic, pure and natural.  They reminded me of my Mom’s homemade molasses cookies, which I haven’t had in AGES.  I could have eaten the entire box in one sitting.  Thank god it was so late, because being super tired was the only thing that prevented me from doing so!

Original: Serving Size: 1 cookie (22g), Calories per Serving: 80, Calories from fat: 15, Total Fat: 1.5g (saturated fat: 1gm), Cholesterol: 0mg, Sodium: 65mg, Total Carbohydrates: 16g (dietary fiber less than 1g, sugars: 10g), Protein: 1g

THANKS a ton to Nell and Pa, along with Sally and Peggy for sending these treats my way.  I was a huge fan of this company before, for reasons even beyond their great food products (did you know that since 1982, Paul Newman and the Newman’s Own Foundation have donated more than $250 million dollars to  educational and charitable organizations worldwide). 

Anyways, it should be no surprise that I also wanted these cookies for breakfast.  So in addition to my AM java loading, I nibbled on some hermits (ok, I inhaled ‘em).  A true lady never discloses the real numbers, right?  Nah, I keep it real with all y’all, I had 4.

In my defense: Rain + Monday = Need cookies

To continue my morning trend of ridiculous food choices, I had some medjool dates stuffed with carob raisins with carob almonds on the side. 

I’m pretty sure this is what leads to what we nurses refer to as a diabetic coma. 

…so while waiting for my impending (and undoubtedly imminent) hyperglycemic attack, I decided to veg on the couch with the ladies of The View while shopping for Mother Day gifts (for my momz AND my future-momz-in-law). 

Some days I just want sweets.  Period.  No point in fighting it. 

In honor of Sarah, I opted out of exercising and didn’t shower or change out of my pajamas ALL DAY.  LovIN my tummy?  Prob not after today, but I’ll get back into my normal routine tomorrow.  You have my word…I can’t continue to shovel down kcals the way I like to sans gym time or I’ll end up with a Hugh Jass fo’ sheez.

I still craved sugar, so in an effort to get in some natural CHOs (chem nerds?) I made a massive fruit plate filled with apples, melon, kiwi, pineapple, grapes, and oranges. 

Meals be damned.  I may have crumbled a hermit into this vanilla greek yogurt snackeroo.

I definitely passed out for an hour or so after this.  As we all know, what goes up, must come down, and after my massive AM sugar high, I crashed hard!

Zzzzzz.

I woke up confused and groggy.  I wasn’t hungry at all, so I did some reading and (more) wedding crap.

OMJC! 

So rich they make the Donald jealous.  I savored each calorie in pure delight…I drooled a bit too, but that was from Joel, not the medjool/PB bombs.

 

Dinner was entirely unnecessary because I was in no way hungry, but I thought I should try to salvage what was left of the day by incorporating some greens and protein into my PM eats.

I scooped out half an avo into a bowl, added in some sprouts and shredded carrots, and mashed until it was all mixed up.

Then I piled it high on top of a toasted english muffin…

…with sliced up seitan cutlets on the side…HOLY YUM!!!

Fave meal alert!!  This was a filling dish.  The crunch of the carrots and sprouts combined with the creaminess of the avocado were freaking DE-lish!!

Still, dessert was a clear choice. 

Hermits!!

I’m already well over half-way through the box…eek!

Newman’s Own might be my downfall.  It’s so good, though.

Who would believe me if I said I didn’t finish the whole thing?  Nobody?  I thought so.  You know me well.

I was so full, Kyle had to roll me to bed.