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Same girl. Same content. New location.

Please visit and bookmark me!

Don’t forget to add my new blog address to your bookmarks. This blog is moving to http://teaspoonoflife.com
I’m currently duplicate posting in both locations until I transition over. I’m thinking next weekend will be good.
Don’t be afraid of the new site. Same girl. Same content. New look And a little bit more artistic freedom, too!

SATURDAY

I didn’t post yesterday Sorry to let you down!
Yesterday was very chill. Cali joined 24 hour fitness and gave them my name so I got 24 free days. Which is PERFECT because I have been trying to decide whether I need a membership or not for the school year/winter season. And now I can test it out! So I went to the gym and got my 24 free days and I can go to any of their classes for free as well. They have Zumba classes, which I have only heard of before, but I intend to try it out. They also have yoga classes, so I’m going to try some. Although, I just can’t imagine that doing yoga in a gym right next to the Smith Machine is going to be very peaceful. You know? I also just LOVE Cambio. (The yoga studio I go to) and the people there, and I don’t really ever want to leave them.  So we’ll see how that works out.

I was able to knock out about 20 pages of Collpase before I got antsy from sitting too long. I am now getting into the collapse of the Myans, which may be the whole reason I bought the book. So it’s getting juicy. I’m just really bad at sitting, haha.

SUNDAY

I woke up at 5:30 this morning to  make the big guy some breakfast before he left for work, and then my intention was to run, but I realized that I don’t have a running plan anymore. I don’t even know how far to go. My first half marathon is in 14 weeks and I can hardly run the 4 miles I did last week yet. So I had to sit down and re-make my plan. You guys haven’t seen one of these for a while, but here’s July’s Training Plan.

I had half a banana and some almond butter for a snack.

And then I realized I’d have to run in the heat! Dun dun DUNNNN!!! Bad planning, Allie Bear. So I grabbed a quick breakfast before church.

BEST EVER BANANA-BUTTER OATS

Ingredients:
1 cup vanilla almond milk
1/2 cup quick cooking whole wheat oats
1/4 cup flax meal
3 tablespoons almond butter
1/2 of a banana
1 packet fake sugar

Directions:
In a small pot, heat almond butter on medium-high. You don’t need to boil it, just heat it until it’s steaming.
Add the oats, sugar and flax meal. Stir 2 minutes until done. They won’t look very thick in the pot – don’t worry, they thicken as they cool.
Top with almond butter and slice the banana. ENJOY!

I didn’t get my run in today. Oh, shucks! I wanted to this morning and got wrapped up in figuring out my training plan. Then I wanted to after church but had errands to run and it was HOT. And then when I got home and got dressed to go, it rained! And now it’s dark. Really?? Really. Contemplating doing my LONG RUN on a TREADMILL at the GYM tonight. After all, I have 24 free days, and it’s open 24 hours….. Does that sound horrible, or what?! 4.5 miles of treadmill heaven. Haha. But it is kind of my only choice, and I need to stay on track because my training plan only has me being ready in time for my half marathon if I follow everything to the T. Deviating on the first day is not the best plan. My other option is to do it in the morning tomorrow. What ever will she do?? You’ll find out tomorrow, I guess.

I did get everything else done tonight. Made a dinner that was too hot for me, but just right for the boys- lots of jalepeño. Then I made chicken salad pita pockets for our lunches tomorrow. And I boiled eggs so I can make egg salad sandwiches tomorrow night for Tuesday’s lunches. And I prepared our snacks for tomorrow, too. Yeah, I’m good. Haha.

Time to read some more of Collapse. I’m on page 87, only about 400 more to go! I have considered giving up on this book, but giving up makes me sad. Especially giving up on books. They’re my friends!

Goodnight world! Don’t let the bed bugs bite

I made eggcelent enchiladas again. I don’t usually make the same stuff over and over, but the boys really like them, and they’re simple when you’re in a hurry.
And this time, I got pictures. Here’s the recipe. The italics are my comments about how I changed it up a bit.

EGGCELENT ENCHILADAS

Ingredients:
1 whole egg
3 egg whites
2 tablespoon shredded cheddar
2 corn tortillas
1/4 avocado, sliced
1/4 cup salsa, divided

Directions:
Lightly coat a nonstickskillet with cooking spray and place over medium heat.
Wisk eggs and whites and scramble for about 2 minutes. Add cheese.
This is where I deviate – It’s your option: Real Mexis will heat a second skillet and heat the tortilla about 30 seconds on each side until it’s slightly crispy.
The recipe says to dampen two paper towels and microwave on high 30 seconds.
I don’t recommend this. If the tortillas aren’t fresh, they’re going to crack, plus they’re yummier the way I do it. I promise.
Roll up each tortilla with scrambled egg and cheese mix down the middle. Top with avocado and fold the edges across the middle like an enchilada. Top with salsa.

Tortilla Tips:
Use fresh tortillas. They’re really fresh if they’re in the refrigerated section. If you can’t find those, get the ones that smell the straongest of corn. You’ll know it when you smell it.
Heat a pan to medium-high heat and place the tortilla in  once it’s hot. You don’t need oil or spray.

When the tortilla starts to bubdle like so, flip it. It only needs about 30 seconds per side to warm it. You don’t want tortilla chips, you just want a slightly crispy tortilla.

It will have little brown spots on the underside- that’s perfectly okay.

Your avocado is ripe when it gives just a little when you poke it. If it’s mushy, you may not have too much fun with it, and if it’s super-firm, it’s not going to be as ripe.
Score the avocado long ways and then sideways. Put your knife in deep enough so that you get to the skin. If you do this right, when you scoop it out, it will come out in little cubes.

Fill the tortilla with scrambled eggs, and avocado.

Top with salsa and fold over. I put a fresh tortilla on top to keep it in it’s shape until it cools. That way it’ll stay folded over.

Enjoy!
My boyfriend picks it up and eats it like a piece of pizza, but I eat everything with a fork anda knife, so I eat mine that way.

Snack time was delicious.
I had fresh mango, kiwi, and blackberries that I chopped up before I left this morning.

Work was hectic out the whazoo, but I’ve already worked so many hours, I could only stay 3 today before I hit my 40 and had to go home.

Enter, Despicable Me!!
Despicable Me was SO funny. And it was in 3D. The minions are so cute, and the kids were so fun, and Steve Carell rocked. Oh my gosh, there’s one part where he’s reading them a bedtime story about the three little kittens. I laughed so hard, I CRIED! I would tell you all about it but then it might not be as funny for you. It was really funny. And cute. You should see it. Today! Haha.

After that lovely movie, I had a snack and played on the computer a bit.
Grapes and cheese. Havarti (not my fave), Gouda, Cheddar and Swiss (Yum!)

The boyfriend and I talked about our move to Chicago. I am super scared. Half of me wishes I could graduate tomorrow so that we can move now. It seems like such an exciting place with so much to do! But half of me is okay with waiting because I’m scared. I have been living in a small city for the last 5 years. I got used to no traffic, and no crime, and knowing my way around. There I go again, always being a big whimp. Haha.

Then SKY SOX time! (That’s our Colorado Springs Minor League team). What a lovely Friday

I helped my work organize it and there were 140 of us there. So we had free tickets and a free hot dog, chips and soda. It was cute at first, but I don’t really like baseball. It’s a slow sport. And I don’t know the rules. I just go to eat and hang. We left early (we had already been there fro 3 HOURS!) because Stanton has drill in the morning and he still needed to get to the gym before bed tonight.

So now I’m at home, telling you about my day. Much more coherant than I was at this time last night. I read 2 pages before I passed out haha. I hope to get much further tonight. I usually get uber-absorbed into books right away, but this one is sooooo informative that I’m having a hard time getting in to it. I’m so bad at non-fiction sometimes. I checked my book club and the next book is The Hunger Games. So now I have two more books on my list to read. And I have about 20 on my bookshelf that I want to read. Oh summer, you’re not long enough!! Haha. Dear real life, I can’t wait for you!!

I hope everyone has a lovely weekend!! Yoga in the AM Yayyy!

Don’t forget to bookmark my new site http://teaspoonoflife.com/

I went for a 3-mile run this morning. It was chilly again, and by then time I got back, my hands were hurting from being frozen. Does this sound normal to you? It’s JULY. But Colorado is like that. Awkward and unpredictable weather, to the max! It was a good run. My big toe hurts. I went to the doctor last time it was hurting and they told me nothing is wrong with me. Soooo, I guess I’ll just pretend that my big toe DOESN’T hurt. Haha.

Today seemed like quite a cheat day. Breakfast was on track, lunch was on track. Then came lunch. I went out with a coworker and had eggs benedict. Uh ohhh. Then I had cherries for my second snack, and then dinner I had with Janey again. But at her house this time. It was a frozen pizza. Oh dear… it gets worse… and BROWNIES. Oh the shame! I ate it all!! I am so naughty! And tomorrow won’t be any better. When am I going to get skinny agin? Haha. Don’t worry about the boys, they had leftover ziti from last night. We’re having tofu for lunch tomorrow. I can’t wait to share that recipe. It smells so good!

The pathetic part about waking up around five is I’m tired by 9, and my eyes starting fighting me by ten. I’d never make it to 11 if my life depended on it. lol. But I’m making time to run. The nice part baout running that early is that I can run, recover at work all day and still have energy for yoga. When I tried to do the two back-to-back, it was very difficult.

Welp, it’s 9:52, my time. Which means I’ll be unconscious relatively soon. I’m going to open Collapse and see what I can squeeze out of it before I fall asleep. I’m only on page 36 and I still want to read Eat, Pray, Love before th summer is up too. So I need to get crackin’ on this book.

Goodnight, world.

Remember to add my new site to your bookmarks, I’m goign to stop posting here soon.
http://teaspoonoflife.com
Same girl. same content. New location

Next on the list was supposed to be a 3 mile run, but I totally forgot to make lunches for me and the boys last night. So, I ended up making and packing lunches instead of running this morning. I grabbed a shower and headed to work nice and early, though. So that was nice. I’m working 9 hour days Tues-Thur so that I can leave at 1:00 on Friday to see Despicable Me with my little and my boyfriend!!
I love these cute little minions!

Snack numero uno was a Lärabar. Peanut butter cookie, to be exact. I don’t really love them, but I eat them… Working on finding some yummier bars to munch on.
Any yummy health-food bar suggestions??

For lunch, I’m having a chicken salad. No bread. Bread fills me up so that I don’t get enough of the good stuff.
I got this recipe from FineCooking.com.

TEX MEX CHICKEN SALAD

Ingredients:
2 Tbs. sour cream
1-1/2 Tbs. fresh lime juice, more as needed
Generous pinch ground cumin
1/2 ear fresh corn, browned under the broiler or on a grill, kernels removed (about 1/3 cup)
1 cup chopped or shredded leftover Beer-Brined Butterflied Chicken (I just cubed chicken breast)
1/3 cup medium-diced cherry tomatoes
1/3 cup small-diced avocado
2 Tbs. thinly sliced scallions (about 2 scallions)
2 Tbs. chopped fresh cilantro
1 tsp. minced fresh jalapeño or serrano
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

Directions:
In a small bowl, combine the sour cream, 1-1/2 Tbs. lime juice, and cumin and mix well. In a medium bowl, combine chicken, corn, tomatoes, avocado, scallions, cilantro and jalepeño. Add dressing and gently fold all ingredients together. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
Refrigerate for at least 1 hour to allow the flavors to meld. Before serving, adjust the salt, pepper, and lime juice to taste.

Nutrition Information:
Size: per 1/4 cup; Calories (kcal): 110; Fat (g): 7; Fat Calories (kcal): 60; Saturated Fat (g): 2; Protein (g): 9; Monounsaturated Fat (g): 3; Carbohydrates (g): 3; Polyunsaturated Fat (g): 1; Sodium (mg): 250; Cholesterol (mg): 30; Fiber (g): 1;

I keep hearing these Justin Bieber songs on the radio and I’m starting to like them. It’s freaking me out. The first song I ever heard of his, I actually thought it was a girl singing. But his latest song with Usher is quite contagious. I find it bothersome that I like it so much. I mean, I don’t even change the station. Ugh. I’m so ashamed….. At least I don’t think he’s hot or anything. One of my friends has a crush on him. Sickkkk.

Do you have Bieber fever??

Snack numero dos is a Siggi’s yogurt with a handful of fresh fruit. Siggi’s is a yum yum yogurt I discovered through Jenna at Eat, Live Run.  After about three posts of hearing how wonderful and thick it was, I had to try some of my own. It was hard to track down, but when I finally did, it was worth it.

I got home from work and I went to the grocery store to pick up ingredients for Jason’s Mom’s Famous Baked Ziti. (Jason is our roomie, or rather, we’re HIS roomies). I won’t give away the family recipe, but I will show you the pictures!!
Janey came over for dinner Yay!

And now? It’s time to unpack a couple boxes, kick up my feet, and read Collapse until bed time… Which is around 10… now that I’m getting up so early to have breakfast and run.
I predict that the boys will watch an episode of the Sopranos (we’re on Season 2, episode 6-ish) and an episode of South Park. That’s the way our evenings usually go. Ahh, good old summer.

DON’T FORGET! My new address is http://teaspoonoflife.com/.
I’ll be switching over in a couple weeks.

So, no run this morning. And I’m not really sore. Impressive! I ran more than I have ever run in my life! I’m hopeful for the future

I started out the morning with eggcelent enchiladas. Another recipe from the Eating For Life Book. And a good one. A minor tweak in the cooking of the tortillas, but here is the recipe. It serves uno.

EGGCELENT ENCHILADAS

Ingredients:
1 whole egg
3 egg whites
2 tablespoon shredded cheddar
2 corn tortillas
1/4 avocado, sliced
1/4 cup salsa, divided

Directions:
Lightly coat a nonstickskillet with cooking spray and place over medium heat.
Wisk eggs and whites and scramble for about 2 minutes. Add cheese.
This is where I deviate – It’s your option: Real Mexis will heat a second skillet and heat the tortilla about one minute on each side until it’s slightly crispy.
The recipe says to dampen two paper towels and microwave on high 30 seconds. I don’t recommend this. If the tortillas aren’t fresh, they’re going to crack, plus they’re yummier the way I do it. I promise.
Roll up each tortilla with scrambled egg and cheese mix down the middle. Top with avocado and fold the edges across the middle like an enchilada. Top with salsa.
I didn’t get a picture Sad day. But I’ll make them again.

Snack time was a yum yum strawberry greek yogurt. 

Lunch was leftover goulash. There was a LOT left. I was only able to eat half.

I had some fruit for a snack, with a cup of green tea. You like the mug? I made it myself

We had Ginger Soy Ribs for dinner. Another recipe that isn’t mine, but good, just the same. It’s a Robin  Miller recipe from The Food Network. Serves 4.

GINGER SOY RIBS

Ingredients:
4 carrots, chopped
2 leeks, chopped
3 pounds beef short ribs, fat trimmed (I get boneless short ribs. Mmmm)
1/2 cup beef broth
1/3 cup sherry
1/4 cup soy sauce
3 tablespoons honey
1 tablespoon rice vinegar
1 tablespoon ginger, minced
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 cups rice
1/4 cup cilantro, chopped
1/4 cup scallions, chopped
2 tablespoons pickled jalepeños (I used fresh chopped. But I like spicy)
1 teaspoon lime juice

Directions:
Heat a large Dutch oven and arrange carrots and leeks on the bottom. Season ribs all over with salt and pepper and place over vegetables. In a medium bowl, whisk together broth, sherry, soy sauce, honey, vinegar, ginger, and garlic. Pour mixture over ribs. Cover and braise for 3 to 4 hours. This can also be done in a slow cooker – just cook on low for 8 hours or high for 4 hours.
Cook rice according to package directions.
While still hot, stir in cilantro, scallions, jalapenos, and lime zest. Season, to taste, with salt and pepper. Serve the rice with the ribs (and carrots and leeks).

I miss running. I can’t wait to go for my 3 mile run in the morning!

I called the dance studio today. We got a good price for dance classes as a couple. I’m so excited that Stanton is fun enough to do that with me

Last, but not least, turn your dial to my new location: http://teaspoonoflife.com/
I’ll post in both places for now, but I am going to transition over to Cook Read Run soon and leave wordpress behind.

Time to get tomorrow’s lunch ready and read Collapse.

Tonight, we had a goulash. I took a recipe I found and healthified it to the best of my knowledge. This recipe feeds 4. I’ve read that the more colors of veggies you have, the more types of vitamins you’re getting. So I used one of every color.

GOULASH

Ingredients:
1 pound ground turkey
1/2 of a zucchini, halved, and sliced
1/2 of a squash, halved, and sliced
1/2 of a yellow pepper, halved, and sliced
1/2 of a red pepper, halved, and sliced
1/2 cup of button mushrooms, sliced
4 cloves of garlic (Don’t judge me, I like garlic!)
3 cups fire roasted crushed tomato
2 packets of fake sugar
4 servings of whole wheat egg noodles
1 teaspoon oregano
1/2 handful of parsley

Directions:
Boil the water and boil the whole wheat egg noodles.
Cook the turkey and drain out the fats that cook out of the meat. Move to a plate.
Recycle the hot pan and add the garlic to it. Cook on medium until fragrant. Add the veggies. Cook them up about 8 minutes. Add back the meat.
Stir in the crushed tomato until heated through. Add oregano. Then add the secret ingredient, the fake sugar! I’m not kidding, the sweet sauce is the key Sike, you don’t have to add it, but my mom always put sugar in her spaghetti sauce and now I like to sweeten my tomato sauce.
Serve the sauce over the egg noodles. Top with chopped parsley. ENJOY!
(I forgot to get a picture. It just looked so good.)

The week’s running plan looks like 3 miles on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday of this week. And then yoga class Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday. I love summer. How many times am I going to say it? Haha.
I was looking at how many miles I’m going to run to train for this half marathon and I decided to give myself a new challenge!
The Challenge: 500 miles in the second half of 2010. From Jul 01 to Dec 31.
Yowza! It sounds like a lot but I think it’s really a reasonable goal. And one that will make me feel like I’ve done something with myself.

 Everyone have a good night I’ll try to wait until the day is done tomorrow so that I don’t have to post twice!

Breakfast was yum yum. As I was making it, I feared the outcome. But they were awesome!! I got the recipe from a book called Eating for Life which is a healthy food cookbook. It was pancakes, but the process of making them freaked me out. You’ll see when you see the recipe. Makes 2 servings of 2 pancakes each.

GOLDEN PANCAKES

Ingredients:
1 cup uncooked whole grain oats (non-instant)
6 egg whites
1 cup fat free cottage cheese
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
2 packets sugar substitute
1/2 cup sugar-free maple syrup
and I added blueberries to the batter.

Directions:
In a food processor, combine oats, egg whites, cottage cheese, vanilla, cinnamon, and sugar substitute. Blend until smooth. Here is where I change it up a bit…. Add blueberries to the batter! Yum!
Lightly coat a non-stick skillet with cooking spray an turn to medium heat.
Note: They burn quickly so be sure to be on medium heat at most.
Pour 1/4 cup at a time into the skillet. Cook pancakes until bubbly on top and dry around the edges and flip.
Heat syrup and top pancakes.

I promise they are yummy, even though the recipe seems quite bizarre.

The energizer bunny. How does he do it? He just keeps going and going and going! This morning I couldn’t find an eayowz.  4 mile route, so I went 4.57. Yowza. That was a long run. And not planned well. The WHOLE first half was up hill. And not like slight inclines…. HILLS! Ugh. But it’s good. I feel like a giant noodle. I know I did a good job.
Do you get to see a view like this when you go for YOUR morning run?? My phone camera didn’t capture the mountains too well, but they’re there.

Lunch was chicken caesar salad wraps for the boys and I had leftovers from last night. Mmm. I guess I’m eating meat. This whole veggie thing is too hard when I am feeding the boys real meat every day. Plus I don’t know how to cook tofu. I am hoping that tofu cook book will help a lot.

My cook books came today! I got 4. Skinny Bitch in the Kitch by Rory Freedman and Kim Barnouin, This Can’t Be Tofu by Deborah Madison, The Athlete’s Palate Cookbook by Yishane Lee, and The Athlete’s Plate by Adam Kelinson. By looking at the books I purchased, you can see where I’m headed with my cooking I hope they contain some bomb recipes!

Have a lovely Monday. I don’t have to work today so I’m just going to clean and read. Yayyyyy. I’m reading Collapse: How Societies Chose to Fail or Succeed by Jared Diamond right now. I’m only on page 5 or so- I’ll tell you how interesting it gets later on

Yesterday, Stanton had his first Orange Julius. Yum-o as Rachael Ray would say!

Then we went to Burlington Coat Factory, and I giggled a lot when I saw this “size”… XL, 2XL and BIG haha. What??

Then my yum yum snack with agave nectar, my newly discovered sweetener. I highly recommend it.

Dinner was tilapia, cous cous and sauteed squash. Noms noms It was too much, though. Those were the biggest tilapia filets I have ever seen.

I didn’t get my 4 mile run in this morning. I set out too late and it was already too hot. Plus I was baking all morning. Check these cupcakes out. I made regulare white batter, then I split them into three and colored them blu and red (kinda pink). Then I layered the red/pink in first…..

Then a layer of white…

Then blue…

So that they looked like this when they were cooked!

How cute are those!?!?

Then I made an apple pie with a stars and stripes crust

Last one for today. I swear I bought hats and leis for our barbecue. AND we used the slip n slide again

He’s such a goof ball

Have a Happy 4th of July! And an amazing 3-day weekend for those of you who get one.

So…. Golden Corral last night…. Oh dear Stanton, I love you so, but you are 0 for 2 in the restaurant selection department. My friend Claire left me a comment yesterday advising that “Golden Corral isn’t so bad, it’s just not so good either“. She got it right. First, there was the fact that I saw them filling a tray with canned green beans. Yes, I’m serious. I saw them open it, drain it, and dump it into the serving bin. We paid to eat a canned food buffet. It wasn’t all bad, there was some steamed cauliflour, and what they claimed were steamed carrots, but they weren’t they were greasy. How does grease get on steamed carrots? So I picked those up, some of the canned greenbeans, and a small piece of pot roast. The pot roast was very good but it had some spots of a lardy-jello-y substance that made me gag. But the flavor was good when I wasn’t gagging. Now, the bread… The bread was amazing. And they served it up with honey butter. Honey butter = Sinful. But good. Very good. The ice cream was good. They had gummy bears for toppings- those are my fave!

I’m really excited because I have stumbled upon quite a few first-time half marathon bloggers lately and it is so comforting to not be alone. Sometimes I feel like everyone’s run a marathon before and I feel pathetic telling them that 3 miles tires me out. I’m going to start a blog roll with all of the cool people I’ve been discovering lately so you all can check them out too. If nothing, else, they all seem to have good healthy food ideas.

I also forgot to tell you, while I was away, I decided that all the meat in my diet needs to be severrely decreased and cut out where possible. I know. Me. The medium-rare steak queen of the world. It’s sad. But what’s even more sad is that since January 21st, whenI first weighed in, I have lost 2 pounds. What?! While the goal in running is not to get skinny (See The Goal) it would be nice if running all the time DID something for my dearest Fat Albert (AKA my gut). I came to the realization the meat was the enemy when I noticed that all my yoga instructors weigh somewhere between 4 and 5 pounds. And they are all vegan. Hmm. A sign? I really haven’t got a clue. But if it is, I’m taking the hint. Good bye cow, hello tofu.

Last, but not least. We saw Eclipse tonight. That’s right, the 3rd Twilight movie. It’s a very good movie!! I’d like to say more, but I don’t want to spoil anything.
Are you team Edward or team Jacob?

Good night, all