My thoughts on food, fitness and life in Houston, TX
And a happy beginning of the summer. Here is a list of what I’m looking forward to about summertime.
1. Watermelon
2. The sun staying out until 9 p.m.
3. Beach trips
4. Weekends at the pool
5. Fresh corn off the cob
6. Fireworks
7. Family trips
8. Flip flops and sundresses
Share your favorites in the comments!
I am so into trying new things and telling you about them. It is like buying new clothes and wearing them for the first time. It’s so exciting and makes the day more fun!
This is a review of my Wednesday. First, I did Crossfit at 6 a.m. and that always leaves me looking beat up and hungry. This week I have been in a little injured exercise funk. One of my orthotics is being modified, so my feet are a little unbalanced. And my shin and hip pain came back quickly. (at least I know the orthotics work when they’re in!) So Wednesday’s workout was not all-out. I swung a 26 lb. kettlebell when I can do a 35 lb. one. Should I be beating myself up over backing off 9 lbs. and listening to my body? No…but I do…because we push ourselves hard there. I was still dripping in sweat after, and it was a good workout, just not my literal strongest regarding weights. Onto food…
For breakfast, I made Overnight Oats a la The Healthy Everythingtarian or Kath Eats Real Food. Pretty common in the food blogging world, but I hadn’t tried it yet. Since I prep my meals the night before and this is a cold breakfast, it is perfect to take to work.
Breakfast Overnight Oats:
1/2 C Quaker Old Fashioned Oats
1/2 C Oikos Vanilla Greek Yogurt
1/4 C water
sprinkle cinnamon
1 Deep Chocolate Vitatop Muffin added in the morning
Mix first four ingredients together, refrigerate overnight. Crumble in muffin in morning. I estimate the calories around 350 including the muffin.
This could have so many variations of adding peanut butter, berries, banana, milk, nuts, other spices, etc. A new addition to my morning routine!
Product Review: I had not tried the Vitatop Muffin before. Felt like a treat to have chocolate for breakfast and only be 100 calories with 9g fiber and 4g protein packed in. A little sticky on the fingers when crumbling, but overall very good.
Lunch was a new tuna combo too. I forgot where I found it (pre-keeping track of blog recipe days). It was a Tuna Bar-humm-beque Sandwich. You’d think I could Google that and find the right blog, right? Nope.
Tuna Bar-Humm-Beque Sandwich:
One pack Chicken of the Sea 4 oz Tuna
spoonful PitaPal Original Hummus
Blop of BBQ sauce
1 hardboiled egg white, chopped
Salt and Pepper
Mix all together. I would probably add more hummus and BBQ sauce next time. It was very tasty. I didn’t want to overdo it the first time.
I served mine on two slices of Udi’s G-free Wheat Sandwich Bread with a side salad of lettuce, tomatoes, carrots, yellow pepper, and pickles. I kept the tuna separate from the side salad so it didn’t get soggy overnight.
And a side cup of fruit.
Delicious lunch!
Snack was an apple with Babybel cheese. Boring. Sorry. Babybel and Laughing Cow cheeses are owned by the same company. If you haven’t tried them, they are both very good!
Dinner:
I microwaved a sweet potato for four minutes (so much faster than baking, and same result!), sauteed some mixed bell peppers, onion, squash, and zucchini, and heated some Bush’s Vegetarian Baked Beans.
Dessert was two Teff Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter cookies from the freezer.
Then the night got fun with 5th row tickets at Taylor Swift! Jeffrey was in 14 year old girl heaven. My favorite line of hers was “I love Houston as much as I love sparkly dresses.” I counted four sparkly dresses throughout the night including red, blue, purple, and silver. She also walked from the back of the arena to the front during the show, and passed right down our aisle, and Jeffrey even touched her! His beautiful wife was like chopped liver when Taylor came by!
My original Green Monster post was well-received, so here is a variation on some ingredients. I paired this one again with a PB&J Sandwich for a weekend lunch. I was trying to get this one to be more purple so I added blueberries, but I think you’d need to add even more blueberries or blackberries to get the purple.
1/2 Banana
5 Strawberries
1/4 C Blueberries
2 big handfuls spinach
1/2 C milk
1/2 packet sweetener
handful ice cubes
Blend all together and enjoy! Makes 16 oz cup
We have also been busy celebrating Jeffrey’s birthday! He is so handsome. Dinner at the newly re-opened Brennan’s, then the Taylor Swift concert a few days later. A good birthday for Jeffrey!
Lily and I got dressed up for the birthday too.
I also have a new baby cousin! Happy (literal) birth day to Baby Rome Issabella! Visit her mom’s blog at Things Your Mother Never Taught You.
In our house, dinner is sometimes about compromise, and our plates often look different in quantity and colors. This meal compromises on vegetables (spinach for me, none for Jeffrey), protein (chicken apple sausage instead of pork), and the carb (whole wheat instead of white pasta). It also allows for each of us to pick our quantities of everything. He wants more meat or sauce? Take it! I want spinach? Added to mine only.
This one-bowl meal is pasta with sausage but in a healthier way. I used whole wheat penne pasta, chicken apple sausage, and I added yellow peppers, artichokes, and spinach, mixed with a store-bought marinara sauce. Want to come over for dinner? So much is leftover!
The other purpose of this post is to talk about making a hearty dinner with little prep. I had pasta and sauce in the pantry, I always have spinach and a bell pepper in the fridge, and the sausage was in the freezer and defrosted in the morning. I grocery shop on Sundays and try to think ahead for weeknight dinners, and then the cooking part during the week is minimal. This dinner is a prime example of stocking up and having dinner come easy.
Pasta with Sausage Reworked:
1 box whole wheat pasta
4 links prepared chicken apple sausge
1 yellow bell pepper
1 can artichoke hearts
2 handfuls spinach
1/2 jar prepared marinara sauce
salt and pepper
this makes a lot!
Instructions:
Cook pasta as it says on the box in one pot
In a second pot, reheat sausage, add yellow pepper and artichoke to heat
When pasta is cooked, drain and add back to pot. Add sausage, artichokes, yellow pepper to pasta, stir together.
Add marinara sauce and mix all together. Let heat through.
Probably better served with parmesan cheese and garlic bread, but that doesn’t make it a “reworked” dish!
This recipe, thanks to Anne P. from Fannetastic Food, is a current staple in my freezer for a grab-and-go snack. I discovered Larabars a few months ago (delicious flavors, few and simple ingredients, great snacks especially for car or airplane trips!). This is the at-home version of a Larabar. Next up is to experiment with more flavors!
1/2 C raw almonds
1/2 C raisins
1/2 tsp cinnamon
Instructions:
Combine almonds and raisins in a strainer, rinse under water. Put in food processor with cinnamon and mix. Combine into balls and refrigerate. Then freeze if desired.
Makes 6-8, depending on size of balls. This is way more fun to eat than just a handful of almonds and raisins!
If you ever make a recipe that I have written about, take a picture of it and I’ll post it!
Friday was about trying new things. Usually Fridays are a rest day from exercise, but since my week was different, I did Crossfit in the morning. I was not so enthusiastic about going because I was sore from doing it Thursday, but I did it and it was over and I am glad I went!
For breakfast, I did something new too. I made oatmeal to take with me to work. I read a lot about oatmeal for breakfast, but since I eat at my desk, it seems hard to pre-pack it and keep it hot. I usually get my food together the night before so I can grab and go. But Friday, I tried making it before work and taking it to-go.
Banana Oatmeal:
1/2 C Old Fashioned Quaker Oats
1/4 C water
1/4 C milk
small pinch chia seeds
1 banana sliced in
sprinkle salt and cinnamon
I microwaved it in a large bowl for 2:30 minutes, stirring halfway so it doesn’t explode. I also put the banana in about 2/3 way through zapping to try to get it all mixed in. Then I transferred to tupperware. It wasn’t piping hot at work, but it was fine. Very tasty, not as filling as I had hoped. I think this was around 300 calories. Next time I may add peanut butter or yogurt to make it more filling and up the protein. I try to keep breakfast between 300-400 calories. Was hungry 2 hours later and had 2 peanut butter crackers.
My lunch was delicious, homemade, and filling! I have been in a lunch rut lately, so I’ve been blog browsing for new ideas. Today I had a big salad with so many raw vegetables and colors.
Big colorful rainbow salad:
spinach, baby carrots, tomato, yellow pepper, 2 steamed asparagus spears, 1/2 avocado, 1/2 baked sweet potato, 1/3 leftover Barnaby’s Turkey Burger.
small cup of mixed strawberries, blueberries, raspberries
1 small Teff PB Chocolate Chip Cookie (unpictured, from earlier post)
This was really good all together and so colorful.
Snack was not new: apple with 2 Laughing Cow Lite Garlic and Herb Cheese
Dinner was at Niko Niko, and to keep with the theme I had something new to me: Greek salad with falafel (lettuce, tomato, cucumbers, kalamata olives, capers, feta cheese, pita, hummus, tzatziki)
So big that I had it for lunch the next day too!
Dessert was another seasonal Blue Bell flavor called Summer Berries. I bought it only for you, blog readers, to tell you about it. Also a pretty container, very tasty. 1/4 cup has 170 calories. I just had a few spoonfuls. Not very nutritious (has high fructose corn syrup), but very tasty!
Rarely will my posts have food reviews of products without a little nutritional value, but this ice cream is too good to not review. My sister discovered this while on her short visit home, and I tried it while visiting too. I rarely crave ice cream–the cream sometimes hurts my stomach, but this flavor was so unique with its bites of flaky cobbler, swirls of blackberry sauce, and creamy vanilla. It was really like a whole cobbler dessert mixed into an ice cream flavor.
And how pretty is that purple color and the flavor name? Just yells “summertime is here in Texas.”
Unfortunately for sister, Blue Bell cannot be found in central North Carolina! But thanks for the tip!
After Sunday’s 10K with my repeated left outer knee pain, I really want to figure out what the problem is so I can run further without pain. Thanks to the blog, smart readers, and a doctor relative who made a comment to the post, I am now thinking that what presents as knee pain is probably my IT Band at the knee.
I am familiar with the IT Band, frequently use a foam roller to massage it, but I did not know it goes all the way through the outer knee and down to the shin. My current plan is to take a few days off from running (which I have been doing and feel ok to start back now) and use some of Megan’s tips–stretching, foam rolling, taping. On a side note–her blog is great and she is an expert runner and baker and gives excellent tips.
Onto taping—I frequently tape my shins, and my shins were pretty good during the race. So then I found this video for using tape on your IT Band for pain at the knee. Isn’t the internet wonderful? Saves me a trip to an orthopaedist, MRI, physical therapy, and lots of time! That is, if I’m correct now.
Another thing to note is that my runs are usually indoors on a treadmill, or on soft trails–rarely concrete. So running 6.2 miles on pavement could also be a major factor in the pain. I know I need more time spent on pavement.
I’ll be back to food blogging hopefully soon. Haven’t cooked anything while traveling!
Here is our newest family member, and a few pictures of her first few weeks with us. Lily is a shih tzu, and she was born on January 17 in Houston. We took her home on April 10. She is on her way to being the queen of the house.
Here are some pictures from her, and a note from her about her first trip to Dallas.
My favorite picture
I really am that cute
That’s all for now. I am pooped. I hope you enjoyed seeing more pictures of me! I’ll be back in Houston soon, but I think I have to go back on the airplane. I am not happy about that one bit.
Ruff ruff,
Lily
Summer reading used to be such a drag, and now I’m making a list of books I can’t wait to tackle. Things change! Here are my favorite books I’ve read over the last year, and a few I plan to read in the next few months. If you’ve read some and have a review, post it in the comments!
1. The Help by Kathryn Stockett
2. A very long list of Jodi Picoult books: Handle With Care, Change of Heart, Nineteen Minutes, My Sister’s Keeper, The Pact, Perfect Match.
3. The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein
4. Are You There Vodka? It’s Me Chelsea by Chelsea Handler
1. House Rules by Jodi Picoult
2. Chelsea Chelsea Bang Bang by Chelsea Handler
3. Heart of the Matter by Emily Giffin
4. In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan
What are you reading this summer?
Recent Comments