Fashionably Late

I'm only a whole day late to the WIAW party.  I like to make an entrance, what can I say?

Wednesday started out with a great 9 mile run.  I wasn't really planning on it since I had just done 9 on Monday, however I switched it up from my usual music to podcasts.  And this podcast got me going; I had frustration and anger pulsing through my body.  I felt that I had to keep running or I wouldn't know what to do with all the emotions. Tears mingled with sweat streaked my face.  Mazzy's story, along with countless other hens, filled my heart with sorrow.

I've listened to many podcasts on these topics, however this is a beautifully written narrative of one woman's experience visiting two "free-range" egg facilities that I feel I should share.  You can check it out here if you'd like.  For more podcasts you can visit Vegetarian Food For Thought.  **I'm not trying to convert people to be vegetarian or vegan, however I feel it is important for all of us to hear the information that is out there and to make educated decisions about our own food choices**

After my run I was drained, and the only thing I wanted was a cold, filling, breakfast smoothie.

 After bfast it was time to say goodbye to Natalie's butterflies!

I'm ashamed to admit it, but I spent a good portion of my morning hooked on TLC.  How can I resist A Baby Story and Four Weddings?  It's almost impossible I tell ya!

Lunch was quite delicious.

  1/2 cup bulgar with cilantro/black bean pesto

1/2 cucumber

chick peas

black beans

nooch sprinkled on top

After a very productive morning (I wish) I headed to work, and brought along this delicious bar since I knew I'd be ravenous on my way home.

Is that bar from England?  Why yes it is!  I'll do a full post on all the goodies I received in the Foodie Blog Swap with Freya tomorrow!

I can't stand to waste food, and the other night Shane and his parents got Chinese take-out, and there was a lot of white rice in the fridge.  So I used it! 

Ate a handful of these while prepping din.  Then it was finally ready!!

white rice

baked tofu and zucchini, marinated in this:

nom, nom, nom

Hope everyone had a fabulous Wednesday, and uh, Thursday!  

Smoothie-rific

I was being such a bum this morning!  I woke up around 8, made some coffee, got my laptop, crawled into bed and proceeded to Facebook stalk, catch up on Twitter, read some bloggies, and chat with one of my BBF's on AIM.  And let's not forget the snuggling!

As the minutes ticked away, I could feel my motivation slowly slinking away.  I always find that after I've been sick and therefore haven't ran in a few days, that first run back is always the hardest to start. 

source

Around 10 I realized I wasn't doing myself any favors and proceeded to step away from the addicting little piece of machinery that is a laptop, and got myself geared up.  There were no excuses to not run today.

 true story.

I got in 4 miles at a 9:45 pace... pretty good for me!  Followed up by 20 minutes of yoga.  I was so hungry since my laziness also meant that I did not fuel properly this morning!

Enter the best smoothie ever!  I've seen other bloggers put oats into their breakfast smoothies but I always forget!  Before my run I had put 1/2 cup oats + 1/2 cup vanilla coconut milk in the fridge to soak.  Since my body was craving a smoothie I realized I could finally try the oats in a smoothie!

CHOCOLATE BANANA COFFEE SMOOTHIE

handful spinach
Chocolate Amazing Grass
1 frozen banana in chunks
 1/2 cup oats + 1/2 cup vanilla coconut milk: 
you want the milk soaked in, so leave it in the fridge for at least 10 minutes
1 cup cold coffee

Source

Pretty good stats for breakfast.  And if you're unfamiliar with Amazing Grass...it's amazing!  It includes real, organic, super food ingredients such as spirulina, alfalfa, wheat grass, and acai in a powder with yummy flavors like chocolate and orange dreamsicle.  You can find it at Whole Foods and at most health food stores.

Ahem, I know what you're thinking.  I said amazing, not pretty...

I did some cleaning/organizing and then met up with the BFF from this mornings chat sesh.  Allison and I did are usual Dunkin Date and of course I was strange and brought my own milk in a little container since DD sadly does not carry dairy milk alternatives.

Our usual corner so we can chat endlessly about whateves

On my way home I stopped for some more bananas to freeze, and I picked up the ingredients for Mama Pea's mmmm sauce.  Dinner was so good thanks to this simple sauce!

Ahhh one of my good friends from high school, Johanna, is getting married tomorrow.  She's the first of our "gang" and I'm pumped!  Gotta get some sleep now!

Peace out cub scouts :p

Glass Dharma

Before my juicer got packed away ::insert sad face here:: I was making some pretty interesting yummy, and health packed juices/smoothies.

 Juice 1/2 cucumber

peeled orange

red delicious apple

1 parsnip

handful strawberries

+ dairy-free probiotics and pure aloe vera juice

Look at those colors!

Shane is more into straight up fruit juice.

 Juice of 2 oranges + handful strawberries

 Here's a great smoothie combo:

Juice of:

1 parsnip

1 lemon

1/2 cucucmber

1 broccoli stem

 Then put aloe vera juice, probiotic, and frozen berries in  blender.  Add juice and blend away!  The berries mask the strong veggie flavored juice.

But can I let you in on a little secret?

The key to a great tasting smoothie is all in the...

 
straw!

But these are not your average, run of the mill, trash worthy straws.  

 

No, these are far superior straws; from a company by the name of Glass Dharma.

A while back, think Earth Day,  Clean Eating Chelsey had a giveaway sponsored by Glass Dharma.  To qualify you simply had to write a letter (up to 5) to local restaurants and tell them about the benefits of glass straws.  

To be quite honest, as I sat down to write my letter, I just wanted my free straws.  But as I did some research and my brain got working, I tried to imagine just how many straws make it to a landfill each day, week, month, year!  That's a lot of straws!

And then, what about the BPA?  Of course when I bought my water bottle I opted for BPA-free, but think about the chemicals being leached into your drink from the cheap, flimsy, plastic, straws are made from.   

Okay, I'll step off my soap box now.  I'm sure you get the point!  

I now LOVE my new glass straws and can't wait to unpack them when we arrive in New Jersey! Be prepared for more smoothie pictures in the future.  And did I mention they have a life time guarantee?  Yea, pretty cool.

 Go check out Glass Dharma! 

Shoo Shoo Shakin', Sha Shakin' Up

Who remembers Rooney?

Rooney brings me back to the days when The O.C., first season of course, was on.  What happened Marissa....what went so wrong?

I don't know if they ever made any other CD's, but their songs still randomly pop up in my iTunes playlist.  And I get a little happy every time they do.  But besides that, I have nothing to add to the Rooney conversation, so let's switch gears and talk about...

The Shake Weight!!!!

I'm totally just kidding.  Please still be my friend and continue to read.  I promise I will stop being so random...in this post.

Let's for real, talk about smoothies, or shakes, or whatever you'd like to call them!

I'm having a love affair with smoothies for breakfast.

It all started when I had a huge stalk of organic broccoli left over from dinner.  I ate all the florets, but I felt a little guilty tossing the (expensive) stalk out. 

So I juiced it, along with a carrot, 1/2 lemon, and beet.

Ew, extra vegetable-y juice.  But added to a smoothie it was perfection.

Smoothie #1

handful spinach

1 tbsp chia seeds + 1 tbsp flax meal

1 frozen banana

frozen bluberries and rasperries

add juice & blend away!

Smoothie #2 juice items

This produced 10 oz of juice

With the weather warming up, these have been a refreshing, nutrient packed way to start the morning.  Especially after a workout!

However, there are a few downsides.  Make sure to bring a toothbrush and toothpaste with you if your fruit have seeds in them!  Or if you're weird and like to juice extremely bright beets.

And it takes about a 1/2 hour, including veggie prep and washing the juicer and blender.  But that's fine by me!  I'm adjusting my morning routine to fit them in because they're just that great!!

Sniffly Sunday

Satruday night I went to bed with a bit of a runny nose.  No big deal.

Sunday I woke up with a scratchy throat + runny nose + watery eyes.  No more hiking trip with friends :(

This is what I missed out on, wah!  Next time!

 Shane and I headed to Vine Ripe Market.  I needed oranges in my life.

Baskets of Middle Eastern candies

Great priced produce

sweets!

We had never went here before, assuming it would be expensive.  But we read some reviews on Yelp! and had to try it out.  It's super cheap, and they have a good variety of produce that is delivered everyday.  It specializes in Middle Eastern/Mediterranean food and they have a huge selection of freshly baked bread.  The naan looks so good, but we went with whole wheat pitas.  

And of course lots of oranges.

I got progressively worse as the day went on.

Spent the day napping, reading and sniffling.  I am loving this book, The Art of Eating In by Kathy Erway.  Has anyone else read it?  I'm almost done!

I also got caught up on some homework.  We're having a workshop on Wednesday and I needed to finish reading. 

Any early childhood educators out there?  This book is wonderful.  It's not one of those books that's all theory and by the end you're wondering how in the world to implement it in your classroom.  It does a great job of providing real examples and strategies  you can start using right away! 

*Sorry non teachers for this tangent!!*

Around 5 I mustered up enough strength to finish making Shane's dinner. Jenna's Chicken 'n' Biscuits to Fix Your Life

Shane was in heaven.  I need to cook this boy meat more often!

 

 

I soothed my throat with a smoothie

-handful dandelion greens

-frozen blackberries and blueberries

-rice milk

-1/2 banana

-orange juice

Thank goodness my school is off on Monday!