11-11-11

So this morning I tried something new and I really, really liked it.  Some of you may recall the dinner in a pumpkin that I made the other night.  I scraped the remainder of the pumpkin and saved it for future meals.  This morning I decided to try the pumpkin in my eggs.  I had some sage sausage that I cooked up with the pumpkin, spinach and eggs.  It was pretty phenomenal.  The sweetness of the pumpkin was a great contrast to the savory sausage.

Julia even ate them up....actually to really impress you, I should let you know that even ALEX went back for seconds!  To round out the meal, Julia and I made some cloud biscuits.  These are the biscuits that my mother made when I was a little girl.  It's a pretty solid recipe.

Cloud Biscuits

1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup all purpose flour
1 tablespoon brown sugar
4 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup shortening
1 beaten egg
2/3 cup milk

Combine ingredients and roll dough 3/4 inches thick.  Cut into desired shape.  Bake at 450 degrees on an ungreased pan for 10 to 14 minutes.

Really, really delicious.  I'm a carbohydrate addict.  I could live on biscuits and jam alone.  There has been more than one occasion when I have gone to Bob Evans with friends and family and cleaned up every one's biscuits.  They love me :)

I'm not great at transitions but I would now like to take a moment now to say what I am thankful for with a little more seriousness than usual.  I have always been in awe of military families and the sacrifices they endure so that we can enjoy our lives here in this great country.  I'm not great at expressing my feelings and gratitude so I will simply say, thank you!

Mostly Cloudy but All Smiles

Good Morning :)  It's 73 degrees out, most cloudy and I love it!  Dare I say we are in our decent into Fall weather????  I had the most enjoyable run this morning.  I went six miles!  It felt really great and I didn't feel exhausted at the end.  I also did not walk at all and my pace kicked some booty! 

Of course, I ran in my new Mizunos and wore my running pak.

The running pak says that it doesn't bounce while you run and I suppose that is technically true.  It DOES ride up though.  I started with it down by my belly button and two minutes into the run it was almost to my chest.  Maybe if I tighten it up that will help....

The plan for my run this morning was to try a new route.  It involved going down the Prince William Parkway, which doesn't have a side walk.  It was a little scary at times but the shoulder was large enough to put adequate space between me and traffic.  I finished up the route that I planned out and looked at my Nike+ to check the distance.  I had gone five miles.   Emily had six miles planned for today and I thought I might as well do the same :)  So I started running through the side streets of my neighborhood to get that extra mile.

Once I finished my six miles, I went home for some breakfast.  I usually love to fix eggs and sausage on the weekends but after all that running, I didn't feel like being in front of a hot stove.  So Julia had yogurt with fresh berries and granola and I had a delicious smoothie!

Today's smoothie had frozen, sweet cherries, fresh blueberries, fresh strawberries, spinach, wheat germ, chia seeds, almond milk, vanilla protein powder, and baking cocoa powder.  It was soo good!  I can't remember if I have tried cocoa in my smoothies before or not, but I will definitely be doing it again.  I can't wait to try a smoothie with cocoa and put some almond butter or peanut butter in it too.  YUM!

Well I am off to train with Patrice now and then to the running store to check out compression socks.

What's your favorite way to refuel after a run?

~Andrea

Back to the Grind

Tonight was my first workout since coming back from vacation and I was really glad that I went.  Exercise is just one of those things that you never regret doing.

The morning that we left on vacation, I got up and went for run around our neighborhood because I knew it might be difficult to get my workouts done while on vacation.  I have to admit that I had Kara in my head that morning.  She's an ulta-marathon runner and she is also the mother of a toddler!  People ask her how she has time to run all the time and her response is "I make time."  If I want to be fit and healthy and want my daughter to see that fitness is important, then I definitely need to make time for it and make it a priority.

This doesn't apply to anything I just wrote about, but aren't we cute? Haha

Last night's workout with Patrice was pretty good.  To be honest, I wasn't hurting as much as I thought I would be.  Don't tell her this, but I thought she could have pushed me more.  I have been toying with the idea of not continuing on with the personal training but investing in some weights for my home instead.  I was thinking about doing it alone for some time and then possibly hiring her again a couple months before our wedding (still no date yet....).  Good idea or no?

After my workout with Patrice, I had a delicious smoothie.  It had frozen peaches, fresh raspberries, spinach, and vanila whey protein.  Yum :)  I really like the spinach in smoothies; you don't taste it at all.  Alex even had some so you know it was at least decent to the normal person.

I do feel that I have come out of my rut a little.  I have felt like there has been a little more swagger in my strut (haha!) and my mood has definitely been elevated.  I did not get up this morning for my workout so I am will work out tonight. 

So I'm feeling good again and I love it!  Today is my "Friday" and it's a holiday weekend so I am off for the next four days!!  Woo hoo :)  My plan for the weekend is to clean my house (read: unpack from vacay), run every day, and do some scrapbooking!  Alex's parents have also set up and official meeting of our families on Saturday too :)  I will let you know how it goes!

What are your holiday plans?

~Andrea

Sandy Feet

Hello from Myrtle Beach!  This morning my loved ones are still in bed snoozing away so I thought I would take this opportunity to check in and say hello!

Yesterday was pretty relaxing.  We joined my parents at Denny's for some breakfast and then hung out by the pool all afternoon.  Later, we went to Broadway on the beach and went to Wonder Works.

My brother-in-law Kevin works at the ropes course/zip line so admission was gratis!  It was a really fun place.  Alex and I went on the design-your-own roller coaster, which was pretty awesome.  The best part about that ride was the music:  Beastie Boys "Intergalactic". 

We also did the zip line and the ropes course.  These were both firsts for me :)  I really loved the zip line.  The ropes course was very stressful for me.  It was too high and I felt like I was in a constant "fight or flight" state.  My pillow never felt as good as it did last night!

This morning me and my favorite running partner went for a run on the beach.  He is struggling with an injury so we warmed up with a walk together and then I went out on my own.  In total, I ran five miles in 47 minutes!  I was very pleased with my run. 

I have decided while the idea of running on the beach seems peaceful and beautiful, it is in reality very boring and frustrating.  The scenery is great but it doesn't change and I lose interest very quickly.  I also am a huge fan of picking markers in the distance as my short-term goal while running.  On the flat beach, the markers that I picked weren't as close as I thought they were because it was so flat and things felt closer than they actually were. 

When I got back to the apartment, it was breakfast time!

Yeah, I'm on vacation and my idea of a good time is trying steel cut oats :)  I was actually shocked that the Piggly Wiggly had these so I had to buy them.  They are chewier than rolled oats but I liked them.  There is a recipe for oatmeal cookies on the box that I think I will try when I get back home.

My goal for this vacation is to not gain any weight.  I feel like attempting to lose weight on vacation is a very lofty goal.  So far, I am doing very good :) 

What's your favorite thing to do while on vacation?

~Andrea

Breakfast Feast

Good Saturday Evening!  My morning was amazing.  I absolutely love the weekends that my daughter Julia spends with me :)  I always take the opportunity to make delicious breakfasts.  Here is a shot of this mornings yummies:

I served up the usual eggs, spinach, onion and flax seed scramble along with southwestern hashrowns (cooked in coconut oil) and extra-lean turkey bacon.  Mmmmm!  The beautiful Asiatic Lillie's were a surprise from Alex.  I sent him out to get some eggs and he came back with those too.  I'm a lucky lady :)

Of course, I topped my eggs off with some of my chipotle goat cheese.  I love that stuff and will be making another trip tomorrow to try another flavor. 

After breakfast, we spent some time watching some classic Saturday morning cartoons.  Remember this one?

It was a great and lazy morning, for sure.  At around one o'clock, I finally got the motivation to get off the couch and go out for a run.  It was raining when I first headed out, which was actually very nice.  After about five minutes, the rain stopped and small slivers of sun started to peak through the clouds.  It was sooo muggy.  It was not fun.

I kept the run to three miles today.  I am planning on going to Burke Lake Park with the Lake Ridge Runners tomorrow morning so that will be a four and a half mile run.  I need to find a training plan for the Maymont 8-miler so I can be sure that I will be ready for the race!

Any suggestions for a training plan? 

What are you training for?

~Andrea

I bleed purple

Hello!  I have either caught the attention of fellow Dukes or Emily with this title :)  Yesterday just seemed to be very purple for some reason.  It started out very delicious too!

This was the most amazing smoothie I have made so far!  I put frozen peaches, frozen blueberries, chia seeds, almond milk, spinach and.....da da da daaaaaah....

Oh my yummy!!  I've never tried this protein powder (in a purple-y bag) before so of course, I bought it from Costco!  No regrets.  This powder mixes so much better than my last one and tastes so deliciously vanilla-y.  I'm sooo tempted to run back and grab the chocolate too :)   I was a little sad that I was running late getting ready for work because I loved that smoothie so much!  I wish I had time to really enjoy it.

Anyway, my workout was pretty intense yesterday morning.  I did the Jackie Warner HIIT workout on the treadmill.  Usually I do it only four times in total but yesterday I decided to do it one more time for luck.  I was exhausted and sweaty!  Both signs of a great workout! 

After my workout and delicious smoothie, it was time to get to work...

I had at least one admirer of my outfit ;)

What color was your day?

~Andrea

What in the Rooster???

Good Saturday Morning!  I hope your day has been going well.  I had quite the surprise this morning:

Mr. Rooster was in my neighbor's yard across the street!  What?!  I have always been able to hear the  and the rooster in the distance but he has always sounded further away.  This morning, Alex went out to take some recycling out and the cock-a-doodle-doo was much louder.  He started looking around and there the rooster was in the neighbor's yard.  You can't just have a rooster running around on the loose, right????  I called animal control but apparently they don't work on the weekends.  I was told I could capture the rooster myself and they would send someone to pick him up.  No, thanks.

Instead of catching myself a rooster, I made myself some breakfast instead.

It was time to clean out the veggie drawer so it was a veggie loaded omlet.  I put in spinach (of course), mushrooms, peppers, onions, parsley, and tomatoes.  I mixed in a slice of ham plus flax seed and topped it all off with some goat cheese.  It was perfection!

I received something else that was very exciting today:

I bought these with my workout reward money :)  I bought the original Biggest Loser cookbook many years ago and I have always loved their recipes.  They are always really flavorful and different from what I usually imagine healthy food to be. 

I bought these from half.com and didn't pay much.  In total, I paid $30 for all three, including shipping!  I'm most excited for the flavors of the world book.  I'm so excited to plan my meals this week using these cookbooks :)  As always, I'll let you know what I make and how it tastes!

Do you have a favorite cookbook?

~Andrea

Veg Out :)

So this morning, four o'clock came and went and somehow I was still in bed.  I remained in bed until six o'clock!!!  I have no idea when I turned off my alarm or why I miraculously woke up.  I usually go to the bus stop between six-thirty and six-forty so it was a race against the clock to get ready for work.

Needless to say, there was no workout this morning.  I felt amazingly rested and refreshed though!  Oh well, I have been working out with Patrice, going for walks with Jess and climbing stairs on my fifteen minute breaks so I think a rest day was needed. 

That was dinner :)  It was a "clean out the veggie drawer" dinner.  It was a mix of sweet peppers, spinach, mushrooms, onions, green beans and chicken.  I sauteed it with a little Worcestershire sauce and garlic.  It was pretty tasty!  I have become very bored with my raw veggies so it was really refreshing to eat them cooked.

Tomorrow for breakfast, I'm going to make this delicious meal:

Mmmm, eggs with ground flax seed, spinach, tomatoes, mushrooms and onions.  I really love breakfast foods and the weekends are my favorite because I actually have time to sit down and make a decent breakfast.

Tomorrow Alex and I are off to Melissa and Jake's wedding up in PA.  I will need to make sure that I pack lots of healthy snacks for the ride up there.  The rumor is that the drive is about four hours :( 

Have a great weekend!

~Andrea