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A Gooey Breakfast Triad

February 27, 2010 by

Morning everyone! I was so excited when the mail arrived with my new SHAPE magazine! I am sooo looking forward to a relaxing read this weekend. We had an awesome dinner last night – mainly because I didn’t have to cook! Not to mention that I was so hungry from running around all day – busy, busy!

Scott cooked up some Italian sausage and yellow and red peppers – a true Chicago dish! He also steamed a bunch of veggies – carrots and broccoli …

Very satisfying and fairly healthy – about 300-400 calories total – not bad. Although dinner was great, we basically have no treats in the house, so it was a no dessert night for me – blah!

This morning, I got up early in order to get a jump start on the day – although I did NOT start with a run. I ran Sunday-Thursday this week so I decided to give myself a break yesterday and this morning – I did a ton of walking though! I also decided to treat myself to a decadent breakfast considering I missed out on dessert last night…

Doesn’t that look awesome! I threw together some slow-cook oats and added all-natural peanut butter and Ghirardelli dark chocolate chips. It was my own breakfast triad and it was a completely gooey and yummy mess! It was surprisingly healthy too, considering oatmeal, peanut butter, and dark chocolate are all good for you 🙂 I’ve had a very busy day, so now I’m off to bed.

Catch ya all later!

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Things Women Do To Be Pretty

February 25, 2010 by

So, what is the craziest thing you’ve ever done to be pretty?

Last night, I met Scott, Miss M, and Mr. C at Panera for dinner before heading to my 6 PM Aveda pedicure and 7:15 PM hair appointment. I love Panera’s potato soup! But I digress…back to the pedicure.

The pedicure was awesome! I sat in the vibrating chair with my feet in the soothing water and just melted. Lena worked on my nails for nearly an hour – which I think is fantastic considering many of those fly-by-night places only give you 30 minutes for a pedicure. After my pedi, I headed out to the front counter to pay and saw that it was snowing outside. Let me add that when I went into the salon, it was not snowing and the sky was pretty clear. Well, I did not have any sandals and was not about to put on my socks and shoes with semi-dry nails. So I had to walk to my car in the those flimsy flip-floppy pedicure things – so cold! I then drove with cold, wet feet all the way to the hair salon in a blizzard – actually a complete white-out. I just kept saying to myself follow the car in front of you, following the car in front of you. I then proceeded to walk from my car to the salon in about 2 inches of snow, pretty much barefoot. Oh the things women do to be pretty!!

A Blueberry Morning

Luckily, this morning was a little better. The snow has since stopped but not after leaving us 4 inches of powder on our driveway. I’m so sick of the cold and snow. I’m so glad I’m headed to Florida soon!

After my awesome 4.5 mile run on the t-mill, followed by stretching and an ab workout, I tried another new yogurt – Dannon’s nonfat Greek blueberry yogurt …

This yogurt was definitely an improvement over the vanilla Oikos I had a few days ago. It was so thick and creamy and had a fantastic blueberry taste. I will definitely get this again! Even Miss M liked it – especially because it was purple 🙂

OK, have to actually get some work done today. Have a wonderful morning!

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A Full Morning

February 20, 2010 by

Morning everyone!

I went to be so full last night and I’m not sure why. I had a great run yesterday morning (4.5 miles on the treadmill) then had the following calories throughout the day…

  • 1 cup Cherrios with blueberries and milk – 150 calories
  • 1 tall skinny vanilla latte – 90 calories
  • 1 1/2 cups minestrone soup with a small breadstick – 300 calories
  • 3 mini snickers – 120
  • 1 Luna Bar – 180
  • 3 small pieces of cheese pizza – 400
  • Total Calories = 1,240 (give or take 100 calories)

That’s more than 300 calories less than what I was aiming for – 1,600 calories per day. The only thing I can think of is that the pizza (albeit small squares) made me super full because of the cheese…

Hmm..still puzzling to me. Anyway, this morning when I woke up, I was STILL full. I usually don’t like like to eat when I’m full. However, we have a very busy morning (and day) planned. I opted for a small breakfast of about 4 oz of nonfat vanilla Greek yogurt with a teaspoon of peanut butter…

Plus about 1 teaspoon of walnuts on top for added crunch and MUFA…

So total, I probably had about 200 calories for breakfast. Now, I’m incredibly full.

The rest of the day is booked – haircuts (not mine), cleaning, shopping, and other errands. With so much running around, maybe I’ll feel hungry by dinnertime!

Gotta run – have a great day!

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Those Bloody Oranges

January 27, 2010 by

Hey There! 

I am feeling sooo much better today! I was actually able to run my full workout this morning – woo hoo! I guess my body really needed the two-day rest.

After the run I was craving fruit so I started digging around the fridge to see what I could find. Apparently, Scott went shopping on Monday and bought a bunch of oranges. But, not just any oranges – Moro oranges or blood oranges…

These oranges are freakin awesome! I can’t believe I have never tried these before!!! According to Sunkist’s Web site:

The Moro Orange, sometimes called the “blood orange” because of its deep burgundy flesh, has been a favorite in Europe and North Africa for years. They are characterized by a distinctive flavor, with a hint of raspberry added to the rich orange taste.

So cool, and not just because of the red-purple-ish color. This orange really had a great flavor – juicy and sweet. Ironically, my 2-year old was having a “I only like things that are purple day” so I was excited to show her my new find. She was just as excited as I was 🙂

After my bloody orange, I was still in a fruity mood, so I opted for a nana…

It was perfectly ripe – potassium at its best!

I worked at my desk for what seemed like hours on end (blood clot alert :-(). I made myself get up to make an unpictured bowl of chicken soup – I still didn’t trust my stomach was I was keeping the lunch light and brothy.

By dinner I was pretty hungry, so I dug into Scott’s leftover baked ziti that he made on Monday night – when I was too sick to even look at food…

It was good, but I really wish I could have tried it on the first go around.

In other news, I booked my flight to FitBloggin today! Woo hoo!! Is anyone else as excited as I am?? I’m flying in on Friday early PM and leaving on Sunday afternoon. I can’t believe it’s less than 50 days away!

Gotta run, have a great night!

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Chocolate Beginnings and Endings

January 9, 2010 by

I am officially on the first trip of 6 or seven trips that I have planned for the next 5 months. I have already eaten more food in two days than I normally do in about 4!! And yes, I am truthful when I say that my day began with chocolate and ended with chocolate. I really have to start pacing myself or I’m going to gain 10 pounds by May.

To give you an example of my less than ideal food selections, breakfast was a carb-loading buffet…

1.9.10 Scottsdale breakfast buffet

And so, my day started with a chocolate muffin pictured in the center. Yes, there was a fruit options, but the chocolate muffin seemed to be calling my name. 

My day ended with a piece of red velvet chocolate birthday cake…

1.9.10 red velvet birthday cake

And if you think that’s rich, you should see the rest of the food I had in between!! But you’ll have to wait for those details tomorrow. I’m tired and must leave for the airport at 5:45 Am.

Have a great night!

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A MUFA-licious New Year

January 2, 2010 by

Afternoon everyone!

Yesterday, Scott and I spent most of the afternoon taking down all of the inside Christmas decorations. I didn’t put out as many as I normally do, so it wasn’t as bad as last year taking them down. I will miss how pretty my house looked, but I am glad to have it back to normal.

This morning, Scott left early to attend an Illinois v. Gonzaga basketball game in downtown Chicago. But, I managed to convince him to take a picture of me in my new Lucy shirt before he left…

1.2 Jen Breathe shirt 10.1

Thanks shman.

Blah, I just saw that Illinois lost. I didn’t go to U of I and, frankly, college basketball is NOT my thing. But I still want the Illini to win. Scott usually goes to the big game every year and hangs with all of his old college buddies. You think I would like basketball, even a little, after playing 4 years of b-ball in high school. Thanks, but I’ll pass. 

I didn’t end up going to yoga this morning like I planned (too cold to venture outside at just 6 degrees of bed separation). Instead, I started the morning with a few lunges, squats, and leg extensions. I usually start doing these in March to gear up for bikini season. But, seeing as I’m headed to Florida at the end of February then twice again in April, I figured I should get a head start! I also munched on some super nummy yogurt…

1.2 Trader Joe Greek Yogurt 2

Instead of buying individual 5.3 oz of Trader Joe’s nonfat vanilla Greek yogurt, I bought the big carton. I’m trying to really watch portion sizes this year, and I feel that the individual yogurts are a little too much for me. With the full-size carton, and a handy dandy 6 oz ramekin, I can fill up the ramekin 1/2 way, then add granola and blueberries. Honestly, this is ALL I need to get me started on most mornings.

1.2 Trader Joe Greek Yogurt 1

As for watching portion sizes, I’m not really trying to lose weight – I don’t have much to lose at just 107 pounds. I’m also not really the type to do New Year’s resolutions. But, every year, I try to start the new year off right with some of the basic principles of healthy eating…

  • Watching calorie intake
  • Loading up on fruits and veggies
  • Eating more fiber-rich foods
  • Cutting back on junk food
  • Saying “yes” to MUFA (monounsaturated fats)
  • Reducing diet coke
  • Kicking my Starbucks habit (I wonder if there’s a Starbucks support group I could join?)
  • Opting for all-natural foods, when possible
  • Limiting snacks

For instance, for lunch, I knew I’d be satisfied with a 1/2 reduced-fat salami sandwich, so that’s what I had (reduce portions – check). I made the sandwich on Brownberry double fiber bread (add fiber – check), and plus I threw in a few cherry tomatoes for the huge vitamin C but also because they are fruit (add fruits/veggies – check)

1.2 Salami Sandwich with olives 2

It’s a little strange eating lunch without Scott on a Saturday, considering we are almost always together on the weekends. No matter though, I had olive eyes watching me…

1.2 Salami Sandwich with Olives 1

Not to mention a beautiful a bird sitting in my tree who kept his hawk eye on me and my food…

1.2 Wild Hawk

I named him Nicholas Nickleby – Nick for short. Don’t ask me why, I was just in a Charles Dickens kind of a mood today. 

Tonight, I plan to do some major studying at Barnes and Noble and then tomorrow starts our 30-day restaurant diet – more details to follow 😉

So, what’s your healthy eating goal for the year?

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Oatmeal Inspiration

December 22, 2009 by

Good morning!

Hope your day is off to a good start. I started my day with a fast 4-miler on the treadmill. I opted NOT to run outside today because of all the new fallen snow. Plus, after two 40-minute outdoor runs in a row, my hips are actually starting to hurt.

For breakfast, I was inspired by Kath’s oatmeal and decided to make a bowl of my own…

12.22 oatmeal with walnuts 1

I used about 1/4 cup whole oats combined with about a 1/2 cup of skim milk, then topped it all with bunch of walnuts and a little brown suga-baby – hmm..hmm…good!

12.22 oatmeal with walnuts 2

I ate it while looking out my back windows and enjoying the beautiful winter scene…

12.22 snowy backyard1

So what’s on my agenda for today?

  • Trip to Goodwill to drop off my donations
  • Mucho Christmas wrapping
  • A little more shopping (can I be done already!)
  • A LOT of studying

But, before all of that – I’m meeting my friend Anne for lunch at Big Bowl – it’s going to be a stir-fry kind of a day, whoopie!

Have a good one!

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Bistro Chic: Crabtree & Evelyn Holiday Giveaway

December 7, 2009 by

Hey RWC fans – Want to try an awesome Crabtree & Evelyn product for free? Scroll down to learn more!

Morning everyone!

I love waking up to a beautiful sunshiny Winter morning! After a brisk run on the trusty treadmill, I chomped on a bowl of Kashi Go Lean Crunch…

12.7 Kashi Go Lean Crunch 2

Nothing else in the bowl – just Kashi. But then again, unless you’re adding fruit, what else do you need besides Kashi in your bowl? Also had a shot glass of OJ on the side…

12.7 Kashi Go Lean Crunch 1

Here’s an idea for a great freebie! In an effort to encourage others to become more conscious about the environment, Origins will give you a sample of any of their products if you give them one of your empty cosmetic tubes, bottles, etc. It’s a great way for everyone to recycle and get a little something for it! I’ve known about this program for a while, but just took my first empty contain in to Origins this weekend. The sales associate was so polite and spoke very highly of the program. I walked away with a little sample (about the size of a quarter in circumference) of their Modern Friction facial scrub – it’s very light and leaves your skin looking amazing!

12.7 Origins Face Scrub 2

Bistro Chic Holiday Giveaway

And, speaking of bath and body products, check out this great holiday giveaway at Bistro Chic! One lucky reader will win a fabulous gift from Crabtree & Evelyn!

Gotta run for now – have a great day everyone!

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Breakfast with the Angry Banana

December 5, 2009 by

Hi All! I had such an awesome Saturday! And, it all started with this comment from my husband…

That is one ANGRY banana!

Hmm, I thought. But then, I realized what he was referring to…

12.5 crazy banana 2

Apparently, this banana is the leader of a tribe that is very cranky. I wonder if he’s cranky because I let the bananas ripen too long? Guess I’ll be making banana bread pretty soon.

12.5 crazy banana 1

For breakfast, I made a big bowl of homemade oats, complete with my homemade crunchy granola and some all-natural creamy peanut butter..

12.5 oatmeal with granola 3

This bowl was WAY to big for me so I didn’t end up eating it all.

12.5 oatmeal with granola 2

After breakfast, I ran a few errands, including a stop at Kohl’s and the grocery store. I really tried to get up and out the door early in order to beat the holiday and Saturday crowds, but I didn’t end up leaving until 10 AM. Kohl’s was nuts and the grocery store was pretty bad too.

Scott and I planned on shopping for the rest of the day, but before we left, we both enjoyed a bowl of chicken and dumpling soup…

12.5 chicken and dumpling soup

We had a bunch of Christmas shopping to get done and ended up being gone for nearly 7 hours! But, there was a very nice French dinner thrown in there. I’ll reveal all the details tomorrow, but now, I’m going to bed!

But, not without leaving you with an ironic image that I saw during our shopping excursion…

12.5 Tiger Woods doll

Tiger Woods dolls on clearance. Is this a sign of things to come?

Have a great night everyone!

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Time To Make The Granola

December 2, 2009 by

If you’re old enough to remember the old Dunkin Donuts commercial, you will get the reference in my title 😉 Hope this isn’t dating me – I was VERY young when I heard/saw this on television!

So anyway, late last night, I got the urge to make a little homemade granola. I’ve never tried Mix My Granola or other mail-order brands because I’m a little skeptical about their convenience and cost-effectiveness for my budget (why would I want to get addicted to something that I have to wait for in the mail?) And, I usually don’t buy store-bought brands because they are typically loaded with sugar, fat (aka calories) and inevitably contain something that I don’t like (raisins).

12.1 homemade granola 2

That’s not to say that I will never try Mix My Granola (heard great things about it) or something similar, but all of these reasons made want to try making my own granola at home. And so the Running With Cake granola was born!

Running With Cake- Sweet and Crunchy Granola

  • 1/3 cup light brown sugar (more or less depending how much sugar you want)
  • 1/4 cup water
  • 1 tbsp either honey or maple syrup
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 2 cups plain oats (not the quick kind)
  • 1/2-3/4 cup of chopped nuts (walnuts, pecans, almonds, etc.)
  • Dried fruit (optional)

Preheat oven to 275 degrees. Mix the first four ingredients (through the vanilla) in a microwave safe dish (I use a glass measuring cup) and microwave for about 1 minute or until sugar dissolves. Combine oats with nuts. Then combine dry ingredients with the warmed liquid mixture. Spread the oat mixture on a cookie sheet and bake until golden brown, 50-55 minutes. Remove from the oven and immediately scrape the granola into a bowl. Add dried fruit and mix well. Store in an airtight container. Makes about 3 cups of granola.

And so, you will start with this…

12.1 Granola 1

And end up with this!

12.1 homemade granola 1

12.1 homemade granola 3

Totally yummo! It’s also super versatile – you can add just about any nuts or dried fruit that you want, and even omit the honey/maple syrup if you’re trying to watch calories. 

Try it in yogurt, oatmeal, cereal, and on ice cream, you won’t regret it!

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