A MUFA-licious New Year

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?

Yoga – No Excuses

Hey There! 

I don’t know what the problem is  – yesterday and today, running has been so HARD! I could barely make it through 4 miles on the treadmill. Spring weather can NOT come soon enough!

After my mediocre run, I replenished with some Kashi Go Lean Crunch…

12.28 Kashi Go Lean Crunch

Then, it was off to my first day of work after 10 days of being off. The day was actually really good. Half the office was still on vacation so it was nice and quiet. I ended up getting a ton of things done. I hope that it’s the same way tomorrow. Plus, when I walked to my desk this morning, there was a cute little Christmas card and a Christmas tree magnet on my desk from a coworker – how sweet!

12.28 Christmas Tree Magnet

About 11 AM, I started getting a snack attack but just wasn’t ready for lunch. Instead, I grabbed a peppermint chocolate Luna bar….

12.28 Luna bar

It tasted sooo good going down, but I think I ate it way too fast because I had stomach cramps for the rest of the day, ugh!

Lunch ended up being leftovers from the other night – a little spinach risotto and mesquite chicken…

12.28 Spinach Risotto

Luckily, my stomach eased up enough to let me eat this, but then it was back to cramping again. Later in the afternoon, I found out some GREAT news! A few months ago, I mentioned on one of my posts that my office was going to offer onsite yoga once a week. Well, our office yoga starts next week – woo hoo!!! I am so excited! My colleague who is arranging the yoga class brought the instructor by my desk to introduce me. How cool is it that I can now practice yoga at least once a week and not even have to leave my office? Now I have no excuse not to practice. Hmm…I think I might have to buy a new yoga mat to celebrate!

Any recommendations on a good yoga mat????

A great thing about the yoga class, aside from it being onsite, is that my company is paying for the majority of the class. Perfect – nearly free yoga! I was so thrilled that my stomach felt a little better. I decided to splurge and have some this….

12.28 Enstrom toffee

Mmmm, melt in your mouth, Enstrom English toffee! This is my absolute favorite toffee and I only have it once a year around the Christmas holiday (good thing too, or else I’d be huge!). If you have never tried this toffee, I highly recommend it. But a word of caution, it is very hard to STOP eating it. I took two small pieces from a gift box that was delivered to our office. But, while walking to the staff lounge, I accidentally dropped one piece on the ground. I contemplated picking it up and eating it anyway (yes, that’s how good it is!), but decided to just throw it away and – what else? – get another piece to replace it!

My commute home was a breeze and I was happy to see that dinner was nearly ready when I arrived. It was a basil chicken stir fry kind of a night…

12.28 chicken stirfry 1

Hmm..so good, and not too spicy, which was good for my tummy…

12.28 chicken stir fry 3

Scott’s parents are taking us and Scott’s brother and sister-in-law out for an early New Year’s dinner tomorrow night. Can’t wait!

Have a great night everyone and see you tomorrow.

The Cheese Cupid

Hello All! 

I’ve been meaning to tell all of you about this great new Web site for wine and cheese pairings! The Cheese Cupid is a Web site developed by the Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board that helps you pair your favorite wine/beer/liquor with the best cheeses for that wine or vice versa. It’s super easy to use and it gives you photos and descriptions of the cheeses and wines. And better yet, it even has a free iphone application – perfect for when you’re running around buying last-minute party items.

A few weeks ago, the Cheese Cupid actually sent me some cheeses to try….

Wisconsin cheese

They sent a block of cheddar, edam, gruyere, and gorgonzola for me to sample. I ended up trying the edam and cheddar at a dinner party I had over the weekend. The cheddar tasted – well, like cheddar. It was good, but nothing too special.

12.21 cheese tray

However, the edam was fantastic! I have never had edam before and had never even heard of this type of cheese. It was a mix between Swiss and cheddar and was so mild yet flavorful. So yum, I wish I had more! I did attempt to use the Cheese Cupid site to pair my cheese with a recommended wine. But, it turns out, I never ended up drinking wine that night!

Ok, enough cheesey talk 😉 I had another fabulous but chilly run outside this morning! I wonder if I’m getting addicted to winter running?? 

Today, Scott and I finally bought our Christmas cards. We are just now beginning to write them out to about 50 people/families. I highly doubt any of these will get delivered before Christmas, but better late than never!

Tomorrow, I’m headed to lunch with Anne, a long-time friend and former colleague. We’re headed to Big Bowl – yummy Asian stir-fry.

Gotta run. See you all tomorrow!

Breakfast with the Angry Banana

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!

Time To Make The Granola

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!

Bacon Makes Everything Taste Better

Hi Everyone! 

Last night, I watched Rachel Ray’s Vacation on the Food Network. She was reviewing some of the hot spots in Philadelphia. I was sooo excited to see that she actually visited two of the VERY places I went to last year at my company’s annual meeting! She reviewed Amada tapas restaurant and Naked Chocolate Cafe, both of which were awesome! I am very proud to say that I found these two places on my own before even seeing the show – so I guess great minds think alike. Maybe it’s a sign that I should subscribe to her magazine 😉

This morning, Scott and I had to rush out the door to run errands, so there was no time for a sit-down breakfast. And so it was LUNA to the rescue…

11.21 LUNA bar

Lunch was at our fave Italian cafe where I promptly ordered my signature veggie pizza…

11.21 Veggie Pizza 2

It was loaded with mushrooms, spinach, red peppers, pesto, and topped with goat cheese, all on a wheat crust – fantastic!

11.21 Veggie pizza 1

Next up, was a little Christmas shopping. In just two hours, I managed to get to:

  • Crate and Barrel – Looking for cool wine glasses on sale for $2.95 – but they were all out 🙁
  • Bath and Body Works – I don’t shop here much because I prefer L’Occitane or Crabtree and Evelyn but BBW was having some great sales.
  • Harry and David – Looking for a foodie gift for my big sis.
  • Barnes and Noble – Hmm, no real reason to go here other than to pick up a mocha frap!
  • Fresh Market – Ahh, rotisserie chicken for dinner!

For dinner, I decided to try my hand at making brussel sprouts. Shauna’h suggested a great recipe from a friend, although I did not have all of the ingredients to make it. So, it was my own creation tonight – which usually makes Scott a little leery.

11.21 Brussel Sprouts

But for these, I fried some all-natural hickory smoked bacon in a pan until crisp. Then I removed the bacon and added steamed brussel sprouts (about 25 sprouts cut in 1/2). Then I sauteed the sprouts in a little more oil and the bacon drippings until they were slightly brown. Of course, I thought they were awesome. On the other hand, Scott remarked that he would probably not eat these again without the bacon. I guess bacon really does make every taste better.

One word of caution, if you do make this recipe, be very careful when pouring the sprouts in the bacon grease or you will wind up with grease burns…

11.21 arm burn

Not fun, especially since now they have progressed to tiny blisters – ouch! It was my own dumb fault though!

Aside from sprouts, I also tried my hand at making mashed sweet potatoes for the first time. I know, I know…how could I have gotten this far in life without making mashed sweet potatoes? Well, let’s just say we did not eat them very often growing up and when I did, we usually had the canned version.

11.21 sweet potatoes 1

For this bright orange and very festive dish, I followed the very easy recipe on Martha Stewart’s site. Seriously, this was SO easy. The hardest part was chopping the sweet potatoes -they are definitely not as easy to chop as white potatoes. Again, this dish was mighty tasty – I’m going to pat myself on the back for this one for sure!

11.21 Roast chicken and sweet potatoes

The side dishes all came together quite nicely with the white wine rotisserie chicken I bought from Fresh Market. Although, I swear these chickens are getting smaller and smaller. They’re almost like a cornish hen now. Scott and I used to be able to split one with leftovers for another full dinner. Now, we’re lucky if we have leftovers. And it’s NOT that we are eating more either!

11.21 roast chicken and brussel sprouts

11.21 roast chickena nd sweet potatoes 2

I paired this all with a nice Robert Mondavi Chardonnay I purchased at Costco last week. Fancy, fancy.

I think this made up for last night’s sandwich dinner, don’t you think?

OK, gotta run. I have a ton of pre-Thanksgiving cleaning to get to tonight! See you all on Sunday!

Vote For Your Favorite Cooking/Food Magazine!

Hi All! I don’t know about you but today seemed to go by so SLOW! This is sort of our “slow season” at work, or rather a slower season. People are starting to go on vacation, some are working from home. As a result, it’s been very quiet at the office and the hours just seem to drag by. Luckily, I always have work to keep me busy, but when I see everyone else taking vacations or chatting with coworkers to pass the time, it’s hard to focus on work. 

Anyway, my day started with a great run on the treadmill. I tried to do a split – 1/2 treadmill, 1/2 running outside, but when I stepped out the door, it was just starting to rain. So it was back to the treadmill and away we go!

Breakfast was a small bowl of homemade oatmeal…

11.19 oatmeal with peanut butter

I added a handful of sliced almonds to the oatmeal and topped it with a spoonful of all-natural peanut butter. I find that when I add protein – especially extra protein – to my breakfast I usually don’t need to snack before lunch. And, that’s just what happened today!

11.19 oatmeal with peanut butter 2

The oats plus tons of monounsaturated fats (MUFA) gave me enough energy for hours. It also was so warm and soothing – just perfect for a chilly and rainy fall day.

Lunch happened to be leftovers from last night – spinach risotto…

11.19 spinach risotto

I have come to learn a thing or two about risotto. I’ve learned no matter how awesome and “very Italian” it tastes on the day you make it, by the second day it tastes just like Rice-a-Roni. Not very risotto-y or Italian, but still adequate for lunch leftovers.

If you can believe it, dinner was MORE leftovers in the form of Monday’s turkey tacos. But, I decided to change it up a bit and make a taco salad…

11.19 taco salad 1

This is what happens when Scott teaches at night. I become the sandwich-leftovers queen, and tonight was no different.

11.19 taco salad 2

After dinner, I starting flipping through my Real Simple holiday issue again. I LOVE that magazine! It is probably my favorite non-fitness magazine. But, I noticed my subscription is up this month and wondered whether or not I should renew. Ok, that took me all of 3 seconds to decide – heck yeah I’m renewing! But then I wondered if I should branch out from Real Simple and health/fitness magazines and maybe subscribe to a food/foodie magazine. 

With Gourmet magazine now defunct, I’m down to the following 4 magazines that I’m contemplating subscribing to:

  • Fine Cooking: It seems like such an elegant magazine, which great ideas for fancy full-scale dinners, etc.
  • Bon Appetit: Again, this tends to lean on the more elegant/fancy side of the foodie magazines, but they have great photos and recipes.
  • Cooking Light: This is the Real Simple of cooking/food magazines, easy to follow, and mostly uncomplicated recipes. Plus, most recipes and articles are geared toward the use of health ingredients and cooking methods.
  • Everyday With Rachel Ray: I do like this magazine, but sometimes I feel like it’s designed for someone with ADHD. It is all over the place as far as sections, articles, etc. But something about it still draws me to it, kind of like a car accident where you can’t help but look.

I’m fairly sure I will subscribe to one of these magazines, but I’d love your help deciding! Please send me your vote for your favorite food/cooking magazine! Just leave a comment on this post and let me know if you subscribe to any of the four magazines I mentioned above (or read them on a regular basis), what you like about them, and which one of the four you’d recommend. The magazine with the most votes will earn my subscription! Now I know all of you foodie bloggers out there must subscribe to at least one of these, so don’t let me down! You have until Tuesday, November 24, at 9 PM Eastern to cast your vote. I can’t wait to hear from all of you!

OK peeps, I’ve got a brownie sitting here with my name on it.

11.19 brownie 1

Have a great evening everyone! And remember, to vote, vote, VOTE!

Last Chance For The Explorer's Bounty Giveaway!

Don’t forget to enter Running With Cake’s first giveaway for a load of Explorer’s Bounty organic goodies! Enter by 9 PM Eastern tonight and I will announce the winner shortly thereafter.

Good luck!11.17 Explorer's Bounty Organic Products

From Salads to Shopping

Morning All! 

I am so tired and sore from walking all over downtown Chicago yesterday – ugh! But, it actually was fun playing the part of the Chicago tourist during the Christmas holiday – we need to do that more often. Last night’s post was getting pretty long, so I decided to wait until today to post my awesome dinner!

11.14 Home Salad Bar 2

Toward the end of our Chicago jaunt, I started getting a headache. By the time we got to the train, I had a full-blown migraine!! Yikes – and I didn’t have any Excedrin migraine on me so I was miserable. When we arrived home, I immediately took some medication and laid down for about an hour. In the meantime, Scott whipped up a totally yummy – and super healthy – at-home salad bar!

As you can see, he included a bunch of goodies like:

  • Chopped mini bell peppers
  • Carrots
  • Onions
  • Cucumbers
  • Salami
  • Ham
  • All-Natural bacon
  • Almonds
  • Cheddar cheese
  • Green leaf lettuce

11.14 Dinner Salad

He also took some of the leftover 3-cheese bakery bread and made some incredible asiago/garlic cheese bread…

11.14 Garlic Bread

I had 2 pieces but really wanted to eat more like 5!

This morning, despite being sore and tired from yesterday’s 2-hour walk, I went for a fast 5 mile run. A cold morning run was really what I needed to get me moving today. 

Breakfast was a big ‘ol oatmeal bowl full of fresh oats, chopped walnuts, and a dollop of peanut butter for good measure…

11.15 Oatmeal with peanut butter

I threw in a swig of orange juice because I feel like I’m seriously lacking in the vitamin C category these days…11.15 orange juice

Now, we’re off to do the Christmas shopping that we didn’t get to on Friday.

Have an awesome Sunday everyone – and remember to enter the tasty Explorer’s Bounty giveaway by 9 PM Eastern on Tuesday!

My New S90 Camera: A Great Substitute for the DSLR

I love that it is now getting light earlier! I don’t know how long it will last, but I’ll take it for now. I was able to be out the door running at 6:15 AM. Before the time change, I wasn’t heading out until at least 6:45 – what a difference, especially during the work week.

After my run, I did a few stretches and a 15-minute ab workout – which I normally do but just never write about. Then, it was time for a big cereal mix for breakfast…

11.9 breakfast

It was a mix of Honeynut Cheerios and Kashi Go Lean Crunch – perfect post-run breakfast!

Due to construction literally everywhere I turned, it took me over an hour to get to work today so I didn’t get there until 9:30 PM – yikes! Thank goodness it was a slow morning and a slow day. That usually happens the few weeks after our big meeting. People need a few weeks to unwind and regroup on projects.

Because it was slow, I was able to meet Scott for lunch at a local Corner Bakery…

11.9 lunch

I had the Greek salad once again, but it wasn’t as good the second time as it was the first. I think it was that it had way too much dressing on it.

After a very slow afternoon, I decided to leave work a little early at 4:30 PM. Little did I know I would spend over an hour trying to get home. Ugh – I so do NOT like construction – and particularly at night.

When I arrived home, I was so excited to see dinner was almost ready, but even more excited to find out that Scott bought another camera!! I guess one just isn’t enough for two bloggers.

11.9 camera

So this is the newest edition to our blogging family – the Canon PowerShot S90IS. This is a point and shoot digital camera and takes high quality photos – especially close-ups. I’ve only played with the camera for a few hours but can already tell you that I like it better than the Canon PowerShot SD980IS digital elph. I’ve had the elph since early October and, although I haven’t had serious issues with it, it doesn’t take the greatest close-up shots of food. Believe me, I’ve tried!

We are not convinced on keeping both cameras, but we will very likely keep the latest one. The way Scott explained it was that the Canon S90 takes quality photos, like the SLR (although obviously not as good) but without all of the bulk. So, the rest of the photos that you will see tonight will be taken with the new Canon S90.

So now, back to dinner. Scott made one of his favorite dishes – Basil Chicken Stir-fry from the William’s Sonoma Chicken Cookbook…

11.9 dinner1

Yes, the stir-fry tasted as good as it looks! Notice the difference in cameras?

11.9 dinner2

I swear this is not me trying extra hard to make this camera look good. From what I can tell in 3 hours, this camera is awesome! I told Scott he could have the other one and I would keep the S90 he he!

After dinner, I made some homemade chocolate chip cookies – the famous Nieman Marcus recipe…11.9 dessert2

Fake Nieman Marcus Chocolate Chip Cookies

  • 1/2 cup butter
  • 1 cup flour
  • 1/2 tsp. soda
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 1 1/4 cups blended oatmeal **
  • 6 oz. chocolate chips
  • 1/2 cup brown sugar
  • 1/4 tsp. salt
  • 2 oz. Chocolate Bar (grated) milk, semi-sweet, or dark
  • 1 egg
  • 1/2 tsp. baking powder
  • 3 cups chopped nuts (optional)
  • 1/2 tsp. vanilla

 Blend oatmeal to a fine powder and combine with flour, powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside. Using a high powered mixer, cream the butter and both sugars, then blend in egg and vanilla. Add the dry flour/oatmeal mix to the wet ingredients and blend well. Blend in the grated chocolate followed by the chocolate chips, and then the nuts if you are using them. 

Roll into balls and place two inches apart on a cookie sheet. You can also free the dough balls and bake them frozen as instructed below.

Bake for 9 minutes at 375 degrees or until the cookies are slightly golden. Immediately remove them from the baking tray and place on a plate or counter covered with wax paper. Makes about 44 small cookies.

I don’t feel bad giving away this recipe because it’s ALL OVER the Internet and has been circulating for years.

11.9 dessert1

These cookies are so easy to make and taste awesome! When you make them without nuts and make the cookies on the small side, they come out to be about 75-80 calories per cookie. I’ve experimented by adding more chips and/or more chocolate and different types of chocolate. I’ve used ALL dark chocolate before and they were fabulous!

OK, nuff said for tonight. See you all on the flipside!