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What I May or May Not Have Eaten Today

December 1, 2009 by

Let’s play a game – It’s called, What did Jennifer eat today?

1) Breakfast = Oatmeal with walnuts or Kashi?

Answer…

If you chose Kashi you would be correct! I enjoyed a nice size bowl of Cheerios topped with a little bit of Kashi Go Lean Crunch. This was a super energizing breakfast after another hard and sweaty run on the treadmill. I keep pointing out that it was sweaty because, for some reason, it is exceptionally HOT in our basement. You think it would be cold down there – after all, it’s a basement in Chicago!

12.1 Kashi Go Lean

2) Lunch – A small salad or a bowl of minestrone soup?

Answer…

And the salad is the winner!! Around 1:10 PM, I was contemplating what I would have for lunch. Because I did not bring my lunch, it was very obvious that I needed to actually leave my cube to get something to eat. Then, I realized that we had an all staff meeting at 1:30 PM – oh s–t!! I ran out of the building so fast all you could see was my hair flying in the wind. First, I headed right across the street to Go Roma – super convenient I thought. Until I saw the line! My God people, it was nearly 1:30 PM, why haven’t you eaten lunch yet – I thought – not out loud of course. So, I made a side trip a few doors down to a local deli where I threw together a quick and health salad…

12.1 Salad with egg

Although, I walked back into the building JUST as the meeting was starting, so I threw the greens in the fridge and didn’t eat them until around 2:30. I was starving by this time, but a crisis was averted.

3) Dinner – Leftover chicken and dumpling soup or peanut butter and jelly?

Answer…

Yes, I was so lazy tired tonight that I didn’t even feel like warming up soup. So, it was a PBJ kind of night…

12.1 Peanut butter and jelly 2

It was rather tasty and looked kind of fancy – as fancy as PBJ can get – on my sparkly placemat from Crate and Barrel.

4) Dessert – Ice cream or chocolate chip cookies?

Answer…

Ding, ding, ding – you are correct if you guessed ice cream – Edy’s Slow-churned Butter Pecan ice cream to be exact. I swear this had lower calories for the simple reason that they added fewer pecans. They were definitely few and far between in this quart, if you know what I mean. You might as well just call it butter ice cream, with a few pecans. Maybe I’ll have better luck at the end of the quart. I will be happy to find out 😉

12.1 Edy's butter pecan 2

5) But, the real question is what did I eat today that I did NOT take a photo of:

a. Starbucks mocha frap

b. Chocolate log cookies

c. M&M’s

d. All of the above

I am embarrassed to admit it, but answer D is correct. I was a junk food eating machine today. I guess that’s what happens when you only eat a bowl of cereal and a small salad all day. Blah! I guess I really am human like everyone else.

Well friends, I’m off to study!

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Breakfast in the Cube

November 30, 2009 by

And now a line from one of my favorite Christmas movies in honor of its 20th anniversary…

Clark: Can I refill your egg nog for you? Get you something to eat? Drive you out to the middle of nowhere and leave you for dead?

Eddie: No, I’m doin’ just fine, Clark.

If you’re not sure what movie this is from, keep reading to find out 😉

******************************************************************************************************

Hello There! It never fails, the Monday after a long weekend seems to go by sooo SLOW! And, although it was the so-called Cyber Monday, I had absolutely no desire to shop online. With 80 percent of my holiday shopping complete, I am just about shopped out! I can’t believe I just wrote that.

My morning began with a fast and super sweaty treadmill run. I probably could have toughed out the cold 30 degrees but it was still too dark at 6:15 AM for me to run outside. 

I had a cubicle breakfast today – complete with a cup of creamy Trader Joe’s vanilla Greek yogurt with walnuts…

11.30 Trader Joe Greek yogurt

Funny thing about walnuts – I used to hate them when I was a kid and pecans too. But as an adult, I just can’t get enough of them. Good thing they are full of MUFA and are super good for you! Along with my yogurt, I had some hot and steamy Tazo Awake tea…

11.30 Tazo Awake Tea

I’m not a big fan of eating breakfast at my desk, but sometimes it just needs to be done. I don’t mind eating lunch at my desk, although I do prefer eating out of the office. I’m usually playing catch up at lunchtime so it’s just more convenient to eat in the cube – just like today…

11.30 split pea soup 

I had some very thick and tasty split pea soup leftover from Saturday night. It was perfect for a chilly afternoon. Later in the day, I desperately needed a chocolate fix and I just so happened to have a few homemade chocolate-log cookies courtesy of my father-in-law..

11.30 chocolate log cookies

Unfortunately, I do not have the recipe for these festive babies, but I know that they are supposed to resemble logs with moss growing on them – hence the name chocolate-log cookies. My F-I-L makes them every year around Thanksgiving and Christmas and then distributes them among the family. How wonderful is that – a husband who cooks and a father-in-law who bakes!

I arrived home pretty late from work so I was in a rush to make dinner. I am so glad that I remembered to take chicken out of the freezer – it makes it so much easier to decide what to have for dinner when your chicken is ready to go. I drizzled some olive oil over the chicken then doused it with a mesquite rub and grilled it on the indoor grill. I’m tellin’ ya, having an indoor grill is pretty sweet in the winter!

11.30 mesquite chicken

I also made some awesome mashed sweet potatoes by steaming the potatoes, mashing them, and adding a bit of warmed milk, brown sugar, and butter. So easy and incredible!

11.30 mashed sweet potatoes

The rest of the night will be spent studying for my personal training certification. I have a feeling that this certification process is going to be consuming quite a bit of my free time in the next few months.

By the way, if anyone is interested in trying an super awesome Dutch cheese, try Beemster Classic cheese – the taste is a mix of parmesan, asiago, and cheddar – so yum! To learn more, read my review!

By the way, the movie mentioned above is National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation – I can’t believe it’s been around for 20 years!

Have a great night!

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Trimming the Tree

November 29, 2009 by

Hi Everyone! Hope you all had a lovely Sunday! Today was a day of all things holiday for us, including trimming the Christmas tree.

My day started with a 5 mile run on the treadmill. I was actually all dressed and ready to go outside when it started to downpour. I was really disappointed because today was supposed to be the warmest day of the week at 50 degrees. The rest of the week, the Chicago Tribune is reporting SNOW!! I shouldn’t be so surprised, after all, Tuesday is December 1!

Breakfast was a warm and sweet bowl of homemade oats – plain oatmeal topped with brown sugar and crunchy walnuts…

11.29 Oatmeal 1

11.29 Oatmeal 2

As you can see, I was playing with the macro setting and focus on my camera. Both of these photos turned out well, each with a slightly different look.

Seeing as today was the first day of Advent, Scott and I headed to 9:30 mass after breakfast. The service was very nice although the church wasn’t as decorated as I thought it would. I’m sure they’ll add more decorations later.

For lunch, we made our typical Sunday fare of sandwiches, but this time we made them with Boar’s Head salami, turkey, and ham – this was one classy and expensive sandwich!

11.29 Boarshead sandwich 2

11.29 Boarshead sandwich 1

Although we put up our tree last weekend, the rest of the day was spent decorating the outside of the house as well as decorating the tree. Last night, we bought a bunch of plain green wreaths from Hobby Lobby and some wide red ribbon. I stayed up until around midnight making bows and then attaching them to the wreaths…

11.29 Christmas Wreath

Not too bad for a first time! Next year, I think I’ll buy wider ribbon to make it stand out a little more when you’re looking at the house from the street.

Dinner was Scott’s homemade chicken soup with dumplings…

11.29 Chicken dumpling soup 2

Although he and I have made this soup MANY times, the dumplings are very tricky. You have to cook them just right or else they turn out very firm instead of soft and fluffy like they did today – nice job Scott!

11.29 Chicken dumpling soup

After dinner, we pulled out the rest of the Christmas decorations and tree ornaments and went to town! Since Scott and I have been married, we have been doing a sort of Victorian theme for our Christmas tree with lots of burgundy, gold, and pink ornaments. I have this dream that I will one day have a truly authentic Victorian (or Dickens-style) Christmas – complete with roast pig by the fireplace, cranberries strung on the tree, and hot mulled wassail brewing on the stove, all while listening to carolers at my door. I know, it’s a little over the top, but that’s why it’s a dream.

I must admit, I am partial to plain jane ornaments, like snowflakes and bulbs, yet two of my favorite ornaments are anything but plain…

11.29 Ornaments

Because I absolutely LOVE hot tea – and actually collect tea cups and teapots –  I couldn’t pass up these two little cuties! I bought them a few years back on a quick trip to Bronner’s Christmas store in Frankenmuth, MI. Seriously, if you think you can go into Bronner’s and NOT come out with something, you’re crazy! They have sooo much to choose from and you can find just about any themed ornaments or decorations there – although I would have loved to find a little Harney and Sons tea tin ornament to put on my tree 😉

OK bloggies – I’m off to study. I finally received my personal training prep books and I need to do some major reading in advance before my class starts in two weeks!

Catch ya all tomorrow!

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'Twas The Night Before Thanksgiving…

November 25, 2009 by

And all through the night, people were chatting and plenty of food was in sight. That is exactly how my evening has been!

Hi All and Happy Thanksgiving Eve! I need to make this a pretty quick post. I’m with the fam now and need to spend some quality time chatting and preparing food – I’m sure you all understand!

This morning started with a fast 4 mile run – on the treadmill because it was raining 🙁 Breakfast was a combo of some juicy sweet pears…

11.25 Pears

Plus a small bowl of Cheerios and walnuts….

11.25 Cheerios with walnuts

11.25 Cheerios with walnuts 2

Then we packed up and headed to my parents for the day. On the way, I snacked on my first Chocolate Peppermint LUNA bar which was totally yummy!

11.25 LUNA bar

It tasted very similar to the Girl Scout Thin Mint cookie – a very fresh and cool taste!

We had a pit-stop lunch at Panera which included a hearty bowl of potato soup. It completely hit the spot on this very cold and rainy day.

Dinner was a Scott specialty – homemade pasta sauce with some crusty garlic bread…

11.25 Pasta

We brought a bunch of Scott’s famous pasta sauce to my parents – enough for about 11 people to eat. Maybe this will become our Thanksgiving Eve tradition!

Tomorrow, we’ll be heading to my cousin’s house for a traditional Thanksgiving meal with a Polish twist – we’re having all of the typical things – turkey, ham, and sides, but we’re also having kielbasa (Polish sausage). We’re so Polish!

I’m keeping my fingers crossed that Starbucks is open tomorrow! We’ll see 😉

Have a great night all!

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The Five C's of Running

November 24, 2009 by

Hello Everyone! 

This morning, I did a couple miles on the old treadmill (which has NEVER had any clothes hanging on it – thank you very much!) then jumped off, threw on a running jacket, and headed outside for the remaining 2 1/2 miles. After my run, I did a few stretches and a 15-minute ab workout. I used to be a really hardcore runner, thinking that anything less than 6-7 miles was not worth my time. But after overtraining for a 1/2 marathon, I cut back quite bit and found that my body and I were much happier. This got me thinking…why have I been running for over 10 years and why do I keep running? The answers are simple  and can be explained in just five words – control, convenience, cost, calories, and challenge.

Running With Cake: The Five C’s of Running

  1. Control Factor: Running makes me feel strong and in control. If I can run for miles and miles, I feel like I can do anything.
  2. Convenience: You can do it anywhere/anytime. 
  3. Cost: For the most part, all you need are good running shoes and running clothes.
  4. Calories: Running is a HUGE calorie burning exercise – need I say more!
  5. Challenge: Distance running can be grueling at times, but it’s the utter satisfaction of finishing a race or achieving a personal record that makes it all worth it!

And the question is…Why do you run? If you don’t run, what is keeping you from starting?

By the way, overtraining is one of the most frequent mistakes made by runners. If you’re curious about the other common running mistakes, check out this Quiz from Women’s Health magazine which lists the top 11 running mistakes. I took the quiz, applying it to my current running style, and scored 100%. 

As for the rest of my day…Breakfast was a big bowl of Honeynut Cheerios with a handful of walnuts – gotta love that MUFA crunch!

11.24 Honeynut Cheerios

I only worked a 1/2 day today because I had a ton of errands to run before heading out tomorrow for our Thanksgiving feast! I am seriously amazed at how efficient I was between 1-5:30 PM. In just 4 1/2 hours, I managed to go to:

  • Go to Hobby Lobby
  • Do Laundry
  • Make 3 1/2 dozen chocolate chip cookies
  • Tidy up the house
  • Put away the Fall decorations
  • Go to Kohl’s
  • Go to Crate and Barrel

And somewhere in that marathon of errands, I managed to eat a bit of lunch…

11.24 Salami and Ham Sandwich

A salami, ham, and cheddar cheese sandwich – the RWC standard these days, particularly when I don’t feel like cooking.

Dinner was a tad more exciting – Italian sausage on our indoor grill. We invested in Italian sausage a few weeks back – I say invested because we bought it at Costco, where the food (and everything else)  comes in huge quantities, which causes you to invest a lot of time in eating it. To accompany the sausage, we had some very creamy Trader Joe’s shells and white cheddar cheese (aka. fancy mac & cheese) along with grilled bell peppers and onions.

11.24 Trader Joe's Macaroni and Cheese

Scott actually made the shells and cheese using the exact recipe on the box. I assured him that a standard box of mac & cheese is not difficult and that you don’t need to follow the recipe exactly. But, he’s a stickler for following recipes – most of the time 😉

11.24 Grilled Italian Sausage and Peppers

Hey, how did that Go Roma business card get in the picture?? I think it wanted its 15-minutes of fame – but don’t we all?

Thank you to all of you who voted for your favorite foodie magazine. As promised, the magazine with the most votes would become the new Running With Cake subscription. And the winner is…Cooking Light magazine! Fine Cooking also was mentioned by more than one person, but Cooking Light seem to be the food blogger favorite. I plan to subscribe in the next two weeks, so that I can avoid getting a duplicate of the December issue that I plan to purchase tomorrow 🙂

OK ladies and gents, I’m off to bed. I need to get bright and early to get in a run before we leave.

Enjoy your evening and your Wednesday!

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Who Has the Biggest Bowl?

November 23, 2009 by

Hello everyone! I am super tired right now because I stayed up until 12:30 AM to wrap Christmas presents (exchanged on Thanksgiving) and then woke up at 6 AM! Somehow before we went to bed, our alarm clock radio was turned up full blast. So when the radio alarm went off this morning I woke up to a blaring opera! I don’t think I’ve ever jumped out of bed so fast – it was pretty funny, now that I think about it. But it definitely was not amusing at the time.

I think the shock of the music may have given my body a jolt as well because I had a fantastic run this morning! Despite being a bit chilly outside at 6:30 AM (40 degrees), my body seemed to be in supercharge mode. I ran nearly 5 miles in 40 minutes and felt like I could run even more!  Typically, I do not run more than 4 miles on weekdays just because I don’t have the time.

I ended up eating my breakfast at work, which worked out just fine…

11.23 Greek Yogurt with walnuts

My Trader Joe’s Greek vanilla yogurt with walnuts kept me full until lunch. I also had a humungo cup of Tazo Awake tea love goin’ on today…

11.23 Tazo Awake Tea

My boss returned to the office today after being gone for nearly 10 days in Seoul, Korea on business. He was thoughtful enough to bring a little something back for everyone on our team (5 women). He gave me a very cute little orange purse..

11.23 Korea purse

I love the color and the soft, shiny texture. Because it is on the small and dainty side, I think I will end up using it as a jewelry carrier when I travel, rather than for a purse.

I didn’t end up eating lunch until 2 PM due to an unplanned meeting. I was sooo hungry by the time I ate my cream of chicken and wild rice soup…

11.23 Cream of Chicken with wild rice soup

It was Scott’s turn to make dinner tonight but he pulled one of my tricks and decided we should just go out to eat instead. We ended up at our favorite Asian bistro Big Bowl. We ordered our traditional crispy chicken egg rolls, which I promptly ate so fast I nearly forgot to take a picture. I was reminded by Scott only after I had already taken a bite – he he!

11.23 Big Bowl Chicken Egg Roll 

Next up, we split the make-your-own stir fry bar where we chose crispy chicken in a kung pao sauce over brown rice. We also added a bunch of fresh veggies from the stir-fry bar…

11.23 Big Bowl Stir Fry 1

Scott and I have this unspoken competition about who can fit the most veggies in the bowl. It’s all about how BIG the bowl (or the veggies in it) can get. To give him proper credit, Scott is a very good stacker and somehow manages to get twice the amount of veggies stuffed in the bowl than I think most people can. However, when he chooses the veggies, he usually choose the ones HE wants even though they are for us to share. He nearly always leaves out my favorites – mini corns, water chestnuts, and bamboo shoots. So today, I took over the “big bowl”, and grabbed all of my favorites and stuffed them in. I didn’t do too bad of a job as you can see above! Aside from my three favorites, I also added:

  • Mushrooms
  • Spinach
  • Zucchini 
  • Red and Green Peppers
  • Shredded Carrots
  • Pea Pods
  • Broccoli 

Tomorrow is my last day in the office until Monday – woo hoo! Plus, I’m thinking of only working a 1/2 day so that I can run a few more errands related to my Thanksgiving family dinner.

By the way, any of you who still want to vote for your favorite foodie magazine, you have until tomorrow at 9 PM Eastern. Right now, Cooking Light is in the lead!

Have a great night everyone!

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Squeezing Pears and Roasting Potatoes

November 22, 2009 by

Hi there!

Today was an absolutely beautiful day in Chicago! When I headed out around 10 AM for my 5-mile run, it was already 52 degrees and sunny! I hope we have many more days like this throughout the fall/winter season. 

After my run, I grabbed another LUNA bar to recharge…

11.22 Luna Bar

I do not eat LUNA bars or any granola/power bars for breakfast on a regular basis. Although they are very nutritious – full of protein and fiber – I really don’t feel like they fill me up enough at breakfast. But, like yesterday, today was another day of running a crazy amount of errands, so LUNA always comes in handy when you’re in a hurry to get out the door. 

My day was full of shopping, which let me back to Target – yet again – to get Christmas tree lights. It never fails, no matter how careful we are with our lights, we always end up buying new ones because the old ones don’t work.

I also stopped at Trader Joe’s. OMG, you would have thought they were giving turkeys away! I go to Trader Joe’s about once a week and I have NEVER seen it so busy. In fact, my regular grocery store, which I went to after TJ’s, was not 1/2 as busy as Trader Joe’s. It’s the holiday craziness starting already.

I headed back home for lunch, which ended up being another yummy sandwich…

11.22 salami sandwich

But I also enjoyed one of the fresh pears I bought at the grocery store. I must have really been on my squeezing game because I picked a perfectly ripe pear and it was so juicy and delicious…

11.22 Pears

I even picked up a few more when I went back to the grocery store today. Hmm, I’m thinking a pear crisp might be in my near future…

11.22 salami sandwich 2

After picking up a few things at Harry and David and Barnes and Noble (I really should own stock in that store!), it was time to head home to put up the tree and lights…

11.22 Santa Train 1

I even put out one of my favorite Christmas decorations, the Santa Train, as I call it. This is by far the best impulse purchases I’ve ever made – and it was at Costco! It’s a beautiful and very detail 4-part wooden train filled with old-fashioned toys – that are real toys!

11.22 Santa Train 2

11.22 Santa Train 3

That is one thing that I’ve come to learn about Costco – If you see something you really like, buy it, because it may not be there the next time you go.

Scott was working most of the day trying to finish project before Thanksgiving. So, I volunteered to make us dinner – and it wasn’t just reservations or take-out!!

11.22 Turkey burger

I whipped up some burgers on our indoor grill – turkey for me and buffalo for Scott. I also made some awesome oven roasted potatoes. These were super easy to make. Here’s how:

Easiest Oven-Roasted Potatoes

  • 4 medium red-skinned potatoes, washed and cut into cubes/chunks
  • 3 tablespoons olive oil
  • Salt/pepper to taste.

    • Mix the oil with the potatoes in a bowl and add salt and pepper. Spread potatoes on a baking sheet and bake for 20 minutes in a 400 degree oven that’s been preheated. Take out tray and flip potatoes over. Return to oven for 10 minutes. Broil for 3-5 minutes if needed – then enjoy! 

For variety, I have added rosemary, Italian seasonings, and or parmesan cheese to the potatoes prior to cooking. It just gives them a little extra flavor.

    11.22 Oven roasted potatoes  

    Now,  I must be off. I have a ton of wrapping to do before Thanksgiving – when my side of the family exchanges our Christmas presents.

    Have a great night everyone!

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How Do You Make Brussel Sprouts Taste Good?

November 20, 2009 by

Hey there! So what happens when you work 10 hour days Monday-Thursday?  You spend your Fridays running all of the errands that you would have during the week. Yes, that is exactly what I did today, I ran errands for practically the entire day.

After an awesome outdoor 4-mile run, I chomped on a hearty bowl of Honeynut Cheerios…

11.20 Cheerios

I really want to get some new dishes to jazz up my food pictures. But quite honestly, I have so much dishware that it’s hard to justify spending money to buy more. And I really don’t have much more space to put it.

Post-breakfast, it was off to:

  • Post Office – To Mail out Christy’s giveaway – yeah! I just hope the chocolate withstands the warmer Florida temps!
  • Target – LUNA bars and a birthday present
  • Grocery Store – Bread and milk

I went to my usual grocery store to pick up our favorite La Brea three-cheese bread, but realized that all they had was the pre-sliced kind. I prefer to slice my own as needed – I think it stays fresher that way. Well, one of the workers offered to bake me a fresh loaf right then and there! Woo hoo – jackpot!

But of course, since I had to wait an extra 20 minutes for the bread to bake, I spent more time at the store than I intended. As a result, I ended up buying more groceries than I had planned. Case in point – I bought brussel sprouts.

11.20 brussel sprouts

Now, I know many of you buy and cook brussel sprouts on a regular basis. Well, I have never bought or cooked brussel sprouts EVER and have only eaten them once in my entire life! However, after seeing a bunch of your posts featuring these little green cabbages, I decided to give them a try. I actually recall seeing a Tyler Florence show where he roasted brussel spouts and they looked fantastic. I’m not quite sure if that’s because Tyler made them or if it was because bacon was involved. Maybe it’s a little of both.

So, how do you make brussel sprouts taste good? If you have the answer to that question (such as in the form of a great recipe), please let me know! 

For lunch, Scott and I had minestrone soup with some of that fresh three-cheese bakery bread I mentioned before…

11.20 Minestrone

The soup was good, but the bread was outstanding! I admit that I had more than one piece 😉 On a side note – Bread is one of my vices, along with peanut M&M’s.

Later in the day, it was more errands for me, including a fruitless stop at Old Navy. Whenever I go into Old Navy, I have these high hopes of finding some great shirt or sweater – but that just never happens. Oh well, I guess it’s back to the Gap and JCrew for me.

Tonight was my turn to cook again, but you all have figured out by now that when it’s my turn to cook I make every effort to NOT cook. So tonight was sandwich night at the Running With Cake household…

11.20 Salami and Ham sandwich 1

The salami and ham sandwiches were a little fancier because of the freshly-made cheese bread. Who am I kidding – it’s still just a sandwich. But I did have a few mini bell peppers for some added vitamin C…

11.20 Salami and ham sandwich 2

And now, on to the best part of my day… dessert!

11.20 chocolate peanut butter ice cream

Scott made a run up to our local Oberweis dairy to pick up two quarts of ice cream – mint chocolate chip for him and chocolate peanut butter for me. Yum!

I have another busy day planned for tomorrow, between Christmas shopping and wrapping, so I’m going to sign off for the night. 

Every your Friday evening!

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Vote For Your Favorite Cooking/Food Magazine!

November 19, 2009 by

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!

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So, I was called into the Principal's Office….

November 16, 2009 by

**Don’t forget about the first ever Running With Cake giveaway! You may just snag yourself a huge bounty of goodies!**

It’s funny how your day can start off normal, with everything going along smoothly, then WHAM! A huge pile of bricks is dropped right on your head. Well, not actually, but that’s kind of how I felt today.

I had a perfectly lovely run this morning, bouncing along to my Christmas music and wondering what I was going to have for breakfast.

11.16 Greek Yogurt with walnuts

Ahh, Trader Joe’s Greek yogurt with walnuts – a super energizing breakfast. Followed by a steaming cup of Tazo Awake tea..

11.16 Tazo Awake Tea

Everything was still normal at this point. Little did I know, I would need this mighty breakfast to get me through a pretty stressful afternoon.

Next up, lunch – another incredibly yummy salad…

11.16 Chicken Salad

All was still well as I crunched along to a sound of my fresh veggies and chicken.

Then – the bomb was dropped right on my desk…

Stress reduction: www.flickr.com/photos/56661936@N00/1483037699

I was called into the “principal’s” office, aka our new CEO, for a little chat. That chat turned into a 45 minute conversation about changes that were soon to come in our office. My role in all of this is to help craft tactful messages about these changes so that he can then relay these changes to the staff. The pressure’s ON! Stay calm!

Focus: www.flickr.com/photos/56387066@N00/1810357551

Well, I guess it really did not go down in that dramatic of fashion, but still the messages will be very challenging to draft and convey. And, I can guarantee that some in the office are NOT going to like these messages. One change will really hit home with me – I can’t say now, but I’ll share details later.

Still, even with the challenge ahead, I am absolutely thrilled that he approached me to help him. I’m hoping that speaks quite a bit about my ability to do my job and do it well. 

After my exciting afternoon, I arrived home around 6:30 PM to a full made zesty turkey taco dinner. We started with a bit of guacamole of course…

11.16 Guacamole

11.16 Turkey tacos 2

Turkey tacos or even beef tacos are so easy to make and you don’t even need a boxed mix (sorry Mom, not everything needs to come from a box). You can just buy the taco seasoning spice, follow the directions on the bottle, add a few veggies while browning the meat, and presto – semi-instant turkey tacos!

11.16 Turkey tacos 1

Not bad for a Monday night! But wait, that’s not all…

As you all know, I’ve been on a red velvet cupcake kick for the last few weeks. So, Scott so graciously volunteered to run out to Barnes and Noble to pick up a cupcake for me.

11.16 Red velvet cupcake 2

Not only did he come back with the awesome cupcake, but he also came back with a JCrew bag – full of goodies for him though. Hmm, come to think of it, I could use a little retail therapy right now!

11.16 Red Velvet Cupcake 3

Alright my fellow bloggies, I have a big day ahead of me tomorrow, so I’m off to bed.

Peace, love, and red velvet cupcakes to all!

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