Month: January 2009

An oaty mess

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Mmmmmmmmm …

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But first, I literally jumped out of bed this morning when my alarm went off at 5. I felt so refreshed, like it was Saturday morning at 10! Maybe because I went to bed at 8 last night?

I bundled up like yesterday (plus a scarf I wrapped around my face so just my eyes could peek through) and jogged over to the gym to do Tina’s 45-Minute Treadmill Run again (minus the first 5 minutes because I counted the jog there as my warmup) and make up for missing running club last night. I finished with 10 minutes stretching/abs and jogged back home for my oats! Stats: 1 hour, 5 mins (including stretching), 4.61 miles (3.67 on treadmill; 0.94 outside), 567 calories, average heart rate 155, highest heart rate 186.

Remember how I said that pumpkin mess I made last night would have been even better with banana? Inspiration struck this morning when I realized that I only had about 1/3 cup of my banana bread crockpot oats left. I mixed the rest of the oats with the rest of the pumpkin mess and oven-ed it at 350 for 30 minutes while I got ready. With 1/2 cup yogurt, coconut, nutmeg, and peanut butter:

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Pumpkin-banana-bread-mess-oatmeal highlights:

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Of course I accompanied it with a giant mug of sugar cookie sleigh ride tea … which I’ll be drinking all day at work and probably all night tonight and all weekend and every minute for the rest of my life because it is soooo good :-).

P.S. If you love oats, too, you’ll be excited to see what HungryGirl wrote about today!

Need heat!

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When I got back to the office from my visit this afternoon, I knew there was no way the running club was going to happen tonight. Even though the snow had stopped, I was cold and tired and could think of nothing I wanted less than to wait around for 6:30 so I could run outside in the ice-fest. I’ll go to the gym tomorrow morning instead, once I’ve had time to forget how bitter it is out there. The whole subway ride home, I was alternately sleeping and running through potential dinner items in my head. I came up with steamed cabbage (so original, I know) topped with sofrito:

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LOVE cabbage. I also steamed the core whole (best part!) and snacked on it while I was working on this warm pumpkin mess that involved sauteeing cranberries and apples in a teeny bit of water until the cranberries popped:

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While mixing one cup of canned pumpkin (this past fall, I “picked” a 25-pound pumpkin at a pumpkin patch and spent the better part of a week roasting and pureeing it in eight sections … yet it did not hold a candle to Libby’s 100% pure pumpkin) with vanilla and loads of cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger. I have a very heavy hand when it comes to those three spices:

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And an egg:

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I mixed everything together and put it in a pan pancake-style on top of a little canola oil:

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My original intention was a pumpkin omelet, but I clearly used way too much pumpkin for the egg to hold it all together. It’s probably physically impossible for me to go easy on the pumpkin. Once it was cooked through, I put half on a plate and saved the other half for tomorrow. Topped with more nutmeg and a bit of yogurt:

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It would have been even more delicious with bananas mixed in, but can you believe I am already out of them??

For dessert, I thawed my last of the homemade chocolates that one of the nurses at my office made before the holiday. Can you guess what’s inside??

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Peanut butter!!!

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Lunch and a tribute to the last muffin

Lunch was definitely the same as it’s been all week (yay for Sunday preparation!):

pork & beans, sofrito rice, yogurt/fruit, muffin, carrots, orange

pork & beans, sofrito rice, yogurt/fruit, muffin, carrots, orange

Do you see that muffin way at the top of the tower?? That is the last kitchen sink muffin from the batch my mom made while I was home. I will miss them. Thanks, Mom! I took two extra pictures of the historic last muffin as a sign of respect:

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And an important reminder: You can still enter the Snacktrition nuts giveaway contest at N Her Shoes until midnight Friday. Free nuts are waiting!

Climate confusion

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After yesterday’s frigid gym run, I wised up this morning and pulled heavy sweatpants over my capris, added an extra long-sleeved shirt, and donned the silly Peru hat and gloves:

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(That is Peru in the background — not Brooklyn. Although I did almost feel like I was hiking another glacier this morning while running home in the snow.)

I’ve been resisting the extra layers because I just take them off as soon as I get to the gym, and they add time (every second counts this early) and weight (I can’t stand running with anything extra attached to me). But I was so glad I bit the bullet because I felt cozy and snuggly running there and the snow had started by the time I came back — I probably would have been crying if I hadn’t had on full pants. While there, I swapped out my arms routine (since I did it yesterday) with legs/back/chest on the cybex. HRM said 1 hr and 16 mins, 476 calories, and 128 average heart rate/171 highest heart rate.

I made a tropical bowl of oats this morning … covered with coconut snow. Half cup banana bread crockpot oats, half cup yogurt, pineapple (from the nutrition talk two nights ago!) and strawberries, sprinkle of nutmeg, and blizzard of coconut:

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I had my peanut butter on the side because I didn’t want it to muddy the winter storm effect. Can you see it in the background?

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Overview of tropical snowstorm oats:

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Many hours (and a 45-minute subway nap) later, it’s still snowing! Hopefully it calms down by the time I have to go outside again …

Visions of sugar cookies …

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I have to say again how incredibly cold it was today, and it’s only going to get worse! My internship involves going on lots of home visits, something I love except for the part about having to go outside multiple times each day. Cold like this completely saps all of my energy, and no energy + sitting next to office candy bowl = bad combination! The first thing I did when I got home was make a giant mug (or five) of this:

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I am so excited about this. Are you excited?? Sugar Cookie Sleigh Ride tea is probably the most delicious kind of tea ever made. Just look at these ingredients:

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I have no idea what “natural sugar cookie flavor” is, but it works very well. Drinking this tea right now is even more exciting because, if you did not notice, it is a “Holiday Tea,” meaning it is only available around Christmas. We are well past Christmas, and I have not been able to find it anywhere since mid-December. But my friend Kate stumbled upon a goldmine of Celestial Seasonings Holiday Tea at a health food store here in Brooklyn, and she got me four boxes! I’m planning to make a trip there myself this weekend to see if I can hunt down any more boxes. My goal is to keep sleighing right through to spring!

I addition to my sleigh ride, I made an omelet with the leftover veggies and cheese from the nutrition talk last night. Chopped zucchini, yellow pepper, red pepper, cauliflower, broccoli, tomatoes:

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Cheese getting ready to dive in with a cute little broccoli bud garnish:

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Omelet with all of the above plus sofrito sauce, coarse sea salt, freshly ground black pepper:

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Bursting with veggies:

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And crispy on top:

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And for dessert, of course, another vitamuffin! Fudgy Peanut Butter Chip VitaTop with peanut butter (and the sleigh ride!):

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Lunch

My lunch was a repeat with a few minor adjustments as a result of my produce luck last night. I had BBQ pork and beans, sofrito rice blend, yogurt (with banana, apple, and strawberries), grapes (from last night!), and some carrots and zucchini (from last night!):

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Breakfast

I was so confused this morning when my alarm went off at 5, and I could tell it was a freezing day. I was dreading going outside to the gym, but I forced myself to do it. And it was COLD. Colder than cold really. But I lived! I did the same workout as Monday, but for some reason had a slightly lower average heart rate (141 vs. 149) and calorie burn (466 vs. 539). I wonder if the cold weather slowed things down? We’ll see what happens tomorrow (how fun that I can really do that with the heart rate monitor!) I kept thinking about the steamy bowl of oats I could have when I got back.

For breakfast, I made an oatmeal starfish:

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As usual, same ingredients but different arrangement: 1/2 cup banana bread crockpot oats, half cup yogurt, sprinkles of nutmeg and sweetened shredded coconut, strawberry, spoonful peanut butter:

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Phew, that was long. Time to go rest my eyes. Night night!

P.S. Oh She Glows is having a scrumptious giveaway contest: a whole box of Honest Foods bars!! Go enter now!

Produce to the rescue (as usual)

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As planned, I went to an NYU Alumni talk about women’s health last night. The woman who led the talk, Professor Lisa Sasson, has been quoted as a nutrition expert several times in various wellness magazines (like Self) and other publications. The information she gave was nothing new (I suppose the truth about health — that a healthy lifestyle involves balanced nutrition and regular exercise — never changes). Some interesting points/useful reminders from the talk:

– The diseases of this century — heart disease, diabetes, etc. — are diseases that stem from lifestyle (i.e. inactivity, more processed food, less fresh food).

– Sleep is not a luxury; sleep is a necessity.

– Exercising now is like putting money in the bank since we lose muscle mass and bone mass as we age: “You want to have as much money as possible in the bank so that when you retire, you still have enough.”

– Fruits and vegetables are full of chemical compounds that protect them in nature, and they protect us when we eat them as well. Different colors signify different varieties of these phyto-chemicals, so you should eat a rainbow!

– Up until our 3rd decade, we’re still storing bone that will serve us as we age, so now is the time to load up on bone-strengthening foods (in their natural forms as much as possible).

– Where your excess weight is located is more important than how much you have. The lower you carry your weight (hips — for most women — and below), the less at risk you are for disease

– We should all celebrate and love food. It’s important to keep portions reasonable, but you should never completely cut out the things you love to eat.

Very appropriately, the event was stocked with lots of fruits and veggies. I had cauliflower, broccoli, red and yellow peppers, carrots, grape tomatoes:

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Strawberries, pineapple, cantaloupe, grapes:

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Cheese:

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There was a ton of food left at the end, so I filled a second plate that I transferred into my empty lunch tupperwares to bring home for later use. I tried to do it smoothly, but all the lids kept falling out of my lap. So much for stealth. There was still quite a bit left after that, so I checked with one of the ladies running the event to make sure it wasn’t going into the trash (because it often does!). She assured me that they had ziplock baggies hidden under the table and would be enjoying the leftovers for snacks today. Phew! Here’s what I brought home:

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There were also lots of cookies and crackers at the talk, but I wasn’t really interested somehow! Maybe because I had already snacked on this Cadbury finger before leaving work:

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And was dreaming about having this Dark Chocolate Pomegranate VitaTop with peanut butter when I got home:

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Another busy busy busy day today! And freeeeeeeeezing cold. This clever guy at the gym this morning said to me, “Your nose matches your hair today.” Awesome.

I’ll be back eventually to report on how last night’s free food is getting me through the day today!