Layers of stress

I did go out for a breather last night to combat the homework- and heat-induced hallucinations … and ended up running 3.2 miles! This was a very exciting accomplishment, 12-minute miles and all, as the chafing of my shirt against my arms was more painful than my aggravated muscles. Stats: 38 minutes, 304 calories. I hope this improvement keeps up!

I came back and made a complicated snack to keep my mind off the final paper drama. These were some of the things I used: chocolate-peanut butter-flax egg custard, a mom-gifted apple, and the rest of Vani‘s crunch time peanut butter.

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Here’s the scoop on the chocolate-peanut butter-flax egg custard. My roommate Tara had three egg yolks left from her breakfast yesterday morning, so I whisked those over low heat with 1 cup unsweetened soy milk, 1/2 cup water, 2 tbsp ground flax, 2 chopped dates, 1 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder, and 2 tbsp PB2. Once the mix thickened, I ran the immersion blender through it for good measure and poured it into three small ramekins to go into the fridge.

For  last night’s purposes, I used half of one of the ramekins as the inspiration for this parfait:

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For the other layers, I used (1) half of the apple, shredded and mixed with the pb and (2) 1/3 cup total of yogurt mixed with part-skim ricotta and 1 tbsp pb2.

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I topped it all off with a biscotti bite for fun.

That mind-blowingly delicious parfait distracted me from school stress for about 30 blissful minutes. When the bliss wore off, I pulled out this little slice of frozen cake from my mom’s birthday 🙂

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And then I went to sleep since I knew I wasn’t going to get anything else done!

This morning at the gym, I did 20 minutes Stepmill, legs/chest on Cybex, and 15 minutes elliptical, along with stretching/abs and the jog/walks there and back (hurt again this morning, grrrrr). Stats: 1 hour and 16 minutes, 475 calories, 129 average heart rate, 172 max.

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Breakfast was ready to go straight out of the fridge because I prepared it last night, and the day is too hot for hot oats! On the stovetop, I cooked 3 tbsp oat bran and 1 tbsp ground flax with 1/4 cup soymilk and 1/2 cup water. When it was done, I mixed in 1/4 cup part-skim ricotta and lots and lots of cinnamon. I ate it cold this morning topped with 1/4 chopped cinnamon bun from the hotel buffet and more cinnamon.

Icing!

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I mixed it all up to eat:

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On the side was half of a thinly sliced apple with cinnamon and a tsp of south of the border pistachio butter:

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And white peony iced tea (with green in the background!!):

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This week is going to be full of research madness. I may never surface again. HA, I’ll probably be back tonight. But if I seem to disappear into a black hole without warning, please don’t be alarmed. I’m just hyperventilating somewhere.

Are you hyperventilating about anything today?

FYI, you can get a free sample of KFC’s new grilled chicken today!

20 thoughts on “Layers of stress”

  3. Yasmin says:
    Reply

    I wish I could be creative with my parfait like that. I am hyperventilating because my 7th graders are taking their Math state-wide assessment test tomorrow and I hope they all PASS!!!

    Like

  4. Erin says:
    Reply

    You do make some complicated snacks, they look delicious! And breakfast looks so summery.

    And YES i am hyperventilating hugely today. I present my senior thesis in approximately 3 hours!!!!!!!!! AHHHHHH. Why am I reading your blog, instead of practicing?! 🙂

    Like

  8. snackface says:
    Reply

    Oh sweet Sarah, you will make it through the stress! Even if it takes 1,287,435 complicated snacks, you will power through 🙂

    I’m so happy to see you can run again! That is glorious.

    Uhm, I’m not really hyperventilating about anything today, surprisingly. I had to pitch a feature story idea this morning, but now that that’s over, I feel great! 🙂

    Please enjoy the day as much as you can, and don’t stress too much! (Though I do it all the time, oops).

    P.s. Not sure when the header switched, or why I haven’t said anything yet, but I love it! You are beautiful teef!

    Like

  11. Diana (Soap & Chocolate) says:
    Reply

    ARGH sorry that crunch time is upon you. And by that I do not mean the PB. Totally jealous of your meal there, btw – I’ve had the same thing in mind for a while but you guys beat me to it. I have no excuse because it’s near my office! Whatevs, I guess my stress is that even though I’m not in school (yet…) I still feel like I can’t find the time to squeeze in random stuff I want/need to do, and yet I feel guilty about it because as a normal 9-5er, shouldn’t I be able to do whatever once 5pm rolls around? Such are the thoughts that swirl in my head. Hope you’ll still be able to take some time out for dinner Wednesday! Here, I will help you organize:

    PRIORITIES:
    1. Food.
    2. Everything else.

    Done. 🙂

    Like

  13. sue says:
    Reply

    ahh, sorry to hear about the stress…you are getting some good snackage out of it though 🙂 if it becomes too much, i suggest you click that kfc link and dance along!

    Like

  18. verbalriot says:
    Reply

    school school school 😦

    I have 2 more weeks to go but I SO much to do…clearly, procrastination central right now.

    LOVE your breakfast! And that custard? you’re a culinary genius

    Like

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