Frozen Food

It is one hot day!  In the last few hours it jumped from 88 to 100!!!  YUCK- that is not even fun!  I kind of just want to lay flat spread eagle on the floor of our basement and drink 18 Gallons of water.

It was actually nice to go to work today because they keep our building pretty cool and yet at the same time I don’t have to worry about paying the bill for the air conditioning!

It is also perfect weather to eat frozen blueberries!  They are just so yummy and cool.  I will admit that I have been enjoying a bowl of frozen berries.  Antioxidants really hit the spot- or maybe it was the cold…

I have also enjoyed frozen banana’s and frozen grapes in the past to starve off (or maybe feed) the heat.  I also love frozen green peas- is that weird?  I am not sure I have ever dug into the frozen corn or frozen spinach- maybe someday.

However I did not start the day eating frozen blueberries.  I started my day with a bowl of Greek yogurt, some strawberries and a little bit of cereal sprinkled on top.  It really hit the spot on the still cool day.

 

Lunch was also amazing.  I had a hummus and cucumber (the new cucumber sandwich) on some good old fashion sour dough bread!  Cucumber and cream cheese sandwiches are totally out.  Cucumber and hummus sandwiches are totally in!

 

On the side I enjoyed an apple and cinnamon and a sweet potato.

 

Now what should I do for my workout today?  HMMM

 

Happy Hot Thursday

 

Ellie

Working for the weekend

I believe this song is actually about working to live it up on the weekend.  I, however, am working this weekend.  Friday through Monday

I started my work week out early at 5:00

Yep my work shoes have seen better days.

It was hot when I woke up so a cool breakfast totally hit the spot

That would be vanilla yogurt with strawberries and granola!  YUMMMM OHH

then it was work for the next 6 hours… but time flew by because of podcasts!

Lunch was simple and packed- little creativity when into this one

A PB and J on a english muffin, cottage cheese, a peach, and a chocolate chip cookie (and maybe two more when I got home- I know -I know- this little sleep thing zapped my will power).

SO Podcasts

I Love Podcasts.  My favorite include anything from NPR (I laugh out loud to wait wait don’t tell me) anything in the quick and dirty tips category- Nutrition Diva is really great, and I just found Librivox.

I am currently listening to Persuasion by Jane Austen from Librivox and have to say I am loving it!  Librivox offers all kinds of free classics that can be downloaded one chapter at a time.  While I may not take on Summa Theologica (which I did actually have to read part of in college), I do like the idea of passing the miles to Uncle Toms Cabin or The Jungle.  Those classics I always said I would read but can honestly tell you I never took on.

What are your favorite Podcasts?

Ellie

Father’s Day Gift for the original Hipster

I am in bloomington right now (the town I did my DPD aka dietetic education) because I had to pick up my night guard.  I confess…  I am a teeth grinder- NOT GOOD.  If I could give one piece of advice to a brand new college student it would be don’t grind your teeth.  Okay so maybe it’s out of your control.

Before I left I had a quick breakfast of cereal and fruit

While I am in the “big city” I am on a hunt for a Fathers day gift.

If you have ever met my Father you know he is about the least materealist man you could ever meet.  I once recieved a text from a good friend informing me that she had just seen my dad in orange Crocs, tall gray socks, bright orange shorts, a bright pink tea shirt, and a white cowboy he.  YEP!Just picture that for a minute.  That’s why we love him…

Once when explaining Hipsters to him he claimed he was the original hipster because he really doesn’t worry about what people think….  it made us all laugh so hard!

Please excuse how uncomfortable I look in the above picture.  

Oh and my Dad actually looks really put together in the above picture- but lets be honest my Mom dressed him 🙂

So getting my Father a gift is actually really hard.

My go to gift

A life is good t-shirt.  He wears t-shirts all the time in different levels of wear.  The ones he can wear out of the house, the ones he can wear to work, and the ones that are not allowed to be worn out of the house and really need to be made into rags.

Plus life is good t-shirts are the perfect soft cotton.

What do you good gift ideas do you have for your Father?

 

Spine Bliss

So the food I ate today was really not worth talking about…  Sorry

 

However, this video is totally worth talking about!

 

Today I decided to foam role out my legs and I came across this video about how to foam roll out your back.

When my friend Christin lived with me while she was doing her PT clinical in Champaign I informed her that she could pay the rent by fixing my back every few days.  I totally hold stress in balls in my neck, back, and at the top of my skull (on the left side to be exact).

Christin would put pressure on my spine (so weird but so wonderful).

The foam roller had a similar effect. At first it didn’t seem to be doing anything but then I heard a few pops and it felt as though my spine was popping back into place.

 

Bliss

Try it out!

 

“Healthy” Banana Bread

Banana Bread is one of my favorite things.  When I was a growing up every now and then my Mom would make Banana Bread for us as a after school snack.  I will never forget how wonderful it smelled when we walked in the door.  Mom would cut us thick slices and we would sit around the kitchen table eating banana bread and drinking cool aid (do they even make cool aid anymore?  It’s SO bad for you but SO good).

 

Now when I make banana bread I make it a little “healthier”.  It still has that  wonderful banana bread flavor but is whole wheat and the unhealthy fat is replaced by healthy fat.

Ingredients

Dry

2 cup white whole wheat

2 rounded tsp cinnamon

¾ cup sugar

¾ tsp baking soda

½ tsp salt

 

Wet

3 to 4 very black bananas

¾ cup nonfat Greek Yogurt

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

¼ cup canola oil

 

Walnuts as desired

 

Combine dry ingredients in a small bowl.  Using a fork sift through the flour to break up any clumps.

Mash bananas until they are smooth in a larger bowl.  Add the other wet ingredients to the bananas.

Slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients.  Keep mixing down to a minimum to prevent the banana bread from tunneling.

Add walnuts as desired.

Bake at 375 for an four or until a tooth pick comes clean

Pizza Party

How was your day?  Mine was actually really productive!  I cleaned out my closet, did some yoga, went through a ton of old magazines, made dinner and took the dog for a walk.

I also made a longer to do list…  Seems when I am in a productive mood I can always come up with about 15 other things that need to be done.  However, some of those things include dropping off two large bags at Good Will and one large bag at a consignment store.

OH Productivity

The day started with a bowl of cereal and some fruit salad.  The fruit salad was SO amazing and I decided to have a second bowl (well actually mug) of fruit.

Then it was closet organizing, laundry, and going through old magazines.  Sorry but my lunch looked exactly the same, as yesterday so I did not bother to take a picture…

Dinner, however, was a fun!  It started with an idea from an old Health magazine I found with a recipe for Arugula Pesto, Ricotta, and Smoked Mozzarella Pizza.  However, our little town grocery store does not have Arugula so I used kale and we did not have mozzarella so I used Farmers Cheese.  I topped the Pizza with a little salt and pepper, Parmesan, and some basil.

It was amazing!  I totally recommend you try this recipe!  My family really enjoyed it.

The salad was also worth talking about.  My parents got some peaches at the store today and I made a salad with spinach, pecans, and Parmesan.

YUMMMM

While the cleaning (aka purging) was not a blast, it was fun to find this cool new recipe to try out!  I actually found a lot of new recipes to try!  I’ll keep you posted.

Now, if only I can get my phones switched and working…

Feet Up

AHHH it feels so good to put my feet up!  I spent a lot of time on them today!

 

It all started at 5:30 when my alarm clock informed me that it was time to get up and meet a group of fellow runners to run.  I am naturally a morning person and I love the feeling of “getting a lot done” so starting the day at 6:00 with a 10 mile run is a treat.

 

In college we used to meet at 6 or 6:30 to run almost every Saturday.  I feel like that is so anti college…  However, I loved it.  I loved the runs.  I loved the company.  I just plain loved it.  Sometimes we would have breakfast after.

 

Do you enjoy early morning workouts?

 

Before the run I grabbed a banana and a double shot of black tea.

 

The ten miles literally flew buy.  The pace was little slower than my natural pace but the company was unbeatable.

 

When I got home I took a really really fast shower and headed into church.  I made a fast egg sandwich for the car

And then headed straight from church to work.

Lunch was tuna salad made with Greek yogurt, a sweet pickle, and a carrot.  I also had a red pepper and some sweet sugar snap peas.

However, the 10 mile run made it a perfect time to enjoy a little chocolate!

Have a great week

Ellie

Sweet Pea

Oh Sweet Pea Won’t you dance with me, won’t you be my girl

Just thought you would like to take a quick trip back in time to 1950 when the world was innocent.

Actually Sweet Pea is the perfect theme because it is playing a role twice in my post.

First because I have a very cool trip planned to Asheville North Carolina with my friend Christen and we are planning to stay in the Sweet Pea Hostel.  Christen will be taking her PT exam (GASP) and I will simply be checking out my new neck of the woods.

When my friends studied abroad they stayed in Hostels in Europe and LOVED it.  I, however, was unable to study abroad so I missed out on this opportunity.  To be honest, until Christen emailed me about staying in the hostel, I had no idea there were hostels in the US.

However, with a little bit of research I leaned that there are hostels in a lot of the cities in the South East I would like to visit including Charleston South Carolina, Savannah Georgia, and Charlottesville Virginia!  However, the Sweet Pea looks like it is the cutest and cleanest (from pictures).

Have you ever stayed in a hostel in the US?  Do you have any suggestions for a new be?

Food

We had no milk this morning (darn 20 year old brother- drinks milk like water) so breakfast had to be milk free (oh and we are also out of oatmeal…).  My Mom mixed up some amazing Banana Pancakes that totally beat out any option that would have required milk!

Now the second time sweet peas come into play!

They are growing up a storm in the garden and I do not mind!  While picking the sweet peas from the vine I think I ate half!  YUUUUMMM

Lunch was inspired by the sweet peas (those that I did not eat), some imitation crabmeat my Mom and I got at Sams (double YUM), and the need for some vegetables!

A salad of greens, pear, imitation crabmeat, and sweet peas with a little dressing

While we were at Sams we also got these!

I love strawberries but I love blueberries even more!

Well friends, I have a running club this afternoon!  It’s perfect weather and I am looking forward to a nice fast paced run!

Happy Trails

Ellie

Party nail

My little brothers girlfriend taught me what a party nail was over Christmas.  I have been wanting to try it out ever since.

What do you think?

I went with all brown nails and a gold party nail!  It’s fun isn’t it.  I have never actually had a official manicure (someday) but I do enjoy adding a little color myself.  I always feel really adult when I pick a neutral color like brown or town, but the gold adds a lot of fun.

I woke up early this morning, did 20 minutes of yoga, and headed down to the kitchen to find something to nosh on.  Even though it is a cool grey day,  Greek Yogurt was calling my name and I used Maple syrup to spice it up a little.  We are really low on fruit but my family always has apples.

After breakfast I read, painted my nails, wrote cards, and convinced my little brother to do something he never ever does with me.

Go for a run.

He set the pace and we set out with the dog to get 4 easy miles in.  I rounded out my workout with a full body circuit from Fitness Perks (Love her workouts!).

While I was doing my circuit I could hear my stomach talking and I knew It was time for some more fuel.  My parents had baked fish last night and their was some left in the fridge!  Who could resist that?

Baked fish and a salad for me

Well I am off to blow dry my hair and watch The Prefontaine Classic.  I love when track and field is on TV!  For me it’s the second best thing to watch on TV.  My favorite would be the Olympics…

I’ll be back with an update from the wedding

Ellie

Downton Abbey

Have you seen Downton Abbey?  I am IN love with the show.

The house, the costumes, and the characters.  I am just about to finish the second season and it is amazing.  It’s such a soap opera.  So many love stories… so much struggle.  I won’t say a lot, maybe you will decide to watch it.  But I tell you drama drama drama.

If Matthew and Mary do not get together soon, I swear I will scream.  Matthew makes me swoon!  If only he was real…

Any way check out the show, it is really very good.  If only season three was closer to coming out!

Food

Todays eats were really wonderful!  I love not having to pack my lunches!

For breakfast I had Overnight Oats I mixed up last night

1/3 cup oats, 1/3 cup milk, 1/3 cup greek yogurt, and a half of a frozen banana that I reheated in the microwave (becomes banana soup)

With a little honey on top!  It came out kind of like a really soft cookie batter.  YUM

I did blog work this afternoon and decided to get an extra serving of fruit with my coffee

I worked until about 1 and then headed home.  It was cold today and a warm lunch was much needed.  So I used some of the beautiful eggs to make a frittata

sweet potato, mushrooms, spinach, 1 egg, 3 egg whites, and a little cheese with a side of cantaloupe- twas joy in my mouth

and dessert of course

Fitness

It rained like mad today I took advantage of our treadmill (and Downton Abbey)…  I also did some POP Pilates which I had never done before!  I felt long and lean after my workout!

 

Well have a great Friday friends

Ellie