Monday, June 27, 2011

5 minute chocolate cake

A few days ago I posted a (hopefully) enticing picture of a microwaveable dark chocolate cake. My inspiration for this came from Spoonful of Sugar Free's chocolate cake for one. I changed up the recipe a bit using :

-2 egg whites
-1/4 c. unsweetened applesauce
-dash of salt
-cinnamon
-vanilla extract
-baking powder
-handful of chocolate chips
-splash of almond milk (or any kind of milk) if necessary

Since I don't have access to an oven where I'm living right now I mixed up all the drye ingredients, then stirred in the egg whites and applesauce and microwaved it all for 2 minutes. I thought it turned out delicious! I made it twice and the second time topped it with some greek yogurt. It's a little bitter as she mentions, but depending on what kind of chocolate chips you use and if you feel like adding sweetener, you can sweeten it to your liking and enjoy!


By the way, check out PB and Jenny's giveaway
Also check out Gourmet Runner's giveaway

Dispatch

Hello everyone!! I was in Boston, MA this weekend! to see Dispatch!
For my 21st birthday, my lovely boyfriend bought me tickets to see Dispatch at TD Garden in Boston!
 We had an awesome time as I'm sure you can see from our awesome faces

More to come later!

P.S. My training log has been updated

Thursday, June 23, 2011

Words to come!!

Here is a preview of what I've been up to. Meanwhile, check at Hungry Runner Girl's giveaway!









Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Hiatus

Sorry for the three day hiatus. I went home again this weekend and even though I go home to relax I find that my weekends end up being crazy busy! I also tend to forget to bring my camera therefore I don't have any pictures.. I will try to work on this!

I did manage to take a few from breakfast and dinner yesterday:
I made these over night oats with a new ingredient:
Myoplex Original
I used 1/3 cup of this, 1/3 cup of oats, 1/2 tbs. chia seeds, and 1/3 cup of Fage greek yogurt- they came out VERY thick but I thought they tasted awesome! Recently I received a case of these drinks in the mail- I must have signed up for some promotion? Because I don't recall ever ordering them and the billing slip that came in the box said charge: $0.00. I didn't question it- I've just been using them :) They taste alright, alone they do have a bit of  protein bar taste- my dad described it as "metallic-y"- however they have awesome nutrition stats and are a great post workout recovery drink. I also think they would make a tasty smoothie with a frozen banana or other fruit and some nut butter.

Serving Size: 17 fl oz (500 mL)
Amount Per Serving% DV*% RDI
Nutrient Data
Energy, Cal: 300
Energy from Fat, Cal: 60
Fat, g: 711 
   Saturated Fat, g: 1
   Trans Fat, g: 0
Cholesterol, mg: 25
Sodium, mg: 28012 
Potassium, mg: 87025 
Carbohydrate, g: 19
   Dietary Fiber, g: 624 
   Sugars, g: 2
Protein, g: 4284 



 For lunch I made a delicious sandwich of Wegmans organic turkey, roast beef, lettuce tomato, mustard, and hot sauce on rye bread. I ate this along with some baby carrots and fresh picked strawberries (!) which I unfortunately forgot to photograph.


Dinner was made on my George Foreman. I've been seeing a lot of "pizzas on the grill" so I decided I would make due with what I had and attempt it. I used a flatout wrap, tomato sauce, muenster cheese, and frozen microwaved broccoli. First I put the flatout on the grill and and "pressed it" for a few minutes until it started to crisp up and I saw those awesome lines the grill makes on it. Meanwhile, I heated up some tomato sauce, and the vegetables. I spread the sauce on, tore up and put the cheese on, the placed the warm vegetables on top. I kept the grill open in order to avoid making a massive mess. It worked out perfectly- the cheese melted nicely, the vegetables were cooked, and the flatout got nice and crispy. I will definitely be doing this again.

Well, I will be posting later today. hope you all had a great weekend and got through Monday alright!

What are some things you've made on a george foreman type grill?


Do you like protein shakes/ is there a certain brand you tend to buy?

Thursday, June 16, 2011

Thirsty Thursday

I started off this morning with another great run! We did a hilly 6.07 mile run in 45:22 (7:29 pace). It felt great and again, good conversation was had by all (my assistant coach, the local high school track coach, and a Penn state girl home for the summer). Same routine as yesterday- shower at the fieldhouse, scarf down breakfast, go in to work. Today's batch of overnight oats included 1/2 c. almond milk, 1/3 c. oatmeal, 1/2 tbs. chia seeds, cinnamon, and a pinch of salt. 



It was a rainy day here in Lewisburg, PA, so a nice hot grilled cheese sounded great. I made this with Heidleberg Oat Bran and muenster cheese. It was ooey, gooey, and delicious! I had it along with a pathetic looking salad, some carrot sticks, and an unpictured pear and warmed up mug of almond milk.
eaten with some dijon mustard and hot sauce for dipping

The professor I do research for is on her final stretches of submitting a paper to publish. Since she was working from home today I had a little more leeway in terms of the hours I worked. I went in from 9-12, went back to my room for a delicious lunch (pictured above) then relaxed a little and watched the first episode of Food Network Star on Hulu

I watched it while laying down in bed and actually dozed off for a few minutes. When I "came to" I got up, drove to the storage unit to pay my monthly rent, dropped of my most recent netflix dvd (Couples Retreat), then made it back in to work around 2:30. I stayed until around 5:30 then decided that today would be a great day to drive to our local mall to utilize a soon-to-expire American Eagle coupon for $10 off of a $40 purchase along with a giftcard I got awhile ago for my birthday. After trying on numerous outfits, I decided on:
a pair of pants
and a dress


Overall it was a relaxing, and productive day. I'm excited over the fact that it's almost Friday! I'm going home again this weekend to celebrate father's day. I still have to decide what I'm going to get for him... Any ideas?

Just realized that my post has NOTHING at all to do with the title, I originally typed it as I was chugging from my Nalgene. Usually I fill this up at two or three times a day but I just realized that today I only filled it up once maybe? Well.. off to pack my bag for tomorrow!


What are you doing this weekend?
What's you're favorite way to pass a rainy day?

By the way, check out gliding calm's giveaway!
Also check out say yes to salad's giveaway!

Wednesday, June 15, 2011

I love Muenster cheese!

I got to sleep in this morning until 8:15! C. Rob had a running date with the boys cross country team tonight at six so I made the decision to run this afternoon by myself. That means I had time to make myself a bowl of hot chocolate oats with some oiko's greek yogurt. I like to scoop out a serving of yogurt into it's own bowl then take a scoop of each. That's how I eat the whole bowl- scoop of yogurt, scoop of oatmeal. In this bowl was 1/2 c. unsweetened almond milk, 1/3 c. oats,  1/2 tbs. chia seeds, and 1 tbs. cocoa powder.



For lunch the same sandwich I had a few days ago but this time with muenster cheese. I LOVE muenser cheese! It's so creamy and mild, and the full fat kind definitely has a much better flavor and melting capability than low fat cheese. Alongside my sandwich I had roasted carrots made on my george foreman. I like the way they start to caramelize. I usually grill them until they get a little juicy but are still crunchy.




For dinner I utilized my muenster cheese again in a grilled cheese sandwich and melted on some frozen microwaved broccoli and cauliflower. I also made Perdue chicken tenderloins sprinkled with some Cajun Foreplay. This spice is awesome. I use it on burgers, fish, chicken, and rice and beans. 




For dessert I had a fresh peach and two pieces of endangered species dark chocolate. This chocolate is awesome. When I was younger I used to pick a bar based on the animal, but now I'm more into the type of chocolate- 88% is awesome. 



I have to go back to the lab for a little bit then I think I'll enjoy some Gilmore Girls before going to bed :-) Hope you all have a good night!

What's your favorite kind of cheese?
Do you like running by yourself or with other people?

Tuesday, June 14, 2011

Garmin and strands stats

Figured it might be cool to post my weekly strands log as well as Saturday Garmin stats! I ran Saturday from my house, the first mile is all down hill, then it's a LONG uphill back to my house.



 
What type of running gear do you use?
I use a Garmin and just purchased a pair of compression socks which I love and will review later!
Do you use any online training programs?
I use strands which I like- it keeps a daily log of your training as well as a weekly, monthly, yearly, etc. log. It's easy to use and has a nice layout which makes it convenient to look back at old workouts. 

Tempo Tuesday

So today I did my first cross country workout of the summer! On the schedule was a 2-mile tempo run at 6:10-6:40 pace. I woke up bright and early at 6:15 and biked over to the field house with my breakfast and bagged for work. I met my assistant coach at 6:45 and after a quick dynamic warmup we were off to do a 15 minute/ 2 mile warm up. We ran to a neighborhood deemed the Kenya loop because tempo training is the foundation of Kenyan running. I did a couple of strides, then the workout began. We ran the first mile in 6:12 minutes and it felt great. The next 800 meters I really focused on staying loose and relaxing my shoulders. The last 800 meters of the loop are all uphill so I had to really work on maintaining my pace and staying relaxed. I finished the two miles in 12:29 (6:14 pace). Overall this was an awesome workout! I finished feeling accomplished, and like I had put in a great effort but with enough energy left at the end to perhaps do another one? That's for later on in the season though.

After our two mile cool down, we did about 8 minutes of ab exercises, push ups, and some leg strengthening exercises. I jumped into the showers at the field house and got dressed quickly since my stomach was grumbling. I don't have any pictures, but for breakfast I packed overnight oats made with 1/3 c. oatmeal, 1/2 cup almond milk, 1/3 c. plain greek yogurt, cinnamon, a pinch of salt, and 1/2 tbs. chia seeds eaten alongside a nie ripe pear. Then it was off to start my day. Sorry for the lack of pictures, I'll try harder tomorrow not to scarf down my food so you have more to look at than crumbs and/or dirty napkins. Here's a picture from a few days ago- a flatout wrap with laughing cow, string cheese, and peas- delicious!
Hope you all had  terrific Tuesday! We're almost halfway done with the week!

Whats your favorite type of workout (running or not)?
Do you like working out in the morning?
Also if anyones interested in a post on ab and leg exercises for runners let me know!

Giveaway

Check out Bites and Bliss' givewaway!

My story: Part 3

So, I'm hoping this will be the last of the "My Story" series- since I'm sure you guys have read enough! This is actually the first time I've sat down to think and write about my past- it's kind of therapeutic even if it's way too much to read.

I left off last time as a senior in high school. Things weren't going very well and on top of it all my parents had given me more freedom so my eating disorder was running wild. During all of high school I would have weekly or monthly (depending on how I was doing) weight checks. Around the winter of my senior year I lost a lot of weight and began hiding weights under my gown so that my doctor would think that I weighed more than I did. I actually don't even remember how my secret was revealed, but once my true weight was known, my doctors and parents were shocked. My doctor told me that I needed to be hospitalized and began making phone calls that night. I remember bawling, and being terrified of my parents. I think though that in some ways I was relieved- I was in such a bad mental state that I think I just wanted to be taken care of. I wanted to be fed, I wanted the eating disorder to be gone- I just couldn't do it on my own.

A week later I was admitted into Strong hospital in Rochester, NY. This experience was definitely eye opening. I was put on a normal adolescent ward and surrounded by "normal patients"- a girl with kidney failure, another with cancer, and a guy who had skied off of a cliff and had to be strapped into a full body splint that rotated so that he didn't get bed sores.  I was here because I was scared to eat? The patients I was surrounded with were fighting death with all their strength yet I had put myself into this state by not eating and lying to my parents. In some ways I felt guilty, like I shouldn't be there. However, the nurse that ate my meals with me reminded me that this was a disease, I was fighting for my life just like the other patients on this ward and food was my medicine.

The first three days of being in the hospital I was on an all liquid diet- I had two Ensure for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks (but got the exciting choice of chocolate, strawberry, or vanilla- or even a combination of any or all three). Eventually I met with a nutritionist who walked through the hospital menu and helped me choose appropriate meal and snack choices. I would choose my meals for the week with her guidance. This was a challenge for me because the meals I had to choose from were foods I was terrified of- peanut butter, lasagna, chicken parmesan, meatloaf, ice cream, cinnamon rolls, etc. However, this taught me that I could eat these things and live to see the sun rise. In addition, my metabolism was so happy to be fed that I actually lost weight once I started eating meals and therefore and to increase my food intake.

My hospital stay lasted seventeen days. During this time I met two other girls suffering eating disorders and together we struggled to eat our meals, sit through therapy, and make efforts at getting rid of our eating disorders and gaining back our normal lives. It was definitely strange sleeping in a hospital bed for that amount of time. I was woken up every morning at 5:30 am when the nurses did their rounds to be weighed and have blood draw. While the transition back home was difficult, I definitely adjusted quickly to my own bed. My parents and I made the decision that I would gain the rest of the weight I needed at home as opposed to going to another outpatient or part time treatment center. I was committed to gaining the weight this time with the stipulation that if I did I would be able to go to college in the fall.

As you may have concluded I was able to go to college in the fall. I worked hard to stay accountable and gain the necessary weight back. It was hard, mentally and physically, but I was determined. I hope that this story has not triggered anyone. I just want everyone to be aware of the dire consequences of eating disorders and the ways they ruin lives. I also want you to understand what I've been through in order to better understand my current daily struggles. I would love to hear people's responses and am glad to answer any and all questions!

Saturday, June 11, 2011

Wine tasting

It started storming today around two as my parents and I were on our way to go to some garden with peacocks!


This put a little kink in our plans so we decided that it was the perfect day to go to my first wine tasting! We figured it would be best to have some food in our stomachs first so we went to Panera to get a late lunch. The Panera strawberry poppyseed salad is back for the summer! This is one of my favorite salads so of course it's what I got along with a bag of Panera's delicious chips.


We also stopped by one of my favorite shoe stores in Collegetown. They have a great selection of Birkenstocks, Frye boots, and sandals. I was in need of some flip flops so I bought a pair of plain black Reefs. 


I had my eyes on a pair of Frye boots, but unfortunately they didn't have my size (and they cost about $300). Maybe some day when I'm not a poor college student. 



After these two stops we went to Sheldrake Point Winery. Since I turned twenty-one in May this was the first time I had ever done a wine tasting. When I was younger I used to love eating the wine crackers they give you for between tastings. 



Today however, I had a flight of three red and three white wines. My favorite was the Pinot Gris. My parents even bought me a bottle to take back to school. I'm not a huge fan of red wines but I did enjoy the Lucky Stone red which was a lighter red wine. 

We just had a great dinner of tenderloin with Montreal steak rub, shrimp, salad, asparagus, and corn on the cob (my first of the season). It was all delicious and definitely worth the two and a half hour drive home. I'm off to watch some Mad Men with my parents then maybe have a Skinny Cow? Hope you all have a great Saturday night! By the way visit Carrie's giveaway at Moves N' Munchies!

Anyone out there?

Hello from home! This summer I was awarded a grant to stay at school and do research with one of the professors in the biology department. I actually did this last summer and I really enjoyed being at school. I met a lot of great girls and that's actually when I started running and what prompted me to join the cross country team. This summer there isn't really anyone I know so it can be a little lonely. This week was crazy in the lab and I probably worked over 40 hours which kept me busy. I also found a yoga class which I went to Tuesday and Thursday. Anyway, I decided to come home for the weekend to relax, see my parents, and get some good food. The dorm I'm living in only has a kitchen in the basement so I've been confined to using a microwave and george foreman to cook most of my meals.

I got to sleep in this morning until 9:30. When I woke up, I got dressed and went for a quick run. The weather is so much cooler here. It was nice to run out of the sun and humidity of Lewisburg, PA. When I got home my mom was just about to go do gardening work but I convinced her to do some abs, core, and leg strengthening exercises with me. Afterwards, I made breakfast. Sorry I don't have any pictures. I had a poached egg on a flatout wrap with muenster cheese and an orange. It was delicious! By the way, have any of you tried microwaving a poached egg? It's so simple and comes out perfectly.



Last night when I got home we went out to dinner at Rogue's Harber. I wanted the black angus NY spiedies but when I ordered them the waitress informed me they were all out! I had to choose on the spot what I wanted so I ended up ordering the Atlantic salmon: fresh, boneless side cut poached in white wine and served with caramelized onions and wilted greens, choice of potato. It was great, but no spiedie (or steak)! I also had a glass of Pinot Grigio, bread, and a side salad. Afterwards we went to get Purity ice cream. I ordered a small coffee cone with chocolate sprinkles. I love getting sprinkles on my cone but I wish there was a way that I could have a few with every lick! Not just a ton on the first scoop. Anyone else have this problem? 

picture from google images- similar to my meal last night
Overall, it was a great dinner and dessert. It's sometimes hard for me to have my food prepared by other people such as in a restaurant, or to order dessert. I start to feel guilty and find myself second guessing myself- "should I have ordered that? sprinkles add a lot of calories (probably not true), this ice cream is definitely full fat." I find that the only way to deal with this is to just talk against the voices. It's frustrating that I still have thoughts like this, but I'm glad I was still able to enjoy my meal and ice cream cone. 
imagine this in a cone covered with chocolate sprinkles
I'm not sure what the plans are for today. Ithaca has a great farmer's market and I usually feel the need to go to Wegman's when I'm home since the closest one to school is thirty minutes away. Hope you all have a great Saturday and if anyone's out there I would love some feedback??

How do you deal with eating out/ ordering dessert?
Whats you're favorite kind of ice cream?
Do you like sprinkles?