Why are my weekend recaps mostly about food?

 

As I put this post together, I realize that I always end up with weekend recaps mostly about food!

You may remember that Maoz is one of my favorite places for a loaded up vegetarian salad bowl. It’s been a while since I last had a Maoz salad so this bowl was extra special even though it really wasn’t big enough for me. I like the Maoz locations in the city much better since those stores are set up salad bar style which means I can load my bowl really high with no one to stop me.

Yesterday I told you about Saturday’s long run and my decision to take a bit of a break from running this week. I also need a break from greek yogurt which is funny since I just said how I brought it back into my diet and was all excited about it.

Here’s what happened…

I came home to my post-run breakfast on Saturday which I prepared before my long run. The usual cooked, cold oatmeal and berries in an almost-empty peanut butter jar only this time, with a small amount of greek yogurt mixed in which I haven’t done post-long run in like a year.

I took one bite and wanted to gag. Even the color, which occurred from the berries mixing with the greek yogurt, made me want to gag.

Isn’t that funny? I used to eat this combination all of the time after my long runs but I haven’t in so long that I just couldn’t handle it. I took one more bite before deciding I could not eat anymore of it. I made myself a new and better bowl of oatmeal, fruit, Skoop B Strong and peanut butter. Good thing I always have cooked oatmeal servings waiting in the refrigerator!

Check out my lunch on Saturday, rather, my lunch in comparison to my son’s lunch.

We headed to Bloomingdales for some shopping (more for my son than for me but whatever) and he requested we have lunch at Forty Carrots (the Bloomingdale’s restaurant).

I felt like something savory for lunch while he was the one ordering the large frozen yogurt with toppings as his meal.

Remember when I met up with Michele earlier this summer at the city Bloomies for lunch and I ordered the big frozen yogurt? Read it here if you missed it.

We went to the Mets game Saturday night.

I figured I would get the ice cream sundae in the cute little helmet but then I saw Cracker Jacks and had to have a bag.

I get really excited when the Mets hit a home run not because I want them to succeed but because I want to see the big apple pop up in centerfield.

We took our show on the road yesterday afternoon to spend time at my parents’ house. We watched the Little League World Series game and I was in charge of dinner. My son wanted salmon for dinner and my mom loves it too so I couldn’t say no.

I made my usual side dishes of roasted vegetables plus I roasted three kinds of potatoes which I recommend for the variety of texture and flavor.

I roasted regular potatoes, sweet potatoes and Japanese sweet potatoes.

The only thing I did differently this week was use olive oil instead of coconut oil since I was working with what my dad had in the pantry. He actually has a wonderful set up for cooking in terms of pots, pans, utensils and ingredients but coconut oil could not be found in the cabinet. I was not at all disappointed, in fact, I appreciated the flavor and texture difference!

Of course I didn’t get a picture of the salmon because I don’t care enough about salmon. Although, I did actually eat a small piece (anyone who knows me knows I really do not like fish) to reap the amazing health benefits associated with wild salmon. Since my son ABSOLUTELY LOVED this dinner, I think it will become a weekly occurrence which means I will share how I made the salmon in more detail next week.

On our way home, we stopped for ice cream at Marshall’s Ice Cream Bar. It just seemed like the end of summer thing to do. Once I ran out of whipped cream, chocolate sprinkles and hot fudge though, I was done. I am like that sometimes.

[bctt tweet=”why are my weekends always about food? #weekend #citifield #icecream #summer #roastedvegetables @maozvegetarian @bloomingdales” username=”cookiechrunicle”]

3 things you did over the weekend?

Which do you use more often, coconut oil or olive oil?

What’s on the workout agenda for today?

WIAW – Pre-Race Meals

 

Although I eat a fairly high in complex carbohydrate diet on a daily basis, I still make adjustments to what I eat in preparation for races.

Let’s take a look at what I ate last Friday, the day before I ran the Aspire 10k race. Even though I handle fiber extremely well and can totally run on veggies, I wanted to skip eating vegetables completely before the race because I do think that I run better (and feel lighter) without them.

Breakfast:

I had my usual pre and post run bowls of oatmeal (only pre-run bowl is pictured today) with a few cups of my new favorite coffee. The Stew Leonard’s Donut Shop Blend is so good! It’s noticeably better than the Trader Joe’s K Cups I had been drinking every morning.

My post-run bowl of oatmeal looked the same as the above only it had banana, Skoop B-Strong and egg whites mixed in 🙂

Lunch:

My initial plan for lunch was to have an open-faced sandwich on toasted cinnamon raisin Ezekiel bread with one half peanut butter and banana and the other half eggs with avocado but then I found myself out for an early lunch before picking up my number for the race.

I like to be flexible about what I eat so even though this change in lunch plans fell on a day that I was trying to eat certain foods before the race, I knew I could still eat something perfect to fill my lunch needs.

I switched my lunch mindset from the above plan to the below bowl of baked oatmeal (which is served with warmed milk – it’s so cute). Maureen’s Kitchen has THE BEST baked oatmeal there is, even better than the baked oatmeal from the Premiere Diner.

There’s a part of me that wants to figure out how to make this baked oatmeal at home and the other part of me knows there is no way I would come close to replicating it! It’s like a big bowl of mashed up muffin, total carby goodness.

Previous posts at Maureen’s Kitchen here and here.

Dinner:

All I could think about for dinner was a big plate of sweet potato wedges with avocado. I sliced and roasted a large sweet potato plus a regular potato and topped the wedges with some barbecue sauce and mashed avocado. So so good.

It’s not pretty but it’s certainly delicious. I could eat this for dinner every night and not grow tired of it.

Dessert:

We suddenly started eating Vitalicious VitaTops again. I bought a random package of the double chocolate muffin tops on sale recently and since my son has been enjoying them so much, we placed an order from the website and split it with my parents. I know I can make my own version of these muffin tops but sometimes I just don’t feel like it!

Lately I warm up a muffin top and then top it with sliced bananas, strawberries and Midnight Moo (the chocolate syrup from Trader Joe’s).

How I felt during the race:

As you know from my recap, I felt great even though it was pouring raining on me. My stomach may have felt a little lighter from the lack of vegetables although who really knows for sure. As I said, I can run just fine on fiber but I do think it’s worth it to me to skip eating vegetables in the day or days leading up to a race.

What I will do differently for the half marathon…

A half marathon is much more serious for me in terms of what I eat in advance especially for the upcoming half in May which usually involves warmer temperatures.

In addition to being carb-focused, I will probably add:

Salt. More salt will be added to my diet in the days leading up to the race, especially if it’s hot out by then!

Tomato soup. I did really well running the Runner’s World Hat Trick of races when I had tomato soup with a sandwich as dinner both nights before the races. It’s possible that my pre-race dinner will be a nice big plate of roasted potato wedges with a side of tomato soup.

Watermelon. I meant to eat watermelon last Friday but ran out of it in the house and did not have time to get to the store. Watermelon makes a huge difference in my hydration levels and how I feel overall.

Pizza. I usually have pizza two nights before the race or the night before – I think it will all depend on our weekend plans.

Lots of water. Because waiting to hydrate the day of the race is too late!

Less vegetables. By the Wednesday before the half, I will probably cut down my vegetable intake significantly and then down to none.

Bananas, Sweet Potatoes and Oatmeal. You know, just more of the usual.

Click here to check out what everyone else is eating for this What I Ate Wednesday!

[bctt tweet=”WIAW – Pre-Race Meals #wiaw #running #halfmarathontraining #fitfluential #recenteats #maureenskitchen” username=”cookiechrunicle”]

Are you good about being flexible when your meal plans change at the last-minute?

Favorite pre-race foods/meals?

Have you had Vitalicious muffin tops?

 

WIAW- Health Benefits of Cinnamon

 

 

You may have noticed that I add cinnamon quite often to my food. I don’t just do it for the flavor boost either.

 

It’s about time we talk briefly about the health benefits of cinnamon and why you should shake it on your food whenever you have the chance.

 

In addition to adding flavor, as you can see from this cute infographic that I made for us, cinnamon is a nutritional and health powerhouse.

I can vouch for some of the claims as my menstrual cycles have definitely seen a positive difference since sprinkling cinnamon into my food on a daily basis over the last few months.

Once I made a conscious effort to shake the cinnamon into my oatmeal and on my apples every day, I absolutely noticed a change at that time of the month. Without getting too graphic, my PMS dissipated and how it says anti-clotting affect on the blood? Yeah, it’s true, which also means, cramps were much less intense which is a really big deal in my world.

Add cinnamon to your:

• Oatmeal
• Cereal
• Coffee
• Tea
• Smoothies
• Yogurt
• Apples, bananas, peaches  -> any fruit!
• Pancakes
• Waffles
• French Toast
• Eggs
• Baked goods
• Sweet potatoes
• Roasted veggies especially butternut squash!
• Chili < – yes, your chili

Moving on to some other meals from Monday…

Lunch:

I was super hungry today (not that I am not super hungry every day) so after my usual second breakfast followed by an apple, I felt like a power bowl.

Sweet potatoes, brown rice, spinach, chick pea/avocado mash and a steam fresh mix of broccoli, snap peas and some asparagus.

I realized that I haven’t been eating vegetables at lunch lately and I also realized I haven’t had mashed chick peas with avocado in quite some time so it was time to bring it back.

Snack:

I was running errands in the area of Fresh Market so yes, I stopped in to see what fruit they had on sample.

I do love the cotton candy grapes but I don’t love the price so I had a bunch and left without buying them 🙂

Dinner:

I have been busy roasting up a potato storm over the last week and used up all of my Japanese sweet potatoes.

I had a few Japanese sweet potato wedges left over so Monday’s dinner included some of those plus a new batch of regular roasted sweet potato wedges.

I love combining tomato sauce with sweet potatoes. This was a version of my Italian style power bowl recipe.

Dessert:

The main reason I haven’t shared my favorite peanut butter chocolate chip dip recipe of the moment is because 1) I eat it too fast to allow it to pose for a proper picture and 2) I don’t use exact measurements but need to do so in order to offer you a recipe.

I left out the chocolate chips Monday night but when I do finally share the recipe with you (my goal is next week), you can be sure the mini chocolate chips will be included.

Don’t forget to check out what everyone else is eating today!

[bctt tweet=”Health Benefits of Cinnamon #wiaw #cinnamon #powerbowl #recenteats”]

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Are you a cinnamon fan? What do you add it to the most and do you think you notice any of the health claims?

Have you tried cotton candy grapes yet?

Favorite way to eat a potato?