City Food + Pizza Tour Stop + Roasted Vegetables

Let’s back up a bit, back to late last week when I was in the city.

Indoor dining in the city has been closed (but is set to reopen this Friday).

While downtown in lower Manhattan, we stopped at Little Italy pizza for some pizza to eat outside. It’s a bit strange to eat pizza outside at a table in February, two days after a big snowstorm no less, but hey, it’s a sign of the time.

Remember my New York City pizza tour I started last year around this time? Even though Little Italy Pizza was not on our list, I’m counting this pizza stop and this grandma slice as part of our pizza tour. It’s been hard (to say the least) to continue our pizza tour mission but hopefully, by summer, we are back in action.

I was also in the city on Friday. All I wanted was a bagel with vegetable cream cheese.

I can’t begin to tell you how this lightly toasted bagel hit the craving spot.

We stopped at Pick A Bagel. Pick a Bagel is the same bagel store I used to stop at with my dad when I was a kid and back then, I ALWAYS picked a black and white cookie on our way home from the city.

I don’t think you can find a more perfect looking black and white cookie if you tried!

This time around, I wanted one rugelach. Just one. I felt like a kid when I asked for just one rugelach and the lady gave it to me for free.

It’s so rare for me to order a slice of salad pizza but sometimes it happens. This salad pizza from Monte was really good!

If you think I live on pizza, it’s more like I live on tea this winter.

I start with Raspberry Leaf Tea in the morning. Then I choose between Trader Joe’s Organic Ginger Turmeric Tea or Organic Peppermint Tea during the day. I’m someone who can be sensitive to tea (I can’t drink caffeinated tea and even caffeine-free tea can make me dizzy) but thankfully, all three of these tea varieties are fine for me to drink. Remember my birthday tea at The Plaza? Such a good time. 🙂

Look who got back to her roots and roasted a full pan of vegetables!

Here’s how this happened. I went to Trader Joe’s on Saturday. Between the Super Bowl and snowstorm on way, the shelves were pretty empty. I grabbed what I could kind including a package of organic peppers (red, orange, yellow) and cauliflower, and had to buy organic tomatoes at Target.

On Sunday, when it was snowing (once again!), I decided to roast the vegetables in the oven with a diced sweet potato too. I figured this pan of roasted vegetables would last a few days and would be great for adding to salads.

I also made quinoa and lentils. I’ve been living on chickpeas for too many weeks in a row as my protein source so it’s nice to mix things up with quinoa and lentils instead. I really don’t make quinoa and lentils enough, to be honest. It’s such a quick combo to cook together with great texture and excellent nutritional benefits.

And oh, I just came across this post from a few years ago about the only diet-related article you ever need to read. Check it out. It still holds so true.

Cake For Lunch Expert & What I Call Big News (TOL)

 

Another week, another round of people asking google if it’s okay to eat cake for lunch and the google keyword search brings them to me.

I’m the cake for lunch expert I guess.

If cake is what you randomly want for lunch today, go ahead.

Honor the craving. You have my permission.

If cake for lunch will make you feel better emotionally today when you normally eat a salad, don’t feel guilty.

Indulge. It’s worth it for your happiness. Salad today is not going to make anything better if cake is what you really want.

I know these things. Cake for lunch has saved me many times. Just make sure it’s chocolate cake. Don’t ruin the moment with something other than chocolate cake. That would be silly.

Anyway.

I’ve got big news. Well, the kind of big news that I consider big news which really isn’t big news to anyone probably but me.

Last Thursday I told you that I wore real pants. Today I will tell you that I have been finding myself wearing my skinny jeans equally as often I have been wearing leggings.

And, my skinny jeans must really be comfortable because I caught myself sitting all comfy on the couch while sipping my favorite cinnamon vanilla Yogi tea.

Is there anything more wonderful than finding pants that have a real waist and button that are comfortable?!

My other piece of big news is that The Barclays Center seems to be kicking my Islanders out after next season.

If you ask me, it went like this:

The Barclays Center heard the Islanders wanted to leave so they did the whole, I will dump you before you dump me thing.

I am thrilled. You know I cannot stand going to Brooklyn to watch my team play hockey. Now the question is, where will the Islanders call home?

#TBT to that time I was Newsday famous with my featured article about the Islanders leaving me for Brooklyn. Look how little my son was in the picture!

 

 

On This Day:

2/2/16: Finding Balance Between Our Diets & Workouts < – Laura and I wrote such a great series last year about finding balance between our diets & workouts! Definitely check it out if you missed it.

2/2/15: A Peak in the Life of a Treadmill Long Run < – So far this winter, I have only needed to run one long run on the treadmill and I would like to keep it that way.

[bctt tweet=”cake for lunch expert & big news #thinkingoutloud #cake #lunch #isles #islanders #yogitea #onthisday” username=”cookiechrunicle”]

Be sure to check out what everyone else is thinking about today!

What’s your big news for today?

Did you ever dump someone before they had the chance to dump you?

If you were going to have cake for lunch today, what kind of cake would it be?

 

 

WIAW: PB2, Favorite Salad, Hershey’s Kisses

 

It’s February, it’s February!! If only today were Saturday too, right?

Since it’s only Wednesday, let’s take a look at what I ate on Monday…

Breakfast:

I’m still eating oatmeal before and after I run.

Here’s an early morning picture of my pre-run oatmeal, mixed with banana and cinnamon plus a side of coffee.

The post-run bowl looks fairly similar only it includes frozen blueberries, peanut butter and a little bit of Skoop B-Strong.

I’ve been adding PB2 to my oatmeal lately by the way. I go through phases with PB2. Sometimes I can’t stand it and then sometimes, like right now, I really like it in my oatmeal.

It’s a little lighter in my stomach and the texture combination works really well when mixed into the oatmeal. I mix the PB2 with water first and then stir it into the oatmeal. I still eat regular peanut butter but in my oatmeal but it really depends on my mood each morning.

Lunch:

As you may already know, my friend Dina and I like to work together on Monday’s so she came over to my house in the morning.

We drank a lot of tea while working. I am happy to report that I was able to score a few boxes of my favorite Cinnamon Vanilla Yogi Tea again!

I made us a nice, big salad for lunch. When I have someone else to feed, I tend to make a nicer meal.

In the salad:

chopped romaine

roasted sweet potatoes

roasted grape tomatoes

avocado

chick peas

balsamic vinegar

This is my favorite salad combination lately. The salad doesn’t involve a lot of ingredients, doesn’t take much time to prepare, and has plant-based protein, fat, complex carbs and flavor!

Dinner:

I am trying to get back to my easy dinner of roasted pepper and tomato soup plus side of roasted potato wedges with melted mozzarella cheese. When I say I am trying, I mean that this dinner combo of mine which had become a favorite sort of fell off of my list after my last stomach virus.

It’s not that I don’t love the crispy roasted potato wedges, it’s just the combo I think. Or maybe the soup which is why it’s not pictured.

I don’t know, you know I get nutty after those stomach viruses but I am trying really hard to eat as normal for me as possible. If you missed my post on how disordered eating can start, check it out here!

Dessert:

Still not normal for me is the fact that I don’t care if I ever have another apple ever again! It’s easily been well over a month since I last had an apple. Wow, right?

I am busy eating Hershey’s Kisses instead.

Be sure to check out what everyone else is eating today!

[bctt tweet=”What I Ate Wednesday! #WIAW #oatmeal #PB2 #salad #Hersheys #recenteats” username=”cookiechrunicle”]

Which peanut butter are you loving lately? Do you like PB2?

Have you changed your pre-run or post-run meal recently?

What’s for breakfast today?

 

 

Totally Just Thinking Out Loud

 

I felt terrible that Amanda, (our Thinking Out Loud host) had to deal with major website issues this week. I tried my best to help her through the disaster (when your site is going nutty it is truly a disaster) but I am borderline useless around computers. At least I think I am, sometimes I do shock myself when I hear words like migration, widgets and VPS coming from my mouth.

I don’t totally understand what I am saying but really, does anyone? Including the tech people, do they even know? Based on Amanda’s experiences this week, it doesn’t sound as though they do.

I have two cans of Trader Joe’s organic pumpkin sitting behind the peanut butter in my pantry. Was I saving them for something that I forgot to make?

I purposely bought my new Thorlo socks in pink not only because I like the color but because the bright pink helps the socks to stick out in the pile of laundry sitting in the dryer. I am the worst at removing the clothes from the dryer. I prefer picking what I need out of the dryer on an as needed basis, leaving the rest in the machine for another time.

The dark, dreary and snowy days of winter often leave me craving a good hockey game. I sometimes find myself with the feeling of wanting to go to an Islanders game at the Coliseum, walking through the parking lot really quickly because it’s freezing outside, seeing my former college to the left, the start line of the Long Island Half Marathon up ahead and then sitting in the familiar seats with the smell of the pretzels mixed with popcorn mixed with beer. But I can no longer have this experience since my team left me and moved to Brooklyn. It’s not the same going to Brooklyn. It’s just not. Makes me sad.

#TBT to when I was Newsday famous with my top story trending Islanders article last spring. That’s my not-so-little-anymore boy in the picture with Sparky! Click the image if you missed my article and care to read my thoughts on the Islanders move to Brooklyn.

I am considering a midday run one of these days. Otherwise, I will never run outside again. Well, at least not in the near future. While I did get outside yesterday morning for a 5 mile run, it’s going to be so bitter cold now that the temps combined with the ice on the ground is not going to work early in the day at all.

Can I do a midday run? Midday as in 10:00 am or 11:00 am? I really don’t know. I like running early and getting it out-of-the-way. I feel my best running in the early morning and I never know what my day will bring, if I will even have the time to spare. But I may give it a try. Just once.

It’s been six months now since I had greek yogurt. Pretty sure that going this long without tasting plain greek yogurt means that should I ever decide to go back to eating it, I will need an adjustment period back to the taste and texture.

I just don’t like tea. I can’t drink caffeinated tea at all, especially green tea, because it makes me dizzy. And decaf tea? It’s not my cup of tea (ha, I am so funny. Well, I think so anyway). Coffee is more my cup of tea. While I do slightly enjoy Yogi’s Kava Stress Relief tea variety, I really prefer coffee as my hot beverage of choice.

We are still listening to my old CD’s in the car like I told you last week! This week my son has picked my Billy Joel Greatist Hits Volume III.

It warms my heart that his favorite song is We Didn’t Start The Fire.

Tell me if you think these are the reasons why he likes this song so much:

When I was pregnant with him, I used to play We Didn’t Start The Fire in my car (from this actual CD!) everyday under the assumption that he could hear it and it would make my baby smart since it’s all about history. He actually LOVES history since he is a little boy. And is quite smart too 🙂

When he was a newborn and cried all night long (literally – all night), I would sing this song as I paced the house with him in order to stay awake and sort of focused. The words were engaging to me. Maybe he remembers the tune? Is it possible he heard me through his screams?

It’s almost Friday, I am ready. Long weekend ahead!

[bctt tweet=”Totally thinking out loud today #thinkingoutloud #billyjoel #running #isles @ny_islanders @runwithspoons”]

Be sure to check out what everyone else is thinking today.

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Does your laundry sit too long in the dryer?

Is it getting bitter cold where you live right now? What temperature is your cut off for running outside?

What’s for lunch today?

TOL- One Of Those Weeks

 

 

Between my major computer issues, school ending and camp not starting until Monday plus my period arriving with a real attitude five days early (you so needed to know that) all combined with trying to keep up with the blog and work stuff, it’s a wonder I have made it to Thursday in one piece.

The good news is that I had Maoz for lunch two days in a row.

Instead of hummus as my additional salad item, I went with avocado because sometimes the hummus, as much as I love it, repeats on me and leaves a taste in my mouth which I really didn’t need this week.

You know I am off-kilter when my son is able to convince me that having ice cream for dinner is a really good idea.

I haven’t felt like ice cream but I did have Red Mango for lunch yesterday and yes, I have been eating lunch out every single day which is completely not like me but whatever, this week is just one of those weeks.

Carlo’s Bakery is next to the Red Mango so we popped in for an after lunch treat.

I must have raised my son right because he treated me to a chocolate-covered strawberry with his own money.

Have I mentioned I have been drinking a lot of this ginger tea? I don’t even like tea.

I am really not sure if the “Supports Digestion” claim is valid but I feel nice when I drink it so I will keep drinking it.

I am also drinking the Yogi Moon Cycle tea this week because I am clearly addicted to believing tea labels, especially this time of the month.

I try to sub one of my cups of coffee with the Moon Cycle tea during this time of the month with the hope that it will magically inhibit any sign of cramps, bloating, PMS and all around discomfort.

Does it actually work? No idea, but I like it.

As I ran low on K-Cups the other day with no patience to wait for a shipment from an online order nor the patience to walk through Target to grab some boxes, I picked up a box of Dunkin Donuts K-Cups at DD.

This may become a problem. I really like it and am getting used to drinking Dunkin every morning.

I did make it to Trader Joe’s yesterday really quickly and I mean really quickly– my son timed me from start to finish in the store for a total of 9:32. Sounds like my pace for an easy mile, doesn’t it?

Racing through the store with him meant unorganized grocery shopping and things thrown in the cart that I didn’t even know about or think we need.

My son picked out the Chicken Fried Rice and Gnocchi so hopefully he eats it. I grabbed giant containers of berries because we can never have enough berries and everything else, well, I don’t know.

I am hoping to get back on track with regular weekday routine and grocery shopping next week.

I crave routine and order and this week is the complete opposite of that!

I think I will go make another cup of tea. Or coffee. Or both 🙂

Be sure to check out what everyone else is thinking about today…

[bctt tweet=”Thinking out loud #maoz #redmango #yogitea #traderjoes @runwithspoons #thinkingoutloud”]

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Do you drink Yogi tea? Which is your favorite?

If you were having ice cream for dinner, what kind would you have?

If you order your K-Cups online, which site do you order from?

Coffee Makes Us Kinder People & Other Thoughts

 

 

Because it’s Thursday and this sums up my current mindset.

We had another snow day on Monday which I don’t think I told you about.

If we want to get technical here it was more of an ice day than a snowstorm day but that doesn’t matter at this point.

What matters is that my son was home from school again, making it three Mondays in a row due to winter weather.

I was never this lucky as a kid!

So…he sort of found Jerry Springer on television during this ice day home from school.

At first I wanted him to turn the nonsense off to protect my somewhat still innocent little boy but then I remembered I was watching Jerry Springer before Jerry Springer was Jerry Springer along with rest of the line up of Geraldo, Donahue, Maury Povich and Oprah probably at his age, if not younger.

And when he threw in that he was watching the show to learn what NOT to do in life, I decided for the first time that perhaps Jerry Springer was actually educational in really twisted way.

I really miss Oprah. Don’t you?

I learned so much of what I know from her and watching episodes of her Life Class on demand now is not the same.

I need her every day life opinions. I need her assistance to trigger Aha! moments and I need her what to do if you are stuck in your car and suddenly submerged in a river emergency tips.

Please tell you remember those episodes?

I needed her a whole bunch last week as I learned about the crazy deadly horrific Metro North train crash.

Did you hear about it? I know it made national news.

I can’t stop wondering how or why that poor woman tried to cross the train tracks in her car, ignoring the flashing red lights that were screaming CAUTION THE REALLY BIG TRAIN IS COMING.

Why she stopped on the tracks, got out of her car (on the tracks!) to check the damage from the crossing gate that closed on her car, why she didn’t run, why she got back in the car and why she didn’t back up to avoid the train.

I know I would never pass those flashing warning railroad lights but I am sure Oprah reminded all of us anyway to use caution at train crossings and not attempt to outrun a train.

I like to think that in the heat of the moment I would remember these safety precautions, utilize my Oprah knowledge in a pinch and not freeze up but who knows, right?

And I think it’s the who knows that scares me.

None of us really know what we would do when faced with the really scary and sudden situations until we are already in it with a split second to think about our next action.

It also scares me that I find myself working with not one, but two mugs lately.

I mean, at least one of the mugs is tea and the tea is even decaf. And, I aim for refilling the coffee mug more often with decaf coffee than regular coffee so that counts for something, right?

It’s just so darn cold here. I need hot beverages at all times. I am trying to keep up with my water glass too but gosh, just thinking about drinking water gives me an inner chill these days.

People who hold a hot mug of something in their hands are nicer than people who don’t have something warm in their hands, did you know that?

Yeah. It’s a thing.

I once learned that drinking warm beverages and just holding that warm cup triggers something warm and fuzzy inside making people smile more often thus kinder in our actions.

Therefore, my current double mugging is helping me to become a nicer person which really, is a blessing for all those who come into contact with me making the caffeine part of the equation justified.

Be sure to check out what everyone else is thinking about today!

[bctt tweet=”A warm mug makes us kinder people and other #thinkingoutloud thoughts #coffee #oprah #ahamoments”]

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What are you drinking right now? Coffee or tea or something else?

Favorite talk show?

If you drink Yogi tea, which is your favorite flavor?

 

Health Benefits of Green Tea Plus Matcha Green Tea Giveaway

When I first started driving, one of my closest friends and I used to think it was all sorts of fun and cool to trade cars after school just to feel the excitement of driving something different.

Now that I am a grown up, I try not to run such risks in life and hope that my son doesn’t one day put his car (my car) in the hands of someone else.

However, what I would enjoy right now is an innocent and harmless swapping of playlists with someone just to feel the excitement of listening to a totally different mix of music while I run.

I love my songs, really I do, but lately, geez — I am tired of everything that I am hearing.

I switched off my playlist in favor of Pandora mid-run yesterday morning and got super lucky. In fact, I believe that the songs that randomly came on were signs for me to realize I should be running in the Long Island Half Marathon this Sunday.

After posting yesterday about loving to run in the rain but not really wanting to run a race in the rain, hearing Rocky IV music made me realize I have trained enough in various weather conditions (sort of like Rocky in the Russian frozen tundra) to handle this race just fine come rain or shine.

Oh how I love both of these songs. And yes, I immediately purchased both Hearts on Fire and Burning Heart to add to my playlist.

You know you want to trade playlists with me, just admit it.

So. Now that I have decided to run the half this Sunday, it is officially a taper week.

Time to reduce my mileage, make sure to alternate my running with cross training days, rest on Friday, eat my bananas, sweet potatoes and peanut butter (because peanut butter occurs 24/7 and 365) and keep up with my hydration.

Note I say keep up with my hydration. I have kept up my extra glasses of water since my last taper week.

In fact, I have even replaced a few cups of coffee from my day with water as well.

Listen, I love coffee. We know this.

Lately I just felt like I have been consuming  too much of the caffeinated goodness and have slowly (and pretty easily) reduced my intake. I always thought I would replace those hot mugs of coffee with tea but I just haven’t felt like tea.

Do you like tea? How about Green tea? I can’t drink Green tea. It makes me dizzy. Weird, right?

I don’t know why this is exactly. I even did an entire research project a few months ago on the health benefits of consuming green tea and came up with nothing all that conclusive as to why I don’t feel so well after having a few sips.

The only thing I have deduced from my research and experiences is that green tea has been linked to lowering blood pressure and when combined with my already low blood pressure, we don’t have a winning combination.

I actually can’t drink any caffeinated tea for basically the same reason. Several cups of caffeinated coffee? No problem. Tea? You may find me on the floor.

But green tea is super healthy for you. It’s a shame I can’t drink it.

.

Recently, I was contacted by Kiss Me Organics to review their Matcha Green Tea Powder for lattes, smoothies, baked goods and various other recipes.

What is Organic Matcha?

Matcha is a finely milled or fine-ground powder form of high quality green tea. Just a 1/2 teaspoon of the Matcha green tea provides you with 137X the antioxidants of an actual brewed cup of green tea not to mention it is organic and free chemicals and preservatives.

You can add Matcha to shakes, smoothies and other beverages as well as baked goods, waffles and probably your morning bowl of oatmeal.

Since regular green tea doesn’t agree with me, I obviously cannot use this product in fear of finding myself passed out on the floor.

I didn’t want you to miss out on trying Matcha so I did a bit of research on this product and read enough reviews about Matcha  Green Tea Powder to feel comfortable enough to host a giveaway today.

No need to thank me.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Good luck!

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Are you bored with your music playlist?

Have you added any new songs?

Are you a coffee or tea drinker, or both?

Does green tea make you dizzy?

Ever try Matcha? What have you added it to?

I received a bag of Matcha Green Tea from Kiss Me Organics but was not compensated for this post. All thoughts and opinions expressed are my own.

//widget.rafflecopter.com/load.js

Thinking Out Loud – Random Thoughts

 

It works out perfectly to link up with Amanda for Thinking Out Loud fun since I have so much to say this morning.

1. Once again I found a load of laundry in my dryer. Even better, the clothes were still damp.

This actually worked to my advantage early yesterday morning – I was able to set the clothes to dry for 20 minutes and have warmed-up running layers to wear before heading out the door.

In fact, I enjoyed having heated clothes so much that I may purposely put my clothes in the dryer before wearing them.

I realize I am not supposed to put workout clothes in the dryer but I am not only lazy but a rule breaker. It’s like the warning tag on a mattress advising you not to remove it – I just have to.

2. I drove my son and my neighbor’s daughter to school yesterday. The chatter in the back seat the entire time was about those blasted physical fitness tests and how many sit ups they each could do in a minute.

As I told them to focus more on doing a sit up correctly than how many they can complete in a timed session, it all suddenly clicked in my head:

My gym class days and those physical fitness tests now remind me of CrossFit. No wonder I have no desire to join a box.

3. My new favorite polish for a pedicure.

It is actually from Clinique.

Do you buy nail polish? I very rarely do since I rely on the bottles of polish available in the nail salons but I received this Clinique polish in one of their bonus gifts a few weeks ago.

If I wasn’t so blind I would be able to tell you what the fine fine print says in order to give you the name of the color.

4. Sometimes you need to bake chocolate chip cookies.

Real ones. You know what I mean by real; with butter and sugar and flour.

Don’t get me wrong- it’s fun and creative to conjure up grain free, egg free, cookie-free cookies and they even taste good but sometimes, you just need a real cookie.

I think people lose sight of the fact that the “healthier” recipes still contain calories and if you eat the whole batch thinking they are “healthy”, you are no better off than if you just had a real cookie.

5. I have several adorable cookie jars but never actually put cookies inside.

This is my all-time favorite cookie jar.

I should probably start referring to it as a lollipop jar instead.

6. It is very rare that I encounter a sauce, marinade or condiment that I don’t like.

See this Mango Coconut marinade? Awful. Just awful. It is so shockingly awful that every now and then I taste it just to confirm how awful it is.

It’s so bad that I want you to try it just so you can taste how bad it is.

Don’t you love when someone says that? “Try it, you will hate it!” Such a funny thing to say when you think about it.

7. Can someone please recommend a good tea for me?

I am working on limiting my cups of coffee and a good tea would probably help the situation greatly. Thanks.

8. In addition to sometimes needing to bake chocolate chip cookies, sometimes you need to enjoy some chocolate cake.

Enjoying Black Out cake on a random Wednesday night at The Cheesecake Factory makes my heart sing. Like really, top of my happiness list.

So rumor has it the temperature is already above 40 degrees this morning. I am looking forward to an outdoor run shortly, right after I heat up my clothes of course.

Be sure to check out what everyone else is thinking about this morning!

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Do you have a cookie jar? What’s in it?

Tea recommendations? Anything but green tea please.

Ever buy a marinade or condiment that you absolutely hate?

 

 

Keurig Karma

 

Never insult your favorite appliance on the internet.

I have woken up to a broken Keurig machine.

Although this specific Keurig machine has served me well for over seven years, to die on me first thing in the morning is cruel and can only be because I insulted it’s flashing blue light just a couple of weeks ago.

Karma, people. I do believe in karma.

I will be drinking tea until either one of two things happens:

• The little boy wakes up so I can toss him into the car to get Dunkin Donuts coffee. Which will then involve him talking me into  a donut for breakfast.
• My selfless favorite neighbor wakes up so I can use her Keurig machine.

Ah well. At least I thoroughly enjoyed last night’s dinner.

Hmm. Dessert really deserves its own picture, don’t you think?

Blackout cake and ice cream is always right.

If you are a coffee drinker, you already know that tea first thing in the morning is no substitute for coffee.

So, the question is, who do I wake up first?

I say my neighbor because you just never wake a sleeping baby. He may be 10, but he is my baby and no matter the age, I just cant bring myself to disturb the peace on a Sunday morning.

Ugh.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

***************

If you have a Keurig, how long have you had your current machine? I know they die regularly but mine has really lasted a long time!

Best thing you ate yesterday?

 

 

 

 

 

WIAW Plus My Magical Adidas Sneakers

 

Just like someone who looks for the magic food or diet plan to lose weight easily, I look for the perfect sneaker to support my feet and provide me with magical runs each and every day.

As if there is some miracle of a running shoe that keeps you hitting those paces and happy endorphins each morning, pain/symptom free forever.

Newsflash: There is no magic shoe just like there is no magic food.

While this may very well be the case, I pay attention only to what I want to hear and continue my search for the perfect running shoe.

I have thrown all caution to the wind and made a major switch to Adidas. The Energy Boost if we want to get all technical with which model.

As we know, I had been trying to make my Asics last by rotating them with a pair of Brooks but my feet were just not cooperating.

It is too soon for a proper review but I didn’t want to hide these beauties from you. I did run 5 miles in them yesterday but one run is not enough to confirm if these Adidas sneakers have super powers.

I considered not participating in this week’s What I Ate Wednesday but then I went to Trader Joe’s yesterday and something super exciting happened so I got all food-inspired and, well, here we are.

I had just about given up looking for the Cranberry Apple Butter, assuming it was seasonal and gone until next fall….BUT THERE IT WAS.

Along with a massive delivery of the Organic Carrots of Many Colors.

Just yesterday morning I went with my two-ingredient pancake with the last last last drop of Cranberry Apple Butter.

I had been treating my last jar like an extreme cheapskate treats a tube of toothpaste. Although, it is very hard to squeeze out hidden jelly when it is contained in a basically clear container.

The little boy is still riding the grilled cheese with bacon on Cinnamon Raisin Ezekiel Bread.

Please note how little you need to get the full flavor effect:

Question for you: How do you feel about the end slices of a loaf of bread?

My favorite thing to do when I take this loaf of Ezekiel Bread out is to pick apart the pieces of the end slices. It is always loaded with raisins and the ends of this loaf remind me of the raisin rolls served in the bread baskets at some of my favorite restaurants.

You know you want a bright yellow carrot. Admit it.

LUNCH:

I never know what I will feel like come lunch time. Yesterday it was a salad.

It may appear that lunch was at Whole Foods but it wasn’t.

If you recall, I took the big blue bowl home with me months ago when the power at Whole Foods went out while I was eating and I was told to evacuate.

My son usually buys lunch at school but he opted to bring a turkey sandwich yesterday instead. I usually hide spinach in a mix of lettuce on his sandwich but I was out of it.

DINNER:

This week has been easy on the dinner front because we are currently taste-testing some new and exciting kidfresh entrees.

I haven’t had to figure out what to make for the little boy and it has been quite lovely.

On Monday I made a batch of quinoa so I have been throwing it together at mealtime for myself  mixed in the above picture with roasted vegetables, tons of avocado, onion rings and some BBQ sauce.

LET’S TALK DESSERT:

My messy bowl of peanut butter cup apples are still my favorite nightly treat.

I almost forgot to include my beverage treats these days:

With Hanukkah three weeks behind us already, these teas keep me up to date with the holiday spirit.

It is super icy out this morning which means another indoor run. Eh. At least I have my new sneakers to look forward to.

**Please remember that I never capture everything I eat in these What I Ate Wednesday posts. It is nearly impossible for me to photograph or even remember every apple slice with peanut butter, random bite, or second plate of food that makes it to my mouth throughout the day.

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I NEED TO KNOW:

Which sneakers do you swear by?

What do you do with the end slices of bread?

Favorite tea? I love Yogi but these Celestial Holiday teas have been making me happy.

Have you tried the rainbow carrots yet?