Christmas 2015

Date: December 25, 2015

Author: astottler

Merry Christmas! I hope everyone had a fantastic day. Our Christmas this year was a bit unconventional, as we celebrated and did many of our Christmas traditions with my sister and grandma a week earlier.

Christmas Eve began on an active note—12 Days of Christmas at Crossfit!

12 days of Christmas operates just like the song. You start with the exercise at 1 and do one rep. Then you go to the next exercise and do 2 reps of that, and one rep of the first exercise. And so on. I love festive workouts! I finished in around 30 minutes. And the best news? Earlier this week was the first time in 3 months that I have done snatches—the first time since my shoulder injury. On Monday, I used the training bar and worked up to 30 pounds, but I used 45 for the workout! Partly this was fine because these were power snatches so I did not have to squat down, which is easier on my shoulder.

To refuel, I heated up some chocolate soy milk and added mint extract and whipped cream.

Next, my friend who is cat sitting for me next week came over and brought her “kittens.” I can’t believe how much they’ve grown!

After lunch, we decided to pay a visit to the Humane Society to visit the kitties. We saw the kitty my sister is thinking about adopting soon as well.

We then saw the movie Sisters. Overall I liked it! There were some jokes that fell flat to me though. After the movie, we headed to Whole Foods for dinner and ingredients for the following day. For dinner I had some veggies and mashed potatoes. Since I’m not supposed to eat big meals thanks to my stomach, I wanted to break up Christmas dinner and have my potatoes early!

The evening was spent at home with festive red champagne.

We were up fairly early on Christmas morning. I ate a Luna bar for breakfast first thing because we were planning on going for a run/walk around 9am.

We then opened stockings. It was Chloe’s first Christmas and she seemed to enjoy what she got!

After breakfast and stockings, we drove out to the bay on quite the chilly morning. About 39 when we got up! I wore my Santa Run shirt for the occasion.

It was an absolutely beautiful morning, and so clear after the past few days of rain. We could see all the way to San Francisco!

I ran 3 miles at a hair under a 9:00 pace, which was the goal!

On the way home, we stopped at Starbucks for some festive drinks. I had a holiday spice flat white. To be honest, I wasn’t a fan because it was slightly sweet and I don’t like sweet+coffee. For anyone else though, I’d probably recommend it because it wasn’t crazy sweet like some of their other drinks!

Once home, we opened presents!

Lunch for me was Whole Foods Butternut Squash posole with cheddar and truffle salt (because why not?).

Then, it was time to start making dessert! We were lacking dessert ideas for a while, but I wanted to actually make something special. What I came up with was a modification of a chocolate silk pie. I used this recipe for the chocolate silk portion. The center is essentially just silken tofu and chocolate, which was perfect because I didn’t want something too heavy.

I started with a gluten free chocolate cookie crust and spread chocolate fudge sauce on the base.

Then, I made the tofu base, but I blended in fresh mint and a touch of mint extract.

Finally, I topped it with homemade whipped cream plus a crushed candy cane decoration.

Christmas dinner was definitely unconventional. As we all well now, I’m on a soup kick and I can’t tolerate big meals so I lead the effort to make Christmas dinner in soup form. We used a basic chicken veggie soup recipe, but substituted Whole Foods precooked turkey for the chicken. Side note: the Whole Foods turkey is quite possibly the BEST turkey I have ever had. We also mixed in a truffle gravy seasoning mix for added flavor. For the “stuffing,” I made croutons by slicing up gluten free bread, spreading it with Earth Balance garlic and herb, and toasting it in the oven. Cranberry sauce was served on the side!

We all agreed that the soup turned out quite well, and were satisfied with this twist on a traditional Christmas meal.

And finally: dessert is served!

Overall, it was an awesome and low key day! I would also say this is definitely our healthiest Christmas ever!

I want to add one thing. While I’m all for enjoying yourself with foods over the holidays, I do want to mention that thanks to my stomach issues and new diagnosis, I’ve had to be very careful with what I eat, and as a result, I was much healthier throughout the holidays. It was actually wonderful. I still enjoyed some treats, but overall I felt SO much better. Having soup for Christmas was perfect! I also love that my family supports me so much in the way in which I eat. Right now especially, I know it is not easy and I really do try to be as easy going as possible about it, but the reality is that because of everything, it is an issue. So thank you! (Because I know they are reading this :))

Merry Christmas!

Holidays with Friends

Date: December 23, 2015

Author: astottler

Categories: Uncategorized

These past few days, I was able to visit with some friends for the first time this break!

First, on Sunday, I drove to my roommate’s hometown in the country to visit her!

…and her persimmons. She has tons and tons of trees in her yard, and she is my source of mass quantities of persimmons this time of year, which I always look forward to so much! I was able to try one straight off the tree, and then as we walked through the trees we found a ripe hachiya. Hachiya persimmons are the pointed kind that have to be eaten when they’re soft—anything less than soft will make your tongue curl up! What I’ve been eating are the Fuyu variety and those can be eaten hard!

Anyways, the point is that I was forced to double fist persimmons. Rough life.

I also got to meet her sweet pets! The dog and the kitties were adorable together!

We went to lunch downtown where I had delicious tomato basil soup, and we shared sweet potato fries. I think tomato soup is so underrated.

While out, I went to Sprouts for the first time and picked up some new granola bar flavors as well as individual packets of flavored sun butter. Then, we stopped by a softball field. Why? Many years before we met, I used to come to her hometown a lot to play softball, so we thought we’d stop by and say hi!

It was weird being back after so many years, but it made me reflect on how much softball shaped my life and who I am today. If I hadn’t played at the field many years ago, I wouldn’t have learned my work ethic and determination, and I wouldn’t have gotten into the college I’m at now. So I would never have met my awesome roommate, so I would never have gone to see her and then returned to that field. Crazy how life works.

We made an elaborate dinner. Well, sort of. She mostly made it and I mostly watched and offered insightful commentary. She claimed it was a lazy dinner, but it involved multiple dishes and baking chicken in the oven for an hour. That’s certainly elaborate for me! We (she) made chicken thighs, sautéed broccoli, and gluten free butternut squash ravioli that we picked up at Sprouts.

The next morning, I went to San Francisco with my high school friends to go shopping.

This is something we’ve done every year at Christmas time since before we could drive. We usually don’t end up buying much, but it’s fun to look around and see the festive decor!

We actually spent much longer there than in previous years so we had dinner at a restaurant at the mall.

It was a tap house so we each tried different beers.

For my meal, I ordered butternut squash soup which was SO good! It had sherry soaked grapes at the bottom and pumpkin seed oil drizzled on top which made this way more fun!

We got back from the city around 10 and then it was time to start our annual cookie baking! We’ve been making the same sugar cookies since our freshman year of high school!

Here are some of this year’s cookies. Sadly the picture quality is not great. Every year I like to make lots of turkeys for some reason or another!

As usual, we stayed up far too late catching up and going through old yearbooks. Totally worth it! We’ve continued this tradition through high school, and I really hope we can keep it going when we graduate and enter the real world!

What are your favorite Christmas cookies?

Christmas Eve+Christmas

Date: December 28, 2014

Author: astottler

Categories: Uncategorized

I hope everyone has had a great holiday season so far! It’s been a looong time since I’ve gotten a post up, but I’ve been busy enjoying the holidays with family!

I’m currently blogging with my kitty snuggled in at my side. My mother likes to keep the house FREEZING so we’re both cold! So, let’s get to the holiday recap, shall we?

Christmas Eve morning started with a workout. I got up at 5am to go to a spin class….only to find that the gym didn’t open until 7 (the class was supposed to be at 5:45am)…despite the fact that the class appeared on the schedule! I ended up going to Starbucks for coffee and hanging out there for an hour or so.

I ended up getting a killer workout in-treadmill intervals, single leg RDLs, and abs! I left feeling great and ready for the holiday to get started! Blasting Spanish Christmas music during the workout helped too 🙂

My family got all dressed up and headed to Benihana, a Japanese steakhouse. I wore my seasonably appropriate Christmas sweater.

We started with a ginger salad and mushroom onion soup.

But we all know the best part is the fried rice!

I don’t know why I’ve never tried to make fried rice myself-it doesn’t seem that hard!

For my main course, I kept it on the lighter side by ordering steamed veggies (which came with a small tofu appetizer). I failed to take pictures, but it included all kinds of goodies like mushrooms and butternut squash.

We had several other ideas for things to do with the rest of the day, but we ended up just lounging around. Later in the evening, we watched my favorite Christmas movie-The Year Without a Santa Claus!

And then it was time to hang the stockings and put out the cookies and carrots (for reindeer!).

Not a bad looking tree this year! Fun fact-all our ornaments are unbreakable because my kitties like to chase each other around the tree.

Christmas morning we awoke and opened stockings and pet presents.

Billy enjoyed his new reindeer! It came in a little chimney with another reindeer and Santa!

Then, it was time to dig into breakfast! We got a TON of food gifts this year, and especially breakfast foods!

My dad make scrambled eggs (not pictured) and I dug into blueberry coffeecake and a blueberry English muffin (other half didn’t make the picture).

Then, my parents and I opened presents. Which, of course our kitties loved.

After getting prettied up, we were off for Christmas lunch with my grandparents.

My grandparents live in Berkeley, so we met up at a restaurant in the marina with views of the Golden Gate bridge from afar!

The room we were seated at had an insane view!

Lunch was a full buffet with all kinds of delicious food!

Course 1:

Crab salad, Greek salad, pasta salad, and cheese with bread.

Course 2:

Traditional Christmas fare! Half a biscuit, a small piece of cornbread, turkey with stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, and cranberry sauce, and candied yams.

Dessert:

Creme brûlée, bread pudding, and chocolate dipped pineapple and rice crispie treat. There was a chocolate fountain! I HAD to try that!

After lunch, we climbed the hill to my grandmother’s house to open presents and have dessert.

Unfortunately, we ran out of time for dessert because we had to come home and take care of my dog, but she sent us home with some beautiful cakes!

Chocolate mocha cake.

Amazing blueberry cheesecake.

Once I rallied a bit from my food coma, I dove in!

So delicious! It was a great day, spent with great people, although I had a bout a 3 day food coma! So thankful for this family!

Everything I Haven’t Blogged About

Date: December 16, 2014

Author: astottler

Categories: Uncategorized

Hey guys! With some busyness these past few days, I’ve definitely neglected to mention some things!

I think for this break, if I can stay up to date on blogging, I’m going to structure these posts as some type of tidbit to start-health, news, life, random, etc, and then go into meals and workouts. Sound ok?

Today’s tidbit: the storm of the decade. People not from CA may have seen on the news that we’ve gotten blasted with rain these past few days. I wanted to set the record straight, as a Northern Californian.

1. We are in a drought. We are STILL in a drought. We needed that rain, and we’ve already had the most December rain in 50 years, but we need another 2-3 storms of this caliber to no longer be in a drought.

2. Yes, this storm may seem like “nothing” in comparison to crazy central US/East coast storms, but the fact of the matter is that it caused a great deal of damage, just because of the sheer amount of water that came down so quickly. The winds weren’t crazy and it wasn’t an INSANE downpour, but it was a constant amount of water being dumped. Lots and lots of things flooded. Some people up north lost their houses in mudslides. Highways in the Bay Area closed due to feet of water flooding the freeways (including near SF). I was done with exams before the storm hit, but some exams had to be moved because the buildings they were supposed to take place in flooded.

3. The night before the storm of the decade….I was out duct taping my windshield wiper back together. Awesome. Not sure if I mentioned this before, but it was broken such that the rubber wiper wouldn’t stay in place so the arm of the wiper scraped across the glass, which made a deafening shriek. Duct tape worked like a charm. The drive home in torrential rain? Not so fun though. I couldn’t see 10 feet ahead of me.

Now that we’ve got that squared away, what did I fail to mention?

I’ve been doing lots of getting in the Christmas spirit! 2 Christmas movies have already been watched. My Christmas sweater has been worm.

The day I went home, my mom, my sister, and I had lunch. I had a delicious bowl that included brown rice, butternut squash, carrots, brussels sprouts, and cauliflower puree. It was delicious.

Followed by my favorite ice cream ever, Tin Pot. This is chocolate.

Thursday night I actually taught spin. Due to torrential rain, it was a small class but a good one! I love how the gym is decked out for the holidays!

Lunch on Friday was open faced turkey sandwiches, with an apple slice on top. Just place them under broil until the cheese is bubbly-they’re delicious!

Friday I also made my first batch of holiday cookies. I used my recipe for healthy polka dot cookies. They actually are really healthy. It was nice to have something sweet on hand that didn’t leave me feeling gross and sluggish. They were even approved by my grandma!

This batch is extra dark because I used dark chocolate cocoa powder.

Another fun weekend event involved seeing my 3rd grade teacher perform in the community production of A Christmas Carol. He was Jacob Marley’s ghost, and did a great job! The whole production was fantastic and so well done. They put it on every year, and every year it sells out. It’s free, but you are asked to bring toys to donate.

That’s all for today-expect more catch up food pictures tomorrow!

What is your favorite holiday dessert?

Visiting Reindeer and Other Christmas Festivities

Date: December 26, 2013

Author: astottler

Categories: Uncategorized

I hope that everyone had a fabulous holiday!

I feel like it’s been such a long time since I last blogged! I’m going to try to keep this mostly to pictures so I don’t bore you too much!

On Monday night I made gingerbread with this super delicious and healthy recipe! Zucchini? Count me in! It gave the bread the perfect moistness.

On Christmas Eve, I woke up early to go to Crossfit-it was a quick one and I was out nice and early so we could head up to San Francisco.

We went to the California Academy of Sciences to see the Christmas exhibit I’ve heard about on the radio every year.

Reindeer!

There was also an indoor snow exhibit-yes in California, we go to Museums for snow.

Inside the Museum was an amazing hidden restaurant called the Moss Room. I decided to get a salad, butternut squash soup with maple creme fraiche, as well as a side of brussels sprouts. Because you better believe anytime I see them on the menu, that’s what I’m getting!

For dinner, we went to Benihana’s, as we do every Christmas Eve. For those that are not familiar, Benihana’s is a Japanese restaurant where the chefs cook in front of you on the table.

AMAZING fried rice, ginger salad, and shrimp.

Since my sister’s boyfriend (and I!) loves blueberries, we made blueberry crisp, while whipping up Christmas morning breakfast and watching Elf. Since everybody loves Elf, I decided we needed to watch it again. It was adorable, and a great Christmas Eve movie.

And then stockings were hung. Guess who has the “Naughty” stocking? That would be my little trouble maker of a cat, Lilly. Let’s just say she’s earned the title.

However, not sure if the cookies ever made it to Santa, thanks to our little elf who came after dark…

‘

We actually stayed up past midnight on Christmas Eve watching baby videos, since my sister had her boyfriend over. We watched more videos on Christmas, and let me just say-I missed my calling! I was clearly a natural ballerina. At least for a 4 year old. Now I kind of really want to take a ballet class! It’s the only type of dance I could even potentially do because it’s the only one that allows or even requires rigidity!

On Christmas morning, I wrapped up some last minute presents for my family. I made them canvas pictures-I’ll do a separate post on that DIY project.

For breakfast, we made a gruyere, mushroom, and tomato breakfast casserole which was assembled the night before.

We also had some expensive blueberry coffeecake that had been frozen. It was good but probably would have been better fresh! Plus melon balls and a side of Christmas tree.

And chocolate orange. Because Christmas is one of those days when candy for breakfast is totally acceptable. Hey-it was in my stocking!

I have to share with you guys some pictures of the cat I’m cat-sitting. He’s the sweetest, hugest, fluffiest orange kitty. He purrs the entire time I’m there, and has the most beautiful fur.

And then, it was off to Grandma’s house!

My Grandma outdid herself yet again with the food. She made 3 entrees-chicken (above), pork chops, and eggplant parmesan.

Stuffed mushrooms, chocolate cake, blueberry pie, and my Grandma’s dog Molly.

Rumpldy Thump-mashed potatoes, broccoli, and cheese sauce.

Christmas was really nice. It was pretty low key this year, so there isn’t to much of an after-Christmas lull. Plus, today we were back in San Francisco!

This morning, I went to Crossfit, then yoga. I did a mile on the treadmill in between-I ran a mile and then wanted to incline walk for a few minutes, but my achilles tendons weren’t having it. I don’t know why I’m having such bad tendonitis now-I haven’t had problems in over 10 years, plus I reduced my mileage a lot recently! Any advice for how to treat it would be welcome.

Anyways, my family went to San Francisco for lunch and to see a musical.

The noodles were deliciously garlic-y and I’m sure my family loved me the rest of the day.

We saw the Book of Mormon, which was really good! It sells out so quickly, and we got tickets this year as soon as they were available.

We had a great couple of days-hope you all did as well!

How was your holiday? What did you do?