Trail Fail and Microwave Cake

Date: September 29, 2013

Author: astottler

Hello guys! I hope everyone had a fabulous weekend. I have to admit, my first weekend back at school was pretty awesome. Yesterday, I had guacamole TWICE. That alone makes this a great weekend.

I also began the whole “random dorm food snack thing” yesterday when I mixed up a random bowl of chocolatey goodness.

Dried coconut, chia seeds, tons of cocoa powder, sweetener. In the microwave with almond milk, and you get a delicious snack!

Oh, and raisins! I’m starting to realize I really love dried fruit because it’s not as sweet as other desserts. My friends are awesome-they went to Costco and got me a giant bag of apple chips, which I’m ridiculously excited about.

Being the party person that I am, I had a pretty wild Saturday night before my 12 miler. As in, I stayed in my room all night making pumpkin cake in the microwave. Like the party animal that I am. Last year, my roommate and I made pumpkin cake in the microwave, and I think this is the same recipe that we used.

We made a few adjustments since we’re cool people and my roommate has a gluten intolerance. Personally, I think our modifications made it even better (and probably healthier). Also, I almost royally screwed this recipe up. It calls for you to divide out half the mixture. Well, I started to do that without realizing I had forgotten to add sugar. So I almost forgot the sugar in this cake. I kind of messed up the cinnamon too but not as badly!

Here’s our version of the recipe-I apologize ahead of time for the poor photo quality because my dorm has horrible lighting at night.

Microwave Pumpkin Cake

Ingredients:

1/3 c butter

1/2 c firmly packed brown sugar

1/3 c coconut sugar

1/2 c applesauce

1.25 gluten free flour mix or regular flour (my roommate mixed together a ton of flours, along with xantham gum)

3/4 tsp pumpkin pie spice

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp baking soda

1/2 c plain yogurt

1/2 pumpkin

1 egg

Instructions:

In large microwave safe bowl, melt 1/3 c butter for 30-45 seconds; stir in sugars and applesauce. Min in flour, pumpkin pie spice and salt. (This will likely be kind of soft, unlike what the original recipe called for; I think this made it even better though). Remove half of the mixture and set half aside. Stir in cinnamon to one half. Then, add in other ingredients to the cinnamon half and mix. Top the bigger half with the smaller half (the one with fewer ingredients) and microwave for 8 minutes, rotating halfway through. Then, microwave for about 3 minutes, or as needed, checking every 1:30.

Pre-microwave

Ready to be eaten!

SO GOOD. Seriously guys, if you make anything, make this. Plus, it’s quick and one bowl! This is gooey, pumpkin-y and perfect for fall. The apple sauce gives the topping a touch of flavor, in the best way possible. I can’t imagine a better way to spend a Saturday night- friends and pumpkin baked goods.

I didn’t go to bed as early as I probably should have before my run, but I woke up and ate breakfast. Here’s a really unattractive picture.

I’m reconsidering my pre-run breakfast. It used to be a Thinkthin bar and fruit, but I’m liking this 2 ingredient pancake (with cocoa powder) with fruit. It’s easier on my stomach, but I feel like it’s not as hefty. I think if I do this, I need to eat closer to running, which is probably better since my race is at 6:30am-that way I won’t have to wake up as early.

After eating, I mapped out my run. I wanted to give trail running a try, as well as get some hill training in. I found a route that would accommodate my 12 miles and wrote it out. I also actually carried my phone since I was running alone in the wilderness, so here are a couple of pictures.

This trail was really nice at the beginning. I was thinking how much fun trail runs are. The first few minutes were all downhill. The 12 mile route I had planned out had 1000 feet elevation change, to put this in perspective. It took me all of 5 minutes to get horribly lost. About a mile in, I somehow ended up on a random road with no trails in sight. Some nice other runners pointed me in the correct direction, but I ended up on the street again. I don’t think I ever made it to any of the trails I had planned out, and I just ran on the smaller trails. The hills were really intense-my legs were shot a mile in. I decided that this was not going to work for 12 miles. Plus, the trail running was actually worse for my feet. At 4.5 miles, I found my car and drove down the mountain to flat road to finish the run. Well, relatively flat.

Overall, it was a weird run. But it was good to get some hill work in in a long run. And trails. I had never run trails before my last half, so the 2 miles or so of trails I was cursing the whole time. I was pretty done by the end of this run though. I stopped for water at mile 11, and I had to really give myself a pep talk to get going-although I guess it worked since my last mile was by far the fastest! Another thing-my new shoe inserts didn’t really help much. Which means for now I’m pretty much screwed. After my race, I’m going to try some barefoot running/minimalist shoes and see if that might help. Plus, I have no halfs scheduled yet for the future-just shorter races.

On the way back to campus, I happened to run into a small farmer’s market. One of the stands was a gluten free bakery, and of course I had to stop there since my roommate is gluten free. I got some delicious foccacia and a pumpkin bar. SO good. I think better than any gluten-filled foccacia I’ve had!

This was also a life saver. I was sooo hungry at this point-it was already around 1:30. My run was probably the longest time I’ve run, since my pace was so slow on the trails.

After my run, I prettied myself up-with one problem. I had a tea party to go to that I needed to dress up for, and I didn’t pack my maxi skirt. And I knew if I didn’t wear compression socks, I would really regret it tomorrow. I was actually thinking back to my last training-one time I didn’t wear my socks after a run, and my calves were really sore all week. And I’m pretty sure that was the week I hurt my calf. So I was not going to neglect to wear those socks-it was the same point in my training last time that I got hurt!

New fashion trend? Yes? I was going to go out like that when I had a genius idea-boots! Here’s a picture where you can kind of see.

Here I am at the tea party with my friends.

There was lots of delicious food. Pumpkin cookies, maple cookies, sandwich cookies. And grapes. Lots and lots of grapes (they were in front of me and I ran 12 miles this morning so…). It was bring your own mug, so I brought my classy piggy mug.

Yum.

I’m a big fan of tea parties-I need to make those a regular thing. Also, my roommate and I have an abundance of ripe avocados, so a guac party may be in our near future.

Do you like trails? Any good microwave recipes?

Letting the Pace Go

Date: June 30, 2013

Author: astottler

Categories: Uncategorized

Hey everyone! I’ve been meaning to blog since Friday…and I really have to good excuse. I’ll try to do a fairly quick recap of the past few days, and promise the next posts will have more/better content!.

Friday I had been planning on going to early Spin, but I went to bed too late and decided I would never be able to stay awake at my research job if I went. First, I ate this delicious breakfast:

The last of my vanilla yogurt, gluten free vanilla crunch cereal, raspberries, and sunflower seed butter.

Then, it was off to school for research. While this may sound glamorous, I assure you it is not. My job is doing a ton of spreadsheet stuff and examining photos of mice carcasses. I actually don’t really mind (although Friday was my first day of doing real stuff). The building I’m working in is attached to the hospital, so I decided to check out the hospital cafeteria for lunch. IT IS SO NICE. It was ridiculous. A salad bar (with chia seeds!), sandwich bar, hot food, pastries, everything! I went with the salad bar.

And they even had a new to me flavor of Kevita! It was way overpriced though. And ended in an embarrassing situation- breaking on the floor of Sports Authority while I was shopping for workout pants. On the plus side, it was mostly gone!

After wearing the same workout pants for workouts 3 days in a row, my mother decided that I needed to buy more workout pants. No complaints here! The highlight was a new pair of my favorite workout pants, but with a hot pink waistband, instead of yellow.

Since I missed spin that morning, I decided to lift before my run. I did a leg workout, which I will post soon. I’m planning on creating a workout page shortly! I mostly make my own weights workouts, and for some reason I feel like I shouldn’t post them, which is silly. So that will change! After lifting, I ran 3 miles on very rubbery legs. Ehh it felt good to lift again so I can’t complain (well, actually I can complain…).

Dinner was a delicious greek salad with a touch of Greek dressing, but topped with hummus.

I also had some watermelon…and a friend!

I love this picture because I was simply trying to take a picture of watermelon-Billy just happens to love watermelon!

Saturday morning before Crossfit I made some very ugly pancakes-they tasted just fine though! I mixed up a banana, egg whites, vanilla, chocolate protein powder, cocoa powder, and a dash of almond milk.

Post Crossfit I made a smoothie inspired by Beth– pineapple, mango, and pineapple coconut water. Thick, delicious, and totally hit the spot!

After lunch, my family saw The Internship. My sister even joined us since she was in the area! Overall, I wasn’t a big fan of the movie. However, if you want a taste of where I live (Silicon Valley), this was pretty much spot-on! We couldn’t help but laugh when the characters ran in on broomsticks for quidditch, as my sister is the captain of our school’s quidditch team. Spot-on!

We went to The Melt, a grilled cheese place for dinner. I opted for sweet corn soup, which tasted exactly like those corn cakes at Mexican restaurants. And, we were right next to a frozen yogurt place, so no complaining here!

I went half ‘healthy’ and half ‘unhealthy.’ Plain with fruit on one side, butter pecan/chocolate with heath and brownies on the other. Yumm.

As I’m sure you’re all well aware as I’ve been sort of freaking out about it all week, Sunday was my 10 mile run, which is farther than I had ever run before.

I ate my typical pre-run breakfast:

I was up in time to beat the heat/wind (I ran by the bay, so the wind is a bigger issue than the heat!).

I’ve been wanting to keep up a particular pace, but my dad advised me to just worry about the distance, and not the pace. So I let go of that ideal pace, and in turn, the run went really well!

I really loved this trail-it was along the bay, but it took me through different areas so it was more interesting. I took a Gu for the first time at mile 5, the turn around point. I couldn’t imagine running while eating, so I walked while I took it. I was a big fan-it was Cliff chocolate, and only had a few, very recognizable ingredients. It was a little weird though because it was like eating straight chocolate syrup…during a run…

I also was annoyed at having to carry a water bottle. I ended up dumping half of it right away so it wouldn’t be so much weight. I tossed it around Mile 6-7 when it was empty, which was the plan. I didn’t really think through the fact that that was the only water I had with me though…I was so thirsty by the time I got home!

Overall, the run went really well. I enjoyed myself more at a slightly slower pace. I figure I can push the pace more with the adrenaline of the race, but if not, that’s fine too. This is my first half, and I’m still running longer than ever before!

Recovering with my compression socks:

And my beloved PVC pipe- my hard core ‘foam roller.’ Love it!

Let’s just say that sore legs from weights on Friday+10 miles=can’t move.

And some more scenes from the day-Farmer’s market!

Also, 2 more things.

1. A healthy living COLLEGE conference is in the works! SO EXCITED.

2. Thanks for all your input on self-hosting! I’m still on the fence, but I’m leaning towards taking the plunge. I need to look into it a little more though!

What’s the farthest you’ve run? Are you in college? How do you fuel during long runs?

Miracle Socks

Date: April 8, 2013

Author: astottler

Categories: Uncategorized

Hey all! Looks like I have 2 days to recap, huh? FIRST. Let me just say that after practicing soccer Friday night, I was expecting my calves/front of my shins to be SUPER sore. After I was done practicing, I immediately put on my compression socks and wore them all night. I woke up Saturday morning amazed. Zero pain. My dad wore them for his soccer game for the first time today, and he is a fan as well. I just can’t say enough about how wonderful they are.

Here’s Friday Night’s dinner:Chicken curry salad. It was alright. There was one spice that was really strong that I wasn’t a huge fan of. And it ended up being chock full of walnuts, which my face suffered from. Boo.

Saturday morning was yet another yogurt bowl with sunflower seed butter and cinnamon apple bread. By the way, the cinnamon apple bread is just Whole Foods Gluten Free Cranberry bread, but we didn’t have cranberries, so we used apples. After breakfast, my dad picked me up for one last tune-up before tomorrow’s practice (eeeee). It was actually really painful. Not kicking anything for a long time mixed with lots of kicking all at once is not good. The heel/achilles was starting to hurt, and I bruised my ankle from kicking so much. I went to brunch afterwards for a Mexican feast. No guac yesterday though. 🙁 That’s the only reason I like brunch on Saturdays!Yes that is a biscuit on top of my salad. I have a weakness for biscuits…The salsa was SUPER spicy. I really should remember this…I had to move it out of the way and my mouth was still on fire. Also not pictured was half a waffle with blueberries. It looked something like this:Sorry, this is a disgusting picture. For some reason all my waffle pics are pre-blueberries. Which is boring. I obviously didn’t have peanut butter though.

Saturday was my rest day. It was a pretty low key day. I started a new book, “Homer’s Odyssey.” It’s about a little black cat who is blind. I’m a sucker for black cats. And I decided an inspirational and heart-warming book is just about what I need right now. Still working on that whole “changing my life” thing. And not going to lie, I checked the ending to make sure it doesn’t end with the cat dying, like so many “heart-warming” stories do. It cannot be qualified as heart warming if I am bawling my eyes out!

Other fun from yesterday: I went out to dinner with my sister. I wanted to steal the car, which requires her bringing it to me, so we decided to get something to eat in the process. We went to my FAVORITE restaurant in downtown Palo Alto, Lyfe Kitchen. If you live in the Bay Area, TRY THIS PLACE (Gina). It’s super healthy and delicious. I’ve gotten something different every time, and loved it each time. There are a ton of things I want to try as well.(How cute is this? They have an indoor herb garden.)(Me being a good blogger and taking tons of pictures.)

I went with a quinoa wrap, which included veggies, edamame hummus, and avocado. It was served with hot sauce, which I surprisingly really liked. (I’m not a huge fan of spicy things.)My sister ordered a goat cheese flatbread pizza, which was delicious as well.It had notes of pomegranate, which added a touch of sweetness and extra flavor.

My sister’s boyfriend lives in an apartment with a full kitchen, so I kept hearing stories of all the amazing things they were cooking up on a regular basis. “Oh, today we made scones.” “We had the most delicious quiche yesterday.” “We made the most amazingly rich gelato.”

Needless to say, I invited myself over to crash one of these baking parties sometime. ANd last night was just the time. I didn’t technically invite myself over this time, but it was probably implied. So what was the culinary delicacy on the menu last night? Lemon basil cakes. My sister has a couple of lemon trees outside her dorm, so we picked a bunch beforehand. Somehow I got stuck squeezing all the lemons (although somehow I expected this). My sister was in charge of ordering us around. How perfect. Haha. Me and the sis. SUPER old picture. This is from when I visited her at her freshman dorm! (Ok, so 2 years ago…)

The recipe made cupcakes. We had muffin cups, but no muffin tins. #Collegeproblems. SO we improvised. Good idea?You tell me.

They were still delicious though! It was a lemon cake sprinkled with sugar and lemon zest (zested by yours truly), resting in a basil lemon syrup, topped with fresh whipped cream. Not too shabby!

This morning I was up bright and early to go to spin. I had a quick breakfast before leaving. Since I had to get there early to sign up, I did some ab workout beforehand. Spin was really tough today! i was panting the whole time.

Afterwards, I made a mango run. To Whole Foods.Mangos on mangos on mangos.

Another thing I picked up at Whole Foods? Vanilla Chobani. Can you guys believe I’ve never had Chobani before? For some reason I was under the impression it was higher in sugar than other yogurts, but that’s not true. Whoops. I can’t wait to try it tomorrow! I also picked up a post-workout snack. French toast and scrambled eggs with guac. Let’s be honest, I got teh eggs just so I’d have a vehicle for my guac. More veggies when I was back on campus.

So I had a fun afternoon. When I returned the car to my sister, I somehow managed to lock myself out. Yippee. I got people to let me in the building, but all the RAs were gone (they have a master key) and my roommate was gone for the weekend. Yay. Alllll my homework was in my room. And my phone had very little battery. So what do I do in a situation like this? Walk across campus for froyo. Yes, my bike key was on that keychain. Ugh. I don’t know if I’ve ever had chocolate yogurt at Fraiche, but it was amazingly good. Like it actually surprised me, it was so good.

By the time I got back to my dorm and did some work in the computer cluster, someone was there to let me in. YAY! I was locked out for about 2.5 hours. But it wasn’t the best time to get locked out, because there were very few people in or around my dorm. More veggies. 🙂 Brussels sprouts with garlic and herb laughing cow. Kefir with cereal and sunflower butter.A square of raw dark chocolate.

That all was supposed to be dinner, but it was kind of early and I wanted to see my friends, so I ended up going to dinner later, so now I’m basically stuffed. Social eating is probably not the best for the waistline!

As strange as it is, I have no workout planned for tomorrow morning. Soccer practice/tryouts in the PM. And given my current stamina, I’m gonna need all the strength I can get! See you all later!