tea party | Fitness is Sweet

Hello! I have lots of fun to share today. Before that all starts though, I want to share the recipe for last week’s soup!

Zucchini-Watercress Soup

Served with homemade bruscetta. I am loving the green soups this time of year! I also think my lemon phase may be giving way to a Zucchini phase. I really want to just throw grated zucchini into everything, and have yet to put it into anything. Maybe my next quick bread will be zucchini! I’ve had my eyes on this recipe for a while now…

Back to the fun. When Biochem ended on Monday (not sure if I mentioned it, but I finished my semester off campus class Monday! Yay!), I felt like my Senior Spring could finally commence. From here on out, there isn’t anything too crazy. Well, minus the take-home test that needs to happen tonight…

This past week has been awesome. Everything senior spring should be.

Thursday, I went to the SF Zoo with my Ecology and Evolution of Animal Behavior class, and we learned about the animal enrichment program at the zoo. I’m currently knee-deep in animal enrichment right now with a research project, so that was cool to hear about! After the presentation, we had some time to wander around the zoo.

Check out the baby monkey!

Another highlight? Returning after missing lunch at the house to find GF pancakes with REAL maple syrup in the fridge for me 🙂

After walking around the zoo though, my foot was DONE. It’s not the broken part that hurts, just my heel. Plus I’ve acquired some nice shin bruises from the strap.

Friday night was exciting. We had our Special Dinner party at my house, and the theme was “Roth Vegas.” (Our house is Roth.) I invited my sister as my “date” which was fun!

But what I was really excited for? Las Vegas themed….I decided to have a little fun with the boot and make the most of it.

It was lots of fun! We got to play blackjack with giant cards too.

I nailed my first round!

The lights were a ton of fun. I got comments on them all night, and honestly I think I’ll do it in the future if i go to events. Plus, it helps people not step on my foot if it’s crowded. For the lights, I just ordered some LED battery powered fairy lights on Amazon.

The food was delicious as well. Highlights include both gluten free chocolate chip cookies (warm!) and gluten free brownies. I definitely had a cookie stomachache the next day!

Saturday morning, I didn’t do too much which was nice. I did a low key gym workout: pull up work on the assisted pull up machine (I am 10 lbs away from a strict pull up! So close!) and a Blogilates video. I left feeling awesome though!

The main event of Saturday was Frost, an annual concert Stanford puts on. They bring in an artist every year, and this is the first year I’ve gone. The headliner was Fetty Wap. I actually know Fetty Wap! Woop! I haven’t known the artists the past few years. I credit this year’s knowledge mostly to the fact that I’m a spin instructor, and it’s my job to know exactly what music is up at the moment. I like Fetty Wap, but I think a lot of his music sounds the same. The opener was Sage the Gemini, which I also knew thanks to spin. Hard to listen to the music without picturing a hill climb!

On the way to the concert, my friends and I stopped at Trader Joe’s to get a little picnic. For some reason, my friend wanted carrot juice (you could bring in unopened liquids.) Pretty sure we were the only ones bringing that in! On the menu also was bread, cheese, avocado, strawberries, and chocolate. We had picnic blankets, and settled in a spot in the shade to start. I actually ran into another friend on the way in, so I enjoyed time with her as well!

I thought Sage the Gemini was really good. It’s weird to go to a rap concert though; the only concerts I’ve been to are punk rock types of things.

We moved closer to the stage for Fetty. I didn’t know the lesser known songs, but it was fun all the same!

Sunday morning, I went to a spin class in a studio downtown. It was good to get the blood pumping! Afterwards I made the highly questionable decision to walk to Bare Bowls for an Acai bowl. It was only .3 miles, but that was definitely too far for a boot, which I realized about halfway there!

I got an mini classic acai bowl without the granola since it has almonds. It’s made with cashew milk, but I think that’s actually ok!

The honey on top is key. I definitely need to make it back soon!

The main event for the day was an engagement tea for a friend. I get major #wingmancred, and I am so happy for her! I picked out a little cookbook for her.

The tea place was super cute!

They even had a GF afternoon tea option! Warm GF scone with clotted cream and jam? Count me in!

Strawberry sorbet for dessert.

It was so great to catch up with everyone!

But now it’s back to reality. I’m currently slogging through a Genetics take home test/banging my head against a wall. I cannot believe I will be a college grad in 3 weeks! Where did the time go??

Also, stay tuned, because I have a little mini-series coming up on my health and fitness journey through college, to where I am now! #TransformationTuesday

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?

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Post-Biochem Fun

Trail Fail and Microwave Cake