Blogmas Day 4: Best Moments

Date: December 4, 2016

Author: astottler

Today in Blogmas we’re taking a break from recipes (more to come though) to talk about something a little bit different: being grateful and finding light in dark times. Everyone has been talking about how 2016 was a terrible year, that we’re just waiting to end. While a lot of terrible things did happen this year, life is too short to write off a whole year, or even a whole bunch as we wait for 2016 to end.

As 2016 draws to a close, I encourage everyone to take a moment and look back on the good times in 2016. What’s done is done, but we can shift our mindset. Don’t let the negatives wash out the positives for 2016. Life really is filtered by whatever attitude you take on. I challenge you to look back over the past year and find 10 of your “best moments.” 10 times that you were exhilaratingly happy, times that you were proud, times that you felt loved. Let go of the negativity and hold these 10 best moments close to you as we hop into 2017.

For inspiration, here are my best moments.

A fantastic night with a best friend resulted in a victory in which we won expensive wine.

I finally made it out to some Stanford baseball games. One of my big college regrets was not going to more games, so I made it happen in my final year.

Doing better than expected in the Crossfit Open. I didn’t rank super highly by any means, but I made some big breakthroughs in Crossfit and I think they started to come out in the Open. Plus, good workouts with good people? Always fun.

Going to Seattle for spring break with some of my best friends, and especially this night. I had dark beer for the first time and the beer I had was the best I’d ever had. Still on a beer kick since then!

Running the Cherry Blossom 10 Miler in DC. This race was a dream for me to run, and I was so excited to get in through the lottery. I may have been slightly sick, had a broken foot, and run in sub-freezing 50 mph wind, but it was all totally worth it.

Going to a beach house with some good friends. It was so great to spend time together, get off campus, and unplug (no cell signal there).

Not letting the boot hold me back. I tried to have fun with it and do all the same fun activities with it. I put lights on it. It was my pal, my trusty sidekick. Always find the positive in negative situations.

This is one of the moments where I was just so overwhelming happy. I had a little graduation party during the last week of school, and everyone I care about came. It was incredible. There was a school tradition of walking around campus as a giant group on the last night of the year, ending in the fountain. I had never been since I would usually go home earlier than that, and everyone wanted to go. I had just gotten my boot off and could barely walk, and surely couldn’t make it all the way across campus on foot. My friends literally took turns carrying me across campus. So grateful for them.

Visiting Emily in Nashville when I was living in Tennessee. I had such an amazing time, and it was great to see a friendly face and catch up after some time living alone, plus getting some solid life advice.

My time in Knoxville was incredible. I think one of the best moments was leading an alpaca around, although I don’t have pictures of that for confidentiality reasons. It was one of those moments where I just thought, “this is so freaking cool.” When I came home, I felt like a completely different person thanks to all my experiences there. And it got me even more excited about my future career path.

Coming home from Knoxville and seeing old friends, and getting a good look at this view. I love my city.

Doing something I never thought I’d do: go to a country concert. After living in Tennessee for 5 weeks, I felt pretty qualified to attend a Florida Georgia Line concert in St. Louis. I went alone, but still had a blast. Made me miss TN!

The Giant’s wildcard win, which was incredible and allowed me the chance to take a trip to Chicago (my first time there!) to see my home team play in the playoffs. We can also toss in our Game 3 victory which was the biggest roller coaster of emotions and kept me up past 3 am.

Bottle feeding young goats at Grant’s Farm. Or even just being surrounded my goats. I love goats.

Running the Halloween Race in St. Louis. It was my grand return to racing post-stress fracture, and it’s always fun to do races in new cities.

Yindi (Tasmanian Devil) playing with a pumpkin. This made my morning, my week, and my year. This was the only thing that was going to cheer me up the day after the election.

Wine tasting in Missouri wine country with my fantastic coworkers. But seriously, my zoo buddies were incredible and I miss them dearly!

And finally, having the opportunity to spend hours a week with this fantastic creature. I miss Kali!

What is one of your best moments?

Blogmas Day 3: Pumpkin Gingerbread

Date: December 3, 2016

Author: astottler

Categories: Uncategorized

Welcome back to Blogmas! I hope you’re enjoying reading these posts, because I’m certainly having a blast making them. It forces creativity and a little more special effort to be put into each post, and having new content helps keep things fresh around here. As I type this up today, I’m cuddling under a blanket with my trusty sidekick.

I brought him here, oh, 4-5 hours ago, to help me read microbiology and he has not moved. During that time, I’ve done reading, eaten lunch, made this recipe, and walked the dog. He’s still snoozing. No shame.

Today’s recipe is another idea that popped into my head while walking around the zoo and dreaming of the holidays. My FAVORITE healthy pumpkin bread recipe ever doesn’t actually call for any spices, so I usually add a ton of pumpkin pie spice and cinnamon to make pumpkin bread. But I thought, huh, why not make this into gingerbread? And just add gingerbread spices? I don’t have the original source of the recipe since it’s a print out from many years ago, but I adapted it to make delicious pumpkin gingerbread.

This loaf has a warm flavor that just feels like the holidays. Even though we have yet to get a tree or put up decorations, when that sweet, molasses-ginger scent fills the house, I know it’s December!

This recipe also packs a bit of a nutritional punch: it’s filled with Vitamin A from pumpkin, lots of important minerals from molasses (iron, calcium, magnesium, and more), and it isn’t a sugar bomb.

Pumpkin Gingerbread

Ingredients:

2 1/4 c flour (I used GF but this recipe works well with half whole wheat and half white)

1/2 T baking powder

1 t baking soda

1 t salt

1 large egg

1 egg white

1 can of pumpkin (about 1.5 c)

1/4 c oil (I used avocado but you could use any type of vegetable oil)

1/2 c molasses

1/4 c packed brown sugar

1 t vanilla

2 t ginger

1/4 t nutmeg

1/8 t cloves

1 t cinnamon

powder sugar for dusting (optional)

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Whisk all dry ingredients besides the sugar together in a large bowl.
Stir in wet ingredients until well blended.
Pour batter into a tinfoil-lined loaf pan.
Bake for 50-60 minutes, or until done.
Sprinkle powdered sugar on top. Enjoy!

*Extra points if you have a holiday-themed plate.

Blogmas Day 2: Top 10 Soups to Warm Up With This Holiday Season

Date: December 2, 2016

Author: astottler

Categories: Uncategorized

Welcome to Blogmas Day 2! I hope you enjoyed the recipe post.

As you likely know if you’ve been reading this blog for any appreciable amount of time, I eat a TON of soup. Over the past year, I’ve tried a ton of different and unique soup recipes. Today, I wanted to do a round-up of some of my favorites, plus some I’m dying to try. If you love soup as much as I do, read on!

Butternut squash soup with citrus cranberry relish. This is one of my recipes from my grandma here on the blog, but this classic butternut squash soup gets a little pizzaz with the addition of creme fraiche and cranberry relish.
Leftover Roast Chicken Soup with Roasted Vegetables. This one is a staple in my house, and we’ve made it for guest multiple times. It was a butternut squash based broth, and is packed with flavor. It’s also paleo, if that’s your thing.
Sweet potato, pear, and leek soup with spiced croutons. I also call this my magic soup. It has spicy ginger undertones, and has never failed to quell an upset stomach. Back when I was still sick, I swear every time I was having a flare up, this soup nipped it in the bud. The curry scented croutons elevate this soup to another level. And if you’re feeling lazy, you can take prepared butternut squash or sweet potato soup, blend in a pear, then add spices and croutons. (See how I did it here.
Chicken avocado soup. I’ve made this a few times now, and you really can’t go wrong with avocado, right?
Avgolemono (chicken lemon rice Greek soup). Cooking Light’s take on this Greek soup has tons of flavor, and I love the addition of fresh herbs. I highly recommend adding a bit of feta as well .
Colombian Chicken Soup. This is a fun soup that is really different, and has a lot going on. Toppings include corn on the cob, avocado, and cilantro. If you’re looking for something unique, give this a try!
Skinny Tomato Basil Parmesan Soup (Crockpot). This is the one crockpot recipe on the list. I found this recipe when making my mom a crockpot cookbook last Christmas, and it was a winner. It’s packed with flavor, but also with hidden veggies; cooked into the soup are zucchini and grated carrots.
Sweet potato, kale, and corn chowder. Everyone loves a good chowder to warm up, and this fits the bill. It’s dairy free, but still creamy thanks to blended sweet potato and corn. You’d never know it though!
Spinach and goat cheese bisque. This one is a bit different. It reminds me of Spanikopita, the Greek spinach and cheese pastry. It packs in a whopping 24 cups of spinach, and the croutons are to die for.
Split-pea soup with Portobellos. My picture does not do this soup justice, so definitely click through to the original! I feel like split pea soup can be a hit or miss, an this was definitely not a miss. The mushrooms add a whole lot to the flavor, and this soup is loaded with veggies.

I want to close this post out with a few soups I’m dying to try. Note that pictures are taken from the original blogs, and are not mine!

Cheesy Vegan Potato Kale Soup via Emilie Eats

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Cleansing Vegetable Turmeric Soup via Emilie Eats

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Roasted Garlic and Asparagus Soup via Diethood

roasted-garlic-and-asparagus-soup

Creamy Roasted Garlic, Carrot, and Rosemary Soup via Veganosity

creamy-roasted-carrot-garlic-and-rosemary-soup

Blogmas Day 1: Double Chocolate Cranberry Bread

Date: December 1, 2016

Author: astottler

Categories: Uncategorized

Happy December! This brings us to our official start of Blogmas: a new post every day until Christmas, with fresher than normal content. Expect some recipes, workouts, and hot topics. I wanted to kick off Blogmas with a bang. Or at least with a delicious recipe.

During my hours at the zoo as the holiday season drew closer, I started daydreaming about what types of things I wanted to eat. This recipe popped into my mind: double chocolate cranberry bread. Because who doesn’t love chocolate? The recipe is adapted form my double chocolate banana bread. This recipe packs a kick of chocolatey, tart flavor with minimal nutritional damage (although we know I definitely preach eating whatever the heck you want during the holidays). This bread is an everyday kind of dessert bread, with only 1/4 of a cup of honey as the sweetener, apart from the chocolate chips. Additionally, the cranberries pack an antioxidant punch to help protect against all those pesky germs hovering around this time of here.

So make this for your friends and family, and don’t tell them the secret behind it’s nutritional value. Shhh, I won’t tell!

Double Chocolate Cranberry Bread

Ingredients:

4 ripe bananas

1 egg (or 2 whites)

2 T oil (I used avocado)

1/3 c milk

1 t salt

1 t baking soda

1/2 t baking powder

1 t vanilla extract

1/2 c cocoa powder (I used dark chocolate, hence the color)

1 c flour-I used gluten free multi-purpose, but I’ve made this before with whole wheat pastry flour as well

1/4 cup honey

1/2 c semissweet chocolate chips

3/4 c chopped fresh cranberries

1. Preheat oven to 350.

2. Mash bananas and mix all ingredients besides the chips and cranberries.

3. Stir in chips and cranberries.

4. Bake for 45 minutes at 350 until done.

Enjoy! This is delicious alone, served warm, or with a scoop of vanilla ice cream!

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Getting Better+Cranberry Everything

Date: November 30, 2016

Author: astottler

Categories: Uncategorized

Guys! Blogmas will begin shortly! In fact, this is probably the last normal post before it starts. I haven’t decided how I want to handle day to day things during Blogmas. I might include them in my Blogmas posts, or I may be double posting in a day. We shall see.

I wanted to recap a little food and a little fitness before I take a little trip tomorrow. Blogmas Day 1 and 2 posts are all typed up, scheduled, and ready to go!

All I’ve done fitness-wise this week is Crossfit. I was really excited for Monday’s workout. We are preparing for the open. It’s always interesting to see how different boxes prepare in terms of their programming. At my box last year, we did a ton of longer workouts, like 3 10 minute AMRAPS with a few minutes of rest in between. Where I am now, we’re working on endurance in the form of disgustingly long sets. We’re doing a set of 20 back squats, and a set of 20 presses. This week I did 120 lbs for the squat. It’s crazy how I can be sore from just one set. I was not excited for that. The thing I WAS excited for? We redid 16.2. I was really happy with my performance when I did it the first time. I had just gotten my toes to bar literally the week before, and was so proud of myself for getting through them. 16.2 was 25 toes to bar, 50 double unders, 15 cleans at 95 lbs. If you finish that in 4 minutes, you move on to do that again in 4 minutes, with the weight on the cleans increasing and the reps decreasing. Last time I got majorly tripped up on my doubles (LOL pun sort of intended), and finished with 46 doubles in the first round. My doubles are MILES better than in March, so I was really excited to tackle this again. Not a lot of people Rxed this so they definitely did more rounds than I did, but I really wanted to see what I could do. The doubles were cake. I finished the toes to bar and doubles in 3 minutes, and got through 5 of the cleans before running out of time. That’s 9 reps better than last time, but it’s a big 9 reps because the cleans are time consuming. I was panting and shaky at the 4 minute mark, and not entirely sad to be done with the workout.

This morning I went to 6am Crossfit because I woke up at 4am and could not fall back asleep. When it was 5:15 and I wasn’t even tired, I figured I should just get up and get it done, especially since I had plans to have a more interesting and large lunch than normal. We worked on snatches, and then the WOD was 3 rounds of 15 wall balls, 15 pull ups, and 15 deadlifts (I used 135#). I knew the pull ups would be a little challenging, but I’m not going to baby myself anymore with pull ups in workouts. Unless it’s a crazy number of reps, I just have to suck it up and do it. I’m at a place now with Crossfit where I feel like I’ve made a ton of progress over the past year, and I’ve started to finally get a lot of the movements, so to progress I need to suck it up and Rx the workouts, as slow as it may be, because the speed will come. Honestly, it’s a little bit of a pride issue. At my box, a lot of people don’t Rx the workouts, which is totally cool with me. But it means when I do Rx them, I’m often one of the last people working. But I need to get over that, because it’s the only way I’ll get better.

In terms of food…

Breakfasts:

Flapjacked muffin with blueberries.

Going strong with cranberry here. Yogurt with cocoa powder and maple syrup stirred in, topped with cranberry sauce. Eaten in about 5 minutes between Crossfit and taking my dog for a walk with a friend.

We got talked into signing up for a CSA box while picking up my bib at the turkey trot. It’s cool in that it’s delivered to your door, and you get to pick what you get in your box. I don’t always like Gala apples, but this was delicious. I had it with my typical breakfast (at least for the past 3 months) of yogurt, sunbutter, and cinnamon KIND granola.

Lunches:

Leftover Whole Foods Chicken Lemon Artichoke soup with avocado toast.

Chinese food! I think everyone has that one Chinese restaurant that they’ve been going to forever. My sister just got back from 3 months in Europe, 2 of which were spent in Florence, Italy, and she was craving Chinese food like crazy. I haven’t had it in quite some time as well because I was worried soy sauce (it has a little gluten) would cause me to flare. Now, I feel pretty safe that it won’t, so I was excited as well! I started with egg drop soup, and then got chicken and vegetables with fried rice. And always extra sweet and sour sauce. To put on rice, to put on veggies, to put on chicken. Why not?

Dinners:

My mom and I have been on our own for dinner this week, and we both are fans of simple. We made open faced turkey and havarti sandwiches. Normally we do these with apples on top, but I wanted to try them with cranberry sauce. The verdict? Delicious. We also happened to buy some turkey that was more like carved turkey than deli turkey on accident, so it was perfect with the cranberry sauce! On the side, we sautéed up some zucchini noodles, one day with garlic, and another with smokey salt seasoning blend.

Etc.

After 16.2, I was sort of shaky and light headed, so I needed sugar and protein ASAP. I tried this flavor for the first time while cooking dinner. I saw it in St. Louis but never made the leap. It’s good! Who can complain with chocolate though, right? The cinnamon chocolate works with yogurt.

Trader Joe’s has really delicious peppermint bark. It’s SUPER thick and really hard to break up though! My sister also hadn’t been to Trader Joe’s in 3 months, so she was just a bit excited to go. I was really excited to see GF peppermint jo-jos. I got them, took a bite out of one, and then thought to check the label. They have coconut oil :/ I decided “screw it” and finished the cookie, but thanks to a coconut allergy I can’t eat them since I’m going to react. Darn. Why is coconut oil in everything these days?? At least I have peppermint bark to ease the pain though, right?

My first coffee back in CA! This was good. Search for the best coffee round 2?

Also, note: I am wearing jeans. It’s been at least 10 months since I wore jeans. Mark your calendars.

This dessert right here is part of why I firmly believe there is space for a dessert every day. That bowl is only 140 calories. 120 without whipped cream. A serving of Halo Top, a spoonful of delicious gourmet salted rum caramel sauce from St. Helena (in Napa Valley), what could be better?

And with that, I’m signing off. Check back in tomorrow for Blogmas Day 1!