Blogmas Day 14: What I Ate VLOG

Date: December 14, 2016

Author: astottler

Happy Wednesday! Can you believe we’re 11 days from Christmas??

Today, I’m linking up with WIAW (thanks Jenn) for Blogmas, but today, we’re doing it a little bit differently. We’re doing it VLOG style.

WIAWbutton

So, enjoy the video! Check it out through the link here.

Details/pictures of what I ate are below!

Breakfast:

Fage 2% yogurt with cinnamon KIND granola, sunbutter, and persimmon sauce. For the persimmon sauce, we put persimmons in the slow cooker with a little vanilla, brown sugar, and a couple of cinnamon sticks. It’s basically like applesauce but persimmons don’t really break down in the same way.

Lunch:

Crackers, cinnamon spice tea, and Creamy roasted carrot, garlic, and rosemary soup. I really like this one. The rosemary is key! (PS: That water bottle is Sip by S’Well and it’s awesome. My tea was hot after 12 hours!)

The soup was leftovers from the previous night’s dinner, so I’ll show a prettier picture.

Swirled with a little creme fraiche. (And avocado toasts.)

Just a note: our carrots were abnormally large, so we had to had to add a little broth. Also, for the “salt and pepper to taste”, we used Trader Joe’s truffle salt.

Snack:

Luna bar+persimmon.

Workout: Crossfit

Strength: Our disgustingly long sets. 20 rep set of squats @ 130#, 20 rep set of strict press at ~47#.

WOD: 7 minute AMRAP of burpees. Ew. I got 77.

Dinner:

We made my grilled peach and chicken salad with goat cheese, but instead of grilled peaches, we used grilled persimmons. Plus a little toast with butter on the side.

Dessert: Leftover bread pudding (this is a family recipe) (the sauce solidified a little bit, but I adjusted the recipe to fix that). With whipped cream, and cinnamon of course!

What is your favorite family recipe?

Blogmas Day 13: The Best Bread Pudding Ever

Date: December 13, 2016

Author: astottler

Categories: Uncategorized

Christmas is in less than 2 weeks. How the heck did that happen??

I have to say, I haven’t felt nearly as festive as of late (well, maybe just after spending all day in the library with Microbiology), but I’m still trying to pack in the holiday activities. And pack in the microbiology. It’s all balance, right?

Saturday I dragged my parents to the mall to do some Christmas shopping/hit all the free chocolate samples.

See’s Scotchamallow, William and Sonoma peppermint park (the best peppermint bark out there), cider, and hot chocolate, and Harry and David dark chocolate truffle.

Still working on the festive lipstick though…it’s…different.

After the mall my family and I went out to see a sort of Christmas movie (Office Christmas Party), and grabbed paninis and salad afterwards.

Sunday morning began with a run by the bay. And a walk for the crazy pup. Turns out, she doesn’t love it when I run away from her while she is walking. I didn’t have lofty pace goals when I set out, but 8:35 felt very comfortable. I picked it up for the last mile. Getting faster, and I’ll take it!

We went to Ike’s, a Northern California famous sandwich spot, afterwards to pick up sandwiches. I split a turkey and avocado on GF bread with my mom. Turns out they use Mariposa bread (the place in the Ferry building) which is insanely good. I think I need to go more often!

But on to the recipe. I actually didn’t want to post back to back Blogmas recipes, but it needs to be this way to work out with other Blogmas scheduling and logistics.

This recipe is an old family recipe. I don’t have a ton of family recipes, but this one more than makes up for that. My Grandpa used to own a restaurant, and he served this family bread pudding there.

My dad and I are both bread pudding snobs now, and turn our noses up at the dry stuff you see at most places. This is REAL bread pudding. Hot, custardy, and drenched in rum sauce. I suppose it would be pretty healthy if you made it with whole wheat bread and skipped the rum sauce, but what’s the point? DO NOT skip the rum sauce.

The Best Bread Pudding Ever

Serves 6

Bread Pudding Ingredients

2c 1/2″ day old bread cubes (8 slices with crust)

2c milk

3T butter

1/4c sugar

1/2t cinnamon

2 eggs, lightly beaten

dash of salt

1/2t vanilla

Rum Sauce Ingredients

1c light brown sugar

1T cornstarch

1/4t salt

1c boiling water

2T cold butter

1t vanilla

4T rum

Bread Pudding Instructions

1.Preheat oven to 350.

2. Place cubed bread in greased baking dish.

3. Scald milk, butter, sugar, and cinnamon.

4. Beat eggs, add a dash of salt, in a medium bowl.

5. Stir in warm milk and vanilla slowly into the eggs so that the eggs won’t curdle.

6. When blended, pour over cubed bread.

7. Place baking dish in pan containing warm water.

8. Bake at 350, about 1 hours, or until knife comes out almost clean.

Rum Sauce Instructions

Comine brown sugar, cornstarch, and salt into a saucepan and stir well.
Add 1 cup of boiling water to the mixture, stir well, and bring to a boil.
Stir constantly for 5 minutes, or until mixture starts to thicken.
Add cold butter, vanilla, and rum. If you don’t want to burn off any of the rum—you’re done! However, I highly suggest cooking the mixture another few minutes, until some of the alcohol burns off.

Top a serving of bread pudding with rum sauce, whipped cream, and a sprinkle of cinnamon!

Moving Through the City

Date: July 31, 2014

Author: astottler

Categories: Uncategorized

Hey guys! Sorry for leaving you guys for a bit-this week has been kind of crazy! I get kicked out of my housing this weekend, so I’m moving to a house across town. On top of that, I’m going out of town this weekend to visit family in upstate New York! I have until my laundry finished to type up this post!

Crossfit wise, I am happy to report I PRed my split jerk this week! And my handstands against the wall are getting worlds better. On the running front, things are looking pretty good as well. Each week is a bit faster than the last one. Running club is making a huge difference, and I consider it the hardest workout of the week. I went tonight, and it was short but sweet because I’m doing my 10 miler tomorrow-since I’m traveling, that was going to be a mess to try to figure out once I’m in NY!

I went to November Project this week, and it was PR week, meaning we run the stairs 13 or 17 times straight for a time. I did the scaled version, but I felt 1000x times stronger than PR week a month ago! Progress!

Food-wise, there’s been some of the same, some more exciting, and some me being lazy and failing to take a picture.

For lunches, I’ve been splitting it into two parts-salad/veggies and then yogurt mix.

Heirloom tomato salad:

Green bean salad:

And then yogurt with sunflower seed butter and blueberries:

As for dinners, I’ve made a couple of “quesadillas.” I couldn’t actually find tortillas at the grocery (what??) so I got some type of whole wheat flatbread thing-it’s pretty similar when filled with cheese and then cooked on a stove.

Round one was stuffed with cheese, tomato, and avocado:

And round two was filled with ground turkey and veggies from the freezer:

On the more exciting dinner front, I went out to dinner yesterday because one of my friends here is leaving this weekend! It was a super late dinner-we met at 9pm. I classily satisfied my post workout hunger before hand with milk from the carton and sunflower seed butter from a plastic fork.

For my main dish, I went with salmon with fried plantains and creamy herb sauce.

And of course, dessert was necessary. I chose the bread pudding, which was delicious (but not as good as my family recipe-I need to make that sometime!).

A perfect end to the night. Needless to say, I’m running on fumes. I didn’t get back until after 11 last night after waking up at 5am for November Project. Hopefully I’ll have some time for some much needed rest this weekend!

Easter 2014-Mind Blowing Revelations in Bread Pudding

Date: April 20, 2014

Author: astottler

Categories: Uncategorized

I hope everyone had a Marvelous Easter!

I definitely had a fabulous day. First thing in the morning, I prettied myself up and drove home for an Easter Brunch with my family.

After a few obligatory pictures, we were off to a fancy hotel for a snazzy Easter feast! I really tried to pace myself this year. My family takes buffets really seriously, and I think I committed a foul by filling up on cookies the previous day and having reduced stomach space today. And yes, we even had a conversation about how you can “win” a buffet. Ohh my crazy family.

First course-I guess I’ll call it the appetizers? Blueberry bread, fancy cheeses, watermelon, a cauliflower salad, and the star-a cheese blintz.

Course 2: real food. Mahi mahi, jasmine rice, a whole wheat roll, and bread pudding part 1. It was a sampler, ya know?

Course 3 was real dessert. My mom and I got some things to share (although you better believe that the bread pudding was all for me.) Super rich chocolate cake, berry rhubarb pie, baby chocolate eclair, a petit 4, and of course, bread pudding. My family certainly has a thing for bread pudding. We have an amazing family recipe (which I should totally post if we make it again. I could even try a healthier version?), and normally I don’t go for other types. But this, my friends, was amazing. It was made with croissants. CROISSANTS! What a revolutionary idea! Seriously, SO good. So buttery and custardy, with a deliciously creamy custard sauce. This definitely stole the show today! After waddling away from brunch, it was time to search for Easter baskets and then embark on the annual Easter egg hunt!

We found them all this year! Nothing like finding little plastic eggs in July…

After some Easter candy and a subsequent food coma, I headed over to my neighbors house for a conversation in Spanish. I had to record it for a class, but it was a lot of fun! Sadly, my understanding of Spanish is far superior to my speaking ability-but that’s just something to work on! Another Easter tradition happened as well-dying of eggs! We didn’t do anything too crazy this year, but I think they turned out quite well!

So now I basically have a million colorful eggs to eat! There are certainly worse problems to have! Somehow I ended up taking them ALL back with me. So expect nothing but eggs on here for the next week. But actually… I hope everyone has a fabulous Monday! What are your Easter traditions?

The Best Ever WIAW

Date: November 26, 2013

Author: astottler

Categories: Uncategorized

Happy Wednesday! One day away from the big day! Let’s get into the celebratory spirit by celebrating food with Jenn.

This is probably the best WIAW I’ve ever had. I’m on vacation in Napa right now, and to say I’ve been eating well is an understatement. I’ve really been embracing balance this trip-I’m not worrying about eating decadent foods, but I’m getting in enough of the good stuff at well that I still feel great, healthy, and happy.

This morning, I slept WAY later than planned. I somehow ended up with a king size bed to myself-I’ve never slept in one before, and I’ll probably never sleep in one again, but it was glorious. Anyways, a later morning meant a light breakfast was necessary before my run, so I had some cranberry bread and blueberries.

I also had a bit of pannetone. We get this every year around Christmas-we don’t exactly like it but we always end up eating it. We got a mini one this year, but it was a bit dry.

Then, it was time for a run! It’s interesting to run in a place I’ve run once every year-I used to think a 3-4 mile loop was crazy long!

I have to make a note about this picture-this is around the spot that I ate pavement a few years ago on a run (luckily I made it through this run in one piece!). The best part? I was running to a restaurant to meet my family for breakfast. My mom snapped this gem of me before she realized I had blood streaming down my leg. Oh, memories.

After cleaning myself up post run, we drove to a small town nearby, St. Helena.

My parents felt lunch was a priority, and after walking through downtown looking at menus, one place in particular place caught our eye. This was SUCH a good choice. My gosh, this was by far the best food I’ve had in a LONG time. We ordered some appetizers to start-grilled artichokes plus brussels sprouts.

These brussels sprouts were mouthwateringly amazing. I have no words. They were by far the best I’ve ever had. They were cooked to perfection, and so, so flavorful.

For my entree, of course I ordered the avocado salad.

The ingredients were so fresh-all this salad was was fresh mozzarella, tomato, avocado, lettuce, olive oil, and salt and pepper. All the flavors were perfect together.

Then, we stopped at one of our all time favorite places-Woodhouse Chocolate. These candies are amazing-the flavors are just so fresh and spot on. The mint tastes just like a mint leaf. And they’re beautiful as well!

Confession: this whole box is for me.

We also tasted some olive oil and picked some out to bring home with us. Then, we stopped in a coffeeshop so I could do some studying. My mom and I both ordered decaf cappuccinos.

The milk foam was good! Not like the amazing cappuccinos I get at school, but a close second, and definitely better than Starbucks!

Before dinner, we stopped in another small town to explore a bit-check out these adorable shops in old train cars!

Then, it was off to dinner at an Italian restaurant that we always go to. We started off with fresh bread and their signature dipping sauce, made with caramelized onions. I haven’t had this much quality olive oil in so long!

For my entree, I ordered the salmon, which came with polenta and steamed spinach. Everything was cooked to perfection. I have to confess, I’m a big salter. But the food this weekend has been just so good and perfectly seasoned that it just doesn’t need anything! It’s amazing to have well cooked flavorful food, a big contrast to dining hall food!

And since it’s vacation, dessert needed to happen. We shared bread pudding with maple rum sauce and a brownie a la mode.

This bread pudding was nearly as good as our family recipe, which is saying a ton! Definitely by far the best restaurant bread pudding I’ve ever had-hot, custardy, with plenty of delicious sauce.

That’s all I have for you today! Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

What do you eat on vacation?