Moved In

Date: September 21, 2014

Author: astottler

Well, I’m all moved into my dorm and sort of ready for school to start! I also only sort of have Wifi so there’s that…It has been so nice to catch up with friends these past couple of days!

In terms of fitness, I went to my last class at my home Crossfit on Saturday morning. The workout was tough, and I barely made the 20 minute time cap! It was the following:

10-1(start with 10 reps of each, then 9, then 8, etc.)

overhead squats

chin ups

-Between each round: 5 strict press and 10 pistols

I used 55# for the overhead squats and 45 for the press. I’m definitely sore today!

This morning, in lieu of a 9 mile run, I took the opportunity to squeeze the last bit out of my gym membership by going to one of my favorite spin classes, and it was fantastic!

Foodwise, I just had my first dining hall meal. My closest dining hall this year is known for having the best food, and it’s also nut free! They even have sunflower seed butter!

Dinner was veggies with a vegetable pot pie:

Plus plain yogurt, rice chex, raisins, and sunflower seed butter.

In terms of other food, brunch after spin was from Whole Foods because I needed to buy dairy there. I had huevos rancheros and fruit.

Breakfast the other day was eggs and berries-I love this plate! It used to be at school but I ended up taking my DC dishes to school.

The other noteworthy food was roasted plantains that we made at home. My parents ate them with brown sugar and cinnamon, but I went to sea salt route because they were cooked in butter and it seemed just right!

In foot news, I’m trying to treat them well. One thing that was recommended to me was getting a night brace. This keeps your foot in the flexed position so there isn’t so much stiffness in the morning. The one I got is basically just a sock with a strap that connects the knee and toes. I sort of feel like it’s a foot straight jacket. And I’m sure some night I’ll get up in the middle of the night and run into someone in the hallways, and said person will think I’m insane.

But it seems to be helping!

In the next few days, look for another recipe post and a little tutorial on watermelon cutting!

How was/is your dining hall food?

Guacamole Salad

Date: September 18, 2014

Author: astottler

Categories: Uncategorized

I sincerely wish I had an amazing and exciting recap for you guys, but in reality all I’ve really done this week is start packing for school. Somehow I accumulated an insane amount of junk in my dorm room last year, so the goal this year is to simplify and streamline what I’m taking! I guess as a consolation for my boring life right now, I have a recipe to share today! I’m trying to make more of an effort to actually keep track of the recipes I make! On a related note, I FINALLY gave my recipe page a much needed facelift, so check it out!

In other photo worthy food news, I’m enjoying the last of the summer’s figs! I LOVE figs, and I’ve had a lot of fig eating to cram into the last 2 weeks I’ve been home in CA. Yesterday morning, I enjoyed them with fancy vanilla yogurt.

If it’s in a jar, it’s automatically fancy. Fact. But then the jar was tiny and I couldn’t fit enough figs in, so I poured everything into a bowl and topped it with sun butter. Perfection.

Minus the recipe, nothing has really been photo worthy. This may have something to do with a new Costco purchase-sea salt caramel and chocolate pretzel clusters. Oh yes. Buy them. Or don’t. It’s a huge bag and so, so addictive.

One thing photo worthy I suppose is my shoes.

I think I kind of like that model of shoes, you think? I decided to take a family photo because my oldest two pairs are going off to the Goodwill. I actually got a new pair when I went to the running store because my foot doctor told me I needed good shoes. After a full running/walking/shape of my foot analysis, they brought out…the same shoe I’ve loved for years. Seriously-I’ve worn these shoes since my sophomore year of high school (almost 5 years if you’re keeping track). I had no idea they were the same model when I got my first pair of this year’s version, and was shocked to find the new shoes I had loved were the same as my old ones I loved! I’ve had at least 3 running store workers analyze me and pick out the same shoes so I think it’s safe to say they’re good for me!

Ok. I promise I’ll get to the recipe now! This recipe is a knock-off of one of the Sweetgreen’s salads I had all summer. I don’t even feel a little bit bad about copying their recipe given the nearest Sweetgreen is 3000 miles away. This salad is based off of the Guacamole Greens salad they had, which was the one I got most often. I tasted like fresh guacamole!

Here’s their version:

And mine:

Guacamole Salad

Serves 3

Ingredients:

8 oz cooked chicken (two small breasts)

1 medium tomato

1/4 c chopped cilantro

1 small red onion

1.5-2 avocados

1 c crushed tortilla chips

3 handfuls of lettuce

For the dressing:

3 T lime juice

2 T olive oil

1 t salt

1/2 t pepper

Shred the chicken, mash the avocado, mix up the dressing, and toss all ingredients together.

Throw on a sombrero and enjoy!

WIAW-Lately

Date: March 11, 2014

Author: astottler

Categories: Uncategorized

Hey guys! It’s Wednesday and I’ve officially on that dead week grind. I have an infinite amount of studying to do before Monday, but a collection of delicious things from the past few days is a great way to break it up! Thanks as always to Jenn for hosting!

To be perfectly honest, I have not been super inspired with my blogging lately. I may be having a mid-life blog crisis. What is the purpose really of my blog? Should I make my writing voice more formal? Is this really a “healthy living blog”? What does that even mean? What valuable content can I contribute to the vastness that is the Internet? I’m also starting to think about myself and how to be a better person. I think that’s something we can all work on! It’s interesting because I have a post from sometime around this time last year talking about a similar thing. Although of course it sounds silly looking back on it now just in the way I worded everything!

I suppose my current contribution to the Internet is my food as a college student. Which means easy and microwave friendly, more often than not! And many times lazy-I am not ashamed of ziplock bag pictures! (Ok, maybe I am.)

This is an easy breakfast that never gets old. An orange and scrambled eggs with interesting cheese. Microwave scrambled eggs are SO easy, and are indistinguishable from stove scrambled eggs. And a quality cheese completely makes the dish.

Brunch of a whole wheat waffle and a little bit of yogurt+fruit.

Dining hall dinner-Indian food! I admit, I ate virtually zero vegetables this day, and normally I would have a bed of spinach in there, but some days I’m just really not feeling it.

A ziplock bag lunch which is always a winner, and so, so easy. Simply microwave (or bake if you’re fancier than I am and have an oven) a sweet potato, season, and top with salsa! I have little guacamole packets which I put on at lunch time. I also packed some hardboiled eggs for protein. To season, I used this amazing salt blend:

This is SO GOOD. It has a very smoky flavor, and reminds me a bit of barbecue sauce.

This dining hall dinner was a complete WIN. I seriously lucked out. Salsa baked chicken, cilantro brown rice, salad, and the star of the show-roasted cauliflower and carrots! I don’t know why the dining hall always insists on steaming cauliflower, so this was quite the treat! I definitely brought back some to pack in my lunch for the next day.

My yogurt mess really is quite the mess in this picture because it rode around with me all day. It is reduced berries with sunflower seed butter and plain yogurt-my favorite!

If you haven’t tried dried persimmons, this should be a priority in your life. We all know I was a tad obsessed with fresh persimmons this fall, and while these definitely aren’t the same, they seem to disappear quite quickly!

In other things that you should go out and buy: this. Now. Run. It’s delicious! Everything I could have hoped for and more. Creamy goat cheese, sweet and fruity blueberries. Amazing.

An unexpected treat-dinner in the form of a care package from home! Vegetable soup and a corn and cheese cake. There was another cake as well but it seemed to disappear before the picture was taken! Yum!

I guess one contribution I have to the healthy living world right now is my attempt at a microwave St. Patrick’s Day cookie. Which may actually be made in the oven if I can get the microwave version to turn out first (it’s lower commitment!)

I did make one major mistake though. Check out the results:

Pre-“baking.” (Wouldn’t it be awesome to have an Easy Bake Oven in a dorm room??)

Post-“baking.”

These don’t really look like St. Patrick’s Day cookies, do they? Let me explain.

We already know about the Mystery Bread I’m obsessed with. (Which is now solved, by the way!)

See the green things? Those are sunflower seeds. Sunflower seeds react to turn green under certain baking conditions. I wanted to make green sunflower seed butter cookies. I SWEAR I thought it was baking powder that caused the reaction, but I failed to check before producing marvelously un-green cookies. It’s actually baking soda. So attempt #2 will come soon! The good news is, they tasted great!

On the fitness front, today I did one of the “girls” at Crossfit-Helen. This is 3 rounds of a 400m run, 21 kettle bell swings, and 12 pull ups. This one is harder than it sounds! I’m happy to report that I beat my last time by about 20 seconds, but I used much less assistance (a thinner band) on the pull ups!

Tomorrow, I’m supposed to run 6 miles but I’m considering cutting it to 5. Today is my heaviest week of running on my training plan (4,6,4,12 miles), and despite following the training plan twice already, I’ve never actually fit in all the runs for the heaviest week! My calves are feeling a bit tight so I might cut it to 5 and then play it by ear. Lots of rolling out will be happening tonight between studying though!

Have a great week!

Any fun St. Patrick’s Day Traditions?

A Day in the Life of a Crazy College Student

Date: February 26, 2014

Author: astottler

Categories: Uncategorized

I’ve never done a day in the life post, so you guys have never had a chance to see what my life really is like besides the fact that I eat! This is Tuesday-I decided it was a sort of typical/interesting day (AKA I had more than one class so I did more than homework all day…), although I normally work out in the mornings on days that aren’t Tuesday.

6:30 My alarm goes off. In true blogger fashion, my first thought is to take a screenshot for my ‘day in the life’ post.

There was some not so logical thinking that followed. I think I remember thinking I woke up 10 minutes early…which clearly wasn’t the case…

6.5 hours of sleep is not enough. Thanks to my reminder I put up right before bed, I grab my wallet and put it in my backpack for COFFEE.

6:40 Eat breakfast. I stir in a few scoops of yogurt into leftover blueberry banana oats. It’s dark since my roommate is asleep. I debate flash or no flash.

While shoveling food down my throat, I prep lunch which means microwave a sweet potato and throw things in a tupperware.

I get dressed. Tuesdays are always a struggle because I have to wear athletic clothes for the morning but want to look decent. Usually I do leggings and some type of nice t-shirt and running shoes. I debate looking cute, then remember it’s week 8 and no one cares. I go with shorts, a Crossfit shirt, and a jacket.

This is my “it’s early and I’m sleep deprived” face. It’s amazing how my definition of early has changed…it was only 7:10!

This is my bike. I ride it everywhere. It has one functional brake. Which is fabulous.

Bike across campus to the new gym. Start training the early Quidditch group who has 9am class.

They do great as per usual. Less people showed up for weightlifting today because it’s during midterms I suppose. Rest of the team comes at 7:45.

One of my proudest moments is when my sister’s super fit boyfriend struggles to even do a push up. He normally can do them with her sitting on his back.

8:50. Quidditch finishes up conditioning: 10 minutes on the minute of 5 burpees and 5 push ups each minute, plus modifications. As soon as they are done, I run out for coffee.

My barista asks where I’ve been. I don’t admit I’ve been cheating on my coffeeshop.

So happy for my coffee. Normally training quidditch wakes me up and energizes me but it just wasn’t happening today.

Read book for my 5 page paper due on Thursday (yeah…) while drinking coffee.

9:30 am: Nutrition class starts. Today we learn about minerals-sodium, iodine, iron, etc.

10:50: end of class. Somehow manage to get to my next class without being killed my crazy bikers.

11am: Organic Chemistry. We have to take THREE quarters of Ochem, plus 2 labs. This is it for me! We continue carbohydrates.

12:15 class ends. I remember how there were way fewer oats leftover than I thought so my breakfast was small and I am hungry. But I check my email, and then sit in for another 50 minutes of Organic Chemistry, courtesy of my lab lecture. Luckily, it’s in the same room and I don’t have to move.

12:20-1:10 Ochem lab lecture.

That’s an iClicker. We have to answer questions for our participation grade.

1:10 Lunchtime! I bike over to the nearby cafe that I like to hang out in and do work. I discovered quiet tables upstairs that are almost always free.

Then, I dig into my packed lunch. I am grateful that my sweet potato was extra large today. Lunch is cottage cheese, a diced sweet potato, salsa, and guacamole.

I pull out some homework and work for a bit before deciding to head downstairs for a little study treat.

Pumpkin bread! Then I continue to have an abnormally productive afternoon. I was expecting to go to office hours for my Ochem problem set, but I finish it without too much trouble.

I also finish reading my book, and type up and schedule my WIAW post.

4:05pm Change in the bathroom and put hair up in preparation of Crossfit.

4:15 Bio section. No picture because we’re learning reproduction and well…

5:10 Bio section ends late. I bike super speed to my car and rush to Crossfit (aka I hit very bad traffic).

5:30 Crossfit starts. I arrive just as we start running for warm up. Today’s workout is sets of 2 heavy jerks. My shoulder finally feels better! I don’t super push it, and only get up to 110 pounds which still feels pretty heavy right now.

The WOD is 50 push ups, and then 6 rounds of 15 kettle bell swings and 25 double unders (jump rope). I skip double unders and do 75 single jump ropes, finishing in around 13:00. I am glad we didn’t do lots of heavy weights today. I am very sore from Monday’s weight lifting and sprint drills I did on my own. My shoulders are also very sore, but in a different place than normal and I’m still sort of confused about that…

I leave, only to hit more bad traffic.

6:50 Arrive on campus. I decide to go to a different dining hall on campus…mine from last year! I haven’t been except for brunch. It closes at 7…Things are kind of picked over, but I go with the classic dining hall Asian style meal-tofu and green beans in curry over rice and spinach. Plus a few beets and parsnips for good measure.

It is bland and I am kind of disappointed. But there is one saving grace:

They had a waffle maker out at dinner! That’s new! And I’m kind of obsessed with waffles but never get them. Halfway through my meal I decide I need one and dash in right as they close the doors, making the very last waffle of the night. Bonus-they’re whole wheat!

I put butter on my masterpiece, plus some jam on the side for dipping (yes, this is a weird thing to do). But that way I only need a minimal amount of the sweet stuff-maybe half a tablespoon? The rest of my dinner turns into ‘shove spinach in my mouth to balance my waffle.’

Return to dorm. Still slightly hungry so have my new nightly habit-a Quest bar. I have a love/hate relationship with Quests and their nutritional info, but it’s passing as a dessert for my right now.

7:30-8ish: Look at Ochem lab homework for Tuesday. Decide it seems doable and decide to hold off on it until tomorrow.

8:30pm: Have a phone conversation with one of my best friends from high school. Then wish my life was more exciting, but realize this is the reality of week 8.

9pm: Sort of hungry so eat a snack.

9:30pm: regret snack because now I have a stomachache. Decide typing up this post is of utmost importance, even though it won’t go live until Wednesday night.

10:10pm: Finish blog post and realize I can sort of sleep in tomorrow so I should spend a decent chunk of time tonight on my paper.

12:30ish? Bed? Hopefully?

WIAW-College is Hard

Date: February 25, 2014

Author: astottler

Categories: Uncategorized

So…college is hard. I would absolutely love more sleep, but during week 8, that doesn’t always happen. Week 8 is something only quarter system students can truly appreciate. And yes, everyone knows exactly what week it is and the perils of each week. Thank goodness for a little foodie break! Thanks as always to Jenn for hosting this mid-week party!

I’ve had some delicious food in the last couple of days. You’ll notice that nothing is from Tuesday…I’m planning a day in the life post for that day! So-here we go!

A dining hall breakfast of COFFEE, plain Greek yogurt with fruit and granola, and a few bites of steel cut oats because our dining hall has them and I’ve never tried them.

It was Parent’s Weekend last weekend. Which meant a large vegetable delivery. And a delicious lunch out.

A panini with avocado, cheese, and tomato on whole grain bread. Take a second to look at that beauty,

Lots of roasted veggies for snack/dinner. The brussels sprouts are sesame brussels from PaleOMG. They have a curry dipping sauce, which I liked the flavor of, but I think next time I’d try it with a lighter base, such as avocado, or greek yogurt.

And since I had all those veggies for snack and after Crossfit I needed to go to the store and I just HAPPENED to find a parking spot in front of my favorite ice cream place….yeah, this was necessary!

Sunday was my long run day, now that I’m officially in half training! Since I AM officially in half training, I think it’s time to take my pre run meals more seriously. I’ve kind of been just eating whatever before them…I had some banana blueberry oats with sunflower seed butter.

Which took a long time to digest….and then I got brunch….and then another snack…so I didn’t start my run until around 5. It was 8 miles, and it went surprisingly well. My feet hated me, but that’s that…I’m trying to keep my paces on my long runs below 10:00 as much as possible, unless there are crazy hills so I was right on track!

Sunday night after a long couple of hours of sorority requirements, I was talking to my sister and she said “You sound like you need a boba.” So we drove to her newest favorite place, and I had a jasmine milk tea. Sometimes you do need a late night boba!

Monday morning I thought it would be a fabulous idea to do a track workout, despite my long run being Sunday. Which is another way of saying I didn’t think. My legs were definitely a little heavy, so that schedule is going to have to change as my long runs get longer! For breakfast, I had a yogurt bowl, plus half a lemon zest pancake because I really wanted to try it. It was good! But subtle.

I had some leftover oatmeal from Sunday morning, so I brought a little with me to put on top of my yogurt bowl for some extra flavor and texture.

I must be channeling my inner Ashley– not only did I have an avocado and cheese panini, but I also made a Mexican style lunch with sweet potato, asparagus, cottage cheese, salsa, and guacamole. All in tupperware with a kiwi.

That’s a small step up from eating out of a plastic bag, right?

Have a great week everybody!

What’s one of your favorite food combos right now?