WIAW-Senior Food

Date: October 6, 2015

Author: astottler

Hello! Happy Wednesday-halfway through the week! Woohoo! Today, I’m linking up for WIAW again!

I tried really really hard to take pictures today!

My morning began with a track workout. Not ideal after my long run yesterday, but I needed to time a 400m sprint for a class project by Wednesday so I trudged out there. Prior to the run, I had some crackers and a few pieces of dried mango.

I ran a total of 3 miles per my training plan, including my timed 400m.

Post-run was my typical breakfast-not the most interesting but gets the job done. Plain greek yogurt, banana, and sun butter.

After breakfast, I headed out for my fake first class. I dropped my 9am, but I’m trying to fill that time with other work so I scheduled myself to be at a coffeeshop for the first hour of my day. A latte (decaf) beats biochem right now!

After my morning classes, I headed back to the house for lunch. Today was pho-I wasn’t sure if the noodles were gluten free so I stuck to chicken and veggie toppings. Yum!

After lunch I was craving something a little sweet and carby, so I had a couple of dates and a pumpkin muffin from the freezer.

These are green because I used sunflower seed butter in place of almond in the recipe, and there is a chemical reaction between sunflower seeds and baking soda!

After an afternoon of classes, I pulled some zucchini bread out of the freezer-I totally owe you guys that recipe!

Crossfit today was good-I can now do a burpee with no shoulder problems, which I couldn’t really last week so this is progress! We did 5 rounds of 3 hang power cleans, 5 burpees, and a sled push at max effort, and then took a full recover, repeating for a total of 5 rounds. It’s crazy-I’ve been away from my school Crossfit for 3 months and I feel like everything is different-the people, the equipment-so weird!

Dinner was a salad from Trader Joe’s-rainbow slaw. It was a little plain for my liking-needed some meat! I grabbed a few pieces of chicken from the dinner at the house as they were closing up, plus some mashed potatoes and chocolate mousse.

After dinner, I had some caramel cheddar corn and a gluten free brownie.

After being sick for so long with no desire for anything sweet, I think my sweet tooth is coming back with vengeance! It’s a little frustrating because I feel like after every flare up, I have to relearn how to eat. Hopefully no more stomach flare ups though!

What is your favorite pumpkin product?

I think mine is pumpkin bread but I’m craving a pumpkin chocolate chip bar right about now!

Art Party + Wedding Dress Shopping

Date: October 4, 2015

Author: astottler

Categories: Uncategorized

Hello! Happy Fall! I’m loving the subtle changes in weather and cooler temperatures thus far this fall! I’m currently doing laundry-I have to run 9 miles this morning per my half marathon training plan but I have kitchen clean up in a little bit and despite waking up early to do it, I was running a few minutes late so I didn’t try to fit it in-later today!

School is finally kicking into gear. I already feel so behind, but I’m also enjoying my time here. Sometimes when a phrase from your assigned reading sparks a meaningful 2 hour conversation with your roommate, you just have to roll with it. And sometimes you have to cram in all the experiences unique to your school in your last year. Let’s back up to Thursday.

I went to Crossfit for the first time in weeks! I did a combo of hang cleans and rowing-I skipped the overhead presses. It’s frustrating that my shoulder is still limiting, but I really have to compare how it is week to week and be patient. I could do the press overhead, but brining the bar back down hurt.

After a full day of classes on Thursday and a much needed nap, I tackled a half marathon training run-5 miles on the hills! It felt like perfect fall weather. Maybe I can get behind evening running after all? The timing would work out better, but I love how I feel after a morning run as well! Anyways, since my stomach has been better, my sweet tooth has come back. On the way back, I was thinking about how awesome gluten free brownies would be-specifically a kind with white chocolate chips. I returned at dinner time, and guess what our chef made for dinner? I couldn’t believe it! SO good!

Really though, the entire meal was awesome. Wild rice, salmon, herbed chicken.

After dinner, I hurried to get ready for a truly unique Stanford experience-a party at the art museum on campus. To get in the spirit, my house had a fun get together beforehand that included throwing water balloons filled with paint at canvas to make some art of our own! Sadly the balloon that I threw went through the fence!

We made the trek all the way across campus to the art museum, but it was a nice night! At the event itself, there was food and student group performances, plus access to the museum.

It was a fun time, especially spent with friends.

Big event #2 for the week was Saturday! I started out with a fun spin class, and then headed up to SF as part of my sister’s wedding entourage for her first stab at dress shopping. AHHH.

We arrived to the city in time for lunch at a French restaurant and start with mimosas to celebrate the bride-to-be!

I had delicious roasted chicken with roasted potatoes.

We had some extra time before her appointment, so we stopped into a coffee shop nearby for cappuccinos-Wrecking Ball Roasters. Why is coffee in SF so amazing??

Wedding dress shopping was so surreal. How are we this adult?

She looked beautiful in the dresses and may or may not have found “the one.”

(It should be noted that this is not it.)

The dress she loved could only be held for a few days, so we made a last minute appointment nearby to get a feel for some other looks.

AHH so exciting! TBD on what the dress will be though! What’s important is she got a better sense for what she’s looking for, and now everything seems more real!

While we were driving home, my dad made me some pumpkin chocolate chip muffins from this recipe.

They came out delicious, in a healthy tasting way. But I ran that in a good way! I used sunflower seed butter in place of almond butter, so when I arrived back on campus, this happened:

Gotta love chemistry, my friends.

What pumpkin products have you made/eaten so far??

WIAW Returns

Date: September 2, 2015

Author: astottler

Categories: Uncategorized

It’s been FOREVER since I did a WIAW post. This is mostly because I couldn’t figure out where the link up went. Here’s this week’s link!

So let’s dive in!

Preworkout/breakfast:

I woke up pretty hungry and had my typical pre workout snack of quick bread. I went with cherry vanilla bread over pumpkin because I cut the slices of the cherry thicker than the pumpkin.

At Crossfit, I worked (I say I and not we because I was the only one at the 7am class!) on double unders and reverse pull ups. My double unders are coming along-they’re still a little hit or miss for me for the WODs and I had so much trouble getting my last rep of the drill! The WOD was a long one. A 17 minute AMRAP of 10 kettle bell swings, 10 burpees, and 100m sprint. I got through 7 rounds + 16 reps. That’s 76 burpees. Yuck.

Post-workout, I had a carton of chocolate soy milk to refuel, while driving to take my car in to get the brakes fixed. Again. From there, I hit up a yoga class with one of my favorite teachers. I’ve started making it to more classes this past month and it’s already making a difference in my creakiness. My foot pain was significantly reduced afterwards too (I think because I stretched out my tight calves). This yoga class is also strangely comforting. I’ve been going to the same class (off and on) for 6 years now, and it hasn’t changed a bit, in the best way! In a time when so much is changing and has changed, it’s nice to have a constant.

After yoga, my mom and I stopped by Whole Foods to get some basic ingredients for dinners and I was starving so I grabbed a few bites of french toast casserole from the hot bar. SO GOOD. It’s made with cinnamon challah, and it’s super custardy.

It’s up for debate whether or not I should be eating wheat/gluten right now (because of the whole damaged stomach lining thing) and while this was delicious, I definitely felt sick afterwards. Darn.

Lunch was leftovers of the quinoa, roasted carrot, and grape bowl the other night. Plus a piece of my mom’s cornmeal crust pizza.

Plus a side of carrots and guacamole.

For dessert I had a big spoonful of vanilla fudge ripple frozen yogurt. I’m really liking Stoneyfield’s frozen yogurt. At 120 calories per serving, it’s a healthier option without all the artificial sweeteners.

Speaking of which…snack #1 was a small bowl of mint chocolate Arctic Zero.

I think this flavor has better texture than the vanilla maple. I sort of like Arctic Zero, but it’s definitely not ice cream. It’s essentially flavored water that is frozen. The first ingredient is actually water!

Plus a oat bite. I love Bobo’s oat bars. I highly recommend the peanut butter flavor (which I am allergic to…)!

I spent the afternoon looking up spin music and making a playlist for the class I taught that night.

Snack #2 was a small piece of pumpkin bread. I’m not normally one to snack all day, but it was a pretty active day and dinner wouldn’t be until 8!

I got to spin early (to somewhat beat traffic) so I took my puppy for a short walk. I can’t believe how long her tongue is!

Class went well! I actually found out that afternoon that I will be teaching at my school today (Wednesday) and tomorrow. I was recently hired to teach there, so I’m ecstatic to get started! I was told the students in the classes would be RAs at school for training, so maybe I’ll see some people I know!

Dinner post-spin was basic. There’s really something to be said for basic, simple dinners. A baked potato with Earth Balance (simply because I like the flavor more than butter), broccoli with cheddar, and a scoop of cottage cheese. Plus ketchup for the potato!

Dessert was an actual bowl of the fudge ripple froyo.

That was my day of food! It’s good to be back doing WIAW!

What is the best thing you ate this week?

Freaking Out

Date: October 1, 2014

Author: astottler

Categories: Uncategorized

So, I’ve been freaking out a lot lately.

First, I freaked out over pumpkins. And of course pumpkin products. And while I’m mentioning that, I tried a pumpkin Oreo! It was ok. It didn’t really taste pumpkin-y to me but it wasn’t bad. It tasted like cinnamon graham crackers.

Then, I freaked out over this box my roommate brought in.

Yep, it’s the start of persimmon season! OMG. These are still very early but some are ripe now likely due to the drought. You guys. These are amazing. My roommate lives in farm country and brought back a ton last winter. I probably ate 4 a day. Obsessed.

Now, I’m freaking out over post-season baseball. The game is still going so I don’t want to jinx anything but GO GIANTS! I’m watching alone in my dorm lounge and I screamed so loudly when the grand slam was hit! I’m seriously so happy right now. Fingers crossed this game keeps going well. I’m a huge Giant’s fan and one of my summer highlights was seeing the Giants play in DC.

(AHHHH ANOTHER BASE HIT AND RUN AS I WRITE THIS!!!)

In other news, it’s October! Yay! I’m also obsessed with fall/holidays. My friends and I are thinking of throwing a Halloween party and I’M SO EXCITED! (Sensing a theme here?)

It’s also officially time to bring out the candy bowl.

In other, other news, who celebrated National Coffee Day? I started Tuesday morning with a beautiful latte (and proceeded to be on the edge of over caffeinated. I have zero tolerance now.)

And then that evening, my sister and I had a coffee date and took advantage of free coffee (in honor of National Coffee Day). I most definitely got decaf.

In terms of food, breakfasts have been yogurt bowls. This one had plain yogurt, maple sunflower seed butter (from the Farmer’s Market), and blueberries.

I also made it to the dining hall for lunch yesterday, and had a panini and salad.

And then today, I had class straight through lunch so in the afternoon, I stopped by a cafe and picked up a turkey, cranberry, and brie sandwich.

And my first pumpkin product of fall (I think). This appeared to be a pumpkin and carrot muffin.

In terms of fitness, yesterday evening was Crossfit, where we worked on cleans, and then did the following WOD:

15 minute AMRAP:

5 db push press

5 front squat (I used 95#)

200m run

12 pull ups

Then, this morning I was up bright and early for 7am Crossfit because it looked like a good workout and there was no way I was missing the game this evening for Crossfit.

The conditioning portion was 3 rds:

400m run

21 wall balls

18 push press

15 sit ups

It was a great way to start the day!

In terms of life, I can’t promise how much I’ll be blogging in the near future. I’m taking computer science this quarter for the first time, and it’s quite time intensive. Or more specifically, after coding for 4 hours straight hours, the last thing I want to do is spend more time on the computer. It’s bad. Once I’m working on something, I literally cannot stop. I dragged myself away last night after 4 straight hours to go to Crossfit, and when I got up I could barely see straight! I think this past assignment took me 12 hours. And that’s only the first assignment. Soo we shall see.

Also, my race was supposed to be this weekend. While seeing the emails makes me a little sad, I don’t regret the decision at all. My feet feel 1000x better and I have made plans that should make up for it!

Have you taken CS? Any advice?

Who’s excited for October? Baseball team you’re rooting for?

Pumpkin Emergency

Date: September 27, 2014

Author: astottler

Categories: Uncategorized

I’m aware it’s been way too long since I’ve posted but sometimes life gets in the way, and that’s a good thing! Anyways, Thursday evening after I finished my 3 hour lab, I walked into my room and said “I’m so glad you’re here. I’m having a pumpkin emergency. We need to go RIGHT NOW.”

So, my attempts at waiting to get ALLTHEPUMPKIN until October failed and I gave in. We headed to Trader Joe’s. I proceeded to spend much too much time looking for the perfect pumpkin.

(But he is perfect, isn’t he?)

Then, I proceeded to ~~clear the shelves~~ pick out several items. My noteworthy purchases were pumpkin butter, pumpkin cream cheese (my favorite!), pumpkin spiced pumpkin seeds, and cinnamon apple chèvre (goat cheese). Also noteworthy finds that I restrained myself from purchasing were pumpkin mochi, pumpkin cranberry granola, pumpkin pop tarts, and some really, really delicious pumpkin cranberry crackers (they were the free sample with honey chèvre).

It was so fabulous. In terms of other non-pumpkin life events, Wednesday morning I went to an insanely early spin class which was awesome, and then proceeded to over caffeinate myself with this latte:

Thursday morning I did the Crossfit workout that was posted just in the gym at school, which was pretty quick. I did 10 minutes of 3 snatches at 65% on the minute, and then 9 sets of 250m sprints on the rowing machine.

Friday morning I spun a little on my own, and then went to Crossfit in the evening, which I am already sore from. The strength was back squats with a pause at the bottom, which gets me every time! My legs were already done before the conditioning portion, which was a 15 minute amrap of 20 front lunges (65#), 15 burpees (blech), and 20 single arm dumbbell snatches.

In terms of food, I haven’t broken into the pumpkin THAT much. The pumpkin seeds are delicious, but my current favorite way to eat pumpkin is crackers with pumpkin cream cheese and pumpkin butter. I also tried the pumpkin Chobani-it’s good! I would recommend it.

For breakfast, yogurt bowls are nothing new. Sometimes in my room, sometimes in the dining hall. Always with sun butter.