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College Food (again)

Hey guys! Who’s excited for the weekend? I know I am! I feel like my weekend started a little early-I only have 1 class Friday, and my homework is already finished. Who am I? Ohh week 2…

Yesterday morning I started the day with a 5 mile SUPER hilly run. For some reason I was really dragging all day, despite sleeping in (relatively-I woke up at 7:40). But here are some of my delicious meals!

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Fancy shmancy yogurt. In a ceramic pot. You better believe I’m keeping that! One of the reasons I’m most excited to do the Project is because it’s an excuse to eat really high quality yogurt. No complaints here!

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A packed lunch-egg salad with the mayo and mustard from the tea party, plus dining hall eggs, as well as Brussels Sprouts with Garlic and Herb Laughing cow. Not going to lie, the Brussels could have been cooked a little bit more!

I had a doctor’s appointment for my feet/tendonitis. I got some exercises to try to help, so I guess we’ll see. I was doing them in chem lab today while I was waiting around. Eh. We’ll see. He also adjusted my custom inserts that I never wear because they cause extreme pain when I wear them, but I’m not terribly optimistic about that!

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Snack of an orange and chocolate chip banana bread. I’m kind of getting to the end of my freezer supply of this, which makes me very sad.

I went to weightlifting class again. Everyone there is super nice. Apparently they’ve been watching me in Crossfit and trying to get me to come for a while now! I only (ONLY, right??) had an hour because I had class, so I just worked on clean and jerks the whole time. For some reason, the weight lifting class goes by kilograms, instead of pounds. Which means without making calculations, I have no idea how much I’m lifting. I think this is good for me-I sometimes tend to overthink things and psych myself out. I ended up doing a ton of sets only 2.5 lbs away from my 1 rep max, and only missing the last couple at that weight-although I missed some jerks, I made all the cleans but the last 2.

The downside? I haven’t done a ton of Olympic lifting lately, like I had in the past, and my knee isn’t liking catching heavy weights in a super deep squat, so I’m kind of out of commission for a little bit. I skipped Crossfit because I can’t row (the workout for the day), because compressing my knee that much is a little iffy. I’ve been icing and taking care of it-I went to a spin class this morning (it was nice to not just be doing my own thing!), and did a 3.7 mile run this afternoon, both of which felt fine and loosened it up a bit. I think I need to just wait this one out and hope it’s just pain from getting back into it.

ANYWAYS, here was dinner: they actually had meat, which was nice.

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(Wow, I didn’t realize how blurry this is-that’s kind of embarrassing…)

My hall also had a late night guac party, which I of course participated in.

After spin this morning, I decided it was going to be a long day, and I didn’t go to bed as early as I would have liked, so I got coffee.

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I’m on a first name basis with the barista, and my order was finished almost before I was done ordering.

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Overnight oats made with Siggi’s and a minimal amount of milk. These were sticky and thick-note the spoon sticking straight up. I topped them with a little sunflower seed butter and wondered if they would hold me over until next week. Talk about stick to your ribs! My meals have definitely filled me up quite a bit lately-like lunch.

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This packed lunch was almost entirely dining hall food-a couple of hard boiled eggs made into egg salad, leftover yams from last night with a drizzle of honey, and store-bought brussels sprouts with white cheddar. So good. So filling!

I had Ochem lab all afternoon. I find labs stressful, but my result ended up being good, and the TA took a picture of my spectra.

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Ignore my reflection in the background-the printers weren’t working so we had to take pictures of the machines with out phones.

Organic chemistry friends out there-any guesses as to what this is? 🙂

After lab, I realized my Garmin was dead, and I wanted to do a tempo run, so I charged it super fast while eating a snack.

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One thing I recently realized is that when I run first thing in the morning, I don’t do well on an empty stomach-I almost always get stomach cramps. Kinda counterintuitive, isn’t it? I’ve found these Thinkthin Divine bars are perfect-I can eat one and go straight out. I haven’t really worked out yet what I could eat before morning runs in the next month-maybe oatmeal? I’m not sure.

My run went pretty well-at the 1.83 mile point, where the road changes, I picked up the pace, although I don’t think I held it the whole time, but it was still faster (it was getting dark and hard to read my Garmin). It definitely felt easier than the last time though-I felt like I could have kept going, and I wasn’t dying.

I ended up turning back a little sooner than the full loop-I didn’t need the extra .6 miles and my feet were starting to feel a tad brick like so I just picked up the pace a little and cut across campus. Plus, there were no cars so that was a plus!

I kind of planned on going to yoga tonight but I saw it was subbed as pilates, so I sat back with a couple of ice packs and Glee. I ended up making dinner while rolling around in my desk chair. There are advantages to living in a dorm-pretty much everything is within arms reach, plus  a little bit of rolling!

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Thai tomato coconut soup, topped with cheddar. Black cherry quick bread from the freezer topped with sunflower seed butter. Plus some carrots on the side, as well as a couple of cuties.

Not going to lie, I’m having the biggest chocolate cravings right now. But guess what I don’t have in my room? Chocolate! For some reason by the end of the week I crave more sweets and carbs.

Speaking of carbs-as it turned out, I should not have had that coffee this morning! We were discussing carbohydrate metabolism in my first class of the day, which is basically my favorite thing ever, and I was insanely excited anyway. Let’s just say I was wired. I’m pretty sure I don’t ever need coffee on the days when I have Nutrition first, despite the fact that it’s an earlier class time because I have my own excitement to carry me through!

Despite today’s excitement though, I was pretty disappointed at the depth at which we looked at carbohydrate metabolism. We just talked about digestion and absorption, no biochem. Boo. I <3 biochem.

Ok, I need to do laundry/pack for ski trip/watch lecture videos/do dishes/clean my room. Oops.

Also-I may or may not have internet or cell service in the mountains, so I will get back about anything once I get back!

What excites you?

Black Cherry Quickbread (AKA NOT Pumpkin Bread!)

Happy Monday! I am one day into this quarter! I’m taking 15 units this quarter, but looking at my schedule, I feel like I’m never in class! Sections haven’t started, and I’m sure my time will fill up, but I’m hoping to have more time on my own to study. 

I started my new quarter meal plan today and it’s working SUPER well for me. I was worried I’d be hungry, but that was not the case at all! I’ll save talk about that for tomorrow’s post. Meanwhile, I want to give some life updates-lots of new things for me this quarter!

Things you may not know about me-I’m sort of obsessed with Spanish. I loved it in high school, and I have an extensive Spanish music selection. You better believe those songs make it onto my workout playlists! My prom date my senior year even brought me a sombrero because prom was on Cinco de Mayo. Best. Date. Ever. 

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Thing 2: I played violin for a decent chunk of my life-5th grade through my junior year of high school. 

So…I’m joining the mariachi band! I’m actually really excited for this-I was looking for something to get involved in this quarter, and this seems perfect! Everything is directed in Spanish though…and my Spanish is a tad bit rusty…But I’m sure I’ll figure it out! (Not to mention my violining is rusty…)

New on the fitness front-I have my audition playlist! I practiced it this morning and it was awesome! I also practiced verbally teaching the class-at least mentally. I left feeling completely pumped up and excited! I followed spin with my treadmill workout-this was hard! I don’t always eat before morning workouts depending on how hungry I am when I wake up, and since I didn’t eat anything, I think I kind of ran out of steam by the end of the run! Aaaand my awesome feeling feet hurt again. At least it’s just one foot. And they might as well hurt-I have a doctor’s appointment this week!

Also new on the fitness front-I’m teaching weight lifting to the school quidditch team, and the first session is tomorrow morning! I can’t wait! In terms of my own weight lifting-I’m trying the weight lifting class at my Crossfit tomorrow-I’m a little bummed I’m doing it tomorrow just because the Crossfit workout seems like a really good one, but I’m excited to try something new! A lot of the Crossfit workouts at this Crossfit (vs my home one) just don’t click with me, so we’ll see how this is!

Now for the recipe!

In preparation of coming back to school, I wanted to have some quick breads frozen. I really wanted to make pumpkin bread, so I set out to do that. Halfway through mixing it up, I realized we didn’t have any pumpkin! How is that possible?? I tried to find anything remotely the same consistency-squash, frozen mango? Literally the only option was frozen cherries! So I figured, why not? I always wanted to try making blueberry bread in a similar way-mashing the blueberries (next time!), so i went for it with the cherries, and the result was successful! 

Black Cherry Quickbread

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Ingredients:

1.25 c flour

1 c whole wheat flour

.5 T baking powder

1 t baking soda

1 t salt

1 large egg

1 large egg white

.25 c canola oil

1 t vanilla

1 t cinnamon

1.5 c black cherry puree

.25 c brown sugar*

2 heaping spoonfuls brown rice syrup*

*The recipe calls for a cup of packed brown sugar as the only sweetener, but I reduced this quite a bit, and the bread I made wasn’t that sweet, so feel free to add more or less, or add chocolate chips!

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1. Preheat oven to 350. Line 9 by 5 loaf pan with nonstick foil or cooking spray. 

2. Stir up flours, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt in large bowl.

3. To make cherry puree-thaw cherries in microwave, drain the excess liquid, and then blend in a blender.

4.Whisk together remaining ingredients, including cherry puree.

5. Stir together wet and dry ingredients until just mixed, and pout into loaf pan.

6. Bake for 50 minutes of until toothpick comes out clean. 

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Feel free to experiment with other fruits, such as blueberries or mango!

I have to say, quick breads are by far my favorite thing to bake, and they always seem to come out well no matter what crazy things I throw in there!

What is your favorite thing to bake? What’s something new you want to try this year?

On the Fourth Day of Christmas My True Love Gave to Me…

4 Holiday Starters!

3 recipes

2 workouts

and 1 amazing family

 

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Calling this a recipe is kind of a crime, given how simple it is! As some of my longer time readers may know, last year I would often eat a warm banana mashed with cocoa powder for dessert. I thought-why stop at cocoa? These could be so much more! These little holiday bites come in chocolate peppermint, gingerbread, original cocoa, and pumpkin spice. Why starters? While delicious on their own, these would be amazing in so many things-stirred into oatmeal or yogurt, in smoothies, as a dip for graham crackers or cookies, on toast, made into a pie-when chilled, the peppermint cocoa and cocoa thicken into an almost fudgey texture-the possibilities are endless! The best thing is, with so little sugar (the gingerbread has molasses, but otherwise there is no sugar), these sweet treats could be enjoyed any time of day. 

To make them, microwave a banana for about 30 seconds, or until hot and soft. Then, mash up with the additional ingredients. For a smoother texture, throw them in the blender! Since these have no eggs, the spices can be added to your taste. 

Original

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1-1.5 T cocoa powder (or dark chocolate cocoa powder, which is what I used)

That’s it!

Gingerbread

This is a bit spicy, so add a little less of the spice if you prefer a milder flavor. 

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1 t molasses

1/4 t ground ginger

1/4 t cloves

pinch of all spice (or nutmeg+cinnamon)

 

Peppermint Chocolate

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Although this is banana based, I promise all the only flavors that come across are cocoa and mint! This would also be delicious made with fresh mint blended in, instead of extract.

1.5 T cocoa powder-or more to taste

1/4 t peppermint extract, or to taste

 

Pumpkin Spice

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3 T pumpkin

1/4 t vanilla

1/2 pumpkin pie spice

1/2 t cinnamon

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Enjoy!

 

On the Third Day of Christmas My True Love Gave to Me

3 new recipes!

2 workouts

and 1 amazing family.

I don’t post a ton of recipes, but since we’re approaching my blogiversary, it was time to get to work in the kitchen! I love low sugar recipes, and these lack the sugar without the flavor. Enjoy!

 

Double Chocolate Banana Bread

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Ingredients:

4 ripe bananas

1 egg (or 2 whites)

2 T oil (I used canola)

1/3 c milk

1 t salt

1 t baking soda

1/2 t baking powder

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

1 c flour-I used whole wheat pastry

1 T honey

1/2 c bittersweet chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 350.

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

3. Stir in chips

4. Bake for 45 minutes at 350 until done.

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Cranberry Banana Bread

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Ingredients

4 ripe bananas

1 egg (or 2 whites)

2 T oil

1/3 c milk

1 t salt

1 t baking soda

1/2 t baking powder

1.5 c flour (I used whole wheat pastry)

2 t cinnamon

1 t vanilla

1/4 c packed brown sugar

1/4 c dried cranberries

1/2 c chopped fresh cranberries

1. Preheat oven to 350.

2. Mash bananas and mix in all but cranberries.

3. Stir in both types of cranberries.

4. Bake for about 50 minutes or until cooked through.

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Healthy Polka Dot Cookies (Mint chocolate)

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Ingredients

2 ripe bananas

4 soaked dates (unsoaked should would but may not blend as well)

1 full square Baker’s chocolate (unsweetened)

1 T butter (or coconut oil)

1/2 t baking powder

1/2 t baking soda

1/4 t salt

3/4 c cocoa powder

2 eggs

1 t vanilla

3/4 c flour (whole wheat pastry or any type)

3/4 c mint chips

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Makes 24

1. Preheat oven to 350.

2. Warm bananas in microwave, and then blend with dates until smooth.

3. Melt Baker’s chocolate into banana mix.

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4. Using a mixer, blend in all but flour.

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5. Mix in flour with mixer.

6. Stir in mint chips

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7. Drop onto cookie sheet-about 2 teaspoons per cookie.

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8. Bake for about 9 minutes, depending on oven and cookie sheets, or until cooked through.

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Enjoy!

 

I’ve Been Bitten By the Pumpkin Bug (Recipe)

It’s not quite fall OFFICIALLY yet, but that doesn’t mean we have to wait to enjoy all the wonderful foods of fall. Ever since I developed my banana chocolate chip custard recipe, I’ve been brainstorming how I could use that base idea and transform it into a fall treat. And thus, Baby Pumpkin Pie was born!

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One of my favorite pumpkin pie recipes (aka the only recipe I’ve made pumpkin pie from scratch with) is a crustless version. I like it so much, I even had it for my birthday one year because it’s less sugary than cake and I didn’t want that shot of sugar before a big test the next day. It ended up taking longer to bake than expected, so we were all impatient to dig in when it came out. So we hurried to stick the candles in and sing! Since the pie was still so hot, the candles completely melted, leaving spikes and drips of wax throughout the pie. Lesson learned!

This version is similar to that in that it is crustless; however, I guarantee you won’t have to wait long for this, as it can be made in the microwave-my favorite thing! Even better, it’s single serve and very low sugar. Enjoy!

 

Baby Pumpkin Pie

Ingredients

1/2 ripe banana

1/2 cup canned pumpkin

2 T egg whites

1/8 t baking powder

a pinch of salt

3/4 t packed brown sugar

1/2 t vanilla

1/2 t pumpkin pie spice

3/4 t cinnamon

 

Directions

1. In a microwave safe bowl, microwave the banana half for 30 seconds, and then mash.

2. Mix in all other ingredients.

3. Microwave for 2 minutes 15 seconds, or until cooked through (microwaves will vary).

4. Top with whipped cream and enjoy!

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What is your favorite fall food?