Why I Like WIAW

Date: February 3, 2015

Author: astottler

Happy Wednesday! I have to say, my weeks are weird this quarter, but I’m embracing it. They’re very front heavy, which makes the week feel longer. I actually like it. I’m in a good place, and I’m trying to get more out of each day that I get to be here (this is the fear of being an upperclassman and realizing I only have just over a year left here). That being said, I’m still living in the ignorant bliss that is the period of time before any grades have actually been gotten back. Speaking of embracing this school, how about embracing this weather? While it’s supposed to rain this weekend, the weather here has been pretty much perfect lately. I can’t complain about this California sunshine! (Sorry to anyone on the East Coast right now with all those storms…)

Anyways, that was quite a long winded way of saying it’s Wednesday-yay! WIAW! Thanks as always to Jenn for hosting.

You want to know why I’m loving WIAW right now? Because when I’m posting less, or posting about specific things, I don’t get to share what I’ve been eating as much, so I get this accumulation of pictures that somehow seem silly to post if not on a Wednesday. WIAW is an excuse for a foodie photo dump, right?

Pancakes+eggs+mandarin oranges at breakfast. I think I’m officially no longer a syrup on pancakes person. Butter all the way-it may have something to do with the fact that I’m a syrup snob and really don’t like the dining hall corn syrup/maple syrup. Yuck. On another note, I just bought a vat of Grade B maple syrup at Whole Foods. More on that in a minute.

Pumpkin bread. This is from last Wednesday-my Wednesdays are long days so I needed a little pick me up between studying and my last class!

This dinner was 50/50. Tilapia with mango and cucumber was on point, as were the roasted carrots. I wasn’t a fan of the lentil puff pastry though.

More breakfast. I was across campus at the track and decided to stop somewhere different. While it may look very similar to the other breakfast, the pancakes there are far superior. They’re sort of vanilla-y.

Dining hall lunch-balsamic chicken salad, veggie flat bread, and broken rice with scallions. Plus roasted butternut squash.

This was dining hall chicken masala. And I have to say, they nailed it. The chicken was SO tender and flavorful. Well done.

Whole Foods dinner-hihglights were the mushroom polenta and various colors of roasted sweet potatoes.

So…I’m kind of over the whole “eat a specific diet” thing (like Paleo, 100% real food, no sugar). One thing I’ve learned over my 2+ years of blogging about food is that 1. I don’t have time or energy for that and 2. It makes me freaking crazy. That being said, I wanted to shake things up a little and get more creative so I decided to roughly follow a new plan (note the word roughly-it’s very low key)-whole foods + unlimited chocolate. So to start my new healthy eating endeavor I went to Whole Foods and stocked up on mass amounts of quality chocolate. And Grade B maple syrup for homemade chocolate. Spoiler alert-the “plan” is going well. I like chocolate.

This is one of my favorite soups-and it’s really good cold the next day too (or maybe I’m just used to eating cold food out of tupperware at this point in my life). The best part is it has chunks of sweet potato!

On Superbowl Sunday, my eating schedule was bizarre. Lunch at 10:30, pizza at 3:30 (what meal is that even? Dinner?). I was a little hungry towards the end of the game so I went to the dining hall for a chicken fajita salad. This was quality guac.

Dining hall dinner-salad, stir fry tofu, sweet potato fries. Plus a mini corn and potato casserole. The reason for no picture? It slid off my plate and exploded on the floor. It took my a little time to gain the courage to grab another one!

And finally-one last breakfast! I brought back the berry compote! This is just cherries+blueberries boiled down. Full fat yogurt+berries+sunbutter. I missed this!

Wow guys, that was quite the roundup. I should get on here a little more often, shouldn’t I? I feel like this has been an eventful week in terms of life stuff, so I really should do more updates! Also I’m realizing as I grow up (…and that makes me sound young again) I’m gotten so much more introspective so maybe we’ll have some more reflective posts. That being said, everything is going well over here right now!

What is your favorite kind of chocolate (and where can I buy it??)?

WIAW and Sunshine

Date: January 13, 2015

Author: astottler

Categories: Uncategorized

Happy Wednesday! I’m going to link up to WIAW today because I have lots of unshared food pictures!

Before we get into that-on the fitness front, I’ve sort of switched around my schedule. In the past, I tended to run in the mornings versus do Crossfit in the evenings. The problem with that is when I do Crossfit in the evenings, it’s really difficult to make it back in time for dinner before the dining hall closes! Plus my evening motivation to make it to Crossfit is too low! That being said, I’m officially in 5k training mode with (hopefully) lots of speed work coming up!

In terms of actual workouts, I went to one last spin class at the gym from home (it’s halfway between home and school so it’s not outrageous to go once) before my membership ended. Of course, it was fantastic.

Monday morning we tested our 1 rep back back squats for a final time during the squat cycle we’ve been doing. Mine was sort of meh, sort of improved. I improved 5# from my 1 rep max at the beginning of the cycle, but I was still 10 lbs below my all time 1 rep max (205#). It was meh because 195# felt easy, but I kept missing 200#. Back squats are frustrating because the second you give in, you’re not making the lift!

After back squats I had the pleasure of doing and AMRAP of I believe it was Crossfit Open 14.4 last year? The Open workout at the time was probably the worst Crossfit workout I’ve done. 21-18-15-12-9-6-3 thrusters and over the bar burpees. Thank goodness, we did a 12 minute AMRAP, which meant I didn’t make it all the way down the ladder! But now my squatting muscles are scorched.

Tuesday’s Crossfit workout was lighter. I went to the 6am class since I have 9am class on Tuesdays. We did hang power cleans for strength and kettle bell snatches, wall balls, and 400m runs for the WOD. Then, after spending hours in the library, I went for a 3 mile tempo run (5k training!). I have a ways to go…but I kept my tempo pace pretty closely. It’s a good start! Ok-food time!

I went to a yoga class last Thursday and went to Eric’s deli-cafe afterwards for dinner with my parents to discuss pre-vet stuff. I had half a turkey and avocado sandwich, and a house salad.

My mom got me a couple of these protein boxes. They’re pretty similar to the ones at Starbucks, but sun butter instead of peanut butter! Good and easy. I had 2 meals of this on Friday. We don’t have to mention the fact that I didn’t have a single vegetable…

Saturday morning, I had to drive a ways to get gas. Long story short, my car is SUPER picky with the gas it will take and the check engine light was on and the engine was shuddering so I topped it off with “better” gas. Anyways, Whole Foods was close so I stopped in for brunch. Maple french toast casserole and chilaquiles were the highlights here!

Mexican dinner at the dining hall! But more importantly-GUAC! I made myself a salad.

Salad I picked up from Whole Foods.

Dining hall dinner-BBQ chicken on salad, and cheese and broccoli mini-casserole.

Dining hall breakfast-eggs and roasted veggies! I LOVE when they have those!

Cappuccino because I woke up before 5:30am and I’m a college student. However, I’ve gotten a lot of coffee lately and I’ve been generally over caffeinated so there’s that. I get to my 9am and announce to my friend that I got coffee. Her response? “I can tell.”

Lunch courtesy of my freezer. Balsamic roasted brussels sprouts, grilled chicken, and mashed sweet potatoes.

My favorite morning glory bread from a little cafe on campus.

A greek salad with chicken, roasted carrots, and sweet potato fries. This is pretty much my ideal dining hall dinner right here.

And lastly? The weather here lately has been insane. Sometimes I forget how lucky I am to be here.

What is your ideal meal?

WIAW-College Edition

Date: June 5, 2013

Author: astottler

Categories: Uncategorized

Aaaaand it is What I Ate Wednesday, once again! Thanks a ton Jenn!

As the quarter ends, I am getting down to the dregs of my food supply, so these pst few days have included more dining hall food and creativity. As a result, I’ll through some things from the past few days.

Yesterday night, I convinced myself I had strep throat. I have had allergies for a week, so my throat was a little scratchy. Plus, I was probably a bit dehydrated. In the afternoon I talked to someone in my dorm, who told me he had strep. That got me thinking…hmm maybe this isn’t allergies? Maybe I have strep? A few hours later, I was totally convinced that I was suffering from a severe case of strep throat. I was sitting in a meeting thinking, yeah, you know I AM kind of sore (yeah, that’s what lifting heavy things will do to you!). By the end of the meeting, I was burning up. Yeah, burning up at 98.6. So no, I’m not sick. I’m actually totally fine! (Physically, hah!) Phew! Since I was so sick a few months ago, the prospect of being sick again was kind of devastating. But never fear! I am fine!

Yesterday morning began with a great workout-weights plus a 4 mile run (training for my half). Weights included back squats, cleans to back lunges, push press, and assisted pull-ups. One set in to the push press/pull-up set, I realized how much I’ve been neglected my upper body lately. And now my armpits are sore. But on to the food!

I made something similar to my Dark Chocolate Blueberry smoothie. (It’s funny, the post with the recipe also talks about me thinking I am sick….I swear I don’t think that THAT often!) I can’t wait until I am home and can make this with better quality blueberries, and frozen bananas.

I packed a light lunch of hard boiled eggs and fruit. I realized halfway into my egg that I didn’t take picture. And then started to take a picture of a half-eaten egg, when I realized, this looks kind of gross, these people really don’t need to see this!

So here’s a sun picture!

After my lunch, I decided to go to a local cafe in search of my Mystery bread. I have no clue what is in it, but it is sooo good. Sadly, they were out, so I settled for Mystery Bread 2.0, which I think turned out to be zucchini bread (judging by the green pieces).

Awkward selfie while reading in the sun…

Dining hall dinner…I am counting the days until I can eat at home! This may not look bad, but when it is all there is every. single. day. It gets old.

Here is Sunday’s dinner.

Basically the same thing, but in sandwich form. And they put wayyy too much cheese on here for my taste…

And a late night freshly baked gluten free banana muffin. Oh how I love my roommate. We get along well. She likes to bake, and I like to eat 🙂

Breakfast after spin was basically a repeat. Leftover smoothie (the banana I made it with was HUGE) and another muffin.

For my 9 am class, it was the last class of the year, so my teacher brought breakfast. ANOTHER muffin, and some much needed coffee. I really liked the coffee. It seemed a lot blander than the kind at the dining hall, or my cappuccinos. Funny how that is a good thing for me. Coffee lover I am not.

Dining hall for lunch…meh. The salad had way too much dressing and was super soggy.

But in other news, I started packing today, and sent a carload of stuff home (yes, I have THAT much stuff in my room).

My mom stopped at Trader Joe’s and brought me some goodies.

These things are seriously the best. And it’s no secret I LOVE mango.

Also, today, I discovered the impossible. Given how many search terms I get for my blog relating to “healthy mug brownie” it seems like everyone is looking for the secret that is in itself a contradiction. Well guys, I think I may have stumbled upon the answer. Yes, the true meaning in life.

I wasn’t even trying to make a mug brownie. I was just trying to make a chocolate version of the microwave coconut macaroon I recently discovered. But we all know I am a bit heavy handed with cocoa powder. And apparently milk….This creation was a bit liquidy, but in the mix was milk, unsweetened coconut, chocolate protein powder, sweetener, and TONS of cocoa powder. Over break I’m going to play around with this a little bit and get back to you guys with a recipe. Expect a lot of deliciousness starting in one week! I have a TON of ideas. I think I’ll also do a review on said sweetener.

Also, guess what guys???