The only thing I love more than working out is getting new workout-related stuff.
And food. Obviously.
To start this 3rd week of the #MoveHappy movement out right, I thought I’d share with you some of the marvelous new fitness-related items I’ve been loving lately.
…
3 years is a long time.
This blog is my longest commitment. Kidding… sort of.
In 3 years, I have learned a LOT! I didn’t have a clear vision outside of “food” when I began. I was playing roller derby, drinking a lot of beer with the occasional side of Waffle House, and trying to be a runner. 3 years later, I no longer play derby, I don’t run half as much as I did, and I’ve competed in 2 figure competitions (with 2 more just a month away – eep!). I also drink less beer, and am about 15 pounds lighter. Waffle House still happens after every figure competition though. 😉
#strangebutgood #yolkporn
In the beginning, no one read my blog except my mom. Now more people read and my mom doesn’t. I remember my first comment from a stranger. It was from Tina – I was so excited!!! 3 years late, I’m honored today to call her a friend. I’m honored to call a LOT of my favorite bloggers friends. This is an inspiring, motivated community full of diversity, humor, and FUN.
End mush. Begin giveaway.
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On the last day of my Blogiversay Favorite Things week of giveaways, I wanted to share ALL the things! Rather than giving you a #strangebutgood recipe, I’m giving you things to make your own strangeness!
I am sooooo excited about this. Trying new things is a sport to me, so hopefully I’ll be able to share something new with one of you!
Some things aren’t so much strange as they are staples, or representative of things I love. Other items are in the pile because people are always asking where I get ingredients (I’ll be your dealer!).
Granola Cookies! Old picture because I haven’t made them yet… I will ship you a fresh batch. They can be made vegan and/or gluten-free upon request.
Thanks for helping me celebrate this week! Don’t forget the giveaway for my favorite protein powder, Growing Naturals, is still open through the weekend too
a Rafflecopter giveaway
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How have you enjoyed making co-workers, friends, or family stare with strange but good creations this week? The link up rules can be found here or by clicking on “Strange But Good” in the menu bar above. In short, I want to see what concoctions have earned you weird looks from co-workers, family and friends! Post your Strange But Good creations, grab the logo below for your blog, and link up here.
Remember to use #strangebutgood in any Tweets and Instagrams of your creations. 🙂
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I'll take a break from giveaways and get back to recipes next week. In the mean time, check out the Strange But Good link ups!
What would you try first out of this bag of my favorite schwag? Hee hee. I rhymed.
If you were going to send a box to someone that represents you, what would you include?
I feel scrambled.
It’s our busy season at work and I’ve been traveling, working, and not doing much sleeping. There are so many things I’ve fallen behind on. I’m seriously behind on blog reading, returning emails, and blogging topics.
I totally neglected to share an awesome offer from my friend Calee with you all. She’s offered a 15% discount when you use code “sprint2thediscount” in her Etsy shop. I first saw her goods at the Blend Retreat last year and fell in love.
A couple of my current favorite designs:
I’m going to stop feeling sorry and move on to some positive news. Last week I talked about the threat of a bacon shortage. Apparently there will be no baconpocalypse.
It wouldn’t be Wednesday if I didn’t blog about bacon, right?
I was almost too grossed out by this pic to post it…
According to a Mother Jones article, the swine shortage will “shave just a pound per capita off of US bacon production in 2013.” that means there are still 45 pounds of bacon per person for the year. Is that enough for you?
The real scare is fish. Climate change will sharply reduce the productivity of the oceans, meaning less seafood. the most affected ares are in the South, so those of us in the US and Europe probably won’t feel the bite.
It’s a new month (can you believe it’s already October?!), which means a new What I Ate Wednesday theme. Jenn just got even cooler in my eyes for going PINK this month for Breast Cancer Awareness. we’ll be sharing out Halloween-themed treats… as if bloggers needs any more reasons to eat pumpkin. 😉
Check out my sometimes spooky, sometimes pink eats below, and then click here to head over to Jenn @ Peas and Crayons to get to see how everyone else is getting their Halloween on this month!
Like every morning, I enjoyed my morning cocktail: a mix of Apple Cider Vinegar, Glutamine, and Fitmixer Aminos. I ran out of my favorite and I was forced to use a sample pack. It’s grape flavored. Not my favorite… to be fair, I don’t like grape flavored anything. I was desperate.
After a quick 2 mile walk, I enjoyed a new scrambled egg-creation. Egg whites, sweet potato, and a spiced maple-peanut sauce. PB & Speggs?
Served with a side of pear sprinkled with cinnamon.
This combo was the highlight of my day. Peanut butter and sweet potatoes were made for each other and you guys know I love my PB & Jeggs creations. The addition of some maple extract and a little nutritional yeast further blurred the sweet-savory line, creating a breakfast I’ll be repeating ad nauseam.
Recipe at bottom.
Spooky Green Frozen Custard at 11am? Why not?
Vega was nice enough to send me their Vega One French Vanilla protein powder to sample. Obviously, I couldn’t just eat it plain… so I made a frozen custard and topped it with a crumbled Endurance Cracker from Angela.
It had a wonderful flavor! I tried a little plain to test it out first, and I think it would be still be good without the flavor additions. My only complaint is that I’d like to see another 5g of protein (it only has 15g) and fewer carbs (11g). I fixed the protein problem by adding tofu, which made this a creamy custard-like frozen treat.
My lunch went pink! I’ve been all over prepared salmon burgers found at Whole Foods. They are frozen, but not bad! This one is the Lemon Dill flavor. I topped it with my Sweet-Potato Chipotle Spread and served it with a side of chopped red cabbage and asparagus tossed in a lemon-rosemary white bean dip.
I posted this brown meal on Instagram and a commenter informed me brown food is the most appealing to humans, and that blue is the least. Weird, huh?
This was certainly appealing post-workout:
Tempeh and cauliflower roasted in a sauce of nutritional yeast, sriracha, and lime juice, along with a fried egg. #yolkporn
Normally I don’t roast veggies mid-day. It seems like to much trouble to heat up the oven. Well, my own was already hot from giving the butternut below a thorough roast while I was at the gym…
I was going to have another cauliflower crust pizza. After taking too long in Whole Foods I decided to spare you make a quick stir fry.
Rarely do I eat chicken. Tonight I was running really late and picked some up at Whole Paycheck Foods. It was pre-grilled. I knew it would be dry. I bought it anyway. It was dry. Note to self: Don’t shop hangry.
In the Mix:
Meal 6:
Another late night working. Another #strangebutgood candidate.
This is sort of like my Mexican Hot Chocolate Protein Ice Cream, except this one adds a cheese cake component. I know it sounds strange… but I blended in some cottage cheese. It added just the right amount of cheesecake tang. It’s also less green in color because I used zucchini as my veggie rather than spinach. Topped with cinnamon.
Have you tried Heather’s Peanut Butter Pumpkin Cake yet? You should make it ASAP. I’m on my 4th.
The perfectly moist and delicious microwave cake was incredible. Again. This time I subbed 1T ricotta + an additional 1 T almond milk for the pumpkin (another WF #fail – they were out of pumpkin) and topped it with a scoop of Chocolate-Peanut Butter Arctic Zero.
Scramble egg whites and flax over medium heat until almost done. Add in sweet potato and toss to combine. Cook 1 min more, just until the potato is warm.
In a small bowl mix together remaining ingredients to make the sauce. Pour over the scramble and enjoy!
Serves 1.
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The protein count for the day: 164.1g. A little low… this work/workout schedule craziness is killin’ me, Smalls!
What is the last thing you forgot in the oven? Anything?
It seems like everyone is stressing lately – are you entering the busy season full-force too?
Life gets crazy.
I have about a million things that I ran out of time to do this week. There are pictures on my computer of things I’ve been meaning to share with you all for weeks. It’s embarrassing.
This Friday I am going to begin to catch up! Here are 5 things I’m digging lately:
I won a bag of Dandy Blend in a giveaway from Tiffany @ Como Water. It’s an herbal dandelion powder that supposedly has a coffee-like taste.
You know what? It does! Granted, it’s no replacement for your fancy Ethiopian blends… but for you non-fancy coffee drinkers and herbal drink lovers, I would recommend it.
The bag says to mix 1 rounded tsp with a mug of hot water. That didn’t cut it for me. I had to use 2 heaping tsp to get that coffee taste. Hot “coffee” is good, but my favorite way to drink it was been mixed into other things. Namely, mixed into a vanilla chai frappuccino. (Recipe at bottom.)
Speaking of the frapp below…
Vega’s re-formulated Vanilla Chai also had a starring role in my vanilla chai frappucchino. I have previously tried Vega’s plant-based protein powder and didn’t care for it. They did a great job on the reformulation! I loved the 15g of protein to keep me full, and that it only contained 2g of sugar.
With many powders I find that the flavors are either too diluted or leave an artificial aftertaste – the new Vega doesn’t commit either crime. It made an awesome chai-spiced cold drink to start out the crazy-winter-balmy 75 degree day!
This rockin’ cuff was ordered from Horse Feathers several weeks ago.
(Side note: Does any one else think “finger cuffs!” every time they hear the word cuff? Chasing Amy reference? Any one?)
Check out the website here. They sell a bunch of different items and other cuffs with various quotes. Mine says: “If I gotta be me, I’m gonna be super-me.”
They shipped fast and it arrived in a cute blue bag. Sold.
This deliciousness is almost sugar-free – only 1g of sugar!!! It was on sale (mind you, on sale meant it was still $5 a pint) at Whole Foods, so I treated myself. My expectations were low… but OMG it is delicious!!!
You guys have been making me smile all week.
One of my new favorite bloggers, Lauren @ Oatmeal After Spinning made a variation of my Chili Nutty Tofu and declare it “perfection.” If you haven’t tried baking tofu yet… you should! 🙂
Click here for my version (pictured below):
Click here for Lauren’s variation.
Gina @ Running to the Kitchen (Our blogs’ names should get married – no wonder I love her!) made my Vegan Goat Cheese-Stuffed Tomatoes.
I’m not one to brag (ok, I can be one to brag…), but these were damn good:
Click here to see Gina’s post, which includes some killer pics! Read: much better than my iPhone efforts.
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Toss everything in your blender of choice, mix until smooth, and happily slurp away!
I topped mine with a few cacao nibs. Whipped cream would have also been good. 😉
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Crossfit update: I’m so sore that I actually did yoga yesterday. I hate yoga. It helped.
What’s the best new food/product/recipe you’ve tried lately?
Has anyone tried any of the above products? I’d love to hear your opinions!
