Category Archives: breakfast

July 1, 2011 · 3:45 pm

Leftover Love

Food’s getting a little sparse around these parts.  I’ve been on a grocery shopping strike in preparation for leaving town this weekend (hint-country roads, take me home) .

I managed to rustle up a decent breakfast but it was a new combo for me.

The crumbs of Wednesday’s leftover quinoa, the bottom scrapings of a jar of yogurt, frozen wineberries, chia seeds, and a sprinkle of Love Grown Foods Raisin Almond Crunch (my favorite of their granola!).  Even my coffee was leftover and drank cold from the fridge.

I actually kind of like being forced to get creative with my meals based on what’s left in the cabinets and/or fridge.  You know what else I kind of LOVE? I am declaring next week “eat from the garden week”.  We will not buy any veggies and yet feast on produce every day.

The arrival of July has brought the garden into full production mode and I only hope that my squash don’t outgrow themselves while I’m gone for the next three days.  If they do there’s always zucchini pizza…

So, July.  New month, new goals.

I accomplished my goal of bumping up my workouts a notch through June and am looking forward to continuing the challenge through July.  Here’s the plan

  • 2-4 runs a week including 1 six mile run a week
  • 3 strength training workouts a week (at least one kettlebell)
  • at least 3 yoga sessions a week
  • 2 Pilates workouts a week
I am adding a little more distance to my weekly runs because I am starting training for this crazy relay triathlon I am doing in mid-August.  I will be the last leg, the running,  and it’s an 8.5 mile uphill trail run!!!  Oh yeah, and it’s in the middle of the afternoon.  In August.  My goal is to finish but finished will be a little less painful if I train.
I seem to have short term memory loss when it comes to workouts and sometimes by the end of the week I can barely remember what I did on Monday.  This month I will chart my workouts on the I Move page as a way to motivate me to stay on task and so I can see how much I’ve moved!
Have you ever charted your workouts for a whole month?  It can be very revealing tool.  At the end of the month it is usually either; “wow, I really stuck with my workouts, maybe it’s time to bump it up” or “gosh, I thought I worked out regularly all month but there were 10 days with no exercise!”.
Do you have any specific goals or ambitions for July?
Happy holiday weekend!

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Filed under breakfast, gardening, goals

June 21, 2011 · 4:18 pm

Love in a Bag

I bounded out of bed this morning with love on the mind…

The LOVEly folks from Love Grown Foods sent me some granola to sample and so far I’m loving it!

Besides the cute name, I am also a big fan of the whole food ingredients in all of  Love Grown Foods products-they are nutritarians too!

For breakfast I opened the Sweet Cranberry Pecan granola.  Crunchy clusters, ample nuts, and just the right sweetness.  These oats are neither oily nor candy-sweet, two qualities that often keep me away from granola.  It tastes like delicious, nutritious REAL food, which is obviously right up my ally!

I made a piece of french toast with Matt + Kath‘s Great Harvest Cinnamon Walnut Raisin bread, topped it with plain Greek yogurt, organic blueberries, and half a serving of granola.   Damn good.

I LOVE (last one, promise ;)) that this granola uses honey and agave instead of refined sugar!

Breakfast powered me up and off I went on a mini duathlon.  I didn’t feel like running around my neighborhood, what I was really craving was a trail run but Tate had the car.  So I biked to the trail!  I biked-ran-biked for a total of 5 miles biking and 4 running.  It was a really fun way to start the day and get an hour of cardio!

If you were hoping to find the spiced salad dressing recipe in this post, sorry!  I can’t give you a recipe ONLY because the key ingredient is a homemade spiced peach-plum butter that I made last fall.   Here’s the basic idea and if you want to play around it apple butter or something, let me know how it goes.  I love that the fruit butter thickens and sweetens the dressing without a lot of oil or refined sweetener.

Makes about a half a pint.

In a small jar put equal amounts (2-3 tablespoons)

  • low sugar jam (I used Trader Joe’s Strawberry)
  • red wine vinegar
  • high quality extra virgin olive oil
Use a small whisk or fork to mix.
Add 1/4-1/3 cup spiced fruit butter and lavender salt (or salt and crushed lavender).  Put a lid on the jar and shake until it’s all mixed up.  Taste and adjust to your taste preference.
Seriously-let me know if you try this dressing with another fruit butter!

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Filed under breakfast, food, running, workouts