Category Archives: Food

Cleanse Fail.

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So about that juice cleanse…

I lasted approximately 6 hours.

And 3 Green Juices.

Then I broke. And had a latte and a Lara Bar.

NOT STRONG ENOUGH.

I was dying without caffeine/solid food!

For some reason my will-power just wasn’t there. Not for any reason, I just simply wasn’t feeling it. So I just decided to “modify” the cleanse a bit… and drink 2 Green Juices a day, and replace 1 meal with the Cashew Milk drink.

Then since I figured I was on the straight and narrow, this happened.

 

No your eyes aren’t deceiving you – that is PUMPKIN CHEESECAKE, CHOCOLATE CREME BRULEE and TIRAMISU. Also known as heaven.

Sorry I’m not sorry.

Hour by Hour

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So… today. I’m owning the crap out of it. I never really know what to do with myself on Mondays. I don’t teach, so basically I feel like an utterly useless member of society.

I did a few loads of laundry, caught up with a high school friend over lunch, ran 7.5 miles with Lauren in the AM, watched more episodes of Pretty Little Liars than I care to admit on Netflix (the acting is borderline painful but the storyline is so damn addicting I can’t stop watching – seriously WHO IS A?!), had a DOH-mestic fail (Colleen I feel you) at twice-baked sweet potatoes that turned into mashed potatoes once I demolished/shredded the “shells” (not my fault they’re so “fragile”), and passed out on the couch at approximately 10:17pm last night.

Today I was determined to be more productive. (ie: Less Pretty Little Liars, more get off the couch and out from under the fluffy blanket and contribute to society.)

6am – Boyfriend has a conference call. Takes it from home. I sleep through it.

7:48am – Begrudgingly get out of bed. Prep French Press for coffee. Try out Newman’s Own Organic Almond Biscotti coffee with my morning yogurt bowl (0% Chobani – cheaper than Fage yesterday, raspberries, Cinnamon Roll Granola (replaced the oil with applesauce), 1T almond butter).

Look at all that delicious, crunchy, Peanut Buttery goodness!

(Far too hungry this morning to take a photo. Just replace the blueberries with raspberries and we’re in business.)

I’m not usually a huge fan of flavored coffees, but this one knocked it out of the park. (Although I may mix French Roast with the Almond Biscotti to get a milder flavor as an everyday thing.)

8:48am - Drop boyfriend at work. Spare him the perils and horrors of the MUNI system.

9:07am – Arrive at gym. Plan to run 7 miles. Get really, really into the latest Runner’s World and By Invitation Only. Run 10 miles. At an 8:25 average pace.

11am - Hit Safeway for baking supplies

12-2:30pm - Catch up on e-mails, make a massive green smoothie for post-run fuel (original almond milk, frozen mangos, lots of spinach, 1T chia seeds, 1T almond butter). Top with far too much Cinnamon Chex to admit on this blog (they taste eerily exactly like Cinnamon Toast Crunch, and are GF!). Gag at the thought of store-bought almond butter. Not even close to the good stuff.

Bake the ish out of the afternoon. Brown Butter White Chocolate Pretzel Blondies (Cassie these were such a hit last time they were requested for this weekend’s travels!), Banana White Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies, (I’ve now made these somewhere around 87 times), and Toasted Cinnamon Agave Almond Butter.

Sample about 11 of each of the above. Lunch has never tasted so good. Balanced it out with a veggie burger and some leftover quinoa mixed with mushrooms, scallions and a soy sauce/olive oil/toasted sesame oil “dressing”.

Bathe. (You’re welcome.)

3:30pm - Head out to teach. 4 classes in 4 hours. Grande iced coffee becomes a necessary survival tactic.

4:15-8:15pm - Teach Pilates. Make them sweaty. Really sweaty. Sweat marks on the shirts sweaty.

8:48pm - Quick dinner of rotisserie chicken quinoa bowls (cooked it in chicken broth, added in fresh rosemary, red pepper flakes, shallot, salt/pepper, goat cheese, balsamic/olive oil). It’s occurred to me I ate too much quinoa today.

Oh. Does that sound too healthy?

Ben and Jerry’s Greek Fro Yo for dessert. Balance right?

10:39pm - Crash into bed before waking up far, far too early for teaching at 6 and 7 am tomorrow morning. (This hasn’t exactly happened yet, but being that it’s 9:44pm already, I really don’t foresee myself lasting more than another hour.)

Last great thing you baked/cooked/ate? Tell me tell me tell me. (I’m clearly still hungry.)

Hope your Tuesday went well! Enjoy your evening! :)

The Weekend, Briefly

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And just like that, it’s Monday again.

The past couple of weeks have been crazy – between teaching, running back-and-forth between studios, traveling, running and life itself. After a blast of a weekend in Tahoe and rafting last weekend, and then an awesome 4th of July at Fort Mason Park and then at a friends restaurant for dinner/drinks/fireworks, we were absolutely wiped out come Friday evening.

Also, the weather was awesome.

The right (yesterday) and left (4th of July) photos are the difference about 96 hours makes. Happy Summer?

So it was decided this weekend would be dedicated to relaxing, sleeping, relaxing, eating, drinking wine, watching movies, and relaxing.

Mission freaking accomplished.

We watched 21 Jump Street (hysterical) and Safe House (awesome twist at the end). We tried a delicious Coppola 2009 Zinfandel (for like $7.99 at Safeway – steal!) We ate homemade, delicious meals. We relaxed the ish out of this entire weekend.

Gluten-free toast, goat cheese, smoked salmon and sunny-side-up eggs are my new favorite weekend breakfast. GF pizza would be my new favorite dinner. It’s probably a good thing I run fairly often.

In addition to stuffing my face this weekend, there was running. (There’s a big surprise.)

Monday – 11 miles treadmill

Tuesday – 7.5 miles trail

Wednesday – REST

Thursday – 8 miles treadmill

Friday – 5 miles treadmill

Saturday – 3 miles outside

Sunday – 6 miles treadmill

Grand Total For the Week: 40.5

I know I mentioned (or screamed it from the metaphorical-rooftops since we are no longer allowed onto ours) that I wanted to start increasing my base to about 50 miles a week… but it just wasn’t happening this week. Way too much happening. I’m more than OK with 40. Especially coupled with teaching 10 pilates classes a week. Last year at this time, I’m pretty sure I was probably running…. 7 mile weeks. And that would be considered a peak week for me.

Actually last year at this time my stance on running a marathon was “no effing way in hell”.

I’ve officially got 3 weeks left before CIM/PLEASEGODLETMESUB3:35 training begins.

Feeling about 10 trillion times better than I was at this point last year.

The weekend ended with a sashimi FEAST with boyfriend and his mom. I decided about 2 weeks ago that I’m in love/obsessed with sashimi. I used to be a strictly nigiri/roll kinds girl. Now I get on board with the sashimi and feel instantly more cultured/cool.

I jumped on board with the hamachi last night.

There is a FANTASTIC fish market in Japantown for all you SF-ers (I think there’s one in San Jose as well)… sashimi grade fish for about a fraction of the price you’d get it for in a restaurant. This spread I’d estimate cost about $50. A sashimi sampler at any sushi place I’ve been to yields you about 6 pieces of fish for roughly $27. So. Much. Better. At. Home.

Clearly I was still hungry for dessert so this happened.

Not sorry.

Just so good.

Off to tackle Monday! I have 7.5 miles already under my belt thanks to an early AM run date with the lovely Lauren and I’m ready to get to the to-do list!

Have a lovely day!

Best part (food or otherwise) of your weekend?

The Weekend, Briefly

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Happy Monday! Hope you had a great weekend.

When I last left off, we were leaving for a long weekend in Tahoe. We had an absolute blast – BBQing, hiking, beaching, hanging on the pier at Chambers with great friends and good drinks, making s’mores (probably illegally) with an impromptu firepit, and last but certainly not least white water rafting!

About a year ago (seriously) 6 of us bought a Groupon for white water rafting on the American River. The catch was that it was only good for May-Sept, Sunday-Thursday (of course). It took us a solid year of planning but we were finally able to settle on a Sunday, and figured why not just make a weekend in Tahoe out of it. Done.

Some photographs…

We did the Eagle Rock hike and the Rubicon Trail (ridiculous views on each) if you’re interested. Not too challenging but definitely felt nice to get out and move, get some fresh air, and a little exercise.

We also ate. Like kings.

Grilled Salmon, oysters, sweet potatoes and asparagus are my new favorite things in life. We need a BBQ. And a patio. Or a backyard. Stat.

We rafted through Beyond Limits and did the Chili Bar (South Fork of the American River) 1/2 day trip. Our guide, Christine, was amazing, and it was the perfect ending to a fantastic weekend. Next time…. class 4 rapids!

So. Much. Fun.

Running

I capped last week off with 30 miles, and took Friday, Saturday and Sunday off of running. I won’t lie, I was itching to run… but certainly not in that altitude with air that thin. I like to enjoy my runs… not feel like I’m going to die the entire time.

Besides I had great company, a gorgeous lake, delicious food, and “hydration” to attend to. ;-)

Taking 3 days off just meant my legs were ready to run this morning. Marathon training officially kicks off at the end of the month, so I decided to up my mileage to 50 miles/week in July to prepare my body for the beating it will inevitably take once training really begins.

To start, I ran 11 miles on the treadmill this morning (Us Weekly and Runner’s World were just dying to be read). At an average pace of…. wait for it… 8:02. 

Are you freaking kidding me?!

The moral of this story is REST, it does a body good. As does Apple Pie from Ikeda’s – great long-run fuel my friends.

Off to tackle today’s to-do list – I don’t teach Mondays so I like to take the day to tackle cleaning the apartment, laundry, grocery shopping, my long run, and any errands that need running… before the week really begins!

Have a great day!

Have you ever rafted? Thoughts? What’s your favorite grilling food?

 

Pilates, Run, Eat, Bake

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Happy Thursday! Or in my case – FRIDAY! :)

Sorry I’ll stop rubbing it in now.

Boyfriend and I are heading up to Tahoe with a few friends for a weekend of sun, Chambers punch, hiking, lake-ing, and relaxation. Can’t even wait.

This morning started out, once again, in the 5am hour.

After another vicious mosquito attack (boyfriend was the victim this time) around 3am (seriously how are they getting into our apartment?! And where is it hiding exactly?), the 5:15 alarm came way, way too quickly.

I hustled to get to the studio, taught the 6:20 and 7:10am class, and then hustled right home to inhale my breakfast. Breakfast was a standard yogurt bowl (yogurt, berries, almond butter, granola)… with a twist.

Homemade Cinnamon Roll Granola.

Cassie you are a genius.

I followed the recipe almost exactly – the only change I made was subbing the 3T of oil for 3T of unsweetened applesauce. Honestly I couldn’t tell a difference. Oh also, I didn’t make the glaze, but chalk that up to pure laziness.

I immediately inhaled about 3 handfuls upon taking it out of the oven and I was more than a little generous in dishing it out into my yogurt bowl this morning.

Joking. But I definitely got heavy handed.

After breakfast, and dropping boyfriend at work (I try to spare him the horrors of public transportation whenever possible), I headed to the gym with the intention of running give or take 5 miles. I finished Gone Girl (excellent book, not a fan of the ending), around mile 4, and started By Invitation Only, about the founders of Gilt Groupe. SO GOOD SO FAR. Did you know they both went to Harvard undergrad and Harvard Business School? And that one of them had a hand in launching/starting eBay Canada and eBay Motors? I most definitely did not.

The book is so good that I stayed on the treadmill for 6 more miles. Ending just shy of the 90 minute mark with 10 miles under my belt. 30 miles thus far for the week. I’m not sure if I’ll be able to get any miles in while in Tahoe so I wanted to get to at least 30 miles before we head up. I figure I can maybe squeeze in an hour run when we get home on Sunday, but if not… we’ll just consider this a step-back week. ;-)

I met boyfriend and the Whole Foods hot bar for lunch, and then ran some errands before coming home and making Brown Butter White Chocolate Pretzel Blondies (again Cassie you are brilliant) to bring up to Tahoe with us.

These are in no way healthy, nor are they in any way gluten-free. But they smell so darn good, I’ll be sacrificing a wee bit of gluten to enjoy one (or four) of these babies over the weekend.

Whole Foods Finds

It’s baaaaack! If you haven’t checked out the previous finds you can do so here and here.

While at Whole Foods today… a few new discoveries happened.

Agave Sticks

Remember honey sticks when you were younger? Think those… only filled with agave. For under $2. Yes please.

(And yes, they do also carry honey sticks, and yes they taste just like they did when you were 11 years old.)

Annie’s Fruit Snacks

I’ll be real – this is the third box/flavor we’ve gone through. These things are so freaking good. It all started when I started taking gummy vitamins (do not judge me), and I started sneaking ~3 a day instead of the recommended 2. (And going against the recommendation of “do not take more than advised”. Woops.)

Boyfriend brought home the all-natural, organic, sweetened with fruit juice fruit snacks.

And we’ve never looked back.

With that, I’m off to teach one last class of the day then head up to Tahoe!

Have a lovely weekend everyone :)