Soups, Salads,& Soggy Runs

That title pretty much sums up my week.  I’ve been on the go since Monday morning, and thank goodness I had plenty of groceries to get me through. I haven’t had a lot of time to cook, much less shop. So warning, a lengthy blog is coming. 🙂 

All in all it’s been a good week. Starting every day with oats and coffee. Although today I’m out of oats, which is just about as bad as being out of toothpaste. Here it is Friday and I’m way overdue for a shopping trip. Since we foodies tend to be more addicted to grocery shopping than shoe shopping, what better way to decompress from the week than to hit the farmer’s market over lunch? 

First though.. breakfast!! 

Oats w/ banana & apple slices, almond butter, applecranberry butter, almond milk

 

Oats w/ banana slices, walnuts, honey, and almond milk

 

Oats & Studying (shamelessly multi-tasking)

 

Cream of Wheat w/ pomegranate seeds, honey, and almond milk

 

 

French Press is back!

 

Question for you, how do you fix cream of wheat? Or do you? I just kinda tossed in what I had, and I have to say, I wasn’t a big fan. Tt did fill me up though. 

My runs have been sooo wet this week! I currently have 2 pairs of running shoes that I alternate. They’re both so full of water I wouldn’t be surprised if they start sprouting grass or growing moss. Ick!! Any suggestions on how to dry out my soggy shoes? I’m due for a new pair, but I don’t want 3 pairs of soggy shoes so I have to figure this out. Running in the rain takes getting used to. It’s warm. I love that part. It’s the wet that I don’t care for. I gear up with ear warmers to fight the wind, a baseball hat to keep water out of my eyes, a lightweight coat, gloves.. I’m dry and warm everywhere but my feet. Gggrrrr.. what to do? Yesterday it was pretty windy. You know that feeling when the wind hits you from the side and your eye lids feel like their flipping inside out? It was like that, and the rain hits your face like pins and needles. I should have worn ankle weights. I was afraid the wind was going to carry me away. 😀 One positive thing I will say though, I haven’t been on a treadmill in a week!!!! Yahoo! As long as it’s not icy or dark I’ll run outside. Just please don’t make me run in place. I feel like I’m on one of those hamster wheels. 

Getting off the subject of food and fitness for a minute, I love my new Blackberry! Love it. My last Blackberry was mysteriously destroyed while in the care of my brother a few weeks back. I had to replace it. The sales guy at AT&T tried to sell me an iPhone. It’s an awesome phone, does pretty much anything my home computer does, but they won’t insure it! Lets think about this for a minute. I’m a mountain climbing, white water rafting, running, biking and fishing kinda girl.. and you want to sell me a phone without insurance?! Do you know what I do to phones? So needless to say I got the next best thing, insured, a Blackberry Storm. I never knew that I needed the internet at all times, but I do!! Not only can I be online anytime, anywhere, but this phone has apps that pretty much replace all my other electronic toys. There’s Pandora and iheartradio for free music stations… bye-bye ipod. I downloaded SportyPal to track my runs (speed, distance, routes, calories burned, etc) and sends the info to my computer.. bye-bye Garmin. It takes darn good photos (all today’s blog pics are from my phone). I have Google map and GPS.. I mean, everything I need is in this one little phone. If it could hold my credit card and lipstick I wouldn’t even have to carry a purse! So there you have it. If you’re in a market for a new phone I highly recommend a Blackberry. Unless you live in a bubble, then maybe you should get the iPhone. 

No photos from my runs this week. I have faith in my Blackberry but I’m not trying to drowned it. Truth be told I probably could have run better in flippers. 

Okay, lunch & dinner. Are you ready to see the most amazing soups and salads of your life? Grab a bib, these are some mouth watering combos! 🙂 

 

Spicy Caribbean Chicken Soup (leftovers)

 

For me a good salad has some kind of cheese, nut, veggies and extra virgin olive oil. Olive oil is so flavorful, but not overly rich and sugary like salad dressings that cover the flavor of all the good stuff. For cheese, I’m a big fan of feta or goat cheese in salads. They have a lot of flavor so you just need a small amount.. I use about half an ounze of cheese and 1T olive oil. 

There was a little bit of mid-week cookin’ in the kitchen. Mostly roasting veggies.. asparagus, sweet potatoes, butternut squash. 

Asparagus with fresh minced garlic, red pepper flakes, sea salt, pepper and a bit of olive oil. I cooked them in the oven on high broil for about 10 minutes. Still a little crunchy. I hate limp vegetables. 

Cubed sweet potato and butternut squash tossed with olive oil, chopped walnuts, sea salt and pepper. Also broiled in the oven. Theses took about 25 minutes. They’re delicious over quinoa or just by itself. I ate it with ahi tuna and asparagus. Delish! 

 

Last night I finally had a breather from my hectic week. After catching up on a ton of reading for my HR Management class (you know, the book without recipes and pictures), I grilled up some shrimp skewers and tossed them in with a bowl of quinoa. 

 

 

Spicy Shrimp Skewers:
1/2 pound shrimp
1T olive oil
1 lemon squeezed
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
2 tsp garlic paste
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper 

Mix all of the above ingredients. Thread onto a skewer alternating with veggies. I used grape tomatoes and mushrooms. Broil for 6 minutes on high, 3 minutes for each side. 

On the stove bring a pot of water and quinoa to a boil (1/2 cup quinoa, 1 cup water). Reduce to simmer for 15 minutes. 

I sprinkled some goat cheese and chopped cilantro to top off the meal. Easy, delicious, and full of nutrition! 

Now, for all the time I’ve been on the run this week snacks were a must. I packed around apples, almond butter on whole-wheat roll ups, raw green beans and carrots, eggplant humus, cheese sticks, and a water bottle. Forget the coffee. I’ve been hydrate with water. A bottle is easy to refill anywhere.. unless the tap water is gross where you live. Seattle has great tasting water so I drink it straight from the faucet! 

almond butter roll-up

 

And the end of the day has looked about like this every night.. 

Me + wine, in my sweats, curled up under a blanket with my laptop. Yes, this is true relaxation.. almost. I was buying my ticket to Italy this night. Price shopping, trip planning, there’s got to be some light at the end of the tunnel. Right now mine is v-a-c-a-t-i-o-n!! 

Thanks for reading. I hope you have a fabulous Friday, and one last thing: 

How to you dry out soggy running shoes?
What’s the tastiest way to fix Cream of Wheat? (In case I’m out of oats again, and desparate)
What are your on-the-go healthy snacks?