All posts for the month October, 2012

Pumpkin Curry Stir Fry {WIAW}

Happy Halloween! Even if it feels more like January where I am. Maybe we should all just postpone Halloween until next week when the whether isn’t stinky? I think yes.

I have an easy fall recipe for you guys, but first it’s Wednesday and that means it’s What I Ate Wednesday time! Thanks Jenn for putting this together week after week!

Spooky Snacks and Healthy Halloween Treats

Breakfast:

Since classes were cancelled due to the snow, I got to sleep in (until 9 am, I can’t even tell you the last time I slept that late! Yes, I’m not a normal college student) and enjoy a leisurely breakfast while drinking coffee and watching Food Network. Snow day perfection.

Oatmeal with plain greek yogurt, peanut butter, flax meal, cinnamon and pumpkin pie spice. I ran out of protein powder last week so I’ve been adding Greek yogurt to my oatmeal for a little protein boost, it’s been a nice change but I miss my protein powder a little. If you’re interested I use Now Foods Pea Protein Powder, it’s pretty good, cheap and vegan!

I had an apple a little later too.

Lunch:

For lunch I got a weird craving for a smoothie. Craving a smoothie when it’s 30 degrees outside and snowing? I don’t get it either. But I went with it anyway. Then I bundled up in 2 pairs of pants, a long sleeve shirt, a hoodie and fuzzy socks, even though we had the heat on. I’m such a cold weather wimp.

Green smoothies make a great Halloween-ish meal because they look like swamp water. Almond milk, plain greek yogurt, peanut butter, honey, cocoa powder, cinnamon and spinach. I probably used a little too much plain greek yogurt but it still hit the spot! And yes I have Minnie Mouse glasses, I know you’re jealous.

Snacks:

Snacks consisted of too much halloween candy (Snickers, why are you so dang tasty?), two fried eggs, a slice of Health-ified Pumpkin Pie 

And this little treasure I found at the grocery store over the weekend:

THEY’RE FINALLY BACK! Dear Clif, if you made these year round it would make me one very happy girl, thanks. I’m already sad it’s gone. Luckily I also picked up a Gingerbread bar too. I love holiday flavors!

Dinner:

Dinner was leftover Mixed Bean and Sweet Potato Chili from Saturday’s Halloween party. Yay leftovers!

I also had some cottage cheese and peanut butter before bed, but it didn’t look too pretty.

Now time for that recipe, I don’t know if it’s so much a recipe as a these-things-taste-really-good-together situation. I whipped this up for dinner tonight it was a really tasty combination.

Pumpkin Curry Stir Fry

(Gluten-free, Vegetarian)

Ingredients:

Directions:

  1. Combine tempeh, onions and olive oil in a pan over medium heat, cooking until tempeh is browned and onions are translucent
  2. While cooking the tempeh, steam the broccoli and spinach (I did this by combining them in a bowl with a little water and microwaving for 90 seconds)
  3. Add the broccoli, spinach, tomatoes, pumpkin soup and curry sauce to the tempeh and onions, stirring until sauce is warmed and coating the mixture.
  4. Enjoy after a long and snowy day of class (or any day!)

I used Lightlife’s Organice Flax Tempeh for this recipe. Last month (I’m such a slacker!) I was contacted by Lightlife asking if I would be interested in mentioning their products on my blog. After reading up on the company’s history and philosophy I agreed. Lightlife is really dedicated to providing cruelty-free meat alternatives and they donate 5% of their profits to organizations that protect children,  the environment and human rights. Basically they’re a really awesome company and I’m a fan.

I remember living off Lightlife’s Smart Dogs and Ham Slices when I first went vegetarian. Nowadays I’m not so into faux-meats but I was glad to see they offer several types of tempeh. I’ve only ever bought Trader Joe’s brand tempeh in the past, but I picked up Lightlife’s a couple of weeks ago at the grocery store and I really loved it. I also loved that it was gluten-free (Trader Joe’s isn’t) and the flax seeds made a fun addition. It’s definitely going to become a staple in diet!

They also sent me this fun little video:

Animals made from vegetables are definitely tastier!

FYI, Lightlife didn’t pay me to say nice things about them, I just think they’re awesome.

 

What are your Halloween plans?

Holiday flavor showdown, Pumpkin or Gingerbread? I pick both. Yes that’s a cop out

Do you like Tempeh? I know a lot of people don’t, but I’m a huge fan!

2 Comments
by greensandcoffeebeans on October 31, 2012  •  Permalink
Posted in Food, Recipes, What I Ate Wednesday
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Posted by greensandcoffeebeans on October 31, 2012

https://greensandcoffeebeans.wordpress.com/2012/10/31/pumpkin-curry-stir-fry-wiaw/

Health-ified Pumpkin Pie, A Halloween Party & Snowicane Sandy!

Isn’t it a little backwards that a hurricane causes record-breaking snow in October? I think so. We got around 6 inches, but I won’t complain too much because I did get the day off school! We’re pretty used to snow and rarely ever get snow days so it was a nice treat, I spent all day in my PJs, hanging out with my neighbors and not doing school work. Until I remembered that I have a Management exam tomorrow. Whoops.

I hope everyone in the northeast is okay though! The weather reports from New York/New Jersey are crazy!

Saturday my roommates and I hosted a Halloween party at our apartment. We had lots of food, lots of fun and lots of people in our tiny apartment. Halloween party success!

Some of the food! We went potluck style. I made my mixed bean and sweet potato chili and a health-ified pumpkin pie, which people actually ate! The recipe is coming at the bottom of the post!

Other foods included hot dog mummies (turkey, beef and kosher, quite the spread), meatballs, brownies, meat chili, tortilla chips, white chocolate covered nut butters (which were dangerously good – I ate wayyy too many of those, sorry tummy), halloween candy (of course), Oreo cool whip cake (also dangerously good), Papa John’s pizza (hey, we are college kids) and of course some pumpkin beer.

The party was costume optional, but we still had some good ones.

I was a Chiquita banana!

We also had a ghost, Peter Pan, Sandy from Grease, something creepy, a taco (my favorite!), Daphne and Fred (who’s a little hidden)

We all had a fun time and ate way too much food. A perfect night.

Health-ified Pumpkin Pie

(Gluten-free, vegan option)

Ingredients:

  • 10 small/medium dates
  • 1 cup roasted almonds
  • 3/4 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
  • 1 tbs coconut oil
  • 2 tbs water
  • 1 can pumpkin puree
  • 1 block silken tofu
  • 1/4 cup honey (or agave for a vegan option, other sweeteners would probably work as well, but I can’t vouch for that)
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • 1 tsp pumpkin pie spice

Directions:

For the Crust

  1. Preheat oven to 350
  2. Combine first 4 ingredients in a food processor until dates and almonds are broken down
  3. Slowly add in water until mixture begins to stick together, adding more or less as needed
  4. Using a spatula press into a pie tin (or a round cake pan if you are a college student with an under-equipped apartment kitchen, not that I know anything about that)
  5. Bake for 10 minutes

For the Filling

  1. Combine the final 5 ingredients into a food processor
  2. Process until smooth
  3. Pour mixture onto crust, smoothing with a spatula
  4. Bake at 350 for 50 minutes, or until an inserted tooth pick comes out clean.

As a warning, this pie wasn’t meant to taste exactly like a typical pumpkin pie. It definitely tastes healthy, but is delicious in it’s own right. It’s still a tasty treat, just don’t expect it to taste exactly like a conventional pumpkin pie.

What are you going to be for Halloween?

Does it snow much where you live?

7 Comments
by greensandcoffeebeans on October 30, 2012  •  Permalink
Posted in College LIfe, Food, Recipes
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Posted by greensandcoffeebeans on October 30, 2012

https://greensandcoffeebeans.wordpress.com/2012/10/30/health-ified-pumpkin-pie-a-halloween-party-snowicane/

Yoga Challenge Recap and Weekly Workouts

I can’t believe Courtney‘s Yoga Challenge is over!

Sweet Tooth, Sweet Life

Even though I didn’t get in as many yoga practices as I was hoping, I still really enjoyed the challenge. Incorporating more yoga into my routine is something I’m always working on and I love a good challenge to encourage me. Thanks Courtney!

I had really good intentions of doing lots of yoga this week, but I’ll be honest, life got in the way. School was super busy and stressful this week and yoga just didn’t happen as much as I wanted. And even though yoga is a great stress reliever I was drawn to more intense cardio classes this weeks. Sometimes you just got to go with what you’re feeling.

Sunday: Sunday morning I did a Hip Opener podcast from Yoga Journal. This podcast was different from the Hip Opening sequence I did last week but still felt equally awesome. I’ve decided if I’m going to continue doing workouts that involve things like spin or plyo that I NEED to do hip openers. My hips are wayyy too tight otherwise. Plus I could always use a little more balance in my life.

Sunday night I taught a short 30-minute Pilates class for an Aerobathon (3 hours of exercise, yeahhhh) we were having on campus, and I ended up staying for a 30-minute yoga class afterwards. It just reminded me that I really need to work on making it out to more yoga classes. It’s been tough since they closed the gym where the yoga classes were help and they cut back on a lot of the yoga classes (and Pilates, it’s a lame situation) and they don’t fit into my schedule so well. But the yoga teachers we have on campus are fantastic and too good to just be college students (though most of them are legit and have their 200-hour certifications!).

Today: This morning I did an Arm Balance podcast also from Yoga Journal and it was a lot of fun. I want to work on arm balances more because they are lots of fun and so good for building strength. I just like pulling Stewart, “Look what I can do!”. MADTV reference anyone?

Even though the challenge is over I want to keep trying to incorporate more yoga into my life. I know I always say that and then completely fail at it, but I want to make a better effort this time! My body loves yoga and I need to start listening to it a little (okay a lot) better!

Yoga Challenge recaps: Week 1 | Week 2 | Week 3

Workouts:

I’ve also had some stellar workouts this week that I really want to share with you guys. I love talking workouts on here because for some reason my friends aren’t interested in talking about how many pushups or burpees I did today. I don’t understand why not.

The campus gym I usually go to closed (stupid construction) which has really shaken up my fitness routine and I haven’t had Pilates classes to teach (also thanks to the stupid construction) so I’ve been trying out lots of new classes. My muscles have been soorrrrreeee (in a good way!) all week. I kinda love it.

Sunday I had a meeting to go to with all the other campus group fitness teachers and we always have a workout before the meeting. This month’s workout was done by the personal trainers and it was a little weak, so I went running with a couple of the cardio teachers, which was really nice. We just did a 2.5 mile loop, but they were faster than me so it was a good challenge to keep up. I think I need to find people to run with more often because it was a nice change of pace. Sometimes the time alone while running is nice but I think it would be more motivating to have a running buddy. Too bad most of my friends don’t run.

Monday I went to a step class and my legs were absolutely dead by the end of it. I haven’t been to a step class in forever. It wasn’t my favorite class though, I have a step instructor at my gym at home who is like the queen of step and does some crazy choreography, so I’m a little spoiled.

Tuesday I hit up a 20-20-20 class taught by one of my favorite instructors, she is so sweet but she will work you to death in her classes. I did a full minute of burpees. It hurt. Lots. You Crossfit-ers and your 7 minutes of burpees are crazy. I think I almost drowned in my own sweat, in a good way, if that’s possible.

Someecards always manage to describe my life perfectly.

Wednesday I went to a Total Body Sculpt class, which isn’t a class I’ve been to before, but holy muscles on fire. We did exercises with lots of reps and my muscles were definitely feeling the burn. I tend to do high weight, low rep workouts so this was definitely a change of pace and my poor little muscles were begging for mercy.

Thursday I checked out a Power Abs class. I’m not really a big fan of abs classes, I think spending 30+ minute on crunches is completely pointless, but I was really antsy all day and it was the only class that fit in my schedule, so I figured I try it and give it a chance. I actually ended up liking the class. It wasn’t my favorite class ever, but the instructor incorporated a lot of cardio and back exercises to make the class a little more well rounded. Since the class was a shorter one I also did a couple shoulder exercises and a quick 2 mile run on the treadmill. I finally got to break in my new shoes!

 

I love them! I have been wearing them for cardio classes. My foot has been hurting a lot so I figured I needed to start wearing shoes that actually fit. My foot feel a million times better wearing these shoes. The fact that they are the best color ever (purple!) is just a bonus.

Friday: I got out of my 9:00 am class a little early so I went to a Strengthen and Tone class. I loved this class because it alternated between cardio, strength and circuit style exercises which really kept things interesting. By the end of class I felt like I had gotten an awesome workout. Always a great feeling.

Saturday: Saturday was supposed to be a rest day, but I ended up working on a farm for a couple hours in the afternoon. More on that later, it was a fun experience that deserves its own post.

Sunday: I taught a 30-minute Pilates class for an Aerobathon event we had on campus. I also took a 30-minute kickboxing, circuit and yoga class. Having that much variety in one workout is so much fun. It kept things interesting without leaving me completely exhausted!

Whew, this turned into a massive post. Thanks for hanging in there!

Tell me about your workouts this week!

So you remember the Stewart sketches from MADTV? Tell me I’m not the only one! Those sketches were hilarious!

3 Comments
by greensandcoffeebeans on October 29, 2012  •  Permalink
Posted in Fitness, Uncategorized, Yoga
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Posted by greensandcoffeebeans on October 29, 2012

https://greensandcoffeebeans.wordpress.com/2012/10/29/yoga-challenge-recap-and-weekly-workouts/

Fall Favorites {WIAW}

I can’t believe it’s only Wednesday. This week has been longggg and I’m so ready for the weekend. It’s just one of those weeks.

Spooky Snacks and Healthy Halloween Treats

This week my appetite has just disappeared. I don’t know what’s up with it (stress maybe?) but I haven’t been hungry at all, which is weird because we all know how much this girl loves to eat.

Instead of boring you with my lame Tuesday eats, I thought I’d share some of my favorite fall foods. Fall is one of my favorite seasons, especially when it comes to food. While I miss all the delicious melons, peaches and berries of summertime, fall produce like apples and squashes galore, help ease the pain.

Apples

 

I’d be more sad that there’s so little fruit in season in the fall (or at least here in North Carolina) if it weren’t for apples. They make a great snack because they’re portable, tasty and packed with lots of fiber. Golden delicious are my favorites, but I haven’t met many apples I didn’t like (except red delicious, but no one actually likes those). One day last week I realized I had eaten 4 apples in one day. Whoops. If an apple keeps the doctor away, I’m thinking I won’t need a doctor’s appointment for the 5 years.

Sweet Potatoes

 

Sweet potato season is basically all year long in North Carolina, but I especially love them in the fall. I’ll eat them anyway you can make them, baked, mashed, as fries, the opportunities are endless with this little guy, but they’re especially good with a little coconut oil and cinnamon. Not to mention they’re full of vitamins and nutrients!

Chili

 

You already know from yesterday’s recipe how much I love chili. It’s the perfect fall meal, hearty but healthy, versatile, and most importantly WARM! I’m one of those people that’s always cold, so warm foods are a MUST for me when the weather starts getting cold. There’s nothing more comforting than a warm bowl of chili on a chilly (hehe) day.

Roasted Vegetables

 

During the fall my salad cravings take a nosedive. Not that I don’t still crave vegetables, but when I’m already cold, a salad just doesn’t sound all the appetizing. Luckily roasting vegetables lets me get all the veggie-goodness my body craves while keeping me warm and toasty. I just chop up a bunch of veggies, throw them on a baking sheet with some olive oil, salt, pepper and garlic and roast at 425 until they look done. I will roast any and every vegetable, but my favorites are zucchini, bell peppers, potatoes, brussel sprouts, and asparagus, okay that was a long list, but it’s not fair to make me pick my favorite.

PUMPKIN!

You know no blogger fall food round up is complete without pumpkin! I’m obsessed! Unfortunately, being gluten-free has cut down on a lot of the pumpkin treats I’ve been able to indulge in. Actually, that’s probably a good thing, because I’m pretty sure I could have eaten 20 loaves of pumpkin bread by now. Not even kidding. One gluten-free pumpkin treat I’ve been loving lately is Trader Joe’s Greek Pumpkin Yogurt. You heard me. Pumpkin AND Greek yogurt, in one lovely little container. If you haven’t tried it and you live near a Trader Joe’s, go track it down ASAP you won’t be sorry. And if you don’t live near Trader Joe’s, call up someone who does.

What are your favorite fall foods?

Are you pumpkin obsessed like the rest of the blogging world?

 

 

6 Comments
by greensandcoffeebeans on October 24, 2012  •  Permalink
Posted in Food, What I Ate Wednesday
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Posted by greensandcoffeebeans on October 24, 2012

https://greensandcoffeebeans.wordpress.com/2012/10/24/fall-favorites-wiaw/

Mixed Bean and Sweet Potato Chili

Fall for me means it’s time for chili, lots and lots of chili.

Chili is the ultimate cold-weather comfort meal, it’s pretty much all I want to eat come winter time. It’s warm, hearty and healthy and pretty much one of my favorite meals. As a busy student I love that I can throw it in the crock pot before I leave for class and have dinner waiting for me when I get home, and that it makes lots of leftovers for quick dinners for the rest of the week.

I like my chili with a side of Buddha.

Mixed Bean and Sweet Potato Chili

(Vegetarian, Gluten-Free)

Ingredients:

  • 1/2 cup dry black beans (or one 15 oz can)
  • 1/2 cup dry chick peas (or one 15 oz can)
  • 1/2 cup dry pinto/white bean mix (or one 15 oz can)
  • 28 oz can diced tomatoes
  • 1 onion, diced
  • 1 medium to large baked sweet potato, cut into chunks
  • 1 poblano pepper, diced
  • 6-7 cups water + 1 stock packet (or veggie stock)
  • cumin
  • black pepper

Directions:

  1. If using dry beans soak them overnight
  2. Add all ingredients to the crock pot
  3. Cook for 6 hours on low with the lid on, and an additional hour one high with the lid off. I basically left the crock pot on low while I went to class, then cranked it up to high with the lid off until some of the extra liquid cooked off, I like my chili super thick, but you can skip the last step if you like things more liquid-y
  4. Snuggle up in a comfy chair on a cold day and enjoy! Then put off cleaning your crock pot as long as possible, I love crock pots, but not cleaning them.

Yummy.

What’s your favorite cold-weather meal?

16 Comments
by greensandcoffeebeans on October 23, 2012  •  Permalink
Posted in Food, Recipes
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Posted by greensandcoffeebeans on October 23, 2012

https://greensandcoffeebeans.wordpress.com/2012/10/23/mixed-bean-and-sweet-potato-chili/

Yoga Challenge Week 3 Recap

First can I just say that the more politics and debate I listen to the more I just want to live on a hippie commune. I’m already sick of this election stuff (but you can bet your booty I’ll still be voting!)

Anyway, back to yoga.

Sweet Tooth, Sweet Life

(Thanks again to Courtney for hosting this fun challenge!)

I kinda failed this week at yoga.

Which is really backwards because I had such a stressful week that I should have done more yoga, not less. One day I’ll get that right. I think the problem is that I’m only a teeny step of way from pulling my hair out in full-on stress mode so when I actually have free time I just want to curl up in a comfy chair and watch Food Network for hours on end.

It happens.

I did get two out of three yoga sessions for the week, which isn’t too bad.

Yoga Breakdown:

  • Wednesday: Hip-opener podcast from YogaJournal.com, my hips are getting tight! My hips used to be crazy flexible from all the dance I used to do and I’ve lost a lot of it, which makes me kinda sad. I need to work on stretching more consistently, especially after runs and spin class.

    I used to be able to do this! I want it back!

  • Today: I did a Gentle Flow sequence (also Yoga Journal, I’m telling you I’m addicted to their podcasts!), which felt sooo good. Nothing like stretching out those tired, overstressed muscles. I think my body was basically telling me “hey, yoga is good when you are stressed, stop ignoring it. I like it.” I like tough power yoga, but gentle yoga can feel so dang good sometimes.

So my yoga week was not too bad, but my body needed so much more yoga than I actually did. It’s a shame that when I need yoga the most I let it fall by the wayside. Oh well, it’s something I’m working on, and I’m hoping to get in more yoga sessions this week!

And now for some pictures of my cats, because I miss them a lot:

 

I put a necklace on him so he looks extra pretty.

He actually sleeps like this, he’s a pretty ridiculous cat.

We are one crazy cat family and I’m perfectly okay with that. I miss the furry nuggets like crazy.

Do you stretch after workouts? I am terrible at remembering to!

Are you a cat or dog person? I pick both, even though I have lots of cats, I like dogs too.

6 Comments
by greensandcoffeebeans on October 22, 2012  •  Permalink
Posted in Fitness, Yoga
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Posted by greensandcoffeebeans on October 22, 2012

https://greensandcoffeebeans.wordpress.com/2012/10/22/yoga-challenge-week-3-recap/

Triangle Run/Walk for Autism 5K & New Running Shoes!

Last Saturday I ran the Triangle Run/Walk for Autism 5K while I was in Raleigh for fall break, and while I didn’t PR I came close!

The morning of the race made it seem like the race was going to be a total flop, but surprisingly I had a lot of fun. First of all it was fall break, I love running races back at home because they are much bigger and better organized than Boone races, they should be too because Raleigh is at least four times the size of little old Boone, but I was in full on fall break mode and waking early Saturday morning just made me wish I could sleep in instead. Secondly, I woke up with a cold and was not feeling too awesome. Gross. The cold was pretty much isolated to my head, so I was determined to still run.

I don’t know why I always have to take a selfie with my bib number, just go with it.

Luckily I sucked it up and headed out to the race. The race was held at Moore Square in the middle of downtown Raleigh, actually the start line was only a block away from the 8K I ran in March! I love downtown races because there is so much to look at on the course, and there’s something really awesome about getting to run down a street that is usually packed with traffic.

The weather was pretty perfect for running too, sunny and a little chilly. Warm enough for me to freeze because I am a cold weather wimp, but cool enough that I barely broke a sweat. AKA perfect.

The race started off great, The first half of the course (an out and back) was downhill so I pretty much just coasted the whole way, my legs were feeling really good and I probably started off faster than I should have, but I was feeling so good I couldn’t help myself (: I did start myself a little farther back at the start line than I should have. I’d rather underestimate how fast I am and weave through people, then over estimate and get trampled (an let’s be honest, passing people gives me a little ego boost), and I put myself especially far back since I wasn’t feeling too hot, so I spent the first half mile passing the walkers/kids/jogging strollers (except for one beastly mom who sped past everyone, good for her!), but I eventually caught up to people closer to my pace.

The second half of the race was a little tougher, the course was a gradual incline, nothing crazy but it starts to get to you have 1.5 miles, and the sun was out in full force. I definitely slowed down a little, but I was still feeling good.

I finished in 30:42, my PR is 30:41. I was 2 SECONDS from a PR! I feel so good about that time considering I had a cold. One day I’ll break 30 minutes! And I was greeted by kids with KIND bars at the finish line. Yes please.

I love that even though I’m running hardly ever, I’m able to keep up my speed and endurance. Maybe this will be motivation to go for a run more often? Hopefully. I still love running, but I’ve been craving some variety lately. I’ve got my eye on a race a the beginning of December so maybe I can manage a PR then? PRs are fun, but I definitely race for the experience, not the time.

And as bonus after I finished the race, my parents took me to buy some new running shoes! I asked for a new pair for my birthday, you should know that my birthday is in April, so they were a little late, but that’s okay. My current pair are pretty worn out, I wear them for everything (bad I know), and I’ve never actually been fitted for running shoes, so I knew it was time to invest in some good shoes.

We went to Capital Run Walk a specialty running store that actually sponsored the 5K I had just finished running, so I got a 20% discount (yay bargains!). I really loved this store, if you live in Raleigh and need anything running related check them out! The staff was so nice and helped fit me and shoes and was really patient with my indecisiveness.

I ended up with a pair of Brooks Adrenaline GTS 12. They are comfy and purple and beautiful and I love them. I found out I was actually buying a size too small and that I pronate so I need a supportive shoe. I guess that’s why they say it’s important to get fitted for running shoes. I haven’t actually tested these guys out yet (I’m trying to save them for actual running instead of cardio classes) but I’m excited to try them out!

What’s your next race?

6 Comments
by greensandcoffeebeans on October 22, 2012  •  Permalink
Posted in Fitness, Race Recap, Running
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Posted by greensandcoffeebeans on October 22, 2012

https://greensandcoffeebeans.wordpress.com/2012/10/22/triangle-runwalk-for-autism-5k-new-running-shoes/

WIAW Fall Break Style

I missed you guys yesterday! I was feeling pretty pooey and not like writing, so I didn’t. Funny how that works. I have lots to catch up on though, I owe you guys a race recap and a chili recipe, but I’ll probably procrastinate more so it might make a couple days (:

Spooky Snacks and Healthy Halloween Treats

 

So I eat basically the same thing every Tuesday, it’s one of my busiest days of the week, so instead of showing you the same lame snacks I switching it up this week. Instead, I’m going to show you some of the delicious things I ate over fall break. For some reason, my meals get so much more interesting when my parents are footing the bill…

Wednesday

 

Bye bye mountains! The view coming down the mountain on the way home is amazing! Too bad I have to keep my eyes on the road and be safe and what not.

I drove home right after class on Wednesday and grabbed dinner with my dad at Tijuana Flats as soon as I got home. Three hours of driving can work up an appetite.

 

Black bean salad the size of my head, with salsa, onions, olives and jalapenos on top. And lots of hot sauce. Adding hot sauce to salads is totally normal, I mean Tijuana Flats has a hot sauce bar, of course I couldn’t leave it alone.

My salad was also supposed to have guacamole, I’ve found that at Tijuana Flats I only end up with guacamole 50% of the time, it wasn’t worth the energy to complain about it. I was already in a veggie induced bliss.

Thursday

I spent Thursday with my boyfriend, I managed to convince him to go pumpkin picking with me, except we didn’t really end up pumpkin picking so much as we went to the farmer’s market and picked one out. I can’t complain, you all know I love the farmer’s market!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So many pumpkins! Luckily me and my boyfriend are both pumpkin freaks (he actually has a jack-o-lantern tattoo!), so we had lots of fun navigating the literal mountains of pumpkins!

For dinner we stopped by Whole Foods for some hot bar action. I consider it an accomplishment that I was able to convince my junk-food loving boyfriend to have dinner at Whole Foods. Well, he still got fried chicken.

Green beans, palak paneer, chana masala and mock chicken with curry sauce. Clearly I was feeling some Indian food. And the mock chicken was surprisingly good, I’m not to big on fake meats (even though I practically lived off them my freshman year), but this wasn’t too bad.

And my boyfriend got fried chicken, pork belly, macaroni and cheese and black beans. Yeah, we eat a little bit differently.

On the way home we got stuck in fair traffic, so I convinced my boyfriend to stop for fro yo while we waited it out. Which means he really loves me because he hates all things frozen and creamy.

 

The pinkish color is oatmeal cookie (I’m not sure why it was pink?) and peanut butter (so. freaking. good.) topped with reese’s dark chocolate chips, and chocolate covered raisins. Plus a peanut butter sauce that looked like peanut butter snot. Gross.

We finished the night with pumpkin beer!

 

It was pretty sweet for a beer but really spicy and fall-ish. It was pretty good!

Friday

I spent Friday doing absolutely nothing. It was pure bliss and I didn’t even change out of my PJs until 3:00pm. It was a beautiful thing.

For lunch I had some roasted veggies

 

 

So pretty.

I washed that down with some kombucha!

 

I picked one up from Earth Fare on the way out of town on Wednesday because it was on sale. This was my first time trying kombucha but it was really tasty! I think next time I might get a less sweet flavor though, I know I’m weird.

For dinner my parents and I went to Neomonde‘s a lebanese deli. I love this restaurant because they have lots of vegetarian and gluten-free options and it’s a deli so you can purchase everything by the pound to take home too!

 

I ordered a cup of Foul (a soup-ish stew-ish thing with chick peas, kidney beans and veggies), roasted tomatoes and cauliflower, roasted eggplant and a greek salad. Super delicious.

I also picked up a package of roasted chick peas but those disappeared pretty fast, so fast that I didn’t get a picture, whoopsies. They were very addictive.

Saturday

Saturday morning I ran in Triangle Run/Walk 5K for Autism. More on that soon! I owe you guys a recap. Soon!

After the race my parents were nice enough to take me out for lunch, at the always delicious Flying Biscuit.

 

I got the tofu scramble (tamari-marinated tofu, red and green peppers, mushrooms, onions and spinach) with a side of rosemary potatoes. Too good. Such a yummy post-race meal!

After dinner a little fro-yo action happened. I had a cold and obviously fro-yo is the best cure for that.

 

Tart yogurt, bananas, chocolate covered raises, candy corn (!!!), and non-snotty peanut butter. Delicious. Candy corn is an amazing fro yo topping fyi.

Sunday

My family had lunch at Sweet Tomatoes before I headed back to school. Even my brother made it to lunch with us.

 

A recycled picture, but I ate the same crazy amount of vegetables. Any meal where I can 10 servings of vegetables is a good one.

Well now I’m back at school, eating the same old boring stuff.

 

Where’s your favorite place to eat out?

What is your favorite meal to order out?

 

13 Comments
by greensandcoffeebeans on October 17, 2012  •  Permalink
Posted in Farmer's Market, Food, What I Ate Wednesday
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Posted by greensandcoffeebeans on October 17, 2012

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Yoga Challenge Week 2 Recap

How is it that I am so awesome at fitting in yoga when there is a challenge involved, but really terrible at it in everyday life?

Sweet Tooth, Sweet Life

I don’t know but I got in all three yoga sessions this week.

Whenever I get busy, my yoga practice seems to be the first thing I cut out to make more time, which is a huge shame considering it’s so beneficial. I always say I need to start making a yoga a bigger priority in my life, but I really suck at doing that. Well, if Courtney keeps doing yoga challenges, I will be awesome at doing more yoga (:

Yoga breakdown for the week:

  • Tuesday: I actually made it to a yoga class! I mentioned it some here, but I went to a Power Yoga class at one of the campus gyms and it was awesome. Sometimes I have those yoga classes where I’m a little miserable and constantly staring at the clock and sometimes I have classes where they set us up for Savasana even though I could have swore the class started 5 minutes ago. Tuesday was one of the classes. It’s really good that I made it to that class to because the gym I went to is closed for the rest of the semester for construction reasons (it’s also the gym I teach at which doubly sucks – boo construction!)
  • Friday: I did a core strengthening podcast from Yoga Journal and holy cow, it was tough! I’d like to think I have a decently strong core, considering I teach Pilates, but this podcast definitely put it to work!
  • Today!: This morning I completed a Sun Salutation workout, also from Yoga Journal (I told you guys you’d see a lot of these!). It was a great way to get moving this morning! I don’t have class until 12:30 on Mondays and Wednesday and even though I have time in the morning to work out, I usually save it for after class, so it feels good to get moving in the morning, it gets me energized for the rest of the day. I totally broke a sweat during this podcast too, which should say something considering it’s only 22 minutes.

I was hoping to get more yoga sessions in during the second half of the week, since I was home for fall break and had plenty of time to do so, but I’ve had a cold the past couple of days and runny noses + down dogs just don’t mix. I’m starting to feel a lot better though, so I’ll definitely be doing much more yoga this week!

What’s your favorite type of yoga class/yoga style? I love power yoga, but there are a lot of styles (like Bikram!) that I haven’t tried out yet, soon hopefully!

2 Comments
by greensandcoffeebeans on October 15, 2012  •  Permalink
Posted in Fitness, Yoga
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Posted by greensandcoffeebeans on October 15, 2012

https://greensandcoffeebeans.wordpress.com/2012/10/15/yoga-challenge-week-2-recap/

Homecoming!

So I’m a little (actually a lot) behind and never got around to sharing my weekend with you guys, which is a shame because it was a fun one. Now that it’s almost a week later, it seemed like a good time to do it. Yeah, I’m a little bit of a slacker.

Friday I had class from 9 to 12:30, yep that’s a 3.5 hour class, on a Friday. Luckily it’s a pretty class so I don’t mind too much. And I got to print business cards on a super fancy and expensive printer. Fo free. The perks of taking a digital printing class.

Front:

 

 

 

Back:

I actually feel semi-legit now!

After class I headed to a 45-minute spin class, always awesome, and lifted a few weights afterwards. Gotta get those muscles!

Later on, a couple of friends and I took a trip on the Blue Ridge Parkway to see all of the beautiful fall leaves before they decide to shrivel up a die, which is what they tend to do when I go home for fall break. Here’s a couple pictures from our trip:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I really love being in the mountains sometimes. At least until it snows.

Our rumbling tummies lead us back into town for dinner. We wound up at a favorite, Black Cat Burrito. They seriously make some of the best burritos ever. If I wasn’t living on a college budget I would probably consider eating there every night. Not even kidding.

 

I got the “Thai Me Up” burrito with tofu, spinach, curry sauce, rice and sunflower seeds, minus the tortilla, plus some sriracha. Gotta love any place that can put curry sauce in a burrito and still make it work. Actually that’s a lie, I’m pretty sure curry sauce just makes everything taste better.

After dinner we checked out some of the First Friday activities going on in downtown Boone. It was fun to walk around and check out some of the shops, while enjoying free snacks:

 

Free chocolate covered peanut clusters! Yeayuh. Oh and free wine! Yes, free booze in a college town, three guesses why students love First Fridays. I got a glass of Charles Shaw at an art store, it was pretty tasty, but I don’t remember what it was, except that it was red.

And I caught a glimpse of some of the homecoming fireworks while walking back to my car.

Saturday morning, my roommate and I headed out to farmer’s market. I have no idea what I’m going to do with my Saturdays once the farmer’s market closes. It makes me sad to think about, fresh produce makes life better.

After the farmer’s market we got a bunch of friends together for a chili lunch before heading out to the homecoming game. I didn’t think to get any pictures of the chili, but it was delicious. Chili is the best cold weather meal in my opinion, I’m sure you’ll see me eating it all winter, especially now that I have a handy dandy crock-pot!

At the game:

 

The lawn is a million times better than sitting in the student section, I wish I had discovered this like freshman year. I only made it to half-time before calling it quits, I’m not so into football. But we ended up winning!

And the night ended with wine, apple pie, and What A Girl Wants. No Shame.

Three Buck Chuck and pink fuzzy socks. Such a good combo.

 

And an apple crumble for people whose tummies don’t like gluten. I made it up as I went along but it still came out really well (I can post the recipe if anyone wants it!) and the best part was I didn’t have to share 🙂

 

Do you like football? I think it’s kinda boring, but I’ll cheer on Appalachian!

What’s your favorite kind of pie? PUMPKIN.

 

2 Comments
by greensandcoffeebeans on October 12, 2012  •  Permalink
Posted in College LIfe, Food
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Posted by greensandcoffeebeans on October 12, 2012

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