It is SO easy to get up when the days start getting longer and the air is warmer! I beat my 6am alarm this morning by 45 minutes and was up and raring to go at 5:15.
With Jillian Micheals chatting in my ear, I went for slow and easy 8.19 miles in 1:06:45, making my pace about 8:09. A fabulous run under this amazing blue ski this morning!
I have Ava to thank for this pic as I only happened to find it when downloading pictures, forgetting that she ran off with my camera for a bit this morning.
I discovered the wonder of overnight oats a few years ago when my mom described a cold oatmeal dish she’d had for breakfast while on a cruise. It sounded right up my alley so I recreated it at home and life has never been the same. I love overnight oats for their ease and the fact that when you use the right ingredients and toppings, oatmeal doesn’t have to taste like wallpaper paste.
Overnight Oats, the basics:
1/2 c rolled oats
1/2 c milk
1/4 c LF vanilla yogurt
At the start of the year my best girlfriend Sharon was on a mission to lose 30 lbs before her 30th birthday. We talked about how running was a great way to lose weight, or in her case, lose the baby weight… I mentioned how helpful it was for me to have a race in mind to train for when I started running a few years ago. Motivation is a wondrous thing. I’ve run the Lilac 10K the past two years in a row and thought it would be a lot of fun to do the 5K together this year. Sharon was game and started training in February.
Like most omnivores turned herbivore – we’ve eaten tons of veggie burgers in our day. It’s been years since I’ve eaten a “real” burger and I don’t even miss them, but veggie burgers? I admit it. I’m an herbivore and I love them.
For a long time I bought them frozen. Morning Star, Sunshine Burgers, Gardenburger. These are all great and especially handy when we need to make something quick – but these days I prefer to make my own burgers when it comes to having them for dinner. Inspired by Kath’s bean burger post I fine tuned my technique and we are reaping the bean burger rewards over here.
I first saw this recipe for Maple Pecan Granola at Kath Eats Real Food. I’ve made my own tweaks and love this so much it must be shared.
2 cups old fashioned rolled oats
1/4 c oat bran
1 tbsp butter
1 tbsp canola oil
2 tbsp Grade A REAL maple syrup
1/2 cup chopped pecans, walnuts or almonds
dash of salt
Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Melt butter in a bowl, stir in canola oil, maple syrup and salt. Stir in oats, oat bran and nuts until well coated. Spread mixture on a cookie sheet and bake at 300 for 20 minutes. Toss granola around a bit with a spatula and then put back in the oven for an additional 5 – 10 minutes.
As the Fitnessista’s Breakfast Cookie took blog world by storm, I was skeptical. I love oatmeal for breakfast… whether it’s cooked on the stove or soaked over night in milk and yogurt, oats are pure breakfast bliss.
I’d read my share of posts where people raved about the breakfast cookie. I was turned off because everyone was putting protein powder in theirs and protein powder ain’t my thing. I thought protein powder was a key ingredient in getting it work so I never tried it.
Fortunately, I saw Meghann’s version sans protein powder, and suddenly the clouds began to part, angels started to sing and I saw the light.
Hummus is something that is almost always in our fridge. I use to buy it pre-made but then I realized I could save buckets of money by making it myself. I’ve made a bunch of different flavors…. garlic, jalapeno, horse radish, mustard, red pepper, spicy red pepper and sun dried tomato are a few I’ve tried. Sun dried tomato is the one featured here.
Inspired by Fat Free Vegan’s Smoky Refried Bean Soup
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
3 – 4 cloves garlic, minced
1 green bell pepper, chopped
1 can diced tomatoes
1 can refried beans
1 can black beans
1 cup frozen corn (pre-cooked, thawed or canned work too)
1 tsp cumin
1 1/2 tsp paprika
1 tsp chili powder
1 c +/- water or veggie broth (add more liquid as needed)
dash of hot sauce
1 tsp cilantro
salt and pepper
(all spices to taste)
More Mama’s Weeds
