Coconut Oil Coffee

April 7th, 2013 | Posted by Alison Spath in Fitness - (43 Comments)

Coffee pot, blender, coconut oil, cream… what are we making today?

How to Make Coconut Oil Coffee

We’re making coconut oil coffee!

No, I have not lost my mind. Yes, I realize coconut oil in coffee might sound crazy, but it’s good!  You won’t believe it until you try it.  I sure didn’t.

I’d heard (read) about people putting coconut oil in coffee when I started reading about Intermittent Fasting a couple years ago.  I’ve been in love with coconut oil and all of its benefits for quite some time now, but the idea of putting coconut oil in coffee seemed a little extreme and frankly, sort of gross.

Gimme Green Juice

March 10th, 2013 | Posted by Alison Spath in Vegetable Lovin' - (3 Comments)

We’re 10 days into The Greener March Challenge. ARE WE HAVING FUN YET?! Greens today came in the form of green juice that I made and drank 45 minutes before I left for a run.

We’ve had the Breville Juice Fountain Plus for about three and a half years now. I still love this little appliance, even with the addition of the Vitamix to our kitchen appliance family last year.

Breville Juicer

It’s sort of like children I suppose. I don’t love my food processor or juicer any less now that we have a Vitamix. I have room in my heart (and my appliance cupboard) for all of them.

A Greener Birthday

March 8th, 2013 | Posted by Alison Spath in Vegetable Lovin' - (10 Comments)

My biggest gal turned 9 years old today. NINE! I guess that means I must have been 16 when she was born because I can’t possibly be a day over 25 myself.

(What?)

Ava’s birthday breakfast request was bagels, and so bagels it was.  After Deep Nutrition, bagels became more of a treat around here – this is why it was a birthday request. Bagels have been missed!

Some greens still managed to elbow their way into the birthday breakfast line up – a spinach and mushroom omelet with half a French Toast bagel (awesome!) and cream cheese.

Spinach and Mushroom Omelet

Saturday Greenery

March 2nd, 2013 | Posted by Alison Spath in Lunch - (6 Comments)

It’s Day 2 of The Greener March Challenge! Here’s today’s lunchtime salad – KAPOW!

Saturday Salad

Oh, wait. I mean, Hi! Did you eat something leafy and green yesterday? And today already too? High five!

If you’re about to become a lean green eating machine for the next 30 days or so, we should talk about salad sooner rather than later.

If you’re already a salad shooting pro, please share your salad secrets with us!  But if salad is something you’re only feeling so-so about, let’s talk about how to make salad time quick and easy. Because when it’s quick and easy, it’s more likely to happen.

Crunchy Coconut Cups

February 11th, 2013 | Posted by Alison Spath in Short or Sweet - (10 Comments)

Yesterday marked 11 weeks until the Flower City Half Marathon at the end of April.  Since we’re going to chat about running on Monday’s from now until then, this week I want to tell you about my current favorite pre-run snack – originally inspired by Lisa’s Coconut Oil Chocolate PB cups.

I make these all the time, people.

Coconut Oil Almond Butter Cups

ALL THE TIME.  (yes, that required shouting.)  These are easy and delicious, and even good for you too.

Project Weight Loss: Week 9

November 23rd, 2012 | Posted by Alison Spath in Weight Loss - (5 Comments)

I can’t believe I’m writing about weight loss the day after Thanksgiving.  I am still full.

If you’re just tuning in, I’m working on postpartum weight loss and share Project Weight Loss updates on Fridays.

Last week, after hanging out in the upper 130’s for 4 days straight, I woke up on Saturday morning feeling very ready to be done with all of this.  I was plain old tired of trying to lose weight and felt ready for a break.

Simply Banana Bread

November 4th, 2012 | Posted by Alison Spath in Breakfast - (12 Comments)

Last week I spent some time staring at overripe bananas.

Ripe Bananas for Banana Bread

Not these exact bananas. These bananas are actors. This is a re-enactment of the overripe bananas that kept giving me the stink eye early last week, waiting to see what I was going to with them.

(This also means that I’m still staring at overripe bananas.)

I didn’t feel like adding these to the existing frozen banana stash I’ve got going in the freezer, so I opted to turn overripe bananas into banana bread instead of a pureed, cold treat like banana whip or a chocolate banana smoothie.

Long Run Saturday

September 17th, 2011 | Posted by Alison Spath in Fitness - (5 Comments)

OK baby girl, enough with the bike riding birthday breakfast bonanzas – you’ve got a marathon you’re supposed to be training for.

Steamtown Marathon Letter

Oh shoot, you’re right!  Well, it’s Saturday, so I guess that means we’re running long today, eh?

A few weeks ago I made my own version of Brendan Brazier’s Direct Fuel Bites for long runs. This batch was made much like the one I made last year – with dates, coconut oil and cocoa powder. This time I threw in a little dulse (for electrolytes), hemp seeds (for protein), chia seeds (for kicks) and shredded coconut (for fun).

Mediocre New Years Race

January 2nd, 2010 | Posted by Alison Spath in Fitness - (22 Comments)

2010 started an awful lot like 2009 started: with a 7.5 mile road race first thing on New Years Day. Except unlike last year, I waited until the very last minute to decide whether or not to run this race.

The decision was made at about 8 AM on 1/1/2010 when my running friend Shawn called to first yell at me for still being asleep and then to continue our debate from the day before on why we should or should not run. He was just getting over a cold. I had just run 5 miles the day before. The weather was ok and the park where the race was held was a nice place to run. Pros and cons, hems and haws, we eventually decided to go for it.

A Nice and Easy 9

November 14th, 2009 | Posted by Alison Spath in Breakfast - (10 Comments)

Having started last Saturday with a fast 7 miles, I decided this Saturday would be another long run – but this one at a comfortable pace and maybe a little further. Matt’s post on Stu Mittleman got me revved up for an enjoyable long run and today was the day.

I wasn’t sure exactly how far I was going to go this morning, and decided to play it by ear. First things first though, a MamaBite while loading the dishwasher multi-tasking.

Come on coconut oil, show me what you got!

Pre Run Banana Bite