A Salad Rut

November 7th, 2011 | Posted by Alison Spath in Vegetable Lovin' - (9 Comments)

OK you salad lovers out there, riddle me this:

What do you do when you are sick of salad?

One possibility? Stop eating salad for a while. That’s what I’ve been doing lately. Skipping salad and getting greens elsewhere. Like slipping them into egg quesadillas, green smoothies or shoving them through the juicer.

But then other day I went out for pizza with a friend and had a side Caesar salad and you know what?

It was good. Real good.

This made me realize I just need to change things up a bit. Variety! It’s the spice of life, oui?  Read more...

, ,

Money Talks

October 24th, 2011 | Posted by Alison Spath in Lunch - (1 Comments)

Zombie weekend fun is officially over, now we’re back to business as usual gang!

And this morning, we were all business. If there’s anything out there that works like a charm when it comes to teaching your homeschooled kid some valuable math lessons, money is it.

Me: Is 46 greater than or less than 56?

Ava: Ummmm…

Me: Would you rather have 46 dollars or 56 dollars?

Ava: 56!

Now we’re getting some where.

After chatting a bit about the < and > signs and how I could never tell them apart, I shared the uber impressive trick I learned to acing those greater than/less than math quizzes in elementary school.  Read more...

, , , ,

The Lunchtime Puzzle

October 20th, 2011 | Posted by Alison Spath in Motivation - (4 Comments)

Two days a week, the girls go off to class for three hours in the afternoon.

That means two days a week, I have three hours to myself.

Sometimes I stay and help out in class, sometimes I run errands, sometimes I do housework, sometimes I work on a blog post.

Lentil Taco Salad

Sometimes I eat leftover lentil tacos on a bed of lettuce with salsa, Greek yogurt and 1/2 an avocado for lunch in front of my computer so I can watch Modern Family on Hulu.  Read more...

, , , ,

One Mindless Trick to Eating Fewer Calories

October 12th, 2011 | Posted by Alison Spath in Healthy Habits - (6 Comments)

I can’t seem to eat salad without hummus these days.

Hummus on Salad

Normally I try to spare you the daily salad shenanigans unless it’s something new or remarkable – and at first glance this salad is neither new or remarkable.

But Wait!

Today’s Hummus on Salad story has a moral to it.

It starts with the sad fact that our car died last week.  We found out today that the cost of repairs are going to be more than we’d prefer to sink into this car, so we’re done with it. Eight years and 150,000 miles later, the Honda Civic is off to car heaven.  Read more...

, ,

Twas the Night Before Steamtown

October 8th, 2011 | Posted by Alison Spath in Late Night Craziness - (7 Comments)

I made it!

Steamtown Expo

Picked up my swag.

SWAG Fashion Show

(that’s actually a really nice long sleeve tech shirt.  and green glasses rule.)

Rolled out my leg on a rolling pin –

Yoga Mat and Foodie Rolling Pin Foam Roller

(thanks for that, Katheryn!)

Like so:

and had a hotel bed pre-marathon dinner time picnic.

Pre Marathon Dinner Spread

(my current fav salad mess, half a bagel, Brussels sprouts, Buffalo Sabra, Friends on TV!)

Tomorrow’s mantra?

Smile, breathe and go slowly.

– Thich Nhat Hanh

For realsies.

, , ,

Destination Marathon Food Prep

October 7th, 2011 | Posted by Alison Spath in Life - (2 Comments)

T minus 36 hours until Steamtown, tonight has been all about getting ready for a three hour road trip to Scranton, PA tomorrow and then a 26.2 mile race on Sunday.

I’m definitely excited to run this marathon, but I ain’t gonna lie – I’m plenty nervous too, mostly about my knee. I’ve been stretching my IT Band like Gumby on an organic taffy pulling machine and am pleased to report I’m currently pain free – but still.

I mean, that’s sounds like good news, right? I thought so too, but then I started listening to the horror stories my friend Google tells me when I search for “running a marathon with ITBS”.  Read more...

, , , , , ,

Salad Habits

September 29th, 2011 | Posted by Alison Spath in Healthy Habits - (5 Comments)

There are plenty of good reasons to eat a salad – but I know that if I don’t make salad eating easy, it’s less likely to happen.

I went a stretch of days without eating a salad (gasp!) and it took me a second to realize it was because I’d fallen behind on food prep.

Salad Prep

I’m all caught up now though!  A bunch of greens have been torn up and washed and are ready to go – now I’ve got a couple days worth of leafy handfuls to throw into large bowls and then doll up for quick and healthy meals.  Read more...

, , , , , , , ,

Stuff It, Quinoa

September 7th, 2011 | Posted by Alison Spath in Lunch - (1 Comments)

When I bought my bag of flax seed over the weekend, I snagged a bag of another now-infamous pseudo-grain/seed –>

Arrowhead Mills Quinoa Black Bean and Quinoa Stuffed Peppers

oh, Quinoa – it’s been a while!

And with quinoa in my cupboard, suddenly I had quinoa stuffed peppers on the brain. That meant digging through the blog archives to remind myself how I made Quinoa Stuffed Red Peppers in the past.

Ummm, that was like my second post. Ever.

Nostalgia rules. Stuffed peppers make me drool.  Read more...

, , , , , , , , ,

Fat is Your Friend

September 1st, 2011 | Posted by Alison Spath in Healthy Habits - (4 Comments)

I just read a study published by the New England Journal of Medicine from June of this year concerning the changes in diet and lifestyle and long-term weight gain in women and men.

More than 120,000 healthy men and women were observed over the course of 20 years.  Their change in weight was evaluated at 4 year intervals.

The results of the study showed that within each 4-year period, study participants gained an average of just over 3 pounds.  (Ever notice how easily your weight can creep up over the years?)  With a 3 pounds gain being the average – a 4 lb weight loss at one end of the spectrum and 12 lb weight gain at the other end.  Read more...

, , , , ,

Getting Ready for a Race

August 12th, 2011 | Posted by Alison Spath in Fitness - (1 Comments)

I’ve got a 5K road race tomorrow morning, so all of my usual pre-race rules are on my mind. If you’ve got an upcoming race on your calendar – here are a couple of things to think about before you toe the line.

Nothing New on Race Day

Let’s say that again.

NOTHING NEW ON RACE DAY.

Race day is not the day for brand new clothes, brand new shoes, brand new food or brand new crazy ideas. Stick with tried and true gear and grub.  No new theory or hypothesis testing today either.

no new gear  Read more...

, , , , , ,