WIAW-super stressed 2 job edition.

I'm going to keep this short and sweet because, honestly, I should really be working on my lecture for tomorrow night.  BUT I miss y'all and I ate some fun things today.  :-)

Teaching a class and having a full time job at the same time is kinda stressful.  Whodda thunk it.  Although, the location of my class is incredibly beautiful.

Also, a request:

A wonderful, amazing friend of mine has some new diet restrictions because of health issues.  If anyone has any lower carb, low sodium recipes (especially fast ones), or meal ideas, please comment or send me an email.  Y'all are the best.  <3

As always, thanks to the beautiful and talented Jenn for hosting this event.  <3





Breakfast! 

0% greek yogurt, crunchy peanut buttah, and homemade Rum Nectarine Preserves.  They were PERFECT with the greek yogurt.  Not too sweet like I feared at first.  

*Cough* I have no idea what you are talking about.  

Pre-Dinner "Snack".  AWESOME wine in a bag.  Such a brilliant idea!  It's 2 bottles worth of wine in a bag.  The genius part is that it stays fresh for up to a MONTH after you open it!!! omgash.  And it's super light for taking camping and hiking.  Find it here @ Clif Family Vineyards.  I'm not affiliated (just a wine club member!) but seriously, this is the most amazing wine revelation.  $17 for 2 bottles worth of really delicious wine that stays fresh?? Yes please! 

Dinner was the lovely Jenn's Quinoa fried "rice".  With broccoli, spicy veggie sausage and an egg. I also used some of my new Trader Joes Sweet chili sauce.  The sauce is cheap and doesn't contain a lot of weird ingredients.  Yum.  
Gratuitous Maeby pics: 

Mastering the CAT tree. 

Pretending that I don't want mom's dinner but really I keep inching closer and closer. 

<3 <3
Please send me any low sodium/lower carb recipes/ideas you have!  Thanks y'all.  

WIAW --new car edition

Quoted from Peas and Crayons:
"

What WIAW isn't about

Comparison - Judgement - Restriction - Guilt

What WIAW is about

Celebrating one of the glorious things we all have in common: We all eat!" 

This is why I love WIAW, and Jenn, the host.  Such a fun group to participate in.  :-D 

I have still been pretty stressed, so my eats aren't super interesting this week, but I have been trying to come up with creative ways to use up all this squash!  (Still). 

First, a gratuitous Maeby pic.  Because I love her.  Much. 

Maeby cleaned out a yogurt cup for breakfast.  It got all over her face. 

 I had sprouted wheat bread with peanut butter and this AMAZING grind-y thing from Trader Joes.  It has coffee beans, chocolate and sugar in a grinder.  I'm so glad I heard about it on lots of other people's WIAWs because it blew my mind.  

 Strawberry Lemonade.  Not homemade, but still good.

Nap time.  <3 

 New car takes a LONG time to buy, so I just heated up leftover squash burgers and opened a bottle of Tamber Bey Rabicano to celebrate. A Rabicano is a blend of Merlot, Cab Franc and Petit Verdot. It is smooth but spicy and very, very delicious.  

No recipes today because of the 3 hours spent at the car dealership, but hopefully I'll have another summer squash recipe tomorrow.  Any ideas!?  


PS everyone should start canning for the canning party with forgotten beast and a dash of domestic! I have never tried canning, but these lovely ladies have me convinced. :-)

EDIT:  I'm trying a new comment system as I'd like to be able to reply to people directly. I can't seem to quite figure it out, but I'll be able to read and respond directly at least! 

WIAW + Summer Squash Recipe #1

I am finally getting back into the WIAW swing of things after a couple of crazy weeks.  Unfortunately life is still super stressful so I haven't been cooking that much (AKA boring eats!).  I am really struggling with feeling creative and motivated in the kitchen which tends to lead to me eating much worse :-(.

However,  on the bright side, I am spending lots of time working on preparing for the class I'm going to teach this fall semester.  I love teaching, so even though it is really stressful preparing for something I haven't done before, it is exciting as well.  :-)  I've wanted to be a professor ever since I wanted to be anything so I'm super excited to finally have the opportunity to teach my own class at a University.

Ugh lets not even talk about the exercise.  I always seem to lose motivation there first.  How do y'all stay motivated to exercise/cook well when busy or stressed?  Help!

Anyways, here's my Tuesday food stuffs:

 

Oats, Almond Milk, Chia Seeds, Melted Peanut Butter, Maple Syrup

2 Shots espresso, Soy Milk, Vanilla, Ice! (Addicted?  I have no idea what you are talking about).  Totally unrelated note, does anyone have an recommendations for at home espresso machines? ;-)

Dark Red Sweet Cherries. 

Spinach, Lowfat Cheese, Onions, Boston Terrier*, Hot Sauce, Balsamic *no Boston Terriers were harmed in the making of this salad.

And finally, roasted summer squash.  I've been drowning in summer squash.  I get a bag or two a week from my CSA veggie box.  I'm going to try to document all of the ways I eat it because I'm sure I'm not the only one swimming in squash.  Even though this preparation is very simple I really enjoyed how buttery and flavorful it made the squash.  I drizzled it with balsamic, but I almost would have preferred it without to better enjoy the buttery flavor of the squash.  

Roasted Summer Squash
Ingredients (serves 2)

4 summer squashes
1tbs olive oil
1/4tsp salt
Pepper/Cayenne pepper to taste

Method
1. Preheat oven to 400F. Slice the squashes thinly and as evenly as possible.
2.  Toss the medallions with oil, salt, pepper and cayenne until evenly coated.  Spread in a single layer (very important!) on a cookie sheet covered with parchment paper or aluminum foil.
3.  Roast for 15-20 minutes (depending on the thickness of the slices).  Pay close attention towards the end of the cooking time and take them out when they start to brown on the edges.  They can go from brown edges to burnt super fast.  They are so very delicate!

Drizzle with nice olive oil or balsamic vinegar.  Mmmmm!

WIAW #3 +Jogging#3

It's time! Another WIAW. Can I say again how much I LOVE reading everyone's entries? It's fun to see the creative things people eat and to know that most other people out there have "bad" habits just like me. *cough* Starbucks *cough*.

Here goes, what I ate today (Tuesday).  My stomach has been having one of those "I can't tell if I am hungry or if I am nauseous" days, so I didn't eat very much. Ick.  Hopefully tomorrow will be better! 

"Lab-meeting lunch" 

Sourdough (mmm), muenster, avocado and hummus

"Post-lab meeting snack"

I won a bet this week, which meant I had dinner made for me!  It was Taste and Tell's spinach pesto and it was AWESOME.  The leftovers (with a beet!) were good too ;-). 

"New food settle my stomach snack"

Kombucha! Did you know this delicious sour drink has alcohol?  I didn't. Until I got carded. I feel embarrassed for my biology self.  I know what fermentation is.

"Try a new recipe dinner"

Mama Peas noodle salad with peanut mmmmmm sauce

Jogging

Goals from last week: Run at least four days for a total of at least 10 mi.  Do the same 4.3 mi loop without walking.  I am pretty sure my knees can handle it.  Speedy run of under 8:30.

This week

7/6- 2.65mi @ 9:34/mi
7/8-1.35mi @8:22/mi
7/10-5.6mi @10:10/mi--This included 3min of walking while dropping off my running partner who had to quit early because of a knee problem.  My last mile was my fastest at 9:07.  Felt pretty good! :-)
7/12-2.65mi@9:22/mi- Felt nauseous today. Ick.

Total miles =12.25

Jogging goals for next week:  12+ mi total, speedy run under 8:20/mi, 5 mi loop w/o walking!

Food goals!
I did try 3 new foods this week.
1. Kombucha
2. Spinach Pesto
3. Mama Peas Noodles with Mmmmm sauce!

Wow, I had them all today!

Time to go read all of the other delicious WIAW posts.  <3  

PS.  Best of luck to my friend, Alix, who is having a baby OMG RIGHT NOW. 

WIAW #2 + jogging+ lazy girl guacamole recipe

Yay, What I ate Wednesday is back!  I was so inspired by all of the posts last week.  I had all sorts of grand plans to make new foods from them, but the week just got away from me and I ended up not really going to the store or trying anything new.  Next week I WILL be better. :-D

Here it is: What I ate on Tuesday, for What I ate Wednesday!

"Breakfast"

yep..double tall soy vanilla latte. I don't drink them every day...but..enough ;-)

"Snack"

A hunk of local fresh sourdough. One of the BEST things about the bay area, I swear.

"Lunch"

Lemon barley stew the same as last time, but with an added zucchini.

Another snack of a peanut butter pretzel cliff bar.  Mmmmmm.

"Dinner"

I lost another bet, but the request this time was one I can *totally* get on board with.  Veggie meat tacos!  I usually have black bean tacos, but when a veggie meal is requested of course I'm going to indulge.

My taco had some spiced veggie meat, spinach and lazy girl guac.

Lazy girl Guacamole
Ingredients
1 or 2 avocados, ripe.  1 avocado gives a really spicy zesty flavor, while using two avocados makes a creamier richer sauce
Juice of one lime
1 serrano pepper (or jalapeno), seeded
1 shallot
Salt and pepper to taste.

Method
Put the lime juice, pepper and shallot in the bowl of your food processor. Blend!  Then, add the avocado.  Blend for a couple pulses.  Spoon into a bowl and add salt and pepper to taste.

I used to chop all my veggies for my guac by hand.  This is MUCH easier. :-).  I also no longer add tomatoes to my guacamole because they always seem to make it too watery.  I chop up some tomatoes and add them on top.

Jogging!
 
Goals from last week: "Goals for next week are 10mi total, a speedy workout of 8:30/mi and a long work out of over 3 mi."

This week: 
6/30-  2.65 @ 9:51/mi
7/1-    1.35 @ 9:05/mi.  Not as speedy as I wanted.  Note to self--no beers before running.
7/2-    4.3 @10:43/mi.  I walked for 1 min every mile on this long run to try to save my knees.
7/5-    2.65@10:00/mi.  Just feeling crappy :-(

Goals for next week:  Run at least four days for a total of at least 10 mi.  Do the same 4.3 mi loop without walking.  I am pretty sure my knees can handle it.  Speedy run of under 8:30.

Eating goals:  Less processed food, more variety!  I want to make at least 3 new meals inspired by YOUR WAIW posts.  So I'm going to go start looking through them now!! <3

What I ate Wednesday and jogging!

What I ate Wednesday (WIAW) is a fun group event over at Peas and Crayons.  ( I adore that blog, by the way).  Basically, every Wednesday a bunch of people take pics of all the food they eat in one day and share with other bloggers.  Its fascinating seeing what so many different people will eat in one day.  Hundreds of people link their stuff!. There is so much variety.  I get lots of new ideas for lunches/snacks.  A couple of my favorite blogs participate, so I figured...why not!  It'll be interesting to see what I eat in one day anyways, I never really keep track.

So here's what I ate one day last week!

A double tall iced soy vanilla latte from Starbucks for breakfast. Yes, I am an addict.  Please don't judge.

 For lunch I had some delicious lemon barley stew (recipe after!). EDIT: recipe up now!

Snack of diet coke and honey roasted almonds.

Dinner was Mom's tomato sauce on whole wheat spaghetti (spaghetti not pictured).

and a snack of homemade Baklava

Annnnd that about does it!

I'm going to supplement my "What I ate Wednesday" with "What I jogged this week" just to keep me honest.

Jogging 6/22/11-6/28/11
6/22- 2.65mi @11:37/mi (feeling very sore, had to walk a bunch)
6/24-1.35mi "speedy" workout @8:43/mi (still feeling ouchie)
6/26-2.65mi @9:45/mi
6/27-1.35mi @9:14/mi
Total last week= 8mi.
Goals for next week are 10mi total, a speedy workout of 8:30/mi and a long work out of over 3 mi.

Recipe later today!  Thanks for reading.  :-D