Inspired.

For those of you who do not follow Meghann's blog and are wanting to get into running, read her latest post. You will most certainly be inspired.

Meghann just completed the Michelob Challenge, which consists of a 5k, 15k, and marathon in one weekend. Yesterday, she ran the 15k followed by the 5k, and then woke up this morning and ran a marathon. I was in complete awe reading her recap of the races. She completed the marathon in record time and feeling strong.

Again, if you are unfamiliar with her blog, check it out. What she has accomplished in terms of running is truly amazing. I will have to keep it in mind while I am struggling to finish my 3 miles tomorrow...

In terms of my progress, my 3 miles seem to be getting easier! I don't want to jinx myself, but this morning, I woke up (a little sick), dragged myself out the door, and actually completed a reasonably painless 3 mile run! I think I am going to stick with this distance for a little while before taking on any more miles. My knees are starting to hurt slightly, and I do not want to push it.

I am looking forward to tomorrow's run because I get to try out a new sports bra I picked up from Old Navy today. Turns out, Old Navy has some pretty good work out clothes! They were also having a big sale, so I got three sports bras for $12 each (and a couple other things...)! New workout clothing always gets me excited for the workout itself.

Prior to my shopping adventure, Jeff and I threw a lunch together trying to use up some of our leftovers. Of course, we needed to use salsa, so we ended up having a Mexican themed lunch yet again.


This little bowl of happiness includes quinoa, "refried" beans, black beans, salsa, avocado, peppers, tomato, and mushrooms. Oh boy. It was tasty.

Now, I am sitting on bed, about to go back to the studying, but a certain friend of mine had other plans.


Gretta thinks she deserves my attention more than my homework does. Thus, she will sit on my studies until I succumb to her wishes.

One more thing. I have never been a gadget person. I don't have an iPod (I lost mine, and now I steal Jeffrey's); my cellphone is dangerously similar in appearance to Zach Morris', and my laptop was the cheapest I could find. However, there is one gadget out there that has snuck into my dreams...

Hello, lover. The Forerunner Garmin 305. This baby will provide you with any information you could ever need while running. It is unbelievable. When I start running real distances, the Garmin would really come in handy.

Graduation present....?

Ok, time to give Gretta some love, finish some work, and go to bed!

Taco Night!

I am loving this Mexican themed weekend!

To back track slightly, I actually had to work pretty hard at making this Saturday a nice one. I woke up after an extremely bad night sleep feeling really sick. Everyone in my life seems to be sick right now, and unfortunately, I think I'm next.

I decided that getting out of the house and enjoying my weekend was the only way I was going to feel better. And it sort of worked.

My recipe for making a bad day better...

1. Coffee and a scone with Jeffrey at the new local coffee shop, Cafemantic.

2. Go to a winter farmer's market (sans Jeffrey. He had to work.)

3. Find cheap work out clothes at TJ Maxx.

4. Eat a wonderful (and cheap) dinner.

Although my throat still hurts, and I am currently nursing a cup of echinacea tea, I am in very high spirits!

Dinner tonight was tacos. It seemed natural given the fact that we have quite literally between 70-80 oz. of salsa in the fridge.

Last night, I began soaking black beans. Then, I simmered them for about 2 hours this afternoon. Soaking and cooking your own beans always seems like a hassle in my head, but it really so much more economically efficient.

The beans turned out a little mushy for my liking (if you like harder beans, you probably only want to simmer them for roughly an hour and a half). However, my mushy beans got my creative wheels turning. I took the mush and threw it into the food processor with the juice from one lime, some salt, pepper, chilli powder, and a splash of apple cider vinegar. The result? Healthy and delicious mock-refried beans. I was extremely proud.

The remainder of the dinner was very simple. I was illustrate with photos.


(Corn tortillas heated up in a cast iron pan without oil)


(Refried beans)


(Avocado and quinoa)


(Cheese and salsa)


(Seconds...)

I decided to go without cheese the second time around. I realized I rarely can even taste cheese in most meals (except pizza, of course), so I have been leaving it off lately. I really don't miss it at all.

As for running, I took a rest day. I woke up at 10:15 this morning! I honestly cannot remember the last time I slept that late. I didn't even wake up on my own; Jeff had to stir me. I took that as a sign that my body needed rest, so I gave it some. Hopefully tomorrow I am feeling well enough to run because Jeffrey said he wanted to go with me.

Now we are off to a friend's house for the evening. I plan on bringing some more echinacea tea with me to sip on...not exactly my ideal drink on a Saturday night, but oh well.

Crock-pottery Salsa

Ever since Jeffrey got me my crock pot, he has been wanting to make salsa.

This afternoon, he sent me a text message from the Coop telling me he got upwards of 15 free tomatoes. Naturally, making salsa was a top priority.

I tried to follow an extremely simple recipe from the crock pot manual, but I ended up winging it and making do with what we had on hand.

It ended up being something like this:

10 large, cored tomatoes
1 medium yellow onion
3 cloves of garlic
1/2 c green pepper
1 whole red pepper
1 jalapeno pepper (with seeds)
salt, pepper, chili powder, basil, oregeo (and I think some other stuff Jeff threw in while I wasn't looking).

The process was easy.


Wash and core the tomatoes. To core, simply cut an inch deep circle around the stem and spoon out. I then chopped the tomato in half and spooned out the seeds and superfluous innards. Then, throw them in the crock.


Then, I (roughly) chopped up the onion, garlic, and peppers, and threw those in the crock as well.


Let it simmer for about 2 1/2 hours or until tomatoes are soft. Then, ladle the mixture into the food processor and pulse until you read the desired consistency. Add in your spices and pulse some more.

I realized I did not take a picture of the final product. Tomorrow! Once it was finished, we realized it desperately needed cilantro. Again, tomorrow!

I did manage to take a picture of our lovely Mexican feast that incorporated the salsa, though.


This was delicious! Quinoa, black beans, avocado, cheddar cheese (it's all we had), and our homemade salsa. I am in such a Mexican food frame of mind right now. You will be seeing a lot of this!

In addition to a successful dinner, I had a very successful run this morning. It was snowing/raining this morning for the third morning in a row, and I simply could not handle another wet and cold run. I had to go to UConn today anyway, so I decided to go to the gym for the first time in a while. I found this workout courtesy of Tina. I have always been one to question those who claim any workout (especially on a treadmill) is "great," but this one really wasn't bad. There was so much switching of the incline and speed that the time really did fly by.

I was definitely tired by the end (it turned out to be about 4 miles), but at no point was I miserable.

After the run, I stretch a lot and did some ab work and called it a day.

I really needed a successful run. I was starting to get really frustrated, but I feel like I am now back on track. I am supposed to run with some people from work and Jeffrey in the morning, but I know one of my running partners has fallen ill, Jeffrey is in her footsteps, and I have yet to hear from the last remaining running buddy.

Oh well. I guess it will be another lonely run for Annie. My knee kind of hurts right now though, so who knows, maybe I will give myself a rest day.

We will see....

Homemade Almond Butter!

As I was sitting at the breakfast table with Jeffrey this morning, slathering almond butter on a piece of toast, we began talking about our newfound, yet passionate, love for almond butter. I bought my first jar at the Coop when our distributor sent it to the store by accident, and we sold it for a discounted price. This was the moment I fell in love. A week (and one jar of almond butter) later, I was wandering through Ocean State Job Lot, and I stumbled up on a whole display of discounted almond butter. I bought two jars.

Now, the last last jar is waning, Ocean State is not selling almond butter, and my wallet will not allow me to spend $13.99 on a jar from the Coop.

We were heartbroken.

Until...


Almonds, please meet...


The food processor.

We decided to make our own! I bought two cups of unsprayed almonds for roughly $3.00, threw them in the food processor, and waited patiently.


(After about two minutes it resembled almond meal)


(Seven more minutes, the almonds became doughy)


(Six more minutes, it was looking like chunky almond butter!)

I tasted it at this stage, and decided I wanted creamy almond butter, so I let it go for roughly three more minutes.


The final product! I was nervous I was going to need to add oil, but it ended up being completely unnecessary. I did add a tiny bit of sea salt and agave, but that is completely optional. Also, while it is processing, you need to stop and scrape the sides frequently. It is kind of a pain, but completely worth it.


In the end, 2 cups of almonds yields about 1.5 cups of delicious almond butter. Not bad for $3.00! If you do not have access to reasonably priced almonds, I highly suggest buying them in bulk at a local food store or online.

In running news, I went for a pretty discouraging run (again) today.

It started when I tried to go to the local track, only to find that it was occupied. Then, I thought it would be nice to just park my car and run on the surrounding roads just for a change of scenery. I got out of my car, and the wind was howling, so I decided to wait a little bit and run around my neighborhood in hopes of it being less windy. Before going home, I decided to go to the Coop to pick up almonds (for the almond butter). That was when I got pulled over by the cops. Not just one cop car, but two.

Apparently, I rolled through a stop sign. To be honest, I am pretty awful about rolling through stop signs, something Jeffrey always points out. You can imagine how much fun it was for him when I told him the news. Anyways, two cop cars pulled up behind me once I was already safely in the Coop parking lot. Meanwhile, customers were walking in and out staring at me sitting in my car looking like a felon. The cop came up to my window, told me what I did, license and registration, etc. etc. He proceeded to ask me if there were any weapons in the car he should know about. I stared at him blankly in a moment of disbelief. I quite simply do not look like someone who is packing heat.

After the whole ordeal, he gave me a written warning, and I got to go inside and buy my almonds.

Once I got home, in a very bad mood, the last thing I wanted to do was go running. But, I read a few blogs, got motivated, and left.

The run was pretty painful from beginning to end. I know that I am making progress, and I am slowly getting into better shape, but it is really frustrating to be winded after running two miles. I have been at this for a month now, and I thought I would be farther along than where I am. Granted, a month is not that long, so I should probably be easier on myself, but I am still a little frustrated. I am starting to think that I need to push the half marathon back a little bit so I have ample time to train without hurting myself, but I can make that decision a little later.

I finished the 2.5 mile run with very little walking and a lot of heavy breathing. Once I got home, my legs felt really tight, and I knew I needed the assistance of Yoga is Yummy. I felt so much better after this! I highly suggest it for anyone whose hamstrings are in need of a good stretch.

In addition to that I did a few pushups (I could only do 7), and some ab work.

I am obviously going to stick with running and training. I just can't wait for warmer weather and stronger endurance.

Absence.

I realize I am getting very bad about daily blogging, and for that, I apologize. However, my schedule is really busy right now, and with graduation lurking around the corner, things like blogging need to be placed on the back burner. Thus, I do not think my schedule allows for the three mealtime recap. Instead, I will focus on only the (somewhat) interesting stuff.

Project Glow is in full swing...almost. So, as I promised, I will explain it a little further.

The aim of Project Glow is to better your skin without taking extreme chemical measures.
The necessary materials...
-St. Ives Apricot Scrub
-St. Ives Blemish Fighting cleanser
-Exfoliating gloves (mine are coming in the mail!)
-Neutrogena Daily Moisturizer (SPF 30/45)
-Optional: Coconut Oil for body moisturizing (I am skipping this because coconut oil is expensive and if I am going to buy it, I am going to cook with it)
-Optional: Oil Blotting Sheets (I am skipping this too. My skin isn't that oily)


My addition...
-Cinnamon tablets


Cinnamon regulates your blood sugar levels, and a lot of acne is caused by fluctuation in blood sugar levels. So, as Moocy (a fellow blogger and coworker) suggested, I am taking two tablets in the morning and two tablets at night.

The routine..
In the morning:
Remove any leftover eye make up. Put on one exfoliating glove and wet. Place a quarter sized amount of St Ives Apricot Scrub on wet glove. Gently exfoliate your face with circular motions. Pay close attention to problem spots where blackheads form: around the nose, chin, etc. Rinse
face well. Use exfoliating glove and some more St Ives Scrub to exfoliate entire body. When you get out of the shower pay dry and while skin is still damp, apply.

Before bed:
Remove eye make-up. Use St Ives Blemish Fighting Cleanser. Be sure to clean entire face well (it is very easy to rush through this given everyone's desire to climb into bed). Pat dry and apply your favourite night cream. Be sure that the night cream won’t clog pores (I am using the Neutrogena lotion for this too, because I am poor and didn't want to buy more).

The food...

GREEN MONSTERS! Although Angela suggests starting out slow with the greens, I have already gotten accustomed to drinking spinach, kale, collards, etc., so I am going to try to have at least 3 cups of greens in each of my green monsters. In addition to greens, I usually add almond milk, 1/2 banana, flax, chia, and whatever else looks good.


Fruits and veggies!! As Angela writes, "The more V + F you eat, the less processed foods you will eat" Simple enough.

Limit dairy intake-research shows that the consumption of processed dairy can have negative repercussions on your skin. I am in no way a vegan, but by circumstance, I usually eat a vegan diet. I have foung that dairy products are expensive and unnecessary, so I usually don't buy them (except the occasional ice cream sale). Cutting back on dairy will not be a big issue for me, and hopefully I will see the positive effects in my complexion.

Lastly, try to drink green tea and lemon water. I am also going to decrease my coffee intake. Coffee really dehyrates me, and in turn, dehydrates my skin.

Behavioral modification...
Limit stress...I will probably struggle with this one seeing I am always trying to limit the amount of stressors in my life, but sometimes, being stressed in unavoidable. No one wants to be stressed out. It just happens.
My additions...
Reduce hand-face contact. I am a nail biter. A really bad nail biter. So, my hands are constantly touching my mouth, chin, etc. Coincidentally, my worst skin area is my chin....SO, I am going to try to stop biting my nails! It will be tough, but I think I can do it!

No more make-up. Yep. I am trying it. Right now, I simply cannot afford nice, natural make up. And, I cannot deny it any longer, slathering my face in cheap cover up cannot be good for my skin. I have never been a big make up person, but I have always relied on it to cover up glaring imperfections. Now, I am going to make the leap into the no make up realm. It will take a little while to adjust, but I think I can do it. Of course, I will wear make up for special occasions and what not, but I mean on a day to day basis, I am going to let my skin breathe. Jeffrey strongly supports this. What a guy!

So, that's about it! I have sort of begun this routine, but I am still waiting on the exfoliating gloves.

In other news, I went on another brutal 3 mile run today. It should not have been that bad, but it really was. The wind was terrible when I started, so for the first mile it felt like I was running against a brick wall. When I finally got to the gigantic hill I tackled last week, I was exhausted. I made it to the top, but with two walking breaks. After the hill, the wind died down, and I got to run on either a down hill slope or flat ground for the remainder of the run. I felt tired but content by the end.

This process is very frustrating, but I am determined to stick with it. I even subscribed to Runner's World today, so that every month, a little bit of inspiration comes in the mail!

A friend of mine is starting to toy around with the idea of running, so I convinced her to run with me tomorrow morning at a local track. Once I got her on board, her boyfriend decided he wanted to come too. At that point, Jeffrey jumped on the band wagon too! Couples running! I know it's dorky, but I think it will be a lot of fun, and we are all in terrible shape, which will just make it better!

Now, I am off to make dinner and a little bit of socializing.

Glowing skin and snow.

Connecticut has rung in another snowy day! And, once again, the snow got me out of an evening class!

I decided I needed to celebrate my free night and the cold weather with a warm and comforting dinner.

Baked sweet potato with leftover chili and cheese!


This meal was easy, filling, and so unbelievably satisfying. We had leftover chili in the freezer that I have been wanting to eat up, but I was definitely not in the mood for a mere bowl of chili. So this was my solution.


I simply thawed out the chili in a pot on the stove, stirring often. I punctured a couple holes in half a sweet potato with a fork and microwaved it for 5 minutes (turning it over half way through), and grated up some cheese for some added decadence. It was exactly what I was craving.

I made a very boring salad too just to incorporate a little green into my life.

Aside from that, my eats were very boring today. Oats, leftovers, and fruit.

I did get Jeffrey to start eating almond butter though!


His and hers apple with almond butter.

In other news, I was very proud of my running determination today. I lounged around all morning, knowing that I had to make myself run at least two miles (I have been playing catch up after my lazy weekend), but going running in the snow was extremely unappealing. However, I knew my only other option was going to the UConn gym before my class, which was even less appealing.

So, I sucked it up and went for a run. As soon as I started running, I was happy I forced myself outside. The majority of the sidewalks were shoveled, and my legs felt surprisingly good after my painful three mile run yesterday. I decided to push for two and a half miles, and I ended up completing it without walking!

I have noticed that my recovery time after my runs has decreased substantially. I was winded when I got home, but as soon as I got inside and drank a glass of water, I felt fine again. I need to cherish these small milestones!

It is still snowing now, so I anticpate another snowy run in the morning...

LASTLY: a different kind of news...
I was blog stalking today, and I came across something on Oh She Glows, which was then repeated on Healthy Tipping Point. It's called "Project Glow," and it is something of a natural beauty regiment to improve your skin. Check out the links for the details!

Lately, my skin has been terrible, and I honestly do not know what it is. I eat pretty well, I exercise, I don't smoke, I don't drink that much, and I drink a ton of water. It was a pretty recent thing too. I have never had perfect skin, but it also hasn't been this bad before.

So, I want to try to resolve this in a healthy way! I have done things like Proactiv before, but it was always too harsh on my skin. Once I have all of the necessary supplies, I will start Project Glow and tell you a little more about it.

Is there anyone out there who wants to join?

Now, it is time for bed. Sleep is good for your skin, right?

Cakes and crocks.

First off, the final product of my cake.

It's pretty, no?

It actually came out really well! And the Coop birthday party was a lot of fun, and I filled up on cake and coffee. I had a piece of this, and sampled a few others. It was a delicious, and unhealthy, morning at the Coop.

The rest of the weekend flew by. Jeff and I went to Tupelo in Boston on Friday night to celebrate our one year anniversary. I did not end up taking pictures because it was a very small restaurant, and I did not want to disturb anyone. I also cannot deny that I am still getting used to taking pictures of food in public. I get so nervous and embarrassed. Did you go through this too, fellow bloggers? Maybe it just comes with time.

Anyway, I had a watercress salad with candied pecans, roasted pear, and goat cheese. Oh man, it was so good!! For my man course, I had blackened catfish and cheddar grits. That too was fantastic. I was stuffed after my dinner but as soon as the waiter started describing the peanut butter and chocolate cake with bourbon ice cream, I was sold. Jeff told me he would eat some too, but he had one bite and was "stuffed."

Overall, it was a great night!

This morning, I was ready to get back into the swing of healthy things.

I woke up and went for my very first three mile run!! I had mapped it out on Google maps, so I ended up going on a route I have never been on before. I felt fine for the first mile, but as soon as I ventured into unchartered territory, I was hit with a hill as steep as Everest that lasted about 3/4 of a mile. It doesn't sound like much, but it destroyed me. I had to stop to walk three times! The rest of the run went smoothly though. There was a nice, long, and steady downhill so I could sufficiently recover.

I also bumped into a new friend of mine while I was at work today. She is a pretty intense runner, and she started telling me about a bunch of races that will be starting in the spring and summer. I started thinking it might be a good idea to run a 5k or a 10k before the half marathon. I think it will be good just for my overall mental stability to have raced a few times. It is definitely something worth looking into!

This morning, I refueled with one of these bad boys.

Hello, handsome.

This is roughly...

1/2 c lacinata kale
1/2 c spinach
1 c almond milk
1 banana
1 T flax
1 T hemp protein powder
1 T almond butter
1 T chia seeds

Sweet and delicious!

This evening, Jeff had a crock pot creation waiting for me when I got home. I got to be there for the initial preparation, and when I got home, everything was finished!

The crock pot creation was made up of tomatoes, peppers, mushrooms, onion, pineapple, chili powder, curry powder, and hot sauce.

First stages...



My bowl (there is some brown rice underneath all of that)...


My bowl with a little bit of cheese (it was necessary!)...


Now, it is time for bed. More interesting posts will come tomorrow!

Chocolate, Wine, and Carrot Cake.

Last night brought a little too much of this...

(Oh Rex, how you slay me)

Which resulted in too much of this...


(Green and Blacks Dark Chocolate...oh my)

And I even got into a little bit of this...


Yikes.

For some reason, whenever I have night classes following my usual eight hour work day, I find myself constantly rushing. Clearly, at times this rush is necessary. For example, my boyfriend was using my car when I was at work, and he was supposed to pick me up at 5:00 so I could go home, grab a few things, and make it to my class at 6 on time. Jeff didn't pick me up until 5:15...rush rush rush...I made it to my class by 6:00. In this case, the rush was necessary and beneficial.

However, my eating was rushed too. I knew I needed to have a pretty bulky snack because there was a chance I wasn't going to be eating dinner until 9:30 or 10:00, but as soon as I found out that Jeff was late, I just started rushing around looking for snacks. I ate some nuts then a little bit of dried fruit then some chocolate...

Then, when Jeff was driving me to school, I staretd eating trail mix. Then more trail mix. And a little more to the point where I was uncomfortably full. This whole time, I was frantic I was going to be late.

When I got home at a reasonable hour (8:30ish), you would think that the rushing would stop. But it didn't. I rushed to heat up dinner. I proceeded to inhale my food, guzzle wine, and immediately go for the chocolate bar, commencing the photographic journey above.

I do not know why normal, every day rushing correlates into rushed, unnecessary eating, but I cannot deny that the correlation exists.

When I woke up, kind of hung over, I was upset with myself. Not really upset, but upset with my behavior the night before. I have definitely struggled with disordered eating in the past, so flare ups like this are always a little bit unsettling.

I decided to calm my nerves the smart way. I ate half a banana and went for a 2.5 mile run that I determined was going to be a good one.

I started off really strong, and I felt better. My headache was disappearing, and it felt good knowing my body was doing some damage control. Then, I started getting really tired and really discouraged. I had not gone that far, and I knew my legs shouldn't feel this terrible this quickly.

A mile later, I realized I had been running against a very cold, very strong wind. Once I turned around, things started looking up. I was definitely tired by the time I got home, but I wasn't exhausted.

I did a little Yoga for Runners when I got home, which felt great! And I have had a really nice day so far.

I had a great breakfast...more oats.

An even better lunch...

Roasted eggplant and sweet potato on Ezeikel bread with hummus, orange pepper, red onion, and lettuce. I threw some Mary's crackers and the remainder of the pepper on my plate for good measure.

And now...

Carrot cake!

(Final product will be displayed once it has had time to set in the fridge!)

Jeff liked my baking adventure as much as I did.

The cake is not for us actually. It the Food Coop's 30th birthday tomorrow. Every year, the Coop has "a party" to celebrate. There is music, food, and best of all lots of cake. This year, there will be 30 cakes (including mine) to celebrate 30 years. I am really excited...

Jeff and I are off to Boston tonight to go to Tupelo. Apparently it is a great, southern cookin' restaurant. My parents got us a gift certificate for Christmas, and we saved it until now because we knew we would want to use it for our one year anniversary. The anniversary was actually yesterday. Oh well.

There will be lots of pictures later!

Why hello oats.

How I've missed you.


Although these were steel cut and not my usual rolled, this breakfast hit the stop.

1/3 c steel cut oats
1/2 apple sprinkled with cinnamon and microwaved for a minute (sweet heavens. so good.)
1/2 banana
1 T almond butter
1 T flax
last bits of my granola
Sprinkle of cinnamon and agave

I think I need to start decreasing the size of my breakfast. I am stuffed to the brim right now.

I woke up with every intention to run, but when I looked out the window, I saw that snow was still covering the streets. So, I decided today will be my rest day, and tomorrow will be a run day. I feel a little guilty, but I thought this was the safer, more comfortable plan.

Now it is off to work and then a very long night class.

Whitewashed

After a day of anticipation, I awoke to 34 degree weather and no snow.

Fast forward 12 hours, and I am sitting at my dining room table in my warm apartment that is covered in snow. On days like this, I really like winter.

The snow has yet to be stained by the exhaust from cars; I can blissfully ignore the fact I will need to shovel my driveway in the morning, and I was even able to escape from work four hours early due to the "bad roads."

Today was nice.

My run was a relatively easy 2 mile loop. I tried something new though. Back in my track days (yes, I ran track, yes, I finished either last or second to last in every race), our coach would make us go for 3 mile runs in which we would jog from one telephone poll to the next and then sprint from that telephone to the next, then jog, then sprint, and so on. I thought I would give it a whirl this morning. After about a mile, I was wheezing for air. Turns out, sprinting really takes it out of you, who knew?

Once I got back to my apartment, I decided I still had a little bit of energy to expend, so I jogged to the bottom of the hill adjacent my apartment, and sprinted back up it. It tired me out, and my ass hurt all day.

My apartment was still oat-less this morning (Jeffrey brought home some steel cut oats tonight, so that problem is remedied!), so I had to go with yogurt again. In the summertime, I eat yogurt nearly every morning. On winter mornings, however, my body craves oats...and sometimes pancakes.


Yogurt and almond butter is genius. Add in banana, apple, and a little bit of granola, and it is a near perfect breakfast in a bowl.

Unfortunately, I ate it while checking my email and rushing out the door to work. Today is the final day students can submit to the literary magazine, so all of the editors are in a frenzy trying to get everything organized so we can make first cuts tomorrow. This would have been a hectic day on its own, but with the addition of the snow and the cancellation of school, it has reached a whole new level of crazy.

Luckily, I left work early and was able to enjoy a relaxed lunch at home.

The classic PB and J, with some slight alterations. Almond butter instead of peanut, and I threw in the remainder of the banana I used for my breakfast.


Paired with this guy for a little green in my day.


Spinach, banana, lemon, cinnamon, and almond milk.

I spent the entirety of the afternoon sifting through submissions. By the third hour, my stomach was growling, my eyes were sick of staring at a computer screen, and my overall mood had plummeted. I figured, for the submittees sake, I should eat and snack and stay happy while I read their stories. And so I did.


This serving looks tiny, but I think my baby bowl is deceptive. There are a bunch of cashews hidden underneath all of that too. This is my first encounter with goji berries. I can't really taste them. Maybe they are just overpowered by everything else and they taste delicious on their own. Have you ever tried goji berries?

This snack satisfied my stomach for about two hours, and then I was more than ready to heat up leftovers. Left over eggplant lasagna, eggplant parm, and some salad.


It still hasn't gotten old for me, but I am sure it has for you. I think I will be taking a break from eggplant for a bit.

I will most certainly have some ice cream later tonight, but I am trying to hold off until later. I want to savor it.

And into bed I go...

Jeffrey's eggplant parmesan was delicious!

oonjmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmhuy

Gretta just walked across my keyboard, and that's what happened. Gretta is a very independent cat, but as soon as Jeff and I climb in bed, she runs into the room, climbs on my chest (or keyboard), and begs for love. After a few minutes, she gets bored, and settles down between our legs and bathes.


She will lay on Jeffrey's chest when his cat is watching to make her jealous; Gretta is very catty.

Back to the eggplant parm.

It was cheesy...


And melty...


And delicious! This was my serving, plus a little munching during the clean up process...


The dish was made up of breaded and fried eggplant, mozzerella, parmesan, peppers, spinach, and some sort of tomato sauce. It was a very hearty dinner that left me stuffed. After a rough couple of days, this sort of comfort food is all I need. And a little bit of buy 1 get 1 ice cream.


I am hoping to get out for a morning run tomorrow before the snow gets too bad. I can not seem to find any excitement in running in the snow. I guess I will wait and see what tomorrow brings!