Finally Back on Track!

Finally.  I'm starting to feel like my normal self.  If y'all haven't been able to tell, I've been in a bit of a slump.  Sure, I've been Death Gymming regularly, and running and biking sporadically, but well.....I just haven't been into it.

Plus, I've been drinking waaaay too much.  Damn softball.  Don't get me wrong, I'm loving playing softball.  But all this beer drinking had to stop.  I was feeling gross and bloated, and waking up the day after drinking way too much is just, well, most of us have been there.

Anyways, this week it stopped.  My eating has been a billion times better, and aside from a little bit of a rum (and fruit) smoothie the hubs made today, I haven't had a drink since my Birthday.  (I know, it was only a week ago.....that just goes to show how much drinking has been done.)

Back on track, bitches.

Monday, I did Week 3, Day 1 of C25K (two rounds in a row) and Death Gym.  Tuesday, the hubbs and I hit the batting cages, and I hit a billion rounds.  I alternated between rounds of  slowpitch with the softball, and the slowest speed (40 mph!) with the baseball.  See, in our coed league, the girls hit a smaller ball.  I hate the small ball, but gotta work on getting better at hitting it.  Wednesday I did Week 4, Day 1 of C25K (two rounds in a row).  Thursday was two games of softball.  In the heat wave.  In left field.  Friday was a 17 mile bike ride, and today was 4 miles of Week 5, Day 1 of C25K (two rounds in a row), followed by 6 miles on the bike, helping some good running friends finish out a long ass 14 mile run.

Can you tell, I'm feeling much more myself?

After my run, bike ride, and breakfast with BCR, the hubbs and I went to the farmers' market.  We scored all this yumminess, plus a dozen ears of corn.

Swiss Chard, three kinds of squash, fennel, and torpedo red onions.

We wandered around a bit, and this trail bread caught my eye.  It was a little pricey, but I couldn't say no.....it was just too interesting!

It was marketed as a cross between bread and granola.....looks like they got it right!

I was nervous about cutting off a slice of it; I thought it would crumble apart.  But it sliced like a piece of bread.  I tried a bite of the slice I cut.  Initially, I thought it would be sweeter, because it looks so much like granola, but it actually had more of a bread taste....not sweet at all.  I smeared a little raw honey on that bad boy (also bout at the farmers' market, but a few weeks ago), and bam.....complete tastiness!

The rest of the day was spent grilling/sauteeing veggies and catching up on laundry.  (Yep, boring ole domestic crap.)  Later on tonight, if the storms hold off, we're heading to the burrah of Nazareth for some fireworks.  Tomorrow, the end of season tourney for Sunday Softball.  Should be interesting.

C25K & the Nutribullet (Finally!)

As you know from my last blog, I presented to the Wellness Committee the idea of running a Couch to 5k (C25K) program at work.  Why, I don't know.  Ok, really I do.  I need something to get MY bum in gear.  I've been lazy.  I figure if other people need to depend on me, well....I won't let them down.

Of course, I didn't present it to the Wellness Committee in that light.

Anyways.  Today, we went over my flyers, and I sent the final copies to the head of the Wellness Committee so she can email them to the world.  (That's what I call emailing something to "All County Users".)  I already put copies of all the flyers in the mailboxes for the different departments at Gracedale.

I wanted to post my pretty little flyers, but I can't hook up pdf's to this blog.  Lame.

Next step, I wait.  Fingers crossed that I have some people interested.  Fingers crossed that I don't have a million people interested.  I'm moderately terrified.

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Now, on to more exciting things.  I've had the Nutribullet for a while now.  (I know, I know, you've all been wondering about it!)

First, a little background.  I had the Magic Bullet forever.  (Minds out of the gutter.  Not that magic bullet.  The one that blends stuff.)  It worked well enough, but I'd always have unblended chunks of ice/strawberries/bananas in the bottom of the cup.  I really wanted to try green smoothies, but the thought of chunks of spinach floating around in my smoothie....well....vomit.  Seriously.

My verdict on the Nutribullet....I LOVE it.  No chunks of ice.  Or strawberries.  Or bananas.  Spinach is completely blended.  This piece of machinery takes all the ingredients and pulverizes them into an awesomely homogeneous mixture.

It comes with a very sturdy base, three blending cups (one large, 2 small), two different blades, and some lids.  Honestly, I think it could have came with more of the bigger cups, and less of the smaller ones.  The cups have a max fill line, and keeping everything under that line helps it all blend smoothly.  But, then you can't fill the cup all the way.  I find that if I mix stuff in the big cup, by the time it blends, it fits in the smaller cup.

I also don't think it is terribly loud when I blend:

My first venture with the Nutribullet ended up being an epic fail.  Spinach, banana, kiwi and apples.  I was hell bent on making a green smoothie.  I mixed it all up, but it seemed kind of runny.  I like my smoothies on the thick side.  Instead of adding ice (duh), I added more of the apple.  

Epic fail.  It tasted really good, but texturally, it was watered down applesauce.  Truly nasty.  But, I guess I can make homemade applesauce now....

I got smarter for my next recipe.  I started freezing the fruits.  Brilliant!  Frozen nectarines, strawberries and banana, with spinach and flax seed.  

Once I got past the baby poo color (or at least, this is the color I imagine baby poo being, since I've never changed a diaper and have zero plans of doing so), I loved it.  I also started adding almond milk instead of water, which helps with the gross color.

This one was strawberry, kiwi and flax (I think).  I wanted to make something that Chris would enjoy....and wouldn't be freaked out with.  For some reason though, this one was spicy.  I don't know if it was something on the strawberries.....

And this one is a normal ole strawberry, banana and blueberry.  (Again, because I was sharing with Chris.)

After drinking more of my green smoothies, I started to get adventurous.  This recipe was posted by one of my favorite blogs, Thug Kitchen.  (Visit the site.  You'll quickly figure out why I love it.)  Oats, frozen strawberries, half a frozen banana, almond milk, water, and a TON of mint.  So.  Flippin.  Yum.

This whole smoothie kick left me with a slight problem.  I now have a ginormous tub of cottage cheese in the fridge.  Usually, I'd have fruit and cottage cheese for breakfast.  But now....well, that container is pretty lonesome in there.

My next mission was to find a smoothie that used not only cottage cheese, but spinach too!  Yep.  Living on the wild side.  I found what I was looking for on......drumroll.....Pinterest.  (Duh.  Where else would you look?)  I'll give Pinch of Yum the true nod here, and link to that blog for the recipe.

Cottage cheese, frozen banana, spinach, almond milk and flax seed.  Sounds gross, right?  Holy moly....TASTY!  The banana counterbalances the tang of the cottage cheese.  And probably the best part?  It looks just like a shamrock shake.  Ok.  Maybe that's not the best part, but it is pretty cool.  Plus, this one was super filling.  A total keeper.

So.  This blog has gotten long.  I've rambled enough for the evening.  But expect more from me in the near future.  I'll be updating a lot more now, especially with the start of the C25K loveliness!