Balcony reading and blog designing

Hello everyone!
*
This morning I finished off the 2 remaining golden kiwis from last week. I am now a bit obsessed with leaving the skin on ala Meghann-style - not only does this save time and you don't waste as much of the kiwi, but I actually like the taste and texture that it adds, plus it gives you more fiber and nutrients! Before I left to go to the gym, I got started on Mike's dinner for tonight. I used these Arrowhead Mills organic red lentils which I have used before and love!
*
I basically just threw the bag of lentils into a pot along with a chopped up onion, covered them with water, brought it to a boil, and then simmered until the lentils were done. While they were cooking, I also stirred in some organic ketchup (no HFCS crap in this house, the fruit-sweetened kind), dijon mustard, red wine vinegar, salt, pepper, and oregano.
*
Even though it wasn't even 9am yet, I was dying to sample this sweet and tangy concoction so I had a bowlful for my pre-workout fuel!The lentils tasted great, but they didn't sit too well in the ole stomach. For those who follow food combining, it's best to avoid beans because, while healthy in many ways, they are considered both a starch and a protein and thus are "nature's miscombined food". Basically, for those of us who have stomach insensitivities, it's a good idea to stay away from beans and legumes.
*
I left for spinning class feeling a bit sluggish thanks to my too-heavy breakfast, which was annoying because yesterday I had a rough spinning class too. I prefer starting a cardio session with a more upbeat attitude, but I forged ahead nonethless! :)
*
Spinning ended up being good today, but was a bit shortened because the instructor got there late so I did another 15 minutes on the machine from h- err, I mean, the stairmaster, and then some crunches.
*
2 plums for a snacker

After seeing what seemed like tons of PB & Js on various blogs this morning, this combo sounded too good to beat so I made one up for myself

*

Since the lentils had already thrown off my food combining for the day, I thought maybe I would go for the rest of the day w/o following the "rules" to test to see how I felt.

*

Technically this meal is not combined properly since it has a starch, nut butter, and fruit, but I'm not going crazy about the rules here so I figured it couldn't hurt to try it! I didn't have any jam in the house that didn't contain HFCS (it's Mike's) so I made some of my own by blending frozen blackberries with water, agave nectar, and 2 packets of Truvia.

*

The blackberries must have been in the freezer for awhile or not closed up well enough because the jam took on a bit of a freezer-burned taste, not too good. However, the combo with raw almond butter on Ezekiel bread was decent..... though not as good as I thought it would be.

I spent some time reading on my lovely balcony, which is something I don't do enough of! Some of you had asked about the book I just finished, Jodi Piccoult's Handle with Care. I really didn't care for it, and found it oddly (and annoyingly) to be VERY similar to My Sister's Keeper, which was much better! There were a ton of similarities, and I'm not sure why Piccoult would have written a book that was basically a rip-off of her own best-seller, but oh well :)

*

Now I'm onto The Boy Who was Raised as a Dog, by Dr. Bruce Perry. Dr. Perry is well known in psychiatric circles for his work with traumatized children, and he happens to be from Chicago which makes it even more interesting to read his work - I attended a lecture by him earlier in the summer.

Since Mike will be home soon, I got out the lentil mixture I made earlier - which I thought was good on its own - to doctor it up before serving it to Mike. I had made a ton of veggie bacon strips earlier and once they cooled, I crumbled them up into small pieces and stirred them into the lentils along with a 1/2 or so of bread crumbs.

*

I poured the mixture into a casserole dish and topped it with more breadcrumbs and some parmesan cheese.

*

I had a ton of bites of the lentils and veggie bacon, and again this didn't make me feel too hot (I later realized the veggie bacon is NOT vegan, yuck). For whatever reason when I eat too much, sometimes I have this twisted idea that eating something ELSE wil help! lol.

*

So, I tried to soothe my aching tummy with something sweet. I tried this guy for the first time that I picked up from WF during my last trip.

It sounds awesome, doesn't it? When I think chocolate hazelnut, I think NUTELLA! This bar came nowhere close to being that delicious - it was weirdly kind of oily - but it was decent. I would give it a B or B-; I would eat it again, but definitely prefer most of the Larabar flavors instead!

*

I've been getting excited about having a new blog template soon courtesy of ZestyCook, and I am still looking for more ideas for my new domain name since MarathonVal.com is already taken! What do you think: MarathonValerie? ValRunsMarathons? ValsMiles? MarathonOrBust? RunnerVal? ChicagoVal? Any suggestions?

*

I'm so excited to watch the last episode of The Bachelorette tonight - who do you want to win, Kiptyn or Ed? I'm a Chicago girl myself so I'd be happy if Ed won, but Kiptyn is certainly not a bad catch either ;)