Chia seed disaster

Why does it feel like Thursday already?!?! It's not a work week for me so I can't figure that out. Since it's NOT a workweek for me, I'm happy that it's only Tuesday and I have the rest of this great week ahead of me! :)
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I had planned to get up at 6am for my run before the heat and humidity became unbearable.... buuuut naturally I snoozed a few times and I didn't end up out the door until about 7:15. I had a good 3 miler - it was really humid, but I had a great attitude today and that seemed to help a lot!
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Breakfast was a juice with a slightly different twist on yesterday's creation. I'm getting low on apples and lemons, so to stretch my fruit, I used a grapefruit instead of a lemon - about 1/2. So it ended up being:
- 4 stalks celery
- 2 handfulls spinach
- 1/2 grapefruit
- 1/2 apple
I usually use a whole apple, so I was cutting back in this area as well. Basically it was very, very grapefruity, which I wasn't a fan of. But it was still very fresh-tasting!
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After this liquid breakfast, I had the itch to cook so I made up a batch of zucchini chips - no pic but I'll show that later when I eat them for dinner!
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I had some errands to run, so of course I decided to do them on foot. I love walking to do my errands... and why wouldn't I when I get these benefits:
- Better for the environment
- Save gas money and wear and tear (on my car), or save $5.00 if I take the bus
- Get some exercise
- Get my daily dose of Vitamin D
- Great time to catch up on phone calls - and it's safer than talking on the phone while driving!
- I just love, love, love being able to walk through the city of Chicago. I feel so lucky to live just a mile away from the center of its downtown! It's so much fun to walk through the beautiful architecture and to people watch!
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I dropped off Mike's drycleaning (found out we have a place just a block away from us, score), returned some books to the library, and then did some birthday shopping for the upcoming August birthdays.
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It was probably about 40 minutes of walking.... however, after walking about 1/3 of the way home, my right heel was giving me a tiny bit of pain - nothing crazy, but it got me worried, so I took the bus home from there. I'm sure I would have been fine walking home, but if taking the bus spared me months of plantar fasciitis pain, it's worth it!
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Once I got back, I wanted to do something with the chia seeds that I had let sit overnight. Yesterday I soaked 1/4 c. chia seeds in 1/2 c. water, and it looked like this:

It was amazing how the minute I added the chia seeds to the water, they puffed up and became much larger than their original size (TWSS).
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I read that chia seeds increase their nutritional value if soaked in water overnight, which is what I did. However, this morning they had become soooo gelatinous that it was kinda gross and gooey. I threw them into my miniFP with 2 chopped tomatoes, some nutritional yeast, salt, pepper, and garlic.

Ummmm.... not a fan. I think this flavor would have been good, but I should not have let this soak so long!!! I think next time I will just let them soak a few minutes, and then it would blend better.
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Since the chia cheesy sauce bombed (which was meant to be a dip for my carrots), I made some guac instead, which was definitely an acceptable substitute ;) I used:
- 2 avocados
- 2 tomatoes
- tons of cilantro
- lime juice
-garlic, S & P
- 2 carrots for dippingI felt slightly Miss Piggy for having 2 avocados worth of guac for lunch, but it was good, so who gives!
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Remember those lime coconut cookies I attempted to make yesterday? I didn't care for them much, but I didn't want them to go to waste, so I morphed them into coconut date balls.

MUCH better!!!

Now I'm going to go relax for a bit on the patio and read The Time Traveler's Wife.... it's my favorite book, I re-read it every single summer, and I am trying to finish this summer's read before the movie comes out soon! So excited!!

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I don't want to give up on my chia seeds - do you have any suggestions for chia seeds that I will enjoy?

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Also, I am having a FANTASTIC giveaway sometime in the next 1-2 weeks... as soon as I get my new blog website up and running. So be sure to check back regularly! ;)

I'm scared of Twitter!!!

Hi friends!

After eating too much bad-stomachache-inducing, nonvegan food yesterday, I woke up still feeling sick.

BUT, I knew just the thing to get myself feeling back to normal - banana soft serve!!! I used two bananas which took forever in my teeny little mini-FP, but boy was it worth it :-) Today's training plan called for a 3 miler, which I knocked out despite the super high humidity. I had big plans to run to the gym to do a sculpting class, but I was dripping with sweat in a big, bad way and I needed to cool off a bit so I just walked home, which about 20-25 minutes.
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I bought a purple cabbage last week with hopes of making coleslaw, and I finally got around to it today! This is how I did it:
- one head of cabbage, chopped
- 4 carrots, grated (I used my mini-FP but you could use a hand grater, too)
- vinegar (I used what i had on hand - part red wine vinegar and part balsamic)
- EVOO
- dijon mustard
- a splash of agave and a splash of real maple syrup
- Nu Naturals stevia liquid (love this stuff!!)
- salt and pepper

This ended up tasting awesome!! I loved it so much that I couldn't even be bothered to throw some in a proper serving bowl, I've been eating out of the mixing bowl all morning!
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I think I may go have some of this in a moment... leftover carrot/lemon/apple/celery/grapefruit juice that I made last night - it's been chillaxin in the fridge since then :)

Ok guys, I am not happy about this, but yesterday I reluctantly joined Twitter. You can follow me here - but if you do, please understand that I may never actually "tweet" (?) - or at least not frequently - because I'm sincerely worried that I will get sucked into the abyss of Twitter and that it will become all-consuming, like Facebook was at one time, and much like the iron grip that the blogosphere currently has on me!

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I've heard good things, but to me it doesn't seem convenient to update your twitter unless you have a wireless internet phone -otherwise you have to go to the website, etc......and it just seems so time-intensive to have to look up people you want to follow, read their tweets, tweet your OWN tweets, YIKES my brain is spinning just thinking about it!! I know there are things like "twitter deck" or whatever it's called but frankly I just don't know if it's worth the time....

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Readers, iss there an easy way to be on Twitter without getting stressed about it? Any advice for a newbie Twitterer?

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I'm crossing my fingers that we have nice weather tonight since Mike and I had planned to go to Movies in the Park to see a free showing of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof - hope you all have a great day! :)

Giveaway winner, Kale chips and The Proposal

I am excited to finally announce the winner of my first giveaway of Holey Donuts! Keep reading to find out who is the lucky recipient! ;)

Breakfast was some juice made from Cornelius, my prized Breville. Today I used a couple celery stalks and an apple. Yum! Very refreshing.

An hour later when I got more hungry, I made a blackberry banana soft serve, a la Gena-style. It was delicious, but I found the addition of blackberries harder to mix - or maybe I am just beating up my poor mini food processor and it's tiring out?

I was super pumped to go to spinning class today! It was an awesome workout and I'm so pleased to report that I now look forward to going to spinning, whereas I used to loathe it! I also did some crunches while at the gym.

Back at home, I finally got around to making one of the blogworld trendy treats - kale chips! Basically I washed and dried two small bunches of kale, sprinkled it with a bit of EVOO and some garlic salt, and baked it at 350 for about 10 minutes. I finished off the whole pan-full in one sitting! :)

In recent years I have realized that I actually enjoy going to movies solo on occasion, so that is exactly what I did today. I would usually rather go with friends or with Mike, but sometimes I like having a day to myself. I brought some chocolate Amazing Meal with me "to-go style"! The view of the theatre (and Navy Pier in the far background) taken from my walk there.

The movie: it was really cute! I wasn't thrilled with Sandra Bullock's character but, as I suspected, Ryan Reynolds made the movie ;) I could watch him all day.... *sigh*. Also I wasn't the only one by myself, there was another girl and actually two men watching it by themselves, too! Seems I found the new trend in movie-going?

I had a super late lunch (around 4pm) of salad with homemade dressing, carrots, and avocados. Delish!

Some green tea "with purple antioxidants", whatever that means, sipped on my balcony. That's Soldier Field on the far left behind the tall builing, and you can also see a strip of Lake Michigan!

Mike sweetly accompanied me on my 3 miler today. It was a bit hot out, but overall we had a good run. We haven't run together in a while and it made it a lot more fun to have his company :) Back home I snacked on some watermelon....

... while making Mike's dinner. I made him a stirfry with tofu, shrimp, cabbage, bok choy, and carrots. I used some tofu noodles that I had recently heard about somewhere (they are only 40 calories so I wanted to give them a try) - but Mike wasn't crazy about them.

I kept some of the veggies raw, and made myself a different dish comprised of cabbage, bok choy, carrots, and a sauce made from walnuts, lemon juice, and capers. It was very creamy and "cheese-like", and not only did I love it, but I know it was a success because Mike kept asking for more and more bites while I was eating it ;)

This was my first time making bok choy and I really liked it. I would definitely cook with it again!

Dessert was.... get ready to be shocked........ Lindt chocolate! Surprise, surprise. My stash is getting low so if anyone wants to send me some new vegan dark chocolate to try I would be quite happy to sample it ;) Also Mike ate a milk chocolate Newman's Own Organics bars that they sent us, which he said was very good. So good that he ate the whole bar! :)

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And finally, for the moment you've all been waiting for... the Holey Donuts giveaway is Healthy Ashley! Congrats, Ashley! :)

Husband and wife barcrawl?

Lots of pictures from today!! If only my gosh darn camera flash worked better... but the ones in the sun turned out ok :)

Mike and I slept in late today which was lovely. Then I had to get a 3 miler in, and Mike sweetly offered to run with me. By the time we headed outside it was about 11AM and was swelteringly hot... not only that, but I think I underestimated the HILLS in Bloomington!! They are nothing that intense, but to a Chicago runner accustomed to flat as paper runs with no incline whatsoever, this was a pretty torturous run.

Mike left me halfway through to head back to the hotel, while I forged ahead. Yet again, my short run was harder than my most recent long run - I found it ENORMOUSLY easier to run 9 miles on Saturday than I did to run 3 miles today! Regardless of the difficulty of the run, it was a lot of fun to run around my old campus. IU is truly one of the most beautiful campuses and college towns out there!!

Soon after the run, we walked from the hotel (which is in the heart of campus) through campus to the downtown part of Bloomington. This is us in front of the Sample Gates: Mike in front of his favorite street, Kirkwood!

Our breakfast/brunch/lunch took place at the Uptown Cafe. Mike loved his Uptown Brewery beer!

Posing in front of a "Kirkwood St" sign, with "the square" behind me

I loved my meal! This was basically a pita wrapped around grilled salmon which was cooked to perfection, lettuce, tomato, and avocado mousse. I had steamed veggies on the side, which were not quite as good as the greasy home fries alongside Mike's sandwich, shockingly ;)

Mike got something that resembled a chicken gyro sandwich with home fries on the side. He also found an interesting-looking hot sauce from Costa Rica to put on top whose main ingredient is carrots!

Upon my sister's recommendation, for dessert we split the creme brulee french toast. Mike found it to be just "ok", but I think he's nuts ;) It was awesome!!! Hmm, if it wasn't that good I wonder why he ate his portion up so quickly...

After meandering through the streets of downtown Bloomington and wandering into a couple shops, we stopped at Starbucks for some ice water and an iced coffee with a soy top-off.Mike and I loved cardinals when we were living in Bloomington and it seemed like we heard and saw them whereve we went, so I tried to get a pic of one!

Lovely flowers on the IU campus!

Mike in front of the arboretum - again, my crappy camera does not do it justice. This is one of the prettiest parts of campus!

Me in front of the arboretum and library in the background

Mike wanted to buy some rollerblades, so we went to the College Mall to check at Dick's Sporting Goods, which did not come through for us. However, we DID end up finding something even better, aka the cutest tiny dog I have ever seen!!!

Mike and I both love big dogs, but due to the fact that we have a condo in the city, we have resigned to the fact that we are going to have to get a smaller dog. I never considered a dachsund, but this one reminded me of a golden retriever with its coloring and the shape of its face. SO CUTE!!!

Old-as-dirt mirror next to the elevator in our hotel. My husband, being his mature self!

Oops didn't realize I had cut off part of this menu, but for dinner I ordered the angel hair pasta with lump crab at Grazie. Grazie is truly one of the finest Italian restaurants in this country!!! It is a hidden gem. With your entree, you get fabulous, homemade foccacia bread with out-of-this-world good dipping oil made from chopped fresh herbs. Even the salad is spectacular - the dressing tasted like it was made from an olive tapenade of sorts.

Mike's sea scallops were equally as delicous as my pasta was!!

Ok, I feel sily admitting this, but I am one of those all-or-nothing people. I mean this in regards to many areas of my life - for example, when I decide I want to run a race, I don't just sign up for a 5K, I register for a marathon! In this respect it is a good thing, but not so much when it comes to eating.

I know for a fact that once I am back in Chicago I will resume my high-raw lifestyle, but until then, I am on vacation!!! I often feel like once I have gone off the diet deepend then it is too late to try to forgo dessert afterward too. Basically, once I enjoy a decadent meal I feel like my taste buds are so hightened that all I want is something equally decadent but that is fabulously sweet! So, I indulged in some FAN FREAKING TASTIC gelato.

I got a large :) since the small sized cup was a dinky 1/2 cup serving - and got one scoop of caramel pistachio mascarpone, and one scoop of German chocolate cake. This was probably the best gelato I have ever had!! It was at a new place on the S. side of Kirkwood that wasn't there when I was a college student - I think it's called Blue Boy Chocolates. Try it and love it!

After getting sufficiently stuffed with gelato, we walked down to the bars. We had joked earlier about having a "two person bar crawl" and getting one drink at each of our favorite bars (Kilroy's, Nick's and Upstairs), but someone that turned into Mike getting a grand total of one drink from one bar! Haha, funny how that happens. We ended up at Upstairs for quite a while, as we were being entertained by a middle-aged townie talking about his crazy stories, such as the one about how as a kid he used to steal people's cars just to drive across town, which was "a better idea" than hitchhiking on railroad cars! Oh, Bloomington, how we love thee and thy locals :)

We didn't end up making it to Nick's, but we did walk through Kilroy's. I worked there back during the days when Mike and I had first met, and we have lots of memories from there. It was so crazy to be back!

Once we got back to the Student Union Hotel, we were amused by the pictures on the hallway walls of famous IU professors of the past. Here are a few of our favorites:

It's been SUCH a fun trip down memory lane!!!! Mike and I have had a blast reliving old college memories, and Bloomington is such a beautiful town in the summer. Any high school students out there reading this - I highly encourage you to look into going to IU!!

We will be heading back to Chicago sometime tomorrow, but I'm sure we will get in another great meal or two before that.

I have been loving every minute of the food and drink here, but, especially since I am in the middle of marathon training season, I have definitely felt some moments of regret for eating food that I know ain't good for me! How do you get back on track after overindulging on vacation?

Running through my childhood

Here's Mike and I with my grandparents a few years ago :) Hello! :)

Today will be a food picture-less day today... again, my apologies! I will be back at home with my trusty camera and laptop tomorrow!

Today I woke up a bit disoriented, until I realized where I was. I had spent the night in a teeny tiny, twin bed in my grandparent's house. It used to be my oldest uncle's room back in the day, and it still had all sorts of paraphernalia from the 50s and 60s... I found it slightly amusing to find an "I heart Nixon" pin in the drawer, since these days my uncle is a devout Democrat! ;)

I had a 1/2 pint of blueberries for breakfast, and then my grandpa and I headed over to visit my grandma in her nursing home for lunch. Well, my grandpa and grandma had the nursing home lunch, and let's just say I didn't feel like eating a 2" square of meat lasanga with a super small side dish of something unidentifiable. So, I brought a lunch with me - a HUGE salad made from spinach, slices of red peppers, and an enormous amount of guacamole. It was so good!!

My grandpa and I later toured a couple independent living and assisted living centers, which ended up dragging on, and my tummy was rumbling. Once we got home, I made a Green Monster with the only ingredients I had on hand - spinach, soy milk, and nectarines. I miss my Amazing Grass and bananas, but it was still good! The best part was freaking out my grandpa with my green smoothie! :) I was still hungry after this, so I had a few spoonfulls of PB straight, and then decided I should be a bit more civilized about it so I then had a plate of cut up red pepper spears with a ton more PB. ** It should be noted that I am in the process of transitioning myself to a raw diet (something I am TRYING, not necessarily going to do forever, don't freak out Dora!) More on this during a later post!

* We went back to see my grandma later that evening, and then once I got back I knew I needed to go for a run soon before it got dark. I ran my 3 miles, per my training schedule, and then walked home - probably about 20 minutes or so.

I had a lovely run - the weather was nice and breezy, and I ran along a pretty scenic path by a golf course and then along the St. Joseph river... saw some duckies chillin on a log... then ran through the riverside park where my grandma, sister, and cousins used to go to feed bread to the ducks. It totally brought me back to my childhood! Funny how that was literally our FAVORITE thing to do for years... better than putting your kids in front of a video game for hours.. but don't get me going on that tangent or I'll never get off of it ;)

Once I got back to gpa's house, I snacked on some cashews and I think I'm about to go have some strawberries, perhaps immersed in a bowl of soymilk. I also set up my first Marathon Monday posting to post itself automatically, but it hasn't shown up yet haha so I better go get that done. Check back for it soon, goodnight everyone! :)