Monday, July 26, 2010
Bite of Seattle
Friday, July 23, 2010
A Nice Day in Seattle!
We had a lot of fun going to the Seattle Bites food festival, which I will share pic of our yummy eats in a separate post. We hiked, kayaked, drank wine and ate a lot of good food! Pike's Place market is so cool, but sooo crowded! I want to go back and pick us some fresh flowers and some fresh fish...that salmon is HUGE! We even got to see them throw some fish, good times!
Thursday, July 22, 2010
Roasted Beets and Best Dessert EVER!
The flavors were so great in this salad, I hadn't made candied pecans before, and they were delicious!
I decided a couple hours later that I was still hungry and wanted something sweet. I've been seeing late-night oat dishes on blogs and since I had an early morning workout planned the next day, I thought I would give it a try. I stocked up on some Trader Joe's supplies that day and picked up some cinnamon grahams and mini peanut butter cups...which became my inspiration!!!
1. Combine dry oats, water and salt and cook over medium heat until water is absorbed
2. Crush graham crackers
3. Top hot oats with crushed grahams and mini PB cups
4. Devour
These oat were ridiculous! The peanut butter cups melted into the gooey, yummy swirl and it was just an amazing desert...very filling with the oats. Also, this late night desert was great fuel for my early morning workout. I usually have half a bar or a piece of toast in the am, but I didn't need any food...just drank a little coffee and was good to go. This may become routine.
Do you eat before an early morning workout? Do you find it better to eat that morning or the night before? What is your favorite fuel for a workout?
Thursday, July 15, 2010
Lunch on the Lake
Tonight I plan to do some cleaning because I have a friend coming to visit and she's flying in tonight!!! We have an exciting weeked planned with hiking, kayaking, shopping the Nordstrom Anniversary Sale!!!!!, visiting the Space Needle, Pike's Place Market, A foodie festival, some fun restaurants and bars and drinks out on the deck of my apartment building overlooking the city! Can't wait!
What are your plans for the weekend? What is your favorite thing to do with visitors in your city?
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
Rooftop Yoga
I am excited to practice, however am very sore from an amazing bootcamp class I had this morning! I can't get over how much more fun and energizing it is working out when the weather is nice:) We did tons of strength training drills and sprints and my whole body is sore, it was a complete total body workout.
I have been rocking the wraps and salads for lunch lately and am loving the combo of hummus and salsa instead of a traditional salad dressing. I try to pair a big flavorful salads with some sort of protein like beans or left-over chicken with a small piece of fruit. Here is one of my lunch creations:
Green leaf with avocado, green onion, pico de gallo, and hummus with a piece of left-over chicken and a small apricot from the CSA. I find it's much more fun to have a voluminous lunch rather than something more calorie dense.
My other favorite in blog-land is the infamous banana soft serve. It's great because you can try so many variations. This one has 1 frozen banana, 1/2 cup frozen mixed berries, chia seeds and topped with cacao nibs for a little crunch. I could eat this every.single.day! MMmmmm!
Note - I made this around 9 pm for dessert...and it's still so light out! Have I mentioned that I love Seattle summers!?!?!
What's your favorite summer dessert?
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
Weekend Brunch
Sunday, July 11, 2010
Yoga For Hope
The experience was absolutely amazing. I met up with a few friends from Mountain Flow Yoga and we lined up our mats in the center of the field.We practiced 108 sun salutations under the sun. It was intense! They had 9 yoga instructors from studios around Seattle lead the group in 12 sun salutations each, totalling 108. I thought this was a great idea, because each instructor had a different teaching style and that kept things interesting and fun as we went along. They provided sunscreen, water and snacks throughout the practice, which was necessary with such a hot sunny day...it was about 80 degrees with maybe 1 or 2 clouds in the sky! As the 7th instructor began her sun salutations, I started to feel the effects of the practice. I took it easy by drinking lots of water and practicing child's pose to regain some strength. This really helped me to end the class on a positive note with a yoga high! I felt so great afterward I practically skipped home!
I got home a little after 1:00, changed my clothes and headed out with the boyfriend's family for some kayaking. Since it was the first sunny weekend in Seattle this summer, the place was packed. We waited in line for an hour (with water and sunscreen!) and finally got up to the front only to realize that his little bro and sis had to be accompanied by an adult since they are both under 18. Since we had a group of 5...I had a solo kayak. I was soooo sore and tired from 2+ hours of yoga...it was rough! But I guess the beautiful view of Lake Union and downtown made up for it. We kayaked for an hour and then had some yummy Mexican food. We all inhaled a nacho appetizer, then I got tacos with yams, peppers, onions and avocado sauce...so good!
I ended the day with some reading out on the deck of my apartment and we BBQd some buffalo burgers with corn and asparagus and a beer. It was a great end to such a fun day!
Thursday, July 8, 2010
Healthy Cooking as a Hobby
The steaks had great flavor, but were huge...I had half of one and it was the perfect amount.
Last night I came home and changed into workout clotes and complete some HIIT on the treadmill...WAY too hot to run outside. I warmed up for 5 minutes, then did 20 minutes with 1 minute intervals (1 minte @ 4.0, 1 minute @ 6.0 to 7.5...worked my way up) and cooled down for 5 minutes. It was pretty intense as I haven't been keeping up with my running in a few months. I hope to build my endurance back up over the next month and then work on my speed.
After my run, I walked down to Barnes & Noble to get the new Steig Larsson novel...I am super obsessed and can't wait to read the whole thing! I also picked up a huge unsweetened iced green tea from Starbucks for the walk home. We cooked an awesome dinner of balsamic chicken with couscous and braised swiss chard from the CSA box. I was soooo tired...I probably could have gone to bed at 9:00...I blame it on the cardio since I really push myself when I do HIIT. Here's to hoping it gets easier as I keep consistent!