Pumpkin Spice "Latte" Smoothie

I know it's not technically Pumpkin Spice season but it's been freezing here in Nor Cal this week (and by freezing of course I mean temps in the 50's), also I saw a recipe for a Pumpkin Spice smoothie in my new cookbook (the 21 day sugar detox cookbook) so I modified it to make it a breakfast smoothie and it came out delicious, I drank one almost every morning this week!

• a few cubes of ice
• 1 1/2 cups water
• 1/2 cup coconut water
• 1/4 cup full fat coconut milk (in the can)
• 1/4 cup canned pumpkin
• 1-2 scoops of vanilla whey protein
• half a banana
• 1 instant coffee packet (I use VIA from Starbucks)
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg

Blend all of the above ingredients in your high speed blender. Sprinkle cinnamon on top.

Paleo Shepherd's Pie and Green Smoothie

I never posted the Paleo Shepherd's Pie I made. I looked through a few recipes, and finally ended up using the recipe from Eat Boutique, as some of the recipes I found used peas (not paleo) and Worcestershire sauce (also not paleo, unless you make it yourself), and if I'm going to make a "paleo" dish then it better be all paleo. The only thing I didn't do was bake them individually, I don't own ramekins, in fact I just learned the word ramekin from reading that blog. I definitely recommend trying this recipe. Here's the link: http://www.eatboutique.com/2012/10/05/paleo-shepherds-pie/

The most impressive part of this dish for me was the mashed cauliflower on top, it made me fall in love with my Vitamix all over again, it came out SO smooth!

Looks just like potatoes!!!

My friends and I got together for a girls night last night, complete with wine, chips and salsa, rice krispie treats, bread and spinach dip, etc... basically everything that's NOT detox approved :) But the detox is over so I could freely partake... and that I did. I don't feel terrible today, but I don't feel great, and I slept a ton. I made this green smoothie for breakfast in, you guessed it, my Vitamix, along with coffee with coconut milk and 100% cacao powder... yummy! I added the protein so it would be a complete meal... now I think I am going to head out for a quick run. I have no plans this weekend, and I love it!

1 scoop Amazing Grass wheatgrass
1 scoop Jarrows Whey Protein Vanilla
2 celery stalks
1/2 avocado
1/2 banana
1 cup coconut water
1/2 cup water
a few cubes of ice

I made it to Crossfit 4 times this week. Yay! Yesterday was burpees and deadlifts. I love deadlifts, I hate burpees. The WOD was 5 deadlifts and 10 burpees, 5 rounds. I hate round-based WOD's because I always think I'm going to be last. Which I was, but only by a couple of burpees. The best time from the day had been 3:22, I finished in 7:22. I love Friday evening classes because they are so small, so it was me and 7 others. That's also why I like the morning classes, that and getting it out of the way before work. We played "crab soccer" during the warmup, if you don't know what that is, google it. It was entertaining to say the least :)

21 Day Detox Challenge - Day 9

I know I haven't been keeping up with this but I wanted to post some pictures of food I've been eating over the past week. Also I have to confess that I cheated on Friday and had a Quest bar...oops.

I got a Vitamix last week, and I love it! So far I've used to make carrot juice, a spinach/wheatgrass/fruit smoothie, banana nut porridge, and to grind some chicken to make Sweet Potato and Kale Chicken Patties courtesy of Multiply Delicious. I miss coffee, and when this is over I am going to make my own coffee creamer now that I have something to make date paste in :)

I have actually been feeling a little "blah" the last couple of days, and occasionally experience "brain fog" (one of the reasons I miss coffee). Another thing I've noticed is how full I get, I can barely get 1400-1500 net calories a day. I guess that is a side effect of eating more vegetables and nutritious food.

This weekend I made Beefy Mexi Cauli Rice (without sour cream) and Chicken Bacon Alfredo for my main food for the week, I might whip up the chicken patties again during the week (they were soooo good!). A Chipotle salad is my fall back plan in case I run out of leftovers.

Anywho, here are some pictures in no particular order:

Carrot Juice

I made this carrot juice in my Vitamix today, it was one of the recipes in the book that it came with. The first time I made it I put way too many carrots and it came out super thick, I watered this batch down (and yes that is a Miller Lite pint glass I am drinking it out of)

Beefy Mexi Cauli Rice (recipe from Healthy Living How To)

I made the Beefy Mexi Cauli Rice last night for dinner and it was surprisingly delicious and filling, as was the chicken bacon alfredo I made today (I cooked and prepared the squash last night):

Chicken Bacon Alfredo (recipe from PaleOMG)

Banana Nut Porridge (recipe from Against All Grain)

This I have to talk about. Mine doesn't look anything like the picture on the Against All Grain page, maybe it's because I used light coconut milk and not the full fat kind. But even with light coconut milk it was really rich and kind of liquidy. It was weird, but it filled me up until lunch.

Mish mash of other pictures:

Chicken and Kale Sweet Potato Patties (recipe from Multiply Delicious)

A random breakfast of leftover chili, eggs, broccoli and avocado

Chicken salad with guac from Chipotle (no dressing)

Another random breakfast

Fruit and wheatgrass smoothie

Good night!!!

Oatmeal & Strawberries

First off, I must apologize. My last blog post was titled "No excuses" but I'm about to sit here and spout off excuses as to why I haven't updated this blog in over two weeks. The week of that post I was doing pretty well with working out. Then I developed a toothache, which ended up in getting a wisdom tooth pulled. So even though it's an excuse I think it's a pretty good one ;)

Taking it day by day now, I'm not promising to do any challenges at this moment in time... :) I wasn't supposed to do any strenuous exercise for a week after the tooth pulling (I did do yoga once though), so after a week had passed, I decided I missed strength training and decided to do the first workout of "New Rules of Lifting for Women". Wow, what a difference, it was really difficult for me since I haven't been strength training consistently. But at the same time it felt amazing and I am looking forward to including that back into my routine. I am traveling for work starting tomorrow and am packing my gym clothes!

Now to address the topic of this post... today's breakfast recipe.

A 2 lb container of strawberries were on sale at Safeway last week, so I've been eating strawberries almost every day. I sliced up a bunch of them and have been using them on Greek yogurt and oatmeal. Yummy!

Today I made a delicious bowl of oatmeal with unsweetened coconut milk, vanilla protein powder, about 6 strawberries and added some granola (Open Nature Cranberry Nut Goodness). This protein infused take on oatmeal tasted great and lasted me well until lunchtime.

Ingredients:

1/2c old fashioned oats
1/4c unsweetened coconut milk
1/4c granola
5-6 sliced strawberries
1T vanilla protein powder

Instructions:

- Heat up oatmeal with enough water to cover, in microwave for 90 seconds
- Add ingredients and enjoy!


367 calories, 60g carbs, 8g fat, 15g protein, 107mg sodium, 13g sugar

Get Some!

I think "Get Some" is like Jillian Michaels' favorite saying. I've done the week 1 workout several times in the last few months (I'm ashamed to admit), so I almost have it memorized.

This is my way of announcing that I finally got back on the JM wagon today, I had planned on doing it last night after work but ended up getting home later than expected. I even put on my gym clothes, but after I ate a late dinner (leftovers from Sunday night) I was full and tired, and ended up falling asleep on the couch watching The Big Bang Theory with my cat.

Aren't we cute?

So I woke up this morning determined to get back to it. I did some modifications to see if that would help with the knees, we'll see if they worked. I'll elaborate more on that in the next day or two, but today I wanted to focus on the most important meal of the  day - breakfast! I usually eat a light breakfast (a slice of toast and almond butter), wait 30-45 minutes, and then do the video. But this morning, I was still pretty satisfied from having a late dinner, so I had half a cup of coffee and went for it. So after the workout I was ready for breakfast, and decided to whip up a protein shake in my blender, something I haven't done in a while (I usually just mix protein and water in my blender bottle after workouts). I had some frozen pineapple tidbits, which goes really well with vanilla protein powder.

Pineapple protein shake

Pineapple Protein Shake

2 scoops vanilla whey protein (I use Jarrow's)
3/4 c frozen pineapple tidbits
1 Tbsp chia powder
1 Tbsp flax seed
Enough water so that everything mixes

Blend the pineapple and water until it blends smoothly, then add the other ingredients.

This comes to 342 calories, 36g carbs, 6g fat, 38g protein, 83g sodium, and 22g sugar.

Another go-to breakfast staple is oatmeal, which I had yesterday. I added a serving of fruit & nuts (Costco's "Wholesome Fruit & Nuts"), cinnamon, and a splash of coconut milk to make a delicious 314 calorie breakfast.

Oatmeal with Fruit & Nuts

Oatmeal with Fruit & Nuts

1/2 c rolled oats
3 Tbsp (30g) Kirkland Wholesome Fruit & Nuts
1 tsp cinnamon
2 Tbsp unsweetened coconut milk

Put oatmeal in a bowl and add a bit of water to your liking. Heat in the microwave for 90 seconds. Then, add the rest of the ingredients.

314 calories, 44g carb, 12g fat, 10g protein, 8mg sodium, 12g sugar

As a side note, did you know that 2013 is the International Year of Quinoa? Pretty interesting... think I'll have some quinoa for dinner :)

I heart Quinoa

I love quinoa, I really do. It's easy to make & is super nutritious. I usually buy the TruRoots Organic Quinoa from Costco and I don't rinse it beforehand even I've heard that you should due to the saponin causing a bitter taste. The one time I tried to rinse it most of it got stuck in the strainer and just created extra work and a big mess, and since it tastes fine to me without rinsing, I never tried rinsing again. I've been looking for delicious recipes to make with quinoa and one thing I had never done with quinoa was eat it for breakfast, so when I found a recipe in Oxygen magazine for Winter Morning Quinoa I was excited to try it. It's so good & really filling! I've eaten it probably a dozen or so times since I discovered it about 3 weeks ago, and again this morning since I had some leftover quinoa (I usually cook about 4-6 servings at once at the beginning of the week so I have it readily available throughout the week). The only modification I make is that I don't use Splenda, I use a half ounce of walnuts instead of a full ounce & I usually add berries on top.



The recipe as I make it comes out to approximately 388 calories, 55g carbs, 13g fat, 15g protein, 22g sugar (per MyFitnessPal).

This evening for dinner I ended up eating quinoa again since I had about one more serving left, but it wasn't nearly as exciting as breakfast :) Since I was feeling a little run down a friend advised me to eat a lot of dark greens (like kale), and suggested I blanch the kale and mix it with quinoa and a can of tuna (I had albacore on hand).

This was the result:




Doesn't look like much, does it? I squeezed about half a lemon on top, heated it up in the microwave for a minute, and it turned out to be a filling and semi-tasty quick meal.

What's your favorite way to make quinoa?