Life Outside The Cube
Posted: November 11, 2010 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: biking, bok choy, bread, cycling, french toast, green monster, muffins, persimmon, turnip 2 Comments »Thanks to those who served or are currently serving our country, I have today off from work!
When I get days off during the week I try and make the most of them so I never really sleep in. I was up at 7, which is 1.5 hours more of sleep and it was so nice to eat breakfast with day light and with the Today show!
Yes, I did just wake up and that is my “relaxing morning” giant coffee cup.
Sissy is excited to have me home and joined me at the table while I took some pictures of a delicious breakfast!
French toast coated with almond butter, grilled banana and chia seeds.
Breakfast just tastes better when you can see it!
After breakie and hanging out with Matt I tried to make Jenna’s beginner rolls, but they were like bricks…I tried to make a loaf, but I am calling them dunkers for a pumpkin kale soup I am planning tomorrow. At least they taste good and they chewiness has not stopped me from eating 5 already.
While these were “rising” I ran a few errands to Target and the library to pick up a book for my cooking class this weekend!
I am so excited to read this and to take the class the weekend. I will be sure to give a full report.
After a few bricks I headed out for a lovely bike ride!!!!!
I haven’t been on my bike since September when it started getting to dark to ride after work, and my legs + lungs could totally feel it!
I almost died on a few hills, but I made it! It was so pretty out there.
These ponies wanted to play, but I didn’t want to cross the street to horses I didn’t know!
I did my normal loop.
I think I need some new tape on my handle bars!
Thankfully Ashley and Julie have posted about how to do exactly that.
When I got home I was still pretty full from all of the dough balls I ate before heading out but I need some protein for recovery and some veggies…enter smoooothie.
Green monster with spinach, frozen cherries, 2 scoops vanilla hemp protein, skim.
I also tried to enjoy another persimmon, but yet again I thought it was gross. It sucks the moisture out of my mouth and it is so odd. I really wish I enjoyed it but I cannot get over the reaction in my mouth! Am I missing something???? Barf.
So obviously this was not enough for lunch after my bike ride so I made a batch of Anne’s cranberry pumpkin muffins but I omitted the walnuts.
They didn’t come out as flat as I wanted, but I love the pop of the fresh cranberry in this hearty muffin. I cut the sugar back from 1/2 cup to 1/3 and they still taste delicious!
Look at the cranberry oozing out! I am going to bring some of these into work for the few of us that make it in tomorrow.
After muffin consumption I headed out to yoga. Let me tell you it is really hard to go out of the apartment after it is dark, but I did it! And it felt soooooo good.
When I returned I was starving and cooked up a mix of veg in the oven that cooked while I showered.
No sun for dinner….In a small casarol dish went: bok choy, sliced turnip, mushrooms, goat cheese and tomato sauce – baked for 45min at 350.
Sprinkled with parm cheese and served with a brick from earlier in the day.
Simple ingredients and delicious flavor. I read about that in Alice Waters’ book today!
Well that about wraps up my day out of the cube. I just remembered I forgot to go to the dry cleaner but other than that I got a lot done today!
Sissy and I will be spending the rest of the night watching the Ravens! Things are not looking good…lets hope they can turn things around.
The Egg and The Monster
Posted: May 6, 2010 Filed under: breakfast, Thursday | Tags: banana bread, breakfast, eggs, green monster 2 Comments »Good Morning! No holiday to celebrate this morning except maybe that it is almost Friday? It is also the last regular season kickball game before playoffs start and we are hoping to take home the silver Coors cup this year.
I had to start off with some super fuel for breakfast.
I almost duplicated yesterdays breakfast but my monster was smaller with a side of banana bread bar.
Runny pollet eggs on toast.
Green Monster with…
- spinach
- mango
- frozen raspberries
- banana
- oj
- skim
- flax
- chia
Banana bread bar with a smear of pb.
This was a nice variety of textures and flavors from breakfast.
I do miss oats though! I need some egg dishes! Frittata Friday?
Time to pack up for the day. I won’t be home until around 9pm!
Have a great day!
Ole!
Posted: May 5, 2010 Filed under: breakfast, wedding | Tags: eggs, flatout, green monster Leave a comment »Happy Cinco De Mayo!
I hope you have a day full of margaritas and guacamole! I have a special meal planned for dinner and plan of having a little tequila. Nothing like college though!
I didn’t really get into the spirit with breakfast, but I did have hot sauce!
Lets start with my eggs!
Pollet eggs are from hens that have just started laying, but they are not up to par with their older roost makes.
The white is the pollet and the brown is a large. They don’t look much smaller to me! They were 18ct for $1.50 vs. 12ct for $3.00. They taste the same with the same orange yoke, cage free and grass fed, so give me a pollet any day.
I fried up two of them for a little breakfast sandwich on a flatout fold.
Topped with Franks and a little S&P.
I also made a Brown Monster.
I didn’t measure but in the mix was…
- spinach
- frozen raspberries
- chia seeds
- flax
- banana
- slpash OJ – seriously made the smoothie
- almond milk
All together.
A nice little different breakfast! I am excited about my eggs. Egg salad anyone? I have a ton of eggs now!
Have a great Wednesday!
Spotty At Best
Posted: May 2, 2010 Filed under: Sunday | Tags: cereal, enlgish muffin, green monster, mint julep, Sicily Leave a comment »I’m sorry to report that I only have one photo from yesterday’s party because I spent most of my time running around trying to compensate for extra people showing up at our apartment.
Before the craziness began I had breakfast outside with Sissy.
She enjoyed her daily dose of pansy.
While cooking I had a PB & J with some cheese.
I planned shrimp salad, greens, homemade biscuits, homemade hummus and guacamole.
I also managed to have a couple mint juleps and bourbon brownies throughout the night.
Butter for the biscuits…
My horse came in third and our new roommate won our nine dollar pot.
I was sleeping by 9:30 
Up at 7:30. I just can’t sleep in.
Sissy and I enjoyed another humid breakfast of the balcony
Green Monster with spinach, strawberries and milk. FFL english muffin with pb and Crofter’s and the other side with an egg.
Time to get my Sunday started.
Hoppin’ The Hemp Train
Posted: April 26, 2010 Filed under: Monday | Tags: Great Harvest, green monster Leave a comment »Well it is still raining around here. Perfect Monday weather.
We had some serious thunderstorms last night, but thankfully we didn’t loose power. Apparently the system created tornados to the south of us. My plants could really use some sun 
I bought a giant thing of spinach this weekend for Green Monsters so that is exactly what I made for breakfast!
In my GM was:
- ~15 strawberries
- 4 ice cubes
- 2 huge handfuls of spinach
- 1 cup unsweetened almond milk
- 2 tbs vanilla hemp protein
- sprinkle of chia seeds
I actually like the taste of this vanilla hemp. If you want to learn more about hemp check out Ashley’s post on the topic.
I also had a slice of Dakota with homemade chia flax almond butter.
Now I need to slap on my duck boots and head out into the fog and rain. How do we have all this fog??? We live inland!
Happy Monday!
Keepin It Green
Posted: April 23, 2010 Filed under: Friday | Tags: cereal, green monster, kickball, omelet, toast 1 Comment »Happy Friday!
Sorry I didn’t check in last night we were busy winning our 6th kickball game in a row! Booya! We are amazing haha. I would like to win so that we can quit next year. Everyone on the team is getting pretty old for Thursday night drinking.
So lets do a little recap of my green eats yesterday for Earth Day!
(Multiply this picture x2) – I am bringing these to work to get them out of the house!
Random dinner…I had shrimp planned but I was not feeling it this afternoon so I went with a delicious omelet.
In my omelet: sundried tomatoes, cheese, peas, kalamata olives, rosemary, S&P, garlic powder.
In my mini green monster: TJs whole grain drink, frozen tropical blend, large handful spinach.
I really liked this random dinner! The best part about it? Nick tried my green monster and said it wasn’t that bad, and he wanted to try one! Too bad I used the last of the spinach I cannot wait to make him one with raspberries! (His favorite fruit)
This morning I had a simple Friday breakfast.
Cold cereal bowl: Oikos, shredded wheat, TJs fiber cereal, Uncle Sam, strawberries, homemade almond butter with cinnamon and vanilla crumbles, skim.
My calf feels good today! I didn’t notice anything yesterday at kickball so I am going to head to the gym today and take it easy to see how it feels under a little stress. I think I will be good to go for my race! I also signed up for another race last night, but I will get to that tonight! It should be fun with a little mini vacation for Nick and I!
Time to get this Friday started!
Greens for Breakfast
Posted: March 30, 2010 Filed under: Tuesday | Tags: bagel, green monster Leave a comment »Well it is still raining and very windy today. I cannot wait for 80 on Friday!
Biggest Loser tonight! I think I finally actually like someone but I will know for sure after tonight. So far Jillian is the best even if she is a pill pusher.
I really hope to get outside this afternoon, but this rain needs to get out of dodge.
I switched up my breakfast this morning to get in my other 1/2 of my multigrain with flax Wegman’s bagel.
1/2 bagel with Sanibel pb and banana, green monster and coffee.
In my monster:
- 3/4 banana
- 2 cups spinach
- 1/2 cup plian Stonyfield
- 1 tbs flax
- 1/2 cup frozen strawberries
- 1 tsp chia seeds
- dash of cinnamon
Green with bubbles! Lets see how it holds!
My computer is about to die and I still have some more green to slurp down.
Later Gators.
Finally Friday
Posted: March 19, 2010 Filed under: Friday | Tags: claritin-d, green monster Leave a comment »Holy overtimes and upsets! What a great first day of college hoops! I couldn’t stay up to watch all of the games but it was nice to see this morning that New Mexico and Tennessee pulled it out in the end. I can’t believe Georgetown lost, but that really helped my bracket
It was also a great night at kickball. We won via the slaughter rule.
This morning I had some spinach to use up before Florida so I went with another Green Monster. This time I drank it threw a straw and doubled the raspberries, much better!
In a Mexican blue glass. Mexico is so sad right now, but that is another topic.
In my Monster I added:
- 4 ice cubes
- 1 cup frozen raspberries
- 2 cups fresh spinach
- 1 cup almond milk
- 1 tbs hemp vanilla protein powder
- 1 tbs flax
- 1 tsp chia seeds
- 1 banana
This is was good mix, but it is more brown for the green + raspberry.
Along with my GM I had a bagel thin toasted with some banana pb.
As you can see I didn’t have any coffee today. Yesterday I picked up some Claritin-D 24 hour (there was hardly and allergy medicine lefts!) and now I just want it to get out of my system! I slept so poorly because the meds were making my heart race. The pseudoephedrine has my sedate heart rate at ~110. My resting HR is usually around 80. I didn’t think caffeine would have been a good idea. I will not be taking another one of those pills! I really missed my sleep I think it also gave me a headache, but I don’t want to take anymore drugs. I am just hoping that chugging water and some greens will make it a little better.
At least it is Friday and I will see my mom in 10hours and then be on Sanibel in 30hrs!
Now I just need to get through work!
Damn you allergy season!
Are you allergies worse this year then normal?
Sunday Well Finished
Posted: March 7, 2010 Filed under: bikram, Sunday | Tags: acorn squash, bikram, green monster Leave a comment »Another weekend has come to an end and I actually had a pretty productive afternoon/evening.
I did head out to the local running store to talk to a consultant about the Virbram Five Fingers and I also wrote a few e-mails to Ashley and Margaret. They didn’t have my color and I got a little worried because he highly stressed trail running only. Now we have a few trails around here, but I do not think I could run the same path for all of my runs. I also liked to use the trail as my long run location because it is flat and a once a week location. Apparently VFF didn’t make enough of the shoe and are in limited supplies and colors. I will continue to do research and consult, but the pavement that surround my home is always going to be a problem.
After shoe consulting I had a lovely lunch.
Green Monster and another bagel melt.
In my brown monster I had frozen raspberries, baby spinach and vanilla rice milk.
In between my everything bagel thin I had the last of my goat cheddar, avocado and cucumber. I really liked these bagel melts, I wish I could have a griddler in my office. Fresh pressed every day! No you didn’t!
After my lunch had digested it was time for my first outdoor run since December 27, 2009! I was really nervous, my heart rate was up, but my knee felt good.
I had planned on running 2.6 miles with a slight uphill at the beginning. I ended up doing 3.5 miles! I was so excited! I could “feel” my knee, but it wasn’t pain, just there. When I was finished there was no pain and that made me happy!
I felt so good that I decided to go to bikram this evening to round out my weekend. It seems to be a nice conclusion.
This is not my studio, but just gives you an idea. 105 degrees of heat for 90min and 26 poses. It takes a lot of concentration and determination. I love the challenge and what it does for your bones, heart, organs and mind are just a plus.
I made it through all of the poses this time and got a bit further back in camel this time. Progress.
When I got home I took a nice long shower and then made a simple satisfying dinner with about ten glasses of water on the side.
I roasted probably my last acorn squash of the season, and cooked a Sunshine veggie burger topped with sautéed onions and mushrooms.
Alright time for Sissy and I to watch the Oscars. Who do you want to win Best Picture???? I’ve only seen Avatar!
Good Night Moon.
PM to AM
Posted: March 7, 2010 Filed under: weekend | Tags: green monster, Rock Band, salad, waffle Leave a comment »Good morning! How is this fun weekend treating you? I can’t believe it is already Sunday morning and we will be going back to work tomorrow. Barf.
From yesterday afternoon until today. Here. We. Go! After a few hours of working on my taxes (Federal, a snap. Maryland, not so much!)
Lunch was a lovely green monster made with 1 banana, 1 cup vanilla rice milk, frozen raspberries and about 2 cups of baby spinach. I also had a bagel thin grilled cheese with meatless balls and a clementine on the side.
After lunch I finished cleaning the apartment and got the balcony cleared of tons of sunflower seed shells. It will soon be warm enough to sit outside!
I had a late lunch so I kept dinner on the light side, or so I thought!
Mexican salad!
- Romain
- sweet potato
- sweet corn
- cucumber
- tomatoes
- jalapeño
- avocado
- black bean and corn salsa
- Kefir dressing with garlic powder, chili powder and cumin
I also had a side of TJs flax and veggie chips.
Then it was on! Rock Band rock out!
Not sure if this was Spice Girls or Styx, but Doug seemed to be truly enjoying himself.
After our Rock Band adventure we headed out to The Stil for a brew and then h-o-m-e.
This morning I had the breakfast dilemma of not knowing what to make! Pancakes? French Toast? Waffles? Waffles! it had been awhile.
I used the last of my arrowhead mill waffle mix and added flax, chia seeds, egg whites and rice milk. I forgot the vanilla and cinnamon!
Staked waffles with jam and banana topped with more banana and peanut butter. I also put a little maple syrup to top it off.
Not really sure what is going to be on the schedule today. I might go check out the Vibram Five Fingers, but I am definitely going for a SHORT run OUTSIDE!
I need to get sucking up the last hours of the weekend!
