Day Eight - The Drive

Thursday, June 21st

Wernersville, PA to Tigerville, SC: 626 miles, drive time 10 hours, 37 minutes.
Potty Breaks: 4; Gummies: Just one more, man; Tears: none (yes, nearly 11 hours in the car and hardly a tear - I have the best kid on the planet); Exercise: plyometrics, push-ups & crunches @ 10:00PM.



For all intents and purposes, Thursday marked the last day of our journey together. I could not be a happier or prouder Mama that my little girl put up with me, the car, and a different bed almost every night. I knew I was a little crazy to embark on this road trip with her, and I worried about half-way through as she sleepily told me one night, "I don't want the hotel! I wanna go HOME!" that I was doing a number on my child. But when she woke up the next day, eager as ever to eat waffles and fruit loops (you gotta let some things slide when you're traveling), I knew she'd be OK.

We started off our day with our last taste of Pennsylvania. I'm pretty sure the blueberries were not actually local, but I know the black cherries were. I forgot how much I love them... and how much they stain my fingers when I try to cut out the pit for my daughter!

This plus a cup of coffee had me brimming with antioxidants and ready to go. (Not pictured: the cider donut I wolfed down before even sitting at the kitchen table).

We slowed down for a couple more pictures of the beautiful PA-Dutch landscapes we'd be leaving behind; another reason why I know I want to drive back.

Sadly, we did not actually see any Amish people in carriages, but the signs to watch out for them crossing or traveling the road were everywhere.

Onward, down through Virginia for what felt like years. This is by far the longest stretch that anyone traveling north to south or vice-versa must endure. Interstate 81 can be quick enough (the speed limit is 70mph), but it's also just two lanes in either direction, meaning if you get stuck by a truck driver who thinks he's going fast enough to pass another truck, but then they both hit a hill and slow to a crawl at 45mph... you're gonna be there for a while. And when you can finally pass, you have to make sure the cops don't catch you flooring it as you impatiently try to get by.

Finally, our first sign of the south:

I've never actually eaten in a Shoney's, have you?

By this point, the head index was well over 100, I imagined, so we pulled off at a gas station thinking we could find a spot in the shop to sit down and eat yogurt and Goldfish. Their two dingy booths were covered with boxes and trash... classy. So it was time for another car picnic, only this time, with the engine running and the AC on. I hate to do that, and I hate when I see other people do it, but if you've ever tried to drink milk on a really hot day, you'd understand why we hid in my car with the sun shades up.

After what felt like eons on the road, we finally crossed the Virginia border into Tennessee and were promptly greeted with rain squalls. This was a welcome relief from the heat, as well as a nice little bath to clean off the bug graveyard that the grill and hood of my car had become.

Around 6:00 PM I started to look out for a place to stop for dinner. This would be the one stop of our whole trip that I was going to eat - and allow my daughter to eat - whatever we wanted with no regard to sugar, fat, or staying within the recommended food groups. Of course, there are some compromises I will not make, but the only signs I saw for restaurants near the highway were for McDonald's or Cracker Barrel. McD's is absolute crap and I won't eat anything from there, no matter what. While I've eaten at Cracker Barrel before, I never enjoyed anything I've eaten there and was not in the mood to try to get a toddler through the gift shop without breaking anything or accidentally shop-lifting.

So I found the next best thing, given the area we were in:

What can I say? I love pork. And while BBQ is not something I typically gravitate toward or even crave, this place smelled AWESOME coming off the interstate. We pulled up not even 15 minutes before they closed, so I took our good timing as a sign that this was the place to eat. And I have to say, since this was probably the least healthy meal we had all week, we still didn't do half-bad with smoked pulled pork (protein), baked beans (fiber) and macaroni salad (uh... I think I saw one piece of diced bell pepper in there somewhere...) Whatever, I don't have to justify myself. We were in Tennessee!

And most importantly, someone else loved it.

The last leg of our trip took us through the breathtaking scenery of the Cherokee National Forest and then down through the Blue Ridge Mountains that run from North Carolina down into South Carolina. I wished I could have snapped more pictures, but there was that whole driving thing I was supposed to be paying attention to.

I was able to get one good shot, though, which my camera does not give justice too, but it was beautiful, regardless. We were coming down I26 toward Asheville when I just had to slow down to try to capture this:

We had a beautiful, scenic, and most importantly happy and tantrum-free ride for the entire day. I can't wait to do it again.

Thanks, little travel buddy. You're the best!

Total Travel Distance & Time:

2,268 mi, 40 hours

Ok.... maybe next time we'll just fly!

Day Seven - The Treck Back

Wednesday, June 20th
 
Albany, NY to Wernersville, PA: 255 miles, drive time of 4 hours and 30 minutes.
Potty breaks: 1; Gummies: breaking the habit; Tears: a few shed over "angry birds"; Exercise: push-ups, crunches, planks and plyometrics.

For the return trip, I was going to drive further on Wednesday to make it half-way back to South Carolina, so that Thursday's trip time would be shorter and I could be back in Atlanta on Thursday evening. As I thought about it more, though, I wanted one more evening at my Gram's house and I knew my girl wouldn't mind stopping one more time to play with all of those vintage toys.

By this point in our week, the too-good temperatures were starting to give way to the uglier side of June. It was not even the first day of summer, yet the thermometer steadily rose to the point where you just want to hide inside with the AC blasting and all of the curtains drawn. I knew there would be no run for me this evening.

Fortunately, we were able to take a break along the way back down to PA where we could enjoy our "picnic" indoors. We had a fairly healthy - and most importantly cool and refreshing - snack of yogurt (Chobani for me), Mixed Berry Nutragrain, and our summer staple, lemonade.

"Wait, Mommy! You need a picture of me, too!"

Silly girl's already getting the hang of picture-blogging.

Once we reached Gram's, we were both a little stir-crazy but not wanting to risk a heat-stroke or sun burn, we remained indoors. I did a quick circuit of basic body-weight exercises, including high knee step-ups on the unusually tall stairs in the 120-yr-old house (give or take a decade or two), and this cool leg + oblique exercise from BexLife (the first exercise of this video) that combines a squat with a side leg/knee lift. It's kind of like doing a sumo wrestler stomp... or that's what my daughter does, when she tries to exercise along with me. She also tried to help me with my crunches by laying across my belly, which didn't really work, so I turned over to let her crawl on my back as I attempted to do a couple push-ups with the extra resistance.

I can do exactly TWO, push-ups with her, by the way... and they have to be modified. Youch!

Time for dinner.

My Gram was a Locavore before it was cool. While the area she lives in has had its fair share of suburban sprawl over the past ten years, there are still farms galore and tons of roadside stands where she gets a lot of her produce. And having such deep German roots in the area, the European mentality of shopping nearby and often to get what's available and fresh - vs. doing a huge shopping trip of packaged goods once a week - is prevalent. I enjoy shopping this way too, as I feel I'm more likely to use the produce I buy before it goes bad if I only buy a few of something at a time.

For our meal tonight, we had asparagus, red potatoes, cucumber and tomato salad, berries, and Italian-seasoned wings.

The best part of this meal? My girl tried everything, and actually ate all of her asparagus first. While her love of veggies and fruit has more to do with her tastes than anything else, I can't help but feel like I've done something right when my daughter dives into the greens on her plate first.

I wished I could have stayed in Wernersville for a whole week and actually take my daughter to the farms and markets myself. After the success of this trip, though, I know I'll be back. I was happily reminded of how nice it is to just sit around my Gram's house and I can't wait to drive back up and spend more time there.

Does your area have good local produce? Do you travel anywhere where the local food can't be beat?

I Admit, I'm a Bad Blogger/Tweeter

A few things have been keeping me a little busy, and away from the Blogosphere...

Prepping for our trip, which included mega loads of laundry and meal planning. Yes, meal planning. I have a big cooler that with enough ice packs stays cold for about two days. For me, nothing is worse than having to rely on lord-knows-what chain restaurants or worse, gas station convenience stores, for sustenance on a journey. Don't get me wrong, if it were just me, I'd be fine with beef jerky and Muddy Buddies.

Nom nom nom
[source]

But I have my Mini Me with me, and for her, I want to make sure that we aren't limited to fried chicken bi-product or greasy fries. Not including PB&J sandwiches (which are a must, if you want to get a toddler to do anything, especially sit in a car for ten hours), here's a sample of our spread:

Fruit, fruit squeezes, coffee (duh), Odwalla smoothies (already dug into the Super Green)
carrots, celery, hummus and yogurt.

Of course, we do need to save room for just a little indulgence...

I have also been busy just keeping up with housework, work work, and trying to read even just a page of my ACE text at a time. It's been a challenge, especially with having to vacuum literally every other day. We have animals. Animals get fleas. I don't really wanna talk about it. Sometimes, I feel guilty "only" getting on the bike for 45 minutes, but then I think about the countless loads of laundry I've lugged across our complex and the vacuum cleaner I've had to carry up and down the stairs 100 times in the past week and figure, I've been working out enough!

In fact, I foolishly signed on to the "Plank A Day" campaign on Twitter, and now the "Plank Police" are after me. See, I forgot that I really don't like to Tweet that much. Nothing wrong with tweeting, and I think it's great that we've taken to social media to get everyone involved in talking about fitness, but I sometimes feel like if I tried to keep up with everyone else, I'd spend more time on the computer talking about fitness than actually going out there to move and stay fit! Anyway, I HAVE been planking (and running, and spinning, and lifting, and crunching). The proof is in the pudding, if not in the actual tweeting:

Rawr. Chuck Norris, watch out.

We still have a bit of work to do before I feel ready to hit the road tomorrow. Packing is probably one of my most-loathed activities of all time because I will undoubtedly forget something. Not a big deal, considering I can always stop at a store for something along the way, but it always makes me a bit agitated to spend money on something I know I already have. Case in point, the make up back I thought I lost, so along with the groceries for our trip, I got some replacement makeup items. Last night, the hubby emerges from our linen closet, missing makeup bag in hand. Oh well... at least I have a fabulous new lip stain.

After packing, comes giving the car a once-over to make sure it's highway ready.

Or, ya know, sending the hubby out there to make sure it's highway ready.

For today, it's off to work for a double, which I will hopefully be able to get cut short. If it's slow, I may get a jump on other blog entries for the week, but I'm open to suggestions. My next post will be from the road and I will try to enlist in the help of some friends for a comprehensive picture post of my living room/hotel room workout, as I'm sure that will be something I will rely on heavily to maintain some shape this upcoming week!


How do you prepare for eating on the go? Any go-to healthy snacks you always keep on you to avoid the fast food trap?

Have you been planking? 

And I mean this:

[source]

Not this:

[source]

Sunday Funday - (mostly) picture post

"There's no such thing as a free lunch," is something I've heard quite often, but truthfully speaking: When you get a day off that you would normally have to work, it does kind of feel like you won a free day.

Today, I got my "free lunch" by not having to work brunch and getting to play with this crazy girl all day instead:

The playground was her "castle", and every time she sees a camera she yells "CHEESE!" so this time,
she yelled "Castle Cheese!"

Later, at another playground, she practiced her sweaty, sand-covered pageant wave.

BONUS, I got to log 9.2 miles in a blistering 72 minutes. Literally, there may have been blistering. I'll spare you that fugly pic and trade it for this one instead:

If my foot were an emoticon, it would be >_<*

There's nothing really *wrong* with the foot, which is to say I have yet to bother getting my suspected plantar fasciitis confirmed with an actual diagnoses from a real, live doctor. Of course today, toward the end of my run I had a fun new pain on the ball of my foot, toward my instep. Please, oh please don't be a bunion trying to form. My feet look bad enough in cute shoes, with my awkwardly large pads spilling over the sides of just about any dainty sandal or wedge.

At least I'm not the only person with this problem.

It's not really that bad, this is just the best way for me to apply compression to my arch and ice it at the same time with a lunchbox ice pack that doesn't form to my foot at all. Which has me thinking... are there any ice packs out there (other than the gel kind, which my dogs LOVE to find if I leave them out and try to eat the blue stuff inside) with a more ergonomic design for feet? Off to Amazon.com...

Here we go:

Cold One Plantar Fasciitis Foot Wrap

I need something that I can just put on my foot and still be semi-mobile with. When it comes to choosing to ice with my foot up for 20 minutes and having the opportunity to ice while I still get stuff done (unlike right now), I think this wrap might be the way to go!

Despite this slight setback of discomfort, it has been an awesome day. Besides playing and running hard, we got to go to a nearby neighborhood festival and decided to hit up Fruttela for a froyo fix before we ended our busy day. Totally better than ice cream, even with the cookie crumb toppings, right?

How was your Sunday? There were lots of races today- did you run one?

How do you ruin your healthy frozen yogurt? For me, it's any Oreo-esque topping, cookie dough, or marshmallows.

Recipe of the Week: Mango Pork Tenderloin

Remember the dish I taunted you with earlier this week? It's definitely a "make ahead" kind of meal but what's great is that I prepped everything and go it in the oven, then had plenty of time to run while it cooked. Here it is:

Step One - toast your spices. 1 tsp coriander seeds, 1 tsp annatto seeds (aka achiote), 1 tsp black peppercorns, and 2 tsp (more, because they're larger) Jamaican allspice seeds. Toast over low heat 'til the kitchen smells awesome.

No Smell-a-Vision here, but trust me, toasting = best flavor ever.

Once nice and toasted, grind your spices in your coffee grinder. Alton Brown will tell you to use separate grinders for beans and for spices, but I have a metal grinder that doesn't leave a lingering aroma between uses so long as I wash it well. Combine ground spices with 1 TBSP each honey and olive oil and 1 tsp. each of  molasses and lime juice. Last, add a generous pinch of salt (about 1 tsp). This should form a nice gooey paste.

Next, we deal with the meat.

Preheat an oven safe nonstick skillet over medium heat and add 1-2 TBSP olive oil. Take a 1.5-2lb cut of pork tenderloin and cover it entirely with your seasoned paste. Get into it- make sure your seasoning gets into all the little cracks and crevices. This will feel dirty, but maybe you can do it when no one is looking. Once coated, dust the tenderloin with flour until completely covered. Place (carefully!) in hot pan and allow to sit for a couple minutes on all sides until completely browned, like this:

Not as dirty as it looks, I swear.

Remove your meat and set aside, loosely wrapped in foil while you start the fresh ingredients. To your hot pan, add 1 diced onion (Spanish is best, as it will get nice and sweet). Add a dash of salt to season and cook until most or all of the onion is translucent or lightly golden in color. Next, add chopped bell pepper and mango. Stir frequently to keep mango from sticking and cook until you notice your fruit and veggies starting to brown.

Sweet + Savory = YUM

Make space in the middle of your oven-safe skillet to place the pork back in the pan. Add one 14.5oz can of diced tomatoes, one clove of garlic, minced (I used Hunt's fire-roasted tomatoes with garlic to save a step), one 14.5oz can of black beans (rinsed and drained) and 1 cup of low-sodium chicken or vegetable stock. Bring the juices up to a simmer then cover tightly with a lid or foil and place your skillet in the oven for 2-3 hours.

Check for doneness by pulling at the pork with two forks. Comes apart easily? You're done! At the shorter end of this cooking range, you'll still have a touch of pink in the middle of your tenderloin.

You can enjoy this as is - just slice your pork and spoon the mango-y onion-y goodness over top, or serve it up with some warm tortillas or over some rice.

I get zero points for presentation here, I realize, but I should get at least a thousand points for taste.

Someday, I'll get a real camera and make you really want to make this food :)

Ingredient shopping list
One 1.5-2lb pork tenderloin
Whole coriander
Whole peppercorns
Whole Annato/Achiote
Whole Jamaican Allspice
Salt
Flour
Honey
Molasses
Olive Oil
Onion
Mango
Bell Pepper
One 14.5oz can tomatoes
One 14.5oz can black beans
Chicken stock
-optional-
rice or tortillas to serve

Suggested wine pairing: Alamos Torrontes.



Suggested beer paring: Shiner Ruby Redbird.


This meal is best consumed post-exercise, as it will make you want to recline to digest for the rest of the evening. It is especially good following a strenuous trail run. Enjoy!

3 Things: Eating On a (Weird) Schedule

It's going to be a super-quick post today, as I'm busy pretending to be all productive and stuff.

I'm a little nuts (of course) and so is my schedule. For several years now, I often don't eat dinner until 10PM or later at least half of the week. On those days, I have to be especially careful how I eat from the time I wake up until when I leave for work, especially if I need to work out in that timeframe, too. So today, I figure my "Three Things" could be what I've had to eat so far today.

This morning started off with a great spin class. Of course, to make it great I had to make sure I had energy and to do that, I had to get some quick, easy-to-digest calories. I don't like to eat a huge meal, so I instead break my breakfast into two parts:

1) Breakfast I.

What: Six oz. Silk Almond Milk and half of a peanut butter pretzel Clif Mojo bar.
Why: Easy-to-digest yet filling carbs via oats and pretzels in the bar, protein and antioxidants in the almond milk.
When: Half and hour to 45 minutes before my workout (8:30), then the other half of my Mojo bar immediately following the gym (11:00) to refuel after an hour of spin and 30 minutes of upper body and core resistance.

2) Breakfast II.

What: Handful each of raspberries, blueberries, and sliced strawberries with about six oz. Greek yogurt. I just tried this Greek Gods yogurt and it's delicious but the strawberry honey flavor does contain full-fat yogurt, so watch out for that. I'd suggest opting for fat-free plain and adding your own honey.

For good measure, I added some manganese with some toasted pine nuts (which, as I've already shared, I love on everything!)

Why: Protein from the yogurt, vitamins and nutrients from the fruit.
When: Post-gym, pre-dog walk (11:30).


3) Lunch

What: Grilled turkey, egg and cheese on Arnold Health-full 10 Grain Bread. For a little zip, I used some chipotle Gouda. Hot spice is a great way to add variety to your plate without a ton of extra calories.
Why: Protein (again!) + complex carbs to tide me over until whenever I might eat again, which is I-don't-know-when.
When: As late as I can get away with eating it and still have time to brush my teeth before work (3:00PM)

The name of the game for me is to reach satiation without feeling like I need to curl up and take a nap. My meals and snacks almost always consist of protein and complex carbs for the sustained energy they provide. And of course, I'm drinking water throughout the day because if I DO get hungry later (very likely), I don't want to be dehydrated on top of it.

What's on your plate when you have a full plate?

Weekend Rewind and Monday Motivation

We've been a little indulgent this weekend following my shifts at work. I gave myself a hall pass to skip my runs since my workouts from last week combined with some pretty busy shifts had my body begging for a break. This break just happened to involve a little food/pub crawl in Decatur on Saturday night, including Brick Store Pub and Cakes & Ale. We may have eaten ourselves silly.

Cakes & Ale -- don't remember what it was called, so I'll name it "The Chocolate Gut Bomb".

Cakes & Ale -- Caramel Bundt Cake aka "The Caramel Gut Bomb"

As if that wasn't enough, we decided that for Sunday night, since we were already going out to finally see "The Avengers" (AWESOME, by the way), we'd do the whole dinner and a show thing and went to CineBistro. If you've never been to a theater that combines dining with the theater experience, you really need to. CineBistro, for one, is 21+ only after 6:00PM, which is fantastic if you don't want to be in a theater with a bunch of giggling teenagers who can't stop texting for two seconds (for the record, seeing a phone lit up in a dark theater is as annoying as hearing it ring). Another plus is that everything is in one spot, so if you're so inclined to eat a whole meal before or during your show, you save yourself the rush of driving first to a restaurant, then to the theaters. Also, the chairs are HUGE, and COMFY. My legs still felt like lead from work so I welcomed the chance to slouch and recline.

After all the food, beverage, and Robert Downy Jr. I could handle, it was time to get back to being good this morning. My body, now finished begging for rest and calorie-dense foods, was ready for some fruit and exercise!

Breakfast was early as I had a meeting/motivation seminar to attend at work. It's a two-part thing the company I work for hired an outside consultant to run. At first, I thought he was going to tell us how we suck and what we need to do to get better. But it wasn't like that at all. This guy was... intense. He was all about completely turning our minds inside out and forcing us to shift our paradigms, even those of us who claimed to have a pretty nice disposition to begin with (such as myself). I mean, he nearly made me cry... about four times. A lot of what our speaker had to talk about was gratitude and understanding, as well as living in the moment instead of walking around carrying the burdens of our past on our backs. And while the stories he had to share about cancer patients and wounded war vets broke my heart, I definitely got what he was driving at.

I left the meeting armed with several motivational quotes and mantras to meditate on for today's run:


If you don't know where you're going, it is impossible to get there.

You can not become the person you wish to be tomorrow if you make an excuse for not being that person today.

If you are happy 80% of the time, you will spend 80% of your time worrying about the other 20%.

Confidence is not built by doing only what we know to be safe.

You see, this guy is just a quote machine!

Armed with all of this motivation and inspiration, I left work for a flat and fast 8-miler at a nearby recreation along the Chatahoochie River. I always enjoy running here, not just for the reprieve from Atlanta's hills, but for the fact that I can feel somewhat removed from the choking congestion, horns, and exhaust of the city. Don't get me wrong, I love being a city runner, but when it's already hot and humid you I need a nice tree-lined path or road away from all the noise.

 
I thought a lot about living in the moment. We certainly did THAT this weekend. I still feel the residual guilt of calories consumed lingering at the back of my conscience. I thought about how lucky I am to have those moments of indulgence along with the will and desire to come back to doing something good for my body. I tried to identify anything from my past I still allow to hold me back. I rethought my approach to the grandiose goals for my future that are so intimidating I've held off on attempting to achieve them. I thought about our meeting, and a question the speaker posed to all of us, "Use two words you would want others to perceive you as."


I decided I want to be Funny and Fierce. Because I know exactly when I do or do not wish to be taken seriously. I want the liberty to talk about bodily functions and the grosser aspects of being a runner, but I want to be perceived as someone with the drive and conviction to be taken seriously as a trainer and an athlete.

FIERCE! Grrrrr.

So, enough dawdling from me. It's time to get serious about what I want to do and stop using excuses to hold myself back. Will I start a business from scratch like I wanted? No. Does that mean I should give up on getting a full-time job as a trainer? Absolutely not.

Step 1: Dusting off those ACE books....


What two words do YOU want others to think of, when they think of you?

Recipe of The Week (with pictures!)

I don't have time for 3 Things Thursday but I will share my "recipe" (by which I mean "bunch of ingredients thrown together with a small prayer to the heavens that it tastes OK") for some yummy sauteed chicken with pasta and veggies.

First, let's talk produce. If you've been following health news and trends, you'll know that eating a variety of colors of fruits and vegetables can help you add variety while losing weight and getting tons of vital nutrients. There are many artciles you can do a Google search for to find more information about which foods in particular pack the healthiest punch but generally speaking, the brighter the color, the better it is for you.

So my dish starts with some nice, vibrant bell peppers, yellow squash, and red onion:

"Vitamin C, lutein and lycopene, Oh My!"

Note to busy parents: I'll often slice and dice everything during nap time so that it's easier to throw my meal together in the evening instead of trying to tackle it all at once.

Next, I coat my sliced vegetables in some lovely, spicy, aromatic arugula pesto and sprinkle with a dash of salt. Depending on my mood, I might use either raw or roasted garlic in my pesto (raw = spicy, roasted = sweet) and trade sharp asiago for peppery aged parm, or even a blend of cheeses. I always add toasted pine nuts, though. And you can do the same thing with traditional, basil pesto or just buy a jar of your favorite if you don't have a food processor. I love the arugula because it has so much flavor and is cheap (a bag is just $1.99 at Trader Joe's).

Everything goes in the oven at 350 degrees for about 45 minutes, or until veggies are tender and onion is mostly translucent.

Line your baking sheet with foil for easy clean-up.

While the veggies roast, it's time to talk chicken.

If you're like me, the thought of chicken as a staple protein in anyone's diet has me thinking of dried, boring chunks of chicken breast on a plain salad. But trust me, your chicken does not need to be tired and tasteless! It just needs a little love.

For starters, if you can handle a little bit of labor and trust your skills with a knife, buy whole breasts (ribs, bone and skin). It will be cheaper, and although I'm probably imagining this, I think the chicken retains more moisture the less it's handled and process beforehand. Also - and again, this is just a mental thing - I think the less the chicken is handled between the time your poultry meets its Maker and the time it hits your plate, the better it is for you. You can, of course, buy a whole chicken and save even more money, reserving whatever cuts you don't use for your next meal.

For tips on poultry dissection, watch this, or or this, or this.

Note to busy parents: do this ahead of time, too! Maybe while you let Curious George babysit for half an hour (Don't lie and tell me you don't do that from time to time.)

I like using the whole, bone-in breast because once I filet it I get two breasts for my hubby and me and two tenders for the Little Miss.

"Don't look at me, I'm naked!"

If you cut your chicken ahead of time, great. Pat it dry with a paper towel then leave on a plate, uncovered in the fridge until ready. Of course, keep it separate from other food items to avoid cross contamination, but I suggest to leave it uncovered because this will actually yield a much juicier chicken. Trust me.

When ready, pat chicken down one more time to remove excess moisture from the surface and season with lemon pepper salt. That's it. Heat your non-stick skillet on medium with a few tablespoons of olive oil. Once hot, place the chicken in (breasts first, tenders more toward the end). You may wish to use a splatter screen. Cook for 5-7 minutes each side, covering with a lid and turning off the heat for the last couple minutes of cooking time to really seal in all the juices.

If you're going Paleo, you can skip pasta all together and simply serve your chicken over your pesto-roasted veggies and call it a day. Otherwise, you can bring water up to a boil and prepare your favorite pasta according to package directions while everything else cooks. For a yummy twist that will compound the breath you'll have after eating all that pesto, I suggest you try Trader Joe's garlic basil linguine.

Plate and serve. If you have left over pine nuts and cheese, garnish as you please. For me, that means generously!

Bon (Healthy) Apetite!

Tuesday Night Spin - What to Eat for How You Burn

This week I will recycle a playlist or do a mix-up of previously used songs, saving my time and resources to put together a new "Rock of the Ages" class next week. I will definitely need to include last week's Queen as well as some Zepplin, especially because it comes up on my Black Keys Pandora station all the time. Actually, I may just use Pandora to make my whole list, since it has that crazy psychic ability to read my mind and know exactly what song I need to hear and when.

We'll get back to the music next week. For today, I'm going to stray from my usual post and talk a little more about food.

I give a lot of food-related advice to people, but without a degree in nutrition it is best for me to share what works for me. I can not prescribe a menu plan, but I can definitely give some good meal suggestions that have worked for me to feel nourished, enjoy something delicious, and - most importantly - not be full of crap and junk.

Now, keep in mind, I burn a LOT of calories. I am very anti-diet, save for the food choices I feel like everyone ought to make, such as eating more fresh produce and fewer boxed and bagged items. But I do need to eat a lot of food, trying to make sure *most* of it is nutritious, albeit somewhat calorie-dense. So if you are reading this blog and trying to lose weight by cutting calories, here are a few substitutions for some of the food and beverage items I might talk about:

reduced fat or skim milk, or unsweetened alternative "milk": Alternative milks have high nutrient content but if they are flavored they will contain a good amount of sugar as well. If you are cutting calories, use traditional non-fat milk in your cereal and coffee, saving the sweet stuff to enjoy a glass of after a hard, hour+ long workout. Personally, I use vanilla almond milk all the time, but that is because of my own personal caloric requirements (read below).

more carbs vs. fewer carbs: I eat a lot of carbs, and there are a lot of different opinions out there as far as what someone's carb, fat and protein ratios ought to be. If you are training for a major endurance event, up to 70% of your calories can come from carbs. Mid-range athletes, like myself, might enjoy 60%, and people looking to balance out their diets and lose weight would benefit from 50%. I see a lot of carb-reduction or elimination diets out there that I think can be narrowed down to one basic principle: eat less processed junk. So many of our carbohydrates come from junk food and sweets that just about anyone would benefit from simply switching from processed foods to whole grains and eating more fruits and vegetables.

meat vs. meat: No substitution here, unless you're vegetarian in which case, I'm sorry. (kidding) I do have a few suggestions for choosing and eating meat, however. When possible, choose meat from eco-conscious suppliers whose animals are free range, given natural feed, not treated with hormones or antibiotics, or any combination of at least two of those qualities. Save money and calories by only eating meat for one meal of the day (there is no reason to eat meat at every meal, there are plenty of other great sources of protein). Learn your cuts of meat so you know what is leaner, but don't discount all parts of the animal. Dark chicken meat, for example, has more B vitamins than it's paler counterpart.

breakfast vs. no breakfast: If you haven't heard by now - which is to say, if you've been living under a rock - you need to eat breakfast! But for the record, you shouldn't skip any meal. Whether you make yourself smaller portions and include snacks throughout your day or attempt to stick to three square meals, you should not make yourself go more than 4-5 hours without eating to avoid stalling out your metabolism. Not hungry or too crunched for time? Start small, with a piece of fruit, and work your way up. For myself, my breakfast must include a little protein, carbs (of course), a little fruit, and coffee.

Trader Joe's Vanilla Almond Granola cereal with TJ's Vanilla Almond milk and diced Anjou pear. This week's coffee is Pete's French Roast. And my bowl was much fuller than that to start, I just didn't want to seem like a piggy.

Having a kid, it's easier to think this way, but my approach to breakfast is this: What should I eat to hold me over, should I not get to eat again until 2:00PM? And I can tell you that if you have been eating to lose weight but are now maybe embarking on a new fitness routine that will greatly increase you activity, you need to consider adding foods BACK in. Try not to focus so much on quantity as you do on quality and pick foods that pack a punch. For my next food installment, I'll go into some of my favorite "multitasking" foods. Don't worry, they're good multitaskers, not weird ones, like ketchup made with squash, sweet potato and tomato. (Honestly, if it's not too late, just avoid the whole ketchup fiasco by not keeping it in the house.)

What did you eat for breakfast today?

What's your one, must-have health food?

You can tell what's on my mind this week...

FOOD. I've been trying to eat more. Well, I actually eat plenty - but I've been trying to eat better. As satisfying as it is to stuff my face with carbs all day, I'm in search of new, easy ways to incorporate both variety and vital nutrients into our family's meals.

This week, Marcia of Marcia's Healthy Slice told me to eat more pineapple. Conveniently, they were on sale at Kroger, where I stopped after the gym. My husband wants brinner tonight and having just run 6.5 on the TM (with hills and fartleks, of course) a day after 20 miles on the bike outdoors (insert look of shock) I figured I'd see how a dose of pineapple would help my muscles stop their bitchin'.

Of course, when I run for 52 minutes I don't exactly want chunks of fruit. I much prefer something else with chunks in it...




BUT, I was a good girl and made this for myself instead:

Doesn't it look delicious? I was going to wait to share my recipe of the week but I just can't withhold this kind of precious information from you so here it is:

Sauteed Pineapple & Pine Nuts with Maple Yogurt
(for one serving)
1-2 cups pineapple (fresh is best), cut into bite-sized chunks
A small handful of *pine nuts
2 tsp butter
pinch of salt
1/2 cup plain Greek yogurt (I used Fage 0% fat to make up for the butter)
2 tsp pure maple syrup

* I realize pine nuts are $400/lb. but buy a bag and keep it in your freezer, taking out a little at a time as you need it. I like to toast them dry and add them to salads, pasta, or to garnish soups. Pine nuts are a great source of manganese, which the body needs for nutrient absorption, bone development and wound healing. Paired with the pineapple, I think this makes one awesome recovery dish. Well, let's go ahead and call it dessert. Anyway -

1. Heat non-stick skillet over medium-low heat. Add pine nuts and keep a close eye on them, moving them around with a wooden spoon every minute or so. Continue until they start to toast ever so slightly.
2. Add butter and when melted, the pineapple. Stir/toss every few minutes, allowing the pineapple to cook slow and gently brown on the edges.
3. Add a pinch or two of salt. If you sweat like me, you can add salt to anything. If you are watching your sodium, simply skip this step. I like a little salt on my sweets to contrast the sugar and slight tartness of the pineapple.
4. Once everything looks golden delicious, remove from skillet and place in a bowl to cool for just a moment while you make the topping.
5. Whip the plain Greek yogurt with maple syrup using a small whisk. This will only slightly aerate the yogurt but it will create a silky texture. Spoon maple yogurt over pineapple and pine nuts while still hot.
6. Eat and thank me later.

I'm not going to lie, this was my lunch. But even the chocoholic inside of me would concede that this would make a pretty kick-ass dessert. Now I know I can't copyright a recipe but don't forget to give me some props when you use this to impress your dinner guests. *smiles*

I think I want more.

What's your favorite healthy post-workout meal / snack?

What's your favorite not-so-healthy post-workout meal / snack?

Mine....

Hey, at least the monitor is on.