The perfect egg sandwich

Yay, time for food pictures! I've been on an egg and cheese sandwich for...months now! Seriously, the combinations are endless as too what kind of cheese to use, on what type of bread, spinach or arugula, and spices to put on the eggs! Which of course has given me the oh-so-perfect excuse to try a bunch of different cheeses from Whole Foods and my local grocery store (they actually have a good selection!) Here are a few I've tried:

(Ignore the price per pound! I actually didn't know it was that much! Oh well; it's delicious! It has a coffee crust --brilliant!-- and lavender in it! Talk about gourmet...best thing about buying food for only one person is that I doesn't get that expensive overall. And by the way, this cheese is SOOOO flavorful! Almost too spicy/sharp but in a good way. I don't know how to describe it better than that!)

And another kind:


Also very tasty!

So the perfect egg sandwich "recipe" is:

1) Cook an egg stove top with whatever spices you want. I'm partial to garlic pepper, cumin, curry powder, and/or dried basil.

2) Put ketchup (organic obviously) on the bread/english muffin/whatever, along with your vegetable of choice. I use spinach and/or arugula and AVOCADO when I have it!!, but sliced tomato would probably be good as would sauteed kale/collard greens/chard.

3) Flip the egg over, add cheese of choice, turn heat down and let it finish cooking + let the cheese melt.

4) Transfer the egg to the sandwich and enjoy!

This is what the finished product looks like:


Or this:

Yeah, they're that good. (That's the coffee crusted cheese above!)

Other eats included two turkey burgers (on different days!). I got the pre-made ones from Whole Foods and this one included sun dried tomatoes and gorgonzola cheese. Somehow I trust meat from Whole Foods way more than I do from any other store. And honestly, I'm trying to get myself to eat -a little- more meat (health/nutrition reasons-I honestly believe we are omnivores and meat is a good source of so many nutrients!), so this was a good way to do it.


My trusty arugula again, and sweet potato fries on the side! YUM. This was my immediate post-22 miler run food!

Followed by these:

And this mixed into a bottle of water:

Later I ate a package of my favorite frozen veggies:


And most recently, I've been enjoying hugely decadent bowls of oat bran!

This was also after running 22 miles--I can eat whatever I want! :) And it's actually pretty healthy! This is strawberries with P B and hazelnut butter and a few raisins and chocolate chips. Totally nutritious...but there may or may not have been moaning while eating this! :)

And this bowl is toned down a bit, but still delicious! Same two kinds of nut butter, and SO DELICIOUS coconut milk ice cream! I'm going to patent that idea or adding it to oat bran. But in the mean time, you're welcome to steal my idea!

Well, off to teach! While I'm gone, let me know

What meals/creations are you currently loving?

Long run: done

I completed that 22 mile last long run this past Thursday! I'm not going to lie...it hurt and I'm pretty nervous about the full marathon. Oh, and I run SLOWLY...and take lots of walking breaks. But I did it and I'm confident that I can at least complete the marathon, which is my only goal!

Anyway, time to study. More food pictures to come!

Blessed and Happy Easter to All!

This is what a bad run looks like

So, I'm still training for the Pittsburgh marathon. The whole thing! As in 26.2 miles.

I'm not sure why I thought it was a good idea when I signed up, but the Runner's World Quote of the Day today was something to the effect of "Running a marathon gives average runners the chance to be more than average." And I liked it! It's certainly true! I am a sllllow runner, I never ran in high school or growing up, I take lots of walking breaks and it's still hard for me, but dammit I'm out there and doing it.

Anyway, I am planning to do my last long training run off 22 miles this Thursday. Holy crap...22 miles?!? But, I've completed one 18 mile training run, and also a half marathon. (2:25:xx in absolutely wretched conditions...4 hours of sleep, legs were sore from gymnastics, and it was 20 degrees outside. Oh, and I got lost on the way back to my car and ended up walking another 3 to 4 miles to find the darn thing.) Anyway, after that, unfortunately I had to take the past two weeks off due to some strange but intense pain in the bottom of my foot. It feels better now (*knock on wood*) and I've done 2 short runs in the past week.

Today, I ran four miles and am taking tomorrow and Wednesday off. (For me, running every day or even every other day isn't really an option...just not how my body works.) Anyway, the point of this post is to list all the ways in which today's run sucked and how I can learn from it to help other runs (coughThursday22milercough) be better. Or you could also consider this your list of things NOT to do before a run:

1) Sleep only 6-7 hours a night for the week before. Especially when you know your body requires 9-10.

2) Unintentionally eat way too little food the day before. (Stupid work-related busyness.)

3) Wear clothing that you realized was too warm for conditions, thus allowing major dehydration by the end of said 4 miles. Hello swollen fingers. Not good.

4) This is totally TMI but I really needed to poop by the end. Uhh, yeah.

OK, got it. I'm going to REALLY try to sleep a lot this week! And obviously keep eating like I normally do (read: a lot). Yesterday really was just an off day but I was surprised by how much it affected me today.

And now, back to studying Algebra. If you're the praying type, please pray for me on Thursday. I'm honestly a little scared of the distance but I want to do this so badly.

Classes, rain, life, blahblahblah

It's a rainy, gloomy day here. I'm trying to study, but too tired to be very productive. And I'm playing a symphony concert tonight. It's the last one I'll be playing for a long time most likely, as I'm stepping down from it in order to concentrate on teaching (which pays way better!) and my classes!! I am now registered for Sociology 101 for the first summer session. (I can't believe I never took that in undergrad! I did about a bazillion other General Ed classes, but somehow that slipped through the cracks.) And for the second summer session I'm taking Biology 1. (The real one, for science majors as opposed to the wussy Biology class I took as a music major!) It's going to be like 8-3pm Mondays and Wednesdays, but then it will be done. I'm grateful for community colleges that allow me to do all the pre-reqs I'm going to need! But unfortunately, I was looking at said pre-reqs list and I will be taking classes for a long time. I am determined to keep working for it though. No one said it would be easy, but I have a really strong feeling that it will be worth it.

In other news, I've been trying to cook more. I mean like actually cook, not just keep throwing together random (albeit delicious) bachelorette style meals for one. So I tried making Indian butter chicken and it turned out great! I eat very little meat, but I think my body actually prefers it, so I bought some organic chicken breasts (about a pound) and used a spice packet, butter and water to cook. If I can do it, anyone can!


Served over quinoa (by far my favorite grain or pseudo-grain!) with sauteed greens. And Magic Hat beer, obviously.

I should study for the next hour. Darn it.

Update

I haven't updated my blog in forever, but I'm continuing to follow the healthy living blog world and I actually do want to be a part of it, despite my failure to maintain this. Anyway, an update is in order. Life has gotten marginally better since my last post. En route to becoming a registered dietician, I've taken Introduction to Computers, Pre-Algebra, and Intro to Nutrition, and am currently taking Intermediate Algebra. Math is so not my strong suite. But this is the last math class I'll have to take, hopefully ever! I'm looking over my schedule on-line and trying not to get discouraged over how long it will take me to even complete the one year post-baccalaureate program, in addition to the 2 year masters. But I want this for me. And I want this for those that I will be able to help in the future. It's frustrating to be paying out of picket for all my classes, but I'm trying to take it slow and steady.

Anyway, this was a quick update as I'm so sick. Yesterday I had a fever that topped out at 102.2 and although thankfully it's down to about 99.2, I still don't feel good. No energy and my head still really hurts. The worst part of all is that I can't taste anything!! :( This is terrible for a foodie, like myself! I've been trying to get LOTS of fluids in me and also to eat somewhere close to enough calories. I made this for myself and finished the box between yesterday and today:

Thank goodness for Annie's Mac and Cheese! Other than that, I've had a few bowls of oatmeal with PB and berries, a pumelo grapefruit, an orange, and a slice of toast with PB. IN TWO DAYS. Obviously this is nowhere near enough calories, but I'm trying. Every bite hurts. :( Fluids have included a crap ton of water, 2 glasses of greens powder with water and about 6 big mugs of fruit tea.

I had to cancel all my work for today. Gosh, I hope I'm better tomorrow!

Remaining positive

The last couple weeks have been tough. Not gonna lie, they've been two of the hardest weeks I've been through recently. I found out that an ex-boyfriend is dating someone else, and I realized I definitely never got over him. I feel so silly for even typing that out...it seems like such a junior high thing to be sad over. But I've been working on truly moving on, not just saying I have moved on, in my mind and I'm ready to let it go.

Another reason this week sucked is that I had won Brooks running shoes and shorts via No Meat Athlete's giveaway but then I put the award certificate postcard in my outgoing mailbox and it got ruined by rain/wind/storms!! :( Talk about an epic fail!! I contacted Matt (the author of No Meat Athlete) and I hope desperately that I'll be able to get a replacement. But I understand if I can't. Lesson learned: put the damn thing in a REAL mailbox or better yet send it freaking certified mail. Right. Got it...1 pair of running shoes and cute shorts too late! :(

Anyway, because my heart had been set on a new pair of Brooks, I decided to just suck it up and buy the pair that I had wanted. In having won them, I went to a local running store to try on the different models and see what might work the best. I am VERY hesitant to wear any running shoes other than Vibram FiveFingers, as my pair of Mizuno Wave Riders gave me a horrible shin splint/most definitely stress fracture that required me to stop running for over 4 months this summer! Annnyway, it turns out that those motion control shoes weren't the right kind for my feet. GREAT. Just my luck...the owner of the running store who had fitted me with them was confused as to why he had suggested those and 3 employees said these would be a better fit; my feet weren't rolling either way as I came off the ground in these. So, I bought them, after realizing the chances of getting the free shoes and shorts (which were cute-I would have selected these!) were essentially gone.

Here they are in all their glory. They're the Brooks Ghost 3 model.

And now it is time for me to take them out on a test run. And also try to get some happy endorphins from said test run!

Sitting in traffic on a Saturday morning

Well, it's Saturday morning and I canceled two students after sitting in traffic for an hour due to a freeway closure. Oh joy...don't you wish you lived such an exciting life as mine? You were probably doing something like sleeping in and then eating homemade pancakes, or running, or shopping, or well...I guess it wouldn't have been hard to have a better Saturday morning than mine.

But, on the plus side...now I have time to blog! :)

I am the most excited about the same breakfast that I've been eating every morning for a few weeks now! It's an egg sandwich with melted cheese (your choice--I've been eating a lot of cheddar but also mixing it up!), avocado (super important!), spinach and ketchup.

I've been trying lots of cheeses for fun. I love them all! If you really want to send me cheese, I won't turn it down. :)


And with coffee, of course. Yeah, I totally took a bit before I took the picture. Oops. And yes, that is a monster coffee cup! Kind of perfect for me. :)


As Fall approaches is here and it's getting to be ridiculously cold for this California girl, I've been eating lots of soup. This is Amy's lentil, and it's basically the least photogenic food there it. Sorry.

There's an amazing cupcake shop in town that just came out with their new Fall flavors menu. So when I saw Pumpkin Maple, it took a lot of begging and pleading from them to get me to try one I just had to try one.


It didn't disappoint. The frosting is all buttery and rich and delicious.

Lastly, I have a visitor who lives under my house!

OK, well I'm off to study Algebra and Nutrition and make some banana bread and some lemonade. But not the kind you can drink. I hope you're having a lovelier Saturday than me!