Second Breakfast

Just so we’re clear.

One may be so sick that one can’t go outside on a much anticipated trail run in the unbelievable November weather we’re having.

One may be so sick that one must call into work sick for only the second time in over three years.

But one is never so sick that one cannot artfully arrange banana slices on one’s breakfast.

Even if it’s the second breakfast of the day and it’s happening at 4pm.

It’s not so bad when you consider that the first one happened at 12:30.

First breakfast: Green smoothie in a bowl (banana, pineapple, cucumber, black kale, Vega) with apple cinnamon cereal and almond butter toppers.

Second breakfast: Cinnamon banana waffles with almond butter/maple syrup dipper.

Sometimes being sick isn’t all that bad

But damn I wish I could run. Or bike. Or swim. Or do anything.

What do you mean it’s not Sunday?

I am loving having Wednesday off in the middle of the week (It’s Remembrance Day in Canada).  The last two days have felt like an extra weekend.

Yesterday I dragged my butt out of bed early so I could adjust my schedule and headed straight to hot yoga class. It was a new instructor and she was having some difficulty so the class didn’t flow quite as well as usual but it was still awesome. I think she might have been an athlete too, because we did a lot of pigeons, runner’s lunges and all my favourite poses for loosening up my ridiculously tight hamstrings and hips. I feel so much better with all the yoga I’ve been doing lately.

I also got a fantastic tempo run in. It was crazy windy out but I was feeling speedy and energetic. I always second guess myself on this route because there’s a giant hill halfway and I often question if I can keep my pace despite it, but it barely fazed me today.

Distance: 9km (5.6 miles)

Time: 47:40

Pace: 8:31 min/mile

This is right where I want to be with my tempo pace right now so I’m quite pleased. I felt so good at the end of the run, like I could have gone another 5k at that pace, so I’m stoked. Hopefully I can do another 10k race soon because I’m definitely on target to set a PR. My last 10k was May 30 and I ran a 51:46. My goal now is to make it under 50 min. It may be a lofty goal but I think I can do it.

Before yoga I was finally able to try Brendan’s Toasted Apple Cinnamon Cereal recipe from Thrive. I’ve been meaning to make this for months now but I’ve procrastinated because for some reason the long cooking time was throwing me off. It was more than worth the wait, though.

The best thing about this cereal, aside from the crunch factor, is the great roasted flavour the molasses provide. The “cereal” is pretty much a granola made with a ton of seeds and nuts and a coating made up of molasses, hemp oil and spices. It’s quite delicious. Unfortunately I ran out of almond milk the day before and forgot to soak any nuts to make some more so I ended up doing a cheater version of coconut milk. It was pretty much about 3 tbsp of dried, unsweetened coconut blended with just over 1/2 cup of milk and a couple drops of vanilla stevia extract. That blinding white blob in the middle of the bowl is some of the yummy coconut pulp left over after straining (holy overexposure, sorry about that). This is quite a lovely and quick milk solution when in a pinch.

For dinner I decided to try out Melissa’s Raw Pad Thai, which has been waiting patiently in my recipe folder for months now. I really wasn’t expecting this to turn out as well as it did.

It might not look like much – a bowl of red cabbage, carrot, cucumber and green onion may be a feast for the eyes but it isn’t that palatable on its own. However the dressing for this was outstanding and I almost gobbled up the whole (HUGE) bowl before remembering that we were going for dessert in an hour and I might not want a belly full of fiber first. This would have been even better if I’d had the mango & cilantro recommended but I’d used the last of my cilantro in a smoothie that afternoon. Damn me.

It was a good smoothie, though. You can’t really go wrong when pineapple & cilantro play together.

Post-dinner we went out with some new (!) friends for dinner at a great restaurant in town called The Ranche. The last time I was there the dessert was absolutely transcendent. I could have waxed poetic about the intricacies and perfection of that dessert for hours. And, like all good food, it had me swinging from the rafters. Alas, the dessert I had yesterday (the Sweet Potato Cheesecake with Marshmallow & Cranberry Beet Syrup), while lovely, did not quite reach those heights. I plan to go back to try the Banana Rum Sticky Toffee Pudding and hope for better luck. Not to be too greedy or anything. But I love sticky toffee pudding and would have chosen it had I not ordered my wine first and thought the cheesecake seemed like a better match for it.

I really, really planned to take pictures and even had my camera sitting patiently on the windowsill beside me, but I got wrapped up in friendly conversation and didn’t remember until my plate had been licked clean. Too bad, because the presentation was impeccable. I’ll definitely remember when I go back for seconds.

This morning I had a fabulous swim. I’ve been slacking hardcore on my swimming training lately. It’s unfortunately my least favourite of the triathlon disciplines and therefore the one I need the most work on, but I’ve had difficulty being motivated to swim since fall has arrived. Luckily I managed to make it there today and the best thing about midday swims is that I usually have a full lane to myself. It felt good to just get in the water, cruise, and let my mind wander. Unfortunately, since I tend to zone out while swimming I have a hard time keeping track of my stats. I think this is pretty close, though.

Distance: 1750 m (70 lengths)

Time: 42 minutes

Workout: 2 x 25m breast stroke, 2 x 750m freestyle, 2 x 50m side stroke, 4 x 50m breast stroke

Dan picked me up after the pool (he’s had the week off work) and we went to an early matinee at the cheap theatre. We finally saw District 9, which I’ve been wanting to see for awhile now. It actually exceeded my expectations (which were already quite high) and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

I had an early dinner/late lunch that was pretty much just thrown together on a whim. It consisted of roasted cauliflower with a crunchy coating of bread crumbs, nutritional yeast & red pepper flakes, sweet potato fries with chipotle seasoning, and a mushroom, onion & spinach frittata with a little blue cheese on toast. I may or may not have added some ketchup to this post-pic.

Tonight I went to see a play with a friend who got free tickets through work. It was called Speed the Plow, written by David Mamet, on the suitable topic of the movie industry (in case I didn’t mention it before, I work in film/television post-production). The play was really funny with blazing fast dialogue and very truthful subject matter. If it’s playing in your area I’d definitely recommend checking it out. I don’t go to the theatre nearly as much as I’d like because I really do think it’s a completely under-appreciated form of entertainment. The talent involved in even a local production is often amazing.

I’ve had a fabulous ‘faux’ weekend so hopefully the real one lives up to it

Breakfast of Champions-to-be

Hello my name is Jessica and I drink green slime and melted chocolate ice cream for breakfast.

Well, not really but I’m sure to anyone not in the food blog world these don’t exactly look like breakfast. To me they were tres delicious.

Item A is a Super Green Smoothie made with a small orange (which makes it ultra-pulpy and probably extra gross to people who aren’t crazy like me), pineapple, 3 collard leaves, amazing grass, hemp protein, lemon juice and agave.

Item B is a protein pudding creation in the remnants of an almond butter jar. It was made with Mori Nu silken tofu, carob powder, almond milk, chocolate amazing grass, vanilla stevia extract and some guar gum. This really did taste like melted chocolate ice cream and there’s was more almond butter than I thought in the jar so I probably ended up eating about 2 tbsp. Not that I’m complaining

Even though it’s winter I’ve still been enjoying the liquid breakfasts lately. They’re just easier on my digestive system and so fun to play around with.

In fact I did a long run today and had a shake both before and afterward (no pictures – honestly they just looked like brown sludge).

On the schedule for today was 24km (15 miles) at a 10:05 pace. I actually started this run with a pretty negative mindset. I just didn’t feel like running and was feeling sore from yoga yesterday and tired from oversleeping (9.5 hrs – I tend to be lethargic if I sleep over 8 hrs). But I made myself go (aka Dan kicked me out the door because I was hanging around procrastinating) and spent a good 20-30 minutes getting my mind on track. It is almost impossible to get through a long run if you don’t have an ‘I can do it’ mindset so I had to get myself back on track.

In the end I managed 23.9 km (14.85 miles) in 2:25:00 – a 9:46 min/mile pace! That’s really fast for a long run for me so I’m quite pleased. It was tough but I ended up doing some 1 min walk breaks near the end and it really helped keep my legs strong. It was fan-bloody-tastic.

Back to the weekend, on Saturday night Dan and I went over to my parent’s house for dinner and games. We’re big board game fans in my family so there’s usually some form of game played whenever we go over there.

My mom served us a charcuterie plate, full of high quality meats and cheeses. I don’t typically eat meat and dairy all that much but if it’s high quality I have no problem enjoying some.

From left – Lanjager sausage, boar pate, mini dill pickles, Valbella chimneysticks sausage, red wine sausage, whole grain dill mustard (so good). I had a few bites of each, although I avoided the pate because I’m not a fan.

From front to back – blue cheese, carmelized onion confit, Guinness cheese (this is one of my favourite cheeses ever), fig confit, lactose-free gouda.

My mom’s homemade sourdough bread and Haute Cuisine crackers to serve everything with. I love simple, delicious foods like this.

There was lots of wine throughout the evening as well (I probably had about 4 glasses, which is pretty standard for being at my parent’s house).

This one was particularly good – lovely aroma and good, fruity flavour. For dinner we had roast fingerling potatoes & beets, spaghetti squash and everyone but me had bbq chicken breast as well. And chocolate for dessert, of course.

Then it was time for games!

We played a game Dan and I brought over called Entdecker. It’s a new one so I don’t have a full review of it yet but it’s pretty fun so far. And a I won, which always helps

Yesterday was pretty lazy. I went to hot yoga, which was yummy as always, and was supposed to swim but when I got to the pool there was a sign saying they were closing at noon (it was 11:50). So no good. I instead got some groceries and headed home to hang out with the boy. I made a delicious meal of pizza and salad.

I used a spelt pizza crust from a local bakery and topped it with marinara sauce, mushrooms, pineapple, sundried tomatoes, red onion and goat gouda. It was so good and I ate way too much. I paired it with a kale salad massaged with pineapple dressing, carrots, tomatoes, pineapple and some roasted chickpeas.

Alright, I’m off to another hot yoga session and then back home for dinner and maybe a movie, then on to work. Yeah, my schedule is pretty crazy Hasta.

The day(s) in pictures

I don’t have a real post yet but I’ve been practicing the last few weeks taking some food pictures, so I thought I’d share some of them now, just to give you an idea of what I eat and what you might have to look forward to . I should have my first post up tomorrow, talking about my long run (24k) and some good pre and post workout meals.

Raw Sushi Bowl. Jicama ‘Rice’, julienne carrots and cucumber, marinated shiitake mushrooms, nori, and (non-raw) baked tofu.

Chocolate oatbran with bananas, cacao nibs, and peanut butter.

Pumpkin smoothie, topped with Nature’s Path Pumpkin Raisin Crunch (my fav).

French toast, topped with strawberries and yogurt.

Green smoothie, topped with hemp seeds and pumpkin granola.

Banana oatmeal with coconut almonds and peanut butter.

Mixed berries smoothie, topped with raspberries, granola, and almond butter.

Really don’t remember this one. It looks yummy, though. Pretty sure that’s Cacao Bliss on top.

Another green smoothie, topped with granola, raspberries, and almond butter.

Apple & Goat Cheese Pizza with Carmelized Onion Compote on Farmer’s Market Pita. Big salad with mixed greens, carrot, cuc, heirloom tomatoes, beets, sundried tomatoes, and an ugly, but delicious Cayenne Dill Tahini Dressing (a la Thrive).

Pizza again from above, because it’s just so pretty.

My version of Natalia Rose’s Power Soup. With berries, sprouts, romaine and agave, topped with hemp seeds and bee pollen.

Coconut Flaxjack, topped with cranberry sauce and popped amaranth seeds. Green smoothie, extra sludgy.

Raw mushroom risotto (from Ani Phyo) and baked tofu on spinach with a lemon miso dressing.

Sweet Potato Sesame Pizza (Brendan Brazier again – I think I like him).

Pomegranate Muesli with Almonds, Currants, Coconut and Chia Seeds. This was my breakfast this morning. HEA-VEN.

That’s it for now. Just so you know, this isn’t going to be a daily food journal type of blog, I just don’t have that much diligence, but I thought I may as well share some pictures to start since they’re just taking up space on my hard drive otherwise. See you all tomorrow!