Third Leg of the Stool

Without that third leg... it would be a DISASTER

My post tonight is my new tab– either click the tab “Third Leg of the Stool” or this link.

Enjoy I’m off to watch TV with mom, drink tea, and make books for my students. LOVE break!!!

 

Run and Ratatat(oille)

Today was a beautiful day in DCizzle– 70 and sunny! My boyfriend had been asking to go on my favorite long run in the city (appx 6+ miles), so off we went. I had him carry the camera to document this awesome run from Woodley Park down and around the monuments.

We started in beautiful Woodley Park, by the zoo, but took no pics as we were busy hurdling strollers, tourists, and small children (my boyfriend literally hurdled a small boy–unsuccessfully– wish I had that on camera for sure!)

After about 2 miles we got to the National Mall:

Hello beautiful pond

We headed west until we hit Honest Abe:

And then we ran around the Reflecting Pool:

My goodness I'm speedy

Yes, tourists were laughing at this picture… but I had my Boo with me, so I needed to take advantage of the situation. Besides my fab form, look at that view!! BALLER!!

Then we ran towards the somewhat ph@llic monument:

OOo other runners. I love seeing other runners in tourist locations– we always share a look like, “man these tourists are CRAY-CRAY, but we’re badass, have a nice day!” I love the secret runners club looks. *Swoon*

We kept going past the museums toward the Capitol Building, where I really need them to fix our Educational System, k thanks.

Arne DOOOO something

Great Frisbee form, btws. Should have told him that in the mo’.

We ran up into China town, but no pics because boytoy was a little ready for the run to end.

One of my favorite parts of running in the city is that I can run to a place and then metro home. It’s awesome and makes it possible to run through so much of the city without worrying too much about mileage (I’m trying to keep it low, low, low cuz I *heart* my knees). We metro-ed back up to my neighborhood:

Hello, glutes. Get to work.

And walked the quarter-mile back home:

The shadow is hiding his exasperation with me and the camera

We got back and were capital-R READY for some Green Monsters!

Here was what I put in mine:

1 cup filtered water (not that exciting to photograph)

1 very ripe banana (so ripe, in fact, nobody needs to see it)

You probably can’t tell, but it’s AmazingGrass GreensSuperFood… love how it tastes and all the good things packed in it!

LOVE this stuff!

1 cup Unsweetened Ricemilk — this is my go to milk now– since I can’t have almond breeze (thanks almond allergy), this is a nice low-cal, low-sugar, non-dairy option! Thanks Whole Foods!

This was so refreshing! Might be one of my favorite combos yet!

I didn’t get hungry for dinner for a while (thanks to major snackage), but once I did I had an awesome dinner from things I needed to use up with a new ingredient:

-1/4 cup Leftover Quinoa

-1/2 cup Roasted Chickpeas (@450 for about 6 minutes)

-left over spinach (~ 1/2 cup cooked)

And my new discovery at Trader Joe’s:

Nice to meet you

I used about a quarter cup.

It was DELICIOUS and so filling! I would recommend this for a quick dinner any evening. In fact, I’ll probs have it tomorrow!

 

And that’s all I’ve got– time for tea and reading! Have a great week everyone!

–Juli

The Past Five Months- Part 1: City of Angels…and white carbs

So I owe the blogging community somewhat of an explanation. I disappeared.

I could sum it up with this picture:

But really so much more has happened in my life– especially regarding fitness and working out.

After I graduated in mid-June with my Masters in Education Policy, Organization, and Leadership Studies, I went straight to Los Angeles to work with an education non-profit training new teachers. I knew it would be rigorous (I had gone through the training myself), but as an advisor I was working 6 days a week from 6 am until 10 pm. I wish I was exaggerating, but I’m not. I am still stunned at how I was able to keep it up for 6 weeks.

I loved my job, I loved seeing my teachers grow in the classroom and their students learn so much so fast. But my body was hurting. As a vegetarian, who is lactose intolerant and allergic to almonds, cashews, and pistachios, eating was tough. All our meals were provided for us, and my options were limited. Normally eating whole grains, veggies, and fruit, I was now eating white carbs: bagels, cookies, and a TON of cereal. And caffeine, gallons of coffee and gallons of diet coke. I inevitably began to gain some weight, as I was stressed, sleep deprived, and malnourished. All I craved was instant fake energy, instead of what I know truly gives me sustained energy: whole, fresh, organic food.

Luckily the other members on my team highly valued working out. So every morning we woke up at 4:30am to go for a quick run and some cross training.  So while I stayed marginally in shape, my eating habits deteriorated rapidly.

My job in LA ended on July 31. The next day, August 1st, I began my teaching job in Washington, DC.

This is when things began to get really rough… and this is where I will pick up again for Part 2.

What foods do you  reach for when you are exhausted?

Guess who’s back, guess who’s back, guess who’s back….

This is how happy I am to be back

Just a note to say that I am back from living in a cave– and by cave I mean working 6 days a week, 12 hours a day since June 20th. Things are slowing down and I am excited to be back on the blogosphere

Coming soon:

A full run down of these tumultuous five months

A new plan for PB and J

Other awesomeness, TBD

The Great Oat Cake Experiment.

WOW!

Have I been gone a long time or what? It’s been insane finishing up my masters, trying to spend time with people, stay in shape, eat all the food in my cupboard, etc. Blogging fell by the wayside, but reading other blogs definitely provided wonderful study breaks.

Speaking of study breaks and cleaning out the cupboard… I found myself staring at an enormous jug of Quaker Oats. I remembered a little thing called “Oat Cakes” I wanted to try baking, I found this recipe, some friends, and tried my hand at them!

Let me present to you:

The Great Oat Cake Experiment!

We made two batches… each batch required 3 c ground oats. Yes, I had OVER 6 cups of oatmeal lying around.

This is chaos that ensued from the wet ingredients: honey, greek yogurt, sugar, and vanilla.

The figs and apricots for the first batch- we chopped them up as finely as possible.

Then we added the fruit to the wet ingredients (this is batch 2- cranberry!) with egg whites.

Add some flour to the ground oats, add the wet ingredients, and mush like heck!

Shape them into hockey pucks, throw ‘em in the oven, and hope they turn out.

The First Batch

Apricot-Fig (followed recipe to a ‘T’ except more than 1/2 c. fruit)

Verdict: Looked sub-par, tasted DELICIOUS

Second Batch (Alterations: Added more yogurt and an additional egg white and more than 1/2 c fruit. Ran out of honey, so used up what we could and splashed in some extra sugar)

Cranberry

Verdict: Absolutely delicious!!!! We loved the cranberry taste in almost every bite.

Close up:

Delicious. Remember: eat with your hands- it’s the Cali way These keep you full forever!

Adaptions I want to try:

• Using Whole-Wheat Flour
• Adding Apple Sauce
• Using Peanut Butter (duh!)

All in all this experiment was a huge success. We made 24 and I ended up only getting to eat one! All of our friends clamored from them and adored them. My skeptical boyfriend tried one and is now begging me to make more!

Here is the recipe, reposted from here:

Ingredients

• 3 c Rolled oats
• 2 c Flour
• 1/4 ts Baking powder
• 1/3 c Plain fat-free yogurt (I used Fage 0%)
• 1/2 c Crystalline fructose (I used sugar)
• 1/2 c Honey
• 1/2 ts Vanilla
• 1 Egg white
• 1/2 c Dried fruit (I always did much more than this!)

Instructions

Thoroughly grind rolled oats in food processor or blender.

Mix with flour and baking powder.

Chop dried fruit into small pieces.

In a separate bowl, “cream” together yogurt, fructose, honey, and vanilla.

In yet another bowl, lightly beat egg white until it gets bubbly but not stiff.

Fold egg white into the wet ingredients. Add dried fruit.

Combine wet and dry ingredients. The dough gets pretty stiff and is hard to mix. You may even have to knead it with your hands like bread dough!

Form into 12 patties (We usually only got 10-11)

Bake at 325 degrees F for 15 minutes on non-stick cookie sheet. Cool completely and store in refrigerator. These keep well and may be frozen.

Per patty: 250 calories, 1.5 g fat. (Allegedly)

_______________________

Let me know if you all try them!

In other news, I tried fresh juice this past weekend and am in love. I can’t wait until August when I can buy a juicer! Speaking of, Angela is hosting an Amazing Grass Giveaway that I would be SO PSYCHED to win!! *Fingers crossed*

Take care you all!

New loves.

Well, it’s officially finals time here at Stanford- whoop whoop. So it’s miraculous I’m posting at all. That’s just how much I love you guys.

So- in my study snacking I have found two things that I absolutely adore:

The first:

Weird, because I really hate Fig Newtons

FIGS! I love these things– and I thought I would hate them because I never liked Fig Newtons growing up. Here is a glamor shot of my new b-fri:

You're lookin' good!

And… now… for the most delicious discovery of the YEAR (bold claim, but I’ll stick with it):

NO LACTASE!!!!!!!!!

Goat cheese is okay for people who are lactards! YAY! I can feel so decadent and my belly doesn’t say “No NO NO!” Glorious.

Alright back to the books (er… actually going to go on a hike…).

No worries— I have consumed a lot of Peanut Butter in the past week. A. LOT. Like… a whole jar of this. Which was awesome expensive delish Gotta fuel that brain!

Question: Anyone do Bikram? How many times a week do you do it? I’m usually “yoga-ed out” for a day or two after an intense session.

Daily Joy- early morning run/bike ride to the grocery store

Must. Protect. This. Skin.

Happy Saturday!

I’ve been missing NATURE (goulet!), so today a friend and I are going to go on a hike. It’s an awesome hike, not far from campus, but feels like a million miles away.  We both really needed to sleep in, so we’re not getting started until 11. This is usually when sun is the strongest, so fair, skin protectant snob that I am, has gotten ready! I decided to show you some of my skin protectors!

First I put this ALL OVER MY BODY (yes even on parts of my skin that will be under clothes, as I want maximum protection– as far as I have read clothes aren’t very high UVA + UVB protection):

Coppertone SPORT SPF 70+ Very Sweat Resistant

My camera battery died so it’s charging. Forgive the Photobooth, mirror image pics. I love this stuff, it works well and doesn’t sweat off (you still need to let it set in for ~20 minutes)! It really isn’t greasy after it sets, but it does feel greasy for a while. I’ve NEVER gotten burned wearing this stuff. Mmmm. LOVE YOU COPPERTONE SPORT!

For my face, I put on this beast:

Neutrogena UltraSheer Dry-Touch Sunblock with Helioplex SPF 55

This stuff doesn’t clog my pores (that I can tell) and feels light on my face. I love this sun screen, and as you can tell from the picture, I go through it really quickly. Again let it sit for 15 minutes.

Always reapply sunscreen! I am bringing my sunscreen with me in case we hike over 1.5 hours!

There is more, my friends, there is more. The real doozy, the real man-magnet part of my skin-protection regimen is possibly the best invention of all time…

Too hot to handle

The SPF 50 floppy hat. That picture is too glorious not to share.

HAVE A GREAT DAY LOVELIES!

Bikeran.

Bikram + run + biking = Bikeran (Bike-ran)

It’s 9 am and today I have already

• Gone to an hour of Bikram
• Ran 2.5 miles
• Biked to the grocery store and back

I also had una desauna deliciosa:

You were mighty tasty, yes indeed.

1/2 cup Fiber 1, 1 cup Special K Protein Plus (I adore this cereal, HFCS can kiss my booty), 1/2 cup skim milk, 3 GINORMOUS strawberries. I also had some coffee with some half-and-half.

That right there is a breakfast of champions. It was delicious, I felt like I was indulging, and I was wholly satiated with just 315 calories. Boom. I’m all about protein. I’m all about fiber. That baby had both. WINNER!

Happy Friday party people!

Also check out my boy’s blog from India: www.nocrustnoproblem.wordpress.com. That boy cracks me up.

Don’t forget to lather up your sunscreen!!!

Speaking of Skin Protection…

Here is a great article from today’s NYTimes that discusses how to maximize skin protection from sunscreen. There is great info throughout so read the whole thing! Might save you a wrinkle or two!

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/14/fashion/14SKIN.html

Free Skin Cancer Screening- BAY AREA

I know how much us bloggers and blog readers love the sun and being in the sun (which is why we are so awesome at life). But being in the sun can cause skin cancer. Gross.

SO- I urge you all to regularly get your skin checked by a dermatologist (takes like 15 minutes). If you don’t want to hoist over a $10 copay, you can get a FREE SKIN CANCER SCREENING!

When: This Saturday, May 16, 2009: Doors open at 8:30 AM, close at 11:30 AM.
Where: Stanford Medicine Outpatient Center
450 Broadway Street, Pavilion B, 4th Floor
Redwood City, CA 94063
(right next to Summit Prep, check it out as you drive by!)
Who: YOU! Especially if you:

• have fair skin and a history of excessive exposure to the sun,
• have many moles,
• and/or have a first-degree relative who has been diagnosed with melanoma

Why: When treated early, skin cancer survival is close to 100%. If missed, (melanoma) 5-year survival rate is close to 5%. I need you all to NOT get skin cancer so you can change the world!!!!!!

More info: http://dermatology.stanford.edu/skin-cancer-screening.html

Get ‘er done folks!