Blogging from the Library.

Yes, ’tis true- I’m blogging from the library and PROUD OF IT! I have so much work to do in the next few days (the quarter system is crazy people!) that it has been hard to find time to blog. However, I am sure you didn’t miss me.

Last night I got out all my eats for today including pre-10k snack, post-10k protein-hearthealthyoat-packed Fitnessista breakfast cookie (wanted something filling, yet cold while I was a sweaty mess), snacks, and lunch. I have dinner planned between my late classes tonight.

For you visual people here are my eats (pardon the 5 am photography):

Wow, great photography skillz, Juli

A PB (mmmmm!) Chocolate Luna Cookie. It was no Mint Chocolate, like lovely Heather enjoys (and I think is my favorite too), but with PB in it- I was a fan. I also downed some coffee, but I was so groggy I don’t even remember drinking it. I live in a studio so my coffee maker is my alarm. I’m worried someday I’ll just drink it out of the coffee pot…

I ran with my friend. We wanted to do about six. Both of us were exhausted, but she has a Garmin Nuvi and that thing is the BOMB! It was so encouraging to know how far we had gone. Anyone have one? Are you happy with it? After my 6.23 miler I chugged a HUGE sigg of h2o and slowly ate this MASSIVE bfast cookie (3/4 cup oats, T DCD dreams PB [review coming soon!], 1 scoop Whole Foods Soy Protein Powder, 1/2 banana, stevia, 1/4 c light soy milk):

Cookie Monster

May not look big, but boy, that sucker’s got depth. I barely ate it all! But I consider myself a breakfast champion and know how to put it away with the best of them..(it may have taken me a solid 40 minutes to eat though…)

And snacks:

Cinnamon Raisin PB in 1/2 Ezekiel Pita (yep! That’s my next review!)

Because 7 hours in the library and 7 hours of class deserves a treat

A treat for me! I plan to eat this between my 7 hours of library and 7 hours of class. Sigh.

Lunch:

Weird for two reasons

1. Those are in deed KALE CHIPS!!!

2. Yes I plan on cooking the burger before I eat it. But they expire today. Thoughts on it still being good tomorrow? I don’t know if I can eat two in one day!

Me gusta Kombucha

I know some of you dislike Kombucha. I really enjoy it… but then again, I think I get a weird buzz from it… anyone else? Guava is my FAVE.

CHALLENGE UPDATE:

• 30-Day Shred– A little on hold this week as I am prioritizing cardio and yoga, but plan to start it back up asap.
• Yoga– I AM SO IN LOVE. It calms me when I need calming, makes me feel strong when I feel weak, and rejuvenates me like nothing else. Wow. I love Hatha, Power, everything I’ve tried. I’m easy, I guess 🙂

CUPCAKE UPDATE:

The winner is….

Will you go out with me? Check yes or no.

BLACK AND WHITE!!! SO FREAKING AMAZING. My mom and I were simply waxing petic on this tasty morsel of heaven. I hope we meet again… The red velvet was good too, but really only because the cream cheese frosting was divine and that was mostly what you tasted.

PEANUT BUTTER REVIEW UPDATE:

• PB and Co Dark Chocolate Dreams coming as soon as finals end
• PB and Co Cinnamon Raisin Swirl is next on my agenda!

Ok, time for me to actually research Zero Tolerance in schools, read about Non-Profit Management, and hydrate some more.

Also, I am still reading your blogs- just not commenting much. I hope to be back soon 🙂 Thanks y’all!

JuliOUT

I am considering a heart rate monitor or GPS. Any recommendations?? Which do you prefer?

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Monday, Rainy Monday.

Morning sunshines!

Since I was out of town from Friday afternoon until last last night, I have no groceries. I will just have to scrounge around for food all week, which sounds like an interesting challenge. Luckily, I have plenty just enough PB to get me through.

There was a tie between Cinnamin Sugar and Dark Chocolate. So I had my official tie breaker come in and select a winner.

His final vote went to…

Champion!!!!!

DARK CHOCOLATE DREAMS!

I was so excited to try it in my morning Oats:

1/3 cup oat bran, 1/3 cup soy milk, 1/3 cup water, 1/2 banana, packet stevia, cinnamin, scoop of Dark Chocolate Dreams (DCD).

First impression: tastes like a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup (i.e. delicious!). I can’t wait to try this with other dishes this week!

This weekend I also came home with a gigantic and wonderful prize:

A huge tub from Costco: Kirkland’s Organic Peanut Butter. YAY! I ate this over the weekend, and really enjoyed it- especially on my PB & J sandwiches.

I’m off to do some yoga for the 31-Day Challenge! Have a great day everyone!

Question of the Day:

What is your favorite thing to buy at Costco?

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Better N Peanut Butter Review

As many of you have been anxiously awaiting my Better N Peanut Butter Review, I’m sure you are hap-hap-happy to know that RESULTS ARE IN!

Here are some of my BnPB creations:

• BnPB from the spoon
• BnPB with carob chips
• BnPB and pumpkin sandwich
• BnPB and banana sandwich
• Cocoa oats + T of BnPB
• BnPB crackers
• BnPB Breakfast cookie
• BnPB & Jelly Sandwich

BnPB is sweet. It is not salty, crunchy, or peanutty. It is gooey, runny, and seems artificial (even though it isn’t). After a while I started dreading having to eat it instead of peanut butter. With that said, it worked best when paired with salty things, such as ak mak crackers. The BnPB & Jelly Sandwich was not to my liking- too sweet. I needed some salty.

1. Appearance: Looked a little scary as it was runny and a light brown. 0 points
2. Smell: Smelled vaguely of peanut butter- but didn’t make me want to jump into the jar. 0 points
3. Ingredients: Too many ingredients! Probably would misspell or mispronounce several of them. 0 points
4. Taste: For my liking it was too sweet and occasionally had a tart aftertaste. 0 points
5. Spreadability: Very easy to spread! Loved this- went well in my Breakfast cookie! 1 point
6. Texture: Runny and creamy. I liked the texture. 1 point.
7. Compatability: It only complements other flavors if the flavors are salty. But in this case, it tastes great! 1/2 point
8. Satiating: I wish it had more fat! It kept me, but not like it’s brother, PB. 1/2 point
9. Price: At about $3 a jar, it’s a little out of my budget, especially when I can get TJ’s PB for less than $2. 0 points
10. PB & Juli Likeability: Me no likey. 0 points

Total: 3/10

I am sure for people who are really watching calories or fat that this is a great product- especially if they like creamy and sweet foods. Since I need my fat and I love the saltiness of PB combined with a sweet friend, it was not my cup of tea jar of PB. And I can handle PB that is chocolate or sweetened otherwise because it maintains the original peanut taste and salt. I truly enjoyed it with crackers and with my breakfast cookie, but otherwise I didn’t look forward to it. Another consideration is that this was the low-sodium variety. Perhaps the original has the peanutty taste that it needed.

Question: Have you tried Better N Peanut Butter? What did you think? Why do you like/dislike it?

PS I can’t WAIT for my next PB test! Stay tuned- I’m going to ask for your votes! And once I get the results I’m going to scoop my spoon in and take a HUGE bite of fatty goodness.

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The Ultimate.

Class last  night ran over- so I didn’t get home until 11:30. Fourteen hour days are the blurst (bloody worst). I have a retreat this weekend and leave tomorrow and two final papers due Tuesday so today is WORK LIKE CRAZY DAY! WOOHOOO! Can’t wait.

I stumbled out of bed this morning after about six hours of sleep (not enough!) and was welcomed with this sight:

My new BFF

Yes, again I started my day with an amazing Gina cookie! I may or may not have licked the plate clean (I can’t confess to this or my Southern mother would disown me). It definitely made it easier for me to roll out of bed. After savoring every bite, I waddled out the door for a 5k. I ran my first mile in about 7:45- not bad for the morning. But as I saw my timer approach my usual 5k time and I was no where near home I became a little worried. I felt like I was running so hard. My pulse was flying. Was I really going that slow? Was my body seriously that exhausted? I finallly get back after 31 minutes- which would make it about 10 minute miles. I plug it in to mapmyrun.com realize that I had gone too far out. I had actually run about 3.9 miles making it average a little over 8 minute miles. Yay! My body isn’t psycho.

Today is a crazy study day, but I’m hoping to put BnPB to the ultimate test…

BnPB & J Sammy

(Sorry for the quality… after my early morning cookie picture my camera battery died- at least I ahve PhotoBooth).

I will post how BnPB works with jelly later… hopefully after I write two papers. For now gotta grab some Nutella coffee to go and scoot my tush to a meeting!

Question of the day: When you are tired, does your appetite get stronger or weaker? Do you crave anything weird? When I’m tired I am hungry constantly and all I want are carbs!

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Review: Better N Peanut Butter- Low Sodium

(Drumroll….)

To start off my peanut butter reviews, I decided to go to what claims to be better than peanut butter: the aptly named Better N Peanut Butter. It’s quite a bold claim (in my natural PB lovin’ opinion)

For two tablespoons, there are 100 calories, 2 grams of fat, 190 g sodium, 13 g carbohydrates, 2 g sugar, 4 g protein, and 2 g fiber. This is the low-sodium version as it was the only one available at my local Trader Joe’s. It touts itself as low-fat, with only 2 g fat for 2 T, but the high fat content is what makes peanut butter such a great powerfood: fat is filling.

The ingredients are listed as: PEANUTS (AS DEFATTED PEANUT FLOUR AND NATURAL PEANUT BUTTER), TAPIOCA SYRUP, PURE WATER, DEHYDRATED CANE JUICE, RICE SYRUP, VEGETABLE GLYCERIN, SOY FLOUR, SALT, TAPIOCA STARCH, NATURAL FOOD FLAVORS, PAPRIKA & ANNATO, CALCIUM CARBONATE, LECITHIN, VITAMINS E & C (ANTIOXIDANTS).

Better N Peanut Butter will be scored on the following:

1. Appearance: How does it look? What is its color?
2. Smell: Does it smell like peanuts? What does it smell like?
3. Ingredients: Can I pronounce all the words on the ingredient list? Is it natural?
4. Taste: Does it taste like peanut butter? Sweet? Salty?
5. Spreadability: How easy is it to spread on bread, fruit, etc?
6. Texture: Creamy? Crunchy? Runny? Thick? Oily?
7. Compatability: Does it complement other flavors (jelly, pumpkin, bananas, etc.)? Does it maintain its own identity when faced with other distinct flavors?
8. Satiating: Does it satisfy me? Keep me full for hours?
9. Price: Were I to become addicted, would I be able to afford it? Does it fit in my “I’m a broke grad student” budget?
10. PB & Juli Likeability: If I simply like it and think it deserves a point for that fact alone.

Overall rating: Scored on the following 10 PB&J points- only true champions will get ten out of ten.

The review of a product will be intruduced on Monday and concluded on Friday. Each day I will try the product in a different manner in order to assess it’s true peanut butter brilliance.

Stay tuned for my BnPB eats for the week as well as my final rating!

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Gaining Direction

I’m off to play some tennis with one of my good friends- but last night in Whole Foods, as I stared at the panoply of nut butters available, I decided I would try to review many different types of nut butters as I can and post my reviews here! Stay tuned in the next few days for my first such review… (I know the suspense must really be killing you 😉 )

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