life+running

See ya later, Y’all + Swagtastic Trail Mix Cookies

chimes — Thu, 17 May 2012 15:00:00 +0000

Guess what I did yesterday …

… besides bust into Thriller* at the gym?

Hey. There were some creepos staring at me. So I gave them a reason to stare. Thanks, MJ.

I finished LIVEFIT. Finally. Oh, and I RAN. Yeah. Considering my blog is life + running, I’ve been seriously slacking on the running part. I’m going to come clean: It’s because I’m slow. And I can’t run as far. This bothers me. But what’s the only way to get back into peak running shape? I’ll give you a hint — it’s ACTUALLY running. Slowest run of the decade (I can say that honestly because I’ve averaged 8:30/mi since 2009! Previously about 10/mi).

And sorry. There aren’t any awkward bikini photos to share. I don’t think I look any different than I did at the end of Phase 2. So clearly, I didn’t kick as much ass as I should have in Phase 3. I’m going to repeat Phase 3 again sometime. But not until after Fitmixer Boot Camp.

And speaking of Fitmixer? I’m giving some amino away. Enter if you’re interested. AND if you are unlucky, like me, and don’t have access to any in your area, you can purchase some from the link on my blog by clicking on this (or click on the one in my sidebar):

BUT THIS ISN’T WHY I’M SO EXCITED THAT I’M TYPING IN ALL CAPS!!! AND USING MULTIPLE !!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!! !!!!! (ok you get the point)

As of 4:30 PM today I will be on my way to Austin, TX for the Renegade Craft Show. My friend Amanda is selling her ceramics. And she was kind enough to invite me along to help her. Why yes, please. I’m going to be using the hashtag #howdychimes on twitter and instagram so I can easily stalk myself later for blogging purposes, in case you want to follow me.

I have a slew of interesting guest bloggers lined up for this weekend. So please come back and read. Some of the posts are from non-bloggers (who should start a blog, cough cough, Calee Spinney). All of the guest posts have to do with healthy living — mentally and physically.

While I’m out, why don’t you make some of these cookies and let me know how you like them? It was my first experiment with Xagave. And I was pleasantly surprised when I bit into a cookie and didn’t get the sugar rush that I normally get from regular cookies.

I also used a bunch of granola samples that I got in my swag bag from Blend. Along with some other great finds from my local co-op’s Incredible Bulk sale (yeah, they did that — and Mark and I made the executive decision to become members. Finally. It took a jug of beer to convince him. Boys.)

And in an effort to integrate my profession (graphic design) into my blog, I’ve started setting up my photos a little nicer. And I’m giving them some pizazz — making them pop — if you will (I’m cringing just writing those two things — I HATE when clients ask me to “make something pop”. Really? How does one make something POP?). Though, I haven’t found my groove yet. This is looking a bit slapped together. Sorry. It’s pink? Sorry if I give you a migraine or a seizure (no kidding there).

And I am fully aware that my photos of food can be better. But that requires getting out my big kid camera and setting up lights, and that’s just a step I’m not ready to take yet (though, I do have some amazing tilapia taco photos that I’m a little proud of. Next week kiddos).

Anyway. Here is the recipe. I made these for my dad and grandpa for the cookie of the month club this month. Let me know if this works out for you! They’re semi-healthy. And you can tweak your mix-ins to make them even more healthy.

swagtastic trail mix cookies

ingredients
1/4 c butter (1/2 a stick)
2/3 c Xagave OR 1 c brown sugar if you don’t have Xagave
1 t vanilla
1 egg
1 egg white
1/2 c peanut butter
1/4 c Nutella (could use 3/4 c peanut butter OR Nutella OR nut butter of choice instead)
2 1/2 c granola, oats, hot cereal mix (I used a mixture of granola sample packets from Blend and 7 grain hot cereal, which is the consistency of rolled oats)
1/2 c crisp rice cereal (could use 3 cups of granola / oats mixture, but this gives a fun texture)
1 c chocolate chips (or other mix-ins like white chocolate chips, craisins, etc.)

directions

Preheat oven to 350°.
Prepare 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
Mix butter and Xagave (or sugar) together until blended.
Add egg, egg white and vanilla and stir until combined.
Mix your nut butter in.
Add granola mixture.
Pour in rice cereal. At this point if it seems too liquidy, add more rice cereal OR granola mixture (I think I added about a half a cup extra of the granola mixture).
Stir in your chocolate chips or other mix-ins.
Drop by tablespoonful onto the parchment paper-prepared baking sheets.
Bake 15-17 minutes (these take a little while longer because of the extra liquid from the Xagave instead of sugar — if using sugar, bake for 10-12 minutes).
Remove from oven. Let cool on cookie sheets for 5-7 minutes before transferring to a wire rack.

How do you feel about substituting sugar or other things when baking to make something more healthy? OR Have you tried the Fitmixer Amino yet?

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PS I realize I linked to Bollywood Thriller. That wasn’t an accident. You have to watch. Try not to pee your pants.)

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Wonder-Bred Italian Boy Cooks: Chicken Cacciatore

chimes — Wed, 16 May 2012 15:00:00 +0000

Um. I keep promising you blog lovin’ and I don’t deliver. So I’m going to quit talking about it — except for the fact that once I’m back from Austin next week, I’ll have a bit more time to write those posts, and I have one drafted for every week through September. And by drafted, I mean I’ve picked a person.

I love trying new recipes. I actually USE my recipe boards on Pinterest for this exact reason. Mark and I try to do something new each week. We sit down with a pen in hand while browsing freshly pinned recipes.

But, I also like to have a few go-tos on hand each week. Mark’s chicken cacciatore is one of our go-tos.

Why is it one of the go-tos? Because it fulfills my crazy list of things I look for in a recipe:

Gluten free / easy to make a gluten-free option
General nutrition value of ingredients
Lower in calories but high in protein and fiber
Made with whole foods
Time required to make
Ease / skill required to make
Number of ingredients (less than 10 is g0od)
Cost per serving / cost of ingredients
Freezability
Let’s not forget the most important part: TASTE — which can be tricky when cooking for more than one person

My list seems a little ridiculous, I know, but I feel better about eating something when it fits a good chunk of these requirements.

Mark and I started making chicken cacciatore every few weeks and usually have 1-2 servings stocked in our freezer to grab quickly for lunches or for an easy dinner option. It’s a recipe that requires you to chop everything up, dump the ingredients into a pot, put the temp on low, and forget about it until a few hours later.

m.cecconi’s chicken cacciatore

Ingredients:
2 T olive oil
1 lb boneless skinless chicken breast
1 28 oz can of diced tomatoes (do not drain)
3 peppers, roughly diced (we usually use 2 green and 1 red or yellow — any color works)
8-12 oz fresh mushrooms, sliced thick (can omit if you would like)
1 large red onion, roughly diced
2-3 cloves garlic (or let’s be honest, we add about 5), roughly minced
italian spices
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

In a large dutch oven (or deep saucepan with lid), heat the olive oil on medium-high heat for 2-3 minutes.
Sprinkle some italian spices and salt and pepper on your chicken breast, and put in the pan.
Sear each side of the chicken. Reduce the heat to low and cover. Cook for 20-25 minutes, or until chicken is cooked through.
Remove chicken and dice into bite-sized chunks. Do not pour out the chicken drippings / liquid (unless it really grosses you out)
Return heat to medium / high and add the vegetables. If you poured out the liquid, or if there isn’t much liquid, add a bit more olive oil and sauté your garlic and onions first.
Cook for 10-15 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the veggies give up their water.
Add the chicken back to the pot.
Pour in the tomatoes
Stir to combine.
Reduce heat to low, cover, and let sit for 1-2 hours. The longer you cook, the better it will taste.
Serve alone, or over pasta, quinoa or other grain of choice.

When you’re done, it will look something like this …

… and smell absolutely delicious.

This is how I have mine. We apparently forgot to put the mushrooms in this month’s batch … whoops!

And Mark serves his over pasta.

Bonus? This freezes really well. I’ve frozen this in lunch-sized portions and we’ve frozen double portions for dinners.

Do you have any favorite go-to weeknight meals?

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Hooked on Hiking!

chimes — Tue, 15 May 2012 15:00:00 +0000

I had a recipe scheduled for you today. But you know what? My food pictures suck.

Why don’t you go look at what Gina, from Running to the Kitchen, has cooked up for you instead (just don’t rate her recipes until after you’ve tried them! ). Or maybe something from Jessica, from How Sweet it Is. I’ve pinned most of their recipes, so you could just look at my Healthy Bites board on Pinterest if you would like a collection of healthy food porn.

However, I have two recipes for you scheduled for this week. And one might actually have decent photography. I’ve become inspired to take better photos of things. Considering I have a degree in graphic design (and maybe soonish a masters), I do not have an excuse not to have decent photos. I am just lazy.

So consider that an apology for my laziness. Or something.

Instead of a recipe, I want to share that I am completely in LOVE with hiking after Blend retreat last week. My fear of heights has (somewhat) subsided — enough to let me hike up some pretty vicious hills in central Iowa (which compared to CO and eastern IA aren’t very vicious — I didn’t even know we HAD hills).

And even better? Guess who else kind of likes hiking?

I’m mostly excited about this part because Mark isn’t outdoorsy.

Thanks, someecards.com for that sentiment. But seriously. I’ve been trying to find something that we both like that is active and outdoors. And this might be it. Plus, there’s a lot of stairs. So it’s like stair stepping but without the lame machine.

Are you an outdoorsy person? What is your favorite summer activity (and yes, this can include getting drunk on patios if that’s what you really like to do)?

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FitMixer Bootcamp + Fitmixer Amino Giveaway

chimes — Mon, 14 May 2012 15:00:00 +0000

You might have noticed this badge on my sidebar:

I am doing the Fitmixer Boot Camp — which starts TODAY. Thank you to Janetha for blogging about this opportunity because I’m PUMPED to participate.

What is Fitmixer Boot Camp? Well, their website gives a pretty good synapsis. But to me, it’s a chance to finally shed a little bit of body fat and shred my muscles a little bit more.

Why am I doing this in addition to what I already do? I need a kick in the ass when it comes to nutrition. Sure, I eat clean. But I could do better. And when I met Candice, the super-fantastically-fit gal who put together my nutrition plan for this, she mentioned that I am really active (duh) and that sometimes when we are so active, our body likes to store. I love being outdoors. I love lifting weights. I love getting my heart pounding — I don’t want to stop being active. But with the right nutrition I can keep this lifestyle and see great results.

So here’s my before photo (which you probably have already seen — and yes, I’m finishing up LiveFit — probably this week, in case you were wondering):

Already looking pretty good, if I do say so myself. However, I want to shred down a bit more. And if nothing else, I’d like to rethink my nutrition because it’s something I know I can be better at and what you fuel your body with is 70% of what you get as results (I can’t remember where I read that, but seriously. You can’t outrun a bad diet.)

When I signed up for boot camp, I got Fitmixer Protein and Fitmixer Slim (I’m a HUGE believer in protein smoothies as meal replacements when I’m in a hurry — so I am loving this already). I got a nutrition plan. And no, the nutrition plan doesn’t say “drink a fitmixer product for every meal and snack”. Not even close. It tells me how many calories and how much protein, carbs and fat I should ingest daily. And no, to all you crazy fad dieters out there, it isn’t 800 calories. It isn’t even as little as the normal amount of calories I’ve gotten when I’ve used LiveStrong in the past to help me lose weight. I get 1400–1700 calories daily. Which, to me, is kind of a lot. However, this is how much I eat. Not net calories (net calories are what’s left after you subtract calories burned from activity). I have to hit 135 g of protein each day and not go over 27 g of fat. So yeah, I’m probably going to be drinking one of the Fitmixer protein shakes each day. But I drink a smoothie for breakfast most days anyway, so this isn’t going to rock my world — I’ll just be using a different product than I’ve been using.

So now that you’ve seen my awkward bikini photo and heard about a few of the things I got with boot camp, here’s the giveaway portion of this post.

Along with the Fitmixer Slim and Fitmixer Protein, I got Fitmixer Amino.

What the heck is that? I thought I probably wouldn’t use it because it looked like glorified Kool-Aid. But I tried it at Blend and I am HOOKED (so are Lauren and Katie from what instagram has been showing me).

It’s not Kool-Aid (though I feel like I “drank the Kool-Aid” because I’m such a believer now). It’s energy. And it helps retain muscle mass. It makes me less sore during and after workouts.

If you work out in the AM and don’t typically eat beforehand, your body eats your muscles. Gross. I know. And I’m pretty sure that your body goes for the muscle tissue before it goes for fat. This is why I’ve been kicking my ass in the gym, but my ass doesn’t look like I want it to look.

Anyway, I’ll quit before I start sounding like an infomercial. Instead, I’m giving away one bottle of Fitmixer Amino. In grape. Or fruit punch. Your choice! Both flavors are good (well I hate grape flavored anything, but it’s good from what I’ve heard). All you have to do is leave a comment. Any comment. Though, I do enjoy hearing about why you think this product would help you, or any personal weight loss / fitness goals you have or have met.

Fitmixer is on Facebook. And Twitter. I follow them because I like to keep up on their endeavors, such as boot camp, and any special offers or coupons. Give them a follow if you’re interested (not part of the giveaway).

Giveaway ends at midnight on Wednesday, May 23. I will announce a winner on May 25. Good luck!

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BLEND Sunday + B&B + Monday Hike

chimes — Sun, 13 May 2012 15:00:00 +0000

Guys. I am almost too tired to write one last recap post. Everybody else did a glorious job. And once those are all compiled, I will give you the link to read everybody else’s posts. Because there are some really hilarious recaps out there.

Sunday morning we woke up again for some boot camp action. This time Chobani Fit crew ran the show. It was hard, but not hard in the same way that Saturday’s boot camp was. After the previous day’s workouts and booze … I think we were all interested in something a little less intense.

After bootcamp, we had another great breakfast bar. This time there was Chobani and Love Grown. And other stuff. But I mostly went for the Love Grown granola. I wish we had some here. Because I’m jonesin’ and I’m already out. Not sure how I’m out, because I grabbed a few more sample packs than my fair share …

No. Judging.

During breakfast I snapped a couple of photos of some gals that I spent a good chunk of time with during the weekend. Christine, from Oatmeal in my Bowl …

… and Kelly from No Sugar Sweet Life (you’ll meet her soon!)

We all entered our names in a raffle for some great prizes. And I managed to win a reallllllly fantastic prize: A Chobani Fit gym bag. I seriously needed a new gym bag. Wish granted.

[ super cheesetastic photo from Lauren ]

When the raffle and breakfast were over (BTW everybody won something in the raffle — best kind of raffle!) we all ran outside for a group photo. We took a serious one and a goofy one. Obviously I’m going to show you the goofy one.

[ photo from Lauren — look at her guns! ]

We gathered for one giant team huddle before breaking to pack and leave the park. So. Sad!

[ photo from Lauren ]

I packed and sat around in the lodge for a while to see if anybody needed help or a ride to the airport, since it was on my way. I managed to snap a photo of Kim and I, since she is a fellow Iowa native.

Finally, I managed to drive away. It was hard. I know. But I found a Lululemon shop down the road, to the dismay of my wallet.

I had to get the pants that Janetha had on for our Saturday bootcamp. I’d seen Katie post about them a while back too and had pinned them to my guns and buns of steel board on Pinterest. I had to have them! They had them in purple, black and gray. Of course, I’m an oddball, so I got them in purple. Though, I should have gotten a size bigger, and they only had that size in black.

I’ve worn them almost every day since I got them. I even wore them to work on Thursday. People just thought they were fancy leggings.

I picked up a few other essentials too …

I made it to the bed and breakfast I was staying at in northern Nebraska. They had an interesting assortment of movies. To my surprise, they had Serenity AND the whole series of Firefly. It made me giggle a bit.

Though, I didn’t watch either. I was drawn to something a little more cheesy. Yeah. Hello Leo. Titanic and tea for me. An evening of winding down commenced.

Before I hit the sack, I skyped with my two boys. One of which missed me more than the other. I’ll give you a hint. It was the one without a tail. Barney is definitely Mark’s dog. Though he is technically my dog. He seems to forget who pays his rent, feeds him and (yes) clothes him.

I ended up driving on Highway 30. Which sucked. Because it was 2-lane road most of the way and there was construction, which turned it into one-lane for some stretches. This made for an extremely long day.

I was almost home, but called Mark to see how he was doing on cleaning and such. He had promised he’d clean while I was away. But, like a true procrastinator, he had waited until 2 PM the day I was returning to even think about it. So I made a pit stop for a hike at a park that’s about 15 miles away from home.

And yes. I’ve lived here for almost 10 years … but I’ve never been here. I’m completely kicking myself now.

I spent about an hour or an hour and a half exploring and running up stairs — I had ultra-energy from being in a high-altitude environment. I felt like I could run up a ginormous flight of stairs on Monday (I did — ran up the stairs in the first photo I included of the park).

Finally made it home.

I can’t begin to explain how incredible this weekend was. So many girls that have the same interests as me. ~~Nobody~~ almost nobody was cliquey, snobby or Mean-Girl-esque (sadly, there are a couple of blogs I quit reading after this trip. I know that’s just as snobbish of me to do, but I couldn’t read anymore!). Everybody was welcome to hang out with whoever, and nobody spent time talking about how my blog could benefit your blog or that so-and-so’s photos really sucked. Everybody took photos of food — not just me. And we all enjoyed getting sweaty in the AM. It was pure fun. And I so want to do this again next year!

Are you taking any trips this summer? Have you gone hiking before?

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BLEND Recap Part 2: Whoop-Ass Saturday

chimes — Sat, 12 May 2012 15:00:00 +0000

Oh HI there. I have more recaps of last weekend — but hey, thanks for sticking with me if this doesn’t interest you. I know that a good portion of my audience is into the crafty stuff. There will be more of that next week after I get back from Renegade.

Also, this is going to be a long post. I just looked and the gallery for this post has 46 photos. FORTY FREAKING SIX. I hope you like pictures. Long day = long post.

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Upon returning to Iowa after last Saturday’s bootcamp and hike, and Sunday’s bootcamp — all in high-altitude, I feel a little like this:

[ source ]

For realz. I did 4 rounds of my circuit for LiveFit on Wednesday after the retreat along with a bike ride. And ran up a hill at Ledges State Park on my way back to Ames from Colorado on Monday.

Why?

Because the gals who put together Blend had 3 ass-whoopin’ activities on the agenda for Saturday, along with one for Sunday (with an impromptu yoga class by Fitmixer that I wish I hadn’t forgotten about). And we were on top of a mountain for some of it. OXYGEN. Please.

The day started off bright and early at 6:45 AM with some Fitmixer Amino — which apparently is like crack for fit people. It keeps your muscles from eating themselves while working out and they give you MORE ENERGY to fuel your workout. Stay tuned. I’m giving some away next week.

You might notice that my Hello Kitty sweatshirt definitely had some threads on it from crafting a few weekends back.

Yesterday I mentioned that I wasn’t feeling the altitude. I think I texted Mark 900 times about how I might die. I woke up a few times during the night. I even had a dream that I called Mark and had him pick me up (you know, from 10 hours away) and that I got mad at him because he didn’t bring me back in time to hang out on Saturday night.

Fortunately (for Mark), none of that happened. I got up and my roommates were all ready to head to bootcamp. And apparently we discussed our wardrobe choices because damn we are matchy matchy in this photo. Left to right: Patricia (Vanessa’s friend — she brought a bunch of friends from her gym — so cool!), me, Vanessa and Gina (if you like food, go to Gina’s blog. Her photos are food porn.)

[ photo from Vanessa of Fit, Savvy and Haute ]

Bootcamp was lead by Lindsay and Tina and started off with two laps around the field we were going to use for our workout. Which proved to be a pretty damn long 2 laps because of the altitude. I was huffing and puffing. But I was still at the front of the pack. You know, because I’m competitive. Even when it comes to warm ups.

[ photo from Janetha ]

After a quick warmup, time for dynamic stretching. Note: I look ultra-dumpy in the front row next to Janetha and the Fitmixer gals (the one on the other side of Janetha is who’s doing my nutrition plan for Fitmixer bootcamp, come to find out!) The shorts I wore proved to be wedgie-inducing and not appropriate for being in the front row of a workout consisting of 60+ girls with cameras and blogs.

Tina started the party with some resistance band training. One of the moves caused the bands to slip out from underfoot if you weren’t careful. Which was kind of entertaining. Also, I may have purchased the pants Janetha is wearing in this photo. In purple. Contrary to popular opinion on instagram.

[ photo from Lauren ]

After Tina and Lindsay had their way with us (Lindsay did some great kickboxing moves!), we got to play a game. This was my favorite part — it ~~brought out my competitive side.~~ let the real me shine. We split into teams, and got in a big circle. Tennis balls with various exercises (including BURPEES, which thankfully we didn’t get) were placed in the middle. Each round, one person from each team had to sprint to the middle and grab a ball with an exercise for the team to complete. The faster you got a ball and got back to the team, the more reps of the exercise your team could complete. The team with the most reps at the end of the game won.

Our team didn’t win, but I discovered I could do 72 pushups in a minute. And I was kicking ass on all the rest of the moves. Except one. I can’t remember what it was but it was probably the last one.

TEAM FIVE. We were winners for sure. (Left to right: Nikol (sp?) — one of Vanessa’s friends, Katie, Sarah, um, I feel terrible because I didn’t catch her name, Kim and Jessica)

After bootcamp, we were served a fantastic spread for breakfast (sponsored by Xagave). But of course everybody had to get photos of the balls before leaving for breakfast.

So many girls. So many cameras.

[ photo from Janetha ... sorry about the drop shadow. it's not really my thing #designsnob ]

I had 2% plain chobani and a whole bunch of fruit and nuts with some xagave on top.

After breakfast, we quick snapped a few photos (really? yeah. we like photos) and ran back to our cabins to get ready for the Royal Arch hike.

[ Heather, Jessica and me ]

I don’t think I knew what I was in for. Lindsay said the hike was challenging. But she had also hiked it with a child in tow earlier that week. So, how bad could it be? I mean, it started off pretty tame.

I spent a good amount of time talking to Lauren at the beginning of the hike — LOVE her — but I fell behind quickly (she is kind of a hiking pro). And it didn’t help me much to have a fear of heights. I am proud to report that things that used to seem high are much LESS scary now that I’ve conquered Royal Arch.

I’m so glad I made the climb. Look at these gorgeous shots I got!

I made it! And so did my camera and phone (thank goodness … one of the girls almost lost hers)

[ Roomie pic: Gina and me ]

And so did the 70ish girls that were in our group. Yeah. We were those people.

[ photo from Lauren, who's on the left, then Lindsay, Heather and me ]

At the top, the crazy dog people (including myself) in the group got a special treat. Little dog. At the top. She climbed all the way! Seriously. She’s about half the size of my dog.

[ photo from Tiffany ]

After the hike, Gina and I decided to join a group of girls (and one husband) at Mountain Sun for lunch. I already recapped the glorious sandwich that I ate. So I won’t do it again. Here’s a group photo from Lauren.

[ From left: Kelly, Lindsay, Gina, Me, Heather ]

And the whole table, courtesy of Lynne, who is on the far right in this photo.

This place had some pretty awesome decor. And bumper stickers.

[ photo from Tiffany ]

After lunch, we dinked around on Pearl Street for a while and headed to Avery Brewing company, where we got a special tour.

[ Laura and Ashley ]

I tasted a couple of Laura’s beers and decided to order a couple of my own. Including the Beast. I want this. Again. Now.

A few hours went by and we all decided to head out for dinner. So back to Pearl Street. Gina, Heather and I spent a little while trying to find the restaurant at which a big group was convening for Cinco de Mayo (or Cinco de Drinko as it was coined later by Janetha). We caught sight of this Hippie Taxi.

We made it. And everybody was doing free shots of tequila. But I wanted food. So I went to the tables where people were eating.

[ photo from Ashley — top — Ashley, Gina. Bottom — Ashley, me, Katie ]

Ashley (in the bottom photo with me) and I split some fantabulous mahi mahi tacos (<=== I am a little concerned with my spell check because “fantabulous” didn’t get flagged, but mahi mahi just did).

Seriously. Yum. And it was on Fiestaware, which I ~~unfortunately couldn’t fit in my purse~~ seriously want at my house.

I’m getting tired just writing this post. It was a long day. Hence the long post. We were all ready to crash, though a bunch of the girls were Cinco-ing it up.

[ what I looked like at 10 PM when everybody else was probably doing body shots or getting frozen yogurt ]

So you can pretty much guess that my plans for this weekend include: Sleep. Sleep. More sleep.

Have any big plans for the weekend? Ever gone hiking?

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BLEND Recap #1: Let’s get this party started!

chimes — Fri, 11 May 2012 14:00:00 +0000

Before I regale you with recaps, I have to share this picture with you. My friends and I went for a group trail run last night and though I didn’t think I kicked as much ass as I should have, I did manage to look the part.

That’s my friend Sheena — who is far more badass than me. She just cut all her hair off (it is super cute!)

Now for BLEND.

For months I’d been planning this crazy 4-day weekend trip BY MYSELF to Blend Retreat. And it finally happened last week. I’ve never traveled alone. So this was a big deal for me.

I remember seeing that @blendretreat followed me on twitter one day in January, and I looked at their website. Three days of food, working out, and pretty blogging ladies? I HAD to go. Once I got vacation approved, I was in.

Unlike the rest of my Blenders (or Blendees?), I did not fly. Well, the CO peeps drove to Chautauqua Park in Boulder. But I had 10 hours of driving.

Have I mentioned I am afraid to fly? And I get panic attacks.

Instead of the stress of flying … with my added stress of panic attacks … I decided the way to go was to drive and stay at a B&B and/or with friends on the way there and on the way back.

So Thursday I headed for Omaha, NE, which was apparently closer to central Iowa than I thought. I had 2.5 hours to drive. Which meant about 8 hours to drive on Friday. YIKES. Luckily, I planned ahead and had LOTR on audiobook on my iPad (THANK YOU ROOMMATE).

On Thursday night I stayed with my college roommate, Nick, his wife, Kelly, and their little dogs too. They made themselves right at home on my lap. The dogs. Not my friends.

Cooper. The beagle.

And Roo. Who’s a terrier mix of some sort but looks a little like an Ewok.

I got up bright and early on Friday, gassed up, and hit the road. About the time I crossed the Colorado border, I got sick of hearing about Frodo and his adventuring out of the Shire, so I cranked up some Bloodhound Gang, Muse and Daft Punk for the remainder of my trip.

I got there at about 3:30 PM (mountain time — I figured out about 3 hours into my trip that I had plenty of time to stop because I was going to gain an hour). I found the lodge where the three fabulous ladies (Lindsay, Katie and Janetha) who organized the event were waiting — arms open — with hugs, swag and t-shirts.

[ photo from Janetha ]

I sat around in the lodge for a while and talked to Christine, Katie, Ashley and a few other girls (including Kim who lives in Denver now but is from Iowa and lived on the same road I live on now!) But then went to our cabin to unpack. And I dumped out the swag bag to find THIS:

[ a HUGE thank you to all our sponsors! You fed me all weekend, on the road, and for most of my breakfasts and snacks this week. ]

At 6, we met at the dining hall for a cocktail hour. I didn’t get any photos of this because I had too much to carry and balancing a wine glass and a small plate was already too much to ask of me. It was about this time that I started feeling sick.

Great. Altitude sickness? Maybe. Of course I started panicking and thinking I wouldn’t be able to do anything all weekend. I even told Lauren that I wasn’t going to boot camp in the morning.

Despite the sickness, which I tried to ignore, I still had a pretty good time. Here’s a shot of our table. Clockwise from the left: Greg (Lauren’s hubban), Lauren, Kelly (who you’ll meet next week!), Heather Blackmon (who is kind of hidden), Fitmixer peeps (I am starting their bootcamp on Monday), Sarah, Laura, me and Christine.

[ photo from Janetha ]

And dinner was served. They gave us a pretty salad (NO CROUTONS. I think this is the first time in a LONG while I’ve not had to pick croutons off a salad).

[ photo from Katie at Healthy Diva Eats ]

I ordered the chicken. Thank goodness. Because the pasta didn’t look any fancier than something I would have made at home. With a jar of sauce. (sorry. there. i said it). The broccoli and quinoa were delectable. The chicken was okay, but nothing to write home (or on my blog) about.

[ photo from Lauren — since this looks much more appetizing than my shot ]

Group shot of the fab ladies at the end of the table!

[ photo from Lauren ... taken by her photographer, er, hubban, Greg ]

After dinner, there was a huge assortment of cupcakes from Street Fare. And a tower of vegan AND gluten-free cakes in the middle. Heather and I were pretty ecstatic. Especially when we found out that apparently our modified cakes were a little moister than the other cakes.

[ photo from Ashley McLaughlin from Edible Perspective ]

I somehow didn’t take a photo with my actual camera. I just instagrammed. I know. Seriously. But I had 3 cupcakes. To start with. I had about 5 of the lavender raspberry once I saw that there was a ton of the gluten-free cakes left.

As you can see, I pretty much nommed the shit out of those cupcakes.

[ photo from Janetha. and yes. i know you saw this yesterday. but it totally needed to reappear ]

Well — that was Friday night. After dinner everybody was exhausted and no shenanigans occurred — or at least none that I heard about.

I went to bed being extremely happy that I made the trip all by myself (I’ve never traveled alone before) and I could barely sleep, though I was crazy tired, because I was looking forward to what Saturday would bring (stay tuned for tomorrow’s recap!)

Have you ever taken a trip by yourself? Or have you ever traveled somewhere to meet somebody that you knew online but not IRL (in real life)?

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Sweet Tunes Thursday: Power. Songs.

chimes — Thu, 10 May 2012 14:00:00 +0000

~~I’m taking a break from Blend Recapping (don’t worry. there’s more. if you’re sick of it, come back next week when I leave for Austin).~~

EDIT: I wasn’t going to recap today (I have tomorrow, Saturday and Sunday for that!), but Janetha posted her Friday night recap last night and I was so excited to see that I was featured on her blog. As you know, I’m kind of a fangirl of hers and pretty much do every workout she posts. You’ve seen her right? There’s a reason I’m a lemming.

Anyway, she was kind enough to post this very … special … photo of me enjoying the cupcakes from Street Fare at Friday night’s dinner.

I love how Ashley and Laura are all cute and Christine might have noticed my posing for photo … or was just as enthused about getting a photo of us eating as I was. I’m pretty sure somebody said “Can I get a picture of you ladies eating your cupcakes?” And that she did.

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Now instead of another recap, I have so much music for you this week! I compiled ~~all~~ 10 11 of my favorite workout songs into this post.

Those of you who use Nike+ know that they have this thing called a “powersong”. You push a button, and the song that you picked that gets your heart pumping will play. Pretty cool, eh? I think so. I’ve definitely had some runs in which I’ve punched the button and listened to one of these songs on repeat for several miles.

Also, if you’re new to my blog, note that I have pretty schizophrenic music taste. So hopefully there is something for everybody here.

And if you’re not a fan of watching YouTube videos, here’s the playlist on Spotify instead. In case you didn’t know, Metallica is lame and doesn’t have any of their songs on Spotify. So if you really want to hear Master of Puppets, you’ll have to watch the video (I suggest a listen — you might recognize it from the classic — yes it’s old enough that I’m calling it that — Will Ferrell movie Old School.)

Jimmy Eat World / A Praise Chorus

Amon Amarth / Pursuit of the Vikings

Michael Jackson / Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’ (Not my favorite version of this song — but I watched this concert SO many times when I was a little kid. Gold. Bodysuits.)

Ke$ha / Blow — Cirkut Remix (just so you know, it pains me to actually use the $ for an S and it made me shudder typing “cirkut”)

Iron Maiden / The Trooper

The Faint / Paranoiattack (Note: These guys are stellar live. the light show? they spend most of their $ on that, from what I hear)

Daft Punk / Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger (giving you this video because it cracks me up)

Metallica / Master of Puppets

Andrew W.K. / She is Beautiful

3 Inches of Blood / Deadly Sinners

Okay — I’m a fan of turning things up to 11. So here’s one more.

Children of Bodom / Are You Dead Yet?

Those guys also have a pretty hilarious cover of Oops I Did it Again. In case you were wondering

This song was singlehandedly the reason I came back from an injury and shaved 2+ minutes of my mile time. It also helped that I have a slight crush on their lead singer / guitarist (<===== oddly enough, that is the post that continues to bring the most traffic to my site). Yeah. I have weird taste in guys. Don’t judge. Tattoos, beards, guitars, long hair? If you have one or more of those, I’m in (Mark is obviously bearded and he plays guitar. And banjo. I was responsible for him continuing to grow his hair out in college, though we weren’t dating — oops.)

[ source ]

What songs pump you up? Do you have a go-to powersong? And how do you feel about facial hair or tattoos? Discuss.

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WIAW: BLEND Foodings.

chimes — Wed, 09 May 2012 12:00:00 +0000

Remember that I promised you that Humpday Blog Lovin’ would resume this week?

Yeah. I’m a liar.

However, I do have posts for all of my favorite Blends scheduled all the way through September. I just have to write them …

Today you’re getting a crazy-long recap of what I ate during my trip to Blend last week. Enjoy! So much good food was had.

If you’re looking for gorgeous photos and fab collages, check out my friend Heather’s recap instead.

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Thursday, May 3, 2012

Quick stop at Wheatsfield in Ames before I hit the road for Omaha. Major score: Lärabars were only $.50 per bar. I picked up a few of them to eat on the road. As well as a Gingerade Kombucha.

Thank goodness I had all those Lärabars because I had an 8+ hour drive on Friday. I got up at 8 AM and hit the road.

When I got to Chautauqua, I was greeted by three lovely ladies (Janetha, Katie and Lindsay) and a MASSIVE bag of swag. In foodie / fitness blogger world swag = healthy snacks and food.

I separated out the stuff I couldn’t eat (which was VERY minimal actually — such a great attention was paid to food allergies and diets by the fab women who organized the retreat) and noshed on this most of the weekend.

Friday evening we met up at the dining hall for cocktails and a fancy schmancy dinner.

Don’t be fooled by my terrible camera skills. Dinner was pretty fantastic. Chicken and broccoli with quinoa and what look to be pearl onions. YUM.

Oh, and the best part? The cupcake spread. Actually. I’m lying. The quinoa was my favorite part. But the cupcakes were great too.

That tower in the middle? All gluten-free and vegan options of the flavors of cupcakes that we chose (our group voted on flavors a couple weeks ago).

I had a s’more (top), lavender raspberry (middle) and a junkyard (bottom — supposed to taste like carrot cake. all I tasted was banana. yuck!).

And actually … I had 3-4 of the lavender raspberry. Shh.

Saturday morning we had bootcamp at 7 AM that was lead by Lindsay, who was one of the gals who put the shindig together, and Tina Reale.

We had a huge breakfast bar afterwards that included yogurt, breads, bagels, oatmeal and a lot of fruit. Oh, and Xagave. Because they were the sponsor. They’d even made jam with their product so we could try it on our bread.

Since I couldn’t eat most of what was on the bar, I had some 2% chob with a buttload of fruit and nuts.

Breakfast proved to not be enough fuel for the 4 mile up-the-mountain hike we went on afterwards. So I was pretty anxious to get some lunch in me.

A bunch of us went to Mountain Sun. I was pleasantly surprised that a) they had a (GOOD) GF beer to offer and b) EVERY option on their menu was able to be made GF.

The waitress almost got a hug.

I ordered the GF beer (New Planet), and it’s my new favorite. I’m talking to our local liquor store to see if they can get some.

I was originally going to order a ginormous salad but when I heard I could do anything on the menu GF, I jumped at the opportunity and got a steak sandwich. The steak sandwich came with spicy giardina and gooey fresh mozz. Oh, and fries. Because subbing a salad was $3 more. And after that hike, I wasn’t really concerned about how much or what I ate. Just get food in my belly. Preferably food that won’t make me sick.

YUM!

After lunch, a good portion of our group went to Avery Brewing Company. We got a tour. And I was hesitant about drinking any beer because none are GF. However, I gave in. I had a sip or two of a couple of the other gals’ beers and had to get some for myself. Plus, they came in super-small taster sizes for $1. I could not pass that up.

I looked at the menu (which made me gag a little … papyrus? really? ugh) and ordered the BEAST. Since I’m sure you can’t read it, it was made with 6 sugars, 6 hops and 6 malts (666 — the number of the beast, get it? If you’re new here … I’m kind of a metal-head.). It was also 16% alcohol. Which was the real reason I ordered it — minimizing the amount of gluten that goes into my system by upping the booze content (so I don’t drink AS MANY beers).

And I also got a coffee-like beer called Out of Sight.

Not double fisting.

After the brewery, a bunch of us met up at Rio Grande for drinks and food. I did not partake in the boozing since I had a good amount in my system from the brewery. And tequila — anybody else remember this bit by Jim Breuer about partying in his stomach? Yeesh. If I do one shot, it goes downhill. I didn’t want to ruin my day on Sunday, so I stayed away.

Instead, I got some grilled mahi mahi tacos and split them with Ashley from Freckles and Spice (PS — ladies who are working on weight loss — read her before and after She is awesome!).

Ashley and I spent the next hour wanting fro-yo, but to no avail. Dang.

Sunday morning breakfast was a similar spread to Saturday, but was sponsored by Chobani (who also led our bootcamp that morning). I met the gal who organized my giveaway and another girl who apparently had heard of my fro yo recipes. I’m kind of a big deal I guess.

AND — there were a bunch of tiny sample packs of Love Grown granola.

Which I promptly hoarded … we don’t have any in Iowa. And it’s GF. Don’t judge!

After breakfast, we said our goodbyes and I hit the road. Everybody else hit the air (do you say that? I don’t know. I don’t fly!).

I stopped at the mall in Boulder and spent way too much money on cute workout clothes (I’m seriously considering wearing the leggings as actual leggings to work to recoup the cost). Then I actually LEFT town. And about an hour into it, I needed to get gas.

And the gas station was by a DQ. Um. I didn’t get fro yo. And I was seriously jonesin’. So this had to do.

A few hours down the road I finally ate my Simply Bar that was supposed to be fuel for Saturday’s hike.

Since I was smart enough to split my trip into two chunks, I stayed at The Rocking Chair Inn in Broken Bow, NE. They had a couple of restaurants, but most were closed. I managed to sneak into The Bonfire Grill and Pub. I was going to get a salad, but opted for the $20 piece of GRILLED walleye. (warning, I’m about to drop some f-bombs)

GRILLED.

I didn’t bother to mention that I couldn’t eat anything with gluten in it because I figured I would pick the croutons off the salad and ignore the roll.

BUT I GOT A FUCKING PIECE OF BREADED FISH.

That I paid $20 for.

Seriously?

I took my food to-go and the place was closed by the time that I got back to my room. I didn’t want to waste the fish, so I scraped off as much breading as possible.

But please note: Small town restaurants DO NOT always stick to their menus. Sometimes it has to do with availability of ingredients. Other times it has to do with the time of day (apparently grilling takes longer than flash-frying a piece of already-breaded fish and I ordered at about closing time). I should have remembered this from working at a small-town restaurant for several years. If you have a food allergy or follow special diet, you need to be VERY clear up front. Should be a general rule anyway, but I try not to come off as being picky because I once got a vegetarian omelet with ONE piece of ham smack dab in the center. My mom ordered the same, and got the same weird piece of ham. Hrm.

I left them a couple of bad reviews. I ~~was~~ am pissed off. I would have been just as upset to receive a fried piece of fish regardless of if I couldn’t eat breading or not. I ordered a GRILLED piece of fish.

And yes, I realize that previously in this post I talked about drinking beer that is not GF. I am not celiac, so I can have gluten, but it usually makes me sick. However, if I’m going to be sick, I want the thing that makes me sick to be something incredible. Not a freaking piece of fried-shoulda-been-grilled fish.

Since I likely ingested a bunch of gluteny not-so-goodness, I had a cup of tea with a little bit of my travel buddy in it.

FYI — this is not the same as ex-lax. It evens things out in your belly. It seems to quell the stomachaches I get from gluten. I only use this in severe situations, or if I eat something that is not GF. It’s best in peppermint tea.

So far, I haven’t gotten sick. But gluten is a sneaky bastard. It could be sometime this week. Or next. I don’t know, but it will likely happen. And when it does? It’s because of the fish. Not the beer. Edit: I just found out that we do not have running water in our bathrooms today. I will get sick today. I guarantee it.

Since I stayed at a B&B, I was served breakfast in the AM. The lady who owned the place (who is possibly the NICEST lady in the world. And the future-self of my friend Molly, I believe) actually took the time to chat with me about what I can and can’t eat and then went over ingredients in the recipe she was thinking about making me for breakfast.

And? She had the cutest dishes.

She ended up making me a crustless quiche with ham, cream cheese, dill and some onions. YUM!

I packed my bags and hit the road for the last leg of my trip. Fortunately I didn’t have to stop for anything (except construction … ugh) because I had this massive bag of swag!

Popchips are good. BTW. I should know. I ate 4 bags of them in the car that day. Wasn’t hugely fond of the sweet potato ones … but I could live off the BBQ flavor.

Did you eat anything exceptionally good this week? Do you have any dietary restrictions or food allergies?

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Tu-tu-tu-Tuesday: GF Blueberry Greek Yogurt Cheesecake

chimes — Tue, 08 May 2012 15:00:00 +0000

Sometime in the past few weeks, I made a cheesecake. I posted pictures on Instagram. And then I went to Blend and got crap from Lauren because I haven’t posted the recipe yet.

WELL, for those of you who were patiently waiting: Here it is. If you weren’t waiting and this is the first you’ve heard of my cheesecake creation? Prepare to be impressed.

I went through a bunch of recipes in search of the perfect Greek yogurt cheesecake recipe. I came across this one from Sarah’s Sweets and a few others that had similar ingredients and directions. After figuring out the basics, I made my own version.

chimes gluten-free greek yogurt cheesecake

ingredients
FOR CRUST (should you choose to make one — if you want to use a pre-made crust, be my guest!):
1 12 oz. bag gluten-free shortbread cookies
(optional) 1/4 c nuts of choice (I used pecans and hazelnuts)
2-3 T melted butter
1 T brown suger
- or – forgo the melted butter and brown sugar and use honey or agave nectar (3-4 T) — just need to get the mixture to a consistency to be able to form a crust

OPTIONAL:
1 Dagoba lavender blueberry chocolate bar, cut into chunks (next time I would actually process with the shortbread crust)

FOR CHEESECAKE:
3 cups of blueberry Greek yogurt (I used Greek Gods, but would prefer Chobani)
8 oz. of light cream cheese
3 large eggs
fresh or frozen blueberries (optional — in case your yogurt doesn’t have fruit — mine didn’t)

directions (if you’re using a pre-made crust, skip to number 8):

1.) Preheat oven to 325°

2.) Open bag of shortbread cookies. Try not to eat a bunch of them or you’ll have to find something else to make your crust with. Crush the cookies into fine crumbs using a food processor or by putting them in a ziplock bag and rolling over them with a rolling pin.

3.) Add brown sugar and nuts (if using) and process a bit more.

4.) Pour into a bowl and add melted butter (or honey / agave nectar if you choose to do that instead).

5.) I like to use a spring-form pan, but you could use a pie dish since this cheesecake isn’t super tall. Press the crust mixture into the pan of your choice.

6.) This part is optional. Cut up the chocolate and put on top of the crust. Again, I want to make this again and put the chocolate IN the crust with the shortbread. Mark really liked how this turned out with the chocolate chunks. I did not. I thought they interrupted the flavor and would have been better incorporated fully into the crust (or melted into the cheesecake mixture?).

7.) Put crust aside.

8.) Mix cream cheese and yogurt using a mixer on low or a fork.

9.) Beat eggs into mixture.

10.) Pour cheesecake mixture into your pan with your crust.

11.) Optional: Drop fresh or frozen blueberries into the pan. I used about 30-35.

12.) Bake for 60-80 minutes. I realize that’s kind of a wide range of baking time. Your cheesecake should start to get golden brown around the edges and it won’t be jiggly in the middle anymore when it’s done.

13.) The most important part — slice and serve!

Just look at this beautiful cross-section!

Though this recipe used the lighter option of Greek yogurt instead of using gobs and gobs of cream cheese, it is still pretty dessert-y as far as calories go. It’s 14 WW+ points per slice and I input this recipe into Livestrong and this is what it gave me for the breakdown:

Yeah. Still a pretty hefty price for a piece of dessert. However, I did a quick check of calories in the Cheesecake Factory’s cheesecakes, and most are between 700-1000 calories per piece.

The verdict? I’m going to make this again. But next time I’m going to figure out something different for the crust or do a crustless cheesecake. And I’m ~~going to ditch~~ thinking about ditching the chocolate (I know, sad, right?). I am also contemplating using goat cheese instead of light cream cheese. Oh, and I’m going to try this using Chobani’s strawberry yogurt (IF I CAN FIND IT. Dammit Iowa!).

Wish me luck!

What’s your favorite dessert?

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