scrape it clean

/

Wednesday, already? Eeek!!  I have a fun mid-week announcement!  I’m going to be blogging, once weekly, for City Sports!!!  You may remember that I recently blogged for them a few times.  The response was great, [thanks to a lot of you, I’m sure] so they want me to continue with a once-a-week post.  I couldn’t be more excited.  :) 

And now to the food.

Something new!  Sort of.  Oats in a homemade nut butter jar.  Way better than the plastic pnut butter container!  I was always concerned about putting really hot food in those jars, too.  I picked up a few glass jars, like the one below, from Crate + Barrel.  I love storing nut butters in them.  The jar is nice + wide, which makes for easy knife or spoon scraping. :) 

(1 of 11)

There was only about 1T left.  I was about ready to plop it on my oats, when I realized the oats should go IN the jar instead.

(2 of 11)

Uh, yum.

(3 of 11)

I had to add another plop of nut butter on top!  It’s hard to see, but it’s on the spoon and is my roasted maple cinnamon almond butter.  [my absolute fav]

(4 of 11)

There was 1/2 banana in the mix but sometimes I like putting the other half on top as well.  The banana texture works really well with the oats.  Also crumbled on top was mandel bread! 

Partaay in my mouth.  My finger may have helped scrape this jar clean.

(5 of 11)

This morning I was out early for a swim.  When I do go for a morning workout, I typically split my breakfast in 2.  The first half of breakfast was a Nature’s Path waffle + nut butter + 1/2 banana.  The 2nd half was this amazingness below.

Just when I thought the butternut squash smoothie couldn’t get any better…it just did.  I tweet Gena nearly everyday to thank her for creating the original recipe.

(6 of 11)

So what made this extra amazing? 

Sweet mashed potatoes.  Yup.  Monday, I noticed 3 medium sized sweet taters that were close to going bad.  I popped them in the oven at 400* for 1hr.  Then I let them cool for awhile.  Then, into a bowl they went with about 1/2-3/4c plain almond milk.  I used my immersion blender to get the mixture perfectly creamy [skins on].  Then, into a tupperware and into the fridge!  I figured I could eat it throughout the week with lunch.

In a smoothie, this worked amazingly.  It was much thicker + creamier than with pumpkin or butternut squash.  First make the sweet mashed taters and then make this smoothie.  You will be happy, I promise.

Sweet Tater Smoothie

  • ~3/4c sweet mashed potatoes
  • 1/2-1c milk or water [I was out of almond milk today, water worked fine]
  • 1/2 frozen banana
  • 3T hemp protein powder [or your favorite]
  • handful of ice [optional…I like mine just slightly cold, so I leave the ice out]
  • 1/2-1t cinnamon
  • 1t fresh grated ginger [or 1/4t powdered ginger]
  • 1t vanilla
  • few shakes of nutmeg
  1. Blend away!!  Add more liquid, until desired consistency is met.

FRESH ginger made a huge difference.  I looooved it!!  The hemp protein works really well with these pumpkin spiced smoothies because it has a bit of an earthy flavor.  You don’t notice it alt all in this smoothie. 

(7 of 11)

Monday I went on a 1hr 30min bike ride.  It was awesome.  We’re finally out of the 80 degree days and into the 60’s.  My average speed was just over 15mph and I rode about 23 miles.  After biking, I did some upper body strength training + crunches at home. 

Today, I was feeling a bit sore from the lifting and my legs were a bit tired too.  I didn’t have a goal in mind for my swim, so I just started.

Here is how it went:

  • 100m warm up
  • 500m freestyle – feeling a bit tired
  • arm + leg stretch in pool
  • 250 breast stroke – my legs are really tired!
  • switch back to freestyle for 250m – feels better, arms still tired, probably stopping soon
  • switch to backstroke – feeling SO much better – made it 500m
  • 250m breast stroke – feeling better
  • 250m freestyle – feeling great!

total workout: 50 minutes, 2100m, 1.3 miles

I think my body was stretching out for the first half of the swim.  I really felt great once I started backstroke. 

And then this happened. 

(8 of 11)

This is how you build a nutrient dense, delicious, filling sandwich.  Calories?  No clue.  My main concern is refueling with healthy fats, protein + fiber, after my workouts.

(9 of 11)

Building a hearty lunchtime samich

  1. First, get a really cute plate from your sister-in-law [thanks Natalie!!].
  2. Then, snag 2 pieces of hearty bread + toast them.  I used Ezekiel.
  3. Then slice 1/2 to a full avocado.
  4. Then, cook 1-2 eggs, with my pour, poke + spread method.
  5. Top one side of the bread with tomato paste.
  6. Spread your favorite salsa on top.
  7. Add a dash of salt.
  8. Cut.
  9. Tear into this delicious creation!

(10 of 11)

A few suggestions on how to make this lovely thing at work.

  1. Pack 2 slices of bread in tupperware.
  2. Slice an avocado but leave it in the shell.  Wrap tightly with saran.
  3. Hard boil some eggs at the beginning of each week.  Take 1 to work with you that day.  [Make sure it’s in a sealed container, in the fridge, or your coworkers might hate you.]
  4. Mix 1T tomato paste with a scoop of salsa and store it in a small tupper ware container.
  5. Toast your bread at work [if you can] and top away!!

Vegan?  Don’t like eggs?  Take some chickpeas, white beans, black beans, or your bean of choice and smash about 1/2 cup of them with a fork.  Stick in tupperware and use in place of the eggs.

CHOW.down.

(11 of 11)

Anyone watch Parenthood?  I am loooooving it! :)

Night!

Ashley