Music Monday is on the Move

Songs about travel, for traveling might seem a little redundant, but sometimes I think we need to have that - just like I love being on the bike at the gym and watching the Tour de France. There are some newer versions of the Eagles and Tom Cochrane's songs.

Personally I like this version: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UFkuD6wuqfo

Because I Can, I'm Posting on a Saturday

I have to say there is something that has captivated me about this song which says a lot because after their disastrous opening for U2 in 2005 I swore I would never ever support them. This children is why swearing is bad.


Use Somebody - KINGS OF LEON

Food Friday

So I will admit that this recipe has minimal nutritional value, but what it lacks in some ways it makes up for in many others. I have a sweet tooth and I have this combined desire that my sweets don't suck nutritionally, which is why I love this recipe - which is NOT mine:

Graham Crackers

1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour or a GF alternative (if using this consider adding a little tapioca or stabilizer)

1/3 cup sugar (unrefined preferably)

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup oil (non-flavoured)

2 tablespoons molasses

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1/4 cup rice milk (plus maybe an extra tablespoon or so), soy milk or water will work, too - I used vanilla hemp milk

1/2cup-3/4cup chopped crystallized ginger

Preheat oven to 350 F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silpat (worth the investment for you, the environment and your sanity)

In a large bowl mix together flour, sugar, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. Make a well in the middle and pour in oil, molasses and vanilla. Give the liquid ingredients a quick whisk with a fork and then continue mixing until everything is well combined and crumbly.

Drizzle in the milk and combine. Use your hands to knead the dough a few times until it holds together, add an extra tablespoon of rice milk if needed. Add ginger, knead a little to combine. You should be able to form a pliable ball of dough.

Roll, press, smush out into a rectangle on your silpat(or whathave you), trim the sides to make it a real rectangle if your neurotic like me and then score out the sizes you want. Bake for about 14 minutes, longer if you really like your crunchy.

Let cool completely on the baking sheet. And then if your like me, melt some 70% cocao dark chocolate and dip the ends in.

For this recipe and many wonderful others: http://vegancupcakes.wordpress.com/2007/07/04/graham-crackers/

Photo

Many W's Wednesday

In honor of more snow in our forecast and the stress that weather can play on our training days, I would like to offer a little insight into my method of stress relief and into my life. Exercise in general for many of us whether we're training or not is a place of stress relief, but sometimes it isn't. For me I turn to yoga which just happens to be beneficial, which leads us to infinite websites that can be used if you cannot make it to a local studio for a variety of reasons ( I would strongly encourage newer practicers to attend a studio for a session, so that you can learn what a corrected/proper posture in the basic poses feels like). I would recommend:

Yoga Journal

YJ offers class locations, poses, a vinyasa for month and so on, they also offer pod casts and etc.

So on to me, I've been changing my eating this week in a grand, poorly executed test of what I can do to make me feel more like me as the miles increase and maybe lose weight and gain back my upper body muscle tone - obviously that isn't just an add more miles, eat less combo - I'm back to two days on the bike and weights/core work - those were my rest days. This grand test was actually kick started by a review of what I use to eat on an average day when I was a vegan, and let me tell you no wonder I felt better and was thinner...

Today(Some is projected/planned):

1 Moothie - It's an organic yogurt smoothie - Serving size 200mL - instead of my 250-400mL protein smoothie I would make for after workout

1 1/2 eggs (2 whites, one yolk) and a slice of Ezekiel bread, 1 Venti Zen Tea and a banana (breakfast)

2 graham crackers

Sandwich - WF Black Forest ham, LF Havarti, Ranch dressing (LF), grated carrots, sprouts, tomato, and raspberries

Soup - Carrot Ginger soup 1/2 cup serving

2 Graham Crackers, 1 mango diced

Panko breaded Sea Bass, Salad, Broccolini and Whole Wheat Couscous

1 Homemade Graham Cracker w/additional ginger(that's plan for tonight's baking) and a tall soy marble hot chocolate ... of course loads of water

Music Monday

I will never claim I've got the best taste in music, but I wonder if I might have some of the more eclectic of tastes...

Food Friday!!

I have to say talking about food, dreaming about food and eating food of course... is about the only thing these days that keeps me from panicking about the upcoming dates, like Oh, Oklahoma fast approaching on the horizon at this pace it is likely to pass me by... but enough of that metaphor.

Healthy food can and often does get a bit monotonous, we have our go to meals and so on and so forth - at this moment Chicken Souvlaki for some reasons comes to mind as my go to meal, that or Pad Thai. If I could get my single self together and convince my roommate to eat meat - I know, I know the pseudo vegan should not be doing that... this is what we'd be eating and we will be eating on Monday night.

Slow Cooker Lasagna

1 lb ground lean beef or chicken, turkey, tofu crumbles, tempeh or whatever you want to use
1 onion chopped
2 cloves of garlic
3 cups veggies - mushrooms, eggplant (sliced or smalled diced), zucchini, peppers
1 bag frozen spinach
Seasoning - basil, oregano, thyme - whatever you would like to add
1 (29 oz) jar of organic "spaghetti"sauce - I use whatever is on sale at WF
1 package of whole wheat/spelt/alternative lasagna noodles - NOT PRE COOKED
1 1/2 cups ricotta cheese (I detest cottage cheese) - OR Tofu Ricotta (firm tofu, raw cashews and nutritional yeast)
2 cups mozzarella cheese or TEESE

Note: The veggies will cook down, so understand that in relation to what kind of texture you would like.

Cook the meat (if using a veggie option - no need, though I would steam my tempeh to get the "flavour" out of it), onion, and garlic. Combine the remaining ingredients - the sauce and veggies

In the slow cooker, spoon a layer of the meat mixture onto the bottom of the slow cooker. Add a double of layer of the uncooked lasagna noodles. Break to fit the noodles into the slow cooker if needed. Top the noodles with a portion of the ricotta and mozzarella cheese. Repeat the layering of sauce, noodles, and cheese until all the ingredients are used. Cover and cook on low heat in a slow cooker for 6-8 hours, or as I do, text your roommate or significant other to put it in the slow cooker and plug it in on their way to work, so that you when you return home from yoga can eat.

Website Wednesday

While I would love to stick to some kind of posting schedule, so you'll know what is coming, that's so well scheduled, like a running schedule - and well I for one think that's too much in the way of scheduling.

Regardless - for those of you looking for a new route, or found an awesome new route or travel everywhere and anywhere and the Westin running map isn't going to cut it for you check out

http://www.run.com/

I know, easy isn't it? You might even find a few of my favorite runs on there. One of my new challenges is the 12 mile loop - 6miles out, 6 miles back with the option of adding a bridge loop in there of approximately 2 miles.

PS. San Francisco here I come...

Music Monday

In honor of a lamented genre and my admiration for these artists (also check out Miranda Lambert or yes, even Taylor Swift) - who do have not only talent in the way of entertainment, but they also sing live and play instruments - much more than we can say for some of our beloved pop tarts:

Shimmie Shake

I tried the THRIVE diet for all of one grand week, I followed the diet to a T and in the end just about wanted to dive head long into a big hot serving of veggie lasagna. My major complaint was it was too raw, if you live in a climate where the temperature is consistently above zero and it isn't always raining or snowing, then I think it would be much more tolerable. In the end I missed my spices, I missed my slow cooker and I didn't miss the pain in my back from the hours of food preparation.

Whole Food diets though are a wonderful thing and it is something that as the Farmer Markets get into full swing I'll be embracing with more fervor.

I do have to say I loved the Chocolate Almond Shake - this is a modified version

2T Raw Almond Butter

1 Tbsp ground hemp seeds

1 Tbsp Hemp protein

2 Tbsp carob powder or cacao nibs

1 cup cold water + 1/2 cup ice

1 frozen banana or 2-3 Fresh dates

1 T plain Vega Powder

I used a food processor for the recipe as I have a pathetic blender to tackle the dates, with the banana I used the blender.

Photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/houseofsims/3182624248/ and yes I realize it's not the same shake, but I am not at 6am going to start taking pictures of my Nalgene bottle.

Back in the Swing of Things

Sorry for failing at the Mon, Wed, Friday posting, I'm still trying to get back on my lead weighted feet again. With things being sub zero, snowy and crunchy in this part of the world the only blessing as of late has been the time change. Thankfully it's light at night, so I'm not having to brave the -5C or colder that it has been.

With all that said, much too has happened, you'll find me in the next 20 weeks in Oklahoma and in San Francisco for a half and full marathon respectively and if I don't die, the Victoria Marathon in October might be the next step on my way to warming up to doing the Knee Knocker in Vancouver or some other 50km distance - I mean while I can say what's the extra 8km, it's still 8km longer.

On to something I love more than running and seeing the buds of spring on the trail or the setting sun through the railway bridge - FOOD! Two recipes this week, one today and one tomorrow.

Walnut, Blueberry Bran Pancakes (Runner's World) - ALTERED
1 1/2 cups Vanilla Hemp Milk*
1 cup Large Flake Oats - none of the instant/quick stuff
3/4 cup Spelt or Buckwheat flour - I used spelt
3/4 cup - 1cup Dried Blueberries or Raspberries
1/2 cup chopped Walnuts - any other nut could be used - if you wanted to use Dried Pineapple, why not then use Macadamia nuts?
1/4 cup Oat Bran
1 T Baking Powder
2 T Agave
1 tsp salt
2 Organic eggs (Free Range of course!) or 2 Flax Eggs

Pour milk over oats and set aside. Combine ingredients flour through to baking powder. In a separate bowl combine the remaining ingredients. Add the eggs to oats and then combine with the remaining ingredients. Spoon 1/2 or 1 cup serving - I just use a measuring cup into a greased skillet, cook as you would a normal pancake.

This recipes freezes really well. I ended up taking them to work and fishing them out mid morning - a quick zap in the micro and then into the toaster oven. I spread a little vegan margarine, but blueberry preserve or a raw nut butter without salt would be just as good.

*Milk while recommend is actually high in hormones and not beneficial to women, so unless you're going to splurge on the Hormone free, Organic stuff opt out - Check out THRIVE by Brendan Frazier

Music Monday

I am always in search of new music, whatever the genre might be. That being said, everything that appears here will be "running appropriate," and hopefully something you'll consider adding to your repertoire.

Diseased

I have been sick for the last month on and off, and sure some of it is the perils of the job, but I almost feel like it is the result of the stress of knowing I should be training and not training because my nose is still running like a faucet and I'm coughing like a smoker (and I'm definitely not). I ran shortly after I though I had it kicked the first time and then within a week found myself spiraling downwards again. So this time around I'm waiting - I really am only patient enough to wait until Friday at which time I sure hope the nose has stopped. T minus 7 weeks starting Monday to get myself half ready -I'm going to try and not think about it.

Now as to training sick - there is plenty of advice about doing it if it's just a head cold and not if it's the flu or a chest cold. While I agree when it's sub zero celcius, and/or raining, I think if you really want to train find yourself a germ infested gym. Yes they aren't the cleanest places but at least you'll avoid the chills and the sick feeling the weather can create all on it's own. In the end regardless of the advice to reduce the intensity and keep the miles and so on, follow your body. My body still says get thee to bed, that unfortuately isn't going to happen right now.

Photo: http://flickr.com/photos/saranv/3303066158/

Music Monday

I am always in search of new music, whatever the genre might be. That being said, everything that appears here will be "running appropriate," and hopefully something you'll consider adding to your repertoire.