7.15.2011

Giving Blood

Yesterday, Dan and I gave blood. In the past, donating has taken me out of exercising for a few days or more, but this time I'm feeling a lot better.

Blood Donor

First, we both made sure to hydrate really well before going in to give blood. Our dinner Wednesday night also involved both spinach and beans to get our iron levels up.

Before we went in to donate, we went for an easy run together since we knew we wouldn't be able to exercise for at least 5 hours after donating. We actually ran to the donation center since it's only a few blocks from the house.

Both of us had good iron levels and were well hydrated. We finished our donations in 5.5 and 6 minutes. (He was faster.)

Afterwards, we both made sure to drink a lot of water. Dan ate a quarter of a watermelon to help replenish fluids, and I had a huge salad and a lot of extra glasses of water. We still both woke up thirsty this morning and will probably continue to hydrate well throughout today.

I was hoping to get in a bike ride this afternoon, but we decided to go see Harry Potter tonight instead! We're going to have an early dinner and head to the theater so we get good seats. I may still get in a short run, but we're just eating lunch now, so we'll see! I'm definitely feeling up to running or biking, as long as I continue to hydrate.

Have you ever donated blood? Did you enjoy the experience? Let me know what you think by leaving a comment or emailing me at piquantprose [at] gmail [dot] com. 

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7.14.2011

Apricot Explosion

This summer has been pretty lame for fruit and vegetables so far. Some late May and early June rain really messed up the California produce crop, which I'm sure many of you non-Californians are noticing as well.

Peaches and nectarines are just starting to really make their way onto the produce shelves; cherries barely had a season; strawberries are still overwhelmingly expensive and just now starting to look good; and avocado prices are beyond reasonable. Even watermelons are expensive still.


So to make summer feel a little bit more like summer, we bought some of the quintessential California summer fruit--apricots!

7.09.2011

Intake Adjustment

I've been at home for a few weeks now, which is where Dan and I will be living until we find jobs and a place of our own. For the first week, it was primarily Dan, my mom and I at home cooking, so a lot of the food was similar to what I'd been eating before--very veggie-centric.

Then my dad arrived.

Right now, there are a lot of special food requests in our family--I'm not eating much meat, my mom isn't eating gluten and Dan has his own food preferences (like not liking vinegar). My dad is doing his best to accommodate those requests, but he's pretty stubborn in his food ways.

A few stalwart features of my dad's cooking:
1. Animal fats (yes, plural--dishes almost all contain multiple kinds)
2. Meat
3. Glutenous carbs

Some recent examples:
- Corn chowder which contained bacon, a half stick of butter and copious amounts of half and half and milk (it would have been all half-and-half if we'd had enough)
- Dinner plans for tonight include 4 8+ oz. steaks for 5 people. If I were eating meat, that would be at least a serving and a half of meat for each person.. since I probably won't have any, that's two+ servings per person
- Several nights ago, dinner consisted of pasta lightly sauced in tomato-pepper (and bacon!) sauce. Total vegetable intake: half a tomato, 1/8th of a pepper. Plus the bowls we used easily held 8oz. of cooked pasta.

Transitioning from food where I could eat massive quantities for only a few calories with foods like roasted broccoli or steamed kale, I'm having a really hard time.

First, I feel awful all the time. It's amazing how terrible I feel from not eating enough vegetables. I'm tired all the time; I feel bloated; I don't have the energy to exercise; my stomach has been bothering me regularly; and I really have little motivation to do much of anything.

Second, I'm having trouble controlling my calories. I've managed to maintain my weight at around 134, only around 2 pounds heavier than I was during the season, but it's been a huge struggle. I've been cutting back on dessert, trying to watch my snacks, eating smaller lunches and just generally having to pay a lot more attention. It's not fun.

I'm hoping to work more vegetables into my lunches. I've been eating a lot of fruit with lunch, but it just doesn't work as well as vegetables to make me feel good. I'm also hoping to get a little bit stricter about eating meat with dinner--it really leaves me feeling kind of icky. Finally, I'm working on decreasing my portions with dinner--it's nice to wake up a little bit hungry in the mornings and that just hasn't been happening recently.

----- ----- -----
Tomato salad
serves one

Ingredients
2 ripe summer tomatoes
1 leaf of fresh basil
1T olive oil
salt
pepper

Directions
1. Cut up the tomatoes.
2. Chop up the basil leaf.
3. Toss the tomatoes with basil, olive oil, salt and pepper.
----- ----- -----


How do you handle eating other people's food? Have you ever stayed at somebody else's house for a long period of time? Let me know what you think by leaving a comment or emailing me at piquantprose [at] gmail [dot] com.

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7.05.2011

Teamwork

The best kind of cookie is the kind where your sister browns the butter, mixes the dough and stashes it in your freezer for emergencies.

I stole this picture from my sister's blog,
because ours disappeared too fast.
{Image Source}
Even better when your dad preheats the oven for you.

Better yet when your fiance gets you both a big glass of milk for dunking, so all you have to do is put them into the oven and come back 10 minutes later to absolutely amazing cookies.

That is the best kind of cookie.


Let me know what you think by leaving a comment or emailing me at piquantprose [at] gmail [dot] com.

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Remix: Vanilla Meringues

If you've ever tried these vanilla meringues from Trader Joe's, then you probably know that they taste a lot like Lucky Charms marshmallows--excessively sweet with a hint of fake vanilla.


Dan and I figured we could tone down the sweetness and mask some of the fake vanilla flavor by adding a chocolate glaze. It was super easy to do and helped a lot. They're still unwieldy, and you'd need a lot more chocolate to completely hide the Lucky Charms flavor, but this saved them from the compost bin.


----- ----- -----
Dark Chocolate Glaze

Ingredients:
1oz 70% cocoa sweetened dark chocolate
1T butter

Directions:
1. Place ingredients in a microwave safe bowl. Microwave for 1 minute.
2. Stir and microwave for 30 seconds. Repeat until butter and chocolate have melted together.
3. Dip biscotti, strawberries, meringues, etc. into the glaze and let dry for 30 minutes or so.
------ ------ ------

The resulting chocolate layer will be firm enough not to react to touch but soft enough that it doesn't crack with biting.

Happy eating!


Let me know what you think by leaving a comment or emailing me at piquantprose [at] gmail [dot] com.

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7.03.2011

Training This Week

I started the week off strong with some nice long, hard workouts, but got derailed on Wednesday when my breakfast decided to visit me a second time. After the unfortunate, unexpected and unexplained puking, I wasn't really up to working out much so I took Wednesday and Thursday pretty much off. I made up for it by working out pretty hard this weekend.

Monday: 3x25' on the rowing machine, HR ~145
Tuesday: 50' run
Wednesday: about 45' of easy biking (testing out potential new bikes)
Thursday: 60' of walking
Friday: 2 hour ride on my NEW BIKE! HR ~145
Saturday: 2 separate 30 minute rides, HR ~160
Sunday: 2.5 hour ride, HR 145-155

Yup, that's right, I got a beautiful new bike this week!

{Image Source}
It's a commuting/touring bike, so it's got fenders and a rack standard. It also has internal shifting, so it can have a chain guard. Yay! It's not the fastest bike on the road, but it can carry all of my groceries (and me).

I'm pretty wiped from my ride today, so I'm planning to take tomorrow a bit easier and go for a run (probably for an hour). I'm going to work the HR 150-160 range tomorrow running. Then we'll see how the rest of the week unfolds!


Let me know what you think by leaving a comment or emailing me at piquantprose [at] gmail [dot] com.

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