Crêpe-inspired breakfast

What's your favorite food of all time?? For me, it's the first thing I really learned how to make. When I was really young, my French grandma always used to make sugared crêpes and I quickly figured it out on my own. Then living in France I used to find crêpe stands all over the country.

Needless to say one of my favorite foods, for both taste and nostalgia, are crêpes.

(Source)

J.D. and I made a batch a few months back, and for some reason I had a hungering for crêpes last night. The desire inspired an idea for breakfast I'd been envisioning for literally over 12 hours.

Let me introduce my Crêpe-inspired oats:

The idea came from the delicious pairing of Nutella, strawberries and bananas in most of the typical dessert crêpe menus.

First I chopped up some strawberries and a banana, since both are running on their last legs (fruit doesn't last too long in this valley heat):

Next up, prepped some quick cook oats on the stove and topped them with the fruit plus a large dallop of low fat Greek yogurt from Trader Joe's (love that store!!):

And now the fun part: NUTELLA!!!! (Plus a little bit of peanut butter for some protein):

Once I was satisfied with my creation -- except for the lack of actual crêpe haha -- I washed it all down with some vanilla soy chai tea.

Yum, yum. I loved playing around with crêpe toppings and just might have to do it again!! ...Or I just might have to make some crêpes soon to satisfy my craving for them.

So why am I on such a French kick lately (well, minus the obvious fact that I am French)??? It all started with the new tablecloth I donned for last night's dinner post. Check it out if you haven't yet!

Puppy update and dinner!

Don't know if you can tell, but Woodstock is doing better after pet hospital visit No. 2 this afternoon.

He was still in a funk all morning/afternoon and I nervously had the vet's number ready to call if it got any worse. Knowing there really wasn't anything I could do, I went for my 3.1 mile run as soon as I got off work at 4 p.m. in preparation for my 5K on Sunday. P.S. Let me recommend that you don't EVER run without dryfit clothing or a bottle of water in 85+ degree weather. It was horrendous. Though I still clocked in around 27ish minutes. Well over my mark, but not terrible given how awful I felt the entire time.

When I returned home, I saw that Woodstock had some issues - I'll spare you the details. So off to the pet hospital we went. They didn't charge me for the visit since it was a lingering complication from last week's visit, but we did get him new food that he's finally eating!! YAY, and a new medicine that hopefully he won't have violent reactions to.

After talking to J.D. post interview when we returned home, I started preparing dinner for one while he hopped on his plane home.

I kicked off the meal with an easy roasted garlic hummus salad drizzled with olive oil balsamic vinaigrette.

Like my "white wine"??? Haha, that joke never gets old. Anyways, I followed the meal up with a repeat of last night's dinner (since I couldn't finish it): artichoke pesto crusted tilapia with garlic sea salt asparagus. It wasn't as good nuked obviously, but it still filled me up.

How French am I??? A Provencal tablecloth purchased in Europe, along with a set of plates I'm sure my dad brought home from one of our many times in France. (Dad, when are you going to take me again, it's been over two years?!?!)

And the meal's finale included a fruit salad I "desserted up" with vanilla honey crème: nonfat Greek yogurt blended with a drop of vanilla extract and teaspoon of honey. I topped it all off sundae style with some chopped walnuts. Something I'll definitely prepare again :)

And in true European fashion the meal ended with coffee!!! I used my French press to make a soy latte in my Paris mug haha. So fun.

And speaking of finales.... what shows do you all watch?! I've been hooked on ABC for a few years now and am kind of shocked by a few of their season finales. J.D. and I watched Grey's Anatomy last night and OH MY GOSH - every commercial break I was on baited breath (which is normal for that show and season enders), but it all wrapped up so neatly at the end, save for the random deaths. Aren't season finales supposed to be cliffhangers for several months?!

Well, Modern Family wrapped up neatly as well, but Brothers & Sisters was extremely suspenseful and is going to leave me asking questions until September!!!!

Hope all your shows kept you waiting for another season :) For now, I'm going to sip my latte and veg on some Samantha Brown's Passport to Europe and await my boyfriend's return from his one day interview trip to Malibu. Good night all! xx

Busting out the camera again

I'm fairly certain the last time I used my camera was for our Halloween party. Well over six months ago.

So let's just say I'm inspired by all you food bloggers out there! I wanted to try it for a day, just to see how it feels. I'm pretty lazy about loading my photos, so this might just be a once-in-a-blue-moon type of update ;) Or not, I haven't decided yet.

Last night J.D. came back from work early and while I wanted to run with today off, he hadn't consumed lunch and was STARVING. I got on board with that, so I started cooking up a storm in my neeeeew apron while he made the 45-minute drive back from Sacramento. Sidenote, it's a good thing I took yesterday as my rest day because June 2 is: NATIONAL RUNNING DAY! I'm thinking about celebrating by doing a timed 5K as my last aggressive run before Sunday's 5K race.

So back to the dinner. Knowing that we both work in athletics and are VERY short on time some days, I like to throw things in the freezer, or buy frozen "healthy" foods. Luckily, everything I wanted to make last night all required the same cooking temp and time in the oven.

On the menu was artichoke pesto tilapia, sweet potato frites from Trader Joe's and asparagus spears I marinated in olive oil and a little bit of garlic sea salt for taste.

I was given a GIGANTIC bundle of asparagus at one of the baseball games last month and ate half, froze the other half. Last night was a good time to bust it out because both the tilapia and frites called for a cooking temp of 425º at 20-22 minutes. Just enough time to cook my asparagus!

It was pretty much all ready by the time J.D. arrived and we enjoyed our dinner while watching House Hunters on HGTV. I can't wait until I'm at a point where a.) I know where my permanent career will be and b.) I'm financially stable enough to purchase a house :) But that's a long time from now. Until then, I'll keep watching all the ups and downs with H.H. or My First Place!

I was on my own for breakfast this morning because..........

............J.D. flew out at 7 a.m. to Burbank for his interview at Pepperdine!! So maybe big news coming in the next few weeks? Or maybe things will stay the same as they've been for a while now. I'll keep y'all updated. Wish him luck for me!

My baby's still sick, so I opted for a quick breakfast this a.m. I mixed together half a bowl of Crispix and half Smart Start (because I get waaaay too bored with just one cereal in my bowl, I love to mix up textures). Then I tossed in some dried cherries/cranberries, cut up a banana and drizzled some almond butter over the top before dousing it all with light soymilk. Voilà, quick and easy breakfast.

Now that I'm back to work, I'll leave you with one final picture. I love him! Doesn't Woody look like a muppet or something??? haha :)

Poor weenie :(

Nope, this is not Woodstock (just another cute long haired weenie dog). I don't have any good quality recent photos of him. One day I swear I'm going to use my crappy camera instead of my iPhone... or I'll use J.D.'s when his memory card gets here ;) haha nah I'll use mine, charged it all weekend.

Anyways, tangent. What I'm going to talk about might get a little gross. I might hold back, we'll see how it goes....

Woodstock has been ill with a bladder infection for almost a week now. I feel so bad for the little guy, because every since I was 14, I've had at least one or two a year. WORST.FEELING.EVER.

He's only a little baby, and he really doesn't show much of an indicator of pain, but his urine samples came back positive of an infection and we've got him on twice-daily antibiotics. I was such a nervous wreck when we took him to the vet - they took blood and forced urine samples in the back and I could hear him screetching and crying. It was a disaster. When he wouldn't urinate, they asked me to keep him there for an hour or two, so they could force it and then test the sample. So I had to go home, upset as I've ever been before, madly cleaning all of my house. I'd make a terrible mother. I always fear the worst. I'd freak out all the time. But, at least my house would be spotless then, ha.

Anyways, I don't know if he's having relapses or if the medicine just takes a while to become fully effective, but he's been having problems with vomiting and other gross things you don't want to read about on my blog. He also hasn't been eating his food during this entire fiasco, so we've been giving him canned chow, it's the only thing he'll eat. Which brings me to believe that maybe his change in digestion is related to the abrupt switching of food???

I don't know, I just want my baby to be better. I'm going to take him back to the vet if this continues tonight. At the very least, I'm going to call the vet just to see if this is normal behavior or not. I might also get a second opinion.

Told you, overly concerned mommy. For the future, now I know that dachshunds are prone to UTIs, I read that it's good to serve your puppy a bowl of vitamin C each morning to help keep him from getting further infections. So maybe when he's off his meds I'll give him a small bowl of either cranberry or orange juice diulted with water. We can have breakfast at the same time in the mornings ;)

Just need to talk to the vet about it. Please keep your fingers crossed for my little puppy!!! I'm hoping when we have him fixed after he's six months old (next month, already!) this issue might resolve itself.

And if you missed it, check out my "three day weekend," (which only ended up being one free day) recap.

Run girl, run!

After doing a little bit of this last night, I felt like today was a good day to really indulge in the "holiday eating" spirit:

I'm in disbelief at what I'm about to do....

What a way to celebrate my first minutes of freedom, huh?? All 16 of our Division I sports have wrapped up until the fall so you're now looking at a girl who DOESN'T HAVE TO WORK WEEKENDS!! I've pretty much been working games (sometimes two a day) every single weekend since August. I got three days off for Christmas break and Easter, then my boss gave me last weekend off.

About an hour after the last out had been recorded at our final baseball game, J.D. came by and we laced up our sneakers to tackle some hills! Our old football stadium is loaded with stairs and has a very hilly track around the stadium. I figured this would be the best way to prepare for this weekend's 5K race we'll be running. All of that was in anticipation of a big hilly section at the end of the race. After officially signing up today -- surprise, last day until the registration fee spiked -- I learned that the course is entirely flat!! What a waste of perfectly good energy ;) I ran about 2.5 miles of hills, then did the bleachers five times up and down, including sprints on the football field grass in between. All in all, a good effort, just not a useful way of training for this weekend's 5K.

Hellooooo, Stagg Memorial Stadium!

Given my gigantic use of energy last night, we hosted a "morning drinks party" at the condo this morning in celebration of a.) a day off from work! and b.) the first day of summer in our athletics department!!!!

So a few friends and co-workers stopped by for mimosas, tequila sunrises (my new favorite drink, btw!) and screwdrivers. Being the happy hostess that I am, I made 12 berry muffins to serve and a huge fruit platter - that no one other than yours truly sampled. Our guests brought over cinnamon rolls and oatmeal cookies while J.D. scrambled up some eggs and fried a little bacon. I ended up with a heaping plate of fruit, an egg white, piece of bacon, half a cinnamon roll and a muffin to go with my four morning drinks.... haha oops.

The brunch spread + my mimosa!

And by about 2 p.m. I conked out for an hour and a half. Great holiday if you ask me!

I didn't really eat lunch, so I don't think I went too far over my caloric intake goals. But it's ok, because I plan on timing a 5K simulation tomorrow, running three miles slowly on Wednesday and then a 1.5-2 mile run for Friday with lots of rest on Saturday the day before my race!

And now I am thoroughly exhausted. Talk to you all next time xx.

Question: How'd you spend your holiday?? Do you go crazy for special days during the year??

It was my first time!

...that's what she said. Oh wait, I really did.

That's because I tried two new products (well, sort of, I'll explain later) this week.

First if you haven't yet discovered this website, I think it's about time you take a peek on over there. Essentially, companies send you trial sizes of new products they're coming out with or reinventing. I've received a few samples already and some flat out suck (I'm talking to you, Lacoste, with your cheap "free sample" of your new perfume. I think the samples that come in magazines are larger. And it smelled horrible, btw), while some have been homeruns!

Enter the new South Beach Living bar: the Fiber Fit S'mores Bar.

Not only did they send me a free bar, but I also got a coupon for a free box at the grocery store! And, I know, I've had protein bars and fiber, cereal bars from South Beach before that either taste like cardboard or are loaded with yucky sugar alcohols. This one - as far as I can tell - fell into neither category.

For starters, it was DELICIOUS! The marshmallow coating on the top was so airy and light it made me want to smile for a ridiculously long period of time. Well, maybe not, but it was like a yummy party in my mouth. I'd definitely go and buy these again for a post-run snack (or maybe I should be eating fruit or something.....). Give them a try if you haven't already!

The other "new product" in my life as of this weekend is my Map My Run iPhone application. Yes, the one I've had a few weeks now. Turns out there's a feature on it I hadn't yet discovered. While you're running and tracking your run via GPS, you have the option of audio enhancement. You can decide how frequently a woman's voice will play over your iPod and tell you your current time, distance, speed, minutes per mile and miles per hour.

WHY HAD I NEVER PLAYED WITH THIS BEFORE?!?!?!

I am not a Garmin user (mostly, because I'm cheap and can't really afford one right now), so I've been playing with the iPhone GPS tracking to determine my pace/total distance. It's kind of like running blindly and checking my pace with fingers crossed at the end of every run.

Now that I'm in my final week of training for a 5K next Sunday, this is like a GODSEND. Every 0.5 miles, which today was about every new song that would play in my earbuds, the woman would tell me how fast or slow I was going. Kind of like a kick in the pants to pick up my pace! With this feature, I've run my fastest 5K pace since I've been back to running this year! I don't remember the exact time (so you math people can figure this out), but I finished just under a 7-minute mile!! My total run for the morning ended up being 4.56 miles which I ran in 35:09 - a 7:41-minute mile total pace!!

So I think for the next week I'll be training with this application and then I'm going to use it in Sunday's race. Wish me luck :) And happy free sample hunting!

What a pair we make

Yesterday a nasty combination of cramps, backaches and a gnarly headache sent me home from work around noon. This morning, they kept me from having any desire to get out of bed, so today I am home for what I hope to be the last time this week. However, it's not so bad since I'm at least able to get some work done from home.

Being home isn't too bad when you have good company:

Roll over, Woodstock!

He's a good listener.

However, Mr. Stinky (what a loving mommy I am for calling him that on a regular basis) woke up feeling in a funk as well. He hasn't been eating a whole lot over the past week and I arose this morning to find him with crusty puss all over his *ahem* male part. So I made an appointment to get him to the vet this evening and get him back to puppy shape! The two of us have been cuddling up on my bed and the couch all afternoon. It's nice have a puppy with whom I can commiserate.

So in the meantime, taking a break from getting my work done I gathered up a bit of an appetite. Who's hungry after hearing about puppy male parts now?!?! After living in France a few years back, I grew accustomed to quinoa meals. Remembering that, I went and purchased some at Trader Joe's the last time I was there. Today seemed like the perfect chance to dig up a recipe and use my quinoa.

Warm Quinoa + Spinach Salad Recipe with Grape Tomatoes
(taken from Gluten-Free Goddess Recipes, which has also provided the following photo)

It was a fairly simple and tasty recipe!

Basically follow the directions on the quinoa box (two cups water + 1 cup quinoa, boil, cover then simmer 10-15 minutes until all the water is gone)

When that's finished, heat up a pan of olive oil and essentially toss in whatever you'd like to go with your quinoa!

I chose to chop up asparagus stalks, heirloom grape tomatoes, walnuts/almonds and tossed in a little fig balsamic vinegar. Then dress it however your little heart desires: standard is a pinch of salt and pepper. Her recipe calls for fresh herbs, I think basil would be to die for in this. But, being the South of French girl at heart that I am, I went with my go-to seasoning: dried herbes de Provence!

For the final touches, with the burner still on, toss in 1/4 of your quinoa, mix it all together and voilà - lunch is served!

You could really take this in any direction, add meat, cheese, fruits, etc. It was so light and delicious! The perfect warm salad for a cool, spring afternoon (that feels like autumn, what's with this weather?!?!?) Desperately hoping for summer, I paired mine with Minute Maid light pomegranate tea. Mmmmmm, and I'm still pretty satisfied/full nearly an hour later.

And hey, if you haven't checked it out yet, see what I was holding out on you with my "teaser" post earlier this month! Back to work now, I suppose.

I've been sneaky!

Remember a while back when I showed you that "teaser" photo?? I was keeping that quiet because it was a photo shoot J.D. and I agreed on doing to frame and give to our mommies for Mother's Day. And seeing as how I was working every weekend, I didn't get a chance to give mine her frame until last weekend!

Thanks again to my good friend Meghan for doing this! We had fun and seriously, she's an AMAZING photographer :) I see good things in her future. So these are my favorites of the shoot. Enjoy:


Also, I decided to scrap the women's festival 5K race put on by Fleet Feet in Sacramento next weekend. Instead, I'm going to do a race a little bit closer to home with J.D.! I helped him train for it for the first time last night, capping off a 5.25 mile night for myself. We're running the Hook and Ladder Run put on by the Pleasanton-Livermore Firefighters Foundation and Wente Vineyards. We will be doing the 5K bright and early. Not only are tee-shirts provided as a thank you for running, but there's also going to be wine tasting and food for sale after the race! SO AWESOME. I can't wait :) Lately, I've been averaging an 8:30/mile pace for my 5K runs, so I'm hoping to get down to 8:00 exactly (or under???) in the next week and a half for this race!

I'm so excited. It'll be my first official race since the Oakland A's Fun Run since 2002. That race was after my cross country days (only one year and an ankle injury later), but I managed to finish 28:46 - without having trained for it. I hope to smash that this year :)

I'm back!

After a baseball weekend in Bakersfield (check back on my sports blog, I'm sure some weekend stories will pop up there soon), I'm home. Ugh, I'm so pissed too. Someone egged my car while I was gone.... I'm guessing it's due to the UC Santa Barbara Alumni plates I have and how this weekend was Pacific's graduation ceremony. Maybe you shouldn't display rival schools plates on a weekend celebrating your campus??

But I do have this weekend off! And I plan to go home and see the fam for the first time in about a month.

So how about some life updates, eh?

* Last night I finished the longest run of my life! 7.59 miles and today my legs feel GREAT. I was super sore during my workout and I also tried my very first running gel, which was a horrible first experience. My stomach was hurting the entire run and I told myself I wasn't going to do more than two miles. But it FLEW by and I figured that trying the gel around mile 3 would calm down my stomach. It did, but it tasted SOOOO nasty. I had the PowerBar Tangerine caffeine/protein gel and I literally had to choke it down. The consistency reminded me of warm, chunky toothpaste. Bleh. I won't be trying that one again.

* At work we've purchased the newest version of PhotoShop and WOW it's amazing.... it's so so so so so cool and much easier to work with than the version I had, from two generations ago.

* Purchases! I've been a buying machine. Well, not really, I'm staying within my limited budget so as to put about 1/3 of my paycheck into savings each month. But I did buy something cool I've had my eye on for a while. THE APRON!! I couldn't resist. I've never had an apron before and it's so girly and awesome.

And I promise, I'm not naked under it. I had on a tank top and shorts, just finished either running or yoga as this photo was snapped. And I apologize for the crappy iPhone quality photos. haha, but I did buy J.D. a new digi camera for his birthday last weekend, so maybe he'll let me use it for the blog ;) I also really want to buy this Champion running shirt in hot pink. It's also very feminine and cute. I'm going to hold off for a bit.... but I realllllllly want it!!!

* And finally, there is some possible relocation in my life. J.D. is interviewing for a job at Pepperdine in Malibu, California, ON THE BEEEEACH!!! If he gets it, off we go this summer :) I loooove Southern California and have been trying to get back there since graduating. And, I've been responsible and already notified my co-workers that this may be a possibility if it all works out. We'll see though. Otherwise, I'll continue my adventures in Stockton!

(Pepperdine looks a lot like my alma mater, UC Santa Barbara, no??)

* Which also reminds me..... I guess I've now officially turned down a possible life-changing offer. A while ago I applied to do some grad school at the University of Melbourne...... in AUSTRALIA. It would have been a two year program, but would have cost me waaaay more money than I'm willing to spend. Plus, I have my little doggie now :) I really would like to keep traveling and living abroad after two stints in France. But I think I'll need to work up some money first. And then, back to travels :) Sorry for keeping that a secret from y'all for so long!

Fuzzy Woodstock (ha, get it?!) seeing me off before my 7.59 mile run last night!

Enjoy the weekend everyone! xx

You CAN eat healthy on the road!!

(The Greek falafel salad and pita + hummus I had for dinner tonight)

My job requires a LOT of travel. It seems like every other weekend I'm on the road.

When traveling with teams, I'm often at the mercy of the coaching staff's discretion when selecting dining establishments. However, our baseball travel roster is nearly 30 players and with a number like that, it's difficult to find something for everyone. Let alone a place to sit with all 35 of us. So I'm often left to wandering and discovering city streets alone, allowing for me to make better eating decisions.

The last two road trips have coincided with my new push to start a healthier life that includes a great deal of running and eating healthier. So here's my list of ways to eat healthy when you're traveling.

1.) If you have to eat fast food, be smart about it!

Lots of places are wising up and adding healthier choices to their menus. For example, Subway and McDonald's among others are adding "lighter sides." If you're going to splurge on calories with a burger or a large sandwich (see if you can opt for a whole wheat bread instead of white), get a fruit on the side and a bottle of water or even low-fat milk to drink with it! You won't have a craving for junk later and you'll shave off about 600 calories by ditching the fries.

2.) Skip the taxi.

We got placed in the middle of nowhere in Bakersfield on this trip (not a pun, I'm well aware of the fact that Bakersfield is the middle of nowhere). I overheard some of my guys talking about a shopping center near the freeway and curiously began looking up where it was located. I found out on my iPhone's GPS that the center was located about a mile away from me. After working all afternoon, I decided to save the $6-10 it might have cost me to grab a taxi and I walked. It took me about 40 minutes round trip, which was awesome because I got in some added exercise. So that gave me some room to play around with dessert and still fit in under my daily caloric goals!

3.) Get sauces on the sides.

For things like salads, wraps and sensible sandwiches that seem healthy, hidden fats, calories and cholesterols lie in the sauces doused all over those bad boys. Last night for dinner I ordered a Cajun blackened chicken wrap with veggies, avocados and bacon. I saw that it came with a pesto aioli (mayo) sauce and asked for that to be put on the side. It was a good call, because I saw some of the others and they were DRENCHED in sauce. The "side sauce" they gave me rivaled my drink - seriously. I dipped my wrap in the sauce every couple of bites to moisten it up a bit, but when all was said and done I barely used 1/4 of the sauce. Same went for the salad. It takes so much fat and unwanted additives from a meal when you put the sauce on the side.

4.) Half the plate and EAT.SLOWLY.

Most portions at restaurants are ridiculous. If you're like me, you feel bad not eating something you paid for. But then again, do you really want your extra money to go towards your belly or save you from over-eating?! I'd pay $5 to rid five extra pounds.... ha. Well, no matter how hungry you may be, cut the plate in half. Eat a bit and waste time talking with friends, reading a newspaper, checking your e-mail, etc. I guarantee you'll find that if you let your stomach rest a bit, your food will catch up with your mouth and you won't want that extra half of the sandwich. A good option is to save the other half for another meal, or just toss it. You really don't need all the food that's loaded onto restaurant plates these days (unless it's a fancy, schmancy place with teeny portions, but those places are out of my wallet's league anyways).

5.) Consult the nutritional information.

Yeah, it's a drag and yes it takes a lot of fun out of ordering off a menu. But if you're on the road, dining out isn't the same special occasion as it is at home. Yes, let yourself splurge for one meal. But for the others, be smart! There's no need to ruin any diet or health goals you may have set for yourself on a few meals out. California law now requires chain restaurants to provide nutritional information at every table or on the menu. Consult the menu and see what's the smartest choice to eat, instead of what sounds the best to you. And if you don't have a calorie counting menu, there are many of websites and iPhone applications out there to help you figure it out. My personal fave is the Daily Plate iPhone application. It cost about $5, and I've been using it every day since I purchased it. It's one of the best few iPhone apps I've paid for and I love it.

Don't believe me? Here's a list of trips I've taken this year:

Hawaii

Long Beach

New York & New Jersey
Portland

Santa Barbara/San Luis Obispo

Southern California x8

Bakersfield