Red Head, Yellow Dog

Procrastination

Today has not been super productive in the school department thus far. Although I did clean the kitchen, fold and put away three loads of laundry, made a yummy breakfast and snack and locked Toby on the balcony. Okay not really. He wanted to go out there!

I couldn’t decide what I wanted for breakfast so I drank 2 glasses of iced coffee with soy milk while I tried to figure it out (and chatted with my sister about what I should have). I finally decided to make some kind of savory pancake and an egg. I didn’t really feel like putting a lot of effort into it so I put 1/3rd cup of oat bran + 2/3rds cup water in the microwave for 1:30 while I cooked an egg on the stove. Once both of those were done, I put the oatbran (which was very thick and sticky) into two little cakes on a olive oil sprayed griddle and cooked it up. Then I microwaved a morningstar maple “sausage” patty. These are amazing by the way.

With salsa, obviously. Also obvious: my egg making skills need some work. Still tasted good though 🙂

I put some lawry’s seasoning salt in the oat bran before I cooked it in the microwave. They weren’t anything revolutionary but it was fun to eat them this way! I heart oat bran.

I photographed this out on the balcony and Toby looked on like I was kind of crazy. And blocking his sun. It also doesn’t look like he has any arms.

Now I’m going to outline a bit more then head to the gym. My foot has been hurting me since my half marathon so I haven’t been running. Which kind of sucks when it’s a beautiful day outside! Boo.

PS. last night as I was reading on the couch someone came up to say he wasn’t getting enough attention

He’s viscous. Watch out.

That time.

t’s getting to be that time of the semester. The time when everything kind of sucks. Where I start talking about the best evidence rule and what’s necessary for a corporation to put in a proxy statement during every day conversation. Basically I’m a real joy to be around. Of course there’s one person who is still willing to listen to my ramblings.  In fact he can’t seem to get enough! Everytime I look down, there’s Toby’s little (okay, big.) head looking up at me.

I

He tends to go with the philosophy that the more pathetic he looks, the more likely he’ll get some attention. And yes that is a stuffed bunny under his head. He carries it around just in case he needs a pillow. You think I’m kidding.

But sometimes, you just need to throw your books aside (only not to hard..law books can really make a dent) and bake some cinnamon rolls. Ooeey Gooey cinnamon rolls that make everything seem like it’s going to be juuuust fine. Finals? What finals?

oh yea. That’s the good stuff.

I used Mama Pea’s recipe and let me tell you…they were delicious. Like, amazingly delicious. Like James thought he died and went to heaven when he woke up to me pulling them out of the oven (take note …the best way to get a guy out of bed when you are tired of waiting for them to wake up is to bake something they can’t resist…oh and make coffee. works like a charm)

Yes. I would say it was a good morning. And it was definitely worth taking a break from learning about how to authenticate a writing in court. (Email me if you’re just dying to know. I can feel my inbox filling up as I type).

Picture perfect if you ask me.

Warmer weather is comin!!

I am LOVING the forecast for this week!!

Lot’s of sunshine and highs in the 60s!!

Yesterday I completed my 10 mile long run with some friends in Umstead Park. It was glorious. Perfect weather! Toby came along (duh) and my friend brought his new dog which went surprisingly well! Toby is a scaredy dog though and normally just wants other dogs to leave him alone. You know what kind of dogs Toby is most afraid of? small dogs. Oh yes. Those little white fluffy things that yap at him the second he comes into view. Nothing gets him pulling on the leash trying to run in the opposite direction more than that. Big and bad Golden Retriever? I think not.

Run Stats.

I went and had lunch with James and Noodles and Company (he had to work on Saturday until 9:30!! not cool.) When I came home, I knew I needed some cookies. Yes not one cookie, SOME cookies. So I turned on some pandora…

MGMT station!! my fave right now. Also note gchatting with my sister in the background!ANd what are we chatting about? Blogging. Ha.

And then I finally settled on what to make: Almond Joy Cookie Bars. Oh yes. There were a few tweaks so I could just use what I had on hand. I didn’t have any almonds so those were out. And the only chocolate I had was a 72% cacao dark chocolate bar…which I was not complaining about one bit. I chopped part of that sucker up and dumped it in. I also didn’t have applesauce so I used pumpkin. These were soooo goooood….I may have eaten half the pan…maybe…

And don’t worry, I got some nutrients in in non cookie form. Obviously I was still jonesing for some coconut though!

Spinach smoothie!!

This smoothie had half a frozen banana, a big handful spinach, ice, Frozen strawberries and frozen blackberries in it. Delicious!!

Enjoy your Sunday!

Don’t Steal from Toby

When I got home from school this afternoon, this is what I saw in the cupboard:

The man knows how to keep me out of a peanut butter jar. Hopefully my love for Toby wins out over my love for PB because my jar just ran out…

We got some glocosamine tablets for Toby since golden retrievers often have joint problems and he goes for runs with me pretty frequently.

We were told by the vet that this was the best quality you can get. Supplements aren’t regulated by the FDA so when you buy it from Walgreens or whatever you can never be quite sure how much of whatever it purports to be is actually in the pill. The vet we go to trusts this brand for whatever reason so we decided to go ahead and get that. The same brand was recommended by our old vet too so hopefully they’re onto something.

The peanut butter is to entice little Toby to eat the pills. He won’t say no to peanut butter. Just like his mom 🙂

To redeem himself from banning me from a jar of peanut butter, James made me lunch!

A couple of wasa crackers, spinach, tomatoes, a few olives, capers, some balsamic, black pepper….

and mushrooms he stuffed with some kind of organic artichoke + seafood dip and then put in the oven to cook for a bit. (and put cheese on one of them!)

YUMMM! This was SO good! I almost stopped someplace on my way home to get lunch and I’m so glad I didn’t! Those stuffed mushrooms were delicious and the tomatoes were perfectly ripe. So good.

I also checked with Toby to make sure he still liked peanut butter..because if he didn’t that jar was mine…

okay. I guess he still likes it. Fine Fine. I won’t steal from you Toby.

Now I’m doing work for a few hours and hopefully doing something at least mildly fun tonight! Then tomorrow morning I’m meeting a friend for a 10 mile run with his new pup! Should be fun. especially since the weather is supposed to be nice this weekend. Finally! All this sitting and researching has gotten me in the mood to bake though! I have a black banana calling my name!

7 Mile Run + 7 Layer Dip

This is the face of a dog when you ask them to go for a run with you and they’re comfy in bed.

“You’re kidding right?”

But after some cajoling, and promise of some peanut butter post run (after an appropriate time for his tummy to settle…) we were off! I had 7 miles on the training schedule but ended up doing 7.5. The last five miles were negative splits which I was really happy about! I usually don’t pay much attention to my pace on long runs but this is the first race that I’ve trained for with a Garmin so it’s hard not to try to push myself. I guess this is why everyone loves these things huh??

Today we have a super bowl party to go to and I decided to make seven layer dip to bring along! Layers went like this:

• Organic Refried Pinto Beans mixed with a bottle of chunky Pace salsa
• Lowfat sour cream + light cream cheese + half a packet of taco seasoning

• Guacamole

This garlic press is amazing. When James’ mom first gave it to us, I never thought I would use it but I use it ALL the time now. It’s so easy!

• Shredded Cheddar Cheese

• Tomatoes (I got these on the sale rack – 67 scents! Can’t beat that!!)

• sliced black olives

Yummmm! Hope everyone likes it!!

Dreary Day

It’s a rainy day here in North Carolina!

My friend and I decided to put off afternoon run today in favor of hoping for dryer weather on Monday so I hopped on over to the gym before class this morning. I ended up running for 20 minutes on the treadmill (2.25 miles) and then doing 20 minutes on the crossramp elliptical thing – not even sure what that’s really called?? Anyway I had the ramp at 10 and the resistance alternating between 8 and 10 every 2 minutes. Great workout! On my run I rocked out to the new Girl Talk album which I LOVE! Such great running music!! and it’s free! Doesn’t get much better than that.

I came home to Toby jumping around like he hadn’t seen me in days and got ready for the day! I did what I do pretty much every morning: shower, dress, make up, hair (which lately has meant pinning back my bangs and putting my hair up in a high bun – I have long, thick, curly hair and I just can’t be bothered to do anything with it lately! I’m usually the person with wet hair in my morning classes!) and then make my oat bran + an egg breakfast.

This is an old picture but you get the idea 🙂 I find this breakfast to be perfectly filling and I can make it really quickly with minimal clean up. Hot breakfast in minutes that keeps me satisfied until lunch? Bring it.

And because I finished class at noon today (my 1 o’clock class was cancelled because my Prof was going to speak to the European Council about family law stuff! So cool.) James said he’d meet me at Whole Foods for lunch! SCORE! Wish I had taken a picture but I was too busy enjoying 🙂 My favorites were the Asian tofu, hummus (duh), oil free balsamic dressing and antipasto salad – love the artichokes + olives!

Of course while we were there I had to pick up a few things including dark chocolate covered raisins and chocolate covered Ginger from the bulk bins.

I just discovered chocolate covered ginger. Oh man. So spicy. Love it.

Barbara’s cereal (this stuff is SO addicting. Already broke into the box)

My favorite kind of tofu

I love the texture of this tofu. I don’t think it really needs to be pressed like other tofu does and it always comes out of the oven perfectly crisp on the outside. Plus, it’s always reasonably priced. I think I got this for $1.50?

Now I’m watching Lie to Me on Netflix. Let’s hope for nice weather for my 7 mile run tomorrow!! Have a good night!

Perfect Sunday

For so long, I always was on the hunt for cheap books or people to lend me books they loved. After my sister telling me for the 100th time that I  needed to get my library card, I bit the bullet. So glad I did!! Now, I have so many books at my fingertips. Plus, James will come with me since they have a good DVD collection 🙂

So now my Sunday has come to look a little something like this:

Delicious breakfast. I LOVE this breakfast! I’ve been eating it basically every morning (okay except for today when I ate leftover Ethiopian food from Saturday night – can’t really blame me for that can ya???)

So here’s the breakdown:

• 1/3 c. oat bran
• 1 egg over easy
• steamed spinach
• really delicious salsa

So amazing. I love oat bran. Oat bran is best for savory foods, I think and oatmeal is good for a sweet breakfast.

Then I spend some time learning about corporation law, how to draft a will and what evidence can be admitted at trial. But THEN we go to the library. And I get more books then I’ll be able to read. And spend time meandering down the aisles until James has asked me no less than three times if I’m ready to leave. Thankfully he’s easily distracted so usually after the first two times he asks me to go, he usually wanders off after I don’t make eye contact (key). Then the third time, I usually can’t hold anything else so we leave.

So now Toby has obviously suffered enough so we take him to play frisbee in a big field to get all the crazies out of him.

Happy dog.

Then we come home and I procrastinate doing work by baking!! I mean we NEEDED bread, right?? Learning about limited liability corporations could wait…

I found this recipe for oatmeal bread and it was exactly what I wanted. It was so easy and fast to put together! and it tasted great. So great, that I went ahead and made a second loaf to freeze while I still had the food processor out to make oat flour.

Yummy.

Why is it that the first thing I think whenever I bake something is “where’s the peanut butter?!?!” I think I got that from my mom. Everything is better with peanut butter. Well, every carb at least. Yum.

What’s your perfect Sunday??

That’s what’s up

I’m in about my 5th week of training for my fifth half marathon. I’m running the Tobacco Road Half Marathon, which I ran last year as well.

(Forgive the horrible picture quality!)

Last year was actually Tobacco Road’s inaugural year and it was great! The course is primarily flat and you get to run on the Tobacco Trail (which was part of the rails-to-trails program where railways were turned into …wait for it…trails.) Plus the race is only about 15 minutes from my apartment. What more can you ask for, really?? Okay I might ask for a half marathon where this guy can run with me

Toby being saucy. Per usual.

Even though he can’t share in the glory of race day, Toby is still willing to train with me. Yesterday we went on a great 9 mile run. I was a little worried since I hadn’t taken him on my 8 miler last weekend (ran with a friend in Chapel Hill right after class) but he had no problems!

Now I’m sitting in the family room, sipping on some iced coffee and listening to James snore.

We ran out of soy milk (the horror!!) so I pulled out these little shelf stable chocolate soy milk things that we got for 99 cents at kroger the other week. Delicious!! chocolate iced coffee? Yes, please.

We had some friends in town yesterday so I did no school work which means today is going to involve a lot of reading. I also have an interview with a government agency tomorrow for a summer internship! EEK! So I need to prepare for that!

See ya later 🙂

Curried Israeli Cous Cous

Hello!

Well this summer has been such a wonderful break from law school! It’s given me a chance to relax, catch up on some great books, and, more importantly, bake and cook again!

One thing I’ve recently made was Angela’s Quinoa Curry recipe. But when I checked the cupboard we were all out of quinoa! Gasp! What’s a girl to do?  I searched some more and spotted some Israeli Cous Cous I had gotten at Trader Joe’s a while back. Have you ever had israeli cous cous? So delish. I highly recommend!

For the veggies in this dish, I used a chopped green bell pepper, broccoli and zucchini.

We didn’t use all the coconut curry sauce in this dish so James used the remainder of it to use as a dipping sauce for some wheaty french bread. Oh yea.

This was such a great summery meal! I really enjoyed it! Thanks for the recipe Angela 🙂

More to come, my friends!

Stove Top Biscuits + POM Iced Coffee

We’re low on groceries right now so this morning I went scavenging through our pantry trying to come up with something to make.  I remembered seeing these stove top biscuits and they idea had totally intrigued me. For a slow Sunday morning, making four drop biscuits on the stove is so much more appealing then heating up an oven and making a dozen biscuits.

I was so pleased with how these turned out! A little crunchy on the outside and warm and soft on the inside. Since they are all whole wheat they also have that hearty texture that I love.

Topped with some of James’ mom’s homemade jelly. We were happy campers. Not too shabby for having an empty fridge!!

A little while back POM asked if I’d like to sample their iced coffee. Since I love all things coffee I happily said yes and was pumped when the package arrived.

Not to worry, folks, this does NOT have pomegranate in them!! Something that was made clear to me from the start 🙂 What makes this iced coffee special is that fact that it’s made with POMx: “a potent antioxidant rich extract from POM Wonderful pomegranates”. The coffee is made from Rainforest Alliance Certified shade-grown Arabica coffee beans and contains hormone-free milk, and organic cane sugar. It also has no preservatives.

Chocolate – The chocolate flavor has 190 cals, no fat, 30 g of sugar (yikes!) , 10 g of protein, and 175 mg of caffeine. The flavor was pretty good – it was a little too sweet for me though and didn’t have any kind of coffee flavor. It tasted like chocolate milk, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing since I do enjoy chocolate milk but I was disappointed that there wasn’t more of a coffee flavor.

Cafe au Lait –This has 170 kcals, 3g of fat, 7g of protein, 20 g of sugar, and 175 mg of caffeine. This one wasn’t as sweet and had a subtle coffee flavor. James tasted it and said it was pretty good! I liked this one better.

Overall, these definitely gave me a jolt of caffeine without making me jittery and it felt like I was getting a treat. I would compare them to getting a flavored iced latte from Starbucks. I’m not sure how much these are in the stores but I could see myself getting one from a gas station if I needed a pick me up on a road trip or something. I would definitely opt for one of these over an energy drink or one of those starbucks frappaccino drinks you can get at the store since these have more natural ingredients.  I’m glad I got to try them. Thanks again, POM!

Toby got a treat this week too. I know people like putting their oats in almost-empty jars of peanut butter, but I know someone else who enjoys them too much for that:

A pup after my own heart.

After posing for a picture (which took every ounce of his self control) he got to work:

I usually cut the jar in half when he’s almost done so he can get the bottom. 😉

Outlining and more reading are on the agenda for the rest of today. I have all the windows open and a nice breeze flowing through the apartment. I love you Fall!

Have a happy Sunday 🙂