You all mentioned other new things I’ve tried this year – chia, carob, medjool dates, agave, sprouted grain breads, wheat germ, oat bran, homemade juice … so many things! One thing I’ve learned to love this year is peanut and other nut butters.

The other day Mark was lovingly teasing me that we had no food in the house, claiming starvation and scurvy. I told him that was a lie because we had a lot of peanut butter and bread. Hey, a three day weekend is coming and we’re leaving town. I can’t be buying food right now.

Anyway, he told me I was the liar because, although we own a lot of things resembling peanut butter, we own nothing that is actually made from peanuts.

Well everyone, I win. The proof is in the picture! 

We currently have:

• 2 almond butters
• 2 sunflower butters (1 is a sample pack on the end)
• 3 peanut butters

And to think, just 5 short years ago I’d never even eaten plain old peanut butter! In keeping with the spirit of my morning post, almond butter is something else I tried this year.

Surprisingly, however, I did not have any nut butter for lunch today.  Instead a made a spinach salad with tomatoes, basil, and balsamic vinaigrette. Fresh basil and balsamic vinegar adds so much to a salad. I don’t know why I don’t toss basil in my salads more often! On the side I had two pieces of oh so delicious Dave’s Killer Bread. One was eaten pre-picture!

This lunch was inspired by Mara’s recent tomato & mozzarella dinner.  Unfortunately, all I had on hand was cottage cheese. Nothing beats fresh mozzarella, but a whole 8oz. container of Friendship Cottage Cheese was passable in a pinch.

And a Reader Question

A reader names Lauren asked the following:

“I experienced a bit of deja vous reading your post about weight training issues. I, too, can run far distances with enjoyment, but those seemingly harmless 20 minutes with Jillian’s 30 Day Shred are so arduous, they’re almost impossible for me to complete. Sometimes I worry that my body is so used to running that it’s no longer as intense a workout. How you do plow through the mental block to choose the less-desirable workout? Does anyone have any suggestions or know of any good strength-training workouts?”

I think getting motivated to do strength is harder than getting motivated for cardio because I can visualize myself being done with a great run and feeling all sweaty and fantastic. Strength does not have the same mental affect for me, so there is no immediate benefit. It’s definitely something I do because I know it’s good for me and not because I love it. Here are some tips from me to you.

• If you go to a gym, ask for a trainer to help you with the different machines.
• I like quick things, so I often try the routines I find in fitness magazines that only require weights or other things I have around the house.  I do these when I watch T.V.
• The Shred is the only thing I’ve done consistently. I think it’s because (1) I like Jillian; (2) it’s short, but comprehensive; (3) I read about it almost daily on other blogs; (4) I feel like the payoff is pretty quick – a few days of shred and I already feel stronger.
• I consider yoga as a strength-like activity. I understand their are physiological reasons why yoga is not real strength training, but it makes me feel strong.

Anyone have other tips for Lauren? Please share!

P.S. If you’re interested in trying Peeled Snacks, a wonderful no-sugar added dry fruit, take a minute to fill out their survey and get a $10 Gift Card! I’ve tried them and they are all delicious. It’s worth the minute the survey takes. 

First, congrats to those of you who said I made ice cream with my students in science class. There is a lot of chemistry going on when you use plastic bags to make ice cream! Ice + salt in one bag, ice cream ingredients in a smaller bag in the big bag and shake, shake, shake! The kids loved it and I think they got some science out of it. If not, they at least know why the roads are salted in the winter.

Now, I’ve almost been blogging for a year and in that year I’ve tried a lot of new things. One thing I’ve definitely experimented with is milk. I’ve always had cow’s milk and have no problem with that, but it gives Mark terrible headaches, so we’ve tried soy, almond and now rice milk.

This box was $1.67 for 4 1 Cup servings. Even though it was unsweetened I got a slightly sweet taste from it. Maybe from the vanilla extract in it? It’s lighter in color, flavor and consistency than the other milks. In fact, it’s almost water-like and does not give the appearance of a creamy warm beverage.

The blog has also brought countless new products into my life, including Mix My Granola. For breakfast I had a sample of granola I received from Mix My Granola and Rice Milk.

This is a new granola from their new line of enhancers for their customized granola. My new sample contained Organic Granola, Cranberries, Dried Blueberries, and Roasted Almonds with the enhancers of Caffeine and Lucuma. I love Mix My Granola, and dearly miss my Hangry Heather’s Muesli Mix., but I think I could taste something odd about this. Not odd in a completely bad way, just maybe a little extra flavor that I’d previously not associated with granola.

This was pre-made and I probably would not have chose a caffeine enhancer for myself. I would go with something fun like bee pollen + gotu kola powder (wait, what?). In the end, there is bad granola and good granola and I think the difference is texture, quality of ingredients and spice. This was good stuff.

I also had a cinnamon apple on the side.

What is something new you’ve tried in the last year. Did you love it or hate it?

Hey Hey! Guess what I did at work today? I will give you some hints. First, it’s a science class for 2-4 graders. Second, it’s edible. Third, it involved salt and ice.  Fourth, the answer is mentioned else where in this post. I have nothing to offer the person who guesses correctly, but you will earn my love and acceptance.

Anyway, after work I did a good deed by taking Mark’s car to the Honda Dealership for servicing. I didn’t think to take pictures, but they had a sweet set up – water, soda, muffins, bagels. You know those bagels were calling my name, but I already had lunch, so I sipped some cheater’s green juice instead. 

It was a relatively painless and quick trip. After this I went to the gym for some ellipticizing. I know, boring, right? Then I remembered that my Monday Mini Goal was to do three strength workouts, so I did a Level 2/3 hybrid of Jillian’s 30 Day Shred. I haven’t done this in a couple weeks and it was hard! I hate strength things. It’s boring and hard. I would rather run 8 miles than lift weights.

When I finished Mark wasn’t home yet (I wanted to clarify that ambus.tv is a job Mark does at night and on weekends. He has a much more standard, corporate job during the day), but I was already hungry, so I had dinner at a time my dad would approve of: 5:30. I just threw together lots of things to make a meatless party in a bowl. Here’s what I created.

Warm Lentil Salad

• 1 Cup Cooked Lentils (I previously and froze these)
• 1 can of Organic Garbanzo Beans, rinsed and drained
• 1 Medium Zucchini
• 1 Medium Summer Squash
• About 2 T Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• Garlic Powder
• Romano Cheese
• 5 pieces of Fresh Dill chopped
• Red Onion (1/4 Cup chopped)
• 1 Capful of Balsamic Vinegar

1. Slice the zucchini and squash into 1/2 thick circles.
2. Put zucchini and squash on a cookie sheet and drizzle with Extra Virgin Olive Oil, garlic powder and Romano cheese.
3. Roast in oven at 425 for about 20 minutes. I broiled for a few minutes at the end as well.
4. This is very simple because I am a simple cook. Put every thing but the zucchini and squash in a big bowl.
5. Pour the olive oil that remains in the cookie sheet into the bowl.
6. Add in the squash and zucchini.
7. Sprinkle with more Romano Cheese.

I was really pleased with this simple dish. It was quite tasty, especially the burnt zucchini bits and fresh dill from my herb plant. If I had a grill I definitely would have grilled the veggies. And although I ate it while the zucchini and squash was still warm, I am sure it would be just as good cold. If there is any left over after Mark eats it, I will let you know tomorrow.

After dinner I had my dessert. I chose plain Oikos with a drizzle of Agave. Looks like ice cream, doesn’t it?

Today was really interesting! I woke up, said hello to the sun and had a nice summery breakfast before heading out to teach.

It’s Oikos + Flax + Almond Butter + Bananas. It’s a perfect combination. If you mix and mash bananas long enough they become creamy. My personal trick is to mash them in my hand when they are still in their peels. Then I peel them and pull out the banana with a spoon. Try it for yourself.

This filled me all morning! At noon I headed to the gym for a quick 40 minutes on the elliptical. Mark had a really cool shoot that I wanted to go to, so I rushed home to shower and packed a quick lunch before heading to his studio. 

Salad ingredients included

• Spinach
• Broccoli
• Tomatoes
• Zucchini
• Broccoli Slaw
• Cucumbers
• Two pieces of Dave’s Killer Bread As you can see, one was almost gone before I ate the salad. I hid the other on the bottom to dunk in my Apple Cider Vinegar + Dijon dressing.

Along with my salad is an entire mango.

At the studio I watched an interview David Garrett for Plant Verge. Until last night, I’d never heard of him, but then Mark showed me this video and I was really intrigued.

Watch CBS Videos Online

It was really cool to meet him in person and listen to him play.  Have you heard of him? He’s been No. 1 on Billboard’s Top Classical Crossover Albums chart for three weeks. Pretty cool if you ask me.

Filming is over and now I am just waiting for Mark to stop schmoozing so we can get something to eat! I am snacking on Triscuits while I wait.

Two Giveaways

Aimee is having a delicious Nana’s Cookie giveaway.

Zesty is having a POM giveaway of his own.

I much prefer working in the morning to the afternoons. It makes the day so much more productive. I was able to roll over a 401K into an IRA, go to Trader Joe’s, hit the gym and spend quality time at the children’s library and eat an enormous amount of bread today.

When I got home there was the best present a carb loving girl could ask for. Two loaves of Dave’s Killer Bread, specifically, Dave’s Flourless Sprouted Wheat Bread – the best sprouted wheat bread I’ve ever had straight from Andrea in Oregon. Really. Other sprouted wheat breads are bearable, but they are always dry and full of air. Not this bad boy. It’s wonderful because it’s softer and chewier than most sprouted breads and it’s seedy on the outside. I love seeds and I am so excited to have two loaves.

Thank you Andrea for sending this to us. Love Mark & Heather.

I can’t even lie. I’ve already had three pieces of this bread. First with some Naturally Nutty Vanilla Almond Butter. Ya know, just to test it out. 

Then with a hummus, spinach and cucumber sandwich for dinner. I will really try not to eat all of this bread in three days, so I can enjoy it for as long as possible.

Have a good night!

Hello! Today was Day 1 of Summer Enrichment class. Class 1, piece of cake. Four little kids eager to learn all about the ocean. Class 2, not so much. Many more little kids, some eager, some not so eager to learn about science. Hmmph. I need to go find more exciting sciencey things to do for tomorrow! They are definitely going to give me a run for my money.

Classes end at 12:00 and I walked right on home for lunch. I had leftover pesto that Mark made with my own “"zucchini noodles” and a delicious plain Oikos Greek yogurt. The cold and creamy was perfect for a hot summer day.

I followed that up with a big bowl of watermelon. Perfect summer treat!

Oh and I am not sure I shared the present my sister got me for my birthday.

It has lots of herbs like rosemary, chives, parsley and lavender. It also has the basil that Mark used in the pesto.  This is the best smelling plant ever.

The rest of the day includes an appointment regarding my finances that I am dreading, another trip to the local library and hopefully some relaxation at the gym.

Have a gorgeous day!  I might actually have to water my tomato plant today!