Category Archives: recipes

February 17, 2013

Stride Box Winner & Sunday Randomness

This post will be a bit random. I am in the final stretch of studying for my OT licensing exam, so I don’t have too much free time. But I promise I’ll post more consistently after my exam is finally over!

Anyway, my amazing boyfriend recently bought me a food processor, which I have been wanting for a while now. My blender just wasn’t making the cut anymore as I have been getting more and more creative with my baking skills :) First, I am in love with this food processor, its tiny and apartment sized (perfect for NYC spaces) and works great!

Kitchen Aid

So with this new toy I decided on Valentine’s Day to make Karl a cake, but a healthy version of a cake since he is pretty serious about eating healthy. I came across this interesting recipe for a Deep Dish Cooke Pie on the fantastic Chocolate Covered Katie’s blog. I used less brown sugar than she recommended and supplemented it with more Stevia. But I did not slack on the main ingredient–Garbanzo Beans! Yes, you read that right. I was so intrigued by this so I had to make it. It came out so deliciously amazing I can’t even describe it to you!

Healthy Cookie Pie!

Healthy Cookie Pie!

Karl literally said “this is the best dessert I think I’ve ever eaten.” And let me tell you, in our time of dating we have had MANY desserts. So its safe to say, you need to try this recipe because I also agreed with him. Trust me, its amazing and you’ll love that you won’t feel so guilty eating it. But make sure you have other people home, or you may eat half on your own :)

Deep dish..

Deep dish..

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In running news, I officially signed up for this race..

BK Half

I am so excited for this since 1) I live in Brooklyn and its my home 2) I love May races and 3) I need to redeem myself for my awful performance of this race last year because of my IT Band pain. I am out this year to kick this race in the butt and to run it healthy this time. I am out for redemption!

To start the process, I started the recovery from my awful run last Sunday and went out this week for a short run on a 59 degree day. The weather was unseasonable so I decided to take full advantage of it. I planned on a 3-3.5 miler but ended up pulling out 4.3 miles since I had SUCH a great run.

Run1

DUMBO, Brooklyn

 I ran around my neighborhood and then down to the Brooklyn Bridge Park near the bridge. I was not in the mood to run the bridge so I ended up staying downtown. They are doing so much amazing work there and it gets prettier and prettier every day. Plus, you can see the progress on the Freedom Tower, which I can’t wait to see completely finished on the outside (should be soon!).

Freedom Tower on its way up!

Freedom Tower on its way up!

Brooklyn Bridge Park, Pier 5-6

Brooklyn Bridge Park, Pier 5-6

I am super happy to have had such a nice run. Finished 4.3 miles at 8:56/mile and ENJOYED myself, which is the most important part. Soon I’m going to attempt that 6 miler again and see how it goes. Stay posted :)

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And now for the Stride Box Giveaway winner…

Ashley@ Country Tunes

Congratulations Ashley! I have emailed you, please email me back ASAP so I can get your name in for the March box!

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What was your best run/workout lately?
Did you make anything on Valentine’s Day?

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Filed under City life, food, races, recipes

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February 7, 2013

Featured Chobaniac & Simple Healthy French Toast Sticks Recipe

Firstly, today’s post for you is not on this blog per se but was written by me! I am today’s Featured Chobaniac on the Chobani Greek Yogurt blog! I was lucky enough to be able to write a post for them about how to overcome an exercise rut, including tips and strategies. Ironically, I have been going through a rut lately (this cold weather makes it super hard to convince myself to get outside) so this post is reminding me of all the ways I can get myself back into the groove. CLICK HERE to go check it out :)

Tips-for-Getting-Out-of-an-Exercise-Rut

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Really quickly I wanted to share a few random things with you today:

1. If you live in NYC or in the area nearby, or if you will be here in March, enter for a FREE race entry for the NYC All State 13.1 race from Ashley. Its worth a shot to enter, especially for people like me who didn’t get into the NYC Half.

2. A while back I was contacted by the wonderful people at Aspaeris Pivot Shorts and asked to test their new Gen2 shorts. This company has amazing customer service and was one of my RTB Relay sponsors. Since the new shorts were still in production at the time I was asked to try them, I couldn’t reveal anything to you… until now! Aspaeris has officially released their NEW and improved shorts, and they come in PINK! Yayy :)

pink

Some of the features of the new Gen2 shorts are:

  • Reinforced seams that will extend the life of the short.
  • Color block logo.
  • Newly designed crotch & comfort waistband.
  • Adjustability of the dual layers at the leg opening**

The new dual layers makes is so much easier to put these on, and the layers even out instead of the old ones that I had to pull at the inner layer. They really improved the shorts in this new model (if thats possible, they were great to begin with!) and I highly recommend them.

Use the code FREESHIP for free shipping. Code expires in about 5 days or so.

3. I HAVE been running, believe it or not. I just started my training plan for the NWM in DC in April and am, as usual, using the Hal Hidgon intermediate plan to guide me. Except I plan on only running 3x a week instead of 4x because my body starts to hate me when I make it run too often! And as much as I love Finishline PT, I don’t want to go back there just yet :)

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I also have a super fun recipe for you today! So everyone who reads this blog has probably heard me talk about the Vega Thrive Forward program that has inspired me to focus on clean eating in 2013. Although I am not perfect (I did have some late night pizza the other day.. guilty!), like Kayla said in her guest post, its is about balance. PS. Kayla is also hosting a giveaway right now, check it out!

Thrive-Forward-Logo-Horizontal-A

As a result, I made some simple, healthy french toast this morning with VERY few ingredients. So easy to make, tastes great, and won’t break your diet.

Simple Healthy French Toast Sticks
Makes one serving

Ingredients:

  • 2 slices of day old whole wheat toast
  • Two egg whites
  • Splash of vanilla almond or soy milk
  • 1/4 tsp of salt
  • Cinnamon
  • 1/2 tbsp coconut oil
  • Topping: Flavored jam, peanut butter and/or syrup

Directions:

  1. Heat coconut oil over cooking pain to medium-high heat. Meanwhile, in a bowl, combine the egg whites, milk, and salt and mix with a whisk or fork.
  2. Slice bread into “sticks” (3 per slice, 6 total) and dip into egg white mixture on both sides to coat entire surface area of bread.
  3. Place sticks into pan and heat on both sides until browned. Sprinkle with cinnamon while on the pan for flavor.
  4. Top french toast sticks with your choice of toppings.
  5. Enjoy!

frenchtoast

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How are you keeping yourself motivated for workouts this winter?
What are some of your favorite healthy foods?

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Filed under blogging, food, races, recipes, Thrive Forward

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January 16, 2013

Randomness, a Veggie Soup Recipe, & Handful Bra Winner


As the title states, this will be a very random post. I have a few unrelated things to share so just to keep your Wednesday fresh and random, here we go!

Running: Honestly there hasn’t been too much of this lately. I did a 3 mile run on Sunday and had some tibia pain initially but it went away as I focused more on my form. I really don’t activate my glutes/hamstrings as much as needed to so when I actually do, the pain reduces. Amazing!

I’ll be going on for another short run today so stay posted on my twitter for updates on how it goes. I will have to start training soon for the Nike Women’s Half Marathon in April so I’m a little anxious that I won’t be able to increase my mileage as much needed. My training plan will start at the end of this month so here’s hoping for no injuries! In the meantime, I’ve been doing a TON of strength training for my lower body and lots of crosstraining (aka lots of Soul Cycle).

Oh, and my sister’s Christmas gift finally arrived and its amazing!! Customized energy bars… she made me pre-race bars that rock in taste and nutritional value.

Can't wait to try these out on long runs :)

Can’t wait to try these out on long runs :) PS. My sister is in med school, hence “just what the doctor ordered.”

Harry Potter: Another Christmas gift I got from my sister was tickets to the Harry Potter Experience. My little sister and I headed out yesterday to go check it out. It was really cool that they brought in props and clothing from all the movies and recreated some of the sets. We especially loved seeing all the wands and the clothes… Daniel Randcliffe and Emma Watson are SO short! It was also really interesting to learn how they made the CG aspects of the movie and decided on costumes.

HP2

The only thing that stunk was that you weren’t supposed to take photos inside (although I admit I snuck a few on the iPhone) and there wasn’t too much to touch. I’m like a little kid when I go to museums and exhibits and want to touch everything so I wish they had more interactive things. Although you did get to throw a Quaffle into a hoop!

In Hagrid's chair!

In Hagrid’s chair!

Oh yeah, I'm cool.

Oh yeah, I’m cool.

This made me want to go back to Universal Studios SO badly. Crossing my fingers I can take a trip back there soon!

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Vegetable Soup Recipe: I’ve been pretty daring in the kitchen lately as a result of the Thrive Forward program. There are so many fun ingredients and recipes I want to try so I’ve been going for it, which means expect lots of recipes on this blog in the upcoming weeks :)

Ingredients:

2 teaspoons olive oil
1 medium onion, diced
2 medium carrots, diced
2 celery stalks, diced
2 medium garlic cloves, finely chopped
8 cups vegetable broth
1 pound mini potatoes, cut in small halves
1.5 cups whole wheat egg noodles

Seasonings:

Kosher salt or season salt
Fresh ground pepper
1 pinch dried thyme
1 bay leaf (optional)

**I played around with the measurements a bit to get the amount of veggies/starch I wanted.  Feel free to add more veggies if you’d like, also (e.g. mushrooms, cabbage).**

Carrots, Onion and Celery

Carrots, Onion and Celery

Instructions
  1. Heat the olive oil over medium-high heat in a large saucepan until shimmering. Add chopped garlic and cook until the garlic is fragrant (~2 minutes).
  2. Add the onion, celery, and carrots and season with salt and pepper. Cook covered, stirring occasionally until vegetables are beginning to feel softened.
  3. Add potatoes and any other vegetables you desire (i.e. mushrooms), thyme, bay leaf, salt and pepper and cook covered ~5-7 minutes, stirring occasionally. You can also add a little white wine to the saucepan here if you desire and cook until it had reduced to half (I didn’t do this).
  4. Add the vegetable broth to pot and bring to a boil. Allow soup to boil ~4-6 minutes to soften potatoes and then reduce to simmer. Let simmer ~10 minutes.
  5. Add whole wheat noodles and let cook until softened. Continue to simmer until potatoes can easily be pierced with a fork, about 10-15 minutes.
  6. Season to taste with additional salt, pepper, thyme and other spices if you desire. I love using season salt at this point.
  7. Enjoy!
I love my noodles!

I love my noodles!

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And lastly, for the winner of the amazing Handful Bra….

Katie Higg

CONGRATS! Email me at runlikeagrlmegan [at] gmail [dot] com so I can get your your prize. If you do not respond within 72 hours I will have to choose another winner.

For those of you who didn’t win, please check out this company anyway. These bras are life changing, I swear. You won’t regret it!

Go get yours!

Go get yours!

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What random things have you done lately?
Anyone training for any races?

Oh and stay tuned for another giveaway TOMORROW!

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