Hello my lovely friends! Are my American readers starting to get pumped for the long holiday weekend? I know I am! To get into the spirit, I’ve been enjoying some red, white, and blue oatmeal this week. 😉 Just my Perfect Microwave Banana Oatmeal (<—recipe) with some cottage cheese stirred in post-cooking, and topped with fresh berries and some nuts. Delish!
If you’re looking for something to make for a BBQ this weekend, check out my vegan & gluten free no bake blueberry custard pie from last year. See also: Healthy 4th of July BBQ Recipes (the patriotic strawberries at the end of that post are my fave)! And stayed tuned because I’ll be sharing the recipe for this cute (and healthy) cookie cake tomorrow!
Anyway! On the lunch front this week, I came downtown yesterday and today so I’ve been rocking some packed lunches! Yesterday, part 1 of my packed lunch was a big salad with arugula, white beans, avocado, and some of this pre-chopped slaw mix I picked up at Whole Foods the other day. I <3 cabbage – so crunchy and refreshing!
For the salad dressing, I threw together a mix of equal parts lime juice and red wine vinegar, plus a splash of the delicious Oliviers & Co garlic olive oil you see above. Great combo!
To enjoy with it, I packed some Cabot cheese (a gift from them awhile ago, but I’d buy it anyway) + crackers (my fave – Blue Diamond Artisan Nut Thins).
As for snacks, I brought some grapes, a clementine, some almonds, and an EPIC Bison Bacon Cranberry Bar. I just discovered EPIC bars on Relay Foods (<—affiliate link for $30 off your first order – if you haven’t tried Relay Foods, it’s awesome!) the other day when placing an order for a whole bunch of stuff so I threw them into the mix. I really enjoyed it! I’ve been into savory snacks lately and it hit the spot. I ended up eating some of the almonds and grapes in the morning and more almonds and grapes and the EPIC bar in the afternoon. Saved the clementine for another day!
Since I enjoyed yesterday’s lunch/snacks so much, today’s food is similar. I made the same salad, but minus the beans:
And paired it with some crackers and tuna salad (a packet of tuna mixed with a hefty spoonful of hummus) for some carbs and protein. I’m excited to eat it soon!
For snacks, I grabbed some similar stuff – more almonds, a couple plums and the clementine from yesterday, plus another EPIC bar (chicken sriracha flavor – I just ate it and it was good but yesterday’s was better) and some string beans.
The string beans got eaten with the EPIC bar (along with a whole milk iced latte I grabbed on my way in) so I’ll have the almonds and fruit this afternoon!
Want more packed lunch ideas? Check out the packed lunch section of my recipe page.
In fitness news this week, I was supposed to meet Chelsea for SUP on Monday night but the water was moving too quickly after the weekend storms so the boathouse was only allowing kayak rentals. Chelsea ended up getting stuck on the metro anyway (some random delay), so we rescheduled. It was such a lovely night, though, that I decided to go ahead and go kayaking by myself!
It was wonderful – I’m so glad I went ahead anyway. Proud of myself for just going solo!
Yesterday’s workout was a morning run with Sokphal!
We decided to run downtown to check out the action. Barriers are starting to be set up already in preparation of the 4th! You can see one of them in the middle of the photo below.
This area will be jam packed with people in a couple days!
Even though we had lovely views, my legs were totally not feeling a run. We took a short walking break during the run (per my request) and then when we hit 3 miles I asked if we could just walk the rest of the way back (about another half or 3/4 mile). Sokphal was cool with it, so we enjoyed walking and chatting the end instead. 🙂 Just one of those days!
We ended with a stretch at Iwo Jima while watching the Marines out practicing. Apparently every Tuesday night in summer they offer a free sunset parade at Iwo Jima! I need to go sometime – here’s more info on the schedule if you’re interested, too.
As for this morning, I was up bright and early again to meet Chelsea for a 6 a.m. class at CrossFit Key Bridge.
Here was what we did today – I love that they always include a group warm up and mobility stuff in their workouts.
The coach was good about making sure all of us knew what the moves were/what was going on. Instead of doing the back squat with the bar, the coach had me use a kettlebell due to my mobility issues (my shoulders are so tight it’s hard for me to hold the bar behind me for back squats) during the strength portion. During the conditioning WOD, for the thrusters (squat then stand up and do a press), he had me use dumbbells. Works for me!
Time to get back to tackling my email inbox and prepping for some meetings. Have a good one, my friends!
p.s. Did you guys watch the US Women’s soccer game last night?! SO exciting! My friend Ashley and I discovered they were playing it on a huge screen outdoors in the Mosaic District… perfect night for it. And also the perfect night to enjoy some Dolcezza gelato after… my favorite! 🙂
Of interest:
- A bunch of my Blog Brulee dietitian friends have worked together to create an e-cookbook! If you love southern comfort food but want to learn how to make healthier variations (that still taste good), you’ll love this cookbook from Min, Meme, Rachael and Marisa: Four Southern Staples, Four Ways. It’s only $4.99 right now but I believe the price is increasing this coming weekend, so get on it!
