Category Archives: dessert

Who needs a doctor

Posted in dessert, Eggs, food, health, Uncategorized, WAIW, workout by

Good morning pumpkins,

This past weekend I spent curled up in bed, snuggled in my grandma sweater, with my PJs on. For the past few days I have been swallowing burning knives, or so it feels. The doctor said, “It could be allergies, a viral infection, a sinus infection, a fungal infection but it’s not strep”. He also handed me a prescription and said “Here are some antibiotics, they’re a little stronger than I want to give you and I also doubt they will help”.

Thank you for wasting my time and possibly setting me up for a superinfection. 

Being a nurse does have its benefits of knowing when to go and when not to go to the doctor. However I lost this battle with my mom, mainly due to the fact I could not tell if I saw white patches on my tonsils or not – indicating strep. I did win the battle of not taking antibiotics. 

Better safe than sorry

Having a sore throat does have its food benefits – Sunday morning, was the worst. I knew something cold and soothing was in order.

I tried a new combo: 2% fage yogurt, friendship cottage cheese, banana, strawberries, pecans, unsweetened shredded coconut, mixed with PB2. Huge hit with tastebuds, not so much with the digestion.


Lots of Jello with whipped cream was consumed. Along with arctic zero cookies n cream, casein pudding, and duh whipped cream. Note: We usually do not keep whipped cream in the house because I finish this stuff off in a day. I make exceptions for sick days ;)

I was also craving something to scratch my throat – my favorite salad combo was in order: mache, chicken, strawberries, tomatoes, broccoli slaw, and avocado.

I tried to sweat it out but that didn’t work.

Since I am not running a fever but not feeling 100%, I decided to take both Sunday and Monday as rest days. My throat was red and inflamed meaning my body is trying to fight off something. Exercise creates more stress and inflammation in the body, the last thing I need to do is workout and make my illness worse. Even if it is just “seasonal allergies.”

Today I was feeling much better and felt the need for a nice back day at the gym!

I love doing a certain exercise but varying the hand grips and positions. I can feel the different muscles being used when changing up hand grips.

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What are some of your favorite sick day foods?

Almond Butter Bites

Posted in dessert, food, Grain Free, recipe by

Workouts for the week were slacking! I was incredibly tired and a little under the weather for 2 days so I took it relatively easy.

Monday: Chest
Tuesday: Complete rest with stretching
Wednesday: Jim Stoppani arm workout
Thursday: Legs
Friday: Shoulders + 20 minute incline walk.
Saturday: Back + 15 minutes stair climber
Sunday: 30 minute treadmill intervals – mostly what I like to call MIIT (medium intensity interval training ;) )

I also signed up for….

Tara had mentioned it… which could only mean one thing. It was coming to Philadelphia. I googled it and signed up without giving it a second thought.

I will probably start adding one day of running back into my rotation. It’s not ideal but with the weather getting nicer, I am tempted to run more. Besides, running 5ks with Kyle is something we enjoy doing together.

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Sugar detox was going great until I caved last night and had one of my delicious homemade almond butter bites. All night I was feeling unsatisfied and snacking on healthy things but I wasn’t necessarily hungry. Once I gave in and had what I really wanted, it went away and I was happy. I may have been a little too restrictive on myself this week. I plan on picking up where I left off today!

Almond Butter Bites

Ingredients:

  • 2 cups of dark chocolate/semi-sweet chocolate chips
  • 1 tsp coconut oil
  • 1 cup almond butter
  • 1 TBSP powdered sugar
  • *** These can be made dairy-free and nut free if using Enjoy Life chocolate chips and sunflower seed butter

Directions

  1. Line a mini muffin pan with wrappers
  2. Melt dark chocolate in a double broiler, on the stovetop, or in 30 second intervals in the microwave stirring occasionally.
  3. Once melted, pour in coconut oil and mix.
  4. Put 1 tsp of chocolate in the mini muffin tins and then place in the freezer for 15 minutes or until firm – You will not use all of the chocolate, save some for the top half!
  5. While the chocolate is in the freezer, start to prepare almond butter. Mix almond butter with powdered sugar. This made the almond butter less sticky and I didn’t feel like having a complete mess in the kitchen although the powdered sugar may be omitted.
  6. After almond butter is mixed placed in refrigerator to firm up for a few minutes
  7. Remove chocolate from freezer and take 1 tsp of almond butter and place into the muffin tins.
  8. When all muffin tins are full, cover the top of the almond butter with remaining melted chocolate.
  9. Place in the freezer to firm up and serve.
  10. Keep in refrigerator if they will not be eaten that day.

I kept mine in the refrigerator because the almond butter I used needed to be kept cold. These did not last long and I have already had requests for me.

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How was your weekend?

What is your favorite brand of nut butter?

Protein packed smores’ bar

Posted in dessert, fitness, food, Grain Free, Pumpkin, recipe, Uncategorized by

My workouts have been quite unstructured lately. Tessa recently posted about taking a week off from some serious workouts. I sort of hopped on the bandwagon as well. Once Kyle returned home, workouts definitely hit the back burner. On our trip to Boston, we decided to skip workouts and spend the day walking around and eating.

After 4 days of horrendous eating – desserts, bags of sugar coated nuts, a half a pizza, burgers, fries, more junk food, and little to no “workouts” – I assumed the worst: I would come back a blimp who lost endurance and muscle strength.

In reality: I didn’t gain weight, I came back into my workouts feeling better than ever, and felt rejuvenated!

I know the benefits of rest days but to take a few multiple rest days in a row helped my body to recover overall.

Rest days allow the body to

  • replenish energy stores and repair damaged tissues
  • It prevents a person from overtraining and leading into a possible worse injury – sidelining them from their goals even longer
  • Little detraining only happens after you take off more than 2 weeks
  • Prevents mental burnout

Runners world has a great article about it here!

So on my recent rest day I decided to do what I love most and bake!

Protein-packed pumpkin smores’

Ingredients: Protein bar recipe (cut the bread in half length wise), protein pudding, Jet-Puff

Protein Pudding:

  • 1 scoop chocolate-peanut butter ON casein (I’m sure whey would work as well but may need to vary liquids)
  • 1/2 cup almond breeze (liquid varies depending on preference of thickness)
  • 1 TBSP PB2 (optional)

Mix the ingredients together. I occasionally add 1/2 TBSP flax to thicken it up as well if I add too much liquid. Kyle LOVES this stuff. I make it in bulk for him. He spreads it on everything from ice cream, protein bars, or just eats as pudding.

We put it in the fridge to firm up a tad. It’s an awesome protein filled dessert.

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What are some of your favorite night time snacks?

Favorite protein powder?