A Carrot the Size of My Arm

If you are veggie-averse, puh-lease try making veggie fries using rutabagas, parsnips or turnips. I think they’re your best bet for falling in love with this nutritious food group.

Not only do they look a lot like real fries, but when dipped in ketchup they almost taste like them, too. Now, I’m not going to lie… There’s no replacing greasy, salty French fries, but these are an excellent healthy substitute.

Tonight I made a big batch of rutabaga fries to enjoy along with slow cooker BBQ chicken.

Of course I included a big blob of ketchup for fry-dippin’.

I enjoyed my slow cooker BBQ chicken on a whole wheat Joseph’s tortilla (half of it went directly into my mouth and eluded any pictures 😉 ).

Gotta love a well-rounded dinner! Veggies + Lean Protein + Whole Grains = Score!

In Other News…

Check out this ginormous carrot I bought at the Farmers’ Market.

I figured you guys would be interested in that because you’re just as oddly interested in weird produce as I am. 🙂 It’s almost the size of my arm! Carrot overload!!!

I’m off to do some laundry and dishes… fun night ahead. 😉

Caramel & Chocolate Showdown (+ a Giveaway!)

Woohoo for yummy lunches!

Today I enjoyed a PBF favorite… a noodle bowl!

Noodle Bowl + Cheeeeeese

My bowl o’ pasta was a bit different today, as it did not include my beloved red sauce. Instead I opted for a cheesy sauce made with melted Laughing Cow light original Swiss cheese wedge and Babybel cheese.

Laughing Cow + Babybel

The combination of the two cheese flavors was delicious and definitely stood out against the chopped spinach and lightly steamed broccoli I also included in the bowl.

Lunchtime!

Though my bowl of noodly goodness was pretty darn fantastic, something else managed to steal the show.

Oikos Caramel Greek Yogurt

So stinkin’ good!

Last week Stonyfield (the company that makes Oikos organic Greek yogurt) sent me some coupons to sample their new caramel and chocolate Greek yogurt.

If you read this blog with any regularity, you know I am basically in love with Greek yogurt for its creamy texture and fantastic protein content, so naturally I jumped at the chance to try the new dessert-like flavors.

All I can say is hoooooooly (organic) cow! 😀

Both flavors were incredibly delicious, though I think for the first time in my entire life I preferred the caramel variety to the chocolate.

I really liked how the caramel and chocolate “topping” was located at the bottom of the cup, because it allowed me to enjoy as much or as little of the sweetness I wanted to at any given bite. Gotta love a healthy way to satisfy that sweet tooth!

Caramel Heaven

Eat Up!

Now that I’ve all but professed my love for these new flavas, it’s your turn to give ’em a try!

Oikos is offering one reader a Chocolate Indulgence Giveaway Package that includes:

• 1 coupon for a free Green & Black Organic Chocolate Bar
• 1 sample of Numi Organic Chocolate tea
• 1 Dagoba/Eco Lips Organic Chocolate chapstick
• 1 Skinnyskinny real cocoa organic soap bar
• 2 free coupons for Chocolate and Caramel Oikos multipacks
• Recipe card set featuring Chocolate Cheesecake, as well Oikos spatula

To enter this giveaway, simply comment on this post, telling me what dish that involves chocolate or caramel is your favorite. For additional entries follow Stonyfield on Twitter or become a fan of Stonyfield on Facebook and comment back telling me you did so.

A winner will be randomly select a winner tomorrow afternoon. Good luck!!!

Of Possible Interest

• Article I wrote for dailySpark.com about my transition from eating for my weight to eating for my health (dailySpark.com)
• 6 Essential Post-Workout Stretches (FitSugar.com)
• Yummy Low-Calorie Summer Drinks (Health.com

Strawberry Oatty Yogurt Bowl

This week is my final week of training before I tackle the Chicago Rock ‘n’ Roll half marathon on Sunday.

Eek!

This morning I checked my second-to-last five mile run off my training plan list.

Second-to-Last Running Blast

One five mile run down, one to go… Then it’s race day!

I think it’s interesting that my pace during my 10 mile run on Saturday was actually faster than the run I did with Sadie this morning that was half the distance. My quads felt a little sore and I kind of zoned out on this run and actually told myself to slow down and enjoy the run, so maybe that had something to do with it?

I guess I shouldn’t be surprised, because pace-wise my 5k times are often a bit slower than my 10k times. I think that once I get in the running groove, I can keep going, but I struggle to get into a comfortable stride until about 3 miles in. Funky monkey.

On to breakfast!

Breakfast

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again…

I love cold oatmeal!

I prepped a good portion of my breakfast last night when I cooked up some oatmeal to refrigerate overnight. When the oatmeal was still hot, I added a handful of frozen strawberries to the oats so they could thaw and disperse their glorious flavor into the oats as they cooled.

This morning, I added a cup of Greek yogurt to the chilled strawberry oats and dusted the oatty yogurt bowl with ground flax seeds for some omega-3s.

Strawberry Oatty Yogurt Bowl

So Check Me Out, Hey!

I loved how the strawberry flavor really infused into the oats and made this whole bowl taste summery and sweet.

Pink is Always Pretty

Stir, Stir, Stir

I know many of you out there swear by overnight oats, but this combo takes the cake for me. The texture of this breakfast bowl rocks my socks, while overnight oats kinda start to gross me out as I get toward the end of the bowl. With this concoction, I want the bowl to automatically refill as I approach the end. 😀

Question of the Morning

Are you better at running short or long distances… Or no distances at all? 😉