Movin’ and Groovin’

I try not to let my blog stress me out. Most of the time I succeed by reminding myself that the lil’ blog is my hobby and that helps me to put things into perspective.

I did feel a little bit of blog-related stress yesterday as my blog made the move from WordPress to Bluehost. I’ve done nearly everything related to my blog myself (except for the wonderful redesign which I owe to The Blog Fairy).

I am not tech-savvy at all, but with the help of some online tutorials and many, many Google searches I’ve been able to get by… That is until I started looking into changing the host of my blog.

Time to Move

Holy information overload! Since I didn’t want to lose any of my blog in the transfer process, I knew I wanted to have a professional’s help, if not for their skill than for my peace of mind.

I want to give a huge shout out to Seth for being my go-to web guy! He was so, so easy to work with and answered all of my questions in a language I could understand (not web-speak). Thank you mucho, Seth! 😀

So, as you may have noticed my blog was flip-flipping back and forth bewteen my peanutbutterfingers.wordpress.com domain and it’s real home, right here at pbfingers.com.

Subscribing to PBF

Since many of you seemed to appreciate my previous blog post for the non-blog savvy folks, I thought I would quickly post easy-to-find links for those of you who may wish to subscribe to my blog or receive automatic updates.

Subscribe Me, Please!

• If you want to subscribe to this blog via email, click here.
• If you want to add this blog to your Google Reader, click here.
• If you want to add this blog to your Google homepage, click here.

I hope this helps!

Now let’s get away from the movin’ and head onto the groovin’…

Workout

My workout this morning was a sweaty one! I initially planned to take Sadie for a run, but it was pouring outside!

Plan B: Take a spinning class!

One of the benefits to keeping track of my workouts through the Exercise Log on this blog is that I can see when I last took certain classes. The last time I took a spin class was in March. Clearly I was long overdue!

I forgot two things about spinning classes:

• They make me unbelievably sweaty
• They’re really hard!

I think my time away from the bike made today’s class feel extra challenging.

The instructor said something that resonated with me though and made me push through.

“If you’re not working you’re not living.”

I know you can take this statement in many different ways, but I took it to mean that when we truly work our bodies and minds to our full potential, that’s when we’re really living!

I always feel so much more alive after a great workout and I kept telling myself that whenever I wanted to kick back and relax on the bike.

Breakfast

Breakfast today was a new combo!

Peach + Coconut Yogurt Bowl

I made myself a yogurt bowl that contained:

• 1 c. Fage plain Greek yogurt
• 1 sliced peach
• 1/2 c. old fashioned oats
• 1/2 scoop All the Whey cake batter protein powder
• Three pinches unsweetened coconut
• Dash of nutmeg

I cooked the oats and protein powder together with a bit of water in the microwave and let the mixture chill in the fridge for a bit before adding the remaining ingredients.

After topping the cake batter oats with the yogurt, fruit, coconut and nutmeg, my breakfast was ready!

Scoop it Up!

Tuesday Breakfast

Great combo! 😀

Am I Off My Rocker?

Cheesecake for dinner and now cake for breakfast… Am I off my rocker?

No, no, no. I haven’t completely abandoned my healthy ways!

Today’s cake for breakfast came in the form of a protein cake!

Protein Powdaaa!

To make this sweet mini cake, I simply combined the following ingredients:

• 1 scoop All the Whey chocolate peanut butter cup protein powder
• 1.5 tbsp. unsweetened applesauce
• 1 egg white
• 1 large pinch of baking soda
• Enough water to moisten everything (1/8 cup?)

Protein Cake Ingredients

After stirring everything up, I microwaved the mixture on high for a minute, monitoring it to make sure it didn’t poof up too much and overflow the container.

After a minute, my protein cake was ready for eatin’.

Protein Cake

I paired my protein cake with a cup of cold, creamy Greek yogurt.

Friday Breakfast

Take a Bite!

This lil’ recipe was inspired by a concoction I saw on Janetha’s blog a while ago that used pumpkin in place of the applesauce.

This recipe is a lot like my normal protein brownie recipe, but the addition of the applesauce really helps make this lil’ cake nice and moist! It’s also delicious smeared with peanut butter or with a handful of chopped nuts thrown in! The possibilities are endless. 😀

Question of the Morning

• Protein Powder: Love it or hate it?

I cannot stomach protein shakes made with just protein powder and water or milk, but I love protein powder used in recipes, stirred into oatmeal or incorporated into ice cold smoothies.

Protein Oatmeal Cookie Bites

Ryan had to work late this evening, so I wanted to surprise him with one of his favorite meals.

BBQ meatloaf!

(Side note: I loved looking back at the post where I made this recipe for the first time last year, on the night when we put our Christmas tree up! Hooray for the holidays!)

This meatloaf is really easy to make and the BBQ sauce makes it extra moist and flavorful.

 

Along with the meatloaf, we enjoyed broccoli and grape tomatoes for some added nutrition.

Ryan was quite the happy camper when he arrived home and smelled this cookin’ away in the oven!

We both gobbled down our meals rather quickly. 😀

Protein Oatmeal Cookie Bites

While the meatloaf was cooking, I did some experimenting in the kitchen. I was in the mood to bake, but didn’t want bake goods chillin’ around out house since I’ve been known to polish off batch of cookies on my own in a week one day.

I decided to try my hands at creating a protein cookie and the result was pretty darn good!

Disclaimer: I would never say that these cookies are as good as full-fat, sugar-laden cookies, but for what they are (chock full of protein and whole grains), they’re pretty tasty!

To quote Ryan, “I’d eat ‘em again.” 😉

Ingredients

• 1 c. oats
• 1/2 c. flavored protein powder (I used All the Whey chocolate peanut butter cup)
• 1/2 c. fat-free cottage cheese
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1 tbsp. ground flax seeds
• 1/4 c. water

(Note: You may substitute one egg for the ground flax seeds and water)

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix all ingredients together using a mixer. Place round spoonfuls of dough on a cookie sheet sprayed with non-stick cooking spray. Bake for approximately 10 minutes.

Enjoy!

Hot Run, Cold Smoothie

Woo-wee!

This morning’s five mile run with Sadie was a toasty one!

5 Mile Stats

I’m not going to complain about the heat because I am too happy for negative thoughts, as today’s second attempt at running following my bruised heel also proved pain free! Woop woop! 😀

Since Florida heat doesn’t believe in dissipating throughout the night or in the early morning, I returned from my run looking awfully sweaty.

A cold breakfast was the only way to go.

Breakfast

This morning I busted out the blender to make myself a strawberry banana protein smoothie.

Strawberry Banana Protein Smoothie

Into the blender went:

• 1 frozen banana
• 3/4 c. frozen strawberries
• 3 ice cubes
• 1 tsp. xanthan gum
• 1 scoop All the Whey strawberry protein powder
• Enough milk to get everything movin’

Spoonful of Yummy

J is for Julie!

Quite a few of you have asked about this fancy-schmancy “J” cup. It is made by Tervis Tumbler and you may find them at Bed Bath and Beyond. The cup is virtually indestructible and the double-insulated walls greatly reduce condensation which is perfect for when you make cold drinks on a hot day.

Topped with a Straw

I love drinking a ginormous smoothie after a sweaty run.

It’s just so darn refreshing!

Happy Birthday to My Mama!!!

Today is a big day in the world of PBF!

Today is my mom’s birthday!

Mother-Daughter Love

Happy birthday to the most amazing mother in the whole wide world.

So Much Love

She Makes Me Happy

Happy Girls

Smilin' Over a Homecooked Meal

My mother is truly a remarkable woman.

Happy birthday, Mama. I love so many things about you:

• I love your unwavering optimism
• I love how I can always go to you for love and support
• I love how a bowl of your chicken noodle soup makes any sickness go away and any sad feelings subside
• I love that you shoot a basketball “granny style”
• I love how you always have a “Welcome Home Julie” sign on the door every time I come to visit
• I love that you now include Ryan and Sadie on that sign
• I love how you’re always up for anything
• I love that you said that you were thinking of your granddog when your doctor told you to think of something that made you happy
• I love how Aunt Laurie said she knew I was your daughter when she caught me eating cake for breakfast
• I love how unbelievably loving, giving and caring you are
• I love how strong you are and how you faced breast cancer with courage and a sense of hope and faith unmatched by anyone
• I love you for being the woman I strive to be every day

I can’t wait to celebrate your special day with you soon!

In honor of my mom’s birthday, feel free to share something you love about your mother below!

Pump Up the Jam

“Pump up the jam, pump it up

Pump it up yo pump it!”

My morning was pumpin’ in two different ways…

Pump One: BodyPump

I think taking Friday off from strength training made me feel extra powerful as I tackled my typical Monday morning BodyPump class. It felt good to push my muscles and feel the burrrn. After spending several years in the gym as a cardio queen, it’s funny that I now definitely prefer strength training to cardio.

I actually have a little plan in my head once my half marathon training is over that will really focus on strength training. I think I may try waving goodbye to long cardio sessions, replacing them with short, fast interval or HITT sessions to see how my body responds. I think my body will be ready for some time away from running and steady-rate cardio after the half on August 1. Should be interesting!

Pump Two:Pumped Up Protein Oats

Super simple breakfast this morning: Pumped up protein oats!

Only two ingredients were used to create this filling bowl of protein-packed oatmeal.

• 1/2 c. old fashioned oats
• 1/2 scoop All the Whey chocolate peanut butter cup protein powder

Oats + Protein Powder

I combined the oats and protein powder and decent amout of water and stirred everything up before placing it in the microwave for a minute, stirring it every 20 seconds or so to prevent overflow. After a minute, I added a little more water and microwaved it for another 30 seconds, stirring it every ten seconds.

Chocolate Protein Oats

Come in Close for the Good Stuff

I ate this combination a lot during the winter months when it was chilly, but it still tastes wonderful even when the weather is scorching.

On the side I enjoyed dark cocoa Pumpkorn, a tasty combination of cocoa powder-dusted pumpkin seeds.

Dark Cocoa Pumpkorn

This was one heck of a chocolatey breakfast… Just the way I like it! 😀

Question of the Day

Did you listen to Jock Jams CDs?

I did and I still love classics like:

• Technotronic – “Pump Up the Jam“
• C&C Music Factory – “Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now)“
• Reel 2 Real – “I Like to Move It“
• DJ Kool – “Let Me Clear My Throat“