coco-stachio buttery love

/

Today I was on my cooking game from morning til night.  Before I got to cooking I did a 30min session of Hip Opening yogadownload.  I was really sore and my muscles were tight from my leg workout + climbing yesterday.  Having the resistance fairly high on the stair stepper will leave you feelin’ it the next day for sure!  I haven’t done a full “legs” workout in FORever.  I really enjoyed doing that yesterday, taking a walk and then getting an upper body workout in at the rock gym.

The oats were my best in quite some time.  They were extremely creamy with the perfect texture and just the right amount of toppings.

(1 of 15)

The Creamiest Oats You Will Ever Eat

  • rounded 1/3c rolled oats
  • 2/3c vanilla almond milk, 1/3c water
  • 1/2 banana
  • 1/2t cinnamon
  • vanilla [about 1t]
  • 1 egg white [stirred in the last 2-3min]

Topped with

The fig jam is majorly delicious!!  It’s much better than the peach fruit spread I’ve eaten a few times lately.  Man this bowl was tasty.

(1 of 1)

More please!!  Ashley food rating = 10/10

(3 of 15)

I got some things around the house done this morning and then took off for a swim.  I felt so so much better after morning yoga and really wanted to get back to the pool, after Monday’s awesome swim.  I am starting to enjoy swimming, a LOT. 

Before I headed to the pool I ate half of this Prana Bar.  I LOVE the texture of these.  A little softer than Larabar and more flavorful.  The only thing I didn’t like was that cashews were used as the nut.  I like cashews but it would have been much better with walnuts. 

(4 of 15)

At the pool I completed 1400m [~4600ft] in 33min and then did a 200m cool down.  The first 10 laps were the most tiring and then I got in the groove.  Keeping count of laps is hard!  I don’t really get bored and enjoy the time completely by myself.  I not a fan of running with music so it doesn’t bother me that I don’t have any while swimming.  I felt like I could have kept going, but knew I shouldn’t push it too hard with the intense full body workout I did yesterday.

Why don’t I workout with music?

  1. I don’t have an iPod [the horror!!!]
  2. I hate the cord bouncing on my arm
  3. I’m always fidgeting with the ear pieces, which screws up my stride/pace
  4. I never want to hear all the songs on my playlist and hate having to find the “next” button
  5. I do not like making playlists…it takes too long and I end up hating half the songs I picked
  6. It does not make me go any faster or motivate me to work harder

Valid points? It’s just not for me!!

Lunchtime!  I was famished and this was delicious.

I had an awesome orange + kiwi, for some fruit juiciness.  The main attraction did not photograph well as it was covered in guac and portobello mushrooms.  However, it was post workout perfection.

Layered open face samich:

  1. homemade whole wheat flax bread
  2. tomato paste
  3. 2 eggs – pour, poke, spread method
  4. ~1T guacamole [leftover from last night’s chipotle!!]
  5. topped with 1 pan sautéed portobello mushroom

Ashley food rating = 9/10

(5 of 15)

Spring has SPrung!! Weeeeee :)  My good friend Sarah came over and I took no photos [fail!].  She just moved from Columbus, OH and we met there at Ohio State.  I’m so excited that she’s here!  We took a walk to Wash Perk, the local coffee shop and both got an Iced Chai.  Delicious.  From there we walked to Wash Park and walked a good 2.5m at a leisurely, chatty pace.  So much fun catching up!

(6 of 15)

Tomorrow I get to see Melissa + Jake and I’m so super excited!!! :) 

Another star of the day came from Jessica [click for recipe!].  This time, I played it safe, and followed her recipe almost exactly.  This morning she posted a recipe for pistachio coconut butter.  Um…yes please!  It’s rare that I see a recipe and make it THEE same day, but I knew I had to with this.

(7 of 15)

I have never heard or seen anything about pistachio nut butter.  I know 2 things.  I love pistachios and I love coconut, so I was going to love this.

(8 of 15)

Process until crumbly.

(9 of 15)

Add in unsweetened flaked coconut.

(10 of 15)

Add in maple syrup + vanilla.  The only thing I changed was adding a pinch of salt [~1/4t].  I streamed in about 1T coconut oil to get this really smooth.

(11 of 15)

GREEN perfection.

(12 of 15)

The combination was perfect.  The coconut was not overpowering.  I tried it on a seedy cracker and it was tasty but preferred it right off the spoon ;)  I think it will be really tasty on apples [as Jessica displayed], on my oats in the morning, or as a pancake topper!!  It tasted like frosting.  No joke. 

Ashley food rating = 10/10

(13 of 15)

Dinner was on the money as well.  I used the Millet + Black Bean Burger recipe from the Spring section of Clean Food.  We both completely LOVED these and there are a ton of leftovers.  They were one of the easiest veggie burgers I have made and I loved that you didn’t have to food-processor-it all together.  The chunks of veg + beans were tasty!!  What held these bad boys together were cooked millet and a little cornmeal.  They were spiced with paprika, salt, cumin and chili powder. 

(14 of 15)

Veggie burger goodness with a little tomato paste, pepper jack cheese, and guacamole with a huge pile of steamed broccoli.

Ashley food rating = 9/10

(15 of 15)

It was nice to have some winner eats today.  Chris said these burgs are a keeper!  I loved all of your positive comments about my pancakes and smoothie from yesterday.  I guess they really weren’t fails, but just first trials that can be tweaked to perfection.  Apparently I’m not the only one that likes a dense pancake packed with fiber + protein, or an earthy thick protein smoothie.  :)  Back to the drawing board…

Goodnight lovelies!!

~Ashley