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Day: December 5, 2010

Award Winning Breakfast

December 5, 2010 by gracefulfitness 8 Comments

I wanted something different for breakfast this morning.  Something warm and cozy.

I reached deep into the kitchen cupboard and what did I find?

“World Champion Oatmeal”!

Well, if that doesn’t do it, I don’t know what will!

The directions instructed me to boil 1.5 cups of water then add 1/2 cup oats (for 2 servings).  After a few near catastrophes involving lots of foamy oat water boiling over onto the stovetop (I am still getting the hang of cooking on electric!), we settled in for 10 minutes of gentle simmering.

As the champion oats worked their magic I broke out the plum and munched on some…crumbs.  It was much better today!  I think the wine and dinner and bourbon whipped cream all contributed to dulling the overall flavor last night.  Today is was tasty and nicely textured.

I also dipped into my kitchen experiment from yesterday afternoon, homemade almond butter!  At the bulk bins yesterday Kath mentioned that she was going to make Ashley’s recipe for Pumpkin Spiced Almond Butter and I thought that sounded like an excellent idea.

Except I didn’t have time to roast the almonds and I am awful at following recipes.

My food processor whirled away for at least 15 minutes as it creamed raw almonds, molasses, maple syrup, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and salt.

But it just wasn’t happening.

Every two minutes Kath and I would get all excited that the butter stage was finally upon us but no such luck.  The mixture remained cookie-doughlike.  So I added a bitty bit of light olive oil (the only oil I had on hand).  Nope.  A little bit more olive oil.  Still resembles cookie-dough, a greasy cookie dough!

Maybe I needed to push past that point but I was bored and gave up.  It’s kind of tasty…for greasy cookie dough.  I should have trusted Ashley and followed directions!

Back to breakfast.

Steel Cut Oats topped with nutmeg, cinnamon, a few globs of the almond dough, and almond milk.

Loved the texture of the oats but it got a little watery with the almond milk.  Next time I am thinking of going savory, like grits, and topping it with a fried egg.  Maybe next Sunday!

We woke up to a dusting of snow and a blue sky! Unfortunately, the snow is nearly melted and the sky is clouding over. 🙁

The plan for today is a workout, some housework, and studying.

My first week of MISSION: Balance (or Work.It.Out, as I have started referring to it) went fantastically!  It was a great week of exercise, just the right amount and variety!  To finish off the week I will do 10 minutes of Pilates, 20 minutes of strength training, and a run (4 miles probably) today.

I am still a little sore from BodyPump on Friday!   My pecs were SO SORE yesterday from all those chest presses and pushups!  I guess I need to do more of these exercises in my regular workouts.  The thighs and glutes were just a little tender but yesterdays walks and yoga helped loosen them up.  Today I am ready to run!

Do you get sore from your regular strength training?  Do you like being sore (as a reminder of the work you did)?

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Posted in: cooking, food, goals, recipes, workouts, yoga Tagged: cooking, exercise, food choices, goals, oats, running, yoga

Walk Away Day

December 5, 2010 by gracefulfitness 3 Comments

Where oh where did the day go?

It walked away!

Tate and I ran errands this morning on foot.  I love that I can walk to the Downtown Mall and go to the library, post office, bank, and CVS! So convenient and car free, more points for C’ville!

We also swung by the Holiday City Market, the December version of the Saturday farmer’s market, to eye the produce.  Nothing jumped out at us and we still had a crisper-full of veg at home so no purchases.

Lunch was thrown together without a plan of attack but it turned out to be a mighty fine mountain of food!

Red Curry Tofu-Veggies topped with a drizzle of peanut sauce.  It was super satisfying!

I opted for yoga over studying and enjoyed most of this Vinyasa routine (my current exercisetv favorite!) before it was time to meet Kath for another errand walk.

She and I walked to an awesome local health food store, Integral Yoga, that is a mile or so from my house.  Our mission was chatting, exercise, fresh air, perusing the sales in the bulk bins, and grabbing a few items for dinner.

And before I knew it, it was time to get ready for dinner!  I did manage to finish the final 10 minutes of yoga before heading over to Matt+Kath‘s for a dinner date.

Dinner was a lovely of butternut squash and mushroom soup.

The soup was delicious but the real highlight of the night was the SNOW!  Little, icy flakes started coming down just before dinner and it was so pretty!

SO pretty in fact, that we had to get out in it and take a walk after the table was cleared.  It was chilly but I love that excitement of the first snow of the year.

Back at the house, we warmed up quickly with steaming cups of Pero and it was time to break out the Plum Crumb.

The Crumb was decent but Kath totally one upped me by making fresh whipped cream with bourbon in it!  Yep, it was as good as it sounds.  And, no, all of that white stuff is not whipped cream, just the bottom dollop, the rest is homemade plain yogurt.

The Crumb disappointed a little.  The plums are so sweet raw that I thought cooking them would do amazing things but they actually lost a lot of their sweetness.  I think this is a better suited breakfast crumb than dessert.  No problem, there’s plenty left for tomorrow morning!

It’s 10pm on a Saturday night and I am DONE!

Goodnight.

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Posted in: cooking, food, goals, yoga Tagged: Charlottesville, exercise, exercise dvd's, exercisetv, Farmer's Market, yoga, yogurt

I am Faith Levine, a movement instructor, home gardener, mountain biker, hiker, pickle maker, closet poet, and best of friend to some of the most amazing women in the world.

I’d love to hear from you,
gracefulfitness@live.com

Header photo: Meredith Coe

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Hi, I'm Faith! New? Check out I Am for my story, I Cook for recipes, and I Move for some motivation to get moving! I'd love to hear from you, e-mail me gracefulfitness@live.com
Header photo: Meredith Coe

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