50mm + 2000m + cream + crunch
/I haven’t used the f1.8 50mm lens for awhile. I’ve had the f2.8 28-75mm on for a few weeks now and I’m not sure whyyyy. I can tell an immediate quality difference with the 50mm. I’ll attribute it to laziness. When I pick up the camera in the morning to shoot my oats, I don’t feel like going upstairs to change the lens. Well, Chris used the camera and changed the lens. Thank goodness.
Fresh bakery granola from Whole Foods. I’m pretty positive there is a lot of butter in the mix. Whatever is in there, it’s pretty amazing. I’ve been making healthy granola for so long, I forgot what the real stuff tastes like!
Scottish oats are just so so creamy. I’m in love!
Crunchy Creamy Oats
- 1/4c [rounded] Scottish oats
- 1 1/4c water
- few splashes of coconut kefir + almond milk
- 1/2t cinnamon
- 1/2 banana
- 1 egg white, added in the last 2-3min of cooking
Toppings:
peanut butter + wild berry conserve + granola
Deliciousness overload!!!
These were on sale for 77 cents!!! I bought six. They’re just okay, but definitely worth it for 77 cents! The ingredient list is awesome and it has a good amount of protein [8g] + fiber [4g]. The flavor was chocolate chip. I like the texture but the taste is just off. It’s pretty bland and just overall blah. It was a great pre swim snack though!
INGREDIENTS
Organic Cashew Butter, Organic Dates, Organic Agave Nectar, Organic Brown Rice Protein, Organic Dark Chocolate Chips – Non-Dairy (Organic Evaporated Cane Juice, Organic Chocolate Liquor, Organic Cocoa Butter, Non-GMO Soy Lecithin), Organic Bio SproutsTM – Quinoa, Organic Bio SproutsTM – Flax and Lots of Love!
Fish action
- 100m kickboard – warm up
- 100m buoy – warm up
- 2000m [80 lengths] – freestyle – 46min!!!!!
- 50m backstroke – cool down
- 50m breast stroke – cool down
- stretch
I was in a swimming groove today and didn’t get kicked out for open swim! I was really excited to have no time constraint. I was actually swimming during open swim but they left 1 lane in AND I had the pool to myself the entire time. Completely fabulous. I zoned out and just swam. It took me about 10 lengths to really get going. I did my bilateral breathing the entire time, which I’m super excited about. I also tried to focus on kicking my whole leg instead of kicking with my ankles/knees.
On each set of 10 lengths I sprinted at about 90% for 1 length. It felt great! Once I got over 25 lengths I was really in a groove. I was thinking I would at least go to 60 lengths and see how I feel. I stopped at length 42 for some hydration, feeling great. The laps were flying by! Then I was thinking 70 or 75, but was still feeling great so I went for 80. I really could have kept going awhile longer but didn’t want to overdo it. I stopped a total of 2 times to hydrate. Even though I didn’t really feel thirsty, I knew I probably needed it. The coconut water/plain water mix really helps. I can definitely tell a difference drinking this in comparison to plain water and there is no sugary aftertaste like with Gatorade.
I’m very excited about today’s swim. hehehe
Hands down, favorite coconut water flavor + brand. I mixed this 50/50 with water for my swim.
Obviously was famished when I got home. I cut a large sweet tater + popped it in the oven for low + slow method. While that started cooking I showered and then got going on a salad. There was no way I could wait 45min for that sweet tater to finish without eating something else!
Dressing:
hemp oil + balsamic + apple cider vinegar
Better than any bottled dress ever. You can sub olive oil instead of hemp. I’ve never liked bottled dressings all that much, even the organic kinds. We have no dressing in the fridge. I just make this in about 45sec every time I prepare a salad. Chris loves it as well. I always add salt + pepper and sometimes garlic powder, oregano, etc.
Salad
- arugula
- raw zucchini
- cucumber
- carrot
- pepitas
- Fitness Bread croutons
Crunchy perfection!
And then they were done….little pillows of sweet tatery goodness.
My favorite of the group.
I liiightly coated them with olive oil while baking. After they were done I drizzled them with <1T homemade coconut butter + about 1/2t cinnamon.
Perfection. Although I forgot to add a few shakes of sea salt, which really helps bring out the flavor. Still amazing though!
These might be delicious layered in between oats!!
Guess what!? I got working on my newest buttery concoction! It was fairly dim outside + rainy [which is now SNOW…seriously]. I think these photos look a tad vintage maybe? I had to put the ISO up pretty high so they are a little noisy, but I like them anyway!
cocoa + coconut + peanut butter
I added a little of each ingredient at a time until it was juuuuuust riiiiight.
Chris approves! I’m still going to make 1 or 2 other versions using high quality dark chocolate bars instead of cocoa powder. We’ll see how they turn out!
Great consistency.
Cocoa-Coco-Pnat BUTTA’ [the “nat” is pink because Natalie [my SIL] came up with the idea]
- 1/4c + 2T coconut butter
- 3t cocoa powder [fair trade + organic]
- 2T peanut butter
- 1/8t fine grain sea salt
- 1.5T brown rice syrup [can sub honey]
- Blend everything in a food processor until creamy + smooth.
*You may have to taste + add to your liking. If you’re using a store-bought peanut butter it might taste differently. This was my homemade peanut butter, made with roasted peanuts, which is fairly strong tasting. It might also vary depending on what type of cocoa powder you use. I felt like this combination let each ingredient come through just enough without overpowering the others. So my advice is, start with less of each ingredient and taste along the way. The brown rice was definitely needed in my opinion as was the salt. The brown rice syrup helped bring out the sweetness of the cocoa powder and the small amount of salt helped bring out all of the flavors.
Who wants to come over for a spoonful?
In other news…I made a new tab for the 2nd Colorado blogger/reader meet-up. Check it out and let me know what works for you!
In other other news…our Wii-motes have been lost since we moved to our house in January. Chris finallllllllly found them. I have some games to play :)
Night!
Ashley
