Triumphs and Unique

As hard as the past few days have been, thanks to all of you, I have come back FLYING!!!

I woke up this morning to some cool and not humid weather here in Miami, FL so I couldn’t pass it up for my long run, especially with the threat of tomorrow morning being horribly humid like Friday.  An apple eaten, and I was out the door!

I wanted to do an 8 mile long run but it actually turned into an 8.7 mi run since the block I ran ended up that long.  No biggy.  All in all I ran it in about 1:18 and felt good at the finish!  It was an exciting run filled with wild dogs and fights, crazy peacocks and a head wind that made me want to die; but I finished!

I knew the second I walked into the house I wanted another smoothie today.  What better than to try another smoothie packet from YouBar!?

I combined some frozen blueberries, a frozen banana, some ice cubes, unsweetened original almond breeze and a Breakfast Shake packet.

This came out fabulous!  It didn’t have as much chocolate flavor as I would have liked, but it was still really great!  I topped mine off in a bowl with some Heart 2 Heart and a blob of Blue Diamond Almond Butter.

We took off to the beach for some time out in the sun and water.  It was pretty windy so the sand was quite painful hitting me in the back!  But I was out in a bikini and take’n in the sun…who can complain!

I brought lunch with me and had a nectarine

And the best flat out wrap/burrito I’ve ever had:

• Nice layer of almond butter
• Cinnamon
• 3/4 a slice banana
• Honey Wheat Flat Out Wrap

It tasted like an apple pie in a wrap form.  No joke.  Try this and I swear you’ll thank me.  I bet it would be even better with PB instead of AB!

We chilled out and left to do a WF trip, where I had a Brownie Zbar and another apple.

I didn’t do too much damage today at WF since I used the coupons in their weekly pamphlets and saved a good chunk of change!

I was starving by the time I got home and was super excited for dinner:

Pasta?

What?

WHAT?!?!?!?!?!

Pad Thai ala me:

• Rice Noodles
• Olive Oil w/ Hot Chili Sauce
• Low Sodium Soy Sauce
• Garlic
• Onions
• Bamboo Shoots
• Water Crests
• Cauliflower
• Broccoli
• 1/3 Block Baked Tofu
• 1/2 grated Carrot

I made the noodles with the spice packet included and used the oil packet with the other veggies I listed along with the extra soy sauce.  I baked the tofu at 375 for 20 minutes, flipping at 15 and added that in afterwards for some protein.  I sautéed the noodles in there with the veggies and topped it all off w/ the raw grated carrot.

I want to eat this ever night!

I have been looking forward to dessert ALL DAY LONG.

Trade Joes Chocolate Pudding made with Unsweetened Original Almond Breeze.

I want to invest stock in this pudding mix. So much better than Jell-o.  This needs to be in my next TJ’s package.  Oh, I had some with Publix Honey Cheerios and some extra chocolate chips.  So.freakn.delicious.

And then, my creativity struck in the baking department.

I’ve been looking for something new to bake and since I accidently bought a FIVE POUND bag of carrots instead of three, I wanted to make something of them.  Into my mind came the idea: I love PB cookies.  I love carrots with PB.  Why not put them in a cookie!?!??!

I based the PB cookie recipe off of Wolfie’s Peanut Butter Cookies from La Dolce Vegan but made quite a few substitutions.  Here is my recipe for:

Carrot Peanut Butter Cookies

• 1 3/4 C all purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• gracious sprinkle of cinnamon
• 1 egg
• 1/2C natural peanut butter
• 1/2C unsweetened applesauce
• 1/4C agave nectar
• 1C grated carrot

Bake at 375 for 15 minutes and you’ve got the most fluffy cookies ever!

They came out so good!  It might need a bit more PB next time, or just to add some dry roasted peanuts for a bit more pb flavor, but omg so good!  I can’t believe I’ve waited so long to come up with these!  Carrots and PB are sooooooooo great together!!!

   

If you try them please let me know what you think?!?!?  I bet it would taste great with almond butter instead of PB too!

[[Side Note: Triumphs

I did so many things today to break barriers that I’m almost afraid to post them and jinx myself:

• I’ve been a bit subconscious about my body (certain parts/aspects) as of late, which has caused some self doubt when it comes to going out with friends.
• How did I triumph?  I wore my bikini to the beach today.  And I took off my cover up.  No dress, shirt or shorts for this girl.  I may have only laid there, but I did a great job actually showing the skin I’m so afraid for others to see.
• I ATE PASTA.
• How did I triumph?  Well, I ate it!  I must admit though, I think the reason I was so comfortable with it is because I knew how many calories were in the rice noodles, which was about the same amount that would be in the mound of rice I would have had if this were a stir fry.  BUT, OMG I ATE IT!  Such an accomplishment for me.  And I can’t THANK ALL OF YOU ENOUGH for all your kind words and encouragement to give me the ability to accomplish it.

It’s days like these that let me see how far I’ve come since the days where all of these things would have had me stressed out for days, maybe even weeks.  Not to sound selfish, but I amaze myself at the amount of progress I’ve made over the years, and even the past few weeks by opening up to all of you.  So THANK YOU! from the bottom of my heart.  You, your comments and that you still come back to read the blog mean the world to me every single day. ]]