Chia pudding and granola

Yesterday I had more fun in the kitchen. I decided to get a few items ready for breakfast. I started with sauteing some veggies for some muffin "quiches". I added onion, mushroom, zucchini, garlic, and a bunch of watercress greens. For spice I did a touch of salt, some pepper and some turmeric. Once cooled, I added 6 eggs and mixed it all together. I greased my muffin tin with coconut oil and added scoops to each one, which I ended up with 9. I baked it in the over at 350 for about 20 min

Can't wait to try them! The mason jar on the left is chia pudding. I took one can of coconut milk, mixed it with half a cup of sprouted chia seeds, with about 1/4 cup of vegan chocolate protein powder and I added about 3 tbsp of maple syrup and mixed it all together and it's all about letting it sit for a while till the chia seeds do their magic. I tried a bit of it and it was delicious! In the background, it's just my Epicure books.

Today I went back to the kitchen to prepare a few more things. I started with preparing my pork roast. I seared it in a pan with some Dijon mustard and salt and pepper. In my slow cooker, I cut up a small onion and a carrot and added that to the bottom. I pored in a can of beer, and then added some fresh parsley and rosemary. I added the roast in and it's been cooking on low since about 10:30 this morning. I then got busy with preparing my pasta salad with an Asian sauce. The dressing I got from the Pioneer Woman on her site right here. Note that instead of the brown sugar I used honey.

I started off by boiling some water and added in some brown rice pasta shells and cooking that up. My veggies were these: 4 green onion, a zucchini, 3 small peppers (red, orange, yellow), some pea sprouts, and I got a bag of shredded carrot, cabbage and broccoli, so I added a bunch of that in there to.

 Mixed everything in a large bowl and then added it to a bowl to store in the fridge. I then had some quinoa soaking for a few hours in water, so I drained that, added about a half cup or so of sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, cashews, walnuts and just a little bit of slivered almonds, I didn't have much left of it. I added the quinoa (1 cup), and then added 6 tbsp of coconut oil with 6 tbsp of maple syrup. I mixed it all in a bowl, then on a cookie sheet I added parchment paper and spread everything out and baked it in the oven at 325 for 20 minutes. Half way through I tossed it.

It's now in a mason jar in my fridge. The plan is to have some granola with my chia pudding. So I'm quite set for the week and I'm looking forward to eating it all.

I also did my long run for the week, and did another 10 km run. My time was a little better then last week and I am getting stronger cause it's becoming easier

So I was again watching a run on my tablet, and from what you see on the treadmill my time is an hour, 7 minutes and 18 seconds. The time and distance flash back and forth so decided to show the time this week where last week I showed the 10 km. Soon time to get the rest of supper ready, I will make some mashed potatoes and roasted asparagus with the pork. I am still trying to eat vegetarian, fish and shrimp only as much as possible but I will have a bit of the pork roast today, and get back on track tomorrow. Weekends I tend to be a bit more flexible.

Hope everyone had a great weekend!

Endometriosis and running

Although my endometriosis is a lot better then it use to be, it's still not completely gone and I do still suffer from some pain from time to time. I experienced a bit of pain this week so I decided to eat like I should to help prevent endometriosis pain. I feel like my body needs it, plus it's a great way to eat very healthy which will help my training for the half marathon in May. So I planned ahead, did groceries, and got into the kitchen today to prep some things for my lunch this week. I first started last weekend with preparing more kombucha

 

My brother gave me a scobby and some of the fermented drink in order for me to make my own. He gave this to me a while back, and I have been making more cause it's delicious! You have to let it ferment for at least 7 days, and this is it all ready, which it's been 9 days since it's been fermenting. I kept the scobby and some of the drink for another batch that I'll start in a few days, and the remaining I put into bottles with a slice of ginger in each. Now they need to sit for 3 days before it can go in the fridge to drink it up. I can't wait cause I ran out today.

I took out a cookbook that I haven't looked at in a while called Quinoa revolution and saw a recipe for a breakfast that I wanted to try out. I tasted it and it's really good! I can't wait to have that tomorrow morning. It only made two batches so the rest of the week for breakfast, I'll probably have some eggs with healthy bread or maybe just a protein shake with some oatmeal. Here's the recipe and my two bowls

Next step was getting one more thing ready, I sauteed some tempeh with a bit of gluten free tamari and some turmeric powder. I haven't had tempeh in a while so I tried one and it's just as good as I remember it. So simple and a great source of protein. I didn't have to prepare that many things today, cause during the week I made a brown rice risotto. I used some vegetable broth and added in some mushrooms and at the end I put in a bit of goat cheese to add some creaminess to it. I have a bit left over so that will make a good lunch along side my tempeh or I also bought some Falafel, another vegetarian option for protein. They have nothing but healthy ingredients and I have had them before and they are so yummy!. I saw they had a black bean burrito salad that looked and sounded good so I grabbed that as well at the health food store to try it out

I also have some salad and veggies and dip to have with these during the week. Suppers will be salmon, shrimp or vegetarian dishes. I did also do some running today. There's still way to much snow out there, you can actually see how our BBQ is almost all buried from the snow in the above picture, plus it's cold and icy so I play it safe and run on the treadmill. Although it's really tough to do cause I don't find running on the treadmill as fun as running outside. We are getting closer to March though so hoping the weather starts getting warmer soon so I can get out there. In the meantime, today I managed to do 10 km

Yes I do have my tablet with me with a video of someone running through the woods. It makes the run a bit more interesting cause as you can see our basement is not finished and there's junk down there so there's not much to look at, so my tablet helps. This run took me an hour and 8 min, not the best time but pretty good considering it's on a treadmill. I'm feeling it now, my legs are sore and I'm feeling quite tired but I'm doing pretty good so I can be ready for the half in May.

I did another recipe from the quinoa revolution cookbook for supper tonight that sounded really good. It did have chicken in it and my plan was to cook it aside but it was just easier to cook it all in one pan, and I thought I could use the protein since I did run 10 km. So I enjoyed one meal with chicken for supper and tomorrow I will start fresh with avoiding meat, meaning vegetarian, fish or shrimp only.

It was delicious! It had a nice kick of spice to it but nothing crazy. We both really enjoyed it. It's called Kung Pao chicken quinoa. There's two lunch size containers of left overs so my hubby will get to enjoy it for his lunch this week. Tomorrow's supper will be salmon and I can't wait!

So this coming week will be 2 more runs of 5 km each and a longer run over the following weekend, and I will also do some weights cause that's also important in my training. I am looking forward to enjoying the food I have prepared, and I want to take a look at more recipes for more ideas on what I can make for the following week.

Back in the kitchen

From my last post I talked about a root veggie tumeric soup that I was going to try out from Joyous Health, and I did make it. It turned out really good!

I had a few lunches and the rest I put in the freezer to enjoy another time. I have 3 mason jars, which I'm thinking to take one out soon. If you want the recipe I linked it on my last post.

I also talked about carrot cake cookies, these were a hit, even hubby loved them!

I will for sure make these again and again! They tasted delicious and the bonus is they are very healthy! So healthy that you can eat them for breakfast. Again thank you to Joyous Health for this amazing recipe!

I had to take a bit of a break from cooking, I went on a trip with my dad and cousin to Punta Cana. It was so great to spend that time with them, and it was also nice to escape the cold weather and snow for a week.

We got to spend some time with our new friend Romeo (dolphin), got to spend time with Pirates and went snorkeling, which we also got to see nurse sharks and sting rays. Anne and I got to enjoy a ride on a boat while getting pampered! We did a lot of swimming, walking and met some great people.

I have been back a while but it's been busy. I'm getting back on track so I'm ready for my half marathon with Samantha. She texted me on her progress and she did amazing time for a 10 km run so that was a push for me to train harder so yesterday I ran 7 km. It was tough towards the end but felt great to get further in my running. First time that I'm doing this long of a distance on a treadmill. I have always found it easier to run outside then on a treadmill, but since I got bronchitis, I can't seem to handle that much cold air, so I am training indoors on a treadmill since it's been quite a cold winter, it's icy and we have so much snow out there!

I figured out a way to make it a bit more interesting. At first I tried watching a show on netflix through my tablet but I still struggled to get far in my run, so I went back to music and I found I did a bit better. I do have a treadmill but it's in my basement which isn't done, so it's not really interesting to look at while running. Yesterday I did a bit of a search for running in the woods and I found this great video of a trail through the woods, so you get to see different trees, even people going by, and different views of fields and stuff so I gave it a try and I did way better with my run. I love looking at nature, it's so peaceful, relaxing and beautiful so I'm going to watching this video or others like it to help me get through my run on the treadmill. When I run at work, they do have tvs and there's others working out so it's a bit more interesting to help keep me running.

Still a long way to go to get to 21.5 km but luckily we have till towards the end of May to be ready.  I'm sure it will come quickly so I'll keep pushing forward to make sure I'm ready. I am really looking forward to warmer weather though so I can run outside again.Today I did weight exercises cause that's also important.

I will get back into the kitchen again to try out new recipes. Today's supper was some salmon, rice and salad. Nothing fancy but it was delicious! Well for my supper I only had the salmon and salad. I'm trying to eat as healthy as I can since that will help with my training to. Don't worry I am still eating healthy carbs but eating them for breakfast and lunch and keeping things lighter for supper.