Paleo-ish Day of Eats

Hello Everyone!

Sorry for no posting as of late. There has been quite a bit going on over here! Probably the BEST thing happening is the weather–Spring has SPRUNG!!!

It is officially maxi-dress season–wooohooo!

Lately I am in a bit of a meal rut–however, I love what I am eating. If it is not broken, don’t fix it, right?

My regular breakfast is looking a lot like this:

Lots of water, mashed sweet potatoes, and Trader Joe’s applesauce (not the whole jar…)

For lunches, I have been totally loving Green Smoothies.  I think the warm weather has definitely made it all the more tasty!

Green Smoothie (Coconut milk, frozen banana, cinnamon and spinach) + drizzles of coconut butter = DELICIOUS!

My favorite snacks of late are the following:

Almonds and Raisins = salty and sweet

 

 

Pickles straight from the jar (yes, I took this picture in my car…I was running errands and saw pickles at the grocery store and needed to eat one IMMEDIATELY after getting into the car….no judgment people).

And, of course,

Trader Joe’s Kettle corn…so good!

Dinners have been many variations of the same theme:

Grilled chicken on salads–lately I have been loving a drizzle of balsamic vinegar or balsamic reduction in place of dressing–so yummy!  I keep expecting to get sick of chicken, but so far it has not happened.

 

What meals have you been loving lately? Does anyone else get in “happy” meal ruts? Do you feel the need to change it up?

PaleoRunnerGirl gets crafty

First of all, thank you so much for your hobby suggestions! I loved them and it made me very exciting to dive into the world of extra-curricular activities!

I actually embraced my first hobby yesterday–I decided to get crafty.  And let me tell you, this is the first time I have been crafty since probably middle school–I am NOT artsy in any way, shape, or form. But I was inspired by Pinterest and I decided to dive in!

I saw an amazing desk chair transformation by Joy from HowJoyful.com and decided to give it a go. You can see her more professional and legit endeavor HERE.

I gleaned from her process and adapted it to my lack of sewing and inability-to-follow directions nature.

I started off with your average, run-of-the-mill desk chair.

 

Guys, despite being SO comfortable, this thing is such and eyesore. It is boring and just so man-chair-esque.

I began by pulling out our tool kit (probably a first…) and taking the chair partially apart.

I then went to Lowes and bought a can of $4 white spray paint and got to work painting the bottom part and the arms.

I then went to Walmart to pick out fabric. Let me tell you, that was no easy task–there were SO many options.  I wanted to do something with polka dots, but they didn’t have any good polka dot colors–sadness. Then I decided my two requirements were: 1) Girly and 2) Will match my future yellow office!

Drum roll please:

 

IT’S PINK! 🙂

So I have no idea how to sew. I can sew a button on a shirt (very poorly), but that is the extent of my sewing skills. Thus, the key to my chair-making was this little guy:

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Yep–glue! This little beauty was my BFF!

I also loved using these tiny little yellow pins to hold awkward corners in place.

I like to think of them like buttons!

Aren’t the little white legs cute?

I am pleased with the turnout, I am just telling people not to look too close!

With the paint, glue, and fabric, this chair project cost $27. I think it was worth every penny! It makes me actually excited to grade papers for the rest of my life. And, it is going to look darn good in my future yellow study! 🙂

Are you crafty? Any crafting suggestions or websites I should check out? I need to find my next project!

In Need of a Hobby!

Much to my utter sadness, my time with these two cuties is quickly coming to an end…

(The girls love saying “ahhhhh” and having me look at their throat with a flashlight…I have trained them well!)

My hours nannying are gradually diminishing as we get closer to our moving date in May.  While I recognize that this is, in fact, ideal, my heart aches in anticipation of actually leaving the twins.  Seriously, I get tears in my eyes just thinking about it.

This means that for the next 6 weeks I have a bit of extra free time on my hands.  In May I will begin teaching two college literature courses (on top of my full-time job…yeah, I have issues with whole “saying no!” thing). With this in mind, I want to be sure to take some time to relax BUT I SUCK AT IT. I am literally the WORST relaxer on the face of the earth. It actually makes me super angsty and I begin cleaning everything.

Consequently, I am officially looking for a hobby. Any recommendations? I have always considered running a hobby, but a girl can only run so many miles every day. I also love cooking, but there again, you can only cook so much when you only live with one person.

Perhaps we should get a pet…

(This is a picture of our one and only pet–our fish–Kathleen Kelly.  We actually had to re-gift our fish to a friend because it turned out to be too much responsibility…)

I keep gravitating toward the idea of getting a pet, but I know that this is NOT the right time with the whole move coming up and the fact that once May comes, both Chase and I will be working 24/7.

Chase suggested that we start rock climbing….

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I have no idea why since the last time I climbed ANYTHING was at least a decade ago. I am probably one of the most accident prone people in the world, so boulders are probably a no-go for me.

I plan on reading books:

These in particular….

However, reading hundreds of graduate papers is still my full time job, so I don’t exactly want to be reading 24/7.

What are your hobbies? Any suggestions? What would you do in my situation?

AWP Part II and Bad Travel Luck

This weekend was filled with writing, writing, and more writing.  I attended sessions about writing, talked about writing, and, in every free moment, I was working which entailed reviewing graduate student writing.

 

There was a GREAT deal of iced tea consumed this weekend. Whenever I hang out with Mumsie–iced tea always tastes so dang good. I guess all of her Southerness rubs off on me!

Speaking of Southern, probably one of the best, and very Southern foods that we encountered this weekend, was Sweet Potato soup.

I think I have had sweet potato soup one other time, years ago, and oh boy! This soup was delicious! We found it at a little restaurant in downtown Chicago called the Custom House.

 

 

My mom has entrusted me with the challenge to replicate this soup as soon as possible.  Does anyone have any good sweet potato soup recipes they want to share?

Yesterday was spent running all around Chicago Midway airport!

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Do you ever have a travel day where nothing can go right? That is what happened to me.  You see, both my mom and I were flying out of Chicago Midway airport, but we were on 2 different airlines.  Our departures were around the same time so we shared a taxi to the airport.  During the whole 30 minute ride our driver was screaming in a different language and coughing up a lung (and NOT covering his cough). It was so stinking stressful! Plus, we were running a little late so this just added to the angst.

When we finally arrived at the airport, I wanted to be sure to be the one lifting my mom’s suitcases because she was not feeling well and the last thing she needed was to carry baggage.  I got her bags checked in and then sprinted to the baggage check for my flight–of course there was only 1 person working.  Needless to say, after more waiting and stressing, I got through to security but, in my hurry, I  had completely missed the chance to say goodbye to Mumsie.  This just would not do, so I stalked the flight info and found out which gate she was departing from and RAN from my terminal (C) all the way to the end of terminal B to find her.  I was able to say goodbye and hug her one last time and then run to back to my terminal (in heels, by the way.)

Once I made it to my terminal, and breathed a HUGE sigh of relief, I checked my back pocket for my boarding pass and IT WAS NOT THERE. In all the hullabaloo, I had managed to lose my pass.  I thought this would not be a big deal and just walked up to the gate agent and asked if I could get a new pass printed–no such luck. Of course, she had no computer access in this terminal and I would need to go to terminal A to get a new pass. So I went running through the airport once again–knowing that boarding would begin in 10 minutes.  Let’s just say that I am now the fastest high-heeled runner EVER.

I was able to get back to my gate (with a new boarding pass in hand) in time, and as I was boarding I was, of course, selected to be searched by TSA.  I guess my frazzled look and Ann Taylor sweater set made me look like a person of interest–COME ON PEOPLE! However, I tried really hard to happily oblige and kept my mouth shut.GAH!

After a happily uneventful layover in Detroit, I made it back home to Bethlehem.

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The second I walked into our apartment I banished my heels to the back of my closet and was dressed in my PJs in less than 1 minute. Chase and I had a glorious night in and caught up on our TV shows–a little Office and Criminal Minds.  I then managed to fall asleep before 9:00PM. It was awesome.

Do you have any traveling horror stories? How was your weekend? What is your ideal Sunday night?

AWP 2012: Part I

Hello from Chicago! Even though this is my third time in Chicago, for the first time, I feel like I have gotten a really expansive glimpse of the city and it is SO fun! It really is a mini-New York City!

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Yesterday, I arrived at the Palmer House Hilton at 11am.

 

I  met my mom in our very spacious and modern room.

After getting settled, we headed over the the Chicago Hilton to pick up my registration and conference it up for a bit.  While the weather is a bit nippy, it was really fun to walk around the city! I have the WORST sense of direction and I did A-ok navigating, so that speaks volumes about the city.  We are very close to the Art Institute of Chicago and right on Lake Michigan, so it is a beautiful part of the city.

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On a whole, the city is very clean and safe! There are tons of shops and places to eat and many hotel options.  I love the Palmer House because it has so much history and the décor is truly amazing.

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Last night we adventured out to dinner at one of the delectable Italian restaurants. If you are a fan of Italian food, Chicago KNOWS how to make truly excellent fare.  When I am traveling, especially in a city with insanely delicious dining options, I tend to shift my eating to a more Primal style (as opposed to Paleo, Primal eating allows some full fat dairy).  As long as I eat dairy in moderation and not too frequently, my stomach tolerates it.  This is perfect for times, like last night, when I am in an incredibly amazing Italian restaurant and want a bit of fresh, local cheese.  While I may have to avoid gluten, a bit of good cheese now and then totally makes up for the loss.

We went to Rosebud–a little restaurant in the theater district.  Everything looked fresh and tasty and the staff went above and beyond to accommodate any and all dietary restrictions and preferences. Knowing that I could not eat gluten, they created the most delicious Grilled Chicken Parmesan with Asparagus.

It HIT the spot. Gosh, it was so yummy! And the asparagus was divine!

Today, I began the day with a 7 mile run in the Palmer House fitness center. This place was magical. They had a mini-fridge full of chilled towels for a post-run freshen up—AWESOME!

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By the time I finished my run, I had completely missed any and all breakfast opportunities, so we ended up eating a salad for brunch.  It may not be my normal breakfast food of choice, but it was delicious, no less.  Plus, with such a healthy lunch, it made me all the more excited for our big non-conferencs event: The Chicago Cupcake Taste-off.

 

In between conference events, Mumsie and I did what we do best—critique cupcakes.  While I have to avoid the cake, it does not mean I am not still a very excellent judge of frosting.  Whenever we get together, Mumsie and I have been expertly critiquing cupcakes for the past 5 years and consider ourselves quite experienced cake and frosting critics.

 

Today’s cupcake competition was between Sprinkles and Magnolia.  The competition was VERY steep.

 

Sprinkle’s cupcakes had AMAZING frosting—very smooth, and the texture of the cake was springy perfection.  They also allow you to buy frosting shots–um, YES PLEASE. (The cinnamon cream cheese is bananas–so stinking good!) My mom stated that it was the best white cake she had ever had.

 

Magnolia’s frosting was incredible—but just a smidgen too sugary sweet for me.  Don’t get me wrong, it was YUMMY—but the flavor nuances were just not quite up to Sprinkles’.  When we taste cupcakes, we do it like wine–we do not finish the cupcake.  It is kind of ridiculous. We take tiny bites and attempt to note all of the various aspects that make a good cupcake–the cupcake workers thought we were CRAZY, but we didn’t care!

 

Who needs wine tasting when you can gave cupcake FROSTING tastings?  In my book, few things in life are better than buttercream frosting. It is the simple things in life, right?

 

Mumsie and I also squeezed in a bit of shopping on Michigan Avenue—otherwise known as the Magnificent Mile. It has every single store in the world—Saks, Bloomies, Tiffany and Co., Cartier, you name it—Michigan Avenue has it!

 

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We meandered into Banana Republic and left with this beauty for me (it actually looks MUCH better and less poofy in person):

 

And this gem for Mumsie (actually hers is a different color combination–and even MORE adorable):

 

Also, we dropped into J Crew and  Mumsie  found a VERY amazing dress that she FORCED me to try on…We then proceeded to buy it toot-sweet. However, it will remain a secret until a later date–don’t worry, it is DARN cute!

Tonight, after a conference session, we decided to call it an early night. We grabbed dinner at the hotel restaurant, which was all about local food–so it was yummy and relaxed,  just what we both needed!

 

So far our trip has been amazing.  I am officially Chicago’s new best friend! 🙂

 

What is your favorite city?  What do you like to do in new cities?

 

What I am Loving Right Now

Right now I am on a plane headed to Chicago for the Association of Writers & Writing Programs conference.

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While my true love is teaching literature, my full-time job right now is ALL about writing, so I think it will be a valuable weekend.  What is even more important about this conference is that Mumsie will be there, too!  My mom also teaches writing, so we are going to hear a lot of amazing writers talk about their craft, get a TON of free pens (I heart free stuff), and have some quality mother/daughter bonding–YAY!

I will try to blog as much as possible, but I am not sure how much time I will have.  I am excited to explore Chicago, as I have only been there twice.

In the meantime, I thought I would share some of my current favorite things:

1) Reading:

I have decided to fall back in love with reading.  I am making an effort to take time to read–I think all of the plan travel will definitely be a prime opportunity to dive into a book I picked up from the library:

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I have heard nothing but good things about this book, and I feel like a solid non-fiction book is just what I need right now.   Has anyone read Anne Lamott?

2) My bird necklace:

For Valentine’s day, Chase surprised me with this amazing necklace made by a local artist. It has two little Wren birds on a limb.  I am not a big jewelry person–my jewelry box basically consists of 19 variations of pearl necklaces and earrings–that is it.  Every time I wear it, it makes me smile!

3. Fruit and Nut mix:

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Over Christmas, I received individual serving size packages of this amazing mix from Costco–Santa really knows his trail mix! This is actually a perfect Paleo blend–but it is yummy regardless of your eating style–promise!

It is a mixture of  Walnuts, Almonds, Pistachios, cranberries, and dried cherries.  I have a tendency to pick out the cherries and walnuts first, but ultimately I eat it all.  It is a great snack when I am out running errands or just need something to tide me over.

 

What are you loving this week?

Success: Paleo Green Monster

For quite some time in the  blog world, I have read about “Green Monsters.” For those of you unfamiliar with the Green Monster, it is not a superhero, but a smoothie made with spinach.  I tried making one of these spinach smoothies 2 years ago and definitely did not make it correctly because I tasted the spinach–not pleasant. As much as I try, I do not have Popeye’s proclivity to spinach.

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As a person that is all about healthy eating, I am always a fan of adding vegetables to my daily eats any way I can.  I always thought that the Green Monster would be a great way to accomplish this goal.

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When I saw Michelle from Our Dream, Made out of Real Things successfully make one that did NOT taste like spinach–I was motivated to give it a go and tweak it to be Paleo-friendly.

Here are the key players:

 

Bananas (I actually used frozen banana slices, but they are NOT photogenic), coconut milk, and almond milk.

 

Ground Cinnamon and Spinach.

 

I discovered that the secret is in the cinnamon–and lots of it! It completely masks the taste of the spinach. I would also like to add that I am a card-carrying member of the super taster club, so when I said that I could not taste the spinach I REALLY mean it!

 

I combined the following ingredients in these amounts:

1 1/2 frozen, chopped banana

1 cup (loosely packed) spinach

1/2 -1 tsp cinnamon

1 cup almond milk

1/3 cup coconut milk

1) Blend in a blender or food processor. Add more liquid if needed.

I like to serve mine with coconut butter drizzled on top. It bulks up the smoothie with a dose of healthy fat, which gives it extra staying power. Plus, a little coconut butter in each bite makes it taste extra delicious!

Today my schedule was a little wonky so I did not go running until noon.  After long-ish runs I am not very hungry, but I know that I need to refuel so this smoothie totally hit the spot! I am sure this will be extra delicious when the weather warms up!

 

Have you ever tried adding spinach to a smoothie? Would you try it?

Catch-up

Happy Monday!

 

I think I am back in the game! I am finally feeling better and am fully recovered—phew! On a whole, there has not been too many interesting things happening; however, we did have a pretty eventful weekend.  After hearing predictions that gas is going to be reaching $5/gallon by Memorial day last week, Chase and I had a “family meeting” and decided that our time as SUV owners needed to come to a close.

We bid farewell to my dear Oscar (yes, we name our cars):

 

And welcomed Gilbert, the Nissan Altima.

 

 

This is the very first car I have ever bought. As the youngest, I was the hand-me-down girl.  I drove a beat-up 1991 Volvo throughout high school and college, so it felt VERY “adult” to walk into a dealership and actually buy a car.

 

Besides buying a car and babysitting, was having an official date night yesterday.  Chase and I have not had an exclusively designated “date night” in quite some time.  While our plan was unoriginal—dinner and a movie. It was wonderful.

 

We grabbed dinner at a tapas restaurant in downtown Bethlehem.  Does anyone else love tapas as much as I do?!  I feel like they make eating dinner so much more exciting because you get to taste so many different things!

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Chase relaxed with a non-alcoholic beer. He is such a nerd (said in the most LOVING way!)

 

And I was a complete class act with my BYOK (Bring Your Own Ketchup).  I remembered ahead of time that this restaurant does not carry ketchup (the horrors!) so I did what any girl would do–packed my own! (I knew Emmy would support my decision, as she carries hot sauce in her purse).

 

 

After dinner, we went to see Act of Valor.

 

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While this movie did not get high critical reviews (the acting was not great as the “actors” were REAL Navy seals), it had high viewer ratings.  We both really liked the movie.  I think the fact that Chase is going to actually be doctoring military kids made the movie even more personal.  It is SO crazy to see what happens behind the scenes.  The movie made me realize how much I take for granted.  It requires so much sacrifice to keep this country safe.  The movie also made me really want to meet a Navy Seal.  It has officially been added to my bucket list.

 

What is on your bucket list?

 

Sadness

There will be no Groomes house this year.

Sadness.

Guys, I am not going to lie. I am pretty down in the dumps that the deal fell through.  We have decided to postpone the whole endeavor and move into an apartment for the first 6 months until we find a place.

We have lived in a 1 bedroom apartment for the past 5 years and I am SO sick of apartment living–especially since I primarily work from home.  I really wanted space! I wanted to paint and nest!  Currently, my couch doubles as my office and it looks like this may continue.  We are hoping to expand to a 2 bedroom apartment. I guess that is a happy thought.

The loss of the house on top of a CRAZY sinus infection and oober painful surgery on a cyst basically ran me into the ground. I will be taking a couple days off from blogland to recoup.

Farewell for now!

Frugal Frog Friday: Crockpot Paleo Chili

Happy Frugal Frog Friday

 

 

Today I am posting about a delicious, healthy, and frugal meal–probably one of my favorite meals ever–CHILI!  This chili can be quickly assembled and cooked in the slow cooker while you are at work or while you are enjoying your Saturday.  It tastes particularly good on these cold and rainy days that we have been having in Pennsylvania.

For all my non-Paleo readers, you can easily add a can of kidney or black beans if you like beans in your chili.  Instead of beans, I chopped up pieces of carrots and celery and they gave the consistency of beans (and boosted the veggie count!).  I like spicy chili so I add cayenne pepper; however, if you prefer a more mild flavor you can just leave it out!

While some may like shredded cheese on top, avocado is my topping of choice.  It adds a creamy flavor and provides a perfect counter to the SPICE of the chili.  Plus, you can’t go wrong with a nice dose of healthy fat!

 

Paleo Chili

1 tbsp olive oil

2 cups chopped onion ($.50)

1 lb lean ground beef ($4.92)

1) Saute onion and ground beef until the meat is cooked.  Pour it into a slow cooker.

2) Pour 2 (28oz cans) Crushed Tomatoes and 1 (6oz can) tomato sauce into the slow cooker over the meat. ($1.80)

3) Add 1 cup chopped celery and 1 cup chopped carrots ($.99)

4) Add spices:

2 tbsp Chili Powder

1 tsp Cumin

1 tsp Basil

1 tsp Oregano

1 tsp Old Bay Seasoning

1 tsp Garlic Powder

1/4 tsp Ground Mustard

1/4 tsp Cayenne Pepper

5) Mix all ingredients and cook on LOW for 6-8 hours

6) Garnish with avocado and love every single bite!

This meal cost less than $10 and serves 6–totally frugal frog and completely delicious!