Power Protein Bars

In an effort to rid myself (and my kids) from eating lots of HFCS (high fructose corn syrup), trans fats, and other yucky things, I am always experimenting with lots of clean eating recipes.

I found this one from the Eat-Clean Diet Cookbook and with some modifications, it is well worth the effort. They are not hard to make...just need to find some ingredients and make a yogurt cheese (sounds weird but harmless, i promise). My kids really like these as well and I hope they replace mr. quaker's so-called healthy bars every so often (sometimes you gotta give in to convenience!). A lot of these ingredients, if you don't use them often, can be purchased in the bulk sections of your health food store so you can just get what you need. And don't let the list of ingredients scare you...once you have them on hand you can make these again and again.

Power Protein Bars w chocolate and cranberries

1 cup whey or soy protein powder (I use Arbonne's Vanilla Protein Powder)

1/2 cup wheat flour

2 cups rolled oats (not instant)

1/2 cup oat bran (bulk section of health food store)

1/4 cup ground flax seed

1/4 cup whole flax seed (bulk section health food store-cheaper!)

1/2 cup wheat germ (by oats in Meijer or bulk section at health food store-cheaper!)

1 tsp sea salt

1 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp nutmeg

1/2 cup Sucanat, agave nectar, or honey (i used Sucanat which I found at the health food store)

1 cup chopped dark chocolate (or you can use nestle choc. chunks)

1 cup dried cranberries

1 cup yogurt cheese (see below about how to make this)

1/4 cup canola oil

2 tsp EVOO

1 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven 350 degrees. Coat 9x13 with cooking spray

In large bowl mix protein powder, flour, oats, oat bran, flaxmeal and flaxseed, wheat germ, sea salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, Sucanat. Stir in chocolate pieces and cranberries.

In another bowl mix yogurt cheese, oils and vanilla. Mix well. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients. You may have to use your hands (coat them with a bit of EVOO to prevent sticking).

Place mixture in 9x13 and press down to even out top. Bake for 15 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool. Cut into bars. Place these bars on a cookie sheet lined w/ parchment or a Silpat and bake again for 15 minutes. Remove from heat and transfer to cooling rack. Once cool, place in airtight container and store in fridge 2 weeks. Makes 20-24 bars, depending how big you cut them!

Calories per serving: 290

Protein: 15 g and Fat: 8 g

Yogurt Cheese

-place 4 layers of damp cheesecloth in a fine mesh sieve or colander. Place colander over a bowl.

-add low fat plain yogurt (for this recipe about 1 1/2 cups) and let it drain overnight in the fridge (i covered it all with seran wrap)

-discard water from bowl

The result of draining will leave you with soft creamy-cheese like product (Tosca says you can even use as cream cheese. not sure about that one).

Divas kick it with Ronald McDonald

Lisa, me and Peg at a chilly pre-race

Well, friends the first 5K of the season is behind us: The Ronald McDonald House 5K (Run for the House). It was great, albeit a bit of a hectic start to my morning. I get a bit OCD when I run races. I lay out my clothes neatly the night before. I also get the coffeemaker geared up for my pre-run cup of joe (you know, a girl's gotta make sure she hits the bathroom before she runs...). I put my D-tag (timing chip) on my sneakers (yes, i call them sneakers. back off.) and be sure my bib with my race number is pinned to my shirt.

This way, when I wake up, I just need to worry about the weather (it was a beautiful sunny crisp day...no worries there), drink my coffee, eat my banana w/ peanut butter (another ritual) and hit the loo (what am I, British?) before I head out the door. But there was a kink in my plans: 5 minutes before I need to pick up my girls (and Tom!), I do a final check. Sneakers-check. Race bib-check. After race attire-check. Ipod. Ipod? Where is my ipod? Where is my freaking IPOD?!?!

I frantically search and it is nowhere to be found. I see Zach's but mine is gone. Could he have mistakenly grabbed mine when he went for his 11 mile run earlier? I am cursing him under my breath as I grab his instead. I have GOT to have music. Unfortunately, it will have to be Zach's bang-your-head-against-the-wall-and-say-the-F-word music instead of the carefully laid out playlist with the likes of Lady Gaga and Black Eyed Peas that I had qued up for this race. *sigh*
Needless to say, I am jammed up. At least I have an excuse if I totally blow this run...

We waited patiently for the run to begin...it was a bit chilly to say the least. We had a few gals join our crew that have not run a 5K before (so proud of them!!!) so it was fun to feel their excitement. I lined up at the start and scrolled through Zach's interesting assortment of music to find a 5K playlist with some stuff I could handle. We set off and 2 minutes into it Lisa tells me we are at a 7 min mile pace. Whoa...we need to slow this train DOWN if I am going to last 3 more miles.

me (white) and Lisa (green) early in the race (Kim! Open your freakin eyes!!!)

But I pressed on. And on and on and on. I'd once over the person in front of me and if it was a female and she looked as if she was in my age group, I'd try to pass her. I claim I am not competitive but...maybe I am just a liiiiiiitle bit...

At the finish there were a couple of men and I decided I'd try to smoke them too (gotta give it up for girl power!!). I had the juice to get past one of them, but couldn't quite take the last guy on. I was so busy focusing on beating the boys that I was shocked to look up at the finish clock and see 23 minutes (i didn't even focus on the seconds). WHOOT WHOOT! I am under 24 minutes!!!

All I have to say is the Divas cleaned house at the Ronald McDonald 5K. Peg won the Overall Female Grand Masters runner (and I think a PR? or darn close!) and Lisa got 2nd place female in her age group and a PR. The other gals got automatic PRs since it was their first 5K and I hope they come out for another one! As for me, I was just so happy to rock it under 24 minutes, which was my goal. Officially I finished 23 min 38 seconds which got me first place female in my age group and a medal from Mr. Ronald McDonald himself (I have to say...he was a bit freaky...). All and all, it was a most successful day.

Now if I can only find that darn ipod...

Lisa, me, Sarah (a first 5Ker), Peg, and Danielle and Liam (our cheerleaders)

Me (a bit too excited) and Ronald McD at the awards ceremony

another one bites the dust

I am just a posting fool this week, huh? I guess I have lots to say! (and unfortunately lose track of the time my 4 year old is parked in front of Nick Jr.)

So the prep for the 11 mile run was well worth it. We took it a bit slower (average (9:30 on my Garmin). I guess we get gabbing (or in the Peg speed vacuum) and don't realize how fast we go. I felt great, just a little bit tired towards the end (I guess running 1 hour 40 minutes does that to you). Switched it up to a PowerBar Gel instead of GU. MUCH better. I had the chocolate flavor and it DID taste a bit like chocolate frosting...with a chemical twist. Not bad, though.

But, these long runs are never without event. We had the first fall of the season. And, wouldn'tcha know...it was me.

So we are speeding up Old 27 (the 4 lane highway we all sort of freak out running on) and turn on Dill Road, the quiet side street our water is parked on. Remember a few weeks back and our water incident? That was on Dill Road too.

I don't think I want to run on Dill Road anymore.

Anyway, as we turn onto the side street, this dog come flying out of nowhere. He is a Golden Retriever, so you know it's not Cujo or anything, but nonetheless a bit alarming when barrelling right at you. The owner is yelling for him to come home and he is NOT having any of that. I picture the dog thinking "OH BOY! OH BOY! We are going on a RUN! OH BOY! OH BOY!" as he wedges himself between Peg and me.

After that, "Non-Cujo" and I have a little dance. And at the end of this dance, there is no romantic kiss...just me kissing the road. "Non-Cujo" gets in front of me and I lose my footing. Then I am in slow motion. You know that slow motion feeling where you know you have no control over the situation at hand? It reminds me of every time my kids get hurt. Anyway, I know I am going down and I feel my ankle turn in the process. In that split second I am a little concerned about twisting my ankle, but much more concerned that my new Athleta capris will get ripped. So I put my hands down (hard) and then my knees follow, avoiding landing on my ankle. I stumble back up oh-so-gracefully and I am sure the view from the back was quite a sight. Immediately I scan the damage to the pants. Not ripped! Whoo hooo! Now, I can't say that for the palms of my hands or my knees. But at least I am still intact.

Thankfully our water stop was a few feet away and I can catch my breath and wash the gravel out of my road rash. We make it through the rest of the run incident free. I showed my "boo-boo" to Sam and he nursed me back with a little TLC and a Transformers bandaid.

Next week we bump it up to 12 miles and if I have anything to do with the route, Dill Road will not be a part of it!

speedy gonzales...

Do you remember the old Looney Tunes cartoons with that little mouse with the big sombero on his head? That old Slyvester the cat would try to catch him and POOF! there he would go...speeding away.

That's sort of how I felt last Friday in the beginning of our 11 mile run. Only I wasn't Speedy G. It was Peg and Sara, with their invisible somberos on their heads, shouting "¡Ándale! ¡Ándale! ¡Arriba! ¡Arriba!", and me panting like Slyvester in the back (Lisa hanging with me). When it was all said and done we averaged around a 9:20 pace for 11 miles...a little too fast for this cat (considering your long runs need to be 1-2 min per mile slower than your 1/2 marathon race pace). Now get me on a 5K and I'll ¡Ándale! my little butt super quick to the finish. But sista has to take her sloooooooooow on these longer jaunts.

And I also felt pretty darn awful after that run too. A bit sick to my stomach, a bit Gut Rot-esque and not wanting to eat (which you really should have some sort of recovery snack/drink post long run). Just BLECH. There are always so many factors to consider. Did we run too fast?(probably) Did I eat enough pre-run?(probably not) Did I drink enough water before?(that would be a no) Was it the GU I tried?(probably not)

We are doing our long run today (Wednesday) instead of Friday because most of us are racing in the Run for the House-Ronald McDonald 5K on Saturday morning (where I am planning on uttering a little "¡Ándale!" action for sure. Dare I say this race I try to break 24 minutes????). I am paying close attention to what i am eating pre run: I had a banana w/ PB (my fav pre run snack) for breakfast and a big bowl of Irish Steel Cut oats mixture (see below) for pre-run lunch. And I am drinking lots of H20. Also, I premade a protein smoothie with Arbonne chocolate protein powder (my fav), milk, banana and ground flaxseed and stuck it in the freezer so it will be ready for me to drink when i am done.

Now ladies...let's take it nice and sloooooooow :)

Kim's Steel Cut Oats

Cook Irish Steel Cut Oats according to package directions. In last 10 or so minutes of cooking, add a handful of raisins, a couple tablespoons of ground flaxseeds and one grated apple. When finished cooking add 1 handful of toasted walnuts and a tablespoon of natural peanut butter.

Challenge Food #2

OK-admittedly I think I have the adult version of ADD. I am one of those people that has multiple tasks going on at once, all in the midst of completion. Take this morning as an example. I start in the kitchen cleaning up breakfast dishes. I go into the fridge to put back the milk and notice some old leftovers. So I begin cleaning out the fridge. As I clean the fridge I notice we are out of OJ. So then I sit down with the paper so see what else is on sale and start my shopping list. Then I realize I don't know what's for dinner. So I start perusing through cookbooks to find something yummy. Something in the cookbook reminds me to email a friend about a different recipe. Before I log into my email, I remember that I was bidding on something that ends today on eBay, so I open another window to check that. As I am doing that, I look out the window and wonder what the weather will be like for our long run tomorrow, so I check weather.com. I think about running, and I think of this blog, so I open that up too. Which reminds me that I haven't done another challenge food on here. And here I am. I am sort of like that mouse in the book If you Give a Mouse a Cookie...

Anyway, I can promise you, based on the example above, that I will not be as consistent with the challenge food of the week as I had hoped. So let's just go for doing a challenge food anytime I think about it, OK? So....have you ever tried jícama (pronounced HEE-kah-mah? It is actually a Mexican potato and you can find it by the regular potatoes in our grocery store. You just peel it with a paring knife and chop or slice it up. If you have ever eaten the BBQ chopped chicken salad at California Pizza Kitchen (YUMO)they put jícama on top. It adds great crunch to salads, slaws and salsas, or a nice change of pace added to raw veggies and dip. It doesn't have much flavor...sort of takes on the flavor of whatever you pair it with. A very common way to eat jícama is to slice it like fries, sprinkle it with chili powder and salt and squeeze with some fresh lime...a yummy refreshing easy snack. Nice change from carrots and celery.

Here's a black bean salsa recipe from Cooking Light that I jazzed up with our challenge veggie. I'd better get going. I've got 9 minutes to bid on my eBay item and I still have a table full of dirty breakfast dishes, a half cleaned out fridge, and a decision to make about dinner! Oh! And an email to send...and a...and a...

Black Bean, Avocado, and Jícama Salsa

2 cups chopped seeded tomato
1 cup diced peeled avocado
1 cup diced peeled jícama
1/2 cup chopped red onion
handful chopped fresh cilantro
juice of one squeezed lime
1 to 1/2 jalapeno pepper, chopped
few pinches salt
1 can black beans, rinsed and drained

Combine and chill 30 minutes before serving.

Cumin Chips (serve with above)

4 tsp lime juice
2 tsp canola oil
1/2 tsp ground cumin
12 6 inch tortillas (corn, flour, wheat)
salt

heat oven 375. Combine first 3 in a bowl. Brush tortillas with mixture. Cut each tortilla into 6 wedges. Arrange on baking sheet coated with cooking spray. Sprinkle with salt. Bake 30 minutes or so until crisp, rotating pans and turning chips every 10 minutes.

My life is one big lottery

I am impatient. My mother and my husband will attest to that. For example, I can't go to the grocery store during "busy times" (i.e. Saturday or Sunday afternoons). I hate navigating my cart around people deciding if Cocoa Puffs or Lucky Charms would be a better choice or the ladies having a casual conversation in front of the spaghetti sauce. I scan the checkouts looking for the least possible amount of people and items, only to ALWAYS pick the wrong line and get the person with 9 thousand coupons and most of them not scanning ("Did you really buy 5 boxes of cereal?"). In fact, on the rare occasions we do go to Meijer as a family (or anywhere that requires operating a cart for that matter) Zach doesn't allow me to drive the cart, for fear I will either 1. take someone out with it or 2. get into a fight.

So when I signed up for the New York City Marathon, in NOVEMBER, I mentally prepared myself for a bit of a wait. I studied the site, learning that 100,000 of my closest friends and I will be putting in an application in hopes to run 26.2 on November 7th 2010. Application deadlines are March 15th and our numbers get put into a lottery, which I assume (and read somewhere I am sure) will be drawn end of March. So I wait. And wait. And wait. March 15th comes (the IDES of March). Good. Now no one else can sign up for the race and the lottery will be drawn. For good measure, I check my stutus online, just in case they have chosen and haven't told us yet:


Welcome Kimberly
Marathon registration status: In Lottery
Entry number: 448421

Well, I suppose they'll draw in the next few days.
Not so much.

I get on NY Marathon Facebook Page where some dude named Ed Fortune (he is the site Admin. I wonder if he gets guaranteed entry into the race...sucker) posts one little sentance: Big news: The marathon lottery drawing will be held beginning on April 7, 2010.
Big news???? Are you freakin' kidding me? I have to WAIT another 3 weeks to find out? Good thing I am not in the grocery store with Ed. I'd run over his foot with my cart for sure.

The other waiting game encompassing my life right now is Kindegarten round up. A bit different than the marathon, but equally important to my sanity as a mother. We have decided to sign Sam up for the full day Kindegarten option for school next year. Our district offers 3 full time classes (the rest would be 1/2 day), so that's about 75 slots. And what happens if more than 75 kids sign up for the full day option? You guessed it people: Lottery time. Which would be held April 30th. More waiting. Grrrr. And heaven help Keith Cravotta (the principal) if he pushes that date back into May. He's getting mauled with the shopping cart too.

Well, one lottery at a time. First I'll concentrate on *patiently* waiting for April 7th. Sara and I decided that since that falls on Spring Break, we'll let the kids play and we'll stare at the computer all day. And depending on the outcome, we'll either celebrate, or commiserate, with a few cold beers. Maybe in the meantime I should play Powerball or something.

C'mon lucky number 448421.

To GU or not to GU?

So last week we fretted about weather for our long run on Friday. This week I have a different dilemma (although the projected 17-19 mph winds are a bit concerning for tomorrow afternoon. wishing that changes but we all know how well my wishes come true when it comes to the weather...). The conundrum (i SO love that word) is whether to fuel up mid-run with the tried-and-true (but pain in the ass to use come race time) Sport Beans or switch it up and try a GU.

For those wondering what in the heck I am talking about...
It is recommended if you are running (or cycling) for an hour or more you should take in some kind of energy every 30 minutes (and hydrate along with it). Old school would be the leather-like Powerbars (you know, the ones that you'd rip out your back molars trying to eat). Now there are more types of gels, beans, blocks, gummys, etc. than you can shake a stick at (that phrase is a shout out to my Pop-Pop in heaven). Since I've been running long, I've stuck to the beans. Now this is OK for the little water stops during Diva training. But trying to consume these suckers while you are actually racing (not that I am ever really "racing", but I like to think I pick the pace up a little during races...) is another story. You either try to suck the whole package down (approx. 10 beans) and wind up chomping and slopping, and drooling out your water, because your mouth is full of...well...a crap load of mushed up jelly beans! Or you drag it out by popping a few in your mouth at a time. Regardless, they stick in your teeth so you are losing your breathing trying to toungue them out, all the while your mouth gaping open. Not so pretty for that mile 8 photo-op!

The GU is in a little packet and its...well...GU I suppose. Let's just say I don't want to think about what it is because it has been described to me as something that about puts my gag reflex into overdrive (sorry Mom). There are a variety of flavors, from fruity to candy. I have heard the chocolate one tastes just like chocolate frosting. HIGHLY doubtful. But, I think the ease of getting one of those puppies down would be much easier than doing the Sport Bean "chompy chomp" (as my 4 year old describes my 6 year old at the dinner table).

So. *They* say you should experiment while training, never while racing. So the big test will be tomorrow. To GU or not to GU? I'd better bring a packet of beans just in case...