Busy Mama Runs, Cooks, and Bakes - LOTS of great recipes here!!

BUSY day today!  I went out the door to the bus stop this morning at 7:40 in full run gear, runkeeper app ready to go, tunes ready to pump.  But, when I looked back at the front door, I saw my babies' faces pressed against the glass.   My husband had to work and was getting ready so I knew I had to go back in and get breakfast started for them instead of my run....but I did get on my treadmill after I laid my 1 y.o. down for a nap and ran 3.1 miles, as scheduled for my day 3 half-marathon training. 

I was done and did 20 real push ups (in 2 reps), pilates hundred, leg lifts (ab exercise), and a 5 minute stretch. 

So by this time I was really hungry and decided to make up a green monster smoothie! 

 1 cup organic unsweetened almond milk, or milk of choice
1 tbsp chia seeds or ground flax seed (I used chia)
1 tbsp nut butter (optional), but I used organic smooth PB, no sugar or salt added
1 scoop of protein powder
2 handfuls organic raw spinach
1 ripe banana, preferably peeled and frozen (mine was fresh, not frozen and it still turned out good)
Handful of frozen organic blueberries
1-3 ice cubes (I used 2 to overcompensate for my banana not being frozen)

Directions:

1. In a high speed blender, add 1 cup of almond milk. Now add in the chia or flax and nut butter and protein powder. Next, add the spinach followed by the banana & blueberries on top.

Blend until smooth.

All I can say is YUM!  This is my new go-to drink for after my runs/workouts!  This was huge too.  I couldn't finish it all (had about 1/3 of it left) so I had to put it in the fridge for later.

For lunch was one of my FAVE soups from Amy's, Spanish red beans & rice, served with a whole wheat pita (tore up in pieces, with fresh cracked pepper, and broiled for 3 min).

After I got home from picking up my son from pre-k and laid my 1 y.o. down for his afternoon nap, I went to work in the kitchen!  Here are some highlights of what I made this afternoon, with recipes and pics:

Whole Wheat Breadcrumbs

2 pieces whole wheat bread
1 t onion powder
1 t garlic powder
1/4 c organic grated parmesan cheese

• Toast bread completely, allow to cool down.

• Tear up toast and put in food processor, and add in onion powder, garlic powder, and parmesan.  Process until you have a relatively fine mixture.
• Store in fridge for 1-2 wks or freeze.  I found that they don't change consistency if put in the freezer (as long as it is in a tightly sealer, freezer safe container).

Whole Wheat Pizzas

I made up 3 pizzas, baked them at 450 degrees for 4-5 minutes each (half-baked), waited for them to cool down, wrapped them in cling wrap and stuck them in the freezer for quick lunches/dinners.

The whole wheat pizza/bread recipe is found on this blog.  On each pizza, I added 1.5 T homemade pizza sauce, grated organic mozzarella cheese, and 1/2 c Morningstar veggie crumbles. 

Banana & Flaxseed Peanut Butter Cookies

Yes these were SO GOOD I had to make another batch, plus Mike has been begging for them!  My recipe is found on this blog.  No butter or sugar, people but ridiculously delish! 

And here was what I cooked for dinner:
Fettuccine with zucchini ribbons (adapted from eMeals)

 

1⁄3 c packed fresh cilantro leaves  
1⁄3 c packed fresh parsley leaves 
 1⁄4 c chopped sweet onion
1⁄4 c olive oil
2 T red wine vinegar
2 t minced garlic
 3⁄4 t salt
3 medium zucchini
1⁄2 - 16 oz pkg whole wheat fettuccine (I actually used brown rice spaghetti because I had it on hand)



Combine cilantro, parsley, onion, olive oil, vinegar, garlic, and salt in a food processor. 

Pulse until smooth. Place in a lg shallow bowl. Using a vegetable peeler, peel long strips to make ribbons from zucchini. 

Cut strips in half lengthwise. Add to cilantro mixture. 

Cook fettuccine according to package directions. Drain and add immediately to cilantro mixture; tossing to coat. Serve immediately.

Chickpeas & Spinach (adapted from clean eating mag)

INGREDIENTS:

• 2 tsp olive oil
• 18 oz fresh baby spinach
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 15-oz can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
• 2 tbsp dry whole-wheat bread crumbs (see recipe above)
• 1/4 tsp ground cumin
• 1/4 tsp sea salt
• Fresh ground black pepper, to taste
• 1 tsp red wine vinegar

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Heat oil in a skillet on medium-high. Add spinach and garlic and sauté until spinach is just wilted, 2 to 3 minutes.
2. In a medium bowl, combine chickpeas, bread crumbs, paprika, cumin, salt and pepper.  Add chickpea mixture to spinach and cook until beans are heated, 3 to 4 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in vinegar.

 Here is what the final product looked like:

I actually ended up mixing the pasta with the spinach chickpeas.  And it was AMAZING.  I made a loaf of homemade artisan bread with it too (since I had the dough out from the pizzas earlier).

Chris loved it, he had 2 portions!  Growing boy! 

I'm not sure if it was the green monster or what but I had tons of energy today to get all this baking done! 

Thanks for reading!!