Bad smoothie luck

It being fall, I found a new smoothie recipe that was a healthy version of pumpkin pie. I was all excited for my fall breakfast post cross-fit class. I got the recipe from Our Family Eats. I was a little hesitant because it is so many ingredients for 5:30 in the morning. I knew I needed a couple practice runs. The first time I made it, the smoothie turned out perfect.

I tried to make it again two more times. Both were epic failures. The first morning, I measured the dry ingredients and left them in the blender overnight for a quick morning. I also didn't measure them. I eyeballed the portions. In the morning it somehow all congealed together, so it didn't blend. The next morning I planned to take things back to square one, so I measured everything out that morning. The only thing I did different was add extra ice. Due to that all the oat meal did not blend so my smoothie was a chunky mess. After the last attempt I gave up on my pumpkin smoothie. The first time it really did turn out well, so I do recommend the recipe. It's just too complicated for a poor cook like me.

After having my bad luck with my pumpkin smoothie I went back to just my normal yogurt, banana, frozen berry smoothie with almond milk. That morning instead of almond milk, I grabbed the vanilla creamer and pored 3/4 cup into my smoothie! I dumped as much as I could out into the sink, but my smoothie still tasted pretty gross. After this last experience I'm back to my poor breakfast of cereal (it also helps that I switched cross-fit gyms, more on that later). I think I will switch back to my usual green smoothie. That seemed to work out really well for me.

Kale Chips

First of all, sorry I've been such a slacker. My lack of racing this year has equaled a lack of posting. I'll try to do better.

So I have heard about this magical vegetable call kale. It is supposed to help you live longer, feel better, and it will probably give us the ability to fly as well. I have also heard a lot of people don't like kale because it is bitter and gross. Due to this Kale scares me. I don't want to ruin my beautiful smoothie with a gross bitter vegetable. I had heard from some of my facebook friends that kale is absolutely delicious in chip form. So the next time it popped up in my organic bin I decided to not substitute it out and to give it a try.

Making kale chips is really easy. You take one bunch of kale, cut the ribs out (basically the stuff that is not the green leaf). Then you dress it in olive oil and salt (mix it up in a bowl like it is a salad). Then you lay out the leaves on a baking sheet, like I did in the picture below.

You then bake it on 350 for twenty minutes, until crisp. My first batch turned out only okay. I think part of it was the type of kale I used (see above it is extra veiny) and I thought it would be good to put bacon salt on it (not good, it was/is gross). What I do love is how it crunches and then disappears in my mouth. I can see how it is an addicting snack. I can only describe it similar to popcorn.

I have yet to try kale in my smoothies. I really like my spinach smoothie so I think I am going to stick with that. I'll try to post that recipe next week.

Spokane or Bust!

This weekend is the Spokane Bloomsday 12k! For those who are not from the area, it is an annual race held in Spokane, Washington. The website says it is in it's 35th year. It is currently averaging 50,000 runners a year. Last year, my first time running it, there over 55,000 people signed up, with just over 50k finishing. Seattle Rock and Roll limits their registration right now to about 30,000 people. The population of Spokane, Wa is estimated at only 205 thousand people. That is a lot of runners. You also have to finish the race to get your race shirt, which is a little different. Needless to say, I am really excited! It is hard not to when you see how much the whole town gets into this race. Last year my time was 1:19:36. I expect to be much slower than that this year. I think I am going to go for around 1:30 for a goal.

After passing so many people during my last race I felt inspired to purchase this shirt from Zazzle.com. On the front it reads "running for two" and on the back it says "you just got passed by a pregnant runner". I am excited to wear it and to see what kind of response I get during the race, although I don't think I will be passing a lot of people. I do not look pregnant either, so we will see if anyone really notices.

I was actually able to run four miles yesterday! That is the first time I have been able to since March 6th. It was hard and slow. My average pace was close to twelve minute miles and I have to stop to walk on hills because my heart rate gets too high (which makes me feel nauseous and dizzy). My average heart rate was still 150 with a max at 178. I feel pretty comfortable with that. I need to watch those 170s though.

H and I had an attempt on making onion soup out of my Best of Clean Eating Cook Book (my Amazon Associates Account isn't linking properly. I'll fix it later. Grrr). It did not turn out good at all. If we try to make it again we will skip adding the vanilla to it. When we were done it tasted a lot like water with onions floating in it. We ate the cheese croutons as a snack and ordered pizza. Better luck next time.