Stuffed peppers- breakfast style!

A few weeks ago Marcus and I spent the weekend in Whitefish to celebrate my birthday.  I could not have asked for a better day!  The sun was shining, Marcus bought me roses, we had coffee and I headed out for a birthday run.  While I was gone, Marcus had a brilliant breakfast idea- scrambled egg stuffed peppers….and let me tell you, they were delish!  All the ingredients were leftovers we had brought to the condo, minus the eggs.  It is a new weekend staple for us, as we have made it since.

Ingredients-

2 eggs, 2 egg whites

Asparagus

Red pepper (or any color you like)

Goat cheese
Strawberries or other fruit on the side
Black pepper to taste

Instructions-

Pre heat oven to 350

Whisk eggs and egg whites in a bowl

Thinly slice ends of asparagus and add to egg mixture, scramble in pan until done

In the meantime cut tops off peppers and cut them in ½

Place on baking sheet in oven for 5-10 minutes until warm

Take peppers out of oven and scoop scrambled egg mixture into the halves and place in pan

Top with goat cheese and remaining asparagus

Place pan in oven for a few minutes until goat cheese is melted

Serve with sliced fruit and coffee- enjoy!

b.

p.s here is a view of Whitefish Lake from City Beach during my run

Treadmill Love

Lately, due to weather, I have been forced to find love on the treadmill.  I used to run most of my training runs on the treadmill and be okay with it, however the past 4 years I have learned that the outdoors is just SO MUCH BETTER!

A few weeks ago, we had a huge dump of snow, which pretty much made running out of doors impossible.  Luckily, the past few months, I had been doing one day each week on the treadmill.  Speed work.  I had two things in my favor.  First, my friend Kelly and I met to do our speed work together and she is awesome motivation and second, the constant change that speed work presents does, in fact make the workout not so mundane.  Now that I have spent a few more days each week on the treadmill in addition to the speed work, I needed to find a change up – and for that I chose to start running indoor hills!

Try this treadmill workout below if you need a new challenge, new routine or simply anything new!

            10 minutes warm-up

           

            ¼ mile at 4.0% incline (quick pace, but something you can maintain
            for the whole ¼ mile)

           

            ¼ mile at race pace (or if you don’t have a race pace, a pace that will
            challenge your legs and your lungs)

Repeat this sequence 4-6 times and end with a 5-10 minute cool down.  Some days when I had extra energy, I would increase the % incline by .5 each interval.  Try it! 

p.s – here is a picture of my mom and I before the PF Chang Rock n Roll 2012.  We both did awesome!

Eat and Exercise!!

Well, it’s been way to long since I have posted anything on this here blog of mine – I guess you can say, life got busy and a few things hit the ‘back burner’!  There are two things though, that I have stuck with through my crazy schedule and the holidays and those are eating healthy and exercising.

My friend Kelly told me about these mock mashed potatoes a while ago and I had been dying to make them, so finally one night I whipped up a batch for Marcus and I.  They went along really well with our roasted veggies and grilled salmon.  If you are a mashed potato lover, these are a must try for sure!  I decided to call them ‘cauliflower mash’.

Cauliflower Mash 

            1 head of cauliflower steamed

            Olive oil

            Fresh rosemary- chopped finely

            Garlic Powder

            Turmeric (may change the color of the cauliflower depending on how much you add)

            1 spoonful of cream cheese

            Black pepper

Steam the cauliflower and set in mixing bowl.  Add in all other ingredients and mash with a masher or mix with a hand held mixer.  Take a taste; if you feel it’s missing something add it in.  I don’t use salt much when I cook, so some may prefer to sprinkle in a little salt.

A few weeks ago I ran the P.F Chang Rock n Roll ½ marathon in Phoenix.  It was a great race for all – my mom walked 2 miles farther than last year, my aunt and 2 uncles finished the race and I ran my fastest ½ marathon to date!!  I owe my speediness to another friend of mine named Kelly as well.  She was my 5am morning speed work partner while I was training for the race.  Below is one of my favorite speed work days that we completed (I think we did this at least twice).

           

            ½ mile warm-up - easy

            2 x ¾ mile @ 7:47 pace

            3 x ½ mile @ 7:47 pace

            4 x  ¼ mile @ 7:47 pace or faster (after doing the other sets, these seems to

            fly by)!

            Walk 1-2 minutes in between each set, or until you feel ready to go again.

No matter now busy life gets, always make time for your nutrition and fitness!

b.