Posts Tagged by breakfast
My Go-To Pre Race Breakfast
| February 6, 2015 |
One question I always get from new runners is “what should I eat for breakfast on race day?” So I wanted to share my go-to pre-race breakfast with you: PB&J toast + banana + hydration
Technically speaking, I eat an AB&J (almond butter and jelly). And I guess if you want to get even more technical. I don’t own a toaster oven so I don’t actually eat toast unless I want to turn on the oven.
On average, one slice of whole wheat bread is around 12 grams of carbs. You can choose whatever bread you like but my favorites are the earthy nutty breads like Ezekiel bread. Adding the almond butter and jelly aid in flavor as well as providing a little bit of protein for muscle repair and extra sugar for additional carbs.
A banana is a good fruit option pre and post race because it’s a good source of potassium, B6, and magnesium. Potassium for me is very important. I am very prone to muscle cramps, especially in my toes due to my flat feet. With proper shoes, socks, and stretching I’ve been able to alleviate most of the problems I’ve come across during races, but I still struggle with the cramps from time to time and potassium is known to help prevent cramping. B6 is involved in transporting oxygen to the cells. This is vital for any athlete. Finally, magnesium helps to maintain healthy bones. With the prolonged pounding on your joints from running, magnesium is important if you plan to continue running through your 60s.
Last but not least, hydrate. If it’s race morning and you didn’t hydrate enough the past 2 weeks, this is not the time to make up for slacking off on your hydration routine. You don’t want a tidal wave swooshing in your stomach as you run. I like to drink about 1 bottle of water before the race depending on how much time I have from the moment I get up to the race start. I also like to add Nuun to my water. I’m a sucker for any flavored drink since I gave up soda and Nuun has added electrolytes – great for an athlete! Then I rely on the aid stations to provide my water along the course.
One big mistake you don’t want to make is trying something new on race day. What I shared with you above is what I personally do. But everyone is different and I am not a nutritionist. You’re training plan should have some long runs scheduled in. Plan to do your long runs at the same time of day that your race will start, that way you can get to know your own body and what it craves early in the morning.
… But let’s be honest. My race breakfast does NOT look like the photos above. It looks more like this. Packed the night before in a ziplock bag and a banana on the side.
It was freezing outside so I ate in my car with the heater at full blast until it was time to head to the start. This was before the Citrus Heritage Half Marathon. I did it last year for the inaugural event and had to come back for the 2nd annual race. It’s a beautiful run through the historic orange groves in Riverside and the sunrise was breathtaking! As I ran, I could smell the sweet citrus growing along the course.
Saying Hello to the Bunnies
| August 21, 2013 |
This week, I was a guest blogger on Rabbit Food For My Bunny Teeth.
Now if you haven’t checked out Catherine’s blog, you really should. Catherine is both a friend and sorority sister of mine and all her recipes are to die for. They are super easy to make and follow the Rabbit Food Pyramid, which consists of produce, whole grains, protein and plant-based fat. The bunny diet!
Wanna know a little fact? I actually started NomNomCrunch on her couch. Haha.
When I was brainstorming what to blog about, I always think first, “what have I personally been eating or wanting to try lately?”
I’m going to tell you a little secret: I never really liked oats.
As I mentioned in my last blog post, I just started working out with a new trainer. I wanted a meal plan to follow because lately I have just been all over the place eating caloric and fatty foods left and right. When I got my meal plan, oats were listed on there every single day!
Note: My trainer DID ask me if there was anything I didn’t like, but I told her I liked everything… I knew there would probably be oats on there, and honestly I really just wanted to learn to like them.
So it came to me. Catherine has an awesome Fluffy Oats Recipe that I could add my little extra touches and make it something I like. So after many mornings gone awry, I finally figured out a few recipes that make me LOVE my oats.
Head over to Rabbit Food For My Bunny Teeth
to check out my oat recipes (or scroll below)!
I’m going to tell you a little secret: I never liked oats.
Recently I started working out with a new trainer and she asked me if I liked oats because that’s what she was planning for my daily breakfast. I told her, “of course I like oats!” But the truth is, I only WANT to like oats. I never actually made it to the point of actually liking them yet…. until I got creative. I have a sweet tooth so you’ll notice I added stevia in EVERYTHING!
For my oat customization recipes, use Catherine’s Fluffy Oats Recipe as the base.
Fluffy Oats
Serves 1
1/4 cup whole rolled oats
1/4 cup unsweetened almond milk
1/4 cup water
1 egg white (1 egg white = 2 tbs if you’re using it from a carton)
Whisk the egg until it gets a little fluffy/foamy. Combine with oats, water, and almond milk in a saucepan and bring heat to medium. Whisk the mixture until it starts to simmer. Raise the heat to high and continue whisking for a couple of minutes until it starts to thicken. Reduce heat back to medium and whisk until most of the liquid is soaked. Transfer to a bowl and enjoy with toppings!
Note: Be sure to whisk the egg before combining with other ingredients!
Now for the customizing…
Berry Bliss
When you are combining the oats, water and almond milk together:
+ 2 tsp of vanilla extract
+ 2 tsp of stevia
Top it off with a berry reduction:
Put a handful of mixed berries into a food processor or blender. (I used raspberries and strawberries.) Then pour into a sauce pan, add 1 tsp of stevia and bring your stove to high heat, slowly stirring the mixture consistently. When the sauce begins to bubble and the color darkens, reduce to medium heat and continue to stir to prevent burning. After about 2-3 minutes, it’s ready to pour onto your oats. The sauce will be the consistency of olive oil.
PB&J
When you are combining the oats, water and almond milk together:
+ 3 tsp of PB2 or another powdered peanut butter alternative
+ 2 tsp of stevia
Top it off with a spoonful of your fav jam or jelly. I used a natural huckleberry jam I got from while on vacation in Yellowstone. Just keep in mind when adding your jam/jelly, many of them have added sugars so you don’t want to go crazy with it.
Choconut
When you are combining the oats, water and almond milk together:
+ 1 tbs of unsweetened coco powder
+ 3 tsp of stevia
SWAP the water for coconut water
Top it off with some coconut shreds and almonds.
Apple Pie
When you are combining the oats, water and almond milk together:
+ 1 tsp cinnamon
+1 tsp vanilla extract
+ 3 tsp of stevia
Top it off with caramelized apples:
Heat up 1/2 tsp of coconut oil and 1 tsp of honey in a small skillet on high heat. Once the oil and honey are warm, add half of an apple to the skillet, chopped or sliced. Any type of apple will do. Traditionally apple pie is made with McIntosh apples (according to Eating Well), but I just like to use whatever is on hand. I used HoneyCrisp. With a wooden spoon, stir the apples around until they are completely coated in the oil and honey. Continue to stir until the apple begins to soften and turns to a golden brown. Then pour onto your oats.
Note: Because this recipe has real sugar (honey) in the mix, it will burn a lot easier than the berry recipe. Keep an eye on your apples and keep stirring. Burned honey on your pan can mean death to your pan.
St. Patty’s Pancakes
| March 12, 2013 |
If you follow me on Instagram, you might have seen my photo a while back of my fatal attempt at making paleo pancakes. Once I tried to make the “just add water” Bisquick pancakes, let’s just say they were inedible. Every time I tried to make pancakes on my own, I failed miserably. But I really wanted to make green pancakes for St. Patrick’s Day so I volunteered the time of my handy dandy boyfriend, let’s call him the Pancake King for now, to help me out with this recipe.
My first attempt was just like any other. My pancakes would never end up on someone’s breakfast plate. The Pancake King told me I had two big problems: 1. my batter was too liquidy 2. my flame was too high. So I modified the recipe and lowered my flame and voila! The magic happened. It’s amazing what a little guidance can do!
Spinach Banana Pancakes for St. Patty’s Day
- 1/2 cup rolled oats
- 2 overripe bananas
- 4 cups fresh spinach
- 2 eggs
- 1/2 cup plain greek yogurt
- 1/2 cup almond milk
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 cup whole wheat flour
- 2 scoops vanilla protein powder
- 1 tbsp cinnamon
- 1 tsp baking powder
Directions
Add the oats to a food processor or high speed blender until the oats are finely chopped – borderline powder. Then add the banana and spinach to the food processor until the banana and spinach have blended evenly into each other and there are no more chunks of anything. Then add all the liquid ingredients and blend. Next, all the dry ingredients. You can easily do this with a stand mixer as well. However, the oats, banana and spinach need a blender or food processor to get the right texture and I prefer to only get one appliance messy. My food processor did the job just fine.
Then use your choice of oil, butter, or non-stick cooking spray to coat your pan. Bring flame to medium-high heat. Once the pan is hot, pour the batter in the center to make your desired pancake size.
Here’s where the Pancake King comes back in. I had no idea when to flip a normal pancake let alone a green one. A little tip on the flipping green pancakes, you can’t judge it by the golden edges because the green doesn’t really change color the way a normal pancake would. It’s best to watch for bubbles. When you see bubbles form on the top, flip!
If you don’t allow them to cook all the way through, they will be mushy. This was the other hard part to judge. I did it by taste testing the first one. Then I knew for sure the right timing for the right consistency.
This batch made about a dozen pancakes for me. It’s very easy to cut the recipe ingredients in half if you only want to cook enough for 2. You can top it with whatever floats your boat. Photographed, I topped it with fat-free whip cream and sprinkles. The Pancake King chose to top it with peanut butter. The options are endless.
Vegan Oatmeal Protein Cookies
| March 7, 2013 |
So not long ago, my boyfriend and I moved in together. A lot of people asked things like “is it everything you thought it would be?” and “how are you adjusting to living?” Well, the funny part of all this is, my boyfriend’s answer when people asked him what it was like moving in with me, he said “I moved in with a personal chef.”
I’ll admit I’m a kitchen hog. I like to do all the cooking. I made these breakfast cookies with protein in them for those times when I need a quick grab-n-go option. While my boyfriend has liked all my healthy cooking thus far (he didn’t drink the healthy Koolaid like me), I can’t lie – when he ate my breakfast cookies, he told me he’d rather stick to the unhealthy stuff… but I thought these were great, so I am sure you will like them too. They taste like breakfast … in a cookie!
Vegan Oatmeal Protein Cookies
- 3 spotted bananas (overripe = spotted)
- 2 tbsp vanilla extract
- 1/4 cup coconut oil (melted, measure it in liquid form)
- 2 cups of rolled oats
- 1/3 cup of wheat bran
- 2 scoops of vanilla protein powder
- 2/3 cup chopped almonds
- 1/2 cup unsweetened coconut
- 1 tbsp cinnamon
- 1 tsp salt (I used sea salt because it’s all I keep in my kitchen)
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 cup carob chips (you can use chocolate chips if you prefer)
- 1/4 cup dried cranberries
Directions
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Mush the bananas using a fork until smooth. Add all the vanilla and oil and whisk together.
In another bowl, mix the dry ingredients together (aka everything else). I used a food processor to chop the almonds to make things easy. Fold the dry ingredients into the banana mixture.
Roll the mixture into round balls. Place them on a baking sheet lined with a silplat mat or parchment paper. Press the round ball flat onto the sheet to make the shape of a cookie. They don’t change shape during baking so your basically sculpting what your cookie’s gonna look like.
Bake in the oven for 15min. If they aren’t cooked all the way, the will fall apart when you take a bite. So it’s OK to eat one to test it 🙂
Note: You can add more or less protein if you choose to. This batch made 2 dozen cookies for me, and with the protein I used it totaled to 40 grams a batch (average 1.5 grams of protein a cookie). I used whey protein which isn’t vegan, but if you’re looking for a good vegan friendly powder option, try SunWarrior.
I bagged the cookies into snack size servings and meal servings. Four cookies and fruit for breakfast or two cookies plain as a pre-workout snack. I go straight from work to the gym so I often don’t eat dinner until 8:30pm after my workout. I have a snack around 5:30 to hold me over so I need a good snack that will keep me full and energized.
