Archive for the 'Peanut butter' Category

24
May
11

9 Days

By Feerlessfood 14 Comments
Categories: Chicken, Dinners, fitness, Nutrition, Peanut butter, Recipe, sweet potato, Vegetables/ Vegetarian and Workouts
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

9 days and I’m gone from Cincinnati… I really can’t believe, where did the time go?  As you can tell from my lack of blogging, the responsibilities of my job have been piling up big time since even though I’m moving to Tampa, I still have to have everything done here before I leave.

Hot and sunny... love it

Speaking of Tampa, I was there last weekend to meet my new work team and find a place.  Both were successful and the weather was great.  My apartment is right on the edge of downtown and I’ll be able to walk to hockey games like I can here!  Then the football stadium isn’t too far… but the baseball stadium is actually all the way in St. Petersburg.  I actually drove out there to catch a game on Saturday, but they had part of the stadium closed off and the ticket prices were ridiculous… so I split.

Tampa Rays stadium

I got some great workouts while I was there too!  Although, I still really don’t like running outside that much if I haven’t had a good warm up first.  Friday I did a 4-miler outside then about 300m worth of sprints in the mini hotel pool… ah yes, swimming outside!  Then I met my team, toured some apartments, and tried out the AWESOME gym that is on the ground floor of my new apartment building!  It’s got treadmills that I like, but also a ton of functional workout equipment—like a massive stair case in the middle of the gym, a rope to climb, TRX equipment, and an area outside with monkey bars, sledge hammers, and tractor tires!  This gym won’t let me have average workouts so I’m definitely going to be stepping my game up!

Hell yeah that's me as Captain Planet... I'm actually making this picture part of a presentation to the executives of my company... cuz I'm a baller like that

This past week I finally got a good training week and got 40+ miles of running.  Unfortunately, since I was determined to get that 40, it meant 23 miles over the weekend.

  • Saturday was a 10 mile run, 30 minutes elliptical, 1:20 on the bike trainer, then a 2-mile transition run which felt awesome!
  • Sunday was tough thanks to Saturday, but I got an 11 mile run, 60 minute spin class, quick 550m swim and core work

Then, after some recovery elliptical and biking, guess who worked this morning before work?  Me!  I had a great lift and followed it up with 1100m swim; the pool was in long course format today too so that was cool.  After work, I went back for more cardio and did a 40 minute ride, 20 minutes of elliptical and a 3.3 mile run.  I was pretty tired from the lack of sleep the night before, plus the first workout of the day and my legs just weren’t feeling so hot.  Still store from the weekend lol.

I was needing some motivation after a tough 2 days last week so… I went ahead and signed up for a half ironman near Tampa for my first weekend living there!  Haha.  It will be on June 12th so I need all my training to be seriously on point these next few weeks.

Now in other news, thanks to Tropical Traditions for sending me some of the coconut cream concentrate to try!

Coconut cream concentrate

This stuff is awesome- its got a great coconut flavor, but is thicker, like an ice cream topping.  Here are 2 recipes I made with it:

Peanut butter crispy chicken with coconut finish:

  • 1 tablespoon peanut butter
  • 1-2 tablespoons of milk
  • 1 egg white
  • Panko bread crumbs
  • Coconut cream to taste

Using Trader Joes crunchy Peanut butter

Mix the peanut butter and milk until they are smooth.  Then add in the egg white and whisk thoroughly in the bowl.  Add in you chicken breast (I let mine soak overnight) and then top with the panko bread crumbs.  Before putting it in the oven, I drizzled some of the coconut cream on it.  Bake at 400* for 22 minutes.  Then drizzle a little more coconut cream on it.

Pre-baking

Amazing!

Crispy and peanut butter coconutty!

So now you have some of this leftover peanut butter batter right?  Coat some sweet potatoes with it and bake them as fries!  Best. Sweet potato. Fries. Ever.  I kid you not.  I’ve had these like 4 times now since I invented the recipe.

Batch 1, pre-cooked

And I made them again...

After baking

Go make these. Now.

Another use for the coconut cream was doing sweet potato fries with it instead of the coconut oil.  This made for fries that weren’t quite as crispy, but amazingly flavor.  I highly recommend!

Makes a really nice crust. Crazy healthy too

Finally, here are some other fun eats I’ve cooked up lately, and a couple shots of the club level at the Reds stadium.  My CEO took me to a game last week—the seats we sick! (There I go with the “blogger exclamation points”…)

Club level at Great American Ball Park

The scene

A chicken breast smothered with mushrooms and onions and more of the coconut cream sweet potato fries

"Overnight Oats".... still haven't quite nailed this one yet...

I think this was greek yogurt mixed with protein powder...

I’ve been thinking lately about going paleo.  Now, can I give up granola… unlikely.  Lol.  But I see some of the merits in the lifestyle.  What I don’t know is if giving up certain food types would really be a good idea for me with my eating disorder past, but it would help me overcome my fear of fats… (Which are GOOD for you!)  I’ve been talking to another young triathlete lately (Armi) and he has given a lot of nutritional and motivational input.  This kid is probably the most mature and intelligent 16 year old I’ve ever met.  Check out his blog.  If you have any diet or training questions, please ask either of us!

Be a superhero… my goal for the week.

  1. Who is your superhero/your inspiration?
  2. Have you ever tried a new way of eating that seriously impacted your life and how did it make you feel?
Thank yall!
26
Feb
11

Chuck: Off the bike

By Feerlessfood 18 Comments
Categories: Dinners, Eating disorders/ recovery, fitness, Nutrition, Peanut butter, Recipe, Side dishes, sweet potato, Vegetables/ Vegetarian and Workouts
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

I’ve been about blogging the past couple weeks- sorry!  I’ve been either really busy or not busy and therefore  doing other things life calls for.  I was chatting with someone a few weeks ago and I realized that I don’t often post about the other aspects of my life and that all my pictures are mostly me working out lol.  So here it is- Chuck: Off the Bike

Me! Forgive the bathroom shots- I took these at work

That’s me in real clothes lol. 

I won’t lie, this past week has been really hard, and that’s another reason I haven’t blogged.  I literally was off the bike.  After a great week last week, I wound up taking more days off than I wanted this week due to being over tired and then having to travel for work.  But when I did workout, they were pretty epic, and I am going to try and reconcile myself with knowing that I can only do so many epic days in a row before I need a recovery day so that I don’t keep burning out.  I’m going to try and implement more yoga and recovery rides.  That being said, since Sunday, even though I only worked out 4 times, I got over 35 miles running and 4 hours of cross training, plus a little swimming.  So on average the week was alright.

But that takes me to my next point: off-days.  We need them.  That’s how our bodies repair and recover.  I’ve learned that you can go incredibly hard for 2-3 days and take a day off and repeat and get the same results as going less hard but every day.  Your net calorie burn will be the same, thus, you don’t need to eat less on theses “off-days”!  You may not have your pre or post workout meals, but that doesn’t mean you should deprive yourself of any nutrients that your body needs.

As awful as I felt about the off-days I took, again, that Eating Disorder screaming at me with no remorse, I tried to re-frame the situation to myself.  I liked what I came up with- “I didn’t have to work today; I was too busy repairing and getting stronger.”  This helped a little bit.

Back to “Chuck”.  The past week I’ve also gotten the chance to hang out with a lot of new friends here in Cincinnati.  Not only is this fun (Virginia Beach, you got noting on Cincinnati) but it helps me to normalize myself and forget about my eating disorder for a while.  I think this is the same reason I am as close with my best friend David as I am.  We’ve been really close since college, and as close as we are, we rarely talk about my eating disorder, and I don’t even know that he knows that much about it.  But in a way, this is a blessing- it allows me to just leave the eating disorder at home when we hang out and makes me feel normal.

Same thing here in Cincinanti.  Last Wednesday I went to the University of Cincinnati vs. Louisville basketball game!  Louisville were ranked like 13, but UC won by like 11 and it was an epic game!

UC at the line

UC's arena

Sick game.  This past Wednesday, a bunch of friends and I checked went the Cincinnati Cyclones hockey game.  It’s minor league hockey, but it’s an absolute blast… especially on dollar beer night!  I’m not a big beer drinker, but lets just say some people are…

Beer-amid!

Hockey!

I got on the big screen twice during the game; once putting my “hands in the air-a-a-aiirrr” and then again as I taught Cincinnati “How to Doug E”.  I think I was the only one in the arena who know how to do it.

Over the weekend I also did some cooking. I made up a huge batch of my world-famous meatloaf patties!  This mix consisted of ground turkey breast, ground sirloin, and buffalo meat!  Stuffed with onions, peppers, mushrooms, and oats as a binder.  Amazing, as always:

Turk-eef-aloaf? Anyone got a better name?

Meals for weeks!

Finally, Nick over at www.Peanutbutterboy.com is holding a peanut butter expo: The theme is recipes for using peanut butter in “hot” way to warm up the end of winter.  Here’s my peanut butter coated sweet potatoes and butternut squash recipes that I am submitting!

Peanut butter Sweet potatoes:

  • 1 Sliced sweet potato
  • 2 tablespoons peanut butter
  • 1 tablespoon coconut oil (I omitted this but I suggest including it!  I will next time!)
  • Cinnamon
  • Maybe some vanilla or maple extract

Awesome combo

Coated

Baked!

Bake at 350-400 degrees for 30-40 minutes.  Don’t overbake them though, as you don’t want to burn the peanut butter!

Here’s what the butternut squash version looked like:

I used coconut peanut butter!

Coated with cinnamon as well

I hope I win the competition!  Head over there and enter yourself if you’d like.

So more “Chuck”.  I’ve talked about off-days, I’ve shared some recipes… Why not make this post even longer?  Therefore, here are a few totally random facts about me:

  1. I am a huge LSU Tigers fan.  I was born in Baton Rouge so as my hometown, I’ll always be loyal.
  2. I have lived all over.  I was born in Baton Rouge, moved to New Jersey when I was 6 for 8 months, then to England for 3 and 1/2 years, from there to Houston, TX, then to Fairfax, Virginia.  I then went to school in Williamsburg Virginia- meanwhile spending one summer in Hoboken/New York City, then to Virginia Beach where I took a job.  Annnd currently I’m in Cincinnati for 6 months… and who knows where after that!
  3. When I lived in England my parents put in a private British school… I had to wear a full uniform everyday consisting of dress shorts, tie, short sleeve button up shirt, “jumper” (a sweater), blazer (jacket), a cap, and knee high socks.  To this day I still hate Quiche from being served at as a 7 year old in their cafeterias.
  4. I work for Amerigroup Corporation and am part of their Leadership Development Program.  Our company does managed healthcare for the public sector; Medicare and Medicaid
  5. I watching Space Jam right now and it’s awesome.  I don’t have a favorite movie, but I always enjoy a stupid comedy.
  6. I don’t have any pets and don’t really want any.  I hate when pet hair gets all over everything.
  7. I am huge sports fan.  Astros, Magic, Capitals, LSU, William and Mary Tribe, and the Saints.
  8. Age: 24.  Birthday: Novemeber 8th
  9. I have a 19 year old brother at Virginia Tech and a 17 year old sister who is a senior is high school.
  10. I am trying to create a “Feerless Food” TV show that will follow me in my training, nutrition, and struggles, as well as have interviews with top athletes, industry leading nutritionist/dietitians, and take on disordered thinking and nutrition myths.
  11. After my sophomore year in college I finally went in-patient for my eating disorder at Sheppard Pratt eating disorder clinic in Towson Maryland as my eating disorder had gotten to a low point since it’s beginning in 10th grade.  While I still struggle against my disorder, I in much better and strong place now and try to use my experience to help others.

That’s a wrap!  I’ve got my first long ride of the year planned tomorrow, so I’m hoping the rain holds off!  God Bless yall

  1. Tell me something I don’t know about you
  2. Do you ever use nut butters in “unconventional” ways?
20
Dec
10

Committment

By Feerlessfood 7 Comments
Categories: Eating disorders/ recovery, fitness, Motivation, Nutrition, Peanut butter, Recipe, Side dishes, Uncategorized and Workouts
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

This past week was really hard.  I was in a clutch time frame to get my companies entire Wellness Program coordinated and launched by Friday, which was my last day in this rotation before I head to Ohio to start my next rotation.  Basically, I had to get my last 6-months of work activated and facilitated, as well as making sure the person who would be taking over was ready and prepared!  This was tiring, but what made it tough was that I took more days off in a week then I have since… well, maybe being inpatient for my Eating Disorder.  I’m not saying this is horrible thing, but I would have like to have been able to relieve that stress of work, but instead was so tired, that I came home and crashed 3 times during the week. 

After having this occur again on Friday, I made a committment to myself-  no more.  Friday, being my last day before I take 2-3 weeks off from work (thank God!) for Christmas and to move to Cincinnati, I realized that my life really needs a change-up.  That means I have to change a number of things and here are the goals that I am committing to:

  1. Get more sleep–this means going to bed earlier
  2. No more waking up, eating breakfast, deciding I’ll go to the gym in the afternoon, and going back to bed all day. This has caused me to miss too many workouts, and makes the nap not enjoyable because all I do is stress about the workout to come
  3. Basing my outlook on the day around the fact of whether or not I’ve been able to workout.  This is a really unhealthy relationship with exercise and food and is something I’ve dealt with for far too many years now
  4. Achieve all the smaller goals I set for myself each week (more below)

I’m straight serious:

Straight Swag

So beginning Saturday, I kicked off my new committment!  I went to the gym earlier in the day and had an awesome workout: 10 mile run in 1:05:00– 6:31 pace.  Plus, more time spinning and elliptical too.  I was watching the Ironman Championships….I wish they would play that at the gym all they time- talk about motivating! Sunday I got a very similar workout in and again went earlier in the day.  I did a long run (9.25 miles) and spin and a full body workout on the TRX equipment- I really hope I get a set of this for Christmas!

Today, I woke up and knew I had to workout first thing in the morning, no excuses, so that I could finish packing and then drive home!  Plus, Hollie was coming to visit me so I had to be back to hang out with her.  I almost put it off though, but as I lay on the floor of my room after the 50 push-ups I do upon waking, I thought “no, you made this committment, no let’s do it!”  I got up off the floor, headed to the gym, and got a great 7 mile run and hour+ spin class. Then I came home and hung out with Hollie for a while- she’s awesome!  But we didn’t take any blog pictures- bummer right?

Now I’m home in DC for a couple weeks before heading to Cincinnati.  I plan to keep up with these goals and make every day count.  Being successful is a committment, not an interest, and I’m committing to hitting all my goals; all the ones I set with my nutritionist too, that will improve my health even more!

So after my awesome workout Saturday, I came up with this recipe– Maple Cheddar stuffed Butternut Squash.  One word: wow.  This was incredible:

  • 1 Whole butternut squash, halved, and baked until you can scoop out the flesh (preserve the shell for stuffing)
  • 1-2oz. Sharp Cheddar cheese
  • 2 tbsp Pure maple syrup

Bake the squash then half it and scoop of the flesh.  Mash together with the cheese and maple syrup and stuff back into the shell.  Add some extra cheese on top and possibly cinnamon.  Bake at 400 for another 10 minutes until everything is melted- be careful not to lose any of the syrup though!

I ate the entire half!  Thank goodness squash is amazing low cal ; ).  The flavor combo was amazing.  I can’t wait to try it later this week, but with sweet potatoes instead of Squash!

Cheese and squash

Scoop out the flesh

Re-stuff the squash after mixing

Devour alongside some super lean bbq pork tenderloin

Seriously.  Go make this now.

Now that I’m home I’m going to start blogging more!  I have a ton of awesome pictures and recipes to share so look for those soon!  I want to let this one linger for little while though- it means a lot to me.  That being said, I’m keeping with my other goals that I set each week.  This week was to eat my recovery nutrition after each workout (which I’ve done!), increase my healthy dietary fat to the goal my nutritionist has set for me (I’m getting better..), no throwing food away at meals (getting much better!), and finally, for this week, add an extra tablespoon on nut butter each day.  I’ve done well on this one, and it’s not too scary! 

Thanks guys- love y’all

Questions:

  1. What are you hoping for for Christmas?  I would like a new TV as well as some TRX resistance training equipment
  2. Favorite Christmas cookie you are looking forward to?
  3. Any goals you are setting for this week?
29
Aug
10

Ok, I lied…

By Feerlessfood 6 Comments
Categories: Barbeque, breakfast, Chicken, Dinners, Nutrition, Peanut butter, Vegetables/ Vegetarian and Workouts
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , ,

I feel like I’ve been planning this post all week!  I meant to write since Thursday but busy night have led me to not.  Stretching, foam rolling, and making lunch (plus breakfast and snack) take a long time each night!  This week has been alright- After posting my planned schedule on Monday, my planned day off, I was all set for the rest of the week.  Well, I ended up taking Wednesday off which ended up being a really bad and tough day…my eating disorder won BIG time.  But anyways, that meant I had some training to make up! 

  • Thursday: 44 mile bike (18.8 mph), 11.5 mile run at 7:10 pace, 900m swim (900m??  Yeah I know, but I only had 20 minutes before the pool closed
  • Friday: 7.5 mile run, 50 minute spin workout, 20 min elliptical intervals, quick lift
  • Saturday:  Hardest run ever…legs were realllll tired- 4.5 miles, then 2x 1.5 miles with elliptical intervals between
  • Sunday (today): 72 mile bike, 6 mile run

If I thought my legs hurt Saturday, that just made them even more tired today.  And I hate the wind here… I’m still losing- Chuck: 2, Wind: 5.  I overslept so I missed riding with my buddy, but went out a little later on my own.  It was grueling, but I got it done.  Hopefully I’ll be stronger from it  But I bailed on my swim and on yoga….both of which I need.  So I must get in the pool this week!  If you guys can make sure I do that, that would be great haha

So I have a ton of food pics from this week.  I lied, and you guys were right- WHEN THEY ARE PERFECT, avocados are delicious!  But only when they are perfectly ripe, and heated to that they are creamy.  The creaminess is sooo clutch, but if they are under-ripe, then they are just gross.  Here is the best meal I had, which I made Thursday night and tonight.  BBQ wraps using that bbq meat I made, cheddar cheese, and a quarter avocado- awesome!

bbq meat, avocado, cheddat

Melted! So the avocado got extra creamy

Friday night, I wanted to save some the bbq meat, so I decided on an omelet.  This time, I actually made it like you are supposed to instead of trying to do my “open-face” omelet.  Again, I added a half of the avocado with some light cheese.  Whole eggs and avocado…daammmmnnnn thats healthy!

Getting ready

With steamed vegetables and plain baked potato

Love that butternut squash too.

I was talking to Matt (www.Kitchenofarunner.com) and we were discussing oatmeal, and he insisted that I make and taking pics of a new recipe I had been thinking about.  This was plain oatmeal cooked in almond milk with cinnamon

Before cooking

Then I cooked it together and added in the protein powder.  I added the peanut butter after the picture

Extra smooth

Overall, a really good breakfast!

I still have a lot more pictures and a new recipe, plus a bunch of goodies from sponsors to show you!  So check back tomorrow!

  1. What are some ways you use avocados? Besides in salads or guacamole; I mean unique ways…could I mash it into a baked potato, for example?
  2. What are some weird/random things that weird you out? (not eating disorder related please).  Me: I hate the seeds in tomatoes and the very very tips of bananas sketch me out haha
  3. Anyone got a swim workout for me?

Night yall!

12
Aug
10

Eats, Exercise, and free stuff!

By Feerlessfood 8 Comments
Categories: Chicken, fitness, Mexican, Nutrition, Peanut butter, Uncategorized and Workouts
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , ,

I’ve had a couple great workouts this week.  Unfortunately, they have been at the expense of sleep and a set schedule.  The past 3 days, instead of going straight to the gym and getting my workout in, for some reason I’ve gone home and decided to lie down for an hour.  What does that tell me?  That I’m too tired and need to sleep and recover more.  But then because I’m tired, I want to grab that quick nap..which leads to finishing dinner at 11…it’s vicious cycle!  Today, I had a long bike and run planned, but when I didn’t get out of work in time, I figured I’d take a recovery day and totally slept though the light run I was going to take.  It’s making me pretty uncomfortable since it’s the second day this week, but I’m trying to keep it in a positive light and tell myself it will make me stronger for that long workout tomorrow!  

Tuesday and Wednesday I got in some good workouts and even a little lift after my running Wednesday night.  Thursday I did a duathlon at the gym: Started with a 10k, then a 42 minute bike (specific workout) and then another 5k run.  It was tough, but I loved the bike workout.  I incorporated endurance, power, and speed, instead of doing multiple sets of just one.  Let me know if you want to see the workout.  

Also got a lot of good eats this week.  This first recipe was baked chicken fingers.  I didn’t feel like taking the time to do these right, so I just coated the chicken in bbq sauce and Dijon mustard and sprinkled some oat bran on top, instead of doing a whole flour and egg wash.  I also forgot to spray them with cooking spray or anything, so they didn’t get real crispy, but they were still crispy and good enough!  

Baked on a rack so the bottom doesn't get soggy

Delicious

Here was a snack I had at work the other day: I tried the peanut butter on a Clif Bar again, but this time used a Peanut Toffee Buzz Clif Bar.  Much much better than using a thicker, more chocolately bar!  

At my desk haha

And here was my lunch today.  For some reason I was inspired to making something different than my regular sandwich.  I shredded some chicken tenderloins and mixed it with salsa and steamed vegetables then put some cheese on top which I heated up so that the cheese melted before I ate it at lunch.  I also sliced up a tortilla a crisped in the toaster oven to make chips!  Thanks to Em and Georgie for this idea!  

"Chips:

The ingredients

Ignore the 1% cheese…its allI had on hand.  Regular is 100 times better.  

Pre-heated

Melted and awesome

Now finally, a give-away!  I work with a triathlon coach, Ben Greenfield, who has a website www.Bengreenfieldfitness.com where he provides fantastic information that is great for everyone, not just triathletes and other athletes.  He also does a completely free podcast each week where he interviews some sort of fitness, nutrition, etc, expert as well as answer listener questions in incredible depth.   

Ben has a great shirt that anyone can get just for donating to the show.  He sent me one and since I have 2 now, I want to pass one on to y’all!  What makes this shirt so great is the message it reads.  It says, “My personal trainer told me to eat more fat!”  This is such a true statement and means a lot to see since it’s something I struggle with so much.  I would love to send to the winner as well as some nutrition bars and goodies I have left from other give-aways!  

Ben Greenfield Fitness

Here’s how to enter–each method is worth one entry:  

  1. Leave me a comment and let me know why you agree that fat, and all macronutrients, deserve a place in a balanced diet.  OR just leave me any comment you want!
  2. Add my site to the BlogRoll on your site
  3. Mention this giveaway in one of your posts
  4. Tweet about this giveaway on your Twitter

Leave me a comment to let me know what you’ve done!  Thanks everyone, looking forward to hear what you have to say!

« Previous Entries

FoodBuzz


Categories

Feerless Food

Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.

Join 377 other followers