Antioxidant Power House

This is one of the top three all-time favorite smoothies that I make.  Mainly due to the fact that I am CrAzY about berries!

Antioxidant Power Smoothie

1 cup coconut milk

1 scoop veggie protein powder.

-I use Life’s Basics Plant Protein.  It’s Vegan, non GMO and Gluten Free.  Contains Omega 3.6.9 and is made from Pea, Hemp, Rice and Chia seed.  Giving you 22 grams of protein per serving.  Plus it is DELISH!

 1 scoop of  Core 4 Nutrition’s Fruit N’ Veggie Might

-Packed with a powerful blend of more than 40 different fruits, vegetables and botanicals, Fruit N Veggie Might is specifically formulated to give your body the wide variety of whole food concentrates, micronutrients and antioxidants it needs to function fully.  Read more about this here: Core 4 Nutrition

Core 4 Fruit N' Veggie Might

Big handful of blueberries

¼ cup pomegranite kernals

Handful of raspberries

Ice

Blend until smooth and drink up!!

Look at the amazing color!

Creamy Avocado Pasta

It's been a while since I have posted a recipe.  So I thought I would post one that I supplied to Runners World for my Vegan article.  It is a quick, delicious and nutritious meal.

It's no secret that I absolutely adore avacados.  I put them in smoothies, on vegan burgers, make chocolate pudding from them, mash them and put them in my hair, put them on toast for breakfast, make salad dressing from them.....You name it, for me avo's have a place everywhere.

Easy ingredients

• 1 medium sized ripe Avocado, pitted
• 1/2 lemon, juiced + lemon zest to garnish
• 1-3 garlic cloves, to taste (I used 3 and it was super garlicky, but if you are not a big fan of garlic use 1 clove)
• 1/2 tsp sea salt, PLUS salt for the water
• ~1/4 cup Fresh Basil snipped right from my patio
• 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 2 servings/6 oz of your choice of pasta (I used Quinoa curly pasta because that's what I had on hand.  I usually use Quinoa spaghetti)
• Freshly ground black pepper

Bring water to a boil in a pot.  (Salt your water as you would normally cooking pasta) Add in your pasta, reduce heat to medium, and cook until Al Dente.

Meanwhile, make the sauce by adding garlic cloves, lemon juice, and olive oil into a food processor. Pulse until smooth. Now add in the pitted avocado, basil, and salt. Process until smooth and creamy.

When pasta is done cooking, drain and rinse and place pasta into a bowl. Pour on sauce and toss until fully combined. Garnish with lemon zest and black pepper.

Serves 2

I Love How Fresh and Green Everything Looks

Soothing It All In Saltwater

I am thankful for vacations.  I am really thankful for vacations that seem to pop up JUST in the right time.  Summer is winding down.  School is starting back up.  The routine and schedule of fall and winter is starting. It's that last little slice of the freedom of summer.

This came at just the right time for me, because rest was on my bodies mind.

Training has been going great!  Until, it wasn’t.  I had a very high mileage week, that started strong, came winding around the mid-week strong, feeling awesome and then….Saturday!!  My 10-miler turned into a 6-miler that was 12 minutes S L O W E R than the 7-miler I did the day before.  Huh?  Scratch your head and do that math!  TWELVE minutes slower!  I could tell when I left my house that things weren’t feeling “so great” and when it came time for me to turn around, I knew this run was &%$*!!!! I came home completely used up.  Sick.  In pain.  Total bonk!  I was irritated.  I pouted.  I even told the Hubs, “I know why people hate running.  If it feels like this I WOULD HATE IT TO”  In fact that day…I did.  I hated it.  Hubs sat dumfounded in hearing my words.  This man has been with me for over 19 years, I honestly don’t think he has ever heard those words leave my mouth before.

I showered, didn’t stretch, never do (hello, we may have a problem here) and sat down for about 30 minutes.  In silence.  I am a thinker.  A contemplate-er.  A talk-it-out’er.  A resolve-er.  And then…my optimism (ya know…the one that’s ALWAYS there) showed up.  I immediately thought, hmmm I am bound to have a bad running day here and there.

I’ll be back out again tomorrow!!!  (Dang optimism)

Didn’t happen.

**Side note**  I am not a “get sore” type of person.  It doesn’t matter the sport, the distance, if I’m doing yoga, lifting weights, doing Insanity, running, cycling, swimming….I don’t get sore.  Hubs hates this about me.  But it’s a fact Jack (yes I just watched an episode Duck Dynasty)

Well, the next morning when I woke up to run…I was sore.  Sore in weird spots like, my ankles.  My left hip.  My stomach.  I actually felt kind of sick.  Not the kind of sick you feel as in over training.  This was different.  This is where the vacay fits in, because we were leaving in 3 days.  I think I needed the rest.  From what, I have no clue.  But a rest none-the-less.

So off we went.  The hubs and I, on a little three state, coastal vacation.  It was perfect!  It was just the rest that I needed.  We left Idaho for Bend, OR on our first day.  We love Bend.  I could live in Bend, OR.  The next day, we headed to California.  It was nice being home, and seeing family and friends.  Even had a little sneaky-surprise party planned by my oh-so-sneaky best friend.  Good thing we have been friends for 100 years or she would’ve NEVER been able to pull it off.  And boy, did I make things difficult for her.  HAHA! (sorry K, I do love ya)

Sun Dial Bridge in Redding, CA

Leaving Redding, we headed for the coast, and just took our time driving the NorCal coast on Highway 101 and into OR and WA.  The Oregon coast by far, has some of the most stunning scenery I’ve seen.  I love all of the lighthouses.  I love just being ON the ocean.  There is a huge magnetic draw for me, towards the sea.  It's when I am most happy, most at peace.   Along the way we stopped where we wanted, when we wanted.  Really had no agenda or itinerary, all the way to Seattle.  It was fabulous!  Life is extraordinary on no schedule.  Especially when you are on the coast, in the sand, with your best friend (this time referring to the hubs)  We laughed (a lot) prayed (a lot) read, talked, walked, visited breweries, hiked, ate amazing food, visited the memorial of Nirvana’s Curt Cobain, visited several lighthouses, picked sea glass and moon stones and some times, just sat in utter silence.  The weather was the best we have ever had driving the coast.  It rained one day, but the rest were blue skies and full of sun!  I didn’t think about running the whole time.  OK…that might have been a white lie…but I didn’t “stress” on the fact that I wasn’t running, and was just enjoying the moment.   I did wonder (for a split second) if taking that much time off was going to hinder fitness.

Along The Way Cannon Beach, Newport, Yaquina, Patricks Point, Pacific City, Sea Lion Caves, Gold Beach, Bandon, Cood Bay, Seaside, Astoria, Crescent City, Eureka, Arcata

One of my favorite pictures from the whole trip

Gorgeous Lift Bridge outside our room in Florence, OR

Went to a glass blowing studio and Hubs made me a Glass Float in Lincoln City, OR

Visiting the home town and Memorial of Nirvana's Curt Cobain. Aberdeen, WA

Aracata, CA

Sea Cave

                                            

Seattle

So back home today, I went out in this wonderful fall-like rain, and did a nice casual run.  Just to see how the body was feeling.  It felt incredible.

I’m glad I listened.  Glad I took the rest.  Marathon is 8 weeks away.  And guess what?  I love running!  Even when I have a bad day, or sometimes a bad week.  It's bound to happen.