You know what’s weird? Running in shorts… at 6:45 a.m… in February.

Yep. That’s what I did yesterday. I was feeling fully recovered from my random illness earlier this week and happy to not only return to my beloved Franklin Street yoga on Wednesday night, but also to meet up with the girls for our usual Thursday morning run!

The usual sweaty sleepy photo

It was so weirdly warm I could have even worn a t-shirt. Ridiculous. But I love it.

The girls and I had a great run – and a super productive one, too! Remember how I said we had our first biochem exam of the semester yesterday morning (aka shortly after our run)? Well, the girls and I decided to spend the whole run verbally studying for the exam by talking our way through everything. The exam covered all the nitty-gritty biochemical details of Vitamins A, D, C, K, and Calcium, including food sources, absorption routes in technical terms, functions in the body (again, in intense technical terms), where they are stored in the body (if at all), and how they are excreted. Whew! Our running review session was awesome – I headed home feeling like I got in a great run AND was better prepared for the test. Total win! We’ll be doing that again.

Splits:

• Mile 1: 9:56 (uphill)
• Mile 2: 9:09
• Mile 3: 8:34 (downhill)
• Mile 4: 8:52
• 0.35 mile nubbin’: 8:25

Total distance: 4.35 miles. Total time: 39:26. Average pace: 9:04. Hooray!

As for the test, it went well! This semester’s biochem is already way more manageable than last semester’s beast of a course. Thank goodness.

When I arrived home yesterday from school around 4, look what I found waiting for me outside the door!

What a nice surprise from Chobani – their new flavors (blood orange, cinnamon apple, and passion fruit) for me to taste test! I can’t wait to try them. Have any of you tried their new flavors yet? Thoughts?

I’m off to my last Pure Barre class (I bought a 4 class deal pass awhile ago) this morning before getting some more work done and heading to a review session at school. I’ve enjoyed the Pure Barre classes but sadly I can’t afford to pay for the normal pricing – plus, I prefer classes that include more heart pumping cardio at the same time as strength – more bang for your buck. Oh, well! I’ve enjoyed going while I had the opportunity to.

Have a wonderful weekend, everyone!

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#1: Healthier Seven Layer Dip

The secret to this delicious dip? Using nonfat plain Greek yogurt instead of sour cream and mayonnaise! Your friends and family won’t even notice the difference… I promise. Every time I’ve made this it’s gone in 10 minutes flat.

(photo source)

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2. Corn Flake Encrusted Chicken Fingers (gluten free!)

This recipe is a delicious alternative to the usual grease laden wings – they’re baked, but you won’t miss the grease because they’re crunchy and packed with flavor from the herbs. Serve with honey mustard, BBQ sauce, and ketchup!

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3. Smoked Salmon & Dill Wrap

These wraps made with laughing cow cheese make a really cute appetizer – just roll and slice into bite sized pieces for a healthier, more awesome twist on the usual smoked salmon/cream cheese combination.

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4. Hummus Guacamole

If hummus and guacamole mated. Enough said. So good.

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5. Pumpkin Bean Dip

This is another favorite and a big hit when I’ve made it for parties in the past. Garlicky and delicious – they’ll never know it’s packed with nutrition.

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6. Healthy Deviled Eggs

I’m a HUGE fan of deviled eggs, but not the fact that they’re usually drowning in mayo. Try this version made with yogurt and tangy mustard. Delish!

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7. Baked Stuffed Baby Bella Mushrooms

One of my most favorite hot appetizers ever. Packed with spinach AND flavor – they will be gone in minutes.

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Enjoy! What are your plans for Super Bowl Sunday? Any other great crowd-pleaser recipe favorites to share?

Thanks for all the well wishes – I’m feeling MUCH better today. Almost back to normal, thankfully, because I need to get some serious studying and schoolwork done today. I ended up skipping all my classes yesterday to get some rest and recovery in, so I think that really helped. I was also sure to stay hydrated.

Is that not the cutest juice box you’ve ever seen? It made me so happy. I randomly had them in the pantry from awhile ago (I think it was the only form of apple juice I could find when I made my Roasted Marinated Pork Tenderloin – awesome recipe, btw).

I was also finally hungry enough when lunch time came around to make myself a real meal.

I enjoyed a tuna sandwich (canned chunk light tuna mixed with mustard, a little yogurt, and avocado, topped with spinach):

And some delicious strawberries and mango – impulse grocery store purchases.

I ended up eating all the fruit and making it about 3/4 of the way through the sandwich before I decided I didn’t want any more food. I never made it to the carrots and pickles.

I wasn’t very hungry yesterday afternoon (though I did treat myself to an oatmeal raisin cookie from the co-op since it was the only thing that sounded good), but I started to feel better and made it out for a short walk in the sunshine.

Dinner was some leftover soup (a combination of my Chunky Turkey & Vegetable Soup and my Homemade Minestrone Soup – surprisingly good together!) that I defrosted from the freezer.

I love freezing extra portions of soup in ziplocks. Doesn’t take up much space and it’s easier to defrost since it’s in a thinner sheet!

Voila – dinner is served. That was easy. And soup is just perfect when you’re sick.

As you can see, I enjoyed the soup with some TV and my couch. Nothing makes you feel better quite like watching Jersey Shore.

Time to get cracking on the work I blew off yesterday… and to study for my biochem test tomorrow. I may also hit up my favorite Franklin Street Yoga class tonight depending how I’m feeling. I wasn’t able to go last week and my body is missing yoga!

Happy Wednesday!

I have some bad news… I’m officially sick. I felt less than stellar all day yesterday (mostly my stomach), but I figured I was still just a little off from the unusually raucous weekend. Well, last night I discovered I also had a fever, and still do this morning. Not exactly great timing since we have our first biochem test on Thursday. Fail.

Luckily I’ve already been studying some already, though – every Monday I’ve been staying after class to study with classmates before an afternoon biochem review session held by our TA. It’s been working well so far!

We sat outside and enjoyed this view of the school and the Carolina blue sky while we studied. It was SO nice out yesterday – and warm!

I also had a presentation yesterday morning in one of my classes – it was a continuation of the D.C. policy class field trip from right after new years and consisted of a round table discussion about a fictional scenario. In the fictional scenario, Durham County Public Schools was considering participating in a Farm-to-School initiative. We were each assigned a “role” in the discussion and had to argue our point. For example, some people were budget office representatives, food service reps from the school, county board commissioners, etc. So we had to all research our roles and come up with a stance. I was assigned the role of a school Principal who was against the initiative, which was hard, since I’m clearly very for it (although our arguments did bring up a lot of points as to why it would be hard to implement in some areas – mostly because of lack of storage space, funding, and food service staff training). I decided it would be fun to get dressed up for the role and wore my best Principal attire!

I actually had black pumps on, too, but forgot to put them back on for the photo. The roundtable discussion was pretty fun – I always like more creative classes like that. The other half of our class participated in one last week that was arguing either for or against implementing a soda tax. Those who weren’t actively in the roundtable watched and then were given an opportunity to ask questions at the end of the discussions, from the viewpoint of someone who lived in that county/city. Good times.

Anyway, I’m sorry I don’t have anything more exciting to share with you guys today! I had big plans to whip up a new healthy recipe last night, but given how I felt, that clearly didn’t happen. I’ve already decided to skip my first class (nutrition epidemiology) today… we’ll see about my other class (biochem). Maybe I’ll miraculously feel better? I have a TON of work to get done this week, yikes.

Hope your Tuesday is going better than mine!