Summer Panzanella Salad

I had some fresh veggies I needed to use up, and couldn't figure out what to do with them.  Between having 2 small kiddos and the summer heat, my dinners have been lacking.  Acouple of searches later, I decided to do a panzanella salad.

Ingredients

1/2 loaf pumpernickel bread, cut into 1 inch pieces

1 red onion, cut up

1 pint grape tomatoes (I cut them in half, but next time I would leave them whole)

2 zucchinis, cut into 1 inch pieces

2 T EVOO

3 T light balsamic vinegarette

1/4 cup parsley

1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Drizzle 1 T EVOO on bread and toast for 10 minutes.

Transfer bread to bowl.

Place tomatoes, onion, and zucchini on baking sheet and drizzle 1 T EVOO on baking sheet.  Sprinkle a pinch of salt and pepper on veggies and roast for 30-40 minutes. 

Remove baking sheet from oven, pour vinegarette over veggies and scrape the bottom of the baking sheet to get all the bits up.

Transfer veggies to bowl with toasted bowl.

Add parsley and chickpeas.

Stir to combine and serve.

Toasted bread

Veggies ready to roast

Roasted veggies with chickpeas and parsley

The finished product ready to serve

Makes a great summer meal and the chickpeas added make it filling.

As a main course, serves 2

As a side dish, serves 4.

Eating at work (Food log)

So it's been a while since I have shown you what it is that I am eating during the day.  This is a typical day when I have to go into the office (right now that is only one day a week). 

Breakfast

Here is my Green monster smoothie (coconut milk, frozen banana, almond butter, ground flaxseed, and kale) and my morning coffee (half-caf) with coconut milk in it.

Morning snack

A nectarine I took to a meeting.  I love summer fruits!!!

Lunch

The start of my water drinking for the day.  I aim to drink 3 of these bottles everyday.  For lunch, I had leftovers - bbq tempeh with green peppers and onions and quinoa.

And some watermelon for dessert.  Told you I like summer fruits.

Afternoon snack
(Not pictured, ate it before I got a pic)

Heaping 1/4 cup mixed nuts (roasted salted almonds and walnuts) with a couple of tablespoons of dried cranberries (raspberry flavored)

Dinner

Dinner on Wednesdays tends to be more leftover stuff in the fridge because I don't have much time to cook when I get home with 2 small children and a hubby that works until 8:30pm most nights.  So I had bought a zucchini, sun-dried tomato and feta quiche at the farmer's market on Tuesday (it was 1/2 off, so it was a steal of deal) that they make fresh there and use cage free eggs and organic dairy.  I had some of that along with some broccoli that I dipped in hummus.  And then we had leftover hashbrown casserole from a brunch so I had a few bites of that while I was getting hubby's dinner.

I didn't get my run in that day so my rule is no run, no dessert (that rarely works for me but that day it did).  :)  My totals for the day:

Calories:  1,712
Percent breakdown:  44% fat, 42% carbs, 14% protein

I am a little surprised that my fat was as high as it was.  I have been trying to eat more protein, but I have found it difficult, especially when I limit dairy and eat a veg diet.  I aim for 15% but I don't track my calories much anymore so I don't know how far off I am on a typical day. 

Any advice on other protein sources?  I don't tempeh or tofu more than once a week usually, so I need some other choices. 

Runing while it H-O-T! and some stats

Well, we have had heat advisories for the past couple of days.  Like it's not hard enough to get out and run, now it's just down right HOT.  I went out yesterday with the kids at 9:00am and got my 5 miles in.  But I can tell you I was drenched in sweat when we returned home (and I am not a big sweater either). 

I would love to go out early in the morning, but it's just not realistic with little A not sleeping through the night.  Hopefully, in the next couple of months his sleep will be a little more predictable and I will be able to get out there and log some miles while everyone is still asleep.  Right now, he is waking up at 2:00, 5:00-5:30, and then at 7:00-7:30am.  At 5:00am, he usually won't fall back asleep unless he is in bed with us, so that I what we have been doing with him (and by us, I mean me).  I feed him in bed and then he falls back asleep.  I guess I could get up then maybe, I am afraid he is going to immediately wake up as soon as I leave, and then I will get it from the hubs when I return that little A woke up and was hungry.  I don't know, maybe I will try it one day and see how it goes.  Any advice from the peanut gallery on this (yes, I am still BFing exclusively).

Some stats for ya
Little A turned 4 months old on Sunday and he rolled over for the first time on Sunday too.  He went to the ped yesterday and he thriving.  He is up to 14lb. 4oz (25%tile).

My stats
Last week I hit my goal range for pre-preg weight.  According to Dr. Oz's book (it was on clearance for $3.99 on bn.com), you should have a range, not just one specific number.  I have always had a range along with a number.  My range is the number plus or minus 2 lbs., so last week I hit my number + 1.6lb., so I have considered that to be pre-preg.   So I made it back to my pre-preg weight in just under 4 months.  With Hope it was 4 1/2 months (gained a little more weight).  But both times, I did it slowly and other than my mental breakdown at the beginning, I didn't stress about it, just ate well and exercised.  The last 4 lbs. though, I really relaxed about though.  I lost 3lbs. in 5 weeks.  I know some people see that they are so close and try to crash diet or starve themselves to get there, but I read somewhere a long time ago, that when you only have those last few pounds, take it slow (0.5 -1.0 lb/week) and they will stay off.  I have since adopted that mentality and it has worked for me.

Running
In June, I logged 69.68 miles.  If I had known I was so close, I would have tried for 70.  Oh well, I am still getting back into running/training mode, so I will let it slide.  And at the end of June, I had logged 315.19 miles for the year.  Not too bad considering on Jan. 1 I was 7 months pg and then had a baby and had to recover.  My goal is 750 miles this year and I know I can log a lot more miles during the second half of the year compared to the first, so I am feeling good about that. 

I am trying to figure out my races for the fall.  Any races you like that I should do?  Especially ones in the ATL?

PRR Recap

Well, my day started out early.

1:40am - little man woke up crying - fed him
3:00am - little girl woke up crying - I went in and rubbed her back until she started to fall asleep
4:30am- little girl up again - told hubby to deal with it, he slept with her
4:44am - little man woke up again crying - fed him
5:30am - alarm went off

Awesome night sleep!

Race started at 7:30am.  My corral (B), started at 7:35am.  I was off and feeling good.  I put my Garmin VP at 8:13 minute miles, and really tried to stay close to that the first couple miles (I tend to go out too fast).  Mile 1 - 8:07 minutes, not bad.  After the first mile, I was already sweating, which is never a good sign considering I am not a big sweater (although I had been chugging water all week to make sure I was properly hydrated).  I knew the conditions were not ideal at this point.  I don't feel like the heat has ever been a huge factor for me, so I don't know if my body has changed since having babies (it can), or if it's because I am getting older, or if it was just too hot and I finally noticed it.  Either way, I knew I was in trouble.  For the past 2 years, it was 66 degrees at the start of the race.  This year - 7 degrees warmer (73 for those of you who are bad at math). 

The first 3 miles are very flat.  I didn't have much of a problem holding my pace.  At the end of mile 3 is where the first big hill starts. 

Mile 4 includes cardiac hill.  I felt very prepared for Cardiac Hill since I had been running in the heat on a hilly course with the jogging stroller, but I wasn't happy with them. 

Mile 5 my back started hurting.  2 possible explanations.

1. Poor posture due to the fact that I am constantly bending over to pick up the little guy.
2. Lack of ab muscles causing me to have bad posture. (I have started trying to do more abs since).

I also wasn't feeling the push towards the end of races like I used to.  I don't know if it's because I haven't raced much since being pregnant or what, but my drive was not totally in it. 

Once I hit 19th street, I was feeling ok.  I knew the hills were out of the way, and I was near the finish (course map).  I turned onto 10th street and tried to give it my all.  It wasn't my legs that couldn't do it though, it was my lungs (did I mention a smog alert and very heavy humidity).  As I was approaching the finish, no one around me was really pushing it.  I had to bob and weave around people at the end.  I was so surprised more people weren't sprinting to the finish. 

I clocked in at 52:23 and my Garmin said it was 6.31 miles so my pace was 8:18, not quite as fast as I was hoping, but I was pretty happy with it. 

Everyone else with me started later, so I went around and collected tons of freebies.  When you finish that early, people are just throwing things at you.  I had my water and then tried a 16oz. sample of Muscle Milk Light.  Pretty good, but I am trying to limit my dairy, so I probably won't be buying any of those in the near future (and it's pretty expensive too). 

Finally got to my friends and hubby and we went back home and I hosted the race brunch afterwards. 

All in all, not a bad way to spend the 4th.

Did you race?  Any tips for me?

Peachtree results

Well it was hot and humid. But it was a blast! My time was 52:26, but in my defense, I clocked it 6.31 miles so my average was 8:18, just 5 seconds slower than I had hoped. Complete race recap to follow.

Peachtree a coming

I am just a few days away from my second race post baby (1st 10K). I got my email confirmation and I am in Corral B. I was a little disappointed that I won't be starting the race when the gun goes off, but I am only 5 minutes later. This will be the first time i didn't start when the gun goes off since the first time I ran this race 5 years ago. The first year We ran, we did not submit a time and were in the 9th group I think. It was 9:00am when we finished and over 80 degrees already. After that, I ran the Buckhead Sizzler and got a competitive time and have been in the front ever since. I am hoping to have a pretty good time, but we will see. I will put it out there and say I want to break 51 minutes. That is my goal. I have trying to add in some tempo runs and some sprints in during the week to try to gain some speed.

What are you doing for the 4th? Who else is racing?

Peachtree a coming

I am just a few days away from my second race post baby (1st 10K). I got my email confirmation and I am in Corral B. I was a little disappointed that I won't be starting the race when the gun goes off, but I am only 5 minutes later. This will be the first time i didn't start when the gun goes off since the first time I ran this race 5 years ago. The first year We ran, we did not submit a time and were in the 9th group I think. It was 9:00am when we finished and over 80 degrees already. After that, I ran the Buckhead Sizzler and got a competitive time and have been in the front ever since. I am hoping to have a pretty good time, but we will see. I will put it out there and say I want to break 51 minutes. That is my goal. I have trying to add in some tempo runs and some sprints in during the week to try to gain some speed.

What are you doing for the 4th? Who else is racing?