High Protein Breakfast Bowl

I created this recipe because the sausage patties I bought were originally for a different recipe, BUT that recipe involved almond flour which I am highly allergic to so I needed to find another use for them.  Voila!  I came up with this high protein breakfast bowl! 

On a whim, I decided to throw the patties into a frying pan, crack a few eggs over them and then add whatever else I could that would add flavor.  Sometimes it's bacon bits or onion or pepper. Even pepperoni gets thrown in there!  This is really anything goes type recipe except​, you know me, I stay away from the carbs.

Ready for the recipe?  Here it goes!

Ingredients

• 2 frozen sausage patties
• 2-3 eggs
• Handful of shredded cheese
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Any other ingredients you might want to toss in like chopped onions or peppers

Place your sausage patties into a heated skillet. Crack your eggs on top like you are going to fry them then toss in the rest of your ingredients. Cook until the eggs aren't runny.  It's really that simple.

Let me know when you try it.  I want to hear how it tastes! 

Preparing For My Next Race: A 3K!

 My next race is a 3K.

Now if you're a die-hard running enthusiasts, you're laughing at me right now. You're preparing for a 3K?  Really?

Even if you're a casual runner you're probably still laughing at me right now.  And if you're like so many people and you don't like to run at all, you're probably pretty impressed.  You're probably also wondering how far a 3K is.  

Well, don't get too impressed. A 3K is just under two miles or about 1.86 miles. Now, why am I preparing for this race? Well, I haven't run a race in a year now and a year is a really long time to be out of the running game. At least that's what I think so I need to get both my mind and my body ready to race again. 

Before we go any farther, I should be clear that I really only race against myself. I'm not fast enough to ever place. Maybe when I'm 70 and the field has thinned out a bit.

Back to what I am doing to prepare myself for this race.  Well, running is obvious but here are a few others:

• Strength Training:  I'm keeping this really simple.  Typically, my strength training involves doing lunges and squats during our daily walks around the neighborhood.  To work on my arms I'll do push ups against the stairs or tricep dips on the back of the couch.  I'll also use our weight machine downstairs to work my hamstrings (boy, do they need it) or quads.
• Foam Roll:  This has been so helpful for my back!  In the past, I've mostly focused on my legs, specifically my shins and calves, but I'm finding the more I work my lower back, the better my feet and calves feel.  I'm also working on loosening up my hips to help my Achilles which was tight during my last run.  
• Working on my Form:  I wrote a blog post about that HERE.  While I run I'm really concentrating on keeping my shoulders down, my arms low and my foot strike and less on how fast I am running or how fatigued I feel.  

Is this all helping?  I ran 2 miles recently, the longest I've run in about a year, and I felt great the next day.  Even my feet feel fine.  

I can genuinely say that I am excited for my first race of the year on October 28!

When is your race?  Tell me in the comments below!  I want to hear about it.  

Sweet Potato Sriracha Bowl - A Low Carb Meal

I bought some sweet potatoes on a whim one day thinking I could satisfy my chip craving by making some fries.  The fries came out alright but when I noticed my neglected sweet potatoes were going to spoil soon, I cleaned them up and steamed them.  Who knew steaming sweet potatoes would be so easy?!

After I steamed them I had an idea to mix them up with my favorite dip for sweet potato fries - sriracha and mayo.  I also had some left over bacon bits that I threw in.  After I mixed everything together, I took a much anticipated bite and instantly decided it was Mmmm, mmm, good!

It might look kinda weird or you might be like, "Mayo in my sweet potatoes?  Gross!"  But just like the cast of Yo Gabba Gabba sings, "Try it!  You'll like it!"

Ingredients:
1 steamed sweet potato (directions for steaming below)
2 Tablespoons of mayo (I eyeball this)
Couple of squirts of Sriracha
As many bacon bits as you want!

Mix it all together in a bowl and enjoy.

The easiest way I've found to steam sweet potatoes is to clean them, put them all snug in a glass pan with 1/4 cup of water, cover it with aluminum foil and bake at 350 degrees for one hour.  

Now you can have the Gabba song stuck in your head too. 

A Chip Off the Old Block

My 5 year old daughter is just like me.

But yet she's not.

Alright, so when it comes to running, she is just like I was when I was a kid - she hates it and she's going to let everybody around her know about it and make them miserable in the process. 

I asked her if she wanted to run the Lil' Pumpkins race with me again and she happily agreed.  I warned her that because she's older now she's going to have to run longer.  This year she'll be running 0.3 miles versus 100 yards.  She still wanted to do it so I registered her.  I promised her I'd take her out for a training run. 

After begging me all week to take her running, we finally made it out today, a day when Daddy could watch the baby. 

In the beginning, she was more than happy to get outside and run.

After a few short, warmups, really we are only running 0.3 of a mile, we headed to the road to run.

Reality set in at that point.

I don't think we ran 100 yards before she started complaining that she was itchy, she didn't want to run, that it was too hot.  She kept asking to stop. 

I told her we'd slow down but that we really needed to keep moving so she doesn't get knocked down by the other kids on race day.

With lots of encouraging, she finally made it to the "finish" line. 

She immediately asked if we could walk back and not run.

I compromised with her and we did intervals.  I told her we'd run to the stop sign and then walk and then run to the mailboxes and then walk.

By the time we made it home, she was running to the door to get away from mommy's crazy race training.

I'm MORE than HAPPY that a 12 mm was a comfortable, easy pace for me!

Now, my daughter has more energy than the Energizer bunny.  She's very active in dance and Girl Scouts.  Her favorite activity at school?  Playing outside.  She will run... when she wants to. 

But she's still a chip off the old block and hates running.  I wasn't nearly as active as she is at her age and now I'm paying for it. (I even wrote a blog post about it HERE.)  I'm fine with running not being her thing because she is so active.

What physical activities do you enjoy with your kids?  Leave me a comment below.  I want to know.  

I've Come to the Realization

That I don't know how to run. 

If you know me at all in real life or you've been following along for awhile now, then you know I suffer from a nasty case of plantar fasciitis. So severe, in fact, that I almost had surgery to correct it.  I've since realized my problem isn't my feet but my back. 

This realization has led me to do some extensive foam rolling on said back AND work on my form bringing me back to the title of this post. 

I am a heel striker.  No wonder my feet and back hurt all the time!

I run like the guy on the left.  Tsk, tsk.  

I honestly had no idea you are supposed to run on the front part of your feet!  They don't teach you that in gym class. Or if they did, I wasn't paying attention. 

So, like any other social media savvy person would do, I jumped on YouTube and started searching for videos to help me improve my form.

Below is the video I found that is the most helpful.  Strange as it may sound to some, I'm actually excited for my next run so I can try his techniques.  I'm really enjoying getting back to basics.  

Here I Go Again!

And again.  And again. 

Seriously, it my personal history with staying healthy is any indication, it will be awhile before I consistently workout and eat healthy.  

But I did something that I haven't done yet in the last 3 months since I had baby Vivi - I ran 2 days in a row!

Now mind you, I only ran a mile but it was a hard fought for one. My calves were tight for most of it and it took awhile for my back to stop hurting.  

My speed might not be anywhere near where it once was but running a 12 minute mile never felt so good!

And I got a sleepy baby out of it too.  

Next on the agenda?  Strength training.