Cooking, Running, Puking....actually in that exact order!

So I'm obsessed lately with finding recipes that are AMAZINGLY DELICIOUS as well as healthy...IS THAT EVEN POSSIBLE?! Listen, I am a lover of food! Eating is a social event for me, food makes me happy, and if you ever want to see me rebel in a big way tell me I absolutely can't eat something. I don't care if it's something I don't even like...if you tell me i CAN'T have it, I will WANT it even more! :) I pride myself on having a stomach of steel (well, this morning was an exception, but more on that in a minute). Typically, I could eat mexican food for every meal of the day. Heck, I can walk straight out of a mexican food restaurant and go for a run and I'll feel just fine! I can hang with the big boys when it comes to eating and there's just really nothing dainty about me! However, you can see how all of this does NOT go well with a crazy/rigorous training schedule. So...I'm changing my mindset...food is FUEL. It's a necessity to live! EAT TO LIVE, don't LIVE TO EAT! If you know me at all, you know this new thought does NOT come naturally to me. So I repeat it to myself 1,000 times a day hoping that one day I'll believe it.
On my quest to find new and exciting recipes that are healthy AND yummy, I've found tons of blogs, websites, and discussion forums FULL of recipes! Some of them are SURE to end up being disgusting, I'm sure I'll ruin a few with my less than great cooking skills, but I'm hoping to come across a few "diamonds in the rough", if you will, when it comes to DELICIOUS, HEALTHY meals! And of course, I can't wait to share all of them with you...the successes and the failures!
I'd say last night's was a success. Don't get me wrong, I didn't lean back in my chair moaning with miserable satisfaction like I do after a meal at Pappasitos (you think I'm kidding? I know that sounded dirty, but THAT'S HOW MUCH I LOVE FOOD!), but it was good!
I made Chicken Roll Ups with a side of garlic green beans.

Flatten out some lean chicken breast, rub with spicy mustard, add one slice reduced fat cheese (whatever kind you like), celery and carrots, roll up and secure with toothpicks...

...spray with Italian Vinegarette Dressing (salad spritzer) and place on a greased pan/sheet and VOILA!

The green beans were just cut green beans sauteed in a skillet with some hot EVOO (as Rachel Ray would say! Extra Virgin Olive Oil) and some browned garlic! MMMMMMMMM!

While my dinner was cooking I decided to try one more recipe. I keep hearing how you should just AVOID the center aisles of a grocery store...if it has enough preservatives in it to allow it to sit on a shelf that long, it's not good inside your body! Well, I guess that does make sense! However, all of these protein bars, energy bars, and other things I supposedly should be taking in during a 2+ hour workout are on an aisle! So, why not make my own energy bars?? Like I said, I'll try anything once!

In a bowl I combined:
1 scoop whey protein
1/2 cup natural crunchy peanut butter
2 TBSP honey
1/4 cup nonfat dry milk powder
Berry of choice (i did mixed berries, but you could do just raisins)
Then I formed them into little logs...ok, I KNOW it looks like poo-poo...

...but most energy bars LOOK like it and TASTE like it too! I think these will be YUM-O! I haven't tried one yet, they are chilling in the fridge, but on my next long workout I'll have one and report back!

So, what a great evening, and I woke up feeling awesome! I got out of bed at 4:45am ready to teach my 6am PiYo (Pilates/Yoga) followed by a quick run (according to the tri calendar). Then I made my big mistake...I took a horse-pill sized multi-vitamin because LaLa (my second mommy) always gets on to me about not taking any. However, DON'T DO IT ON AN EMPTY STOMACH! I KNOW this rule...I actually sat there and debated eating something to go with it, but in a rush left the house and never got around to it. I felt great all through PiYo and even started off one of the best runs I've had in a while. I don't know if it was the new running shorts (a new running accessory always makes me feel fabulous), the new playlist on the iPhone, or the fact that my workout buddy is out of town and I thought if I ran faster I could get it over with quicker, but I started out at a WAY faster pace than normal! I could sit back all day in my lazy pace and run for hours...but I'm talking 2min/mile FASTER than I normally do! Pair this with the fact that it was, I swear, 150 degrees at 8:00am and I was DYING!! Being the stubborn brat that I am, I REFUSE to walk once I've set my workout. But let's just say you are FORCED to stop for just a second when you make a visit to the pukie club...yep, right there off of 518...2.5 miles away from my car. Oh well, what do you do? I popped in the spare piece of gum that I always have in my pocket, cranked the music back up, and finished the run! They say "pain is weakness leaving the body", well a LOT of weakness left my body this morning and now I feel great! It's 9:30am, the kids are starting to pour into the front door of Tumbling Stars and I'm off to start my Tuesday!