I actually won something...Laughing Cow Cheese!

A few weeks after Fitbloggin, I got a tweet notifying me that I had WON their contest they ran at the Conference:

I have seriously been a fan of Laughing Cow cheese, particularly the light Swiss flavor for years, and years. And I honestly, NEVER win anything, so I was pumped.

A few days later, this arrived on my doorstep.

A nifty Laughing Cow branded lunch box with four packages of Laughing Cow Cheese to try: Garlic & Herb, light Swiss, and two new flavors, White Cheddar and Queso Fresco & Chipotle.

Although I've been a fan of the light Swiss for a long time, I honestly have never branched out and tried other flavors, like the Garlic & Herb. So I was stoked to expand my Laughing Cow Cheese repertoire and try to find inventive ways to use the different flavors.

My standard, go-to recipe is to make a light, low calorie Alfredo sauce with the Swiss flavor. This goes great with pasta - or spaghetti squash for a lower carb version. I saw this recipe on a blog years, and years ago - probably 5 or more. But Laughing Cow also has a version on their website.

Here are the ingredients I used.

 I add red pepper flakes to add a bit of heat, and sometimes I use a sprinkling of flour if I need to thicken it up since I don't usually use dairy milk, thus cutting out the milkfat. The original soymilk from 8th Continent was definitely too sweet, but it did the trick in a pinch for a quick dinner.

I added mine to whole wheat angel hair pasta with broccoli and fresh tomatoes.

 Since I only tried the other flavors at Fitbloggin' with veggies and crispy flatbread, I tried to think of ways to add a little Laughing Cow flair to some of my old, regular, boring meals.

The winning shot.

The Queso Fresco & Chipotle went well on a black bean and rice burrito. I took a wedge and microwaved it for 30-60 seconds to melt it a bit. The flavor went quite well with this combination and has a bit of spice, but as someone that LOVES spice, you see that I still added my normal amount of hot sauce. :)

I stuffed the Swiss flavor in some mini peppers I had on-hand and roasted them in the oven. This was good, but it didn't turn out like a "jalapeno popper" like I hoped. I think next time mixing the Laughing Cow with some shredded cheese and green chilies is in order.

The White Cheddar flavor spruced up a boring turkey, spinach, tomato wrap for lunch at work.

Also, not shown, but the Garlic & Herb went great on my daily Egg & Spinach sandwich for breakfast!

Thank you Laughing Cow for sponsoring Fitbloggin'13 and for running the contest I won!


Disclaimer: All products were provided to me at no charge as part of a contest I won. Laughing Cow did not ask me to do this post, and all opinions and ideas are my own.

Where have I been?

Wow....where have I been?

I can't believe my last post was in JULY - July 28th to be exact.

I had just gotten back from a big trip and was gearing up for my last one of the summer. I can honestly say I have not been weighing and have not been tracking. I've been trying to make better choices, but I am not perfect.

Accept the imperfections.

I am sure I am up from my last weigh in, but my scale is broken so I haven't been focusing on it. I did take my measurements at the beginning of this month and I will share the results at the beginning of next month.

Work outs have been dismal, and my goal has been to just walk 20 minutes a day. Some days I get in longer walks (thanks Kate!) and some days I get no walks in. The last 2 days I've done no walking because I sprained my ankle again on Wednesday. Story of my life.

It's not as bad as last time, but I'm going to do some pool/yoga workouts this weekend and then pick the walking back up next week when hopefully it's a bit better.

Also, perhaps it's time I committed to doing those PT exercises to strengthen my hips and ankles?

So what else has been going on?

Honestly, nothing that is too noteworthy. This is the time of year at work I just want to do nothing when I am not AT work. 10-12 hour days of work, directly interacting with people in a very customer centric role leaves me feeling very much like I want nothing to do but eat copious amounts of carbs and be lazy when I'm not at work.

But a few things that have gone on:

- I visited New Orleans for my cousin's 30th birthday with family. I ate and drank to my heart's desire.

- I ran/walked a 5K in August, finishing in my slowest time ever.

- I took a side-by-side comparison of last year to this year. Time to face reality.

- I've been trying to pre-cook good food for the week, so I don't binge/make poor choices. Hopefully this will yield some yummy recipes for the blog.

I know my life seems really boring right now, and I guess it is. I am just trying to survive until Thanksgiving. It's hard to explain, but this time of year is really hard for me work-wise. I'll try and check in more regularly and hopefully get on a scale at the gym soon.

Weekly Weigh-in 3.2

Weight on July 15: 278.6
Today's Weight: 282.6

4 pounds GAINED


I just spent the last 10 days in 4 different cities between work and vacation....Columbus-Indianapolis-Chicago-Minneapolis....whew


Yes I could have traveled and not gained 4 lbs. If I didn't drink so much in Chicago, if I watched what I was eating and how much of it I was eating just a little closer, and I could have gotten out of bed and exercised while I was gone, but it happened and I'm still swinging around on these 5 lbs.


I leave for New Orleans on Friday to celebrate my cousin's 30th birthday, so I don't foresee it getting much better than this next week. I'm not going to torture myself, I'm just going to start back to my normal exercise routine and watch portions this week before I leave.


I'm in no place to make an empty promise that I won't go overboard in NOLA. School starts when I get back and hopefully a normal work routine will benefit me in the healthy living realm.

Go ahead and throw tomatoes - A very special 5k race giveaway!

When I first saw the sponsored post on Facebook about the upcoming Tomato Dodge 5K in Nashville, I was semi skeptical. I've come to be used to seeing a hot new specialty theme race announced every other day - everything from ass kicking mud and obstacle races to paint and glow fests. But one where the participants would be pelted with squishy fruit?

Inspired by the La Tomatina Festival in the Valenician town of Buñol, the Tomato Dodge combines history and fitness into a unique event.

From the La Tomatina Wiki page:

La Tomatina (Spanish pronunciation: [la tomaˈtina]) is a festival that is held in the Valencian town of Buñol, a town located 30 km from the Mediterranean, in which participants throw tomatoes and get involved in this tomato fight purely for fun. It is held on the last Wednesday of August, during the week of festivities of Buñol.

"Purely for fun" - no further description needed for me, I love fun! With a tomato pit to jump in and ambush zones to race through all while throwing the red bombs at other racers, this race is sure to meet the organizer's objective of "giving people a reason to get outside, get moving, and have a blast."

So my last question was, "won't they hurt?"

A simple answer is no, they "soak and squish these tomatoes so that they're soft on impact." To see more about the action packed race in the Tomato Dodge Presents: Run, Throw, Dodge video.

After seeing me comment on Twitter about the craziness of what they were doing the Tomato Dodge marketing team handed over a free race entry and TWO of my Nashville readers.

So, I've signed up to run this crazy race on August 17th. Do you want to join me? I'm giving away TWO free race entries right now!

All you have to do is comment below by Monday, July 22nd at 11:59 pm CST and I will draw 2 winners at random to be notified on Tuesday morning. the winner will receive a free entry to the race on August 17th in Nashville good for use by 7/24. Travel to Nashville and/or lodging is not included.

Disclosure: The nifty people at Tomato Dodge supplied me with a code for a free race entry for myself and two race entries to give away. All opinions are entirely my own. I’m pumped to do another theme race!

Vegan (and no oil) Pesto Sauce

I'm a huge fan of pesto. And basil in general. There's nothing better than a fresh mozzarella, tomato, basil salad in the summer.

But I digress...

We are here to talk about pesto. The thing where overgrown basil plants are made into a beautifully delicious, cheesy, oily delicacy. Yum.

However, most traditional pesto recipes call for 1/2 cup to 1 1/2 cups of olive oil - yikes! Even with the health benefits of olive oil that is a huge calorie bomb.

Enter a recipe I discovered 3 years ago: Katie's Raw Vegan Pesto Sauce

It's a wonderful take on the pesto flavor without all the calories, fat, and dairy (if you watch that sort of thing). It's delicious on raw veggies, as a flatbread topping and even as a pasta sauce. You can see the original recipe at the link above and here are my changes to a batch I made this week:

• Used 1 tsp dried ginger rather than fresh
• Used 3 oz almonds soaked for 24 hours rather than pine nuts (I would recommend walnuts over almonds if the cost of pine nuts deter you)
• Left out jalapeño, but would recommend it!
• Recommend starting with 2 T of water and adding a tablespoon at a time to get right consistency - mine was a little thick

Made a flatbread out of a whole wheat wrap, grape tomatoes, and Parmesan cheese.

Paired it with roasted cabbage and a simple roasted beet salad for a complete meal!

Have you ever lightened up a traditionally high in calorie recipe? Did it remind you of the original? 

Weekly Weigh-in 2.2

Just a quick post for weigh in this week because I don't want to fall off the wagon.
 
Weight on July 7: 276.2

Today's Weight: 278.6


2.4 pounds GAINED


So it happened again, lose a lot, gain a little. I tend to do good Sat-Tues and then fall off the wagon Wednesday-Friday. I don't sometimes Tuesday blends into Wednesday or Saturday blends into Friday, but generally I'm "on" 3-4 days and then "off" 3-4 days.


Just working on making good decisions one at a time. Alcohol has to go, but that's a post for another day. This week I leave Wednesday night for some combined business/personal travel, which will put me in 4 cities in 10 days....AGAIN.


Summer is almost over.

Fitbloggin' - The People

If you've attended Fitbloggin' before then you know that the #1 draw is THE PEOPLE. If you haven't been, but have read any recap, then you have read about THE PEOPLE. No matter what way you slice it, the Fitbloggin' community is a special one and one I'm so grateful to have discovered it.

There are a few people who made my experience at Fitbloggin' just so very awesome and it wouldn't be fair if I didn't introduce you to them and their respective space on the interweb!

Erin - Living Made Healthy - Erin was my Fitbloggin' roomie and we shared a hotel room Thursday night without even meeting until Friday morning. Now, in normal life this would be completely awkward, but in Fitbloggin' life this is NORMAL. Sharing rooms with complete strangers - or those you only know from the interwebz...totally socially acceptable. I couldn't have been luckier with my roommate choice and gained a new friend from it. And big news - Erin and her husband are expecting their first little one in January!

Kari - My Weighting Place - There are so many great things to say about Kari, but to sum it up, Kari is my long lost soul sister. Case in point: we both ran the Seattle Rock n Roll half marathon a year and 5 days before we met at Fitbloggin'! And we actually met in the bathroom, but didn't officially introduce ourselves until later when a group of us were setting out to dinner. She has lost 165 pounds and is a huge inspiration and cheerleader for me. She encouraged me to run the 5K and stayed with me (along with Erin) at my pace. There is just so much awesomeness that can't be fit into these few sentences, but know she is bursting with amazing!

Kari and I with the *THE* Laughing Cow

Sarah - Losing Weight and Having Fun - Sarah and I have been "Twitter friends" for ages. I didn't do a very good job of surveying my followers for Fitbloggin' attendees, but we managed to meet up on Friday in the Clean Eating session. She was my main gal to pal around with - from a lovely walk around downtown Portland, to dinner both nights, and lounging on the hotel's rooftop bar.

Alan - Sweating until Happy - I can't even tell you how long I've been following Alan and interacting on Twitter. Always a positive light, he reminds me daily to persevere and be optimistic about life. Fittingly, Alan was the first person I ran into at the registration table Friday morning when I finally got down there. Big hugs were had and the weekend wouldn't have been the same without his company hanging out in the hotel lounge with friends until the wee hours of the night.

Emmie - Skinny Emmie - Which brings me to Alan's Fitbloggin' partner in crime...I've known Emmie for about 2 years. Emmie's blog was one of the first ones I stumbled on when I was getting ready to set up mine (same first name + google, bless you universe). It's not really necessary to tell you her accolades because you already know and love her,  but I will tell you anyway because she is awesome: lost over 100 pounds, finished a half-marathon in 2011, has persevered through an injury for 2 years and has not given up. She was my wino partner in crime at the good-bye reception and my night owl friend to boot. I owe a lot of this weekend to her.

Me and Erin; Me and Alan: Me and Renee; Me and Alyssa

Alyssa - Double Chin Diary - Another person I met for the first time in Portland that just "got" me. The most hilarious you will ever meet nd just all around fun to be around. Plus, we have the SAME EXACT PANTS! You can't even get them anymore, I have literally been on the hunt for pants like these for YEARS - and Alyssa has a pair and understands my plight. My goal is to get to the West Coast before the end of 2013 to work out with Richard Simmons, frolick on the beach and put my toes in the Pacific Ocean (all probably while Alyssa tells an inappropriate joke and I choke on laughter).

Mel - The Daily Mel - Another veteran "followee" I have been interacting with on Twitter for ages. A Tennessee gal at heart, she now lives in Southern California. We literally went all day Friday without meeting up and I made it my mission to track her down and give her the biggest hug. She is witty, is an awesome Twitter conversationalist, and all-around solid person to call a friend.

Renee - Run, Laugh, Eat Pie - Renee is an expat who has lived in the Netherlands for the past 19 years where she traveled from to attend Fitbloggin'.  Renee and I had a pop-up coffee date when we both headed out of the hotel lobby at the same time. She entertained my obsession with Stumptown Coffee - a Portland favorite. I may have gushed a little too much about my love for coffee and Sbux in general, but that's ok. I'm a coffee fiend and not afraid to admit it. Just by talking to Renee you know that doesn't live her life through excuses and that is totally kick ass.

Stephanie - Athlete at Heart - A Midwestern girl like me, Stephanie is my active living inspiration. From triathlons to half-marathons she is kicking butt in it all! She was kind enough to hang out with me for dinner both nights and join Sarah and I on the rooftop bar Saturday afternoon.

Me and Stephanie at the Goodbye Reception

Kari, me and Erin post-5K

Martinus, Alyssa, and Dre having fun post goodbye reception

The people I've talked about here doesn't even BEGIN to include everyone I met, connected with, was inspired by, or intend on keeping in touch with. It is just a VERY SMALL group of the people I hung out with over the 3 days I was there.

Every session had a Live Blog written about it, so if you are interested in reading more about Fitbloggin' and the content head over to the website.