will run for ice cream

Love having random weekdays off... especially on 90+ degree summer days. 

Breakfast today was a smoothie of a few frozen standards: banana, mango, pineapple, and strawberries plus a fresh orange and plain yogurt. Toppings were the usual PLUS chia seeds. Welcome to the mix chia, thank you WF Arlington, VA for carrying chia in bulk because NJ does not! 

Chia seeds are the poppy seed lookalikes. Yes, all I can think of are chia pets right now too. But chia seeds are supposed to be really high in antioxidants and omega 3s so they're worth a little sprinkle along with my flax seeds. Plus I like the texture they add.

After breakfast I got my cook on. First it was cooking some brown rice, black beans, and chick peas. More on the first two in tomorrows post- they were for work lunches. As for the chick peas, I attempted a more traditional falafel than my Great Northern Quinoa Falafel (though still baked). I added zucchini to pick up the nutrient content. The recipe isn't perfect but its pretty good!

Baked Zucchini Falafel

1/2 large zucchini 

1/2 small onion 

1 cup dried chick peas (cooked) 

1 egg

salt + pepper

1 tsp baking powder

cumin 

garlic powder 

cayenne pepper

1 handful fresh parsley

1) Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Cook the chickpeas according to WF bulk instructions or any instructions you can get your hands on. Soak beans overnight first for best results. I would explain cooking but I've done it too many times! 

2) Coarsely pulse chickpeas in food processor. Add zucchini, parsley, and onion. Add salt, pepper, about 1 tsp garlic powder, baking powder, and a sprinkle of cayenne + cumin to taste. Continue to pulse until all ingredients are ground finely but not into a paste. 

3) Taste mixture. Adjust spices as needed. If it doesn't taste good before you cook it, don't expect it to magically season itself while it cooks!

4) Scramble egg in seperate bowl. Fold in egg until well incorporated.

5) Spray a cookie sheet with cooking spray. Make golf ball size portions and flatten. Bake about 10 minutes or until bottom is golden brown; flip. Bake another 10 minutes or so until both sides are golden brown. 

6) Makes about 4 servings. Serve with pita, feta, tahini, hummus, or any other Mediterranean ingredients.

Pre-oven 

 Baked!

I turned the falafel into a salad tonight: topped some baby spinach with tomatoes, orange bell pepper, and cucumber. The dressing was a mix of greek yogurt, tahini, lemon, water, salt, pepper, and lemon. Yumm! 

I ate this for dinner with the intention if it being a light dinner so that I could run after. Too bad my mom pulled out a big, buttery garlic bread loaf. Damage done!

I was having too much fun hanging with the fam and all of the sudden it was 8:45 and quite dark. I really didn't want to miss the run, even though I got a good 3/4 of a mile swim in today, so I mentioned my dilemma out loud. MISTAKE.  Colin and Pat made the lovely offer to ride along while beeping and saying "WIDE LOAD." Thanks. Thought it was a joke until they were running to get changed and followed me on their bikes.

We had the most hilarious run ever- Colin had a bike radio. Typical. Of course, we don't listen to music. Instead he plays siren sounds from his Ipod. Wide Load was also stated while passing a few walkers. It was pretty hilarious and made the run tick by quickly. Plus, with my "pacers" biking along I definitely pushed it. Karma finally sided with me when Colin, while changing the siren noise, drilled into the back of a parked car without any notice. Laughing and running is REALLY hard.

Of course, being teenage boys, took a detour to Kerrin's house so that my brothers could dive in the pool. Run ended. Instead of running home, the boys swam and Kerrin and I went to get ice cream. Third time getting ice cream this week. <3 summer. This time I went for the real stuff, soft serve and it was so much better than the frozen yogurt. After ice cream it was too dark to head back so we got a ride. I think the run ended up at just about 3 miles- success in so many ways.

Bed time! Using one of my last kickboxing classes tomorrow before they expire. I'm sure it will kick my booty.