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Girls Night In + Healthy Veggie Dinner
Almost a year ago to the day, I took one of the best vacations of my life so far (what I justified as a “graduation present” to myself). As a country-lovin’ girl with a fascination for small town charm, rural areas, east coast beaches and southern accents, I excitedly planned a roadtrip through North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia. I still think about that trip at least once a week.
I’m bringing it up again because my mom and I finally started to save all of our pictures from the trip and put them into a scrapbook. We had started our day with a sprints/HIIT workout during sunrise, and after work I had a strength training/plyometrics workout with our trainer for Boise Elite Running. Suffice it to say, I earned my glass of Riesling, which I think heightened my sense of nostalgia over this trip. I may have ended the night by creating a new Pinterest board planning my next southern road-trip (now to decide: autumn or spring?!).
My mom and I planned a girls night to make dinner together, rent a redbox movie, and hang out together. The low-key girls night without workouts, errands, or social stuff was so refreshing since most nights here have been go-go-go. When the sun is out til 10pm, it’s hard to stay home. But then it makes the rare nights with movies and pajamas so much more appreciated! :)
We knew we wanted a healthy dinner so that we could splurge. The most difficult decision: wine or ice cream?!
One of my all-time favorite meals is roasted root vegetables, no matter what time of year. Chopping up the butternut squash is so time-consuming (and slightly dangerous for my fingers) but so worth it. The rest is just chopping up sweet potatoes, zucchini, carrots, onions, apples, brussels sprouts and whatever else you want to throw on the pan. We mix the veggies with a little bit of olive oil and some marjoram spice, garlic and pepper. Roasted at 425 degrees for 50-ish minutes and they come out so warm, caramelized and flavorful. My mouth is watering!
Have you seen Hello, My Name is Doris? We LOVE Sally Field, especially from the old show Brothers & Sisters. This wasn’t my favorite movie but it was still cute. Some parts were so awkward that it was painful to watch, where you just cringe for the main character. I’d give it a 6.5 out of 10 stars, so we had to add an episode of Friends before we went to bed to end the night on a funny note. :)
Nothing super special about our leisure girls night in but sometimes it’s just what you need. Especially when we’re balancing out such adventurous weekends…..cliff jumping and paddle-boarding are on the agenda for the upcoming weekends. We are living more in Idaho than we did in 20 years in California!
Tomorrow morning, I’ll be meeting a friend I made through the running club in a nearby town for a trail run before work. I love driving when it’s so quiet out and running through the sunrise. The first five minutes after the early alarm clock goes off are the worst but thankfully a pot of coffee is waiting for me. And the feeling after a good run through nature is indescribable; you just have to experience it for yourself.
Hope you have some fun plans this weekend & I’ll catch ya back here Monday!
Chunky Monkey DeLites
Yesterday morning I dropped my mom off at the airport at 5:20am. She always picks the earliest flight so I was prepared for the dark drive. Since the airport is so close to my work and I don’t have strict hours, I decided to just start my workday at 6:00am. I had a thermos full of coffee and actually opted for no music instead of my usual morning country. The office was practically empty and so quiet, it was kind of nice. I did hit a wall around 1pm and fueled up with some apple slices and peanut butter. I had a gym workout that night that I wanted to be energized for! It’s always a little more difficult for me to run in the evening than first thing in the morning. That’s why this morning I planned a 5:00am treadmill session, logging 5.85 miles during the morning news before the sun came up.
On my lunch hour, I drove one block to the mall to walk a lap and stop at GNC for my favorite Quest bars. (Always nice to give the eyeballs a break from the computer and move the legs!) This little guy (I just assume it’s a boy) was sitting so patiently in the truck next to me, I wanted to hug him! So I just took a picture instead. So serious :)
Dinner was a quick salad that we threw together with leftovers, made fancy with avocado and feta and blueberries.
But I’m really here to share dessert!
Chunky Monkey Ben & Jerry’s is tempting but I had more than my fair share of ice cream in the last couple of weeks of school. The compromise: frozen banana slices with PB Fit and mini chocolate chips.
PB Fit and other similar powdered peanut butters dehydrate the peanut by squeezing out the oils, thus removing about 90% of the fat content. Yes, fats from nuts are healthy and I enjoy regular nut butters regularly! But sometimes when using peanut butter for dessert or extra treat, it is helpful to reduce the calorie and fat content. Plus I genuinely like the flavor and the texture of the powdered pb. I used one large ripe banana, 2 tablespoons of peanut butter powder mixed with 1.5 tablespoon of water, and 2 tablespoons of mini chocolate chips; this dessert is 2 servings at approximately 160 calories each.
I sliced the bananas and laid them out on a plate, mixed together the peanut butter powder and water and measured out the chocolate chips. I put a little dab of peanut butter on each banana slice and sprinkled a couple of chips on each. Then I popped the plate in the freezer for about 20-30 minutes until the bananas were slightly frozen. *Best enjoyed with an episode of Grey’s Anatomy while I try to play catch up with my Hulu account. (When I logged in for the first time in a while last week, I had over 70 episodes in my queue! Someone missed the entire season of the Voice #sadday)
Since I had to walk to the store after dinner to buy the bananas, the 2 mile trek nearly cancelled out the calories from the treat. Victory! I’m a little tired from the past couple of 4:20am wake up calls and I have another one coming tomorrow so I’m turning in early tonight. Goodnight!
The Adventure Backpack & 6 Other Weekend Highlights
My weekend was a mixture of everything….chores, work, interning, basketball, running, hiking, picnicking, chick flicks, cooking, homework, shopping, coffee shops. Here are 7 highlights:
1.) The Adventure Backpack: I bought this backpack to use as a purse, but I only ever seem to use it when I go on a hike and pack a picnic. It’s become a picnic basket :) I also put it in my closet and forget about it as soon as I get home, so I pull it out for the next hike to find it already stocked with sunscreen/hand sanitizer/chapstick/deodorant (essential for any outdoor activity right? haha) hence: The Adventure Backpack.
2.) Day Trip to Sedona with my best friend: For us, it was just a quick day trip for lunch and a hike. But some of the license plates in the parking lot showed our fellow hikers had come from Minnesota, Illinois, Maine, Kentucky and Missouri. Our 70-degree February weather is probably making more than half the country pretttty jealous right about now.
Kerri and I have been best friends ever since we became cross country teammates freshman year of college and bonded over Sunday night ‘Desperate Housewives’ episodes and gossiping about boys. Four years later, Desperate Housewives is cancelled and boys have come and gone but we are closer than ever. After we graduate in May, we’ll be living in different states. So we are fitting in a few last girls’ days!
3.) Church Hunting and Traffic Jams: There is a church, The Church of the Red Rocks in Sedona, that is built in to the side of the mountain. I’m not even sure what denomination this church is affiliated with, just that it is absolutely beautiful and we wanted a picture. We asked Siri on Kerri’s iPhone for directions….first mistake. We saw the church in the distance, and watched it get farther and farther away as we followed Siri’s directions in the complete opposite direction.
Instead, we came upon one of the round-abouts at the perfect timing. Two cars were obviously confused by the counter-clockwise stop-sign alternative and a car crash caused the single-lane round-about to completely block traffic in both directions. We sat still for almost thirty minutes waiting for traffic to begin flowing again. Kerri had plenty of time to walk out of the car and take a picture of this sign.
We had good music (Eli Young Band!) and even better views to keep us from growing impatient.
We kept making sarcastic comments like, “Gosh nature is just so ugly.”
“I’d much rather be looking at my cell phone right now.”
“These poor homeowners who have to look at that view every day. Must be rough.”
And no, we never made it to the church.
4.) This creepy photobomb:
Looks like a normal picture, right…..
……?
No, we do not know this person, and we thought we were alone until we were flipping through pictures at home….
5.) S’mores Quest Bar: Kerri and I both love learning about nutrition and trying out new healthy snacks and products. (The first thing out of Kerri’s mouth when we found a flat-ish spot at the top of Bell Rock: WHERE ARE THE SNACKS?!)
Quest bars became popular last year for their high protein/low sugar formula and just introduced a new S’mores flavor. Currently they are only available in GNC in our town, so we made a special little stop on the way home for a protein-packed snack. Delicious :)
6.) Jenna Marbles Videos: In high school, I saw the viral Youtube video “How to trick people into thinking you’re good looking” video from Jenna Marbles that launched her into Internet-stardom. I used to watch her weekly videos after that until I started college. Kerri and I decided to see if Jenna Marbles was still making videos (she is!) and watch some of the newer ones. We loved the “What a girl’s eyebrows mean” :D
7.) A big W for our basketball team today! I was working at the game for my sports marketing internship, and it was one of the most energetic crowds we’ve had this season. The pom-pom giveaway was a huge success and made the cheering spectators that much more spirited. Our boys played the leading team in the conference. The score was 70-69 in the last 30 seconds and they pulled away with a victory!
Aaaaand there’s still a full day of the weekend to enjoy. I hope where ever you are, you’re staying warm!
Xoxo
