I snacked on 1/2 of this Kind Bar before my workout, since I knew I would need some fuel to keep me going.

This flavor was awesome.  I especially loved the yogurt coating!

I saved the second 1/2 for after my workout.

I warmed up with a 5 mile easy run – I felt exhausted though, it was a tough run!  Then, it was on to weights.  I decided to do some circuits to work my upper and lower body at the same time.

Full Body Weight Session

• Overhead press (3 sets of 12, 10 lb weights) with squats
• 21′s (3 sets, 18 lb bar) and step ups (10 lb weights)
• Lunges with alternating front & side raises(3 sets of 12, 7.5 lb weights)
• Upright row (3 sets of 12, 18 lb bar) with deadlift
• Bicycles (3 sets of 20)
• Alternating Chest press (3 sets of 12, 12.5 lb weights) & Fly’s (3 sets of 12, 10 lb weights)
• Crunches (3 sets of 15)
• Overhead tricep (3 sets of 12, 10 lb weight) & tricep dips (3 sets of 10)
• V-ups (3 sets of 12) on bench
• Hammer Curls (3 sets of 12, 7.5 lb weights) with calf raises
• Lat pulldown (3 sets of 12, 50 lb weight) & Seated row (3 sets of 12, 30 lb weight)
• Leg ups (3 sets of 10) & Back extension (3 sets of 10, 10 lb weight)

Wow!  What a session, no wonder why I was exhausted!

I decided to whip something yummy for dinner.  I was craving Pad Thai, and just happened to have these noodles in my fridge, so I gave it a shot.

I chopped up 1/2 green cabbage and about 1/4 of a purple cabbage, along with some leftover zucchini (I didn’t want it to go to waste!)

While the noodles were cooking, I heated up a little olive oil in a saute pan over medium heat and added the cabbage and zucchini and cooked until tender, about 8 minutes.

Once the noodles were cooked (they only take about 5 minutes), I added them to the cabbage mixture.

I added peanut butter, toasted sesame oil, peanuts, chile pepper, salt and pepper to the mix and stirred up until mixed.

YUM!  Simple, quick and delicious homemade pad thai!

I really enjoyed this simple dinner.

Quick & Easy Pad Thai

Serves 2-3

Ingredients:

• 1 package Japanese Style Noodles (I used Nasoya)
• 1/2 green cabbage
• 1/4 purple cabbage (for color)
• 1 zucchini
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 2 tbsp peanut butter
• 1 tbsp toasted sesame oil
• 1 tsp chile powder
• 1/4 cup unsalted peanuts
• salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Cook noodles according to package instructions.  Drain, set aside.
2. Heat 1 tbsp olive oil in a saute pan over medium heat.
3. Chop cabbage and zucchini and add to the pan.  Cook until tender, about 5-8 minutes.
4. Add noodles to the cabbage mixture and mix.
5. Stir in peanut butter, chile powder, salt, pepper and sesame oil.  Mix well.
6. Garnish with peanuts when serving.
7. Enjoy!

• 1 apple
• 1 pear
• 1/2 orange
• 1/2 lemon
• 3 kale stalks

It really tasted like green lemonade!  I think this is my favorite juice combo yet!

I have so much juice pulp now, so look for some juice pulp crackers coming up!

I also started the day with a slice of Millet toast and my favorite superfruit jam (I have yet to try the other 3 flavors!) and a banana with almond butter.  Perfect, delicious, filling and satisfying!

I decided to hit up the gym tonight since my legs were still throbbing from my weekend workouts this morning!  So, before the gym I snacked on a YouBar.  YouBar sent me some samples of their bars, shakes and trailmix to try out a few weeks ago, but I just got around to trying one today!

You Bar is a great company.  They has multiple ingredients on their site and you can literally create your own bar, shake, cookie, trailmix, etc with those ingredients!  It sounds like a really cool idea to me.  I did not get to chose my own ingredients, but they did send me a few samples.

I tried their Great Date with Chocolate Bar today which was a combination of Dates, Whey Protein, Honey and Cocoa.  Sounds like my kind of ingredients, huh?

Well, unfortunately, I didn’t love the bar.   It had the consistency of a powerbar, which I hate!  Kind of rubbery.  I love the idea of the site, but I was hoping that the bar would be more like a granola bar.  I am assuming that the other bars I received will be similar, but I’ll try them out at some point anyways.  I do have high hopes for the trail mix though!  How can you go wrong with some ingredients thrown in a bag?!  So, i’ll be back with a review of those!

At the gym, I did a little warm-up on the elliptical and then hit up some weights.

Back & Biceps

• Lateral Pulldown (3 sets of 12, 50lb weight)
• Seated Row (3 sets of 12, 40lb weight)
• 21′s (3 sets, 18lb bar – these are my absolute favorite!)
• Hammer Curls (3 sets of 10, 7.5lb weights – tired from those 21′s!)
• Back Extension (3 sets of 10, 10lb weight)
• Leg ups (2 sets of 15, twists)

Then, I ran 6.5 miles super easy!  I wanted to get some miles in for the week, and stretch out my sore legs!

Dinner was a quickie, but really really goodie tonight!

Last week, I got my weekly update from 101cookbooks.com and Heidi had a feisty green beans recipe on their.  Brant and I both love green beans, so we had to try it out!

The recipe has quite a few ingredients for green beans, but we both this it was worth it!  It was still quick, and we did leave out a few ingredients that we didn’t have on hand.

Feisty Green Beans

from 101cookbooks.com

Serves 4-6 (we cut the recipe in half and served it over quinoa for a main dish – it was a perfect amount)

Ingredients:

• 1 pound green beans, thinly sliced
• 1/2 cup golden raisins
• 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
• 2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
• 1/2 medium yellow onion, finely diced
• 3 bay leaves
• 1/3 cup white wine
• 1/2 teaspoon hot paprika
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin (omitted)
• 1 teaspoon ground coriander
• 1/2 teaspoon curry powder (omitted)
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• scant 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
• 6 ounces extra-firm tofu, cut into 1/2-inch cubes (omitted)
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1/3 cup crème fraîche or sour cream (omitted)
• 1/4 cup sliced almonds, toasted (used sunflower seeds)
• one handful of finely chopped fresh cilantro (omitted)
• salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Cook the green beans in a pot of well-salted boiling water for about a minute, just long enough that they lose their raw edge. Drain and dunk in ice-cold water to stop the cooking. Drain again and set aside.
2. In a small bowl cover the raisins with scalding hot water for five minutes, drain and set aside.
3. Heat your largest skillet over medium heat. When the pan is hot, add the oil, garlic, onion, and bay leaves. Cook for 5 minutes, or until the onions and garlic start to brown just a bit.
4. Add the wine and cook until it has mostly evaporated. Carefully remove the bay leaves.
5. Stir in the paprika, cumin, coriander, curry powder, salt, crushed red pepper flakes.
6. Stir in the tofu and raisins and cook until heated through, a minute or so.
7. Add the butter and green beans and stir until the butter has melted.
8. Remove from heat and stir in the crème fraiche, then most of the almonds and most of the cilantro. Taste and add more salt and some pepper if you like. Serve topped with any remaining almonds and cilantro.

Even with the missing ingredients, this came out great!!

To make this into a main course, instead of a side dish, we served the green beans over quinoa.  We left the quinoa plain because the green beans had more than enough flavor to carry though!

Cranberry-Pear Cake Bars

(I switched up a few ingredients to the items I already had in my cabinets)

makes 16 bars

Ingredients:

• 2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 3/4 cup turbinado sugar
• 8 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
• 2 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 tablespoon fresh grated orange zest
• 2 firm pears, cored and thinly sliced
• 2 cups fresh cranberries (if frozen, thaw before using)
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts, toasted

Below are a few of my organic ingredients that I used in this recipe…I forgot to snap photos of the others…

Directions:

- Preheat oven to 350°

- Line a 9″ x 13″ pan with parchment paper, which a few inches over the sides (for easy removal).  Lightly spray with olive oil cooking spray.

- In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt.

- In a large bowl, whisk together sugar, butter, eggs, vanilla and zest. Add flour mixture and stir just until combined.

-  Gently fold in pears, cranberries and walnuts – the mixture will be quite thick.

Local Cranberries

close up

Pears and cranberries added

Walnuts added

- Scoop the mixture into the lined 9″ x 13″ pan.  Make sure to even it all out so that it will bake evenly.

Ready to bake

- Bake until a toothpick placed near the center comes out mostly clean with a few moist crumbs attached, about 35 to 45 minutes. Remove and place the pan on a wire rack to cool completely before cutting into bars.

all cooked

-After the bars have completely cooled, pull the parchment paper on each side to remove bars.  Place on a cutting board, cut into squares and enjoy!

Ready to eat!

This recipe was really easy to make, as many bars are.  Definitely a delicious treat!