Spain Part 1: Madrid

/ runningchickago / 25 Comments

Hola!

I hope your day is going well!  My morning began with a 6+ mile bike ride.  I had planned on going for a run, but after Monday’s CrossFit class (and the 2 mile run that night), my legs are still feelin’ it.  Apparently doing my first squat ever- and 199 more after that– in one day isn’t necessarily the smartest idea.  Who would’ve thought?

I love feelin’ a good workout though, so I can’t complain too much. 🙂

Okay, let’s get to the travel stuff.  There’s so much to say about Madrid, and not enough web space to hold it.  Instead, I’m going to share my trip mostly through pictures and include a few words.

Ready to head to Spain from your seat? 🙂 Let’s go!

Ready for the flights (to NYC first and then Madrid!)

Spain from the sky!

Madrid Airport!

Seriously, how cool is the airport’s ceiling?

Okay, okay, I’ll stop with all the airport pictures. On to some real stuff! 🙂

Here’s Madrid architecture:

love this so much

check out that statue in the park 😉

Madrid is gorgeous at night

Madrid Cuisine:

Seafood and Chicken Paella

One of the richest, and most delicious things I ate.
Toasted bread with ham, drizzled with olive oil.

Rioja ❤

Octopus and potatoes, cooked in olive oil and covered in paprika

From the hotel breakfast buffet:
Tortilla (basically, a Spanish frittata) with spinach
(and, of course, delicious grapefruit and oranges)
holy yum!

Okay, okay, I know this isn’t necessarily “food” but it’s a market that serves incredible tapas. Check out some of the tapas we tried there in the next few photos!

Cod + Tomatoes on Toast (from the market)

“Seafood Salad” – fish + peppers and other veggies, in an olive oil and vinegar dressing (from the market)

Shrimp with an avocado-mayo spread on toast
(from the market)

macaroons = ❤
(from the market)

churros and “hot chocolate”

You dip the churros into the “hot chocolate” (which is really a chocolate sauce, because it’s thicker than regular hot chocolate).
You’re supposed to drink the hot chocolate after you finish the churros, but my mom and I found it too rich (and thick) to do that.  But don’t worry, we tried 😉

delicious chocolate = happy girl

amazing bean salad. one of the best things I ate.

Roast Chicken and Patatas (fries)

oh you know, just one of the sweetest waiters in Madrid. and my ice cream dessert. (vanilla, chocolate, and cream)

Are you hungry yet?  🙂 I’m definitely getting ready for dinner after looking at all of these.  These are most of the food pictures, but not all of them.  My mom and I also had dinner at the OLDEST RESTAURANT IN THE WORLD (Botin), but unfortunately the pictures didn’t turn out super well.  Apparently my camera didn’t want to make pretty pictures? what the heck.  My mom and I also attended a tapas tour, but that is worthy of it’s own post.  Plus, can anyone really handle any more pictures of food in this post? 😉

Hope these pictures made you feel like you were in Spain, too!  Or, maybe they gave you some inspiration for tonight’s dinner.  Let me know if you decide to make a Spanish-inspired meal after seeing these! 🙂

Okay, after all of those pictures, I think it’s time that the Madrid recap comes to a close.  Although the Tapas Tour photos are still to come, it’s time to say “adios” for now 🙂

Questions for you:
Have you had Spanish food before?  (Either in Spain, or at a Spanish restaurant somewhere)
What’s your favorite type of food? (Spanish, German, Italian, Mexican, American…)

Hola!

/ runningchickago / 11 Comments

Hey everyone!

This past Friday, my mom and I came home from Spain.  We had a great time there – lots of great food, sight-seeing, shopping, and relaxing.  I’ve decided to break up my trip recap into three different posts based on the cities I visited: Madrid, Seville, and Barcelona.  I may have taken a million and a half pictures and I plan on sharing all of them a bunch!  My vaca recap will start tomorrow… today I’m sharing a recipe!

After having delicious food in Spain (they’re crazy about ham, mayo, fish, and anything deep-fried), I’ve been trying to go back to my “usual” routine: lots of fruit and veggies, whole grains, and lean meats.  Hello, delicious turkey-avocado-tomato sandwich, I’ve missed you.  You too, steamed broccoli.

I’ve been doing pretty well eating healthy, but after seeing a friend’s facebook status about eating chocolate chip pancakes and bacon (yes, I’m talking about you, Stace! 🙂 ) I couldn’t help but to make some pancakes for myself.  I’m not a huge breakfast person, but last night just seemed perfect for breakfast-for-dinner.

The pancakes turned out amazing but unfortunately there are no pictures to capture their beauty.  But trust me when I say, you gotta make these.

Whole Wheat Pancakes (with a hint of chocolate) – note: I used Skinny Taste’s recipe to get a basic idea on how to make it, but modified it significantly.  See the bottom of this post for more info about my reasoning*)
Ingredients
2 Cups + 2 TB Nonfat Milk
2 Cups Whole Wheat Flour
4.5 tsp baking powder
2 eggs
1 scoop Chocolate Protein Powder
1.5 TB chocolate chips (all chopped up)

Mix dry ingredients together (except chocolate chips) in a medium-sized bowl.  Add wet ingredients to the dry ingredients.  Chop up chocolate chips so they’re smaller and chunkier (this way, more pancakes will get chocolate chips 🙂 ).  Add chocolate chips to mixture.  Cook ’em up on the stove top, and enjoy!

Makes 27 pancakes.  Nutrition facts (per pancake): 54 calories, .75g fat, 1.18g fiber, 3.2g protein.

I loved these pancakes because they were not overly-chocolatey at all.  I shared some with my dad and he said he could taste a hint of something, but couldn’t tell what it was.  Guess I must have eaten the chocolate chips in that pancake…woops 😉 These will definitely be my new go-to pancake when I’m looking for some fiber & protein – and something slightly sweet!

Time to make something for lunch!  I went to CrossFit with my friend Jen today, and I am ready for some food!  Curious about CrossFit?  Definitely try it out.  Today was my first time ever doing it and I enjoyed it.  Best part?  A place nearby allows you to take your first class for free.  Will I pursue it in the future?  Probably, I just need to figure out how it will work in my schedule.  I loved how it was fast-paced –  you weren’t able to get “bored” with your routine.  You could also really feel your muscles working, which I loved.  Guess who’s gonna be sore tomorrow and Wednesday and Thusrday…this girl!  Love it- gotta love knowing you had a great workout! 🙂

Have a great day! 🙂

(*Reasons for Pancake Recipe Modifications: I cut out the sugar and vanilla she recommended because I used some chocolate chips and the chocolate protein powder, and thought it would be sweet enough.  It was, especially with maple syrup drizzled over the pancakes at the end 😉  I also left out the salt because I knew baking powder had sodium in it, and figured the pancakes wouldn’t miss it.  Finally, I omitted the cinnamon because…I’m not the biggest fan of that spice.  🙂 )

Españaaaa!

/ runningchickago / 2 Comments

Hey there!

Today’s post is going to be short, because I’m waking up bright and early tomorrow to begin my journey to Spain! 🙂  Cannot wait to explore Madrid, Seville, and Barcelona… and also try new foods and wines!  Hope you all have a good couple of weeks-

Adios!
Sarah

Questions for you:
Where’s your favorite vacation spot?
Do you workout on vacation?

I’m not planning on working out too much; unfortunately/fortunately? our hotels do not have treadmills or workout rooms, so I will be counting on lots of long walks!  And hopefully some little circuit style workouts in my room 🙂

Thirsty Thirty

/ runningchickago / 8 Comments

Hey everyone! Happy Thursday!

I can’t believe it’s already this far along in the week!  The past few days have been filled with shopping and running different errands because…

My mom and I are going to Spain on Sunday!

We both have never been there before, and don’t speak much Spanish, but we’re really excited for our trip together.  Have any of you been to Spain before?  We’re going to Madrid, Seville, and Barcelona…any good restaurants we need to try?  Any types of food we need to try/try to avoid?  🙂

Except for food/restaurants, everything is pretty much planned.  Tours are booked, tickets are bought, and new cameras are ready for action.  As I mentioned in another post, I have been hunting for a DSLR camera.  After asking a million questions, I purchased the camera from my local Wolf Camera store.  I chose the Canon Rebel T3 and I can’t wait to play with it later! 🙂

my first legit camera! 🙂

Source

With all of this excitement going on over here, it’s been harder to have the longer workouts I love.  I won’t cut working out altogether though so I am making my shorter workouts count.  This is why my “thirsty thirty” elliptical workout was born! Next time you’re looking for a quick workout, try this one out:

guaranteed to make you thirsty/sweaty/challenged!

Although it doesn’t mention it in the picture, I would recommend a warm-up as well.  I usually do a five minute warm up and a five minute cool down (in addition to the actual workout).

Time to go run some errands, mess with my camera, and sneak in a workout!  Hope you all have a great day!

Questions for you:
Have you ever been to Spain?
What types of food should we try in Madrid/Seville/Barcelona?
Any restaurants we should try in these areas?

Ah-mazin Craisin Muffins

/ runningchickago / 9 Comments

Could this title be any cornier?

…sorry I’m not sorry…I love puns and corny jokes…

Anywayssss, as you can tell by the title, today involved craisins.  And raisins.  I wanted to bake some raisin bran muffins and this morning was the perfect day to do so.  Usually I like to wake up early to get in a workout, but today I switched it up.  I slept in and baked all morning.  Booyaa.

As much as I love raisin bran muffins, they are usually loaded with fat and are approximately a zillion calories.  One muffin isn’t worth all those calories to me (froyo > muffins).  After much googling, I was able to find a recipe that looked pretty solid.  I mean, a recipe that has 5 stars and 829 reviews, and ingredients that aren’t completely terrible?  I think I’ll take it.  🙂

I used this recipe, but changed a few things around (like using whole wheat flour instead of regular, soy milk instead of buttermilk, etc).  Here’s my take:

Craisin Raisin Bran Muffins

hello, delicious

Ingredients
1 & 1/2 cups Cascadian Farm Organic Raisin Bran Cereal
1 cup soy milk
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 egg
2/3 cup brown sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup Trader Joe’s whole wheat flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup craisins (I used some from Trader Joes)

Directions
Preheat oven to 375F.  Grease muffin pan.  Mix together cereal and soy milk.  Let stand for 10 minutes (or longer…I kinda ate breakfast and did other stuff while baking 0:) )

warning: if you make this recipe in the morning, it’s incredibly tempting to eat this as normal cereal instead of using it to make the muffins. good luck.

Beat oil, egg, sugar and vanilla together.  Add the oil/egg/sugar/vanilla to the soy milk/cereal.  Mix together whole wheat flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.  Add dry ingredients into the wet ingredients.  Add craisins (yum!) and pour batter into muffin tins.

ready for bakin’

Bake 15-20 minutes (my oven took 15) or until toothpick comes out clean.  Enjoy!  And try to not eat the entire pan.

check out the inside of the muffin! omnomnom

These muffins were so incredibly moist and delicious.  Honestly, they are the best-textured muffins I’ve ever had.  And, not completely unhealthy.  Wanna know some facts?  186 calories. 7 grams fat.  1 gram sat fat.  2.5 grams fiber.  I think I’ll be making these pretty often…and before races!

I even got my Mom to eat a muffin (she pretty much never eats muffins) and she said she’d be eating some more this week.  Winninggggg (remember when everyone used to say this?)

Well I’m off to go camera hunting with Joe!  So many awesome cameras, so little money time.

Have a great night!

Question for you:
What’s your favorite type of muffin?

Is this heaven?

/ runningchickago / 19 Comments

…no, it’s peanut butter.  But it tastes like heaven.

Butter Toffee Peanut Butter = ❤

 

On all of the blogs I read, I haven’t heard much about Naturally Nutty.  They have a variety of nut butters and even a seed butter!  The company also has a great story, which you can read about here.  Because I love them so much, I wanted to spread the word and let you guys know about how good this stuff is.  It also gave me an excuse to eat lots and lots of it for “experimenting”…so…

Anyways, ever since my trip to Traverse City, Michigan for The Bayshore Marathon, I’ve been putting this peanut butter on everything.  My Aunt Kathy introduced it to me a few years ago and I’ve been in love with it ever since.  It had been about a year or so since I last had some, so I knew I had to stock up on some once I made it to TC.  Of course, you can buy it online (which my fam has done in the past) but I decided to hold off until race weekend to make it that much more special.

Now that my love peanut butter and I are reunited, I’m taking advantage of it.  With delicious treats such as:

Peanut Butter Banana Waffles

Van Waffles + Naturally Nutty Butter Toffee + Banana

I used Van Waffles Wheat Free/Gluten Free Flax Waffles, along with 2 TB of Butter Toffee Peanut Butter (1 TB per waffle), and sliced up a small banana on top.  This breakfast was so sweet and tasty that I couldn’t help but make it a few times last week.  If only there were more waffles in a box…then I could have had it every day…

Butter Toffee PB Granola

can’t wait to put this on my yogurt…

This was my first attempt at making granola.  Did it turn out perfect?  Sure, if you don’t like your granola super crunchy.  Generally I do, buttttt I love the flavor so much that I’ll let it slide 😉  I used Peanut Butter Finger’s peanut butter granola recipe to get a general idea of oven temperature, cooking time, etc.  Here’s my version:

Ingredients
2 TB Naturally Nutty Butter Toffee Peanut Butter
2 TB Jif Natural Peanut Butter
1 Cup Oats

Directions
Preheat oven to 325 F.  Melt the Naturally Nutty and Jif peanut butters in microwave (note: Naturally Nutty Butter Toffee doesn’t melt too much, so don’t worry.  That’s why I used the Jif- to make up for it and be super melty).  Add oats to melted peanut butter and stir until coated.  Bake for 7 minutes.

Thoughts
Julie (Peanut Butter Fingers) had honey in her recipe, but I didn’t want to add it to mine because the Naturally Nutty Butter Toffee Peanut Butter is already sweet.  I think the honey may have helped add a crunch-factor to the granola, but the soft granola tastes delicious.  If you try this recipe, let me know if you added the honey- and if it added a good crunch/taste to the granola!

I plan on putting this granola on top of yogurt, adding it to nuts/craisins/etc for a trail mix…and just eating it straight out of the bag.

I also plan on googling many more peanut butter recipes and seeing how they turn out with Naturally Nutty’s Butter Toffee Peanut Butter.  Pretty sure I will be using their Peanut Butter Pancake recipe tomorrow 🙂

Alright, I’m off to go run some errands!  I’m looking to buy a new camera so tonight I’m starting the hunt. 🙂

Questions for you:
I’m thinking about buying a DSLR camera, do you have one that you would recommend?  I’m looking for one that (obviously) shoots great pictures, but also isn’t completely ginormous.

Back to peanut butter, what’s your favorite peanut butter recipe? 🙂

Have a great night!

Dreamy Dinner

/ runningchickago / 6 Comments

Today was a food-filled day.  My family had plans to celebrate many things tonight: my grandpa’s 75th birthday, my college graduation, mother’s day and (the upcoming) father’s day.  Lots of celebrations at once = lots of food.  Wait, are you thinking that because we’re combining multiple things in one day, we’d have less food?  Clearly, you don’t know my family 😉

Because I knew I would be “whooping it up” tonight (my step-grandma’s phrase for “going all out”), I knew I would need to put in a hard workout.  Yesterday I ran and did a lot of strength training, so I decided to switch up my cardio today by using the elliptical.  I generally switch the incline and resistance a lot during my routine to keep myself entertained.  This time I recorded what I did, in case you would be interested in trying out a different routine!

Today’s Workout:
Warm-up: 10 minutes on the elliptical (didn’t record the resistance/incline)
Workout:

60-Minute Elliptical Workout

Cool Down: 5 minute cool down (didn’t record the resistance/incline)

All-in-all, it was a great workout and I had fun doing it!  Knowing that I will only be on the specific “level” (of resistance and incline) for at most 4 minutes helps to keep me going.  Gotta love small goals!

After this workout, it was time for a quick lunch (1 Van Waffle with 1 TB of Naturally Nutty Butter Toffee PB, 2 Egg Whites, and 3/4 cup blueberries) before getting showered/styled/etc. for dinner with the family.

Tonight my family and I went to Piccolo Sogno in (of course!) Chicago.  They serve Northern Italian cuisine – aka lots of fish and not much red sauce- and it was delicious.  Their outdoor seating is the perfect match to their food.  It’s beautiful, fun, and makes you forget you’re in the city.  The space is similar to a courtyard, and filled with trees and small hanging lights.  After seeing the area, I was excited to see what the food would be like; I knew it had to be good if the outdoor space looked so great.  But, I have to admit one thing…because my family likes loves to eat, we actually had appetizers before going to Piccolo Sogno.  We had amazing cheese, liver pate, and shrimp at my grandparents condo before leaving…to get more food.  Good thing I had that workout earlier! 😉

Once at Piccolo Sogno, my family started off with two appetizers: the antipasti plate and calamari.  Their antipasti special today was filled with delicious vegetables, as well as some meat and cheese.  Being the huge veggie lover that I am, I definitely stocked up on enjoyed the asparagus, carrots, artichokes…and well, everything.  The calamari was also great.  My family generally orders fried calamari when we are out at restaurants, and theirs was one of the best I’ve had.  The breading was very light and crispy and not overly oily (I hate when I’m biting into oily, heavy breaded calamari!)  For dinner, my family all ordered the sea bass special- except for me.  I don’t remember the details on it because not only was it not on the menu, but it wasn’t on the specials menu either!  After having a bite of my mom’s, I can assure you that their fish is delicious – but I really can’t help you out besides that 😉  I ordered the Margherita pizza and changed it up a little by adding roasted peppers.  The pizza was very similar to traditional Italian pizza- thin, light, and delicious.  If I went back again, I would probably order the fish or a pizza with meat on it, though.  The Margherita (+ roasted peppers) was good, but wasn’t as flavorful as another pizza place I love in the city.  (Nope, not giving name out- you’ll have to wait until I visit again for the name, details, and pics) 🙂  I also enjoyed their Insalata Mista salad with the pizza.  It was very light and fresh – the perfect pairing with pizza.

Margherita Pizza

Source: Piccolo Sogno Gallery

Because we were celebrating my grandpa’s birthday, among other things, they brought out a plate of their biscotti and a candle.  My dad had told me that their biscotti was great but I wasn’t sure how much I would like it.  I mean, yeah, I love cookies but biscotti is usually so dried out and hard as a rock.  I’d like to keep my teeth, thank you very much.  But when I saw it I decided to risk it.  I’m glad I did.  The flavors were so delicate and delicious, and I kept asking myself “What flavor is that?  I need to make something with this flavor at home…”

If you’re in Chicago and looking for an escape from the hustle & bustle, definitely head to Piccolo Sogno.  It’s the perfect place for a celebratory dinner, a date night, or just a relaxing meal.  To the owner of Piccolo Sogno, I’d like to say one thing: Great job picking out the name- the food & atmosphere really was a “little dream.”

Buonanotte ❤

Questions for you:
What type of workouts do you like to do for cross-training?
If you live in Chicago, which restaurants do you like to go out to?

“Sometimes the stars don’t line up”

/ runningchickago / 11 Comments

I heard the title of this post a lot this past weekend.

Last weekend was the Bayshore Marathon.  It was supposed to be my second marathon.  After 18 weeks of training, trading in nights out with friends (for early morning runs), and other “sacrifices”, I did not finish my marathon.  Instead, I stopped after reaching 13.1 miles.

I made sure to “eat right” during the days preceding the race.  I tried to maintain my usual diet, while slowly increasing my daily carb intake.  Unfortunately, sometimes our systems just decide to be goofy anyways.  That’s what happened to me.  (Don’t worry, I won’t share every detail in my story)

Long story short, I became sick the night before the race.  I slept for maybe two hours- combined.  It was terrible.  I woke up at 4:30AM to start getting ready for the race.  I like to wake up early on race days (or long run days) so that I can eat as early as possible.  The last thing you’d want on a race day is a crampy stomach because you waited too long to eat.  Except on this Saturday, I knew I would have a crampy stomach throughout the race.

After debating internally, and with my mom, I decided to run.  My thoughts:
If I run one mile, cool
If I run three miles, awesome
If I run five miles, that’s great
If I run 13.1 miles, that’s awesome
If I run the whole thing, that’s unbelievable and amazing.
(I know, I know my thoughts aren’t ingenious.  But it was 4:30AM and I didn’t sleep- okay?! give this girl a break! 🙂 )

So I started.  The course was beautiful.  I was surrounded by beautiful homes, trees, and (of course) the bay.

around the five mile mark

The bay is a little hard to see in this picture, because it blended in with the beautiful blue-gray-lavender sky.  Looking at the bay, listening to John Mayer, and looking for my family and boyfriend helped make this run a lot more enjoyable.  It wasn’t quite “fun”, but it was definitely a challenge I will always remember.  And although I didn’t finish, I am still proud of myself for making it 13.1 miles.  Will my time ever show up in the record books?  Nope.  I didn’t PR.  And according to the Bayshore online results, I never even ran the race.  But I know I ran.  And at the time, I knew I needed to run.  I couldn’t stand the idea of giving up completely, so I didn’t.  I ran.  And ran.  And ran.  And then I listened to my body and stopped.  Could I have finished?  Yes.  Would I have hurt my body?  This one I’ll never know for sure.  But my body was telling me to stop, so I knew I needed to listen.

As much as runners like to plan, sometimes the unforeseeable happens.  Sometimes, the stars don’t line up.  Maybe we won’t be able to run the race at all.  Or maybe we’ll start, and not finish.  But either way we learn.  We learn to listen to our hearts and our bodies.  We learn to be thankful we can even run at all.  And then we spend all day looking up future races.

running with my heart

Four Days Till M-Day

/ runningchickago / Leave a comment

Hey there!

I cannot believe I will run my 2nd marathon in 4 days!  Whaa?!  Glad it’s finally here, but training definitely went a lot faster for the second marathon than it did with my first.  As I mentioned in my last post, tapering kind of throws me off.  I’ve been looking for things to do and have been pretty productive throughout the past couple days.  I have successfully unpacked all of my clothing (I just moved back home after graduating).  I also donated too-many-items-to-count to Goodwill.  It feels good having less stuff in my closet!  It also feels good knowing my stuff will hopefully be enjoyed by someone else- whether they actually like it, or it’s for some kind of joke.  Like a 90’s/00’s party.

these shoes were all the rage in 7th grade. so much so that my friend Liz had a matching pair.

Now that we’ve gotten that embarrassing picture out of the way…

I’ve had a lot of fun besides the excitement that comes along with reorganizing my closet 😉 – I’ve hung out with friends, spent time with the fam, and also have done some arts & crafts.  Hellooo why can’t every day have designated arts and crafts time?  I think I’ll need to incorporate that into my usual schedule.  But really, making t-shirts for my family and boyfriend was just too much fun.  Is it pathetic that I made the shirts for them to support…me in the marathon?  Or is it just me being prepared to find them in the crowd?  Uhhh… don’t answer that.  In my defense, it was nearly impossible for me to find them during the Chicago Marathon.  The Bayshore Marathon crowd will be approximately a million times smaller, but there’s no harm in being overly prepared, right?  Plus, they’re so cute…they’ll probably want to wear them all the time.  Especially my brother.  He’ll refuse to wear it for sure love it.

Here’s a sneak peek (it was taken on my phone, so it’s not the best quality)…I’ll put up another one after they’re finished:

paintin’ t-shirts = perfect afternoon

I’d love to keep working on them tonight, but gotta let those puppies dry!  Tonight will be filled with looking up carbo-loading tips and post-marathon recovery tricks!

Questions for you:
How do you carbo-load? Do you usually start 3 days before the marathon?  What are your favorite ways/recipes to get in those carbs?

Hope you have a great night!

Cravin’ (Chocolate) Chips

/ runningchickago / 5 Comments

Sometimes you just need chocolate.

how you doin’?

Today was one of those days.   I really wanted a huge, crispy cookie from a bakery.  But what I didn’t want was the car drive to pick one up.  Or the bajillion grams of fat that come with it.  I’m not one to give up completely though… if I want a chocolate chip cookie, I’ll make it happen.

I checked out one of my favorite dessert blogs, Chocolate Covered Katie.  She has a lot of “single lady” (individual)-sized recipes, and other smaller portioned recipes.  Her recipes are also healthy and vegan.  Although I’m not vegan, the idea of baking a few healthy cookies (rather than dozens and dozens) is perfect.  Who has time to bake 48 cookies?  Psh.

I used Katie’s “Not Guilty” Chocolate Chip Cookies recipe, but modified it a little.  I left out the oil, picked a different amount of chocolate chips, and added a little extra milk.

Cakey Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients
1/3 cup plus 1/4 cup wheat flour
1/8 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking soda
1 TB and 1 tsp chocolate chips
2 TB brown sugar (I didn’t pack it)
2 TB sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract – yummmm
3 TB skim milk plus 1 tsp skim milk (add more if necessary)

Directions
Preheat the oven to 375.  Mix flour, salt, baking soda, brown sugar, and white sugar in medium-sized bowl.  Add chocolate chips, vanilla extract, and skim milk to the dry ingredients.  Stir until incorporated.  Bake for 6-7 minutes.  (Note: she said they’ll still cook once they’re out of the oven…mine took a while until the center didn’t have a slightly dough-y interior.  If you can wait about an hour after they’re out, they should be fully cooked.  If not, well…they’re a little doughy…but there’s no eggs, so it’s not really a concern 😉 ).  Made 11 small(ish) cookies.

chocolate chips ❤

Baking (and eating) cookies was the perfect end to my day.  After an hour long bike ride in hot, humid weather this morning,  I think these cookies were deserved. 🙂  Can’t believe the marathon is in FIVE days!  I also can’t believe I’m hardly running this week.  I know the tapering process is necessary blahblahblah and I survived my first marathon following this same schedule, but it’s still kinda crazy to me!  Oh well, I guess that means more time to bake? 😉

Question for you:
What do you do while tapering? 

I usually try to get out of the house and do something productive.  Whether it’s planning for an upcoming vacation, looking for a new book to read, or catching up with friends, I need to do something.  The idea of sitting around and doing nothing (when I’m used to days filled with running) is just too boring.