While I do tend to listen to my music rather loudly, I don’t mean turn up the music volume. I mean turn up the FOOD volume! While I certainly don’t consider myself a foodie in the sense of salivating at the thought of cooking or wetting myself over a new gourmet food or cool kitchen gadget, I’m still a “foodie”. I love to eat!

In order to make my love of eating fit into a healthy lifestyle, and still manage to drop those baby pounds, I do what I can to make my food stretch as far as possible. I turn up the volume! In every way I possibly can. And while I never shy away from eating or focus much on calories, I do have a voracious appetite to keep in check for my progress. 

Take today’s breakfast round two for example. (It’s round two because I always eat a little something before the gym as well). After my morning’s full body weight workout, I opted for my traditional oats. Why? Well, it fills me up like nothing else can. I stretch my oats far. I prepare them in the microwave (you caught me!) and always add extra liquid. I can do this by extending the cooking time using 50% power. This allows the oats to soak up more liquid and “puff up” more. Then, I always add extra almond milk before all my toppings to really get things nice and voluminous.

That ain’t no hold in the palm of your hand measly bowl there! <—Good grammar, eh?

For lunch, I said “no thank you” to the sandwich thins and made a sandwich with some of my favorite hearty bread. I love sandwich thins for certain things (like burgers), but for a sandwich with lighter innards, I want the full on bread! Pump up that volume even more with extra fruit and veggies. Stack that sandwich high with extra thick slices of tomato and a handful of spinach. Take some time chomping on two large carrots. Eat an entire mound of grapes and strawberries and make that tummy happy.

Veggies are my best friend at dinner. Boy, do they know how to bulk up a meal! My pasta bowls should really be called veggie bowls with some pasta thrown in. Tonight’s dinner was no exception. I sat down with a bowl of Sweet Potato Black Bean Chili. Full of fiber, protein, and veggies, I can eat a couple bowls full and feel 100% satisfied without breaking the food intake bank. My kind of meal!

Obviously, I enjoy things that give me the most bang for my calorie buck. So, I had to stop myself in my tracks today when I opened up my pre-run snack.

It’s been awhile since I have had a Larabar. I now remember why. The taste, nutrition, ingredients all live up to my standards. But…where’s the volume?! My stomach would make loud cries of anger to me if that is all I fed it! I made it work by halving the Larabar ( Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip flavor)and making half an English muffin with peanut butter and banana on the side.

This satisfied my need for a bit more volume and my need to get my taste on with one of the new flavors (finally!). Plus it’s more fun to have a variety of flavors. And you know what? My little need for volume helped me discover a BANGING pre-run snack.

Ding ding ding! We have a winner!!! I felt supercalifragilisticexpialidocious with this combo. I decided to do a 5K distance and see how quickly I could comfortably run. The first mile I couldn’t keep my pace down to a 9:00 like I anticipated. Then, I decided to just go with it.  I surprised myself with an average 8:32 pace!

Side note: surprised that “supercalifragilisticexpialidocious” is in the spell checker AND that I spelled it correctly on the 1st try…both times. End side note. Because now – ding ding ding! We have another winner!!!

SARENA! Your liking of FFF on Facebook won you a knit workout skort from 4all by jofit! Congratulations! I will email you soon with information on how to claim your prize. 🙂 And remember – if you didn’t win, you can still use the coupon code SPRING11 to get 20% off your own knit skort order on the 4all website.

Question of the Day – What foods do you add extra volume to? How?

I miss you, childhood. I miss the days when…

…money was just a play thing.

…the only crap you had to deal with came in having to remember to “poopy on the potty”.

…vacuuming was not a chore, but “Run from the Monster” play-time.

…relationship drama didn’t exist because your best friend was stuffed.

…a simple kiss and bandaid took all the pain away.

Then, there are parts of our childhoods that we let slip away even though we don’t have to say goodbye. We can still embrace that childhood spirit and…

…have all the confidence in the world. Believe we are a singing, dancing, cooking, drawing, running, joke-telling superstar! And love your body for the fun things it can do.

…trust our Daddy to care, love, and provide for us.

…play with vigor. And, yes, exercise should be play. You should do what you love! 

…get excited over the simple things.

…enjoy food. Even if sometimes that means pure comfort on a plate.

Rainy Day Mushroom & Parsnip Beef Stew

• 1 large yellow onion
• 4-5 parsnips
• 1 package white mushrooms
• 1 lb stew meat, cut into 1 inch chunks
• 2 cans 98% fat-free cream of mushroom soup
• 1/4 cup Dijon mustard
• 2 TBSP Worcestershire sauce
• garlic powder (to taste)
• black pepper (to taste)

Clean and peel your vegetables. Slice/chop the onion, parsnips, and mushrooms into fairly even pieces (about 1/2”-1” in size). Spread evenly over the bottom of a slow-cooker. Top the vegetables with your stew meat, cut into 1 inch chunks over the vegetables.In a large bowl, mix the soup, mustard, Worcestershire sauce, garlic powder, and pepper. Pour the mixture over the meat and vegetables. Cover and cook on HIGH 6-8 hours.

Serve over whole wheat pasta, with crusty bread, or just straight up with some roasted green beans if you’re like me and forget to buy the bread at the store.

Ahhh, comfort food. Ahhh, childhood. Who says it has to end?

Question of the Evening – What do you most miss about childhood?