FFF Featured Blogger (from your comments): Sarah’s Scrumptious Samplings – Sarah talks about body image, her life, and great recipes!

Hello all! I hope this Tuesday finds you well. I slept in until M woke up again this morning and feel great now. Still a tiny bit of a sore throat, but that is it. I tried to rest as much as possible yesterday to ensure I would feel good enough for spin today. I missed the gym! It felt amazing to get my spin on. I’m ready for the new music to come out, but that won’t be for another two weeks at our gym. 🙁

Have you all ever heard of something and immediately thought “that sounds like a blogger thing”? Last night, on the way home from tutoring, I heard an advertisement on the radio for Trader Joes seaweed snacks and immediately thought blogger. I could so see these becoming a big hit amongst the blog world, as they sound similar to kale chips but in seaweed form. Who knows? Maybe they already are a hit and I’m just out of the loop.

Do you ever notice sometimes how something becomes popular among blogs and then so many give it a try? I know I have fallen into that trap. Although its not really a trap. Many times things come out GREAT and I am forever thankful for finding out about it through blogs. Dinner last night shows a prime example. We had Gina’s Sweet Potato Black Bean Chili and I loved it!

I also have blogs to thank for my affection for green monsters, kale chips, meatless sloppy joes, various dessert treats I have made, parsnip fries, new squash varieties, yogurt in oats, and more. Also for not making me feel crazy for hating on cottage cheese and loving Greek yogurt. I have tried some things that do not agree with me though – quinoa or Amazing Grass products for example, both of whose textures greatly bothered me.

Now, I really hesitate to jump on the bandwagon and try things out. I question if it honestly sounds appealing to me before giving it a shot. I know I will never try things like maca powder, tempeh, or chia seeds because I am such a huge texture eater and the texture of all of those makes me gag a little to even think about. I also refuse to try things that aren’t easily accessible or too expensive for a sampling.

Plus, I know my taste buds can have a mind of their own, as demonstrated in this morning’s breakfast. The TJs commercial last night got me thinking about how I miss shopping there more. Then, I remembered some apple chicken sausages I had in the freezer. Not TJs variety but a similar sub in found in the “healthy” section of a local grocer. Publix I think? I knew I needed to incorporate them into breakfast.

When I woke up, the wheels started turning. A sweet diner breakfast! An apple “crepe” with an apple sausage! This is when my taste buds started getting a little nutty. First, I microwave “baked” an apple with cinnamon, while cooking up my “crepe”. For the record, that would be one egg lightly beaten and cooked in a skillet like a flat omelet. Nothing really “crepe”-y about it.

I wanted a nutbutter in the crepe with my “baked” apples. My taste buds wanted Nutella more specifically. What the heck?  So I spread a bit of Nutella on one half and added some of the apples to the other.

Then, rolled it up and topped it with the remaining apples and cinnamon, served with the apple sausage on the side.

It tasted good to me. Although not quite what it could have been. Something about Nutella and apples just doesn’t fit as nicely as Maple Almond Butter and apples. And I can’t complain that the crepe was too thick and eggy, because hello? It was just an egg! I would still make it again though! I like sweet eggs and anything that’s easy after all.

• What are some things you have tried that were inspired by reading blogs? Good and bad.
• Don’t forget to Ask Me Anything for a Q + A series I hope to do in November. I only have a few so far.

Bloggers of the Day (chosen randomly from yesterday’s comments)

• Eat Spin Run Repeat – Angela has a great blog that discusses lots of topics, plus a fun feature where she tries new things every week
• Ulterior Harmony – Ela will get you thinking with every post and also discusses life eating lots of homegrown food
• Living Well – Kati is in the same boat as me: going through a healthy pregnancy and anticipating a new baby + the return of old workouts

G’day lovelies! I can barely believe its already Wednesday. I guess when you are up half the night, thanks to a particular someone who suddenly won’t sleep through the night anymore, the days kind of blur. I knew I needed to start the day off on the right foot. So after some prayer to help keep me in the perspective of peace and remind me of all God’s glory, I headed downstairs to make us some glorious breakfast.

Oats to me are like a good cup of coffee in the morning. They never get old and always help me warm up on the inside, literally and figuratively. Plus, you can never run out of fun ways to spice it up. This morning I chose to spice it up with some spiced “baked” apples. Remember that “baked” is a relative term in this household in the mornings.

I used the same method as I did this past Saturday morning and added lots of cinnamon and nutmeg to really flavor these up. Topped the oatmeal with them, then added a drizzle of peanut butter. They reminded me of a fancier apple + pb childhood snack. Or adult favorite snack, if you’re me. Perfect breakfast – cofee + oats. I even got to eat by 8 am, which set me up perfectly to digest well before heading to Group Power class.

Even though group classes aren’t my preferred method of weight training, I still love lifting and make sure to fit it in each week. I usually do one class per week right now to suit my sensitive lower back, but its always a priority. I recently even read something from SELF magazine that claimed not lifting weights as one of the 4 most common fitness mistakes women make. I concur!

I have known too many women who shy away from weights because they either don’t know how to get started, fear “bulking up”, or just don’t like them. I always believe we should choose exercises we enjoy, but we still need balance and weight training is part of that necessary balance. I personally feel my fittest and believe I look my best when I weight train. That’s not everybody, but weight training still provides benefits that pure cardio won’t, so I encourage other women to give it a solid effort. After this baby comes, I will have to treat my body as a beginner with exercise again for the first couple months, which I find pretty cool. I look forward to going through that experience from beginner style workouts to more advanced with all of you.  🙂

Here are the other “common mistakes” listed by SELF magazine.

1. Being cardio-obsessed. (not enough weight training)
2. Only focusing on one or two muscle groups (like only doing crunches and lunges to spot reduce your abs/butt…not happening, sorry!)
3. Not fueling your workouts properly (limiting calories too much)
4. An all-or-nothing attitude. (working out 30 minutes 3x/week is still great and eating a donut does not mean you fail at a healthy life)

Which of those “mistakes” do you struggle with most? The all or nothing attitude has been my biggest pitfall of those. I luckily have more control over it now, but still have those times I face guilt or frustration for not doing “enough”.

Are there any others you would add to that list? I think I would add not including enough variety. Our bodies adapt very easily and if you do the same thing day in and day out, eventually it won’t provide the same benefits as when you began. Switching it up also adds more motivation for me to keep up with exercise.