Friday Faith, Fuel, Fitness, Funnies

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So here is another Friday post that is just now being updated.  Only a little over a week late, though, instead of over two this time!  I added some things along the way, too.

What to do when you have some almond butter left and want to finish it so you can buy a new kind?  Do you also have bananas that are on their way to going bad soon?  Well, I did.  For a Sunday post-church, pre-run lunch, I mushed up a banana in my almond butter and microwaved it and mixed it:  rich, warm, and yuuuummmm...

Coach Rita from Furman University Cross Country tweeted this list of Coach John Wooden's favorite sayings for athletes (and just people).

I found another blog post that lists way more than the above picture, but I advise you to check it out!  They're simple and encouraging!

Yeah, it's been really humid around here lately.  I really love the heat, though!  There were times that it said 100%, but I missed the screenshot.

These post-run pancakes were peanut banana with a peanut butter glaze.  The nuts in the batter added a nice crunch!

Pancake:  whole wheat batter, chopped peanuts, mushed banana, water

Glaze:  Bee's Knees Peanut Butter, honey, sugarfree syrup; microwaved and drizzled

Reading my Snoopy daily calendar is something I look forward to every day.

These are another new pancake flavor:  Dark Chocolate Coconut!

Pancake:  Special K Dark Chocolate Protein Shake, whole wheat batter, shredded coconut, coconut extract, water

Topped with honey, sugar free syrup, and coconut

I won't waste my typing and your reading of my pumpkin pancakes, because I've already talked about them a lot, but I have made one change:  instead of Linwood's ground mix stuff, I am using pumpkin seeds.  (I ran out of the other, and I actually like using the seeds more!  They are so healthy, too, but also add a little crunch!)  I also had 3 egg whites this meal to add some extra protein!

Since I finished my almond butter, I was free to get a new kind!  I had seen this grinder at Ingles a while ago and have really been wanting to fix my own.  So a few days ago, I grabbed a container, flipped the switch, and here it is!

The Funnies:

I love the comics that relate to my life so well.

I used to do this at TCBY all the time.  Whenever they would have a froyo flavor I wanted, I would grab up a bowl of snacks and cereals and various things from the kitchen and take it there to get them to put it in a shiver.

With global warming (if it's real?) is heating things up, yeah, we might could cook outside.  People also would wear less clothing!  Ahhh! 

Yes.  If my friends saw this, they would ABSOLUTELY agree.  My desserts do pile sky-high.

This one is a picture of my mom and me.  Can you guess who is who?

We both love our cereal!  I love anything healthy and whole grain.  Mom does eat whole grain cereals, but it is because she says she can't taste the whole grain; she just likes the cereal.  If it's not cereal, but contains something "healthy," she won't touch it.

Finally Home Friday! (Food, Fitness, Farmers' Market, Faith, Funnies)

Follow @makenzie_jones

This is Friday as in Friday, July 18th.

Oops!  I got confused by all my drafts and got out of order on publishing my updated/complete posts!  This one should have come out after Cross Country Camp.

Anyways, I got up to a drizzle of rain, but continued on with my plans.  I left home around 9:00 to run to yoga.  A teammate came by my house to pick up my yoga mat, dry clothes, and a snack to take there for me.  (She lives in my neighborhood; I'm not that mean!)  By the time I got started, the rain was very light and completely stopped by a mile into the run.  I ended up with time left when I reached downtown, so I went back and forth on the nearby blocks until I reached a good distance to stop at before heading in.

The Friday morning after we get home from camp, we get to go to yoga!  Most people think it's really hard, but it is fun, challenging, and really helps loosen us up.  The past two summers, we have gone to The Main Loft in downtown Morristown.  I really like this place and plan on attending some of their other classes when I get a chance!

I don't know about everybody else, but after taking this class for almost 2 hours, I felt amazing.

The wall-length mirror is really nice.  You can see yourself, and the instructor better and from different angles, which helps if you are struggling to pull off a pose.

On the way home, Mom and I stopped by one of my favorite summertime places: the farmers' market!  I love fresh fruit and vegetables, and I always feel better eating local ones.  It makes me happy to taste the freshness and be helping out local farmers!

 

 

I had to take a picture of this man sleeping on the job.  Welcome to Morristown.  He had lots of help down in the stands, though.

When I got home from all this activity, it was around 1:00, and I was needing some hefty refuel, so I whipped up a new batch of pancakes!  These were almond butter banana with an almond butter banana glaze.  It may sound too complicated, but it is really simple.

Pancake:  whole wheat batter, mushed banana, almond butter, water

Glaze:  mushed banana, almond butter, honey, sugar free syrup; microwaved and drizzled on top

These pancakes were so fluffy and moist and possibly the best ones I've ever made!  Banana in breads and things like that really make them better, I have noticed lately.

That night, I made another thing that has become one of my favorites:  roasted vegetables!  My favorite ones to do are sweet potatoes, onion, zucchini, and squash.  I also add lots of spices and drizzle some water for it all to soak up so they don't dry up in the oven.

I screenshotted this photo off of Carrots N Cake's Instagram because it is a very accurate pun!

Here's a final little faith/funny to end this Friday (from two weeks ago) post.

From the wonderful Sermon on the Mount in Matthew, Jesus says in chapter 5 verses 44-45, "I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you , that you may be children of your Father in heaven."

Breakfast, Birthday, and a Ski Trip

I got to sleep in for my last time for a while, unfortunately.  I just love to sleep.  I did some exercises, then around an early lunch time, I fixed this hearty healthy "brunch" to power me up for the day ahead and refuel from the night and workout.  I told my mom it was great because I got almost everything in one bowl.  Protein from egg whites and almond butter, fruit goodness from a banana, whole grains from cream of wheat and oatmeal, and healthy fats from the almond butter.  Adding eggs was an idea I got from Carrots 'N' Cake blog. 

Yum!

Saturday, January 4th, was the birthday of a little girl named Alicia who I sponsor through World Vision.  When I was in 8th grade, my parents surprised me with tickets to a Casting Crowns concert as part of my birthday present.  During intermission, this organization was the "entertainment" for a lack of better terms.  It seemed like something I really wanted to do, and it is not too expensive.  All it takes is $35 a month, and you get to help a child learn and grow in life in and in Christ.  My parents and I decided that each month would come from my $20 of allowance and the other $15 from Mom's unlimited car wash pass.  (Who needs that many car washes per month!? haha)  Our letters have been coming back and forth pretty quickly recently.  Above is the translated letter.

Here is the letter Alicia wrote herself back home in Rio Verde, Ecuador.  Since I have been through Spanish I so far in school, I can read almost her entire letters without the translated one!  That makes me so excited!  There are a few words in some sentences that I don't know, but by using context clues, I can figure out the general message of the entire letter.  I can't wait to hopefully one day get to talk to her in person.

Here she is!  12 year old Alicia!

Around 2 in the afternoon, Dad and I left for Cataloochee in North Carolina.  It is fairly close, only around an hour and 15 minutes in traffic with nothing crazy holding it up, so we always get season passes.  Conditions are iffy here, like most places that are mostly man-made snow, but Saturday (and many others) was one of those days when I just don't want to leave!  Snow skiing is my #2 love, behind running.  I've been a skier since I was 4, and I hope to do it the rest of my life!  Going down the mountain on a good snow day is such a rush and another way to experience the beauty of God's nature.

This is a view from the top before we went in for dinner.

Now, this isn't the one I ate, but this picture is for explaining purposes.  This is literally the best protein/granola bar I have ever tasted in my life.  Olympia Granola had several flavors in the gift shop at Cataloochee, but the Turtle Mocha was calling my name...and still is.  I want another one. They are quite pricey though.  One bar is 2 hearty servings, but it is just too yummy to put down.  This flavor had ingreedients like dark chocolate, honey, and espresso to give it amazing taste and health boosts, and also filled with tons of grains and nuts to get you going, too.

On the way home, I broke into some more dark chocolate.  I always go for the dark because it's not too sweet, and it is healthier, too.  Milky Way and Snickers both make wonderful dark chocolate versions that I like to keep on hand!

Monday the 23rd Already?

Shew, I cannot believe yesterday was already the day before Christmas Eve.  It was a great fun day, though!

After I slept in and laid in bed for the first time in what seemed like forever, I worked out downstairs for an hour and a half.  Then I fixed a breakfast of all new things I have been waiting since Thanksgiving break to try!  I wanted to wait so I could sit and enjoy it.  I got these things at Target-the wonderstore!

 

Archer Farms Pumpkin Spice Oatmeal-I love creating pumpkin spice foods, so I decided to try a premade version, since I know that Archer Farms is a top, trustworthy brand.  It was a success!  I mix my oatmeal using Silk Unsweetened Vanilla Almond Milk then topped it off with cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice, ginger, and nutmeg...perfect!

 

Kashi Chocolate Almond Butter Cookies are something I don't even consider a dessert.  I ate a Kashi Oatmeal Raisin Cookie before almost every race this cross country season, too.  They are so healthy, you just can't feel bad about eating these cookies!

 

Added to my coffee was another Target treat-a Dark Chocolate Espresso stirrer. I can't find an internet page for these, but there are multiple flavors available during the holiday to add some flavor to hot cocoa, milk, or coffee.

Dad took our sheltie, Frisco to get a bath!  Thank goodness...if you had seen (or smelled) this dog before he got bathed, you would not think it is the same dog.  He enjoys to bark at the rain and roll in the mud, so he is always a mess.  But, precious puppy cleans up nice!

Even the most spastic of all dogs we have had is such a lover.  He starves for attention.  Frisco wouldn't hurt anything!  He "plays" with bunnies that get into the yard.  He will hold them down, but gently, while he licks and pets on them, then he lets them go.

I can't believe that I got him to look at the camera!  He was about to clobber and lick me to death, because he was so excited to see me!  Dad told me to get some good pictures of him while he was trapped on the deck, because once he got down, the fluffiness wouldn't last long.

Here is the cutie again, with his "sister," who is now an outdoor cat since she decided whenever she got made she would pee in the laundry baskets.  When the weather gets cold, all she wants is to come back inside!  Our family believes that they think they are of the same species, because they look out for each other so much.  Frisco hardly ever leaves Sophie alone!  She may not admit it if she could talk, but we even catch Sophie snuggling with and chasing Frisco around, too.  Pets are such a wonderful gift from God!  Although they can't speak, they touch hearts and lift spirits.

As of this day, I still was not done delivering or even wrapping gifts.  So my afternoon and night was spent doing just that.  After leaving Ingles, Mom and I drove to a friend's house to take her a gift from me.  At home, I worked on additions to my parents' gifts and took treats to the neighbors.  After dinner and a shower, I headed downstairs to wrap the gifts from me to Mom and Dad while watching Charlie Brown Christmas for at least the 4th time this year.  Mom and Dad were upstairs watching one of the funniest Christmas movies, in my opinion, Four Christmases.  I caught the last 45 minutes and still got a ton of laughs.  I must say, however, my dad's laughter at certain scenes made me go into uncontrollable laughter more from him than the movie!  It has to be good to get my dad tickled like that, and I love to see it!  He is so funny; I just love him.

 

Today was full of so many things I love about Christmas:  sleep, exercise, breakfast, gifts, shopping, wrapping, doing crafts, and spending time with the pets and family, and laughter and love!

Gingerbread House of the Day #2

Here it is!  The other gingerbread house I was inspired to make during second period yesterday.

I had all this stuff at home that goes great with graham crackers, so I decided to to do a Christmas craft with it...then eat it of course.  This was an addition to my dinner and dessert last night.

I used almond butter to connect the house

vanilla bean cheesecake cream cheese to hold the "doors and windows" (Recees Pieces) in place

more of the vbccc to be snow on the rooftop

light brown Heath Pieces as "shingles"

and cool whip as snow!

 

To the side I made a nut tree

pumpkin spice cream cheese

pumpkin

and pumpkin butter make the ground layers

then cool whip and cinnamon make the snow

the "tree" is a skinny graham cracker with more pscc and pumpkin

with pistachios and peanuts stuck all around and on top

 

Before I ate it, I drizzeled some honey on top, becuase a little honey makes everthing tastier!

The cool whip added an amazing flavor to it, also.

 I was thrilled with how yummy this fun project turned out.

A healthy, happy, festive treat for the Christmas season!

Homemade Energy Clusters #CerealLoversWeek

 

In honor of National Cereal Lovers Week I decided to join in the fun and enter the contest!  Cereal is one of my favorite foods, so I got in on the events on the website about and using the instagram hashtag #CerealLoversWeek

 

By entering the contest on the website listed above, you can have a chance to win $1000!  All you have to do is get creative with your cereal and enter a picture and short description.

 

I made these as a sweet treat to have to give me energy through the day or recovery to hold me over until dinner after a workout.

 

The cluster is made of multiple flavors of Cheerios, Fiber One Honey Squares, Special K Vanilla Almond Cereal, Linwood's ground flax, seeds, and goji berry mix, pistacios, peanuts, Recees Pieces, cocoa powder, and oats.  The glaze to hold them together is honey, sugar free syrup, and almond butter.  These bars are a little sticky, so it is good to store them in the fridge!

Cocoa Coffee Almond Butter Banana Protein Smoothie

Here is another recepie I made with the Bolthouse Farms drink.  Some of my favorite treats are also in this shake!  I took it for breakfast to school earlier in the week.

 

These are the ingreedients I blended up:

cocoa powder

almond butter

vanilla protein powder

Bolthouse Farms mocha cappuccino

a little each of whole and unsweet vanilla almond milk

a banana

Stonyfield dark chocolate frozen yogurt

Stonyfield chocolate under vanilla yogurt

<<<The finished product on my desk in first block Physical Science!

Great Recovery Meal/Snack

I come home from team cross country camp every year with new food ideas I want to have again.  This is a great source of grains, protein, and some fruit.  First I scrambled two slices of wheat bread in egg whites for French toast.  Then I topped it with almond butter, banana slices, cinnamon, and honey.  Last, I stacked it into a sandwich!  This has become one of my new favorites!