Half Marathon Update, Dinner, and a Bar Treat

HALF MARATHON UPDATE

Scheduled to do 5 miles today.  Tired.  Ate a handful of peanuts before workout, and drank plenty of water.

Here's what I did:

~ 5.15 miles
~ 50 minutes
~ 600 calories burned

10 minutes of strength training. 

Thank goodness tomorrow is a rest day.  I'm suddenly having my "knee problem" from many years ago again.  I had kind of forgotten about it.  My left knee used to ache when I ran a lot back then.  I can see this is going to be an issue again.  I'm going to have to ice it tonight.

DINNER

Carl and I were starving for dinner.  I whipped up something quick:  grilled teriyaki chicken breasts, couscous, and some steamed veggies.

I usually use either whole wheat couscous or this parmesan flavored couscous.  Near east 100% natural couscous. 

This unfortunately has a lot of sodium in it.  I only use it occasionally.  It's a good source of protein though.  The whole wheat couscous has NO sodium.  I should really just stick with that.

Here's dinner.  We inhaled it.  We were so hungry!!!

Mmmmm, look at those green beans! I LOVE green beans.  I put a little bit of onion and garlic powder on them for seasoning.

PLUMPING MY WHEAT BERRIES

Not too long ago, I bought some wheat berries at the Downtown Grocery in Wausau.  Wheat berries are a great source of protein, omega - 3's, and fiber.  You can put them in pretty much anything (baked goods, oatmeal, homemade granola bars, etc.), but they come as a hard, dry little kernel.  You have to plump them to eat them.  When plump, they are kind of chewy, and they have a mild nutty flavor.

To plump wheat berries, I pour about a cup of wheat berries in a sauce pan, cover with water, bring the water and berries to a boil, then reduce heat to simmer.  I just let the berries simmer until they reach the texture and chewiness I desire.  Usually about 15 minutes.  Then, I drain the berries, put them in a container and put them in the fridge.  You want to use your plump wheatberries within 7-10 days.  YUM!

SPECIAL BAR TREAT

I was just on a roll tonight in the kitchen.  I decided to try out a granola bar recipe I found on another blog Kath Eats Real Food.  Her Baked Oatmeal Snack Bars looked delicious! 

Here's the recipe:

Ingredients:
~ 1 1/2 cups oats
~ 1/2 cup chopped walnuts
~ 3/4 cup dried fruit (whatever you want, I used dried cranberries)
~ 1 tsp cinnamon
~ 1 tsp kosher salt
~ 1 1/4 cups skim milk
~ 1 egg
~ 1 tsp vanilla

Process:
~ Preheat oven to 350 degrees
~ Mix all dry ingredients
~ Mix wet ingredients
~ Pour wet ingredients into dry ingredients.  Stir to combine.
~ Pour into a 9x9 baking dish coated with cooking spray or parchment paper
~ Bake for 40 minutes
~ Cut into 9 squares

Each bar is approx 165 calories, 3 grams of fiber and 5 grams of protein. 

** Kath says that your fruit brings sweetness to the bars.  If you want more sweetness or don't want to use dried fruit, you can add 1/4 - 1/2 cup brown sugar.

Here's my concoction:

Well, Carl and I tried it out and it was okay.  Nothing spectacular.  I think that if I would have put some brown sugar in it, that would have improved it for us.  The cranberries didn't provide enough sweetness for our taste.  Good try though!