>Easy peasy breakfasts and whole foods giveaway winner

>Good morning afternoon. Today is my day off so it’s morning for me 🙂

Lately I have been working a lot, and leaving for work very early (we’re talking 6:30am). I’m a huge advocate for nutritious, filling, and quick breakfasts on-the-go. The most important factor for me is limited cooking time in the morning. Therefore, I spend a few mins prepping them the night before and happily enjoy a scrumptious breakfast early in the morning.

Here are some favorites:

1. Creative Oats

Night before: Combine 1/3 oats, 1/4 egg whites, 3/4 cup almond milk, 1 t chia seeds, 1/2 t flax seeds, stevia, apple pie spice, pinch sea salt. Stir and throw in fridge overnight.

Morning of: Microwave ~2.5 mins, add 1/2 cup protein powder. Drizzle with organic maple syrup.

2. Protein Smoothies

Night before: Combine 1 scoop protein powder, 1 t xanthan gum (optional, to thicken), stevia, maca powder (optional, for energy/high in vitamin C), pinch sea salt

Morning of: Add frozen fruit, ice, almond milk & blend

For more smoothie recipes, click here!

3. Protein Cupcakes

Night before, combine and mix: 1 scoop protein powder, 1 T egg whites, 1/4 t baking powder, stevia, dash sea salt (optional: nuts, 1/2 banana). Spray mug with cooking spray and spoon in mixture. Store in fridge over night. Frosting: 1/4 cup Green yogurt, 1 T peanut flour, stevia.

Morning of: Microwave ~1min, 30 seconds & frost cupcake.

4. Breakfast cookies (source)

Night before, mix: 1/3 cup oats, 1/2 cup vanilla protein powder, 1/8 cup almond milk, 1 T PB/almond butter, cinnamon, raisins, stevia, dash sea salt. Spoon onto small plate.

Morning: Eat!

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*I’ve said it before, but I highly recommend you trying out SunWarrior protein. It’s all-natural, raw, gluten-free and has some pretty amazing nutrition stats. It’s the best for baking and amazing in smoothies. It costs about $46 for 47 servings (less than $1 per scoop)!

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And now for the $30 Whole Foods Gift Certificate winner announcement!

By random number generator the winner is Lisa from 110 Pounds and Counting! Lisa, send me your mailing address (to Biochemista@gmail.com) and I’ll mail your gift certificate!

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Question: What’s your favorite breakfast on the run??

>Eggs + oats + Laughing Cow+ noosh + hot sauce = MAGIC

>Ummm, wow. I needed to post this immediately because I am completely taken back by this SUPER QUICK, EASY, and DELISHHHH dish! I’ve heard about ‘savory oats’ and different combos using noosh (nutritional yeast), but asides from topping it over popcorn, I had little use for the stuff.

Um yeah, that changed. Behold the best combo everrrr:

SCRAMBLED EGGS + NUTRITIONAL YEAST + HOT SAUCE
Check out these incredible BENEFITS of NOOSH!

I stared by soaking 1/4 cups in 1/2 cup boiling water + 1/4 cup egg whites. While the oats softened, I microwaved a handful of frozen spinach and veggies I had on hand. Next I microwaved the oats/egg whites combo until done and cooked 1 scrambled egg on the side. When done, I combined all items and added 2-3 tbsp nutritional yeast + 1 Laughing Cow Light + pinch sea salt + pepper + hot sauce.

And behold:

^The MOST OOEY GOOEY CHEESY (healthy!) dish I ever did have! It tasted like mac and cheese! SO. FREAKIN. GOOD.

It paired nicely with this guy I picked up on sale at Tar-jay:

So wowed by the meal, I made it aaaagain today. This time I wasn’t quite as ravishing, so I omitted the oats. I had this guy lying around:

Good veggies but the sauce was a little overpowering. To fix this, I soaked the veggies in H20 then nuked veggies in H20, drained then added 2-3 tbsp nutritional yeast + 2 scrambled eggs + pinch sea salt + pepper + hot sauce.

OMG. I am truly in love.

Sooo…..I’ve MISSED EVERYONE SO MUCH during these last few weeks of craziness. PLEASE TELL ME what you’ve been up to!!!!! I misssss youuuuuuu!

HAVE A FAB WEEKEND!!!!

XX,

Laur

PS..Check out the beautiful Gabriela’s awesome giveaway!

>Sushi, shopping woes, and Marathon 2010!

>Hiiiii,

How are yaa? I’m doing swellll. My legs are starting to feel more like legs (and less like bricks) after Sunday’s 15-mile run. I’m hoping to get in one more 7-mi training run before heading to Quebec on Wednesday for a wedding!

Usually I have my outfit picked out weeeeks before but this time shopping kinda slipped ma mind. Last night Kels (sistah) and I had sushi then hit up the mall to find a dress. The shopping (but not sushi) was completely unsuccessful. At least we had a good meal, right??

I had miso soup:

Edamame:

Salmon sashimi:

And split this aaaaaa-mazing “Cherry Blossom Roll” with Kels:

^Salmon, yellow tail, tuna, avocado, seaweed salad a cherry on top!

Side note: If you are planning to visit DC in the near future, come during the Cherry Blossoms! It’s absolutely gorgeous!

So back to shopping, we didn’t have much time so I just checked the two closest stores, Nordstroms and Macy’s. I found nadda! I’m not a frequent Macy’s shopper but I figured they might have some dresses. Baah, was I dead wrong.

Soooo, that leaves tonight to find a dress before we leave on Wednesday. Where should I look??? I’m thinking BCBG, J Crew, and Anthropologie. Any other suggestions????

This morning I woke up late (9am, whoops) and cured my rumbling stomach with a bowl of this heaven:

^1/3 cup oats, 3 tbsp egg whites, 1 tbsp cinnamon, agave, raisins, dash sea salt, blob Cinnamon Swirl PB

Again, this stuff is AHH-MAZING:

Buy. some. immediately.

A few hours later I was staaaaavin again, so I whipped up a Green Monster:

^1/2 scoop vanilla whey protein, 1/2 cup FF Greek yogurt, nanner, 1/2 cup frozen spinach, 1/4 cup mixed berries, 1 tsp flax oil, H20, stevia.

Alright, back to scienceland. Have a great day!

QUESTIONS: Where should I buy a dress??? Are you planning to run a marathon someday?

xox

Lauren

Oh and PS, I am OFFICIALLY REGISTERED for a MAY 2ND MARATHON!!!!!

>Protein and drugs

>Hey Hey,

TFIFFFF! I kinda feel bad for saying that considering I just had almost 1 week off from our two snowstorms. But hey, it’s the weekend!

This morning I woke up cold, tired, and staaaarving. To fix this I made PB and Banana Protein oats:

1/3 oats, 1 mashed nanner, 1 tsp Better N’ PB, 1/2 scoop vanilla whey protein, raisins, stevia, and pinch sea salt

So. good. Seriously protein oats are (imo) one of the best ‘power breakfasts’. Healthy carbs and fat, protein, and pure deliciousness. I’m not the greatest raisin fan, but in oatmeal they’re outta this world. Also pretty freakin good in breakfast cookies.

After a skipped morning workout (due to a bellyache, boo), I managed to make it to lab despite falling asleep on the metro and almost missing my stop. Don’t think I haven’t done that before. Twice.

Today’s experiment went much better than yesterday’s. I am currently making antibodies to use as drugs for the treatment of leukemia. Antibodies are proteins (made of amino acids). Protein engineering can be very difficult at times, and this was the case for one I’ve been working on. Today however, I managed to generate enough material to do several exciting experiments in the next couple of weeks. Perdy stoked ova here 😉

SciFact: To visually determine how much antibody I’ve made (and its quality), we input the protein into a porous material (called a gel), and apply a chemical that makes the protein negatively charged. When voltage is applied, the protein (now charged), travels through the gel according to its size. The larger the protein, the slower it moves.

Migrating proteins

Next I apply a dye that only stains protein (not DNA, RNA, etc.):

In the leftmost side of the gel, there is a line or “band”, called the “protein standard”. This contains a mixture of protein sizes. The next 3 bands are my antibodies. Because each size of the protein standard is known, I can determine the size of my antibody (and quantity by the band intensity).

Neat???


Anywhoooo that’s enough science class for today, ha. After the exciting results from that experiment came in, I headed off to lunch in the cafeteria (I usually bring my lunch to save moola). I had a glorious salad:

Romaine, spring mix, tuna, egg whites, chic peas, cherry tomatoes, peppers, red onion, beets, grapes, cranberries, sunflower seeds, balsamic, and EVOO.

Not too shabby for a cafeteria salad, eh?

After lunch I was craving a tea and dessert. I usually don’t eat stuff like this because I try to follow a ‘clean’ diet but these had my name all over them:

 Keebler FudgeShopps Grasshopper 100 calorie mint cookies. They taste JUST like Girl Scout Thin Mint cookies! And amazingly good paired with hot tea. Mmmmmm.

Well I’m off to a lecture then happy hour to bid farewell to another grad student in my lab that’s returning to Germany. We’ll miss you Dennis!

Have a great night!!!!

Lauren

(Experiment performed at National Institutes of Health)

>Highs and lows

>Heyyyy,

Happy hump day 😉 I feel like it’s been so long! Here are some highlights from the last few days:

1) I rediscovered Bikram:

source

For those of you not familar with Bikram yoga (or Hot yoga as many people call it), it’s a series of 26 sequential poses, each repeated twice in a room warmer than 105 degrees with 40% humidity. The heat allows you to work your muscles/joints/tendons for the entire 90 mins rather than needing half the class to ‘warm-up’.

Some more info about Bikram Yoga: “Blood circulation is affected immensely during Bikram Yoga because of two processes called extension and compression. These two dynamics are said to work together to deliver fresh oxygen to every joint, muscle, and organ within the human body. While performing a specific asana (pose), the body is stretching or compressing a certain part of the body, thus cutting off circulation temporarily. This restriction of circulation causes the heart to pump more blood in reaction to the shortage. The pumping of excess, fresh blood is called extension. Once the asana is complete and the individual comes out of the posture, the new oxygenated blood is able to rejuvenate the arteries that were being compressed. Because of the volume change and influx of fresh blood, it is said that infection, bacteria, and toxins can be released through this process” Source

What I can say is, Bikram Yoga has improved my life in every way. During marathon training I was always prone to injuries (ITBS, plantar facitis). However, since doing Bikram 2-3X week, I have been injury free. I had take a break earlier this year when I wasn’t running high milage. Now that I’m averaging 35 miles per week in addition to cycling, I need Bikram more than ever.

I’ve been twice this week (!) I can’t tell you how much better I feel, physically and mentally. If you decide to try it, please remember to drink lots of water that day (before, during, and after), dress light, and try it at least 3 times before you decide whether you like it or not. The heat can take a while to get used to. Tell your studio you are new and they can give you more new member info.

Next on the list….

2) I’ve found a new favorite breakfast. It’s quick, nutritious, and deeeeeelish!

1 pack instant plain oatmeal (or multi-grain), 1/2 – 1 banana microwaved (so it turns mushy), 1/2 cup vanilla protein powder (I use Designer Whey brand), 1 tsp cinammon, 1-2 tbsp raisins, 1 tsp PB (or almond butter), stevia to taste.

^^Important note: If making the oatmeal in the microwave, add the ingredients after. The protein turns a very strange consistency when microwaved.

The best part? It can be made on the run. Last night I prepared this baggy (Sorry it’s not what you think! ha):

All I did was add hot water to the oatmeal then stir in the goods. Warm, filling, and scrumptious.

My favorites:

Stevia…aka magic. An all natural zero-calorie sweetner. Check out how many servings there are!

Trader Joe’s Oatmeal (7 grams of soy protein):

Better N’ Butter. Tastes maple heaven.

And check out those stats!

Next on the list………

3. Taco salad and skinny margarita night:

^^Lean ground turkey sauteed in diced onions and au natural taco seasoning, topped over diced iceberg lettuce, corn, black beans, avacados, tomatoes, and our dressing secret!

Dip/dressing: This one is a keeper: Mix 2 parts greek yogurt with 1 part chipolte salsa, 1 tbsp red chili powder, 1tsp cumin. Healthy and AMAZING.

Top all of that with some lite Mexican blend cheese and whole grain tortilla chips. Voila!

Definitely one if my favorite roomie dinners. Close call with magic though 🙂

4) Waking up to this winter wonderland:

Although it’s pretty much melted now it was a quite beautiful commute to lab.

5) And a not so happy event:

My poor delicious lunch (shrimp, curry, veggies, beans, brown rice) went ka–poot on the floor when I grabbed it this morning. Aaaaah well. You win some, you lose some….ha!

Have a great night!

Lauren