>You can call me the (turkey) chili master

>Hello bloggies,

How was your Monday? Mine was bueno. It started out with a peanut butter – protein cupcake and coffee. Fantastic.

I’d like to say I worked super hard on my thesis all morning, but the reality was I was L-A-Z-Y. So I lounged, hung out with Sir DVR and eventually made my way to a 12pm BodyPump class. Love the Pump. I’m addicted.

After getting the Endorphins pumpin’, I did get to work. Hallelujah. I thesis-ed until my brain almost exploded then decided to prepare dinner early tonight so after Spinning I could come home to a feast.

And a feast it was. Behold: Black bean & Sweet Potato Turkey Chili (inspired by Gina‘s recipe):

Ingredients:

Ground lean turkey

3 large sweet potatoes

2 cans black beans, rinsed

1 can corn (no sugar/salt added), rinsed

4 large tomatoes, chopped

1 large yellow onion, diced

1 pepper (orange or yellow)

1 cup tomato juice (or V8)

2 garlic cloves, diced

2 tbsp Red chili powder (not pepper!). Add more if desired (I do!)

1/2 tbsp Cumin

1 tsp Sea salt

1/2 tsp pepper

Directions:

1. Add corn, beans, peppers, 1 diced garlic clove, onions to large pot

2. Dice sweet potatoes into large cubes and boil until soft. Drain and set aside.

3. Cook tomatoes covered over medium heat until they can be easily mashed (~5 mins). Add to pot:

4. Add remaining garlic, cumin, 1/2 tsp Red Chili Powder to a cooking pan. Brown turkey (just sear outsides of turkey):

5. Add turkey to pot (and remaining spices, tomato juice) and cook covered over medium heat until turkey is cooked and onions/peppers are soft:

6. When turkey/peppers/onions are cooked, add sweet potato.

7. Drool.

Note: To obtain a more “chili” taste, add more red chili power and cumin. I add quite a bit 😉

Alright peeps, time for some vino + dark chocolate + reality TV. Ahhh, the life.

-Lauren

PS…Who is watching WEEDS tonight????

>Will run for wine

>Hellooooo,

How was your weekend??? I had the laaaaaziest yet most productive weekend everrrrr…..Lazy as in I slept til at least til 1pm each day the watched tons of TV. And productive as in I went grocery shopping, lab each day, did a good core workout, and ran a 15-miler today! Wooooop.

Here are some eats from the weekend:

^Diced honey crisp apple, diced nanner, Kashi go lean, coconut Kefir, cinnamon, stevia

LOVE this new find:

^Any other recipe suggestions for this???

Green monster:

^My recipe is featured on the Green Monster website!

Tuna salad:

^Tuna, 2 tbsp. red-fat mayo (made w/ EVOO), diced yellow onion, diced celery, diced pickles, dill, parsley, pepper, dash sea salt.

Margarita pizza:

^Could have done with 9/10 less cheese. But still dece.

Shriaz (Peter Lehmann):

^Soooooo good. And affordable!

Organic “Oreos”:

^How is that even possible???? Lol.

Fiiiiinally tried this gem:

WOW.

It paired nicely with this guy:

^Cinn Raisin swirl PB + nanner

And tonight’s dinnah (best eats all weekend):

^Baked then broiled sweet potato topped with 1/2 cup Amy’s Low-fat Black bean chili, diced avocado, salsa, and dollop FF Greek Yogurt. I am making this again ASAP. Such a great post-run dish!

Speaking of run, it was soooooo nice today (even ran in ma tank top!) the entire city of DC seemed to be exercising…either running or rollerblading, cycling, walking, boating, etc! And of course I have some pics from my 15-miler 😉

Active peeps:

^Not sure what this is called but it looks neat!

^Flag football, kickball, soft ball games everywhere

^Beach volleyball. Seeeee Seth, just like LA! ha

Aaaaaand some scenic pics….

Watergate:

Georgetown waterfront:

View from Arlington, VA looking at Lincoln/Washington Monument:

And my shirt of choice:

^I think it sums me up pretty well, don’t ya think???

Well I’m off, considering its past 8pm and I’m still in lab…I better head home.

QUESTIONS:

1. Does living in an active city make you more active??

2. What should I do with my new coconut kefir?

3. What are some food ‘gems’ you wanna share with me??? 😉

Have a great night!!!!

xx

Lauren

>Roadtrip!

>Heyyyy!!!

How was your V-day weekend??! Mine was GREAT. The manfriend and I met my parents in Myrtle Beach, SC to run a half marathon and squeeze in some beach time. It was a bittersweet debauchery of a weekend for several reasons:

1) Our train to the airport (and all trains that day) was cancelled
2) Our flight was cancelled (and all fights to SC that day)
3) Our half marathon was cancelled because of “snow”

Seriously, wtf???

Sooo not to let this ruin our weekend we:

1) Took a roadtrip to SC instead
2) Ran our own half marathon on the beach

The roadtrip was actually a lot of fun. Seth and I are such goofballs and the time flew by (at least for me! ha). Aaaaand I always love roadtrip snacking 😉

7-Eleven Coffee. I love it. All of the flavors. Don’t judge.

Fruit plate (also from 7-11). Seriously freakin amazing:

^Watermelon, mango, pineapple

And check out the price!

Valentine chocolates:

Subway salad:

^Note to those lacto-intolerant: Kraft Italian dressing has Parmesan cheese (!) Ruined that one for me (I’m allergic)

MickyD’s apple dippers:

Oh, and I snapped this picture of a gigantic cigarette. I can’t believe how many Billboards, advertisements, etc. we saw promoting smoking!!! So sad!

After arriving, Seth and I went out to dinner for a carb-loaded pasta feast (I had seafood fra diablo, amazing!) with my adorable parents:

Then shortly after finishing dinner we found out the race was cancelled to due “snow”. Essentially, SC got 1.5 inches overnight and although it melted in time for the marathon, the city was scared it would be dangerous to have runners and cars on the road together. Ahhhh, you Southerners are crazy 😉

So, what did we do instead? Had a post-dinner drink (since we weren’t waking up at 5:30am):

^This stuff tastes like strawberry milk. Nuts.

Slept in until 11am, ate breakfast, and ran 13.1 miles on the beach!

Mama dukes and pops just before the run:

Me trying to look tough. Mental preparation, y’all. ha.

The manfriend was so sweet! He ran 6 miles with me in the only extra pair of shoes that would fit him: My dad’s friend’s 80’s-style Wal-mart working kicks. Love you Seth!

And I obviously snapped some pics along the way (because you know I love pics on the run!)

The dangerous snow 😉

13.1 miles of this. Aaaah, I miss it already:

After the run I made everyone a post-race snack (carbs, protein for recovery):

^FF strawberry greek yogurt, 1/2 banana, PB

Later that night the manfriend and I made dinner for the parentals, parental’s friends, and my aunt/uncle. We made sweet potato chili, quinoa, and skinny margaritas (of course).

Madre and I after (a couple) margaritas:

Despite all of the chaos and cancellation it was a great weekend!
How was your weekend??! Fill me in! I feel like I’ve been away for ages

-Lauren

Question:

For all the Single Ladies, does Valentine’s day annoy you??? Or do you plan single gals’ nights/bar crawls like I used to????

For the “taken ladies”, what do you miss most about being single?? I promise I won’t spill your secrets 😉

>Salsaa

>Hey Hey,

How was your weekend? Mine was pretty fantastic. Fantastically productive yet fun 🙂

Friday was beeeautiful weather in DC so in between experiments I snuck out for a quick 3-miler. It was glorious. I only wish I didn’t get so darn sweaty when I run or I’d run over lunch break everyday…I always wonder how people manage this. First, I’m generally starving before lunch so my energy levels are next to zero. And second, let’s say I run for 45 mins. I generally need 15 mins to stretch/stop profusely sweating and then another 30 to quickly shower and get ready. Hmmm…Any suggestions???

Saturday I worked in the labski until 9pm! Not the most exciting night, but I did get some wonderful results so it’s okay in my book 🙂 But you can bet the first thing I did when I returned home was make some of these:

Skinny margaritas on the rocks: White tequila, splash triple sec, splash OJ, fresh lime juice, dash of stevia.

I even hand delivered one to Kels (sistah) in the shower. Ahhhhh, shower drinks. Reminds me of being in undergrad 🙂

The night started and ended with those and a whole lotta salsa dancing in between.

Sunday was a blur I think I slept until 3pm…made some food and slept some more. Oh, and watched 23894329 episodes of Keeping Up with the Kardashians. What better to do on a rainy day???

Monday was also pretty epic. The manfriend is moving to DC in a couple of weeks (!) so Kels and I switched rooms as her’s is muchhhh bigger than mine. Losta work but big payoff. In between moving, I went for 7-mile run around the Lincoln Memorial, National Mall, reflecting pool, and Jefferson Memorial. There is something different about running in DC than other cities. For me running is really a time of clarity and reflection. Being surrounded by beautiful statues, memorials, etc. recognizing heroes of our past really puts what’s important into perspective. I returned from the run refreshed and motivated for the week 🙂

For dinner last night, I modified Fitnessista‘s Sweet Potato and Black Bean Chili. It was quick, spicy, and delicious.

Source

^Lean ground turkey, black beans, corn, 1 medium yellow onion, 2 cans diced tomatoes (1 fire roasted if you like it hott), 4 medium sweet potatoes, 1 clove diced garlic, 1 tsp cumin, 2 tsp red chili powder, sea salt/pepper to taste. I served it over brown rice and a new favorite around la casa, Greg Norman Syrah.

Source

Who knew golfers were so wine-savy???

Whelp, back to scienceland…Have a great week!

L