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By Katy, January 16, 2010

Well, ya’ll have certainly given my friend some new healthy food resources, and turned me on to some new ones, as well! Here were the most popular suggestions from my last post:

• Blogs and Web sites:
  • KathEats.com
  • OhSheGlows.com
  • StephChows.blogspot.com
  • CarrotsNCake.com
  • CookinCanuck.blogspot.com
  • KsGoodEats.wordpress.com
  • Fitnessista.com
  • NataliesKillerCuisine.com
  • FoodNetwork.com
  • AllRecipes.com
  • AimeesAdventures.com
• Cookbooks:
  • Rick Bayless “Everyday Mexican”
  • “Vegan With a Vengeance”
  • “Cupcakes Take Over the World”
  • “Bluephies American Cooking”
  • “Laurel’s Kitchen”
  • “Fix and Leave it Light”
  • “Joy of Cooking”
  • “Pretty Darn Quick”
• Magazines:
  • Real Simple
  • Eating Well

And, for all your hard work and great suggestions, it’s time to announce the winner of a Bondi Band…

Congratulations, emueller! You were selected as my random winner, and you also really touched my heart with this comment:

I am super proud of you for finishing and for enjoying the process and the results…Having just finished my own half marathon, it is tough…I was proud of myself for finishing but then everyone wanted to know how fast I ran, which was a snail’s pace comparatively to how you ran, but still – I had to remember I had the courage to start and finish and ran the whole thing..even if it wasn’t a fast run….Love your Bondi Band BTW….thanks for being so honest in your thoughts/feelings…helps to know i’m not the only one HUGS

I will contact you to get your address and send your new headband out!

Speaking of things that are touching my heart — the situation in Haiti. I have been watching the heartbreaking photos and video around the clock, and feeling so many emotions. Empathy and sadness for the victims; desperation for those who have survived but are still in danger, hungry and dehydrated. Compassion and thanks for the tens of thousands of people mobilizing around the world to help. Frustration that the resources just can’t get there quickly enough, or are blocked by bad roads, clogged airports, chaos and confusion.

Like many others, I have donated to relief efforts, and wished I could do more. I know that as a global community, we will come together and do whatever we can — whatever it takes — to bring a bit of stability and hope to Haiti.

Wow, Debbie Downer much? I’ll leave you with something a little happier. This time a week ago, it was sleeting, freezing cold and I was just thankful to be done with 13.1 miles.

Today, it’s 70 degrees outside. Life is good.

          

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By Katy, January 12, 2010

This post is inspired by a dear college friend who made my day with an email and a plea — to point her to places that inspire me in my healthy eating journey.

More on that in a moment, but first…

I finally uploaded my Stella stats from the half marathon this weekend! And, I have to say — I’m done beating up on myself. No, I’m not the fastest runner out there…I never thought I was! No, I didn’t reach my 10:00/mile average…but I did maintain that for much of the race, in unexpectedly freezing conditions!

And, thanks to all of your lovely comments on my recap post, I’ve decided it’s time to embrace the awesome. And realize that just by starting the race, I was a winner.

Dork alert…

So, back to the email. My friend (who will remain anonymous unless she wants to peek out in comments, hint hint) wrote this:

I’m wondering if you have a spot where you get your recipes.  Your blog has inspired me to start thinking more naturally, and I’m trying to come up with recipes that are healthy for my husband and I that don’t use a lot of processed ingredients.

Swoon. You had me at inspired.

I know I’m luckier than many — I grew up eating “health food,” although I just knew it as food.

(Reminds me of the magnet my friends Jackie and Jim got me for Christmas)

So for me, giving up junk food, processed food and most crap, mostly meant going back to what Mom and Dad fed me in the first place!

Having said that, I rely on three sources, in this order:

• Cookbooks
  • My favorites are Veganomicon, How to Cook Everything Vegetarian (thanks, Andy!), the Eat Clean Diet Cookbook and good ol’ Joy of Cooking.
• Online Recipe Databases
  • I like Recipezaar, A Veggie Venture, VegWeb, Cooking Light and FoodNetwork.com, in particular.
• Other Blogs
  • I subscribe to more than 100 blogs (bless you, Google Reader!) so I bookmark posts that include recipes I’d like to try. I also use Google Blog search if I’m looking for something specific (i.e. tomato soup, lasagna, bread, etc.)

Now, are you ready for my three-part plan for successful healthy cooking and eating?

1. A stocked pantry. I am almost never without staples like:

**Brown Rice, Quinoa, Millet, Bulgur, Rolled Oats: I buy these in bulk and use them in almost every meal. I typically don’t eat many potatoes or other simple starches, although I don’t make a lot of rules (because they’re too easy to break!)

**Stock: I normally keep chicken and vegetable stock in the pantry, and use it to cook grains, meats, etc. It’s also very easy to use if I want to make a kitchen sink soup, which is basically stock heated up with any vegetables I have on hand!

**Vegetables: I am a veggie freak, so I buy whatever looks good at the store, and work it into my meals through the week. I also stock up on organic frozen green beans, broccoli and more, which I buy in bulk at Costco.

2. Meal Planning. I take an hour or so on Friday night, after work, and plan our menus for the week. I used to plan lunches and dinner, but that got to be too time consuming, so now I just make extras of dinner, and bring that or a big salad for lunch. I typically serve a lean protein (meat, beans, etc.), a vegetable, and a grain. If I am serving beans, I double up on the veggies and ditch the grain. The hour that I spend doing this gets me more than that back during the week, because I come home and get started right away, rather than poring through books, Web sites, etc., trying to figure out what to make.

3. Substitutions, substitutions, substitutions. I am very lucky to have a husband who will eat just about anything I put in front of him.

I have made changes to recipes that have resulted in culinary disaster. I’ve also made some pretty impressive dishes. Through trial and error, I have learned when to replace oil with applesauce, and when to stick with the oil; when to use whole wheat flour and when all-purpose is the only choice. I’ve tried foods I couldn’t pronounce, and remade old favorites.

I’m not sure if this helps you, old friend, but I know my readers will have even better ideas for you…

So, leave me a comment and let me know where you find your healthy recipes! I’ll make it worth your while:

• Anyone who leaves a comment will be entered into a chance to win a Bondi Band, the rockin’ hairband that’s sweeping the nation (right, Ashley?)
  
• You can leave as many comments as you want, and get up to three chances to win.
  
• Giveaway ends Friday, January 15th at 5pmET.

They’re wicked cool — in fact, here’s a picture of me enjoying a Bondi at a 5K last year. Enter now!

          

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By Katy, November 20, 2009

That’s right…I’m about to announce the winners of TWO #VeganWeek giveaways, so be sure to read all the way through!

Did you see all the people that took the Vegan 4 a Day challenge that Michelle and I offered up? You can get the links here. I’m amazed, and am so excited to get to know so many of you through your blogs and tweets!

I actually can’t believe I’m still awake, considering my 4:15am wakeup call. But when you have a chance to run with these rockstars:

That’s Caitlin and Kelly (formerly of Beneath It All Blog, currently of grad school butt-kicking).

Of course, I had some time to kill and decided to play around with my camera’s self-timer…

Ah, such grace. It was a lovely 8-mile run (for me — those nutty girls did 18!), and while it was slow, it was nice to get a longer distance in after three weeks on the bench. I was WHUPPED!

I thought I might have to shower at Starbucks again, but I had time to run home and get cleaned up there. That meant I got to see my sweetie, who greeted me with coffee!

Got to work and ate an apple…although, it’s hard for me to work up hunger after a run. Later in the day, I get famished, but in the first hours after, I have to force myself to eat.

Like the t-shirt? It’s from this race. I dressed down because we’re still moving our offices. The new place gives me much better backdrops for my leftover lunches:

And Vega smoothies (although I ended up taking this home and mixing it with hot water. Got the idea from Angela’s hot smoothies!)

By the way — dishes always get done twice in my house. Because of this.

Finished off the night with smashed kidney bean and carmelized onion burritos (on Ezekial wraps) and some unpictured soy milk ice cream with vegan chocolate chips.

Now, onto the good stuff…you guys blew me away with your nice comments on Angela’s guest post. Weren’t those amazing vegan baking tips? Note to self: try flax egg.

Okay, by random selection, the winner of the Glo Bakery bars is…

Beth @ DiningAndDishing

I would love to win some bars! I have been dyyying to give them a try :O)

Congratulations, Beth! I hope you’ll come back and give me a review after you get your bars.

And, the winner of the Vega gift pack giveaway is…

Paige from Running Around Normal

I’ll be in touch with both winners…thanks to everyone who entered!

          

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By Katy, September 19, 2009

**I won’t make you read all the way through the post for the news I know you’re all looking for — the winners of the Bondi Band giveaway! First, my sincere thanks for all who entered. Bondi Band makes a great product, and I was really excited that they wanted you to check out their headbands!

So, by random selection, the winners are:

• Amy
• Nicole
• Leslie

Congratulations! Each of you will receive one Bondi Band, and I’ll contact you to get your mailing addresses. For those who entered and did not win, I recommend that you do a search for Bondi Band coupon codes. There are lots of them, and make it easier to buy 3 (or 10) at a time!

So, back to the title of this post. I’ve been lucky enough to do my fair share of traveling over the last five years or so. For our honeymoon, Lucas and I went to London and Paris (see above) and for about 6 months, all we could do was talk about buying a pied-a-terre and eating pain au chocolate and croque monsieurs all day.

Earlier this year, we went to Chicago and fell in love with the Windy City — from Mexican food at Topolobamo:

to coffees outside the Sears Tower and more. Plus, we’ve visited family in Boston, New York City, Maine and more.

But the only place that we’ve BOTH ever thought about moving to is the Pacific Northwest. We visited Portland, Oregon, and Seattle, Washington, last year and the memories still consume us! Unfortunately, I was taking a break from blogging when we traveled, which really bums me out.

Today, I was helping Lucas look through the nearly 600 pictures we took during our trip, and I was struck by the happiness both cities brought us. Reading my aunt Patti’s blog about rural living right outside of Seattle isn’t making the PacNW pinings go away!

Things we loved there:

• Coffee
• The views…from everywhere.
• Landscaping
• Architecture
• Museums and art
• Family!

Here are some of my favorite photos from that trip. I hope you enjoy!

(P.S. This not only makes me miss Seattle, it makes my miss my long hair!)

P.P.S. Lucas should find out next week whether he won a trip to Portland to study the beer-making process. It’s a long shot, but we’ve had fun talking about all the places we’d go if we got to go back to Oregon! If we somehow luck out, I’ll definitely be stocking up on Dave’s Killer Bread…the Sin Dawg loaf I won from Care to Eat is gone and I miss it already.

          

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By Katy, September 18, 2009

**Remember, you have until 5pm today to enter my Bondi Band giveaway — good luck!

It sounds like lots of you want to try trampoline cardio in your own cities…be warned — I am so sore, and it’s two days after our blogger get-together! Not sure how Meghann says she’s not feeling it, but let me tell you: there are muscles I didn’t know I had that are achy today. I got up and ran a tough 6 miles on Thursday morning, so that may be partly to blame.

Yowza.

I work at an amazing company, with people I truly respect and like as friends. So I had to laugh when my bosses took a picture of me jumping on the trampoline and put their own spins on it. The first picture is at the top, and here’s my favorite:

So true.

So, the alternate title of my post could be:

• 6 Months ‘Til the Dirty 30
• Holy Crap I’m Turning 30
• My Downward Slide Into Middle Age
• Can’t I Stay 29 Forever?

This week — September 17th, to be exact — marks my half birthday. 6 months from now, I’ll be having one of those birthdays that ends in a “0″ and I’m starting to freak out. Cliche, much? So I need to ground myself. I have a great husband, a great job that challenges and inspires me, fabulous friends who let me be my goofy self, a healthy body and on and on. And truly, if the next 30 years are as good as the first? I’ll be a lucky woman.

Hey, are you following me on Twitter? You should — because I tell funny stories about bobby pins down my shirt, finding sweet peas in my purse and much more.

Remember that 5K that Lucas and I ran last weekend? It’s now up on my work Web site — play Where’s Waldo Katy! Click the play button in the center of the picture.

          

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By Katy, September 16, 2009

**Wow, you guys REALLY want your Bondi Bands! There’s still time to enter my giveaway, so get the deets here.

Last week over blueberry pancakes, a group of us were talking about getting out of the running rut and finding new ways to exercise while having fun. Sarah mentioned a trampoline place that does exercise classes and more. The last time I was on a trampoline was probably 20 years ago, but I was intrigued — and I wasn’t alone!

So tonight, I met Sarah, Meghann, Kelly, Mary Beth and Rosie at Rebounderz for fun and cool shoes:

Before getting there, I was STARVING … my lunchtime Hugh Jass didn’t quite hold me over, so I made an emergency snack pit stop:

And it was a good thing I stopped, because the trampoline cardio class was hard. Like Jillian Michaels-P90x-run 3 miles hard. It took me a few minutes to work up the courage to do all the cool moves the instructor called for, but I finally found myself bouncing off the walls (ha!) and on my butt.

He had us do laps, jumps, sit-ups, mountain climbers and on and on and on. I was one big sweaty mess when we were done, but it was a blast. I think the girls and I will be going back soon!

Meghann was the only one brave enough to take her camera onto the trampolines, so you’ll have to head to her blog to see pictures.

And when I got home, I had two great things waiting for me. Dinner, prepared by Lucas:

Out-freaking-standing. He made a warm pasta salad with sweet peppers, carrots, celery and a mustard vinaigrette. And then, the star of the meal, pinto beans smashed with fresh lime, garlic and deliciousness. I would never have thought to put lime in the beans but it was money. Luckily, there are leftovers for tomorrow.

And look what else came:

Dave’s Killer Bread — I won it from the Care to Eat girls a while back and have been DYING to try it! Now I just hope Lucas wins his trip to Portland so he can learn about beer and stock my bread supply.

The trampoline class was so much fun, I think we’re going to try rock climbing next week.

What is your favorite “fun” exercise to do?

          

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By Katy, September 15, 2009

Great news! You all loved the Bondi Band that I wore during last weekend’s 5K so much that Bondi Band has offered to give THREE lucky Silly Tater Tot readers bands of their very own! But, to find out how to enter, you’ll have to read to the bottom (enter evil laugh here).

What a day! I had to get a very early start — 6:30am — because my bosses and I were driving to Tampa for business. We have a television show that currently airs in the Orlando market and is archived online, and we’re working to get it expanded across the state of Florida. Cross your fingers!

I took breakfast to go:

And when we arrived, I got down to business:

Ahem. At least my shoes were professional.

Cute, right? The presentation went very well, and we headed back to O-town, where I was good:

And very, very bad:

I needed the caffeine and was desperate.

When I got home, I was planning on a nice long run, but my iPhone had other ideas — I had to upgrade to the new software and it crashed my phone! So, I had to restore, reboot and wait, wait, wait… finally, I decided to just run without my iPhone/iPod.

As I expected, it was not fun. I just don’t like to be alone with my own thoughts! I did push myself through some speed drills, then came home for a cooldown:

Like that Bondi Band? Want one of your own?

I absolutely love these things. I have five — three with funny phrases, like “I Eat to Run,” and two solid colors. They’re wicking, stretchy, don’t hurt my head and are washable.

Also, Bondi Band donates 10% of its pre-tax profits to charity… this year, the money goes to Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. So when you order, you look cool, get stopped at races and help find a cure for cancer. Win, win and win.

So, here’s what to do.

• Visit BondiBand.com then come back here and leave me a comment on this blog post, telling me which Bondi Band is your favorite. You’ll be entered to win one of three Bondi Bands!

If you want two more chances, here’s what to do:

• Follow me on Twitter (@kwidrick) and also follow Bondi Band (@bondiband). Then tweet this:
  • Rock your workout with @bondiband! Enter to win a free band from @kwidrick here: http://cli.gs/y2rg9Z (RT?)
  • Come back to this post and leave me another comment, letting me know about your tweet.
• Post a link to this giveaway on your blog, then come back to this post and leave me another comment, letting me know.

Three chances in all, and believe me — you will LOVE working out with a Bondi Band. There will be three winners, each winning one Bondi Band. The contest closes at 5pm on Friday, September 18th.

I’m off to make veggie burgers, then tune in for the season premiere of The Biggest Loser!

          

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By Katy, September 11, 2009

If you read my blog regularly, it shouldn’t be any surprise that for dinner, I opted for Whole Foods hot bar. It’s a glorious thing. I figure I was carb-loading for tomorrow morning’s 5K (meeps!) with running rockstars like Caitlin, Meghann, Kelly, Megan and Lucas.

That’s right — in less than 10 hours, I will officially have completed my first 5K. I’ve done 5K distances before, in triathlons, but since running is my weakest link … I’m not sure how tomorrow will go. But it will be a blast!

I have a new iTunes playlist ready to rock:

I love that PiNK song so much, I made it my ringtone!

Lucas and I picked up our packets tonight and met up with Caitlin, Meghann, Kelly and a couple of Caitlin’s friends … had a blast over tea and vegetarian food at Dandelion Cafe then we split to run a few errands and grab a late dinner. That’s my beast above — here’s Luke’s:

Funny that you can see our forks in both shots — we couldn’t wait to dig in! I also had some unpictured cacoa nibs for dessert.

After dinner, I went through my race gear to make sure I’m ready:

And now I’m snuggled on the couch, thinking about heading to bed. Big day tomorrow!

Before I turn in, I am THRILLED to announce the winner of the Dr. Kessler book giveaway is …

Victoria!

Biggest struggle when it comes to food? Choosing the right food. I’ve been exercising regularly for years now, but the end result is that I am so very hungry every couple (and by very hungry, I mean stomach is literally growling, and by couple, I mean two hours). I get tired of choosing the healthy option every two hours.

Victoria, this is my struggle, too — ever since I started training for triathlons, my hunger has been off the charts. I’ll send you an email and send the book your way. Thanks for entering!

Random rant — my Hugh Jass lunch was made up of this crud:

I hate that stuff — it’s crunchy, tastes gross and takes up space in an otherwise delicious bowl of greens.

And with that, it’s bedtime. I’ll leave you with this picture that Lucas sent me while trying to work from home — our cat had another idea.

          

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By Katy, September 8, 2009

I can’t believe how fatigued I am today … I think the busy long weekend caught up with me, because that is how Lucas found me when he got home from work.

I beat him home by about 10 minutes, and really just wanted to close my eyes for a moment … what you don’t see is the drool on the pillow. Gross. So, I’m breaking my normal no-coffee-after-3pm rule and enjoying some french press. Mmmm.

Have you guys heard that it’s National Yoga Month? There’s a great site that allows you to find yoga studios in your area, and even get a free month! I’m bummed, because the closest studio to me is an hour away, so I can’t take part. But I’ll be doing some at-home yoga with my best downward dog partners:

On to the giveaway! I recently read a book by Dr. David Kessler, called “The End of Overeating: Taking Control of the Insatiable American Appette.”

Here’s a quick video about it:

Dr. Kessler was the FDA chairman under Presidents George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton. He’s also spent years struggling with his own weight, and this book is part-autobiography, part-scientific research. It’s an interesting read, and now YOU can check out this best-selling book yourself!

Here’s how to enter the giveaway:

1. Leave me a comment on this post telling me what you consider to be your biggest struggle when it comes to food.

Want to get up to four more chances to enter?

2. Follow me on Twitter, then tweet this:

Enter to win the best-selling book “The End of Overeating” from @kwidrick here: http://cli.gs/b97teq

Be sure to leave me another comment, letting me know you did it.

3. Post this link to your Facebook page or other social media site (Digg, StumbleUpon, etc). This is on the honor system — just leave me another comment letting me know what you did.

4. Post a link to this giveaway on your own blog. Leave me another comment to let me know.

5. Add me to your blogroll. Leave me another comment to let me know.

You can get up to five chances to win the book — as long as you get your comments in by 5pm on Friday, September 11. I’ll randomly draw a winner!

Off to make dinner and do some work — I’m giving a presentation on social media and analytics tomorrow at work (gulp!) and I need to get it all done!