Category Archives: NuttZo

A Half Marathon In My Garage On Mother’s Day

Our original plan to start Mother’s Day off with a half marathon and 5k race followed by coffee and brunch and Brewed never happened. Guess that’s what I get for writing and scheduling a post ahead of time.

Due to inclement weather with tornadoes, heavy rain, and lots of lightning, the even organizers figured running in the stuff may not be the best idea. If only they would’ve called it off before I was half-way there, hydroplaning on the highway, that would’ve been nice.

With the torrential rain and lightning already rearing its ugly head at 5am, we had already nixed the plan of having G-Ma and Avery come watch Going Mom and I run. My wife was sure the race would be canceled, but since I didn’t see anything posted, I said I’d just go alone and come back to celebrate Mother’s Day after the wet run.

As I was driving through nasty weather thinking how much it sucks inside a car and how much more it will suck when running 13.1 miles, Kelley called to tell me they finally called it off. Actually, it’s now going to be next weekend on Sunday, the 17th. So, I turned around and picked up Grande black coffees at Starbucks for the 3 of us. And then I stopped again and made use of my free refills with the Gold Card to make a total of 6 coffees.

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This is the only way I can justify paying for coffee since it brings the cost down to only $1 per Grande. Not bad, eh?

When I arrived back home, I found my mom and Kelley asleep on the couch in the living room. We never woke Avery up, thankfully, and I’ve learned to never wake a sleeping lady……especially when they’re pregnant!

Since they went back to sleep, it would only make sense to join them (I only slept 5 hours) and get a little more rest, right? Wrong! When I have a certain thing to do in my head, I have trouble letting it go. Since the rain and lightning wasn’t letting up, I decided to make use of my indoor rower and row the half marathon distance in my garage.

13.1 miles / 21.08 km is a half marathon, and I ended up rowing 90 minutes with a distance of 22.2 km, or 13.8 miles. Talk about a sore butt! I listened to a great Ben Greenfield podcast to help the time pass while staring out at the rain which ended up not being that bad. I know being fueled by NuttZo (as the shirt says) helped keep me going since I had nothing to eat or drink before or during the stint.

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All three lovely girls woke up and greeted me just before I was finished, and Going Mom took a few finishing action shots for me. Right after, I stood in the rain to cool off as we all sipped guzzled our coffees. I made Mother’s Day NuttZo Oatmeal for the girls by request which was better than what we would’ve had at Brewed anyway.

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The secret, besides the obvious delicious and healthy addition of NuttZo is, add a crap-load of blueberries!

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This was the smaller bowl for my mom, but Kelley would send it back for more “bluebs” if I seemingly skimped on tiny tart fruit. Hers looks more like this….

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With bellies full of coffee and oatmeal (perfect combo for a rainy day), I gave my Mother’s Day gifts to my wife and mom.

Accompanying the personal letters I typed to each of them, I gave an old photo to my mom of her and me after my high school graduation. She had dyed blonde hair, I had earrings, and we both had 13 years back.

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We have more to give my spectacular Mom, but need it to come in the mail first. Although she liked her gifts, she deserves so much more than I could ever give. Raising me alone was not an easy feat, but she did it, and she did it well. I’ll just forget about those times we had fast food. 🙂

For Going Mom, I gave her a new pair of sandals from Soft Star Shoes which was received with great delight. Score one for me!

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I got the size right and a color she loves. Not an easy task a style-impaired guy such as myself. They looked great on their website, but even better in person, and absolutely wonderful being worn by my wife.

Besides the pair of sandals, I also pulled a few strings to get her a pair of these water mugs…

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Yep, they’re from the Baylor Health hospital Avery was born in. Kelley has been drinking religiously from the same one ever since Avery was born on 11/15/13, and we aren’t even religious!

After e-mailing and talking to a nurse on the phone, she said she’d give me two new ones for my wife. Avery and I made the trip up there one day as I took a trip down Memory Lane and voila!, we have two new mugs! Good, because the original is cracked and had water collecting inside.

After visiting and playing with Avery a while longer, G-Ma had to leave while there was a break in the storms. We said our farewells and she was on her way.

Avery ran around the house and threw things at our feet until it was nap time. Going Mom nursed her to sleep where, at one point, she was in a flying bird position.

Sleeping Bird Avery

How that’s comfortable, I haven’t a clue, but that’s how she slept for a while. Kelley and I relaxed together to enjoy each other’s company over one of my home brews.

Homebrew Cheers with Kelley

I love her, obviously, and am so happy to share this life with her. Sharing beer with her is just icing on the cake good because, beer and love.

The rest of the day had storms come and go, but we were able to fit in a walk with Avery with only a little be of rain. Now I just need to make it through another week and prepare to run 13.1 miles next Sunday. Hopefully the weather will hold out this time!

Hope everyone had a wonderful Mother’s Day!

Are you stubborn/determined when it comes to having your mind set on something like finishing a race?

Do you like cards or handwritten letters when giving gifts?

How was the weather for you on Mother’s Day?

Our Toddler’s First Green Smoothie

I’ve been blending fruits and veggies into a pre-dinner green smoothie for my wife and I for years. But, besides Going Mom giving Avery a tiny sip from her glass, I never made one exclusively for her. Well, that just changed.

Thursday morning had her swarming around me doing the sign for milk but fussing and running away from me when I pulled out a bottle. Toddler confusion!! It only gets worse, huh?

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We had bananas, and I know she loves eating them sliced and topped with NuttZo……

…but I wanted to get her hydration needs fulfilled plus add a little extra nutrition. What better way to do that than a green smoothie?

Diligently working my way around the toddler obstruction in the kitchen, I gathered organic kale, carrots, green banana (these are great for gut health from their resistant starch), NuttZo, unsweetened almond milk, and a couple packets of stevia for sweetness.

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A few minutes later, and we had ourselves Avery’s first green smoothie! What took a few minutes, felt like forever with Ms. Impatient, and she was grabbing at her sippy cup before I could hand it over.

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That’s a good sign, right? I love that she’s up for drinking whatever, even if it is dark green! To avoid spillage, I made the hand-off for her little hands to better grasp and she got right to it.

Yeah, so we need to work on how to use straws, but the main point is that she was downing her first green smoothie! I had some too, and you could definitely taste the kale, but it was anything bad, I was quite pleased with the outcome. I’m thinking she was too.

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Success! Another Avery first and another meal option opened up! I ended up replacing the straw lid with her regular sippy cup lid to avoid a mess, but a mess happened regardless. She’s use to walking around the house with water in the cup and we don’t think much of it when a little spills out….different story now.

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I decided green smoothies may not appear in her sippy in the immediate future, but it’s great to know she’ll drink them. There was one problem though….I made a giant batch of the smoothie and had a lot left over. Even after drinking a glass myself, there was plenty more, and the thing about fresh food is, it doesn’t last that long.

So I did what anyone would do, I turned the green smoothie into green bread. I measured not a single ingredient, but with coconut flour, stevia, peanut flour, and baking powder, I created something similar to my Green Coconut Carrot Bread. In my microwave omelete cooker, of course.

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Now we have a few batches of green smoothie bread which turned out a lot better than I thought. It’s sliced and ready for eager little fingers to snack on next time she’s demanding something…….which is always!

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Unless she has a Catch-Me-Kitty to keep her occupied, that is.

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It’s the day before running the longest I’ve ran in a very long time, 13.1 miles. Kelley is running the 5k and G-Ma will be with Avery watching and cheering us on. We have rain in the forecast, so I’m interested to see how that will turn out.

I’m planning on running in my Soft Star Dash RunAmoc Shoes, but mine are the ones with bullhide leather soles which equals zero traction on wet surfaces. Only time will tell, I’ll be sure to update you early next week.

Until then, I have two lovely women, one my mom, the other my wife, to celebrate Mother’s Day with after the race. We went to an awesome coffee shop called Brewed almost a year ago and will go back to treat the deserving ladies. Hope Avery doesn’t make us regret waking her up so early just so we could run!

The Dad Network

Do you have green smoothies on a regular basis? If so, do your kids have them too?

Do you have a favorite recipe or just throw things in and blend like I do?

WIAW #10: What I Ate Before Fatherhood

Not like the meals I had before fatherhood were gourmet dishes or anything, but I certainly didn’t have to practice the whole “don’t eat with your eyes” thing as much.

I’m not complaining, I love my meals of randomness all mixed together in a Tupperware dish, but it’s fun to look back at the meals I had in the past, where you could even make out what they were! I’ve mentioned before how I had a healthy foodie blog, Just Add Cayenne, as you will find with its own page above, and figured I’d pull an old WIAW post from the archives.

Sticking to a post around this time, I found one I published on April 24th, 2012, titled When Life Hands Me Wednesdays, I Make WIAW Post #9. It only seemed fitting since this is my 10th WIAW post on Going Dad, so it’s kinda like just picking up where I left off, just now I have a daughter and I’m a stay-at-home dad. A damn proud SAHD at that!

Before we travel back in time 3 years, I’ll quickly share what one of my day’s worth of eats looked like recently.

Morning – I cut a banana into slices and cover each one with NuttZo to feed the non-stop Avery as she does circles around the kitchen island.

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I was expecting to have a few left over for me to finish, but….

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….that was the last one. I did get to lick my fingers clean though! Luckily I had several cups of coffee to keep me “going”.

Then lunch was a combo of steamed veggies and a microwave salsa omelette.

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Dinner was my usual mix of randomness with kimchi, homemade fermented cucumbers, eggs, tuna, and steamed brussels sprouts.

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I know, hold the jealousy train, one at a time now!

Now, how about a little back to the future WIAW to see meals pre-dad? I’m bringing everything I shared from the old WIAW post to this one, even my commentary, just to give you a glimpse of life back then.

Thanks as always to the wonderful Jenn from Peas and Crayons, for creating this fun link-up for foodies everywhere! It was great then and continues to be an awesome linky now!

what I ate wednesday, WIAW

 

Breakfast – Cold quinoa and bean salad with steamed veggies, and a little salsa mixed in; baby carrots; overnight peanut butter oatmeal crisps; French Press coffee with nutmeg and vanilla extract

Snack – Handful of roasted pumpkin seeds and black chai tea

LunchSpicy Black Bean Cakes on a bed of arugula and roasted veggies; small cup of frozen strawberries and papaya; Ak-mak crackers; baby carrots; green tea with stevia
Snack – More green tea mixed with an herbal peppermint tea; great for after eating!
Dinner – Bring on my biggest meal; always ready to eat after a good strength/cardio workout! Mixed salad greens with lentil-veggie puree as a dressing and topped with Brussels sprouts, mushrooms, and tomatoes; Pumpkin Protein Peanut Butter Banana Sandwich (I made the pancakes using my crepe recipe with less liquid); pumpkin and frozen fruit protein puree topped with oatmeal crisps; no-bake peanut butter cookies on the side; I also had a slice of low-fat peanut butter protein bread I made this weekend…..recipe to come.

After a wonderful day with Kelley on Saturday, I spent way too long in the kitchen on Sunday. Even after saying I’ll just make simple meals for the week, I went overboard. I promised next weekend I will actually make simple, steamed bean and veggie meals to get out of the kitchen quicker. I must stick to it!

Although, I keep seeing/thinking of awesome recipes that I want to try, so it’s hard not to try them out! Maybe just one fun recipe and be done with it….uh oh, this is how it starts! I want to start posting more of the various vegetable and fruit blends I make on a daily basis; anyone interested?

Q: Do you like going to the movies or staying at home?

A: I typically prefer to stay at home to watch something where my own food is readily available and there’s no noise from other people to bother you.

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