SmarterFitter Daily

This is my attempt to keep a daily food and fitness diary. This isn't Pulitzer-winning writing; these are spontaneous, often hastily written rambles of what I eat, do and learn in my ongoing effort to feel awesome all the time. It may not always be pretty, but at least it's honest. You can find more stories and recipes at SmarterFitter.com.

Breakfast Barley with Bananas and Pecans

#breakfast barley with bananas, pecans & haxxoring. And tea!

Vegetarian Haggis

Vegetarian Haggis

A bit of an experiment that turned out to be very good: a peppery, nutmeggy amalgamation of beans, barley, pinhead oats and spices. Had some savoy cabbage on the side (not shown).

I'll be using the leftover haggis as a stuffing for red peppers, mushrooms, and who knows what else. This is not the last you've seen of the veggie haggis!

Recipe: Vegetarian Haggis [carllegge.com] 

The last of the breakfast barley

The barley beneath

I like cold porridge, especially when it involves barley. It becomes sort of a rice pudding. 

Breakfast barley with blackberries and homemade applesauce

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Breakfast barley with pears, blackberries, almonds & yogurt

The pear was woefully flavourless.

Breakfast Barley

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Breakfast barley with apple pear compote and creme fraiche

Breakfast barley

Breakfast barley with apple pear compote, pecans & creme fraiche

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This was soooo incredibly delicious. I soaked the barley the night before, so they only took about 15 minutes to cook in the morning. I cooked them in water with raisins and a pinch of cinnamon and allspice. Meanwhile, I baked some apples and pears - it didn't take long for them to soften enough to be mashed into a nice chunky compote. The creme fraiche and pecans take it all to a new level.

On a completely different note, I dropped my iPhone into the bowl while taking this photo.

Day 60

Barley porridge

Energy in:
  • Breakfast: Barley porridge with apple, raisins and banana (256 Calories)
  • Lunch: Leftover Spanish-style prawns and fennel with french beans, sourdough rye bread and avocado (457 Calories)
  • Snack: Banana and raspberry smoothie - don't think I'm crazy about raspberries in a smoothie; seems sort of a waste; also cup of tea with milk (198 Calories)
  • Dinner: Carrot and walnut tofu neatballs with sourdough rye bread, avocado, giardiniera, tomato sauce and broccoli - like a weird deconstructed vegetarian sub sandwich - awesome (446 Calories)
  • Snack attack: Apple (95 Calories)
Energy out: 
  • Two walks: one shorty in the AM and one longer stroll in the afternoon post lunch ( Calories)

Total Calories in: 1,450
Total Calories out: 1,477
Net Calories: -27

Skipped the gym in favour of work-related productivity and a morning walk in the sun - sun which quickly turned to cool mist in the afternoon, but felt somewhat refreshing during my post-lunch afternoon stroll. I'm trying to be uber-productive at the moment on my "business"; there is much to get in order, and I seem to be working weekends and evenings in the meantime. This is fine but I don't want this to last forever. I miss having time for writing and gardening. Then again, people I know who own businesses seem to work ALL the time, regardless. So maybe this is just my constant? I mean, if you're driven to do something, you just do it - right?

So, with this focus on productivity comes added emphasis on feeling awesome all of the time. Amazing how a most of feeling awesome boils down to getting a good night's sleep, and a good sleep has lots to do with eating well and avoiding alcohol, and eating well has lots to do with planning and intention, and well... it's all a chain reaction this feeling awesome stuff. And every day it starts again. Every day's a new opportunity to get it "right". 

Today felt right. Funny, I didn't do a whole lot of cooking today, nor did I go to the gym, two foundations of my existence these days that I seem to "miss" when I go without. Yet I actually felt better than usual. Walking for pleasure is one of the best things ever. And on today in particular, I must have had a lot of thinking to do because I could have just walked forever. That I wasn't cooking (one of my favourite forms of procrastination) meant that I was working and getting stuff done and not obsessing over food, something I love, but can interfere with practical matters like growing a business. Need I mention the awesomeness of leftovers during times like these?

There's still much to do. But on this Monday, I feel like I'm off to a good start. 

Two other things: (1) I did two pull-ups on Saturday - a milestone. (2) I have no plans whatsoever for the next few weeks. This feeling of not having to BE anywhere has put me at great ease. Must make the most of it.

Barley porridge

Not much to look at

Carrot & Walnut Tofu Neatballs