just what the dr. ordered

well guys, i think i'm officially sick. i'm going to pretend it's not happening and just continue to try to sleep it off. i came home from work yesterday and got into bed and did not get out again except to brush my teeth and eat. i know that i've said before that my love for cereal knows no bounds but this is never truer than when i am sick. i think most people have their go to comfort foods that they like when they're not feeling their best and if i can't have my mom catering to my every need and making me chicken and dumplings, giant bowls of cereal will simply have to do. 

if i were going to be a nascar driver and i had to choose one corporate sponsor i'd definitely go with kashi in hopes that they kept my cabinets stocked with go lean crunch for life...and maybe have a little spot on my trunk for a barbara's decal because lately i've been an absolute puffins addict. 

i'm also wondering if it's the fact that i'm sick that led to me not enjoying this questbar that much. like i wrote before, i've been loving the quest protein bars and i actually saved this pb & j one in the stock i bought because i thought i would really love it and i always save the best for last. unfortunately it just didn't do it for me. coconut cashew is still my absolute favorite and i also loved cinnamon roll. 

speaking of buying things i love, peanut butter & co. sent me some coupons the other day and i am now on a crazy hunt for bee's knees and the heat is on (peanut butter with chili - i cannot imagine anything making a better peanut sauce than that). i've heard from a little bird whole foods sometimes has these flavors so i'm going to go there as soon as possible to check their stock out. 

i've made so many of gina's recipes over the past year and a half or so since i discovered food blogs and there are some that i repeat over and over again. her bangin' shrimp, black bean burgers and asian chicken lettuce wraps are usual suspects in my kitchen. when i was trying to decide what meal i wanted to make for this week i decided to forgo one of my tried and true faves and try one that i'd made once before - her tikka masala. i remember liking it before but good lord i way underestimated how delicious this was. i added about a teaspoon of cayenne pepper to the sauce because you know i love my food spicy and this was incredible. i served it over cauliflower "rice" topped with cilantro and a toasted flatout wrap on the side. 

just as a caveat - you guys know i hate when people use vegetable ingredients and call them cutesy things like green bean "fries". cauliflower rice absolutely does not taste like rice. as you can imagine it tastes like cauliflower all pulverized within one inch of its life to sort of look like rice. if you've never made it before you just pulse a raw cauliflower head in a food processor until it forms rice-sized granules and then cook it in the microwave - the whole process is super easy with a food processor. i microwave it in a covered container for about 2 minutes per cup and then leave the rest of it raw in my fridge until i'm ready to eat it. i've been trying to up my vegetable intake and this is a great way for me to do it because in no other world would i be caught dead eating a cup of cauliflower florets but when i can mix them all up in the sauce it's pretty mild and inoffensive to my vegetable hating palate. 

i deeply regret the amount of time i have spent not using flavored chobani in my overnight oats. i know i know, high sugar content BLAH BLAH BLAH i do not care. in a completely worth it trade off, my cinnamon pear oats wednesday morning were de-goddamn-lightful. i topped them with cinnamon puffins and cinnamon raisin swirl pb and it was all i could do to wait 24 hours to have them again this morning. i've still got a couple of pear and banana cups that have now found their place in the world. that is if by "the world" i mean my breakfast bowl. which i do. 

i've been anxiously awaiting my return to working out and that will hopefully be happening this saturday. i'm going down to richmond to visit my girl becky and i'm hoping i can talk her into a few slow miles with me saturday morning. with the advice of my running guru in mind, i'm shooting for a short run on saturday morning and a short run on sunday morning just to see how i feel. i keep sending alex emails begging her to confirm to me that i will not have lost all my running abilities because of these two weeks off, which she reminds me of emphatically, but any encouraging comments from you all would be appreciated as well {needy}. my foot has felt twinge-y on and off over the past week but is mostly feeling 100% better so i think a couple more days off running should be perfect. i was going to try to do upper body workouts and yoga and all that but i think i realized that genuine rest might really be what my body needed and now that i'm sick, riding out the remainder of the two weeks sans exercise seems to be just what the doctor ordered. it wasn't actually as hard as i thought mentally to take the few weeks off, probably proving how much i needed it.

any "just what the doctor ordered" moments for you this week?

<3