Running + PB2 Alfajores

Hey hey everyone! How are you guys doing on this fine day?

Anyway, I'm here to talk about a few things. For one thing, I'm addicted to animal crackers right now. We bought the organic Disney animal crackers from Costco last week and they are so good!

So, what I'm here to REALLY talk about is running. More specifically, training to run a half-marathon or a marathon.

I have one question. Have any of you guys experienced weight gain while training for half-marathon or a marathon? Do you guys wonder why?

Personally, I thought that I'd lose weight with all that running but it's not the case (not for everyone, at least). Gaining weight can be easy, especially with all that running. Here's why.

• You are eating more than you should. We tend to eat more due to the increased level of activity. However, it doesn't mean that we are necessarily burning all of those calories we are eating. 
• Increased muscle mass is another reason. You gain more leg/thigh muscle from running. It's just part of it. 
• Our body is holding more carbohydrates to increase our glycogen supply for our runs. Water is also retained due to the increase in carbohydrates!

Well, I hope that clears up some things. And now, here's the recipe. I got this recipe from Erica House. I love her blog! Here's the recipe. 

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup oatmeal 
• 2 tablespoons PB2
• 1 packet stevia
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
•  1/8 tsp baking powder
• 2 egg whites
• 1 tablespoon apple sauce
• 2 tablespoons water

You can make sandwiches with dulce de leche. It'll be called alfajores!

 Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 F.
2. Mix all the ingredients together in a bowl.
3. Drop spoonfuls onto a baking pan. 
4. Bake for 10-15 minutes. 
5. Take them out, let it cool and enjoy! You can make sandwiches with these by using dulce de leche. 

Do you like alfajores?

Have you ever trained for a running event?

Brown Rice arroz con leche

Hey everyone!  I'm finally happy that the weather is so much warmer today. It's such a nice change from Friday. It was winter weather on Friday. 

Anyway, I told you guys I made brown rice arroz con leche. So, I'm going to give you guys my recipe. But, first, I have to tell you about my day. 

Well, I actually went to a neighbor's birthday party. It was pretty fun. We ate, did karaoke and ate chocolate ice cream cake. It was delicious! Karaoke was fun too, even though I didn't know most of the songs. Apparently, my musical taste is very different from other peoples. Anyway, I had a pretty busy weekend, as you see. The party was also an unplanned thing for the day. We didn't even know about the party until they told as today. As you see, some last minute things can be pretty fun. After the party, I decided to try making banana protein muffins. And, guess what! They're only 50 calories each. They taste good too. I'll post the recipe some other time. Anyway, here's the recipe for arroz con leche. 

Ingredients:

• 1 cup dry brown rice
• 2 tsp ground cinnamon 
• 4 cups water
• 4 cups fat free milk
• 1/2  cup sugar
• 2 tsp vanilla extract

Directions:

1. In a pot, boil the water and the ground cinnamon. Then add in the rice. Cook uncovered for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. 
2.  Drain the rice. 
3. Add in the milk, sugar and vanilla extract. 
4. Bring it to a low boil and let it simmer for 30 to 45 min, stirring occasionally so the rice won't stick to the pot. 
5. If you like the rice cold, let it cool in the fridge for at least 2 hours.
6. If you like it warm, the mixture will be liquidity. 
7. Garnish with some ground cinnamon or fruit if you want. 
8. Enjoy

 Do you like arroz con leche?
Do you like hot or cold food?
Do you like karaoke?

Brown Rice Horchata (horchata de arroz integral)

íHola! How are you guys today? Estoy bien. Pero, no me gusta el clima hoy. Hace frío. Hice Horchata y arroz con leche hoy con arroz integral. Arroz integral es bueno para la salud. 
Translated: Hi! How are you guys today? I'm good. But, I don't like today's weather. It's cold. Today, I made horchata (rice milk) and arroz con leche (rice pudding) with brown rice. Rice is good for the health.
So, the weather is unusually cold for this time of year and I don't know why. It's strange.
Anyway, the reason why I made horchata and arroz on leche is that we have milk that needs to be used up. And, arroz con leche uses a lot of milk. I'll be posting that recipe later. Anyway, horchata is my favorite Mexican drink. I remember drinking it for the first time in May. It was rich, creamy and delicious! However, for the horchata I made, I had to improvise since I did not have cinnamon sticks. Instead, I had ground cinnamon. It still worked out fine. I also made it healthier by using skim milk. Anyway, here's the recipe.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup brown rice/ 1 taza arroz integral
• 4 cups water/ 4 tazas agua
• 1 cup milk/ 1 taza leche
• 1/3 cup sugar/ 1/3 taza azucar
• 2 tsp vanilla extract/2 cucharaditas de extracto de vainilla
• 2 tsp ground cinnamon/ 2 cucharaditas de canela en polvo    

 Directions:

1. Combine the cinnamon with the rice. Soak in water for at least 8 hours. 
2. Mix in milk, sugar, and vanilla. Blend for 5 minutes.  
3. Pass the mixture through a fine sieve. Discard the remaining pulp. 
4. Pour into a pitcher. Refrigerate. 
5.   Now, you can pour into glass cups and enjoy. =)

So, do you guys like horchata or arroz con leche?
Do you like to healthify recipes? 

Dulce de leche

I can't believe it. I can't believe it. I finally get to eat dulce de leche! I've been craving it so badly, especially eating it as alfajores. I haven't eaten them for a year a so and same with dulce de leche. It's so rich and sweet, but boy, does it taste so good. I finally made it a couple of days ago and I'm here to share the simple recipe with you.
It's simple because you don't have to use the stove top method with all it's separate ingredients. I tried that before, but it never thickened up to my liking. It tasted delicious though, but it took at least a couple hours, tons of gas for the stove top and a hot kitchen.
Anyway, here's the "recipe". It's so simple and the results are good. Eat it with toast, ice cream, apples, chocolate chip cookies or even make peanut butter dulce de leche sandwiches with them. Go make alfajores with them too, a great Argentine treat.

Ingredients:

• a can of sweetened condensed milk (you can use up to 2 cans in a slow cooker, if you would like more)
• a slow cooker
• water

 Directions:

1. Remove the label from the cans. 
2. Place the cans in the slow cooker. 
3. Fill the slow cooker up with water, making sure the water is at least 1/2 inch above the cans. I think I did 1 inch. 
4. Set it to low and let it sit there for 8 hours. Do 10 hours if you are using 2 cans. 
5. Take the cans out and let them cool before opening the cans. 
6. Enjoy. 
7. Take note that if you place the dulce de leche in the refrigerator, it will get thicker (which I like). You can place it there before using it. 

 So, do you guys like dulce de leche?
How do you usually eat it?