November Nuttiness + a Nutty Recipe

Here we are almost half way into November.  I feel like I haven't been doing much yet I've been insanely busy, thus my lack of blogging.  Weekends just seem to fly by.  Weeks have been rolling into one an another and I'm becoming all too aware that we are creeping closer and closer to Christmas.  I had my first red cup (Gingerbread Latte!) of the season on Saturday and, miracle of miracles, the barista got my name right.  When I told her my name, her response was "Oh, like the play?" My jaw dropped.  NOBODY ever knows that there was a play called Phaedra.   Turns out she studied latin for three years, ha ha.

One thing I have started to work on is getting back into heavier lifting.  I also decided that I wanted to add one more strength session a week but I wanted it to focus on the smaller stabilizing muscles that I don't always work.  So, I went to my first TRX class.  Holy moly.  It was a great workout.  I'm fairly strong so I was able to do pretty much all of the exercises.  Had I been smart, I probably would have backed it off a bit on some of them because it totally kicked my butt.  I went Saturday morning and by Saturday evening, I could feel the DOMS setting in.  Sunday morning I got up and I felt like I got hit by a truck.  Needless to say I skipped my Sunday morning swim.  I made it in this morning though and it wasn't pretty.  I'm still really sore.   But, I can't wait to go back and do it again!  I'm going to have to wait a couple of weeks because next weekend is the MSC Triathlon series awards out in Orangeville.  Remember that goal I had at the beginning of the season?  The one where I wanted to get on the podium for the series in my age group?  Well, it's official.  I did it.  I actually won my age group.  G also managed to get third in his AG too so both of us will be getting awards.  YAY!  That's a really nice way to cap off my season of racing.

One thing I have NOT managed to do is get my butt to yoga.  My normal yoga studio closed a couple of weeks ago so now I'm trying to find a new place that is close to home / work and that has classes that fit in my schedule.  Ugh.  I really need to get on this because I'm having knee issues again.   The sports doc said it was patellar tendinitis.  I don't have a problem running, it's after the run that is the issue.  I've been to physio and have been given some exercises to do for my hips but I also need to work on my ankle mobility as well as my calf flexibility.  Apparently my calves are super tight.  So in lieu of yoga, my foam roller and I have been getting re-acquainted for the time being.   So. awesome.  At least I'm working on getting it sorted out now before I start ramping up my training for Boston.  I don't think it helps that I spend a large portion of my weekend standing around on tiled floors either.  I spend a fair bit of time in the kitchen cooking on the weekends so of course I'm standing, however, if happen to be just surfing the net or even blogging, I almost always stand and lean against the counter.  It drives G nuts.  I have to make a conscious effort to sit my sorry butt down every so often.

All that standing around paid off nicely this weekend though.  Those of you that follow me on instagram would have seen my post from a couple of weekends ago when I made my own cashew butter.  That's almost gone by the way.  I made another jar of awesomeness yesterday.  I had this idea early on last week and figured I'd try to execute it this weekend.  Now of course, I didn't actually write all the quantities down.  Like I said, I'm a freestyler in the kitchen.   Anyway, I made my own chocolate peanut butter.  I think it still needs a bit of tweaking but I'm happy to share the initial recipe.  Perhaps you folks out there can let me know what you'd add or do differently.

Homemade Chocolate Peanut Butter

1 454g bag of roasted unsalted peanuts
2 tbsp of peanut oil (approximate - I didn't measure)
1.5 tbsp of raw cocoa powder (this I actually measured!)
1 packet of stevia (by packet I mean like the packets like you'd find in a coffee shop)
salt to taste

Pour the bag of peanuts into a food processor.  Give the peanuts a good whizzing until they are ground down a fair bit.  Add the oil and the cocoa powder continue to process.   The mixture will start to get smooth.  At this point, add the stevia.  Process some more until it's mixed.  You can then add the salt if you like and process some more.  I like the combo of slightly salty and slightly sweet.   I haven't tried this on anything except a spoon and even then it was still pretty darn tasty.

 I do feel like it might still be missing a little sumpin' sumpin' but I haven't quite figured out what just yet.  More chocolate?  Maybe.  More sweetness.  Possibly.    If you decide to make this, let me know what adjustments you make, if any.

Happy Monday folks!