Good morning! How's everyone's week going? Mine seems to be flying by like crazy - I think it's a mixture between being consistently busy at work and not getting home until 8 every night due to teaching or working out after work. Busy is GOOD. Do you agree? A quick catch up before I share a Fluffy Chocolate Chip Muffin recipe!

Last night I taught my first spin class in a while at FitLife, which is conveniently located right near my apartment. It was a lot of fun - spin is definitely one of my favorites to teach.

As far as half marathon training goes, I've ran once this week and it was a disgusting, humid run. My right shin is acting up a bit, so I've been focusing on cross training and strength this week - I'll get back to it next week. I was going to taper off and do a shorter long run this weekend anyway, so I am still on track.

NOW, let's get to the fun part, shall we? Maybe you've noticed that a lot of my baked goods on the blog lately have been muffins. This is because 1. I love muffins. 2. The only type of pan I have is a muffin tin since I moved. I don't have a loaf pan or brownie pan yet to make bars or blondies - so muffins it is!

I wanted to whip up a light snack or desert I could have on hand for the week and these came out perfect. I hate when baked goods are just way too sweet and these are a great level of sweetness.

Here's what you'll need: 

• 1 cup oat flour (blended up oats!)
• 1/2 cup flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/2 cup chocolate chips (or more, this is when less is NOT more)

Here's what to do:

• Pre-heat the oven to 350
• Mix together all of the dry ingredients (except the sugar) in a medium bowl
• In a separate bowl, whisk together the egg, vanilla, sour cream, milk and brown sugar
• Add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix until smooth
• Fold in the chocolate chips
• Grease a muffin tin and fill with batter a third of the way
• Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until the tops are just golden brown - let them cool

The recipe yields 12 small muffins.

The sour cream in these gives them a rich feeling, almost like pound cake, but the oat flour keeps them nice and light. I love using sour cream in baked goods - it really adds a lot. If you don't believe me, check out this article.

Have a good THURSDAY! Almost the long weekend :)

XO - Rach

What's your favorite kind of muffin?

Long weekend plans?

Scared of sour cream in baked goods?

Although the name of this recipe is not so appealing, this Pea Soup & Homemade Croutons is extremely easy to make and so delicious! The soup is filled with fiber to fill you up and the croutons make it feel a little fancy without the fuss. It's still hot here in Philadelphia, and I made this soup right after I was DRENCHED in sweat from a humid run on Sunday morning, so I have really no clue what urged me to make soup, but I was flipping through a cookbook and came across a pea soup recipe and it just called to me. Of all things? Like usual, I didn't follow the recipe. I don't like following recipes, I just like creating them and hoping they come out great - it keeps it fun.

Here's what you'll need:

For the croutons: 

• 2 slices of cubed wheat bread
• Olive oil or olive oil spray
• Kosher salt & pepper

What to do:

• Preheat your oven (or toaster oven) to 300 degrees
• Lay out the cubed bread on a baking sheet and drizzle with olive oil/spray with olive oil spray
• Sprinkle salt and pepper
• Bake for 25 minutes

For the Soup: 

• 2 bags of frozen peas (told you I like to keep things simple.) I used 2 10 oz bags.
• 1 white or yellow onion
• 6-7 cloves of garlic (you can tone this down, I just REALLY love garlic.)
• 5 cups of low sodium chicken broth (or veggie broth if you are not a carnivore.)
• Salt, pepper, paprika to taste
• 1/4 cup sour cream
• 3 tablespoons butter

What to do: 

• Melt the butter in a big dutch oven pan
• Add the chopped onions and garlic (rough chop)
• Saute until the onions become slightly transparent
• Add in the broth
• Let it come to a boil
• Add in both bags of peas and lower heat to simmer, covered, for 10 minutes
• Season to taste
• Turn off the heat and let everything cool
• Once cooled a bit, add to a big blender or food processor to puree
• Lastly, add in the sour cream and blend

That's it! Told you it was easy. I can't wait until the weather cools down a bit so I can try out new soup and crockpot recipes.

I ventured out for a 3 mile run this morning and it was HUMID. The humidity really affects how I run. My legs feel like cement pillars and my lungs feel like they can't hold enough air. Does anyone else feel this way or do you like running in the humidity? I stopped to walk a bit. It's crazy to me how our bodies respond differently to different times and temperatures. I don't get how I can run a nice 8 miles one day and then 3 miles another day feels like crap. OY.

But I guess that's life, sometimes we win and sometimes we don't :)

Alright I need to go make breakfast and get myself together! I hope everyone has a great Tuesday.

XO - Rach

What's everyone got planned for the long weekend?

Happy Monday all! Can you guys believe that tomorrow is September? Ugh. Time goes too fast. Way too fast. I hope everyone had an awesome weekend. Mine was great, filled with a lot of my favorite things.

On Friday night Michael and I headed into Center City to go out for a birthday celebration. It was lots of fun and a great start to the weekend. On Saturday morning, being the crazy people that we are, we decided to wake up at 5:30 a.m. to drive to the beach. We wanted to spend ALL day there and had to be early just in case we hit traffic, you know? Rest assured, there is zero traffic from Philadelphia to Atlantic City, NJ on a Saturday morning at 5:30 a.m. We got to Brigantine Beach around 7:30, waited for the CVS to open at 8 to get sunscreen, and we were on the beach by 8:15 and stayed until 6. It was PERFECT. Not a cloud in the sky :)

Brigantine Beach is an awesome location if you're anywhere near the Jersey area. It doesn't get too crowded, the sand is super soft, it really looks like a Florida beach AND there's a bar right on the beach. It's pretty perfect!

The full day of sun knocked me out and I got a solid 10 hours of sleep on Saturday night. Woke up Sunday morning ready to tackle my 8 mile run!

My run on Sunday was definitely harder than my 7 miler last weekend, but I keep surprising myself. I seriously thought when I started training for this half marathon that anything more than 5 miles is just going to feel like death, but to be honest, the long runs are my favorite. I think it's mostly because I can sleep in, eat a good breakfast and enjoy the morning. The slow and steady pace is leisurely and although I sweat like a pig, it's just refreshing to run along the river and zone out in my music. I think I'm starting to experience these runner highs.

Next weekend I am going to taper off and do either a 6 or 7 mile run and then the week after I will do 9. I still have a solid 8 weeks before the race, but I am glad I started training earlier because it's giving me confidence that I'll be able to finish the race without dying. Typing about it also helps :)

Now I'm off to work (currently on the train)! I was quite absent from the blog last week so this week I plan to come back strong - I've got a couple recipes on the menu, a workout and ooohh a video! Stay tuned...

XO Rach

What would you like to see more of on this blog? I'm all ears (eyes)!