blog – Page 20 – The Blonde Giraffe

food, health

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I love snacks. It’s good to have healthy non-processed snacks ready to eat at home or on the go. I know I will start binge eating a bag of potato chips when I get “hangry” if I don’t have convenient and quick options. Who doesn’t want a snack high in fiber and protein while being low in fat and calories?!

I was in a conversation with my hairdresser about food last Fall and we were talking about experimenting with different variations of hummus. She gave me the idea to try using a can of my garbanzo beans to roast instead of making hummus. My first attempt roasting them I burnt them and set off our smoke detector. I haven’t messed up another batch since that day. You can also use the roasted chickpeas to replace croutons in salads or soups. I normally keep my bean roasting simple with salt or seasoned salt but get creative. I’m hoping to try some other spice variations in the future and will be sure to share on my recipe page of the blog!

Roasted Chickpeas

by Sarah Johnson

Prep Time: 15 mins

Cook Time: 25-30 mins

Keywords: snacks gluten-free vegan

Ingredients

1 15 oz. can garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/4 teaspoon salt
Optional: 1-2 teaspoons of spices of your choice

Instructions

Preheat oven to 400°F

Rinse and drain the beans. I pour the beans into a strainer in the sink and rinse thoroughly under running water.

Dry the beans. It is important to get them as dry as possible. Pat the beans dry with a clean dishtowel or paper towels. I pat dry and then let them sit out for at least another 10 minutes to dry.

Combine beans with olive oil and salt and spread the beans out evenly onto a baking sheet.

Roast in the oven for 25-30 mins. Stir after 13 mins.

Optional: Toss the beans with the spices of your choice. I normally keep my bean roasting simple with salt or seasoned salt but get creative.

blogging, fashion, fitness

Workout Wednesday: Pilates

theblondegiraffe

August 5, 2015

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“You have to get up every morning and tell yourself ‘I can do this'”

Zella Tank // Lululemon Flow Y Bra // Lululemon Wunder Under Crop

The struggle to move gracefully is getting real. I am thankful for the reformer and chair to mix up my prenatal Pilates workouts and to get me moving. Looking forward to post baby workouts centered around high intensity core movements. Until then, I am embracing the bump workouts a little longer.

blogging, fashion, life

Rooftop Grilling

theblondegiraffe

August 4, 2015

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One thing I will miss about living at the Lyric in Capitol Hill is the rooftop and the view! There is a good possibility we will be living here for a month or so when Logan arrives but we will be moving out this Fall. It will be bittersweet as we move to get more space for our money. We have loved living the city life our first year in Seattle. It is convenient to be able to walk to everything we need and not need a car.

The days of the baby bump are numbered and I am officially on the 7 week countdown. In my above outfit, I am wearing an old ASOS dress as a top and using my bellaband to continue wearing my old 7FAM white denim shorts.

blogging, fashion, life, seattle

Seafair Weekend Vibes

theblondegiraffe

August 3, 2015

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This was our first year of enjoying the Seattle Seafair activities. Seafair is a month long celebration of community events, parades, the Navy and Coast Guard, airplanes and boat racing. It reminds me of Fleet Week in NYC. Saturday, we spent our day watching the Washington State Open tennis tournament at Seattle Tennis Club. It was perfect for the viewing of the Blue Angels afternoon air show over Lake Washington. I’m pretty sure everyone that owns a boat in Seattle was out on the lake for the viewing. What a show the Blue Angels put on!

fashion, fitness

Friday Fitness Fashion

theblondegiraffe

July 31, 2015

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I love workout clothes that are of high quality, fit well and are comfortable. Lululemon has been my go-to brand for the past few years. I am starting to branch out and try some brands with more edgy looks. I have been eyeing some pieces from Splits59 for a while. During their last website sale, I decided to pull the trigger. I love everything I bought. Now I have all the below new arrivals on my wish list.

My Favorite Looks from the Splits59 New Arrivals:

Sharing some pictures of my first Splits59 purchase below – the Nova Trailblazer Performance Capri II. I bought a few Ashby tanks and they have been great for my growing belly. The fit is longer and one of the only workout tops I will be able to wear until after baby Logan gets here. The prices are a little on the high side. I do think the quality is well worth it. Keep an eye out for their website sale and you can rack up on cute workout gear for a really good price. My first purchases were all sales items!

Now off to meet a friend downtown for lunch. Excited for a weekend of Seafair activities in Seattle!

food, health

Strawberry Lemonade Popsicles

theblondegiraffe

July 30, 2015

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As temperatures hit the 90s in Seattle today, I will be keeping our freezer full of popsicles. Most homes & many businesses in Seattle do not have AC so it will be a rough couple of days here in the Pacific Northwest.

I got on the summer popsicle kick this year as fruit smoothies have been hard for me to drink during this pregnancy. I used to drink a fruit smoothie every morning. Instead, I have been substituting with chocolate and green smoothies. I think of making popsicles as if I am making a smoothie. It is fun to experiment with all the different fruit options. The bonus is — popsicles are super easy to make & healthy!

Below I am sharing one of my first and favorite popsicle recipes. Get creative and don’t be afraid to try new combinations!

Now I am off to Pilates! It’s almost Friday!!

You can get your popsicle molds here:

Strawberry Lemonade Popsicles

by Sarah Johnson

Prep Time: 10 mins

Cook Time: 3-4 hours

Ingredients (6 popsicles)

2 1/2 cups of frozen strawberries
1 1/2 cup of vanilla almond milk
Juice of 2 large lemons
2 tablespoons local honey

Instructions

Combine all ingredients in a blender.

Pour into popsicle molds.

Place in the freezer overnight or until popsicles harden (around 3-4 hours).

Run warm water over the popsicle molds to loosen and remove.

Enjoy!!

Shop Popsicle Molds

fashion, fitness, life

Working Out at Home

theblondegiraffe

July 28, 2015

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My workouts have slowed down in intensity over the past few weeks. I am still doing pilates and playing tennis once a week. My workouts are shifting to be more stretching based and I am completing most of them from home now.

It is important to stay active during pregnancy but I’m a big believer of listening to your body. If something feels uncomfortable, stop. This is not the time to push yourself and try and get super fit.

Sumo doesn’t like me taking up so much floor space in our 500 sq ft apartment for my workouts.

I think Sumo is starting to notice the belly.

The fitness ring is great for any Pilates workouts and has been great for me to focus on my arms and legs in my prenatal exercises.

Shop My Workout Look

food, health

Black Bean Brownie Goodness

theblondegiraffe

July 27, 2015

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Happy Monday!!

What better way to start off Monday than with a healthified dessert recipe! This is my favorite dessert recipe and I’ve had it in constant rotation during this pregnancy. I haven’t had any crazy pregnancy cravings but I can’t seem to eat enough avocados and chocolate foods. This healthy black bean recipe helps curb the chocolate cravings.

Black Bean Brownies

by Sarah Johnson

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 25-30 minutes

Keywords: bake dessert gluten-free cake

Ingredients

1 can of black beans (rinsed & drained)
3 eggs
1/2 cup of cocoa powder
1/2 cup of almond flour
1/2 cup of sugar
4 tbsp coconut oil
1 tsp of vanilla extract
1/4 cup of water
dark chocolate chips
1 tbsp coconut oil for greasing pan

Instructions

Add all the ingredients (except the chocolate chips) into a blender until fully blended. Grease a 9×12 pan with coconut oil. Pour batter into pan. Add chocolate chips to batter in pan. Bake at 350° for 25-30 minutes.

ENJOY! I like to warm my brownies in the microwave for about 10 seconds and then serve with vanilla ice cream.

Below are links to the cacao powder & coconut oil I use in my recipe:
cacao powder
coconut oil

blogging, fashion

Fashion Friday: Style the Bump

theblondegiraffe

July 24, 2015

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I have spent most of my pregnancy in fitness clothes and haven’t really bought any maternity clothes. I have relied on the bellaband to continue wearing all my normal pants and shorts. As I hit my 31 week mark, the belly has grown and I can no longer wear most of my dresses (the bump hikes them up in the front and they become inappropriate quickly).

I ran out to Target the other day to pick up some notecards and decided to make a quick stop by Nordstrom and Forever 21. I found nothing at Nordstrom within a reasonable price to fit me and found two knit dresses at Forever 21. Bring on the stretchy knits.

Excited it’s the weekend….

On the weekend agenda: The weather is supposed to be gloomy here this weekend (as most people stereotype the Seattle weather but little do they know I’ve seen more sunny weather here than I did growing up in North Carolina). We plan to check out the Leschi area as a potential future area to live, visit our neighborhood farmers market, spend a little time studying for my NASM certification & of course be a little lazy.

Happy Weekend!!!

blogging

Thursday Thoughts

theblondegiraffe

July 23, 2015

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Yesterday was catch up day! I started my morning off with a green smoothie and spent the morning doing a little more research on getting my personal training certification. By the afternoon, I made my decision to go with the certification through NASM. I am hoping to study and be ready to take the exam before our little one arrives in two months but I am not going to pressure myself to make this deadline. They give you 180 days to sign up to take the certification exam so I will have some time after Logan arrives to finish up studying if needed. My plan is not to get regular Pilates teaching jobs until after Logan arrives and getting my personal training license will only open up my teaching options and improve my knowledge of the body to help all my future clients.

I finally got to make it to tennis last night. It’s been over a month since I’ve played and it was good to see my tennis friends and catch up. We played at Mount Baker park and then went to Mioposto Pizzeria for wine and apps. It was lemon water for me and no food. My heartburn is out of control lately when I eat late so I passed on the food. The pizza looked amazing and it was a super cute neighborhood restaurant. I want to go back and actually eat something next time!

I had my 31 week doctor appointment this morning and everything seems to being going well. The appointments now are easy — I have my belly measured, check the heartbeat and the doctor answers any questions. My doctor helped me figure out what parts of Logan’s body were where in my belly this morning. He is head down and quite the kicker!