Healthy snacking with Popchips!

I swear, I'm not turning this into a food blog. Yes, I've been writing a lot about food but I guess that's because I'm really getting into this whole making real food/eating better to do well in the marathon/hoping better food choices will improve my whole family's immunity.

And I'm doing it. I'm baking bread, making my own cheez-its, cooking up vitamin-packed soups. I've turned my kids into kale chip addicts and I've replaced many, many, many packaged and processed foods with homemade ones.

But, let's just get real for one minute.


I'm one person. I've got plenty going on. Yes, feeding my family well is one of my chief concerns. But, again, I'm one person. If I spend all my time making all our food from scratch, when the heck am I going to find time to anything else? 


It's just not realistic to make all of our food from scratch but I absolutely, 100% will strive to make a good portion of it.


Fortunately, I've found a new healthy option to add to the non-homemade rotation: Popchips!


I was invited to check out the new sweet potato Popchips -- a healthy snacking option. Right up my alley, you might say! 


First, the chips arrived packaged in the cutest box, all gussied-up for Valentine's Day. So cute! I decided not to wait to try them out, considering they arrived right around snack time. Which, in this house, is known as "afternoon." Oh, and, "late morning."


Yes, we snack.


Anyway . . . the boys and I ripped into the chips and they were great! My 1-year old loved them. My 4-year old wasn't totally convinced but he seemed to like them well enough. I wished I could have opened another bag just for myself by I knew I'd have to share.


Popchips earned a thumbs-up here at Chez Happy Runner! They are a relatively healthy snack -- one snack-size bag of the sweet potato chips is 100 calories, 3g of fat, 95mg sodium, 2g sugar, 1g protein. The chips are all natural and don't contain and preservatives, artificial flavors or colors. They are also gluten free and vegan.


My only complaint -- and when you read it you'll think I'm a total quibbler -- is that the bags were really difficult to open. I ended up having to cut them with scissors each time. That was a bit of a pain but just a minor complaint.


The Popchips folks also sent me some tips from Jillian Michaels to share with all of you. Jillian says . . . 

• avoid fried foods at all costs.
• eat three balanced meals a day every four hours with a snack in between lunch and dinner.  
• eat no more than 6-8 teaspoons of fats and vegetable oil per day.  choose oils that are mostly unsaturated such as olive oil.
• opt for cooking methods that use little or no fat such as steaming, grilling, baking, popping, broiling or roasting.
• purchase healthier alternatives when given a choice (popchips vs. fried chips, grilled chicken vs. fried  chicken).
• curb salty cravings with tasty snacks such as popchips, almonds or dried cranberries.

So, yay for Popchips, a great snack for when we need something salty and crunchy and I just don't have it in me to whip up something homemade.

You can read more about Popchips on their web site HERE. 

Have you tried Popchips? What do you think of them?

Thanks for stopping by!

~ Felice

Review disclosure: I was sent samples of Popchips to review. I was not otherwise compensated and the opinions expressed are entirely my own.

Big Run.

In all the excitement about my homemade cheez-its, I failed to mention my Big Run.

People, I ran an awesome, difficult, and overall super-solid 18-miler on Saturday! It was awesome because I did it. Period. It was difficult because the wind was whipping and my running partner, Melissa, and I found ourselves running into the wind for many of the miles. It was super-solid because I finished faster than I started. Give it up for negative splits!


Speaking of splits, here they are:

Mile 1: 9:34
Mile 2: 9:39
Mile 3: 9:46
Mile 4: 9:21
Mile 5: 9:10
Mile 6: 9:10
Mile 7: 9:17
Mile 8: 9:23
Mile 9: 9:36
Mile 10: 9:35
Mile 11: 10:20
Mile 12: 9:42
Mile 13: 9:41
Mile 14: 9:47
Mile 15: 10:04
Mile 16: 8:52
Mile 17: 8:36
Mile 18: 8:52

Total: 2:50:22, average pace: 9:28

Yes!

I was proud of this run. Melissa and I were talking at the beginning about how we have been feeling sorta cheated -- this winter has been perfect for marathon training (no snow! warm temps!) and yet almost every time we have an important long run, we've experienced either a) temps that are lower (hello, 14 degrees!) than they've been in months or b) wind gusts so strong that the wind advisories don't even do them justice.

On Saturday, we were stuck with b. It was really windy but, fortunately, not too cold. Win! We started our run heading right into the wind for a little over 3 miles and then it was at our backs and sides for the next 8 or so miles until we turned. I think it was right around mile 11 when we had to run back into the wind. Honestly, that was tough. We're apparently tougher than the wind, though, because we pressed on and got it done.

I felt really, really good about this run. My legs felt fine the whole time, I was able to fight through a side cramp around mile 13, and then I picked it up at the end.

It was a Big Run. And I owned it.

Yesterday was a recovery 4-miler and today is REST! I can take that, for sure!

Did you own your weekend runs? How'd they go?

Have a great week, everyone!

~ Felice

Homemade cheez-its style crackers.

If you are cheesy like me, there is no denying the power of the almighty Cheez-It. They are crunchy, cheesy, not-so-good-for-you, yumminess. Their power draws me down the snack aisle at the grocery store and it takes a good bit of willpower to not grab 8 boxes of the things and start the eat them before even getting to the check-out line.

No lie.

So, you can imagine my excitement when I found a recipe for homemade cheez-its that are actually really delicious. Even better, in my humble opinion, than the original!

I'm not the only one who thinks so; the toddler loves them, too!

Really, they are GOOD!

And easy. So easy, I'm ready to share. Here's my recipe, people. Enjoy!

(I modified the recipe from the New Nostalgia blog.)

1 cup flour (total: 1/8th whole wheat, 7/8ths white)
4 tbs cold butter, cut in pieces
1/2 lb (8oz) orange cheddar cheese, grated
1/8 tsp cayenne pepper
3-4 tbs cold water

Preheat oven to 350.

Place the first 4 ingredients in a food processor and pulse until mixture is crumbly. Through the pour spout, add water, one tablespoon at a time, until the dough starts to form. You may need a little less water, you may need a little more. Once you have a ball of dough in the processor, take it out, wrap it in plastic and chill in the refrigerator for 15 minutes.

Place dough on a large cookie sheet covered with a silpat liner (if you don't have a silpat, roll the dough between two pieces of parchment paper). Place a sheet of waxed or parchment paper on top of dough and roll until the dough is very thin. The dough should cover most of the cookie sheet.

** You want to make the dough as thin as possible.**

Using a pizza cutter, cut the dough into small squares (about 1 inch), leaving it all in place when you are done. Using a toothpick, prick each square in the center (to allow air to escape while baking -- this will stop the squares from puffing up too much).

Sprinkle sea salt on top.

Bake for 25-30 minutes, checking after 25 minutes and removing any squares from the outside that appear done. Cool on a cookie rack.

Then, go to town and enjoy your homemade cheez-its!

Cheesy, crispy, flaky goodness!

Do you make your own crackers? Have a favorite recipe? Leave me a comment so I can check it out!


~ Felice

The Rules of Inheritance (review).

When you get teary-eyed and have to set a book aside by page three, you know you're in for it. But, sometimes, being in for it is OK. Sometimes, the story and writing are so moving, so touching that you can handle it -- that "it" that you've known you were in for.

So, yeah. I knew I was in for it when I started reading the memoir, The Rules of Inheritance by Claire Bidwell Smith. And I truly was.

It's a tragic story, really. Claire Bidwell Smith shares the story of her life, telling it through the stages of grief. Her grief is real and heavy -- when she was just 14 both of her parents were diagnosed with cancer. Her mother dies first and then her father and, through it all, Claire struggles.

She makes terrible decisions, decisions made in grief. But decisions made in grief are still decisions made; they are still real. And that's the thing about this book. Her story -- it is a memoir, after all -- is real. You read it and feel as if you are there with her; watching her experience the sadness of life, her grief, her bad decisions, and, finally, her coming to terms with her situation.

The Rules of Inheritance is a well-written, well-told story. It is sad (at times, overwhelmingly so). But, it is also a story full of hope. I often have a hard time recommending books that are difficult to read, simply because they were difficult for me. This book is worth the difficulty.

Have you read The Rules of Inheritance? What did you think? Are you a fan of memoirs?

Thanks for stopping by and checking out the review. You can read more about the book and the author on the BlogHer Book Club.


~ Felice


Disclosure: This was a paid review as part of the BlogHer Book Club but the opinions expressed are entirely my own.