I Caved

Happy Wednesday everyone! Over the past week I have been doing training for my new job and today I officially passed the test and can now actually work when I go to work instead of stand there and watch the other guy do the job, which is extremely boring.

I have also been craving guacamole the last few days and there is only one place to get it on campus - Taco Bell. I try not to eat much fast food but the guacamole was seriously calling my name so I went with it. I tried really really hard to resist my temptations but I just couldn't. I met Alex there for lunch but I didn't want any of their burritos because I usually feel like crap afterwards so I tried a new menu item, the Cantina Burrito.

(Photo Source)

The burrito was stuffed full with premium Latin rice, black beans, guacamole, pico de gallo, roasted corn & pepper salsa and a creamy cilantro dressing. It was huge, filling, and tasty! I thought that it tasted like Chipotle. I opted for the veggie burrito but you can get chicken or steak put in if you want.

Workout

After classes I hit the gym for some weight lifting. I focused on arms and legs. I didn't have a workout made up ahead of time, I just went with it but am pretty happy with how I felt afterwards.

Giveaway winner

Now it's time to announce the winner of the Artisana Nut Butters giveaway!

Congrats to Keri! Please email me at trufflesntreadmills [at] aol [dot] com with your shipping information and let me know which butter you would like to try!


Also, I still have not heard from the Healthy Bites Giveaway winner, Heather! Heather if you could please email me by the end of the week that would be great.


Do you ever give into fast food restaurants?

Amazing People of the Blog World

Blogging has opened up a variety of things for me from meeting other inspiring bloggers, forming partnerships with amazing companies, and becoming more involved in health and fitness. It has also allowed me to share my daily musings with friends and family who are back at home while I am away at school. Having this blog has also made it extremely easy for people to donate to my Ovarian Cancer Awareness Fund that I have created in an effort to raise awareness and help my aunt who has been fighting the cancer since 2006.

I was extremely lucky to find Erica's blog a few months ago and have been following her ever since. She was super nice and mentioned my cause in her blog post today! She even donated toward the cause which makes me one person closer to reaching my goal of 100 people donating $13! I was extremely happy to come across her post today and it just shows how amazing the people of the blog world are!

Thanks again Erica!

If you want to donate just click on the PayPal link in the upper right corner of the blog! Thank you so much ahead of time for your donations! You are helping a truly amazing woman.

Artisana Nut Butters

* This giveaway is closed *

Today seems like it has been taking forever. I am already ready for the three day weekend that is coming up and it's only Monday. Help!

If you remember from yesterday's post, I had mentioned that when I went home on Saturday that there were a bunch of packages waiting for me. There were so many that it felt like Christmas all over again!

One of the packages contained some goodies from Artisana Organic Foods. The package contained 2 jars of their nut butters and 8 different single serving squeeze packs. This was my first time trying anything like this and so far, so good! I'm not really sure what to use the coconut butter with but their site has some recipes that use the butters so I am going to have to do some searching. If you have any great recipe ideas, please share!

The best thing about the Artisana Nut Butters is that their factory contains no peanut, gluten, dairy or soy products at all which makes all of their products very safe for those with food allergies. In the package they also sent a little guide that tells you which Nut Butter tastes best with certain foods and which ones work great in recipes. I took their advice and tried the Almond Butter with a banana today for a post-workout snack.

It was pretty good. The butter had a gritty texture to it and tasted exactly like almonds. The Almond Butter was great to have right after a workout because it had 7 grams of protein! And get this, the only ingredient in it was Organic Raw Almonds! If you are an almond lover and a butter lover then this is perfect for you.

If you are loving my feedback so far, then you are in the right place! One lucky reader will receive 1-8oz jar of butter (any flavor) and the single serving squeeze packs as part of the New Years Resolutions Giveaway!

How to enter

Mandatory: Leave a comment telling me which Nut Butter you would choose if you won

Optional: Tweet about this giveaway "I want to win the @ArtisanaFoods giveaway from @trufflesntread http://trufflesntreadmills.blogspot.com/2013/01/artisana-nut-butters.html" and leave an additional comment saying that you did

A winner will be chosen on Wednesday!

Disclaimer: I received these products free of charge, however all opinions are my own.

                                                                                                                                                            

Workout

Today is the day that I am officially starting my half-marathon training. I have been running off and on recently (more off than on it seems like) but last night I made up a training plan and I am going to stick with it! I will make it look all pretty later this week and post it so you can all see what I'm up to.

In the book for today was strength and cross training. For my cross training I did the stair stepper for 15 minutes and then headed over to the kettle bells for some strength moves. Most people don't even touch the kettle bells because they have no idea what to do with them but they are super versatile and can be used for a number of workouts. I did squats, kettle bell swings, and rows. I completed 10 reps/3 sets of each workout and was feeling good. After I looked up some different exercises that can be done with kettle bells and found this great site for a full body kettle bell workout. I think I am going to have to incorporate these into my workouts more often.