Tuna & Spinach Dijon Stuffed Peppers

On April 27, 2015April 29, 2015 By The Golden Graham GirlIn Dinners, Fitness Foods (Meals), Gluten-free, High-protein, Low-fat, Lunches, Meals under 350 Calories, Specialty Diets2 Comments

My very first recipe on the blog is something I’ve had for lunch no less than four times in the past week. It might be fair to say that I’m stuck in a lunch rut, but I think it’s a testament to the simplicity, ease and tastiness of this particular dish (I should mention at this point that I pull longer-than-average office hours in a cubicle and I bring my lunch in a pretty, striped insulated lunch bag every day – a habit going all the way back to the hard-shelled plastic lunch boxes my mother lovingly packed for me and my brother when we were in grade school. Thanks for the napkin notes, Mom!). You might think that after years (literally decades) of bringing my lunch to school or work every day that I would finally want to break out of my comfort zone (or blandness zone, as some people think of brown-bag lunches), or that I might have *finally* saved enough pennies to splurge on a restaurant lunch. But I get excited with all of the POSSIBILITIES when I am preparing my lunch the night before, and I try to make sure that my choices have me excited about what I’m going to be eating that day. I’m often the envy of my co-workers!

Also, it is worth noting that I was just finishing up a pretty intense powerlifting 12-week strength training block and I needed my meals to be protein-packed and bursting with nutrients to help my muscles recover from my intense noon-hour (or noon-two-hour) workouts.

So what was I eating? Let’s get to it!

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Genesis: The Origin of The Golden Graham Girl Blog

On April 27, 2015April 28, 2015 By The Golden Graham GirlIn Random, Uncategorized2 Comments

First things first, this blog is NOT about Golden Grahams (and my sincere apologies to any fans of the band Genesis who inadvertently stumbled across this post due to its title – rock on, Phil Collins, rock on), the deliciously sweet and cinnamon-y breakfast cereal rival to Cinnamon Toast Crunch. (As an aside, my brother and I were not allowed to have either of those cereals in the house when we were kids – they were on the “too sugary” list – and we were relegated to the relatively tame, albeit still delicious, Honey Nut Cheerios. It was always the highlight of a sleepover at someone else’s house if that someone else DID have either of those in the pantry. Or Cap’n Crunch. I think that one fact of my childhood alone explains a lot about why I now have a blog connected, however loosely, to fitness and nutrition. And funny that I called it “breakfast” cereal, seeing as I used to (and still do) consider cereal to be a perfectly acceptable snack or meal at ANY time of the night or day.) No, this blog (and this food blogger) is(are) indeed attempting to join the glamorous (or is that auspicious? Or both?) ranks of *FOOD BLOGGER*.

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My Sports & Training History

On April 27, 2015April 28, 2015 By The Golden Graham GirlIn Random, WorkoutsLeave a comment

My chief athletic background is in competitive swimming, up and down the lanes in a regulation competition pool as fast as I could go. I performed reasonably well at the provincial level but certainly never on a national level and my amateur competitive career fizzled out after less than one semester at the varsity level in university. I returned to swimming as an “adult” (and I still use the term loosely when describing myself) as part of the Masters program (a sanctioned swimming body for recreational and competitive athletes aged 25+).

I took up running as a sport (as opposed to a cruel & punishing form of cross training for swimming) in my first year of working full time after university graduation. It seemed like a very “adult” thing to do. I’m pleased to say that my very first road running race was a full marathon (42.2 km or 26.1 mi for my American visitors) because that’s just really how I do things: go big or go home. I’ve now done three full marathons, seven half marathons and a handful of ten-mile and ten-kilometre races. I still enjoy getting out for the occasional jaunt, but I’ve hung up my laces in semi-retirement for the tenure of my assignment in the ROK (Republic of Korea, also known as South Korea and not to be confused with the aptly-named Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, our neighbours to the North).

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The First Post

On April 27, 2015April 28, 2015 By The Golden Graham GirlIn Random2 Comments

Not to be confused with The Last Post, the stirring military bugle call to close the day’s activities and something I once played on my trumpet and/or euphonium as part of our high school’s Remembrance Day ceremonies. No, indeed this is the VERY FIRST post of my brand new baby blog, The Golden Graham Girl! And that’s just the kind of random, off-on-a-tangent digression from the main topic that you can expect in my writings. More to come on that later!

You’ll learn lots more about me (probably too much) in the posts to come (I’m already envisioning an “About Me” post, just like when we had to write an autobiography for English class every fall when classes resumed after summer vacation). I promise lots of FOOD, FITNESS and FUN, interspersed with my philosophical ramblings and musings on those topics and all things in between.

For now, WELCOME! I’m glad you found me and I hope you enjoy your time here.

-Lauren, a.k.a. “The Golden Graham Girl”