Tag Archives: Running

Lazy Days That Still Manage To Be Busy

Posted on February 24, 2013 | Leave a comment

FOOD

Do you ever find it funny how blueberries always dominate the color palate of anything you eat them with? I made an uber-green smoothie Friday morning on my way to work – I’m talking about 3 cups of spinach….and just a half cup of blueberries turned the entire thing purple. They should be called purple berries anyway.

Also on deck this weekend was a spicy stir fry. Red onion, bell peppers, carrots, bamboo shoots, water chestnuts, mushrooms, and pineapple. I dry stir fried them in a non stick pan and then added tamari, red chili sauce, rice wine vinegar, and red pepper flakes. It was really, really good.

stir fry ingredients

A visit to Whole Foods is never, ever complete (nor possible) without a BAS. Even though the one by me still isn’t stellar on the vegan options outside of veggies, they are getting a bit better.

Finally a kale BAS with a (slightly overly) lemony dressing. And baked sweet spud. Yum!

kale, bell pepper, onion, tomato

FITNESS

I hit up a hot yoga class yesterday that was just what I needed. My back has been hurting for a couple of days (think I slept funny Thursday night), so I skipped my Saturday run and did yoga instead. Between that and a heating pad for a couple of days, it’s mostly back to normal.

Today I did my first race of the year! It was a 5K in Williamsburg, and according to my watch and the chip timing, it was 2 minutes faster than the one I ran in December in VA Beach. So yay! And they had hills in WB, so that made me feel pretty good. My butt and legs may be killing me tomorrow, but for now, I’m a happy girl.

gotta love Colonial Williamsburg! Fife and Drums lead the marathoners across the finish line at the College of William and Mary.

post race band in the beer garden area. Very Mumford and Sons-ish. Guy on the right would go from playing the violin normally to playing it like a guitar.

LIFE

Friday was work and then a hair cut. It’s funny – I go over 2 years without a haircut on a regular basis, but once I cut it off, I keep going! I do wonder how long it’ll be before I give up on the required maintenance of haircuts and let it grow again. I have curly hair, and I’ve had more bad cuts than I can articulate. Every time I’ve had a cut I didn’t love, I refuse to get it cut for a long time. I will say, that I finally found someone I really like (she has curly hair too – it’s the only way to go), so I’m sticking with the short locks for a bit. Besides – it’s ridiculously easy to “do” my hair now. Basically, I don’t do anything.

Friday night we watched Skyfall and read in bed.

hubby and R snuggled up Friday night.

Saturday was supposed to be at R’s swim meet, but she had to miss it (major head cold). We took the day to mostly relax. I went to Whole Foods after my yoga class, then showered and was in jammies by 130. It was nice!

I was up early Saturday morning, and as soon as I got up, Bumble moved over to snuggle D. It was too cute to not snap a quick pic (and put all over Facebook and Twitter of course)

Today I dropped M off at a friend’s house on my way to the race. After some shopping, racing, and general fun, I made my way home. I was intending to have a very simple dinner, but M brought his friends over and I ended up making a 4 course meal. Can’t have his friend’s thinking we only eat soup and crackers!

This week will be pretty crazy since I leave town Friday for a week. I’m very much looking forward to it though.

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Tagged Big Ass Salad, Cooking, Eating, Hectic Life!, Running, Smoothies!, Yoga

Green Juice and Mean Mittens

Posted on January 2, 2013 | Leave a comment

FOOD

I soaked a batch of soybeans before bed so I could make some fresh homemade soymilk this morning. It’s been a long time since I’ve made any. I have a second double batch soaking now so I can attempt to make some homemade yogurt this week! Seriously….I couldn’t get this urge when I had the time off from work to play around. No…not me. I have to wait until life gets busy again.

Today started with a surprisingly refreshing green juice. One head of romaine lettuce, half of a fresh pineapple, and half a bulb of fennel made for a light and slightly sweet juice. Still amazes me the number of servings of fresh fruits and veggies you can get so quickly via juicing and smoothies. Anyway, it’s a keeper.

Lunch was a BAS of lettuce, tomatoes, onions, and red bell peppers with a dressing made from spicy tomato juice, Italian seasoning, silken tofu, and garlic. Not the best dressing I’ve ever made, but not bad. I also had a serving of brown rice pasta with some spicy arrabbiata sauce and a little vegan mozz on top.

Dinner, though. That was fun. I am in serious need of grocery shopping (all I’ve bought recently are things for juices!). So, digging in the cupboards I ended up making a mashed potato enchilada! I made a batch of mashed potatoes (using Earth Balance and some homemade soymilk from this morning) and then mixed in some roasted veggies (mushrooms, carrots, onion, and broccoli). That’s it. Wrapped inside corn tortillas, topped with a can of enchilada sauce, and bake for 30 minutes. I served them with a side salad and quesadillas, and everyone was happy!

FITNESS

Today was a run day. It was cold, but I think I more or less managed to dress OK. I had a long sleeve technical mock turtleneck, a t-shirt over it, and long running pants. I’m glad I wore my hat and gloves, though my hands got almost too warm on the last mile. I left them on because I had no pockets and really didn’t want to carry them, but it was starting to get uncomfortable.

If you grew up in cold weather as a kid, they had these fun things that allowed you to attach your gloves to your jacket. Sometimes they were clips, other times the gloves were actually attached by a long string that went through your sleeves. It helped so kids didn’t lose their mittens. I think I need those.

sadly, if you were only wearing one mitten and a mean kid came up and pulled on the dangling one…you’d end up smacking yourself in the face. Probably why they don’t make these for adults…

LIFE

Today was totally back to normal. Getting up early, making lunches, shuffling everyone out the door, working, working out, cooking, and R’s swim team practice. It’s nice that back to work after a long break is mid-week. It’ll feel less stressful by the time the weekend rolls around!

I leave you with a picture a friend posted on Facebook today. I absolutely love it! A good reminder the next time a swing through a fast food joint seems like a good idea….

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Tagged Big Ass Salad, Cooking, Gluten Free Living, Juicing!, Running

Note to Self – Don’t Dress Like You Live in the Artic Circle. It’s Just Virgina

Posted on December 23, 2012 | 5 Comments

FOOD

I can’t believe it. I don’t have a single picture of food from the past 2 days! Wow…something is seriously wrong with me.

That’s not to say, however, that I didn’t enjoy some good eats, because I did. Green smoothies, salads, veggie sushi, and some roasted veggie flat bread comes to mind.

Entering holiday week means I’ll be cooking and baking even more than normal (heaven forbid), so I promise to make up for today’s lack of pictures!

FITNESS

I went for a run this morning when it was still pretty chilly out (just shy of 40 degrees). I have absolutely no concept (still) of how to dress when it’s not either blisteringly hot (aka – as little as possible) or freakishly cold (aka – as much as possible). I think, “wow, 36 degrees, that’s nearly freezing”, and thus bundle up like it was 20 below. Halfway through I seriously started to question my polar bear impression and if I could have, I would have stripped half my clothes off and left them on the side of the road. So as usual….I was way overheated and ended up a soaking wet stink bomb by the time I got home. Even my socked feet were leaving sweat marks on the floors. TMI, sorry – but I was sweaty.

That is NOT to say I didn’t have a stellar run, because today’s was great. I just think the hat, gloves, pants, long sleeve T, short sleeve T, and hoodie was overkill.

An hour or so after getting home from the run, R and I hit up the Y for some strength training. I love that she loves the gym at her age (9).

LIFE

I went up to Richmond Friday night by myself. It was blissful! My original plan was a day trip on Saturday, but D convinced me that I wouldn’t do all the things I really wanted to do if I had to drive 4 hrs. of the day away. He was right.

I stayed downtown at a very nice place and enjoyed a quite dinner and a book. Bright and early Saturday morning I grabbed breakfast and then walked through Carytown shopping. After that I went to the Virginia Fine Arts Museum to see the Chihuly glass exhibit. He’s been a favorite of mine for a long time, and was very excited that he had something (fairly) local. Then it was off to the mall for a few more things, REI, and Whole Foods for lunch. I ended my adventure at Busch Gardens in Williamsburg where I wandered through the lights, taking pictures, and enjoying some solitude.

On a much more fun note, my niece back in WI is doing a school project based on the Flat Stanley children’s book! In the book, Stanley Lambchop has a bulletin board fall on him in his sleep and squish him (yes, sounds almost horrifying…but this was a book written in 1964 when our sensibilities weren’t so easily shocked!), and he takes advantage of his flatness to mail himself to fun places. By the way – in the end his brother pumps him back up with a tire pump and Stanley is back to his normal 3D self.

Each of the kids in her class made a flat version of themselves, and picked someone to send it to and have travels documented. So my family gets to be the caretakers of Flat M! for the next few months, and we have some fun planned. I took her to Richmond and then Busch Gardens in Williamsburg yesterday, and be the end of April she’ll get to go to Baltimore, Boston, New Orleans, and Washington DC. Not to mention our own Virginia Beach, Yorktown, and anywhere else we end up going. I’m thinking of starting her own Facebook page – the Adventures of Flat M! We’ll see – that’s going to be up to her mom.

On a very exciting note, my daughter A got her first college acceptance packet this weekend! She’s very excited, though she wants the trifecta – admission to all three schools she’s applying to. Hopefully we’ll know in the next month or so and we’ll go from there!

Until then – happy (non food) pictures!

Flat M hogging the covers in bed at the hotel Friday night!

The Chihuly Pictures

Flat M loves her Chihuly like her Aunt!

Busch Gardens Pictures

Flat M in front of the map in France

Flat M resting on a bench in England

A few other pics from the museum

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Tagged Family Fun, Flat M, Hectic Life!, Running, Shopping, Travel

I’m an Overachiever Because I Play with My Food

Posted on November 26, 2011 | 2 Comments

FOOD

What can I say….LEFTOVERS!!! That is certainly what this holiday weekend is about. And not just reheating what we ate on Thursday (though that’s happened too), but getting fun with it.

Breakfast on Friday was a leftover wrap. I threw a little bit of everything (except the apple pie) into a warm tortilla; Tofurkey, sweet potato casserole, salad, and green bean casserole. Very tasty and filling – and a great pre-workout meal. I will say the sweet potatoes dominated the flavors, but it was still fun to eat.

it's a wrap!

Today, breakfast was some cold diced Tofurkey on the rest of the leftover salad with a home-made dressing from a week or so ago. Again, very yummy.

incredibly simple, but was definitely craving some raw food this morning. With the tofurkey on top, definitely kept me full for hours

Dinner was a combination of leftovers and a different side dish. I made Panini sammiches with leftover Tofurkey, vegan mozz cheese, spinach, and avocado. I have a cuisinart griddler that we use a LOT, but this is the first time I actually used it as a Panini press. It was quite cool. Even though S called me a overacheiver when I was texting her what was for dinner. She’s just jealous

prepping the sammiches for the Panini press

Served with a side of Mac N Trees (a yummy vegan macaroni and “cheeze” dish with broccoli from Appetite for Reduction), and dinner was a huge hit. R had two huge helpings of the Mac N Trees – which made me really happy since it’s such a healthier version than the traditional alternative. I used brown rice pasta, and no one seemed to notice at all, so this was not only low cal/fat, but gluten-free too. Bonus!

For dessert I made Root beer Float Cupcakes! When I went to Vida Vegan Con in August, we were given a copy of My Sweet Vegan in our swag bags. I admit that it took me awhile to read through it, and I wish I had sooner. What makes this book so different is how whimsical her desserts are. I mean…root beer float cupcakes is brilliant. I made them this evening, and it was totally fun to watch everyone’s faces as they ate them and realized they tasted JUST like rootbeer floats! I will say, I couldn’t find root beer extract in any local store, and D ordered some for me from Amazon. It came yesterday, so this has been on my to-do list for several days. They didn’t disappoint!

cupcake, chocolate ganache, and vanilla frosting

a TON of leftover chocolate ganache. I'm sure I can think of lots to do with this...like maybe just get a spoon and eat it as-is!

FITNESS

Even though I wasn’t too glutenous on Thursday, I still wanted a good workout when I got up on Friday. While D napped (he had eaten SO much on Thanksgiving, he couldn’t sleep), I popped in a strength training/interval workout DVD. I rarely use DVD’s because I get annoyed with the repetition after the first time I do it, but I have to say…I only have pretty light weights at home, I didn’t want to go to the gym, and without either a workout partner or a video, I’m NOT going to strength train.

I have to say, the workout was good, and even though the weights were pretty light, I’m sore everywhere today. In a good way, but still. I plan on doing it tomorrow again….

About 20 min after my DVD, I decided I still felt great and had a ton of energy, so I went for a run. That, in retrospect, may have been a mistake. The run was great until about half way, when I just lost so much steam. I made it through, but that last half wasn’t too much fun.

LIFE

It’s been a nice weekend, most definitely. The weather has been beautiful (high 60′s-low 70′s during the day), and we’ve enjoyed it. During the day, the front and back doors have been open, and last night, we went to Busch Garden’s for opening day of Christmas Town. This is their 3rd year, and it’s better than ever. Every ”country” (we live by Busch Gardens – Europe) is decked out with beautiful lights and even fake snow. They run about half of their rides, but the draw is really the lights. We just ended up having a great evening wandering around, loving the scenery, visiting the local artist bizarre, and totally loving the nice weather.

I did some online Black Friday shopping, and got a few great deals. I’m now done with D and mostly done with M. Lots left for R and A, but at least we know what this year’s “big gift” will be for each of them.

Today, I took R to gymnastics, brought her home, and then met up with S for a late lunch and a couple of beers. We haven’t seen each other since we were up near DC, so it was high time to catch up.

The rest of this evening has been spent cooking, cleaning, and writing! I’ll probably spend the rest of the evening catching up on the posts of the past few days, and double checking my Xmas budget!

Until then, here are a couple of pics from this evening!

Bumble sitting on R's lap. She was very proud because the cat pretty much never sits on her...

D and R with Bumble

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Tagged Baking, Big Ass Salad, Cooking, Family Fun, Gluten Free Living, Running, Vida Vegan Con 2011, Wacky Pets

Two Posts in One Day…No It’s Not Armageddon

Posted on November 20, 2011 | Leave a comment

FOOD

As planned, I had a fresh juice after my morning coffee. It was my super simple stand-by of 2 apples, and 2 big carrots. It made enough to fill a 12 ounce Tervis cup, and it just was so yummy, and filling, and cleansing. I’ve so missed my juices.

Around 1030, I reheated some brown rice and the coconut lentil curry soup I made last week. It was a very filling meal, and a good pre-workout one too. Sorry, no picture. I was in a hurry to eat and have my belly settle before a run!

I went out for a late lunch with AC. I had the salad and sandwich combo. My sandwich was called Spa Veggie, and was fantastic, and the salad was a yummy pear/grape/cranberry/arugula/spinach deal that was also very tasty.

I did make my own Pumpkin Spice Latte at home in the early evening. This year, my local Farm Fresh is actually carrying not only my favorite holiday soymilk – Silk Chocolate Mint…but also the Silk Pumpkin Spice! The chocolate mint I like to drink “straight up” (cold or warm), but the Pumpkin Spice is best in baked goods of coffee

Because my lunch was so late, my dinner was very, very light. I made another winning recipe from Appetite for Reduction - a curried cabbage, carrots, and peas, and had it with a side of steamed rice. I will say, I used the full 2 tbsp of my hot curry powder from my Xmas spice kit, and my mouth was on FIRE. Not in a bad way though

not a pretty picture, but it was darned tasty!

I would recommend anyone looking for some stellar spices to check out The Spice House. Yum!

FITNESS

It was 75 degrees here in VA today, so I just couldn’t resist an outdoor run. Just shy of 3 miles – not a ton, but about all I had time for.

I really did think about strength training. But of course I ran out of time and talked myself out of it. Because really…choosing between lifting weights or running isn’t really a debate for me.

LIFE

Today has been a long day, though much of it was nice. I woke up pretty early, and considering D and I didn’t go to bed until well after midnight, I was hoping for a wee bit more sleep. Alas…Sammie had other plans, so I was up close to 7 to feed her.

I did have quite a bit of time alone this morning, and enjoyed my coffee and juice while catching up on some blog reading, some research, and some writing.

After my run, I met up with AC for a long lunch….like 2 1/2 hrs. We have a tendency to start talking and have a hard time shutting up. She’s also the friend I’m most likely to have 80 conversations with, and finish none of them. Good times!

I had to make a run to the pet store (Kiko’s sun died today) and the grocery, then head home. D and I did some online Xmas shopping while watching a soccer match (okay, I was watching…and I’m sad to say Liverpool beat Chelsea), and then it was time to whip up dinner. Thankfully D had a crock of red beans and rice going, so dinner was mostly made anyway.

I did my weekly meal planning, and have very few things I need to pick up (10 things, to be exact), so that will be my plan after work tomorrow. I can’t begin to express how happy I am that this is a short work week!

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Tagged Cooking, Running, Shopping

Yeah…You Know You Wanna Eat at My House….

Posted on November 14, 2011 | 2 Comments

FOOD

It’s apparently International Week at my house! When menu planning on Saturday, I started flipping through my recipe books (let’s just say the first cookbook my husband ever bought me pretty much needs an Italian/English translation dictionary!). I decided on a full Italian feast for Sunday. Mainly because I was gone for 10 days and D had to do all the cooking (poor thing, totally out of his comfort zone), and he’s Italian and I wanted to do something nice for him.

I spent most of the day in the kitchen (after hitting up the only really authentic Italian deli/bakery in Virginia Beach), and started cooking like crazy. I got to use Bucatoni pasta for the first time – picture spaghetti noodles with a hole in the middle, make homemade ragu (which took FOREVER), fresh bread, and all the fun that goes with spending the day in the kitchen.

sadly, I didn't take many pictures of Italian night. This is my dipping sauce...Italian season, roasted garlic, olive oil, and balsamic vinegar.

Today was Indian night. I’m having more and more fun with that lately! I made Aloo Mutter Gobi (fun way of saying potatoes, peas, and cauliflower in a curry sauce), tofu curry, garlic naan, and basmati rice. They all came out stellar, and I’m really excited. The potato dish is courtesy of Tofu N Sprout’s MoFo post, and it was everyone’s favorite. The tofu curry was from the 1,000 Indian Recipes book from my sister. I made the chicken curry recipe, but used tofu and reduced the simmer time. It was pretty spicy, but creamy and yummy. The garlic naan came from there too, using Earth Balance instead of butter. R said it best at dinner tonight. She said…”mom…you can make this anytime”. Coming from a wicked picky eater, this was one heck of a compliment!

mixing up the spices with onions, garlic, chilis, tomatoes, cilantro, etc. All good things.

potato, pea, and cauliflower curry awesomeness

garlic naan!

just admit it...you wanna eat at my house...

...not that I blame you

FITNESS

Yesterday I hit up a trail run. I needed to go that way anyway to visit La Bella’s for dinner fixings, and since it was 70 degrees out, a nice trail/beach run was perfect. Trails are always tougher than pavement, but not in a bad way….just a challenging one.

my beach/trail run on a gorgeous November day

Today I did a cardio/strength training routine. It’s the workout routine they use for the Starz TV program Spartacus (which is based on the movie 300). It sucked and it was hard. I want to like strength training, I really do. It’s just so phenomenally boring that it’s almost upsetting. It was the longest 40 minutes of my life.

Thank goodness tomorrow is another run day. Woo hoo! At least it’s something to look forward to!

LIFE

We went to see Puss in Boots Saturday night. D and I were really feeling like going to a movie, but with being away for so long, I really wanted to do something as a family instead of just him and I. This was really the only kid movie out, and R really wanted to see it.

All I can say was at least it was family time. D and I didn’t like the movie so much. R did. But she’s only 8, and you really can’t trust her judgement on something like this!

Sunday was running and running errands. D asked me if I wanted to grab a beer with him, so after dinner, we did just that. It was really nice, and was a perfect end to a good weekend.

D suggested that I join Audible.com, which produces audio books. I’m a BIG fan of audio books (due to my lack of free time, I think), so this is a huge cost savings. It’s only $7.49 per month, and I get one book included, and 30% off other books. I decided on The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo for this month. 16 hrs of book reading pleasure to be enjoyed while I drive, cook, etc. Can’t beat that!

Today was work, working out, and at least a lot of fun in the kitchen! But now…it’s bedtime, where I can dream of trail runs and curry….every girl’s dream.

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Tagged Cooking, Running, Work

Baked Pumpkin Stew and a MoFo Camping Wrap-Up

Posted on October 16, 2011 | 4 Comments

It’s nice to be back home in my kitchen. Don’t get my wrong…I had a great weekend, but I usually spend most of my Sunday’s cooking, so I was happy to be home.

Today’s dinner is a Mexican flavored baked pumpkin stew. I first made this recipe 3 years ago, when it was in the October edition of Vegetarian Times. I’ve made it a handful of times over the years, and have been thinking about it now that the weather has turned.

I typically use a buttercup squash and always skip the cheese. I suppose I could use Daiya, but when I first started making this, Daiya wasn’t on the market, so I’ve always made it cheese-less and I don’t feel it’s lacking because of it.

my buttercup squash

stir frying veggies and spices

ready for the oven!

ready to scoop out and eat!

I’ve successfully made this in a crock pot too for potlucks. Just put about 1/4 cup of water in bottom before cooking, and cook on low for 8 hours.

For the Poblano-Cucumber Salsa (trust me..don’t skip this part…it makes the meal), I roasted my peppers in my toaster over on the broil setting. I turned them a few times, and within 7-10 minutes, I had nicely blackened and blistered peppers!

toaster oven poblanos

finished salsa. I'll be eating this on everything all week!

Served with a loaf of fresh bread right out of the bread machine and a grilled Portobello, we had a great Sunday dinner!

a simple bread...nothing fancy tonight

bread with some Earth Balance Coconut spread, grilled balsamic mushroom, and pumpkin stew. I'm stuffed!

Camping Wrap-Up

We had a great time this weekend. Aside from my husband hurting his back very badly (just by sleeping there), it was wonderful. Here are some pictures of our fun!

our rustic cabin in the woods

playing cribbage with D. Yep...I beat him.

Sammie snuggling up on M at bedtime

playing Boochie Ball with the kids

playing Yahtzee with R. Yep, she beat me.

family hike/geocaching adventure

my honey grilling!

Yeah….it’s been a great weekend

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Posted in Uncategorized

Tagged Family Fun, Running, Vegan MoFo, Wacky Pets

A Wicked Weekend and a MoFo Pizza Picture Show!

Posted on October 10, 2011 | 4 Comments

MoFo

Today’s lesson is in baking a perfect pizza. Homemade pizza has been a long-standing tradition in my family, and it’s certainly something I’ve kept doing with my husband and kids.

First of all – I can’t share the dough recipe. A sort of a CIA “if I told you, I’d have to kill you” type of thing. Sorry. I will tell you a good dough recipe is simple, and there are lots of great ones out there. If you have a KitchenAid stand mixer or even a bread machine, it makes life SO much easier.

Here is my picture-show-of-perfect-pizza!!!

I made a double batch in my 6qt kitchen aid. Easy peasy. Another hint...let the dough rise ALL day..but at least 4 hrs

grab a gob, and put it on a clean and floured surface to start rolling out into desired shape

put on greased and floured pan. For fun, you can use cookie cutters to make individual pizza bites. I was too lazy this time.

spread a layer of olive oil on the dough. yes...that's a 50 cent hardware store paint brush. Don't judge.

poke little holes with a fork - keeps it from puffing up. Put desired seasoning on the dough - I like garlic powder, italian seasoning, and crushed red pepper personally.

make it saucy!

pre stir fry your veggies! A vegan pizza cooks faster than cheesy ones...and you'll cook your dough through before veggies are tender if you don't pre-cook.

add some vegan cheese if you want. I don't always - and when I do, I use very little. Just a personal preference on that one

this is the stage we call "decorating your pizza". I love mine with a ton of sliced Roma's on top.

bake at 425 degrees for 8-10 minutes, and then eat like crazy!

Weekend Wrap-Up

This was a fantastic weekend. It very much-needed to be after the pretty awful week prior, but the weekend made it all worth it.

It began at noon on Friday with a work party. My VP threw a big party at a local pool hall for her entire staff (and that’s a LOT…probably close to 200 or so). We drank beer, talked, and played pool. D came out around 5 for a quick beer and a game, and then it was time to head home for movie fun and homecoming football.

Saturday morning was typical, though nice. Swimming and gymnastics for R, then a nice run for me (nice getting back to my 3 day a week running habit…btw…back feels pretty great). Then…it was Howl-O-Scream time!

We headed up to Busch Gardens for another fun-filled Saturday night of being scared to pieces. We bought the quick queue passes this time, so it was front of the line for everything. And as much as the haunted mazes and creepies popping out in the dark…being chased by men with chain saws, etc was frightening…riding rollercoasters in complete darkness was pretty spooky too!

one of the haunted mazes. this one was full of vampires

rollercoasters in the dark!!!

M and I waiting in line for another ride

Sunday we all slept in. The kids woke up and ate cereal, so D and I laid in bed reading and watching the Chicago Marathon coverage until nearly noon. Talk about a peaceful morning…he even brought me coffee in bed while we enjoyed some little-experienced quiet time.

I spent the rest of the day cooking, grocery shopping, blog reading (and putting recipes into my software that I HAVE to make), and watching TV with the family. It was…for a punny way to put it…one wickedly great weekend

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Tagged Family Fun, Running, Vegan MoFo

Someone Called Me EASY!

Posted on September 19, 2011 | 2 Comments

FOOD

I had a lunchtime smoothie/shake yesterday that was so awesome, I had it again for breakfast today. It’s simple, but sometimes the best things are. Nothing overly fancy…just a cup of vanilla soymilk, a frozen banana, a handful of frozen strawberries, and a scoop of Chocolate Vega powder. It reminds me of chocolate malts when I was a kid!

We were supposed to go to Busch Garden’s yesterday, but our plans changed. My husband was worried about the rain, so we ended up not going. That meant leftover Creamy Winter Squash Bake for dinner. I’m not complaining…except that it’s now gone!

I made a batch of raw crackers yesterday totally inspired by Gena’s Choosing Raw version! My only difference was the pulp I used. I used the pulp from my morning juice (romaine, apple, carrot, ginger, lemon, and cucumber). I also used 2 tsp’s of the Spicy Sesame Salad Sprinkle from the Xmas Spice Kit.

I'm still not making perfect squares...but it'll still scoop up hummus as well as any other cracker!

my container of raw crackers

They came out perfectly. I’ve had some more misses than hits when it comes to the crackers and breads in the dehydrator. I figured it out – I’m not a fan of flax meal. I know, I know….blasphemous vegan….and while I like whole flax-seed crackers – I can’t stand the flax meal. The beautiful thing about Gena’s recipe is that it uses ground pumpkin and chia seeds! I threw those in the Vitamix and made a nice flour out of them. And now I have to order more in bulk – especially since getting the mega-mason jars from my Dad last week!

they're HUGE. Perfect for storing my bulk seeds and gluten-free flour blends.

Lunch was a black bean, veggie, and rice wrap and a pomegranate smoothie. Very tasty, and ridiculously filling. I’m not going to be hungry for hours!

On a fun food front…I’ve signed up to participate in this year’s Vegan MoFo! In a nutshell….you blog at least 5 days a week for the entire month of October about vegan food. Food you make, food you eat, whatever – but it’s all about vegan food. I woke up this morning with my theme pretty well cemented in my head, so I’m pretty excited. I have a lot of work and kitchen experimenting to do (I know, the horror, right?), but I’m really stoked.

FITNESS

I went for a run yesterday! It was a gentle run, but was still wonderful. I did 2 miles – very sloooooow miles, but I was still happy to be outside and moving.

I went iPod free as planned, and it was pleasantly nice. When neighbors said hello, I actually heard and acknowledged them! And it was such a beautiful day, that I didn’t need a distraction. I imagine it being one of my few runs since early July helped – I was just so happy to be out, that I didn’t need an audiobook or music to lose myself in.

My back is still sore, but I’m working with it. My doctor and I both have the goal to have me back and doing what I love, so I’m cautiously optimistic. I’m not dumb enough (this time) to push it too hard and re-injur myself, but at the same time, it’s tough to not lace up and run out the door after a tough (or not so tough) day.

LIFE

After my run and smoothie yesterday, D headed out with A to do some driving. He was supposed to be back by 2 so we could head up to Williamsburg, but he apparently changed everyone’s plans. He and A got back around 330 instead, so we ended up not going.

I went to S’s house instead. I was getting cabin fever, and I’ll admit to being severely disappointed for not getting to go to the last day of the regular season at BG. S was sweet enough to let me in (I brought wine) and we hung out and caught up for a few hours. It was very nice.

Today has been meetings, dentists, and x-rays! After my first morning meeting, I had my routine dentist appt. Both good and bad news I’m afraid. One the good side – my hygenist said I’m easy! Probably one of the few times that could be construed as a compliment. My teeth are clean and had no tartar build up. On the bad news…I’ve finally cracked my molar (stupid teeth grinding and clenching) and have to get a ceramic crown in 2 weeks.

After I saw my Dr a little over a week ago, she wanted me to try taking Aleve 2x per day for a week to see if my back pain was being caused by inflammation. After the week, I was to e-mail her to let her know how it went. And while I think it’s slowly getting better, it still is a constant ache. So….it’s now time for X-rays (no gloating Dad) and a referral to Ortho. I was hoping it wouldn’t come to this, but I guess we’ll see. She ordered the tests first thing this morning (had replied to my email about 15 min after I sent it), and I got my X-rays done during my lunch. More to come on that I’m sure.

One fun thing about a rainy weekend was R and her legos. She’s been obsessed with it since opening the box Tuesday, and she actually assembled the entire 1000+ piece pirate ship! Now I imagine she’ll get her Sponge Bob legos from her room and find a way to have him drive the ship….

such a serious expression!

So now I have to really get planning! I have a guest blog to finish up, and my MoFo organizing to get underway! There are worse things than being busy doing things you enjoy

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Posted in Uncategorized

Tagged Blogging, MoFo, Raw Food, Running

Bake or Bust!

Posted on September 5, 2011 | 4 Comments

FOOD

The past couple of days have been studying and researching baking. And not just “regular” baking, but complete allergy-free baking (gluten and nuts being my focal point).

Saturday Night Cookie Fest was a total disaster, but today I fared a bit better with cupcakes.

I made a batch of chocolate cupcakes that started out great, but fell pretty drastically in the center. I really just plugged that hole with frosting! I then baked a batch of vanilla cupcakes that from the outset seemed much denser than the chocolate one. The chocolate almost taste like pudding inside, where the vanilla is a heavy-duty cake.

pretty ugly once the insides collapsed!

at least the vanilla held their shape

I whipped up two batches of “buttercream” frosting – one vanilla and one chocolate – busted out the piping gun, and got busy!

no laughing at my attempt to make them pretty! A cake decorator I am NOT!

I’m relatively proud of the results. D likes the vanilla, but isn’t too sure about the chocolate one. And since he’s ridiculously picky (always asking me for that 1940′s full fat version of food), I take that as success…at least with the vanilla ones.

I have a few theories about my cupcakes sinking, and may have to make some modifications and keep trying. I’m done baking for a bit though – I can only handle it in small doses. At least with cooking, I can add things or make changes as I’m going to make sure I like the meal in the end. Not so with baking. If you don’t get it right before cooking, you’re sort of screwed. I don’t like that.

My favorite dish this weekend was last nights wrap. I was so in love the with Homegrown Smoker wrap I had in Portland, that I made my own version!

my killer wrap from Portland

First, I made up a batch of acorn squash alfredo over brown rice rotini noodles as my mac n cheese base. I sautéed some Portobello’s, and stacked them on a tortilla with purple cabbage and sauerkraut. It was actually really very tasty. I probably could have used some bbq tempeh or something else in it, but I was still very thrilled with the result. And then decided I wanted more, but was too lazy to wrap it up, so ate it “deconstructed”!

cooking 'shrooms

before I wrapped it up!

Tonight is a BAS. So much sugar (from the baking), that I need something a bit more cleansing.

this evening's Big Ass Salad

FITNESS

R and I ran together today! She will be 8 in just over a week, and she’s always asking to go running with me. I want to encourage her love of running (all kids LOVE to run…we just start to hate it when we get older), and since I’m coming back from a back injury, I thought it would be perfect for us to do it together!

So the two of us hit the canal trail to do day 1 of the Couch to 5K program. While I really just wanted to run, I know that I can’t until I know my back can handle it. It ended up being perfect. We chatted, and R was very proud of herself for the almost 2 miles we went. When we pulled back into the driveway, she announced in a very dramatic sigh to my husband that “we had a great workout”. It was awesome.

LIFE

Much of this weekend was work or worrying about work. It’s going to be quite a long and challenging week.

Yesterday I went for a long overdue pedicure. Since we’re going into winter dress code at work (no open toed shoes), I thought it would be fun to get something bright, so my toes are now green!

Last night D and I finally watched a movie we’ve had from Netflix for weeks, Love and Other Drugs. It was cute, but we both felt there were parts drawn out too much. Overall, we were just happy to have 2 hrs to be in the living room to watch a movie!

Today has been very low-key. Baking, working out, and basically getting everything ready for the chaos of fall to begin. Summer is always a bit of a reprieve when the older kids are home, and it’s just D, R, and I in the mornings. Now we’re back to the school year, and it always takes us just a bit to hit that groove.

Now it’s time to figure out what to have for dinner, get backpacks organized, lunches packed, and try to get to bed before midnight!

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Posted in Uncategorized

Tagged Baking, Cooking, Running

Tag Archives: Running

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