Category Archives: Recipes

Oh Running How I Miss You

Posted on June 3, 2010 | 5 comments

Happy Thursday – we are flying through this week! Well, at least my week is flying anyway. One thing that is inching along , rather than flying by – my recovery from all my spills and injuries this past weekend. I am itching to go for a run, but between my still swollen toe and the ache in my back from falling down the stairs, it just isn’t time yet and it’s killing me!

So I began another runless day yesterday with boring cereal for breakfast. I wasn’t feeling oatmeal at all or taking a picture of my breakfast.

For lunch I had a nice peanut butter and apricot jelly sandwich with a side of carrots.

Afternoon snacks were Chobani with granola (no pic) and then this juicy fella.

Good idea hubby! Sometimes I get so stuck on a routine I forget to try different fruits and veggies. Hubby picked up some peaches last week and I fully enjoyed this one. Yum!

I headed home after work feeling a bit bummed because I wouldn’t be enjoying a nice post-work run. Instead I focused on dinner.

I made baked haddock with lemon, butter, salt and pepper and topped with some parmesan cheese. It was pretty good, but I’ve decided I think tilapia is my favorite fish. I don’t like really fishy fish.

What is your favorite fish? Any suggestions I should try?

I also made a side of pan-fried veggies with a hint of soy sauce. So colorful!

And then, since I had some extra time because I didn’t go for a run. I made a quick dessert.

Flourless Peanut Butter Cookies! I first saw this recipe on Tina’s blog, but she took it from Julie’s blog.  These were delish. My oven always overcooks things a bit, so I took these cookies out about 1 minute early and they were so moist inside, just the way I like it!

I like quick and easy desserts like this. Even better, the no-bake desserts. I think I’ll go on a hunt for a few no-bake recipes to try. 🙂

I hope I can get back to running again soon, or else I’ll need to put some elastic bands on my pants. Have a great day all!

5 Comments

Posted in Dessert, Recipes, Uncategorized

Post-Marathon Slump and Shrimp

Posted on May 19, 2010 | 11 comments

Hi all – I’m back! I took a little blog break yesterday. I think just writing my Poconos Marathon Recap post took a lot out of me. Seriously, I’m still on a high and can’t believe I actually qualified for Boston.

I know there has been debate and discussion on other blogs about whether the women’s qualifying times are too easy, and let me just tell you that for me, I did not think getting that time was easy. I’m not an awesome runner, so maybe that does say something. Maybe I shouldn’t even have been able to qualify at all – maybe it means the time is too lenient. But let’s just say that I’m happy I qualified at this time before there is any chance they make the times tougher! Tough enough for me already!

I haven’t been taking too many photos lately, but I did document two new meals I made earlier this week that I loved!

On Monday on my day off, I got a much-needed haircut and met Hubby for a lovely lunch outside at a local cafe/bar. While we lunched, I decided that I wanted to make something different for dinner. For some reason shrimp was stuck in my head. I figured why fight it? So I stopped on the way home and picked up some frozen shrimp. I was in the mood for different, but I still wanted easy. 🙂

For dinner on Monday night I made a yummy shrimp stir-fry.

Frozen shrimp (thawed), carrots, green peppers, orange peppers, broccoli and long grain wild rice. For the stir-fry sauce, I used organic Soy Sauce, chicken stock, and a bit of Worcestershire sauce. Totally yum!

And then dessert followed:

Then Tuesday for dinner I had to use up the left-over shrimp, so I came up with this little concoction:

Shrimp and spinach sautéed and then covered with a light sauce made from white wine, lemon juice, chicken broth, garlic powder and onion powder. I placed it on a bed of spaghetti and topped it with a little Parmesan cheese. I thought this one was delicious!

All in all, I was very pleased with my shrimp creations and I think I’ll make shrimp dinners a lot more in the future. Maybe I’ll upgrade to fresh shrimp, if/when I feel more confident.

Post-Marathon Slump

So my big post-marathon confession: I haven’t run at all yet. I really just haven’t been in the mood. It probably would have helped with my recovery to loosen things up, but I was just not motivated. Plus, the yucky rainy weather hasn’t exactly been inspiring. And I haven’t been eating too great either. There may have been a bag of Hint of Lime Tostitoes that was devoured in 2 days (but Hubby did help with that).

I think it’s just my post-marathon little slump. I’m trying to get back on track today with eating. I’m meeting my friend Katie for dinner tonight and we’re going to try out Angelica Kitchen, which has been on my list to try forever. But I’m not going to put a deadline on my first post-marathon run. I’ll do it when I feel ready.

As far as how I felt after this marathon – a little bit more sore than after my first marathon. I probably didn’t stretch quite as well though, since we wanted to hop in the car and head home very soon after the race. I did wake up on Monday night at 1:00 a.m. and rolled my legs with my Marathon Stick. They felt so tight and achy, but after a few minutes of rolling they felt 10 times better. Walking down stairs hurt a bit on Monday and Tuesday, but today everything feels almost 100% back to normal.

If you’re a marathoner – do you encounter anything like my post-marathon slump? I’m not lazy by nature, but I just feel like such a schlub right now. How long do you rest after a marathon?

Anyway – thanks again all for the congrats about qualifying! I couldn’t have done it without everyone’s support, encouragement, advice and words of wisdom! Have a great hump day!

11 Comments

Posted in Races, Recipes, Restaurants, Running, Uncategorized

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Snack Attack!

Posted on March 16, 2010 | 10 comments

Good morning all. It’s Tuesday and I’m hoping today’s work day goes by as fast as yesterday’s. I was pretty busy. And I can’t believe it’s already mid-March. I’ve officially become a weather stalker – checking weather.com multiple times throughout my day. I can’t believe how nice the next few days are supposed to be. I’m hoping the rain will hold off until at least Sunday so I can get my nice long run in on Saturday.

If that isn’t beauty, I don’t know what is!

So I’ll just do a quick recap of yesterday’s eats. Breakfast was Kashi Heart to Heart Cinnamon cereal.

I went with a light lunch after all the eating and drinking this past weekend. I was still feeling a little bit tired and decided some veggies would help. I had a salad with romaine lettuce, carrots, cheddar cheese, walnuts, artichoke hearts and chickpeas with balsamic vinaigrette.

My afternoon snack was Chobani yogurt with some Galaxy Granola and Kashi Go Lean cereal.

After work I headed to the gym since raindrops were falling on my head and I didn’t feel like running my 4 miles in the rain. I did a nice, easy 4 miles on the treadmill in 34:22.

Then I headed home with the fullest intention of starting dinner as soon as I got in. However, I started uploading photos from the bridal shower and bachelorette this weekend, while snacking on some Life cereal and before I knew it, I was kind of full. Not good. I totally had a snack attack without even realizing it.

I made dinner anyway, with the hope that maybe I would be hungry later. I tried out this recipe from Cooking Light.com.

Parmesan Chicken and Rice

Yield: 4 servings (serving size: about 1 cup)

Ingredients

  • 1  tablespoon  olive oil
  • 1/2  cup  chopped onion
  • 1  teaspoon  bottled minced garlic
  • 1/2  teaspoon  dried thyme
  • 1  (8-ounce) package presliced mushrooms
  • 3/4  pound  skinless, boneless chicken breast, cut into bite-sized pieces
  • 1/2  cup  dry white wine
  • 1/2  teaspoon  salt
  • 1/4  teaspoon  freshly ground black pepper
  • 1  cup  uncooked instant rice
  • 1  cup  fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
  • 1/2  cup  (2 ounces) grated fresh Parmesan cheese
  • 1/4  cup  chopped fresh parsley

Preparation

Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add the onion, garlic, thyme, and mushrooms; sauté 5 minutes or until onion is tender. Add chicken; sauté 4 minutes or until the chicken is lightly browned. Add wine, salt, and pepper; cook 3 minutes or until liquid almost evaporates.

Stir in rice and broth. Bring to a boil; cover, reduce heat, and simmer 5 minutes or until liquid is absorbed. Stir in cheese and parsley.

I had to cook everything a little bit longer than indicated, but it came out pretty well.

It will be my lunch for today though, since I really only ate a few spoonfuls last night because I was so full. Seriouly – Life cereal is addicting. I may not be buying it again. I just happened to spot it at the grocery store and felt a sudden urge to buy it.

How do you keep from snacking before dinner? Or is there a go-to snack you eat that isn’t too filling?

It looks like a beautiful day outside! I’ve got an 8 mile training run on my marathon training plan today, so I’m hoping I can get a quick Central Park run in before it gets dark out tonight.

Have a great Tuesday all – enjoy the lovely weather if you’ve got it!

10 Comments

Posted in Recipes, Running, Uncategorized

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Six Miles and Successful Soup

Posted on March 9, 2010 | 16 comments

Good morning all – how is your Tuesday morning going? I set my alarm this morning to go running, but it did not happen. I was very much enjoying my sleep. So – to the gym it is tonight!

A quick recap of yesterday eats starts with a yummy oatmeal, banana and peanut butter breakfast. This has been a recent favorite – it’s really creamy and filling.

Monday morning passed along quickly and soon it was time for lunch. I had leftovers from Sunday night’s pasta dish and it was delish.

Looks a little less than delicious in the heinous light and old tupperware, but it was yummy. Afternoon snacks included Chobani yogurt with Galaxy Granola and a small snack bag of walnuts and raisins.

I bolted out of work at 5 p.m. and flew home to get ready for a nice evening run with Katherine and Bodhi. After my 15 miler on Saturday and my speedy run on Sunday, I was ready for a nice longish not-so-fast run. Here are our stats:

Mile 1 – 8:58
Mile 2 – 8:53
Mile 3 – 9:16
Mile 4 – 9:25
Mile 5 – 9:18
Mile 6 – 9:07

Total mileage: 6.04 miles in 55:23

Not too shabby! My legs were feeling mighty heavy throughout this run. We headed out at 6:00 p.m. and it got dark faster than I expected. Running with Katherine and Bodhi really makes me want a dog…but I doubt Murphy would like that and our apartment is way too small. Still – it’s nice.

If you’re a dog owner, do you take your pup on your runs? How far can your dog comfortably run with you?

Once I got back from our run, I set to work on making dinner. I bought a huge bag of baby spinach a little more than a week ago and wanted to be sure to use it up before it went bad. I decided to make my mom’s: 

Tortellini Tomato Spinach Soup

 1 Tablespoon olive oil
1/2 cup minced onion
1 clove garlic, minced
4 to 6 cups chicken broth (can also use vegetable broth)
1  14 oz. can whole tomatoes, crush them up 
1  9 oz. package fresh tortellini or dried tortellini
Salt and Pepper to taste
Dash of Parsley and Basil
6 oz. package fresh baby spinach – tear into pieces
Parmesan Cheese

Directions
In a 3 quart soup pot, heat olive oil over med. high heat and saute onion for several minutes then add garlic stirring for few minutes then add broth and tomatoes, parsley, basil, salt and pepper ;  turn heat up to high and bring to a boil – add tortellini and cook according to package instructions.  When tortellini is almost done, add spinach.   Cook few minutes till spinach is wilted.  Once you dish soup into bowls, shave parmesan cheese over the top and serve. 

Takes about 10 minutes to prep. and approx. 20 to 30 minutes to cook.

The end result:

This is seriously one of the easiest soups to make and it came out great. It was delicious and filling. Thanks to Hubby for picking up the missing ingredients for me yesterday so I wouldn’t be late for my run. 🙂

The rest of my night was low-key. I did not watch The Bachelor wedding – I just couldn’t do it. I went to bed pretty early and am looking forward to doing the same tonight.

Have a great day all! P.S. – it was 57 degrees out when I went running last night. YAYAY!!!

16 Comments

Posted in Bloggers, Recipes, Running, Uncategorized

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Fun and Run Sunday

Posted on March 8, 2010 | 12 comments

Good morning all – it’s Monday again already. Whoever decided that weekends should only be two days and the work week five days was a cruel person. I think it should be reversed.

I’ll start by giving you a quick recap of Sunday, which was a busy and beautiful day. I woke up pretty late  – around 9:15 and had a light breakfast of granola with blueberries and blackberries.

I kept my breakfast light because I was attending a fun blogger lunch at noon. I met up with Lindsay around 11:45 and we walked over to Candle Cafe. I’ve eaten dinner there before, but had yet to try brunch/lunch.

I was really craving some breakfast-brunch food and was excited to see waffles on the menu. I ordered the waffles, along with a much-needed coffee. The waffles were delicious – they came with banana, apple and candied pecans on top. I gobbled them right up while enjoying some lively conversation with five other fellow bloggers. Here we are:

From the front left, that would be me, Lindsay, Katherine, Dori, Ashley and Melissa. Katherine and Melissa had just finished a run in Central Park and oh how it made me jealous. I decided I needed to squeeze a run in at some point in the afternoon. It was a lovely gathering and the conversation was wonderful – I can’t wait to do it again in the near future!

After my brunch/lunch I headed home to start the dreaded laundry. I settled on doing two loads and then squeezing in a run – the sun was beckoning me.

I finally made it out around 4:15 and headed to the promenade along the East River. My run yesterday felt good, but it didn’t feel fast and although I should have been taking this run slow as a recovery, I decided to test my speed a bit. Here are my stats:

Mile 1 – 8:04
Mile 2 – 8:08
Mile 3 – 8:23
Mile 4 – 8:03
.52 – 4:35

Total Mileage: 4.52 miles in 37.13

It wasn’t particularly easy to maintain that pace, but it did feel good to be moving faster. I’ve decided I definitely need to work more fast runs like this into my week, along with some hill-work. It’s time to get serious if I want to try to qualify.

Have you ever tried to increase your speed – what kind of workouts did you do?

After my run, I cleaned the apartment a bit and then made some dinner. I was inspired by this recipe from Cooking Light.com, but definitely made some changes.  

Pasta with Chicken and Spinach

Yield: 4 servings (serving size: 1 cup)

Ingredients

  • 1 1/2 cups of wheat pasta  (9-ounce) package fresh cheese tortellini (such as DiGiorno)
  • 1  tablespoon  pine nuts
  • 1  teaspoon  olive oil
  • 6  4 large garlic cloves, finely chopped
  • 1/8 cup of chopped onion
  • 1  (6-ounce) package fresh baby spinach
  • 1/4  cup  (1 ounce) preshredded Parmesan cheese
  • 2 Laughing Cow Light Swiss Cheese triangles
  • 1/4 cup of dry white wine
  • 1 tablespoon of butter
  • 1/4  teaspoon  black pepper
  • 1 large chicken breast 2  ounces  prosciutto, thinly sliced

Preparation

1. Cook pasta according to the package directions.

2. Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add nuts to pan; cook 1 1/2 minutes or until toasted, stirring occasionally. Then add garlic and onion to pan; cook 2 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add spinach and chicken to pan; cook until chicken starts to brown and spinach is wilted. Add the wine and butter – cook for 2 minutes. Turn down the head and add laughing cow cheese and mix until evenly distributed.

3. Add pasta to the pan and toss with chicken and spinach mixture.

I enjoyed my meal with a glass of red wine.

It was very yummy and the Hubby said he liked it much better than some of my recent “crazy concoctions.” 🙂

After dinner, we settled in to wait for the Oscars to start. To make it a bit more interesting, I printed two ballot forms from online and gave one to Hubby to fill out and one for me. Here’s my blue ballot:

A little while later I decided I needed a snack for the start of the show. I slathered some peanut butter on a few triscuits and finished up the blackberries.

And then we watched The Academy Awards. And boy did they go on forever! For some reason, I didn’t think this year’s show was all that funny or entertaining. I just kind of kept waiting to check off my ballot boxes.

What did you think of the awards?

As I said in a previous post, I wasn’t such a huge fan of The Hurt Locker, but my instincts told me it was going to win. And indeed, I was right. I ended up winning our ballot guessing contest by only missing 7 categories as opposed to the Hubby who missed 10. He picked Avatar to win more awards and I agree with him that it should have won more, but my gut said it just wasn’t going to happen.  

By the time the awards were over it was waaay past my bedtime. Hence, I’m a tired little lady this morning, but will hopefully wake up as the day progresses. Have a great Monday all!

12 Comments

Posted in Bloggers, Recipes, Restaurants, Running, Uncategorized

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Busy Bee Me and a Break

Posted on February 26, 2010 | 5 comments

Good morning. I promised I would be back, but I’ve been MIA once again. Things have been so busy at work and then I’m so tired at home that I haven’t had much time to blog. Today I am working from home again because NYC got dumped on! I honestly did not think this snow storm would amount to much, but I woke up this morning to see mounds of snow outside. I contemplated heading into work, I even showered, ate breakfast and started gathering my things, but then decided to check with my boss to see if it would be okay to work from home. Thankfully she said yes!

So I’m working from home, but am actually showered this time! I feel so productive. Rather than recap all my eats for the past two days, I’m just going to highlight two that were particularly delightful.

On Wednesday morning I made Oats in a Jar! Oats with banana poured into my almost-empty peanut butter jar.

And now I will shamefully admit that I haven’t run at all this week. Between getting sick and having lots of work to do, I decided that a one week break from my training program might be okay. I am hoping I will return to the treadmill and road will more energy and excitement. But I have a 14 mile run planned for tomorrow and I don’t see that happening. I’m moving it to Sunday – maybe the Central Park road will be cleared by then.

I also wanted to post my Wednesday night dinner, which was pretty good.

This recipe was from Cookinglight.com: Chicken and Sun-Dried Tomato-Mushroom Sauce.

Yield: 4 servings (serving size: 1 chicken breast half and 1/2 cup sauce)

Ingredients

  • 4  teaspoons  olive oil, divided
  • 4  (4-ounce) skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
  • 1/2  teaspoon  salt
  • 1/4  teaspoon  black pepper
  • 2  cups  presliced mushrooms
  • 1/3  cup  finely chopped shallots
  • 3/4  cup  fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
  • 1/4  cup  sun-dried tomato sprinkles (I used sun-dried tomato from a jar – cut up)
  • 1/4  cup  dry white wine
  • 1  tablespoon  chopped fresh parsley

Preparation

Heat 2 teaspoons oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Sprinkle chicken with salt and pepper. Add chicken to pan; cook 4 minutes on each side or until done. Remove from pan; keep warm.

Reduce heat to medium. Add 2 teaspoons oil, mushrooms, and shallots; cook 2 minutes, stirring frequently. Stir in broth, tomato sprinkles, and wine; cook for 1 minute. Spoon sauce over chicken; sprinkle with parsley.

A few of the reviews online said it was bland, so I was testing as I was making it and found it was a little bland. So I added more wine then called for, as well as a few spices. I let it cook a little longer as well and I think the sun-dried tomatoes I used really added flavor. It came out pretty well and Hubby gave it a “good.” I also had a nice glass of red wine with my dinner.

So that’s my past few days. I also received an award from Katie at FittoWed, but haven’t had a chance to re-post and spread its joy yet. Hopefully tomorrow. I’ve been such a slacker on my blogging to-do’s. What I hope to get to this weekend:

  • Post and pass along the award from Katie
  • Post a book review of The Historian
  • Post the new book I’m reading…
  • Write a great post about my run on Sunday (which WILL happen no matter what)!

So that’s on my agenda, along with getting our taxes done tonight (if the tax guy doesn’t close because of the snow), cleaning the apartment in a big way, and relaxing a bit. 🙂

What are your weekend plans?

I said to my friend the other day, that I feel like I’ve been a bit of a slacker when it comes to my personal-life “to dos” lately. I’ve been so awesome about checking off my work to-dos that everything else has fallen to the wayside. But I am feeling sooo much better now and am really hoping that taking my short break from running with fill me with renewed enjoyment and motivation to run again.

Do you ever need to take a break from running or exercise to realize just how much you enjoy and miss it?

Have a great weekend all!

5 Comments

Posted in Bloggers, Recipes, Running, Uncategorized

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Home Office with Hubby

Posted on February 11, 2010 | 10 comments

Good morning – happy Thursday. Did you make it through the snow – if it touched your area? It was kind of crazy just how many people in various states were affected by the storm. I feel like the west and far south were the only people who didn’t get it.

I worked from home yesterday and so did the Hubby. That was certainly interesting.

I started off my day with a 3-minute breakfast cookie made with: oats, protein powder, apple butter, baking powder, walnuts, raisins, vanilla extract and a packet of Truvia. It was really good.

I tried to stay on my normal work schedule and ate lunch right around 1:00 p.m. I had leftover venison and barley soup (now stew).

I also had a Chobani yogurt with Kashi Go Lean.

During the entire day, this was pretty much the view from our window. Snowing like crazy.

Setting up our work at home situation was interesting. We live in a 550-square-foot one bedroom apartment. We have one desk area and both Hubby and I needed to use it. So – I concocted this interesting set up for us.

Here was my work area and our combined work area:

Yes, I sat on the corner of the desk and used a kitchen table chair. I never realized how hard those chairs are until I sat in one for about 3 hours. Then I decided I needed some cushioning – hence the lovely blanket. How do you like our little work from home arrangement!? I thought it was a pretty decent use of our small space. I think NYC residents are the most creative people when it comes to utilizing and maximizing minimal room.

Around 4 p.m. I was ravenous and had a nice little apple snack with peanut butter.

I ended up working till about 5:30 because I was into a writing project and lost track of time. It was kind of strange not to have to travel anywhere to leave the office.

My overall work-from-home thoughts: It was definitely very convenient, but also tougher in some ways.

  • I feel like I have such a standard routine at work that I was a bit confused at times as to what to focus on next.
  • I’m much better at multi-tasking when I’m actually at work.
  • I didn’t have access to all the resources that I have at the office.
  • I also realized that I didn’t drink as much water when I was working from home.
  • I only had the Hubby to interact with – and while I love him to pieces, sometimes I like chatting with other people too.
  • I didn’t experience that “leaving work excitement” when the day is finally done and you are free to focus on stuff you want to do.  
  • Without that definitive dividing line, I could very easily see work creeping into home-life.

So that’s my general feedback on working at home. I think it was a very good experiment and was happy to see that I still managed to get quite a bit done. Hubby and I were also very good and didn’t have the t.v. on at all until about 4:00 p.m. I think that certainly helped lessen our distractions.  

What about you – what do you like or dislike about working at home? What tips do you have to stay focused and keep your work and home life separate?

After work was “done” I showered (yup – I was gross and didn’t shower all day) and headed into the kitchen to make dinner. I made an omelet with two eggs, spinach and feta cheese. It was yummy.

And then to further divide the work/home worlds, I baked some Pumpkin Muffins using Megan’s recipe. I saw this recipe on her blog a little while ago and have been wanting to make them ever since then.

The recipe made 12 (one is missing above cuz Hubby ate it). And then after dinner I ate one with my tea.

And then after that I ate another. 🙂 These were really good and very moist. Thanks for sharing a great recipe Megan!!

As you will note, I did not get my 3-mile run in yesterday. I may try to work it into Friday morning or Sunday. I am supposed to run 6-miles today, but did NOT make it to the gym this morning (boo), so I’ll have to take my chances tonight and pray that it’s super slow.

After dinner and muffins Hubby and I watched Blood Diamond. I had seen parts of it before, but finally watched the whole thing. I really liked it, but I’m not sure Hubby was overly impressed.

And that was the end of our work-from-home day. We pretty much spent about 36-hours together in our tiny apartment non-stop. We both said that we don’t know how my parents do it; they own a business together, so they work together all day and then come home together at night. I love Hubby and he loves me, but everyone needs a little space.

Have a great Thursday everyone – it’s almost time for the weekend!

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Posted in Recipes, Uncategorized

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A “Super” Run and Soup

Posted on February 8, 2010 | 11 comments

Good morning. I hope you had a nice weekend! I took a little blogging hiatus on Sunday.

After my last post on Saturday, I visited my neighbor/old boss who is having a baby very very soon, ran some errands, and then Hubby and I went to see Avatar late in the evening. I really enjoyed Avatar. We went to the IMax theater on the West side and I was shocked by how huge it was and that this movie is still selling out. The 3D glasses were a little goofy, but all in all it was a great experience. And it didn’t feel like a 2 1/2 hour movie. It flew by. I think parts of the movie had a bit of the cheese-factor going on, but the action sequences totally drew me in and I forgot about any corny parts.  But the movie started at 10 p.m., so we didn’t get home until 1:30 a.m.! 

Have you seen Avatar? Did you like it?

As I mentioned, unfortunately I did not get a long run in on Saturday. I theoretically could have run in the afternoon, but once my mind was set on not running the night before (thanks to the darn weathermen), I was not motivated to go. Plus, I was not hydrated at all.

I decided that I would do my long run on Sunday morning. I woke up a little late – around 9:30 a.m. on Sunday and had my pre-run breakfast of a honey-wheat double fiber English muffin with peanut butter and a banana on top, along with some water.

But then I glanced at the temperature gauge and saw that it read 21 degrees outside. BRR! I putzed around and wasted time until finally I had to either go running outside or go to the gym. I left our apartment around 12:45 p.m. for my 11 mile run in 30 degree weather. I was sufficiently bundled, but my nose would not stop running (no pun intended). I headed to Central Park and did two 5-mile loops, plus a mile warm-up there and cool-down back — so a total of 12 miles. Here are my stats:

Mile 1 – 10:23
Mile 2 – 8:13
Mile 3 – 8:31
Mile 4 – 8:17
Mile 5 – 8:38
Mile 6 – 8:34
Mile 7 – 8:29
Mile 8 – 8:57
Mile 9 – 8:43
Mile 10 – 8:45
Mile 11 – 8:49
Mile 12 – 9:36
Total Mileage 12.40 miles in 1:49:10.

I was somewhat consistent and ran faster than I expected. I had so many layers on, along with gloves, that I didn’t check my Garmin once while I was running. I just went at whatever pace felt right and good.

After my run I wanted a snack, so I made a breakfast cookie with  oatmeal, egg whites, protein powder, raisins, Truvia, baking powder and cinnamon. It was a great after-run snack.

The afternoon flew by after I finally finished stretching, showering, ate and warmed back up and before I knew it, it was 5:00 p.m. and I wanted a light snack before dinner. I had an apple with cheddar cheese.

Before my snack, I set to work on cooking up some Beef and Barley Soup (made with venison) from a recipe on cookinglight.com to have while we watched the Super Bowl. This recipe took 2 hours to make!

Ingredients

  • Olive oil
  • 1 pound of cubed venison meat
  • 1 1/2  cups  thinly sliced carrot
  • 1 1/2  cups  thinly sliced celery
  • 2/3  cup  chopped onion
  • 1/2 cup of fresh cremini mushrooms
  • 4  cups  fat-free, less-sodium beef broth
  • 1  bay leaf
  • 2/3  cup  uncooked pearl barley
  • 1/2  teaspoon  salt
  • 1/2  teaspoon  black pepper

Preparation

Heat a Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Coat pan with cooking spray. Add beef to pan; cook 4 minutes or until browned, stirring frequently. Remove beef from pan. Add carrot, celery, onion, and mushrooms to pan; cook 6 minutes or until liquid almost evaporates. Add beef; fat-free, less-sodium beef broth; and bay leaf. Bring to a simmer over medium-high heat. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 1 1/2 hours or until beef is tender, stirring occasionally. Stir in pearl barley; cover and simmer 30 minutes or until pearl barley is tender. Stir in salt and pepper. Discard bay leaf.

It was yummy, but next time I would start making it much sooner. Hubby and I watched the Superbowl and I was very happy The Saints won. 

After it was over, I read for a bit and headed to bed – my long cold run made me exhausted. I definitely think running and marathon training in the winter/spring is harder than in the summer.  I feel like I’m exerting more effort during my long runs this time around.

What about you – have you trained in the winter/spring, and if so, do you think it’s harder than the summer/fall?

I really hope that this training pays off in the end. I’ve been trying to stick to my training plan, but this time around feels a lot tougher (I think because of the weather). How do you motivate yourself to get out there and run?! I could use any advice anyone has to offer at this point.

Have a good Monday everyone!

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Monday Already?

Posted on January 11, 2010 | 6 comments

Weekend Recaps – In Case You Missed It:

Friday: I Heart Artichoke Hearts
Saturday: My First Race of 2010!
Sunday: Sharz, A Show and Sleepy Sunday

Good morning – welcome to the start of a new work week. Groan – I know. But before I get into this week, I’m going to do a quick recap of the rest of Sunday.

After waking up a bit late on Sunday, I set to making a quality breakfast. I had planned on making some for Hubby as well, but he had to leave to go play football in the freezing cold. So instead, I made some oatmeal pancakes for myself using Tina’s adapted recipe, which I guess came from KERF. I topped my pancakes with a mashed blueberry, water and sugar mixture. I also had a cup of hazelnut coffee.

My huge breakfast kept me full for most of the day. I had a light lunch pretty late in the day consisting of an apple with cheddar cheese.

After I did two loads of laundry and cleaned the apartment a bit, I decided to make some soup. I popped out to the store to pick up a few items and then set to work making tomato-basil soup (from cookinglight.com) with a side of sautéed brussels sprouts.

Tomato-Basil Soup

Yield: 4 servings (serving size: 1 1/2 cups)

Ingredients

  • 2  teaspoons  olive oil
  • 3  garlic cloves, minced
  • 3  cups  fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
  • 3/4  teaspoon  salt
  • 3  (14.5-ounce) cans no-salt-added diced tomatoes, undrained
  • 2  cups  fresh basil leaves, thinly sliced
  • Basil leaves (optional)

Preparation

Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add garlic; cook 30 seconds, stirring constantly. Stir in the broth, salt, and tomatoes; bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer 20 minutes. Stir in basil.

Place half of the soup in a blender; process until smooth. Pour pureed soup into a bowl, and repeat procedure with remaining soup. Garnish with basil leaves, if desired.

———-

For the brussels sprouts, I just sautéed them in a little olive oil to start, along with some mushrooms. Then after about 5 minutes I added 1/4 cup of chicken broth along with some salt, thyme, pepper and onion salt. I sautéed until they were tender and then removed.

The soup was pretty good and I had enough leftover that I can bring it with me to work two days this week – I love that! Do you plan meals ahead to make leftovers for taking to work? I always try to if it’s a meal I think would be a decent lunch.

After dinner I finished up the blueberries I opened this morning as dessert – but I gobbled them up so quickly I didn’t take a picture.

Then I read a little bit of my new book before bed. I’m reading The Weight of Silence and it is definitely a quick read. I’m already about 80 pages in. I’m liking it so far, but I will keep you posted and will write a review when I’m done.

And so we begin our second week of the New Year – I have a bunch of projects I’m working on at work so I’m hoping my week will fly by. I’m also going for a run with a fellow blogger tonight after work – finally getting a chance to run outside during the week despite the darkness. And then this coming weekend I’m attending a bachelorette party! 2010 is shaping up to be a busy year.

How was your weekend? Did you do anything fun, have any great workouts, good eats or good reads?

Have a good Monday all!

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I Heart Artichoke Hearts

Posted on January 8, 2010 | 13 comments

Good morning – Happy Friday!! We made it through the first whole week of 2010. Yippee! Are you all completely ready for the weekend? I am.

I’ve got to eat well today and remember to drink a good amount of water for my race tomorrow morning. It’s a 5-mile race, which is a distance I’ve never raced before, so I’m interested to see how I handle that. It might be tough to find the right speed.

Let me do a quick recap of yesterday. Breakfast was oatmeal with raisins and pumpkin butter and a side of light cranberry juice.

I had an early morning snack of an apple (unpictured) and then for lunch I had the last of the quiche I made earlier this week. That certainly lasted a while.

Afternoon snacks were peach Chobani yogurt (pineapple remains my favorite) with granola and some carrots.

I may have also had some unphotographed rice chips 🙂 If you eat Chobani, what is your favorite flavor?

Toward the end of the day, I prepared to leave work and head to the gym and realized as I was going through my bag that I didn’t bring any workout socks or a sports bra. Where was my head? I considered going home and getting that stuff and then heading to the gym, but knew in my heart it wouldn’t happen. I’ve been a big 2010 slacker so far when it comes to hitting the gym and treadmill. I’m hoping my first race of 2010 will get me back into the swing.

So instead, I came home and experimented with this recipe. Here’s how I changed things a bit:

Ham and Brussels Sprout Bake

Ingredients

  • 20 Brussels sprouts, halved
  • 1 cup cubed ham
  • 1 cup sliced fresh mushrooms
  • 1/2 cup finely chopped green white onion (white portion only)
  • 1 tablespoon grated Parmesan cheese
  • 1 tablespoon grated Asiago cheese
  • 1/2 cup sauerkraut, drained
  • 1/2 cup of halved artichoke hearts (drained)
  • 1/2 cup olive oil
  • 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
  • 1 clove garlic, minced
  • 2 teaspoons dried basil
  • ground black pepper to taste
  • 1 tablespoon Italian-style bread crumbs

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
  2. Toss together the Brussels sprouts, ham, mushrooms, green onion, Parmesan cheese, Asiago Cheese, and artichoke in a large bowl until combined. Add the olive oil, lemon juice, garlic, basil, and pepper; toss until coated. Pour this mixture into a 2 quart baking dish and sprinkle with Asiago cheese.
  3. Bake in preheated oven until the Brussels sprouts are tender, about 45 minutes.

I purposely picked a recipe with meat in it for the Hubby, but then he tells me that he’s not the biggest fan of ham. He did eat all of it though. Here is the result:

While this was the first time I ever cooked brussels sprouts (YAY!), apparently artichoke has been the real star of my week. I had the artichoke and spinach dip at dinner with Katie on Wednesday night, this last night and I plan on making a pasta salad and adding the remaining artichokes tonight.

But why shouldn’t it be my star this week? Artichoke has many health benefits. This site discusses some of its benefits at length, including:

“Globe artichokes are an excellent source of dietary fiber, magnesium, and the trace mineral chromium. They are a very good source of vitamin C, folic acid, biotin, and the trace mineral manganese. They are a good source of niacin, riboflavin, thiamin, vitamin A, and potassium. The artichoke has strong choleretic activity (promotes bile secretion in the liver), and choleretics increase the excretion of cholesterol and decrease the manufacture of cholesterol in the liver.”

Not only that, but I love the unique kind of bitter taste of artichoke. It definitely adds a punch of flavor to any recipe.

I will say that although I’m not a huge fan of ham, I did really enjoy this recipe. I might try it again with vegetarian sausage as a replacement for the ham.

Lastly, before it hit my bedtime I had a little dessert:

I spent most of my evening at home trying to organize my email after switching my personal email address from my maiden name to my husband’s name. There is still quite a bit that needs to be done, but gmail is a system that definitely helps make things easier and I thank them for that. Gmail is one of the best “technological” decisions I made in the last decade, along with buying a Mac.

What about you – are you a Gmailer? What tech-savvy things did you try in 2009?

In August of this year it will be time to upgrade my phone and it seems I’ll need to choose from either the Droid or a Blackberry (Verizon). Both really scare me – I am so behind the times when it comes to phones. I hate the touch screen stuff, but everyone else seems to love it! I might be forced to get with the times. :-/

That’s all for now folks! I may have a book review of Ahab’s Wife coming later this evening though. And tomorrow I’ll let you know what I’m reading now…so far it’s pretty darn good! Have a great Friday!

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