Roasted garlic, lemon, rosemary chicken

This is one of my favorite, go-to recipes!  This might have been the first recipe I saw on tv and thought – that looks good, I like all those ingredients, and I think I can make it!

This is courtesy of Rachael Ray.  I do admit that I have to refer to the recipe each time – and here’s why.  (ok, don’t be scared)  If I don’t follow the directions exactly (I can never remember when to add the wine or broth, or lemon juice), sometimes the garlic turns green.  I would just say that some chemical reaction occured.  Well, for your sake, I just did a google search – and there are lots of posts with this question and answers.  And yes, there is some reaction that is occuring – it’s a little too technical for me.

Anyhow – as I said – this is an easy one that is yum-dilli-icious!!!

Someone’s in the kitchen with…me…

I spent a lot of time in the kitchen on Sunday – and cooked something new and yummy for dinner on Monday.  Part of the purpose of this blog is to document recipes that we (or one of us) likes!  I wish I could take better pix of the food – hopefully that will come one day.  The pix of the food from this past week are all from my phone. 

I will admit that I’m not very good at coming up with or creating my own recipes – yet.  I hope to be able to do so one day.  Sometimes I alter ones that I have read.  Or I’ll make a recipe for the first time as described, and the work with it on subsequent tries.

Let’s see…the recipes include:

Challah

Roasted garlic, lemon, rosemary chicken

Stuffed peppers

Whole wheat sour cream apple muffins

Oh – and after making our tuna burgers, I bought a pineapple corer – look who had fun coring the pineapple!    (don’t mind the messy kitchen – lots of cooking going on that night)

My feet still work…

I wanted to title this “I still have all my toe nails”, but that might disturb people (uh, then why am I bringing it up here?! ) and they might not understand.

So yesterday was an epic run!  Let me start from the beginning…

A local running shoe store, Big Peach, was having a clinic for the ING Marathon.  The email mentioned a few things that would be covered that sounded intriguing for this first-timer, so I decided to go.  AND, they were offering group runs after the clinic for all distances, so I jumped all over that.

The clinic was really good – I got some tips that I think will be really helpful.  And it got me excited for the race.  At the end, they introduced those who would be the pacers during the race.  Unfortunately the pacers are only for the full marathon.  What the pacers do is run the race at a certain time – and if that time is your goal, then you can run with that group.  The paces are anywhere from 3 hours to 6 hours to complete the marathon.

The two women who will be doing the 6 hour pace, were going to run for 13 miles yesterday.  I was a little nervous, since I’ve only run 9 miles before.  AND, they were doing a run/walk interval run.  The intervals were 2 minutes running, 1 minute walking, and it is ~12:30 min/mile pace.  That is slower than what I normally run, too.  HOWEVER, since I didn’t know the area and since I have never run using written directions, I decided to go with this group.  I am SO glad I did, and it was great!

I will say that early in our run, we got a little lost, and I was in between 2 sets of people in the group.  I pulled out my iPhone and looked on the map to see where we were on the map, and how it corresponded to the written directions.  The leaders were behind me, so I had time to do this.  When they caught up we talked about it, and decided to skip a couple parts of the written directions and keep going.  Unfortunately, there were ~5 other women who were ahead of us, and, well, I’m not sure what they did but I do know they got back to the store!  whew!

I’m still trying to figure out nutrition and hydration.  Nothing bothered me yesterday, which was good.  I know I worry about hydrating first thing before I run, and I probably over hydrate.  So after about 4 miles, did I have to pee!!!  A couple miles later, another woman mentioned she did, too.  I just kept going.  Luckily one of the women I was with noticed a port-a-john, and in I went!  As far as nutrition, when I noticed one of the women starting to get into her little bag, I decided it was time to consume something.  And I was starting to get a little hungry!  So I just took in some sport beans.  I don’t think I ever bonked.  I know at the end, I kept going, but my legs were starting to hurt.  I think that was only due to the length of the run.

Due to getting lost a little, we added some mileage to our run!    yeah!  Oh, and the written directions said 13.97 miles.  Um, in the end, I was on my feet for 3 hours and we did 15 miles!  Holy freakin’ cow!!!  15 MILES!  Me.  I ran/walked 15 miles!  Oh. My. Goodness.  On the one hand, I sometimes feel blaise when I say I ran for 15 miles.  On the other hand – wow, what an accomplishment!  So I KNOW that I will be able to complete my half marathon.  I’ve been waiting until the expo to buy any of the runner girl, 13.1 miles, etc stickers.  But I felt like I could do so yesterday at the store.  I didn’t, though.  I’ll still wait!

One of the women suggested that I go out with a certain pace group.  While I’m not running the full marathon, the 2 full and half-marathons are together for the first 7 miles.  This particular pace group will be slower than I normally run, but I don’t know what to expect in terms of hills.  I also figure that I can go with this group for the first few miles, so I don’t go out too fast – which I know I do – and that I’ll have enough in me to finish the race and enjoy finishing the race!

I’m not sure if I did the right thing – jumping from 9 to 15 miles.  But I did.  Now I’ll do some tapering and more running – no more than 10 miles for the long run.

I’m set.  I’m excited!  Woo-hoo – bring it on!

Tuna burgers

I’m posting this dinner, but the credit really goes to my husband.  He went to Costco after work to pick up some stuff, and then called me from there to figure out dinner.  We decided to stay in.  I didn’t want anything heavy (i.e. no steaks) since I’m getting up early for a clinic for the half-marathon, and will most likely run w/people from the clinic.  I think he’s been dying to make some kind of fish-burger/cake (we have salmon in the freezer for salmon-cakes), so I said we could try tuna burgers.  It also was really nice outside, so I figured he wouldn’t mind grilling something.  We, uh, he, totally made this up as he went along, and it was GOOD!!!

Ingredients:

tuna steaks – we had 2 huge pieces, ~1.8 lbs

1/4-1/3 c. bell pepper finely diced – we had yellow, red, orange

1/4 c. finely diced red onion

panko bread crumbs

mayonnaise

ginger – we used powdered, but if we had fresh, I would’ve used that

Yoshida’s marinade

pineapple

I don’t have exact measures here.  For the tuna burgers:

Finely dice the peppers and onions.  Grind up tuna in the meat grinder.  Add in finely diced peppers and onions.  Add in 1/2-3/4 c. of panko bread crumbs.  Add in 3/4 c of marinade.  Add ~1 tablespoon of mayonnaise.  Mix all of this together, and form patties.  We had 6 decent sized patties. 

In the meantime, he also bought a pineapple, which he cut into spears.  He set aside 4 spears to grill.

While he was doing all that, I made a relish to go with the burgers.  I took the remainder of the pineapple, along with the peppers and onions – again finely diced – and mixed it all together.  I added some ginger powder (again, if I had fresh, I would’ve used) and the marinade.  I mixed everything up and put it in the fridge to chill and let the flavors meld.

Start grilling the pineapple.  Since this was the first time for us to do this, we didn’t know how long to grill the pineapple.  We could have grilled the pineapple a little longer.  We started with the pineapple, and then added the burgers.

Grill the burgers – about 4 minutes a side.  As the burgers are finishing up, put a coat of marinade on each side.

Serve burgers with grilled pineapple spears and the relish on top or on the side.

Here’s the proof (forgot to take pics before I started eating…but if I was eating it, it was good!   )

I’m going to do my best…

…to not eat all of the girl scout cookies in one sitting!!!

Haha – several boxes of GS cookies showed up at my house, including my favs of thin mints and samoas.  And let’s not forget the new flavor to try – dulce de leche (which I had one of last night – not bad, but was expecting a softer cookie).  And then there are the tag-alongs.  Haven’t had them in years.  Didn’t like them much in the past.  However, I like peanut butter a little more each year, so I’ll have to try them again.  (side note – never used to like butterfingers candy bars…tried ‘em again last Halloween – love them now!!!)

Self control will be practiced for the next several weeks! Check back and see how we’re doing!

“Blizzard” of 2009

Ha…ok, I know it wasn’t a blizzard.  But we definitely got some snow this past weekend.  It was March 1st, but that didn’t stop the snow.  I rarely believe the weathermen when they predict severe weather, especially for several days in advance.  I knew it was going to be yucky this past weekend – hence the reason for my long treadmill run.

On Sunday, we headed to lunch and then to see Kooza – a Cirque du Soleil show that I highly recommend!  (It was quite entertaining…while it did not have a lot of the crazy running/tumbling acrobatics, it was still an amazing and enjoyable show.  Quite funny w/the clowns, too!)  As we were heading down there, it was raining.  I knew there had been hail earlier in the morning.  By the time we got down there, it was sleeting.  And by the time we hit the big top (after lunch), it was snowing.  During intermission, it was still snowing.  After the show, it was still snowing.

We came home and took Stella out – she seemed to like it last year.  I think she was a definitely intrigued by it this year.  She definitely liked eating it off the ground!!!  Then again, I think she just likes being outside, especially if it is cold or windy out!  But I think she was a little timid to do her stuff in it…Here she is, in all her snowy glory   Oh – and that deflated, chewed up soccer ball – it’s her FAVORITE! 

I did it – 9 miles on the treadmill

As I’m getting closer to the half-marathon, the runs are getting longer.  At least the “long runs”, which are once a week, on the weekend.  The longest runs I’ll do during the week are 4-6 miles, which I can now easily do on the treadmill – only because I like the early morning workouts and it’s too dark to be running outside right now.  So the treadmill it is, at least for the weekday runs. 

I started doing the weekend runs outside, esp as it got a little warmer.  It’s nice to be outside for a few reasons.  It makes the time pass as the scenery changes.  Once I get going, I have to get my tush back home, right?  So it’s not as easy to wimp out and not do the run.  Hills!  There are hills where I live, so I get those in.  And, it takes a while, for me at least, to get used to the transition beween treadmill-outside running, or outside running-treadmill.  Getting in these once-a-week outside runs has been fine for me.  (Next time I pick a race, remind me to pick one where it’s late enough in the season to get in more outdoor training!    )

This weekend’s run – 9 miles.  This weekend’s weather – CRAPPY!!!  It’s been raining all weekend, and there’s still the possibility of snow today!  (I’ll believe it when I see it!)  It’s raining w/hail right now.  So I had to go inside to the treadmill.  I’ve never done more than 60 minutes (~6 miles) on the treadmill.  And when the machine hits 60 minutes, it goes into cooldown mode.  So I had to come up with a game plan.  At first it was going to be 3×30 min, with 5 min “breaks” in between.  Breaks would consist of refilling water, bathroom break, and some type of energy (gu, chews).  But when I got on, I decided to stretch it out, thinking I wouldn’t need the energy so frequently – I aimed for 2×45 min sections, with a 5 min brerak.  Long story short – I did it!!!  I did it!!!  And it wasn’t that bad, either.

Here’s the break down:  at 1.8 miles, I pulled the emergency cord ‘cuz it was dangling.  oops.  Got back on for 2.7 miles, then had my break.  Refilled water bottle.  Quick bathroom break.  Decided on the Luna Moons to eat.  Got back on the treadmill.  It took a while to fully feel comfortable back running again – catching my breath, getting my stride, etc.  But I was fine.  I’ve never had to consume anything while running, so this was a first.  And it was definitely challenging.  It was hard to eat the chews because it threw my breathing off.  And the chews are really chewy, and get caught in my teeth, which I then try to pick out!  If I can find sports beans again, I’ll try those, as well as the gu.  I want to try these all at least once before the race – since they say you shouldn’t try anything new on race day.

But in the end – I survived.  It was a great run.  The bits of pain weren’t too bad, and I can’t believe I did it!!!  Let’s just hope for nice weather on each of the next 5 weekends! 

Treadmill workout – 3

Here are a couple of other workouts, if you will, that I sometimes do.  As a note, while I usually play only with speed on these workouts, you can always play with the incline.  You will get a good workout that way – esp in the tush area!    Depending on the incline, you may find you have to reduce the speed at which you’re running.  I call these workouts, for lack of a better term.

(A)

Sometimes I will change the speed every 5 minutes (you can pick your own interval).  I’ll run 5 minutes at my base speed.  After 5 minutes, I’ll increase my speed by .1 or .2 for 5 minutes.  Then I”ll increase my speed again after 5 minutes (now at minute 10).  I’ll do this for about half my intended run, then start decreasing my speed until the end.  So it’s a gradual increase, and then a gradual decrease.

(B)

Intervals.  I haven’t looked up too many workouts that use intervals, but I actually did this one the other day when I had to run for 50 minutes.  I would do 4/1 minute chunks.  I started for 4 minutes at my base speed, if you will.  Then I would run 1 minute at a much faster speed, which in this case, happened to be about a minute per mile faster.  It was not quite a sprint, but it was definitely faster!  Then the next 4 minutes, would be at my base speed, followed by 1 minute at the faster speed.  It was great – I found that once I was recovered from my 1 minute “sprint”, it was time to sprint again.  I remember last year I tried to work up to 3:30/1:30 intervals.  Again, you can play with the times and speeds as you like!

Carrot Soup

Here is a recipe I got from a friend.  It was easy to make, and I’ve been wanting to try it for a while.  For me, I think it needs something else.  I think next time I’ll be using more garlic, ginger, and nutmeg.  And possibly some celery &/or potato.  But this was good and served its purpose this week!

2 cups peeled and diced carrots

1 Tbsp butter

1 cup chopped onion

1 Tbsp freshly minced ginger

2 cloves garlic

1 tsp fresh nutmeg

4 cups chicken or vegetable broth

1/2 c. milk

Salt & pepper

Chives (for garnish)

Saute onions, carrots, garlic, ginger, and nutmeg in butter.  I did this for ~5 minutes.

Add broth, bring to a boil.  Reduce heat and simmer, covered, until carrots are tender.  I think I checked after ~15 minutes, and the carrots were tender.

Puree with a hand held blender, add milk and salt and pepper to taste.

Reheat over low heat and garnish with chives to serve.

Random thoughts below

I have so much I want to write about…and it’s all random…

Let’s see – what about highlights?!

~~ I went and did it.  Registered for the ING Georgia half-marathon.  It’s < 5 weeks away!!!  I had been following a training plan, as I had mentioned, but had not registered for it.  Well, one night last week, I just bit the bullet and signed up.  Then started to get sick and didn’t want to run!    But I went back to the gym & treadmill this morning, a bit renewed.  I still have a few long runs to do – unfortunately I am training by myself, which I think at this point, with long runs, I’d like to have some friends training with me.  Oh well…I’ve got my music.  That should keep me going! 

~~ I’m in the middle of making the chocolate-halva-babka, minus the halva!    I don’t bake a lot with pastries – ya know, where you have to refrigerate dough and roll it out.  But I decided to do so.  It hasn’t been hard thus far.  I thought it might be since I was rolling out dough that was cold, but it was quite easy!!!

~~ I like to try recipes before I serve them to others…well, except for Greg.  When I try new dinners, he has to enjoy/suffer through them w/me.  (Thank goodness he liked last night’s dinner – new recipe for me to make).  But especially when it comes to desserts or complicated dishes, I usually like to make them once, before making them for others.  And since I previously mentioned I have a sweet tooth, that means there are lots of desserts I want to try making, at least once…the reason I’m in the middle of the babka cake! 

~~ I made a carrot soup, which I think I will post.  I have mixed thoughts on it.  I got the recipe from a friend – I think it just needs some work for my taste.  I don’t know if it needs more spices – maybe more garlic and ginger.  I asked Greg what he thought – he said maybe some potato, which I could see doing to add some substance to it.  I look at it as a low calorie, filling dish, for cold days, or when I want to eat something filling and not very caloric.

~~ Social media – I’m becoming more enthralled with this.  I’ll just leave it at that, for now, as I have a few thoughts on it…just interesting!

Those are my random thoughts, for now…