Screaming Monkeys

Stella was being a little lethargic and mopey this afternoon.  I told her should could complain to the weather gods about how cold and windy it was…but we were going to be bad owners and not take her to the park b/c it was too dang cold! 

So I felt a little bad for her…and as I was pulling ingredients out of the pantry (I was making challah and carrot soup – those will be another post), I found one of her toys – a screaming monkey.  I think she had fun, don’t you?

My Sweet Tooth…(or why I need to lose 5 lbs)

I LOVE sweets.  And apparently, they love me.  A lot.  So much so, that they’ve gone straight to my hips.  But that doesn’t stop me from eating them.

I only found my love of cooking and baking a few years ago.  I’m still new to it all, and complicated recipes/methods, but that doesn’t stop me from reading and collecting recipes, cookbooks, food shows, food blogs, etc.  Lately, I’ve been reading the blogs.  I haven’t renewed my Cooking Light subscription in a while.  I haven’t watched Food TV in a while, given all the other crap I watch on TV (which I’m not giving up!   ) 

Here’s the thing…I’m mostly drawn to recipes that are desserts!!!  Hel-lo sweet tooth!  Here’s how bad it is…I saw Smitten Kitchen’s hot fudge sauce recipe, and read through the comments.  A few comments mentioned David Lebovitz’s chocolate sauce which I just had to try.  It was easy to make, but I think I need to tweak my method a little.  I digress…So I made this sauce, while the husband was out of town (since I’m the real chocoholic in the family), and ate it.  Out of the bowl.  No ice cream.  No milk for chocolate milk.  No swanky dessert to drizzle it over.  Just the chocolate sauce.  Straight from the container in the fridge.  For a few days.  Until it was almost gone and I just had to throw it out – sniff sniff – because I couldn’t stop eating it.  Here’s the other thing…the husband is just now finding out about this as he reads this entry!  (Hi honey )

So where does that leave me?  Wanting to try Family Friendly Food’s Chocolate Babka Cake (I may forgo the Halva…or do half w/just Halva for my father-in-law, half with Nutella for anyone else)…Most of Pinch my Salt’s NaBloPoMo, which I recall being lots of desserts (which I haven’t written down)…and a few others that are just swimming in my head.

Which also leave me…posting all the treadmill workouts to burn off all the desserts!    Happy eating!

Treadmill Workouts – 2

I did one of these work outs this morning – #1, speed demon.

I probably don’t do the slow jogging at a slow enough pace   And I shortened the warm-up / cool-down since I had to do 5 miles (and this could easily cover 6 miles for me).

Here’s the set:

6 min warm-up

3 min at a faster pace (I picked 6.4 mph)

3 min at a slower pace (I picked 6.2 – according to the plan, it probably could have been slower)

Repeat this 2 more times.

5 minutes of easy jogging.

A second set of 3 minutes fast/3 minutes slow – 3 times.

Cool down.

Again, I loved this.  It was easier than the last time I did it – maybe I really am building up long endurance.  (I also think I had decided I was going to have a good run this morning, even though I was really tired, and I did have a good run.  Mind over matter…)  I can do anything for 3 minutes, which I did.  And it helped the time go by.  And I sweated!  Love that sweat…

Rainy weather

We’ve had yucky weather this afternoon and evening.  Bad storms.  Hail.  Lots of hail.  The news stations were all over that.  I know – I had the fortunate experience of driving through it.  It was LOUD.  And scary – sounding, that is.  I kept crouching in my seat as I drove.  I heard at some point that the whole state was under a tornado watch.  UGH – hate this weather.  I just want warm, sunny days.  All day.  Every day.  Is that too much to ask??? 

I’m tired…this is a short post…since this morning’s workout was just a workout – spin – there’s nothing exciting to report on that.  I got to the gym in plenty of time to get a bike.  More on that another time…And I was tired when I got home for the day, so I went the easy/lazy route and just made some ravioli.  So no recipes to write about…

And that’s about all the time my attention span has for now…

Treadmill workouts – 1

I’m a wimp when the weather dips below 40 degrees.  Possibly 50 degrees.  So I head inside to the treadmill for my runs.

During this half-marathon training, I did the first few weeks of runs inside, on the treadmill.  We have had some nicer days during the weekends, so I’ve been trying to get outside for a few reasons.  One, it usually takes me a few runs outside to get used to running outside again.  Same with when I go back inside to the treadmill.  Second, there are hills outside!!!  Yeah, who really likes running the hills, right?  But they WILL show up in the race.  Third, I don’t think I want to run more than an hour on a treadmill.  And my mileage for my long runs has increased to more than 6 miles, which means I don’t want to be on the treadmill.  Fourth, there’s a possibility that it will be cool (cold?) the morning of the race, so I should try to suck it up at least once a week outside, regardless of weather, right?  (there are a few exceptions…)

So I wanted to document some of my favorite treadmill workouts.  (These will be multiple posts…)  They really help the time go by when I need to run more than 30 minutes.  Yes, I am still watching the clock, but it is so I can change speeds.  And for some reason, it makes the time pass.  And I eventually got over my mental block of being able to run more than 30 minutes/3 miles.

The first treadmill workout I did, I found on Bree Wee’s site.  I can’t find a link to her write-up, so here’s mine version of it…

5 minute warm up

2 minute recovery (recoveries are slower speeds)

6 minutes at your starting speed

2 minutes recovery

5 minutes, a little faster

2 minutes recovery

4 minutes, faster

2 minutes recovery

3 minutes faster

2 minutes recovery

2 minutes, even faster

2 minutes recovery

1 minute fastest

5 minutes cool down

Total of 41 minutes.  I’m not a fast runner.  When I started this, I would set my starting speed at 6.0 (mph), and increase each fast section by .2.  So it was 6.0, 6.2, 6.4, 6.6, 6.8, and 7.0, with the recovery sections being run at 5.7 or 5.8.  I just love this workout.  I don’t know if these are the best times for me to run, but it sounded like a good idea when I started.  I’m just doing this on my own.  When I started, that last minute at 7.0 would just get to me.  Now, at these speeds, it really isn’t a big deal.  I’ve even increased the last minute at 7.0 to be 2 minutes!!!  Which tells me…I think I need to increase the speed on this workout because it might be too easy!!!  (The other day, I increased each of the main sets by a minute.  I need to run 4.5 miles, and wanted to do something to make it interesting…so the main sets were 7-6-5-4-3-2 minutes, instead…it worked!)

Have fun with this and make it work for you!!!

Black Bean Salsa

This is one of my favorite recipes!  And it is SO easy!  Whenever I have to make something for a gathering, whether my own or someone else’s event, I like to bring this, since it is so easy.  I like eating this plain – or even as the main portion of my meal.

Here’s what you need:

2 can black beans – drained

1 jar salsa

lime juice

cilantro

Rinsed Black Beans

Salsa

Salsa and Black Beans

You can use your blending method of choice:  food processor, blender, or immersion/hand blender.

Place black beans and salsa into whatever you use to blend.  I’ve been using a hand blender lately, so I just dump it all into a bowl.

Blend until desired degree of smoothness.  My husband prefers food not so smooth – a little on the chunky side.  So I blend this for just a few seconds.

Add lime juice and cilantro – stir in.

Blended Salsa

Chill in the fridge until cold and flavors have melded.

What am I waiting for?

Yes – once again I’ve been slacking on posting…and this post is actually about something….

I’ve had it in my head that I think I want to run a half-marathon.  Not sure why…OK – maybe because some of my co-workers have run them.  And I probably got the “if they can do it, I can do it” mentality.  I get that way sometimes – depending on the situation (some of the motivation to do a sprint triathlon last year), and what it is.  Additionally, I saw a friend’s facebook update about her finishing her first half-marathon.  And at Greg’s holiday party, one of his co-workers was training to do the Disney half-marathon that was in January.  So I started thinking, again, I should try it.

Around Christmas/New Years, I started looking into half-marathons.  Disney was having it’s inaugural, all women’s half marathon in March.  This sounded SO exciting!  I started looking into it, and at the time, I had exactly 12 weeks before the race.  I started training, following Hal Higdon’s training plan for beginners.  At the time, the Princess half marathon was already 70% sold!!!

Then Greg and I talked about different trips we might want to do over the next few months (Vegas!), as well as for the year.  We discussed the Disney Princess half marathon – c’mon, who doesn’t want to go to Orlando, right?  Sunny weather…running through the parks…I was trying to be realistic about it, though.  I wouldn’t want to do the parks before the race – gotta save my legs, right?  And I wasn’t sure I’d want to do the parks for a few days after the race – not sure how sore I’d be!  (I was pretty sore for a few days after the sprint triathlon I did last year.)  And spending all the money to go to Orlando and NOT do the parks, well, that didn’t seem to be the best plan…cuz I love amusement parks, too.

I decided to be adult about this, and ask Greg if it would be better to do a race that is closer to home, and therefore, less money.  I know…I really wanted to be able to say that not only did I run my first half marathon, but it was doing an inaugural race, too!!!  And he agreed – why go to Orlando if you can’t do the parks?  I was fine with this…plus it would give me a few more weeks to train.  Plus, the Disney race is the same morning as the time change – and I hate the spring time change!

So I’ve been training for the ING Georgia half-marathon.  And I’ve been slowly telling people I’m running it.  And I actually ran 7 miles last weekend (longest run to date), with 8 on plan this weekend (either later this afternoon or tomorrow, sometime).   But here’s the thing…

I HAVE NOT REGISTERED FOR THIS!!!  Uh, it’s 6 weeks away.  And I’m excited to do this (at the moment).  And I love that each week, I run the farthest I’ve ever run at one time.  But I still haven’t pulled out the credit card and signed up for it.  Maybe some time this weekend…again, I ask, WHAT AM I WAITING FOR???

Flying Biscuit

The Flying Biscuit just might be my new favorite restaurant.  We went a couple of times when we lived “in town”.  The lines were always out the door, down the street, around the block, and into the neighbors’ yards.  People like it that much.  Especially for brunch.  But as I’m getting older, I don’t like waiting that long, just to be seated.  But it sure was good.

However, a Flying Biscuit opened near our house, out in the burbs.  About a month ago, we finally went – this time to check out dinner (they do serve breakfast all day).  And it was YUMMY!!!  I just knew I was going to have the Love Cakes for my first meal back.  And I did.  And they were good.

And we went tonight.  Again, it was yummy.  I was good and ordered something other than Love Cakes – there are several dishes on the menu that look good to my picky palate.  And surprisingly, the husband ordered the same thing that I did.  It is rare that we do so, but tonight’s dish was the one that spoke to him.  We got the oven fried chicken (herb crusted), which came with grilled mac & cheese, and collard greens.  Since we’re not collard greens eaters, we both got green beans.  I think Greg has liked mac & cheese a lot longer than I have.  But let me tell ya – it was to die for.  In fact, the waiter said that they all call it “crack & cheese” – that’s how good it is!!!  And, it comes with a salad, and what else, but a flying biscuit.  Which, by the way, comes with this AMAZING apple concoction – not sure if it’s apple butter or apple jelly or what.  But that is crack, all by itself.

Good thing I got full off the salad and biscuit.  Because – guess what’s for lunch tomorrow! 

Mexcian Beef Over Polenta

I got this from Weight Watchers.  And it was – YUMMY!!!  And filling.  And tasty.  And did I mention yummy?

Instructions

• Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Cook beef and onion, stirring frequently, until meat is fully cooked, about 5 to 7 minutes; drain off any liquid. (5) Stir in tomatoes and reserved liquid, corn, olives, jalapenos (if using), 1/4 teaspoon of salt, cumin and pepper; simmer 5 minutes to allow flavors to blend. (6)
  

• Spoon polenta onto a large serving plate and top with beef mixture. Top with salsa, cheese and cilantro (or scallion). Divide into 6 portions and serve. (7)
  

(1) I also chopped up a bell pepper.  Thought it would go good w/the dish – which it did!

(2) I used hominy.  I use in hominy in taco soup, and I like the texture / flavor of hominy in taco soup, so I tried it in this.  It wasn’t bad.

(3) I used corn meal.

(4) When using corn meal, I’ve been using 4:1 ratio of liquid to corn meal.  So I used the remaining broth I had, and topped it off w/water until I got 4 c of liquid.  And then I used 1 c of corn meal.

(5) I might cook the onions & peppers separate from the meat next time.  Just a slight concern of raw meat contamination.

(6) Since I was using regular corn meal – I actually started the polenta first.  When I make polenta – I bring the liquid to a boil.  Slowly add the corn meal while whisking.  Simmer polenta and stir ever couple of minutes – for 30 minutes.  Then it’s ready!

(7) Even with using only mild Rotel, this had enough kick for me, that I didn’t need to add any salsa.  I did top with some sour cream.

This got a thumbs up from me.  And I’m saying the husband gave it a thumbs up, too.  This is a quick and easy meal to make – and YUMMY!!!

Miss me?

Yeah…me too.  For all 2 of my readers – hi mom!  hi honey!

Yes, I haven’t been keeping up with this as much as I want to. 

I’ve had some long days at work.  And then I come home and we cook and eat and clean…And then I fall asleep on the couch!  Get up the next morning early to work out, and start all over again.  Rinse.  Lather.  Repeat.

So we’ve made quite a few new dishes these past couple of weeks that I want to note here – esp since we like them!  Not too many pictures to accompany them.  That’s another thing I have to work on.

So be on the lookout for a barage of recipes!  Right?

Stay warm – I know it’s cold here!