Back On The Grid

Wow, I've been completely off the grid the past couple days.  Sorry about that!

The holiday season has definitely kicked off for me, and my normal schedule has gone from normal busy, to intensely busy!

Wednesday night I did my own made up strength training/ab workout which involved some weights, crunches on the exercise ball, lunges, planks, etc...  Still trying to strengthen that core so I'm not feeling the lower back pressure on long runs!

After my workout, I got to work on making some treats for Jen.

Pretty much since I met her she's graciously offered to come over and let Clyde out for me once in a while when I'm in a pinch (or too lazy to trek home and then back out after work).  This week was one of those times.  She lives close by and loves my dog, but it's still time out of her day and I wanted to express my appreciation for her doing that.

She recently discovered she's got some lactose issues, so these treats needed to be milk free.  I know Jen loves peanut butter, so that was an excellent place to begin my recipe search.

I used this recipe for Peanut Butter Cookies. 

Now, they may look and taste great, but this recipe wasn't the greatest.  I found that when I mixed my PB and almond milk to form the "wet" ingredients and then started mixing in the flour, baking soda/powder, salt, etc... there was WAY too much dry ingredients for the amount of wetness.  I ended up leaving out about a whole cup of all purpose flour and even then, the dough was really crumbly and didn't want to stay together.  I basically had to mash/squeeze each ball with my hands into a ball and then pray it held together in the oven. 

They did taste fantastic though.  I'm on the fence about whether I'd make them again or not.  For sure I'd leave out a lot of flour if I do.

Thursday was my office Christmas party after work.  Jen ended up having a doggie emergency of her own and couldn't let Clyde out for me, but it wasn't a big deal, I ran home, took Clyde out, touched up my make-up (while playing fetch with Clyde), then headed out to par-tay.  I think this was my first office Christmas party solo.  Somehow Greg has magically been off for the others in the four years we've lived here.  My organization likes to mix things up venue-wise and sometimes does formal hotel ball room style ones, sometimes we do a dance club, and sometimes we keep it really low-key and do a bar/restaurant, which was what we had this year. 

Do you have an office Christmas party?

We had the Christmas party at an Irish bar in Charlotte this year. 

It was actually funny, because out of all the venues I've previously taken Greg with me to, this is one of his favorite places in Charlotte and he missed it!  Anyway, it was very casual and I had a great time chatting away with co-workers that I sometimes just talk to on the phone and don't always see.

Friday I had a shorter day at work so I took advantage of this and swung by Jen's on my way home to finally drop off the cookies and see how her dog Nati is doing.  They're still not sure what is wrong with him. 

Poor Jen!  I was glad that the PB cookies could dull her pain a little.

I headed home for a late lunch of blue corn nachos, with pureed pumpkin (crazy right!), black beans, spinach, salsa, and chedder:

Let's see that again...

I really liked the addition of the blobs of pumpkin in there.  Definitely gave it a sweet/savory tastebud party, but savory was still very present.

After my nachos, I got in a 5 mile run, in 49:09.

It's getting kind of chilly outside!  I definitely took advantage of running in the daylight while I had the chance!

My friend Sarah had invited me to dinner that night.  She texted me with the time and location and I decided I would be social and go.

There ended up being 14 of us at Loco Lime, including Kelly, who texted me just as I was pulling into the parking lot to invite me.  We didn't know that each other were coming til the last minute!

I started with this margarita, that totally hit the spot.  I love a salted rim!

I chose the vegetarian enchiladas as my entree, after eating waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too many chips with salsa and guacamole.

Here is the description:  Our vegetable enchiladas are filled with sautéed Portabello mushrooms, roasted corn relish, sweetplantains, grilled zucchini, and topped with yourchoice of green tomatillo, white queso, or citrus chilired sauce garnished with queso fresco. Served with rice and beans.

Kelly raved about the plantains in the vegetarian dishes, so I was intrigued.  Honestly, I thought they made the enchiladas a little too sweet tasting for me as opposed to the savory taste I'm used to in most Mexican dishes.  I think I would have enjoyed them more on the side than in my burrito, but I understand I'm probably in the minority of people that feel that way and I still liked the enchiladas a lot.  I ended up eating one and about half the rice and beans and have lots of leftovers, so I'm interested to see if the flavors meld more when I reheat it.

Photo shenanigans ensued post dinner:

Can you tell I was getting sleepy??

Tim and Sarah!

And Thomas!

I had a great time, but called it a night after dinner.  I left the late night partying to the younger kiddos. 

Two nights in a row I was out past 10pm!  I know, I'm an animal.