Unseasonably Warm

Yesterday the high was almost 70 degrees in Charlotte!  Less than a week ago we had a high of about 40, so this was quite the contrast!

I started my Saturday by making a loaf of banana bread.  I actually subbed half the flour for oat flour by grinding some rolled oats in my food processor.  I like this recipe because there's no eggs, so I don't worry quite as much if it's slightly undercooked.  Sometimes breads give me trouble because I tend to worry that it's not cooked enough and over cook it.  The honey in this recipe makes the bread kind of chewy too, which I like.

I spent most of the morning engrossed in my Kindle book, The Girl Who Played With Fire, but finally put the book down and got out around noon and to take Clyde for a walk.  I think the trees are confused about the warm weather too- check it out, the cherry blossoms are already out!

We walked for about 45 minutes.  It was actually warmer than I thought it would be and I was hot in my yoga pants and fleece vest.

I came home and decided that having a salad on the deck sounded great so that I could continue enjoying the weather.  I found this one, an apple, walnut, goat cheese salad, on Pinterest and basically made it the same except using spinach and green leaf lettuce as my base..  I've been eating a lot of walnuts as I heard they're good for fertility.

This time I put shorts on, before heading out to the deck to eat.

Ahhh, I'm so white!  This made my next task incredibly unpleasant: bathing suit shopping...

Greg and I are taking a trip in a couple weeks and am in need of some new bathing suits.  Target actually has bathing suits out already, so I headed there to take a look.  Biggest gripe?  You can only take 6 items at a time into their dressing room, which adds up quick when you have bathing suit tops and bottoms.  I had to go in twice to try everything I wanted to try on.  I hate that!  They did have some cute suits though, so I got two tops and three different bottoms.

I'm not sure if I should be wearing bikinis anymore, but I couldn't find anything else I liked and you can't beat the price, I think each piece was around $15.  I really want to get a tankini, but I have a really short torso, so they always come down past the top of my bottoms, which is silly looking.  The one piece suits weren't looking too promising either.  Anyway, I'm just glad that's over with.

On the way home I drove with the sunroof open.  Still pretty warm!

Shortly after I got home, some rain came through, and I suddenly wanted soup for dinner.  I made soup using these beans we got at Costco recently.

You boil one cup in three cups of liquid for 5 minutes, then let them sit for 10 minutes and can use them any way you want.  I have a good recipe for split pea soup, so I decided to try and use the beans in that recipe.

Pea Soup

Cook time 4-4.5 hours

1 lb bag of dried split peas

2 quarts water

1 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon of pepper

1/8 teaspoon of garlic powder (I used minced garlic)

1/8 teaspoon cumin

1/8 teaspoon poultry seasoning

1/2 teaspoon basil

1/2 teaspoon dill

1/2 teaspoon rosemary

1 chopped onion

1/2 cup chopped carrot

2 stalks of celery, chopped

Boil peas in water 2 minutes.  Turn off head and keep covered an hour.  Add seasonings and simmer 2 hours, add vegetables, then cook for another hour.

Since I didn't have 4 hours and I was hoping these beans would cook faster, I cooked the beans as directed (5 minutes, then sit for 10), I just sauteed the onions and carrot til softened, added the seasonings, then put them in the pot with the seasonings and cooked it all together for another 40 minutes or so, then used my immersion blender to try to puree it. 

Honestly, it probably needed more cooking time, but I was hungry and it was decent this way, the beans just weren't as soft as they might be if they were cooked longer.  I love the seasonings in this soup.

I spent a quiet night in with this pup.

We watched the movie Up, which I hadn't seen.  So cute!

I think it's going to rain today, but I'm hoping not, because I have some fun stuff planned for the afternoon.  More on that next time!



A Merry Christmas

You'll all be happy to hear that I mustered up some Christmas spirit and had a great weekend with my parents.  My mom left the following comment on my last post after reading what a lump I was being:

I can't wait to come and celebrate an encore Christmas with you! We are going to watch Love Actually, eat potato pancakes, have some kind of Christmas cocktail & I got you another present!!!

You better have that Christmas music playing when we arrive tomorrow missy.


Love, Mom

So I really didn't have a choice, but to have a good time. :)

I started my Christmas Eve by breaking in one of my Christmas presents, my new Asics from my brother.

My friend Kerrie is training for the Miami half marathon, and I offered to run 4 of her 9 miles with her at a local trail.

It was pretty cold out, but it felt great to get out there.  I let her set the pace since it was her training run, so she kept track on her Garmin.

Four plus miles done, I headed out to get prepped for my parents' arrival.

They rolled in mid afternoon and we headed to the town center nearby to get some coffee and walk around.  If I was in doubt about my Christmas spirit, the unexpected fire truck parade, with Santa a top, helped.

Santa!  I KNOW him!

Filled with spirit, we headed back home and had a little snack and some cocktails...

Then we headed out for Christmas Eve dinner at Vivace.  We thought it would be fun to go out one night and stay in the other since my parents were in town for two nights.  My mom and I went to Vivace for restaurant week over the summer and it was phenomenal.

My mom and I went halvsies on the seasonal salad: roasted beets, gorgonzola, candied walnuts, red onion agrodolce, lemon vinaigrette.  Excuse my crappy IPhone pic.  It was pretty dimly lit in the restaurant.

Anyway, this salad rocked.  I seriously can't get enough beet salad, in case you can't tell.

We also split the CHILI-CAPELLINI & Crab roasted garlic, lemon, melted tomatoes, spinach, frutti di mare brodo.

 

Spicy seafood deliciousness.

And lastly we split the Veal Saltimbocca: fresh mozzarella ravioli, porcinis, brown butter.  I'm definitely morally wary of veal and think it's kind of wrong to eat it, but my mom really wanted it.  I eat it very infrequently and never order it myself, but I've tried it when other people get it.  It was good, but I'd be just as happy with chicken, or a meatless entree.  I actually loved the ravioli that came with it, and could have eaten a whole plate of those with the incredible mushroom sauce.

Bellies full, we headed home and watched one of many movies watched this weekend, Hall Pass. 

I have the worst track record ever for watching movies with unexpected nudity with my parents, and this was no exception.  If you have seen this and remember the scene where Owen Wilson passes out in the hot tub and the naked guys in the sauna save him, you know what I'm talking about...

Christmas morning was a low key affair.  My parents exchanged stockings, and I opened a few gifts sent from friends and family.  We decided against a big breakfast and just had fruit, yogurt, and danish.

We went on a brisk walk in the neighborhood after breakfast.  The temperature in Charlotte finally dropped some, and even though it wasn't a white Christmas, it at least felt like winter. 

Lunch was panini sandwiches with turkey, cheese, tomato, and spinach with a handful of chips.  My mom and I also split a Shiner Bock Holiday beer, which are awesome.

We headed out to see a matinee of The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, which both my parents have read and seen the Swedish movie versions of. 

I have wanted to read the book the book for a while, but haven't, and decided I could see the movie and then maybe read the other two books in the series if it pulled me in.  The movie is VERY intense.  If you're not familiar, be warned that there is a graphic rape scene in it that was pretty disturbing (again with watching awkward stuff with my parents...).  One couple actually got up and walked out.  The movie was good though, and I immediately went home and downloaded The Girl Who Played With Fire on my Kindle (Christmas present from my parents), so that I could continue reading what happens.

My mom and I cooked Christmas dinner at my house, which was a roasted beef tenderloin, potato pancakes, apple sauce, and green beans.

Yum!

My mom and I watched Love Actually after dinner, while my dad caught a football game in the other room.

Monday we just ate breakfast, went on a short shopping trip (I got some silver nail polish for New Years Eve), and then they headed home, while I read my newly downloaded Kindle book and enjoyed my day off :).  Greg made it home around 7pm last night and we got to have Christmas dinner, round two, together.

That pretty much sums up my Christmas this year.  How'd yours go??



Five Minute Spinach Sauce

Hey guys!  The week is already in full swing.  Work is running me ragged lately, and I come home without a ton of energy or motivation to do a lot, especially cook long elaborate meals.

Lately I'm all about quick meals and using up stuff in my fridge.  I made lasagna for my parents when they were visiting and I pretty much always make more noodles than I end up using, so I thought I'd get creative last night in using up the extra noodles.

I decided to make a simple sauce out of sauteed spinach, garlic, and tomato (in a little olive oil).

Mixed with some cottage cheese in the food processor to give it the creamy, cheesy factor.

 

Awwww yeah.

Then I cut up my cooked lasagna noodles into bite sized pieces, poured on my sauce, and added a little fresh Parmesan cheese.  I popped it in the microwave just to warm up the noodles and make sure the sauce was warm all the way through.

Easy, tasty, and healthy too.  A great use for leftover pasta!

I spent the rest of the evening chilling with Clyde playing about 2,000 rounds of fetch...

while watching this crazy movie...

In case you can't see my picture very well, I watched 127 Hours, which is the film about Aron Ralston, the guy who had to cut his arm off to free it from a boulder that fell on his arm while hiking in Utah.  The movie really made me think about whether I could do that or not and I definitely cringed during THE scene.

I also had a bowl of cookies and cream (Breyers) ice cream with some fresh cherries on top later as a movie snack.

Kind of like Cherry Garcia.  Yum!

Do you have any five minute go-to recipes? 

Chillin and Grillin

Whoa, the weekend went by fast, didn't it?!

Did anyone else experience the crazy storm we got in Charlotte Saturday night? Check out some of the pictures of hail I took (from the safety of inside my house!):

Looks like snow!

Crazy!  Right?  This might be the biggest hail I've ever seen.  I was happy to have my car in the garage!

Saturday night I actually had plans to see a movie with my friend Kerrie, but we canceled when the hail and tornado warnings started coming in.  I think Clyde would have cried if I'd left him too, he was pretty much glued to my lap all night. 

Anyway, we survived the storm, and Sunday morning I woke up in the mood for some eggs and potatoes.

I made a batch of scrambled eggs, and also some homemade home fries.  

Here's my trick for homemade home fries.  I take a potato or two, stab them to let the steam out and microwave them for about 2-3 minutes.  Once out, I cut them up and saute them in a pan with a little olive oil or butter and season with salt, pepper, and usually a little paprika or rosemary.  The cook up pretty fast that way, which is great, because I'm an impatient person ;)

I also had some of the previous day's coffee over ice for a nice cool glass of iced coffee.  Perfect breakfast :)

Later in the afternoon, Kerrie and I decided to see the movie we had canceled seeing the night before.  We saw The Lincoln Lawyer.

I really liked it!  There was a bunch of twists and it had me on the edge of my seat and I thought Matthew McConaughey was great in it.  This is my kind of Matthew McConaughey movie- I like the ones he's a lawyer in, like A Time to Kill, and stuff like that more then the goofy ones, although, he's good in How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days too!  I have a friend that read the book and she said the book is really good, so I kind of wish I'd read the book first.  Usually, when I read the book first that makes me like the movie less though, so I guess it's okay that I didn't this time.

After the movie, I headed home and walked Clyde, who had gotten kind of antsy in the few hours I was gone.  The walk seemed to calm him down.  Then had to figure out what to make for dinner.  I looked through the fridge and realized I had this guy in there:

It's a Listada De Gandia eggplant!  Pretty huh?  I googled for a while looking for a recipe for this particular eggplant, but mostly found the standard eggplant recipes.  I found a couple recipes that looked good, but would take too long (I was starving!), so I opted to grill some of it with some zucchini and red pepper.

Grilled veggies are probably my favorite summer food.  So glad to have them back :)

I threw them in a Flat Out wrap with some spinach and goat cheese.

With a side of cottage cheese for extra protein.

Good stuff!

This week is kicking off a couple weeks that are going to be off the charts busy!  

Eeeeek.  Hope I survive it all!

Successful Seventeen!

Saturday morning I did my long run in Hilton Head.

I set out to get in 17 miles, which would be a new personal distance record for me (my previous was last weekend's 15 miles).

Though Thursday and Friday were warm, Saturday morning was cold in in the 40s.  I suited up in my Lululemon crop pants, a long sleeve tech shirt, and fleece vest.

I set up water, Gatorade, and some Shot Blocks at my parents house so I could loop back and fuel every 5-7 miles, to help break up the run.

For the first loop I got in 7 miles before heading back to fuel.  I figured that would help to know I only had 10 miles left.  I popped a couple Shot Blocks, had some gulps of Gatorade and water, then headed out for the next 5 mile loop.

Though the scenery was gorgeous as usual, this was the worst of the three "laps".  I was feeling lower back pressure again (I always seem to get it on my long runs now), and these 5 miles felt really labored and tough.  I was far enough into the run that it was taking its toll, but still had a lot more to go.  I think part of the struggle was mental.

I found my mom taking a walk in the last mile, and opted to walk that mile with her back to the house.

Before setting out on my last loop, I actually stretched a bunch and then took in more fuel.

The last 5 miles weren't actually too bad.  I think the stretching helped, and I also had renewed enthusiasm knowing I would be hitting a personal distance record and was almost done.

Success!

The breakdown:

Mile 1: 9:45

Mile 2: 9:58

Mile 3: 10:15

Mile 4: 10:20

Mile 5: 10:21

Mile 6: 10:08

Mile 7: 10:09

Took first fuel break.

Mile 8: 10:40

Mile 9: 10:15

Mile 10: 10:21

Mile 11: 10:09

Mile 12: 12:36 (walked with my mom)

Took second fuel break.

Mile 13: 11:21

Mile 14: 9:56

Mile 15: 10:15

Mile 16: 10:02

Mile 17: 10:27

Under 3 hours, including the walk in mile 12!  I was definitely tired, but not too terrible.  I showered, had lunch, and then my mom and I did the perfect post long run activity.  Went to a movie, so I could sit and relax!  We saw Morning Glory, and it was really cute :) 

I was also able to easily polish off half a large popcorn by myself without much remorse, as I had just RUN 17 MILES!  :)  The benefits of marathon training.