Rants, Recipes, and Running

Cooking good food - it's kind of a goal, but more of an evolving lifestyle for me. This is something I struggle with when Ryan is away, because it is so easy to grab cheese, hummus, and crackers for a "meal". But that does not fuel me for the 45-mile weeks I've been running lately ;) One thing that has helped with my cooking is purchasing in a spiralizer. I 1st ordered the cheap one on Amazon. And immediately sent it back. You get what you pay for.... So I went with the Amazon best seller. And am in love! I have done many batches of spiralized zucchini. I've done spiralized sweet potatoes - sautéed in sea salt and coconut oil (my favorite, thus far). To fuel me up for my 20 mile run, I spiralized red potatoes last night. I am guilty of using ketchup with potatoes like this. But crisping them up with cumin, sea salt, and coconut oil? -- NKR (that's No. Ketchup. Required) :D They were a great accompaniment to Dijon chicken breasts and roasted ga...

It is no surprise to anyone that is friends with me on Social Media...I have been busy in the kitchen this month!! It has been so nice to have a spacious kitchen again. We also made a pledge to do no restaurants all month of July to help save money for house furnishings, etc. (Restaurants are SUCH budget-suckers!!! Good Lord!) Ryan has been working a ton lately - and weird hours +  it's his "finals week" w/ grad school. - so had lots of "me time" to spend in the kitchen and wanted to spoil him with good food. I like to send him with baked goods to bring to his squadron on the weekend's he works. And his request was White Chocolate Macadamia Nut cookies . I went to make them Friday night, and realized I didn't have any Macadamia nuts. So I improvised: and crushed up almonds, and used a little pure almond extract. They turned out SO GOOD!!! I got the recipe from The Pioneer Woman . Definitely a keeper of a recipe!! Saturday I wanted to send h...

If you have been following this blog over the years, you may remember that I have had some "cake fails" in the past. Like 6 years ago, when my husband requested an ice cream cake ...and we ended up with a cake engulfed in cookies-and-cream-ice-cream. Last year for Ryan's birthday, I attempted a dark-chocolate layer cake. The cake collapsed in the middle. So my fix was, I made out of those "coffee mug cakes", cut out the collapsed goo, and put the "mug cake" in the hole. Ryan thought it was a "special layer" cake - and it was a win-win! So as you can see, cake baking maybe isn't my strongest? But I like to think I'm good at it. Because I love to cook and bake. So there I was Thursday night. I was at a HH for work, and ran into one of my girlfriends. We were planning a surprise 40th bday party for our friend Amber. I asked if she needed help with any last minute details, and she asked if I'd be able to take care of the cake! ...

So in a previous post talking about my 2015 goals, I said I wanted to try some new recipes out of my comfort zone. While this week's recipe was nothing out of my comfort zone, it was something different! Whenever we buy a roast, I tend to make the same exact stew every time. Beef roasts were on mad sale last weekend at my market, so I "indulged". (We don't eat a lot of red meat, so getting a roast is a rare thing!) I used my bread oven to make some home-made bread and spent my morning preparing all the good, delicious ingredients for this stew! Let me tell you, it is amazing. Hearty, healthy, soul-warming, good stuff! And it makes your house smell like heaven. Or at least what I think heaven might smell like?! Fresh baked bread and beef stew? ;) Here it is: -4 lb beef roast, cubed -1 cup barley -3 potatoes, cubed -about 10 baby carrots, halved -1/2 onion, sliced -5 cloves garlic -1/2 cup tomato paste -red wine (about 1/2 cup? I just pour until ...

We had the perfect balance going this weekend between fun, productive, and relaxing. Sometime that is rather challenging. But I think we had it down! Here's our weekend in bullet-point style: Went for a nice solo run Friday morning. Almost all of my runs these days are with friends. This is awesome, but for most of my life I've always ran alone. So I value my solo runs done at my own pace with my own thoughts. That night we went to a Ragnar "wrap up party" with 3 other couples. It was such a fun evening. Definitely came home that night with "sore cheeks" from all the laughter!! Saturday morning I shared a pot of coffee with Ryan, and went to the gym to lift weights. Mornings like that make me really appreciate being done training for my 70.3. From June-October, my Saturday mornings would be spent waking up at 4:15 am and doing a 3+ hour brick workout! After the gym, we got coffee and met a few friends to watch the "El Tour de Tucson" - whi...

Well, Hello September 8. The rest of the country is sipping Pumpkin Spice Latte's, pulling out their jeans and sweaters, and enjoy the crisp change of seasons. Over here in Arizona, we are sweltering in the heat. 100 degree days continue to persist. This morning at 4:50 am as I drove to swim practice, it was 80 degrees with 68% humidity (according to my weather app). All I could say to that is " wtf ". This is the time of the year where I start looking at Zillow for houses in Grand Forks, ND. Or Fairbanks, Alaska. Or perhaps Antarctica. Which I fantasized about on my run yesterday where even my teeth were sweating, I believe.   Okay, okay, enough of my ranting about Arizona. Don't worry, in 3 months I will be all "high on love" for the Sonoran Desert.   I chose to boycott summer yesterday. I even went as far as closing the blinds, so I could think it was cold and cloudy outside. My husband had 2 long days of work this weekend where was fl...

I must admit....I've been rocking some serious new dishes in the kitchen lately! From our pesto party last weekend to this weekend. I'm feeling "one with the food". I made 3 new recipes over the weekend, and I have to say all are keepers! Especially the Chicken Enchilada Dip - which I will share below.... What a great Labor Day weekend! It had the perfect balance of fun and productivity! Friday night Ryan worked until 1 am, so I had a girls' night. Went to dinner with my girlfriends Michelle and Heather, and then we went to the movie "If I Stay" -- which was the 1st book we read in our book club! Loved the movie. Most crying I've ever heard in a movie theater! I love my "date nights" with these girls, and we never seem to run out of things to talk about! Saturday morning I was up bright and early at 4:30 for a Bike/Run brick workout. This was the biggest workout to date with this 70.3 training. We did 31.5 miles on the bike and 8...

If there's one thing I've learned since we moved to the Sonoran Desert, it's that you can garden and eat things from the ground. It just takes some serious labor and love. I cannot just plant tomatoes, water them every other day, and expect fruit. That's just silly and naïve . One must do extensive research! In  fact, I am currently starting my seeds for next years garden. As it takes much love and transitioning to get them ready for Arizona's awful, relentless heat! One thing we've really embraced this year - is making use out of our cacti. We have a beautiful prickly pear cactus in the corner of our yard that bears wonderful fruit! What does prickly pear look like again?   There are 2 distinct parts to the prickly pear. The green paddles (nopales) and the purple prickly pears.   Harvesting these isn't always fun. You will get hairs and thorns impaled into your skin. Unless you were smart and perhaps wore gloves?   The nopales pa...

Our kitchen has been active lately with several new recipes. My favorite thing that is a'brewin' is our prickly pear infused liquors ! But there will be a post to come on that soon. I'm pretty stoked about it, though! We are actually harvesting plump, juicy, red prickly pears from our cactus, and infusing them in mason jars w/ vodka and agave nectar..... More to come that! Over the weekend, I tried to make comfort food for my husband who went on night shift starting the 4th of July. Right now our schedule couldn't be more opposite. He wakes up as I go to bed. But that's okay - we still live in the same household, and this schedule is temporary! A few of my comfort creations were: Salted Puppy Chow (sea salt, pretzels, puppy chow, #crack) - I made 2 big batches of this. One which I brought to the 4th of July party I went to, the other I sent with Ryan to work. Crockpot lasagna - super easy, super delicious! Why have I never tried making lasagna in a cro...

I've been finding my "mojo" in the kitchen again lately, and we've been cooking some really fun stuff! I made a recipe last week that I had to share. It was so fun and delicious. I thought this would make a really good dinner party appetizer. Especially in the summertime. How I came up with it: We bought our 1st "produce share" through a Groupon this month. It was $20 for a basket of fresh, organic, local produce. In the basket, we got eggplant (and green beans, tomatoes, cucumbers, oranges, and garlic. Mmmm). I'm not a big eggplant fan, but was determined to find a way to like it. So I decided that basil and tomatoes (and cheese) make everything good. Ingredients: (super easy!) 1 eggplant, sliced handful of fresh basil leaves sliced tomatoes whole mozzarella 1/2 cup balsalmic vinegar 1/4 cup olive oil s & p to taste How to make: Slice the eggplants, and soak in a container with the olive oil & balsalmic (10 min) Grill for ab...

I don't know if you've noticed my absence of recipes, but my abandoned kitchen tools have. It's just not fun to cook for yourself. It is so much easier to just heat up some boring black beans and eat it with a salad when you have no one to cook for. Now that Ryan is home, and we are adjusting to "married life" under the same roof again - I am rekindling my love of the kitchen! I made a recipe on Sunday afternoon, that I just had to share! Green Lentil Curry . I bought a bunch of bulk lentils from Sprouts last week, and had the thought to make them ahead of time for lunches during the week. And I found the perfect recipe for this! And it was so easy ! I found the recipe on Pinterest, made a few little changes. It is so good!!! 2 cups green lentils (dry) 1 14 oz can coconut milk (I used the lite version) 8 oz tomato paste 3 cups water 1/2 large onion, chopped finely 6 garlic cloves 1 tsp turmeric 1/2 tsp coriander, ground 1 tsp curry powder 1 ...

This is my "weekend", as I worked through the weekend - so got Monday & Tuesday off! Day 1 was glorious. I started it off at 7 am @ Starbucks, and then a 5 mile walk with a dear friend. Our tradition for "catching up" is to bring our coffee dates "on the go". It was such a beautiful morning in Tucson...about 50 degrees with a gorgeous sunrise. Then I got home, and decided to take advantage of this day. As I am well aware that everywhere in the Lower 48, except the SW(?!), are dealing with seriously insane weather!! So I opened all the windows, and spent my day cleaning, doing yard work, and meal prepping for the week. And here is what I came up with!: 1. Kale Salad. I told you guys I'm obsessed! Except this time I chopped up my kale, and dressed with w/ 2 fresh lemons, 1/4 cup balsalmic vinegar, 3 Tbsp olive oil, garlic, S & P. For dinner, I enjoyed with a grilled chicken breast! 2. Anti-inflammatory butternut squash . Ew, th...

I haven't done a great deal of recipe posts lately. Maybe because I haven't done a great deal of cooking lately! ;) I am just not good at cooking when Ryan is gone. It's so easy to just have cheese and crackers for dinner.....instead of a nutritious meal. When a man lives in the house - there are expectations to eat real meals containing grains , meat , & vegetables . So it's kind of exciting and liberating to say, "I'm going to have cereal and nutella for dinner!" But this is something I'm working on. I took Monday & Tuesday off this week to recover from the marathon. Therefore, spent my Tuesday making quinoa, butternut squash, and chicken breasts to prep my meals for the work week ahead! But my favorite staple I'm sharing is my favorite Kale Salad ever! My friend Kristin introduced this to me, and it's now my favorite. So fresh and delicious! And insanely easy. It's a great base, too..... Ingredients: 4 cups organic k...

One thing cooking trick that's become a ritual in our Hotel Habitat is shredded chicken. In fact, this is my favorite way to eat chicken! Have you ever made a bomb-tastastic chicken soup/stew, but been disappointed that it was a tad too dry? SHRED IT! More surface area to marry the juices and herbs = more flavor! A few variations of shredded chicken I've made over the past few weeks: Hot-wing style shredded chicken (hot wing sauce + shredded chicken + salad = serious party in your mouth) Shredded chicken tacos BBQ shredded chicken wraps (shredded chicken + BBQ sauce + honey, wrap in tortilla with spinach and jack cheese -- delicious!) Shredded chicken with carrots, celery, and chicken broth for a noodle-less chicken soup You get the point. But my most winning recipe is my Chicken Tortilla Soup. It is hands-down Ryan's favorite thing I make. (It's probably my favorite thing I make, too). It is our favorite comfort food. Also, a staple on camping trips! Th...

If you love peaches, please stand up .   I'm not simply standing up , I'm doing cheerleader kicks, deer jumps, and cartwheels!! (If only I could actually do a cartwheel ....)   Peaches are in season! Celebrate! When things are in season, and they are sold cheap, I stock up like a crazy woman. Not was crazy as the crazy couponers stock up on microwavable dinners and oatmeal cookies....   But I buy big bags, and eat large quantities of that fruit! And if I can't eat it, I clean it, slice it, and freeze it so I can enjoy it during the off season on my oatmeal/yogurt.   Sometimes planning meals in this hotel room can be a challenge. I want to make good food, but I have limited resources. I wanted to switch things up. So with an open mind, into the grocery store I went.   I knew 3 things: I wanted healthy , I wanted summery , and I wanted white meat (or something close to it)   So out I walked with a bag of peaches and some thic...

After visiting 4 different grocery stores in search for the Lady Fingers for Ryan's birthday Tiramissu....I posted a panic message on facebook. I had secretive hopes that maybe someone would have a wise last minute suggestion. I also was venting to the world about Texas grocery stores' lack of lady fingers. What does Texas have against Tiramissu? Yes, I continue to the thrive on being bitter towards Texas. Especially when today it's supposed to be a dangerous Heat Index of 105 -- and even the morning sucks because of the humidity. And our gym is just as hot, because apparently they don't believe in air conditioners or fans. I'm not sure, but it's horrendous. Even running on the tredmill is nearly out of the question! Anyways, back to ladyfingers. One of my facebook friends came on with an ingenius suggestion, "Here's the recipe for how to make lady fingers. It's really easy!" I could do nothing but smirk. Yes, Maybe I can put a paperbag o...

You need a stove to cook a delicious pasta meal....they said. You're going to have to eat out every night if you're going to live in a hotel......they said. Well here is me defying what " they said" . Now I never said this doesn't take extra planning and patience. But it CAN be done, my friends! I was told last week while explaining our current living situation,  "It's going to get old and expensive eating out every night!" I responded in shock, "Oh, we haven't been going out to eat. I'm cooking! I bought a hot plate!" **Awkward stares......A what -plate?!** I had never heard of a hot plate either. But it's serving me well so far! I obviously miss our gas stove... Our blender..... The Kitchen-aid food processor.  The dishwasher. But "kitchen, kitchen, on the wall ( the kitchen is this room is literally a little station on the wall ), what is the most prized possession of all??? ? The Garbage Disposal. My God . ...

I have found something devilish. It is delicious and, unfortunately, difficult to stop at one. However, with the mildfulness that the main ingredient in this is protein powder and and peanut butter -- I must remind myself to stop. This recipe was sort of advertised as a "pre-workout snack". If you have a solid digestive track, and can eat on the run (literally) -- great for you!!!!! However, I learned that this is a better "recovery snack" -- when I noshed 2 of these down last week prior to swimming a mile. I felt like I was going to throw up throughout the entire swim. Or drown. Or both. So here is my POST-workout Recovery snack! It's a great combination of nutrients as it's high in protein and has a little bit a carbohydrate to keep feeding your brain (I am exaggerating the importance of carbs, as I know some athletes that try eliminating carbs for weight loss. And it's unhealthy. I'm not saying you need to nosh on donuts and spaghetti. Bu...

My initial disclaimer is that if the following information I'm about to post about is old news to you -- sorry. It's new news to me! And I'm pretty excited about it. Greek Yogurt. (G.Y.) Lately with all this triathlon training - I have been putting many hours in the pool, bike, and running trails. Weight training and foam rolling in between. Although most of it is fun for me (especially the run, bike swim). Heck, swimming doesn't even feel like a workout to me since it's so fun and natural to me to swim (I've always been a fish). This high activity level cannot be achieved with out proper fuel ! Hmmm..."Fuel".... Isn't that how Lance Armstrong was such an awesome athlete? Success = fuel = supplements = Blood doping........ No. I don't even dabble in taking protein - I haven't found any protein that doesn't make my stomach feel queasy. The closest thing to a supplement I take is my B Complex vitamins and Calcium & Magnesium. ...