Sunday Cook-A-Thon

This is going to be a long blog entry. I cooked up a storm today and I went to see Julie and Julia with my mom this afternoon so I have a lot to say. To start I will talk about yesterday's long run. We ran from my house and did 16 miles. (I had stopped the watch and forgot to turn it back on for about 2 minutes so thats why it says a little short). I had mapped out an 18 miler but we needed a bathroom break around mile 6 and had to go almost 2 miles out of the way to find one (we were in the 'burbs, aka, the middle of nowhere...). So then we just carried on main roads which was nice because there was some killer hills and thats good practice, but also because the suburban roads had huge trees which provided lots of shade from the intense, hot heat. We stopped three times to refill waters, but I'm happy we got through it. It was hot and slow but we managed.
Today I woke up, got my grocery list together and headed out the door. I went to both Trader Joe's and Stop N Shop and got tons of delicious food. On the menu tonight: Salmon Burgers with a Cream Cheese Sauce and Pesto Potato Salad.
Okay, here's what I did.

Ingredients:
-1 pound of salmon fillets, skin removed and cut into chunks
-1 tablespoon of sesame seeds
- 2 tablespoons of dill
-1 zuchinni, grated
-10 saltines, crunched by hand

Place salmon in food processor and pulse a few times. Transfer to a bowl and combine with listed above ingredients. Form burgers and cook in hot skillet for 5 minutes on each side.

While the burgers cook, prepare the sauce.

-1/2 cup of cream cheese, softened
-3 scallions, chopped
-1/2 cup sour cream
-1 tablespoon of lemon juice

Combine ingredients together and spread over Ciabatta Roll (I put it on both sides!) Then top burgers with tomatoes and enjoy!

I also made Pesto Potato Salad that I made last week only adding some argula as well.

In addition, I made Banana Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies. Similar to the ones I made here, but not quite as healthy....

Ingredients:
-2 small ripe mashed bananas
-1/2 dark brown sugar
-1/4 cup of melted butter
-1/4 cup granulated sugar
-1 teaspoon of vanilla
-1 large egg
-1 and 1/4 cups of flour
-2 cups of oats
-1 teaspoon of baking soda
-1/2 cup of chocolate chips cookies
-1/2 cup of trail mix

Preheat oven to 350 and combine first five ingredients and beat with mixer until smooth, add egg and beat well. Combine flour,oats, baking soda and add to banana mixture with mixer and then stir in the chocolate chips and trail mix. Drop cookies 2 inches apart and form 4 rows of 3. Cook for 18 minutes and cool on wire rack.
And I've wanted to cook these "Magic Bars" for weeks now and I figured this was the week to do it. I have a meeting with my Ragnar Relay team on Thursday night so I will bring leftovers there. I'm running a 12 person 48 hour relay race from CT-Boston in September. Can't wait!

Magic Bars:

Ingredients:
-1 stick of butter, melted
-12 graham crackers, pulsed in a food processor
-1 and 1/2 cups of chocolate chips
-1 cup shredded coconut
-1 cup of heath bar chips
-1/3 cup of sweetened condensed milk*

*all of these measurements are approximations aside from the butter. All I did was melt one stick of butter in an 8X12 Pyrex pan and then added the crackers until it was pressed even to the bottom of the pan. Then I layered with coconut, chocolate chips, heath bar chips and then covered with the milk over top. I then baked this for 25 minutes at 350 degrees.

This bars are seriously heaven on earth. (And totally not healthy- but amazing!!!) My mom used to make bars like these growing up and I think she'd appreciate the addition of the heath bar chips!

My after dinner bite:
OMG, I could probably eat 10 of these, but I controlled myself!

Next up, Dave's lunch in his brand new Celtics Lunch Box. I've been packing his lunches in my flowered Envirosax and he wasn't liking that so much so when I saw this lunchbox, I thought he'd be excited. haha. Anyway, his lunch consisted of the last salmon burger, an apple, banana, clementine, Cliff Bar, Blueberry Greek Yogurt AND an oatmeal banana cookie. Big lunch but he's gonna need the extra energy for his golf tournament late in the day. Aren't I the best wife ever???


And the last thing I made was a Tortilla Pie with Chicken from Martha's Stewarts Everyday Food. I didn't adapt much here aside from buying store bough fresh salsa AND store bought Salsa Verde. I decided to switch up the salsa's each layer. This is dinner tomorrow night and I feel happy its already done.


And, I would like you all to know that one room of our house finally has curtains!!! We still four rooms left to do, but we've started the process.
I love having such a handy husband. He can fix and hang anything : )
I'm too tired now and the Red Sox need my support so I will write my Julie & Julia review in the AM. It was definitely really well done, but I liked my version of Julie better in the book.