Run Lizzy Run

Last night I ran with Nancy and Laryssa from Charlestown. We wanted to run 10 miles but after a long day in the office with lots of food tempting me, I didn't think I would be able to...BUT... we did! We ended up running just short...

Date	7 /15/2009
Route	Charlestown-Memorial-Storrow-Charlestown
Distance	9.75 mi
Time	1:32:00
Pace	0:09:26/mile

But, after I stopped my watch, we sprinted up Laryssa's street which was probably a quarter mile and straight uphill so we probably did do ten afterall.

Dinner was lots of random stuff, a lavish roll-up with cheese and avocado, a small piece of the pork tenderloin, lots of water and a cookie.

Today is my Friday! I have a rehearsal dinner and a wedding this weekend and can't wait! Catch up with you on Sunday!

Veggie Dinner #2

Tonight I made Curried Chickpea Burgers adapted from Buff Chickpea. I invited my mom over for dinner so she was in for quite a treat. Here's the ingredients:

1 can of chickpea, drained and rinsed
2 large eggs
2 large carrots, chopped
1/2 teaspoon of red curry paste
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1 cup of alfalfa sprouts
1/3 cup of parsley
1/2 medium apple

Combine these ingredients in a food processor and puree the mixture. Then pour mixture into a mixing bowl and add the following ingredients:

1/2 white onion, chopped
1/2 cup of bread crumbs
1/2 cup of flax seed

Stir the ingredients together and let sit for a few to absorb the moisture and then form the burger mixture into patties. Then heat a skillet with EVOO and cook for a few minutes on each side until nicely browned and heated through.

I put my burgers on a ciabatta roll with hummus, more sprouts and spinach. I also made kale chips to go along and my mom brought over some pasta salad she made.



In addition, I also made Maple-Mustard Chicken Thighs incase my burgers didn't go over that well with the hubby.

The burger, nor the Kale Chips were amazing to either my mom or Dave. But I really enjoyed them! Dave ate the whole burger and when I asked what he thought, he said and I quote, "They taste like health." Well, I guess its a good thing I also made the chicken because both mom and Dave loved that!

Maple-Mustard Chicken Thighs

Ingredients:
1.5 pounds of Chicken Thighs
2 tablespoons of grainy mustard
2 tablespoons of dijon mustard
1 clove of minced garlic
1/2 teaspoon of majoram
2 tablespoons of maple syrup

All the ingredients here are from Ellie Kriegers recipe, but I changed up the cooking method. Instead of baking the chicken, I sauteed the chicken with EVOO in a skillet with salt and pepper on both sides. Once browned, I added the maranade and let it all hang out in the skillet until combined. Dave and my mom seemed to really enjoy it!


Tomorrow night, I am running after work with some girls from the running group, so I made dinner for tomorrow night too. So in addition to the chickpea burgers and the chicken thighs, I made the pork tenderloin I had in the fridge. This way Dave has tons of leftovers to choose from!

Mango Chutney Spicey Pork Tenderloin Medallions

Ingredients:
-1 1/2 pounds pork tenderloin, cut into 1 1/2 inch rounds
-1 cup of Mango Chutney
-2 tablespoons of white wine vinegar
-2 tablespoons of mustard
-couple splashes of Srichi Hot Sauce
-1 tablespoon of soy sauce

Lightly salt and pepper pork medallions and put in skillet and saute for about three minutes on each side. Combine the other ingredients and pour into skillet to coat the pork. Simmer for 5-10 minutes and serve.

I haven't tasted this one yet, but will let you know how it tastes!

No workout for me today. Long run tomorrow night. Night everyone! Jeter just tied the game, go American League!

Bridal Shower/9 Miles/Big Cooking Monday

Stephanie's Bridal Shower was so much fun and a definite success! I forgot to take a lot of the pictures of the food, but I made Guac, the Pepper dip I made on Saturday and some hummus. I also made a Baked Brie with Strawberry Jelly and Almonds inside wrapped in puff pastry. I also made a ton of Sangria- 4 bottles of Riesling, Ginger Ale, Sugar and tons of fruit. Stef got tons of great gifts and it was a beautiful day. The bridesmaids are all together up above!

This morning I woke up early, 6am and took the train into the city to run at the gym. I was very happy with my run and I think I ran so well because I started off much slower than I usually do. Here are my stats:

Date	7 /13/2009
Route	Treadmill
Distance	9.00 mi
Time	1:19:30
Pace	0:08:50/mile

For dinner tonight, I planned quite the feast! I saw this recipe on Smitten Kitchen and wanted to try it out. I also wanted to incorporate more vegetarian meals in my diet.

Leek and Swiss Chard Tart
Modified from Bon Appetit

Ingredients:
-puff pastry sheet
-2 tablespoons of butter
-3 large leeks
-a big bunch of rainbow swiss chard
-1 cup of whipping cream
-1/4 cup of skim milk
-3 large eggs
-2 egg yolks
-1 tablespoon salt
-1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
-pinch of ground nutmeg
-1/8 cup of Feta Cheese
-1/8 cup of Mozzarella Cheese

Roll out pastry and transfer to a 9 inch glass pie dish. Turn on oven to 425. Trim overhang to 1 inch and folder under and crimp edges. Then melt butter in skillet and add leeks until tender. Then add swiss chard and wilt down. Whisk cream and then next 6 ingredients. Then start compiling the tart. First put a layer of cheese on the pastry dough, then add the leeks and swiss chard, then add one more layer of cheese and add the egg/milk mixture over top. Bake in the oven at 425 for 15 minutes. After 15 minutes, turn the oven down to 350 for another 10-15 minutes. Cool for ten minutes and enjoy!



I served this along with a side salad with Goddess Dressing. I may have had seconds on this! The original recipe didn't call for any cheese, but I couldn't imagine making this without cheese and honestly I think the cheese made the dish!

I also made more cookies FROM scratch! This time I made Oatmeal, Chocolate Chip, Coconut COOKIES and they were awesome!

Ingredients:
1 stick of butter
3/4 cup of sugar
1 cup of light brown sugar
1 teaspoon of salt
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
2 large eggs
1 cup of flour
1/2 cup of whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon of baking soda
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1 1/2 cups of oats
10 ounces of chocolate chips
1/2 cup of coconut

Preheat over to 350F. Using an electric mixer, beat the butter in a bowl until light and fluffy. Add the sugars, salt and vanilla, and beat until well mixed, then stir in eggs, one at a time. The mix the flour, baking soda and spices in another bowl. Add half the flour mixture to the butter mixture and mix on low speed. Then add the second half and incorporate. Then stir in the oats, chocolate chips and coconut and form balls onto cookie sheet and bake for 12 minutes. Here is what we have!

Its way past my bedtime! good night everyone!

No Rain!

Today is my friend Stephanie's Bridal Shower. I just woke up and after a beautiful sunny day today, it doesn't look so hot today. Lets just hope it doesn't rain. I just had a 1 egg scramble with banana peppers! and feta cheese with toast with butter and a BIG coffee with creamer. I love hot peppers and was so excited I found these at the grocery store yesterday.


Speaking of yesterday, I started the day with a strong 8.65 miles with the group. We were supposed to add on but no one really felt like it including myself. Instead we were going to meet today to cover those last few miles. But, I'm not sure I feel like running today. May need it off.

Date	7 /12/2009
Route	Wellesley-Weston Reservoir
Distance	8.65 mi
Time	1:21:22
Pace	0:09:24/mile

Miles for the week 28.15

After the run, I went grocery shopping for the week and for my delicious recipes I am making for Stef's Shower. Here is what I am making:

Roasted Red Pepper & Feta Dip
Baked Brie with Strawberry Jam and Almonds
Brie Melted with Carmel Sauce
Guacamole and Chips
Sangria

When I got back from the run, I made this to refuel: 1 sunnyside up egg, 1 egg scramble with feta, green onions and banana peppers (also called diced pepporoncini's), toast with butter and a smoothie with strawberries, blueberries, soy yogurt, ice and almond milk. Guess I needed a lot to refuel!

Then around 12, my brother and his wife came over and we went to the state park in our town that has a lake. It was a great place to go when you don't feel like driving an hour to the beach! Then we came home and made a late lunch. Italian Sausages, Veggie Ditalini Salad, and the Roasted Red Pepper & Feta Dip.

Dave grilled the sausages and two Jalapenos. When the jalapenos were charred, I cut them and threw them in the food processor with 2 large roasted red peppers, 4 ouces of feta cheese, 2 green onions, 2 sundried tomatoes, 1 garlic clove, juice of a lemon and a little bit of EVOO. Swirl that up and this is what you get.


So spicy and really a fabulous spread. We ate this with chips, but I also think it would have been great as the dressing in my Ditalini Veggie Salad.

Ingredients:
Ditalini Pasta
1/2 Large Red Pepper, Diced
1/2 Red Onion, Diced
4 Green Onions, Chopped
1/2 Large Tomato, Diced
Huge handful of Banana Peppers for some spice
4 ounces of Feta Cheese

Dressing:
2 Tablespoons of Red Wine Vinegar
2 Large Gobs of Honey
5 Tablespoons of EVOO
Salt and Pepper

Mix all the ingredients together and add the dressing over top.


And here is my plate:


Around 8:45, we ordered a Veggie Pizza between the four of us. None of thought we were that hungry but we eneded up finishing the pizza in like ten minutes. We played lots of games last nite like Shanghai (a card game that my grandparents play all the time) and Taboo. Around 11, my bro and his wife left and Dave and I went to bed.


Now I'm about ready to start preparing for Stef's Bridal Shower. Pictures to come later!

Oh, also, this is my Friday night dinner. I defrosted the Honey-Jalapeno Chicken I made a few weeks ago and diced in and put it over a Southwestern/Mexican type of salad with lots of Veggies, Mexican blend cheese and corn.

Running for the Week

Weekly workouts:

Monday, on treadmill, ran solid 8 at 7:15 AM

Date	7 /6/2009
Route	Treadmill
Distance	8.00 mi
Time	1:08:35
Pace	0:08:34/mile

Tuesday on treadmill, ran a HARD 5 at 12 PM

Date	7 /7/2009
Route	Treadmill
Distance	5.00 mi
Time	43:15
Pace	08:39/mile

Wednesday= OFF Day

Thursday on treadmill ran 1.5 miles then cross trained, wasn't in the mood to run at 1PM

Date	7 /9/2009
Route	Treadmill
Distance	1.50 mi
Time	15:00
Pace	10:00/mile

Friday outside with Chuck, ran around Charles at 11:30 PM, nice, easy pace but really hot out

Date	7 /10/2009
Route	Work Around the Charles and Back
Distance	5.00 mi
Time	45:00
Pace	09:00/mile

Tomorrow, I'm scheduled to do 12. I am going to try to run 4 before the Group Run starts then add on more at the end. I will be at 31.5 miles for the week if I can do that.

Fake "Cookies" & Vegetarian Dinner

There is something you need to know about me. I'm not very good at following instructions. My style of cooking is to read a bunch of recipes and take inspiration from different places and create my own meal. So recently when I got into baking, I thought I could do the same thing. I've always heard you have to follow recipes exactly but I figured I could improvise. Tonite I wanted to bake healthy oatmeal cookies. But the recipe I printed out called for 3 ripe bananas and I didn't even have one. So, I had a couple magazines in the kitchen and found a coconut cookie recipe. But I also wanted to add oatmeal (and maybe some chocolate chips). So here is what I did.

Oatmeal-Chocolate Chip-Coconut Bars

Ingredients:

1 cups butter, softened
1 cups of granulated sugar
1 cups firmly packed brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoons vanilla extract
1.5 cups quick-cooking oatmeal
2.5 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 package of chocolate chips
1/2 cup of shredded coconut

1. Preheat oven to 375°F.
2. Beat butter, sugar and brown sugar in a large mixing bowl until light and fluffy. Add eggs and vanilla and beat until smooth. Sift oatmeal, flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a small bowl. Add to creamed mixture and mix until well combined.
3. SEE this instruction! I didn't follow it. I wasn't paying attention and instead added all the ingredients at once and mixed it with my hand mixer. So needless to say, it wasn't smooth AT ALL. I totally blew it. So I added in my chocolate chips and coconut and threw it all in a baking dish. Maybe they would turn into Oatmeal-Chocolate Chip-Coconut Bars? That was the hope. Lucky for me, it worked.
   
4. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes until golden brown around edges. Here is my sample:
   

On Thursday night, I tried to convince Dave to go out to dinner, but he was too tired. I warned him that I had no meat left in the house and that dinner would be a "vegetarian meal." That didn't deter him so I went on with my plan to make Lentil Veggie Burgers with Zucchini Pancakes and Kale Chips. Here's what I did for the Burgers.

Lentil Veggie Burgers

Ingredients:

1 Package of Trader Joes Steamed Ready to Eat Lentils
3 Carrots, Shredded
1 Small Red Onion, Diced
1/2 Large White Onion, Diced
1/2 Large Red Bell Pepper, Diced
10 Chives, Chopped
2 Stalks of Celery, Diced
1 Cup of Bread Crumbs
1/4 Cup of Soy Sauce


Instructions:

Mix together in large bowl and form patties. This step, unfortunately, didn't work for me. They didn't form patties so easily so I ended up putting them in a baking dish and baking at 375 for 10 minutes then formed my own patties when they got out. I added them to a Arnold Wheat Thin bun with fresh tomato slices (this tomato was from the Farmers Market and it was 1 whole pound!) along with Red Onion, Ketchup and Mustard. Dave and I both really liked them, I just wonder how they were supposed to stay together. Egg? None of the recipes I looked at called for egg. hmmmm....

Well in addition to the Burgers, I made what else... Kale Chips! EVOO, S&P and Red Pepper Flakes with Zucchini Cakes that were made with shredded zucchini, parm cheese, egg and bread crumbs.


For dessert I had half a Skinny Cow Strawberry Shortcake Ice Cream Cookie and a cookie bar with Almond Milk. In looking at the ingredients for skinny Cow, they actually aren't good for you- lots of gross fake processed products. I won't be buying these again : (

It's almost the weekend!

Sugar Plum Cake

As some of you know, my favorite word is sugar plum. Instead of babe or hun, I call people "sugas" short for Sugar Plum. When I saw a recipe in Real Simple for a Plum Upside Down Cake, I decided to make it tonite. When I was cooking the plums in some sugar on the stove top, the first step for this cake, Dave asked, "Are you making Sugar Plums?" And so here we have it. My very first Sugar Plum Upside Down Cake, modified from Real Simple.

Ingredients:
1 Stick of Butter (I use Smart Butter sticks)
4 Plums, cut into 8-15 pieces
2/3 Cup of Sugar, plus 1/4 Cup to saute plums on stovetop
1 Cup of Whole Wheat Flour
3/4 teaspoon of baking soda
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon of salt
1 egg
1/3 cup of greek yogurt
1/3 cup of sour cream
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350. Line an 8 inch cake pan with parchment paper and cooking spray. Add 1 tablespoon of butter to a pan on medium heat then add the plum wedges. Add 1/4 cup of sugar to pan and cook until sugar dissolves. Then arrange plums and sugar mixture in the bottom of the cake pan. Spoon juice overtop. In a small bowl,whisk together salt, flour, baking soda and powder. In another bowl, beat butter and sugar until fluffly, then beat in egg and yogurt/sour cream mixture. Then add the vanilla extract and flour mixture. Beat with electric mixture and then pour batter over the plums and bake for 50 minutes. When finished baking, let sit for 20 minutes, then turn cake over and place on plate. Be careful! Mine started cracking down the middle!

And here is my slice!


Don't worry, we didn't eat cake for dinner. I also made spicy chicken tacos. First I sauteed some chicken tenders with salt and pepper, chili powder, and cumin. Then I made some sides for the taco. Guacomole with avocado, jalepenos, red onion and lime juice mixed in a food processor. Also, diced plum tomatoes, and corn. I mixed those ingredients in a corn tortilla with some cheddar cheese. We each ate two of those (we were hungry!) I also made Kale Chips to go on the side.



I have to admit, when I find something I really love, I can't stay away. When I first discovered Avocado*, I incorporated the vegetable into almost everything I made. Spinach is another one of my favorites, when I first started cooking, I made sauteed spinach all the time. And now Kale is becoming my new staple! I love it.

*Side note: Today is my good friend Melissa's 28th Birthday. I want to take this time to not only tell her that I hope she had a great day, but also credit her for introducing me to Avocado. About two years ago, I was scared of avocado. I thought it was creamy and gross (I have a fear of most white condiments, and for some reason, I thought there was sour cream in guacomole- I am slowly started to overcome this fear). Then one day I went to Melissas house and she made this dip combining diced avocado, tomatoes, red onion, black beans, fresh lime juice and lots of salt and pepper. It was that day that my love affair with avocado started! I've made this dip at numerous parties and gatherings. I love the fact that this is the dip that keeps on giving. Just this weekend, I went to two 4th of July parties at separate places with completely different friends and each one had the dip that I had made for them before at my house. So, thank you Melissa for showing me such a delicious vegetable and an amazing recipe that continues to give!