late night

Dave and I are habitual early-to-bed people.  We're pretty firm about our 9pm bedtime and we try to stick to it consistently (Dave gets up at 5am and I get up at 6am).  The upside of this is we both feel really rested and on top of things during the week.  The downside is that we often have to leave parties or get togethers a little early in order to get to bed.  Still, I'm grateful for it - getting enough sleep has made a huge difference in my running and my general health!  That being said, I'm blowing right through bedtime tonight!  The Kentucky v. Cornell game doesn't tip off til10:06pm (this was 9:57 earlier, then 10:05)!  If you ask me, that's way too late for a game... but nobody asked me, so here I am, wrapped in a Kentucky blanket.

Highlights of staying up late: Mosie is curled up on the couch next to me and I made popcorn and I didn't have to share the bowl.  Lowlights: it's quiet, I'm tired, and I like watching games with Dave.

Let's rewind to earlier.

My first time feeding Talia cereal!

A lot of cereal ended up on her face.  Unfortunately I didn't get her little Pebbles-esque ponytail on top of her head in the picture!

We had friends over for dinner tonight and made tomato lentil chili from the Vegetarian Planet cookbook.  It was really delicious!!  Sadly, no picture because I forgot.  Maybe when it comes around for leftovers?  Definitely a keeper recipe... I'll just have to make sure I write it down before I give the cookbook back to my sister.

It's almost the weekend!!!

GO BIG BLUE!

new oats!

Had NEW oats today - strawberry rhubarb oats!  Bought some frozen rhubarb and thawed it, then cut the chunks down smaller.  Mixed with wheat germ, fresh strawberries, and yogurt.  It was tangy and tart and sweet and so delicious!

It's baby day and poor teething Talia is finally sleeping, after fighting it for quite a bit!  When she wakes up I'll get to feed her "cereal" for the first time!

Any pictures of the event will probably be kind of crappy.  Dave has the camera today so I just have my cell phone.  Still, we'll make it work!

Guess what happens tonight?  Basketball starts again at 7.  GO KENTUCKY!!!  And a new recipe to try - more to come later!

get Kentuckified!

Earlier I showed my Kentucky garb... but then Dave surprised me with this!

We then got Mosie ready for gameday, too.  We decided not to torture her by making her actually wear the shirt.

Doesn't she look excited?  Kentucky actually doesn't play until 8 tonight, but we're ready!

Tomorrow I have coffeehour at church, so today was a baking day.  Dave helped, too!

I decided to try carrot peanut butter cookies (I used honey instead of agave).

These are the lightest, softest, fluffiest cookies ever.  Although they were good, they weren't great.  I thought they lacked a little taste?

I also made oatmeal chocolate chip cookies.  These had a surprise ingredient - tahini!  When I saw that I knew I had to make them!  Two tahini recipes in one day!  My (small) modifications: applesauce instead of butter, 3/4c. chocolate chips instead of 1c.

The tahini gives these a slightly nutty taste.  They're soft and just the right density.  Yum.  I expect these to go fast tomorrow - mostly because anything with chocolate tends to go first.

We're headed out for dinner at Hacienda to celebrate Erin's birthday!  Then back here for basketball!

Also, with Villanova losing today my bracket is limping limping.  Here's how I stand right now (all that red is very unfortunate):

comfort food

My foot is feeling even better this morning, but still twinges when I walk.  After a few many tears, Dave helped me decide to take another day off of running.  You wouldn't think this would be a big deal, but it is to me.  In addition to not being able to run, which I love, it makes me feel behind in my training.  Today was supposed to be a long run day for me.  I'm hopeful that tomorrow my foot will feel completely better and I'll be able to run.

Instead of oatmeal, I made a giant veggie scramble bowl for breakfast.  Hot, delicious comfort food.

a couple brussel sprouts, quartered
a carrot, diced
1/3 red pepper, diced
some frozen, chopped broccoli
1/2 onion, diced
2 eggs
dashes of garlic salt
splashes of soy sauce
1 T. tahini
water
topped with nutritional yeast

It was awesomeness.

I then used this fantastic, fun website to calculate the nutrition information.  Check out these vitamins!  (I couldn't figure out how to get the nutrition form on to here, so you have to click for it.)

I don't have a very busy Saturday.  I might go to the gym and ride the bike or I might stay here and do yoga/stretching/ab work.  Basketball starts again at noonish!  I'm ready!

Look close - see those earrings?

madness, continued

Busy basketball baby day!

While Talia was taking a marathon morning nap I made workout cookies.  The top there is slathered in the last little bit of the peanut butter.

(That corner must have fallen out.  Hm...) I also sliced up strawberries.  I had a pretty picture of them, but between the camera and my computer, it got eaten.  Oh well.

Then Talia woke up and we had some happy belly time

and put in the window screen.  Mosie did eventually conquer her fear and was here most of the afternoon.

Then Talia and I went for a walk and when we came back we made peanut butter!

A full jar.  I loooove Peanut  Butter Day! (I loooove licking the bowl and spatula!)

We watched a lot of basketball

and made tahini!

Then Talia had to go home.  So I made another Runner's World recipe!  And it was fabulous.

Original recipe here.  I made a few modifications.

Pasta Bean Toss
1/2 zucchini, diced
1-2 carrots, diced
1/2 onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced or pressed
1/2 t. salt
Saute together in olive oil.
Meanwhile, boil 1/2 (or more) bag or frozen chopped broccoli and rinse one can of kidney beans.
When vegetables are soft, drain broccoli and beans and add to the skillet.  Saute together for a few minutes.

Serve over whole grain pasta or over barley (Dave had pasta, I had barley.  Both were excellent.)  Top with parmesan cheese or nutritional yeast.

For the most delicious dessert, eat one of these, fresh from the fridge:

Pretty much die of happiness.  Revive yourself in time for the next batch of basketball games.

It's time for popcorn... and hopefully the Kentucky game?  Right now they're showing N. Iowa and UNLV, which is fine but, um, is not Kentucky.

GO KENTUCKY!!

go green

In honor of St. Patrick's day I brought back the green smoothie.  It's been awhile!

(In my fabulous new Kentucky mug from Jill!  Thanks, seester!!!)  This mug held a ton of smoothie... I can't wait until it's full of coffee!

Into the mix:
1 banana (it was way past any chance of me eating it straight up)
1 heaping T. flax
several huge handfuls spinach
1/4 c. blueberries
1/2 c. milk
1/2 c. orange juice
1/4 c. old fashioned oats (yep, even oats in here!)

YUM.  I expect these will come around more as the weather gets warmer.  Sometimes I forget how delicious and refreshing they are!  And the OJ was a wonderful addition!  Don't worry, the oatmeal grinds up and just adds some bulk to the smoothie, making it a little thicker and adding staying-power.

I waited to run today until this afternoon, when I knew it would be warmer out.  Unfortunately, I didn't prepare myself well for the run.  For lunch (which I ate late) I had cottage cheese, a clif z-bar, and a Ghiradelli raspberry chocolate square.  Not exactly foods to propel you into a run.  When run time came around it was beautiful out but I felt mentally and physically out of run mode.  Dave even offered to run with me, so we went.  It was bad.  Running FAIL.  Dave had played a lot of racquetball this morning so he was tired and I was feeling gross and tired and out of it.  We ended up running some (maybe 3 miles) and walking (maybe 1.5 miles).  It was nice to be outside, but I wish the run could have gone better.  Tomorrow I'll run in the morning instead of waiting.

However, we had a great dinner WIN tonight!  I made salmon and lentil tabouli for dinner, straight from Runner's World.  It was awesome!!

I hadn't prepared salmon before, but it was fairly easy.  Well, after I figured out how to get the fish off the scaly part.  Seriously... isn't it supposed to come de-scaled completely, not just one side??  Then I washed it in lemon juice and salt (per the recipe), rinsed it with cold water, and put it in a skillet with some olive oil.  It came out awesome!  Here is the tabouli recipe, with my modifications.  I thought it made way too much dressing - it was just swimming in it!  If you want the original recipe, it's here.

1 c. green lentils
3 c. water
1/8 c. extra virgin olive oil
1/4 c. lemon juice
2 cloves garlic, minced or pressed
2 c. spinach, chopped
1/2 cucumber, diced
1/2 (big) tomato, diced
1 t. salt
1 t. parsley

Combine lentils and water and bring to boil.  Cover and simmer 20 minutes.  Toss together remainder of ingredients in bowl.  When lentils are finished drain, rinse, and add to mixture.  Toss until well combined.

Mosie thought dinner smelled pretty good, too!

home!

**Sports side note.  Expect these for the next few weeks of tournament.  Skip if you want.  I won't know, so I can't be hurt and astonished that you don't want to read about March Madness and Kentucky!*** So I may or may not have a voracious love for Kentucky basketball.  I may or may not have a stack of tshirts in the closet that are ready to be made into a blanket or pillowcases or something.  I may or may not have a giant fleece blanket.  I may or may not have sweatpants, a sweatshirt, and a few tshirts.  I may or may not have a jersey.  I may or may not have a coffee mug (or 2), some pens, a tiny UK basketball on my car's dash, a notepad, and earrings.  I may or may not.

Kentucky is a one seed this year, which means the tournament (while always enjoyable) might be a bit more exciting for me this year.  If you're interested, here's my bracket.  Note: past years I have spent hours (and I do mean hours) reading and researching at espn, fox sports, cbs sportsline, etc.  This year I just winged it from what I knew of teams or coaches.  I have Kentucky winning it all, which I'm really only 50/50 sure of, but hey, you gotta root for your boys, especially if they do have a chance.  The thing is, I think Kentucky might be a little too young/inexperienced/inconsistent to win it.  We've have a lot of close-call games, where we won by a tiny little bit at the end... and that just can't fly in tourney play, round after round.  But I will put them on my bracket and I will wish and hope and pray and cheer (and yes, maybe cry if they don't)!  ***End side note.***


It is so good to be HOME.  Last night Dave and and I went for a walk around town - it was beautiful out!  We Dave also assembled this:

Do you like the hard water mineral deposit build up all over the faucet?  Recently our under the cabinet paper towel holder broke.  This caused big problems, as we don't have counter space to set a roll around.  Then I found this lovely shelf in SC - problems solved!  Plus, I love the basket that gets my scrubbers and brush up off the sink!

I got my running skirt in the mail while I was gone!  It's supposed to be 60 today so I might be able to wear it for a run outside!  I'll be sure to let you know how I like it once I wear it.  It is super cute.  And I love that it has pockets!  I'm thinking I maybe should have gotten the next size up (maybe they run small?), but it's stretchy and hey, I have no shame, so I'll wear it regardless.

On the list for today: grocery shopping, cleaning the house, dropping my car off at the mechanic's (yay...), running, and helping at Richele's classroom.

Did you miss this face?  I did.

Although right now she's chasing her own tail and whining to be played with.  Perhaps I should give in.