pb mocha

If you haven't already, go read some of each others' funny quirks.  These are hilarious!  I love it!

I had a late and filling breakfast today (leftover veggie chili) so I wanted to keep it lighter for lunch.  I'm also feeling tired.  The result?

PB Mocha Green Smoothie
1/2 banana, frozen
2 large handfuls spinach
1/2c. milk
1/2-1c. strong coffee, cooled to room temp
2T. unsweetened cocoa
1T. peanut butter
1T. chia seeds
1T. chocolate syrup

Here's before I added the chocolate syrup.  A little too bitter:

And after:

The color is really kind of disturbing - murky brown green - but it's delicious as always!

A bizarre (potentially gross) story to leave you with: my brother-in-law, Keegan, inadvertently (and somehow unknowingly) swallowed a yellow jacket bee this past Monday.  He pooped it out whole on Tuesday.  WHAT?

gutter soaker

New chair!

The chair is one we picked up from IKEA, but the slipcover for it just came yesterday!  (Note: in the picture it kind of looks like it might have blue in it, but it's all different shades of brown.)

I have a slipcover for the loveseat, too, but haven't had a chance to get it on there yet!  The loveseat, couch, and footstool are all dark brown, so the chair has some nice variety with the stripe!

My rain run this morning ended up being really really wet.  The rain was pretty steady for the first bit.  At mile 4 a minivan hit the gutter when I was standing on the curb and any aspect of me that had been dry wasn't any longer.  After that it started to downpour, so the last 2 miles home were both fun and also not-so-fun.  I called it quits at 6 and was a drenched mess!

I'll admit, it was probably pretty funny for the minivan to soak me like that.  And I was completely oblivious to the fact that I was standing near an overflowing gutter... so I probably deserved it.  It felt like a scene out of a movie, as a curtain of water came up over my head and just soaked me.

I'm thinking my shoes are going to need the dryer in order to be ready for tomorrow...

A quick note: if you haven't tried green smoothies - do it!  I first read about them on the OhSheGlows blog.  I promise you can't taste the spinach.  They look green but they taste awesome.  Here are two other green smoothies I've made: chocolate banana and pb banana.  I've also done strawberry banana, banana peach, chocolate pb banana, etc.  Give them a try!

get POMed

Remember the POM brownies and the POM muffins that didn't really taste much like POM?  I finally found a recipe that really brings out the POM taste: POM green smoothie!

POM green smoothie
1 frozen banana
2 large handfuls spinach
3/4c. POM wonderful

This was fantastic.  So rich and thick and super flavorful!  Spinach is going on the store list... I want mass quantities of this!

It's a rainy rainy day here, but I'm hoping to get in a run anyway.  I love a good rain run... but I don't love "I might get struck by lightning" runs, so I need to figure out if it's just rain or if it's going to get worse!  While I'm on weather.com, I might as well stalk the weather for the marathon... 10 days...

Do you run in the rain?

yasso FAIL

I'll admit, I punked out on my run this morning.  I did the 2 miles to the track and got out 3 yassos before I turned around and ran home.  I felt really tired and lethargic, even though my times weren't bad (3:47, 3:48, 3:49).  It was densely humid - so foggy at times I couldn't see the other side of the track - and not a whisper of wind to help.  The air was just nasty stagnant and hot and heavy.  Could I have pushed out 4 more yassos?  Probably.  But I don't really regret taking an easier day and coming home - humidity definitely makes a run a lot harder!

I refueled with something I've been missing: an icy cold green smoothie!  One frozen banana, two large handfuls of spinach, milk, and half a peach.

 It's a bread-baking day - something that hasn't happened for awhile.  I love how easy bread is, really - just mix and let rise, pound down, rise again, bake.  Doesn't take much time in the kitchen - you just have to keep checking back!

And a storm day (this explains the crazy early-morning humidity), which means Mosie is crouched as close as possible to my feet.  Sweet little scaredy cat.

color me pretty

Today's long run went short.  Around mile 10 I hit a major wall and all my energy ran out.  It wasn't just mentally tired or physically tired - I actually felt sleepy.  I checked in with myself before calling a stop, but decided that if I kept going I was probably going to be doing more walking than running, and since my day was already shaping up to be a busy one I should just head home and feel better about productivity if I couldn't feel better about running.  So I got in 11 miles.  I'll try to fit in the 17 elsewhere, or maybe just swap with next weekend.

I came home and made myself a green smoothie to re-energize... except I didn't have any spinach, so I used cabbage, a baby cucumber, a frozen banana, strawberries, and some yogurt I made (that for whatever reason this time didn't set up and stayed rather liquidy).

 It actually turned out pretty decent, although not quite as good as spinach.

Although about 2/3 of the way through it started getting a bizarre almost peppery taste?  My tongue was tingling.  I'll admit: I didn't finish it.

So while I was concocting sketchy drinks in the kitchen, Dave was up hanging out on the roof, cleaning gutters.

Do you like his hot blue gloves?  We picked those up at Lowe's.  But the gutters are clear now, except for the very top portion of the roof, which is too slanted to go out on.

And lastly we picked some paint colors for the house, with the help of Dave's sister, Julie.  She was so helpful in affirming our color ideas, helping us think through complementing paints, etc.  And now we have the colors we'll be working with!  (Not pictured: a silvery gray for Dave's office.)

I love the names of paint.  These are baja, chamois tan, sliced cucumber, mild mint, and crepe.  And really, none of the colors look that way in real life.  Thanks, camera!

I'm off to sweeper something... because I can!

Check out my first ever guest post over at Amanda's blog, Run To The Finish!

kitchen shenanigans

I've been hanging out in the kitchen a lot today!  Yogurt is currently yogurt-ing in the cooler - I used a half gallon of milk this time.  Last time I used a full gallon and it made way too much, even for big yogurt eaters like us.  A half gallon will probably hold us over for a week to two weeks, and it'll taste much fresher, too.

I also roasted some almonds:

It's been a looooong time since we've had almonds in the house - with all the craziness of late I was lazy getting over to the co-op to buy them.  And none of the grocery stores I frequent carry raw almonds.  Today, however, since I was already biking downtown for a haircut, I swung into the co-op, too!  Speaking of a haircut...

This looks shorter than it really is.  Basically I just got it trimmed up so I can keep growing it out without it getting too mullet-ish and weird.  I love haircuts.

I also made a banana-peach smoothie today, that would have been delicious except the banana wasn't frozen so the whole smoothie came out room-temperature.  Mmmm.  It was only so-so due to that, but it used up some wilting romaine and some spinach that was stanky, nasty, slimy nearing the end of its life.

Two exciting things are currently happening: we're buying a lawnmower and a sweeper!  Hooray clean floors!  Hooray for having our own lawnmower and not having to walk three blocks with Dave's parents' mower!  You better believe you'll see pictures of both beauties when they arrive (we're ordering them from Amazon).

Oh, another exciting thing?  I picked up a pots and pans separator today - and turned it into an awesome ziploc drying rack!

No more draping bags over faucets and waiting for them to dry!

And with all of that, I'm finally headed out for my run!

lazy bones

Yesterday was one of those gloriously lazy yet still somewhat productive days.  Since marathon week has officially started I attemped to sleep in, but only made it til 6am.  I went for a VERY sweaty, hot, humid, somewhat miserable run of 8.5 miles.  I took my time stretching, cooling off, eating breakfast, and getting ready. Then I walked to the library and checked out some books:

The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri
Interpreter of Maladies (short stories) by Jhumpa Lahiri
Too Much Happiness (short stories) by Alice Munro
Noah's Compass by Anne Tyler

If you haven't read any of Jhumpa Lahiri, you should start.  I started The Namesake around 11am and I completely finished it at 4:30.  It was glorious.

In between all that reading I dropped off the recycling and then went to the park and sat in the grass and read.  I got some sun and also got to see a deer!  At home I shared the couch with this little one.

She's all paws.

Per marathon week "rules" I mixed in chia seeds to my morning yogurt and I had a green smoothie as part of dinner.

Spinach, yogurt, 1/2 a frozen banana, peanut butter.  So refreshing!

Dave and I watched the movie 500 Days of Summer last night and loved it... well, mostly loved it.  We loved the quirkiness, the music, the acting.  We didn't really love some of the ideas/perspectives about love or relationships.  Still, I'm glad we watched it and really loved the unique way they played with different movie styles.  It was so creative and cute!

I made it til 6:45am this morning and now am headed out for a short run before church.  Not sure what Dave and I have planned for today or tomorrow - but probably lots of lazy fun!!

(Also, weather.com is going to make me go into fits before this marathon, I swear.  The ten day forecast says that June 5 will be 72 and rainy - which I love - but if you click the actual day it says sunny and 89.  I'm choosing to believe the 72 and rainy, because 89 and sunny sounds like pure running hell.)

edit

I forgot a major component of that chili last night: 1/4c. ground flaxseed.  It thickened up the sauce and definitely boosted the nutrition!

This morning was a cool, brilliantly sunny, gorgeous riverside, decently speedy 10 miler that ended at Talia's house.  Per the usual, she fell asleep on the walk home, giving me time to stretch, shower, and eat breakfast.

About 3c. spinach that was getting ready to call it quits, 1/2c. plain yogurt, 1/2-1c. orange juice, 4 big strawberries.  I meant to add a banana, but I forgot.  Whoops.  This ended up pretty tart from the orange juice and strawberries, but it's deliciously refreshing.  YUM.

I'm off!

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!

new green smoothie

I made a new green smoothie today:

1 banana, peeled and frozen
2 big handfuls spinach
1 cup milk
1 T. unsweetened cocoa powder

Chocolatey and delicious!!  Definitely going to be repeated.

poll!

Okay... so as mentioned in my previous post, I am considering changing the URL from kimmierau.blogspot to something more general (and without my full name).  My hope is that this URL would be non-cliche (if possible), somewhat self-descriptive, and would be broad enough to cover my blog should its focus change or shift in the future.  So... here are some thoughts (much thanks to my sister, Kelly, who is good at brainstorming):

milesandmeals.blogspot
aboyagirlakitty.blogspot
boygirlkitty.blogspot
metabolize-kim.blogspot (go here for the definition of metabolize to fully understand the pertinence)
popcorngirl.blogspot (this might seem random... unless you know my undying, deep love for popcorn)

I'm not advanced enough to know how to make an actual poll in here... so vote in the comments!  And feel free to say no to all, or to suggest your own version!

Note: adding apple to the spinach smoothies is a bad idea.  Really bad idea.

Apparently while Dave and I were gone in NC Mosie got used to being a rebel kitty... she nonchalantly gets on the coffee table, the dresser, and the bathroom sink, then looks really surprised when we spray her with water.  We've got foil and tape traps set up to discourage her... let the training (and re-training) begin!

tgif

Down in Marion for my office's annual mini-golf tourney. Different departments set up holes in their offices and people dress up and play 7 holes. We also have a carry-in. One office did a really elaborate western theme - decorated cardboard to look like old saloons and general stores and put it over their cubicles, with cutout, swinging doors. It was awesome (and if I had remember my camera I could show you).

Had another green smoothie this morning, this time with spinach, flax, milk, a banana, half a peach, and four strawberries. It was very good... but also served to remind me to blend it really really well or sometimes I have spinach and peach peel chewables.

Last night we made mini pizzas using Sandwich Thins and homemade pizza sauce from my friend, Patty. Dave's was topped with browned onions, turkey bacon, and cheese. Mine had browned onions and black beans. They were delicious! ...And then I finished the rest of the beans with some extra onions. Yum!

We leave for Fort Wayne soon. The race starts at 7:30 tomorrow and the weather - cloudy, cool - sounds perfect! Fingers crossed for a great race!

What are your weekend plans?

green monster

I stumbled upon another blog (thank you, Google Reader suggestion box) last week that talked about Green Monsters smoothies. I was intrigued and had to give it a try. This girl has done lots of variations, but the one I tried went as follows:

2-3 c. spinach

1T. ground flax

1T. peanut butter

1 banana, frozen

1c. skim milk

Note to self: peel the banana before freezing. I had to use a paring knife to get the peel off, much like peeling an apple. After a little googling I learned that I can peel the banana and freeze it without it going brown or getting gross.

Surprisingly, this smoothie was really good. It made about 8-10oz. and basically tasted like a pb/banana smoothie. The texture was smooth, with only a little residual grittiness leftover from the flax and pb (and not enough to bother me). All in all, definitely worth a repeat. I ate this with half a cup of Kashi Wild Blueberry Clusters cereal and I was full for a good 4 hours. I can see it being a good afternoon snack as well. Any suggestions for other additions I could try? I have some chocolate protein powder I could throw in there I suppose... but it's old, I never really liked it, and I probably should just pitch it anyway (looks like I answered my own question there).

Dave and I also had gnocchi last night, which was fabulously delicious. I used some leftover homemade spaghetti sauce rather than the can of pre-cut tomatoes. Next time I'd like to use whole-wheat gnocchi, but I couldn't find any at the store this time around.

That's two posts for today. Be sure you scroll down to read Dave's report on playing with cats!

recipes

My love of cooking comes from my mom, who was always confident in the kitchen and made delicious, healthy meals.  It took me awhile to find my own success with cooking, but I always had the example of my mom to lean back on.  Cooking is FUN.  You can follow a recipe or you can follow your own tastes.  I love to be creative with meals, to try new food combinations, or to modify recipes.  "Playing" in the kitchen is so freeing and fun!  I hope you enjoy some of the meals below - take your own spin on them and add in new spices or new ingredients to change it up!  Let me know what you come up with!

Meals

fettuccine with fresh corn pesto

basil tomato and crouton casserole

tomato pie - gluten free!
tomato oregano pasta
tomato spinach quiche
barley zucchini lasagna

parmesan flaxseed crusted fish

corn chowder

the best sandwich ever

spinach mozarella meatloaf

taco soup

potato lasagna

humble joes

Sides
quinoa salad
Kelly's nutritional yeast gravy
Kelly's zucchini hummus
carrot fries
superfood muffins
lentil-white bean salad
drunken beans
millet pilaf

Desserts
banana soft serve "ice cream"

Amanda's rhubarb crisp
fudge balls

Other
Pre-workout cookies (original)

Workout cookies (improved!)

mom's peanut butter granola
Iowa oatmeal bread

Green Smoothies

pb banana

chocolate banana
POM banana
pb mocha

Oatmeal
favorite toppings
all about oats
steel-cut oats
Thanksgiving apple pie oats
baked spaghetti oats
cabbage oats