Wednesday, October 31, 2012

A little food improv

I'm tired. Working with middle schoolers is like a daily workout for the mind and body. Oh my, what a week so far!

Luckily there have been a few good eats and some good exercise that occurred. Not always the best workouts, but they happened. Hitting the gym after work at 7:45pm, is not always the best. I felt good after, but was completely exhausted and it was hard to give it my all.  This morning I did a solid 2.5 mile run before work. Such a lovely crisp fall day. My ipod shuffle was not charged, but it was actually a good break. I just enjoyed the fall weather, the Charles  river, and some time to myself to think.

Highlight of the week was my version of Bibimbop, the Korean rice bowl dish. It is not an authentic version, but it is quite delicious anyways. The authentic version would have kimchee and various pickled veggies, along with a seared protein of sorts. It's our new go to weeknight meal.

So easy. Here are the steps:

1. Make a pot of rice. I like brown rice.
2. Chop up some raw veggies. I like doing radishes and peppers.
3. Saute some greens with onions and mushrooms( I like bok choy and kale).
4. Throw some protein on. It's a great way to use up leftover chicken, tofu, or tempeh(my fav choice).

Put this all together in a bowl. The last step is fry an egg and throw it on top. I like an over easy egg. I break the yolk immediately and then mix it all together. So good!

This is all just an improvisation. The main idea is to have a warm rice bowl(with whatever you like in stir fry) and have an egg on top. I also recommend throwing on a hot sauce at the end.

Goodness in a bowl. Mix that up!!

Now I"m gonna dig into this!

Sunday, October 21, 2012

Nothing original..but all delicious!

It's been a week/weekend of some good cooking and eats. And a few runs thrown into the mix.

First, Running....

I'm trying to build a good base. My weekly plan is...
- 1 rest day
- 2 days of cross training, usually elliptical
- 3-4 days of running(1-2 shorter runs, 1 mid length run, 1 longer run)

I'm not doing any speed work, just trying to build up some more endurance with distance. Also trying to not lose the momentum I got training for my first 10k. We'll see how it goes. I've been starting to feel sick(every one at my school is sneezing everywhere) which means I'm "taking it easy". I"m not always so good at that. But I got in a 4.5 run on Friday and some cross training yesterday.


Now, food!
 Made some recipes this weekend from some of my favorite blogs/recipe sites. No original recipes, but all things I've been wanting to try out.

 On Friday I made stuffed acorn squash from daily garnish blog. So good! I adjusted a few things...
1. Added chicken sausage to the stuffing
2. Added a little honey to the dressing


Roasted Acorn Squash..yumm!
Little chicken sausage thrown in
Ta-da!
Woke up this morning(Sunday) and wanted to try something new. Decided to throw together Kath's Baked Pumpkin Oatmeal. Good way to start the day and fuel to run. I changed a few things...
1. Almond milk since I can't have dairy.
2. Added some flax meal for extra umph.


Good start to Sunday. Plans for today include...a little shopping at the new Marshalls, hopefully a run, and enjoying my crock pot soup tonight after drinks with friends! Love when dinner is cooking all day without needing my attention. Got the recipe from a friend last year that found it only. Busting with flavor and sooo easy to make.
See you in 8 hours!




I'm back

It's been almost 2 months since my last post. Not sure why I disappeared. Life just took over and the blog went to the wayside. But I'm back, and hoping to enjoy writing and sharing my obsession with fall and fall cooking/running/celebrating.

Since I"ve been gone...

1. My after school program started up. This was part of my disappearance. Handling 60 middle schoolers every day took over my life. Now it's getting a little smoother.

2. I ran a 10K!!!! In less time than my goal. I had a goal of 1 hour and 5 mins(10:30ish pace) but I finished in 59 minutes(9:30ish pace)! It was definitely the hardest thing I've ever done physically. But wow, what a feeling. As they say, it really is all mental. I also had the training in and had built up my legs and endurance, but a lot was mental and just pushing myself. My most useful mantra was "pain is temporary, pride is forever". I just kept thinking about finishing and knowing that(as a type A person) I would want to know I pushed myself as hard as I could during the whole race.

3. I got older. Had a lovely bday. The lovely fiance got me a garmin(so much fun for the race), took me out for a fabulous dinner, and went to open studios in a local Boston neighborhood. So lovely! Had a fun night of drinks, chatting, and relaxing with my favorite peeps the Saturday eve of my bday. Love my cozy friends.

So, I'm back. Food and pics will be coming in later posts. And I"ll do a full recap of the Tufts Women's 10k. I recommend it to everyone. It was great!