Weekend adventures and eats

Long weekends are always a mixed bag. I love the extra day off, especially when Sunday night feels like Saturday. Very lovely. But, short weeks seem to send students into a bit of a tizzy. They are always a bit off when they return to school after that extra day off. All things considered, most students did well today. Rainy weather and no outdoor recess is always a tough combination. Lots of pent of energy explodes around 2:20 when I begin working with kids. Definitely means I"ll get a good night sleep tonight.

Because I didn't work yesterday, I had some extra time to cook and make a big batch of soup. I followed Kath's recipe I've been eyeing for awhile. Definitely is worth it to cook dry beans instead of canned. I also made a few changes including....
- Didn't use bacon, but added chicken sausage at the end.
- Added about 1 Tbsp of red wine vinegar at the end to add some good acid to balance the flavors.

Big pot of goodness

 So warm and comforting! I made some garlic bread on the side, which I haven't made for years. I took a baguette and rubbed it with garlic cloves. Then added some olive oil, salt, and pepper and put it in the oven at 350 degrees for about 20 mins. The perfect dipping utensil for soup!

Dipping magic

In the afternoon I also made a batch of granola. My fiance loves granola for his yogurt in the morning, and I do an improvised granola that is different each week. My basic recipe is:

-3 cup rolled oats
- 1/4 cup flax seeds
- 1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
-1 tsp cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp nutmeg
- 1/4 cup honey
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1/4 cup raisins
-1/4 cup chopped nuts(usually almonds)
- 1/4 cup dark chocolate chips.

Easy Granola Recipe:
1. Mix together dry ingredients and almonds (not raisins or chocolate)
2. Pour honey and vanilla into dry ingredients, and combine until evenly coated.
3. Put granola on a greased baking pan(or line with parchment paper).
4. Evenly spread granola on pan and bake at 250 degrees for 40 mins.
5. Check every 15 minutes and stir granola in pan. Remove when oats are lightly browned.
6. Let cool and add raisins and chocolate.


One last thing.......

When I was away in the Berkshires this weekend, we got this delicious hard apple cider. It was made in Mass with Roxbury Russetts, which are named for the Boston neighborhood where the tree was first grown. Pretty cool....and quite the delicious drink.

Just added an exercise page to the blog. I'm using it as a way to keep track of my workouts each week and hold myself accountable.

The Hot/Cold Salad

Salads are one of my food staples. We have a salad with dinner most every night. We often do a "big salad" as the main course for dinner, especially in the heat of the summer. Summer salads are packed full of fresh veggies, and often chicken salad or hard boiled eggs to make it a meal.

But one of my all time favorites, particularly in the fall, is my "hot/cold salad". I love a salad of fresh greens and crunch raw veggies(radishes, peppers, turnips etc. in the fall) with a nice warm element on top. My go to is a top my salad with a warm scoop of brown rice and some tofu. The warm rice and cool, crunchy veggies are such a great compliment to each other. It's also nice and filling.

Recently I have a new salad combo that I can't get enough of. It seems a bit weird but it is so good. I make a salad with arugula and veggies. Then I make some tuna salad for protein. My tuna salad is usually:

- 1 can of tuna (usually Trader Joes Albacore tuna)
- 1 Tbsp mayo
- 1 Tbsp Dijon mayo
- 1 tsp dill
- pepper and salt to taste


Then I put roasted acorn squash on top for the warm element. It is just so good and comforting.  My roasted acorn squash method is:

Roasting Acorn Squash:
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees
- Cut squash in half and scoop out seeds
- Drizzle squash with olive oil and season with salt and pepper
- Drizzle with about a tsp of maple syrup on each side.
- Put cut side up on a baking pan (add enough water to the pan to surround the squash and avoid burning)
- Cook about 40 minutes or until squash is tender and lightly browned on top.

You can swap in any other protein(chicken, tofu, eggs) or another squash, like butternut. It's an easy and filling weeknight meal.

Playing catch up

I'm a bit behind in my posts. It was a crazy work week so I didn't have a chance to chat about last weekend. As for THIS weekend I had a lovely trip to the Berkshires with my bestest lady friends. It was filled with beautiful weather, yummy meals, wine and cheese cocktail hour, and lots of time to catch up.

But let's back up to last week. As far as exercise it was a tough week to get motivated. The cold weather last week made it difficult to get motivated to get out of bed early or go to the gym after work. Now that it gets dark early, I just want to go home and relax after work. I've realized I need to exercise in the morning or it just won't happen.

I got in a few runs last weekend, but I am having some shin splint issues, which is new for me. I then  rested all week from running to try and recover from them. We'll see how they feel tomorrow when I attempt another run. All I know is shin splints are quite uncomfortable and frustrating.

Last weekend was my fiance's bday, so we did lots of good eating. Not the healthiest weekend of food, but birthdays are all about indulgence and celebration. Saturday we went to a cozy local Italian restaurant for a delicious meal. We had a yummy antipasto to start which included cheese, bread, olives, and prosciutto and salamis. I got a pasta dish that had a creamy(but no dairy) tomato/white wine sauce and chunks of cod. It was really well seasoned and the fish was light and tender. He got a gnocchi with a meat ragu. All around delicious.

For the actual bday, we did some lunch at a sports bar, and then I made a birthday din. His favorite food is lasagna, but since I'm lactose intolerant we don't ever eat it. But, I love making lasagna and thought this would be a great chance to do it. Here is the lasagna recipe I used. It was easy and delicious.

Lots and lots of cheese

For sauce I used Prego brand Fresh Mushroom. I also added in some chicken sausage to the sauce. Since I can't have dairy, I made myself some penne with the lasagna sauce, spinach, and parmesan cheese. So good! I can have parmesan because it's aged and the lactose sugars break down in the process.

Pasta for the non lactose lady

For dessert I made apple crumble. Always a favorite. I don't have a specific recipe, but here is my approximate recipe:

Filling:

5 Macoun apples

Juice of half a lemon

1 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 tsp nutmeg

Topping:

1/2 cup Whole Wheat Flour

3/4 cup rolled oats

1/4 cup brown sugar

1 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 tsp nutmeg

pinch of allspice

4 Tbsp Earth Balance(or whatever butter you use)

1. Mix together filling and cook in a greased pan for 30 mins at 350 degrees. Have it covered with tin foil while cooking.

2.  Mix topping ingredients with a fork until it has an even crumbly texture. Pour over filling after it has cooked for 30 mins.

3. Cook for another 30 mins uncovered, or until top is lighted toasted, and filling is bubbling.

Enjoy!!

Cooking with Sandy

What a week. I hope everyone on the East Coast is safe and didn't suffer too much damage. The damage done to NY and NJ is terrible. My thoughts are with them all. Here in Boston we were lucky to too not have too much damage, just lots of rain and wind. We were lucky to not even lose power at our apartment. I had two days off of school, so that resulted in hunkering down and cooking, working out in the living room, reading, and catching up on some TV. Very relaxing.

Cooking during the storm included a roast chicken(I'll post my go to roast chicken recipe later this week) and some amazing pumpkin chocolate chip cookies(gluten and dairy free). YUM! I'm very lactose intolerant, so any tasty dairy free deserts are good in my book. I got the recipe online at this website but adapted a little. The original recipe is on the link, but my adapted recipe is below:

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Coookies:
Ingredients
2 cups almond flour
2 Tbsp coconut(unsweetened and shredded)
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/3 cup maple syrup
1/2 cup pumpkin puree
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
dash of salt
Dark chocolate chips(1/2 cup or more)

 Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F
2. Mix dry ingredients together in a bowl.
3. Mix wet ingredients together in a bowl.
4. Slowly mix in dry ingredients into wet, into well mixed and incorporated.
5. Scoop heaping Tbsp size balls on a lined baking sheet. Press down with palm to flatten cookies a bit.
6.Cook for 20 mins at 350.

ENJOY!!!

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!

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!