Cinnamon Bun Muffins & Zucchini Bread

Yesterday I made coconut flour zucchini bread (technically it has a banana in it, so I'm not sure if it's banana bread, too!) and today I made cinnamon bun muffins with coconut flour. Coconut flour does have a certain texture, but either I'm getting used to it or better at baking with it! 

Here is the zucchini bread. I used honey and it worked out great! The loaf was smaller than I thought. Next time I might double it and make two. 

For the cinnamon buns, I had quite the kitchen adventure. I ran out of honey AND maple syrup after the muffins, so I had to half the cinnamon "topping" and only used it in the middle. With it on top as well, I think the muffins would be phenomenal! 

Then I dropped the jar of coconut oil (after I was done, and after I had put it in the microwave to melt it, so it was liquid at the time....great). Glass shattered everywhere! So the floor was slippery AND spiky! 

Muffin Ingredients
1/2 C coconut flour
1/4 tea baking soda
1/4 tea salt
4 eggs
1/3 C coconut milk
1/2 C honey

Cinnamon Topping
2 T cinnamon
4 T honey or maple syrup
2  T butter (I used coconut oil)
1/4 C chopped nuts (I used pecans-optional)

1. Preheat oven to 350
2. Line a muffin pan with paper liners or grease.
3. Combine coconut flour, baking soda and salt and blend well.
4. Add the eggs, milk, and honey to the dry mixture and blend well (coconut flour is hard to incorporate so use a mixer or food processor to speed this step up!)
5. Fill muffin liners 1/4 way with batter
6. Spoon about a tablespoon of topping over each muffin, then top off with more batter, about 3/4 full
 7. Drizzle the remaining topping over the batter (I didn't have any!)
8. Bake about 24 minutes (mine was closer to 30) until a toothpick comes out clean

They ARE really good though! 

If Your Italian Grandma Cooked Paleo

We had the best dinner tonight! "Spaghetti" and meatballs! 

It ended up being a combination of a few recipes.

The noodles:

4 sweet potatoes
1 T extra virgin olive oil
sea salt to taste

Zoodle the sweet potatoes (we ended up with four ends that wouldn't fit through the machine, so it was more like 2 potatoes worth).
Heat a skillet with the olive oil.
Add the sweet potatoes
Season with sea salt (and pepper if you wish)
Cook for 5-7 minutes until the "noodles" are soft and not raw. Stir frequently to avoid burning.

The meatballs (based on this recipe):

1 T olive oil
1/2 C onion, grated
1 carrot, peeled and grated
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 tea dried oregano
1 tea. sea sat
1 pound ground turkey
1/2 C coconut flour
1 egg
1 tea sage
1/4 tea. pepper

While you're grating the onion, save the rest to chop for the sauce. 

Add the olive oil, onion, carrot, garlic, oregano and salt to a skillet and cook until sowft. Combine the rest of the ingredients and mix in with the turkey. Roll the mixture into meatballs, about the size of golf balls. (I halved the original recipe and it made 15)

Tomato Sauce:

2 T olive oil
1/4 C onion, diced
2 tea minced garlic
2 cans diced tomato
1 can tomato sauce
1 T basil
1 tea oregano
1 tea salt

Saute the olive oil, onion, and garlic in a large sauce pan til the onion is soft. Add the diced tomato with juice and tomato sauce, and the spices. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to low or medium low and add the meatballs. 

Simmer for 30 minutes or until meatballs are cooked through. Serve over zoodles - with Parmesan cheese optional.

It tastes like a restaurant, or like someone who has marinara running through their veins made it. Definitely will make again! 

Comfort Food: Level Chicken

I didn't get to go to the gym yesterday, which ruined my whole workout schedule for the week! (I got the rest of them in so far) It was also so cold there were SNOW FLURRIES this morning! 

The reason I missed the gym? Job interview (so that's something). I swear, I have all these brilliant things to say, and they never ask questions that lead up to any of them! So I stutter and stumble and every answer trails off with, "So...." and I leave feeling completely unemployable. Not sure how I've gotten any of my jobs in the past! Maybe I would have done better if I had gotten to take the class before I had to leave! I almost could have done it, if I didn't take a shower, or a I showed up with wet hair, which makes a great first impression!

To make myself feel better, I bought CHICKEN.

I made the honey mustard chicken legs that I've made before (1/2 C mustard, 1/4 C honey, 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar - chicken breasts - 40 minutes on 375 or until cooked through) and they had thighs on sale as well, so I want to make Greek chicken with them. I'm thinking about this recipe. 

This week I also want to make chicken mofongo but I only bought two plaintains, so I might half it and see if it's any good first! When I bought the plaintains they were yellow, so already a little too ripe, but I thought I'd go with it. They're totally browning this morning! (Which means they'll be delicious fried, but maybe too sweet to go with garlic and chicken and tomato sauce!)

Still freezing today. Where is spring?! I want to run outside without layers! It felt like 28 degrees this morning! That's too cold. Not to mention that lots of people are going to Florida for spring break, and this time, I am not one of them! I want to go back to California, where it was 90 yesterday! 

Eat All the Pork!

So I pinned two new coconut flour recipes to try. I know that they won't taste like the picture looks, but they might be ok! Cinnamon Bun Muffins  - all the cinnamon taste, half the work! And Vanilla Coconut Flour Cookies. Let me know if you try them before I do! 

I have been busy going to as many gym classes as I can, and now I really need to buckle down and RUN to get some miles in. Next half marathon on May 9, and it's a small one, so I need to train if I don't want to be last! 

I talked to someone who ran the Disney Princess half marathon and she said it's really better to run with a friend, so I'm accepting applications for friends who like to run! (Obviously I can't go with her - she already did it!)  

Here's what my workouts look like this week, in case you're curious:

Monday: Zumba, kickboxing, yoga (gym from 5-8)

Tuesday: Zumba, toning (gym from 5-7)

Wednesday: Run 7 miles

Thursday: Run 3 miles in the morning
Piyo + TurboSport (gym from 5 - 6:30) but this week will probably be another toning class since the regular instructor is in FLORIDA! Jealous!) 

Friday: Run 3 miles + Bodyworks (gym 9:30 - 10:30 in the morning and go to the park afterward)

Saturday: Piyo + Zumba (gym 8:30 to 10)

Sunday: Run 5 miles after church + Zumba (gym 1:30-3)

Menu Planning: Tonight for dinner I have to finish the pork that's in the fridge because it's been there a suspicious amount of time, and any that's left, I need to throw out for trash day tomorrow! 

This morning I had eggs and sausage for breakfast. Tomorrow I'm going to have a date shake! 

Steve is out of town, so I want to get Bobby's frozen custard once (if the special is still blackberry pecan!) and Chipotle once. Otherwise, I usually end up having cereal for dinner after the gym! So breakfast will be eggs, or a date shake, or oatmeal, lunch will be a tortilla wrap sandwich, and I might make some chicken so I have something else easy for dinner! As long as there's enough for the Chihuahua, we'll be happy (and here's a picture of Chico).

St. Paddy's Day

It's a good thing my FitBit is green! It saved me from a pinching! Ouch! 

We did circuits in the Toning class again last night. They were awesome, as always. Today I'm sitting here, watching the weather channel, hoping it gets a little warmer and the sun comes out so I can run outside but it doesn't look good. Hello, treadmill, my old friend.

I'm going to make this chunky soup today because I have to use the ground turkey in the fridge! Expiration dates? Oops! 

Chunky Soup My Way:

1 package ground turkey
1 onion, diced
2 celery stalks, diced
1 tea. minced garlic
1 can diced tomatoes
3 C chicken broth
1 bell pepper, diced
4 carrots, sliced
1 sweet potato, chopped
3 T tomato paste
1/2 tea. oregano
1/2 tea. chili powder
salt and pepper 

Brown the meat. Add the onion, garlic and celery (if you remember). Transfer the meat to your soup pot with the remaining ingredients (the original said to use a saucepan....not sure what they mean by that, but I needed a big pot!). Bring to a boil, then reduce and simmer until the sweet potatoes are soft (original recipe says 15 to 20 minutes. I think it took us longer than that).

GF Tips:

We had an event on Monday, and someone made delicious green chocolate chip mint cookies (YUM!). I made gluten free brownies from a mix (that was too dark chocolate for me - not the best I've ever had), gluten free cookies from a Full Circle mix (I added cinnamon, raisins and pecans, and they were really good "coffee cookies"), and rice krispy treats using Erewhon rice cereal. (I've gotten the gluten free Kellog's brand before, but I think Erewhon tastes more like the original!) Unfortunately, they didn't all get gobbled up, so we have a LOT of leftovers (I'm taking them to church tonight!) Gluten free doesn't necessarily mean healthy, but at least Steve had some things to choose from while everyone else was eating their coffee and cookies. 

I'm always impressed with the Full Circle brand and we've had good luck with the Hodgson Mills bread mix, as well.

Paleo Pi Day

Finally, the best day of the year! Of the millennium, even! It's Pi Day! And we had pie! Well, ok, to be technical, it was a Paleo apple tart.... and it was delicious! 

See that crust? It's pecans! I am continually amazed by my awesome food processor. I just pulsed some pecans (1 1/2 cups) til they were crumbled, added 1 T coconut flour, 1/4 tea. salt, and an egg and pulsed until it became a ball. So easy! 

Then I spread it in a 9 inch pie pan (after oiling with coconut oil). Next time I'm going to add a couple dates and pulse them in with the pecans to sweeten it up a little. 

I figured an apple "pie" would be easiest. That's 4 apples, 1 T honey, 1 T coconut flour, and 1 T lemon juice. 

I baked for an hour at 350, covered with foil except for the last 10 minutes. 

I put sharp cheddar cheese on mine, and Steve ate his plain. .It would be good with whipped cream too. The pecan crust is kind of awesome. It would work with pumpkin too (as the original link suggests) and probably lots of other things. 

I went to yoga again this morning where I didn't quite manage the crane pose, and she corrected me a few times, which makes me wonder if I do the moves at home, with a video, how much am I actually getting right?! I'm sure the stretch is still good, but I'm apparently far from a yogi, and I'm starting to think there might be something wrong with my arms because apparently I can't hold them out straight without pushing them up or forward or some other wonky configuration that feels right, but really really isn't! At least I look good screwing up! Very graceful. 

Fun Foto Friday

So I saw this on Facebook and thought it was funny. I mostly get "I could never run that far. It's so boring." Followed by "it's bad for your knees."

But since runners need cross-training too....I tried yoga last week and this week I went to a Core class during the day (which is why I can't usually go). I was a little worried when the first two people were older, but we did a lot of resistance band stuff, so you can set your own level of difficulty. My arms and legs are sore! Then I came home and did all kinds of stuff, trying to get my steps up! Oh, Fitbit, you are running my life! (Literally.) I can't figure out how people get 30,000 steps in a day without running a half marathon! 

BUT one of my college friends added me and commented, "I didn't know you had so many steps or I wouldn't have added you," so I feel much better about my meager 16k average!! 

Steve was out of town, so I've been eating hamburger patties and rice (one package of ground beef made 5 hamburgers). We had crock pot pork and sweet potatoes for dinner tonight.

Tomorrow I'm going to make an apple pi(e) for Pi Day, using this recipe for the crust. I think I'll arrange apples in a circle and top them with honey and cinnamon and bake til they're soft. 

Yoga

I finally stayed for yoga tonight! I brought a shirt and bra to change into because I get sweaty at Zumba and kickboxing, so I don't ever want to stay and stretch for that long if I'm all gross. Next time I need to bring a change of warm, clean socks for afterward too!!! And maybe my Uggs to slip on. 


So I only had my mat, my boxing gloves, my purse, two bottles of water, my sweatshirt to put over my clothes, and a bag with the extra clothes in it. 

In case you wondered, yoga is awesome! I have some practicing to do if I'm going to be doing headstands or even warrior pose without wobbling! Namaste!

I'm also in fierce Fitbit competition. Some of the gym ladies keep sending challenges. And I'm competitive. And they have more steps than me! It's so frustrating! I can't figure out how they physically get so many steps in a day! They must never sit down! And then I got JEERED today! Jeered! Like 20,000 steps is something to sneeze at! My legs are sore! I need a nap! (Well, they were sore, but then I stretched them in yoga and intentionally relaxed them and now I'm good.)

I'm also getting all these emails that say "you ran our race last year. Do you want to run again this year?" Of course I do! TAKE MY MONEY! (As long as it fits into my calendar.) I need to run an average of 4 miles a day if I'm going to make 100 miles this month. Plus it helps with my step goal. 

Try something new and just keep moving! 

Fitness Rage and Taco Seasoning

I am loving the Radius workouts. But I did one today, and the male trainer kept saying, "Ladies, you want to look good in a dress." Well, yeah but can we please stop talking about The Dress (Sorry, had to do it). But I work out because I want to be strong. Right now, in this move, I'm focusing on my arms so I can punch you out when I meet you! I don't think if you approach being healthy purely to improve how you look that you're going to be 100% happy with the results because there's always something more that needs to be improved. And I work out A LOT but I still don't look like the people in the videos. And that's ok. I guess Jillian Michaels says something similar in one of her videos about looking good in jeans and maybe something about a swimsuit, and that bothers me marginally less. Can't we focus less on the dress and more on promoting healthy eating and exercise? 

For instance, we all thought olive oil was healthy right? Turns out anything you see in the stores is probably not real and maybe bad for you! Ugh! I read labels! But if the labels lie, what am I supposed to do?! We might as well all go to Burger King - at least we know the quality of food we're getting there! 

With all this horror in the world (GMOs! Olive oil cut with vegetable oil! Hormones in chicken!), we all need some workout endorphins. Well, the speaker at the gym fritzed out (again!) on Monday. It should be replaced now, but let me tell you, ladies can get mean when they don't get their Zumba on! And apparently we need ear-blasting bass to dance effectively! 

No more complaining. Here's a recipe! We made Southwestern casserole last night, with big approval ratings from Steve.

I browned ground turkey, then added taco seasoning and a can of tomatoes (next time I'll add two cans). Then I cooked a red pepper, a yellow pepper and an onion with some minced garlic for 8 minutes, and added that, along with two cups of spinach to the meat mixture. Next time I'll wilt the spinach first. It made it hard to fit everything in the 8 X 13 pan! Then I put 3 sweet potatoes in my food processor (LOVE THAT THING!), mixed them with 1/3 C coconut oil and a teaspoon of chili powder and topped the casserole. Next time I'll used mashed sweet potatoes and coconut milk with the chili powder because I thought they were still kind of crunchy, even after we cooked for 25 minutes with foil and another 25 without! Steve heated it up in the microwave today with some hot sauce and said the leftovers were even better! 

Skinny Buffalo Chicken Pasta

What do you do if you're craving buffalo chicken dip, but you don't have any cream cheese, and your husband won't help you eat it anyway, and you don't want to eat an entire bag of chips smothered in delicious creamy hot chicken yourself? 

You make pasta for lunch! Like a boss! Winning! 

We had some corn and rice gluten-free Barilla pasta left over, so I boiled that up for 8 minutes (tip: make sure gluten free pasta is al dente. You do NOT want it to be mushy!!) I shredded some chicken from the roasted chicken carcass in the fridge (a breast, which is huge. Probably 2+ cups). I coated the chicken in hot sauce (maybe 1/4 cup? I didn't want to use too much). Then I mixed that with the pasta and put it in a square baking dish, topped it with four pieces of provolone and baked it for 15 minutes at 375 to melt the cheese.

Steve ended up putting tomato sauce on his. I don't mind plain pasta (with enough cheese) so I thought it was good. Would a mix of cream cheese and cheddar in with the pasta have made it better? OH HELL YES! But this was probably more healthy, and definitely fewer calories.

Still, totally worth it if you need to get your hot sauce kick in! 

I was feeling kind of sick to my stomach last night (not from eating chocolate from last Easter that had expired, I'm sure!) but I managed to do two more of the Radius workouts today. One was cardio and one was "sport," which focused on range of motion, speed, HIIT, and not just laying on the floor because who the heck can jump up that fast from a reverse burpie! Apparently I have work to do! 

Which I knew because of the Sit/Rise test on the news. Apparently, if you're healthy, you should be able to sit down with your legs crossed and get back up, without using your hands or losing your balance. If you wobble, you take off 1/2 point, and if you use your hand or your knee, you lose 1 point. 5 points down, 5 points back up. I scored a 9 (used my knee to get back up). Gotta work on that! I can jump up pretty quick, I'm just not sure how to get the momentum to rise up completely without touching anything or pulling or getting to my knee! I guess this tests range of mobility and tests things that don't factor in when you do a cardio stress test on the treadmill.  The doctor who came up with it said he had people who could run but they had trouble tying their shoes. Interesting, anyway. What good is heart health if your quality of life is low because of low flexibility. Hmm....

Sore Muscles

I am sore all over! I'm not sure if it's the extra workout I did this week, or just getting back into the routine at the gym. I found out they show Radius Fitness workouts on NBC Sports (channel 806 haha) in the morning, so I did a SPORT HIIT workout and then a crazy aerobic workout for 25 minutes each on Tuesday. I hope they're on every morning. I'm going to try again tomorrow. This morning there was a kettle bell workout! I need a kettle bell!!! Target, here I come! 

This week I made pork in the crock pot (with sweet potatoes), using cinnamon, salt, pepper, rosemary and thyme to season it. Then I mashed the sweet potatoes and used them to top a shepherd's pie with ground turkey, mushrooms, onions, carrots, and a tomato paste sauce. I roasted a chicken in the roaster, and I made shrimp and baked potatoes. I make all this good food, and it disappears so fast! We also made roasted cauliflower twice, because it's just that good! 

I got a sports massage yesterday as well. Ouch! I have some knots, and I didn't realize how sore I was in some places until they were rubbed...really hard! But by tomorrow everything should be feeling much better. My massage therapist is AWESOME and has gone to the Olympics as a volunteer twice to massage athletes. I like to pretend I'm on that level. 

I got invited to a Fitbit challenge this week. (YAY!) It's a work week step challenge to see who can get the most steps from Monday to Friday. I'm in the lead right now, but Wendy K. is catching up! I might even volunteer to shovel to get some extra steps.I don't know Wendy K personally, but she's going down!!! 

When I got my massage, she invited me to hot yoga. She said that her goal this year is to TRY SOMETHING NEW. I think that's a pretty good goal. I tried hiking this year already and did the Radius workout. If I try yoga in March, I'll be doing pretty well for the year. What's something you want to try?

We've Got Groceries!

We're home! It's always nice to come home to a clean house, and a happy dog....and an empty refrigerator. 

I went to the store and got a pork roast, a roaster (and just learned the difference between a fryer, a roaster, and a broiler - size and weight), some ground turkey, and a whole chicken cut up into bits. We used the whole chicken to make honey mustard chicken (with roasted cauliflower) for dinner. Unfortunately, we didn't get anything for a quick lunch, so we ended up getting soup and salad bar at a local restaurant after we got groceries! 

Tomorrow, I will fire up the crock pot and get some leftovers going! Pork roast over sweet potatoes, specifically. We're also going to have turkey chili, shepherd's pie, and shrimp and potatoes this week. I'm so excited to be back with all my kitchen utensils! 

I also got a sample of gluten free flour that I might use to make muffins (the recipe that came with it).  

I was happy to see that the scale didn't really change, despite all the extra frozen yogurt we were eating. I did walk around a LOT, but I didn't go to any of my gym classes. I'm going back to Piyo and Zumba on Saturday. I hope I don't wheeze and stumble like a newbie! Time to get back into my routine. 

We had about a 70 degree temperature difference - 86 to 18 today. At least the sun was shining! I'm ready to retire and be a snowbird. I just need to edit a lot of books this year and bank the money, and I'm ready to go!

There's a Lesson in Here Somewhere

*NOTE: I wrote a brilliant post. It was pithy, funny, adorable, destined to go viral. Then I had internet connection problems and lost it. Here is the replacement, which probably won't be as good. 

I went on the Tahquitz Canyon hike. This is the one I THOUGHT I did the other day, but that was really the South Lykken Trail. They start near each other. I thought I was so cool, because the Tahquitz Canyon hike costs $12.50 (it's a state park) and the South Lykken trial is free. But I was a little confused when I didn't see the waterfall, so I came home and looked it up and figured out the difference.

The waterfall is totally worth the $12.50. It's a great hike. I went first thing in the morning, so I was alone the whole way, and it was quiet and peaceful and shady, and you can hear the water gurgling along. Awesome. They haven't had much of a waterfall for a few years because of the drought in California, but luckily it rained while we were here! 

So while it was really nice walk, it wasn't a strenuous workout, and I wanted to check out the NORTH Lykken Trail. Apparently "North Lykken" means "you will die on this mountain." Here's the beginning of the trail, and the last time I knew where I was going. See where the sign post is? You're supposed to go to the left there. But as you can see (a little) to the right that nice, broad trail continues, so it LOOKS like you should go that way. And a LOT of people have made that mistake, because it LOOKS like there are trails. But they aren't trails. They're DECEPTIONS!!! 

I went about a quarter mile and I knew it was wrong, so I turned around. There were people starting up the trail behind me, and they assured me that they'd done the trail before and they knew where they were going. They said I could follow them! Great! New friends + a hike! A great day! We found a second trail (different than the scree I had skidded down earlier) and I thought things were going great. Then we lost it. 

Behold! Up ahead! Other hiker! We followed them.

Turns out they were lost too! 

We finally turned around, and ended up in the same spot where I had gotten "lost" the first time! We scrambled down the mountain (again, there were footprints, so people had done it before us!) and walked along the wash at the bottom back to the parking lot.

And then I came home and ate a banana and peanut butter and it tasted like LIFE! 

I think hiking is great, and I would love to have it as a new hobby, but I'm not sure if there's anywhere (good, close to home) I can continue it in the St. Louis area. I'll have to look it up!

Palm Springs Race Report

It was a beautiful day at 6 am. 63 degrees when we walked over to the start (a mile away). The sun was just coming up over the mountain, the line for the port-a-potties didn't seem too intimidating, and the START line was easy to spot!  


Overall, they were pretty well organized. Some of the relay people weren't real motivated to get to their hand-off spot, but they probably had some time. 

They started with the National Anthem, and we were off! I posted the route yesterday, which is completely confusing on the map, but it was really well marked, with all the twists and turns. I saw Steve before mile 3 when he was past mile 5. And then I didn't see him again. All the miles were marked well, with a balloon that people started hitting as they passed.

Unfortunately, I have NO IDEA what my Map My Run app on my phone was doing! It said I was at .7 miles at mile 1, and .88 miles at mile two, and I finally gave up because it never gave me a time! So I don't know what my splits were, but I finished 10 miles in two hours, 2 minutes (or so) based on the start time. 

At the 10k mark, there was a "finish line" just to taunt us (actually the CLIF people had shot blocks for the runners). 

It was probably pushing 75 by the time I finished, and I don't normally drink water during training runs because it gives me a stomach ache...but I drank some water anyway....and it gave me a stomach ache! I walked a lot of mile 13, but I finished, and my time wasn't too abysmal (and gives me something to improve on this year). I think 50-60 degrees is the sweet spot for my running temps 

Here is the frozen yogurt I got to celebrate being done! 

Steve ran really well and finished under his goal. It was a neat race (not really flat at all!) and took us past a bunch of expensive houses...that all have gates and hedges so you can't see them! The park where we started was really nice, but they were out of fruit by the time I finished so all I saw were Oreos, pretzels, and chocolate chip cookies. I really, really, really wanted an orange. 

At mile 12, I pretty much always say, "I'm never running a half marathon again!" and now I'm saying, "When is the next one?"

Whose Stupid Idea Was This? and Other Pre-Race Thoughts

First half marathon of the year in less than 12 hours! This is my seventh. And I'm sitting here thinking "whose idea was this anyway??" (My husband's) We thought we would be in Sarasota, Florida, and they're having their own version of the rock and roll half marathon tomorrow. Bands at every mile. It would be awesome!! (You can sign up for next year if you missed this one!) Then we found out we'd be in Palm Springs, California. Not really close enough to travel for the Sarasota race. But good news! Palm Springs has a half marathon too! 

So now it's the night before. I'm hydrated, carbo-loaded (sweet potato), rested (mostly...got more steps today than I meant to!), my outfit is laid out on the bed, the alarm is set for 5:30 am, and I've looked back at my training log to reassure myself that I CAN run thirteen point freaking one miles.

Here's what we runners tell ourselves (or at least me):

1. Just have to make sure to get to the bathroom first.
2. It's only thirteen miles. That's five miles twice, and you run at least five practically every day, plus a 5k. Anyone can run a 5k.
3. As long as I can run up this hill and pass the other runners, I'll be fine. I might even win! 
4. Favorite running shorts, check. Shoes, check. Socks, check. Body glide? Oh crap, I left the body glide at home! Can I use deodorant? Coconut oil? Run to the store for some Vaseline?? Maybe we'll get some in the race packet. None in the goodie bag....Crap crap crap.
5. Oh, look at her stretching. I should stretch. I totally stretch EVERY DAY before and after my run, like a good athlete. Oh yeah. There are my toes. 

Notice the course map. I hope it will be marked clearly - or that if I get lost, it shaves time off instead of adding four miles! There's an episode of The Middle where the daughter, Sue, joins the cross country team. She is very, very bad, to put it mildly, and gets kind of lost in the woods on top of being slow. She reasons to herself, "I can't see anyone else. I MUST BE FIRST." I hope I have that kind of optimistic race! 

Frozen Hard-boiled Eggs

Remember the recipe for hard-boiled eggs stuffed with tuna fish?! It sounds kind of gross (well, stinky anyway) but it's DELICIOUS. 

I boiled the eggs this time instead of baking them, which caused a lot of stress, but they came out well. The water took FOREVER to boil, and then I let them sit for 15 minutes and put them in the fridge immediately instead of doing the ice water thing (lazy!). Then you take the yolk from one egg (you can use more but I'm not a yolk person), a can of tuna about 2 T mayo and 1 tea. spicy mustard, and mix it. So it's like tuna salad and hard boiled eggs combined. 

But when I tried to peel the first egg, it was frozen! and then, like a curious toddler, I decided to take a bite anyway. It's like a really bad Popsicle. 

In other news, why doesn't everyone in the world live in Southern California?? I went for a hike on the South Lykken trail. It's awesome! Not very difficult, about 40 minutes up the mountain, and it wasn't as bad coming back down as I thought! (I was prepared to slide down on my butt if necessary after doing a different, steeper trail last week). I was very proud of myself, but there were a couple little dogs bounding down the mountain fearlessly. Also, I didn't look down most of the way! 

We're running the Palm Springs half marathon on Sunday and then I'm going to try the North Lykken trail next week! Or the Tahquitz Canyon trail. Or both!

Strawberry Banana Bars

We had a bunch of bananas that were entirely too ripe to eat. What do you do with a bunch of bananas? And some strawberries that froze in the refrigerator because it was too cold.

Strawberry Banana Bars! 

1 1/2 Cup pecans

1 1/2 Cup coconut flakes

3 ripe bananas

1 tea. vanilla

1/2 tea salt

Strawberry Jam (feel free to use some out of a jar)

2 Cups strawberries

2 tea. honey

1. Preheat the oven to 350. Blend the pecans in the food processor to make small pieces. Mix with 1 C with 1 C of the coconut flakes, mashed bananas, vanilla and salt. 

2. Transfer mixture to a square pan. Bake 25 minutes. 

3. Heat the strawberries and honey in a saucepan until the strawberries break down.

4. Remove the pan and pour the strawberries over top, then top with the remaining 1/2 C pecans and coconut flakes. Bake another 10 minutes until topping is golden brown. 

The original recipe recommends serving cold, but Steve liked it warm, with sherbet. 

We also had sloppy joes and sweet potatoes last night. It was really good, but we didn't have much leftovers! I'm not sure if I doubled the recipe last time - I definitely will next time. It eliminates the leftover "half" peppers, too! 

I ran 9 miles today, so I'm going to award myself with a slice of pizza for lunch. 

Run While You Still Can!

First of all, unlike your mother, I apparently DO run a restaurant out of my kitchen. Steve had Peru chicken for dinner last night and I made myself shrimp with Greek seasoning and a baked potato. It was heavenly - just as good as a restaurant!

After dinner, Steve made a Paleo date shake. Yes, I was VERY skeptical.


1 cup coconut milk
1/2 cup ice
1 frozen banana
1/4 cup pecans (or walnuts)
2-4 dates, depending on sweetness

Blend in the blender until smooth.

The dates make it SO sweet and the nuts give it a good texture. It's ah-maze-ing! Palm Springs really got something right! (Well, we haven't tried their version, but I'm sure it's good too!)

I ran 12 miles yesterday, training for the half marathon in less than two weeks. I ran 3 miles today (slowly) just to loosen up my legs, and had TWO different older (white haired) women tell me that running is bad for the knees. Well, sitting on the couch is bad for your ass!! But I just said, "Thank you" or "I know" or *grunt* and kept going. It's hard to say. I had headphones on.
 
I have one more long run (10 miles on Saturday) and I've already planned out my Bill's pizza slice afterward, so I have to get it done! I hope I have some more supportive cheerleaders!

Rainy Days and Mondays

No complaints here. At least we aren't getting FEET of snow! Still, it's kind of a drizzly day, which is perfect for VEGGIE LASAGNA! 

Before you get too excited, I made it with ground turkey, so it's VEGGIE MEAT LASAGNA! Now, go crazy!

Instead of noodles, I just used zucchini. You can slice them thin or use a mandolin, but I just cut them into medallions (circles) because it's easier. I layered at follows:

tomato-basil sauce
zucchini rounds
spinach
most of one container of ricotta cheese
1 pound cooked ground turkey seasoned with oregano, salt and pepper
zucchini
sauce (used almost all of a small jar)
mozarella cheese (1/2 a small bag)

I used a square pan, so it only took two zucchini. It's in the oven for an hour at 350, but I'll probably check on it at 45 minutes, since I'm hungry! 

An update on the honey mustard chicken: it was AWESOME as advertised, and warmed up great the next day. We used thighs just like the recipe said, but I want to try it on boneless skinless breasts, because every bite would be SO SAUCY! Make it tonight (or as soon as you have chicken). You won't be disappointed.

Today I made a playlist in Youtube of all the Zumba songs we use at the gym so I could Zumba in my room-ba. It's not quite the same, but I'm happy that I know the routines well enough to get a good workout in on my own. Tomorrow I'm running 12 miles (that's the plan). Out and back three, then out and back another three = 6 + 6 = 12. I'm hoping if I look at it that way, it won't seem so hard. 

Climb a Mountain, Make a Friend, Eat a Street Taco

So I went for a three-mile run this morning and then decided to hike up a mountain. Which I thought I was doing pretty well, till some dude passed me at a trot, shirtless. I was following footprints in the dirt to make sure I was on the trail! He let me know there are white markings on the rocks, and then I saw them. Then I realized going down is harder than up and I better turn around before my legs were too tired, or I'd be sliding down on my butt. I think hiking shoes might be better than running shoes in this terrain.... And this was an easy to moderate trail! 

I ran into another hiker on the way down, who gave me some good tips and her contact info. Yay, new friend! She said her husband won't even do this trail with her so I feel accomplished.

Then I rewarded myself with a turkey, ham, bacon sandwich from The Sandwich Shop. (It was the special so I ordered it as they had it on the board. Reminded myself that I don't like pickles or jack cheese. Next time I'll stick with my standby - turkey and provolone.)

Tonight was the Thursday night Open Air Market, so we had tacos from a book. Well, I had a taquito and a quesadilla and Steve had three pork tacos and my rice and beans. They were all good. There was a guy wearing a knight's helm playing cello, but he took a break so I couldn't get a good picture.  

Fun times in the desert. Tomorrow I want to run 10 miles and make a second attempt at honey mustard chicken. We'll see what happens!

My Go-To: Spaghetti Squash???

So I had this GREAT PLAN to make some honey mustard chicken (1/2 C mustard, 1/4 C honey, 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar - chicken breasts - 40 minutes on 375 or until cooked through). What could be yummier? 

I forgot we grilled the chicken on Monday. D'oh!!!! How did I FORGET what we've been eating ALL WEEK?! And by the time I run out to the store and get chicken, it will be time for breakfast and I'll have died of starvation. Yes, I'm hangry. And grumpy because when I make a plan, I want the plan to work!!!!

So I'm making what we have. Spaghetti squash casserole. Can I tell you that I love the versatility of the stupid spaghetti squash, but I hate it a little too. I hate touching the guts and I hate burning my fingers because I want to get touching the guts over with, and I kind of hate the fact that it's not chewy gluten-y pasta, even though I'm happy we have an alternative to chewy gluten-y pasta. 

So....spaghetti squash and roasted cauliflower. 

And I got the blue screen of death today.

And my foot hurt so I only ran 6.2 miles (10k instead of 10 miles)

BUT, I ate a delicious bagel for breakfast. And I finished the book I get yesterday and it was AWESOME. And at least we have this multi-colored substitute for dinner. OH, and we got frozen yogurt! (Steve gets so much that his qualifies for the $5 fill-your-cup special. Mine was less than that :( so I just paid per ounce.)

Travel Part Two

You would think we would have learned from our first excursion, but four stores, three hours, and $300+ later, we have what we need for the next week/six weeks. We didn't get a vegetable peeler in this kitchen, although there's a passable set of steak knives. 

We DO have a grill--propane, too! so we were able to grill chicken and sweet potatoes. It's just like being at home! Steve made cereal and acorn squash "oatmeal." (It's basically cooked squash - in the microwave - heated on the stove with coconut milk, cinnamon, coconut flakes, and maybe some honey. He says it tastes like oatmeal, but it looks like squash to me!)

Tonight I'm making chicken legs (half with cinnamon and sage and half with Greek seasoning), zucchini with olive oil and Greek seasoning, carrot-raisin salad, and leftover sweet potatoes. 

I'm pretending it's a fun challenge to cook in a different kitchen, when it's kind of just a pain. I have the PERFECT knife....at home. And the right sized bowl....at home. And enough Tupperware...you get the idea. Still, it's cheaper and healthier than eating out every night! 

I ran 8 miles today (wasn't sure about the route, and didn't want to keep going to make 10 when I wasn't sure where to turn around, and oh look, there's our hotel!). I'm going to try 10 on Wednesday and then I'm going to Sherman's deli and bakery and rewarding myself with something from the case there. It doesn't matter what. It ALL looked delicious.

Also, I'm sooooo bummed that Selfie was cancelled. Let's all take a moment of silence. BUT I didn't realize there were additional episodes on Hulu (yes, I live under a rock). I watched the first one today and squealed with delight. Why doesn't Hollywood ask MY opinion of what should be on?????

Another side note: we saw a Chihuahua wearing sunglasses today. No, I didn't get a picture. Yes, it was the coolest thing I've ever seen.

Steve Made Dinner

So I finally made the shrimp and potato that I've been wanting. I used Greek seasoning on the shrimp, and it was so good! The first night I ate it with a baked potato with butter and sour cream, and it was heaven! Then I used the leftover shrimp and ate it with a sweet potato, like I saw on Civilized Caveman....it was ok. The baked potato was far superior, though! (Although butter and sour cream aren't very "caveman.") Still, once you defrost the shrimp (which I did the lazy way, by running warm water over them in a colander), they cook up SO fast, and they're SO good! (And they impress guests! Really!)

Steve had some leftover chicken, but I ate his sweet potato (See above. Oops), so he used the Vegetti (spiral slicer) to make sweet potato "noodles." He said it wasn't too hard to spiral the potato, except for the last inch or two. I was afraid it would take a lot of strength, since I've only done zucchini so far and they're soft. He had a recipe that called for figs and prosciutto and goat cheese (I think) but he skipped the cheese and meat and just added the figs. He said you couldn't really taste them. Here are the noodles: 

The "recipe" with the slicer says to heat them in a pan with some olive oil, salt, pepper, and cinnamon for 5-7 minutes until soft. Steve said it took closer to 15-20 (which seems about right to me. Sweet potatoes always seem to take FOREVER, although I think it would have been faster if he covered the pan). I think they'd be really good with a brown butter sauce, or maybe some cinnamon and brown sugar! We'll have to try it again sometime. I'm not sure about regular marinara sauce, although that could be good, but I think enchilada sauce might good, like the Mexican casserole we make. It's a good way to sneak veggies in.

Peruvian Chicken and Crafts

Steve looked up a recipe for Peruvian chicken before Christmas, and we finally made it last night. It turned out pretty good, and wasn't horrible to make, because the veggies only need to be chopped into large pieces (sometimes it feels like all I do is chop vegetables!)

Peruvian Chicken

Spice Rub:
1 tea. olive oil
1 1/2 T paprika
1 T cumin
2 tea fresh lemon juice
1 tea sea salt
1/2 tea pepper
1/2 tea oregano
2 cloves garlic
2 T white vinegar (I used white balsamic)

4 pounds chicken, cut into parts (I used a pack of boneless, skinless chicken breasts)
1 1/2 pounds sweet potatoes, diced (I used two medium sized ones)
2 onions, quartered (I only had one, and it was a sweet onion)
1 yellow pepper, diced
1 clove garlic
3 tea olive oil
1/2 tea salt
1/2 tea pepper


Preheat the oven to 425. Make the rub and put it on the chicken. Slice the onions, pepper, and sweet potatoes into bite-size pieces. Place them in a 9 X 12 baking dish and sprinkle with the olive oil, salt and pepper. Arrange the chicken on top of the veggies. 

Bake 20 minutes, stir the veggies, and bake another 25 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through. 

It's got a good blend of spices in it, but it's not spicy. It would also go well with rice or cauliflower rice. 

And just as a bonus, we were talking about being "fishers of men" in Sunday school, so we made these bracelets out of fishing swivels:

You can find similar bracelets online for $40, but they're super easy to do yourself, and it would be pretty easy to add a clasp or a charm. (The swivels open like a safety pin.) You can a pack (they come in different sizes and colors) for around $1.50. The kids were more interested in making fishing poles out of pretzel rods and Twizzlers, with a gummi worm, but I thought the bracelets were cool! 

Enchilada Soup

Steve wanted some soup for lunch, and something spicy to counteract the cold, so this is in the crock pot right now:

Chicken Enchilada Soup

I think I actually mostly followed the recipe this time! 

1 1/2 lbs. boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 medium yellow onion, diced
1 bell pepper, thinly sliced
1 jalapeno, diced (ok, I left out the jalapeno!)
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 15-oz. can diced tomatoes
2 cups chicken stock
1 tbsp chili powder
1 tbsp cumin
1 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp paprika
Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste

1. Add the chicken to the bottom of the slow cooker. Add the onion, bell pepper, jalapeno, and garlic on top of the chicken. Pour the diced tomatoes and chicken stock over the top. Sprinkle with chili powder, cumin, oregano, paprika, salt, and pepper. Cover and cook on low heat for 8 hours. Use a fork to shred the chicken before serving. 

Then you can top with cheese and sour cream and tortilla strips (not Paleo, not even a little bit) or avocado (approved!). 

We had sweet potatoes for dinner and some pulled pork that Steve got at Righteous Pig BBQ. They have an apple butter BBQ sauce that's really good - it's kind of thick, like apple butter, but sweet without being overpowering (of course, I like Kansas City sauce, so the sweeter the better!) 

I now have a new phone and a new battery for my car, and I won't be spending any money on fun stuff for a while (you know, like apps and music for the phone! And a new case! and a car charger!)! My car wouldn't start and when we popped the hood, the battery was visibly corroded! I've pretty much replaced everything I could (tires, brakes, rotors, windshield wipers, battery) so now I will be driving into the ground!! I'm thinking maybe regressing, moving back in with my parents, getting an allowance, and a part-time job to keep me in spending money sounds pretty heavenly. This grown-up stuff is for ... well, grown-ups! 

Tomorrow I have to (get to?) run 9 miles, and since they're calling for an icy mix, it will be on the  treadmill. Hoping to find a good movie to watch to make the time go faster! Today I went to Piyo and Zumba. I haven't been in a few weeks, and Piyo felt a little rough! In Zumba they didn't a song I haven't learned yet, and it's like being new. Yeah, I'll just shake it over here, while you all kick together, spin, turn, shake it shake it, wait! What am I supposed to be doing? You're turning toward the back wall! NO!!!