Archive | October, 2011

Peaches in My Salad??

31 Oct

Sliced peaches ready for my salad

In my quest to try to eat healthier, I’ve been looking for new recipes to try. I recently came across a recipe in a magazine that caught my eye and I tore it out in case I got brave enough to try it. I must apologize because I don’t remember which magazine I tore this recipe out of, but I’m pretty sure it was one of the women’s healthy living magazines. (Let this be a lesson to all magazines – Listing your title or website at the top or bottom of every editorial page is important for this very reason: reckless people just like me!)

I slightly altered the recipe for simplicity. It was absolutely delicious and I already can’t wait for lunch tomorrow to have more.

Here’s what you’ll need for the salad:

1 tablespoon honey

1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar

2 peaches, cut into wedges

1 bag spring salad mix

1 cup sliced almonds, toasted (I bought a bag of roasted sliced almonds)

4 ounces goat cheese, crumbled

And here’s what you’ll need for the dressing:

1/3 cup plain nonfat yogurt (I just bought a single serving of Publix brand yogurt)

1/2 teaspoon fresh lemon juice

1 teaspoon Dijon mustard

2 teaspoons honey

2 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar

1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil

salt and black pepper

1. In a medium mixing bowl, combine 1 tablespoon each honey and vinegar with a fork; add peaches and stir to coat.

Coating peaches in honey and vinegar

2. In a large nonstick pan, sear peaches over medium heat for about 3 minutes per side or until caramelized. Remove from heat and let cool.

Seared peaches

3. While waiting for peaches to cool, whisk together yogurt, lemon juice, mustard, and remaining honey and vinegar in a medium bowl. Drizzle in oil, whisking constantly; season with salt and pepper.

The dressing

4. Divide spring salad mix among four plates. Top with goat cheese, sliced almonds, balsamic peaches and a drizzle of the dressing.

I paired my salad with some Publix rotisserie chicken (my favorite flavor: mojo). My dinner was absolutely delicious. The sweetness of the peaches combined with the balsamic and honey mixture was a pleasant surprise and the goat cheese wasn’t overpowering. I wasn’t sure how I would feel about this salad dressing, but I think I’ll be making it on a regular basis!

Rotisserie chicken with yummy salad

When I texted my sister about my delicious salad, she responded with the following text: “Eww. I don’t like fruit in my salad.” I don’t blame her… I can’t stand mandarins in any salad, but this is worth trying.

Do you like any fruit in your salads? Which ones?

Happy Halloween

31 Oct

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Happy Halloween!

Don’t take candy from strangers. Or zombies.

Halloween Costumes are Fun

30 Oct

Every year Donnie and I love to dress up and head downtown for what never fails to be the best amazing people watching night of the year.

I always tend to pick my costumes by makeup. I love to play with makeup and Halloween is the perfect time for me to indulge. Donnie, on the other hand, tends to pick a costume day of and usually bases his decision on materials available or whatever slim pickings are left at the costume store. Here’s what we chose this year.

This year I dressed up like Natalie Portman’s character as the Black Swan from the movie, Black Swan. The makeup for this role was epic and I was dying to recreate the look.

I found this tutorial on YouTube on how to make it happen:

I had some leftover white costume makeup that I used for my face to get that pale look. I used my regular makeup to create the eye portion: black waterproof liner, black pencil liner, silver pencil liner and silver liquid liner. On my cheeks I used cheek stain and on my lips a dark red lip liner with black pencil liner for shading and a ruby red lipstick to top it off.

On Amazon.com I found a black halter leotard and a black tutu. I chose the halter style for the added support and I got lucky because it’s super comfy and I can pair it with sweat pants for strength workouts or yoga (which is on my TO-DO list). I had to search the Fashion Square mall high and low for white opaque tights (I found them in the very last department store I walked into). By the way, white tights are not flattering on my body type at all, but I was trying to stay true to the costume. Needless to say, I won’t be wearing these again. For shoes, I wore my pink flats from Aldo, which resemble ballerina flats. The tiara I got for $1.99 at Party City. I picked it up in the kids birthday section and popped the purple stones off that were on it.

As for Donnie, he left all brainstorming for a costume until the day of as usual. I’m not sure why, but the cult vampire flick The Lost Boys popped into my mind. I suggested he go as Keifer Sutherland’s character in the movie, David. Donnie loves that movie and quickly got excited. Although he didn’t have any luck finding the blonde wig that would’ve completed the look, he picked up some fangs and some fake fingerless leather gloves at one of the costume stores. And while at Target, I completed the look with some $4.99 cross earrings I found at Target (I was there trying to find the white tights). He wore a black t-shirt and jeans and I tried to mold his hair into a mock mullet. We added some leftover fake blood leftover from last year and his look was complete.

Here’s our final look:

Me and Donnie Halloween 2011

What did you dress up as for Halloween? Did you plan ahead or decide at the last minute?

A Dark and Dreary (and Wet) Run

29 Oct
HiddenLight.jpg
 
Photo Source: Matt Gibson 

This morning our group met up at our usual spot at 6 AM to run 6 miles. My training schedule called for a 10-mile run this weekend, but since I was out of commission with my tendonitis for almost three weeks, I’m trying to ease back in slowly.

Earlier this week I had suggested that our group leaders should have our route go by a local cemetery, it being our pre-Halloween run and all. I was super excited when they agreed. I was even more excited when I woke up this morning and it was drizzling. This would set the stage for our run perfectly!

Unfortunately, it was a little too dark and I was a little too chatty, and the first time we ran right by the cemetery without my noticing. Lucky for me, we had to pass it one more time. After I mentioned how exciting it would be to actually run through the cemetery, one of my group leaders gave it some thought and agreed. It wasn’t hard convincing the rest of the group to join. Well, except for one person.

We spent the next minutes addressing some very valid concerns. The conversation went something like this:

Emily: I’ll go, but I just want it to be known that I’m not excited about this.

Me: Don’t worry. If a hand pops out of the ground and grabs someone, it can grab me.

Emily: How can you be sure it will grab you first?

Me: I’ll go first. But if something grabs me, what will you do?

Emily: I’ll pick up my pace and the group will thank you later for making us run faster.

Me: Oh, well what if I trip and hurt my ankle. Would you stay with me until help comes?

Emily: I know the way back best. I would let Christina stay with you.

Christina: But you’re the group leader.

Emily: And as group leader, I would run the group back, get my car and come back and get you.

Christina: Even without zombies?

Emily: It’s still a cemetery.

The conversation continued as we headed back towards the cemetery. And as we got closer the drizzle increased to a steady rain.

As we neared, I noted a car sitting in the parking lot of the cemetery with it’s lights on. This is how scary movies start. I picked up my pace.

The actual run through the cemetery was dark (we could hardly see the trail) and quiet. All you could hear was the crunching of the pebbles beneath our feet. It was serene. I couldn’t help but think of the tears that have been shed by loved ones here.

And most importantly, our run through the cemetery was uneventful. No ghosts. No zombies. No hands shooting out of the ground and grabbing my ankle.

Afterwards, we ran back to our cards making a squishy sound with every step. Our shoes and socks were soaked at this point.

And I never bothered to turn back around to see what happened to the car that was sitting in the parking lot.

Have you ever run through the cemetery? If so, how was your experience?

#whyirun

27 Oct

#whyirun on Twitter

In honor of their first ever Readers issue, Runner’s World is asking their readers: Why do you run?

Using the hashtag #whyirun, you can answer the question on Twitter. The answers are awesome, ranging from the hiliarious (@TweetinTommyC: I run because I’m not going to let two perfectly good and functioning legs go to waste and @OhshititsAilish:To prepare myself for the zombie apocalypse) to the thought-provoking (@NurseHillRuns: I love to let my heart race).

I run for a lot of reasons. The first reason that came to mind (which I tweeted) was that I run to prove myself wrong. I remember living on 51st street between 4th and 5th Ave in New York City and walking to the end of the block to see the New York City Marathon runners go by. I used to think to myself, “Wow, these people are amazing. I could never do that.” I’m wrong a lot in life (my boyfriend will be excited to see that I admitted to it in a public forum) and this is one of those times where I’m happy about it. When I run the Walt Disney Marathon in January, I will be proving myself wrong and will be darn proud of it.

I also run to stay healthy and to stay sane. I run because I love the camaraderie. I run to enjoy cake and cookies without feeling guilty.

Tell me, why do you run?

My Pumpkin Obsession: Oatmeal

26 Oct

I had some leftover pumpkin in the refrigerator and saw a friend post on Facebook that adding pumpkin to your oatmeal was a delicious treat. And with my fall obsession with pumpkin, you know I couldn’t resist. I added a tablespoon of pumpkin, a teaspoon of cinnamon and a small squirt of lite butter syrup to my instant oatmeal and it was indeed delish!

I’ve never really added anything but syrup to my oatmeal before. This really makes me want to explore what other goodies I can mix in.

Do you ever mix anything in to your oatmeal? If so, what?

Back to Training

25 Oct

Time this AM as I was heading out the door

To say that I didn’t enjoy getting to sleep in while I was letting my tendonitis do some healing would be a lie. I LOVED it. But I did miss running with my group. I missed the quiet time in the mornings. And I missed beating the world to getting up and at ’em.

Rather than jumping right back into track workouts, tempo intervals, and hill combos, I’ve decided to join my group’s lovely morning runs through downtown Winter Park for the next couple of weeks. This morning we met bright and early for a 4.35 mile run. Most of my group is tapering for this weekend’s Marine Corps Marathon and next weekend’s New York City Marathon, and since I’m coming back from some time off I welcomed our leisurely pace. My foot didn’t hurt and I felt great. Plus, we ran by a cemetery which I felt was very appropriate with Halloween just around the corner.

Afterwards we had some coffee and laughs before heading off to start our days. As one of the ladies was swearing off swearing and the rest of us were begging her to reconsider this foolish move, I couldn’t help but think how much I enjoy the ladies I run with. They really make training for a marathon a fun experience.

Do you run alone, with a partner or in a group? Why?

Testing… 1, 2, 3, 4

23 Oct

Thug style

Yesterday morning I strapped on my ankle wrap (suggested by my doc and also a fellow runner), my kicks and hit the road for a quickie 2-mile test run. Aside from seeing if there was any pain or discomfort, I was looking to see if my injury was causing any change in my gait. The good news: I didn’t feel any pain during the run and my gait felt normal. The bad news: the lack of pain might have had something to do with my foot going numb approximately one mile in. I don’t think I loosened my left shoe enough to account for the brace so my circulation was cut off.

So this morning I strapped on my ankle brace, my kicks (looser on the left shoe this time) and hit the road for a quickie 4-mile test run.  The good news: I didn’t feel any pain during the run and my gait felt normal. The bad news: while exploring a new park near my house I ended up running through what seemed to be a never-ending swarm of gnats.

For what seemed to be forever (but was probably only 3 minutes), I had to run with my head down, my mouth closed and waving my arms around like a mad woman. If you’re wondering why I didn’t just turn around, the answer is simple. I thought to myself “surely this disgusting swarm of gnats is almost over” and by the time I realized this was not fact, it was too late. Retracing my steps or continuing forward was equal distance and there was no way around this swarm. Needless to say, I will not be returning to that park any time soon.

So after my two short test runs, I’ve decided to rejoin the ladies for our morning runs this week. After all, I am a marathon runner. I must run.

My Pumpkin Obsession: Pancakes

23 Oct

To continue feeding my pumpkin obsession, yesterday morning I made pumpkin pancakes.

On Allrecipes.com I found several pumpkin pancake recipes that looked both tasty and easy to make. Usually, I tend to choose the recipe with the least amount of ingredients needed, but because I had a lot of the ingredients on-hand from my recent pumpkin chocolate chip cookies I chose this one.

I mixed my ingredients in two separate bowls as instructed then combined into one bowl to get my batter.

Pumpkin pancake batter

Then I used a 1/4 cup measuring spoon to portion my pancakes on a lightly greased pan. After a little trial and error, I realized I needed to flatten them a little so that my pancake wasn’t too thick and could cook all the way through.

Mmmmmm...

My house smelled delicious and the actual pancakes tasted like fall. I loved every bite.

Breakfast is served. Nom nom.

The batter made enough pancakes for 4 to 6 people. Since it was just me and Donnie, I stored the extra batter in the frig and made pancakes this AM too.

My love for pumpkin is normal, right? I mean, I don’t need to start going to meetings or anything… not yet at least.

I must run. I am a marathon runner.

22 Oct

In a couple hours I am setting off for a short two miler to test how my tendonitis is doing. If all feels well, I’ll go on another short run with my group tomorrow morning.

On a related note, my boyfriend’s sister shared this YouTube video with me and it gave me a good laugh. Runners are so weird. 😉

 

Oh, and I am finally registered for the 2012 Walt Disney World Marathon. This just got real real up in here.