One-stop meal, courtesy of Ken's

This dinner was made possible thanks to Ken's Fruit Market, that local gem that we've been thrilled to have in our neighborhood since last summer. I didn't realize it when I formed the meal in my head, but as I was assembling it, I had to laugh. Earlier this year I made a week-long challenge to myself to shop only at Ken's for our dinners, and here I accomplished the same thing by mere coincidence.

Grilled chicken breasts, marinated in Garlic Expressions dressing/marinade, topped with pico de gallo, and served with cilantro-lime brown rice (yep, even rice-cooker friendly brown rice can be found at Ken's!) and homemade baked corn tortilla chips made the perfect complement to the brilliantly sunny, breezy spring day we had here.

While The H grilled the chicken, I chopped all the goodies for the pico and cut/seasoned the corn tortillas. A few minutes of baking--just until browned on the edges--at 350* was all they needed.

Aside from the kosher salt, olive oil, and dried coriander I used in the rice and on the tortilla chips, everything I used in this meal can be found at Ken's.

While we may get a few "Oh hi, ma'am, you again?" looks behind the pleasant smiles that greet us at Ken's when we dash in for the third time in a week, we'll continue going back because it's perfectly located (can't beat less than a half-mile walk when gas is so expensive!) and they carry what we use at good prices. And no, this is not a paid advertisement. I just like the local guys!

I find myself very content when the little guy and I (and The H, when he's home) can spend a day grocery shopping, visiting the library, picking up a few things at the hardware store, mailing our bills, grabbing some cash from the ATM, and capping the day with treats from our favorite pizza joint and/or ice cream shop, without leaving our little neighborhood or hopping into the car. It makes me want to spend that much more time and money investing in our super-local community businesses, and happy that we have so many to choose from.

Marathon training update: Long runs DONE!

Technically, I still have two long runs to do, but today was the longest one of all eighteen weeks of training, so the rest are (much) shorter from here on out..minus race day. :p

The weather was gorgeous for a change--no rain, snow, sleet, or gale-force winds--and we were able to enjoy sun and a light breeze the whole time. Good thing, too, since the route was so hilly we probably couldn't have handled anything else stacked against us.

My running partner and I made the joint decision to stay conservative (the hills kind of forced that anyway) and try to not burn out like we did for 19 miles. She had to pull me back a few times when my legs were getting ahead of my brain, but overall we stayed strong and steady. The effort felt faster than the Garmin says, but that's ok. We were still under our planned race-day pace.

Here are the splits:

Split	Moving Time	Distance
1	0:08:55	1
2	0:08:30	1
3	0:08:22	1
4	0:08:37	1
5	0:08:32	1
6	0:08:40	1
7	0:08:44	1
8	0:08:30	1
9	0:08:33	1
10	0:08:38	1
11	0:08:49	1
12	0:08:50	1
13	0:08:38	1
14	0:08:50	1
15	0:08:45	1
16	0:08:52	1
17	0:08:36	1
18	0:08:55	1
19	0:09:03	1
20	0:08:42	1
21	0:00:50	0.1
Summary	2:54:51	20.1

From 18-19 we were going up hill into the wind. You can't win 'em all.

The H met me at the door with my coffee. Oh yes indeed, he's done this before. ;)

My lovely friend Heather, who hosted us and planned the route, also made a fantastic baked French toast with chocolate and dried cherries. Between that and the two hardboiled egg whites I put The H to work peeling for me, I refueled quite nicely.

One of these also found its way into my belly.

Sugar-covered sugar for the win!

A few ibuprofen, some water, and an elevated-legs nap later, I'm feeling remarkably normal. I'll use the foam roller before bed, and anticipate no lasting effects tomorrow. My friends and I were reminiscing today about where we started from: back when my long runs were 4-6 miles, I'd go home and eat like a horse, then nap for hours and walk funny for a few days. Today I ran for three hours, and feel like me. :)

Pizza free-for-all

Got some random veggies around? Not enough meat to build a meal around? Make a pizza! It's almost as forgiving as soup when it comes to using leftover odds and ends in a new way.

We've gotten pretty creative with our pies lately, and each one seems better than the last. One of my favorite combinations is barbecue sauce, chicken, red onion, and cheddar cheese. Adding green onion and/or green olive if they're available is tasty, too.

This one was topped with local nitrate-free beef pepperoni, artichoke hearts, black olives, pesto instead of red sauce, and a random assortment of awesome cheeses left from a party.

On the side, using one of the small crusts (when I make Bob's Red Mill GF crust, I make one large for dinner and two small pie-plate sized ones for leftovers), I made a garlic cheese bread. Yeah, not clean. But deeelicious, especially with the yogurt-based ranch-inspired dip I made on the side.

 

This is just plain yogurt dolled up with some salt-free herb blends and a few shakes of dehydrated veggie flakes.

 Everyone loved it. :)

Happy weekend eating!

I made Hamburger Helper.

Not the kind in a box, relax. It was a homemade knockoff, using this recipe from Kitchen Stewardship. I wanted something quick and easy for after running group, but I didn't want to make chili in the CrockPot. (Turns out the night was chilly enough for chili, but I already had this halfway made before we left, so never mind about that.) None of the search results on allrecipes.com were thrilling me, so I went to trusty ol' Google and picked one that I had the ingredients for.

You'll realize there is no picture. Even I have my limits to what I will post. :D But the dish did turn out well, really. It just wasn't ready for a close-up.

I used Sam Mills gluten free corn pasta, lean, local ground beef (fat drained), Vidalia onion instead of onion powder, and HFCS-free ketchup in place of tomato sauce. That was our only grumble about this recipe. Between the ketchup and the sugar (turbinado--I didn't want to overpower the dish with sucanat, though I might try it next time), the sauce was quite a bit sweeter than either The H or I cared for. Reducing the sugar by half if using ketchup might be the way to go. I also omitted the salt and pepper, except for a sprinkle of kosher salt and fresh ground pepper on the meat while it browned--nowhere near the teaspoon and 1/2 teaspoon she calls for.

As far as quick and easy, this fit the bill. I couldn't really detect the cheddar at the end, and it seemed quite creamy enough without it, so when I make this again, I will either use a sharper cheese or omit it altogether. Between that change, using real tomato sauce (or Pomi strained tomatoes), and sucanat in place of sugar, we could have a decent one-pot dish to add to our rotation.

Once upon a time...

Once upon a spring day in 2004, I ran a 5K. My time was 34:18. Average pace, 11:02 per mile. The next year, I ran it again. My time was 34:05. Average pace, 10:58 per mile. The NEXT year, I ran it again. My time was 34:05 (funny, right?). Average pace 10:58.

Five years later, I ran it for the fourth time. My time was 23:43, and I won 1st place in my age group. Average pace, 7:38 per mile. How NUTS is that?!

(Yes, I realize I could pack for a week's vacation in the sacks under my eyes. While I had the foresight to put on earrings--uber fancy for me--makeup was *not* happening before that race, and I hadn't had any coffee yet! Focus on the medal, people.)

My parents were there doing the 5K walk, and The H pushed the little guy in the jogging stroller. After the 5K, the little guy "ran" in his very first race: a one-lap journey around the indoor track, which he finished piggyback-style on The H. Running is hard work, especially when you're only three feet tall.

I find it delightfully amusing that I've gotten faster as I've aged, but not only that, I'm in such better shape now than I was in my mid-20s. My diet no doubt plays a major role in that, and I'm so glad I've been able to adjust my lifestyle to accommodate a mostly-clean eating plan. The payoffs have thus far proven well worth it.

Below are my splits from the race--the first two miles are my warmup. SO glad I was able to get those in! Being loose and warm only worked in my favor, I'm sure. (Besides, to meet my marathon-training mileage for the week, I had to run a total of five miles! Four weeks to go...) While I was getting a little freaked out seeing 7:09 and 7:11 as part of my moving pace on the Garmin during the first mile, I tried not to think about it too much, since I knew it would all be over soon. :)

Split	Avg Moving Pace	Distance
1	9:37	1
2	9:33	1
3	7:17	1
4	7:42	1
5	7:29	1
6	7:11	0.18
Summary	8:17	5.18

A day with the little guy

My son goes to daycare three days a week, something we've continued even though I'm no longer working on those days. The other two (week)days have become known as "Mommy and Caleb Days," and they are usually the highlight of my week. I love spending time with this tiny person, who has such big ideas and conversations for a person his age--of course, since he's my first and only, I'm sure I'm highly biased!

Today we shared a little snack of raw almonds, fresh apple, and cheese while he played in the kitchen.

After snack time, inspired by how much he enjoyed a decently clean snack with me, I assembled a handful of "snack bags" that we can easily grab and toss into my purse, his stroller, or The H's lunch bag when we're in need of a munch. These bags contain a serving of almonds, dried apricots, and a half-serving of chocolate-covered roasted edamame. The little guy calls them "choklit beans."

We had some time to kill before lunch, so we did some coloring and informal letter-learning. He's great at recognizing (and sounding out) capital letters, but lower case needs some work. Good thing he's only two, and we have plenty of time for that.

Here is a video--the first I've ever posted--of an impromptu ABC concert. Perhaps my favorite part is the "cheeeeze" at the end; think he's had a camera pointed in his face a lot lately? :)

First there was snow...

...and today we got slammed with some of the craziest weather I've ever seen, and I've lived in this state my entire life.

The day started out rainy, but the sun made its way through the clouds several times--in between sudden, harsh downpours. When The H got home from work, the sky was clearing and in one of its sunny moments. However, we were under a tornado warning. That did not stop us, little guy included, from setting out for a quick run. Yeah. I know. My mom wouldn't have liked that.

The sun stuck around for the first mile, though we were getting showered with ever-so-few raindrops along the way... and then, we hit Mile 2. Thunder. Lightning. Darkening sky. Must run faster! Just about 3/4 of the way through that second mile, the sky opened and down came the rain. Big, fat, juicy plinky drops. Those were followed quickly by skin-stinging hail. Ack!

Just shy of three miles, I dashed home ahead of The H and little guy (yes, we had the decency to cover the jogging stroller with a plastic rain cover, and he had his raincoat on) and opened the garage for them. The three of us stood there in awe of the loudest and largest hail I've had the privilege of seeing. The H caught some pics on his phone, then went to grab the camera when it let up for a minute.

And what was I doing during that minute?

Who wants to leave her Garmin at 2.83 on a day that was supposed to be *3* miles? ;) You can kind of see the hail in the grass behind me. And my super-cute Nike Tempo shorts. Clearance, baby.

Here are some pics of the hail, and our rain-flooded yard:

After we were all warm and dry, we had a family picnic in the basement, watching Wall-E as the tornado sirens (for a different part of the county, thank goodness) went off twice. Oh, and today happens to be the first day I've seen my tulips beginning to open.

 Ah, Michigan!