I'm back na na na na

Whew, it's been awhile.  Lots to catch up on.  In fact, so much has gone by that I probably don't even remember everything.  I've been exercising as per my usual routine, and I've made some good food, but again, not sure I can remember it all...so I'll briefly recap you on everything and try to stay more up-to-date if I can.  

Well I had my birthday, it was fun.

 It was sooooo good!  It has raspberry frosting inside. omgoodness it was yum yum in my tum tum.

For breakfast, I've been doing the usual.  But I tried overnight oats for the first time 2 weeks ago, and I'm going to try them again tomorrow (Megan advised me that over night oats are irresistibly delicious with mango).  I also made a delicious oatmeal with blueberries and mango.  Like...SO GOOD!

I've also made some scrumptious dinners.  

(1)

This was yellow and green beans, broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, and curry baked tofu in  Trader Joe's Curry Simmer Sauce and I put this over quinoa.

(2)

I made this for a Memorial Day BBQ I attended.  It's tomato, red bell pepper, cucumber, mint, cilantro, red and regular quinoa, recipe is here:  NYT recipe

(3)

This one was SOOOO good, or maybe I just think that because I wasn't expecting it to be.  I made this for dinner tonight (and what will be tomorrow's lunch and dinner).  It was a quiona/chard patty with some plain yogurt over it.  Then I threw some sauteed RRpepper, spinach, onion, baby bellos with it since I have to use up my produce before I go out of town.  Here is the recipe: Quinoa/Chard Patty, NYT

 Then I also had some random fun, and some random not so fun.  Let's see.  I got rear-ended at a light while doing some driving for work.  I wasn't in the best of moods when it happened.  Then on Memorial Day when I was catching some rays with the friends, a angry and drunken resident let the air out of two of my tires.  I called the police and had to get the tires pumped before the glorious day could continue:

I also went and caught some rays the day before memorial day:

AND I'M GROWING HERBS!!!!!!!!

Cilantro, dill, spearmint, basil, flat parsley

Okay, that's all for now!!!  Have a wonderful weekend.  I'm taking some time off work and enjoying a mini-vacation!

I don't wanna know...

So have you heard of the new "life expectancy" test that is somewhat in its infancy (discovering this "life expectancy" measurement awarded three scientists a Nobel prize in 2009) but is already on the market in the U.S.! And might be an over-the-counter test in the UK soon enough, article about the telomere test.  I don't know, would you want to take it?  Supposedly this test tells you how biologically old you are and subsequently how long you might live given this information.  Now, I might need to tell you my birthday is tomorrow and I feel really old.  :(  In fact I was a little blue yesterday in the middle of a quarter life crisis.  I'm getting so old and I have so little figured out.  I watched a comedy skit the other day were the comedian made a point to say how funny it was that as a child he thought "grown-ups" actually existed.  Like a child would think to himself "ugh, this life is confusing, but at least when I'm grown up it'll all make sense" then he was at the grocery store and someone called him "sir" at the age of 25 and he thought to himself "%@$#^ I'm a grown up now? what a joke, no one has this life figured out, we're screwed!"  That made me laugh and resonated with how I feel a bit.

Back to the point.  Would you want to know?  I like thinking I have control over how biologically old I am and that eating and exercise can keep me healthy, I think I would be saddened to find out that my biology and that which I have inherited gives me little choice or control in the matter.   Tell me what you think.

Anyway, I also did my usual Sunday cooking.  I made two recipes from Cleaneatingchelsey.com so it should get me through most of this week (dinner and lunch) and both meals were DELICIOUS!!!  I couldn't decide on one because they both looked way too good.  One was much faster and the other was a bit more complicated-- both I highly recommend.

First:  Black Bean and Sweet Potato Casserole, you can find the recipe from her blog post here: Chelsey's post.

Here are my pictures of it:

Preparation before layering the casserole

After cooking. Yum!  

Second I made her "Cheesy" Chickpea Quinoa over Spinach, which again you can find on her blog here: Chelsey's blog.

Here are my pictures!:

Preparing the delicious feast!

The finish produce, sorry, you'll have to live with it being upside down :)

Other than that Megan got me officially addicted to savory oats so I haven't been being too adventurous other than that...haha.

Also, yesterday I ran 4 miles by myself.  My heart rate monitor (that also acts as my stopwatch) didn't work until about 5 minutes into the run, and since I am a very goal oriented person and wouldn't be able to get an accurate time for the run, it was a little disappointing....but I got over it and finished the run.  4 miles is pretty good for me so I'm excited.  It's suppose to rain all day tomorrow but if it let's up I'm going to try the run again (luckily I got the battery replaced to my heart rate monitor today!).

Over and out.  Peace.

First time for everything

So.... I'm kinda a mental nut case when it comes to running.  If someone passes me I suddenly feel way more tired.  If my running partner stops, I have to stop too.   Running has been a particularly challenging activity for me since I started doing it a little over a year now.  So far I've never been able to successfully run by myself, I've always been hampered by needing to find a running partner to be able to complete a successful workout.  One time I tried (last year) but I convinced myself it was too hard and painful halfway down the street and stopped (which was probably less than a half mile).  But today, ladies and gentlemen, I ran by myself for the first time.  My pace was a little slower than I've been running the past couple weeks, but only a little slower (8.56 min/mile pace)....and I'm going to blame the hills.  I felt like there was more, oh! and!  I ran farther than I've been running.  Monday my running partner and I ran about 3.3 miles (though we had to stop in the middle because I had a side stitch sent straight from the devil himself) and today I ran 3.8 miles without stopping. [It was clearly a hard workout for me as my average heart rate was: 179 and my max was 192, haha!]  woot! woot!  I'm giving myself a gold star.  The only bad thing was when I got home for my reward I remembered I ran out of ovaltine yesterday...so I didn't get the reward I truly deserved.  I'll have to stop at the store and get some more for my post-workout reward tomorrow!

Here is my run, courtesy of mapmyrun.com:

Good luck to all of you on this beautiful day (on the east coast) with your workouts or various outside activities.

As far as food-- I've still be chowin' down on the lasagna I made on Sunday (see: Sunday cookin')

With different sides:

, 

Lasagna with Spinach salad with beets, almonds, garbanzo beans and Newman's Own Light Balsamic dressing 

Lasagna with cabbage and mashed sweet potato

**Note**  best way to prepare cabbage (I ask Megan ever single time I make cabbage so I should probably write it down somewhere....***
Saute cabbage in a pan with a little EVOO and add onion, garlic, pepper, spices (I added Mr. Dash Carribean seasoning).  When wilted well add some water and cook a bit more.  Drain water and add a splash or two of apple cider vinegar. yum! 

On a different note I spilled my nutritional yeast all over the kitchen floor.  Almost half the bottle!!! when I was preparing my savory oats.  How sad, I almost cried, but I held in there.

Sunday Cookin'

I wanted to leave this in a different post than my Mother's Day post because it would have been really long had I not.  :)

I made this awesome dish for dinner (though I made it at noon so I cannot tell you how good it is yet).  I got it from Ari's blog post: http://thediva-dish.com/2011/04/30/a-far-from-royal-life/

Even though you can find the ingredients/directions in the post from the link above, I will repost ingredients and instructions, along with my pictures from the creation of this meal, but again check out the above link for the original!!

It's called: Layered Couscous Eggplant and Zucchini Casserole.

Ingredients:
1 large eggplant (w/o skin) thinkly sliced
1 large zucchini thinly sliced
3/4 can of tomato sauce
1.5-2 cups prepared couscous
2 TBS prepared pesto

(prepared pesto: 

.5 cups basil

1.5 TBS evoo

1 TB parmesan cheese

1 clove minced garlic

instructions:  put all ingredients in food processor, add oil as appropriate for desired texture)

1 can of Great Northern white beans (or navy beans)
1 cup spinach
1/2 cup fresh basil
1 tsp dried rosemary
1 tsp dried oregan
1 tsp dried parsely
1 tsp paprika
2 TBS nutirional yeast
2 TBS EVOO
2 tsp chopped garlic

Instructions:
1. Preheat oven to 450.  On a greased baking sheet, spread sliced eggplant around and bake in the over for about 13-15 minute, or until wilted.
2.  While eggplant are baking, using a food processor (I had to make this two steps b/c my blender wasn't good enough to do this, but my food processor was too small-- so I blended it till it was small enough for my mini food processor).  Blend beans, spinach, basil, spices, nutritional yeast, EVOO, and garlic until creamy, set aside.

3.  In a separate bowl, add couscous and pesto mix until combined.  Set aside.

4.  Take eggplant out and remove and assemble the rest of the ingredients to get ready to layer casserole dish.

5.  Start with a couple TBS of tomato sauce on the bottom of a greased casserole dish.
 6.  Then add layer of eggplant

7. Then add layer of bean spread

8. Then add layer of zucchini

9. Then add another layer of tomato sauce
 10.  Then add layer of couscous.

11.  Repeat, with couscous being the top layer.  Sprinkle the top with nutritional yeast.  Turn down oven temp to 425 and bake casserole for 30-40 minutes.

before oven

After done cooking

I Love My Mom!

"A mother is the truest friend we have, when trials heavy and sudden, fall upon us; when adversity takes the place of prosperity; when friends who rejoice with us in our sunshine desert us; when trouble thickens around us, still will she cling to us, and endeavor by her kind precepts and counsels to dissipate the clouds of darkness, and cause peace to return to our hearts." 
 --Washington Irving

Happy Mother's Day to all you wonderful women out there!  Today I decided to  take a stab at my domestic obligations.  My lackadaisical attitude toward my daily chores is in large part contributing to my overwhelmed sense of chaos lately.  So today I took a day for myself.  I cooked a meal that looked delicious and should last me through the week (dinner detailed in the next post).  I cleaned the kitchen.  I unloaded, loaded, unloaded and reloaded the dishwasher.  I washed all my clothes which I'm preparing to fold.  Then I will tackle my room which currently lays in disarray.   I think once I put all this in order, the rest of my duties and daily tasks will feel a lot more manageable.  Currently it seems like I have 1,000 things to do at all times so even when I get something done I have impending dread about the 999 things I'm not doing.  


Anyway, enough venting.  The whole point of my vent is to say moms are awesome.  I can't really speak for all moms but I KNOW my mom is awesome.  Here I am, a single woman in her 20s with a full time job (where the work environment is awesomely casual and relaxed) and little other obligations, certainly no dependents, not even a goldfish.  Whereas my mother had 4 rather high energy children (with opposite personalities, and opposite interests) who were 6 years apart (oh and did I mention- her 3rd and 4th children are TWINS!) to raise. Not only did she raise us to be the awesome individuals that we now are, but she also had a part-time job as a lawyer (which is certainly not nearly as casual and relaxed as what I'm use to) and a full-time job as a mom, where many of the domestic tasks fell on her (though my dad is quite helpful around the house, unfortunately I must admit her children were not nearly as helpful as we, and certainly I, should have been).  My mom always had a well balanced and healthy dinner prepared for us at dinner time.  Here I find it hard to cook for just me, she cooked for SIX and we rarely had leftovers so she was at it basically every night. If I was a mathematician, I would probably come to find that my mom spent a ridiculous amount of her life in the kitchen.  


And the aforementioned are just the things I didn't pay close enough attention to growing up to thank my mother for properly.  She also always was and will be my best friend.  My mother  (and father) is my voice of reason, even when I do not ask for advice her voice guides me.  She is my emotional support and someone I can always count on for the empathy (or if really serious sympathy is required, pity).  She is someone that can sternly tell me "just do it," when that's what I really need to hear.  She is the person who taught me you can get REALLY mad at someone and still love them dearly.  She is the one who taught me sometimes the only thing you need to hear or need to say is "I'm sorry."  She taught me not to be too hard on myself.  She has instilled in me the importance of getting an education, but also the importance of seeking your own education in the lessons of life-- and using that to shape your life.  My mother is the only person who cries when she reads my personal papers, or hears my personal stories, or recognizes my achievements-- which apart from everything else she does, lets me know how much she truly loves me.  My mom tells me she misses me 2 minutes after I leave her house.  I've always tried to explain to my mom that the love I feel for her is so strong, it's hard to believe there is a bond more powerful than the one I hold with her (though, she insists no love is a strong as the one for the person calling you "mom").  I wish I could be with my mom on Mother's Day, but I can't this year.  But this day (which is unfortunately only a day) is a nice reminder of how awesome my mom is, she is a rockin' woman! 

"Mother love is the fuel that enables a normal human being to do the impossible."

-- Marion C. Garretty

CINCO DE MAYO!!!

Happy Cinco de Mayo!  But actually.... I don't really know the purpose of Cinco de Mayo.  Is it just to drink alcohol?... because that's kind of the gist I'm getting.  No, but really...why does everyone celebrate it? I mean I <3 love <3 May so I would understand if this holiday just evolved to a drunken celebration of the best month of the year!! (hint: my birthday may or may not be this month).  But... Wiki says this holiday is:  "The date is observed in the United States as a celebration of Mexican heritage and pride,^[5] and to commemorate the cause of freedom and democracy during the first years of the American Civil War." (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cinco_de_Mayo).  

What?  There are a LOT of holidays that celebrate war victories, ethnic pride, etc.  What's the deal with Cinco de Mayo?  In my confusion and misunderstanding of this holiday I accidently celebrated St. Patrick's Day (j/k that's just how it turned out on my dinner plate), with turkey sausage (not organic...:/), cabbage, and mashed potatoes:

It was also a night for wine.  I'm not a big fan of white wine, but I gave it a try and it's nicely warming my tummy as I post.  :) 

In other news I had a great run.  8.39 mile pace and 2.78 miles.  That's really good for me, considering I never really ran more than a year ago.  I'm pretty proud of myself so I thought I'd post about it.  

But that's all folks, another busy day and not enough time to post something that is more intriguing.  MLIA. 

Too much to do, so little time...

Ah!  I feel like it's that time of the year when everything is happening all the time!  Don't get me wrong, I'm loving it, but I feel a little pressed for time as well.  And unfortunately the blog is not on the tip-top of my priorities.  I don't have too much time to write an interesting post, but I did want to update some new delicious recipes I've made!!

Last week the Sunday meal that sustained me till Wednesday dinner, and I was eating it for lunch too! was:

 Peanut Chicken Soba Salad.  This was my first foray into Soba noodles.  And the verdict is in: worth it!  I'm definitely going to look for more recipes using this interesting buckwheat noodle.  This was a DELICIOUS meal and made great leftovers!

This week I made:   Orange Pan-glazed Tempeh (and Tofu) Recipe  I made it over red quinoa.  Pictured here:

I made this Monday night and it lasted me till tonight, this is what it looked like tonight!  (with a sweet potato and steamed broccoli-- did I mention I've ravenous lately??)

The new thing I've tried once so far (and will again tomorrow) is savory oats!!  I got this recipe from Megan, she made this for me kindly on Sunday morning.  It is also found on her blog.   Which you can get to at: eatmybeets.com, and the basic recipe here.

Savory Hot Cereal: (Hot cereal: [oats, rye, triticale, barley, golden flax]; with an egg, nutritional yeast, minced onion, basil, oregano, and mild chili sauce)

In other news, I'm trying to grow Basil and Cilantro.  I might pick up some other herbs at the farmers market this Saturday, we'll see.  I went out of town shortly after I bought my herbs and my Cilantro took a turn for the worst, I'm trying to revive it and I'll check back in to show you their progress!  Also, my workouts have been going fabulous, though I'm not sure how... I've been dying of allergies and hacking away as I run but it's not slowing me down or holding my gym workouts back so all is good and well here, just busy.

Until next time, be well.