Archive for September, 2010
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Day 2
Today was day two of the Real Simple cook through challenge. On the menu was Penne with tomatoes, eggplant, and mozzarella.
Mark stole a picture of me cooking away. The recipe was not hard – but it said it would take me 30 minutes to cook and it took me 45. Granted, part of that was me screwing around, not realizing I should have been cooking the eggplant while the pasta was cooking, but I would guess it would still have taken me longer than 30 minutes to make. I modified the recipe by using whole wheat penne. Here is the result:
I really liked the dish. My favorite part was the fresh mozzarella that became all melty. I also liked the spice – garlic and crushed red pepper – that was added to the eggplant. I thought it had great flavor. I made a TON of this so we are set for lunch for a couple of days.
After work and before cooking this, I ran 4.25 miles on the treadmill. Now, I’m watching the Biggest Loser. The trainers just explained what a calorie was and how many calories you have to burn to lose a pound. That is the first time I’ve ever heard them explain that on the show. I like that they showed that and I wonder what else they are going to learn!
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October Cooking Challenge
Ok, so maybe it’s not quite October, but I got the recent issue of Real Simple and I was inspired to do a cook through challenge : Your Four Week Dinner Plan.
The magazine conveniently breaks down 4 weeks of dinners by week and provides you with a shopping list for each week. Real Simple recipes are usually just that – simple – not the type with long ingredient lists or protracted steps. The recipes promise 5 nights a week of dinners with no repeats – and that’s what you’re going to see here. I will customize the meal where I see fit and I’m not 100% committed to working through week by week – in fact, if there are leftovers and I don’t have to cook 5 nights a week, I’m more than cool with that.
So the Challenge might take me a bit longer than 4 weeks. Since I don’t want to get sued, I won’t be posting the recipes verbatim, but I’m interested in seeing whether the estimated prep and cook times are accurate as listed so you’ll be hearing about that too. If anyone wants to join, jump right in!
On Sunday, I picked up the necessary ingredients, plus some of my essentials:
Tonight, being night one of my cook-through challenge, was Roasted Tilapia, Potatoes, and Lemons.
Before I get there – another cool part about this recipe plan is that it promises to use the ingredients most likely to go bad first (such as fish) so that you only have to go to the grocery store once a week. I don’t know why I say “only”. Personally, I never go more than once. I hate grocery shopping. I digress.
The recipe said it would take 45 minutes with 5 minutes of prep. This was almost exactly the case – I messed around a little bit more as things were cooking, and I made roasted broccoli to go with it. I started cooking at about 5:20 and we were sitting at the table a little after 6.
The recipe was also really easy. What could be easier than throwing a bunch of stuff in a pan and baking it?
I omitted olives from my half of the pan since I don’t like them. The fish and potatoes were just okay. But it was an easy, classic dish.
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Hello, Fall
Today actually felt like fall. It was chilly and overcast but not cold – there are maybe 7 days like that in Missouri before it becomes bitterly cold and you wish for spring.
I went out and enjoyed it with an 8 mile run. It was an amazing run – thanks to the cooler temperatures my legs were having a Forrest Gump moment. I felt like I could keep going. My average pace was fast too (for me) at a 9:00 minute mile. If only the weather is this good for the half marathon next weekend – and my legs feel that fresh. My calves were a little sore for the first three miles (from the 5k I think) but I didn’t notice it after that. I think my pace today for the first 3 miles was probably the same as it was for the 5k yesterday – which just goes to show that if I had hydrated better and not been tripped by my dog, maybe I could have done better
For dinner I made a Cheddar Apple panini on my grill pan. I used whole wheat bread, dijon mustard, sliced apple and sharp cheddar. It was a different combination but really good and Mark liked it too.
When Mark said we had pumpkin beer, I put more of my chips on his plate…
The Schlafly Pumpkin Ale is one of the best pumpkin beers I’ve ever had. Not only does the beer actually taste like pumpkin, but it is the best smelling beer ever – cloves, cinnamon, and nutmeg flood your nose.
Speaking of cloves, I was all out of ground cloves and went to buy a jar and it are SO expensive. Some of the small jars were $9! I managed to find a $4 bottle but still, wow.
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Ambulance Chase 5k recap
This morning I ran the PILG Ambulance Chase 5k (perfect name, right?). I signed up for it earlier in the week because I wanted to inject a little running enthusiasm back into my veins. The race was at 9 in the morning, which is a pretty late start. It was nice to not have to wake up super early for a race.
My unofficial race photographer (my husband Mark) sat this one out. I think we made it in quite a few official pictures but it might be a while before those are up. I took this one though, before we started.
Dogs were allowed! I saw a volunteer from my team on Girls on the Run. So random!
It took a while for us to get started, so Ada was raring to go. For the first quarter mile or so, we were following an ambulance with its sirens blaring (this was part of the race). With that noise and all the excitement, Ada was all over the place and she tripped me. My knee and hands were scraped up but I got back up and hoped Ada would fall into line.
The race, after that, was pretty uneventful. I was a bit dehydrated so I think I could have done better. 5ks go by so quickly and I feel like it was over before I even had time to think about it all. I’m not sure if we will get official times or what my official time was, but my garmin had me at about 27:52. It was about 30 seconds slower than my PR. After that time I regretted not pushing myself just a little bit harder. The hills on this race were pretty challenging though. There’s always next time!
I hadn’t mentioned this but a couple of weeks ago I decided to stop the Weight Watchers program. It wasn’t clicking for me – I was pretty much documenting weight fluctuation. I really liked the meetings and the camaraderie with other people. I think the concept of counting points is fine and I agree with a lot of their concepts. It’s a great place to learn about fundamentals of nutrition. On the downside, I often was surprised by how little other members knew about nutrition, and I was dismayed by how little exercise is discussed. But that wasn’t the reason I left – I left because it just wasn’t clicking and I didn’t like seeing my money disappear. A structured program isn’t going to force you to get your head in the right place. I have to do that myself.
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Friends, Acquaintances, Strangers
Dinner began with this juicy butternut squash. It was pretty huge, which ended up being a problem. I roasted the squash with a few shallots. Later, I cooked )a ton of) whole wheat spaghetti and threw in some chopped kale. I then made a few mistakes… I tossed the spaghetti and kale with crushed garlic and smart balance butter and seasonings and the spaghetti started breaking up – a lot. Then I tossed in chopped butternut, and the spaghetti really started breaking apart. It was not pretty.
I added some mozzarella and it tasted fine. Just not good enough to take a picture of. It’s a good thing it tasted alright because we have a ton of leftovers – which was actually the intention. I’m trying to reduce my grocery bill so I’m hoping I can avoid the grocery store until the weekend. What are your strategies in reducing your grocery bill? Feel free to share!
Last night I wasn’t happy about not running this weekend so I ran 9 miles on the treadmill. I also signed up for a 5k this weekend called “Ambulance Chase”. Too perfect, right? I thought a short race might pick up my spirits when it comes to running and I think I can go with my dog, Ada.
Tonight I also read a couple of magazines and came across a piece in the St. Louis Magazine on the National Study Group on Chronic Disorganization which is apparently based in St. Louis. One of the strategies to reduce hoarding was the game “Friends, Acquaintances, Strangers.” If you have a collection of things – shoes, books, games – decide which are your friends, which are your strangers, and then the rest are acquaintances. It’s kind of the strategy I used this weekend when going through my clothes. Obviously, get rid of your “strangers” and think about whether any “acquaintances” should be “friends” or not. It was a neat analogy I thought.
About Me
My name is Michelle and I like to write about running, food, and fitness in general. Check out my About Michelle section for more!
