Resolutions Revisited

Whoa this year went by quick, right?  Seems like just yesterday I was making big plans for fast running and going back to school.  Let's have a look-see back on the last year and how I did on all those goals/resolutions.

Resolution #1: Run faster.  Well, I PR'd in a half marathon by about 2 minutes.  So I guess this one was fulfilled.  However, all that fast running set me up for a bum knee and no fall racing.  So it doesn't really feel like I accomplished a lot in the area of running.  Maybe next year?

Resolution #2: Be more organized, get good grades.  I'm not so sure about the organization part, but I rocked the grades this year.  School has actually been such a good thing for me.  I know I run around like a crazy person and talk about how busy I am (I'm not really), but I think I need that kind of "stress" to keep me sane.

Resolution #3: Debt free, stop spending money.  We paid off Drew's car which was kind of a huge deal.  Now we put that money towards my newly acquired student loans so that by the time I get out of school *hopefully* we will be able to pay them off in one fell swoop and get to be debt free again.  As for the not spending money, I need to get back on that bandwagon.

Resolution #4: Vacations: Whoa.  I totally blew this one.  I listed like 4 mini-vacations we were going to take: Nashville, Kentucky, Skiing, and a float trip.  Nada.  Not one of those trips came to fruition.  Lame.

Resolution #5: Something about Eclipse: Okay, this one wasn't really a resolution... more like something I was looking forward to in the year 2010.  Don't freak out when I say this: I'm kind of over it.  Like... I don't really know when the next movie comes out and I don't really care either.  I guess vampires & werewolves are so last year.

Resolution #6: Start eating clean:  Although we definitely don't eat "clean" all the time, I think we've really cleaned up our eating this year.  We eat a lot less processed foods and eat a lot more whole, natural, real food.  I still bake way too many cookies, cakes, and whatnot, but overall I'd say we've made real progress.  Go us!

So there you have it... a somewhat productive year.  I really love that I recorded stuff on the blog... because usually by this time of the year I have absolutely no idea what resolutions I made the prior year.

How about you?  How'd you do in 2010?

Christmas Eve Pasta Salad

Monday already?  This week's meatless recipe was used as a side for Christmas Eve Dinner at the Gibsons'.  It's got enough going on though to double as a light main dish.  And trust me, it made enough for us to eat it for several meals following Christmas.

Christmas Eve Salad.

 Christmas Eve Pasta Salad a-la- Rachael Ray

Ingredients:

• Coarse salt
• 1 package fresh mushroom or chicken prosciutto or spinach filled tortellini (I used cheese tortellini)
• 1/2 pound fresh baby spinach
• 1 (15-ounce) can baby artichoke hearts in water, drained and chopped
• 1 red roasted pepper, drained and chopped
• 1/2 small red onion, chopped
• 1 clove garlic, cracked from skin
• 1 lemon, zested 
• 2 teaspoons lemon juice, the juice of 1 wedge
• 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar, a couple of splashes
• 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves, chopped or 1/2 teaspoon dried leaves, eyeball it
• Black pepper
• A handful sun-dried tomatoes packed in oil, coarsely chopped

Method:

• Bring 5 or 6 inches of water to a boil in a large pot. Salt boiling water and add pasta. Cook for 3 to 4 minutes, until pasta is just tender and the tortellini are floating like buoys. Drain tortellini, then cool the cooked pasta by spreading them out on a large plate or a cookie sheet in a single layer.
• Coarsely chop baby spinach. Combine with artichoke pieces, roasted red pepper and red onion. Chop garlic, then add salt to it and mash it into a paste with the flat of your knife. Transfer garlic paste to a small bowl and add lemon zest, lemon juice and vinegar to it. Whisk in oil, thyme and pepper. Add pasta and sun-dried tomatoes to the salad. Dress salad and gently toss. Serve or refrigerate.

This salad was pretty tasty... but I'm not sure I'm a big fan of thyme.  It sort of reminded me of potpourri.  I'd probably leave it out next time I make this dish.

And, I'm sure you're interested in more than just the salad from Christmas Eve!  How about some pics?

Handsome little guy.

"Cheese" turns into some pretty funny faces.

Fire place shot.



Such a good picture!

Hilarious.

Cheese.

Merry Christmas!

Jack giving his sweet & innocent face.  He just wants presents.

Showing off the Christmas jammies.

Tree shot.

He says "cheese" every time someone pulls out a camera.

Merry Christmas Jack!

We had a lovely time on Christmas Eve, and I hope you did too! 

Happy {meatless} Monday!

Big D: Week 3

Hi friends!  Did everyone enjoy their holiday weekend?!  I maybe enjoyed it a bit too much... in the form of sugar cookies and pie.  Whatevs...

It was a taper week in my training plan... so not much running to offset all the eating.  The new year can't come soon enough!  Here's what the last week looked like:

Monday:  Spinning at 5:45 in the morning.  So worth getting up early for.  Yoga Flow later in the evening.  I flipping love yoga.  Love.

Tuesday:  5 miles outside.  I somehow forgot it was cold out and went running without my gloves.  I looked like a fool.

Wednesday:  3 miles on the treadmill & 30 minutes on the elliptical.  I ran into Katy at the gym and snagged an elliptical next to her.  I don't know how good a workout I got, but time flies when you have someone to chat with!

Thursday:  More yoga.  This class was deep stretch.  I don't even know what to say about it.  So many stories from one little class.  The teacher thought I have scoliosis and also asked if Brooke and I are sisters based on our similar lower backs.  Interesting day at Darling Yoga.

Friday:  6 miles on the treadmill - 52:58.  There were a ton of people at the gym!  I guess everyone was planning on going after the Christmas cookies later that night too.

Saturday:  Does opening gifts count as a workout?  No?  How about eating Monkey Bread?  I may have worked up a sweat with the Monkey Bread.

Sunday:  3 miles SLOW on the treadmill.  Drew made his come-back to the gym tonight, so I had to accompany him.  And I had to do damage control after all those cookies. :)

Total Mileage:  17 miles. 

I ran four times this week!  Woot woot!  My knee feels good too.  Next week's long run is eleven miles... the longest I'll have run since the whole knee injury running hiatus.  Hopefully I can wrangle the strength to get it done outside.  This weather is not awesome.

Now... back to those cookies.

Whisks of Love.

Christmas time.  The time for giving.  Have you finished your gift shopping? 

I'm not the best gift-giver.  I try really hard every year to find thoughtful gifts, but I somehow usually end up missing the mark.  You know when you receive a gift and it's just so you that you are just shocked at how thoughtful a person could be??? 

This happened to me twice this week.  Twice in the same day.  Both gifts were whisks.  I know, a whisk doesn't seem like an incredibly thoughtful gift.  But it so is.

I met my friend Jennifer for coffee on Monday.  She and I carpooled to Science of Food class every day this summer.  Through those many hours of driving + lots of time in the kitchen, we got to know each other pretty darn well.  So even though we hadn't really seen much of each other since this summer, it wasn't hard to pick up where we left off. 

Half way through my giant cup of coffee, Jennifer remembered she had something for me.  Yes, I love gifts.  But I could not have been happier when she pulled a tiny little whisk from her purse.

Our class kitchens were each stocked with one of these tiny little guys, and Jennifer remembered me being completely smitten.  I have a thing for tiny kitchen gadgets.  And she remembered.

It might seem silly, but I was just completely overcome by such a thoughtful gesture.  She said she was at a thrift store and saw the little guy and thought of me.  She kept it in her purse to give to me. 

I love you.

I loved it so much I held on to it through the rest of our coffee date and maybe waived it around for effect while telling stories.  It has a sort of magic wand effect to it.  And not to worry, he will have many small friends in the kitchen.

Tiny ice cream spoons, whisk, pinch & dash measuring spoons.

He can also hang with one of my many sets of tiny salt & pepper shakers.  I also have a thing for salt & pepper shakers... but that's for another post.

S&P Midgets.

Wait, what's that?

I came home to a package sitting on the table that I thought was just a gift I'd ordered a while back.  Before Drew went to bed he asked if I was going to open my package from Jess.  Wha????

It was not the gift I'd ordered for mi padre.  It was in fact a box bursting at the seems with wonderfulness from my beautiful wonderful thoughtful cousin.



Box o' goodness.

 Jess, being uber-thoughtful, took my pumpkin passion to heart and sent me a box bursting with every kind of pumpkin delicacy you could imagine: scones, pie, cookies, maple pumpkin butter... if you don't see me for the next few weeks it's because I'm holed up in the house smearing maple pumpkin butter on everything imaginable. 

The box also contained a new whisk!  How on Earth was I gifted two whisks in one day?
 

Big & Lil'.

Again, it's not that I'm super infatuated with whisks.  There was just a lot of love that came with both.  And that makes me feel incredibly blessed.

What else makes me happy?  This:

Merry Christmas.

Jess also sent a lovely reminder of Christmas-Past.  We used to rock lots of matching clothes when we were little.  I'd really like to bring that back.  Let's leave the bowl cut in the 80's though.

Thistle & Lu

I get lost easily.  For some reason I always think I know where I'm going... until about half way there I realize I have absolutely no idea.  But, I feel that as my husband for almost four years now, Drew should know this about me.  And he should insist that we Mapquest things before we leave.

This weekend we were out and about, finishing up some Christmas shopping.  We were on the Plaza and I got Drew to agree to lunch at Lulu's and a stop by Thistle.  Really I wanted to go to Thistle and I knew it was right next to Lulu's.  And I knew where Lulu's is because I always see the sign when I'm driving around downtown.  So I figured I could find both.  I was wrong.

After driving up and down the streets of downtown KC looking for a little cartoon asian girl on a building, we were about to call it quits (our Thistle search, not our marriage) when Drew spotted Lulu!  We parked and walked all around the building looking for Thistle.  I swear Lauren said it was right next door.  I was very disoriented.

So we put off our search and headed back to Lulu's for some noodle-goodness.  We split the Pad Thai.  It was so good I did the happy fork dance... with chopsticks.



Happy Chopsticks.



We also shared a plate of dumplings: half pork, half veg.  The waitress asked us the most ridiculous question: "Fried or steamed?" 

Fried.  Always fried.

Fried dumplings.

Seriously, the food was amazing.  Amazing.  Drew decided he likes the tofu better at Blue Koi and I decided he is crazy.  Crazy. 

Drew don't know jack about tofu.

We started getting crazy and dipping everything in the chili sauce.  Whoa, that stuff is hot.  Hot!

Holy Hotness Batman!

Drew inquired again as to what Thistle is.  As I'm not exactly sure, I started off by saying, "Well, it isn't an antique store..."  which immediately set him off.  Drew holds a grudge against antiques ever since I made him walk around the Mission Antique Mall with me and he got super creeped out by some super creepy stuff. 

So I tried to back-peddle and describe how Geri has the most amazing vintage stuff in her house and she can make old furniture into new and she is totally awesome.  Maybe I didn't do it justice because Drew said it sounds like a hippie store.   Then he explained that there are two things he hates in this world...

Antiques & Hippies.

I told him he better check his compost bin in the backyard because I'm pretty sure that is the calling-card of hippies.  Just ask the neighbors.

Back to Lulu's.  So now you know I think it is wonderful and fabulous and probably couldn't get any better, right? 

BUT WAIT!!!

Oh no they didn't.

Yep, they sell Glace ice cream.  Stop it.  I'm never leaving. 

Our super-friendly waitress gave us directions to Thistle and explained that Lulu's had just moved last week to a new location.  That's why I was so lost and confused!  I knew I wasn't that directionally challenged.

We made our way around the corner and spotted it!

Ta da!

I snapped a photo as we approached the front door... and discovered it was closed.  Drew was not amused.  I was devastated!  Apparently I read wrong... I thought they were open every weekend before Christmas, but they were actually only open on Fridays before Christmas.  Dang it!

Anyone want to join me for some Thistl-ing in January?  I know just how to get there!

Acafella Pomadora

Buenas Lunes!  Happy Monday!  Are you caving under the stress of the holidays?  Running around town in search of that perfect gift?  Or are you one of those fools who has had your presents bought and wrapped and are now lounging around laughing at all of us procrastinators? 

Well, either way... I've got a super delicious recipe for you today that is E-A-S-Y.  And super impressive... if your dinner guest happens to be Jana, who is uber-easily impressed.

This Pasta Pomodora is a recipe I found in Runner's World Magazine.  The sauce is basically canned tomatoes simmered with olive oil and garlic.  Easy, right?  We're usually Prego people, and this sauce kicks Prego to the curb. 

Gi-normo can of maters from Costco.

It's as big as my head.  I have a large head.

The pasta was served at our now weekly showing of Glee.  My favorite bloggers attended for song and pasta.

T-Dub; looking overly excited for pasta.

This was Jana's first visit to the Hood.  Thankfully her car wasn't stolen.

Squiggly noodles, pomodora, and Panera bread.

Pasta Pomodora

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 3 garlic cloves, crushed (I used 5... and sweat garlic for two days).
• 3 16 oz cans of peeled, whole Italian plum tomatoes, such as San Marzano (or 1 can the size of your head)
• 1 tsp Sicilian oregano (I just used regular)
• 1 tsp salt (or to taste)
• 1 tsp pepper
• 1 lb. pasta

Method:

• Heat oil in a saucepan over medium.  Add garlic and saute until golden brown, about three minutes.
• While garlic browns, pour tomatoes into a bowl.  Squeeze with your hands to break them up*.
• Add tomatoes and their juice to the saucepan.
• Add oregano, salt, and pepper.
• Simmer on low for 45 minutes.  Add a little water if needed to keep the sauce from becoming too thick (it should be bright red, if it becomes brick red, it's too thick). 
• Add one pound of pasta to a pot of boiling, salted water.
• Two minutes before it's cooked, remove pasta from water and add to the sauce.  Cook until tender, allowing pasta to absorb the sauce.  Add a little pasta water if needed to keep the sauce liquid. 
• Drizzle with olive oil (I forgot to do this).  Sprinkle with Italian cheese (unless you're a vegan).  Garnish with basil.  Serves 6.

Mya and Cade made fast friends when he decided to share his bread with her.  Mya has been on a grain-free diet for over a year, so one bite of carbs and she decided Cade was the best thing ever.

Sniff Sniff.

Chomp.

She kept an eye on him the rest of the night, just in case he happened to drop something scrumptious.   

"Give me a snack, baby!"

Cade liked Mya too.  I took a lot of pictures of the two of them.  I just love when Mya makes new friends.

T-Dub spanking Cade (???)

We watched episodes 3 & 4 from season 1 of Glee.  Although I don't think the girls were as impressed with the Acafellas as I am, they were hooked when the Celibacy Club pregnancy scandal was revealed in episode 4.

Mission accomplished.  I've created two new Gleeks.

More gratuitous baby pictures:

Cade shares his cell phone.

Mya snags Cades blanket.

Cade demands wine.

I hope he uses his cell phone to call social services.

Best wishes for a happy week-before-Christmas!  Remember, if you're in a time-pinch and need an easy dinner fix, this pasta is super super easy and infinitely better than Prego!

Happy {meatless} Monday!

*For many reasons I did not use my hands to squish the tomatoes.  One, sticking my hands in there kind of freaked me out.  Two, I don't think I'd want Cade squishing my dinner in his hands, so I'm sure he doesn't want me squishing his dinner in my hands.  And three, I totally slashed my finger open cutting into the bread when I got it home.  I guess I got a bit excited about the straight-from-the-oven loaf and let the knife get away from me.  Broken skin + tomato juice = gross & ouch.  So I just smashed the 'maters with a wooden spoon.   You're welcome.

Big D: Week 2

Two weeks into marathon training and Mr. Right Knee is still up and running.  Can I get a woot woot?!?

Woot woot!!!

I was slightly derailed this week by some horrifying stomach bug/24 hour flu, but thankfully I'm better now.  And I still got all of my workouts in, for the most part.  The week looked like this:

Monday: Nada.  Drew was still in town being sick, so I decided to take a rest day and spend some quality time with my patient. 

Tuesday:  5 miles on the treadmill & Yoga with my favorite old folks at 24 Hour Fitness.

Wednesday:  45 minutes elliptical intervals and Yoga Flow at a real live yoga studio!  Brooke and I bought a month unlimited at Darling Yoga and attended our first class.  Our instructor sat on me while I was in Downward Dog.  I'm not kidding.  It felt amazing.

Thursday:  9 miles!  I hadn't intended to do a long run, but I told my neighbor-friend Brittney that I'd meet her for a 45 minute run.  Well, we met up about a mile from my house and by the time our 45 minutes was up I calculated that I'd be at 7 miles by the time I got home.  I figured I might as well make the most of it and added two more miles so I wouldn't have to force myself out into the cold again.  Thank goodness I did my long run when I did!  Later that night I was struck with the black plague of death.

Friday: Couch surfing counts as working out, no?

Saturday:  3 slow agonizing horrifying miles on Mr. Treadmill.  I started at 6 mph and only allowed myself to bump up the speed after a song finished on my Ipod.  I was dying of boredom.  Dying.

Sunday:  I took the puppies walking and think that counts as cross-training. 

Next week is a taper week.  That means my long run is only 6 miles!  So I might try to do all four days of running this week.  Or I might skip running all together in favor of cookie baking eating.

16 weeks to go!!!

Peanut Butter Jelly Time.

Peanut butter jelly, peanut butter jelly, peanut butter jelly and a baseball bat.

I love PB&J's and eat them like its my job. So, when I came across peanut butter and jelly thumbprint cookies, I was in! I'd never made thumbprints before, but the process was really fun.

Roll dough balls in sugar.

Poke half-baked dough balls with a spoon.

So cute!

Ta Da!

Fill them up with jam!

Muey Bueno.

Peanut Butter and Jelly Thumbprints a-la-Martha
Makes 36

Ingredients

• 1 1/4 cup flour
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 3/4 cup smooth peanut butter
• 1 stick butter, softened
• 1/3 cup packed light-brown sugar
• 1/3 cup granulated sugar, plus more for rolling
• 1 large egg
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup raspberry jam

Method

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Beat peanut butter and butter with a mixer on medium speed until smooth. Add sugars, and beat until smooth. Add egg and vanilla, and beat until incorporated.
• Reduce speed to low. Add dry ingredients and mix until combined.
• Scoop level tablespoons of dough and form into balls. Roll each ball in granulated sugar and transfer to parchment-lined baking sheets (I skipped the parchment), spacing about 2 inches apart.
• Bake until cookies are puffy, about 10 minutes.
• Remove from oven and make indentions in centers by pressing with the handle end of a wooden spoon.
• Return to oven and bake until edges are golden, 6 to 7 minutes more.
• Transfer sheets to wire racks and let cool completely.
• Heat jam in a small saucepan, stirring until loosened, about 30 seconds.
• Spoon about 1/2 tsp into each indention.
• Cookies can be stored in a single layer for up to 1 week.

Jack; eating a pickle... not a cookie.

I made these for Drew's family Christmas get-together... which I went to alone. Drew was sick. And I really like his family and didn't want to miss out.

Someone serving my cookies.

Jack; still not eating my cookies.

In other news, Jack totally calls me by name now. I'm not just that crazy lady who chases him around telling him I love him. Now I'm Jamie... the crazy lady who chases him around telling him I love him.

Oh, and Drew tried the cookies and guess what he said. "Not my favorite."

Duh. We all know you only like chocolate chip. Its a rough life.