Huevos Rancheros

Disclaimer:  This is not an actual recipe.  This is just directions on how to layer ingredients onto a plate and call it dinner.  We all have those nights, right?

I love eggs!  They are my go-to when our dinner options are scarce.  But sometimes Drew gets this look on his face when I tell him we're having eggs & toast for dinner... that guy is way spoiled.  He super duper loves this recipe throw-together meal though.

Huevos Rancheros

Ingredients:

• Polenta (you can buy it premade or make it yourself)
• Refried beans
• Shredded cheese
• Eggs
• Salsa

Method:

• Heat a skillet over medium high and "fry" polenta until golden and crispy on each side.  You can use olive oil or just non-stick spray.

You can sprinkle a bit of paprika on top.

•  Heat beans and layer on top of polenta.

Holy Frijole!

•  Now top the beans with some shredded cheese.

Queso.

•  On top of the cheese goes a fried egg or two.

Huevos.

•  Serve with salsa and enjoy!

Ole!

This is seriously the easiest and quickest meal ever.  Of course, I'm pretty sure I could add salsa to just about anything and Drew would be happy enough to eat it.  I'm not a huge fan of the salsa and cheese, so I keep mine simple:

Polenta & egg & beans.  Perfecto.

Happy {meatless} Monday!

Feliz Lunes {sin carne}!

Have a Great Day!

Jim & Chris made the trek to KC to spend some quality time with their favorite daughter (that's me) last week.  Quality time for me means one thing; eating. 

We shopped till we dropped on Friday morning and then went in search of some grub.  Jim's only stipulation on the restaurant was that it had to serve tuna sandwiches.  Good little Catholics.  I did some searching on the internet while we drove and found the Great Day Cafe.  They served tuna, so we went.

I am so glad we did!  This little cafe is right in the middle of Old Overland Park, right next to where the Farmers Market is held, and it is adorable!  Adorable.  It is super colorful and the walls are covered with art and each table has hand painted bud vases with flowers.



So stinkin' cute.

I was even more impressed with the menu!  It looks like their specialty is breakfast and coffee, but we were more interested in lunch.  Great Day has great veggie options, including a daily vegetarian soup!  Love. 

I went with the Roasted Eggplant Grilled Sandwich: with roasted red peppers, feta cheese, and sun dried tomato pesto on sourdough.

OMYum.

 It was delicious!  Plus the fresh fruit on the side made for the perfect little lunch.  I had to save room for dessert though.  We split a Snow Ball which was basically just a big ol' peanut butter rice crispy treat rolled in powdered sugar. 

Yummers.

I really should have taken a picture of Jim's tuna salad sandwich.  It was really really big.  So if you are Catholic and looking for a good Lenton Friday lunch spot, we've got one for ya.

I'm just so happy to have found this charming little locally owned lunch place!  My biggest complaint about eating in KC is that it feels like every restaurant is a chain.  I don't know of many good local restaurants.  What is your favorite non-chain restaurant in town? 

And who wants to join me for a breakfast date at Great Day Cafe? :)

S&M

We've all heard Rihanna's new song, right?  What do you think?

Honestly, I'm a huge Rihanna fan.  Not so much a fan of this song.  I think there is a point when people are just trying to be controversial for controversy's sake.  And this is it.

Clearly its popular amongst others though...

At Girls on the Run practice we run a quarter mile loop around several soccer and baseball fields.  Today there was a group of middle school boys practicing on one of the soccer fields.  Every time the girls looped back around to me they'd complain that the boys were staring at them or making mean comments.  I told them just to ignore the boys.

One of my girls came around and told me that one of the boys had called her dumb, but she just told him "Sticks and stones may break my bones but whips and chains excite me."

O. M. G.

What is the appropriate response here???  I know it wasn't the one I gave; which was to pee my pants a little and send her on her way before I burst out laughing. 

I don't know that either me or Rihanna is making a great impression on these little girls.

Run by Numbers

I'm totally stealing this post idea from another runner.

20:  Miles I intended to run.

.01: Miles I ran further than intended.  This never happens.

3:13:34:  Time it took.

9:  Minutes longer than it took last time I ran 20.

9:40: Overall pace.

Yeah, its upside down.

46: Degrees when I left this morning.

5:10:  Time I set my alarm for.

6:10:  Time I actually left to run.  I take a really long time to warm up, eat breakfast, drink 7 cups of coffee, etc.

6: Miles run in the dark.  So no music.  That makes for a really long 6 miles.

2:  Number of potty breaks.  1st porta-potty experience of this go-round of marathon training.

3:  Number of Gu's eaten; eaten at mile 6, 12, and 17.5.  For the record, Orange is by far the worst flavor of Gu.

5:  Number of times I listened to Glee's Loser Like Me.  I was a little skeptical when they announced they'd be doing original songs, but I'm in love.

1.5:  Number of bananas I snarfed down when I got home.  Hungry!  Mya got the other half.

4:  Number of bags of ice I poured into the tub for an ice bath.  Everyone raves about the effects of an ice bath, and since I was super sore after my last 20-miler, I thought I'd give it a try.

15:  Number of minutes I planned on sitting in said ice bath.

30:  Number of seconds I lasted in said ice bath.

50:  Number of curse words that came out of my mouth during those 30 seconds.

2:  Very scared and confused puppies for those 30 seconds.

0:  Times I will ever ever ever attempt another ice bath.

1:  Number of glasses of wine it will take to get me happy at dinner tonight.  I love running.  It makes me a really cheap date.

Google Search of the Week

My fascination with the Stats Bar on Blogger continues.  I laugh daily at the Google searches that lead people to my blog.  And because I'm not one to keep funnies to myself, I've decided to start sharing with ya'll. 

The trend of "skinny runner" searches continues and again, I apologize to all those who Googled that term or something similar and ended up here.  There's a link to the actual skinny runner blog to the right.

There were quite a few funnies this week including "Pet Worm Games", "Kenyan Herds", and "Irish Gibsons".  You know I really liked that someone was searching for Irish Gibsons.  (Hello!  I'm an Irish Gibson!!!)

But the absolute best Google Search of the week was "tailgate party + beer + i had to pee".  I don't know why you were searching that, but I'm really glad it lead to my blog.

If you don't have Google search enabled on your blog, I highly suggest it.  Just for the laughs.

Mac & Cheese for Runners

Happy Monday, folks!  Today's meatless recipe is a healthy take on one of my (everyone's) favorites ---> Mac & Cheese!  Pasta is a great source of carbs and energy for runners (and people in general) but all the heavy cream and cheese can really add up to some serious tastiness calories. 

In this recipe by Mark Bittman, one of those crazy advocates of eco-friendly eating, the cream and some of the cheese is replaced by pureed cauliflower.  If you were part of the South Beach craze back in the early 2000's, you probably know this trick.  We went South Beach crazy at our house (hi Mom!) but I had to quit once I realized that no carbs = no running.  Pureed cauliflower is still a handy little trick to add vitamins and replace some fat while maintaining a creamy texture.

Creamy Cauliflower Mac

Ingredients:

• 2 1/2 cups vegetable
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 cauliflower, cored and cut into large pieces
• 8 ounces whole-wheat elbow macaroni
• 1/2 cup grated cheese (such as sharp cheddar, Gruyere, or Emmental, or a combination)
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
• 1/8 teaspoon nutmeg (I skipped this.  Am I the only one who hates nutmeg?)
• Salt and black pepper
• 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 1/2 cup whole-grain bread crumbs

Method:

• Heat oven to 400° F. Boil a pot of salted water.
• In a saucepan, warm stock and bay leaves on medium-low heat for five minutes; turn off heat.
• Cook cauliflower in boiling water for 25 minutes. Put cauliflower in a food processor.
• Cook pasta in boiling water for five minutes. Drain and rinse to cool; put pasta in a greased, nine-inch square baking dish.
• Process cauliflower with stock (discard bay leaves), cheese, oil, mustard, nutmeg, salt, and pepper, working in batches.
• Pour sauce over pasta, toss, and spread evenly in dish. Top with Parmesan and bread crumbs. Bake 20 minutes. Serves four.
  
   

Dogs like Mac.

This version is actually really good!  I mean, its not the mac & cheese that Cheryl makes (OMG, so good), but it works for more of an everyday meal.  You wouldn't even be able to tell there is cauliflower in there unless you don't process it enough (like I did) and leave big chunks in there.

Drew likes Mac.

Happy {meatless} Monday!

Out & About

I was banned from taking pictures during the game last night and I'm actually really glad.  What a heart-breaker.  I knew Pullen's last game would be emotional, but man.  That was rough.  Regardless, I'm proud as ever to be a Wildcat.

We were already downtown, so after the game we decided to drown our sorrows at the Quaff.  Lord knows how we ended up there.  But it turned out to be a good time, despite the night's previous disappointments.

Not quite ready to smile.

The Quaff has all kinds of business advertisements on their tables.  This, by far, was our favorite:

I thought my email address was havegunswillrent@yahoo.com

We played super fun games that I haven't played in a really long time.  Like quarters... which is actually a pretty sick game when you think about it. 

Bacteria.

Not that I don't have lots of fun with Kait and Katy, but tonight we added another Kate to our group. 

It's the Kate Club!

This Kate is kinda mean.  I really like her.

Kaitlin showed off her mad basketball skills on Pop-A-Shot.  Someone asked if she played in college. 

Show-Off.

We did have a little bit of celebrating to do... it was the birthday of our tattoos!  Congratulations Crescent Moons!  You're 8 years old today!!!

Happy Birthday CM!

Katy didn't join the Crescent Club until late, so her CM is just a baby.

Hey there little CM.

Somehow I still got all kinds of dirty looks for taking pictures.  Hello.  This is what I do.  Plus, what do you think Kait and Chris are talking about?  Looks serious.

"Ahhh yes... that's a very good point."

After a nice little dance party and people watching session* at the Quaff we decided to call it a night.  The walk back to the car was a lot longer than I anticipated so I amused myself with the camera. 

Drew hates me.

I tried really really hard to get some jump shots in.  It is tricky.  I don't think I know how to work a camera properly.

Jump. Jump.

So close.

Katy really stuck that landing.  I give it a 10!

Aaaand... I made Drew take some pics while we posed.  He was real pleased with me last night.  Let me tell you. 

Cheese.

There's a reason I don't go out downtown and it is this: We didn't even stay out that late and all I wanted was a damn sandwich from Jimmy John's.  It was closed.  Closed.  Boo.  I was not happy.

*The people watching is flipping awesome at the Quaff.  I think that's why they charge a $1 cover.

Big D: Week 15

Back on track this week!  I got all of my runs in... even despite the holiday. :)  Things are looking up!  And the race is seriously getting so close.

Monday:  5 miles on the treadmill.  I felt like I was going to die.  I think it was just an off day, but at one point I had to take my headphones out because I was so nauseous that I thought I might puke right there on the treadmill.  It didn't help that the girl next to me was running 9 mph.  That's fast.

Tuesday:  25 minutes on the bike and some crazy hard yoga show on FitTV.  I quit my yoga class at JCCC.  I know, I'm a quitter.  So I'm back to FitTV.  This one was hard.  I was drenched in sweat at the end.  Hard.

Wednesday:  5 miles with Miss Katy.  I love running with friends.  I'm sure Katy loves running with me while I act like a know-it-all and tell her the ins & outs of racing and training according to Jamie.  But she's too nice to tell me to stfu.

Thursday:  8 miles outside.  I started out quick, thinking it was my lucky day, but tired out pretty soon into this run.  I decided to just slow down and enjoy the beautiful day... and daydream about the green beers in my future. 

Friday:  Nada... unless you count the fact that I had to walk to the Blue Moose to get my car.  Embarrassing.

Saturday:  Half Marathon!!!  At least that's how far I ran.  There wasn't really a race or anything.  And truth be told:  I only intended to run 12, but overshot it by a long shot and even after running 13.1 miles I had to walk a mile and half home.  Fun fact:  I can't do math when I'm running.  When I'm sitting still I'm like a human calculator, but that all goes away when I start moving.

I wanted to do a non-stop run at a quick pace, so that meant I needed to wear my super cool fanny pack water bottle holder thing.

Hot.

I don't know why, but when I'm running in my neighborhood wearing this thing, I feel like a tool.  So I ran straight for the Indian Creek Trails where there were lots of runners.  Lots of them were also wearing weirdo water bottle contraptions so I knew I was amongst my people.  Hey, no one ever said running was fashionable.

I tried not to look at my Garmin, but just to keep at a comfortably hard pace.  Yes, that was a contradiction.  Basically, I tried to push myself, but not so much that I might bonk.  I really struggle with balancing challenging myself with pushing myself too hard.  It didn't help that I accidentally ran way too far on the trails.

Once I realized how far out I was, I decided that my 12-miler would be a half marathon instead.  Oh how I love the half marathon.  It is my favorite distance.

13.1 miles; 1:50:25

Pace: 8:25 minutes per mile.

Yea for being done with that! 

Sunday:  I'm scheduling a day of rest, so I don't plan on doing a dang thing. 

Total Miles:  31.1

I'm planning on squeezing one more super long run in sometime next week and then officially beginning to taper.  So close!!!  Yea!!!

Ask yourself: "Can I give more?". The answer is usually: "Yes". 
                                                                              -Paul Tergat

Irish Today...

 ... hungover tomorrow.

The nice thing about having teachers for friends is that Spring Break = plenty of time for day drinking.  Katy & Kait met me for some patio-sitting at the Blue Moose yesterday afternoon.  No, the Blue Moose is not an Irish bar.  But they have a patio, and most importantly a Thursday special of $1.50 beers.  All beers!

Green Beers.

Blue Beers.

The Moose also has the best appetizers ever.  Totally necessary after several beers.

Spinach dip, green chips, and green beer.  Awesome.

Cheers!

Katy and Kait started telling me a story about something or other that happened in Aggieville many many years ago.  I guess you had to be there because I didn't really understand it, but I had fun taking pictures of them telling the story.  It must have been really funny.

After that I got up to use the bathroom.  There may have been some Irish shenanigans going on while I was away. 

Mmm... salty beer.

I don't even know what that is.

Thinks she's really funny.

There were lots of fun people at the Moose.  This guy was sitting at the table next to us for quite awhile, and I guess he finally got enough beers in him to bust out his bagpipes.

Liquid courage.  And a nice skirt.

Too many beers?



What's that?

And then I just started in on the self-portraits.

What you looking at?

And she didn't even have any beers.

I really enjoy ruining pictures.

Oh oh oh oh... Hell to the no.

Wha??

Love you...

Here's the thing... I'm Irish... and I married an accountant.  That means that every single year St. Patrick's Day falls during busy season.  That means every single year Drew shows up after a long day of work to this.

That's love, folks.

He knew what he was signing up for when he married me.  So don't feel too bad for him. 

We paid for our many beers* (so so cheap) and then were on our way to a watch party with Drew's friends.  Drew loves driving me and my drunk friends around.  Or at least he puts up with it.  We got downtown and it was c-razy!  Everyone loves to be Irish for a day.

Drew's friend Chris rented out a space in his apartment building downtown with tons of TVs that had all the games on.  We were really only interested in one. 

We were also interested in this bag of Chex Mix... which we devoured in minutes.
  

All gone.

No mas!

Kait said it was fine because it was such a small bag... probably only two servings.  No no.  That isn't right.

Eight servings.

Do you have any more?

No, you've had enough.

I should also mention that we got a bit too comfy with some cushions on the floor and had a little game-watching pow-wow.  It had been a long day.

Comfy.

I got death stares for taking pictures... so I stopped.  But I think you know how the night ended.

Stop with the photos.

The cats won!  It was our lucky day!!!  We're moving on in the tournament and I've promised to drive Drew to the next watch party so he can have fun and be obnoxious if he likes.  Very good things. :)

Happy St. Patrick's Day!  Go Cats!!!

*Too many beers = I tried to pay my tab with a gift card to 810 Zone.  The waitress had to inform me that I wasn't at the 810 Zone.  Oops.