soup's on!

Woke up to a very windy, very fall-like day. I was nervous about running in the wind (and my quads felt pretty tight after doing the mini and then running yesterday as well). But I was pleasantly surprised to find I had a great run! Once I started my legs felt loose as they moved, and the wind and cool air felt awesome! I knocked out a good number of miles and came home relaxed.

Since it is supposed to be windy and cool and rainy all day, I decided it was a vegetable soup day. We are having a late lunch of soup - in two different pots. Both of ours have corn, onions, tomatoes, and carrots. Dave's also has beef broth, beef, and potatoes. Mine has vegetable broth, yams, black beans, and broccoli. I found some delicious looking bread at the Kroger bakery that we'll have as well. Hooray for fall!!

At the FW half we got a promo flyer for a 15 mile run in Bluffton, Indiana in the beginning of November. I'm debating signing up... it's a trail run, which is why I'm hesitant. As an avid road runner (more because of what's available than an actual decision toward that), I'm unsure I should jump into a trail run without much practice. But I know the trails are pretty flat and clear... so maybe it would be easy. Any suggestions??

Off to stir the soup! What are your favorite foods for fall?

squashtastic?

Goal 1 was accomplished last night: cooking with squash. I had a... shoot. I forget the name. Butternut acorn? Could that be possible? Butternut dumpling? Anyhow, it said it was a sweeter squash. Thank goodness for Cutco knives, because dang that sucker was hard to get through. (I realize now I probably should have pierced it with a fork and microwaved it to soften it before attempting to cut it.) I cut the squash in quarters, drizzled it with olive oil, then applied liberal amounts of basil, oregano, garlic, and salt. Put it in the oven at 350 for about 45 minutes. When it came out I sprinkled it with parmesan. We ate our squashes with spinach salads - peas and feta and red wine vinegar for me, taco meat and cheese for Dave. All in all, the squash was just okay. Not bad, not great. Does anyone have some squash wisdom to share - a particular kind I should buy? Different ways to eat it? Please help! I want to be a squash lover!

After dinner I had a frozen reese's pb cup and chocolate chip cookie (leftover from Saturday where Dave and I bought 30 different chocolate chip cookies from 30 different places for my sister-in-law's 30th birthday). Dave made himself a small but Coldstone-worthy sundae: chocolate peanut butter ice cream topped with peanut butter, magic shell, whipped cream, and chocolate chips. My boy knows how to do dessert right.

We watched a movie from the library last night - Another Cinderella Story - which we were expecting to be laughably bad, like most other Disney made for ABC family tv movies. This one was suprisingly decent... about on par with other predictable-but-still-fun-to-watch chick flicks. Having Jane Lynch definitely helped - she makes any movie awesome. And in all the squash preparation and movie watching I totally forgot about Monday night football with the COLTS! Good thing I have all season to make up for it.

Dave and I have started a new nighttime ritual: reading time! Last week Dave suggested we start reading for half an hour together before bed. I was all too happy to oblige! We still had leftover gift card money from the wedding to Bed Bath and Beyond, so Sunday we bought two extra fluffy pillow so we can sit up in bed comfortably. I've been distracted from Kavalier and Clay of late because Dave surprised me with four old Runner's World magazines the library was selling for cheap. They've been hard to put down!

Today's run was much better, although it was summertime humid out there again, which slowed my time slightly. Still, way more of a fun run than Sunday's!

fall mornings

Mornings have been beautiful here lately - low 50s, bright and sunny, big blue skies. I've got just over a week until the half marathon - hoping for a similar morning then!

Headed to Mishawaka this afternoon to see Steph and to try on bridesmaid dresses for Bec's wedding in April. Since I'll be gone and since I need to grocery shop, dinner will be barbecue chicken in the crockpot (chicken breasts, bottle of barbecue sauce, little bit of apple juice), which we might shred up onto wheat buns. And a side of beans or corn or broccoli.

Good husband: Dave brought home for me a bouquet of beautiful purple flowers and baby's breath!

We took Mosie to the vet for her second (and final) round of vaccines yesterday. Also got her her second (and final... for now) round of flea treatment. We have one more worm pill we have to give her this weekend... always a treat. Dave holds her while I open her mouth, shove the pill in, and shout "Drop! Drop!" (Our vet told us that cats swallow when dropped.) Generally it takes several times - and some scratches - before we get it down. I don't really blame her - if someone held me down, wrenched open my mouth, shoved their hand and a nasty pill to the back of my throat, then dropped me... I would scratch a little, too.

One more Mosie story: recently she has taken to waking us up around 2:30 or 3, wanting to snuggle, and purring so insanely loud. But it's so stinkin cute that we don't even mind!

Lastly, we started watching some of the BBC Planet Earth series last night, on blu-ray. So incredibly beautiful! We definitely recommend it!

thursday's kitchen... and other randomness

Quieter in the kitchen today - we're having dinner with friends, so I'm not planning any meals. We are bringing dessert, so I'll be making two lemonade pies. But considering it's just mixing sweetened condensed milk, lemonade concentrate, and cool-whip, dumping it in pre-made graham crusts, and sprinkling on chocolate chips, it hardly seems like cooking! (Hardly seems like cooking does not mean it is not still fabulously delicious!)

I did make some roasted red pepper hummus today. Dave and I have been on the hunt since August, when we saw my sister and brother-in-law at Kelley's Island. They brought the most amazing red pepper hummus ever. You could just eat it by the spoonful plain! So today I tried my hand at making my own. I actually combined two recipes I found on allrecipes.com. One was for spicy red pepper hummus and used feta instead of tahini. The other was for more basic red pepper hummus. I ended up not being able to find tahini (we were at walmart... gag), so I used the feta from the spicy recipe and then followed the rest of the basic recipe. It's still not as good as Kel and Keegan's, but it's pretty great. We found this delicious naan Indian bread, which is perfect for dipping. I think we'll take this along, and some grapes, to the tailgate party on Saturday in Bloomington. Brats and hummus!

Brief movie review: Duplicity. Don't bother. It was pretty awful. Tried to be Ocean's Eleven and Mr. and Mrs. Smith and definitely missed the mark on both. It was confusing, not very clever, and didn't nearly use the potential of Julia Roberts or Clive Owen. Bleh.

Had a pretty blah 9miler this morning - mentally I just was not in it, and I knew it, and I still couldn't get in it. I did do the loop on the cross country course again, which helped to shake me up a bit since I had to focus more on the grass. I have new running shoes arriving today and I'm more than ready to give them a try. My legs have been feeling tight and kind of stale this week - I'm thinking it's the flat tread and starting-to-wear-through-the-sole shoes I've got. Born To Run recommends beat-down shoes with less support as better for running, and I agree. But since almost all my running is on the pavement, I think I need a bit more cushion. Luckily endless.com (my favorite shoe site) has free overnight shipping and comparable prices. So I ordered my new (blue and silver) Brooks yesterday and they'll be here today. Fantastic!

(Thanks for comments people have left! They make my day! If you ever try any recipes, please let me know how they go for you, or modifications you tried.)

corn heaven

Had the above deliciousness for lunch yesterday: spinach topped with fresh corn off the cob and tomatoes. YUM. (Also pictured: corn off the cob. Because I think corn is just beautiful.) Today I made it even better by taking the same ingredients and rolling them up in a whole wheat tortilla with some roasted red pepper hummus. Amazing!!

Made the corn chowder tonight, with a few modifications. Namely olive oil instead of butter, chicken broth instead of just water. You puree half of the soup in the blender before you finish cooking it so I added a couple handfuls of spinach into the mix - figured it couldn't hurt taste or nutrition! I also added a bunch of garlic. The recipe didn't call for any (!!!) but I hardly know how to cook without it. And a little turkey bacon... because bacon is sooo good. Ta-da! The finished product.

The chowder tasted awesome - really flavorful and summery. Fantastic!

Here's the recipe, with my modifications:

Mollie Katzen's Fresh Corn Chowder

1 med. potato

2 1/2 c. water (chicken broth)

2-3 T. butter (olive oil)

1 1/2 c. chopped onion

1 1/2 t. salt (if you use broth maybe half this)

1 med. stalk celery, minced

1 sm. red pepper, minced

5c. corn

1/4 t. dried thyme (oregano)

1/2 t. dried basil (more, to taste)

pepper to taste

1c. milk (lowfat or soy ok), room temp.

(spinach)

(3 pieces turkey bacon, cooked and crumbled)

(3 cloves garlic)

Dice the potato. Place it in small saucepan with the water (broth). Bring to a boil. Lower heat to a simmer, cover, and cook until tender but not mushy. Set aside.

Meanwhile, melt the butter (olive oil) in a soup pot or Dutch oven. Add the onion and salt, and cook over med. lo heat, stirring. After about 5 minutes, add celery (and garlic) and keep cooking. About 5 minutes later, add the cooked potatoes with all their liquid, the red pepper, corn, pepper, and herbs. Stir well and cover. Reduce heat and let cook about 5 minutes more.

Use a blender or food processor to puree about half the soup, along with a few handfuls of spinach. Return this to the pot and let it rest until serving time.

Stir in the milk and turkey bacon about 10 minutes before serving. Heat the soup gently - don't cook it any further. Serve as soon as it's hot.

(Thanks to Abby for this awesome cookbook - it's the first recipe I've made from it, but with fall and winter coming up I'm sure many many more soups and chowders and chilis will be had!)

august round-up

I ran 140 in July, so I decided I wanted to hit 150 in August. My final total was 152 - just over. I really think the fruit has helped these past two days - my legs have felt much much better. Bananas are definitely proven to be great for runners, but I'm building my faith in all fruit for that.

It's incredible to me that what used to be a longer-ish runs for me are now my daily runs. Earlier I commented that the book Born to Run changed my attitude about running and really helped me get to the level of running I'm currently at. And I do believe that. If you like running at all (or just want to read a phenomenal story) get that book. It is so dang worth it. But something else I've learned as I've been running, especially in the past two months, is that the capabilities and desires have always been there, hidden or dormant or trapped. And the book maybe helped me see them, but it was God who really helped me release them. Running has been an incredible way for me to experience the strength of my own body, the possibilities I possess. I run now for positive reasons - its healthy, it feels good to be outside and moving, I like seeing how far I can push myself, pure enjoyment - instead of the old reasons - mainly ones tied to negative self-image and weight issues (neither of which really helped me enjoy running or go very far... and I always quit after a bit). Running has been a way for God to really break down some old lies that I believed about myself and to heal me. I am an incredibly different person mentally in regards to my body and my self-image at the end of these two months than I was at the beginning. Running was definitely the key, but God was the one turning the key. I didn't really want this entry to be a sermon, but I also felt strongly that I needed to give God the credit for what He had done, and not say it was just running or just a book. Both played a large part, but they weren't THE part. September's goal is 175, just to see if I can. I am thankful for new freedom and continued growth.

Egg roll update: couldn't find egg roll wrappers in the grocery store (new leads have suggested the produce section??) so used corn tortillas instead. The filling tasted really good but I thought the tortilla was a bit too much for the filling... so I still want to try it egg-roll style. If all else fails I might get phyllo dough and try it that way. Still, a good recipe. And the filling really was delicious. Would be excellent as a salsa-like dip for tortilla chips.

Also got a new basil plant from Meijer - a bigger one. Trying to grow it indoors and hoping it keeps. I probably need to get it a new pot this week. I should move my oregano now, while it's still alive, and before an early frost comes in (which seems likely considering it's AUGUST and 45 degrees this morning). Our friend Irene gave me a tiny hen and chicks plant. She said the chicks should start coming out in a week. I am very excited about this plant!!

Also. Random: Dave and I have watched the Bourne Trilogy this weekend and in the movies the killer/assassins are called "assets." We have taken to calling Mosie "The Asset" when she is in play mode since she loves to stalk and hunt.

Friday!

Haven't posted this week... because not much new is going on. Haven't done any new cooking or gardening (my basil and oregano are still looking tenuous). Still running, and getting near the end of August so trying to get in mileage (to beat last month's 140) while not overdoing it so that I end up hating it.

Wednesday I got to go spend the day with Emily and meet her and Derek's new baby. So cute! He slept most of the time, as newborns do, and we hung out and went to lunch and caught up. And last night our small group got together and made plaster masks of our faces. Dorky, but totally fun. Rubbing vaseline all over your face is gross, but the actual plastering part feels kind of good - I fell asleep for a little bit.

Dave surprised me this morning with breakfast in bed - scrambled eggs, toast, coffee. Good husband and friend, that one.

A pretty empty weekend ahead, which I'm looking forward to. The house could use a good cleaning and I have a few errands to run, and Stephanie is coming over from Mishawaka to hang out for a bit, but other than that, not much. Maybe some reading and movies. Maybe I'll find a new recipe to try, too.

Maybe this one, from Rachel H.:

Spinach, Black Bean and Corn Egg Rolls

Adapted from Melanie Scott (Simple and Delicious)

Makes 20 egg rolls

Note: This was designed as a low-fat recipe, but if you’re looking for something closer to a restaurant-style Southwestern egg roll, double the amount of cheese from 1 cup to 2, and use a full-fat variety.

• 2 cups frozen corn, thawed
• 1 can (15 ounces) black beans, rinsed and drained
• 1 package (10 ounces) frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
• 1 cup (4 ounces) shredded reduced-fat Mexican cheese blend
• 1 can (4 ounces) chopped green chiles, drained
• 4 green onions, chopped
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon chili powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon.pepper
• Dash of cayenne
• 20 egg roll wrappers

1. In a large bowl, combine everything but the egg roll wrappers. Place 1/4 cup mixture in the center of one egg roll wrapper. Fold bottom corner over filling. Fold sides toward center over filling. Moisten remaining corner with water; roll up tightly to seal. Repeat.

2. Place seam-side down on a baking sheet coated with cooking spray. Spray tops of egg rolls with cooking spray. Bake at 425 degrees F for 10-15 minutes until lightly brown. Turn them halfway through baking.

3. Serve warm with salsa and/or guacamole.

muffins and meatloaf

Tried some new muffins today, from Camilla - love them!!!

Dave requested meatloaf for dinner and I had some extra spinach I wanted to use before it spoiled, so I found a simple recipe on allrecipes.com. I made some additions of garlic, onion, and herbs to up the flavor, and it came out great!

Superfood Super Muffins

3c. wheat flour

4T. ground flaxseed

2t. baking powder

3t. ground ginger

2t. cinnamon

1t. salt

1/2c. sugar

2c. pumpkin

1 1/2c. vanilla yogurt (recipe called for plain but I only had vanilla so I used that and then halved the sugar. turned out really well!)

3/4c. oil (I didn't have applesauce but next time I'm trying it that way)

2 eggs

1/2c. dried fruit (the recipe called for 1c. but I only had 1/2, and this seemed to suffice. The batter is moist and delicious enough you only need the fruit to complement, not carry it.)

Mix dry ingredients. Mix wet. Combine until just mixed. Drop in greased muffin tin. Bake 25 minutes at 350. Makes about 20. About 150 cals/muffin (will be less with applesauce sub)

Spinach Mozzarella Meatloaf

1.5lb. gr. beef

1 (10oz.) pkg. frozzen chopped spinach, thawed and drained (I used fresh, wilted in the skillet with the onion)

1 1/2c. bread crumbs

1 1/2c. mozzarella cheese

2 eggs

onion, diced and slightly browned

garlic

basil (fresh)

Combine. Bake at 350 for an hour in a greased pan.

Stopped at the farmer's market today and got green beans, fingerling potatoes, and 2 dozen corn. We had some corn and potatoes with the meatloaf, and I just finished boiling the other 20 ears for freezing! Hooray!!

hodge podge

Aunt Penny and Uncle Lyn came up from Fort Wayne yesterday. We spent the afternoon in Shipshewana, then came to Goshen for dinner. Walked around downtown after we ate, then played Uno and Hand & Foot. Since we were gone all day I put boneless pork in the crockpot with apple juice. Then when we got home I drained the juice, shredded the pork (just using tongs - it fell right apart), then added a bottle of bbq sauce. Let it cook together for another hour, then had sandwiches! We tried to find fresh corn but didn't see any roadside stands - can you believe it??

Had my first "harvest" of home-growns this week. Even though it's only about 11 beans I'm still immensely happy. (Note: they're not that great tasting. I think the key to good produce - big zucs and delicious beans - must be room and space to actually grow. Novel concept.)

And Aunt Penny took our first "family" picture:

I'm not sure if this will work or not (I've never tried to post a video), but here is a video Dave took of Mosie playing:

We're having staff over for dinner tonight - eight or more people in our little apartment! I'm going to make a pasta throw-together - wheat pasta, marinara, ground turkey, sundried tomatoes, roasted red peppers, sauteed zucchini and onions, goat cheese. Everyone is bringing a side to contribute as well! Hooray for good fun!

pizza pizza

We tried this pizza crust recipe last night and it was soooo good! We topped ours with fresh marinara, basil, oregano, carmelized onions, yellow peppers, turkey sausage, sundried tomatoes, and cheese. YUM. The crust was kind of biscuity, not too dense, and very delicious. I used only wheat flour and it still came out great.

Off to Kelley's Island this weekend!

And I have beans growing! I think I can harvest a few today!

squirrels

I've discovered a little bit more about why my zucchini plant has not been faring well: squirrels. I came out the door this morning and found a squirrel sitting in the pot. Of late the plant has been looking like it's being uprooted... and now I think I know why. Dang squirrels are digging in there.

I have yet to produce beans, and they're looking a little bit like the squirrels have been frolicking around in there, too. Oh well. At least my herbs are staying strong.

Tomorrow is the final day of Kelly and I's 100 mile July challenge. I'm over 100 as of right now, and excited to see what my total will be tomorrow after I run.

Tried a sundried tomato and white wine risotto in the crockpot last night... for how awesome it sounds like it would be (you can't go wrong with any of those ingredients) it was mostly just average. I want to keep trying other recipes with risotto though. It's got such a delicious texture.

Off to enjoy my favorite breakfast: honey nut scooters. :)

black bean spinach burgers

I recently found the blog www.enlightenedcooking.blogspot.com, by Camilla Saulsbury, and have really liked looking through it for recipe ideas. I saw black bean burgers in there and remembered how much I liked them, so decided to try them tonight. I also decided to read the recipe, but then kind of wing it in the kitchen. With somewhat mixed results...

I had some spinach in the fridge and thought it sounded good paired with the beans, so I decided to use it in the burgers, despite them not being in Camilla's recipe. I threw spinach and a few red pepper slices (instead of carrot, like Camilla) in the food processor, along with salt, red pepper flakes, and worcestershire. Once that was blended I added a can of black beans, drained and rinsed. I pulled the goop from the processor and mixed it together with bread crumbs until it held, then formed patties. Fried them up in olive oil along with some veggies - onion, peppers. Then served them on wheat buns with salsa (and cheese for Dave). I overprocessed after adding the beans and the mixture got too smooth (almost like hummus), so they didn't stay as firm as I would have liked, but still ended up being delicious. I think I'd like them even more without a bun, just cut up with other veggies, like a stir fry almost. I loved the black bean flavor. And the onions were delicious with a little salt, just getting sweet and caramelized... yum!

Camilla's burgers were an estimated 250 calories, and I would place these about the same, considering I didn't change much except add spinach and not use as many spices. We used the Arnold whole wheat sandwich thin buns - which are delicious! Try them!