As most of you know, my mantra is ‘keep movin’ forward.’ I may not always succeed in this mantra, but I start each day anew with the same goal. To live each day to the fullest, and to live each day with positive energy.
But daylight savings time truly kicks my butt. There. I said it. I honestly can’t lose ANY MORE SLEEP. So this is a weekend I dread. Profusely. Profoundly. And all the other Pro words that I am probably misusing missing.
So what do you do when you dread something? You distract yourself, of course. I spent the weekend shopping, eating, spending time with my daughters, and today I got my hair done!!! WOOP WOOP! I also scored some new shoes for work, as well as a few shirts to welcome spring.
Where else can you get two awesome pairs of shoes for less than 50 bucks! Thanks, TJ Maxx!
My 8 year old got her ears pierced Friday….and is still smiling. I swear my face hurts from smiling because SHE is smiling so much. Yeah, life is good.
She’s still smiling. LOL
Other than a gazillion pushups and hours of shopping, I didn’t work out Saturday…but that’s ok, I can’t feel my arms. I made the mistake of posting this to my fb fan page. LOL!!!
My updated hair do! Feelin’ like a million bucks I must admit!!
Today was my sucktastic long run on the Dreadmill. I woke up late due to daylight savings (no surprise there), and all of the groups I knew that were running were probably sipping coffee as I poured myself out of bed at 8:30 am.
So this is all I had. And it was painful, let me tell you.
Miles are miles!
Last week I had 2 strength work outs, and 4 runs totaling 14 miles which ended the week 3 of marathon training strong.
I finished up the day with our traditional Sunday Supper. The hubby returned home tonight, tired, coming down with a cold and plain worn out. I hoped this would help recharge his batteries.
Baked Cod, twice baked spaghetti squash and Brussels sprouts with bacon wrapped dates stuffed with goat cheese. YUM!! I’ll post the recipe soon!
Bacon makes everything better!!!Sunday Supper!
How was your weekend? Did you get any miles logged? What’s your favorite “re-charge” food?
First off, I finished my second week of marathon training strong! My first 20 miler week is complete and I am quite pleased. A couple of the miles were walked, but the majority were spent running and I even finished my first double digit run of TEN miles on the indoor track in a neighboring suburb on Saturday. 8 laps equaled ONE mile, so yeah…you can imagine how this MIGHT have felt. But it went surprisingly fast mostly due to my awesome friend Janel providing me with great conversation as well as keeping track of the miles with a clicker. I set out for 8 miles, but felt so good I did an even 10 miles for the day. I don’t do a mid week long run, so often times add a mile or two to my weekend long run. All in all-WINNING. (My only set back for the week was missing my yoga work out, but I made sure to foam roll and stretch today to help with the soreness. I also took a 25 minute Epsom salt bath tonight to help ease my sore muscles).
Runner love right here!!
I came home to be informed that although my hubby had returned from his 3 weeks of travels just this past Friday, that he would be leaving again on Wednesday and suddenly my runners high was deflated. First I got mad, then I cried, and then I decided to just take a hot shower and try to move forward with my weekend.
As you all know, his travels are a bitter chip that resides more times than not on my shoulder. I wish I could kick this chip’s butt, but darn it the anger sure seems to win most times as I tackle the single parenting gig. Keep in mind I have a job too, kids that are in school/have activities to be taken too and a house that needs tending to…after a while, any normal person would break, right? Please say this is normal…lol
So this morning I awoke after FINALLY sleeping most of the night for almost 9 hours and I felt…better. It’s Sunday, and with Sundays in our house comes Sunday Supper. We decided to have a chopped challenge as well, and my 5 ingredients were:
Beef round roast
Tomatillos
Beets
Mangos
Mussels
So here’s what I came up with:
Appetizer
Mussels steamed in white wine, garlic and saffron with red pepper flakes served with a salad over tomatillo dressing.
For the tomatillo dressing, preheat your oven to 350 degrees, husk and rinse your tomatillos and quarter. Dice 1/4 onion, 2 cloves of garlic and add in the tomatillos. Drizzle with extra virgin olive oil, season with salt and pepper and spread evenly on a baking sheet. Roast for about 45 minutes. Transfer to your food processor or blender, and liquefy the mixture. Strain for seeds, and set aside.
For the mussels, in a stock pot melt 2-3 tablespoons of butter and extra virgin olive oil, and add in 3 cloves of minced garlic, a pinch of crushed red pepper flakes and a pinch of saffron. Sauté for 2-3 minutes, and add in 3/4 cup of white wine, and a splash of water. Bring to a boil. Add in your previously cleaned mussels and cover the pot, shaking every minute or so. Cook for 4-6 minutes or until the mussels open. Pardon my spelling error…
This was…divine! .COM
Main course
Beet and chipotle pepper soup serve with braised beef.
First, season your roast with your favorite Mexican spices. I used cumin, smoked paprika, chili powder, garlic powder, salt and pepper. Sear on all sides, and transfer to a crock pot or dutch oven. Add 2 cups of beef broth (unsalted), 1 cup of red wine, and a large onion that has been sliced. Let simmer for 2 hours.
Secondly, for your soup…
In a soup pot that has been preheated to medium high heat with extra virgin olive oil add:
1 onion-diced
3 cloves of garlic-minced
4 large beets, peeled and chopped
1 chipotle pepper with adobo sauce
Sauté for about 5-6 minutes until just tender
Add in 3-4 cups of unsalted beef stock and bring to a boil. In a separate cup, add a teaspoon of corn starch to cold water. Mix well, and keep the soup at a boil for a couple of minutes. Reduce to a simmer for about an hour.
Puree the soup, and just before serving add a couple of tablespoons of greek yogurt. Mix well, and serve! Don’t forget to check for seasoning! I sliced the beef thinly, and served with the soup!
Gosh, isn’t it pretty? ❤
Desert
First off. I don’t bake. I hate to measure, and baking makes my crazy. But I decided to use the mangos in a desert type style, trying to keep with my Mexican type theme of cooking.
I peeled and chopped the mangos, and added them to my food processor. I added in brown sugar, cinnamon, and a splash of water and mixed well. Set aside.
Take 2 sheets of puff pastry dough and roll out. Cut 8 circles out, spoon in the mixture, and pinch the edges tight. Crimp each tart with a fork, brush each tart with a fork and sprinkle some more brown sugar over the top. Back at 400 degrees for about 10 minutes or until golden brown.
In my defense I only half of one, and skipped the vanilla ice cream but YUM!
So at the end of the day, I’ve trained, I’ve cooked, and I’ve shed a few tears. But I’ve kept moving forward.
How was your weekend? Did you cook? Are you training for any races? How do YOU deal with stress?
Sundays are always usually a good day in my household when I am not scheduled to work. I think because of a few reasons. Some of which being, I normally do most of my laundry Friday night, and spend the majority of Saturday trying to get the chores done around the house. I do this, so I can at least have ONE day to have some fun, be it relaxing, shopping, what have you. I also almost always cook Sunday Supper, even if it’s something simple. But I’m jumping ahead…
Every few months the girls and I love to head out to our local consignment stores to pick up a few things. I LOVE clothes, always have, but I don’t love paying full price for anything other than a new pair of running shoes…you just can’t buy those used. My youngest, S, loves ‘Once Upon a Child’ and will spend quite a bit of time going through the leggings, skirts, and shirts to create the perfect outfit. Today we got her several outfits to include a handful of skirts, a couple pairs of pants, a dress for spring, 2 pairs of tennis shoes and several shirts. We walked out of the store with a large garbage sized bag of clothes for $88 and change. WINNING.
Next it was my eldest daughter J’s turn to shop. She isn’t as big on the whole consignment shopping gig, but realizes it gets her more clothes, more often, so she is pretty good about being thankful. She ended up with 8 or so shirts, and me with a running vest, two running tanks, and a pair of Converse along with S getting 2 work out T’s for just over $100. If you would have paid retail for these clothes between both stores (name brands included Hollister, Forever 21, American Eagle etc) we would have paid at least 2-3 thousand dollars I am guessing. Yet we paid 200 bucks. More WINNING.
That got J and I talking as we drove to a running store for me to test drive some shoes. Even if we HAD the money, would we pay full price for something as silly as clothes? We agreed, nope…All 3 of us love getting new items, and tire easily of our wardrobe so it’s awesome in my eyes, that we can share our bargain shopping together. ❤
Pic credit: retailmenot.com
I also, test drove these bad boys that I think are the winner winner of my marathon training’s chicken dinner. Hope to have time to pick them up tomorrow so I can give them a test drive on Tuesday. (I need a neutral running shoe that still provides cushion and stability-these seem perfect!)
Brooks Launch 2’s
Since the hubby is home briefly for his drill weekend (his first weekend as the Commander I might add, woop woop so proud!) I jumped at the chance to make our traditional Sunday Supper. I kept it simple as J had Badminton practice tonight. (She’s super excited to try out for the HS team, and it’s nice to see her excited about, well, anything other than locking herself in her room to read).
Tonight we have for you, a stuffed chicken tenderloin served with roasted fingerling potatoes and sautéed cauliflower and red cabbage.
Here’s what you’ll need:
Chicken
1 package of tenderloins, dried and pounded out with a tenderizer. Season each piece with kosher salt, and pepper.
Place on a cookie sheet that has been lined with foil and sprayed with cooking spray.
Layer each piece of chicken with one piece of prosciutto, and one piece of mozzarella cheese that have been cut 1/8 inch thick. Top with another chicken tenderloin. Repeat until all tenderloins have been “stuffed” and topped. Drizzle with extra virgin olive oil, and season lightly with Italian seasonings. Top with freshly grated parmesan cheese. Bake at 375 for 30 minutes. (Don’t worry when you see a lot of the cheese oozing out, it’s magic happening!)
Fingerling potatoes
Wash potatoes with cool water, and dry on a kitchen towel. Place the potatoes in a bowl and add 2 cloves of minced garlic, kosher salt and pepper to taste, and 1/4 cup of freshly grated parmesan cheese. Drizzle in a couple teaspoons of extra virgin olive oil, and mix well. Pour the tots on to a cookie sheet that has been lined with foil and sprayed with cooking spray. Ensure there is an even layer, and place in the oven with the chicken, on the bottom rack. Cooking time is the same as the chicken; ensure tots are cooked until fork tender.
Cauliflower and Red cabbage
Clean and chop one head of white cauliflower, set aside. Mince 1 clove of garlic, and add to a pan that is heated to medium/high heat with extra virgin olive oil. Add in a pinch of red pepper flakes, and sauté for about 2 minutes. (Don’t burn the garlic!!) Add in the cauliflower, and cook until the veg has a bite to it still. In the last minute or two, add in 1/4 cup of chopped red cabbage. Season with kosher salt and pepper. Garnish with a pinch of parsley.
this pic really doesn’t do the dish justice. GREAT comfort food right here. And healthy too!
Questions! Do you try to have one family meal each week? What are your feelings on consignment shopping? What are your favorite running shoes?
Movin' it with Michelle 