Scarier than mayonnaise at a picnic

On Halloween, the husband and I did something very frightening.

We ran a 5K.

Now, that may not be scary to the seasoned athletes out there, but the Husband and I share the humbling childhood memories of being picked last for dodge ball. And flag football. And tag. And Red Rover. Know what the common denominator in all those games is?

Coordination. (And speed.)

At the ripe old ages of 27 and 26, we decided to dig deep and deal with our childhood issues. We started running. And got kind of into it. I run 3-4 times a week now. I KNOW!

To celebrate all of our running, we signed up for the Canton Fall Classic 5K which was held on October 31. We saw one lady running the 10K in a Batgirl costume- holy vinyl chafing!


Started the morning around 7:30 with PB&J on a whole wheat English muffin and coffee with almond milk. Downed a glass of water, too.



Donned some orange socks to honor the holiday.


Lined up the gear- purple gatorades, CLIF bars for post-run refueling, super cool hydration belt (that's all mine), iPod.


Wrapped up my ankle. Old basketball injury. Didn't have the ball. Wasn't running. Fell down. Broke ankle. (Now do you believe that my new athleticism is a miracle??? 'Cause you should.)

Pre-race interview

Scenes from registration (We saw a sign for the master group- huh? Sounds serious.)

Donning my awesome race t-shirt and hydration belt. I was one of 2 runners wearing them. Apparently only Sarah the camel needs water on a 3 mile run.


Husband and I ready to rock the race!/just finish/not die.

After

We finished in 35:31 and 36:20! So proud of us, especially since the course was surprisingly hilly. Did not train on hills. Actually avoided hills during training. Whoops.

The Husband matched his shirt post race- just a friendly reminder from Sarah the camel to hydrate before/during/after cardio! Food helps, too.


Tennessee's is a fabulous BBQ joint in a strip mall. We both got pulled pork sandwiches. The Husband had smashed taters and cucumber salad on the salad, along with a fresh brewed Root Beer.



I had homestyle mac & cheese and collard greens alongside my meat sandwich.

Tired smiles for food!




On the ceiling, spelled out in bottle caps.

In the women's room at Tennessee's. Festive.

P.S. Our next 5K is Saturday, November 13th!

Pumpkin Bread

This is a bit of a recipe showdown. I grew up eating some of the most delicious pumpkin bread south of the Mason-Dixon line. It just so happens that delicious doesn't equal nutritious, despite the bright orange color. Even though I embrace my inner health nut now, I need food that tastes good. A few easy substitutions reduced the amount of fat and sugar without sacrificing any flavor. Portion control is also important- Ninnie Marlene's was baked in loaf pans and I remember cutting myself HUGE slices. Making pumpkin bread in muffin cups helps you keep track of how much you're eating.

BONUS: Your house will smell like a Yankee Candle.

I'm posting both recipes here, the original by my grandmother and the updated version by me.

Ninnie Marlene's Pumpkin Bread, as written out by my mom

Mix together in a medium bowl:
3 1/2 cups flour
2 teaspoons soda
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 1/2 teaspoons salt

Mix in mixer:
1 #2 can pumpkin
3 cups sugar
1 cup cooking oil
4 eggs

Add dry ingredients to wet alternating with 2/3 cup of water. Nuts or raisins optional. Bake 1 hour 15 minutes at 350. Makes three loaves. Brush the top with syrup while still warm-I know! It's so wrong, it's right.

The pictures below illustrate my updated version.


In a medium bowl, combine whole wheat flour, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, and salt. Whisk to combine.

In a large bowl, add pumpkin, white sugar, brown sugar, eggs, applesauce, and yogurt.

Whisk the wet ingredients until thoroughly mixed.


Add the flour mixture to the wet mixture in three batches, alternating with 2/3 cup water.


Stir until just combined.


Using 1/2 cup measure, fill muffin liners until almost full.

This recipe made 19 muffins. If you want smaller muffins try using a 1/3 cup measure- you can probably get 24.


Bake at 350 for 30 minutes. Rotate the racks halfway through cooking.

Time for pumpkin bread glamour shots!

Work it....work it....

A little to the right...


Now vogue.


Healthy Pumpkin Bread

3 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ginger
*would've added 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg if I had any
1 teaspoon sea salt

1 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1 cup applesauce
1/3 cup 0% fat Greek yogurt
2 cups canned pumpkin (not the pie mix!)
3 eggs

2/3 cup water

Preheat oven to 350. Line muffin tins with paper liners.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients. In a large bowl, stir the sugars, applesauce, yogurt, pumpkin, and eggs until well combined.

Add the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients in three batches alternating with 2/3 cup water.

Using a 1/2 cup measure, fill the muffin liners until almost full. Bake 30 minutes and rotate pans halfway through cooking. Remove from oven and cool on a rack.

Salsa Chicken & Sweet-Sour Peppers

While I gravitate to multiple step, complicated recipes, sometimes it's nice to throw dinner in the oven and sit down while it cooks. Adventures in the kitchen are good for lazy days, but sometimes you need to get food on the table RIGHT NOW.

Three ingredients, thirty minutes, 1 pan.

Ready? Of course you're ready.

Salsa Chicken

1 1/2 cups of your favorite salsa (I used Roasted Garlic Salsa from Trader Joe's)
2 defrosted, trimmed chicken breasts
1 cup shredded light cheese (I used a mexican blend)

Preheat oven to 350. Get out an 8x8 Pyrex baking dish. Don't grease it! You don't need to. I said this was easy!

Add the chicken. Here's a helpful tip- just defrost the chicken in this pan. That way you have even less to clean up.


Top the chicken with the salsa. Layer with cheese. Make sure the chicken is fully covered- any exposed parts may burn.

Bake for 30 minutes or until juices run clear and the top is golden brown.

I serve this alongside Sweet-Sour peppers. Again, this couldn't be simpler and requires minimal supervision.

Sweet-Sour Peppers

2 medium bell peppers, sliced into strips
1 medium red or white onion, sliced into strips
*Note: Try to keep all strips the same size so they'll have a similar cooking time.
Salt
Vinegar- I used white balsamic, but you could use regular balsamic, apple cider vinegar- plain white vinegar would work fine, too.

Heat one tablespoon of olive oil over medium heat in a saute pan (the one with sides). Chop up 2 bell peppers and 1 medium onion. Toss them into the pan and season with a three-fingered pinch of salt ~1/4 tsp. Saute until soft and a bit brown. Add in roughly two tablespoons of vinegar- twice around the pan in Rachael Ray measuring. Let it bubble and reduce to fully coat the veggies. Cook another 2-3 minutes and serve hot.

This meal feels like cheating because it's so easy, but it always satisfies. Get creative and swap the salsa for pizza sauce for Pizza Chicken or chutney for Indian Chicken. This recipe practically begs for improvisation- enjoy!

Lazy Loaf

Nigella Lawson is a domestic goddess. I've long been a fan of the sassy Brit. She has an ease and a joy in the kitchen that I both envy and attempt to emulate. I have three of her cookbooks and I've read them each in their entirety. Too much love for Nigella or not enough? You decide.

Lazy loaf from Nigella Express is just that- real bread for lazy people. Kneeding and rising need not apply.


Nigella specified 2% milk, but I didn't have any. Unsweetened almond milk worked just fine for me. SAF yeast is well-respected for its dependable results and very easy to find at any grocery store.



Unsugared muesli is also required. I've tried many of Bob's Red Mill products and enjoyed them all. Dependable and again, easy to find. I'm no stranger to going to 4 different stores in a day for random ingredients, but I recognize that not everyone loves grocery shopping like I do.


Combine all the dry ingredients and stir to combine. Add the almond milk and mix. Nigella says the mixture will look like a thick porridge. She's right.



Grease a loaf pan and plop the dough inside. Smooth the dough out so it's even. One interesting note about this recipe is that you start it in a cold oven and then turn it on. This allows the dough to proof and rise a bit inside the oven.

Don't be fooled though- this is a not a light, airy bread. Some have complained that there's didn't rise at all...so? It's delicious. Eat it. If you want a cream puff, make some profiteroles.

Nigella said this would take 45 minutes at 225 and then 1 hour at 350. Mine really took about an hour and a half at 350.



The husband has some issues with patience. We're working on them...slowly. Perhaps less delicious food would help?



Serving suggestion: a slice of Lazy Loaf, broiled as I threw the toaster out in a fit of rage one day, topped with butter and served alongside some gently scrambled eggs.


Find the recipe here:
Lazy Loaf from Nigella Lawson's Nigella Express

Raspberry Pecan Streusel Bars

At our 24 watching party last night, guests noshed on eggplant dip, Trader Joe's style "Doritos", salsa, and raspberry pecan streusel bars. This hodge podge was a combination of leftovers from our Mid East feast dinner (falafel, "baba ghanoush", pita, & salad) and my recent adventures into low-glycemic baking.

Even though this final season of Jack Bauer-antics has been a thorough disappointment, these tasty South Beach friendly treats delivered big flavor. The combination of lemon and raspberry balances the hearty, slightly sweet dough bursting with toasted pecans.

The use of whole wheat flour and agave nectar make this South Beach friendly. There is a bit of butter, so it would best be enjoyed as an occasional phase 2 or 3 treat. Choose a raspberry jam that is low-sugar or sweetened only with fruit juice.

I knew these were a hit when the husband refused to take the remaining bars to work so that he could have them all to himself. Greed is a good sign.

Raspberry Pecan Streusel Bars

2 cups whole wheat flour
1 cup pecans
1/2 tsp cinnamon
Pinch salt
1 tbsp lemon zest
1/4 cup butter, diced
1/4 cup agave nectar
1/4 cup oil
1 large egg yolk
1 tsp vanilla

3/4 cup raspberry jam
1 tbsp lemon juice

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Combine the flour, pecans, lemon zest, salt, and cinnamon in a medium-sized bowl. Using your fingers work the butter into the flour/pecan mixture. The butter/flour clumps should be pea-sized, so that the flour, butter, and pecans are well-combined.

In a separate bowl, whisk the oil, agave, egg yolk, and vanilla until well-combined.

Add the liquid mixture to the dry mixture and stir together. The dough will be crumbly, which is what you are looking for.

Stir the lemon juice and raspberry jam together to thoroughly combine.

In an ungreased 9x13 pan pat 2/3 of the dough into an even layer. Spread the jam over the bottom layer leaving a 1/4 inch border. Sprinkle the rest of the dough on top- don't worry if the pieces don't touch.

Bake at 350 for 30 minutes. Check near the end as whole wheat flour browns (burns) much quicker than white flour.

Healthy Brownies?

Agave brownies posing next to the birthday card my mom made for Gilligan's 4th birthday!

Baked goods don't have to be naughty. In fact, with a few small tweaks you can health-ify (it's a word) most yummy things. Brownies, quick breads, and bar cookies are the most adaptable as they are the most forgiving. Cookies and cakes need more adjustments.

My favorite way to increase nutrition is to use whole wheat flour. This is a one to one substitute in most recipes.

Another easy substitution is applesauce for butter. A little richness is sacrificed, but overall it's hardly noticeable.

And the latest craze in my kitchen is agave nectar. It's like honey, but better for you. It's really low on the glycemic index, which means it doesn't cause your blood sugar to spike thus making you crave junk all day. Agave nectar is actually sweeter than sugar so you can use less and still achieve the same sweetness.

Agave Brownies
from Elle's New England Kitchen

1/2 cup applesauce
2/3 cup agave nectar
2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (I use Hershey's Special Dark)
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla (I usually omit this)
2/3 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup chopped, toasted nuts

Preheat oven to 325. Grease an 8 x 8 baking dish. In a small mixing bowl, add all ingredients and whisk to combine. Pour into the baking dish and bake 25-30 minutes.

These are dusted with powdered sugar- LIGHTLY- only because the box was still on the counter. Don't judge me.

Calabacitas

After a week of gorging ourselves at an all-inclusive in Cancun (Dreams), it was high time to reel the eating on in. The endless pina coladas and all-you-can guacamole settled themselves squarely on my belly. Why don't I gain weight in my boobs?? Curse you, genetics!

Last July, Nick and I decided to shake things up and do the South Beach Diet. I feel like calling it a diet sounds a bit silly because it wasn't something that we did, lost a whole bunch of weight, and then stopped. After we each lost some substantial weight , we've kept up the diet for our primary meals and snacks. Indulging had become perhaps a bit too common, but overall we didn't gain back much- just fluctuated a few pounds.

South Beach is really about living a low glycemic life style as much as possible. Low glycemic is a word often used in conjunction with diabetes as it's all about controlling your blood sugar. When you eat food that has sugar in it, your pancreas releases insulin. Too much sugar that isn't tempered by a complex carb, fat, or protein trains the pancreas to release insulin erratically, which only makes you want sugar more. It's a vicious cycle!

The benefit of this way of eating is that it allows you to take care of weight you carry in the middle first and foremost- hooray! Currently we're doing phase 1 which is the strictest phase, but it's hardly an imposition. I just snacked on some hummus and red bell pepper. Other snacks include spoonfuls of almond butter (straight from the jar if you're classy like me), low fat string cheese, pistachios, sugar-free jello. Not a lot of options, but I'm not a picky eater- I just don't want to be hungry!

South Beach encourages you to eat until you're full- hallelujah! The calorie/point/carb counting shenanigans really stresses me out. Suffice it say, South Beach works for us and if you're interested in learning more you should read this.

As I step away from my soap box, I'll get to explaining where I found this delicious dish. Kalyn's Kitchen is a blog dedicated to South Beach and healthy cooking in general. This recipe is taken directly from her blog with the exception of adding the El Fenix salsa at the end- that's all me.

Cast of characters: low-fat (NOT fat-free) shredded cheese, 4 oz. green chile (you could use some jalapenos if you're feeling spicy), diced onion (1 small), chopped summer squash and zucchini (4 medium-sized squash)

This is a picture of my "YELLOW" onion that has a decidedly pinkish hue. It's a conspiracy!

Saute the onion in about 1 tablespoon of oil over medium heat. Wait for it to get a little color and for onions to be soft.

Dump in the squash and saute until it's tender crisp.

Throw in the green chile and stir to combine.


Add a few generous handfuls of cheese.

Stir to combine and allow cheese to melt.

Then stir in several tablespoons of ambrosia, a.k.a. El Fenix hot sauce. If you ever happen to be in my hometown of Dallas, TX you should eat there. Might I recommend the Wednesday Enchilada Special...*drool*


Serve alongside some tilapia or other lean protein. For some reason, I am unable to make fish on the stove top that doesn't look like mangled cat food.


If you have any helpful tips, please let me know because my pans look like this after I cook fish. Boo.

Head over to Kalyn's slice of cyberspace for the full recipe and many more tasty treats!