Overcoming the weather

I have lived in Massachusetts for 15 years. I still haven't gotten used to the long, snowy, cold winters. My husband on the other hand waxes poetically about the Blizzard of '78 and complains the "winters just aren't cold enough any more". I'm not sure I will ever love winter, but I am making an effort to live symbiotically with it while counting down the days until it finally gets warm again in New England. 

I do enjoy watching my two little ones in the snow and look forward to sledding with them because walking up and down the hill is good exercise and helps me forget how uncomfortable my fingers and toes get despite the warm gloves and wool socks. 

Snow Monkeys

Today was our first real snow of the winter with enough accumulation to enjoy spending time in it - but not so much that we broke our backs shoveling all day. 

Despite finding some enjoyment in playing out in the snow with the kids,  I'm pretty much a snow wimp. I have never embraced real exercise in the snow. I don't ski, board, snow shoe, ice skate and definitely do not run outside in the snow or temperatures below 40 degrees. Well at least the last item on the list was true until this winter.  I am really trying to put in some miles outside this winter. 

My goal is 1-2 days/week through February. It could be tough because the roughest part of winter here is usually mid-January through early March. I have added to my "gear" a weather proof jacket (though not one warm enough for running when it is really cold - that is why treadmills exist), some wool running socks and a pair of Yak Trax. I already had some running gloves, a gaiter and fleece lined running tights. 

The neighborhood pond never looked so beautiful!

Today, I celebrated the snow and broke in my Yak Traks and had a blast. I ran through the neighborhood behind the snow plow and waved to everyone digging out their cars and shoveling their driveways. Smartwool socks are worth every stinking penny they cost - my feet have never felt so toasty before.

YakTrax Tracks!

Just so we are clear, the winter and I aren't best buds yet, but I'm willing to try to make a go of a cordial relationship and take it one winter run at a time.

Kim

In My Kitchen - January 11, 2015 and January 17, 2015

I have been spending more time in the kitchen and cooked up a few more recipes from my Pinterest boards that have caught my eye.

On January 11, we made two recipes. The first was Skinny Thai Chicken Meatballs by Jo Cooks and the second was Carrot Ginger Dressing for Everything by the Nutrition Twins. We pretty much had all of the pantry ingredients needed for both of these recipes and just had to pick up the ground chicken, greens and a fresh ginger root (I wasn't sure the frozen one we had would work with the dressing).

The meatballs came together quickly. I used my #70 disher to make sure they were all the same size and ended up having enough to fit on two baking sheets. The recipe calls for 30 minutes banking time and I think this could be reduced by a 1/3. 

Before

After

The sauce was very easy to make - next time I would use a bit less (or perhaps no) brown sugar because I think that the coconut milk added plenty of sweetness. I added almost double the called for peanut butter and it was perfect for us. We served the meatballs and sauce over rice and had enough left-overs for me to take to work a couple of times the following week. 

Yummy!

We were less enthusiastic about the dressing - I was hoping for that great Japanese steakhouse dressing but didn't really get that taste/texture with this recipe. It didn't taste bad, it just didn't meet my expectation. 

From Thai to Cheesy Quinoa

This past weekend my parents visited from PA so we could have a delayed Christmas celebration. I decided to try Cheddar Chicken Quinoa Bake by Running to the Kitchen. It was too hectic to take pictures while trying to serve hungry company so I pulled one from Running to the Kitchen (which I will happily remove if you object, Gina!). Clearly it isn't mine - it is so much more professional than the photos I take - someone in our family is always to hangry for me to compose a decent food shot. 

Photo Source

I didn't really make any changes except to increase the recipe to serve 6 and added extra scallions - because I love scallions. This could easily be done meet free with added veggies and perhaps beans. I plan to add corn next time we make it - no doubt this recipe goes into the regular rotation. Seriously - try it!

My parents gave us a Vitamix - so I see some smoothie experimentation in our future.

Cheers! Kim

Productive day in the kitchen

Before my husband and I had kids, we loved cooking together. Saturdays and Sundays we usually entertained friends with yummy meals. Our speciality was good foods lovingly prepared - mostly healthy but sometimes indulgent. We love our veggies and lean protein - but we also love the pork ribs that fall off of the bones after spending 8 hours in the smoker.  

Now that the kids are a bit older and often like to be part of the food prep, I have enjoyed spending more time in the kitchen on the weekends - making good use of my recipe Pinterest boards (Hi, my name is Kim and I'm addicted to Pinterest and 60% Cacao Ghiardelli chocolate chips). Baking is still my favorite thing to do in the kitchen (mmm chocolate cup cakes), but lately I have been sourcing more soups, salad (thanks #HolidaySweat) and simple vegetable laden main dishes to make for the family on Saturdays and Sundays (or leave for my loving husband to find for a weeknight meal).

Today I made Almond Cherry Pie Oat bars from the book I just finished: Build Your Running Body by Pete Magill, Thomas Schwartz and Melissa Breyer. 

These bars include oats, almonds, dried cherries and enough chocolate chips to make them decadent. They are sweetened with a bit of apple sauce, brown sugar and honey. 

They crumbled a bit when I cut them so half are nice bars and the other half is more like granola (which will be so yummy on Greek yogurt for breakfast). Next time I make them, I will use a deeper baking dish (8x8) and bake them a bit longer. 

These are seriously yummy!

For dinner, I made a slightly modified Israeli Couscous with Chicken and Peas by a Family Feast. This meal came together very quickly and like the author suggests, could be made even quicker with a store bought, pre-cooked rotisserie chicken. I had time to bake a couple of skinless beasts in the oven. Rotisserie chickens from the market are great - but a little salty for our family's taste and something we reserve for when we really don't have time. 

My modifications: 

• Sauteed a leek while the cous cous browned in the olive oil. Ever since I put leeks in the stuffing on Thanksgiving this year, I have been obsessed and put them in anything I can.
• Used my own turkey stock from Thanksgiving (we roasted a fresh, pastured turkey and I used every bit of it!)
• Substituted frozen mixed vegetables for the peas and doubled the amount. 
• Topped it with toasted pine nuts

The best way to describe this dish is a cross between a deconstructed pot pie and a loaded risotto. Cooking the couscous in the broth (and the cheese) made it creamy and the lemon really brightened up the flavor. I wish I took a picture - but our bowls didn't stay filled for too long. 

Check out the recipe at a Family Feast and let me know if you try it!

I hope you are having fun in the kitchen this weekend!

Kim

Week 4 #HolidaySweat Recap

I was so excited to get the email describing the bonus points for #HolidaySweat week 4! I had planned out my runs around getting in a yoga practice each day. I even loaded some new apps on my iPhone to help me get the photos.

Monday and Tuesday went off just as planned. I did my workouts and got my photos. I was even featured in Amanda's weekly kudos post. Score! Well, things started to get a bit pear shaped on Wednesday.  I planned to get in my poses while making my daughter's birthday cake. 

What am I looking at?

Put the cake in the oven, do some sun salutes - check. Take the cake out of the oven to cool and then snap a few pictures of crow and extended side angle. 

Nice photo of my back, eh?

Ugh - nothing worked. I couldn't get a picture to save my life. (I did successfully hold crow for a breath though!) 

I kept trying and finally gave in, iced the cake an went to bed thinking, tomorrow is a new day and my daughter's birthday. Through the chaos on Thursday, I was able to get her to pose with me for a quick tree which I posted to IG for my bonus points.



Then it hit . . . the great pre-holiday virus. My son spiked a fever, and both my husband and I started coughing like asthmatic smokers. No yoga or run on Friday, I went to yoga on Saturday and squeezed in a short run on Sunday. 3 for 7 on bonus points. Oh well - apparently there is a new bonus on the horizon.

#HolidaySweat Week 4

Day	Water	Freggies	Workout & Check in	Notes
Monday	1	1	3	Yoga and social media check-in
Tuesday	1	1	5	Ran 3 miles on TM, stretched for 15 minutes, social media check-in
Wednesday	1	0	2	15 minutes of stretching, social media check-in
Thursday	1	0	1	stretched in a.m. for 15 minutes
Friday	1	0	0	Not a good day
Saturday	1	0	5	Vinyasa yoga class, social media check-in
Sunday	1	1	5	Ran 3 miles on the TM, streching social media check-in

Bonus points: 3

Week 5 Goals:

Get back on track with running and veggie consumption - and enjoy Christmas with my family.

Kim

Week 3 #HolidaySweat Recap

Already time for a HolidaySweat update - how is that possible? The weeks go so quickly in December. I spent a bit of time this past week outlining some blog posts, but they never made it past the outline phase. As soon as I can work up a little momentum, I will be posting more.

So what have I been doing with my abundant free-time?

In addition to working and keeping up with my exercise sessions, there has been quite a bit of quality time with my little family. Weeknights this week were filled with holiday shopping and squeezing in workouts. 

I had a lovely dinner with my husband and we shared a bottle of wine after the kids went to bed on Friday and then there was a marathon craft session with the kids on Saturday after I returned from yoga class. We made snow-globes in mason jars and Borax crystal ornaments. Then they went wild with glue, glitter and sequins - because who can resist glue and glitter? 

#CRAFTERMATH!

My little girl turns 4 this week - I am completely in denial that she is growing up so quickly. In one of my more sane moments, we decided to push her "friend" birthday party to January to balance out the to-do list.

Easy Peasey!

 Also in the spirit of balance, I crossed "home-made teacher gifts" off the December to-do list and instead we left Daddy to watch the Pat's game in peace and headed out on Sunday afternoon to pick out care packages of seasonal Trader-Joe's goodies for the 5 teachers/para-professionals and since we packed them TJ's reusable bags - no wrapping. 

#HolidaySweat Week 3

Day	Water	Freggies	Workout & Check in	Notes
Monday	1	1	1	Rest! Social media check-in
Tuesday	1	1	4.5	Ran 3.5 miles on TM
Wednesday	1	1	1	Social media check-in
Thursday	1	1	5.0	Ran 4 miles on TM
Friday	1	1	4.0	Ran 3 miles on TM
Saturday	1	0	5	Vinyasa yoga class
Sunday	1	0	4.25	Ran 4.25 miles on the TM

Just shy of 15 miles this week and that is OK because it is solid, consistent mileage and nothing hurts. My obstacle for more miles = available time and since I am working on keeping my heart rate low, my running time isn't netting as much mileage as it would have over the summer. But I'm also less fatigued 
than I was in September and more energy for my family is a good thing.

Week 4 Goals:

I am excited that yoga = bonus points this week. Because I can't just do one pose, I'll be motivated to get in at least a short 15-20 minute practice each day.  

• 15 miles running
• 7 yoga practices
• lower body strength training
• getting back on track with freggies

Have a great week!
Kim