Archives for October 2012

Pumpkin Mac & Cheese

October 9, 2012 · by Ari ·

Okay, maybe you think I’ve gone off the deep end. Maybe you haven’t been lucky enough to experience how awesome pumpkin can be in a savory dish? Or maybe you’re like my husband, and you hate pumpkin.

But guess what??? Steve loves this dish! I try to get him to sip my pumpkin coffee and he acts like I handed him wheat grass, but pumpkin mac and cheese, even he can get behind.

LOOK AT THE STEAM!!! *happy dance*

The texture of the pumpkin puree works so perfectly to make a creamy sauce with no butter. This mac and cheese is actually good for you, and super filling so, even if you’re like me and want to eat delicious things until you can’t even lift the fork anymore, you won’t need to eat too much. Promise 😉

I made this for the first time last year with Jason.

I take my stirring very seriously.

Jason is good at following directions. I just yell commands at him “JASON STIR!”

This is what the mac and cheese looked like then vs now

I’ve actually made this many times since then because I love it sosoSO much. I figured it was time to update the photos 🙂

This is perfect for a Thanksgiving side, a fall dinner, or any time really (like, um, carb-o loading)!

Pumpkin Mac & Cheese

yield 4 servings

8 oz uncooked whole grain penne, macaroni or other pasta (whole wheat, brown rice, etc.)
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup pumpkin puree
1 cup unsweetened almond milk
4 oz reduced fat cream cheese
1/2 cup freshly grated goat cheddar cheese (or reduced fat cheddar)
1/2 cup goat brie cheese, rind removed, cut into cubes
pinch freshly ground nutmeg
pinch ground cloves
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Directions:

Cook pasta according to package directions, drain.
Meanwhile, whisk together and heat pumpkin puree, garlic and milk in a medium saucepan over medium heat until just starting to simmer.
Reduce stove heat to low. Whisk in cheeses until fully melted.
Stir in nutmeg and ground cloves. Season with salt and pepper.
Stir drained pasta into the pumpkin-cheese sauce and mix until thoroughly combined.

NYC Marathon Training Week 16

October 8, 2012 · by Ari ·

Good morning! It is an absolutely perfect fall morning in Phoenix. It is a beautiful 68 degrees with the most perfect breeze. We’ve got the front door and all of our windows open. It’s fall break so I have a much lighter schedule this week. My run is done. I’m just hanging out, enjoying the breeze and a pumpkiny breakfast. It.Is.Awesome. I can’t even tell you how happy I am to have a little bit of a break right now, especially since it’s peak training week. I’ve got a big scary 20 miler staring me in the face this Friday, and I’m super pumped that I have an easier week work-wise to prepare for it.

Anyway, that’s this week, but I’m here to talk about last week. Here’s a look at how my training went down:

Monday: 8 mile run. Ran with Nicole. 4 easy miles, then 4 moderate @ 9:38, 9:40, 9:25, 8:37. My legs weren’t quite ready to get back to work yet, but they made it through and we averaged a 9:58 pace. Those stupid easy warm up miles totally kill the average. I should track them separately. Just kidding. Kind of…. 😉

Tuesday: 10.4 mile bike. I didn’t feel like working out at all, so I just took an easy bike ride to coffee with Steve. I broke all sorts of records with my amazing cycling speed and averaged 13.6 miles an hour. It’s okay Lance, I’ll take your spot since they won’t let you race anymore. Clearly, I’m at your same level.

Wednesday: Track. Warm up, then 2 x 1200s with 90 second rest @ 8:33, 7:54, then 800 @ 7:45, then 4 x 400s at 7:00ish. Ummm yeah, apparently the work out was so hard I forgot how to work my garmin. I kept forgetting to hit the lap button, then accidentally stopping it–it was just a hot mess. When I went in and tried to figure out my paces, it looked like they were all between 7:00-7:05. My type A brain was a little annoyed to not know every single pace EXACTLY (shocking, right?), but I got a pretty good idea. This workout was HARD. I thought my 400s would be closer to my ridiculously fast 400 at track a couple of weeks ago, but I did my first intervals really fast (for me), and didn’t account for the fact that 4 400s would be hard than, oh, one. It was awesome, though, and I ended up covering 4.77 miles in 42:28 for an average pace of 8:54. Not too shabby.

Thursday: 12.8 mile bike. Had a recovery run scheduled, but I found out when I woke up that I’d be going alone which sounded not at all fun, so I swapped it for an other ride with Steve. Stepped it up to a 13.9 average pace. Watch out cars. I will pass all of you.

Friday: 21.4 mile bike. I guess I rode my bike a lot last week! Nicole and I took a new route and rode to breakfast at Essence Bakery. It.Was.Amazing. My breakfast was, um, a little heavier than I expected, and by heavier I mean covered with cheese from top to bottom, but it was soooo delicious. We also both got some mini macarons for the road. The pumpkin spice and hazelnut were my favorites, but they were all amazing! Oh wait, I’m supposed to be talking about exercise, not cheese and macarons. The ride was great. We chatted the whole time (obviously), and it was nice to ride somewhere new! Oh, and I averaged a speed demon pace of 12.9 miles an hour.

Saturday: 10 mile time trial. EEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

10 weeks ago, we were asked to run a 10 mile time trial. I ran it up in Portland with Tali and Camille. I called it the best run of my life. It was perfection–perfect weather, perfect company, perfect mind set. I finished that run in 1:34:45. Well, it’s 10 weeks later, and I’m 3 minutes faster! Pretty good, right? I was NERVOUS about this run to say the least. The last time I went after a specific time goal was at AFC in San Diego. I posted my big goal of a sub two half all over the internet for the world to see, then I crashed and burned. Hard. I didn’t really tell anyone my goals for this run, except for Steve and Nicole. I didn’t want to set myself up to tell everyone I failed again. Of course, I had a few goals–the main one was just to be faster than last time, which I actually was not sure I could do. Everything last time seemed so perfect–what if I couldn’t do it again?? I really wanted to be around 1:32. 1:32:30 is a 9:15 pace which seemed like a big jump from my previous 9:28, and I knew that would be something I could be proud of. My dream goal was to magically be able to pull a sub 1:30. That one obviously didn’t happen, but I am totally okay with that!

Towards the beginning of the run, I found myself running right behind to other ladies, so I asked what their goal was and they told me 1:32. Perfect! I ran with them until about mile 6, and we chatted most of the way. It was an awesome distraction. A little over haf way through we all started to split off a bit, it was getting harder, and I was starting to doubt myself. I put on my music, and told my brain to STFU. I really started to understand the mental battle part of running. I was sure that I was too tired, and that I couldn’t do it, but I really fought back this time instead of giving up, and I ended up really surprising myself!

Mile 1: 9:32
Mile 2: 9:15
Mile 3: 9:20
Mile 4: 9:08
Mile 5: 8:56
Mile 6: 9:11
Mile 7: 9:09
Mile 8: 8:53
Mile 9: 9:31 <—SOOO TIRED!!!! WHEN WILL THIS BE OVER?!?!?!
Mile 10: 8:43

You know something I love? When you’ve sprinted at the end, and you go and look at your final lap pace on your garmin.

LOOK COACH SUSAN!! I ran your marathon pace for 6 seconds. I think I’m ready for the olympic trials now too. 97 feet is basically the same as a whole marathon, right? Also, I really need a manicure.

Anyway, the time trial was awesome. Really awesome. So awesome that McMillan seems to think I can now run a 4:17 marathon. Silly McMillan. I’ll be happy with half an hour longer than that! Also, I just wanted to say that 9:09 for 13.1 miles = 1:59:59ish half marathon, if I ran the tangents perfectly…. Lost Dutchman, I’m looking at YOU!

Sunday: Rest. Much needed. I’m getting better at this whole rest day thing. I might even go so far as to say I LIKE them! 🙂

TOTALS:

Running: 22.85
Biking: 44.55
~~Eating: Everything in site.~~

Tell me about your training!! Any big goals coming up? Record breaking bike speeds? Long run PRs??

Salted Chocolate Chip Sunflower Butter Cookies

October 5, 2012 · by Ari ·

My recipes always have the loooooongest titles. I’m not the type of person that can just say “Sunflower Cookies” and call it good. That does NOT explain these cookies. The have sunflower butter and dark chocolate chips and a SALT!

If you are one of those people that doesn’t like sweet and salty, then I’m pretty sure we can’t be friends. It is my very favorite thing. When I saw these, I just about died. Also, I sweat a lot which makes me crave salt, and I’m sure knowing my sweating habits makes you realllllly hungry. No? Weird. Maybe an other picture of awesome sweet and salty cookies will revive your appetite.

I’ve been making lots of vegan desserts lately. As I was stalking all the pins that come from my site (seriously, I have a problem), I noticed that a lot of people were labeling my recipes as vegan, and I was like “Whaaaaa???? I don’t think so….”, but then I looked and realized that a lot of them are, or are super easily adaptable. I don’t really use butter very often, and I use a liquid egg substitute a lot, but a flax egg, or corn starch egg works just as well. So now you plant lovers can eat lots of cookies also. And trust me, you want to eat these cookies.

I don’t know about you, but I think sunflower butter might be the best nut butter. I should know. I am, like, a nut butter connoisseur. I could do one of those blindfold tests where you put out different types in front of me, and I could probably tell you the nut and the brand. Maybe I should be embarrassed? I’m not.

Sunflower butter has the perfect texture and flavor for cookies. And spoons and fingers. Or at least the TJ’s brand does. I love it so much, I won’t try anything else. I don’t mess with a good thing. When I find something I like, I REALLY like it, and become quickly obsessed with how it’s THE BEST THING EVER, but really…I think this is. The only thing better might be making my own, which is on my list. Yes, I have lists. SO MANY. Each of them overflowing with the many things I want to make, and some crazy ramblings for my brain. It’s kind of like this blog on paper with no pretty pictures.

Anyway, back to the cookies. It’s pretty easy. Dough, baking sheet, salty goodness…

I would actually recommend smushing them down slightly less than this. I made a couple with the left over dough and I left them puffier, and I actually liked those even more! Not that I wasn’t ridiculously eat 8 cookies a day obsessed with these just as they were 😉

I loooooove the way these ones look on their cute little silpat.

Salted Chocolate Chip Sunflower Cutter Cookies

yield approx 1.5 dozen

1 1/4 cups white whole wheat flour
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup apple butter
1 cup sunflower butter
3/4 cup turbinado sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
1 tsp vanilla
1 tbs corn starch
1/4 cup water
2/3 cup mini dark chocolate chips
coarse sea salt for topping

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a large cookie sheet with parchment paper and set aside. In a large bowl, combine flour, baking soda, and baking powder. Set aside.
In a large bowl, beat the apple butter, sunflower butter, sugars and vanilla until smooth.
In a small bowl, whisk together corn starch and water, then beat into sunflower butter mixture.
Add the flour mixture and beat thoroughly. Fold in chocolate chips.
Using a small cookie scoop, drop dough onto lined cookie sheet. Use an extra piece of sprayed parchment paper to slightly flatten each dough ball. Generously sprinkle sea salt over cookie dough (about a pinch per cookie).
Bake for 10 to 12 minutes until just golden. Do not overbake. Let cookies stand on sheet for 2-3 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

One Month

October 4, 2012 · by Ari ·

I’m not sure if you’re aware, but today is October 4th. I mean, sure, you probably have a calendar, and could have figured that out without reading this post, but October 4th marks exactly one month to go until I run my very first marathon. That means I have 1.5 weeks left until I taper. When did that happen??? Wasn’t I just whining about how I’m so burnt out and training is hard, and woe is me? Watch, in 2 weeks I will be all “I miss running! Taper is hard! ~~Let’s do an other 20 miler!~~” Runners are strange, strange people.

Wait. Hold on a sec. I think that’s the first time I ever actually referred to myself as a runner. I had the urge to go back and delete it, because I still don’t 100% feel like part of the club yet, but that’s silly. I run multiple times a week, and I’m training for a marathon. I’d say I’ve earned my title, and I’m gonna try to go with it, because it’s a title I’ve longed to hold for a long time. Ari: Runner. Not Ari: Girl Who Tries to Run, But is Really Slow. Just Ari: Runner. A lot has changed in the past year, and even more has changed in the past 4 months since I began this journey. I’ve literally spent almost half of this year training for this race that is now just 1 month away.

I am the following:

Excited
Giddy
Nervous
Proud
In disbelief
Anxious
Honored
Fortunate
Hopeful
Ready

Or at least, I will be ready after next weekend’s 20 miler brings my peak training to a close. I’m starting to believe I can do this. Every day, I have my doubts, but every day I surprise myself, and remind myself of why I can.

With one month to go, my fundraising could use some help now more than ever. Please consider making a donation to Chances for Children AZ to help kids find fitness, health and happiness in their lives. It is so important, and they deserve it! Every penny helps (I know it sounds cheesy, but I believe it!).

Candy Corn Oatmeal Cookies

October 3, 2012 · by Ari ·

Happy October! I know we’re technically on day 3 here, but it’s still the beginning, so I figured what better way to celebrate than with Halloween candy?

Okay, I have a confession. I don’t think I actually like candy corn. I LOVE these cookies, but I bought this entire bag of candy corn to make them, and so once in a while when I was craving something sweet, I would grab a couple. I wanted to like them. Everyone loves candy corn at Halloween time! I tried way too many times, but the truth is, I think they taste weird on their own. I would much rather have a chocolate peanut butter pumpkin.

You know those round ones wrapped in pumpkin foil paper with the crunch in the middle that only come out for Halloween? I have a serious obsession. I used to buy at least 4-5 bags a season, and eat them all. It was kind of gross. Really gross. But those pumpkins are delicious. This year, I’m abstaining from delicious peanut butter pumpkins. I don’t trust myself. However, if you buy a bag and wanted to give me jusssstttt ooonnneee, we would maybe be best friends for ever and ever.

In return, I will give you the whole 2/3 full bag of candy corn sitting on my counter. I would say in my pantry, but yeah…. Still haven’t put that away. In fact, my house is a bit of a disaster, but that’s a whole other story, and it’s a little embarrassing. Let’s just pretend for one day that I am the neatest person ever, and my house always looks immaculate. That’s a fun dream.

Let me tell you, the first time I attempted candy corn cookies, disaster ensued. I tried to make pumpkin ones, and they were entirely too cake-like, plus I mixed the candy corns into the batter, and my poor cookie pan is still recovering. It was a sticky, cakey mess that no one would enjoy eating. Surprisingly, I didn’t freak out like I normally would. I laughed about it, threw away the disaster cookies, and went back to the drawing board. The result? Halloween cookie perfection.

It’s still important to bake the candy corns in the cookie, because that’s what makes them gooey, and stick to the cookie, but pressing them in on top saves you the mess! Also, a heartier oatmeal cookie stands up a lot better when adding strange little yellow, orange, and white candies to the mix 😉 The cookies are slightly crispy on the edges, while perfectly soft and gooey on the inside, with the perfect melty sweetness of baked candy corn.

Even this candy corn hater couldn’t get enough!! I’m telling you, if you too think you hate candy corn, you can reform to society’s candy corn obsession by putting them in these cookies! And if you love candy corn, you will really love these cookies!

Candy Corn Oatmeal Cookies

yield 3 dozen

1 1/2 cups white whole wheat four
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
dash salt
6 tbs apple butter
3 tbs coconut oil
3/4 cup raw turbinado sugar
1/4 cup egg substitute
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
1 cup rolled oats
approx 1 cup candy corn

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350. In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
In a large bowl, beat together apple butter, coconut oil, sugar, egg substitute and vanilla until combined. Slowly beat in dry ingredients, then fold in oats.
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper, and drop cookies onto the sheet using a small cookie scoop. Press 3-4 candy corns into the top of each cookie.
Bake for 12 minutes until golden. Let stand on cookie sheet for 3-5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

What’s your favorite Halloween candy??

NYC Marathon Training Week 15

October 1, 2012 · by Ari ·

GUESS WHAT!!!! In September, for the first time ever, I ran 101 miles! My first time breaking the triple digits. I am aware that some people run that many miles a week, but whatev. I’m excited. In September I also got sick and took a week off running all together, so basically I ran 101 miles in 3ish weeks. I like it. Here’s a look at how last week went down.

Monday: 8 mile run. This run was just okay. I was still not feeling my strongest, and my breathing felt off from being sick. But this girl got me through it, and we averaged a 10:09 pace. Slower than usual, but not terrible.

Tuesday: 13.7 mile bike. Rode with Nicole at a faster-for-us-but-still-easy pace. Averaged 14.4 mph which is slow for all you speedy cyclists, but good for a couple of girls who really just ride their bike as an excuse to hang out and be social. I miss spin class. I haven’t been in weeks. I have a million excuses, but I think it really comes down to two things: I don’t like waiting until 9:15 to start my work out, and I’m really physically tired from marathon training, so a nice easy bike ride outside just seems so much nicer.

Wednesday: 4 mile run, 30 minutes strength training. WHAT?!?!?!?! Yes. You read that correctly. I was a little bitch still not feeling quite 100% and my ankle was bugging me after Monday’s run, so I ditched out on hill repeats with the team, and decided to make up my own speed work and run with Ashley. I suggested a 1 mi warm up, 2 faster miles, and a 1 mile cool down. For once I was not the queen of ridiculously slow warm ups, and we ran our miles in 9:50, 9:07, 8:39, 9:42. That’s pretty good for me! Then at physical therapy, instead of just asking to get scraped and needled, I actually pushed myself through a bunch of my exercises, and my abs were sore for days. Like, today they still hurt. Talk about needing to get back into strength training….

Thursday: 4.1 mile run. Fun run around Kiwanis park with Jason. We hadn’t run together in so long! It was supposed to be recovery, but he is so fast now! We averaged a 9:33 pace, but it felt harder than it should have.

Friday: Rest. Rest days are so weird when they’re the day before a long run. My legs weren’t really that tired. I didn’t feel like I needed to rest. I felt like I wanted to go ride my bike and do fun active things outside, but I knew I’d regret the slightest hint of tiredness on my legs the next day (and Nicole was out of town, so I had no one to ride my bike with–problem solved). Instead of exercising, I baked cookies. That seems like the obvious choice, right? It’s actually what I have always ended up doing with the free time I usually spend exercising. They were awesome and Halloween-like, and I promise to share them with you this week. See, you too like rest days. They bring you cookies.

Saturday: 18 mile run. Thank goodness this went well. I was so nervous. Read about it with practically step by step detail, because I have always been wordy and long winded 😉

Sunday: Rest. This rest felt AWESOME and NECESSARY.

I’ve definitely noticed that now that we are in peak training, my body needs more rest. It needs lighter cross training, more rest, and more focus on running. Half marathon training didn’t really feel that way, so I was a little taken off guard at my body’s reaction, and I felt a little bit like a slacker for skipping out on things like spin, and choosing to drive to the coffee shop when the weather is perfect out for a bike ride, but I have 26.2 miles to run, and I need to listen to my body and RESPECT what it is doing for me. My legs carried my butt around for 3 hours and 8 minutes on Saturday. My body is amazing, and it is being great to me. Aside from a sprained ankle and my usual achilles stuff, I have been able to stay injury free throughout this process, and I am so grateful. So I’m backing off a little in other areas to say thank you and give my body a break.

TELL ME ABOUT YOUR TRAINING!!! Do you back off from other workouts in the peak of marathon training?

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Archives for October 2012

Pumpkin Mac & Cheese

NYC Marathon Training Week 16

Salted Chocolate Chip Sunflower Butter Cookies

One Month

Candy Corn Oatmeal Cookies

NYC Marathon Training Week 15

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