Ari's Menu

Little changes making a big difference.


Skinny Mini Corn Dogs

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Last Thanksgiving, I made and posted these Skinny Mini Corn Dogs. Well, you may have noticed that since then, the photography on the blog has gotten…umm…better.

Then

Now

Although Steve takes most of the photography, I’ve learned oh so much about food styling since I started this blog. It’s still a challenge for me, as I’m not a visual person, and I have always identified with the “I don’t care what it looks like if it tastes good” way of thought, but I’ve definitely come a long way, and I definitely no longer throw my food on the plate and hope for the best 😉

Now, I employ hand models. Thanks Jas 😉 Anyway, THESE CORN DOGS!! I think of all the food I’ve made in my life, these and my cake batter dip are the two things that ALWAYS disappear. What’s even better is they are so easy!! It’s maybe 15 minutes of working time to make a huge amount perfect for any party, or tailgating if you do that sort of thing (says the girl who despises football).

These babies are dangerous. I could easily go through a dozen without even thinking twice! The good news is, they really are healthy–baked, no oil or butter, and the leanest hot dogs around. In fact, you could probably eat the entire mini muffin tin full for the same amount of fat and calories as 1 regular corn dog!

Skinny Mini Corn Dogs

yield 24-36

  • 1 box cornbread of choice (use gluten-free if desired)
  • Fat free plain Greek yogurt (amount depends on box)
  • Unsweetened almond milk (amount depends on box)
  • 1/2 small can medium green chilis
  • 8-10 98% fat free turkey dogs

Directions:

  1. Mix cornbread according to package instructions replacing butter/oil with yogurt and milk with almond milk (reduced fat buttermilk or skim milk would also work), and adding green chilis.
  2. Pour batter into sprayed mini muffin tins, filling only about 1/3-1/2 of each tin.
  3. Divide each turkey dog into 6 equal pieces.
  4. Press a piece of turkey dog into each muffin tin.
  5. Bake according to package instructions until golden brown.

 

 

NYC Marathon Training Week 13

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Okay, before I get to telling you about a week of training full of lots of amazing firsts, I just need to discuss the season premier of Glee that I embarrassingly watched last night. Do you watch Glee? Despite how truly awful the writing has gotten, I always continued to watch. Why? Well, you wouldn’t believe how many of my teaching jobs are named “Glee” or at least inspired by/modeled after the TV show. And, if I’m being totally honest, at the end of last season, I really did find myself caring about stupid Rachel Barry and if she would be able to pursue her dreams and major in musical theatre in a fancy NYC conservatory program. However, last night I watched the newest season premier, and while Rachel cried in the rain, only to turn around and find her BFF Kurt standing behind her rescuing her from her slutty roommate, I kind of felt like I might need to break up with Glee.

Sorry, I just needed to share that with someone, and Steve didn’t seem particularly interested. Shocking, right? He did go see Step Up Revolution with me though, so he earned himself a night off from discussing musical theatre for the moment 😉 Okay, anyway, let’s talk about last week’s training! Here’s how it went down:

Monday: 7 mile run. Ran with Nicole, and the weather was awesome! It’s finally starting to cool down (although this week, it’s back to the 100’s, so maybe I should knock on wood?) and I noticed a huge difference effort wise. After a 3 mile warm up, we ran the last 4 miles in 9:22, 9:15, 9:18, and 8:10. I died a little on the last mile, but overall the run felt amazing, and the first 3 working miles felt so much easier than they have been!

Tuesday: Rest. I just mentally wasn’t really feeling it this morning. I needed some me time, and decided it was better to take the day off from spin than to miss a running day.

Wednesday: Track. I guess my day off was a good idea, because I had the most amazing track work out! I did a 1.2 mile warm up, then we did all those silly looking running drills (dear b skip: you are not my favorite), then we got to work. The plan for the day was 1600 @ 10k pace, 1200 @ 5k pace, 800 @ mile pace, 400 sprint, with 400 recoveries in between. As soon as we started the first mile, I started to get into a bad mental place. I was on pace, but I just kept watching all the faster runners whizzing by me, and I started to get really down on myself. Around the third lap, I was right on pace with 2 faster guys on the team. They had passed me, but then I was sticking right behind them, and my coach yelled to me not to let them get away, so I spent the 4th lap awkwardly pacing them from behind before finally asking to just join them, and try to keep up. They told me their pace goals, and it definitely made me nervous, but I committed to holding on for as long as I could. Well, I stuck it out the entire work out, felt what it was like to actually think I was going to puke, but not stop, and ended up with some of the speediest running I’ve ever done!

As you can see, the recoveries got slower and slower as the working laps got faster and “OMG IS THAT A 6?!?!?!” fast. Actually for the first 200 of that sprint, my watch said 5:41 but that’s when the puke feeling came, and I slowed my role into what is still BY FAR the fastest lap of my life. Holy freaking accomplished feeling. I love the track 🙂 Also, by the end, I couldn’t remember who had passed me, and I couldn’t have cared less. And I realized how much more I push myself when I keep up with other people I *think* are faster than me. I need to step it up, stop doubting, and give 100% more often.

Thursday: 10 mile bike. This was the weirdest day. I set off with Nicole on our usual easy ride to coffee. On the way, we saw a UFO. Okay, actually some people say it was a missile from New Mexico or something, but I still say it was a UFO.

Then as we were getting to coffee, Nicole’s bike got pissed, protested and threw her off. What a jerk. Luckily she was okay, but it didn’t stop me from having some choice words with her bike for messing with my friend like that. Not cool.

Friday: 17.03!!!! Check out my novel length in depth recap because I’m in the “OMG can’t talk enough about running” phase. What?? You can’t go on without seeing the splits from this run too? Oh okay, if you insist 😉

Ignore “lap” 19 and 20. I accidentally hit my start…twice.

Saturday: Rest. I wanted to get an easy bike ride in, but time wise it just didn’t work out. After running the longest distance of my life the day before, I wasn’t too concerned.

Sunday: 3.5 mile run. I still had a recovery run left to get done, so I ran with Jason up in Prescott. It was hilly, and there was that whole elevation thing, but we averaged about a 10:30 pace after I had to insist to speedy that we slow the F down because “RECOVERY RUNS ARE SLOW!!!!” The last time I ran with him, he ran closer to an 11 minute pace. Stupid boys get fast so quickly. The run was mostly good, but I rolled my same ankle for the 89th million time, and it hurt the rest of the day. Lame.

Total running mileage for the week: A new high for me of 32.6 miles!!!! My first time hitting 3o in one Monday-Sunday week!

Your turn! Tell me about your training!!

Seventeen (point zero three)

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Friday, for the first time ever, I ran 17 miles. 17.03 to be exact. I’m still going to post a recap of all of last week’s training, but I felt like this run deserved it’s own separate post. I ran with my two favorite Phoenix runner/bloggers Nicole and Stacey, and we started at the lovely hour at 4:30 am, which meant falling asleep well after 11, I woke up to my alarm going off sometime that started with a 3. My first night before a new distance in over 6 months brought back all the feelings and craziness I would get during PF Chang’s training. Anxious, restless sleep, nerves, and dreams of worst case scenarios. Somehow I still woke up with a weird amount of energy, and was excited to get running!

Stacey arrived at my house at 4:30 and we began the 1.5 mile run down to meet Nicole at Starbucks. From Starbucks, we headed down to the canal and just kind of strolled along. Our pace was slooooooowwwww for the first several miles. My mind was going back and forth between “This pace is so nice! It genuinely feels easy! I can keep this up alllll day.” and “OMG you’re so slow. PICK UP THE PACE!!!” Luckily, we were all smart, straight A running students, and we just let it be easy, knowing we had a long way to go.

Mile 1–11:16
Mile 2–11:18
Mile 3–11:26
Mile 4–11:18
Mile 5– 11:03

Along the first few miles we chatted, and made a running friend along the canal that ended up sticking with us for about half a mile or so before picking up to his actual pace, which shockingly was not an 11 minute mile. Finally, I started to feel warmed up at this point. The weather was perfection–the sun was barely coming up, it was in the high 70’s with a nice breeze, and I was feeling pretty optimistic about the run. We started to pick it up a little and slowly find our way closer to normal long run pace.

Mile 6–10:49
Mile 7–10:55
Mile 8–10:38
Mile 9– 10:32

At mile 9.25, we reached our turn around point. I started to get really excited knowing we were turning around and more than half way through! It seemed like the end was actually in sight (even though it was almost 8 miles away), and I started pushing to pick up the pace. I was getting into the groove, and feeling really great.

Mile 10–10:24
Mile 11–10:11
Mile 12– 10:00

This is where things started to get tough, and also where I started to get some serious runner’s high. It was a combination of really starting to feel the run, but also being so freaking excited about running. I had run without my music up until this point, but as my legs were starting to feel tired, and sweat was starting to drip excessively from my body due to the now 80 degree with full blazing sun weather. It was amazing how much more helpful my music was having saved it for when I really needed it.

I started singing along so loudly at the top of my lungs, dancing around, and acting a total fool. I started thinking about how far I’ve come, and how in less than a year, I’ve gone from a 3 mile PDR, and here I was about to complete 17. I started t get all sappy about this marathon crap, and almost cried in true emotional silly Ari fashion. Apparently being ridiculous, emotional, and singing badly while running lead to really excellent paces…

Mile 13–9:39
Mile 14–9:26
Mile 15– 9:36

This is where shit got hard. My legs were exhausted. I was feeling overheated, and tired, and my ankles were really started to hurt. In fact, my whole body ached. I leaned over to stretch while waiting for a stoplight, and legit almost just fell on the ground, but we were all determined to finish this run strong, and thankfully, when my attitude and mental state took a turn for the less than happy, my amazing friends were right there to pick me up, and encourage me until the end. How do people do this crap on their own?! Seriously.

Mile 16–9:38
Mile 17– 9:11

And just like that, all 3 of us achieved a distance well above our previous PDRs. There was so much love and sweat outside that Starbucks.

17 down. 9 to go. Onward.

Butterscotch Pecan Butter

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It’s official. I’m never buying nut butter from the grocery store again.

Making my own is so ridiculously easy, and the flavor combinations are endless. You imagine it, you throw everything in the food processor while you read all 900 unread posts on your google reader empty the dishwasher, and voila! NUT BUTTER!!!!

Guess what! It’s also way less expensive this way. It would be…ummm… uncharacteristic of me to not mention saving money 😉

And can we talk about how butterscotch is one of those flavors that never disappoints? Please, tell me a time you’ve eaten something with butterscotch in it, and then thought “Well, that was disappointing.” It doesn’t happen people. Butterscotch can save the worst cookie, and it can take the most delicious pecan spread to the next level.

 

Butterscotch Pecan Butter

yield 1/2 pint

  • 8 oz pecans (I used raw, but roasted would be amazing)
  • 1 1/2 tbs coconut oil
  • 1/3 cup butterscotch chips, melted
  • heavy pinch sea salt
Directions:
  1. Add pecans to a food processor and blend until a thick nut butter forms (be patient, this takes several minutes). Stream in oil with the processor on, continuing to run it until the mixture is smooth (about 3-4 minutes).
  2. Turn off processor, add melted butterscotch chips and sea salt, and turn processor back on. Blend until smooth.

 

 

 

Beer Floats

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I have a few favorite things in life. Puppies, my husband, Seinfeld reruns, fro yo, beer, peanut butter, cilantro…. The list goes on. I’m not really someone who feels luke warm about things. There’s “OMG I freaking love ____ so much, I would poke my eyeballs out of my head if I could never see/have/eat it again!!!” and “Ew, gross.” Yes, I have the love scale of a teenage girl.

I don’t want to live in a world where my favorite things can’t go together. In my world, which is a little bit like Neverland–all whimsical and idealistic with no real sense of grown-up-ness, all the things I love fall magically into place, so that after a 15 mile run, I can sit down to pour myself a delicious dark, sweet beer.

I can scoop fro yo on top, and enjoy a grown up rootbeer float.

Okay, so you might think I’m a total freak, but listen, my first beer float experience was at The Ale House in Moscow (Idaho, not Russia) with my college bestie and foodspiration, Heather. We were both skeptical, and in true fashion of both of our tastes, she ordered hers with the huckleberry ale, and I ordered mine with the vanilla bourbon stout (oh my gosh, vanilla boubon stour, PLEASE COME BACK INTO MY LIFE!!). They were both absolutely delicious, but I’m guessing you know which one was my favorite…

Celebratory dessert done in about 90 seconds, and gone in about an equal amount of time. You better believe this baby will be reappearing after my very first 17 miler that’s coming up this Friday! What can I say? I’m a girl who likes to celebrate 😉

Beer Float

yield 1

  • 1 bottle ice cold sweet beer of choice; stouts and porters work great (I used oatmeal stout. You can also use a lighter, fruity beer, but for the love, please do NOT use Bud Light, or, worse,  PBR. Just don’t do it.)
  • 2 scoops (approx 1/2 cup) nonfat vanilla frozen yogurt

Directions:

  1. Chill your beer glass in the freezer for 30min-1 hour.
  2. Pour beer until glass is 1/2-2/3 full. Top with 2 scoops frozen yogurt.

In case you needed an example of my interpretation of 1/2-2/3 full 😉

NYC Marathon Training Week 12

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This week was a cut back week. After 15 miles at South Mountain, and looking ahead at the training that’s coming up, an easier week sounded awesome. However, I think for the first time I started to feel a little bit of the craziness I always hear other runners talk about during cut back and taper weeks. I have to admit, even though I really do love running, I’ve never been one to look at less miles on the training plan and feel disappointed, but I started feeling weird not-so-healthy thoughts of not doing or being good enough this week. I followed the plan almost to a tee, with the exception of a missed recovery run to which Nicole replied “It’s just 3 miles. That means you’re supposed to skip it. In fact, I think she probably meant ‘skip this run'”. This is why I love her.

Anyway, my 3 main runs (long, medium distance, and track) usually leave me feeling like a rockstar. Each one leaves me with a different sense of pride, and accomplishment. This week though, especially after my long run, I just felt a little…inadequate. Let me premise by saying I am well aware of how silly that is. I literally used words like “I only ran 10 miles.” Ummm, how many people out there would be over the moon to be able to run 10 miles??? And since when is double digits only 10.

I feel like part of that comes from the constant use of food (and beer) as a reward for long running. How many times have we all hear “Don’t use food as a reward”. Well, there’s good reason. It’s a tough habit to break, and I find myself continuously falling into it this training cycle. I can’t even tell you how many long runs I’ve gotten through by thinking about what I was going to eat for dinner! I know that’s not the worst  thing, especially if it motivates me enough to keep going (what can I say? I love food), but it becomes bad when I do a 10 mile long run, and feel like I haven’t run enough to “earn” a fun dinner out. Ridiculous. I know. I’m actually kind of a smart lady. And I think that if I wasn’t aware of my silliness, then there would actually be a problem. I’ve learned enough about myself at this point in my life to be able to navigate the craziness, but I wanted to talk about it, because I feel like it’s something a lot of people deal with, and it’s okay. Beating ourselves up for struggling mentally is equivalent to beating ourselves up for  one bad work out. You wouldn’t do it to your friend, so why should you do it to yourself? That’s just how I was feeling last week.

Okay, enough of that. Here’s how last week’s training went down!

Monday—4.2 mile easy run. After Saturday’s challenging long run at South Mountain, I was super relieved to have an easier day. I ran with Nicole and Stacey, and averaged a 10:27 pace. It was good, but shorter and easier and came with no awesome runner’s high. Sad day.

Tuesday—Linda’s Spin. This class kicked my butt this week! Linda called some of us out on our flat road being too easy, so I picked mine back up to 11, and I hung in, but I was definitely working hard!

Wednesday—Track: 3×1 mile. Balloons. Rainbows. Glitter. Confetti. This run was so freaking awesome!! I had the biggest case of runner’s high all.day.long. We warmed up, did all the silly looking running drills and about a million lunges, then set out on the track for our mile repeats (with 400 recovery jogs in between). The first one was supposed to be at 10k pace, then between 5-10k pace, then 5k pace. My goal was 8:40, 8:30, 8:20. My first mile clocked in at 8:38, then my second in 8:27. I was getting nervous at this point. I mean, I’ve done 800s faster than that, but I was worried about my ability to run any faster for an entire mile (so much longer than it seems!) when I was already feeling so tired. The first 3 laps of my last mile, I was doing okay. Not great, but staying on pace. The last lap, I just wanted to give up and lay down on the track. I asked some of my speedier friends that were finished to finish my last lap with me, and they ran the last 300ish with me, pushing me and helping me bring my lap pace from a steady 8:15 to 8:06!!!!! Ummm, that is FAST for me! I felt amazing, like I had really given the workout everything I had. I rushed up to Coach Susan to tell her my splits, and she said that I got a P for Perfect for the day! This was one of the best runs of this entire training process!!

Thursday—14.7 mile bike ride. Since Nicole and I decided to long run on Friday, we took a nice little bike ride on Thursday. 

Friday—10 mile run. 10:21 average pace. Pretty uneventful with the exception of all the wildlife we encountered! In our 10 miles, Nicole and I saw a toad, coyote, jack rabbit, and a giant fish! This was the run that I ended and had my ridiculous, bratty “so what” attitude. I’m over it. 10 miles is 10 miles. It has 2 numbers, therefore it is long. Welcome to the long run logic of Ari’s Brain. Actually, anything over 10 seconds usually feels kind of long….

Saturday—9.7 mile bike. Rode to rehearsal, and for the first time in months, I actually focused on riding, rather than pedaling along having casual conversation. There was a super intense headwind, and I still only averaged 14mi an hour, but it felt good to push a little more on the bike again.

Sunday—8.4 mile bike. Rode to coffee with Steve, and took it mostly easy/moderate with a couple of sprints thrown in for fun. He does this weird strava thing for nerdy boys who ride bikes (or maybe it’s for all people, but since he does it, I just assumed…) and he wanted to race his “segment”. Of course that meant I was going for it too. I was doing really awesome and averaging a 20.8 pace, but then I hit two stop lights, cursed at them (only in my head), and ended up at around 18.5 for both sprint segments. It was fun to change it up a little!

Wow, it’s a good thing I have this little blog. Apparently, I have things to say, or something. Poor Steve would be so annoyed if I just regurgitated the same recaps of my paces and feeling to him 50 times a day. Oh wait, that is his life. Now it’s yours too–HAH! 😉

TIME FOR SOMEONE ELSE TO TALK ABOUT THEMSELVES!!! I want to hear about your training–your accomplishments, frustrations, celebration beers, thoughts that celebration beers should never ever happen. TELL ME EVERYTHING!

Cascal Natural Soft Drink Review + Giveaway

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I used to have this really bad diet coke habit. Okay, sometimes I still have a really bad diet coke habit. I try to hydrate and drink water and be a good little healthy living blogger doing all those things we all know you’re supposed to do, but sometimes a girl needs some flavor in her drink. PS, my brother insists on saying “drank” instead of “drink”. It’s so annoying. You’re almost 16 years old, Hermano. Please learn the English language! Anyway, as I was saying, I like some flavor. I also prefer an ingredient list short than the constitution, and with words I can actually pronounce. When the nice people over at Cascal offered me a sample of their new natural soft drink, I was stoked to try something different!

These were delicious, and they are all naturally sweetened with only 60-80 calories per can. They’re perfect for after a workout when you want a yummy drink with some natural sugars to refuel!

The ripe rouge was probably my favorite. Chocolate and cherry? Sign me up!

Good news friends!! There’s something in this for you too! The fabulous folks over at Cascal have offered a free sampler pack to one lucky US reader!

To enter:

  1. Leave a comment that makes me laugh.
For additional entries (1 each):
  1. Like Cascal on facebook, then come back and leave a comment telling me you did.
  2. Follow Cascal on twitter, then come back and leave a comment telling me you did.
  3. Like Ari’s Menu on facebook, leave a comment (you get it by now).
  4. Follow Ari’s Menu on twitter, leave a comment.
  5. Subscribe to Ari’s Menu via RSS or email, and let me know about it!

Giveaway closes Sunday 9/9 @ midnight. I’ll randomly pick a winner, and announce it on Monday 9/10.

Full disclosure: I received no compensation for this post, only product samples. All opinions are my own.

 

For Me

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From the time I was 10 years old, I lived my life with one goal in mind. I wanted to “make it” in musical theatre. Of course when I was 10 this meant being on The B-way, and over time the meaning of “making it” has changed, and evolved into a much more realistic career path, but I have. I graduated college with my BFA in Musical Theatre (the ultimate goal for many many years), moved back home, and made a career in a field most people don’t even consider possible. I love my jobs. I also married the perfect man, bought a house I love near my family, and became a fur mom to the two greatest puppies that bring me a ridiculous amount of joy. I slowly checked almost every life goal off my list as I inched my way closer to my dream life. Not to say my life is perfect, because no one’s is, but it is, technically speaking, the life I always dreamed of.

I always assumed that as I checked more and more goals off my list, eventually this would lead me to a state of steady, unwavering happiness. Near perfection. Well, that’s silly. Regardless of how much I love my life (so much), what I’ve realized in the last year is that the thing that brings me the most happiness is a sense of personal accomplishment. There are hundreds of ways we all achieve that on a daily basis, and by far the most important is the accomplishment I get from having amazing relationships with family and friends. I am so lucky to be surrounded by the most amazing people, and to have so many lasting close friendships. However, I found as I settled into my “grown up life” post college, that I really missed the sense of accomplishment that came from those moments in voice lessons when Chris would shout at me “That was so good! Why would you not choose that all the time?!”, a phrase my students now hear all the time. 😉 Or a moment in acting class where I was able to let go, and connect in a new way without getting stuck inside my own head.

I LOVE learning, and I feel at my best when I am constantly growing and excelling at my passions. Adjusting to “real life” where I didn’t have teachers to impress, or classes to prepare for was quite a challenge for me. I am, of course, always working to improve my craft, and I believe that continuing to grow as an artist is imperative to being a good theatre artist, producing quality work, and helping my students grow to the best of their abilities, but I missed doing the work for me.

That was a really long way to say: This is why I love running.

Remember this? It was MY FAVORITE DAY OF RUNNING. Also my favorite running picture. From my favorite race taken by my favorite husband. What? You don’t have a favorite husband? Weird.

I feel like I have finally found this one thing that I can do that is just for me. I can look back on my training history and see the improvements in black and white. I can’t argue about opinions, or good days and bad days (although there are plenty of each), because the proof is in the consistent progress. I can compare my best today with my best last month, and I can see, without a shadow of a doubt, that my hard work is paying off.

I had an AWESOME workout at the track with my team today. I left all kinds of giddy, and I still haven’t gotten over how I exceeded every single expectation I made for this workout. The past 2 weeks of my training have been super solid, and they leave me feeling like a million bucks…and a little stiff and sore 😉 I don’t mind though. Bring it sore legs. I don’t mind a reminder of how hard I’ve worked.

Today I was still the last one on the track. I don’t really know why, but I was. You know what? I didn’t mind at all. I was too happy and excited, and I think I finally understood the concept of not comparing myself to others. My speedy friends that ran most of my last lap with me? They were on their cool down. They had finished a while ago, and their cool down pace is about my working pace, but who really cares? They made me faster, and I am so grateful for their support and encouragement! I am getting better, stronger, faster and more positive every day. I am so grateful to have this opportunity to run with Chances for Children and to have the constant knowledge, wisdom, and support of Coach Susan.

Today is a great day to be training for a marathon, friends.

Your turn! Tell me something you’ve accomplished for yourself lately that you didn’t think you could do? Or about a personal breakthrough you’ve had? I WANT TO HEAR YOUR HAPPY STORIES TOO!!! Let’s spread this giddiness all over the place!

Turkey Club with Creamy Rosemary Spread

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Almost every summer of my life, I’ve spent at theatre camp. You never know what type of food you’re going to get at summer camp, and some years have been better than others, but I’ll never forget the summer we ate sandwiches for lunch for about 2 weeks straight. I think we might have even had sandwiches for dinner some nights too? I do remember thinking that I never wanted to eat an other sandwich again.

It’s funny because now I am ALL ABOUT sandwiches. If you ask me where I want to go to lunch, I will always reply with Dilly’s Deli, Great Harvest Bread Co, or Sacks. I could literally eat sandwiches for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

It can’t be just any sandwich. It has to be special. If you throw me deli meat and a slice of cheese with a packet of mayo, I will not be a fan. I like my sandwiches overflowing with super fresh and flavorful ingredients. Lots of veggies are a must, and so are unique and bold flavors!

And of course the right bread. I rarely buy anything that isn’t 1 million grain, but for the right rye bread, I’ll occasionally make the exception. However, this sandwich would also be fantastic with a seedy multi grain.

With the creamy rosemary spread, smooth avocado, crunchy bacon, soft bread and crisp fresh veggies, this sandwich has the perfect combination of textures, and doesn’t give even a little bit of that sandwich mush that comes from too few ingredients. You know, when it’s just bread and cheese and you think it would be a good idea to throw greasy potato chips on your sandwich because for the love of all things holy, it feels like you might possibly be eating baby food? Just me? Not that chips on a sandwich aren’t delicious….

I just prefer bacon. Story of my life.

I ate this monster sandwich for dinner, and I didn’t need a single thing on the side. It completely filled me up, and fulfilled all of my flavor/texture cravings in one perfect, easy dish. It’s the perfect meal for those nights when all you want to do is run through the Chipotle because you’re hungry enough to eat your arm, and you’d rather lick dirt off the floor than stand in the kitchen and cook. Please tell me that sometimes you feel that way too.

 

Turkey Club with Creamy Rosemary Spread

yield 1 sandwich

For the sandwich:

  • 2 slices fresh rye bread, lightly toasted (or gluten-free bread)
  • 1.5 oz sliced turkey
  • 1 slice reduced fat muenster cheese
  • 2 slices cooked center cut bacon
  • 1 roma tomato, sliced
  • 1/4 avocado, sliced
  • small handful fresh greens (or sprouts, or both!)
  • 1-2 tsp stone ground spicy mustard

For the creamy rosemary spread:

  • 2 tbs nonfat plain Greek yogurt
  • 1/2 sprig rosemary, stem removed and very finely chopped

Directions:

  1. In a small bowl, combine Greek yogurt and rosemary.
  2. Top 1 slice of toasted rye with creamy rosemary spread, and the other slice with spicy mustard. Layer remaining ingredients as desired, and enjoy!

NYC Marathon Training Week 11

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Friday night I had big plans. I was, for real–no sarcasm, super excited about said plans. I sat on the couch (between sessions of stretching and foam rolling), ate a big salad with whole wheat gnocchi on top (because I still don’t like eating a whole plate of just pasta–yuck), and watched Fast Women. Fast Women is a documentary about some local Phoenix runners including my super amazing inspiring coach. It definitely inspired me, and made me excited to get out there and run the next morning! Perhaps my big Friday night plans seem super lame to you? That’s okay. I’m perfectly content with my life as it is right now. I’m feeling good about my training, and I’m starting to take it more seriously, and commit myself in all areas of life, not just the training runs.

I had a really great week of training. I was in the right place mentally. I felt focused, and positive all week long. I really pushed myself this week, and ever since last Saturday’s 14 miler, I have been in almost a constant state of runner’s high. After almost every work out, I felt that sense of pride, accomplishment, and “I can do anything”! It was awesome. I made a lot of personal discoveries this week, and though most of them came through in my training, many of them aren’t running related. That is why I love challenging myself. It’s only when we push ourselves beyond our limits that we truly learn about ourselves and grow as human beings. Too much? Sorry, I’m a REALLY sappy person. I mean ask my friends who is the most emotional person they know. I guarantee you, they will all say me. And you know what? I like it. So here’s how the 11th week of training went down in the land of I Feel Deep Personal Crap 24/7:

Monday–7 mi run. Okay, so about these medium distance runs…Until now, I’ve totally sucked at them. The training plan always reads something like “X miles easy to warm up, then X miles at moderate pace. Moderate pace is slightly harder. You can hear your breathing, but you’re not gasping for air.” Problem #1: I can always hear my breathing. Perhaps that’s not normal? I just usually wear headphones to block it out 😉 Problem #2: It’s 90* out, and no pace feels easy. Problem #3: PLEASE JUST TELL ME A PACE TO HIT OTHERWISE I NEVER KNOW IF I’M DOING IT RIGHT!!!! Please Coach Susan? Can’t you just tell me exactly what to do at every moment of every run? I thought that was how this worked? And while we’re at it, maybe you could just run the miles 4 me. You’d do it in about half the time. Okay, or maybe that’s not the point. Anyway, after the scheduled 3 mile warm up, I told Nicole that I actually wanted to try to push the next 4 miles. I’ve spent a lot of time being scared I can’t run faster when it’s hot out, and that if I actually picked it up, I wouldn’t be able to get through it. Well it turns out, although running in the heat is still tough, running at a moderate pace is actually not that much harder. I ended up running the last 4 in 9:40, 9:34, 9:25, 8:31. Note to self: Stop sucking it up like a baby, and actually push yourself. You  can do a lot more than you think.

Tuesday–Linda’s Spin. Love.

Wednesday–Track: 6x800s. We were told to find a partner at about our speed, then one partner did a lap alone, then the second lap with their partner, then the second partner did their second lap alone. Sounds more confusing than it is. I partnered up with Bob and was the first to go, so basically I would run the second half of my 800 with him, then rest while he ran his final lap (around 2 min). After Monday, I was all pumped up and ready to really push myself, and I ran my 800s in 8:07, 8:08, 8:02, 8:00, 7:58, 7:57. I wanted to die on the last one, but it was awesome to really push myself, and work harder than I have been. I was still basically the last one on the track, but such is life.

Thursday–Recovery run. 3 miles of shuffling at a snail’s pace. The first run I’ve done by myself in a while. No music (what??? I’ve actually run a lot without music lately, and it really isn’t so bad!) It was nice to just go at my own pace, shake my body out, and let the recovery run do it’s thing.

Friday–18 mi bike ride. Friday mornings are my happy place. I get to hang out with one of my favorite people, move my body, and not worry about pace/time/mileage/anything. Nicole and I just spend the time chatting, and there is always breakfast and coffee. This time it didn’t rain (YAY!!), and Nicole learned to change a flat tire.

while I sat there and looked totally confused.

For some reason we wore our helmets the entire time. We wondered how many food bloggers it takes to change a tire….Steve ended up coming to save the day, but Nicole was doing pretty awesome I have to say! We also saw this awesome sunrise.

My favorite thing about morning workouts.

Saturday–15 mi run. If you live in Phoenix, perhaps you’ve had the pleasure of running on San Juan Rd. No? Lucky. In all seriousness though, this run was I would say 90% great. That doesn’t mean it wasn’t 100% hard. It was one of the most challenging training runs I have ever done, and it was the first where I had to take walk breaks, but you know what? I didn’t care. I didn’t care about my super slow pace, and I didn’t really mind the fact that when I arrived at 5am my phone said it was 92*, and I didn’t hate working hard on the hills. I’ve said it 100 times, but I signed up to do this because I wanted to challenge myself. For some sick and twisted reason, I actually enjoy this crap. Not so much while I’m doing it, but nothing compares to the pride I get when I finish a tough work out. In the end, I ran 15 miles with 986 ft of elevation gain at a 10:48 average pace. I had so much support from my coach and so many members of my team it was incredible! At the turn around point, Susan was up at the top of the hill with a bull horn yelling for us! We also had people on bikes (ummm David you are AWESOME) with water and lots of positive energy to keep us going. When my ipod stopped working, David actually sang to me. Nicest guy ever. Having so many supportive people around during the hardest parts of this run made it so.much.better. The end was the hardest. The road is only 6.3 miles long, so I had to run back past my car, run the opposite direction for a little over a mile, and it turns out the way out was all downhill, so at the very end when I wanted to die, I had to run back alone and uphill. I may have had an F this moment, but I finished it, and within an hour I was riding some serious runner’s high.

I spent my Saturday night like this.

I lead a thrilling life. Don’t be jealous.

Sunday–Super easy recovery ride. I wanted coffee. My legs were stiff and a little angry, and begging to move around, so Steve and I rode to Dutch Bros and back.

 

Next week is a cut back week (hallelujah!), and then the week after that, shit gets real. I’m going to run further than I ever have, and I cannot freaking wait. All this time I’ve been telling everyone “I can’t wait until we do 16 miles! I’ve never done that before!’ Well as some sort of cruel joke, we skip 16 and go straight to 17. Whatever. I’m freaking stoked.

Loaded Butternut Mac & Cheese

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You know what I love about macaroni and cheese?

 

I mean aside from the fact that the combination of carbs and cheese  is pretty much the most amazing thing on earth.

I love that there are so many options.

This mac & cheese….ooooooomg. It’s filled with center cut bacon, caramelized onions, and crispy sweet apples for the most amazing and surprising flavor combination. I wish I could tell you it was my idea. It totally wasn’t. I took it from this awesome lady, and changed a few things around.

Steve claims to not like butternut squash, but he definitely helped himself to seconds of this dish! The thing about adding butternut squash/pumpkin/sweet potato to mac + cheese, is that is just adds some creaminess, fullness and a hint of sweetness. You can use less cheese, but still get a thick, creamy, cheesy sauce that feels like you are breaking every diet rule you’ve ever followed.

I love how all of the textures come together in this dish too. Creamy, silky cheese sauce with crunchy bacon, crispy apples and perfectly tender onions. Opposing flavors and textures = my favorite thing ever. This dish has both. Excellent.

Drrrrroooooool.

 

Loaded Butternut Mac & Cheese

yield 6 servings

adapted from Butternut Squash Mac n’ Cheese with Bacon, Caramelized Onions, and Apples

  • 2 cups dry whole grain pasta (brown rice, whole wheat, etc.–I had rotini on hand, but macaroni or penne also hold cheesey sauce really well)
  • 1 cup butternut squash puree (I steamed chopped butternut squash and pureed it with my immersion blender, but you could buy canned, or even better, roast it first!)
  • 1/2 cup unsweetened almond milk
  • 1/4 cup dry white wine
  • 1 oz low fat cream cheese
  • pinch salt
  • 1/2 cup shredded 75% reduced fat cheddar cheese + extra for topping
  • 1 tablespoon light whipped butter
  • 1/2 yellow onion, sliced thinly
  • 1 large crispy apple, chopped
  • 4 slices center cut bacon, crumbled

Directions:

  1. Melt butter in a medium skillet over medium heat. Add onions, cover and cook on low-medium low for 30 min, tossing occasionally. When fully cooked, remove from pan and set aside.
  2. Cook the pasta according to package instructions. In a large skillet over medium heat, whisk together butternut squash, wine, milk, and cream cheese. When combined, add in salt, then stir in cooked pasta.
  3. Add onions and apples to the pasta. Stir to combine and add a dash more milk if needed.
  4. Stir in cheddar cheese, then transfer to a n 8×8 cooking dish. Top with cooked bacon and a small handful of extra cheese. Broil for 2-3 minutes until the top browns slightly. Serve immediately.

 

Hawaiian Macadamia Butter Cookies

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Sometimes you make a cookie that you just don’t want to share with anyone.

 

Well, if you’re Heather, that is every cookie. I’m sorry Heather, but I will never stop teasing you no matter how good you get at sharing. My friend Heather used to have a sharing problem. She’s worked on it, and recently shared some amazing food with me in Seattle. I was so proud of her. My mom also has a sharing problem. If you ask for a bite of her ice cream, she goes all food aggression and practically growls at you like Clementine. Basically, that was me with these cookies.

Every once in a while, a recipe just turns out so perfect that you can’t wait to make it for every event for the rest of your life, and make double because half of it will never even make it out the front door.

I was really inspired by all of the food in Hawaii. I came home with a full out list. Some people relax on vacation. I wrote lists. And you know what, awesome things came out of it. I like lists.

So let’s discuss these magical cookies, shall we? They have every single food I loved in Hawaii: macadamia nuts, coconut and banana. Also, they have white chocolate, because how could you have those foods and NOT include white chocolate?! That sounds like a terrible idea. When I was little, I used to eat mass amounts of solid white chocolate. It was my favorite. I also don’t ever remember being a single digit size in elementary school. I’m sure there’s no correlation….

Not only are these babies stuffed with all good things that exist in the world, they are the perfect texture. It’s like they were made with real butter! Okay, so I will never stop believing that fat substitutes are awesome for baking, and that baked goods made with applesauce are still seriously delicious. However, they do not taste like butter. These do. I think it’s something about the oil/fat content of the macadamia butter. It works perfectly, and I love it so much more than a peanut butter cookie.

Soft, gooey and perfectly balanced. These are a guaranteed crowd pleaser.

Make these cookies. Make them today. And tomorrow. And next week. Trust me.

 

 

Hawaiian Macadamia Butter Cookies

yield approx 1.5 dozen

  • 1 1/4 cups white whole wheat flour
  • 3/4 tsp baking soda
  • 1/2 tsp baking powder
  • dash salt
  • 1 medium extra ripe banana, mashed
  • 1 cup Roasted Macadamia Butter
  • 3/4 cup turbinado sugar
  • 1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
  • 1/4 cup egg substitute
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 1/2 cup white chocolate chips
  • 1/3 cup unsweetened coconut (I found unsweetened low fat, but regular unsweetened is fine too)

Directions:

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a large cookie sheet with parchment paper and set aside. In a large bowl, combine flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
  2. In a large bowl, beat the banana, macadamia butter and sugars. Beat until smooth. Add the egg substitute and vanilla and mix well. Add the flour mixture and beat thoroughly. Fold in white chocolate chips and coconut.
  3. 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.
  4. 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.

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