Walk (run) for Farm Animals, Confession, and a Couple Recipes

Today was the big day! I was a little worried since I haven't ran in almost 2 weeks, and my diet has been all screwed up after the whole power outage fiasco, but I did it! And I was happy with my finish time considering I walked the first 5 minutes. Had I known I would have been so close to a PR (95 minutes) I would've started the timer AFTER the 5 minute warm-up ;)

Walk (run) for Farm Animals - World Run Day 11/6/11

Speaking of diet, it was bad and I mean really bad. We had to eat out every meal for 5 days straight. I have to confess that on the 5th day I had French Onion soup, with real cheese :(  I went from 112 to 120 in that week. Yes, that's 8 pounds in 5 days!  Thankfully when we got back home that night (Thursday) the power was back on. So Friday was spent shopping/restocking the kitchen with HEALTHY foods, and a lot of time was spent in the bathroom paying for the previous few days. TMI. I won't say anything else about that.

Friday afternoon I went through some of the previous 21-Day Kickstart menus and made a couple of (what turned out to be)  new favorites!  Since the kickstart is free to join I guess it's okay for me to post the recipes. 

Tamale Pie (from 21-day kickstart)

5 1/2 cups water, divided

1 cup polenta 

1 teaspoon salt (I used 1/4 tsp)

1 large yellow onion, chopped

3 large garlic cloves, minced (I used 3 Tbsp minced garlic)

1 red or green bell pepper, seeded and diced (I subbed a zucchini, shredded)

1 12-ounce package vegetarian ground beef substitute (I used Boca crumbles)

1 tablespoon chili powder (I used Hot Mexican Chili Powder)

1 teaspoon ground cumin (I used 2 tsp)

1 28-ounce can crushed tomatoes (I used 2 14.5 oz cans of diced tomatoes w/garlic)

1 15-ounce can vegetarian chili beans, undrained (I used Amy's organic refried black beans)

(I also added a 7oz can of chopped green chilies and a 4.5oz can of chopped olives)

Measure 5 cups of water into a large pot, then whisk in polenta and salt. Simmer over medium-low heat, stirring often, until very thick, about 25 minutes. Set aside.

 Heat remaining 1/2 cup of water in a large skillet or pot and add onion, garlic, and bell pepper(zucchini). Cook until soft, about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.

 Add vegetarian ground beef substitute, chili powder, and cumin. Cook over medium heat, stirring often, 3 minutes. Add a bit more water if needed to prevent sticking. Add green chilies and olives, if using.

Stir in tomatoes and chili beans and their liquid. Cover and simmer 10 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350°F.

 Transfer mixture to a 9"×13" baking dish. Spread cooked polenta evenly over top. Bake for 20 minutes. (I baked for 30 minutes then broiled for about 3-4 minutes to get the top golden brown.)  

I divided this into 8 portions, but after I had them all even, there was still enough left for a whole nother serving (minus the polenta topping). Here's the nutrition info if you do 8 servings:

Per serving:

Fat: 4.8g

Carbohydrates: 36.1g

Fiber: 8.7g 

Calories:245.4

Protein: 16.4g

WW P+ 6

Breakfast Warmers (from 21-day kickstart)
This is super yummy! Like rice pudding meets apple pie :)  Instead of noting the changes I made (which were very few), I'm just posting it as I made it.

1.5 cups cooked brown rice
1 apple, chopped
1/2 cup apple juice
2 Tbsp maple syrup
1 tsp lemon juice
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/2 tsp cinnamon

Mix it all together and heat! That's it :)

Makes 2 servings.

Here's the info per serving: 
Calories: 292.2
Fat: 1.5
Carbs: 67.3
Fiber: 5.2
Protein: 3.6

WW P+ 8 (totally worth it, trust me!)



Okay, I think that's about it for now. Oh! I got another award (I have no idea how since I'm horrible at this whole blogging thing) which I will do another post on, hopefully tomorrow! And I also apologize for not getting back to some of you with the last couple posts. I promise to do better!  Can I make up for it by posting a pic of my adorable kitty, snuggled up with his favorite duck toy?

Wordless Wednesday

The Halloween that wasn't :(

Saturday's snow storm left us with about 8 inches of snow, a bunch of downed trees, and the largest power outage this area has seen. Our power went out around noon on Saturday and it's still not back :(  Luckily, my mother-in-law has a generator that we were able to borrow, so we now at least have heat, TV, and internet (the 3 necessities in life ;))  The electric company is saying it will still be a few days before they get to us and are guesstimating Thursday night, Nov. 3rd at 11pm.

So needless to say I totally missed out on Halloween this year :(  Not only my favorite holiday, but also hubby's and my 2nd anniversary. It's been so stressful the last few days that by the time we got back home with the generator and got it hooked up yesterday afternoon, we were too exhausted to do anything but go grab a quick bite to eat and then come home and pass out (with the dog and cat in between us!).

Would it be wrong for me to wear my Halloween costume to Thanksgiving dinner?

Wordless Wednesday, the Thursday edition...

I just realized it's already Thursday and I'm falling behind here again. This has been hell week at work, so I haven't gotten to sneak in any blog time this week :(  I also just heard we're supposed to get our first snowstorm on Saturday! Time to get out the winter clothes...  Brrrrr!

Week in Review, Hair color, and Cookies!

Hiya peeps :)  Not much to report this week.  I didn't get my 2 mid-week runs in because I've been having some minor chest pains. I'm sure it's nothing serious, and at least it's helped me to really cut down on smoking.  Today I was feeling quite a bit better so I did get my 9-mile long run in.

I've been blonde for 2 weeks now. I got quite a few compliments the first couple days, but now it's turning orange (my hair is naturally red), so I've had enough.  As soon as I finish up this post I'll be heading to the salon (aka the bathroom ;)) to see what kind of chaotic color I can come up with next, heheh :)

I managed to whip up a couple really good (easy) recipes over the past couple days.  The first isn't so much an actual recipe- it's just a new way to saute mushrooms.  I heated up 1 Tbsp toasted sesame oil then dumped in about a pound of fresh, sliced mushrooms and shook garlic powder all over them. Once they started to brown I poured in about 1/4 cup of balsamic vinegar, mixed it so the mushrooms were all coated, then covered and let it cook on med-low for about 15-20 minutes.  That's it.  I poured the mushrooms over some whole wheat pasta and it was yummy!

But even better are these cookies!! Well not even cookies, but cookie dough balls :)

Cocoa-nutty cookie dough balls:


- 1/3c oat flour
- 1/3c ground pistachios
- 1/3c ground cocoa-roasted almonds
- 2 Tbsp Agave Nectar
- 1 Tbsp Maple Syrup
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/4c chocolate chips (I use Enjoy Life mini chips - vegan)

Mix everything together, form into (10) balls, and pop in the fridge. I ate 2 of them before they even made it into the fridge. On my way out the door for my run I grabbed 2 out of the fridge. Wow, are they good! If you make 10 balls, they are 100 calories each.

I better go do my hair before it gets too late.

Have any of you NEVER colored your hair before?  I go through periods where I can't stand my hair and change it frequently, but for the most part I only color it about twice a year.  I do have quite a lot of wigs though ;)

Oh and by the way, have any of you tried the new Salted Caramel Mocha Latte at Starbucks? I had one the other day (soy, no whip) and Oh my! I don't even want to know how many calories were in that thing, but it was DELICIOUS!

Wordless Wednesday

Virtual 10k today, and Week in Review

This has been such a LONG week! I'm having to put in some extra hours at work because my boss is on vacation, and we're so short-handed as it is. Ugh. And where did Saturday go?! I can't believe Sunday is almost over and it all starts again tomorrow! 


Today as I was heading out to the garage (to my treadmill) for my 7.5 mile long run, I remembered I had a virtual 10k to run.  I was going to do 2/:30 intervals but ended up doing 2:30/:30. I did the running between 6.5 and 7mph, and walked at 4mph. This averaged out at about 9:30 minutes/mile.  I finished the 10k at just under 58 minutes which, while not a PR, was pretty good considering all the walk breaks!  My main problem with the walk breaks is that I get tired out way to soon, and then it gets harder to go back to running.  And speaking of which, after the 10k I ended up walking the rest of the 7.5 miles.


I was pretty bad at tracking again this week, but my weight stayed between 112 - 113, other than this morning which was 111.  I did well today (a peanut butter & chocolate chip wrap for breakfast, and my Boca pasta concoction for an early supper) until I overindulged on my latest batch of Happy Herbivore's Chocolate Chip Cookies ;)  Now I just want to lay down and sleep! And as a matter of fact, that's what I'm going to do! Nighty night :)

Magic Mile, and my first award!

So last night after work I went home and jumped on the treadmill to start week 2 of marathon training. Just a 30-minute easy run, but since I've been having a hard time with intervals, I thought I'd do the magic mile test to see which intervals I should be using. To calculate your "magic mile" you run a warm-up mile and then go "all out" for a mile, but without feeling like you're going to die at the end. The last time I did a magic mile was about a year ago, and it was outside. What a difference from trying to do it on the treadmill! I wasn't sure how fast to set the treadmill so I started at 7 and steadily increased it to 8 throughout the mile. I ended up with just under an 8-minute mile (7:50), but I know I could have done better :(  Last year I ran it in just over 6.  Regardless, since I'm using the treadmill a lot more now, I'm going to use the 7:50 to calculate my training pace. According to the Jeff Galloway website, I should be doing 4/1 intervals, which I will try on Friday's run.

I am proud to be the recipient of the Liebster Award!  The word Liebster means 'Beloved' in German--and a show of love and support is what this award is all about.  The idea is to bring attention to new blogs with fewer than 200 followers. 

The rules of winning this award are the following:

1. Show your thanks to the blogger who gave you the award by linking back to them.
2. Reveal your top 5 picks and let them know by leaving a comment at their blog.
3. Post the Award on your blog.
4. Enjoy the love of some of the most supportive people on the Internet!

A huge THANK YOU to The Vegan Tummy for awarding me this honor! Please visit her amazing blog; you'll be glad you did.


Here are my 5 picks:

1. Katie Runs Miles

2. At Goal Weight Watcher

3. Affection for Fitness

4. Beer, Dogs, and Getting Healthier

5. Speciesist Vegan

Week in Review

Hiya Peeps :)

Not much to report from this week. I did my first couple short easy runs and today is a 6-mile long, slow run. I started messing around with intervals on Friday's run: I tried 3/1 (3 minutes running, 1 minute walking) and didn't care for it much at all. 1 minute walk breaks is way too much and made me feel like I never even got warmed up before it was time to stop.  For today's run I'm going to try 2:30/:30, but at a slower pace than what my "normal" speed would be.  Tomorrow is not a run day, but I may attempt a "magic mile" just so I know what pacing I should be using for my training.  For those who don't know, the magic mile test is where you run one mile as fast as you can, but without feeling like you are going to die at the end ;)  You would then make calculations from that time to determine race pace, long slow run pace, etc...  I haven't done a magic mile test in about a year, so I'm curious to see if I've improved at all.

On the food front, I've been terrible at tracking this week (again) and am thankful to have stayed between 113 - 114 all week.  I went grocery shopping yesterday and found (what turned out to be) really good Pad Thai meal starters. The box just has rice noodles and sauce, to which I added sauteed zucchini, mushrooms, green onions, and bean sprouts. I portioned it into 4 containers and then proceeded to eat 2 of them, Lol!

I also made another batch of my Jalapeno Hummus and my Super Salsa (see Recipe tab above). Today I'll be making a TVP crockpot taco concoction to batch up for the week, and I also cut up and bagged a bunch of romaine lettuce for quick easy salads.

Oh, last night I broke down and chopped my hair off. Then I dyed it blonde. It didn't come out quite the color it was supposed to (my hair is naturally red so anything I put in it just turns a different shade of red), and I can't decide if I like it or not.  It kinda glows ;)

So do I leave it or do highlights (or lowlights)? Hmm, decisions... decisions...  Stay tuned :)