Peppers, peppers, peppers

My uncle has a friend who has a great vegetable garden. In this garden, he grows a lot of tomatoes and a lot of peppers. My uncle had extras of both, so he gave me some. I have been eating fresh tomatoes for the past several weeks from my grandmother and uncle. They get them from various people's gardens and they are probably my favorite vegetable (I know, they really are a fruit). So I have a nice array of peppers now and will be making some very spicy dishes. I got habanreo peppers, jalapenos, banana peppers, and chile peppers. I have already used the habaneros, banana peppers, and the jalapenos. They are very spicy!

Training - 9/1

So I have completed week 4 of my training program. This past week was an easy week and I was ready for it. This week I will run my farthest training run ever (12 miles). I can't wait!!!



Week 4

Projected/Actual



Tuesday - 5 mile easy run, abs / 5.44 mile easy run, abs



Thursday - 5 mile easy run, abs / 5 mile easy run, abs



Saturday - 6 mile easy run / 6 mile easy run



Total Mileage: 16.44 miles



We went to my mother-in-law's lake house over the weekend, so my Saturday run had some different scenery, which is always nice. It was a nice easy run, but there are a lot of hills, so it gave me a workout, but the weather was cooler, so it wasn't too difficult.



Week 5

Projected/Actual



Tuesday - 3 mile easy run, abs / 3 mile easy run, abs



Friday - 6 mile tempo run, abs



Sunday - 12 mile easy run



This week my runs are on different days and I switched up a few of the runs. I have plans Tuesday afternoon, so I have to change some things up. My goal (for this week and every other week) is to just get my runs in. I am not picky about when I do, or if I run on non-consecutive days. I just want to get the run in.

Menu Planning - 8/31

Good morning/afternoon everyone! For those of you who might have been intrigued about my Pecorino and Bean Salad, try it. It was delicous!!! I can't wait to make it again.

It's Monday again, so I had to sit down and figure out what I was going to make for the week for dinner. I have come up with several new recipes I am hoping to try this week.

Monday - Potato Gnocchi with marinara sauce and roasted broccoli (chicken breast for Adam)

Tuesday - Crispy Salmon/Chicken with Fiery Asian Coleslaw

Wednesday - Roasted Corn and goat cheese quesadillas and black beans and rice

Thursday - Pesto Polenta Lasagna

Friday - Peanut noodles

Have a great week everyone!

FREE Workouts

If you have Comcast Digital Cable, you get free workouts! This is something I have just recently started taking advantage of. I mostly run currently, because it's something I can do with Hope, but I am working on my abs (and will probably always be now that I have been pregnant and given birth). I have an abs dvd that I have been using, but I know it's important to change up routines, so I got on the tv and started searching for ab workouts on Exercise TV. Like I said, if you have digital cable, you have Exercise TV through OnDemand. It's great. They had an entire section on ab workouts. There are tons of workouts on there, so if you can, check them out. I wish I had thought of that while I was on maternity leave. I ended up paying $60 for The Firm DVDs. It was good. It gave me something to work on while Hope was napping and I couldn't run yet, but I probably could have just used Exercise TV instead. Jillian Michael's has a set on Exercise TV along with The Biggest Loser, etc. Check it out if you haven't already!

Training - 8/25

So I have completed week 3 of my training program. It has not been easy to get it all in with everything else going on in my life, but I think I am doing pretty good.



Week 3 Projected/Actual
Tuesday - 5 mile tempo run, abs / 5.4 mile tempo run, abs

Wednesday - Tennis with my sister / Tennis with my sister

Thursday - 4 mile easy run, abs / 4 mile easy run, abs

Friday - Tennis with my sister / Rest

Saturday - Singles tennis match (playoffs, City Finals) / Singles tennis match, ran 4 miles (easy)

Sunday - 10 mile easy run / Ran 8.3 miles (easy)



Total Mileage: 21.7 miles



Because I had a tennis match on Saturday, I couldn't do my long run until Sunday. Saturday was a busy day for us. I had my tennis match, Adam was playing golf, then Adam had a tennis match, I ran 4 miles to decompress from my tennis match, then it was off to dinner for my future brother-in-law's birthday. After that, we put Hope to bed and my sister, for fiancee (the birthday boy) and some of their friends stopped by for a drink before they went out. It was after midnight before I poured into bed. I woke up Sunday still a little tired, so I waited until after I put Hope down for her nap before I headed out running. The weather was nice so that wasn't a problem, but after playing with Hope in the morning, I was not jazzed up to go running like I normally am. Also, I had to be back when she woke up to feed her, so I felt like 10 miles would be too long to be away. I ended up doing 8.3 miles instead. I would have been worried but a friend of mine shared this article with me. This way of training shows that one run should not be more important than others, so I did 12.3 miles in 2 days instead of 10 miles in 2 days plus I played tennis on Saturday too. So while I didn't get in my whole 10 miles in one run, I did get the miles in.


Week 4 Projected/Actual
Tuesday - 5 mile easy run, abs / Ran 5.44 miles (easy), abs

Thursday - 5 mile easy run, abs

Saturday - 6 mile easy run

Today's run was ok. It was easy, I didn't push myself too hard since this is supposed to be an easy week for me. Should be nice. And of course, we stopped at the park so Hope could swing on the baby swing once again. She loves it.

Menu Planning - 8/24

It's that time again, time to plan some menus. Here is what I have in store for this week.

Monday - Leftover baked ziti

Tuesday - Fresh Fish (whatever looks good tomorrow at the farmer's market)with a peach salsa, wild rice, stuffed jalapeno peppers (I just got a bunch of peppers and I need to find something to do with them)

Wednesday - Breaded chicken sandwich (for Adam), veggie burger or veggie sandwich (for me), either baked potatoes or potato fries, salad

Thursday - Zucchini, Potato and Scallion Panckaes with Chived Sour cream and Pecorino and Bean Salad (A little random but trying to use up my herbs)

Friday - Cottage cheese and noodles

Have a great week everyone!

Another way to use overripe bananas

Make muffins. I have been making bread, but I thought muffins would be a nice change, and that way they are already portioned out nicely. I had this recipe in my book, so I thought I would try it. I will have to say that the original recipe did not have walnuts in it, but I like a little crunch so I thought I would add those in. They turned out very good and are a great little mid morning snack if you need one. The recipe is as follows:

Ingredients
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup white flour
1 Tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/8 tsp salt
1 cup mashed bananas (I used 2 medium sized bananas)
1/4 cup sugar
1 large egg
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup applesauce
1/2 cup chopped toasted walnuts (cooled)

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Grease muffin pan or line with paper muffin liners.
In medium bowl combine flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt together.
In separate bowl, combine banana, sugar, egg and vanilla extract.
Blend until well mixed.
Add applesauce.
Slowly combine dry mixture to banana mixture.
Blend well.
Fold in walnuts.
Scoop batter into prepared muffin cups.
Bake 15-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean.
Let cool before serving.
Makes 12 Servings


Now it says it makes 12, but I only got 11 out of them.

If you can get 12 muffins then the nutritional analysis is as follows per muffin:

106 calories
3.6 grams fat
16 grams carbs
1 gram fiber
3 grams protein

If you get 11 muffins then it's:

116 calories
4 grams fat
17.6 grams carbs
1.1 grams fiber
3.3 grams protein.

If you eliminate the walnuts, the muffins are virtually fat free, but I like the crunch.