Its All About Fall

My entire life I’ve loved the fall, its the absolute best season in my opinion. From the football, warm sweaters, beautiful colors, leaves falling to the crisp cool morning and comfort foods … its all about fall. Fall is when I come alive. When I come out of my shell and feel like my true self.

We are getting there … The weather could be a little crisper, but we are heading in the right direction. Fake it until you make it, I always say.

One of the absolute best things about fall is Pumpkin. Pumpkin everything!

When you start seeing these cans show up in the stores, its officially fall. They hold so much promise and possibility. I found a new friend this year …

I’m not the biggest of coffee drinkers, but I’m getting there and Pumpkin Spice definitely doesn’t hurt the process.

Another fall favorite is Chili. I would put my vegetarian chili up against your best meat-chili in a contest … its that good.

These are some of the things that made me smile today. In additon was also my new food processor which I’m currently experimenting with.

So far the winners seem to be the apple chips. In fact I just started a second batch to dehydrate over night. Yay for healthy snacks!

Once I get this Disney Trip out of the way next week, its going to be all fall all the time. Cooking, decorating, dressing, acitivities … fall has its own culture. I can’t wait to induldge, but first these 80 degree afternoons have to go!

So Much To Do!

Aaaah! We are going to Disney World in less than one week. I’m finally starting to get excited. I’ve been too busy lately to even really put any thought into it until now.

(source)

But first an update on the knee …

Its been 4 days now since I’ve run which is pretty  much unheard of for me. I don’t think I’ve gone 4 days without running in about a year and a half now.

I have been doing the elliptical in place of running. I have virtually no pain while I’m doing the elliptical. I have still been experiencing some dull pain and aching in general though. It isn’t the same sharp, “I can barely walk because my knee keeps locking up” pain that I felt before, so I guess that’s good. I was really hoping by now the pain would have gone away completely though.

I want to run again. Nothing is the same. But I will give it atleast a full week (which will be Tuesday) and more time if needed. It might be time to see a doctor soon.

Back to the fun stuff …

In preparation for our Disney trip I bought this:

I’ve been wanting one anyway, so this seemed like the perfect time. I can make healthy snacks to have on our long car trip. It should be delivered today.

I’m hoping to make:

• banana chips
• dried strawberries
• sweet potato chips
• apple chips

I have so much to do before this trip. I really need to start a list so I don’t forget something important.

Question:

What is your take on these type of devices …

Tim and I have both always agreed that we would never use a “leash” on our child. Tim is adamantly opposed to it, but I am now considering it for Disney World. I want my child to be able to walk around without me being scared that I’m going to lose him in a crowd.

Thoughts?

Time Out

I haven’t mentioned this on the blog yet, but for the past couple of weeks I’ve been experiencing some pretty severe knee pain during and after running. I noticed it shortly after the half marathon on October 2nd.

Most of my aches and pains up until this point have worked themselves out over time without any real need to take any extended amount of time off. This pain is severe enough that I’m starting to get worried.

I’m putting myself on a 1 week running restriction starting immediately. I will attempt to crosstrain on the elliptical and bike but if that seems to aggravate the knee I will cut that out also. If after a week the pain isn’t gone or remarkably better I will make an appointment to see a Orthopedic Specialist.

I’m so stubborn that its hard for me to admit that I need a break. My body deserves it, it has served me well so far and I don’t want to risk the chance of permanent or severe injury. I’m depressed 😦

A Great Fall Day

Today Tim and I decided to take Rocketboy to the Pumpkin Patch for the first time. But first breakfast …

The boys were craving pancakes, but I wasn’t feeling it.

Hash browns topped with a fried egg for me, salsa and ketchup for dipping.

Before heading out we paused in the driveway for some auto-timer family pictures.

The Pumpkin Patch was awesome! I’m glad we decided to go this year since I discovered that children under 3 were free. Next year it will cost $16 for Lincoln to get in!

The [evil] cow train …

That thing was hell on my entire body. My butt, my back, my head … it all hurt.

The highlight of the day for Lincoln was the hayride to the actual Pumpkin Patch area. Especially when he got to pretend to drive the tractor.

Today is my mother-in-law’s birthday and she decided she wanted to have lunch at Red Robin. I ordered the Bleu Ribbon Veggie Burger …

 
But it couldn’t compare to Tim’s Mt Olympus Veggie Burger …

I ate half of his and virtually none of mine.
Spinach Artichoke dip > Bleu Cheese.

To just solidify the greatness of the day, I’ll say WAR EAGLE!

The Meal I’ve Been Craving …

I’ve been thinking about this meal for about a week. I found this little packet of seasonings way back in my cupboard and it got me all excited.

Spicy Peanut Bake!

Tim and I used to LOOOVE this stuff on boneless, skinless chicken breasts. Its like Thai “Shake n Bake”, but way awesomer!

When I first found the packet I thought, “too bad we’ll never eat this again”. I started to throw it out, and then I realized I could try it on tofu.

Another thing I have been craving is okra and tomatoes. Although I’ve never really eaten okra and tomatoes in  my life, and probably wouldn’t have unless I was forced … I tasted some at work a couple weeks ago and I haven’t been able to get it out of my head.

I decided to combine my cravings into one meal, along with some yellow squash that I’ve been needing to use up.

With the squash I normally sauté it in olive oil with onions and season it with lemon pepper, but today I wanted to do something different but still simple. I used this recipe.

The results:

Kind of a mushy looking lunch. But I swear it was good!

The star of the show was actually the okra and tomatoes. The tofu was good, but the seasonings were sweeter and not as spicy as I remember it being (maybe because its been in my cabinet for over a year?).

I’m taking the leftovers to work for dinner. 🙂

Facing Fear

Remember this? …

That’s the bike that I got for Mother’s Day this year.

If you don’t remember, the day I got the bike I fell off of it and almost broke my wrist. Here’s the post. I’ve only biked once since the fall, and it was actually the next day.

I took the bike to the shop and had the clipless pedals removed and cages put on, because I knew I wasn’t ready for them yet. But yet … I still never biked.

I finally decided yesterday was the day for me to overcome my fear and get back on the bike.

I drove myself to a flat, low traffic area, that I knew well. I still didn’t use the cages, but I did bike!

I rode 11 miles in 49 minutes! Not impressive by any means, but its a start. I was proud.

Now I just need to stick to it and ride atleast twice a week or help myself become more comfortable on the bike.

Once I got going I actually had a great time! Its just the starting, stopping and turning that freaks me out 😛

Back to work tonight, so the blogging will be minimal for several days.

I’m working on a lunch right now that I have been craving for days! I hope I have time to share the results of that later. Be on the lookout!

Spinach Enchiladas

One of the recipes that I found this week and decided to try out was Spinach Enchiladas. Earlier in the week I talked about how I have felt like I was stuck in a rut lately with my vegetarian recipes and I needed something new and exciting to spice things up.

If you missed it the first time, this is the list that I came up with for my weekly menu.

As with all of my creations, I started with a basic recipe and then transformed it into something specific for my preferences and taste.

I substituted and added several of my own ingredients to make the original version healthier and (in my opinion) tastier.

Ingredients I used include:

• Red onion
• Minced garlic
• Mushrooms
• Frozen Chopped Spinach
• 1% Cottage Cheese
• Green Chile Enchilada Sauce
• Herbs and Spices

I started off by sautéing red onions and garlic in EVOO (instead of butter).

To that I added chopped mushrooms (to add substance and a “meatiness”.)

Next I added the defrosted, drained (very important step) frozen spinach plus a blend of spices (salt, black pepper, red pepper flakes and fresh cilantro).

I decided to use 1% cottage cheese in the recipe instead of ricotta cheese to cut down on the fat. I’ve never been a fan of cottage cheese, but I figured with all the herbs and spices it wouldn’t be a noticeable substitution. I was right! It definitely worked.

I wasn’t sure how much I would need so I started by adding and mixing in 1 cup of cottage cheese at a time.

I ended up using 3 cups to get the consistency that I was going for.

I used flour tortillas instead of corn (personal preference). I added about 3/4 cup of the mixture to each one, rolled and placed in a baking dish.

I poured green enchilada sauce on top and topped with a little shredded cheese. Green enchilada sauce > Red sauce.

The recipe made 8 large enchiladas!

I baked them in a preheated oven at 375 degrees for 20 minutes, topped with sour cream, green onions and a dash of hot sauce.

Holy moly! These were AH-MAAAA-ZING!

These are definitely going in a regular rotation. Give them a try, you won’t be disappointed. I definitely recommend the cottage cheese substitution, you won’t notice a difference. I promise!

Mark This Day Down

Today has been a very out of the ordinary day. The only thing on the original agenda was that I was going to take my mother-in-law to the hospital this morning at 11:00 for a routine Colonoscopy. No big deal.

As soon as Rocketboy, as he will now be referred to as, left for school I headed out for a run. The weather was amazing!

I set out down one of my regular out-and-back routes with no plan in mind, just run.

I ran 5 miles in 42 minutes. A comfortable, perhaps slightly speedy pace.

By the end of the run my knees, hips and as usual my feet were screaming. I was glad to be done! Thankfully the knee, hip .. and foot pain went away quickly and hasn’t stuck around for the rest of the day.

Once I got back to my car I was met by a text message that I had missed a class I was suppose to take for work. Freaking great! I completely forgot, I’ve never done that before. Thankfully I was able to reschedule it for next week, but it gave me a big scare.

Mom-in-law and I headed to the hospital and arrived about 15 minutes early. She was told that the procedure would take about 30-45 minutes, I planned on perhaps 1 hour to 1 1/2 hours because I know the ways of the medical world. I was already starting to get hungry, but was looking forward to lunch as soon as the procedure was finished.

As soon as we walked through the doors of the hospital we were greeted by a sign that read, “You will be here for atleast 3 hours.”

Oops.

And we were.

Thankfully, Tim met me at the hospital to relieve me for a few minutes to find something to eat. I knew better than to try to find something healthy (or vegetarian for that matter) in the hospital cafeteria (sad, huh?) So I headed to Publix and picked up:

• A Veggie Wrap from the deli
• Vegetable Sushi (which is what I really wanted in the first place, but I didn’t figure they’d have it so I ordered a wrap first)
• Apple Chips
• Watermelon (per Rocketboy’s request)

We had a picnic in the bed of the truck in the hospital parking lot. Very strange.

By now you should all know that we have a horrible time trying to get Rocketboy to eat ANYTHING at all. If its not “chocolate milk”, he doesn’t want it and he will hold out forever.

This is the part of the day that should be marked down in history:

That Sirs and Madams is my son SHOVING sushi into his mouth! My life is complete! He ate about 3 or 4 pieces. I wanted to cry. .

I bet we looked quite strange having a sushi picnic on the back of a pick-up truck in the parking lot outside the Endoscopy center. I couldn’t care less 🙂

On the Mend

Today has been a much better day. I got up at a reasonable hour, actually quite early. Ate healthy, well balanced meals and even felt like exercising today.

The toddler must have been off yesterday as well because he skipped his nap and then went to bed at 5 pm (his normal sleeping time is between 10 pm and 7:30 am). I was really worried that he was going to wake up at midnight, but he slept virtually all night. He woke up once at 2:30 am for milk and then was up for good at 5:30 am, but I can’t complain!

Breakfast this morning was an unphotographed bowl of Special K Vanilla Almond cereal with sliced banana. I’ve never been a huge fan of cereal (I usually want something more substantial), but man … this stuff is good!

Lunch was a Falafel wrap, with leftover Falafel from last night’s dinner.

Flat Out Wrap + Homemade Tzatziki + Falafel + Spinach + Diced tomatoes =

I’m loving the Flat Out wraps for this application, I love falafel but I always felt like the pita bread was just too much.  This works perfectly!

I was itching to get back into an exercise routine today, my body craves it after a day off. I didn’t feel quite ready for a run yet, so I spent some time here instead:

There wasn’t a class going on, so I had the room all to myself. I did a 45 minute intense solo spin session. It was a nice change of pace!

One of my goals is to spend more time cross training and strength training and being less focused on only running. I think this will help my body recover more quickly, make me stronger, confuse my metabolism, and help prevent injury.

Dinner tonight was a lovely bowl of Vegetarian Crockpot Chili.

I’m hoping that in the morning my body will feel rested enough to go for a run. The weather should be amazing!

Rest and Recovery

Today has been very unusual. I didn’t get out of the bed until after 8:30 this morning. I couldn’t even begin to tell you when the last time that happened was, I’m always up by at least 7 or 7:30.

When I got up, Tim went back to bed. I let him sleep for a few hours and then I went back to bed. I slept from 11:00 to 1:30. My body must have really needed the sleep!

I’ve been extremely sore today. Normally I don’t get too sore from running and only my feet are typically sore after longer races. I’ve been sore today from my quads all the way down to my toes and oddly enough between my shoulder blades. I don’t know what that’s about!

After icing, anti-inflammatories, Icy-Hot, whining and alot of sleep, I decided it was time to get out of the house and make the most of the beautiful day.

We took Lincoln to Bark in the Park at Fort Toulouse.

Bark at the Park is a charity event that benefits the Elmore County Humane Shelter, where I got one of my pup-pups from.

Lincoln had a great time petting all the doggies! It was a beautiful day to get out of the house.

Now its time for more Icy-Hot and more Ibuprofen. Have a great night!