Favorite Recipes

Today for lunch I made one of my most favorite meals, Portobello Burgers. I discovered this recipe during my stent as a vegetarian for a year. I’ve been waiting for the warmer weather to enjoy this again!

Its so easy.

1. Marinate mushroom caps in olive oil (drizzled on) and whatever seasonings you’d like. I used McCormick Steak Seasoning.

   

2. I used a indoor grill pan on the stovetop to grill my mushrooms and rolls. Kaiser rolls from the bakery work well.

   

3. Top rolls with whatever delicious fixin’s you prefer. I like to pile mine high with avocado, tomato, lettuce, a little melted mozzerella or provolone cheese, carmelized onions and curry ketchup.

Tada!

What is curry ketchup?

Ketchup with red curry powder sprinkled on top. Its amazing! I love it on sweet potato fries and burgers. Give it a try.

One of the things that has been a struggle lately is never having any new ideas for meals, especially on days when I’m in a time crunch. I’d love to hear about your favorite recipes in any category: vegetarian, quick and easy,  slow cooker, healthy. Hit me with your best shot!

Email your favorite recipe (or multiple) to aymcqueen@gmail.com

I’ll try out your recipes and blog about them. Leave your name and/or website so that I can give you the credit. Tell me where you found the recipe if it isn’t an original.

Can’t wait!

Centerpoint Challenge Half Marathon

I know, I know … its been a while. Remember me? I’m that chick that used to write that blog you used to read. I have no excuse. I will do better.

Yesterday I completed my 5th Half Marathon!

This was a local Half Marathon in its first year. Last year the same race offered a 5K and a 10K, I did the 10K. This year they stepped it up to a 5K and a Half Marathon.

I did not train for this race, my thought was that I would go out and have a good time and see what I can do on a whim. But honestly, I’ve been feeling unmotivated lately to follow a strict training plan. For the past couple of races (Mercedes Half and this one) I’ve not been able to bring myself to follow a regimen. Sometimes I enjoy the structure of a plan, and other times I find that it takes the fun out of it. Lately I’ve been all about the fun!

 

As I wrote on DailyMile …

My splits were: 7:28, 7:47, 7:35, 7:33, 7:40, 7:42, 7:43, 7:50, 8:02, 8:01, 8:06, 8:20, 8:07.

I finished in 1:42:28.

Can you see that wall?

My biggest problem, and one that I must remedy before running any more big races, is that my feet hurt soooo bad when I run more than about 8 miles. The friction of my sock rubbing against my shoe is unbearable pain. I’ve tried every type of running sock that I can think of and no matter what this happens. I need to get this problem resolved immediately! Any suggestions?

The one thing I haven’t tried is wearing more than 1 pair of socks for extra cushion. Anyone have any experience with that? I’m afraid it will make my shoes too tight, but I’m willing to give it a try.

All in all, I’m proud of my race. Happy to have another Half Marathon under my belt and happy for another day with the ability to run.

Its Good to Be King

Today was such a wonderfully beautiful day!

I started off the day by sleeping late, drinking a Green Monster and running 5 miles.

I ran the same 5 mile route yesterday in about 20 degree cooler weather. Needless to say, yesterday was much easier. But still I completed the course at a sub-8:00 pace, can’t complain about that! I even saw an old friend along the way.

This afternoon we decided to get out of the house and have lunch at my favorite new place in town.

 

“The Healthy Supermarket”

Love it!

Earth Fare is definitely not the cheapest place in town, but I guess you get what you pay for. “You are what you eat” and all that jazz.

For lunch I had a mixture of things off of the bar including: salad, tabbouleh, couscous and sugar snap peas.

We sat outside and enjoyed our food in the beautiful sunshine!

I absolute love the fact that they have healthy kid’s meals.

Lincoln had soy nuggets, raisins, string cheese and apple juice.

I ended up getting some pretty random things from Earth Fare.

• Amazing Grass
• 1 Cucumber
• Carrot Chips
• Pumpkin Seeds
• Kid’s Organic Clif Bars
• Organic Apple Juice
• Little Kings Beer

I promised Lincoln that if he ate a good lunch we would go to the “ice cream shop”. Otherwise known as 32 Degrees Frozen Yogurt.

I was in a healthy mood and opted for Italian Cream Tart flavored fro-yo topped with strawberries, kiwi, cherries and toasted coconut.

The day was going absolutely swimmingly until Lincoln had a coughing fit in the car and puked EVERYWHERE! Thankfully we were directly infront of my grandparent’s house when it happened. We made an emergency stop.

Now I’m rushing around to throw dinner together.

I created these Spinach Enchiladas.

They are stuffed with a combo of spinach, cottage cheese (instead of ricotta), sauteed onions and mexican cheese. Topped with Green Chili Enchilada Sauce.

Born This Way

A great Operation Beautiful message.

I’m honestly not the biggest fan of the song itself, but I LOVE the message.

Truths

Also, I have a confession to make.

I can’t chop an onion to save my ass.

I tried really hard tonight. This was the best I could come up with.

And while I’m being all honest, I might as well admit that I love a “garbage bowl” although I openly make fun of Rachael Ray for it.

As a matter of fact, I love Rachael Ray. That’s a hard one to confess since I spent atleast 2 years of my life actively hating her guts.

I had a mediocre 4 mile run today. But I looked pretty hardcore.

 
Wouldn’t you say? Ok, maybe pink isn’t that hardcore after all.

But I’m embracing the cap.

It was nice to get back outside, all of my runs lately (other than my race yesterday) have been on the treadmill. But it felt like the wind was hitting me head-on both out and back.

Time to finish cooking dinner. Okra and Tomatoes with Quinoa. Should be interesting.

I leave you with this …

Hide and seek with a toddler. I’m sure I’ll neeeeever find him.

My Life

This picture perfectly sums up his crazy little personality.

Resurrection Run 10K

It was a rainy and slightly chilly morning, but I set my alarm and headed out for the Resurrection Run 10K anyway. I promised a friend that I would come be there with her. Otherwise I might have skipped out since I hadn’t pre-registered.

It was my 19th race. Maybe one day I’ll stop counting, but I kinda doubt it.

The map is from DailyMile, the coolest running site ever! Its like Facebook for athletes. Friend me!

It was a little rainy at the very start of the race, but it calmed down after a few minutes. My feet still got soaking wet though. 😦

The turnout wasn’t great today, which is understandable considering the weather and the other big races that were taking place this weekend like the Seaside Half Marathon and Snickers Marathon/Half. Which is probably a big part of the reason why …

I ended up with a 1st Place Overall Female finish! 🙂

My time (according to my Garmin) was 46:32. Splits were: 7:40, 7:43, 7:41, 7:35, 7:34, and 7:38.

Ugliest trophy ever perhaps?

I haven’t seen anyone run in cleats lately. 😛

I asked Tim, “I wonder how many of these (awards) I’ll end up with before its all said and done?” He says I’ll have a closet full by the time I’m 50. One can only hope.