work holiday party

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Cranberry Walnut Loaf

What do I do when I have 3 servings of lasagna, 4 of sweet potato lentil soup, and a piece meatloaf?

Eat leftovers definitely. Stop cooking?! Probably a good plan.

But.. I’m almost out of yogurt, so I need a breakfast alternative. I’ll BAKE!

I found this recipe by searching items that I already have & changed it a LOT.

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Cranberry Walnut Loaf

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 1 cup cornmeal
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1 1/2 tsp salt
• 3 1/2 tbsp truvia
• just less than 1 1/4 cups soy milk, splash of lemon juice, let sit for 5 min
• 1/3 cup & 1 tbsp pourable egg white
• 1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
• 1/4 cup maple syrup
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 3/4 cup chopped walnuts
• 3/4 cup dried cranberries

1. Preheat oven to 350°F.
2. Mix dry ingredients in a large bowl.
3. Mix milk mixture, egg whites, applesauce, vanilla and maple syrup in a small bowl.
4. Add liquid ingredients to dry, mix with a fork.
5. Add in walnuts and cranberries.
6. Spray a loaf pan with cooking spray, bake for approx 1 hour or until done.  
7. Cool before removing from pan.

it’s a bit denser than I expected, but delicious. slightly sweet, a little chewy, and festive 🙂

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what are your favorite breakfast treats? 

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success!

Last night – I made hummus & lasagna.

my favorite hummus of late, straight from Rachael Ray.

ps. can I note that I never expected to be one of those weirdos who makes their own hummus.  BUT  its 1000x cheaper & so so so delicious.  I really do like it better.

look at all those spices. Mmmspicy & delicious

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Since one of my goals for December was to not spend money on food, I’m working with what I have already. Lasagna noodles and ricotta? I can definitely concoct some kind of lasagna right? I didn’t have any mozzarella or ground meat though, so I just made it up as I went.

Sun-dried tomato chicken sausage = great plan

I sliced up 3 links and mixed 15 oz of ricotta with 3 tbsp egg white for my cheese mixture.

I put a thin layer of sauce on the bottom & then layered no boil noodles, cheese, chicken sausage, sauce, and topped the final layer with sauce & parmesan cheese.

bake for 40 min.

I have no idea how much sauce or parmesan cheese I used so I can’t share a real recipe, but it was PERFECT. So delicious.

I feel like lasagna is kind of hard, but first time I’ve ever attempted it &  SUCCESS!!

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favorite lasagna recipes?

(I still have 1/2 a box of noodles left)

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two fantastic decisions

Yesterday, I made two fantastic decisions.

1. I didn’t run. I meant to. I wanted to. I forgot my orthotics at home. So instead I got on the elliptical for 45 minutes and was nice to the foot.

2. I registered for the Hyannis Half Marathon.  Committed. Love it.

#2 is overdue.

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and I made tempeh tacos.

with ingredients I already had, because I refuse to go grocery shopping. 🙂

Were they good? yes.

Fantastic? Eh, I don’t know if I’d go that far.

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What’s my game plan for today?

1. run outside at lunch

2. some kind of lasagna for dinner

3. clean my apt

4. make hummus

 

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Christmas Tree Day

Happy Monday my friends!

The other day, I posted that my favorite holiday was not only made up, but in fact, happening on Saturday.  What is this holiday I speak of?

Christmas Tree Day.

A long time ago, when my parents and their friends were newly married and sans-children, they began spending a whole day together getting their trees, delivering them to everyone’s houses, and just being festive.  I couldn’t do any of their stories justice, so I’ll just say that 30+ years later the tradition continues. On a Saturday in early December every year, we all get together for Tree Day.   The group has since expanded a bit: first, the 8 of us kids, then significant others, and now the first grand-baby on the way. (ps. did I mention I’m going to be aunt!!!!!!)

a few flashback photos

1985

late 80s?

1997

Matching red scarves? How else do you identify 8 children running in & out of christmas trees?

Truth? Some of us have fake trees now, so we don’t actually get trees anymore. The last few years, we focus more on spending the day together. We do brunch at one house, cocoa & cookies at another, and then dinner at a third.  Throw a gingerbread house competition in there too.  Its a day full of food, friends, red scarves, xmas music. I love it!

This year:

the passing of the winner's snowglobe

We’ve obviously gotten much worse at posing for pictures, but the day is still just as wonderful.

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What other fun/different traditions are out there? 

Can you find me in that first pic?

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bacon cheese spread

Another recipe for you!

My mother has been making this for as long as I can remember & every single time, someone asks for the recipe. Really, its sooo good.  You can make it year-round, but because its red & green, its festive for this time of year too.

Bacon Cheese Spread

2 large (8 oz) packages of cream cheese, softened

6 slices of bacon, cooked and crumbled (approx)

1/3 cup grated parmesan cheese

1/4 cup Miracle Whip

1/4 cup thinly sliced scallions (green part)

      can substitute chives if desired

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Mix all ingredients together.  Chill overnight or for at least 4 hours before serving to blend flavors.

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if you're feeling festive, arrange in wreath shape, sprinkle with parsley

made both this and the granola for my favorite holiday, which is completely made up & TODAY.

details tomorrow 🙂

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my granola recipe

I eat a lot of granola. Usually with greek yogurt & mini blueberries.

(probably 3-4 days a week, so I go through it pretty quickly)

Sometimes I follow a recipe, sometimes I don’t.  This has been my favorite one yet.

Its crunchy, nutty, and just a little sweet.

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My Granola Recipe 

4 cups rolled oats

2 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 tsp salt

1/3 cup water

4 tbsp agave

2/3 cup walnut pieces

OR 1/2 cup walnut pieces & 1/2 cup chopped almonds

1. preheat oven to 275.

2. Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper.

3. mix water & agave. microwave for 30 seconds or until agave melts & mixes well when stirred.

4. add vanilla & salt

5. mix liquid, oats, & nuts thoroughly

6. spread evenly on the cookie sheets

7. bake for approx 45 min or until golden brown, flip the granola about halfway through.

8. Let cool before bagging.

Makes approx 5 cups, 10 – 1/2 cup servings.

looks delicious doesn’t it.

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happy friday my friends!

What’s up for the weekend?

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excellent

things that are excellent: 

1. long weekends

2. yesterday’s run at a normal pace

3. today’s lunchtime power yoga

4. all the plans I have this weekend

5. running outside tomorrow – I’m soo back

6. wine on my couch

be jealous

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that is all 🙂

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spaghetti squash

Last night, I attempted to tackle spaghetti squash.

Little did I know, I should have actually tackled it or invested in some kind of saw.

this is not easy to cut.But I managed. 

Question 1: When do I take the seeds out? Now? Later? I’ll go with later. the recipe I followed said to put it in the oven for a half hour.  So I did. and in the meantime, I chopped up some veggies. Then, took it out of the oven. Question 2: How do you know if its done? Does this look done? Sure. it was not done. I decided half was done & put the other half back in the oven. Logical? Not exactly.

Once I decided it was actually done, I scooped all the strings out, or at least the best I could. ground turkey, pasta sauce, cooked veggies. all mixed together

throw some cheese on there & bake again. easyyy

looks pretty good right?

Wrong.  It was not done. I definitely should’ve cooked it a lot longer.

Spaghetti squash should have the consistency of spaghetti, yes?

Mine had some crunch, definitely not ideal.

Did I eat it? Yeah.

Do I want to again tonight since I have a ton of it? Not so much.

I’m sure I’ll try to make it again, but last night was a fail. Live and learn I guess.

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 Has anyone successfully made spaghetti squash? Recipes to share with me?

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only 12 weeks

Friday, I ran for the first time in weeks.

Today, I took a look at my 2012 race plan (since I haven’t actually registered for any of them yet).

The next big race I want to do is the Hyannis Half & I’ll need to train properly if I want to PR. Taking a few weeks off certainly didn’t make me any faster. I started looking into training plans and realized that the race is 12 weeks away. Which means I need to start training THIS WEEK. Crazy how that snuck up on me. The end of Feb is only 12 weeks away?! Yup.

I’m going to follow the Hal Higdon Novice 2 program, plus yoga & strength training.

Tonight, I ran 3 miles, a little bit faster than last time, though not as fast as I would like. Step in the right direction at least!

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Saturday, I went to the Worcester Sharks game with JT & his friends. I still don’t fully understand hockey, but I’m getting there.

Afterwards, we went to Ducali to meet up with Christina & Adam.

I got the Around the World flight. pizza & beer. love it.

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how was everyone’s weekend?

what’s next on the race calendar? 

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