Florida Sunshine

Today we went to the beach for 2 hours. It was overcast most of the time. Chad stayed under the umbrella the whole time. He’s sunburned. Please explain?!

I hope our kids get Miller skin & not Hogue skin.

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Go Ahead & Say It…

I know you are thinking it – I’ve neglected my blog. Well let me see if I can make it up to you. Let’s get started!

First – We got our wedding pictures! Here’s a couple of my faves:

Our friend Nate did such a great job!

Basil is growing like a weed – everyday I swear she is taller!! Earlier this week she had her “big girl” surgery (she got spayed) and she also had a gastroplexy to help prevent gastric torsion. Oh our baby is spoiled! She has been on two different pain pills since she came home. The vet said she woke up from the anesthesia with a wagging tail. Which is pretty much how she is all the time! The vet tech carried her out to us like you would hold a baby & as soon as she put Basi in my arms she opened her eyes & started wagging her tail again. Ha! It kinda made me a little emotional!! Basil has also been everywhere with us & meeting everyone along the way. She is going to be a well adjusted doggie when she’s grown up! We took her to the coast with us & up to see the Redwoods. She has also met some horsies that she was so excited to play with! And we took her to Lake Tahoe with us & got to experience snow for the first time – it was hilarious! She definitely did not know what to think of it!!

I’ve also been working to perfect my ice cream making skills! I got the ice cream maker attachment for my Kitchen Aid for the wedding. And the weather is finally getting warm enough to use it! I made Strawberry ice cream a couple of weeks ago for our Cinco de Mayo party. It may have been beginner’s luck that it turned out so perfect!! Earlier this week I tried to make cookies ‘n cream…that did not go so well. I think I added the cookies too soon & the ice cream never solidified! I tried again this morning & it worked much better. But I am having to freeze the ice cream in two batches because it made so much! So I did half already & added the cookies in the last couple of minutes & am on break now because I had to pop the bucket back into the freezer!

Chad and I have realized how quickly the little bit of time we have left in NorCal is flying by! We are wanting to take advantage of as much as we can before we go. About a month ago I did something I’ve never done before, nor thought I was capable of doing! We participated in our first Duathalon!! Which is running/bike/run. Chad did the full 4mi/13mi/4mi and I did the Sprint which was 2/6.5/2. And….not to brag – but I came in third in my age division… haha! There were only 3 participants in my division too ;) But I did keep close to a 9:30 pace on the runs which was good for me – and I realized I definitely need to be riding my bike more – I think I could have shaved quite a bit of time off if I was better on Vega!!

Here I am finishing the first run & Chad finishing his second run. I was SO nervous on the way to the race & kept asking Chad to turn the car around, but it was SUCH a fun event! I felt like I was just running on adrenaline the whole time – I think I got a rush before each run & the bike section! Definitely looking forward to doing another with my husband!

Ok, obviously I’m having trouble getting the text & pictures lined up together. But I’m too frustrated/lazy to keep messing with it. But these are the highlights of the past couple of months. Of course, there has been tons of great food along the way too. But I’ve done a poor job of documenting the dinners we have had.

Last, but definitely not least – I need to say Happy Birthday to my BFF Jill. My life would not be the same without you! I am so thankful we met that summer at Kanakuk! I have been completely blessed by your humor, creativity, honesty & support & love! I love you!!

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“Granola Bars”

So I’ve always wanted to do a product review. And I finally did one a couple of weeks ago and I’m finally writing about it :) I LOVE granola (ish type bars). LOVE LOVE LOVE them! I think it started with Kudos when I was a kid. And those skinny Quaker Oat Chocolate Chip granola bars. I used to eat NutriGrain & Nature Valley in highschool – the ones that were 2 in a pack & super crunchy & you would find crumbs EVERYWHERE. Then I ate Sweet & Salty. Don’t know who makes that one, but they were gooood! Then I ate Luna Bars. Then it was on to Clif Bars. Even the kiddy version of Clif Bars – ZBars.

Now I’m eating Larabars. Oh heavens. With getting on this whole fresh produce kick – I like the Larabar because they contain minimal ingredients – and best of all – no preservatives. So far, my favorites have been Cherry Pie (made with dates, almonds & unsweetened cherries) & the Banana Bread (made with, you guessed it: dates, almonds & unsweetened bananas). Also the Chocolate Jocolat is to DIE for if you are needing a chocolate fix! Not so good: the Cashew Cookie – not much flavor there.

Most of these bars have around 200 calories, about 10g fat (unsaturated from the nuts) and about 5g protein (also from the nuts). I wish they had a little more umph in the protein department for the number of calories, but considering the simple ingredients, I won’t complain – but I also won’t eat them everyday – especially since I can’t find them for less than $1.50 – $2.00 each. So I’ll continue to enjoy them as a treat for breakfast from time to time & have my glass of low-fat milk with it & then try to drink enough water when I get hungry to tide me over until lunch!

The Larabar is up against a new product from one of my old favorites, Clif Bar now makes something called the Clif C. This is a very blurry picture. Sorry. There are only 4 flavors right now & as of this moment – I’ve tried one. The Raspberry. But I really did love it! There was a gooey raspberry jam-like topping to this bar – I’m really a sucker for any type of gooey raspberry topping like that! The other flavors are Blueberry, Apple & Cherry Pomegranate. The list of ingredients for this bar were a little longer so I copied them straight from the website: Organic Dates, Almonds, Organic Cranberries (Organic Cranberries, Organic Apple Juice Concentrate), Organic Apples, Macadamia Nuts, Raspberry Juice Concentrate, Sea Salt (Real Salt®), Natural Vitamin E (Antioxidant).

This bar has 130 calories, 4.5g fat (also unsaturated), and 2 grams of protein. This bar was also a smidgen smaller. And a smidgen less cost wise. I think it was closer to $1.20-$1.50 per bar.

Neither are powerhouse protein bars. So taking that out of the running, and I realize this is possibly an unfair judgement since I’ve only had one Clif C, I think that’s still the one I would choose. I liked the texture better – the Larabars can seem a bit gritty sometimes. And I may totally change my mind after I eat the Cherry Pomegranate Clif C. And don’t get me wrong, you will still find Larabars in my house – I love that they use so few ingredients. But right now, the Raspberry Clif C has my heart!

What is your favorite granola bar?

ps- the marinated flank steak: not the raging flavor success I was hoping for. It sure smelled great though. And lets not talk about the brussel sprouts.

Chad choked a few bites down because he loves me, but he didn’t love the brussel sprouts. I sauteed them with a little bacon fat & butter (how can he not like them?!), sea salt, pepper & red pepper flakes & minced garlic. I had a hard time finishing mine too – I think I was so disappointed in the steak that the brussel sprouts just didn’t taste good to me either :( It was a disappointing meal – so we went to Barnes & Nobel & sat on the floor and read dog training books for a while and then went to get frozen yogurt at Big Spoon. And THAT was delish!

How do you cook brussel sprouts?!

I took Basil on a walk this afternoon. 4 people rolled down their car windows to comment on her. Crazy huh – she’s such a heart breaker! We worked on her leash manners – she’s getting good at “heel” – sometimes. We are also working on “sit”, “lay down”, “stay”, and my personal favorite “sing”. That’ll be the day! I pushed her out the back door onto the porch so I could do yoga & finished my Yoga Today Class that got cut short yesterday. At the end we did “Monkey Pose” which is moving towards splits. Since starting yoga, being able to do the splits again has become one of my goals – so that was exciting – and I’m not too far away!

Marina & I are doing a core class at the yoga studio tonight – not really sure what that will entail – but I’m excited! And we’re having Parmesan Crusted Pork Chops for dinner. Oh Yum!

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Oreos

I was nearly defeated by an Oreo today.

I had gotten caught up in meal prep for dinner tonight (we’re doing Valentine’s tonight) and didn’t eat lunch but wanted to go run because it is actually sunshiney in California today (huh…who would have thought!) and thought I should eat a little something before I ran. I saw the Oreo and thought “Why not!” 2.75mi into my run I was thinking “WHYYYYY!!” I felt like I had a knife stabbing into my stomach. Granted, I probably would have felt this way regardless of what I had eaten since it was right before a run. So I probably shouldn’t blame the Oreo. I usually stay on surface streets by all the cars so I didn’t want anyone to see me stop running & start walking (what a wimp!) buuuut I also didn’t want anyone to see me barf. So I did have to walk for about 1/4 mile. I am happy to report that I’ve made a full recovery, just in time to cook a delish Valentine’s dinner (steak, baked potato, green salad w/homemade pomegranate vinaigrette & poached pears & apples for dessert!). And Oreos are proving to be a much better post-workout snack. Not that I ever promote cookie eating, but if you must, do it after you run! Here you can see my whole run (close to 5mi!)

Anybody got special plans for Valentines?

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To Eat or Not To Eat…

I massacred my first head of iceburg lettuce today – I had to call mom for this one. That little ball was like a little alien once I got it opened up. So many different layers & colors… Did you know if you use a plastic knife (like one from take-out), the lettuce isn’t supposed to brown? Who knew?

Let me explain the title of this post now. Chad and I have been married a little over a month. I’ve gained somewhere between 5 & 7 pounds in that time. (Yikes!) It’s been a myriad of things:  keeping up with him bite-for-bite, cool rainy weather in CA & my hatred for running on treadmill/elliptical machines vs outside & going from a job where I was on my feet seeing patients most of the day to farting around the apartment.

I’m tired of feeling gross. It’s not about the numbers on the scale. It’s about how I feel.

I think that the food we eat at home is OK, but I think we could do alot better. Which got me thinking. A while back Chad & I watched Food, Inc. (http://www.foodincmovie.com/index.php) The big thing that I took from that documentary was how important it is to know where our food is coming from – I was really surprised to see how industrialized the food industry is. It’s a really an interesting doc – you should get ahold of it if you haven’t seen it. Today I picked up two of Michael Pollan’s books: The Omnivore’s Dilemma & In Defense of Food. (http://www.michaelpollan.com/). His books talk about how so much of what we consume today just pretends to be food. I’m excited to “dig in” to these books to learn more about what kinds of food I really want to eat.

I also found a cookbook called Clean Food by Terry Walters (http://www.terryskitchen.net/). This lady focuses on eating locally grown foods that are in season. I haven’t read the whole thing yet (yes, I know I’m a nerd – I read cookbooks cover to cover) but so far I think I’m in for a treat! The first part of the book has cooking methods, a review of the food groups & lists of foods/when they are in season. And the whole cookbook is organized by season. I’m thinking that I will really like this one! And I’m thinking I’ll like when spring in CA rolls around so I can hit up all the farmer’s markets!

But I think that this is one of the changes that I want to make in the foods that we eat – not necessarily going, organic – but local. I don’t really like the fact that the strawberries in the store right now have been shipped in from Mexico. In one of my nutrition classes during undergrad we talked about how if everyone decided to eat organic it wouldn’t be sustainable – USDA certified organic farms take time to get certified & require lots of TLC: crop rotation & acreage (there wouldn’t be enough land to have enough organic farms to feed all the people). Anyways, I feel like I’m trying to talk about something I don’t know enough about yet, so I’ll post more on this as I continue to learn!

And as far as the exercise goes – Chad and I are planning on running a 1/2 marathon this spring – so that will give me something to work towards (even if I do have to go get on a treadmill at some point) and I’m planning on checking out some Zumba classes soon – I’ve been wanting to try those for a while now!

Anyone with strong opinions about organic/local foods? Advice?

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Oh the Sunshine!

Today has been a pretty laid back, sleep in until 10 kind of Saturday. But let’s be honest, since I don’t have a job, isn’t everyday a sleep in until 10 kinda day? Hehe! But it’s always nicer to sleep in until 10 with your honey. Most mornings Chad is gone between ~5:30 & 6:30 – sometimes I get a little nuzzle & kiss on the cheek before he leaves, but he told me the last time he did that, I shoved him away and growled. I can’t be held responsible for my actions while I’m still sleeping!!

We decided to get out & enjoy the sun (it’s been raining almost everyday for the last month)& slightly warmer weather (it made it up to the mid/upper 50’s today!). I’ve been running with my phone using the iMapMyRun app, not 100% satisfied with its features. And I found another free app called RunKeeper yesterday, so I decided to try it out on our walk this morning. I don’t like how you have to close the app (and in my case, manage to quit recording my current workout ’cause I’m a doof) just to skip ahead to the next song on my playlist. RunKeeper promised to let me control my playlist without leaving the app. However, I was still confounded by the darn app and managed to quit recording our walk before we made it to mile 1 without even realizing it — DANG IT! I was so excited to see how far we went when we made it back to our apartment & when I looked at our milage it said 0.18 or something sad like that…maybe next time. (Anyone have any app suggestions for tracking workouts?!)

Then we had lunch: Chad ate the leftovers of the Lemon Pasta Bake & I opted for something a little healthier (remember the oil slick) – an assortment of raw veggies for hummus dipping, a few slices of gouda & a piece of peanut butter toast with 1/2 a banana sliced on top. We of course had to finish our meal with a small bowl of pistachios & dark chocolate covered pomegranate somethings. It’s like jelly or heaven or something in the center!

I helped Chad cut his hair after that- one of my new favorite chores- as opposed to laundry. Which is my most unfavorite chore of all time…I’m not sure what is worse: folding the laundry or putting it up. Actually I think putting it on hangers is the worst – I really hate hangers! But I’m getting angry just thinking about hangers!

So Chad helped a friend move their entertainment center & I made him another smoothie (of course). But we were all out of yogurt…what to do? Oats! When I moved in, Chad had 3 large canisters of oats, among other strange things (like a giant tub of confetti), in the kitchen.

So today’s smoothie was:

• ~1 1/2 c frozen peaches & “mixed berries”
• 1/2 banana
• 1 mango (i should have known better than to buy 2 at this time of year!)
• ~1/4 c each of: oats, milk & OJ
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon

I just heard the dryer cut off – this load has Chad’s uniform in it – since he’s heading out of state tomorrow for a class, I had better make sure this load doesn’t get put off for a day or two – like the others tend too… He’s focused on writing wedding gift “thank you’s” – we don’t want to disturb him!

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The Adventure Begins…

I’ve been debating about starting a blog for a while and today…while I was HAND washing my sweet husband’s new most favorite sweater (a soy/wool blend — WHAT?!), I decided that it was time to bite the bullet. So here’s my first post. Which was much more humerus in my head while I was bent over the bath tub with both hands submerged in icy cold water swishing his sweater around in the Woolite. I did take a couple of pictures to share…

and then after I got all the suds out I rolled it up in a towel to speed the drying process along & took it outside on our little balcony to find a flat place to let it dry. I was met with this:

He has taken up a permanent residence on our back porch…I have caught him clinging to our screen door on several occasions…begging to come in, but that was when it was raining all the time.

I think my lush garden has attracted the native species…that’s a good thing right? We’ll see how long my green thumb lasts. Yes, that is a lemon tree & yes, I have used the lemons in my cooking…they are wonderful!

There is a pile of dishes calling my name & I should probably get the kitchen cleaned before dinner has to get started. Tonight we are having a lemon pasta bake (I’m adding some chicken for protein) I’ll post pictures tomorrow – and the recipe if it was good :)

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