End of January randomness.

ick. I'm sick. I have a stuffy nose, and a great cough. Lovely. 

It's the end of January and these are my running stats compliments of Dailymile.com 

Miles Run: 82:07
Total Time: 14:29
Lbs burned: 2lbs (I have no idea how they calculate this)
Total Workouts: 16
TVs Powered: 168:58
Gas Saved: 4.32
Donuts Burned: 50:07
Calories burned: 9,429

I started really running in September when I started training for my first 5k. I weighed 132. I am currently at 126, which I am very happy with. I did not start running to lose weight, I just started to get more in shape. I also changed my diet, and that helped my weight loss. 

Breakfast today- Honey bunches of oats with 1% milk


Lunch: what lunch? we forgot to eat lunch again. I don't know what we were doing. We were home all day. I re-organized our pantries.. trailer living does not leave much storage space. Cooking takes up a lot of space... ugh. 


Dinner: Chipotle Baja Pork Chops (yum)


Recipe: Chipotle Baja Pork Chops:

4-6 Pork Chops  ( I used 4)
Lawrys Chipotle Baja sauce (it's in the BBQ sauce aisle)
Potatoes- chopped/quartered
Carrots- sliced


Put pork chops in crock pot, cover in Chipotle Sauce. 


Chop up potatoes & carrots. I left the peel on my potatoes- put the potatoes & carrots in the crock pot, cover with more Chipotle sauce.


I added 1/4 cup of water and stirred everything together.


Cook on low for 2-4 hrs.


Lawrys makes several different types of dressing/sauces. I plan on trying several of the other tastes. Chris really liked this recipe. It was REALLY quick & easy. 


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Last night we went to Bass Pro Shop and I got a new running jacket, yay! This is not a great picture-- but its a cute little jacket, that was on sale. They had a lot of sales yesterday. I could have went crazy.. 


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Goals for February. 


Maintain my healthier eating regimen. I am really enjoying all this cooking, and looking up new, healthier recipes. I think Chris is enjoying it too. We both like a lot of different kind of foods, so this has been fun experimenting. Last night I spent a few hours on a food blog looking up new recipes. Check out my menu for the week on the side of my blog for what we are eating this week. 


Run 75-80 miles. I'm not sure how well this is going to work. My right knee has been hurting after I run my last few runs. I don't want to totally ruin my knee so I've been taking it kinda easy lately. I also don't know how much running my work schedule is going to allow.. 


Complete the 15k i am registered for in under an hour and a half. We'll see how that goes. I'm going to have to maintain a 9:40pace. We'll see. 


Gotta go. I forgot to get potatoes and popsicles when I went grocery shopping today =(      Gotta have potatoes for the potato soup. Doh!

Longest 5k ever.

Today Stacey and I ran in the Winter Haven Hospital Citrus Classic. The course was kind of rough on the knees; started out running on the road, then we had to run across a soccer field 2 or 3 times, and up an embankment. I am not used to running on anything other then road, and the combination of grass & road was not fun. After 2.5mi I kept thinking "how mad would I be at myself later if I just quit running and start walking"... i kept running. I PR'd with a time of 24:28, and according to dailymile.com , my pace was 7:38 

not good quality, it was taken on my sisters blackberry . i forgot my camera.

.... 


My right knee is bothering me quite a bit, i need to do some research and figure out what to do next. If i can just wrap it or if I should actually see a Dr.. Unfortunately I am the type that will procrastinate seeing the doctor.... i know what it's going to cost me to get an MRI if needed, and that alone makes me not want to go. 

Today has been a complete failure for eating. 

Breakfast:

Ham & Cheese Omelet
Grits
Whole Wheat Bread- plain

Lunch: ... well we ate breakfast at like 1030ish so I kinda skipped lunch.. Does Coffee count?  after the race i came home took a shower, then took a lil' nap.

Dinner: ugh... Fuddruckers. grilled chicken sandwich. and I ate some of Chris' french fries.... then i came home and ate a bowl of icecream. OMG ridiculous.

I really want to run tomorrow but I don't see that happening, not the way my knee is feeling. boo.

30 days till Gasparila!

YES! 30 days till Gasparilla, very exciting! I am kind of nervous, my knees have been giving me problems the last few days. I took yesterday off in hopes that they wouldn't bother me today....sort of worked.

I ran 5mi at a okay pace, i think it was 10:something. I started out w/ wrapped knees and they were making my legs ache. I took them off and they felt better. My knees didn't bother me to much during the run today. I am not running tomorrow due to the fact that I work open to close at work. Joy. 

I have been totally slacking in any kind of cross-training or upper body work outs. I haven't done anything in weeks. Today I dusted off my resistance bands and did a little arm work out. I can't post it because I don't remember what all I did, but I think my arms might be a little sore tomorrow. 

Tonight's dinner was a big fat FAIL. Kielbasa & Cheese casserole. Chris didn't like it at all, I thought it was okay. Something just wasn't right. The recipe didn't call for anyone kind of liquid. How you can cook something for 8hrs w/ no liquid makes no sense to me...and clearly doesn't work in the Kielbasa & Cheese casserole recipe. It was kinda dry, and the sausage was burnt. Boo.  I will have to try this recipe again, but add some kind of broth or water to it. 

Tomorrow we are going to have Salsa Chicken & Black Bean soup. I got the recipe from this http://crockpot365.blogspot.com/ website. It's a very cool website. Nothing but crock-pot recipes, and that is exciting!! Check it out!

My day of rest.

..... was much needed. My knees were bothering me again today. I guess tomorrow I will wrap them all day and give them some extra stability. Other then that I don't really know what to do. I plan on running 4-5mi tomorrow. Rest Thursday, and maybe 3mi on Friday. I have a race on Saturday and I really don't want to push it to much this week. It is really important to me to be able to do my best on race days; even if this is only a 5k. I've PR'd, and placed my last two 5k's... I'd like to do the same on Saturday.

I went and picked up my new glasses this morning. They are super cute.

Breakfast today was Honey Bunches of Oats w/ Cinnamon & 1% milk. .... After some convincing we now drink 1% milk.. We were not big milk drinkers before, and we still aren't but we use it in our coffee, and now cereal, and oatmeal when we have that. ... Chris likes Whole milk :::gaggggg::::...oh its so thick and ew.

Lunch was left overs from last night; creamy cooker chicken..

for snacks I had Chobani (blueberry) greek yogurt, pretzels, and string cheese. I am obsessed w/ pretzels.

dinner was Beef & Lentils (another new recipe)... it was pretty good, different but good.

1 medium onion (you'll leave this one whole)
3 whole cloves   (spice aisle in case you are wondering)
5 cups of water
1 lb of lentils ($.94 at walmart, woohoo)
1 tsp salt (i used kosher salt)
1 bay leaf ( spice aisle)
1 lb. ground beefe
1/2 cup of ketchup
1/4 cup of molasses (uhm, by the syrup i believe)
2 Tbsp brown sugar
1 tsp dry mustard
1/4 tsp worcestershire (i think i'll leave this out nxt time, i think that was the strong taste...maybe BBQ sauce instead)
1 onion finely chopped

1. stick cloves into whole onion- set aside; i carved out a hole in the top of the onion and put the clove their.

2. in large sauce pan, combine water, lentils, salt, bay leaf and whole onion w/ cloves. Simmer for 30 minutes


3. brown hamburger w/ chopped onions.



4. meanwhile, combine all remaining ingredients in slow cooker, stir in simmered ingredients & browned hamburger.


5. cover. cook on low 6-8 hrs  (i cooked for 7.50 hrs)..


we also added shredded cheddar cheese to ours when we put it in our bowls to eat. 


It was good, not my favorite recipe in the world. but pretty good none-the-less..   The prep time was kinda long. I got up at 5:45, and had everything in the crockpot ready to cook by 6:30.... i did other things in between, so this could be why it was a 45 min prep time...


Tomorrow we are having Kielbasa & Cheese Casserole.


Good night. I have to get some studying done... .... i'm reading about diseases and treatments..fun times.


2. 

Nice 'n easy.

I decided that today I needed a nice & easy recovery run. My right knee was bothering me all day at work, but I wanted to run to loosen up my legs. My friend and I did 2.something miles around the lake- i forget the exact mileage, and it really doesn't matter. I think it says it on the side of my blog in that dailymile thing...

This morning i totally went bezerk on caffeine. I had coffee on my way to work, then my coworker texted me on her way to work and said she was stopping at Hardees; did i want anything... ugh... Dr pepper... so then I drank a dr pepper through out the day, i also drank water through out the day.... now tonight i'm drinking more coffee as i'm doing homework/studying..holy caffeine.

I did start out w/ a some what good breakfast this morning. I had honey bunches of oats w/ banana slices.



For lunch I had toast w/ nutella & some chobani blueberry greek yogurt- this is not a typical lunch, but we had no lunch meat, and no left overs so this is what i had. I hate eating out for lunch, it bothers me. I'm a freak about saving money on lunches if at all possible... so toast and yogurt it was. yum.

For dinner we had a new chicken recipe.

Creamy Cooker Chicken = totally delish!
 6 chicken breast  i used 4
 2 cups of sour cream
1 package of dry onion soup
1 10 3/4oz can of cream of mushroom soup  (we had no cream of mushroom, i used cream of chicken)

1. combine sour cream, dry onion soup, and cream of mushroom soup in crock pot and mix together.
2. put chicken breast in mixture and make sure all the breasts are covered.
3. cook on low for 8 hrs.

freakin' delish. we loved it. we put it on some wild grain rice and it was totally awesome.

this was the finished product::: note::: i am not a food photographer, and this was after i had already put the leftovers in tupperware for lunch tomorrow.. It doesn't look pretty but it was yummy!

Tomorrow we are having Beef & Lentil soup... Never had it before, we'll see how that turns out.

 I get my new glasses & contacts tomorrow, YES! i'm super excited. I got some cute new Tommy Bahama glasses, yayy!! I've had my current glasses for 2 yrs, and i'm completely out of contacts. boo. Running w/ glasses on is not cool =(

Tomorrow I am taking a rest day from running. I have a 5k on Saturday and I really want my knees to be feeling 100% so that I can run well. I think i'll do some upper body or something tomorrow when I get home from work.

G'nite. I have to get back to my homework now. Boo =(

This weeks menu & other randomness.

I know I already posted today but I'm bored. Chris has a friend over & they are playing Mario on the Wii.

I made our menu for the week so that I could grocery shop appropriately. I have found that making a menu reduces the number of misc. grocery items I come home with. 


This is what we are having, in no particular order. All of them are crock pot recipes.


Italian Pork Chops with red potatoes & carrots
Beef & Lentils
Kielbasa and cheese casserole (...we are actually have turkey sausage, not kielbasa)
Creamy Cooker Chicken
Potato Soup


All but the Potato Soup are new recipes, and they are all crock-pot recipes. I am obsessed w/ my crock pot. It just makes my life so much easier. Yes, sometimes the prep for some of the recipes is tedious and time consuming, but I don't have to come home after work and stand in the kitchen for an hour making dinner. I thoroughly enjoy coming home from work/running and dinner being done. yay! 


So, I went to wal-mart to grocery shop..i hate it, but it really saves me money so I just suck it up and go. I was looking for cloves, whole cloves. I've never bought cloves before. I don't have a clue where to look. I ask a lady who is working in the fresh produce section do you know where the cloves are :::blank look::: "Is that food?".....  me- ::eye roll::: walk off. oh brother... i found them on the spice aisle..no thanks to the great employees of wal-mart. 


I'm still trying to find a hotel for our anniversary. We decided that we are going to go to the Tampa Aquarium & do the Shark Feeding + see everything else at the aquarium. We are also going to stay Saturday night in a hotel. This is MUCH more then I was originally planning. But Chris was planning something WAY larger then this... but we talked about it and we can't justify spending as much as he was planning on spending when we are trying so hard to save for our down payment.  I am still really excited. I absolutely love aquariums/Sea World. I've never been to Tampa, and it's one of the top 10 aquariums to go to. I'm just excited. I can't believe it's already been a whole year. goodness, how time flies!

Into the double digits!

Today was my first double digit run. I ran 10.2 miles; whew it was kinda hard. The first 5 miles seemed SO slow to me, but in actuality I was running a 9 min mile.. but gosh it just seemed so slow. I forgot my Garmin so I couldn't really tell where we were at until we saw the markings on the ground. (this trail has the mileage carved into the trail).. from 4 to 5.1 miles seemed to take the longest, i was getting very frustrated. I was ready to turn around, but I kept pushing because I wanted to get 10miles in today. We finally reached 5.1miles and I stopped, had a power gel (BLECH!!! it was tangerine , nasty)...The 5 miles back was tough as well. There was a strong wind pushing against me the whole time. It took me an hour to get back, and it was only a 45 min run the first 5mi. ugh. My right knee was really bothering me. I kept getting the feeling that it was going to give out at any second, so i kept slowing down my pace, and then speeding back up. I was so happy to see the truck =)  

All and all it was a good run. I mean it was my first 10mi run. My total mileage for the week was 27miles..which is by far the most miles i've run in one week. I'm also thinking this may be why my knees are also bothering me.

In other news: Our 1 year anniversary is in 2wks. Holy crap~

I'm an idiot & no one told me!

Geeeeeeez. I was just inspecting my blog and I noticed in my collage thing I had "because" spelled wrong...doh! i spelled it "becuase"....give me a break. what a dork.I fixed it. Geez, that was horrible.

kiss that trail goodbye.

It's been a few days since i've written. Hm, guess i've been pretty busy. So this week I am at a total of 17 miles . It's been a pretty good week for running.

Monday - 3 miles
Tuesday  0..i closed at work.
Wednesday 6mi
Thurs 3 mi
Friday 5 mi.
Sat- I close at work.
Sun- I "plan" on getting 10miles in.

I think i'm well on my way to my half marathon in March.

Oh, I haven't written on here since I registered.. So, the good news, I registered for the Florida Beach Halfathon in Ft. Desoto on March 21st. I'm pretty excited, nervous. 13.1 miles is a long way...but I think I can do it pretty well. =) I just have to keep up my running.

Today I went running on the trail I usually use during the week... so i'm running, minding my own business and i am coming up to a cross street, and there are kids sitting on the bench on the other side. Then one of the kids stands up and points a gun in my direction....yah, a gun. I don't know what kind of gun, i'm no gun expert, but i'm thinking it was a BB gun or something. It was long (like a shotgun)... so for reasons I don't understand i continued to run towards them...naive...not thinking they would hurt me? I don't know... so i stared hard at the gun and said "Hey Ya'll" to them.. they said "hey" back.. I just wanted to be friendly so they didn't shoot me. I got past them and called Chris, then I took a left off the trail onto the next side street. I didn't want to take a chance by running past them again. Chris said i should call the non-emergency line just to report the incident- even though I won't be running on that trail again, other people do use it. Although I rarely see other runners on that trail during the week.  That was my excitement for today. I'm kind of angry about it. That was one of the few places that I can run in Winter Haven. Now I have to drive to Dundee when I get off work, which is a 20min drive..which doesn't seem far, but when it gets dark at 6, and I get off at 5 every minute is kind of crucial when I want to get long runs in. Oh well. Better to be safe-obviously.

My first injury of 2010..

....and its totally not running related. See what had happened was: I got up early (5:45am to be exact), so that I would have enough time to throw dinner in the crock pot , make breakfasts/lunches, and still be able to get to work early... and so i'm slicing an onion, and it happened: I cut the tip of my left ring finger. Scared the bejeezus out of me. Chris was still in bed so I start hollering and it went like this:

Me: CHRIS, CHRIS, CHRRRIIISSSSSSS

Chris: What?

Me: I CUT MY FINGER

Chris: What?

Me: I - CUT - MY - FINGER!!!

Chris: How?

Me::: ON A KNIFE......
That finally got his attention he got out of bed and came to investigate. It bled pretty good.. After it quit bleeding we could finally see the damage. Not really all that bad, it hurt though. I'm a huge baby when it comes to pain, i don't tolerate it, but I have to say I handled this pretty well. I think it scared me more then anything.... So I went to work and when the Dr got there he looked at it and then the nurse put some steri-strips on it.. Thats all there was to it. Thank goodness it didn't require stitches, but I was preparing for it. So needless to say typing takes me a little longer then usual.

On to running news:

Today I did a 3mile recovery run with a friend. It was a good, slow paced run, which is about I could handle. My thighs were tight, and my knees were hurting. Tomorrow i'll be resting since I close tomorrow night (7pm). Probably try to get a upper body work out in the morning.

I talked to Chris about possibly trying to run a half-marathon in March. I mean i'm running a 15k on Feb 27.. The half I want to do is March 21st.. Im sure I can fit 4 more miles in by the end of March, right? So I found the half I want to run and i'm going to register on Thursday. Yay. It's the Florida Beach Halfathon in Ft. Desoto! Very exciting!!!

New Crock pot recipe:

tonight we had pork tenderloin & green beans for dinner.

4-5 lb whole pork tenderloin
sliced onion
1 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp garlic salt
1 bay leaf
1 3/4 cup water


1. Put the pork, onion, soy sauce bay leaf in crock pot. pour water over top.

2. cook on high for 1 hour. Then set to low and let cook for 6 hrs

I think this was the easiest recipe by far...minus the cutting my finger this morning slicing the onion. The pork had a really great flavor, and it was really tender. Delish!

That's all. I'm sick of chicken peck typing & I have homework to do. Boo.

First 15k

Today's plan was to run 7mi.... Chris and I got up and he took me to the Winter Haven/ Lake Alfred trail. The first 2 mi were torture. I couldn't find a rhythm my pace was all over the place and i was thinking about giving in at 3. Then somewhere in that 3rd mile I found a good pace and it was on. We didn't use the whole trail because then we would have to cross Havendale and we didn't feel like dealing with the traffic. So we had to do several out and backs on the trail. So at the end of the trail i was about 6.something and he says, well lets just go out till you get to 7mi, and then we'll walk back the last mile... So we go out, we hit 7, we turn around and by time we get back to the turn around i'm at 8.5.... so i was like WTH lets just get 9mi in today... So we turned around and headed back down the trail for another 1.3 miles to get the full 15k in. I was VERY pleased with my time.

I told Chris that when I registered for Gasparila they ask you what you think your finish time will be.. I put 1:30... that means i have to run a 10min mi.... Which I know I can do.. During my 5ks i usually run 8.something miles...but thats only 3.2 miles.. So today I finished in 1:29:07, and my pace was 9:34

My miles looked like this: (I just remembered I set my watch to record every mile what my pace was-SCORE!!-:
(1)  9:31
(2) 9:41
(3) 9:5
(4) 10:35
(5) 9:11
(6) 9:14
(7) 9:47
(8) 9:16
(9) 9:06

Now i'm debating whether or not to go take a icy bath. My legs are feelin' sore. Ugh the thought makes me shiver. Maybe i'll just take some aleeve and take a hot shower.

c'mon weekend!

Nothing to exciting to report on for yesterday. I did manage to get 4.5miles in. I wanted to get 5, but for some reason i was just over it at 4.5 - I was with a friend and she was a trooper and while we didn't run together she stuck it out and went around the lake till I was done. It was getting pretty dark and there were some "creepers" fishing and i didn't really want to be there to much after dark so we called it a night & headed out. I am however very glad to have got that 4.5 miles in! I was feeling good. My legs were a little heavy but I got over it..

I really have to focus on my pace. I'm all over the place. I set my pace beeper thing on my Garmin so that when i get over or under it will let me know... We'll see if I set it right. I am all over the place. from 8:30 - 9:50...I don't notice it until I look at my watch ... I don't want to go out to fast at Gasparila and get worn out to fast, so i really need to work on my pace.

Tomorrow I am going to get a good long run in. I love the weekends. Obviously, like most people, I look forward to them all week; possibly for other reasons then some. I can't wait to get my long run it. It's just a huge relief to be out on the trail just going and going. Awww, what a great feeling!

Today I work 830a- 7p... These kind of days kill me. No time to run and on days like today I need it the most. Whew. Wish me luck! Have a good day everyone!

I suck this week.

My workouts & running have been practically non-existent this week. I started out on track Monday. I got up at 5:15 and did 30DS...its been downhill since then. Tuesday I went for a 3mile walk/jog with a friend.. Today I did a little workout. I worked out my arms and did some abs. I couldn't stand to watch a on-demand video so I took what i've learned so far and did my own little routine. I just couldn't stand the thought of someone yelling at me from the TV... ugh.

So this is what I did: --- I don't know "proper" names... So i just name them as I see fit.lol.

Girl push ups (on my knees, i can't do regular ones yet::: 3 sets of 10
Butterflys (lay on my back, weights over my chest, and lower my arms, and raise back up) 50 total
Arm Curls:  3 sets of 10 with my resistance band
Tricep Kickback:  2 sets of 10 R&L with resistance bands
Front riase:  3 sets of 10

Abs Bicycle : 50 total
Abs: Butterfly kicks (lay on back, and spread legs into V shape ) 40 total
Abs :Stability ball crunch :20 total (i know totally wimpy)
Abs: Stability Ball arms out & bounce (crunch position while bouncing arms up and down)  50 total

I read in Runners World that runners with strong core have faster running times because they have better posture. So I am going to start really working on my core. I also really want to work on my arms. I have no upper body strength what-so-ever. Running is helping my legs, so I don't focus on them so much.. I probably should. I should throw in a leg work out every once in awhile.

Tomorrows Goal: 5mi run after work! I gotta get a good run in this week, i'm going crazy here! 

I don't have a title for this one. just alot of thoughts.

I have a lot of random thoughts going on in my head today. I am feeling so incredibly lazy. I can not make myself get up and do any kind of workout. I didn't get up early this morning and workout either. Yuck. I did go for a 3mi jog/walk with a friend after work today. It was really good to catch up with her. We haven't really got to talk since before Thanksgiving. She had a wedding, and then Christmas, New Years, just life in general got in the way. We used to walk/jog a few times a week. I would have preferred to run the whole 3 miles but that's okay; like i said, it was good to catch up with her. 

I am going to register for my first 15k.... aka 9.3miles. I am really quite excited. http://www.tampabayrun.com/site3.aspx 

Someone asked me if I was going to run in the Gasparilla race coming up in February. Initially I was not going to. I was planning on running a 10k in Christmas, FL. Orlando X-Treme 10k. But I think I am going to end up working that weekend, plus the Gasparilla race looks more fun- better "stuff"... finishers medal, cool Nike t-shirt..and some other stuff I think. It will be my first "major" race. It's a pretty well known event. They have a 5k, 15k, half-marathon, & full marathon.  So Mom & I are going to go to Tampa Friday night, Feb 26th, for the expo, stay in a hotel and go to the race Saturday morning. Exciting! I'm really excited! My longest run to date is only 7 mi, but really, what's 2 more miles? I know I can train for 2 more miles. Plus on race day my adrenaline is ridiculous, and my competitiveness helps me through.  Gasparilla here I come!!!

Like I said at the beginning of the year. I am going to make one new recipe, and use my crock-pot once a week. This seems to be working out well for us so far. I know it's only the 2nd week, but whatever.


I actually made two new recipes, one in the crock pot and one not. 


Crock-pot: Lemon Garlic Chicken

1 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp seasoned salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
2 lbs chicken breast
2 tbsp butter, or margarine (i used olive oil)
1/4 cup water
3 tbsp lemon juice
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 tsp chicken bouillon granules (i used 2 cubes)
1 tsp minced fresh parsley (i didn't use fresh)


1. Combine oregano, salt, and pepper. Rub all of mixture into chicken ( I had to make more mixture, it was seasoned enough for me) .....Brown chicken in butter (olive oil for me) in skillet. Transfer to slow cooker.


2. Place water, lemon juice, and bouillon in skillet. Bring to boil. Pour over chicken.


3. Cover. cook on High 2-  2 1/2 hrs, or Low 4-5 hrs.


4. Add parsley and baste chicken. Cover. Cook on High 15-30 minutes, until chicken is tender...


What I did: I cooked it in the crockpot on low for 4-5 hrs. (while we were asleep). When I got up i put everything in a tupperware- chicken & juice. stuck it in the fridge till dinner. When i got home i pre- heated the stove to 350* , put chicken & juice in a glass baking dish, stuck it in the oven for 10-15 minutes (until hot). Then eat. 

It was delish. It was SO moist, it was hard to take out of the baking dish with a fork because it kept breaking into pieces. Yum Yum!!




SECOND RECIPE:  Spaghetti with whole wheat noodles & ground turkey.

I pulled a fast on on Chris (he he he). I used ground turkey instead of ground beef and I didn't tell him. If he noticed he didn't say anything =) 

Whole wheat spaghetti noodles *barilla*
1.25lbs of ground turkey *i used Jenny-O*
2 medium sized squash *cut into bite size pieces*

1/2 medium onion, chopped

2 garlic cloves minced
a few drizzles of olive oil *lol, do you like that measurement?* 
spaghetti sauce *we prefer prego*


1. saute squash, onion & garlic in olive oil 


2. cook spaghetti noodles


3. brown ground turkey


4. heat spaghetti sauce. 


5. drain spaghetti noodles, drain ground turkey, combine noodles, turkey, squash mixture and cover with spaghetti sauce.


This turned out to be really good. Chris said he liked it. I asked if he liked the noodles, he said "yes, what are they whole wheat or something?"... he he he... I told him they were.. I did not mention the ground turkey. I really could not taste a huge difference. I seasoned the ground turkey with onion powder, garlic powder, and complete seasoning... It was good. I enjoyed the heck out it!

Alright I have to go get some sleep. I need to get up early and work out since I totally slacked yesterday & today!

 

Delish Chili.

It was so freezing cold on Saturday so I decided to try my second attempt of chili. My first attempt was not so successful. This one was delish. I used half of a recipe from a cookbook & then i just threw some other stuff in there and it was delish::

2lbs cooked hamburger
turkey sausage- one package  (the actual recipe called for 1lb bacon- no freakin' way!)
(2) 10oz cans of kidney beans - drained
can of baked beans- (I used country style baked beans) I semi drained them.
3 TBSP brown sugar
ketchup- i didn't measure it out i just put some in there
cayenne pepper
frozen corn, probably 2 cups or so.. .i'm horrible at measuring stuff out. i just cut open the bag and dump some in. 
onion chopped
chili seasoning- mccormick


1. brown hamburger- I seasoned with cayenne pepper while  the meat was cooking. Drain meat and put in crockpot.

2. add the kidney beans & baked beans. I drained both beans. I didn't want all that excess. maybe i'm just weird.

3. add ketchup & brown sugar

4. add corn & onion

5. add mccormick chili season - i only used about half, maybe less of the pack, I didn't want it to be over seasoned.

Cook 6-7hrs on low

Delish.

It had a little bit of a spicy flavor, and it had a sweet flavor. Chris said this was a great recipe. Great chili! much more successful then my first chili.

Distance, Not speed.

Thursday was a ridiculous, horrible, chaotic work day. I'll spare the details but it was ridiculous. Thankfully I only worked 830a- 330p! I decided when I got off work i was running 7 miles if it killed me. I had to relieve some stress, i was so tense, and just on edge. I needed to let off some steam.

I ran on a new trail that H & I found. It's a nice trail, and I feel safe by myself on it. Usually H doesn't like me to run long distance by myself, especially on a somewhat secluded trail. Thursday I won the battle, I went.

All in all it was a good run. It was my first 7 mi, so it was kind of tough, but I powered through. My thighs started to tighten up but they loosened up. I only had to stop for crosswalks, and to change playlists on my i-pod (i'm not so good at multitasking while trying to run).


http://connect.garmin.com/dashboard?cid=2522571

I started out running to my newest play list:

Drop it Low- Ester Dean
Blame it - Jamie Foxx
Whatcha Say - Jason Derullo
Empire State of mind- Jay Z
Need you now- Lady Antebellum
Bad Romance- Lady Gaga
How Low- Ludacris
Party in the USA- Miley Cyrus
Becky - Plies
Medicine - Plies
Rude Boy - Rihanna
The way I are - Timbaland
5 Star- Gotti

Then I decided this wasn't working for me. It was to upbeat. I wasn't trying to run fast, just a steady pace, and that music wasn't helping me relieve any stress- It was getting me all worked up. So I changed it up to some Kenny Chesney. I love love love some Kenny. He has great caribbean music, aww, makes me relax!

work-out FAIL!

..and its all Brighthouse fault! Yesterday morning our internet was out. I tried to get online before I left for work and couldn't. At first I attributed it to my super moody computer.. Then after I had rebooted it 3 times i figured it probably wasn't the computer's fault. I looked at our modem thing for BH and only one of the lights was lit up.. I didn't try the phone or the cable- wasn't thinking that far ahead so early in the morning! Fast Forward to 7pm last night- I'm getting off work and trying to call Chris at home- the phone call won't go through. I call BH... the idiot lady tells me she can't do anything unless i'm at home? So you mean to tell me you can't check to see if there is an outage in our area unless i'm at home... IDIOT. i really dislike BH.   Chris calls me from his cell phone and says everything is out. cable,internet,phone.. I call BH back... next, smarter, lady tells me. Oh yes there is an outage and they are working on it.....which i see as i pull into our road bc there are 2 BH trucks sitting there.... So I couldn't do my on-demand workouts bc the stupid cable wasn't working. FAIL! instead we watched Ghosts of Girlfriend's past w/ Matthew Mcconaughy. Pretty cute movie.

In other news I am so sick of this cold. I mean c'mon. I only have so many sweatshirts, and i'm sure the people at work are sick of seeing the same three that I have in rotation. It's to cold in the office to not where a hoodie all day & scrub pants are exactly warm. I spend the majority of my day freezin my tail off! It's quite miserable.

Today I am going to run. I get off at 3:30, Chris & I meet w/ the bank at 5, so I can get a good long run in. Hallelujah!

Potato Soup. yum!

As I said, one of my 2010 goals is to make a new recipe each week. Potato Soup is my recipe for the week. I've been wanting some for a while now. I am used to my step dads, which is totally delish! But this is not my step dads potato soup.

I got the recipe from "Fix it and Forget it Cookbook" .

Here it is:

This whole cook book is for 3-4qt crockpots.. Our is 7qt. So I usually modify the recipes some. We usually have alot of leftovers, but they always get eaten.

6 potatoes, peeled and cubed
2 leeks, chopped
2 onions, chopped
1 rib celery, sliced
4 chicken bouillon cubs
1 Tbsp. dried parsley flakes
5 cups water
1 Tbsp. salt , Pepper to taste
1/3 cup butter
13oz can evaporated milk
chopped chives

1. Combine all ingredients execpt milk and chives in slow cooker.

2. Cover. Cook on Low 10-12 hrs, or High 3-4hrs.  Stir in milk during the last hour.

3. If desired, mash potatoes before serving

4. garnish with chives.

 Next time i plan on adding some turkey sausage. we also put a little bit of cheese on top after we scooped it into our dinner bowls.

Jennie-O Smoked Turkey

soo it's probably not the most "healthy" selection of turkey I could have chosen, but it sure was easy and tasty. I have been searching for healthier "meat". I decided we would try out some turkey. So I saw this turkey thing at wal-mart last week while i was grocery shopping. It was two pre-seasoned turkey breasts. They were Applewood bacon seasoned or something like that. All we had to do was cut open the package, put them in a baking dish and in the oven they go. This worked out perfect for tonight. I had to work until 7 tonight so this was very easy for Chris to prepare. We had some cream corn to go with it.. again- i realize this was not the healthiest of meals..but that's what we had.

Now I am about to go do Day 8 of Jillian Michaels 30 Day Shred.

**I'm still thinking hardcore about the 3 day to the cure 60 mile walk.** Talked..well sort of..thru e-mail... to a girl who is on a team that is doing the walk. Possibly joining up with that team. Still going to the meeting Monday night in Lakeland to get more info on the walk. But I really am excited about it. I think i can try enough by October to complete 60 miles. =)

Susan G. Komen 3 day to the cure

Susan G. Komen 3 days to the cure

I heard about this event on the radio today after we got back from my run. I came home and went on the website and i'm itching to do this walk. Incase you haven't gone to the website yet its a 60miles walk in 3 days. The walk is in Tampa The proceeds go to the Susan G. Komen foundation. Each walker is responsible for raising $2300- this is a bit intimidating, but I REALLY want to do this walk.

I have no family members, that I know of, that have or had breast cancer. I "know" two people who have breast cancer. One was a women I worked with at a previous employer, and the second is the mother of someone I went to school with.

I just think this is a great organization to support. I haven't decided for sure if I'm going to do it. Chris said he would do it with me. That would be totally awesome if we could do it together.If Chris decides he doesn't want to do it with me then I can find a team to join, or I could do it by myself (not ideal).. 

So I will be comtemplating on this for a few days. I am signed up to go to an informational meeting on Jan 11 in Lakeland. 

Raising $2300 really makes me nervous. I don't even know where to begin. I have started writing some things down. & If Chris decides to do it with me then we will be responsible for $4600...plus $90 registration fee each. $4600 REALLY  makes me nervous!  
If you have any ideas let me know. I'm so not creative so i'm going to need help! 

Saturday & Sunday runs..

I had two good days of running.

Saturday: Chris & I got up and went to the Teco trail in Auburndale. Chris rides his bike while I run. Running is to much impact on his ankle, but bike riding is perfect for his ankle. So I am training for a 10k, and I need to start upping my mileage. Yesterday was my first 5mi run. I felt great the whole time. It was about 43degrees when we set out on the trail. I was layered. I had yoga pants on, a long sleeve C9 shirt from Target, an underarmour hoodie. I had on a beanie, gloves, and i also had the hood of my hoodie up. I made it to about 3mi before i started taking stuff off. i started with my gloves and worked my way through what I had on till I got to my sports bra and my pants. Lol. I was so hot. When we got back to the parking lot there were 2 ladies on bikes and one of them made a big ol' fuss about the fact that I only had on a sports bra.

Sunday:  Today Chris & I got up and went to a trail in Winter Haven and goes into Lake Alfred. We parked in downtown Winter Haven and headed out. I was only going to do 4-5 miles. Then Chris said "c'mon babe you can do 6 miles, whats one more mile".... so the stupid competitiveness in me kicked in and I had to complete the 6 miles. It actually wasn't bad. Again it was 42 degrees when we left. Today i only wore pants, a tank top and my underarmour hoodie. i also wore gloves and beanie.. I took my sweatshirt and beanie off at 4 miles. It was a good run. I felt really good. I know its not recommended to up mileage that quickly...  Afterwards we went to tropical smoothie and i got a delish low cal Hawaiian Breeze smoothie, yum yum!!!

I found another 10k i might want to register for in February. This one is in Christmas, FL and its a trail run, not on paved roads. I think it will be fun, i'm leaning more towards that one then then the 10k in Melbourne!

I also found a race in January that I am going to run. It's the Citrus Classic in Auburndale. i'm excited! I love races!

Hello 2010!!

2010 is here. It's a new year full of changes and new things. 

This year will be full of running for me: I have three running goals for 2010:  

1. Run 1000 miles = about 20mi/wk. 
2. Run a race every month
3. Run at least 1 half-marathon

I also have some cooking goals for this year: Finding new things to cook seems to be a challenge. I have a few cook books, and unlimited access to the internet, and food blogs galore.. Food goals:

1. Make a new dish once a week
2. Use the crock pot at least once a week.
3. Eat less beef
4. Eat more chicken & turkey (Chris doesn't LOVE chicken, so finding chicken dishes that he loves is going    to be a challenge in itself)

This year is going to be full of challenges. I'm excited to go further with running. I'm excited to cook new things. Ready! Set! Gooooo!!!!

2009 in Review.

I saw this on someone else blog and I'm totally stealing the idea! This is my year in review- pictures and everything =)

January 2009- I lied. I don't have any pictures for January. I can barely remember January. I know it was busy busy busy with wedding stuff. We were finishing up the final touches for our Feb 7 wedding. Oh, I have some pictures... My bachelorette party was in January. My sister Stacey threw it for me. We went to Houlihans for dinner (I don't recommed it. The service was slow, and the food was half assed for how expensive it was)



February 2009- Our wedding of course. Amazing day! We got married at Sand Key Park in Clearwater Florida. The week before our wedding was "Freezing" by Florida standards. I was a little worried that we would be cold standing out on the beach on our wedding day. The weather turned out to be perfect! It was a beautiful day. The sky was clear, the water was calm. It was amazing! We could not have asked for a better day!

 March 2009: Ohh March. In March we went to Georgia a few times to visit our friends Kelly & Casey.. We liked it to much we thought about moving. We looked at rental houses, and looked for jobs. We were in GA the first wknd of March and it snowed, hard. The first snow they'd had in quite a few years. It was really fun, and pretty exciting. But really cold....We decided to stay in FL. Ha Ha Ha!

JK, the snow is not what made us decide to stay in FL. We went fishing one weekend over in Ft. Desoto- we were driving across the causeway and we just looked at each other and decided we couldn't leave the beach. We are beach bums. We love the ocean & the beach. We were meant to Florida.

April 2009 : Hmm, April. What was exciting about April? Well, it was Kailyn's 5th birthday. It was the 4 year anniversary of Chris' breaking his ankle. We went on our 2nd "mini-moon" .... Due to the economy taking a crap and Chris' job not being all that busy we weren't able to go on our original honeymoon to Costa Rica. We stayed in Orlando at a hotel after our wedding. Then we took a few days off the week of our original honeymoon. We went camping on Shell Key in Ft Desoto, FL. It was actually really fun. The island has nothing on it. We loaded up our jon boat with everything that we thought we would need and headed to the island for a 3 day camping adventure. http://harneytoadsprincess.blogspot.com/2009/05/camping-at-shell-key-preserve.html (see that post for a recap of our adventure)

May 2009:  We fished alot in May. We went on our first fishing charter, and on the same day we drove to the other side of the state and fished the other coast. We clearly love to fish. http://harneytoadsprincess.blogspot.com/2009/05/for-love-of-fishing.html


My friend Sherry & I also started walking/jogging/bike riding this month to get ready for our July vacation. We also laid out every chance we got to work on our tans for vacation! =)

June 2009:  Aidyn turned 1!! Stacey turned 22!! & Chris turned 28!!!  It rained alot in June. We also got the newest edition to our family in June. Meet Wyatt!






July 2009: I changed my hair color from blonde to light brown to dark dark brown...  We went on a week long fishing trip in Englewood with some friends of ours. We had a great time. We stayed in a hotel right on the beach. We fished every day. We slept on the beach more then we did our hotel room- literally. We fished all night and slept very little during the day in our room. Sherry & I had sleeping on the beach down to a science by the end of the week. We knew exactly what to take to be "comfortable" staying on the beach all night. It was alot of fun!

August 2009:  I can't think of anything about August. My Mom's bday is in August- I won't tell you how old she turned, she'll kill me. My dad's bday is in August, my step moms bday is in August, My step dad's bday, and my Grandma Bonnie's bday is in August.. That gets alot of b-days out of the way huh? I really can't think of anything exciting about August.

September 2009:  In September we took Carly on her first fishing extravaganza for Labor Day Weekend! She also got married the next weekend! Exciting month!

October 2009:  This was a big month for me. I signed up, trained for, and completed my first 5k.  I ran in the Community In Pink 5k . My time was 31:07, which i was pretty pleased with considering it was my very first race.

November 2009:  I ran my second 5k. I ran in the Bartow Turkey Chase. It was alot of fun. I PR'd. My finish time was 26:30, and I placed first in my age group!

We also decided to start looking for a house to buy. The time is right for us. We encountered a set back, but we got it all cleared up and we are on the go for a house.







December 2009:  December was a busy month for us. We are still house hunting. We have some stuff in the works. I will update on that later when I have some more permanent information.

I also ran my 3rd 5k in December. I ran in the Santa Sprint 5k. It was a good race. It was cold. The course was in a shopping plaza, not my favorite, nothing to look at, and pretty boring, but all in all it was a good race. I PR'd, 25:40. I placed first in my age group.

I decided that I am going to start training for a 10k & a half-marathon. Happy New Year!