Where's the Beach?

Family Day Recap Today was the first day since I've been off work (since Wednesday) that wasn't jam packed. In other words, I was able to sleep in guilt free. We had no place to be. The only thing that we actually had planned was to get in a run if the weather was decent. The forecast kept changing, so the last we saw said rain. It was a pleasant surprise to see sunshine and blue skies rather than the dreary, gray skies we had yesterday. Oh, yesterday...that family-filled day. We left home at 10:45 in the morning and didn't get home until after 9 pm. Needless to say, the dogs were very unhappy and we were very worn out. The day started at my sister's for lunch of a brunch menu that consisted of 2 types of frittatas, fruit salad, bagels, sausage (for the meat eaters), and my mom made a gluten-free coffee cake as well.     It was so fun watching the kids open up their gifts. It was definitely a cooking type of Christmas for them. I had found these super cute Curious...

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all of my readers! Kitchen Day Yesterday I spent about 7 hours in the kitchen. I made and jarred spaghetti sauce, cooked lentils then made a lentil loaf for dinner, roasted up acorn squash, baked bread, and put together treat bags (to get rid of leftover treats made for the brunch party). It was worth it of course, but man my feet were tired. Oh and my walls were covered with spaghetti sauce along with stove, counter, floor, me... You know you're Italian when... Christmas Eve Dinner Since Jason and I won't be home until late tomorrow and would definitely be too stuffed to eat a Christmas dinner at home, I made a Christmas Eve meal for us instead. I made a Chipotle Lentil Loaf topped with my Chipotle Cranberry Relish , roasted sweet potatoes seasoned with rosemary, thyme, salt & pepper, and sauteed kale with cranberries. Chipotle Lentil Loaf Ingredients: 2 cups dried lentils 6 cups water 1 not-beef bouillon cube Dehydrated w...

Chili Night  So last night we donned the PJs early and just sat around and relaxed. I made the Chipotle Tempeh Chili while Jason flipped around the TV: between Iron Man Kona and Miracle on 34th Street. Once the chili was done, we opted for a funny, light-hearted move, The Tooth Fairy . I have to say that I was really skeptical, but it was really a cute movie. Bed time came fairly early. More Shopping and a Painful Run This morning Sarah and I both started out with some oatmeal, then a trip to Kohl's and back to the mall. We had an expired coupon printed for New York and Company for an extra $40 off. There was a new one that I hadn't printed, but they said we could bring that in with the merchandise to get the difference. Um, for $40, totally worth it. When we got home, Sarah decided she wanted to try one of my new Cathe DVDs - High Reps . She did the leg workout along with abs and said it was totally kick butt. Shaky legs (her words)! She cleaned up, packed up, and heade...

You Want Pictures? You guys crack me up. I think every single comment had a demand for pictures of the Christmas sweater I wore to the ugly sweater party. How could I possibly deny such a request??? But first, I must say, I was the only one who actually owned my sweater! Yep, it was mine already. In fact, it was given to me by my mom last year. I love her dearly, but will never ever understand what compelled her to buy me that sweater. At least I had a reason to wear it though right? Here are two pictures. One of the girls actually had a sweater with light!   I'll admit, I most definitely felt frumpy in the sweater. Was not feeling uber attractive at all. But at least I wasn't alone, even and my friend made her sweet Beagle Bella wear one too! Chest & Kickboxing This morning was sunny but super cold and windy beyond explanation. It sounded like rain the wind was blowing so hard. Definitely not run-inspiring weather so there was no urge whatsoever! I did a few chores li...

Friday Follow Up Believe it or not, we did not have pizza last night per the norm. We met up with some friends at a recently opened Irish pub called Dugan's downtown fairly close to our house. A good friend has just leased a condo in that same building on one of the upper floors so he came down to joins us as well. We hung out until a bit after 8 then went up to check out his new place. We were all starved so we ended up heading back to our house where I threw together dinner. We had cranberries left from Thanksgiving so I made another batch of the Chipotle Cranberry Relish to go with Quorn cutless, roasted potatoes and lima beans. I flaked out on the veggie side part so it ended up being a random can of lima beans I had in the cabinet. I was out of OJ for the relish so I ended up adding in some unsweetened applesauce and apple cider vinegar. It turned out just as tasty as the original. I didn't take pictures of the meal - I was hungry ;-) 1-Mile This morning started off ...

Vegetarian Thanksgiving  So I finally got around to making our vegetarian-friendly Thanksgiving meal last night. I was so looking forward to the menu. We had talked about it all week and finally agreed upon something we both were excited to try: Apple and Kabocha Kale  Quorn Turk'y Roast with homemade Chipotle Cranberry Relish Honey Mustard Roasted New Potatoes Homemade wheat rolls Apple and Kabocha Kale Ingredients: 1/4 cup red quinoa 3/4 cup water 1 small bunch kale, cleaned, rough chop 1/2 honeycrisp apple 1/2 small white onion, thinly sliced 1/2 kabocha squash, cubed and roasted* OJ To taste: salt, pepper, agave nectar Directions: In saucepan, bring water and quinoa to boil then lower to a simmer, cover, and cook 15 minutes. In large skillet, saute onions for approximately 3 minutes. Add in kale and orange juice and allow the kale to begin to cook down. Add in apples, quinoa, and seasonings and continue to cook until kale is soft (or to desired textu...