All posts by harkey12

Finally Fall!

Daily Life!, Food for Thought,

Happy Fall, everyone!

photo(81)My Fall decorations returned yesterday evening, no thanks to Mac. He cried and barked through the whole ordeal. He’s especially bothered by this cute little scarecrow wreath. But I got all my goodies up despite his ill-spirit!

photo(83) photo(82)Yay for Fall! I’ve been anticipating the official start for a few weeks, so I was very excited for today to roll around! Nick arrived home from visiting his parents to find the house extra festive. My fireplace mantle makes me very happy, especially with my fake fire burnin’!

Breakfast

This morning started in typical Sunday fashion.

photo(80)Sunday newspaper ads + oatmeal + coffee! And today’s coffee was festive to celebrate the start of Fall. My house smelled like spicy pumpkin-goodness when I woke up thanks to the Dunkin Donuts Pumpkin Spice, so I kept my cup full all morning!

photo(79)Yum! Gotta love a good caffeine buzz to start your Sunday off right.

I walked Mac after a few cups of coffee to get a my body moving a little before I taught a 9 AM Jazzercise class. My quads were BEYOND sore from my long run yesterday, so I was very okay with only getting in a quick walk plus my class for my workout today.

Lunch was a grilled chicken and spinach salad at a Mexican restaurant with Nick as soon as he returned from his trip. I forgot to snap a pic because our normal go-to Mexican place, La Mision, changed over the last week so we were trying out the new franchise that has taken over the location. It’s called Las Margaritas, and it was okay. But it was a little more expensive, and we really missed the homey feeling we got from the hispanic family that owned it previously.

Thankfully, the salad was good and extra healthy. And healthy dishes were basically non-existent on the La Mision menu. We may try it again. Or we may try the other new Mexican restaurant that opened up next door to Las Margaritas. I’ve gotta a feeling our beloved La Mision family has moved next door under a new name. Stay tuned!

The rest of the afternoon consisted of a final fitting of my bridesmaid dress for Katie’s wedding this weekend! It fit (thankfully!). And then it was onto some light grocery shopping with Nick. BTW, avoid the grocery store at all costs if you are health-conscious at all. There is Halloween candy everywhere!!! It was literally haunting me the entire time we were in the store. Luckily, I have Katie’s wedding as incentive to not gain any extra weight/bloat this week from candy. After the wedding?? The candy may win. Time will tell how strong my willpower is.

Dinner

Dinner was quick and easy. I had some lean ground beef that needed to be used. So Nick picked out an old favorite at the store.

photo(77)Hamburger Helper is always okay by me. Supa simple! And he’ll gladly eat the leftovers (which is rare – he’s soooo picky).

photo(78)I quickly made this for our dinner along with some green stuff on the side to make myself feel healthier.

photo(84)Little spinach salad and some steamed broccoli. Yumm! It felt good to get some veggies in my belly.

Now we’re just watching some Duck Dynasty reruns, and I’m trying to pull my brain together before this busy week begins. I did take a moment to make a batch of Pumpkin Pie Overnight Oats though. Can’t wait to dig into those tomorrow!

Tomorrow morning will start bright and early with a 5:40 AM Jazzercise class. Hopefully my students are a little more awake this week! Enjoy your first evening of Fall!

 

Mac & Cheese Long Run

Food for Thought, Workouts, , , ,

Happy Saturday morning to ya! Hope you had a great start to your weekend last night. Mac and I hit the sack early and slept for a little more than 8 hours! It’s so nice to wake up without an alarm.

We rolled out of bed at 7 AM feeling refreshed and ready to hit the pavement. I checked the weather to find that is was 48 degrees outside! Nippy!! I pulled on some running tights and  a long-sleeve Lululemon top that I bought just for mornings like this and set off to accomplish something I’ve never done before: 6.2 miles.

Obviously Mac had to sit this one out. Like I’ve mentioned in the past, anything over 1.5 miles makes his ‘tiny dog syndrome’ kick in, and I have to drag and/or carry him the rest of the way if I want to keep running.

The run was fairly easy for me today, and my running pace was immediately faster than normal. I’m going to chalk this up to the cooler temps.

photo(76)I made it in record time! Well, according to my records at least. 🙂 It felt great to run that final stretch down my street and have my Runkeeper app tell me I was over my goal of 6.2 miles. I’m so ready for my 10K on October 12th! I was most worried about making the distance without stopping, but now that I know I can do it, I only need to focus on maintaining my endurance and possibly increasing my time.

So you’re wondering why I called this post the Mac & Cheese Long Run? Well because it was exactly that…

Kraft Factory
Kraft Factory

This is the Kraft Factory that I run by each time I mention going on longer runs. Yes, Kraft as in the Macaroni and Cheese that we all know and love. Most days, the parking lot is full, and I can see smoke coming out of those pipes. But today was slightly different. I got right next to the building (on the sidewalk of course), and I could smell Kraft’s macaroni and cheese just like there was a big bowl sitting right in front of my face!

kraft mac cheese blue boxUmm YUM!! I continued to smell the delicious cheesy stuff for about another mile. I even changed my breathing from my mouth to my nose (which I don’t like doing) so I could get a good whiff of it!

The craziest thing to me is how Kraft’s mac and cheese has such a distinct smell and taste compared to a homemade mac and cheese. It’s very distinguishable! And when you’re about 4 miles into your run, it makes it hard to focus when all you want is a big bowl of carbs to dig into. But I got quite a kick out of it. People driving by probably thought I was crazy as the whole thing had me laughing out loud at myself. So lesson learned: keep your nose ready for some cheesy goodness if you’re ever running down Bennett street in Springfield!

Breakfast

I made it home from my run and stretched well while sipping some water to rehydrate. I was then ready for coffee and FOOD! I brewed my Candy Corn flavored coffee this morning from Target and immediately poured myself a big mug full along with a splash of Pumpkin Pie Spice creamer. It hit the spot after being chilly during my run! I wanted the warmth to continue. So I toasted some bread while I microwaved 2 eggs with a splash of almond milk.

photo(72)A little raspberry jelly perfected this sandwich with the awesome combo of salty and sweet. My eggs got extra nice and poofy in the microwave making my sandwich extra filling!

photo(74)Mmmmmmmm eggy goodness. This hefty sandwich left me super satisfied, but I also had a small cup of Greek yogurt on the side for extra protein.

photo(73)And now I’m very full but still sipping on the coffee. I can’t get enough of the Fall-flavored coffees. But tomorrow is the FIRST DAY OF FALL!!! So my obsession is finally legitimate.

The rest of today will be spent teaching a Jazzercise class (yes, I’m crazy, I know) and doing some Fall decorating with a tiny and extremely whiny dog.

photo(75)For some reason, every time Nick leaves for a longer amount of time, Mac goes into this annoying & whiny mode until he returns. I may have to go to Hobby Lobby to A) Look at all the Fall decor that is 40% off today! and B) Get away from my annoying furry baby for a bit. I love him, but momma can only handle so much.

Have a great Saturday! Get out there and carve some pumpkins or something!

Simple Cucumber & Tomato Quinoa Salad

Recipes, , , ,

I know what you’re thinking….yay, yet another recipe for quinoa. And I admit, I do agree that there are a TON of quinoa salad recipes out there right now. Mine isn’t extra different, but it is supa easy and supa quick. So if you’re in need of something to take to a party/get-together, hopefully this can help you out!

photo(81)I made this for my Kappa Delta Alum meeting that I went to last night, and it was a big hit! The amount I made was A LOT, so feel free to cut the recipe in half, etc. The quinoa grows a lot after it gets done boiling, so expect to have leftovers!

Simple Cucumber & Tomato Quinoa Salad

Ingredients:

  • 3 cups quinoa, rinsed
  • 4 cups water
  • 1 1/2 cups cherry tomatoes
  • 1 medium cucumber
  • 1/2 small red onion
  • 1,  4 oz. package crumbled feta cheese
  • 3/4 cup  zesty light Italian dressing
  • 1 tsp Dill weed
  • Salt/pepper to taste

Bring the 4 cups of water to a boil. Stir in the 3 cups of quinoa, bring back to a boil, cover, and reduce heat until the mixture is at a nice low boil. Let the quinoa simmer for 15 minutes. Then take it off the heat, stir, and quickly recover to let it sit for around 5-10 minutes. This is where the quinoa will finish soaking up the water and will continue to grow!

While you let the quinoa cool, chop up your tomatoes, cucumber, and onion into small chunks. Once the quinoa is mostly cool, stir in your chopped veggies. Next stir in the Italian dressing, dill weed, and salt & pepper. Your salad may need more or less dressing, so add the liquid slowly until you know how much dressing is right for your mixture. You want it to be fairly ‘dry’; your quinoa should not be dripping with dressing!

Last, mix in the feta cheese by gently folding it in. You want to be able to still see the chunks, so don’t over-mix! I found this awesome stuff at my grocery store that definitely added an extra kick of flavor.

13308535Tomato basil feta = yum! Plain feta will do the job as well, no worries.

You can serve the salad immediately, but I found it’s the best to cover it and refrigerate an hour or so (or even overnight!) to really let the quinoa start to soak up the yummy flavors. I personally let mine sit overnight and had to add a little more dressing before serving it yesterday. I think the quinoa starts to soak up the dressing, so if you need extra dressing, just keep it handy!

photo(84)Super fresh, easy, and healthy! It was a hit with our BBQ meal last night. And I’ll be enjoying it for a few more days. 🙂

photo(83)Happy cooking!