Category Archives: Food for Thought

Early Morning Pie Baking

Daily Life!, Food for Thought, , , , ,

Happy Friday everybody! Are we all excited for the weekend? We’ve made it through another week, folks, and I must say it feels pretty good.

Well from the post title, I’m sure you can tell what I did this morning. And it didn’t involve a workout!

image(10)I baked some PIES! Yummm!

I woke up at my usual time of 5 AM, but I didn’t rush out the door for my typical run or workout. I had the bottom crust in the oven for the apple pie before I was even out of my pajamas, and I stayed busy right until I hopped in the shower at 6:30.

I baked the bottom crust for the apple pie for about 10 minutes before I added the filling.

image(15) photo(50)I love pie, but I hate when the bottom crust isn’t cooked all the way. Hopefully this solves my problem! I added the top crust and covered this baby with aluminum foil so the crust wouldn’t get burnt.

image(14)I took off the foil 30 minutes in, and let it finish baking with 15 more minutes.

photo(33) image(12)Perfect! Apple pie is Nick’s favorite, so this one will win me brownie points for at least the next month or so. 🙂

And as soon as I got this out of my oven, I put my Crustless Cranberry Pie in!

image(13) photo(32)It also came out perfectly! Or so I think….I haven’t tasted it yet. But the batter I licked out of the bowl was pretty awesome.

I found this recipe on AllRecipes.com and slightly adapted it this morning to make it work for me! I added around 3 tbsp of milk because the batter way WAY too dry. I also added a pinch of baking soda and used whole wheat flour instead of white.

image(11)I just love that it’s so pretty and turned out fairly well on my first attempt. Win! I can’t wait to try this pie out tomorrow night after our big feast at my parent’s house. Since it’s full of fruit and walnuts, my dad should hopefully love it!

Early Thanksgiving

Tomorrow will consist of an Early Thanksgiving at my parent’s house, and I’m so excited to go visit! This meal will be a small gathering of my parents, Nick and I, and my brother and his wife. Along with our doggies. 🙂

With my pies out of the way, all I have to do is put together my sweet potatoes, and we’ll be set to go! I’ll put the casserole together tomorrow morning and bake it once we arrive in Hartville. Which reminds me, I can’t forget to take the marshmallows!

Aside from my food contributions, my mom will be providing the rest of our meal, from the turkey and stuffing, to the pecan pie. Her food is always the best, so I’m excited to let my inner fat kid run free tomorrow evening.

Tomorrow I’m planning on waking up early and getting in my normal Saturday long run before we leave. I have 9 miles on the schedule, but I’m feeling ambitious, so I think I will just run for 1.5 hours and see how far I can make it. I’m guessing I’ll make it a little over 10 miles before I have to head home. And this will clear out a nice, big hole in my tummy for lotsa eatin’!!

See you all later when I’m back in the land of Internet! I love my family home, but Hartville is so far out in the country that my parents are still on dial-up…I know. So I’ll have lots to share when we make it back on Sunday. Have a great weekend!

Running in the Rain

Food for Thought, Running, , ,

Happy Wednesday! We’ve made it through half the week. Woo! I also saw on Facebook (via Dede!) that it is National Peanut Butter Fudge Day!  Is anyone celebrating? I would love to participate in this random holiday!

Rainy Morning Run

I hope your morning started off a little better than mine did. I didn’t sleep very well, and when my alarm went off at 5 AM, I drug my tired body out of bed to get my running gear on.

When I had checked the forecast last night, there was no rain in site for my morning run. Fantastic! or so I thought…. I even mentioned at Jazzercise last night (2x!) that I was so excited to run in the morning without a chance of rain finally. Well I should’ve kept my mouth shut! When I pulled up my weather app  this morning, there were green blobs all over Springfield. Boo. So I stuck my head out the front door to make a decision. It was still dry as a bone, so I got dressed and headed out anyways.

Less than 5 minutes down the road, and it started raining on me…yuck! It was 40 degrees and windy. This made the light rain pretty unpleasant. I wanted to turn around and go home so bad, but I knew I’d be frustrated if I didn’t try to just stick it out. So I just stayed on my route, and luckily the rain completely stopped by the time I got home. I’m so glad I didn’t turn around! I made it to 7 miles in just under an hour, making the rain seem not so bad. 🙂

photo(32)And with this run out of the way, I’ll be free tonight to get some things done! Laundry first off, a dark walk with Mac, and then lots of other odds and ends as the next few weekends will be spent away from my house.

I may also try to experiment with the massive Sam’s Club-sized bag of fresh cranberries that I bought this weekend. I have about 4 pounds of fresh cranberries ready to be used…somehow.

cranberry-sauce-001This isn’t my picture, but imagine all these small bags being combined into one huge one. And that’s what I have to use up. But luckily they say they freeze well!

I found a recipe for a yummy-sounding Crustless Cranberry pie on allrecipes.com.

photo(33)It looks amazing and is really simple, so I’ll be making this for Thanksgiving at my parent’s house this weekend. But tonight I would love to maybe just experiment with some cookies or bread. There are tons of awesome holiday recipes out there on Pinterest right now, so hopefully one will strike my fancy this evening! Plus after my run this morning, I think a warm cranberry cookie is well deserved.

Have a great evening everyone! See you all tomorrow!

Calf Compression Sleeves

Food for Thought, Running, , ,

So I know I keep saying over and over….running is a learning experience for me. And training for my first half marathon has really kept me on my toes. I’m not even halfway through my training plan, and I feel like I’ve already learned SO much!

About 4 weeks into my life as a ‘real’ runner, I found some calf compression sleeves on Groupon goods. I thought I should give them a try! Well they finally arrived over the weekend, and I’m in LOVE!

image(7)I spent $20 on these babies, and they are worth every penny. It feels amazing to wear these things post-long run. Mac is still unsure about them though.

photo(129)I swear Nick thinks I’m turning into some crazy, psycho runner. But I’m really not. I just know what feels good after I’ve run 10 miles on a Saturday morning!

But I must confess, I bought something else. It was kinda premature, but it was on sale and I couldn’t resist.

photo(2)Isn’t it cute?! I’m hoping it doesn’t ship super fast. I don’t want to be tempted to wear it before my race in January. At this point in my training, I know I’m going to kill my first half, but I want to wait until I’ve officially crossed that finish line to start gloating by wearing things like this. 🙂

Lunch

So my lunch yesterday and today has been the same thing: a salad the size of my head.

photo(32)I put some romaine + spinach + carrots + broccoli + cauliflower + radishes into this large tupperware container. Then I poured in some balsamic dressing, put the lid on, and shook it all up. It was easiest and yummiest tossed salad I’ve had in a while. Plus, it was so much food that I wasn’t craving anything else. Win!

I usually eat more than this for my midday meal (more protein, etc), but I feel like I just haven’t been eating very clean/healthy lately. So I’m trying to stuff my belly full of fresh fruit and veggies this week before my 2 weekends of Thanksgiving meals begins! Plus, I know I just feel better if I don’t overeat. Eating too much before sitting at my desk all afternoon puts me in a food coma for the rest of the day. So just a little note while we are on this subject of healthy eating…

eat-like-crapI need to print this and put it up all over my kitchen!

Well this evening will consist of 2 Jazzercise classes right after work. Then tomorrow morning I will squeeze in my mid-week run of 6+ miles before work. I’ve already told myself that I will just run for an hour and see how far that gets me! If I can run at the pace I’ve been hitting lately, around 8:20-8:40/mile, I’ll be close to 7 miles by the time I hit the 1 hour mark. Fingers crossed for good weather. 🙂  Have a great night!