ROAD TRIP to get ice cream.  All three of us wanted ice cream so we hit the toad to Tasty Treat on Coventry Ave. in Utica.

I noticed the ad in the newspaper the other day for Tasty Treats boasting that they serve Doggy Sundaes.  PERFECT!

Shane was so excited!

Even though too much of it isn’t good for him (he’s a bit “lactose intolerant”), he is allowed to indulge once in a while.

Soft serve vanilla with a little whipped cream and two doggy bones.  It was the perfect size!

In case you’re wondering, I couldn’t resist either and got a no sugar added Pistachio cone

The ice cream was enjoyed all around.

MORE MOM! – so he finished the last little piece of my cone and we were all happy.

CEimB – ROASTED VEGETABLES, TUSCANY STYLE

A recipe choice by Margaret of Tea and Scones.  Margaret’s site is so warm and welcoming.  Head on over to see the original recipe and how it turned out for her.  As for us, even without the Chicken (original recipe is Tuscan Roasted Chicken and Vegetables) it was a hit.

The original recipe is Tuscan Roasted Chicken and Vegetables but one of us doesn’t eat chicken and the mix of flavors in this recipe looked so appealing, I didn’t want to miss out. Omitting the chicken allowed both Ted and I to enjoy these robust roasted veggies.

• 6 Roma tomatoes
• 2 medium zucchini
• 1 fennel bulb
• 3 TBS olive oil
• ¾ tsp salt
• 4 tsp minced garlic
• juice and zest of one lemon
• fresh ground pepper to taste
• 2 fresh rosemary sprigs

Preheat oven to 375 F.

Cut tomatoes lengthwise then into quarters. Trim the zucchini and cut into 1 inch chunks.

Remover outer layer of fennel. Cut the remaining bulb in half so each half retains part of the stem. Cut each half into 8 wedges (stem attached if you can).

Put the veg. into a large pan. Toss with 2 TBS oil and ¼ tsp salt.

In a bowl, mix the remaining oil, salt, garlic, lemon juice and zest. Pour over the veg and toss to coat.

Roast for 30 minutes. Add the rosemary sprigs and continue cooking for another 10 – 15 minutes.

Absolutely wonderful!

Before getting into the Ellie Krieger recipe of the week, I’ll tell you about the workouts this week that have been different from my usual routine.  It’s good to get out of a comfort zone, right? No matter how difficult or intimidating it is.

Monday: This was routine.  Cross Train with the elliptical for 30 minutes. Weight train chest & arms for 25 minutes. Easy run with Shane for just under 4 1/2 miles.  Typical.

Tuesday:  This was a bit different.  I ran on the treadmill for speed work, 6 miles.  Worked my legs and stomach in the weight room.  Ran with Shane for 4.3 miles outside.  During my morning excursions, I picked up some bagels from Panera’s.  Three were multi grain (good girl!), one was a French Toast bagel (bad girl!). Ted had a nibble of the GINORMOUS F/T bagel and I took the rest to work.  It was my means of motivation.  You see, I CRAVE bread. Love it!  Naturally bagels are my favorite form of bread.  I wondered whether a huge bagel in the afternoon would help me with my energy level for afternoon running?  I ate the rest of the bagel and 1 1/2 hours later went for a 5 mile run.  Slow start but legs didn’t feel as heavy.  Average pace was 9.3 for 5 miles.  Total for the day 15 miles. It seems a carbohydrate increase in my diet is going to be necessary for PM running.

It was a piece-meal way to get my long run in for the week but based on the plans for the rest of the week, it seemed the only way to do it.

Wednesday:  Another day of different.  Walked with Shane in the morning.  Ted asked me to go to Jamesville with him for the practice swim, bike, run.  Since I haven’t swam more than 4 laps of the pool without stopping, I was nervous about the swim to say the least.  I decided to take on the challenge since ONE, the park had an open swim area, and TWO, there was a 200 meter swim distance offered. The cycling didn’t bother me, only wondering if I could keep up with Ted since the farthest I’ve peddled this year has been 11 miles.  The run I was looking forward to doing.  It would be interesting to see how my legs felt after doing a BRICK.

This is how it went …

The beach was closed except for the CNYTri club practice.  I just didn’t have enough confidence to muster up the courage to swim. Skipped it. But Ted had an AWESOME 400 meter swim!

We both rode the bikes for just over 10 miles (by Ted’s gage) and averaged approx. 18 mph(32 min.).  That’s pretty good for me since it was only my 2nd ride of the year.  I had to keep up with Ted, knowing he wouldn’t leave me behind, if I rode slow, it would mess up his training.  My back hurt, my hamstrings ached, general discomfort overtook me and we had just started riding. BUT… we finished the ride. Then the run.  Ted had foot pain and could only go about a mile.  I finished the 5K and thought “How does he DO THIS?! This is WAY worse than a marathon and I didn’t even swim!”.

End result:  We did it.  I did a bike and run and Ted did a swim, bike, run.   The CNY Tri Club did a SUPER job of organizing this practice.  Safe and no pressure. It’s not a race it’s a PRACTICE.  They do it every week at Jamesville Beach.  It doesn’t matter what triathlon distance: Sprint, Olympic, Half, and can’t even imagine a FULL Ironman, but this is a good way to practice.  All you TRIATHLETES are AWESOME!  As for me, I’ll just keep running.

Now for Ellie…

This week’s Ellie Krieger recipe was chosen by Kayte of Grandma’s Kitchen Table.

Breakfast doesn’t get any easier.  It was, once again, a super delicious pick from the many Ellie recipes we chose from each week.

All you need is…

A loaf of raisin bread (cinnamon raisin bread if you follow the original recipe)

Walnut pieces

Plain Greek yogurt (non fat)

honey and some fruit

Measurements for 4 servings, each about 250 calories *depending on the bread you use.

1/2 cup walnut pieces (toast them if you like – I didn’t)

1/2 cup of the yogurt

2 tsp honey

8 slices of raisin bread (2 per person)

1 peach, apple, pear, or berries – sliced thin

Mix the walnuts, honey and yogurt together and chill.  This will keep up to 3 days in the fridge.

Toast the bread and spread about 1 TBS of the honey walnut spread on each slice.  Top with the cut fruit.

… and thoroughly enjoy the results of your labors.

DELISH!  Great pick, Kayte.

This week, Liz of MyTable,Their Table picked a great recipe for this house to enjoy.  Energy Bars!

Ellie Kreiger offers this recipe that is far from too sweet.  The bars were a perfect balance of fruit and nuts. 

Dried apricots are not very popular with us so pureeing them in the food processor with the rest of the ingredients was a great way to disguise their inclusion in this recipe.

Ingredients

• Cooking spray
• 1 cup quick cooking rolled oats
• 1/2 cup raw unsalted sunflower seeds
• 1/2 cup toasted wheat germ
• 1/4 cup whole-wheat pastry flour (used whole wheat flour)
• 1/2 cup dried apricots
• 1/2 cup raw almonds
• 1/2 cup raisins
• 1/2 cup pitted dried dates
• 1/2 cup powdered nonfat dry milk
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/3 cup pure maple syrup
• 2 large eggs

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Coat a 9 by 13-inch baking pan with cooking spray.

Place all ingredients except the syrup and eggs in a food processor and pulse until the mixture is finely chopped. Add the syrup and eggs and pulse until the mixture is well combined. It will resemble a coarse paste.

Transfer to the baking pan and spread evenly. Bake until just done, about 20 minutes

I did make a few changes:

Used Old Fashioned rolled oats instead of quick cooking.

Used raw pumpkin seeds instead of wheat germ.

Dried blueberries were used in place of raisins.  *I think this was one of the reasons why our bars were dry.  Raisins would have added more moisture than these tiny little blueberries.  Another reason may have been the swapping  of pumpkin seeds for wheat germ.

Sliced almonds were sprinkled on top of my bars before cooking.

*Suggestion for anyone who intends to make these:  When spreading the mixture into your 9 x 13 pan, keep wetting the back of a large spoon to spread.  The mixture is paste like and sticky.  It’s a real pain to spread unless you wet the spoon.

These were pretty good, a little dry but I’d make them again for sure.  Next time, I’ll use raisins.   

Good pick Liz.  I’ll use these beauties to fuel my workouts.

When I was on the plane to Chicago and reading my “Competitive Runner’s Handbook”, I came across the word “Sisu”.  It’s a Finnish word used by the Flying Finns to define mental toughness.  Sisu is working really hard for something you want to do and not giving up, as quoted by Lasse Viren.   Wikipedia says “The ability to sustain action against the odds”. 

Marathon training requires sisu.  Training for ANY race requires sisu. 

I’ve got Sisu!   How about you?  When do you have sisu?

CEimB healthy recipe of the week

I wasn’t going to make this weeks CEimB recipe since I made this recipe using pumpkin back in July.  But pumpkin is not strawberry and so this week, we made Whole Wheat Pancakes with Strawberry Sauce by Ellie Krieger.  Recipe chosen by Melissa of It’s Melissa’s Kitchen.

Once again and so out of nature, the recipe was followed to the tee with one exception:  I mixed the batter up the day before.  It separated over night but with a quick stir, it was ready to go.

My batter wasn’t lumpy as Ellie indicates it might be in her book.   In fact, the batter was quite thin.

That could be due to the fact that I don’t measure when following recipes so either the flour was under measured or the liquids were over measured. The result was still berry very good.

The strawberry sauce was a bit tangy for me.  Ted said I didn’t add enough syrup to my portion.  The sauce is make by simply adding fresh strawberries to a food processor and giving them a whirl until chunky-saucy.  Add the chunky sauce to a saucepan to warm.  Add lemon juice and maple syrup.  I added the maple syrup per serving. 

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup whole-wheat flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 large Eggland’s Best eggs
• 1 cup low-fat buttermilk (I use buttermilk powder since a whole carton would go to waste. Follow directions on container regarding how much water to add to the powder).
• 1/2 cup non-fat Lactaid milk (Ted is the only milk drinker in the house and it has to be Lactose free)
• 1 tablespoon honey (Agave is a good substitute if you don’t eat honey)
• 1/4 teaspoon vanilla
• Confectioners’ sugar, optional

Directions

Preheat oven to 200 degrees F. Preheat a large nonstick griddle or skillet over a medium-low flame.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients (flour through salt). In another medium bowl, beat together the eggs, buttermilk, non-fat milk, honey and vanilla.

Stir the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients, mixing only enough to combine them. The batter will be somewhat lumpy.

Use a 1/3 cup measuring cup to ladle the batter onto the griddle or skillet. Flip the pancake when the top is bubbling and it is golden brown on the bottom. Then cook until the other side is golden brown. Hold on an oven proof plate in the oven until the entire batch is ready. When all the pancakes are ready, cut them into heart shapes with a heart shaped cookie cutter. Ladle about 1/3 cup of the strawberry sauce onto each plate, place pancakes on top and sprinkle with confectioners’ sugar, if using.

Strawberry sauce:

16 ounces strawberries, fresh or frozen (unsweetened, thawed)

1 teaspoon lemon juice

2 tablespoons maple syrup

Puree strawberries to a chunky puree. Heat them in a small saucepan over a low flame, until they are just warm. Stir in lemon juice and maple syrup.

A good pancake recipe that will be used again and again in our house or at least different variations of it.

It was another good Ellie recipe and good picking, Melissa.

ENJOY!

This week’s recipe for Pesto Potato Salad had NO MAYO.  It was my kind of salad except that it’s just not very photogenic. Or…was it just me?

Picked by Liz of TheNotSoSkinnyKitchen.  The recipe can be found on Liz’s blog or here at foodnetwork.  It is an Ellie Krieger “The Food You Crave” recipe and Ellie claims “a definite crowd pleaser”. 

I immediately ignored the recipe directions and boiled my potatoes instead of steaming them.

The skin falling off the potato was the result.  In the book, the directions clearly indicate “….steam until cooked through but the skins remain intact….”.   Step one of the instructions,  fouled up.

Other than 1 1/2 lbs of small red potatoes, there isn’t much to this recipe.  Simply add 1 yellow and 1 red bell pepper, both chopped (add chopped celery or other additions you might like). Then add the peppers to a bowl with the potatoes (quarter the potatoes first) and add 1/3 cup Basil Pesto.   I bought my pesto at the store but Ellie offers a recipe for homemade Basil Pesto.  Gently combine all ingredients and add salt and pepper to taste.

You won’t see red peppers in the salad. I used ORANGE and YELLOW and I added chopped celery for a little extra crunch.

I sprinkled paprika on top since I didn’t have any fresh basil to garnish.

You can easily see all salad components above:  yellow pepper, potato with pesto, celery, and orange pepper.

I enjoyed this salad more the next day when I heated it. Guess I’m not big on cold potatoes.   Ted, who really likes potato salad thought it was very good. Teddy, also liked it and said, “It was great – that’s as descriptive as I can get for the blog”.  Well….he tried. 

Good pick Liz!  You knew what you were doing when choosing this recipe. Way to go!