Couch to 5K - 2 mile run, attempt #3

Yesterday was my third attempt at running 2 miles - and the third time was not the charm!

Alec did not feel like running, but I made him go with me anyway. We took River and he walked with her while I ran. At least I ran faster than they can walk! Of course River has to stop and smell everything so that slows down the pace quite a bit. River was funny barking at the ducks and geese at the park. She doesn't have much experience with them; I don't think she knew what to make of them.

Anyway, enough about River. This post is supposed to be about running. I ran the first full mile, then went a little further after the turn back than last time. Probably not more than a few yards, but still further. Then I had to stop for a short walk. I started running again at the same place as before. I stopped for a walk at the same spot and walked for the same distance. By this time I had caught back up to Alec and River, so Alec made me run a little further than I wanted to (of course). After another short walk, I ran to the end.

I hope that by the end of the week, I'll be able to do the whole 2 miles. I wanted to be doing 5K by my birthday, but that's not going to happen, so I hope I can at least say I did 2 miles by then!

Recipe of the Week - Garlic Cheddar Chicken

Guess where I got this one? If you said "The Nest" - you're right. The girls have been raving about this one for ages and I don't know why I haven't tried it before. It was simple & quick and tasted great. As an added bonus, there weren't many dishes to clean up. I actually washed up all the prep stuff while the chicken was baking. Alec was very happy about that. (He hates dishes, but I make him help anyway. I'm such a mean wife.)

Garlic Cheddar Chicken
from Nestie catlawdy

Ingredients
1/2 c. butter
4 cloves garlic, minced
3/4 c. dry breadcrumbs
1/2 c. freshly grated Parmesan
1 1/2 c. shredded cheddar cheese
1/4 tsp. dried parsley
1/4 tsp. dried oregano
1/4 tsp. ground black pepper
8 skinless, boneless chicken breasts, pounded thin.

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Melt the butter in a saucepan over low heat, and cook the garlic until tender, about 5 minutes.
3. In a shallow bowl, mix the breadcrumbs, cheese & spices.
4. Dip each chicken bread in the garlic butter to coat, then press into the breadcrumb mixture.
5. Arrange the coated chicken breasts in a 9x13 inch baking dish. Drizzle with any remaining butter and top with any remaining breadcrumb mixture.
6. Bake 30 minutes or until chicken is no longer pink and juices run clear.

I eyeballed the amounts for the breadcrumb mixture. The coating was kind of soggy on the bottom after baking. I think next time, I may coat the chicken with the garlic butter, but only sprinkle the breadcrumb mixture over the top.

I forgot to take pictures. I know y'all are disappointed.

Alec's Celebrity Look Alikes

So I did Alec, just to see if he really does look like Alec Baldwin. He did, but not in the top 5. Here are Alec's top 5 matches. I didn't know who Michael Barrymore is, so I Googled him. He's a British comedian.

Couch to 5K - 2 Mile Run - Attempt #2

Yesterday, I made my second attempt at a 2-mile run. It had been a week since we last ran - ugh - too long! We don't really have any good excuses. Just laziness.

It was another nice day, so we went back to the same park. I wanted to try and run slower - it was hard for Alec to slow down enough! He kept running backwards, zig-zagging on the path, running ahead and doubling back - anything to slow down to my pace.

I did walk some, but not as much as last time. I ran the whole first mile, then a little bit back. Then I had to walk for a bit. I walked two more times after that. I'd estimate that it was no more than 1/4 mile total.

I drank a lot of water throughout the day in an effort to make sure I was more hydrated for the run - and that helped. I did not get nearly as thirsty this time.

I'll make another attempt hopefully tomorrow. I am going to try not to be lazy! The 5K is only 3 weeks away!

Celebrity Look-Alikes

We were discussing on the Nest today what celebrities people tell us we look like. Someone posted this cool site where you can upload a picture and it tells you what celebs you look like. Hugh Grant? Seriously?

A few cooking updates

I wanted to post a quick update on two meals I've blogged about before.

Fish Tacos
We have made these a couple more times since I first wrote about them. We've added the cabbage both times and it has been yummy! I forget the kind of cabbage I bought, but it's not regular cabbage - it's something else. I am still trying to get the fish to come out crispier. I am thinking next time that I will put a cooling rack on the baking sheet and put the fish on that, so the grease has somewhere to drip - hopefully that will help.

Lemon Teriyaki Chicken
I made this one again last week - Alec was brave enough to try it again. Using the right amount of teriyaki sauce helped a lot! It was very good and we'll be adding it to the regular rotation. I served it with snap peas that I steamed and then threw in with the sauce for a few minutes - it was the perfect side.

Recipes of the Week - Irish Soda Bread & Shepherd's Pie

This week, I tried not one, but two new recipes - in the same meal, no less! St. Patrick's Day is Alec's favorite holiday. He says it's because he's part Irish. I say it's because of the beer. Despite Alec's love for the day, we've never celebrated it in a big way. So, I decided to make a yummy St. Paddy's Day meal. First, I came across a recipe for Irish Soda Bread and then I started browsing FoodNetwork.com for ideas for the main dish. I love Shepherd's Pie and there were quite a few recipes for that. I picked one from Rachael Ray and adapted it a bit.

We didn't have the meal until, Tuesday, the 18th because Alec got back from D.C. very late Monday night (more like early Tuesday morning!).

Classic Irish Soda Bread
from Cook's Illustrated

Ingredients
3 c. bleached all-purpose flour, plus more for work surface
1 c. cake flour
2 Tbsp granulated sugar
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp cream of tartar
1 1/2 tsp table salt
3 Tbsp unsalted butter (2 Tbsp softened + 1 Tbsp melted)
1 1/2 c. buttermilk

Directions

1. Adjust oven rack to upper middle position and heat oven to 400 degrees.
2. Whisk flours, sugar, baking soda, cream of tartar and salt in large bowl.
3. Work softened butter into dry ingredients with fork or fingertips until texture resembles coarse crumbs.
4. Add buttermilk and stir with a fork just until dough begins to come together.
5. Turn out onto flour-coated work surface, knead until dough just becomes cohesive and bumpy, 12 to 14 turns. (Do not knead until dough is smooth, or bread will be tough.)
6. Pat dough into a round about 6 inches in diameter and 2 inches high; place on greased or parchment-lined baking sheet or in a cast iron pan, if using. Cut a cross shape into the top.
7. Bake until golden brown and a skewer inserted into center of loaf comes out clean or internal temperature reaches 180 degrees, 40 to 45 minutes.
8. Remove from oven and brush with melted butter; cool to room temperature, 30 to 40 minutes.

Turkey Shepherd's Pie
adapted from Rachael Ray

Ingredients
2 lbs. potatoes, such as russet, peeled and cubed
2 Tbsp sour cream
1 large egg yolk
1/2 cup buttermilk & milk combined (I just used the rest of the 1-pint container of buttermilk I bought for the Soda Bread, then added enough milk to make it 1/2 cup total)
1 Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
1 package ground turkey
1 onion, chopped
2 Tbsp butter
2 Tbsp all-purpose flour
1 c. turkey stock
2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1/2 cup frozen peas
Paprika

Directions
Boil potatoes in salted water until tender, about 12 minutes. Drain potatoes and pour them into a bowl. Combine sour cream, egg yolk and milk. Add the cream mixture into potatoes and mash until potatoes are almost smooth. (I used my Kitchen Aid mixer with the paddle attachment to do the potatoes. My mom says not to make mashed potatoes with a mixer, but I had heard it worked well with the KA, so I tried it back at Christmas and I thought they tasted good.)

While potatoes boil, preheat a large skillet over medium high heat. Add oil to hot pan with turkey. Season meat with salt & pepper. Brown and crumble meat for 3-4 minutes. Add onion. Cook with meat 5 minutes, stirring frequently. In a second small pan over medium heat cook butter and flour together 2 minutes. Whisk in broth and Worcestershire sauce. Thicken gravy 1 minute. Add gravy to meat & vegetables. Stir in peas.

Preheat broiler on high. Fill a pie plate with meat & vegetable mixture. Spread potatoes over meat. Sprinkle with paprika and broil until potatoes are browned.

You can get the original recipe, which calls for Beef or Lamb here.
Here are a few photos:

The Soda Bread:

The Shepherd's Pie:

On the island for serving:

On the plate, ready to eat:

A Programming Note

Just a quick programming note . . . I decided to start using aliases in my blog. Using initials is too much of a pain because I know too many people with the same initial. I'm going to keep a "cast of characters" list over on the right so everyone can keep up and there won't be any confusion. Like when my sister thought that our cousin was dating two different guys because she referred to her boyfriend (now fiance) as "Clark" in her blog, but then one day K. referred to him by his real name in an e-mail, causing much confusion. You can read about it here in K's blog. I'm gonna go ahead and steal K's aliases for people in our family because a) it's less work for me and b) people in our family might be less confused.

So, here's a start on my cast list:
Alec. . . . . my husband, because people say he looks like Alec Baldwin
Ingrid . . . my sister, because that's her alias from K's blog
Raul . . . . my sister's husband, because that's his alias from K's blog

Couch to 5K, Week 5, Day 3

I attempted Couch to 5K Week 5, Day 3 on Wednesday. It was a nice day, so Alec and I decided to check out an outdoor trail near our gym. It's not marked off in intervals, but there was a sign that said it was 2 miles out & back. Normally it's a loop, but there's construction going on, so part of the path is cut off. Since the goal for was 2 miles, we decided to go ahead and run there. We didn't do a warm up walk, just started out with a slow jog.

I started out OK. I was breathing pretty hard, so Alec tried to help me work on that. I got pretty tired and wanted to walk a couple times on the way out, but Alec wouldn't let me. So, I ran the whole first mile, minus a very brief stop to try & get a drink of water - but the fountain did not work - I guess the water is off for the construction. But, I was really tired, so I had to start out walking back. I wanted to walk the whole way, but of course Alec wouldn't let me!

Since there were no markers, I have no idea how far I walked - I took 3 different walk breaks, maybe a 1/2 mile total?

I also don't know how fast I went. Neither of us has a digital watch or anything to time with.

The whole thing was pretty hard. For one thing, it's obviously hard to control the pace and Alec thinks we were running about a 10 minute mile on the way out, so that's a lot faster than I've ever done in the gym, which is probably why I was so tired after the 1st mile. For another thing, I didn't drink enough before we left so I got really thirsty, and like I said the water fountains were broken. Then, there's the breathing - I don't breathe right so I have to work on that.

It was fun to run outside though, and the trail is pretty nice so I think we will go there again.

I'm a "Dedicated Billy Joel Fan" . . . or a "Geek"

. . . it depends on who you ask. My cousin K. just posted this on her blog and of course I had to take the quiz, too. Her post title was "Yes, I'm a Geek." But, I prefer "dedicated Billy Joel fan."

We Didn't Start the Fire Quiz Score: 100% (10 out of 10)

Name My Spin-Off Blog

Lately, I've been reading a lot of different cooking blogs in an effort to find new recipes. There are a couple of cooking and baking challenge blogs out there that I am thinking about participating in - every month they announce an ingredient or recipe to try and all the participants blog about it and then the organizers pick a winner. In order to do it, I want to start a separate blog about cooking. I'll still post recipes on this one, too, and just copy the posts onto the cooking blog. That way, I won't be putting all my other "life" posts out there, but anyone who reads this blog won't have to read more than one.


So I need a name for the cooking blog. Post your ideas in the comments, please!

Couch to 5K - Week 5, Days 1 & 2

This week, things get harder. The running intervals are longer, and Day 3 is a 2-mile run with no walking! But, that's getting ahead of myself.

Day 1 was Friday. I actually tried to do it Thursday, but there was this girl on the treadmill next to me that had on such a strong perfume or scented lotion or something that I couldn't stand it. I had to leave. It was kind of ironic, because there had been a thread on The Nest earlier that day about wearing makeup to the gym and most girls said they didn't and didn't get those women who do full makeup, hair and perfume to just go work out! But, I digress.

So Friday I went back to do it again. The interval was run 1/2 mile, walk 1/4 mile, run 1/2 mile, walk 1/4 mile and run 1/2 mile for a total of 2 miles. This was not as bad as I thought it would be. I did the first run at 13:19 pace, and then slowed down to 13:37 for the second & third. At this point, finishing is more important to me than speed. I still finished in 28:58, so I was happy with that.

Day 2 was yesterday. This one was run 3/4 mile, walk 1/2 mile and run 3/4 mile, again for a total of 2 miles. I did the 13:37 pace for the running. This interval was hard. After walking 1/2 mile I didn't really want to start running again. I get what they're trying to do, with increasing the running, but it was still difficult. I might have preferred to do a 1/4 mile walk and then the second run have done a mile.

I did get a nifty new headband on Saturday - don't worry, it's not one of those 80's style terrycloth bands. It's from Nike and it's a wicking material so it absorbs some of the sweat from my hairline. It definitely helped.

I am going to try to do the 2-mile run tonight.

Blogs I Read - My Craftastic Blog

My Craftastic Blog is written by one of my good college friends. She is an awesome crafter and I had to give her a shout-out this week because she just made the coolest copper bowl. Check out her blog for a picture. She does it all - knitting, metalwork, jewelry. She is a full-time crafter and has an on-line store called Works of Artemis where she sells her gorgeous jewelry. It's on Etsy, which is a very cool website where crafters from all over sell their wares. Check it out!

Couch to 5K, Week 4 is Complete! and I am Radioactive!

There was a thread on the Nest today about euphemisms used by "proper" Southern women. One of them was "Southern women don't sweat, they glow." I was thinking about that as I was dying on the treadmill and decided if that's true, I must be radioactive. Maybe that's TMI, but it's true.

So anyway, I finished Couch to 5K, Week 4. Finally! I ran Sunday and again today. I *so* did not want to go today. But I did. I was *so* tempted to not do the whole interval. But I did.

I was looking at my calendar tonight and the 5K we want to do is April 19. That means if I keep to 3 days per week, I will complete Week 9 (the last week) just a few days prior. So, I need to keep on trucking.

Recipe of the Week - Crunchy Onion Chicken

New recipe day came early this week, because Alec is leaving tomorrow to drive to DC, where Grandma A. is having surgery.

So, yesterday I made this easy, yet tasty chicken dish. It's another one from the Nest, one of the girls had it in her blog, The Domestic Diva. She got it from a French's Onion ad, but when I made it, I noticed it's on the back of the can, too. I had some leftover onions from Thansgiving, because we ended up with double the ingredients for green bean casserole. So, they've been sitting in the pantry since then.

This wasn't earth-shatteringly delicious or anything, but it was good and you can't beat how easy it is - perfect for any busy day when you don't want to spend a lot of time in the kitchen!

Crunchy Onion Chicken

Ingredients
1 1/3 cups French's French Fried Onions, finely crushed

1 lb boneless skinless chicken breasts

1 egg, beaten

Directions
1) Preheat oven to 400 F.

2) Crush onions in a plastic bag (I used my food processor)

3) Dip chicken into egg, then coat in onion crumbs.

4) Bake 20 minutes until cooked through.

From The Domestic Diva blog by Nestie DizzyLiz83

We had it with couscous and peas (always my go-to side dishes!).

Here's a picture:

Recipe of the Week - Lemon Teriyaki Chicken

This is yet another recipe from The Nest. One of the girls posted it last week. I thought it sounded good, so I saved it. I'll post the recipe first and then tell you how it turned out.

Lemon Teriyaki Chicken
Ingredients
4 chicken breasts
2 Tablespoons all-purpose flour
3 Tablespoons butter
1/4 Cup teriyaki sauce
2 Tablespoons lemon juice
3/4 Tablespoon minced garlic
1/2 teaspoon sugar

Directions
1) Flatten the chicken into 1/2 inch thickness, coat with flour. In a large skillet cook chicken in butter over medium heat for 4-5 minutes each side. Remove from pan and keep warm.
2) Add teriyaki, lemon, garlic and sugar to skillet. Scrape the chicken remnants up with this coating and return the chicken to the pan. Bring to a boil. Reduce and simmer for 2-3 minutes.

From Nestie MrsDreher123

So, I make it and it looks yummy (I don't know what happened to the picture. I took one, but it's not on the camera. I think Alec's SM card was in there. Anyway. . .). We sit down to eat and after I take the first bite I say, "This is really salty." Alec agrees with me (which is rare; he likes salty food). He asks me how much teriyaki sauce I put in. I say 3/4 cup. We finish eating it despite the saltiness, figuring that since we have cut back on salt, that's why it tastes so salty. We discuss looking for low-sodium teryiaki sauce next time.

Later, we are cleaning up the kitchen. I am washing dishes and Alec is putting them away. He is standing by the island, where the recipe is still laid out. Our conversation goes something like this.
Alec: How much teriyaki sauce did you put in there.
Me: 3/4 cup. That's what was in the recipe. Look at it, it's right there.
Alec: Honey, this calls for 1/4 cup of teriyaki sauce.
Me: Let me see that.

So, I look at it, and he's right. I guess I saw the "3" in the amount of butter on the line above and read 3/4 instead of 1/4. So, that's probably why it was so salty. And, probably why the sauce seemed so thin.

I will make it again for sure, but next time I will read the recipe more carefully!

Couch to 5K - Week 4, Day 1 - 4th Time's the Charm

Last night, I finally accomplished this interval! Go, me! My time for the 2 miles was 28:38.

I almost made it on Monday, but I paused during my run to take a call from my mom. I normally wouldn't have done this, but I was concerned that she had been at Appalachian State in Boone during a lockdown they had after a gunman was reported on campus. (She's on a committee that normally meets there on Mondays.) So, I'd called her and she called me back while I was running. It turned out that she wasn't there, and then it turned out that the whole thing was a hoax. Anyway, she called while I was running and of course I wanted to talk to her! The treadmills at the gym don't pause for very long so I lost my place and skipped ahead to the next interval to start over. I think I only had about 1/10 mile left of running, but I'm a stickler so I'm not going to count it. Plus, I was resting while I was talking to her.

Anyway, now I just need to manage 2 more days of this interval. But I've done it once so I'm sure I can do it again.

This weekend we're going to check out one of the local parks that has a running/walking trail and see if it's marked off for distance. I would like to start varying my workout by running outside, especially since daylight savings time changes on Sunday so it will be light later. But, I'm really bad at judging distance, so I would like to do it somewhere that the distance is marked for me.

Recipe of the Week - Spinach & Feta Quiche

I actually made this back on Wednesday, but never wrote it up. It's yet another one from a girl on the Nest. We love Feta cheese, so that appealed to me, but I have to say I wasn't sure about the addition of the Swiss. The flavors were actually very good together, though!

My only complaint is that the quiche came out kind of thin. I didn't use a crust (I forgot to thaw one out, and I make "crustless" quiche all the time) so that may have had something to do with it since there was not crust to take up some of the space. Also, the girl whose blog I got this from usually adapts her recipes to feed just two people, so I don't know if she reduced the ingredient amounts, but still used the same sized pie plate.

All in all, a good dish but I will try to think if I have anything smaller to bake it in next time, or maybe use my usual quiche recipe, but with these fillings.

Spinach Quiche

Ingredients
2 tbs. low- fat butter
2 tsp. minced garlic
1/4 chopped onion
4 oz. frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained
1 (4 oz) package herb and tomato feta, crumbled (really any kind of feta)
1 (9 inch) unbaked regular pie crust
2 eggs, beaten
1/3 cup skim milk
salt and pepper to taste
1/3 cup low-fat shredded Swiss cheese

Directions
1. Thaw and drain spinach in colander. Squeeze out as much water as possible while still in colander. Place spinach on paper towel and let sit for 30 minutes. Again, squeeze out excess water.

2. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).

3. Bake pie shell for 5 minutes in preheated oven.

4. In a medium skillet, melt butter over medium heat. Sauté garlic and onion in butter until onion is clear. Stir in spinach and feta. Spoon mixture into pie crust.

5. In a medium bowl, whisk together eggs and milk. Season with salt and pepper. Pour into the pastry shell, allowing egg mixture to thoroughly combine with spinach mixture.

6. Bake in preheated oven for 15 minutes. Sprinkle top with Swiss cheese, and bake an additional 30 minutes, until set in center. Allow to stand 10 minutes before serving

From Nestie sfrazier

I took a picture, but Rick has the camera with him so I can't post it. It wasn't a very good one anyway; I forgot to take it before we ate, so it was just of the two leftover slices in the pie plate. They were kind of sad looking, actually.