Hello?

I'm still here!  It's been well over a year since my last post, but I've been gone for good reason... new job, new state (or return to an old state?), new apartment, new baby (who is not so new anymore, 7 months!) and now a soon-to-be new house.

I'm hoping to get back into blog-mode for a few reaons... it's fun, I take a lot of pictures, I eat lots of food and I finally remembered to sign up for VeganMoFo!  Hopefully I'll find time amongst the diaper changes and unpacking to keep up.  Baby is excited too.  Look, he can't decide which cookbook to use first!

See you again soon! 

Farmers' Market #3

Date: Saturday, June 4

Location: Downtown Springfield, IL

Total Purchase: $15.75

Cucumber $1

2 Zucchini $2

2 Summer Squash $2

Asparagus $4

Micro Greens $2.50

Jalapeno Plant $1 

"Ugly" Tomatoes $2.25

Green Onions $1

Farmers' Market #2

Date:  Saturday, May 28

Location:  Springfield, IL

Total Purchase:  $12.75

Organic Lettuce 2 bags at $3.00/bag

Radishes $1.25

Green Tomatoes 2 medium at $1.25

Asparagus just over a pound at $3.00/pound

Dog treats $1.00

I don't think I've ever bought radishes, but these were so pretty I couldn't say no!  Schatzi was apparently intrigued also!

Gardening.. To Go!

Since we are back and forth all summer, we never get to plant a real garden.  This year, I decided that I wanted to at least try some herbs, so in early April I bought top soil, organic seeds and colorful pots and planted our favorites.  We have cilantro, basil, parsley (this is the little gray pot, which I obviously didn't grow from a seed), sweet red pepper seedlings and tomatoes (which have already been sent to my mom's for transplant).  So far, the basil has yielded enough for two small batches of pesto and seasoning for other dishes.  We've also used the parsley and cilantro for a few things.  It's so nice to just pick and cook, instead of running to the store and hoping for something fresh.  Next year, I think I'll branch out.. hopefully to some bigger pots and more veggies.  For this year, I'm content with my mini-garden to go!

What are your favorite fresh herbs to plant?  What have you had the most luck growing?  Least luck?  Good luck to all the other gardeners out there!

Cousins' Weekend 2011

My mom has five sisters (and one sister-in-law who you would think, if not for her height, was one of the sisters) who are all really close.  Those five sisters and one brother have more than a dozen children, over half of which are girls, who are also really close.  For years, the sisters have planned yearly "Sisters' Weekend," where they all meet up somewhere fun and have a weekend filled with sister stuff.  For the last few years, the cousins have followed suite and have planned "Cousins' Weekend."  Cousins' Weekend is usually something cheap, such as camping, as the six regular participants have been in some stage of schooling, unemployment, or otherwise short on cash.

This year, we finally went close to all-out-- we rented a beach house in North Carolina, where my cousin Alyssa just finished an internship.  Spring in the Midwest has been rather undesirable, so we were all looking forward to a bit of sunshine and warm weather.  I got up early two mornings and ran along the beach (one morning barefoot, which was awesome!)...  We watched the sun rise over the ocean...  We spent a whole day being lazy on the beach...  We decorated foam visors with puffy paint and seashells...  We crammed into the backseat of Alyssa's car and explored the city.  It was by far the best cousins' weekend to date and will be hard to top next year!  Here are a two of my favorite pictures from the weekend...

Happy Birthday, to ME!

Two weeks since my last post!  Now that poms, basketball and the Cookbook Challenge are over, I've been surprisingly busy doing nothing.  Actually, I've been cooking from Appetite for Reduction a lot, so I'll have to do a post on that soon.  BUT... last Thursday was my birthday, so I thought I'd share a picture...

Kayla & The Giant Penny

I did it!  I have my very own, hard-earned giant penny medal!  The Lincoln Presidential Half Marathon was yesterday.  It was a perfect race day-- 50s, slight breeze, partly cloudy.  I ran with one of my co-workers, Gretchen and it felt like a surprisingly quick route.  There were a few hills that I thought were going to kick my butt, but I recovered pretty quickly.  Best of all, I finished with a personal best time of 2:16.43, which is almost 15 minutes faster than my previous best!  On to the next... 

Meatout and One Year Vegan!

I planned on writing this post tomorrow, but then I saw a few things on twitter about "Meatout."  Upon a little more investigation, I found the website meatout.org, a "grassroots diet education campaign."  You can read more at their site, but this is what it's about:

What is Meatout?

On (or around) March 20, thousands of caring people in all 50 U.S. states and two dozen other countries get active to host educational events for Meatout- the world's largest grassroots diet education campaign. Activists distribute free food, educate their communities, and ask their friends, families, and neighbors to "kick the meat habit” and explore a wholesome, compassionate diet of fruits, vegetables, and whole grains.

The other reason for this post is that tomorrow I will be "officially" vegan for one year!  I pretty much went "cold-turkey" from omnivore to vegan after watching Food, Inc. and reading "Skinny Bitch," but I started keeping a food journal on March 21st, so I'm considering that my jumping off point.  The picture I've included in this post is my small collection of books that I've acquired in the last year.  I've checked some others out from the library, borrowed some, but these are the books that have really helped me get to today.  I could go on and on about everything I've read and the changes I've made, but I can honestly say that I feel great and I couldn't be happier with my life right now!  

I thought it would also be fun to share a few pages from my journal on what I ate and thought the week:

Sunday, March 21

Granola and Soymilk

Apple Waffles with Maple Syrup

Mediterranean Quinoa with Naan

Fresh Pineapple

Shopped at Meijer today.  I was surprised by the whole vegan "meat" selection that I never noticed before-- sausage, hot dogs, cheese and tofu.  I'm coing to make chili with cornbread and lasagna this week.  Also, bought almond milk to try.

Monday, March 22

Granola Bar, Soy Yogurt

Quinoa leftovers

Gnocchi with Pesto

Peanut Butter Cookies and Soy Milk

Tried soy yogurt today and it was really good!  Baked cookies tonight-- long prep, but it was worth it.  Had a glass of soy milk with my cookies, ugh!  Definitely need to try some other brands or something new!

Thursday, March 25

Apple, Granola Bar

Oatmeal, Soy Yogurt, Banana

Chili, Spinach Salad, Cornbread

Peanut Butter Cookie

Yum!  Made the best cornbread!  It was so good with the chili.  Very filling dinner and already looking forward to leftovers!

Friday, March 26

Apple, Soy Yogurt

Chili, Cornbread

Lasagna, French Bread, Red Wine

Almonds

Made Kelly's old tofu lasagna recipe tonight.. yum!  I used Follow Your Heart Vegan Mozz Cheese and it was better than I expected!

Week 6 Training Update

Considering how busy this week was, I'm happy with my progress.  I made it to the gym a few times for cardio and weights and ran outside twice, including a long run on Saturday.  We ran with the group again, but it was actually just one other guy, Chad, me and a coworker I invited.  She is running the same half, so it was nice to run with her and maybe I'll have a running partner on race day!

This week's mileage: 14 (double digits, yay!)

Week 5 Training Update

I'll keep this post short, because there's not much to write about!  This was a weird weather week-- rain, snow, thunder, warm, cold, etc.-- so I was a little unmotivated.  I only ran once this week, but as you can see in my mileage, it was a decent run.  Chad and I ran with a running group on Saturday morning, which included two dogs!  I was pretty worried about running that distance, but I felt surprisingly good for most of the run.  Next week, I am holding dance team try-outs Monday through Thursday, so I'll be busy, but hopefully I can tack on some extra miles and cardio this week!

This week's mileage: 7.5

Week 3 Training Update

This week was not nearly as productive as last week.  It turned out to be a busy week between school and dance practice.  I made it to the gym a few nights and did some Pilates at home.  Today was the best, because it was nice enough to run outside AND Chad ran with me!  I think it's probably been a few years since Chad ran more than two minutes with me (I'm usually too slow and he either runs way ahead or runs circles around me).  We ran three miles between 8:30-9:00 pace, which is awesome for me!

This week's mileage: 5.5

I'm going to be really busy again next week, but I need to re-focus and add on some extra miles.

Cold Season

Schatzi hit the jackpot last night when she found a box of Kleenex within her reach.  We've had to start keeping the bathroom door shut, because she can reach the garbage in there... so I can only imagine her surprise and delight when she found this box!

Snow Day... Part IV

Snow Day... Part III

Snow Day... Part II

Sleep in.. check.

Good, long workout.. check.

Wear PJs all day.. check.

Tasty breakfast.. check.

Nap.. check.

Catch up on DVR.. check.

Be productive.. maybe tomorrow?

"Snow" Day!

 Schatzi's hiding from the weather too!

School was let out early today, due to some nasty weather we're supposed to get.  This morning started out overcast, then around lunch tiny little snowballs falling from the sky turned into ice, then rain.  The rain/sleet/ice is supposed to continue through tonight and eventually turn into snow.  Chad's school also let out early and all after-school activities are canceled.  We're both home now... enjoying a glass of wine and some homemade pita chips and hummus!

St. Louis & Schatzi

this is what $200 looks like at Trader Joe's.. yikes!

Earlier this week, we decided to make a trip to St. Louis this weekend.  The highlight of the trip?  Trader Joe's!  And if you're going to drive an hour and a half for groceries, you have to make it count.  As you can see, we piled the cart full and left the store almost $200 poorer.  This is a place that I don't mind spending money... although, Chad would argue there are a lot of places at which I don't mind spending money!  I like that, other than checking for the usual dairy/egg ingredients, we don't have to scour the labels for unknown ingredients, high fructose corn syrup, artificial colors and so on.  We also finally went in with a shopping list for dinner for the next two weeks.  We should only have to purchase fresh produce, otherwise we're probably set for a good month on staple pantry goods.  Of course, a few unnecessary things usually make their way into our car.  Here are some new things we bought on this visit:

1.  Pound plus dark chocolate bar:  As the name implies, over a pound of dark chocolate!  I've read that this is great for baking.  I stuck it in my baking box right away, so I'm not tempted to nibble on the giant block of chocolate.
2.  Organic Ruby Chai Tea:  Chad has been kind enough to make tea for us each morning, so I picked up a new variety.
3.  Brown Jasmine Rice:  I usually stick to the basic long-grain brown rice, so I thought I'd venture into the world of Jasmine rice.
4.  Sea Salt and Turbinado Sugar Dark Chocolate Almonds:  "Roasted almonds drenched in dark chocolate and sprinkled with sea salt and turbinado sugar."  How could I resist that?!
5.  Salt & Pepper Ridge Cut Potato Chips:  Chad grabbed these, but I'm sure I'll sample a few.
6.  Rice Sticks:  These were a perfect find for only 99 cents, since Pad Thai is on this week's menu. 

We also stopped for lunch at Sweet Tomatoes.  I love their salad bar, and they had two prepared salads that I'm going to try to recreate for weekday lunches-- Fiesta Couscous and Wheat Berry Curry.  They seemed simple enough, so I'll see what I can do. 

"I'll shake for a treat!"

While we were stocking up on groceries, Schatzi spent her day at the PetSmart Spa!  Okay, not really a spa (she's not THAT spoiled), but she was bathed and groomed.  She's snuggled in bed right now resting after her rough day. 

Also, yesterday I became the proud owner of a library card!  I checked out "Vegan Brunch" and "How it all Vegan," so I hopefully I'll find a few new recipes to try out in between the cookbook challenge!

Now it's time to organize the pantry, straighten up the house, and relax a bit before another crazy week begins!

Ready for the Weekend

I feel like I've been on the go non-stop for the last two weeks!  Last week, especially, was a crazy week at school.  Even though it was a short week, I was gone on Wednesday for a PBIS conference and Thursday morning for CPR training.  There were other meetings, practice and paperwork during the week... AND worst off all, I only had one prep for the entire week!  I feel like I'm still catching up this week.

To make things a little better, last week I started a Maerchen (fairy tale) unit with my German 3/4 class.  It's one of my favorites!  There is a lot of grammar, culture and history to discuss.  We ended the week by watching The Brothers Grimm.  I think it will end up being a five-week unit and hopefully, the kids (the majority of which are male) enjoy it as much as I do!

On top of that, Chad's basketball team has been playing in their regional tournament (which they won last night!).  I've had the difficult job of keeping book, which is really just to help me watch (pay attention to) the game.  The dance team and I have also been hosting our annual Kiddie Camp at the elementary school.  I've been making the rounds between all three schools in our district!

I've also managed to stay up-to-date with my training schedule.  As the weather has been cold and snowy, I've been running inside and making use of my gym membership.  I've been trying to keep a pace of at least 10:00 miles on my training runs.  It might seem slow, but my fastest half was at a pace of 11:30.  Since I'm only training eight weeks, I thought I should try to pick up the pace... we'll see how that turns out. 

So, here's to a relaxing weekend!

Breakfast and Books

Looking forward to a lazy weekend, since haven't had a weekend without plans since December!  Our big plans are making Orange Cranberry Muffins for breakfast and spending the rest of the morning at Barnes and Noble. 

Maybe a new book or magazine?  We'll see if I'm feeling crazy :)

Abe & the Giant Penny

So, last night I finally made the commitment and signed up for the Lincoln Presidential Half Marathon.  No more making excuses, no more ignoring it, I have to start running now!  I also have to admit, one of my biggest motivators for this run is the finisher's medal-- a giant penny!  Hopefully, in just over two months on Saturday, April 2nd, I will be proudly wearing my very own giant penny around my sweaty neck!

With that said... guess I'd better go lace up my shoes!