Self-awareness

Feeding the baby real food has forced me to acknowledge that I don’t eat enough fruits and vegetables. How can I feed her almost exclusively fruits and vegetables, tell her she’s had enough cheese toast and to eat more peas, and then turn around and eat a handful of semi-sweet chocolate chips?

The solution…When she eats, I eat. This involves a lot of sharing. Also, kale under everything is a really good way to add vegetables and a nice flavor to a lot of dishes (think soups, pastas, sauces, etc). Sautéed kale is pretty good on a sandwich too.

So this looked like someone else’s fridge after my trip to Trader Joe’s, and that bag of kale is GONE.

Look at all those vitamins!

And in addition to this crap that I got at Russo’s (crap being the best damn sourdough bread on the planet, a baguette, and chocolate cayenne cookies)

Delicious crap I might add.

I also got a bunch of kale, tomatoes, strawberries, bananas, a mango, and avocado, lemons, limes, and another basil plant. Not because I killed mine, but because I need more basil.

These ingredients made a fabulous panzanella (sans shrimp) last night.

 

FRESH

Then for lunch, I had leftover bolognese over kale, while baby had a piece of that fabulous bread with cheese on it, grapes, and peas. Hungry little bugger! We’ve had some good runs together the last couple days. The first was good because she slept and because I can run 3 miles pushing a jogging stroller without stopping, and the second was a good 2.5 where she was awake and kept looking at me. What’s cuter than that?

 

So very motivating

Starting to believe I can actually do the halfs that I want to run this fall. I’m going to need to be in shape anyway to keep up with this. Might as well get some races in.

Standing for a solid 17 seconds.         We took a video.

 

 

Where’s the snow?

I really don’t understand why it’s raining. Why it’s 61 degrees on December 6th. Why there’s a Christmas tree in my living room when I can wear shorts to run.

Anyways, I’m pretending it’s winter.

I’m squirreling away cookies and cookie dough in my freezer like it’s my job. (Which it’s not, I haven’t forgotten about this real job and the very real committee meeting coming up in January).

I’m attending holiday parties (in horrifyingly festive sweatshirts).

I’m curling up on the couch reading my kindle (instead of reading the stack of papers currently in my excellent wicker basket).

Lucy is playing dreidel, flights to go home are booked, presents are purchased…WHY IS IT RAINING!?

Anyway…

Real Simple’s pot roast was really too easy to be so good. Have I mentioned how much I love my slow cooker?

This magazine, 99% of the time stands by its name and produces recipes that are easy to create and excellent to eat. Flavorful and hearty.

The lime and soy-glazed chicken from October’s issue was also awesomely simple and a seriously modified slaw made for a balanced dinner.

And David Lebovitz’s recipe turned leftover dulce de leche into a fudgey, need to go running immediately kind of brownie.

Mindy Kaling’s book was really funny and then, on an opposite note, I started Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale yesterday. Very weird and intense but I am loving it.

And as a parting note, here’s hoping that tomorrow’s sports massage takes care of this, the third month of the unstretchable knot in my hamstring. It is really ruining my ability to run hills and wear flats.

What happens when food bloggers unite

Jess Vogel, I am still in a food coma. It might be because I’m still eating.

What do you do after a 90 minute hot yoga class? You eat! But I ate enough brisket at lunch at Zaftig’s yesterday to ensure that I didn’t eat again until 11 today. And when I did…

This soup is fall in a bowl. I’m sad that it’s gone, and will definitely make it again soon.

Until then, to fulfill my fall cravings…it’s football Sunday!

This chili is fantastic. Tomatoey, spicy, warm, and served with Joanne Chang’s double corn corn bread with thyme, it is heaven in a bowl.

I also made oatmeal raisin cookies that I cannot explain to you what happened. They’re huge, they’re thin, they’re crispy like a cracker…I do not understand. But I will eat them.

As far as exercise goes, I plan on using this next month to really get into a lot of yoga classes and work out some kinks before I start training again. All those little twinges in the muscles that you can ignore for “one more week”, well, it’s time. My goal is to be able to foam roller my IT band by the end of November. Without crying.