Hitting a new milestone

Part of my trail, during the summer months.

Yesterday I set out to run 13.1 miles (the distance of a half marathon) for the grand finale of my running program.

I had not run since Wednesday, and was a little concerned that my muscles might object to the distance I would be asking of them. I wasn’t wrong. Though I did some gentle, pre-run stretches and started out very slow, I immediately felt tightness in both calves. You know that feeling… as if your calves are rubber bands, stretched to their limit, feeling like they’re going to snap at a moment’s notice? Yeah, not nice. Anyway, I stopped after the second mile or so, did some deeper stretches and walked it out a bit. Thankfully, that did the trick and they began to loosen up over the next half a mile. Before long, I was good to go.

I hit a great stride after the fifth mile and everything was going wonderfully. Until I got slowed down and finally stopped by a deep covering of snow and slush over the remainder of my running trail. Seriously? It’s mid-April for pity’s sake! There was no way to circumnavigate the mess and I was forced to turn back an eighth of a mile early. This translated into a 12.86 mile run instead of the proposed 13.1. It isn’t much, but enough to make this perfectionist go, UGHHHH!

However, the momentum held and I was able to jog for the better part of the time, despite the fact that my quads began to cramp around the 10½-mile mark. It was also around this time that I felt the dreaded “wall” approaching! With a few squirts of my homemade energy/electrolyte drink, some water, and sheer determination, I was able to push through the soreness and fatigue to finish the last miles in strong form.

I completed the run in 2:49:00. And I’m quite happy with that, since I still would have finished in less than 3 hours, had it been the full 13.1 miles. Slow for most, but darn-near miraculous for me!

When I got home, I had a banana and some water, rolled the leg muscles - something I’d never done before, (and oh my gosh, the pain!) - and then applied ice. These post-run tricks worked beautifully and this morning I felt very little soreness. (Edit: Scratch that… by Sunday late evening, my quads were killing me. Blasted DOMS!) To further help keep the muscles loose and supple, I headed out a few hours ago for a 3-mile walk.

Not bad for someone who has never, even as a child, been physically fit

The Muffin Muncher

Does anyone remember the children’s book called The Muffin Muncher written by Stephen Cosgrove? I had many of the Serendipity books and have very fond memories of reading the stories. Anyway, The Muffin Muncher was about a dragon that intimidated the muffin-making inhabitants of a castle into feeding him all the muffins they baked. Then someone came up with the idea that they could use the dragon’s fire-breathing skills to fuel the castle’s oven and make a fortune. In return, they provided him safe haven by allowing him to sleep beneath the drawbridge, and, most importantly, all the muffins he could eat

Fast-forward to this last week and you have the non-threatening, human version of The Muffin Muncher, namely, ME! Yes, I baked another batch of muffins this evening. This time, Cocoa Banana Muffins. Though they are delectable, there is one major change that I plan to make next time around. Omitting the bananas altogether and substituting them for walnuts! I’m sure there are people out there who love bananas in their baked goods, and to them I say, make the recipe as written and you won’t be disappointed

So, let’s get started. Into the kitchen we go!

Preheat oven to 350°F (as I pointed out in my previous post; lower the temperature to 325°F whenever using black pans.) Sift together 1 ½ cups flour, 2/3 cup cocoa, 1 tsp. baking powder, and 1/4 tsp. sea salt. Whisk until well blended and set aside. Cream together 3/4 cup room temperature butter, 1/2 cup sugar, and 1/4 cup packed brown sugar in your stand mixer until light and fluffy. Add 3 eggs, one at a time, beating well between additions. Add 3 mashed bananas (all I had on hand was 2 medium-sized fruit,) mix well. Add 1/2 cup sour cream to the butter mixture, along with the flour/cocoa mixture, and stir just until moistened. Spoon batter to the very tops of the paper-lined muffin cups (they don’t rise very much.) Bake 20-25 minutes - mine took 25, probably because I have the rack rather high in the oven to prevent the bottoms from scorching.**After filling the first dozen cups, I added 1/2 cup semi sweet chocolate chips to the remaining batter, just as an experiment. I got another 7 muffins from this mixture.**

Cranberry Orange Muffins

My grandma is rather fond of a certain fast food chain’s cranberry orange muffin, and so I set out in search of a scratch-made version. This way, she could enjoy them at home without having to worry about artificial colours, flavours, additives, GMOs, and all the other disgusting things they put in food these days

I found a recipe that seemed to fit the bill nicely and decided to give it a go earlier this week. While we both enjoyed them; my grandma figures they could use a lot more orange flavouring. Personally, I had no trouble detecting the sweet citrus taste.

Preheat oven to 350°F (325°F if using black pans.) Grease or line muffin tins with paper cups. Into your stand mixer, add ½ cup milk, 1 cup freshly squeezed orange juice, 1 cup melted butter, 2 eggs and ½ cup sour cream. Mix until well blended. In another bowl, combine the zest of 1 orange, 1 ¼ cups sugar, 3 ½ cups flour, 1 ½ Tbs. baking soda, and ½ tsp. sea salt. Add this slowly to the mixing bowl. Do not over-mix. Gently stir in 1 cup chopped cranberries – fresh or frozen, your choice. Divide batter evenly between muffin cups (I got 21 muffins from it – such an odd number!) and bake 20 to 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool slightly on cooling racks.

I ran my first official 10K!

It was a very chilly Sunday morning, but that didn’t stop close to 250 people from leaving their warm beds to gather at the local park for the March 24th event.

At a little after 10 a.m., the horn sounded, and the 10Kers were off and running, except for me. I was off and shuffling! The 5K runners/walkers, who were schedule to begin 5 minutes after the 10K started, stood at their starting line and cheered us on as we passed them by. I thought that was cool.

The course was slick with ice in certain places and the north wind, though light, was icy cold. At about the quarter mark, a barrage of giant, fluffy snowflakes fell from the skies. At any other time, it would have been a breathtaking sight. In the middle of a race, ummm, not so much!

Because I am all too aware of my painfully slow pace, I set my time goal at a very modest 1hr20min. However, I completed the run just under 1hr12min. putting my pace per mile at around 11:35. (I am still waiting for my official time, placement, and possible race photos.) ** UPDATE: My official time was 1:12:02. I came in 42nd of 46 people. At least I didn’t come in last! **

After the race, the participants were treated to a hot dog bbq with soft drinks and potato chips. While I used to live on this kind of junk food, and I really shouldn’t be passing judgement on a free meal, my reaction was, “Wow, this is so NOT healthy!” Post-workout nutrition is rather important and I was a little surprised at the poor (can you say 100% processed?) food choices that were made at this event. The organizers of the last race I ran, a 5K two years ago, were spot-on with the nutritional needs of a runner, providing bananas, chocolate milk and other healthy foods. But alas, this reformed junk food addict got down from her high horse and oh-so-humbly ate what was offered. Yeah right! I enjoyed every forbidden bite… and you know I did!

So despite frozen fingers, extremely painful quads, and a little indigestion from processed food, a good time was had, and I can’t wait to do it all again!

Gingerbread Scones… Why wait for Christmas?

Oh my gosh, where has the time gone? Has it really been a month since my last post? I think I can make up for my absence with this next recipe.

I love - no really - I LOVE anything with a gingerbread flavor. I’ve tried a few recipes of this nature, though not nearly enough, and have to say that each and every one of them were pure bliss! And this one, adapted from David Bostedt’s submission to AR, is no exception.

Don’t expect these babies to have the same buttery taste and flaky texture of your everyday scone. In fact, they are more like an extra-large gingerbread (or molasses) cookie. Hot from the oven they are super tender and oh-so-good! I dare you to stop at just one. Or two…

Let’s get started shall we? Preheat your oven to 400°F. In a large bowl, whisk together 2 cups flour, 3 Tbs. brown sugar, 2 tsp. baking powder, 1/2 tsp. baking soda, 1/2 tsp. ginger, 1 tsp. cinnamon, and 1/8 tsp. each of nutmeg and ground cloves. In a small bowl, add 1/4 cup molasses, 1/2 cup whipping (heavy) cream, and 1 egg. Whisk until smooth and well blended. Into the dry ingredients, cut in 1/4 cup of cold, cubed butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Add the liquid ingredients and knead just until the dough comes together. Turn onto a floured surface and pat into a large circle, about 8-inches in diameter. Cut into 12 wedges and place an inch apart on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Bake 12 to 15 minutes.

I also whipped up a glaze simple icing sugar glaze to top these off with. All you need is about 3/4 cup icing sugar, 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract and enough milk to make a thin glaze. Drizzle over the top, and devour!

Coffee Cake… but it’s not what you’re thinking!

One of my all-time favorite baked goodies that my grandma made when I was growing up was coffee cake. At least that’s what she called it. She was not familiar with the “swirl-in-the-batter” coffee cake that gets baked in a bundt pan. To her, coffee cake had coffee IN it (well, HELLO, of course) and not simply a cake that went well with a cup of coffee!

From a pastry chef’s perspective, this would be considered more of a coffee-flavored spice cake. Personally, I couldn’t care less what you name it or what category you want to put it in, just let me have a piece already! So let’s get to it…

As always, preheat your oven to the usual 350°F and prepare a 9×13″ pan by either greasing or lining it with parchment paper. For the Pyrex pan I was using, I set the oven rack to the top third to prevent the bottom of the cake from burning. Come to think of it, I usually have the rack in that position for most of my baking.

Sift and whisk together 2 cups flour, 2 tsp. baking powder, 1 tsp. ground cinnamon, and 1/2 tsp. each of the following: ground nutmeg, ground cloves, ground ginger, salt and ground black pepper.

In a small bowl, dissolve 2 Tbs. instant coffee granules in 2 Tbs. boiling water.

Meanwhile, to your stand mixer add 1 cup room temperature butter and beat until creamy. Add 1/2 cup sugar and 1/2 cup brown sugar, beat until light in color and fluffy, about 3-4 minutes. Remember to scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula every now and then. Add 2 eggs (room temperature), one at a time and beating well after each addition. Add vanilla and mix until blended.

Add coffee mixture to 1/2 cup of milk and give it a quick stir. Add this, along with the flour, to the butter mixture in three additions, beginning and ending with flour. Scrape down the sides of the bowl between additions and mix just until the batter is well blended.

Spoon batter (which is rather thick) into the prepared pan and bake 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
Remove pan to a wire rack to cool… this is another cake that I simply leave in, and serve from, the pan. Allow cake to cool completely before frosting.

For the frosting: Cream 2 Tbs.  room temperature butter using your stand mixer. Gradually add 2 cups of icing sugar. Add 3-4 Tbs. of milk along with 1 tsp. vanilla extract, and beat on high speed until frosting is light and fluffy (approximately 3-5 minutes.) Add more icing sugar or milk as needed. Yields 12 good-sized servings of one of the most flavorful cakes around!

Calories: 393
Total Fat: 19.5g
- Saturated Fat: 12g
Sodium: 246mg
Total Carbohydrate: 51.7g
- Fiber: 0.8g
- Sugars: 34.7g
Protein: 3.8g

As you can see by the number of calories per piece, this is a cake you’ll be wanting to save for special occasions

Best Soup EVER!

Those who know me will tell you that I have never been a fan of soup, except for one favorite from childhood called Summer Borscht, a mennonite recipe that is to die for! Other than that, I have made three soups from scratch in my life: The first one was my very own creation, a cabbage vegetable soup, which turned out awesome and can be found here. The second was a highly rated minestrone that I made exactly as written from the All Recipes website. It was hideous and had to be worked over to make it edible! The third, this Vegetable Chowder, I adapted heavily from a Taste of Home recipe. I think it’s fair to say that I merely took the general idea from the original and created my own, as there is no comparison. Yes it’s high in fat, but nothing good, or worth while, in life comes for free! The recipe below yields four servings.

In a medium saucepan, cook 2 medium-sized, finely diced potatoes in salted water until about 3/4 done. Add 2 cups frozen California blend mixed vegetables (I chop these into smaller pieces) to the potatoes and cook until both veggies and potatoes are tender. You could use fresh broccoli, cauliflower and carrots, or any blend of veggies you like, for that matter. While veggies are cooking, heat 3 Tbs. of butter in another medium saucepan. Add 3 tbs. minced onion and cook until translucent. Add 3 oz. cream cheese and cook until it begins to melt. Add 2 cups milk, 2 cloves minced garlic, 1 large bay leaf, and salt, pepper & dried parsley to taste. When potatoes and vegetables are done. Add to the milk/cream cheese mixture and cook until all is heated through, about 5 minutes. Remove and discard bay leaf before spooning into individual bowls.

**Edit: This soup tastes even better when you throw in 1 cup of sweet organic corn!**

It would be criminal not to serve this soup with a hearty slice of fresh-from-the-oven whole wheat or spelt bread, slathered with real butter!

Nutritional Information:
Calories: 285
Total Fat: 18.7g
- Saturated Fat: 11.7g
Sodium: 486mg
Total Carbohydrates: 22.2g
- Fiber: 2.4g
- Sugars: 8.4g
Protein: 8.1g

Calling all Chocolate Lovers!

Back in the days when I lived on processed food (a.k.a. before I learned how to cook and bake,) I was a huge fan of the boxed Devil’s Food cake mixes. Though I searched for many years, I never came across a homemade version that could compare. That is, until I tried Hershey’s Deep Dark Chocolate Cake.

Sooo, seeing since I have been SO good with not baking lately, I decided to treat myself this evening to a pan of this sinful cake. I’ve made it many times and never get tired of it. It’s unbelievably light and moist, and goes perfectly with a tall glass of ice-cold milk!

I usually follow this particular recipe to the letter, but this evening I thought, since the cake is so decadently sweet, I’d try cutting the sugar by 1/4 cup. It worked so well that I may try reducing it by half next time around.

This cake is incredibly simple to make – we’re talking idiot-proof kind of simple – and uses one bowl for easy clean up (for best results, use an electric mixer.) The following is for half a recipe which fits nicely into an 8″ square pan and yields 9 modest pieces at approximately 280 calories per piece. Just a heads up, you will definitely want the full recipe if you are baking this for family or visitors. It makes a gorgeous double layer cake, by the way

So let’s get started. Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease (or line with parchment paper) an 8″ square pan. Stir together 3/4 cup sugar, 7/8 cup flour, 3/8 cup cocoa, 3/4 tsp. baking soda, 3/4 tsp. baking powder, and 1/2 tsp. salt. Mix until well combined. Add 1 egg, 1/2 cup milk, 1/4 cup peanut oil and 1 tsp. vanilla extract. Mix on medium speed for 1 to 2 minutes. Stir in 1/2 cup boiling water until well mixed. NOTE: Batter will be extremely thin, this is normal!

Pour batter into prepared pan and bake for 35 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Remove pan to wire rack and let cool completely before frosting. FYI: I almost always leave single-layer cakes in their pans.

To prepare the frosting: Cream 3 tbsp. softened butter. Sift and whisk together 1 cup icing sugar and 1/4 cup of cocoa, then add to the butter,  along with 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract and roughly 2 to 3 tbsp. of milk. Beat 1 to 2 minutes or until well combined and fluffy. You may need additional milk to achieve a spreadable consistency. Spread frosting evenly over cake, cut, serve and enjoy!

Nutritional Information:
Calories: 280
Total Fat: 11.6g
- Saturated Fat: 4.3g
Sodium: 276mg
Total Carbohydrate: 46.7g
- Fiber: 2.1g
- Sugars: 30.9g
Protein: 3.6g

Lose It! Report – Feb. 4/13

Thinking this may be the last report that I post, unless someone out there is benefitting from them? They seem to have taken over my blog and haven’t really served the purpose that I’d intended… to keep me accountable for how much I eat.

Anyway, I think I’m getting a slightly better handle on my intake. My weight is slowly dropping and, overall, I feel better about myself. Particularly since reading how many others are experiencing a huge increase in appetite with increased cardio workouts.

Speaking of which, my running program is totally awesome (and highly recommended, along with the Couch to 5K program) and has me at the point where I could complete an 8-mile long run yesterday on the treadmill. If you had told me six months ago that I would run 8 miles, I would’ve booked you a room at the funny farm! 13.1, here I come!

A little disappointed that I didn’t make my goal of burning 3,000 calories. Hopefully, I can make it happen this week

Lose It! Report – Jan. 28/13

More of the same non-sense. I tell ya, when I fall off the wagon, I fall HARD

The new plan I adopted last week involved removing the emotional stress from continually being over budget. The only solution I could think of was to do what many people on the website recommend… taking a break and going into maintenance mode. I’ll probably sit at maintenance for another week, maybe even for the entire month of February, while working at increasing the number of days that look like those circled in red.

On the fitness side of things: The goal is to increase my burns to no less than 3,000 calories and, (drum roll please…) I’m thinking about signing up for my first 10K in March. This isn’t written in stone, but it is something I’m seriously considering. Physically, I’m ready, however, overcoming social anxiety is another issue altogether.