The smell of fresh baked bread

I'm not talking about the smell of dad's honey wheat of mom's pumpkin and chocolate chip. I am talking about the Wonder bread factory. We only live a few blocks from it and a few times a month when the wind is blowing in the right direction, you can smell the bread baking. Its always late in the afternoon and the smell is divine. For some reason, today the smell was especially lovely. It made me want to go buy some Nutella and break open a jar of peanut butter.

Training Update

We are now exactly 2 months away from the big marathon. Training is going great and better than ever. I am able to run for over two hours without stopping and surprising myself. I would not still be training (I would have given up long ago) if I was not doing this for a cause and because so many of you have supported me. For that I thank you. You keep me motivated and going strong. I am not going to qualify for the Boston marathon with my speed but I will cross the finish line, before they tell me to clear the course.

Here is how I am doing. I completed a 10 mile race a few weeks ago in just over 2 hours. This qualified me as second in my category - I am an Athena if you are familiar with the running world. I am running a half marathon this Sunday and then on Sept. 28th, I will run my longest distance before the actual marathon - a 20 mile race.

I practice 3 days a week, short runs (6 miles now and 8 miles closer to the marathon) on Tuesday and Thursday nights and a long run on either Saturday or Sunday. Columbus is a great place to train for a first time marathon b/c there are great places to run and a lot of training runs available to race.

Let me not forget though, why I am doing this and why I chose Team in Training. Please continue to read on about the stories of those close to me. For they are the real reason I am running this marathon!

For more information, please see my fundraising page

Whip it Up - Week #7: Smoky Shrimp and Parmsean-Polenta Cakes

So normally when I get Cooking Light, I always find a few recipes I want to try. This month wasn't such a hot month for recipes. A lot of the magazine had Asian dishes that require a sauce or sauces that I don't use all that frequently. I would buy them if I knew for sure I would like the recipe and make it again, but I don't always like to take that kind of risk. Also, J doesn't LOVE Asian food, unless its sushi, so I am especially hesitant to try something new on him.

So in this month's issue (The Sept. '08 issue) I found Smoky Shrimp and Parmesan-Polenta Cakes. There is no link to the recipe b/c apparently they don't post new recipes in the year they were printed - hmm...interesting. After looking over the ingredients I realized I actually had everything (don't ask about why we had a tube of polenta. Just know it involves J and grocery shopping - enough said.) Also it seemed like things we like - shrimp, polenta, fresh herbs...so we were good to go. J and I had each done over a half hour on the Wii fit and we were hungry.

So here is the recipe (good thing its not long b/c I have to type it all in myself - ugh!)

Ingredients


1 T olive oil
1 lb. peeled and deveined medium shrimp
1/4 C dry white wine
1 T chopped fresh chives
1 T fresh lemon juice
1/4 t Spanish smoked paprika (we just used regular paprika)
1 17-oz. tube polenta, cut into 8 (1/2 inch) slices
cooking spray
8 teaspoons marinara sauce
8 teaspoons grated fresh Parmesan cheese
1 T chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

Here's what you do:

1. Preheat broiler
2. Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add shrimp to pan; saute 3 minutes or until done, stirring frequently. Remove from heat; stir in wine, chives, juice, and paprika, tossing to coat. Keep warm.
3. Place polenta slices on baking sheet coated with cooking spray. Top each slice with 1 teaspoon sauce and 1 teaspoon cheese; broil 3 minutes or until cheese melts. Place 2 polenta slices on each of 4 plates, top each serving evenly with shrimp mixture. Sprinkle with parsley.

Yield: 4 servings

Question time:
Was the recipe easy to follow? It was only 3 steps. How hard could it be? Well, I almost messed up the shrimp and white wine step. At first I thought I had to add the wine, chives and paprika to the pan, but then I read on and realized I should just add it to the removed shrimp. Ok, problem solved.

Did the dish taste good? As J said, it wasn't memorable. I think that pouring the wine and paprika sauce that was leftover onto the shrimp and polenta was overkill. I also could have done without the marinara sauce (although without either it might have been dry).

Would you ever make it again? I may try it again just to try to improve upon it, but with so many good recipes and so many new ones to try, why waste the time.

Try it and let me know how it turns out.....

The Omnivore's One Hundred - as seen at Columbus Foodie

So I saw this at Columbus Foodie and couldn’t help myself. I love stuff like this. This was created by Andrew at Very Good Taste actually looked interesting.
Here’s what I want you to do:

1) Copy this list into your blog or journal, including these instructions.
2) Bold all the items you’ve eaten.
3) Cross out any items that you would never consider eating.
4) Optional extra: Post a comment at http://www.verygoodtaste.co.uk/uncategorised/the-omnivores-hundred/ linking to your results.

* J put a star next to things he has tried because he likes things like this.

The VGT Omnivore’s Hundred:


1. Venison *
2. Nettle tea
3. Huevos rancheros *
4. Steak tartare *
5. Crocodile
6. Black pudding *
7. Cheese fondue *
8. Carp
9. Borscht
10. Baba ghanoush *
11. Calamari *
12. Pho *
13. PB&J sandwich *
14. Aloo gobi
15. Hot dog from a street cart *
16. Epoisses - ? Maybe
17. Black truffle *
18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes - ? Maybe
19. Steamed pork buns *
20. Pistachio ice cream *
21. Heirloom tomatoes *
22. Fresh wild berries *
23. Foie gras *
24. Rice and beans *
25. Brawn, or head cheese
26. Raw Scotch Bonnet Pepper
27. Dulce de leche *
28. Oysters *
29. Baklava *
30. Bagna cauda
31. Wasabi peas *
32. Clam chowder in a sourdough bowl *
33. Salted lassi
34. Sauerkraut *
35. Root beer float *
36. Cognac with a fat cigar *
37. Clotted cream tea
38. Vodka jelly/Jell-O *
39. Gumbo *
40. Oxtail *
41. Curried goat *
42. Whole insects
43. Phaal
44. Goat’s milk (I had it when it was made into cheese - does that count)
45. Malt whisky from a bottle worth £60/$120 or more *
46. Fugu
47. Chicken tikka masala *
48. Eel *
49. Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut *
50. Sea urchin
51. Prickly pear
52. Umeboshi
53. Abalone *
54. Paneer
55. McDonald’s Big Mac Meal *
56. Spaetzle *
57. Dirty gin martini *
58. Beer above 8% ABV *
59. Poutine (we just call them gravy fries - so yes)*
60. Carob chips
61. S’mores *
62. Sweetbreads *
63. Kaolin
64. Currywurst
65. Durian
66. Frogs’ legs
67. Beignets, churros, elephant ears or funnel cake *
68. Haggis
69. Fried plantain *
70. Chitterlings, or andouillette
71. Gazpacho *
72. Caviar and blini *
73. Louche absinthe
74. Gjetost, or brunost
75. Roadkill
76. Baijiu
77. Hostess Fruit Pie *
78. Snail *
79. Lapsang souchong
80. Bellini *
81. Tom yum
82. Eggs Benedict *
83. Pocky *
84. Tasting menu at a three-Michelin-star restaurant.
85. Kobe beef *
86. Hare *
87. Goulash *
88. Flowers *
89. Horse
90. Criollo chocolate
91. Spam *
92. Soft shell crab *
93. Rose harissa
94. Catfish *
95. Mole poblano *
96. Bagel and lox *
97. Lobster Thermidor
98. Polenta *
99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee *
100. Snake

J and I have tried a lot of things on the list. Another trip to Asia and we could knock them all off practically. What about you?

I ran 14 miles today!

Yes, you read that right, 14! Make it even cooler was I ran it in 2:38 (I know that's what the Olympic men finished their entire marathon last night ) but it was great for me. I think I might be able to run the half marathon in 2:30 next weekend. That would be a great goal and a great accomplishment for me.

So to describe the run, it wasn't horrible. It was long and I did sweat - A LOT, but it seemed manageable. Could I have done another 12.2 - not yet, but I'm working on it. I got to the end before some others who always finish before me (they stopped at the water stops) and that made me really proud.

Running is boring to watch though. I tried to watch the Olympic marathon last night and I just couldn't do it. I feel bad that I am making J follow me around to cheer me on in October. He is going to be so bored!

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Funny side note - this morning when I got up, J sat up and I told him to go back to sleep. He looked at the clock and said, no, its OK, I have to get up soon. He thought it was Monday morning not Sunday. I love when he does cute, funny things like that. Its probably b/c we had such a nice relaxing day at home yesterday.

My Baby's Sick

So last night J and I experienced just a small taste of what its like to have a sick baby. Bear is very sick. He has this horrible cough, that we are treating as kennel cough. It causes him to cough really hard.

Well last night this coughing woke him up - A LOT. To make it even worse, the coughing would occasionally cause him to need to hack stuff up. Well, he knows that our bed isn't the place to do this so he kept jumping down off the bed and then back on to try to fall asleep again. This up and down and loud hacking caused J and I to wake up - OFTEN. I know this is nothing compared to a sick human baby, but that's why we have Bear, he's getting us ready.

Hopefully the antibiotics and hydrocodone (BKA - vicodin) will help him get over this pain soon enough...

Whip it Up - Week #6: Pioneer Woman's Crispy Yogurt Chicken

So I love the cooking, pictures and recipes that the Pioneer Woman makes. Her food always makes me drool. So today I had no plan for dinner and the recipe for Crispy Yogurt Chicken looked good and I was up to finally try one of her recipes. I think driving by all the farms this weekend in KY and TN made me think of her and her life and how I can't believe she left the life of a city for the life of a farm...but that's another post.

So I didn't take pictures of my process in making this because Ree just did and her pics are way better than any I could ever put on this site (at least now) and I will let you go see her pics there. If you did not see this recipe originally or you haven't ever gone over to the Pioneer Woman, I strongly suggest you do - its so much fun to see how someone lives such a totally different life.

So here is her recipe - I edited out some of her comments but left some of them in. I added in some of my own, those are in blue.

Ingredients:

Chicken (I used legs, but any piece of chicken will do), Plain, Unflavored Yogurt, Garlic, Parsley, Lemon Juice, Salt, Butter, and Panko Bread Crumbs.

• Begin by throwing 2 cups of plain yogurt into a mixing bowl.
• Now peel a couple of cloves of garlic. And mince them very finely.
• Now throw the garlic in with the yogurt. Now grab some parsley. It gives a nice, fresh flavor to the chicken.
• Chop the parsley finely. Then throw it into the yogurt. Give the mixture a little stir.
• Now cut a lemon in half. Then squeeze in the juice, stirring well to combine. My lemon was very juicy - we'll see if that effects the taste at all
• Now go thoroughly rinse the chicken, and salt it well.
• Pour some Panko breadcrumbs into a second bowl. I start with about 2 cups.
• Salt the breadcrumbs just to give them a little more flavor.
• Now, in final preparation for our landing, go ahead and butter a baking dish. First, place the chicken, one at a time, into the yogurt mixture. Turn it over to thoroughly coat. Then roll in the Panko breadcrumbs. They’ll adhere really well—just make sure to coat all the areas of the chicken thoroughly.
• Repeat until all the chicken is breaded and place in the buttered baking dish.
• Then, place a slice of butter over the large part of the chicken. This is a very important step, as the Panko breadcrumbs tend to get pretty dry without the moisture of the butter. (I used butter spray to cut down on the calories).
• Now cover in foil and bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour, removing foil for the last 15 minutes to allow it to get nice and golden. I actually had to bake mine for almost 1 hour 15 minutes this time, so be prepared to keep going until it’s nice and golden and sizzling. You’ll want the breading on the underside of the chicken not to be soft and mushy, so pay attention to it.
• Serve it with a big, green salad with Homemade Ranch Dressing. I did not make the dressing. I just served it with a salad with Gorgonzola, dried cranberries, red onions, and candied rosemary walnuts from the Green Grocer at North Market - I love these things!

Question time:

Was the recipe easy to follow? Because the Pioneer Woman does such a great job taking pictures and breaking down the recipe visually, yes it was totally easy to follow. I didn't include her pictures and if you decide to make it, go to her site and follow her directions.

Did the dish taste good? It was OK, a bit soggy even though I cooked it for well over an hour. I think I used too much yogurt.

Would you ever make it again? Probably not, but I'm glad I tried it. I have it for leftovers tomorrow if I want to eat it again.