Of all the places that I’ve traveled (I would like to eventually recap my trips to Mexico, Spain, France and Switzerland) Ireland was definitely my all time favorite. I went when I was a sophomore in college and it was part of a cultural learning trip. My favorite parts of the country were the old churches and castles, the gorgeous landscape both on the shore and in the interior, the people, and of course, the pubs. I was 19 when I went on this trip. Score!  

Since I didn’t own a digital camera at the time (2004) in order to share my pictures, I took a picture of my prints.

Yep, that’s me in the green sweater, enjoying a Cosmo at an Irish pub. What do you expect? I was 19 and had no interest in beer.

Moving on…

I cannot even describe how gorgeous this country is!

We even got to tour the Guinness factory, and when we went up to the Gravity Bar and received our free pint, I could only sip a few sips and then handed it off to another of my classmates. Oh, if only I could go back and enjoy that dark, smooth goodness while looking at a 360 degree view of beautiful Dublin. It is my mission to get back to Ireland. Best. Country. Ever.

So when I had asked my dad if he wanted to meet up for lunch today, my first thought was to head to the British Beer Company in Framingham. I know that it wouldn’t have the same vibe that the wonderful old pubs have in Galway, but honestly, I love anything British/Irish/kitschy. The closest I’ve come to finding authentic Irish in Boston is at Mr. Dooley’s.

I was afraid that it would be super busy since it was lunchtime on a Saturday, but we were sat right away in the bar area. They had a large selection of draught and bottle beers. I opted not to go the British brew route and ended up with a delicious Sam Adams Cherry Chocolate Bock. Have you had this? It’s so smooth and has the perfect cherry and chocolate balance. And it had a great bite to it as well.

For lunch, I ordered the vegetable salad wrap with carrots, broccoli, red onions, mushrooms, roasted red pepper, lettuce and tomato (hold the tomato) drizzled with a balsamic glaze and rolled in a whole wheat tortilla wrap.

I LOVED this wrap! The veggies were fresh, raw and crispy. The balsamic was lightly covering every piece, although it kind of pooled around the bottom of the wrap, and the wrap even stayed in place! Clean hands and clean plate. I had it with a side of Cajun seasoned potato chips. The seasoning was very light and I actually liked that. I love homestyle potato chips.

Our meals also came out in no time, yet they were of really high quality. The entire menu was mouth-watering, and once Lent is over, I’m sure I’ll be back for some of their British specials.

British Beer Company has locations throughout MA. I dined at the one at 120 Worcester Road (Rt. 9) in Framingham.

Where’s the best place that you ever traveled to? Besides Ireland, I loved Zurich, Switzerland. Friendly people, delicious food and beautiful landscapes!

I have never taken a whole entire month off from work. I have some things planned, but at the same time, I wake up with two thoughts: “Oh yes, I don’t have to go to work today. I can do whatever I want!” and “I have an entire day to plan, what am I going to do?” It’s excitement followed by a plan of attack.

So far this week I:

Made a delicious meatloaf.

Ran and PR’d on my fourth half marathon.

And decided to stop eating meat for Lent.

I’ve also had a few glasses of:

And just tonight I put on my baking cap, which I hadn’t done in a while. I was inspired by this lovely lady’s cookbook and adapted one of her recipes with ingredients that I had in the apartment.

Nutty Coconut Cookie Bars
Adapted from Mama Pea’s Almond Joy Cookie Bars

Ingredients

• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 1/2 cup old-fashioned oats
• 1/2 cup unsweetened, shredded coconut
• 1/2 cup roasted almonds, coarsely chopped (I threw mine into the mini food processor for a few chops)
• 1/2 cup chocolate chips
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup peanut butter
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/2 teaspoon almond extract
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray an 8×8-inch baking pan with cooking spray and set aside.
2. In a large bowl, combine flour, oats, coconut, almonds, chocolate chips, baking soda and salt.
3. In a smaller bowl, beat together sugar, peanut butter, milk and extracts.
4. Pour wet mixture into the dry ingredients and stir until just combined.
5. Spread batter into your prepared pan and bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until bars are set and edges are browned. Allow pan to cook before cutting into bars.

Note: These bars were just a tad salty. The next time I would either get unsalted almonds or unsalted peanut butter.

I’ve already had two. They are so good!

David and I have also been working on this whole house thing this past week. Apparently getting your electricity disconnected does not mean you automatically get a demo permit. Yeah, we’re still working on it. So it’s been a frustrating week but we hope that there is some light at the end of the tunnel.

So this past week has just been relaxing a bit, doing some house stuff and cooking a few delicious dishes. David will be taking his time off starting tomorrow so hopefully we’ll be busy busy!

Do you tend to mainly relax when you’re on vacation? Or do you find yourself packing your days with things to do?

Happy Ash Wednesday!

Although I grew up in a Roman Catholic family, attended CCD and was an altar server for 6 years, I rarely attend church anymore. I do, however, like the idea of giving up something, or as Tina so eloquently stated, giving up thoughts or judgments that may be negative, during these 40 days of Lent. Last year I gave up soda, and since then, I haven’t had the carbonated cravings that I used to have. Since then, I have probably had soda about 10 times. Before then, I would have had 10 in one week.

This year, I have decided to give up meat. My thoughts behind this are not because I think eating meat is bad for you, but rather to see if I can be more creative in my dishes and expand on my cooking abilities. In the past, if I’ve been strapped for ideas for dinner, I’d have my staples: chicken stir-fry, spaghetti with meat sauce or frozen TJ’s Mandarin chicken (pretty much all of my fall-back meals involve chicken).

I don’t believe that this next month or so will result in me becoming a vegetarian (I really love burgers too much), but I hope that it will make me realize that I don’t have to fall back on meat if I can’t find anything for dinner. It will hopefully also help in lowering my grocery bill. Meat isn’t cheap!

So today, on my first day, I decided to photograph my meals. Not everything I ate was pictured. There were definitely some undocumented handfuls of tortilla chips.

Breakfast – Vans waffle sandwich with Teddie peanut butter and a banana

Lunch – Vegetable soup with added quinoa and tempeh, side of Pirates Booty and veggies (Unfortunately I think my tempeh had gone bad. I had to eat around it.)

Sweet Snack – Strawberries with a slice of my mom’s pumpkin bread

Dinner – Chickpea burger patty, on top of a spinach, romaine, cucumbers and carrots, topped with cilantro hummus (It was from Tribe and unfortunately did not taste like cilantro.)

I made the patty by mixing a can of garbanzo beans, 1 egg, 2 tablespoons of Italian style breadcrumbs, 1/2 teaspoon of cumin and a couple of slices of red onion in the food processor. It made 4 patties that I pan fried with some olive oil. They pretty much stayed together as patties but the flavor could definitely have been turned up a notch. I’ll have to keep working at it.

I also roasted a pan of potatoes, which I mixed with olive oil, parsley, oregano, thyme and black pepper. I baked them at 475* for 25 minutes, flipping in the middle.

I also cooked up some lasagna for David. For dessert, I had a bowl of strawberries with vanilla yogurt, almonds, pistachios, dried cranberries and Kashi Heart to Heart.

Workout

My workout this morning was great! I bought a coupon through Living Social for $24 for a 30 day pass to Boston Sports Club, and there’s one not too far from my apartment. I started by doing an interval run on the treadmill. I covered about 2 miles and did a few 400s at a 7.8 pace and then the last two at 8.4. Sweaty mess. Then I made my way over to the weights and did 2 sets (8lbs and 10lbs) of bicep curls, hammer curls, upright rows, kickbacks…pretty much winged it. My whole workout took about an hour. Felt great!

Are you giving up anything for Lent?

Last night was definitely a tough night to get in some good quality sleep. I felt like I was hit with a Mack truck. And I felt like a cold was instantly coming on. I know that after long races, sometimes your body just shuts down, but this was happening too quickly. My legs, toes, and oddly enough, my right inner elbow (which I blame on the chopping down of the tree on Friday) were wicked sore, too. I managed to sleep in my compression leg sleeves. And I think it helped because my legs don’t hurt today! And thankfully too, is that I don’t feel like I have a cold! My elbow still hurts and my toes on the right foot are still achy, but otherwise, all good!

I forgot to mention that after the race, they had Smuttynose beer! I don’t know if it was the fact that we just ran 13.1 miles, but that was probably some of the best beer ever.

And of course, Grace and I celebrated the fact that she completed Number 1 on her “30 Before 30” list!

I think it’s safe to say that I am on a slight runners high today too. I was so happy all day…and I was hungry. Here’s my eats for the day:

Oatmeal with blueberries, cranberries, cinnamon, cloves, peanut butter and granola. (Thanks Grace!)

Delicious grilled cheese sandwich I got off of Meghan’s blog. This went unpictured, but it consisted of: whole wheat toast, Colby cheese, sliced Fuji apple, spinach and bacon. So so good!

Throughout the day I grazed on these delicious tortilla chips.

I also had some unpictured Kashi cheddar crackers. And I snacked on some delicious pumpkin bread that my mom had made. She made it on Christmas Eve but had frozen it for the past two months. It was still so moist and tasty! My mom makes the best baked goods.

When Grace and I went to the grocery store, I found a package of “soup greens” in the reduced-price produce section. I decided to make a soup for dinner. I barely picked up my camera all day, but this is what was in the soup.

• 2 carrots
• 3 stalks of celery
• 1 parsnip
• 1 small onion
• 1 turnip
• 1 potato
• leeks
• dill/parsley
• 2 cups vegetable broth
• 2 cups chicken broth
• 2 cups water
• Dashes of salt and pepper

I sautéed the veggies until they softened a bit, then added the broth, water and spices until it boiled. Then I let it simmer for about 20 minutes. When it was done, I added it some cooked quinoa for protein. Delicious!

Yum! Leftovers.

Then Grace and I both consumed some delicious Dogfish Head beers and I made myself some dessert. I had nonfat, vanilla yogurt with strawberries, granola and chocolate chips. And a quarter of butternut donut from yesterday. Man, Dunkin Donut’s donuts are so good.

Oh yeah, snacks aren’t done yet. Just while writing this post, I had a bowl of cereal.

Have you tried these? So good.

Right now it’s 11:15PM and I am sufficiently full from the day. It was a great day for relaxing, too. Tomorrow is some more work on the house and then (possibly) a reception at Trade!

How was your weekend??

I did it, I did it, I did it.

And now let me tell you how.

This morning the alarm was off at 7AM and I was up and at-em. I took a quick shower and then had my tried-and-true pre-race fuel, toast with peanut butter and a banana with a cup of coffee.

We were out the door by 8 and headed up to New Hampshire. Sunday morning was great since there was no traffic…and the weather was perfect with not a cloud in the sky! Before we reached where the start of the race was, David stopped at Dunkin Donuts and ordered a dozen donuts. He was going to have them for us at the halfway point of the race. Sweet, something to look forward to!

The weather was absolutely gorgeous for this race. It was 42* and sunny. This whole winter has been perfect for my training. It helped that I was only relegated to one treadmill run. (You can see my training on my new training page!)

Some of the following pictures are from my camera, Laura’s camera (girl on the right) and my sister in law Sara’s camera.

When we got to the Ashworth, we had about 30 minutes to kill before the race began. There were about 1200 runners and the bathroom situation was awesome! It was organized and I was in and out in 5 minutes. When we made it to the start line, I lined up right with the 9:30 pacer.

Right at 10AM, we were off.

The first few miles were along the coast and then we started making our way into the heart of Hampton. There were a few gradual hills and somewhat of a headwind, but not too bad. The first 7 miles, I stuck with the pacer and thought that it was pretty easy. Well, still challenging, but manageable. I hit 7 miles at around 1:06, which I was extremely happy with. If I could just stay under 10 minutes I would be happy. Somewhere around miles 8 and 9, my mind started to wander and my legs were getting tight. I eventually lost the pacer when I stopped at the water stop at mile 8.6. I wasn’t able to catch up. But I had my Garmin which was giving me my pace.

Just after that water stop, I saw David! He had my camera and the donuts.

I gave him my gloves, headband, grabbed a piece of a butternut donut, stole a kiss and I was on my way.

The next two miles were seriously a battle in my head as to whether or not I could keep up the pace. My right leg was getting tight and I was just getting exhausted. I had a GU (which I finished just before seeing David) and some Gatorade with water which kept me chugging along.

Mile 11 to 12 was a looooooong, straight and boring stretch along the coast. Thankfully I had my music to keep me going. And I just kept telling myself “pain is temporary, accomplishment is forever.” There were maybe two times where I stopped to walk a few steps, but then just kept on going. When I reached mile 12, I just kept saying “1 more mile, 1 more mile! You got this!” My pace picked up when I knew that I still had the energy in me for it.

I saw my parents, my in law’s and my sister in law and brother in law cheering me on at the side line. At that point I booked it across the finish, stopped my Garmin and went to find my family. When I saw my mom, I started crying. Because I actually did it. I PR’d on my 4th half marathon and I broke the 10 minute mile pace.

My sister in law Grace had an awesome race too!!! I can’t wait to read her recap. But this pretty much sums it up.

Stats
Time: 2:09:11
Pace: 9:49
Division: 65/108
Overall: 870/1326

Twelve weeks of training, 166 miles ran, intervals, tempos, long runs, peanut butter toast, foam rolling, blisters, and countless repeats of “I Made It” by Kevin Rudolf have culminated into this one moment. I set my heart out to break 2:10 and give it my all. And I did. I went “balls to the wall” and broke through it.

Tomorrow is the race!! This morning Grace and I picked up our numbers and shirts. And I am SO glad to see that the weather tomorrow is going to be 42* and sunny! Perfect weather if you ask me. I am really looking forward to it.

Thursday evening at 10PM, I officially started my 1 month vacation! I have tons planned but plan on doing some relaxing as well. And I’ll get to enjoy these that I got on sale at CVS. So good!

On Friday, David and I went to the house to attempt cutting down one of the trees in the yard. Before we got there, we stopped for some lunch. I was hankering for some Subway, so that’s what I got.

I think this is my new favorite combination: 6 inch flatbread with turkey, provolone, spinach, pickles and mustard. Gone in no time.

All afternoon, we cut down one of the trees. And that wasn’t with a chainsaw. David (I got in a few swings) cut down the tree with an ax. The limbs were with the chainsaw and then we cut them into firewood. It was a great workout. My biceps hurt. Thankfully I don’t need those to run.

Friday night, I was thinking about making the Thai chicken taco’s but didn’t end up letting the chicken cook throughout the day. I just improvised with some chicken breasts and corn tortilla’s. I had two, with chicken, cheese, salsa and cilantro.

Today, David and I went to his parents house because they were throwing a themed Caribbean party! If this winter was colder, it would have definitely been a reprieve from it, but it was a fun party nonetheless. Here was the menu for the day:

This was my beverage throughout the night: fruit flavored water.

My contribution was an easy kiwi salsa from Jessica’s blog. It was a big hit! I should have made more.

And for dinner:

Everything was delicious! And for dessert, some ambrosia and chocolate covered strawberries.

For entertainment, we played a game called “Telestrations”, where one person writes a word, than the next person has to draw it, then the next guesses it and so on and so on. So much fun! It’s like “Telephone” with drawing.

Right now David and I are relaxing, watching some “Renovation Realities.” We’ll be heading to bed soon because it’s a 7AM wake up call!

My mantra through this race? Balls to the wall my friend! I’ve trained smart and I’ve made it to the start line. I just need to tell myself that I have it in me to PR and when I’m done with the race, I don’t have to run for a week if I don’t want to. It’s all or nothing. Let’s see what I’m made of.

See you at the finish line!!

This is the second meal from my Clean(er) Eating challenge and I have to say it was a winner! I’d never made meatloaf before, so I wasn’t sure how it would come out. Even as I was putting together the ingredients, I was skeptical. But I was so happy with how it ended up. I think the leftovers are even better.

Spicy Glazed Meatloaf
From the Clean Eating Magazine, January/February 2012

Makes: 8 slices
Hands-on time: 20 minutes
Total Time: 2 hours

Ingredients

• Olive oil cooking spray
• 1/2 yellow onion, roughly chopped
• 2 carrots, peeled and chopped into 2-inch pieces
• 2 stalks celery, chopped into 2-inch pieces
• 2 cloves garlic, roughly chopped (I used bottled minced garlic)
• 1 cup rolled oats
• 1 tsp chile powder
• 2 tsp fresh thyme
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp ground pepper
• 1 egg
• 2 1/2lbs ground beef
• 1 cup ketchup
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 2 tsp Worcestershire sauce

Directions

ONE: Preheat oven to 375*F. Coat an 8-inch loaf pan with cooking spray
TWO: In the bowl of a food processor, pulse onions, carrots, celery and garlic until finely chopped, about 10 pulses
THREE: In a medium bowl, combine oats, chile powder, thyme, salt and pepper; set aside. In a large bowl, beat egg. Add ground beef to egg and mix thoroughly with your hands. Add oat mixture and onion mixture and mix with your hands until well combined. Spoon into loaf pan, smoothing top with the back of spoon. Place pan on a large baking sheet and bake for 1 hour.
FOUR: Prepare glaze: In a small bowl, combine remaining ingredients. Remove meatloaf from oven and pour half of glaze over top, distributing evenly; reserve remaining half. Return to oven and bake for 30 minutes, until and instant-read thermometer registers 160*F when inserted in center. Let cool for 10 minutes. Slice into 8 equal pieces and serve with remaining glaze for dipping.

I paired my dish with a side of broccoli and green beans.

Even though it was a bit crumbly when I tried to cut it, it pretty much kept its loaf shape. I was so happy with how well this came out. And the amounts of veggies were a great addition!

What have you made lately that’s made you go “Mmmmm”?

Ever since hearing about this little Italian restaurant gem in the Boston neighborhood of Bay Village (yep, not the North End), I was intrigued to try it out. It had a bit of mystery to it since on their website there are no menu’s posted…at any time. The chef, delightfully known as Chuck, bases his dishes off of what is in season on that particular week. So the menu changes frequently. This was a bit unnerving for me, since I always love looking at a menu before going to a restaurant. It’s nice to have a game plan. But that feeling was quickly swept aside when I heard the good reviews about the food. I knew I would find something that I liked.

David and I went on the Saturday before Valentine’s Day and we were lucky to get a reservation at 6pm. When we arrived, the bar area was empty, but the dining room was filled to the brim. I was immediately charmed by the quaint corner location, but the inside looked like a cleaned up, spaced out basement living room. The tables were set up in rows of three and offered seating for groups of 2 or 4 (larger parties being accommodated by moving tables together). There were little plants of what appeared to be herbs on our tables and Home Depot style fans on the ceiling. It wasn’t exuding the charm that I thought would be present, given the outside. But I reserved my criticism, hoping that it would be the food that really stood out.

To start, for drinks, I had the 2010 Santa Tresa “Purato”, organic wine from Sicilia which was smooth with a slight bite to the back. Nice taste without the pucker-ness of too much tannins. Very nice. I enjoyed two glasses throughout the evening. David opted for their sweetest white. I’m not sure what he had but he seemed to enjoy it. They were also passing around Italian bread, which was so thick it reminded me of corn bread. Dense and delicious.

The service throughout the evening was slightly delayed, but I did notice the packed dining room and the bar area was starting to fill up. It never got to the point where we were tired of waiting, though. And of course, we just enjoyed each other company. It was nice, too, that even though the dining room was tight, we still felt that we could have a conversation without having to shout over people.

For our entrees, I ordered the roasted potato gnocchi with a ragu of wild boar and Fruilian spices. After placing our order, the server came by and placed two plates in front of us for our starters. Starters that we didn’t order. They were from the owners, Joan and Chuck. How nice! Placed in front of us were meatballs with sauce and speck with apples. (Since we weren’t expecting these, I did not write down the names from the menu). Both were delicious. The meatballs had the perfect consistency; not too crumbly, not too dry. And the sauce was a slight tomato-y pairing. The speck was something I had never tried before. After doing a bit of research, I found out that speck is like prosciutto in that it is made from the hind leg of the pig, but it’s boned before curing. It’s cold smoked and cured for 5 months. (How about that little nugget of knowledge! Thank you Wikipedia.) I loved wrapping the speck with the apple. It wasn’t too salty, tough or fatty. It was easy to down a few slices (or 4).

When our entree’s came, I noticed the slightly small sizes (for $24 & $26 each) but I again equated that to the high, fresh quality of the ingredients. The gnocchi was perfectly cooked and pillowy. The sauce wasn’t overwhelming and the wild boar had a slight spicy and gamey flavor to it. And there were generous amounts of parmesan cheese. It wasn’t hard at all for my plate to be wiped clean. I enjoyed every bite. David liked his tagliatelle, as well.

We perused the dessert menu but instead decided to head to Finale and bring dessert back to the room. Although the desserts did look amazing! When the waiter gave us the check he said that we just needed to provide a signature and a business card; the meal was on them. So unexpected and so nice of erbaluce. *And even though this dinner was complimentary, my opinions are honest and that of my own.*

If you happen to be staying in the theatre district or south end neighborhood of Boston, erbaluce is definitely a dining experience to have. Although next time, I might just sidle up to the bar and have a bit more of an atmosphere.

erbaluce is located at 69 Church St. in Boston

After perusing one of my favorite blogs, I found this “Love Story” link up in rotation and thought what a fun way to talk about me and David!

Our Love Story

1. How long have you and your significant other been together?
         It will be 6 years in July

2. How did you meet? {What’s your “love” story?}
        David and I actually met online through Yahoo! Personals. I had gone through a string of disastrous relationships (both meeting in real life and online). I had just about given up hope, when I found David’s profile. He fit the bill that I was looking for and his eyes drew me in. I winked at him and we started contacting each other for a few weeks. In the middle of July we decided to make our relationship exclusive. We broke up for a month, 9 months later, but (obviously) ended up getting back together.

3. If married, how long have you been married? If not, is this the guy you hope to marry? {do tell}
      We got married in October of 2008, so 3 years and 5 months.

4. If you are married, where did you get married at? Big or small wedding? If not, where would you like to get married? And will it be big or small?
      We got married in Princeton, MA on a farm on the side of Mt. Wachusett. It was a semi-small wedding, just over 100 people.

5. Do you have any nick-names that you call one another? Do share!
      Nope, just the regular Hon, Sweetie, Sweetheart

6. Name 3 things you love most about your honey.
      He’s funny, he is intelligent beyond anything that I can comprehend, and he’s an excellent provider.

7. Tell us how he proposed? Or your ideal proposal?
      There came a point in our relationship where we knew we wanted to be together forever, so we started to look at rings. When we found one that I liked, he had every intention on going back to the jewelry store the next day and buy it, but I was too excited and asked him in the middle of the mall if we were really getting engaged. That night, he formally asked my dad. One month later (my ring was custom made) we were lying in bed and he had the ring under the pillows, under my head. He looked at me, said “Alaina Bliss, I love you. Will you marry me?” And in his hand was the ring. Very cute.

8. Is he a flowers and teddy bear kind of guy for v-day, or strawberries, champagne, and rose petals?
      Probably the latter. He’s done chocolate covered strawberries, Smirnoff Ice and paper hearts when we were first dating. It was so cute.

9. Are you a sunset dinner on the beach kind of girl, or pop a movie in and relax on the couch?
     I’m definitely more of a homebody. I love turning the lights off, snuggling up and watching a movie.

10. Tell us one thing you’d like to do with your significant one day. If you could do anything? Go anywhere?
      I would love to tour the British Isles with David.

11. Tell us what you plan on doing on this Valentine’s Day.
      I had to work this year, but we did spend a weekend in Boston this past weekend. We had a great dinner at erbaluce on Saturday night.

12. Are you asking for anything this Valentine’s Day?
    We decided not to get anything for each other this year since we just bought a house and are saving our money for that!

13. Give us one piece of advice of keeping a relationship strong and full of love.
   Communication and respect is key! And the ability to make each other laugh.

14. Show us a picture of what love means to you.

Awwww. Haha.

Feel free to answer a question about your significant other in the comments!

What are your thoughts on Valentine’s Day? I’m not a huge fan. David and I hardly ever go out that night. I think my favorite holiday is my birthday.

It’s the Final Countdown!

Less than a week until half marathon number 4! This past week was very low with training. I had my last long run on Tuesday and took it easy with one short run and a workout session at the gym. I bought a Living Social coupon of $24 for 30 days at the Boston Sports Club. There’s a location right near my train station and near work. I took a tour of the gym and I was a big fan! I liked it a lot more than Bally’s. I’m definitely going to take advantage of the 30 day pass.

Monday: Working 7-3, then dinner at Cafeteria
Tuesday: 11 miles @ 1:51:34 @ 10:07 pace
Wednesday: Rest, work 2-10
Thursday: 2 miles @ 16:45 @ 8:19 pace
Friday: 20 minute treadmill warm up and Tina’s Carrots n’ Weights Week 1, Day 1
Saturday & Sunday: David and I enjoyed a weekend out in Boston, aka: ate with no workouts

Week mileage: 13
Total mileage: 161.01

Even though the mileage was low, I had such an enjoyable week and weekend. I know that my training has been going well these past 12 weeks and I am so ready to PR this Sunday! I think I’m also slightly burnt out on running. At least running to train. I would love to get speedier, so I’m hoping to do more HIIT workouts and tempo runs. I’m also finally going to start on the New Rules of Lifting for Women program. Maybe if the gym thing goes well, I’ll sign a membership. We shall see! I’m looking to get lean and mean.

A Recipe

The challenge has started and this was the first dish that I made for David and I. It was looooosely based on the Clean Eating recipe, but still turned out delicious.

A Hearty Chicken Salad with Pomegranate & Creamy Lemon Dressing
Loosely based on Clean Eating Magazine, January/February 2012

Ingredients

• 2 5-oz boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• 3 tbsp plus 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice, divided
• 1/2 tsp salt, divided
• 1/4 tsp ground cayenne pepper
• 1 1/2 tsp black pepper, divided
• Olive oil cooking spray
• 1/4 cup nonfat plain Greek yogurt
• 2 tsp extra-virgin olive oil
• 4 oz fresh baby spinach
• 4 oz romaine lettuce
• 1/2 oz shelled, salted pistachios

Directions

ONE: In a large, shallow bowl, add chicken and 3 tbsp lemon juice. Turn to coat. Sprinkle 1/4 tsp salt, cayenne and 1/2 tsp pepper on all sides of chicken, dividing evenly. Set aside.
TWO: Take a sauté pan and mist with cooking spray. Add chicken and grill, turning once, until cooked through, about 10 minutes per side. (5 is recommended for the recipe, but my chicken breasts were pretty thick.) Transfer to a cutting board and set aside until cool enough to handle, about 5 minutes. Cut each chicken breast crosswise into thin slices.
THREE: Meanwhile, prepare dressing: In a small bowl, whisk remaining 1/4 cup lemon juice, yogurt, oil, remaining 1/4 tsp salt and 1 tsp pepper. Set aside.

There was a step four in the recipe where you mix red onion and pom arils and then top the salad with avocado. I didn’t have the patience for arils and David and I aren’t huge fans of avocado. But if you want to make this recipe, I highly recommend adding them in! I’m sure they give the dish a lot more depth of flavor that what we had.

FIVE: Mix the spinach and romaine with the dressing, chicken and pistachios and enjoy!

This chicken was super spicy and the dressing added a nice cool contrast to that. It wasn’t anything fancy but it was nice to break away from the sandwiches that usually graced our lunch plates.

What’s your favorite lunch?