Falling

It's decorative gourd season!

Which also means it's the time of year that my monthly coffee budget skyrockets as I drink approximately three pumpkin spice lattes a week.  They never get old.

In other fall news, James and I took a small, slightly significant trip:

And now we're back and settling back in to life.  James has once again come down with acute bronchitis, with the added bonus of having to take the GRE today.  So I'm hanging out at the Longmont Public Library while he takes the test, then we're going to go get sushi.  Or maybe go to the emergency room, depending on how he's feeling.

There is more to update, include home made jerky and Basque food tomorrow night, with a subtopic of "Kathryn really, really loves cabbage right now", but that will have to wait.  For right now, I'm going to get caught up on Go Fug Yourself's Emmy coverage.  I'm totally living the dream.

Monday Weigh In and other updates

It's been a good productive few days, all things considered.  At today's weigh-in, I saw this:

So that was a good way to start the week.

I also turned this:

Cilantro, carrots, and red peppers for various meals

In to this:

Nicely chopped veggies in tupperware for easy cooking during the week

And I turned this in to this:

Wedding invitations that should have gone out two weeks ago

Wedding invitations that went out today

And I turned all of these:

Delicious fresh ingredients

In to this meal:

Lime Soup

James has come down with bronchitis, so this meal ended up being a perfect mix of the hearty chicken soup he wanted with the lots of veggies and cilantro and lime on top (aka, what I wanted).  All in all, productive weekend and start to the week.

And then we both took naps.

James Makes Marinades

When I marinate meat, it goes a little something like this:

 

"Hm, I have this bottle of dressing / marinade stuff, so I guess I'll toss it in a plastic bag with something.  Maybe chicken?  Chicken goes with Sesame Orange, right?  And then about half an hour later I'll put it in the oven.  I'm sure that'll be great."

And it typically isn't. 

When James marinates meat, it goes a little something like this:

"I have an actual type of meat I'm going to match a marinade to.  I think pork would be great with something sweeter tonight.  I'll take these items:

 Leftover vinaigrette from a salad Kathryn tried to make once, fresh cherries, and a little bit of a great summer wine.  Toss them together, spread over pork, squeeze cherry juice on to the pork, remove the pits, leave the cherries on top of the meat, bake the perfect amount of time, and voila, perfection created from nothing but random leftovers."

Can you see why I love this man?  And why he gets to be the one who marinates things?

Monday Weigh In

It was a momentous day in my weight loss journey this year.  I stepped on the scale after my workout and saw this:

For the first time in over two years, the scale dipped below 160.  This is a far cry from where I was five months ago -- when I first "weighed in" on January 3, I weighed 186.  This was the heaviest I had ever been, and a wake up call that I needed to do something.  Since then it's been a slow and steady process, with my goal of 150 in sight.  Once I reach that point, I will probably set a mini-goal of 10 more pounds to get to 140 - I haven't been that thin since high school.

For all the success on the scale, today has been sort of an off-day.  I haven't felt very good about myself or my progress.  These type of down days are hard, but I'll push through.  I have 11 weeks until my wedding, and think I can lose 10 pounds in that time.  Wish me luck?

And a big shout out to both My Fitness Pal, for keeping my eating in check, and the girls on the Getting in Shape board on the Knot.  On a sometimes harsh chat site, they've been supportive and wonderful about holding me accountable for exercise.  Internet strangers are awesome.

Productice, productive, productive, then lazy

It's been a good weekend, and a very lazy Sunday afternoon.  I dragged myself out of bed at 6 this morning to go on an eleven mile run - only two more weeks to the half-marathon!  The good news is, I'm feeling very ready for it after the run this morning.  It was the best I've had in a while.  My legs felt good and strong, and I ran the second half faster than the first, including a 9:45 mile between 8-9 --  I almost never run that fast, but it felt great.

I credit the run at least partially to James for suggesting a new breakfast.  For about three months now, I've been eating greek yogurt and granola for breakfast almost every single day.  Today, I switched it up for a piece of wheat toast, two tablespoons peanut butter, and a banana (half of it cut up and put on top of the toast).  It was delicious and very energizing.

The main challenge:  there's a giant fire near Fort Collins:

You can see the line of smoke drifting off to the right in this picture.  It made it a bit hard to breathe at times.  Here's hoping they can get it under control soon.  Wildfires in Colorado can be very dangerous.

I've eaten a ton today - that's one benefit of running 11 miles.  My Fitness Pal estimated my calorie burn at 1388, so I get to eat those calories back!  I made scrambled eggs for James and I after I got home, and also ate a footlong turkey sandwich from Subway.  Dinner is undecided so far, but I still have to eat about 800 calories I need to eat - gotta find something filling and good for me.

In a few hours we have to take Zoe out for another swimming adventure / walk.  Yesterday we ran into her three best friends from the dog park while out on our swim:  Maverick, Kylie, and Colby.

With their encouragement, we finally got Zoe to (oh so gracefully) swim a few feet.

Right now we're all tired and happy, which is very nice at the end of a Sunday.  Let's hope that it leads to a great week ahead.

It's summertime: swimming, faux-jitoes, and a new friend

Summertime has really arrived the last few weeks in Colorado - 90 degree days, afternoon thunderstorms, and the urge to find a good cool drink.  We've also been a bit bored of the dog park lately, so we've made an effort to find new places and ways to tire Zoe out in the evenings.  Hence, the discovery of this park:

This wide open space was recommended by one of our favorite dog park friends, and comprises about two square miles of mostly empty grass, trails, and river.  It's not officially an off-leash area, but is so isolated that we break the rules and let Zoe run around without one.

It also has a nice lake, which has led to our new mission for the summer:  teach Zoe to swim.  This has so far met with only minor success.  Mostly she jumps around, chases sticks, and sometimes swims two feet before stopping to shake water all over us.

 

It's been a nice way to end the days, as well.  It stays light so late that James and I have greatly enjoyed spending an hour or more outside, playing with the dog and catching up at the end of the long work days.

Also great when it's hot and summery:  new summertime drinks!  I recently introduced James to mojitoes, which have gone so well with some of the Caribbean cooking we've done lately.  Last week, I didn't have the limes to make them, so I made my own version with what I had on hand.  The name is courtesy of James.

Faux-jitoes  

10 mint leaves

2 tablespoons sugar water (recipe below)

1 shot Bacardi white rum

1 shot Malibu Island Melon rum

8 oz. lemon lime flavored carbonated water

Make the sugar water by combining one cup water and one cup sugar.  Bring to a boil, stirring occasionally, and let simmer until the sugar is fully dissolved. 

Put two tablespoons of sugar water and 10 mint leaves in a glass and muddle. Okay, I'll be honest - I see all sorts of drink recipes that call for "muddling", and I don't have a muddler or really even know what one does.  I use the pestle from my mortar and pestle to crush the mint leaves some.  If you don't have one, just cut or tear them up to release some flavor.  

Add ice, both shots of rum, and the carbonated water.  Mix and drink -- feel free to add more sugar water or lime juice to sweeten it up a bit if necessary (or more alcohol to liquor it up).

In other news, this little guy had joined our household:

 Zeddicus is a guinea pig from a broken home who needed somewhere new to lay his hat, so we offered to take him in.  So far he's mostly just hung out in his little cave, shivering in fear, but we have hopes that he'll come out his shell soon.

Speaking of fear, Zoe is afraid of everything in the universe, and has been making this noise pretty much constantly since Zeddicus arrived yesterday. 

Needless to say, this did not contribute to a good night's sleep last night.  So hopefully that will calm down some as they adjust to each other.

Sunday Dinner - "I'm a convert to brining" Edition

I have been lazy in updating, which is especially shameful since I left the whole brining experiment results lingering for two weeks.  Well, I let the post about them linger - the actual brining stuck to the "overnight" schedule laid out in the previous entry.

Anyway.  I am happy to report that the brining was incredibly successful, and that the Sunday roast chicken dinner was, well, amazing.  As mentioned previously, I pulled the chicken out about four hours prior to  cooking it to let it dry out on a rack in the fridge.  Then, the cooking began!

This recipe, with some slight modifications, is taken from Seamus Mullen's Hero Food - see previous post for more info on this awesome cookbook, which you should buy.  Incidentally, if you buy it in Kindle form, it comes with some tutorial videos which is, frankly, an amazing use of Kindle technology.

Ingredients
1 3-5 lb. roasting chicken (mine was just 3 lbs which was perfect for two people)
Salt
Pepper
1 lemon, cut in to quarters
5 cloves garlic, lightly crushed
2 tablespoons olive oil
Handful basil, tarragon, rosemary, thyme, sage...whatever herbs you have around

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees.  Season the chicken with salt and pepper. Stuff the cavity with the lemon quarters, cloves of garlic, and the herbs you have on hand.

Hint:  if you put the garlic under the flat edge of the knife (sharp side pointed away from you) and pound your fist down on top of the garlic, this will both easily peel the garlic and crush it just enough to release it's flavors.  Also, you'll notice that there are actually two lemons in the picture.  The original recipe called for two, but I found only one could fit inside the cavity of my small chicken.  If you're making a larger one, you might need two. 

Put the chicken in a large roasting pan, breast side up.  Tuck the wings underneath the the bird and tie the legs together.

Roast the bird for 1 hour, or until the thigh and the breast meat read 150 degrees on a meat thermometer. 

Remove the chicken from the oven.  Increase the oven temperature to 400 degrees.  Brush the chicken with the olive oil and return to the oven for 10-15 minutes, until crispy and golden brown.  My meat thermometer recommends letting chicken reach 180 degrees before eating.  Most websites will say 165 degrees, but I've found I tend to like the meat more when cooked closer to 180.

James also boiled up some rice and beans, and I made asparagus two ways - steaming it, then adding butter, salt, and pepper for James, and lemon juice for me.  And then a delicious dinner was ours.

I have to say, the brining really made such a difference with this chicken.  Even two weeks later, I can still remember the moist deliciousness of it.  It was perfectly salted, with an awesome burst of flavor.  Both the breast and the legs were tender and juicy.   Chicken has at times been a bit of a personal demon of mine, but I feel like I conquered it with this meal.

Can't wait to try it with turkey come Thanksgiving time!

And, because I'm constantly trying to prove that my cooking will live up to the southern roots of James, I made a cobbler for him, using fresh blackberries and this mix purchased from Sprouts.

End result, combined with vanilla fro-yo:  delicious.

The full meal, cobbled together a bit and assuming you eat the chicken breast without skin, came to a total of 533 calories on My Fitness Pal - only 9 grams of fat!  This didn't include things like the amount of salt soaked up in brining, so I'm sure it was more than that in the end, but still pretty good for you.