Savory Sundays: Onion Rice

This may be our favorite side dish, at least one with rice. We love the flavor, and its versatility. It goes well with all sorts of different types of foods - Italian, Mexican, whatever. You could probably add some steamed veggies or something else on the side and have a very tasty and healthy dish. Here's a link to the recipe from All Recipes.

I also like it because it's fairly simple. All it has is five ingredients:

1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 red onion, chopped
1 cup long-grain white rice
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
2 cups chicken broth

Everyone:

Now, heat some oil in a saucepan and add the chopped onion when it's hot.

You have to heat the onion in the oil until it's almost tender and then add the rice. Not sure what exactly that looks like but this is about the point I take it to:

I suppose when the onion turns a soft purple color is when it's tender. Anyway, cover the rice with oil, so just stir it and stir it and keep stirring it. Well, maybe not that much but just stir it up a little every now and then. When the rice is all coated with the oil and it starts to brown, add the pepper and then the chicken broth. The broth is what gives it flavor as well. I made it with water once (ran out of broth) and it tasted very bland. Then, bring it to a boil:

Once it's boiling and bubbly, turn heat to low, cover and let it sit on low for 20 minutes.

It's very good, trust me. The only thing that's kinda strange is the leftovers... if there are leftovers. The onions turn a strange color, like an off-purple. But once you heat it up, it looks like this. Nothing big really, it doesn't change the flavor at all. Overall, this dish is my wife's favorite rice dish and I love it because of its simplicity.

Savory Sundays: Marinara Sauce

This is something that I tried for the first time, and I will continue to make over and over again. I've always been intrigued by the idea of making Marinara Sauce from scratch, and lately I've been working on making my own meat sauce recipe to serve with spaghetti. I think I've come close to coming up a good recipe for the meat, so I figured why not go all the way and make the sauce for it as well. Here's the link for the Marinara Sauce recipe, which I got from All Recipes. And really, it's a simple recipe to make.

Ingredients

2 (14.5 ounce) cans stewed tomatoes
1 (6 ounce) can tomato paste
4 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
1 clove garlic, minced
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
3/8 cup (6 tablespoons) olive oil
1/3 cup finely diced onion
1/2 cup white wine
1 tablespoon brown sugar (optional)

All together now:

Toss in the tomatoes, tomato paste, garlic, parsley, oregano, salt and pepper in a food processor.

Blend that until it looks like this:

Then, take the olive oil and heat it over medium heat. Toss in the onions and saute for a couple of minutes:

Then, add the tomato mixture as well as the white wine. Now, I suppose you could leave out the wine. I almost did but figured I'd try it with the wine and if I didn't like it or if it didn't go well, I'd just leave it out the next time. Well, I liked it. So it stays. And I'm not a wine drinker. Also, the brown sugar is optional; it seems to cut down on some of the tartness from the tomatoes, at least that's how I understood it.

Simmer for 30 minutes. You have to stir occasionally because otherwise the bubbles from the heat will get tomato everywhere. When it's done, you have a good amount of marinara sauce. This one came out great and it worked very well with the meat I seasoned and cooked.

What I also like about the marinara sauce is you can add a lot to it; mushrooms, extra garlic, a bay leaf while it's on the heat... whatever strikes your fancy.

Savory Sundays: White Chip Lemon Streusel Bars

Hello and welcome to another edition of Savory Sundays. I like this feature too much I think, as all week I'm wondering what I'll feature on the upcoming Sunday and try and plan meals around that. It's good though since it forces me to be creative, and I got creative this week.

The first of three (or four) things today is a bar recipe I tried: White Chip Lemon Streusel Bars. It's from a cookbook I have called Cookies, Bars and Muffins, which features lots of - you guessed it - cookies, bars and muffins.

Ingredients:

1 can (14 oz) sweetened condensed milk
1/2 cup lemon juice
1 teaspoon lemon zest
2 cups (1 package) white chocolate chips
1 cup packed light brown sugar
2/3 cup butter or margarine, softened
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups regular rolled or quick-cooking oats
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon shortening

Group photo:

Now, before I start I must say this was an involved recipe. One thing I disliked about it was having to set aside this much of this and that much of that and it confused me. I wasted some flour and oats and an egg because I missed a step. But that was probably my fault for not understanding it going in and not reading it properly. Anyway, first thing you do is zest a lemon, squeeze out 1/2 cup lemon juice and pour the sweetened condensed milk into a bowl. Well, it doesn't really pour, it kind of sticks and oozes if you're lucky. I whisked it together and got most of the juice and milk to mix.

First, you have to set aside 1/4 cup and 1/3 cup of the white chips, and then the remainder (what's left in the bag) you dump in with this mixture.

Mix the butter and sugar until well blended. Stir together oats, flour, baking powder, salt and add to butter mixture (the step I missed! Grr). Then, you have to set aside 1 2/3 cups of the mixture. Add egg to what's left in the bowl, blend until crumbly. Then, you press that onto the bottom of a greased 13-by-9 inch pan like so:

Then, you layer. First comes the lemon/chips mixture:
Then, you add the 1/3 cup of chips to the reserved oats mixture, stir it up a bit and then sprinkle on top of the lemon mixture:

Pop it in a preheated 350-degree oven for 20-25 minutes (it took me the full 25).

Put the 1/4 cup of chocolate chips and the shortening in the microwave and melt them. It took me about a minute and 10 seconds. I have that down because of some biscotti I make; I drizzle them with melted white chocolate chips and that's about as long as it takes. Then, mix it and drizzled over the top:

It didn't come out perfect but it looks okay. I made it for a baby shower my wife helped organize and she said it went over well. I had a bit afterward and was surprised how lemony it tasted. I figured the lemon flavor would be overpowered by everything else but it wasn't. It was pretty rich, very flavorful and if you like white chocolate and lemons, this would be a good recipe to make.

Double Digits

Hopefully, this doesn't get lost amidst the Savory Sunday posts...

Saturday, I had what was easily one of the best runs of my life. it also happened to be the "longest run of my life" but that's not the only reason why it was an outstanding run.

Before heading out this morning, I was nervous. I had thought about the run all day Friday and through the night. It was the first thing I thought about this morning and I was a bit of a wreck while making my Saturday morning muffins. But around 7 or so, I started to get ready and before long I was stretching and figuring out what music I wanted to run to.

I left around 7:30 and the sun cooperated with me. It was not raining but rather sunny, not warm but just a bright morning. Still, I went out in long sleeves and gloves because it was still chilly. A little bit. But I've gotten used to wearing my gloves while running and my hands get cold so easily.

I didn't really have a route mapped out. I kinda sorta did, but I wasn't thrilled with it. The first mile was on a somewhat busy street outside my housing tract, but Mile 2 started out at the beginning of a lonely road that runs parallel to a freeway; no houses, no dogs, no people, few cars. It was nice. I got the four-mile mark and was supposed to hang a left, go back over the freeway and take a busy street back home, but decided against it. I liked the serenity of the lonely road so I stayed on there. I eventually got to 4.88 miles when I decided to turn back around.

I got to mile 6 and felt great. I remembered how a year ago, on my anniversary in fact, I'd ran six miles and my heart rate was in the 180s, which meant I was gassed. And that was just after breaking the 5-mile mark. My heart rate on Saturday hovered around 170 for much of the run, as I averaged 168 during the run.

For the next mile or so, I thought about how great the intervals had worked for me. That is a great exercise for my heart, since I work it a lot during an interval run. Here I was, in the seventh mile of a run, and I my heart rate was at 167, when not even eight months ago I would have already hit the wall.

Before I knew it, I was approaching the intersection to get back to the busy street near my house. I looked at my Garmin: 8.25. It's funny how a week ago that was the long run, and on Saturday it was a milestone that was forgotten almost as quickly as it had been reached.

I got past nine miles and felt great. I was in a groove, didn't feel any pain (save for the usual nip pain, argh) and wasn't tired or breathing heavily. Eventually I got on my street and was at around 9.9 miles or so. I hung a left instead of a right, ran down to the end, turned around and headed back home. I looked down and saw 10.0. I extended my arms out to my side and said "Yay!" to myself. I really had to control myself there because I wanted to keep running, keep going past my house and get to 11 or 12 miles, or longer.

Those runs will come in time. Saturday was about reaching a milestone, tackling the "longest run of my life" and checking off another long-distance run from my list

It was a rite of passage, and a run I'll remember forever.

10 Miles!

I don't have a lot of time right now - actually no computer access - but did want to post this now.

I ran 10 miles today! It felt great to get out there and run that distance. Today's run was easily one of the best runs I've had in my life. Everything about it was about as good as I could hope for - except for the ever-present nip pain.

To me this is a bit of a rite of passage, to hit the 10-mile mark.

I do want to write more on this run later though, but just wanted to post this here now.

Jumping on the bandwagon

I've got a 10-mile run planned for Saturday and I was going to blog about it but I'm nervous about it and don't want to psyche myself out so to take my mind off of it, I figured I'd throw my hat in the ring. Some of my blog buddies have been doing this 25 Things list, and I've enjoyed all of them. Really I have, just haven't commented. Guess I should go back and comment on them... think I will.

Anyway, it inspired me.

1. I was named after my paternal grandfather. I have three brothers (no sisters) and my dad got to name two of us. He named me after his dad and my youngest brother after himself. Also, none of us four have middle names.

2. My daughters' names have very special meaning: Yvonne shares a name with her great grandmother (who is still around) and a middle name with both my grandmothers (who aren't) as both were Esperanza. Kennedy shares a name with my mother-in-law's birth name (last name) and Raquel is my mom's name.

3. I've shared this before but thought I'd expand on it. In one of life's biggest ironies (at least in mine), my wife did not take my last name. Why is this ironic? Throughout school - elementary through high school - I'd sometimes write down random girls' names and pair them with my last name, and wondered what my future wife's full name would be. None of the countless names ever came to fruition, and the time I spent on them was in vain.

4. I have a huge man-crush on Michael Chiarello. I am in awe of the man. Funny thing is, I hardly every make one of his recipes. But that does not lessen the man crush. At all.

5. I like to drink beer. Sad thing is, I hardly ever do these days. If I have a few beers, I feel them the next day. I don't hung over easily but I just feel a bit queasy. Yes, I'm a wimp. But when I was 300 pounds, I could knock back eight beers without feeling much.

6. I don't think patriotism means blindly following leaders and waving the American flag. I figure if you do your civic duty and vote, obey the laws, pay your taxes, inform yourself about what's going on with the government and in the country, donate, volunteer... that's along the lines of patriotism. To me anyway.

7. I once killed a chick by squeezing it to death. I was three. I didn't know what I was doing. I still get flak for it.

8. Nothing irritates me more, nothing makes my mood turn downright sour more than inconsiderate drivers. It's probably because I take so much effort to be considerate that when some jackhole cuts me off or is driving too slow in the fast lane or doesn't turn their blinker on, it just bothers me more than it should.

9. I don't really have one favorite band. I really like Rage Against The Machine, Metallica and Rammstein and recently I've gotten into The Killers and Flogging Molly. And of course I like Guns N Roses and Nirvana from back in the day.

10. Keeping the musical theme... I'm not a big concertgoer necessarily but I've been to a few. I've seen Rage five times, the band I've seen the most. The last concert I went to was Metallica on Dec. 12. That kicked major tail!

11. I never really had a lot of girlfriends. It's not that I didn't date, but I was bad at it. I had one serious girlfriend in my life, and I married her.

12. I love muffins. Everything about them. And I hate cupcakes. I think when I developed my love of muffins is when I started hating cupcakes.

13. I like to bake. When I'm older (like when my girls are out of high school), I want to work part time at a bakery.

14. I've driven from Southern California to my parents' hometown in Mexico three times in the last seven years. We used to take family vacations when were younger every now and then but I've made the drive as an adult three times. It's about 1600 miles and I love it.

15. I think I've been to more states in Mexico than I have in the US. Let me see: Mexico: Baja California Norte, Sonora, Sinaloa, Nayarit, Jalisco, Michoacan, Guanajuato, Chihuahua, Aguascalientes, Zacatecas, DF... I think that's it. That's 11. US of A: California, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, Idaho, Colorado, Texas, Kansas, Missouri, Illinois. That's 11. Ha! The same. Although, I used to count Georgia and Florida because I had layovers in Atlante and Miami before but my wife doesn't allow me to count them :( Well, others have said the same but I blame her.

16. I don't consider golf and auto racing true "sports" in the sense of the word. Neither have a defense, and how athletic do you have to be to golf? Golf to me is like playing pool. I like billiards, playing it, and I've even played and enjoyed golf before, like real golf on a real course, not miniature golf. But I hate golf on TV; hate watching it, hate seeing it on sports highlights, hate the coverage it gets. I'm a hater I guess. NASCAR and Formula-One and all that, meh. I don't hate it but I don't follow it either.

17. I'm a freelance writer by trade, and I've interviewed many famous people, people who are revered and idolized in their homelands. Seriously. But most Americans have never heard of them. Why? They're soccer players. The most famous person I've interviewed is well known here, though: this guy.

18. I want to retire either in my parents' hometown (they have a house there) or in the Caribbean somewhere.

19. I think I have ADD. Seriously. It's very hard for me to keep my focus on certain things, many things, but when I find something that I really enjoy and can sink my teeth into, it's like tunnel vision. I took a test once online, like a test doctors use to screen people who may have ADD. It said that if you answered yes to more than 10 of the questions, you could have it. I answered yes to almost 30 of them.

20. I don't read books. This is very sad, I know. I should read books more often. However, when I find books I like, I can read them quickly. I read the last Harry Potter book in about two days. I read The Book (the running book I got recently) a lot. I read The Mag too, but that's not a book. Mags I can read but books... sad.

21. I dislike peanut butter. I can eat peanuts but not peanut butter. It tastes like butt.

22. I kind of like karaoke, although I never really have done it, well just once. For my 34th birthday (which will be in August) I plan on a karaoke-related party. Those who I invite will not need to bring presents or anything. All they must do is sing two karaoke songs, one they select and one I choose for them. I figure, I put this obstacle up so that when people try and negotiate with me, we'll negotiate down to one song which is what I really want anyway. Yes, I'm aware that I might be at my party alone...

23. My favorite candy is Skittles, followed closely by Lemonheads.

24. I didn't really care a lot about Disney and/or Disneyland until we got season passes. My mother-in-law kicked down with some passes for my girls' birthday presents in 2007, for which I'll be forever grateful (on an aside, I really like my wife's family, I lucked out in the in-law department). Now I'm a Disneyland freak. I'd go twice or three times a week if I could and never get bored.

25. I would love to get a motorcycle. Right before I met my wife I was looking into getting a motorcycle and taking classes on how to ride them. My wife DOES NOT like the idea of me getting a motorcycle, so it's never gotten past the I-would-love-to stage. But I think it would kick ass if I drove my daughter to school in a motorcycle.

Meanwhile, on the field...

These last couple of days have been hectic. Crazy, really. Just swamped with work-related stuff along with my normal stay-and-work-at-home-dad duties. And the forecast looks to be busy for the next few days too.

Anyway, I don't want to neglect this trusty blog so I figured I'd share this with you. I wrote this bit up about a recent referee experience and posted it on my other blog (it's a sports-related blog that would probably bore most of you regulars to death so I don't link to it here but can if you really want me to). It was a very interesting experience that I just had to get off my chest, so I did over there and I'll do so here as well.

...

I've had a quite eventful last... well, two months, but in particular the last three days in my role as high school referee. I had my confidence raised, shattered and raised again, which I guess is all part of the learning process.

Thursday I had a junior varsity girls game. This was a fairly high-level JV girls game as the two high schools have traditionally had strong varsity girls teams. I was doing well, active, making all the right calls and getting no flak from the coaches and/or parents in attendance. With about five minutes left and the score at 0-0, that all changed. The visiting team had the ball in the hosts' penalty area. A girl dribbled the ball around some defenders when one of them stuck her leg out and tripped the attacking player, who fell to the ground as the ball went away from her.

I blew my whistle and pointed to the spot. PK. I was certain it was the right call. It wasn't a blatant foul; the defender didn't elbow her or knock her down from behind, but nonetheless it was a foul. The visitors converted the penalty and took a 1-0 lead. About three minutes elapsed by the time play resumed, and for those three minutes I took quite a bit of heat from the losing coach. She was complaining about everything from that point on, to the point that I nearly cautioned her. Still, I figured what would be best would to keep control of the game, blow the whistle as soon as the 35 minutes were up and get the hell out of dodge.

After I ended the game, I jogged over to get my stuff. Sometimes I change out of my cleats and slip back into something more foot-friendly but this time I didn't bother. I figured I'd rather leave without giving people time to complain or whatever. Well, that didn't happen. As I'm walking out towards the gate I hear the coach racing towards me.

"REFEREE! REFEREE!"

Well shit, here comes the coach, I thought. This was a first. I was involved in a game earlier this year when a parent waited for me and my partner in the parking lot after his son was sent off (I didn't send him off but that didn't matter to that guy) but this was the first time a coach ran to me after a game to complain about a call.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" I asked her twice. Maybe that took some of the edge off because she seemed to pause for a second before she ripped into me.

"How could you call that? The girl tripped over her own feet? Did you not see that?!?!?!?"

I didn't stop walking. No way. But I didn't speed up or anything, just kept at my pace. I probably should have just not said anything but that probably would have pissed her off even more so I told her that I had the best vantage point, that she was on the sideline and that her player tripped the other girl. She said something else before she turned away but at that point I just put my head down and tried to leave before anyone else confronted me. Luckily, there were a lot of people coming and going as the varsity game was set to start later and I sort of just blended in at some point.

Although I think I handled the confrontation well, what I should have done was carded her. As a high school referee, I can card people after I've blown the final whistle. And really, she crossed the line. She completely lost it, lost control, displayed poor sportsmanship and set a bad example to her players. I should have red-carded her ass and given her a game off to think about her actions and force her to explain herself to her principal, since that's what HS coaches have to do after receiving a red card (at least in my area). But, of course, I was unclear on whether or not I could have carded her at all. It was the first time it came up, so after talking to other referees about it I am now more up-to-speed on that.

On Friday I was slated to ref a varsity girls game between a pair of mid-level area girls teams. I couldn't stop thinking about the day before. Had I made the right call? Should I have let play go on? Did I do what I never want to do and decide the game? That stupid confrontation made things worse. Had the coach not approached me I may not have second-guessed myself so much, but she went all crazy on me so it rattled me a bit. I was nervous then before Friday's game so I called a referee buddy of mine to talk about it and hopefully settle my nerves.

It was a great call, actually, as he had reffed the varsity game afterward. The same coach, who was on the bench as an assistant coach for that game, had continued her shenanigans as she was complaining about the calls so much so that my friend had to tell her to be quiet. Maybe she was still seething over the PK or whatever. Anyway, the team had earned five yellow cards and a red card that game and lost. The school apparently has a reputation for being like that and the coach hasn't been that great to other officials as well. So apparently I didn't force a rational coach into doing something irrational.

Anyway, in Friday's game I was doing well at the start. I was keeping up with the speed of play, making all the right calls, ignoring incidental contact, etc. Still, the one thing I did not want was to have the players put me in a position where I either needed to call a penalty or let contact in the area slide. I didn't know how I would react.

Of course, that happened with about 10 minutes left. Ahead 1-0, a girl dribbled the ball into the penalty area and two defenders sandwiched her and knocked her on her back. I didn't hesitate and immediately blew my whistle and pointed to the spot. It was 100 percent the right call. The opposing coach did not complain. Later, the other ref said that I had made a good call.

That kind of made me feel better. I don't like to play mind games with myself and always try to stay focused and make the right calls. But when your confidence is down, it's hard to do that. I was fine and Friday's game restored whatever faith that had been lost from the end of the previous day's game to the start of the other.

It's situations like that that have helped me learn about refereeing games, and have given me the knowledge and experience necessary to improve. As bad as those things are, it's the only way to continue evolving and developing.

The end is near

I have my final soccer game of the season on Thursday. Now, I want to reflect back on the season at some point and my experiences because they have been rather interesting. For instance, a couple of weeks ago a coach chased after me after a game after I made a late penalty kick call. That was interesting. I have parents yell stuff at me every game and have had coaches go insane on me on the sidelines... you know, all the fun stuff referees have to endure.

Anyway, while I will miss the money, my heels could not be more excited about the end of the season. I realized on Tuesday just how much damage is being done to my heels. I hadn't reffed a game in four days, from last Thursday until Tuesday, and over that relative short period of time my heels had gotten better. I hadn't really noticed until Tuesday, when I put my cleats back on and ran around on the soccer field. It was painful, and the difference between running in my Asics and running in cleats was never more apparent than it was then.

With some time off my cleats, I think my heels will be able to recover rather quickly, even if I'm still running and walking around and doing things like I normally do. After all, 70-80 minutes on cleats is a lot to ask for.

I think next season (and I'm doing this again next season) I will have to prepare better. I will have to buy the cushions or whatever they're called. I don't want to not wear cleats - some of the fields I've been on were difficult enough navigating on cleats - but I might have to find an alternative to just straight soccer cleats.

So yes, my final game is on Thursday, a junior varsity girls game. Well, actually, I take that back. I started refereeing some games at a local university; it's mostly grad students, co-ed, people paying a ton of money to go to school that must also participate in some sort of physical activity, and I'm one of the refs. It's not the most stressful situation - waaaaay easier than high school - but it's still time in my cleats.

But once a week is better than five times a week... for my heels, not my wallet.

Technology don't fail me now

Just got back from a 2.15 mile run. It was the first run since Friday's eight-mile run and I felt good. it felt good to get back out there. Physically everything went well.

But my downfall I believe will be technology. And today was a good illustration of that.

I run with lots of bells and whistles. Aside from the actual act of running and everything that goes with it, I've got plenty to keep me busy during a typical run. Here's a breakdown:

* iPod Part 1 of 2: I'm nothing without my iPod. I need music to run. I tell people all the time that without my iPod I'd still weigh 300 pounds.

* Headphones, Part 2 of 2: I worry about them sometimes. They slip off my ear, or they give out on me.

* Watch, Part 1 of 2: My watch goes around my left wrist and measures my heart rate, time and calories burned, though it only shows either the heart rate or time, not both. It goes with...

* Heart Rate Strap, Part 2 of 2: This attaches around my torso, and the actual part that measures the heart rate sits right underneath my sternum. I lovingly refer to it as my "man-bra" although it supports nothing. (here's a link to a picture of some guys wearing one)

* Garmin: I love it but I'm still trying to figure it out. I try not to look at it too often but it's difficult. The pace is quite intriguing.

Sometimes I feel like I'm going off to battle or something with the amount of gear I have on. Nevermind sunglasses if I need them, the Vaseline to prevent injury, etc. I've got plenty to keep me busy.

Now, lately my heart rate monitor has been irritating me. Not sure why but for the last few months I need to put the strap on about 30 minutes before a run in order for it to register a heart rate from the start of the run. I noticed that during soccer season as I wear it during every game I officiate. It's usually not a problem - I put it on, make sure it's secure and forget about it. I really don't feel it when I run, and I ran the Mud Run and the 10K while wearing it.

But when it fails you, it can throw off an entire run. This morning, for instance, I didn't have a lot of time to prepare for my run. I put the strap on before I did anything else, and by the time I was out on the street in front of my house warming up for my run, with iPod set to AC/DC, Garmin registering the GPS and my vaseline-lubed nips ready to go, my watch kept flashing "00" at me. No heart rate.

Oh well. I left without it. Now, I'd only wanted to run a couple of miles so I didn't want to linger. Had I been running intervals or something longer than two miles, I may have waited. As it was, though, I was irritated and didn't want to give it any more time and/or attention.

I ran for about a half mile before trying again. It finally kicked on and measured my heart rate. I felt more in a groove once that was on, since I got used to running with it and glancing at in order to help me maintain my pace and rhythm. Now with my Garmin, though, I have something else that will help me with my pace.

The run went well and I had no problems with my watch, the strap (sometimes it slips down because it's too loose but not today), the Garmin, the iPod or the headphones (the right one slipped off the ear a few times but nothing big). No, the biggest problem I had with my run today was, in fact, a physical one. My nipple is complaining again.

I guess I can't win for trying.

Motivational Mondays (Feb. 9)

I'll make it easy today.

A phrase often repeated by parents is "I'll do anything for my children." And while this is admirable, I didn't really know how to put in action when I became a parent. Sure, you have to feed them and clothe them and take care of them when they are small, but does that constitute "doing anything" for them? What does?

I eventually answered my own question. I don't know how to answer that for others, but for me "doing anything" meant losing weight and staying healthy. For the girls' sake.

I wanted to give them a parent to be proud of. I wanted to provide some sort of good example for them, to show them that you really can meet your goals when you set your mind on them. I wanted to show them that anything is possible.

How did I do that? I did everything for them. I dropped more than 120 pounds and got fit for them. Well, for me too but they were a huge factor in my weight loss. I didn't want to be the fat dad at my oldest daughter's kindergarten class... and I'm not. I wanted to be the active parent volunteer (and by active both going weekly and moving around with ease) in her class. And I am, on most weeks. Most of all, though, I want to be around for them. I didn't want to get some horrible obesity-related disease early in life simply because I didn't take care of my body. How unfair that would be for the girls, to do that to myself.

Anyway, here are the girls in action. This is old... from October 2006 to September 2007. The girls are considerably older now... well, at least it seems like it. I really really need to do this again, from Oct. 2007 to Sept. 2008. If and when that happens, I'll make it another Motivational Monday post.

For now, though, here are my girls growing up.

Savory Sundays: Black bean soup

Third and final recipe for the day. I got this one from an episode of Tyler's Ultimate on the Food Network. Not sure why but when I saw it, I immediately put it on my must-make-as-soon-as-possible list. The flavors speak to me - cilantro, onion, garlic, peppers, cumin - but some don't - black beans, ham hock. Still, I had to try it, so I did. The recipe is Black Bean Soup and you can find it here.

Here are the ingredients:

1 pound dried black beans
4 cloves garlic
2 onions, roughly chopped
1 green bell pepper, seeded and roughly chopped
1/4 bunch fresh cilantro
Extra-virgin olive oil
2 sprigs fresh oregano
2 tablespoons ground cumin
1 smoked ham hock
1 jalapeno, split
1 3/4 quarts low-sodium chicken stock
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

And the lineup:


A couple of things... 1) it calls for green bell peppers but I've pretty much stopped using green bells. I never cared for the flavor and I figured that a poblano pepper is similar to a green bell - green, not a lot of heat, relatively thick - so I swap out a green bell in favor of a poblano every time I come across the former. 2) the recipe doesn't list bay leaves in the ingredients but you need to use bay leaves; it even says so in the instructions, confusing I know; 3) soak the beans overnight otherwise they won't cook right, I read that on the recipe suggestions as well.

When you are ready to start the recipe, roughly chop the onions and poblano (or green bell) and toss them with the garlic and cilantro in a food processor. Blend until smooth:


Then, take a good amount of olive oil (the recipe says a 3-count, I figure that's about 3 tablespoons give or take) and when it's hot, toss in the cumin and oregano. I used ground Mexican oregano because that's what I had. Then, put the vegetable puree into the pot:


Now here comes the fun part. After the vegetable puree has had a chance to sit in the pot for about 10 minutes, add the chicken broth and the jalapeno as well as the ham hock. I dont't know why but the concept of cooking with a ham hock really appealed to me. I just thought it was cool that you could just throw that in something and get the flavor to come out of it and into the soup.


Unfortunately, the ham hock rendered some very chewy meat. I'm kind of a texture person so I didn't do what you were supposed to, which is cut the meat off the bone and toss it back into the soup. I left it out and am taking it over to my parents because I know them and I know they will destroy it.


Still, the soup came out quite tasty. I didn't take a picture of it but it also calls for a cup of sour cream mixed with a teaspoon of lime zest. I put that into my soup (and I normally don't like sour cream) but it was quite tasty. I also put in cilantro as well as lime into the soup. I liked it a lot. My wife didn't care for it but that's fine - more for me. I froze about three heaping bowlfuls of it so I'll have plenty to last me for a while.

Savory Sundays: chicken tortilla soup

This tasty dish is one of our wintertime favorites. It's a Chicken Tortilla Soup recipe I got from AllRecipes.com. Now, if you do a search for that on the site, you'll come up with all sorts of different Chicken Tortilla Soup recipes. I've not tried any of the others, but most of them seem good. We just really loved the flavors of this one so we didn't bother trying with another one.

Here's what you'll need:

2 skinless, boneless chicken breasts
1/2 teaspoon olive oil
1/2 teaspoon minced garlic
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
2 (14.5 ounce) cans chicken broth
1 cup frozen corn kernels
1 cup chopped onion
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 cup chunky salsa
corn tortilla chips
shredded Monterey Jack cheese (optional)

Now, what I like about this type of soup is that you can go easy on or add more of the ingredients. Recently I had taken out one extra chicken breast but I cooked it right along with and it came out great. I've just been making this with a lot of the ingredients really, well, except for the onions. I guess you don't really want to have the onions take over.

Anyway, start off by slicing the chicken meat into small pieces, 1/2 inch or smaller, and saute the chicken in some olive oil in a pot.

Meanwhile, here's the rest of the stuff. I had made the chicken broth earlier with my boullion.


Now, in my haste to make the soup and take care of my parental duties I neglected to take a picture of the stuff when it's in the pot, so just use your imagination! You have to toss everything in there - the onions, salsa, corn, broth, lemon juice, whatever else you want to use - once the chicken has been in there for five minutes, maybe longer. I used to be paranoid that the chicken would not be cooked all the way through so I'd cook it until it was ready to be eaten, then toss all the stuff inside, but it will continue cooking and probably comes out a bit more tender if you only leave it in the oil for about five minutes or so.

The finished product:


I like to put the tortilla chips on the bottom and then fill the bowl with soup. You can top it with cheese or sour cream or cilantro or whatever else you'd like. It really is versatile, and wintertime is the best time to have this soup.

Savory Sundays: Rhode Island style hot weiners

Disclaimer: I have never been to Rhode Island. Thus, I have no idea what a true Rhode Island chili dog tastes like. But if they taste anything like these, well, I've been missing out. I got this recipe from Guy Fieri and when I saw the episode where he makes these, right away I wanted to try them. That was more than a year ago, and they've since become a staple around here.

Here's what you'll need:

* 4 tablespoons margarine
* 2 yellow onions, minced, divided
* 2 tablespoons chili powder
* 2 tablespoons paprika
* 1/2 teaspoon allspice
* 1/2 teaspoon curry
* 1 teaspoon dry mustard
* 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
* 1 pound ground beef, 80/20
* 1/4 cup water

* 2 tablespoons celery salt

Mandatory ingredient shot:


First, you have to cut up an onion. Put the four tablespoons (1/4 cup) of margarine in a skillet, melt them and then toss in the onion.


The onion just needs a few minutes to get ready, no more than five. While that is sauteing, mix the spices together. Now, I don't use the curry since my and I aren't big fans of curry. We might be missing out but we enjoy it just fine without. Of course, I didn't take a picture of the next step which is to toss the spices into the skillet when the onions are ready, but you get a nice rich red color. Stir that up a bit and then add the ground beef. You can see some of that color here on the side of the ground beef.


Work the ground beef until all of it has gotten a chance to touch the bottom of the pan and have the spice flavor infused into it. You may or may not need an entire quarter-cup of water. Usually I just eyeball it and I usually don't get a quarter-cup inside, but that's just how we roll here.


Now, the meat flavor is intense and rich as is. Typically for leftovers we make nachos out of this and... well, that's just fantastic. I'm not that creative so I don't know what else you could do with this. For now, chili dogs and nachos work out great.

The last and most important step, however, is this: CELERY SALT. You need celery salt to make this work, plain and simple. Don't know what it is about celery salt but it really brings the flavors together. Another reason we like this style of chili dogs is this: the chili is not runny. At all.


Seriously, go out and get the spices you don't have (if you don't have any that is) and try this. You won't be disappointed.

Post-run cooldown

I feel good today. Exactly 24 hours ago at this moment I was on my long run, my first eight-mile run. It feels good today to know that I was able to get that under my belt and now that I set my sights on the next monster challenge - my Valentine's Day 10-mile run - I have confidence that I can get there just fine.

I was wondering, though, how I would feel today. I wondered if the strain of a long run like that would leave any lingering effects, but so far not much to speak of. I'm not going to run today but I think if I had to I could get through a two-mile run for instance. My heels don't feel any different than usual, which is good. My hamstrings aren't tight and I don't feel any other sort of odd or strange pains anywhere.

What about my nipples? Yes, I chuckle too every time I write about them... Well, SpongeBob is still protecting the one so maybe that helped in the recovery process. It's always my right one that has given me issues. Hopefully this will not be a problem anymore and that I've learned my lesson and won't forget to put Vaseline on before runs. I don't know how I could have forgotten that since I've been really good about putting Vaseline before I ref soccer games and that's nothing compared to an eight-mile run.

Another thing I have to do to prepare for next week's run better is to make a new playlist. Yesterday's playlist worked great but I was about three songs short as I miscalculated the time. But also I went the hard stuff, the motivating stuff, a bit too early. I was at mile five when Metallica came on, and I need to bring out the heavy artillery later than that. I'm thinking at around mile seven next Saturday would be a good time to call in the muscle.

Also, this week I must do some of the midweek runs as much as possible. Last week my heels bothered me a bit so I skipped the runs but I think the midweek runs are crucial. I think had I ran a couple of miles earlier in the week I might have been able to maintain a higher pace and might have felt better during the last mile.

Anyway, just some thoughts I needed to get out before I move on to the planning stage of this upcoming week. I think I have a pair of two-mile runs as well as some sort of interval run on Wednesday.

Eight was enough

I did it. I ran 8.17 miles today, officially now the longest run of my life. As I sit down to write about the experience, my mind is racing and I don't know where to start. During my run, I thought about writing one of those longer posts and have some thoughts in italics and all that good stuff... actually, I thought about a lot of things during my run... but I think I'll save that for the 10-miler. I don't want to have to do that every run from now on since I'll be running longer distances now with each and every run than I have in my life, and that's a time-consuming method or writing... fun, but time-consuming.

Anyway, you don't want to read about my thought processes, you want to hear about my run. First and foremost, I'm glad I did it. I'm glad I set out to run eight miles and that I went through with it. There were so many things going against me this morning that I easily could have not ran it and could have been justified. For starters, I woke up at 1:48 a.m (yes, one in the morning) and couldn't go back to sleep. My stomach has been bothering me for the last week or so, and this morning it was bothersome. I took some tums and that helped. Then, it rained here last night pretty hard but this morning the rain went away. It was still cloudy but not raining. Still, none of that made me feel like scrapping the run. I'd focused on going so I simply followed through with those plans.

Still, things did not go off without a hitch. I put on my watch and heart-rate monitor strap, my Garmin and iPod and got my shoes on. However, the power had gone out on our street so I was dealing that and trying to close the garage door manually. After a few minutes doing that, I stretched and set off. The only thing I forgot was to put vaseline on my nipples. Wow. Last time I do that.

I felt great early on. I felt fantastic. Miles one and two were relatively simple and three and four weren't bad either. Having the Garmin helped tremendously because I knew exactly how long I was in and wasn't guessing or trying to figure out or remember landmarks or anything. I knew when I was 5.51 miles in because the Garmin said 5.51 miles.

I felt really good until after I got to about seven miles or so, probably a little before. My legs felt a little tight, and I tried to extend them by speeding up a bit but I was stuck at that pace so that was a no-go.

My heart rate hovered just under 170 for most of the run, which is good. I like to run right around 170 but usually I'm on the other side of 170; that is, usually I'm pushing my body to get to 170 and stay there but after seven miles or so, I was at 170 whether I wanted to or not. That was encouraging though. Had I been close to 180, I would have been close to hitting the wall. 180 and above for me is kind of the rarified air, and I can only stay there for a few minutes at a time at best. If I'm running and I get to and stay at or above 180, I'm gassed. I actually averaged 168 for my run and maxed out at 181 so that was very good. That gives me a solid base to start off with.

When I crossed the eight-mile mark I felt good. Physically I wasn't done, far from it, but I was exhausted. I felt good though knowing that I had met the first of several daunting challenges I'll face in the next 12 weeks or so. I kept on to the end of the street I was on and walked about five minutes more to get back home.

Now, about my Vaseline... I felt the pain in the third mile. It was slight and more discomfort at first than anything. But around the sixth mile I knew it was going to sting later. When I finally got home and took off my shirt, my nipple was red... well, just the end of it. Stupidly, I sprayed some neosporin on it and after a few moments of agony and about 15 swear words the pain subsided. I have a band-aid on one right now (a SpongeBob band-aid, hehe) but I can still feel the pain. I guess I won't forget to add that to my pre-run preparations anymore.

Overall, the run was great but I was left with a couple of conclusions. First, I could have ran more. I could have made it a nine-mile run, I'm certain. That's encouraging. Also, though, I felt a bit... I don't know, discouraged is not the right word but certainly I feel that as much as I accomplished today and as much as I learned about myself, I still have a long way to go. A long way. I haven't yet run 10 miles and I have seven of those runs to do from now until the half-marathon itself. A lot more sweat and tears and blood (hopefully none on the nips) will be shed from now until April 19.

Still, if I approach every run like I did today (and I wasn't in my optimum condition today either, I actually fell asleep while typing this out) I will slowly come to and overcome each obstacle. I just have to keep my focus.

Today then was ultimately a pretty good start.

Pre-run update

I'm about to go on my eight-mile run. I was making a playlist when I figured I'd pop in and let you all know that I've weathered and early-morning storm (literally and figuratively) and about to get my stuff together and run.

It's been raining but clear right now so I caught a break, but I better get on the road before it opens up again.

Anyway, here's the music I'll be listening to during my run, in this order:

Swagger, Flogging Molly
Sam's Town, The Killers
Selfish Man, Flogging Molly
Steady As She Goes, The Raconteurs
Jenny Was a Friend of Mine, The Killers
Tranquilize, The Killers
Shadowplay, The Killers
Requiem for a Dying Song, Flogging Molly
Old School Hollywood, System of a Down
The Beautiful People, Marilyn Manson
XYU, The Smashing Pumpkins
To Live Is To Die, Metallica
Orion, Metallica
Rebels of the Sacred Heart, Flogging Molly
Otherside, Red Hot Chili Peppers
Consoler of the Lonely, The Raconteurs

I may not make it to the last two songs but in case I need them thery're there.

Okay, I'm off. I'll let you know how it went later.

My previous long run

I'm trying not to psyche myself out about tomorrow's eight-mile run. For some, eight miles is just another run, nothing to get excited about or nervous about or anything, just another run.

It's funny because that's how I feel about three- or four-mile runs. Before they scared me, challenged me, intimidated me even. But now, not saying it isn't a challenge because I approach every run as a challenge but it certainly is not the mental beast an eight-mile run is. I've done three and four, never eight.

But there was a time that I hadn't done five. Actually, it wasn't even a year ago when I barely started running outdoors for the first time in my life. Seems so surreal that, on April 19, 2008 I had little experience running, had never done more than three miles and that one year later on that day I'd be running a half-marathon. I guess you can chalk that up to something else that I never thought I'd do in my life.

Anyway, I wanted to share something I wrote way back on April 26 of last year. That was when I ran the "longest run of my life" for the, well, first time maybe. I guess my first run ever was the "longest run of my life" and then somewhere along the way it increased in distance... but we're getting a little too technical before. On April 26, I ran about 5.1 miles if I recall correctly. I think at that point I'd run for no longer than three miles and had run literally about two or three times outdoors. I ran with my brother Danny from my house to our mom's house early on a Saturday morning.

Here's the link to the blog post from back in the day. Ah, way back in '08... the memories.

Long run in sight

A quick update on my heels before I get to my original thoughts for this post. I haven't done any running this week outside of soccer games. Still, I've had four games this week already in the first three days and will have another three today and one tomorrow. However, my feet feel good and I think the added time off from running has helped alleviate some of the discomfort.

Which brings me to to my next point. I will run the longest distance that I've ever ran in my life tomorrow. On Friday, I'm planning on running eight miles. It will actually work out perfectly as I will have ample enough time to do so. I will be able to sleep in (until 6 at least, which for me is sleeping in!) and won't have to do any writing (provided I finish it today). Also, if my feet and legs feel tomorrow like they feel right now, I will be plenty ready to get in my eight miles.

Now, the "longest run of my life" moniker might seem a little dramatic but it's the truth. I haven't ever run eight miles before. I've ran six and seven miles but never eight. However, I will be running the "longest run of my life" several times in the near future. I will run 10 miles on Valentine's Day, and will run 12 and 13 miles before my monster 13.2 challenge on April 19. So for now, eight miles seems like a lot but pretty soon it will be just a decent amount and not the "longest run of my life."

I only hope that my heel issues don't arise today in what promises to be a busy day of refereeing.

One thing I will have going for me tomorrow is my Garmin. I've used it already outdoors and it's been great. I'll have to share that in detail with you later today but for now just wanted to let you know that I'm already thinking about Friday 9 a.m. PT, which is when I plan on departing on the "longest run of my life."

Okay, I'll stop saying that. Otherwise, I'll be known as the "greatest exaggerator on the web."

Conflicted

I'm working on the first of three very big cups of coffee as I sit down to write this. And if you read this blog regularly, you know that I don't mix coffee and exercise.

As I'm having coffee today then, I won't be working out. My heel pain is still there and by not running today I'm erring on the side of caution.

I'm feeling conflicted about the whole thing. On the one hand, I feel bad because I had a training plan and now I'm not going to run my required distance for the second consecutive day. On the other hand, I have to consider the potential damage I could do and consider my schedule for the upcoming week. I've got quite a few games remaining this week and next so I need to keep that in mind as well.

Still, I don't feel quite as bad as I otherwise could. The midweek runs right now are short, two or three miles. I don't know exactly how much I'm running during games but I'm running quite a bit. It may not be for two consecutive miles but I'm running around, stopping, starting, raising my heart rate, all that good stuff. Now, it's not ideal in terms of training for a half marathon but I am not completely inactive; far from it.

While I'm getting some sort of activity during the week, I still need to get the long distance runs in on the weekends. I may move up my eight-mile run to Friday but either way I'm still going to get out and run that this week.

Once the soccer season ends on Feb. 12 (for me anyway), I will not have to wear my soccer cleats for a while. I will stick to distance running and training for my half-marathon while my heels recover. I think they can recover without complete rest and inactivity because I won't be wearing my cleats. Running with cushioned shoes is different than running with cleats, so hopefully that won't impede my training.

I suppose this is all part of my training regimen as well, to have the ability to roll with the whatever obstacles go my way.

Hobbled

That guy who was hobbling around at the elementary school and the grocery store today was me.

I had intended to get up and run a pair of miles in the wee hours of the morning Tuesday but that didn't happen. My heels have been bothering me off and on for several weeks now but today the pain didn't go away after a few minutes. I got up, hobbled around the house and realized that a run was not in my immediate future. I figured that I'd get a run in after dropping off my youngest at preschool, but it was about 8:30 and I was preparing to leave for preschool when I realized that my pain hadn't completely gone away.

At that point, I figured it was best to scrap the run. I have two high school games to ref today and one each on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday so I figured the best thing would be to skip the run and plan on intervals Wednesday. I still plan on doing my 8-mile run but I might do it on Friday instead of Saturday. Maybe then I can have two full days of rest.

Anyway, I'm worried that the pain is in my Achilles tendon. It's on the back part of my feet but it's more towards the heel than the ankle. I think the pain started from officiating since I'm not used to wearing cleats for more than a couple of hours once a week at most... well, I wasn't until I started refereeing games.

The pain hasn't been much more than discomfort but yesterday and today it has lingered and I can feel it even when I'm off my feet.

I guess I don't have time to worry too much about it. I have to leave here soon for game one, and then I have to schlep across town for another game. The upside is that I probably won't do too much running since they're varsity games and I run a lot more during JV games.

I'm hoping when the soccer season ends (I've got seven games left including today's) that I will be able to recover from this without having to interrupt my training too much, if at all.

Resolving the issues

I've been meaning to write about my New Year's Resolutions and give you an update on where I've done well and where I've fallen short. I suppose I'll do that now and then I can always re-visit them as I intended on writing about something else but here goes...

* Run outdoors twice a week: This is the only resolution where I can say with certainty that I've done well to meet. I have ran outdoors at least twice a week every week this year. The Garmin and my half-marathon training plan will only help me continue to attain this goal so I am not worried now about running exclusively indoors.

* Wear my CPAP six times a week: I've not worn it six times a week. I'd say it's been more of an average of three times a week. What I need to do is make an appointment with my doctor and get a new sleep study done. I really think my CPAP is not effective, or at least not as effective as it can be. Even on days when I've worn it and I shouldn't be tired, I still feel a bit fatigued. And then there are days like Monday where I just felt wiped out all morning for no apparent reason. I need a new sleep study and with a new CPAP and - at the very least - a new mask, I should be able to wear it every night.

* Maintain 1,800 calories a day: I think I've done well to meet this goal. I know over the last couple of weeks that I've lost some of the weight I put on during the holidays. I think I'm down at least three pounds, and that's a combination of both an increase in my running and a decrease of my calorie intake. I don't log my food, and I think if I did I would be able to better control my calories, not that they are out of control necessarily but sometimes it's easy to lose count.

Alright, well, I suppose I'll keep this post to my resolutions and will dedicate another post to what I had originally wanted to write about, which was my two outdoor runs with the Garmin. I'll have that up shortly, and in fact by the time I write it I should have three runs with it since I'm hoping to get in a run before 5 a.m. on Tuesday. We'll see if I make it out or not.

Motivational Mondays (Feb. 2)

It's Monday morning. Yay. Forgive me if I can't feign more excitement over it.

Although I don't have a typical 9-to-5 job, I dislike Mondays as much as the next person. Weekends are always enjoyable of course and Monday puts an unceremonious end to all of that.

So I am finding it difficult to get motivated today. Not sure why. I think the case of the Mondays has hit hard today. Sometimes, when I find it hard to get started and get going, I try and look back at some of what I've accomplished in recent days.

A week ago I officially started my half-marathon training and had some mixed results. I started the week off with a three-mile run on Tuesday and had a good Wednesday fartlek run as well. Thursday I had a run scheduled but didn't make it out to do it. Although I felt I had run enough during my four games and combined 170 minutes of refereeing on Thursday, I still didn't get the sustained mileage and time that a run would have.

I had a 6-mile run scheduled for Saturday and a 2-mile run for Sunday, but had to switch days because two soccer games on Saturday prevented me from running six miles. I did have a bit of a triumph on Saturday that I didn't have the chance to share. I ran two miles at 5:30 a.m. Now, two miles isn't a tremendously long distance but I hadn't run in the early morning like that for many months. I felt good and felt like I could have run longer so it gives me hope that I can fit in 2-3 mile runs in the early a.m. on both weekdays and weekends.

Sunday I ran 4.74 miles, not the six that I should have, but it was a strenuous 4.74 miles if that helps. I did also feel like I could have kept going although I did feel a bit queasy towards the end of the run. I ran at about 12:30, 1 p.m. or so and don't usually like to run smack in the middle of the day like that so I think my body was just off a little. But it's all good, though, as I completed the run and completed my first week of training.

All told, I ran about 13 miles or so and more importantly I was able to squeeze in runs on four days during a busy part of the high school soccer season. My legs feel a little shot but I'm taking today to rest from running before I have to ref a girls game tonight.

Anyway, even when you have a case of the blahs like I do, looking back at your accomplishments with an eye toward the future can be motivating. I'll let you know if it inspires me at some point today.

Savory Sundays: bacon and tomato pasta

Well, here is the last entry to today's Savory Sunday, and I saved the best for last. Incidentally, I like to spread these out throughout the day so you don't have to digest it all at once. I mean, who can eat pasta with fruit snacks and sauteed veggies all in one sitting?

Anyway, this recipe is from Guy Fieri and we absolutely love it. Not sure how healthy it is so I try and eat it in moderation, but try is a relative word.

Here are the ingredients:

2 tablespoons kosher salt
16 ounces spaghetti pasta
1 pound thick-cut bacon or pancetta, chopped
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 cup red onion, diced
1 teaspoon red chili flakes
3 tablespoons garlic, minced
2 cups Roma tomatoes, diced
1/4 cup red wine
4 tablespoons basil, chiffonade
1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

First thing you do is slice up the bacon in small pieces and toss it into a skillet.


Here are the rest of the ingredients. Now, I usually use canned diced tomatoes because I have a lot of those handy and whenever I buy tomatoes they tend to sit around a lot and it's just easier for me to use the canned tomatoes. And I also use dried basil, and the parm... well, it's not the good stuff either. Whatever works I suppose and this works for me.

The longest part of this process is cooking up the bacon as well as the boiling the water and cooking the pasta. Those are the two most time-consuming parts, and they really aren't that time consuming. You just have to watch the bacon, but for most experienced cooks that probably isn't a tough thing. I'm not that experienced so it's taking me a while to figure it out.

Then, when the bacon is done put on a paper towel to dry... and try really, really hard not to eat too much of it.

Drain a majority of the bacon grease but leave some in there to maximize calori... I mean, flavor. Add the olive oil and then toss in the onion and chili flakes, saute until onion is translucent, add garlic and cook for two minutes, then toss in the tomatoes and cook for another five minutes or so. You can deglaze with the wine but I also tend to leave that out.

When the spaghetti is done (and I've also done this with linguini and it turned out fine) toss with the tomato mixture, bacon, basil and parmesan cheese.

It is an absolutely delicious dinner and it never disappoints in the taste department. Again, not sure how nutritious it is but I eat light during the day when I make this so I don't feel quite as guilty. Either way, the flavor is grand.

Savory Sundays: frozen fruit snack

I'm always looking for good snacks for my girls, so when I saw this on Everyday Food I instantly wanted to try it. It's something simple to put together, enticing and healthy. All you need is grapes and bananas.

Get about two cups worth of red seedless grapes and green seedless grapes. You could probably get away with four cups of one if that's what you've got but the colors I think add to this snack. You'll also need two bananas.

Cut up the bananas and place them along with the grapes on a parchment-lined cookie sheet.

Freeze it for at least an hour. I think I left mine in for more than a day.

Then, just put them in some resealable sandwich bags.


Now, that's probably too much fruit for my girls to have in one serving. Regardless, it's already gone over quite well. I can just grab them out of the freezer, let them have however much they want and put whatever's left back in the freezer... or have a bit myself. Best of all, it's all fruit, all tasty and all healthy.

Savory Sundays: sauteed veggies

Welcome to Savory Sundays. I'll have three savory treats today, the last one of which has become a great dish for us here at the LB household. First up is something that would work well as a side dish, and the simplicity is what I enjoyed about it. I got this recipe from Everyday Food on PBS.

Here's what you'll need:

2 medium zucchini
2 yellow bell peppers
1 pint grape tomatoes
2 cloves garlic
Coarse salt and black pepper
Olive oil

I actually halved it (well, except for the tomatoes... oops)

Chop the zucchini and yellow bell:

Heat up some olive oil on a skillet. You want it nice and hot when you toss the veggies in the oil. I really liked the colors of the dish.

Saute the veggies for about 6-8 minutes. You don't want them too soggy and that's about as much time as you'll need for them to heat up properly.

Now, I probably could have used fewer tomatoes and would have been fine but still the dish was quite tasty. And the best part about it, you will get plenty of servings of vegetables from this dish alone.