Wordless Wednesday

Gabby, demonstrating what she would look like if she saw a spider.

It looks more like she's throwing gang signs around.


I'm going to a cookie exchange party tonight! Gab helped me last night.....

I swear she washed her hands first.

Pretty sure, at least.

I didn't forget that I have other kids. They just don't demonstrate spider viewing faces for me.

The one where I play a food blogger....

If I were ACTUALLY one, I'd have better lighting figured out. And, my 5 yr old took pictures. But, since I'm just pretending, we'll have to live with what I've got.

Meat Ravioli - obviously you can sub this out for cheese, spinach, whatever makes you happy. I love meat, though, so we had meat.

Pasta recipe I used was this one from Tyler Florence. Super easy. As the commenters noted, I did have to add some water to the dough to get it right... see below. I don't have a dough hook, so I did the mixing by hand.

I started my tomato sauce before any pasta making - crushed tomatoes, salt, pepper, basil, parsley, oregano, garlic, onion, a splash of balsamic vinegar, and a dash of parmesan cheese. Simmer.

First, pile up your flour and mix in the salt, build a mound, and dig a hole. Put the eggs and oil in side the hole, then whisk GENTLY with a fork. Then, slowly start mixing in with the fingers on one hand - use the other hand to kind of brace the outside of the flour wall. It is sticky and messy at first.

(Yes, I know I'm a messy cook, and my hands are skeletal. Creepy.)

Mix the flour in until it's all incorporated.

If you need to add more water at this point, do so about a tablespoon at a time... Then, start kneading.

Knead on a lightly floured surface about 10 minutes, until the dough becomes pretty elasticy (You see, there, how official I am?). Then, brush/spray the outside lightly with olive oil, and wrap in plastic wrap (or parchment) for about 30 minutes to rest.

If you're going with meat ravioli, now is when you want to lightly brown your meat. I used lean ground beef, just browned with salt, pepper, onion, garlic, oregano, and basil, then drained. I've also done this with half pork/half beef, and it was also delicious. But if you want to go non-meat route, any melty type of cheese will do - ricotta, mozzarella, goat cheese... and add spinach, because spinach is delicious, too. When it's done cooking, lay the meat out to cool while you work on the pasta dough.

If you're rolling this out with a pasta roller, go read Tyler's recipe. If you're rolling it out by hand like I did, continue.

I cut my dough ball into quarters, and shaped each quarter into a rough rectangle.

(Keep the extra dough covered while you work through it.)

On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough out into a long, thin rectangle. You're looking for very, very thin sheets here - you should be able to see through the sheets. Like so....

I stacked my rolled out sheets on parchment, and added parchment between the sheets while I kept rolling out the rest of the dough.

Then, cut strips out of your sheets. Be smart - you're putting in about a teaspoon of filling here, so make sure you account for extra space to seal the dough. I suck at this part and apparently can't cut in a straight line, but you really want about a 2.5" wide strip.

While you start filling, bring a GIANT pot of water to a boil. I'm not joking about giant. You want a LOT of space to let the ravioli float about.

I fill mine assembly line style a row of filling, with about an inch in between. Then eggwash between the fillings (1 egg with 1 tsp water, beaten, then brushed on the pasta), drawing a little square around the filling.

Then, add the top sheet to the bottom, and seal between the filling pockets. This is tedious - you have to kind of push around the filling to get as much air out as you can, and then seal the outsides.

Then, I use a pizza cutter to trim up the edges and cut between the pieces to create ravioli. If I were fancier, I'd have prettier ravioli. Alas, square is my favorite shape.

Keep doing that, for what seems like forever (seriously, it's a pretty time-intensive project).

Once you have all of your ravioli's cut, be ready to move fast, because they cook FAST. My kitchen is tiny, so I was doing all of this on the dining room table, and made The H clean up while I cooked the pasta. Thanks, H.[

So, in your pot of boiling water, you want to cook these in batches so you don't crowd the pot. I did just two batches, because I had a seriously giant pot.

Into boiling water, for 4 minutes. Remove, drain, serve with sauce and grated cheese, and delicious crusty bread.

Eat. The end.

Every man can transform the world from one of monotony and drabness to one of excitement and adventure

Womp. Freaking. Womp.

I've missed sweating. I've tried other things. The elliptical bores me to tears. My cycling form must be strange, because it hurts Jerk Shin when I up the speed or tension. I had to stop jumping around and doing plyo.

I've pretty much backed off of almost all sweaty (read: cardio) activity for two weeks or so.

The good news here, is that Jerk Shin seems to be pleased. It doesn't hurt much, at all, during normal activity. And it only barely hurts when I touch it now. Before my sweating time-out, the pain when I messed with Jerk Shin was probably around 8-9 on a scale of 1-10. Now, probably a 3.

I go back to get Jerk Shin checked out on Friday. My super, SUPER lofty hope is that all is well, and it was just Bad Ass Shin Splints, and I'm cleared to start running and can still do Operation Jack. My realistic goal, is I'm cleared to start running slowly, and will be starting from scratch and training up to Mermaid Half in February. My "I might kill someone for some good cardio" goal is that I have to sit out another week.

Fingers crossed!

Anyway, last week I did a 31+ mile cycling session. That was it. It was boring, but I got to catch up on my Top Chef (yes, in fact, I did plan my extended weekend around a two hour block on the stationary bike so I could watch Top Chef. Don't judge me.). 31.17 in 1:49, 17.2mph pace. Not super shabby. My ass hurt.

But this week, I have big plans.

Because I'm bored of being whiny and lazy.

Welcome back, Suck Less Program!

If you're new 'round these parts, the Suck Less Program is a random cross-training program that I made up, around 3 exercises: Crunches, Squats, and Pushups. I've added Tricep Dips to the mix, as well. The goal, at the end of the program, is to do 200 Crunches, 200 Squats, 100 Push Ups, and 150 Tricep Dips at one time when you're done.

It's simple. It's free. And, it's measurable, which is key for me.

Monday: Suck Less
Tuesday: Elliptical intervals. If I can't run, I suppose I'll pretend I can.
Wednesday: Suck Less
Thursday: Cycling - Top Chef time!
Friday: Suck Less
Saturday: Off
Sunday: Knott's Merry Farm!

Welcome back, sweat.

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In other EXCITING news, I am a brand spankin' new FitFluential Ambassador! Remember back in October when I posted about WHY I should be a FitFluential Ambassador? My Picnik skills worked, and I got the magical email over the weekend.

Click HERE to learn more about FitFluential, and what we do.
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DID YOU SEE THE CYBER MONDAY SALE AT TEAM SPARKLE!?!?

Buy 1, get 1 50% off. I sent that to my Secret Santa... you know that's right.
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Other EXCITING things that happened this weekend...

Says The H, "You can't wait until we're out of the store to take a picture??"... nope. Sure can't. Run Eat Repeat would be so proud...

This stuff was freaking delicious. I used it to baste my turkey and make the mashed potatoes.

I am a stalker's dream...

Did you know German is my second language? Neither did I.

But that dinosaur didn't leave Gab's side all weekend.

BEST COLORING BOOK STICKER EVER.

#2 suggested a Girl's Day Out Sunday. Challenge: Accepted. I took them to see Breaking Dawn (yes, I saw it last weekend; yes, I pre-screened it for them; yes, it was just as bad this time; yes, there were eyes being covered during some scenes); then we picked up Gabby, headed to lunch and.... Target. Duh.

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Any other killer Cyber Monday sales out there?? I'm itchin' to go clickin'.....

Foursquare

I use Foursquare a LOT on the weekends. I don't know why, nothing is THAT exciting or interesting. But I do.

And only on the weekends. I'm not sure why; it's a weird quirk.

My weekend started with a walk with The H to pick up some breakfast. I tried to talk him into racing me to a stop sign, but he shot me straight down FAST. Rude.

Look! We have autumn in OC!

Kind of.

These little creepers hang out everywhere when it rains. And, um. That one is naked. Eek.

There's a rad little donut shop down the street from me that makes donuts fresh, 24/7. Donuts and coffee. Freaking delicious.

Then, headed to the mall. With two of my favorite things.

I am fairly desperately in need of (more) (smaller) work clothes. But, I'm also jaded. I hate hate hate clothes shopping, so very much. Hate. A lot. I'm never happy, I always hate how I look, I'm generally a bitter, angry shopper when it comes to clothing (let's discuss shoes and purses, though....).

But Saturday. Something magic happened. I did not want to kick myself while in the dressing room. I tried on some ridiculous things

(I did not buy the dresses. Maybe if I were going to Vegas...)

So there were winners, and there were definite losers... but the losers were all because... stuff was giant on me. That's new.

Huh.

Next check-in? Target.

But apparently the WRONG Target.

Gabby wanted to go to the Target with a giant tower. I thought this was a giant tower.

I guess not so much.

I needed eggs. They were out of eggs. Rude. But I did snag another pair of....

Most brilliant invention ever, and I apologize for all the times I made fun of such a ridiculous garment. I was wrong.

Then.

Then. We made a glorious discovery.

Man. I have REALLY missed Cuban food, and this stuff was stellar.

Off to another Target to buy eggs....

I go often....

Also out. RUDE.

Apparently there's a giant Target egg shortage in OC? Who knew.

SUNDAY!

Sunday, super duper early, I hit up a local theater to pre-screen Breaking Dawn before 1 & 2 saw it. I read the books (more than once...), so I know there's baby makin' happening.

Summary: Meh.

Tried on more clothes that I didn't hate!!

My socks, festive, right? (Here's a secret: we got some exciting news from Make a Wish last week, that I'm not sharing yet. Hint. Hint.).

Grabbed my first Caramel Brulee of the season from Starbucks - best drink EVER. I keep forgetting to pay with my Sbux card... fail on me.

Headed home - outdoor malls may be one of SoCal's best features, but less so when it's raining all day.

Brrrr.

Gabby and I spent the rest of the day baking things.

#1 and I watched Ghost Adventures in between baking adventures. Which was followed that night by her not falling asleep for HOURS because she freaked herself out (That's cute. Not really.).

Skyped with my youngest sister and my niece and nephew...

Gab was SUPER CRAZY-EYED PSYCHED about something

And then we put a puzzle together....

....the end.

Making out in Lancaster just to pass the time...

1. You guys. Not running is freaking boring. And nothing makes for a boring blog more than a boring life.

2. Did you know I'm friends with a celebrity?? Look (<- that's a link). It's true. Don't be too jealous.

3.I had to also stop doing the DVD's pretending I was exercising, because my shin started HURTING after some of that stuff. I had already stopped doing the jumping stuff, because pretty sure if I can't run, I shouldn't jump on Jerk Shin. But.. hurt anyway.

4. You know what this means? Suck Less, bitches.

5. I spent all of last weekend pouting excessively, being angry at strangers, and horrifying my gentle husband. And shopping, but not buying anything. Something in this list will be changed this weekend. You can guess which one.

6. In typical "My Body Hates Me" fashion, I've easily dropped 3lbs in a week. WTF.

7. I'm going to screen Breaking Dawn Saturday morning, before I take #1 and #2 to see it. Take THAT, Jerk Shin. You get to watch sparkly vampires make babies. Ha.

8. I think Becka should do the 100 miler. Don't you?

9. I went to Yogurtland last night with my internet friends, and didn't take a picture, because I'm a sucky blogger. No content already, hey, watch me make it worse! Good thing Monica is a good blogger, because she has pictures.

10. Some super sexy man was hitting on Skinny Runner a LOT. How she passed up on his hot, hot offer to buy him some FroYo, I'll never know. I mean. He HAS $400 COMING TO HIM, SOON! You could retire on that. Fact.

11. I'm sooooo excited to see Hungry Runner Girl next week!!!!! (Sorry, could you pick up those names I just dropped?)

12. I'm trying to come up with fun fundraising ideas for Team Gab. Got any?

13. What if she side-eyes you, like this? Does that help?

Have a good weekend, y'all.

Wordless Wednesday

I have nothing really to say, since I'm not running.

OH! I did start some ridiculous 90 day DVD program. And I hate it, so much.

BUT, I discovered last night that... while I was supposed to be working my abs (ha.ha.ha.), my quads and hamstrings seemed to be doing a LOT more work than necessary.... maybe, just maybe, there's something to this strong core for runners business.

Don't say I never learned.

Anyway. Wordless Wednesday.

Wherein I discuss my stupid risk-taking and things you shouldn't do

I snuck this into Friday's post, between discussing how many things I love, and how I registered for my first FULL marathon (Seattle RnR!).

Waaaaay back in September, before Long Beach, I had some issues with the Jerk Shin. I took two weeks off, cross-trained, iced, compressed, rested the Jerk Shin. Ran Long Beach. It kind of sucked. But the Jerk Shin was okay. It didn't hurt while I ran, at all - so I kept running. I ran a couple 5K's. I ran another half marathon. I ran some really, REALLY hard work-outs.

I still had a significant amount of pain in my shin.... but always after my runs. I attributed it to just overall achiness from running hard. I mentioned to a few people I suspected a stress fracture. I kind of did. But I kept running. I was excited about the improvements I was making, and I wasn't ready to stop.

Dumb.

I finallllly got around to seeing my doctor last Friday, and after poking, and prodding, and hitting me with that tiny hammer until I screamed, he determined...

.1% it's a bone tumor. 98% chance it's a stress fracture. Tiny chance it's just reallllly bad shin splints.

Womp, womp.

I'm going back to get some pictures of my bones on 12/1, to reassess the damage, and decide where to go from there. No running until then (which means, I got my wish to NOT run Mission Inn, thankyouveryMUCH,Karma). And when I'm allowed back into the party, I have to rebuild my mileage, sloooooowly. No Holiday Half. No Operation Jack, which was going to be my Long Beach redemption race (but I will be volunteering).

Womp. Freaking. Womp.

Mission Inn I was not sad about missing (especially after hearing about the shitfest that the half was, thanks to ChaCha). But I'm SUPER bummed about Holiday Half and Operation Jack. SUPER. BUMMED.

The H is vacillating between excited to have our weekends back, and horrified at the rage-monster I turned into when I couldn't run for just a few days. I suspect he's terrified of what will happen in the next 3 weeks.

I registered for a FULL MARATHON...

...because what else would be reasonable to do while you can't run, right? I am pretty positive I'm going to break down and hire a coach to help me build my mileage back up responsibly.

I tried shopping. The only things I bought were a megaton of cake decorating supplies. Ask me how many times I've actually "decorated" a cake?

None. But apparently I'm going to learn. I've got icing tips for daaaays.

I tried sweating it out. The stationary bike and the elliptical just don't have the same effect. I think they may even make me angrier, if that's possible.

I'm super, duper fortunate that my damn Jerk Shin didn't just snap underneath me, while I was busy ignoring all of the "STOP EFFING RUNNING" signs. I should be grateful that it's really just a few weeks off. And I am, somewhere in my brain. Except that my brain is working overtime reminding me of all the fun I'm missing while not running. Lame.

Oh well.

The moral of this very, very long, very, very pathetic post is, kids, listen to your damn body. If you feel like something is off (like, legit off, not I'm lazy and want to find an excuse to stop being sweaty off), figure it out, take the time to fix it, and run healthy.

The end.

Things I love. And things I don't.

I am damn witty. Look at that title. How has a marketing company not snatched me right up yet?

Things I Currently Love

1. The fun folks at Juiceology sent me two flavors to check out recently.

They are DELICIOUS. The Blueberry Acai was my favorite - tangy, sweet, flavorful. Loved it. The Peach Mango was also good, but very sweet for my tastes - I tried adding some water to it, and it was better. But that's just me - I prefer to save my sweets-consumption to chocolate and baked goods. But that Blueberry Acai... I could drink that stuff like it's my job.

From their website...

All of our juices get a powerful dose of micronutrient extracts, which are designed to be easily assimilated by the digestive system.

Made from our own blends of the freshest fruits, vegetables, whole grains and herbs, these extracts boost the nutritional value of our fruit juices without boosting calories or affecting the fruits’ pure, delicious flavor.

The label and nutrition info...

Interesting. In general, I'm not a big fan of drinking your calories. I dig that there's at least some nutrition coming from this - it's not just empty calories.

Plus, they're big on sustainability, which gets them a giant thumbs up from me.

2. I got this in our Trick or Treating. Fascinating.

it's like Nutella, but all caramel. Huh.

3. It took me awhile to get on the greek yogurt train, but this stuff is delicious.

4. !!!!!!!!!!!

5. My CEP Compression Socks.

Love, so hard.

6. Holiday's that I don't have off..

7. My Allied Medal Hanger....

I need a new one.

Things I Don't Love....
1. The Jerk Shin. Did you know, no amount of KT Tape....

or even wearing Tommie Coppers....

...fixes a stress fracture?

True story.

Whatever.

Take THAT, Jerk Shin.