Coconut Butter Three Ways

I bought this coconut butter at Newleaf, the organic grocery store I pick up my produce box from every Saturday.  I had seen this all over the blogs and thought I would give it a try. 

This week I have tried the coconut butter three different ways.  First I made it on a twist of one of my normal breakfasts. 

Toasted whole wheat English muffin with dark chocolate dreams and coconut butter drizzled on top.  The dark chocolate peanut butter and coconut flavors meshed great.  I think the coconut butter made this muffin richer than usual.  I also think I needed the added fat because I had been feeling hungry just a few hours after this muffin pre coconut butter. 

Next I tried some coconut butter on my first ever batch of overnight oats.  I have seen overnight oats everywhere in the blog world and knew I needed to give them a try. 

Overnight mix:

1/2 cup oats

1/2 cup yogurt

1/3 cup skim milk

Toppings:

1/2 cup sliced strawberries

1/4 cup walnuts

drizzle of coconut butter

This was a bust for me.  I think I need to try the oats again and either leave out the strawberries or leave out the coconut butter.  Not a great combo.  Also I'm not sure about adding the coconut butter to cold dished because it hardens completely which is kind of odd for texture. 

Lastly, I made some multi grain pancakes.  I bought this pancake mix from Costco and it is really fantastic.  It is 100% whole wheat with different seeds in it.  The pancakes are super filling.

The only downside is a batch is too big for me and too big for my family.  I keep it in the fridge but end up having to eat pancakes for a few days in a row when I make these.  Check out the nutrition facts.

I had three pancakes and for variety I dressed each one differently.  From left to right I have dark chocolate dreams, then naturally nutty butter toffee peanut butter, then coconut butter with unsweetened coconut flakes.  All pancakes had banana on top. 

I was a little intimidated by the coconut butter after the overnight oats fiasco.  But they were fantastic like this.  The butter melted into the pancake and it was delicious! 

Have you tried coconut butter?  What is your favorite way to have it?

Northshore 1/2 Marathon Race Report

My friend Jody convinced me to sign up for the Northshore half marathon shortly after finishing my first race ever.  My spirits were high and while the race was only a 5K, I thought of course I could do a half marathon.  Why not?  Well a couple months later as the race approached, I lost some of that confidence.  The race was this past Sunday.  It was VERY tough, but overall I had a fun time and I finished!  

On Sunday, I got up at 5am and had a toasted whole wheat English muffin with butter toffee peanut butter (delicious) and strawberry jam.  I planned on having a banana as well, but I ended up forgetting it at home.  I made myself an ice coffee, grabbed my ipod, garmin and phone off their chargers and hit the road. 

On the drive five miles or so from my exit, I randomly look at my gas gauge and notice I am passed empty!  Ahhhh!  The gas light never came on.  I got off at the next exit, fueled up and then followed the detour signs to get back onto the highway.  Of course I got off where you can't get back on.  It is about 6am at this point and I am starting to get a bit nervous about time.  About then my friend Jody text'd me to say she was running late and wouldn't be there until 6:30. 

Once I get to the race, I easily found a parking spot and headed off to find the bathroom and scope out the starting line.  I met Jody back at the car geared up and realized my Garmin was dead!  So much for it charging all night.  Grrr! 

We went for a quick warm up jog and then got situated for the start.  Jody started with the 8-9 minute milers and I started with the 12 minute milers. 

Miles 1-5 went really well.  I was averaging about a 12 min/mile pace which is what I was planning.  The course was through a suburban neighborhood and it had a slow incline at the beginning.  This was pretty cool because you could see the sea of people ahead of you. 

About mile 5 I noticed the blister on my toe starting to form.  I should have planned ahead because I have had this blister before and it probably could have been prevented with a simple band aid.  My lungs and legs were still feeling great though. 

At the end of mile 6 we went down this HUGE hill.  It kind of hurt my knees going down so steep.  I had heard of this infamous "Park Avenue Hill" and had foolishly thought it was one of the previous hills. 

Once we got down the big hill, we turned a corner and there was just as big of a hill up!  Ouch - I made it to the top running but seriously huffing and puffing.  There was even an ambulance waiting at the top for the hill's victims.  I had past the mile 7 marker on the hill, so I was officially more than half way. 

I kept trudging along and felt pretty good.  In the middle of mile 8 we turned a corner and were running the opposite direction of the racers that were a few miles ahead of us.  This was really neat and I was hoping to see my friend Jody, but no luck she had already passed. 

While it was cool to see the other runners, this did kind of bum me out a bit.  I was running mostly alone with a few people in front and behind me, but the group already heading back was packed.  I felt a little bit SLOW at this point. 

We were running into onto an Army Base and eventually split off from the other runners, to run a circle around the base.  At this point a little into mile 9, my legs were tightening up.  I was feeling tired.  I kept trying to pump myself up only 4 more miles to go!  I got to mile 10 and was DRAGGING. 

A bunch of people had been running up to me, passing me, then walking and me passing them.  We had done this probably 10 times over the course of the past 10 miles.  I had been running the whole way and thought maybe I should walk a little, my legs we killing me.  Once I stopped, I realized my legs were tightening up immediately.  I decided I better just run, but at this point my legs were bricks, so I walked.  I didn't want to hurt myself and reminded myself this is my first one, just finish. 

I walked to mile 11 and started running again.  Not 100 ft later my calf spasmed.  OUCH.  So I had to walk.  I tried running several more times, but it wasn't happening.  I was in serious pain and the nicely manicured Army lawns looked very inviting.  All I wanted to do was lie down and cry (pain serious pain at this point).  But instead I trudged along, probably scaring some camera men with my pained expressions. 

Eventually and finally I heard the music at the end.  Jody came running out to finish with me.  I had to walk, but once I saw the finished line I managed a hobbled run, my calf's were full on locked up as I crossed the finish line, but it was great!  I did it!

My official time was 3:08:39.  Not great, but I finished.  Honestly the last 3 miles took more than an hour, I was in so much pain.  I am really proud of myself that I finished. 

I don't think I'm going to run another half marathon anytime soon.  I really want to work on speed, and I want to make sure I have enough time to seriously train before I do this again.  Perhaps a Northshore 1/2 in 2011? 

This was way out of my comfort zone. I almost decided not to do it weeks ago, and early Sunday morning I was considering not going (lazy bum!). I'm glad I went and did it. I do think it was a little much for my current running ability, but I am really glad I completed the goal I set.

Recipe: Potato Pancakes

When I had 4 large organic potatoes growing sprouts I knew I needed to come up with some way to use them.  I really don't cook with potatoes very much so my friend google, helped me figure out what to do. 

I found Emeril's Potato Pancake recipe and after reading several reviews thought it was worth a shot.  I'm not a big measurer, so I didn't follow the recipe exactly.   

Ingredients:

- 4 large potatoes (pealed)

- 1/2 large onion

- 1 egg

- handful of parsley (I grabbed a few leaves from the garden)

- 1 tbsp of flour

- 1 tbsp of italian breadcrumbs

- salt and pepper 

Step 1 - grate potatoes and onion

Step 2 - squeeze excess liquid out of potato and onion mixture.  I just got my hands dirty and grabbed gobs of the mixture and squeezed.  There might have been a cleaner/classier way to do it, but this worked.  Below is a picture of the excess liquid. 

Step 3 - Mix in egg, flour, bread crumbs, parsely, salt and pepper.  Mash up together - again I just used my hands. 

Step 4 - heat oil in frying pan.  I used probably a half a cup (not the healthies recipe - but worth it!)  Add scopps of batter and mash down into a pattie.  Fry for about 5 minutes per side. 

Step 6 - Enjoy!  These are fantastic with apple sauce on the side.

This recipe is not very nutritious and is kind of loaded with fat, so I decided to pair this with some healthy grilled chicken and veggies.  The plain skewers are for my veggie hating husband. 

Tasty dinner!  I ended up having 2 skewers and a side salad and maybe a second potato pancake :)

Raspberries and Slip n' Slides

Check out my post from yesterday to hear briefly about my half marathon.  I will be putting out a detailed race report in the next couple of days. 

Last year when I was starting my garden, I knew I wanted to grow some fruit.  I planted strawberries, raspberries and blackberries.  Unfortunately raspberries don't produce any fruit their first year, strawberries only put off a kind of pitiful crop in their first year (at least for me) and the blackberry plant died. 

But raspberries come back STRONG in the second year.  I planted one small plant and this year I have probably 20 or 30 shoots.  The shoots I don't believe put out fruit this year, but the branches from the original plant are already giving me berries.

There are many many berries already formed from last years wimpy branches.  I think I am going to be hit with a surplus when these puppies ripen.  Have you ever frozen raspberries?  Is there anything special I need to do - I was thinking to just throw them in a freezer bag and freeze. 

I am excited to see how many berries I get next year.  Wikipedia warns about raspberries taking over gardens with their shoots.  My garden is so big and kind of hard to keep up with, so I am happy for the raspberries which don't take much work to take over a good piece of it. 

More fun in the garden, we have more lettuce than we know what to do with!  Any advice on how to package this up to give it away? 

My broccoli plants grew a bunch more shoots after the main head was cut.  Score!

Not really related to the garden except that we set this up right next to the garden and it keeps my son very happy while I am gardening, the toy story slip n' slide.  Possibly the best $7.99 I have ever spent.  He hasn't quite gotten the slide part down yet. 

 

I'm not going to lie, I went down this a few times.  So much fun. 

What childhood toys have you played with recently?

I finished!

I completed the Northshore half marathon this morning!  It was tough and I have a ton to say about it.  I want to give it the attention it deserves, so I'll probably post a full race report later this week. 

Plus I want to wait for the pictures to come out.  I brought my camera. I was limping so much afterwards, so I was to tired to run back to the car to grab it. 

I'll leave you with this beautiful souvenir I'm left with.

I was going to get a pedicure today after the run, but I think I might give this blister a couple days to heal. 

Do you have advice on what to do to help with the extremely sore muscles? 

Final Preparations

I'm keeping this post short and sweet.  Right after I hit publish I'm hitting the hay.  I'm really excited for my race in the morning.  The weather looks like it should be good, not too hot and no rain.  I'm crossing my fingers that it stays that way. 

My plan is to get to sleep by 9pm tonight and wake up at 5am for a total of 8hours.  I haven't had 8 hour of sleep in weeks.  I have all my gear layed out, so I should be able to hop up get dressed grab an english muffin and a banana and be on the road by 5:15.  I can be quick :) 

I'm hoping to get there by 6:15 and the race starts at 7:00, so I should have enough time to hook up with my friend Jody and scope out the start and finish lines. 

I'm hoping I have enough enery to write a race recap tomorrow.  If not tomorrow, expect it on Monday. 

Thank you for all the nice comments on my post yesterday.  You guys really helped pump me up. 

Are you doing anything exciting this weekend?

1/2 Marathon Jitters

There is something about driving through Chicago on Lake Shore drive in the Spring or Summer that makes me want to go out and run.  It is the beautiful lake and beaches, but probably more so the many many Chicagoans that are out there enjoying the sun and running!

My marathon is this weekend, wait no it must be qualified, my 1/2 marathon is this weekend.  To me it feels like a marathon.  I am definitely feeling a bit scared.  I have to drive up Lake Shore Drive to get there, so hopefully there will be some early morning runners to help pump me up. 

I have yet to run more than 6 miles in one go.  I kind of fell off the training program because the long runs we so daunting that I wasn't doing anything.  After about a week and a half of that, I decided to just try and run.  So for the past couple of weeks I have been running between 3-6 miles every couple of days.  I feel ok and I am just going to do my best on Sunday, I can't do any better than that. 

I am hoping to run the whole way, but if I have to stop and walk I'm not going to beat myself up.  I don't think I gave myself enough time to train for a race of this distance.  Honestly I'm ready to mix up my workouts.  I feel like everything has become runcentric and I have to run a certain distance and keep a certain time.  I'm looking forward to getting past this race. 

My plan is to have a pasta dinner on Saturday night and a normal breakfast in the morning.  I have to pick up my packet tomorrow, so when I get there on Sunday I wont need to worry about too much.  Wish me luck!

Have you run any long races?  How did it go?