It is very interesting how time is completely relative to the person.

I mentioned to a coworker that I was thrilled that the week flew by, that it was Friday, and the workweek was nearly over.  She exclaimed that she couldn’t believe that it was Friday already either, and that the week went by too fast.  She said this with a little sadness.  This perplexed me for a moment, until I realized that she was over 60 and doesn’t see the end of a week in the same way that I’ve chosen to see it.  She sees each day as one to take hold of and live fully, no matter what the day entails, workday or not.

This really got me thinking.  I truly LIVE for the weekends.  I get through the workweek but I feel like I do my real living during those few hours where work isn’t an issue and I can more or less do as I please.

I need to stop this.

I need to choose to stop doing this.

I see that I need to embrace each and every day.  I need to enjoy what each day brings, even if it is 9 hours of work, a trip to the gym, tidying up and a short time of relaxing before going to bed, getting ready to do it all again the next day.

I need to stop being focused on counting the days until the weekend (0), until vacation (7), until a friends’ wedding (148).

I need to try to live in the moment, and fully live the moment.

I need to see the joy and the satisfaction in a job well done, in having the ability to go to a gym to workout, in having a husband to share the seemingly banal with and I need to be thankful that I go to bed each night with a clear expectation of waking in the morning.

The old saying goes, “Life is what happens when you’re busy trying to plan for it.”  …or something like that…   Planning is good, but not to the exclusion of living.

My Grandmother lived until she was nearly 98.  Her sisters who all lived to see adulthood, all lived until their late 90′s.  On the other side of my family, my Grandma is a very spry 82-year-old, who was married to my Grandpa for 60 years, before pancreatic cancer struck him down.  I have a full expectation of living to a ripe old age.  And I’m doing my best now to make sure that it’s a healthy one.

However, I must remember that I’m not guaranteed this time. The key is to LIVE each day you are given.

Today I’m reminded of this, as my small hometown is mourning the loss of a teenager in a horrific 4 vehicle accident at an intersection known for being dangerous.  I feel for his parents and the community.  The loss of a young life is not easily dealt with.

Todd and I have each lost a cousin to tragic car accidents while they were in their early 20′s.  I think this has changed us and the way we look at how people can be taken from us in the blink of an eye.

I think we sometimes forget that we could be the person that could be taken away.

Today I choose to fully LIVE life, and not merely be a participant.

Sincerely,

Fly

I think that I was very enthusiastic about my goals last year and that they were indeed attainable, however I don’t know how much I accounted for life getting in the way and the little surprises that happen along the way.  Of course, when can you ever *really* plan for life?  Life is what happens when you’re busy making plans, right?

Running

I would like  to run 5 races (of any length) this year.  This is a manageable number, but with the summer pretty much completely out and my first half not until April, I’ll have to do some good planning.  I would also really like to get my endurance back (has anyone seen it?).  My endurance is much better right now than it was this summer (stinkin humidity!), but it’s nowhere near where it was last year.  I don’t want to put a specific number on how far I want to be able to run without a walk break (although 11 miles would be great again! ;P), but I’ll know if when I have had significant improvement.

Although I didn’t complete this challenge in quite the way I wanted, it was completed and I was thrilled.  You see, a mere 3 weeks after I made this decision, I had to stop running.  I got a stress fracture in my left foot.  I had to stop running for 8 weeks and it took me many more until I could run comfortable again.  So that endurance?  Yup, completely gone.  But I did manage to run 5 races!  I did the Warrior Dash in July, a half marathon in September, a half marathon in October and two 5ks in November.  This year my running goals are a little different.  I have a half marathon in April and I’m really hoping for a PR.  I’m trying to work on the mental aspect of this, I find that this is a big component to work on for me.  After that, I have 2 more half marathons planned and any other races that I run are bonus.  I don’t know what this year will bring family-wise (you heard it here first!) and who knows what will happen.  I plan to put the work in to improve my running (ahem, lose weight), but know that becoming a better runner might not be my biggest goal this year :)

Photography

I love taking pictures and would love to not only take a photography class, but to buy an SLR.  Alas, these aren’t in the budget for this year.  Instead, I’m going to read some books on photography and learn more about the camera that I have.  Do the best with what you’ve got, right?  My goal is to be able to better translate what I see through the lens into the picture I take.

Not only did I not learn anything about photography (except for the fact that I still am eager to learn), but I barely took any pictured at all!  Todd and I did lots throughout the year and we dutifully lugged our camera around with us at every opportunity.  Unfortunately that camera rarely made it out of the bag.  I’m very disappointed in this, because it meant that so many experiences weren’t documented!  However, I’m going to take this challenge by the horns and start taking pictures!  I’m going on vacation (Vegas, baby!) in just over a week, so I’m going to hit the ground running with this one :)

Blogging

The past year and a half has seen a lot of changes here at Flybynyght.  When you’ve been blogging for 8 and a half years, you’re bound to change your message and the way you deliver it from time to time.  I’m going back to my roots and blogging for me.  It’s easy to get caught up in comments and visits, but I write this because I love to write and I love to share my life and interests.  So while the content won’t be changing, the delivery will change.  I want to blog more often.  Everyday is not realistic for me, but several times a week absolutely is.  But if I have nothing to say, I won’t write an entry.  I’m more concerned with quality than I am with quantity.  The second part of this commitment is to not have any long periods without an entry (longer than 2 weeks – I’m trying to be realistic).  I haven’t had a gap-free blog in a loooong time.

Hahahahahhaahah!!!  That’s all I have to say about that one.

Ok, one more thing.  My 10 year blogiversary (I know!  10 years!?!?!  Holy crap!) is in July and my goal is to make blogging a habit again  and again post regularly.  Clearly my track record is NOT good at this one.  Time will tell, and I will absolutely do my best :)

Recipes

I think I’m most excited for this Commitment!  I’ve challenged myself to either make or create a new recipe every week for the year.  That’s 52 recipes that have either been created or followed by me.  I can make more than one a week (and really hope and expect to!), but these can’t be saved up for weeks when I’m really busy.  The only reason to miss a week (and subsequently make up the recipe at the first possible opportunity) is if something happens that is beyond my control like an all-inclusive trip to Mexico.  I’ve already created my first recipe and I’ll be posting that tomorrow – it was simple and delicious!

Wellll…this happened until about November.  I put my all into it until about September.  Unfortunately, I only put my heart into it until  August.  In November I decided to stop (read: quit) my Recipe Challenge.  I just wasn’t having fun anymore.  Feeling as though I *had* to create something really took the joy out of actually creating.  Funny enough, after I finished the ‘structure’ of the challenge, I found that I was actually making more recipes!  Although old favourites were finally being able to be recreated again.  I must say that I’m actually proud that I quit.  There was a time that I would have continued to slog it out and complete it, just to finish.  Even though I wasn’t enjoying myself, and even though in the grand scheme of things, it meant zero.  I know I’m not a quitter, I would have finished just so that I could say that I did it.  So living my life suffers just so that I can have bragging rights?  Um, no.  And now I’m not burned out and am enjoying making new recipes!  Yay all around!

Reading

I want to read 40 books this year.  I know going in that this isn’t realistic for me (as I only read about 20 last year), but I want to commit to making books a larger part of my life.  This will mean choosing to read rather than keeping up so intently on social media (and let’s face it, celebrity gossip) and to PVRing a show instead of watching it in its’ entirety when it’s on. 

Well, that one was a complete fail.  I *think* that I only read 11 or 12 books.  I was so lax with reading that I couldn’t even keep straight which books I’d read!  This year, this is my goal again.  However, this time I think that I have more of a fighting chance of accomplishing it.  It’s only the middle of January and I’ve already finished 2 books, nearly completed 2 more, and have 2 others started!

Appearance

This commitment doesn’t seem to really fit with the others, but it’s the only one that I feel is really NEEDED.  I need to take more care in my appearance, especially when going to work.  I work in a very casual office and it’s just so easy to throw on a t-shirt with my dress pants and whip my hair back and forth put my hair up in a ponytail.  But this needs to stop!  I feel like a shlub a lot because I kinda look like one!  I’ve also decided to start wearing makeup regularly again (I used to be a makeup fiend, but stopped wearing it almost completely 2 and a half years ago when I started to work out regularly).  I commit to wearing actual outfits, complete with hair done and accessories on (I make jewellery for gosh sakes!), at least 4 workdays a week.  Makeup will likely be a part of this, but not a necessity.

Finally!  Something that I did a good job with!!!  Gone are the ponytails and t-shirts and in are the outfits!  I may not be the most fashionable dresser (not because I am unable, but because I am cheap!), but I’m sure to put together an ensemble each and every day.  I haven’t been wearing makeup throughout the work week regularly, but most of the time I do wear it when we go out somewhere – just to feel more put together.  The only thing that I hate about makeup is the trails of mascara and eyeliner that inevitably are streaked across my face as I work out each day…

So when I look at what I had hoped to do for the year, and what I actually did, I am quite pleased.  I think that I was a reaching a little far in how much I wanted to accomplish – but why not reach high, right?  This year I think my Commitments are more realistic and recapture some of the priorities I seemed to have lost last year with my life.

Tomorrow I’ll outline my 2012 Commitments in all of their exciting glory.  I know you’re holding your breath and just can’t wait.

Sincerely,

Fly

It’s been a while.  To say the least.  A lot has happened in the past, oh, YEAR!  My hiatus from blogging certainly wan’t planned (they never are…) but I enjoyed my time away.  About once a month I’d yearn for detailing my life with my legions (*ahem*) of fans.  I believe that I may just be down to one fan now (Hi, Mom!).  However, I’m completely fine with that.

I went through a short time where site views and comments seemed oh so very important.  I’m glad that that phase was short.  I also realized that although I love to post about the recipes I’ve made – I really don’t like to read other peoples’ recipes in their posts.  The food, yes – the recipes, no (sad, but true).   Because of that, I think I’ll cut down on the number of full on recipes that I post.  Or post the dish and link to the recipe on the Recipe Page for easier reading (although this may be more work – so I wouldn’t hold your breath…).

I also want to post more about me (hello, egocentric blogger here…) and my thoughts, opinions and dreams.  I think I will always be a healthy living blogger (not a food blogger, not a fitness blogger, not an everything-I-do-every-second blogger) but with a big emphasis on sharing my life experiences, healthy or not.

The thing I love about blogging, is that it can ebb and flow with my life.  If I am all about fitness, I can gear my posts toward that; if I am all about black quinoa (yum, by the way), I can gear my posts toward that; and if I’m all about cats, well, someone shoot me.  I also love that I can come and go as I please and not answer to anyone for lack of posting or the content of my posts (more or less, I’m not really rockin any boats here…).

So herein lies another chapter of the ever-evolving flybynyght.com

My first order of business will be to update last years’ Commitments to see how well I did, then a recap of the year, as I did last year  (although I took so few pictures this year, it could be mostly text and oh, so thrilling…).  Then I want to outline what my Commitments are for this year and finally bring you back into my daily life!

I look forward to the journey, and hey, this blog isn’t called flbynyght without reason :)

Sincerely,

Fly

- A big backlog of posts to catch up on – all which seem very long and involved

- The injury I alluded to in my last post :(

First off, I’d like to say that my Recipe Challenge is going swimmingly and I’m enjoying creating and following recipes each week. I’ve definitely tried a lot of different dishes that I haven’t either cooked before, or in some case, even eaten before! I had someone ask me, if that’s all I cook during the week, my one (or two, or three) recipe for my Challenge. Ummm, no. I make all sorts of things! Some of which is just all thrown together so doesn’t seem recipe worthy to me, and some are recipes I’ve been making for forever (or, re-making the same one’s I’ve already discovered through this challenge!).

The one thing that I didn’t think about when committing to this challenge, was just how much time it would take to blog about the recipes! Perhaps I’m too involved in my descriptions and instructions? Although I no longer blog my daily eats, I like to blog about any new recipes, whether for the Challenge, or not. With the amount of time I’ve set aside for blogging, this just hasn’t been working! …And part of this is that I’ve been in kind of a funk lately, which brings me to point number two.

4 weeks ago I hurt my foot. I went for a run and oh, how it was a great run. That run and the one before were the first runs where I felt that I was finally starting to feel my mojo come back. They were the type of runs where you got in your groove and it just felt natural.  I haven’t felt that way in MONTHS.

Anyway, I got home, took my shoe off, and immediately felt pain.  I knew that there was something wrong, but not sure what, or why.  I hadn’t undone my tightly-laced, doubled-knotted shoe to take it off (nature was calling!!!) and thought that perhaps I pulled something in my foot, by pulling my foot out of the shoe.  The pain would come and go as I walked on it – the further I walked, the more it would hurt and I would limp (ridiculously, I must say.  I looked so silly!).  However, I continued to run on it for the next week.  I know this sounds crazy as I was a limping mess, but I didn’t find there was really any pain when I was running on it.  The consequence though, was that walking was starting to become quite an ordeal and very painful.

And then everything changed.  I went to a park that had a nice walking path that would be very snow-covered, but a traffic light-free place to run 6 miles.  By mile one I knew that things with my foot weren’t good; my foot was VERY sore (it hadn’t really hurt running on it until now…).  I managed to finish up one more mile on sheer determination, but was in severe pain, so called it a day.  I know that this sounds a little crazy, but at the time, I was pretty sure that I hurt my foot by not untying my shoe before taking it off…

The pain was intense enough though that I went home, looked in the phone book for walk-in clinics that had on-site x-rays available and went straight to the one I found. Unfortunately, when I got there, I found out that being a Sunday, their x-ray wasn’t open (burn!), so I just left and decided to go after work on Monday.

Well on Monday, I waited an hour to see the doctor and it was a complete waste of time. SERIOUSLY.  When he came into the room, he asked what happened, had me walk 3 (3!) steps, declared that my feet are ‘flat’ and I needed orthotics. “Get orthotics, take advil and come back in a week if it still hurts.”  And then he left the room. !!!!

Excuse Me???   Seriously, what just happened?

Ummmm, you think I have this major limp because I need orthotics? Ya, I already have them and that’s irrelevant, I can tell you that….

*Run and tell dat, Homeboy, homeboy, homeboy….*   oh how I love Antoine Dodson  :)

He actually didn’t touch my foot at all and barely looked at it.  I was so shocked that I didn’t know what to do.  I ended up going home and then decided that I’d give it a couple more days to heal; if it was still a problem by Friday, I’d go to a different clinic. Well, by Thursday I realized it wasn’t getting better and I couldn’t wait any longer.

This time the doctor actually listened to me!!!!   Yaaaayyyyyyy!!!  He said that he thought it was a stress fracture.  Booooooooo!!!  I asked him if he really thought that it was necessary to get x-rays and he was pretty adamant that it was.  I think that in my eyes, if I didn’t get x-rays that it meant that I was really ok and that there wasn’t really a possibility in the fracture department.

The Doc sent me down the hall for x-rays and when I came back, actually read them with me.  Unfortunately they showed a stress fracture on the head of the fifth metatarsal – exactly where my foot hurt – imagine that…

This isn’t my foot, and actually it’s a right foot, and my issue is with my left, but to give you an idea as to where the stress fracture is…

Night and day between the two Doctors, I tell you. So 6-8 weeks off of any weight bearing exercise. Boo. I’m glad that I hadn’t signed up for my next Half Marathon yet, because it’s on April 2 and clearly that’s out now.  Maybe I’ll be able to do a couple of 5ks in the spring before the humidity gets to be too gross.

I certainly won’t ever take being able to run for granted anymore…  I miss it so much!

~~~~~~~~~~~~

This started out as a post about some Jalapeno Black Bean Patties and as you can tell by the title, it didn’t finish up that way.  Not to say that I started to make them and they suddenly morphed into ravioli, but I made two recipes this week and chose to use the ravioli one as my recipe challenge entry this week  ;)

The patties and their story will appear on the blog soon, but until then, let’s get onto the much delayed (as in, I actually made this January 26th!) Butternut squash ravioli!

Last year around this time (coincidentally), I made a butternut squash ravioli recipe of Bobby Flay’s, but it involved chipotle peppers and hazelnuts, so was nothing like what mine was.  Therefore, this qualifies for my recipe challenge :)

Since I made Bobby Flay’s recipe, I’ve been wanting to make something similar to it (meaning ravioli and butternut squash involved), but not that same recipe or ingredients (waaaay too rich).  And here’s what I came up with…

First up, let’s make the ravioli dough.

Now this is a very hearty pasta (which I love, more bang or your buck), if you don’t want hearty, sub out the whole wheat flour with AP.

Put your eggs in the middle…

And be sure to rescue any that run away!

Beat the egg with a fork (or just use your hands) and slowly incorporate all of the flour bit by bit.

Once you have incorporated the egg, add your water small amounts at a time, until the dough comes together, but isn’t sticky.  If it feels sticky, just add a little bit more flour.

Speaking of flour, lay some down on your counter in order to roll out your dough and not have it stick to the counter (duh.)

Roll, roll, roll your dough.  You want to make it as thin as you can.  Remember that it will be ravioli, so it will be twice as thick (top and bottom) around the edges.

Find something to cut out your ravioli circles.  Todd and I have found that this little tupperware dish is the perfect size for making large ravioli.

Oh, isn’t that pretty…

Now put it aside and let’s get the filling started…

Mash your roasted and peeled butternut squash in a bowl.

Take your onion slice and mince it.  You want the onion flavour without the chunks.  To do this, I diced my onion and then ran it through my garlic press.

Add in your Italian seasoning,

2 pinches of salt (note that this is only about 1/8 tsp!),

And your crumbled feta.

Mix all together well.

At this point, fill a large pot of water and bring to a boil (for the ravioli to eventually go in…).

Meanwhile, grab a ravioli circle and turn it upside down (the underside will be more moist) and place about 2 tablespoons of the filling in the middle of it.

Continue this for half (duh) of all of our circles.

Use a little dish of water and your finger to moisten the edges (all areas not covered by filling).  Next take another ravioli circle and stretch it a little (in order to fit over the filling) and place on top.

Press the edges of both pieces together, using your thumb and forefinger to pinch the dough together.

Do this around the entire ravioli until you have this:

And continue until all of your ravioli look like this,

Place your raviolis in your pot of boiling water.

And onto the sauce!

This looks like a lot of butter, but it’s only 4 tablespoons worth, and it’s for alllll of the ravioli (and I actually reserved some for leftovers…and used some for some garlic shrimp!).  Melt the butter over medium heat.

Add your veggie stock

Stir in your parmesan, oregano, garlic and pepper.

Mix well and turn up to high heat.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

Make sure that your raviolis (Ok, I was wondering if it was ravioli or raviolis, but spell check didn’t pick it up, so I guess this is right!) aren’t sticking together and stir occasionally while they’re cooking.

Once your ravioli has been in the pool for about 4-5 minutes, you should be good.  Remember, you’re cooking fresh pasta here – not dried – and it’ll still be going in the oven.

Drain the ravioli, but don’t rinse it!  The starch on the ravioli helps the sauce stick! (If it takes you more than a couple minutes to complete your sauce and start assembling, you may need to check that your raviolis aren’t sticking together, or to separate them)

Speaking of starch…  Add in cornstarch to thicken up your sauce.  Add your cornstarch to 1/4 cup of water and stir well, before adding to sauce.

Turn heat off and stir, stir, stir.  The cornstarch will work its’ magic and the sauce will be much thicker.  Take off the burner, once the sauce sticks to the spoon liberally.

Look at that gorgeous sauce!

This is a good time to preheat your oven to 375.

Spoon a little bit of sauce in the bottom of an 8×8 baking dish, to prevent the ravioli from sticking.

Place your raviolis in your dish, spooning a bit of sauce over each one.

Offset each ravioli layer, so that sauce will drip down :)

When I had all of my raviolis arranged, I still had this much sauce left.  You could just pour it over top, but I don’t think it needed it.

Cover your dish in foil and place in your oven for 20 minutes, or until you see the sauce bubbling…  mmmm…. bubbling sauce…

And serve!

I wish I had a better picture of the finished product, but I just wanted to dig in at this point….   *drool*

Butternut Squash Ravioli

Pasta

• 2 Cups Whole Wheat Flour
• 2 Eggs
• 1/4 Cup water

Filling

• 1/2 Medium butternut squash, roasted, peeled and mashed
• 1 1/4 inch slice from a medium white onion
• 1/4 tsp Italian seasoning
• 2 pinches salt
• 1/4 – 1/2 cup crumbled feta

Sauce

• 4 T Butter
• 2-3 Cloves minced garlic
• 3/4 tsp oregano
• 1.5 T grated parmesan cheese
• 1/4 tsp pepper
• 1 T Cornstarch
• 1/4 Cup water
• 1/2 Cup vegetable stock

1. Place your flour in a mound on a flat surface (countertop).  Make a well in the middle of it and crack your eggs into the well.
2. Use a fork (or your fingers to mix the egg, incorporating the flour as you go.  Once the egg and flour are mixed, add in your water, bit by bit, while kneading together.
3. Once dough comes together into a firm ball (too sticky, ad some extra water; not holding, add extra water), your dough is ready to roll out.
4. Flour your work surface and use a rolling pin to roll out your dough as thin as you’re able to.
5. Use an implement or cookie cutter to cut out circles of dough approximately 3.5-4 inches across, using all of the dough.  Put aside.
6. In a bowl, mash the roasted and peeled butternut squash.
7. Add in the minced onion, Italian seasoning, salt and crumbled feta.  Mix well.  Set aside.
8. Fill a large pot of water and bring to a boil to cook your ravioli once they are assembled.
9. Meanwhile, grab a ravioli circle and turn it upside down (the underside will be more moist) and place about 2 tablespoons of the filling in the middle of it.
10. Use a little dish of water and your finger to moisten the edges (all areas not covered by filling) of the ravioli circle.
11. Take another ravioli circle and stretch it a little (in order to fit over the filling) and place on top.  Press the edges of both pieces together, using your thumb and forefinger to pinch the dough together.  Continue this process for all ravioli circles.
12. place ravioli in pot of boiling water, cook for 4-5 minutes and drain.  Do not rinse starch off (in order to encourage sauce to stick to pasta).
13. At this point, preheat your oven to 375 degrees.
14. In a saucepan, melt your butter over medium heat.  Stir in vegetable stock, garlic, oregano, parmesan cheese and pepper.  Bring to a boil.
15. Mix together the cornstarch and water and pour into sauce.  Turn heat off and stir until sauce thickens.  Take sauce off of burner.
16. Coat bottom of baking dish with sauce.  Place one layer of ravioli and cover in sauce.  Place another layer (offsetting from bottom layer), and cover in sauce.  Continue until all raviolis are in the dish.  You may not use all of the sauce.  This sauce is rich and should be used sparingly (I reserved about 1/3 of the sauce and used it when heating up leftovers).
17. Cover with foil, place in oven until heated through and bubbling, approximately 20 minutes.

Whew!  That was a long one!  Next week’s entry will be a much less involved one – I need a break (if only from the posts!).

Earlier Todd and I were eating breakfast and he mentioned that we hadn’t been to Point Pelee National Park (45 mins away) in a LONG time.  Between having a busy few months and Todd’s knee injury, we haven’t been there nearly as much as we’d like.

But there’s no time like the present, right?

Buuuuut, I had just gotten dressed for the gym and capris certainly wouldn’t cut it outside today.  So change clothes and play outside, or go to the gym and start the strength training program that I’ve been debating starting for awhile (more at the end of the post). 

Changing clothes doesn’t sound difficult, but when you’re already dressed and oh so comfy…

So I threw it our there on the great sounding board of twitter,

The resounding answer was to enjoy the outdoors (except for my cousin across the pond who said to order a Chinese take away and watch tele – lol!).

So we bundled up – and I put full length pants on – then off we went to the Park we went!  

The drive flew by and before we knew it, we were flashing our season passes and entering the park.  I was actually going to start this post off today with “So Todd and I decided that we needed to go south today…”  Point Pelee National Park is the southern post point in all of Canada. 

And that’s your random tidbit for the day ;)

Anyway, It was perfect temperature wise, but the sun was nowhere to be found…

Clearly I don’t care about the pics that I send out into the internets…. Are my teeth really that crooked?  Oh, how I wish that my parents could have afforded braces…  Honestly though, I’ve learned to accept my grill and like to call it endearing  :) 

The ice has been pushed up onto land and broken up, over and over.  Gorgeous. 

  So Point Pelee comes upon its’ name honestly.  It’s a land mass that has a point – a peninsula that comes and goes with the seasons and the years.  The Point used to be very long (all the time), but because of changing water currents and other natural events, it comes and goes.  Last year, the point was only a tenth of a mile long or so.

Today, we walked out on the Point, and across the frozen snow, ice and sand almost a half a mile out.  We decided to stop when we saw no more sand, or footprints from anyone else…

Looking back at the mainland

You’d almost think that we were in the arctic from this picture,

And is that an iceberg?  Well, not so much.  It’s just another bunch of broken up ice.  But isn’t it absolutely beautiful? 

Yes I have my Garmin on.  How else would I know how far we’d walked?  :)

And Todd being a goofball… 

I got distracted by something pretty, had to try that pic again…

What a fun day!

I don’t want Monday to come, but this will definitely carry me through the work week :)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

So I mentioned that I was looking at starting a strength training program (again).  I’m not a huge fan of strength training (kinda boring…), but know that it’s a necessary evil.  Seeing as I’m a third of the way through my training plan for my April race, it kinda seems like inopportune timing, but I think it’s needed.  I’m doing 3 run days and 3 gym cardio days, but it doesn’t seem to be enough.  The weight just isn’t moving.  So I think that it’s time to add in some weights too.  I’m reluctant because I’m not willing to give up any cardio, but it just means that I need to do a couple two-a-days.  I think I might wait another week to start this though.  I really need to think/wrap my mind about this, and what this commitment will really entail.

“A job worth doing, is a job worth doing right.”  – Ken Gardiner (My dad)  :)

This weekend was also FRIGID.  Where I live, it’s very humid in the summer and a damp cold in the winter.  Damp, frigid and oh, did I mention windy?  Sounds like a great weekend for running!  My run was only 5 miles (thank goodness), but I thought that I’d better do it on Friday after work (my Rest Day!) when it was only –10 air temp.  When I was originally supposed to run Saturday morning, it was –18 air temp and the wind chill was in the –30’s!!!!  Thank goodness I ran the day before.

Instead, Saturday morning Todd and I took my parents to Detroit to go to the North American International Auto Show.  We’ve been before and had a great time, but they’ve never had the opportunity to go.  With the economic downturn and the virtual collapse of the auto industry, there was a definite change in how the vehicles were presented.  A lot of the glitz and opulence wasn’t as present as in years past.  Mind you, it was still flashy and amazing to see; but not with the past grandeur.  I don’t think that that’s necessarily a bad thing!

A couple of concept cars that kinda look like large vacuum cleaners,

This was part of the Michelin display and I don’t know what they had to do with tires, but these little guys sure were adorable!

After I took this picture, I heard a giggle beside me and one of the reps put a Michelin pin in my hand.  Alrighty, then.  I gave the pin to my dad as a belated Christmas gift because I didn’t know what to do with it.

This exhibit was people using the Kinnect to drive the new Chevy Volt.  There were several stations and it was really funny to watch all of the people using their whole body to drive the car :) 

The show is huge!  What you see is ONLY the Chevy exhibit.  Now think about how many car and luxury car companies their are…

The Volt really seems amazing – I’d love to plug my car in!

Me sitting in my dream machine…  

And look!  It’s a hybrid!  …ya, because that makes it more likely that I’ll be driving this gorgeous vehicle any time soon  :)

The Lexus exhibit.  It had little LED lights that constantly changed patterns and colours. 

It was on the floor, up the walls, on the ceiling and everywhere!

This was probably one of the flashier displays and it was really cool! 

Don’t these Scions remind you of Hot Wheels? 

I’ve always wanted a porthole in my car…

Todd sitting in the Toyota Land Cruiser – his dream mobile :)  

There were a few driving simulators.  Really neat, with really long lines.  Ummm, I’ll just get in my real car and really drive, thanks.     

This video was hilarious!  It was a couple rapping about their Toyota minivan – their Swagger Wagon  :)

I stood and listened to the whole thing.  Funniest thing I’ve heard in a LONG time!

Behold the brightest car I’ve ever seen.  This picture doesn’t show just how bright this Mercedes is – but it actually HURT my eyes!

Doesn’t it look like a face?

One of the few cars that you couldn’t get near…     

We had a great time.  And did you notice that everyone in the pictures were carrying red reusable bags?  Ya, they were handing them out and they looked like the perfect size.  For some reason I couldn’t figure out where they were being given out!  I walked every inch of that show with my eyes peeled and nada.  oh, such a fan of free :)

And it may not be free, but White Castle must be the place to be, because look at the sign that I saw when we left the Auto Show…

Better get those calls in quick  :)

It has been a great week though.  So great that I’ve gotten up to date with most (ok, I still have 3 partials in my writer…) of my to be written posts!

And speaking of posts, here’s my post from Sunday when I was writing my third entry for my Recipe Challenge…

My workspace for the afternoon.  We used to have our giant kitchen table in this spot, but it was way too big, so we moved it to our den/dining room area.  Since then, I’ve had this fold-up table here.  It works nicely and 90% of the time I have tablecloths that fall in a way that you wouldn’t even know it’s a fold-up table.  I’d like to get a small pub table (really small, like half the size of this table)  with two saddle stools or pub chairs.  I  think it’ll work perfectly – although maybe not as a work surface.  And that’s what is preventing me from doing it thus far (oh, and I’m cheap.  Buying nothing and using this table is free :P).

And check out this expensive ergonomic kitchen seating device :)

This stool has been well LOVED.  It’s Rubbermaid and is as old as I can remember.  I was uber-excited when I inherited it this past summer.

And the stack of cookbooks – well, I decided that they need a new home.  Clearly this isn’t it.  So far they’ve made it to my dining room table, but I just can’t find the perfect, accessible spot.

Oh, and the Post-it Flags?  Ya, that’s my type A personality coming out.  Yellow means, interesting recipe, an option to make.  Red means, make this recipe ASAP.  Blue means, made the recipe and it was great.  Green means, useful food or cooking tip.  There are a lot of flags….  Hey, but it works for me :)

So on to the recipe at hand!  The newest recipe for the Recipe Challenge!

Today (err, last Sunday) we’re making TVP ‘Meatballs!’

Sounds delicious, doesn’t it?  Don’t let the TVP thing scare you off.  Textured Vegetable Protein sounds scary, but it really isn’t!

Textured Vegetable Protein is made from defatted soy flour.  It’s dehydrated and very economical.  And the best part, the Nutrition Stats!  For 1/4 cup of dry TVP:

• Calories – 80
• Protein – 12 grams
• Sugar – 3 grams
• Carbohydrates – 7 grams
• Fibre – 4 grams
• Fat – negligible

How bout them stats?  So what do you think, ready to try TVP?  Here’s an awesome recipe that showcases the TVP.  You can also hide it in sauces, but then, how would you know if you liked it then?

Onward we go!  Here are our ingredients for the day:

And here is the aforementioned TVP,

I told you it wasn’t scary (boo!).  It might not be that attractive, but there’s really nothing to be afraid of.

Clearly this is still dehydrated.  2 cups of TVP needs approximately 2 cups of boiling water.  I used a beef bouillon cube in mine in order to add some flavour, but to veggify (it’s a word!  Ok, it’s not…) this, just leave it out!

Add the boiling liquid to your TVP, mix it around and let it sit for about 10 minutes.

After 10 minutes, your Ground Beef TVP will look like this,

Mince your your onion.  Add the onion and minced garlic (the pic at the top shows a garlic bulb.  Clearly I actually used jarred, which I totally forgot that I had bought the day before!) to your bowl with the TVP

I love the taste of fennel seeds and I actually chose to make some sort of meatballs, so that I could easily put them in!

Take a sharp knife and chop those little seeds up.  It doesn’t need to be perfect, but having whole fennel seeds in little wee meatballs isn’t really appealing to me.  Add this to the bowl.

Oregano.  Probably my favourite herb :)   Add it in!

Add in the basil,

I bought this whole grain Dijon from Trader Joe’s (holla!) and being a mustard connoisseur, it has become one of my favourites.   So add it in too :)

And add in your Lea and Perrins (<—ha, my last name…minus the ‘s’ of course) or your store brand knock off Worcestershire sauce.  You’d think I’d buy the real thing  – and in this case I should have (sometimes being cheap isn’t a good thing!), the flavour wasn’t as good.  Either way, add it in!

Lastly add in your egg and mix all together.

Once you mix it all together, add your breadcrumbs and mix again, thoroughly.

Now for the fun part!  Time to get your hands dirty, or rather, messy and a little gooey.  Take you mixture and form into uniform balls.  You should end up with 30 –35 meatballs, depending on how large you made them.

Now tell me that that doesn’t look like a ground meat meatball?

Throw them in the oven – oh and put them on parchment (I put just about everything on parchment:  live and learn), no need for any possible sticking or use of oil.

20 minutes later…

I could just eat these right up! …oh, I did!  Todd kept popping one in his mouth every time he passed through the kitchen too!  And he knew full well that they were TVP (which he claimed before this that he really didn’t like!).  I put a third of these in the freezer before they vanished, for an easy dinner one night.

I’ve tried them with barbeque sauce, ranch, plum sauce, marinara sauce and plain.  I’ve eaten them in a wrap, with pasta and on their own.  Winner, winner, ‘meatball’ dinner ;)

TVP ‘Meatballs’

• 2 Cups Textured Vegetable Protein
• 2 Cups Boiling water
• 1 Beef bouillon cube (optional)
• 1/2 Small onion, minced
• 2 Cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 tsp Fennel seeds
• 1 tsp Basil
• 1 tsp Oregano
• 2 T Whole grain Dijon mustard
• 1 T Worcestershire Sauce
• 1 Egg
• 3/4 Cup Breadcrumbs

1. Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.
2. Boil two cups of water and dissolve a beef bouillon (optional) cube in it.
3. In a bowl, combine the water and TVP.  Mix together and allow to sit approximately 10 minutes, allowing the TVP to rehydrate.
4. Once water is absorbed.  Add in onion, garlic, fennel seeds, basil, oregano, Dijon mustard, Worcestershire sauce and egg.  Mix well.
5. Add in Breadcrumbs and again, mix well.
6. Line a pan or baking sheet with parchment.
7. Form the mixture into small uniform balls.  The mixture will make between 30 and 35 meatballs.
8. Place in oven for 20 minutes.
9. Enjoy!

I had a great run after work.  It wasn’t the fastest I’ve done in a while (and I really had to be careful with the bits of ice), but it just felt good.  I was happy to be done – simply because it was cold – but I really felt like my running mojo was returning!

Ok, seriously, I’m boring myself with this bather… 

How about a recipe then?

Last Saturday I felt like something with blueberries in it.  Pancakes?  No.  Muffins?  Not quite.  Loaf?  Yes, who doesn’t love a good loaf :)

I searched online for a recipe that had a good ingredient list and didn’t have lemon or coffee.  I just wanted to taste the blueberry flavour.

I ended up mainly using this one, with a few wisps of this one in it.    

It started out with mixing the sugar and butter together until it was creamy.

Does this look creamy to you?

It doesn’t look creamy to me either, but I don’t think that it ended up making a difference in the finished product.

Once I added the egg yolk to the sugar and butter, it took on an almost creepy vibrant yellow colour.

Try as I might, I couldn’t get a picture that translated the eerie colour that it was.  

In went (alternately and slowly) the milk and flour/baking powder.  I used half whole wheat and half all purpose.  It called for all purpose, but why not use some whole wheat if you can, right?

In went the vanilla and I thought that I’d add a tablespoon of cinnamon.

This cinnamon was definitely a good choice.  I think that the recipe would have been lacking without it. 

In went the slightly still frozen blueberries.

Hehehe, it’s purple…

I have never had to beat eggwhites to get them to froth before.  This was oddly satisfying!

It amazes me that all of this eggwhite frothiness came from one egg!

I tried my best to fold in the eggwhites without sacrificing their integrity.  Easier said than done, but I think I did ok ;)

Everything mixed together and placed in the greased pan with some cinnamon sugar on top to make a crust.

And out of the oven!

It looks flat, doesn’t it?  Well, that’s because it is – but through no fault of the recipe.  It rose nicely in the oven and was a good looking loaf.  Then I turned it onto its’ side in order to let the bottom cool and stay crusty.  This has worked a thousand times.  Well, this day it rolled right over and sat upside down for a good 20 minutes while it cooled, and I didn’t notice.  And that’s why it’s squished.

It certainly didn’t hurt the flavour though!  It was absolutely delicious.  My one complaint was that it was a bit too moist inside.  I would imagine it was because the blueberries were still slightly frozen when I used them.  However, there was nothing in the second recipe that I based this on that said that they should be defrosted (and if they were defrosted, wouldn’t they just be more moist and liquid?  Hmmm…).  Or maybe it was just a moist recipe.

Either way, it was good enough that half of it was gone in 12 hours, so I stuck the other half in the freezer ;)

This recipe was tasty and I might make a few more tweaks next time, but there will definitely be a next time :)

So where did we leave off?  Ah yes, it’s time to make the phyllo!

An empty bowl.  This shouldn’t be at the beginning of a recipe, it should be at the end – right?  Well, this silly blogger forgot to take a picture of everything in the bowl!  Fortunately, I’m sure you’ve seen a bowl full of white dough being mixed together and can imagine what it looked like :)

This was everything:  flour, salt, water (save for 1/4 cup), vinegar and olive oil.

Knead the dough for 10 –15 minutes.

While kneading, add the rest of the water as you feel it is kneaded (haha, that was on purpose :P), in order to bring the dough together and make it pliable.  When the dough is workable and elastic, you’re done kneading (it won’t take an hour, but that much kneading might feel like it!).  Shape the dough into a ball.When you’re done, put a small amount of oil in your hands and coat the outside of the dough.  Wrap the dough tightly in plastic wrap and leave on the counter.

Now walk away.

Seriously.

Don’t touch this dough for at least 2 hours.  I did a lot of research when I was trying to figure out if I’d be able to make my own phyllo dough and most said the longer you leave it, the better.

Speaking of research, I read a lot about phyllo dough and read a ton of recipes on how to make it.  I was shocked at the vast differences.  If I were planning on following a recipe, I wouldn’t have known which one to follow.  Instead I found a few (fairly) consistent ratios and the ingredients that made the most sense to me.

And that’s how this recipe was born :)

*ahem* Now where was I…

Ah yes, it’s now 2 hours later.  Now get this lovely piece of equipment out:

That’s right, your pasta maker!

*sidenote:  I read lots of recipes that said that you could just roll the dough out and stretch it to how you wanted and I can see how it would work.  However, I think I would much prefer this method – even though it probably takes MUCH LONGER!  Fair warning…

Before you start, grease your ramekins with a little butter.  This way you won’t forget when you’re all excited about the phyllo and ready to put it in.  Cut your dough into equal pieces.

I actually cut one of the quarters again and only used 1/8 of the dough for the rest of the recipe.

I wrapped the remaining phyllo tightly so that it would freeze well and could be used another day.

This recipe purposely uses only a little bit of phyllo.  This is because I not only wanted the spinach to be the star, but  I wanted to cut calories by eliminating the layers and butter that are typical in phylllo recipes.

Now flatten your dough enough that you can fit it through the largest setting on your pasta maker.  In order for your dough to come out evenly, without bubbles or tears – crank it SLOWLY and be sure to guide the top end of dough with your hand – otherwise it’ll stick to the machine.

Once your dough comes out, fold it and put it through again.

Continue this process.

If you notice that it’s getting too narrow, fold it in the opposite direction and put it through again.   

Once you feel that you’ve gotten the dough through the machine to your satisfaction (no bubbles, tears) and that it wouldn’t get thinner by passing it through again, take it down one setting smaller.

I generally passed the dough through 6-8 times (it is a time commitment….) on each setting before going down to the next one.

I can’t stress enough, how important it is to go SLOWLY.

Once you’ve worked your way through the lowest setting, you’ll end up with this!

Notice that you can see through the dough.  This is the consistency that you are aiming for.  This stuff stretches like no tomorrow!

Clearly you would now use the dough in whatever manner your recipe calls for.

My recipe had me only lining four ramekins and bunching the excess on top.  In order to do this, I cut the dough into four equal pieces and then s-t-r-e-t-c-h-e-d it a little bit more to fit the shape of the ramekins.

Place the dough in the ramekin, stretching if need be in order to have the dough reach the bottom and have enough hanging over the edges to eventually cover the top.

Be sure to be careful doing this.  You would hate to tear your dough when you’ve put soooo much work into it.

Take your spinach mixture and divide it evenly between the four ramekins,

  Bring the edges of the dough over the top of the mixture and press all of the edges together in order to try to seal the Spanakopita. 

Melt enough butter to coat the tops of the Spanakopita and brush on.

Place all of the ramekins in a baking pan just to be ready for any potential spill over.

Into the oven it goes!

Putting the Spanakopita under the broiler for a few minutes will help to get it brown and crispy.

Et voila!  One single serving Spanakopita, heavy on the spinach and light on the phyllo and butter.  Just remember that that spinach is going to be HOT when you dig in.

Delicious!  Can’t wait to make it again!  Todd’s only complaint:  he wished that there was more phyllo!  This would have definitely been tasty, but was also what I was trying to get away from.  A taste of the phyllo instead of layers, upon layers was quite sufficient in this case :)

…oh, and they reheat wonderfully!  I brought one for my lunch one day and it tasted nearly the same as when I took it out of the oven.

Spanakopita

• 1 lb Spinach (I used half raw and frozen)
• 2 Green onions
• 1 1/2 Tbsp Olive Oil
• 2 cloves Minced garlic
• 1/2 tsp Oregano
• 1/2 tsp Coriander
• 1/4 tsp dill
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1/4 cup Cottage cheese
• 1/4 cup Feta cheese
• 2 tsp grated parmesan
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp fresh ground pepper
• Butter to grease ramekins and brush tops

1. Put spinach in food processor on low until spinach is in small pieces and stems are incorporated.  If spinach is frozen (better to use fresh), you can get this same consistency, and no need to thaw.  You’ll simply have to let the water evaporate in step 3.
2. Mince your green onions, using the entire onion, except any dark green ends that may be dried out.
3. Place a pan over medium heat.  Add olive oil to the pan, and once heated add spinach, onions and garlic.  While mixture is heating, add oregano, coriander and dill and incorporate spices well.  Take pan off the heat when onions are tender, approximately 5-8 minutes.
4. Allow spinach mixture to cool to room temperature.
5. When cooled, add beaten egg, all three cheeses, salt and pepper to the mixture.  Stir well, to ensure flavours are throughout.
6. Place 1/4 of mixture in each of 4 buttered, phyllo lined ramekins (phyllo recipe follows).
7. Bring edges together and press tightly to seal mixture inside
8. Brush melted butter on top, to help the phyllo brown and crisp.
9. Place all ramekins in a baking pan, in case of any overflow.  Place pan in oven at 325 degrees for 20 minutes, or until tops are just beginning to brown and and butter around the edge is bubbling.  Then place under low broiler for 3-5 minutes (but watch carefully!) to make the top crispy.
10. Enjoy!

Phyllo Dough

• 2 2/3 cups All purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp Salt
• 1/2 cup Very warm water + 1/4 cup Very warm water
• 1 Tbsp White vinegar
• 2 tsp Olive oil + 1/2 tsp to coat outside of dough

1. Sift dry ingredients together.
2. Gradually add in the wet ingredients: 1/2 cup water, vinegar and 2 tsp olive oil.  Use the warmest tap water that you can.  Warm water is the key to the dough coming together properly.
3. Knead your dough for 10-15 minutes, until the dough feels elastic.  You may need up to another 1/4 cup of water (added gradually) in order to get this consistency.
4. Form your dough into a ball and use your remaining oil to put a thin coat on the outside of the dough.
5. Wrap your dough tightly in plastic wrap, and let sit on counter for at least 2 hours.
6. Dough is now ready to put through your pasta maker or be rolled.  Your goal is to make the dough thin enough that you can see your fingers through it.  When you have that consistency, it is at the correct thickness to use for your recipe.  For tips on rolling your dough through a pasta maker, see above!