Week 3 Half Marathon Training Complete

This week it seemed everything was against me in getting my runs done, first I was sick and could not get off the couch or out of my pajamas, let alone run. Then there was the winter storm we got Friday which dumped about 6-8 inches of snow on us, shutting down the city and the base, which means the gym was closed too, not very conducive for running. Also I felt so behind not meeting my mileage last week due to the cold I had, plus I had to cram the usual four runs into three this week to meet my mileage. But I pushed through and got it done, against all odds! I am so proud of myself this week and am feeling so strong and truly amazed at what my body can do! This week I ran 16 miles total, the farthest distance I have ever run, and at a pretty fast pace considering the distances! I can't wait for next week, and am hoping nothing comes up this week to try to deter me from keeping on schedule. Bring it week 4!

As far as weight loss goes, well I am at a stand still. It seems my body is just not wanting to give anything up. Of course this could also be due to the ungodly amounts of frosting and cake I have been eating lately and just not really paying attention to what I am putting into my body, so alas, the scale has not moved in weeks, maybe even close to a month now. So I have a new resolution for this week, I will be back on the Weight Watcher wagon and be tracking my food and points and hopefully not eating anymore cake for a few weeks. I'll report back next week. Until then, I leave you with stats from this week:

Week 3, Day 1: 5.06 miles, 49:44, av pace: 9:50 min/mi
Week 3, Day 2: 5.01 miles, 48:42, av pace: 9:43 min/mi
Week 3, Day 3: 6.13 miles, 59:33, av pace: 9:43 min/mi

Snow Day!!

It snowed here today! Now remember, this is the mid-south and we aren't used to getting the white stuff here, and me being from Florida, I am still always so excited when I get to see it. Tony doesn't get as excited as I do, I think it's because for him growing up, snow was just part of the norm. But anyway, it ended up snowing about 5-6 inches, which is way above the 1 inch they expected us to get, so much in fact that Tony got sent home from work only about 2 hours into his work day. So we stayed inside and enjoyed the heat and the scenery outside through the windows until finally we decided to go out and enjoy it. With the snow came a lot of ice, and with the ice came icicles all over the house, car, and trees; this amazed me! I think icicles are so cool! And again, I have never seen them in person before, so it was awesome! We live up on a huge hill, so Tony wasn't able to get his car back up the hill, and many of our neighbors weren't either, but apparently the hill/driveway made an awesome sled hill for our neighbors. They were sledding down the hill on an inflatable air mattress! It looked fun, but the worry wort in me thought it also appeared dangerous, so when they offered us a turn we graciously declined. It's still supposed to dump another 2-3 inches on us tonight, so we'll see how the rest of the weekend plays out and if we end up being snowed in. And now for some neat pictures!

Icicles on my car

 

Footprints in the snow, see how deep it is?!

Tony walking down the driveway, and all the cars at the bottom of the hills

Ice on the tree branches

Icicles on the roof!

Tony playing with an icicle, trying to show me that they aren't dangerous, I still think they can be...

Me playing in the fun snow!

Bananas Foster

My husband loves bananas, I on the other hand, am not a fan. I hate the smell, I hate the texture, I just can't eat them. The only bananas I will eat are the fried ones at Texas de Brazil, ones that are super sweet and covered in powdered sugar, and only when I am eating massive amounts of delicious beef. Anyway, I digress. So, the other night Tony asked me if I would make him bananas foster, which happens to be one of his favorite desserts. So after some googling of recipes I was ready to go. It was actually really easy and even this banana hater had to admit, it tasted pretty darn good!

Easy Bananas Foster (from recipezaar.com)
Ingredients:

2 tablespoons butter
2 bananas, sliced
1 cup light brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 pinch salt
2 scoops ice cream (vanilla or something more exotic like praline or wattleseed) We used Cake Batter 

Directions:

1. Melt butter in a saucepan over medium heat.
2. Add sliced bananas and stir for 2 minutes.
3. Add brown sugar, vanilla, cinnamon, and salt.
4. Lower heat and continue cooking, stirring constantly for 2 more minutes.
5. Serve over a scoops of ice cream. 
6. Note: 1 oz of booze may be added during the last 2 minutes of cooking (Rum works well), add with the pan off of the heat- Beware of flaming. (We added in 1 oz Tortuga Gold rum at step 4 and it didn't flame)

My Third Pretty Cake: Roses and Sweet Peas

This was the final week of Course 1, tear, but don't fret, I've already signed up for Course 2 which begins February 11th! This week we learned how to make Wilton roses and sweet peas, along with bows, leaves and vines. I am pleased to say, I think this was my best cake yet! I decided to make a yellow cake from scratch and filled it with the same cream cheese frosting I used last week with the red velvet because I had a ton left over in a Tupperware in the fridge and it was just so darn tempting that I kept digging into it at random times during the week, so I needed to use it up so I would stop eating it all. The cake I am sad to report was not as moist and delicious as I thought it would be. I was really disappointed. I mean it still tasted good, but not as good as let's say Duncan Hines Butter Recipe Golden is. I got the recipe from Smittenkitchen.com. Here it is:

Yellow Cake From Scratch (from smittenkitchen.com)
Ingredients:
4 cups plus 2 tablespoons cake flour (not self-rising)
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter, softened
2 cups sugar
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
4 large eggs, at room temperature
2 cups buttermilk, well-shaken (I used my trick from last week, 2 TBSP lemon juice and just under 2 cups skim milk)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter two 9-inch round cake pans and line with circles of parchment paper, then butter parchment. (Alternately, you can use a cooking spray, either with just butter or butter and flour to speed this process up.) I sprayed mine with Pam for Baking and didn't use the parchment.
 
Sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl. In a large mixing bowl, beat butter and sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer at medium speed until pale and fluffy, then beat in vanilla. Add eggs 1 at a time, beating well and scraping down the bowl after each addition. At low speed, beat in buttermilk until just combined (mixture will look curdled). Add flour mixture in three batches, mixing until each addition is just Incorporated.

Spread batter evenly in cake pan, then rap pan on counter several times to eliminate air bubbles. Bake until golden and a wooden pick inserted in center of cake comes out clean, 35 to 40 minutes. Cool in pan on a rack 10 minutes, then run a knife around edge of pan. Invert onto rack and discard parchment, then cool completely, about 1 hour. Then frost.

And now the good stuff! Enjoy! 

Second Pretty Cake

This week was week 3 of Wilton Course 1, this week we learned figure piping and drop flowers and the shell border. I decided this week that I wanted to make a red velvet cake from scratch with a cream cheese filling. I wanted to frost the cake in the cream cheese frosting too, but it ended up way too thin to hold up to the decorating I knew I would be doing, so I ended up making a regular batch of the Wilton buttercream to frost the outside of the cake with like usual. I had never made a red velvet cake before, and found it surprisingly easy to make and it came out wonderful!

 

Red Velvet Cake with Cream Cheese Filling (from cdkitchen.com)

Ingredients:
For the cake:
2 1/2 cups sifted cake flour
2 teaspoons cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
2 large eggs
1 cup buttermilk (I subbed 1 TBSP lemon juice and just under 1 cup of skim milk (put the lemon juice in a liquid measuring cup and then add the milk until it gets to the 1 cup line) and let it set out for about 5-10 minutes before it was ready)
2 ounces red food coloring (2 full bottles of red food coloring)
1 teaspoon distilled white vinegar
1 teaspoon vanilla

For the Frosting:
1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup unsalted butter or margarine, softened (I used 1/2 cup vegetable shortening, I used Crisco)
1 pound box confectioners sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:

For the cake: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour 2 (9-inch) cake pans (I used Pam for Baking, makes it a lot easier!). In a medium bowl or on a piece of waxed paper, sift together flour, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, and salt; set aside. In a large bowl, cream together sugar and butter. Beat in eggs one at a time.

Alternately add flour mixture and buttermilk. Beat in food coloring and vinegar, then add vanilla. Spread the batter evenly in the pans. Bake for 20 to 30 minutes or until a wooden toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Turn out onto a rack to cool.

For the frosting: In a large bowl, cream the cream cheese and butter. Beat in confectioners sugar until fluffy. Beat in vanilla Use frosting to fill and ice cake (or just fill like I did).

It was so delicious, at least the one small slice I had was delicious! And it must have been considering Tony brought me home an empty carrier after taking it to work on Friday! And now, without further ado, is my newest creation:

 

Week 2 Half Training Sidelined

I am sick, the worst possible time to get a cold and I have one! The time when I need to be running my butt off to train and get ready for this half marathon quickly approaching and I did not make my mileage this week. I am so upset and worried now if I will be able to make it up this week if this horrendous sickness goes away. I am behind 5 miles now, I was supposed to do the 5 miler yesterday, but was too busy taking a test for a Census job and not feeling well. I wanted to run today, but there was no way I am in any shape to do it. My nose is so swollen and blocked off, I keep sneezing every few minutes, and I feel like crap. My Mucinex D is not helping much and I have no appetite. I am just so sick of being sick and I really wanted to do my run! Ugh! Hopefully I will feel better tomorrow morning and can do my 5 miler then and add an extra mile to the other 3 runs to make up for the 3 miles I am supposed to be running tomorrow to stay on track. I leave you with the stats for the 3 runs (10 miles) I did complete this week.

Week 2, Day 1: 3.00 miles, 29:31, av pace: 9:49 min/mi (I actually ran this one outside in our super hilly neighborhood and thought I did quite well considering)
Week 2, Day 2: 4.01 miles, 38:42, av pace: 9:38 min/mi
Week 2, Day 3: 3.01 miles, 28:04, av pace: 9:19 min/mi (my fastest pace ever!)

Week 1 Half Marathon Training Complete

Well today marked the end of my first of ten weeks of half marathon training. I am happy to report I made it through this week, ran 4 days, for a total of 13 miles, which is my farthest weekly distance ever and ran my fastest pace ever! I am so super proud of myself and am so excited to get to 15 miles next week! Bring it! I leave you with my stats for this week's runs:

Week 1, Day 1: 3.01 miles, 29:16, av pace: 9:43/mile
Week 1, Day 2: 3.00 miles, 29:17, av pace: 9:44/mile
Week 1, Day 3: 3.00 miles, 28:53, av pace: 9:36/mile
Week 1, Day 4: 4.01 miles, 37:50, av pace: 9:26/mile

My first Pretty Cake!

I have been wanting to take the Wilton Cake Decorating Courses at Michael's for a while now, in fact I signed up in November, but the class got canceled, well it finally had enough people signed up that it began January 7th. The first week is basically just an intro, and then actual baking and decorating begins the second week. So last night was my first night getting to decorate my delicious chocolate cake. I have taken to making cakes from scratch lately instead of from a box, this time I decided to go with the Hershey's Perfectly Chocolate Cake from the back of my Hershey's Unsweetened Cocoa Powder box. The cake tasted delicious and was quite moist. Decorating it was definitely fun, I still need to work on frosting the cake without getting crumbs in the frosting, and perfecting the consistency of the icing. But I am so looking forward to next week's class and the following three courses!

Hershey's Perfectly Chocolate Cake:

Ingredients:

2 cups sugar
1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour (I used 1 3/4 cups plus 3 Tbsp Cake Flour)
3/4 cup HERSHEY'S Cocoa
1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1-1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 cup milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup boiling water

Directions:
1. Heat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour two 9-inch round baking pans.

2. Stir together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt in large bowl. Add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla; beat on medium speed of mixer 2 minutes. Stir in boiling water (batter will be thin). Pour batter into prepared pans.

3. Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes; remove from pans to wire racks. Cool completely. Frost. 10-12 servings.

Baked Lemon Chicken Pasta

I've been wanting to try this recipe since I saw it on a blog I follow, Cooking With LT, well with some adjustments, I finally decided to take the plunge this week. I guess originally it was a Pioneer Woman recipe, but I omitted quite a bit to make my own little spin on it. The recipe that follows is what I used, if you'd like the full one, check out Pioneer Woman or Cooking with LT.

Ingredients:
1 lb box spaghetti (I used a box of whole wheat thin spaghetti, 13.25 oz)
1 lemon juiced and zested
1 chicken breast, shredded
2 cups (16 oz) fat free sour cream
2 cloves garlic, minced
4 Tbsp butter
4 Tbsp olive oil
Grated parmesan cheese

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Put pasta in a large pot and boil, cook until al dente and drain. Put butter and olive oil in a skillet on the stove over low heat. Cook until butter melts, then add in garlic and lemon juice and turn off burner. Add in lemon zest and sour cream and stir. Add in shredded chicken. Then pour sauce over pasta and then transfer to an oven safe dish. Cover with foil and cook for 15 minutes. Remove foil and cook uncovered and additional 7-10 minutes. Remove from oven, squeeze a little more lemon juice over dish, top generously with parmesan cheese, then give lemon a final squeeze and serve. Enjoy!

Hubby and I definitely enjoyed this dish! It was a nice break from the usual alfredo we like to eat, and in fact it was pretty similar to an alfredo texture, but with a lemon flavor. I loved it! We will definitely be having this again.

Making Good On Goals For 2010

I mentioned it a couple days ago, and have been saying for a while, that one of my goals for this year is to run a half marathon, and I think today I found the one I want to do! This one, is close to home, and gives me about 10 weeks to prepare for it, if I start this training schedule this Monday. I'm too chicken to sign up for it just yet, but I have until February 28th before the registration fee hikes up another $5. So Monday I will begin week 1 of training and see how the next few weeks play out with it and see about signing up! I am so excited! I'm trying to convince hubby to run it with me, but he is on the fence right now, so like I said, we'll wait until Feb to register. This also would get me to my goal of running between 15-20 miles per week too, something I am really trying to do.

I ran 3.5 miles Monday, and 3.5 miles today, (and both times I have upped my pace into the 9:xx min/mile) and plan another 3.5 on Friday. On the weight loss front, I gained about 3 lbs over the holidays, I lost some, but am still up about 1.6 lbs, so back to the grind I go, trying to lose these last 11.8 lbs. I leave you with my Nike+ stats for thus far in my running journey (although it's missing the first week and half I did of c25k before I got the Nike+, that would affect everything but the farthest):
# of Workouts: 38
Farthest: 4.57 miles
Total Distance: 104.79 miles
Total Time: 19.59 hours
Total Calories: 11652

Vanilla Rum Cake, From Scratch

As I mentioned a couple weeks ago, I made another rum cake for Christmas. Differing from the chocolate rum cake I made a few months ago, this one I decided to make without a boxed cake mix. I found the recipe here and just had to try it! It was absolutely delicious! This time I didn't overcook the syrup and it soaked into the cake perfectly! It was definitely a treat and it will definitely be made again, hopefully sometime in the not-too-distant-future.

Almost Tortuga Rum Cake (from recipezaar.com)

Basic Cake Mix

2 cups cake flour
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
4 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter, cut into bits
3 tablespoons oil (I used Canola)

For the Cake

1/2 cup finely chopped walnuts (I omitted) 
1 (3 1/2 ounce) package vanilla instant pudding mix
1/2 cup milk
4 eggs
1/2 cup whaler vanille rum (Hawaiian-style rum) (I used Tortuga Gold Rum)
1/2 cup oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Rum soaking Glaze

1/2 cup butter (do not substitute)
1/4 cup water
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup whaler vanille rum (Hawaiian-style rum) (Again I used Tortuga Gold Rum)

Directions

1. Basic Cake Mix: In a large mixing bowl, combine basic cake mix ingredients.
2. On low speed combine ingredients until the mix is the consistency of fine gravel, and all particles are about the same size.
3. This mix may be contained and stored for up to 3 months in the refrigerator, or used right away like I did. 

For the Cake:

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
2. Spray a large Bundt pan (12 cup) with nonstick cooking spray.
3. Sprinkle the chopped walnuts on the bottom. (I skipped this step).
   
4. Place Basic Cake Mix, pudding mix, milk, eggs, rum, oil, and vanilla extract in a large bowl and combine on medium speed with electric mixer for 2 to 3 minutes, scrape down the bowl halfway through.
5. Batter should be very smooth.
6. Pour into Bundt pan.
7. Bake for about 55 minutes- until fully golden and tester comes out clean and cake springs back.
8. Remove from oven and place on a cooling rack while making the soaking glaze.

Rum Soaking Glaze:.

1. Combine butter, water and sugar in a small saucepan.
2. Bring to a boil carefully as mixture boils over very easily.
3. Reduce to a simmer and cook until sugar is dissolved and syrup is well combined and a little thicker.
4. Remove from the heat and add the rum, mix to combine.
5. While cake is still cooling, pour some of the hot syrup on top of the cake, allowing it time to soak in (this may take a few minutes as there will be a lot of syrup) continue to add syrup until all of the syrup is added.

Allow cake to cool completely in pan before turning out onto serving platter. This cake is delicate, so once it is turned out, it can not be moved around easily. Can be eaten when fully cool, but even better the next day!

 

 

Happy 2010!!

Happy New Year!! With the new year here I suppose it is time to reflect on the previous year and the things that made it great, so in no particular order, here are my top 9 things that happened in '09:

1. Getting married! It was truly the happiest day of my life and I am so happy to be married to my best friend!! And sharing it with the people who mean the most to us was truly a joyous occasion!
2. Finally getting to live in the same place with Tony, after over 2 years of long distance, we finally got to move in together and no longer have any miles between us.
3. Our honeymoon in Jamaica! It was such an awesome time and we got to do so many cool things like ziplining, river tubing, and climbing a waterfall, basically things I was way too scared to do but so glad I did them!
4. Jessica's wedding in Miami! It was an awesome time to see my BFF get married and to celebrate with everyone!
5. Going to CT for Farva and Keira's wedding. It was such a good time to see our Navy friends and hang out and see Farva and Keira pledge their love to one another in front of their closest friends and family.
6. My bridal shower and bparty. I felt so special and it was such a great time to enjoy with my dearest friends and family!
7. Hubby graduating with his MPA. It has been such a long and arduous road for him and I am so happy that he is finally done and so incredibly proud of him!
8. Getting to my WW goal weight. Weight has always been a struggle for me, but this year I finally got to what I believe is a healthy weight and made Lifetime membership at Weight Watchers. I was so proud of this and now I know it's just a jumping point and have now decided to lose an additional 10 lbs to get to the healthiest weight and BMI I think I can be.
9. Starting and finishing C25K and becoming a runner. This has been the most challenging and most rewarding exercise routine I have ever taken on. But I am so happy I pushed through and did it. I feel so accomplished and healthy. I love running, I love logging miles now and pushing myself to be the best runner I can be!

So now on to my goals for 2010, I don't really make resolutions anymore, but this year I have a few goals I would like to complete this year, so here they are:

1. Lose these last 10 lbs and be the fittest, healthiest I can be.
2. Eventually work up to running 15-20 miles per week.
3. Run a half marathon.
4. Eat healthier, get back on track (I have been bad and off track the last month or so).
5. Get pregnant (although Hubby's work schedule may push this one into 2011, but we'll see)
6. Travel as much as possible
7. Find a job I love or start my own business.

Happy 2010 everyone and may it be a great year!!