Oh heavens…I have no real excuses.  This blog has been a sad sad testament to the busy-ness of the past month.  Abandoned and lonely, yet still attracting visitors daily, for which I am insanely humbled.  It seems that summer was good to this here blog, but since the academic year started, things went gone down hill.  And even though I suppose that is an excuse, it really isn’t.

The truth is, many other things have replaced this blog in terms of priorities.  And I’m okay with that.  I’ve been able to spend time with friends, start a small group Bible study in our home, and start a business!  I canned tomatoes for the first time, harvested fresh homegrown sweet peppers, and picked up our local beef from the meat processor.  I’ve enjoyed some beautiful fall weather, but fallen off the running bandwagon – though fear not! I got back on this morning.   I also photographed and helped lead a seminar at a student conference, and we managed to pick out a roof color and have our roof replaced!  Finally.

I’m hoping to update with pictures soon, including our house with its spiffy new roof  I have a “break” coming up next week, and we’ll see what I can accomplish during that time.  My main goal is to prime and paint the red room.  If I could finish that next week, I would be SO happy.

And yes, I did say I started a business.  And I am SO SO excited about it.  If you’re curious to know more, leave me a comment and I’ll fill you in…

I finally got pictures uploaded for sharing from my half marathon last weekend!  The race went pretty well.  It was much harder than I expected, and the heat tired me out pretty fast.  Thus, I walked a lot more than normal and my finishing time was NOT what I expected.  But, I finished.  And for my first race, that’s all I can really ask for!

My brother, me, and my sister before the race.  Proof that even at 5’9″, I am still the shortest in my family.

The whole group – David, Kevin, me, Carrie, and John.  David kicked some major butt in the 1/2 – he finished number 15 overall!

Carrie and her husband, John, after finishing the 5K.

My brother and I toughing it out in the last mile – I was SO tired at this point.

Finally finished – and totally ready for a nap.

Will I do it again?  Probably.  Though I will be smarter and choose a race in the fall or spring when the weather is a bit less extreme.  :-)

Is the big day!   I think after tomorrow, I’ll be able to really call myself a runner.  At 8 am, I’ll get ready to run 13.1 miles.  Crazy!

Wish me luck.  I’m excited, and nervous.  I’m really hoping the weather is good

Sorry to be a day late, but I’ve been a bit busy  You’re only getting a partial week since we’re receiving our CSA share early next week, so I only planned until then.

Wednesday:  leftover mac ‘n cheese CSA corn bake, leftover CSA cabbage Asian slaw, CSA cucumber salad, and yummy mushroom-rice-CSA cabbage-cannelini bean soup!

Thursday:  Cumin rice with CSA eggplant and peas

Friday: CSA potato and CSA leek soup with CSA greens for a salad

Saturday: we’re headed to a wedding reception, so I’m sure there will be some yummy goodness there!

Sunday:  Smoked pork on the Big Green Egg, roasted CSA potatoes

Here’s a picture of the mushroom cabbage bean soup from the website – I used brown rice instead of barley, and it was absolutely DELISH.  We’ll definitely make this again!

Now that we get our CSA share on Tuesdays, I do menu planning for the week on Wednesday morning before hitting the grocery store.  Here’s what we’re fixing this week:

Wednesday: Leftovers – pasta with shrimp, and African cabbage with rice

Thursday: Leftover tabouli, tzatziki, and pitas, with onions, tomatoes, homemade hummus, and roasted red pepper (picnic in the park!)

Friday:  CSA Swiss Chard with Beans, Goat Cheese & Pasta, CSA Roasted Garlic & Bread, Salad from the garden with CSA radishes

Saturday: Asian Fusion Slaw (I’ll post the recipe on Monday if it’s good!) made with CSA cabbage & green onions, grilled chicken, spicy CSA green beans

Sunday: BBQ ribs, roasted CSA potatoes, CSA collard greens

Monday: Leftovers

Tuesday: French onion soup (Again, I’ll share the recipe if its good), Roasted garlic with bread, salad from the garden with CSA radishes

A mixture of healthy and probably not-so-healthy options.  I’m probably most excited about the chard/bean pasta since it sounds SUPER yummy!

Almost 4 years ago, single and living with three other amazing women, I started to take up running.  To be honest, it was torture.  I’ve NEVER liked running.  As a kid, I played soccer, which I loved, but the running part?  I could have done without.  Endurance was not my strong suit, and the long runs we were forced to do during practice in high school was one of many reasons I dropped soccer after 10+ years of loving it.  For the next 6 years, I pretty much depended on the occasional frisbee game or dance class to keep me in shape, which wasn’t exactly a recipe for success.  Finally, a year after graduating from college and reaching my peak weight, I realized I had to do something. Anything.  And it needed to be easy, plus fit into my abnormal work schedule.  So I took up running.

At this point in my life, I probably couldn’t run a mile without huffing and puffing and stopping repeatedly.  But I was too chicken to try, so that didn’t even matter.  With the partnership of two of my roommates, we decided to be wise about our new workout regime – we did the Couch to 5K running program.  The first few weeks were weird, and at times embarrassing.  I was so ridiculously out of shape and running for 5 minutes straight was quite a feat.  And yet, I had the guts to sign up for my first race – a 5K in the first week of December.  Seriously?  What on earth was I thinking?

Well, the race came and went – I finished, which was the most important part!

That's me in the middle, right before our frigid race

My time was respectable, but nothing to get super excited about.  At this point, I was just glad to be running, and to be in shape.

About to finish!

Unfortunately though, I didn’t keep it up.  Without a goal or a race to motivate me, running soon disappeared from my weekly schedule.  Winter weather didn’t help, and the monotony of the gym (plus the cost!) wasn’t exactly alluring either.

I did, however, get into various kinds of aerobic kickboxing, pilates, and yoga using DVDs at home.  I enjoyed this greatly, and it helped me get in great shape for my wedding.  But, my running endurance had completely dissipated after a year of not running regularly.

After getting married and moving to Iowa, my husband and I started going to the gym regularly in an effort to stay in shape.  Holding each other accountable helped a lot at 6 am every Tuesday and Thursday  But I soon grew weary and bored – I needed something to work towards.

Then, last Christmas, I received an i-pod nano as a gift.  I really credit this with running making a resurgence in my life – seriously!  I used a little bit of extra birthday money and bought the Nike+ Sport Kit, which is a spiffy gadget that tracks your runs, pace, and calories.  Better yet, you can set your workout to specific music, for a specific distance, and at the click of a button, you can be notified of your progress.  For an ADD runner like me, this was WELL worth the $30 price tag.

With my Nike+ and free gym access, I was slowly on my way to returning to running.  Several months ago, I got more serious about it and began to revisit the Couch to 5K program.  I started midway through and slowly worked my way back to being able to run a 5K (3.1 miles).  I set a goal for myself – run a 10K in the fall.  Seemed reasonable, and it would give me a lot of time to work on my less than stellar running pace.

But then, my sister got involved  (Love ‘ya sis!)  One random day, she posted a message to me on facebook asking if I wanted to compete in a half-marathon with her in August.  I thought she was nuts.  Thirteen miles?  THIRTEEN!?!  Seriously, that was just a bit over my head.  And yet, it definitely intrigued me.  I thought about it, asked a few friends, consulted my husband, and then decided that I was in.  And so was my sister, and her husband, AND her husband’s brother, plus my brother too.  It became a family affair overnight!

And so, I’ve got a new goal in mind – the Gopher Badger Half-Marathon on August 14th.  I added a widget in my sidebar here that has my runs so you can keep up with me and see how I’m doing.  I’ve been sick recently, so my running has taken a bit of a dip, but I’m looking forward to picking up where I left off.  At this point, I’m pretty comfortable running 3 1/2 miles.  Even though I’m behind schedule from being sick, I’m pretty confident that I’ll be able to do the 13+ miles by mid-August.  But honestly, I’m still VERY nervous, because this means I’m becoming a runner  Not sure how I feel about that yet…

Recently, I’ve been trying to cook healthier food and more vegetables.  However, when I’m planning meals each week, I often find myself uninspired when it comes to veggies.  It’s easy for me to do something simple like a stir fry or curry, but other than that, I’m not very creative.  Without the internet, I think our meals would be completely boring!

This week for our Menu Monday, I’m sharing a simple roasted vegetable recipe.  This might be one of my new favorites!  You can find all of the ingredients in any well-stocked grocery store, and even though it takes a little bit more time to cook, it is WELL worth it.

Roasted Vegetables

Prep Time: 15 mins  Cook Time: 1 hour

Ingredients

• 2 T olive oil
• 1 large yam, peeled and cut into 1 inch pieces
• 1 large parsnip, peeled and cut into 1 inch pieces
• 2 carrots, peeled and sliced into 1 inch pieces
• 1 zucchini, cut into 1 inch slices
• 1 turnip, peeled and cut into 1 in pieces
• 1 bunch fresh asparagus, trimmed and cut into 2 inch pieces
• 1 red pepper, or 1/2 cup prepared roasted red pepper
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh basil
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Grease 1 baking sheet with 1 tablespoon olive oil.
2. Place the yams, parsnips, turnips, and carrots onto the baking sheets. Bake in the preheated oven for 30 minutes, then add the zucchini and asparagus, and drizzle with the remaining 1 tablespoon of olive oil. Turn over veggies, and continue baking until all of the vegetables are tender, about 30 minutes more. Once tender, remove from the oven, and allow to cool for 5 minutes on the baking sheet.
3. Meanwhile, roast the red pepper in a toaster oven under the broiler, several minutes per side.  Keep close watch so the pepper doesn’t burn.  Remove red pepper from oven, and place in a sealed tupperware container for 4 minutes to steam.  Remove red pepper, and peel the skin carefully.  Slice pepper into 1 inch pieces.
4. Toss the roasted peppers together with the garlic, basil, salt, and pepper in a large bowl until combined. Add the roasted vegetables, and toss to mix. Serve at room temperature or cold.

Feel free to substitute other vegetables or herbs you have on hand.  The basil was particularly wonderful combined with the sweetness of the yams.  It was very tasty!

When I was in Chicago, I visited a small group with my friend Renee, and a girl in the group brought several cases of Izzie, which is sparkling fruit juice.  I was a bit skeptical, but I LOVED it.  What’s amazing though, is that you can get a pretty good serving of fruit from just one bottle AND there’s no added sugar.  At least, not for the grapefruit one.

Renee’s friend ended up having several cases in her car (turns out she works for them) and I got to take some home.  I’m loving this stuff. Now I just need to find someplace local to buy it

Sorry to go MIA – I had a brief work trip for two days, and in the process, I’ve gotten sick.

Nope, that’s not me, but I feel like this – sneeze-y, ache-y, and very tired.  All I want to do is curl up with some tea and take lots of naps.

I promise to try to come up with something fun and exciting to write about for Friday, but for now – I’m going to focus on getting better.  And if you’ve got your favorite cold remedy you want to share, please do!