Monday, March 1, 2010
My evolving blog!
After a few weeks I decided that I wanted to gear my blog more in a direction of my personal goal (running 1000 miles) and a goal we have as a family - to be more active! So I have changed my blog to
Twelve Fit Feet.
Please visit me there!
Friday, February 26, 2010
Airplane ride anyone?
My kids project of the week was an airplane - motor included thanks to our vacuum cleaner! I even got to be a pilot and a passenger.
Pilot #1
I love the goggles!
Pilot #2
with proud designers . . .
Check out Run Mommy Run! for a giveaway of a Bondi Band.
Check out Long Legs on the Loose for a giveaway of a Road ID.
Check out Long Legs on the Loose for a giveaway of a Road ID.
Thursday, February 25, 2010
Bean and Sweet Potato Burritos
.
We have beans every Monday night! (I wonder if my kids will ever eat beans again on a Monday after they leave home!) I love beans and I am always looking for new ways to use them in recipes. The combination of beans with sweet potatoes is really quite tasty. Give it a try and see what you think!
1 T canola oil
1 medium onion, chopped
1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and minced
1 medium green pepper, chopped
Saute above ingredients until tender.
Add to vegetables and stir one minute:
1 T chili powder
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 t ground cumin
Add 1 tablespoon water and stir, scraping the pan to spread the chili powder and cumin throughout.
Stir in and cook until heated.
2 cups cooked and diced sweet potato
(I usually peel and dice the sweet potatoes then steam them until they still hold their form.)
2 cups cooked black beans or pinto beans (Canned beans would work fine too!)
1 cup frozen corn
juice from one lime
Serve in a flour tortilla with sour cream. (It is good just by itself too.)
We have beans every Monday night! (I wonder if my kids will ever eat beans again on a Monday after they leave home!) I love beans and I am always looking for new ways to use them in recipes. The combination of beans with sweet potatoes is really quite tasty. Give it a try and see what you think!
1 T canola oil
1 medium onion, chopped
1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and minced
1 medium green pepper, chopped
Saute above ingredients until tender.
Add to vegetables and stir one minute:
1 T chili powder
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 t ground cumin
Add 1 tablespoon water and stir, scraping the pan to spread the chili powder and cumin throughout.
Stir in and cook until heated.
2 cups cooked and diced sweet potato
(I usually peel and dice the sweet potatoes then steam them until they still hold their form.)
2 cups cooked black beans or pinto beans (Canned beans would work fine too!)
1 cup frozen corn
juice from one lime
Serve in a flour tortilla with sour cream. (It is good just by itself too.)
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Wordfull Wednesday
.
Today's Wordfull Wednesday is entitled "Unity in Marriage."
We can always tell if we are on the same page using the Toothbrush Test. It is just a little thing but whoever arrives first to brush teeth for the evening puts toothpaste on the other person's brush. I don't know how it got started but it is our gauge of whether or not we are thinking of each other.
Today's Wordfull Wednesday is entitled "Unity in Marriage."
We can always tell if we are on the same page using the Toothbrush Test. It is just a little thing but whoever arrives first to brush teeth for the evening puts toothpaste on the other person's brush. I don't know how it got started but it is our gauge of whether or not we are thinking of each other.
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
My Gifts
.
I was infected with the running bug when I was twenty-five years old. Up until then I looked with envy at people who ran. I thought you had to have some special gift. I attempted as a teenager to experiment with running but somehow thought I must not have the "gift" runners seemed to possess. (Runners always made it look so easy!) Since then I realized I was born with two special gifts. One is called the right foot and the other is called the left foot. Since that moment of discovery, those two gifts have carried me on many happy miles and even on a marathon.
My running infection began when I was newly married and we had moved to a new city for Ben and I to attend college. We lived in a beautiful area where mountains were majestically placed right outside our front door. I had been taking an aerobics class for a semester and when it ended I decided I needed to figure out another way to stay fit. Ben and I just tried running one summer morning and we managed to survive one mile without too much pain or difficulty. And I just kept running. That fall I ran my first 5K at a Greek Festival with a time of 31:43. From this beginning, I've had ups and downs but running has continued to be an important part of my life despite four moves and four kids and... life.
Miles last week: 22.5
Total 2010 miles: 162
I was infected with the running bug when I was twenty-five years old. Up until then I looked with envy at people who ran. I thought you had to have some special gift. I attempted as a teenager to experiment with running but somehow thought I must not have the "gift" runners seemed to possess. (Runners always made it look so easy!) Since then I realized I was born with two special gifts. One is called the right foot and the other is called the left foot. Since that moment of discovery, those two gifts have carried me on many happy miles and even on a marathon.
My running infection began when I was newly married and we had moved to a new city for Ben and I to attend college. We lived in a beautiful area where mountains were majestically placed right outside our front door. I had been taking an aerobics class for a semester and when it ended I decided I needed to figure out another way to stay fit. Ben and I just tried running one summer morning and we managed to survive one mile without too much pain or difficulty. And I just kept running. That fall I ran my first 5K at a Greek Festival with a time of 31:43. From this beginning, I've had ups and downs but running has continued to be an important part of my life despite four moves and four kids and... life.
Miles last week: 22.5
Total 2010 miles: 162
Monday, February 22, 2010
The Turning
by Gloria Whelan
Copyright 2006
My ten year old said she enjoyed learning about the life of a ballerina and didn't realize all the necessary preparations leading up to the tour to Paris, like wearing out a pair of toe shoes every day. (I guess this really happens!)
My seven year old rushed to find another book by Gloria Whelan on our last visit to the library. I guess that is a pretty good gauge of her engagement with the story, though she wasn't too specific about what she liked. She did say that she was a little disappointed there wasn't a wedding before the book ended.
The Turning is found in the teen section of our library but really, the content was very accessible to our younger crowd. We had a good discussion about Russia, communism and the basics of recent changes there. I think part of the girls' interest in this topic is that their piano teacher came to the U.S. from the Ukraine at the time the Soviet Union dissolved and now they have lots of new questions for her!
We are off to read Angel on the Square (we're on a roll with this author right now). . . .
Friday, February 19, 2010
Dinner hour!!! Calm or chaotic?
Sometimes as we approach the dinner hour things are a little bit chaotic in our house. Is it at yours?
So in our search for ways to make our dinner hour a little more calm and a little less chaotic I came across an idea about having a moment of silence at the dinner table, allowing everyone to calm down and get ready for the blessing. This seemed to work for a time but as with a lot of parenting attempts it didn't seem to completely solve the problem. So Ben suggested we try to sing a hymn before we say the blessing. We call everyone for dinner only once. If they don't arrive then we begin to sing (we started at the beginning of the book and are going in numerical order). The singing normally brings the missing child quickly to their seat. I think singing really sets a nice tone for dinner to follow. I can't say it has solved everything but I think it has helped to make everyone feel a little more calm, especially Mom!
So what works for your family? Do you have any traditions that help your dinner hour be a pleasant experience?
So in our search for ways to make our dinner hour a little more calm and a little less chaotic I came across an idea about having a moment of silence at the dinner table, allowing everyone to calm down and get ready for the blessing. This seemed to work for a time but as with a lot of parenting attempts it didn't seem to completely solve the problem. So Ben suggested we try to sing a hymn before we say the blessing. We call everyone for dinner only once. If they don't arrive then we begin to sing (we started at the beginning of the book and are going in numerical order). The singing normally brings the missing child quickly to their seat. I think singing really sets a nice tone for dinner to follow. I can't say it has solved everything but I think it has helped to make everyone feel a little more calm, especially Mom!
So what works for your family? Do you have any traditions that help your dinner hour be a pleasant experience?
Thursday, February 18, 2010
Cranberry-Orange Cornmeal Breakfast Muffins
We have muffins for breakfast every Wednesday and they are a favorite! This recipe was inspired by an idea I saw in Cooking Light magazine. I like it because of the nutty texture created by the cornmeal. It is also very tasty made with blueberry and lemon.
1 1/2 cups unbleached white flour
1/2 cup yellow cornmeal
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1 1/2 t baking powder
1/2 t baking soda
1/2 t salt
zest of one large orange, grated
Mix dry ingredients in large mixing bowl. Then mix in grated orange zest.
1 cup buttermilk
OR
1 cup milk mixed with 1 T white vinegar (I use this because I rarely have buttermilk.)
3 T butter, melted (I've used oil too and that works just as well.)
1 egg
Whisk together in small bowl milk, butter, and egg. Add to dry ingredients. Mix just enough to moisten the batter. Add:
1 cup frozen or fresh cranberries
Grease 12 muffin cups with cooking spray. Spoon batter into muffin cups. Sprinkle with sugar. Bake at 375 degrees for 15 to 20 minutes.
*for Blueberry-Lemon muffins replace orange zest for lemon zest and cranberries for blueberries!
Enjoy!
1 1/2 cups unbleached white flour
1/2 cup yellow cornmeal
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1 1/2 t baking powder
1/2 t baking soda
1/2 t salt
zest of one large orange, grated
Mix dry ingredients in large mixing bowl. Then mix in grated orange zest.
1 cup buttermilk
OR
1 cup milk mixed with 1 T white vinegar (I use this because I rarely have buttermilk.)
3 T butter, melted (I've used oil too and that works just as well.)
1 egg
Whisk together in small bowl milk, butter, and egg. Add to dry ingredients. Mix just enough to moisten the batter. Add:
1 cup frozen or fresh cranberries
Grease 12 muffin cups with cooking spray. Spoon batter into muffin cups. Sprinkle with sugar. Bake at 375 degrees for 15 to 20 minutes.
*for Blueberry-Lemon muffins replace orange zest for lemon zest and cranberries for blueberries!
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
Running Record
Here is a visual representation of my running progress so far for 2010. I am on day number 47 and run four to five times per week. This harsh winter weather is really testing me! I just try to survive each morning which can be challenging on days like today when snow is falling and wind is blowing. The initial getting out of bed is really the hardest part of all. My goal is 20 miles a week and so far the slope on the graph is headed straight for the big 1000. A previous running partner gave me the 1000 mile idea. I'd been looking for a running goal for 2010 and 1000 miles had a nice ring to it so I decided to sign on. Who else would like to join the 1000-mile club? Double it?
Total miles: 139.5
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