Kale Tart

Kale Tart
from Sparkpeople.com

Ended up making this for dinner tonight. She calls it a tart, but I call it a quiche though it didn't thicken up like one. The recipe calls for yogurt and I didn't quite have the 1/3 c. so I added a little bit of buttermilk to top it off to the correct measurement. I don't know if that made a difference in how well it set. I wondered if the eggs were actually done, but the dish was pretty hot when it came out of the oven so I think it just ended up being runny.

The recipe says any greens can work, so I did a bunch of kale and some spinach to even the taste and texture out. I decided to throw in some butternut squash too. If I had bacon I would have added it too. In fact, one of the boys even suggested that would have made a good addition to the dish. The flavor was amazing. I could have eaten more than my share.

The only draw back was that I didn't break the greens into small enough pieces. I just ripped the leaves into big chunks thinking it would wilt down as I cooked it. Unfortunately it did not work out in my favor and that was the worst part of the whole dish. It was amazingly delicious though and  well worth doing :)

Almond Milk & Kale

After a year of planning on it, I have finally used my almonds to make almond milk. It was pretty easy. The basic gist is you soak your almonds then blend them with milk, strain out the crumbs, and voila! The almond crumbs were then dehydrated and put in the freezer to be used for almond meal later. So, here is the result:

yielded from 1 c. almonds

Many of the recipes I looked at suggested adding a date to sweeten it and vanilla to flavor it. I did neither because I didn't actually taste it until this morning. The boys had it with their cereal for breakfast. Both thought it was interesting. Aaron seemed the most enthusiastic, and Jared didn't care for it. At that point I decided to try adding vanilla to it. Aaron thought it was even better and raved at how good it was. Jared appreciated the change and felt it helped. I suggested they have the frosted shredded wheat with it so the sugar would dissolve and sweeten it. Aaron ended up finishing his cereal but giving up the remaining milk, and Jared had me finish off both. I really appreciate their willingness to at least try all these experiments I undertake :)

As for me, it was different but I didn't dislike it. It wouldn't be hard to get used to. I may experiment with it some more to see what kind of flavors to add to it. I haven't tried it in a smoothie yet so I don't know how it would taste that way. The coconut milk I have been using doesn't add a lot of flavor change, but I have noticed it isn't quite as creamy tasting.

Yesterday Whole Foods had a 4 hour sale on kale - 5 for $5. Kale goes for $2/bunch at regular stores and this organic stuff sells for a lot more than that. Either way $1 a bunch was a great bargain so I had to get my hands on it. Five bunches is a LOT of kale though. So, I've spent my morning processing it. I've made kale chips (already eaten most of them), frozen two bunches, and will use the remaining two for recipes. These are the ones I'm planning for:

Enchilada Casserole with Kale and Sweet Potatoes (will probably use the butternut squash in my freezer for it)

Kale Tart (basically a quiche)

Zuppa Tuscano (from FB)

The only reason these aren't already in the works is b/c it isn't dinner time! Maybe I should make them anyway and freeze for later.... hmm

Oh, and my next experiment will be coconut and peanut butters.

C25K2 W1 D2/Summer Challenge Final Weigh-in

Week 1 - 5 min warm-up/cool down 60 sec run, 90 min walk for 20 minutes/8 intervals

1.45 mi/1.92 mi total

Today was harder due to a lack of sleep last night. On Monday as I was running with my new partner, I realized that the chubby jones podcast is short two running intervals :( She quits at 6 while the other c25k apps do 8 making a 5 minute difference in the overall program. I verified it today by simultaneously playing her podcast and a c25k app that would notify me at the interval changes. Unfortunately they weren't synchronized so she saying to run or walk while I was still doing the opposite, but I finished at exactly the startup of the next week's run (as in, the warm up for the next podcast finished as I finished the cool down). One of the things I LOVE about her podcast is her pep talks and countdowns. The app just gives an indication of when to change so I don't have the mental prep to know to when to slow down or speed up. I will have to tweak to see if I can get the programs to sync. The podcast plays as a music file so I might be able to go in and pause it or restart it while the app is playing. The advantage to this knowledge is that I think overall my performance will improve. I'll be prepared from the beginning to go the distance. 

Friday I will be running on my own due to an early appointment. I look forward to running the neighborhood and comparing my progress on familiar ground :)

**********

week 13 179.0
week 12 181.2
week 11 180.1
week 10 180.1 
week 9 182.3 
week 8 181.9 
week 7 182.3 
Week 3: 174.6 
Week 2: 175.9 
Week 1: 176.6

Yesterday was the final check-in for the summer challenge. I am finally headed in the right direction. I had kind of plateaued but broke the 180 barrier. *whew* Hopefully I can keep it up. The funny thing is that yesterday I even felt smaller, though I don't think it really is noticeable.

I am toying with the raw food idea again - at least more of a whole foods approach/more greens and different milk products (nondairy). I have coconut chunks in the fridge that I'd planned on making milk out of, but then was reminded about coconut butter and am debating which I want to do. In the meantime, I opened a can of coconut milk to use in my smoothies instead of regular milk and have almonds soaking to make almond milk. I miss the rich taste of the regular milk but it works. I don't know if it will be any more economical, but I like feeling self sufficient in that regard. 

Monday I felt so good after my run and decided to do a smoothie for lunch instead of my usual sandwich or leftovers. By the time Matthew walked through the door I was an emotional wreck. I'd had a rough afternoon with Jared and his homework and finally lost it when I put dinner on the table and Aaron complained that he didn't like any of the food. I had to put myself in time out. I think the smoothie for lunch was not enough to sustain me, and as a consequence, I was out of control. (Maybe that's why I dropped a couple pounds for my weigh in too ;))

Yesterday I had my usual smoothie in the morning then went to my scripture class. I had planned on running errands afterwards, but thought to call a sister who lives near the church to offer to help her with her kids. She has a new baby and two young ones at home. She took me up on the offer as her husband is out of town and only got two hours of sleep the night before. I needed to eat lunch before I tackled the task of entertaining the kids and fast food really didn't sound appealing. I had to do an errand at a grocery store so I browsed their deli/market section and felt like everything was over priced so ended up with fast and easy food: an orange and greek yogurt with granola. It did a decent job of holding me over the two hours I had with the kiddos before getting home and eating a snack. I was really craving the crunch of tortilla chips so I had some chips with eggplant salsa (yummy). I probably ended up over eating at dinner (coconut shrimp, wild rice w/ cranberries, and wax beans).

I have been thinking about going back to being truly accountable for what I stick in my mouth, but I've realized I spend more time thinking about food when I do. I am always in the kitchen trying to figure out what I am going to eat whereas now, for the most part, I eat and move on. For now I am working on adding variety to my diet.

Starting Over C25K2 day 1

Week 1 - 5 min warm-up 60 sec run, 90 min walk for 20 minutes/8 intervals

I decided to start the program over and work on speed. Apparently my journey has been an inspiration and several of my friends have decided to start the program as well. One of them is a sister who lives up the street from me, so I pressured her into running with me. We met at her house this morning and took to a trail around her neighborhood. Apparently she had facebooked me this morning to cancel but I didn't get the message. In the end she was glad b/c it turned out to be great weather for running. She has a little girl who turns one next month so she feels protective about being out in the weather (reasonably so).

I listened to my chubby jones podcast and she listened to pandora with a c25k program that tells her when to stop and go. We were about 5 seconds off of each other, which was fine, but then my program ended and she still had 2 intervals to go. I am not sure why the discrepancy, but I ran with it anyway. ha ha :)

I was able to keep a pretty good clip. I tried to measure the distance but couldn't find the trail on the satellite map. She said it was about .90 m each direction. I am curious how fast my pace was. I expect it was at least 4.5 mph, maybe even up to 5.0 mph.  I hope that I can maintain a faster pace as the running intervals lengthen.