An Inspired Cooking Feast!

Seester and I spent a few days back at the Oaks Spa in Ojai to celebrate our respective Spring Break weeks.  We were reengergized and remotivated to get back in to our cooking habits -- particularly inspired by two new Williams Sonoma cookbooks we picked up on the drive home.  Although we both appreciate the "clean" Ojai meals -- especially when someone else does the cooking -- we've decided that if we're going to go through the effort, we need the meals to more than just healthy!  Since Seester is hanging out for the rest of the week, we're going to see how many different things we can cook this week before she leaves.  We started last night with a feast: a main course of tri-tip beef with roasted shallots, potatoes, and brussels sprouts; and a lightened strawberry shortcake for dessert.  This morning, Ronen played hookie (hookey?) from school and helped us to make a broccoli and Gruyere frittata for breakfast.  Tonight, we're looking for something to use up the remaining fresh chives and shallots!  Recipies and photos to follow...

We Did It!

Team Seester finished the Tinkerbell 1/2 Marathon in 2:56:55 -- three minutes ahead of our 3 hour goal.  Hooray!!  The race was a perfect one for us, with about 12,000 participants; almost none of them were actually in a hurry to finish.  The toughest part of the race was the start time (5:45 AM!!) but the energy and the camaraderie amongst the runners made it all much more tolerable.  The race, as promised, took us all through the Disneyland park, on a tour of downtown Anaheim, and then finished on a path through California Adventure.  We even got a "backstage tour" -- a bit of a behind the scenes look at how some of the Disney magic works.  The Disney cast went all out for the runners, too.  Had we not been on a mission to finish in three hours, we could have stopped for a photo op with any of the princesses, the monsters from Monsters Inc, any of the Peter Pan characters, the Toy Story crew, the Beast & Belle, and even Jack Sparrow.  Plenty of folks did take a break from their run to line up for a picture, though!

Our run went almost exactly how we planned it -- a straightforward walk/run interval.  The crowds made it difficult to go very fast at the beginning, which was probably for the best, but also made it unappealing to want to stop and walk very early on (because it would have meant having to weave back around folks we'd been ahead of).  As a result, our longest jogging interval was the first one (about 15 minutes).  Once the crowds thinned out a bit (around mile 4 -- just after we finished the run through Disneyland and headed out into town) we settled into something closer to a 5 min / 2 min interval.  The miles right around the halfway point were the toughest...our pace almost certainly slowed a bit between miles 6-8.  But we were able to pick it back up again as we headed towards the double digit miles, and came very close to jogging in the entire final mile. 

We only took two photos during the entire race; one right before the start and one at the finish, but our smiles are equally big in both.  Both of us are nursing some post-race soreness -- my left knee always gives me a bit of trouble, and Seester is feeling it in one of her ankles -- but we're already looking ahead to the Disney Wine & Dine 1/2 Marathon in November.  (Bonus if we do it -- we get not just a cool medal, but a "Coast to Coast Challenge" T-Shirt!)  There might be another spring race in between...we'll keep you posted! 

Orange Beef Stir-Fry - Fitness Magazine

Orange Beef Stir-Fry
Servings - 2
Calories per serving - 485

1/2 Lb top round steak
1/2 Cup fat free low sodium Beef broth
2 Tbs reduced sodium Soy sauce
1/4 Cup Orange Juice concentrate
2 Tbs Lime juice
1 Tbs Sesame oil
1 Tbs minced garlic
1 Tbs cornstarch
Nonstick cooking spray
1 Tbs canola oil
3 small bell peppers (any color) - sliced thinly
1 small onion (vidalia or red)
1 Cup Broccoli florets
3 Scallions - sliced thinly

Step 1 - Place steak in freezer until firm, but not frozen - about 20 min

Step 2 - In a large bowl whisk together beef broth, soy sauce, orange juice concentrate, lime juice, sesame oil, garlic and ginger. Stir in cornstarch until no lump remain. Set aside

Step 3 - Coat a wok with nonstick cooking spray. Add oil and warm over medium heat. Add peppers onion and broccoli; cook, stirring, 4-5 minutes, until vegetables begin to soften. Increase heat to high and add steak. Cook, stirring, 3-4 minutes, until meat beings to brown.

Step 4 - Reduce heat to low and add broth mixture. Cook 2-3 minutes more, until sauce thickens and steak is no longer pink inside. Garnish with scallions and Serve :o)

The magazine says that the servings are so big that rice isn't a necessary side dish... but feel free if it is something that you would like and can afford the extra calories. Maybe split it into three servings and eat it with some rice?!

It also says that if you like spicier food add red pepper flakes to the marinade! It says that spicy ingredients help "rev up" your metabolism.

Recipe from joy Bauer's Food Cures by Joy Bauer

What Dental School has kept from you - An Update!

Its been a while so this might take a while!! :o)

As my first full semester of dental school (13 classes and 28 credits) progressed and got more difficult I had less time to sit down and keep everyone updated on my progress. As Lex told you guys I did a 5K before thanksgiving and RAN the whole thing for the first time ever!! It was great to see the hard work that has gone into all of this training pay off. After the 5 K it got more difficult for me to run outdoors (Michigan cold + asthma = trouble). I started to use my elliptical again and my parent's put me on the family plan at our gym but I wasnt getting to do as much training as I would have liked. Over thanksgiving I also had some health trouble which kept me from training but as a pick me up my Dad got me my very own treadmill for my basement!! It was a wonderful early Christmas present!

After thanksgiving school got even harder; in the last 3 weeks of the semester I had 10 exams, 2 quizzes, 2 practicals, and 11 projects/assignments to get through, so my running and blogging really took a back seat. I did manage to continue to do some cooking, that bonus pasta recipes I posted was predominately featured in my diet! Yumm!! I finished the semester on the 16th and I am very excited about and pleased to announce my 3.97 GPA :o) I had a few days off at home in which I spent going to the gym with my parents ever day and getting caught up on a lot of sleep! Now I am in Alta getting some much needed time in with my other Muffie, my brother in law and my wonderful, handsome, talkative and adorable nephew!! Our brother Greg is also here from the NY/ New Jersey area which is awesome, I dont get to see him nearly as often since he moved in August! Lex updated you on our workouts and cross training in her previous post, all of which has been a lot of fun.

Soon to come... Muffie New Years Resolutions :o)

Happy Holidays everyone from the MUFFIES!!!

Running Through the Holidays

Again, it's been awhile since I've posted.  Which doesn't necessarily mean it's been a long time since I ran...but in this case, I think it does.  I've been cross-training, though!  I think my last significant outdoor run was on Thanksgiving Day -- a gorgeous, gentle jog through the lush farmlands of Junction City, OR.  I regularly sing the praises of CA weather, but during this run, I was lamenting its lack of such lovely scenery.  Since getting back to CA, I slept through the Christmas Run (oops!) but made up for it on the treadmill later that evening.  I managed to sneak in a few more quick treadmill sessions, I took several core fusion classes, and I battled an outrageous cough!  Now I've made it to Alta, UT -- where Seester and I have been hitting the gym, the slopes, and the "cat tracks" (on snow shoes!) to keep plugging away towards our Tinkerbell goal.  AND -- now I have my official lime green 1/2 marathon t-shirt.  Can't wait to rock it out during our Jan 29th race!

Posting For the Both of Us

As might be expected with a Seester who is in graduate school...she's busy!  No posted recipes lately...although both of us have been cooking.  (I'm not posting the recipes I've been cooking because there's not much "healthy" about things like pulled pork and cheesy pasta casserole!  I did make an orange chicken/sweet potato concoction in the crock pot recently, but it was mediocre and not worth sharing.)  What has been happening is a LOT of running!  We've both been on the lookout for local 5/10 K races -- Seester finished a hilly one in the Arb (hilly as in, where we used to go for killer H.S. track practices!) in a respectable time, and then finished the Dexter Turkey Trot last Saturday in just over 30 minutes.  Jogged the whole thing -- no walking!!  And with her encouragement, Ronen and I were out on the roads as well, clocking a 1:04 for a 10K along a lovely stretch of San Vicente Blvd in Brentwood.  One of the fabulous things about LA -- it's always running weather!!

Baby Jogging!

It's been quite some time since I've posted...no sense in an update stating "uggh, I'm behind!"  Except, well, that's exactly why we started this blog in the first place.  It's just a chance for us Seesters to keep each other accountable for the mini-changes we pledged to make after spaaaahing together in August.  Here's my update...after several weeks of "making it a priority" to get Ronen in the baby jogger, I FINALLY did it!  Twice!!  Last Sunday, he was up unusually early on Sunday morning -- so as soon as it was light out, I loaded him in the BoB and we jogged to his favorite park.  He was a bit perturbed that I didn't let him out to play -- I had to finish my lap around the perimeter-- but after I'd gotten in a good jog I let him out to scramble around for a bit.  Sadly, I didn't get my Tuesday run in last week; I had a time crunch and succumbed to 20 minutes on the elliptical.  BUT...This past Sunday was the annual Pancreatic Cancer Challenge, which Ronen and I ran together.  A full 10 K!  I don't know my time, as the highlight of the race was jogging the last few hundred yards to cross the finish line with my momma.  Whoooooo-hooooooooo!  My shins are sore today, but it feels great to have finally worked in a way to run more than once a week.  Next up race-wise is the Christmas Run (Dec 10th), and then just a few more weeks 'til our 1/2 marathon.  It's gonna be awesome.