chef kait

I don't get to say this very often, but holy crap was I productive this weekend!

What do you all think of some of the blog changes? Did you notice I have my own domain now? Woot Woot, high roller.

Still tweaking a few things, so expect a few more changes in the next week or so. If you're one of those people who hates change, and the recent reformatting has severely stressed you out, I offer my deepest apologies. But I won't change it back.

I want to talk about food.

And you're probably like, what else is new Kait?

I will admit, the 11 miles from this morning has left be a little hungrier than normal this evening, but that's not the main reason I want to talk about food. First off, have I ever told you that I love my kitchen in our new house?

It's marvelous, the island is extremely ideal, and I always feel very homey during my time up there slaving away over the stove.

Saturday night, I created this:

Cheesy Garlicky Shrimp Tacos.

Remember when I told you I want to be a taco connoisseur? I wasn't messing around kids.

The tacos were pretty easy to whip up, so I shall share the recipe:

- 1/2 bag of shaved brussel sprouts (get my from trader joes)
-1-2 tsp of garlic
-1 tbsp of olive oil
-2 wedges of Laughing Cow's light creamy swiss
-6-8 unthawed, pre-cooked shrimp
-3 corn tortillas
-hot sauce to taste.

The method to the madness:
Saute the brussel sprouts with the olive oil and garlic on the stove until they start to really stink of the entire house soften, it usually takes about 10 minutes. Mix in the cheese wedges, let melt a bit, and stir that bad boy up.

Microwave the corn tortillas if you like them soft, then add the spouts as the 'lettuce' portion of the tacos. Top with however many shrimp you prefer, and squirt some of that wonderful hot sauce on top.

It sounds a little weird, maybe it is, but I thoroughly enjoyed them up on my deck, while overlooking a brilliant sunset.

That was Saturday's creation. Tonight between the hours of 5-7 pm I slaved once again over the oven/stove/crockpot to create several paleo-like, sugar free creations, as I kick off the 21-day sugar cleanse/detox whatever you want to call it. Woot Woot!

I even enjoyed one final beer before kissing alcohol goodbye for the next 3 weekends. My friends think I'm crazy, maybe I am. I like crazy. And I definitely like challenges.

I spy a Blue Moon...

After the 11 miles today, some hot yoga is once again on tap for tomorrow. Dare I say, I'm looking forward to it?

Let me know your thoughts on brussel sprouts, paleo eating... heck tell me your most recent favorite meal creation. Hope your weekend treated you well, and Monday is kind.

Cheers!

pumpkins and lentils and beers, oh my.

I'm going to be honest. It' s been a bit rough getting on social media/reading other running blogs since getting injured. Aside from a few tweets here and there about worthless thoughts, I have pretty much been avoiding Twitter like the plague...

#truelife

At the very least, watching extremely ripped men rip off their clothes while on the elliptical that early in the morning made me a little more motivated to go hard. Something I struggle with on that stupid machine thing.  

My latest issue: I cannot watch movies nor listen to music while swimming laps. While I know movies are out of the picture, I’m thinking about investing in a water proof case for my little ipod shuffle. Thoughts? Recommendations from swimmers out there?

This morning I glanced at our 10-Day forecast and noticed that we are going to have some 30’s sneaking in at night next week... Brrrrr

Why yes, I do take pictures of trees at stoplights.

With November and Thanksgiving lurking right around the corner, I have recently embarked on a quest to discover the BEST pumpkin beer. Shocking, I know. So on Saturday I headed to a recommended liquor store that lets you ‘create your own’ 6-pack, and snagged 6 different kinds to try.

 Me, Andrew and his roomie Alex sampled all 6 in little shot glasses, and picked our favs. My favorite by far out of the batch ended up being Weyerbacher Imperial Pumpkin Ale, which is brewed in Pennsylania. 

It was a lovely fall afternoon of sampling beer and carving pumpkins … with a little more of me sampling and more of the guys carving, let’s be honest. Those pumpkins have thick walls and I have no upper body strength.

he was thirsty too!

 My PT also recommended Schlafly Pumpkin Ale, which wasn’t in the batch that we tried. Perhaps I’ll be able to track that down this weekend, although I hear it’s super popular and sells out quickly.

Well that's enough beer talk, coming from the girl who hated the stuff a little over a year ago. In other news, I swung by Costco this afternoon on my lunch break in search of a bulk package of canned pumpkin. No dice, but I did grab a box of this:

It’s one of Andrew’s favorite snacks from Costco, and I was surprised after reading the label that it's fairly ‘clean’ aside from the small amount of cream/butter. I whipped some up in my mug once back at the office, and was instantly pumped about my purchase.

To all my Costco goers, what’s your favorite food from there? The lady at the door today was RAVING about their cheesecake and I was like “Lady why did you have to tell me that!?” Now it’s going to haunt my thoughts until I actually try it...

Happy Hump Day, Cheers to being halfway through the week!

18 Miles & A Pumpkin Spice Latte

I'm pretty good at doing dumb things. Sometimes it may be on purpose, just to get a good laugh out of people. Other times, it's solely from lack of thinking through situations.

I'm going to blame today on the later of the two.

i literally look like i'm crying in that picture. i'm not, however i did feel that sad. 

Today while on my 18 mile run, once I realized that I had made a pretty dumb decision, I started running through what an ESPN announcer would be saying about me, if I was a really good athlete that the public actually cared about. This is what I came up with:

"Well folks, with the New York Marathon being only 8 weeks out, we really can't help but to comment on Kait's recent downward spiral. I mean, as a long distance runner, one is almost obligated to stop and ask, what has this girl been thinking lately?"

"Not only has her diet been extremely off-track the past couple weeks, but she also has been consistantly coming in with lower mileage on weeks that should be a bit higher. And don't get me wrong, I'm all for the occasional off week, with a couple extra days off thrown in, but after a weekend like the one she had last weekend, one can't help but question if she really deserves those THREE days that she took off this past week."

I'm going to stop it there, before the announcers get too brutual and get into the grimy details of last weekend. Those ESPN guys can be ruthless.

So, to get to the point. This morning, my alarm went off at 7 AM. Because I had to run 18 miles. I hit snooze, I woke up at 9:30 AM.

Instead of flipping out, I recruited Andrew to go to Starbucks, or (earmuffs kids) Starf*cks as he likes to call it. We both pounded Pumpkin Spice Lattes, because there's no better way to start your day.

after the ice melted.

WHY do they consistently spell my name wrong?

Unless of course, you have to run 18 miles. Then, there are several other great ways to start your day. A banana, perhaps?

So without really thinking, and without really eating much aside from the latte and a cliff bar I hit the trails at 11 AM, with temperatures quickly climbing into the high 80's, partly sunny skies, 80% humidity, and pretty obnoxious winds.

WARNING: This + sugary milky coffee is not great long run fuel. 

It didn't take me too long to figure out, this was one of the worst life choices I had made in awhile. And I'm even including the glow in the dark face paint last weekend.

This is getting fairly long-winded, so I shall wrap it up. I suppose, as Kelly Clarkson so eloquently puts it, "What doesn't kill you makes you stronger". I finished the run, and I lived to tell the tail. I maintained a pace of 8:40, and only one of those 18 miles were over a 9:00 pace. Regardless of the fact that miles 12-18 felt like I was getting the shit beat out of me with a metal bat, I finished. Boom.

Lesson learned life, lesson learned.

Cheers to some better life decisions in months to come ;)