Fixin's

Woke up early this morning to watch last week's True Blood before going to the doctor's office for my TB test. Just another perk of working with kids. :)

I got in 4 miles on the treadmill with limited knee pain while Brian did weights, then we got down to serious lunch business. All I was craving my entire run was a huge salad, so that's what I made. It was so big I had to put it in a mixing bowl!

In the mix (or, as my Oklahoma grandma would say, "All the fixin's"):

• spinach
• romaine
• cucumbers
• carrots
• chickpeas
• cherry tomatoes
• sesame seeds
• feta
• Angela's better than bottled balsamic dressing (it really is!)

I'm not sure there is any end to how much I love chickpeas.

B and I  shared a mini fruit salad and peach but he wouldn't touch my salad! He says he doesn't like "rabbit food" after he works out. Whatever.

I have an appointment for a mani/pedi with my mom later this afternoon, but before that I'm going to see what I can whip up with these humble ingredients.

Any guesses? Here's a hint - it's Mama Pea approved!

Love, Love, Love

[source]

I like to try to keep this blog as neutral as possible with regards to politics and religion, but today is a pretty exciting day for this liberal California Christian: Federal judge overturns California's gay marriage ban!


I believe that regardless of your feelings about whether homosexuality is morally right or wrong, there is nothing constitutional about treating same-sex couples as inferior citizens of the United States. 


In fact, at our own wedding, Brian and I made a statement at the beginning of the ceremony acknowledging that although we are lucky enough to have the privilege to get married (and how ridiculous is that statement, even? Lucky? Privilege? Marriage is not a privilege, it's a right.), our hearts go out to other couples who do not have that opportunity and we continue to hope, pray, and believe that our country will continue to take steps to fulfill it's promise of liberty and justice for all. 


According to Cheif US District Judge Vaughn Walker, "Moral disapproval alone is an improper basis on which to deny rights to gay men and lesbians... Indeed, the evidence shows Proposition 8 does nothing more than enshrine in the California Constitution the notion that opposite-sex couples are superior to same-sex couples."


I'm doing a happy little dance around the kitchen right now! :)


Speaking of LOVE, here's a little recap of our (belated) anniversary dinner the night after we got home from Hawaii:


We started by breaking into our anniversary wine! 

Instead of a traditional guestbook at our wedding, Brian and I picked five of our favorite wines and asked our guests to sign them. We plan to open one on each of our first five anniversaries.  This year we opened Burrell School Winery's "Old School" Cabernet Sauvignon.

For dinner, I made a batch of marinated, roasted chickpeas (inspired by Mama Pea) and Chelsey's Southwestern Quinoa Stuffed Tomatoes.  

We filled corn tortillas with the roasted chickpeas, leftover quinoa stuffing from the tomatoes, and some salsa. 

I wasn't sure how he would feel about the tacos, but Brian announced that the roasted chickpeas might be the "best taco filling ever!" They really were quite good. I've been eating cold chickpea tacos for lunch for the past two days. It was the perfect vegetarian meal after a week of eating out on Maui (don't worry, I'll get to that soon!). 

What is your favorite "detox" meal after an indulgent vacation?

I try to eat as many vegetables as possible!!

Seventeen Pieces

My running schedule has been totally thrown off this week. I typically do three training runs during the week and then a long run on Saturdays, but between my sore knee and my cold and, I'll admit, sheer laziness, I only did two training runs this week. On Tuesday I did three miles of rolling hills on the treadmill, which totally aggravated my knee. Today I was supposed to do 5-miles, but pooped out around 4. I waited WAY too late to run so it was hot out and I drank more coffee than water this morning and... bleh. 

I have 10-miles on the calendar for Saturday, so let's keep our fingers crossed that it goes well! Fortunately, good eats the rest of the day made up for my lackluster cardio morning!

I was so hot when I came home from my run that I made a big fruity Green Monster and slurped down over half of it before snagging a picture.

(spinach, banana, apple, orange juice)

A week or so ago, my blender tragically bit the dust. I was super bummed because it was a wedding present and I have only used it, like, 5 times. I was griping about having to buy a new blender (and trying to compromise by making smoothies in my food processor, but it's just not the same!) and my uncle offered to give me this sweet Magic Bullet-style system that he found in his office's basement. 

I tried it today for the first time, and it works! My only problem is that my blender was two pieces but this sucker is seventeen pieces and now I need to find homes for all of them!

For lunch I had some leftover Italian Chicken Salad on a bed of spinach leaves. It was delightful. 

Italian Chicken Salad
adapted from The Kitchn

Ingredients

• ~3 cups shredded chicken (I bought a rotisserie chicken and shredded it, but you could oven roast 2 large bone-in breasts if you prefer)
• 1/4 medium red onion, chopped
• 2 medium celery stalks, chopped
• 1/2 cup slivered almonds, toasted
• 1/2 cup thinly sliced roasted red pepper (check out Emily's great post on roasting your own)
• 1/2 can chickpeas, rinsed and drained
• 4-5 artichoke hearts, quartered
• 5 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled
• handful of Italian parsley, chopped

For the vinaigrette:

• 2T red wine vinegar
• 1t dijon mustard
• 1/2t salt
• freshly ground pepper
• 1t sugar
• 1/4c olive oil

Method

1. Make the vinaigrette. Whisk together the vinegar, mustard, salt, pepper, and sugar. Stream in the olive oil, whisking until combined.
2. Combine all salad ingredients in a large bowl. Pour in vinaigrette and toss to coat.

Yum. This is one of my favorite salads to make. Red wine vinaigrette, chickpeas, bacon. Good stuff.

I would venture to say that dinner was equally magical. I made a batch of Ashley's Zesty Italian Veggie Burgers and a summery couscous salad. I topped my burger with mozzarella cheese, basil from our garden, tomato slices, and a little pesto. B was more traditional and had his on a bun.

These burgers were huge! I definitely could have made 8 patties instead of 6. The only changes I made were:

• No carrots. I realized I had eaten them all with hummus earlier in the day. Oops!
• I added an extra zucchini and a stalk of celery
• I used half yellow onion and half red onion
• No pepitas, so I threw in some extra sunflower seeds

I am looking forward to having one of the leftovers on a salad tomorrow already!

Tomorrow is also the second to last day before we leave for Hawaii! I have so much to do, mostly in the form of cleaning. I hate coming home from vacation to a dirty house! I need to finish laundry, run and empty and the dishwasher, and just do some general picking up.

Do you do a major cleaning overhaul before you go out of town or am I the only weirdo?