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Randy lay there like a slug…

December 2, 2009 by

… it was his only defense.

Ha!! My brothers and I used to laugh hysterically whenever we watched this holiday classic – A Christmas Story. 

Ralphie: http://www.flickr.com/photos/66044164@N00/2074273454

So, just because it’s the holidays and I’m feeling nostalgic, here’s a shout out to my bros Steve (aka the Cone) and John Boy. Here’s to watching a few holiday movies while sipping on soda, eating potato chips, and begging mom for 5 more minutes of TV time. Ahh…those were the good old days. Well, have they really changed that much? 😉

Holiday Movies We Loved As Kids (and still do!)

  • A Christmas Story
  • National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation
  • Home Alone
  • Planes, Trains, and Automobiles
  • Miracle on 34th Street
  • Charlie Brown Christmas
  • Mickey’s Christmas Carol

Now, I throw it to you….What holiday movies did you most enjoy watching as a kid?

Ta for now, because I really need to get my rear end in gear and STUDY!!

Filed Under: Leisure Tagged With: ,

Time To Make The Granola

December 2, 2009 by

If you’re old enough to remember the old Dunkin Donuts commercial, you will get the reference in my title 😉 Hope this isn’t dating me – I was VERY young when I heard/saw this on television!

So anyway, late last night, I got the urge to make a little homemade granola. I’ve never tried Mix My Granola or other mail-order brands because I’m a little skeptical about their convenience and cost-effectiveness for my budget (why would I want to get addicted to something that I have to wait for in the mail?) And, I usually don’t buy store-bought brands because they are typically loaded with sugar, fat (aka calories) and inevitably contain something that I don’t like (raisins).

12.1 homemade granola 2

That’s not to say that I will never try Mix My Granola (heard great things about it) or something similar, but all of these reasons made want to try making my own granola at home. And so the Running With Cake granola was born!

Running With Cake- Sweet and Crunchy Granola

  • 1/3 cup light brown sugar (more or less depending how much sugar you want)
  • 1/4 cup water
  • 1 tbsp either honey or maple syrup
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 2 cups plain oats (not the quick kind)
  • 1/2-3/4 cup of chopped nuts (walnuts, pecans, almonds, etc.)
  • Dried fruit (optional)

Preheat oven to 275 degrees. Mix the first four ingredients (through the vanilla) in a microwave safe dish (I use a glass measuring cup) and microwave for about 1 minute or until sugar dissolves. Combine oats with nuts. Then combine dry ingredients with the warmed liquid mixture. Spread the oat mixture on a cookie sheet and bake until golden brown, 50-55 minutes. Remove from the oven and immediately scrape the granola into a bowl. Add dried fruit and mix well. Store in an airtight container. Makes about 3 cups of granola.

And so, you will start with this…

12.1 Granola 1

And end up with this!

12.1 homemade granola 1

12.1 homemade granola 3

Totally yummo! It’s also super versatile – you can add just about any nuts or dried fruit that you want, and even omit the honey/maple syrup if you’re trying to watch calories. 

Try it in yogurt, oatmeal, cereal, and on ice cream, you won’t regret it!

Filed Under: Breakfast Tagged With: ,

What I May or May Not Have Eaten Today

December 1, 2009 by

Let’s play a game – It’s called, What did Jennifer eat today?

1) Breakfast = Oatmeal with walnuts or Kashi?

Answer…

If you chose Kashi you would be correct! I enjoyed a nice size bowl of Cheerios topped with a little bit of Kashi Go Lean Crunch. This was a super energizing breakfast after another hard and sweaty run on the treadmill. I keep pointing out that it was sweaty because, for some reason, it is exceptionally HOT in our basement. You think it would be cold down there – after all, it’s a basement in Chicago!

12.1 Kashi Go Lean

2) Lunch – A small salad or a bowl of minestrone soup?

Answer…

And the salad is the winner!! Around 1:10 PM, I was contemplating what I would have for lunch. Because I did not bring my lunch, it was very obvious that I needed to actually leave my cube to get something to eat. Then, I realized that we had an all staff meeting at 1:30 PM – oh s–t!! I ran out of the building so fast all you could see was my hair flying in the wind. First, I headed right across the street to Go Roma – super convenient I thought. Until I saw the line! My God people, it was nearly 1:30 PM, why haven’t you eaten lunch yet – I thought – not out loud of course. So, I made a side trip a few doors down to a local deli where I threw together a quick and health salad…

12.1 Salad with egg

Although, I walked back into the building JUST as the meeting was starting, so I threw the greens in the fridge and didn’t eat them until around 2:30. I was starving by this time, but a crisis was averted.

3) Dinner – Leftover chicken and dumpling soup or peanut butter and jelly?

Answer…

Yes, I was so lazy tired tonight that I didn’t even feel like warming up soup. So, it was a PBJ kind of night…

12.1 Peanut butter and jelly 2

It was rather tasty and looked kind of fancy – as fancy as PBJ can get – on my sparkly placemat from Crate and Barrel.

4) Dessert – Ice cream or chocolate chip cookies?

Answer…

Ding, ding, ding – you are correct if you guessed ice cream – Edy’s Slow-churned Butter Pecan ice cream to be exact. I swear this had lower calories for the simple reason that they added fewer pecans. They were definitely few and far between in this quart, if you know what I mean. You might as well just call it butter ice cream, with a few pecans. Maybe I’ll have better luck at the end of the quart. I will be happy to find out 😉

12.1 Edy's butter pecan 2

5) But, the real question is what did I eat today that I did NOT take a photo of:

a. Starbucks mocha frap

b. Chocolate log cookies

c. M&M’s

d. All of the above

I am embarrassed to admit it, but answer D is correct. I was a junk food eating machine today. I guess that’s what happens when you only eat a bowl of cereal and a small salad all day. Blah! I guess I really am human like everyone else.

Well friends, I’m off to study!

Filed Under: Dinner Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Where Are All The Healthy Vending Machine Snacks?

December 1, 2009 by

As I walked into our staff lounge this morning to fill up my water bottle, I happened to glance in the vending machine to see if it magically had anything new to offer. But no – it was the same old chips, candy, cookies, bear claws, etc. And we wonder why Americans are so fat!!! Why can’t vending machines in the workplace actually stock healthy food for a change?

Although I eat breakfast every day and typically bring my own snacks, sometimes I’m forced to head to the vending machine to avoid significant hunger pangs. And, it’s during these rare times where I wish I had healthier selections of food to choose from.

Dr. Kracker

If I had my way, the vending machine in my office would:

  • a) Have individual hot/cold sections that kept foods super fresh, and
  • b) Be restocked every few days or at least once a week to ensure freshness.

I would also make sure the machine was stocked with all of my healthy favorites like…

Jennifer’s Top 11 Healthy Vending Machine Snacks (in my dreams!)

  1. Fresh Granola with walnuts and almonds
  2. Nonfat Greek Yogurt
  3. Mexican snack pack of fresh guacamole, salsa, and tortilla chips
  4. Fresh pears and apples
  5. Hummus and baby carrots
  6. Tillamook white cheddar cheese and whole grain crackers
  7. All-natural creamy peanut butter
  8. Old-fashioned oats (not the instant kind)
  9. Dr. Kracker flatbreads
  10. Low-cal popcorn
  11. Tazo Awake Tea

Come ON people, how hard can it be???

So, if you had your way, what healthy snacks would you include in your office’s or school’s vending machine?

 

Filed Under: Nutrition

Breakfast in the Cube

November 30, 2009 by

And now a line from one of my favorite Christmas movies in honor of its 20th anniversary…

Clark: Can I refill your egg nog for you? Get you something to eat? Drive you out to the middle of nowhere and leave you for dead?

Eddie: No, I’m doin’ just fine, Clark.

If you’re not sure what movie this is from, keep reading to find out 😉

******************************************************************************************************

Hello There! It never fails, the Monday after a long weekend seems to go by sooo SLOW! And, although it was the so-called Cyber Monday, I had absolutely no desire to shop online. With 80 percent of my holiday shopping complete, I am just about shopped out! I can’t believe I just wrote that.

My morning began with a fast and super sweaty treadmill run. I probably could have toughed out the cold 30 degrees but it was still too dark at 6:15 AM for me to run outside. 

I had a cubicle breakfast today – complete with a cup of creamy Trader Joe’s vanilla Greek yogurt with walnuts…

11.30 Trader Joe Greek yogurt

Funny thing about walnuts – I used to hate them when I was a kid and pecans too. But as an adult, I just can’t get enough of them. Good thing they are full of MUFA and are super good for you! Along with my yogurt, I had some hot and steamy Tazo Awake tea…

11.30 Tazo Awake Tea

I’m not a big fan of eating breakfast at my desk, but sometimes it just needs to be done. I don’t mind eating lunch at my desk, although I do prefer eating out of the office. I’m usually playing catch up at lunchtime so it’s just more convenient to eat in the cube – just like today…

11.30 split pea soup 

I had some very thick and tasty split pea soup leftover from Saturday night. It was perfect for a chilly afternoon. Later in the day, I desperately needed a chocolate fix and I just so happened to have a few homemade chocolate-log cookies courtesy of my father-in-law..

11.30 chocolate log cookies

Unfortunately, I do not have the recipe for these festive babies, but I know that they are supposed to resemble logs with moss growing on them – hence the name chocolate-log cookies. My F-I-L makes them every year around Thanksgiving and Christmas and then distributes them among the family. How wonderful is that – a husband who cooks and a father-in-law who bakes!

I arrived home pretty late from work so I was in a rush to make dinner. I am so glad that I remembered to take chicken out of the freezer – it makes it so much easier to decide what to have for dinner when your chicken is ready to go. I drizzled some olive oil over the chicken then doused it with a mesquite rub and grilled it on the indoor grill. I’m tellin’ ya, having an indoor grill is pretty sweet in the winter!

11.30 mesquite chicken

I also made some awesome mashed sweet potatoes by steaming the potatoes, mashing them, and adding a bit of warmed milk, brown sugar, and butter. So easy and incredible!

11.30 mashed sweet potatoes

The rest of the night will be spent studying for my personal training certification. I have a feeling that this certification process is going to be consuming quite a bit of my free time in the next few months.

By the way, if anyone is interested in trying an super awesome Dutch cheese, try Beemster Classic cheese – the taste is a mix of parmesan, asiago, and cheddar – so yum! To learn more, read my review!

By the way, the movie mentioned above is National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation – I can’t believe it’s been around for 20 years!

Have a great night!

Filed Under: Dinner Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Trimming the Tree

November 29, 2009 by

Hi Everyone! Hope you all had a lovely Sunday! Today was a day of all things holiday for us, including trimming the Christmas tree.

My day started with a 5 mile run on the treadmill. I was actually all dressed and ready to go outside when it started to downpour. I was really disappointed because today was supposed to be the warmest day of the week at 50 degrees. The rest of the week, the Chicago Tribune is reporting SNOW!! I shouldn’t be so surprised, after all, Tuesday is December 1!

Breakfast was a warm and sweet bowl of homemade oats – plain oatmeal topped with brown sugar and crunchy walnuts…

11.29 Oatmeal 1

11.29 Oatmeal 2

As you can see, I was playing with the macro setting and focus on my camera. Both of these photos turned out well, each with a slightly different look.

Seeing as today was the first day of Advent, Scott and I headed to 9:30 mass after breakfast. The service was very nice although the church wasn’t as decorated as I thought it would. I’m sure they’ll add more decorations later.

For lunch, we made our typical Sunday fare of sandwiches, but this time we made them with Boar’s Head salami, turkey, and ham – this was one classy and expensive sandwich!

11.29 Boarshead sandwich 2

11.29 Boarshead sandwich 1

Although we put up our tree last weekend, the rest of the day was spent decorating the outside of the house as well as decorating the tree. Last night, we bought a bunch of plain green wreaths from Hobby Lobby and some wide red ribbon. I stayed up until around midnight making bows and then attaching them to the wreaths…

11.29 Christmas Wreath

Not too bad for a first time! Next year, I think I’ll buy wider ribbon to make it stand out a little more when you’re looking at the house from the street.

Dinner was Scott’s homemade chicken soup with dumplings…

11.29 Chicken dumpling soup 2

Although he and I have made this soup MANY times, the dumplings are very tricky. You have to cook them just right or else they turn out very firm instead of soft and fluffy like they did today – nice job Scott!

11.29 Chicken dumpling soup

After dinner, we pulled out the rest of the Christmas decorations and tree ornaments and went to town! Since Scott and I have been married, we have been doing a sort of Victorian theme for our Christmas tree with lots of burgundy, gold, and pink ornaments. I have this dream that I will one day have a truly authentic Victorian (or Dickens-style) Christmas – complete with roast pig by the fireplace, cranberries strung on the tree, and hot mulled wassail brewing on the stove, all while listening to carolers at my door. I know, it’s a little over the top, but that’s why it’s a dream.

I must admit, I am partial to plain jane ornaments, like snowflakes and bulbs, yet two of my favorite ornaments are anything but plain…

11.29 Ornaments

Because I absolutely LOVE hot tea – and actually collect tea cups and teapots –  I couldn’t pass up these two little cuties! I bought them a few years back on a quick trip to Bronner’s Christmas store in Frankenmuth, MI. Seriously, if you think you can go into Bronner’s and NOT come out with something, you’re crazy! They have sooo much to choose from and you can find just about any themed ornaments or decorations there – although I would have loved to find a little Harney and Sons tea tin ornament to put on my tree 😉

OK bloggies – I’m off to study. I finally received my personal training prep books and I need to do some major reading in advance before my class starts in two weeks!

Catch ya all tomorrow!

Filed Under: Leisure Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Thanksgiving Meals On Wheels

November 28, 2009 by

A Quick Thanksgiving Recap

Hello Everyone! Hope you all had a lovely Thanksgiving! I had a fantastic holiday, eating great food and spending time with my family in Michigan. Thanks to my cousin Dave, we were able to have one of our family’s “old fashioned” Thanksgivings with 19 people there. We had all of the standards – turkey, ham, potatoes, stuffing, carrots, sweet potatoes, and French fries. Well, fries are a standard at our holiday events – don’t ask 😉 One of my favorite things about seeing my family is listening to all of the odd things they say. Here is a new classic:

  • Jen: Mom, do you have a tray I can put these cookies on? I think they’d look better on a tray, don’t you?
  • Mom: I have yams. 
  • Jen: (Pause and strange look) Okay.
  • Mom: You like yams don’t you?

Meals on Wheels

Earlier in the morning on Thanksgiving, my father, older sister, and I volunteered to deliver meals to the elderly. It was such a fulfilling, yet sad experience. Some of the seniors were very cheerful about the holiday, while others seemed depressed. Yet, all of them seemed very excited and grateful to have us delivering their meals – for many of the seniors, we would be the only people they would see all day. Sad. Seeing them made me very thankful that I still have my youth, health, and all of my family with me.

Back to Normal

Today was back to business as usual – however usual it can be during the holiday season. Because I already ran 5 days this week, today was my day off. It was VERY nice to sleep in a little! Breakfast was a crunchy bowl of Honeynut Cheerios with walnuts…

11.28 Cheerios1

11.28 Cheerios 2

Shortly after breakfast, Scott and I ventured to Costco. We made it there about 45 minutes after they opened so the warehouse crowd had not hit its massive level yet. I was so incredibly tempted by the baked goods today. They had several sweets that I had not seen in the store previously, including little red velvet cupcakes and a pumpkin cake with cream cheese frosting – you can see why I was so tempted!

For lunch, we ate at Chicago’s own Portillo’s. However, I didn’t exactly eat Portilo’s. I stopped at Corner Bakery ahead of time and grabbed a Mediterranean salad, then ate it with Scott at Portillo’s while he enjoyed his beef sandwich…

11.28 Mediterranean Salad

It is a little strange bringing outside food into a restaurant, but you gotta do what you gotta do when you’re trying to eat healthy.

The afternoon brought more holiday shopping with trips to Hobby Lobby, Bed, Bath, and Beyond, Barnes and Noble, and Target. It is amazing how much money we spend around the holidays and not even on gifts!

Dinner was homemade split pea soup, compliments of Scott and the Williams Sonoma Soup cookbook.

11.28 Split Pea Soup 1

Each time we make this, and we’ve made it quite a few times, I am amazed at how easy this recipe is and how awesome the soup tastes! It is seriously as good or better than any split pea soup I’ve ever tasted.

11.28 Split Pea Soup 2

It especially tastes good topped with crunchy croutons or paired with crusty French bread for dipping…

11.28 Fresh bread

For the most part, we follow the recipe in the book. Although instead of bacon, we typically cook the soup with a ham bone. I’ve made it with bacon before and it makes the soup taste very salty. Thankfully, we saved the ham bone from Thanksgiving and drove it back to Chicago with us – hey, anything for split pea soup! And really, can  you think of a better way to get the most use out of a leftover ham bone than to make soup?

11.28 Split Pea recipe

Another difference is that we add in more chicken or vegetable broth at the end, as needed. For some reason, this time we had to add at least 3 cups of extra broth – the juice just seemed to keep evaporating! At one point, the soup was so extremely thick that it was similar to the consistency of stew. The extra broth definitely helped :-).

11.28 Split Pea Soup Recipe 2

Now, it’s time to get to work making wreath bows for the outside of our house. I have never made a wreath bow (they are typically much larger/wider than gifts bows), so this should be interesting.

Have a great night everyone!

Filed Under: Dinner Tagged With: , , , , ,

A Few of My Favorite Things…

November 26, 2009 by

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone! I recently came across this survey from Jolene at Everyday Foodie. So, instead of a typical post about health, food, and fitness, I thought I’d give you a little insight into a few Running With Cake favorites.

Running With Cake Favorites

Favorite food to crunch – Kashi Go Lean Cereal and granola

Favorite comfort food – Macaroni and cheese

Favorite picnic lunch – Mediterranean pasta salad

Best summer snack – Fresh fruit with yogurt dip

Favorite winter snack – Hot chocolate

Food that reminds me of the ocean – Goldfish crackers

Most likely to eat for lunch – Minestrone Soup

Least likely to eat for lunch – Tuna fish

Food that makes me gag – Calamari – and pretty much any seafood

Food tradition I love – My father-in-law’s chocolate log cookies at Christmas

Soup or salad – Baked potato soup and a Mediterranean salad

Favorite breakfast food – Oatmeal with peanut butter and walnuts

Favorite ethnic cuisine – Italian and Greek

Favorite vegan ice cream flavor – There’s vegan ice cream?

Favorite type of chocolate – See’s chocolate

Favorite beverage – Diet coke, water, white wine

Smooth or crunchy peanut butter – Smooth

Enjoy!

Filed Under: Leisure

'Twas The Night Before Thanksgiving…

November 25, 2009 by

And all through the night, people were chatting and plenty of food was in sight. That is exactly how my evening has been!

Hi All and Happy Thanksgiving Eve! I need to make this a pretty quick post. I’m with the fam now and need to spend some quality time chatting and preparing food – I’m sure you all understand!

This morning started with a fast 4 mile run – on the treadmill because it was raining 🙁 Breakfast was a combo of some juicy sweet pears…

11.25 Pears

Plus a small bowl of Cheerios and walnuts….

11.25 Cheerios with walnuts

11.25 Cheerios with walnuts 2

Then we packed up and headed to my parents for the day. On the way, I snacked on my first Chocolate Peppermint LUNA bar which was totally yummy!

11.25 LUNA bar

It tasted very similar to the Girl Scout Thin Mint cookie – a very fresh and cool taste!

We had a pit-stop lunch at Panera which included a hearty bowl of potato soup. It completely hit the spot on this very cold and rainy day.

Dinner was a Scott specialty – homemade pasta sauce with some crusty garlic bread…

11.25 Pasta

We brought a bunch of Scott’s famous pasta sauce to my parents – enough for about 11 people to eat. Maybe this will become our Thanksgiving Eve tradition!

Tomorrow, we’ll be heading to my cousin’s house for a traditional Thanksgiving meal with a Polish twist – we’re having all of the typical things – turkey, ham, and sides, but we’re also having kielbasa (Polish sausage). We’re so Polish!

I’m keeping my fingers crossed that Starbucks is open tomorrow! We’ll see 😉

Have a great night all!

Filed Under: Dinner Tagged With: , , , ,

The Five C's of Running

November 24, 2009 by

Hello Everyone! 

This morning, I did a couple miles on the old treadmill (which has NEVER had any clothes hanging on it – thank you very much!) then jumped off, threw on a running jacket, and headed outside for the remaining 2 1/2 miles. After my run, I did a few stretches and a 15-minute ab workout. I used to be a really hardcore runner, thinking that anything less than 6-7 miles was not worth my time. But after overtraining for a 1/2 marathon, I cut back quite bit and found that my body and I were much happier. This got me thinking…why have I been running for over 10 years and why do I keep running? The answers are simple  and can be explained in just five words – control, convenience, cost, calories, and challenge.

Running With Cake: The Five C’s of Running

  1. Control Factor: Running makes me feel strong and in control. If I can run for miles and miles, I feel like I can do anything.
  2. Convenience: You can do it anywhere/anytime. 
  3. Cost: For the most part, all you need are good running shoes and running clothes.
  4. Calories: Running is a HUGE calorie burning exercise – need I say more!
  5. Challenge: Distance running can be grueling at times, but it’s the utter satisfaction of finishing a race or achieving a personal record that makes it all worth it!

And the question is…Why do you run? If you don’t run, what is keeping you from starting?

By the way, overtraining is one of the most frequent mistakes made by runners. If you’re curious about the other common running mistakes, check out this Quiz from Women’s Health magazine which lists the top 11 running mistakes. I took the quiz, applying it to my current running style, and scored 100%. 

As for the rest of my day…Breakfast was a big bowl of Honeynut Cheerios with a handful of walnuts – gotta love that MUFA crunch!

11.24 Honeynut Cheerios

I only worked a 1/2 day today because I had a ton of errands to run before heading out tomorrow for our Thanksgiving feast! I am seriously amazed at how efficient I was between 1-5:30 PM. In just 4 1/2 hours, I managed to go to:

  • Go to Hobby Lobby
  • Do Laundry
  • Make 3 1/2 dozen chocolate chip cookies
  • Tidy up the house
  • Put away the Fall decorations
  • Go to Kohl’s
  • Go to Crate and Barrel

And somewhere in that marathon of errands, I managed to eat a bit of lunch…

11.24 Salami and Ham Sandwich

A salami, ham, and cheddar cheese sandwich – the RWC standard these days, particularly when I don’t feel like cooking.

Dinner was a tad more exciting – Italian sausage on our indoor grill. We invested in Italian sausage a few weeks back – I say invested because we bought it at Costco, where the food (and everything else)  comes in huge quantities, which causes you to invest a lot of time in eating it. To accompany the sausage, we had some very creamy Trader Joe’s shells and white cheddar cheese (aka. fancy mac & cheese) along with grilled bell peppers and onions.

11.24 Trader Joe's Macaroni and Cheese

Scott actually made the shells and cheese using the exact recipe on the box. I assured him that a standard box of mac & cheese is not difficult and that you don’t need to follow the recipe exactly. But, he’s a stickler for following recipes – most of the time 😉

11.24 Grilled Italian Sausage and Peppers

Hey, how did that Go Roma business card get in the picture?? I think it wanted its 15-minutes of fame – but don’t we all?

Thank you to all of you who voted for your favorite foodie magazine. As promised, the magazine with the most votes would become the new Running With Cake subscription. And the winner is…Cooking Light magazine! Fine Cooking also was mentioned by more than one person, but Cooking Light seem to be the food blogger favorite. I plan to subscribe in the next two weeks, so that I can avoid getting a duplicate of the December issue that I plan to purchase tomorrow 🙂

OK ladies and gents, I’m off to bed. I need to get bright and early to get in a run before we leave.

Enjoy your evening and your Wednesday!

Filed Under: Dinner Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,