Category: Food Blogging

A Running Foodie’s Revelation

I’ve mentioned here and there on this blog that I run. However, I ususally stick to food when it comes to my posts. I know that there are a ton of fellow foodie runners or runner foodies (whichever you prefer) also in the blogging world. I’m still working on the best way to meld the two together.

A little over three weeks ago I injured myself running in my new Vibram Five Fingers. I thought I was easing in to them – two miles one day, four the next, and five later in the week. However, by mile 4ish on that five miler, my ankles started to hurt like never before. Being stubborn, I powered through the last mile, only stopping because I physically couldn’t run anymore. I walked myself back to the car, and felt okay. As soon as I got home and stepped out of the car, though, I could barely walk. I spent the rest of the evening and the next day at work hobbling around in pain. Not to mention my little ankles had swollen to be a giant lump of cankle (not the most attractive). The pain would come and go in intensity over the next two weeks, so I didn’t do any physical activity and wore sneakers every day.

It was during this period that I had a revalation. I am a runner. The overwhelming feelings I had when the end of the day hit and I realized I wouldn’t be heading out for a post-work run was torture. Just ask my fiancé; I’ve now broken down over it about three times. It’s amazing what running can do for you (physically and mentally). Sure, when I’m in the middle of my run, do I love it? Not usually. But the second it’s over, do I think about how I can’t wait till my next one? Always. I’m competitive by nature, and as someone that has always participated in individual sports (hello, swimming!) I found myself gravitating towards running.

Since my little ankle mishap, I’ve gotten back to running – kind of. Two weeks ago I started with a slow one mile run to not push it. The next day, I bumped it up to two successfully. Two days later, I decided to tackle three miles, and kept a much quicker pace. While I usually try to ignore nagging pains and “suck it up,” I’ve done my best over the past few weeks to be as conscious of what my body is telling me as I possibly can. So, the second the discomfort grows, I stop. I attempted a treadmill run after my 3 mile success, but it was a giant failure. I had tears welling up in my eyes at the gym, and the thought of someone seeing me in the corner crying over not being able to run made me immediately suck it up and walk as fast as I could. All I want to do is run – is that so much to ask?

I decided to give it another try this past weekend, and finished 3 miles in an 8:45/mile pace. The pain was definitely less than before, but I could feel it a little the next day. On top of that, I headed to cheer on my fiancé at a local 5k. It was definitely hard to be on the sidelines and not in the race. However, I was happy to see him cross the finish, since he always finishes before me. Plus, it was a great race to see him finish as he came in 11th overall and PR’ed by over 2 minutes to finish in 20:29!

I was planning to run a 5k next Saturday (10/9), but I think I’m going to pull out of it. Even if I’m completely healed by then, I know my lack of training will make a PR nearly impossible, and I’ll only frustrate myself more. So, I’ll still get my t-shirt and then cheer for my fiancé again as he runs through the park we visit nearly every day after work. Hopefully by November, though, I can run in the few “Turkey Trot” races that are around, and pump up my milage for our Disney Half Marathon. For my last halfie (and the first one I ever did), I only trained for a little over two months. So, as long as I’m back to myself by the middle of this month, I think I’ll be okay.

Until this injury, I never really thought of myself as a runner. Nor did I realize how big a part of my life it has become. I make my schedule around running; doing homework, what I’ll have time to cook for dinner, when I’ll make plans to go out, etc. Does this make me a little insane? Probably. But you can’t tell me that anyone who willingly runs for hours at a time isn’t just a little off their rocker. I’m proud to be a part of that group, and hopefully one day that half insanity will go full Mary.

I realize in the grand scheme of things it isn’t so bad. However, in my little world, not being able to run is all I can think about. But have no fear – I’ll slowly but surely get back to it!

In the meantime, on my road to recovery, I’ll whip up some deliciousness to keep your palates entertained. And as always, any suggestions on how to help my ankles along in the healing process would be greatly appreciated!

Another Foodie Giveaway!

Seriously, blogging rules. I’ve been fortunate enough to have the opportunity for another giveaway! The wonderful Hormel, who also sponsored this giveaway in conjunction with the newly launched RecipeNut are behind this yummy deal [see below]. In addition to the prize pack you can win here, you can also head over to RecipeNut’s Facebook Page to “like” them, and also submit your favorite family recipe with a story behind it and photo, to win $2,000 in prizes! You have until October 11th for the big contest.

The prize pack I’m giving away includes the following:
· Hormel® Always Tender® pork product coupon: Hormel® Always Tender® products are all pre-marinated for superb tenderness, juiciness and flavor, so there’s no prep time and no cleanup required. Available in more than 40 varieties.
· Hormel® Natural Choice® deli meat full value product coupon: Great-tasting, all-natural products you can feel good about eating and serving. Zero preservatives, artificial ingredients or MSG. No nitrites or nitrates added. And they’re gluten free.
· Hormel® real crumbled bacon bits: Hormel® bacon toppings are made from 100 percent real bacon. Add to salads, soups and other recipes!
· Hormel® pepperoni minis: Add zest to a wide variety of dishes with great tasting pepperoni. In addition to perking up pizza, pepperoni is an ideal partner for sandwiches, salads, pasta or nachos and more.
· Hormel® premium chunk chicken breast: Hormel® chunk meats are fully-cooked, one hundred percent real meat perfect for sandwiches, salads, wraps, soups, nachos and quesadillas.
· Hormel® chili with beans: Hormel® chili is made with choice ingredients, blended and simmered slowly in an open kettle to bring out their full flavor and aroma. The result is a rich and hearty flavor chili lovers ask for!
· RecipeNut Oven Mitt

For my giveaway, though, you just need to answer the following two questions:
1. How do you store your recipes?
2. What would you do with this prize pack? (Make a game-watching snack? Bake something and use the oven mitt to keep your hands safe?)

*You have until Friday, October 8th at 11pm EDT to enter!!

I’m wondering about your recipe storage, because I myself have been playing around with a few different things, and am interested to hear what you guys use/do. I also need some ideas for what I can do with my prizes! I’m thinking I’ll try to recreate You Are What You Eat or Reheat’s “White Trash Puff Balls,” and maybe some chili nachos to eat while watching a game – yum!

‘Tis the season… for pumpkin flavored drinks

While we’re slowly but surely coming down from our 90+ degree summer days, it’s clear that everyone has fall on their minds. I can’t begin to tell you how many blog posts I’ve read within the last two weeks boasting delicious pumpkin recipes and fun foods including the oh so yummy fall flavor. Even though it’s only the third week in September, cool crisp weather and warm flavors are definitely on their way.

For me, fall usually means beautiful colored leaves (that need to be raked, boo), the perfect clothing weather (not too many layers, but just the right amount), perfectly ripe apples, and of course, pumpkin! To be honest, I wasn’t always a huge pumpkin fan. Matter of fact, for a large part of my life I completely avoided it. Yup, that’s right – I turned down pumpkin pie (gasp!). However, last year, my taste buds seemed to change, and I hopped right on the pumpkin loving bandwagon. It started innocently with a Pumpkin Spice Latte from Starbucks, and continued from there – pumpkin bread, pumpkin brownies, pumpkin french toast, pumpkin beer… you get the point.

So on Sunday, I started my pumpkin fix of the season off right – the first stop was to get a pumpkin spice latte from Starbucks! I can’t wait to get myself more of these badboys.

From there, my fiancé and I headed to a local wine store that has a pretty decent beer selection as well, and picked ourselves up TWO types of pumpkin beer! First, we grabbed a six pack of Shipyard’s Pumpkin Head, which we both had for the first time last year and loved. We also grabbed a four pack of Weyerbacher’s Imperial Pumpkin Ale, which neither of us had tried before. The store actually had a few other options (such as Dogfish Head’s Punkin Ale), so we’re looking forward to heading back after we finish these two.

Even though both of the beers are pumpkin flavored, they  are definitely distinctive in their own rights. The Shipyard has a strong cinnamon flavor making it sweet, while the Weyerbacher has a more nutmeg flavor, making it a little more savory. I really enjoyed them both, and even though it’s Monday morning, I could definitely go for another one right about now!

Aside from drinking pumpkin, I have a ton of recipes up my sleeve courtesy of fellow bloggers that I need to try. Everything from pumpkin pancakes, pumpkin macaroni and cheese, pumpkin overnight oats, to pumpkin smoothies. It seems like pumpkin puree with some spices can really be added to almost anything, and I’m more than okay with that.

Happy pumpkin season!

 

Feel the burn

I admittedly have pretty sensitive skin, and as I’ve gotten older, my eyes have joined in the sensitive club as well. I like to thank the countless hours that both my skin and eyes spent submerged in heavily chlorinated water as contributing factors, but genetics are playing the lead role (thanks mom!). So “feeling the burn” when it comes to my eyes or skin is definitely not welcomed, where as a hard arm or leg burning workout would be.

Me swimming a few weeks ago

My knack for getting my eyes to burn seems to follow me in my two recent passions – food and running. Everyone experiences some eye irritation when they cut onions, right? Well, for whatever reason mine has gotten progressively worse, and I use onion in almost everything I make. A few weeks ago while making my Summery Tomato Salad and Black Bean & Corn Salads for our BBQ, I couldn’t take the burn from both the yellow and red onions. So, in order to continue with the recipe, I had what I like to think of as a genius idea. I remembered seeing a post on Foodie Wannabe’s blog about onion goggles, so I made my own.

By make my own, I really mean I stopped chopping, ran to my closet, and whipped out a pair of swimming goggles (thanks Speedo!). As I ran back to the kitchen and started chopping with my blue tinted goggles on, my fiancé started hysterically laughing. I was far from embarrassed, since I could finally keep my eyes open and continue chopping. I’ve since employed this new tactic every time I have to chop more than just a few slices of onion, since trying to cut something with your eyes closed can’t end well.

So to tackle my other eye pain problem, I’ve turned to a cooler version of a sweatband. For whatever reason, when I run the sweat pours into my eyes and burns big time. Since it’s been so incredibly hot this entire summer, I’ve worn tank tops instead of t-shirts on most of my runs, leaving little room for me to wipe my eyes. While racking my brain after a particularly painful run last Sunday afternoon, I noticed a fellow runner/foodie’s tweet about Bondi bands, which are essentially headbands, that seemingly wick away sweat. I immediately placed an order with The Wannabe Athlete, because they’re for an awesome cause. As someone who has lost loved ones to cancer, but also watched others fight and win their battle, I am always more than happy to help any way I can. So, by purchasing a Bondi Band that will hopefully shield my eyes at least a little from sweat, I’ve helped a wonderful woman pay for some of her radiation treatments. I couldn’t have found a better way to keep the sweat out of my eyes!

The note made me smile!

So, my  fellow food and running fiends (combined or separate), do you experience eye burning when chopping onions, or when running? If so, how do you get around it, or avoid it all together?

Snazzy Ramen Noodles

I found this particular recipe on one of the most visually appealing food blogs I follow in my quest for deliciousness. Not only are there yummy recipes, but just the presentation of each post is beautiful. So what is this site you may ask? Cheeky Kitchen!

The recipe itself is called $2 Chinese Noodles, and basically plays on the concept of a take-out type meal made on the cheap at home. As a former college student, I have come to love and embrace Ramen Noodles. I have no shame in declaring my love for them, so when a recipe uses them, I’m all about it! It’s a plentiful recipe, offering to easily feed 8! Since it’s just me and my fiancé, I cut the recipe down so that we could have our fill, but also bring some leftovers for lunch.

Per the usual, I had some modifications to the recipe. For starters, I couldn’t find plain old sesame oil at the store. Totally ridiculous, I know! But, I did find hot chili sesame oil. Since as you know I’m a spicy food fanatic, I thought this would be a perfect substitution. Oh, and it was! I have a bunch of ginger left over from the Crisp Noodle Cakes I made back in April. The store also didn’t have beef flavored Ramen, so I stuck to four packets of chicken. As for the veggies, I went with the Bird’s Eye green bean stir-fry mix. It had green beans, water chestnuts, red pepper, broccoli and carrot. Other than that, I stuck to the recipe.

The whole meal took about 15 minutes to make and of course only about 10 minutes to devour. I would absolutely make this again! It was a great way to snazz up the A-typical, super cheap Ramen Noodles I grew accustomed to in college. One might say they were the grown-up version, and I think that’s a type of growing up I’m more than okay with.

$2 Chinese Noodles
– Serves 8 –

Ingredients:
3 packs Top Ramen, chicken flavor
3 packs Top Ramen, beef flavor
2 Tbsp sesame oil
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 package frozen stir-fry veggies or chow mein medley
2 tsp. minced garlic
1/2 tsp. fresh ginger, finely grated

Directions:
1. Fill a very large pot with water and bring to a boil.
2. Remove flavor packets and add ramen noodles. Boil 2-3 minutes, or just until softened. Drain.
3. Return pot to hot stove, add sesame and olive oils. Add the garlic and ginger to the oils, allow cook for about 1 minute, then add veggies and flavor packs.
4. Once veggies have fully thawed, add hot noodles back into the pot. Stir carefully until noodles are well coated with oil mixture.
5. Serve immediately.

Happy (cheap) nomzing!

A Foodie Christmas

This Christmas couldn’t have made it any more apparent how incredibly obsessed both my boyfriend and I are with food. This is a fact that I am more than okay with. I actually think there are some realms that our obsession is lacking, and I plan to make up for that in the coming year.

At any rate, the abundance of food related gifts were abundant this Christmas. I purchased a first-timer beer making kit for my boyfriend, from Mr. Beer. I’ve been told it’s an average beer making kit, and some of the more seasoned beer makers laughed at my purchase. Not knowing much (read: anything) about brewing beer, I thought it would be a good starter kit. For under $100 my boyfriend is going to get to brew two batches of beer!

As for me, my boyfriend got me two cookbooks. I’ve been pining over both, and apparently made comments about them every time I saw one. The first is a cupcake cookbook, 500 Cupcakes by Fergal Connolly. It boasts to be “the only cupcake compendium you’ll ever need.” I can’t disagree with that statement; not only does it have 500 recipes, it has a plethora of variations for each as well. I also received Hungry Girl’s 200 Under 200 book. This book details 200 recipes each under 200 calories! And let me tell you, there are some seriously impressive recipes in there; cupcakes, pizza, chips and dips, breakfast, desserts, shakes and smoothies… the list just goes on. I’m really looking forward to making them, since I’ve found a few of their recipes on the website and have been more than pleased with their outcome.

For both my boyfriend and I, we received quite a few appliances. One would think we were on a wedding registry! Together, we’ve stockpiled a giant George Foreman grill, a waffle maker, a four slice toaster, and a nice toaster/convection oven. We have so many appliances on our counter that we’re running out of space. While trying to make breakfast yesterday and running the toaster and microwave at the same time, I managed to short the circuit… whoops.

Not directly related to food making or consumption, but I also received a beautiful cupcake necklace on Christmas. When I unwrapped it, I thought it was a cupcake shaped keepsake box. Being inquisitive I opened it, to find a beautiful gold and diamond cupcake on an extremely thin gold chain. Nothing says “I love food” more than wearing a piece of food around your neck. Or, of course, simply writing it across your forehead.

Needless to say I’m starting to see great things in terms of food for 2010. This year really allowed me to delve into my foodie passion, and I hope to explore it more in 2010. Maybe I can even get a group together for more consistent foodie excursions!

I’ll be making Guinness with Bailey’s icing cupcakes for the New Year’s Eve bash I’ll be attending tomorrow, so look for a post in the near future about how they turned out!

Food Blogging – Why the hate?!

Recently, one of my favorite food blogs that really offers a little bit of everything, SeriousEats, posted not one, but TWO articles relating to the serious distain of other food blogs out there, dedicated to us novice foodies, known better as “Foodiots.”

It all started with an article entitled The Foodiots, posted by The Observer. It simply stated that the New Yorker’s culture has changed; instead of talking sex and politics, people talk food. What’s so wrong with that?

A response to the aforementioned article by ChowHound founder Jim Leff, certainly left a sour taste in my mouth. And not the kind you get from a good Sour Patch Kid. In his response, he noted that Foodiots are “giddily obsessive food crazies who’ve made chewing the very center of their existences,” and like a Trekkie, should “get a life.”

A mere two days later, Eater.com’s Editors posted that they would pay any novice Food blogger a meager $25 to stop writing about food. Really? They honestly thought that $25 would get someone to stop doing something they enjoy? A hobby, if you will? That’s just a little insulting.

So here’s my question – why the hate?!

I can only surmise one thing here; we’re doing a good job. We’ve got our friends interested in what WE’RE cooking, because it seems realistic and tangible as something they too can delve into in the kitchen. And, being our close friends, they take stock in what we have to say in reviews and opinions on different types of foods, restaurants, etc. Are the more general blogs getting nervous? Do they fear their loosing readers to “foodiots”?!

If this is the case, I think they’re worrying prematurely. Yes, I blog about food. I tweet about food. And I have friends that blog about it as well. This doesn’t mean I even consider myself a “Foodie.” I’m just someone that loves reading, writing, eating, and all things food. More importantly, though, guess what? My Google Reader is still chock full of “big name” food blogs that I don’t ever plan on removing from my list.

I think for those that have been in the blogging game for awhile, feel threatened that it’s becoming much more common-place. It’s how most trends and things of that nature start out. But it seems quite juvenile. It reminds me of high school, when someone would start listening to a band, and months later everyone else would be into them as well. You were torn between being proud for knowing about them first, but also a bit jealous that now they were popular in a more mainstream sense. In the end, I think the proud feeling overwhelmed the jealousy. Veteran food bloggers should feel that way too.

So, I guess that still leaves the floor open for those veteran food bloggers. Why such distain for the newbies? What have we done wrong? We’re humans – we’re conditioned to love and embrace food. Some of us love it more than others, and shouldn’t we unite as a collective group, to share that love with others?

Let’s just remember one thing here – life is far too short to be serious.