2009 milestones, onward! And almonds.

Great news - I am officially a Project Management Professional! So far in 2009 I have ran my first 10k and became a certified PMP - awesome! My next scheduled accomplishment? Running the Seattle Rock N' Roll Half Marathon! Which, by the way, is now sold out, so I feel even cooler. Yes, I took the plunge and am currently training for it. This weekend I have a seven mile long run slated, and have resumed personal training twice weekly to stregthen my muscles.

To celebrate passing my PMP exam, and much to the detriment of half marathon training, I spent this past weekend in Houghton, MI at my alma matter, Michigan Tech. Since it's in the middle of Michigan's Upper Peninsula, it is very small town with little to do, and everything is SUPER cheap. This sets the stage for a pretty crazy drunkfest when you plop a college down. Even crazier when you return as alumni that is not broke and doesn't have the responsibility of school to worry about. We, along with numerous other alumni, visited for the annual Senior Walk, basically a school-wide bar crawl. I'll just say we packed alot of fun into the weekend, and I am glad to be back in WA as a functioning adult.

Mmmm I just finished my afternoon snack. Emerald Cocoa Roasted Almonds are pretty much the best thing ever. I'm normally not a dark chocolate person, but these are super addictive. Weirdly they remind me of chocolate Teddy Grahams. Best of all, they have the same basic stats as plain almonds - 150 cals for a quarter cup, since they're essentially just roasted almonds tossed with cocoa powder. I lovelovelove sweet stuff, and these help satisfy that craving.

Back with some tasty recent creations

Last weekend I really had a hankering for something bad for me (mac and cheese), so I decided to try a new vegan mac recipe I had been hearing about for awhile. We also happened to have all the ingredients in the house, so that helped alot. Vegan Guinea Pig posted this super-easy recipe that does NOT include nutritional yeast, which many people don't enjoy. In a million years I would have never thought raw cashews, potatoes, onions, carrots, and a few spices could create a convincing cheese sauce, but I was WRONG! This was freakin' amazing. Even better than Veganomicon's Mac Daddy. I must admit, I did add about a quarter cup of nutritional yeast flakes because I was worried the sauce would lack flavor. In summary: yum yum yum! Make this, especially because it is not horrible for you.

The veggie mac got me in my cooking groove, so early this week I decided I really wanted to make some Kung Pao tofu. If definitely turned into an experiment with many variables, but a tasty experiment in the end. First off, I decided to pop my frozen tofu cherry. I'd had some Trader Joe's super firm tofu chillin' in our freezer for a few months. The stuff is great normally, and freezing definitely took the texture to a whole new level. After thawing, I thought I'd bake it for awhile, to save some of the calories associated with frying. I whipped up a quick marinade and baked the tofu strips for 15 minutes on each side at 350F.

My Marinade:
(all measurements extremely approximate)
-1/4 c. sweet chili sauce
-1/4 c. BBQ sauce
-2 T. soy sauce
-2 T. rice vinegar
-1 t. toasted sesame oil
-1 t. Sriracha chili sauce

After baking and cutting into cubes, I fried the tofu briefly to give it a nice crunchy exterior. I then stir fried some veggies with a tiny bit of oil, and added the tofu when they were done. My Kung Pao sauce closely mirrored my marinade, with just about half the amount of BBQ sauce. Basically, I was supposed to use hoisin sauce instead of BBQ, but we didn't have any. I thought this would be an acceptable substitute, and it worked pretty well. I sprinkled the final product with peanuts and it was good.


Life is pretty busy in general right now until I take the PMP exam on the 21st. I am pumped to be done with that and get my fat raise!!!

Kashi Tuscan Veggie Bake: reviewed

This (and all other Kashi entrees) was on sale at our local (and AMAZING!) Target for about $3 so I decided to give it a go. Kashi entrees go for $4-5 at other grocery stores I've noticed, so that's a pretty good deal. Yes, still kind of expensive, but when the alternative is me being lazy and going out for lunch, it is quite cheap.

It was worth it! This was sooooo tasty. It also has some very impressive nutritional stats. Pretty filling, too, for a frozen meal. Kashi's black bean mango meal is totally tiny, so I was glad this didn't have that problem. Basically it is a slice of veggie lasagna. It also had a sort of creaminess to it, which is interesting considering it is vegan. Overall, very flavorful, exactly the right amount of sauce, and is all natural - none of the chemical crap that's normally in this kind of stuff. Still, I would recommend bringing along some fruit or vegetable as a side at the very least; maybe two sides. I work 10-hr days so I can't have small lunches! I will definitely buy this again if the price is right!

Asiana Pasta

This is what a weeknight dinner looks like when I have a bunch of leftover stuff and zero desire to create a culinary masterpiece. In this case, it was half a bag of frozen mixed veggies and some seitan strips. Since my theory is that everything tastes awesome covered in peanut sauce, I give you......Asiana Pasta!

I cooked up some whole wheat spaghetti noodles, added the frozen veggies and seitan, then tossed everything with the easiest peanut sauce EVER. A touch of grated carrots gave the dish a nice fresh crunch and burst of color.

Lindsay's Weeknight Peanut Sauce
Serves 2-4, depending on how fat kid/hungry you are
-1/2 c. smooth peanut butter
-2 T. soy sauce
-2 T. rice vinegar
-1/4-1/2 c. water, depending on how thick you like your sauce
-1/2 t. of all the following: garlic powder, ground ginger, crushed red pepper flakes

Mix it all together and pop in the microwave for about a minute, maybe two. Stir well before serving. That's it! Adjust all of these measurements to taste; it's a pretty forgiving recipe.



Sorry I've sucked at posting lately. Work has picked up quite a bit, and I'm busy studying for the PMP (Project Management Professional) Exam on April 21st. I have not forgotten my blog, though, fear not! I shall be back with a vengeance soon enough.

First 10K complete!!!

Sunday I finished my first ever 10K! I chose to do the one associated with the Mercer Island Half Marathon, for a few reasons: 1) it is conveniently three months away from my first half marathon (Seattle Rock N' Roll) and therefore serves as a good benchmark 2) there aren't alot of 10Ks around here, so I didn't have many options.

The course was SUPER hilly. Like, crazy hilly - check it out if you don't believe me. I don't think I ran more than a quarter mile on flat ground. It also started raining halfway through the race. Totally awesome, I know. I also puked as I got to the finish line (at the top of yet another HILL). That's why I don't have any victory shots - my friend only got pics of me pre-, mid-, or post-boot. So, lots of sucky circumstances, but I finished in 1:15:56, which was my goal (1:15)! I'm very pleased with myself.

I definitely will be more careful with my long runs for the half marathon, though. I want to be consistently running close to the race distance (so, 10-11 miles) for at least three to four long runs before the race. For the 10K, I hit five miles the week before the race, which is what most programs recommend, but I still don't really feel like I was ready for the distance. Who knows, maybe I was but the hills just sucked the life out of me :P

In summary, here are my lessons learned:
-Don't eat ANYTHING less than two hours before the beginning of the race. And you don't have to grab water at every stop on the course. I had a breakfast smoothie about an hour before the race started - only about 8-12 oz. But I puked pink - def was still too full. Unless you have like 5% body fat, you really don't need that much fuel before or during the race - that's what fat is for! You need a little something basically if you plan on running an hour or more.
-Make sure you have your ipod loaded with enough music for the entire race - keep it pretty close to your goal time so you can pace yourself
-Be able to run about 85% of your race distance a few times in the weeks before the race, not just once

Next up, I think this race might be fun. 5Ks are definitely easy for me now, so I think it will be fun to do a race where there's no pressure except improving my time. It would be totally crazy if I could get less than 30 minutes, which is doable if I put some effort into speed training. Plus, Alki Beach has a beautiful view of Seattle so it will be a really scenic race.

Winter comfort dinner and Portland exploration

This meal was consumed two months ago, but it was so awesome I saved it so I could share it with the world. It's actually all from Veganomicon (basically), except the "cooking greens," which were just braised in some tomato sauce, water, and a bit of olive oil. Made some corn bread, chickpea cutlets (dipped in breadcrumbs and baked), bastardized fast red wine sauce, and FUCKING AMAZING baked beans. Seriously, I'd never made homemade baked beans before, and now I understand. I have converted. They're ridiculously easy to make, too. Overall, this was definitely a four star dinner. Would have been five if I had not been lazy and made a better sauce.

I haven't posted in the past week because my friend Emily was visiting from Ann Arbor. We did many, many awesome things, one of which was visit Portland Sunday night. More pictures and blurbs will come later, but I wanted to touch on one significant element of our Portland visit: Powell's. I'd never been there before, and now I understand why it has so much hype surrounding it. It is the ultimate destination for a bibliophile: it's like the biggest bookstore you can imagine, like maybe double the average B&N, but the vast majority of the books it contains are USED! It was heaven. We were there for quite some time. I bought five books I'm really excited about - first I am reading The Undercover Economist. So far, so great. Kind of like Freakanomics but with more content and makes you feel smarter. It's like an interesting textbook.

Gearing up

"Running is a big question mark that's there each and every day. It asks you, 'Are you going to be a wimp or are you going to be strong today?'" - Peter Maher, Canadian marathon runner

Yes, Peter, that is an excellent question. Every day when I get home from work, that is what it boils down to. Running on the weekend is no problem - I can log my long run and usually another short run without too many problems. But on the four days I work (10 hrs/day), 90% of the time the last thing I want to do is work out. That's why I love doing personal training - it forces me to work out twice a week. I've realized that training for any sort of race is hell for a procrastinator like me - I kick my own ass the few weeks before I have a race, but four months out its SO hard. When I get home kickin' back on my couch, crafting a delicious meal, or doing something else fun are so much more appealing that running 2 or 3 miles. Because it's only 2 or 3 miles, right? I mean, how much of a difference can that make? Answer: ALOT when you slack off for a few weeks.

I'm pretty sure the only solution to this problem, at least for me, is to sign up frequently for races. That's why I'm running the Mercer Island 10K March 22 - that will keep me right on track to finish the half marathon at the end of June.



And interesting randomness for today:

This shit is crazy. I'm all for having healthy, active kids, but this is not cool.

Very insightful Top Chef chart ranking all of the contestents and showing who REALLY is the best. If you don't watch this show, you lose.

Morbidly obese but afraid of weight loss surgery? Well now you can have the procedure done through one of your "natural orifices!" Does this creep anyone else out as much as it does me?