of all the things we need...

here is a tip: don't watch the movie "valley of the dolls"... it's absurd. it makes no sense, especially if you haven't read the book. the characters are all over the place. not a good movie. the book, however, is amazing.

in other book news, today my "hungry girl" recipe book has to go back to the library. i flipped through it one time (one time!) and made nothing. the thing with recipe books is that they are meant to be bought, not borrowed. i also have vegan with a vengeance and it's awesome. much better than the hungry girl book. no offense, hungry girl. your book is great too. it just serves a different purpose and doesn't meet my culinary needs right now. who knew i had culinary needs?

my book club bbq was great. i made grilled zucchini (not boats), a sweet potato, and a pre-marinated chicken breast. delicious. i also had wine, veggies with dip and those chocolate lady fingers.

this morning i was going to walk on the treadmill, but i wanted to give my shin a break. i want it to heal and recover but i loathe being inactive. it makes me feel like sloppy sloth sally. instead i went for a swim in the pool. i did 50 lengths front crawl, then alternated 10 lengths breaststroke and 10 lengths front crawl three times. keep in mind my condo pool isn't a full sized pool. the whole thing took me about 30-35 minutes with no stopping. a pretty good workout except i can still see faint goggle rings around my eyes..... looking good!

this morning at work i got this "brookstone catalogue" which is basically full of expensive things that no one really needs.

exhibit a: the golf drink dispenser. "here's the discreet way to enjoy hot or cold drinks right from your golf bag!"


for you dog lovers, exhibit b: the car dog booster seat. so your small dog can have a comfortable view of the road. this dog does actually look pretty happy.


exhibit c: the doggie dining table. now your dog can eat in a healthier, more comfortable position. is this really necessary? i've never known dogs who had a problem eating off the floor!


time to work. tonight is date night (at home) and we are booking our hotels for california! we already have plane tickets, rented a car, and the first night's hotel. and pretty much decided on what cities to stay in (and what we are going to do in those cities). surf city here i come. :o)

re-ci-poo re-ci-pee

spicy sweet potato and quinoa salad

last night i made this dish but with a few modifications of course. here is a yumtastic recipe.

ingredients:

1 cup quinoa, uncooked
2 cups vegetable broth
1 sweet potato, pre-baked and diced
1 red bell pepper, diced
1 green zucchini, diced
1/2 pack of pre-cut and pre-washed white mushrooms
1 onion
2 tbsp olive oil
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
2 tbsp lemon juice
salt and pepper to taste

preparation:

simmer the quinoa in the vegetable broth until liquid is gone and quinoa is light and fluffy when stirred. remove from heat and allow to cool. while this is happening, chop your onion and red pepper. spray a frying pan with cooking spray and heat the the onion and pepper until soft. add mushrooms. when they are cooked, remove from the heat. meanwhile, microwave your sweet potato until cooked then bake it in the oven until the outside is crispy (like a baked potato should be... just not soggy from the microwave). slice the zucchini into half-circles or quarters and add to the now empty fry pan. when the potato is ready, dice it.
toss together the quinoa, sweet potato, onions, peppers, mushrooms, and zucchini in a large bowl.

in a separate small bowl, whisk together the lemon juice, olive oil and cayenne pepper. i added more lemon juice (i just squeezed a lemon). gently toss this dressing with the quinoa. season with a generous amount of salt and pepper.

i would say this makes about 4 generous servings. delicious. i had one serving of this for dinner along with a spinach salad, topped with light feta and newman's own light thai sesame dressing.

in other news, i did go for a run yesterday at lunch. it was 4.7 miles... not too shabby at all. and this morning i got up and ran for 40 minutes (not all at once) on the treadmill, with arm weights in between the cardio sessions and situps at the end.

tonight is my book club. i didn't finish the book but that's ok, it's long, and we are having a bbq and watching the movie. fun times. i have a skinless boneless chicken breast marinating in my fridge right now. i put some chicken bbq sauce, mustard, and catalina dressing in a ziplock bag and threw in the chicken. i hope it tastes good. i want to get some other vegetables to put on the bbq but i'm not sure what to get (or how to grill them)... any suggestions?

oh canada, our home and native land

happy canada day everyone! i am going to a bbq later but first a nice run outside. i already put on sunscreen - i am just waiting for my ipod to charge. i do have 2 other mp3 players but one doesn't have an arm band OR a pants hook thingie, and the other has a sporty armband and is giving me a weird arm band tan. i will wear it if i have to but prefer not to. yes, i am that vain! ;)

sad or what?

i came to work today even though i had planned to take a vacation day. why? nothing to do. is that sad or what? my boyfriend went home yesterday and is coming back to the city tonight and i could have spent the day at home, hanging around, but it's not really that nice outside (not sunny) and i hate sitting around all day watching tv. that is so boring. now having tomorrow off will feel like a special treat. i am going to a canada day bbq... mmmm... bbqs. that reminds me i will have to pick up food and booze and stuff tonight.

speaking of booze, yesterday i made beer bread. it is soooo easy. here is the recipe:

3 cups flour
3 t sugar
3 t baking powder
1 t basil
12 oz warm beer

i used 2 cups white flour and 1 cup whole wheat flour. i was going to make it all with splenda and whole wheat flour, but i didn't want it to taste gross. not that it necessarily would have, but you know. i used zywiec beer, because my boyfriend is polish and i liked the people dancing on the bottle.


anyway it's so easy to make. you just mix the dry ingredients, then incorporate the beer until just mixed. then you plop it into a prepared bread pan and bake for 50 minutes at 350°F. prepared bread pan means that you grease it/spray it with cooking spray, and then sprinkle it with rough cornmeal (i used whole wheat flour and it was fine) to avoid the sticking. see? easy! the bread it more cake-like than the bread you would purchase in the supermarket.

on saturday it was raining so i went down to the condo gym for a quick workout. i did 20 minutes running, arm weights, 10 minutes running, then decided that was enough for me thank you very much. yesterday i took a rest day. this morning i went back to the gym and did 15 minutes running, arm weights, 15 minutes biking, more arm weights, 10 more minutes running, and situps. the biking was so hard. i was really pushing it for 1 minute (trying to get a rpm of 100 on level 10) and then slowing a bit for 2 minutes (rpm of 85 at level 10). when i got off the bike my legs were like jello.

in other news, i've been really into making spicy hummus wraps lately. i use a whole grain tortilla (about 170 calories), 2 T spicy hummus, cut up about 1/4 yellow pepper, sprinkle some shredded carrots, peel a string cheese, and add baby spinch - then wrap it up and enjoy. it's filling and healthy and sooooooo spicy! it is still substantial because of the tortilla and the hummus, but feels light because of the veggies.

in more other news, i got this book at the bookstore yesterday:

lonely planet coastal california... *sigh of happiness*