Adventures in the Kitchen

Happy Memorial Day!!! I hope everyone had a fantastic weekend!

My friend Melissa and I were in need of some gelato last night so we took a trip to Crisan. I got one scoop of oreo gelato and one mini chocolate covered strawberry. Yum.

I had a very low key day today. I started out with about 20 minutes of yoga. And since it was so nice out,  I had really wanted to go for a nice bike ride, but my bike was locked in the shed and I didn’t have the key, so I could not go. 😦 I opted for a short 2 mile run instead. It was pretty pathetic. I was tired and it was hot. Oh well. I spent the rest of the day reading in the sun and in the kitchen making fun things!

I had bought some quinoa a while ago and finally made something out of it today! I decided dinner should be cranberry walnut quinoa salad. I sort of went off of this recipe, but I didn’t have much of the ingredients, so I kind of just made it up as I went along.

I boiled 1 cup of quinoa in 2 cups of vegetable broth, according to the directions on the bag. Instead of using water I used organic vegetable broth from Hannaford.

I tweaked the recipe a bit and threw in some olive oil, salad spice, craisins, crushed walnuts and four minced cloves of garlic and let it set in the fridge for a couple hours.

I wanted something else interesting to go along with it for dinner so, since I bought some organic vegetable tempeh the other day I decided to make Caitlin’s Tempting Tempeh! And it was a new and interesting dinner! The tempeh was really good! I love maple and cinnamon together and the coconut made it really sweet! It added a nice crunch to the outside. Instead of using actual maple syrup I used a maple praline syrup that had less calories. I’ve never had tempeh before so I don’t really know what it tastes like on its own but I liked it. This was a really quick and easy recipe, I would definitely make it again, so thanks Caitlin! And the quinoa salad was tasty too. I have tons left over!

Dessert was a cup of soy ice cream that was really refreshing since it was so hot out! I also had a glass of the Naked Wine with my dinner! And now the bottle is gone.

I was in the mood to keep baking so I researched some recipes for home made energy bars. I finally found one that had ingredients that I have in my kitchen, so I used this one. I actually ran out of oats (I only used 2 cup instead of 3), so I added in some flax meal and whole wheat flour so it wasn’t so sticky! I baked them for 20 minutes and they came out really mushy (the recipe says that’s okay), so I put them in the fridge to cool them down so I could cut them. They were still pretty soft, so I’m going to keep them in the fridge until I want to eat them. It might be because I didn’t use the right amount of oats.

I tasted part of one and they kind of taste like a cookie bar, which is alright with me! The only thing I would change next time would be to use natural peanut butter instead of regular, and honey instead of the corn syrup (I actually used light karo syrup.) I am not sure how many calories are in them, but I assume probably about 200-250, since there is peanut butter in it, which is okay by me, since I’ll only be eating them before I run. If I can control myself! 🙂  Hopefully they give me energy!

Seven Miles on a Country Road

I hope everyone is having a great Memorial day weekend! Today I am just relaxing, as I have no current plans. AND I’m blogging again today! Go me! So, this morning I had to run seven miles. And I did it! At first I wasn’t sure where I wanted to run, either up and down my country road, drive into town, or go to my high school track. I opted with the country road run! I wanted to save on gas, actually, and it was a beautiful morning, so it seemed like the best idea! I filled up my camelback and got to it.

I started out really slow, about an 11 minute mile…because I knew if I started too fast I would never make it! Apparently, this is key to running longer distances for me. I felt great the entire time! I only took one break, to stop back at my house after mile 4, and then finished the last three miles really strong. I felt amazing! It must have been the Naked Wine I had last night! 🙂 Either that or all the sugary sweets! I also saw one other woman running today! I have never seen anyone running on my road while I was out there before! It was awesome to see someone else running. I’m not the only crazy one to run on my road!

Of course I had my Garmin. I don’t know what I would do without this thing now. It makes running so much easier. I love it.  Here is my breakdown:

Total Miles: 7.0
Time: 1 hour, 12 minutes and 1 second
Average pace: 10:17/mile
Average speed: 5.8 mph
Maximum speed: 8.4 mph
Calories burned: 838

Splits:
Mile 1 – 10:40
Mile 2 – 9:50
Mile 3 –  10:49
Mile 4 – 10:55
Mile 5 – 10:51
Mile 6 – 9:58
Mile 7 – 8:53 (yeahh!)

I wasn’t even tired at the end and I probably could have kept going, but I was getting kind of bored. I couldn’t believe how good I felt at the end. If I feel this good running the Boilermaker in July, it will be amazing!

I also had time today to finish one of the running books I got from the library, Born to Run.

This is seriously one of the most fascinating books I’ve ever read! I can’t believe how many miles the superathletes in this book run. It was incredible!! Ah, so inspiring. I mean, I have no desire to go out and run an ultra marathon or anything, but while I was running my seven miles this morning I was definitely thinking about these people and if they can run 100 miles in 105 degree weather I can run seven on a country road. Ha!

So after my run I scavanged for food. I made a green (brown) monster and it was like the best thing I’ve ever tasted. There is no picture because I was too thirsty to take a second to snap one, but in it went: 1/2 cup of light soy milk, 1 cup spinach, 1 tsp of almond butter, 1/2 a banana, 2 frozen strawberries, and about 4 ice cubes. The rest of lunch includes some almonds, leftover spinach and cheese tortellini, and some strawberry rhubarb crumble for dessert.

As I was finishing my book, I enjoyed a glass of Naked Riesling and some dark chocolate. Yum! Now I just have to come up with something good for dinner…

Instant Strawberry Pancakes, a Barbecue and some Naked Wine

Wow my arms are sore today! Yesterday morning I went to the gym to get a workout in and I did mostly upper body on the weight machines for about 10 minutes. Now I’m paying for it! My workout also included a 10 mile ride on the stationary (boring) bike and some crunches and push ups.

Anyway, yesterday was fun!!! I made breakfast super early because I woke up at an ungodly hour. I was feeling lazy and I wanted pancakes so I brought out the instant mix.

I got some ground flax at the store the other day so I added a bit of that to the mix.

The picture on the pancake box inspired me so I made strawberry pancakes! I sliced up some fresh strawberries and mixed it into the batter. Yum!

Don’t they look good? There were actually a bit dry, so I put some home made strawberry blueberry jam on top of them and that made it 100% tastier! I mean, they are no pancakes from scratch, but they were pretty good.

I didn’t want to eat too much during the day so after my workout I had some leftover chickpea salad. I also made my first chocolate cherry bomb! I have been seeing these on other girls’ blogs lately so I decided to try one myself since it sounds delicious. A refreshing drink after a workout I must say! I threw in a bunch of frozen organic cherries, 1/2 cup of light soymilk and a scoop of whey protein powder.

So this was my lunch and I didn’t eat too much because Marcie was having a barbecue! 🙂 So I got to baking! I made some chocolate chip pecan cookies. They were wonderful! I wanted to eat them all actually. They were crispy on the outside and chewy on the inside. I think the recipe came from cooking light, but I’m not sure. It might be my new go to chocolate chip recipe.

Here are some pictures from Marcie’s successful BBQ!

I had some baked ziti, Asian coleslaw and cauliflower "potato" salad and seconds of each

my cookies

the desserts! the writing on the giant cookie says HoT RD = Hellions of Troy Roller Derby!

I also picked up a bottle of wine for the BBQ, a Riesling. No surprise there! I grabbed this.

I think the Dragonstone has some competition, because it was really good! I love wine. So that was yesterday. Marcie had an awesome BBQ and she is a lovely hostess! Her new apartment is nice too. 🙂

Today I have a long run planned, according to my training schedule. Seven miles! I ate a pretty good breakfast. Maple peanut butter and 1/2 a banana and strawberry blueberry jam on a whole wheat bagel thin.

I will report back when I’m done, if I’m still alive!

A Sangria Type of Evening

Yesterday started out pretty basic. I made a green monster! But instead it looked more like a brown monster with flecks of green.

I actually liked it this time! The past couple times I’ve made these tasted pretty bad. In my GM went:

• 1 cup of spinach
• 1/2 cup of light soy milk
• 3 frozen strawberries and 2 slices of frozen papayas
• 1 extremely ripe banana
• 1 tsp of almond butter

It was refreshing. I also have some frozen cherries so I’m dying to try a chocolate cherry bomb! I also had an English muffin with Maple Peanut butter.

Lunch was pretty standard. I had some smashed chickpea salad on a pita with roasted red peppers and goat cheese. It was really tasty! I also ate one of my bran muffins.But I had to save room for dinner, since Chris and I were planning on going out. We decided on El Mariachi. We picked the one on Hamilton since they had outdoor seating and it was a lovely evening for dining outside! One thing I love about this place is they have a decent vegetarian selection. I usually get the Enchiladas El Mariachi, which are described as two corn tortillas filled with poblano peppers, cheese and mushrooms topped with mole sauce. Have I mentioned how much I love mole sauce? The first time I tried it I was skeptical, but I really enjoyed it. It tastes kind of sweet but a little bit spicy. This dish is like heaven. Also, their portion sizes are huge, so you always have leftovers!!!!

I only ate 1 enchilada and some rice and beans

It was a sangria type of evening so I also got a glass of white sangria to drink. I usually drink red sangria, but I wanted to try something new, a white sangria seemed the way to go. And I’ve never met a glass of sangria I didn’t like!

Anyway, in other news...I signed up for the Boilermaker 15K yesterday! I just went ahead and did it, because if I’m spending 7 weeks training for something, why not just sign up? Now I have to do it. 🙂 No excuses!!! Since I ran Monday instead of taking a rest day, I used yesterday as my rest day. Today I think I’m going to do some biking and yoga. Tomorrow is my long run. 7 miles. We’ll see how that goes.

I also have to bake some cookies today for Marcie‘s BBQ! I’m excited about all the healthy food she’s planning on having! It should be a good time. 🙂

Surprise Bridal Shower Success

It’s almost the weekend! Yay! Yesterday at work we celebrated because one of my co-workers is getting married next month! She and her fiance are going to Red Rock Canyon to tie the knot! We threw her a surprise bridal shower! Complete with cake of course!

isn't Katie so cute!

The cake came from Walmart and they did an amazing job! Walmart has been impressing me lately. It didn’t taste too bad either! I ate a piece of chocolate cake with a frosting flower, and it was really sweet. But I like frosting, so thats okay with me.

I also had some strawberry frozen yogurt with m&ms earlier in the day. I walked up and met Chris and my sister at the lunch trucks and we enjoyed some froyo. It was HOT! The temperature hit 94 degrees yesterday. Yikes. We also walked around the farmer’s market at the plaza, but it was so hot, we were dying. I didn’t buy anything.

Dinner last night was interesting. I made some spinach and cheese tortellini. I also threw some frozen veggies and spinach into my new wok ($5.99 at Marshalls!) and sauteed them up.

I mixed them up with the tortellini, and it was pretty good. I wanted lots of veggies! I would have liked some onions and red peppers, but these were all I had. It was an interesting mix. I don’t know how I feel about carrots, green beans and corn with my pasta!

I wanted to go for a run when I got home too but it was just too darn hot to run outside. I ran three miles on the treadmill in my cool basement, which wasn’t too bad. I was still sweating like mad though.

Today’s eats weren’t that interesting. To keep this post from being entirely too long I will just say I had some oatmeal this morning and some protein cereal and fruit for a quick lunch. I ate pretty boring today because I had a five mile run planned for this evening, according to my training schedule. I knew I wanted to run outside, since the weather is fabulous right now, so after work I parked at my gym, changed, and then ran five miles around the neighborhood. I thought it would be more brutal than it was, but I actually felt pretty good! Although I definitely now have a runner’s tan…

My stats:

• Total: 4.97 miles
• Time: 50 minutes and 17 seconds
• Average Pace: 10:06
• Average Speed: 5.6 mph
• Max Speed: 8.6 mph
• Calories Burned: 589

Splits (I finally figured out how to auto lap at every mile!):

• Mile 1: 10:46 (warmup)
• Mile 2: 9:46
• Mile 3: 9:44
• Mile 4: 10:03
• Mile 5: 10:11

After the gym I stopped at Hannaford. I ended up getting a ton of interesting things. One thing I have been dying to have again is non-dairy ice cream! I tried it once a while ago and I never got around to getting more. I picked the Mint Marble Fudge.

Overall impression: It was decent for a non-dairy dessert. I would probably buy it again, but maybe the chocolate flavor. There wasn’t much of a chocolate swirl in my bowl. Maybe its at the bottom of the carton! And it melted really fast too! I still love my full dairy frozen yogurt better! 😦

I bought a bunch of other foods I’ve been dying to try: a couple of different kinds of greek yogurt, tempeh, and veggie dogs! I can’t wait to try everything.

Why I Run

Wow, it is HOT today. And I went for an easy 3 mile run today at lunch time. Am I nuts? I think so. I didn’t really feel the heat until the last mile or so, so it wasn’t too bad. Caitlin wrote a really good post about running in hot weather that I found really helpful! Check it out. I’m a huge fan of her blog, it’s really inspiring!

So, am I really crazy for running in hot weather? I don’t think so. I actually don’t mind being hot, because I’m cold a lot. I work in a cold office all day, so being warm doesn’t bother me too much.

Anyway, after someone found out I ran two races this past weekend, they asked me, “So, are you addicted to running now?” I think the answer is yes and no. I first started running to lose weight, and now that I’m at my “happy weight”, I need to run because I can’t imagine not running. I’m addicted to the high I feel after a race. I’m enjoy running the same way some people enjoy taking fitness classes or playing sports, it’s just what I do. But I think it’s kind of looked at by non-runners as something crazy. How can you run six miles, that’s crazy! But what is so crazy about it? It’s what I do to exercise and stay healthy. And I want to keep challenging myself and pushing myself to the next level. I’ve been reading bits and pieces of the Runner’s World Complete Book of Women’s Running by Dagny Scott Barrios and I came across a paragraph that pretty much describes my feelings toward running perfectly.

From the chapter “From Jogging to Running: Training for the Intermediate Runner”:

Once a woman becomes a runner, she finds that the sport is woven into the fabric of her life. Whereas running might have been only a vehicle before – to fitness or to weight loss, for example – it now becomes that rarest of things: a means and an end. To a runner, running is still a means of strength and health, of exploration and socialization.  But unlike the jogger, who might take up the sport primarily out of a sense of duty or for the extrinsic benefits, such as weight loss, the runner finds that the very act itself is enough. Running is the thing she craves. Within it is a new sense of wonder at the power of movement – whether labored or light – over ground, the rise and fall of breath in her chest. When a woman knows this feeling, she knows that she cannot do without running. And thus is born a runner.

So well said! Today’s 3 mile run was part of my new training plan for an upcoming 15K I want to run in, the Utica Boilermaker! I’m still not sure if I want to go all the way to Utica, but I heard this race is fun, and it ends at a brewery, so what could be better than that? 🙂 I have eight weeks to get to 9.3 miles. I’m going to write up my training plan soon.
Now onto today’s eats.

This morning for breakfast I had some sweet cherry oats and half of a high fiber muffin.

This was my morning snack. I absolutely LOVE sweet cherries! I should have put them in my oats!

And after my run my lunch consisted of another turkey burger with arugula and goat cheese on a sandwich thin.

Dinner was homemade pizza! I used regular pre-made pizza dough, ricotta, shredded cheese, broccoli, spinach and artichokes. Yum! I had three pieces of this deliciousness.

Now I’m munching on some frozen mangoes and papayas.

Oh! My mom found this under our shed today. He needs a home! I bet you can’t resist this face.

A Lovely Bike Ride

Good evening everyone! I hope you all are enjoying this awesome weather. Its quite perfect, actually.

This morning I wanted to try my new maple peanut butter that I got at the farmer’s market on Saturday, so I put some in my oats! Along with some cinnamon and chopped pecans. It was bit thick. I need to remember to add more water next time. And maybe some more cinnamon!

Today was pretty uneventful. Lunch was a boring salad so I will spare you. Dinner was also kind of boring. I was starving when I got home, because looking at food blogs when you are hungry is a bad idea! I ate a cinnamon bun that my mom left on the counter. It was from the bakery at Yonder Farms and it was incredible. Ahem. Anyway, on  to dinner. I made a grilled cheese sandwich with artichokes. Pretty easy and tasty. I will make this again when I am starving and in need of a quick fix.

Then I filled up my Camelback and hopped on my bike!!! I went for a nice 8 mile ride around my “neighborhood”. I use this term loosely, as I don’t even live in a neighborhood. I thought it might be too hot to ride, but I was fine! It was GORGEOUS. I might need to give credit to my new Under Armour top that I purchased at Marshalls the other day. It kept me perfectly cool and dry. 🙂

I didn’t have to get off and walk the hills at all, and that might be due to the cinnamon bun. I did stop, however, for this!

I had to take pictures of the horses because they looked so pretty. And I pass this barn every time I ride this route. And I always stop and look at it. It is also right before the monster hill….so I like to take a breather before I attempt to ride up it.

I also used my garmin for the first time while biking. Here’s the stats:

• Total miles: 7.99
• Time: 51 minutes 31 seconds (including a 3-5 minute stop to take pictures)
• Average Pace: 6:25/mile
• Average Speed: 9.3 mph
• Maximum Speed: 26 mph
• Calories Burned: 624

I think I’m going to start training tomorrow. I have a 15K in my sights in the coming months. More info on that to come shortly. 😉

High Fiber Bran Muffins

So, dinner last night was something new. I decided to try Morning Star Farms’ New Turk’y Burger. It was pretty tasty! I think I may like the chic’n patties better though.

I had the burger on two ends of whole wheat bread, toasted, with arugula, herb goat cheese and roasted red peppers. (Noting a trend with these three ingredients? They are in ALL my meals lately!) I also had a side of corn and mashed potatoes. AND dinner was eaten outside on my deck with parents, which was a plus. 🙂

For dessert I had a small bowl of Edie’s 1/2 the fat chocolate fudge ice cream.

I didn’t have much to do tonight so I decided to bake some muffins on a whim. I have a whole bag of Bob’s Red Mill Wheat Bran so I used the High Fiber Bran Muffin recipe that was on the bag! I liked that there was no sugar in this recipe. At first I wasn’t sure I wanted to add the raisins, but I’m glad I did, since they really make the muffins taste yummy. They muffins are pretty healthy! Only 170 calories per muffin! Also they have 4 grams of fiber and 5 grams of protein. My batch made 11 muffins instead of 12.

Perfect for breakfast this week.

First Annual SPAC Rock & Run 5K

Well, I have another 5K under my belt! My fourth race total and my third 5K! Today’s 5K was held at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center, which is part of the Saratoga State Park and it is really gorgeous! To get ready for this race I made a small dinner last night, a roasted red pepper, arugula and herb goat cheese sandwich. It was pretty tasty. I think arugula is my new favorite leafy green! 🙂 I used my arugula and goat cheese that came from the Troy Farmer’s Market!

I had to pre-make my breakfast this morning, so last night I made a breakfast cookie and put it in a handy tupperware container so it was easily transportable. I ate it on the car on the way up to SPAC with Marcie!

Into my breakfast cookie went

• 1/2 cup of old fashioned oats
• 1/2 a mashed banana
• 1 tbsp of Dark Chocolate Dreams peanut butter
• 2 tbsps of light soy milk

It was chocolatey and delicious. A perfect pre-race breakfast!! Marcie and I headed up to SPAC at around 8:00. It was early and the race didn’t start until 10:30, but we wanted time to get our packets and t-shirts and check everything out. We relaxed and stretched a little bit and did a couple of short quick jogs around the park. Eventually my sister, Sue, Sue’s cousin, and Brendan got there and we all met up! My sister wasn’t running in the race so she took my pictures!

pre-race photo op!

So we hung around for a little bit. Sue’s mom’s band, The Accents, were scheduled to play at the main stage for the 5K, which was pretty cool! They are an awesome cover band.

The thing I liked about this race was that it was less crowded than the Workforce Challenge! There were still over 800 people running in it, which is really awesome for a first time event! But less people = an easier run and no finish line crowd freakouts!

runners waiting in line for packets

I’ve never ran around SPAC’s grounds before, so running this was really awesome! It was so pretty and green, and the sun was shining! It was starting to get warm, but thankfully it was still morning so the temperature was just right! I started out pretty fast at like a 7:30 pace, and I got kind of tired mid race. I actually sprinted at the end this time and I came in at 27:17, my best time running 3.1 miles, ever! I have a new PR to beat!

My garmin stats:

• Total: 3.12 miles
• Time: 27:07
• Average Pace: 8:45
• Average Speed: 6.9
• Maximum Speed: 9.1
• Calories Burned: 369

I have one complaint about this race though. There was only one water station and no water at the finish line. What were these people thinking? I saw people struggling at the finish line yelling for water! It was pretty brutal. But I made my way over to the refreshment tent, I got a bottle of water, an apple and a cinnamon bun and wolfed it down. I got to see one of my friends finish the race! 🙂 Marcie came in at 33 minutes, her best 5K time, and this was only her second 5K! Brendan and Sue both finished before me. Brendan came in at 23 minutes and Sue came in at 22 minutes. Congrats everyone, you all did great and I’m so glad we were here running together, even though we all ran at our own paces. It was still fun. 🙂

We all did awesome!!! I need to convince my sister to sign up for her first 5K…maybe the Freihofer’s? 😉

Anyway, I have some good news! Most of you know I lost my old blog, but today I recovered some old posts!! Marcie told me about google’s cache pages, which are snapshots of websites taken in the past. She said I had a couple of old blog posts up! I went on searched and I found some! I back dated them and they are now all available for your viewing pleasure! Here are the links to the ones I could save:

• Honey Lemon Tea & Chickpea Salad
• Six Miles on a Track
• Banana Pancakes and Tulips
• Farm Fresh Eggs
• The Big Two-Five (My birthday post!!)
• Breaded Goat Cheese, Gelato, and Toga
• Confessions of a Chocoholic
• Pizza, Banana Bread Failure, and Other Random Things
• Sweet Potatoes and Banana Froyo
• Oats for Dinner!

Now I’m off to relax…and think of something creative to make for dinner. 🙂 My next race: the Freihofer’s Run for Women in two weeks! How am I going to beat 27 minutes and 17 seconds?!

Best Mac and Cheese Ever. Period.

Warning: the beginning of this post contains food that is not that healthy! Just a heads up…

Yesterday, Chris and I went out to lunch at the Albany Pump Station! Its a pretty nice restaurant as well as a brewery, which is pretty cool. I really don’t know much about beer but Chris does, thankfully! I didn’t know which beer to order so I went with the Sampler.

Chris was pondering the menu as I snapped this pic, and yes I finished the first beer before I took it!

The first and second ones were pretty good, but unfortunately I can’t remember the name of all of them! I know the first one in line was a Quackenbush Blonde (which is empty in this pic!), and I really liked it! It was kind of citrusy. The third one I didn’t like too much. I also liked a couple of the darker beers…the Oatmeal Stout and Porter. I think I liked the porter better. I think my overall favorite was the Blonde though.  I need to work on my beer knowledge! I’m more of a wine girl myself. 😉

We ordered the Mediterranean appetizer to start, which came with two pieces of falafel, tabouli, hummus, olives, feta and tomatoes. It was pretty tasty, but I was saving room for my meal. I had been debating on whether or not to go all out and order the famous lobster and shrimp mac and cheese that won the Mac & Cheese Bowl back in March that we attended…or order something healthy. The mac and cheese won!

Yes, I am aware this is NOT the healthiest thing on the menu that I could have chosen, but I rarely order pasta out at restaurants, let alone mac and cheese. This was my reward for finishing the race on Thursday, and for running yet another race tomorrow. Plus, I wanted to fit in some carbs before then. 🙂 I will tell you it was worth every calorie! I think this might be the most decadent mac and cheese I have ever eaten, and it is no surprise that it won best mac and cheese at the Bowl! I actually only ate about 3/4 of it, but I probably could have eaten the whole thing, but I stopped myself. I will dream of this mac and cheese until next time I get to eat it. Which hopefully won’t be for a really long time…

The guilt started to set in when I got home…so I went for a 2.25 mile run. I actually had been wanting to run a little bit before my race on Sunday, just to get some extra miles in. I didn’t want to take two complete days off of running between races. My legs felt kind of tired, and it was still really hot yesterday afternoon. But I’m glad I squeezed in that quick run. It felt good.

So today’s adventures included a trip to the Troy Farmer’s Market with Marcie on the Riverfront! It was pretty neat.

We wandered around for a little bit and sampled a few things. I didn’t buy that much. Just some arugula, maple peanut butter and herb goat cheese.

Marcie and I decided to make lunch with our market findings! We made some pita pizzas!

Marcie chopping veggies!

Our mini pizzas were:

• Joseph’s whole wheat and flax pitas
• Tomato sauce with no salt added
• Mozzarella cheese made with goat’s milk
• Arugula
• Tomatoes
• Garlic Powder

They came out really good! It was my first time having arugula and goat’s milk mozzarella. The arugula was really good! Kind of like a spicy spinach! And the cheese was excellent, very light tasting. Yum! Such a nice fresh lunch made with mostly local ingredients. 🙂

my lunch with sunchips on the side

I had a pretty good day so far! Now I just have to get all of my gear together for tomorrow’s 5K. I’m super excited about it because it goes through the SPAC grounds in Saratoga and there are going to be bands playing all throughout the race! It should be fun. See you tomorrow!