National Grilled Cheese Sandwich Day!

Did you know that April 12th (today) is National Grilled Cheese Sandwich Day?

A delicious grilled cheese sandwich is one of the best comfort foods out there! I don't know about you, but I definitely love me a good grilled cheese. So quick. So easy. So delicious!

Think a grilled cheese sandwich is just for kids? Think again.

Here are a few ways to Grow Up your next grilled cheese sandwich.

Week in Review 12/04

Mostly a good week last week. #RWRunStreak is going strong and I'm keeping up with my Nike+ Run Club training program, too. The cold weather sucks, but at least it's helping me run a bit FASTER! 🏃

Birthday Weekend Recap

If you follow me on Instagram, you've likely already seen glimpses into my birthday weekend, and like I mentioned yesterday, it was one of my best birthdays ever!

As we were walking to dinner last night, I was telling Jeff about how much I enjoyed everything about my birthday this year. I described it as low key with lots of activity.

Friday

I was greeted at work with balloons and cupcakes. Yum! I wore my sexy yellow shoes and got a ton of compliments on them. A co-worker brought me a delicious latte from Starbucks. My department went to Yogurtland for lunch. I definitely felt a bit spoiled.

The evening was spent lounging and watching TV. We ate a nice pasta dinner and went to bed early for a Friday night.

Saturday

Jeff and I woke up early to head to the Sprinkler Sprint. We left shortly after 6am to run/bike to the race. We met up with my friend, Crosby, but only ran the first 0.7 miles with him before Jeff had to walk. You can read more about the race here.

On the way home from the race, Jeff hit a curb the wrong way with his bike and fell. He caught himself with his palm, and the handlebar hit his leg, but he was otherwise ok. We separated paths at that point, so we could get home faster to ice his palm.

I got home, stretched, made us some eggs, and watched TV. Jeff had stayed up way too late and only got  a few hours of sleep before the race, so he laid down for a nap. I followed an hour or so later.

We hit the pool for a bit after our naps, and then I started getting ready to go out for my birthday. I needed to shave and wanted to give myself a mani/pedi, so I gave myself plenty of time to get ready and not feel rushed.

We were meeting some friends downtown at the newly re-opened Gold Spike. I'd been there back in July and thought it would be a great place to hang out on my birthday. They have all these giant games, like Jenga, Beer Pong, and Connect 4. The only thing I absolutely wanted to do was play Connect 4.

After the Gold Spike, we met some friends over at El Cortez, where we randomly met up with other friends who just happened to be there. I almost made my karaoke debut, but the karaoke bar closed before they got to my song. Probably for the best.

But maybe next time...

After the karaoke bar closed around 2am, we walked around and hit a couple other bars before heading home around 3:30am.

Now you know why I wanted to have my long run out of the way on Saturday. :)

Sunday

I still didn't sleep in all that late on Sunday. I woke up shortly before 9, and thought if I hurried out of bed, I could probably make it to Lululemon for Sunday morning yoga.

I didn't.

But I did get in a 2 mile recovery run around 10am.

Jeff was still sleeping (he didn't go to bed until around 8am), so I headed to the mall for my birthday treat from Red Mango.

And then hit Bath and Body Works for a free bottle of lotion. It wasn't for my birthday per se, but it was pretty perfect timing. :)  Then it was time for Walmart for some groceries.

After shopping, we hit the pool and hot tub and got into a very lengthy conversation with one of the old men at the pool on the quality of movies today. It was interesting to say the least.

We walked to RedBox because I'd received a coupon code for a free movie, but our card wasn't working. Instead, we stopped at McDonald's for dinner, and watched the Netflix movie that was in our mailbox waiting for us.

Monday

I took Monday off from work to extend my birthday weekend. I only slept in until around 8am, and then made a delicious breakfast and worked on my Marathon Monday post.

We had somehow managed to really trash our apartment the previous few days, so I straightened up the whole apartment - including the closet that had become quite the hodgepodge mess. It felt good and very satisfying.

Some of our neighbors were playing really loud music very early Monday morning - keeping Jeff awake, so he pretty much slept until after 2pm. We hit the pool when he woke up and chatted with the old men for a bit until I felt like the afternoon was getting away from us.

I still wanted to cash in on my free pizza from Grimaldi's to end my birthday weekend. We got all ready and then walked to the Palazzo. We went there last year for my birthday, too, but we'd taken a different route. We were surprised at how easy it was to find. We hope to start going there more frequently than the once a year for my birthday. Hey, I should probably sign Jeff up, so we can get free pizza on his birthday, too!!

We tried 3 different cheesecakes for dessert. While they were delicious, they really threw me over the edge. I couldn't eat even one more bite!

We brought home about 1/2 the pizza, so guess what I'll be eating for lunch today?

On the walk home, we stopped by the waterfalls outside the Wynn.

And Jeff had to take a little break, too. :)

Oh, and I can't forget the gifts I received.

The cookbook totally cracked me up! The chocolates were delicious, and the card was super cute.

Now, it's back to reality and back to work, but this is definitely going down as one of my most favorite birthdays ever! We crammed a lot of stuff in during the weekend, but it was all so fun with hardly any time crunches, so I was able to soak it all in and just ENJOY!

Do you take a day off from work for your birthday?
What's your favorite way to celebrate?
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My Favorite Foods to Smell

Okay. And eat.

Today's Monday Listicles is all about food. Bridget suggested the topic and gave us free reign over interpretation.

Ask anyone in my family, and they'll tell you stories of how picky of an eater I was growing up. The list of foods I wouldn't eat was probably longer than the list of what I would try. I'm much more adventurous now.

Still, I thought I'd take a slighty different approach, and try to come up with a list of foods that I love to smell.

TEN GREAT SMELLING FOODS

1. Fresh bread
2. Pumpkin pie
3. Roast - turkey, beef, pork
4. Potato soup
5. Chocolate chip cookies
6. Pizza
7. Flavored coffee
8. Warm apple cider
9. Buffalo wings
10. Peanut butter

There's a reason fresh bread is #1. That is without a doubt my all-time favorite. When I worked downtown Minneapolis, every morning I would walk by a Subway restaurant. I looked forward to the delectable smells wafting out into the skyway. It always made me smile, and took a lot of willpower to keep walking and not stop to simply relish in the moment of the wondrous smell of baking bread.

What are your favorite smelling foods?

Do you have any memories of the smell of a favorite food?

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Fall Foods: Soup and Cheesecake

Today the SITS Girls challenged to share our favorite fall craft or recipe.

I'm really not a very crafty person, but something I love about fall is the return to soup season. Potato soup is one of my favorites, but I'll take just about any kind of warm, liquidy goodness. What I love about making soup is that I don't need a recipe. I just toss about a bunch of stuff in a pot or slow cooker and voila! a wonderful, fill-the-house-with-good-smells soup. Yum!

Since I rarely use a recipe, I'm going to share with you a lovely recipe for squash (pumpkin works, too!) cheesecake that I made last year.

Flying Witch

Yields 2+ cheesecakes

Ingredients:

• 2 ready made graham cracker crust
• 4 8 oz packages of cream cheese, softened
• ¾ c granulated sugar
• ¼ c packed brown sugar
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 1 small golden nugget squash
• 4 eggs
• ½ tsp pumpkin pie spice (or ¼ tsp cinnamon, ⅛ tsp nutmeg, ½ of ⅛ tsp each of allspice and cardamom)
• 1/2 c semi sweet chocolate chips, melted
• Pictures of a flying witch or a howling wolf or whatever you'd like on the cheesecake

Directions:
1. Pierce squash a few times with a fork. Soften in microwave for 45-60 secs. Cut in half; remove seeds. Place in a microwaveable dish; cover with plastic wrap. Cook for 9 minutes or until fork tender. Scoop squash into a food processor and blend until smooth. This should give you about 1 cup of purée.

2. While squash is cooking, cream the cream cheese and sugars together in a bowl until smooth and creamy. Add vanilla and eggs . Mix until well blended. Reserve 1 cup of batter. Pour remaining evenly between two graham cracker crusts.

3. Add squash purée and pumpkin pie spice to the reserved batter. Mix well. Drop by spoonfuls onto the white batter. Gently swirl with a knife. I swirled in one direction to give the impression of a windy, stormy, scary, Halloween night. I had a LOT of leftover squash batter, so I put it in a small dish to bake a 3rd, smaller, no-crust cheesecake.

4. Bake at 350°F for 40-45 min or until the center is still barely jiggly or right before cracks start to appear. Remove and let cool on cooling rack.

5. While cheesecakes are baking, place pictures under wax paper. Put melted chocolate into a plastic baggie and snip off the corner. Pipe the chocolate over the pictures. I had some extra chocolate, so I hand drew a full moon, a spider web, a spider, and some bats/birds/whatever. Place on a cookie sheet and put in the freezer to harden.

6. Once cheesecakes have cooled, cut the wax paper around the chocolate pictures and place pictures on the cheesecake, wax paper side up. Leave waxed paper on and chill cakes in the fridge for 8+ hours or overnight. Gently pull off waxed paper.

This recipe was originally posted over at my other blog: Tale of Two Sisters and Their Kitchens

What's your favorite fall recipe or craft?
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Checking in...

September seems to be flying right by...

I thought I'd take a few minutes to check-in on my Sept goals. Will I be successful?

• Find a job. Truth be told, I really need to re-focus on this. I've let it slide this past week. The thing is, I had a great interview last week, went in for a drug screen the next day. Now, I'm waiting to hear back about the results. I'm very hopeful. :-)
• Run 60 miles. I think I'm on track for this. As of today, I've run 29 miles. I don't see any reason why I won't be able to pump out the rest. Unless my knee decides to have other plans. It's been bothering me the past several days. In fact, I skipped my Wed run to see if it would help. Hopefully my 7mile run goes well tomorrow.
• Incorporate more yoga and stretching and strength training. I've been pretty good about doing some yoga after each run. I still need to work a bit harder at the strength training, though. I've not been terrible but can definitely be better. ;-)
• Participate in NaBloPoMo, Fitness Writing Challenge, and #Runnerdphotoaday. I think I've only missed one day of blogging so far! but, there were a couple days that I posted more than once... I think I've missed a couple days of the photo challenge, too. Still, I'm very pleased with my progress so far with these challenges.

All in all, it's shaping up to be a pretty decent month. *fingers crossed* for some good news on the job front.

Today, Fitness Cheerleader asks us about our 5 favorite vegetables.

When it comes to veggies, I am BORING! My favorites are probably carrots, celery, bell peppers, soybeans edamame (much less boring, right?), and cucumbers. 

Like I said, BORRRRRING!

I wish I liked fancier veggies, but simply, I don't know what to do with them. ;-)

How are your September goals coming along?
What are your favorite veggies?

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5 of the Best Foods. Ever.

Today is Day 5 of the August Healthy Living / Fitness Blogger Writing Challenge, and today we're talking about food, as in the five foods you simply can't live without.

Off the top of my head, I'd definitely have to go with in no particular order...

Bananas

Almond milk

Black beans

rice - not necessarily white, though that's what I usually have 

Bread - almost any variety will do!

Good thing I'm still pretty full from dinner or else I'd be super hungry after writing this post.

In other news, I went on my first Vegas hike this morning. It was a great trail! Just enough of a workout, just enough shade.

Satellite view of our hike

Elevation map

Although I didn't enjoy all of my 5 can't-live-without foods today, it was a pretty great day spent outside with some terrific new friends.

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Guilty Pleasures

Oh, I've got them. Who doesn't? Here are my top 5.

1. General Hospital. I've watched this off and on for years. I go in phases where I watch it more frequently, but it's a soap opera, so even if I miss a day week month year, it's not at all difficult to quickly catch up. I've heard rumors that it might be going off the air after nearly 50 years. Even though I don't tune in every day, I'll be super sad if it goes away.

2. French fries. I  know they're incredibly unhealthy, but they just smell and taste so good! On my bus ride home after school today, I sat next to someone with a bag from McDonald's. Omygod I wanted some right then and there. I didn't. It's actually pretty rare that I have the opportunity to enjoy such deliciousness.

3. Good TV shows. I'm not exactly sure how to define a good TV show, but there are definitely a few besides GH that I enjoy more than I should. If a show sucks me in, I could easily be lost for hours.

4. Waterfalls. It sounds weird, I know, but if I'm out hiking or running or biking, and I hear the sound of rushing water, I almost have to find the source. There's just something about watching the rushing flow of water that I find exhilarating.

I want to visit Croatia one day just to see this!

5. Brownies, cookies, pretty much anything sweet. If it's around, I will eat it. It's almost as if they are calling my name. I'm a nibbler. If there is a plate of cookies leftover cake a pan of brownies *ahem* any of the above on the counter, I will snag just a bite. every. single. time. I. pass. them. It's definitely a weakness.

What are your guilty pleasures?

Link up with Stasha @ The good life.

3TT #4

Here we go...

Thing 1 - Last week, I looked in the mirror and thought, "Wow. My skin appears to finally be clearing up!" Then I immediately thought, "Geez. I really shouldn't have allowed that thought to formulate." I tried to quickly knock on wood, but alas, within 24 hours, at least 5 new blemishes appeared. Ugh!

Thing 2 - Way back in mid-Feb, I made some heart shaped rice crispy treats - which left me with half a box of crisp rice cereal in my cupboard. So, I had a bowl for breakfast one morning with a spoonful of sugar added, of course. That was it. My whole breakfast. And you know what? IT FILLED ME UP and I STAYED THAT WAY FOR HOURS. Who would have guessed it would be such a filling cereal? I certainly didn't! Now, I've finished that box and nearly an entire second box. It is easily my favorite breakfast option right now.

Thing 3 - This one is going to blow your mind! I'm running the Get Lucky! Half Marathon on Saturday! heeheehee. I've only mentioned it in the past two posts. Guess I'm pretty excited about it. Here is a picture of my intended outfit except with a white sports bra and I'll likely wear my contacts.

If nothing else, it's festive, right? It might be in the 50s Saturday morning, so I'll likely be overdressed. Hopefully the shorts will make up for the sweatshirt. :-) I think this will be the most festive I've ever dressed for a race. I probably should have started with a shorter distance. The shorts and socks are obviously not running-specific attire, so hopefully they don't cause uncomfortable chafing or anything like that.

Are you running any races this weekend?

5FF - Food

It's been awhile since I've done a Five Favorites for Friday.

1. Smell? Subway in the morning. It's a little piece of heaven in the morning when I walk by. I always end up slowing my pace just a bit and taking in a deep breath. I might even close my eyes. I hope no one notices. That would just be embarrassing.
2. Comfort food? Grilled cheese with tomato soup. Nothing too spectacular. Sometimes, I'll go all crazy and throw in some goldfish crackers. Yum.
3. Delivery? Jimmy John's. Hands down. They are so fast and so yummy. We have been ordering them way.too.often lately.
4. Grill? Several times throughout the summer, my family will have grilled pizzas for dinner. Once we even did this is February for Jeff's birthday. I love this because everyone can make their own and get the exact toppings they want.
5. Candy? M&Ms. Just about any variety. Today, I'm snacking on pretzel, but I also really love peanut. Plain are probably my least favorite, but I'd probably not turn them down. Of course there's not much candy I would ever turn down, so this favorite is in constant flux.

Picky Eater

How lucky for you. Two posts in as many days!

Growing up, I was one of the pickiest eaters. I rarely liked to try anything new. And if I didn't like the look of something? Forget about it! Our closest neighbors were my aunt and uncle. When my mom tried to get me to eat something I didn't want to, I'm simply say that I'd had it before. Where? Aunt Judy's, of course. My mom didn't buy it. :)

I was pretty stubborn, too. I was told I couldn't leave the table until I'd finished what was on my plate. I would sit and sit and sit. Sometimes, I would sneak off to the bathroom to dispose of what I could down the toilet.

I've come a long way since then. I'm still not the most adventurous eater; I still judge food by the way it looks.

BUT compared to my husband, I am a regular [insert famous explorer of your choice].

We were eating dinner at the Persian restaurant in our hotel the last night of our stay in Costa Rica. I can't remember what was on my plate, but I asked Jeff if he'd like to try it.

"Are you kidding? I'm already pushing boundaries eating this salad."

He's kind of an "iceberg lettuce with ranch dressing" kind of salad-eating-guy. :)

Earlier in the trip, I saw Nutella on the shelf at the Mini-Super. Now you can't go camping (which is essentially what we were doing the 2nd have of our trip), without Nutella, as I learned at Girls Camp this past summer, so I bought some and some tortillas. Yum! They didn't have any bananas. Weird, I know, since Chiquita has a plantation in Costa Rica.

Jeff's response: "How is this not chocolate frosting?"

And that was about the extent of his dabbling with Nutella. Who doesn't ♥ Nutella?!

We also tried Tilapia (yum!), fried plantains with beans and rice for breakfast (double yum!), well, I guess that's about all I can think of right now.

Not in Costa Rica, but back here in St Paul, we recently tried a spearfish steak. My jury is still out a little on whether or not I actually liked it.