Motto

“If you get caught up in the worst case scenario and it doesn’t happen, you’ve wasted your time. And if you are caught up in the worst case scenario and it does happen, you’ve lived it twice.” -Michael J. Fox

3.31.2011

Recipe and help

Rosemary, Garlic and Asiago Loaves

Since some of you requested the recipe yesterday, here it is! I have made this recipe a couple of times….it is pretty hard to screw up. :-)

Ingredients:

3 tbl olive oil or vegetable oil (I used Pam)

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 springs fresh rosemary, chopped

5 to 5 ½ cups of flour

2 tbl sugar

1 ½ tsp salt

4 ½ tsp active dry yeast

2 cups very warm water

¾ cup shredded Asiago cheese (3 oz)

Directions:

1. In a skillet, heat oil over medium heat. Cook garlic in oil, stirring frequently, until garlic just begins to brown. Remove to heat.

2. In large bowl, mix 2 cups of the flour, the rosemary, sugar, salt and yeast. Add very warm water and garlic with oil. Beat with electric mixer on medium speed 3 minutes, scraping bowl occasionally. Stir in cheese and enough remaining flour to make dough easy to handle.

3. On lightly floured surface, knead dough 5-10 minutes or until dough is smooth and springy. Grease large bowl with shortening or spray (I used Pam). Place dough in bowl, turning dough to grease all sides. Cover bowl loosely with plastic wrap and let rise in warm place 1 hour to 1 hour 30 minutes or until dough has doubled in size.

4. Grease large cookie sheet with shortening or spray. Gently push fist into dough to deflate. Divide dough into fourths. Shape each into 6-inch round. Place each round with smooth side up on corner of cookie sheet. Cut ½-inch deep slash in top of each round with serrated knife. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rise in warm place about 30 minutes or until dough has doubled in size.

5. Heat oven to 375. Remove plastic wrap. Bake 20-25 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from cookie sheet and place on wire rack to cool.


I would love to say that I have a picture but CP and I finished the last of the four loaves (with help from my mother-in-law and her husband) yesterday! I will be making this recipe again soon. :-)



On a different note, is anyone else having problems with Blogger formatting? Granted I don't know how to do much in HTML, but usually I am able to write a post in Outlook and copy and paste it over to Blogger. Now if I do that it makes every sentence run together. And then when I put the after sentences to break up paragraphs to fix it if I am not completely done with the post and hit "publish" it runs together again (even if I save it). Help??


7 comments:

3.30.2011

Ten on the wrong day

Saw that this Ten on Tuesday yesterday was all about food and I figured that I HAD to do it. :-)


1. What is a food that you never thought you would try, but then tried and liked?


Oh lots of things. CP has me try anything and everything.


2. Do you subscribe to any foodie publications? If so, which ones?


We get Cooking Light (more for me), Cooks Illustrated and Bon Appetit.


3. What ingredient do you find yourself reaching for the most when you cook?


Probably Pam? I don’t cook very much but when I make eggs on the weekend or cook chicken for lunches, I grab the Pam.


4. Are there any foods that you hated as a child, but then learned to like as an adult?


LOTS of stuff. I didn’t eat fish as a kid, but now I haven’t met a fish that I don’t like. Brussel sprouts. Beets. Turnips. Sushi. Duck. Veal.


5. What do you like to eat that others may consider weird?


A lot of the stuff that CP makes! All of my coworkers think that the head on duck/goose we had a few weeks ago was disgusting. To me, it is the same thing they can get at a regular supermarket just not cleaned/ sanitized for the masses. The duck/geese that they eat had heads and feet at one time so it is the same darn thing.


6. What is the weirdest ingredient you’ve ever cooked with?


CP could probably answer this a bit better. That boys eats anything so therefore he cooks with anything. Recently he cooked with tripe (nasty) and chayote.


7. Do you have any major food allergies?


No thank goodness. I can’t imagine having to give up peanut butter, fish, shellfish, etc.


8. Is there an ingredient that you would like to cook with, but are intimidated to try?


Probably meat and fish in general. I like recipes where you put everything into a crockpot/baking dish and cook everything for a set amount of time. That way I don’t have to think about whether something is completely cooked through or not.


9. Do you bake?


Yes and sometimes I actually make some good stuff. This past weekend I made Rosemary Garlic Asiago bread and it was DELICIOUS. I will try to remember to share the recipe because it EASY and yummy.


10. If you could go on any “foodie” show to compete, which one would it be, and why?


Any foodie show would kick me off from the very start so I wouldn’t even try. Now CP on the other hand…


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On another note, while my triceps and my arms in general are still super sore, my legs are finally starting to feel better. I took Fuzzy Britches for an hour long walk yesterday, but couldn't fathom trying to run. When you feel pain just walking That I will attempt tonight. I'm going to chalk up most of this week to an absolute failure due to CrossFit soreness. I guess I am "tapering" for the Quarter Marathon race this weekend??

3.29.2011

Help

Anyone else use Nike+ for running or walking? If so, please join this challenge! The person that started the challenge worked with individuals and companies who will donate $10-$100 per mile/kilometer to the Red Cross for mileage accrued from 3/15 to 4/15. The more people that join and add their mileage to the challenge, the more money donated! I just joined yesterday and despite the fact that we are halfway through the challenge, it synched my miles from all of my runs since 3/15.

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So I have noticed that my blog reader doesn’t have as many posts in it lately. I think that I may subscribe to too many people that have just had babies! A newborn= no time to blog!

Do you have a blog or two on your blog roll that you absolutely love that I am not already reading (see my list to the right)? If so, leave their URL in your comment. Why do you enjoy reading them so much?

My Google Reader thanks you! :-)

3.28.2011

A three hour tour

OH BOY. You know how I was tired just thinking about my active weekend? Well, I had a good reason to be nervous because I am sore EVERYWHERE.

Saturday morning my training group ran 6 miles. My pace was 11:30/mile which I am completely fine with- especially because I didn't get the BEST sleep the night before. I knew that CP would want to drink at the Guys Night Out event so I agreed to drive him to the bar and pick him up. In his absence, I cleaned for three hours in anticipation of my mother-in-law's visit, baked bread and ruined the custard for the lemongrass ice cream by allowing the milk to boil because I took my eyes off of the pan for a minute (I got the ingredients again on Saturday- the second batch turned out great!).

I was shocked that I hadn't heard from him before midnight. He ended up calling at 12:30 and I picked him up along with two other guys that clearly couldn't drive home. With no bra on. My mouthguard in (took it out as soon as I saw others walking towards the car). My glasses on. Wearing my pajama pants. In other words, HOT.

Needless to say, I was a bit tired (better than the hangover CP had for most of the day) for the run. My legs were tired the rest of the day and I was a bit cranky towards the end of the night but I survived.

Yesterday I headed over to the Cross Fit gym to start the three hour workout. Our warm up consisted of going outside to do butt kickers, leg kicks, lunges and then a sprint back to the gym. It doesn’t sound hard, but we spent a long time on lunges so my legs were pretty tired.

We were then broken up into 4 groups as there were 80 people brave enough to show up for the workout. My first station I had a choice of a rowing machine, jump rope or a ski machine. I decided that because that day was all about trying new things I would try the ski machine. You held two pulleys in your hand above your head and when the trainer shouted "GO" you would squat down then pull the ropes down and past your thighs. We did 20 second sprints, as fast as possible, and then rested for 10 seconds. We did this 8 times. This wasn't too bad. I paid attention to my form and tried not to slow down too much on the later rounds.

The next round was pushups. Ugh. I can do 20 girl pushups, but after that everything gets tired and my form starts to stink. Once again it was 20 seconds of high intensity, bust out as many pushups as possible, with 10 seconds of rest, 8 times. I did great on the first two rounds. I was pretty sad on the rest of the rounds.

The next round was my favorite. There were three balls placed on a course, one weighing 10 lbs placed closest to the group, another 14 lbs a bit farther out, and the 20 lb medicine ball the farthest away. We were put in teams of 4. The first person ran to the first ball (10 lbs) picked it up and brought it back to our group. The second person got the 14 lb ball and ran it back to our group. The third person ran out to the 20 lb ball and brought it back, handing it to the fourth person who would run the ball out and place it on the designated line. We continued bringing the balls back to the line and then picking them up again for four minutes. I think that I liked this one the most because it was the easiest. I didn't slack off at all...I just think that with three other people you had more rest in between runs.

The last round was squats. Not your average run of the mill squats in a cardio class though. Cross Fit squats are ones where you MUST get your butt below your knees. Otherwise the trainers yell. A lot. Once again it was 20 seconds of as many squats as possible, 10 seconds of rest for 8 rounds. I can do a lot of squats, but I was pretty tired at the end.

From there we did a mile and half run. Thank goodness it wasn't any further because my legs felt like lead! Despite the short distance I had to walk a sizable portion of the run because my legs were SCREAMING in pain.

The run ended at the yoga studio where we packed 80 people in the room. It was hot. Not Bikram hot, but the studio was at least 80 degrees. Along with the body heat of everyone the room got even hotter. We ended up doing power yoga which was HARD. My shoulders and arms were already screaming from the pushups and ski machine, so every time we went into dogward dog I wanted to kill myself. It didn't help that the girl next to me was a hardcore yoga person so I felt silly with my shaking limbs.

Thankfully the hour was over and my three hour workout complete. I went home to lay on the couch, eat some lunch and complain to CP about being tired. I figured I would be sore today, but I didn't count on not being able to bend my right arm (aka do a bicep curl) today. I woke up this morning at 4am to pee and found that I couldn't bend my right arm too far towards my shoulder without immense pain. I don't have the same pain in my left arm so I don't know if I slept on it funny or what....but it is not fun. I'm guessing muscle pain, but it is not in the tricep. Hopefully it goes away soon....

Have you ever tried CrossFit? Was this a normal workout of the day? If you haven't tried CrossFit does this post make you want to try it or run very far away from it?

3.25.2011

I'm tired already!

I have what will likely be a VERY tiring weekend ahead of me.

Tonight? I will clean the house. The Newcomers Club that we joined this past fall is having a Guys Night Out tonight. CP has yet to go to any of the Guys events because he just isn’t interested. He met a couple of guys at an event this past month and has decided that they aren’t too bad. So I agreed to clean the house to get ready for his mom’s arrival tomorrow so that he could go to the event. I hope he has fun!

Tomorrow we have a 6 mile training run planned with my half marathon group. We will run basically right by my house- hopefully I’m not tempted to go home in the middle of the run! ;-) After the run I will quickly get home to shower and await my MIL’s arrival. Not sure what we are doing with them during the day, but CP will be making dinner and I will be making lemongrass ice cream for dessert.

Sunday I signed up for something that is going to be HARD. It is a “fitness tour” of my town. First up? An hour and a half workout at the local Cross Fit gym. And guys? I am scared. I have read enough blog entries to know that this is NOT going to be easy. I’m thinking that the extra long workout is because they will have to explain a lot. After that workout we will do a mile and a half run. Then yoga for an unspecified amount of time.

So yeah. My 6 mile run tomorrow would be exhausting on its own. The Cross Fit/run/yoga would be exhausting on its own. But of course I jam it into one weekend ALONG with a in-law visit. Here’s hoping I survive and lose 10 pounds in the process. Ha!

Bring on the tiring weekend!

3.24.2011

Guys have it so easy

After hearing of CP’s “swimmers” test, I have decided that guys have it so easy.

CP’s experience went something like this. He showed up at the clinic and was brought into a room with a cup. He didn’t really see any “aids” lying around, but noticed a television in the corner of the room so he turned it on. Surprise! It was porn. He didn’t want to turn it on too loud because he could hear that someone in the room next to him was having a regular office visit. (Ed. Note: weird. You would think that they would make the walls a bit more soundproof. That wouldn’t be a turn-on for most guys.)

He told me later on that it actually was a pretty good porn too. (Ha ha)

The only question in his head was whether he should just get it over with quickly (and possibly look like a two pump chump) or draw it out a little bit (and possibly look impotent). LOL. He’s too funny. Otherwise, no feeling weird about “donating” in a doctor’s office.

After he was done he THEN found the huge stack of nudie magazines and pornos in the drawer. Too bad!

So that’s it. No blood drawn. No having to show your bits to strangers. No cramping. No dripping after the test is over. Just doing something enjoyable. Lucky bastard.

3.23.2011

More tests

Today I went for the hysterosalpingogram test (aka HSG test aka dye up the lady bits test). My progesterone bloodwork came back on the lower end of normal, but still in the normal range, so it was the next test to get. This was my experience (possibly TMI).

I arrived at the radiology office and was told to take off my jeans and underwear and put on a dressing gown. The nurse led me into a room with the all too familiar stirrups, but instead of a padded reclined chair, it was a cold metal slab. A huge machine was located just off the side of the table.

I got on the table and we got started. At first it just felt like a regular annual exam, including scooting down to the end of the table, putting my feet in the stirrups and the cold speculum. (Lucky me! Two in 2 months!) After inserting the speculum, the doctor then swabbed my cervix with a solution (I believe it was a yellow/brown iodine solution to clean the area). She then inserted a catheter which produced a cramping sensation. From there, she blew up a balloon inside me which caused some more cramping pain.

I was then told to scoot backwards to get under the X-ray machine, take my feet out of the stirrups and lay them on the table. The doctor then inserted the dye into my uterus. As it traveled up through my fallopian tubes and into my ovaries, the X-ray doctor took pictures of my inside lady bits.

The whole process took 15 minutes. The nurse gave me a massive pad because for 1-3 days I will have dye, blood and iodine dripping out of me. Man I haven’t worn one of these since the beginning of high school!! And yes, I am seriously sexy.

Two hours later I still have some cramping. Good times.

The result? Everything is fine. No blockages anywhere. They showed me my X-ray and I have a very pretty uterus.* That definitely makes me happy, but it has me a confused as to why we are still having problems getting pregnant. Maybe we will know a bit better when CP’s test results come back?


*I have never seen anyone else's uterus on an X-ray, so I am not really qualified to make this statement. :-)
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