Success!

We returned from the fab town of St. Petersburg, FL, where they host St. Anthony's Triathlon. Its always cool to run the same course that the pros run. Unfortunately, they shortened the swim down to 1000 m. So happy they didn't cancel the water portion all together.

Good things...

Mentally, I was much more on my game this tri. I was able to push myself more and see the fruits of my training. There's still some room for growth, but it was amazing to feel stronger this race.

Flat course...so much easier to run.

A girl and I kept passing each other on the bike. I've been the person who wasn't able to pass that last time. Yesterday, I was the passer. Felt so good.

The people along the route had hoses out to spray us as we ran by...very nice.

Bad Things...

I now have some serious bike envy. Yes, I need to train more, but people on their fancy, schmancy bikes zoomed right past me.

Couple of rude people...I never like someone to tell me how to race. I've read the rules and I abide by them. A woman passing me said. "On your left" (which is curteous to say), followed by, "Stay on the right" as if this were my first race. I was in the middle, a bike width from another person that I was slowly passing. This woman had plenty of space to pass me on the left. Yes, I'm venting, but it was obnoxious.

I'm a wus in the swim...I hate to be in the frey and my time suffers from it. I do not, however, freak out in the water (a very good thing). It was a little bit of a reflex/defense mechanism, but the woman who began to swim over me felt my knee and elbow in her chest.

Stats...

Swim 1000 m

23:00 min (2:18 rate)

T1 (long run back to transition area)

6:08 min

Bike 40 k

1:28.10 (16.9 rate)

T2

2:37 min

Run 1

29:07

Run 2

27:58

Total run 57:05

pace of 9:17

Ollie-man Pancakes

Most of you know that O man has some food allergies. Its not a big deal, really, now that we know what to avoid. My goal over the next year is to explore some recipes that my whole family can eat. We eat a LOT of grain, veg, meat options, so it will be nice to branch out and expand our pallets a bit. I want Ollie to enjoy the same things that other kids enjoy (without losing his lunch).

Kids love pancakes on Saturday morning, and my kids are no different. Here's a recipe for egg free and dairy free pancakes. Ollie can have butter (there's almost no protein in butter...its all fat), so its here. You could also try some coconut oil instead of butter. Vanilla So Delicious Coconut Milk makes a great substitute for cow's milk. Its non-GMO and its much thicker than rice milk. Ollie has a sensitivity to tree nuts, but coconut products do not seem to cause any trouble. I use organic ingredients, when possible.

3/4 cup whole wheat flour

3/4 cup white flour

1 1/2 t baking powder (aluminum-free)

1/2 t sea salt

3 T unsalted butter, melted

2 T arrowroot powder

1 1/2 cups coconut milk

Mix the first four ingredients together in a large bowl. Melt the butter in a smaller bowl, and let cool. Mix the arrowroot powder into the butter, until moist and add the coconut milk. Pour wet ingredients into dry ingredients and mix with a spoon until moist. Better a lumpy batter than an over-mixed batter.

Pour the batter onto a pre-heated griddle with a 1/4 cup, flip, serve, and enjoy! We love to eat ours with honey.

This recipe was adapted from The Joy of Cooking

Focaccia Bread

Carbs are wonderful things, especially with a yummy Italian meal. You can buy bread at the store, but that's expensive (and loaded with lots of words I can't pronounce). Here is my favorite focaccia recipe to accompany any italian meal. If you make this bread in the Mojave desert, it doesn't take much flower to achieve the proper elasticity. If you make this bread in muggy Alabama (who knew October could be so warm and humid in central AL?), you'll need even more. When I'm at home, I substitute some of the white flour for wheat flower (usually the 3/4 cup) and the results are still yummy. I'm visiting my folks now, so its all white today.

• 2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon white sugar
• 1 tablespoon active dry yeast
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1/2 teaspoon dried basil
• 1 pinch ground black pepper
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 1 cup water
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 tablespoon grated Parmesan cheese
• 1 cup mozzarella

Directions

1. In a large bowl, stir together the flour, salt, sugar, yeast, garlic powder, oregano, thyme, basil and black pepper. Mix in the vegetable oil and water.
2. When the dough has pulled together, turn it out onto a lightly floured surface, and knead until smooth and elastic. Lightly oil a large bowl, place the dough in the bowl, and turn to coat with oil. Cover with a damp cloth, and let rise in a warm place for 20 minutes.
3. Preheat oven to 450 degrees F (230 degrees C). Punch dough down; place on greased baking sheet. Pat into a 1/2 inch thick rectangle. Brush top with olive oil. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese and mozzarella cheese.
4. Bake in preheated oven for 15 minutes, or until golden brown. Serve warm.

as a side note, I usually omit the cheese on top to accomidate my allergic child...its still yummy

from allrecipes.com

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins

People call my sister Becky Crocker. She's one of the best bakers. Ever. She also opens her home to me for long periods of time and I can't ever thank her enough. The only trouble is that I eat too many of her baked goods. Its SO HARD to resist the mini version of these...one fits right into your mouth, full of yummy pumpkinny, chocolate deliciousness.

4 eggs
2 cups sugar
1 can (15 oz) pumpkin
1 ½ cups vegetable oil
3 cups flour
2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp baking powder
1-2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp salt
12 oz semi-sweet chocolate chips (2 cups)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
In a large bowl beat eggs, sugar, pumpkin and oil until smooth.
Add dry ingredients to wet and mix well.
Fold in chocolate chips.
Bake standard muffins for 16-20 minutes. Bake mini muffins for about 11-13 minutes.
Cool in pan briefly before removing.
Yields about 24 standard size muffins. Yields 90 mini muffins.

Sweet Potato Lasagna

This recipe is a lovely autumn treat. Its meat free and not so heavy as a traditional lasagna. Hope you enjoy!

2 medium orange-fleshed sweet potatoes
3 medium zucchini
500 g spinach, well-washed
200 g fresh ricotta, crumbled
10 to 12 instant lasagne sheets
4 fresh mozzarella balls, thickly sliced
400g canned, chopped tomatoes
2 T basil leaves
Sea salt and pepper
1 T olive oil
3 T grated parmesan

METHOD

Peel and thickly slice the sweet potatoes and cook in simmering salted water for 15min.

Slice the courgettes on the diagonal and add to the pot for the last 2min.

Drain and cool. Wilt the spinach in a hot pan until soft, then cool, squeeze dry and mix with the ricotta.

Preheat Oven to 400 F. Lightly oil a baking dish (25cm x 20cm) and arrange a layer of pasta on the base.

Arrange layers of sweet potato, half the mozzarella, spinach and ricotta, half the tomatoes, basil, pasta, courgettes, and the remaining mozzarella, tomatoes and basil, and the pasta, scattering with sea salt and pepper as you go.

Drizzle with olive oil, cover with foil and bake for 40min.

Remove the foil, scatter with parmesan and bake for 15min more.

Adapted from the TimesOnline.co.uk

Going Organic

I love the idea of eating organic...I feel good about eating and I feel great about feeding my family. We tend to eat a certain way already, given O man's allergies. There's not a lot of processed food that you can buy that is dairy, soy, egg, and nut free, so we eat a lot of simple foods.

One of the best things about life in the military is meeting some really amazing women (and men). One of those women is about to publish a book, with the same title as her website, Deliciously Organic. I can't say enough good things about her blog...I really love it. I confessed to her that I felt like I was cyber-stalking her...low on the cool points scale, but she has really helped me to change the way we eat. Her advice to me (and it totally makes sense) is to make small changes every week. My latest small change is to slowly cut out high fructose corn syrup from our diet. Tim really loves bagels in the morning, so I made a batch the other day. They were GREAT, but completely made from white bread flour. So, I'm going to make a different recipe from a mix of white/wheat flour. I'll post the results : )

Soup Sundays

Tim and I love to cook together, and we love to eat! Here's a blog to record our favorite recipes and dining adventures : )