She Blogs!

Well, I stopped blogging because it stopped being fun...not just the blogging, but the trying to make new recipes AND feed my picky husband at the same time.
I'm still making, though. Right now I'm making my way toward a new goal...my first 26.2 big girl marathon. I officially started training this week. I'm following Hal Higdon's Novice 2 program. Hal got me through my first half-marathon and I believe he'll get me to this new challenge. The plan gives me 18 weeks to build up my mileage, which is great. I am already in good running shape after finishing an awesome 4 half-marathons in a 2 month span this spring.
BUT, 18 weeks, means training through the ENTIRE summer, which sucks. I hate hot running. And I live in Kansas, so summer = hot. You know what else I hate? Morning running. Ugh. Mornings.

This is what 6am looks like on me. Not pretty.

But, I'm trying to beat the heat so I'm doing it.

Trading my slippers for my sneakers. 

Just Because...

A cute picture of our Boston, Bishop, hiding in Alex's clothes.

A little bit of everything!

Holidays generally mean tons of cooking for me. I love any excuse to try a new recipe, or something more indulgent than I'd make for just us.
We hosted the annual Bergquist Punch of July soiree last night. I made pulled pork, potato salad, black bean salad and big ass chocolate chip cookies. I was so busy baking and cleaning, then drinking and watching friends blow shit up, that I didn't get a picture of everything. Doops.

 

Big Ass Chocolate Chip Cookies

 Paula Deen's Red Potato Salad 

...which looks pretty gross, but was quite tasty!

And then, because I'm an awesome wife, instead of sitting on my tukkus all afternoon, recovering from last night's mayhem, I made breakfast calzones, a special request from Alex. 

I used my standby pizza crust recipe and just winged it from there. Inside these delightful pockets you'll find bacon, sausage, onion, peppers, egg and cheese. I'm kind of a big deal y'all.  

 

I have more to talk about...lots more. We need to catch up, but blogging is, like, hard and stuff.

Let me get my mojo back and I'll share about the triathlon, a small design project and my upcoming fitness goal to train for the big 26.2.

Oh Hai!

Remember that time I was going to preapre three meals a week for me and my new hubby and blog all about it? Hahahaha! Ah Hahahaha! I guess we could call the past few weeks a blog FAIL, but I'll just call it a hiccup. I'm assuming everybody out there reading this (because there are SO many of you) are alive...and all alive people know that LIFE happens. So, you're forgiving me as you read this. You're smiling because you're happy to see that I am giving it another go, and adding a few minutes of procrastination to your day. I'm happy. You're happy. Life happened, let's move on.

I haven't been cooking a lot because Hubby and I have been pretty occupied. We had the awesome opportunity to witness a real-life Vegas wedding with our good friends Kim & Brian...pictures to come.
We also treated that vacation as our honeymoon. We slept in an awesome King-sized bed and relaxed in the jacuzi tub pretty much every night. It made Alex realize that maybe it wouldn't be a terrible idea to someday consider thinking about buying a bigger house, you know, so we could have a jacuzi tub in our bathroom without putting the toilet in an outhouse. A bigger house y'all! BUT, after discussion we did realize now probably isn't the right time.

In addition to the Vegas Vacation, I also completed a 10k race at Hospital Hill and the Topeka Tinman Sprint Course Triathlon. Yes, I'm a triathlete...and I didn't even finish last in my division. I'll post more on that event later. I have a lot of pictures and thoughts to share. I think it deserves it's own post.

I think I've cooked an actual homemade meal 3 times in the past 3 weeks, though, and they weren't really worth blogging about...or re-blogging, as it turns out. We had spaghetti and pork loin again. But I'm not some celebrity who doesn't repeat her outfits, so I can't be expected not to repeat meals...especially meals that make my babes happy.

So, the update on me is that there will be updates on me to come. Stay tuned!

Buffalo Chicken Sandwiches

Blogging is hard, yo! I made this meal on Sunday night, and here it is Tuesday and I'm just getting around to sharing it with you.
Alex loves spicy things and buffalo things are spicy things, therefore, Alex loves this sandwich. I love this sandwich, too, because it requires minimal preparation.
I omit the butter, because, really, it's just not necessary. There's tons of flavor. I use Frank's Red Hot Wings sauce...because...it's just the one I use. I don't know. I like it, so there's no reason to try anything else.

I actually took a picture of my own bottle, but apparently I forgot to load that from the phone, so I stole this really nice photo from the internets.
I do however, have pictures of the finished product, which I served with oven roasted taters and a quick-pickle cucumber salad, which I am IN LOVE WITH. I could probably eat that every day and never tire of it. Which is good, because apparently Alex is NOT interested in that. He didn't even let it touch his plate. No thanks!

1 english cucumber, thinly sliced
1/2 sweet onion, again, thinly sliced
1/4 cup red wine vinnegar
1/8 cup water
2 TBS sugar
salt and pepper to taste
You have to mix that all together and let it sit awhile..like, a few hours at least, and let it set on the counter at room temperature, then you can put it in the fridge, and then you can eat it...with yoru buffalo chicken sandwich and oven fries...OR, you know, with whatever else you're eating.

Hospital Hill 10k

This weekend my friend, Lori, and I drove up to KC to run in the Hospital Hill 10k. We met Julia-world's best running partner-who was running the half-marathon, for a good pre-race dinner at Sweet Tomatoes, which I ate too fast to get photos of the food, but I snapped a few shots of the excellent company.

Julia is awesome and picked up our bibs for us AND gave me the coolest gift ever, a badass bondi band, which did an excellent job holding my hair out of my face during the run. I'm a bondi-convert.

The race was fun. Traffic/parking were a pain, as usual, but we left early enough to find a spot and get to the start with 10 minutes to spare....but we didn't get a chance to meet up with Julia before the race. Lori waited in line for the porta-potty while I stepped into the sea of sweaty anxious runners. They announced that a record 7,000 runners had signed up for the race. At 7am it was already pretty hot and humid, which is typical for this time of year. This is a particularly hilly race, Lori joked they should call it Hospital HillS. I really don't know why so many runners sign up for crazy races in ridiculous weather, and I'm one of them!?
Last year I ran the half with Julia, but this year I wasn't really ready for that distance. Wedding planning and general laziness left me without much umph for training. This year it was really kind of relaxing to just have the 6 miles ahead of me. Yes, it was hot. Yes, there were still a handful of hills than make me angry and hulk out a little on the inside. BUT, I only have to put up with it for about an hour, and I still get a pretty sweet medal when it's over. I got to relax with a bagel from Panera while we waited to cheer Julia at the finish. I never once thought I was going to puke. I didn't go home and crash, worthless for the rest of the day.
There may be something TO this 10k....except that I felt a twinge of jealousy watching the runners finish their 13.1. I knew that I had that in me and was not really giving my all.
I came home and decided that after Lori and I complete our sprint triathalon in a few weeks, I'm going to actually start TRAINING for my next half-marathon in October. I'm going to work on my speed and actually follow a training plan, which I haven't done since my first half in January, 2010. I'm excited and will report back on occasion.

Chipolte Glazed Pork Chops with Black Beans & Rice

I was in the mood for something a little more adventurous. This is a typical Megan "recipe" in that I do not follow any recipe. I just throw stuff together and cook it and hope it comes out.

Looking back on previous posts it appears we've had a LOT of chicken lately, so I decided to try boneless pork chops tonight. I made a chipolte glaze using canned chipolte peppers in adobo sauce, honey and a bit of olive oil, in which I then dredged the chops.

I had to look up cooking time on the internet for this one, since I don't cook pork often. It appears 45-50 minutes should ensure these are cooked.

Black beans and rice is actually a meal I frequently made for myself in my single days. It's easy, filling and makes great lunches the next day.

I saute 1/2 an onion and a yellow pepper in some olive oil.

Drain and rinse a can of black beans. Add a can of petite diced tomatoes. Normally I would season with some cumin and chili powder, but I remembered that I had used 1/2 a packet of taco seasoning earlier in the week, so now was a perfect opportunity  to use the other half.

I let that simmer as the chops cook. I cooked the rice. I love Uncle Ben's boil in the bag because I have failed rice too many times and this is pretty much fool-proof.

I chopped up some fresh green onions and cilantro to top it off.

I also like a little sour cream on mine. YUMMMY!

I wasn't sure how the beans and rice would go over with Alex. He has issues with some textures as well as with the appearance of food, but, he said he liked it. "Pretty good, Babes" is  about as good as it gets, so I'll take it!