30 miles!

Since I was off work this week and the weather was beautiful, I revolved my days around working out outside.  I worked out for the past 7 days straight!  I lifted weights four times and also ran, walked, and hiked 30 miles this week!  Mid-week, my legs were fairly sore since I hadn't run in a few weeks but I'm feeling so much better and look forward to my daily workouts.  I think I might take tomorrow off as I should give myself a rest day at some point.  I don't feel as though I need to rest but I've experienced workout burnout before and would like to avoid it as I am hitting a good stride right now.

I'm challenging myself to 30 miles in 6 days (Monday-Saturday) this week.  Unfortunately, it looks like the weather is going to be hot and humid here for the next week so it looks like I'll be hanging out on the hamster wheel (treadmill) if I can't get myself up and on the road early in the morning.  I am also planning another four days of lifting.

Yesterday, I took my annual trip to Door County with my mom.  We did a little shopping and completed an easy 7-mile hike in Newport State Park.  I will add a few photos at the end of this post from our hike.  It's so nice to get out in nature and get a good workout at the same time!   I was also excited to realize that my stamina has increased dramatically in the past few months.  Last summer, I did quite a few long hikes (9-12 miles) in the mountains but was just so dead by the end.  Granted, yesterday's hike was no mountain hike by a long shot, but I was really good to go afterwards.  I think I may have even uttered the words, "I could do that again easily!"

As always, we hit Door County Coffee & Tea first (my favorite!) and I picked up pumpkin coffee for this fall and a milk frother that I love!  For those gluten-freers out there, you'll be happy to know that there are quite a few restaurants in Door County that offer gluten free menus and options.  We ate lunch at Wild Tomato Pizza, which had wood fired (yum!) pizzas and gluten-free crusts.  We ate supper at The Cookery.  Coincidentally, we ate both lunch and supper in Fish Creek, but we were pretty hungry after our hike that we were just looking for a place that we knew we would like.  The Cookery had a pretty bad fire since the last time we were there and went from a country cafe to a funky restaurant but is still fantastic! 

Trumpeter Swans in Lake Michigan.  They may not look like it in the photo, but these things are huge!



Anyone notice the large amount of bumble bees this year?



Shell beach!  Literally, this entire beach was covered in a very thick (1 ft minimum) layer of shells!  So cool!



Door County is so beautiful!

Flowers near Lake Michigan.

Soup, Salad, and Pasta. Oh my!

I've been building up a collection of easy summer recipes and thought it about time to share a few of them!  I hope you enjoy them and are enjoying summer!

Spinach and Strawberry Salad

The recipe is a variation on a salad that I had at Noodles and Co. last week.  When it was suggested that we go to Noodles, a restaurant with a name that screams gluten and which I had never been to, I was a little nervous about finding something to eat, but I found this salad, which was delicious sans croutons and bacon bits!  This version is easy, filling, and makes a very healthy lunch!  Add grilled chicken for more protein.

Serves 1
Ingredients
2-3 cups baby spinach
4-5 large strawberries, quartered
1/2 oz raw, unsalted walnuts
1 oz fresh mozzarella, I used "pearls" but chopped would work well also
1/2 shallot, sliced
1 serving vinaigrette of choice (I like home-made balsamic vinaigrette or raspberry vinaigrette)

Directions

Pile ingredients onto a plate and toss with vinaigrette.

Pasta with Raw Sauce and Veggies

Easy summer supper for hot days and a variation on a previous recipe that I posted.  This one contains more veggies and variety.  Use leftover pasta if you have it.  I had found organic, gluten-free black bean pasta and used that for this particular dish.  It is wonderful with regular or rice pasta as well!

Serves 1

Ingredients

8-10 cherry tomatoes, cut in half

1/2 bell pepper, sliced

1/4 red onion, sliced

1 serving rice, whole wheat, or other favorite pasta, cooked and rinsed until cool

1 tsp garlic olive oil (you can substitute a good quality olive oil and a little garlic powder)

1 tsp dried basil or 1 tbsp chopped fresh basil
1/2 tsp dried oregano

Salt and Pepper

Directions

Mix tomatoes, garlic oil, salt and pepper (to taste), and basil.  Let stand for 15-20 minutes, until the juices have been drawn out of the tomatoes.  Add remaining ingredients and mix well.  Enjoy!

Creamy Cauliflower Soup

This is a variation on a Rachael Ray recipe, in which I removed gluten-containing ingredients and reduced unhealthy fats.

Makes 4 very large bowls
Ingredients
1 medium-sized yellow onion (or whatever you have on hand), chopped
1 large carrot, peeled and chopped
2 ribs celery, chopped
1 head cauliflower, chopped
1 tsp olive oil
2 cloves garlic
2 cups chicken or vegetable stock
2 cups water
1 cup fat free milk
1 tsp dried thyme
1 tbsp parsley
Salt and pepper

Toppings
Croutons (I recommend Aleia's gluten free classic croutons - they are awesome!)
Good quality shredded parmesan cheese
Hot sauce -or- nutmeg

Directions
Add oil, veggies, salt, and garlic to a soup pot and allow the vegetables to sweat out for 10 minutes.  Add stock, water, parsley, and thyme.  Bring to a boil and simmer until the veggies are very soft.  Add the milk and puree using an immersion blender (or use a blender but puree in batches to avoid soup explosions).  Top with croutons, cheese, and hot sauce or nutmeg.  Enjoy!

Still kickin' and in need of book suggestions!

Well, it's been about 2 weeks since my last post, but life has been crazy with little time for blogging.  Last week Thursday, I finished teaching my summer class and then headed out of town to be in a wedding this past weekend (congrats Anna and Joel!).  After the last month+ of craziness, I have been keeping pretty quiet these last few days. 

The nice thing about my job is that, even though I have to go months of working a heck of a lot, I have large chunks of time off.  I have just started my summer "break" (by break, I mean that I will be prepping for my fall classes and writing proposals, abstracts, articles, etc., but I can do it on my own time and wherever I want to) and it extends until the beginning of September.  This also means that I will be using this time to focus on my health and getting fit. 

During the last week of my summer class, I only had a chance to work out once.  That's right.  Once.  And I felt like crap (read: crabby, flabby, and tired)!  Since I came home on Sunday, I've worked out three times (with plans to work out yet today).  I ran/walked 2 miles on Sunday and lifted weights for 45 mins, walked 5 miles on Monday and lifted for 30 mins, and ran/walked 5 miles on Tuesday.  Not too shabby!  I am enjoying being able to get out and enjoy summer!

Food-wise, things have been okay.  Not perfect, but okay.  I find that when I'm crazy-busy, I eat better because I have no choice but to plan healthy options and I am too busy to snack in the afternoon.  When I'm home and off, I have a lot more time to do whatever so eating healthfully sometimes falls by the wayside.  I'm working on this though.  The last few days, I have mostly been going for quick fixes, such as mushroom pizzas (mushroom caps stuffed with marinara and turkey pepperoni, topped with fresh mozzarella) and salads.  I am really hoping to develop new recipes during break though.  I've been hearing about awesome cauliflower soups, which I may try to make tonight.  Stay tuned for healthy, gluten-free recipes, I will try to take more photos now that I have more time!

Finally, the best part of my summer break is catching up on my reading.  I actually got through quite a few books during the last academic year, but there are always more that I want to read.  I finished reading everything by Michael Pollan and Wallace Stegner (my two favorite authors) in May and am now stuck without a new author to get addicted to. 

I am taking suggestions on healthy living or nature/eco books!  Or just awesome novels!  If you've read a great book lately, please let me know!