Couples Jogging

Sunday was a lazy morning….followed by a moderately lazy afternoon.

Our running path. 

In the afternoon we headed out for couples jogging.  Cody and I headed down to the beach to enjoy some early afternoon jogging fun.  We ran around for about 30minutes, played with the puppy (who ran with us), and enjoyed each others company.  It was a much needed break from the stressful week we both endured.

Take One: At the beach, impossible to take a nice picture. 

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Take Two: Back at the house,  a little bit better. 

  One thing I have noticed is that I need a new pair of running shoes.  Somehow, my nice Nike's got lost in the move and I have been running in my hiking tennis shoes.  Not the best footwear for running excursions but they don't totally suck.  Until I can buy a good pair though this old pair is going to be getting ALOT more use.  More bang for my buck with the hiking shoes I suppose.

Specks knows that when the shoes go on,  he is going on an adventure! 

I need some suggestions for new good running shoes! Any ideas? 

Weekly Meal Plan

In an effort to really plan my cooking out better and grocery shop more efficiently I have been attempting to make weekly meal plans.  Last week I epically failed at following my meal plan but in general I have been able to follow my plans somewhat closely.  This week will hopefully be successful.

 

Saturday: Polenta & Mushroom Potpie with Asparagus
Sunday: Vegetable & Rice Crock Pot Soup (perfect for a long hiking day!)
Monday: Grilled Tomato, Cheese, & Basil Sandwiches with leftover Veggie Soup
Tuesday:  Teriyaki Tofu with Quinoa and Oven Roasted Veggies
Wednesday:  Fend for yourself day!  (aka-leftovers and such)
Thursday: Homemade Veggie Pizza
Friday: Vegan Baked Macaroni or Cheesy Rice Bake with Steamed Veggies
Saturday: Date Night!



Cross your fingers that I can actually make this happen!  In the meantime, check out the website for our local grocery store, Rainbow Foods.  Cody and I don't go there often because it is VERY pricey (makes your local coop look like Wally World).  In comparing prices (which we did this weekend)  our typical items were $2-$4 (sometimes up to $8) cheaper in the health food section of Fred Meyer.  EEK! They did have some great sales this week though.  And, I love to pump money back into the community when I can.

Enjoy your Saturday, I know we will :)

High tide on a sunny morning. 

Deliciously Bad Treats

Ok, I am going to be upfront about something….I like to splurge and eat crappy food from time to time.  Yes, I generally cook healthy for Cody and I.  Yes, we avoid keeping sweets in our home.  Sometimes a girl just has to splurge though.

Here are a few of my favorite (and very easy) unhealthy dessert recipes.

Reese's Stuffed Rolls
4 Resse's Peanut Butter Cups

Yummy. 

1 Package of instant crescent rolls (makes 8)
Powdered Sugar (Topping)

Directions:  Preheat oven to whatever the crescent roll packaging says (typically about 350F).  Unroll crescent rolls and lay them out flat.  Cut each peanut butter cup in half.  Place half of the peanut butter cup in the fat end of the crescent roll and roll it up (as you normally would).  Repeat this with all of the rolls.  Place rolls on a baking sheet and pop in the oven.  Bake until golden brown (time depends on the type of crescent rolls).  Sprinkle with powdered sugar about 2-3 minutes after removing from the oven.  Let cool, eat warm, and enjoy :)


Peanut Butter Brownies
1 package of instant brownies
1/4 cup of powdered sugar
Milk (non-dairy or good old fashioned 2%)

Double Yummy. 

Chunky peanut butter ( I used Simple Truth Organic)

Directions:  Cook brownies to package directions.  Remove from oven and let cool.  While brownies are baking, mix powdered sugar and milk together to form a semi-thick mixture (make thinner than if you were making frosting).  Add chunky peanut butter to frosting-type mixture and stir well.  Let the mixture set in the fridge for 30minutes.  Spread mix on cooled brownies.  Indulge!

Obviously, you shouldn't eat stuff like this on a regular basis.  But this girl has a sweet tooth and a bit of a lazy side.  Every so often I need to use the instant mixes and stuff myself on sugary goodness.  Enjoy the oh so good, but oh so unhealthy recipes.  I will be back this weekend with healthy goodies :)

Winters End

It would seem that the groundhog was right.  Juneau is enjoying wonderfully sunny, and dare I say, springlike weather!  Ok, maybe not springlike….more like sunny and 35F with calm winds.  I'll take it.

The views couldn't be more beautiful on these sunny days.  I am a happy girl.  Not much else to say about this fine Monday.  Although, there may be some changes happening in the near future for this little family…more on that later :)  For now, enjoy these beautiful photographs.

Specks, the original photo bomber. 

Snow on the mountains in March. 

Me & Specks looking out to the ocean. 

Cody enjoying the last minutes of sunlight. 

The sun setting just beyond the lookout. 

Age of the iPhone & Other Grown Up Things

This weekend I truly learned how old I am….I woke up at 7am two days in a row, without an alarm clock.  Why????  I really thought that I could still do the whole sleeping until 11am thing (college didn't prepare me for waking up before noon).

Saturday and Sunday were relatively uneventful.  We went car shopping, which was a fun and very grown-up activity.  We are debating between these two cars.  We originally wanted a Jeep/SUV but they all ended up being waaaaay out of our price range.

Hyundai Accent
Kia Optima

Saturday we did a little bit of lounging, a lot of cleaning, and a bit of walking on the beach.  We took Specks out and he was in puppy heaven!

Isn't he the cutest?!?

Sunday we both went and got new phones.  And, drumroll please….I HAVE JOINED THE 21ST CENTURY!!! I finally got an iPhone.  I have been putting off upgrading to an iphone for about five years.  I just wasn't sure what all the fuss was about.  But, after spending the last year being the proud owner borrower of a MacBookPro (I steal Cody's because it rules) I knew I needed to upgrade to an Apple product.  We shall see how it goes!

Look at this amazing picture-courtesy of my iphone camera :) 

Saturday and Sunday were awesome eating days. Breakfasts were delicious egg sandwiches, fakin' bacon, and GF waffles both days.  Sadly, I don't have a picture of Saturdays dinner meal.  We had Tofu Steak with Rice and Zucchini casserole.  It was delicious.  Tonight the menu consists of some Potato&Veggie Soup.  Recipe to come soon :)

Vegan Potato Soup-during the cooking phase.

Question: Do you have an iPhone/Apple products?  If so, do you like them? 

A Little Vitamin D

This week we saw the sun!! At first, I almost didn't recognize that fire-orange ball in the sky.  Alas, It was the sun!

So, Cody and I got out and trekked to the glacier (again) last weekend when the sun came out.  It is one of our favorite spots and Specks loves it there so we figured we could handle tackling the hike two weekends in a row.  We hiked out to  Nugget Falls, as usual.  Then we trekked around some other trails.  All in all, two hours of fun in the sun!

The sun was off and on all week.  When it was out, Juneau was stunning. We also saw a bit of snow early in the week.  It all melted in a matter of hours because of the warm temps.  But, it was pretty while it lasted.


There were beautiful views from our front porch all week.  The mountains were perfectly reflected in the channel waters.  It reminded me just why Cody and I chose this apartment. Beautiful views!

More sun to come this weekend, or so the weatherman tells us.  I am crossing my fingers that we get some sun this weekend.  It would be unheard of for us to have two, BEAUTIFUL weekends of sunlight.  I am lovin' the Vitamin D.

Are you enjoying sunny days?  Or are you one of the many still struggling through snow storms?  

Stress Cooking

This week was…stressful, to say the least.  Cody and I both had insane work weeks and came home completely pooped each night.  Needless to say, blogging was not on my mind.  Cooking was far from my mind as well.  My days consisted of waking up, going to work, running errands, cooking dinner, and going straight to bed.  None of this makes for particularly interesting blog entries.  At any rate, I still had to make some meals this week.  Here were three of my favorite meals from breakfast, lunch, and dinner this week.


 


Breakfast: Open-face fried egg and fakin' bacon sandwiches.  Made with Silver Hills Bread (Vegan), organic eggs, and MorningStar fakin' bacon.  It was topped with some Cairo BBQ Sauce, which Cody's parents sent us in the mail because it is a local sauce.

Lunch: GF wrap with smoked tofurkey, kale, spinach, onions, and tomatoes.  I topped this with a little bit of Roasted Garlic Sauce from BWW (also mailed to us by Cody's parents).  I ate it with some Kettle Chips and Light & Fit Greek Yogurt.







Dinner:  Chik'n Patties on Vegan Bread.  Cody topped his with just cheese,  I had mine with cheese and veggies.  Served with a side of Annie's Mac N' Cheese.  Quick, easy, and delicious.

Obviously we were slacking a bit on the cooking this week.  We are hoping this weekend we can get back in the healthy-cooking groove.  Wish us luck!  In the meantime I plan on continuing to look something like this….

Picture courtesy of Cody.  Payback to come.