Second day soreness=cook all day

Hi I'm Rachel and I am really really really sore from running a half marathon 2 days ago.

Today I went to pick up meat from madre (its so expensive and I'm a cheap college kid and my mother is a hoarder of all things meat included) and on the way back I just HAD to stop at whole foods.  After browsing the hot bar it spiked my interest to eat/make something other than cereal and soy milk. 

Example A: Quinoa, roasted zuchini, tomato, feta salad with a dressing of fresh lemon juice

After making this amazing fresh summer salad I had real life commitments like intern training.  Woo!  But when I got home all I wanted to do was cook anything I could think of.  So here we go...

Before

After
Meatballs. I literally think meatballs are my favorite food.

Spinach, feta, quinoa meatballs:

*Thaw ground round (Asked mom for ground turkey, but I'll live)

*Rip some spinach

*Crumble some feta

*Use leftover cooked Quinoa

*Finely chop onion and garlic

*Sprinkle salt and pepper and dried parsley

*SMUSH with hands

*Bake at 400 for 10ish minutes 

**Voila delicious nom nom nom meatballs! 

Baked tofu- not drained, half drizzled with hoisin sauce, baked 450 for 20 mins, flipped often.

If you haven't had baked tofu, MAKE IT NOW. The texture is soooo good (crispy on outside, chewy on the inside, overall AWESOME).  I keep it in the fridge and throw it on salads, with rice and veg, ect. It's dabomb.com

I boiled a head of cabbage, because I am my british Grandmothers granddaughter.

I have NO idea why I love cabbage so much.  Butter, salt and pepper and I die its so good.

Hard boiled eggs on a clean counter.

4g of protein in each of these bad boys. They are the thing I probably miss most about the sorority house, an abundance of boiled eggs ummm...

Potato salad that I still can't decide if I like that I made 2 days ago

*Steamed potatoes and corn on the cob

*Hard boiled egg

*Chobani 0% plain greek yogurt

*Dijon mustard

*Salt and peppa

The missing ingredient I think I wanted was dill.  I just don't want to buy $4 fresh dill sorry about it

Made this veggie scramble yesterday.  I realized I was out of spinach, tomatoes, and onions.  THATS ALL I EVER EAT IN EGGS.  What was I supposed to do!  Oh just microwave some frozen brussel sprouts, cut up, pan roast and add eggs and feta.  It was great.  I love brussel sprouts, even at 10 am

Clean dishes make me feel so great

Yesterday I went to the zoo and to this awesome hidden place on lake Wingra with my bestie from high school Krissy!  I love doing things that are so laid back with someone you can be so laid back with.  That sentence makes sense I swear.

Red Winged Black bird flew away to quick!

Ahhh sweet sweet summer

I have to go to work tomorrow for the first time in 3 full days. Noooo :(  

xoxo,

Rachel

Rock Climbing and my first Half Marathon

This weekend goes down as one of the best so far in my short 20 years.  2 completely incredible things happened.  

First I went rock climbing, REAL LIFE ROCK CLIMBING. At devils lake!  It's really no big deal that our climbing instructor who has been rock climbing for 14 years, told me I would be a really good climber if I practiced.  Maybe it has something to do with me getting half way up a level 5-10 (no one understands their rating system but the hardest is 5-12!) wall that no one else in the group attempted.  WHOOP WHOOP.  I'm a natural at a not common kind of weird sport!

Woo hoo for the best day ever with the best person ever!

After rock climbing much needed panera with bestie Mag!

1/2 Thai chicken salad and 1/2 veggie soup with pesto (so dayumm good)

My bestie is the bestest.

And then like life wasn't already awesome enough.  I ran my first half marathon TODAY!  Lets start out by DONT ROCK CLIMB 2 DAYS BEFORE YOUR FIRST HALF.  I was soooo sore from rock climbing but somehow today my mind was all about racing and not about the soreness.  

Worlds best supporter

I look sad, but really I feel awesome

Oh you're wondering: what's my time? How was the race? Are you alive?

Well friends, YES I'm alive, the race was unreal, and my first half marathon time was....................................1 hour and 53 minutes and 53 seconds! HOLLA!  That's a pace of 8:42.  I was 352nd out of 2017 women, 76th out of 359 in my female age division, and 1014 out of 3,479 finishers.  And to think all I wanted was to JUST finish the race.  

My splits:

Mile 1: 8:25 I looked down at my garmin after it lapped and couldn't believe I was going so fast and that I felt so good. 

Mile 2: 8:29 Still in disbelief and couldn't believe how many people I was passing

Mile 3: 8:26 

Mile 4: 8:26 Ate goo from mile 4 to 5 and it tasted gross but I really think it gave me a boost of energy

Mile 5: 8:30

Mile 6: 8:29 My terrible ipod stopped working w/ the headphones I was using
Mile 7: 8:28 This is when I knew that I'd be able to maintain under a 9 min mile. I felt so strong and wasn't tired at all
Mile 8: 8:45
Mile 9: 8:27 Saw Jack and was so excited to tell him that I'd been maintaining an 8:30 pace! And gave him the terrible ipod
Mile 10: 8:37 Tried to eat cliff shot blocks but one went straight to my stomach so threw them out
Mile 11: 8:52
Mile 12: 8:44
Mile 13: 8:58
Mile 13.1: confusing because I started my garmin early so its for .28 miles at 2:29 (8:54 pace)

 I'm a finisher! 

It is so crazy that this morning when I woke up I was so worried about being able to finish the half marathon.  I have bad run days like everyone else and for some reason I really didn't think I'd be able to run the whole time.  Well I did.  And I maintained a faster pace then I ever have on even a 5 mile run.  The adrenaline mixed w/ the atmosphere pushed me to do way beyond my expectations.  I. Am. So. Proud. of. Myself.

YAY!

Now to the FOOD!

Pre-race day chipotle

Partially demolished. so. much. chipotle.

Post race- chicken gumbo 

Hummus platter

Red Snapper in lobster sauce. IT WAS SO GOOD

Overall these last few days have been so incredible and I am so lucky to be able to do the things I can do.  I am truly a grateful girl and couldn't be happier with my life at this exact moment.

One thing I've learned from running the half is don't doubt yourself.  You are so capable of so many amazing things you just have to believe you can achieve them.  Please take me, the girl who couldn't finish a 2.5 mile cross country race in high school w/o walking, as an example.

Woohoo to a great start to the summer!

xoxo,

Rachel

Today was not my day

A lot of things went wrong today.  Actually last night when I left the lights on in the car while at work and draining the battery is when things going wrong started.  Lack of sleep, shopping for no specific reason, and constant car troubles led me to BAKE.

Sweet sweet gluten free vanilla cupcakes

With some help from bob

Strawberry on top good idea

Strawberries inside GREAT idea

NOMS I love fruit in baked goods

Yesterday I was craving sweets, shocking.  So after some blog stalking I decided little bites inspired by Oh She Glows would be a great idea.

I don't do measurements: 

• Ingredients
• Choco chips
• Peanut Butter
• Brown Rice syrup
• Oats
• Marshmallows
• Almonds
• And Kix for crunch!
• Melt first 3 ingredients in microwave for literally 20 seconds 
• Add all other ingredients 
• Freeze for 5 minutes
• EAT 

I thought I should add some protein to these sweets and tofu it was.  

I used one block of extra firm tofu that I drained by wrapping it in a towel and putting heavy books on top for 15 mins. It baked to perfection. Crispy/chewy yummm!

Tomorrow I'm going rock climbing! Like real life on a cliff!  I cannot wait!  Back with a recap!

xoxo,

Rachel

Meatballs are the only food I will now eat

Hi friends!

This morning I took one of my beloved vitamin/supplements (Tonalin CLA) on an empty stomach and I was soooo nauseous. I took a nap to ride out the pain. And then I awoke w/ one thing on the hungry mind...MEATBALLS.  I found these bad boys in my parents freezer.  Turkey, quinoa, and special spices.  Madre makes a mean meatball.

Ya thats right extra sauce, because I cant get enough of the red stuff

I also accomplished something else this morning.  ONLINE SHOPPING!  Holla! I got an e-giftcard to target from my awesome aunt Victoria that I bought this with!

Please let it arrive before my half marathon on Sunday!  I cannot deal w/ the bulky ipod touch any longer

Next, the beloved favorite sissy got me a gift card to ANTHROPOLOGIE.  How does she know me so well?!

This is the coolest diary! It gives you prompts and questions that you fill in to get your mind thinking!

AHHH! I have my very own apron. I'm going to be so badass in the kitchen!

Thank you auntie and Tashie for the giftcards.  As you can see they were well spent!  I LOVE YOU both so mucho!

xoxo,

Rachel

Summa Summa Time!

Lets play catch up through pictures! ITS SUMMER!

Birthday Dinner=best tofu I've ever had

The best lamb burger moms ever had

The best lamb in a dish Rob's ever had

I got a new sally hansen color for $0.49 because I'm becoming the crazy coupon lady!

Bought myself flowers for my birthday!

Loveee the gf waffle, pb, and apple combo. with some chia seeds for crunch and omega 3s!

Wooo I'm 20!

I attempted macrons tonight. I don't have a mixer my arms got tired trying to form stiff peaks by beating them w/ a fork. I got this. They still tasted awesome, but my computer is now covered in eggwhite and sugar mixture!

One thing I know for sure is that I know how to make a delicious egg scramble. spinach, onion, and tomato and love.

These are my nightly pills. Mag says its like I have leukemia. she's terrible. Also, I got them all for free from swansonvitamins.com! I won $100 from them and will post a review of my products asap!

Mags already came and visited. Obsessive.

All fun and games until you chase watermelon vodka w/ pb and choco chips

Sad day

Someone graduated COLLEGE!

Oh hi bascom hill at 1 am on a random Thursday. Making memories and covering the double chin

Mag bought me the most incredible gift. A veggie steamer. LOOK AT THAT ASPARAGUS. that i got for $3 a lb at the farmers market SCORE

One of the best smoothies I've made. Pineapple, spinach, ice, and greek yogurt. It was so refreshing.

My life be like oooh ahh and non-stop and its SUMMER. I need everything to slow down.

Today I did this run. It was SO pretty and I have awesome running Madisonia!

I've been debating on doing the half marathon this Sunday since I've been quite the slacker and I've made the decision that I'm going to JUST DO IT. (you win nike)  I want to do it under 2 hours, but just doing it will be an accomplishment in itself. WOOO!

I will be posting more I swearrrr.

xoxo, 

Rachel