What Goes Around Comes Around

People around me have been dropping like flies with the head cold of doom. It was only a matter of time before me and Chris got it. I have only run 1.5 miles this week and that almost killed me. Like I really think I almost died from a respiratory stand point. Luckily I had a rescue inhaler on hand. I did run the 1.5 miles with an average pace of 10:35 though so I was proud of that. Our plans to run the Pack Pint Run tonight have been canceled. We are definitely not going to be getting our miles in this week. Some how we have to find a way to run the 6 miles we have planned for this weekend or we will be too far off schedule. We just got signed up for the marathon so this is going to happen! I will just run it really slowly if I have to this weekend. Being sick sucks.

A Shorter Long Run

Yesterday's long run was actually shorter than the week before and as you can see I really needed it to be. My legs were beat. My lungs were beat. And surprisingly my butt was beat as well. I kept getting muscle cramps in my butt! I have never had that happen before. EVER. It was not comfortable and I had to really slow down my pace at the end of the run. Initially I wasn't too disappointed in my run considering how my body felt but Chris was disappointed in it and in my attitude. To be honest I really didn't want to run yesterday. I already knew how tired my body felt and I was not looking forward to it. I was going to run no matter what, I just was not going to be excited about it this time around. Let's hope Tuesday morning's run is better and my body has recuperated enough to run strong. 

What is My Marathon As Motivation Anyway?

The time has come to sit in contemplation about the hows and the whys of my decision to run a marathon. This week marks the beginning of my actual marathon training. I have finished the 10k and we are increasing our runs so that we are at the correct long run distance to start our formal training program. Looking ahead is more than a little intimidating. So now I must look deep inside and find the why. The answer I repeat to myself when (and the day will come) I don't think I can take one more step. The thing I remind myself of when there is one more mile of a long training run. The last long mile that seems impossible to conquer. What is it that I will remind myself of that motivates me to take that next step, and the next, and the step after that?

"That moment of inspiration- when we know what we are doing and why- is like an arrow that we shoot. Wherever that arrow goes, our mental and physical troops will follow" -Sakyong Mipham

Today while reading this quote it became clear to me that I can't just run a marathon. Without a clear picture of why I am doing it and what I want to accomplish I will never get to the finish line. I am not by nature one of those people who just decides to do something and then does it out of sheer stubbornness. Don't get me wrong I am the most stubborn person that I know but I use that stubbornness to not do things, not to do things! There has to be something I want at that finish line and I'm not talking about gifting myself a new outfit, the apple watch I want, or the tattoo that I keep telling myself I can have when I do something truly spectacular. I'm not saying I wont do any of those things for myself, but what I know about myself is that those things will not get me past the last mile marker and over the finish line.

So that brings me to asking myself what will carry me through training and across the finish line...

Is health a motivator for me?

When I really think about it health is not what is going to push me to my limit. I do want to improve my health but lets face it I don't have to run an entire marathon to do that!

Is weight loss/looking good a motivator?

This is not a race day motivator but it is a very real motivation during training. I have always been a small person but the years and the pounds are sneaking up on me!

Raise Awareness for a Cause?

Lots of people run a marathon to raise money and awareness to a cause that they believe in. While I find this inspirational it will not be my motivation this time around. This first marathon I will not be running for others.  Which brings me to...

To Mark a Goal Off of Chris's List Together?

So I was wrong, this is a big motivator for me. I will to some extent be running for someone else. It is extremely important to me that Chris accomplish his goals for this coming year and any goals that I can be apart of I will. (He did want to run the half marathon and I talked him into the full...remember I have to maintain that it was my idea!)

To Make New Friends?

This is a motivation for me, sort of. Its why we started doing the Pack Pint Runs and signed up for the 10k training (well and because 10k was a goal). That said, I haven't actually made any new friends yet doing these things so I don't think is is a major motivator. I do enjoy running with a lot of other people and feeling like I am part of something bigger than myself. Something BIGGER than MYSELF...I feel like I'm getting closer to my motivation.

The Sense of Accomplishment?

Yes! I think that is it...but lets make it more personal. What is it that I want to accomplish? Is it just the miles? I know it is not. I want to prove to myself that I am capable of something BIG! I am capable of something AWESOME! The only person who can stop ME is ME! I will not be stopped...especially not on MY BIRTHDAY!

Thursday PPR

Oh PPR (Pack Pint Run) how I totally wanted to crush you! But I failed. So last night we added an extra half mile on to the usual PPR route so that we would get our full 4 mile run in. Because of this we ended up running at the very end of the pack! Which must have affected me mentally because I pretty much killed myself on mile 2 and 3. Killed myself dead. I ended up having to walk some during the last mile. I was so disappointed! If I had just kept my pace reasonable I would have been fine. Still a pace of 10:32 is about exactly where I want to be...just with out the walking! Hopefully my 5 mile run tomorrow goes much more smoothly. I'm am hoping to stick right at the 10:30 pace for most of the run. 

Knitting! My friend Cristal sent me a picture of a arm knit scarf. I couldn't help myself. I'll try almost anything knitting related. I made her this scarf in about 20 minutes! How awesome is that? The picture doesn't do it justice. Too much cheese from me but it's really cool. 

Fuel:

Today's run was fueled by sushi form Sushi Neko and after the run the body was resupplied with some pizza from Upper Crust.

The Super (foggy) 10K

That's right we did it. We ran our first 10k. While it was not the farthest that Chris has ever run it was the farthest that I have ever run (without stopping to do an obstacle that is). Plus I did it at the fastest average pace to date!

The course was a little confusing and at the very end I wasn't sure I was going to make it without getting a stitch in my side but I did it and in the fastest time yet so I am super proud.

After the race our running group went out to lunch where I met Bob who taught me how to swing...who tried to teach me how to swing. I'm not the fastest learner!

I'm just now posting this because it is the first time I have had since the race when I have had time! So very busy! I have been eating really well though...until today. I will have to try harder the rest of the day and the rest of the week. :(

Otherwise Known as PPR

PPR (Pack Pint Run) is the weekly running event held at our local running shop. I haven't met a lot of people yet. Mostly all I have done is spend a lot of money! It's really fun though because it is like a party atmosphere. Everyone is running happy! Plus at the end they give you a free beer. What could be better than that?

One of the things that I really like about the PPR is that I get to see all different types of runners. There are the super athletes. They just fly past you on supper springy legs. They make it look so easy and almost magical. Then you have a bunch of people like me and Chris, just out there doing the best we can trying to increase our speed. The most inspirational people are the ones just starting their running journeys. I love seeing them and thinking how I felt when I first started. When I first started I didn't ever know if I was even going to be able to run a mile much less the 5k we really wanted to work up to. It's just fun to be reminded of where I have been, where I want to be, and where I will never get to even if I run every day for the rest of my life. I'm never going to be one of those gazelles that flies right through the miles. I'm just not built that way.

I run much better in groups of people though and I feel more accountable for my run. Usually when we go to PPR Chris runs with one of his friends which leaves me free to run at my own pace without any worries. Tonight Chris's running buddy couldn't make it so we got to run together. My pace was good and I felt great during the run. I feel like I'm ready for Saturdays long run.

The Fuel:

Breakfast: a piece of multi-grain bread with butter

Lunch: Taco salad

Dinner: Leftover southwestern soup and a piece of jalapeno bread

Extras: two beers after the run

ONWARD! - a marathon training book review

I needed a book to read on the train for our trip to Ft. Worth. A book about a woman running a marathon seemed like a good bet and it was. This book is not particularly long but I found it funny (like giggling to myself out loud funny) and a good source for some of the things to expect while training for a marathon. The book consists of Brook Kreder's blog posts during her training. I'm just going to be perfectly honest, this book is what got me back on here and blogging again. The way she documents all the funny, horrible, triumphant moments for her readers was inspiring. I have no readers as of now but hopefully one day I will pick up a couple. This is a short book and a super easy read. Really entertaining. I'm not sure that my training will look anything like Brook's but she gave me at least the courage to try. She put her failures right out there for everyone to see and then set out to prove that they were just bumps in the road not road blocks. The book does contain mass quantities of curse words (they are kind of bleeped out though). This didn't bother me because I am absolutely positive that my marathon journey will have a fair number of it's own curse words! I would recommend this book to anyone that is thinking about training for a marathon...that's a girl. I don't think a guy would get as much from it.

So before we went out for our long run this weekend I was really nervous. I actually had butterflies! It just started right before the run though and once we got started I felt good. This weekend we increase our distance by an entire mile. Up to this point we have increased at half mile intervals. I am freaking nervous right now and I have till Saturday to think about it. I can only imagine that it is going to get worse from here. We run tomorrow with the Pack. Hopefully I run well and feel strong I think that will help a lot. Skipping my run yesterday does not help! I really don't want to do that again unless I have to. 

I had a good food day today:

Breakfast: green smoothie and half an English muffin

Lunch: small salad, tabouli, and a multi grain sandwich

Dinner: Santa Fe soup and a piece of jalapeno cheddar bread

It Was Yoga This Morning

Fitness

Well really it was just super cold this morning! I'm such a wimp. I know I should have gone and ran but I wimped out and did a Jillian Michael's yoga workout instead. I am really feeling guilty about it now though. Let me tell you I needed the yoga! I didn't even realize how tight my legs had gotten until I started doing the workout this morning. Ouch! Plus that workout was hard. It was no lay around and stretch video. There were whole portions I couldn't even keep up to. I think that video will start showing up more in the rotation...if I had a rotation. Point is-more stretching is needed. Actually there are several points:

• I can't touch my own toes! There I said it. It's embarrassing but very true. Not only that but I would say I have always been at least 8 inches way from those ugly little suckers. One day toes I will touch you.
• Running is making me even less stretchy than normal. I have actually been worried about pulling something because of how tight my muscles are in my legs. I know Chris is worried about this too.
• I need more core strength! The video this morning was definitely a core workout and next to not being flexible that is my next worse fitness strength.

On my ever growing list of things to do today is to find a yoga video for runners for Chris and I to do at night to help with all the tight muscles we are experiencing. I would hate to mess up our chances at training for this marathon because we didn't stretch enough.

Nutrition

The last couple days we have been eating much better than we had been.

Yesterday

Breakfast: Green smoothie with half an English muffin
Lunch: Small salad (too small!)
Snack: Trail mix
Dinner: Jalapeno sausages with acorn squash and turnips
Dessert: Two sunflower seed cookies

Today

Breakfast: Green smoothie with half an English muffin

Lunch: Multi-grain sandwich with tabbouleh and a small salad 

Dinner: Frito Chili Pie (hey it was class night)

A Little Ft. Worth

Really it was just a little. We went on basically a two day trip to Ft. Worth. A little while back we road the train and thought that it would be something that Flint was old enough for and would really like. Since this was going to be a long weekend we decided it would be as good a time as any to head down and see what would happen. 

Flint loved the train ride and it was event free in the good way. On the way there we made sure Flint knew that we would have to walk everywhere. It was going to be city living for us. Flint deemed us "city civilians". Once we got there we went to our hotel and discovered that even though it was more than four hours before check in we could get our room. That was a life saver later in the day. 

We were starving so it was time to hoof it to a lunch destination. Flint decided that it was a cheeseburger day so that is what we went looking for. Once we found something on our phones that looked like it would give the boy a burger we were off. Unfortunately the place we found, although to the gills with kids, was not a kid friendly restaurant. There were inappropriate things written on the walls which of course we paid no attention to but Flint's new to the wonderful world of reading eyes caught. There was also some inappropriate tile work in the men's bathroom apparently as well. He loved his burger though. 

Once we had some lunch in our bellies it was time to go see what the Ft. Worth Water Gardens were all about. I can tell you that they were all about AWESOME. I think the pictures tell you everything you need to know. Flint loved it. When we were done it was time to go rest for a bit before the nights festivities.

It just so happened that the night we were going to be there a Christmas parade was going to be going on right outside of our hotel. Flint loved the parade. His favorite part was at the very beginning when they had a bunch of Elvis lookalikes riding mini motorcycles. That was pretty much the highlight for Flint. They were better than Santa. Santa wasn't doing wheelies though so he didn't really have a chance.

The next morning we decided to stay in downtown and just go places that we could walk to. We spent the morning at the Water Gardens. At lunch we decided on something safe! BBQ. I've never been in an inappropriate barbecue joint. Flint had another cheeseburger. Big surprise.

After some lunch it was time for a movie. The movie was way better than I expected. See below the crazy comfortable recliner that were the seats in this theater. Flint was in love. We saw Penguins of Madagascar. It was funnier than anticipated.

Earlier in the day we had discovered that Molly the Trolley was free! Flint was ready to try out some trolley riding after the movie. We needed to go back to the hotel and pick up our bags and head over to the train station. Flint loved the trolley. 

The rest of the trip was a little less fun. The train didn't leave the station till more than an hour after it's posted departure. The good news is that Flint handled it way better than me. He was a real trooper and a professional traveler. 

As for running...today was a rest day. We have quite a few training for the 10k. We only run 3 times a week. I'm not sure how that will change when we start training for the marathon. Today I am just focusing on eating right and drinking lots of water.

Long Run Day

Today was the day we ran our long run. We had to run it without the rest of the class that we normally run our long runs with. Let me tell you I am really surprised at how hard it is to run the long runs without the group. Our group runs on Saturdays and we were out of town on Saturday so we had to take matters into our own hands. 

I keep saying this and I know it starts to sound cheesy and like it can't be true every time but...this was my best run yet. This run was hard and our longest yet and I kicked it's butt. We ran it in under 11 minutes a mile! That is really great for me. Plus the gain on this run was 125 ft. It was actually up hill the whole way. Well there were some small down hill portions but for the most part it just kept going up. 

The coolest part was we just ran to my mom's house. Then we had her give us a ride home. And trust me my dawgs needed the ride home. This one was tough! Stopping for the traffic lights was killer.

I also got a new app yesterday! I got the MapMyRun app with a one year subscription for their extra features. The feature that I really really wanted was the one that allows friends and family to watch your progress in real time as you run. I wanted this for safety. Sometimes me and Chris run at the same time but not at the same pace so when he gets done he can check on me. Totally Awesome. Even if I haven't figured out how to work it yet. 

This thing is starting to get a little real around here. Chris asked our coach what we were going to need to do to be ready for the first training run for the marathon. We will need to increase our long run distance by one mile a week! We need to get up to 10 miles. 10 MILES! 

I was exhausted after our run today. It will be interesting to see how in the world I am going to get to 10 miles.

I Have Gone Crazy and I'm Taking Prisoners

So for this up coming year Chris had two goals for the year of his 40th birthday, he wanted to run another Tough Mudder and he wanted to run a half marathon. Knowing how important this was to him I took the lead. We started running again right away. At first we just started going to the Pack Pint Run at Red Coyote. Red Coyote is our local running store and now one of our favorite places but that is another post and so is the Pack Pint Run. The point here is that we started running locally and my ears were to the ground to find a Tough Mudder and a half marathon to run.

The Tough Mudder was going to be the tricky one but as luck would have it the plans just fell into our laps. Since we had done a Tough Mudder in the past I get emails from them. A couple weeks after we had talked about what our goal was going to be I got one of these emails anouncing that there would be a Tough Mudder in Oklahoma this year. AWESOME! I had originally wanted to look for a Mudder out of state for the adventure but staying close to home allows us to put together a team that will make running the race much easier...well easier is not the word. More possible to complete without injury. So only a couple weeks in to planning and we had our Tough Mudder picked out. That seemed easy enough.

The half marathon was the easy choice. We have an awesome marathon/half-marathon that happens right here in OKC. The Oklahoma City Memorial Marathon was the obvious choice for our half marathon run.

So the next step was to start figuring out how we were going to train for these events. While running a 5k we talked to some other participants and realized that Red Coyote had a 10k training program with a coach and everything. This was going to be perfect. We could train for and run a 10k in December. It was going to be a good start. Then Red Coyote had another training program that started the first of the year to train for the half marathon. It is designed to end right when the OKC Memorial Marathon is scheduled to run. It was perfect.

So to recap, our plan was to train for and run a 10k and then go straight into training for a half marathon. We would run the half marathon in April and then run the Tough Mudder in May. It all seemed so innocent and fun. Plus we were going to have our major goals for the year checked off the list before the year was even half over.

Now is when the crazy part happens. We were running a Pack Pint Run the last week and decided that before we left we should go ahead and sign up for the half marathon training program. We signed up and we started looking at the start date, what days of the week we would be training, and what date the final half marathon run would be on...THE MARATHON IS ON MY BIRTHDAY!!! That is going to be so cool! Then these words slip from my lips "Think how cool it would be to run a full marathon on your birthday." Innocent. We both agree that it would be cool and then move on to other things.

The next morning I wake up and its all I can think about. How cool would it be to accomplish that kind of feet on my birthday. I decide to just mention it one more time to see what the reaction will be. Again innocently...or not. "You know I was thinking about it and it really would be cool to run a full marathon on my birthday. I know its crazy, there is no way we could run that far." And the response I got, "It's on your birthday. I don't see how we can not at least try to run the full." Oh no!

That's right we are going to attempt to run the full and I have decided I am going to need lots and lots of motivation and I need ways to hold myself accountable. This blog is the accountable. I know lots of people have done it this way and it has helped so I hope it helps me too. Lets start this crazy adventure!

In Full Disclosure: This may or may not have been all my idea (as described above) but I can't leave any room for me to blame someone else in the future when I'm thinking back and thinking it was a really bad idea.

CSA Day!

Yesterday was CSA day! We got a lot of good stuff and the basil tomatoes and potatoes made a great dinner last night along side some grilled chicken. Now I just have to figure out what I'm going to do with a whole lot of purslane. From the looks of the internet it will be going on salads and sandwiches? I will be making some zucchini boats with all of those strange looking zucchinis. And the peppers look salsa ready! 

Challenge Accepted

I was challenged. Or was I tricked? Looking back on it I'm not quite sure how it happened. The words sounded innocent and yet mildly challenging at the same time...and now I'm running three 5K charity runs in as many weeks. The first one is this weekend! I'm not ready but the good news is that the other two will be much easier once I get the first one under my belt. 

Lets Run This Town!

Around the House

I'm really feeling the blues right now. Around the house and in my spinning. I love this yarn by the way and can't wait to get it washed and set. Then all I have to do is figure out what I want to make! That's always the hardest part.

Plus check out this cute little bird container. I found it at hobby lobby and added the nest from a seller on etsy.

I Need This Today

A Pessimist Learns to Swim

Swimming

Now, I know this video is horrible, but THE PESSIMIST IS SWIMMING! We have been waiting for this for so long. Because of our schedule we have been unable to get him into swim lessons. He swims every week with his summer camp but he wears a life vest all the time. This weekend we decided to go swimming and went and got him a new, bigger life vest since the one from last year no longer fit. We went swimming on Saturday and he wore it all day. Then, we went swimming on Sunday and as the day went on the vest started to chafe his underarms and cheeks were it was rubbing him. I had to take the vest off because I didn't want him to get blisters. He decided that he was just going to walk around the edges of the pool and use a swim board that was there. Everything is going fine for about 45 minutes. We have music going and everyone is having a great time. He tells me that he thinks we should all start dancing in the pool so we do. One minute he is standing there dancing and the next he is swimming around. He could not have been more proud of himself. I could not be more proud of him. I can't wait to go swimming again.

Gluten/Dairy Free

In other happenings, I am trying a gluten free diet for a month. I am on day 3. So far so good and not a lot of withdrawal issues like I had when I tried the paleo diet thing. I'm meant to eat lots of carbohydrates and potatoes and beans and things. I don't do well without them. I'm hoping that cutting out wheat and dairy (almost forgot) will help me get some more energy and function more like a normal human. Only time will tell but hopefully in the next couple of days things will get better.

 I do have a serious case of the foggy brain though now that I think about it. This morning I got up three times from the couch and walked into the other room and then forgot what I was there for! While I am like a zombie in the morning, I truly am never that bad. Is it wheat withdrawal or puppies keeping me up all night I guess I will never know.

Puppies!

 So we all know Rumble. This little guy over here to the left. This is a picture of him when he was just a little speck...now he weighs a whole, almost 5 pounds. So, yes, he is a little guy still but he is now 10 month old. Still a puppy and naughty as ever. He wants to play all the time...so we got him a friend. Originally we had wanted to get him a friend that was older than him and already house trained! That guy needs to get some lessons with someone with a little more experience. This obviously is not how the plan worked out. To the right you see Gunther. Gunther was sitting outside of Petsmart one fine Saturday two weeks ago. No one was really looking at him even though he was the only small dog there and we soon found out why. Gunther's got the mange. It's not contagious but it sure does sound horrible.  His hair is starting to grow back in nicely though. Look at though ears why don't ya. Gunther is a chihuahua mix. Mix with what I ask? Hopefully the vet will have some ideas when we take him in this weekend. He is the sweetest little dog maybe ever all he does is snuggle in with you every time you sit down on the couch. He is slightly bigger than Rumble and is only 16 weeks old. He will do quite a bit more growing. Rumble loves to play with him but is always grumpy that he is around. That is slowly changing though. As for the house training, oh boy do we have our hands full...full of paper towels! Or at least the first weekend they were now things are progressively getting better. Thank goodness because those cute little puppy eyes weren't going to work for very much longer.

One More 4th of July

I've got to post this picture just because I think it is so cool. I think my other picture from July 4th is cool too of course but this one is just busier.

Gardening Greatness!

This garden of ours is kicking some buns and taking some names. Here are some of the okra that we have harvested. These guys are great grilled with a little olive oil and spicy seasoning! More on the seasonings later. I think I will do a whole post just on my favorite Penzeys spice blends.

This next one is a picture of our string beans...which I don't quite understand. We are doing something wrong but I'm just not sure what it is. They are all yellow and the leaves look weird but they are producing flowers and I did find one bean in there. I'm hoping they are just getting ready to get started. In the back left corner of this picture you can also see our cucumbers. Those guys are going crazy and we pretty much have cucumbers coming out of our ears!

This one has our squash, zucchini, and pepper plants. The squash is growing like crazy but is not really putting out that many squashes. The peppers I think will really get going soon but for right now we have a couple peppers on each plant. 

Finally, these are the tomato plants. They are growing like crazy. Plus they have tons of tomatoes on them but none of them are ripe yet. Now it's just a watering and waiting game.

Here are just a few of the vegetables that we have been able to harvest so far. They have all been delicious!

I finally have a plan!

A plan that I like that is. A plan that keeps all the different parts of my life organized. A plan that looks aesthetically pleasing (which is of utmost importance to me)!

I love Etsy! Just get on there and search for printable planners. There are so many good designs. I am always amazed by the talent and the time that people have put into their designs. The planning pages that I found that work for me best are these by LittleDropDesigns.

Obviously they come in this awesome color pallet but I chose to save on ink and print mine on the laser printer. My love of colored pens adds the color and awesomeness to my own calendar. The reason I love this design so much is that I can break my life down into categories and then prioritize what I want to get done in each area for the day. It's a huge plus that I can plan my whole week on...well two pages, but I can see the whole week at one time. I can see areas where I am overwhelming myself and areas where I am slacking off and could put in more effort. I prioritized my life areas from top (most important) to bottom (least important). Although all areas are important or else they wouldn't even be on the list we all know as mothers that some parts of our lives come before others. I've been using this for a few weeks now and I have to say it's really made a difference.

July 4th

Pizza Night

Last night we had pizza night. At our house we love pizza...well at least The Pessimist and I do. The Optimist not so much but he will eat it. No ordinary pizza would do and I didn't want to heat up the house so we went for the grill. I have never grilled pizza before last night but I have to say it went really well. 

Again I really have to figure out how to take better pictures! Anyway this is a nice pepperoni pizza with mozzarella, basil, and sun dried tomatoes. This one was The Optimist's and I have to say, I had a bite, and it was very good. The grill made a very crunchy crust even though it was a pretty thick piece of bread. I use this recipe for the crust because it is made with self-rising flour and there is no rising time. Doing it this way allows for less work and planning.

For me, I made a pizza with basil pesto for the sauce, with heirloom grape and cherry tomatoes, sun dried tomatoes and mozzarella. This thing was the bomb. It was so good I can't even get started or I won't stop but the heirloom tomatoes were the best part. The CSA basket this week came with a bunch of basil in it so I whipped up the pesto while I was waiting for the grill to heat up. Fresh pesto is the best.

The Pessimist only likes cheese pizza and I think we have all seen a cheese pizza before so no photo's of that one but he did like them and actually ate two. Which says a lot. That guy is about to hit a major growth spurt because he eats about twice as much as he did a month ago!

What's Not to Love About Summer Veggies

I made this Summer Veggie Casserole a couple nights ago. It was awesome. In fact we have eaten it two days in a row now. It's just that good. Of course I made a few changes to the recipe but only because of what I had on hand. First I replaced the ricotta cheese with blue cheese. Excellent choice if I do say so myself. I also eliminated the bread crumbs and just gave the casserole a Parmesan cheese crust on top. the veggies that I used were all from the CSA that I am a member of and the basil came from my own herb garden. I will most certainly be making this one again.

I See These in My Future

3 Ingredient Coconut Oil Buscuits

I saw all of these recipes on Pinterest and am going to link to the original post. These biscuits are calling my name in the morning. I've been eating English muffins every morning and I'm ready for a change. Plus I would much rather make my own bread than eat store bought English muffins for my breakfast sandwiches. I can't wait to see how they work out!

Tuna Stuffed Avocado

This tuna stuffed avocado will be one of my lunch choices next week.

Homemade Falafel

I've been wanting to make my own falafel for a long time but kept finding recipes that were made with chickpea flour instead of actual chickpeas. I know traditionally they are made with chickpea flour but I just kept thinking that I wanted to make them with the actual beans. Anyway, this recipe was exactly what I have been looking for.

Flowers