Baked Spaghetti Squash and Cheese Review

This was really good, and honestly I was surprised at how much I liked it.  I wasn't really sure about it, even though the picture made it look yummy.  When I made it, there was a little more sauce, so I may have gotten squash that were a little too small, but it still came out very good.  We also had broccoli and sautéed chicken with it, so the broccoli was great to soak up some of that extra cheesy sauce.  You don't use a lot of cheese in the recipe, so I was pleasantly surprised at how cheesy it tasted.  The texture was a little different.  One of my monkeys said "Can't we just have real macaroni and cheese?"  This was after I told him that it would taste a little like macaroni and cheese.

As for the opinions of the house:  2 out of 2 adults liked it, and 2 out of 4 of the monkeys liked it, so I call it a success.  I will make it again, but I may sub out the spinach for mushrooms and broccoli.....we will see.

I've been back on track with running, I just haven't updated my moon jogger miles box, but I plan to do that soon.  Just a little over a week and I'll be on my way to my next half (and fun girls weekend!)

Tinker Bell 2013

I can't believe it is almost time for this race again. The 2012 Tinker Bell half marathon was a very important race for me last year. It was the first race of my deployment challenge to myself, and completing it was the start of a whole new phase in my life.

This year is quite a different story from last year.  Last year I was so nervous, it was only my second half marathon and I was still very nervous about not being able to finish in time.  This year I feel so much better prepared and I do not have doubts about being able to finish this race within the time allowed.

This time, I am doing this race with Team in Training and I am heading out early Friday morning to California.  I will get to meet up with some of my TNT flex team on Friday.  I also plan on hitting up the expo on Friday- runDisney expos are great- so much fun stuff to check out!  Saturday I volunteered to work a shift for Sparkle Skirts, I will be there from 10 am- 2 pm, if you are there, please stop by and say hello :).    Saturday evening is the TNT inspiration dinner and then Sunday is the big day!

The race starts at 5 am- thank goodness it is on the west coast- it's so much easier to get up for those early races out there!  I plan on sticking with my 2:1 run:walk ratio for this race, I've been training at that ratio for the past couple of months so I am hoping that will help me with a new PR for this race (current PR is from the Wine and Dine in November).

In other news- I am still on track with meals cooked at home for this month and also keeping up with my Moon Jogger miles- I'm looking forward to adding those 13.1 miles to the total next week :).  In order to keep up with my goals, I am planning to meal plan for next week early so that I don't miss out on any days.  I found out last year that planning ahead is key!

So, anyone else running Tink this year?

Baked Chicken Parmesan Review

This was my first time trying out this meal and it turned out great.  It was very easy to put together and took less than 45 minutes from start to finish.  I love easy meals- it makes my life so much easier.  We had the chicken parmesan with a small serving of fettuccine and some sautéed yellow squash and zucchini.  While the kiddos were more than happy to finish off the chicken and noodles, they were hesitant on the veggies.  One of my kiddos even said "Mommy, where did you get the squash- I thought your plants were dead?"  He's referring to the squash and zucchini that we grew over the summer- I thought he'd be over the amount of squash he ate over the summer :)

This morning I ran intervals and cadence drills and then did a couple more miles.  I am still working off the Half Marathon with Jeff Galloway app for my phone.  That gives me 3 runs per week and then I am just adding in another run or two to make up the extra miles to complete my moon jogger miles for the week.

I have been wanting to get back to the Jillian Michaels Body Revolution for a while, but timing has not really worked out until now.  Tonight my husband joined me and we did our first workout in a while.  We had finished weeks 1 and 2 several weeks ago, so we decided to start with workout 3.  I forgot how tough that workout was.  Thankfully I do remember that the odd numbered workouts are harder than the even numbered workouts, so tomorrow should be easier :)

Bangin Good Shrimp Dinner

Delicious!  Because I knew this would be a spicier meal, I did make some macaroni and cheese for the kiddos.  But, we did have company for the weekend, so my husband, my sister, and my mom got to be the guinea pigs for this meal.  They all told me it was really good.

This was a very quick meal to prepare, it only took a few minutes to mix the sauce and cook the shrimp.  I served it over purple cabbage along with some avocado.  We also had broccoli as a side.  The shrimp with the cabbage was a really good combination.

This morning my mom and sister we nice enough to keep up with the kiddos while my husband was nice enough to join me on a 6.61 mile run.  We did a 2 min run/1 min walk ratio and then ran the final .75 mile to finish up our run.  I'm thankful that my husband is willing to run with me (my pace is definitely slower than his!) and that he is willing to try out the run/walk/run program.  He's very good at  being encouraging while we are running and I really enjoyed the miles yesterday.  I'm also above my target goal for moon jogger miles this week, 17.703 for the week.

Crock Pot Chicken Taco Chili Review

Another winner for us!  This was another one that we all enjoyed and the boys even all had seconds again.  This was a very filling meal and so easy to make.  It's another one of those "toss everything in the crockpot and check on it later" meals.  The combination of all of the ingredients made this very tasty and not too spicy for the kids to eat it.

We are so far going very strong with our home cooked meals, three in a row!  Tomorrow we will be using our new bread machine to make homemade pizza to enjoy during our family movie night.

Before I had dinner, I did a quick 2.5 mile run to add to my Moon Jogger miles.  Between that run and the delicious Crock Pot Chicken Taco Chili, I count this as a successful day :)

Dinner Review

Tonight's dinner consisted of two new recipes, both from SkinnyTaste:  Garlic Lover's Roast Beef and Skinny Garlic Mashed Potatoes.  We also had steamed broccoli, our family's favorite vegetable.  This entire meal was a hit with everyone.  Even had all of the boys asking for seconds.

The roast was really great, it smelled great while cooking and was very easy....just put it in the oven and wait.   I used my pampered chef small ridged baker for the roast- it was the perfect size and the ridges kept the roast from sitting in the juices that came from the roast.  Delicious :) The potatoes were also really good, I added a little bit of parmesan cheese to the potatoes, and that made them even yummier :)

This morning I did a 5.266 mile run using my half marathon with Jeff Galloway app.  It was a pretty good run- there were intervals in the workout, so not just running the miles on the treadmill-  the variety helps when doing that kind of distance.  So far I am on track for my moon jogger distance.  Tomorrow will be a shorter run, followed by a rest day and long run on Saturday.

A Moon Jogger in 2013

So last night I was talking to my husband about some goals for 2013.  I casually mentioned that I think I'd like to shoot for a total of 1000 miles run/walked in 2013.  It comes out to a little less than 20 miles a week.  Thinking that through I was thinking maybe not....I just wasn't sure I'd have the time to commit to 20 miles each week.  But, at the same time, I kept coming back to it today.

Tonight I was checking out one of the groups that I belong to on facebook and came across a post about Moon Joggers.  Here is a little snippet from their blog page about the challenge:

"We are two sisters, ANGIE & ASHLEY, that set a goal to run 1,000 mile each in 2013. Then we decided to open it up to our friends and family and invite them to participate in the challenge! Now we are searching for people all over the world to run with us to the MOON!

We are putting together our team for 2013. More information to follow. You can commit to complete 1,000 miles as an individual, or you can do it with your family. It's great family bonding time to walk or jog together! If you have a family of four and you got for a one mile walk, that's four miles to put towards you 1,000 miles."

So I decided to give it a shot and really commit to running and walking the 1000 miles in 2013!  If you decide to join me in this, let me know.... registration ends tomorrow, December 30 and tracking starts on January 1st.