Vegetarian

So I have decided I want to try making one meatless/ vegetarian meal a week.  I think it would be healthy, teach me new things about cooking, and give me more variety.  This week I found a "stuffed peppers" recipe.  Here's the website where I found it: stuffed peppers

They turned out delicious!  Even the 11 month old liked the rice part (the stuffing).  Here's a picture from the final step.

Try to ignore the creepy dog eyes that are begging for the rice to drop

Ingredients:

2 green bell peppers
1/2 cup rice
2 green onions
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 tomato
1 tsp basil
1 tsp italian seasoning
1 tsp salt
pinch of pepper
1/2 cup feta cheese

Directions:

1.  Preheat the oven to 400 degrees (or 350 in the case of my 30 year old, stupid oven)
2.  Place parchment paper on a baking sheet or lightly grease a baking sheet
3.  Prepare rice (if I know how to do this... you should too)
4.  Cut peppers in half and seed.  Place pepper halves on baking sheet, cut side down.
5.  Roast peppers in the oven for 25 to 30 minutes or until tender and start to brown (or only 20 minutes in my 30 year old, stupid oven)
6.  Thinly slice 2 green onions and dice 1 tomato
7.  Heat 1 Tbsp of olive oil on med-high heat till hot.
8.  Add green onions.  Add 1 tsp basil, Italian seasoning, salt, and a pinch of pepper.  Cook for 2 to 3 minutes
9.  Add tomato and cook for 5 minutes, while stirring
10. Add cooked rice and stir till heated through
11.  Remove from heat and mix in 1/2 cup feta cheese
12.  Spoon rice mixture into pepper halves and return to oven for 5 minutes

3 days on - 1 day off

I decided I would work out/ run for 3 days and then take a day off.

This week I actually followed through!  The first day I ran about 2.5 miles and I ran for a total of 25 minutes... almost consecutively.  On Monday I lifted some weights.  I attempted some ab exercises on a machine and was surprised to find out how weak they were.  I suppose 9 months (really 10 months) of my stomach stretching will do that.  Then on Tuesday I ran 2 more miles.  I rested Wednesday and ran 3 miles on Thursday.  Today I rested because tomorrow I am starting my 10k training!

Cotton Row 5k

That's right, I have decided to start training for a 10k.  I was disappointed in my last 5k performance and time... and I am majorly doubting myself.  But I figured I may as well try!  I am excited for this challenge but nervous.  Right now I feel like I can hardly finish 3.1... and soon I'll double it.  However, I once walked a marathon distance charity walk (Avon 2-day walk for breast cancer).  So, I figured I can always walk.  My only goal is to finish, without them having to drive me back to the finish line.  I have walked a marathon, completed a sprint triathlon, and completed a swim/run event... surely I can do this!

Here's the training schedule I'm following.  I'll be doing a little mixture of both.  About.com is not the most reputable running website... but it gives me some sort of structure.

Beginner 10k training
"Advanced" beginner 10k training

Monte Sano 10k Road Race
August 31, 2013
Here I come!

Anyone with tips on 10k distance running?

Working Mom to Stay-at-home Mom

I have been back to being a stay-at-home mom for about a month now.  The beginning of my time did not go as expected... penicillin allergy and all.  Then we had a vacation which was much needed.  Now for the past 3 weeks I have been focused on my mom routine.  At the start of my internship I thought the stay-at-home thing was just going to be for the summer.  However, I cannot imagine the beginning months of my future child's life without me there 24/7 for longer than 6 weeks.  And no, I'm not pregnant.  Seeing the true rigors of a teacher's life I have decided to postpone that career till I am done having kids and all of them are at least 1 or 2.  I know it may be harder to get a teaching job after this... but I know I will never regret staying home.

The first couple of weeks I feel like I was just playing catch-up: laundry, dishes, grocery shopping, reorganizing (a tiny bit).  Now at the end of my third week I feel like I am finally getting a rhythm.  The time I am getting to share with Cooper is precious.  Being away from him for 4 months was much harder than I thought.  I definitely missed the kid!

Now that I'm caught up on the cleaning, (though it is and endless task because I have to keep it up!) I am trying to figure out the many things Cooper and I can do.  He's not walking yet so somethings we cannot do.  So far we have been to the zoo and the park.  Cooper is not a big fan of grass so the park is an adventure.  He was standing in the grass and slightly raised his foot today!  One step closer to walking!  Next we conquer swim lessons and maybe Spring Valley Beach (water park... kinda).