ok, a recipe for a MEAL this time. not a dessert.

i got this recipe from my mom. she used to make it all the time when i lived at home. it takes a while to make - about 1-1 1/2 hours total, but, it is really easy. i used to call it "greasy pasta" when she made it, so, that is now the official name. i guess it could be "greasy pasta" aka "eggplant pasta," just for clarification purposes.

1 big eggplant (peeled and cubed)
1/2 cup olive oil
1/2 large onion (chopped into small pieces)
6 cloves of garlic (or about 3 to 4 spoonfuls of minced garlic)
Few shakes of red pepper flakes
Few shakes of parsley
14 ½ oz can of whole peeled tomatoes
Few shakes black pepper
1 lb rotini or rotelli

Take half of the peeled, cubed eggplant and ¼ cup of oil – put into 5 quart chef’s pan on medium heat – constantly stir until brown. Remove from heat, and then do the same with the second half of eggplant and other ¼ cup of oil. When the second batch is almost done, add the first back in – add the onion and garlic. Add red pepper flakes, parsley, and black pepper. Add can of tomatoes. Lower heat to very low. Break up tomatoes with spoon, take out hardend parts. Add more oil if a little dry. Let simmer for an hour – check, stir & continue to break up tomatoes about every 10 minutes. Boil & prepare pasta – pour eggplant sauce over pasta and stir.

PB & J ... in a muffin???

wicked cool recipe. the taste of a peanut butter & jelly sandwich, but in the oh-so-wonderful shape of the muffin!

2 cups flour

1 TBL baking powder

1 cup milk

2 eggs

2/3 cup sugar (plus a little extra to sprinkle on the top)

1 cup peanut butter

1/3 cup vegetable oil

1/2 cup jelly

Heat oven to 375 degrees. Stir together flour, salt, and baking powder in a large bowl. Add milk, eggs, 2/3 cup sugar, peanut butter, and oil to flour mixture. Combine ingreidents just until moistened - do not overmix.
Fill prepared muffin cups (either with liners or cooking spray) with half of batter. Place 2 level teaspoons of jelly in center of each muffin. Evenly divide the rest of the batter between muffins cups. Sprinkle each muffin with some sugar. Bake 18-20 minutes. Let cool in pan at least 5 minutes before removing.
Makes 12 muffins.
Enjoy!

boobies anyones?

my husband emailed me one afternoon.
the subject was:

"can you make"

and the body of the email consisted of:

"a cake that looks like boobs?"

um, duh. of COURSE i can.



i did my research. i figured the best was to order a "boob pan" from a naughtly website. and for the base, use a 9 x 13 glass pan.









i followed the recipe for a regular, oh-so-normal plain yellow cake, and made white frosting (don't use a recipe for buttercream frosting - the yellow from the egg yolks will completely throw off the coloring you use to create the desired "skin tone.")

i ordered "copper" colored food gel dye from Wilton's (also online - it says "perfect for skin tones" haha), and had to add a bit of pink also to get the desired coloring. oh boy. what fun.




i made the nipples out of fondant. the brown part didn't look exactly right when i assembled it, but, looked the best on the actual cake, i thought.


The finished product. haha. i was so happy & proud. and so was the guy at my husband's job who reeived the cake at his retirement party.

how 'bout some running?

i have been "seriously" running for three and a half years. when i say "seriously," i mean that i think about running when i'm not at the gym, i run outside when it is 100 degrees and when it is 5 degrees, and i currently log 32-35 miles/week. and i am very happy about it.

i have run three half marathons (ing miami: january 07, salem wicked half: september 07, and hyannis: february 08), one full marathon (NYC november 07, 5:13:15), and various 5Ks & 10Ks. i am currently in line for a nahant 30K (18 and some odd miles), the salem wicked half again this september, and (gulp.) an ULTRA in Texas next February (50 mile trail run). http://www.tejastrails.com/Rocky.html

and i am still happy about it.

my normal week consists of 7ish miles on tuesday and thursday mornings, a fast track workout of 3-4 miles on wednesday, and anywhere between 13 and 19 miles combined long runs saturday & sunday. my favorite place to run is literally around my neighborhood (so i don't have to drive anywhere), but, to change it up, i also run at the charles river (http://www.soundkeepers.com/running/boston.html), the lake in wakefield (http://www.visitingnewengland.com/wakefield.html), nahant beach (http://www.mass.gov/dcr/parks/metroboston/lynnshores.htm), and, for a killer hill workout, Breakheart reservation in Saugus (http://www.saugus.org/FOBR/).

i don't pretend i necessarily know exactly what i am doing, the best way to do it, or know enough to tell other people what to do - but, what i am doing seems to work for me. and that's all i really care about.

cross training & rest days are super important. i normally run five out of seven days (taking monday & friday off from running, and substituting it with something else, like swimming or taking a long walk). i attempted to get into triathlons, but, i was too selfish with my running to give up any more days to other activities. ha. maybe next year.

i am a solitary runner - and 95% of the time i run alone. my brother in law, anthony, is also a runner, and has accompanied me to miami & hyannis for two half marathons. he has also been with me through some nasty long runs on the charles, thinking about what we were going to order at the texas roadhouse after.

my husband's favorite cookie. ever. he said so.

peanut butter banana cookies.

my husband loves peanut butter.
he loves it so much, he thinks when you combine it with almost anything else (including chocolate, which is my FAVORITE thing) , it simply takes up room where you could have added more peanut butter. Ha.
thankfully, the bananas really just work in these cookies to make them super soft, unlike most other peanut butter cookies. recipe definitely can be doubled. I originally got this recipe from foodgeeks.com.

3/4 cup butter, softened (stick & a half)

1 & 1/4 cups peanut butter

1 cup sugar

1 cup packed brown sugar (light or dark)

3 medium overripe bananas

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 & 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 tsp baking soda

1/8 tsp baking powder

Preheat Oven to 325°F. In a large mixing bowl, cream together the butter, peanut butter, sugar, and brown sugar until smooth. Peal the bananas, chop up a bit, and drop into the mixture; mix well (some small banana chunks are fine). Beat in eggs one at a time, mixing well after each. Add vanilla. Combine the flour, baking soda, and baking powder in separate bowl; stir into the peanut butter mixture. Drop by the spoonful onto ungreased cookie sheets. Bake for 13 to 16 minutes - They won't necessarily be brown, and may not look done. As they set, though, they will firm. Allow to cool on cookie sheet for two to three minutes before moving to a wire rack to cool completely. Enjoy!

exciting first blog. woo!

yay! this blog is the first of many devoted to the two BEST things in the world: running & eating like crazy. the devotion to eating really stems from my intial love of baking/cooking. i will continue to post some of my FAV recipes (meals & treats) in addition to my fav runs routes, types, distances, races, etc (and maybe a few favrotie runs/postrun treat combos!)