Larriland Farm

Today Rob and I decided to go to Larriland Farm in Woodbine, MD (near Lisbon) to pick some of our own fresh fruits and vegetables. It is a little bit of a drive for us, about 45-50 minutes, but definitely worth the trip. We are already planning another trip back in a few weeks when other fruits and vegetables are ready for picking.

It was a lot of fun picking our own food. Today we picked some...

tomatoes---minus one that Rob had to eat as soon as we got home. Some...

peaches --- minus one we shared in the car on our way home, and...

some blackberries. (Not a great picture, but forgot to get one before I put them away.) Yummy!

I am planning on making some of my own peach and blackberry jam with these goodies!

We also treated ourselves to...

some Old Fashioned Soda. Can you guess which one was mine? And to some fruit rolls, which we ate before I could get any pictures, as I didn't take my camera with me. I will definitely be taking my camera for future pickings and events.

In October they have Halloween events, pumpkin and apple picking, and hayrides. Can't wait! If you are in the area and want to check them out here is a link to their website: www.pickyourown.com.

Shrimp Scampi

Shrimp Scampi was on the dinner menu for tonight. This is one of my favorite meals. It tastes great, is simple to make (takes around 30 minutes), low calorie, and low fat. We haven't had this meal in a long time, which probably made it taste even better than usual. It was delicious!

Here are the ingredients that you will need. There are 10 ingredients, but you should have most of them on hand already.

I got this recipe from the Eating for Life cookbook, which I highly recommend, as it is a great cookbook with a ton of wonderful recipes. It includes breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snack recipes.

I have tweaked this recipe a little bit to make it just a little bit healthier. I cut out the olive oil (1 Tbsp) and used the Pam Cooking Spray instead. This was the first time I did it this way and it still came out great, as you only use the olive oil to saute the garlic in.

Here's a list of the ingredients:

~4 oz uncooked whole-wheat penne pasta

~Pam Cooking Spray (enough to lightly coat a large skillet)

~3 cloves of garlic, minced

~8 oz of shrimp

~3 Tbsp of Butter Buds or Molly McButter Sprinkles (divided)

~3 Tbsp of chicken broth (reduced sodium and 99% fat free)

~1/4 tsp black pepper

~Lemon Juice

~3 Tbsp Parmesan Cheese, grated (reduced fat)

~Parsley Flakes (sprinkle)

Directions:

1. Boil penne pasta according to the directions on the box. Drain and put in a large bowl and cover.

2. While the penne is cooking, boil water for the shrimp. Since the shrimp I use is already cooked, you just need to heat it through. I bring it to a boil, drain it, and let it cool.

3. Get large skillet (or use the pan from the shrimp) spray it with Pam and add the garlic. Set aside while you take the tails off the shrimp (unless you buy with tails-off). Add shrimp to pan and saute for 1-2 minutes.

4. Add 1 Tbsp of Butter Buds and chicken broth (you can use white cooking wine instead) to shrimp mixture and saute 1-2 minutes.

5. Add remaining 2 Tbsp of Butter Buds and black pepper to cooked penne; mix gently.

6. Add shrimp mixture to pasta and mix it all together.

7. Divide into 2 portions and spoon onto plates. Top with a little bit of lemon juice, add Parmesan Cheese (personally, 1-1/2 Tbsp per plate was too much for me, so I will probably cut it to 1 Tbsp or 2 tsp next time I make it.), and sprinkle with parsley flakes.

8. Enjoy!

And this is what the finished product looks like:

Nutritional Information (per serving):

Servings: 2

Calories: 383

Fat: 5 grams

Carbs: 56 grams

Protein: 34 grams

Fiber: 6 grams

**As long as you use exactly what is posted on here. **

You get a decent amount of food for the calories:

But, if this isn't enough, you could always add a side salad or some fruit. Hope you like it!

What's For Dinner?

On Sunday, I found my calendar dry erase board and decided that I would use it to plan out our monthly dinners. The further we get into our training, the more time we spend running, so I wanted to at least know what we were going to be having for dinner. I don't want to get back from a run at 6 or 7 pm and have to figure out what to have for dinner. Along with planning it all out, I do my shopping for the week on Sunday or Monday, depending on what we are having on that particular Monday. By shopping for everything ahead of time, I can make up some of the meals earlier in the week or earlier in the day, so it will be ready to heat up and eat as soon as we get home and shower. It definitely makes the nights go so much smoother, and decreases the tendency to grab not so healthy food.

Here is what the month of August looks like:

I am hoping to post some of these healthy recipes throughout the month with pictures! I think I have posted a couple of the recipes on the menu in previous posts, so you can check them out, if you would like. I also put the page number, if it came from my cookout, so I would know exactly where to find that specific recipe.

Eating healthy doesn't have to take a lot of time, trust me! I don't like spending all of my time cooking. I would much rather be outside running! :) So, I try to make it as easy as possible, and so far this method seems to be working.

Check back often for updates and recipes!

Can't Get Enough!

It seems like I just can't get enough information or inspiration for running. Every time I step into a bookstore, I am drawn to the sports section and immediately to the books on running. I could literally stand there for hours looking through all of the books, trying to decide which one I just can't leave the store without! I recently went to Borders, since they are going out of business (which makes me very sad, as they were one of my favorite bookstores), and ended up leaving with two new inspirational running books. One of which I am currently reading, and have a hard time putting down at night, so I can get some sleep.

So far this is a great book, and I am only 35 pages into it! The stories of the women in the book are truly inspirational. Whether you are seasoned runner, a new runner, or thinking about becoming a runner, there is sure to be a story that will touch and inspire you to either continue running or to start running. The power of running is definitely amazing! I am not sure how I ever lived without making running a part of my life. It has forever changed mine!

We Have We Been Up To?

Wow! Where has this year gone? Can you believe that it is already August? I sure can't! Time has been going by so fast, and so fast that it seems like I haven't had time to sit down and blog about everything that we have been doing the last couple of months.

June was a pretty busy month for me between working and running. I did a lot of substitute teaching at the end of the school year, definitely more than I was expecting, but it was nice. I really love teaching and working with the students. It is so much fun! Even with all the hours I was putting in at the end of the school year, which went until June 22 because of the snow days, I still ran a total of 100 miles! An increase of 23 miles from the month of May! I also ended up with 60 walking miles! My average running pace was a 10:21 minute mile. My average walking pace was 17:14, and I burned a total of 11,882 calories! June ended up being a really good month.

On June 27th we started our training for marathon number 2! Yes, we are running the same marathon as last year. The same marathon we swore while we were running and as soon as we were done, that we would never run again! The Baltimore Marathon!

July started out very busy as well. My sister came to visit for the 4th of July weekend. She left on Sunday the 3rd. My mom also came to visit. She was July 3rd through the 10th. It was so nice having both my sister and my mom down here to visit. We had a great time. My sister and I went shopping...that is a workout in itself. :) My mom was here a little longer, so we got to do a few different things. We went to a Bowie Baysox game and watched their 4th of July fireworks display afterwards. A couple of days later, we went and walked around downtown Annapolis, as my mom had never been there. Luckily, she got here before we had the 115 degree weather!

Despite the busy start to July and the horrible heat wave we encountered throughout the month, we managed to complete the first 5 weeks of our marathon training. There were some early morning runs, and some very hot and humid runs, but that is what summer marathon training is all about! Plus, it makes the temperature in October feel amazing! July running and walking numbers are a little lower, due to training, but are rapidly increasing and August's numbers will definitely show that! We logged 79 running miles and 47 walking miles for the month of July. The average run pace was 9:32. Our average walk pace was 25:31, this includes miles walking the doggies. They tend to slow you down a little bit! :) I burned 10,582 calories in the month of July.

This puts my total running miles at 1,215 since July 12 of 2010 and my walking miles at 360. My walking miles are lower due to the fact that I didn't really start including the miles I spent walking until December of 2010.

Oh, and I am starting to include some biking on my non-running days. Only ended up with 10 miles for the month of July, but hoping to increase that number for the month of August. Biking is a great cross-training workout for runners. I am hoping it will make my legs a little stronger and ready for the Baltimore hills!

Thanks for reading!