Salsa Party

I just thought of a great idea. A "Salsa" Party! We provide salsa music and the salsa and you just bring your own chips to share... it's a win-win! I only say this because I have just consumed some of the best salsa I have ever made and this completely ties into yesterday's post (Put It in a Taco).

This evening I had some leftover London Broil, so I sliced it into small pieces and heated them up on my cast iron skillet.

In addition, I heated up a few tortillas and placed the beef inside... wait a minute, I should at least start from the beginning, because, often when dealing with beef, the veggies take much longer. Let me start from the... start.

1. I diced a yellow onion and put it in in a small pot with peanut oil over medium heat.
2. After the onion started to really cook, I diced 1 jalapeno with the seeds in tact and added it to the onions (I lightly covered the pot with a lid, because One does not simply cook a jalapeno without making the air around them unbearable.)
3. I then peeled about 3-4 cloves of garlic and chopped them into smallish pieces, then added them to the onion and jalapeno mixture and recovered letting them simmer on lower heat.

*keep in mind that with this mixture, I continually checked and stirred for even cooking

4. I then diced about 4-5 medium sized tomatoes, and , in a separate, bigger pot, I put them on the stove to slowly start to simmer.
5. When I was confident in the cooking of the "aromatics" (onion, garlic, and jalapeno), I added them to the tomatoes and stirred and turned the heat to medium and let it cook for about 10-15 minutes.
6. I added cilantro, chili powder, cumin, salt and pepper to taste. Then I waited.
7. I let the pot cook down a little while, then...
8. I used a hand blender in the pot to break down the mixture into "salsa-sized" chunks (only you can determine when to stop) *note that a blender works just fine, you'll just need to spoon it into a blender and chop and puree it to your liking.
9. I put the whole amazingness into a bowl and dreamed about its future.

10. While dreaming about this amazingness, I (cooked my child's food) heated up some tortillas, put the now hot steak into the tortillas, sliced an avocado and put it in the tortillas, then finally put the amazing-should-be-making-me-a-million-dollars salsa on top.

So, I made some awesome steak tacos from yesterday's steak with a touch of whatever I had in the fridge made into a salsa. Salsa is the perfect condiment. Full of vegetables, low in carbs and fat, and high in necessary nutrients for a successful life.

I write this mainly because I was thinking about what raw ingredients should we always have on hand. My answer is that we should always, at least, have the necessary ingredients for a salsa. Think about that for a moment. Tomatoes, jalapenos, onions, and garlic. The seasonings are all about what your individual taste is, but consider the number of things you can make with just those 4 main ingredients.

You could make pico-de-gallo, pasta sauce, side dishes, just serving them as vegetables, etc. These are the main ingredients I try to make sure I always have on hand, because even though I think making anything into a taco sounds easy, sometimes it's much better if you add a little more.

Eating simply is all about that. Cooking fresh and homemade food can be as simple as what I described. First, stock your refrigerator and pantry with the essentials, then go wild. If time is a constraint, just keep in mind that I did all this after working all day and then coming home and doing a 15-mile bike ride. Then, of course, I still had to make lunches for tomorrow, get the boy in the bath and do our nighttime routine, and clean the kitchen. And, oh yeah, I also sat down to write this.

Point is? I'm going to throw an amazing salsa party and if you're not there, it's your loss.

Love you :-)

Paul

Put it In a Taco

The other night I posted about a stir-fry meal I made with rice, chicken, and veggies.

It was very good and flavorful, but there were left-overs. And you know, there's just nothing all that exciting about left-overs.

That is... until you put it in a taco.

That's right, I just took last night's leftovers and put it in a taco... just say those words with me, "Put it in a taco".

Need to spruce up some leftovers?

Put it in a taco... need to find a way to make breakfast portable and fun?

Put it in a taco. Think, "cereal taco"- cheerios with yogurt in a taco shell, then of course eggs and cheese.

I don't even care what it is. Just put it in a tortilla call it a taco and bam! Instant taco night, and you name me one person who doesn't love taco night. This could easily make every other night taco night... just think, if every other night was a taco night, or every other morning was a taco morning, or every other lunch was a taco lunch... what a world we would live in!

You can put just about anything in a tortilla and call it a taco. I believe it was Taco Bell that actually put a taco inside a taco and called it a taco something. The possibilities are endless, but the point is very simple. There are more creative ways to have fun with your food.

My simple suggestion? Take something bland, put it in a tortilla with some avocado and a splash of salsa, and... hello! TACO NIGHT!

Have fun, and play with your food a little!

Peace,

Paul

When You've Done Everything Right, but It All Goes Wrong

I'm trying to figure out a problem. Before I moved to Texas I had already decided to run the Dallas Marathon in December. My training went pretty well, and my taper was almost perfect... then, there was an ice storm, the whole city shut down and my marathon was cancelled.

I took a week off and decided to set my focus on the Big D marathon in April. Instead of just riding the wave of my previous training, I decided to start over- from scratch. This time, however, I was a lot more formal, adding a slow-building of one-day-a-week speed work outs (starting small and working up) and one-day-a-week tempo runs (designed to train me how to run at my goal pace). In addition, I started my distance runs, simply enough, with 8 milers, then 10, 12, 14, and 16. I went so slow with this build up that I did 2 weeks of 12, two of 14 and two of 16.

Then.

My first attempt at 18 was a disaster. My right heel was in such pain that I had to stop after nine miles, the last few of those miles were sluggish. My second attempt, the next week, ended with the same result. I rested throughout the next week- rolling my foot, my calf, my legs- stretching, doing yoga, etc. Then I attempted it again. Same result... and one more for good measure the next week, you guessed it.

Well, needless to say, I'm glad I didn't pay and register for the race. I took a couple weeks off and everything started to feel better. After a few good suggestions from some good friends, I decided that maybe it was time for new shoes. Got em- my favorites and mostly successful brands, makes and models were even on sale- win!

I ran a few times successfully, then thought that maybe the half-marathon would be a better fit this time, so I tried running 13 miles this past weekend just to be sure. As I approached 7 miles, I realized that I hadn't run more than once a week and no longer than 6 miles for about 4 weeks... 13 may be a bad idea, so I stopped at 10.

When I analyzed my split times, I noticed the same thing across the board. For the first 3-4 miles I ran rather consistently, but after that I slowed down significantly. A month + ago I was running record half-marathon, 5K, and 10K times, but now I'm barely able to perform on short runs. Frankly, I'm at a loss.

The muscle issues are either in my right heal, my right calf, my right hamstring, or my right glute. I stretch, I roll them. I don't know. I've gotten new shoes, I pay extremely close attention to my stride and breathing pattern. To be honest, it's frustrating.

Probably no one out there can help, but it's important to know that no matter how much work we put in and no matter how much we do it right- something can always go wrong. It's hard to say this, but sometimes, we need to accept that injury, pain and hurt happen while we try to improve. The reasons for this are numerous, but the one thing we cannot do is give up.

I'll do some yoga tomorrow and play it by ear for Thursday. I'll take Friday off as I normally do, then if I can run 13 miles on Saturday, I'll register and run the Big D half-marathon the next week. My best guess is that I won't PR, but at this point I'm not even sure I'm running the race... and that needs to be OK. Sometimes we don't run the race; but we heal, rest and recover, then come out fighting the next time around.

These are always hard decisions, but ones that only we can make. I encourage you to not only consider what you can do that pushes you to your limits, but what will it take to go beyond those limits. I also encourage you to consider your ego as you go... sometimes, you just need to heal.

God bless,
Paul

Three Simple Rules to Cooking

I love cooking.

If you knew me prior to 2002, you'd probably say that I was lying and likely recount some ridiculous thing that I attempted to make and, if you were being honest at the time, you probably asked for a peanut butter and jelly sandwich instead. I mean, I burnt spaghetti... spaghetti! The one thing that I was told I couldn't screw up.

Cooking for me is a lot like writing. When I was in high school, I was a decent writer. I had creative ideas, but was forced into a 5 paragraph essay format. Even the longer research papers fit neatly into the mold of "tell them what you're going to tell them, tell them, then tell them what you told them." In college, my freshman English professor threw that mold in the trash like a moldy piece of cheese. From that point forward, I felt free to write in any style I chose, so long as there was a solid thesis somewhere that was supported then concluded. I started to enjoy writing and the writing process ever since.

Cooking was very similar. Follow these steps and these recipes and that's how you cook. Frankly, it's overwhelming, and that's why I think so many people run away from the fresh food cooking ideals that they could provide for their family. And it's certainly not woman's work, nor is it man's work- it's human's work. Cooking fresh, homemade food is actually very simple. In fact, in light of my current Sunday school series (Three Simple Rules), I think it best to put cooking to the test. These are the three simple rules of cooking wholesome, fresh homemade food.

1.) You need a protein (meat, fish, tofu, etc)
   -Fish- there are thousands of awesome ways to cook fish, but to summarize- cook them until they are flaky (some can be rarer, like Tuna and Salmon, some need to be well done)
  -Beef- ground beef needs to be completely cooked/ others between 160-170 (get a meat thermometer)
  -Pork- cook until 170 degrees
  -Chicken/Poultry- cook until 170-180 degrees
  -Tofu- heat it up, it will take the flavor of whatever is in the pan
  -Beans- can be used as a starch, but they have good fiber and protein and have all the essential ingredients to create life... so they're pretty good for you
  -Eggs- they've gotten a bad reputation, but eggs are an excellent source of a lot of goodness- if you think about it, eggs (with the yolks) have all the amino acids, nutrients, proteins, etc necessary for life
2.) Vegetables- rule of thumb for cooking vegetables. You do not need to cook most vegetables, but if you choose to cook them, think of it more as heating them up.
  -Blanching vegetables (ideal for broccoli, or other hearty vegetables that can be eaten raw)- simply boil water in a kettle and pour over them, then serve
  -Steaming vegetables- I actually haven't done this in a while, but the idea is that they shouldn't touch the water and the steaming should be light
  -Grilling vegetables- should be the last step in the cooking process, thrown on the grill or in the pan in the last few minutes to give them that grilled taste, but not to overcook them
3.) Starch/Grain- everyone will have an opinion on this, so I'll try to make it brief. Find starches like brown rice, quinoa, beans (beans can be your protein and starch)- basically you want your starch to be high in fiber, nutrients, and ideally protein. I generally avoid potatoes- however- they can fill you up fast (good for over eaters), and are fairly high in potassium... the skin has fiber.

Meat serving size is arguable (old rule is, no bigger than a deck of cards), eat as many veggies as you want (load up the plate), and eat the starches sparingly.

I had left-over rice in the fridge, so this evening I decided to make black beans and rice... then I decided to make black beans, rice and chicken... then I decided to make chicken, veggies and rice stir-fry. These decisions were made fluidly and without thought. In the end, I realized that I had a lot of veggies in the fridge and left-over rice. I just needed to thaw and cook the chicken.

1. I started by chopping up and putting some chicken on a hot pan with some peanut oil- I sprinkled it with salt and pepper
2. As it cooked, I chopped up some onion, garlic, zucchini, mushrooms, green beans (never from a can), okra, and jalapeno (de-seeded- if you want spice, leave the seeds in)
3. I added some fresh herbs from the garden (now at this point, if you don't have a garden, then this is more complicated than it needed to be- I added rosemary, thyme, cilantro, chamomile)- you can add whatever the heck you want, it's your food!
4. Once the chicken started to brown I added all the veggies and cooked them all together on medium heat

5. Once everything started looking done, I added the left-over rice and mixed it all together
6. I added some soy sauce to taste
7. I served it in a smallish bowl

Ta da.

Cooking is not magic. Sometimes it just takes someone with an idea that grows. It might take a day to figure out what you want to cook, or an hour, or 10 minutes. If you simply follow the three simple rules, then you can experiment and learn how to do it... just like I had to. Just don't let yourself get too bogged down with all the dang rules, and have fun!

God Bless!
Paul

Gardening... Yes, Gardening- My Biggest Failure Would to Be to Not Try at All.

Let me give you a little history.

My wife and I do NOT have "green thumbs". What we actually have is what we know so affectionately as a "black thumb". This means that instead of growing living things, we are more prone to killing living things. The very fact that our 6 year old boy is, indeed, 6-years-old is a freaking miracle of God.

Our death tally includes: every living thing that has ever been put into our care, with one exception.

So, the idea that I would actually follow through on a lifelong goal of having a garden should, at the very least, give you some investment in the story of it.

A million years ago when we got married, we lived in a tiny, beautiful, lovely town called Knoxville, PA- population 618, when we left, two people moved in... 618. We had a a wonderfully loving grandma, Pauline, who had raised several children. She still cooked for several children and planted a garden for several children. She regularly instructed us to harvest from that garden as often as we could. I was envious at her ability to grow things and feed people- this was during the time that I was learning how to cook, live healthy, exercise, and to teach (I was going to school- again).

Fast-forward a few years. My wife was appointed to a church in Tower City, PA, and we moved into the parsonage where the former pastor had planted a plentiful garden. We harvested tons of tomatoes, green beans, zucchinis, broccoli, etc. The years that followed... well, let's just say, nothing planted, nothing grown. Though I always envied the idea of growing my own food.

Fast forward just a few more years. Now we have moved to Texas and "purchased" our own home. The backyard belongs to "us". So, finally, I decided to try my first attempt at growing my own food- in a drought, with clay-tacular soil (i.e. muck with no real benefit).

I have visited the local nursery- which is what I would suggest to anyone wanting to try this. Local nurseries have insider knowledge of your soil and how to overcome the deficiencies therein... ie. North Texas, nutrition-less clay. I have started to compost and have built a simple, above ground garden 8' x 4' in area. I have used as much organic soil builder stuff as possible. And though I'm not sure how it's all going to turn out, I am loving every minute of it.

I have heard an equal amount of success and failure stories about trying to overcome the frailties of the North Texas climate and have come to one conclusion...

My biggest failure would be to not try at all.

Let's just call that a lesson for life. Have you ever thought to yourself, "gosh, if I would have tried _______, I would know by now whether it was successful!" Welcome to my thought-process.

If we never try, we'll never fail; if we never fail, we'll never succeed.

I believe this to be true, and I just pray that my garden (though I can already see wilted leaves) turns out to be a success- if not, then I guess I'll have learned a lesson for next year's garden. I am committed to make this work.

God Bless You!
Paul

Life is So Very Fragile

I don't know how to articulate this point more clearly than when I read a story of a young 16 year old athlete, Cameron Gallagher, who crossed the finish line of the Shamrock Half Marathon in VA Beach, VA then collapsed and died. Her father stated that she was smiling "ear-to-ear" as she crossed the finish line.

I cannot even begin to imagine the feelings of losing such an inspirational, wonderful young girl. Even at such a young age, she had already accomplished so much... but life is so very fragile.

This story hits many nerves for me. I grew up very near VA Beach, and one of my favorite marathons is the Shamrock Marathon. It was this marathon where I earned both my best marathon time in addition to my favorite hoodie as a finisher's prize. In addition, my wife had run the Shamrock 8K twice (once with me pacing her, while I pushed my son in a jogging stroller). Our friend, Faith, joined us at the running festival for the Half Marathon. One year, we had a runner in every race, including the kiddie marathon (26.2 yards). This year's running, on the same day that this horrific event occurred, one of my good friends from high school completed this same marathon (Shamrock), her first. So, to hear such tragic news in the midst of such joy, and so close to home, is heartbreaking, to say the least.

Another story, that I've told in this blog, is one of a good friend who died several years ago- one week after running the same half marathon (my first half-marathon) that he had run for many years- a man with a 20+ year running streak and an extremely healthy lifestyle suddenly dies without warning.

There are countless stories like these, so what is one to think? No one knows the day, the time, or the hour that they will be taken from this earth. We cannot predict when we or our loved ones will depart. We cannot determine when our bodies will fail us or injuries will occur. All we can really do is hope, pray, and fight.

We all deal with a huge pile of stresses that can easily overtake us. We deal with these messes in many different ways- some good, some bad. In the end, we have to choose whether to let fear, stress, or anxiety take over our choices; or we have to choose another path, the one that leads to enjoyment in life.

We need to explore ourselves, exploit our limitations and go beyond our capacity. I encourage you to explore faith in these endeavors, seek God. You will be amazed at what the human body can do when we treat it the way that our Creator intended us to treat it.

In the end, though, it might be that our time will come when we least expect it. In fact, those who are closest to us will taken entirely too soon. We can only fight genetics, current circumstances of our world, and our fellow pilgrims for so long. My prayer tonight is that whenever we cross that last finish line, we will all be smiling ear-to-ear.

God Bless,
Paul

A Restart? Perhaps it's Time

I've made some new friends in the last year and a half or so since my last post. I've learned many new things, and there have been a lot of changes. I've run a couple more marathons and have had a couple new running injuries and stories of a race cancelled on me and me cancelling on a race. I've moved all the way to Texas, and I've also gained a few pounds and probably picked up a few bad habits. But mostly, I've learned that, at least in some part, my former posts meant something to more people than I thought, including myself.

You see, writing this blog used to be a discipline, a good habit- hard to keep- for me. It sounds silly, but once something becomes habit, it sticks and is hard to break. Creating new, terrible habits are easy to do; these are the things that fill the void of old habits- especially good, disciplined ones.

If you are new to this blog, I encourage you to read from the beginning, where everything started- to learn more about my story, my quips, my sillies, my whatchamacallits. Enjoy some old stories and learn. There are some good recipes for easy, fresh homemade dinners; there are some good tips on exercise; there are good tips on weight loss and diet; I've even put beginner running programs in there; and, of course, race stories.

If you were one of my first readers, welcome back- so sorry to have been out of touch for so long.

A really good friend of mine, Jason (read his story here), recently introduced me to a friend of his who struggles with weight, and he pointed his friend to my blog. This has rekindled a fire, a passion I once had in helping others do the seemingly impossible. By changing some simple things in our lives, learning new ways to live, and rediscovering the joy of eating and living a healthy lifestyle, many of us have renewed ourselves and rediscovered who we are. I feel as though this is a calling to me, and I've certainly missed it.

I guess what I'm saying is, I want back in, because it meant something to me before, and it meant something to others. So, I hereby recommit myself to my simple blog with these two, extremely easy tips to make a very wholesome sandwich.

Homemade Almond Butter
It's very simple

1. Buy raw almonds
2. Spread almonds on cookie sheet, spray lightly with cooking oil (optional)
3. Sprinkle with kosher salt (optional)
4. Roast in oven at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes, let cool
5. Put roasted almonds in blender and puree for a few seconds
6. Add 1-2 tablespoons (depending on need) peanut oil or another oil of choice and puree again until the almonds turn into a recognizable butter-looking substance
7. Add salt to taste
8. Put in container and place in refrigerator

Homemade Strawberry Spread
I totally made this up the other night and it shames me that I never did it before

1. Put a bunch of strawberries, without the stem, in a bowl
2. Take two forks
3. Mash them until they look mashed with some lumps or to your liking
4. Put in container- mix with the juice of one lime
5. ta-da!
6. If you want sweeter stuff, guess what you need to add (though I recommend the evaporated cane type, but to each his/her own)
7. Optional- if you want a really healthy way to make the spread thicker, add a few tablespoons of chia seeds, mix them in and let it sit
8. I feel as though I need the 8th step because the Almond butter needs 8 steps, so- keep in mind, there are no preservatives, so it is best to store a small batch in the fridge with small batches in the freezer :-)

OK, folks, that felt good. It's nice to be back! Invite your friends and all that good stuff!

Peace!
Paul