The blogging hiatus is over!

Hi Friends!
 
Long, long, time no blog. I know. I wanted to take a break for a few days but it turned into over a month! I have nothing crazy to share, just life in general has been happening! Here is a quick recap:
 
We baked a gazillion cookies before Christmas:

Jason and I had a wonderful Christmas with family and friends and we celebrated our 3rd Wedding Anniversary on January 11, 2011.

 Jason installed our new closet organizer (Martha Stewart collection from Home Depot)

I feel like I have my own little Gap jeans shop:

I’ve been drinking lots of tea (love my new teapot from Jason’s brother and his wife)

…and working out with my Kettlebell (Jason got me this for Christmas and I love it. I’m still learning how to use it properly though)

Cleaning out the basement and shredding old paperwork (along with lots of other house cleaning/organizing going on!)

(yes that is 3 bags worth of old bills, check stubs, etc!)
 
And beginning my training for Grandma’s Marathon!

Yep, Jason and I are going to run it again this year. You can read my recap from last year’s marathon *here*. I want to use this blog to recap my training runs, because I really wish I had kept a diary or journal of some kind last year. I remember having some good runs and some bad ones, but I don’t remember much more than that! I want to be able to look back and reminisce .
 
Blog changes are a’comin – new name, new format, more recipes, more book reviews and more fun!
 
Thanks for reading! 🙂
 
Holly

Yoda Dunkers

 Hi Friends 🙂

Thanks for all the compliments on my Yoda Pizza! I was pretty happy with how it turned out. The best part was lopping off his ears and eating them for dinner first. We were left with this:

We ate the rest of Yoda for dinner last night– and I ate him “Italian Dunkers” style.  Yoda Dunkers:

Did you eat Italian Dunkers (or something similar) in your school lunches?

It was definitely one of my favorite meals: cheesey garlic bread with marinara for dipping. Tons of gooey calories and grease! My other favorite school meal was the big pretzel and cheese:

If I were to eat either of those meals I’d probably feel sick!

I was in pain Sunday night and most of Monday – I think I pinched a nerve in my upper back. I did that a few years ago and I basically laid in bed and cried all day – it hurt to move, to breathe, to drink, to do anything. This time it isn’t as bad – but I think if I were to move my arms too quickly it could quickly turn into horrible horrible pain. I will get it checked out if the pain persists or gets worse.

I’ve been using lots of Icy Hot which actually helps!

Also, a hot bath seems to help my muscles relax as well.

But one thing that has helped the most is my foam roller: NOTE: I am not pictured below 🙂

This thing was dropped from Heaven – it hurts like the dickens but it hurts so good!

1. Did you eat school lunches when you were younger or did you pack your own? What was your favorite meal?

2. Do you have a foam roller? What is your favorite way to stretch?

3. Did you go and vote today?

~Holly

Yoda Pizza: Project Tasteless

Hi Friends 🙂

Thanks for all the nice words about our costumes! I hope you all had a nice Halloween – Jason and I did, thanks to a delicious pizza made by yours truly.

This blog post is my entry to Rachel’s Project Tasteless contest:

The challenge is that your pizza recipe must be inspired by your Halloween costume.

And since we already had a pumpkin with Darth Vader’s face carved into it, I decided to go with the next best Star Wars option:

Yoda.

How would I make this into a pizza you ask? Simple. I’d start by forming my Spelt Pizza Dough into the shape of Yoda’s head:

I then covered my dough with pizza sauce, turkey pepperoni, black olives and soy cheese:

The next layer consisted of spinach and green pepper slices (to mimic Yoda’s wrinkles) and more soy cheese <—- he has white hair you know!

Finally, a few well-placed black olives and carrot shreds completed our Yoda Pizza:

(he’s obviously very happy to be made into a pizza!)

Yoda Pizza

Pizza dough of choice (I used Matt’s Spelt Pizza Dough recipe)

1 jar pizza sauce

½ package turkey pepperoni

½ cup black olives, sliced

1 green pepper, sliced

3 cups spinach

½-1 cup shredded cheese of choice (or more if you prefer a cheesier pizza)

Shape dough into the form of Yoda’s head. Add toppings, bake and enjoy. (follow any specific instructions for your dough type. I had to prebake my dough for 5 minutes before adding my toppings and baking to perfection).

I hope you had a nice Halloween! 🙂

1. How was your weekend? Tell me the highlights!

2. Who is your favorite Star Wars character?

3. What are your favorite pizza toppings?

~Holly

Pumpkin Schmumpkin

Hi Friends 🙂

Look at the lovely Fall flowers Jason brought home for me:

What a nice guy. I think I’ll keep him 🙂

Fall is by far my favorite time of year. I love the cool, crisp air, the need for sweaters and jackets, and the return of my favorite shows. But I also love the seasonal soaps at B&B Works:

The pumpkin decorations and Fall scented candles:

Halloween décor:

And of course PUMPKIN in all forms:

Pumpkin Beer:

Pumpkin Banana Bread:

Vegan Pumpkin Pecan Blondies: (and sorry I just love that bat!!!)

Pumpkin Tofu:

Pumpkin Pie Cookies:

Pumpkin Pie Smoothies:

But what else can you do with a pumpkin? CARVE it of course 🙂 Carly over at Swim, Run, Om is holding the Great Blogging Pumpkin Carving Contest 2010. Please check out Carly’s post for rules!

I am one of the judges, along with Carly and Caitlin at Healthy Tipping Point.

Here are some pumpkins I have carved (ok not really, but check them out anyway!)

Ok maybe I could pull off the last one 🙂

*

1. What is your favorite pumpkin recipe?

2. Do you like to carve pumpkins? Will you participate in the Carving Contest?

Have a good one!

Holly

Pumpkin Tofu

So, will you believe me if I say I’ve never prepared tofu? I’ve eaten it in restaurants, but I’ve never bought some and eaten it at home?

Well, its true, but for some reason this past weekend I picked up some tofu. I remember seeing a Pumpkin Honey Tofu recipe on Averie’s blog and I knew that would be a good one. Averie’s recipes have never let me down!

I didn’t have pumpkin butter so I used canned pumpkin instead and I didn’t use as much honey as the recipe called for, but the marinade tasted sweet enough for me!

I have nothing to compare this to, since I eat tofu maybe once per year, but this tasted pretty good! Next time I will let the tofu sit in the marinade overnight — I wish the flavor was throughout the tofu instead of just on the outside. It was almost cake-like and the pumpkin and honey flavor was nice! Jason ate a few pieces and could not figure out what it was — he asked “this isn’t bread, I don’t think, so what am I eating?”

I bought more Fall things for the house:

I love foaming soaps from B & B Works – and doesn’t Creamy Pumpkin just sound amazing? Yum.

**

Thanks for the suggestions on the Spaghetti Squash yesterday:

Sorry I had to throw the little beaded pumpkins in there! I’ve got dinner planned for tonight and I can’t wait to see how it turns out!

**

Questions:

1. Going back to my Jenny Craig post yesterday, there were a few comments about eating “real food” and not having to diet. But is it really that simple? Do you think that one could easily overeat on “real foods”? I for one have little to no control when I eat nut butters – which is why I limit the amount I eat per day. It isn’t about deprivation, it is about knowing myself and keeping myself in check. I need to keep my portions in check, which is what the JC program is supposed to do – teach you portion sizes. So is using processed foods to help you learn portions sizes such a bad thing?

2. What is your favorite scent? It could be a perfume, lotion, shampoo, spice, candle, etc. I love vanilla myself, it just brings a sense of home whenever I smell it – in cooking or in a candle or lotion. My favorite perfume is Flowerbomb – I just love the fresh, crisp smell. For shampoos I like coconut even though I hate the flavor of coconut.

3.  What is your favorite way to prepare tofu? And if you don’t have a tofu press, what do you use? I had my tofu covered in paper towels underneath my spaghetti squash — it worked pretty well!

Have a happy hump day!

Holly