Today’s Workout: 45 minute elliptical, stretching, lower body strengthening
Just a quick congrats to all the NYRR Run as One runners this morning. It was a beautiful day and everyone did a great job. A few friends of mine ran and I think they are hooked on the sport now. I always say that all it takes to suck people in is one race and after that, they usually can’t wait to run more!
I decided to be slightly domestic today and do some grocery shopping. It is Sunday after all.. isn’t that the day normal people go to buy groceries? Karl offered to go with me which I was very thankful for because I can get stressed in Trader Joe’s and needed him to distract me. I love their food but the store itself gets very crowded and the other shoppers can be weirdly aggressive. But its worth it for some cheap groceries! My wallet sincerely thanks me.
The whole cart was only $80!
All that food was neatly loaded into 3 environmentally-friendly brown bags. Honestly, I really just like the brown bags because they don’t break and don’t hurt my hands like the plastic ones.
I’m so happy to be carrying groceries for some reason. Also, I just realized that I’m always hiding from the sun with that hat. Vampire? Maybe.
Luckily I have my car in BK with me so we didn’t have to walk all the way back home lugging those heavy bags as usual. Normally I’m too cheap to take a cab and end up with a crazy isometric arm workout from carrying everything. My arms have certainly toned up since moving to BK. That’s one positive thing that came from my cheapness!
On our way to the car, I noticed how gorgeous it is here in the spring. I love walking down the side-streets near the BK TJs because they are so quiet and there’s trees everywhere. I wouldn’t mind owning a brownstone on this block…
The streets near TJs. I want to live in a brownstone!
Plus, these people give away free old lady rocking chairs. What more could you want!?
Anyone want a super cool broken rocking chair?
When we got home, Karl was super excited to make the meal he was planning all day. He cooked chicken and rice using chicken thigh meat, rice that he seasoned with tumeric, cumin and other spices, pita bread, and a yogurt-based sauce he created that can only be called “white sauce.”
In my opinion, his was better than the famous halal cart on 53rd and 6th. Yup, it was that good I swear. What can I say, my boyfriend is a magician in the kitchen. Which is awesome for me because I’m just an okay cook. I do my best but I’m spoiled because he really loves feeding me and who could complain about that.
So. Much. Food.
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Although Karl is usually the chef mastermind, I decided to try my hand at making something edible and made Cranberry-Nut granola bars with flax. I had my eye on this recipe for a while and used it as my guide. Its pretty easy but I did make some changes based on the ingredients I had at home.
Ingredients:
3 tablespoons butter
1 (10 1/2-oz.) package mini marshmallows
1 (15-oz.) box Go-Lean Crunch cereal and a bag of granola
3 cups crisp rice cereal
1 (6-oz.) package sweetened dried cranberries
2 tablespoons ground flax (optional)
1 teaspoon salt
Some of the the ingredients I used
Directions:
1. Use a food processor or blender to grind the 15 oz. box of cereal until finely ground (OR you can use 10 oz of the cereal and 5oz of the granola, which is what I did).
2. In a bowl, combine the granola/cereal mixture with 3 cups crisp rice cereal, the dried cranberries, 2 tbsp of flax, and 1 tsp. salt.
All mixed together
3. Melt 3 tbsp of butter in a covered pot over low heat. Add the mini marshmallows and cook until melted, stirring occasionally. Then remove from heat and stir the granola into the marshmallows.
4. Press the mixture into a buttered pan (I used PAM to spray it). You may have to use your hands to spread it… its sticky! Let stand 1 hour then cut into (1 1/4- x 3-inch) bars.
The mixture pressed into the pan.
Two of the cooled bars.
And there you go! This was my first attempt at making granola bars and I have to say I they came out really good. The real chef of our house loved them too. Be aware that this recipe makes a lot of bars… so I’ll be eating these all week. Also, you can always experiment with other flavors/cereals too to make it your own!
Who does most of the cooking in your house?
What grocery store do you usually go to?
What was the last thing you cooked?
