Homemade gnocchi and beach runs

Hi! It's been a while, I know.  My family and I just came back from an incredible two week vacation in sunny Florida.  We had an absolute blast!  It was extremely hard to leave and even more difficult to return to the daily grind but alas, here I am back to reality.

Yesterday was spent unpacking, cooking and planting the garden.  Tomatoes, peppers, zucchini, summer squash, eggplant, red leaf lettuce, broccoli, spinach, arugula, pole beans, snap peas, radishes, carrots and cucumbers are just some of the vegetables we planted.  The herbs consist of sage, rosemary, dill, thyme, spearmint, chocolate mint, parley, basil, oregano, chive, anise and cilantro.

My weekend cooking project was homemade gnocchi.  I remember make these with my Italian Grandmother so most of it was made from the visions that have been ingrained in my mind.  I still need to perfect these babies (need to invest in a ricer and probably a different flour) as many fell apart during the boiling process.  Nevertheless, they were tasty little critters!

I will leave you with one of my favorite pictures of all time.  This gives you an idea of what my mornings were like during vacation.  Most all of them included runs on the beach followed by a swim in the deep blue.

Have a great day ya'll!

Italian Cookies

Italian Cookies, a photo by talialapointe on Flickr.

If you are Italian then you know the importance of Italian cookies at Christmas. Made 40 dozen in 4 days.

Back at it, best sneaks evaaaa and a snowstorm

After a week long hiatus, I'm back to running again!  It feels so good to run and you know what the best part about it is? My foot doesn't hurt AT ALL!  I am so relieved to be fully recovered from that stupid pain.  I was a bit nervous to take 7 days off but in all honesty, I feel faster and stronger with that long rest so I'm good to go!  I can't take all the credit though because I'm pretty sure my new sneaks make me superhuman. I bought the Brooks Pureflow 2 and it's pretty much the best purchase of my life.  They are so lightweight and perfectly padded that I feel like I'm running on a cloud.  Also, the top of the shoe has an elastic band with hugs my foot securely in place - no black toenails over here!

Friday morning I drove to work in a crazy snowstorm.  Mother nature decided to dump another 25+ inches on top of the 35 inches of snow we received last month.  My husband had the day off so he did what any good husband would do: offer me his 4 wheel drive truck.  All I have to say is: Oh. Ya. Baby.  That thing is AWESOME!  I felt like I was invincible. I saw so many cars stuck in the snow and unable to move, but I was in my big bad truck weaving in and around them all.  At one point I was stopped at the bottom of a hill for 45 minutes because there was such a pile of cars.  It was just insane.

Fast forward to later that night and I had made a scrumptious (and healthy) dinner.  Low fat manicotti with meat sauce.  It was oh so delicious and only 360 calories for 3 stuffed shells.  Bring on seconds!

Acceptance letter, Meatloaf, a 19 mile (non) Run and Some Sweetness

So today I woke up ready for my 19 mile road race but when I took a few steps out of bed I noticed a sharp pain in my right heel that extended down the outside part of my foot (NOT plantar fasciitis).  I looked at my running clothes, sneaks, GU packs, Gatorade and granola bars and sadly decided not to run the race.  I wanted to cry, not completely because of today's race that I was so excited about but because this means I will need to take a few days off from training in order to recover properly.  On a more exciting and uplifting note, I received this beauty in the mail which made me realize my decision was indeed, the right one. 

I did the only thing that I knew would cheer me up at 7:30 AM...think about dinner!  I prepped my Italian Stuffed Meatloaf and put it in the fridge to cook later on this afternoon.  I bought the ground beef from a local butcher and mixed it with garlic, onion, eggs, breadcrumbs and fennel.  I spread it out on a cookie sheet and layered it with mozzarella cheese, sun-dried tomatoes and fresh basil.  Then I rolled up like a jelly roll.  I'll bake it for an hour and add more mozzarella and some homemade gravy to the top about 10 minutes before it's done.  This is definitely a family favorite!

Oh, and I also made some chocolate fudge for dessert.

Time to hang out with the hubby and kids.  Today's activity is to tap the Maple trees in the backyard to make homemade maple syrup.  Fun fact: 40 gallons of sap = 1 gallon of syrup.  Have a great day everyone!

Annnnd...I'm off!

I'm officially a blogger!  This is very new to me but I think I could get used to it.  People who come here will read about my Boston Marathon training, how to cook like an Armenian/Italian/American and last but certainly not least, my gardening techniques.  I look forward to sharing my interests with all of you.  If you have any questions on "how to" please don't hesitate to contact me!  Just to give you a glimpse into the future of this blog, I have attached some pictures of the treats I recently made: Italian pizzelles and Armenian Tourshi (pickled vegetables). YUM!