Livin' the Dream in Lima

It's that time of year guys... Valentine's Day is just 2 weeks away! That means it's time to whip up some baked goods for your loved ones. Or you know, just for yourself, especially if your Business Man's not that much of a 'sweets' person.  These brownies are ultra-decadent, stuffed with Dove cherry dark chocolates, and layered with a shortbread crust. And yes, there might be almost an entire pound of butter in one 9x9-inch pan. Watch out Paula, someone's on your heels with butter usage!  But no worries, these are perfectly rich and fudgy so that you only need a small sliver. And then another small sliver. And another after that. So that really you have eaten 2.5 brownies but no one will ever know. ;-) Chocolate layer in the center... oh yea. The Dove cherry dark chocolates are actually a special product for Valentine's Day. I had intended to use some Hershey Raspberry White Creme kisses in these brownies, but after trips to Ray's, Me

I committed a rookie mistake today... I wore my new shoes on a long run. Even my Business Man told me, "You probably shouldn't do that! Don't you  need to break them in on a short, easy run first?" I scoffed at him, and confessed that my desire to run in the new shoes definitely outweighed my risk of ending up with blisters all over my feet. The new kicks. Fortunately, my feet held up just fine! 17 miles, done and done. I'm pretty sure that after 7 years, the Mizuno Wave Creation can do me no wrong. Came home, planted myself on the couch, and got cozy with some tomato soup and grilled cheese. And a side of salt (in the form of pickles & olives). Guess I lost a lot of sweat on the run. My Business Man and I just finished watching the movie Courageous  - great movie!  A little corny at times, a little intense at times, but a wonderful message. And now I'm off to find a little sweet treat to satisfy my sweet tooth... have a great weekend eve

So I totally forgot to post a panini recipe last Thursday... whoops. I'm sure you were all waiting with bated breath and were very  disappointed. Well, never fear, because I've got a fabulous panini recipe tonight! Tangy bleu cheese and salty bacon come together to form a delectable sandwich. It comes from the panini cookbook I received for Christmas, 200 Best Panini Recipes  (thanks Mom!) . The  Chicken Bacon Bleu panini :   grilled chicken, crisp bacon, and bleu cheese on sourdough with a spread of barbecue sauce and sliced red onion. I had never thought of putting bleu cheese on a panini before I saw this recipe. I feared there wouldn't be enough ooey gooey cheese! But bleu cheese actually melts pretty nicely. It's no Velveeta, but it added a great tang to the sandwich.  First, spread the bottom piece of bread with a bit of barbecue sauce, and top with some grilled chicken. I actually used my panini press to grill my chicken for the first time, and it wa

I've got two favorite restaurants here in the Bean Town - Viva Maria   and  Thai Jasmine . Pizza/pasta and Thai noodle dishes... what can I say, I like carbs. Much to my demise, Viva Maria closed  a few weeks ago! They opened a small quick-service stand in the mall, and I have been told they are "searching for a new sit-down location." Either way, I was totally bummed. My absolute favorite dish to order at Viva Maria was the Dominic's White Pizza,  topped with fresh garlic, broccoli, spinach, tomatoes, ricotta, and mozzarella cheese. The best bite was the thick chewy crust with the sweet ricotta cheese. Man, I miss that pizza. Last week, I decided that I just couldn't live without the Dominic's White Pizza, so I re-created it myself. And while this pizza wasn't exactly  like Viva Maria's, it was pretty darn close! It definitely satisfied the craving.  Stolen from  my Instagram account... I need to bake this pizza in the daylight so I can tak

For Christmas, we got my parents four tickets to a Bulls' game... with the stipulation that they choose their game-attending buddies very wisely. Fortunately, they did, and we met them in Chicago on Saturday for some shopping, game-attending, and an all-around good time. We arrived in the city just past lunchtime, and we were starving, so we stopped for one of our favorite Chicago foods - deep dish pizza at Giordano's. We started with a salad, you know, to cancel out the 3 lbs. of cheese to come in the pizza. It came with anchovies (on the side), and I tried anchovies for the first time. Salty, very salty. Pretty sure I was the only one that came close to even touching them. Oh, anchovies... you were quite the experience. And then our pizza came out. Man, oh, man. We ordered a large supreme, stuffed with cheese, sausage, green peppers, onions, more cheese, and topped with sauce. It was SO good. The crust was definitely my favorite part. I made sure to fin

Hi friends... we just got back from a 24-hour whirlwind trip to Chicago, which was loads of fun. I'll be back later to recap the details, but for now let's talk running! It was pretty cold and nasty this week... so I only got outside a few days. 8*F and severe wind is not my friend! I also got in some good treadmill runs, including this morning at the hotel in Chicago. Love it when hotels have nice workout equipment! Although I did see several runners out along the lake... and it was so bitterly cold & windy. I guess if I lived there I could get used to it. My speed workout for the week was mile repeats - 4 x 1-mile at 6:25, with a half mile jog in between. I ended up on the treadmill for this workout (not ideal), but ended up hitting 6:22, 6:22, 6:22, and then 6:20 for the last one. My legs were definitely burning by the end!  All in all, I got in 52.5 miles, which is just where I wanted to be.  Weekly Rundown 1.16.2012-1.22.2012 Mon - 16.5 miles LONG (8:03 av

Reasons Why I'm Happy Today 1. Today we started our second semester at school. Because we are on block schedule, that means we get new classes every semester. And, I have actually taught all the classes I am teaching this semester before, which means I have the majority of my lessons planned out already! Woot woot! If you're a teacher you know how nice that is. If you're not... just imagine your workload being cut in half.  2. I was picking up some groceries at Meijer today and stumbled across this beautiful display. It took all that I had in me to just keep walking. I probably would have let myself buy one Valentine -themed baking item, except that I might already have four varieties of Valentine sprinkles at home. All cute little heart-shaped pans! And sprinkles! And cupcake liners! 3. I just looked back at my marathon training from last spring , and realized I didn't tackle my first 16 mile run until mid-February. And this go-round I've already run

[If you're not into running, feel free to skip these training recap posts.] Week 1 has come and gone and I am feeling good! I got in 48 miles (well, 47.6 to be exact) and felt pretty good on every run. I have started using DailyMile because the website/company I used to use to track my training closed up shop. If you're on DailyMile, friend me here !  Weekly Rundown 1.9.2012-1.15.2012 Mon - 7 miles easy Tues - 5-mile tempo @ 6:42 avg, 8.3 miles total Wed - Rest Thurs - 6.7 miles easy Fri - 15 miles LONG (last 3 @ 7:41 avg) Sat - 5.9 recovery miles, in the snow Sun - 4.7 miles easy Total - 47.6 miles This coming week I'm looking at some mile repeats as my speed workout, hopefully 4x1600m @ 6:25 with 800m jog recovery. We'll see how that goes! Also hoping to get in 50 miles for the week. I actually already completed my long run for this week this morning, 16.5 miles. I know it's not the greatest thing to run long Friday and then run long again o