Livin' the Dream in Lima

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 ti...

Why carb-loading, you ask? Besides the fact that I'm pretty much always  carb-loading. I start training for a marathon #2  tomorrow! Yes, I am going after a second marathon, even after the not-so-great experience with the Flying Pig . (Hitting the wall at mile 17 is never fun. Especially when you're soaking wet.) I'm in the pink. I will be running the Christie Clinic Illinois Marathon on Saturday, April 28 in Champagin-Urbana, IL. It is supposedly a "fast & flat" course, which will be so nice after the hills of Cincinnati last year. Plus, I get to finish on the U of I Memorial Stadium! It's just 1.5 hours from my parents' house, so I'll be able to coerce them into coming to cheer me on as well. I'm also trying to convince my BFF Talen to come out and run the half (or the full!) so we can reminisce our time spent in hotels the night before big cross country & track meets. And you know, just spend some QT together.  I've...

Squash. I'm sure you've seen this a lot lately. Horrible lighting, delicious pizza. As a matter of fact, I've had one sitting on my counter since the end of September. Have I used it yet? Umm.... have you ever tried to cut into and peel a butternut squash? Not so much fun. Not the squash we ate. This guy's still out in the kitchen. However, at Sam's Club last Saturday, I found peeled & cubed butternut squash, all nice and neat in a little package. For just $3.98. So much easier. It looked like this. But didn't have a date from 2009 on it. Source So the squash still sits on my counter. But I did  actually cook the squash from Sam's. First, I roasted it with some garlic, salt, and pepper. It was delicious just like that. But then I made it even better - topped pizza dough with it. Along with bacon. And gouda. And caramelized red onion. Oh my.  Between my Business Man and I, there was one measly little piece left at the end of ...

Temps in the 80s today.... what what?!? I absolutely looooved it. I actually spent 2 hours laying outside, reading a book, and working on my tan absorbing some quality vitamin D. It was the best afternoon ever! Tonight was not the first time we've broken out the grill this spring, but it was the first night we grilled something exciting . So far we've just grilled chicken. Not that boneless chicken breasts can't be exciting with a little BBQ rub... actually no. That's not exciting at all. But this dinner was. Tonight it was all about the beef . (It's what's for dinner.)  We made  Hawaiian Beef Sliders . My Business Man and I discovered this slider recipe last summer after we bought our baby grill. I've never been to Hawaii, so I don't know if these burgers taste anything like burgers in Hawaii, but I do know one thing: These. Are. So. Good. And because they are sliders you get to eat more than one and not feel like a little piggy. So...

Goodness, it has been a looong week. Next week is Spring Break, and all the kidd-os at school have decided to just shut down this week... ya know, cuz' we'll be on break soon! That means they shouldn't have to do any work, or keep in dress code, or bring pencils to math class, or anything of that sort. It also includes whining. Lots and lots of whining. And not just from the students. Anyways, tomorrow marks the last day of school before break, and we even get out early! I originally was planning on doing my long run for this week tomorrow, since I'd have extra time, but figured that I'd probably want to party hard after school (aka take a long nap) rather than go run for 3 hours. So, I decided to do my long run today. And I ran inside. On the treadmill. Before pic... super excited to be a hamster for 3 hours. Did I mention it is cold again in the Bean Town? I mean, it's not super-cold, but it's cold. I spent 2 hours outside with the kidd-os at...

First of all, I want to say "Hello and welcome!" to anyone coming over from SkinnyRunner 's site! Thanks for checking out my lil' blog! And, SR said I'm from Boston, the Beantown. Not exactly... I'm from a small town in Ohio named after a bean, hence the "Bean Town".  Here are a few links to some of my race recaps, if you're interested. :-) BBO 4-Mile (3/12/2011) Indianapolis Monumental Half-Marathon (11/6/2010) Run Clark Lake  (8/7/2010) As I've just got 6 weeks to go until the Cincinnati Flying Pig Marathon... I decided I'd better pick up the slack on my speed workouts. I started out the training cycle super-strong, with a tempo workout and interval workout each week. That slowly faded to just a tempo run, and then now, just easy runs. Not cool. Source So yesterday I decided to give Yasso 800's a try. The idea of the workout is that you take your goal marathon time and run it as an 800m interval. Then a...